in his resolution to sin If thou Lord shouldest marke iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgivenesse with thee that thou maist be feared I know therefore whither to have my recourse when I have offended my God even to that throne of grace where there is plenteous redemption free and full remission I heare the heavenly voice of him that saith I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins but I dare not offend because his grace aboundeth justly doth the Psalmist make the use and effect of his mercy to be our feare we must feare him for his mercyes and for his judge ments love him so far am I from giving my selfe leave to sin because I have to doe with a mercifull God as that his judgements have not so much power to drive me as his mercies have to draw me from my dearest sinnes As therefore my greatest sinnes are not too bigge for his mercy to remit so my least sinnes are great enough to deserve his eternall displeasure He that shal come to be Judge at those great Assises hath told us that even of eve ry idle word that men shal speak they shal give an acccount What can be sleighter then the wind of our words and what words more harmelesse then those which have no evill quality in them though no good such are our idle words yet even those may not passe without an account and if our thoughts be yet lesse then they even those must so try us as either to accuse or excuse us and if evill may condemne us Think not therefore to draw me into sin because it is little The wages of sin is death here is no stint of quantities If sin be the work death is the wages Perswade me now if thou canst that there is a little death for a little sin perswade me that there is a lesser infinitenesse and a shorter eternity til the great Judge of the world reverse his most just sentence I shall looke upon every sin as my death and hate thee for the cause of both But as thy suggestion shall never move me to take liberty to my selfe of yeilding to the smallest sin so the greatnesse of my most hainous sin shall not daunt me whiles I rely upon an infinite mercy even my bloodiest sinnes are expiated by the blood of my Saviour that my all-sufficient surety hath cleared all my scores in heaven In him I stand fully discharged of all my debts and shall after all thy wicked temptations hold resolute as not to commit the least sin so not feare the greatest VIII TEMPTATION What a vaine imagination is this wherewith thou pleasest thy selfe that thy sins are discharged in another mans person that anothers righteousnesse should be thine that thine offences should be satisfied by anothers punishment Tush they abuse thee that perswade thee God is angry with mankind which he loves and favours or that his anger is appeased by the bloody satisfaction of a Saviour that thou standest acquitted in heaven by that which another hath done and suffered These are fancies not fit to find place in the heads of wise men Repelled NAy rather these are blasphemies not fit to fall from any but a malignant Devill what is this but to flatter man that thou maist sclander God Is not the anger of a just God deservedly kindled against man for sin Do not our iniquities separate between us our God Do not our sins hide his face from us that he will not hear Are we not all by nature the childrē of wrath Doth not the wrath of God come for sin upon the children of disobedience Doth not every willing sinner after his hardnesse and impenitent heart teasure up unto himself lest he should not have enough wrath against the day of wrath the revelation of the just judgment of God why do not thy Socinian clients go about to perswade us as wel that God is not angry with thee though he torment thee perpetually and hold thee in everlasting chaynes under darknesse what proofes can we have of anger but the effects of displeasure was it not from hence that man was driven out of Paradise was it not from hence that both he and we in him were adjudged to death as it is written By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all men have sinned yea not only to a temporal death but By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation Thou who art the dreadfull executioner knowest too wel who it is that had the power of death over those who through the feare of death were all their lives long subject unto bondage Under this wofull captivity did we lye sold under sinne vassals to it and death and thee till that one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus was pleased to give himselfe a ransome for all that he might redeem us from all iniquity who by his owne blood entred in once into the holy place making an eternall redemption for us Lo it is not doctrine and example it is no lesse then blood the blood of the Sonne of God shed for our redemption that renders him a perfect Mediator and cleanseth us from all sin He hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law from the power of darknes hath reconciled us in the body of his flesh through death to present us holy unblameabl unreproveable in his sight He it is that bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sinnes should live unto righteousnesse So abundant and cleare testimony hath God beene pleased to give to the infinite merit and efficacy of the bloody satisfaction of his Sonne Iesus made for us that wert thou not as unmeasurably impudent as malicious thou couldst not indeavour to out-face so manifest a truth Thinke not to beate mee off from this sure saving hold by suggesting the improbability of anothers satisfaction and obedience becomming mine what is more familiar then this Our sins are debts so my Saviour hath styled them how commona a thing is it for debts to be set over to anothers hand how ordinary for a bond to be discharged by the surety If the debt then be paid for me and that payment accepted of the Creditor as mine how fully am I acquitted Indeed thou dost no other then sclander our title The righteousnesse wherby wee stand just before our God is not meerly anothers it is by application ours it is Christs and Christ is ours He is our Head we as members are united to him and by vertue of this blessed union partake of his perfect obedience and
spirit answered by the returns of an humble and thankfull obedience here is not love onely but intirenesse What other is that poor measure of love which our wretched meannesse can return unto our God but a weak reflection of that fervent love which he bears unto us It is the word of Divine Wisdome I love them that love me and the disciple of love can tell us the due order of love We love him because he first loved us The love of God therefore which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us is an all-sufficient conviction of Gods tender love unto us My heart tels me then that I love God truly though weakly God tels me that he embraceth me with an everlasting love which thy malice may snarle at but can never abate TEMPTATIONS REPELLED The third Decade Temptations of Allurement III. DECADE I. TEMPTATION Thou hast hitherto thus long given entertainment to thy sin and no inconvenience hath ensued no evill hath befallen thee thy affaires have prospered better then thy scrupulous neighbours why shouldst thou shake off a companion that hath been both harmlesse and pleasant Go on man sin fearlesly thou shalt speed no worse then thou hast done Go on and thrive in thine old course whiles some precisely conscientious beg and starve in their innocence Repelled IT is right so as wise Salomon observd of old Because sentence against an evil worke is not executed speedily therfore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evill Wicked spirit What a deadly fallacy is this which thou puttest upon miserable soules Because they have aged in their sins therefore they must die in them because they have lived in sin therefore they must age in it because they have prospered in their sin therefore they must live in it whereas all these should be strong arguments to the contrary There cannot be a greater proofe of Gods disfavour then for a man to prosper in wickednesse neither can there be a more forcible inducement to a man to forsake his sin then this that he hath entertain'd it What dost thou other in this then perswade the poor sinner to despise the riches of the goodnesse and forbearance and long suffering of God which should lead him to repentance and after his hardnesse and impenitent heart to treasure up unto himselfe wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God What an horrible abuse is this of divine mercy That which is intended to lead us to repentance is now urged by thee to draw us from repentance Should the justice of God have cut off the sinner in the flagrance of his wicked fact there had been no roome for his penitence and now God gives him a faire respite for his repentance thou turnest this into a provocation of sinning Let the case for the present be mine If sin have so far bewitcht me as to win me to dally with it must I therefore be wedded to it or if I be once wedded to it through the importunity of Temptation shall I be tyed to a perpetuall cohabitation with that fiend and not free my self by a just divorce Because I have once yeilded to be evill must I therefore be worse Because I have happily by the mercy of my God escaped hell in sinning shall I wilfully run my self headlong into the pit by continuing in sin No wicked one I know how to make better use of Gods favour and my own miscarriages I cannot reckon it amongst my comforts that I prospered in evill Let obdured hearts blesse themselves in such advantages but I adore that goodnesse that forbore me in my iniquity neither dare provoke it any more Thinke not to draw me on by the lucky successe of my sin which thou hast wanted no indeavour to promote Better had it been for me if I had fared worse in the course of my sinning but had I been yet outwardly more happy do I not know that God vouchsases his showers his sun-shine to the fields of those whose persons he destines to the fire Can I be ignorant of that which holy Iob observed in his time That the Tabernacles of the wicked prosper and they that provoke God are secure into whose hands God bringeth abundantly That they spend their days in wealth and in a moment go downe to the grave and as the Psalmist seconds him There are no bands in their death but their strength is firme They are not in trouble like other men therefore pride compasseth them about as achaine And let these jolly men brave it out in the glorious pompe of their unjust greatnesse The same eyes that noted their exaltation have also observed their downefall They are exalted for a little while saith Job but they are gone and brought low they are taken out of the way as all others and cut off as the tops of the ears of corne And in his answer to Zophar Where are the dwelling places of the wicked Have ye not asked them that go by the way and do ye not know their tokens That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath The eyes of the wicked even those scornfull and contemptuous eyes which they have cast upon Gods poor despised ones shall faile and they shall not escape and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost How false an inference then is this whereby 〈◊〉 goest about to delude â—y soule Thou hast hitherto prospered in thy wickedness therefore thou shalt prosper in it still and ever To morrow shall be as yesterday and more abundant As if the just God had not set a period to iniquity As if he had not said to the most insolent sinner as to the raging Sea Here shalt thou stay thy proud waves How many rich Epicures have with Crassus sup't in Apollo and broken their fast with Beelzebub the prince of Devils How many have lien downe to sleep out their furfeit and have waked in hell Were my times in thy hand thou wouldst not suffer me long to enjoy my sin and forbeare the seizure of my soule but now they are in the hands of a righteous God who is jealous of his owne glory he will be sure not to over-pass those hours which he hath set for thy torment or my account Shortly therefore I will withdraw my foot from every evil way and walk holily with my God however I speed in the world Let me with the conscientious men beg or starve in my innocence rather then thrive in my wickednesse and get hell to boot II. TEMPTATION Sin still thou shall repent soon enough when thou canst sin no more Thine old age and death-bed are fit seasons for those sad thoughts It will go hard if thou maist not at the last have a mouthfull of breath left thee to cry God mercy And that is no
least slip to no lesse then hell Yet there are certaine favourable temperaments of circumstances which may if not excuse yet extenuate a fault such as age complexion custome profit importunity necessity which are justly pleadable at the barre both of God and the conscience and are sufficient to rebate the edge of divine severity p. 335. March the 14. 1646. I Have perused this Treatise intituled Satans fiery darts quenched in which I find so many excellent helps for the strengthning of the Christians faith the repelling of Temptations and the comforting of afflicted consciences in the day of triall that I judge it well worthy to be printed and published JOHN DOWNAME TEMPTATIONS REPELLED The first Decade Temptations of Impiety Satans fiery darts quenched I. DECADE I. TEMPTATION Foolish sinner thou leanest upon a broken reed whiles thou reposest all thy trust in a crucified Saviour Repelled BLasphemous Spirit It is not the ignominy of the Crosse that can blemish the honour of my Saviour Thou feelst to thy endlesse pain and regret that he who would die upon the tree of shame hath triumph't victoriously over death and all the powers of hell The greater his abasement was the greater is the glory of his mercy He that is the eternall God would put on man that he might work mans redemption and satisfie God for man Who but a man could suffer and who but a God could conquer by suffering It is man that had sinned it is God that was offended who but he that was God man could reconcile God unto man He was crucified through weaknesse yet he liveth and triumpheth in the power of his omnipotent God-head Neither was it so much weaknesse to yeeld unto death as it was power to vanquish it yea in this very dying there was strength For here was no violence that could force him into his grave who should offer it I and the Father are one saith that word of Truth and in Unity there can be no constraint And if the persons be divers He thought it no robbery to be equall with God the Father and there is no authority over equals and for men or Devils what could they do to the Lord of life I lay down my life saith the Almighty redeemer that I might take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to â—â—ke it againe Oh infinitenesse both of power and mercy met in the center of a willing death Impudent tempter doest thou not remember thine owne language The time was indeed when thou couldst say If thou be the Son of God but when thou foundest thy self quelled by that divine power and saw'st those miraculous works fall from him which were only proper to an infinite God-head now thou wert forced to confesse I know who thou art even the holy one of God and againe Jesus the Son of the most high God and yet againe What have we to do with thee Jesus the Son of God art thou come to torment us before the time Lo then even in the time of his humane weakness thou couldst with horrour enough acknowledge him the Sonne of the most high God and dar'st thou now that he sits crowned with celestiall glory disparage his ever-blessed Deity Thy malice hath raised up as in the former so in these later daies certaine cursed imps of hereticall pravitie who under the name of Christians have wickedly re-crucified the Lord that bought them not sparing to call into question the eternall Deity of him whom they dare call Saviour whom if thou hadst not steeled with an hellish impudence certainly they could not professe to admit the word written and yet the whiles deny the personall Word How clear testimony doth the one of them give to the other when thou presumedst to set upon the Son of God by thy personall temptations he stopt thy mouth with a Scriptum est how much more shall these Pseudo-Christian agents of thine be thus convinced Surely there is no truth wherein those Oracles of God have beene more clear and punctuall Are we not there required to beleeve in him as God upon the promise of eternall life under the paine of everlasting condemnation Are we not commanded to baptize in his name as God Is not the holy Ghost given as a seale to that baptisme Are we not charged to give divine honour to him Is not this required and reported to be done not only by the Kings of the earth but by the Saints and Angels in heaven Is he not there declared to be equall with God Is he not there asserted to be one with the Father Doth he not there challenge a joynt right with the Father in all things both in heaven and earth Are not the great works of divine power attributed to him Hath not he created the earth and man upon it have not his hands stretched out the heavens hath not he commanded all their host Are not all the Attributes of God his Is he not eternall Is it not he of whom the Psalmist Thy throne O God is for ever and ever the scepter of thy kingdome is a right scepter Is not he the Father of eternity the first and the last have not his goings forth been from everlasting Had not he glory with the Father before the world was Is not he the Word which was in the beginning the word that was with God and the word that was God Is he not infinite and incomprehensible Is it not he that filleth all things that was in heaven whiles he was on earth Is he not Almighty even the mighty God who upholds all things by the word of his power Yea is he not expresly stiled the Lord Jehovah The Lord of hosts God blessed for ever The true God and eternall life The great God and Saviour The Lord of glory Hath he not abundantly convinced the world of his Godhead by those miraculous works which he did both in his owne person whiles he was here on earth and by the hands of his followers works so transcending the possibility of nature that they could not be wrought by any lesse then the God of nature as ejecting of Devils by command raising the dead after degrees of putrefaction giving eyes to the borne blind conquering death in his own resuscitation ascending gloriously into heaven charming the winds and waters healing diseases by the very shadow of his transient disciples Yea tell me by what power was it that thine Oracles wherby all the world was held in superstition were silenced What-power whereby the Gospel so opposite to flesh and bloud hath conquered the world and in spight of all the violence of Tyrants and oppugnation of rebellious nature hath prevailed Upon all these grounds how can I do lesse then cry our with the late-believing