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A09364 The first part of The cases of conscience Wherein specially, three maine questions concerning man, simply considered in himselfe, are propounded and resolued, according to the word of God. Taught and deliuered, by M. William Perkins in his Holy-day lectures, by himselfe revised before his death, and now published for the benefit of the Church.; Cases of conscience. Part 1 Perkins, William, 1558-1602.; Pickering, Thomas, d. 1625. 1604 (1604) STC 19668; ESTC S114413 95,900 200

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of faith then also he iustifies the sinner and withall beginnes the worke of sanctification VII Then so soone as faith is put into the heart there is presently a combate for it fighteth with doubting dispaire and distrust And in this combate faith shews it selfe by seruent constant and earnest inuocation for pardon and after inuocation followes a strength preuailing of this desire VIII Furthermore God in mercie quiets and setles the Conscience as touching the saluation of the soule and the promise of life whereupon it resteth and staieth it selfe IX Next after this setled assurance perswasion of mercie followes a stirring vp of the heart to Euangelicall sorrow according to God that is a griefe for sinne because it is sinne and because God is offended and then the Lord workes repentance whereby the sanctified heart turnes it selfe vnto him And though this repentance be one of the last in order yet it shewes it selfe first as when a candle is brought into a roome we first see the light before wee see the candle and yet the candle must needes be before light can be X. Lastly God giues a man grace to endeauour to obey his commandements by a newe obedience And by these degrees doeth the Lord giue the first grace The second worke of God tending to saluation is to giue the second grace which is nothing else but the continuance of the first worke begun that a man may perseuere in grace to the ende Now then to come the Answer the holy Ghost hath propounded to vs this Question of conscience together with the resolution thereof in these examples following The men that were at Peters sermon beeing touched with the sense of their owne miserie vpon the doctrine which had beene deliuered as the Holy Ghost saies were pricked in their hearts and cried one to another Men and brethren what shall we doe Peter mooued by the spirit of God answers them Repent and bee baptized for the remission of your sinnes The like was the case of the Iayler who after that the stubbernnesse of his heart was beaten downe by feare of the departure of the prisoners he came trembling and fell downe before Paul and Silas and mooued this question vnto them Sirs vvhat must I doe to bee saued To whome they gaue answere Beleeue in the Lord Iesus and thou shalt be saued and thine houshold The young man in the Gospell sues to Christ and askes him What shall I doe to be saued Christ answers him Keepe the Commandements When he replied that he had kept them from his youth Christ tells him that he must goe yet further and sell all that he hath and giue to the poore And Iohn tells the Scribes and Pharises who came vnto his Baptisme and confessed their sinnes that if they would flie from the wrath to come they must repent and bring forth fruits worthie a mendement of life I answer then out of all these places that he that would stand in the fauour of God and be saued must doe foure things first humble himselfe before God secondly beleeue in Christ thirdly repent of his sinnes fourthly performe newe obedience vnto God For the first Humiliation is indeede a fruite of faith yet I put it in place before faith because in practise it is first Faith lieth hid in the heart and the first effect wherein it appeares is the abasing and humbling of our selues And here we are further to consider three points first wherein stands humiliation secondly the excellencie of it thirdly the Questions of conscience that concerne it Touching the first point Humiliation stands in the practise of three things The first is a sorrow of heart whereby the sinner is displeased with himselfe and ashamed in respect of his sins The second is a confession to God wherein also three things are to be done first to acknowledge all our maine sinnes originall and actuall secondly to acknowledge our guiltinesse before God thirdly to acknowledge our iust damnation for sinne The third thing in Humiliation is supplication made to God for mercie as earnestly as in a matter of life and death and of these three things we haue in scripture the examples of Ezra Daniel and the Prodigall sonne Ezra 9. Dan. 9. Luk. 15. The second point is the excellencie of Humiliation which stands in this that it hath the promises of life eternall annexed to it Esa. 57. 15. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to reuiue the spirit of the humble and to giue life to them that are of a contrite heart Psal. 51. 17. A contrite and a broken heart O God thou wilt not despise Prou. 28. 13. He that hideth his sinnes shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall finde mercie 1. Ioh. 1. 9. If we acknowledge our sinnes he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our sinnes and to clense vs from all vnrighteousnesse By all these and many other places it is manifest that in the very instant whē a sinner begins truly in heart and conscience to humble himselfe he is then entred into the state of saluation So soone as Dauid said I haue sinned Nathan pronounceth in the name of the Lord that his sinnes were put away And Dauid himselfe saith alluding to the former place I said I will confesse my sinne and loe thou forga●est the wickednesse of my sinne When the Prodigall sonne had but said I will goe to my father c. euen then before he humbled himselfe his father meetes him and receiues him The third point is touching the Questions of conscience concerning Humiliatiō all which may be reduced to foure principall Cases I. Case What if it fall out that a man in humbling himselfe cannot call to minde either all or the most of his sinnes I answer A particular humiliation indeed is required for maine and known sins but yet there are two cases wherein generall repentance will be accepted of God for vnknown sinnes One is when a man hath searched himselfe diligently and by a serious examination passed through all the commandements of God and yet after such examination and search made cannot call to remembrance his particular offences then the generall repentance is accepted For this is answerable to the practise of Dauid who after long search when he could not attaine to the knowledge of his par●icular slippes then he addresseth himselfe to a generall humiliation saying Who knoweth the errours of this life Clense me Lord from my secret faults and vpon this he was no doubt accepted Againe when a man humbleth himselfe and yet is preuented by the time so as he cannot search his heart and life as he would his generall repentance will be taken and accepted of God The truth hereof appeares in the theife vpon the crosse who hauing no time to search himselfe made no speciall humiliation yet vpon his generall confession he was accepted Now the ground of
knovv not saith Saint Paul what to pray as we ought namely in our distresses but the Spirit it selfe maketh request for vs with sighs that cannot be expressed and therein lies our comfort Thus Moses at the redde sea beeing in great distresse not knowing what to say or doe sighed and groned inwardly in his soule vnto the Lord for helpe and protection and his very desire was in stead of a loud crie in the eares of the Lord. The second thing is that triall must be made whether the partie hath in him any tokens of grace or not These tokens are the small beginnings of grace which before I haue declared As for example a griefe because we cannot grieue for sinne as we should a serious will and desire to beleeue and repent a purpose to sinne no more and such like If these be found in the partie then by them as by sure pledges he may bee assured of the fauour of God towardes him and where any of these be found the saying of God to Saint Paul must be vrged My grace is sufficient for thee and therewith must the distressed partie stay his minde Yea we are to be content with any condition in this life be it neuer so miserabie so long as we are in the fauour of god though he should lay vpon vs euen the paines of hell till the time of our death So did Dauid who when he was pursued by his owne sonne vttered these words vnto God Behold if I please thee not doe with me what thou wilt And the like was the minde of Paul who beeing assured of the fauour of God was content for his glorie and the saluation of the Israelites if it had beene possible to be separated from Christ and to indure the very pangs of hell The third thing in this cure is to Applie to the said distressed partie such promises of God made vnto afflicted persons as are most large and comfortable For example that The Lord is neere to them that are of a contrite heart and vvill saue such as be afflicted in spirit Psal. 34. 18. Againe I came not saith our Sauiour Christ but to the lost sheepe of the house of Israel Matth. 15. 24. He saies not to the straying sheepe but to such as ate now in the pit readie to be drowned or in the Lyons mouth readie to be deuoured Againe The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me therefore he hath annointed me that I should preach the Gospel to the poore that is to such as are distressed in conscience and poore in spirit he hath sent me that I should heale the broken hearted that I should preach deliuerance to the captiues These and many other such like promises are in this case to be vrged and the partie mooued to indeauour to beleeue them and to rest himselfe vpon them though he loose all things els Fourthly the partie must be brought to a serious consideration of his life past and of Gods mercifull dealing with him in former times and therewith is he to be comforted for the time present For if aforehand he hath receiued any tokens of the fauour and loue of God by them he is now to stay and ●o settle his minde The reason is plaine the gifts of God are without repentance whome he loueth once he loueth to the ende and whome he chooseth he calleth iustifieth and sanctifieth and will also in time glorifie Dauid beeing in such affliction that he could hardly thinke vpon God yet he tooke this course praied to the Lord for comfort communed with his owne heart and called to remembrance how God had formerly dealt with him and with this meditation of the continuall course of Gods mercie in his preseruation he confirmed his faith and staied his heart in his greatest troubles The fifth and last thing to be done is the remooueall of such reasons and doubts as the partie distressed vsually makes against himselfe for his owne ouerthrow For it is the manner of those that are troubled in minde to dispute against themselues and commonly they are woont to alleadge three things First beeing instructed how to humble themselues and to depend on Gods mercie they will graunt that all these indeede are good things but they belong not to them for they neither doe nor can feele any thing but the tokens of Gods anger and that they are alreadie entred into some degrees of condemnation This obiection may be taken away by informing them of the manner of Gods dealing in all his workes For commonly he workes all things in his creatures in and by Contraries if we could know the whole frame of them Thus in the Creation euery creature had his beeing of that which had no beeing and something was made not of something but of nothing After the flood the signe of Gods couenant for the preseruation of the world from destruction by raine is the Raine-bow which indeede is a naturall signe of raine When Elias was to prooue the Lord to be the onely true God against the idolatrous priests of Baal and that by burnt offerings he powred water vpon the sacrifice and fills a trench with water round about and in this contrarie meanes was the sacrifice burnt vp Christ for the curing of a blind man tēpers spittle clay together which in all reason is a fitter means to put out the eyes thē to cause the blind to see Thus in the worke of our Redemption Christ giues life not by life but by death and he sendes men to heauen by the gates and suburbes of hell He will not build vpon an olde foundation but he pulls downe and destroies all that Man may haue no hope at all in himselfe but that all the hope he hath may be in God First he kills and then he makes aliue as Anna speaketh first he woundeth and then he healeth He makes man to sowe in teares that afterward he may reape in ioy And he that knoweth Gods dealing to be this must herewith rest content and satisfied because in wrath God vseth to remember his mercie yea his mercie is neuer sweete vnto the palate of the soule vntill it be seasoned with some tast of his wrath The Paschall Lambe was eaten with sowre hearbs to signifie that we can feele no sweetnes in the blood of Christ till we first feele the smart of our owne sinnes corruptions Secondly these persons vse to alleadge against themselues that if they could feele any cōfort at all then they would stay their minds and yeild to good perswasions exhortations To this the answer is That there is a Rule of grace which we must follow gathered out of the word of God and the experience of Gods children contrarie to the rule of nature and aboue the light of reason and it is this that in case of affliction we must not liue by feeling but by faith This Rule is grounded vpon the speech of the Lord by the Prophet The iust man shall