ensample Phil. 4. 9. Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with you 1 Thess 1. 6. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction Heb. 6. 12. That ye be not sloathful but followers of them who through faith and patience inher it the Promises So 2 Tim. 3. 10 11 12 14. Titus 2. 7. 'T was an excellent Law that the Ephesians made viz. That men should propound to themselves the best patterns and ever bear in mind some eminent man Bad men are wonderful in love with bad examples Jer. 44. 16 17. The Indian hearing Praecepto docent Exempla movent that his Ancestors were gone to Hell said That then he would go thither too Some men have a mind to go to hell for company-sake Oh that we were as much in love with the Examples of good men as others are in love with the examples of bad men and then we should be oftner in our closets than now we are Oh that our eyes were more fixed on the pious examples of all that have in them aliquid Christi any thing of Christ as Bucer spake Shall we love to look upon the Pictures of our Friends and shall we not love to look upon the pious examples of those that are the lively and lovely Picture of Christ The pious examples of others should be the looking-glasses by which we should dress our selves He is the best and wisest Christian that writes after the fairest Scripture Copy that imitates those Christians that are most eminent in grace and that have been most exercised in Closet-prayer and in the most secret duties of Religion Hierome having read the Life and Death of Hilarion one that lived most Christianly and died most comfortably folded up the Book saying Well Hilarion shall be the Champion that I will follow his good life shall be my example and his godly death my president 'T is brave to live and die by the examples of the most eminent Saints But Secondly consider when Christ was on earth he did much exercise himself in secret prayer he was often with God alone as you may see in these famous Scriptures Matth. 14. 23. And when he had sent the multitudes away he went up into a mountain apart to pray and when the evening was come he was there alone Christs choosing solitudes for private prayer doth not only hint to us the danger of distraction and deviation of thoughts in prayer but how necessary it is for us to choose the most convenient places we can for private prayers Our own fickleness and Satans restlesness calls upon us to get into such corners where we may most freely pour out our souls into the bosom of God Mark 1. 35. And in the morning rising up a great while before day he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed As the morning time is the fittest time for prayer so solitary places are the fittest places for prayer Mark 6. 46. And when he had sent them away he departed into a mountain to pray He that would pray to purpose had need be quiet when he is alone Luke 5. 16. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed Gr. He was departing and praying to give us to understand that he did thus often When Christ was neither exercised in teaching nor in working of miracles he was then very intent on private prayer Luke 6. 12. And it came to pass in those dayes that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God Did Christ spend whole nights in private prayer to save our souls and shall we think it much to spend an hour or two in the day for the furtherance of the internal and eternal welfare of our souls Luke 21. 37. And in the day time he was teaching in the Temple and at night he went out and abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives Christ frequently joynes praying and preaching together and those whom Christ hath joyn'd together let no man presume to put asunder Luke 22. 39 41 44 45. And he came out and went as he was wont to the Mount of Olives and his Disciples also followed him And he was with-drawn from them about a stones cast and kneeled down and prayed And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood clotted or congealed blood falling down to the ground never was Garden watred before or since with blood as this was And when he rose up from prayer and was come to his disciples he found them sleeping for sorrow Ah what sad pieces of vanity are the best of men in an hour of trial and temptation These very men that a little before did stoutly professe and promise that they would never leave him nor forsake him and that they would to prison for Christ and die for Christ yet when the day of trial came they could nor so much as watch with him one hour they had neither eyes to see nor hands to wipe off Christs bloody sweat So John 6. 15 16 17. Thus you see by all these famous Instances that Christ was frequent in private prayer Oh that we would daily propound to our selves this noble pattern for our imitation and make it our business our work our heaven to write after this blessed Copy that Christ hath set us viz. To be much with God alone Certainly Christianity is nothing else but an imitation of the divine nature a reducing of a mans self to the Image of God in which he was created in righteousness and true holiness A Christians whole life should be nothing but a visible representation of Christ The Heathens had this notion amongst them as Lactantius reports That the wayes to honour their gods was to be like them Sure I am that the highest wayes of honouring Christ is to be like to Christ 1 John 2. 6. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked Oh that this blessed Scripture might alwayes lye warm upon our hearts Christ is the Sun and all the watches of our lives should be set by the Dial of his motion Christ is a pattern of patterns his example should be to us in stead of a thousand examples 'T is not only our liberty but our duty and glory to follow Christ in all his moral vertues absolutely other patterns be imperfect and defective but Christ is a perfect pattern and of all his Children they are the happiest that come nearest to this perfect pattern Heliogabalus loved his Children the better for resembling him in sin But Christ loves his children the more for resembling him in sanctity I have read of some Springs that change the colour of the Cattel that drink of them into the colour of their own waters as Du Bartus sings Cerona Xanth and Cephisus
from the presence of the Lord and 2 Thes 1. â— 8 9. from the glory of his power And therefore put your mouths in the dust and be silent before the Lord. He that hath deserved a hanging if he escape with a whipping hath no cause to murmur or complain and we that have deserved a damning have little cause to murmur or complain of a whipping yea though it should be with a Pestilential-Rod But The thirteenth Lesson that you are to learn by the Rod or by the raging Pestilence is highly fully freely and signally to justifie the Lord and to think well of the Lord to speak well of the Lord under the Rod to that purpose consult these Scriptures Psal 119. 75 137. Neh. 9. 33. Ezr. 9. 13. Lam. 1. 3 5 7 8 10 4 15 18. Dan. 9. 12. 14. 2 Kings 20. 16 17 18 19. Jer. 12. 1 2. Psal 129. 17 18 19 20 21 22. Psal 22. 1 2 3. Psal 97. 2. But The fourteenth Lesson that you are to learn by the Rod or by the raging Pestilence is personal reformation When the Rod smarts the Pestilence rageth God expects that every man should smite upon his thigh and turn from the evil of his doings 2 Chron. 7. 13 14. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain or if I command the locusts to devour the Land or if I send Pestilence among my people If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray seek my face turn from their wicked wayes then will I hear from heaven will forgive their sin will heal their Land that is I will remove the judgments that are upon the Land I will confer upon my reforming people all those favours blessings that they stand in need of Consult these Scriptures Ezr. 10. 14 19. 2 Chron. 30. 8 9. And chap. 29. 8 10 15 16. But The Fifteenth Lesson that you are to learn by the Rod or by the raging Pestilence is to make God your habitation your shelter your refuge Ponder seriously upon these Scriptures Psal 91. 2 9 10. Psal 90. 1. Psal 71. 3. Psal 57. 1. They dwell most safely most securely most nobly who dwell in God who live under the shadow of the Allmighty and who every day lodge their souls in the bosome of eternal loves But The Sixteenth Lesson that you are to learn by the Rod or the raging Pestilence is to set up God as the great object of your fear Psal 119. 119 120. Isa 8. 7 8 13 14. compared When the Judgments of God are either threatned or executed feared or felt it highly concerns us to lift up God as the main object of our fear we should fear the hand that layes on the Rod more than Job 13. 11. Jer. 36. 24. the Rod it self When God takes up the Rod when he draws his sword and when he shoots his Pestilential arrows amongst us O how highly doth it concern us to fear before him with a child-like fear with a reverential fear with a fear that fortifies the heart against sin and with a fear that fits the Soul for duty that draws yea drives the soul to duty But The seventeenth lesson that you are to learn by the Rod or by the raging Pestilence is to expect Gods singular presence with you and his admirable protection over you Consult these Scriptures Isa 43. 2. Dan. 3. 24 25. Gen. 39. 39 40. Psal 23. 4 5. Psal 91. Isa 63. 9. Isa 26. 20 21. Ezek. 9. 4 6. God is above his people and beneth them Deut. 33. 25 26 27. He is under them and over them Cant. 2. 6. He is before them behind them Isa 52. 12. chap. 58. 8. He is on the right hand of his people and he is on the left hand of his people Psal 16. 8. Psal 121. 5. Ps 118. 15 16 Exod. 14. 22 29. God is round about his people Psal 34. 7. Psal 125. 2. And God is in the midst of his people Zech. 2. 5. Psal 46. 5. Psal 12. 6 O the safety the security of the poor people of God for God is above his people beneth them he is under them over them he is before them behind them he is in the front in the rear and he is round about them and in the midst of them But The eighteenth Lesson that you are to learn by the Rod or by the raging Pestilence is to live every day in a fresh choice frequent excercise of grace Consult these Scriptures Psal 91. 2 3 4. Jer. 39. 17 18. Mic. 7. 7 8 9. Psal 40. 1 2. Hab. 2. 1 2 3 4. Jer. 30. â—1 That man that lives dayly in an exercise of grace that man lives every day in heaven on this side heaven what-ever affliction or judgment he is under The Ninteenth Lesson that you are to learn by the Rod or by the raging Pestilence is to quicken up your hearts to seek the Lord by extraordinary wayes means viz. by fasting prayer Consult these Scriptures Num. 16. 46 ult Psal 106. 23 29 30. Isa 22. 2 3 4 5 12 13. Jon. 3. 5 ult 2 Chron. 12. 2 3 4 5 6 7. 1 Kings 21. 21 ult Joel 2. 12 13 14 15. 16 17. But The Twentieth and so the last Lesson that you are to learn by the Rod or by the raging pestilence is To prepare for death it is to be in actual readiness to dye Ah Friends every ach every pain every disease is one of deaths warning pieces There is not a head-ach not a tooth-ach not a gripe not a grief not a fall not a wrench not a plague-sore but is a divine warning to man to prepare to die 'T is a soleemn work to die and therefore we had need prepare to die 'T is a work that is to be done but once and therefore we had need prepare to do that work well that is to be done but once In this world we hear often pray often read often and meditate often eat often drink often Job 14. 14. Heb. 9. 27. and that which is worst we sin often but we must die but once Death will try all our graces all our experiences all our evidences all our comforts all our attainments and all our He that would see more of this may read my String of Pearls and the Funeral Sermon that is at the end of my Book of Assurance enjoyments and therefore we had need to prepare to die Though there is nothing more certain than death yet there is nothing more uncertain than 1. The time when we shall die 2. The place where we shall die And 3. The manner how we shall die as whether we shall die a sudden death or a lingring death or a violent death or whether we shall fall by the sword abroad or by famine or pestilence at home or whether we shall fall by this disease or that and therefore we
had need be alwayes in an actual readiness to die No man shall die the sooner but much the easier and the better for preparing to die And therefore let us alwayes have our loins girt and our lamps burning As death leaves us so Judgment will find us and there fore we have very great cause to secure our interest in Christ a changed nature and a pardon in our bosomes that so we might have nothing to do but to die Except we prepare to die all other preparations will do us no good In a word Death is a change a great change 't is the the last change till the resurrection 't is lasting yea an everlasting change for it puts a man into an eternall condition of happiness or misery 't is an universal change all persons must pass under this flaming Sword That Statute Law Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return will Gen. 3. 18. sooner or later take hold on all mortals and therefore it highly concerns us to prepare for death And thus I have shewn you these Lessons that you are to learn by the Rod. The Lord grant that your souls may fall under those fresh those choice those full and those constant influences and communications of his holy Spirit as may enable you to take out those twenty Lessons that I have laid open before you I confess the Epistle is large but do but consider your own conditions and the present dispensations under which we are cast then I suppose you will not call it by the name of a tedious Epistle Dear Friends the following discourse on Closet-prayer I heartily recommend to your serious perusal I have many reasons to hope that when you have once read it over you will be more in love with Closet-prayer than ever that you will set a higher price upon Closet-prayer than ever that you will make a better and fuller improvement of Closet-prayer than ever yet you have done Consider what I say in my Epistle to the Reader labour so to manage this little Treatise that now I put into your hands that God may be glorified your own souls edified comfored encouraged in the wayes of the Lord and that you may be my Crown and joy in the great day of our Lord Jesus So 1 Thes 2. 19 20. wishing that the good will of him that dwelt in the bush may abide upon you and yours for ever I take leave and rest Dear Friends Your souls servant in our Dear Lord Jesus THOMAS BROOKS TO THE READER Christian Reader THe Epistle Dedicatory being occasionally so large I shall do little more than give thee the grounds and reasons of sending forth this little piece into the World especially in such a day as this is Now my reasons are these First Because God by his present dispensations calls more loudly for Closet-prayer now than he hath done in those last twenty years that are now past over our heads See more of this in the 16. Argument for Closet-prayer pag. 103 to p. 108. Secondly Because I have several reasons to fear that many Christians do not clearly nor fully understand the necessity excellency and usefulness of this subject and that many O that I could not say any live in too great a neglect of this indispensible duty and that more than a few for want of light erre in the very practice of it Thirdly For the refreshing support and encouragement of all those Churches of Christ that walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost c. especially that particular Church to whom I stand related Fourthly To preserve and keep up the power of Religion and Godliness both in mens houses hearts and lives The power of Religion and Godliness lives thrives or dies as Closet-prayer lives thrives or dies Godliness never rises to a higher pitch than when men keep closest to their Closets c. Fifthly Because Closet-prayer is a most sovereign Remedy a most precious Antidote of Gods own prescribing against the Plague that now rageth in the midst of us 1 Kings 8. 37 38 39 c. Sixthly Because every man is that really which he is secretly Never tell me how handsomly how neatly how bravely this or that man acts his part before others but tell me if thou canst how he acts his part before God in his Closet for the man is that certainly that he is secretly There are many that sweat upon the stage that are key-cold in their Closets Seventhly Though many worthies have done worthily upon all other parts of prayer yet there are none either of a former or later date that have fallen under my eye that have written any Treatise on this Subject I have not a little wondred that so many eminent Writers should pass over this great and princely duty of Closet-prayer either with a few brief touches or else in a very great silence If several Bodies of Divinity are consulted you will find that all they say clearly and distinctly as to Closet-prayer may be brought into a very narrow compass if not into a nut-shell I have also enquired of several old Disciples whether among all the thousand Sermons that they have heard in their dayes that ever they have heard one Sermon on Closet-prayer and they have answered No. I have also enquired of them whether ever they had read any Treatise on that Subject and they have answered No. And truly this hath been no small encouragement to me to make an offer of my mite and if this small attempt of mine shall be so blest as to provoke others that have better heads and hearts and hands than any I have to do Christ and his people more service in the handling of this choice point in a more copious way than what I have been able to reach unto I shall therein rejoyce Eighthly and lastly That favour that good acceptance and fair quarter that my other poor labours have found not onely in this Nation but in other Countryes also hath put me upon putting pen to paper once more and I hope that the good will of him that dwelt in the bush will rest upon this as it hath to the glory of free grace rested upon my former endeavers I could add other reasons but let these suffice Good Reader when thou art in thy Closet pray hard for a poor weak worthless worm that I may be found faithful and fruitful to the death that so at last I may receive a Crown of Life So wishing thee all happiness both in this lower and in that upper World I rest Thine in our Dear Lord Jesus THOMAS BROOKS Books printed and are to be sold by John Hancock at the first shop in Popes-head-Alley next to Cornhill NIne Books lately published by Mr. Thomas Brooks late Preacher of the Gospel at St. Margarets New Fish-street 1 Precious Remedies against Satans Devices Or Salve for Believers and Unbelievers sores being a Companion for those that are in Christ or
brother front the hand of Esau for I fear him lest he will come and smite me and the Mother with the children or upon the children meaning he he will put all to death Some look upon the words to be a metaphor taken from Fowlers who kill and take away the young and the Dams together contrary to that old law Deut. 22. 6. Others say 't is a Phrase that doth most lively represent the tenderness of a mother who seeing her children in distress spares not her own body nor life to hazard the same for her childrens preservation by interposing See Hos 10. 14. her self even to be massacred together with and upon them When Jacob and all that was near and dear unto him were in eminent danger of being cut off by Esau and those men of blood that were with him he betakes himself to private prayer as his only City of refuge against the rage and malice of the mighty And so when Jeremiah was in a solitary and loathsome Dungeon Private prayer was his meat and drink it was his only City of refuge Jer. 33. 1 2 3. Moreover the word of Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time while he was yet shut up in the Court of the prison saying Thus saith the Lord the Maker thereof the Lord that formed it to establish it the Lord is his Name Call unto me and I will answer thee I will shew thee great and mighty or hidden things which thou knowest not When Jeremiah was in a lonesome loathsome Prison God encourages him by private prayer to seek for further discoveries and revelations of those choice and singular favours which in future times he purposed to confer upon his people So 2 Chron. 33. 11 12 13. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters or chains and carried him to Babylon And when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed unto him and he was intreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdome Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God When Manasseh was in fetters in his enemies country when he was stript of all his Princely glory and led captive into Babylon he betakes himself to Private prayer as his only City of refuge and by this means he prevailes with God for his restauration to his Crown and Kingdome Private prayer is a City of refuge that no power nor Policy no craft nor cruelty no violence nor force is ever able to surprize Though the joynt prayers of the People of God together were often obstructed and hindered in the times of the ten Persecutions yet they were never able to obstruct or hinder secret prayer Private prayer When men and Devils have done their worst every Christian will be able to maintain his Private trade with Heaven Private prayer will shelter a christian against all the National Domestical and Personal stormes and tempests that may threaten him When a man is lying upon a sick bed alone or when a man is in prison alone or when a man is with Job left upon the Dunghil alone or when a man is with John banished for the Testimony of Jesus into this or that Island alone O then private prayer will be his meat and drink his shelter his hiding place his Heaven When all other Trades faile this Trade of private Prayer will hold good But. Fourteenthly Consider that Jer. 16. 17. Job 34. 21. Prov. 5. 21. Jer. 32. 19. Rev. 2. 23. Lam. 3 56. God is omnipresent We cannot get into any blind hole or dark corner or secret place but the Lord hath an eye there the Lord will keep us company there Math. 6. 6. And thy father which seeth in secret shall reward the openly So v. 18. there is not the darkest durtiest hole in the world into which a saint creeps but God hath a favourable eye there God never wants an eye to see our secret tears nor an eare to heare our secret cryes and groans nor a heart to grant our secret requests and therefore we ought to pour out our souls to him in secret Psal 38. 9. Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hide from thee Though our private desires are never so confused though our private requests are never so broken and though our private groanings are never so much hidden from men yet God eyes them all God records them all and God puts them all upon the file of heaven and will one day crown them with glorious answers and returns We cannot sigh out a prayer in secret but he sees us we cannot lift up our eyes to him at midnight but he observes us The eye that God hath upon his people when they are in secret is such a special tender eye of love as opens his ear his heart and his hand for their good 1 Pet. 3. 12. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers or as the Greek hath it his ears are unto their prayers If their prayers are so faint that they cannot reach up as high as Heaven then God will bow the heavens God is totus oculus all eye and come down to their prayers Gods eye is upon every secret sigh every secret groan every secret tear and every secret desire and every secret pant of love and every secret breathing of soul and every secret melting and working of heart all which should encourage us to be much in secret duties in closet-services As a Christian is never out of the reach of Gods hand so he is never out of the view of Gods eye If a Christian cannot hide himself from the Sun which is Gods Minister of light how impossible will it be to hide himself from him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the Sun In every private duty a christian is stil under the eye of Gods omnisciency When we are in the darkest hole God hath windows into our breasts and observes all the secret actings of our inward man The 1 Tim. 2. 8. eye of God is not confined to this place or that to this company or that God hath an eye upon his people as well when they are alone as when they are among a multitude as well when they are in a corner as well as when they are in a croud Diana's Temple was burnt down when she was busie at Alexanders birth and could not be at two places together But God is present both in Paradise and in the wilderness both in the family and in the closet both in publick and in private at the same time God is an omnipresent God he is Non est ubi ubi non est Deus every where as he is included in no place so he is excluded from no place
pedigree from the dirt and are akin to clay One calls the body the blot of nature another calls it the Soul's beast a sack of dung worms-meat another calls it a prison a sepulchre and Paul calls it a body of vileness Now for a man to make so much adoe about the distempers of his body to excuse the neglects of his Soul is an evil made up of many evils But really Sir I am so ill and my body is so distempered and indisposed that I am not able to mind or meddle with the least things of the world Well if this be so then know that God hath on purpose knockt thee off from the things of this world that thou may'st look the more effectually after the things of another world The design of God in all the distempers that are upon thy body is to wind thee more off from thy worldly trade and to work thee to follow thine heavenly trade more close Many a man had never found the way to his Closet if God by bodily distempers had not turn'd him out of his shop his trade his business his all c. Well Christians remember this once for all if your indisposition to Closet-prayer doth really arise from bodily distempers then you may be confident that the Lord will pitty you much and bear with you much and kindly accept of a little You know how affectionately Parents and ingenious Masters doe carry it towards their children and servants when they are under bodyly distempers and indisposition and you may be confident that God will never carry it worse towards you than they doe towards them Ponder often upon that Ezek. 34. 4 16 21 22. vers But Sixthly and lastly I shall answer this Objection by way of distinction thus First There is a contracted indisposition to private prayer and there is an involuntary indisposition to private prayer there is a contracted indisposition and that is when a man by his wilful sinning against light knowledge conviction c. contracts that guilt that lyes as a load upon his Conscience Now guilt makes the Soul shye of God and the greater the guilt is the more shye the Soul is of drawing neer to God in a corner The Child that is sensibly under guilt hides himself as Adam did in the day from his Fathers Gen. 3. 7. 8. eye and at night he slips to bed to avoid either a chiding or a whipping from his Father Guilt makes a man fly from God and fly from Prayer 'T is a hard Job 11. 14 15. Jer. 20. 3 4. thing to look God in the face when guilt stares a man in the face Guilt makes a man a terrour to himself now when a man is a terrour to himself he is neither fit to live nor fit to die nor fit to pray When Poison gets into the body it works upon the spirits and it weakens the spirits and it endangers life and unfits and indisposes a man to all natural actions 't is so here when guilt lyes heavy upon the conscience it works upon the Soul it weakens the Soul it endangers the Soul and it doth wonderfully unfit and indispose the Soul to all holy actions Guilt fights against our Souls our Consciences 1 Pet. 2. 11. our Comforts our Duties yea and our very graces also There is nothing that wounds and lames our graces like guilt there is nothing that weakens and wasts our graces like guilt there is nothing that hinders the activity of our graces like guilt nor there is nothing that clouds our evidences of grace like guilt Look what water is to the fire that our sinnings are to our graces evidences and duties Guilt is like Prometheus Vulture that ever lyes gnawing 'T is better with Evagrius to lye on a Bed of straw with a good Conscience than to lye on a Bed of Downe with a guilty Conscience What the Probationer Disciple said to our Saviour Matth. 8. 19. Master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest that a guilty Conscience saith to the sinner whithersoever thou goest I will follow thee If thou goest to a fast I will follow thee and fill thy mind with black and dismal apprehensions of God If thou goest to a feast I will follow thee and shew thee the Hand-writing on the Wall If thou goest abroad Dan. 5 5. I will follow thee and make thee afraid of every Leaf that wags thou shalt look upon every Bush as an armed man and upon every man as a Devil If thou stayest at home I will follow thee from room to room and fill thee with horrour and terrour If thou lyest down to rest I will follow thee with fearful dreams and tormenting apparitions If thou goest into thy Closet I will follow thee and make thy very Closet a Hell to hold thee It is storied of King Richard the third that after he had murthered his two Nephews in the Tower guilt lay so hard upon his Conscience that his sleeps were very unquiet for he would often leap out of his Bed in the dark and catching his sword in his hand which hung by his bed side he would goe distractedly about his Chamber seeking for the Traytor So Charls the ninth of France after he had made the streets of Paris run down with the blood of the Protestants he could seldome take any sound sleep nor could he endure to be awakened out of his sleep without musick Judge Morgan that passed the Sentence of Condemnation upon Jane Grey a virtuous Lady shortly after fell mad and in his raving cryed out continualy Take away the Lady Jane from me Take away the Lady Jane from me and in that horrour ended his wretched life James Abyes going to execution for Christ's sake as he went along he gave his money and his cloaths to one and another till he had given all away to his shirt whereupon one of the Sheriffs men fell a-scoffing and deriding of him and told him that he was a mad-man and an heretick and not to be believed but as soon as the good man was executed this wretch was struck mad and threw away his cloaths and cryed out that James Abyes was a good man and gone to Heaven but he was a wicked man and was damned and thus he continued crying out till his death Certainly he that derides or smites a man for walking according to the word of the Lord the Lord will first or last sosmite and wound that mans Conscience that all the Physitians in the world shall not heal it Now if thy indisposition to private prayer springs from contracted guilt upon thy Conscience then thy best way is speedily to renew thy Repentance and greatly to judge and humble thine own soul and so to act Faith afresh upon the blood of Christ both for pardoning mercy and for purging grace When a man is stung with Guilt 't is his highest wisdome in the world to look up to the Brazen Serpent and not to spend his time or create torments to