call peccatum vastans conscientiam a sin making great hackes and gashes and slashes in the conscience may vpon his repentance and sincere humiliation make so far his peace with God whose grace is able and willing to pardon euery sinne except that sinne vnto death that vnpardonable because vnrepented sinne against the Holy Ghost * See Sonnius in Thesibus Kymnitius in locis de peccato in Spiritum Sanctum as also M. Deuison his Sermon that he may redeeme his soule from death and his darling Doue from the power of the Lyon the Lord sealing to his heart so far his loue that he smelling the sacrifice of a broken spirit a bleeding and a beleeuing heart hee shall not dye the second death neuerthelesse howsoeuer the guilt and punishment of sinne may so farre be remoued by Christ that the soule shall be freed from euerlasting damnation and saued in the day of Christ yet the deare childe of God euen for some scandalous lamented repented sinne in temporary rods and castigations may haue Gods hand vpon him euen to his dying day he may by sicknesse on his body reproach vpon his good name or other domestique personall crosses yea sometimes by trouble of mind and grieuous perplexities in conscience hee may weare a strait and a pinching shooe euen to his very graue this is plaine here in Ezekiah no doubt his repentance had made his atonement with God thorow faith in his expected Messiah his humiliation had made vp the breach so farre and procured his peace in the Court of heauen that there is no progresse nor proceeding against his saluation hee hath his Quietus est for that yet notwithstanding wrath comes vpon him and vpon Iudah either in some sicknesse and infirmity on his body or some griefe trouble of his mind or in some death and cuttings off of his people or the like was this wrath expressed though here it be not reuealed in the manner but more perspicuous is the example of Dauid who vpon the confession and acknowledgement of his sinne to Nathan heard the pardon instantly from the Prophet as from the mouth and oracle of God d 2 Sam. 12.9 10 11 12 c. yet neuerthelesse wee know what was both threatned and executed in rods proportioned to his offence as hee had smit vnlawfully with the sword in killing Vriah so the sword neuer departed from his house Absolom kills his incestuous brother Amnon e 2 Sam. 13.29 Ioab the Kings great friend his instrument in the blood of Vrias f 2 Sam. 11.13 euen this Ioab oh iust Nemesis whether the King will or no g 2 Sam. 18.5 kils his darling how euer then his rebell Absolom h vers 14. and Adoniah Gallinae filius albae another of his faire sonnes is cut shorter by the head in being too heady against his King-brother Salomon i 1 King 2.25 So as Dauid was polluted by adultery adultery and vncleannesse together with the sword did cleaue to his house and seed like Gehezies leprosie the spurious off-spring of his lust dyed in the infancy l 2 Sam. 12.18 Amnon his owne sonne commits incestuous fornication aggrauated by all circumstances of trechery and tyranny with his owne faire sister Dauids owne daughter Tamar m 2 Sam. 13.1 2 3 4 5 6 c. Absolom himselfe as a filthy Bird defiling his owne nest his fathers blood in his thoughts his bed in his acts lyes with his fathers Concubines so shamelesse impudent and imprudent is lust in the sight of all Israell n 2 Sam. 16.22 Other instances may bee giuen and no doubt of it the bleeding too deare-bought experience of many of Gods children which for some momentany sin are pursued and prosecuted iustly in themselues or their blood by the hand of God or man in perpetuated sorrowes too truly proue this assertion SECT 2. The reasons of the former Doctrine NOw leauing secret and inscrutable iudgements vnto God which though they may bee hidden and abstruse from vs yet can neuer be vniust o Sâ—creta esse possunt iudicia Dei iniusta esse non possunt Augustinus The reasons of these thus proceedings of God with his children may be these besides others that we may not intermeddle or reflect in the least measure vpon any Popish satisfactions which we onely with the Scriptures include and conclude in Christ as though according as they dreame and but dreame that these continuated castigations were humane satisfactions * Against Popish satisfactions reade Kymnitius his Examen Concilii Tridentini and Pelargus his Iesuitismus with D. Willets Synopsis of this controuerted subiect c. to Gods iustice First the repentance of Gods seruants reiterated and renewed after some great and scandalous sinne is neueâ— so true and sincere for the qualitie of it so great and vehement for the quantity either in that attrition or contrition which the Schooles speake of or so extensiue in degrees or so constant and permanent in the continuance but the Lords pure eyes sees it in many particulars defectiue and heteroclite either in the matter manner measure meanes grounds or ends for which cause he may still continue his rod vpon the shoulders of his children to make their repentance more perfect and exact in all the true and requisite qualifications Secondly our nature is soone weary of well-doing we would faine haue ease though by carnall meanes as Saul by Dauids Harpe o 1 Sam. 16.23 when the Lord hath wounded our consciences with spirituall weapons wee are prone too soone to cast off the Lords yoake and to throw downe his burthen ere wee bee thorowly tamed and our rebellions subdued and therefore the Lord knowing our flitting and fugitiue natures our false and fickle hearts by continuated crosses still holds vs to it and keepes vs still strict and strait to the tackling and taske of true penitents Thirdly we are subiect as stall-fed Oxen to grow too fat and lazy as pampered horses to grow too skittish as that Iesurum p Deut. 32.15 to kicke against the rider by too much ease as Moab to freeze in our dregges and as standing pooles to grow corrupt without motion and stirring yea as grosse and corrupt bodies to abound with bad humors the originalls of diseases without continuated physicke and purging yea to returne perhaps euen to our former sicknesse and distemperature vnlesse the Lord keepe vs strait laced in continuall exercise and diet by his successiue castigations Fourthly by these after-corrections as by so many stakes and railes and pales the Lord would keepe vs in within the parkes of obedience as Sheepe impale and barre vs within his fold from after-wandrings as by curbing bits hold in our rebellious natures euer subiected without these restraints to continuated apostasies tergiuersations relapses againe more daingerous then euer euen to the sinnes so seriously as we thinke already repented Euen as a man without carefull looking to himselfe is subiect to relapse into
are but as candles set vnder a bushell as talents wrapt in a napkin or buried in the ground or as Gold rusty and imprisoned in the Misers purse yea but as tinckling Cymballs SECT 3. The vnwarrantable strictnesse and stearnnesse of some indiscreetly zealous censured VVHat then shall we say to those that thinke themselues something that hold their penny good siluer as they say that haue a name like the Church of Sardis to be aliue e Reu. 3.1 yet shew as much loue as there is fire in a dead coale How many be there that after their brethren be falne through frailty in any sinne though once whilst they stood more eminent in place and grace then themselues yet when their Sunne is something clouded and eclipst they stand aloofe off them as Iobs friends did from distressed Iob f Iob 2.12 13. they keepe a distance from them as the proud Pharisee g Luke 18.11 in the Temple from the penitent Publican they say as it is in the Prophet Come not neere me for I am holier then ye they wonder at them as at Arabian monsters they looke at gaze at them as an amazed Deere they view them wistly as a man looks through his fingers at something they looke at them with astonishment as men looke at the Sunne or the Moone when it is eclipsed or at a faire house when it is set on fire and how euer perhaps they are not so gracelesse as the Babylonians to triumph ouer captiued Israel h Psal 137.3 and to say as the Edomites and as Dauids enemies There there so would we haue it there goes the game as the profaner sort iubilize and reioyce yet they will ho wt and showt in detestation not onely of the sinne which is tolerable but of the person * Odi peccatum non personam vitium non vitum which is vnwarrantable and vncharitable As the lesser birds fly and cry after the hated Hawke and Owle they will not come in his company though he be both willing and desirous to giue all satisfaction possible to the scandalized Church both publicke and priuate they fly his house his abode his presence as if he had the plague sore nay as some haue tried the stearne inhumanity and almost Scythian and barbarous cruelty of some indiscreet austere zealists as though they were hewen our of Caucasus and had drunke the milke of Tygers they are as wonderously grieued and exasperated that any good man or great man of place giue them countenance good look or good word or houseroome as the Pharisees were grieued and vexed that our Sauiour Christ feasted with Matthew the Tole-gatherer i Mat. 9.11 and lodged with Zacheus k Luke 19 7. and eate and drunke with Publicanes and Sinners yea if he be such an one that hath beene imployed in the Ministery and hath any way transgressed * As the Darby Minister who wrote The vnburthening of a loaden soule though neuer so seriously repented they maruell how he dare be so bold and impudent as to be seens in a Pulpit though his zeale and desire to doe good and to bring glory to God after his peace made with God bee more feruent then euer it was as though Dauids practice were no president either for a penitent preacher or professor where hee desires the Lord to restore vnto him the ioy of his saluation and then would hee teach Gods wayes vnto the wicked and sinners should be conuerted vnto him l Psal 51.12 13. though it seemes they either know not or acknowledge not any such Text but especially for any comfort or consolation by word writing conuersing conference that a distressed soule gets now a dayes from most men chiefly from some that would bee counted most strict in some places it is as oyle got out of a stone or water out of a flint it is such as Iudas got of the Scribes and Pharisees m Mat. 27.3 4. vnlesse this bee all the cold comfort grauatis addere grauamina to adde burthen to burthen griefe to griefe affliction to affliction when one is downe as the Italian prouerbe and practize is * Prescribed by the Florentin◠Matchauill to set their foot vpon their neckes too many alas know where the shooe pincheth and wrings them in this kind that too iustly may complaine of their Swallow friends that fly from them in the winter of affliction and as Dauid said of his kinsfolkes and acquaintance stand a loofe off from them as he in the heathen cryes Oh friends no friends * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to expostulate a little this case with those that I here iustly taxe in this culpable cariage towards some that are falne SECT 4. The restitution and restauration of the repenting sinner perswaded FIrst Is here any expression and demonstration of loue which who wants is destitute of euery sauing grace can there be a fire without heat a Sun without light a liuing soule without motion or loue without action motion or manifestation if it be at all this loue saith one it is actiue or else it is not n Amor si sit magna operatur Greg. Secondly is this according to the precept of the Apostle that commands the incestuous Corinthian to bee comforted after his deiection least hee bee swallowed vp too much of sorrow o 2 Cor. 2.6 7. Thirdly is it any thing consonant to the Apostles practice who himselfe comforted commended and encouraged the Corinthians by a Consolatory letter after their godly sorrowing with enumerated effects 2 Cor. 7 8 9 10 c. Fourthly is this consonant to the precept of Christ himselfe that we should bee mercifull as our heauenly Father is mercifull p Luke 6.36 threatning iudgement mercilesse to them that shew no mercy q Iam. 2. v. 13. Now are nor the chiefe and principall mercies spirituall is not a sinne-burthened-soule a greater obiect of mercie to bee relieued then the feeding of a hungry cloathing of a naked visiting of a diseased body * Multo misericordius operatur qui circa animas infirmorū quam erga corporum agrotantium qui panem esurientibus tribuit Augustin et Bern. serm 4. Fiftly did not our Sauiour Christ himselfe not onely inuite and excite r Mat. 11.28 but euery where receiue and graciously entertaine repenting sinners ſ Luke 15.1 euen publicans harlots t Mat. 8.11 Luke 7. when they came vnto him as appeares in many passages in the Gospell Now shall hee entertaine such vpon their humiliation and shall wee disdaine them shall hee accept them as the head and shall the Church his body reiect them shall he open his armes to imbrace thm and shall his members shut their hands and their hearts too against them and open their mouths to deiect them to disgrace them Strange to see the head moue one way and the body another Sixtly is it not Christs precept I will not say an Euangelicall counsell but
of his sinne deprecation for mercy in the pardon and remission of it as also more furiously this Dog set on him after his murder and adultery as appeares by his grieuous complaints in some of his Penitentiall Psalmes t Psal 38.2 3 4 c. This Dog gnawes and snarles at Ionas when he was in the Whales belly and makes him cry as he there complaines euen out of Hell u Ionas 2.1 as he calls his close prison Yea not the least sinne can be committed by the child of God but at one time or other either in generall or speciall this Dog barkes against it either more or lesse as we may see in the same Dauid who but touching the hem of Sauls garment though his pursuing enemy and a bloody Tyrant not imbrewing his hands in the blood of the Lords Anointed as the Iesuites and Friers by their positions * See them extant by the learned D. Morton and practices vse to doe but euen touching his garment a sinne if any veniall or as the Papists call some euen lesse then veniall x Affirmed by Coccius in Thes Catholico tom 1. yet euen for this this waking wacker Dog barks this Conscience curbs his heart smote him y 1 Sam. 24.10 See also in my Origens repentance Suida Nicephoro Eusebio lib. 6. how Origen was afflicted in soule after his idolatrizing as indeed a little moate troubles a tender eie a little pibble stone pincheth in a strait shooe and a little sin troubles a tender conscience 3. Besides this Shepheard vses also to fetch home his stragling sheepe by his rod or sheep-hooke not onely the rod of bands which are crosses and afflictions menaces and terrors which as sharpe windes driue soone the ships of sin-burthened soules to the desired hauen of sauing grace to the shore of safety the port of Penitence but also the rod of beauty euen the consideration of the Lords loue and his blessings and his mercies in Christ temporall and spirituall leads and drawes many to repentance as it did Dauid who no sooner heard by Nathan the enumeration of Gods mercies to him in their particulars but his heart melts as the waxe with that Sun his spirit thawes dissolues and loosens as Ice before the fire and as one wholly broken in heart he sighes or breathes out I haue sinned z Vt supra 2 Sam. 12. confounded and ashamed of his vnworthy walking not answering these mercies as one planet-strucke griefe stopping the further passage of his speech as a water-course damm'd vp it gets but a little vent as the smoke out at some cranny he speakes shortly and laconically what his heart largely dilates inwardly I haue sinned after inlarging that short Text in seuen Penitentiall Psalmes And indeed though I will not deny that sometimes in the repentance of the elect as alwayes in the hypocriticall howlings and repentant rorings of the Reprobate there is a worke of conscience who hath a terrifying voice an affrighting cry like the sudden inuasion of an enemy by fire and sword to driue them further then the reprobate euer come to their strongest Castle their chiefe Rocke a Psal 18.1 Mat. 16.18 that Vthiel and Vcal b Prou. 30.1 the mercies of God in Iesus Christ yet the most kindly and if I may vse the word the most naturall humiliation of the childe of God is that which hath the originall from filiall loue when the loue of God is shed abroad in the heart when that loue which was neuer extinct no not in the act of sinne but as in Peter c Hilar. in Psal 52.4 Bernard de natura dignit amoris Diu. cap. 6 Leo Serm. 9. de de passione Dom. cum aliis asserunt Petrum magis peccasse in veritatem quam in charitatem ore potius quam corde Bellar inquit de Rom. Pont. lib. 3. c. 8. de Eccl. milit lib 3. c. 17. euen when he denyed is kept hidden as fire vnder the ashes when that sparke of loue is blowne vp againe by the bellowes or breath of the Spirit of grace as also by the mouth of the Minister as Gods organ in the Ministery till it flame so hot that it thaw the formerly frozen and congealed heart and melt it into teares when this loue of God reflects on the cloud of our sinnes and showers them downe in the dissolued waters of Marah when this loue of God that wee haue offended so good and gracious a God rewarding him euill for good dishonours for mercies in a viperous ingratitude more workes vpon our hearts then all legall terrors accusations of conscience feare of hell when this loue sweetly leads the dance and is that primus motor the first mouer to repentance Oh then repentance is sincere then the heart is as Nathaniels d Iohn 1.47 without guile then the sorrow is godly sorrow e 2 Cor. â— 10 11. this repentance is a faithfull and trusty friend to the soule as Ionathan was to Dauid 4. Lastly this shepheard drawes his wandring sheep to to him not onely by his whistle his voice his dogge his crooke but euen by his hooke not onely in their first drawing as when he lookt vpon Matthew f Math. 9.8 9. sitting at the receit of custome and as the Adamant * De cuius vi lege Plinium l. 36. c. 16 26. l. 34. c. 14. l. 20. c. 7 the Iron with that looke drew him to be a disciple as with the like look vpon Zacheus g Luke 19.8 9. he drew him out of the Sycamour Tree from a sinner to be a Saint but euen after their aberrations and wandrings their straglings and their strayings the Lord lends them a looke as he did to denying Peter h Luke 22.61 and drawes them out after him into a solitary place where by the inward voyce of his Grace and Spirit in priuate soliloquies in the eare of their soules he talkes and expostulates with them conuicts and conuinces their consciences makes them passe an inditement against themselues prompts them to cry for mercy assists them in crying and bleating with sighes and groanes i Rom 8.26 and vpon their cry seales their pardon k Esay 1.18 Micha 7.19 admits them into Grace and fauour leads them into greene pastures l Psal 23. and to the riuers of mercy as here he did with Ezekiah SECT 2. Gods children restored to grace with God and in their Graces renewed by their repentance THe mercies of the good God in giuing vnto his sinning children both the first Grace of repentance and the second Grace of remission of sinnes vpon their repentance with the meanes of both from this very metaphor of a mindfull mercifull Pastor being thus laid open in the Vses Iaenus like lookes both wayes It is a double flaggon or bottle that on the one side hath wine to drinke for children on the other side vinegar or veriuyce for slaues It hath both bread
for the children and stripes for the backes of fooles For these that are the Lords that haue the markes of their Election the signes of Sanctification and are sealed vp to the day of their Redemption here is an Anchor for them in the midst of their fluctuations here is some day-hole to be spied for them some glimpses of comfort breake out euen in the darkest night of their sinnes namely that though by their sinnes the Sunne of Gods fauour towards them seeme to be eclipsed the light of his countenance abated his wrath kindled as here against Ezekiah their soules wounded their spirits perplexed their consciences disquieted m Psal 32 4 5. Psal 28. their hearts oppressed with the guilt and griefe of sinne their inward peace interrupted yea disioynted their former ioyes perished n Psal â—â—2 their feelings abated or quite lost their graces soiled decayed weakned in the luster power and exercise of them their faith infirme their assurance weake their hopes languishing their loue zeale cooled their prayers dull and heauie their spirits lumpish and drowsie yea euen in that relation that they haue to man though in respect of the world and her worldlings their sinnes chiefly if they bee publisht in Gath and Askalon expose them to the exprobration vituperation yea derision of the vncircumcised as Sampsom o Iudg. 16. was to the Philistines and in respect of the Church subiect them to her censure yea perhaps her greatest censure excommunication p Grounded on 1 Cor. 5.5 practized by the Primitiue times authorised by Councils vide decreta Gratiani 11. de concilio Arausicano apud Osiandrum Cent. 5. lib. 2.6.28 p. 300 and to the censure frownes and browbeatings of her strictest children till satisfaction be giuen yet neuerthelesse euen in this case as Dauid once in a great distresse they may comfort themselues in the Lord their God q 1 Sam. 30.6 that their stormes shall haue a calme their candle that seemes to bee put out shall be lighted againe their former ioyes shall be restored their Sunne shall shine Gods face and fauour shall bee towards them they shall haue the arguments of his loue the feelings of his spirit the liuely stirrings and motions of his Grace their vnquiet consciences shall bee appeased these blustring waues and winds of accusations temptations shall bee commanded their heauy hearts shall bee comforted their sadded soules shall be gladded their feelings shall come againe as a man out of a dead swound their peace with God shall be assured their assurance like a bone that is broke shall againe be knit their seemingly lost Charter shall be againe renewed their weakned decayed Graces shall bee strengthned their faith increased their dull and dead prayers quickned their credit and estimatioÌ„ with Gods people so far as it stands w th Gods glory their further good againe recouered and the mouthes of the wicked and blasphemous by their futuâ—e holy and inoffensiue life shall be iustly stopped yea all the breaches and ruines which the hostility of Satan hath made shal be made vp againe all the demolitions and deuastations that sinne hath made in the soule spirit conscience name c. of the sonnes of Sion shall at last bee reedifyed and repayred and euery detriment repayed in these spirituall buildings repentance in one word shall rightly knit ioynt againe what euer in the outward or the inward man sinne hath vnloosed and disioynted and the Lord from whom comes euery good gift r Iam. 1.17 as the light from the Sun which giues repentance vnto Israel Å¿ Act. 5.31 shall giue it vnto them they shal haue freely giuen them after their sinning at one time or other the grace of repentance and after serious repenting the after-grace of pardon and remission though they fall they shall not long lye wallowing in their sinnes as the drunkard in the streets disgorging his vomit or as the swine in the mire but they get vp againe stand on their feet like men wash rubbe and brush off the blots and myry spots which by their fall cleaue to the garment of their holy profession with many teares and much strictnesse and austeritie of life for the present and future take more heed to their wayes for euer afterward as the burnt child that dreads the fire they follow no more these pleasing baits these golden balls of sin which the world as he once before Atalanta throwes before them to turne them out of the way but loath detest all the causes and occasions of sin as the pained surcharged stomacke loathes that meat on which it hath daingerously surfetted yea though they fall as weakling children not able to rise by their owne power and strength the Lord himselfe as a louing mother or nurse lends them the helping hand of Grace pulls them vp and after their trickling teares and cryes for their hurt cheares and cherisheth them takes them in the armes of his mercy and puts them in the bosome of his loue t Read of this point M. Pryn his Booke of the perpetuity of a regenerate mans estate per totum though they bee wounded by sinne yet there is a balme in Gilead a Mithridate of mercy that heales them again as the beasts by an instinct of nature haue recourse to their healing physicke as the blinded Swallow to Celidine the Toad to Plantan the Hart to Dictanny u Of the Medicines which euery creature vseth by natures instinct read Pliny l. 8. c. 27 chiefly Greg. Tholosanus in Syntaxi artis Mirab. l. 28. c. 38 p. 541. c. So by the instinct of Grace they haue recourse to that all-saluing all-sauing Panacea * Grineum in problematibus de Panacea Christianorum lege the blood of the Lamb of God effused in his passiue veines applyed to themselues by the hand of faith x Rom 4. Iohn 3.16 Gal. 2. â—0 Hab. 2. they seeke in their sicknesse to their Physician y Math. 9.12 or rather the Physician to them as that good Samaritan to him that was wounded z Luk. 10.33 34 trauelling to Ierico from Ierusalem from the vision of peace to the worlds vanity as euery sinner doth stung once with this fiery serpent sinne with the Eagles eye of all-penetrating all-preuailing faith they looke vp to him that was exalted on the crosse a Iohn 3.14 whom their sinnes haue pierced b Zach. 12.10 prefigured by the Brazen serpent c Num 21.9 In a word there is a seed of Grace in all the Elect the seed of God remaines in them saith Saint Iohn d 1 Iohn 3.9 that they cannot sinne to death wee may say of their sinnes as our Sauiour said of Lazarus his sicknesse e Iohn 11.4 they are not vnto death but that the Lord may be glorified euen in his power and mercie in raising vp againe their seeming dead soules euen out of the bed and graue of corruption yea though they seeme
to lye long in this graue euen 4 dayes like that Lazarus f ver 29. till they stinke and be corrupted g The raising of Iarus daughter newly dead of the widowes sonne longer dead of Lazarus dead and buried Augustine applies to three sorts of sinners spiritually raised yet that doth not preiudice the power of God in their resuscitation and spirituall resurrection though Dauid after his bloody murther and filthy adultery yea and after his proud presumption in numbring of his subiects goe as long burthened with his sinne as a woman man with childe euen nyne moneths as is plaine by the Text yet Gods grace like the soules true Grace wife or midwife indeed deliuers him of this vncomfortable burthen by repentance he was not indeed so actiue and liuely of himselfe by his owne naturall powers and strength to which our Pelagian Papists like the old Philosophers attribute so much h Vide positiones papisticas refutatas per Pelargum in Iesuitismo de libero arbitrio to deliuer himselfe as the Hebrew women without the Aegyptian Midwiues i Exod. 1.19 without the help of this Grace but the Lord sends Nathan and Gad to him to helpe him by the message of their ministration and indeed at one time or other the Lord will waken all his out of their doting dreames and pleasing slumbers hee will plucke them as he did Lot our of Sodom k Gen. 19.16 euen by violence rather then they shall perish in any flames of lust they shall be pulled out of their pit out of their prison as inthralled Ioseph l Gen. 41.14 in Gods good time and set at liberty yea perhaps exalted more then euer In a word the Saints sinne but they shall not dye in their sins sicknesse m Lege promissiones Hos 14.4 Mal. 4.2 Psal 41.2 3. Iohn 6.51.58 c. 10.18 they shall repent and recouer in their soules n Mich. 7.18 19 Ier. 3.33 Rom. 8.1 SECT 3. The repentance of the reprobate either nothing at all for the matter or as nothing for the manner BVt this is a priuiledge and prerogatiue peculiar onely to the Elect proprium quarto modo as they say proper to them and only to them It is not a Nouerint vniuersi if I may so allude it is not communicable to all belongs omnibus Christi fidelibus to all that are Christs all true Christian people all bleeding beleeuers haue interest in this mercy to the reprobate and vngodly ones that are sold to sinne as yet it is a mystery as Peter sayd to Simon Magus o Acts 8.21 in another case they haue no part nor fellowship in this ministration herein are they clearly shed distinguished as Goates from sheepe as they shall bee at the last iudgement p Mat. 25.32 in their sufferings so now in their sinnings for alas they sinne but they sorrow not they either repent not at all but harden their hearts as the nether milstone as did Pharaoh q Exod. 7.13 or else they repent hypocritically and superficially as did Iudas r Math. 27.3 Saul Å¿ 1 Sam. 15.24 Ahab t 1 Kings 21.29 with others their teares are as the Crocodiles u Hominibus maxime infesti homine rapto vi lachrymarum dissoluunt cerebrum Vincent lib. 17. cap. 606. l. 30. c 91. Aelian lib. 9. cap. 3. their confessions as the Traitors on the rack their repentance is for the punishment of sinne which they feele not for the sinne it selfe which they ought to hate and so all they say and do and weep and cry and confesse is but as the howling of an hungry wolfe and pleaseth God as the cutting off a dogs necke * Esay 66.3 their repentance is an hypocrite like to themselues as good neuer a whit the titter as they say as neuer a whit the better they euer faile in the matter or manner and forme of repentance either they repent nothing or as good as nothing they are daily deadly stung with this serpent sinne yet though there be balme in Gilead x Ier. 8.22 they are incurable y Ier. 13.23.27 Rom. 2.5 or if they vse any meanes for cure it is so sleightly and vneffectually that their wound onely skin'd ouer for a time ranckles and festers at the bottome and breakes out againe euen in outward vlcers and putrifactions to the scandall and detestation of the spectators they sleepe in their sinne so deadly rockt in the cradle of security so daingerously as hauing drunke Poppy or Oppium that like the sluggish Indian asses z Gesner de Asino inter quadrupedes nothing will awake them not the whips goads of the Law not Aarâ—ns bels the golden promises of the Gospell not Iohn Baptists voice a Math 3.3 not Christs cry b Ioh. 7.28.37 not Esayes Trumpet c Esay 58.1 not Pauls thundring d Augustines desire was to see Christum in carne and to heare Paul an tonitruantem no not the thunderbolts themselues of feared or threatned iudgments haue power to awake them or if they awake for a time so strong are their sleepy drugs so powerfull sinnes charmes so pleasing and bewitching the worlds Musicke that like a heauie headed drowsie drunkard by pinching and nipping of some outward crosse or inward terror they looke vp with one eye shrug themselues a little turn themselues as Salomons sluggard e Prou. 6 10 as the doore on the hinges then sleepe againe more securely then euer Thus both the Elect reprobate fall into sin yea perhaps the same sin as Iacob f Gen. 31.4 Lamech g Gen. 4.19 into Polygamie Peter Iudas both disciples both sin against Christ the one in betraying him h Iohn 13. the other in denying him i Luke 26. but here is the difference and let euery one lay it to heart that would know their estate and worke out their saluation with feare and trembling the one fall by sinning but they rise againe by repenting they are wounded and healed they sleepe and are awakened they sleepe not long for like the Nightingale k Traditione creditur there is some pricke vnder or in their brest some sting of conscience or some wounding of loue that makes them awake yea and keeps them waking And hence it is that as wee read of the sins of Dauid Peter Ionas l Ionas 2. here our Ezekiah so wee read of their repentance as of their sores so of their salue the prescribed remedie m Esay 1.16 Ier. 3.14 for sinnes malady Yea and though the repentance of Abraham Iacob Ioseph Noah Lot Gideon Sampson be not expressely recorded as are their sinnes yet besides the iudgement of charitie which hopes the best euen in the iudgement of verity their repentance may bee gathered and concluded for besides Sampsons prayer so feruent so effectuall n Iudg. 16.28 conioyned with repentance he and the rest being recorded in the booke
the fly the credulous soule of a sinner or the spider the harlot m Prou. 5. Prou. 7. the webbe her whorish lookes songs gestures plots allurements the fly the deluded young foole or the spider Dalilah * Iudg. 14.15 her deceits and delusious the webbe the fly strong-womanish weake Sampson like as that famous Husse also is reported by Mr. Foxe n Martyrol in Epist Husse in his imprisonment to haue repented his losse of time in playing at Chesse occasioning withall his impatiencie anger Oh if these small omissions pretermissions troubled the tender hearts of these humbled soules how much more occasion haue we to weepe euen teares of blood if it could be for our great and grieuous abominations yea euen the very best of vs for our daily aberrations and wandrings first our coldnesse in good duties secondly our lukewarmenesse â—epiditie o Reu. 3.16 and timiditie in our profession thirdly our vnwise walking in many things vnworthy of our holy calling fourthly our leauing like the Church of Ephesus p Reu. 2.4 5. our first loue fiftly our manifold relapses and Apostasies sixtly our manifest breaches of our many vowes couenants with the Lord seuenthly our inordinate vse of the creatures eightly the abuse of our Christian liberty euen in things lawfull ninthly our manifold scandals and offences which wee iustly giue in things not expedient tenthly our stumbling blockes we cast before the weake brethren eleuenthly our want of loue to the Lord the Saints twelfthly our omissions or sleight performances of many duties of pietie and charity to God and man 13. our little reuerence and estimation of and loue to the ordinances 14. our rash iudging q Mat. 7.1 vt olim Pharâ—sei Mat. 9.11 Luke 19.7 vncharitable preposterous vngrounded censures and surmises of the actions or affections of our brethren 15. our strangenesse and hangings off from the fellowship of the Saints 16. our selfe-conceits and opinions we haue of our selues and our gifts with too proud and peremptory vndervaluing of others 17. our fauouring of our selues in some lesser and smaller sinnes of our natures or callings r As once Naaman 2 King 5.18 which we doe not or list not discerne 18. our barrennesse and vnfruitfulnesse in grace not answering the excellent meanes we doe inioy 19. our vnthankfulnesse for so many excellent blessings Å¿ See D. Carlton his booke of Gods mercies to England See also my Irelands Iubilee in fine temporall spiritual generall speciall publicke priuate domesticke 20. our little simpathizing with the afflictions of the Saints our not remembring of poore distressed Ioseph in France and else-where our not mourning with those that mourne alas might iustly cause vs with other failings in this nature to mourne more then Doues in the desart and Pellicans in the wildernesse yea to be humbled euen the very best of vs lower then the lowest dust c. Lastly how much occasion haue all of vs to be humbled not onely for our owne sinnes but euen for the sins and sufferings of others for omitting our owne seuerall crosses which euery one of vs beare and must beare with Simon Cyrenaeus t Luke 23.26 if we be Christs Disciples as euery one knowes where the shooe wrings him some being occasioned to mourne for the diseases and infirmities of his body for Iobs Biles Asaes Gout some for his crookednes and deformity lame like Mephibosheth u 2 Sam. 9.3 some for losse of their children as Iacob for his Ioseph Rachel mourning for her sonnes * Mat. 2. ex Ier. as the Nightingale for her young some for the barrennesse of a wife as Isaac x Gen. 25.21 or her peruersnesse as Moses for his Zipporab y Exod. 4.25 some for wicked and bad children as Aaron a Leuit. 10.1 Ely b 1 Sam. 3.13 Samuel c 1 Sam. 8.3 for their sonnes some for the vntimely death of a friend as Dauid d 2 Sam. 3.23 for Abner some in one case some in another I say leauing these though daily occasioning our humilation euery one of vs in our places if we be not sensuall feared cautherized and as senselesse stoicall stockes and fooles in Israel if we but cast our eye and reflect on these externalls euen the sinnes infirmities and miseries of others vnlesse we be hewne out of Caucasus and be without all bowels of compassion we cannot but be exceedingly humbled and deiected To heare the oathes and blasphemies of the multitude yea of men of all sorts stares and places e See M. Downam in one of his 4 Treatises against Swearing in City and Country tearing Christ with their tongues and teeth and renting his humanity as a company of wide mouthed Hounds rend a silly Kid or Hare one blaspheming his blood another his heart another wounding his wounds another Iewishly setting thornes vpon his head not sparing his very feet no not his guts vngracious children shooting thus their inuenomed arrowes at their Fathers heart and brest vile Serpents hissing thus against him that was exalted on the Crosse as the brazen Serpent in the wildernesse for to cure their soules to see others as drunk as Apes f See M. Harris his Cup of Drunkards as filthy as Swine meere Hermophrodites hauing the faces of men yet meere womanish effeminate in their lookes their dangling lockes amorous loues luxurious lusts Others as prophane as very Pagans hauing not so much shew of true Religion as Turkes Tartars Virginians in their superstition keeping their Sabbaths in Tauernes more then Temples seruing their lusts their belly for their God g Philip. 3.17 and Venus for their Goddesse walking in Cathedrals and publike places euen in time of Sermons and religious worship as though it were in the Royall Exchange or in some publike Faire or at Franckfurt Mart others grinding the faces of the poore eating them vp as bread the great ones deuouring the poore as the great fishes the small preying vpon them as Beasts and Birds of prey getting and retaining they care not from whom nor how perfas nefas by hook or crook right or wrong h Non refert quomodo sed oportet habere others plotting and complotting like Haman and Achitophel how to rise by anothers ruine more studious in Machiauel then in Moses others againe leauing their first loue falling from their holy profession as Starres from Heauen i As that Apostate Iulian. apud Theod. lib. 3 giue too much occasion to any that loue God and hate sinne in the least sincere measure to mourne for all these abominations like those marked mourners in Ezekiel k Ezek. 9.4 yea as Samuel mourned for reiected Saul and to vexe their hearts as did Lot for the vnrighteous conuersation of vngodly ones and gracelesse ones that euery where swarme as Aegyptian Locusts now in the times and dayes of grace CHAP. II. SECT 1. The Penitents practice in all the parts THus haue we proued the point