nothing but deceit nature is so farre spent within that he speakes against his brother and the bowels of pittie and compassion are so eaten vp that he slaundereth his owne mothers sonne therfore it cannot bee but that the criticall day should bee most dangerous That I lie not 1 Iudgement 2 Day 3 Symptomes 4 Cure see the sentence of the Lord most plainely vnfolding it v. 21. in the iudgement in the day in the Symptomes in the cure The iudgement these things hast thou done the day I held my tongue the Symptomes thou thoughtest I was like thee the cure I will reprooue thee and set them in order before thee The crysis or iudgement is most exact first in the cause of his disease these things profanation adulterie theeuerie euill speaking slaunder deceit causes sufficient to destroy the soundest temper Secondly in the subiect thou God is not deceiued of the principall part and member that suffers actionem laesam it is an hypocrite euen poisoned at the verie heart The third crisis is in the effect done a perfect concoction of the disease and therefore presently to be purged As the crisis is very manifest Daâ— so the day is not the seauenth day since the disease tooke him but seauen twice told nay I dare bee bold to say seuentie times seauen times Matth. 18.22 for he that taught Peter Matth. 18.22 not to forgiue seuen times but vnto seauenty times seuen times hath practised the same and therefore doublesse the hypocrite hath often been visited of the Lord in hope of amendement These things hast thou done was no false iudgment and I held my tongue was no few daies of triall Now for the third the Symptomes of his discase Symptomes what can more sensibly be perceiued First his pulse shewes the temper of his heart thou thoughtest a weake pulse shewing the decay of the spirits neither reason nor grace but a meere dreame of his weake phantasie Let vs handle his pulse and we shall find in it all mortall and deadly signes Pulsus intermittens First it intermits shewing his soule to bee so burdened with sinne that it cannot strike one good stroke suppose there were a motion to goodnesse as to declare Gods ordinances take his couenant into his mouth yet his vngodly heart and profane life strike all dead The next pulse to this Caprizanâ— is a skipping or capring pulse a plaine signe that his heart is vnequall by reason of the smoakie excrements of vanity and pleasure Date â—uam verbo which push his heart this way and that way and therefore as he intermits all good so he is skipping and capring in his impietie for what a proud thought is gotten into him that hee is like God But a third pulse followes this Vndosus and that is swelling full of waues and surges Vermiculans tossing him to this vanitie and that vanitie but alas all is but as the rowling of a worme not able to get vp the head but still sticking it in the ground vntill God tread on them by his iudgement and then would they faine lift vp the head to heauen Formicaus call vpon God offer sacrifice c. but alas all this creeping is so soft and dainty as though their spirits were a company of antes creeping vnder the hand of their confidence and may be makes them smart a little with the feeling of the venome of their sinne but as yet they haue not learned the thing that God requireth Micah 6.8 Surely to do iustly and loue mercy and to humble themselues to walke with their God Hence followes a sixt pulse which they call minute Myurus so small that it can scarse be felt not able to extend to the outward props of their confidence but they sinke downe as readie to giue vp the ghost for feare of Gods vengeance And then comes the last pulse which wee call trembling Tremulus alwaies expecting when death will giue the heart his deadly blow And these bee the symptomes of his heart which God alone was able to feele and discouer and therefore tells him thou thoughtest The second principall Symptome is Actio laesa actio laesa the action annoied in these words to make God like himselfe a strange imagination that hath so besotted his senses that nothing can please him but meere idolatrie a wrong sense of God and a wandring motion from God therefore as in the bodie the losse of the action is either of animall or naturall forces naturall as the losse of stomacke hurt of the liuer obstruction of the veines oppression of the heart swelling of the splen convulsion of the sinewes consumption of the lunges c. animall actions are sense and motion the hurt whereof is either priuation diminution or deprauation as in the eie 〈…〉 blindnesse is the priuation dulnesse of sight the diminution and wrong apprehension the deprauation in the hearing deafenes the priuation difficultie in hearing or hardnesse of hearing the diminution the glowing of the eares the deprauation so in feeling tasting smelling c. This may most fitly be applyed First Application â— the similionâ—â— he is shroudly wounded in his very natural actions he suffers the dart to strike through his liuer by his adulterie his heart by his consent vnto theeuerie he hath lost his breath by running with them his tast by participation his mouth hath suffered a strange convulsion all the sinewes haue drawne it awry the lips are the doores of euill the tongue the forge of deceit both of them are set to speake against his brother and slander his mothers sonne all the passages of goodnes are filled vp with obstructions there is no way to the hands for the workes of charitie to the feete to runne in the pathes of righteousnesse euerie member is decaied and wholly put out of ioynt if he eate hee is giuen to gluttonie if hee drinke to surfet with drunkennesse if he sleepe to become a sluggard c. for his spirituall senses he hath no eye to see withall no care to heare withall he sauours not the things of the spirit he hath no feeling of his sinne nor the loue of God he can tast none of the meanes of his saluation his phantasie is possessed with dreams of peace and welfare his vnderstanding is taken with a spirituall madnesse and his memorie with a forgetful Lethargie euen of his owne name that he tooke in his baptisme for he neuer remembers what was therein promised vnto God and for motion he is starke dead can neither mooue hand nor foote nay alas his sickenes is surely vnto death for the disease hath so wounded him that he cannot perceiue any thing amisse his fancie workes so strongly that God onely must be imagined to be like him and therefore the action is a plaine Symptome that all is not well with him and surely there needs no further inspection his water is cast already and the prescript
sea yet thither shall thine hand lead me and thy right hand hold me Secondly for the circumstance of time v. 11. If I say yet the darknes shall hide me euen the night shall be light about thee yea the darknes hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darknes and light are both alike Here is no plea that olde things are out of date and sinnes committed many yeares agoe are forgotten of the Lord for be sure that the sinne of Cain in murthering of his brother is as freshly bleeding in the presence of God as the sin thou hast committed this day so that neither time past present or to come will helpe vs at all with the Lord. Thirdly for the circumstance of persons he knoweth all by their names Psal 147.4 therefore no companie shall excuse thee Indeede in the world multitudo peccantium tollit poenam peccati when multitudes sinne then mens lawes dare not execute yet be sure with the Lord he that runnes with a multitude to doe euill shal be sure to be punished with them Neither great men nor rich men shall be able to rescue vs out of the hands of God therefore the point is cleare that the Lords knowledge is most exact in all particulars 1. Vse is reprehension first confutation of the wicked that are ashamed to doe that in the presence of men which they dare most impudently doe before God surely hee is able to iudge more exactly of our offences then any man therefore if we labour to keepe our selues secret from the eyes of men how should we not tremble to sinne before God Secondly correction of the godly that doe not alwaies set themselues in the presence of God but sometimes take libertie to slip into the wayes of their owne hearts thinking that this is but a small sinne and therefore the Lord will be mercifull to me in this thing neuer considering the puritie of the Lord and the brightnesse of his glorie which is alwayes shining round about them 2. Vse instruction first an admonition to the wicked that beat their fellow feruants because their master deferreth his coÌ„ming let them take heed for he will come at vnawares vpon them and let them blush for shame seeing that mens scruants here vpon earth hearing that their master approacheth betake themselues to their worke although before they were at their sports idle recreations we know that schoole-boies in the absence of their master leaue their seats spread themselues abroad yet the verie voyce of venit magister the master comes presently makes euery one hastily betake himselfe vnto his seat Shall then man bee so bold as to dare to leaue his place betake himselfe to his owne pleasure when the verie eye of his God lookes vpon him surely nothing is more obuious vnto our eye then this which argueth that the world is very destitute of the feare of God Secondly this may be a driection to the godly to examine them-selues in all their particular carriages Thus Dauid deales with his soule vpon the consideration of Gods excellent knowledge Psal 139. to the ende first a pretious estimation of it 17 18. how deare how great what account to make vp the summe all is too short yet this will he aime at when he awakes he will still be with God Indeede in the violence of passion Dauid may make warre a pretense to excuse Vrias death but yet Psal 51. it shall cause him vtter many a bitter word heauie sighs and euen water his couch with teares The second is the manifestation of his zeale 1. in his loue of the maiestie of God v. 19 20.2 of his hatred to the wicked that dishonour God v. 21 22. See them both Oh that thou wouldest slay O God the wicked and bloody men to whome I say depart ye from me which speake wickedly of thee and beeing thine enemies are lifted vp in vaine I hate them I contend with them as with mine vtter enemies The 3. his confidence v. 23. Trie me O God and know my heart prooue me and know my thoughts consider if there be any way of wickednes in me and lead me in thy way for euer This consideration can not but haue powerfull operations in the hearts of Christians fire all that is within them let vs see it in a few of Dauids affections in the Psalmes breathing zeale out of euery pipe How doe I loue thy law O Lord more then the hony or the hony combe Loue. more then thousands of siluer and gold Thine enemies I hate with a perfect hatred Hatted Thy testimonies are my delight Ioy. I reioyce more in them then they that finde great spoyles more then in my appointed foode Mine eyes gush out riuers of teares Griefe Oh that my head were a fountaine of teares because they destroy thy law Mine eyes are dimme with waiting Hope how doe I long for thy saluation Thy iudgements are terrible Feare I tremble and quake Looke what pitch of affection the naturall man bestowes vpon his dearest darling what vnsatiable thirst the couetous worldling vpon his mammon the ambitious vpon his honour the volupâ—uous vpon his pleasure the same the Christian striueth in equall yea if possible farre exceding in as much as the more pure the heart is the more actiue we shall finde it Zeale is to the soule that which the spirits are to the bodie wine to the spirits putting vigour and agilitie into them be not drunke with wine wherein is excesse but be filled with the spirit an excellent Antithesis the soule may be filled with this zeale and yet neuer exceede As wings to the foule as wheeles to the chariot as sailes to the shippe wind to the sailes courage to the soldier mettell to the horse and dust to make the earth fruitfull so is zeale as wings to the soule to flie aboue earthly and worldly cogitations as wheeles not to goe but runne the wayes of Gods Commandements as sayles to driue vs with a plerophorie vnto God This makes vs fight and puts mettle into vs yet must we take heede how we meddle with this fire least wee heape coales vpon our owne heads and bring an ill sauour vpon all â—ur seruice as Nadab and Abihu beeing vnsanctified Aguish and distempered heats are farre remote from the radicall nay an enemie vnto it and the verie causes of sickenesse and death a very empericke may iudge of them For first some of these are deepely sicke of the Pharisaicall humour they ioue more to be seene of men then God and yet God wil see them the best as Iâ—hu Come and see how zealous I am for the Lord of hosts These trumpets praise them before men but shame theÌ„ before God An aguish or consuming heat by his flushings is seene more in the face then the naturall heat that warmeth the heart In wisdome and skill artis est celare artem hiding of art is the best art so hidden zeale is often the
ouershot my selfe with God in forgetting his long silence if ought crosse my corrupt nature I haue griefe at will if I haue broken a day and not kept touch with men I would not looke them in the face if my seruant haue loytered he blusheth and is ashamed to come before me and shall not I change my countenance if I were displeased my affections would come afore they were sent for but when God is displeased euen for the abuse of his mercies I can not haue my affections although I would send many a messenger for them so ponderous is my corruption which presseth downe that vnlesse Habour by a better spirit I shall neuer giue the Lord the answer of his mercies Let vs therefore helpe our selues a little at these dead lifts first with some rules to ouerwrastle them secondly with some motiues to blow vp our deuotion Consider therefore for the first rule how little we are bound vnto the flesh Rom. 8.13 If ye liue after the flesh ye shall dye a heauie reward for a flauish seruice but on the other hand for the second rule see how we are debt-bound vnto the spirit But if ye mortifie the deedes of the bodie by the Spirit ye shal liue From these two rules we haue motiues innumerable and inualuable to praise the silence and mercie of God for what a miserie would it haue bin to haue bin debt-bound to the flesh which rewardeth with nothing but hell death and damnation therefore happie soules that haue cast off this yoke and againe what a ioy and felicitie to be vnder the yoke of Christ and debt-bound to his spirit we neede no more to make vs sing ioyfully vnto the Lord. But alas sinnefull passions preuent our wills and come as we say of foule weather before they are sent for but holy affections in these most admirable mercies of God are often quenched for want of zeale for alas when doe we beat our braines not suffering the temples of our heads to take any rest till we haue giuen our God some argument of our thankefulnes We vse our God as if it skilled not greatly how he were dealt with when he deales most gratiously with vs. If a man bids me to supper once a quartar I thanke him then and thanke him again when I am come next time after not onely of my present beeing with him but also of my last beeing with him I tell what kind welcome what good cheere bidde him sometime againe or checke my selfe if I forget it but for some great matter what kindnes what speeches what seruice will I tender vnto my friend Shall one supper and not daily bread shall riches and not Christ deserue a thousand thanks for a small benefit I will be at command and shall I not surrender my selfe vnto God who hath paid my debt and purchased me a new stocke euen the hope of eternall life shall I blush at small vnthankfulnes towards man and not condemne my selfe before God surely when the Lord shall take away his mercies we shall come to had I wist and doe so much more penance by how much we were more careles We will not let goe our leases to men for want of payment of the rent therefore let vs giue God no cause to enter and straine vpon vs and all that we haue for not magnifying and praising him and let this follow euery repetition of a fauour that Dauid hath taught vs Psal 136. For his mercie endureth for euer A second instruction is to imitate God in his silence in being kind towards others 1. Tim. 1.16 For this cause was I receiued to mercie that Iesus Christ should first shew on me all long-suffering vnto the ensample of them which shall in time to come beleeue in him vnto eternall life especially Christians must obserue it 2. Tit. 2.3 Shewing all meekenes vnto all men for we our selues were also in times past vnwise disobedient seruing the lusts and diuers pleasures liuing in malitiousnes and enuie hatefull and hating one an other Thus Dauid approoues himselfe a man of God 1. Sam. 24. by his innocencie vnto Saul in cutting off his garment when he might haue cut his throat Motiues to this we haue many Matth. 5.7 Blessed are the mercifull for they shall receiue mercie againe for this shall they be receiued into the kingdome of heauen Matth. 25.34 thirdly because it makes vs walke worthie of our vocation Eph. 4.2 Walke worthie the vocation whereunto ye are called with all humblenes of minde and meekenes with long suffering supporting one an other through loue fourthly it prooues vnto vs our election Coloss 3.12 Now therefore as the Elect of God holy and beloued put on tender mercie kindnes humblenes of minde meekenes long suffering c. lastly this serues for instruction of all to take care for displeasing of God Matth. 5.25 Agree with thine aduersarie quickely whiles thou art in the way with him least thine aduersarie deliuer thee to the Iudge and the Iudge deliuer thee to the sargeant and thou be cast into prison c. Esperially those must looke vnto it that haue had long time of Gods silence Rom. 11. Behold therefore the bountifulnes and the seueritie of God toward them which haue fallen seueritie but toward thee bountifulnes if thou continue in his bountifulnes or els shalt thou be cut off Vse 3. consolation First in miserie to consider that God spared vs when we were sinners was reconciled vnto vs when we were his enemies therefore much more beeing iustified by Christ made his sonnes will he loue vs and bee well pleased with vs Rom. 5. Secondly consolation in our welfare because we haue the silence of God in regard of the true cause of it and therefore haue hope that it shall bee continued vnto vs. And thus much of Gods silence Section 2. The obiect of Gods silence The obiect is the doings of the wicked for the explication whereof let vs first see what the word of God makes the obiect of Gods silence First it cannot endure any silence at sin because it teacheth plainely that as soone as sinne is committed God speakes the law speakes and the conscience as we may see Gen. 3. and therefore must it bee in regard of the consequent of sinne which is first of all the fault 2. the guilt 3. the punishment now the two first are equall with the sinne and therefore will they suffer no silence therefore must it be in the punishment threatned or executed in threatning the Lord is neuer silent therefore must it bee in the execution Silence in regard of the miserie of sinne and not of sin it selfe which is either present or in comming present originall and actuall sinne wherein there hath appeared no silence of God for presently vpon the fall man became exorbitant and his freewill ran only vnto euill therefore must it be in the punishment comming which is the sensible miserie of man to wit the first and second death wherein plainly we
hath the keyes of Dauid which openeth and no man shutteth which shutteth and no man openeth And for the sunne in the other hand they haue none for how can they hold out the Sonne of righteousnes that neuer had him in their hearts by faith they shine indeede but it is like vnto a blazing starre which seemes to mooue as though it came from a true starre indeede but alas it is in the fall and presently comes to the earth and then what is it but a lumpe of very crude matter and as cold as a stone or like glow-wormes which in the night time make a shew of fire but when a man takes them in his hands and bruiseth them they are nothing but a deale of crude rough blacke blood So these hypocrites they come from heauen like lightning by the taile of the deuill and fall to the ground and then their glorie appeares no more they were alwaies cold at the heart and therefore their shining vanisheth when the true Sonne of righteousnes appeareth to trie them Let vs then examine the hypocrite and wee shall finde that although his sword and all the weapons of his profession be ouerspread with honie yet a bee shall sting him at the last and make him know that all that honie was none of his owne but that hee had stollen it from Gods bees and therefore beeing but the waspe must be cast out of Gods hiue The fisher oftentimes when he bragges of store of fishes puls vp a scorpion in his net which becomes his death so these hypocrites they fish for heauen but the scorpion is alreadie in their bosomes which will sting them to death they hatch cockatrice egges whatsoeuer commeth from them is poyson and death they weaue the spiders webbe all their religion comes to no proofe he that eateth of their egges dieth and that which is troad vpon breaketh out into a serpent For it is impossible that all mankind being the seed of coruption and secondly the most of them the seed of the serpent should bring forth any other thing but corruption and young serpents And therefore hypocrits remaning in their former estate must needs be farre from God and all true holinesse They are not washed therefore not in Christ Secondly they are in their filthinesse therefore in themselues Not in Christ because they know not the father by the Son through the holy Ghost They are most busie with the father but alas for Christ and the spirit they cast them both off God will haue mercie and God forbid that any man should think that God meant to damne his creature but alas they are silent of his iustice Christ is little in their mouthes for the satisfaction of Gods iustice and the onely foundation of Gods mercie to come vnto them the spirit is farre estranged from them as appeares by their sanctification But let them know that Gods saithfull ones make an other kinde of demonstration then to beginne with the father first Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ but how shall that be knowne surely by that which followeth which walke not after the flesh but after the spirit but how shall this be knowne why looke into the Gal. 5.19 to v. 24. That this may the better appeare let vs see how hypocrites pull downe the old building and reare vp the new for vntill that be gone there is no hope of a better That they would haue the old building stand it shall euidently appeare in the 7. of the Romans first if you looke vnto their mariage you shal see they will sticke to their old husband the lawe yet will they haue Christ too and therfore commit adulterie for God will but permit them one husband therefore either Law or Gospel doing or beleeuing Christ or Moses both can not stand together to make vs the spouse of Christ Secondly let vs see their seruice and obedience that they yeild vnto their husbands It is not in the newnesse of the spirit but in the oldnesse of the letter surely an hypocrite is all in the letter no iot of inward sanctification is in him but Law and Gospel speaks vnto him as a deafe man and so for power both of them are but dead and dumbe vnto him Thirdly they loue no innouations they would haue the old ordination to stand to doe and liue but now to be slaine by the law and to haue sinne made sinne indeede and haue their hearts euen bleede to the death by it that can not be indured for men naturally loue life better then death but now it is come to passe by our fall that except the Law kill it can not saue Fourthly they haue no discorning spirit to see how the Law is spirituall and they carnal fold vnder sinne for they alwaies allow that which they doe their will and doing goe together their hatred is not their doing when Paul saith hee wills one thing by Gods good spirit and by his flesh doth the cleane contrarie hee hateth sinne by the spirit and yet often is made to doe it by his owne corruption thus doth hee iustifie the lawe and and makes it good and substantiall but himselfe euill and naught when hypocrites take the law to make them good for they are iustifiers of themselues Paul by this meanes came to see that it was not he the newe man that did these things but sinne that dwelt in him and therefore hee onely iustifies not Gods law to condemne himselfe but also he makes a glorious confession that all power may be taken from himselfe and ascribed vnto the holy Ghost for his sanctification for I know that in me setting the spirit aside and therefore I meane in my flesh and corruption dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but I find no meanes to performe that which is good And surely reasons of this I haue many First the strength of my corruption secondly it is yoked with me and therefore beeing the stronger drawes me vnto euill thirdly I am a double person or a double man the inner and outward man which is so rebellious that I neuer liue at peace with my selfe fourthly these two haue their lawes and the outward man doth often captiuate me and make me a slaue vnto sinne and I am so sore oppressed that I must needs cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this bodie of death yet thanks be to God through Iesus Christ our Lord that my mind is so good vnto God and his lawe though my flesh will not as yet shake hands with sin But hypocrits are of another mind they will neither iustifie lawe nor gospel which shall condemne themselues they will not ascribe all vnto Gods spirit that is good and the rest vnto themselues they haue means enough to doe well they are Papists they can supererrogate they feele not the strength of sinne they are not yoaked to drawe contrarie waies like oxen they can drawe
together not as Samsons foxes by the tayles euery one to drawe sundrie waies they sustaine no double persons single will they be in all their waies they are troubled with no contrary laws they can make all agree well enough and therefore when cry they in the very desperation of their soules who shall deliuer vs they giue thankes to God not for Christ but for themselues that they are not like other men Therefore the spirit hauing not pulled downe the old building how shall it be possible to set vp the newe which is plainly to be seene in the chap. following Rom. 8. First where is their freedome from the law of sinne and of death neither Christ nor the spirit hath purchased it for them and I doubt that their owne paiment will not stand good in Gods court Secondly if things may be known by their sauours surely euerie man may see they sauour of the things of the flesh Thirdly if the wisedome of the spirit and the wisedome of the flesh be enemies I admire what peace and life can be in hypocrites when they will not denie their owne wisedome for as yet the bodie is not dead and quickned again by the spirit still are they debters to the flesh and will liue after him How will they prooue themselues to bee the sonnes of God if the spirit of bondage be gone and the spirit of adoption be entred into their hearts let vs heare the cry of Abba father let them prooue the witnesse of the spirit if they bee heires of God euen annexed with Christ let vs see how they can suffer with him how they esteeme of afflictions in comparison of their glorie doth the creature groane for them nay alas I feare against them because they subiect him vnto vanitie Let vs heare how they with patience looke for their redemption Is their hope for things not seene nay alas all for the present How doth the spirit assist them in their infirmities how is he with them in their prayers what requests doth he bring out of their soules where be their deepe sighes that cannot be expressed can they search the meaning of the spirit according to the will of God surely nothing lesse for all is but lip labour Againe haue they assurance that all works together for their good can they tell it from their predestination vocation iustification and glorification can they from hence conclude that God is for them and no man can be against them that there is no charges for them to pay that there is no condemnation no separation from the loue of God in Christ all afflictions cannot doe it no death no angels no principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come no place not heauen aboue is too high for them nor hell below is able to make them sinke into his depth yea in breife not any creature is able to doe it therefore no hypocrite is in Christ and therefore impossible that he should bee washed from his filthinesse beeing not washed hee must remaine in it And that will appeare if we mark his life and death life prosperitie aduersitie In prosperitie for his profession he is all courage and verie full of brags like the coward that before he come in the field is fire and towe but when he comes to the tryall is the first that flees the field when the couragious champion is very silent but when there is neede of him will shew that hee hath more tried sortitude in him then a thousand cowards So hypocrites make all the world ring with their Master though all the world forsake thee yet will I not forsake thee I will lay downe my life for thee yet when Christ shall come with a this night shall yee be put vnto it then will they flee with the first and if Christ haue no better champions then they he shall be left all alone Secondly come to the hearing of the word all promises they will make their owne all iudgements threatened they will put vpon others and for application of both it shall be as in this place God is like them he fauours them aboue all with his mercies and his iudgements passe ouer their houses Thirdly for his life no reformation For aduersitie if God be gone he is gone no more stout words no comming to Church no more outward reformation but labour to make the best of all Gal. 6.12 they will seeke to please to the face and labour to constraine to their profession that they may suffer no persecution for the crosse of Christ In speciall for their sinnes when they are in miserie it may be they will let a word come out against some knowne actuall sinne but with Dauid Psal 51. they neuer strike at the roote to wit their originall sinne for the punishment Mic. 6.6 they will part with any thing they haue to be freed from the stroaks of Gods rod but the thing required shall not once come neere them And for the thoughts of death many a Balaams wish but that is all for their life is nothing And lastly for death it selfe they either die like stocks and stones or else like bulls and bears roaring and bellowing out their shame and confusion Secondly this may be a direction to Gods children to approoue their sinceritie vnto God by alwaies setting themselues in the presence of the Lord. 3. Vse consolation First in trouble to reioyce when it shall please God to try vs in the fornace of affliction that so we may come forth as tryed gold refined and made the more fit for Gods kindome Secondly in our welfare to trust more in God then in our selues and to count the lifting vp of Gods countenance vpon vs in the face of his anointed more ioy of heart then when the corne wine oyle and all the pleasures and profits of this world are increased And thus much of the first part of Gods iustice to wit the power of it from the efficient in the forme and execution of it vpon the sinne and person of an hypocrite Now followes the orderly proceeding of this iustice Of the order of Gods iustice First in the cause Order In the handling of the methode vsed by the Lord in this place wee are to consider of the arguments Order is described first from the cause I thee Lord secondly from the effect which is to set or place things thirdly from the obiect in that word them that is thy sinnes 4. from a testimony drawn from the notice of the conscience which shall sufficiently witnesse of the worth of Gods methode For the cause of this order it is the Lord. Surely Gods wisedome is to be seene in nothing more then in methode and order for order is not from any brutish nature but the best and wisest so that the changes and multitude of alterations in this world are no casuall matters left in the hands of blind fortune If indeed we looke into Gods Church and see the varietie of colours and the instabilitie
conclude her saluation out of Gods word without any further reuelations yet still did the temptation grew vpon her insomuch that hauing a venice glasse in her hands and the selfe-same minister setting by her presently breakes forth into lamentable words You haue often told mee that I must seeke no further then Gods word but I haue been long without comfort and can indure no longer therefore if I must be saued let this glasse be kept from breaking and so she threw it against the walls Here might the Lords hand for this tempting of his maiestie haue left her to the euerlasting woes of her distrustfull heart yet the Lord that is rich in mercie hauing stamped her with the seale of his election was content to satisfie the languishing soule with a miracle the glasse rebounds againe and comes safe vnto the ground which the minister hauing gotten into his hands sayeth Oh repent of this sinne blesse God for his mercie and neuer distrust him more of his promise for now you haue his voyce from heauen in a miracle telling you plainly of your estate This was curiositie and might haue brought despaire yet it was the Lords mercie to remit the fault and graunt an extraordinarie confirmation of her faith But to proceede melan cholie persons that are giuen to contemplation if they be not well grounded in the word of God and haue resolued in all their speculations not to remooue one haire from the same are easily ouertaken and plunged in miserie and especially all such as haue their vocation consisting in such studies as philosophie c. which if they cary not a low saile and sometime to strike and lie at the anker of the Scriptures of God but hoist vp saile leaue it to the tempest of presumption are presently carried into the whirle-poole of Gods infinite secrets and are in daunger without the speciall grace of Gods mercie neuer to deliuer themselues for these men being not balanced with knowledge of Gods scriptures and assurance of his spirit are neuer able to abide the vglines of their sinnes when they shall once be vnfolded that narrow point of reprobation and election propounded vnto their melancholie braines and hearts and most miserable polluted soules Others which haue but some little knowledge of Gods word and practise answerable for want of the true apprehending of Gods reuealed will touching election and reprobation and the right methode of learning and conceiuing the doctrine causeth them to stumble and fall at this stone for a sword taken at the wrong ende is readie to wound the hand of the taker yet held by the handle is a fit weapon of defence so Predestination preposterously conceiued may through fault of the conceiuer procure hurt whereas in it selfe it is the most strong rock of assurance in al storms of temptations that can befall vnto bodie or soule because predestination is Gods immutable will the cause and rule of all iustice and vttermost of all reason in his workes Now if reason ascending to this supreame cause descend not againe to the meanes then when our sinnes shall meete with Gods iustice and we haue no eye to looke vpon his mercie in his sonne Christ we shall find nothing but the assurance of our owne destruction Againe if with the world we eye alone his mercie and consider not his iustice then miserable man who melteth as snow and vanisheth like a vapour before his iustice must needes perish eternally in that his carelesse presumption Againe as the melancholie person in generall and secondly in speciall 1. of giuing himselfe to contemplation 2. knowing Gods word vngroundedly so in the 3. place this makes the melancholie nature subiect to this passion when with a passionate humour he reads Gâ—ds word and doth as melancholy persons doe in regard of their bodie for if they read or heare of any disease presently they conceicue they haue it so deale they with the Scriptures they are guiltie of all iudgements and no sinne or iudgement but they either haue it or presently expect it and especially they resemble the one the other in this that they haue the strongest conceit of the most deadly diseases as consumptions and sicknesses incurable so the other of nothing but the sinne against the holy Ghost So that as ignorance before was their guide here ignorance and infidelitie linked together A fourth speciall manner in this melancholike subiect is the good and christian heart the waight of whose sinnes exceeding for a time the strength of their faith see not so clearely as they desire but euen as in a stormy tempest the ship seemeth at euery blast and sourge of the sea to be in danger of wracke and as the young ash bending to euerie blast of wind seemeth in perill of breaking and rooting vp when notwithstanding both the ship keepeth her constant course and the tree yet hath the rooting In winter we thinke the trees are dead and in a tempest we thinke wee haue lost the brightnes of heauen yet summer prooues the contrarie and the space of an houre may shewe the cleare heauens againe So when this tempest of Gods anger is ouer-blowne and his gracious countenance beginneth to shine on vs againe then the saith which was as it were hid for a time taketh life and sheweth foorth it selfe and plainely prooueth that as the trees when they bud in the spring time and bring forth fruite were not dead in the winter as they seemed so the faith of Gods children springeth afresh after the stormie winter of temptation and therefore no dead faith The diseases of the bodie make vs sometime seeme little better then dead corpses and yet the hidden life is after recouered and raised vp againe Thus saith by reason of our owne weakenes and thorough Sathans tempestuous malice bendeth seemeth feeble and yeeldeth to the force while notwithstanding it is built on the rocke and planted with the hand of God in the Eden of his gracious election and doth remaine a plant for euer in his Paradise of euerlasting felicitie Thus the lilly of God and euerie member of it though among many thornes is preserued because they are planted by the good husbandman watred with the dewes of heauen hedged and preserued by his continuall care for this husbandman is night and day in his field and yet he neuer sleepeth no not so much as slumbereth by his watchfull care for Israel his flocke Psal 121. In deed we had need of a good shepheard for wee are extraordinarie wandring sheep we had need of good gouernours for we are but punies in our wayes we had neede of a good guide on the seas of this world for we are but like vnexperienced trauailers by sea fearing euery weauing of the ship and â—â—ying with the disciples helpe vs Master or else we perish we imagine euery puffe of temptation to bee nothing but the gate of destruction when indeede it is the way of Gods dearest children and appointed of the Lord to bring vs
and body together euen almost disioyned for lacke of spirit and courage and so to animate body and soule that euen Christians shall say I neuer found body and soule in better temper then now Many Martyrs which haue beene troubled with the swelling of the spleene which all the time of their libertie was a kinde of hell vnto them haue admired that beside the exraordinarie consolations of the soule they haue felt those paines ceased that did disquiet them on the day time following of their ordinary vocations and in the night with breaking off their sleepe when now they finde that all the day they could toyle in writing and praying singing and comforting their poore brethren and when night comes sleepe soundly without either bed or couering when before though vpon a bed of Ivorie and wrapped in silke they could take no rest this is Gods blessing filling the heart with the grace of patience which makes vs perfect intire and lacking nothing therefore where patience is what discomfort can trouble vs This is the first argument marke the method to the second It might well be obiected I could be patient but I want wisdome to carrie mine affliction and make the right vse of it To this he answers and his answer doth not onely take away the obiection but giue a second confirmation of his exhortation v. 5. If any of you lacke wisdome let him aske it of God and ye shall be assured that the Lord will answer you for he giueth to all men liberally and reproacheth no man therefore you his children shall be sure to speede Yet would I preuent all rashnes for if it may be had for asking then all men shall haue it for who is he but he praies the Lords praier Creed ten Commandements true it is he saies praiers but I giue the requisite let him aske in faith and wauer not for he that wauereth incurreth first the shame of inconstancie becomming like the sea tossed of euery winde and neuer resting Secondly they loose all expectation euer to receiue any thing of the Lord nay let him not so much as thinke of it or presume that the Lord will answer his praiers Thirdly the detection of an hypocrite that he is a double minded man and therefore vnstable in all his waies not able to lie at the anker of any of Gods promises Now then both arguments beeing rightly vnderstood and applied vnto the soule see how forcibly they will be able to inferre the conclusion He that hath such a patience that is perfect in it selfe and is able to worke perfection in others and that in such sort that they shall be made perfect entire lacking nothing and secondly for direction shall haue the blessed grace of spirituall wisdome may be mooued to count it exceeding ioy when he falls into diuers tentations but euery faithfull soule shall haue both these graces therefore must he needs intertaine my louing exhortation Patience and wisdome going hand in hand will carrie affliction without trouble for suppose that two persons were to carrie a long staffe through a strait passage the one wants patience and therefore he makes hast now for want of wisdome his staffe falls a crosse he is still discontented labours to breake through by violence but the staffe beeing too strong for him and the passage too narrow to let him goe on except he take his staffe with him is set at a stay to adde crosse vnto crosse vntill he perish in his follie now a man of patience when he is to come that way is content by patience to goe softly at his leisure and by his wisdome espies where he may haue a thrust backe except he order his staffe by letting one end go before the other and thus by patience and wisdome goes further in the straits of this world toward the kingdome of heauen in one houre then fooles wise in their owne conceit goe all the time of their life But let me lead you on in the Apostles sweete consolation and bring you to the third ground and that is true contentation in all estates v. 9 10 11. explained by an example in aduersitie and another in prosperitie proouing that neither prosperitie can further the ioyes of Christians nor aduersirie hinder it and therefore whether prosperitie or aduersitie befall them their estate is all one with God For aduersitie he brings for instance an example drawne from pouertie ver 9. Let the brother of low degree reioyce in that he is exalted his lowe degree is no hinderer of his exaltation in Christ and therefore can it not take away his reioycing for what cares a man for the losse of a pennie that is so rich that he knowes no ende of his wealth for better is it to bee made rich by the creator of the world then to haue the creature without the creator For prosperitie he exemplifies in riches v. 10. It is good for him that is rich to see that he bee made lowe else shall he with his riches become as the flower of the grasse which by the sunne withering the grasse makes his flower fall away and then the goodly shape of it perisheth euen so shall the rich man wither away in all his waies And therefore seeing the best in prosperitie is to bee made low and the worst is to be made rich without humiliation and on the contrarie the worst in aduersitie makes vs the best in Christ who can denie but that our ioy may exceed in afflictions The fourth argument beside his strength and power is very alluring for Psal 4. who will shewe vs any good well if in this case any beleeuing Iew shall make the question in this anguish of his soule and say who will shew vs any good he shall not onely haue the Apostle with Dauid to shew them that God will lift vpon them the light of his countenance but euen the blessed ende of all their tryalls v. 12. Blessed is the man that indureth tentation for when he is tried he shall receiue the crown of life c. But if there be such strong arguments for tentations then surely God is the cause of them No beloued I would not haue you say God tempts any man v. 15. but the true cause is his owne heart v. 14.15 therefore erre not my deare brethren v. 16. but take notice of euerie good gift and say that is the Lords worke v. 17. therefore this good that comes out of euil is the worke of the Lord for afflictions in their owne nature are euill and it is my power to make them good vnto my children yet not to make them in my children Therefore hauing giuen warning take the fift argument of consolation and comfort and that is from the newe birth v. 18. A woman indeede when she trauaileth hath sorrâ—we because her howre is come but as soone as she is delinerad of the child she remembreth no more the anguish for ioy that a man is borne into the world Ioh. 16.21 so Gods
towards himselfe but he hath not lost his loue and fath toward God for he saith though the Lord should kil me yet would I trust in him Dauid Psal 22. Oh my God I crie by day but thou hearest not by night but thou giuest no audience neither night nor day had he any feeling that God did heare his prayers or graunted his requests but yet he was not without faith for he made this praier in faith and that with speciall application my God The Canaanitish woman had fowre repulses 1. silence 2. deniall I am not come but vnto the lost sheepe of the house of Israel 3. the Apostles to speake against her send her away for she crieth after vs. 4. a wofull remembrance of her miserable estate Woman it is not good to take the childrens bread and cast it vnto dogges in all these Christ shewes her small comfort yet shee hath not lost the feeling of her saith for still shee cries Truth Lord yet the dogges may eate the crummes that fall from their masters table And surely all that can thus hang on the breasts of Gods mercies are children of hope that neuer miscarrie but at length after many scourges shall heare the admirable voyce of commendation I haue not found such faith in any goe away in peace and be it to euery one of you according to your faith Reas 2. Hee that will rest vpon the meanes of his saluation though he finde not any sweetnes in the performance of them is a true beleeuer though hee feele not his wished ioy Wilt thou goe to beare Gods word and frequent the places of his worship wilt thou pray read conferre meditate c. and performe all these in obedience vnto God though thou feele no sweetnesse in them then assure thy selfe that resting vpon Gods meanes for comfort thou hast true faith and that cannot but at length make thy ioy to breake forth Reas 3. He that with all his heart can wish the saluation of any member of Christ is a true member of Christ and ingrafted into Christ by a liuely faith now these diffressed soules can wish with all their hearts the saluation of others and therfore it cannot be but they should be of Christs bodie and haue in them the true life of that bodie for a member of the world can neuer in vpright sinceritie wish the wel-fare of Christs bodie Reas 4. They that most complaine of their corruption from the true sense and feeling thereof are sanctified by the spirit of grace for corruption cannot complaine of corruption neither one sinne become an enemie to another but grace alone complaines of corruption and the law of the spirit opposeth the law of the flesh nowe it is prooued by experience that none complaine more of sinne then the poore Christian afflicted in conscience neither is this their complaint that of the wicked for they crie out of the sense and feeling of the pupunishment but these for that they should so displease God O therefore lift vp your hearts and cry with Dauid Psal 51. Lord restore vnto vs the ioy of thy saluation Againe let vs consider with whom we fight and for what crowne and how both heauen and earth mooued at our redemption and the same power concurred thereto as in our first creation and therefore the worke beeing so great no maruell if we vndergo many an heauie burthen be put to many a dangerous lift yet the foundation is so surely laid that it must vp in spight of all opposing power For as the great and mighty oakes are slower in attaining their full growth then the shrubs and weedes whose enduring is for many yeares and for time out of mind as we say when the other in short time wither and fade away so must Christians esteeme their increase of heauenly graces slowe but sure and euerlasting as immortalitie that they may bee as a beame or a pillar in the temple of God for euer and euer for the life of grace is no naturall life but spirituall therefore no way corruptible for if it were so contradictions would be true that spirituall life should bee naturall life incoruptible corruptible and immortal mortall Neither here let vs be deceiued in iudging according to our sense or meere shewes of things for then the most fruitfull trees in winter shall be taken for barren and the lustie soyle dry and vnfruitfull while it is shut vp with the hard frost but reason and experience prooues the contrarie faith the spirituall sheild in this our spirituall war-fare endureth much battering and many brunts and receiueth the forefront of the encounter oftentimes fareth as if it were peirced through and worne vnfit for battell whereupon we lay it aside yet euen for all this it proues inuincible and repelleth whatsoeuer engine the enemie inforceth against vs and standeth firme rooted whatsoeuer storme Sathan raiseth for the displacing thereof therefore when the sense of faith is dulled in vs and the fruits minister discontentment remember that the graces and mercies of God are without repentance and Christ Iesus whom he loueth he loueth vnto the ende Suppose that fire were extraordinarily fixed in the cold water so that you would say there can be no coldnesse at all in the water yet consider that cold is so naturall to the water that secretly he will driue out the heate and make it apparent that the fire had no place there but by vsurpation so faith in the soule of man assisted by patience when man in the verie fire of affliction will by little and little bring out sinne and with sinne the punishment of the same so that it shal clearly appeare that faith doth but esteeme of them both as tenants at will Oh consider this that our goodnes did not mooue God to bestowe his mercie vpon vs neither shall our sinne cause him to remooue it for he saw them before be gaue vs his mercie why did he not then withhold his mercie surely as he knew vs when we were strangers from him and loued vs when we hated him and had nothing which might prouoke his mercie but our miserie so is his goodnes continued vpon vs still for his owne sake and not at all for our deseruing but for that righteousnes sake which is in his Sonne and that oblation of his offered vp not for himselfe but for others and therefore with whome he was well pleased for that sacrifice with them shall he still be well pleased otherwise both these absurdities should follow that this sacrifice might be in vaine and this wel-pleasing might be changed from whose righteousnesse so much is detracted as we attribute either vnto chāge or vnto our selues or thinke to attaine vnto in respect of our owne satisfying and againe so much of Gods mercie is impaired as we shall rest vpon any power or vertue in our selues whereby to auoid his vengeance iustice Election is onely the Lords therefore committed to no hazard if on vs who are like the
vnderstanding will affections and all their instruments our vnderstanding is turned into blindnes of error our will embraceth not onely those things which corrupt iudgement directeth vnto but euen where vnderstanding standeth sound there will bendeth to affection and neglecteth the light of reason our affections are both rebellious to right iudgement and will in that they rage when they should not and where iust cause is giuen are quiet and at rest Thus from these principles in the soule the bodily members become weapons and instruments of all impietie and iniustice euen to the ouerturning of Church and Common-wealth except the Lord should restraine them in so much that the very pillars of the world would shatter in sunder and the vault of heauen would fall all things would turne to their former Chaos be consumed with the terrible fire of Gods vengeance and perish in his heauie displeasure Thirdly God puts on his children armour of proofe but they are negligent in the buckling of it on them and therefore the deuill often takes aduantage by that to doe vs hurt euen the gifts and graces of God are made grounds of the deuils temptations and therefore no maruaile though Sathan and the world preuaile against vs except the Lord stretch forth his hand and vphold vs. Therefore because I see the point in hand waightie and that which troubles the whole world to lie euen vpon this foundation and the resolution whereof cannot but administer excellent comfort to euery Christian I wil be bold to inlarge my meditations and the more willingly because it is so direct with my text not as grounded from it but as misapplied of the weak Christian taking euery sight of his sin for this fearefull setting of them before the eies of his conscience when the Lord onely threatneth the hypocrits and wicked of this world which will not but by constraint of law and iudgement meddle with their sinnes nay on the contrarie it is their nature to make God alwaies a friend vnto them as before we declared Therefore for the godlies sake will I not keepe silence in proceeding for their cōfort The grounds of all temptations beeing laid both inward and outward essentiall and accidentall we will come to the difficultie of difficulties to see how the deuill aimes at these grounds For distinction he doth it two waies either mediately or immediately mediately either by single means or by ioyning two together all these kinds will I manifest in the following discourse And first for his immediate working the experience of it is more lamentable and infallible then the manner howe easie to finde out yet something dare we boldly affirme and for methods sake we bring it to two heads It is either corporall possession or spirituall for the first hee may easily bring it about without any meanes because he is a most subtile nature and ful of strength by his subtiltie he may easily enter the bodie and by his strength he may carrie it at his pleasure he may possesse the whole bodie as Master command all that house but surely hee can not haue such accesse vnto the soule yet from his nature beeing by creation a spirit and therefore of the same kind of essence with our soules and indued with the same qualities of vnderstanding and will is able by agreement of nature and excellencie of qualitie to ouer-reach man beeing in the selfe same kind his inferiour For the nature of Angels is more excellent then mans and therefore hath hee a power ouer them for in nature euery inferiour power is subiected to the superiour yet both of them limited of God Therfore I doubt not but God permitting the deuill is able to meddle with our spirits without all corporall meanes euen as we see corporall creatures with bodily and corporall force to annoy one another and as men haue fellowship one with other by corporall presence and are delighted or displeased with the qualities of the mind according as they like or dislike vttered by speach and talke so it is most like that spirits haue their societie maintained by a spirituall conference whereby their wils and purposes are intercommunicated one to another without corporall sound whereof both the spirits want the instrument and the voice nothing affecteth the mind Daily experience maketh this manifest in such as are possessed whose discourses are often rare and admirable whose speach and phrase is often such as they neuer learned Now the deuill must needs be the schoolemaster and surely he informes them not by voice but by spirituall communication and so they receiue a cleare notion of many a point they were alwaies ignorant of and are able to expresse it in all varietie of languages and that in the phrase of eloquence Nay in a lesser degree then all this the false spirit perswades Ahab by all his false and lying Prophets that he should goe vp and prosper surely this spirit informed their spirits Thus entred Satan into Iudas not by corporall possession but spirituall and perswaded him to betray Christ thus Ananias Acts 5. had his heart filled and Ephes 2. the deuill is called the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience and that once they walked according to the conduct of that spirit These must needs bee reall operations carrying a force in them more then obiects do vnto any facultie that is conuersant about it for suppose the deuill should hold any art before the eies of an ignorant man could he possibly become a good Grammarian Rhetorician Logician whereby hee would talke with a Grecian though he were a Barbarian plead with Cicero though he were one of the common sort and dispute with Aristotle and Plato though he had neuer been in their schooles but had followed the plough all his life I should from reason thinke it impossible therefore he communicates his knowledg with these ignorant persons But you will say this is strange why should we then not perceiue it I answer the bodie in which the soule is is as a vayle to hide his manner of communication from vs yet it is no hinderance for him to enter within the vaile and speake vnto vs more angelico yet we peceiue it not saue in the effects because for the time of this life we exercise all actions through the body yet I am perswaded that if the soule were out of the body we should perceiue it most plainely if the curtain were drawn we should see the deuill lying with vs in our bosomes for the soules among themselues and with the angels in heauen haue sweet communication and therefore I feare not but the damned soules and deuils in hell haue their wofull societie Againe for the better conceiuing of this point wee stand not only subiect to Sathans annoyance through the subtilnes of his nature being a spirit but through that long experience and practise about our miserie from age to age is able to work more powerfully the Lord permitting him for a time Thus more perfectly
and at the table before him fall vnto his meat Now as it fares with the bodie so may the deuill cause it fal out with the soule make men cōceit strange things either by presumption as these hypocrites that they were like God that all was well with them or by despaire to discourage themselues that they are out of the loue and fauour of God and therefore neuer hope for any mercie therefore good to make a sudden dispatch of themselues by death and therefore Serapio calls this humour the very seate of the deuill and our common speech is that melancholy is the deuils blacke horse Againe if a man be of a cholerick complexion hote and drie it makes him fit for anger contention and brawling the deuill will augement it and make him forget all reason humanity and like beasts kill one another if a man be of a sanguine constitution hote and moist then naturally they are merry and Iovially disposed therefore he stirres these persons to wantonnes vncleannes if of a phlegmaticke constitution which is cold and moist then they are heauie and sleepie and these the deuill wil notably assaile with all manner of idlenesse the begetter of all manner of vices Againe he can play his part with the spirits of the body which are most excellent and the verie bonds of our soule and bodie First with the natural spirits he can helpe forward to great vices gluttonie and drunkennesse make men passe all bonds of sobrietie therefore by the naturall spirits he will notably increase the desire of all drunkards and gluttonous liuers It is an admirable thing to consider what many witches wil deuoure yet say they haue eaten nothing By this meanes the deuill keeps men from all good callings and disposeth them vnto all euill Secondly for the vitall spirits he can make men liuely quicke nimble to runne about his matters and againe make them dead hearted when they would goe about the workes God requires and therefore no maruell why men are so chearefull at playes beare-baitings lasciuious dauncing and many wicked recreations when at sermons and works of their callings they thinke euery houre a day and euerie day a yeare Thirdly for the animall spirits he makes what he lift of our outward senses he hath the eye at command to behold vanitie the eare at his becke to listen vnto lies the tongue at will to blaspheme God the hand at libertie to shed blood and the feete vnfettered to runne into all excesse of riot he hath the smell to wind a commoditie though it must be gotten by oppression he hath the touch most exquisite to finger other mens goods but as tender as butter to receiue any iniury For the inward senses he hath the common-sense the very sinke and puddle where all the outward senses center themselues that a speedie conueyance may be made to the phansie and so to the iudgement will and affections that sinne may euen haue entertainment without all intreatie quicke dispatch in his busines without all controlment or contradiction the memorie in good case to become a store house for all villanie and the phansie night nor day to be at rest vntill they haue found out a tabernacle for the deuill with all his instruments to dwell in These spirits helpe forward all motions and surely the deuill hee will driue the cart and horses and therefore no maruell if we rush into sinne as the horse doth into the battell for he goes fast enough whome the deuill driueth and therefore seeing that the deuill hath so many waies to deale with vs no extraordinarie matter to be troubled with him and as he driues vs vnto sinne so would he likewise driue vs into setting sinnes before our eyes especially when the hand of God is vpon body or soule to despaire of his mercie and leaue off all our confidence and cry nothing but reprobation let vs a litle see this cheife aduersarie of our soule that we may the better oppose him Of the deuills wit will and power to hurt the godly The deuill for facultie of vnderstanding is most subtile for habite most nimble and policie most expert Strength without wit is like a gyant without eies and the lesse to be feared but when there is a quicke eye to discouer all aduantages and a mighty strength to strike downe all before it then there must be strange power that can resist The deuill in the Scriptures is as well a serpent as a dragon yea and an old serpent which beeing the subtilest of beasts hath his craft redoubled by his age and experience Apoc. 12.9 hence he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie vnto vs great knowledge Sixe thousand yeares in a manner is the time of his age which were able to make one wise that were by nature simple and foolish therefore much more one of an exquisite knowledge by nature he is a spirituall beeing and so is able to diue as it were into the secrets of nature and with incredible swiftnes to passe from plece to place readie to intrude himselfe into all companies and learne their natures qualities dispositions and order of life so that our estate is almost vnto Sathan as was that of the king of Arams 2. kin 6.12 he knoweth all our counsels and consultations which wee take and hold in our most secret chambers for indeed for the most part he is the cheife counseller in all matters of sinne and receiues such intelligence frō our cogitations affections lusts inclinations and outward actions that he can shrewdly gesse at the frame of the soule if he keepe vs companie but a few dayes by the abuse of simple intelligence he can teach vs how to inuent much euil by the abuse of science he can become a lying spirit in the hearts of all men to seduce them to all error and heresie by the euill discourse of wisedome he can drawe men from one danger to another and perswade them that all are true diductions for yeeld to one sinne and a thousnad will follow out of the deuils discourses by the disorder of prudence he can teach men that no practise is warrantable but that which followes their method and by the euill handling of art he can seeme to be skilfull by nayling men fast vnto all their impieties Hence arise all the deuills stratagems first against vnderstanding 2. the will and affections 3. the body Against vnderstanding first he desires nothing more then to put out that eie and make men like mill horses to runne round in his seruice and when he pleaseth may suffer them to knock out their braines Secondly after he hath blinded the mind with ignorance then he tempts them to error and thirdly from error he brings them to heresie and from heresie hee leads them a long to hardnesse of heart from hardnesse of heart to no sense and feeling of their wretched estate and then follows all
the world would censure me of flattery and if I knewe that selfe-loue were at home with your selfe then should I neuer feare want of intertainment in learning to dissemble but both the world and your selfe must pardon my boldnesse for I speake not to blaze abroad your praise but to intreat that kindnesse that men would admit of your example as a patterne for imitation Three things constraine mee to vtter my mind First that continuall care which you haue for resolution of many difficulties in diuinity the means which you haue vsed are but practised of few one is that you haue not bin content to take your resolution of diuine truth from translations but haue taken that paines that you are able to fetch it from the originall and drinke of the purest fountaine A second meanes is that of the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make question of matters of religion whensoeuer you haue seene iust opportunitie and fit persons to resolue neither haue you been content to admit of superficiall answers but haue pressed argument vpon them to see the true tryall and often your own resolutions haue bin more agreeable with the truth and context of Sciptures then that which others haue said let this teach men of your place besides their continuall imploiments to set some time apart for this excellent knowledge of the originalls of the Bible and knowledge of that art A second good example is your continual care that the legges of iustice may not lie broken in the streets and no man to raise it vp A happie thing when men of place count their dignities to be conferred as a common good for Church and Commonwealth Thirdly for all manner of election this you onely haue not affirmed by word but performed by action that the place more then the person might haue cause to reioyce For my selfe I confesse I had no cause to be iâ—ticed from you as the Leuite was from Micah Iudg. 17. to become a Priest vnto a Tribe or familie in Israel but least through ignorance I should as soon serue in the ministery of Idols as the true God I desired to be a little longer trained vp in the schooles of the Prophets For my loue vnto your familie whereof once I was a member it is this that all of them might knowe the God of their fathers and serue him with a perfect heart a willing mind For your vertuous Lady whoÌ„ God hath made as a fruitful vine on the sides of your house that she might likewise grow into the true Vine Christ Iesus and be fruitfull vnto her owne saluation For all your children that they might be as the Oliue plants of God round about your table For your eldest son Beniamin I hope in name and nature the sonne of your right hand the Lord make him the strength and crowne of your age the excellencie of your dignitie and the excellencie of your power But I feare I haue alreadie offended your desire is breuitie therefore to conclude I commend and commit this small labour to your patronage the text I am sure is excellent for these dayes but for my manner of handling it I leaue it to the censure of Gods Church How-euer it be I do more then hope that you will kindly accept it from me and entertaine it as a testimonie of my loue and not onely so but vse it for your comfort Now the God of peace that brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus the great Shepheard of the sheepe through the blood of the euerlasting couenant make you perfect in all good workes to doe his will working in you that which is pleasant in his sight to whom be praise for euer and euer Amen Yours in all good affection IOHN YATES To the Christian Reader IT is a common saying that an Exorcist may sooner coniure vp a logion of deuills then adiure one of them out of his habitation And as it is with bodily possession so is it with the obsession of the soule for although the deuill cannot penetrate the soules dimensions yet he will sit so neere it that whosoeuer admits him the least good fellowshippe he shall not be freed of his company when he is wearie and with all his heart would shake hands with him The Papists challenge all our Churches as false because we can cast out no deuills but the whole world knowes that they can doe it to the admiration of thousands but for my part I knowe not how they coniure the deuill from the bodie yet this I dare boldly affirme that where they haue gotten one deuill out of mens bodies they haue admitted a thousand into mens soules and surely the deuill were a foole if he would not change his roome for a better lodging I am sure that there was neuer any church that hath coniured vp more heresies then they haue done and as yet I know not one that they haue adiured and sent packing into hell No marueile that they haue need of strange exorcismes for otherwise how should men be confirmed in their strange doctrines these questionlesse haue bin strong delusions to make them beleeue lies But if they please to admit of the holy Scriptures we shall at the first resolue them of a double meanes Math. 17.20.21 the first is miraculous and for a time the second ordinarie and so remaines in the Church the one is in the 20. v. the other in the 21. and this second meanes we haue I am sure the Church of God may pray and fast to deliuer both bodie and soule from the deuil But perhaps they will say shew vs whom you haue dispossessed I answer Prayer fasting are of the same nature that preaching and administring the sacraments they being conscionably vsed worke where and whensoeuer God pleaseth I doubt not but by the preaching of the word thousands haue bin coÌ„uerted vnto the faith and where men get the deuil out of the soule he will haue small hope or comfort either to enter or stay in the body and so no maruell the deuill holds them so strongly and takes such good liking of them that he will be at their commaund to leaue the body and ascend into an higher roome for he is proud enough to intertain such a motion And though I deny not but we haue had some possessed among vs yet I dare boldly say the most haue bin of their owne making Let them take the credit of their art for questionles a blacke art best beseemes a religion of darknesse blindnesse and ignorance But to applie our Sauiours rule vnto our purpose Fasting and praier are admirable meanes in the Church of God not onely to cast out deuills and vncleane spirits but also to fill the soule with the spirit of grace and goodnes And here I tremble to speake and charge mine owne heart with exceeding great negligence as often as I call to remembrance the extraordinarie fasting and prayer of Arminius especially whensoeuer he entred this mysterie of mysteries Gods
and water good and euill may as well bee reconciled In deede Gods silence might haue wrought better effects in the mind of these wicked men but they haue so hardned themselues Rom. 2.4 and brought impenitencie vpon their hearts that they are become subiects vnfit to be wrought vpon neither haue they that wisdome as to turne themselues vnto such a subiect as Gods silence to ponder seriously thereon so that neither can it worke vpon them nor they vpon it and therefore what consention betwixt God and their thoughts 2. Acception is to conforme the fruit of agreement 2. Conformitiâ—â— by a metanomie of the effect for the cause for conformity is the effect of consention neither will this stand in any good sense thou conformedst for it is the only thing that God complaines of in this place Râ—u 2.21 that he did not conform himselfe vnto the large time that God gaue him to repent for how can there be any peace as long as the whoordomes of Iezabel are in such multtiudes peace is where men agree together but where they are vp in armes all is in an vproare and the tumult is so great that they will bee brought vnto no order The men of Ephesus when they were troubled about their goddesse made the whole citie full of confusion Act. 19. one crying one thing another the cleane contrarie all out of order and the more part knewe not wherefore they were come together the Towne Clarke for all his wisdome can hardly bring them vnto any conformitie so as long as the tumult of sinne disturbs all within vs it is impossible that God should haue audience especially when for his silence he would be heard of vs. Let a sonne of thunder cry at a doore where all are fighting and quarrelling and they will out-cry him but if he should stand silent at the doore it were impossible that they should heare him when they were at the best therfore God may stand at the doore and knocke by his silence as long as he will and he shall neuer be heard therefore thou thoughtest was no conformitie with Gods silence 3. Signification is assimulation 3. Assimulation either to assimulate himselfe vnto the thing or the thing vnto himselfe if it had beene of himselfe vnto the thing theÌ„ had his thought without all question been lawfull and honest but it is of the thing vnto himselfe and therefore let the thing bee what it will it must bee made to serue his turne And this signification is very emphaticall and seruing for our purpose and is thus much in sense as if the Lord should haue said As a wicked man thinks of me so must I be indeed he will frame mee according to his owne conceit and not his conceit according to that which I would haue him thinke of me and my silence toward him and this is the first beginning of his thought now assimulation is neuer without a conceiued image Imagination comming betwixt the two things that make themselues like Hence a fourth signification to imagine and that is a second degree vnto this thought first by turning Gods silence vnto his owne will he saw no great difference but that there was proportion and similitude enough then in the second place he imagined that hee sawe God well pleased with him Resolution Now a third degree is to bee added and that is from the imagination a direct resolution that I may thinke it and acknowledge it for the truth The reason of the phrase is this because when any thing approaches toward the minde of man then the minde turnes it selfe vnto it sees how it likes it imagines what contentment may be drawne out of it and then thinks on it if the thing be good and the mind frame it selfe according to the same then the thought that riseth from that thinking is good If on the contrarie it be bad and the mind will impresse his image then the thought is bad silence and mercie from God in this place were exceeding comfortable they enter the mind of this wicked hypocrite but they are not intertained in their owne name neither will he part with so much as a cup of cold water for his sake that sent them but he will bee refreshed by them according to his owne liking Amos 4 5. The people will bring sacrifices yea betimes in the morning tythes after three yeers a thankesgiuing of leauen free offerings c. but according to whose liking euen their owne and therefore God counts of it as to transgresse at Bethel Esa 58. and multiply transgressions at Gilgal Esay 58. they fasted punished themselues but it was to seeke their own wills and require all their owne debts they care not to haue a good glasse to looke in but they must needs breath in it and therefore the inward corruption of the heart sends out such smoakie fumes that the true image is dimmed and so they see nothing but themselues The flowers that God sent them all the time of his long silence were exceeding sweete but the mind beeing corrupt in it selfe and also in his breathing infects or rather driues backe the pleasant smell and so most truely sents it selfe yea takes the deeper poison because a sweete flower poisoned is more louingly imbraced of the sences and so the poison doth creepe in with the pleasant smell and strikes with the spirits presently to the heart so often they poison the good graces of Gods spirit which willingly would be imbraced but the poyson creepes in too into the soule and strikes all dead at the very heart the glasse that is coloured casts about all the beames of the sunne with the appearance of his colour so the glasse of our mind beeing coloured and deepe died withall impietie makes euery beame of Gods goodnesse shine according to his owne minde intus apparens prohibet alienum was an old axiome of Aristotle but well may it be brought into diuinitie sinne that onely appeares within hinders all grace and goodnesse for alas they come but as strangers vnto vs and therefore they find very meane intertainment As Christ was dealt withall when hee came vnto the inne all inward roomes were taken vp and onely the stable is left for him so doe we deale with his grace and mercie all the cheife roomet in our soules are taken vp with greater personages then Christ and his grace there is either lord couetousnesse or lord pride or ambition or pleasure or reuenge c. and therefore must Christ and his grace into the stable for we will not haue these men to rule ouer vs and therefore if his grace will become our seruant we will giue it entertainement but to be Lord ouer vs is too much we will not haue it take so much vpon it and for our seruice we haue no other place for grace but the stable and therefore no maruell if all goodnes disdaine once to come neere the houses of these wicked men
saluation then wicked men in all their craftie fetches to plant themselues while the Lords silence is vpon them for affliction lets a man see at the first the worst conclusion that shall befall him in the profession of his God and therefore beeing best knowne he may assure himselfe that all other consequences shall be ioyfull and exceeding comfortable It shall not be so with the wicked for they make the best conclusions first and therefore blind their eyes that they cannot behold how they runne to fearfull woes and sudden destruction now followes the conclusions of a part of the argument to wit Gods silence alone Obser 4. This bond therefore lets vs see a fourth collection to wit that wicked men sucke poyson out of euery word of God his verie silence and mercie which ought to haue a sweete rellish vnto their soules shall by the corruption of their natures become the baine of the body and soule If God be but silent then will they be filled with wicked thoughts of God himselfe Reas 1. The corruption of nature From corrup nature which turnes all into it selfe A corrupt stomacke makes all meats rellish of his qualitie it turnes sweete into sowre pleasant into as bitter as gall so the heart of a wicked man makes silence sinne iudgement blasphemie loue hatred peace warre and the feares of hel the thoughts of pleasure Corpus tabedâ—â— quo plus nutrias eo magis laedas A naughty temperature the more it is fedde with good nourishments the worse it becomes so an ill tempered soule with the vntempered mortar of sinne becomes worse for the mercies of God and such excellent foode is turned into a most dangerous nourisher of the very canker and gangrene of bodie and soule Reas 2. Ill digestion either of mercie or iudgement From the ill digestion of the soule That which lies raw in the stomack and so consequently spoyled in the first concoction can neuer be mended againe in the liuer or in the assimulation of the parts where euery thing drawes and sucks for his own vse So all the mercies and iudgments of God lie raw at the heart of a wicked man and there are spoiled so that no good blood can be dispersed through bodie soule to make the sanguine complexion of a Christian neither shall you see any member to gather strength but rather to pine away euen as men doe that labour of consumptions Good things without Gods blessing heauie curses when they are fedde with the best nourishments when wee may see a poore beggers boy that fares hardly euen with such diet as would make a man melancholick to looke on it yet he is fresh and well liking so Christians which are of the blood royall are like Daniel which was better liking feeding on the pulse then when he had his diet off the Kings table So these vnder affliction profit more then all the wicked doe in their prosperitie Lazarus is better in soule though he cannot obtaine the crummes that the rich mans dogges might be welcom vnto then the rich-man that fared daintily euery day and yet pined in his soule The woman of Canaan for all her strange repulses first no answer 2. the disciples speaking against her 3. Christ giuing her a cold answer I am not come but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel 4. an vtter distast of her kindred it is not meete to take the childrens bread and cast it vnto dogges such a one art thou because a Canaanitish woman and no Israelite well for all this cold comfort shee will haue her soule fedde or shee will neuer giue ouer True Lord I am neither sonne nor seruant to sit at thy table yet seeing it hath pleased thee to style me a dogge I pray thee let me at thy table be but as one of thy whelps to gather but the crummes that fall from thee or thy children yea or thy seruants and that shall suffice my hungrie soule This woman by this meanes was fedde better then any Israelite euen by the very testimonie of Christ himselfe I haue not found such faith in Israel ah woman great is thy faith go in peace and let all be according to thy desire 3. A wicked mâ—n makes no vse 〈◊〉 Gods mercy Reas Is that which followes a bad concoction and that is ill distribution whereby all the vitall parts waxe weake and the spirits decay and so consequently sence and motion lie dead in the bodie he is not able to mooue vp and downe to performe the duties of his calling his hands which are the keepers of his house begin to tremble with the palsie his limmes and legs which were the strong men bow themselues his senses decay his eies waxe darke that looke out by the windowes his ears with all the daughters of singing are abused his tast is gone he is like old Barsillai that is not fit to set at the kings table in a word his senses shall be so decayed that nature shall not bee able to bind them vp in the night time to refresh him with comfortable sleepe but he shall be awake before the bird sing in the morning and shall be so out of heart with the disquietnes of the night that the bird shall be no means to lull him asleep but he shall rise at the voyce of the bird Euen so is it with wicked men they make no good distribution of Gods mercies iudgements in their liues and therefore no maruell if their life languish if their spirits to good actions bee cold and frozen with the dreggs of impietie and can no wayes be dissolued for mooue they cannot or bestirre themselues that so heate might be gotten into them to dissolue the frosts of their soules and expell the abundance of vapours that arise out of the sinke of sinne wherby they are choaked neither can they be chafed for they haue vtterly lost all sense and feeling Let the grace of God shine neuer so clearely yet they haue no eyes to seee withall let God thunder from heauen and they are so hard asleep that they cannot heare it let God threaten them and they haue yet no touch of their conscience let God promise them mercie and they cannot tast it let him offer them some of the flowers of his garden yet they cannot smell them And thus it comes to passe that as euery thing worke together for the good of Gods children so euery thing workes together for the destruction of the wicked Vse 1. reprehension First confutation of the wickeÌ„d that bragge and boast of their prosperitie Alas what cause haue they to reioyce in that they poyson themselues There is a kind of poyson that will make men die laughing surely so is it with the wicked they are fed fat for the day of slaughter and yet they perceiue not how fast they run to the slaughter house Secondly correction of the godly that are discontented with affliction would they haue the estate of a
wicked men pay all to the deuill nothing to God and therefore because they will be thus debt-bound to the flesh to liue after it they shall be sure to die Reas Comparison with others 3. is comparison with others First wicked and profane which are extraordinarily beastly these men oftentime liue a faire life and die a quiet death and therefore if God loued them a little in both these then surely must I needs be loued of God much more Againe with the godly they are a companie of precise persons men of melancholy dispositions at peace with no men cannot liue quietly at home but they must abroad to heare sermons and yet for all this I sit still at home content with that which God sends and am as wel esteemed of my neighbours as they and why then should not I be in the fauour of God as well as they Thus dealing with their owne soules they are farre gone in a conceit that God is like vnto them and loues them most dearely therefore are sure to die in it 1. Vse reprehension first confutation of the wicked that they are of an other kind of stampe then they dreame of they conceit heauen and happines when indeede they are but one steppe from hell 2. Correction of the godly that if they trust for any fauour at the hands of wicked men they shall be deceiued for it is impossible they should doe them good except the Lord worke it out of them for they are forlorne creatures and forsaken of God 2. Vse instruction First admonition to the wicked that they bragge not too much of their prosperitie in so high a conceit of all is well with them 2. A direction to the godly to conceiue best of themselues when they haue learned the greatest humilitie to confesse that they are but dust and ashes and lesse then the least of Gods mercies This will make them mount vpon Eagles wings vnto the kingdome of heauen and the throne of glorie 3. Vse consolation First in our exaltation when we shall consider what a difference there is betwixt the true loue of God shed abroad in our hearts and that vaine conceit that we had of it in our owne thoughts Paul thought he did well and that it was an acceptable sacrifice vnto God to shed the blood of the poore Christians he was zealous for the law and surely he had no small conceit of Gods loue toward him But when the Lord had appeared vnto him and told him of his seruice he becomes of an other minde and triumphs in nothing but in Christ crucified and that with an execration God forbid now he sees the world crucified vnto himselfe and himselfe vnto the world 2. This obseruation may vouchsafe comfort in affliction that therefore the Lord doth afflict vs that we may not trust too much to our selues but truly resort vnto him that will denie vs no comfort Reason for all opinions Obs 6. No opinion so absurd but men wil haue some appearance of reason for it That God is like man is a conceit vaine enough and full of absurditie yet the hypocrite hath his reason for it because God is silent This point is cleare in all kinds of errors Atheisme which for breuitie I refer to foure heads Atheisme Idolatrie heresie prophannes Atheisme a strange opinion euen against reason it selfe and the crie of the whole world which cannot but make God the first and the last For if there be any beeing which cannot be denied then must it needs be either the first beeing or a beeing from the first for to say that there are two first beeings is false seeing that two doth alwaies presuppose one but one doth not alwaies presuppose two one may be without two but two cannot be without one therefore euery beeing wil say that God is this first that God is this one Secondly euery creature is for some next ende as all things are for man now for what next ende is man surely for God or else he is good for nothing A stately building can not be except some man haue his hand in it though I can see neuer a man about it This stately palace of the world could not be except God had shewed his power in it although wee cannot see his presence according to his essence yet see how Atheisme preuailes 1. Of God there is no cause aboue nature or fortune for into these two may all things be resolued as the first principles and therefore there is no God Tush God sees not neither is there any knowledge in the most high 2. Of creation Atheisme of his works first of creation that could not be because the Lord had no workemen to helpe him no instruments to worke by nor any matter to worke from 3. Of prouidence Againe no prouidence because bonis malè malis benè Neither any last iudgement 4. Of last iudgement because all things come a like since the fathers Neither haue we these generall Atheists alone Partiall Atheisme but also many partiall Athiests denying of his particular prouidence ouer all creatures â— Of speciall prouâ—â—ence in all creatures It is too base for the Lord to take care for smal creatures and actions of small moment because he sits like a king and therefore iudgeth the great matters of the world â— In sinne and the rest he puts ouer to angels and men nature and fortune Againe those that denie the prouidence of God ouer sinne saying hee hath a bare knowledge of it as though there were any prouidence which did not containe in it knowledge and care and they are not without reason for it God is not the author of sinne a good reason if it were not mis-applied Againe the Aramites the 1. of King 20. v. 23. 3. Of Gods vbiquitie will fight no more with Israel in the mountaines because their Gods are the Gods of the mountaines and therefore they ouercome vs but let vs fight against them in the plaine and doubtlesse wee shall ouercome them Here is an vndoubted argument that God is not euery where and therefore they might as well haue said no where Beside 2. Of his special and extraâ—â—dinary prâ—â—idence we haue more secret Atheist as some physitians which when God shewes his extraordinarie prouidence in preseruing some without food for many yeares will shew how this may be done by the losse of stomack liuer and the rest of the instruments which serue for nutrition and they further adde for the preuenting of the death of the bodie that these parts are turned in salinam substantiam which saltie substance is so farre from corrupting the body that it preserues it now for the continuance of life they adde further that the braine heart and lungs being in their naturall force giue life sence and motion by reason that breathing is from without as well as from within whereby the lungs are preserued and that the spirits vitall and animall are
discretion and that is in beeing too prompt and readie in blazing abroad the faults of others especially the infirmities of their brethren We see the Lord is silent at the grosse sinnes of prophane hypocrites and therefore shall not we passe by the infirmities of those that ought to be deere vnto vs surely this wil bring vs to communicate with the hypocrite Psal 50.20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother and slanderest thy mothers sonne therefore my brethren iudge your selues least the Lord iudge you with the hypocrite for this offence 2. Vse instruction First an admonitian of the wicked to consider with themselues that God will not alwaies be abused he will not alwaies keepe silence for it is but the holding of the tongue so that he is neither dumbe nor deafe but refraineth his lips for a time that a word may be spoken in his place and it shall be a most fearfull one for it shall be in flaming fire rendering vengeance vpon them for the abuse of his mercie Secondly a direction to Gods children to magnifie his maiestie for giuing them so large a time of repentance also to be carefull of the day of our visitation Hebr. 3.13 Exhort one an other daily while it is called to day least any of you be hardened through the deceitfulnes of sinne 3. Vse consolation to all those that lie vnder the burthen of their sinnes for if the Lord spare them that neuer seeke vnto him much more will he spare vs that seeke vnto him earnestly Sect. 3. Of wicked thoughts Concerning wicked thoughts First the originall of them Kinds of thoughts Thoughts haue diuers considerations First they are giuen to God and that is a direct thought whereby God first thinkes himselfe and then in himselfe all things els Gods knowledge and thoughts are direct of himselfe and indirect of all things that are not himselfe the reason because God directly knows no lesse then himselfe and therefore can thinke no lesse then himselfe so that out of himselfe he knowes all things which no creature in heauen or earth is able to doe And this thought may be called a direct thought free from all errour and false hoode because it can no wayes be blinded by any externall or internall obiect seeing it is tyed to none The second thought is indirect when the thing must first be thought and then may it thinke it selfe for as in a glasse first I must see the image of my face and then from that my natural face so in thinking I must first see the image of the thing represented vnto my vnderstanding and then by knowing of it I know my selfe to know this is a reflexed thought agreeing both to angels and men and hence riseth the possibilitie of being deceiued because they may iudge of the obiect amisse and if they doe so then they iudge amisse of them-selues Hence the Angels and Adam ouerthrew themselues the angels by proud thoughts of their estate and in contempt and disdaine to be ministring spirits for the good of man Adam againe was deceiued in neglecting of his true conformitie with Gods lawe but thought it was to limite him from a great good in becomming like God A third thought is when a man will thinke all things out of himselfe and through his owne corruptions and therefore all the beames of Gods wisedome comming through so corrupt a medium must appeare according to his corruption euen as the sunne shining through a glasse windowe which is painted resembles the colour of the glasse And thus man that would needs become like God is in a paritie of contraries like God God thinks himselfe first and then all things out of himselfe so corrupt man will now needs thinke himselfe and so all things out of himself but here lies the difference that God being no thing bur goodnesse it selfe can thinke nothing but good thoughts but man beeing nothing but a lumpe and masse of sinne can think nothing but euil thoughts it is Gods happinesse to thinke himselfe but mans miserie as long as he flickes to his owne thoughts and therefore no maruell if the silence of the Lord take no better impression in his mind but become like his mind a wicked thought Yet obserue this by the way that as the beams of the sunne comming through the glasse are not changed by the glasse into another nature nor lighting on the dunghill polluted by the filthines thereof so the beames of Gods goodnes passing through the soule of a sinner though he abuse them yet still they retaine their goodnesse Hence we learne three kind of thoughts first a direct thought the secoÌ„d a reflexed thought the third a corrupt thought which is meant in this place the fountaine of corrupt thoughts is the heart Gen. 6.5 whose conception is in imaginations the verie forming and laying of an accursed birth shewing that the frame of the heart is full of corruption and secondly that his fruits are accursed as the conception is so is the birth for the thoughts comming froÌ„ the corrupt frame of the heart cannot be cleane but must needs rellish of their originall and therefore the holy Ghost hath stiled the verie imaginations of the heart to be euil onely and continuall Gen. 8.21 euen from his childhood as soone as we begin to vse reason wee frame euill in our hearts Hence the cause plainely riseth want of all good thoughts or want of all consideration with the concourse of all the contraries want of consideration made the couetous man euen in temporall things destitute of all the comfort of them Isa 44. the cause of all that strange Idolatry is v. 8. because they haue not known nor vnderstood and v. 19. none considereth in his heart neither is there knowledge nor vnderstanding to say how foolish haue I beene to burne halfe of my wood in the fire for to bake my bread and rost my flesh and yet of the residue to make an abhomination to bowe vnto it Ier. 8.4 5 6. There is more consideration in the verie bruit beasts then in Gods Israel and therefore the heart beeing so polluted and destitute of all good consideration how should it possibly prooue otherwise then that man should become full of all euill thoughts And thus much of the fountaine which will better be discouered in the other points For the second The wayes to discerne of mens thoughts there bee two wayes of knowing mens thoughts 1. immediate and direct and this is proper vnto God 1. Kin. 8.39 2. indirect and by meanes For as God onely first knowes himselfe and then all things by himselfe so euery creature euen angels themselues first knowe the thing and then themselues by the thing this makes their knowledge indirect And there be foure meanes to helpe in the knowledge of thoughts First the agreement of natures as spirit with spirit may haue secret familiariâ—y and a communication of thoughts Thus the deuill beeing a spirit can come more neere our soules
our eyes into our owne bosomes Ier. 8.6 4. Is want of thinking of this duty toward God Ierem. 5.24 so the foolish virgins contented themselues with their lampes vnprepared neuer thinking of the oyle till the time of grace was past thus hardnesse of heart and securitie bring forth these wicked thoughts Hence obserue the strange opinion of the world men haue good hearts meanings intents and purposes howsoeuer the actions of their liues be faultie Hence learne that the Scriptures are no policies of men for nothing could reueale these wicked thoughts but the diuine truth Angels and men know not the thoughts Secondly learne that thoughts are not free though they neuer come into consent or action therefore repentance of thoughts is necessarie Ioel 2.12 Act. 8.22 1. Thess 5. Paul requires that they be sanctified in bodie soule and spirit Reas 1. Because a man is cursed for his thought Pro. 5.26 2. Because actuall sinnes proceed of euill thoughts 1. the thought thinketh it 2. after thought comes delight 3. after delight consent of will 4. after consent an execution or practise of the sinne 5. after practise comes custome in practise 6. after custome and practise death and damnation for thoughts the old world was destroyed Gen. 7.21 For repentance of euill thoughts Remedies of euill thoughts vse 1. examination 2. praier 3. reformation In examination first we must remember that all thoughts are in euery mans minde by nature therefore the least occasion turnes the mind to think them secondly we must heare the word of God attentiuely we must lay open all our senses to the hearing thereof and let it goe thorough them all 1. Cor. 4.25 2. Point Prayer A man must pray for the pardon of his thoughts Act. 8.22 3. Point Reformation of the minde for wicked thoughts Ephe. 4. be renewed in the spirit of your minds wherein thoughts and imaginations are conceiued and framed Rule 1. All thoughts must be in obedience toward God Prou. 20.18 15.22 he must not conceiue a thought in his mind before he haue consulted with the word 1. Cor. 10.4 5. Phil. 4.8 2. Rule Prou. 4.24 to keepe and counter-guard our hearts aboue all watch ward men dovsually guard their cities houses and their treasures now Salomon teacheth that the heart must be guarded more then any citie house or treasures because from it proceed the actions of life 1. Therefore make a couenant with thy senses that they be no occasion or prouocation to any manner of sinne this did Iob cap. 31. and Dauid Psal 119. Turne mine eies from beholding couetousnesse the senses are the windowes of the soule and if God enter not sathan will creepe in at them into our hearts 2. At the beginning checke an euill thought for the thought beeing checked the affections will be quiet 3. Labour with all care to cherish euery good motion of Gods spirit 1. all good cogitations by the ministerie of the word or good counsell hence quench not the spirit 3. Rule We must often vse eleuation of the heart and mind vnto heauen where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father Psal 25.1 Paul bids the Philippians haue their conuersation in heauen Iam. 4. drawe neere to God Hence the Lords Supper is a principall meanes of the eleuation of the heart and mind vnto God this eleuation must be continually practised such as are appointed to keepe clockes doe often euery day pull vp the waights because they are alwaies going downeward Pray continually 1. Thess 5. There be three speciall times the beginning of the day the first good thought affection euerie day must be the Lords The 2. time the end of the day commend our soules vnto God The 3. time receiuing of blessings or feeling the want of them to praise God for the one and call vpon him for the supply of the other 4. Rule The meditation of some speciall matters whereby saluation may be furthered which is either concerning God or our selues concerning God his presence this made Dauid to drawe neere vnto God Psal 139. Psal 19. his heart is purified by seeing God in his lawe Psal 23. in the shadow of death he wil not feare 2. Consideration of Gods iudgments not old but late and particular vpon persons cities townes we should lay these to the heart Ier. 12.11 Here we must practise three things 1. wee must obserue and carefully marke and remember Gods iudgements 2. wee must apply them to our owne persons in particular that they may make vs afraid Thus Habacuk when he heard of Gods iudgement his knees beate one against another Hab. 3. If in a familie one child be beaten others will take heed 3. We must make vse of them Luk. 13.3 Third consideration is of Gods word Psal 1. It is the propertie of the righteous man to meditate in Gods lawe day and night Luk. 2. Marie hid all those things in her heart 1. we must consider the sence of the Scriptures 2. what experience we haue had of the truth of the word of God in our own liues and consciences 3. how farre forth we haue swarued in the practise of the word or how farre forth we haue practised it Fourth consideration is of Gods works in vs and vpon vs this will make vs consider the workes of creation preseruation prouidence Isa 5.12 he pronounceth a woe to them that forget this 1. Consider the work of creation God hath made vs men when we might haue beene beasts that of nothing he made vs to be something 2. for preseruation and prouidence we must consider how he hath preserued vs from time to time from all dangers and hath giuen vs all things necessarie for this life and the life to come 3. for his patience that he hath not cast vs into hell but hath giuen vs a long and large time of repentance 4. that wee are not borne among the heathen but in the bosome of the church where hee hath giuen vs his word reformed our iudgments mollified our hearts and prouoked vs to euerie good worke Eccles 7.13 Psal 77.12.13 Second consideration of our selues 1. of our owne particular sinnes whether they be corruptions of the heart or sinnes of our liues Psal 119.59 Lam. 3. Come let vs search and try our wayes 1. In what manner we haue sinned against God whether of ignorance or knowledge of presumption or weaknes of constraint or wilfulnesse 2. The greatnesse of euerie sinne yea of the least sinne how the infinite maiestie of God is offended and his iustice violated 3. The number of them and here we shall find them with Dauid more then the haires of our head or the sands of the sea Must a man consider them whē he is sure they are pardoned yes so did Dauid Psal 25. Hee praied for the pardon of the sinnes of his youth That this may take the deeper impression let vs consider of the degrees of our misery 1. A separation from all fellowship with God Isa 59.2 2. a
doe vnto God for if God should neuer reprooue the wicked would boast and triumph notoriously 4. The consolation of the godly when should their heads be lift vp if it were not to see their enemies trampled vnder their feete Vse 1. reprehension First confutation of the vngodly that thinke the Lord will condemne no person he that made all will saue all and a pitifull thing it is to imagine that God should haue made any man to damne him well they see God will reprooue Secondly correction of the godly that they take heede of securitie and labour to please God with reuerence and feare Rom. 12.29 For euen our God is a consuming fire 2. Vse instruction first admonition to the vngodly Oh consider this ye that forget God least he teare you in pieces Secondly a direction to the godly to walke before the Lord as he is their father and master Mal. 1.6 A sonne honoureth his father and a seruant his master if then I be a father where is mine honour and if I be a master where is my feare 3. Vse consolation first in trouble to consider God will reprooue Iehoshua stands before Christ Iesus Zach. 3. and Satan stands at his right hand to resist him but here is comfort v. 2. for Christ saies vnto Satan The Lord reprooue thee O Satan euen the Lord that hath chosen Ierusalem reprooue thee Secondly in wel-doing because the Lord will neuer reprooue for that but approoue it and commend it for euer 2. Sect. Of the forme of this Iustice Reprooue Reproofe is a second argument to set forth the instice of God Vindicatiue iustice is more violent then correction for that is alwaies in mercie and the ende of it is the quiet fruit of righteousnesse but the nature of this is to be a curse and the ende therof the death and destruction of the creature Also it is more forcibly felt of the creature then Gods remuncratiue iustice because this strikes at the verie heart touches his verie conscience with the extremitie of horror and feare and leaues neither bodie nor soule without most exquisite torments such as were neuer inuented of men the racke in England the Strappado in Spaine nor any torture inuented by the wit of man shall euer come neere this no not the strange torments of Tyrants Children are scared with harmlesse bul-begger but dread lesse the fire water so men in this world feare them that can kil the bodie but neuer feare at all for him that can kil both bodie and soule we tremble to heare a great man speake and the young men hide themselues at the voyce of Iob and yet alas who trembles at a verball reproofe of the Lord they thinke him a simple person that can not indure a word And therefore Christians that are so much cast downe at the threatnings of the Lord are with the wicked but fooles and faint hearted persons nay more then this let the hand of the Lord light vpon their fellow-companions and that shall be no prognostication to them When diuination was by lightnings those lightnings which fell in the sea or toppes of mountaines were neuer brought into obseruation but were called bruta fulmina so the indgments of God that light vpon others are farre enough remooued from them and therefore they neuer call them into question nay alas they make lighter account of them as long as they are threatned in Gods word or executed vpon others then Morbizan the Turke did of the Bull of Pius the second or of his indulgences to the people to take armes against him that by a letter to the Pope he required that he would call in his Epigrammes againe so men thinke that when the Lord threatneth the seisure both of soule and bodie the attaching of our spirits the confiscation of our consciences the banishing of vs from heauen the hanging of vs in hell the suspending of our saluation the adiudging of vs to condemnation to be nothing but wittie Epigrammes inuented of men to exercise men withall One calls the excommunication of Paulus quintus against the Venetians dirum carmen and Bellarmine saies of Prudentius when he appoints certaine holy-daies in hell Paenarum celebres sub styge feriae Euen so the world deales with God his threatning are but idle Tragedies and the punishments in hell may haue their holy-daies wherein men may take their recreations So that now God shall be as well beholding to iesting Lucian or any inuenter of fables or tragedies of hell to make one old woman weepe or tremble as to his owne Prophets or Apostles but let them be assured that hell is no painted fire for they shall finde that God hath fire and sagot sword and bow speare and yron rods to dash in pieces euery one although as hard hearted as Pharaoh himselfe then shall they tremble most that feared least when Gods iudgements were threatned Observ The Iustice of God shall be manifested as well in plagues and curses as in promises and mercies Doe this and thou shalt liue there is rewarding iustice but the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death there is iustice punishing which a long time is kept vnder the cloud of Gods silence but at length breaketh forth and by that meanes is made to shine the brighter Euen as in a darke night one starre breaking out of a thicke cloud deliuereth a farre more splendent and glorious light then if it shone with many in a cleare euening so this iustice hath the more grace and beautie from the Lord in the wicked insomuch as almost all other planets had a long time beene eclipsed or quite fallen out of their spheres to the great discomfort of all such as trauailed with the wicked though not in their waies yet in the selfe same night and busied themselues at the lamps of Gods word beeing carefull to vphold the societie of mankind by learning and instruction Ionah the Prophet was content to enter into the citie a daies iourney and preached and so continued walking with the men in the citie vntill they put on sackcloth fasted and humbled themselues this might exceedingly haue comforted Ionah to see so chearefull and comfortable a light breake forth as repentance but alas Ionah is displeased and that exceedingly that he should prognosticate of a flaming fire from heauen within fourtie daies to destroy Nineueh and yet nothing appeare according to his word this made him angrie impudent with God now againe to defend his fleeing into Tarshish although the Lord had appeared vnto him in the fearefull tempest prepared a fish heard his prayer brought him to drie land yet now because God will not come from heauen according to his word he wisheth that he might die and that God would shew his iustice on him One would haue thought Ionah might haue bin well cooled in the sea from raging so hotly against God Well Ionah get thee vnder the Lords gourd that it may be a shadow for thy head and deliuer
the people raised a figure on hie that all men might obserue it and on the top painted a Serpent in a circle to shewe that in the world there is no greater arte then man to know himselfe in euerie part Let vs then a little enter this consideration and see what grounds hee laies of these his conceits First he considers his perfections as the perfections of nature a nimble wit good memorie full of ciuilitie and faire conuersation Secondly beeing within the bounds of Gods church he may obtaine certaine graces of Gods spirit as first from the word in generall vnderstanding consent to the truth submission affection delight in the messengers and to be a companion with the Saints and all frequenters of Gods church For the law he may see his sinnes the wrath of God due for them horror of conscience reluctation against sinne sorrow and a certaine change Mat. 12.43 2. Pet. 2.20 Mar. 6.20 For the Gospel knowledge of the couenant that God is faithfull that Christs merits are of infinite value and teares may flow from his eyes either in hearing or reading the passion of our Sauiour Christ Degrees of his perfections Heb. 6. 1 illumination 2. participation of the heauenly gift holy Ghost Gods word and of the powers to come these are his perfections Now let vs see what reasons may perswade him to this conceit First when he lookes vpon himselfe hee sees his heart to bee quiet within him and not boyle with the fowle and vglie sinnes of the world Secondly he sees his estate to be verie good in the world and full of prosperitie Thirdly he thinkes his profession is with the best he is as good a churchman as any other Againe he lookes vp vnto God and is verie lauish of Gods mercie he cares not to set it vpon the tenters and makes it rise as high as the mountaines but for his iustice he scants that and makes it like a mole-hill When he thinks of the deuill he finds himselfe nothing at all to bee troubled with him with a voide Sathan he can scare him from him at any time when he sets himselfe vpon the stage with other men he sees how the wicked cannot come neere him and yet they haue often a faire life an easie death and therefore shal it be farre better with him And for precise persons he cannot tell what to say of them sometime they are too proud for his companie another time they are too ful of hypocrisie he dares not trust them sometimes they are a companie of fooles and therefore he will not runne gadding about with fooles sometime men full of melancholy and sadnes fit for no societie or els singular fellowes that thinke none so good as themselues or els will haue a life by themselues and therefore they will not liue in societie with them but alas they are the men of pride that thinke that God dwells with them alone Bucephalus was then in cheifest pride when rich armor was set vpon his backe and none might ride him but Alexander so these hypocrites beeing in honour in the world will suffer none to accompanie with them but God himselfe for in comparison he excludes all And furely question with him of his estate and for the most you shall finde them verie resolute like vnto the Gyant of Gath they haue fingers and thumbes enough to apprehend mercie Aske them meane you to be saued they answer resolutly God forbid they should euer think otherwise when alas poore Christians lie wrastling with many a temptation Aske them againe doe you beleeue beleeue he that would not beleeue God were a wretch indeede Aske him in the third place haue you any doubtings with your faith doubtings why should I doubt the Lord is most certen in his promises when in both these the child of God is much perplexed Aske him in the last place when did you beleeue surely euer since I was borne yet alas many a good seruant of God will say once I was as blacke as a coale in sinne but it hath pleased God to put on me a whiter garment I know the verie day when hell did gape vpon me and at such a sermon it pleased God to strike me to the ground and raise me vp againe in his mercie or at least they that haue beene sanctified from their mothers wombe will crie and say Oh wretched men that we are who shall deliuer vs from this bodie of death This fight of the members and of the spirit is an excellent perswasion of true grace but alas these wretches when in the time of necessitie they come to make vse of their faith what doe they I pray you truly they are become like Adonibezek they haue lost all their fingers and must famish for want of laying hold of their meate so that all their beautie perisheth For beloued as greene fruits and flowers doe ripen by the sunne whose rayes bring forth their budds and their smells so by the sonne of righteousnes alone must all the flowers of Gods garden mend their smells and sauours And therefore let vs proceede to see what they are not for want of this sunne and that consists in the second part of the verse yet they are not washed from their filthinesse A Labyrinth is framed with such art that the entrance is both plaine and wide but beeing entred you shall finde such turnings that you can not come out againe without your guide so this conceit of puritie hath made such a large entrance into the hearts of hypocrites that they can not be brought out of their turnings without the guide of Gods spirit Therefore let vs view these two threeds that are here laid downe to helpe vs. First they are not washed secondly they are in their filthines Ianus had two faces and in the one hand he had a key in the other the sunne from Ianus comes Ianuarie that lookes at both parts of the yeare his two faces makes him looke forward and backward by his key he is able to open the day and shut in the night by the sunne in the hand he is able to discouer all things Formalitie in religion may be expressed in Ianus vntill we come to the key and the sunne the hypocrites can looke at both parts of the yeare winter and sommer but they will haue their backe vpon winter and their face vpon sommer for when winter comes againe and lookes them in the face they hide their heads and will not be seene like vnto snailes that are abroad while the dew is vpon the earth but creepe into their houses when they finde the dew to be dried vp by the sunne Againe they haue two faces they can looke backward and forward serue all times please all persons and keepe themselues out of daunger but when we come vnto the key whereby heauen is opened and shut in they haue none at all they lost their key of righteousnes in Adam and as yet they haue it not restored in Christ who alone
with my heart and for my spirit to search diligently will the Lord absent himselfe for euer and will he shewe no more fauour is his mercie cleane gone for euer doth his promise faile for euermore hath God forgotten to be mercifull hath he shut vp his tender mercie in displeasure what will this doe vnto my soule surely it will prooue my death Yet I remembred thy workes meditated in them deuised with my selfe what should be the ende of them and I found thy way in the Sanctuarie whither I must ascend by faith if I meane to declare thy power among the people to wit thy redemption The waters of the red sea seeing thy power were afraid the depths trembled thou rainedst vpon Egypt and madest thy thunders to be heard the lightning lightned the world the earth trembled and shooke thus thou didst lead thy people like sheepe by the hands of Moses and Aaron so that they wanted no comfort in the midst of many waters and all because God did dispose of all their troubles Surely that God orders all things is a most admirable comfort of the faithfull and a reson that I cannot leaue vnpressed Thy little finger shall not ake a haire of thy head shall not fall to the ground without Gods disposition Psal 121.4 behold a note of admiration both to good and bad of demonstration to all that expect the mercies of the Lord and of attention to those that are too negligent and what may they all behold euen this that the keeper of Israel will neither slumber nor sleepe A keeper what is that surely to be set in some office and therefore too base for the great God of heauen to become Israels seruant if Dauid had not styled him so in the next verse I should haue beene vnwilling to haue thought it but nowe I dare say it the Lord is thy keeper and therefore O Israel thou art but as a child vnder tuition as a sheepe vnder a pastor but happie that thou art put into the hands of no gouernour saue into his that gouernes the whole world not a sheepe left vpon the mountaines without a shepheard but euen vnto him that against the fond conceit of the Aramites is the God both of the mountaines and vallies the keeper of Israel First he had Iacob in his keeping the younger brother who when he feared the strength of his brother Esau became Israel one that preuailed with God and therefore sure to preuaile with man He had stood before the lyon of the tribe of Iudah and therefore needs not blush at the face of Esau Againe all the twelue Patriarks haue gone into Egypt and their whole progeny taking the name of their father and therefore were preserued in Egypt brought out with ioy lead through the red sea protected in the wildernesse and most safely conducted into the land of Canaan and since that all spirituall Israel hath bin lead by Christ Iesus out of spirituall Egypt through the red sea of his baptisme to passe through the wildernesse of this world vnto the celestiall Canaan where they shall appeare in Sion Now beloued what is this keeper vnto Israel not onely no sleeper but also free from all slumber he neuer layes his eyes together as though he were wearie with watching Psal 34.15 The eies of the Lord are vpon the righteous and his eares are open to their cries neither hath he any neede to close them vp for it is onely proper vnto the creatures that are wearied with labouring and watching but the Lord is no more wearie in his care for the whole world then he is for one of the heires of thy head See it in his Saints hee preserued Noe in the great deluge Abraham and Lot in all their dangers Iacob could not be hurt of Esau nor Ioseph in prison Moses cannot perish in the riuer nor Israel in the yron fornace and therefore the heathen by the light of nature could paint out prouidence in Argos with an hundred eyes so that if one were at rest yet another might be waking but the Lord is totus oculus nothing but eie and therefore all comfort to them for whom he watches for good and not for euill Vse 1. Reprehension first the confutation of the wicked that thinke by their disorder to confound the Lord indeede man is confounded in many law causes and knowes not to what heades to bring some crimes that so they may be iudged but the Lord wil not misse his scope for all their confusion Secondly a correction of the godly that depend no more vpon God is God thus excellent Oh then I will neuer be from his elbowe I will keepe me to my station that so when my God shall call I may be in readinesse Vse 2. Instruction first admonition to the wicked that for shame they set something in order and leaue not all in heapes seeing the God of heauē means to visit their houses Secondly let thē be admonished to deale better with their neighbours and bandle them more gently for that must come on their skore The other vse is a direction to the godly concerning the faithful cariage of themselues in this world Let them haue as little to doe with the wicked as they can for euery secret of them shall be brought to light How would a man tremble when he knows that any person is detected for villanies with whome he had to doe be none of their receiuers for they are theeues and they will indanger euery one of the law that hath any thing to doe with them Vse 3. Consolation vnspeakable that the Lord will haue the handling of all matters first in thy necessities hast thou any wrongs offered thee be of good comfort for the Iudge is for thee hast thou any trialls be exceeding ioyfull the matter shall be caried on thy side against the face of all thy aduersaries hast thou lost any thing by theeues and wicked oppressors of the world if they now be vnknowne vnto thee thou shalt haue them then detected if thou knowest them but can get no redresse here vpon earth rest quiet thine heart the matter shall be amended and for deferring of the payment thou shalt receiue the whole with all the forfeits Secondly in thy plenty reioyce in the Lord for he orders all things to increase thy store and to giue thee thy fill of ioy Sect. 2. Of the placing of sinne Set The second argument is the setting or placing of sinne Hos 2.10 from whence it is plaine that sinne hath wholly put man out of ioynt and alas when this setting shall come he shall be so forlorne that it shall be impossible to bring his ioynts into any good frame It shall then be past time for turning the wheele of the vnderstanding for disposing the will to runne in her created course to bring the affections to good order place euerie member of the bodie to become a weapon of righteousnesse to serue uhe Lord yet there shall be a
vpon him Where by the way he shal take notice of his holinesse whereby he is so pure a God from all sinne that he cannot away with it so likewise of his iustice whereby he is so exactly iust in himselfe that he cannot but execute iustice remuneratiue and rewarding for weldoing and inflict punishment or iustice vindicatiue for euill doing yet least he should complaine that summum ius is summa iniuria hee shall see that which Aristotle called the moderator of iustice to witte equitie remitting of the full extent of iustice for if the Lord had dealt so with man he should neuer had his hand off him for either should his iustice haue burnt more remissely against sinne which is called anger or more sharpely which is called wrath or fully executed which is called reuenge for as sinnes be inaequalia so should the punishment haue beene in all these Now because his iustice may admit of these degrees ratione obiecti you shall see the Lords 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bringing in mercy whereby he vseth compassion toward his creatures offending First his gentlenesse whereby in his iustice he remembreth mercy patience whereby he most gently suffereth sinners and deferreth their punishment longanimity whereby a long time he expecteth their repentance lastly bountifulnes whereby he being rich in goodnesse powreth forth his good gifts vpon them notwithstanding their sinnes And this they may obserue by the way in Gods setting of fin in order The infliction of the punishment followes by the causes They may assure thēselues that euery one that had their hand in sinne as the authors of it shall be punished most seuerely Neither shall the instrument escape the deuill shall haue his head crushed and all his deuises brought to naught hee shall be hardened in his sinne that he cannot repent and finde mercie and lastly he shall be vtterly banished from heauen into the elements which are reserued 2. Pet. 3.7 vnto fire against the day of condemnation and of the destruction of them and all vngodly men The serpent shall not go without his iudgment a curse shall bee vpon him aboue all the beasts of the field enmity betwixt him and the woman and sensible feeling of paine in creeping on his belly and eating the dust of the earth The woman beside her common miserie with man shee shall be in subiection to her husband full of griefes in her conception going with child and trauaile But for the man his punishment shall in speciall manner bee ordered wherein all his progenie may take notice of it his punishment shall bee with sinne and death sinne originall the exorbitation of the whole man both inward in himselfe and outward in the gouernement of the creature Hence plainely appeares that mans wit and will are set the wrong way their faces cleane turned from God and therefore no free will to doe any good that may please God but vnderstanding and will enough to do euill and that continually Againe in the necke of this followeth actuall sinne as the streame from the fountaine the branches from the root and this is a continuall iarring of man vpon outward obiects for originall sinne hauing turned all the wrong way it is necessarie that as often as any wheele in man mooueth it should meete a crosse with euery good thing and therefore iarre vpon him yet God limits this iarring that it can goe no further then he shall direct it to wit vnto his owne glorie and some particular good end in his Church This sin receiues degrees indeede the other is equall in all because the same measure metes it out vnto all but this is a greater or lesser sinne in respect of whom or against whom it is committed likewise in respect of the matter and manner of working it whether it be done of knowledge or ignorance of infirmitis or stubbornnesse or with an high mind and all these stand vpon two heads sinnes of commission in doing that euil we should not do and of omission the not doing of good that should bee done And all this will the Lord doe in setting in order which shall be a iust punishment vpon all malefactors The rest of Gods methode is more fearefull and better felt of man that is death the method wherof consists in the beginning and ending of it wherein shall be a continuall losse of life and subiection to the miserie thereof which shal make vs worse then if we had neuer beene This death brancheth it selfe into two parts the first and the second death the first death is a subiection to the miserie of this world the inchoation and beginning whereof is the miserie which comes by the losse of the good things of the bodie as of health whence commeth sickenesse deformitie sence of nakednesse wearines and subiection to dangers Secondly subiection to the miserie which comes by the losse of externall things as of friendship honour rule and dominion ouer the creatures of things necessarie for this life as meat drinke apparell c. now the perfection of this death is the going of the spirits out of the bodie whereby the soule departeth from the bodie and the bodie afterward is resolued into the elements especially the earth which did beare the greatest part in his making The second death hath this order first it subiects a man to the miseries of the world to come the beginnings whereof are in this life the forerunners of the extremitie of woe that are to come in the next world the forerunners are emptinesse of mind in regard of all good ignorance of God terror of conscience fleeing and hiding himselfe from the presence of God or else a deepe securitie and senslesnesse of miserie despaire and a fearefull expectation of iudgement the perfection and consummation whereof shall be an eiection from the face of God and iniection of the soule immediately after the first death into hell a reseruation of the bodie in the graue as in a dungeon against the day of iudgement when after the resurrection both soule and body shall be cast into the same place which is prepared of God for the eternall punishment of the wicked both angels and men where is nothing but weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth there shall be found no Limbus puerorum or purgatory but either heauen or hell must be their resting place Neither will the Lord breake his methode or leaue them any cauil for some defect with what reason can the Lord so deale with men seeing all that wee haue heard is concerning Adam must the children smarte for the fathers sinne I hope that God is more iust Well consider that the Lord will not leaue this without his order for all the posteritie proceeding from Adam and Euah by ordinarie propagation as they should haue had happinesse if they had stood Propagation of sinne so are they obnoxious to all these miseries hefalling And this is done iustly by all kind of lawes first of nations for Adam was a prince of all
Sathan is a worker beside his owne peculiar manner of tempting which is possession or a more liberty and freedome to the tempted of sorrow and despaire and quicke dispatch of themselues For comfort of the godly I will instance a little in these lesser temptations and then I wil inlarge them to the wicked whose cause is desperate Of our owne natures spring the temptations which rise of the roote of originall sinne The spring and fountaine of all temptations without any forraine instigation from the world whatsoeuer is either a baite of pleasure or fright of terror which increase the actuall sinnes springing frō the originall roote and lay as it were compasse and powreth on water to that vngracious stock to make it grow the faster Now all these temptations are not of that dangerous nature that this is of here must we attend with patience the issue which not onely is certen but also shal come in the best time The corporall inhabiting of Sathan is the greatest fullest of terror and despaire that can befal the godly yet the historie of the deeds and sayings of Christ the writing of the Euangelists do testifie of whole legions dispossessed of that habitation by the power of Christ mercifully extended vpon such miserable captiues which examples serue against like times of affliction that we giue not ouer hope though millions of deuills should possesse vs within enuiron vs without but knowe his power to be aboue all force of the enemy and his mercie farre surmounting Sathans malice therefore Gods children haue no cause in this sort to feare nor haue any shadow of ground wheron they should resolue against themselues vpon the point of reprobation but that all these molestations and terrours which they now indure are temptations rather of their father for good and profit then grounded resolutions of such lamentable issue Againe The order of the deuill in drawing Gods elect into Atheisme and so on concerning his soule religion or faith for more praticular examination I find by daily experience that these are as well the operations of phansie from melancholie as of conscience for sinne that methode of which temptation I find for the most part to runne in this order First to call into question whether there be any God or no for melancholie is a disputing humor Secondly when reason hath mastered that then the second question is about the immortalitie of the soule When that again is conquered there enters a third question whether we professe the true religion or no. When that is expelled the fourth question that maketh the greatest tumult in the soule is whether wee haue any part or portion in that which it promiseth Here the deuill is exceeding busie for if this be resolued on he is wholly cast out and hath nothing further to trouble vs withall Any of the former doubts would haue sunke our soules for if no God then why should I abstaine from my sinfull pleasures If againe no refurrection then why should I vexe my selfe in this world If my religion be false then must I haue a new twenty to one but I change amisse and therfore I wil be of no religion but when I shall begin to thinke I haue no faith in Gods promises Whether melancholie be the affliction of conscience then alas what shall comfort me Therefore consider these questions first whether the conscience of sinne and the afflictions thereof be melancholy or not secondly what is the differēce thirdly the afflictions of mind to what persons they befall and by what meanes fourthly what may be the consolation And so from this setting before the eies of the conscience only in appearance I will proceed to the reall and that which the Lord will do to the hypocrite in this place For the first Difference betwixt them the affliction of conscience is quite another thing then melancholy as may appeare out of the second question by the differences First in the causes 1. Causes the one is a meere fancie without all true and iust ground and is onely raised vpon disorder or humour in the fancie and rashly deliuered to the heart which vpon naturall credulitie fareth in passion as if it were indeede whereof the fancie giueth a false alarum But the other is a sorrow and feare vpon cause and that the greatest cause that worketh miserie vnto man Secondly 2. Effects in the effects In that of conscience the bodie is ofttimes in firme state of health perfect in complexion and perfect in shape and all symmetrie of his parts the humours in quantity qualitie not exceeding nor wanting their naturall proportion but in the other the complexion is depraued obstructions spoile the course of humour and spirit whereby the blood becomes ouer-grosse thicke and impure and nature so disordered that diuerse melancholike persons haue iudged themselues strange creatures as historie will plainly record Thirdly 3. Subiect in the subiect The senses in the other both inward and outward are ofttimes perfect the imagination sound the heart wel compact and resolute and this excepted want no courage but in the other both inward sense and outward are too feebled the fancie ouertaken with ghastly fumes of melancholy and the whole force of the spirit closed vp in the dungeon of melancholy darkenesse imagineth all darke blacke and full of feare their hearts are either ouertender and reare and so easily admit the passion or ouer close of nature serue more easily to imprison the cheerefull spirit the causes of comfort to the rest of the body Hence they are faint hearted without occasion onely driuen with the tide of that humour to feare euen in the middest of securitie 4 From the originall Fourthly they differ in the fountaine and originall of them the one begins in the minds apprehension the other in the distempered humour which deluding the organicall actions abuseth the mind and draweth it into erroneous iudgement 5 Cure through false testimonie of the outward report Fiftly in the meanes of cure the one is helped by no medicine no purgation no cordiall or balme except the balme of Gilead are able to assure the afflicted soule trembling heart panting vnder the terrors of God hell death and damnation But in melancholy passions the vaine opened neesing powder or Bearefoot ministred to expell the fumes in the braine cordialls of pearle saphyres and rubies with such like recomfort the heart throwne downe and appaled with phantasticall feare 6. End Sixtly they differ in the ende in the one the perill is not of bodie and corporall actions but of foule and bodie to be cut off from the life of God from the sweet influence of his fauour the fountaine of all happinesse and eternall felicitie Here then the cause is the seueritie of Gods iudgement summoning the guiltie conscience the subiect is the sinfull soule apprehending the terror thereof which is for euer and euer the issue is eternall punishment satisfactorie to
the iustice of the eternal God which is endlesse and whose seueritie admitteth no mediation and this extends not to one ioynt sinew or vanie but to all neither that of the bodie onely but of the soule whose nature as it is impatible of all other things in greatest peace assurance and tranquilitie so beeing once shaken by the terrours of Gods wrath and blasted with the whirlewind of his displeasure it faileth and with it driueth the whole frame of nature into extreame miserie and vtter confusion The other hath for his cause a dry and cold humour whose subiect especially is the spleen swolne vp with windines and hardnesse vnder the left ribbes the consequents are the hemeroydes not flowing blacknesse and grossenesse of blood fearefull dreames solitarinesse sadnesse And therefore those are to be condemned which make the terrors of conscience nothing but melancholie and thereby labour to benumme the sense of that sting which sinne euer carrieth in the tayle and turne men to their vsuall pleasures and so delude the foole and simple in his waies skilfull to doe euill sottish in the pathes of righteousnesse and vtterly ignorant of her rule and wherein nature giueth some sparke of light more distinctly to discerne yet they turne them out of the way and make them like to stubborn and vnbroken horses shaking off reason despising her mannage and layeth the noble rider in the dust these be Salomons fooles that follow wickednes Like an oxe that goeth to the slaughter and as a foole that goeth to the stockes for correction and as a bird hasteth to the snare not knowing that he is in danger But beside these another sort are iustly taxed euen the Physitians themselues who when their patients come vnto them for physicke and they spie out their disease to be melancholy aske them vnder what minister they liue if they mention some conscionable man that deals truely with mens soules giue the parties counsell not to heare them but get from them as farre as they can Alas are not these distinct diseases and therefore what wretched persons are those that labour to turne a disease that is not vnto death into one that is both the death of bodie and soule For more particular differences consider That whensoeuer the mind according to these ingrauen lawes of nature which no man is voide of be he neuer so barbarous raiseth any molestation directly it is no fancy but a case of conscience The verie testominie of the heathen doth sufficiently witnes this point whose Poets according to their receiued opinions haue fained Hecates Eumenides and the infernall furies whose force Seneca in his tragedie of Hercules furens hath most liuely expressed These indeed are but fained persons yet the matter vnder this maske is serious true and of wofull experience This was Cains marke the spirit that possessed Saul Iudas the traytour by this wound tooke the reuenge of betraying the innocent vpon himselfe with his owne hands such was the anguish that Esau felt when he found no repentance after he had sold his birthright for a messe of pottage and such is the state of all defiled coÌ„sciences with hainous crimes whose hearts are neuer free from the worme but with deadly bite thereof are driuen to despaire This may the more plainely appeare if we consider how the soule may suffer of the body in life sense and motion The body is a great troubler of the soule not in his being but in his actions hence may he cause madnesse strange imaginations sudden feares dolefull apparitions feeblenesse of bodie and want of heart in the performance of any action but the mind will of man are of such excellency and perfection that they are not directly patible of any thing but of God alone that made them so standeth both mind and will in awe of none but of him neither admit they any other violence then from him into whose hands it is most terrible to fall No calamity comparable to the distresse of conscience All diseases of the bodie may haue some medicine either to cure them or to mitigate asswage their paine for all sores Chirurgie hath a salue freinds helpe pouertie there is no imprisonment but there is hope of libertie suite and fauour recouer a man from banishment authoritie and time weare out reproch But what physick cureth what chirurgerie salueth what riches ransome what countenance beareth out what authoritie asswageth what fauour releeueth these troubles yea if all should band themselues together in league though they would conspire a confederacie yet could they not preuaile If our assistance were an host of armed men if our freinds were princes and gouernours of the world if our possessions were as large as East and West if our meat were manna froÌ„ heauen if euery day like the day of Christs resurrection if our apparel as costly as Aarons Ephod yet al these would little comfort vs. This causeth such distresse vnto those that feele the torment hereof that they would redeeme it gladly if it were possible with the verie losse of their liues which often they assay to doe that this might off their stomach they would be content if it were possible to suffer all other kinds of miserie at the verie selfe same time This giues no warning as the diseases of the body doe for in them we find the head beginne to ake or stomach trouble vs lassitude of body remoovâ—d of sleep want of appetite to our meat but this taketh of a suddain like lightning and giueth no warning Here the purity of the blood and the sincerity and liuelines of the spirits auaile nothing to mitigate the paine it drieth vp the blood wasteth the marow pineth the flesh consumeth the bones makes pleasure painefull shortens life no wisedome can counsell it no counsell can aduise it no aduisment asswage it no asswagement cure it no eloquence perswade it no power ouercome it no scepter affray it no inchanter charme it A man languishing in sicknes as long as he is heart-whole he hath hope of recouery he that is in reproach among men and yet can remember that he is in fauour with God will not much care for the shame of the world he that is banished out of his owne country and yet remembreth that he is a citizen of the kingdom of heauen will not be ouermuch grieued but the wound of conscience is so deadly that he dare not sue vnto him that should be the only physitian of it because he thinks that he is his onely enemie Alas who dare meet with the Lord of hosts who can put to silence the voyce of desperation who will make an agreement with the hells of conscience what compact with the deuill In all other afflictions there is some comfort against sinne but this is alwaies accompanied with the accusation of sin this breeds hurliburlies in men that when it is day he wisheth for night when night for day his meat doth not nourish him his dreames terrifie him
his sleepe forsakes him when he speakes he is little bettes when he keeps silence he boyles in disquietnes the light doth not comfort him and the darknes doth terrifie him All other afflictions are tolerable because temporall and pursue but to death yet this beeing not â—uâ—ed endeth not in death Mens lawes transgressed may be helped by bribing of the magistrate or if the offence be capitall that there can be no pleading for him yet he may flie his country and so escape but God will not be bribed neither is there any flying from his presence Psal 139. nay alas we shall neede no seeking out we shal neede no apparitor to summon vs no baylâ—ffe to fetch vs no accuser to giue in euidence against vs sinne it selfe will arrest vs for he lieth at the doore our conscience will impanell a quest against vs our hearts will giue in sufficient euidence to conuict vs and our owne iniquities will plead guiltie to our faces This made the heathen to kill themselues thinking death to be an end of all miserie and thus like fond fishes they leape out of the pan into the fire out of the hell of their consciences into hell it selfe Let them doe the best they can get them to merrie companie laugh their sinnes out of countenance yet let them know that with Nero they may change their chamber but their chamber-fellow shall neuer leaue them They may sacrifice vnto the Lord humble themselues weepe with Esau confesse with Iudas lay hold on the hornes of the altar to mitigate their paine but onely the expiatorie sacrifice of the immaculate lamb is able to giue them rest and quietnes of soule Indeede this distresse of conscience soone becommeth melancholike vile and base turneth reason into foolishnes and disgraceth the beautie of the countenance How conscience may disiguâ—e the body and transformeth the stoutest Nebuchadnezzer becomes a beast so easily is the bodie subiect to alteration of minde and soone looseth with anguish and distraction thereof all the support of his excellencie In melancholie the heart is troubled with vaine seares vpon euery small obiect the very eye by a false apparition may strike him the eares with the imagination of euery voice sounding may dolefully appale him a very touch may make him startle and many such like troubles which are whelps of that melancholie litter bred of that corrupted state of bodie altered in spirit in blood in substance and complexion This may increase the terrour of the afflicted minde double the feare and discouragement How distemper of body may increase this wound and hinder all cure by counsell and aduise and shut vp all meanes of consolation for it must enter by the senses to the minde Now the instruments of sense beeing altered by the humour and their sinceritie stained with the obscure and darke spots of melancholie receiue not indifferently the medicine of consolation As the braine the original and fountaine of all sense and motion is thus euilly disposed so the heart the cherisher and refresher of our nature beeing in no better case and acquainted with terror and ouerthrowne with that searefull passion imptisoneth the spirits contracts it selfe and hardly yeilds to perswasion of comfort whatsoeuer it bringeth of assurance For though the griefe strike down at the first respecting no time place person condition or opportunitie of working but breaketh through all such considerations and beareth downe all resistance yet the comfort requireth them all and the missing of one makes the affliction to be long and hard in the cure The Comforters person his manner of handling the patient the time and place of performance with the braine and heart which are as the gates and entrance vnto the soule may hinder or aide the consolation No distemper can hinder the inward comfort of Gods grace But all this is to be vnderstood of outward meanes for the inward meanes to wit the grace of God and his mercie his comfortable spirit and gratious fauour in like swiftnes without meanes may restore the minde thus distressed which lieth open equally to the kind of cure euen as it lay to the wound Therfore seeing the body workes nothing vpon the mind altogether impatible of euery beeing sauing of God alone and secondly that the efficient can do it without helpe of the bodie and thirdly that the comfort is not procured by any corporall instrument nor the discomfort directly procured by the same lastly because all is done by causes in subiects nothing corporall and producing effects of an other nature then corporall it must needes bee concluded that there is great difference betwixt these two troubles The punishment of bodily racking is not the passion of the heart but a cause of it so that racking of the soule by sinne is not a melancholie passion but yet may it cause it and therefore makes the distinction not so cleare for oftentimes the symptome of a disease is taken for the disease it selfe The affliction of mind The persons which are hable to this sorrow to what persons it falleth and by what meanes is thus to bee resolued All men are subiect to this by reason of our fall the breach of Gods lawe and the wrath of God that followeth thereupon yet of all sorts of men melancholie persons are most subiect vnto it not from the humour but because he is most doubtfull and iealous of his estate for life temporall and life spirituall For temporall physitians and apothecaries shops will beare sufficient witnes for if they be able to walk we find them for the most part in these places And I would to God they were as readie for their spirituall life to bee with Gods spirituall physitians and in the shops of the true balme of Gilead By experience we find that when they beginne to examine how their actions answer the naturall and written line of righteousnesse and wanting the arch-pillar of faith and assurance in Christ Iesus our hope presently feele the very anguish due vnto sinners and in that most miserable condition fall into flat despaire The manner how this is done is when the curious melancholie person carrieth his mind into the senses of such mysteries How it befalls them as exceed humane capacitie and is desirous to knowe more then is reuealed in the word of truth and yet being ignorant of that which is reuealed he suddenly falls into the gulfe of Gods secret counsells which swalloweth vp all conceit of man or angel and measuring the truth of such depths by the shallow modell of his own wit is caught and deuoured of that which his presumptuous curiositie mooued him to attempt to apprehend Of this we haue a memorable example of a vertuous gentlewoman in this land who was carried along in this course doubting verie often of her saluation and making her case known vnto a worthy minister of God he often couÌ„felled her to take heede of inquiries further then Gods word and trust assuredly that shee might
of the way and then assuredly that our pleasant way did not affoard vs so much comfort but the want of the signes will as much discomfort vs and therefore affliction may more comfort vs then all worldly pleasure because the Lord hath made the one a signe we are going toward heauen Heb. 12.6 but the other none at all saue onely of our iourneying toward hell But you may obiect that euerie crosse is not a marke for first the sinne against the holy Ghost is a mark of reprobation secondly impenitencie and therfore when he hath these sinnes in the eies of his conscience how shall he be perswaded that he can euer be brought into the way to heauen For the answer of this point let vs consider a threefold fountaine of this perswasion First for that open and wilfull apostasie from God is a voluntary willingnes malitious hatred against the profession of a knowne truth now the fruits will iudge the cause Is there in you the renouncing of Gods truth which before you haue professed heartily embraced perceiue you this malice prosecuting this mischiefe what persecution doe you remember in word or deede you euer raised against the truth what sword haue you euer drawn against it or what volumes haue you either written or approued against found doctrine with purposed opposition against your owne conscience neither that of frailty but of meere will and obstinacie of this examples are rare as Iulianus the Emperour called Apostata Of the second impenitencie there is the same fountaine but not in the same degree and that is extremitie of hardnesse of heart of which kind was Cain Esau Saul Iudas many of the prophane people of the world that know not Christ and such as knowe him onely in vaine profession outwardly and so continue are partners of the sinne and shal be examples of Gods vengeance This fountaine cannot be in them that sinne onely against their conscience for then should euerie man be guiltie of it when the sinne was committed we may remember that the illumination of our vnderstanding the regeneration of our wills did oppose it but both beeing weake and imperfect we were drawn vnto the euill And here before I come to the second fountaine I propound a briefe distinction of temptations some touch our faith whether we beleeue or not othersome the fruits of faith either of profession of the truth or els of obedience sutable and kindly to our profession the former is tryed by persecutions feare fauour c. the second concerning persons possessions and good name is knowne by charitie in keeping of the second table Now these are not the things that exclude Christs propitiatorie sacrifice except incredulitie bringing forth impenitencie and vtter renunciation of the faith be ioyned with them But here we often heare the cries of Gods children alas I beleeue not therfore draw vpon me the paine due to the vnfaithfull Here I would intreat euery one to waigh with circumspection and due consideration his owne estate in so waightie a point as this And therefore let him be aduised that there be other two fountaines that may scare our soules with these feares The first is corporall infirmitie deluding the heart and braine whereby strange imaginations are wrought in our heads and dolefull passions in our hearts these things alwaies vrge terror and distrust and deludeth vs with opinion of want of that whereof we haue no lacke as others often are caried with opinion and confidence of those things whereof they haue no part Aetius reporteth that Phylotimus was faine to put a cap of lead vpon a Melancholickes head that could not be perswaded he had any head at all vntill at the length feeling the waight to oppresse him cryed out my head akes why thē saies his freinds you haue a head Artemidorus the Grammarian did imagine that he wanted both an hand and a legge when euery man els could iudge it was but a fancie from which he could not be recalled to his dying day So often deales the deuill with vs by deluding of our phancies that we want both head and heart to God-ward and that we haue disposed both to him-ward But many a bleeding soule may go further what tell you me of melancholie it is a disease that I am free from well let that be granted yet rare it is to finde persons without it that are touched with this kinde of griefe yet we finde a third fountaine that may without all delusion streame this water of bitternes as the sense of our sinnes may pricke vs especially such as most hunger and thirst after righteousnesse and are poore in spirit and broken in heart yet this is an infallible token of grace that they long after the liuing God and their soules pant for him Oh when shall I enter into his presence Oh men of God what shall I doe to be faued The rest of the world except some vengeance of God lay hold vpon them or some horrible fact gnaw their wounded consciences passe their time in blind securitie carelesse of God and empty of all sense hope of a better life these passe their daies and finish their courses as the calfe passeth to the shambles not kowing his ende to be slaughter by the butchers knife You therfore that truly grone vnder the burden of your sinne consider the groūd of your error you iudge your faith by inward feeling and your actions proceeding therefrom by your thirst of righteousnesse and presence of your wants Here you iudge by the quantitie of faith and not by his vertue when a very graine of mustard seed a little smoking flax or a broken reed may suffice with God to bring forth a tree a burning fire and a stable plant of righteousnesse for both the sense of faith the sincerity of the fruits and increase of the measure are all the gifts and graces of God dispensed vnto vs according to his owne wisedome making most for his glory and our good If we consider but the extemity of our misery the lest sparke of faith may giue vs a world of comfort and the smallest worke of obedience performed in sincerity though not in perfection may perswade vs of the same loue of God as though we were as strong as our father Abraham or any resolue martyr that hath sealed his religion with his blood But the Christian saies I haue no feeling of Gods grace and therefore no faith I answer true faith may bee without feeling and therefore it is dangerous to iudge the want of faith Faith without feeling by the want of feeling That this is the truth let these be the grounds of it First a man may rest vpon God and yet want the feeling of the loue of God as Iob. Dauid the woman of Canaan c. Iob 13.15 God is mine enemie the arrowes of the Almightie drinke vp my blood he makes me as a butte to shoote at here Iob hath none of the feeling of Gods loue
he knows our minds and gathers much by the inclination of our affections and will and marking the obiect on which we dwell But you will obiect the Lord hath reserued this propertie vnto himselfe to know the heart Ans It is true but the communication of the heart may be betwixt man and man and man and angels therefore the Lord directly knowes the heart and all the corners of it so that wee can bring no fallacian out of it to deceiue God but the deuill may be deceiued as surely often he is in the discourses of the godly Experience hath prooued that the consultations of wicked kings haue been reuealed to the godly 2. kin 6.11 Will ye not shewe me which of vs bewrayeth our counsell to the King of Israel one of his seruants makes answer It is Elisha the Prophet that telleth the King of Israel euen the words that thou speakest in thy priuy chamber Elisha heard not these words yet they are communicated vnto him after a spirituall manner such as are the visions of God and thus Paul depriued of all bodily instruments sawe things inutterable Yea the deuill beeing Gods ape hath detected one wicked mans counsell to an other but he hath alwaies bin deceiued in the consultations of the godly and neuer was able to reueale them To proceede From this experience he can conclude not onely from our speeches and gestures to conceiue of our intents and purposes but out of our vniuersall corruption whereof hee hath continuall proofe much matter of argument to discouer the vanitie of our minds the secret thoughts of our hearts and the verie inclinations of the same Now these beeing found out hee will proceed to suggestion as he seeth occasion and our greatest inclination and so by instigation vnto sinne make vs disobey God and all his holy commandements Againe that he doth not all by suggestion vnto the soule inclining it is plaine whē our natures seem not to incline vnto them in any speciall consideration or loue it before other wickednesse neither the world alluring or inforcing vs especially Gods children abhorring the very least conceit of such sinnes as blasphemies and laying violent hands on themselues or others without all hate or malice or any occasion of reuenge And surely of the same nature is despaire and distrust of Gods mercies losse of the seede of Gods word when we haue no inclination vnto them at all but rather contrarily affected and these the deuill puts vnto vs in regard of our generall corruption without any further consideration of speciall inclination and therfore he neuer ceaseth in these temptations because he hath hope to preuaile in them and therefore shall we neuer be rid of the deuil vntill God haue wholly deliuered vs from our staines Truely Gods children often admire how euer such a thought should rise in their head when they hate the very appearance of it Now I come to the second head which is done by meanes first single and then mixt but before I enter this let vs consider the deuill as a fowler whose nature is to be a friend in shew but a foe in heart Secondly looke vpon his snares which all of them haue three properties sweet dangerous secret Thirdly consider the waies of his laying the deuills way is suggestion reall operation and both together the way wherein he layes them is inward or outward inward iudgements and lusts outward actions graces things indifferent and euill company as the stale the hold that he hath is very strong for vntill grace haue turned him out he holds men at his will a most beastly captiuitie nay worse then beastly because beasts hauing once bin snared wil come there no more but a man is neuer wel but when he is in the snares of the deuil Secondly it is a voluntarie captiuitie and therefore like to be for euer except the Lord haue mercy to change his mind and draw him against his wil. Thirdly it is most base for Israel in Egypt may be accounted kings in regard of the slaues of the deuill Lastly it is most treacherous because they renounce their couenant with God and strike hands with the deuill and therefore from these things cōsidered we may make full account that the deuil hath many meanes to helpe him the first is suggestiō on the soule accompanied with all the baits he can imagine the second reall operation on the bodie affecting humour and spirit and so making them assist him as meanes to worke our woe Humor distempered causeth diseases to the bodie and the bodie diseased changeth our manners and course of liuing hinc mores sequuntur humores Againe he dulls the spirits and so causeth drousinesse in the worship of God and euerie good calling againe he refresheth them in euill and therefore keepes vs long waking vnto it For the mixing of both together both suggestion and real operation the deuill can play his part most dangerously for he can worke the humours of our bodies to make notable way for suggestion vpon our soules If a man bee of a melancholie constitution whose humour is drie and cold the deuill will make it notably affect a man in all his members especially in his heart and braine the two of the principall parts of man and where the soule hath most residence in the heart he will affect him with sudden feares strange distrusts suspition of infinit euills whereby he will mooue the soule in iudgement will and affection to set about the inuenting willing and effecting of some strange exploits to ease himselfe of his paines hence often either murder of himselfe or of some other which he falsly suspects an instrument of his woe Againe the braine by altering all the senses working strange imaginations by which it is almost impossible but that the mind of man should be set a working and these being false grounds hardly shal the iudgement escape vncorrupted nay alas whatsoeuer they conceit vpon these grounds shall not be remoued out of their iudgement They that thinke themselues to be made of glasse wil not suffer their verie freinds to come neere them he that thought himselfe to be a cocke would neuer giue ouer the spreading of his armes in imitation of the cocke clapping his wings and then would endeuour to imitate the cockes crow he that conceited himselfe to be Atlas could neuer be brought to sit down lest his head that vnderpropped heauē being remoued should suffer heauen to fall vpon him he that thought a certaine tyrant had cut off his head could neuer be perswaded to the contrary vntill his head aked the physitian hauing put a cap of lead on it The woman that imagined that she had swallowed a Serpent could neuer be at rest vntill she sawe one priuily conueied into her stoole which she imagined to haue beene brought downe by the physitians purgation Another thinking himselfe dead would eat no meat because it was not vsuall for dead men to eate vntill he sawe one come out of a sheete
wantonnesse vncleannesse vnto which they giue themselues with greedinesse Ephes 4.17 vanitie of mind brings in darkenesse of cogitation darkenes of cogitation estrangeth a man from the life of God strangers we are with God through ignorance especially because of the hardnesse of our hearts this drawes on a senselesse conscience c. These stratagems are most naturall to all and vpon these he builds the rest first Atheisme that there is no God secondly vpon that he laies a second that then there is no worship of God thirdly that then there is no word of God fourthly that then a man is not to beleeue that which is preached Hence all the mysterie of a mans faluation is to wicked men nothing but foolishnes thus he brings men to forsake God renounce their baptisme and giue themselues wholly to his seruice After the deuil hath thus hammered the vnderstanding and beaten it out to his owne will and bent he sets vpon the will and affections of men and knowing thē to wheele in a wrong course from God he labours against nothing more then that they should euer listen vnto any meanes that might bring thē againe to run in the waies of God First therfoere hee perswades them to beleeue that the word of God is not true this he did to our first parents Gen. 3. if he cannot perswade this because now it hath beene confirmed by so many miracles and shedding of so much blood that euen natural men may as wel as deuils beleeue it to be true and tremble Yet he hath a second course that though they beleeue this word yet that faith is either meerely historicall or else indeede meere presumption in which faith millions of soules goe to hell But if he see that the soule will not presume then he perswades the difficultie of faith that it is a verie hard matter to beleeue and thousands that striue for it goe without therefore as good sit still as striue and be neuer the better Others againe are perswaded that such a doe for faith is a needlesse thing they can content themselues with an ordinarie perswasion of Gods mercy and to looke for higher mysteries belongs to their teachers and not to them these will neuer trie whether they beleeue or no but will bee content with such as God sends them Another fort are tempted to thinke that the name of a beleeuer is a discredit vnto them and therefore they will neuer be pointed at as singular A sixt kind are tempted with their vnworthines how can the Lord bestowe such an excellent grace vpon mee that am so vnworthy A seuenth sort are tempted with the vnsoundnesse of their faith because they see many imperfections Eightly others that they haue no faith because no feeling Ninth that their faith may fall as Iudas faith did Lastly that they can neuer withstand all these tempests that break in vpon them By all these meanes the deuill labours to drawe the will to infidelitie after this he allures the wil by large propromises to beleeue in him and so brings a miserable slauerie vpon the will The affections are mooued and tempted of the deuil by the baites of prosperitie or els disquieted with aduersitie to curse Gods prouidence c. The body in spirit humour temperature qualitie instrument and substance is notably tempted and wrought vpon by the deuill Many points might here be cleared and examples for the illustration of them I will giue one that I haue seene by late experience who inclining to inflamation of his braine and so vnto aphrensie was tempted to murther himselfe and that with this strong perswasion of his phansie that except hee did it speedily a thousand deaths worse then that would befall him which thing beeing falsly apprehended of him made him presently yeeld and hauing hung vp himselfe by both his garters vpon a tree his garters presently broke a woman that was weeding in a garden beeing not farre from him the deuil perswaded him that shee had cut his garters and without all question if he had not beene preuented when he was come complaining vnto the woman what an iniurie she had done him would presently for that iniurie haue beene tempted to kill the woman His phrensie growing vpon him and making him so vnruly that they were faine to bind him with ropes two or three men watch him and then his phansie apprehending that euery man he sawe or any creature that came in his sight was come to kill him he would alwaies crie If I had beene hanged I should neuer haue beene thus misused The like hath beene in many others that when they haue beene about to make away themselues for some distempered humour haue also plotted to kill wife and children not for that they hated them but that they should not liue in disagrace after their death All this and much more can the deuill doe by his great wit and vnderstanding But perhaps you will say he is not so malciously bent for his will I answer that as he hath vnderstanding to doe euill so he hath a will to do more then he can inuent or imagine with his minde See then the degrees of his malitious will against mankind First if we could finde in our cowardly hearts to sue for a dishourable peace with the deuill Gods and our enemie there should be no hope of truce or reconciliation with him for his malice is not newly conceiued but inueterate and as auncient within a fewe dayes as the world it selfe and for time to come it is endlesse and will outlast the world He was almost burst with enuie against Adam in Paradise and so is he in like manner against all that are raised vp againe in the second Adam and haue gotten the fee simple of euerlasting glory Gods proclamation of open warres Gen. 3.15 is not yet come to an ende but is to last for euer Thus then you see malice without all reconciliation auncient and endlesse but yet a fourth degree followes and that is that his malice is mortall and deadly not to a mans goods and possessions or body or bodily life but to body and soule whose destruction is a paradise of ioy vnto him therefore is he called Satan Zac. 3.1 an enemie Matth. 13.39 a malitious one Neither is the nature of this enemie to be satisfied with some small reuenge for he is called a murtherer and a manslayer as though it were his onely occupation neither is he of late fallen to this trade for he hath professed it from the beginning like an old hangman he is flesht in blood and crueltie But it may be a sauage man may haue in him some reliques of humanitie and therefore the deuill hauing reason as well as man may sometimes recall himselfe by reason and take some pitie but the Scriptures driues vs from this conceit comparing him vnto the most cruell beasts first a lyon yea a roaring lyon after his pray who being so hungry and rauenous that he desireth nothing more then to
the sheild of faith nor fierie darts peirce the soule or drie vp the waters of the spirit but faith hath such a riuer flowing vp and downe the soule to eternall life that euery dart be it neuer so red and scalding hote is presently quenched The helmet of saluation wil be sure to saue the head for which the hand would be content to be cut off before it should receiue the least blow therefore the head beeing free we need lesse to feare the danger and for our hands we haue the sword of the spirit which is the onely weapon that the deuill may not endure buckle on this armour by prayer and watchfulnes and still looke the deuil in the face and we shall neuer receiue hurt by him but if we turne back then shall we haue not any peice of armour to saue vs from danger They are princes but we haue the Prince of peace and angels their superiours and I doubt not but as many in number as they to fight for vs and these haue gotten the vpper ground of the deuills and for spirituall wickednesse we haue gotten the spirit of grace and goodnes that can mooue swifter then the deuils to stand by vs and assist vs in all our infirmities let them all make vp a god in this world yet he that rules heauen and earth will laugh them to scorne trust therefore in Gods power and his aids and be quiet a little and these enemies that you see and feele in this world yee shall neuer see them or haue cause to seele them hereafter The three children Dan. 3. tell the King they care not for his command and why because they know that the God whom they-serue can deliuer them and if he will not death shall be as good to them Christ saies his sheepe heare his voice and follow him none shal take them out of his hands the reason is because God that gaue them him is stronger then all Be of good comfort little children yee haue ouercome the world because he that is in you is stronger then he that is in the world 1. Ioh. 4.4 The leper cries if thou willt thou canst make me cleane many be our leprosies and happie are we that we haue so good a remedy We pray for many strange things but if we obserue but the conclusion of the Lords prayer we may soone gather vp our spirits seeing we knowe that power belongs vnto God thine is the kingdome power and glory We beleeue a resurrection and many other strange things but our faith needs not to fall seeing we say and beleeue that God is almightie I beleeue in God the Father almightie this made Paul to challenge principalities and powers height and depth c. Rom. 8. neuer had he the least feare that they should euer be able to separate him from the loue of God in Christ Iesus Let vs see what comforts in speciall may be giuen to Gods children in affliction for surely euery soule shall find with Elijah 1. kin 19. fleeing from Iezebel comfort from the verie angels of God yea when they are brought to stand vpon the mount before the Lord they shall see the Lord passe by and a mightie strong wind rend the mountaines and breake the rocks before the Lord but the Lord was not in the winds and after the wind came an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake after the earthquake came fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire came a still and foft voyce and in that was the Lord found Oh the goodnesse of the Lord that in all the winds earthquakes and fires that he makes to passe before his children will not be seene in them for then should euery one of vs be consumed and vtterly confounded yet will he be found in the still and soft voyce It is an vsuall custome before great Potentates come vnto their palaces to haue a peale of ordinance to be shot off before their approach so the Lord by this feare makes way that the King of glorie may come in and dwell with the soule God hath diuerse meanes to bring vp his children lawe and gospel iudgement and mercie in the giuing of the lawe there was thunder lightning and earth quakes yet the Lord was heard in a stil voice to deliuer his law Gods schollers must stand as well at the foote of mount Ebor to heare the curse as at mount Gerison to heare the blessings the one prepares the other enters more easily to giue the heart her due comfort Moses Deuter. 28. is full of curses and blessings God hath many a good Dauid to rule ouer his people as wel as hard hearted Pharaoh to schoole them he hath more good Prophets to blesse them then wicked Balaams to curse them he hath an euangelicall Isaiah to lift them vp with promises of the Gospel as a lamenting Ieremiah to cast them downe with woes and lamentations he hath an Hosea and Zechariah to teach them in Enigmaes and darke sentences and many other to bee as plaine as heart can wish he hath many a Paul I beseech you brethren as wel as sons of thunder to make vs quake and tremble yea and alwaies this is the ende of all afflictions a gracious sufficit 2. Sam. 24.16 it is sufficient hold now thy hand Now what the Lord doth either in prosperity or aduersitie often wee see not and therefore we loose the comfort of it The birth of an infant borne and encreasing is not apprehended presently euen so is it with vs in our heauenly birth spirituall regeneration the spirit worketh without our leaue and acquainteth vs not with his maruailous working more then is expedient at his pleasure when and in what measure for our comfort Therefore let vs take heed that God say not vnto vs as he did vnto Iob cap. 38.2 who is this that darkeneth the counsell by words without knowledge who are you that interrupt the wayes of God and labour to preuent his counsels be sober and patient and you shal in the ende receiue the cuppe of saluation instead of these bottles of vineger and teares and in stead of the bread of affliction the heauenly manna and the bread of life from the table of God and of Christ In the meane time I commend vnto euerie soule in affliction these heads of comfort which I will shewe vnto him in all the causes First in the efficient causes principall lesse principall Principall first the promise of God 1. Cor. 10.13 God is faithfull therefore will he suffer no temptation to be aboue our abilitie but will euen giue the issue with the temptation that we may be able to beare it Secondly his promise is grounded vpon his power Col. 1.11 Strengthened with all might through his glorious power vnto all patience and long-suffering with ioyfulnesse which power is manifested in those two things which grounds the confidence of al in the world and that is that the promiser bee a man