lest God be dishonoured by their conuersatiō so are they ielouse of their pretious faith lest it be not in such measure as they defire or in truth be none at all wherein they may easily be deceaued first in the discerning then in the measure and portion Touching the discerning thus may they be ouertaken when the inward feeling thereof doth not aunswere their desire and the actions proceeding therfrom do not satisfie their thirst of righteousnesse whereby reliefe may rise to the nourishment of faith the satisfying of that holy appetite they are discouraged and entangled with spirituall cares from which a more aduised consideration agreable to Gods worde might easily deliuer them Touching the portion their fault lyeth in this that they measure the excellencie thereof and the power partly by measure and quantitie and not by vertue wherewith through Gods mercifull grace it is indued to the saluation of all those that haue it but in measure of a graine of mustard seede which both errours are to be corrected by pondering of the case not by that we iudge but by that God him selfe hath geuen rule of both touching the sense of faith the sinceritie of the fruites and increase of measure all being his giftes and graces dispenced vnto vs according to his mercie and wisedome as is most for his glorie and expedient for vs. For if we duly weigh from whence we are fallen and howe deepe into this degenerate nature wherein we are captiues of Sathan and slaues of all iniquitie we shall receaue comfort of the least sparke of faith and may praise God and receaue comfort in the smallest worke of obedience perfourmed in sinceritie though not in perfection and if we finde the increases slowe and the victorie harde in this our warfare let vs consider with whome we fight and for what crowne and howe both heauen and earth was moued at our redemptiion and the same power concurred thereto as in our first creation And as the great and mightie oakes are slower in attaining their full grouth then shrubs and weedes whose enduring is for many ages when the other in short time wither and fadde away so esteeme your encrease of heauenly graces slow but sure euerlasting as immortalitye that you may be as a beame or a piller in the tēple of God for euer and euer Neither are we to accompt the nature of any thing according to our sense or to the shew it maketh For then should the most fruitefull tree in winter be takē for barren and the lustie soile dry and vnfruitefull while it is shut vp with the hard frost but rea son as in other deliberatiōs so in this must lead vs being guided by the word of God rightly to iudge of the presence life of faith in our souls which being the shield in this our spirituall warfaire endureth much battering many bruntes and receiueth the forefront of the encounter oft times faireth as if it were pearced through and worne vnfit for battaile yet is it in deede of nature inuincible and repelleth whatsoeuer ingine the enimy inforceth against vs and stādeth firme rooted whatsoeuer storme Sathan raiseth for the displacing thereof How then are we to behaue our selues in this temptation whē both the sence of faith is dulled in vs and the fruites minister discontentment you remember the saying of the Apostle the graces and mercy of God is without repentance and Christ Iesus whome he loueth to the end he loueth them if then you haue in times past felt that gift of the spirit which you haue done haue ioyed therin be assured it is a marke neuer to be defaced of your election firme stāding in Gods fauour For what moued the Lord to bestow the grace but his owne mercy that he bestoweth who cā take away if he himself take it frō vs for some deserte of ours did not he foresee the same lōg before so why did he not withold his mercy but as he knew vs when we were straungers from him and loued vs when we hated him and had nothing which might prouoke his mercy but our misery so is his goodnes continued vpon vs still for his owne sake and not at all for our deseruing that all being subiect to his condemnation he might be glorified in the saluation of some for that righteousnes sake which is in his sonne and that oblation of his offered vp not for himselfe but for others from whose righteousnes so much is detracted as we attribute vnto our selues or seeke to attaine vnto in respect of satisfying Gods iustice and so much impaired of Gods mercy as we shall rest vpon any vertue or power in our selues whereby to auoid his vēgeance of iustice Our election as it first riseth from God and is established in his immutable counsell and decree and lyeth in no power else befide so the hazard thereof is not committed to the aduenture of our frailty but the continuance and stablenes in the same decree hath the foūdation For alas the wofull experience of Adams frailty in his best estate giueth sufficient testimony and more then sufficient what hope there is of continuance of grace if the assurāce of our saluation should depend vpon our keepe who without support of God are like the wynde inconstant and as fraile as the tender hearbs and want all habil tie of withstāding the affaults of our enimie and constant perseuerance in any religious vertue and worke of pietie Then if the foundation of our election lie in the counsell of God and be founded vpon his decree who hath reuealed the one but the Spirit of the Lord and what is able to vndermine the other where the Lord himselfe hath layed the corner stone This assurance in time past the Spirite of God hath confirmed vnto you you haue felt it with plēty of heauenly ioy and comfort and if in the cōflict of temptation you esteeme the strength according to that remaineth after the battaile or that which you feele being somewhat tyred in the conflict you may here giue vauntage to the ennemy through discouragement and loose the field as much as lieth in you wher there is hope of assured victory For be it that you feele the hability weake and the ennemy strong and your owne corruption vpon the point to preuaile yet consider there is a roote of this vertue whose fruite and braunches although these stormy tēpestes may nippe and shake yet the sappe shall neuer be dried vp in the roote neither can anie euill winde of Sathan so blast that the immortall seed be at any time quit withered yea though all his fiery dartes be thereto with all might and maine employed but that the storme being blone ouer by the spirite of grace and the comfortable sunne of consolation shining vpon our gloumie heartes it will budde forth againe into blossome fruit and braunch as a most beautifull tree in the paradice of God Let the comparison of bodely sicknes and the consideration
of that kinde of frailty giue comforte vnto you in your case although in an other kinde yet in this respect not vnlike We haue experiēce how diuerse times the desease preuaileth ouer the sicke persons that actions faile and faculties seeme quite to be spent neither hand nor foote is able to do their duetie the eye is dimme the hearing dull the tast altered and the tounge distasteth all things eue of most pleasant relish and the weak and feeble pacient seemeth to attend the time of dissolution when yet notwithstanding there remaineth a secret power of nature and a forcible spark of life that ouercōmeth all these infirmities and consumeth them like drosse rendereth to the body a greater purity firmenes of health then before the sicknes it did enioy Euen so esteeme of the spirituall case and consider that your soule is sicke and not dead and faith is assailed but not ouercome only haue patience to attend the finishing of this secret worke which passeth all conceite and capacity of man and you shall see these burning feauers of temptations to be slaked and cooled by the mercy and grace of Christ and that sparke of faith which lieth now hidde and ouerwhelmed with heapes of temptation and seemeth to be vtterly quenched to breake forth againe and to consume these straunge causes of the desease of the soule and as nature after a perfect crise dischargeth her self either by stoole vomite sweat or bleeding or such like euacuations to the recouerie of former health so shall you feele all these doubtes and feares and terrors remoued and strength of faith restored with such supply as it shall be able to make euident proofe what secrete vertue laye hid and yet not idle in all this vncomfortable plight which offereth you temptation of dispaire Seing then that you are yet but vnder the conflict and not ouercome haue good cheare in the succession which as in Christ it is victorious ouer head so are we his parts members to looke for the same crowne of glory who both ouercome in him through him in our selues shall in the ende be possessed of the victory and receiuethe crowne of immortality As for that which your owne conceit corrupted by melancholy perswadeth you wherin Sathan is busie and omitteth no oportunity giue no credite thereunto but as it is so esteeme it a delusion which time will discouer and lay open as you your selfe shall hereafter most planly discerne I graunt you the temptation it selfe though your body were free from this infirmity is of the greatest kinde such as doth not skirmish only lightly vpon our soules but setteth the maine battaile against our most happy estate in so much as it forced our Sauiour to cry my God my God why hast thou forsaken me But what then are we therefore to be discouraged no no here appeareth rather the aboundance of Gods grace and the mightie supporte of his power which euen in the middest of hel preserueth his and suffereth not so much as their garments to take any smell of the flame but euen from thēce is able to raise them to his celestiall kingdome place them which his sonne in the throne of glory And if you dewly consider the price of our redemption how prerious it was how it could not be obtayned without shedding of the most pretious heartblood of the sonne of God you must thinke the quarrell to be no other to the ende but a matter of blood of strife of sweate of feare of ielousie and whatsoeuer affection goeth with affecting a glorious triumph in all the mēbers of Christ both inwardly and outwardly in the spirite and in the body as our head himselfe could finde in dispensation though he sued vnto his father therefrom with aboundance of tears and thinke that it is Gods busines we are in hād with and that we are inabled of him and accōpt not these smal venies of Satā for deadly woūdes which are no thing other but practises and exercises of the spirituall courage and circumspection and introductions to that vse of the whole armour of God where against no force of the enemy shall preuaile though the attempt seeme to be full of perill terror But you say you feele small strength of faith no support of that hope which maketh not ashamed Beware least you iudge vniustly of the wayes of God esteeme that for small which is great and vile which in the sight of God is most pretious For herein the ennemy may take encouragement to your great disaduantage You feele not that taste thereof you sometimes felt and do you iudge therefore you are bereued vtterly thereof what consider the soule is now sick distestaeth much wholesome meate of consolation and loatheth many pleasaunt and fragraunt cuppes of comfort and counsell and yet the indeuours of Gods childre in this behalfe and the sweete waters of heauēly comfort are not therefore of themselues bitter or vnsauory so you are not to measure the absence of this grace by that you presently but by that in times past while the soule stoode free from this disease of tēptation trial you haue felt of comfort in the spirite through an acceptable measure of faith according to the dispensation of Gods grace and not according to our fancy but as he shal think meete to be ministred vnto vs. Neither is the tryall of faith only to be taken according as the soule feeleth it in it selfe but also and sometimes as in such temptations as these wherein you now trauaile onely by the course and trade of life which hath passed before and those fruites which are euident to the eye of others who can iudge more sincerely then the afflicted whose vnderstandinges are somewhat altered through Sathans terrors But againe you say the course of life past and your estate present hath nothing aunswered the holines of your vocation and that sinceritie the Lord requireth so that here also the comforte faileth you What then are you therefore reprobate No but it argueth want of faith not so but place for farther increase of faith and the fruits thereof Those whome the Lord hath chosen to be his worshipers and hath redeemed and consecrated holy to himselfe and prepared good workes for them to walke in they be his plantes and ingraffed oliue braūches in his sonne which take not their full perfection at once but accorglorie And if you duly consider the price of our redemption how pretious it was how it could not be obtained without shedding of the most pretious hart bloud of the Sonne of God you must thinke the quarrell to be no other to the ende but a matter of bloud of strife of sweate of feare of ielousie and whatsoeuer affection goeth with affecting a glorious triumph in all the members of Christ both inwardly and outwardly in the spirit and in the bodie as our head himselfe could finde no dispensation though he sued vnto his Father therfore with aboundance
of teares and thinke that it is Gods businesse we are in hand with that we are inabled of him mooued and carried by his spirite increase with his increases not to be measured with the eye of flesh or carnall vnderstanding but by the same spirite which worketh in vs who as he hath begunne will also make perfect his worke to his owne glory which lieth in taking pity and compassion more aboundantly then in shewing vēgeance By this which hitherto hath bene said it appeareth plainly that no sinne hath yet passed you which can seclude you from hope of saluation and therefore necessarily it followeth that the crosse you are now vnder is an attempt of Satan against you to cast you into vtter dispaire and if it were possible to vndoe that knot more surely knit then that of Gordius which coupleth vs vnto our God and wherewith we are espoused vnto Iesus Christ euen our most glorious faith which ouercommeth the world where against not Satā nor all his force or stratageme is able to preuaile I say it is only a temptation of the ennemy purposed of him to your confusion but from your louing God and mercifull father a triall of faith and patience and the proofe of those vertues which before laye hid in secrete which he will haue now shew themselues in the combat he himselfe a beholder an incourager a succour at neede and prest with the crowne of triumph to giue rewarde and honour to the victory Wherefore only haue patience be not discouraged stand sure and the feeblenes of Sathan shall soone appeare and his weapons shall be al broaken in peeces and God through faith and patience and comfort of the Scriptures by his spirite shall be glorified in the weakenes of his poore afflicted seruant and you shall againe as Dauid was be restored to those wōted ioyes which you haue sometimes felt in the sweete mercies of the Lord. Now the ground of all tēptation is our owne weakenes this is tried and proued by Sathan or the world or both ioyned together as considerations of our destruction Besides this continual buddes of iniquity which do rise from our originall corruption Sathan sometimes playeth his part vpon our weakenes alone and sometimes by outward temptations and sometimes layeth siege round about vs and besetteth all the parts of our complete armour We are weake in vnderstanding and in what so euer action riseth therefrom euen in will affection Our vnderstanding is turned into blindnes of error Our will embraceth not only those thinges which corrupt iudgement directeth vnto but euen wher sometime vnderstanding stādeth sound ther will bēdeth to affection neglecteth the light of reason Our affections are both rebellious to right iudgement and will in that they rage where they should not and wher iust cause is giuen there they inordinately exceed Thus iudgement wil and affection hauing degenerated vse the bodely members as weapons and instrumentes of all impietye and in iustice so that if the grace of God did not for preseruation of humaine society and especially for his Churches cause restraine this strēgth of iniquity the pillers of the world would shatter in sunder and the vault of heauen would fall all things woulde turne againe to their former Chaos be consumed with the terrible fire of Gods vengeaunce and perishe in his heauy displeasure Our misery being such no maruaile though both Sathan and the world preuaile against vs except the Lord stretch foorth his hand and vphold vs. This our infirmity Sathan doth sometimes assaye without meanes and sometimes by outward occasions of euill forcible perswasion of sinne and rebelliō against God How he doth it without means the experience is more lamentable and infallible then the manner how easie to finde out In corporall possession it seemeth there needeth no meanes when Sathan possesseth all partes of the howse and as maister commaundeth at his pleasure But how without such accesse he is able to tēpt that is a matter of more difficult consideration which because it maketh not a litle to the better laying open of your estate I will somewhat stande vpon referring you for the rest to the resolutions of the diuines who haue chiefe part in this busines For my owne part I do take it am assured you find the experience that Sathā after a personall manner vnto the soule though not in bodely shape to the eye without meanes of outward thinges which might moue our wils or affections tempteth vs in the very secrete thoughts of our heartes For being a spirite and by creation most excellent it is not to be doubted but that he hath a spirituall accesse vnto our spirites to trouble them and to disorder all their actions as we see corporall creatures with bodely and corporall force to annoy one an other And as men haue fellowship one with other by corporall presence and are delighted or displeased with the quallities of the minde according as they like or dislike vttered by speach talke so is it most like that the spirites haue their society maintained by a spirituall conference whereby their wills and purposes are entercommunicated one to an other without corporall sound whereof both the spirites want the instrument and the voice nothing affecteth the mind Dayly experience maketh this manifest in such as are possessed how Sathan so beareth the sway in them that their speach and phrase altereth and their discourse is farre other then before their whole nature at Sathans becke and their vtterance of minde as he only suggesteth In others whome Sathan hath not layed such hold on the same no lesse is to be seene as when the false prophetes did deceiue Ahab there came forth a spirit which was sent to be a false lying spirite in the mouth of all his prophets which accordingly did make promis vnto him of victory who notwithstāding found a contrary euent of ouerthrow destructiō So entred Satan into Iudas the traitor moued him to betray our Sauiour not by a corporall possession but by a spirituall impulsion whereby he worketh in the children of disobedience and Peter in the fift of the Actes sayeth to Ananias why hath Sathan filled thine heart c and againe in the second to the Ephesians the Apostle calleth the Deuill the prince that ruleth in the ayre the spirite that nowe worketh in the children of disobedience by which it is plaine that the deuill hath power where God permitteth him ouer the minds and iudgements and wills of the reprobate and wicked and may also in such sort tempt the faithful seruants of God For the Apostle saith in the same place that the Ephesians to whome he wrote in times past walked according to the course of this world after the conduct of that spirite Neither do we stande thus subiect vnto Sathans annoyance through the subtlenesse of his nature being a spirit but through that lōg experience and practise of our miserie from age to age whereby he
expression or take a dramme of Mithridate fiue graines of Opium three of saffron with a spoonefull of malmesey and a graine or two of Camphire put all into a limon pill emptied of the iuice and smell to it often about your ordinary hower of sleep which meanes if they bring not the desired effect swallow twenty graines of the piles of Cynoglosse or take halfe a dramme of Philomum going to bed for other some other wholesome opiats medicine well corrected If your body be much troubled with winde as it is for the most part a companion of this kinde of melancholy yee must vse a fomentation to your stomach bellie and partes about the short ribbes with oyle and malmesey wherein rue fennell cūmine and anise seedes and hearbs haue bene boyled and inwardly you are to take fasting Deatrion piptrion diaciminū or diagalanga the quantitie of a nutmegge at a time and now and then cerecloath of gummes with oyle of mints and rue worne vpon those partes shall be of great force to wast the winde to warme them and to giue them strength Thus my friende M. haue you my whole counsell what I iudge meete for you in this case my philosophicall discourses to passe your time with who hath alwayes delighted in philosophie my consolation in respect of that Christian duety which I owe you wherein if I haue so busied my selfe that my care that waye hath exceeded my power hability so esteeme it and so measure that discharge My phisicke cure of diet of preparation of your body of euacuation of strengthening of correcting and cutting of certaine troublesome accidēts that fall to this humour it is not so copious and absolute as peraduenture may fitte your estate leaue no question of doubt but if I mistake not the case very much for substance and grounde of the cure you shall nor neede to make farther inquirie Although I remember your trauaile in philosophie and studie of phisick to which both you haue had a naturall disposition and take pleasure in reading our writinges of precept rule take aduise of some learned and vertuous phisician about you and aduenture not vpon any part of euacuation without his direction Otherwise you haue this as a touchstone to proue the skill of such lewde people as at this day are impudently bold with the hurte of others to deceiue boasting lying and couering the pouertie of their vnderstanding with gorgeous wordes and rich pompe of phrase otherwise being as empty of knowledge as they be quite void of all vertue and honesty I say let it be a rule to square and try them by and if such knowledge whereof here you may haue the tast be necessary in an infirmity of no perill of life though it make it tedious and irkesome what aduisement and care is to be had whome to call for what phisician to make choice of in deseases full of daunger sharp and swift and whose cure if art be not in all pointes perfourmed is not without leauing such scar that no rebating no detersiue medicine is able to pare wipe away the blemish not an eye sore but a maime and fixed imbecillitie in stomach in braine in hart or liuer nor that by natures error or by an ordinarie breach of diet which are more gentle but through an outward violence and force against which nature hath no skill to helpe it selfe nor power to resist As I giue you this warning to beware so whosoeuer shall reape any fruit of my labour taken in hand for your sake let them also take this admonition from me rather then to attend with their own hurt expence the instruction discipline which experience bringeth Thus my good M. with this caueat I commend the blessing successe of my labour to the Almighty who restore you if it be his will sound in bodie cheerfull in mind and assured in faith of his sweete mercie and fauour FINIS Faults escaped in the printing wherein the first number signifieth the page the 2. the line For materiall naturall 4.2 for any an 6.30 for was were 8.10 for assimulate assimilate 10.11 for in of 12.33 for enioyeth enioy 17.19 for and an 20 27. for fitteth fitteth therewith 21.8 for our other 21.27 for then the. 21.29 for to of 20.11 for act art 20.13 by an accidentall put out by 24.23 for recouery may 26.1 or and from their or from 27.18 for haue the pooles haunt the. 29.7 for miflie misty 30.21 for in that that 39 4. for being beginning 51.9 If you wil discend c. 54.19 should follow decayeth l. 13. for then the. 57.27 put out it 68.11 for wherof thereof 74.13 for depending depēd 77.4 for lightly rightly 79.13 for is it 86.5 so is ouermatched and is ouermatched 86.5 put out by 103.25 be offered 104.21 impossible as I take it 118.18 put out by 121.23 ouercharged 131.19 this greedinesse 131.3 pronenesse of nature 134.10 benummet 139 5. distractiō 140 1. our most deare 140.13 one and the other 14◠8 cords 157.27 both laughing 161.15 put out the first 163.11 ovvne heat 165.19 the body 165.20 either in doing 168.4 exspiration 169.30 neere neighbourhood 175 17. vehement reuenge of him self for the offence 167.8 barbarous 193.14 successe 222 17. put out of 124.29 put out the. 158. vlt. for distruction distraction 140.1 put out hinder 144. vlt. put out large 160 vlt lesse for her 180.32 with for mith 194.16 sinues for sinners 198.21 for entreth seemeth 204.1 for which vvith 222. last read foūd you pure and sincere in his beloued Sonne 241.9 for dutie dyet 242.21 for allovve allure 248.3 for Aristophanes Aristoxenes 248.14 put out the first vvith 249.15 for may reade may ye 251.23 for soiled read sailed 254.14 for to a. 258.1 for of and. 258.13 for iuice reade svveete 258.25