such a defiling sullying thing is the guilt of sin For sin making a man obnoxious to the Law occasionally ingenders to See in the case of David Psalm 51. 12. bondage Gal. 4. 24. 2. Nor will the glory of God permit him to seal assuring evidences of his love to such whose conversation would reproach him for admitting them to so much intimacy As to a Covenant-interest in God so it is in Covenant peace when a wicked man claims it God stands upon termes of defiance Psal 50. 16. What hast thou to do to take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thy back To whom then will God indulge such a boldnesse See ver 5. Gather my Saints together and vers 23. who so ordereth his conversation aright to him will I shew the salvation of the Lord. 3. Regular assurance as I have told you before ariseth from the discovery of grace Now the more large the matter of my assurance is the more must my assurance be Me thinks the connexion of these four verses in Tit. 2. 11 12 13 14. shews this When grace that appears to us teacheth us to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts c. See what follows then we are most likely to look for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And that prayer of the Apostle for his Ephesians speaks it as loudly That God would grant them to be strengthened by the spirit c. to be rooted and grounded in love And what then That Eph. 3. 16 17 18. ye may comprehend with all Saints the length and breadth of the love of God 5. Follow the guidance and conduct of the Direct V. Spirit in all things Stifle not any motion of the spirit Quench not the Spirit 1 Thes 5. 19. Grieve not the Spirit by unkind repulses And that is pressed upon this ground Eph. 4. 30. by which ye are sealed to the day of redemption Certainly if wee sadden the Spirit the Spirit will not comfort us And there is nothing that saddens the Spirit of God more then the dishonour and unkindnesse of a repulse Great men if they shew extraordinary favours to us they expect we should observe them and be ready to serve them at every nodd and beck 1. He that will be a favourite in a Princes Court and enjoy his constant smiles must be very carefull of all punctilio's of observance If you will obtain the holy Spirits smiles you can surely do no lesse then observe every breathing of the Spirit and follow him where ever he leads See v. 14. of this Chapter in connexion with my Text. They that are led by the Spirit of God those are they that receive this Spirit of Adoption to call God Father 2. The Spirit best knows the mind of God towards thee and the season and way wherein the Love of God will break out to thee and if thou misse of following any motion of the Spirit thou mayst put thy selfe out of that very way wherein thou mightest have found comfort and assurance The Spirit it may be urgeth such or such a duty and thou neglect'st it How knowest thou but hadst thou been guided by the Spirit in such a motion thou mightest have obtained that that thou longest for When the Spirit blowes thou must hoise thy sailes and be assured that gale can carry thee no whither but to the region of peace and comfort When the Angel conducted Peter out of Prison he follows his deliverer step-by-step So when the Spirit comes toward thee to deliver thee from the Spirit of Bondage take heed thou leave him not one step And the caution which God gives to the Israelites when he brought them out of Egypt is very usefull here Exod. 23. 20 21. Behold I send an Angell before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared Beware of him and obey his voyce povoke him not c. Apply it to the present case If God send his Spirit before you beware obey his voyce c. Qu. But how shall I know the motions of the Spirit of God from temptations and the motions of my own heart Answ 1. Thus The Spirit of God always moves according to the Word If I leave the word in any thing I cannot follow the Spirit 'T is clear that that Spirit is a Spirit of truth and therefore cannot contradict Joh. 14. 17. himselfe and those things which he delivers in the Word hee cannot deliver 2 Pet. 1. 19 20. 21. the contrary to them in my heart The true evidence of the Spirit of God in the heart is dependance on the Word of God 1 John 4. 6. 2. The Spirit of God alwayes presseth to some Duty or other some exercise of holinesse or other And when any motions arise in our hearts prejudicing it against any ordinance or duty of Religion this prejudice is no motion of the Spirit We receive the Spirit in hearing Gal. 2. 1 2. Pray by the Spirit Eph. 6. 18. 3. The Spirit moves regularly and orderly makes not duties and ordinances to clash and enterfere The present opportunity of an ordinance is the season of the Spirit If the Spirit come in a private ordinance it is in its season if in a publick in its season Publick ordinances separated from are not the badge of the persons that have but that want the Spirit Jude 19. CHAP. XIX A Case What is to be thought of a man that as to his own sense and other mens lives and dyes without any experience of this Testimony Qu. SUppose I never attain the Testimony of the Spirit but live and dye in a state of darknesse as to assurance of Gods love what think you of my case Answ 1. I suppose thou labourest after it diligently and constantly in the use of all the means prescribed and other such Otherwise I have nothing to say to thee in this case but this that that man is neither fit for assurance here or glory hereafter that thinks much of his pains to attain them But supposing as I said I say to thee farther 2. I know no place of Scripture that says No man shall enter into the Kingdom of God that knows not of it before hand I readily yeeld the Papists teach all believers a doctrine of desperation when they tell us that no man can be assured of Salvation till he come to heaven and I am confident that occasioned many of our Protestant Divines engaged in the Controversy against them to make perswasion of salvation of the essence of justistifying Faith But I conceive they needed not to have bended the bough so much that way to set it straight 'T is no good rule for Christian disputants which is observed by cunning tradesmen Iniquum petere ut aequum ferant to aske double that they may perswade those with whom they deal to give a sufficient price I believe this proposition
Prayer that God will make the waters of the sanctuary healing waters to you that he will give your souls a special and particular visit in an ordinance that he will not suffer your fleece to be dry when others round about you are wet that he will open your eyes that you may see wonders out of his Law Psal 119 18. and open your hearts that you may feel them too that you may not be dead hearers or bare hearers that the Law may not be a meer representing glasse to shew you the black-moors skin and leopards spots but an operating glasse working your very hearts and soules to loath and abhor them and fly to the fountaine opened in the Gospel for sin and uncleannesse to wash them out The reason why the word wounds so few is this People seldome or never lift up such a prayer as this before they come and therefore t is no wonder if they come and goe stones and blocks and a convert even when the Gospel is abundantly dispensed bee as rare as a black Swan that Gods Ministers and those of the richest annointings every where complaine that they have laboured in vaine and spent their strength for nought Isa 49. 4. in comparison to what successe there hath beene formerly to the labours of others 3. Thou canst set thy selfe in a grave reverend and attentive positure of body in the Congregation stir thy selfe up when thou art sleepy and dull with the thoughts of the greatnesse glory and Majestie of him with whom thou hast to doe For this is but the same moral preparation that you would bring to the hearing of an earthly great man Thus had Cornelius and all his family set themselves in a readinesse for Peters Sermon Act. 10. 24 25 33. And we see how effectual it was upon them ver 44. whiles Peter yet spake the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard True the Spirit of God can and doth often times meet with such as come on purpose to scoff at a Minister and his Doctrine and such as have come to catch a Minister in malice God hath caught them ere their departure in mercy And therfore even from this ground I wish with my soul that I could but prevaile with people to heare the word even the bitterest enemies for who knows but God may spread nets for them at that very time Saul was a spreading his nets to take the Saints at Damascus and at the same time God caught him True Paul was not at an ordinance but that so much more aggravates the miraculousnesse of Gods mercy in his conversion But sundry examples God hath made in ordinances of this kind A more especial example we have John 7. 32 45 46. yet lest God should hereby give encouragement to men in such insolent acts of rebellion God hath not made any promise to any such hearers nay hee expresly threatens them Ezek. 33. 30 31. Son of man saith he the people are speaking against thee still by the wall and in the doors of the houses c. Come say they and let us hear the word of the Lord i. e. in a scoff come let us go hear a preachment to day c. for my part I am not so skilled in their language as to be able to repeat it at large They sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they wil not do them Now the next words are read very variously as you may see in the Margin of your Bibles with their mouth they shew much love but the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so shir gnagabim afterward a song of loves They make loves or jests their mouths are full of scurrilous laughter as at a filthy song c. These were more modest then divers of ours for it seemes they did this but in corners ut supra but wee meete with those that can scarce refraine such carriage in a Congregation But what saith God to them see v. 33. When these things come to passe i. e. the truths they set so light by then they shal know i. e. by sad experience that there was a Prophet among them and see what things those are in the preceding part of the Chapter God doth usually prepare people to receive a preacher before he doth them good by the word see Gal 4. 14. Reverend attendance upon the Word is certainly a great meanes to fit the heart for serious impressions from it As in any affaires of weight there is nothing that is more apt to impresse serious thoughts then the reverence which we beare to the managers of them Thence all affaires of justice are dispensed in such a way of solemnity as may stir up reverend thoughts in those present this is the use of scarlet Robes and Halberts and Trumpets and standing uncovered in civill Courts 4. 'T is in thy power to call in such stragling thoughts as carry thy heart away from the businesse in hand For certainly I have power of mine owne thoughts and I can command them if I have many businesses off from one to the attendance of another and if I have one of more serious importance then all the rest I can fix them upon that And when the heart is fixed on a businesse it is most likely to be affected Transient objects are quickly forgotten but objects that are long in our eye which we take a through view of remain longer Now I shal easily grant here that a natural man cannot by his longest dwelling upon such a subject affect his owne heart but I say still that hee may thereby put himselfe into a positure of soule as is most likely to be affected The very reason why he T people but now spoken of Ezek. 33 32 did not make benefit of the word was because their hearts were after their covetousness whilst they sate before the Lord. Gather in your stragling thoughts at such a time with considerations of this nature that t is God speakes that the things he speakes are of nearest concernment to you that you heare them now and perhaps may heare them no more this opportunity may be the last or it may bee however this the last time that you may heare such a Sermon so close so particular that if man thy equal much more thy better spake to thee a thing that concerned thee far lesse nay not at all thou wouldst in good manners hear and mind what he said 5 Minding what is thus preached it is very hard if thy memory without much adoe with it will not carry away somthing of what thou hast heard if not I am sure to most it is an easie thing to helpe memory with their pens And truly friends let mee tell you this if you were now at the barre to be tryed for your lives you would if you distrusted your memories have your note book by you and write down all material passages and if you could not your selfe you would desire some friend to helpe you and
you have a tender heart that is deeply affected with every known sinne c. O sir will such a person often-times say I find no such things in me and if there were I fear it is all in hypocrisie Friend you do well in fearing hypocrisie but you do not well in not owning what God hath wrought in you for fear of hypocrisie Indeed it is not good to boast of the good that is in us when wee have temptations from the approbation of others to glory in it neither is it good to deny what is in us when we have a call thereunto by those who are sent by God to examine our estate which they can never do nor can they know how to deal with us if we deal not plainly in confessing what we know and find in our selves And it falls out too often that such denyalls as I said before are the fruit of unthankfulnesse which oftentimes causeth us to overlook and in a kind of comparative way to deny what we have received because we have not as much as we would have As it falls out in the covetous men of the world and there is a sinful spiritual covetousnesse too that are ever complaining they have no money no bread to put in their mouths c. whereas indeed they mean they have not so much as they would have This is an unthankful denyal of Gods providence towards them in bestowing on them what they have And thou maist judg the like of thy self in this case Saint Paul was of another temper Rom. 7. he makes many sad complaints of himself I am carnal sold under sin in me there dwelleth no good thing how to perform that that is good I find not when I would do good evil is present with me I see a Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind c. O wretched man that I am c. yet still he mixeth acknowledgments of the grace that he hath received I am carnal saith he sold under sin yet saith he I blesse God my judgment goes with the Law I think it holy just and good whence though I am over-byassed many times unto evil yet I allow it not I would do better then I do and I hate the evil that I am captived unto In me there dwelleth no good thing but mark the Epanorthosis or correction of himself as if he had spoken a word too large What said I there is no good dwelling in me let me not be mistaken I mean in my flesh for so much the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 18. will bear for though I have no power to do yet I have some good in my spiritual part I can will that that is good and that will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is alwayes at hand I have good wishes and desires in readinesse upon all occasions I do not the good that I ought to do yet I would do it I delight in the Law of God in the inward man Sin lawes it and lords it in my members but I have another Law in my mind so that with my mind i. e. in my judgment and resolved bent of will I serve the Law of God and there is a special Emphasis in that Pronoune my self that followes ver 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I my selfe serve the Law of God that is even I though I complain so against my self yet must needs say so much for my self to the praise of God I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here is an excellent example for thee that sittest in darknesse and art ever complaining against and defying thy self do not deny the grace of God that is not so much a denyal of thy self as Gods goodnesse and the Spirit of Grace If thou witnesse against the Spirit dost thou think the Spirit will witnesse for thee Thou denyest the Spirit the very medium by which he would testifie to thy good condition Take notice also of the peevishnesse of thy spirit Thou hast long wooed Christ to accept of thee and be married to thee and Christ hath sent thee Love-tokens by his Spirit to assure thee that he owns himself to be thy busband Now Christ expects the duties of a wife from thee now thou questionest whether thou art married or no and not only questionest but peremptorily denyest all his Love-tokens or at least extenuatest them and settest light by them Think what a sin this is No wonder now if the Spirit that Messenger that brought them take offence at such dealing and refuse to testifie to thee who art resolved to question his testimony bee it never so cleare 4. An unwarrantable thrusting off those Promises and comfortable truths which God in the Ministry of the Word or otherwise brings home to our condition and snatching greedily at all the terrible places of Scripture and denunciations of wrath as our portion I have knowne those that have thrust away with both hands all that might make for their comfort as that that belongs not to them O the cursed pride of our hearts When will men leave prescribing to the infinite wise God When people please themselves in their sins then they will hear no Minister except he sing a cursed requiem to their spirits preach pleasing things and cry Peace peace And when the soul is under trouble for sin then God must denounce judgments in every Sermon speak to them in thunders and lightning from Mount Sinai answer them cut of the whirlewind or else they will not hear him Believe it no soul receiveth good by the Word but that soul that thinks every Word of the Lord good and labours as it is proper to its condition to apply it Satan in times of unregeneracy hath an Art to make the Word unfruitful by causing a mans heart to stand loose from the Law to rub off the eating corroding plaister and say This concernes such an one and such an one but not me And after our conversion he keeps the Word from fastning comfort to the soul and assuring the heart by a like Artifice True these are comfortable truths and concern such and such but not me This was the Psalmists case in desertion and is thine in the present darknesse My sore ran in the night my soul refused to be comforted Psal 77. 2. Indeed friends if you refuse to receive comfort when the Spirit offers it no wonder if when you would have it the Spirit refuse to offer it None of Gods offers are refused by the creature gratis God will stand upon other termes when we come to his shop after wee have once refused a good bargain once offered 5 A groundlesse surmising of an irrecoverablenesse in our condition from such and such threatnings of Scripture as concerne us not This followes from the former When a soul is willing to hear all Thunder and Cannon shot from the Word ordinarily the divel hath two or three places of Scripture from whence he playes thick upon the soul Those are two places in the
grieving of many whom the Lord will not have grieved may rub old sores and make them smart again which the Lord hath closed may disturb the peace of many a Saint and make them a fresh to question their condition Ans 1. Will it so Suppose it and it may not be for their hurt if it do It may be they may have built too hastily and though God will not overthrow the building for every failing of the builder yet he may exercise it with some stormes to discover its cracks and shew where it needs props and where it was cemented with untempered morter A Christians comfort and peace may have many materials of his own mixing hay and stubble in the frame and those will God one way or other work out there may be more of reason in it then of Faith it may be rather a silencing conscience then a satisfaction of conscience As a disputant may be nonplust many times by a plausible argument that yet is not satisfied Now the hand of the Spirit may sometimes apply a word to such a soul which may partially shake its grounds that he may thereby rectifie and confirme them 2. If the worst come of it that can be viz. that some Saint in the preaching the Lâ—w and the Spirit of Bondage be deepely wounded and made to question all its former evidences by a word which the Minister in his intentions and according to the mind of God in the Scripture directs to others he is not blameable for this supposing he lay down such truths with all possible caution to prevent their injuriousnesse to any real Saint but the fault is in the want of judgement and discretion in the hearer so offended to take his proper portion or in the cunning of Satan making the truths of God the matter of temptation and as to the ordering and disposing of the thing and occasion this ought to be looked upon as a providence of God by which he will do something extraordinary in such a soul But the Minister is doing his duty he is dealing blowes according to his commission among the enemies of God if a friend of God will needs run out of his way and put his head under the sword 't is his own fault if he bleed Much of this often comes to passe through our neglect of prayer before we come to the ordinance that God will manage his own sword with his own hand directing the Minister to give every one his portion and enabling us to discerne and receive ours and an over-tendernesse and scrupulousnesse of spirit that some Saints are subject unto of which in the end of the second Book 3. Suppose it be the Ministers fault not wilfully and purposely for that is a wicked Prophets character wilfully and of set purpose to make sad the hearts of the righteous whom the Lord will not have made sad Ezek. 13. 22. but through indiscretion or want of caution in the delivery of terrifying truths to wound the conscience of a spirit yet he would doe farre more mischiefe if by the neglect of preaching such Truths from a feare of so doing he should suffer the wicked whom the Lord would have saddened to flatter himselfe in his own eyes either by a perpetual handling comfortable Doctrines in mixed Auditories or convincing ones so coldly flatly and worthlessely as shall never lend a downright blow to the consciences of carnal and secure sinners Better a thousand times that a Saints conscience be groundlessely troubled if one of the two cannot be avoyded then a great many hardned and obstinate sinners deluded by a false peace this may and likely will damne these but that cannot possiby destroy the other seeing the foundation of God stands sure and they are gold that fire even of temptations will not waste but purify CHAP. XVII A further touchstone for Examination THis Thesis also lends us a touchstone for Examination Here is a touchstone whereby to try your regeneration and conversion whether it be sound or no. And oh that I could hide this Chapter from all tender consciences that I might have a free liberty to lay about me a while among the rest But seeing it is necessary truth and I must not defraud many hundred of their portion for your sakes the Lords good Spirit I hope will so guide me and guard you that no one blow shall light but where it is intended Obj. Brethren the World is full of pretenders to grace and Christ now a days Heretofore it was a kind of disgrace to be a Saint and in those times it was not to be wondred at if there were few that pretended to the name without the thing No man will personate a Saint of purpose to be persecuted for bearing the badge of a counterfeited holinesse But now God hath made the name o Religion honourable though truly except the people of God had been generally better fitted to manage the condition God hath brought them to it may be it had been better for the credit of the Gospel hereafter that it had rather still layen under hatches then been abused by Politicians to bear the name of Pilot whiles they indeed steere the vessel to their own ends but I say the Lord hath for some late years made the name of Religion honourable he hath put a diadem of glory upon its head the appearance of it hath been in divers places the main qualification for preferments and places of advantage and 't is strange to see how many converts the meer complexion of the times hath made Religion is become the mode and he is no body that how course soever his cloth be doth not bestow some of the trimming of the Age upon it There were not more Jews made by fear in the days of Hester and Mordecai then there are Christians in these dayes by Covetousnesse and Ambition Christians said I Chrestians rather that I may apply more truly the allusive nickname which the Heathens in Tertullians time falsly put upon the Primitive Saints such as make their preferment and profit the saddle and Religion the stirrup to help them into it the World the Throne and Christ the footstoole whereby to mount unto it O friends what an easie change is there in the World from the highest shall I say or lowest Forme of sinners into the most sublime noble Angelical order of Saints He that a few hours since was as inseparable an adjunct of an Alehouse as a bush at the door that was a monster of intemperance and uncleannesse a prodigious swearer a notorious scoffer at Religion Sabbath-breaker earthworme a man that he that would have drawn a picture of the Devill had not wronged if he had set him for his pattern Verterit hunc Dominus momento turbinis exit Marcus dama let the Persius Devil his Master but change his coate turne the dark side inward and the light outward perswade him for his own base ends to leave or perhaps but hide his former sinnes and sprinkle
those experiences whereas men should bring their experiences to the Word and not the Word to their experiences and then one mis-interpretation drawes on another and thus they multiply into vaine janglings and unnecessary disputes But true Assurance is a serious solid thing brings along with it a general experimental knowledg of all necessary truth which once learned out of the Word it seals unto and so it confirms a man in a practical savoury acquaintance with it whence such a sonl is full of the hidden treasures of divine truths savingly digested and is to seek for nothing but freedom of spirit from heterogeneous imployments and a little serious affective preparation of heart to ruminate upon them to dispose him to make a constant feast upon those dainties in his own private retirements and to communicate liberally of the same fare to others Thence there is nothing more grates his ears or afflicts his spirit then to have the strength and fervor of his zeal drawn out into Controversies seeing he can tell how to spend his time and that better As a studied Scholer that by long study and experience hath digested all manner of learning and can upon all occasions make profitable use of it will think his time lost to hear a company of fresh men maintain a Dispute about Grammatical and Logical trifles But a young raw headed fantastical Novice that hath gotten a little flashy learning in his brain looks upon them as matters of weight and moment and thinks himself the bravest fellow in the world when he can wrangle out such an inconsiderable Dispute 7 And lastly True Assurance is a constant spring of humility lowliness of mind it being impossible that so intimate a converse with God and the light of his countenance should not reflect low thoughts upon a mans self concerning himself such a man cannot but say Lord what am I that thou hast brought me hitherto what for such a peevish unbebelieving impatient soul as mine that have tempted thee by abundance of murmurings and other sinful provocations even in the wildernesse and at the red sea to be notwithstanding so carryed in thine armes and cheered with thy smiles and enjoy the comforts of thy Spirit O what am I vile wretch that God should deal thus with me False Assurance on the other side makes proud boasting self-conceited c. CHAP. XXIV A Case how to know whether a true Assurance be meerly rationally gathered or from the witnesse of the Spirit NOw come we to the second branch of the Question Quest How may a man know whether a true assurance as to the substance of it be gotten meerly by rational deductions or from the Spirit of God Wrought out of a mans brain or wrought into his heart by the Holy Ghost Answ I can but help you to ghesse at the difference These works though they really differ in themselves yet to appearance are very like and therefore I shall speak warily in a few particulars 1. Most of the former distinctions between the Testimony of the Spirit a false assurance from Satan and a mans own heart may be repeated here A true assurance gotten in an irregular way wants the advantage of a supernatural assistance to elevate and improve it for as it was gotten in the strength of reason so it must act only in the strength of the principle from whence it had its being and by consequence can have no influence but moral and rational to the production of those impressions of purity holinesse watchfulnesse heavenly mindednesse patience seriousnesse and solidnesse of spiritual self-entertainments humility and so all these must needs be thin and scanty and superficial in comparison of the same effects when they proceed from a divine assurance Thence 't is that you shal ordinarily find in the world a kind of formal cold thin-spread honesty just enough to keep life and soul together as we say in many persons that are really godly of whom a man may say as the Apostle Paul of divers of the chief men in the Church of Jerusalem Gal. 2. 6. Those who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to him And therefore let this be the first difference There is a mighty odds between a man divinely assured and rationally assured in the vigour and activity of all those fruits wherein it shews it self As you may see in matter of knowledge A man that is assured of a Truth teacheth it with far more life and authority then a man who sees it only in a rational probable light 2. In a meer rational assurance there is formido oppositi As in an Opinion that a man holds meerly on probable grounds though a man may stiffely adhere to it in comparison with the contrary conclusion yet the grounds of this confidence being but probable and therefore such in which he may be deceived he is ever and anon subject to say but what if it be not so all this while And though this opinion be truth and a great many other usefull conclusions as branches grow from its root yet so long as hee is but probably perswaded of it he gives his Assent to it meerly with a reserve This is true to me in the mind I now am in But I may possibly see grounds to alter my judgement Thus in point of assurance Rational assurance be it never so full excludes not haesitancy Thence you shall find when you have reasoned with a doubting Christian a long time it may be when you go away from him you leave him to appearance well satisfied and pretty comfortable as we use to say but a while after when Satan and his own heart have had a little time to unravel the web of your reasonings he begins to think he was in an errour As an unstable man in matters of judgment Let an Orthodox Preacher speak an houre with strength of Scripture and reason upon a controverted point the man seems to be fully satisfied and altogether of his mind But this holds only till the next cunning seducer assaults him with counter-reasons and then the man wavers and cryes why may not this be the truth And so if twenty come one after another he shall still suspect what the former hath said by means of the Sophistry of the latter Thence a man rationally assured can to the most say no more for himself then the Apostle Paul to allude to his expression in another case 1 Cor. 4. 4. I know nothing by my self I confesse I cannot but incline to think bettter of my self then formerly yet am I not thereby justified I dare not stand to the perswasion that I am a child of God before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ I would not willingly be deceived but I may be deceived What if that that I take for love of God be but lelfe-love and what if that that I take for repentance be but legal sorrow and what if my hatred of sin be but a meer falling out with sin without
the Doctrines of Faith c. which he had acquainted them withal from their first vocation but it includes even those Doctrines of comfort which precede in the number of those Truthes they being part of what Christ had told them 2 The Court of Conscience It will be needful having once verified the evidence by the test of the Word to lay it up against a day of tryal Divine Truths must be laid up in the heart for Direction and divine Experiences for Consolation in an evil day This Courts Recorder is Memory and its Records in such a day are of especial use and importance Records of Gods dealing with others formerly see Psalm 119. 52. I remembred thy judgments of old and have comforted my self i. e. Those judgements by which thou hast caused thy people to triumph over their enemies in former times So also of our own experiences see both together Psal 77. 5 6 The holy man had been utterly at a losse had it not been for this Recorder and yet it seemes he had been too to blame in the laying up his evidence so that it cost much search before he could find it I communed with my heart and my spirit made diligent search the Septuagint reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my spirit digged as we do for hidden treasure that must have much rubbish removed ere we can come at it But their sense is grounded upon a different reading of the word in the Hebrew Others read Scopabam I swept it seems by his carelesse keeping he had suffered his evidences to be thrown inâ—… dusty corner among waste papers and he was fain to sweep for them ere he could find them but however when he found them he made excellent use of them for by them he recovers strength to check his present unbelief I have considered the dayes of old ver 5. and I call to remembrance my song ver 6. I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High ver 10. and I will remember the works of the Lord c. v. 11. And these remembrances prove a great strengthning to his Faith in that hour of temptation David hath some Psalms to bring to remembrance Psalm 38 and 70. And Christ hath left Ordinances for this end The Word 2 Pet. 1. 12 13. and Sacraments Do this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 22. 19. in remembrance of me And there is the same use of the communion of Saints which is the special means of keeping fresh one anothers experiences by conference and communication Therefore it will be a very good course to charge memory to record carefully all the visits and smiles and embraces of Gods Spirit together with all the passages which may confirm the truth of them afterwards As we do in Evidences concerning a temporal estate we record the Sealing dayes and the Witnesses and the considerations of the conveyance So in this case bid memory put down At such a time in such a place upon such a Prayer Sermon when I was in such an exigency and there was but an haires breadth between me and despair such a sad cloud was scattered the Spirit of God by such a Promise gave me as much comfort and joy as my heart could hold and I then set to my seal that God is true by believing Joh 2. 33 And I was confirmed in the reality of these experiences by a following assistance against such corruptions or strength against such temptations or power more then ordinary to walk in wayes of spiritual communion with God c. This course being carefully taken it cannot be imagined how great an awe it will cast upon a mans jealous and suspicious heart that it will scarce dare to entertain a doubt against an Evidence so clear and so carefully recorded Except Satan can imbezel the Records or corrupt them by the concurrence of our treacherous memories in some considerable passages 't is in vain he knows to commence a fresh sute against the soul The soul in such cases will as the Psalmist have recourse to those Records and clear his Title against such disturbances Psal 77. suprà CHAP. XXVII The Means to strengthen these Evidences IN the second place 2 Strengthen your Evidences daily 1 By strengthning Ordinances 1 The Word heard read meditated upon all these in their proper place and time are to be used with care David alwayes keeps up a fainting Assurance with a word My soul melteth for heavinesse strengthen thou me according to thy word Psal 119. 28. This is my comfort in my affliction for thy Word hath quickned me Psal 50. Vphold thou me according to thy Word c. Psal 116. Promises are the food of Faith Cordials of Hope the crutches of Patience the principal feathers in the wing of Prayer Threatnings caution us against those courses as will weaken Assurance Precepts direct us in such wayes as will continue and improve it Examples are so many ruled cases as they say in Law which may adde light to a man when there is need to search records as before said The whole Word is the fewel that maintains the fire of Assurance and Meditation blowes up the coals 2 Prayer And this applies the Word it is a souls perpetual plea against all litigious molestations If Satan or a mans own heart at any time call his Evidences into question away flyes Prayer to God and pleads Promises and Examples holy Presidents and stops the mouth of Temptation this way 'T is that way of continual intercourse with God that brings a man dayly returnes of holy familiarities which cannot but nourish a constant perswasion of his unchangeable Love as mutual Letters maintaine a good intelligence among friends 3 Sacraments As they are remembrancers of the death of Christ and Ordinances appointed for the Sealing of the benefits thereof to the soul by particular applicatory signes and tokens must needs be means not only to give as hath been shewne before but also to confirm and continue it And upon this account 't is no wonder if Christ in the Institution of the Lords Supper require a frequent attendance upon that Ordinance 1 Cor. 11. 25. As oft as ye drink it implies frequent drinking it All our faith is grounded upon the death and satisfaction of Christ and the frequent reduction of those grounds of faith to our consideration must needs strengthen it habits of the mind are strengthned by a frequent repetition of those actions by which they were first begotten and produced Now though gracious habits are not gotten in the strength of natural or moral powers as natural or moral habits are yet they are produced as I before have shewed by a supernatural power in a natural method and order And therefore though no grounds apprehended by the understanding can of themselves beget faith yet a divine power never produceth them but by the representation of some grounds And therefore the representation of the death of Christ as it is held forth by God in all its
that God he took him for that there was error personae in the Match 7 Beware of that which I have often before warned you of vain unprofitable Erroneous or ungodly company This will not only damp convictions I have shewed you so much before but comfort also Ordinarily our spirits by sympathy become much-what of the temper and alloy with those with whom we converse 'T is a difficult thing for a mans spirit to continue free from impressions of sadnesse that converseth with a mourning company And 't is no lesse difficult for a soul to be seriously affected though he have never so important businesse in hand when the persons he is most familiarly conversant with are all set as wee say upon a merry pin 1 Vain and unprofitable company have not weight enough in them to add any balast to a spirit under the full sails of gracious Assurance nay they substract and withdraw that which it hath before within it self and then it is no wonder if it be overturned whiles the heavenly gale that fills those sailes for want of a serious care to manage it leaves the soul to a blast of frothy carnal delight which will soon over-set it 2 Erroneous and for in this case we may very well put them together ungodly company on the other side will make it their businesse to bore holes in the vessel it self to corrupt a mans principles and let in upon him such a floud of brackish and unsavoury waters both opinions and practices as will so marre all the precious lading of the soule that the Spirit in just discontent will refuse to fill its sailes any more it being not worth the labour to bring that vessel to harbour which is laden with meer trash and rotten Commodities Erroneous company will endeavour to break the chain of Truth in which Assurance hangs One Truth lost loseth it In a word The holy Spirit of God will not partake in the scandal of such an Association If I be never so much an acquaintance or intimate friend to a man yet I will not accompany him into all Societies which possibly he may bee engaged unto If he will converse with me I expect that he should do it either in a way of privacy or if in a more communicative way yet in such company only as may sute my genius or disposition my quality and reputation or else there I will leave him and if I see hee intends to make a consolidation of acquaintance and converse between me and such as I cannot comfortably converse withall I will break off familiarity with him altogether And surely I cannot expect that the Spirit of Grace truth and holynesse should serve me otherwise if I abase him so far in my esteeme as to endeavour to draw him into Partnership with me in the Society of empty erroneous and wicked men No question but such an affront will cause him to withdraw CHAP. XXIX A fourth and fifth Direction concerning the use of our Evidences 4. BE much in the Actings of Love and Thankfulness 1 Love Coolings of affection on our part towards God God cannot bear It were an unnatural monstrous ingratitude at such a time to flag in our love when we are under the fullest and most enlarged enjoyments of his love to us Then if ever when Gods countenance shines upon us will it make our faces reflect the same smiling beams of love upon him again Surely such enjoyments act much beneath themselves if they produce not a love stronger then death it self If the Saints of God use to love God and 't is their duty so to do even then when he breaketh them in the place of Dragons and covereth them with the shadow Psal 44. 19. of death if when he will not vouchsafe them one smile upon their souls will not speak one good word to their aking hearts but all they see from him is ghastly frowns and all they fear from him is chiding and thunder How much more may we think it reasonable and just they should do so when he spreads his own banner of love over them when he brings them into the Banquetting Cant. 2. 4. house when he layes his left hand under their heads and his right hand embraceth them Cant. 8. 3. 1. 2 when he kisseth them with the kisses of his mouth and paves all those Chariots of Ordinances and Duties wherein he conveyes himself to them and them to himselfe with love And Cant. 3. 10. therefore if at such a time your love kindle not beyond the ordinary proportion you cannot but provoke him to with-draw in displeasure See what one cold entertainment of a visiting Christ cost the Church Cant. 5. I opened to my Beloved but my Beloved had with-drawne himself and was gone His love was hot in the visit but hers was too cold that gave him such an entertainment and therefore when she opened at last he was gone v. 6. And then when the Scene was changed and the visit fell out to be on her part he served her in the same fashion he would not be within She sought him but she found him not 2 Thankfulnesse I cannot imagine if a soul were to wish a good thing on this side heaven and have it what it could desire like spiritual Assurance of Gods love It is as near of kin to heaven it self as possibly can be It is a kind of beatifical vision proportioned to the capacity of a mortal creature And certainly the more we are admitted to the life of heaven in happiness the more near we ought to come to the life of heaven in thankfulness Because an heavenly life is a life of the greatest fruit ion therefore it is a life of greatest thankfulness To receive extraordinary mercies with an ordinary spirit a spirit not warmed into extraordinary sensibleness of it and thankfulness for it is among the greatest provocations of God the giver of them that can be Discoveries of Gods love have used to non-plus the utmost abilities of a thankful heart Psal 116. 11 12. What shall I render saith David to the Lord for all his benefits towards me And then is thankfulnesse greatest when like the peace of God which occasions it it passeth all understanding 5 Let love and thankfulness carry you on with delight in all the wayes of Duty and obedience The truth is this is the proper use of divine discoveries Why doth the father smile upon and make much of his child is it not that he may be thereby encouraged to dutifulness and obedience Why doth the Sun shine upon the earth except to make it fruitful Upon these termes the Church is engaged to run after Christ Cant. 1. 2. 3 4. If Christ draw with Ointments and kisses the fragrant allurements and temptations of his love 't is an addition of strength and agility to a poor crippled soul Now if Christ find that you receive his favours but reject his commands that his countenance is delightful and his
less sensible Because God permitts this darkness in designe for some special ends of his owne Now the person a man puts on upon designe commonly he useth to over-act even beyond what he would if he were reall So although when God was really an enemy as before conversion he carryed himselfe by secret supports and encouragements of the soul as one that was not utterly irreconcileable yet when he meerely intends to appeare so he carries himselfe so strangely that the soul really believes he is in earnest and intends its ruine irrecoverably Lam. 3. 5. 7 8 9. The church aggravates her sad condition from extraordinary appearances of Gods dealing with her God in such a case leaves the soul alone like a sparrow on the house Psal 102. 7. And woe to him that is alone Eccles 4. 40. 4 And thus fourthly The grounds of the horrid troubles that Gods Saints fall into after assurance may be and are occasionally from the Spirit of God though immediately and by way of an efficient cause they are not from that spirit Thus the Spirit led Christ into the wildernesse Mat. 4. 1. 1 By an active suggesting to the soul such considerations as may start a soul-trouble As when it makes a fresh disâ—overy of New committed sinnes and stirs up the soule to renew repentance for them Such motions may be the occasion of farther enquiries into a mans own heart and so of questions concerning his estate And thus by degrees they may grow into as palpable Legal Terrours as any ever the soul groaned under 2 By withdrawing that assistance from the soul which should maintain the soul in peace and joy of the Holy Ghost When the Sun hides behind a cloud or is under an Eclipse it must needs be dark If the Father let goe the little childs hand in a dark and dangerous place he will surely fall And thus is the Spirit the negative cause if I may so express my self of the saddest bondage that comes on the people of God after Assurance 5 But Lastly the Spirit to be sure doth never cause and work a feare of bondage in the soul after Assurance as it did before and that may be seen in these differences 1. Before there was a time when he convinced the sinner of a state of sin and enmity to God After it never doth tel a man so any more 2. Before there was a time when he convinced the soul of a state of wrath and condemnation arising from that enmity but having once effectually converted and assured the soul of reconciliation he never presents hell and wrath any more to the soul as its portion 3. Besides He sometimes presented every act of sinne as unpardoned Now he never doth so any more in that sense wherein he did so formerly That is that I may not be mistaken He never presents Gods vindictive or avenging Justice unto the soul as unsatisfied for such a sin though he may present Gods fatherly Justice as displeased at it 4. Before hee sometime presented every suffering of this life to the soul as a part of the curse of the Law and the earnest-penny of Hell Now he never leads the soul to the view of sufferings under that notion but only as fatherly corrections and chastisements by which God endeavours to quicken the soul into a speedy return unto him by renewed repentance and humiliation CHAP. XXXIV The proof of the Thesis from 1. Scripture 2. Reason THe truth of this point is abundantly cleer Proof from the Scripture and Reason For Scripture Take notice of the names by which the Spirit is set out to us in the Word 1 He is called the Comforter John 14. 16. And this in his peculiar Office to the Saints Now he would fail in the discharge of it if ever he should bring Gods adopted children into bondage againe Therefore when our Saviour promiseth the Comforter he also engageth that he shall abide with the Saints John 14 16. 'T is true their comforts are many times fleeting comforts But the Spirit of God is not to be blamed for that Ordinarily 't is their own fault and oftentimes Satans temptations eclipse the comforts and refreshments of the Spirit to the soule Though their comforts be fleeting the Comforter is not To debase himself from being the Comforter to the Divels imployment the Accuser of the Brethren is dishonourable to the Holy Spirit 2 Besides he is called our Seal and how long doth he continue so unto the day of redemption Eph. 4. 30. Hee will not to day scale an evidence of heaven to the soul and tomorrow seal its Mittimus to hell 3 Moreover he is called our Earnest and can we think that God will give us an earnest of heaven one day and revoke it again the next or ever deny the bargain which that Earnest secures unto us An honest man will not do so far be it from God to do what common honesty will keep man from Rom. 11. 29. 4 He is the Spirit of Adoption testifying to us that we are the children of God ver 16. of the chapter in hand And can it be imagined that he will ever tell a child of God that he is become a child of the Divel There is no lesse Reason For Reas 1. I have shewed before that The Spirit and the Word never crosse each others Testimony Now the Word never pronounceth bondage to any one that hath received the Witnesse of the Spirit nay not to any one that hath the least grace of the Spirit The Word every where speaks comfort to such Isa 40. 1 2. Rom. 8. 1 34. Reas 2. That which is the badge of a false Prophet and which God dislikes in such cannot without blasphemy be attributed to the holy Spirit of God But to make the heart of the righteous sad is a badge and sin of false Prophets Ezek 13. 22. Reas 3. That ought not to be supposed to be wrought by Gods Spirit which as often as it is on our spirits is our sin and infirmity but to doubt of the saving love of God after enjoyment of the manifestation and feeling of it is our sin and infirmity Psal 77. 20. And therefore the Spirit cannot be the Author thereof because the Holy Spirit cannot be the Author of sin Reas 4. That which hinders the most proper and peculiar work of the Spirit of Adoption cannot be the work of the Spirit except we suppose the Spirit so indiscreet as to counteract himself But if the Holy Spirit ever become a Spirit of bondage to the soule after tastes of Gods love communicated thereunto the Spirit would be guilty of counter-acting its most proper and peculiar work which as the next Doctrine from the last words of the Text shews you is to embolden and enliven the heart in Prayer For how can he call God Father with confidence to whom the Spirit witnesseth that God is an enemy Reas 5. The Spirits Testimony if it could ever become a Spirit of Bondage
would seem to deny them See in David abundant proof of this Psalm 119. 25 Quicken me ver 28 Strengthen me ver 58. Be merciful to me ver 65. Let it be well with me ver 76 Let thy kindnesse be for my comfort ver 116. Vphold me ver 169 Give me understanding and all according to thy Word 2 In their challenges of Gods Justice Truth and faithfulnesse and all his Attributes to make them good So David Psal 31. 1. Deliver me in thy righteousnesse And Psalm 35. 24. Judge me according to thy righteousness Psalm 119. 40 Quicken me according to thy righteousnesse Ps 143. 1. In thy faithfulnesse answer me and in thy righteousnesse So Abraham appeales to Gods justice Shall not the Judge of all the World do right Gen. 18. 25. And they presse sometimes upon the very glory of God and challenge their petitions upon the forfeiture of his glory Josh 5. 7. What wilt thou do for thy great name 2. Fear 2 A Saints fear of God in prayer consists 1. In that conscience of Duty that brings him into the presence of God if there were nothing else to move him thereunto though he had no need though there were no threatnings to the neglect of it no promises to the performance of it yet because God requires it he dares not neglect it This is that fear that God requires as a master of all his people as servants Now we must know that all fear of God as a master that is all obedience out of conscience of duty is not servile fear but then 't is servile when it is not so much out of conscience of duty as out of conscience of wrath or punishment upon neglect A child is a Fathers servant and obeyes him as such yet obeys not servilely Therefore God calls for this fear upon this account If I be a master where is my fear that is dutifull obedience to my commands Mal. 1. 6. 2. In the matter of our performances it is a diligent care of what we offer to God keeping the soul from offering stange fire bounding a mans desires with the will of God A fear lest any thing should slip from a mans mouth or heart that is displeasing to God As a child though he may make bold with his Father yet is carefull not to aske any thing of his Father that he knows will displease him so in this a Saint takes care that all his petitions be warranted by a rule and encouraged by a promise and beyond these he dares not wish much lesse come into the presence of God to aske any thing He dares not tempt God by depending on him for or desiring at his hands what his word doth not warrant But it is not such a fear as discourageth the soul in asking such things as a man hath warrant to desire So farre as the promise goes a soul dares ask else 't is not a child-like but a childish fear not the fear of a Courtier but the fear of a clown 3. In the manner of performing such duties it is a deportment of the soul with that reverence as becomes the greatnesse and glory of God compared with our own basenesse and unworthinesse and jealousie of our own hearts lest we should do any thing unbeseeming such a God or such a duty 1. No soul hath more reverend and high thoughts of God then such a soul as hath most right to holy confidence in his presence The more acquaintance with God the more of this fear None waits upon a Prince with more reverence and observance then the greatest favourites the ordinary and standing Courtiers A man that comes out of the Country and is not acquainted with Majesty and State is not so observant of every punctilio of ceremony as those that are perpetually about the Prince This it is that David speaks of Ps 89. 7. God is greatly to be feared in the Assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence of all that are round about him Gods greatest Courtiers are most observant of him The more we converse with God the more wee know what becomes his glory and majesty and all irreverence proceeds from ignorance and ignorance from want of converse with God A country man reverences a Prince no otherwise then he doth his landlord because he is not conversant in the Court and observes not the state and ceremony kept and used there The Seraphims that are the constant Courtiers of heaven they cover their faces with a fear of awe and reverence Isai 6. 2. 2. None is more watchfull over his own heart in the manner of a performance then a Saint that hath most grounds of boldnesse and confidence in the presence of God He dares not run rashly into Gods presence and if but a low mean thought of God arise how doth his heart rise against it If but a stragling thought carry him off from his businesse how doth he send out post after it and call it in again This is a fear of jealousie This is called watching to prayer of which above Carnis enim ingenium est ut exultando dissolvatur Musc in Ps 2. and watchfulnesse proceeds from a fear of warinesse though not from fear of dastardlinesse Thus you see what fear a Saint is bound to bring to God in every performance A dutifull fear A carefull fear A reverend fear A jealous fear 3. Mixed That and how both these will stand together we shall shew in the next place in a word For I have in a sort prevented my selfe herein already Only 1. That it is so see one or two places for it Psal 2. 11. Even in those services that require highest expressions of joy rejoyce before him saith the Psalmist with trembling A more remarkable place is that Psal 147. 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in them that hope in his mercy Hope which in the old Testament is often taken for and always implies faith is here joyned with feare one would think doubting and fear might have been better matched but see God joyns hope or faith the mother of boldnesse and fear together So Psalm 5. 7. 2. Concerning the manner how these are conjoyned it is 1. By a joynt premeditation and collation of 1. Gods greatnesse and goodnesse majesty and mercy 2. Our own meannesse with our great relations 3. Our own unworthinesse and Christs worthinesse 4. Our own inabilty and the Spirits supplies These as they joyntly affect our hearts in meditation so they leave sutable joynt-impressions in prayer 2. By a diligent observance of our spirits in the extravagancies of them both wayes in duty and checking them with contrary meditations as when we find a petulant wantonnesse of spirit apt to break out whereby we are endangered to make too bold with God a Saint may correct that with apprehensions of Gods majesty Isai 6. 6. If carelessenesse and slightnesse of spirit a Saint quickens it with thoughts of Gods holinesse and glory such
to raise their heart to such a pitch When fervency of spirit comes in with a grosse neglect of quickening endeavours its suspicious Not that a child of God may not now and then find an heat kindled in prayer which he can give no account of But he constantly seeks and labours for it in the regular way 2. It is grounded on a promise A natural man seldome eyes a promise but his wants Ob. Yea but I can draw no comfort from this because all this concernes such as have the Spirit of Adoption in its witnessing work In me that have it not it may be stil a fervency of a natural impression from meere necessity or sense of want Answ 'T is true that this work eminently proceeds from the Spirit of Adoption in its witnessing Act but it also proceeds from the Spirit of Adoption in its renewing Act. The Spirit is a Spirit of Supplication not only as a Spirit of consolation but also as a Spirit of grace Ze. 12. 10. And therefore although such persons who have the witnesse of the Spirit may take comfort in seeing this fruit of it yet we must not think that there is no such fruit where there is not such a witnesse And therefore if thou find this fervency that is above described in thy heart if it do not proceed from the Testimony of the Spirit as possibly it may from its more obscure and remiss Testimony of which I have spoken before although thou dost not know or at least not for the present observe it yet it always proceeds from that Spirit that is in all the children of God the Spirit of grace and supplication if so qualified as is said Indeed that that is most sensible in the fervency of an unassured soul is sense of want But they may also observe in themselvs that they are not fervent only in such things at least that they labour for it in other things 2. As for boldness in duty 1. I have before shewed you wherein it consists and how it joynes with fear And that which is not of the right stamp commonly failes in one of the forementioned particulars it is a boldnesse that allowes a man as much to neglect as performe duty that tempts God by petitioning and expecting what is not according to his will or at least not in his way c. And here I shall shut up this Treatise earnestly desiring that God will give all that read it experience of these works that they may be able to seal to the truth of it Amen FINIS A SAINTS DIRECTION IN AN AFFLICTED CONDITION By SIMON FORD B. D. and Minister of the Gospel in Reading London Printed for Sa. Gellibrand at the Ball in Pauls Church-Yard 1655. To the noble and worthily honoured Ladies and Gentlewomen The Lady CECILIA KNOLLYS the Lady LETICE VACHELL the Lady ANN PYE Mrs. LETICE HAMPDEN Mrs. ELIZABETH MARGARET and MARY HAMMONDS Mrs. TREVOR and all the rest of the noble Families concerned in that late sad stroke of providence the death of that much bewailed Gentleman Colonel ROBERT HAMMOND TO you much honoured and beloved in the Lord I make bold to present my Meditations upon this Subject not long since delivered in the hearing of most of you upon a double account Partly that I may testifie the sense I have of those many obligations which you have laid upon me since Gods providence cast me into these parts and partly that I might add a few mites of advice and direction to your store concerning the improvement of the late sad stroke upon your noble Families and these Nations in the decease of that great prop of all his Relations and eminent Instrument of the publick good whom both you and I and this poor Town and all the Country hereabout have abundant cause to mourne for This I am sure is an affliction to us all of an high nature and so much the greater because befalling us in a juncture of time wherein our hopes from him by reason of his publick imployments newly entred on being called but immediatly before to an eminent civil and military Trust in Ireland and chosen High-Steward and Burgesse in Parliament for this Corporation were as the highest I know you are not ignorant what use to make of such a blow But give me leave upon this occasion to leave this monument in your Cabinets to be your Remembrancer of and Direction in a Duty which although you alwayes conscionably practise yet you may as well as others through the oppression of your spirits under this heavy burthen possibly find some additional excitations and directions not altogether unuseful or unnecessary thereunto The Lord if it seem good in his eyes find our some way how the great gap which the fall of such an Oak hath made in our hedge may be filled up by some or other of those young plants who are related to him and are concerned to imitate him in those things which have rendred him a publick losse and support you under this grievous stroke This is and by Gods assistance shall be the prayer of him who is Your Servant in the Gospel of Christ SIMON FORD Reading Decem. 5 1654. JAM 5. 13. former part Is any among you afflicted Let him pray The PREFACE WHat one said of Books Procaptis Lectoris habent sua fata libelli that their entertainment is sutable to the capacity temper or distemper of the Reader may with a little variation be affirmed of Sermons especially such as seem to upbraid the times with those Diseases which they labour under they are liked or disliked as people understand or are affected towards the matter they deliver or the occurrences that occasion it Thence is there such a general disrelish of suffering Doctrines in these dayes wherein divers persons see nothing but visions of peace and glory and triumph to the Saints that a man that handles such a Subject as this in diverse places is thought to be as absurd as he that preaches a Funeral Sermon at a Wedding or mars the Solemnity of a Feast with some sad story In all ages the judgement that the most of men have made of the goodnesse or badnesse of the times hath been sensual thence so much difference of opinion appears even among those that undertake to be skilful Physicians because every one pronounceth according to what he feeles There was never any time so black and dismal to the Church of Christ as that all persons would confesse it such The Papists then and ignorant Protestants since agreed in magnifying the dayes of our fore-fathers under Hen. 8. and Q. Mary when as we all know there were never dayes more sad to the Truth and the sincere profession thereof When Israel was in Babylon under a grievous captivity robb'd at once of all Civil and Church liberty when they hung up their Harps upon the willowes the cruel persecuters would fain perswade them they had as much cause to keep rejoycing Festivals as ever and presume