humble saying 1 Cor. 15.10 By the grace of God I am what I am I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of God that was with me He calls himself the chief of Sinners and admires the grace of our Lord that towards him was exceeding abundant 1 Tim. 1.14 And elsewhere he styles the mercies of the Gospel the exceeding riches of the grace of Christ Eph. 2.7 As ever you would have the favour of God continued strive against all pride A man is then proud 1. When he attributes that to himself to his own Industry Wisdom or Prudence which he hath received from God 2. When he attributes to or expects that by merit which is a free gift Or 3. When he thinks he hath that which he hath not Or 4. When he despises others and affects preheminence It is usual with us to take the measures of Pride from the garb or attire from the outward behaviour gesture or the use of some less grave or decent Fashions and indeed there may be an excess in these things that may be very justly blameable But my Friends there is a Pride worse than all this even spiritual Pride that hath in it the very Image of the Apostate Spirit and is truly Diabolical when a man is proud of the Graces or the Gifts of God it alienates from him the Divine Favour for which we are more prepared when we are covered with shame and sorrow And when we are poor in spirit then we may hope that he will enrich us with his Love When we are emptied of all Self-conceit or a flattering opinion of our own Actions then we may hope that he will fill us both with grace and glory VVhat a sorry unbecoming thing is it for a man even the best of men to be proud Alas How soon can the Great God cause all his glory to wither and to fade away What a vain thing is it for a man to pride himself in things that relate to the Body when it is liable to Agues Fevers Consumptions Convulsions and many tedious days and years of pining sickness and must at last be the prey of death and moulder in the Grave And it is no less evil and foolish for a man to pride himself in any thing that relates to his Soul in his knowledge in his faith in his serviceableness for upon his sin an hour of temptation may come upon him that will be an hour of darkness that will cause the light of all these to vanish and what is man when his Conscience is awakened with a sense of guilt when his Sins are set in order before him when the Devil is permitted to sift and vex him to ruffle him with amazing Terrors and the constant view of Hell If God depart from us that Envious raging Spirit who is of great power and malice does with ease insult over us and tread us under his feet Oh! how vain is it for us to be proud that live a miserable life and may dye a very painful death All the Designs of God are to exalt himself and abase the Creature The Consciousness that the Saints have of their own Unworthiness will produce an eternal admiration of his Love and they will all cast down their Crowns before the Throne 1 Cor. 4.7 Who maketh thee to differ from another And what hast thou that thou didst not receive 1 Pet. 5.5 6. 3. That you may not lose the Favour of God you must beware of formality and all slightness of spirit in the performance of holy duties It will be also very prejudicial to us when we can omit them and have no great trouble or regret for so great a Sin Whereas if we were duly tender of the welfare of our Souls we should refresh them with frequent thoughts and meditations as we do our Bodies with two or three meals a day When we bring dead Sacrifices to the Altar of God we need not wonder that we have so little spiritual and heavenly life we need not wonder that we have no more sense of his Favour when we often pray for it as if we prayed not the coldness and indifference of our Petitions shews that we do not much care whether they be granted or denyed and God will not thrust his Mercies upon us whether we will or not none shall enjoy his gracious comfortable Presence but those that strive and wrestle and such as have the zeal of Jacob that will not let him go till he bless them Heaven and Salvation we would all have but God knows we beg it after a very poor fashion and he may justly expel us from the sight of himself because we draw near to him with so little fervour and give him cause to complain of us as of those in Isa 29.13 We are guilty of slightness and formality in duty in these following Instances 1. When we perform them as a task and not with delight and love 2. When we do not excite and stir up our selves to call upon the Lord. 3. When we are satisfied in the bare outward performance and have not those inward exercises of contrition faith and holy sorrow and vigorous desires which are as the life and the soul of Prayer 4. When we suffer our Thoughts to wander or when we run to such Duties from a hurry and a croud of worldly business not considering the greatness of our wants and of that Majesty that fills the Throne before which we pray and how he will be sanctified of all that draw nigh to him 5. When we look not for the answer of our Prayers and when having done our duty we are unsollicitous whether it produce any good effect or no. 6. When we are more studious to approve our selves to the eyes of Men than to the eye of God I might add That if we would not lose the Favour of God we must duly improve all his other Ordinances we must hear as for our lives and take heed that his word do not at any time slip out of our minds We must receive the glad tidings of Salvation with obedient and joyful hearts and upon all fit occasions in the Celebration of the Lord's Supper with holy Affections and a melting zeal keep up the remembrance of the Love of Christ till he come again and with great constancy and seriousness read the Scriptures that direct us how to obtain this Favour of God that is our life but if any person has so little value for the Favour of God that he will not earnestly pray for it he must go without it and smart for his refusal of so excellent a Blessing when it shall be too late to repent 4. That you may not lose the Favour of God that is your life you must avoid all sloth What pains hath God taken what Exhortations what Promises has he used to bring you near to himself what hardships and sufferings did Christ undergo to gain your love and will you do nothing in answer to
dreadful Temptations Clouds Confusions and Terrors of Soul c. so that there was no hope or help to be expected but from Heaven in answer to many Prayers which through mercy were succesful .............................. though still I am under weakness though I hope rather going forward than contrary As to my Soul I have not been without good experiences blessed be the free Grace of God! I cannot neither may I trouble you to enlarge upon any of these things My old Enemy will not lay down but by force strong Temptations and Corruptions c. are my daily Exercise Good Sir help me by your Prayers over to the Lord Jesus there 's as much in that as if I had made more words Pray Sir forget me not and please to put others in remembrance of me you know what Graces are necessary to such a Condition 'T is a true saying Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia the Lord teach me to be as humble as he would have me be and in every thing give thanks I desire to rejoice with you and them that rejoice concerning you for your restauration Good Sir again remember them that are still out in the storm such have need of patience c. I know not how to break off But time and strength failing me I remain Daventry March 10. 1690 1. SIR Your Friend and Servant Joh. Worth Jun. LETTER VIII From a Young Student in Divinity Dear and much respected Cousin LOng Experience proves it beyond a thousand Arguments that they who have made choice of God for their happiness must expect none here 't is a contradiction to expect Heaven on Earth or to look for a setled duration where all things rush round in vicissitude I cannot tell what they may find who have the world at will but I am sure Believers upon a reflection and consideration of the hard usage and unquieting perplexities which they are still meeting with cannot but long to be where the weary are at rest The Saints who have now got to the end of their way may well rejoyce for they have good reason for it happy are they who have got safely to their Father's House through so many threatning Difficulties When others are lawless as to their practices we are limited to the holy Rule of the Word our life must be a life of Self-denial mortification and contempt of the World I know not what thoughts many Professors may have of Religion but for my self when I seriously think what a life a true Christian's is I am ready to cry out True Religion is a rare thing Dear Cousin What manner of men should you and I be who are designed for such special work I desire to bear part in the praises for your wonderful Deliverance the Lord teach us the true nature of Thankfulness that we may live more to and for God ............................ I desire an interest in your Prayers that God would keep me from Melancholly which I am inclined to and that God would bless my study to me and make it successful and in so doing you will add one more to the Favours you have bestow'd on Rauthmell in Yorkshire Novemb 17. l690 Your very Loving Cousin THO. BARNS LETTER IX To a Relation of the Author's who was long under Melancholly from a Minister who several years was under that Disease My dear Christian Friend AS Christ has given me any bowels of mercy I cannot but pity you under your Soul-affliction and disquietment of spirit being greatly oppressed by Satan that malicious and active Spirit who hates you for the Truth 's sake and no doubt therefore hates you because he finds in you the love of the truth by the proper and convincing evidences of it And that you might not have any comfort by it as the work of the Spirit of Grace in your heart as also that God might not have from you the praise and glory due unto his Grace for it for he envies him all the worship and glory that 's given him by his Saints in Heaven and Earth Therefore he does all he can to hide the knowledge of it from you by clouding your mind by darkning your evidences by his own malicious suggestions against you as also by stirring up all sorts of sin in you but more especially Unbelief the sin of sins his First-born the Mother of all Abominations in the Soul and so the Provocative whereby he well knows if he can work it up to its perfect and full dominion he shall effectually hinder the income of all peace and joy and so fill the poor despairing Soul with all heaviness and horror never to be removed but by faith and its actings on Jesus Christ the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace I beseech you therefore Dear Sister and the Lord himself work it in you turn away your mind from all the malicious deceitful lying Suggestions of the Adversary whom you know by the Scripture of Truth to be a Lyar and a Murtherer from the beginning and will do all that he can to beguile you of the Grace of God in you as also of all that mercy pardon and peace which God has provided in his Son for all believing broken-hearted Sinners such as I doubt not you are whatever you may seem to your self in your present darkness and hour of temptation Turn your self yea the Lord do it for you and in you from him to your Saviour who will not accuse you with the Father as he does but is pleading his Sufferings and presenting his Blood and Atonement made thereby for you Look to him dear Sister look to him whom you shall find to be as the true Brazen Serpent to your love-sick Soul which has been sore wounded by that fiery-flying Serpent and old Dragon but your Lord has overcome him by death and you also I doubt not have overcome him in divers Combats and Temptations already and shall overcome him fully and finally by the Faith of your mighty Redeemer and the Captain of your Salvation who as he is able to save you to the utmost so I doubt not he will do it whatever your Doubts and Fears may be at present He is with you taking care of your Soul and all its Concerns though your eyes are withheld that you cannot discern him as it was sometimes with the Apostles themselves but he will ere long manifest himself to you and then you shall know and acknowledge also That he has born with you and will be with you for ever even as I now do though I were as much to seek for his gracious presence with me as you are or can well be The Lord himself even our Lord Jesus Christ work this very thing in you and cause you to hold fast your confidence firm unto the end and you shall find that it has great recompence of reward as the Apostles has testified to the Hebrews For he that shall come will come and will not tarry He will not only come to Judgment at
so he hath Bowels of Compassion What Mercy may we not expect from so gracious a Mediator that took our Nature on him that he might be Gracious Let us therefore go to God by Christ who has satisfied his Justice by his Death and who without him is to us Sinners as a consuming fire Let us go boldly to his Throne in the name of Jesus and we shall find that the God of whom we were afraid will become our Friend and we shall experience him to be better to us than we ever thought he would have been Our unbelieving hearts whilst they are such will be full of darkness and of trouble but upon our Faith the Storm will cease and the Morning will begin to dawn upon us and instead of that wrath which we feared and had deserved we shall find there is Mercy with the Lord and plenteous Redemption Psal 130. The first thing that a convinced awakened sinner thinks of is his own danger and how he may avoid the Wrath of God and what it is that he must do in order to it now it is not to be accomplished by pompous ceremonious Services not by external mortifications nor by offering the fruity of his Body for the sin of his own Soul but by Faith in Jesus Christ and his Death by the means of which God is become propitious and favourable to us And the first view that as one says an humble Soul is to take of Christ is of his being a Saviour as made a Sin and a Curse and obeying to the death And Christ must be considered not only with respect to the Excellencies of his person but as cloathed with his Garments of Blood and the Qualifications of a Mediator and a Reconciler and this renders him the fit object of a Sinners Faith If we think of God without thinking of Christ he is vastly terrible and amazing to us but in and through him those otherwise-overwhelming apprehensions become very pleasant and comfortable to us Let us honour the Love that he hath shewed in him with admiring thoughts and never have low nor mean apprehensions of his Grace Christ is near unto God and pitiful to us able to help us and most willing to do so for those that come unto him he will in no wise cast out He will not upbraid us for our former follies he will not encrease our grief but when he sees us once lying at his feet and washing them with the tears of an unfeigned humiliation he will raise us up and bid us be of good cheer V. Faith will remove the troubles that we have from the sense of God's displeasure by conveying to us that life and strength from Christ which will enable us to subdue all our spiritual Enemies Phil. 4.13 It will bring him to us and when he is in our Vessel let the Waves threaten us with never so formidable a noise we are sure not to be cast away And all the Spectres that afright us will vanish if we do but hear him once say as to his Disciples It is I be not afraid This Grace will unite us to Christ and communicate to us of his Power in the several measures that we need and without his assistance long and sore afflictions will tire our Spirits and destroy our Hope He is necessary for us for he has a perfect knowledg of our Enemies of their Force their Policies and their Designs He has by his own Combat learn'd to Fight and by his Experience can teach us to get the Victory neither the multitude nor violence nor obstinacy of our Enemies can hinder the Success and the glory of his Triumph Col. 1.11 He prayeth that they might be strengthned with all might because as we have to do with divers Enemies and are sick of divers Infirmities we have need to receive not one or two kinds of strength but many different ones * Vide Daille in loc For as in nature you see the strength of Bodies is different one resisting one thing and yielding to another one has the virtue to repulse the force of one Element but not to guard it self from another So in a manner is it in the Souls of Men such a Man will free himself from the temptation of one sin that will not be able to defend himself from another such a Man will resist the temptations of prosperity whom adversity will overthrow such an one will bear troubles for a while whom the length or tediousness of them will overcome and if one of our Spiritual Enemies succeed against us we are undone for ever Therefore as the Apostle says we have need to have recourse to Christ who can furnish us with skill and strength to defeat whatsoever stands in the way of our Peace or our Salvation To have one on our side that has returned from the Field of Battel as a Conqueror is a mighty encouragement and privilege Such is our Lord he is a Victorious and a Triumphant Saviour he will not leave his Conquests incompleat for he goes on Conquering and to Conquer and the glory of his enterprizes has not fill'd him with disdain or contempt of the poor and needy for he that is the King of Zion is as I said before a meek and lowly King By Faith in Christ we obtain his Spirit which by opening our eyes will shew us that Fountain of Living-waters where we may both quench our thirst and wash away our filth This Spirit will take away the sting of guilt and sweeten the Cross that was very bitter to us and when our Lord is come to help us when we know that he is afflicted in our affliction that yoak which gall'd us before will become as an Ornament about our Necks and when we have the pardon of our sins and the hope of God's acceptance that affliction that we thought a burthen too heavy for us to bear will become light and easie to us Out of the devourer shall come forth sweetness From those very fears that overwhelmed us shall spring glorious hopes and those hearts which a slavish fear of the Wrath had contracted shall be enlarged with a sense of his Goodness and his Love and we shall not look upon him as an Enemy but as a Friend not as a Judge but as a Father Isa 33.14 The inhabitants shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities Alas when God leaves us the smallest danger terrifies us the least Dart of Satan makes an impression on our spirits the least trouble sinks such low such inconsiderable creatures are we But if the Lord be with us if Christ be on our side neither the Law nor Sin nor Death can hinder us from bidding a defiance to all that is against us 2 Cor. 15. 56 57. VI. Faith will give us relief under the apprehensions of God's displeasure or our Sin as it will shew us the period and conclusion of those miseries which we now are groaning under our
give forth Light and Joy when his own set time came which tho we did not wait for in a due manner by Faith Patience and Humility yet he passed by all our unbelief impatience and peevishness and visited our sinful Souls in his tender Mercy notwithstanding all whereby we had provoked him to turn his short withdrawing from us into an everlasting departure from us and have left us wholly to the unbelief and frowardness of our own evil hearts Wherefore let us magnify his Name together and let his high praises be in our hearts and mouths as long as we live and unto all Eternity for he is most worthy to be praised And blessed be his Name for ever and ever Amen And let us walk circumspectly and humbly with him all our days that we grieve not his good Spirit any more and provoke him to withdraw from us and to take his blessed influences and comforts from us as he has done He is the life of our souls and the joy of our hearts without him we are but a sink of all filth and a hell of sorrow and confusion ............ I hope you will give me the contentment to let me see you as oft as you can I shall be glad to be a means to help forward your Faith and Joy unto a more full settlement of Spirit and more abundant rejoycing in the Lord Jesus Thus with my constant Prayers for you I commend you to the Grace of God in Christ and Rest London Febr. 8. 1689. Your most Affectionate Friend and Brother in the Lord GEORGE PORTER LETTER IV. To a Relation of the Authors Mrs. Rogers I Have read your doleful Letter wherein you express your distress of mind under which you lately labour'd 't was indeed a very sad misapprehension of God and of your own condition but yet this is no more than what hath befaln many a dear Servant of God who have managed the same Objection against themselves and have labour'd under the same afrightments This you counterballance with the comfortable account you give of God's great Mercy to you in commanding down these waves and storms I rejoice with you in this and pray that God would please to confirm and settle you in the sense of his Love And that you may go forward in your present peaceable Estate I would advise you to take a due care of your Body and to reduce it into order I know well you are naturally melancholly and you may be assured the Devil took no small advantage from thence to raise up your distressing fears and if you take not heed to take away this advantage he may except God wonderfully prevent raise up trouble to you a second time 'T is not possible for me at so great a distance to direct you in this matter Physicians upon the place that see you and can occasionally fit or change their prescriptions are only fit to advise you This being cared for I shall only put you in mind of a few things which I would have you to establish upon your mind and these are such as a review of your apprehensions in your former trouble will help you to understand First then Call to mind that such dreadful Terrors as you have had are not to be understood as certain evidences of God's rejecting those that are so afflicted tho you so concluded against your self yet the present peace which God in great mercy hath given you is enough to tell you that you were mistaken when you thought so Heman's Case and the instances of many others of your own Acquaintance may abundantly satisfy you that these things may befall the precious Servants of God Secondly Note also That a true converted Person may be brought to that pass as to deny all the Evidences of Grace which he formerly had and may condemn himself for an Hypocrite when at the same time these Evidences appear to By-standers and shine through the black Cloud of their terror Thirdly 'T is further to be noted that the sad Speeches such Men utter and the desperate conclusions that such do make are little else than the Discourses of those that are distracted nor will God rigidly press them upon us as sins of that nature which we would take them to be God in Mercy considers our distress and will more gently pass by such extravagancies than we can readily believe 4. You should also call to mind that you and others in this Case boldly venture to determine that which neither you nor no Man else can know as that you were cut off reprobated made to be destroyed no time of Mercy left c. This was a conclusion which you had no warrant to make nor could you prove it If you concluded your present state to be bad you should not have taken upon you to pronounce God's purpose to have been against you for the future Who knows the Mind of God 5. I also think that you might possibly have some disadvantage by some darkness of mind about the nature of Faith some expressions in your Letter where you complain you could not believe look as if you thought Faith must be a believing that our sins are pardoned I will not much insist on this because I may mistake But if you had such a mistake in your mind 't is no wonder to say you could not believe These things you may do well to consider as mistakes which the disordered Reason you had run upon to the increase of your trouble and now while you are in the calm fix the contrary upon your mind and come up as fully as you can to these following conclusions 1. Let the amiable lovely and compassionate Nature of God be deeply impressed upon your mind think often seriously meditate That God is Love That he delights not in the death of sinners That he is willing to save 2. Make much of the probability or even possibility of Salvation even when the assurance of Faith is wanting 't is a great stay to be able to nourish hope concerning this thing 3. Persuade your self for certain That God's Decree is no rule for you to go by and that you must interpret his Decree by his Promises for it 's certain his Decree doth not contradict his Promise 4. Assure your self that if God sincerely incline your heart to accept of Christ as your Righteousness and Lawgiver and endeavour faithfully to live accordingly he will undoubtedly fulfil his Promise of Peace and Pardon to you and that it is a comfortable evidence of his special Grace 5. Do not think you want Faith because you have not assurance Faith is such a belief of the proffer of Salvation by Christ in the Gospel as makes us willing to accept it upon God's terms 6. Listen not to severe and malignant suggestions of Satan against the Mercifulness and Goodness of God if any such thoughts come into your mind cast them out presently and raise up your mind unto a detestation of them 7. Be thankfully content with that
Decree There are many people whom we are angry with and reprove whom notwithstanding we do in the mean time most sincerely love and Christ has told us Rev. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten 4. The Anger of God is but for a moment because he delights in Mercy Psalm 103.8 The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy He will not always chide neither will he keep his anger for ever It is long before he punishes and 't is with haste that he comes to our help when we repent and many times before In the midst of Wrath he remembers Mercy he does not always inflict what we have deserved but considers what is most proper for him to lay upon us and what we are able to bear and therefore he gives to us some mitigations with our most bitter Cup. He is called the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort and tho Punishment does proceed from him as well as Tenderness and Affection yet he is no where called the Father of Judgments Mercy ariseth from his own Nature and he delighteth in it Micah 7.18 He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy His wrath is said to be reserv'd in Golden Viols Rev. 15.7 i. e. it doth not flow forth all at once but by degrees but his Mercy is compared to a River and a flowing Stream Isaiah 66.12 to the Oyl of gladness to the smell of Myrrh Aloes and Cassia It is a Glory to this God to relieve the miserable and to help his Servants when all their power and might is gone and he ends the Controversy with them when there is cause enough on their side that he should pursue the Quarrel further When he leads us into a Wilderness yet he provides some Water some refreshment for us there It is one of the great Wonders of his Providence that he supports those poor Souls that have no light of Evidence no sense of his Love no hope nothing but the fears of Wrath and Desolation and yet the matter of Fact and our own Experience plainly tells us that so it is his everlasting Arms are underneath and his Power does maintain our Life when we say that he has forgotten to be gracious He bottles our Tears when we weep and hears our Groans when we lament and proportions the Troubles that he sends that they shall not be too long nor too violent Jer. 30.11 I will not make a full end of thee I will correct thee in measure and will not leave thee altogether unpunished And those Afflictions which his People suffer are not in all respects proper Punishments because his Anger is mixed with mildness and mitigated by the Intercessions of a Mediator Lam. 3.31 32. The Lord will not cast off for ever but tho he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his tender mercies 5. That his Anger is but for a moment is for his own Name sake His Nature is most inclinable to do us good therefore the Prophets to those Idolaters mentioned in 1 Kings 18.24 says The God that answers by sire let him be God and he chose that Element above the rest to signify how soon we shall have Mercy it comes as upon the wings of the Wind it is as swift as the rays of Light Hosca 11.9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God and not man A Man when he is greatly provoked by his Enemy is not satisfied with having once made him feel his Anger but carries on his Revenge to further degrees and only ceases the pursuit with the Death of him that he first assaulted But the Great God tho he is able to Conquer those that oppose him with a total Defeat and Ruin yet he suffers them to breathe and live that they may Repent and that he may cause his Goodness to shine with a greater Brightness to the World He could follow them with one Blow after another with a Succession of new and greater Miseries but he restrains his Anger for his own sâ—ke And it maybe a great Consolation to poor afflicted People to consider that they have to deal with God and not with Men when they have sinn'd they have not to deal with Men that are full of Rage and Cruelty but with a God that is gracious and full of Mercy not with Men that may Caress them to day and Hate them to morrow but with a God that is unchangeable and even when they are in the Fire or in the Water his Love is still to them the very same Men think it a dishonour to spare their interiors if they do not by the lowest Submissions testify their Sorrow for their Crimes but the Great God is so far above all his Creatures that he may when he will think them below his Indignation and magnify his Goodness in sparing and forgiving them when they most deserve to dye Isaiah 4.8 9. For my names sake will I defer mine anger and for my praise will I refrain for thee that I cut thee not off 'T is his Power that moderates his Anger Those Persons that have the least strength either of Reason or of Courage are the most passionate and inclinable to Revenge In Punishments he shews his Dominion over his Creatures but his Power over himself when he forgives great Injuries and is slow to punish great Affronts and his Power in those Acts of Grace is very great and illustrious He is God and not Man there is more Compassion and more real Pity in him than in the most compassionate or tender hearted Man that we ever knew He is God and not Man he whom we have offended and who can destroy us begins first to treat about a Reconciliation with us This is not the manner and way of Men who think that those who have offended them are to make the first advances towards a repairing of the Breach There is no Attribute in the displaying of which the Great God glories so much as in this of Mercy and 't is by this that he would be known Exod. 34.6 7. 6. That his Anger is but for a moment is because he would make a difference between the righteous and the wicked The Afflictions that he sends upon the Righteous are to prepare them for Heaven and Glory But those Scourges that he uses to the Wicked and Impenitent are but the beginning of their Sorrows the flashes of those Flames that will consume them for ever The distresses of the Righteous are short and so are the Prosperities of the Wicked The Righteous are weeping here but they shall rejoyce hereafter The Wicked have now their Heaven such as it is and hereafter they go to an Eternal Hell and there must they weep and wail when the Good and Holy shall have all their Tears wiped away The one shall find him to be a loving Father and to have been
hang over your heads and fright you with its dreadful Presages whereever you went and on the contrary if all the people in the world were your Enemies and he your Friend his Love would sweeten all their Hatred his Voice would still all their Clamours his Arm would fence off all their Blows and under the Wings of his Providence you might lye down and sleep in peace He can save you when you have destroyed your selves when you have run to the very door and the gates of Hell he can pull you back When you are even dying he can strengthen and revive you 'T is with him that you have principally to do to him must you therefore pray because from him alone can your help come When Adam had committed sin he was afraid and took no pleasure even in Paradise tho as one says the Sun shined upon his head with as gentle and refreshing Beams the Rivers ran as clear as before the Birds sung with as Melodious a Voice the Flowers had as fragrant a smell the Herbs were cloathed with as fresh a Verdure and all the Fruits flourished as before but from the poor man Peace and Innocence was fled away all without was calm but he found a tempest rising in his own Breast which he knew not how to lay Those of us that have by woful experience felt the Terrors of the Lord know that all the advices of our Friends all their Arguings and Discourses all their Entreaties and their Prayers gave us no manner of ease till God Himself was pleased to command Salvation for us Job 34.29 When he giveth quietness who can make trouble and when he hideth his face who can then behold him whether it be done against a nation or a man only The greater are our Distresses the more fervent should our Prayers be and when the Winds are highest and the Storms encrease and threaten us with Shipwrack and with Ruine the nearness and the greatness of our danger must cause us with more speed to arise and call upon our God Therefore though you have the sense of his displeasure yet say there is none can help me but God himself there is none can heal my diseases or forgive my sins but he therefore as long as I live will I pray and call upon him till he have Mercy upon me Secondly Tho you are under the sense of God's Anger you have encouragement to pray from many Promises and from the Office and the Name of Christ That Mediator that well remembers what he felt when he groaned under his Father's Wrath knows also with what Flames your Souls are scorched With a most compassionate eye does he look upon you and will awake to promote your Safety if you do but say as the poor frighted Disciples Master save us or else we perish 'T is true he is attended with Illustrious Spirits some of which were never thus sick and others whom he has fully cured but in the Throng of his Admiring Courtiers in the midst of their Chearful and pleasant Hallelujahs his Heart is concerned for you and his Ears will be open to your Cry his Intercession gives you good ground of hope he ever lives to manage that glorious and honourable Work and having an unchangeable Priesthood he is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him Heb. 7.25 To the uttermost is as one observes Dr. Goodwin Triumph of Faith from Christ's Intercession p. 199. a good word and put in for our Comfort For says he let thy soul be set upon the highest mount that ever any creature was yet set upon and that it is inlarged to take in and view the most spacious Prospect both of Sin and Misery and difficulties of being saved that ever yet any poor humbled soul did cast within it self yea join to these all the objections and hindrances of thy Salvation that the heart of man can suppose or invent against it self lift up thy eyes and look to the utmost thou canst see and Christ by his Intercession is able to save thee beyond the Horizon and furthest compass of thy Thoughts even to the utmost and the worst case the heart of man can suppose Cry often to God Oh pity me a poor helpless sinner for the sake of Christ he bore thy wrath turn it away from me for I am not able to bear it The Name of Jesus carries Comfort and Salvation with it He is a perfect Saviour in every time of need The Name of Jesus Christ tells you that his Office is to do good to the miserable to heal the diseased to open the eyes of the blind to preach good tidings to the meek to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bounds Isa 61.1 You are to pray in that name which was celebrated by all the Patriarchs and Holy Men of old by the Prophets and by the Priests under the Law tho it was then wrapt up in obscure Types and Representations that Name in which God himself delights at which the Angels bow with Reverence and at which the Devils tremble that Name which is great in Heaven and Earth in which you were baptized and in which you must place all your hopes in this you may implore assistance in all your wants and this may furnish you with an holy confidence for 't is the Name of the Son of God of his entirely Beloved Son and it would be a Reproach to this Great and Venerable Name to pray with distrustful thoughts Oh let this be a support to you that you may have access to God by this Name which has been dear to all the Faithful and must be so to you and which has been the refuge of many a poor trembling Soul This is the Name which the Saints of God have mentioned in all their straits with great delight of which they were pleased frequently to hear and to speak and which was the Joy of their Hearts and for which they refused not to suffer Death Some have taken the pains to observe that it is mentioned in the Epistles of Paul 220 times and often in the Gospel of John so sweet so dear to them was the Name of Jesus This is the first General way of Relief that they who are under the sense of God's Anger ought to take viz. To Pray unto him So Jer. 10.24 O Lord correct me but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing Psal 39.10 Remove thy stroke away from me for I am consumed by the blow of thine hand Psal 85.4 6 7. Psal 38.21 22. Psal 138.3 Psal 143.2 CHAP. VIII Of Faith in Christ as another Help under the sense of God's displeasure And the several tendencies it hath to calm an afflicted Soul under long and sore Tryals SEcond General When you are under the sense of God's Anger for your Sins act Faith upon God and Christ Faith I may well say is the Mother
221. and were not Forgiveness in God somewhat beyond what men could imagine no flesh could be saved Isa 55.88 My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways saith the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts It is not the manner of men to pass by multiplied Transgressions as he doth The consideration of his Infinite Mercy removes all those obstructions which our unbelief viewing the greatness and aggravations of our sins throws in the way and tho our sins have been every way inexcusable and do upon every reflection that we make upon them fright and trouble us yet the Mercy of a God surely will yield us some relief for there is no other reason why he does good to this or that sinner but his own Grace Hos 3.4 He freely chuses justifies adopts and renews the Souls of his Elect 't is all not from their merit or from any thing that he foresaw in them but from the good pleasure of his will Eph. 1.5 All that he does for them all that he will do for them to Eternity will be to the praise and glory of his own grace This is the true way to humble us when we see nothing in our selves but what exposes us to misery and that is true Gospel Obedience which is the fruit and product of his Love shed abroad in our hearts This is the only Rock whereon we are to build our Comfort when the Storm comes This Free Grace of God is that which the Saints admire on earth which revives their drooping spirits and which they will wonder at for ever 'T is a shelter from the accusations and the malicious insultings of the Devil for tho he set our sins with all their overwhelming circumstances before us tho we cannot deny the charge and believe that we are miserable in our seves yet do we resolve to flye to the Mercy and the Love of God in Christ We should disparage the Excellencies of his Nature and the Offers of his Goodness if we did not lay hold upon them And this is that which some call a natural Novatianism in the timerous Consciences of Convinced Sinners whereby they doubt and question pardon for Sins of Apostacy and falling after Repentance IX Beware of running into further sin and so to provoke God to further Anger When our Hope is perished there is nothing so evil which we shall not dare to do If help do not speedily come we are apt to say it is in vain to pray it is vain to look up to a God that has thrown us of Jer. 2.25 Thou saidst There is no hope no for I have loved strangers and after them will I go You are lost for ever will the Devil say and therefore it is all one whether you sin or not you can but still be loft this is one of his fiery darts and if by our compliance we suffer it to take hold upon us it will terrifie us the more he will rejoice at our fall and put our Souls by every new Transgression into much more violent and scorching Flames What monstrous Injections what unbecoming Thoughts of God does he suggest and alas how frequently do we entertain them for they come thick upon us In the time of God's displeasure when the edge of his Holy Spiritual Law does wound our Souls what vast multitudes of Corruptions do we then discover that we never saw before How do our old Sins amaze us and new ones arise and spring from them And what can we do in the swelling of Jordan What in so great an inundation but endeavour in our poor feeble manner to look up to Christ for help Beg the Spirit for as one says There is no heart so unclean which this Spirit will not cleanse no soul so feeble which he does not fortifie none so forrowful which he does not comfort none so desolate which he does not cause to rejoice none so slavish which he does not set at liberty none so sick which he does not heal none so dead which he does not quicken Surely he will regard us for he knows that of our selves we cannot bear up against the Winds and Waves And let us always remember That among so many cruel Enemies 't is Unbelief that leads the Van It encourages and draws them on and when we have got the Victory over this all the rest will be daunted and run away By Unbelief we open our hearts and let in all those Thieves and Robbers which deprive us of our Peace It is the defilement of our Consciences by manifold acts of sin that makes us like the troubled Sea which cannot rest And for a Conscience guilty of many neglects to lay claim to God's Mercy is to do as we see Mountebanks sometimes do who wound their Flesh to try Conclusions on their own Bodies how sovereign the Salve is yet often they come to feel the smart of their own Presumption by long and desperate Wounds Let us in the case even of sore Afflictions be afraid to sin Sibbs Souls Conflict p. 31. for that Devil that tempts us will immediately vex and torment us the more for it X. Mistake not those things for evidences of the certain Wrath of God which perhaps are not really so He may suspend the expressions of his Love tho he love us still as Joseph had the tenderness of a Brother whilst his Brethren thought him very angry with them Nay in our secret supports we are not destitute altogether of his care tho we know not how they come As the Metals that lye deep in the ground partake of the Influence of the Sun tho he does not shine upon them with his Light There are few Afflictions but have rather the marks of a Fatherly Kindness in the seasonable Correction of our Faults than the Marks of Displeasure No outward losses no inward troubles that are but for a time are the certain signs of Wrath no tho they be very long and very grievous for it was not so in the case of Job But how shall I know will some say when Afflictions are in wrath It is a question to be answered with great tenderness and caution They are by Divines said to be so 1. When they come with great Violence and suddenly destroy as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah and in the Deluge Psal 58.9 Before your pots can feel the thorns he shall take them away as with a whirlwind both living and in his wrath Nahum 1.9 He will make an utter end affliction shall not rise up the second time And yet this must have some limitations for a good man may be seized with a violent Disease and suddenly dye of whom we ought not to say that he died by the Wrath of God 2. When there is no Mercy discernable in the Cross but only what is evil 3. When one Evil makes way for another and none are sanctified 4.
must lead them to my Physician and tell them the nature of my cure when others are fallen into the Pit out of which we are newly got let us strive to draw them up Let us put on bowels of compassion let us patiently hear what they say and not rebuke them for complaining let us not be weary of their discourse because it 's doleful and troublesome let us not smile at that which makes them weep nor simply call that fancy which is the anguish and trouble of their Souls Let us remember all that speech and that usage that made us worse when we were ill and avoid all such to them Let us remember what it was that gave us some support and let us minister the same to them When any of our Friends are very sick if we know any Cordial any Receipt that has been beneficial to us under the like case we make all the speed we can to fetch it and we cannot see them faint without finding at the same time a very sensible commotion in our own hearts no outward Affliction though never so painful is so terrible as these spiritual Troubles are let us therefore be more affectionately concerned for such distressed Persons than for any other when we see the Anger of God beginning to kindle in their Consciences Let us use all the methods that are most like to quench the beginning flame For as God commanded the Israelites to be kind to strangers because they themselves were such in the Land of Egypt So let us be very kind and pitiful to all that are in distress we having been so our selves Let us take all opportunities to visit to exhort to direct them Let us wrastle with the God of Jacob in their behalf let them see that we sympathize most heartily with them and that though the Grace of God has wiped our tears away yet we can still weep with them that weep Let us take all the ways we can to make them believe we are afflicted with their affliction and sincerely concerned for the sadness of their Case and by this means they will more ruminate on what we say and regard the more what we tell them that have been once as they now are then they will regard others that may speak well indeed but not from their own Experience If a man were in a bodily Disease he would rather have recourse to a Physician that had been himself lately cured of it than to any other that can talk it may be more learnedly about it but knows not by information or study half so much as he that feels it the knowledge of the one is but speculative but the other's is more distinct and practical and he knows how to make suitable applications to his Patient from the remembrance of what he felt in his own Body Heb. 2.17 18. 2 Cor. 1.6 Secondly God continues the sense of his wrath very long upon the Souls of his People that they may learn to pity wicked men and instruct them in the way of happiness Psal 51.11 12 13. that they may teach them by their words their serious Exhortations and their faithful Reproofs by their holy Conversation and by their every action that they go about there are many Lessons that we our selves are not taught but by the rod and the frowns of an Angry God by a very smarting and severe discipline we see not till after a long teaching the real evil of Sin and the true worth of Christ to the knowledge of which when we are once arrived we must communicate some measures of it to others though the misery is the most will scarce believe our Report till they themselves come to feel what we have felt He that is escaped by the mercy of God out of long trouble of Conscience can thus say to Sinners I have dearly paid for all the delight that I once had in sin for all my indifference and lukewarmness my cold and sluggish Prayers my lost and misimproved time beware that you do not provoke him for he is a jealous God for if you do you shall also find that those Sins which you make a slight matter of will tear you to pieces hereafter you will find them when your Consciences are awakened to be an heavy and intolerable burthen they will press you down to Hell it self I could not have thought that the displeasure of God had been a thing so bitter and so very dreadful It is a tertible thing to fall into the hands of the living God for he is a consuming fire if his Anger be kindled but a little you cannot then fix your minds upon any pleasant Objects nor have one easie Thought you cannot then go about your business your Trades or your secular Affairs for your Souls will be so much amazed that you will be full of horror and consternation Those of us that have felt the terrors of the Lord do most earnestly persuade you to forsake every Sin for if you indulge and love your Iniquities they will set you on fire round about Oh that you did but know what you do when you sin you are opposing that Authority that will avenge it self of all its obstinate opposers you are heaping up fuel for your own destruction you are whetting that Sword that will enter into your Bowels you are preparing your selves for bitterness and trouble and though God is patient for a while yet he will not always be so the shadows of the night are drawing on and the doleful time will come when all your mirth will end in tears and all your false confidence and your foolish hopes will expire and give up the Ghost And which of you will live when God shall enter into Judgment with you VVhat will you do VVhere will you go for help when he that is your Maker he that has weighed your actions and observed your wandrings shall call you to give an account of all these things If our blessed Lord when he came near Jerusalem lift up his voice and wept saying O that thou hadst known even now in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace What cause have we to mourn over our fellow-creatures whom we see to be in danger of misery and alas they know it not Can we see them sleeping on the very edge of ruine and not be greatly troubled for them Oh poor sinners you are now sleeping but the Judge is at the door you are rolling the pleasant morsel under your tongue but it will be great vexation to you in the latter end How can you rest how can you be quiet when you have none of your sins pardoned no comfortable relation to God! no well-grounded hope of Heaven How can you with any assurance go about those things that concern your buying your selling and the present Life when your poor souls that are of a thousand times more value are neglected all the while We have felt great terrors inexpressible sorrows from an angry God and we
will not have him to be so he would save them and they will not be saved he would bless them and they chuse to be curs'd How many are there that prefer a Lust before a Saviour and Earth before Heaven and the applause of their vain sottish Companions before the approbation of the All-seeing Judge O blind Sinners Why will you lay hands upon your selves and do all you can to deprive your Souls of Life What a sad thing is it as one says to deny sustenance to thine own Life The breath of God is in thee what shall be done to him that starveth a Prince's child Symmond 's Sight and Faith p. 214. What have we of like worth to Spiritual Vigour Agility Courage and Peace of Soul And shall we who have a door of Life at once offer contempt to Divine goodness and violence to our own Life by not using what God hath put in our hands for our relief Is there so much allurement in destruction and so much Beauty in Eternal Flames that you cannot forbear going thither Why will you suffer your Souls to starve whilst you are contriving to gratify the Flesh Why will you still serve the Devil and your own Sins Are they so good Masters will they pay you so well in the latter end Are you content to have the pleasures of Sin for a season though you lose your share in Paradise Oh what bitter reflections on so bad a choice will this cause hereafter VVhen you shall lift up your Eyes in misery and see the Kingdom of Heaven afar off and say I was once offered that Kingdom and those Joys and I would not have them I was once fair for Salvation but I slighted I might have had the Favour of God and I would not have it O my cursed Sins How you have deceived me You promised me delight and you have brought me to bitterness and wo you promised me safety and you have made me to perish Oh that some Angel or some Saint might be sent to bring me some relief The word of God told me of that Glory his Ministers earnestly intreated me to prepare for it my Friends were always bidding me to leave my wicked course my Conscience checkt me for it and I broke through all these exhortations and these checks and so am come laden with guilt to Eternal Misery I was at my Games and Sports when I should have been upon my Knees I had indeed time and strength and health and many helps and advantages O that I had all my days watcht and strived and denyed my self then I should not have come to this place of Torment O that my Sun would rise again O that I might have another Tryal and more time But alas the Judge is my Enemy I have heard my Sentence and he will not change his purpose I am condemned I am lost for ever O Sinners As you would never fall into such a hopeless state now even now seek the face of God Have you not already spent time enough in Sin in walking in the imagination of your own heatts and the sight of your own eyes Have you not loved your sottish pleasures long enough O! come leave the tents of Wickedness come and Love your God for he is ready to receive you come to him and all your sins shall be forgiven O let not Mercy it self that speaks for your hearts be denyed Who will be so good a friend as God Who will abide with you when life it self is gone And now surely the heart of some sinner or another begins to relent some that is saying with himself Though I never prayed in secret before yet now I will begin to pray Though I lost abundance of my youth and my health I will strive to lose no more I have put off God and my Conscience with vain excuses and delays but I will not put them off again He shall have my thoughts my heart and my endeavours who gave me life and I will ever admire the riches of his Love if he will pardon such a Malefactor and condescend to such a Worm and entertain such a Prodigal as I have been Inf. 6. In what a woful Condition are those poor Sinners that are without this Favour of God! To how great a danger are they every day exposed And which is a part of their misery they know it not Spiritual Death has closed their eyes and they see not where they go What a sad object is a poor sinner that is yet a stranger to this God that is every hour liable to his Eternal Wrath that seeks the Friendship and the Favour of men and has no thoughts of his Creator no dread of his Displeasure no taste or relish of his Love Surely they must be fallen into a dead sleep whom all the Terrors of the Lord all the Threats of his Word and all the Calls of his Ministers will not awaken With what peace can you eat and drink or work or rest whilst so great a God is your Enemy Will his Wrath that makes the Devils in their Hellish Agonies to roar and tremble be tolerable to you When his Vengeance pursues you whither will you run for help When he frowns what will it avail you tho all the world should smile upon you When he casts you off who will shew you pity When he condemns you who will plead your Cause Do you not know that your Life is short that your Change is near that the Judge is at the door Do you not know that this World will leave you that you may quickly go into another And can you dwell with Eternal Burnings Can you venture to go to the Judgment-Seat before you have an Interest in Christ Are you fruitless and barren here and do you think to flourish in the Coelestial Paradise Do you remain dead here under all the means of Grace and do you hope to live for ever What pleasures are those that enchant you that you will not come and taste the Joys of God Who is that that will be a better Friend than he If you laugh at destruction it will not be the further off Oh let not the Devil be your Master nor the world your God Let not sin cheat and impose upon you with its false and counterfeit Delights Others are mourning in secret after the Lord and have you not as much cause to mourn as they Others are striving with earnest Prayers and Supplications and holy Endeavours to enter in at the strait gaâ—e and will it open of it self to you Or have you not also Souls to save as well as they Others Read and Hear and Pray and do all that they can for Salvation being afraid they should fall under the Power of Eternal Death and have you no cause of fear VVhence is it that when they are running so fast in the way of Heaven you run faster in the way of Hell VVhy do you with so great a care tend and regard your Bodies to preserve
what will become of me that flattered my own soul to ruin that thought my self safe when I was not and well when I was diseased To come to misery after I thought so long of happiness is a double misery I am like after all my prayers my endeavours and my hopes to be a Reprobate and a cast-away And such a soul concludes it self to be in a condition much more dangerous than they are that never named the name of Christ nor ever pretended to Religion because it reckons their misery will be much more tollerable than its own it judges it self to be an Hypocrite and then all the threats that are made against such do every moment overwhelm it with inexpressible confusion Thus the Graces of the Spirit and the former fruits of holiness are not discerned in this sad and mournful night Fourthly During this sadness the soul cannot thinly of Christ himself with any comfort For thus it argues He will be a Saviour to none but those that believe I have no faith and therefore he will be no Saviour to me he that is to his Servants as the Lamb of God will be to me as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah he that deals gently with them will tear me to pieces I have heard of his sufferings and his death but if his blood has not cleansed and purified me I am like to perish for all that I heard his voice and I disobeyed it I heard his Gospel and did not improve it and now even the glad tidings of Salvation are not so to me I did not know in the long day that I had the things that belong'd unto my peace and now they are hid from mine eyes Now I have to deal with the great and the dreadful God himself and I have none to plead my cause Oh how can I resist his power or bear his wrath Christ indeed called me but I did not open to him and now he calls no more he seems to be angry and enraged against me for my disobedience and tho I have cried sometimes Have mercy on me thou Son of David he passes away and does not regard my cryes And O what shall I do when he comes in the Clouds of Heaven when I am to stand at his Bar and to be punished as an unbeliever To others that will be a day of Refreshment but what will it be to me the thoughts of it are now amazing And thus by a sense of unbelief the deserted soul is plunged in the waves and sees no way of escape and by this Unbelief it thinks of God as absolutely considered and the thoughts of him are as terrible as if there were no Mediator and it is continually saying I have all my sins to answer for and have none to undertake for me I am condemned and have none to procure a pardon and salvation for me Fifthly In this Night the soul is full of terror and how can it be otherwise when every thought of God and of Christ overwhelms it Job 6.4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me the poyson whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me Such arrows that are shot by an Almighty arm with a great power and force they must needs being so directed pierce very deep deep and painful must the wounds be that a God makes and then they are poysoned arrows too that being dipt in his wrath inflame the wounds they make and put the distressed person into pain and anguish inexpressible Night is a time of terror especially in commotions uproars and the like mischiefs Psal 91.5 and in this night it is much more so when a man 's own Conscience discharges a thousand accusations against him for his guilt for then every sin gives a blow and altogether being set in array make a formidable force and when God sets on peculiar impressions of his wrath and it falls upon the naked soul with its scorching burning drops there is not then one quiet thought nor one easie moment all is amazement confusion and wo. Lam. 3.3 Surely against me is he turned he turneth his hand against me all the day A person that is thus distress'd sits and muses on his misery and would gladly find something that might be comfortable but he cannot what he first thinks of is tormenting he changes that uneasie thought for another and that is as tormenting as the first there is a circulation of flaming disquiet thoughts and such a person dwells as in a nery Furnace or as in a thicket of briers which way soever he turns himself he is pained and wounded all the terrible places of Scripture that are made against the wicked do continually present themselves to his consideration and he thinks that he shall most certainly have their portion every thing in nature that is frightful frights him as still believing God to be against him from all the terrible things imaginable he fetches something that does still more afflict him and thus he will be imagining Suppose I were to be sawn asunder to be burnt to be flea'd alive or to be torn to pieces Oh what a sad thing would that be and yet I am in a case worse than all this for I am now continually racked with guilt and am like to be in Hell for ever The terrors of the Lord we may seel indeed but we cannot express them they are so very terrible they wound our most sensible and tender part they cause our very souls to pine and languish away they fix our minds to the contemplation of every thing that is sad and doleful they fill us with confusion and Heman says Ps 88.15 they are terrors that compass us round about they seize upon every faculty and distress us in every part to have God against us his holiness to dazle us his Power to overthrow us his Law to condemn us our Consciences to accuse us is the sum of terrors Sixthly Fear is another occasion of sorrow and the night is usually a time of horror we are apt then to be imposed upon with false as well as with real dangers We can think of nothing but out misery and the continual unavoidable thinking of it makes us more miserable Job 13.21 these fears are as so many Fetters from which we cannot fly and when we think to shake them off we put our selves to more pain If I say I will forget my complaints I will leave off my heaviness and comfort my self I am afraid of all my sorrows I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent Job 9.27 28. we are frighted with the Greatness and Majesty of God with the Glory of his Being and the Thunder of his Power We are frighted with the view of our innumerable sins and with the dangers that attend them the thoughts of Heaven fright us because we think we have lost that blessed place and the thoughts of Hell are no less frightful because we think we shall soon be there