as he came could receive no other answer then that he for his own part found himselfe very well at ease and they that were not had reason to seek out another seat that might like them better It is but a fable yet the moral is true perspicuous profitable Many shall one day repent that they were happy too soon Many a man cries out Oh that I were so rich so healthful so quiet so happy c. Alas though thou hadst thy wish for the present thou shouldst perhaps be a loser in the sequel The Physician doth not hear his Patient in what he would yet heareth him in taking occasion to do another thing more conducible to his health God loves to give us cools and heats in our desires and will so allay our joyes that their fruition hurt us not he knows that as it is with the body touching meats the greater plenty the less dainty and too long forbearance causeth a Surfet when we come to full food So it fares with the minde touching worldly contentments therefore he feeds us not with the dish but with the spoon and will have us neither cloyed nor famished In this life mercy and misery grief and grace good and bad are blended one with the other because if we should have nothing but comfort Earth would be thought Heaven besides if Christ-tide lasted all the year what would become of Lenâ— If every day were Good-Friday the World would be weary of Fasting Secundus calls death a sleep eternal the wicked mans fear the godly mans wish Where the conscience is clear death is looked for without fear yea desired with delight accepted with devotion why it is but the cessation of trouble the extinction of sin the deliverance from enemies a rescue from Satan the quiet rest of the body and infranchizement of the soul. The Woman great with childe is ever musing upon the time of her delivery and hath not he the like cause when Death is his bridge from wo to glory Though it be the wicked mans ship-wrack 't is the good mans putting into harbour And hereupon finding himself hated persecuted afflicted and tormented by enemies of all sorts he can as willingly leave the World as others can forgo the Court yea as willingly die as dine yea no woman with childe did ever more exactly count her time No Iew did ever more earnestly wish for the Iubile No servant so desires the end of his years No stranger so longs to be at home as he expects the promise of Christs coming It is the strength of his hope the sweet object of his faith in the midst of all sorrows the comfort of his heart the heart of all his comforts the incouragement of his wearied spirits the common clausule the continual period and shutting up of his Prayers Come Lord Iesus come quickly Whereas the Worlds Favourites go as unwillingly from hence as boyes from the midst of a game Neither hath the Rich man so much advantage of the poor in enjoying as the poor hath of the Rich in leaving True Rich men may also learn this slight for the way to grieve less is to love less And indeed what shouldest thou do in case thou seest that the World runs not on thy side but give over the World and be on Gods side Let us care little for the World that cares so little for us Let us cross sail and turn another way let us go forth therefore out of the Camp bearing his reproach for we have no continuing City but we seek one to come Heb. 13.13 14. CHAP. 8. That it keeps them alwayes prepared to the spiritual combate 5 FIfthly the Lord permitteth them often to afflict and assail us to the end we may be alwayes prepared for tribulation as wise Mariners in a calm make all their tackling sure and strong that they may be provided against the next storm which they cannot look to be long without Or as experienced Souldiers in time of peace prepare against the day of battel and so much the rather when they look every day for the approach of the enemy They saith Socrates that set sail into a calme Sea in a fair quiet weather have notwithstanding all instruments and materials ready which may be of use in a tempest so he that enjoyes a prosperous and happy estate if wise doth even in that time prepare for the harder and more cross occurrents and so much the rather because a great calme presageth a sudden storme The people of Laish being rich and wanting nothing grew careless and secure and being secure and mistrusting nothing they were smote with the edge of the sword and had their Citie burnt Iudg. 18. The way to be safe is never to be secure The wals of a City that are not repaired in peace will hardly be mended in a siege Alexander having set his Army in battel-array and finding a Souldier then mending his Armes cashiered him saying That was a time of dealing blows not of preparing weapons We are oft-times set upon to the end that we may continually buckle unto us the whole Armour of God prescribed by Paul Ephes. 6.13 to 19. That we may be alwayes ready for the battel by walking circumspectly not as fools but as wise Ephes. 5.15 Therefore redeeming the time because the dayes are evil Vers. 16. For as those that have no enemies to encounter them cast their armour aside and let it rust because they are secure from danger but when their enemies are at hand and sound the Alarum they both wake and sleep in their armour because they would be ready for the assault So if we were not often in skirmish with our enemies we should lay aside our spiritual armour but when wee have continual use of it we still keep it fast buckled unto us that being armed at all points we may be able to make resistance that we be not surpriz'd at unawars Neither would it be good for us at present if we had not these enemies to stand in awe and fear of but much more inconvenient in divers respects as wise Scipio that mirrour of wisdome told some who with no small joy avouched that the Common-wealth of Rome was now in safe estate seeing they had vanquished the Carthaginians and conquered the inhabitants of Pontus Neither would he for that only reason have Carthage destroy'd because it should hinder Rome from sleeping Yea God himself would have the Hitlites Gargesites Amorites Canaanites Peresites Hivites and Iebusites strong and warlike Nations to be in the midst of Israel lest Israel should sleep in sin and want matter for exercise fight and conquest Here may be felicity with security never with safety The time when the envious man did sowe his seed was whilest men were in bed No servants more orderly use their masters talent then those that ever fear their Masters sudden return No Houshoulder more safe than he who at every watch suspects the Thieves entring Sampson could not be bound till he
if they be angry they turn their malice from the person which punisheth them to the sinne by which and for which he came to have leave and power to punish them and to themselves for committing such sins The cause of their suffering doth more vex them than the things which they suffer and they grieve more for the displeasure of God than for the stripes of his displeasure It is not the punishment but the cause of it makes them sorrowfull And indeed to speak home to every mans conscience why are we patient or impatient it is worth the noting when sinne lyes light then reproaches and contempt lye heavy whereas if we truly feel the weight of sinne all indignities will be as nothing Or thirdly In case they do return an answer it is after the manner of Epictetus who would not deny the sins his enemy taxed him with but reproves his ignorance rather in that being unacquainted with the infinity of his crimes he layes only two or three to his charge whereas indeed he was guilty of a million Or as Latymer was wont who rejoyced when any objected indiscretion against him in his Sermons saying he knew by that that they could not object against the matter it self Or according to Philip of Macedon his example who would not punish Nicanor although he openly spake evill of him saying when he heard thereof I suppose Nicanor is a good man it were better to search whether the fault be in us or no so no sooner shall an holy mans enemy accuse him of hypocrisie pride passion covetousnesse c. but he will go to God and accuse himself and complain I am so indeed yea with Paul I am the chief of all sinners I am more vile than his termes can make me and I much marvell my punishment is no greater then to hear a few ill and bitter words And indeed one would think whatsoever is not pain nor sufferance or admit it be pain and sufferance so long as it is not a curse but a crosse may well be born without grumbling What said that Gentleman in Athens to his friends when Ashuerus came and took away half his plate as he was at dinner with him they admiring that he was not a whit moved thereat I thank God quoth he that his Highnesse hath left me any thing Yea suppose we lose all we have our goods are furthest off us and if but in these we smart we must confesse to finde favour Or admit they hurt our bodies or kill us which they may soon do if God but give leave for our life even the best of us is but like a bubble which boyes blow up in the ayre and presently again blow into meer ayr Caesar goes an Emperour to the Senate is brought a Corps home again What ever I say befals us this would be our meditation he that afflicted me for a time could have held me longer he that touched me in part could have stricken me in whole he that laid this upon my body hath power to lay a greater Rod both upon my body and soul without doing me the least wrong That all crosses and curses temporall spirituall and eternall even from the pains of the damned to the very Itch as Moses sets down Deut. 28.27 are deserved and come not upon us against equity equity I say in respect of God not in respect of men they come from a just Author though from an unjust instrument And that sinne is the ground of all our griefs the source of all our sufferings wickednesse the root of our wretchednesse that we are disciplin'd is from our defects is a truth undeniable appears plainly for first God affirms it Deut. 28. Isa. 57.17 Hos. 13.9 Jer. 30.15 and 4.18 Secondly His servants confirm it 1 Chron. 21.17 Isa. 64.5 Dan. 9.7 8 c. Lam. 1.5 8. and 3.39 c. Ezra 9.13 Luk. 23.41 Thirdly Good reason makes for it sinfull men smite not their dogs much lesse their children without a cause and shall we think the just God will smite without just cause his judgements saith a Father are sometimes secret alwayes just No misery had ever afflicted us if sinne had not first infected us What 's the reason we all die it could not be in justice if we had not all sinned and so of all other evils even sicknesse originally proceeds from sinne and all weaknesse from wickednesse one man languisheth of a Consumption another laboureth of a Feaver a third is rackt with the Gout a fourth swoln with the Dropsie a fift hath his soul let out with a sword every one hath a severall way to bring him to the common end death but sinne is the universall disease Death passed upon all for all have sinned Rom. 5.12 Iames 3.2 Yea as we brought a world of sinne into the world with us so since each man hath broken every one of Gods ten Laws ten thousand times and ten thousand wayes which is far from a privative holinesse in reforming that which is evill and a positive holinesse in performing that which is good Eph. 4.22 23. and every sin helps for as originall sin is the originall cause of death so actuall sins hasten it But to conclude in generall that sin is the cause we suffer is not sufficient for commonly no judgement comes from God but some particular provocation of man went before it the hand of Divine Iustice seldom makes us smart without some eminent cause foregoing therefore David seeing a famine in the Land inquires for the particular provoking sin 2 Sam. 21.1 so when we suffer our question should be What have we done yea what have we done in the same kinde for oftentimes we may read our sin in our punishment as it fared with Adonibezeck Judg. 1.7 and many other mentioned in Scripture Sodom was burnt with fire unnaturall as they burned with lust unnaturall Absoloms chief pride lay in his hair and that became his halter Salomon dividing Gods Kingdom had his own Kingdom divided David hath slain Vriah with the sword therefore the sword shall not depart from his house Dives would not give Lazarus a crum Lazarus shall not bring Dives a drop Iudas was the instrument of his Masters death he shall be the instrument of his own death Proud Bajazet vowes to imprison Tamberlaine in an Iron Cage and carry him about the world in triumph But Tamberlaine having conquered that bragging Turk carried and carted him through all Asia to be scorned of his own people For instance Is any one censured reviled and persecuted of lewd men for being religious Let him reflect upon his life past and happily their revilings and persecutions will bring to his remembrance that he himself before his conversion hath likewise censured reviled or persecuted others It may be his naturall spirituall or politicall parents in some kind or other as who can plead innocency herein and he that is not humbled for his sin is not yet justified from his sin Yea so often as
them drink whereas they stript him of his party-coloured-coat he gave them all change of rayment whereas they sold him for twenty pieces of money he would not sell them Corn but gave it them freely and put their money again into their sacks whereas they cast him into a pit without either bread or water he brought them into his own lodging and feasted them sumptuously with delicate fare and gave them of the best wine Thus he gave them a good measure pressed down and shaken together yea running over into their bosomes of kindnesse for unkindnesse And thus holy David 〈◊〉 in the steps of good Ioseph Psal. 38.12 to 15. 1 Sam. 26.20 For when Saul had bent his howe and made ready the arrowes within his quiver to shoot at this upright in heart and sweet singer of Israel Yea when this Fowler hunted him like a Partridge to the mountains so that his soul was â—ain to ask for the wings of a Dove that he might fly away and be at rest Yet see when his mortall foe was delivered into his hand in the Cave he would not lay hands on his enemy nor suffer his blood-thirsty followers to fall upon him but only to give him notice what he could have done cut off the lap of his garment and rendred him good for evill as Saul himself confessed 1 Sam. 24.18 Yea again when he found him asleep in the field he spared his life which was in his hand and to give him a second warning only took away his pot of water and his speaâ— â—â— Sam. 26. And lastly of Stevâ—n who when the Iews were stoning him to death kneeled down and cried with a loud voice Lord â—ay not this sinne to their charge Acts. 7.60 A true Scholer of CHRIST For first He prayed for enemies Secondly For mortall enemies that stoned him Thirdly In hot blood at the time when they wronged him most â— as being more sorry for their ryot than for his own ruin Now what is it that we suffer being compared with their sufferings Even nothing in a manner Ye have not saith St Paul to the Hebrews yet resisted unto blood we have passed saith the Prophet through fire and water not fire only as the three Children nor wâ—ter only as the Israelites but fire and water all kinde of afflictions and adversities For shame then let us passe through a little tongu-tryall without the least answering or repining In which take M â— Calvin for a pattern who said Though Luther call me a Devill yet I will honour him as a dear servant of God Now all ye scoffers behold the patience of the Saints and stand amazed That which you not for want of ignorance esteemed base sottish and unworthy ye see hath sixteen solid Reasons as so many pillars to support it and these hewen out of the Rock of Gods Word Ye see the Childe of God is above nature while he seems below himself the vilest creature knowes how to turn again but to command himself not to resist being urged is more then Heroicall Here then is matter worth your emulation worthy your imitation Again Behold the Reasons why God suffers you to deride hate and persecute his people which are likewise declared to be sixteen in number and those no lesse weighty of which three concern his own glory thirteen our spiritual and everlasting good benefit and advantage Yea reflect yet further you seed of the Serpent and see the Originall continuance properties causes ends and what will be the issue of your devillish enmity against the seed of the Woman And then you will acquit the Religious with Christ and his Apostles for well doing or confesse that you condemn Christ and his Apostles with them as Erasmus said in his own defence But if of the two you will choose to go on and perish your blood be on your own heads and not on mine I have discharged my duty CHAP. XXXII Rules to be observed touching Thoughts Words and Deeds when we are wronged I Must needs confesse may some say you have shewn sixteen solid and substantiall Reasons of Patience sufficient to perswade any reasonable creature to imbrace it at least in affection but is it therefore in all cases necessary we suffer injuries without righting of our selves or being angry No he that makes himself a Sheep shall be eaten of the Wolfe In some cases tolerations are more than unexpedient they inspire the party with boldnesse and are as it were pullies to draw on more injuries bear one wrong and invite more put up this abuse and you shall have your belly full of them Yea he that suffers a lesser wrong many times invites a greater which he shall not be long without As how doth Davids patience draw on the insolence of Shimei Evill natures grow presumptuous upon forbearance In good natures and dispositions injury unanswered growes weary of it self and dies in a voluntary remorse but in those dogged stomacks which are only capable of the restraints of fear the silent digestion of a former wrong provokes a second Neither will a Beef braind follow be subdued with words Wherefore mercy hath need to be guided with wisdome lest it prove cruell to it self Neither doth Religion call us to a week simplicity but allowes us as much of the Serpent as of the Dove It is our duty indeed to be simple as Doves in offending them but we are no lesse charged to be wise as Serpents in defendiâ—g our selves lawfull remedies have from God both liberty in the use and blessing in the successe no man is bound to tender his throat to an unjust stroak Indeed when the persecuted Christians complained against their adversaries to Iulian the Emperour desiring justice he answered them as some of our scoffers may do in the like case It is your Masters commandment that you should bear all kinde of injuries with patience But what did they answer It is true he commands us to bear all kindes of injuries patiently but not in all cases besides said they we may bear them patiently yet crave the Magistrates ayd for the repairing of our wrongs past our present rescue or for the preventing of what is like to ensue But to make a full Answer to the Question propounded There are Rules to be observed 1 touching our Thoughts 2 touching our Words 3 touching our Actions First Touching our Thoughts He that deceiveth me oft though I must forgive him yet Charity bindes me not not to censure him for untrusty and though Love doth not allow suspicion yet it doth not thrust out discretion it judgeth not rashly but it judgeth justly it is not so sharp sighted as to see a moat where none is nor so purblinde but it can discerne a beam where it is the same spirit that saith Charity beleeveth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 saith also that a fool beleeveth all things Prov. 14.15 and Charity is no fool as it is not easily suspicious so neither lightly credulous It is neither simple
3.6 but so as neither wicked mens sins shall taint him nor his decree justifie them the sin is their own the good which comes of it is Gods the benefit ours He doth well in suffering to be done whatsoever is evil done saith Saint Augustine and is just in their injustice God wils the same action as it is a blessing triall or chastisement of his children which he hates as the wickednesse of the agent because in the same thing which they did there was not the same cause for which they did it The lewd tongue hand or heart moves from God it moves lewdly from Satan wicked men are never the freer from guilt and punishment for that hand which the holy God hath â—n their offensive actions To instance in some examples Satan did nought touching Iob but what the Lord upon his request gave him leave to do what then Did God and Belial joyn in fuâ—filling the same act No sooner shall Stygian darknesse blend with light the â—rost with fire day with night true God and Satan will'd the self-same thing but God intended good Satan ill Satan aimed at Iobs and God at his confusion God used the malice of Pharaoh and Sâ—imei unto good what then God afflicted his people with another minde then Pharaoh did God to increase them Pharaoh to suppresse them The sin of Shâ—meis curse was his own the smart of the curse was Gods God wills that as Davids chastisement which he hates as Shimeis wickednesse God owed a revenge to the house of Eli and by the delation of Doeg he took occasion to pay it when the Priests were slain It was just in God which in Doeg was most unjust Sauls cruelty and the â—reachery of Doeg do not lose one dram of their guilt by the counsel of God Neither doth the holy counsel of God gather any blemish by their wickednesse If it had pleased God to inflict death upon them sooner without any pretence of occasion his justice had been clear from all imputations Now if Saul or Doeg be instead of a Pestilence or Feaver who can cavil The judgements of God are not ever manifest but are alwayes just Again the curse of the Serpent bestowed blessednesse on Man yea our first Parents had been lesse glorious if they had not wanted a Saviour What then Doth Satan merit thanks No but the contrary for he onely intended the final ruine and destruction of them and all mankinde with the dishonour of their Maker Lastly the Devil does us good in this particular case for while he assaults us with temptations and afflicts us with crosses he in effect helps us to Crowns Yet still no thanks to Satan for to be charitable is more then his meaning it is that Divine and over-ruling Providence of God which we are beholding unto and to him give we the thanks But above all our Saviours example will most excellently distinguish the ends of God Satan and wicked Men for if we observe Iudas delivered him to death for gain the Iewes for envy Pilate for fear the Devil provoked each of them through this enmity Christ himself to obey his Fathers will God the Father in love to sinners and for their Redemption each furthered one and the same thing but to contrary ends so when this enmity breaks forth in the wicked Satan hath a hand in it as a malicious authour as when he entred into Iudas and made him betray Christ Luke 22.3 Man himself as a voluntary instrument as when Pharaoh hardened his own heart against the children of Israel Exod. 9.34 God as a most righteous Iudge and avenger as when he also hardened Pharoahs heart so punishing his former hardnesse with further obduration Exod. 9.12 But how in this case Even by permitting the seed of the Serpent from their own malicious inclination to hate the seed of the Woman not by infusing this malice but by withâ—drawing his grace when he sees it abused he doth not infuse corruption he doth not with-hold the occasion as when the Rider gives his horse the raines we say he puts him on Whence that distinction of adversities as they come from Satan they are usually called temptations as they come from Men persecutions as from God afflictions Now as God turned the treachery of Iudas not onely to the praise of 〈◊〉 â—ustice mercy wisdom power c. but to the good of all believers so he turnes this enmity of Satan and wicked men to his childrens great advantage in stopping them in their courses of sin and keeping them in exercise and his own glory And well may he work good by evil instruments when every Prince and Magistrate hath the seat to make profitable instruments aswell of evil persons as of good yea when there is nothing in the world be it gall it self yea the excrement of a Dog or the poison of a Serpent but mans shallow invention can finde it is good for something neither do two contrary poisons mingled together prove mortal And thus you see that the will of God may be done thanklessely when in fulfilling the substance we fail in the intentions and erre in circumstances Now see with the like patience how it will fare with these men in the end Pomponius Atticus being destin'd to famishment receiving no manner of sustenance for many dayes contrary to the intention was freed by means of that abstinence from a violent pain recovered of a disease which otherwise had cost him his life Prometheus being run in with a Rapier and Iason receiving a great blow on the brest each was restored to health from dangerous and deadly impostumes which otherwise were thought incurable And this is our case for even as that cured them which their enemies intended should have killed them so this enmity of the Serpent and his Seed cures our souls and makes us everlastingly happie Yet they intending onely evil in it or at least the satisfying of their own wicked wills as they know better then I wherein they imitate the Weesel which doth a man pleasure in destroying of Vermine yet only intends the satisfying of her own hunger not his good that keeps the house can no way assume the least praise to themselves nor expect the more favour That which is ill of it self is not to be ventured on for the good which commeth by accident It is no priviledge to be an instrument of good by evil meanes Nor can you expect to fare better without a healing of your errours then the Worme in the stomack which when it hath devoured all the matter proper for it dies it self or Heleborus which after it hath wrought the cure within the body is cast up again together with the Malady The Lord doth often good to his Church even by those Instruments whom for their sins he means to cast into Hell-fire Ashur was his Rod to scourge Israel that done they fell under a sharper lash themselves Those Nations saith God shall serve the King of Babel seventy years and
and Esau for a mess of Pottage Whereas now wee are safe for to pluck us out of his hands that is Almighty requires an adversary stronger than himself Neither wants hee care hee that numbers our very hairs what account doth hee make of our souls Nor love for if hee hath bought us with his blood and given us himself will hee deny us any thing that is good for us Wherefore silence your reason and exalt your faith how pressing or peircing so ever your sufferings bee which pulls off the vizard from his face and sees a loving heart under contrary appearances Trust the mercy of God which is of infinite perfection and the merits of Christ which are of perfect satisfaction and then hope will bear up thy heavie heart as bladders do an unskilfull swimmer Otherwise if thou shalt walke by sence and not by faith 2 Cor. 5.7 fear will no less multiply evills then saith would diminish them and thou shalt resemble Bucephalus who was not afraid of his burthen the shadow onely frighted him Section 4. Objection Although Christ in the Gospel hath made many â—arge and preoibus promises yet there are none so generall which are not limited wiâ—h the condition of faith and the fruit thereof unfained Repentance and each of them are so tied and entayled that none can lay claim to them but true beleevers which repent and turn from all their sins to serve him in holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Isa. 59.20 But I want these qualifications without which how can I expect supportation in my sufferings or an happy deliverance out of them however it fares with beleevers whom Christ hath undertaken for yea I have such a wicked heart and my sins are so many and great that these comforts nothing concerne mee for they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness shall reap the same Joh. 4.8 Answer So our sailings bee not wilfull though they be many and great yet they cannot hinder our interest in the promises of God Admit thou art a great sinner what then art thou a greater sinner than Matthew or Zacheus who were sinâ—ull Publicans and got their livings by pilling and polling oppression and extortion than Mary Magdalen a common strumpet possest of many Devills than Paul a bloody persecutor of Christ and his Church than the Theef upon the Cross who had spent his whole life to the last hour in abominable wickedness than Manasses that out-rageous sinner and most wicked wretch that ever was an Idolater a malitious Persecutor of the truth a defiler of Gods holy Temple a sacrficer of his own children unto Idols that is Devills a notable witch and wicked sorcerer a bloody murtherer of exceeding many of the dear Saints and true Prophets of the Lord and one who did not run headlong alone into all hellish impiety but led the people also out of the way to do more wickedly than did the Heathen whom the Lord cast out and destroyed I am sure thou wilt not say thou art more wicked than hee was and yet this Manasses this wretch more like a Devill incarnate than a Saint of God repented him of his sins from the bottome of his heart was received I cannot speak it without ravishing wonder of Gods bottomless and never sufficiently admired mercy was received I say to grace and obtained the pardon of all his horrible sins and most abominable wickedness And are not these and many the like examples written for our learning and recorded by the holy ghost to the end that wee may gather unto our selvs assurance of the same pardon for the same sins upon the same repentance and beleeving Are thy sins great his mercies are infinite hadst thou committed all the sins that ever were committed yet in comparison of Gods mercy they are less than a mote in the Sun to all the world oâ— a drop of water to the whole Ocean for the Sea though great yet may bee measured but God's mercy cannot bee circumscribed and hee both can and will as easily forgive us the debt of ten thousand millions of pounds as one penny and assoon pardon the sins of a wicked Manasses as of a righteous Abraham if wee come unto him by unfaigned repentance and earnestly desire and implore his grace and mercy Rom. 5.20 The Tenure of our salvation is not by a covenant of works but by a covenant of grace founded not on our worthiness but on the free mercy and good pleasure of God and therefore the Prophet well annexeth blessedness to the remission of sins Blessed is hee whose transgression is forgiven Psal. 32.1 Yea the more miserable wretched and sinfull wee are the more 〈◊〉 objects wee are whereupon hee may exercise and shew the infinite riches of his bounty mercy virtue and all-sufficiency And this our spirituall Physitian can aswell and easily cure desperate diseases even the remediless Consumption the dead Apoplex and the filthy Leprosie of the soul as the smallest malady or least faintness Yea hee can aswell raise the dead as cure the sick and aswell of Stones as of Iews make Abrahams children Did hee not without the Sun at the Creation cause light to shine forth and without rain at the same time make the earth fruitfull why then should you give your self over where your Physitian doth not Besides what sin is there whereof wee can despair of the remission when wee hear our Saviour pray for the forgiveness of his murtherers and blasphemers And indeed despair is a sin which never knew Iesus It was a sweet saying of one at his death When mine iniquity is greater than thy mercy O God then will I fear and despair but that can never bee considering our sins bee the sins of meâ— his mercy the mercy of an infinite God Yea his mercies are so great that among the thirteen properties of God mentioned Exod. 34. almost all of them appertain to his mercy whereas one onely concerns his might and onely two his justice Again shall it ever enter into our hearts to think that God gives us rules to keep and yet break them himsef Now his rule is this Though thy brother sin against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying it repenteth mee thou shalt forgive him The son angers his father he doth not straight dis-inherit him but Gods love to his people exceeds a fathers love to his son Matth. 7.11 and a mothers too Isa. 49.15 I hear many menaces and threats for sin but I read as many promises of mercy and all they indefinite excluding none whose impenitency and infidelity excludeth not themselvs every sin deservs damnation but no sin shall condemn but the lying and continuing in it Wherefore if our clamorous conscience like some sharp fang'd officer arrests us at Gods suit let us put in bail two subsidue virtues Faith and Repentance and so stand the triall the Law is on our side the Law of grace is with
any case let us not bee without correction for as Mariners at Sea find that of all stoâ—ms a Calme is the greatest so wee that to bee exempt from misery is the most miserable condition of all other Object But thou fearest that Gâ—d hath not pardoned thy sins and this makes him so severe against thee Answ. Many timeâ— after the remission of the sin his very chastisements are deadly as is cleer by Davids example and Lots who had a sharp misery clap on the heels of a sweet mercy for hee that was so beloved of God that hee saved a whole City could not save his own Spouse When God delivers us from destruction hee doth not secure us from 〈◊〉 affliction Grace was never given us for a Target against externall evills Though wee bee not condemned with the world yet wee may bee chastened in the world Neither the truth nor strength of Iobs faith could secure him from the outward and bodily vexations of Satan against the inward and spirituall they could and did prevail so no repentance can assure us that wee shall not smart with outward affliction that can prevent the eternall displeasure of God but still it may bee necessary and good wee should bee corrected our care and suit must bee that the evills which shall not bee averted may bee sanctified CHAP. 38. That Christ and all the Saints are our Partners and partakers with us in the Cross yea our sufferings are nothing in comparison of theirs 4 WEe shall bear the Cross with more patience and comfort if wee consider that Christ and all the Saints are our partners and partakers therein yea thy sufferings are nothing in comparison of what others have suffered before thee Look upon righteous Abel thou shalt see his elder brother Cain had dominion and rule over him by Gods appointment Gen. 4.7 Yea in the next ver thou shalt see him slain by his brother After him look upon Noah a most calamitous person as ever lived as the Chronologer computes him as for Lot hee had his righteous soul vexed from day to day Look upon Iob. thou shalt see that miseries do not stay for a mannerly succession to each other but in a rude importunity throng in at once to take away his children substance friends crediâ— health peace of conscience c. leaving him nothing but his wife whom the Devill spared on purpose to vex him as the Fathers think so that in his own apprehension God was his mortall enemy as hear how in the bitterness of his soul hee complains of his Maker saying Hee teareth mee in his wrath hee hateth mee and gnasheth upon mee with his teeth he hath broken mee asunder taken mee by the neck and shaken mee to pieces and set mee up for his mark his Archers compass mee round about he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare to pour out my gall upon the ground he breaketh me with breach upon breach and runneth upon me like a Giant Iob 16. Now when so much was uttered even by a none-such for his patience what may we think he did feel and indure Look upon Abraham thou shalt see him forced to forsake his Countrey and Fathers house to go to a place he knew not to men that knew not him and after his many removes he meets with a famine and so is forced into Aegypt which indeed gave relief to him when Canaan could not shewing that in outward things Gods enemies may fare better than his friends yet he goes not without great fear of his life which made it but a dear purchase then he is forced to part from his brother Lot by reason of strife and debate among their Heardsmen after that Lot is taken prisoner and he is constrained to wage Warre with four Kings at once to rescue his Brother then Sarah his wife is barren and he must go childlesse untill in reason he is â—ast hope when he hath a Son it must not onely die 〈◊〉 himself must slay him Now if that bosom wherein we all look to rest was assaulted with so many sore trials and so diverse difficulties is it likely we should escape Look upon Iacob you shall see Esau strive with him in the wombe that no time might be lost after that you shall see him â—lie for his life from a cruel Brother to a cruel Uncle with a 〈◊〉 goes hee over Iordan alone doubtful and comfortlesse not like the son of Isaac In the way he hath no bed but the cold earth no pillow but the hard stones no sheet but the moist aiâ— no Canopy but the wide Heaven at last he is come far to finde out an hard friend and of a Nephew becomes a servant after the service of an hard Apprenticeship hath earned her whom he loved his wife is changed and he is not onely disappointed of his hopes but forced to marry another against his will and now he must begin another Apprenticeship and a new hope where he made account of â—ruition all which fourteen years he was consumed with heat in the day with frost in the night when he hath her whom he loves she is barren at last being grown rich chiefly in wives and children accounting his charge his wealth he returns to his Fathers house but with what comfort Behold Laban follows him with one troop Esau meets him with anotherâ— both with hostile intentions not long after Rachel the comfort of his life dieth his children the staffe of his age wound his soul to death 〈◊〉 proves incestuous Iudah adulterous Dina is ravished Simeon and 〈◊〉 are murtherous Er and Onan are stricken dead Ioseph is lost Simeon imprisoned Benjamin his right hand endangered Himself driven by famine in his old age to die among the Aegyptians a people that held it abomination to eat with him And yet before he was born it was Iacob have I loved and before any of this befell him God said unto him Bee not afraid I am with thee and will do thee good Gen. 28.15 And did so even by these crosses for that 's my good saith the Proverb that doth me good Now what Son of Israel can hope for any good daies when he hears his Fathers were so evill It is enough for us if when we are dead we can rest with him in the Land of Promise Again hear what David saith of himself Thy arrows sâ—ck fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore Psal. 38.2 And see what cause he had so to say what were these Arrows To let passe those many that Saul shot at him which were sharp and keen enough and those other of Doeg when he slew fourscore and five of the Priests and the whole City of Nob both man and woman child and suckling for shewing him kindness Likewise Shimâ—iâ— carriage towards him also his distresse at Ziglag and those seventy thousand which perished by the Pestilence upon his numbering the people and the like First Nathan tells him from the Lord that the sword should houseâ—
to Paul Act. 9.15 16. 23. ver 11. and our Saviour Christs words to his Apostles Ast. 1.8 yea to suffer for Christ saith Father Latimer is the greatest privilege that God gives in this world and the story of Iob is a book-case to prove it for did not God by him as sometimes a Schoolmaster with his Pupill who when he hath polished and perfected a good Scholar brings him sorth provokes adversaries to set upon him with hard questions and takes a pride to see the fruit of his own labours And in the warrs to have the hottect and most dangerous services imposed upon them by their General is accounted the greatest honour neither will he confer the same upon any but the stoutest and most valiant This Rod of the Lord like Ahasuerus his Scepter is never stretcht forth toward any of his but in great love and favour It is like the kisse which Cyrus in Xenophon gave to Chrysanthas which was accounted a greater and more special savour than the Cup of gold which he gave to Artabazus Which being so let us in this particular imitaâ—e the Muscovitish women who will not think their husbands love them unlesse they chastise them and the Indians who are ambitious to be burnt with them and the Thracians who are proud to wear their scarrs Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Aegypt Heb. 11.25 26. And the Apostles esteemed it a grace to be disgraced for him and shall we grumble or think much at it No in the greatest extremity of straights let us acknowledge it a favour and give him thanks and so much the rather for that it is more acceptable to God to give him thanks once in adversity then six hundred times in prosperity as a grave Divine well observs and indeed it is the summe of all Religion to be thankfull to God in the midst of miseries True it is hard for Iob when the terrours of God fight against him and the arrows of the Almighty stick so â—ast in him that the venome thereof hath drunk up his spirit Iob 6.2 3 4. to think it a special favour and dignity but so it was being rightly considered It was hard for Iosephs brethren to hear him speak roughly unto them take them for spies accuse them of theft and commit them to prison Gen. 42.30 and think it is all out of love much more hard for Simeon to bee cull'd out from the rest and committed to ward while his brethren are set at libertie Vers. 24. and yet it was so yea he loved him best whom he seemed to favour least yet such is the infirmitie of our nature that as weak eies are dazled with the light which should comfort them so there is nothing more common with God's Children than to be afflicted with the causes of their joy and astonied with that which is intended for their confirmation Even Manoah conceivs death in that vision of God wherein alone his life and happinesse did consist Iudg. 13.22 And the Shepherds Luk. 2. who were sore afraid when the Angel of the Lord came to bring them good tidings of great joy to all people viz. their Saviours Birth which was Christ the Lord Vers. 9.10 But what hath been the answer of GOD alwaies to his children in such their extasies but his Fear not Gideon Judg. 6.23 Fear not Ioseph Mat. 1.20 Fear not Zachary Luk. 1.12 13. Fear not Abraham for I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward Gen. 15.1 Fear not Paul for I am with thee and no man shall lay hands on thee to do thee hurt c. Acts. 18.9 10. the words are often repeated as Pharaohs dreams were doubled for the surenesse Yea to the end that we should be fearlesse in all our sufferings so long as we suffer not as evil doers 1 Pet. 4.15 Fear not as one well notes is the first word in the Annunciation of Christs Conception and the first word in the first Annunciation of his Birth and the first word in the first Annuuntiation of his Resurrection and almost the last words in his last exhortation a little before his death are Let not your hearts be troubled and be of good comfort strengthening his followers and sweetning his Crosse by diverse forcible reasons Luke 21. Mark 13. And the words of dying men have ever been most emphatical most effectual Nay more than all this if yet thou wilt not be comforted look but Ioh. 16.20 and thou shalt have thy Saviour assure thee by a double bond His Word I say Verily verily I say unto you His Oath I say Verily verily I say unto you that though for the present you do fear and sorrow and weep yet all shall be turned into joy 〈◊〉 that joy shal no man be able to take from you v. 22. And so much of the Patience of the Womans seed Innocency of the Womans seed Felicity of the Womans seed If you will see the Malice of the Serpents seed Subtilty of the Serpents seed Misery of the Serpents seed Read the three foregoing parts viz. The canse and cure of Ignorance Error c. The cure of Misprision Characters of the kinds of preaching The last whereof sold only by Iames Crump in Little Bartholomeâ— Well-yard A two-fold PRAYER for the Morning and for the Evening as also another to be said at any time Jer. 10.25 Pour out thy fury upon them that know thee not and upon the families that call not on thy name Psal. 145.18 Rom. 10.12 The Lord is nigh and rich unto all that call upon him in truth Isa. 65.24 Before they call I will answer and whiles they are yet speaking I will hear Jer. 33.3 Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not 1 Joh. 5.14 If wee ask any thing according to his will he heareth us Joh. 16.23 Mat. 21.22 Whatsoever yee shall ask the Father in my Name believing he will give it you Psal. 55.17 Evening and Morning and at Noon will I pray A PRAYER for the Morning O Lord prepare our hearts to Pray O Most glorious LORD GOD and in JESUS CHRIST our most merciful and loving Father in whom wee live and move and have our being in the multitude of thy mercies we desire to approach unto thee from whom all good things do proceed who knowest our necessities befoâ—e we ask and our ignorance in asking It is true O Lord if we should consider onely our own unworthiness and how we have heretofore abused thy goodnesse and long-suffering towards us wee might rather despair with Iudas and like Adam run from thee then dare to approach thy glorious presence For we confesse O Lord to the shame and confusion of our own faces that as we brought a world of sinne into the World with us and deserved to dye so soon as wee began to live so ever since that thou hast spared us we have done nothing but add sinne unto sinne as
hath been to serve Satan and fulfil the lusts of the flesh VVe even suck in iniquity like water 〈…〉 It hath been the course of our whole life to leave that which God commands and to do that which he forbids The Word and Spirit may work in us some flashes of desire and purposes of better obedience but we are constant in nothing but in perpetuall offending onely therein we cease not for when we are waking our flesh tempts us to wickednesse if we are sleeping it sollicits us to filthiness Whatever God commands we do the contrary We prophane his Dayes contemn his Ordinances resist his Word grieve his Spirit misuse his Messengers hate our reprovers slander and persecute his people seduce our friends give ill example to our neighbours open the mouthes of God's and our enemies to blaspheme that glorious Name after which we are called and the truth we profess Yea we have done more against God in one week then we have done for him ever since we were born and whereas the least of Gods mercies is greater then all the courtesies of men we are not so thankfull to him for them all as we are to a friend for some one good turn Sect. XV. Neither are we sufficient of our selves to think much less to speak least of all to do ought that is good 2 Cor. 3.5 Iohn 15.4 5. There is so much wearisomness pride passion lust envy ignorance awkwardness hypocrisie infidelity vain thoughts unprofitableness and the like cleaving to our best actions to defile them that even our praying and fasting and repenting our hearing believing and giving our holiest communication our most brotherly admonition c. are in themselves as filthy rags Isa. 64.6 were they not accepted in Christ covered with his righteousness and washed white in his most precious blood Our very righteousness is as a menstruous cloth Isa. 64.6 What then is our sinfulness As bring we our lives to the rule Look how many sins are cherished so many false gods there are chosen Look how many creatures thou inordinately lovest fearest trustest rejoycest in so many new gods hast thou coined and wilt thou not then pleade guilty when the first and second Commandment arraigneth thee Thou canst not away with swearing but dost thou reprove others for their swearing Didst thou never hear Sermons unpreparedly irreverently c Does thy heart upon a Sabbath rest from worldly thoughts much more thy tongue from worldly speeches There is murther of the heart hatred Hast not thou murthered thy neighbours soul by thy negligence perswasion evil example c. Thou hast not stoln but hast thou not coveted Hast thou been liberal to those that are owners of a part of thy goods hast thou not robb'd thy brother of his good name which is above silver and gold Hast not thou robb'd God of his worship of his Sabbaths of his Tythes c. Lying flattering detracting listning to taâ—â—s yea not defending thy brothers good name is to bear false witness 〈…〉 very first motions of sins springing out of our hearts though presently rejected and a thousand the like and yet for every drop of wickedness that is in the life there is a sea in the heart that feeds it Sect. XVI True if thou lookest on thy sins in Satans false glass that will make them seem light and contemptible but behold them in the clear and perfect gâ—ass of Gods law and they will appear abominable Which makes our Saviour call hatred murther a wanton eye adultery c. Yea consider thy sins rightly and they will appear as the Iudasses that betrayed the Souldiers that apprehended bound smote and wounded thy Saviour as the gall and vinegar in his mouth spittle on his face thorns on his head nails in his hands spear in his side c. This is the way to know thy self sinful and as thus to know thy self is the best Divinity as Demonax said of Philosophy so thus to aggravate thy sins in thine own sight is the only way to have them extenuated in the sight of God Whence the more holy a childe of God is the more sensible he is of his own unholiness thinking none so vile as himself as it fared with holy Iob Iob 40.4 and 42.6 and with Isaiah chap. 6.5 and 64.6 and with Saint Paul 1 Tim. 1.15 Rom. 7.14 to 25. and with holy David who almost in every Psalm so much bewails his sins originall and actual of omission and commission Carnal men are only troubled for those sins that appear to the world but those in whom Christs is formed anew think they cannot be humbled enough for their evil thoughts vain and unprofitable words for the evil which cleaves even to their best actions for sins of omission as the want of faith and love and repentance want of the true fear of God the neglect of preparation and unprofitable hearing of praying and reading in their families of instructing their children and servants of sanctifying the Sabbath and seeing that all under them do the same their unfruitfulness under the means of grace their not growing in grace and the like And thus do all experimental Christians all that have spiritual eies The want whereof I take to be the cause of all desperate wickedness as what else but invincible ignorance is the cause why wickednesse so abounds in every corner oâ— the Land Sin indeed at first was the cause of ignorance but now ignorance is the cause of Sin swearing and lying and killing and stealing and whoring abound saith the Prophet because there is no knowledge of God in the land Hosea 4.1 2. It is a people that do erre in their hearts saies God Why Because they have not known my ways Psal. 95.10 Ye are deceived saith our Saviour because ye know not the Scriptures neither the power of God Matth. 22.29 VVhen Christ wept over Ierusalem what was the cause Even their blindnesse If thou hadst known saith he at the least in this thy day those things which now are hid from thine eyes Luke 19.42 Because men know not the wages of evil therefore they do it and because they would securely do it therefore they refuse to know it O that men knew how good it is to obey to disobey how evil for this would soon disperse and dispel all the black clouds of their reigning sins in a moment If they were wise saith St. Bernard they would fore-see the torments of Hell and prevent them but they that wander in by-paths declare themselves ignorant of the rightway of salvation Rom. 3.17 I grant many that are wicked have a shew of wisdom but let them seem to know never so much yet it is through ignorance that they do so ill Sect. XVII And so having given you a short survey of our wretchedness by reason of Original sin and actual transgressions by which we must confess to have deserved double damnation I come now to declare the means which God of his infinite goodnesse hath found out both for
bloody to him to his and thine own soul none that have eyes in their heads and open can be so sottish But Sin is like the juice of poppie called Opium which if the quantity exceed bringeth the patient into a deep sleep that he never awaketh Sinners dream they are awake but indeed they are fast asleep yea with Sardis they are dead while they think they are alive And indeed this misprision or mistake this very opinion of being in ease good enough keeps a man out of all possibility of being bettered for what we presume to have attained we seek not after Yea this conceited righteousnesse is the onely cause of all unrighteousnesse and many a man had been good if he had not at present so thought himself Until Paul was humbled to the very ground trembling and astonished he never asked Iesus what wilt thou have me to do And the like of those Converts that were prickt in their hearts at Peters searching Sermon upon their being convinced that they were the murtherers of the Lord of Life Acts 2.36.37 38. Sect. XXVI In the last place touching their Election this is an infallible truth Whomsoever God hath appointed to salvation to them he hath appointed the means also which is holiness Indeed a man may be so bold of his Predestination as to forget his conversation so he may dream himselfe in Heaven and waken from that dream in Hell Gods purpose touching the end includes the means Though God had promised Paul that his company should not be drowned yet he told the Mariners that unless they kept in the ship they should be drowned Acts 27.22 23 31. as if their safety should not be without means Rebekah had Gods Oracle for Iacobs life yet she sent him away out of Esaus reach It was impossible for Herod to hurt the child Iesus yet he must flie into Egypt And so I have shown in the last place what are the conditions of the new Covenant and to whom the promises belong which is all that I undertook Now if men will yet goe on and perish in their impenitency their blood be on their own heads and not on mine I have discharged my duty Nevertheless least the single evidence that I bring from the Word of Truth should not prove sufficient to gain your credence to what hath been spoken And because examples give a quicker impression then arguments I have one thing more to crave of thee which is that thou wilt also hear the confession of two parties in the ensuing or second part of this Discourse that were lately in thy very condition though now by the Infinite goodness of God they have their eyes opened and their hearts changed to see and know both what it is to be in the state of nature and what to be brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God that so by a three fold cord you may be drawn to accept of salvation upon Gods own terms whereas otherwise you can no way escape his eternal wrath The ensuing or second part which I would request you to read and minde is A happy Conference between a Formalist converted and a loose Libertine intituled An experimental Index of the Heart And so much of the first Part the second followeth FINIS Sold onely by Iames Crump in Little Bartholomews VVell-yard and by Henry Cripps in Popes-head-Alley At the same places there are also to be sold five and thirty other Pieces of Practical Divinity composed by the same Author 1660. This sheet and half with â—ower other sheets of as considerable matter are all to be had for a Penny at the Black Swan by Moorâ— gaâ—e AN Experimental INDEX of the HEART OR SELF-KNOWLEDGE In which As in a Looking-glasse the civillest of men may see what need they have of a Redeemer and that it most deeply concerns them with all speed to sue out their pardon in Christ and to rely wholly and only upon Free-grace for pardon and Salvation except they prefer an everlasting furnace of fire and brimstone in Hell before an eternal weight of superabundant glory in Heaven as all most sottishly do that by sinne and Satan are bewitched Drawn up and published for the good of all By R. Younge of Roxwell in Essex Florilegus Add this as a Third Part to the Trial of true Wisdom and those Three Fundamental Principles of Christian Religion Intituled A short and sure Way to Grace and Salvation Sect. XXVII A Loose Libertine meeting with his Friend that had lately been a Formal Christian he greets him as followeth SIR methinks I have observed in you a strange alteration since our last meeting at Middleburrough not only in your behaviour company and converse but even in your countenance What is the matter if I may be so bold Convert Truly Sir you are not at all mistaken nor am I unwilling to acquaint you with the cause if you can affoard to hear it Soon after my return into England I was carried by a Friend to hear a Sermon where the Minister so represented the very thoughts secrets and deceitfulnesse of my heart unto my conscience that I could not but say of him as the woman of Samaria once spake of our Saviour He hath told me all things that ever I did Which made me conclude with that Vnbeliever 1 Cor. 14 24 25. That God was in him of a truth nor could he ever have so done if he were not of God As the young man in the Gospel reasoned with the Pharisees touching Iesus when he had opened his eyes that had been blind from his birth Joh. 9.32 33. Whereupon I could have no peace nor râ—st untill I had further communed with him about my estate for I found my self in a lost condition touching Eternity It faring with me as it did wiâ—h those Iews Act. 2. when Peter by his searching Sermon had convinced them that Christ whom they had by wicked hands crucified and slain was the only Son of God and Lord of glory ver 36 37. And having had the happinesse to enjoy the benefit of his sage advice as I stood in need thereof God having given him the tongue of the learned to administer a word in season to them that are weary Isa 50.4 I blesse God his Word and Spirit hath wrought in me such a change and strange alteration that it hath opened mine eyes that were blind before inclined my will to obedience which before was rebellious softened my heart sanctified and quite changed my affections so that I now love that good which before I hated and hate that evil which before I loved and am delighted with those holy exercises which heretofore did most displease me and am displeased with those vain pleasures and filthy sins which in times past did most delight me Which is such a mercy that no tongue is able to expresse For till that hour I went on in the broad way and worlds road to destruction without any mistrust whereas now God hath been pleased to
for love of Christs Gospel True I went under the notion of an honest man and a good Christian I was baptized into the faith and made a member of Christs vivisible Church but I was so far from indeavouring to perform what I then promised that in effect I even renounced both Christ and my Baptism in persecuting him and all that sincerely professed his Name thinking I did God good service therein Ioh. 16.2 Gal. 1.13 14. Phil. 3.6 Nor was it for want of ignorance that you thought so of me for by nature be we never so milde and gentle we are all the seed of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 and children of the Devil Ioh. 8.44 Yea the very best moral man is but a tame Devil as Athanasius well notes But it is a true proverb the blind eat many a flie and all colours are alike to him that is in the dark Loose Libertine So much the worse is my condition for my conscience tells me there is not a word you have spoken of your self but I can justly apply the same unto my own soul and a great deal more For whereas you have been a moral honest man so that none except your self could tax you for breaking either Gods Law or mans I have been so wicked and prophane that I could most presumptuosly and of set purpose take a pride in my wickednesse commit it with greedinesse speak for it defend it joy in it boast of it tempt and inforce to it yea mock them that disliked it As if I would send challenges into Heaven and make love to destruction and yet did applaud my self and prefer my own condition before other mens saying I was no dissembler yea I hated the hypocrisie of Professors I do not justifie my self and despise others like the Puritanes I am not factious schismatical singular censorious c. I am not rebellious nor contentious like the Brownists and Anabaptists I am a good fellow and love an honest man with my heart c. and as touching a good conscience I was never troubled in mind as many scrupulous fools are I have a good heart and mean as well as the precisest But now I see the Devil and my own deceitfull heart deluded me so that my whole life hitherto hath been but a dream and that like a blind man I was running headlong to Hell when yet I thought my self in the way to Heaven Just as if a beggar should dream that he were a King or a◠if a traitor should dream of his being crowned when indeed he was to be beheaded the case of Laodicea Rev. 3.17 the young man in the Gospel Luk. 18.20 21. and that Pharisee spoken of Luk. 18.11 12. Sect. XXXV Convert It was not your case alone but so it fares with the worst of sinners Only it much rejoyces me that it hath pleased God to open your eyes to see all this in your self For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you Yea we are naturally so blind and deaf and dead in sin and in soul that we can no more discern our spiritual filthinesse nor feel sin to be a burden than a blind Aethiopian can see his own blacknesse or than a dead-man can feel the weight of a burthen when it is laid upon him Act. 28.27 Isa. 6.9 10 And this common experience shews for if you observe it who more jocond confident and secure than the worst of sinners they can strut it under an unsupportable Mass of oaths blasphemies thefts murthers adulteries drunkenness and other the like sins yea can easily swallow these spiders with Mithridates and digest them too when one that is regenerate shrinkes under the burden of wandring thoughts and want of proficiency But why is it they are dead in sin Ephes. 2.1 Revel 3.1 Now lay a mountain upon a dead-man he feels not once the weight To a Christian that hath the life of grace the least sin lyes heavy upon the conscience but to him that is dead let his sins be as heavy as a mountain of lead he feels in them no weight at all Again They are 〈…〉 for what the eye seeth not the heart rueth not Security makes worldlings merry and therefore are they secure because they are ignorant A dunce we know seldome makes doubts yea a fool saies Solomon boasteth and is confident Prov. 14.16 neither do blind men ever blush And the truth is were it not for pride and ignorance a world of men would be ashamed to have their faces seen abroad For take away from mens minds vain opinions flattering hopes false valuations imaginations and the like you will leave the minds of most men and women but poor shrunken things full of melancholy indisposition and unpleasing to themselves Ignorance is a veil or curtain to hide away their sins whereupon they are never troubled in conscience nor macerated with cares about eternity but think that all will be well The Devil and the flesh prophesie prosperity to sin yea life and salvation as the Pope promised the powder-traitors but death and damnation which Gods Spirit threatens will prove the crop they will reap For God is true the Devil and all flesh are lyers When we become regenerate and forsake sin then the Devil strongly and strangely assaults us as he did Christ when he was newly baptized and Pharaoh the children of Israel when they would forsake Aegypt and Herod the children when Christ was come to deliver his people Whence commonly it comes to passe that those think best of themselves that ave least cause yea the true Christian is as fearfull to entertain a good opinion of himself as the false is unwilling to be driven from it They that have store of grace mourn for the want of it and they that indeed want it chant their abundance None so apt to doubt their adoption as they that may be assured of it nor none more usually fear then they that have the greatest cause to hope We feel corruption not by corruption but by grace and therefore the more we feel our inward corruptions the more grace we have Contraries the nearer they are to one another the sharper is the conflict betwixt them now of all enemies the spirit and the flesh are nearest one to another being both in the soul of a regenerate man and in all faculties of the soul and in every action that springeth from those faculties The more grace the more spiritual life and the more spiritual life the more antipathy to the contrary whence none are so sensible of corruption as those that have the most living souls Sect. XXXVI Now for remedy of the contrary there cannot be a better lesson for carnal men to learn than this All the Promises of God are conditional to take place if we repent as all the threatenings of God are conditional to take place if we repent not But wicked men as they believe without repenting their faith being meer presumption so they repent without believing their repentance being indeed