himselfe our righteousnesse make himselfe under the law Gal. 4. 4. and to make up a full righteousnesse fulfill every part of it Rom. 8. 3 4. Is it thy continuance in sinne and the number and iteration of them that amazeth thee All fulnesse dwells in him who is our righteousnesse Col. 1. 19. and hath dwelt in him longer then sinne in thee and the righteousnesse of our Messiah is everlasting righteousnesse Dan. 9. 24. The merit of which an eternity of sinning could not expend or make void And is all this righteousnesse laid up for himselfe onely or for any other so as thou mightest never come to have interest in it No the top of our comfort is that Our righteousnesse is one letter of his Name and that our names are put into his For us it is and Ours it is ordained to be as much ours to save us trusting upon it as his owne to glorifie him Ours not for himselfe he had no need of it being God blessed for ever Ours not the Angells neither the good for they are justified by their owne nor the bad they are put out of Gods will for ever But ours who are the sonnes of men and among them theirs especially who are broken lost whose soules draw neere to the grave and their lives to the destroyers that come pray unto God and stay themselves upon it unto them God cannot deny it for it is theirs For he will render to man His righteousnesse Job 33. 22 26. So as his Sonnes Name also is al-sufficient to answer all objections for faith to rest upon So as they that know his name will trust in him Psal 9. 10. A second reason why his name is sufficient Reason 2 though you have and see nothing in you nor any promise made to any grace in you to rest upon is because even all those promises made to cōditions in us which we ordinarily looke unto are Yea and Amen onely in this his Name and his Sonnes Name That is the originall of them all the root the seed of them all his Name is the materia prima the first matter of all those secondary promises ex quo fiunt in quod resolvuntur his Name gives being to them all if it were not for the mercy grace truth kindnesse in him and the righteousnesse which is in his Sonne all the promises which are made what were they worth As the worth of bonds depends upon the sufficiency of the man who makes them so all these promises upon his Name Therefore now when you relye upon his Name having as yet no promise made to any thing in you to relye upon you then relye upon that which is the foundation of all those promises you then have recourse to the originall which is more authenticall then extract copies you relye on that which all those other are resolved into and therefore is sufficient though all the rest faile you in your apprehension Thirdly Reason 3 his meere Name is support enough for faith and may bee so because it is for his Names sake and his Sons Names sake hee doth all he doth and for nothing in us but meerely for what is in himselfe so Esay 48. 9 10. For my Names sake c. So also Ezek. 36. 22 32. For my Names sake and not your sake and Esay 43. 25. I am he that blotteth out thy transgression for my owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes For it he blotteth out transgression and pardoneth And if it be for his Names sake he doth all he doth and fulfilleth all promises made to us and to what is in us Then when thou seest nothing in thy selfe to which any promise is made nothing which may appeare to be any argument or motive that he will pardon thee then trust thou in that his Name that because he is God and hath mercy in him that therefore he will doe it For that thing which is the onely or maine motive to God himselfe to doe any thing for us must needs be when apprehended and beleeved the strongest and surest ground for our faith also to perswade the heart that he will doe it As it is in knowledge the knowledge of the causes of things causeth the surest knowledge So in faith the knowledge of the maine motive to God the cause of all causeth the greatest certainty of perswasion This then may direct poore soules in distresse what to venture all upon upon what ground to hazard soules labours endeavours faith repentance obedience and all upon his Name when they see nothing in themselves to which any promise belongs as David sayes Psal 73. 26. My heart may faile and my flesh may faile but God will never faile So I may say your comforts in prayers in hearing your joyes your earnest-penies you have laid up may be all spent in a dearth your owne graces and all promises made to them your owne hearts may faile and being creatures they use to faile againe and againe but Gods Name and his Sonnes Name rested on will never faile you Leane on these not by halves in distresse 1 Pet. 1. 13. but trust perfectly as the Apostle sayes on that mercy you heare is in God upon that grace revealed That is throw and cast your whole soules your whole weight upon it he onely hath perfect peace Isa 26. 3. whose minde is staid on thee Psal 61. 2. have not halfe thy soule upon that rock which is higher then thee but creep up and get all upon it and when all faile renew thy faith on his Name Thereon rest there die To this purpose may that of Solomon serve Prov. 18. 10. His Name sayes he is a strong Tower and the righteous flye to it and are safe Now what end is there and use of a Tower in a City but that when all outworkes are taken the walls scaled all fortifications forsaken houses left then a Tower holds out last and is a refuge to flye to So also when the devill and Gods wrath beleaguers thee round and encompasseth thy soul and the comfort of every grace in thee is taken from thee and thou art driven from and art forced to forsake all other thy holds and grounds of comfort then flye to the Name of the Lord as thy City of refuge as Heb. 6. 18. it is compared Say there is mercy in thee Lord and that is thy Name and there is righteousnesse in thy Son and that is his Name and I am directed to trust in thy Name in time of need and here rest and catch hold as on the hornes of the Altar and if thou dyest dye there Direction 8. THe eighth direction is To waite in the use of all meanes to Waite upon God thus trusting in his Name in the constant use of all ordinances and meanes of comfort Waiting is indeed but an act of faith further stretched out As an Allegory is but a continued Metaphor so waiting is but a continuing to beleeve on God and
heavenly which concern our souls and estates hereafter Now the contention being about heavenly things and spirituall blessings it cannot bee transacted but by reasonings suitable that is spirituall false reasonings abstracted from sense and fancy and in this respect they are termed spirituall wickednesses because in such wickednesses they deal trade in especially or as much as in those that are sensuall as tempting to unbeliefe despaire blasphemy against God of which sort are all those teÌ„ptations we have now in hand And that he is able to convey and suggest such spirituall thoughts and reasonings of what sort soever appeareth many wayes as by injecting blasphemous thoughts against God such as doe sometimes transcend the wit and capacity of the receiver of them and is manifest likewise by Sauls prophesying even from the immediate dictating suggestion of an evill spirit as is expresly said 1 Sam. 18. 10. in the like maner to which haply the Sibylls also propheyed but more evidâ—â— it is in all those damnable heresies which have been broached in all ages as in the primitive times among the Romanes the broachers whereof are made the Emissaries of Satan therefore Rom. 16. 〈◊〉 Paul having branded them unto the Romans that taught false doctrines among them and having instructed them against them hee gives this encouragement about them ver 20. That God should treat dawne satan under their feet shortly having respect to Satans work in those errors mentioned v. 16. Satan being the main author of them Thus in the Church of Thyatira those cursed heretiques who applaâ—ded themselves and were admired by their followers for the depths and profoundnesse of the learning shewne in those heresies they broached Depths as they speake Rev. 2. 24. But if they call them depths sayes the Apostle I will call them Depths of satan Depths of satan as they speake for the devill was the master and the author and suggester of them so in after-times Apostacy is ascribed to spirits of errour that is Devils which he foretelleth men should give heed unto 1 Tim. 4. 1. in the working of satan 2 Th. â— 9. it was He that sharpened their wits and pens Now then by the same reason there is no reasoning about our estates though never so spiritual but he can suggest it as well as he did those depths of heresies to the broachers of 〈◊〉 So as Satan cannot onely make those false reasonings which our owne hearts forge more specious and probable and suggest further confirmations of them which are enough to add unto this darknes but he is also able to put in new which himself invents of what kinde soever they be Secondly To suggest them in such a maner as to take and deceive us he is not simply able to suggest them but to insinuate them in such a maner as to take with us and deceive us yea and often to set them on with a deep impression Therefore in those places forementioned it is not simply said that there should be spirits which should suggest errors but so suggest them as that men should give heed unto them 1 Tim. 4. 1. and 2 Thess 2. where the working of those very same spirits is set forth ver 9. it is not onely said that they were sent as from God to delude but with strong delusions such as should have a strength put into them to prevaile so as that men should beleeve them So also that lying spirit which God sent and who perswaded Ahab by a lye in the mouthes of his false Prophets commission is not simply given to him to suggest a lye but so as it should prevaile with Ahab so 2 Chron. 18. 21. And the Lord said thou shalt entise him and thou shalt also prevaile And as he is thus able when God gives leave to delude wicked mens understandings with false reasonings in matters of heresie and false doctrine by reason of that totall darknesse that is in them So he is able if God give leave as sometimes he doth to bring strong delusions upon the mindes of Gods children also through false reasonings about their owne estates by reason of that darknesse which in part remaines in them by meanes of which he may work the same effects for a time and in a certaine degree in a godly man which in another as was before observed Thus the beleeving Galatians especially some of them were so farre bewitched as his word is as for a time to assent to that great errour in point of justification And this by reason of that folly and darknesse which remained in them as he intimates when he sayes Oh ye foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth Gal. 3. 1. And if in the very doctrine of Justification it selfe beleevers were thus for a time deluded which is rare then much more may they and ordinarily are they misled in the application of faith in the beleeving their owne personall justification which is the point in hand A caution Onely this is to be added here for caution sake That it is true that Satan cannot enforce an act of assent to any falshood upon the understanding of any man For how then should they have all beene dawned for beleeving that lyed 2 Thess 2. 11 12. which should not have been unlesse it were their owne sinne which is as true of all other temptations as that Though Satan pat the thought into Iudas heart John 13. 2. yet his owne conscience ownes it wholly as his owne act Mat. 27. 4. I have sinned c. Neither yet doth hee is immediately concurre to produce such an act of assent in us Tentationis potest esse causa efficacax at non peccati potest necessitarehomines ad sentiendam tentationem non ad consentiendam as God doth when hee worketh saith in us for then Gods power and assistance in working good should bee no more then Satans in working evill And yet the Scripture phrases goe farre in ascribing unto Satan herein when it sayes of those that beleeved not the Gospell that the god of this world hath blinded their mindes that beleeve not 2 Cor. 4. which notes out a superadded working of blindnes unto their own naturall blindnes As also when he sayes that the Prince of the aire is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that workes effectually c. Ephes 2. 2. And also that of the Corinthians whilest unregenerate who as then are said to be caried and led away after dumbe Idolls 1 Cor. 12. 2. All which phrases would seeme to argue not onely a further power of working on mens judgements then when one man doth endeavour to corrupt and perswade another man in a morall way because he suggesteth indiscernably and with more frequency and importunity and holdeth the minde more to the object and presenteth an army of confirmations at once and is able so to marshall them as the minde can scarce resist and puts all these upon the Spirit with a violent and imperious
and eares her owne words And now that her heart began to listen to what might comfort her presently she began to have hope This sullen peevish desperate obstinacy is a thing you ought to take heed of for hereby you take Satans part and that against those you ought to love so deerely even your owne soules But as they said Let Baal plead for himselfe So let Satan plead his owne cause doe not you Hereby also you forsake your owne mercies as it is said Ionah 2. 8. you give up your owne right and are so farre befooled as to plead against your owne title your owne interest in the best things you can have interest in Gods mercies made yours by an everlasting covenant you give up your portion bequeathed you in your fathers will which you ought to maintaine and you trust to lying vanities the sooth-sayings and fortune-tellings as I may call them of Satan and of your owne hearts Hereby also yee become judges of evill thoughts Iames 2. For hee is an ill hearer of a cause who will heare but one party speake Direction 4. THe fourth direction is to make diligent search into and to call to remembrance what formerly hath beene between God and you The remembrance of former things doth often uphold when present sense failes This David practised in the like case Psal 77. ver 5 6. when his soule had refused comfort as I told you v. 2. yet in the end he began not onely to bee willing to listen to what might make for him but set himselfe aworke to recall to minde to consider the dayes of old to make diligent search namely into the records and register of Gods dealings ver 11. to see if there were never a record extant which might help him now the devill pleaded against his title even as if your houses and lands were called into question you would search over old writings deeds so do you in this I considered sayes he the songs in the night that is that joyfull communion he had enjoyed with God when God and he sang songs together and I communed with mine owne heart and made diligent search I tossed and tumbled over my heart to see if no grace formerly had beene there and if no grace at present were there he searched into what might comfort him as well as into the causes might provoke God thus to deale with him for I take it both may be meant And so Iob did when he was thus stricken and forsaken of God he viewes over every part of his life he seekes what dry land he could finde to get footing upon in the midst of seas of temptations recounts what an holy life he had lived with what feare and strictnesse he had served God Chap. 29. and Chap. 30. and Chap. 31. throughout and tells them plainely Chap. 27. ver 5 6. That let them pleade and argue what they could against him and goe about to prove him an hypocrite till I die sayes he I will not remove mine integrity from mee nor let goe my righteousnesse I will never give up mine interest in Gods mercies nor the evidences I have to shew for them and sayes he Chap. 19. 27 28. Though my reines be at present consumed yet the root of the matter is in me that is though God deales thus hardly with me as you see yea though the exercise of grace is much obscured the Sun-shine of Gods favour withdrawne his face hidden from me and the joyfull fruits of righteousnesse and comfortable fresh greene speeches and leaves you have knowne to grow upon this now withered stocke fallen off yet there is the root of the matter still 〈…〉 a root of faith that decayes not a constant frame of grace that still remaines which hareth sinne loveth God and you shall all never beare me from it And canst thou call nothing to remembrance betwixt God and thee which argues infallibly his love what nothing Looke againe Did God never speake peace to thy heart and shed his love abroad in it Hast thou at no time found in thine heart pure straines of true love and good will to him some pure drops of godly sorow for offending him and found some dispositions of pure selfe-deniall wherein thou didst simply ayme at his glory more then thine owne good Hast thou never an olde tryed evidence which hath beene acknowledged and confirmed againe and againe in open court what not one And if thou 〈◊〉 now call to minde but one if in truth it may support thee For if one promise doth belong to thee then all doe for every one conveyes whole Christ in whom all the promises are made and who is the matter of them as in the Sacraments the bread conveyes whole Christ and the wine also whole Christ so in the word every promise conveyes whole Christ And if thou canst say as the Church of Ephesus Rev. ◠6. This thing I have that I hate sinne and every sinne as God hates it and because he hates it as Christ owned them for this one grace and though they had many sinnes and many failings yet sayes he this thou hast c. If Christ will acknowledge thee to be his for one eare-mark or if he sees but one spot of his child upon thee Deut. 32. 5. thou maist well pleade it even any one to him Yea though it be but in a lesser degree if in truth and sincerity For God brings not a paire of scales to weigh your graces and if they be too light refuseth them but he brings a touchstone to try them and if they be true gold though never so little of it it will passe currant with him though it be but smoak not flame Mat. 12. 20. though it be but as a week in the socket as it is there in the originall likelier to dye go out then to continue which we use to throw away yet he will not quench it but accept it Yea and though at present thou findest in thy sense no grace stirring in thee nothing but hardnesse deadnesse c. yet if thou canst remember yea but this once I had as a woman with childe though after her first quickning she doth not alwayes finde the childe to stir yet because she did feele it stir she still conceives hopes and thinkes shee is with childe So thinke thou of the new creature formed within thee These things you are to recall and consider in time of distresse to remember former graces and spirituall dispositions in you and Gods gracious dealings with you God remembers them to have mercy on you and why should not you remember them to comfort you Therefore Heb. 6. 9 10. We hope sayes he better things of you for God is not unrighteous to forget your labour of love namely to reward you and therefore hee calls upon them in like maner Heb. 10. ver 31. To call to remembrance the former dayes to comfort them how they held out when their hearts were tryed to the
When his bones were broken Psal 51. Cleanse me from my sin ver 2. for I acknowledge my transgressions ver 3. and when he had confessed ver 4 5 6. then hee cryes Make me to heare of joy and gladnesse ver 8. and restore unto me the joy of thy salvation ver 12. and what was the chiefe ingredient the maine and principall motive which wrought most kindly with him to confesse and mourne and brought up all Against thee thee onely he puts in twice as much of the consideration thereof as of any other ingredient to make his heart mourne that chiefly if not onely melted dissolved him And in these thy confessions let the same also mainely worke with thee Against thee thee have I sinned thus oft thus grievously thus presumptuously Against thee a God so great and yet withall so good so kinde so willing to receive and pardon if my heart say were but as willing to turne unto thee and when thy case is as Iobs was Iob 10. 15 16 17. That thou art full of confusion as he speaks there so full as thou thinkest thy heart could hold no more and yet it encreaseth as it is there he fills thee fuller yet then doe thou poure out thy complaints to him as he poures in confusion into thee and when he hunts thee as Iob there complaines like a fierce Lion fall thou downe and humble thy selfe like a poore and silly Lambe if thou dyest dye at his feete mourning bleeding out thy soule in teares and when he hunts thee up and downe and pursues thee with blow after blow follow thou hard after him where ever he goes Psal 63. 8. with complaint after complaint And when yet he leaves thee not but again and again returns as some reade it after some intermission and shewes himselfe terrible to thee day after day night after night yet doe thou look in like manner againe and againe towards his holy Temple Ionah 2. 4. as Ionah did And when he begins to bring in new sins new inditements against thee as it is in the 16. verse Thou renewest thy witnesses and when thou thoughtest he had done with thee hee fetcheth new rods forth and enters into new quarrells and reckonings long since past and forgotten as it is in the same verse Changes and warre are against me vicissitudes and armies of disquietments and when one army is overcome new appeare in the field Then fall thou down upon thy knees and say as Iob at last doth Iob 7. 20. I have sinned I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee what shall I do unto thee oh thou preserver and not the destroyer of men these and these abominations I have done and I cannot now undo them what shall I do to obtain thy favour Alas nothing that can satisfie him onely confesse thy sinne Lev. 26. 41. accept thy punishment Go and strip thy selfe therefore and with all submission present a naked back to him and though every stroke fetcheth not blood onely but well nigh thy soule away yet complaine thou not one whit of him put thy mouth in the dust Lam. 3. 29 30. Be still not a word but only such as whereby thou utterest thy complaints and doest acknowledge thine own deservednesse of ten thousands times more And say as Micah 7. 9. I will beare thine indignation patiently for I have sinned against thee beare witnesse still to every stroke that it is not onely just but also lesse then thou hast deserved Neh. 9. 13. and that it is his mercy thou art not consumed Lament 3. and cut off by every blow and the heavier hee layes on struggle thou not he will let thee downe the sooner the higher he life 's up his hand to strike the lower let thy soule fall downe 1 Pet. 5. 6. Humble your selves under his mighty hand And still kisse the rod when hee hath done Hosea 14. 2. And then take up words of pleading for thy selfe It is for thy life desiring him to remember what hee hath beene ever thinking of even from everlasting thoughts of peace and mercy to us-ward and the number of them cannot be told as David sayes Psal 40. 5. which he hath been ever thinking of and with the greatest of delights as one that was in his besome and was his councellor his Son tells us Prov. 8. 31. and plead thou as David and other Saints of God have done What are now become of all these thy thoughts of mercy Isay 63. 15. are they restrained what Psal 77. 9. are all now on the sudden forgotten laid aside which thou hast been thinking on so long hast thou forgotten thine olde and ancient delights aske him if he hath forgotten his owne Name to be gracious and abundant in kindnesse it is his Name Say did the very intent of shewing mercy so infinitely before-hand possesse thee with delights and now when thou shouldest come to put it in execution and hast so faire an opportunity of doing it to a soule as full of misery the object of mercy as ever hast thou now no heart no minde to it And withall Say that thou hast notice given thee of an infinite and alsufficient righteousnesse in his Son laid up in him and that by his own procurement whereof his Son never had nor can have any need himselfe being God blessed for ever and for whom was it then appointed but for the sons of men those who are weary wounded sick broken Heb. 9. 16. lost these his Son hath put into his Will who still lives to be his own Executor And say further also to him that it is come to thine cares that his Spirit is the Comforter a God of comforts and that his Son hath bought them all his whole shop and all his cordialls Isay 61. 1 2 3. and all his skill and is annointed with this Spirit on purpose to poure him forth into the hearts of those that are wounded and sick and broken and the whole they have no need of them If it bee said unto thee yea but thou art most unworthy Answer Hosea 14. 4. but he professeth to love freely If the greatnesse of thy sins bee objected against thee pleade thou again Psal 130. 7. that Plenteous redemption is with him and if thou hast not enough to pardon me say I am content to goe without If that thou art ungodly Say That thou beleevest on him that justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4. 15. If hee puts thee off as Christ a while did the woman of Canaan and sayes he hath no need of thee say that thou hast need of him and canst no longer live without him for In his favour is thy life and that without it thou art undone If he seemes to rebuke thee that how darest thou presse thus to him who is the high and lofty One a sinfull man to him whose Name is holy Say thou hast heard himselfe say Thus faith that high and lofty One
lesser crosses would doe it he would not fetch out the great rod. If a rod will thresh out the cummin he useth not to turne the wheele over it nor take a â—â—aile to doe it Isa 28. 27. Now lesser afflictions work with the most of his through his blessing mercies work disgrace works poverty works and hee doth not willingly afflict Lamen 3. 33. And therefore not unnecessarily hee puts not men into the dungeon for every fault and therefore there are few long exercised this way Think not therefore thou hast not true grace Vse 1 because thou wert never terrified as some have been As some have true faith and sound peace who yet never tasted of joy unspeakeable and glorious So some have sound humiliation who never knew terrors of conscience If thou seest sin the greatest misery Christ the greatest good thou art humbled You see wee may often preach such things which doe yet concerne but a few in a congregation Vse 2 and yet wee are to preach them There are but a few walk long in darknesse yet to such Christ doth preach Yea and for such doth God give gifts the tongue of the learned God often gives a Pastor after his own heart for a few Ier. 3. 15. Take one or two of a Citie c. I will give theÌ„ Pastors after my heart much more are many Sermons often preacht but to a few So even by Christ himselfe as he sayes Luke 4. 26. There were many widdows c. but unto none was Elias sent but unto her at Sarepta and many Lepers but unto none was Elias sent but unto Naaman So sayes Christ I am sent but to a few and therefore as we must not defraud one poore soule of its portion because none else partake of it so the rest are not to think much but as in a Dole stay till their portion come and if any one poor soule hath had his estate discovered all the rest are to be thankfull See some reason why some in distresse of minde complaine Vse 3 that none ever were in the like condition thus they are apt to doe So the Church Lamen 1. 12. The reason is because few are so troubled and haply they never knew any but yet some are and have been in the like For 1 Cor. 10. 13. No temptation befalls but is common to man That those few in congregations Doct. 3 that walk in darknesse and yet fear and obey him God and Christ hath an especiall eye unto and care of you see hee singles them out as it were from all the rest Who is among you Esay 66. 2. All these things have my hand made but to this man will I looke that is poore and broken and trembleth at my word that is though all things and persons else in the world be my creatures and so I have a care of them all yet he seemes to over-looke all else and to him will I look c. as if there were none else in the Church The first reason is Reason 1 because it is the office of Christ so to doe The Spirit is upon him on purpose Esay 61. 1 2 3. to open the prison to them that are bound shut up in this dungeon to appoint to them that mourne beauty for ashes the oyle of joy for mourning garments of praise for the spirit of heavinesse He is the Physitian and hath undertaken the cure Mat. 9. 12. and whom should the Physitian have an eye to but the sick and the most sick as those are that cannot finde their sinnes forgiven Isay 33. 14. He is the Shepheard Esa 40. 11. and will take care of all his sheep knows them by name But of whom especially the lambs that are weak young Christians Hee will gather them with his armes and gently leade the ewes with young that are travelling and bringing forth as those under terrours are hee will not over-drive them for God hath given him charge he should lose none of them Secondly Reason 2 if his office did not move him to it his love would for he is a mercifull and a pittifull high priest Heb. 4. 15. and was in all points tempted as we are and especially in agony of spirit therein he dranke deepest of any and therefore is fitted to pitty us therein most and the greatlier any is troubled the more hee is touched Isa 63. 9. In all your afflictions he is afflicted And Ier. 31. 20. Since I spake against him I remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him When a childe is sick the mother is more troubled and carefull about it and her eye and minde more upon it then on all the house besides The Vse is Vse 1 to meet with that conceit that befalls all that are in darknesse they think that of all men else God regards not them Sion said God hath forgotten me Esa 49. 15. So David God hath forgotten to be mercifull Because they finde their hearts hard to God they think that his is so to them because they can finde no love in their hearts to God they think hee beares none to them but you see Christ especially enquires for such and over-looks all others else God hath graven thee on the palmes of his hands every sigh of thine goes to his bowels Esa 59. 15. I dwell with him that is broken to revive his spirit God is nigh him Second Vse is Vse 2 Are Gods eyes upon us more when wee are in trouble of spirit then on any other then let our eyes be upon him We cannot tell what to doe but our eyes are towards thee Let our eyes be towards him for help as of those that lookt on the brasen serpent let our eyes be towards him for service as the eyes of hand-maidens are on their mistresse to looke not to men not to credit but to have our eyes on God in all we doe as if if there were none else in the world to approve our selves unto In that when hee speakes of those his children that are in darknesse Doct. 4 he chooseth rather to describe them by feare and obedience then by any other grace observe that when the children of God are under terrours the most eminent grace that doth appeare in them is fearfulnesse to offend God and willingnesse to obey him other graces may be stirred but these are most eminent and therefore he mentioneth these for their comfort First Explication for Explication Know that severall occasions draw out severall graces When the Sunshine of Gods favour melts the heart then love and obedience thence proceeding are most eminent and also godly sorrow So Mary wept much loved much for much was forgiven her her heart was full of assurance On the contrary when the sense of Gods love is withdrawne and feares and terrours shed abroad in the heart then feare and obedience shewe and discover themselves Therefore Esay 66. 2. Hee that is poore and contrite and trembleth at the word are joyned trembleth at every command