not the great day of the Lord shall the all-wise and righteous Arbiter of the world decree and reverse Hath he not from eternity determined and set this day Wherein we must all appear before the judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or evill That there is therefore such a day of the Lord in the which the heavens shall passe away with a great noyse and the Elements shall melt with fervent heate the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up wherein the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God is no lesse certaine then that there is an heaven from whence he shall descend All thy cavill is concerning the time Thou and thine are ready to say with the evill servant in the Gospell my Master defers his comming And was not this wicked suggestion of thine foretold many hundred yeares agoe by the prime Apostle and by the same pen answered Hath he not told thee that our computations of time are nothing to the infinite That one day with the Lord is as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeares as one day Hath he not told us that this mis-construed slacknesse is in mans vaine opinion not in Gods performance He is slack to man that coms not when he is lookt for he is really slack that comes not when he hath appointed to come Had the Lord broken the day which he hath set in his everlasting counsel thou mightst have some pretence to cavill at his delay but now that he onely overstayes the time of our misgrounded expectation â—he doth not slacken his pace but correct our errour It is true that Christians began to look for their Saviour betimes insomuch as the blessed Apostles were fayne to perswade their eyes not to make such haste putting them in mind of those great occurrences of remarkable change that must befall the Church of God in a generall apostasie the revelation of the great Antichrist before that great day of his appearance And the prime Apostle sends them to the last dayes which are ours for those scoffers which shall say Where is the promise of his comming If they lookt for him too soon we cannot expect him too late He that is Amen will be sure to be within his owne time when that comes he that should come will come and not tarry In the meane while not onely in the just observation of his owne eternall decree but in much mercy doth he prolong his returne mercy to his elect whose conversion he waits for with infinite patience it is for their sake that the world stands The Angel that was sent to destroy Sodom could tell Lot that he could doe nothing till that righteous man were removed no sooner was Lot entred into Zoar then Sodome is on a flame mercy even to the wicked that they may have ample leisure of repentance Neither is it any small respect that the wise and holy God hath to the exercise of the faith and hope and patience of his deare servants upon earth faith in his promises hope of his performances and patience under his delayes whereof there could be no use in a speedy retribution In vaine therefore dost thou who fearest this glorious Judge will come too soone go about to perswade me that he will not come at all I beleeve and know by all the foregoing signes of his appearance that he is now even at the threshold Lo he commeth he commeth for the consummation of thy torment and my joy I expect him as my Saviour tremble thou at him as thy Judge who shall fully repay to thee al those blasphemies which thine accursed mouth hath dared to utter against him VII TEMPTATION If there must be a resurrection and a judgment yet God is not so rigid an exactor as to call thee to account for every petty sin those great Sessions are for hainous malefactors God is too mercifull to condemn thee for small offences be not thou too rigorous to thy self in denying to thy selfe the pleasure of some harmelesse sinnes Repelled FAlse tempter there is not the least of those harmelesse sinnes which thou wilt not be ready to aggravate against me one day before the dreadfull tribunall of that infinite justice those that are now small will be then hainous and hardly capable of remission thy suggestions are no meet measures of the degrees of sin It is true that there are some sinnes more grievous then others there are faults there are crimes there are flagitious wickednesses If some offences be foule others are horrible and some others irremissible but that holy God against whose onely majesty sin can be committed hath taught me to call no sin small The violation of that Law which is the rule of good cannot but be evill and betwixt good and evill there can be no lesse then an in finite disproportion It is no smal proofe of thy cunning that thou hast suborned some of thy religious panders to proclaime some sinnes veniall and such as in their very nature merit pardon Neither thou nor they shall be Casuists for me who have heard my God say Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the booke of the Law to doe them Sin must be greater or lesse according to the value of the command against which it is committed there is as my Saviour hath rated it a least Commandement and there are mo points then one in that least Command now the Spirit of truth hath told me that whosoever shall keepe the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all And shall he that is guilty of the breach of the whole Law escape with such ease I am sure a greater Saint then I can ever hope to be hath said If I sin thou markest me and wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity and old Eli as indulgent as he was to his wicked sonnes could tell them If one man sin against another the Judge shall judg him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him What need is there thou sayest of any intreaty Gods mercy is such that he will pardon thy sinnes unasked neither will he ever stick at small faults Malignant spirit how fain wouldst thou have Gods mercy and justice clash together but thou shalt as soon wind thy selfe out of the power of that justice and put thy selfe into the capacity of that mercy as thou shalt set the least jarre between that infinite justice and mercy It is true it were wide with my soule if there were any limits to that mercy That mercy can doe any thing but be unjust it can forgive a sinner it cannot incourage him forgive him upon his penitence when he hath sinned not incourage him
in his resolution to sin If thou Lord shouldest marke iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgivenesse with thee that thou maist be feared I know therefore whither to have my recourse when I have offended my God even to that throne of grace where there is plenteous redemption free and full remission I heare the heavenly voice of him that saith I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins but I dare not offend because his grace aboundeth justly doth the Psalmist make the use and effect of his mercy to be our feare we must feare him for his mercyes and for his judge ments love him so far am I from giving my selfe leave to sin because I have to doe with a mercifull God as that his judgements have not so much power to drive me as his mercies have to draw me from my dearest sinnes As therefore my greatest sinnes are not too bigge for his mercy to remit so my least sinnes are great enough to deserve his eternall displeasure He that shal come to be Judge at those great Assises hath told us that even of eve ry idle word that men shal speak they shal give an acccount What can be sleighter then the wind of our words and what words more harmelesse then those which have no evill quality in them though no good such are our idle words yet even those may not passe without an account and if our thoughts be yet lesse then they even those must so try us as either to accuse or excuse us and if evill may condemne us Think not therefore to draw me into sin because it is little The wages of sin is death here is no stint of quantities If sin be the work death is the wages Perswade me now if thou canst that there is a little death for a little sin perswade me that there is a lesser infinitenesse and a shorter eternity til the great Judge of the world reverse his most just sentence I shall looke upon every sin as my death and hate thee for the cause of both But as thy suggestion shall never move me to take liberty to my selfe of yeilding to the smallest sin so the greatnesse of my most hainous sin shall not daunt me whiles I rely upon an infinite mercy even my bloodiest sinnes are expiated by the blood of my Saviour that my all-sufficient surety hath cleared all my scores in heaven In him I stand fully discharged of all my debts and shall after all thy wicked temptations hold resolute as not to commit the least sin so not feare the greatest VIII TEMPTATION What a vaine imagination is this wherewith thou pleasest thy selfe that thy sins are discharged in another mans person that anothers righteousnesse should be thine that thine offences should be satisfied by anothers punishment Tush they abuse thee that perswade thee God is angry with mankind which he loves and favours or that his anger is appeased by the bloody satisfaction of a Saviour that thou standest acquitted in heaven by that which another hath done and suffered These are fancies not fit to find place in the heads of wise men Repelled NAy rather these are blasphemies not fit to fall from any but a malignant Devill what is this but to flatter man that thou maist sclander God Is not the anger of a just God deservedly kindled against man for sin Do not our iniquities separate between us our God Do not our sins hide his face from us that he will not hear Are we not all by nature the childrē of wrath Doth not the wrath of God come for sin upon the children of disobedience Doth not every willing sinner after his hardnesse and impenitent heart teasure up unto himself lest he should not have enough wrath against the day of wrath the revelation of the just judgment of God why do not thy Socinian clients go about to perswade us as wel that God is not angry with thee though he torment thee perpetually and hold thee in everlasting chaynes under darknesse what proofes can we have of anger but the effects of displeasure was it not from hence that man was driven out of Paradise was it not from hence that both he and we in him were adjudged to death as it is written By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all men have sinned yea not only to a temporal death but By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation Thou who art the dreadfull executioner knowest too wel who it is that had the power of death over those who through the feare of death were all their lives long subject unto bondage Under this wofull captivity did we lye sold under sinne vassals to it and death and thee till that one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus was pleased to give himselfe a ransome for all that he might redeem us from all iniquity who by his owne blood entred in once into the holy place making an eternall redemption for us Lo it is not doctrine and example it is no lesse then blood the blood of the Sonne of God shed for our redemption that renders him a perfect Mediator and cleanseth us from all sin He hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law from the power of darknes hath reconciled us in the body of his flesh through death to present us holy unblameabl unreproveable in his sight He it is that bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sinnes should live unto righteousnesse So abundant and cleare testimony hath God beene pleased to give to the infinite merit and efficacy of the bloody satisfaction of his Sonne Iesus made for us that wert thou not as unmeasurably impudent as malicious thou couldst not indeavour to out-face so manifest a truth Thinke not to beate mee off from this sure saving hold by suggesting the improbability of anothers satisfaction and obedience becomming mine what is more familiar then this Our sins are debts so my Saviour hath styled them how commona a thing is it for debts to be set over to anothers hand how ordinary for a bond to be discharged by the surety If the debt then be paid for me and that payment accepted of the Creditor as mine how fully am I acquitted Indeed thou dost no other then sclander our title The righteousnesse wherby wee stand just before our God is not meerly anothers it is by application ours it is Christs and Christ is ours He is our Head we as members are united to him and by vertue of this blessed union partake of his perfect obedience and
hands of God he only knows that shall judge this I am sure of that without this Saviour there can be no salvation That in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse is accepted with him That he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life As therefore we do justly abhor that wild scope of all religions which thou suggestest so we do willingly admit a large scope in one true religion so large as the author of it hath thought good to allow For we have not to do with a God that stands upon curiosities of beliefe or that upon pain of damnation requires of every believer an exquisite perfection of judgment concerning every capillar veyne of Theologicall truth it is enough for him if we be right for the main substance of the body He doth not call rigorously for every stone in the battlements it sufficeth for the capacity of our salvation if the foundation be hold in tire It is thy sclander therefore that wee confine Truth and blessednesse to a corner of Reformed Christians no wee seek and find it every where where God hath a Church and Gods Church we know to be Universall Let them be Abassines Cophties Armeniant Georgians Jacobites or what ever names either sclander or distinction hath put upon them if they hold the foundation firme howsoever disgracefully built upon with wood hay stubble wee hold them Christs we hold them ours Hence it is that the new Jerusalem is for her beauty and uniformity set forth with 12 precious gates though for use and substance one for that from all coasts of heaven there is free accesse to the Church of Christ and in him to life and glory He who is the Truth and the life hath said This is eternall life to know thee and him whom thou hast sent This knowledge which is our way to life is not alike at tained of all fome have greater light and deeper insight into it then others That mercy which accepts of the least degree or the true apprehension of Christ hath not promised to dispense with the wilfull neglect of those who might know him more clearly more exactly Let those carelesse soules therefore which stand indifferent betwixt life and death upon thy perswasion content themselves with good meanings and generalities of beliefe but for me I shall labour to furnish my self with all requisite truths and above all shall aspire towards the excellency of the knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings TEMPTATIONS REPELLED The second Decade Temptations of Discouragement II. DECADE I. TEMPTATION Were it for some few sins of ignorance or infirmity thou might'st hope to find place for mercy but thy sins are as for multitude innumerable so for quality haynous presumptuous unpardonable with what face canst thou look up to heaven and expect remission from a just God Repelled EVen with the face of an humble penitent justly confounded in himself in the sense of his owne vilenesse but awfully confident in a promised mercy Malicious tempter how like thou art to thy selfe when thou wouldst draw me on to my sins then how small sleight harmlesse plausible they were now thou hast fetch 't me in to the guilt of those foule offences they are no lesse then deadly and irremissible May I but keep within the verge of mercy thou canst not more aggravate my wickednesse against me thē I do against my selfe thou canst not be more ready to accuse then I to judge and condemn my selfe Oh me the wretchedest of all creatures how do I hate my selfe for mine abominable sins done with so high a hand against such a Majesty after such light of knowledge such enforcements of warning such indearments of mercy such reluctations of spirit such check of conscience what lesse then hell have I deserved from that infinite justice Thou canst not write more bitter things against me then I can plead against my owne soule But when thou hast cast up all thy venome and when I have passed the heaviest sentence against my selfe I who am in my selfe utterly lost and forfeited to eternall death in despight of the gates of hell shall live and am safe in my Almighty and ever-blessed Saviour who hath conquered Death and hell for me Set thou me against my selfe I shall set my Saviour against thee urge thou my debts I show his full acquittance Sue thou my bonds I shall exhibit them cancell'd and nayled to his crosse presse thou my horrible crimes I plead a pardon sealed in heaven Thou tell'st me of the multitude and hainousnesse of my sins I tell thee of an infinite mercy and what are numbers and magnitudes to the infinite To an illimited power what difference is there betwixt a mountaine and an ant-heape betwixt one and a million were my sins a thousand times more and worse then they are there is worth abundantly enough in every drop of that precious blood which was shed for my redemption to expiate them Know O tempter that I have to doe with a mercy which can die my scarlet sins white as snow make my crimson as wooll whose grace is so boundlesse that if thou thy selfe hadst upon thy fall been capable of repentance thou hadst not everlastingly perished The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works And if there be a sin of man unpardonable it is not for the insufficiency of grace to forgive it but for the incapacity of the subject that should receive remissision Thou feel'st to thy paine and losse wherefore it was that the eternall sonne of God Jesus Christ came into the world Even to save sinners and if my owne heart shall conspire with thee to accuse me as the chiefe of those sinners my repentance gives me so much the more claim and interest in his blessed redemption Let me be the most laden with the chaines of my captivity so I may have the greatest share in that all-sufficient ransome And if thou who art the true fiery serpent in this miserable wildernesse hast by sin stung my soul to death let me as I do with penitent and faithfull eyes but look up to that brazen serpent which is lift up far above all heavens thy poyson cannot kill cannot hurt me It is the word of eternall truth which cannot faile us If we confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse Lo here not mercy only but justice on my side The spirit of God saith not only if we confesse our sins he is mercifull to forgive our sins as he elswhere speaks by the pen of Salomon but more he is faithfull and just to forgive our sins Our weaknesse and ignorance is wont to flie
sooner askt then had Thou hast to do with a God of mercies with whom no time is too late no measure too sleight to be accepted Repelled OF all the blessed Attributes of God whereby he is willing to make himself known unto men there is none by which he more delights to be set forth then that of mercy When therefore he would proclaime his stile to Moses this is the title which he most insists upon The Lord The Lord God mercifull and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin And all his holy Heralds the Prophets have still been carefull to blazon him thus to the world Neither is there any of those divine Attributes that is so much abused by men as this which is most beneficiall to mankind For the wisdome of God every man professes to adore it for the power of God every man magnifies it for the justice of God every man trembles at it but for the mercy and long-sufferance of God how apt are men and devils to wrong it by a sinfull mis-application Wicked tempter how ready art thou to mis-improve Gods patience to the encouragement of my sin and to perswade me therefore to offend him because he is good and to continue in sin because grace abounds Thou bidst me sin still God forbids me upon paine of death to sin at all whether should I listen to God cals me to a speedy repentance thou perswadest me to defer it whether counsell should I hold more safe Surely there cannot be but danger in the delay of it in the speed there can be nothing but a comfortable hope of acceptation It is not possible for me to repent too soone too late I may To repent for my sin when I can sinne no more what would it be other then to be sory that I can no more sin And what thank is it to me that I would and am disabled to offend Thou telst me that mine age and death-bed are meet seasons for my repentance As if time and Grace were in my power to command How know I whether I shall live till age yea till to morrow yea till the next hour Doe not I see how fickle my life is And shall I with the foolish Virgins delay the buying of my oyle till the doores be shut But let me live Have I repentance in a string that I may pull it to me when I list Is it not the great gift of that good Spirit which breatheth when and where it pleaseth It is now offered to me in this time of Grace if I now refuse it perhaps I may seek it with teares in vaine I know the gates of hell stand alwaies wide open to receive all commers not so the gates of heaven they are shut upon the impenitent and never opened but in the seasons of mercy The porches of Bethesda were full of cripples expecting cure those waters were not alwaies sanative if when the Angel descends and moves the water we take not our first turne we may wait too long But of all other that season whereon thou pitchest my death-bed is most unseasonable for this work most serviceable for thy purpose How many thousand souls hast thou deluded with this plausible but deadly suggestion For then alas how is the whole man taken up with the sense of paine with grapling with the disease with answering the condoling of friends with disposing the remainder of our estate with repelling then most importunate temptations with encountring the horrours and pangs of an imminent dissolution And what roome is there then for a serious task of repentance No wicked one I see thy drift thou wouldst faine perswade me to do like some idle wanton servants who play and talk out their candle-light then go darklings to bed I hate the motion and do gladly embrace this happy opportunity which God holds forth to me of my present conversion Thou tell'st me how hard it would be if I should not have one mouth-full of breath at the last to implore mercy I tell thee of many a one that hath not had so much neither hath it been hard but just that those who have had so many and earnest solicitations from a mercifull God and have given a deafe eare to them should not at the last have a tongue to aske that mercy which they have so often refused But let me have wind enough left to redouble the name of mercy am I sure upon so short warning to obtaine it How many are there that shall say Lord Lord and yet shall be answer'd with Depart from me I know you not Do I not hear that God whom vaine men frame all of mercy say even of his Israel I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy but destroy them There is a time for judgement as well as a time for mercy neither of these may encroach upon other as judgement may not be allowed to seize upon the soule during the season of mercy so neither may mercy put forth it selfe to rescue the soule in an execution of judgement both must have their due turnes let me sue therefore for grace ere the time of grace be over-passed Heaven is as a strong castle whereto there is but one way of entrance the draw-bridge is let down all the day all that while the passage is open let me stay till night the bridge is hoysed up the way precluded I may now stand without and call long enough for an hopelesse admittance It shall be my care to get within those gates ere my Sun be set whiles the willing neglecters of mercy shal find hell open heaven inaccessible III. TEMPTATION Thou art one of Gods chosen Now God sees no sin in his elect none therefore in thee neither maist thou then take notice of any sin in thy selfe or needest any repentance for thy sin Repelled DEceitfull tempter now thou wouldst faine flatter me into hell and make Gods favour a motive of my damnation I doubt not but I am through Gods mercy one of his chosen his free grace in Christ my Saviour hath put upon me this honour neither will I fear to challenge any of the happy priviledges of my Election But that this should be one of the speciall prerogatives of Grace that God should see no sin in me I hate to hear That God imputes no sin to his elect is a divine truth but that he sees no sin in his Elect is a conceit hatch't in hell For tell me thou Antinomian spirit if God see no sin in his Elect is the reason on the behalfe of God or of the sin Either for that there is no sin at all to be seen or for that though there be sin in them yet God sees it not If the former it must be either in relation to the person of the sinner or to the act and nature of the sin Either that he cannot do that act which is formally sinne or that though
he do such an act yet in him it is no sin If the latter it must be either for the defect of his omniscience or upon a willing connivence In each of these there is grosse errour in some of them blasphemy For first what can be more evident then that the holiest of Gods elect upon earth fall and that not infrequently into sin Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin was the just challenge of wise Salomon and his father before him said no lesse There is none that doeth good no not one And elswhere Who can understand his errours Cleanse thou me from my secret faults We all saith the Prophet Esay putting himself into the number have like sheep gone astray we have turned every one to his owne waies And wherefore were those legall expiations of old by the bloud of their sacrifices but for the acknowledged sins both of Priests and people Perswade us if thou canst that our election exempts us from being men for certainly whiles we are men we cannot but be sinners So sure is that Parenthesis of Salomon There is no man that sinneth not as that If we say we have no sin we both deceive our selves and make God a lier What then That which in it self is sin is it not sin in the Elect Doth evill turne good as it falls from their person where did the holy God infuse such vertue into any creature Surely so deadly is the infection of sin that it makes the person evill but that the holinesse of the person should make the sin lesse evill is an hellish monster of opinion Yea so far is it from that as that the holinesse of the person addes to the haynousnesse of the sin The adultery had not been so odious if a David had not committed it nor the abjuration of Christ so grievous if it had not fallen from him that said Though all men yet not I Sin is sin even in an Angel and the worse for the eminence of the actor For what is sin but the transgression of the law in whomsoever whersoever therefore Transgression is there is guilt And such the best of all Gods Saints have acknowledged lamented in themselves Wo is me saith the Prophet Esay for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips The evill that I would not doe that I doe saith the chosen vessel Yea in many things saith St. James we offend all It is true that as the beloved Disciple hath taught us He that is borne of God sinneth not Not that he may not fall into the same act of sin with the most carnall man but that he sins not in the same manner The one sins with all his heart with the full sway of his will the other not without a kind of renitency The one makes a trade of his sin the other steps onely aside through the vehemence of a Temptation The one sins with an high hand the other out of meer infirmity The one walks on securely and resolutely as obfirmed in his wickednesse the other is smitten with a seasonable remorse for his offence The one delights and prides himselfe in his sin the other as he sinned bashfully so he hates himself for sinning The one grows up daily to a greater height of iniquity the other improves his sin to the bettering of his soule But this difference of sin as it makes sin unmeasurably sinfull in the worst men so it doth not quite anull it in the holiest It is their sin still though it raigne not in them though it kill them not Whiles then there cannot but be sin in the Elect is it possible that God should not see it there Is there any thing in heaven or earth or hell that can be hid from his all-seeing eyes where should this sin lurk that he should not espy it Do not the secrets of all hearts lie open before him Are not his eyes a flame of fire Is it not expresly noted as an aggravation of evill Iudah did evill in the sight of the Lord And Our transgressions faith Isaiah are multiplied before thee It is out of his infinite holinesse that he cannot abide to behold sin but it is out of his absolute omniscience that there is no sin which he beholds not and out of his infinite justice that he beholds no sin which he hates not Is it then for that sin hath no being as that which is onely a failing and privation of that rectitude and integrity which should be in us and our actions without any positive entity in it selfe upon this ground God should see no sin at all no not in the wickedest man upon earth and whereas wicked men do nothing but sin it should follow that God takes no notice of most of the actions that are done in the world whereof the very thought were blasphemy Since then it cannot bee out of defect of knowledge that God sees not the sinnes of his elect is it out of a favourable connivence that he is willing not to see what he sees surely if the meaning be that God sees not the sinnes of the penitent with a revengefull eye that out of a mercifull indulgence he will not prosecute the sins whereof we have repented with due vengeance but passes them by as if they had not been we do so gladly yeeld to this truth that we can never blesse God enough for this wonderfull mercy to poore sinners it is his gracious word which we lay redy hold upon I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sinnes But if the meaning be that God beares with sin because theirs that he so winkes at it as that he neither sees nor detests it as it falls from so deare actors it is no other then a blasphemous charge of injustice upon the holy one of Israel Your iniquities faith Isaiah speaking of Gods chosen people have separated between you and your God and your sinnes have hid his face from you that he will not hear who was dearer to God then the man after his own heart yet when he had given way to those foule sinnes of adultery and murder Nathan tells him from God Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house because thou hast despised me and hast taken the wife of Vriah the Hittite to be thy wife Thus saith the Lord Behold I will raise up evill against thee out of thine owne house c. How full and clear is that complaint of Moses the man of God We are consumed by thine anger and by thy wrath are we troubled Thou hast set our iniquities before thee our secret sinnes in the light of thy countenance And Ieremy to the same purpose We have transgressed and have rebelled thou hast not pardoned Thou hast covered with anger and persecuted us thou hast slaine thou hast
not with fleshly wisdome but by the grace of God I have had my conversation in the world IX TEMPTATION Why shouldst thou lose any thing of thy height Thou art not made of common mold neither art thou as others If thou knowst thy self thou art more holy more wise better gifted more inlightned then thy neighbours Justly therefore maist thou over-look the vulgar of Christians with pity contempt censure and beare thy selfe as too good for ordinary conversation go apart and avoid the contagion of common breath Repelled IF pride were thy ruine wicked spirit how faine wouldst thou make it mine also This was thy first killing suggestion to our first parents in paradise soone after thine owne fall as if it had been lately before thy owne case Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evill That which thou foundest so deadly to thy selfe thou art enviously willing to feoffe upon man that if through thy temptation Pride may compasse him about as a chaine he may beare thee company in those everlasting chaines wherein thou art reserved under darknesse to the judgement of the great day Thou well knowest that the ready way to make me odious unto God is to make me proud of my selfe Pride and arrogancy and the evill way doth he hate The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty saith the Prophet He hath scattered the proud in the imaginations of their hearts saith the blessed Virgin God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble saith the Apostle The Lord will destroy the house of the proud saith Salomon and his father David before him Thine eyes are upon the haughty that thou maist bring them downe Downe indeed even to the bottome of that pit of perdition Make me but proud therefore I am thine Sure I am God will not owne me and if I could be in heaven with this sin would cast me downe headlong into hell Thou bidst me not to lose any thing of my height Alas poore wretched dwarfe that I am what height have I if I have but grace enough to know and bewaile my owne misery and nothingnesse it is the great mercy of my God Who maketh mee to differ from another and what have I that I have not received and if I have received it why should I glory in it as my owne Whatsoever thou perswadest me let me rather lose of my height then adde to my stature and affect too high a pitch That humility is rewarded with honour this pride with ruine It is the word of truth himselfe Whosoever shall exalt himselfe shall be abased and he that shall humble himselfe shall be exalted The way then to lose my whole height yea my being is to be lifted up in and above my selfe for though I should build my nest as high as the Eagle or advance a throne among the stars yet how soone shall he cast me downe into the dust yea without my repentance into the nethermost hell Thou telst me that which the Pharisee said of himselfe I am not as others True for I can say with the chosen vessell that I am the chiefe of sinners Thou wouldst bring me into an opinion that I am more holy and more wise then my neighbours I am a stranger to other mens graces I am acquainted with my owne wants Yea I so well know my own sinfulness and folly that I hang downe my head in a just shame for both I know that he who was holier then I could say I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing and he that was wiser then I could say Surely I am more brutish then any man and have not the understanding of a man I neither learned wisdome nor have the knowledge of the holy All the holinesse that I have attained unto is to see and lament my defects of holinesse and all my wisdome is to descry and complaine of my own ignorance and foolishnesse Am I better gifted then another Thou art an ill judge of either who enviest the gifts of both But if I be so they are gifts still and such gifts as the donour hath not absolutely given away from himselfe to me but hath given or lent them rather to me for an improvement to his owne use which I have no more reason to be proud of then the honest factor of his masters stock received by him not for possession but for trafique Am I more inlightned then others the more do I discerne my owne darknesse and the more do I find cause to be humbled under the sense of it But if the greater light which thou saist is in me were not of an humane imagination but of divine irradiation what more reason should I have to be proud of it then that in this more temperate clime I have more sun shine then those of Lapland and Finland and the rest of those more northerne nations so much the more reason have I to be thankfull none to be proud Why should I therefore over-looke the meanest of my fellow Christians who may perhaps have more interest in God then my selfe for it is not our knowledge that so much indeares us to God as our affections perhaps he that knows lesse may love more and if he had been blessed with my means would have known more Neither is it the distribution of the Talents that argues favour but the grace to imploy them to the benefit of the giver if he that received the one Talent had gained another he had received more thanks then he that upon the receit of five Talents had gained one The Spirit breathes where it listeth and there may lie secret graces in the bosome of those who passe for common Christians that may find greater acceptation in heaven then those whose profession makes a fairer ostentation of holinesse I can pity therefore those that are ignorant and apparently gracelesse but for those that professe both to know and to love Christ whiles their lives deny not the power of godlinesse I dare not spend upon them either my contempt or censure lest whiles I judge wrongfully I be justly judged much lesse dare I separate my self from their communion as contagious Thou knowest how little it were to thine advantage that I should be perswaded to depart from the Tents of the notoriously wicked and to have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darknesse as too well understanding that evill conversation corrupts good manners and that a participation in sin drawes on a partnership in judgement Neither know I whether thou shouldst gaine more by my joyning with evill society or my separating from good infection follows upon the one distraction upon the other Those then which cast off their communion with Christ and his Church whether in doctrine or practise I shall avoid as the plague soone and far But those who truly professe a reall conjunction with
least slip to no lesse then hell Yet there are certaine favourable temperaments of circumstances which may if not excuse yet extenuate a fault such as age complexion custome profit importunity necessity which are justly pleadable at the barre both of God and the conscience and are sufficient to rebate the edge of divine severity p. 335. March the 14. 1646. I Have perused this Treatise intituled Satans fiery darts quenched in which I find so many excellent helps for the strengthning of the Christians faith the repelling of Temptations and the comforting of afflicted consciences in the day of triall that I judge it well worthy to be printed and published JOHN DOWNAME TEMPTATIONS REPELLED The first Decade Temptations of Impiety Satans fiery darts quenched I. DECADE I. TEMPTATION Foolish sinner thou leanest upon a broken reed whiles thou reposest all thy trust in a crucified Saviour Repelled BLasphemous Spirit It is not the ignominy of the Crosse that can blemish the honour of my Saviour Thou feelst to thy endlesse pain and regret that he who would die upon the tree of shame hath triumph't victoriously over death and all the powers of hell The greater his abasement was the greater is the glory of his mercy He that is the eternall God would put on man that he might work mans redemption and satisfie God for man Who but a man could suffer and who but a God could conquer by suffering It is man that had sinned it is God that was offended who but he that was God man could reconcile God unto man He was crucified through weaknesse yet he liveth and triumpheth in the power of his omnipotent God-head Neither was it so much weaknesse to yeeld unto death as it was power to vanquish it yea in this very dying there was strength For here was no violence that could force him into his grave who should offer it I and the Father are one saith that word of Truth and in Unity there can be no constraint And if the persons be divers He thought it no robbery to be equall with God the Father and there is no authority over equals and for men or Devils what could they do to the Lord of life I lay down my life saith the Almighty redeemer that I might take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to â—â—ke it againe Oh infinitenesse both of power and mercy met in the center of a willing death Impudent tempter doest thou not remember thine owne language The time was indeed when thou couldst say If thou be the Son of God but when thou foundest thy self quelled by that divine power and saw'st those miraculous works fall from him which were only proper to an infinite God-head now thou wert forced to confesse I know who thou art even the holy one of God and againe Jesus the Son of the most high God and yet againe What have we to do with thee Jesus the Son of God art thou come to torment us before the time Lo then even in the time of his humane weakness thou couldst with horrour enough acknowledge him the Sonne of the most high God and dar'st thou now that he sits crowned with celestiall glory disparage his ever-blessed Deity Thy malice hath raised up as in the former so in these later daies certaine cursed imps of hereticall pravitie who under the name of Christians have wickedly re-crucified the Lord that bought them not sparing to call into question the eternall Deity of him whom they dare call Saviour whom if thou hadst not steeled with an hellish impudence certainly they could not professe to admit the word written and yet the whiles deny the personall Word How clear testimony doth the one of them give to the other when thou presumedst to set upon the Son of God by thy personall temptations he stopt thy mouth with a Scriptum est how much more shall these Pseudo-Christian agents of thine be thus convinced Surely there is no truth wherein those Oracles of God have beene more clear and punctuall Are we not there required to beleeve in him as God upon the promise of eternall life under the paine of everlasting condemnation Are we not commanded to baptize in his name as God Is not the holy Ghost given as a seale to that baptisme Are we not charged to give divine honour to him Is not this required and reported to be done not only by the Kings of the earth but by the Saints and Angels in heaven Is he not there declared to be equall with God Is he not there asserted to be one with the Father Doth he not there challenge a joynt right with the Father in all things both in heaven and earth Are not the great works of divine power attributed to him Hath not he created the earth and man upon it have not his hands stretched out the heavens hath not he commanded all their host Are not all the Attributes of God his Is he not eternall Is it not he of whom the Psalmist Thy throne O God is for ever and ever the scepter of thy kingdome is a right scepter Is not he the Father of eternity the first and the last have not his goings forth been from everlasting Had not he glory with the Father before the world was Is not he the Word which was in the beginning the word that was with God and the word that was God Is he not infinite and incomprehensible Is it not he that filleth all things that was in heaven whiles he was on earth Is he not Almighty even the mighty God who upholds all things by the word of his power Yea is he not expresly stiled the Lord Jehovah The Lord of hosts God blessed for ever The true God and eternall life The great God and Saviour The Lord of glory Hath he not abundantly convinced the world of his Godhead by those miraculous works which he did both in his owne person whiles he was here on earth and by the hands of his followers works so transcending the possibility of nature that they could not be wrought by any lesse then the God of nature as ejecting of Devils by command raising the dead after degrees of putrefaction giving eyes to the borne blind conquering death in his own resuscitation ascending gloriously into heaven charming the winds and waters healing diseases by the very shadow of his transient disciples Yea tell me by what power was it that thine Oracles wherby all the world was held in superstition were silenced What-power whereby the Gospel so opposite to flesh and bloud hath conquered the world and in spight of all the violence of Tyrants and oppugnation of rebellious nature hath prevailed Upon all these grounds how can I do lesse then cry our with the late-believing
with a deniall of lawfull contentments have I not thereupon tasked my selfe with the harder duties of obedience and doe I not now resolve and carefully indeavour to walke conscionably in all the wayes of God Maligne therefore how thou wilt my repentance stands firme against all thy detractions and is not more impugned by thee on earth then it is accepted in heaven III. TEMPTATION Thou hast small reason to bear thy self upon thy repentance it is too slight seconded with too many relapses too late to yeild any true comfort to thy soule Repelled NOr thus can I be discouraged by thee malicious spirit The mercy of my God hath not â—et any stint to the allowed measure of repentance Where hath he ever said Thus farre shall thy penitence come else it shall not be accepted It is truth that he calls for not measure That happy thief whom my dying Saviour rescued out of thy hands gave no other proofe of his repentance but We are justly here and receive due reward of our deeds yet was admitted to attend his Redeemer from his Crosse to his Paradise Neither do we heare any words from penitent David after his foule crimes but I have sinned Not that any true penitent can be afraid of too much compunction of heart and is ready to dry up his teares too soone rather pleasing himselfe with the continuance and paine of his own smart but that our indulgent father who takes no pleasure in our misery is apt to wipe away the teares from our eyes contenting himself only w th the syncernesse not the extremity of our contrition Thy malice is altogether for extreams either a wild security or an utter desperation that holy and mercifull Spirit who is a professed lover of mankind is ever for the meane so hating our carelesnesse that he will not suffer us to want the exercises of a due humiliation so abhorring despaire that he abides not to have us driven to the brinke of that fearfull precipice As for my repentance therefore it is enough for me that it is sound and serious for the substance yet withall thanks be to that good Spirit that wrought it it is graciously approveable even for the measure I have heartily mourned for my sinnes though I pined not away with sorrow I have broken my sleep for them though I have not watered my couch with my teares and next to thy selfe I have hated them most I have beaten my brest though I have not rent my heart and what would I not have done or given that I had not sinned Tell not me that some worldly crosses have gone nearer to my heart then my sins and that I have spent more teares upon the losse of a sonne then the displeasure of my heavenly father The father of mercies will not measure our repentance by these crooked lines of thine he knows the flesh and bloud we are made of and therefore expects not we should have so quick a sense of our spirituall as of our bodily affliction it contents him that we set a valuation of his favour above all earthly things and esteeme his offence the greatest of all evils that can befall us and of this judgement and affection it is not in thy power to bereave my soule As for my relapses I confesse them with sorrow and shame I know their danger and had I not to do with an infinite mercy their deadlinesse Yet after all my confusion of face and thine enforcement of justice my soul is safe for upon those perilous recidivations my hearty repentance hath made my peace The long-suffering God whom I have offended hath set no limits to his remission After ten miraculous signes in Egypt his Israel tempted him no lesse then ten times in the wildernesse yet his mercy forbore them not rewarding their reiterated sin with deserved vengeance Hath not that gracious Saviour of mankind charged us to forgive our offending brother no lesse then seventy times seven times and what proportion is there between our mercy and his Could'st thou charge mee with incouraging my selfe to continue my sin upon this presumption of pardon thou hadst cause to boast of the advantage but now that my remorse hath been syncere and my falls weak my God will not with-hold mercy from his penitent that hath not only confessed but forsaken his sin As for the late season of my repentance I confesse I have highly wronged and hazarded my soule in the delay of so often required and so often purposed a worke and given thee faire advantages against my selfe by so dangerous a neglect but blessed be my God that he suffer'd not these advantages to be taken I had been utterly lost if thou hadst surprized me in my impenitence but now I can look back upon my perill well passed and defie thy malice No time can be prejudiciall to the king of heaven no season can be any barre either to our conversion or his mercifull acceptance It is true that latenesse gives shrewd suspitions of the truth of repentance but where our repentance is true it cannot come too late Object this to some formall soules that having lavisht out the whole course of their lives in wilfull sensuality profanenesse thinke to make an abundant amends for all on their death-beds with a fashionable Lord have mercy These whom thou hast mockt and drawn on with a stupid security all their days may well be upbraided by thee with the irrecoverable delay of what they have not grace to seek but that soule which is truly touched with the sense of his sin and in an humble contrition makes his addresse to God and interposes Christ betwixt God and it selfe is in vain scarred with delay and finds that his God makes no difference of houres Do I not see the Prodigall in the Gospel after he had run himselfe quite out of breath means yet at the last cast returning and accepted I do not hear his father austerely say Nay unthrift hadst thou come whiles thou hadst some bags left I should have welcomed thy returne as an argument of some grace and love but now that thou hast spent all and necessity not affection drives thee home keep off and starve but the good old man runs and meets him and falls on his neck and kisses him and calls for the best robe and the fatted calfe Thus thus deals our heavenly Father with us wretched sinners if after all refuges vainly sought and all gracious opportunities carelesly neglected we shall yet have sincere recourse to his infinite mercy the best things in heaven shall not be too good for us IV. TEMPTATION Tush What doest thou please thy selfe with these vaine thoughts if God cared for thee couldst thou be thus miserable Repelled AWay thou lying Spirit I am afflicted but it is not in thy power to make me miserable And did I yet smart much more wouldst thou perswade me to measure the favour of my God by these outward events Hath not the
in despaire persecuted but not forsaken cast downe but not destroyed Of the Jewes five times received I forty stripes save one Thrice was I beaten with rods once was I stoned thrice I suffered shipwrack a night and a day I have been in the deep In journying often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils by my owne countrymen in perils by the heathen c. In wearinesse and painfulnesse in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakednesse Yea which was worse then all these dost thou not heare him say There was given to me a thorne in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me Dost thou not too well know for thou wert the maine actor in those wofull Tragedies what cruell torments the blessed Martyrs of God in all ages have undergone for their holy profession None upon earth ever found Gods hand so heavy upon them none upon earth were so dear to heaven The sharpnesse therefore of my pangs can be no proofe of the displeasure of my God Yea contrarily this visitation of mine what ever thou suggestest is in much love and mercy Had my God let me loose to my owne waies and suffered me to run on carelesly in a course of sinning without check or controll this had been a manifest argument of an high and hainous displeasure God is grievously angry when he punishes sinners with prosperity for this shows them reserved to a fearfull damnation but whom he reclaims from evil by a severe correction those he loves there cannot be a greater favour then those saving stripes When wee are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world Besides the manner of the infliction speaks nothing but mercy for what a gentle hand doth my God lay upon me as if he said I must correct thee but I will not hurt thee what gracious respites are here what favourable inter-spirations as if God bade me to recollect my selfe and invited me to meet him by a seasonable humiliation This is not the fashion of anger and enmity which ayming only at destruction indevours to surprise the adversary and to hurry him to a sudden execution Neither is it a meer affliction that can evince either love or hatred all is in the attendants and entertainment of afflictions Where God means favour he gives together with the crosse an humble heart a meek spirit a patient submission to his good pleasure a willingnesse to kisse the rod and the hand that wields it a faithfull dependence upon that arme from which he smarts and lastly an happy use and improvement of the suffering to the bettering of the soule who so finds these dispositions in himselfe may well take up that resolution of the sweet singer of Israel It is good for me that I have been afflicted I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou in very faithfulnesse hast afflicted me Contrarily where God smites in anger those stroakes are followed and accompanied with wofull symptomes of a spirituall maladie either a stupid senslesnesse and obdurednesse of heart or an impatient murmuring at the stripes saucy and presumptuous expostulations fretting and repining at the smart a perverse alienation of affection and a rebellious swelling against God an utter dejection of spirit and lastly an heartlesse despaire of mercy Those with home thou hast prevailed so far as to draw them into this deadly condition of soule have just cause to thinke themselves smitten in displeasure but as for me blessed be the name of my God my stripes are medicinall and healing Let the righteous God thus smite me it shall be a kindnesse and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyle that shall not break my head VI. TEMPTATION Away with these superstitious feares and needlesse scruples wherewith thou fondly troublest thy selfe as if God that sits above in the circle of heaven regarded these poore businesses that passe here below upon earth or cared what this man doth or that man suffereth Dost thou not see that none prosper so much in the world as those that are most noted for wickednesse and dost thou see any so miserable upon earth as the holiest Could it be thus if there were providence that over looks and over-rules these earthly affairs Repelled THe Lord rebuke thee Satan Even that great Lord of heaven and earth whom thou so wickedly blasphemest wouldst thou perswade me that he who is infinite in power is not also infinite in providence He whose infinite power made all creatures both in heaven above and in earth beneath shall not his infinite providence govern and dispose of all that he hath made Lo how justly the spirit of wisdome calls thee and thy clients fools brutish things They say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard Vnderstand ye brutish among the people and ye fools when will ye be wise He that planted the eare shall he not heare he that formed the eye shall not he see he that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know It was no limited power that could make this eye to see this eare to heare this heart to understand and if that eye which he hath given us can see all things that are within our prospect and that eare that he hath planted can heare all sounds that are within our compasse and that heart that he hath given us can know all matters within the reach of our comprehension how much more shall the sight and hearing and knowledge of that infinite Spirit which can admit of no bounds extend to all the actions and events of all the creatures that lie open before him that maâ—e them It is in him that we live and move and have our being and can we be so sottish as to think we can steale a life from him which he knows not of or a motion that he discerneth not That word of his by whom all creatures were made hath told me that not one sparrow two whereof are sold for a farthing can fall to the ground without my heavenly Father yea that the very hairs of our heads though a poor neglected excrement are all numbred and can there be any thing more sleight then they How great care must we needs think is taken of the head since not an haire can fall unregarded The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth down and lifteth up He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the begger from the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth are the Lords and he hath set the world upon them Even Rabshakeh himselfe spake truer then he was aware of Am I now comne up without the Lord against this place No certainly thou insolent blasphemer thou couldst not move thy tongue nor wag thy finger against Gods inheritance
so divine a work whereas presumption comes with ease it costs nothing no strife no labour to draw forth so worthlesse and vicious a disposition yea rather corrupt nature is forward not only to offer it to us but even to force it upon our admission and it is no small maistery to repell it True faith struggles with infidelity this Iacob is wrestling with this Esau in the womb of the soule and if at any time the worse part through the violence of a temptation get the start of the better the hand laies hold on the heel and suffers not it selfe to be any other then insensibly prevented but recovers the light ere the suggestion can be fully compleated and at last so far prevails that the elder shall serve the younger This is the victory that overcomes the world even our faith Whereas presumption is ever quiet and secure not fearing any perill not combating with any doubt pleasing it selfe in its owne ease and safety and in the confidence of a perpetuall prosperity can say I shall never be moved True faith wheresoever it is purifieth the heart and will not suffer any known sin to harbour there and is ever attended with care awfulnesse love obedience Whereas presumption impures the soule and works it to boldnesse obduration false joy security senslesnesse True faith grows daily like the graine of mustard-seed in the Gospel which from small beginnings arises to a tall and large-spreading plant presumption hath enough and sits down contented with its own measure applauding the happinesse of its own condition True faith like gold comes out pure from the fire of Temptation and like to sound friendship is most helpfull in the greatest need Presumption upon the easiest triall vanisheth into smoak and drosse and is never so sure to faile us as in the evill day So then this firme affiance of mine being grounded upon the most sure promises of the God of Truth upon frequent use and improvement of all holy means after many bickerings with thy motions of unbelief being attended with holy and purifying dispositions of the soule and gathering still more strength and growing up dayly towards a longed-for perfection and which now thy experience convinces thee to be most present and comfortable in the hour of Temptation is true faith not as thou falsly suggestest a false presumption It is true my unworthinesse is great but I have to do with an infinite mercy so as my wretched unworthinesse doth but heighten the glory of his most mercifull pardon and acceptation Shortly then where there is a divine promise of free grace and mercy a true apprehension and embracing of that promise a warrant and acceptance of that apprehension a willing relyance upon that warrant a sure knowledge and sense of that relyance there can be no place for presumption This is the case betwixt God and my soule His word of promise and warrant that cannot deceive me is He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and He that believes in him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life My owne heart irrefragably makes out the rest which is the truth of my apprehension relyance knowledge Mine therefore is the faith the presumption in casting sclander upon the grace of Gods spirit is thine owne IX TEMPTATION Thou thoughtest perhaps once that thou hadst some tokens of Gods favour but now thou canst not but find that he hath utterly forsaken thee and withdrawing himself from thee hath given thee up into my hands to which thy sins have justly forfaited thee Repelled BE not discouraged O thou weak soule with this malicious suggestion of the enemy Thou art not the first nor the holiest that hath been thus assailed So hard was the man after Gods owne heart driven with this Temptation that he cries out in the bitternesse of his soul Will the Lord cast me off for ever and will he be favourable no more hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Is his mercy cleane gone for ever doth his promise faile for evermore Thy case was his for the sense of the desertion why should not his case be thine for the remedy Mark how happily and how soon he recovers himself And I said This is my infirmity But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember the wonders of old I will meditate of all thy works Lo how wisely and faithfully David retreats back to the sure hold of Gods formerlyexperimented mercies and there finds a sensible reliefe He that when he was to encounter with the proud Giant could before-hand arme himselfe with the proof of Gods former deliverances and victories Thy servant slew both the lyon and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistim shall be as one of them now animates himself after the temptation against the spirituall Goliah with the like remembrance of Gods ancient mercies and indearments to his soule as well knowing that what ever we are God cannot but be himself God is not as a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent Having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the end Hast thou therefore formerly found the sure testimonies of Gods favour to thee in the reall pledges of his holy Graces live thou still whiles thou art thus besieged with temptations upon the old store know that thou hast to do with a God that can no more change then not be Satan cannot be more constant to his malice then thy God is to his everlasting mercies He may for a time be pleased to withdraw himself from thee but it is that he may make thee so much more happy in his re-appearance It is his owne word For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy redeemer In the case wherein thou now art thou canst be no meet Judge either of Gods respects to thee or thine owne condition Can the aguish palate passe any true judgement upon the tast of liquors Can the child entertaine any apprehension of his parents favour whiles he is under the lash Can any man looke that the fire should give either flame or heat whiles it lies covered with ashes Can any man expect fruit or leaves from the tree in the midst of winter Thou art now in a fit of temptation thou art now smarting under the rod of correction thy faith lies raked up under the cold ashes of a seeming desertion the vegetative life of thy soul is in this hard season of thy triall drawne inward and run downe to the root thine estate is never the lesse
safe for this though more uncomfortable wait thou upon Gods leisure with all humble submission the event shall be happy when the distemper is once over thou shalt returne to thy true relish of Gods mercy when thine heavenly father shall smile upon thee and take thee up in his armes thou wilt see love in his late stripes when those dead ashes shall be removed and the gleeds of grace stirred up againe in thee thou shalt yeild both light and warmth when the Sun of righteousnesse shall approch to thee and with his comfortable beams draw up the sap into the branches thou shalt blossome and flourish In the meane time feare nothing only believe and thou shalt see the salvation of the Lord Thy soule is in surer hands then thine owne yea then of the greatest Angel in heaven far out of the reach of all the powers of hell For our life is hid with Christ in God Hid not lost not laid open to all eyes but hid hid where Satan cannot touch it cannot find it even with Christ in the heaven of heavens Feare not therefore O thou feeble soule any utter dereliction of thy God Thou art bought with a price God paid too deare for thee and is too deeply ingaged to thee to lose thee willingly and for any force to be offered to the Almighty what can men or Devils do And if that malignant spirit shall challenge any forfeiture plead thou thy full redemption It is true the eternall and inviolable law hath said Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them and the soule that sinneth shall die Death and curse is therefore due to thee But thou hast paid both of these in thy blessed redeemer Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Where sin abounded grace did much more abound that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace raigne through righteousnesse unto eternall life by Iesus Christ our Lord It is all one to pay thy debt in thine owne person and by thy surety Thy gracious suerty hath staked it down for thee to the utmost farthing Be confident therefore of thy safe condition thou art no lesse sure then thine adversary is malicious X. TEMPTATION Had God ever given thee any sure testimonies of his love thou might'st perhaps pretend to some reason of comfort and confidence But the truth is God never loved thee he may have cast upon thee some common favours such as he throwes away upon reprobates but for the tokens of any speciall love that he bears to thee thou never didst never shalt receive any from him Repelled THis is language well-befitting the professed make-bate betwixt God and man but know O thou false tempter that I have received sure and infallible testimonies of that speciall love which is proper to his elect First then as I have to do with a bountiful God who where he loves there he inriches so I have received most precious gifts from his hands such as do not import a common and ordinary beneficence w ch he scatters promiscuously amongst the sons of men but such as carry in them a dearnesse and singularity of divine favour even the greatest gifts that either he can give or man receive For first he hath given me his spirit the spirit of Adoption whereby I can call him Father for the assurance whereof The Spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God Deny if thou canst the invaluablenesse of this heavenly gift and if thy malice cannot detract from the worth but from the propriety yeelding it to be great but denying it to be mine know O thou envious spirit that here is the witnesse of two spirits combined against thine Were the testimonies single surely I had reason to believe my owne spirit rather then thine which is a spirit of errour but now that the spirit of God conjoines his inerrable testimony together with my spirit against thy single suggestion how just cause have I to be confident of my possession of that glorious and blessed gift Neither is that good spirit dead or dumb but vocall and operative it gives mee a tongue to call God Father it teacheth me to pray it helpeth mine infirmities and maketh intercession for me with groanings which cannot be uttered It worketh effectually in me a sensible conversion Even when I was dead in sins and trespasses God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved me hath by this spirit of his quickned me together with Christ and hath raised me up together with him By the blessed effects therefore of this regenerating Spirit happily begun in my soule I find how rich a treasure the Father of mercies hath conveighed into my bosome Besides my life shows what is in my heart it was a gracious word that God spake to his people of old and holds for ever I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes I will also save you from all your uncleannesses The spirit of God can never be severed from obedience If the heart be taken up with the holy Spirit the feet must walke in Gods statutes both heart and life must be freed from all wilfull uncleannesses I feel that God hath wrought all this in me from him it is that I do sincerely desire indevour to make straight steps in all the ways of God and to avoid and abhor all those foule corruptions of my sinfull nature Flesh and bloud hath not would not could not work this in me The Spirit therefore of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwels in me And if this be not a pledge of his dearest love heaven cannot yeeld one Moreover he hath bestowed upon mee another gift more worth then all the world his own son the son of his love the son of his nature by eternall generation Whom he hath not only given for me in a generality with the rest of mankind but hath by a speciall donation conveighed unto me and as it were put into my bosome in that he hath enabled me by a lively faith to bring him home unto my soule and hath thus by a particular application made him mine so as my soule is not more mine then he is my soules And having given me his son he hath with him given me all things If there can be greater tokens of love then these let me want them Besides his gifts his carriage doth abundantly argue his love were there a strangenesse betweene God and my soule I might well feare there were no other then overly respects from him towards me but now when I find he doth so freely and familiarly converse with his servant and so graciously imparts himself to me renuing the daily testimonies of his holy presence in the frequent motions of his good