their own strength which cannot without Christ's assistance uphold them from so deep a fall and not to despair of his mercy which can keep Faith in a corner of that very heart which lies drench'd and weltering in its own blood and can raise up unto Martyrdom a man that had so deeply plung'd himself into Apostacy He that suffer'd Judas to be the horrid subject of his Judgment rais'd Peter from a sin I verily think in it self as great to be the Preacher and Witness of his Mercy MED XVIII HOW leprous and spreading is sin how weak and impotent is nature how unsatisfiabl and importunate is the Devil and his Instruments A double temptation is not enough on Satans part after a double denial nor is a double denial on Peter's part enough confirm'd by a single perjury The Devil goes farther in Tempting the poor Disciple goes farther in Denying The truth whereof that he may the more easily enforce it he confirms according to the Law by two but those wicked Witnesses and to a second Oath is there join'd an Execration An Execration strong and deep enough to make Peter no lyar though an Apostate I mean to verifie the truth of his denial and to make him indeed none of those who alone knew their Saviour For it was if the word retain here the same force which it doth in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans a curse greater than any curse even an Anathema a wish of eternal separation from the presence of God It is no wonder if he dare deny Christ in earth and in dishonour who can adventure to wish an eternal absence from him in Heaven in his Glory I never remember any Anathema that proceeded not from Love and Fear That of Moses and Paul from love of the safety and fear of the destruction of their Brethren that of Peter from a love of himself and a fear of death How strong and violent are Passions whether holy or natural when once truly apprehensive of their object How secure and negligent can they make Peter of his eternal estate to avoid perhaps but the displeasure of a mortal man It is the misery and error of corrupt nature to shelter it self against danger under sin and to think it self sufficiently safe when it is violently wicked MED XIX HE hath not only deserv'd a Curse but provok'd it that hath prayed for it who could but expect the Execution after the Petition But behold the mercy of a provoked God! Though Peter have asked a stone a corner-stone to fall upon him and grind him to powder yet he giveth him instead thereof the bread of Eternal Life the wine of repentant tears Though he craye a Serpent a fiery Serpent to sting him for ever unto death yet he like a compassionate Saviour gives him the voice of a Cock the sight of a brazen Serpent to recover his wounds Peter hath provided a whole load of sins for Christ to carry to his approaching Cross and Christ hath thrown on him such a burden of Mercies as shall sink him deeper in the waters of Repentance and admiration than he was before in danger MED XX. ONE would think that such a great recovery should be effected by the hand of some glorious Ministry by the voice of an Angel or a Prophet But see a Miracle in weakness A Cock is made as it were a John Baptist to forerun the look of Christ and to preach Repentance That God which can in power work without means does in wisdom make use of the befest and can open the mouth of a beast for the conversion of a man How careful ought we to be in the use of Means when God seldom worketh without them How humble in the use of Prayer when the Means work not without God The ordinary courses of nature the most accidental occurrences in the World are sanctified unto the good of the Elect and are the Instruments of God for their Salvation MED XXI BUT why should our Saviour in this great work chuse the service of a Cock for the ministry of Repentance There is ever some mystery in Christ's Instruments If he will give sight to a blind man by impotent and unlikely means they shall be a mixture of something out of his own mouth with something out of the Earth to shew that the vertue of Christ's mouth in the earthy and clayie Vessels of mortal men is of force to open the eyes of the ignorant and impenitent Christ in this Crow of the Cock hath given Peter as well an Example to follow as an Occasion to repent as well taught him in the execution of his Apostleship as converted him from the estate of a backslider A true Minister that loves Christ and his Sheep must have the Wings of a Cock to rouze up first himself from security and then being converted powerfully to awaken and strengthen others and the Watchfulness of a Cock to be ever ready to discover and forewarn danger and the Voice of a Cock to cry aloud and tell Israel of their sins and terrifie the roaring Lion that seeks to devour them and lastly the Hours of a Cock to preach in season and out of season the glad tydings of Salvation MED XXII WHO would think that a weak Cock should be able to do more with Peter than Prophets and Apostles with other men That the noise of a Cock's Crow should be heard so deep as the confines of Hell Surely no man if these weak means were not quickned and seconded with the look of Christ. He first turns and looks back in mercy upon Peter before Peter can return in sorrow and repentance unto him By him live and move and have their being as well Christians as Creatures The very Faithful themselves would lie still in that depth of sin whereinto they have been plunged if that Power which in wisdom suffers them to fall in should not in grace and pity raise them up Peter cannot remember the word of his Master till Christ remember the misery of his Disciple MED XXIII SEE here the greatness of Christs Grace one would think that he should have been wholly taken up with the dishonour of his present condition with the sense of his Father's Desertion with the foresight of his approaching sufferings And yet behold when he is wholly possess'd of weakness he is yet at leisure for a work of power The righteous Justice of his God and the unjust cruelty of his enemies were not able to drive him from the remembrance or exercise of his mercy He that came to suffer all these things for man does in the midst of his sufferings remember man honouring the scorns and buffets of his Judgment with the Conversion of a faln Apostle and the Nails and Ignominies of his Cross with the Conversion of a reviling Thief MED XXIV AND now methinks I see in the face of Christ a throng and a conflict of Affections One while I see an angry and upbraiding face against Peter's revolt another while
Members in sinning how the action of the Foot bears witness to the apostacy of the Tongue But why should Peter get him out for fear of an Attachment and farther Examination having already by his denial clear'd himself and for ought he sees satisfied his adversay Surely there is no security to be expected from the denial of our Lord. He which thinks to gain ease by sinning misseth of his end and shall be more afraid after he hath clear'd himself by Apostacy than he was before 'T is not the way to avoid the storms of danger by making shipwrack of a good Conscience and to free our selves from the hands of men by running upon the wrath of God He which hides himself in the hedg of wickedness from danger shall meet with a Serpent instead of safety and shall be so much the more suspicious of other mens fury and persecution by how much the more he is sensible that he hath deserv'd it Peter sate boldly amongst them while he was in danger he hath no sooner made his Apology but he is gone straight The same that befell Peter here in denying his dependance on his Saviour did once befall Adam in denying the Truth of his Maker the next news which you hear of them is their flight their fear Sin is ever deceitful and pays nothing less than what it promiseth The first thing that ever painted it self was Sin MED XIV IS the nature of Woman more inquisitive or more malignant that amongst so many other servants a Woman should begin the second accusation The Devil will double a weak Temptation if it have proved prosperous and looks rather to the issue than to the Instruments of his assaults The first Maid tempted Peter by questioning him this second by accusing him to the other Servants from which latter we may infer That those who are aptest to Tempt are aptest to Accuse These two are the Devils grand Instruments to work the ruin of Mankind He first tempts a man to sin and then he accuseth him to God And therefore he hath both names in an equal propriety a Tempter and an Accuser and these on all sides He first tempted man to forsake his Maker and accused his Maker of deceiving man next he tempts God to Judgment upon man by accusing man of wickedness towards God and lastly after he hath tempted any man unto sin he begins to accuse him to his brethren without and his own Conscience within Ever when thou feelest an assault begin to fear an accusation and learn to prevent the Devils Malice by resisting his Temptation MED XV. WE may here see the method of Satan His first Temptation is by one only Maid his second by many Servants that stood by The more weak and naked he finds us with the greater force he makes upon us using his first assault to try but his second to wound us As in the battery or breaking open of a City one man may serve for a spie to watch the Gates to take notice of the Defences and to make relation of the weaknesses or force of either but when they are by his report found unable for resistance there then follows the irruption of a whole army bringing nothing but the threats of blood and slaughter So is it with Satan towards our Souls after he hath sent one smaller Temptation as a spie to observe our Fortifications and upon the success and report of it finds how weak we are to withstand his forces he then rushes in upon us with a multitude of his armed and more able servants who certainly would take possession of us and hold us in peace as their own did not a stronger than he come upon him and overcome him and divide the spoils MED XVI THE form and manner of Peter's second Denial is not without special reason as I conceive diversly related In one Evangelist the words are I know not the man in another I am not of them One would think these were two Denials May not a man know him unless he follow him No. Behold a mystery of Faith in the fall of Peter No man knows Christ unless he be one of them that follow him and to whom he hath united himself If it had been true I am not one of them it had been true also I know not the man All knowledg consists in mixture and union whereby the understanding receiveth into it the image and similitude of the thing which it knows which made the Philosopher say That the Soul in understanding a thing is made the very thing which it understands namely in that sense as we call the Image of the Face in a Glass the Face it self or the Impression in Wax the Seal it self Now then there is no union between Christ and us no dwelling of him in us no ingrafture or incorporation of us into him without that Faith whereby we follow him which makes us to be so nearly one with him that in the judgment of the learned the name of Christ is sometimes in the holy Scriptures taken for the Church of Christ. And therefore to those that believe to them only he hath given to know Christ is not truly apprehended either by the fancy or the understanding He is at once known and possess'd It is an Experimental and not a Speculative knowledg that concieves him He understands him that feels him We see him in his Grace and Truth in his Word and Promises not in any carnal or gross presence Pilate knew him in that manner and Judas as well as Peter A true Believer can see and know him better in Heaven at the right hand of his Father by a Sacramental than a Papist can on the Altar in the Jewish and Pilate-hands of a Mass-Priest by a Transubstantiated bread Let their Faith have the assistance of teeth and jaws ours though toothless eats him with less injury and with more nourishment MED XVII THE encrease of the Enemies Temptation accumulates unto the Apostles sin When Peter is pressed a second time and with more strong opposition he conceives a naked and empty denial to be an implicite confession and therefore that he may make them more credulous he makes himself more impious and to gain Faith with men he not only denies but forswears his Faith with God making Christ himself the Witness and Patron not only of a Lie but also of a Revolt With how deep a die of sin with how many degrees of corruption will the habit of Faith consist That failed not Peter though the exercise thereof were a while smuther'd and suspended Christ's prayer was stronger to preserve it than his denial to root it out That very action which if it had proceeded from a heart qualified with other dispositions of stubborness malice and obduration would have been the irremediable sin against the Holy Ghost was in Peter proceeding from fear and weakness the sin of a believing and faithful heart How may the Godly in this one Example both learn to despair of
a large Country which is contain'd in a few significant words and the Motto may be Pondere non numero The same Renowned Author hath preacht many Excellent and Elaborate Sermons upon that Mysterious Prophecy of Zachariah And likewise he hath preacht many profound Sermons upon several Cases of Conscience Both which he hath unfolded with great dexterity of judgment many whereof I my self with others far better able to judg have heard him preach about twenty and six years since in Oxford both to admiration and satisfaction It 's much to be desir'd and hoped that it may be obtain'd for the publick good that the Reverend and Learned Doctor his only surviving Son who doth Patrissare to whom may be applied that of the Poet Vno avulso non deficit alter Aureus simili frondescit Virga metallo Virg. Would be prevail'd withal to print those Elaborate Sermons which questionless will much conduce to the publick good of the Church of God In the mean time let us be thankful unto God who hath given such Gifts and Graces unto men and let us make the best improvement of them whilst we have them and let us according to our Saviours example Work the works of him that sent us while it is day the night cometh when no man can work Joh. 9. 4. I shall not detain thee Reader any longer in a preliminary discourse from reading these choice Meditations Thy profiting by them is as well desired for thee as for him who desires thy Prayers and remains thy servant for Christs sake H. W. March 20. 1676 7 TO My Good Friend Mrs. NIXSON THe Season is of Joy the Gift of Tears This seems a discord unto common ears But he that makes the ficrcest wolf to sleep And feed in friendship with the weakest sheep Vnites remotest passions and can bring Waters of comfort from griefs bitter spring The Jolliest Baltaser on earth may borrow True Joy of him who seems o'rewhelm'd in sorrow Begin the Year and pass it in these Tears They 'l yield you joy against your greatest fears And kindly entertain your poor friends thrift A Renew'd Peter for a New-years-gift Your true Friend E. R. IMPRIMATUR Hic liber cui titulus Meditations on the Fall c. G. Jane R. P. D. Hen. Epis. Lond a Sacris Domest MEDITATIONS ON THE Fall and Rising OF PETER MEDITAT I. PRide and Presumption have been ever as well in the godly as in the wicked the forerunners of a Fall The first man Adam the first Apostle Peter both fell by these Had Adam given less ear to the proud perswasion of a weak Sex and Peter to the presumptions of a weak Confidence the one had not plung'd his posterity into a depth of wretchedness nor both themselves into a depth of sorrow High conceits and resolutions built on shallow ground can promise nothing but ruin on the head of him that rais'd them MED II. WHat can we expect from Peter but a triple denial of his Masters person amongst his enemies who dares even to his own face make a double denial of his Truth He that will adventure to deny the truth of Christs Word will quickly upon temptation deny the profession of his Truth You all saith Christ shall be offended because of me this night Nay Lord answers Peter though all yet never I. Yes Peter thou more than any for this very night thou shalt thrice deny me O no Lord I know mine own strength I am so confident of my love unto thee that neither life nor death can separate me from it I have a sword in my hand and I have a sword in my mouth my Blade and my Profession shall both follow thee unto death Peter hath not yet learn'd not to contradict his Master though once he got nothing but a Satan for it It is not one either rebuke or disgrace can root up the untowardness of a corrupt disposition Weak man seest thou not how thou hast already begun to deny thy Lord and even then hast enter'd upon a revolt when thou seemest most fortified and constant in thy resolution That man denies him who denies his Word he being no longer Christ than he is true Why then shouldest thou either distrust thy Masters word which told thee that all should be offended or else have any such confident presumption of thine own strength or uncharitable conceit of thy fellows weakness as to believe his prediction touching their falling and yet think he was deceiv'd in thee who art peremptory and confident of thine own standing That God which out of true weakness hath ordained strength doth here out of presumed strength foretel weakness and as he can make the mouths of babes and sucklings to confess him so can he suffer the mouth of an Apostle a Peter to deny him Shewing in both the dependance as well of strong as of weak on his Goodness The strongest Apostle being not able without his sustaining-grace to confess him and with it the weakest infant in the street being enabled to cry Hosanna unto him MED III. I Cannot be so uncharitable as not to believe That it was Peters Faith and Love which made unto Christ this promise of perseverance in his profession such fruit and sweetness had he found in those words of eternal life such power in that Son of the living God that he could not but think it blessedness to follow and enjoy his society even unto death who was able to sweeten and sanctifie death it self But behold in the same soul nay in the same action a mixture I had almost said a predominancy of faith and flesh The desire and the purpose come from faith the confidence and resolution came from flesh Self-dependance pride or any other carnal affection which is more deeply rooted in the particular nature of any man do often intermix themselves in his most holy actions It was faith that made Peter go down upon the Water but it was flesh that made him begin to sink Faith made him zealous in Christs Cause but flesh drew hls sword at Malchus his ear Faith made him follow Christ but flesh made him follow afar off Faith made him accompany Christ to the garden but flesh made him sleep when he should have sorrowed Faith made him promise perseverance but flesh made him peremptory in that promise in a word Faith made him resolute to confess but flesh to contradict his Master Vows and Promises unconditionally addressed cannot but prove dangerous to the strongest Faith God must first give us perseverance before we can promise it It is not in our power though it be our duty to perform it Though Peter may in the vertue of Christs promise be sure not to fall into Hell he cannot in the vertue of his own promise be sure not to fall into temptation though he can be secure that Faith shall have the last victory yet he cannot that it shall have every victory though it cannot die and be finally dried up yet it may ebb