flesh but after the Spirit And as for weeping at crosses sooner and more than for sinnes this doth not alwaies argue more griefe for one than for the other For weeping is an effect of the body following much the temper thereof also sense apprehendeth a naturall object or matter of bodily griefe in such sort that the body is wrought upon more sensibly then when a spirituall object of griefe is onely apprehended by Faith Wherefore bodily teares flow easily from sense of crosses and more hardly from thoughts of sinne For spirituall obiects doe not ordinarily worke passions in the body so soone or so much as bodily and sensible obiects doe Griefe for a crosse is more outward and passionate thence teares but spirituall griefe is more inward sad and soaking in which cases teares lye so farre off and the organs of teares are so much contracted and shut up that they cannot be fetcht or wrung out but with much labour When you are bidden in Scripture to mourne and weep for your sins nothing else is meant but to grieve much and to grieve heartily as they doe who weepe much at outward calamities Besides it is not unknowne that even in naturall griefe dry griefe is many times greater than that which is moistned and overfloweth with teares And some softer effeminate spirits can weep at any thing when some harder spirits can weepe at nothing As the greatest spiritual ioy is not expressed in laughter so neither is the greatest spirituall griefe expressed in teares God regards the inward sighing of a contrite heart more then the outward teares of the eyes An Hypocriticall Saul being overcome with kindenesse and a false-hearted Ahab being upon the racke of feare may in their quames and passions weepe and externally humble themselves and that in part for sinne when a deare child of God may not be able to command one teare The time when Gods Children have most plentie of teares is when the extremitie and anguish of griefe is well over namely When their hearts beginne to melt through hope of mercy Zach. 12. 10. And as for leaving sinne altogether Who ever did in this life Who ever shall Sith there is no man that liveth and sinneth not But mistake not you may through GODS grace have left sinne when yet sinne hath not left you For whosoever hateth sinne and resolveth against it and in the Law of his minde would not commit it but is drawne to it by Satan and by the law of his members and after it is done doth not allow it but disclaimes it with griefe this man hath left sinne And if this bee your case It may be said of you as the Apostle said of himselfe It is not you that doe evill but it is sinne that dwelleth in you that doth it Many yet complaine They cannot Pray Reade Heare Meditate nor get any good by the best Companies or best conference which they can meete with They are so dull so forgetfull so full of distractions and so unfruitfull when they goe about or have beene about any thing that is good that they feare they have no grace at all in them yea it maketh them sometimes to forbeare these duties and for the most part to goe about them without heart It is not strange that it should be so with you so long as there is a Satan to hinder you and so long as you carry about the old man and body of sinne in you Moreover Doe you not many times goe about these holy duties remissely negligently onely cursorily and customarily without preparation thereunto not looking to your feete and putting off your shooes before you approach unto Gods holy things and holy presence Doe you not many times set upon these holy duties in the power of your owne might and not in the power of Gods might or have you not beene proud or too well conceited of your selves when you have felt that you have performed good duties with some life or are you sure that you should not be spiritually proud if you had your desirein doing al these Further doe you not mis-call things calling that no Prayer no Hearing c. or no fruit because you doe them not so well nor bring forth so much as in your enlarged spiritually covetous desires you long to doe and have If it bee thus with you then first mend all these faults confesse them to GOD and aske mercie Next bee thankefull for your desires to Pray Reade Heare c. And for your longing to doe all these as you should Prosecute these desires but alwayes in the sense of your owne insufficiencies and in the power of Gods might then all the forementioned duties shall bee performed with lesse difficultie and with more fruit and comfort Yet because in all these duties you travell to heaven-ward against the hill and your passage is against Winde and Tyde and with a strong opposition of enemies in the way you must never looke to performe them without sense of much difficulty and little progresse in comparison of what you aime at in your desires It concernes you therefore to plye your Oares and to apply your selves by all meanes to worke out your Salvation with feare and trembling I meane with feare to offend in any the aforementioned duties not in feare that you have no grace because you cannot performe them as well as you should and would For sith that you feele and bewaile your dulnesse deadnesse and unprofitablenesse in holy services it argueth that you have life because no man feeleth corruption and disliketh it by corruption but by grace I am sure that such as have no true grace can and doe daily faile in all these duties but either they find not their failings or if they doe yet they complaine not of them with griefe and dislike If you heartily grieve because you doe no better your desires to doe as you should doe are a true signe of grace in you For that dutie is alwaies well done in Gods account where there is truth of indevour to doe it well and true griefe that it is done no better And whereas you say that by reason of want of spirituall life in holy duties you have beene made to neglect them altogether I pray what have you got thereby but much griefe â—â—d unrest But tell me how is â—â— with you are you pleased with your selfe in your neglect or is it so that you can have no peace in your hearts untill you set your selves diligently to do those duties again as well as you can If so it is a signe that you are not quite destitute of saving grace Others when they have beene at holy exercises and in good company have felt joy and sweet comfort therein but afterward oft-times much dulnesse hath suddenly seazed upon them Which maketh them fear they have not root in themselves and that their joyes and comforts were not sound This dulnesse after fresh-feeling-comforts
Civill observed for the good of the Common-weale For choise hath beene oft made of Wednesdayes and Fridayes both in and out of Lent for to be kept for Religious Fasts which needed not to haue been if the Fasts kept before upon those daies had beene judged to be Religious Yet they have their lawfull use so farre forth as they conduce to their civill end and are freed from Popish abuse and superstition And I doe advise you and all good Subjects according as it will stand with your health for to observe them The Fast which I mentioned in the end of the former Chapt. of which I am to treat in this is a Religious Fast Which is A sanctifying a day to the Lord by a willing abstinence from me atâ— and drinke and from delights worldly labours that the whole man may be more thorowly humbled before God and more feruent in prayer This Fast hath two parts the one outward the chastening the body the other inward the afflicting of the soule under which are contained all those Religious acts which concerne the setting of the hart straight to Godward and the seeking helpe of God for those things for which the Fast is intended Take Fasting strictly for bodily abstinence so it is an indifferent thing and is no part of Gods worship But take it as it is joyned with the inward part and is referred to a religious end being a profession of an extraordinary humiliation and a great furtherance to a mans spirituall reasonable service of God giving a stronger and speedier wing to prayer which must alwaies goe with it so it is more then an ordinary worship It hath the name from the outward part it being most sensible But hath its excellency and efficacy from the inward it being that for which the outward is observed It is called Publicke when a whole State or when any one publike Congregation doth fast Private when one alone one family or some few together do fast God commanded a set Fast to be observed yearely of the Iewes By which they forbearing onely the Sacrifices and publike Solemnities did learn to keepe the private according as they had cause Publike and private haue their warrant from the new Testament as well as from the Old Which sheweth that religious Fasts were not peculiar to the Iewes but are a Christian dutie belonging to all fitly qualified for them In the times of the government of Iudges and Kings before the Captivitie and of the Rulers of the Iewes after the Captiuitie we have manifold examples of private Fasts and examples commandement for publike Our Lord and Saviour said that his Disciples after his departure from them should fast giveth direction unto all touching priuate fasts The Apostle speaketh of the husbands and wiues abstaining from the marriage bed that they might giue themselvs to fasting and prayer And wee haue the practise of the Apostles againe and again for publike fasts All which prove fasting to be a Christian duty The case of a mans selfe of others yea of the Church and Common-wealth may be such that ordinary humiliation and prayer will not suffice For as there were some Divels that could not be cast out but by fasting and prayer so it may be that such hardnesse of heart may be grown upon a man or some sinfull lusts â—ay have gotten so much streÌ„gth â—at they will not be subdued â—ome evils private and publike â—hich cannot be prevented or â—â—moved some speciall graces â—â—d blessings which shall not be â—â—tained or continued but by â—â—e most importunate seeking of â—od by Fasting and Prayer Fasting is contrary to that fulâ—…sse of bread which maketh â—…th body and soule more prone â—…vice and indisposed to religiâ—…s duties through drowsinesse â—…head heavinesse of heart dulâ—…sse and deadnesse of spirit â—…ow these being removed and â—…e pamprednesse and pride of 〈…〉 flesh taken down by fasting 〈…〉 body will be brought into â—…jection to the soule and both â—…dy and soule to the will of â—…d more readily then otherâ—…e they would be A day of Fast is a great furâ—…rance to the soule for the better performing of holy duties such as Meditation Reading and Hearing the Word Prayer Examining Iudging and Reforming a mans selfe both because his spirits are better disposed when he is fasting to serious and sad devotion by reason of so large a time wherein the minde is taken wholly off froÌ„ the thoughts cares and pleasures of this life he may be more intent more wholly taken vp in seeking of God Fasting is an open profession of guiltinesse before God and an expression of sorrow and humiliation it being a reall acknowledgement of mans unworthinesse even of the common necessaries of this present life But it is not enough that the body be chastned if that the souls be not withall afflicted because 1 it is else but a meere bodily exercise which profiteth little nay it is but an by pocriticall fast abhorred condemned of God frustrating a chiefe end of the outward fast which is that the soule may be afflicted Afflicting the soule worketh Repentance another chiefe end and companion of Fasting For godly sorrow causeth repentance never to be repented of When the soule is afflicted and heavie laden with sinne then a man will readily and earnestly seeke after God even as the sick will to the Physitian for Physicke and as a condemned man to the King for a Pardon In their affliction saith God they will seeke me diligently If this be true of the outward then much more of inward affliction The afflicted soule is a fit obiect of Gods mercy to him doth God looke that is poore and of a contrite spirit that trembleth at his word yea the bowels of his fatherly compassion are troubled for him that is troubled and ashamed for his sin Moreover upon a day of humiliation if a man deale sincerely this affliction of his soule driveth him quite out of himselfe to seeke helpe of God in Christ and maketh him endevour to bring his soule into such good frame that hee may truely say that he doth noâ— regard iniquity in his heart and haâ— his unfained purpose is and endevour shall be to keep a good â—onscience toward God and man 〈…〉 Whence followeth boldnesse and assurance that God will be found of him and that in Gods owne time and in the best manner he shall have all his holy desires fulfilled All whom lawfull Authority enjoyneth are to keepe a publik Fast so farre as health will permit These onely may keepe a private Fast Such as are of understanding els how can they search out their wayes judge theÌ„selves or pray In publike Fasts if Authoritie thinke fit little children may be caused to fast that the Parents and others of understanding may as by objects of misery be stirred up to a
and take the first opportunity to ask the meaning of some or other whose lips should preserve knowledge Let no colourable pretence keepe you from diligent reading of Gods Booke for hereby you shall be better prepared to heare the Word preached For it layeth a ground-worke to preaching making way to a better understanding thereof and to â—…ter â—eeping it in memory â— also to enaâ—le you to try the Spirits and Doctrines delivered even to try all things and to keepe what is good 1. In reading mens writings reade the best or at least those by which you can profit most 2. Reade a good booke thorowly and with due consideration 3. Reject not hastily any thing you reade because of the mean opinion you have of the authoâ— Beleeve not every thing yoâ— reade because of the great opinâ— on you have of him that wrote it But in all bookes of faith and manners try all things by the Scriptures Receive nothing upon the bare testimony or judgement of any man any further then hee can confirme it by the Canon of the word or by evidence of reason or by undoubted experience alwayes provided that what you call reason and experience be according unto not against the Word If the meanest speake according to it then receive and regard it but if the most judicious in your esteeme yea if he were an Angell of GOD should speake or write otherwise refuse and reject it Thus much for privat reading Onely take this Caution You must not thinke it to be sufficient that you read the Scriptures and other good Bookes at home in private when you shall by so doing neglect the hearing of the Word read and preached in publike For God hath not appointed that reading alone or preaching alone or prayer or Sacraments should singly and alone save any man where all or more then one of them may be had but he requireth the joynt use of them all in their place and time And in this variety of means of salvation God hath in his holy wisedome ordained them to be such that the excellency and sufficiencie of the one shall nâ—t in its right use keepe any from but leade him unto a due performance of the other each serving to make the other more effectuall to produce their common effect namely the Salvation of mans soule Indeed when a man is necessarily hindred by persecution sicknesse or otherwise that he cannot heare the Word preached then God doth blesse reading with an humble honest heart without hearing the Word preached But where hearing the Word preached is either contemned or neglected for reading sake or for prayer sake or for any other good private dutie there no man can looke to bee blessed in his reading or in any other private dutie but cursed rather Witnesse the evill effects which by experience we see doe issue thence viz. Selfe-conceitednesse Singularity in some dangerous opinions many times a rending away from the Church by Schisme yea too oft a falling away into damnable Heresies and Apostacie SECTION 3. Of meditation VVHen you are alone then also is a fit season for you to be taken up in holy meditation For according to a mans meditations such is the man The liberall man deviseth liberall things the Churle the contrary The godly man studieth how to please God the wicked how to please himselfe In meditation the minde or reason of the soule stayeth it selfe upon some thing conceived or thought upon for the better understanding thereof and for the better application of it to a mans selfe for use In meditating a right the mind of man exerciseth two kind of acts the one direct upon the thing meditated the other reflect upon himselfe the person meditating The first is an act of the contemplative part of the undâ—rstanding the second is an act of Conscience The end of the first is to enlighten the mind with knowledge the end of the second is to fil the heart with goodnesse The first serveth I speake of morall actions to finde out the rule whereby you may know more clearely distinctly what is truth what is falshood what is good what is bad whom you should obey what manner of person you should be and what you should doe and the like The second serveth to direct you how to make a right and profitable application of your selfe and of your actions to the Rule In this latter are these two acts First an examination whether you and your actions bee according to the Rule or whether you come short or are severed from it giving true judgment of you according as it doth finde you The second is a perswasive and commanding act charging the soule in every faculty understanding will affections yea the whole man to reforme and conforme themselves to the Rule that is to the will of God if that you finde your selfe not to be according to it which is done by confessing the fault to God with remorse praying for forgivenes returning to God by repentance reforming the fault through new obedience This must be the resolution of the soule And all this a man must charge upon his soule peremptorily commanding himselfe to endevour the doing of them When you meditate joyne all these three acts else you shall never bring your meditation unto a profitable issue For if you onely muse and studie to finde out what is true what is false what is good what is bad you may gaine much knowledge of the head but little goodnesse to your heart If you onely apply to your selfe that wheron you have mused and no more you may by finding your selfe to bee a transgressour lay guilt upon your conscience and terrour upon your heart without fruit or comfort but if to these two you lay a charge upon your selfe to follow GODS counsell touching what you should beleeve doe when you have offended him if you with all bring your heart to a resolution through GODS grace to be such an one as you ought to be and to live such a life for hereafter as you ought to live then unto science you shall adde conscience and to knowledge you shall joyne practice and shall fill your selfe full of comfort Observe Davids meditations you shall finde they come to this issue His thoughts of God and of his wayes made him turne his feete unto Gods testimonies The meditation of Gods benefits made him resolve to take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord and to pay his vowes When he considered what God had done for him and thence inferred what he should be to God againe he saith to his soule My soule and all that is in mee prayse his holy Name When hee in his meditation found that it was his fault to have his soule disquieted in him through distrust he chargeth it to wait on GOD and raiseth up himselfe unto confidence I will meditate on thy precepts saith
fruit and from love and feare of God and from conscience of the Commandement to doe the will of GOD. Not onely feare of wrath and hope of reward causeth him to abstaine from evill and doe good but chiefly love of God and conscience of duty Now if you would know when you obey out of conscience of the Commandement and from love of Christ consider 1. whether your heart and minde stand ready prest to obey every of Gods Cōmandements which you know as well as any and that because the same God which hath given one hath given all If yea then you obey out of Conscience 2. Consider what you doe or would doe when Christ and his true Religion and his Commandements goe alone and are severed from all outward credit pleasure and profit Doe you or will you then cleave to Christ and to the Commandement Then love of Christ feare of God and conscience of the commandement was and is the true cause of your wel-doing especially if you will and indev our all this when that all these are by the world cloathed with perill contempt 3. Consider whether you can goe on in the strict course of godlinesse alone and whether you resolve todoe it though you shall have no company but all or most goe in the way of sinne and withall perswade thereunto When you wil walke with God alone without ether company this sheweth that your walking with God is for his sake So walked Noah and Eliah as he thought But the cause of an hypocrites well-doing is onely goodnesse of nature or good education or meere civility or some common gifts of the spirit also selfe-love slavish feare onely or the like See this in Ahabs repentance in Iehu his zeale and Ioash his goodnesse Ahabs humiliation was only from a slavish feare of punishment The zeale of Iehu was only from earthly ioy and carnall policy for had it beene in zeale for God he would as well have put downe the Calves at Dan and Bethel as to stay the Priests of Baal And the goodnes of Ioash it was chiefly for Iehoiada's sake whom he reverenced and to whom he held himselfe beholding for his kingdome and not for Gods sake For the Scripture saith that after Iehoiadans death his Princes sollicited him and hee yeelded and fell to Idolatry and added this also he commanded Zechariah the High Priest Iehoiada's sonne to be slaine because hee in the name of the Lord reproved him for his sinne Secondly the upright mans actions as they come from a good beginning so they are directed to a good end he propoundeth the pleasing of God and the glory of his Name as the direct chiefe and utmost end not as if a man might not have respect to himselfe and to his neighbour also propounding to himselfe his owne and his neighbours good as one end of his actions somtimes but these must not bee propounded either onely or chiefly or as the farthest and utmost marke but onely as they are subordinate to these chiefe ends and doe lye directly in the way to procure Gods glory For so farre forth as a mans health and well-fare both of body and soule lyeth directly in the way to glorifie God hee may in that respect ayme at them in his actions Our Saviour Christ in an inferiour and secondary respect aymed at his owne glory and at the salvation of man in the worke of mans redemption When he said Glorifie thy Son and prayed that his Church might be glorified here he had respect unto himselfe and unto man But when he said that thy Sonne may glorifie thee here he made Gods glory his utmost end and the only marke which for it selfe hee aymed at The upright mans ayme at his owne and at his neighbours goods is not for themselves as if his desire ended there but in reference to GOD the chiefe Good and the highest end of all things Indeed such is GODS wisedome and goodnes that he hath set before man evill and good Evill that followeth upon displeasing and dishonouring him by sinne that man might feare and avoyd sinne Good and recompēce of reward that followeth upon faith and indevour to obey that he might hope and be better induced to beleeve and obey This GOD did knowing that man hath need of all reasonable helps to affright him from evill and to allure him to good Now God having set these before man man may and ought for these good purposes to set them before himselfe Yet the upright man standeth so straight and onely to God that so farre as he knoweth his owne heart he thus resolved that if there were no feare of punishment nor hope of reward if there were neither Heaven or Hell he would indevour to please and glorifie GOD even out of that duty hee oweth to him and out of that high and awful estimation which he hath of Gods Soveraigntie and from that entire love which hee beareth unto him He that ordinarily in doing of common and earthly businesse though they concerne his owne good hath a will to doe them with an heavenly mind and to an heavenly end principally certainly hee standeth well and uprightly resolved albeit intemptations and feares he doth not alwayes feele the said resolution But the hypocrite not so hee onely or chiefly aymeth at himselfe and in his aime serveth himselfe in all that he doth If he looke to GODS will and glory as sometimes he wil pretend he maketh that but the by and not the main he seeketh Gods will and glory not for it selfe but for himselfe not for Gods sake but for his owne Thus did Iehu Sixthly An upright man may know hee is upright by the effects that follow upon his well-doing First his chiefe inquiry is and hee doth observe what good commeth by it and what glory God hath had or may have rather then what earthly credit and benefit hee hath gotten to himselfe Or if this latter thrust in it selfe before the other as it will oft-times in the best he is greatly displeased with himselfe for it The hypocrit not so all that he harkeneth after is pleased with after hee hath done a good deed is what applause it hath amongst men c. Secondly when an upright man hath done a prayse-worthy action he is not puft up with pride and high conceit of his owne worth glorying in himselfe but hee is humbly thankefull unto God Thankefull that God hath enabled him to doe any thing with which he will be wel-pleased and accept as well done Humble and low in his eyes because of the manifold failings in that good worke and because he hath done it no better and because whatsoever good hee did it was by the grace and power of God not by any power of his own Thus David shewed his uprightnesse in that solemne thanksgiving when hee said But who am I and what is my people that wee should bee able to offer
is not of it selfe so strong nor so constant nor so infallible as the certainty of Faith and Adherence is For sense and reason since the fall even in the regenerate though they will lay some foundation in the Rules of Faith to proceed by yet erring in or misapplying the rule are weake variable and their conclusions are not so certaine as those of pure Faith Because Faith buildeth onely upon Diuine Testimonie concluding without reasoning or disputing yea many times against reasoning So that notwithstanding the excellent and needfull use of Assurance and certainty of Evidence it is Faith and the certainty of Adherence whereby even in feares and doubts a man cleaveth fast to the promises and is that which we must trust unto and is the Cable wee must hold by lest we make ship wracke of all when wee are assaulted with our greatest temptatioÌ„s for then many times our Assurance leaveth us to the mercy of the winds and Seas as Marriners speake If you have Faith though you have little or no feeling you are yet sure enough of Salvation indeede though not in your owne apprehension When both can be had it is best for then you have most strength and most comfort giving you chearefulnesse in all your troubles but that certainty of Faith and cleaving to the naked word and promise is that to which you must trust See this in the examples of most faithfull men for when they have beene put to it it was this that upheld them and in this was their faith commended Abraham against all present sense and reason even against hope beleeved in hope both in the matter of receiving a sonne and in going about to offer him againe unto God in Sacrifice He denyed sense and reason he considered not the unlikelihoods and seeming impossibilities in the iudgement of reason that ever he should have a seed hee being old and Sarah being old and barren or having a seed that he should be saved by that seed sith hee was to kill him in Sacrifice He onely considered the Almighty power faithfulnesse and soveraigntie of him that had promised he knew it was his dutie to obey and to waite and so let all the businesse thereabout to rest on Gods promise For this his faith is commended and hee is said to be strong in faith Iob and David or Asaph shewed most strength of Faith when they had little or no feeling of Gods favour but the contrary rather Iob had little feeling of Gods favour when for paine of body hee said wherefore doe I take my flesh in my teeth and in anguish of soule he said Wherefore hidest thou thy face and takest me for thine enemie Yet then this certainty of faith which made him cleave unto GOD made him to hold fast and say in the same Chapter Though hee slay mee yet I will trust in him When David said to GOD Why hast thou forgotten mee His Assurance was weake yet even then his Faith discovered it selfe when he saith to his soule Why art thou disquieted within mee Hope in God who is the health of my countenance and my God You see then that the excellencie of Faith lyeth not in your feeling but as the Psalmist speaketh by experience in cleaving close unto the promise and relying on God for it upon his bare word For he saith It is good for mee to draw neere to God I have put my trust in the Lord God this was it which secretly upheld him and kept him in possession when as you may see in that Psalme his Evidences and Assurance was to seek Wherefore Beleeve Gods promises made to you in Christ and â—est on him even when you want â—oy and feeling comfort For â—aving Faith you are sure of heaven though you be not so fully â—ssured of it as you desire It will â—e your greatest commendation when you will be dutifull servants and children at GODS Commandement though you have not present wages when you wil take Gods word for that Those are bad servants and children which cannot go on chearfully in doing their Master or Fathers will except they may receive the promised wages 〈◊〉 least in good part aforehand Oâ— every day or except they may have atleast a good part of the promised inheritance presently and in hand Feeling of comfort is part of a Christians wages and inheritance to be received at the good pleasure of God that freely giveth it rather than a Christian duty To comfort and stay ourselves on God in distresse is a duty but this joyous sense and feeling of Gods favour is a gracious favour of God towards us not a duty of ours toward God It is from too much distrust in God and too much self-respect when wee have no heart to goe about his worke except we be full of feeling of his favour Hee is the best child or servant that will obey out of love duty and conscience and will trust on God and wait on him for his wages and recompence Though want of apprehension of Gods favour and of feeling of comfort may be accounted a great misery yet it is not to be judged a proofe of no grace or of no true Faith Thirdly when you say you cannot feele that you have faith or hope you meane as in deede many good soules doe you cannot finde and perceive that these graces bee in you in truth which if you did you would not doubt of your salvation My answer is If faith and hope be in you then if you would judiciously enquire into your selves and feele for them you may finde and feele them and know that you have them For as certainly as he that seeth bodily may know that he seeth so he that hath the spirituall sight of Faith may know that he hath Faith Wherfore try and feele for your Faith and you shall finde whether it be in you yea or no. For this cause 1 Try whether you ever had the necessary Antecedents and Preparatives which ordinarily make way for the seed of Faith to take deepe root 2 Consider the nature of saving Faith and whether it hath wrought in you accordingly 3 Consider some consequents and certaine effects thereof First hath the Law shut you up in your owne apprehension under the curse so that you have beene afraid of Hell And hath the Spirit also convinced you of sin by the Gospell to the wounding of your conscience and to the working of true humiliation causing the heart to relent and to desire to know how to be saved and if after this you have denied your selfe and received and rested on Christ according to the nature of true Faith as followeth then you have Faith If you doubt you were never sufficiently humbled then reade Chap. 16. Sect. 6. Secondly Consider rightly the nature and proper acts of Faith lest you conceive that to be faith which is not and that to be no faith which is You may know wherein true saving Faith consists by
proofe of the graces of his children to give them experience of their owne weakenesse and of his grace towards them and strength in them even in their weakenesse preserving them from being vanquished albeit they fight with Principalities and powers and spirituall wickednesses For Gods strength is made perfect in mans weakenesse That you who are troubled with blasphemous and other abhominable thoughts may be lesse troubled or at least not hurt by them follow these directions which will 1 shew you how to arme your selves against them before they rise oâ— be suggested 2 How to carry your selves when they are iâ— you 3 How both before in and after your conceiving oâ— them First arme your selfe with evident proofes that there is a God that there is a divine spiritual absolute and independent Being from whom and to whom aâ—… all things and by whom aâ—â— things doe consist Next confirme your selfe in a sure perswasion that the Bible and holy Scriptures are the pure word of this onely true God Then labour with your heart that it may so awe and love God and his will that it he alwaies ready to rise against every motion to sinne especially these of the worst ranke with loathing and detestation To be assured that there is a God Consider first the Creation preservation and order of the Creatures How could it be possible that such a world could be made and upheld or that there should be such an order or subordination amongst creatures if there were not a God The heavens give their influence into the ayre water and earth these by vertue hereof and by their inbred properties support afford meanes to all living creatures The creatures without sense serve for the use of the sensitive and all serve for the use of man who although hee be an excellent creature yet of himselfe he is so impotent that hee cannot adde one cubit to his stature nay hee cannot make one hayre white or blacke therefore could not be the maker of these things Moreover If the Creatures were not limited and ordered by a superiour Being they would one devoure another in such sort as to bring all to confusion For the savage beasts would eat up and destroy all the tame and gentle the strong would consume the weake the Sea if it had not bounds set to his proud waves would stand above the mountaines and the Devill who hateth mankinde would not suffer a man to live at any quiet if there were not a God one stronger than the strongest creatures to restraine Satan and to confine every thing to his place order How could there be a continuall vicissitude of things How could we have raine and fruitfull seasons and your soules fed with food and gladnesse if there were no God Thus by the Creation the invisible things of God that is his eternall power and God-head are clearely seene for by these things which are thus made and thus preserved he hath not left himselfe without witnesse that God is and that hee made all things for himselfe even for his owne glory Secondly If all things came by nature and not from a God of nature how then have Miracles which are many times against nature and doe alwayes transcend and exceed the order and power of nature beene wrought For nature in it selfe â—oth alwayes worke even in its greatest workes in one and the â—â—me manner and order For Nature is nothing else but the power â—â— God set in the creatures to support them and to produce their effects in a set order Wherefore if any thing be from Nature or from Miracle it is from GOD the one from his power in things ordinary the other from his power in thing extraordinary wherefore whether you look on things naturall or above nature you may 〈…〉 there â—â— a God Thirdly looke into the admirable workemanship of but one of the Creatures namely your owne soule and in it particularly into your Conscience whence are your fears that you shal be damned What need it nay how could it trouble you for youâ— blasphemous thoughts and other sinnes if it were not privie to iâ— selfe that there is a God which will bring every thought â— judgement Fourthly make use of the eye of faith whereby you may â—â— God who is invisible that morâ— distinctly more certainely anâ— more fully Remember that it is the first principle of all Religion which is first to bee learned namely That God is that all things are made by him and that hee is a rewarder of all those that so beleeve this that they diligently seeke Him That you may assure your selves that the Scriptures are the word of God Consider first how infallibly true they are in relating things past according as they were many hundred yeares before also in foretelling things to come many hundreds of yeares after which you may see to have come to passe and daily to come to passe accordingly Which they could not doe if they were not Gods Word 2. They lay open the particular and most secret thoughts lusts and affections of mans heart which it could not doe if it were not the word of him that knoweth all things in whose sight all things are naked and open 3. They command all duties of piety sobriety and equity and doe prohibit all vice in such sort as all the writings and lawes of all men laid together neither doe nor can doe 4. As the Scriptures discover a state of eternall damnation unto man and conclude him in it so they reveale a sure way of Salvation which is such a way as could never enter into the imagination and heart of any man or of all men together without the Word and revelaâ—â—â—n of the Spirit of GOD wâ—â—â—â— his wisedome found out â—â—d ordained this way 5. The Scriptâ—â—â—â— are a word of power almighâ—â—â— beyond the power of any creature pulling downe strong holds casting downe imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivitie euery thought to the obedience of Christ. 6. Lastly the Scriptures have an universall consent with themselves though penned by divers men which argueth that they are not of any private interpretation but that those holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost Much more might bee said to this point but this may suffice Moreover Against temptations to offer violent hands upon other or your selves you must have these and like Scriptures in readinesse Thou shalt not kill And see thou doe thy selfe no harme and such like And that you may be prepared against all other vile temptations possesse your hearts before-hand with this that these are great wickednesses and against God against your God When Ioseph could say Shall I commit this great wickednesse and sinne against GOD no temptations could prevaile against him Thus much for fore arming
was felt witnesse your owne experience for before the hammer and fire of the Word was applyed to your hearts you had no sense of it and never complained thereof You must not call a heavie heart a hard heart you must not call a heart wherein is a sense of an indisposition to good a hard heart except onely in â—omparison of that softnesse which is in it sometimes and which it shall attaine unto when it shall bee perfectly sanctified in which respect it may bee called hard Whosoever hath his will so wrought upon by the Word that it is bent to obey GODS will if he knew how and if he had power this man whatsoever hardâ—esse hee feeleth his heart is soft not hard The Apostle had a heart held in and clogged with the flesh and the law of his members that it made him to thinke himselfe wretched because hee could not bee fully deliverd from it yet wee know his heart was not an hard heart Amongst those that are sanctified there remaineth more hardnesse in the heart of some than in others and what with the committing of grosse sinnes and a cursorie and slight doing of good duties and through neglect of meanes to soften it the same mens hearts are harder at one time than at another of which they have cause to complaine and for which they have cause to bee humbled and to use all meanes to soften it But it is false and dangerous hence to conclude that such are not in state of grace because of such hardnesse in the heart For as GODS perfectest Children on earth know but in part and beleeve but in part So their hearts are softened but in part SECTION 7. Removall of feares rising from doubts about falling from Grace THere yet remaine many who though they be driven up into so narrow a corner that they cannot reply to the answers given to take away their false feares and doubts but they are inforced to yeeld that they find that they now are or at least have beene in state of grace they now see they have beleeved and have beene and it may bee now are sanctified yet this they feare that they either are already fallen or shall not persevere but shall fall away before they dye Touching falling away from grace first know that of those that give their names to Christ in outward profession there are two sorts The first sort are such who have received onely the common gifts of the Spirit as first illumination of the mind to know the mystery of Salvation by Christ and truâ—y to assent unto it Secondly Together with this knowledge is wrought in them by the same spirit a â—â—â—hter impression upon the affections which the Scripture calleth a taste of the heavenly gift and of the good Word of GOD and of the powers of the world to come By these gifts of the Spirit the souâ—es of these men are raised to an abilitie to doe more than nature and meere education can helpe them unto carrying them further then nature or art can doe by working in them a kinde of spirituall change in their affections and a kinde of reformation of their lives But yet all this while they are not ingrafted into Christ neither are deepely rooted as the Corne in good grouÌ„d nor yet are throughly changed and renewed in the inward man they have at best only a formâ— of godlinesse but have not the power thereof Now these men may and oft doe fall away not onely into some particular grosse sinnes of which they were sometimes after a sort washed but into a course of sinning falling from the very forme of godlinesse and may so utterly loose thoâ—e gifts received that they may turne Papists Anabaptists or may fall into any oâ—her Heresie and in the end become very Apostates yet this is not properly a falling from grace It is onely a falling away from the common graces or gifts of the Sâ—irit and from those graces which they did seeme to have and which the Church out of her charitie did judge them to have but they fall not from true saving grace for they neuer had any For if ever they had beene indeed incorporated into Christ Iesus and had beene sound members of his body and in this sense had ever beene of us as the Apostle Iohn speaketh then they should never have departed from us but should no doubt have continued with us The second sort of such as have given their names to Christ are such as are indued with true iustifying faith and saving knowledge and are renewed in the spirit of their minde whereby through the gracious and powerful working of the sanctifying Spirit the Word maketh a deeper impression upon the will and the affections causing them not onely to taste but which is much more to feed and to drinke deepe of the heavenly gift and of the good word of GOD and of the powers of the world to come so as to digest them unto the very changing and transforming them by the renewing of their mindes and unto the sanctifying of them throughout in their whole man both in spirit soule and bodie so that CHRIST is indeed formed in them and they are become new creatures being made partakers of the divine nature Now concerning these It is not possible that any of them should fall away either wholly or for ever Yet it must bee granted that they may decline and fall backe so farre as to grieve the good spirit of GOD and to offend and provoke God very much against them and to make themselves guiltie of eternall death They may fall so farre as to interrupt the exercise of their faith wound their Conscience and may loose for a time the sense of Gods favour and may cause him like a wise and good father in his iust anger to chide correct threaten them making them beleeve hee will turne them out of doores never to receive them into his heavenly Kingdome untill by renewing their faith and repentance they returne into the right way and doe recover GODS lo-ving countenance towards them againe That you may understand and beleeve this the better consider what grace God giveth unto his elect and how and from what they may fill also you must observe well the difference that is betweene the sinning of the regenerate and unregenerate together with their different condition wherin they stand while they are in their sinnes In the first act of Conversion I speake of men of yeeres and discretion GOD by his Word through his holy Spirit doth infuse an habit of holinesse namely an habit of Faith and all other saving graces this every childe of GOD receiveth when he receiveth that holy annointing of the spirit that which the Scripture calieth the Seede remaining in him Secondly God by his gracious meanes and ordinances of the Gospell doth increase this habit and these graces Now because every man
present note this When was it knowne that an Hypocrite did so see his hypocrisie as to have it a burden to him and to be weary of it and to confesse it and bewaile it to aske forgivenesse thereof hartily of God and above all things to labour to be upright If you finde yourselves thus disposed against Hypocrisie and for uprightnesse although I would have you humbled for the remainder of hypocrisie which you feele to be in you yet chiefly I would have you to be thankfull to God and to take comfort in this that you feele it dislike it thank God therfore for your uprightnes comfort your selves in it and cherish and nourish it in you and feare not Moreover consider this How can it justly bee conceived that hee should be an Hypocrite that from an inward principle from the inward motions of his owne heart shall with a setled and deliberate will out of love to God and goodnesse chiefly and out of hatred of sin resolve to his power to abstaine from all sinne and to doe whatsoever he shall know to bee his duty and withall prayeth heartily unto God for grace to that end truly endevouring the same having a carefull eye not onely to the matter of what he doth but to the manner and truth of it being truly grieved when he faileth in either You being such a one how dare you at once offer wrong to your selfe and to Gods grace in you by judging your selfe to be an Hypocrite Others object that they are already fallen farre backe from what they were They doe not feele so much zeale and fervencie of affection to goodnesse nor against wickednesse nor yet doe they now feele those comforts and cleare apprehensions of GODS favour towards them as they did in their first Conversion It may be that you are fallen back and have lost your first love whence all which you have objected will follow but may it not befall a particular childe of GOD to have lost his first love as well as a whole Church the Church of Ephesus You could not for that conclude that Ephesus was no Church neither can you hence conclude that you are none of Gods children or that you shall not hold out unto the end But if it be so be willing to see your sinne and to be humbled and repent heartily of it follow the Counsell of Christ Remember whence you are fallen repent and doe your first workes and certainely Gods childe shall have grace to repent then you enduring to the end shall not bee hurt of the second death notwithstanding that sinne of yours in losing your first love But it may and it oft doth happen that a true child of God doth in his owne feeling thinke he hath lesse grace now than at first when yet it is not so The reasons of his mistake may bee these At the first a truly regenerate man doth not see so much as afterward hee doth At first you had indeed the light of the Sunne but as at the first spring and dawning of the day whereby you saw your greater enormities and reformed many things yea as you thought all but now since the Sunne being risen higher towards the perfect day shining more clearely it commeth to passe that in these beames of the Sunne as when it shineth into an house you may see many motes and very many things amisse in your heart and life which were not discovered nor discerned before you must not say you had lesse sinne then because you saw it not or more sinne now because you see more For as the eye of your minde seeth every day more clearely and as your hearts grow every day more holy so will sin appeare unto you every day more and more for your constant humiliation and daily reformation For a Christian if he goe not backeward seeth in his latter time more clearely a far off what is yet before him to be done and with what an high degree of affection hee ought to serve God to what an height of perfection he ought to raise his thoughts in his holy ayme which in the infancie of his Christianitie hee could not see Hence his errour Even as it is usuall for a novice in the Vâ—iversitie when hee hath read over a few Systemes and Epitomes of the Arts to conceit better of himselfe for Scholarship than when hee hath more profound knowledge in those Arts afterwards for then he seeth knottie difficulties which his weake knowledge being not able to pry into passed over with presumption of knowing all Secondly Good desires and feelings of comforts are sudden strange and new at first which suddennesse strangenesse and newnesse of change out of state of corruption and death into the state of grace life is more sensible and leaveth behinde it a deeper impression than can possibly be made after such time that a man is accustomed to it or that can be added by the increase of the same grace A man that commeth out of a close darke and stinking Dungeon is more sensible of the benefit of a sweet aire of light and libertie the first weeke than he is seven yeares after he hath enjoyed all these to the full Let a meane man be raised suddenly and undeservedly unto the estate and glory of a King he will be more feeling of the change and will be more taken and exalted in his conceit with the glory of his state for the first weeke or moneth than at ten yeares end wheÌ„ he is accustomed to the heart and state of a King yea more than if at ten yeares end he happen to have the accession of another Kingdome unto him and though double power and glory bee conferred on him Thirdly GOD for special causes doth tender his Scholars when they first enter into Christs Schoole In like manner doth he deâ—dle and deale with his Babes in CHRIST before they can goe alone Doe not wise Schoole-masters the better to enter and encourage their young and fearefull Scholars shew more outward expressions of affection kindnesse towards them and forbeareth to exercise Schoole-discipline on them the fâ—ist weeke that they come to Schoole yea it may bee shew more countenance and familiarity towards them their first weeke then ever after untill the time that they send them to the Vniversitie And hath not a young chilae more attendance and fewer falls in his or her infancie while it is carried in the arms or led in the hands of his father or mother then when it goeth alone But when it goeth alone it receiveth many a fall and many a knocke yet this doth not argue lesse love in the parents or lesse strength in the child now then when it was but one or two yeares old Fourthly Albeit Gods trees planted in his Courts alwayes should and usually doe in their age beare more and better fruit then they did or could doe in their youth yet these through a false apprehension of things