tribulations and afflictions are the patrimony of good men and good women therefore never dispaire of mercy for any vexation or trouble nor have such a thought in thee as to think that Gods mercies are not for thee I wish that all our Anabaptists and women-Preachers would have such thoughts in them then I am perswaded it would make them more conformable to our Parliament and to the truth of Gods holy word Let no afflictions or troubles of this world I say daunt thee for unto good men and women afflictions and troubles in this life serve to admonish them of their infirmities and the vertues of good people are made manifest unto the world by their troubles and crosses of this life wherefore if thou beest almost in despaire or beest cast down upon thy bed of sicknesse c. why then note to thy comfort as in a skirmish as God grant it may be otherwise with this Kingdome wherein there are now too many in the warres that when the conflict is once begun then the courage of the Captaine I say then and not before is his valour exercised and known so when God doth call his children to any crosse or calamity then begins the battell then their blessed patience and meek contentment is made known and manifest I say then or never knowing that all goes by the hand of Gods providence and holy Ordinance in whom we live move and have our being Acts 17.28 And know that no Physitian I write this as a Hand-kercheffe to wipe away all teares from the eyes of such as are mourners for sin can be more carefull for the health of the body then God is and will be if we be constant and confident in calling upon him by prayer for mercy and favour in his Son and our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ for the health of the soul how bitter soever the potion and portion of our afflictions may seem to us yet receiving it from him who meanes us so well we should not but receive it and them with patient suffering yea whatsoever his mercifull hands shall reach or lay uppon us saying with holy and just Job though he kill me yet will I trust in him Job 13.15 My son saith the Wise man when thou commest to the service of God then prepare thy soule for temptations and fears and troubles and shrink not away when thou art tryed for whom the Lord loveth him he chasteneth as gold and silver are tried in the fire so I say are our faith and patience tried in the furnace and fire of afflictions Sicknesses and afflictions are a means to purge out the drosse of naturall corruption which by reason of our sins remaines within us Afflictions being sanctified saith Gregory will bring us to a true fight of our sinnes and so to a hearty sorrow for the same and Affliction will teach Humility even in the best of Gods Children as Job David Paul and a man that should but read Johes Booke Davids Psalmes and Saint Pauls Epistles he could not but wonder to thinke that ever they should have any mirth at any time c. If we put into the Ballance the afflictions of this life they will be found of no weight nor in any wise able to counterpoize the greatnesse of the reward for as I sayd before tribulation is but a passion and therefore small is the force thereof but glory is an action and therefore powerfull and encreaseth every moment This life passeth away swiftly and soone vanisheth therefore despaire not but strive to make they election sure which may be done if thou canst but believe and so labour and endeavour for the glory to come Esay 64.4 which hath no end and is full of sweet comfort and happinesse more then heart can think 1 Cor. 2.9 and endureth for ever and ever Oh therefore good Christian soule persevere constantly in a pure faith in Christ and therin labour to finish your course for great is your reward which God hath promised and Christ hath purchased if thou canst but believe in him And mark this also for thy future and eternall comfort that the life of a Christian cannot be without sin nor temptations for I dare say our profit and encrease in godlinesse is through temptations as St. Augustine saith and his reason there followeth for neither doth a man well know himselfe except he be tempted neither can he be crowned except he overcome neither can he overcome except he fight neither can he fight except he have enemies and temptations to encounter with Whence again note and observe that God useth divers instruments in tempting troubling and afflicting of his children for sometimes he useth the Devill as he did with Job sometimes wicked men he useth as a meanes as the talse witnesses against our Saviour and sometimes he useth other creatures but yet in all these there is a double comfort to Gods childe first that great and many are the troubles of the righteous and then secondly for their full comfort the Lord will deliver them out of all Psal 34.19 the Prophet doth not say he hath nor in the present doth but in the future shall Againe if ye observe the ends of afflictions therein also know that sometimes we are afflicted that we may be humbled and the pride of our hearts abated sometimes to the end that we may not fix our love upon this world sometimes they are sent to make us more zealous in good workes and sometimes they are sent for this end that pertaking with Christ in his sufferings we may also be glorified with him and herein remember how the Lord tryed Abraham in offering up his Son how he tryed Isaac Jacob and all the Patriarchs with many and hard peregrinations and think also how he tryed all the holy and godly Martyrs with scourges and torments with fire and faggot and thereby thinke imagine and know that the scourge of tribulation stirreth up the drowsie humbleth the proud purgeth the penitent and crowneth the innocent Againe know and understand that the Lord afflicteth his children for these ends that our faith thereby in the first place may be more pure holy and perfect even as gold out of the furnace Secondly that we might the better know our selves and our own frailnesse and weaknesse Thirdly in respect of others that so we might be examples of patience and constancy unto them Thus Christ proved the faith of Peter on the Sea and at his Passion and againe after his Resurrection And the Apostle Paul witnesseth that through his persecutions and bonds I say that thereby many of the brethren were imboldned and did more frankly speake the truth Philip. 1.14 even thorow my bonds saith he and hence proceeded those confident speeches of the Christians and holy Martyrs to their tyrants and persecutors saying torment us rack us condemne us breake us in pieces yet for all this your malice and iniquity it 's nothing to our hurt but for our joy and comfort it is nothing but the
must not therefore conclude and say that because we are subject to temptations and because the sword is so predominant in our Kingdome or because the seeds of sinnes are still in us and the corruptions of our natures are not fully purged that therefore we are out of the favour of God and first for the sword so raigning in the Land we must confesse it is for the sinnes of the Land which if once that cause were but removeed then the effect would cease What wilt thou say that for these thou art out of Gods favour Well then note againe that these may be and often are to be found even in Gods dearest Saints but heerein we may pray unto God for helpe because he is the Lord of peace who giveth peace unto his children cast thy care therefore upon God the authour and finisher of thy faith 1. Pet. 1.2 and use an endeavour by striveing and labouring to resist these temptations and endure the combate with patience having an eye to our Captaine Christ Jesus who is the authour and finisher of our faith c. Heb. 12.1.2 and know that God freely accepts us as righteous not for any merrits of ours but for the merrits of his deare Sonne in whom onely he is well pleased 2. Pet. 1.17 And also know that whensoever thou art in any temptation or doubtings to trouble thy soule remember then I say that thy estate in this life is like Peter on the water whose faith at first was so strong that at the call of Christ he came boldly to him on the waters without doubtings but when he saw the waves comming against him then he presently doubteth and feareth drowning and begins to sinke and finding himselfe unable to save himselfe he flyeth to Christ and prayeth earnestly unto him for helpe saying Master save me I perish And then Christ giveth him his hand and bringing him into the Ship saveth him from drowning And in like maner it is with a Christian for at first when Christ called him to faith and repentance being perswaded by the Spirit to believe then he comes boldly unto Christ being moved by the excellency of Christs merrits and the free promises of grace and mercy in him but when once he comes to see his owne unthankfulnesse and the weakenesse of his faith and obedience and the unbeliefe and wants of sanctification in him then the waves of Sathans temptations and corruptions of his own nature assaulting him feares and doubtings seize upon him and he is ready to sinke downe into the sea of dispaire for want of faith I say if this be thy estate and thy case as peradventure it may What then must thou doe heerein Onely this confesse and acknowledge thine owne weakenesse and insufficiency and with Peter being ready to sinke flie unto Christ and pray unto him for comfort who is the authour and fountayne of life and peace for if any be afflicted let him pray sayth Saint James 5.13 And my house shall be called the house of prayer saith our blessed Saviour Mat. 21.13 But where is Gods house once called the house of preaching neither yet in all Gods word I am sure from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelations we doe not read of one quarter of the Miracles and Wonders that have been done by preaching as have been by prayer and the Apostle willeth us to prove and to examine our owne selves not any man another but himselfe 2. Cor. 13.5 And was or is that by preaching and not rather by prayer and pray continually 1. Thes 5.17 And I dare say that in any doubtings troubles and afflictions whatsoever that thou mayest be in prayer may be the meanes to beget faith in thee to believe and thou thereby mayest be saved and recovered c. But againe if thou at any time doubtest because of thy imperfections in any of thy assaults and because thou art not fully as thou mayest imagine regenerated Know then as I said before that Christ is thy perfection and that God so beholdeth thee in him as that thou canst not totally fall For if we looke upon our selves why then when we have done all that we can yet alasse wee must needes be constrayned to say that we are but unprofitable servants Luke 17.10 And for peace in our selves we cannot finde any So that as Noahs Dove was constrayned to flie backe againe into the Arke before shee could finde whereon to rest the sole of her foot Gen. 8.9 So are we constrayned to flie to Christ before we can finde rest to our soules As the Israelites being stung with the fiery Serpents presently looking upon the brazen Serpent were healed and cured Num. 21.9 So whensoever thou art wounded by sinne or moved to doubtings by thine owne weaknesse or Sathans temptations then slie presently to Christ and behold him by the eye of fayth how he was crucified how hee shed his most precious bloud how he died and rose againe how he sits at the right hand of his and our Father and makes intercession and all for the purchase of thy peace and for the joy and comfort of as many as thus beleeve of him Oh now with this perswasion I say possesse thy soule in patience and hope that thou shalt one day enjoy that inheritance of the Saints where is freedome from all these feares and doubtings which Christ hath bought and purchased for thee O despayre not then for Christ I say hath purchased and bought eternall life and everlasting joyes for thee and not by or with thy merits but by and with the price of his owne most pretious bloud this hope will not make ashamed Rom. 5.5 Yea by and with this hope thou art and shalt bee saved Rom. 8.24 Doe not therefore conclude and say that the joyes of heaven belong not to thee this is to abuse that sweet and loving mercy of God for as you have heard but even a little before from the holy Apostle St. Paul wee are saved by hope oh then thinke not thy selfe to be out of the favour of God or that the joyes or happinesses of Gods holy Kingdome belongs not or appertaines not to thee because thou art not yet free from sinne and Sathans temptations but comfort thy self in hope that as Christs praier for Peter was heard that though hee fayled in fayth and that for a time yet he could not faile and fall totally and finally and so also I dare say it is hard for thee for Christ hath prayed for thee as earnestly and as effectually as he did for him yea and for all that shall but believe in him John 17.20 and therefore Job 19.2 as Job in the midst of his misery did comfort himselfe with this meditation that his Redeemer lived So doe thou comfort thy selfe in Christ that one drop of his blood is of efficacy vertue and power to procure pardon for all thy sinnes yea and though all the sinnes of all the whole world were thine And therefore waite with
there is no God as also to deny the providence and power of God harping that all things happen by fortune and chance sometimes againe I am ready to deny Christ the second Person in the Holy and Sacred Trinity and sometimes I am ready to lay violent hands upon my selfe and thus to sinne sometimes against the first Table and sometimes against the second Yea and although I pray to be free there from yet I cannot well I shall tell thee the reason of this Sathan is thy utter enemy and for that cause both he and the world and the flesh will not leave assaulting thee and therefore it is that thou doubtest and thinkest withall that thou oughtest not to apply the favour and mercy of God unto thy selfe Unto these I fully answer That these temptations and corruptions may sometimes be found even in the best of Gods children yea in those upon whom God hath bestowed an excellent measure of grace the which either ariseth from the corruptions of their owne natures from which they are not fully purged and in which there are the seeds of all these sinnes of Atheisme Infidelity and the like or else from the temptations of Sathan from which they neyther are nor can be free so long as they live in this vale of misery Paul the Apostle was often buffetted with Sathans temptations Peter had a shrewd fall when hee denied his Master Noah Lot and saythfull Abraham they had their resurrections from sinns as I may say and David though a man according to Gods own heart Acts 13.22 yet he was constrained to pray as Psa 51.10 for to have a new heart created in him c. And how terrible were Jobs temptations as we may read Job 6.4 if these men were not free then how canst thou looke to be priviledged But to satisfie thee further herein know that thou art yet a member of the Church militant and so long as thou art so thou art and shalt be subject to these fightings and warrings against the temptations of Sathan continually nor canst thou be free from these till thou be a member of the Church triumphant which shall be in the world to come for first our regeneration is not fully perfected in this life and therfore the seeds of sin and corruption remaining there is a feare and doubting even in Gods dearest children yea and sometimes a kind of despaire too Oh! but in this know for thy comfort that Christ thine and our sweet Saviour hath felt the terrors of Gods wrath and absence that so his faithfull ones might bee delivered from it yet know this also that there will bee a combate in thee if thou beest Gods even betweene the flesh and the spirit Againe Sathan is a perpetuall enemy and hee will never leave off to seek thy destruction howsoever thou mayst get the victory and be at peace for a time when upon true repentance thou art reconciled unto God yet thy enemies will adventure againe and thou shalt bee sure of many battels and skirmishes with them before thou canst passe thorow the wildernesse of this world to the Canaan of Heaven But yet take this againe for thy comfort that temptations are sure signes that they that are troubled and possessed therewith are the deare children of God And temptations are profitable for a Christian and therefore Saint James saith my deare brethren count it exceeding joy when ye fall into divers temptations knowing that c. Ja. 1.2.3 c. nay our Saviour himselfe was tempted and that to grievous sins too as ye may see Mat. 4. as to Idolatry distrust of Gods providence and to doubt whether he were the Sonne of God or not nay hee was also tempted to pride and vain-glory yea to lay violent hands upon himselfe and so to be the cause of his owne death and when the Devill left him saith the text Luk. 4.13 it was but for a season St. Paul was an excellent Christian and the deare child of God and yet he could not be free from assaults Rom. 7.23 for he had the seeds of sin in him and he had a Law in his members rebelling against the Law of his minde and often leading him into the Law of sin for hee had inward enemies and hee was not free from outward for he had the messenger of Sathan sent to buffet him 2 Cor. 12.7 8. that is Sathan still assaulted him with one temptation or other to move him forward and to provoke him to sinne And St. Paul prayed thrice that is often and earnestly to be freed therefrom and that he might have no more of these assaults and troubles and yet hee could not bee free and why did not God give and grant his desire and request if he would have given this freedome to any then why not to Saint Paul I answer the state of the Apostle required it being a member of the Church militant that he should not be free least he might grow secure leave off fighting and so cease to be a Souldier which we must not do in this life for we then breake our vowes and oaths made by our Sureties or Parents in our Baptisms wherfore we must I say fight manfully under Christs Crosse and Banner against the three deadly enemies of the soule the world the Devill and the flesh and be faithfull unto death and then thou shalt have a crown of life Revel 2.10 It is the property of the Devill saith Saint Bernard to suggest evill motions but it is our parts and duties not to consent unto them for as often as we resist so often we overcome the Devill and we thereby doe honour our God who visiteth us that we should fight who helpeth us that we may overcome and who strengtheneth us that we faint not in our combate to be tempted by Sathan is Sathans sinne not thine but to yield and consent to his temptations is sinne in thee And know this that seeing our Saviour as I shewed you a little before was so tempted to such grievous temptations therefore let none thinke to be free but yet comfort thy selfe with this that God who is thy loving Father in Christ hath the Devill in chaines and as he stayeth the waves of the Sea at his pleasure Job 38.8 So he holdeth Sathan as it were with bit and bridle that he can tempt thee no otherwise nor any longer then God sees for thy good as is evident by the example of Job Job 1.12 And if the children of God be tempted and overcome by any assault yet upon true repentance and comming unto Christ we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins 1. John 2.1 and in the first Epistle John 1.8.9 If we say that we have no sinne we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us but if we acknowledge our sinnes then he is fathfull according to his promise to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse We