Meditations ON THE FALL AND RISING OF S t PETER By Edward Reynolds late Lord Bishop of Norwich LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel and at the Bible on London-Bridg 1677. AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE Reader Courteous Reader AS I cannot expect thy Thanks so I need not fear thy Censure for the Publication of these Meditations For by the forwardness of the Book-seller to promote thine I hope as well as his own profit they passed the Press altogether without my knowledg and before I received the least Intimation of any such Design they were by him presented to me intirely Printed desiring my attestation of their Legitimacy To prevent therefore thy doubt and suspicion touching their true Author I do from good and manifold Evidence assure thee they are the genuine though early off-spring of that Reverend Person whose name is prefixed to them In his Lordships life-time I have often heard him mention not only in general this Tractate as one of his First Theological Essays But likewise in particular his Presenting thereof to a Pious and Charitable Gentlewoman who by an holy emulation of her name-sake Joanna in the Evangelist did minister unto Christ of her Substance by liberal Gifts to his Preachers and Poor From this Copy fairly written with the Authors own hand and prefaced with a short paper of Verses to that his Friend were they Printed by the Stationer And since the Decease of my Father and his only Brother both within the compass of two Months two Copies of the same came into my Possession amongst each of their Papers one Both the fruit as of the Heart and Head so of the Hand too of the Author exactly agreeing together as I found upon perusal of them and as far as my Memory can assist me absent from my Study in comparing them fully according with this Third now made publick The first Lisping salutes of young Children and the last Gasping Farewells of dying friends of all words are wont to make most deep and lasting impressions upon us That these short Meditations some of the first Juvenile Breathings in Divinity of that devout Soul now with God may obtain like effect is the prayer of Thy faithful Servant EDW. REYNOLDS London March 13 1676 7. TO THE READER THis Reverend Author of great renown for Piety and Learning needs no Letters of Commendation For as it was said of righteous Abel That he being dead yet speaketh Heb. 11. 5. so this profound and pious Divine yet lives and speaks in his excellent Works wherein he hath studied as the Apostle gave in charge to Timothy to approve himself a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth 2 Tim. 2. 15. Yet because many eminent Writers not only after they were dead but even whilst they were alive have been much abus'd and injur'd by surreptitious or supposititious at least by imperfect Copies of their Works therefore I thought my self obliged as being an ancient and intimate acquaintance of the worthy Author to give this Testimony to the Truth viz. That these ensuing Meditations concerning Saint Peters Fall and Rising are the genuine issue of the Head-labours and Heart-labours of the Author whose name they bear and whose stile they resemble as face in water answers face Sic oculos sic ille manus sic ora ferebat Neither do they only resemble his stile which is much of an evidence to be his but they are printed according to his own Original Manuscript These Meditations were pen'd and sent as a New-years Gift to one of his ancient Friends in Oxford much about that time when he wrote those two Learned Treatises One of the Passions and Faculties of the Soul of Man The other of Meditations of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper When he was Fellow of Merton-Colledg Oxon his pregnant Gifts and Graces shined forth even in his younger years How well he hath improv'd his time not only in his elder years but in his younger also his Learned Labours declare publisht for the great benefit of the Church of God This consideration deserves such a special remark of Honour to be fixt upon him as to perpetuate his blessed memory to posterity and to remain for the living as a signal pattern worthy of imitation It 's observable that in his preaching and writing as the Wiseman chargeth Whatsoever his hands found to do he did it with all his might Eccles. 9. 10. He was such a Preacher as the same Wiseman mentions The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of truth Eccles. 12. 10. David said to Araunah when he would have given him freely Oxen for Burnt-Sacrifice I will surely buy it of thee at a price neither will I offer Burnt-offerings unto the Lord my God which doth cost me nothing 2 Sam. 24. 24. It 's abundantly evident that this eminent Preacher and Writer bestowed much pains and studies in whatever he Preacht or Printed His Works smell of the Lamp and of indefatigable industry I shall add no more concerning the Author because I cannot say enough of his deserts And the sayings are vulgar Nemo vituperat Herculem Expede Herculem The Subject of these Meditations is Peter's Fall and Rising One thing is added in Saint Mark which is not mention'd in the other three Evangelists For it 's said And when he thought thereon he wept If we peruse the Original word we shall find that he cast something over his head as Mourners and Delinquents us'd to do when they were asham'd to be seen and so Theophylact interprets the place Peter denied shamefully and therefore he wept bitterly Great Sins will cost even God's dearest Children great and bitter sorrows We might add more Instances of David Mary Magdalen Paul c. But this instance of Peter is a sufficient evidence It 's a saying of Justin Martyr That it 's best of all not to sin and next to amend upon the punishment But who of any understanding would therefore break his head because he hopes to have a good Medicine to cure it The Uses which we ought to make of this Instance of Peter are mention'd by Saint Paul Thou standest by Faith be not high minded but fear Rom 10. 20. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10. 12. What St. Austine said of David may be well applied particularly unto our selves Let such saith he who have not fallen hear and take heed of falling such as have fallen let them hear and rise again Here is not propounded an example of falling but an example of rising again after falling This Treatise though short is pithy and solid and contains the quintessence of good invention and sound judgment which are the two parts of Logick It may be compar'd to an Illiad in a Nutshell or to a Map describing in a little compass of paper
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
discommodity of a cold air and an ensuing Judgment cannot be far from denying of him That man whom the enjoying of any temporal benefit or the opportunity of any sensual and worldly delight can induce to forsake the company of Christ who is ever present in his Ordinances is at the next door if occasion were given to Apostacy and backsliding MED IX THE Devil hath a kind of method and colour of modesty in his Temptations He knew that it would not sort with the Holiness of Peter to shoot at the first a fiery dart towards him and tempt him in the very beginning of his onset unto a perjur'd and blasphemous denial of his Master Peter would have at the first trembled at so fearful a suggestion And therefore like a cunning Captain he so ranks and musters up his forces as that the first Temptation shall like weaker Soldiers make way for the latter which are the old experienced and sturdy fighters the former serve only to weaken Peter the latter to overthrow him At the first the Devil tempts us to small sins to remit something of our wonted vigor to indulge a little unto our corrupt desires to unbend our thoughts and to slacken our pace in prosecution of good courses that by cooling our selves we may be able to hold out the better but when he hath drawn us thus far he hath gotten the advantage of us and having a door open le ts in his more ugly and horrid Temptations Sin hath its several ages and growths first it is but conceiv'd and shap'd in the womb of Concupiscence then it is nourished and given suck by the embraces and delights of the Will as of a Nurse then lastly it grows into a strong man and doth of it self run up and down our little World invade all the faculties of Soul and Body which are at last made the instruments of Satan to act and fulfill it Satan at the first leads us downward towards Hell as it were by steps and stairs which though they go lower and lower yet we seem still to have firm footing and to be able to go back at pleasure But at last we find as the way more and more slippery so the enemy ready at hand to push us down into a dungeon of unrecoverable misery did not Gods mercy pluck us as a brand out of the fire Peter first sleeps only that seemed the exigence of his nature then he followed afar off that haply was pretended to be only the drowsiness of his sleeping then he sits down at the sire and that was but the coldness of the air But then comes denying swearing cursing and had not Christ in time looked back upon him the next step and regress would have reach'd unto the jaws of Hell But it was the great Wisdom and Mercy of Christ to honour the estate of his ignominy and reproach his death and judgment with two of his greatest Miracles The assuming of a repentant Thief and the re-assuming of a revolted Disciple MED X. IT is no wonder if Peter be tempted to forsake his Master when he is far off from him How can he chuse but stumble and fall who hideth himself from the Sun of Righteousness who is absent from the Light of the World who wanders out of the way of Life who is beyond the voice of that word of Truth which only succoreth directeth leadeth instructeth in Holiness and Security He which testifieth his Faith by following and yet lays open his flesh and weakness by following afar off shall be sure to meet with such an enemy as hates our Faith and therefore takes advantage by our weakness to oppose it Our Faith provokes him to enmity for he is adversary to none so much as those that are out of his power and our weakness invites him to an assault for he trembles and flies from opposition Had Peter abode in the company of his Lord Satan would not have dar'd to tempt him unto a Tripledenial in the presence of such a power whence he had formerly received such a Triple-overthrow having been himself broken with those stones and hurled down from that Pinacle and Mountain in which he thought to have batter'd and broken in pieces the Salvation of the World by the overthrow of its Saviour Or if perhaps he would have been so impudent or so venturous as to thrust into the presence of his Maker and before him to issue forth his Temptations yet this advantage should Peter have had that he should have been directed with more light and assisted with greater strength to resist so impudent an assault his Faith haply should bave been confirmed though his adversaries malice had not been abated And we know the Devil never overcomes any that is not first overcome of himself What danger is there in fighting where there is no danger of falling or what difference is there between an unoppos'd security and an assaulted strength save that this is more glorious the other no whit the more safe He is not far from Satans temptations who belonging to Christ is yet far off from his presence and assistance None nearer the fury of a strong and bloody malice than a weak and stragling enemy MED XI I Never read of more dangerous falls in the Saints than were Adams Lots Sampsons Davids Solomons and Peters and behold in all these either the first Inticers or the first Occasioners are Women A weak Creature may be a strong Tempter nothing too impotent or useless for the Devils service We know it is the pride of Satan to imitate God As God magnifies his power in bringing strength out of weakness so doth the Devil labour to gain the glory of a strong enemy by the ruinating of a great Saint with the Temptation of a weak Sex Nor is he herein more apish than cunning for the end of the Devils conflicts is the despair of his enemy He gets Judas to betray his Master that he may after get him to hang himself And he hath the same end in Peter's Denial which he had in Judas his Treason Now what is there that can more draw a man to Despair than an apprehension of greatness in his sin and what fall greater than to be foiled by a Question by a Maid What could more aggravate Peter's sin than that the voice of a Maid should be stronger to overcome him than the Faith in a Jesus to sustain him The Devil tempts us that he may draw us unto sin but he tempts us by weak Instruments that he may draw us unto despair MED XII WOman was the first Sinner and behold in the two greatest falls and most immediate denials of God Adam's and Peter's Woman is made the first Tempter So much as any one is the Devils slave to serve him so much is he his Instrument to assist sin A Sinner will be presently a Tempter MED XIII PEter hath no sooner denied his Master but he goes out farther from him See what a concord there is between our
a pitiful face commiserating his frailty then a merciful face converting him and next a gracious and favourable face inviting him If it were a face of Anger see then the nature of Faith in Peter and all the Godly which through the clouds of his displeasure can discover the comfortable light and beams of a Saviour as well as through his vail of flesh and dishonour discern the Power and Majesty of God like the Woman in the Gospel whose Faith could interpret the very odious name of Dog uttered from the mouth of Christ to be a trial of her and not a rejection rather a hiding than a denying of mercy If it were a face of Grace and Invitation see the nature of sin which is to make a man afraid even of an appeased God and of Repentance which when the Soul is invited to the rivers of joy which make glad Gods City can be at leisure to drink of those bitter tears which make heavy the hearts of sinners If it were a pitiful and commiserating face see how it works alike Qualities in Peter who then only can begin to lament himself when he is first lamented by his Saviour Lord never let thy saving face be turned back from me but be thou always pleased to look upon me whether in tender displeasure or in a pitiful mercy that so I may be driven by sorrow out of my self and by faith unto thee MED XXV THE first beginning of Peter's Repentance is a Remembrance of the words of Christ an applicative and feeling recordation of them How powerful is Temptation to banish out of mans mind all conceit of Gods Truth or his own danger He that is too mindful of his safety will be too unmindful of his Faith A sanctified Memory whether in retaining of Divine Truth or in presenting our own sins is an excellent preparative to Repentance and like a steddy wind doth collect and draw together those clouds whence shall after issue forth those happy tears MED XXVI BUT what was it that Peter remembred It is not said Peter now consider'd how he stood naked and open to the flames of Hell or how he had expos'd himself to the scourges of an inward Tormentor to the scorchings of a bosom-hell his Conscience or to the fearful judgment and revenge of him whom he had injur'd by denying and therefore he went out and wept It was fear that made him fall it made him not repent But it was only the merciful prediction of Christ which he remember'd what slight esteem he had made of that gracious caution which should have arm'd him against Temptations and this made him go out and weep The abuse of Gods mercy the grieving of Gods Spirit the undervaluing of Gods Truth more wounds the Soul of a repentant sinner than all the gripes of Conscience or flames of Hell MED XXVII BUT what makes thee O blessed Convert thus to start and turn upon the Look of thy Lord and the remembrance of thy sin as if the repentance for the denial of thy Tongue had made thy Foot again to deny thy Master Whither runnest thou Peter from such a fountain of Mercy Hast thou either mistaken the Look of thy Saviour which was to draw and reunite thee unto him not to drive or banish thee from him or hath thy sorrow drown'd thy Faith and made thee forget that glorious profession which thou once didst make out of a happy knowledg of experience and belief that Christ had the words of Eternal Life and whither then goest thou Hast thou forgotten that he had balm to cure thy grief and blood to blot out thy sin that he could at once both comfort and restore thee and render unto thee thy former joy and grace Why didst thou not run into his embraces and in token of thy repentance and belief in thy body lay hold upon him and wash him with thy tears against his Burial But behold the mystery of Peter's recover'd Faith see how he acknowledgeth his Saviour when he turneth from him and is reinvested with the honour of a Disciple though he seem still rather to forsake than to follow his Lord. His Repentance doth in action confirm what his Faith once did in words confess That Christ was the Son of the Living God Behold in the departure of Peter an Article of thy Faith even the Divinity of thy Saviour Had not Christ been as well without where Peter wept as within the Hall where the Jews blasphemed Peter had again denied and not return'd unto his Lord and that which is now a mystery would have been a revolt It is nothing but Faith that from without could still through the Walls look into the House and there through the infirmity of a buffetted and contemned body descry the glory of a merciful and reconciled God It is nothing but Faith that can from Earth look into the highest Heaven and when it is absent from Christ not only groan after him but grasp and lay hold upon him The Ubiquity of Christ gives unto that Believer who hath interest in him a kind of Ubiquity also And as he is in Earth by his Power though in Heaven by his Presence So a Believer though in his Body on the Earth yet is in Heaven by his Faith It is the nature of Faith to give as subsistence and being unto things yet to come so a kind of presence also unto things most remote and distant and can even converse and lay hold on Christ though he be in Heaven MED XXVIII BUT what Peter though thou canst find thy Saviour without the Hall is there no comfort to be taken in his sensible Presence doth the possession of Faith make vain and fruitless the fruition of sight Is it not some joy to see him because it is so much Blessedness to believe in him Was there health in his Garment and is there no pleasure in his Presence Was the Womb blessed that held him and is there not some blessedness in the eyes that see and the hands that embrace him Was it from Temptation which had before foiled thee that thou didst fly as a burnt Child from the fire Was the voice of a Virgin able to drive thee from the Son of a Virgin or the Challenge of a Servant from the presence of a Lord Was not that Look able to confirm thee which was able to convert thee Or couldst thou fear to fall from the Rock thy Saviour because thou hadst before faln from the Sand thy Presumption Or was it out of a loathing of that place of blasphemy where thy Master and thy God did suffer the base reproaches of wicked men could the air of that place be infectious where was so precious so innocent so saving a breath to sweeten it Was the blasphemy of a Jew more pestilent to pollute than the Grace of thy Jesus to sanctifie the High-Priests Hall The presence of Christ could make that place a Heaven to Peter which the blasphemies of a Jew had made his