Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
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A61262
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A little handful of cordial comforts scattered thorowout several answers, to sixteen questions, and objections following : intended chiefly for the good of those that walk mournfully before God ... / by Richard Standfast ...
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Standfast, Richard, 1608?-1684.
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1665
(1665)
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Wing S5210; ESTC R33851
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22,608
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84
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should I take to bring my heart to be humbled for my sins Answer To this end let a Man examine himself by the Law of God For by the Law is the knowledge of sin And let him duly think upon that fearfull Curse of God whereunto every the least sin doth make us liable Let him diligently consider how ugly and lothsome sin doth make us in the sight of God and what a fearfull thing it is to be deprived of the Love of God and the Joyes of Heaven and what a misery it is to be exposed to the wrath of God and the torments of Hell Let him seriously ponder what a misery it is to lose the Soul Let him throughly weigh the nature of Eternity and the strictness of that Account that is to come and the severity of that sentence which in that last and dreadfull Day shall be pronounced upon all impenitent sinners when they shall be adjudged to that Everlasting Fire which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels All these are of singular use to wound our souls and to affect our hearts with sorrow for our sins It is the Law that makes way for the Gospel For thus John the Baptist by denouncing the judgments of God upon wicked courses prepared the way for our Blessed Saviour But especially let him consider how great things ' God hath done for him For as there is no greater obligation to obedience then the loving kindness of the Lord So there is nothing that doth more aggravate our sins and so consequently our misery And therefore nothing that can tend more to the breaking of the heart then the consideration of the bounty and long suffering of God to us-ward And this plainly appears by that course which the Prophet Nathan at the Lord's appointment took with David 2 Sam. 12. For by fetting before his eyes Gods many and wonderfull mercies vouchsafed and his own extream ingratitude and ill requital of so great goodness he was constrained to cry out with shame and sorrow I have sinned against the Lord. And amongst all the mercies of God there is none that doth more deserve to take up all our thoughts then that departure of Christ which he accomplished at Jerusalem Neither is there any thing that doth more tend either to preserve us from sin or to â—umble us for our failings then the death of our Saviour For suppose the Lord Jesus should present himself unto us when we are about to commit any sin or after we have done it as he was hanging upon the Cross with his sides scourged his face buffetted his hands and feet nailed his head crowned with Thorns his very heart pierced his whole body upon the rack and trickling down with drops of blood and speaking unto us after this or the like manner Behold if ever sorrows were like unto my sorrows And yet all this was but the punishment of thy sins It is thy sins that have brought me to all these torments and canst thou delight in that which was the cause of such misery All this have I done for thy good and is this the requital of my Love I have born thy sins that thou might'st be eased mine hands were bound that thine might be freed my sides were scourged that thine might be spared my cheeks were buffetted that thine might be kist my head was crowned with thorns that thine might be crowned with glory and is this thy kindness to thy friend thus to return me hatred for my good will Hast thou not put me to pains enough already but that thou must rake in my wounds and make a sport of my misery Or if thou wilt not pitty me yet pitty thy self For can that be light to thee which cost me so heavy Or shalt thou escape the cup that art a sinner when my beloved Father would not spare me that was but a Surety Suppose I say that the Lord Jesus should present himself and speak unto us after this or the like manner would not such a sight make our bowels to yearn and such words cut us to the very heart Doubtless it were enough to make the dryest eyes to wish for tears of blood and the hardest heart of the most obstinate sinner to become in the midst of his body like melting wax thus to hear and to look upon him whom they have pierced Yea it is impossible for any man to think on this and to go on in sin but such as could be content to Crucifie again the Lord of Glory And thus you see what are the chiefest helps to humiliation and by what means our hearts may be brought to be deeply affected with sorrow for our sins Hereupon a timorous heart will be ready to reply yet further after this manner The Fifth Question BY this course and by these and the like Meditations I confess that I have been brought in some measure to be sorry for my sins and now I would fain be eased of them And it is my desire to believe in Christ but I fear that as yet I am not enough humbled I fear I have not so great measure of sorrow as may make me capable of this invitation And my heart is so hardned that I cannot grieve and mourn for my sins so much as I should and would do and therefore I fear that as yet I have no right to the comforts of the Gospel Answer True it is that sorrow for sin makes ready an heart prepared for the Lord and as usually in the course of Nature there is no birth without some pain So in the work of Grace there is no regeneration that of Infants in Baptisme excepted without some sorrow But as there are degrees of pain in the Natural birth So in the Spiritual birth there are degrees of sorrow Some Women have a quick Dispatch others have a more tedious Travel And so it is in the New Birth all are not pained alike Some there be that go mourning all the day long yea day after day whereas unto others heaviness indures but as it were for a night and joy cometh in the morning We must know therefore and that for our comfort that it is not the quantity but the quality of sorrow that God looks after neither matters it so much how great our sorrow be as how true it is If a Youth upon due examination had be found fit for the University his Tutor never demands how long he hath been at School how harshly he hath been dealt withall how often he hath been whipt before he could come to that perfection All that he looks after is whether or no he be fit to be admitted So it fares with us The Law is our School-Master to bring us unto Christ And this it doth partly by discovering unto us our sins whereby we see that we need a Saviour and partly by threatning of us with the curse whereby we are made more carefull to look out after this Saviour and more willing to accept of him and for our
the Word For that is able to build us up and to give us an Inheritance among them that are Sanctified Acts 20.32 And lastly We must pray without ceasing that he who hath begun a good work in us would also finish it and grant that our whole Spirit Soul and Body may be kept blameless unto the coming of our Lord Iesus This is the way to continue in well doing and so running we shall obtain The Eleventh Question But though my soul may be cared for yet my body may be in want I want already many things that be necessary Or at least I fear that I shall want such things as be needfull for me And this fear makes my life the more fearfull Answer Doubtless if our souls be cared for other things may the lesse trouble us Howbeit against those things also there is matter of comfort in Iesus Christ He that regards the soul will not neglect the body and he knows what we have need of And if we be of his family he will be sure to provide for us He is able enough to help us for the whole Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof And of his will we have no cause to doubt for he hath promised that if we seek first the Kingdome of God and his Righteousness all these things shall be added as it were over and above and into the bargain Mat. 6.33 And he hath said that he will withhold no good thing from them that fear him Psal 34.9 10. Whereupon we may safely conclude that if he keep any thing from us it will be good for us to be without it So that we may well say with the Prophet David The Lord is my Shepherd I cannot want Psal 23.1 For he that hath given us Christ how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 The Twelfth Question I Have been a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief I have gone through much Misery already and many are the Crosses and Troubles that are upon me at the present and I fear that there be more and worse yet to come So that sometimes I begin to think that the Lord doth not love me and I am ready to doubt what will become of me And I fear that my Patience will one day be tryed and that I shall faint in the day of Evil. Shew me therefore I pray you how I may be comforted against this fear and how I may be enabled to wade through all with Christian patience Answer True it is that the crosses and troubles which men shall meet withall in the way to Heaven are matters of offence and unto some they are very powerfull turning them back from the hope laid before them to the embracing of this present World But if we would think upon things aright in the midst of misery we should have comforts enough to refresh our souls Neither is there any trouble that can befall us in the midst of which they have not matter of strong consolation which being justified by Faith are at peace with God through Iesus Christ. Now to the end that we may be the better comforted against all crosses let us make use of these few considerations following 1. Consider that it is no new or strange thing to be exercised with Afflictions Neither are Crosses and Troubles of themselves an argument of Gods hatred but rather a token of his love and a witness of our adoption if we bear them patiently and make good use of them There is not any affliction incident to the nature of man which some one or other even of Gods own dear Servants and Children have not been exercised withall Look upon David and Jacob and Ioseph and Iob and Paul and all that cloud of Witnesses made mention of Heb. 11. And we shall finde that through many Afflictions they all entred into the Kingdome of God Nay look upon the Captain of our Salvation and we shall finde that even he himself was made perfect through Sufferings Heb. 2.10 And this must needs be a special means to enable us to bear all with the greater patience when we shall know and consider that though our afflictions be for number many and for nature grievous yet they are but the measure of our Betters 2. Consider that God hath promised never to leave us nor forsake us Heb. 13.5 And his presence alone is support sufficient even in the worst of miseries How can Iacob be afraid to go down into Egypt when God himself hath said he will go with him Gen. 46.34 God hath made the like promise unto us and therefore if he bid us go into troubles If he command us to walk even through the valley of the shadow of death yet we need fear no evil as long as he is with us For if God be with us who can be against us Rom. 8.31 3. Consider that unto such as do believe in Christ the nature of Afflictions is wholly altered for their sting is pull'd out and their bitterness is allayed They may savour of anger of wrath they do not Crosses they may be Curses they are not They may be Chastisements for our correction but they are not Iudgements for our confusion For Christ hath suffered whatever wrath was due unto us by reason of our sins And if we be once reconcised unto God by Faith in Christ there is more matter of comfort in the assurance of his Love then there can be of dejection in the greatest trouble 4. Consider that God intends nothing but good unto us in his sharpest dealings with us For it is all to humble us and to prove us and to do us good at our later end all is for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness For hereby he reforms what hath been amiss in us in times past hereby our iniquity shall be purged and this is the fruit to take away our sin Isa 27.9 Hereby he prevents sin in us for the time to come as he did St. Paul unto whom there was sent the Messenger of Satan to buffet him lest he should have been exalted above measure 2 Cor. 12.7 Hereby he doth wean us from the Love of the World and Worldly vanities As long as all goes well with us we are ready to say with S. Peter It is good to be here But when once we begin to be Afflicted then presently with the Prodigal our minds are homewards Hereby he deals with us as the Husband-man doth by the Vine he pares and prunes us to make us the more fruitfull Iohn 15.2 Hereby he doth exercise our Faith and Patience and makes tryal of our sincerity as he did by Iob. And so in this he lays the ground of our greater glory For greater Afflictions require greater Patience and the greater our Patience is the greater shall be our future Happiness And the consideration of this must needs be a means to perswade us to Patience For if we can willingly endure smartingwater for the clearing