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A65455 The trouble and cure of a wounded conscience set out in a sermon preached in St. Mary's church at Gates-head, in the County Palatine of Durham / by Richard Werge ... Werge, Richard, 1624 or 5-1687. 1685 (1685) Wing W1367; ESTC R8110 17,292 42

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to its own darkness and unbelief like Saul falls upon its own Sword and becomes its own Executioner The wicked fleeth when none pursueth The wicked in this respect are like Sheep of which it is said that when they run they are afraid of the sound of their own Feet Sin doth beget a dejection of Spirit and fearful Terrours After Herod had murdered John in the Prison he was perplext his mind was much about John for when he heard of the great Miracles that were wrought by Christ he cryed out That it was John Baptist risen from the dead Mat. 14. 1. Upon the commission of Sin there follows a Spirit of bondage unto Fear so that sinners are in a condition as if they were fettered and shut up in Prison They are full of anguish vexation and terrour they are afraid to come near God and afraid that God will never come near them in Mercy they are afraid to die and afraid of Gods wrath revealed from Heaven against their Sins they are afraid of what they have done against God and afraid of what God may do against them Nicephorus Phocas the Greek Emperour and Pausanius the Lacedemonian King having done foul facts were tired with a continual vexation of Spirit always afraid of Heavens vengeance These troubles of perplexed Souls are not Fabulous things and we have the Word of God for it There is no peace to the wicked saith my God in the Text. And these words are several times repeated in this Prophesie And Verba toties inculcata vera sunt viva sunt plana sunt sana sunt Words often repeated are true and lively sound and plain Fifthly Consider the happy estate of those who are at peace with God and at peace within themselves First They are related to God as to a Father they are related to a Wise Powerful and Merciful God they are assured of Gods care over them and of his providence and goodness toward them they have the light of Gods Countenance shining upon them they are sensible of Gods favour and of his loving kindness which is better than Life itself Secondly They have an interest in Christ who is the Brightness of his Fathers Glory they are ingrafted into Christ and incorporated into that Mystical Body whereof Christ is the Head they have an interest in the Merits of Christ and in all the Fruits and Effects of his Death and Bloodshed and in him they have a Spiritual Title to all the things of the World Thirdly They have a right to all the rich promises in Scripture both of Grace and Glory Fourthly They see all their Sins charged upon Christ laid upon his Shoulders and pardoned as to themselves they see all their Sins so remitted as that they are not afrighted neither by the magnitude nor multitude of their Sins besides all this they are not afraid of the Faces of men though rich honourable and powerful they fear not the Sons of Anak nor the Gammodims in the Towers they are not afraid of reproaches nor losses either of Goods Friends or Children they are not afraid of want either of Food or Raiment though there should be no Flocks nor Herds in the Fields or Stalls yet they can rejoyce in the God of their Salvation they are not afraid of Banishment into a Wilderness or into a strange Land they are not afraid of Imprisonment they can look upon a Prison as a Pallace and upon a Chain as an Ornament and upon Bondage itself as Liberty they are not afraid of Wars nor of Famine nor of Sickness nor Death itself the excellency of this Peace is such and the benefits and comforts of it are so many and great as they cannot be throughly known The peace of God passeth all understanding Now you will say We are convinced that it is our Duty to seek after a Peace of Conscience within our selves But how shall we obtain it The means are there First Resist the Devil Secondly Keep at a distance from Sin Thirdly Set about Repentance Fourthly Hearken diligently to the Gospel I. Resist the Devil Whose work it is to tempt to Sin and then to accuse for Sin and then to tempt to Desparation When Christ resisted the Devil he departed for a season Luke 4. 14. And do you resist the devil and he will flee from you James 4. 7. II. Keep at a distance from Sin Pliny 10. Lib. 67. Epistle writes thus of the Christians of the Primitive Times Stato die ante lucem convenire se Sacramento obstringere nè furta nè latrocinia ne adulteria committerent By break of the day they met together and bound themselves by an Oath against the Sins of Adultery Theft and Rapine Let your resolution be the same against all Sin as being that that hath made a variance between God and you and a disturbance in your Souls If iniquity be in thine hand put it far away then thou shalt be stedfast and shalt not fear Job 11. 14 15. III. Set about Repentance They who sow in tears shall reap in joy Broken hearts shall be bound up The spirits of the contrite shall be revived The weary and heavy laden shall rest There is a promise of comfort to penitential mourners Mat. 5. 4. That woman who was a notorious Sinner when she stood at Christs feet weeping and washing his feet with tears was forgiven and comforted Comfort doth not follow Repentance as a Natural effect Repentance doth not discharge us from the guilt of Sin as an Act of ours but as it is a work of Grace and as a means appointed by God for that end IV. Hearken diligently to the Gospel The Gospel is called Glad Tidings It is a gospel of peace Rom. 10. 15. A word of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 19. Ministers of the Gospel are like Noah's Dove which brought him an Olive branch a Token of Peace Ministers are Ambassadours for Christ It is a term borrowed by the Apostle from Princes Courts and applyed to Ministers by a decent Analogie Ministers being as Ambassadours who are Messengers from Princes Courts to offer Peace The Scriptures which are the Subject and the Substance of Ministers Preaching are the Word of God who is a God of all Consolation and being fitly applyed are likely to revive and refresh fainting and fearful Spirits Here you will finde promises of comfort and examples of those who have found comfort Here you will find God merciful and gracious forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin Here you will find that Gods Mercies hold proportion with his Power and that they are not to be limited by the bounds of your weak understandings And know that as it is Blasphemy to limit Gods Power so it is Blasphemy to limit his Goodness The Scriptures will tell you that God is a Father of Mercies a God that revives the Spirits of the humble and the Heart of the contrite ones that he is nigh to them who are of a broken Heart and saveth such as be of a
contrite Spirit And therefore hearken dilligently to the Ministry of the Gospel as being a Word of Peace and a Word of Comfort And know this That it is your duty to receive comfort when it is offered upon good grounds as to do a duty commanded It is a great Sin to reject or despair of Mercy it is thought by some to be a greater Sin in Judas to despair of Mercy than it was to betray the Person of Christ into the hands of them who crucified him Oh therefore let not your stubborn Souls refuse comfort But when Gods Mercy appears to you in his Word Preached yield to the credit of it and be over power'd with the Authority of it let your Consciences be satisfied with those evidences that God hath made known in his Word and passed upon your Souls for your everlasting comfort Fifthly Give your selves unto Prayer Oratio sanat pestes mentis Prayer is a means to cure the Malladies of Diseased Souls Prayer is the Compass by which we sail When all is clouded no Star of comfort shining upon us this will hold us in the right Course till we again discover Mercy Out of the depth have I called unto thee and thou heardst me Psal 130. 1. Prayer is a means to obtain the pardon of Sin James 5. 14. And upon the pardon of Sin follows peace and comfort Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee Mat. 9. 2. Let the consideration of Gods All-sufficiency his Faithfulness his Grace and Mercy his Readiness to Pardon and Comfort his rich Promises move you to pray in Faith in Humility and with Fervency that he would quiet your Spirits and stablish your Hearts And in your Prayer to the Lord Christ plead his humanity that He Himself did once live in your Nature on Earth as in a Veil of Tears and Misery and in the shadow of Death that He Himself was once cloathed on Earth with the Infirmities of mans common Nature that He Himself knows what it is to be tempted by Satan by Men both Friends and Enemies that He knows what it is to be in an Agony to lie under a Spiritual Desertion to have a Soul exceeding sorrowful and heavy even unto Death Entreat Him as being a Merciful High Priest and as being touched with the feeling of your Infirmities to have compassion upon you to relieve and succour you remember Him who cry'd out Thou Son of David have mercy on me Sixthly Labour after Righteousness in your dealings with men that is a way to obtain peace Say unto the righteous it shall go well with him A due Administration of Justice by Magistrates and Righteous dealing between man and man is a means to uphold Legem Regem and Gregem The Law the King and Country And it is a means to procure peace to your selves Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Seventhly Set about the exercise of Charity It was David's enquiry 2 Sam. 9. 1. Is there any of the house of Saul left to whom I may shew kindness for Jonathan's sake And let it be your enquiry Are there no poor members of Christ to whom we may shew kindness for Christ's sake True Religion lieth much in this And therefore be not weary of well doing Do good to all men but especially to the houshould of faith This is a means to bring peace to you at the last The merciful shall enter into peace and shall rest in their beds Isai 59. 1. If in your Charity towards the poor members of Christ you have respect to the glory of God and the honour of Christ and shall rest upon his Approbation and Remuneration you shall find at last that Christ will own it as being done to himself and will so accept and reward it Mat. 25. But chiefly we must make sure of Christ when we have done all or else we may miss of peace and comfort We must have comfortable apprehensions of the fulness of Christ's Merits or else we can have no peace with God nor within our selves It was Luther's Observation Saith he I have seen among the Papists who have painfully travelled and upon meer Conscience have done much in Praying and Fasting and other Exercises for this End that they might get peace of Conscience and when they had done all they were smitten down with fear especially when death approached They were then saith he so fearful that I have seen many Murderers and other Malefactors condemn'd to death die more couragiously and more comfortably than they This was Luther's Observation in his time and there is reason for it for although good works are evidences of Faith and signs of a sanctified Life yet they can give no assurance of Gods favour by their own merit or worthiness It is impossible that the Conscience should be pacified as to God and itself by any good things found in man No not by Faith itself for the goodness or merit of it as being done by us but as being a grace given us to apprehend the fulness of merit onely in Christ And therefore when you have done all make sure of Christ by Faith In the Creation we find God above us In the Law we find God against us But in Christ we find God Emmanuel God with us O my dove that art in the clefts of the rock Cant. 2. 14. This was the Speech of Christ to the Church by the mouth of Solomon The Church was a Dove in the clefts of the Rock This Rock was Christ the Rock of Ages and those foramina Petrae were vulnera Christi These clefts of the Rock are the wounds of Christ The Church in the wounds of Christ is as a Dove in the clefts of the Rock quiet and safe from danger The Lord Christ was sent to bind up the broken hearted and to proclaime liberty to the captives and the opening of the Prison doors to them who were bound to give them beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness Isai 61. 1 3. He is that good sheperd that gathers his lambs and carries them in his bosome Isai 40. 11. The Lord Christ is that Sun of Righteousness that ariseth with healing in his Wings He is that Tree in the Revalation the Leaves whereof were for the healing of the Nations He is the great Physician of Souls He cures us of the guilt of Sin by Justification of the pollution of Sin by Sanctification of the trouble of Conscience by Consolation He is full of precious Ointment his Name Christ signifies so much He hath Oil and Wine to pour into your wounds Luke 10. 34. He hath the Oil of Gladness and the Oil of Love But his Soveraign Medicines are his own Flesh and Blood By his stripes we are healed Isai 53. He hath slain the enmity and hath reconciled us by the Cross Ephes 2. 16. We are reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 9 10.