our learning and recorded by the holy ghost to the end that wee may gather unto our selvs assurance of the same pardon for the same sins upon the same repentance and beleeving Are thy sins great his mercies are infinite hadst thou committed all the sins that ever were committed yet in comparison of Gods mercy they are less than a more in the Sun to all the world or a drop of water to the whole Ocean for the Sea though great yet may bee measured but God's mercy cannot bee circumscribed and hee both can and will 〈◊〉 easily forgive us the debt of ten thousand millions of pounds as one penny and assoon pardon the sins of a wicked Manasses aâ—… of a righteous Abraham if wee come unto him by unfaigned repentance and earnestly desire and implore his grace and mercy Rom. 5. 20. The Tenure of our salvation is not by a covenant of works but by a covenant of grace founded not on our worthinesâ—…s but on the free mercy â—…d good pleasure of God and therefore the Prophet well annexeth blessedness to the remission of sins Blessed is bee whose transgression is forgiven Psal. 32. 1. Yea the more miserable wretched and sinfull wee are the more fit objects wee are whereupon hee may exercise and shew the infinite riches of his bounty mercy virtue and all-sufficiency And this our spirituall Physitian can aswell and easily cure desperate diseases even the remediless Consumption the dead Apoplex and the filthy Lâ—…prosie of the soul as the smallest malady or least faintness Yea hee can aswell raise the dead as cure the sick and aswell of Stones as of Jews make Abrahams children Did hee not without the Sun at the Creation cause light to shine forth and without rain at the same time make the earth fruitfull why then should you give your self over where your Physitian doth not Besides what sin is there whereof wee can despair oâ—…â—…e remission when wee hear our Saviour pray for the forgiveness of his mâ—…rtherers and blasphemers And indeed despair is a sin which never knew Jesus It was a sweet saying of one at his death When mine iniquity is greater than thy mercy O God then will I fear and despair but that can never bee considering our sins bee the sins of men his mercy the mercy of an infinite God Yea his mercies are so great that among the thirteen properties of God mentioned Exod. 34. almost all of them appertain to his mercy whereas one onely concerns his might and onely two his justice Again shall it ever enter into our hearts to think that God gives us rules to keep and yet break them himsef Now his rule is this Though thy brother sin against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying it repenteth mee thou shalt forgive him The son angers his father he doth not straight dis-inherit him but Gods love to his people exceeds a fathers love to his son Matth. 7. 11. and a mothers too Isa. 49. 1â—… I hear many menaces and threats for sin but I read as many promises of mercy and all they indefinite excluding none whose impenitency and infidelity excludeth not themselvs every sin deservs damnation but no sin shall condemn but the lying and continuing in it Wherefore if our clamorous conscience like some sharp fang'd officer arrests us at Gods suit let us put in bail two subsidue virtues Faith and Repentance and so stand the triall the Law is on our side the Law of grâ—…ce is with us and this Law is his that is our Advocate and he is our Advocate that is our Judge and hee is our Judge that is our Saviour even the head of our selvs Jesus Christ. For the first of these do but repent and God will pardon thee hee thy sins never so many and innumerable for multitude never so hainous for quality and magnitude Isa. 55. 7. Ezek. 18. 33. 17. Yea sins upon Repentance are so reâ—…itred as if they had never been committed I have put away thy transgressions as a cloud and thy sins as a mist Isa. 44. 22. and what by corruption hath been done by repentance is undone as the former examples and many other witness Come and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow Isa. 1. 18. yea whiter for the Prophet David laying open his blood-guiltiness and his originall impurity useth these words Purge me with Hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow Psal. 51. 7. And in reason did hee come to call sinners to repentance and shall he not shew mercy to the penitent Or who would nor cast his burthen upon him that doth desire to give ease As I live saith the Lord I would not the death of a sinner Ezek. 18. 32. and 33. 11. Section 5. Ojection Yea but I cannot Repent Answer In time of temtation a man is not a competent Judge in his own case In humane Laws there is a nullity held of words and actions extoâ—…ted and wrung from men by fear because in such cases a man is held not to bee a free-man 〈◊〉 to have power or command in some sort of himself A troubled soul 〈◊〉 like troubled waters wee can discern nothing clearly in it wherefore if thou canst lay aside prejudice and tell mee in cold blood how it fares with thee at other times though indeed thy words at present are enough to convince thee For first thou findest sin a burthen too heavy for thee to bear which thou didst not formerly what 's the reason are thy sins more and greater No but the contrary for though they appear more yet they are less for sin thé more it is seen and felt the more it is hated and thereupon is the less Motes are in a room before the Sun shines but they appear onely then Again secondly the very complaint of sin springing from a displeasure against it shews that there is somthing in thee opposite to sin viz. that thou art penitent in affection though not yet in action even as a child is rationall in power though not in act Yea more thou accusest and condemnest thy selfe for thy sins and by accusing our selvs wee prevent Satan by judging our selvs wee prevent God Neither was the Centurion ever so worthy as when hee thought himself most unworthy for all our worthiness is in a capable misery nor does God ever thinke well of him that thinkes so of himself But to let this passe Are not your failings your grief are they not besides your will are they not contrary to the current of your desires and the main bent of your resolutions and indeavours Dost thou determine to continue in the practice of any one sin Yea dost thou not make conscience of all Gods Commandements one aswell as another the first table aswell as the second and the second aswell as the first Matt. 5. 19. Dost thou
Jesus resting on him alone for their salvation as appears Isa. 55. 1. Ezek. 33. 11. Mark 16. 16. Joh. 3. 14 15 16. 36. and 6. 37. 40. Act. 10. 43. 1 Joh. 2. 1. Neither is there any limitation or exception of this or that sin for bee they never so grievous and manifold yet if wee perform the condition of faith and repentance they cannot debar us from receiving the benefit of God's mercy and Christ's merits as appears Isa. 1. 18. Titus 2. 14. 1 Joh. 1. 7. 9. And therefore unless thou conceivest of God that hee is unjust in his dealing untrue in his Word a covenant-breaker yea a perjured person which were most horrible blasphemy once to imagine thou must undoubtedly assure thy self that hee will pardon and forgive thee all thy sins bee they in number never so many and innumerable or in nature and quality never so hainous and damnable if thou turnest unto him by unfained repentance and laiest hold upon Christ by a true and lively faith For consider doth the Lord say hee will extend his mercie unto all that come unto him doth hee invite every one doth hee say I would have all men saved and none to perish and dost thou say nay but hee will not extend his mercy unto mee hee will have mee to perish because I am a grievous sinner What is this but in effect and at a distance to contradict the Lord and give the lye to truth it self Indeed God says not Beleeve thou John or Thomas and thou shalt bee saved but hee says Whosoever beleeveth and is baptized shall bee saved which is as good And yet thou exceptest thy self hee excludes none and dost thou exclude one and that one thy self Hee would have all men saved and thou comest in with thy exceptive All but mee Why thee a precious singularity but beware of it For whereas others that beleeve not the threatnings flatter away their souls in a presumptuous confidence thou by not beleeving the promises wilt cast away thine in a sullen prodigious desperateness if thou take not heed For infidelity on both sides is the cause of all of presumption in them of despair in thee of impiety in every one But bee better advised beleeve the Lord who never brake his Word with any soul. Thou wilt give credit to an honest man's bare word and hast thou no affiance in the mercifull promises of God past to thee by Word Oath Seals Scriptures Sacraments the death of his own Son and I presume the Spirits testimony if not now yet at other times take heed what thou dost for certainly nothing offends God more then the not taking of his Word Section 7. Objection I know well that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness unto every one that beleeveth Rom. 10. 4. But I want faith Answer This is the objection I expected for the true Christian is as fearfull to entertain a good opinion of himself as the false is unwilling to bee driven from it But is it so or doth Satan onely tell thee so I know it is not so I know that thou beleevest with some mixture of unbelief and that this is but a slander of Satans for as Satan slandereth us to God Iob 1. 9. and God to us Gen. 3. 4. 5. so hee slandereth us to our selvs Iob 16. 9. But least thou shouldest think I slander Satan know that you beleeve even whiles you complain of unbelief for as there could bee no shadow if there were no light so there cannot bee this fear where there is no faith They that know not Christ think it no such great matter to loose him But if God once say this is my Son Satan will say if thou bee the Son of God Matth. 3. 17. and 4. 3. That Divine testimony did not allay his malice but exasperate it Neither can the happy building of Lord I beleeve stand without that columne to under-prop it Help thou mine unbelief And he that doubts not of his estate his estate is much to be doubted of doubting and resolution are not meet touch-stones of our success a presumptuous confidence commonly goes bleeding home when an humble fear returns in triumph As it fared between the Philistims and Israel 1 Sam. 17. 10. 11. The Philistims and Goliah were exceeding confident of the victory but Saul and all Israel much discouraged and greatly afraid yet Israel got the victory and the Philistims with their great Goliah were overcome ver 51. 52. They that are proudly secure of their going to heaven do not so frequently come thither as they that are afraid of their going to hell As it is in this world for temporall things so for the World to come in spirituall things Cantant pauperes lugent divites poor men sing and rich men cry Who is so melancholly as the rich worldling and who sings so merry a note as hee that cannot change a groat so they that have store of grace mourn for want of it and they that indeed want it chant their abundance But the hopes of the wicked fail them when they are at highest whereas Gods Children had those comforts in extremity which they durst not expect As there is nothing more usuall than for a secure conscience to excuse when it is guilty so nothing more common than for an afflicted conscience to accuse when it is innocent and to lay an heavie burthen upon it self where the Lord giveth a plain discharge but a bleeding wound is better than that which bleeds not Some men go crying to heaven some go laughing and sleeping to hell Some consciences aswell as men lie speechless before departure they spend their days in a dream and go from earth to hell as Ionas from Israel towards Tarshish fast a sleep And the reason is they dream their case is passing good like a man which dreams in his sleep that hee is rich and honorable and it joyes him very much but awaking all is vanish'd like smoak Yea they hope undoubtedly to go to heaven as all that came out of Egypt hoped to go into Canaan and inherit the blessed promises when onely Caleb and Ioshua did enter who provoked not the Lord. And the reason of this reason is whereas indeed they are Wolâ—… the Devill and their own credulity perswades them that they are Lambs The Philosopher tells us that those Creatures which have the greatest hearts as the Stag the Doe the Hare the â—…oney and the Mouse are the most fearfull and therefore it may bee God refusing Lyons and Eagles the King of Beasts and Queen of Birds appointed the gentle Lamb the fearfull Dove for his sacrifices A broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal. â—…1 17. And sure I am Christ calls to his onely wâ—…ary and heavy-laden sinners Matth. 11. 28. not such as feel no want of him Mark 2. 17. and will fill onely such with comfort as hunger and thirst after righteousness not such as are in their conceit righteous
in our Baptism when we took his presse-mony to be his Souldiers and serve him in the field of this world against his and our enemies that we have renounced our vow made â—…o him â—…dd fled from his standard yea fought for Satan and the World seeking to win all we could from Christ by tempting to sin and by persecuting such as were better then ourselves so that all our recompence of thy love unto us hath been to do that which thou hatest and to hate those whom thou lovest Yea we cannot deny but we have persecuted thee with Paul denied thee with Peter betraied thee with Judas and crucified thee with those cruel Jews And as wee have committed one sinne on the neck of another so we have multiplyed and many times repeated them by falling often into the same wickednesse whereby our sinnes are become for number as the sands of the Sea and as the Stars of Heaven Now Lord it being thus with us how can we expect that thou shouldest hear our praiers grant our requests yea how can wee look for other at thine hands then great and grievous yea then double damnation as most justly we have deserved Yet  Yet most most merciful Father being that thou hast given thy Son and thy Son himself for the ransome of so many as shall truly repent and unfainedly believ in him who hath for our sakes fulfilled all righteousness yet suffered on the Crosse and there made full satisfaction for the sins of all thine Elect. And seeing thou hast appointed Praier as one special means for the obtaining of thy grace unto which thou hast annexed this comfortable promise that where two or three be gathered together in thy Name thou wilt be in the midst of them and grant their requests and since our Redeemet hath assured 〈◊〉 that And likewise knowing that mercie pleaseath thee and that the sole perfection of a Christian is the imputation of Christs righteousnesse and the not-imputation of his own unrighteousnesse whatsoever we shall ask thee in his name thou wilt give it us  We are emboldened to sue unto thee our God for grace that we may be able to repent and believe Wherefore for thy promise sake for thy Sons sake and for thy great Names sake we beseech thee send down thy holy Spirit into our souls regenerate our hearts change and purifie our natures subdue our reason rectifie our judgments strengthen our wills renew our affections put a stop to our madding and straying fancies beat down in us whatsoever stands in opposition to the Scepter of Jesus Christ and enable us in some measure both to withstand that which is evil and perform that which is good and pleasing in thy sight Yea give us repentance never to be repented of and possess our souls with such a dreadfull awe of thy Majesty that we may fear as well to commit small sins as great ones considering that the least sin is mortall without our repentance thy mercy as wel fear to sin in secret as openly since there is nothing hid from thee as well condemne our selves for evill thoughts as evill deeds considering that the Law is spirituall binding the heart no lesse then the hands as well abstain from the occasions of fin as sin it self and consider that it is not enough to abstain from evill unlesse wee hate it also and do the contrary good And because every day which does not abate of our reckoning will increase it and that by procrastinating we shall but heap unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath Good Lord suffer us not we beseech thee to defer our repentance lest the custome of evill makes it altogether unalterable in us or lest we dye before we begin to live or lest thou resusest to hear us another day calling upon thee for mercy because we refuse to hear thee now calling to us for repentance And now O Lord since thou hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day we beseech the to defend and dierct us in the same and as thou hast blest us in our lying down and in our rising up so protect prosper us in our going forth in our coming home shield and deliver us from the snares of the Hunter who lieth in waite for our souls and is continually labouring our everlasting destruction And no lesse arm us against the allurements of the world wherein we shall meet with many provocations and temptations and that 〈◊〉 may not lead ourselvs nor be Wherefore if we be not yet converted let this be the happy hour of our conversion that as our bodies are risen by thy power and providence from sleep so our soules may daily bee raised from the sleep of sin and the darknesse of this world that so we may enjoy that everlasting light which thou hast prepared for thine and purchased with the bloud of thy dear Son our Saviour Jesus Christ.  Give unto us we beseech thee a true lively and justifying faith whereby we may lay hold upon those gracious promises which thou hast made unto us in him and wherewith we may vanquish all our spirituall adversaries Seal up unto us the assurance of our salvation by the testimony of thy blessed Spirit Give to led into temtation give us wisdome to beware of men even of associating our selves with the vitious like Joseph lest otherwise with David we be drawn to dissemble or with Peter to deny thee for sin is of a catching and infectious quality and our corrupt hearts are like tinder which will kindle with the least spark especially O Lord keep us from yeelding to their solicitations or following their customs of drink ing swearing slandering and making the worst construction of thinâ—…s of mocking and scoffing at religion or the religious let not custome and example any whit prevail with us without or against thy written Word lest we misse of the narrow way which alone leadeth unto life onely give us wisedome and grace to look upon thy Sons whole life see how he would speak and do before we speak or do anything then having thy word for our warrant and thy glory for our aime let no censures not flowts of anydiscourageus us thy servants that wisdome which descendeth from above that we may be wise unto our eternall salvation so shall our hearts instead of a Commentary help us to understand the Scriptures and our lives be an Exposition of the inward man Give us grace to account all things in this world even as drosse and dung that we may win Christ Jesus and Heaven and happinesse by means of him Give us single hearts and spirits without guile that wee may love goodnesse for it self and more seek the power of godlinesse then the shew of it and love the godly for thy sake and because they are godly Grant that in the whole course of our lives we may doe unto all others as we would that they should doe unto us considering that whether we
he puts him on Whence that distinction of adversities as they come from Satan they are usually called temptations as they come from Men persecutions as from God afflictions Now as God turned the treachery of Judas not onely to the praise of his justice mercy wisdom power c. but to the good of all believers so he turnes this enmity of Satan and wicked men to his childrens great advantage in stopping them in their courses of sin and keeping them in exercise and his own glory And well may he work good by evil instruments when every Prince and Magistrate hath the seà t to make profitable instruments aswell of evil persons as of good yea when there is nothing in the world be it gall it self yea the excrement of a Dog or the poison of a Serpent but mans shallow invention can finde it is good for something neither do two contrary poisons mingled together prove mortal And thus you see that the will of God may be done thanklessely when in fulfilling the substance we fail in the intentions and erre in circumstances Now see with the like patience how it will fare with these men in the end Pomponius Atticus being destin'd to famishment receiving no manner of sustenance for many dayes contrary to the intention was freed by means of that abstinence from a violent pain recovered of a disease which otherwise had cost him his life Prometheus being run in with a Rapier and Jason receiving a great blow on the brest each was restored to health from dangerous and deadly impostumes which otherwise were thought ineurable And this is our case for even as that cured them which their enemies intended should have killed them so this enmity of the Serpent and his Seed câ—…res our souls and makes us everlastingly happie Yet they intending onely evil in it or at least the satisfying of their own wicked wills as they know better then I wherein they imitate the Weesel which doth a man pleasure in destroying of Vermine yet only intends the satisfying of her own hunger not his good that keeps the house can no way assume the least praise to themselves nor expect the more favour That which is ill of it self is not to be ventured on for the good which commeth by accident It is no priviledge to be an instrument of good by evil meanes Nor can you expect to fare better without a healing of your errours then the Worme in the stomack which when it hath devoured all the matter proper for it dies it self or Heleborus which after it hath wrought the cure within the body is cast up again together with the Malady The Lord doth often good to his Church even by those Instruments whom for their sins he means to cast into Hell-fire Ashur was his Rod to scourge Israel that done they fell under a sharper lash themselves Those Nations saith God shall serve the King of Babel seventy years and when the seventy years are accomplished I will visit the King of Babel and that Nation for their iniquities and will make it a perpetual desolation c. Jer. 25. 11 12. and 30 16. even the greater sinners may punish the lesse and prosper for a time Ezekiel 7. I will bring the most wicked of the Heathen and they shall possesse their Houses vers 24. When iniquity hath plaid her part vengeance leaps upon the Stage the Comedy is short but the Tragedy is longer We use rubbish to scoure our vessels when those vessels are cleared we fling away the rubbish Bridges that help men over the stream at last themselves rot and sink in When Balaams Asse had done speaking humana voce she lived an Asse and died an Asse So when God hath sufficiently afflicted the righteous by the rod of the wicked he will fling the Rod into the fire which is unquenchable Isa. 33. 1. And it stands with the strength of reason for if God saith Saint Gregory strike so smartly those whom he spareth how heavie will his blows be on them whom he condemneth and with what severity shall Castawayes be punished when his own children are so visited and afflicted If Gods own Children who are as dear and near to him as the Apple of his eye or the signet on his right hand suffer so many and grievous afflictions here what shall his adversaries suffer in Hell undoâ—…btedly when the Patient is made whole he shall be preserved but the Plaister shall be thrown away For as God doth turn evil to good to them that love him so he turnes good to evil to those that hate him Again secondly if the wicked are punished for doing wrong to the wicked much more for wronging the just and innocent But wee have many examples of the former as that of Adonibezeck who having cut off the Thumbs and great Toes of Seventy Kings that were wicked like himself had also his his own Thumbs and Toes cut off Judg. 1. 〈◊〉 7. And Moab of whom the Lord saith hee hath burnt the bones of the King of Edoâ—… into lime therefore will I send a fire upon Moabâ—… and it shall devour c. Amos 2. 1 2. If the greater Serpent devours the less there is a Dragon to devour him therefore the enemies of Gods Church have no hope to escape The everlasting punishments of the ungodly are deferred not remitted But all the evill thou doest to the godly is with thy tongue Answ. That 's bad enough the Serpents hissing betrays his malice and Ishmael's tongue made him a Persecuter as well as Doeg's hands hee did but flout Isaac yet Saint Paul saith hee persecuted him Gal. 4. 29. C ham onely scoft at Noah yet it brought upon him his Fathers curse and Gods upon that The Athenians but scoft once at Silla's wife and it had well nigh coâ—…t the razing of their City he was so provoked with the indignity And whatever thou conceivest of it let this fault bee as far from my soul as my soul from Hell For assuredly God will one day laugh you to scorn for laughing his to scorn and at last despise you that have despised him in us CHAP. 35. Other grounds of comfort to support a Christian in his sufferings And first that God is specially present with his servants in their afflictions takes notice of their sufferings and allayes their grief THis rub being removed and the passage made clear proceed wee to other grounds of comfort which the Word of God affords in this case for the better upholding and strenghtening of a weak Christian in his sufferings Wherein that wee may not exceed I will select out onely five because instructions if they exceed are wont like nails to drive out one another First wee shall bear the Cross with the more patience and comfort if wee consider that God is specially present with his servants in their afflictions takes notice of their sufferings and allays their grief The troubles of a Christian are very great for number variety and bitterness yet
not grieve for sins of all sorts secret aswell as known originall aswell as actuall of emission aswell as commission lesser viz thoughts aswell as greater yeâ—… aswell for the evill which cleavs to thy best works as for the evill works Rom. 7. 21. and as heartily and unfaignedly desire that thou maist never commit it as that God should never impute it 2 Tim. 〈◊〉 19. Dost thou not fear to displease him not so much because hee is just to punish as for his mercy and goodness sake and more fear the breach of the Law than the curse Dost thou not love rather to bee than seem or bee thought good and seek more the power of godliness than the shew of it Ioh 1. 1. If so well may Satan and thine own conscience accuse thee of impenitency and unbelief but Christ thy Iudge never Yea then notwithstanding your failings you may say with David I have kept thy Word Psal. 18. 21. 22. 23. for though this bee not such a measure of keeping as the Law requireth yet it is such a keeping as God in Christ accepteth for suppose thy knowledge is still small thy saith weak thy charity cold thy heart dull and hard thy good works few and imperfect and all thy zealous resolutions easily hindred and quite overthrown with every small temtation yet God that worketh in us both the wil and the work wil accept the wil for the work and that which is wanting in us Christ will supply with his own righteousness Hee respecteth not what wee can do so much as what wee would do and that which wee would performe and cannot hee esteemeth it as though it were performed whereas take away the will and all acts in God's sight are equall As the wicked sin more than they sin in their desire so the righteous do more good than they do in their will to do it If there bee a paratum cor though there bee not a perforatum cor a profer of blood though no expence of blood for the honour of Christ it is taken for Martyrdom as Origen testified of one Non ille Martyrio sed Martyrium illi defuit I know thy poverty but thou art rich saith the Spirit to the Church of Smyrna poor in thy condition rich in thy affection to goodness Facultas secundum voluntatem non voluntas secundum facultatem estimanda est God esteems our charitable beneficence not onely secundum quod habemus but secundùm quod tribuere velimus Wee are charged to forsake all houses lands friends liberties lives for Christ yet many dy with houses lands and riches in their possession whom Christ receives and Crowns in Heaven because they did part with all secundùm animae preparationem What wee would have done shall bee reckoned to us as done wee do it quoad conatum though non quoad effectum In like manner God taketh a heart desirous to repent and believe for a penitent and beleeving heart volens dolens The vehement desire of godly sorrow or a sorrow because we cannot sorrow goes for godly sorrow with God so that to sigh and grieve for what wee cannot do is to come short and yet to do it too for God likes the will so wel that in his Son what we would do is in acceptance done 2 Cor. 8. 12. which textone brings in thus O! what an unspeakable comfort was this cordiall verse to my afflicted soul And well it might for if wee hate our corruptions and strive against them they shall not bee counted oâ—… It is not I saith Paul but sin that dwelleth in mee Rom. 7. 20 for what displeaseth us shall never hurt us and wee shall bee esteemed of God to bee what wee love and desire and labour to bee The comfort of this doctrine is intended and belongs to troubled consciences and those that would fain do better but let no presumptuous sinners meddle with it for what hast thou to do to take I say not the childrens bread to eat Matth. 15. 26. but even the least parcell of Gods Word into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to bee reformed Psal. 50. 16. 17. But if thou beest a weary and heavy laden sinner thou maist comfort thy self thus I do hatefull things but I hate that I do I break the Law but yet I love the Law as holy just and good Flesh is in mee but I am not in the Flesh I must not fix mine eyes onely upon mine own resistance or failings but on God's assistance and acceptance in his Son by which I shall bee able to leap over all walls and impediments Psal. 18. 29. The Law is given that Grace may bee required Grace is given that the Law may bee sulfilled by us evangelically for us by Christ whose righteousnesse is ours perfectly as Saint Augustin speakes The Law is a glass to shew us our spots the Gospell a fountain to wash them away Wherefore cast not both thine eyes upon thy sin but reserve one to behold the remedy look upon the Law to keep thee from presumption and upon the Gospel to keep thee from despair Canst thou not aggravate thine own sins but thou must 〈◊〉 and call in question Gods mercy and Christs all-sufficiency spoil him of his power and glory Though the grievousness of our sins should increase our repentance yet they should not diminish our faith and assurance of pardon and forgiveness As the plaister must not be less than the sore so the tent must not bee bigger than the wound It was a sweet and even coâ—…rs which Saint Paul took who when hee would comfort himself against corruption and evill actions Rom. 〈◊〉 20. then not I but sin dwelling in mee when he would humble himself notwithstanding his graces then not I but the grace of God in mee 1 Cor. 15. 10. Section 6. Objection But I am not worthy the least mercy I have so ofâ—…en abused it and so little profited by the meanes of grace Answer I think so too for if thou refusest the offer of mercy until thou deservest it wo bee to thee But if thou wilt take the right course renounce the broken reed of thine own free will which hath so often deceived thee and put all thy trust in the grace of Christ The way to bee strong in the Lord is to bee weak in thy sels bee weak in thy self and strong in the Lord and through faith thou shalt bee more than a Conquerour Leav tugging and strugling with thy sin and fall with Jacob to wrestle wâ—…th Christ for a blessing and though thy self go limping away yet shalt thou bee a Prince with God and bee delivered from Esau's bondage But thou standâ—…st upon thine own feet and therefore fallest so foully thou wilt like a child go alone and of thy self and therefore gettest so many knocks And thou wouldest accept of a pardon too if thou mightest pay for it but Gods mercies are free and hee bids thee come and buy without silver and without price or else he says
other rebellions when we rightly consider them makes us even speechless like him in the Gospell as neither expecting mercy nor daring to ask it  Howbeit when wee call to mind thy manisold mercies shewed to Manasses Paul Mary Magdalen the Thief and the Prodigall Son with many others who were no less vile then wee and who notwithstanding found thee more ready to hear then they were to ask and to give above what they durst presume to beg wee stay our selves and receive some incouragement from the application of the merits of Christ Jesus which thou hast promised shall bee a sufficient satisfaction for all our sins and the rather for that then caâ—…est all that are weary and heavie laden with the burthen of their sins unto thee with promise that thou wilt ease them and hast promised that though our sins be as red as scarlet thou wilt make them white as snow and that thou wilt not the death of a sinner but that he turn from his wickedness and live and that if a sinner doth repent him of his sins from the bottom of his heart thou wilt blot out all his wickedness out of thy remembrance And lest wee should yet be discouraged thou who didst no less accept the will of David then the act of Solomon hast further promised that if there be but first a willing mind thou wilt accept of us according to that which we have and not according to that which wee bave not But forasmuch O Lord as thou knowest that is not in man to turn his own heart unless thou dost first give him grace to convert for thou O Lord must work in us both the will and the deed and being that it is as easie with thee to make us righteous and holy as to bid us bee such O our God give us ability and willingness to do what thou commandest and then command what thoâ—… wilt and thou shalt find us ready to do thy blessed will Wherefore give to us and increase in us all Christian graces that wee may know and believe and repent and amend and persevere in well doing Create in us O Lord a new heart and renew a right spirit within us take away from us our greedy desire of committing sin and enable us by the powerfull assistance of thy grace more willingly to obey thee in every of thy commandements then ever wee have the contrary Be favourable to thy people every where look down in much compassion upon thy Militant Church and every severall member thereof blesse it in all places with peace and truth hedge it about with thy providence defend it from the mischievous designs and attempts of â—…hine and her malitious enemie let thy Gospell go on and conquer maugre all opposition that Religion and uprightness of heart may bee highly set by with all and all prophaneness may be trod under foot More particularly be mercifull to this sinfull Land the civill Magistrates the painful Ministers the two Universities those people that sit yet in darkness all the afflicted members of thy Son Lord comfort the comfortless strengthen the weak bind up the broken hearted make the bed of the sick be a father to the fatherless and Yea let thy Spirit bear such rule in every one of our hearts that neither Satan that forrain enemy and roaring Lyon which seeketh to devour us may invade us nor our own concupiscence that home-bred traytor may by conspiring with the world work the ruine and overthrow of our poor souls but that all our wills which have been altogether rebellious our hearts which have been the receptacles of unclean spirits our affections which are altogether carnall may be wholyframed according to thy holy heavenly will and that we may the better know how to avoyd the evill and do the good let thy word as a light discover unto us all the sleights and snares of our spirituall adversaries yea make it unto us as the Star which led unto Christ and thy benefits like the Pillar which brought to the Land of Promise and an husband to the widdow cloath the naked feed the hungry visit the prisoners relieve the oppressed sanctifie unto them all their afflictions and turn all things to the best to them that fear thee thy Cross like the Messenger that compelled guests unto the Banquet Prosper the Armies that fight thy battells and shew a difference between thy servants and thine enemies as thou did'st between the Israelites and the Egyptians that the one may bee confirmed and the other reclaimed Give us O Lord to consider that although sin in the beginning seem never so sweet unto us yet in the end it will prove the bane and ruine both of body and soul and so assist us with thy grace that wee may willingly part with our right eyes of pleasure and our right hands of profit rather then sin against thee and wrong our own consciences considering that it would bee an hard bargain for us to win the whole world and lose our own souls These Blesse preserve and keep us from all the temptations of Satan the world and our wicked hearts from pride that Lucifer-like sin which is the fore-runner of destruction considering that thou resistest the proud and givest grace to the humble from covetousnesse which is the root of all evil being taught out of thy word that the love of money hath caused many to fall into diverse temptations and snares which drown them in perdition and destruction from cruelty that infernal evil of which thou hast said that there shall be judgment mercilesse to him that sheweth not mercie from hypocrisie that sin with two faces whose reward is double damnation and the rather because wickednesse doth most rankle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled and for that in all the Scriptures we read not of an hypocrites repentance from whoredom which is a sin against a man's own body and the most inexcusable considering the remedy which thou hast appointed against it for the punishment whereof the Law ordained death and the Gospel excludeth from the Kingdom of Heaven from prophanation of thyday considering thou hast said that whosoever  sanctifieth it not shall bee cut off from thy people and did'st command that he should be stoned to death who only gathered a sew sticks on that day from swearing which is the language of hell considering that because of oaths the Land doth mourn and thou hast threatned that thy curse shall never depart from the house of the swearer from drunkenness that monster with many heads and worse than beast like sin which in thy Word hath many fearfull woes denounced against it and the rather for that it is a sin like the pit of Hell out of which there is small hope of redemption  Finally O Lord give us strength to resist temptation patience to endure affliction and constancie to persevere unto the end in thy truth that so having passed our pilgrimage here according to thy will we