distress say effatha to my heart that it may be opened to receive thee say effatha to the heavens that they may be opened to receive my soul yea say unto my soul thou art my salvation for thou only who art All-sufficient canst speak unto my soul and thou only who art all-All-merciful wilt speak comfort to it And though for my sins thou art justly displeased yet for thine own Mercies thou wilt not long continue in that displeasure for thou hast proclaimed thy self to be the Lord The Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin Lord say unto me thy unworthy servant that my sins are forgiven me and that I may go hence in peace for my faith hath saved me even that faith whereby I wholly trust in the Merits and Mercies of thy eternal Son Jesus Christ. 66. Hear my prayer O Lord and consider my desire hearken unto me for thy truth and righteousness sake and enter not into Judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified And let not mine enemy persecute my soul and if it be thy will let not my disease smite my life down to the ground nor lay me in the darkness as men that have been long dead But if it be thy pleasure to torment and to destroy my body yet let not my spirit be vexed within me nor my heart within me be desolate But make me so remember the time and thy works past that I may be comforted in the time and thy works to come that stretching forth my hands and lifting up my heart unto thee I may lay hold on thee by a lively Faith Hope and Love and at last come to enjoy thee by a blessed vision comprehension and fruition And my soul gasping â—…nto thee as a thirsty Land may be satisfied with the dew of thy heavenly blessings for evermore 67. O Lord remember that I am the work of thy hands the image of thy counteâ—…ance the price of thy blood And have mercy on me as thy work as thy image and as thy purchase for the paternal bowels of God the Father that created me for the bleeding wounds of God the Son that redeemed me and for the unutterâ—…ble groans of God the Holy-Ghost that sanctifieth me O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord strengthen me in my sickness receive me at my death and acquit me in the Judgement Amen 68. Hear me O Lord and that soon for my spirit waxeth faint hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit O let me hear thy loving-kindness late in the evening of this life and betimes in the morning of Eternity for in thee is my trust shew thou me the way that leadeth in the truth and unto the life for I lift up my soul unto thee Deliver me O Lord from mine enemies both corporal and spiritual for I flie unto thee to hide me Let thy loving Spirit lead me forth out of this Land of unrighteousness and lead me into the Land of righteousness Quicken me O Lord for thy Name sake and then most when I shall be nearest death and for thy righteousness sake bring my soul out of all her troubles that I may give thanks unto thee with those blessed spirits which lived here in thy fear departed hence in thy favour and now are with thee in eternal joy and glory Psal. 143. v. 7 c. 69. Deal thou so with me O Lord God according to thy Name that in the greatest bitterness of my soul I may both see and confess that sweet is thy Mercy O deliver me for I am helpless and poor and my body is tormented without me and my heart is wounded within me Psal. 109. ver 22 23. but be thou ease to my body and joy to my heart in Jesus Christ. 70. O Lord I confess to thy glory and minâ—… own shame that when I call to mind the â—…oulness of mine own transgressions I am â—…shamed when I call to mind the exactâ—…ess and severity of thy Justice I am afraid â—…o lift up mine eyes to heaven or to look â—…owards the place where thine honour â—…welleth But O look thou down upon â—…e with the eye of pity and compassion â—…ho am altogether unworthy to look up â—…nto thee with the eye of hope and confiâ—…ence and relieve me in my sickness and â—…eceive me at my death for thine infinite mercies in Jesus Christ. 71. I will alway give thanks unto the Lord â—…is praise shall ever be in my mouth yea my soul shall make her boast of the Lord â—…or I sought him and he heard me yea â—…e delivered me out of all my fear I had 〈◊〉 eye unto him and I was enlightened I â—…ave tasted and seen how gracious the â—…ord is blessed be my soul for trusting 〈◊〉 him and blessed be his grace for working 〈◊〉 my soul that trust to rely and depend â—…pon his Mercy for evermore Psal. â—…34 72. Lord touch my tongue with a coal from â—…hine Altar to take away the pollution of my lips and touch my heart with the immortal flames of thy love to take away the deadness and dulness of my thoughts that both tongue and heart being purged from the filthy dregs of flesh and sin I may in my greatest infirmities labour to praise thee according to the greatness of thy glories And because I cannot sufficiently praise thee whiles I am in this corrupted and corruptible body take my soul in thy due time away from hence that I may in thy heavenly Jerusalem sing unto thee acceptable and immortal praises for ever and ever Amen 73. Righteousness and equity O Lord are the habitation of thy seat O let righteousness and equity be fixed in my heart that thou mayest therein fix thy habitation Mercy and Truth shall go before thy face O let Mercy and Truth be alwaies in my soul Mercy to forgive Truth to be for given that when my soul shall go out of my body it may joyfully go before thy face and rejoyce in thy presence for ever more for blessed are the people O Lord that can rejoyce in thee they shall walk in the light of thy countenance Lord thou hast given me the first part of this blessing to rejoyce in thee here on earth O give me also the second part of it that when I shall go hence I may walk in the light of thy countenance hereafter in heaven Amen 74. Who am I O Lord God and what is this my house of clay that thou hast brought me hitherto And this was yet a small thing in thy sight O Lord God but thou hast spoken also of thy servant for a great while to come even for the daies of Eternity that thou wilt at last bring me to thy self For thy words sake and according to thine own heart hast thou done all these great things to make thy servant know them and
For being a Penitent sinner that is one of those sinners that Christ came to save as I have been chief in the sin so I shall be chief in the salvation The more I have seen mine own sins the more I shall see the salvation of my God It is a most comfortable observation of Divines That our Saviour Christ is now here in all the Bible called invisible And therefore that Doxologie in 1 Tim. 1. 17. Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen is to be expounded of God the Father because the Word invisible is in it and our Saviour Christ is now here in all the Bible called invisible And truly blessed be his mercy I have hitherto found it so for when I have most seen my sins to trouble me I have most seen his salvation to relieve me And sure I am that though my sins should be never so visible at the last day yet they shall not be half so visible as my Saviour For I shall then certainly with Saint Stephen see Jesus standing on the right hand of God Acts 7. 55. I shall see him standing up as ready to give sentence but surely that sentence will be for me not against me For he is not willing to give sentence against me but sure he cannot give sentence against himself that is against his Word For a sentence against his Word is against himself His Word therefore being the truth because it is his Word who is the truth Therefore the sentence that shall be given at the last day can be no other then what is given already in Gods Word and in mine own conscience His Word hath pronounced a merciful sentence and I must never leave Rectifying my conscience till that pronounce sentence according to his Word SECT VI. Comforts against the last Judgement from the sentence that shall be pronounced A Sentence that is resolved on before the hearing of the cause though not pronounced till after it must needs be the sentence of an unrighteous Judge and is most like to be the sentence of an unrighteons Judgement But shall not the Judge of all the earth do right Gen. 18. 25. And how then can we now have comfort from the sentence he will pronounce at the last day since he cannot resolve upon a sentence before the hearing of the cause nor can we know before hand what is his resolution I answer The cause is heard here and the sentence is pronounced here though many men will not take notice of it And that which shall be pronounced hereafter shall not be a new sentence but a Publication of the old which may not unfitly be called an old sentence since it hath been twice pronounced here already once in Gods Word another time in our own consciences For the Spirit of God doth here Judge us in Gods Word And the Son of God will not thwart or contradict the Judgement of Gods Spirit but only ratifie and confirm it The word that I have spoken the same shall Judge him at the last day John 12. 48. that is the sentence at the last day shall be but a declaration and confirmation of the sentence that is already spoken in the Word And haply in this respect it is said That the Apostles shall Judge the world not only in regard of their persons as all other Saints shall Judge it by approving the sentence of the righteous Judge but also in regard of their Doctrine which shall be the rule of Judgement Wherefore if we can have comfort from the sentence that is already passed upon us by the Apostles we may have also comfort from the sentence that will be passed upon us by their Master And truly if we be not Hypocrites or Apostates but true and constant Christians we may have very great comfort from the sentence that is already passed upon us by the Apostles A comfort which no partial Judge here can give us though he resolve to come with omnia bene and to admit of none but of white suffrages for in vain doth the spirit of man set it self to absolve â—…hose whom the Spirit of God doth conâ—…emn And a comfort which no unrighteâ—…s Judge here can take from us though he â—…esolve to write his sentence as Draco did â—…is Laws in Characters of blood For in â—…ain doth the spirit of man set it self to â—…ondemn those whom the spirit of God â—…oth absolve For this is the sentence â—…assed upon us by the Apostles He that â—…elieveth on the Son hath everlasting life â—…ohn 3. 36. The whole Doctrine of the New-Testament driving at this That true â—…aith in Christ as it is not to be supposed without a true Christian life and conversation agreeable to the faith for it is in â—…ain to profess Christian and to live Atheâ—…st or to act Infidel so it cannot but deâ—…iver the true Believer from the guilt and â—…urden of all his sins For all the whole Gospel is nothing else but a Sermon upon â—…his Text of our Saviours own choosing John 11. 25 26. I am the resurrection and â—…he life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever â—…iveth and believeth in me shall not die for â—…ver Words properly used by the Church as they were spoken by Christ himself at the burial of the dead For they are the chiefest comfort against Death because they are the chiefest comfort against Judgement And so hath the beloved Disciple explained them that leaned in his Masters bosom and thence got this soul-healing and soul-saving Divinity But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin And again If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 7. and 9. Here is the true comfort against Judgement for if my soul be cleansed from all sin and unrighteousness I shall have reason not to dread but to desire the coming of my Judge And this Christian consolation cannot be separated from the true Christian Faith that is to say Faith in the blood of Christ which cleanseth us And this Christian Faith cannot be separated from a Christian conversation walking in the light nor from a Christian Communion we have fellowship one with another nor from Christian Repentance and Contrition if we confess our sins And wheresoever we find this Christian Faith and Christian Conversation and Communion and Contrition we may not deny the Christian Consolation For God himself hath said Comfort ye comfort ye my people Isa. 40. 1. They that are Gods people may not be deprived of Gods comforts And what are his comforts but as it follows that our warfare is accomplished and our iniquity is pardoned The beginning of the pardon is the end of the war her warfare is accomplished and her iniquity
as penitents God heareth not such sinners as are willingly and wilfully under the Power and Dominion of sin such as are habitually sinful and still remain in the state of sin For A man may be a sinner yet not be in the state of sin That notes a Momentany Action but this a standing Relation or a setled continuance status notat Dispositionem cum quadam immobilitate saith Aquinas That makes a man unworthy of Gods Favor but this makes him uncapable of it So saith the Prophet What hath my beloved to do in mine house seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many and the holy Flesh is passed from thee when thou dost evil then thou rejoycest Jer. 11. 15. These words shew the state of sin and the miserable condition of that state The state of sin is the working of lewdness with many and rejoycing in that work neither Reluctancie before it nor Repentance after it And the miserable condition of that state is not to have to do in Gods house i. e. Not to have any right to the Word Sacraments for the Holy Flesh here saith R. David is the Flesh of Gods Altar An Impenitent sinner hath nothing to do with that Holy Flesh and if he will needs intrude himself to have to do with it yet it shall not be Holy Flesh to him he shall have no benefit of its Holiness Nay to him it shall be in its effect what it is already in his account an unholy thing Heb. 10. 29. Impura es ipsa ac proinde non potes non impurare omnes oblationes tuas saith Trem. Thou thy self being in the state of impurity canst not but make all thy offerings impure Thy Prayers will be turned into sin Psal. 109. 7. And how then can thy sin not be turned into Death Therefore he that will offer to God an acceptable offering must first offer himself For if God accept not the person he will not accept the offering The Lord first had respect to Abel then to his offering Gen. 4. 4. Wherefore it neerly concerns every Christian to forsake all his sins and to assure himself that he is in the state of Grace and Acceptance with God for that else he cannot be assured that either his Prayer or his Prayses will be accepted And how shall we better know the state of Grace then from his mouth whose hands nailed to the Cross made it And whose side Pierced on the Cross poured it forth to us And he plainly tells us that our state is either of God or of the Devil John 8. 42. If God were your Father you would love me From whence we may infer they that do love Christ have God for their Father and consequently are in a Good in a Happy state But v. 4. 4. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do From whence we may infer they that will needs do the lusts of the Devil have the Devil for their father Not simply they that do the lusts but they that wilfully do them The Text it self gives us this Distinction saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye will do them For there is a great difference betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Facio and Volo Facere I do and I will do For Saint Paul saith of himself the evil which I would not that I do Rom. 7. 19. and yet proves that he is in the state of Regeneration notwithstanding his doing it Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me v. 21. Sin may dwell in me but I may not dwell in sin If I do that evil I would not it is because sin dwelleth in me But if I will that evil I do it is because I dwell in sin and am one of those of whom it is said ye are yet in your sins 1 Cor. 15. 17. He saith not your sins are in you but you are in your sins not they possessed by you but you possessed by them not they have a being in you but you have a being in them This Regiment of Satan doth not come to Quarter with you against your will but you have made an Invitation to them and Provision for them they find the house swept and garnished and look upon it as their own and so have their Habitation with you as that they also have Dominion over you And in this respect doth our blessed Saviour say to the Jews ye shall dye in your sins That is in the Guilt and under the Bondage of your sins unless by faith in Christ you get out of that Guilt out of that Bondage for so it is said If ye believe not that ' I am he ye shall dye in your sins John 8. 24. To live out of Christ is to live in sin and to live in sin is the way to die in sin and to die in sin is to die eternally For he that dies in sin is an eternal sinner and is therefore justly punished with eternal death Peccavit in suo aeterno saith Saint Greg. He sinned in his eternity and yet his whole life was but a span-long The reason is He that sins impenitently would sin eternally if he might live eternally He sins eternally in his Resolution though not in his Action and shews whose child he is by doing the works of his Father and wilfully doing them The works of your Father ye will do A man may do the lusts of the Devil and yet be the child of God but he cannot wilfully do them and continue in that wilfulness but he must be the child of the Devil He alone hath Right in him and he will claim his Right He will claim him as a Father claims his child For this is the specifical difference betwixt the Regenerate and the Unregenerate Both are sinners but the one sinneth eagerly with desire and Habitually with delight the other desireth not to sin and delighteth not in sinning Though he may sometimes do the work of the Devil yet it is against his will for he Desires and delights to do the work of God And that 's the reason our Blessed Saviour hath taught such a man to call God his Father and he would not have taught him to call God so were he indeed not so For truth teacheth no man to tell a lye much less in his Prayers wherefore in that we are taught to say Our Father it is evident that we are bound to be in the state of Regeneration or we have no right to say our Prayers For we are not taught to say Our Father in respect of our corporal Creation for so God is the Father of the wicked as well as of the Righteous but of our spiritual Regeneration That God is Our Father by spiritual Generation for that according to his Abundant mercy he hath begotten us again to lively hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. For of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth Jam. 1. 18. And if God be Our Father by Spiritual Generation then are we also his sons by Adoption and can rightly and truly say Our Father and all the Petitions after it without giving the Lie to our own Consciences Whereas a man that is in the state of sin cannot truly say any one Petition of the Lords most Holy Prayer He cannot say Our Father for he will not be the son of God He cannot say Hallowed be thy name for he delights to profane it He cannot say Thy Kingdom come for he fears nothing more then its coming He cannot say Thy Will be done for he resolves against the doing it Wherefore if you ask me how shall sinners not yet converted say to God Our Father I Answer if they truly desire to be converted and to become his children they may say so as the Prodigal son resolving to arise and go to his Father though he were not yet come unto him had a right of calling him Father Luke 15. 18. For an unfained desire of conversion shews a true convert God accepting the will for the deed As working in us to will no less then to do of his own good pleasure And the best man that is will meet with inextricable Difficulties if he Ground the Truth of his conversion upon the Ability of his Performance and not upon the sinceritity of his desire Saint Bernard tells of a very Religious Monk who undertaking to say his Pater Noster without the least A vocation or A version of his thoughts from God which another professed that he could not obtain to do by all the fasting and prayer that he had used for many years convinced and condemned himself by his own mouth before he had gone over half the petitions interposing such an Impertinency in his prayer as plainly shewed that his mind was on earth whiles his tongue was in heaven I conclude then that only those sinners among the sons of men have no right to their Pater Noster but do hypocritically and falsly say the Lords prayer who neither are nor desire to be the children of God who so are sinners as that they also are in the state of sin and desire to continue in that state For how can that man have a right to pray who before he praies hath set his heart against his God and whiles he is praying doth set his own tongue against his heart SECT II. Weighing of our sins EVery man shall bear his own burden saith the Apostle Gal. 6. 5. And it will conâ—…ern every wise man to see he hath no greater burden then he is able to bear Of all burdens none is so heavy as sin â—…or other burdens can only press down to â—…earth but this presseth also down to hell Therefore above all other burdens it is a â—…oint of wisdom to be rid of this burden of â—…in But how shall we rid our selves of it Who will take it from us who will bear it â—…or us The Psalmist hath told us Psal. 55. â—…2 saying Cast thy burden upon the Lord â—…nd he shall sustain thee If it be thy wiâ—…est course to cast upon him the burden of â—…hy Body then much more the burden of â—…hy soul Say then to him as Hezekiah did O Lord I am oppressed Undertake for me Isa. 38. 14. Thou didst bear the heavy â—…urden of thy Cross that thou mightest â—…ear the far heavier burden of my sins This is the burden that most oppresseth me this is the burden that I most earnestâ—…y beseech thee to undertake for me and to take from me thou didst admit of one to help thee bear the burden of thy Cross but of none to help thee bear the burden of my sins Therefore I can flee to none for helâ—… but to thee alone Thou only wert able toâ—… satisfie the Justice of an angry God and 〈◊〉 beseech thee to make me a joyfull Partakeâ—… of that blessed Satisfaction One Angeâ—… was enough to strengthen thee to beaâ—… the burden of the sins of the whole worldâ—… But all the Angels in Heaven are noâ—… enough to strengthen me to bear the burden only of mine own sins therefore I sleeâ—… unto thee to undertake for me Be thou myâ—… Pledge my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pawn Lift for Life soul for soul in my stead That 〈◊〉 who have forfeited both life and soul iâ—… my self may Recover them both in my Pledge in my Undertaker But I may not hope to be so easily rid of my heavy burden by desiring to lay it upon another shoulders unless I first lay it on mine owâ—… Heart For if my Saviour were so exceeding sorrowfull for my sins it is greaâ—… reason I should be sorrowfull for mine own Sins which alone caused his greateâ—… Sorrow And How can I be sorry for my Sins till I know the burden of them How can I know their burden till I have weighed Them in the ballance of the Sanctuary There I shall find that sin is directly opposite to the Goodness of God and therefore must needs be as odious to Him as His own Goodness is amiable to Himself There I shall find that the wilfull Sinner is a Rebell against the King of Heaven doth despise the Golden scepter of his mercy and would put him down from the Throne of his Majesty There I shall find that every Sin Unrepented separates from God Isa. 59. 2. Your Iniquities have separated betwixt you and your God Grieves his Holy Spirit excludes and expels Grace from the soul nay excludes and expels the soul from it self bringing Darkness on the Understanding Perversness on the Will Forgetfulness on the Memory Debility and weakness on the Power of Action So that by Sin the soul is neither rightly Intellective nor Retentive nor Affective nor Active Most ingeniously the Casuist Dicat Saluberrimum Peccavi cujus Singulae literae indices illi esse possunt miseriae in qua constituitur Let the Sinner frequently and Heartily cry Peccavi the several Letters of which word will put him in mind of His several losses and miseries by His sins as for example P Praemiis omnium meritorum privatus e Egestate oppressus c Coecitate mentis percussus c Charitate divina spoliatus 〈◊〉 a Amaritudine repletus v Viam perdiâ—…tionis ingressus i Iram Dei meritus 〈◊〉 Reginaldus de Prudentia in Confessarioâ—… cap. 5. Innumerable are the miseries oâ—… the impenitent sinner yet reducible All tâ—… these seven Heads 1. That he loseth thâ—… benefit of his former righteousness 2. Thaâ—… he is oppressed with many wants anâ—… above All with the want of Repentance 3. That he is smitten with blindness in hiâ—… Understanding 4. That he is out oâ—… Gods Favour 5. That He is full of bitterness 6. That he is in the way of Peâ—…dition 7. That he is under the wrath oâ—… God And the word Peccavi in Latineâ—… will put Him in mind of All these 〈◊〉 and as it will shew him His Disease soâ—… will also Help