Iesus Christ humbly to praise God for those meanes he offereth in mercie vnto you and to vse them in faith accordingly and so God shall blesse you by them And then by such conference as you may haue from hence wherein if I may stand you in any steede rather for the good opinion you haue of me then for any great matter I am able to performe I shalbe ready to offer any office of loue vnto you as God shall inable mee and so farre foorth as I shall bee at any time instructed in your perticular estate In some letters sent from you by conuenient messengers I perceiue that you ar afflicted with the blindenes of your minde and hardnes of your heart which cannot be mooued either with the promises of Gods mercies or feare of his iudgements nor affected with the loue and delight of the thinges which bee good nor with the hatred and loathing of the euill great cause you haue of griefe I confesse but no cause of dispaire dare I graunt because I am perswaded that your perswatioÌ„ is somewhat false partly for want of a sounde iudgement of your estate and partly for some defect of faith somwhat through your owne default First therefore know you for certainty that this is no other tentation than such as diuers of Gods children haue been humbled with afterward haue had a good issue out of it if it please God to moue ye to credit me my selfe haue known others as deeply this way plunged as you can be Remember therefore God is faithfull who wil not suffer you to be teÌ„pted aboue that you shalbe able to bear And farther yet to confirme you the holy scriptures do shew that this way god heretofore hath humbled his own people in whose person the prophet Esaye lamentably complaineth Esa. 3. 15. O Lorde looke downe from heauen behold from thy dwelling place of thy holines and of thy glorie VVhere is thy zeale thy strength the multitude of thy mercies and of thy compassions They are restrained from me And afterwards O Lord why hast thou made vs to erre from thy waies and hardened our hearts from thy feare And in the next chapt VVe haue been alas an vnclean thing all our righteousnes is as filthy cloutes and we all doo fade as a lease and our iniquities as the winde doth take vs away and there is none that calleth vpon thy name neither that stirreth vp himself to take hold on thee for thou hast hid thy face from vs consumed vs because of our iniquities And before 59 chap. 5. We grope for the wal like the blinde and we grope as one without eyes we rore like beares and mourne lyke doues So complaineth Ezechias in the bitternes of hys soule Like a crane or a swallowe so did I chatter I did mourn as a doue and when Dauid crieth Create in me O God a cleane hart renue in me a right spirit Restore to me the ioy of my saluatioÌ„ establish me with thy fre spirit doth he not couÌ„t his hart vnclean his spirit croked the ioy of his saluatioÌ„ lost himselfe subiect to the spirit of bondage so that waÌ„ting the spirit of libertie or adoption he could nether cry Abba Father nor haue anye power against sin Thus you see how Gods children maie be blinded in minde hardned in heart for a time so that they feel the grace of the holy spirit to be in theÌ„ nere perished and dead Farther to releeue the infirmitie of your iudgement in this case which may much distres you know that there bee two kindes of hardnes of heart the one not felt the other felt and of the former ther be two sorts the first which is most fearefull when any do purposely and wilfully resist the motions of Gods spirit means of their saluation of which the Prophet Zachary speaketh 7. 11. They refused to harkeÌ„ pulled away their sholder stopped their eares that they shuld not heare yea they made their hearts as an adamant stone lest they should hear the law the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the ministery of the former Prophets The outragious sin of these men the Prophet Esay expresseth in their owne fearful termes 28. 15. VVe haue made a couenant with death and with hell we are at agreement though a scourge run ouer passe thorough it shall not come at vs for we haue made falshood our refuge vnder vanitie are we hidden This was a fearfull estate indeede yet for all that no man can saye but some of those might bee and were afterward conuerted The other kinde of hardnes of hart which is not felt nor perceyued or is perceiued yet not felt albeit it is lesse fearfull yet it is daungerous enough is in such as although they wilfully resist not Gods spirite in good means yet securely willingly they lye in sin without anie remorse of it or true taste of good things Such was Dauid his estate for the space of a yeare before Nathan the Prophet came to reproue him rouse him from his lulled sleepe Both these kindes I am perswaded you are free from otherwise thâ—n in temptation Sathan maye sometimes mooue ye therevnto the other kind of hardnesse of heart which is perceiued felt is of two sorts the one in them which are desirous of meanes whereby they may be releeued although they finde smal or no ease at all in themselues for a time Of this kinde the Prophet Esay in the name of some of Gods people complaineth Esa. 63. Such was Dauids state after NathaÌ„ reproued him gods spirit begaÌ„ to work with him that he crieth out as ye heard before of the losse of Gods graces when he saith that God will accept of no sacrifices nor petitions without a contrite hart broken spirit he sheweth that for a time euen after the prophet had reproued him he wÌ„ated both This is your case therfore you are in the state of saluation for Dauid was in this case euen after hee had confessed his sin as my trust is you doo was certainly perswaded of the pardonablenesse of it throgh gods mercie althogh he was farre off from the feeling it or applying to his wofull conscience his state was good and very wel to be hoped of and you must knowe and be perswaded that those things which are written of Gods saints namely of Dauid and Peter such others are examples for vs if we will stay our selues vpoÌ„ the word of God in the mysterie of his seruants and wait vppon the Lords good time til he come neerer vnto vs by his spirite nerer I say for he is come alreadie vnto you or it may be he neuer went from you because to be greued and humbled with blindnes of minde and hardnes of heart to beleeue certainly the trueth of God is promised in generall to reuerence the seruants of God which bring the glad tidings of the Gospel
one sinne then dooth pursue thee rest not onelye therein but saye thus rather to thy selfe Oh Lord is thys one sinne so grieuous and dooth my God punnish thys one sinne so soarely Howe great then should be my punishment if thou shouldest O Lord so deale with mee for al my other sinnes I haue committed Let vs learne to haue a sense both of generall and of perticular sinnes least in tyme our griefe passe away wythout frute whilest that beeing not displeafed as well wyth one sinne as with another we either looke too superficially to generall and not to perticulars or els too superstitiously obserue perticulers and not the generals Concerning those sinnes whereunto we are tempted as when a man is mooued to think blasphemously of God the Father or to doubt whether there be a Christ or no or to imagine grosely of the holy Ghost or to deny God or to doubt of the Trinitie to be mooued to murther adultrie or such like in which temptations he feeleth Gods spirit to check him for them so as he knoweth not in thys case what to doo for that on the one side he dares not listen willingly to these fearefull and monstrous temptations and on the other side he feareth least in time by long sute he might fall into them or at the least yeeld for that he seeth not how to be deliuered frō them I suppose these motions are not so much to bee disputed with as we by them are to be prouoked to more instant and zealous praier Surely these are dangerous temptations and therefore are not to bee kept cloase which our nature will easely encline vnto but perticularly are to bee confessed of vs. For the diuel will come somtime to thee to keepe thee still in a generall acknowledging of thy sinne and vrge on this manner Surely thou must needes doo this sinne thou seest thou canst haue no ease vntill thou hast assented thou art ordained to it the reason why thou art thus incessantly tempted is because thou doost not take thy pleasure Go too delay not denie God beleeue not his word it is but a pollicie to keepe men in awe Religion is no such matter as men make it Thus for feare of yeelding on the one hande and for shame of disclosing the tentations on the other hande many men haue pined away and almost haue beene ouercome by them If we should disclose this say these men what would people say of vs They would count vs Atheists they would thinke vs the wickedst men in the worlde Well for our instruction and consolation herein Let vs learn that these kind of tentations are either corrections for some sinnes past or the punishment of sins present or forewarners of some sin to come Wee shall see many tempted to adultery who now no doubt cannot bee be brought to commit it and yet because in their youth they haue committed it and not repented of it it coms to them againe The like may bee obserued in theft in gluttony and in other tentations which are not so much sent vnto vs presently to ouercome vs as to put vs in mind that hertofore we hauing bin ouercome with them should now repent for them Sometime a man shall lye in some sin wherof when he will not bee admonished neither by the priuate nor publike meanes then some strange tentation shall fall vpon him differing from that wherein he presently lyeth to admonish him of that other sinne As when a worldling shal be tempted to adulterie a thing which hee hath no desire to do yet it is to make him look to his worldlines whereof he hath so strong and through a lyking Whereas if then he will not bee awaken he may sodainely fall into that too and so by the punishment of GOD in punishing one sinne with another both his sinnes shall bee to his great shame laid open and one sin shall make knowne another Sometime also it commeth to passe that one shall bee tempted with such a sinne as neither heretofore nor presently hee hath giuen any liking or entertaignement vnto and yet the Lord by it may forewarne him how hee may fall into it hereafter as also to shew that hee hath stoode all his former life rather by the grace of god than by the strength of flesh and blood Wherefore when thou art moued to doubt of God and of Christ of the word or of iustification doo not so much stande woondring at these strong tentations as thinke with thy selfe that it is the mercie of God by them to cause thee better to discerne of those tentations in others Wherefore thou shouldest haue obserued with feare trembling howe they make the first entry into a mans heart howe they gather strength howe they agree with our corrupt nature in what degrees they come to some growth how the spirite of God dooth resist them what bee the meanes best to preuaile against them And thus if thou make thy profite by them thou shalt so woonderfully search and descrie by seuerall veines the body age and sleight of these tentations in others by an holy experience which GOD hath taught thee in others that besides thou shalt lay foorth mens secrete corruptions as if thou wast in their bosomes thou shalt be able by the seed of sorrowe in thy selfe to beget an vnspeakeable ioy in others who in time may bee tempted to sin as thou nowe art Thinke moreouer and besides that such is the efficacie of sinne that they who are nowe no Papistes Heretiques Adulterers or Theeues may for their secure contemning and passing ouer these tentations sent vnto them sodainely shortly after fall into them because they woulde not seeke to make some vse of them nor confesse before the Lorde both their pronenesse and worthinesse to fall into them But if wee will humble our selues in such tentations and learne by them meekely to discerne the corruption of our hearts we shall not only presently deliuer our selues from imminent perill but bee also further enhabled to assist others hereafter in the like danger But some wil oppose against these things which wee haue deliuered Doo you thinke it a remedie to cast downe them that bee already humbled this is rather to bee a Butcher than a builder of a mans conscience To whom I answere that I desire Preachers to be Builders and not Butchers and it is one thing generally to apply and another perticular to lay the medicine vnto the wound It is good to begin with searching first to purge the sore by the vineger of the Lawe and after to supple it with the oyle of the Gospell Both which must bee done in wisedome vsing them to some in greater to some in lesser measure For as some hauing nothing but a decay of nature and no mortall humor neede rather restoratiue than purging medicines So some rather troubled for spirituall wants than for grosse sinnes needes not so much the threatninges of the Lawe as the sweete promises of the Gospell But if
great housholder if he complaine of vncleannesse whether he be not a yong-man vnmaried if he be humbled with couetousnesse whether he be not old because diuers countries callings ages conditions and estates of men haue their diuers and peculiar sinnes which wee must rightly discerne Howbeit of what sex soeuer they are mā or woman of what complexion soeuer they are of what knowledge to discerne sin in what degree of committing sinne of what age authority wealth estate or condition so euer they are it is good to marke that there bee many who are more troubled for vexation and disquietnes of the mind being distempered than for the vilenes and horriblenes of their sin committed who are wounded more with the feare of shame with the feare of beeing madd or with the feare of running out of their wittes than with the conscience of sinne Which thing if we finde in them it is our parts to trauell with thē that they make a lesse matter of the outward shame and more Conscience of the inward sins Neither must wee here forget to distinguish between our speech vsed to the humbled in the time of theyr extreame agonie and those words wee vse the fit beeing past because the first requyreth more comfort the latter more admonishment for thē wee maye wisely admonish them to beware of sin which procured their woe In thys threatening time it is also expedient to exhort them that vntill they shuld find greater power in regeneration they would ty themselues to some holy orders godly vowes whereby they may either be furthred in mortifying some speciall sinne which for that they could finde no power against it did most grieue thē or strengthened in some speciall grace the want whereof did also wound them But before we launch deeper into this sea of perticular tentations and begyn to sounde the daungerous passages of natural corruptions and originall sinne the troublesome froath whereof doth almost ouerwhelme manie poore pilgrimes it shall be good to giue this caution that both in this and in the former troubles men would bee still againe admonished patiently to bear with a wounded spirit howbeit it fall out so that they be somwhat pettish seeing the holye Ghost speaketh so fauorably of them saying A wounded Spirit who can bear And surely our practise in other things by the lawe of equitie maye vrge thys at our hands For if men by the light of reason can see it to bee a duetie conuenient not furiously to control but meekely to suffer and wisely to put vp the vnaduised speeches of a man distempered in braine by reason of some burning ague or such like violent and vehement sickenes we may easily gather by the same rule of reason not so seuerely to censure the impatient speeches of him who by reason of some parching Feuer of the spirite is disquieted in all partes of his minde and hath all the veynes of his heart as it were in a spirituall agony vexed Wherefore both vnsauorie for want of Godly wisedome and vncharitable for want of Christian loue are their murmuring obtrectations which say What Is this the Godly man Is this hee that is so troubled for his sinnes Why see how pettish he is nothing can please him no body can satisfie him Consider O man if thou canst beare with a fraile body that thou must much more beare with a fraile minde Consider that this his pettishnes dooth more wound him at the heart than any iniury thou couldst presse him with And therefore seeing he afflicteth his owne soule for it thou needest not adde any thing to his affliction and to exasperate his most grieuous smart Consider that it is a blessed thing mercifully to bethinke vs of the poore and needy that to rub a fresh wound and to streine a bleeding sore is nothing els but with Iobs friendes to bring a newe torment where ther is no need of it If the wise father doth rather pitie than rebuke his childe when by reason of sicknes the appetite is not easely pleased so if we purpose to doo anie good with an afflicted minde wee must not bee austere in reprehending euerie infirmitie but pitifull in considering of each tender frailtie Neither doo I speake this to nourish pettishnesse but would haue them to labour for patience and to seeke for peace which though they finde not at the first yet by praier they must wayt on the Lord and say Lord because there is mercie that thou maist bee feared I will wait vppon thee as the eye of the seruant wayteth vppon the hand of his Master I will condemne my selfe of follie and saie Oh my soule vvhie art thou so heauie Whie art thou cast dovvn vvithin mee Still trust in the Lorde for he is thy health and thy saluation FINIS A Letter from M. Robert Greeneham to a frend of his against hardnesse of heart I Beseech God the father of Iesus Christ giue mee his holy spirite in writing to giue aduice and you in reading to receiue it Amen Since the time I receiued M. S. his letter wherein hee declared his carefull compassion ouer your estate I haue beene not a little grieued because of my manifolde distractions with the like occurrances and other waighty affayres I haue beene hindred hitherto from wrighting vnto you and albeit euen still I am euen in the same case yet conscience towardes God compassion loue towards you forceth me to ouercom lets which hardly I could otherwise preuaile against and albeit I cannot write as I woulde yet of that which I shall write proceeding from the forenamed groundes I looke for some blessing from God through Iesus Christ if you will not too much faint in faith and yeelde to the aduersary yea if you will but hope so well of your selfe as in the feare of God I doo write it I hope of you First whereas it seemeth you are sometimes grieued because you tarried not still at Cambridge according to mine aduise you must knowe I aduised it not as a thing necessary but more conuenient as I then supposed but that I aduised you to obaye your father if his pleasure still continued to haue you home whereunto you yeelding I canot see how you offended it beeing your Fathers pleasure you should so doo and who knoweth whether beeing here you might not haue bin as much troubled there beeing no priuiledge for persons and places In such cases who knoweth whether it be the Lordes pleasure for the ensample and instruction I hope the consolation of others in the ende And albeit you will nowe thinke that heere you were nearer the the more stronger means yet knowe you and bee perswaded that God can doth in such cases worke by fewer and weaker according to his good pleasure Besides it is in our corrupt nature to make much of such meanes as wee cannot haue and not so to esteeme those which God dooth offer vs as wee should I beseech you therefore in the name of
diseases of the soule no man abateth his sleepe no man abridgeth his diet no man prepareth Phisicke for it no man knoweth when to be ful and when to be emptie how to want and how to abound Others carried away with the loue of riches and verie nigh to fall into pouertie will not sticke to rise early to take sleep lately to fare hardly to teare taw their flesh in labour by lande and by water in faire soule weather by rockes and by sands from far from nere and yet to fall into spirituall decaies to auoyd the pouertie of conscience no man taketh such paines as though saluation and peace of mind were not a thing worthy the labouring for Some ambitiously hunting after honor not easilye digesting reproaches behaue themselues neither sluggishly nor sleepely but are actiue in euerie attempt by loue and by counsell by prudence and prowesse by wit and by practise by labour and learning by cunning and diligence to become famous and to shun a ciuill reproach yet to bee glorious in the sight of God and his Angells to fall before the heauens and in the presence of the Almightie to bee couered with shame and confusion of conscience we make none accompt as they who neyther vse anye meanes to obteyne the one nor auoyde those Occasions which maye bring the other Others verie vnwilling to come within the reache and daunger of the Lawe that they may by reading get experience howe to escape imprisonment of bodye or confiscation of goods wyll be painfull in penall statutes skilful in euery branch of the ciuill law and especially will labour to keepe themselues from treasons murthers fellonies and such like offences of life and death yet where the Lord God threateneth the seazure both of soule bodie the attaching of our soules the confiscating 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 for the breache of his Commaundements few men sercheth his eternall Lawe few men careth for the Gospell neither the sentence of euerlasting diuorsement from the Lord neither the couenant of reconciliation is esteemed of vs. And to reache our Complaint one Degree farther The more we seek outward pleasures to auoyde the inward trouble of minde the more we hast and runne into it and wee speedely plunge our selues in a wounded spirite or wee be a ware Who posteth more to becom rich than the merchant man who hopeth lesse to become pore than hee that aduentureth great treasures who hazardeth his goods who putteth in ieoperdie of his life and yet suddenly he either rusheth vpon the rocke of hardnesse of heart or else is swallowed vp of the gulphe of a despairing mind from which happely he cannot be deliuered with a ship full of golde Woful proofe hath confirmed how some men whollie set on plesures such as could not away to be sad and hedged vp alwaies of godly sorrowe haue had their tables made snares and euen theyr excesse of pleasures hath brought excesse of sorrowes and whilest they laboured to put the euill daye farre from them they haue vsed follyes that haue beene the most bitter and speedie hang-men of their fearfull trembling consciences There be some of another sort who neuer dreaming of a troubled minde haue had their harts set on nothing but howe they might get some great fame and renowme therfore haue slipt into such vaineglorious attempts and foule flatteries as they haue not onely lost the peace of their Consciences but also fallen most deeply into reprochfull shame which they sought to shun Now therefore as the peace of conscience and ioy of minde is such a treasure as the eye hath not seene the eare hath not heard nor the tung expressed but passeth al vnderstanding as they only knowe what the peace of minde meaneth that feele it so they alone can in trueth speake of a troubled minde that haue tasted of it by experience But let vs shew what way is to be vsed to keepe vs from this wound of the spirit It is the vse of Phisicke as to cure vs of diseases when wee are faln into them so to preserue vs from sicknes before it hath takē hold of vs it is the power of the Word as to asswage the trouble of Conscience when it doth once presse vs so to preuent it before it hath ouertaken vs. It is a chiefe point of worldly wisedome not to tarie for the vse of phisicke vntil we be deadly sick but to bee acquainted wyth Gods mercifull preseruation to defend vs from it likewise it is a chiefe pollicie of a godly Christian not only to seek comfort when the agonie is vpon him but also to vse all good helpes to meet with it before it comes And if we condemn them of folly who will not as well labor to keep themselues out of debt as to pay the debt when they owe it so it is a madnes not to bee circumspect to auoyd all occasions which maye bring trouble of mind vpon them as wee would bee prouident to enter euerie good waye which maye drawe vs out of this trouble when wee haue once entred into it These remedies preseruatiue are first the searching of our sinnes the examining of our faith The examining of our sins is either the due acknowledging of our sinnes or the true sense and feeling of our sinnes The acknowledging of our sinnes is eyther of those that bee past whether wee haue vnfeinedlye repented vs of them or of those which bee present whether wee be truely greued for them Thirdly of those secret corruptions which in the course of our life are likely to come whether wee are reuerently afraide of them and resolue to suppresse them with all our indeuour Concerning sinnes past we must call to minde the sinnes done of old in our youth in our middle age in our olde age iudging our selues we maye not bee iudged of the Lorde that accusing of our selues sathā haue no occasiō to accuse throwing down our selues before the Lord he may lift vs vp For manie going quietly away and sleeping in carnall securitie notwithstanding the sins of their youth neglecting to make conscience of their sinnes done long ago sodainly haue falne into such horrour of minde that the violent remembrance of all their sins surcharging them they haue been ouerwhelmed This Examination then dooth rightlye proceede when it doth reach to the errors of this life to the sins of our youth because many men euen from their childhood by a ciuill righteous life hauing escaped grose sins wherewith the world could neuer charge them haue not withstanding caried the burthen of more secret sins done in their youth Dauid Psal. 25. 7. prayeth the Lord not to remember the sinnes of his youth Iob 23. 6. the man of God confessing that the Lord writeth bitter things against him saith he made him to possesse the iniquities of his youth What shall