refreshing which sprung out of that promise upon her forlorne and fearefull soule or the excesse of that love which shee bore ever after to those blessed lines to the mercy that made them and to the blood that sealed them An other terrified in conscience for sinne resolves to turne on Gods side but the crie of his good-fellow companions strength of corruption and cunning of Satan carrie him backe to his former courses A good number of yeares after hee was so throughly wounded that whatsoever came of him he would never returne againe unto folly Then comes into his minde the first of the Proverbes whence hee thus reasoned against himselfe So many yeares agoe God called and stretched out his hand in mercy but I refused and therefore now thâ— I call upon him hee will not answer though I seeke him early I shall not finde him Whereupon was his heart filled with much griefe terrour and slavish feare But the Spirit of God leading him at length to that place Luke 17.4 If thy brother trespasse against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turne againe to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgiue him He thence happily argued thus for himselfe Must I a silly sinnefull man forgive my brother as often as hee repents and will not then the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort entertaine mee seeking againe in truth his face and â—avour God forbid From which hee blessedly drew such a deale of divine sweetnesse and secret sense of Gods love that his trembling heart at first received some good satisfaction and afterward was setled in a sure and glorious peace An other godly man passing through his lâ—st sicknesse with such extraordinary calmâ—nesse of conscience and absolute freedome from temptation that some of his Christian friends observing and admiring the singularity of his soules quiet at that time especially questioned him aboue it He answered that he had stedfastly fixed his heart upon that sweetest promise Isa. 26.3 Thou wilt keepe him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because hee trusteth in thee And his God had graciously made it fully good unto his soule And so must every Saint doe who would sound the sweetnesse of a promise to the bottome make it the arme of God unto him for sound thorow-comfort Even settle his heart fixedly upon it and set his Faith on worke to broode it as it were with it's spirituall heate that quickenesse and life may thence come into the soule indeed For God is woont to make good his promises unto his children proportionably to their trust in them and dependance upon his truth and goodnesse for a seasonable performance of them Now all these promises in Gods blessed Booke which addes infinitely to their sweetnesse and certainty are sealed with the blood of Iesus Christ Heb. 9.16 and confirmed with the Oath of Almighty God Heb. 6.17.18 God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heires of promise the immutability of his counsell confirmed it by an oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie wee might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Oh what a mighty and pretious invitation is this to beleeve perfectly The speciall Aime of Gods oath whereas his promise had been more then infinitely sufficient was to strengthen our consolation And therefore every heart true unto Christ ought hence to hold fast not a faint wavering inconstant but a strong stedfast and unconquerable comfort Otherwise it sacrilegiously as it were robs God of the glorious end for which hee swore 5. The free love of God Which how rich and glorious how bottomlesse and boundlesse a treasure it is of all gracious sweetnesse abundant comfort and endlesse bounty appeares in this that Iesus Christ blessed for ever that unvalew-able incomparable Iewell came out of it For God so loved the World that hee gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Ioh. 3.16 And therefore every syncere servant of Christ when upon a serious and sad survay of his Christian waies finds himself to come so far short of that which God requires and himselfe desires That his prayers are very faint his sorrow for sinne very scant his love unto the brethren too cold His spending the Sabbaths very unfruitfull His spirituall growth since he gave his name to Christ very poore His profiting by the meanes hee enjoyes most unanswerable to the power and excellency thereof His New-obedience almost nothing c. For so hee is wont to vilifie himselfe Whereupon hee is much cast downe and out of this apprehension of his manifold unworthinesse concludes against himselfe that hee hath little cause to bee confident in the promises of life or to presume of any part and interest in Iesus Christ and so begins to retire the trembling hand of his already very-weake Faith from any more laying-hold of comfort I say in such a Case being true-hearted he may safely and upon sure ground have recourse to this ever-springing Fountaine of immeasurable mercy and raise up his drooping soule against all contrary oppositions with unspeake-able and glorious refreshing from such places as these Hos. 14.4 I will love thee freely Isai. 55. Ho every one that thirsteth come yee to the waters and hee that hath no money come yâ—e buy and eate yea come buy wine and milke without money and without price And Chap. 43.25 I even I am hee that blotteth one thy transgressions for my owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes Revel 21.6 I will give unto him that is athirst of the Fountaine of the water of life freely c. God never set the Promises on sale or will ever sell his Sonne to any Hee never said Iust so much sorrow so much sanctitie so much service or no Christ But Hee ever gives Him freely Every truly humbled heart which will take him at the hands of Gods free love as an Husband to bee saved by him and to serve him in truth may have him for nothing Yet I must adde this there was never any who received the Lord Iesus savingly but hee laboured syncerely to sorrow as much for sinne to bee as holy to doe him as much service as hee could possibly And when hee reflected upon his best hee ever desired it had been infinitely better 6. The sweete Name of the Lord. Which hee proclaimes Exod. 34.6.7 wherein he first expresseth his essence in one word The Lord The Lord. Which doubled is effectuall to stirre up Moses attention Secondly three Attributes first His power in one word Strong Secondly His justice in two formes of speech not making the wicked innocent visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon childrens children unto the third and fourth generation Thirdly but his speciall goodnesse and good affection towards repentant and beleeving sinners in seven
with the Divels painting and false luster carries away captive all carnall men and detaines in a Fooles-Paradise indeed an hellish prison a world of deluded Ones Yet those few illightened Soules whose eyes have been happily opened by spirituâ—ll Eye-salve to turne from darkenesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God behold a double deformity and ouglines in so foule a monster deceitfully dressâ—d in the Divels counterfeite colours and guilded over garishly in His personated Angelical glory 3. It is most filthy Farre filthier then the most stinking confluence of all the most filthy fulsome nasty loathsome things in the world And it must needs bee so For whatsoever a Man can conceive to bee most contrary distant and opposite to the infinite clearenes purity sweetnesse beauty and goodnesse of God all that and much more is sinne in the highest degree Hence it is that in the Scriptures it is compared to the filthiest myre in which a Sow will lie downe to coole and cover her selfe To the loathsome vomite not of a man but of a Dog To the unsavoury poysonfull dampe which rotten Carkases exhale out of opened graves To menstruous filth To the dirt under the nailes or the stinking sweat of the Body or the putrified matter of some pestilent ulcer To the very excrements which Nature having severed froÌ„ the purer part of the meate thrusts out of the stomack casts into the draught To the filthinesse pollutions and impurities of the world so called by a singularity for sin is the transcendent filth of the world To all the uncleannesses for which the Purifications cleansings washings and sprinklings were appointed in the Leviticall Law To abomination it selfe c. Nay and yet further which makes for the further detestation of sinne Whereas all outward filth defiles onely the Body this of sinne by the strength and contagion of it's insinuating poyson soakes thorow the flesh and the bone and enters and eates into the very minde and conscience Tit. 1.15 defiles the pure and immortall Soule of Man How long might wee cast dirt into the Aire before wee were able to infect the bright shining beames of the Sunne Yet so filthy is sinne that at once with a touch it infects the Soule a clearer and purer essence then it and that with such a crimsin and double-â—â—ed staine that the Flood of Noah when all the World was water could not wash it off Neither at that last and dreadfull Day when this great Vniversall shall bee turned into a Ball of fire for the purifying and renewing of the Heaven and the Earth yet shall it have no power to purge or cleanse the least sinne out of the impenitent Soule Nay the fire of Hell which burnes night and day even thorow all eternity shall never bee able to raze it out 4 It is most infectious Spits venome on all sides farre and wide corrupts every thing it comes neare By reason whereof it is fitly resembled to Leaven to a Gangreene to the Leprosie which filthy disease quickly over spreads the whole Body Numb 12.10 Infects the clothes the very Walles of the House Levit. 14.37 c. Posterity 2 King 5.27 The first sinne that eveâ— the Sunne saw was so pregnant with Soule-killing poyson that it hath already damnably polluted all the Sonnes and Daughters of Adam that were ever since and will still by the un-resistable strength of the same contagion empoysâ—n all their natures to the Worlds end Nay at the very first breaking out it suddenly blasted as it were both Heaven and Earth And so stained the beauty of the one the brightnesse of the other and the originall orient newly burnisht glory of the whole Creation that from that houre it hath groaned under the burden of that vanity and deformity to which this first sinne hath made it subject and will travaile in paine under the bondage of the same corruption untill it bee purged by fire in the great Day of the Lord. It but one sinne bee doted upon delightfully and impenitently like a lumpe of Leaven it soures all the Soule defiles the whole Man and every thing that proceeds from Him His thoughts desires affections words actions and that of all sorts naturall civill recreative religious It doth not onely unhallow his meate drinke carriage His buying selling giving lending and all His other dealings in the world even His plowing The plowing of the wicked is sinne Prov. 21.4 But also turnes all his spirituall services and divinest duties His prayer hearing reading receiving the Sacrament c. into abomination If but one raging corruption in a Minister Magistrate Master of a Family as lying swearing filthy-talking scoffing at Religion opposition to godlinesse Sabbath-breaking an humour of Good-fellowship or the like represent it selfe to the eye of the World in His ordinary carriage and hang out as a rotten fruite in the sight of the Sunne it is woont fearefully to infect or offend by a contagious insinuation and ill example all about Him to diffuse it's venome to His Family amongst His Sonnes and Servants over the Parish where Hee lives all companies where hee comes the whole Country round about especially if Hee bee a Man of eminency and Place 5. It is extremely ill A farre greater ill then the eternall damnation of a Man For when Hee hath Ilen many millions of yeeres in the Lake of fire and under the dominion of the second death He is never the nearer to satisfaction for sinne Not all those Hellish â—lames thorow all eternitie can possibly expiate the staine or extingvish the sting of the least sinne Nay the very destruction of all the creatures in the world of Men and Angels Heaven and Earth is a great deale lesse ill then to offend God with the least transgression of His lawes For all the creatures of ten thousand worlds were they all extant come infinitely short in excellency of worth of the Hearts-blood of Iesus Christ. And yet without the effusion of it no sinne could ever have been pardoned nor any Soule saved A man would thinke it a lesser ill to tell a lie then to lie in Hell But heare Chrysostome Altho many thinke Hell to bee the supreame and sorest of all evils yet I thinke thus and thus wil I daily preach That it is farre bitterer and more grievous to offend Christ then to bee tormented with the paines of Hell 6. It is full of most fearefull effects 1. It deprives every Impenitent 1. Of the fauour and love of God the onely Fountaine of all comfort peace and happinesse which is incomparably the most invalue-able losse that can be imagined 2. Of his portion in Christs blood of which tho the drops waight and quantity bee numbred finite and measurable yet the Person that shed it hath stampt upon it such height of price excellency of merit un-value-ablenes of worth that hee had infinitely better have his portion
our owne wee shal bee Pastours feeding our Selves not our flocke The Authour of the imperfect commentary in Chrysostome sorted by some Body into Homilies upon Matthew seemes to intimate that the cause of the overflowing and rankenesse of iniquity is the basenesse of these Self-preaching men-pleasers Tolle hoc vitium de Clero saith Hee Take this fault from the Clergy to wit that they bee not men-pleasers and all sinnes are easily cut down But if they blunt rebate the edge of the Sword of the Spirit with dawbing slattery temporizing or strike with it in a scabberd garishly and gaudily embroiderd with variety of humane learning tricks of wit frier-like conceits c. it cannot possibly cut to any purpose it kills the Soule but not the sinne They are the onely men howsoever worldly wisedome raue and unsanctified learning bee besides it selfe to beate downe sinne batter the Bulwarks of the Deuill and build vp the Kingdome of Christ who setting aside all private ends and by-respects all vaine glorious covetous and ambitious aimes all serving the times proiects for preferment hope of rising feare of the face of Man c. addresse themselves with faithfulnesse and Zeale to the worke of the Lord seeking sincerely to glorify Him in converting mens Soules by the foolishnesse of that Preaching which God hath sanctified to save them that beleeve In a word who labour to imitate their Lord and Master Iesus Christ and His blessed Apostles in teaching as men having authority in demonstration of the Spirit and power And not as the Scribes By embroidered Scabberd I meane the very same which King Iames not long before His Death did most truly out of His deepe and excellent wisedome conceive to bee the Bane of this Kingdome To wit A light affected and unprofitable kinde of preaching which hath been of late yeeres taken up in Court Vniversity City and Country Heare something more largely what reason led His royall iudgement to this resolution and desire of reformation His Maiesty beeing much troubled and grieved at the heart to heare every day of so many defections from our religion Both to Popery and Anabaptisme or other Points of separation in some parts of this Kingdome And considering with much admiration what might bee the cause thereof especially in the Raigne of such a King who doth so constantly professe Himselfe an open adversary to the superstition of the One and madnesse of the other His Princely wisedome could fall upon no One greater probability then the lightnesse affectednesse and vnprofitablenesse of that kind of preaching which hath been of late yeares too much taken up in Court Vniversity Citty and Country The usuall scope of very many Preachers is noted to bee a soaring vp in Points of Divinity too deepe for the capacity of the people or a mustring vp of much reading or a displaying of their own wits c. Now the people bred up with this kinde of teaching and never instructed in the catechisme and fundamentall grounds of religion are for all this aiery nourishment no better then abrasae Tabulae meere Table Bookes ready to bee filled up either with the Manualls and Catechismes of the Popish Preists or the Papers and Pamphlets of Anabaptists c. In another place hee resembles with admirable fitnesse the vnprofitable pompe and painting of such Selfe-seeking discourses patched together and stuft with a vaineglorious variety of humane allegations to the redde and blew flowers that pester the corne when it stands in the fields where they are more noysome to the growing crop then beautifull to the beholding eye They are King Iames his owne words Whereupon a little after hee tells the Cardinall That it was no decorum to enter the Stage with a Pericles in his mouth but with the sacred Name of God Nor should his Lordship Saith his Maiesty have marshalled the passage of a Royall Prophet and Poet after the example of an heathen Oratour These things being So how pestilent is the Art of Spirituall Dawbing What miserable men are Men-pleasers who being appointed to helpe mens Soules out of hell carry them headlong and hoodwinkt by their vnfaithfulnesse and flatteries towards euerlasting miseries Oh how much better were it and comfortable for every man that enters upon and undertakes that most waighty and dreadfull charge of the ministery a burden as Some of the Ancients elegantly amplify it able to make the shoulders of the most mighty Angell in heaven to shrinke under it to tread in the steps of blessed Paul by vsing no flattering words nor a cloake of covetousnesse nor seeking glory of men but preaching in season and out of season not as the Scribes but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power Keeping nothing backe that is profitable declaring unto their hearers all the counsell of God holding the Spirituall children which God hath given them their glory ioy and crowne of reioycing still watching for the Soules of their flocks as they that must giue account Heb. 13.17 The terrour of which place Chrysostome professeth made his heart to tremble I say by such holy and heavenly behaviour as this in their ministery To be able at least to say with him in sincerity not without vnspeakeable comfort I take you to record this Day that I am pure from the blood of all men Let us bee moved to this course and frighted from the contrary by consideration of the different effects and consequents of plaine dealing and dawbing in respect of comfort or confusion Faithfulnesse this way 1. Begets those which belong unto God to grace and new obedience See Peters piercing Sermon Act. 2.23.37 2. Recovers those Christians which are fallen by remorse and repentance to their former forwardnesse and first loue See Nathans downe-right dealing with David 2. Sam. 12.7.13 3. Makes those which will not be reformed inexcusable See Pauls Sermon to Foelix Act 24.26 How strangely will this fellow be confounded more then vtterly without all excuse when hee shall meet Paul at that great Day before the highest Iudge 4. It is right pleasing and profitable to vpright hearted men and all such as happily hold on in a constant and comfortable course of Christianity Doe not my words do good to him that walketh vprightly Micah 2.7 It makes them still more humble zealous watchfull heavenly minded c. 5. Hardens the rebellious and contumacious See Isa. cap. 6. In which faithfull ministers are also unto God a sweet savour of Christ 2. Cor. 2.15 6. And the Man of God himselfe shall hereafter blessedly shine as the brightnes of the firmament and as the Starres for ever and ever And all those happy Ones which hee hath puld out of Hell by his downe-right dealing shall raigne and reioyce with Him in unknowne and vnspeakeable Bliste through all eternity But now on the otherside the Effects of Dawbing and men-pleasing are most accursed and pestilent in
mighty Lord of Heaven and Earth to have Hee offers to us in the Ministry His owne blessed Sonne to be our deare and everlasting Husband His Person with all the rich and royall endowments thereof the glory and endlesse felicities above His owne thrice glorious and ever-blessed Selfe to bee enjoyed thorow all eternity which is the very soule of heavenly Blisse and life of eternall life c. Doe you thinke it then reasonable or likely that Hee will ever accept at our hands an heartlesse formall outwardnesse a cold rotten carcasse of religion That wee should serve our selves in the first Place and Him in the second That wee should spend the prime and flower of our loues ioyes services upon some abominable bosome-sinne and then proportion-out to the everlasting God mighty and terrible Creator and Commander of Heaven and Earth only some outward religious formes and conformities and those also so farre onely as they hurt not our temporall happinesse but may consist with the entier enjoyment of some inordinate lust pleasure profit or preferment Prodigious folly nay fury to their owne soules This very one most base and unworthy conceit of so great a God and His due attributions meriteth justly exclusion from the Kingdome of Heaven with the foolish Virgins for ever My Counsell therefore is when the spirituall Patient hath passed the tempestuous Sea of a troubled conscience and is now upon termes of taking a new course That by all meanes Hee take heed that Hee runne not upon this Rocke It is better to bee key-cold then luke-warme and that the milke boile over then bee raw 7. Tho it bee an ordinary yet it is a dangerous and utterly un-doing errour and deceite To conceive that all is ended when the afflicted Party is mended and hath received ease and enlargement from the terrible pressures of his troubled conscience To thinke that after the tempest of present terrour and rage of guiltinesse bee allayed and over-blowne there needes no more to bee done As tho the New-birth were not ever infallibly and inseparably attended with new-obedience As tho when once the soule is soundly and savingly strucke thorow humbled and prepared for Christ by the terrifying power of the Law revealing the foulenesse of sinne and fiercenesse of divine wrath which set on by the spirit of bondage is able like a mighty thunder to breake and teare in pieces the iron synewes of the most stubborne and stony-heart there followed not hearty shewers of repentant teares never to bee dried up untill our ending houre as I taught before when all teares shall bee everlastingly wiped away with Gods mercifull hand And that the Sunne of righteousnesse did not presently breake forth upon that happy Soule to dispell the Hellish clouds of sensuality lust lying in sinne c. and to illighten inflame and fill it with the serenity and cleare sky as it were of sanctification and purity a kindly fervour of Zeale for Gods glory good causes good men keeping a good conscience and fruitfull influence of sobriety righteousnesse and holinesse for ever after And therefore if upon recovery out of trouble of conscience there follow not a continued exercise of Repentance both for sinnes past present and to come as you heard before an universall change in every power and part both of Soule and Body tho not in perfection of degrees as the Schooles speake yet of Parts an heart-rising hatred and opposition against all sinne a shaking-off old companions brethren in iniquity all Satans good-fellow Reuellers a delight in the word waies services Sabbaths and Saints of God a conscionable and constant endeavour to expresse the truth of protestations and promises made in time of terrour as I told you before c. In a Word if there follow not a new life if all things doe not become new there is no New-birth in truth all is naught and to no purpose in the Point of salvation They are then miserable Comforters Physicions of no value nay of notorious spirituall blood-shed who having neither acquaintance with nor much caring for the manner meanes methode any heavenly wisedome spirituall discretion or experimentall skill in managing aright such an important businesse if any waies they can asswage the rage and still the cries of a vexed guilty Conscience they thinke they have done a worthy worke Tho after their dawbing there bee nothing left behind in it but a senselesse skarre Nay and perhaps more brawnednesse benummednesse brought upon it because it was not kindlily wrought-upon in the furnace of spirituall affliction and rightly cured I feare mee many poore soules are fearefully deluded who beeing recovered out of terrours of Conscience too suddenly unseasonably or one way or other unsoundly conceive presently they are truly converted tho afterward they bee the very same men of the same company and conditions they were before or at best blesse themselves in the seeming happinesse of an halfe conversion For a more full discovery of this mischiefe and prevention of those miseries which may ensue upon this last miscarriage Let mee acquaint you with foure or five Passages out of Pangs of Conscience which still leade amisse and leave a man the Divel 's still And for all his faire warning by the smart of a wounded spirit drowne Him in the workes of darkenesse and waies of death 1. Some when by the piercing power and application of the Law their consciences are prest with the terrible and intolerable waight of their sinnes and the worme that neuer dies which hath been all this while dead-drunke with sensuall pleasures is now awaked by the hand of divine justice and begins to sting They presently with unspeakeable rage and horrour fall into the most abhorred and irrecoverable Dungeon of despaire The flames of eternall fire seize upon them even in this life They are in Hell upon Earth and damned as it were above ground Such they are commonly who all their life long have been contemners of the conscionable Ministry Scorners of the good way Quenchers of the Spirit Revolters from good beginnings and Profession of grace Harbourers of some secret vile abominable lusts in their hearts against the light of their conscience close Agents for Popery and Prophanenesse plausible Tyrants against the power of godlinesse and such other like notorious Champions of the Divell infamous Rebels to the highest Majestie Whom sith they have bin such and have so desperately and so long despised the riches of His goodnes and forbearance and long-suffering leading them to Repentance God most justly leaves now in the evill day when once the hot transitory gleame of worldly pleasures is past and His judgements begin to grow upō their thoughts like a tempestuous storme and death to stand before them unresistable like an armed Man and sinne to lie at the doore like a Bloodhound and the guilty conscience to gnaw upon the heart like a Vulture c. I say then Hee leaves them in His righteous iudgement
If any man thirst Let Him come unto mee and drinke And these are thine owne words Those who hunger and thirst after righteousnesse shall be filled I challenge thee Lord in this my extremest thirst after thine owne blessed Selfe and spirituall life in Thee by that Word and by that Promise which thou hast made that thou performe and make it good unto mee that lies groveling in the dust and trembling at thy feet Oh! Open now that promised Well of life For I must drinke or els I die Heare then and in a word is thy comfort In these hungrings and thirstings of the soule there is as it were the spawne of Faith semen fidei there is aliquid fidei in them as excellent Divines both for learning and holinesse doe affirme Howsoever or in what phrase soever it bee exprest sure I am such desires so qualified as before shall bee fulfilled satisfied accomplished possessed of the Well of life and that is abundant to put the thirsting Partie into a comfortable and saving-state as I said at first The words of Scripture are punctuall and down-right for this which I say Blessed are they which doe hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall bee filled Mat. 5.6 If any man thirst let him come unto mee and drinke Ioh. 7.37 The Lord heareth the desire of the humble Psal. 10.17 Hee will fullfill the desire of them that feare Him Psal. 145.19 The Lord filleth the hungry with good things Luk. 1.53 Let Him that is athirst come And whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Rev. 22.17 Hâ— every One that thirsteth come yee to the waters c. Isa. 55.1 I will poure water upon him that is thirsty flouds upon the dry ground Cap. 44.3 These longings and desires this hunger and thirst before a sensible apprehension and enjoyment of Christ arise from a sense of the necessity and want of His blessed Person and pretious bloodshed which the afflicted Soule now prizeth before tenne thousand Worlds and for whose sake is most willing to sell all and to abandon wholly the Devils service for ever Those after a full entrance into the holy Path and joyfull grasping of the Lord Iesus in the armes of our Faith arise partly from the former taste of unutterable sweetnesse we found in Him partly from the want of a more full and further fruition of Him especially when He is departed in respect of present feeling as in times of desertion extraordinary temptation c. In the Passage that is past I understand the former in those that follow the latter 2. Secondly Concerning desertions I intend a larger and more particular discourse and therefore I passe by them here 3. Thirdly Wee may have recourse for comfort to this pretious Point in some speciall temptations of doubtfullnesse and feare about our spirituall state When spirituall life is runne as it were into the roote in some particulars and actuall abilities to exercise some graces and discharge some duties are returned to nothing for the present but groanes desires and longings to doe as God would have us For instance Thou art much afflicted because thou feeles the spirit of prayer not to stirre and worke in Thee with that life and vigour as it was woont but beginnes to langvish in the inward man for lacke of that vitall heate and feeling in the mutuall entercourse and commerce betweene God and thine owne Soule which heretofore hath many times warmed thine heart with many sweet refreshings springing from a comfortable correspondence between thy holy eiaculations and his heavenly inspirations betweene thine humble complaints at the Throne of Grace and his gracious answers Nay it may bee thou throwes downe thy selfe before His Seate of mercy in much bitternesse of spirit and for the time can say little or nothing the present dullnesse and indisposition of thine heart stopping all passage to thy woonted prayers and damming up as it were the ordinary course of thy most blessed heart-ravishing conference with thy God in secret But tell mee true poore Soule Tho at such a time and in such an uncomfortable Damqe and spiritual deadnesse thou feeles not thine heart enabled and enlarged for the present to poure out it selfe with accustomed fervency and freedome yet doth not that heart of thine with an unutterable thirst and desire long to offer up unto his Throne of Grace thy suites and Sacrifices of prayers and praises with that heartinesse and feeling with al those broken and bleeding affections which a grieved sense of sinne that hangs so fast on and an holy greedinesse after pardon grace and nearer communion with his heavenly Highnesse are wonâ— to beget in truly-humbled Soules If so Assure thy selâ—â— this very desire is a prayer of extraordinary strength dearenesse and acceptation with thy God I say with that thy mercifull Lord God who is as farre more compassionately and lovingly affected to his Childe then the kindest Father to his dearliest beloved Sonne as the infinite love of a tender-hearted God doth surpasse the faint affection of a fraile and mortall man Suppose thy dearest Childe were in great extremity and should at last grow so low and weake that it were not able to speake but onely groane and sigh and cast it's eye upon Thee as One from whom alone it look't for helpe Would not thine heart melt over thy Child a great deale more in that misery then ever before when it was able to expresse it's minde I am sure it would It is just so in the present Point For like as a Father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that feare Him Nay and much more if wee consider the muchnesse and quantity For looke how farre God is higher then man in Majesty and greatnesse which is with an infinite distance and disproportion so farre doth Hee passe him in tender-heartednesse and mercy See Isa. 55.8.9 Thou mayst sometimes upon the awakening illumination and search of thy conscience after some drouzy repose and deeper sleep upon the bed of security some fouler ensâ—arement and longer abode in some knowne scandaloâ—s sinne after the Canker of earthly cares and teeth of worldly-mindednesse have ere thou bee well-aware with an insensible pleasing consumption eaten too farre into the heart of thy Zeale and other graces In the apprehension of some present terrour arising from a more serious and sensible survay of the now abhorred villanies and abominations of thine unregenerate time or from the grieved remembrance of thy falls and failings of thy sins and unservice-ablenes since thy conversion which I am perswaded trouble the Christian most and goe nearest to his heart c. I say in such Cases as these Thou maist feele such a fearefulnesse and faintnesse to have surprised the hand of thy Faith that it cannot so presently and easily recover it 's former hold nor claspe about the glorious justice and meritorious blood of Christ with that fastnesse and firmenesse of assent with that comfort and
〈◊〉 state Hee is readier out of His spirituall diâ—emper to spill as water upon the ground the golden vialls of the water of life and soveraigne oyles of Evangelicall joy tendered unto Him by the Physition of His Soule then to receive them with woonted thirst and thankfulnesse into the bruised bosome of His bleeding Conscience Tho they assure Him in the Word of life and truth having had for that I suppose true and sound experience of His conversion and former sanctified courses from Isai. 44.22 That as the heate and strength of the Summers Sunne doth disperse and dissolve to nothing a thicke Mist or foggy Cloud so the inflamed zeale of Gods tender love thorow the bloodshed of His owne onely deare Sonne hath done away all his offences His iniquity transgression and sinne as tho they had never been And Mich. 7.19 That that God which delighteth in mercy Vers. 18. hath cast all his sinnes into the bottome of the Sea never to rise againe either in this World or in the World to come The Prophet alludes to the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea And therefore they assure Him that as that mighty Host sunke downe into the bottome like a stone Exod. 15.5 Or as Lead Vers. 10. So that neither the Sunne of Heaven nor Sonne of Man ever saw their faces any more So certainely all his sinnes are so swallowed up for ever in the Soule-saving Sea of His Saviours blood that they shall never more appeare before the face of God or Angell Man or Divell to His damnation or shame Yet for all this lying in a spirituall Swoune Hee findes His heart even key-cold and as it were starke dead in respect of relishing or receiving all or any of these incomparable comforts The Case thus proposed may seeme very deplorable and desperate yet consider what good Davids experience might doe in such distresse What a deale of life and light were it able to put into the very darkest Dampe and most heartlesse faintings of such a dying 〈…〉 have such an One as David even a Man after Goâ—â— owne heart remarkeably inriched and eminent with heavenly endowments One of the highest in the Booke of life and favour with God to assure it that Himselfe had already suffered as grievous things in His Soule if not greater and passed thorow the very same passions and pressures of a troubled Spirit if not with more variety and sorer pangs That proportionably to his present perplexities Hee cryed out with a most heavy heart First Will the Lord cast off for ever And will hee bee favourable no more Is His mercy cleane gone for ever Doth his promise faile for evermore Hath God forgotten to bee gracious Hath hee in anger shut up His tender mercies Vers. 7.8.9 Secondly That when Hee remembred God Hee was troubled Vers. 3. Thirdly That when He prayed unto God and complained His spirit was overwhelmed Ibid. Fourthly That Hee was so troubled that Hee could not speake Vers. 4. Fifthly That His Soule refused to be comforted Vers. 2. Which painefull passages of His spirituall desertion answer exactly to the comfortlesse Case of the supposed Soule-grieved Patient Nay and besides assurance of the very samenesse in apprehensions of feare and thoughts of horrour David also out of his owne experience and precedency might sweetly informe and direct such a poore panting Soule in a comfortable way to come out of the Place of Dragons and depths of sorrow by teaching and telling Him the manner and meanes of his rising and recovery Meditation of Gods singular goodnesse and extraordinary mercy to Himselfe his Church and Children aforetime gave the first lift as it were to raise his drooping Soule out of the dust And no doubt ever since the same consideration by the blessings of God hath brought againe many a bruised spirit from the very Gates of Hell and brink of despaire And in his happy per-usall of ancient times and Gods compassions of old it is very probable that â—is memory first met with Adam a right wonderfull and matchlesse Patterne of Gods rarest mercies to a most forlorne Wretch For Hee was wofully guilty by His transgression of casting both Himselfe and all his Sonnes and Daughters from the Creation to the Worlds end out of Paradise into the Pit of Hell and also of empoysoning with the cursed contagion of originall corruption the Soules and Bodies of all that ever were or shall bee borne of Woman the Lord Iesus onely excepted And yet this Man as best Divines suppose tho Hee had cast away Himselfe and undone all Mankind was received to mercy Let never poore Soule then while the World lasts upon true and timely repentance suffer the hainousnesse and horrour of His former sinnes whatsoever they have been to hinder his hopefull accesse unto the Throne of Grace for present pardon of them all or at any time afterward confound His comforts and confidence in Gods gracious Promises Thus no doubt the weary Soule of this Man of God waded further into those bottomlesse Seas of mercies manifested and made good from time to time upon His servants His heavy heart might sweetly refresh and repose it selfe upon the contemplation of Gods never-failing compassions in not casting off Aaron everlastingly for His fall into most horrible Idolatry In not suffering the murmuring and rebellious Iewes to perish all and utterly in the Wildernesse considering their many prodigious provocations and impatiencies c. But at length as wee may see in the forecited Psalme His Soule sets it triumphant Selah upon that great and miraculous deliverance at the Red Sea one of the most glorious and visible Miracles of mercy that ever shone from Heaven upon the Sonnes of Men and also a blessed Type of the salvation of all truly penitent and perplexed Soules from the Hellish Pharaâ—â— and all infernall powers in the red Sea of our Savioâ—â— blood How fairely now and feelingly might theâ—e experimentall instructions and this Passage of proofe troden and chalked out by this holy Man illighten and conduct any that walkes in darkenesse and hath no comfort out of the like distracted horrour of a spirituall desertion Let Him in such a Case first cast backe His eye upon Gods former manifold mercifull dealings with Himselfe If His God made His Soule of the darkest nooke of Hell as it were by reason of it's sinfulnesse and cursednesse as faire and beautifull as the brightest Sun-beame by that soveraigne blood which gusht out of the heart and those pretious graces which shine upon it from the face of His Sonne that never-setting Sunne of righteousnesse He will undoubtedly in due season dispell all those Mists of spirituall misery which over-shadow the glory and comfort of it for a time If Hee upheld Him by his mercifull hand from sinking into Hell when Hee was an horrible transgressour of all his Lawes with greedinesse and delight Hee will most certainely Tho perhaps for a small moment Hee hide his face from Him binde up
with the wrath of God and left to the horrour of some hideous temptation 4. Heare Master Hooker a man of great learning and very sound in this point I varie some words but keepe the sense entire Happier a great deale is that mans Case whose soule by inward desolation is humbled then hee whose heart is through abundance of spirituall delight lifted up and exalted above measure Better is it sometimes to goe downe into the pit with him who beholding darknes and bewailing the losse of inward ioy and consolation crieth from the bottome of the lowest hell My God My God why hast thou forsaken mee Then continually to walke arme in arme with Angels to sit as it were in Abrahams bosome and to have no thought or cogitation but of peace and blessing himselfe in the singularity of assurance above other men to say I desire no other blisse but only duration of my present comfortable feelings and fruition of God I want nothing but even thrusting into heaven and the like For in the height of spirituall ravishments thou art in great hazard of being exalted above measure and so may bee justly exposed to a Thorne in the flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet thee which is a very heavie case But now on the other side the lowest degree of humiliation under Gods mighty hand is the nearest step to rising and extraordinary exultation of spirit The extremest darknesse of a spirituall desertion is wont to go immediately before the glorious Sun-rise of heavenly light and un-utterable lightsomnes in the soule David securely pleasing and applauding himselfe in his present stability and strong conceit of the continuance of his peace brake out thus I shal never be moved Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountaine to stand strong But hee was quickly throwne downe from the top of his supposed unmoveable hill taken off from the height of his confidence and lay trembling in the dust Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled But now that sweetest rapture of incredible joy for so he spake The ioy which I feele in my conscience is incredible did arise in Master Peacocks heart when hee was newly come as it were out of the mouth of Hell Mistris Bretterghs wonderfull reioycing followed immediately upon her returne out of a roaring wildernesse as she called it What large effusions of the Spirit and overflowing rivers of heavenly peace were plentifully showred downe upon Robert Glovers troubled spirit after the heaviest night in all likelyhood that ever he had in this world by reason of a greivous Desertion 5. Nay heare the Spirit of all truth and comfort Himselfe immediately Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voyce of his servant that walketh in darkenesse and hath no light Let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Whence wee may draw a double comfort in time of Desertion first Because in thy present apprehension thou finds and feeles thy selfe in darkenesse and to have no light thou art ready therupon to conceive and conclude un-necessarily against thy owne soule that Gods favour Iesus Christ grace salvation and all are gone for ever And this is the most cutting sting sorest pang which grievously afflicts and rents the heart in pieces with restlesse angvish in such Cases Out of what depth of horrour doe you thinke did these heavie groanes and almost if not altogether for the time despairing speeches spring in those blessed Saints mentioned before Will the Lord cast off for ever And will hee be favourable no more Is his mercy cleane gone for ever Doth his promise faile for evermore While I suffer thy terrours I am distracted I am amazed confounded and almost mad with feare least my soule should bee swallowed up with the horrours of eternall death I am afraid lest the Lord hath utterly withdrawne his wonted favour from me Woe woe woe c. A weake a wofull a wretched a forsaken woman I have no more sense of grace then these curtaines Oh! how wofull and miserable is my estate that must thus converse with hell-hounds It is against the course of Gods proceedings to save mee c. But now herein the deserted in the sense I have said are much deceived and extremely wrong their owne soules in such extremities not considering that their walking in darkenesse and having no light may most certainely consist with a saving estate and a Beeing in Gods favour tho for the present not perceived Which appeares plainely by the quoted place Wherein Hee that walketh in darkenesse and hath no light is such an one as feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant Now the feare of God and obedience to the Ministery are evident markes of a gracious man Hence it is that when the servants of God are something come againe unto themselves they see and censure their owne unadvisednesse in that respect disavow and disclaime all termes tending that way which they let hastily fall from them in heate of temptation And I said faith David this is my infirmity but I will remember the yeeres of the right hand of the most High Truly said Master Peacocke my heart and soule have been far led and deepely troubled with temptations and stings of conscience but I thanke God they are eased in good measure Wherefore I desire that I bee not branded with the note of a forlorne reprobate Such questions Oppositions and all tending thereto I renounce Here then is a great deale of comfort in the greatest darkenesse of a spirituall desertion for wee may assure our selves that God by his blessed Spirit hath a secret influence and saving worke upon the soule of his Child when there is no light or feeling of his favour at all The Sun we know tho hee leaves his light upon the face of the earth yet notwithstanding descends by a reall effectual influence into the bosome and darkest bowels thereof and there exerciseth a most excellent work in begetting mettals Gold Silver and other pretious things It is proportionably so in the present Point A poore soule may lie groveling in the dust afflicted tossed with tempest and in present apprehension have no comfort and yet blessedly partake still of the sweet influence of Gods everlasting love of a secret saving worke of grace and almighty support of the sanctifying Spirit Let us looke upon the Lord Iesus himselfe His holy soule though hee was Lord of Heaven and Earth upon the Crosse was even as a scorched heath-ground without so much as any drop of deaw of comfort either from Heaven or Earth and yet at the same time hee was gloriously sustained by an omnipotent influence And God was never nearer unto Him than then neither Hee ever so obedient unto God And I make no doubt but that the judicious eye of the well-experienced Physition may many times easily observe it in those troubled tempted and deserted soules which they
enioy since the houre it enioyed Him In His Preface pag. 3. Tho thousands were debters to Him as touching Divine knowledge yet hee to none but onely to God the Author of that most blessed Fountaine the Booke of life and of the admirable dexterity of wit together with the helpes of other learning which were his guides Ibid. Wee should bee iniurious unto vertue it selfe if wee did derogate from them whom their industry hath made Great Two things of principall moment there are which have deservedly procured Him honour throughout the World the one His exceeding paines in composing the Institutions of Christian Religion the other His no lesse industrious travailes for exposition of holy Scripture In which two things whosoever they were that after Him bestowed their labour Hee gained the advantage of preiudice against them if they gaine-said and of glory above them if they consented Ibid. pag. 9. The more learned and holy any Divine is the more heartily Hee subscribes to Paulus Thurias his true censure of His Institution Praeter Apostolicas post Christi tempora chartas Huic peperereliâ—râ—saeculae nulla parem Besides the holy Writ No booke is like to it Or No Age since Christ brought forth A booke of so great worth No marvaile then that a learned Bishop of London in Queene Elizabeths time begun His Speech thus against a lewd fellow which had railed against Calvinâ— Quod dixisti in virâ—m Dei Calvinum tuo sanguine non potet redimere c. s Sit igitur hic primus poenitâ—tiae gradus dum homines sentiunt quà m gravitèr deliquerint illic non statim curandus est doler quemadmodum impostoâ—es deliniunt conscientias ita ut sihi indulgeant se â—allant inaâ—iâ—us blanditijs Medicus enim non statim lâ—niet dolorem sed videbit quid magis expediat fortè magis augebit quia necessaria erit acrior purgatio Sic etiam faciunt Prophetae Dei quum vident trepidas conscientias non statìm adhibeÌ„t blandas consoâ—â—â—tones sed potiùs ostendunt non esse ludendum cum Deo solicitant sponte currentes ut sibi proponant terribile Dei iudicium quò magis ac magis humilientur Calvin in Ioel cap. 2. t Master Rogers of Dedham Doctrine of Faith pag. 108.109.110.111 u In his Expos. upon Psal. 32. pag. 5. x As in the worke of Creation so in the worke of Redemption God would have the praise of all his attributes Hee is much honoured when they are acknowledged to bee in Him in highest perfection and their infinitenesse and excellency admired and magnified In the former there appeareth gloriously His infinite Wisedome Goodnes Power Iustice Mercy c. â—nd yet in the worke of Redemption which was the greater they seeme â—o shine with more â—â—eetnesse amiableâ—â—sse and excellency 〈◊〉 in it appeared all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge c. And in conveying it to the Church first His Wisedome there appeareth infinite wisedome in finding out such a meanes for the redemption of MaÌ„kind as no â—â—eated understanding could possible imagine or 〈◊〉 of Secondly 〈◊〉 immeasurably sweet and admirable in not sparing His owne Sonne the Sonne of His loue that Hee might spare us who had so grievously transgressed against Him Thirdly His Iustice in it's highest excellency in spaâ—ing us not to spare His owne onely Sonne laying as it were His head upon the blocke and chopping it off renting and â—eaâ—ing that blessed Body even as the Vaile of the Temple was rent and making His Soule an Offering for sinne c. This was the perfection of Iustice. y A man who otherwise would not cry nor shed a teare for any thing despiseth death and would not feare to meete an host of men I say such an One now having at the last instant a pardon brought from the King it worketh wonderfully upon him and will cause softnesse of heart and teares to come many times where nothing else could Hee is so strucke with admiration of so great mercy so sweet and seasonable in such an extremity that Mee stands amazed and knowes not what to say but many times falles a weeping partly for ioy of His deliverance and partly also out of indignation against Himselfe for His barbarous behaviour towards so pittiful a Prince This was to bee seene in some great men at the beginning of King Iames His Reigne condemned for treason and pardoned at the Blocke z Exaudime Domine quoniam suaviâ— est misericordia tua tantundem valet ac si dixisset I am noli differre exauditionem in taâ—t â tribulatiâ—ne sun ut suavis mihi sit misericordia tua Ad hoc enim subvenire differebas ut mibi dulce esset quòd subveniebas August Concione 2. in Psal. 68. Luke 8.43 a Christus â—oâ—ine instatâ—m terret comminatioue exclusionis è regnâ— coelorum Nam qui nondùm conversi sunt ad inferos iam priuiâ—â— detrudendi sunt ad hoc ut inspectâ poenâ peccati discant ab co abhorrere quo tempore naturâ sese oblectaâ—â— Rolloc in Iohan. cap. 3. pag. 133. b Dike of Repentance cap. 2. c Quando peccati quod divinae legis est violatio conseâ—â—ntia stimulamur atque convincimur intelligimusque nos per peccatum in execrationem acerbissimum odium gravissiâ—â—amque Divini numinis offensiontem atque indignationem incurrisse mercedemque atque stipendium quod peccatum meretur esse ut non solùm omnibus calamitatibus atque miserijs â—uins vitae morbisque morte corporis afficâ—amur verum etiam ut damnatiâ—â—e atque interitu sempiterno mulitemur simul atque ex lege agnoscimus nos per peccatum in â—unc condemnatorâ—m statum quo nibiltetrius cogitari potest pervenisse toto pectore totâ mente toto corde animo que cohorremus contremiscimus atque ita ut casum nostrum salutariter doleamus ut nosmet nostri poeniâ—eat Lex efficit impellÃtque ut peccatorum veniam iustitiam vitam sempiternam quae ex lege adipisci non possumus a Christo servatore tantùm per Christum expetamus expectemus Alex. Nowellus Inst. Christian. Pietatis De Legis usu Hoc loco docent Poenitentiam esse quae ex peccatorum irae divinae agnitione nascitur quae per legem Dei primum dolores terrorem conscientiae incutiat Scilicet cum verbo Dei intâ—s argu untor peccata redditur mens malè conscia sibi inquieta praetristâ—s desperabunda cor anxium confractum pavidum ut homo per se nullâre prorsùs erigi possit aut consolationem nancisci sed totus afflictissimus est spiritu deiecto ac trepidante ingenti â—orrore concussus à conspectuirae Dei c. Súnt que sic affectis divinae promissiones 〈◊〉 c. Harmon Confess p. 2. Bohaemica Confess Art 5. pag. 240. d I grant the Lord who is the most free Agent takes liberty and workes as it pleaseth him and there is ods