bear false witnesse against ones self and consequently to break the ninth Commandement Luther judged it no small error in Melancthon that to the intent that all might bee ascribed unto God hee imagined Christ to bee further off from his heart than indeed hee was Solt Deo omnia deberi tam obstinatè asserit ut mihi planè videatur saltem in hoc errare quod Christum ipse fingat longius abesse cordt suo quà m sit reverâ But saith hee Certè nimis nullus in hoc est Philippus Certainly Philip is too-much-nothing in this kinde of Self-denyal It is not humility but pride and foul ingratitude not to acknowledge what good soever God hath wrought in us which is not so well taken notice of as it should by some otherwise very good men and women who now and then will needs thus severely passe sentence upon themselves as having not one jot of goodnesse in them It is commonly observed by such as have to do with men of troubled consciences that notwithstanding they will acknowledge such things to bee in themselves as according to the judgement of the word are the very fruits and real effects of Gods sanctifying Spirit yet by no means will they yeeld that there is a work of grace in their hearts They cannot deny but that there is a change in some measure wrought from what they were before the wayes of God which once they counted too strict and precise and hated under that very notion they now love and account them the happiest souls that walk in them and those sinful wayes which they took pleasure in formerly they now loath and detest and are even ashamed of them and as for the people of God whom in times past they hated and persecuted they now love them dearly and esteem them the only excellent ones upon the earth They cannot deny but they have an hungring and thirsting after the Lord Jesus not only to bee made partakers of his Righteousnesse but his Holinesse also and that nothing without this will content and satisfie them and yet notwithstanding all this they will most unreasonably conclude against themselves that they have no grace and for what reason why because they have not such a measure of grace as they apprehend to bee in others they have not such stirring and strong affections such a measure of grief for sin such a measure of love to and delight in the wayes of godlinesse as others have and hence they conclude they have nothing in themselves more than what may bee found in reprobates and that all is but in Hypocrisy Now could they but see it there is much of Self in this that because they have not so much as they would they will not take notice of so much as they have A little grace must bee owned though in the midst of many corruptions As with one eye we should look upon the evil that is in our selves to bee humbled so with the other we should look upon the good that is in our selves to bee thankful I am black but comely saith the Spouse Cant. 1.5 And I sleep but my heart waketh chap. 5.2 2. It is not to deny the power of it when it should bee exercised Power is most properly proper unto grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is alwayes necessarily in it and it can no more bee conceived without it than a body without quantity or fire without heat To say therefore that grace is not a powerful inabling thing is a very contradiction for it is all one as to say that grace is not grace as to say that fire is not hot is all one as to say that fire is not fire Therefore it is but an idle plea for any one that is godly to say hee can do nothing and that upon this account hee must not attempt the performance of any good duty till the Spirit move him Verily there is much of Self in this Non posse praetenditur non velle in causâ est Want of power is pretended but want of will is the cause why those that are godly do no more than they do I doubt not to affirm that ordinarily it is so Austin wondring at himself as hee tells us L. 8. Confess c 9. why the minde when it commands the body should presently bee obeyed but when it commands it self should bee refisted thus at length resolves the case Non ex toto vult non ergo ex to-to imperat it doth not fully will and therefore doth not fully command Nam in tantum imperat in quantum vult in tantum non fit quod imperat in quantum non vult for in so much it doth command in as much as it doth will and in so much that is not done that it doth command in as much as it doth not will Paul exhorts Timothy to stir up the gift of God which was in him 2 Tim. 1.6 and hee gives this reason vers 7 for God hath given us the Spirit of Power of Love and of a sound minde And the Prophet complaines Isa 64.7 There is no man that stirreth up himself to take hold of God Vulg. Nonest qui surgat there is none that riseth up and so Augustine in the fore-mentioned place speaking of the mind as partly willing and partly unwilling to that which is good Non totus assurgit saith hee it doth not fully rise up Therefore though Natural men who are dead in sin bee without strength and so cannot stir up themselves to a further doing and receiving of that which is spiritually good yet spiritual men who are quickened have a power and ought to stir up that power for the doing of that good which God requires and for the receiving of that good which hee hath promised 3. It is not to deny the use of it as an evidence for the clearing of the goodnesse of our spiritual estate Wee know saith the Apostle that wee have passed from death to life because wee love the Brethren 1 John 3.14 And by this wee know that wee love the Children of God when wee love God cap. 5.2 t Quicquid de aliquo universali dicitur universaliter id etiam d◠omnibus dicitur quesub isto uriversali continentur and by every other grace wee may know it as well as by this The least grace if true and sincere is sufficient to salvation and therefore the sense of the least grace is u Culverwell's White Stone sufficient to assurance Grace is the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 and the tree is known by its fruit Mat. 12.33 Some cry up an immediate revelation of the Spirit as the only evidence in opposition to the testimony of a good conscience arguing from inherent Grace but such do not consider that the testimony of Gods Spirit is alwayes accompanied with the testimony of our own spirit as Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witnesse with our spirit that wee are the sons of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 w
Nephews the young man charged him with hypocrisie and dissimulation to whom hee replied I am a cast away a Vessel of Wrath yet dare you call it dissembling and phrensie and can mock at the formidable example of the heavie Wrath of God that should teach you fear and terrour But it is natural to the flesh either out of malice or ignorance to speak perversly of the works of God The Natural man discerneth not the things of God because they are spiritually discerned One of his familiar friends chanced to say that certainly he was overcome with Melancholly which hee over-hearing answered Well be it so seeing you will needs have it so for thus also is Gods wrath manifested against mee you see Brethren what a dangerous thing it is to stop or stay in things that concern Gods glory especially to dissemble upon any termes what a fearful thing is it to bee near and almost a Christian Never was the like example to this of mine and therefore if you bee wise you will seriously consider thereof O that God would let loose his hand from me that it were with me now as in times past I would scorne the threats of the most cruel Tyrants bear Torments with invincible resolution and glory in the outward profession of Christ till I were choaked in the flame and my body consumed to ashes Now seemed to bee verified upon him that whereof in the beginning hee had been so seasonably fore-warned that if hee proceeded to fulfill his wicked promise of Abjuring in his owne Country hee might haply repent too late Now if God would with-draw his hand from him if it might be with him as in former dayes hee would doe and suffer any thing for-Christ but upon no termes might his wish bee granted all hope of mercy was quite cut off from him so that afterwards his purpose of mischieving himself by a Knife that hee had hastily snatched up being by his Friends prevented with indignation hee cryed out I would I were above God for I know hee will have no mercy on me And thus being in continual torment by little and little hee wasted away until at length hee appeared a perfect Anatomy expressing to the view nothing but sinews and bones and at last without any shew of hope or comfort yeelded up the ghost Let none wonder that I have been so large in telling this mans Story some it may be have forgotten it others not so much as heard of it and amongst all the examples of this kind there was none more fit that I could pitch upon whereby to make it known in what a dreadful manner God sometimes punisheth Apostate professors in this life by terrifying of their Consciences Hee punisheth them sometimes also 2 By bringing upon them those evils they thought by means of their sinfull complyance to escape u Acts and Mon l. 10.1710 Cranmer signed a Recantation as hee confessed himself afterwards contrary to the truth hee thought in his heart for fear of Death and to save his Life if it might have been but hee was forced to suffer notwithstanding his recantation as soon as ever hee had signed his Recantation the Queen signes the Writ for his Burning and then was he in a farre worse condition than before having neither inwardly any quietness in his own Conscience nor outwardly any help in his adversaries In the Story of William Wolsey a godly Martyr that was burned at Ely w Acts and Mon. l. 10.1558 this amongst other things is recorded that while hee was in Prison hee delivered some money to bee distributed amongst his friends and to one Richard Denton above all the rest besides the money that he sent him hee desired this Message might also be delivered that he marvelled he tarried so long behind him seeing hee was the first that did deliver him the Book of Scripture into his hand and told him that it was the Truth desiring him to make hast after as fast as he could This Message being delivered Denton returnes this answer I confesse it is true but I cannot burne But hee that could not burne in the Cause of Christ was afterwards burned against his will when Christ had given peace to his Church for some years after his House was set on fire and hee going in to save his goods was burnt in it Thus God sometimes punisheth Apostates here howsoever if they repent not hee will bee sure to punish them hereafter 3 By appointing them their portion with unbeleevers and hypocrites in the Lake that burnes with Fire and Brimstone where shall be weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth for ever So it is fore-told Revel 21.8 The fearful and unbeleeving shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death And it cannot be otherwise for Christ hath said Whosoever shall deny mee before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven Matth. 10.33 and if so there is no remedy but hee must to hell How much better were it for us then by hearkning unto Christ and doing our duty to expose our selves to the greatest of those evills which men can only bring upon our Bodies and are but for a time than by hearkning unto Self and committing of Sin to make our selves obnoxious to the least of those evills which God can bring both upon our Bodies and Soules and also are for eternity Without doubt did wee but beleeve it wee should not bee so averse from them as to endeavour by any sinful means to decline them which is the Second particular required by way of Self-denial in respect of worldly sufferings The next is 3 Not to be so sensible of them as either to bee impatient under them or by any sinful means to endeavour to come out of them It is our duty to bee sensible of our sufferings but wee must take heed wee be not over-sensible Self will bee murmuring and repining against God and quarrelling with Instruments but wee must by no means give way unto it but labour with quietnesse and calmness of spirit whatever our crosse be to bear the burden of it So Paul exhorteth the Romanes Rom. 12.12.14 Be patient in tribulation bless them that persecute you blesse and curse not So hee himself practised 1 Cor. 4.12 13. Being reviled we blesse being persecuted we suffer it being defamed wee entreat So Peter exhorteth servants 1 Pet. 2 18 19 20. Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward for this is thank-worthy if a man for conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when yee are buffered for your faults ye shal take it patiently but if when yee doe well and suffer for it yee take it patiently this is acceptable with God What an hard lesson is this to flesh and bloud and how few professing Servants are there to say nothing of others that make
be poured out upon them hereafter What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power knowne endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Rom. 9.22 Therefore thinkest thou O man that thou shalt escape the Judgement of God Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up wrath against the day of Wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgement of God who will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory honour and immortality eternal life but to them that are contentious and doe not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soule of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Rom. 2 3-9 You thinke that he that made you will not damne you But what saith Isaiah It is a people of no understanding therefore hee that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour Isa 27.11 You thinke God cannot be so cruel but if yee walke according to the course of this World in the lusts of your flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and dye so I tell you he will not only damne you but damne you with delight Ah saith he I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies Isa 1.24 Because I have called and yee refused I have stretched forth mine hand and no man regarded but yee have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your feare cometh as a desolation and your destruction cometh as a Whirlewind when distress and anguish cometh upon you Prov. 1 24-27 Your flying unto the Promises while in this condition will doe you no good for there is no promise in all the Book of God belongs unto any upon any other termes but the renouncing and abandoning of every knowne sin Why doe you look to the Promises and doe not mind the conditions of them If God promise to be merciful to such as beleeve and repent what is that to you so long as you doe neither If God promise absolutely to work the condition in some what is that to you so long as there is no evidence that hee hath wrought it in you God hath no where promised to save men in their sins he hath appointed holiness as a necessary antecedent to eternal happiness for without holiness no man shall see God Hebrews 12.14 If the Promises be yours whose then are the Threatnings who are they against whom the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven in the threatnings of his Word but such as you who hold the truth in unrighteousness For the Law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and prophane for murderers of Fathers and murderers of Mothers for Man slayers for Whoremongers for them that defile themselves with man-kind for men-stealers for lyars for perjured persons and if there bee any other thing that is contrary to sound Doctrine according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God 1 Tim. 1.9 10 11. When the threatnings speake so plaine naming the very sins whereof you know your selves guilty as allowing your selves in them why doe you not make application and say we are the men Oh! what shall we doe to escape the Judgements threatned Doe you not thinke that God is as true in his threatnings as in his promises Remember how he dealt with the old World how with the Israelites in the Wilderness For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape saith the Apostle if we neglect so great salvation Heb. 2.2 Let us therefore feare least a Promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seeme to come short of it for unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the Word preached did not profit them being not mixed with faith in them that heard it Heb. 4.1 2. Some doe not so much as beleeve the Promises to bee true it may be you doe and yet this is not enough to prove you to be as you think you bee beleevers this is not the beleeving to which Salvation is promised for the Devils beleeve both Promises and Threatnings to bee true and doe somewhat more it may bee than you doe they beleeve and tremble James 2.19 and yet shall never be saved God having reserved them in everlasting Chaines under darkness unto the Judgement of the great day Jude vers 6. You beleeve the promises of the Gospel to be true but you doe not so beleeve as to obey the Gospel you doe not so beleeve as to close with the Lord Jesus as he is therein tendred to you to bee your Prophet to teach and instruct you and your King to rule and governe you as well as your Priest to make satisfaction for you You walk on still after the imaginations of your owne hearts and doe your owne wills and therefore doe not beleeve therefore you have no ground to hope that you shall bee saved for you are yet in your sinnes which notwithstanding you account them but infirmities are reigning sinnes for as much as you yeeld your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sinne but doe not yeeld your selves unto God Romans 6.13 Know you not that to whom you yeeld your selves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sinne unto death or of obedience unto life vers 16. and doe you not obey sin when you willingly and readily fulfill its commands When you goe at its bidding and come at its beckning Will you call this an infirmity Will you call this a failing It is but an infirmity and yet you sinne willingly Willingly nay you sinne wilfully like a company of mad-men running on headlong in the wayes of sinne against all checks of Conscience and gainsaying of your understandings Your rebellion witnesseth against you your stubbornness testifieth to your face you are as the swift Dromedaries traversing their wayes as the wild Asses used to the Wilderness that snuffe up the Wind at their pleasure You have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds The Lord hath stricken you but you have not grieved hee hath consumed you but you have refused to receive correction you have made your face harder than a rock you have refused to returne How then can you say you cannot help it Behold you speake and doe evil as you can you doe evil with both hands earnestly adding sinne unto sin as if you could never sinne enough waxing worse and worse and still encreasing unto
more therefore to some if thus to our enemies much more therefore to our friends to our kindred to those of our owne family Wee are some way related to all men in as much as wee are all of one bloud Acts 17.26 and therefore we must love all and doe good unto all but there are some to whom wee are more especially related and those wee must love with a more especial love the nearer the relation the dearer the love and the more endearing must the expressions of it be And in this sense that particular precept to Husbands of loving their Wives Ephes 5.28 and to Wives of loving their Husbands Tit. 2.4 must bee understood To be without natural affection is made a note of the foulest wicedness not only in the Gentiles Rom. 1.31 but also in the professors of the Gospel 2 Tim. 3.3 of whom the Apostle saith that if any provide not for his owne and specially for those of his owne house hee hath denied the faith and is worse than an Infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 The Pharisees taught the people even as the Papists doe at this day that if any one Consecrated his estate to God he was exempted from his duty of releeving his poor Parents if hee could say to his Father or Mother It is Corban that is to say a gift by whatsoever thou mightest bee profited by mee then hee should bee free and they suffered him no more to doe ought for his Father or his Mother But our Saviour sharply reproved them for it telling them that they rejected the Commandement of God that they might keep their owne tradition Mar. 7.9 and that they made the Word of God of none effect through their tradition which they had delivered vers 13. therefore that must be warily understood which hee elsewhere saith If any man come to mee and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters hee cannot be my Disciple Luke 14.26 Wee see it cannot bee understood absolutely Christ means not so but only in some certaine respect when our love to them and our love to Christ are incompatible I shall thus explaine it Wee are to hate Father and Mother Wife and Children Brethren and Sisters as wee are to hate other men We are not to hate them absolutely so as in no respect to bear any love unto them for we are commanded to love them and to doe good unto them even the worst of them as I have shewed above but in some certaine respect as they are enemies to God and to our serving of God so we not only may but wee ought to hate them and in this respect David pleads it unto God as an argument of his sincerity Doe not I hate them O Lord that hate thee and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies Now what follows Search me O God and know my heart try mee and know my thoughts Psal 139.21 22 23. in this respect wee are to hate our nearest relations and it is a special evidence of true love to Christ so to doe And therefore 2 Affirmatively to deny Self in respect of our Relations is 1 Not to connive at them in any way of sin if wee be Superiours It was commanded in the Law of Moses If thy Son or thy Daughter or the Wife of thy bosome intice thee secretly saying Let us goe and serve other gods which thou hast not known thou nor thy Fathers thou shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him neither shall thine eye pitty him neither shalt thou spare neither shalt thou conceal him but thou shalt surely kill him thine hand shall bee first upon him to put him to death and thou shalt stone him with stones that hee dye because hee hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God Deut. 13.6 11. That this for the substance of it shall bee in force in the times of the Gospel is fore-told in the Prophesie of Zechary I will cause the Prophets and the unclean spirit to passe out of the Land and it shall come to passe that when any shall yet Prophesie then his Father and his Mother that begat him shall say unto him Thou shalt not live for thou speakest lyes in the name of the Lord and his Father and his Mother that begat him shall thrust him thorow when hee prophesieth Zechary 13.2 3. A Blessing was pronounced upon the Tribe of Levi c Levitae in punitione Idololatrarum puta adorantium vitulum aureum Exod. 32.28 Non miserti sunt amicorum cognatorum ac fratrum filiorum suorum sed occiderunt eos aeque ac alios perinde ac si eos non novissent imo non vidissent aut ad spexissent A Lapide Qui certe vergem sensus Rivet in Decal 1. Tom. 1354. because in the execution of Justice upon the Idolaters Exod. 32.27 they had no respect to their nearest relations Deut. 33.8 9. And of Levi hee said Let thy Thummim and thy Urim bee with thy holy one who said unto his Father and to his Mother I have not seen him neither did hee acknowledge his Brethren nor know his owne Children Asa was commended for removing his Mother Maachah from being Queen because shee had made an Idol in a Grove 1 King 15.13 but old Eli sharply reproved and threatned with a terrible Judgement for his too much indulgence to his Sons 1 Sam. 2.27 28 29. Wherefore kick yee at my Sacrifice and at my Offering which I have commanded in my habitation and honourest thy Sons above mee to make your selves fat with the chiefest of all the Offerings of Israel my people wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy Father should walk before me for ever but now the Lord saith Be it farre from me for them that honour me I will honour and they that despise mee shall be lightly esteemed Behold the dayes come that I will cut off thine arm and the arme of thy Fathers house and there shall not be an old man in thy house vers 30 31. Hee had reproved his Sons before when their evil report was brought unto him vers 23 24. but this was not enough d Dâ—bebat eos fustâ—bus carcere coerceâ—e quia erat pater Magistratus Paraeus in Lâ—c. he was a Judge in Israel and therefore should have punished them which because hee did not being loath to crosse them therefore God threatens him in this manner here and afterwards saith concerning him Behold I will doe a thing in Israel at which both the cares of every one that heareth it shall tingle in that day I will performe against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house when I begin I will also make an end for I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which hee knoweth because his Sons made themselves