by a weake man to bring our soules under the authoritie of God even as if hee himselfe spake Doe wee feele the power of an Ordinance as farre above man as heaven is above earth to awe and over-rule us It is a signe that God is preparing to worke somewhat more then ordinary in us if we suffer it not to slip from us 5 Mark Fifthly this shall be another signe to us if wee acknowledge a providence of speciall mercie in that the Lord will use poore meanes to convey his greatnesse and goodnesse into us For what proportion is there between the Majesty of God and our basenesse Or how should wee endure either to heare his voyce or the voyce of an Angell Therefore the familiaritie of the instrument and the weaknesse of the Ordinances is a great benefit unto our simplenesse And as those Israelites were not able to beare the terrors of God no nor so much as the face of Moses being armed and honoured with the extraordinary gifts of the spirit were faine to desire that Moses might speake Exod. 20. and that with a veyle upon his face to weaken the shining of his countenance So should wee turne our offence at the basenesse of Christ and the ordinances into admiration and thankes that thereby the excellency of God might bee accommodated the more easily to our weaknesse 6 Marke Sixtly another marke is when the sinfulnesse of the instrument abusing the ordinance by his ignorant rash confused and unprofitable handling of the word yea attempting the Sacraments with profane hands through the scandalousnesse of his life doth not weaken the esteeme of the ordinances themselves in our hearts nor cause us to stumble at them slight them ever the more Rather when our soules tremble at such impudence and boldnesse of man that they should dare with unskilfull or impure spirits to obtrude themselves upon Gods holy matters and looke up to God by prayer that either he would better and change or else cast them out of his Church that they may no longer darken and destroy the excellencie of truth by their sacriledge and audaciousnesse Mean time looking beyond the sin of the person let us behold the glory of that Ordinance in the nature thereof which yet wee see so sullied and eclipsed by the blindnesse and wickednesse of base usurpers Lastly 7 Mark when wee can fasten upon those great things which the Lord offers us by weake meanes and that by faith in a promise taking them out as our owne peculiar portion For as when the Lord cast downe the walls of Jerico by those Rams-hornes the chiefe active instrument of the miracle was the faith of the Church Heb. 11. as the Author of the Hebrewes tells us so the great things of God are conveyed by faith into the heart through the Conduit of a promise Looke what the Lord of the Ordinances Sabbath and Sacraments hath promised to work by them in the soule when there seemes least likelihood to man that the soule may and will expect from him thereby through faith Therefore try our selves in some of these This doctrine aimes not at discoursing of the severall workes of the Word yet so farre as the point will admit let us try our selves by some of them The promise of God assures us that the weapons of the Minister of God are mightie through God to cast downe strong Towers of a prejudicate rebellious stout proud heart and the high thoughts of man 2 Cor. 10.4 which resists the obedience of Christ Can we then speake it in truth that we have found this vertue go out from the Word into us that when wee went to the Word full of our selves yet we have returned thence emptie And as a Souldier out of an hot battell wherein he hath lost an hand a legge or received some deadly wound yea which is more lost his great stomacke so that hee sees himselfe to be a very foole and no body to that he seemed So have wee seen that in the Law which hath cooled our courage and made us affraid to set up our bristles any more Then a weak Ordinance hath wrought a strong worke in us for it hath mastered that which was our strong fort I meane the fervour of our jolly stomacks It was not the work of a poore instrument but the power of God which did it Againe it is the promise of God that the truth shall make us free Have we then felt that it hath unbound our soules from the chaines of our feare bondage and infidelitie Hath it so enlightned us with the glad tidings of Christ that it hath also piercied into our affections deeply to long and hunger after them for our selves Did we finde that after once we heard the truth as it is in Jesus wee could not lin nor give over till it conveyed the merit of his satisfaction and bloud into us to pacifie our conscience and to rid us of that feare of death Heb. 2.15 whereunto before wee were subject And so renew our soules by the efficacie of his death so that we have crucified our old man with the affections and lusts Ephes 4.18 and felt the bloud strength and marrow of the new Adam and quickning Spirit reviving our veines and bones Surely then poore meanes have done great things in us far above all which the power of weake man can reach unto Againe the Gospell serves to breed and beget the soule to the hope of immortality and life in us Doe wee then feele that as poore as the Preacher was 2 Tim. 1. yet the Lord over-ruled him so as by the power of the Spirit breathing in him the carnall savour of the creature the love of the world and a fading life here below is driven out of us and the breath and savour of Grace and Heaven is put into us Hath it cast out our lingring after an earthly Paradise irrecoverable and carried us into a Paradise of glory never to be cast out more Hath it filled us with heavenly desires even while we are upon earth Hath it set us in an estate of content and peace yea as it were in a rich veine of hope wherein wee are restlesse and ever digging deeper till we attaine full satisfaction in the fulnesse of the fountaine Surely if we can say this in any measure we may buy and sell upon it that the promise by faith hath been the mean of uniting us base flesh and sinfull dust and ashes to the Lord himselfe eternall and incomprehensible that is to say corrupt weake wretched man to God blessed for ever Nothing can doe such a worke but a divine ordinance by the power of a Mediator through a promise for what is weaker then a Minister to effect it or what more impossible and incompatible in reason then for a sinfull man to partake it This then bee said of this second thing collected out of this verse to wit the meanes of Naaman his healing the
faithfull will withdraw himselfe for feare as loth to be noted afraid of his betters willing to sleep in a whole skin Try our selves by this If wee obey closely wee will not strive to quench but to quicken up our selves to pick out the best services we can for God in our places As a good Justice will straine his authority and improve the Statute to the uttermost against Sabbath-breakers drunkards and glad that hee can thus expresse his heart Another will bite it in and conceale himselfe So Parents so Officers so rich ones doe that which others cannot not else alas what singular thing doe you Triall 15 To conclude an honest heart will not weare the Divels Irons nor bee dispensed with It is well principled shee hath a sound principle and is not like to hypocrites I may compare these to Children set to Schoole some onely to read write and cast account so farre onely as will serve them to keep their Shop-booke or make their reckonings straight Others to be Grammarians and so University Scholers to learne the Arts and Tongues that afterward their learning may principle and furnish them for all studies So is it with these The formall Professor if he can pray and tip his tongue with generall religion is at a point and lookes no further hee hath enough for the attaining of his owne ends and is never troubled about his course But the sound hearted Christian who strives to bring his whole heart and life under the Rule hath never done with himselfe but workes his generall principles into an infinite bredth of particulars How shall I delight in the Sabbath How shall I hold in my heart from giddinesse and loosnesse How shall I watch to God in my thoughts affections and conscience How shall I get strength against this secret lust and that defect in duty praying hearing How shall I use the world as if not or deny my selfe God sees these errours although man doth not Oh! the principle of grace exceeds the shifting skill of an hypocrite as much as heaven doth earth These are some among many others which may serve to try our hearts brethren about this waighty businesse Set we upon this work therefore and cease not till by all or by some of these trials thou canst although but weakly yet soundly judge thy selfe to be one that endeavours closely to obey And as thou shalt by these markes discover thy selfe to be so either bee comforted or admonished To the which ends the two uses following shall pertaine Thus much for the use of Examination Vse 4 Fourthly then let all such as can prove that they receive the word of Commands according thereto with all closenesse and faithfulnesse comfort Comfort themselves in their condition I have pressed the use in part before to wit in one of the Reasons To apply my selfe more particularly this I adde That thou who closest with Gods Commands maist be doubly encouraged In 2 respects The first First in respect of thy speciall serving of thy time Thou bearest witnesse to God and to his truths when thou seest the power of godlinesse borne downe in this base world know it that as the Lord will be slight with the slight so he will bee close with the close 1 Sam. 3. It is his promise That who honour him he will honour those that esteeme preciously of Commands and walke narrowly with him in their obedience he will esteem preciously of them they shall be of his Cabinet counsell they shall be privy to his secrets he will make knowne to them his waies Joh. 7.17 So that when he is aloofe to others they shall have familiar accesse yea if he give an account to any of his administrations they shall be sure to understand it Abraham was for no other cause called the friend of God If ye doe my will you shall be my friends more then my servants for friends know secrets Gen. 18.17.18 Read that Ezek 9. Where the Lord causes them that obeyed him but in one of his charges to mourne for the iniquity of the age to be marked with a penne and inke that he might know them for his jewells for his beloved ones And againe he tells that Church in Rev. 3.19 because she had kept the word of his patience that is clave to his truths in the times of danger Therefore he would save her from the temptation which should come upon the whole earth Close obeyers of God in loose times shall have close comfort in trouble They that stand out for God and will not oppose his glory to publicke sale and reproach hee will shrowd them in the day of trouble when others shall goe from chamber to chamber with terror to cover their heads from wrath A strange promise which we can hardly see how God should performe but yet God will doe it for such as preserve themselves unspotted in conscience and cleane from the infection of others In the meane time he will be found of them in their prayers close walkers with God shall have close audience close peace close comfort inward refreshings as Esay cap. 50. speakes read the 10. vers Who is he that feareth the Lord and obeyeth his voice Let him stay himself upon his God And therefore fearing God feare nothing else Although thou be scorned and pursued for this thy closenesse as a vile person yet let not this dismay thee for thou sufferest for God and as Saint Peter saith if for a good cause and cleaving to a word 1 Pet. 3.14 thou art faine to suffer take no thought in that behalfe let them who suffer for their misdeeds looke about them but as for thy part the Spirit of glory rests upon thee and although thy face shine not as an Angells like Stephens yet thou shalt as much convince thine enemies Act. 6. ult as hee did the same Spirit of courage and patience which upheld him shall sustaine thee till thou be redeemed fully from all adversity Heb. 10.37 Beare a while and he that commeth will come not tarry in the meane time side not with them who breake Commands and would have thee follow their examples But rather if this be to be vile be thou yet more vile and the more thou avilest thy selfe for God the more honourable he shall esteeme thee The like I may say of thy obeying commands in the generall practice of Christianity take comfort in this also Canst thou say The second Branch Rom. 7.22 that thou delightest in the law of God in thy spirit and inner man I tell thee thy estate is better then to be a Prince without it The Lord hath done great things for thee if it be thus and as Paul speakes even made thee for the very nonce 2 Cor. 5. Consider the dayes past Hath it alway beene thus with thee Couldest thou alway desire to be unclothed and clothed upon Couldest thou alway desire to dye daily through the rejoycing
to deny thy selfe or else thou art foiled For Selfe is as the wife in the bosome It is hard to deny a friend a neighbour especially if importunate as him in the Gospel who came by night for loaves how much lesse a wife Nay Selfe is yet neerer unto us then a wife It comes alway with a bribe a gift in the hand sweetnesse of lust is as butter in a Lordly dish This bribe unhappily prospers wheresoever it goes except thou deale harshly with it as hee with Iehorams messenger it will prevaile Stoppe thine eares as the Adder In vaine is the net laid for that which hath wing Dally not with her as Eve with the serpent Sampson with Delila If she fell in innocency how wilt thou stand in corruption Peremptory folke are best in a good cause and she is the most chaste wife who hath the most denying behaviour Seventhly There is enough in God to make amends for denying Selfe That which Selfe falsly promiseth God both justly and duly promiseth and peformeth To joyne any thing with God is to joyne a candle to the Sunne or water to the Ocean And as hath beene said it is the way to make us hated of God and men of God for lacke of integrity of men for lacke of wickednesse In things confused no man knows his owne To expect reward from two Masters is to lose our labour from both So much be said for motives To adde some meanes of getting selfe-deniall First then labour to make somewhat else thy selfe beside thy selfe else thou wilt never deny thy selfe For Selfe cannot oppose Selfe in the particular of opposition no more then Satan can Satan If once grace come in place and stead of Selfe then all old Selfe life and the comforts of it shall go for new Selfe else God and all shall goe for house and land favour of men and liberties lusts and will of the flesh So Paul calleth grace himselfe It is not I but sinne in mee q. d. a stranger an excrement No matter what become of flesh if spirit once bee Selfe Get this sound judgement what deserveth to bee Selfe and all is well the old house shall downe that a new may bee set up Secondly be armed with sound resolution against the strong error of the world which maintaines godlinesse to be meere losse True it is that persecutions follow Christianity howbeit even with such persecutions afflictions Maâ—k 10. a Christian shall have an hundred fold As God can fill the soul with bitternesse in abundance so can he fill with joy and comfort an heart which wants 1 Cor 1. When my afflictions abounded then did my consolations abound also As a man may be in Paradise accursed so in prison an happy man Ruben what got hee in defiling of Bilha Surely shame he lost both birthright to Ioseph Kingdome to Iuda and Priesthood to Levi Hee was strength and excelleny but lost all And what got Salomon by denying himselfe in his petition Both that he asked and that which he asked not Thirdly consider what ever it be which thou seekest without God cannot doe thee any good When God bids honour wealth any creature do thee good it shall else not They are instruments and workes only by the agent as the saw by the hand of the mover They comfort us onely by a borrowed comfort And so on the other side nothing can hurt no not Shemei except God bid him and when the curse is gone forth yet it shall be both causelesse and fruitlesse except God send it Those that do so Idolize the creature yet finde it oft their snare yea the favour of Princes proves their snare and so they are forced to say If God had beene chiefe this or that had not been Fourthly stirre up sundry graces of God in thy soule First knowledge secondly faith thirdly the love of God For the first consider God in his worth We use to say Let such a friend speed he is worthy only knowing of God and his gift will make him prized and Selfe despised See Psal 73.20 They that know thee shall love thee 1 Cor. 1.12.13 See the place Secondly faith see that catalogue of selfe-denying Saints who refused to enjoy pleasures in Pharaoh's Court endured the spoyling of goods c. How came they by this By faith they did it Faith Conquers Selfe by the same power whereby shee overcomes the world for the world within is the chiefe world See 1 Tim. 4.10 Thirdly love When Paul was so disswaded from Suffering hee answers What doe you rending my heart thus I am ready to goe and to suffer losse of all for Christ all is dung and drosse to him The love of Christ compells us the Greek word is hemmes us in as in a pinfold that we can goe no way out of it 1 Cor. 13. Love is bountifull she seeks not her owne but Christs she suffers all things endures all things And to these adde Stirre up wisedome and be able to conclude that in denying thy selfe is true safety peace gaine in the contrary is nothing but sorrow repentance if not here yet in a season unwelcome See Matth. 16. end viz. when Christ shall come with his Angels Selfe shall prove thy plague thy bane if thou yeeld to it as Amnon to Tamar there will be no end of yeelding 2. Branch of Exhortation Get the Spirit of grace The second branch of exhortation is this Labour to get that Spirit of grace which God hath annexed to his covenant and promise that it may not bee naked and empty but accompanied and mixed with efficacie and power in the hearts of the hearers This Spirit opposeth Selfe in all the elect and suffereth it not to make the word to goe without effect and to defeat them of their hope It is such a spirit in the soul as taketh them off from their owne spirit of Selfe presents so really the good things which God hath given us 1 Cor. 2. that it causes the soule willingly to relinquish all home contents and with Caleb Numb 14. to turne the greatest yron charets Anakims and difficulties of beleeving into encouragements and perswasions I might save for envie compare it with the spirit of New England not that all who goe that voyage deny themselves for among many that doe some seek themselves but I say to the spirit of such as goe thither For as many of them are discontent with the conditions of Old England thinking it a burthen to live here where they cannot hire one acre of ground but it must cost them money but there they imagine they may bee rich the first day and occupy as much ground as they please and live contentfully In a word here they finde abundance of sad affronts and discouragements which there they hope to bee rid of Now having in their intentions knockt off themselves so resolved from the Old Englands their native soile and apprehended strongly the new Simil. as their Paradise who should
discovery of Grace in the effects of that discovery and the end of it For the first of these The Spirit of Grace is all for Grace in the discovery of the mystery of it the amplenesse largenesse height depth and length of it to the poore soule that it may appeare in all the excellency and fulnesse freedome bounty unchangeablenesse and wel be teamingnesse thereof that no corner of it may lie hidden from the heart of a sinner so farre as may further him in the bottoming of the soule in mercy This is a singular and peculiar act of the Spirit tending to this end that the soule may not stagger about the sufficiency of Grace which God offers unto her but may behold the power of the Priesthood of Christ once offering up himselfe as a compleat and spotlesse sacrifice and satisfaction for the sins of the elect needing no more to be offered able to procure from the Father endlesse wel pleasednesse and acceptance also a free offer of reconciliation and to create in the soule alone and of it selfe without any antecedent free will liking and cooperating of Selfe a most sufficient clearing of conscience from guilt and feare yesterday Heb. 10.3 Heb. 13.8 to day and for ever This cannot sinke into the heart of an hypocrite he cannot bee perswaded that there is enough in the Lord Jesus alone to discharge him in the Court of heaven the offer and promise are empty notions with him to sway all his strength upon neither dare hee rest thereupon with peace without a further addition of his owne feelings But the Spirit of Grace grounds the poore soule in this as the maine worke of all that so all the building may subsist thereon and makes sure retreat and refuge for her in the midst of her distresse that her foundation may not be shaken I wish that the method of that Epistle to the Hebrewes especially in the 7.8.9.10 Chap. might well be observed to the understanding of this act of the Spirit Secondly the Spirit of Grace doth not onely offer such a light to the soule but lets it in by her owne working into her setting the soule on worke to concurre with his revealing light and shewing it both that the Lord will conferre no lesse then all this Sufficiency upon a needing soule and therefore shee may without presumption take and partake them from his hand It sheweth her that it is the endlesse matchlesse Grace of God that he can find in his heart to pardon her yea to cast love upon her not only when she seems zealous and affectionate for Self can make her beleeve that but even when she is basest in her owne eies and under the conscience of her guilt when she is in her bloud when her originall loathsomenesse her actuall wickednes of thoughts of words of wrath hypocrisie and the like doe lye as a burthen upon her yet then even then marke what I say he hath love in a corner of his heart for such an one such as he will have herselfe confesse to be causlesse on her part yea such as if he had no more aime at being knowne to be loving then to love for any amiable thing in the object he would never shew to any Nay more lest the Spirit of Grace should leave any thing behinde him he doth offer to create the gift of faith in the soule Esay 5â— 19 to claspe upon this gift of mercy and includes this gift in the offer as knowing that it were in vaine to offer the one without working the other And hereby he causeth the soule to lay hold upon his strength and ablity to save as having received a ransome sufficient which is no other saving the writing of his covenant in the fleshy tables of her heart Esay 27 4.5 prepared by himselfe for the nonce And moreover that all this hee hath done of his owne free will and motion without any former principle acting him to intend it or concurring with him to create it I say he hath done it of himselfe as judging it meet for himselfe to doe whatsoever we bee and for the glory of his Name No entreaty of men or Angels no difficult tearmes of perswasion caused it but it flowed naturally from him as most honourable to his Majestie to doe Fifthly the Spirit of Grace stayes not here but proceedes to accommodate the soule to embrace this power of God for to what end should the Lord be willing to do it in her for her except she also felt sutable inclinations wrought in her soul towards it And therefore he moves her sadly to digest this grace offered to count it no light nor strange thing no nor yet beyond the soules apprehension but as on the one side hee causeth it to be most weighty pretious and to be highly valued so on the other side he makes it familiar sweet clear and evident not a thing above the clouds nor under the earth farre fetcht but neere the soule put into her bosome Rom. 10. belonging to her not to bee rejected or thrust away from her except she will perish These together with the infinite benefite of receiving it and the endlesse losse in forgoing it as being the onely remedy doe marvellously stablish the thoughts upon it and ravish the affections with it so that layes a most sad charge upon the poore soule upon paine of forfeiting her peace for ever not to passe it by slightly deadly and formally but to view and meditate of it savourly deep y unwâ—ariedly with admiration till by this mirrour of beholding the Lord with open face she be transformed to the gloriousnes of this gracâ— and carried 2 Cor. 3. end yea left in the streame thereof by the Spirit of the Lord. This for the first of the three particulars The second is the effect of this presenting worke of the Spirit And that is union The second worke the effect hereof viz. Union Whereby the Spirit of Grace shewes the soule into what a condition she is translated by faith in the promise That is she is made one with the Lord Jesus thereby and really partaker of all his good things true peace contentment in blessings crosses all conditions freedome from all former garboiles feares enemies joy in God and his salvation never to be divorced from him any more This causes the soule to shake off that wearisomenesse of Selfe never settled that bottomelessenesse never grounded that inconstancy and vanity never at rest and why Because it had no reall good to fasten upon and to determine those restlesse desires of hearts But now the Lord Jesus himselfe both in his present grace and hope of glory to come runues in her streame or rather turnes hers into his so that looke what Selfe was to her before emptily and barrenly now Christ is in her stead Christ is the Selfe of the soule he is all in all to her acts her comforts her staies her quickens her guides upholds
the vile that is the worke of his owne convincing spirit from the worke of their owne rebellious nature their discontent their fullennesse melancholy feares and other extremities that cleave unto them Also that he would shew them what hee hath done for them already that they may not provoke him by unthankefulnesse and what is yet to be done and at what especiall knots and objections they sticke what their chiefe barres and lets are which most hold them downe and if they cannot feele themselves rid of these confusions of spirit yet that the Lord would take away that wilfulnesse of stomacke that crossenesse that waywardnesse which makes their disease so ranckle in them and send them to seeke advice with a minde desirous to subject it selfe to God and to his ordinance and to mourne when it cannot being held in the chaines of it owne horrors or rebellion And secondly let them commend the enterprise in hand to God for successe that the Lord would bee pleased to dispose of the understanding of him that is to advise them that he may bee as from God unto them like Elihu that he may discerne of their complaints rectifie their errors meet with their corruption shew them their state and wants and comfort them at the heart as God allowes them That if they cannot at the first finde stay and support yet if they see but a little light at a crevis they may be glad of a little and not be dismaid that they may seeke still after counsell till the worke by degrees be perfected that they may not lay stumbling blocks in their owne way to fall by but hold the measure of light so farre as they are come waiting till God reveale the rest and not defiling their consciences the whiles Phil. 3.15 and so make the worke new to beginne Thirdly that the Minister of God may be wise as an Angell of God as well to find out apt and meete Scriptures to encounter the soule as the need thereof requireth either threats or promises or other sentences and when they see that these are urged not by the authority of a man but of God whom they only must look at in this case and not man that then their base hearts may no further kick cavill and gainesay and so put the Minister of God to a double toile not only to conflict with their reall distresse but also with their wilfull and accidentall sullennesse pride and rebellion Fourthly let them crave of God a wise utterance of their estate to the Minister of God or at least an inckling thereof that it may not be mistaken for a crooked rule being put into a mans hand will force him to make a wrong line though his skill be good enough to draw a right one Fifthly chuse thee out a faithfull interpreter one of a thousand for love lenity skill patience long suffering bowells of compassion and experience For such a mercury is not made of every blocke thou maist else light on miserable comforters Sixtly above all other things let such persons beware of any base motive or principle leading them to aske advice let them not affect any sinister respects nor aime at any base ends to bee noted for zeale to thinke themselves safe because they have taken counsell to choake and smother the accusations of conscience to make them bolder in sin to pretend and alledge the counsell and comfort of such a Minister to harden themselves against any just reproofes which after may bee urged upon them and the like base ends whereof the bouget of mans vile heart is fraught and full especially in this formall crafty age wherein every one will be Religious and Satan transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light For by this meanes that uncleane spirit will returne with seven worse then himselfe and defile more dangerously But let thy aimes in this worke be honest simple and sincere to goe forward with God according to thy light cheerfully and humbly and so looke to prosper Secondly for the Minister of God let him be exhorted also first 2. Branch to Ministers 3. Things Abhorre error and prejudice 1. Error to cast out all bad principles perverting the spirit of counsell and crossing the gift of restoring the weake And these are first a prejudicate sowre heart enclined to sinister thoughts of the afflicted conceiving them according to carnall reason and not discerning the worke of Gods spirit in such This is no common grace to have a cleere spirit this way For the spirit that is in us lusts after envy We are all a kinne to old Eli who seeing poore Hanna sitting sad with her lippes moving and no voice thought her drunke But when he perceived her to bee a woman of a troubled spirit 1 Sam. 1.13.14 powring out her soule from a full heart to the Lord and understanding the cause he became a Prophet of God unto her for her satisfaction and comfort 2. Error 3. Error Beware therefore of a base heart of prejudice error misprision rashnesse And yet take heed also that love and pitty make us not too hasty in comfort Also ease unmercifulnesse unbeteamingnesse sullennesse uncharitablenesse wearinesse and loathnesse to be enlarged in our bowells as the Lord allowes us of which disease Ionah was sicke 4. Error Also waspishnesse suddennesse and hastinesse whereby as Physitians cutting off their patients in their complaints they are impatient to heare and so discourage them I confesse that the talkatives and vanity of many weake ones in their complaints who in stead of inclining their eare and hearing that their soules might live are swifter to jangle to neglect that which which is spoken then to marke and have never done with idle repetitions may sometimes cause a wise counsellor to chide and reprove them justly yet with tendernesse and meekenesse And the like I may say of those endlesse answers which many make when they are demanded how counsell hath prevailed and they rather bewray themselves worse and worse then better and better for though it be not in our power to settle the spirit sooner then the Lord please yet it behoves not any distressed soule so to nourish themselves in their lowring and distempers as to dismay the Minister but rather by wise concealement or desire of new satisfaction to draw his heart to pray for them more earnestly and waite more patiently till the spirit shall blow peace upon them The second duty Practise This preparation being made the next exhortation is that the Minister of God do first meekly then wisely speak to the heart of the afflicted For the first of these it is a duty much pressed and exemplified in Scripture I say a mercifull and loving heart of fellow feeling and tendernesse to the heavy Fot hereby the Minister of God conveieth the heart of the Lord Jesus into the soul of the afflicted of whom it is said He had learned compassion towards them by his owne sufferings Heb. 2.18 that so
Christ and a lightnesse in his burthen Others a marveilous difficulty and such a thing as must be striven for and yet may be mist The answer is Heaven and Grace are both the most easie and the most difficult that can be Answ Grace is the hardest and the easiest thing of all Math. 19.26 both may well stand They are most easie to the soule which will bee taught of God and will not resist his method by attending their owne wisdome But to others they are matters of greatest difficulty To God all things are possible to flesh and bloud to the wit and will of man to the freedome of our owne choice nothing is so impossible I remember the answer of a Philosopher to a great Prince who had beene his scholar and was discontented at him for publishing his bookes be content saith hee and know my bookes of Philosophy are publisht and not published for none are ere the wiser for them save those to whom they were read and made evident So here The mystery of Christ is the most easie and the most hard easie only to such as in whom the Lord hath opened an eare Job 33.15 and revealed it to others hard So much for Instruction Vse 2 Secondly this is Terror to all such libertines and carnall Gospellers who make Religion Faith great works light and slight matters Terror to many running away with them as horses with empty waggons not through any Branch 1 ease they have by the Spirit but from the excesse and superfluity of their own blindenesse and presumption Slighters of the worke of grace abuse the doctrine of ease Others are blinde idiots tell them of Regeneration and Conversion and they run to their own strength they doe hope well that if they put their good will to Gods God will so far enable them as to get somewhat They hope men make more ado about matters then God himselfe God hath told them that faith in the promise is easie and none of these sowre Preachers shall pull this liberty from them what needs all this adoe If God be on our side we feare nothing as long as men walke even and faire harmelesse and devout bearing a good minde toward God keepe their Church and pay all men their dues and give to the poore for ought they see God is mercifull will not the death of a sinner is found of them that sought him not Esay 65.1 Matth. 11. â—9 Esay 57.17 His yoke is easie he saith he will not bee alway heavy upon men he knowes we be no Angels yea he saith that he hath seene the iniquity of mens covetousnesse and hee will heale them and make no more adoe It is for his glory to bee mercifull As for these Ministers who sticke so much at the truth of heart and faith unfaigned they say onely God knowes the heart and they trouble mens heads more then they doe them good making men unquiet and finding out new crotchets What is mans life say they if hee may not bee merry and cheerfull God loves it and Christ hath dearly bought it and its best to be merry eat and drinke and cast away care God say these hath made us of bodies as well as soules we be not all spirit nor shall be in this world we must tend Sermons so as we may tend our worke too our bodies must be made of for God and what skils it though we play and be good fellowes and drinke a cup or two so it be in the feare of God although we be none of these Puritans yet wee be not against them we hope by this meanes to spend out our short time having God afore our eies and to be in heaven ere we be aware Oh yee wofull creatures Doe you thus construe Gods ease I aske you Hath the Lord ever brought you under the bondage of spirit for all your cursed nature and impious prophanenesse Did it ever cut you off from your old stocke Did it ever bring yee under hope No doubtlesse Thinke not then to make faith an easie purchase upon your owne purse it will be one day in that your last night of death and darkenesse such a toilesome journey through tempest and foule weather dirt and wearinesse that you shall be quite tired and then shall true toile succeed false ease Hearken not to that lying spirit which beares you in hand all ease ease for it shall turne to extremity of anguish and to a desperate impossibility The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it The Lord indeed moderates the labour of his poore weary travellers to Zion Psal 84. So that they shall grow from strength and feele no faintnesse But no man shall goe up in a feather bed to heaven if it were ever an easie way it was never easie foolehardy stout travellers which boast of their limbes shall faint suddenly Matth. 15. Dogs must not come with poore children for Gods dole it belongs not unto them So much for the first Branch Others also there are whom this terror reacheth unto And they are Branch 2 base hypocrites who come with their toile and cost to God Hypocrites who come with their toile and cost to God are rejected devising painfull and tedious waies of their owne but shunning Gods easie way They will obtrude their whole rivers of oile and wine and whole barns of corne for the sinne of their soules whereas he askes onely a third part of an Hin and an handfull of flower for a meat offering A poore thing in Gods way is better excepted then all excesse of our owne Ye load mee saith God and pester me with your offerings I groane under the burthen of your sacrifices Honour me in mine owne way and I will make it easie and sweet to you But else the sand is not more heavy to mens shoulders then you to Gods you are out of Gods element therefore every thing is weighty you may complaine that you are not regarded but the Lord pitties no toile of hypocrites against his word Elija shall sooner consume the sacrifice with fire from heaven by standing still and praying in Gods way then all Baals Priests with their lancings and leapings upon the Altar Cost without wit is waste It s said of Ionathan that he had wrought with God that day on which he overcame those Philistins So I say Gods people work with God 1 King 18.28 with 37. 1 Sam. rather he with them but hypocrites work with themselves therefore they lay out their labour for that which profits not and mony for no bread They goe against the streame a Esau in his hunting for the blessing went another way with lesse adoe Esay 55.2 1 Sam. 14.45 2 Tim 3.7 As it s said in Timothy Alway hearing never comming to knowledge Oh the endlesse bootlesse toile of hypocrites You poore asses running the Divells round and grinding in his mill with your eyes blindfold at last be scared out of your trade You doe but as Sampson
Judg. 15. lay heapes upon heapes and die of thirst Once get into the right way and undoe somewhat first which God would have you forgoe instead of your doings and this will cause unto you incredible ease and sweetnesse in your proceeding Remember that speech Esay 30. your strength shall be to sit still Sit still and bee quiet therefore in your hypocriticall devotions and bee stirring and working with God under the condition of his promise and your labour shall not be lost in the Lord. 1 Cor. 13. ult Else you shall suffer losse not onely of a part but of the principall you shall sinke in your sweat and the most despised fatherlesse creatures with their poore emptinesse scarce daring to lift up eies to heaven standing afar off shall go away better justified then you with all your supererogations Luke 18.13 And when you are thus defeated your mends shall be in your own hands So much for this second Vse 3 Thirdly this Doctrine reproves sundry sorts And first all such as having enjoyed the liberty of Gods Ordinances all their dayes Reproofe Sundry branches 1. The chiefe season of ease is at first yet never had the wisdome to discerne that spirituall season in which the Lord makes this worke of faith easie and welcome The ease of beleeving in Gods usuall method attends a peculiar opportunity of Gods owne vouchsafing in which he doth more readily worke then at all other times Commonly when the word is first sent to a congregation as a dainty as a rare and desired pearle an object of price Againe when the spirit of the hearer is carried with violence to carry the Kingdome away whatsoever paines and charge it cost them when also the Lord sends the Angel or Minister with a more then common spirit of zeale to stir the muddy poole to the bottome and to unsettle mens hearts frozen upon their dregs I say when as the Lord inspires him with the spirit of Eliah or Iohn Baptist with speciall love to the pretious soules of men with laboriousnesse and the spirit of convincing when as the Gospel drawes all sorts unto it by the fervency of affections and examples of such as make toward it then there is ease in beleeving Not when the Gospel is waxen stale in a Towne and Manna plentifull which commonly causes loathing and fulsomenesse Not when the hearers heart is sunke and dead in his brest indifferent whether he speed or no Not when the spirits of the Ministers of God wax dull as Moses hands with long holding up Not when the Spirit of grace of power melting drawing and perswading begins to flag And as Micah saith is straitned Mica 2.6 Not when the hearts of Ministers faint in them and turne another way Not when they are driven out from their places and are faine to seeke into remote Countries Not when the affections of people wax generally dead and carelesse which end goe forward rather minding their owne world will and ends then the matters of salvation When these markes fall out the shadowes of the mountaines wax long the wild Beasts goe out of their dennes to spoile and the labourers turne their backes upon their worke because the Sunne is downe Not in these seasons not in death deepe sicknesses crosses feares losses is there like to be found this ease I speake of And therefore Oh you my brethen who heare me this day who have long lived here under the meanes above fifty yeares thinke seriously of your estate If yet the worke of beleeving the promise be undone if you have outbidden and survived all these happy seasons wherein your owne soules know you felt such dampings of corruption raisings of heart thawings inclinings and movings of spirit to embrace the offer of salvation and have fallen to the world to pleasures to ease and as Cain did being cast out of Gods presence to goe and build Cities Let my words now pierce you if any tendernesse at roote remaine in you and take heed lest if ever you finde God gracious if he have not quite cast you off for your dallying you be put to toile and travell for it lest it cost you tenne times as much trouble as you might first have had it for The Lord is hardly drawne to returne to a particular man when he hath left a publique place I tell you if you have slighted such meanes and seasons as these it must be the unspeakeable patience of God which can pull you home at last It were strange if a man who hath lost his faire or market should come many daies after and meet with those commodities which hee wants then he might have stored himselfe with ease but after with much hazard and cost You have had your season your accepted time and day of salvation Speciall application to the present people many hundreds have beleeved and set seale to the grace offered and most of them are at rest with God If you bee those unhappy ones who have received it all this while in vaine Hard for long dalliers with God to recover him again at their pleasure or leasure I doubt whether ever any new appetite will be lent you and although it were I doubt whether the doores being shut you shall speed of your desire though you should runne from Barwicke to Dover from old England into new for it or be admitted to beleeve Oh! How shall I speake to this wofull place for the padling out of her season of ease God hath brought salvation to your doores as to the children of the Kingdome pind it on your sleeves I may truly and in a good time speake it The Gospel hath alway brought you more gaine then it hath cost you Pulpits have beene as it were set up in your streets by your houses so neere is the grace of God come unto you and when others have ridden and trotted five ten fifteene miles you have had it at home for stepping in at the doores floods of butter and oile have flowed downe in your brooks and streets and thousands have beene satisfied with your leavings You have been as free borne to the Gospel What in all the world shall you pretend for your selves if you have never had I say not the best portion but any part at all of it Oh! that I could teach you after all my pressing of the promise among you how to dispute for your selves But that exceeds my skill you have had a fee-simple an inheritance of the Gospel you have beene married to the Lord under long constant unwearied plaine and powerfull meanes long ere I came among you All mens gifts have served you Note you of the congregation you have entred into other mens labours I may adde this that you have possessed fields vineyards and orchards which you never knew the price of never bought tilled or planted For my selfe although I have long lived unprofitable yet if ever God lent me any fitnesse to doe you good
with all the poison and disdaine they can professing themsâ—lves to hate the very tribe of them with a deadly irreconciliable feud That Centurian in Luke 5.7 is praised for loving the Nation of the Jewes But these abhorre both the persons and the whole Nation of the Ministers taking occasion by all possible meanes to expresse it in whatsoever companies they come yea in the most reproachfull manner what opinions and affections they beare toward them 2 King 9.11 Such were those fellow Captaines of Iehu who when the Prophets messenger came to doe his message asked him what mad fellow was this who came in unto thee Even such base triviall names doth the world give to the Ministers of God And as the villany of old Popish Idolls deserved the base tearmes of pild Priest hedge Priest knave Priest and the like So now ungodly wretches dare abuse Gods Ministers as fast for their goodnesse calling them singular fellowes proud pestilent Preachers fantasticall fellowes factious enemies to the estate Oh! of all other men they thinke such may be spared they were well ere such came and till they be rid of them they shall never be quiet As Ieremy saith Woe is me that my mother bred me a man of contention And againe Jerem. 15.10 Esay 8.18 I and my children are as signes of contradiction publick spectacles to men and Angels yea the very off-scouring of men It cannot be imagined how Alehouse hunters libertines epicures sweaâ—ers worldlings dare speake and thinke of Gods Ministers Oh! the bitternesse of their spirits Proverb the venome of their tongues who can stand before envy Well let not all this daunt us Let us do as our Lord Jesus himself and his Apostles who escaped not the like handling even carry our selves as wisely as we can and heap hot coales upon their heads by our long suffering and meeknesse But as for them look for no other while they continue as they are they doe but their kinde They who despise Christ himselfe are high traitors and they cannot be guilty of lesse then of petty treason who dispise his Ministers and if the maligners or revilers of the fathers of their bodies were to be stoned without any more adoe What shall the scorners and revilers of the fathers of souls be done too Psal 105.15 Surely although they may escape the judgement of man they shall never avoid his who hath threatned them that doe but touch how much more lay so violent and execrable hands upon his Ministers From what other spirit can it come let the pretences be what they will but a spirit of desperate prophanenesse and debauchednes yea a Giant-like defiance with God which because it cannot reach God himself therefore le ts fly all their reproaches and scorns upon such as doe most neerly resemble and beare witnesse of him upon earth Psal 69.9 The reproaches of them that reproached thee saith the Prophet have lighted upon me If the Minister can approve it against thee that he beares no other blowes or markes then such as should have lighted upon God himselfe Woe to them that are guilty of such blasphemy for the Lord shall plague them with the same eternall plagues wherewith he plagues those who immediately have blasphemed Majesty it selfe But I dwell not upon these I hasten to Reproofe And first this sharpely censures all such as disesteem discourage and Vse 3 desert such Ministers as they are bound doubly to honour and respect Of Reprofe Deserters and discouragers of such Ministers as they are bound too to be blamed This very fact of Naaman shall rise up in judgement against them in the day of Christ Did Naaman so deerly love the Prophet one whom he never saw before Before whose gate only he had stood and heard a message from but as yet had not seene At the bare report of him For a bodily cure Nay the hope of it a far off Shall an heathen do all this Shall he even doe some yea any great thing for him What colour shall they pretend then that are farre from doing the least thing for such a Minister of God as not onely they have seene but also heard lived and conversed with not the first day but ten twenty thirty forty yeares Not as Prophets but Preachers the least whereof is not onely greater then Elisha but Iohn Baptist himselfe Matth. 11.12 not promising the cure of leprosie but of the soule not offering the effect of Jordens waters but the waters of regeneration in baptisme Not by a messenger but by their owne hand and by the power of the word farre more excellent then the urim of a Priest or the vision of a Prophet Surely one might well thinke that such people should refuse no paines cost or hazard for such Ministers But be willing if need were to thrust themselves between the swords point and their bosomes to ride and runne to doe them good to stake their purse counsell travell selves soules and all for their encouragement If for the Brethren much more for the Fathers should we lay downe our lives But is it so 2 Joh. 3.16 Surely let that prejudice which men generally have of the very handling yea naming of such a point as this is say for them what their affections are in this case yea and the thoughts even of Ministers themselves who study how to passe over this point as the Dog of Nilus passeth by the streame rather catching here and there a lap then daring to stay and drinke for feare of some Crocodile or other to snap him up I hope brethren you will pardon me if I deale plainly as having no claime either to your tithes or purses who I am sure have spent five times more charge in furnishing my selfe for the worke of the Ministery then ever my Ministery was worth unto me therefore the rather I beseech you give me favour I come not to accuse you of this congregation for your present love or countenance Onely I must tell you many who now in our welfare use of gifts liberty and elbowroome shew themselves forwardest to encourage us Note this fulfilled Prophesie if God turne the wheele and change our publicknesse into privacy and our liberty to restraint and our peace into enmity and our health into sicknesse and leave us to their curtesies will be the first that will lowre upon us and challenge us rather for our curiosity and precisenesse then regard us either for the former services we have done or for the sorrowes we suffer Experience hath proved it so throughly already in many worthy lights who have spent all their oile for the use of the Sanctuary that even those hearers of theirs who most of all seemed to rejoice in their light have no sooner saw their light to be a little darkened to the worldward but they have slipt away in a mist and beheld them as strangers afar off deserted them their wives and children so that except God had
which God will have out and there the Lord and it are upon debate or there is a cursed naturall antipathy between the Lord and the way of salvation or the soule is full of teches and pritches against reproofe or it hatcheth some false conceit that it hath obeyd when it hath not which it will not see or puffes and snuffes against some other thing the Minister the Ordinance the difficulty of Religion the uncertainty of the promise Whatsoever it be it is a distastfulnesse of heart and a resistance against God which if it were not the soule would nakedly come in and obediently submit to the Gospel But this disease hath this misery that the more dangerous it is the lesse it will bee convinced of such a thing and this nourishes the heart in her wretchednesse it is not time alone which will heale it rather it causes it to rankle and wax worse and worse Men ascribe it to other matters being willing to gull themselves because they have no will to be rid of it They say they have weake memories little capacity and the Minister is too high for them But in very deeds their hearts are too high for him till the Word come neerer 2 Cor. 10.4 and worke inward to cast downe all imaginations and high things no submission will follow to the obedience of Christ The effect every one dare confesse but the cause they will not see it is not unprofitablenesse or an ill memory that hath caused your hearts to be so surly and perverse but it is a proud and gainsaying heart Acts 28.27 which hath so long made you unprofitable Doe not lin till you are convinced hereof for till the cause be seene it cannot bee removed Doe not lay the fault where it is not doe not blanch over the cause with fine words mitigate not the extremity of the sin with gentlenesse Perhaps you doe not live in wrath and rage with your wives family neighbours you make a shift to comply with men courteously so long as no body hurts you but truly if you beleeve not in all this while there is a pad in the straw your spirits are not inwardly brought to that tender softnesse and selfe-deniall to thinke equall thoughts of God and his way something stickes in your base stomackes which will not suffer the word of God to goe downe and pierce into you to perswade you If you would but bethinke you what a great let this is which hitherto you have not seene or if you could thinke how the case would bee changed with you if once a tractable comming and inclining heart were in you how the Ministers of God the Angels â—ea the Spirit of grace it selfe which you have so long grieved and resisted would rejoyce in the change Oh! you would never lin with your owne soules till you had cast it out and having shaken it off you would thinke it a greater ease then ever that Martyr of Christ did B. Hooper when he had cast off all his Popish trash and furniture from his shoulders Secondly it is reproofe Reproofe to many Professors who in hope are of Vse 2 the better sort who although by this sinne have not perhaps wholly stopped and choked the passages of the grace of conversion Christians of crabbed peevish stubborne hearts lose the grace of faith yet by the dregges thereof remaining in them and nourished dampe that obedience of heart that life of faith and selfe-deniall yea that peace joy and open heart to God and goodnesse which else they might attaine It is strange how some Christians dare give place to their corruption in this kinde yea grow to thinke it their praise Some are sowre and crabbed as it were steeped in vinegar so censorious and uncharitable that none can escape their censure some so suspitious jealous that none can live by them some so sullen that no estate can content them some so selfe-loving that none can please them save they who humour them in all their passions and pangs some so implacable that if once offended they can scarce looke a man in the face to rights some so eager in revenge that nothing else will content them some alwayes stirring up debate betweene neighbours so busie in Law and in matters of contention as if they were Salamanders alway living in the fire others so eager in spirit so lowring and sad that though they breake not out with others yet they never agree with themselves nor walke with a cheerfull countenance Why Save that the sweet oyle of gladnesse hath not suppled them nor the peace of God which passeth understanding hath possessed and stablished them Oh friends How dare you dally and venture to abide thus How sad a reflex will this bee upon your death-beds You will say It doth oft trouble you and you are grieved for your waspishnesse and anger But what then Is that an amends to God to vomit up that at an odde time which afterward you doe returne to and licke up ugaine without sense or feeling Oh! it were meet for you to be so heart-sick of it that you might for ever abhor it Christians should mark the secret creepings of such poyson how it dogges them chokes humblenesse and cheerfulnesse in them and makes them walke unfruitfully and unsetledly from time to time And say that sometimes you fast and pray and vow and covenant against them yet if the corruption and your soules are so incorporated together that when it steales in upon you with the old sweetnesse it inchants you and disables you from resistance what cause of boasting have you None surely nor shall till the Lord come between you and home with the spirit of true remorce and sorrow for it unto repentance never to be repented of and till your beloved lust become your bane See and apply that in James 4.1.2.3 till the Lord in secret chasten your spirits that you can sit and bemoane your selves with Ephraim and say O Lord what is the cause that I am so enthralled to this stout and unbroken heart Alas No word of thine no patience of thine can enter while this sin harden me I am not fit to bee wrought upon by any crosse blessing meditation or ordinance All washes away as it comes Oh! shall I never be rid of this misery this chaine When Lord will it once be Who shall breake off the slavish custome of my heart this way and set me at liberty Oh! if once it may bee I shall even account it as a second resurrection from the dead Oh! set such a guard over mee that I may never be surprized any more with it Let mee thinke the Divell not farre off when I see this messenger of his at my heeles so to dogge and buffet me Let thy Spirit from above which is pure peaceable Jam. 3 i5 long-suffering mercifull and patient humble and loving deliver me from this spirit of envie sullennesse Selfe and her fruits most earthly sensuall
condition battered broken and humbled but our hearts remaining as hard as ever and will not melt Wee have had more tendernesse then now we have and if then we could not beleeve how should we now We could have prayed fasted mourned better then now we can we are now tempted to give over all our hearings Sacraments we therefore feare all hope is past we neglected the special season of mercy by our dalliance and now it is too late So much for the second Thirdly from this longsomnesse and wearinesse the soule growes to disquietnesse of temper to tedious sorrowes bootlesse afflictings and baskings of it selfe and that by any occasions of another nature any accidentall crosses melancholy discontent and wearinesse of our selves of our lives wife children trade and converse with men conceiting our selves to have no right to any of these and therefore they will but encrease our judgement better it were therefore to make a â—iddance of our selves aforehand by violent drowning stabbing stifling of our selves then to beare it out to the uttermost Or else distemper may expresse it selfe otherwise by anger and vexation with our families and servants quarrelings with Gods Minister sometime bodily distempers grow upon such they cannot sleepe cannot follow their callings walke idly and joylesse mopish are afraid we shall be bereft of all we have and come to shame or at least die before ever we get grace or hold of the promise This also for a draught of the third Now I say for conclusion the word of Promise satisfies the soule in all respects both lesser and greater so that now the poore creature is like Peter Act. 12. out of his walking sleepe when the Angel was gone and came to see that cleerely which before was as a shadow So the beleeving soule by this light of the promise and by this sword of the spirit discovers and cuts off her annoyances here one there another as a strong man might cut off theeves assaulting him one by one at a narrow wicket And we might exemplifie all these by Scripture brethren if time would permit take one text for all Those in Hosea when once God humbled them and enlightned them they could cry out Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon horses now we see that with thee the fatherlesse shall find mercy we will breake off all our false hopes and cast away our covers of shame and those props of our owne whereby we hoped to releeve our selves without thee now we will abandon and renounce them all A maine place for the proofe hereof And so much for the answer of the question Now also a doubt here ariseth which in a word I will resolve and then come to the use The question is If the Word cease all distempers how comes it to passe that the Saints are so molested with them after their beleeving for how many doubts and feares objections temptations and lusts befall the best I answer this will be resolved by like Scriptures He that beleeveth in me he that eates of my flesh and drinkes of my bloud Iohn 6. shall hunger nor thirst no more How is it then that our hunger abides all our life I answer He shall hunger no more deadly distrustfully mortally but hopingly beleevingly and savingly So here These distempers may now and then arise but not as formerly then they were generall reaching to our estate now onely particular about our actions our comfort as arising from ignorance errour or speciall distrust Againe then they came from our owne principle of heart and mind corrupted but now they proceed from concupiscence and the remainder of old Adam in us which cannot doe other Satan also incensing it and causing it to present it selfe so much the more rankly by how much he feares his owne dispossession But now faith our new principle causeth an holy Requiem in the soule so that it may say truly as he spake basely Soule take thine ease Thou hast goods laid up for many yeares So I say some bounsings and clatterings the Devill may cause at our doores but the peace of God which hath calmed all distempers before we beleeved shall also allay and scatter all our mists of darknesse afterward as they arise and maintaine perfect peace For why This is the first fruits of that peace which we have in our conscience toward God through justification even as the eares of corne which the Jewes brought to God was a pledge unto them that they should have the possession of the whole crop Lastly I answer that by this doctrine I meane not that a Christian doth cut off all distempers so that whether he beleeve or beleeve not sleepe or wake he is sure for ever after No in no wise But that so long as he holds close to the word there is power in the word to effect that continually which it effected at the first Christ and his promise is Yea and Amen yesterday to day and the same for ever but how provided that the soule lie still as close to the promise to day as yesterday that it see as much need of it to dispell unbeliefe feares unquietnesse this day as heretofore and waxe not loose and presumptuous which is the way to expose the soule to temptations or else to nuzzle it up in a rotten quietnesse for the tâ—me which will breake out againe after But as we say to a Tradesman or others Keepe your shop well and that will keepe you neglect it and that will give over you so here Tend the promise and you shall find sufficient in it to uphold you in peace and to keepe off those flies of Beelzebub which were wont to annoy you But if you cease your worke wonder not if your distempers returne for although there were no enemies without to molest there is enough from within a base heart to create pudder and unsettlednesse to the soule And so much for the Answer also to this Question Now I come to some use and indeed the use is very weighty and manifold Use 1 And first this point argues the sleightnes of such as being urged to beleeve Conflict answer thus So we would and should if we could be rid of our accusing thoughts fearfull distempers which do molest us As if a man waking at midnight should say If mine eyes were not shut it would not be so darke Whereas the cause is in the night not in the eye for if it were day the eye would see well enough They make the effect the cause and the cause the effect If thou couldest beleeve thy distempers would vanish therefore remove that first Take out the beame and thine eye will soone be lightsome The want of faith causeth such a multitude of distempers to annoy thee and the gift of faith would clense the coast Beginne then at the right end of the staffe and let not errour beguile thee Use 2 Secondly this doctrine may give us a good Receit against Melancholy Instruct A