but if we doe any good we doe it faintly and rawly and slackly When did we talke without vanity when did we give without hypocrisie when did we bargaine without deceit when did we reprove without anger or envy when did wee heare without wearisomnesse when did we pray without â—â—diousnesse such is our corruption as if we were made to sinne in deed in word or in thought O the pride passion lust envy ignorance awkwardnes hypocrisie infidelity vaine thoughts unprofitableness and the like which cleaves to our very best actions and how full of infirmity are our primest performances for we have not done any one action legally justifyable all our dayes neither can ought we doe abide the examination of â—hy strict justice untill it be covered with thy Sonnes righteousnesse and the corruption thereof washed away in his most pretious bloud Yea if thou shouldest behold these our prayers as they be in themselves without having respect unto us in Christ Jesus they would appeare no better in thy sight then a menstruous cloth Yet miserable wretches as we are we like our owne condition so well that we are not willing to goe out of our selves unto thee who wouldest new make us according to the Image of thy Sonne for by long custome wee have so turned delight into necessity that we can as willingly leave to live as leave our lusts yea we loâ—e our sinnes so well and so much above our soules that except thou change our hearts we shall chuse to goe to Hell rather then part with them Thou hast used all manner of meanes to reclaime us but nothing will serve neither the menaces and terrours of thy Law nor the precepts and swéet promises of thy Gospellâ— can doe it We are neither softned with benefits nor broken with punishments thy severity will not terrify us nor thy kindnesse mollify us No shouldest thou send an Angel from the dead to warne us all perswasions would bee in vaine since we heare Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles daily and are never the better True O Lord there is a maine reason of it which we cannot now helpe for naturally we have eyes and sée not eares and heare not hearts and understand not Yea we are quite dead in sinne untill thou doest boare our eares soften our hearts and breake in upon our consciences by the irresistible power of thy Spirit and by going along with thy Word shalt quicken our soules and regenerate the whole man anew In the meane time we are reâ—dy to receive all and returne nothing but sinne and disobedience wherein we more then abound for we have done more against theâ— this wéeke then we have done for thee ever since we were borne And whereas the least of thy mercies is greater thâ—n all the â—urteâ—â—es of men we are not so thankefull to thee for them all as we are to a friend for some one good turne Neither doe we alone lay the fault upon our inability or want of â—upply from thee but upon our owne peâ—vâ—rsnesse and want of endeavour and putting forth that strength and ability which thou hast given us for how long hast thou O most gratious God stood at the doores of our hearts and how often hast thou knockt when we have refused to open and let thee in And if at any time we have beene over-ruled by the good motions of thy holy Spirit yet have we still returned with the Dog to our vomit and with the Sow refused the cleare streames of thy Commandements to wallow in the myre of our filthy sinnes whereby wee have justly deserved that thou shouldest have called us to an account in the dead of our sléepe and have judged us to eternall destruction and never have suffered us againe to have seene the light of the Sun the remembrance of which together with our other rebellions when we rightly consider them makes us even spéechlesse like him in the Gospell as neither expecting mercy nor daring to aske it Howbeit when we call to minde thy manifold mercies shewed to Manasses Paul Mary Magdalen the Theefe and the Prodigall Sonne with many others who were no lesse vile then we and who notwithstanding found thee more ready to heare then they were to aske and to give above what they durst presume to beggâ— wee stay our selves and receive some incouragement from the application of the merits of Christ Jesus which thou hast promised shall be a sufficient satisfaction for all our sinnes and the rather for that thou â—allest all that are weary and heavy laden with the burthen of their sinnes unto thee with promise that thou wilt ease them and hast promised that though our sinnes be as red as scarlet thou wilt make them white as snow and that thou wilt not the death of a sinner but that he turne from his wickednesse and live and that at what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sinnes from the bottome of his heart thou wilt blot out all his wickednesse out of thy remembrance And least we should yet be discouraged thou who diddest no lesse accept the will of David then the act of Solomon hast further promised that if there be but first a willing minde thou wilt accept of us according to that which we have and not according to that which we have not But forasmuch O Lord as thou knowest that it is not in man to turne his owne heart unlesse thou dost first give him grace to convert for thou O Lord must worke in us both the will and the deed and being that it is as easie with thee to make us righteous and holy as to bid â—s be such O our God give us ability and willingnesse to doe what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt and thou shalt finde us ready to doe thy blessed will Wherefore give to us and increase in us all Christian graces that we may know and beleeve and repent and amend and persevere in well doing Create in us O Lord a new heart and renew a right spirit within us take away from us our greedy desire of committing sinne and enable us by the powerfull assistance of thy grace more willingly to obey thee in every of thy Commandements then ever we have the contrary Yea let thy Spirit beare such rule in every one of our hearts that neither Satan that forraine enemy and roring Lyon which seeketh to devoure us may invade us nor our own concupiscence that hâ—mebred traytor may by conspiring with the world worke the ruine and overthrow of our poore soules but that all our wils which have beene altogether rebellious our hearts which have beene the receptacles of uncleane spirits and our affections which are altogether carnall may be wholly framed according to thy holy and heavenly will And that we may the better know how to avoyde the evill and doe the good let thy Word as a light discover unto us all the â—â—eights and snares of our spirituall adversaries yea make it
wants are so And be sure to aske good things to a good end and then if we aske thus according to Gods will in Christs name we know that he will heare us and grant whatsoever petitious we have desired 1 John 5. 14 15. CHAP. VII That it weanes them from the love of the world 4. FOurthly our sufferings weane us from the love of the world yea make us loath and contemne it and contrary wise fix upon Heaven with a desire to be dissolved S. Peter at Christs transfiguration enjoying but a glimpse of happinesse here was so ravished and transported with the love of his present estate that hee breakes out into these words Master it is good for us to bee here hee would faine have made it his dwelling place and being loath to depart Christ must make three Tabernacles Mat. 17. 4. The love of this world so makes us forget the world to come that like the Israelites we desire rather to live in the troubles of Aegypt then in the land of promise Whereas S. Paul having spoken of his bends in Christ and of the spirituall combate concludeth I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1. 22 23. Yea it transported him to heaven before hee came thither as Mary was not where shee was but where her desire was and that was with Christ. Prosperity makes us drunke with the love of the world like the Gadereans who preferred their swine before their soules or him in the parable that would goe to see his farme and lose heaven or the Rich glutton who never thought of heaven till he was in hell and thousands more who if they have but something to leave behinde them 't is no matter whether they have any thing to carry with them But as sleep composeth drunkennes so the crosse will bring a man to himselfe againe for when the staffe we so nourish to bare us becomâ— a cudgell to beat us when we finde the world to serve us as the Jewes did Christ carry us up to the top of the hill and then strive to throw us downe headlong Luke 4. 29. When the minde is so invested with cares molested with griefe vexed with paine that which way soever we cast our eyes wee finde cause of complaint wee more loath the world then ever we loved it as Amnon did his sister Tamor yea when life which is held a friend becomes an enemy then death which is an enemy becomes a friend and is so accounted as who having cast Ankor in a safe Road would againe wish himselfe in the stormes of a troublesome Sea Yea in case wee have made some progresse in Religion and found a good conscience sprinkled with the bloud of Christ the marrow of all comforts and resolved with Joseph to forsake our Coate rather than our Faith yet if the world but make new offers of preferment or some large improvement of profits and pleasures we begin to drawback or at least we know not whether to chuse like a horse that would and yet would not leap a ditch And after a little conflict having halfe yeelded to forsake that with joy which cannot be kept but with danger we resolve thus The same God which hath made my crosses cheerefull can aswell make my prosperity conscionable Why then should I refuse so faire an offer but alas having made our obayce it is not long ere these pleasures and honours these â—icbes and abundance prove as thornes to choake the good seed of Gods word formerly sowâ—e in our hearts as it is Math. 13. 22. For prosperity to Religion is as the Ivy to the Oake it quickly eates out the heart of it yea as the Misselto and Ivy sucking by their straight embraces the very sap that onely giveth vigetation from the rootes of the Oake and Hawthorne will stourish when the Trees wither so in this case the corrâ—ption of the good is alwayes the generation of the evill and so on the contrary crosses in the estate diseases of the body malladies of the minde are the medsons of the soule the impayring of the one is the repayring of the other When no man would harbour that unthrift Son in the Gospell hee turned back againe to his Father but never before Lais of Corinth while she was young doated upon her glasse but when she grew old and withered shee loathed it as much which made her give it up to Venus When Satan is let loose upon us to shew us our sinnes and the danger wee are in then farewell profit farwell pleasure treasure and all rather than I will endure such a racke such a hell in my conscience Whereas if wee should onely heare of misery or reade what is threatned in the word though it might a little fright us it would never mend us Birdes are frighted at first with the husbandmans scar-crowes but after a while observing that they stir not are bold to sit upon them and defile them Thus as harmonious sounds are advanced by a silent darkenesse so are the glad tydings of salvation The Gospell never sounds so sweet as in the night of persecution or of our private affliction When Virtue came downe from heaven as the Poets faigne rich men spurned at her wicked men abhorred her Courtyors scoft at her Citizens hated her and being thrust out of doores in every place she came at last to her sisters poverty and affliction and of them found entertainment When it ceased to bee with Sarah after the manner of the world shee conceived Isaac so when it ceaseth to be with us after the manner of the worlds favorites we conceive holy desires quietnesse and tranquillity of minde with such like spirituall contentments Yea we make faith our onely option whereas before we kept open house for all vices as the States are said to keepe open house for all Religions or if not it fares with piety as with holy water every one praiseth it and thinkes it hath some rare vertue in it but offer to sprinkle them with the â—â—me they shut their eyes and turne away their faces and no marvell for wee never taste this manna from heaven untill we leave the leaven of this Aegypt Now better the body or estate perish than the soule though wee are too sensuall to consent unto it Plus pastor in vulnere gregis sui vulneratur The losse of a gracelesse childe cannot but greive the father though the father himselfe were in danger of mischiefe by that childe as David mourned for Absolom that would have cut his throat True prosperity is hearty meat but not digestible by a weake stomack strong wine but naught for a weake braine The prosperity of fooles destroyeth them Prov. 1. 32. So that all temporall blessings are as they hit but if the minde doe not answer they were better mist. The more any man hath the more cause he hath to pray Lord leade us not into temptation for wee cannot so heartily thinke of our home
people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin An easie impâ—rtunity will perswade Orpah to returne from a Mother in law to a Mother in nature from a roylesome journey to rest from strangers to her kindred from a hopelesse condition to likelyhoods of contentment A little intreaty will serve to move nature to be good to it selfe but to persist in actions of goodnesse though tyranny torment death and hell stood in our way this is that conquest which shall be crowned with glory Nature is like Glasse bright but brittle The resolved Christian like Gold which if we rub it or beat it or melt it it will endure the teste the touch the hammer and still shine more orient For Vertues like the Stars shine brightest in the night and fairest in the frost of Affliction But this is not all for affliction will try and make knowne the truth and measure of each grace in particular A temptation is like a question that examines what is in a man As Balaam was tryed and examined whether hee feared God or loved 〈◊〉 world most when Balack told him am not I able indeed to promote thee to honour And Joseph no lesse when in the armes of his tempting Mistresse but the one basely yeelds and is casheered for an hypocrite the other comes off with an holy scorne and God seales him châ—ste with a probatus est 2. Againe secondly Affliction is a notâ—ble meanes to try whether wee have faith or not The house built upon the sand carries as good a shew as the house built on the Rock and in a clear sun-shine day glisters as gallantly but the windes and tempests when they are up will quickly shew the differenâ—â— Nothing is more easie then to trust God when our Barnes and Coffers are full And to say give us our daily bread when wee have it in our Cubbards But when we have nothing when wee know not how nor whence to get any thing then to depend upon an invisible bounty this is a true and noble act of faith Thirdly what our wisedome and humillity is Plato being demanded how hee knew a wise man answered When being rebuked hee would not bee angry and being praised hee would not be proud Our disposition is never well knowne untill it be crossed nor did Proteus ever change shapes till hee was straigtned and held fast Magistracy and misery will soone shew what manner of men we be either will declare us better or worse then wee seemed Indeed Prosperity saith one best discovers vice but Adversity doth best discover Vertue but he that is not good in both estates would not be excellent in either hee who cannot beare honour with moderation cannot beare contempt with patience whereas a true Moses can be a moderate favourite at Court and a well â—mtented sheepherd in the field can turne and apply himselfe to any condition and therewith be content as S. Paul was Phil. 4. 11. 5. Fifthly what patience we have The Sea when it is calme weather is as still and quiet as any river but let the windes once arise and you shall soone see a diâ—ference then appeares nothing but raging and foaming out myre and dirt And that we are indeed which we are in temptation for can we not abide a drawing plastor to draine away corrupt bloud and humours much lâ—sse can we finde case in cutting â—ff joynts and members and pulling out eyes which Repentance must doe 6. Sixthly a man is made knowne whether hee be feeble or strong by the provocation of an enemy even calme tempers when they have been stirred have bewrayed impetuousnesse of passion And indeed how shall a man shew his strength unlesse some burthen be laid upon his backe Now hee thaâ— overcommeth his owne anger saith Chilo overcommeth a strong enemy but he that is overcome by it is a whiteliver saith Hermes for wrath proceedeth from feeblenesse of courage and lacke of discretion As may appeare in that Women are sooner angry then men the sicke sooner then the healthy and Old men sooner then Young Againe it s nothing to endure a small tryall or affliction every Cock-boat can swim in a River every Sculler sayle in a Calme every man can hold up his head in ordinary Gusts but when a blacke storme arises a tenth wave flowes deep calls unto deep Nature yeelds Spirit faints Heart fayles Whereas grace is never quite out of heart yea is confident when hopes are adjourned and expectation is delayed 7. Again seaventhly how excellently was Jobs sincerity made known by Sathans malice when he brought sorth those Angelicall words What shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evill Joâ— 2. 10. When he stood like a Centre unmoved while the circumference of his estate was drawne above beneath about him when in prosperity he could say if my mouth hath kist my hand and in adversity the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh blessed be the name of the Lord. Hee was not so like the wicked as they are like dogs that follow the meat not the man 8. Againe eighthly God suffers us to suffer much more especially to try our perseverance which is a grace so good and acceptable that without it there is nothing good nor acceptable The Spaniell which sawneth when he is beaten will never forsake his Master and Trees well rooted will beare all stormes The three Children walked up and downe in the fiery flames praysing God And a Blade well tryed deserves a treble price How did the Church of Pergamus approve her selfe Yea how was she approved of God which hath the sword with two edges when she held out in her workes even where Sathan dwelt and kept his Throne I know thy workes saith God and that thou keepest my Name and hast not denyed my faith even in those dayes when Antipas my faithfull Martyr was slaine among you where Satan dwelleth yea where his Throne is and where some maintaine the Doctrine of Balaam and the Nicholaitans and teach that men ought to eate things sacrificed to Idols and to commit fornication c. Revel 2. 13 14. But how can I lay downe my life for Christ when I cannot for his sake quietly disgest a few reproachfull speeches he will scarce bare blowes for him that will not quietly put up and disgest ill words Finally Affliction and Persecution is both a whetstone and a touch-stone to each particular grace It humbleth the spirits of the repentant tryeth the faith and patience of the sincere Christian but hardneth the hearts of the ungodly for wicked men grow worse after afflictions as water growes more cold after an heat yea like some Beasts they grow mad with baiting if crosses or losses rush in upon them they fall to the language of Jobs wife Curse God and dye or to that of the King of Israels Messenger Why should I serve God any longer 2 King 6. 33. CHAP. X. That it prevents greater evills of Sinne and Punishment to come 7. SEventhly
he withdrawes the pleasure of the flesh gives delight to the soule crossing us in our wils that he may advance our benefit The Man sicke of a burning feaver cries to his Physitian for drinke he pities him but does not satisfie him he gives him proper physicke but not drinke A man is sick of a Plurisie the Physitian lets him blood he is content with it the arme shall smart to ease the heart The covetous man hath a plurisie of riches God lets him blood by poverty let him be patient it is a course to save his soule But we are so sensuall that no reason can prevaile Wee are sorry to lose the proper cause of our sorrow we are like whiâ—ing Children that will not stay untill their milke be cold but must have it though they be scalded with it Yea it fares with many as with the mother of Nero let them be damd so they may be dubd But our heavenly Father will doe us good though we desire the contrary Wherefore if he scourge us any way so we bleed not or till we bleed so we faint not or till we even faint so we perish not let us be comforted for if the Lord prune his Vine he meanes not to root it up if he minister physicke to our soules it is because hee would not have us dye in our sinnes all is for salvation What if Nâ—ah were pent up in the Arke so long as he was safe in it what if it were his prison so long as it was his Fort also against the waters I might illustrate the point and make it plaine by sundry and divers comparisons We know one naile drives out another one heat another one cold another yea out of admirable experience I can witnesse it that for most constitutions there is not such a remedy for a Cold in the head or extreame tendernesse as a frequent bathing it especially the temples in cold water I can justly say I am twenty yeares the younger for it Yea one sorrow drives out another one passion another one rumour is expelled by another and though for the most part contraries are cured by contraries yet not seldome will Physitians stop a Lask with a Purge they will bleed a Patient in the Arme. to stop a worse bleeding at Nose Againe in some Patients they will procure a gentle Ague that they may cure him of a more dangerous disease Even so deales God with us he often punisheth the worser part of man saith Saint Hierome That is the body state or name that the better part to wit the soule may be saved in the day of judgement Neither are chastisements any whit lesse necessary for the soule than medicines are for the body many a man had been undonâ— by prosperity if they had not been undone by adversity they had perished in their soules if they had not perished in their bodyes estates or good names It is probable Naamans soule had never been cleansed if his body had not beene leaprous but his leaprous flesh brought him to a white and cleane spirit and though affliction be hard of digestion to the naturall man yet the sheepe of Christ know that to feed upon this salt March is the onely preservative against the Rot the experienced Christian knowes that it is good for the soule that the body is sometime sick and therefore to have his inward man cured hee is content his outward man should bee diseased and cares not so the sinnes of his soule may be lessened though the soares of his flesh be increased It is better saith Saint Hierome to have a sick stomack than a grieved mind Yea hee desires with Saint Austin that God will send him any plague rather than the plague of the heart And why is it not so with thee I hope thou desirest thy soules safety above all and thou knowest the stomack that is purged must be content to part with some good nourishment that it may deliver it selfe of more evill humours Of what kinde soever thy sufferings bee it is doubtlesse the fittest for thy soules recovery or else God the onely wise Physitian would not appoint it Now who would not be willing to bleed when by that meanes an inveterate sicknesse may be prevented Yea it is a happy blood-letting which saves the life which makes Saint Austin say unto God Let my body be crucified or burnt or doe with it what thou wilt so thou save my soule And another let me swimme a River of boyling brimstone to live eternally â—appy rather than dwell in a Paradise of pleasure to bee damned after death CHAP. XI That it makes them humble 8. EIghtly that â—e may have an humble conceit of our selves and wholly depend upon God We received the sentence of death in our selves saith the Apostle because we should not trust in our selves but in God who raiseth us up from the dead 2 Cor. 1. 9. When Babes are afraid they cast themselves into the armes and bosome of their mother A Hen leading her Chickens into the Sunne they fall a playing with the dust she may clock them to her long enough they will not come But when they see the Kite then they come without calling And so it fares with Gods Children till affliction come The Prodigall never thought of his Father till hee wanted huskes the Peroniâ— never made out to Christ till all her money was gone The Widow that is left alone trusteth in God saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 5. 5. who while she had an husbaâ—d leaned too much upon him The poore man depends not upon the reliefe of others untill hee â—inds nothing at home Till our meanes is spent wee are apt to trust in uncertaine riches but after in the name of the Lord Zeph. 3. 12. Asa bore himselfe bold upon his forces as being five hundred and fourescore thousand strong till hee was overmatcht with an Army of a thousand thousand Ethiopians this made him cry helpe us O Lord our God for we rest on thee 2 Chron. 14. God crosseth many times our likelyest projects and makes the sinâ—ws of the Arme of flesh to crack that being unbottomed of the creature wee may trust in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy 1 Tim. 6. 17. The people of Layish because they wanted nothing would have businesse with no man Judg. 18. 7. Where is no want is much wantonnesse and to be rich in temporals hastens poverty in spirituals The Moone is never eclipsed but in the full but the fuller she is still the more remote from the Sunne I thought in my prosperity saith David I shall never be moved But thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Then turned I unto thee c. Psal. 30. 6 7 8. It is high time to humble them that doe not find themselves to stand in need of God When a stubborne Delinquent being committed was no whit mollified with his durance but grew more perverse than he was before one of the Senators said to
be in charity shall never bee in Heaven And why should I doe my selfe a shrewd turne because another would Yea we desire pardon as we give pardon and we would be loath to have our owne lips condemne us When wee pray to God to forgive us our trespasses as wee also forgive them that trespasse against us and doe not resolve to forgive our brethren wee doe in effect say Lord condemne us for we will be condemned whereas he that doth good to his enemy even in that act doth better to himselfe It is a singular sacrifice to God and well pleasing to him to doe good against evill and to succour our very enemy in his necessity But we may perchance heape coales of fire upon the others head Rom. 12. 20 though we must not doe it with an intent to make his reckoning more but our reckoning lesse Againe Blessed is the man saith Saint James that indureth temptation viz. with patience for when he is tryed he shall receive the Crowne of life James 1. 12. And this made Moses not onely patient in his sufferings but joyfull esteeming the rebuke of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Aegypt For saith the Text he had respect unto the recompence of the reward Heb. 11. 26. And well it might for whereas the highest degree of suffering is not worthy of the least and lowest degree of this glory Rom. 8. 18. Saint Paul witnesseth that our light affliction which is but for a moment if it be borne with patience causeth unto us a farre most excellent and eternall weight of glory while we looke not on the things that are seene but on the things which are not seene 2 Cor. 4. 17 18. Where note the incomparablenesse and infinite difference between the work and the wages light affliction receiving a weight of glory and momentany afflictionâ— eternall glory answerable to the reward of the wicked whose empty delights live and dye in a moment but their insufferable punishment is interminable and endlesse their pleasure is short their paine everlasting our paine is short our joy eternall What will not men undergoe so their pay may be answerable The old experienced Souldier feares not the raine and stormes above him nor the numbers falling before him nor the troopes of enemies against him nor the shot of thundring Ordnance about him but lookes to the honourable reward promised him When Philip asked Democritus if hee did not feare to lose his head hee answered No for quoth hee If I dye the Athenians will give mee a life immortall meaning he should be statuted in the treasury of eternall fame if the immortallity as they thought of their names was such a strong reason to perswade them to patience and all kind of worthinesse what should the immortallity of the soule be to us Alas vertue were a poore thing if fame onely should be all the Garland that did crowne her but the Christian knowes that if every paine he suffers were a death and every crosse an hell he shall have amends enough Why said Ambrose on his death bed we are happy in this we serve a good Master that will not suffer us to be losers Which made the Martyrs such Lambes in suffering that their persecutors were more weary with striking than they with suffering And many of them as willing to dye as dine No matter quoth one of them what I suffer on earth so I may be crowned in Heaven I care not quoth another what becommeth of this fraile Barke my flesh so I have the passenger my soule safely conducted And another If at night thou grant me Lazarus boone Let Dives dogs like all my sores at noone And a valiant Souldier going about a Christian atchievement my comfort is though I lose my life for Christs sake yet I shall not lose my labour yea I cannot endure enough to come to Heaven Lastly Ignatius going to his Martyrdome was so strongly ravished with the Joyes of Heaven that hee burst out into these words nay come fire come beasts come breaking of all my bones rackings of my body come all the torments of the Devill together upon me come what can come in the whole earth or in hell so I may enjoy Jesus Christ in the end They were content to smart so they might gaine and it was not long but light which was exacted of them in respect of what was expected by them and promised to them 2 Cor. 4. 17. Neither did they thinke that God is bound to reward them any way for their sufferings no if he accepts me when I have given my body to bee burned saith the beleever I may account it a mercy Thus hope refresheth a Christian as much as misery depresseth him it makes him defie all that menâ—o â—o devils can doe saying take away my goods my good name my friends my liberty my life and what else thou canst imagine yet I am well enough so long as thou canst not take away the reward of all which is an hundred fold more even in this world and in the world to come life everlasting Mark 10. 29 30 as when a Courtyer gave it out that Queene Mary being displeased with the Citie threatned to divert both Terme and Parliament to Oxford an Alderman askt whither shee meant to turne the Channell of the Thames thither or no if not saith he by Gods grace wee shall doe well enough For what are the things our enemies can take from us in comparison of Christ the Ocean of our comfort and Heaven the place of our rest where is joy without heavinesse or interruption peace without perturbation blessednesse without misery light without darkenesse health without sickenesse beauty without blemish abundance without want ease without labour satiety without loathing liberty without restraint security without feare glory without ignominy knowledge without ignorance eyes without teares hearts without sorrow soules without sinne where shall be no evill present or good absent for we shall have what we can desire and we shall desire nothing but what is good In fine that I may darkelyshaddow it out sith the lively representation of it is meerely impossible this life everlasting is the perfection of all good things for fulnesse is the perfection of measure and everlastingnes the perfection of time and infinitenes the perfection of number and immutability the perfection of state and immensity the perfection of place and immortality the perfection of life and God the perfection of all who shall bee all in all to us meate to our taste beauty to our eyes perfumes to our smell musicke to our eares and what shall I say more but as the Psalmist saith Glorious things are spoken of thee thou Citie of God but alas such is mans parvitie that he is as far from comprehending it as his armes be from compassing it Heaven shall receive us we cannot conceive Heaven Doe you aske what Heaven is saith one when I meet you there I will tell you for could this care
he that judgeth me is the Lord 1 Cor. 4. 3 4. and indeed an ounce of credit with God is more worth than a tallent of mens prayses I regard not quoth Plato what every one saith but what he saith that seeth all things hee knew well enough that the fame which is derived from fooles and knaves is infamy Cato was much ashamed if at any time he had committed any thing dishonest but else what was reproved by opinion onely never troubled him yea when a foole struck him in the Bath and after being sorry for it cryed him mercy he would not come so neare revenge as to acknowledge he had beene wronged Light injuries are made none by a not regarding The ignorant multitude among the Jewes said that Saint John had a Devill and that Christ was a Glutton and a Wine bibber But what saith hee by way of answer wisedome is justified of her Children Matth. 11. 18 19. Let none object the Scribes and Pharisees joyning with them who were great Schollers for no man knowes so much but it is through ignorance that he doth so ill Neither doth our Saviour enquire what the Pharisees or Priests reputed him but whom say men meaning those who minded his Doctrine that I the sonne of man am Mat. 16. 13. But this point I have handled at large in another place therefore to avoid a coincidence of discourse I passe it If men shall hate and revile thee for thy goodnesse it must needs â—ollow that they are as foolish as they be ungodly Now yee suffer fooles and Idiots to jest and play upon you yea you take pleasure in it so should yee suffer these fooles gladly because yee are wise as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 11. 19. And certainly if the whole world doe contemne a generous Christian he will even contemne that contempt and not thinke it worthy a roome in his very thoughts that common receptacle or place of entertainment Much more if a single person none of the wisest will he heare with patience and say with Tacitus you are able to curse and I to contemne Tu linguae ego aurium sum Dominus you are master of your tongue and I of mine eares What saith one advisedly when we are provoked to fight with women the best way is to runne away And indeed he that le ts loose his anger upon every occasion is like him that lets goe his Hawke upon every bayte True our Gallants that have more heart than braine and more pride than either thinke they play the men when they dare one another to fight like boyes who shall goe farthest into the durt or vie to see who can drop most oathes whereof the deepest is a winning Card in this their game of glory But what saith Salomon if a wise man contend with a foolish man whether hee be angry or laugh there is no rest Prov. 29. 9. Besides we may apprehend it a wrong when it is none if wee take not heed for those things passe many times for wrongs in our thoughts which were never meant so by the heart of him that speaketh Words doe sometimes fly from the tongue that the heart did never hatch nor harbour wherefore unlesse we have proofes that carry weight and conviction with them let not our apprehension grow into a suspition of evill else while wee thinke to revenge an injury we may begin one and after that repent our misconceptions And it is alwayes seene that a good mans constructions are ever full of charity and favour either this wrong was not done or not with intent of wrong or if that upon misinformation or if none of these rashnesse the fault or ignorance shall serve for an excuse And indeed in things that may have a double sense it is good to thinke the better was intended for so shall we both keep our friends and quietnesse CHAP. XXIV Because they are rather to bee pittied than maligned or reckoned of 2. BEcause their adversaries are rather to be contemptuously pittied than maligned or reckoned of and that whether wee regard their present or future estate Concerning the present If a man distracted and so are wicked men touching spirituall things do raile on us we are more sorry for him than for our selves Yea who will take in evill part the reproaches and revilings of a man in his feaver or who will be angry with a dogge for barking And such an one hath but the minde of a beast in the forme of a man let us then doe the like in a case not unlike and not resemble Ctesipho the wrastler who would not put up a blow at the beeles of an Asse but like an Asse kickt her againe When Jullan in a mock asked Maris Bishop of Chalcedon why his Galilean god could not helpe him to his sight he replyed I am contentedly blinde that I may not see such a Tyrant as thou art Anger alone were it alone in them is certainly a kinde of bâ—senesse and infirmity as well appeares in the weakenesse of those Subjects in whom it raigneth as Children Women Old folkes Sicke folkes yea a â—oare disease of the minde Socrates bidding good speed to a dogged fellow who in requitall of his kinde salutation returned him a base answer the rest of his Company rayling on the fellow were reprehended by Socrates in this manner If any one quoth he should passe by us diseased in his body or distracted in his minde should we therefore he angry or had we not more cause to bee filled with joy and thankefulnesse that wee our selves are in better case What need we returne rayling for rayling All the harme that a common Slanderer can doe us with his foule mouth is to shame himselfe For his words are like dust that men throw against the winde which flyes backe into the throwers face and makes him blinde for as the blasphemer wounds himselfe by wounding Christ so the rayler shames himselfe when he thinkes to shame another Neither have they power to hurt us strong malice in a weake breast is but like a heavy house built upon slender crutches True they conceit of their slanders as the Pope of his censures who if he put a Traytor into the Rubricke he is presently a Saint in heaven if he curse or excommunicate a Christian he must needs be inroled in hell but we know their words meere Idols which as the Apostle witnesseth are nothing in the world and therefore trouble not thy selfe about them What need had David to loade himselfe with an unnessary weapon one sword can serve both his enemy and him Goliahs owne weapon shall serve to behead the Master so this mans owne tongue shall serve to accuse himselfe and acquit thee Yea as David had Goliah to beare his sword for him so thy very enemy shall carry for thee both sword and shield even sufficient for defence as well as for offence Wherefore in these cases it hath beene usuall for Gods people to behave themselves like dead Images which
for him and shall we grumble or thinke much at it No in the greatest extremity of straights let us acknowledge it a favour and give him thankes and so much the rather for that it is more acceptable to God to give him thankes once in adversity then sixe hundred times in prosperity as a grave Divine well observes and indeed it is the summe of all Religion to be thankefull to God in the midst of miseries True it is hard for Jâ—b when the terrours of God fight against him and the Arrowes of the Almighty stick so fast in him that the venome thereof hath drunke up his spirit Joh 6. 2â—3 4. to thinke it a speciall favour and dignity but so it was being rightly considered It was hard for Josephs brethren to heare him speake roughly unto them take them for spies accuse them of theft and commit them to prison Gen. 42. 30. and thinke it is all out of love much more hard for Simeon to he cul'd out from the rest and committed to ward while his brethren are set at liberty Vâ—rse 24. and yet it was so yea he loved him best whom he seemed to favour least yet such is the infirmity of our nature that as weake eyes are dazled with that light which should comfort them so there is nothing more common with Gods Children then to bee afflicted with the causes of their joy and astonied with that which is intended for their confirmation Even Manoah conceives death in that vision of God wherein alone his life and happinesse did consist Judges 13. 22. And the Shepheards Luke 2. who were sore afraid when the Angell of the Lord came to bring them good tydings of great joy to all people viz. their Saviours Birth which was Christ the Lord. Vâ—rs 9 10. But what hath beene the answer of GOD alwayes to his children in such their extasies but this Feare not Gideon Judges 6. 23. Feare not Joseph Matth. 1. 20. Feare not Zachary Luke 1. 12 13. Feare not Abraham for I am thy shield and thine exceeding greaâ— reward Genesis 15. 1. Feâ—re not Paul for I am with thee and no man shall lay hands on thee to doe thee hurt c. Acts 18. 9 10. The wordes are often repeated as Pharaohs dreames were doubled for the surenesse Yea to the end that we should be fearlesse in all our sufferings so long as wee suffer not as evill doers 1 Peter 4. 15. Feare not as one well notes is the first word in th' Annuntiation of Christs conception and the first word in the first Annuntiation of his Birth and the fiâ—st word in the first Annuntiation of his Resurrection and almost the last words in his last exhortation a little before his death are Let not your hearts be troubled and be of good comfort strengthning his followers and sweetning his crâ—sse by divers forcible reasons Luke 21. Marke 13. And the words of dying men have ever beene most emphaticall most effectuall Nay more than all this if yet thou wilt not be comforted look but John 16. 20. and thou shalt have thy Saviour assure thee by a double bond his Word I say Oath Verily verily I say unto you that though for the present you doe feare and sorrow and weepe yet all shall bee turned into joy and that joy shâ—ll no man bee able to take from you Verse 22. And so much of the Patience of the Womans seed And so much of the Innocency of the Womans seed And so much of the Felicity of the Womans seed If you will see the Malice of the Serpents seed If you will see the Subtility of the Serpents seed If you will see the Misery of the Serpents seed Reade two late Treatises SINNE STIGMATIZ'D and THE CURE OF PREJUDICE FINIS Three Prayers for a Family if at any time they shall be thought too long read onely the English letter and passe by the Roman or you may continue any one part which goes betweene Jer. 10. 25. Power out thy sury upon them that know thee not and upon the Familyes that call not on thy name Psal. 145. 18. Rom. 10. 12. The Lord is nigh and rich unto all that call upon him in truth Isay 65. 24. Before thâ—y call I will answer and whiles they are yet speaking I will hâ—â—re Jer. 33. 3. Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not 1 John 5. 14. If we aske any thing according to his will he heareth us John 16. 23. Mat. 21. 22. Whatsoever ye shall aske the Father in my name beleeuing he will give it you Psalm 55. 17. Evening and Morning and at Noone will I pray A Prayer for the Morning O Lord prepare our hearts to pray O Most glorious Lord God and in Jesus Christ our most mercisull and loving Father in whom we live and moâ—e and have our being in the multitude of thy mercies wee desire so approach unto thée from whom all good things doe procéede who knowest our necessities before we aske and our ignorance in asking It is true O Lord if wee should consider onely our owne unworthinesse and how we have heretofore abused 〈◊〉 goodnesse and long suffering towards us 〈…〉 ht rather despaire with Iudas and like Adam run from thée then dare to approach thy glorious presence For we confesse O Lord to the shame and confusion of our owne â—ares that as we brought a world of sinne into the World with us and deserved to dye so soone as we began to live so ever since that thou hast spared â—s we have done nothing but add 〈◊〉 unto sinne as thou hast added mercy to mercy For we have beene no lesse rebellious unto thée then thou hast beene beneficiall unto us We doe dayly and hourely breake all thy commandements adding unto that our originall corruption which we were conceived and â—orne 〈◊〉 all manner of acâ—uall transgressions by sinnes of Omissiâ—n sinnes of Commission sinnes of Ignorance sinnes of Knowledge sinnes against conscience yea sinnes of Presumption and Wilfulnesse and that in thought word and 〈◊〉 We have sinned against thy Law and against thy Gospell against thy merâ—ies and against thy judgements against the many warnings and the abundance of meanes afforded by thee to reclaime us against the spirit of grace continually knocking at the doores of our hearts with infinite checks and holy motions Our eares have beene alwayes open to the Tempter shut unto thée we have abused our eyes to wantâ—nnesse our mouthes to filthinesse and our féet have beene swift to all evill slow to ought that is good And as we have committed one sinne on the neck of another so we have multiplyed and many times repeated them by falling often into the same wickednesse whereby our sinnes are become for number as the sands of the Sea and as the Stars of Heaven Thus as our first Parents left us a large stock of sinne so we have improved the same beyond measure O that we could have
unto us and increase in us all spirituall graces inlighten our mindes with the knowledge of thy truth and inflame our hearts with the love of whatsoever is good that we may esteeme it our meate and drinke to doe thy blessed will Give us religious thoughts godly desires zealous affections holy endeavours assured perswasionâ— of â—aith stedfast waiting through hope constancy in suffering through patience and hearty rejoycing from love regenerate our mindes purify our natures turne all our joys into the joy of the Holy Ghost and all our peace into the peace of conscience and all our feares into the feare of sinne that we may love righteousnesse with as great good will as ever we loved wickednesse and goe before others in thankefulnesse towards thee as farre as thou goest in mercy towards us before them Give us victory in temptation patience in sicknesse contentment in poverty joy in distresse hope in troubles confidence in the houre of death give us alwayes to thinke and meditate of the houre of death the day of judgement the joyes of Heaven and the paines of Hell together with the ransome which thy Sonne paid to redeeme us from the one and to purchase for us the other so shall neither thy benefits nor thy chastisements nor thy word returne ineffectuall but accomplish that for which they were sent untill we be wholly renewed to the Image of thy Sonne And now O Lord séeing the time approacheth which thou hast appointed for rest and because we can neither wake nor sléepe without thee who hast made the day and night and rulest both therefore into thy hands we commend our soules and bodies beséeching thee to watch over us this night and preserve us from all our spirituall and bodily enemies from theeves fire and from all other dangers These things we humbly beg at thy fatherly hands and whatsoever else thou knowest in thy divine wisedome to be needfull and necessary for our soules or bodies or estates or names or friends or the whoâ—â— Church better thâ—n we our selves can either aske or thinke and that for thy names sake for thy promise sake for thy mercies sake for thy Sonnes sake who suffered for sinne and sinned not and whose righteousnesse pleadeth for our unrighteousnesse in him it is that we come unto thee in him we call upon thee who is our Redeemer our Preserver and our Saviour so whom with thee and thy blessed Spirit be ascribed as is most duâ— all honour glory praise power might maiesty dominion and hearty thankes-giving the rest of this night following and for evermore Amen A Prayer to be used at any time O Almighty Eternall most Glorious and onely wise God giver to them which want comforter of them which suffer and forgiver of them that repent whom truly to know is everlasting life We thy poore creatures acknowledge and confesse unto thee who knowest the secrets and desires of all hearts that of our selves we are not worthy to lift up our eyes to Heaven much lesse to present our selves before thy Majesty with the least confidence that thou shouldest heare our prayers or accept of our services but rather that thou shouldest take these our confessions and accordingly condemne us to the lowest place in Hell for our continually abusing thy mercy and those many meanes of grace which in thy long-suffering thou hast afforded for our reclayming We are the cursed séed of rebellious Parents we were conceived in sinne and borne the Children of wrath And whereas thou mightest have executed thy fierce displeasure upon us so soone as thou gavest us béeing and so prevented our further dishonouring thee we have instead of humbling our selves before thee our God and â—â—â—king reconciliation with thy Majesty none nothing from our infancy but added sinne unto sinne in breaking every one of thine holy Lawes which thou hast given us as rules and directions to walke by and to kéepe us from sinning Yea there is not one of thy righteous precepts which we have not broken more times and wayes then we can expresse so far have we béen from a privative holinesse in reforming that which is evill and a positive holinesse in performing that which is good which thou mayest justly require of us being we had once ability so to doe if we had not wilfully lost it for thou diddest forme us righteous and holy had not we deformed our selves whereas now like Satan we can doe nothing else but sinne and make others sinne too who would not so sinne but for us for we have an Army of uncleane desires that perpetually fight against our soules whereby we are continually tempted drawne away and enticed through our owne concupiscence Yea thou knowest that the heart of man is deceitfull above all things and that the imaginations thereof are onely and continually evill O the infinitely intricate windings and turnings of the darke Labyrinths of mans heart who findes not in himselfe an indisposition of minde to all good and an inclination to all evill And according to this our inclination hath béene our practice we have yéelded our hearts as cages to entertaine all manner of uncleane spirits when on the contrary we have refused to yéeld them as temples for thine holy Spirit to dwell in We have used all our wisedome to commit the foolishnesse of sinne our whole conversation hath béene to serve Satan and fulfill the lusts of the flesh We even sucke in iniquity like water and draw on sinne as it were with cart-ropes Neither is there any part power function or faculty either of our soules or bodies which is not become a ready instrument to dishonour thee for as our heart is a root of all corruption a seed-plot of all sinne so our eyes are eyes of vanity our eares eares of folly our mouthes mouthes of deceit our hands hands of iniquity and every part doth dishonour thee which yet would be glorified of thee The understanding which was given us to learne vertue is apt now to apprehend nothing but sinne the will which was given us to affect righteousnesse is apt now to love nothing but wickednesse the memory which was given us to remember good things is apt now to keepe nothing but evill things for sinne like a spreading leaprosie is so growne over us that from the crowne of our heads to the soale of our feet there is nothing whole therein but wounds and swellings and soares full of corruption Yea our soules and bodies are even a very sinke of sinne for like the common shoare we have not refused to welcome any the most loathsome pollutions that either the world our owne corruption or the Devill at any time hath offered unto us Or admit we are exempt from some evils wee may thanke thee and not our selves for it for we are ready without thy restrayning grace to run out into all manner of enormities whatsoever we are swift to all evill but to all good immoveable when we doe evill we doe it chearefully and quickly and easily
â—are and maketh us know our selves My wants saith one kill my wantonnesse my poverty checks my pride my being slighted quels my ambition and vaine glory and as for sicknesse it cuts the throate of vices many saith Saint Austin have beene wickedly well that have beene inocently and piously sicke Yea I may call it the summe of Divinity as Pliny cals it the summe of Philosophy for what distressed or sick man was ever lascivious covetous or ambitious Hee envies no man admires no man flatters no man dissembles with no man despiseth no man c. That with Governours or Friends can by no meanes effect touching our amendment a little sicknesse or trouble from enemies will as Saint Chrysostome observes Yea how many will confesse that one affliction hath done more good upon them than many Sermons that they have learned more good in one dayes or weekes misery than many yeares prosperity could teach them untouched estates and touched consciences seldome dwell together and it is usuall for them that know no sorrowes to know no God repentance seldome meets a man in jollity but in affliction the heart is made pliable and ready for all good impressions True if gentlenesse would serve we should not smart for God like a good Surgion first strokes the Arme before he opens the veyne hee sends for us by his Ambassadors of the ministery yet we come not Let him fire our field as Absalom did by Joab we come presently Or perhaps he afflicts another to fright us as great mens Children are corrected by seeing others whipt or as Apollonius would tame Lyons by beating dogges before them for as God preacheth to us no lesse in his Judgements than his Word so when he strikes â—ffendors he would warne the standers by and a wise man sees himselfe falne or beaten in his neighbour Yea generous and ingenuous spirits desire to be taught abide not to be forced It is for Tyrants to compell for Asses to be compelled saith Erasmus A good naturd Horse saith Seneca will be governed even by the shadow of the wande whereas a resty Jade will not bâ— ordered by the spurre But if his word will not râ—le us as many till God come with a strong hand will hould their corruptions as fast as Pharaoh the Israelites his Rodde shall or if his Rodde will not yet serve his sword shall bee drencht in our gall and hathed in our blood Deut. 32. 41 42. Or if we scape for a time yet our preservation from one judgement is but our reservation to seaven more Levit. 26. Yea he will send a succession of crosses seaven more and seaven more and seaven to that to the conversion of his owne and the confusion of his enemies Vers. 14. to 39. When singing will not still the Child the Rod must Hard knots must have hard wedges strong asfections strong afflictious great corruptions great calamities to cure them So that God through thy stubbornnesse is forced to let lose Satan and wicked men upon thee least thou shouldest sleepe in security till thou didst sleepe in death eternalâ—y even for thy good And Affliction is but the shepheards dogge as Chrysostome speakes to fetch us into Christs Folde perhaps by Barking onely and then wee are more sâ—ard than hurt perhaps in his mouth and then the poore sheep thinks he will surely worry it but he is taught to fetch onely and therefore gripes not but onely carries and delivers it to his ma 〈…〉 er When Children have done a fault Mothers use to fright them with Bull-beggers the Childe thinks surely they will have him but the mother hath a double pollicie viz. to make them hate the fault and love them the better for they runne to the Lappe to hide them and then will she make her owne conditions and so the very end which God aimes at in setting those Adders upon thee is that thou shouldst turn thine Eyes inward that thou mayst see for what thou sufferest prie narrowly into thine owne forepast actions which if thou dost an hundred to one thou wilt finde sinne it may be this very sinne the cause of thy present affliction and untill thou dost siâ—t and try thine owne heart for this Achan and finde out which is thy Isaac thy beloved sinne looke for no release but rather that thy sorrowes should be multiplyed as God threatned Eve Wherefore lyest thou on thy face said God to Joshua Israel hath sinned up search diligently c. Josh. 7. 10. 11. What evill hast thou done said the Marriners to the distressed Prophet that this evill is come upon us Let every such Jonas reflect upon himselfe and say What evill have I done what sinne have I committed or admitted or what good have I omitted or intermitted be it but one single sinne whether spirituall pride or rayling upon honest men in a handsome Language or the like and having found out the cause greive for it turne from it One flaw in a Diamond takes away the lustre and the price one man in Law may keepe possession one Puddle if we wallow in it will deâ—ile us one peice of Ward land makes the Heire lyable to the King one sinne keepes possession for Satan as well as twenty one poyson-full Hearbe amongst many good ones may put death in the pot and so take away the goodnesse from the rest as if there were none in it wholsome Besides how were the Angels in heaven punished for one fault Achan for one saâ—reledge Mirriam for one slander Moses for one unbeleefe Anaâ—â—as for one lye Ely for his Indulgence onely David for his love to Bathsheâ—a onely c. Wherefore looke to it for if we spare but one Agag it may cost us a Kingdome and such a Kingdome as is farre beter than the Kingdome of Saul 1 Pet. 1. 4. Neither say of thy sinne as once Lot of Zoar is it not a little one for though men may yet God will not winke at small faults especially in his owne A little prick being neglected may fester to a gangreene As what is a mountaine of Earth but an accumulation of many little dusts or what is a flood but a concurrence of many little drops a small leake will sinke the Vessell unstopt whereas a great one will not doe it if well kalked The weakest Instrument be it but a Bodkin can peirce the flesh and take away the life unarmed whereas Armour of proose will even beate off Bullets Besides whereas our greatest goodnesse merits not the lâ—ast glory our least wickednesse deserves great paine The wages of sinne small or great is death Rom. 6. 23. bad worke sad wages Wherefore lâ—t his correction bring forth conversion cleanse your hands yee sinners and purge your hearts yee double minded Jam. 4. 8. Not your hands onely with Pilate but your hearts with David yea and your eyes too with Mary Magdalen if it be possible though dry sorrow may bee as good as wet whose eyes were a Laver and haire a Towell to wash and wipe
saith Saint Hierom in the like case by our sinnes are these Infidels made strong and therefore a meane to lessen our punishments is to lessen our sinnes yea even Achior a very Ammonite could say thus to Holefâ—rnes Enquire if this people have offended their God otherwise all our warring will come to nothing And it is very rare in this case if there be not some Achan in the Army some Sheba in the towne some Jonas in the Ship some distemper in the soule disorder in the life that God would have removed and remedied as for instance Jonas how came he into the Whales belly was it not his owne undutifulnesse David whence came all his troubles by Absalom Ammon Adoniah was it not his fondnesse and indulgence aâ—d so of Ely Jacob what might hee thanke for all his afflictions whereof God gave him not a draught but made him a diet drinke so that hee had scarce a merry day for one trouble or another whom had he to thanke for it did he not thrust his owne feet into the stocks by that threefold lye of his uttered in a breath to get the blessing Wherefore if thou lovest thine owne ease deale freely and ingenuously with God and thine owne soule for sinne and punishment are inseparable companions and goe tyed together with chaines of Adamant as the Poet speakes like individuall twins they are borne together live together are attended one by the other as the body by the shadow where sinne is in the Saddle there punishment is on the Crupper whence it is that the Hebrewes have but one and the same word for them both Ob But thou hast repented and râ—solvest to bee reformed An Many in time of distresse have strong resolutions and promise faire even a Candle as bigge as a Mast but trouble being over one of ten in the pound were well which proves they never truly repented Yea in stead of being better they grow worse like one that fals into a relapse from an Agâ—e to a burning feaver which peradventure would be thy case if God should now release the at least thou mayst feare it for to seeke unto God onely in affliction is suspitious and such seekers commonly are rejected with scorne Proverbs 1. 24. to 33. Indeed if thou shalt persevere when thou art released in doing that which now thou purposest it is an infallable signe thy repentance is sound Otherwise not CHAP. V. That it serves to worke in us amendment of life 2. SEcondly the malice of our enemies serves to worke in us amendment of life Every Affliction sanctified rubs off some rust melts off some drosse straines out some corruption c. which done we rise out of trouble as Christ rose out of the grave for when the gold is fined the fire shall hold it no longer The outward cold of affliction doth greatly increase the inward beate and fervor of the Graces of God in us Indeed no Chastisement saith the Author to the Hebrewes for the present seemes to bee joyous but grievous But afterwards it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse to them that are thereby exercised Heb. 12. 11. We are dunged with reproaches that we may prove a richer soyle for grace as Nazianzen speakes alluding to the parable of the Figtree God beates us that he may better us he hedgeth us about with thornes that he may keepe us within compasse least wee breake over into Satans pastures which indeede will fat us but to the slaughter Yea he pricks us with Goades that he may let out our ill humours and happy thornes or Landsets of tribulation are those which open a veyne for sin to gush out at God strips the body of pleasures to cloath the soule with righteousnesse and oâ—tentimes strengthens our state of grace by impoverishing our temporall estate for commonly the more Prosperity the lesse Piety The poore saith Christ receive the Gospell though the rich are more bound It was an observation of Tacitus that raising of the fortune did rarely mend the disposition onely Vespasâ—an was changed into the better yea if it makes us not worse it is a wonder Evagrius gives it as a high praise of the Emperour Mauritious that in the height of all his Majesty he retained his ancient Piety We serve God as our servants serve us of which many have too good cloathes others too much wages or are too fine fed to doe worke as esops Hen being over fed was 〈◊〉 fat to lay or perhaps too many under them as a Gentleman having but one servant thought him over burdned with worke and therefore tooke another to helpe him but having two one of them so trusted to the others observance that oft-times they were both missing and the worke not done then he chose a third but was worse served then than before whereupon he told his friend when I had one servant I had a servant when I had two I had but halfe of one now I have three I have never an one Few men can disgest great felicity Many a man hath been a looser by his gaines and found that that which multeplyed his outward estate hath abated his inward and so on the contrary David was never so tender as when hee was hunted like a Partridge 1 Sam. 26. 20. Jonah was at best in the Whales belly Stevens face never shone so faire as when he stood before the Counsell Acts 6. 15. Whilst the Romans had warres with Carthage and enemies in Affricke they knew not what â—ices meant in Rome Now if the winter of the one is found to bee the spring of the other and the corruption of prosperity the generation of piety who will esteeme those things good which make us worse or that evill which brings such gaine and sweetnesse Before I was afflicted saith David I went astray but now doe I keepe thy Commandements Psal. 119. 67. These evilâ— doe presse us but it is to God and to holinesse Yea how much lower our afflictions weigh us downe on Earth so much the more earnestly our affections mount up to Heaven An Egg will swim in salt water but sink in fresh so we King David among so many publick and private calamities and dysasters kept his head above water and stood upright in his heart to God but King Salomon his Sonne even sunke in the midst of delights and pleasures Too much ranknesse layeth the Corne and Trees over-laden with Fruit are their owne ruine Happy was hee John 9. in being borne blinde whose gaine of bodily sight made way for the spirituall who of a Patient became an Advocate for his Savieur who lost a Synagogâ—e and found Heaven who by being abandoned of sinners was received of the Lord of glory God rarely deprives a man of one faculty but he more then supplies in another The defect of corporall sight hath not seldome mended the memory for what is taken from one Sense is divided amongst the rest When Zachary was dumbe John Baptist the voice was a breeding Hannibal had
the rest Let us forget him a while and then he will remember himselfe Loving Spaniels the more they are beaten the more tractable and gentle doe they appeare and apply themselves more diligently to their masters call The Heart is so hot of it selfe that if it had not the Lungs as Fannes to blow wind upon it and kindly moysture to coole it it would soone perish with the owne heat and yet when that moysture growes too redundant it againe drownes the Heart Who so nourisheth his servant daintily from his chilâ—hood shall after find him stubborne In prosperity wee are apt to thinke our selves men good enough wee see not our need of God but let him send the Crosse it confutes us presently and shewes us our nothingnesse Even Saint Paul was sick of this disease hee began to be puâ—t up untill the messenger of Satan was sent to take him downe 2 Cor. 12. 7. And Saint Peter Mat. 26. 33. Though all men should forsake thee yet I will never forsake thee bravely promised but Peter the same night swore I know not the man cowardly answered It is one thing to suffer in speculation and another in practice It is a wonder to see how the best men may bee mistaken in their owne powers When our Saviour propounds to James and John are yee able to drink of the Cup that I shall drinke of and to be baptized with the baptisme that I shall be baptized with out of an eager desire of the honour they are apt to undertake the condition and answer accordingly we are able Math. 20. 22. But alas poore men no thankes to them that they were able to ruime away as they did when their master was apprehended For God must give us his dayly bread to feed us and his dayly breath to quicken us or we quickely perish yet how common is it for men to brag and crack of what they can doe yea one that hath but a wooden head and a leaden heart how will he helpe it out with a brazen face and a golden hand for being as great in pride as he is small in desert hee will keepe adoe in an audacious masterlinesse as if with Simon Magus hee would bare downe all with large proffers But this cannot be so pleasing to nature as it is hatefull to God Neither can there be a worse signe of ensuing evill then for a man in a carnall presumption to vaunt of his owne abilities how justly doth God suffer that man to be foyled purposely that he may be ashamed of his owne vaine selfe-confidence When a great Prelate durst write Ego et Rex meus I and my King the King subscribed in act Ego servus meus I and my slave and quickly tooke downe the maine Mast of his ambition so will God doe by all proud men and make them know that all their worthinesse is in a capable misery which he can soon doe for let him but make our purses light our hearts will soone grow heavy at least let him with that deprive us of his other blessings we become as dust coagulated and kneaded into Earth by teares And certaâ—nely if God owne such a man he will quicken his sight with this Copris Yea he will leave him to himselfe and let hiâ— fall into some foule sinne as he did Peter And Saint Austin is peremptory that it hath beene prositable for proud men to fall into some grose offence for they have not lost so much by their fall aâ— they have got by being downe It is better to be humble under sinne than bee proud of grace Of the two to be a Pharisee is worse then to be a Publican to be proud of good endowments is worse then to have neither pride nor good endowments Yea in this case the party is not onely bettered but others learne humility thereby for who can doe other then yearne and feare to see so rich and goodly a vessell split as David or Solomon was Againe it makes us pittifull and compassionate to others They saith Sophocles are usually the most compassionate to others who have suffered miseries themselves And what saith that Tyrian Queene evills have taught mee to bemoane all that affliction makes to groane And lastly the Devill hereby is cheated who if hee cannot beat us downe to sinne will blow us up with pride he will undermine us if he cannot overthrow us like a most cunning wrestler who if he cannot crush a man to the ground with plaine strength he will lift him up that he may give him the greater fall And nothing doth more advantage Satan then pride for first a man shall never be a proficient that thinkes himselfe already sufficient Secondly when hee can poyson our good workes with Pharisaisme he makes us by overvaluing them to lose them Confidence in God doth onely support us without him we are like Vines unpropt which on the Earth do crawle And suppose a man is exempt from many vices yet he is not beholding to himselfe for it Lord saith S. Austin thou hast forgiven me those sinnes which I have done and those sinnes which onely by thy grace I have not done they were done in our inclination to them and even that inclination needs Gods mercy and that mercy he calls pardon If wee escape temptation it is his mercy if wee stand in temptation it is his mercy if our wills consent not it is his mercy if we consent and the act be hindred it is his mercy if wee fall and rise againe by repentance all is his mercy Neither are we sufficient of our selves to thinke much lesse to speake least of all to doe that which is good 2 Cor. 3. 5. Wee have no good wee doe no good but wee may wee must thanke grace for it which is all in all Yee can beare no fruit saith our Saviour except yee abide in mee John 15. 4. Yea more expresly without me can yee doe nothing Verse 5. So that we cannot put too much trust in him not too little in our selves O God let me ever be humbly dejected in the sence of mine owne insufficiency let me give all the glory to thee and take nothing to my selfe but my infirmities least it fare with me as it did with that Armenian Tigranes by name who being encamped upon a hill with foure hundred thousand men and discovering the Aâ—my of the Romans being not above fourteene thousand maâ—ching towards him made himselfe merry with it saying yonder men are too many for an Ambassage and too few for a Fight when before the Sun-set hee â—oâ—nd them enough to give him the chase with infinitâ—-slaughter And Pride seldome speeds better especially if Hezekiahs heart bee lift up God will pull him downe againe By this time wee see that there is danger in being without dangers that selfe confidence is pride without wit that the best mindes troubled yeeld inconsiderate motions that as water violently stirred sends up bubbles so the vanities of our hearts
have Well then art thou vexed persecuted and afflicted by some cruell and malitious Saul and is it grievous to thee for the present Why that which hath beene heard to suffer is sweet to remember at last our Songs shall bee louder then our Cryes CHAP. XV. How it increaseth their spirituall wisedome 12 OUr sufferings make us teachable and increase in us spirituall wisedome He delivereth the poore in his affliction and openeth their eare in trouble Job 36. 15. And again He openeth the eares of men even by their corrections Job 33. 16. We are best instructed when we are most afflicted Pauls blindnesse tooke away his blindnesse and made him see more into the way of life then could all his learning at the feet of Gamaliel And what saith Naaman upon the cleansing of his Leprosie Now I know there is no God in all the earth but in Israel O happy Syrian that was at once cured of his Leprosie and his misprision of God The Prodigall sonne regarded not his Fathers admonition so long as he enjoyed prosperity when we smart not we beleeve not and God is not feared till felt but that which makes the body smart makes the soule wise It is good for me saith David that I have beene afflicted that I may learne thy Statutes We grow wise by evills whereas prosperity besottsus Even to lose is some wayes profitable it makes a man wary Yea S. Basil calls want and pennury the inventer of all Arts. And S. Austin the mistris of all Philosophy The best wisedome is dearest bought Algerius the Martyr could say out of experience he found more light in the dungeon then without in all the world The Scottish King prisoner in Mortimers hoale learnt more of Christ then in his pallace he could all his life Luther could not understand some Psalmes till he was in affliction the Christs crosse is no letter yet it taught him more learning then all the letters in the row Yea what will not affliction teach us when even the savagest Beasts are made quiet and docible with abating their food and rest or by adding of stripes That Breefe-braynd fellow in Scaliger had his eare boared with thunder when nothing else would doe it Yea saith Molineus Bonifacias his silly reasons for the Popes supremacy did well enough being propounded with a sword in the hand Even as the Clay with water and the Iron with fire are made plyable and apt to receive impression from the workeman even so when wee are soaked in the flouds of sorrow and softned in the fire of affliction we are aptest to receive the impression of Gods Law into our hearts when hee speakes unto us by his Ministers If the Lord breaks us in peaces with the Plow of his Justice then let the Seedsmen his Ministers sow the seed of his Word we shall receive it through the furroâ—â—es of our eares into the ground of our hearts and grow up in wisedome and saving knowledge Or when the bard heart is grownd to powder betweene the upper and the nâ—ther milstone of the two Tables it will see and imbrace that counsell which before it slighted We heare and reade much of the corruption of our natures odiousnesse of our sinnes necessity of a Saviour sweetnes of Gods love in Christ c. but wee never fully apprehend these things or taste how good the Lord is till some sharpe affliction comes A man knowes not where his house is ill covered till winter Crosses are like pinching frosts that will search us wee learne to know our selves by that we suffer Yea Affliction so brings downe our stomacks that we can see even matter of thankefulnes where our former pride found matter of complayning And that which formerly had no more taste then the white of an egge viz. the glad tydings of the Gospell is now such a spectacle of unspeakable mercy as ravisheth our soules with admiration Many a good word is even spilt upon us till God sets it on with his Rod Naomy will not looke home-ward nor wee heaven-ward till the Almighty have dealt very bitterly with us Zippora falls presently to circumcising her sonne when shee sees her husbands life lyes upon it Were it not for temptations we should be concealed from our selves like t 〈…〉 〈…〉 nchanted Asse in Lucian which returned to his proper shape againe when he saw himselfe in a looking-glasse So long as we prosper like those wives in Jeremy Chap. 44. 17 18. we judge of things by their events and raise our confidence according to the successe we have and so blesse our selves without being blest of God like the Theefe that applauded himselfe for mercyfull because he had never kild any and yet rather then lose a Ring he would cut off the travellers finger but strong affections will give credit to weake reasons O how blinde and partiall are wee before affliction hath humbled us even so stupid that Narsisus like we are inamoured of our owne shaddowes bragging we discharge 4 good conscience when indeed we discharge it quite away and this righteousnesse in opinion is almost the onely cause of all unrighteousnesse Before want came poverty was more contemptible then dishonesty but now it is disgracefull to none except fooles and knaves Then we could censure things indifferent and passe by haynous crimes now wee are able to distinguish them and so judge righteous judgement Before trouble came we were either ungrounded in the principles of Religion or unconscionâ—ble in the practise and by vertue of our mother wit could poste and passe sinne from our selves unto some other as Adam laid the fault upon Eve his wife she upon the Serpent and the Serpent upon God Or excuse or extenuate it which saith Fabius is to dubble it As for Originall corruption that never troubled us which now we bewayle as the mother and nurse of all the rest thinking it worthy our sighes yea of our teares and not without need it being the great wheele in the Clock that sets all the wheeles a moving while it seemes to move slowest Though not one of a hundred taketh it sufficiently to heart as not seeing the evill of it But never did any truly and orderly repent that began not here esteeming it the most foule and hatefull of all as David Psal. 51. 5. and Paul crying out of it as the most secret deceitfull powerfull evill Rom. 7. 23 24. And indeed if wee clearly saw the foulenes and deceitfulnes of it wee would not suffer our eyes to sleepe nor our eye-lids to slumber untill a happy change had wrought these hearts of ours which by nature are no better then so many styes of uncleane devills to be habitations for the God of Jacob. Apt wee were to measure our owne good by anothers want of it and to scoffe at others infirmities but now other mens sinnes shall rather be the subject of our griefe then of our discourse Before feare of the law shame of men and such like base ends bare the
hypocrisie of mirth they rejoyce in the face onely and not in the heart as the Apostle witnesseth 2 Cor. 5. 12. or as another hath it Where O God there wants thy grace Mirth is onely in the face Yea their owne consciences bare mee witnesse as that Spanish Judge well considered who when a murther was committed in a tumultuous crowde of people bared all their bosâ—mes and feeling upon their brestâ— discovered the guilty Author by the panting of his heart And Tully who makes it an argument of Roscius Amerinus Innocency that he killed not his Father because hee so secuâ—ely slept Yea as in prophane joy even in laughter the heart is sorrowfull so in godly sorrow even in weeping the heart is light and cheerefull The teares of those that pray are sweeter than the joyes of the Theater saith Saint Augustin For our cheeks may runne downe with teares and yet our mouthes sing forth prayses the face may be pale yet the heart may be quiet and cheerefull so Saint Paul as sorrowing and yet alwayes rejoycing 2 Cor. 6. 10. Neither can it be solid comfort except it hath his issue from a good conscience Indeed we therefore are not merry enough because we are not Christians enough Now if all our sufferings are thus counterpoysed and exceeded with blessings have we any cause to be angry and impatient What saith Job Shall we receive good at the hands of God and not evill Hee was content to eate the crust with the c 〈…〉 mme Indeed his wife like the wicked would onely have faire weather all peacâ— and plenty no touch of trouble but it is not so with the godly who have learnt better things Who will not suffer a few stripes from a Father by whom he receiveth so much good even all that he hath Diogenes would have no nay but Antisthenes must entertaine him his Scholler insomuch that Aptisthenes to have him gone was fore'r to cudgell him yet all would not doe he stirres not but takes the blâ—wes very patiently saying Vse mee how you will so I may be your Scholler and heare your dayly discourses I care not Much more may a Christian say unto God Let me in joy the sweet frâ—ition of thy presence speake thou peace unto my conscience and say unto my soule I am thy salvation and then afflict me how thou pleasest I am content yea very willing to beare it Yea if we well consider the commodity it brings wee shall rather wish for affliction than be displeased when it comes Col. 1. 24. For it even bringeth with it the company of God himselfe I will bee with you in tribulation saith God to the disconsolate soule Psal. 91. 15. When Sidrack Mishack and Abednego were cast into the siery fornace there was presently a fourth came to bear them company and that was God himselfe Dan. 3. 23 to 27. And his presence makes any condition comfortable were a man even in Hell it selfe yea as when S. Paul was wrapt up to the third heaven he was so ravished wiâ—h the joy therâ—of that he knâ—w not whether he had his body about him or not 2 Cor 12. 2. Whetâ—er in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth So Gods presence so ravisheth the soule that while a man suffers the greatest paine hee knowes not whether he be in paine or no. Yea God is not onâ—ly 〈◊〉 then to comfort them in all their tribulations 2 â—â—r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in them for at the same â—ime when the Diâ—câ—plâ—â— were persecuted they are said to be filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost Acts 13. 52. And 〈◊〉 â—ur sufferings in Châ—ist doe abound so our consolation also aboundâ—th through Christ 2 Cor. 〈◊〉 5 And lasâ—ly b◠〈◊〉 comsort us according to the dayes we are affâ—ctâ—d â—nd according to the yeares we have seene evill Psâ—l 90 15. So that a Christian gaines more by his â—oâ—â—es 〈◊〉 crosses then the happyest worldling by â—ll 〈…〉 is 〈…〉 nities as it was said of Demostheâ—â—s thaâ—â—ee got more by holding his peace than oâ—â—er Lawyers did by their pleading And if so our sufferings require patience with thankfulnesse as it fared with Job Ob. But what ever others find thy sufferings are not thus counterpoysed and sweetned An. What 's the reason get but the light of grace to shine in thy heart thy prison shall be an heaven thy Keepers Angels thy Chaines thy glory and thy deliveranâ—e Salvation grow but heavenly minded and thou shalt be able to extract gaine out of losse peace out of trouble strength out of infi mity out of Teares joy out of sinne holinesse â—ut of persecution profit out of affliction comfort For godlinesse in every sicknesse is a Physitian in every contention an Advocate in every doubt a Schâ—oleman in all heavinesse a Preacher and a comforter unto whatsoever estate it comes making the whole life as it were a perpetuall hâ—lâ—lujaâ— Besides we looke for a Crowne of glory even that most excellent and eternall weight of glory to succeed this wreath of Thornes but if we are never tryed in the field never set foot to runne the race of patience how can wee looke for a Garland Ten repulses did the Israelites suffer before they could get out of Aegypt and twice ten more before they could get possession of the promised Land of Canaan And as many did David indure before he was invested in the promised Kingdome many lets came before the Temple was re-edified All men would come to Heaven but they doe not like the way they like well of Aâ—rahams bosome but not of Dâ—ves doore But God seeth it fit for us to taste of that Cup of which his Sonne dranke so deepe that we should feele a little what sinne is and what his love was that we may learne patience in adversity as well as thankâ—fulnesse in prosperity while one sâ—ale is not alwayes in depression nor the other lifted ever high while none is so miserable but hee shall heare of another that would change calamities with him CHAP. XXII That they are patient because patience brings a reward with it 6. BEcause patience in suffering brings a reward with it in reason a man would forgive his enemy even for his owne sake were there no other motive to perswade him for to let passe many things of no small moment as that if we forgive not we can doe no part of Gods worship that is pleasing to him for we cannot pray aright 1 Tim. 2. 8. Wee cannot communicate in the Sacrament but we make our selves guilty of Christs blood 1 Cor. 11. 27. Mat. 5 24. Wee cannot be good hearers of the Word James 1. 21. and that it maketh a man captive to Satan Ephes. 4. 26 27 and many the like If ye forgive men their trespasses saith our Saviour your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses Mat. 6. 14. 15. So he that will not
can passe by an offence and take it patiently and quietly you have a kinde of peace and joy in your heart as if you had gotten a victory and the more your patience is still the lesse your paine is for as a light burthen at the armes end weigheth heavier by much than a burthen of treble weight if it be borne on the shoulders which are made to beare so if a man set patience to beare his crosse the weight is nothing to what it would be if that were wanting In a word Patience is so soveraigne a m 〈…〉 dicine that it cures and overcomes all it keeps the heart from envy the hand from revenge the tongue from contu 〈…〉 ely the whole body from smart it overcomes our enemies without weapons finally it is such a vertue that it makes calamities no calamities But what needs all this men commonly say in necessitated sufferings what remedy but patience therefore patience is a confessed remedy Wherefore saith one being unable to direct events I governe my selfe and if they apply not themselves to mee I apply my selfe to them if I cannot fling what I would yet I will somewhat mend it by playing the cast as well as I can O that all implacable persons who double their sufferings through long study of revenge would learne this lesson and beare what they must beare patiently then would they finde that patience can no lesse mitigate evils than impatience exasperates them A profitable prescription indeed may some say but of an hard execution hard indeed to an impenitent sinner that hath two burdens on his backe at once viz. his affliction and his sin which addes weight to his affliction to carry them so easily as he that hath but one namely his affliction Yea it is altogether impossible to flesh and bloud for our hearts are like the Isle Pathmos in which nothing will grow but on earth which is brought from other places If the will be ours the good will is Gods Wherefore if thou art onely beholding to nature and hast nought but what thou broughtest into the world with thee well mayest thou envie at it but thou canst never imitate it for to speake the truth faith and patience are two miracles in a Christian. A Protestant Martyr being at the stake in the midst of furious and outragious flames cryed out behold yee Papists whom nothing will convince but Miracles here see one indeed for in this fire I feele no more paine than if I were in a bed of Downe yea it is to me like a bed of Roses and Cassianus reporteth that when a Martyr was tormented by the Infidels and asked by way of reproach what miracle his CHRIST had done hee answered hee hath done what you now behold inabled me so to beare your contumelies and undergoe all these tortures so patiently that I am not once moved and is not this a miracle worthy your taking notice of Indeed what have we by our second birth which is not miraculous in comparison of our naturall condition It was no lesse than a miracle for Zacheus a man both rich and covetous to give halfe his goods to the the poore and make restitution with the residue and all this in his health It was a great miracle that Joseph in the armes of his Mistresse should not burne with lust It is a great miracle for a man to forsake Houses and Lands and all that hee hath yea to hate Father and Mother and Wife and Children and his owne life to be Christs Disciple It is a great miracle to rejoyce in tribulation and smile death in the face It is a great miracle that of fierce and cruell Wolves Beares Lyons we should bee transformed into meeke Lambes and harmelesse Doves and all this by the foolishnesse of preaching Christ crucified Indeed they were no miracles if Nature could produce the like effects but she must not looke to stand in competition with grace Saint Paul before his conversion could doe as much as the proudest naturall man of you all his words are If any other man thinketh that hee hath whereof he might trust in the flesh much more I Phil. 3. 4. Yet when he speaks of patience and rejoycing in tribulation hee sheweth That it was because the love of God was shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost which was given unto him Rom. 5. 5. of himselfe hee could doe nothing though hee were able to doe all things through Christ which strengthned him Phil. 4. 13. Hast thou then a desire after this invincible patience seek first to have the love of God shed abroad in thy heart by the Holy Ghost which love of God is like that Rod of Mirtle which as Pliny reports makes the traveller that carries it in his hand never to be faint or weary Wouldst thou have the love of God aske it of him by prayer who saith if any of you lacke in this kinde let him Aske of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall bee given him James 1. 5. Wouldst thou pray that thou mayst be heard Aske in faith and waver not for he that wavereth is like a wave of the Sea tost of the winde and carried away Vers. 6. Wouldst thou have faith bee diligent to heare the Word preached for Faith comes by hearing Rom. 10. 17. Unto him therefore that is able to doe exceeding abundantly above all that we can aske or thinke I commend thee CHAP. XXIII Because our enemies are ignorant 2. Reasons in regard of our enemies are three 1 because They are ignorant 2 because They are rather to be pitied than maligned or reckoned of 3 because Their expectation may not bee answered 1. HE well considers the ignorance of his enemies who being carnall fleshly unregenerate cannot discerne the spirituall objects at which they are offended Father forgive them saith our Saviour of his enemies for they know not what they doe Luke 23. 34. Socrates being perswaded to revenge himselfe of a fellow that kicked him answered if an Asse had kickt me should I have set my wit to his and kicke him againe or if a Mastife had bitten me would you have me goe to Law with him And when it was told him another time that such an one spake evill of him he replyed alas the man hath not as yet learned to speak well but I have learned to contemno what hee speakes Diogenes being told that many despised him answered It is the wise mans portion to suffer of fooles Aristotle being told that a simple fellow railed on him was not once moved but said let him beate me also being absent I care not wee may well suffer their words while God doth deliver us out of their hands for if we goe on in a silent constancy say our eares be beaten yet our hearts shall be free And this heroicall resolution had Saint Paul that chosen Vessell I passe very little to bee judged of you meaning blind sensualists or of mans judgement
yet adde to their torment if they find any their is no Common Law in the New Jerusalem their truth will be received â—hough either plaintiffe or defendant speakes it Yea there shall be a resurrection of our credits as well as of our bodies Nay suppose they should turne their words into blowes and in stead of using their tongues take up their swords and kill us they shall rather pleasure than hurt us When John Baptist was delivered from a double prison of his owne of Herods and plâ—ced in the glorious liberty of the Sonnes of God what did he lose by it His head was taken off that it might be crowned with glory he had no ill bargaine of it they did but hasten him to immortality and the Churches dayly prayer is Come Lord Jesus come quickly Yea what said blessed Bradford In Christs cause to suffer death is the way to Heaven on horsebacke which hath made some even slight the sentence of death and make nothing of it It is recorded of one Martyr that hearing the sentence of his condemnation read wherin was exprest many severall tortures of starving killing boyling burning and the like which he should suffer he turnes to the people and with a smiling countenance sayes And all this is but one death and each Christian may say of what kinde soever his sufferings bee The sooner I get home the sooner I shall be at ease Yea what ever threatens to befall him hee may answer it as once that noble Spartan who being told of the death of his Children answered I knew well they were all begot mortall Secondly that his goods were confiscate I knew what was but for my use was not mine Thirdly that his honour was gone I knew no glory could be everlasting on this miserable Earth Fourthly that his sentence was to dye that 's nothing Nature hath given like sentence both of my condemners and mâ— Wicked men have the advantage of the way but godly men of the end Who feare not death because they feared God in their life So we see the cudgell is not of use when the Beast but onely barkes nay tell me how wouldst thou indure â—ounds for thy Saviour that canst not indure words for him if when a man reviles thee thou art impatient how wouldest thou afford thy ashes to Christ and write patience with thine owne blood CHAP. XXV That their expectation may not bee answered 3. BBcause he will not answer his enemies expectation in which kinde he is revenged of his enemy even while hee refuseth to revenge himselfe For as there is no such griefe to a Jester or Jugler as when he doth see that with all his jests tricks and fooleries hee cannot move mirth nor change the countenances of them that see and heare him so there can be no greater vexation to a wicked and malicious enemy than to see thee no whit grieved nor moved at his malice against thee but that thou dost so beare his injuries as if they were none at all Yea he which makes the tryall shall find that his enemy is more vexed with his silence than if he should returne like for like Dion of Alexandria was wont to take this revenge of his enemies amongst whom there was one who perceiving that by injuring and revâ—ling of him he could not move him to impatience whereby he might have more scope to raile went and made away with himselfe as Brusonius reports And Mount 〈…〉 els us of a Citizen that having a Scould to his â—ife would play on his Drum when shee brawled and rather seeme to be pleased with it than angry and this for the present did so mad her that she was more vexed with her selfe than with him but when shee saw how it succeeded and that this would not prevaile in the end it made her quite leave off the same and prove a loving wife that so shee might overcome him with kindnesse and winne him to her â—ow by bending as much the other way that so like a prudent Wife she migh command her Husband by obeying And whosoever makes the tryall shall finde that Christian patience and magnanimious contempt will in time either draine the gall out of bitter spirits or make it more overflow to their owne disgrace At least it will still the barking tongue and that alone will be worth our labour Satan and his instruments cannot so vex us with sufferings as we vex them with our patience It hath been a torment to Tyrants to see that they were no way able either with threats or promises kindnesse or cruelty to make the Christians yeeld but that they were as immoveable as a Rock it being true of them which is but â—ained of Jupiter namely that neither Juno through her riches nor Mercury through his eloquence nor Venus through her beauty nor Mars through his threats nor all the rest of the gods though they conspired together could pull him out of Heaven Neither feared they to dye knowing that death was but their passage to a state of immortality But to goe on you cannot anger a wicked man worse than to doe well yea he hates you more bitterly for this and the credit you gaine thereby then if you had cheated him of his patrymony with youâ— owne diseredit nor doe they more envy our grace then they rejoyce to see us sinne For what makes God angry makes them merry And they so hunger and thirst after our diseredit that should we through passion but overshoot our selves in returning like for like or in doing more than befits us they would feed themselves with the report of it for like flesh-flyes our wounds are their chiefe nourishment and nothing so glads their hearts or opens their mouthes with insolency and triumph Besides what is scarce thought a fault in other men is held in us a haiâ—ous crime When they could not accuse Christ of sinne they accused him for companying with sinners and doing good on the Sabboth-day When the Rulers and Governours could â—inde no fault in Daniel concerning the Kingdome hee was so faithfull they aleadged his praying to God and brought that within compasse of a Premunire Dan. 6. 4 13. The World is ever taxing the least fault yea no fault or rather the want of faults in the best men because one imaginary cloude in a just man shall in their censure darken all the starres of his graces yea the smallest spot in his face shall excuse all the sores and ulcers in their bodyes so that by answering their expectation or by returning like for like we shall both wrong our selves and pleasure them which is like the setting of a mans owne house on fire through carelesnesse in which case he not onely bares the losse and scorches himselfe in it but must give five pounds to the Sheriffe also if it be in London So that the best answer is either silence or laughter or if neither of these will doe a Cudgell The best answer to words of scorne and petulancy
answer It were the greatest pleasure to Athens that could be if you would hang your selfe yet was not moved a jot for all his might was answerable to his patience why hee cared not so much to revenge the evill as to requite the good Polamon was not so much as appalled at the byting of a Dog that tooke away the brawne or calfe of his leg nor Harpalus to see two of his Sonnes laid ready drest in a silver Charger when Astiages had bid him to Supper And lastly when it was told Anaxagoras from the State that he was condemned to dye and that his Children were already executed hee was able to make this answer As touching said he my condemnation nature hath given like sentence both of my condemners and me and as touching my children I knew before that I had begot mortall creatures But what of all this Let every naturall man know that a continued patience may be different from what is goodnesse for as Austin well there is no true vertue where there is no true Religion neither is it a naturall meeknesse which proceeds from a good constitution nor a morrall meekenesse which proceeds from good education and breeding but spirituall meeknesse which is a fruit of the spirit Galat. 5. 22. to 25. That is the subject of our discourse and will carry away the blessing But to give them the utmost advantage let the vertues of all these Philosophers bee extracted into one Essence and that spirit powred into one man as Zeuxis pourtraying Juno chose the â—ive Daughters of Croton out of all the Agrigentine Virgins that from there severall perfections he might compose one excellent and most beautifull picture Yet this Philosopher must bee acknowledged to fall short of a compleat Christian guided by the Spirit of God Or if you will gather out of Histories the magnanimity of Hector of Alexander of Caesar of Scipio and of Sâ—aevola put them to the rest yet for patience and constancy they come not neare that one president laid downe in the example of that holy man Job and other servants of God in succeeding ages and that in five maine particulars 1 One notable difference betweene the patience of a Philosopher and a Christian is They lacked a pure heart truly sanctified by the Holy Ghost which is the Fountaine of all well doing Now if the Fountaine be corrupt the strâ—ames cannot be pure but the best of them wâ—re but in the state of nature unregenerate and consequently unreconciled to God in Christ and so enemies to him Rom. 5. 10. And our persons must first be justified and accepted of God before our actions can please him as of necessity the Tree must be good before it can bare good fruit Yea saith our Saviour as the Branch cannot bare fruit of it selfe except it abide in the Vine no more can yee except you abide in me John 15. 4. Christian vertues are not naturall a man is no more borne with Grace in his Soule than with Apparrell on his Back Againe the best of our Workes are imperfect and mingled with corruptions and therefore cannot abide the examination of Gods exact justice till they be covered with Christs righteousnesse and their corruption washed away with his most precious blood Neyther can those workes please God which are done without him for as it will be no excuse before God when the matter of the worke is ill to pleaâ—e the goodnesse of the heart So neither when the heart is nought to pleade that the matter of the worke is good as many notable examples prove namely the Jewes urging God with their fasting Isay 58. and yet sent away empty And those reprobates Matth. 7. who alleadge there Preaching in Christs name casting our Devils c. but receiving that fearefull answer depart from me yee workers of iniquity I know you not As also Caine whose outward workes in sacrificing were the same with his brothers and yet Saint John sayes Gains workes were evill and his brothers good which may seâ—ve to comfort poore Publicans and confound all proud Pharisees as Saint Austin observes qui viret in soliis venit a radicibus humor 2. As the Christian beares injuries patiently so hee doth it and all other performances in knowledge of and in obedience to Gods word and Commandement which obedience also proceeds from a true love of God and an humble heart thinking when hee hath done that he falls farre short of performing his duty Whereas they had neither knowledge in nor love to nor the least respect of God or his word in their bearing injuries and therefore as God said once to the Jewes in matter of Fasting have yee fasted to me so hee will say to them in the matter of suffering have yee suffered in love and obedience to me and my word no but in love to your owne credit and other the like carnall respects And indeed how can they expect a reward from God when they have done him no service If in bearing with or serving of men we serve our selves and seeke our selves rather than God when wee come for our reward Gods answer will be let him reward you whom yee have served thou servedst thy selfe therefore reward thy selfe if thou wilt for I never reward any service but mine owne As why will Christ at the later day remember and reward the duties of love and liberality done to men but because they were done for his sake and as to himselfe Matth. 25. 40. Yee have done them unto me there is the cause of the reward Whence it is Saint Paul willeth Christian servants yoaked with cruell Heathnish misters to hee obedient unto them as unto Christ serving the Lord and not men Colos. 3. Vers. 22 23 24. 3. What ever they did or suffered was either to purchase fame to themselves or to merit reward by it their aime and end was not Gods glory but their owne honour and glory and vertues are to be judged not by their actions but by their ends Yea they called vertue Bonum Theatrale as if a man would not be vertuous if hee had not spectators to take notice of him but it is false for vertue will be as cleere in solitudine as in Theatro though not so conspicuous onely it may grow more strong by the observation and applause of others as an heat that is doubled by the reflection But O the difference betweene these naturall and meere morall men and a true Christian the Christian loves goodnesse for it selfe and would be holy were there no heaven to reward it he does all and suffers all out of sincere affection and a zeale of Gods glory and the Churches good Math. 5. 16. to the end his name may bee magnified and others wonne and edisied 1 Pet. 2. 12. as most fit it is that the profit being mans the honour should be Gods And this his sincerity the rather appeares in that he holds out maugre all opposition disgrace persecution c. Whereas the other like
winde-mills would not turne about to doe any good service but for the winde of mens praises Now it is one method to practise swimming with Bladders and another to practise dauncing with heavy shoes Wee read of some that in the Monastery could fast whole dayes together with ease but in the dezart they could not hold out untill noone but their bellyes would be craving presently 4. The one doth it in faith which onely crownes good actions for whatsoever is not done in faith is sin Rom. 14. 23. and therefore cannot please God Heb. 11. 6. the reason is this If our best actions be not the fruites of a lively faith they spring from Ignorance and Iâ— fidelity as hearbes may doe from a dunghill And its evident they have not faith for how should they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard Rom. 10. 14. And it were well if all that are meere civill and morall men would looke to the Rock where-out their workes are hewen and to the Pit where-out they were digged for God looketh at no action further then it is the worke of his spirit but the spirit is nowhere but in the sonnes of God Galat. 4. 6. and no sonnes but by faith in Christ Gal. 3. 26. So that obedience without faith is but as the shell without the kernell the huske without the corne the carkasse without the soule which the Lord abhorres as the sacrifice of Fooles Isay 66. 3. Whence it is that all the vertues of the Heathen are called by Divines splendida peccata shining or glistering sinnes sinnes as it were in a silken Robe 5. The summe of all Morall Philosophy is included in these two words sustaine and abstaine and a wicked man may restraine evill as doe the godly but here is the difference the one keepes in corruption the other kils corruption 6. The Philosopher and so all civill and morall men can forbeare the Christian forgive they pardon their enemies we love ours pray for them and returne good for evill And if not we no whit savour of Heaven For if you love them which love you saith our Saviour what thankes shall you have for even the sinners doe the same such as see not beyond the clouds of humane reason But I say unto you which heare Love your enemies blesse them that curse you doe good to them that hate you and pray for them which hurt you and persecute you Matth. 5. 44. Luke 6. 27. 32 33. shewing that if wee will ever hope for good our selves wee must returne good for evill unto others In which words you may note a tripple injunctioâ— one to the heart the treasury of love another to the tonguâ— loves interpreter the third and principall to the hand which is loves Factor or A 〈…〉 oner Wherein our Saviour seemes to set man like a Clock whose master wheele must not onely goe right within nor the bell alone sound true above but the â—and also point straight without as for the motion and setting of the wheele within he saith to the heart love your enemies for the stroke and sounding of the Bell above hee saith to the tongue blesse them that curse you and for the pointing of the hand or Index without he saith to the hand doe good to them that hurt you Now well may naturaâ—l men sayle with the winde of their naturall passions and corrupt affections in rendering evill for evill but Christ the Master and Pylot of his Ship the Church hath charged all passengers bound for Heaven the Haven of their hope and Harbour of their rest like Pauls Marâ—iners Acts 27. to sayle with a contrary winde and weather of doing good for evill and like the Disciples on the Lake of Genazareth Rowe through the raging waves of their enemies reproaches with a contrary breath not rendring rebuke for rebuke but contrariwise to blesse 1 Peter 3. 9. And the better to teach us this lesson he practised it himselfe adding example to precept for his word and his worke like mercy and truth met together his precept and his practâ—se like righteousnesse and peace kissed each other for when they in devillish malice sought nothing but his condemnation he in great love went about the worke of their salvation when they shed his bloud to quench their malice hee sweat water and bloud to wash their soules Yea when the Jewes were crucifying of him he at the same time though the torments of his passion were in t 〈…〉 able incomparable unconceiveable solliciteth God for their pardon Luke 23. 34. Now his prayer could not but be efficatious and a pardon for such murthâ—rers was no meane good turne And this likewise is the practise of the Saints who strive to imitate their Master in all things which he did as man S. Steven at the instant while his enemies were stoning of him kneeled downe and prayed Lord lay not this sinne to their charge Acts 7. 60. Where is one thing very remarkable he stood when he prayed for himselfe but kneeled when he prayed for hiâ— enemies herby shewing the greatnesse of their impiety which easily could not be forgiven as also the greatnesse of his piety And indeed as to render good for good is the part of a man and to render evill for evill the part of a beast and to render evill for good the part of a devill so to render good for evill is onely the part of a Saint be mercifull as your heavenly Father is mercifull Luke 6. 36. It were easie to abound in examples of this kinde how often did Moses returne good unto Pharaoh for his evill in praying and prevailing with God for him to the removall of nine severall plagues notwithstanding his cruell oppression And David what could he have done for Saul that he left undone notwithstanding hee so cruelly persecuted him and hunted after his life And the like I might shew in that man of God to Jeroâ—oam and they that went to Heaven by the bloudy way of Martyrdome who prayed for others even their persecutors and murtherers an easier passage to Heaven Yea Gods people account it a sinne to cease praying for their worst enemies 1 Sam. 12. 23. But what doe I tell them of these transcendent examples when I never yet heard or read of that Philosopher which could parallel Doctor Cooper Bishop of Lincolne in an act of patient suffering who when his wife had burnt all his Notes which he had beene eight yeares a gathering least hee should kill himselfe with overmuch study for she had much adoe to get him to his meales shewed not the least token of passion but onely replyed Indeed wife it was not well done so falling to worke againe was eight yeares more in gathering the same Notes wherewith he composed his Dictionary which example I confesse more admires me than any that ever I heard of from a man not extraordinarily and immediately inspired and assisted by the Holy Ghost and sure he that could indure this could indure any thing whether
in body goods or good name for of necessity there must bee in that man that can patiently beare such a losse somewhat more than man I know there are some men or rather two legged Beasts that esteeme no more of Bookes and Notes than Esops Cocke did of the Pearle hee found and these accordingly will say this was nothing in comparison of what they suffer as when once a Hot-spur was perswaded to be patient as Job was he replyed What doe you tell me of Job Job never had any suits in Chauncery Yea indeed the meanest of Christs royall Band for patience puts down all the generations of naturall men as even their enemies will confesse Consalvus a Spanish Bishop and Inquisitor wondred how the Protestans had that Commandement Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe so indelibly Printed in their hearts that no torture could blot it out and make them confesse and betray one another And indeed how should it be otherwise for First if Morall Principles cherished and strengthened by good education will inable the soule against vitious inclinations so that though some influence of the heavens doe worke upon the aire and the aire upon the spirits and the spirits upon the humors and these incline the temper and that inclines the soule of a man such and such wayes Yet breeding in the refineder sort of evill persons will much prevaile to draw them another way what may wee thinke of grace and faith and Gods spirit which are supernaturall Secondly every Christian suffering for Christs sake and for righteousnesse sake hath Gods mighty power to support him and Christ to suffer with him and beare a part in his misery whereas the naturall man suffers all himselfe as a delinquent or malefactor whose guilty conscience addes weight to his punishment A woman called Fâ—licitas whom Saint Austin much praiseth being brought to bed in the time of her imprisonment for the truth and by reason of the great paines shee had in her labour that she could not forbeare schreâ—ching one of the Officers hearing her cry out tauntingly mockt her thus Ah woman if thou canst not beare these sorrowes without such cryingâ— how wilt thou endure when thou shalt be burnt or cut in peeces or torne asunder What thou now sufferest is but sport but the Tragedy is to follow whom shee answered Now said shee I suffer for my selfe and for sinne but then Christ is to suffer in me and I for him And it fell out as she said for when she was thrown to the wild beasts she neither sent out screechings nor so much as a sigh or groane but entertained death with so merry and cheerfull a countenance as if she had beene invited to a Feast And thus you see in the first place that Nature hath but a slow foot to follow Religion close at the heeles that grace and faith transcends reason as much as reason doth sense that patience rightly so called is a Prerogative royall peculiar to the Saints It is well if Philosophy have so much wisedome as to stand amazed at it 2. That it is not true Christian patience except it flow from a pious and good heart sanctified by the Holy Ghost 2 Be done in knowledge of and obedience to Gods command 3 That wee doe it in humility and sincere love to God 4 That it be done in faith 5 That wee ayme at Gods glory not our owne and the Churches good in our sufferings 6 That we â—orgive aswell as forbeare yea love pray for and returne good to our enemies for their evill which being so what hath the Swashbuckler to say for himselfe And what will become of him if he repent not who can afford no time to argue but to execute Yea what hath the more temperate worldling to say for himselfe who hath some small peece of reason for his guide arguing thus I would rather make shew of my passions than smoother them to my cost which being vented and exprest become more languishing and weake better it is to let its point worke outwardly than bend it against our selves and in reason Tallying of injuries is but justice To which I answer it is not reason especially â—arnall reason but Religion which all this while hath beene disputed of which is Divine and supernaturall and that teacheth how good must be returned for evill and that we should rather invite our enemy to doe us more wrong than not to suffer the former with patience as our Saviours words doe imply If saith hee they strike thee on the one cheeke turne to him the other also If they sue thee at the Law and take away thy Coate let him have thy Cloake also Mat. 5. 39 40. He speakes comparatively as if he should say rather suffer two wrongs than doe one Indeed the difficulty of the duty the seeming danger and want of Faith in carnall men weakneth the force of the strongest reasons for no more among Ruâ—â—ins but a word and a blow among civill men a word and a writ can you expect But as thrice Noble Nehemiah said to that false Belly-god betraying-Priest Shemaiah should such a man as I flee So the true Christian will encounter all discouragements and frightning Alarums thus should such a man as I feare to doe that which my Master King and Captaine Christ Jesus hath commanded me which is of more necessity than life it selfe Yea seeing Heathens could goe so farre as to subdue their passions for shame let so many of us as would be accounted Christians goe further even to the mortifying of ours or if we goe not before Publicans and Sinners in the Kingdome of grace Publicans and Sinners shall goe before us into the Kingdome of Heaven And seeing the duty of the Childe is the Fathers honour let us that are Christians bee knowne from Worldlings by our practice as once the Grecians were knowne from the Barbarians by their vertuous lives as Quintus Curtius notes Shall a wild Olive Tree growing upon the barren mo 〈…〉 s of Gilboa and nature where neither dew of the spirit nor rayne of grace faleth bare such fruit and shalt not thou a green Olive Tree in the house of God planted beside the waters of comfort bring forth this fruit of the spirit We see that civill honesty severed fâ—â—m trâ—e piety humility saving knowledge sincere love to God true obedience to his word justifying faith a zeale of Gods glory and desire to edifie and win others God accepts not as proceeding from the love of our selves and other carnall respects namely to obtaine praise or profit thereby So that to suffer as the Heathen did without observing other circumstances is but to imitate that foolish Patient who when the Physitian bade him take that prescript eate up the paper Wherefore doe not onely subdue thy passions but sayle with that contrary breath of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 12. We are reviled and we blesse and with that of Saint Steven who rowed both against winde and tyde
of our worft and greatest enemies prove no other in effect to us than did the malice of Josephs bretâ—ren Mistrisse and Lord to him the first in selling of him the second in falsely accusing him the third in imprisoning him all which made for his inestimable good and benefit than the malâ—ce of Hâ—man to Mordeâ—â—i and the Jewes whose bloudy decree obtained against them procured them exceeding much joy and peace than Balacks malice to the Children of Israel whose desire of cursing them caused the Lord so much the more to blesse them Numbers 23. Than the Devils spight to Job who pleasured him more by his soare afflicting him than any thing else could possibly have done whether wee regard his name children substance or soule than Judas his treason against the Lord of life whose detestable fact served not onely to accomplish his will but the meanes also of all their salvations that either before or after should beleeve in him this should move wonder to astonishment and cause us to cry out with the Apostle O the deepnesse of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of God! How unsearchâ—ble are his judgements and his wayes past finding out Rom. 11. 33. O the wonderfull and soveraigne goodnesse of our God! that turnes all our Poysons into Co 〈…〉 that can change our terrours into pleasures and make the greatest evils beneficiall unto us for they are evill in their owne nature and strong temptations to sinne James 1. 2. also fruits of sinne and part of the cuâ—se and worke those former good effects not prop 〈…〉 y by themselves but by accident as they are so disposed by the infinite wisedome goodnesse and power of God who is able to bring light out of darkenesse and good out of evill yea this should tutor us to love our enemies we love the medicine not for its owne sake but for the health it brings us and to suffer chearefully whatsoever is laid upon us for how can Gods Church in generall or any member in particular but fare well since the very malice of their enemies benefits them How can we but say let the world frowne and all things in it runne crosse to the graine of our mindes Yet with thee O Lord is mercy and plenteous redemption thou makest us better by their making us worse Objectiâ—n But perhaps thou hast not proved the truth of this by thy owne knowledge and particular â—xperience Answer If thou hast not thou shalt in due time the end shall prove it stay but till the conclusion and thou shalt see that there is no Crosse no enemy no evils can happen unto thee that shall not be turned to good by him that dwelleth in thee Will you take Saint Pauls word for it or rather GODS owne word who is truth it selfe and cannot lye His words are We know that all things worke togetheâ— for the best unto them that love God even to them that are called of his purpose Rom 8. 28. And in Verse 3â— 36. after he hath declared that Gods chosen people shall suffer tribulation and anguish and persâ—câ—tion and famine and nakednesse perill sword c. be killed all the day long and counted as Sheepe for the slaughter he concludeth with Nâ—verthelesse in all these things we are more than conquâ—â—ours through him that loved us and so goeth on even to a challenge of our worst enemies Death Angels Principalities and Powers things present and to come heighth depth and what other creature besides should stand in opposition What voluminous waves bee here for numbâ—r and power and terrour yet they shall not seperate the Arke from Christ nor a soule from the Arke nor a body from the soule nor an haire from the body to doe us hurt What saith David Marke the upright man and behold the just for the â—nd of that man is peace Psal. 37. 37. Marke him in his setting out he hath many oppositions marke him in the journey he is full of tribulations but marke him in the conclusion and the end of that man is peace In Christ all things are ours 1 Cor. 3. â—2 How is that Why we have all things because we have the hâ—ver of all things And if we love Christ all things worke together for our good yea for the best Rom. 8. 28. And if all things quoth Luther then â—ven sinne it selfe And indeed how many have wee knowne the better for thâ—ir sinne That Magdalen had never loved so much if she had not so much sinned had not the incestuous person sinned so notoriously he had never beene so happy God tooke the advantage of his humiliation for his conversion Had not one foot slipt into the mouth of Hell he had never beene in this forwardnesse to Heaven sinne first wrought sorrow saith Saint Austin and now godly sorrow kils sinne the daughter destroyes the mother neither doe our owne sinnes onely advantage us but other mens sinnes worke for our good also Objection But may some say can any good come out of such a Nazarite Answer Yes The advantage we have by Christ is more than the losse we had by Adam If Ariuâ— had not held a Trinity of Substances with a Trinity of Persons and Sabellius an Vnity of Persons with an Vnity of Essences the Mysteries of the Trinity had not beene so clearely explained by those great lights of the Church If Rome had not so violently obtruded her merites the doctrine of Justification onely by faith in Christ might have beene lesse digested into mens hearts We may say here as Augustine doth of Carthage and Rome If some enemies had not contested against the Church it might have gone worse with the Church Lastly suppose our enemies should kill us they shall not hurt but pleasure us yea even death it selfe shall worke our good That Red Sea shall put us over to the Land of Promise and wee shall say to the praise of God we are delivered we are the better for our enemies the better for our sins the better for death yea better for the devill and to thinke otherwise even for the present were not onely to derogate from the wisedome power and goodnesse of God but it would be against reason for in reason if he have vouchsafed us that great mercy to make us his owne he hath given the whole army of afflictions a more inviolable charge concerning us than David gave his Host concerning Absolom See yee doe the young man my sonne Absolom no harme Now if for the present thou lackest faith patience wisedome and true judgement how to beare and make this gaine of the crosse Aske it of God who giveth to all men liberally and reproacheth no man and it shall be given thee James 1. 5. For every good giving and every perfect gift is from above and commeth downe from the Father of lights Verse 17. 6. Use. 6. Sixthly for this point calling more for practice than proofe it behoves us to bee larger here briefer there If that which is one
mans meat proves another mans poyson let it bee acknowledged that the fault is not in the meat but in the stomack and that it is the wickednesse of our hearts and want of a sincere endeavour to make good use of Gods corrections which causeth him to withdraw his blessing from them Wherefore let it provoke us as we love our selves as wee love our soules through all the transitory temporary momentary passages of this world first to strive after and then to preserve the life of our lives and soule of our soules sincerity and integrity Againe if Afflictions which are in their owne nature evill and unto others strong temptations to sinne by the goodnesse of God doe make so much for our advantage and benefit here and hereafter If our Heavenly Father turnes all things even the malice of Satan and wicked men yea our owne sinnes to our good Rom. 8. 28. If for our sakes and for his name sake he even changeth the nature and property of each creature rather than they shall hurt us as it is the nature and property of fire to burne yet thaâ—â—â—hement fire in Nebuchadnezzars furnace did not â—urne the three servants of God It is proper to the Sea to drowne those that be cast into it yet it did not drowne the Prophet in the very depth of it It is proper for bungry ravenous Lyons to kill and devoure yet they did Daniel no harme And the like when we need their helpe It is proper for the Sun to move yet it stood still at the prayer of Joshuah proper for it to goe from East to West yet for Hezekiahs confirmation it went from West to East It is proper for Iron to sinke in the Water yet it swoom when the children of the Prophets had need of it In like manner it is proper for affliction to harden and make worse as well as for riches and prosperity to insnare But as some simples are made by Art medicinable which are by nature poysonâ—ble So afflictions which are in nature destructive by grace become preservative And as evill waters when the Unicornes horne hath beene in them are no longer poysonable but healâ—hfull or as a waspe when her sting is out may awaken us by buzzing but cannot hurte us by stinging so fares it with affliction when God pleaseth to sanctifie the same as he doth to all that love him Rom. 8. 28. For of God it is without thankes to Affliction or our selves or our sinnes that we are bettered by them All the worke is thine let thine be the glory But lâ—stly for though we can never be thankefull enough for this yet this is not all that we should finde him a Saviour whom our enemies finde a just revenger That we should be loosed from the chaines of our sinnes and they delivered into the chaines of Plagues That the same Christ should with his precious blood free us that shall with his Word sentence them Againe if we were by nature the Seed of the Serpent children of the Devill and Subjects to that Prince which ruleth in the Ayre even that spirit which now worketh in these children of disobedience Ephes. 2. 2. We may learne by it to be humble and thankefull if changed to be the womans Seed children of God and members of Christ since we were once in so vilde a condition for God found nothing in us but Enmity 1 Cor. 15. 10. Rom. 7. 18. 25. We are not borne but new-borne Christians And whereas he might have left us in that perishing condition being bound to none and have chosen others he hath of his free grace adopted us and left others What 's the reason surely no reason can be given but O the depth only this I am sure of it is a mercy beyoâ—d all expression O my soule thou hast not roome enough for thankefulnesse Wherefore let it provoke us so to love him that we shew forth the vertues and fruits of him that hath called us and done all this for us 1 Pet. 2. 9. But I feare we forfeit many of Gods favours for not paying that easie rent of thankfulnesse For conclusion If we be the seed of the Woman and our enemies the seed of the Serpent let us goe before them in goodnesse as farre as God hath preferred us before them in mercy let us be able to say of our enemies as Job of his I have not suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse unto his soule Job 31. 30. Yea let us send downe water from our compassionate eyes and weepe for them by whom we bleed In briefe let us hate their opinions strive against their practise pitty their misguidings neglect their censures labour their recovery and pray for their salvation CHAP. XXXIV That though God disposeth of all their malice to his Childrens greater good yet they shall be rewarded according to their mischievous intentions Ob. IF it be so that the malice of wicked men makes so much for the behoofe of Gods people and that whatsoever they doe unto us is but the execution of Gods will and full accomplishment of his just decree it may seeme to make on their side and not onely extenuate their evill but give them occasion of boasting Ans. Although God disposeth it to the good of his children that he may bring about all things to make for his owne glory yet they intend onely evill in it as namely the dishonour of God the ruine of mens soules as I have proved in the Drunkards Character and the satisfying of their owne serpentine enmity and thirst of revenge We must therefore learne to distinguish betwixt the act of God and of an enemy as indeed Gods people doe When yee thought evill against me saith Joseph to his brethren God disposed it to good that he might bring to passe as it is this day and save much people alive Gen. 50. 20. God had no hand in doing the evill but God will have a hand in the disposing of it When Satan and wicked men have their wills even therein also is Gods will fulfilled for Gods will is the highest cause of all things Psa. 115. 3. 4. Yea the holy God challengeth to himselfe whatsoever is done in the City Amos 3. 6. but so as neither wicked mens sinnes shall taint him nor his decree justifie them the sinne is their owne the good which comes of it is Gods the benefit ours He doth well in suffering to be done whatsoever is evill done saith Saint Austin and is just in their injustice God wils the same action as it is a blessing tryall or chastisement of his children which he hates as the wickednesse of the agent because in the same thing which they did there was not the same cause for which they did it The lewd tongue hand or heart moves from God it moves lewdly from Sathan wicked men are never the freer from guilt and punishment for that hand which the holy God hath in their offensive actions To instance in some examples
shall he not shew merey to the penitent Or who would not eâ—st his burthen upon him that doth desire to give ease As I live saith thâ— Lord I would nâ—t the death of a sinner Ezek. 18. 32. 33. 11. Section 5. Objection Ay but I cannot Râ—peat Answer In time of temptation a man is not a competent Judge in his owne case In humane Lawes there is a nullity held of words and actions extorted and wrung from men by feare because in such cases a man is held not to be a free-man nor to have power or command in some sort of himselfe A troubled soule is like troubled waters we can discerne nothing clearly in it wherefore if thou canst lay aside pâ—ejudice and tell mee in cold bloud how it fares with thee at other times though indeed thy words at present are enough to convince thee For first thou sindest sinne a burthen too heavy for thee to heare which thou didst not formerly what 's the reason are thy sinnes more and greater no but the contrary for though they appeare more yet they are lesse for sinne the more it is se 〈…〉 e and selt the more it is hated and thereupon is the lesse Mâ—ates are in a roome before the Sun shines but they appeare onely then Againe secondly the very complaint of sin springing from a displeasure against it shewes that there is something in thee opposite to sinne viz. that thou art penitent in affection though not yet in action even as a Childe is rationâ—ll in power though not in act Yea more thou accâ—sest and condemnâ—st thy selfe for thy sinnes and by accusing our selves we pâ—â—â—ent Satan by judging our selves we preâ—ent God Neither was the Centurion ever so worthy as when he thought himselfe most unworthy for all our worthinesse is in a capable misery nor does God ever thinke well of him that thinkes so of himselfe But to let this passe Are not your faylings your griefe are they not besides yâ—ur will are they not contrary to the current of your desires and the maine bent of your resolutions and endeavours Dost thou determine to continue in the practice of any one sinne yea dost thou not make conscience of all Gods Commandements one aswell as another the first table aswell as the second and the second aswell as the first Matth. 5. 19. Dost thou not grieve for sinnes of all sorts secret aswell as knowne originall aswell as actuall of omission as of commission lesser viz. thoughts aswell as greater yea aswell for the evill which cleaves to thy best workes as for the evill workes Rom. 7. 21. and as heartily and unfaynedly desire that thou maist never commit it as that God should never impute it 2 Tim. 2. 19. Dost thou not feare to displease him not so much because he is just to punish as for his mercy and goodnesse sake and more feare the breach of the Law then the curse Dost thou not love rather to be then seeme or be thought good and seeke more the power of godlinesse then the shew of it Job 1. 1. If so well may Satan and thine own conscience accuse thee of impenitency and unbelief but Christ thy Judge never Yea then notwithstanding your failings you may say with David I have kept thy Word Psal. 18. 21 22 23. for though this be not such a measure of keeping as the Law requireth yet is it such a keeping as God in Christ accâ—pteth for suppose thy knowledge is still small thy faith weak thy charity cold thy heart 〈…〉 ll and hard thy good workes few and imperfect and all thy zealous resolutions easily hindered and quite overthrowne with every small temptation yet God that worketh in us both the will and the worke will accept the will for the worke and that which is wanting in us Christ will supply with his owne righteousnesse He respecteth not what we can doe so much as what we would doe and that which we would performe and cannot he esteemeth it as though it were performed whereas take away the will and all acts in Gods sight are equall As the wicked sinne more then they sinne in their defire so the Righteous doe more good then they doe in their will to doe it If there be a â—aratum cor though there be not a perforatum cor a profser of bloud though no expence of bloud for the honour of Christ it is taken for Mâ—â—tyrdome as Origen testified of one Non ille Martyrio sed Martyrium illi defuit I know thy poverty but thou art rich saith the Spirit to the Church of Smyrua poore in thy condition rich in thy affection to goodnesse Facultas secundum voluntatem non voluntas secundum facultatem aestimanda est God esteemes our charitable beneficence not onely secundum quod habemus but secundum quod tribuere velimus We are charged to forsake all houses lands friends liberties lives for Christ yet many die with houses lands and riches in their possession whom Christ receives and Crownes in Heaven because they did part with all secundum animae praeparationem What we would have done shall be reckoned to us as done we doe it quoad conatum though non quoad effectum In like manner God taketh a heart desirous to repent and beleeve for a penitent and beleeving heart volens dolens The vehement desire of godly sorrow or a sorrow because we cannot sorrow goes for godly sorrow with God so that to sigh and grieve for what wee cannot doe is to come short and yet to doe it too for God likes the will so well that in his Sonne what wee would doe is in acceptance done 2 Cor. 8. 12. Which text one brings in thus O what an unspeakable comfort was this cordiall verse to my afflicted soule And well it might for if we hate our corruptions and strive against them they shall not be counted ours It is not I saith Paul but sinne that dwelleth in me Rom. 7. 20. for what displeaseth us shall never hurt us and wee shall be esteemed of God to be what we love and desire and labour to be The comfort of this Doctrine is intended and belongs to troubled consciences and those that would faine doe better but let no presumptuous sinners meddle with it for what hast thou to doe to take I say not the Childrens bread to eaâ—e Matth. 15. 26. but even the least parcell of Gods word into thy mouth seeing thou haâ—est to bee reformed Psal. 50. 16 17. But if thou beest a weary and heavy laden sinner thou maist comfort thy selfe thus I doe hatefull things but I haâ—e that I doe I breake the Law but yet I love the Law as holy just and good Flesh is in me but I am not in the Flesh. I must not six mine eyes only upon mine owne resistance or fâ—ylingâ— but on Gods â—ssistance and acceptance in his Sonne by which I shall be able to leap over all wals and impediments Psalme 18 29. The Law is given that
in adversis alia esse non debent quà m patientia precatio saith Salmeren Yea Prayer is so powerfull that it commandeth all things in Heaven and Earth It commandeth all the foure Elements Ayre Iames 5. 17 18. Fire Ecclesiasticus 48. 3. Dan. 3. 27. Water Exod. 14. 21. 15. 25. Earth Numbers 16. 31 32 33. Nay the Prayer of one devout man is able to conquer an host of enemies in battell Exodus 17. 11. What shall I say it hath made the Sun stand still in the Firmament one while goe backe another setcht fire and haylestones from Heaven throwne downe the walls of Iericho subdued Kingdomes stopt the mouths of Lyons quencht the violence of Fire c. Yea Prayer is so potent that it raiseth the dead 1 Kings 17. 21. overcometh Angels Gen. 19. 23. casteth out Devils Matth. 17. 21. and that which is yet more wonderfull overcometh him that cannot be overcome and mastereth even God himselfe for doth not the Lord say to Moses let me alone and Moses would not let him alone till he had obtained his petition Exod. 32. 10. 14. And againe to Jacob wrestling with him let me goe and Jacob would not let him goe untill he had prevayled Gen. 32. 16. Wherefore Pray upon all occasions and that without doubting say not to God as the Leaper said to Christ If thou wilt thou canst make me cleane for hee both can and will as that very text Matth. 8. 2 3. proves Yea I would to God we were but so willing as he is for he desires to be desired Neither hath he his owne will except we have ours Christ doth aske no more of us but only that we would vouchsafe to aske him True the fainting heart that hath waited some time may with the Psalmist mutter out some such speech as this Hath God forgotten to bee gracious Psal. 77. 9. But if he forgets any of his he hath lost his old wont for who can nominate one that ever came unto Christ with any lawfull sute that received a repulse Who ever asked any thing of him which was profitable for him to receive and did not obtaine his sute Did not the sicke ever receive their health the lame their limbes the blinde their sight Did ever any sinner implore the forgivenesse of his sinnes which did not receive full remission and pardon Yea did not this our gracious King and Redeemer prevent his poore miserable subjects with his grace in giving before they had the grace to aske or more then they desired The sicke of the Palsie asking but cure of his disease received not onely that but the remission of his sinnes also Matth. 9. Zacheus desired but to see his face he became his guest and gave him salvation to boâ—â—e Luke 19. The Woman of Samaria requested but elementall and common water hee offered unto her the water of life John 4. The people followed him to be fed by miracle with corporall food hee offered unto them the bread of life John 6. The poore blinde man desired but his bodily sight Christ illuminated the eyes of his soule John 9. Neither hath honours changed manners with him as is usuall amongst men for he is a God immutable in goodnesse and without change or shaddow of turning James 1 17. so that if thou speake he will heare and answer thy sute in supporting thee so that thou shalt be sure to persevere and hold out unto the end Section 11. Objection But I have no evidence of divine assistance nor can I pray for it to purpose Answer We have the presence of Gods Spirit and grace many times and feele it not yea when we complaine for want of it as Pilate asked Christ what was the truth when the Truth stood before him The stomack findes the best digestion even in sleep when we least perceive it and whiles we are most awake this power worketh in us either to further strength or disease without our knowledge of what is done within and on the other side that man is most dangerously sick in whom nature decayes without his feeling without his complaint To know our selves happy is good but woe were to us Christians if wee could not be happy and know it not As touching Prayer every one is not so happy as Steven was to be most servent when they are most in paine yea many in time of sicknesse by reason of the extremity of paine can hardly pray at all whence Saint James wisheth us in affliction to pray our selves but in case of sicknesse to send for the Elders that they may as those in the Gospell offer up the sicke person to God in their prayers being unable to present their owne case Iames 5. Vers. 13 14 15. Yea it were miserable for the best Christian if all his former Prayers and Meditations did not serve to ayde him in his last straights and meet together in the Center of his extremity yeelding though not sensible reliefe yet secret benefit to the soule whereas the worldly man in this case having not layed up for this houre hath no comfort from God or from others or from himselfe Besides thou art happy in this there is not the poorest and meanest of Gods Children but as he hath the benefit of Christs intercession in Heaven Rom. 8. 34. Iohn 16. 26. so hath he also the benefit of the Prayers of all the Saints on Earth wâ—e have the graces and gifts each of other in common Yet because thine owne Prayer is most proper and seeing it is the mindes Embassadour to God and never faileth of successe if it be servent as if our prayers want successe they want heart their blessing is according to their vigor pray that thou maist pray better If thy Legge be ben 〈…〉 ed goe upon it a little and it will come to it selfe againe To which if thou joyne fasting thou shalt doe well for Prayers are made fat with fasting as Tertullian speaks Yea pray oft though thy prayers be the shorter weake stomacks which cannot digest large meales feed oft and little O faith holy Bernard most sweetly How oft hast thou â—eaning prayer found me lamenting and despairing and left me rejoycing and triumphing And what though thou canst not poure out thy soule in a 〈…〉 ud of words The Woman diseased with an Issue of bloud said but within her selfe shee did not speake to be heard of others and yet Christ heard her and answered her request Matth. 9. Vers. 21 22. The Lord esteemeth the will for the deed and the affection for the action Man sees the countenance God the heart man the deedes but God the meaning Hast thou but thoughts and desires and canst thou onely expresse them with sighes and groanes these sâ—eechlesse words or rather no words but a few poore thoughts conceived aright passe all the flowing eloquence of Demoâ—â—â—enes and Tully yea Turtullus and all the Oratâ—rs that ever were in in the world for this matter is not expressed with words but with groanings
and these groanings are from the blessed Spirit A Father delights more in the stammering of his little Childe then in the eloquence of the best Grator Neither is hearty prayer in our owne power but it is the gift of God which at some times in plentifull measure he bestoweth upon his children and at other times againe he pulleth backe his liberall hand that by the want thereof we may learne to ascribe the glory and prayse of this grace to the giver who worketh in us the will and the deed which prayse otherwise in pride of heart we would arrogate unto our selves as being in our owne power Also that we may more highly esteeme it and with more joy and diligence use it when we have it bestowed on us If it bee aâ—ked why God reckons so highly of a few sighes and groanes and why the prayers of the faithfull are so powerfull it is because they be not ours but the intercession of Gods owne Spirit in us powred out in the name of Christ his owne Son in whom he is ever well pleased for as for us wee know not what to pray us we ought but the Spirit it selfe maketh request for us with sighes which cannot be expressed Rom. 8. 26. It is the Spirit whereby wee cry Abbu Father Vers. 15. Gal. 4. 6. Now if thou wouldest have the Spirits assistance and be heard of God when thou makest supplication to him doe not as too many doe fall into prayer without preparation and utter a number of words without devotion or affection for no marvell if we aske and misse when wee thus aske amisse James 4. 3. Neither doe as Children which never looke after their Arrow but like Daniel Dan. 9. take notice of thine inlargements in prayer and of thy successe after Nor onely pray and no more for to pray and to do nothing else is in effect to doe nothing lesse But let your Prayers be ushered in by Meditation and attended by zealous devotion and then beleeving that you shall receive whatsoever you aske in Christs name and according to his will 1 John 5. 14. John 16. 23. God will be sure to give you that you desire 1 John 5. 14 15. Marke 11. 23 24. or that which is better for you Deut. 34. 4 5. And suppose thou art not presently heard yet continue asking still as Peter continued knocking till the doore was opened for after an ill harvest we must sowe and after denyals we must woe God Yea if it be possible with the Woman of Canaan let delayes and seeming denyals encrease the strength of thy cryes And commonly they be earnest sutes which issue from a troubled soule like strong streames in narrow straights which beare downe all that stands in their way Nothing so strong as the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah for it overcame the roring Lyon yet the Prayer of Faith from the knees of humility and a broken heart will conquer even that Conquerer Matth. 15. 28. And thus you see that nothing can befall us without the speciall appointment of our good God who not onely takes notice of our sufferings but sweetneth them with his presence takes our part stintes our enemies and so ordereth the whole that our griefe is either short or tolerable and that though hee is oftentimes harsh in the beginning and progresse and late in comming yet he comes on the sudden and is alwayes comfortable in the conclusion And lastly that if he defer his helpe it is on purpose that our tryals may be perfect our deliverance welcome our recompence glorious And may not this comfort thee CHAP. XXXVII That stripes from the Almighty are speciall tokens and pledges of his adoption and love 3. WE shall beare the Crosse with more patience and comfort if we consider that stripes from the Almighty are so far from arguing his displeasure that contrarily there are no better tokens and pledges of his Adoption and love As many saith God as I love I rebuke â—nd 〈…〉 sten Revel 3. 19. My Sonne saith the Author to the Hebrewes out of Solomons Proverbs Despise not the câ—â—stening of the Lord neither faint when thou art rebuked of him for wâ—â—m the Lord loveth hee câ—â—steneth and hee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sonne whom hee receiveth If you endure chast 〈…〉 God offereth himselfe unto you as unto sonnes for 〈◊〉 soâ—â—e is it whom the Father chasteneth not If therefore yee be without correction whereof all are partakers then are yee â—â—staâ—dâ— and not sonnes Heb. 12. 5. to 13. Prov 3. 11 12. He is a Thistâ—â— and not good Corne that commeth not under the Flayle Yea what use of the Graine it self if it passe not the edge of the Sickle the stroakâ— of the Flayle the winde of the Fanâ—â— the weight of the Milstone the heat of the Oven Many a mans felicity driveth him from God and where happinesse domineereth vertue is commonly banished And doth not experience shew that feare and joy sweet and sower sharpe and flat one with another doe better then either alone for if you be too harsh you make the Childe a foole if too fâ—nd a wanton The bridle governes the horse the spurre quickens him the weight upon the line makes the Iacke goe the oyle upon the wheele makes it goe glib and nimble The sayles give the speed the ballast steadinesse to the motion of the Ship And hereupon God weighs out to us our favours and crosses in an equall ballance and so tempers our sorrowes that they may not oppresse and our joyes that they may not transport us Each one hath some matter of envy to others and of griefe to himselfe Thou dealest mercifully with us least wee should fall from thee and despaire thou beatest us least wee should forget thee and so perish saith Saint Austin He that knowes our frame knowes we are best when we are worst and live holiest when wee are miserablest wherefore by affliction he separates the sinne that hee hates from the sinner whom he loves and we are by much the better for this scowring It is the wont of Fathers to hold in their owne Children when they suffer the Children of bond-men to goe at large and doe as they list yea when divers children are playing the wantons if we see a man take one from the rest and whip him soundlâ— we conclude that alone to be his Childe Yea wise and discreet Fathers will force their Children earnestly to apply themselves to their study or labour and will not let them be idle although it bee Holy-day yea constraine them to sweat and oftentimes to w 〈…〉 when their Mothers would sâ—t them on their lâ—ppâ—â— and keepe them at home all day in the shadow â—oâ—â—uâ—ning their white Jacob is bound prentise while prophâ—â—e Esau rides a hunting Of Elkanaâ— his two wives 〈◊〉 was in more esteeme with God yet barren and Peninnah lesse yet she was fruitfull 1 Sam. 1. They were all grosse inconsequences for Gedeon to argue Gods absence by affliction his presence by
so improved that stock of grace which wee have recâ—ived from thee But whereas thou gavest us as large a portion we suddenly lost it We were created indeed by thee after thine owne Image in righteousnesse and holinesse and in knowledge of the truth But alas now our understandings are so darkened and dulled our judgements so blinded our wills so perverted our affections so corrupted our reason so â—xiled our thoughts so surprised our desires so entrapped and all the faculties and functions of our Soules so disordered that wee are not sufficient of our selves to thinke much lesse to speake least of all to doo ought that is good And yet usually like Bladders we are not more empty of grace than we are blowne up with pride whereby with Laodicea wee not once see our owne spirituall misery and nakednesse But thinke we are rich and good enâ—ugh as wanting nothing when as scarce any sparke of grace yet appeares in us Yea so farre have we be 〈…〉 from loving and serving thee that wee have hatâ—d those that doe it and that for their so doing And so farre have wee beene from performing that vow which wee mâ—de to Christ in our Baptisme when we tooke his presâ—e money to be his souldiers and serve him in the fâ—â—ld of this world against his and our enemies that wee have renounced our vow made to him and fled from his standard yea sought for Satan and the Woâ—ld seeking to win all wee could from Christ by rempting to sinne and by persecuting such as were better than our selves so that all our recompence of thy love unto us hath beene to doe that which thou hatest and to hate those whom thou lovest Yeâ— we cannot deny but wee have persecuted thee with Paul denyed thee with Peter be 〈…〉 ayed thee with Judas and crucified thee with those cruell Jewes Now Lord it being thus with us how can wee expect that thâ—n shouldâ—st heare our prayers and grant our â—â—quâ—sts yea how can wee looke for other at thinâ— hands then great and gâ—iâ—vous yea then double damnation as most justly wee have deserved Yet most mercifull Father being that thou hast given thy Sonne and thy Sonne hiâ—selfe for the ransome of so many as shall truâ—ly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unfainedly beleeve in him who hâ—th 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sakes fulfilled all righteousnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the Crosse and there made full satis 〈…〉 on fâ—r the sins of all thine Elect and sâ—â—ing thou haâ—â—â—ppoynted Prayer as one speciall meanes for the obtaining of thy grace unto which thou hast annexed this comfortable promise that where two or thrée bee gathered together in thy name thou wilt be in the â—idst of them and grant their requests and since our Redéemer hath assured us that whatsoever we shall aske thee in his name thou wilt give it us And likewise knowing that mercy pleaseth thee and that the sole perfection of a Christian is the imputation of Christs righteousnesse and the not imputation of his owne unrighteousnesse We are emboldened to sue unto thee our God for grace that we may be able to repent and beléeve Wherefore for thy promise sake for thy Sonnes sake and for thy great names sake we beféech thee send downe thine holy Spirit into our soules regenerate our hearts câ—ange and purifie our natures subdue our reason rectifie our â—udgements strengthen our wils renew our affections put a stop to our madding aâ—d â—â—raâ—ing fancies beate downe in us whatsoever stâ—nds in opposition to the Sâ—epter of â—esus Christ and enable us in some measure both to withst 〈…〉 that which to evill and performe that which is good and pleasing in thy sight Yea â—ive us repentance never to bee repented of and possesse ouâ— soules with sucâ— a dreadfull awe of thy 〈◊〉 that we may feare as well to commit small sinnes aâ— great ones considering that the least sinne is moâ—â—all without our repentance and thy mercy as well feare to sinne in secret as openly since there is nothing hid from thee as well condemne our selves for evill thoughts as evill déedes considering that the Law is spirituall binding the heart no lesse then the haâ—ds as well abstaine from the occasions of sinne as sinne it selfe and consider that it is not enough to abstaine from eâ—ill unlesse wée hate it also and doe the contrary good And because every day which does not abate of our reckoning will increase it and that by procrastinating we shall but heape unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath Good Lord suffer us not we beseech thee to deferre our repentance lest the custome of evill makes it altogether unalterable in us or lest we dye before we begin to live or lest thou â—esusest to heare us another day calling upon thee for mercy because we refuse to heare thee now calling to us for repentance Wherefore if we be not yet converted let this be the happy houre of our conversion that as our bodies are risen by thy power and providence from sleepe so our soules may daily bee raised from the sleepe of sinne and the darkenesse of this world that so we may enjoy that everlasting light which thou hast prepared for thinâ— and purchased with the bloud of thy deare Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Give unto us we beseech thee a true lively and justifying faith whereby we may lay hold upon those gracious promises which thou hast made unto us in him and wherewith we may vanquish all our spirituall adversaries Seale up unto us the assurance of our salvation by the testimony of thy blessed Spirit Give to us thy servants that wisedome which descendeth from above that we may be wise unto our eternall salvation so shall our hearts instead of a Commentary helpe us to understand the Scriptures and our lives be an Exposition of the inward man Give us grace to account all things in this world even as drosse and dung that we may win Christ Jesus and Heaven and happinesse by meanes of him Give us single hearts and spirits without guile that wee may love goodnesse for it selfe and more seeke the power of godlinesse then the shew of it and love the godly for thy sake and because they are godly Grant that in the whole course of our lives we may doe unto all others as we would that they should doe unto us considering that whether we doe good or evill unto any one of thy members thou takest it as done unto thy selfe Discover unto us all our owne sinnes that wee may not be so forward tâ—â—â—nsure others as we have beene heretofore Give us patience to beare thy Fatherly chastisements which through thy grace sanctifying them to us become both Medicines to cure us and Antidotes to preserve us from the sicknesse of sinne considering that all the afflictions of this life are not worthy those joyes which shall be revealed unto us Finally good Father we beséech thée inable us so to walke in thy feare that in mirth we be not vaine in knowledge we be not proud