gall Instead of lesser troubles behold greater terrours Take up betimes then Reason bids thee of two evils that thou chuse the least That thou run not from bad to worse that for fleeing of the fear thou shouldst not fall into the pit and snare Jer. 12.5 Job 20.24 25. Jer. 48.44 Isa 24.18 2 Into what a gulf of sin art thou falling 'T is a Question in the Schools Whether unbelief despair or hatred of God be the greatest sin Aquinas * 22 a. q. 20. a. 3. resolves it That despair is the greatest quantum ad nos the other secundum se The truth is that despair is always inclusive of the other two though they are not always inclusive of it Despair ariseth out of unbelief and is still accompanied therewith as hope ariseth out of faith Neither is there in despair only a privation of hope * ib. a. 1. but there is an aversion at least a retreat from the object hoped for and from God the object hoped in as either unable or unwilling to give it and so there is an hatred of God that goeth with it either negative if I may so phrase it as in the pious a want of love at least to that degree which is due to him Or positive as in the impenitent and was in Cain and others O! how many sins are there in this one sin how many that attend upon it What horrible infidelity as if there were more in sin to damn us than in God and Christ to save us What height of ingratitude to God! for his Christ and the Covenant of his grace and for all those means he hath afforded for awakening our hopes and attaining of happiness What horrid imputations to and blasphemy of God! In making our guilt more omnipotent than his power and sin more hurtful than he is good and helpful What haughty insolency against God and his Gospel in justifying themselves and Satan in saying our Salvation is impossible when both of them speak it possible and proffer it upon easie terms What odious indignity is there offered unto Christ as if the cry of our sins did outvoice the cry of his blood or there were not either worth enough in it or not a willingness to impart it though he left his father took our flesh c. to this very purpose What open injury do we offer to the Church as if there were no Balm in Gilead and the business and blessings of religion were but a mockery as ending in madness and melancholy Yea how ominous is the injury hereby to our own selves as barring us out not only from present happiness but from all possibilities and hopes and bringing us into the most amazing agonies of 1. temptation 2. tribulation 3. transgression 1. Of temptation Despair is the Devil's shop and shambles By this he puts men upon blaspheming God and self-butcheries Witness Cain Saul and Judas Gen. 4.13 14. 1 Sam. 31.4 cum 16.14 Mat. 27.5 cum Joh. 13.27 2. Of Tribulation Nothing but now ministers matter of trouble to the Soul Even God his Gospel c. And they multiply upon him I was not in safety neither had I rest neither was I quiet yet trouble came yea there is a special malignity in these troubles not only in that they are soul-troubles but self-troubles troubles of his own making and maintaining He is his own tormenter Job 3.26 Jer. 2.19 3. Of Transgression Now is the time of sinning most against God our selves and the soul-good of our neighbour hardening the wicked hindring the weak and intercepting the worthiest in the cheerfulness of their progress and pilgrimage The effects I acknowledg are different in different persons 1. It enervates endeavours in most As the Orator * Desperatione debilitati experiri nolunt quod se assequi posse diffidunt Cic. Orat. ad Brut. long since observed Hope is the nerve and tendon of Action if this be cut off or contracted they are disenabled and indisposed Men care not to make experiments for that of which they conclude they shall never come at 2. It eateth cut the sweet and extinguisheth the Spirit and heat of endeavours if they are continued Cut off hope and the springs of joy and holy obedience are dammed up Servile fears prevail and so duty doth become a drudgery and comes off with difficulty 'T is worse rowing than against wind and tide 3. It inflameth some unto self-violence Saul falls upon his own Sword Ahitophel and Judas hang themselves and so pass from one hell to another 4. It exasperateth some against God and Godliness and boils up their hatred to malice and despight as Cain and Jehoram's messenger What shall I attend on the Lord any longer 5. It endeth with some in sensuality and Epicurean or brutish indulgences to make the best of their gain in carnal divertisements while they may As those Jer. 2.25 c. 18.12 1 Cor. 15.32 There is no hope we will walk after our own devices Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Direct 4. Present the Object in and from whom you can alone hope for peace and safety more rightly to your Conscience Is it not enough that you have hard thoughts of your selves but will you have hard thoughts of our God likewise O the zeal the strength the sounding of his bowels and of his merceis towards thee Are they restrained Hath he not proclaimed his Name to be the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Yea the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works He is full of compassion and gracious long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth Isa 63.15 Exod. 34.6 7. Psal 86 5 15. 103.8 145.8 9. Whence then are these approaches toward despair O thou trembling soul whence why do these tormenting thoughts stick upon thee Is it that God cannot is not able to pardon thee Nay what is too hard for an omnipotent mercy to pardon or pass by Man can put up but a few provocations such is his impotence through pride passion c. He cannot contain but would be calling for fire from heaven But God hath proclaimed his Name to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord the Lord the mighty God * Deus fortis Jun. Tremel His Omnipotence can forgive both iniquity transgression and sin all kinds all degrees of sin Luk. 9.54 Exod. ibid. Numb 14.18 19 20. Amos 7.2 3. What! is it that he careth not is not willing to forgive and have mercy upon thee Nay as I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but this is his pleasure that the wicked turn from his way and live Lo how he invites injoyns intreats it Turn you turn you from your evill ways How he expostulateth in it why will ye die God is not willing that any should perish but that all
be considered either as it is to conserve and ark up laws and rules of practice or as it is to come and apply these laws and rules 'T is miserably corrupt in both How far it falls short as to the former will be of particular discussion hereafter when I come to speak of the natural Conscience Oh how it is darkned depraved disabled as concerns the matter of an holy life in this world and the means of an happy life in the world to come How are men alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart Rom. 1.21 Eph. 4.18 1 Pet. 1.14 The main concernment of Conscience is to apply rules of practice And here how deplorably corrupt it is 1 Sometimes it doth not apply at all How many practical notions are swimming in the head that never sink into the heart and the heart is never set to consider of or concoct them into practice How much science and confidence find we in these Rom. 2.19 23. but no Conscience large and sound apprehensions but little or no self-application 1. The evil of Conscience is as to this so eminent that a general command is not thought enough by God but it must be particular and expressive Thou shalt have no other Gods c. Thou shalt not covet c. Exod. 20.3 18. The parable as pertinent as it was to Davids case never pinched Davids Conscience the Prophet himself was fain to do the office of Davids Conscience for him And Nathan said to David Thou art the man c. 2 Sam. 12.1 14. 2. When it doth apply oft-times it is not articulately and timeâ—y Christ hath told Peter Before the Cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice But the Cock crows the first and second time e're Conscience in Peter maketh application of this advice Mar. 14.30 68 72. Conscience should have applied in Josephs Brethren before their contract and his captivity in Egypt but till themselves are captives their Conscience was much-what silent Gen. 37.20 c. cum 42.21 22 3. Or else it doth not apply so auâ—horitatively and throughly as it should Conscience in man hath the command and empire â—ut how often is concupiscence too hard for Conscience and carnal appetitions subjugate Conscience its application so that bad men â—eep down the truth in unrighteousness and â—are not to retain God in their knowledg â—nd good men are sometimes captivated as â—o the law of their minds by and unto the law of sin which warreth in their members Rom. 1.18 21 28. Rom. 7.23 25. 4. Or not soâ— abidingly Conscience applys and Felix trembles but the fit is soon over Conscience the Preacher in the bosom must not be attended nor Christs Preacher at the Bar heard out till a better convenience Act. 24.25 Conscience is at work with Pharaoh and while he is heated in the furnace of successive judgments Conscience is hearkning and applying but after he is out of the fire like iron his heart groweth the harder and less apt to receive an impression Exod. 8 1â— 32 c. But more particularly Conscience maketh application either peâ— modum testis or per modum judicis as a witness or as a judg and in both it is very bad 1. As a witness see how wicked it is 1. 〈◊〉 registring how few of mens faults doth iâ— file up and book down So that Daviâ— brings it to a question Who can understanâ— his errors Psal 19.12 But if there be a vertuouâ—action or but an appearance this is forth with put upon the file and record witneâ—â— the common practice besides the curse of thâ— Pharisees Luk. 11.42 Mat. 23.23 2. 〈◊〉 reflecting How few reflections are made up on our actions how few returns are maâ—â— upon our hearts insomuch as God saith hearkned and heard and no man repented him 〈◊〉 his wickedness saying what have I done Jeâ— 8.6 No man put Conscience to the question touching his conversation 3. In ruminatinâ— or considering How defective and diseased 〈◊〉 Conscience here likewise as the consequents do evidently demonstrate insomuch as God is fain to call once and again for it Now consider this ye that forget God Now consider your ways c. And doth often complain of the general want of it None considereth in his heart They consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness now their own doings have beset them about They say not in their heart in the confluence of mercies let us now fear the Lord our God that giveth the rain the former and latter rain in his season c. Psal 50.22 Hag. 1.5 Isa 44.19 Hos 7.2 Jer. 5.24 4. In reporting Oh how corrupt and partial Conscience is in this Not a word doth Samuel hear from Saul till necessitated thereunto in aggravating his sin but how many in apologizing for it Not a syllable is to be seen in the Pharisees plea and prayer for self-judging or for self-abasing but the substance of it is for self-justifying and self-advancing 1 Sam. 13.11 12. Chap. 15.13 15 20 c. 2. Conscience makes application as a judg and herein it miscarrieth likewise How severe is it ordinarily abroad but how slight at home further than it is sanctified Are there not many who judg even the mote in their brothers eye that yet can indulge a beam mean-while in their own eyes Mat. 7.2 3 4. And damn the same things in others which they do themselves Rom. 2.1 c. The faithful themselves have not been free under a preâ—ailing temptation Hath Tamar plaid the strumpet Bring her forth saith Judah and let her be burnt But never a blow is given by Conscience as concerned his sin and folly with her till the Bracelets and staff and Signet are produced Gen. 38.13 27. Davids anger was greatly kindled and as the Lord liveth saith he the man shall surely die that had stollen the poor mans lamb in Nathans Parable But mean-while his Conscience had no sense of nor gave sentence for his own provocation which run parallel therewith till the Prophet presseth it and putteth it home upon him 2 Sam. 12.5 6 7 c. The judgment Conscience is to make is either with relation to former things and times or else to future 1. With relation to former things and times Conscience is to accuse or excuse But in each it is ordinarily very evil 1. Sometimes 't is out in the the matter It excuseth and covereth where it should accuse and condemn They all with one consent began to make excuse Luk. 14.18 where their Conscience should have been accusing and they have been manifesting their repentance for their sin and making ready for the supper It accuseth and condemneth sometimes where it should rather excuse yea commend Ye said also behold what a weariness is it and ye have snuffâ—â— at it saith the Lord of hosts c. Conscience counts and judgeth Gods service and a godly strictness profitless painful irksome evil
been never so wicked mercy hath a wing to cover you and clucks after you as her chicken 2 Chron. 36.16 Joh. 3.20 Heb. 2.3 Rom. 2.4 5. Isa 1.19 Mat. 23.37 7. Once more who are the Objects of Omnipotent mercy but such as are in misery Mercy is an attribute whose aspect is ever toward the Creature God knoweth himself loveth himself but is not merciful to himself And 't is misery is the object of mercy as the sole motive of bestowing mercy is his own free mercy So that the calamitousness of thy condition should not be abused to keep thee from mercy but used as an argument rather to awaken and quicken thee to the speediest close with mercy Here maist thou unload thy burdens and ease thy miserable breast The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy With him is a multitude of tender mercies Whither can you look but to mercy if you will not still live in misery Now here is work for saving mercy in the sense of thy misery Justice looks what your merits are but mercy looks what your miseries are Be not discouraged sin and misery are the most strong and suitable arguments whereby to plead for mercy For now you present God with the proper object of mercy which you pray him to magnifie You have the example of his Worthies to encourage you Lord be merciful to me heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Be merciful unto me O Lord for I am poor and needy Have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vexed My soul also is sore vexed O save me for thy mercies sake Exod. 33.19 Jam. 5.11 Psal 51.1 41.4 86.1 3. 6.1 5. Direct 5. Present the Object by and through whom we can only hope for Salvation aright to you the Lord Christ His very name is argument enough to refell despair revive hope and raise both desire and delight His name Jesus Lets thee see what he is to his and what he will be to thee if thou wilt believe in him a Saviour from thy sins Mat. 1.21 Act. 16.31 1 Tim. 4.10 Away with thy strait and narrow conceptions of the blessed Jesus The Angel tells us This is good tydings of great joy which shall be to all people that there is born a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. The Apostles testifie that God sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world And if you attend his own sayings he assureth you I came not to judg the world but to save the world And God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Luk. 2.10 1 Joh. 4.14 Joh. 12.47 c. 3.17 What is it then that sticks with you Do you think him either 1. averse that he will not or 2. not able and so cannot save so vile a sinner as thou art though thou submit unto him Behold Christ is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prorsus perpetuo perfectè as * ad Heb. 7.25 Gryneus giveth it us CHAP. V. Quest Whether we should direct our Prayers only to God the Father or may also to the Son and to the Holy Ghost And how may we order our thoughts aright in distinguishing these three persons especially as to prayer MOst dear and worthy Friend I willingly own the obligations you have put upon me to God and you And shall rejoyce to serve you or if this may satisfie you I shall not premise any needless Preface to what this paper offers you Your concessions in our late Conference I shall not so much prove as improve The question you would be clear in being complicate I shall take asunder and tender you what satisfaction I may from the holy Scriptures without the accession of humane Authors as knowing that your faith doth not indeed should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God 1 Cor. 2.5 Quest 1. Whether we should direct our prayers only to God the Father or may also to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Answ I affirm we may direct our Prayers to any of them and should direct our Prayers to all these three persons in the one most single and undivided Godhead To this purpose please to peruse these ensuing Propositions Prop. 1. God is the object of prayer the adequate and alone object His commands as also your concessions determine our prayers to and upon him who is God by nature upon him and upon no other Mat. 4.10 Psal 50.15 65.2 Gal. 4.8 Psal 44.20 21. So that the proper fundamental and formal reason of divine worship is the perfect and infinite excellency of the eternal Godhead Prop. 2. The Godhead which is and can be but one there being but one first cause and last end Deut. 6.4 Ephes 4.6 Isa 41.4 c. 44.6 8. subsists in Father Son and Holy Ghost without any division of that most single essence yet with distinction of these several persons This as your self concedes so these Scriptures clear 1 Joh. 5.7 Mat. 28.19 c. 3.16 17. Deut. 6.4 Jehovah Elohim So that as the Father is God Rom. 15.6 c 1.7 So also is the Son 1 Joh. 5.20 1 Tim. 3.16 Act. 20.28 And so likewise is the Holy Ghost Act. 5.3 4. 1 Cor. 3.16 17. c. 12.6 7 8. Three distinct persons they are but one and the same God There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three its not said ver 8. agree in one but are one Not only do they agree in one testimony but are one in truth one thing one nature one God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 5.7 I should further expatiate in clearing this truth but that you have already evidenced your clearness in it Prop. 3. The Son and Holy Ghost being one God co-equal and co-essential with the Father divine honour and our dues of office as prayer c. are to be deferred therefore and given unto them as well as to the Father This is eminently enough pointed to us in that prayer of Benediction which was prescribed unto the Priests Numb 6.23 27. Wherein they must thrice iterate The Lord the Lord the Lord bless thee c. But it is evidently and expresly pattern'd in that prayer of Valediction 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God i.e. the Father and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen The practice of John may be produced likewise in that proemial prayer for and salutation of the Seven Churches Rev. 1.4 5. Grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come a frequent periphrasis of the Father and from the Seven Spirits which are before his throne i.e. the Holy Ghost the variety and perfection of whose Graces in these Seven Asian Churches is hereby indicated he being but one and
the Lord our God but the mercies which he gave to humble and to prove you you abuse to pride and luxury c. Oh sinful and sensless Consciences Isa 42.25 Jer. 8.7 Hos 7.2 Jer. 5.24 Deut. 8.16 17. Or do you answer his administrations of justice with trying your ways and turning to the Lord Do you labour to see his mind in them and to learn more skill in his Statutes through them And doth Conscience call upon you Come and let us return to the Lord our God and by sound Conversion to seek a cure for them In administrations of Mercy doth Conscience ordinarily attend abett and argue from thence to duty And when it hath put the question What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me Doth it proceed to the Psalmist's conclusive resolution I will take the 〈◊〉 of Salvation and call upon the name of the Lord I will pay my vows unto the Lord I will wâ—â— before the Lord in the land of the living c. Iâ— short is Conscience wont to answer the dispensations of mercy with more dearness foâ— God and his glory and with more degrees 〈◊〉 humility as it did in Jacob and in David theâ— is yours a good Conscience Psal 103. through out Ezra 9.13 14. Gen. 32.10 2 Sam. 7.18 19. 6 To the Copy of God § 27 The Conscience which is statedly good setteth the Christian upon Conformity to God he abhorreth sauciness with God as blasphemous and aspireth after similitude to God as his eminent business He knoweth that God is righteous and thence concludeth to be a doer of righteousness God is pure and as his hope is in him so he purifieth himself in Conformity to him God hath made it an argument Be ye boly for I am holy Conscience bearing his Authority brings the same argument also and Christ binds it upon the Conscience 1 Joh. 2.29 c. 3.3 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Mat. 5.48 Little Children let no man deceive you if God hath not drawn out his resemblance upon you if you are not doers of Righteousness as God is righteous If Conscience can permit you to walk in darkness while you profess to that God who is a pure light whatever be your pleas that your Consciences are good they are but pretensions not proofs your Consciences are still bad You that are ordinarily looking at and labouring to come as nigh as you may unto your Copy That are followers of God as dear Children that are created after God in righteousness and true holiâ—ess and whose care it is to be as immutable â—ntensive and extensive as you can in goodâ—ess You are the Children of God our Father who hath given to you a good Conscience 〈◊〉 Joh. 3.7 9. c. 1.5 6 7. 1 Pet. 1.14 Eph. 5.1 c. 4. â—4 Mat. 5.45 I have used a greater length and liberty of Speech in this Question than I have in former or shall in future Cases the importance thereof enforced me If Conscience be good your condition is good if Conscience be naught your condition is naught too as will be seen hereafter Be therefore the more thorough and serious in the trial of your selves still remembring this just Limit in all thy helps for knowledg hereof given you That your ordinary or usual tendency and habitude must be attended 'T is not what your Conscience is for a fit or in some sudden flash either as to good or as to evil but what your common frame and general or most usual temper is must be consulted Q. 5. Whether we may know that our Consciences be statedly and Evangelically good Though your Consciences are lockt up from the knowledg of others and are comprehensively and fully known only by God himself for who can understand his errors Psal 19.12 Yet every man may know what the stated habitude of his Conscience is if he will but deliberately discuss and carefully commune with and impartially attend and improve the judgment of his own Conscience As seems evident 1 By the description of its Nature 'T is the candle of the Lord searching not some but all not only the outward parts of the body but the inward parts of the belly i.e. the inwards acts and thoughts and therefore the the habitude and temper of the Heart elsewhere expressed by the Belly Prov. 20.7 cum Job 15.2 35. c. 32.18 19. The Spirit of Man i.e. the Conscience of Man knoweth the things of Man and within Man The Heart i.e. the Conscience knoweth its own bitterness and therefore may know its own blessedness 1 Cor. 2.11 Prov. 14.10 2 By the demands from and for it in Scripture Know ye not your selves i.e. your Consciences and so what your and their state and condition is whether you be in the faith whether Christ be in you 2 Cor. 13.5 Let every man prove his work and then shall he have rejoycing in himself which springs from the Testimony of a good Conscience Gal. 6.4 2 Cor. 1.12 3 By the declared sense hereof we find among the Saints Job's record is on high and in his own heart Job 16.19 c. 27.5 6. David and Hezekiah can and do confidently appeal the all-knowing God in it Psal 26.2 3. 17.3 Isa 38.3 Hear Paul We trust we have a good Conscience 'T is not we think or we hope but we trust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are perswaded are confident of it which confidence we may raise upon the same foundation that he did In all things willing to live honestly Heb. 13.18 Q. 6. How may we get or obtain a good Conscience The Premises in answer to the former Question are of place and pertinent use here also as likewise whatsoever shall be prescribed hereafter for obtaining a pure peaceable upright faithful Conscience c. Here I advise you these few things * See Perkin's Tom. 1. Treat of Conscience c. 4. p. 551. Sheffield's good Conscience ch 25. Dyke's good Consc c. 5 6. That you Direct 1 1 Act Consideration * See Motives in Dyke's good Cons c. 10. ad finem Consideration is the next step to the Conversion of thy self the change of thy estate and the setting of thy Conscience right in the sight of God Psal 119.59 60. 45.10 11. 50.21 22. See Q. 4. Direct 3. Consider therefore in thy Heart Deut. 4.39 c. 8.5 If my Conscience shall be good Then 1 My Condition will be good secure Conscience for the main and thou securest thy Condition for the main Thy Condition is as thy Conscience is good or bad as this is good or bad in the sight of God Amaziah's Condition was bad though the current of his Actions was materially good because his Conscience was bad he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect heart nor like his father David 2 Chron. 25.2 2 King 14.3 Jehoshaphat's Condition was good though he were chargeable with some things that were signally bad because his Conscience was good Nevertheless
7. Exercise your selves to have always a good Conscience So Paul Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men Act. 24.16 Conscience will not be ensured or preserved without consideration exercise and pains 1. Co-united endeavours there must be as respects the subject Herein do I exercise my self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is his study his labour his work his business which took up his outward specially his inward man Of so large an import is that word Here is matter enough to take up the whole Man Mind Memory Will Affections Members which had need be all imployed either for informing of or conforming to Conscience 2 Continued endeavours they must be as respects the circumstances Herein do I exercise my self always Let the times frown or favour the good Conscience let Conscience smite or smile whether you are under the arrests of Judgment or the happy liberties of mercy whether men speak well or ill whether the Candle of the Lord shine upon you on the one hand or the calumnies of men like so many arrows stick fast in you on the other whatever business be before you this business must not be behind or be neglected by you and herein use an holy constancy as you would maintain an holy Conscience and be able to say with Paul I have lived in all good Conscience before God until this day 1 Pet. 3.15 Job 27.6 3 Comprehensive endeavours they must be both as respects the state of Conscience that it be void of offence and the objects it regardeth likewise both toward God and toward man Keep the Conscience inoffensive if you would keep it entire and Evangelically good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is sometimes passively taken Phil. 1.10 Sometimes actively 1 Cor. 10.32 that Conscience neither give nor take offence either offend or be offended Eye Conscience in both kinds and herein exercise your selves constantly nor only as respects God nor only as respects man but as respects both God and Man first as respects God then as respects Man Let Religion toward God and Righteteousness toward Man be your continued exercise and you will neither impair the tranquillity nor injure the tenderness of your Conscience Job 2.3 Psal 15. Isa 33.15 16. Conscience hath both Tables of the Law committed originally to it The Conscience again committeth them as Josiah did to the other Powers as its inferior Officers when these bring Conscience word as Shaphan brought the King back word again saying All that was committed to thy servants they do it Then we have both a sincere and inoffending and also a secure and inoffended Conscience 2 Chr. 34.15 16. 8. Exercise Conscience oftner if you would have it always good The weal of Conscience lyes much-what within the walls of conscience If you vvould keep conscience vvell you must keep conscience at vvork sloth vvill beget sickness beget sin and incense justice to take away your talent Mat. 25.28 2. 1 Be frequent in examining Conscience ask how the case stands the frequent'st trier is usually the forward'st thriver in the School of Christ and of Conscience as well as of humane Literature The more you prove and examine Conscience the more you provoke and engage it for after-times and improve the experiences antecedent Psal 77.6 c. 2 Be forward in exciting Conscience Is it incident to drowsiness distempers deadness call upon it the oftener rouse it up by awakening Considerations thy Conscience is keeper of the Vineyards the other faculties and thine own Vineyard hast thou not kept Put it in remembrance of its duty and thy danger Provoke it by arguments of mercy and alarums of justice that if thou must say with the Spouse I sleep yet thou may'st say with her my heart waketh Psal 108.2 Cant. 1.6 c. 5.2 3 Be faithful in exonerating Conscience Whatever Conscience directed by the Word of God dictateth fail not to do it whatever it forbids thee forbear it else thou teachest Conscience to forbear thee limiting Conscience and not listning to Conscience are a ready way to the losing of Conscience 'T is miserable when men are churlish with Conscience and it must be said of you as Nabal's servants said of him He is such a son of Belial that Conscience cannot speak to him 1 Sam. 25.17 Listen to Conscience then and be led by it so shalt thou live in all good Conscience As God said to Abraham so say I to thee In all that Sarah in all that Conscience shall say unto thee hearken unto her voice If you would hold a good Conscience obey a good Conscience if it may not be heard it will away If it may command thee it will continue with thee Act. 23.1 Gen. 21.12 2 Tim. 1.3 1 Tim. 3.9 9. Exercise the good that is in and with your Conscience Actuate and imploy your implanted habits of Grace and these will grow into greater increases Keep up the lively exercise of Faith Love and Repentance and you keep up the exercise and enjoyment of a good Conscience These say to Conscience as David sometime did to Abiatbar Abide with us fear not he that seeketh thy life seeketh our life With us thou shalt be in safety Prov. 4.18 1 Sam. 22.23 Rinse Conscience upon every fall thou catchest from the filth which thou contractest in the waters of repentance The more tears of Contrition the more tenderness of Conscience and transcendent comfort Psal 51. Job 11.14 15. Raise and quicken Faith this will subdue enemies without sanctifie Conscience within sprinkle the blood of Jesus on it and suck continued virtue from his blessed promises 1 Joh. 5.4 5. Act. 26. Heb. 10.22 23. Repeat and continue the dear and delicious acts of Love which will facilitate the Commandments to you free Conscience in you and fits you to whatever capacity Christ shall call you 1 Joh. 5.3 1 Cor. 13.4 8. CHAP. III. Of the Pure and Defiled Conscience Q. 1. Whether the Conscience in man be naturally pure or defiled Touching this I must return you to what hath been already spoken Chap. 2. Quest 2. and 3. Q. 2. Whether a pure Conscience be attainable by man in this life THere is a double purity of the Conscience 1. Exact and legal as fully answers to what the Law asks 2. Evangelical and more large as fitly agrees with what the Gospel allows That excludes all degrees of pollution and includes all degrees of perfection this allows no degree of pollution and aspires after the highest degree of perfection 1. That legal and exact purity of the Conscience neither can nor ever was attained since the Fall by any meer man in this life 1. Who was ever priviledged in this life from the pollution of Conscience Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Who can understand his errors Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean as man is not one There is not a just man upon the earth
we get or obtain a pure Conscience Answ This enquiry is not how we may get it pure from some new actual tincture of which see Q. 7. but from its old habitual taint and pollution for which take these Directions 1. Behold the necessity of a pure Conscience and be awakened 1. Without this there is no Society with God He is of purer eyes than to entertain you in your habitual impurity There is no having nor so much as hoping Communion with or a propriety in him unless Conscience be purified in you Hab. 1.13 Psal 18.26 1 Joh. 3.3 Jam. 4.8 2 Without this there is no Salvation by God Wash thine Heart as ever thou wouldst to Heaven There is nothing entereth which is unclean that happy place is reserved only for the pure in heart Jer. 4.14 Rev. 21.27 Psal 24.3 4. A polluted Conscience is neither fit for the business nor blessedness of that pure and perfect condition 3 Without this there is no serving of God at least with acceptance to him or with advantage to you The Heart must be purified that would attempt his Presence Josh 24.19 Heb. 9.14 c. 10.22 Jam. 4.8 Till Conscience be purified the pure God will not endure thy presence nor will thy impure Conscience easily bear his Presence 4 Without this there is no sincerity in thee Clean or pure acts will never put ye beyond an hypocrite without a clean or pure Heart 'T is not a pure Conversation but a pure Conscience that speaks thy condition prosperous and secures from the condemnation of Pharisees Psal 73.1 2 Tim. 1.3 Mat. 23.25 29. 5 Without this there is no security for thee thy condition can never be safe till Conscience be sanctified All that God secures Conscience is but on this condition If thou be pure and upright And for the security of Conscience 't is grounded upon the sincerity of Conscience 't is first pure then peaceable as David points us in his prayer and 't is the pure in Heart are first pronounced Blessed by our Saviour 1 Thes 5.23 Job 8.6 Jam. 3.17 Ps 51.7 8. Mat. 5.8 2. Behold the nature of an impure Conscience and be ashamed Thou art not so pure in thine own eyes but thou art as impure and vile in God's eyes Be convinced of this and thou wilt be cleansing that and begging him to cleanse thee Prov. 30.12 Isa 65.5 Mich. 6.11 13. Job 40.4 1 Think what is defiled Conscience that choice that curious piece that so dignifieth Man next the Angels and differenceth him from the Brutes Conscience that is God's Tabernacle in Man and maketh Man the Temple of God Conscience that is chief among the faculties and is under God to command the whole frame of our Hearts and Lives What Conscience that by Creation was like the Nazarites purer than Snow whiter than Milk more ruddy than Rubies whose polishing was of Saphire should be now blacker than a coal and she that was clothed in Scarlet should embrace Dunghils That thy Gold should become thus dim and the most fine Gold be changed into dirt This cannot but procure a Lamentation especially when thou shalt consider that this thou hast contracted upon thy self who knowest how great a crime it is if through thy means the Conscience but of a weak brother should be desiled Prov. 20.27 1 Cor. 3.17 Lam. 4.1 9. 1 Cor. 8.7 2 Think what it doth defile A defiled Conscience 1. defiles all of thee it defiles the Man the whole Man the Spirit Soul and Body are defiled even the Mind the most pure and precious part is defiled wheresoever the Conscience is defiled Mat. 15.18 1 Thes 5.23 Tit. 1.15 2. It defiles all to thee there is nothing pure to thee The taking of God's Covenant into thy mouth thy very Table-comforts thy Meat become a sin and snare to thee Conscience being unclean whatever it toucheth doth become unclean likewise Tit. 1.15 Psal 50.16 17. 69.22 Lev. 5.2.3 It defiles all that comes from or is done by thee It streams sin upon every service Thy Civil actions thy very plowing is sin and thy sacred actions thy very praying is sin likewise For who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Mat. 15.18 Prov. 21.4 c. 28.9 Job 14.4 3. Betake ye to the known provision which God hath made for purifying the Conscience and be active The pure Conscience is from God as the principal Cause 't is he that purifieth and he that pacifieth the Conscience He that cureth its diseases and cleanseth it from defilements He creates and so the Heart is clean 1 Thes 5.23 Ezek. 36.25 Psal 51.7 10. But though it be his work principally 't is our work partly too as himself presseth it Wash ye make you clean c. Isa 1.16 'T is his work to bless the means unto purifying and our work to be in the use of those means whereby he purifieth Asking the mercy of him and applying the means to us 1 Then ask this mercy from him with the greatest ardour thou may'st acknowledging thy pollution with shame and sorrow aggravating it also in his presence abhorring thy self and acknowledg with thy impotency his power as who alone can purifie thee So David Psal 51.2 11. His promises of it do not preclude but should provoke rather thy prayers for it Ezek. 36.25 cum 37. 2 Apply thee to the means and the means to thee with the greatest activity thou can'st These are the Word Water and Blood * See Sheffield's good Cons c. 2. p 33. c. 1 The Word Ye are clean through the Word saith Christ Job 15.3 This is not only pure in it self but purifying the Soul that attendeth the preaching of it Psal 19.8 Joh. 17.17 Ephes 5.26 Submit thy Conscience to the Commands of it Purity is the end of them and will be the effect in thee 1 Tim. 1.5 1 Pet. 1.22 If you obey Then 2. Skill thy Conscience in the Promises of it Every Promise is both a motive to and means for cleansing as of the flesh so likewise of the Spirit But there is an especial Promise in God's absolute Covenant I will sprinkle clean water on you and ye shall be clean Which you may urge upon your self in secret and urge God with in supplication 2. Cor. 7.1 Jer. 33.8 Ezek. 3.6.25 cum 37. 2 Water Ezek. ibid. Ephes 5.26 The Sacrament of Water should not only be remembred by thee but re-inforced on thee by due and doubled consideration Though I cannot say to thee as Ananias said unto Saul Arise and be Baptised and wash away thy sins if thou wert baptized in thy infancy yet I must counsel thee to apply thy Baptism by fetching arguments from thence and by eying the ability and efficacy of the Blood and Spirit of Christ thereby exhibited till thou findest the answer thereunto of a good Conscience toward God And then thy Infant-baptism will be as effectual to the washing away of thy sins in thy adult estate as the Circumcision of the Hands was
exercise of his graces in you while he is evidencing his grace to you He requireth your offerings and the first fruits of you oblations with all your holy things and hath promised I will accept you with your sweet savour Cant. 7.12 13. Heb. 12.28 Ezek. 20.40 41. And now God is pleased by his own promise to undertake for his peoples peace while they persist in such ways as these Isa 26.3 c. 30.15 c. 32.17 4 Be more steady in the reciprocations of love with him Give him love for love Are his desires towards thee Let thy desires also be towards him Doth he rejoyce over thee do thou also rejoyce in him 1 Joh. 4.19 Psal 33.1 21. Isa 26.8 O love the Lord all ye his Saints While you live in Love there is an harmony of hearts and you 'l have no leisure for listning after those sinful avocations which displease God and disturb the Conscience Love will be adhering to and abiding with God and assimilating you to his goodness Besides love casts and keeps out tormenting fears and is of that transcending and inexpugnable force that like death it beareth down all before it Many waters cannot quench love neither can the floods drown it Psal 31.23 5.11 12. 70.4 1 Joh. 4.18 Cant. 8.6 7. Direct 5. Keep up a steady confidence and faith in Christ He was the cause and is the conservator of Evangelical peace It was procured by his Death and is preserved by his Intercession Herein he doth not only appear in our natures but for our sakes and in our steads as our Agent to preserve a corresponderce and prevent controversies as our Attâ—rney to plead our Cause and promote our Concernments And whereas every sin tends to a breach of peace he takes upon him to accord the difference and appease justice and he doth it not only by presenting our petitions for peace but by pleading the perpetual vertue of his own pacifick sacrifice and perâ—â—â—â— satisfaction for us Heb. 9.24 c. 6.20 â— Job 2.1 2. Rev. 8.2 3. Heb. 9.7 12. Now your work is to come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them that thus come Heb. 7.25 You may neither come in prayer nor by faith immediately unto God but through him in the vertue of his Mediation and Intercession Eph. 3.12 Col. 3.17 2 Corinth 3.4 Upon every new breach that your sin seems to make 1 Set the principle of faith at work afresh upon him An active faith will appropriate and draw the benefits of his Intercession into our own chanel He is entred by his own blood into the holy place for us He appeareth in the presence of God for us Heb. 9.12 14. It apprehends and eyes Christ as one that is herein about our business answering our accuser accomplishing our absolution according our crimes or charges with divine justice advocating our case with the Father and that we may be accepted before the Lord as one that bearing our names before the Lord upon his two shoulders yea upon his heart as a memorial before the Lord continually as the high Priest did when he went into the Holy of Holies Rev. 12.10 Heb. 9.7 11 c. 1 Joh. 2.1 Exod. 28.12 29 38. Yea an active faith will be able from the influence and efficacy of his Intercession to argue down both inward fears and outward force whatsoever may seem to introduce a charge or impeach the peace of our Consciences She concludes Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him And challengeth them to speak or do their worst she is so secured in him Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Heb. 7.25 Rom. 8.33 34. 2 Send up the prayers of faith to him or rather to God by him Put thy petitions for preserving thy peace into his hands and they are sure to pass He will deliver them and the Father will not deny him 'T is the office he undertaketh to offer up the prayers of the Saints and he will therewith offer up his own incense 1 Joh. 5.14 15. Joh. 16.23 Rev. 8.3 If you would maintain Conscience maintain this confidence His Intercession affords you abundant arguments Seeing that we have a great High-priest that is passed into the heavens Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need 1 Joh. 3.21 22. Heb. 4.14 16. Direct 6. Keep close to the Covenant of Peace Conscience fetcheth its comforts out of the Covenant of Grace 'T is its armory in times of Spiritual war and its treasury in times of Spiritual peace 2 Sam. 23.5 Heb. 6.18 2 Cor. 10.4 c. 4.7 Learn to be more conversant in it and keep close to it 1 Not only in fulfilling the condition it propoundeth of which before Q. 6. Though all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies 1 Chron. 16.15 16 17. Psal 25.10 103.17 18. 2 But by faith in the Promises it contains Every promise would thus end in peace for what is the Gospel but a Gospel of peace Or what are Gospel-truths but the glad tydings of peace Abraham and Sara had enough to perplex and intricate them but faith in the promise kept them immovable and unshaken Rom. 10.15 Gal. 6.15 Rom. 4.18 22. Heb. 11.11 God hath laid up immutable grounds of Comfort in his immutable Covenant If the fruits are mutable 't is because our faith is mutable The Promises are all Yea and Amen but our faith is yea and nay Let faith eye them more steadily and embrace them more strongly So did the Patriarks and they lived and died in peace Heb. 6.17 18. c. 11 13. 3 By frequent views of its perpetuity and continuance The mountains indeed shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee nor the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Isa 54.10 'T is a sure Covenant We have his word his oath his seal to confirm it to us and his own love and faithfulness are lain at pledg for the performance of it 2 Sam. 23.5 Psal 89.33 34 35. 2 Cor. 1.22 When ever therefore Conscience is ready to misgive thee call her hither and mind her of the immutability of Gods Covenant in the mutability of thy condition Tell her Thus saith the Lord if you can break my Covenant of the day and my Covenant of the night that there should not be day and night in their season then may also my Covenant be broken with you Jer. 33.20 21. c. 31.35 36 37. Direct 7. Keep on in the Commandments of God Keep up duty if you would keep off disquiet Peace of Conscience is preserved by obedience not only
grievous and distrust so great I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul I shall go down to the grave without so much as any glimpse more of my God or of his grace I am cut off Lo God hath overthrown me He hath stript me of my glory and taken the crown from my head He hath destroyed me on every side and I am gone and mine hope hath he removed like a tree Thus we find them casting their eye inward and crying out Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable yea upward and complaining Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever Will the Lord cast off for ever will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever c. Isa 38.10 11 15. Lam. 3.54 Job 19.6.9 10. Jer. 15.18 Lam. 5.20 Psal 13.1.77.7 8 9. 6 The distresses of pious Souls may be of a large extent for quantity as well as of a long extent for continuance Very extensive in themselves and may extend over the whole Subject 1. In themselves they may be so large as I cannot meditate any other stint or limit than this that they shall not extend unto a full and final despair Otherwise they may and often do exceed the sense of others and the speech of them that are the sad and suffering subjects Job's grief was very great so great that words and weeping too were too narrow for the vastness of it Oh that my grief were throughly weighed saith he and my calamity laid in the balances together For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea therefore my words are swallowed up All language is too little to declare their greatness and therefore is a line too short to limit or determine it and yet neither silence nor speech many times can moderate it Though I speak my grief is not asswaged and though I forbear what am I eased Job 2.13 c. 6.2 3. c. 16.6 2. They extend sometimes over the whole subject all Conscience the immediate and proper subject and over all under the power of Conscience the remote and less proper subject Conscience is sometimes all in a combustion in the sadded Christian My heart is like wax saith David melted in the midst of my bowels It fainteth it faileth me it is grieved pained sore pained within me smitten and withered like grass oppressed overwhelmed in me disquieted distracted yea my heart within me is desolate The troubles of my heart are inlarged c. Psal 22.14 84.2 40.12 73.21 55.4 102.4 61.2 38.8 88.15 143.4 25.17 Conscience the commander in chief being thus mortally wounded the whole army is in a rout and either runs before the pursuer or are roaring out their plaints c. Reason is distracted the resolutions of the Will dissipated Affections discomposed Passions distempered and every power of soul and body is disordered Conscience thus pierced and broken all come in to bear a part in this sad Catastrophe The poyson hereof drinketh up my spirit saith Job My spirit was overwhelmed saith David My spirit faileth My soul is sore vexed and consumed with grief My soul cleaveth unto the dust My soul fainteth for thy salvation My soul is full of trouble I will speak in the anguish of my spirit saith the former I will complain in the bitterness of my soul Job 6.4 Psal 143.4 7. 6.3 31.9 119.25 81. 88.3 Job 7.11 And can ye expect it much better with the body Review the same instances Fear came upon me and trembling which made all my bones to shake My bones are pierced in me and my sinews take no rest My bowels boiled and rested not He cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare he poureth out my gall upon the ground My bones are vexed There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin The arrows of his quiver enter into my reins Mine eye trickleth down and ceaseth not without any intermission Mine eyes fail for thy word saying when wilt thou comfort me Job 4.14 c. 30.17 27. c. 16.13 Psal 6.2 38.3 119.82 Lam. 3.13 48. And now Soul wilt thou tell me or rather tell thy self whether thy sorrow be like unto their sorrow who were yet Saints of the first magnitude 7 The distresses of pious Souls may be very eminent for quality and degree as well as for quantity and duration I cannot undertake to cleave an hair to say thus far they may be intended and no further Though I doubt not to say that these anxieties and afflictions can never bring them to an utter and universal aversation from God or godliness Their diffidence and demeanor towards him may be very deplorable yea dreadful but their spot is the spot of children They do not they dare not say unto God depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy ways Yea this is their greatest desire that they were his and he theirs Turn us again O God and cause thy face to shine is the burden of their prayers And this is the greatest thing they deplore that they have turned away from him and that he is turned against them And could we trace their fears and dolors to their proper form we should find they did not spring from an aversation to God or grace but from an appreitation That they drag so heavily is not that they hate holiness but in that they have not holiness at least as to their sense or with that strength and sweetness they would fain have Psal 44.17 23. Deut. 32.5 Job 21.14 Psal 42.1 6. 80.3 7 14 19. Isa 49.14 Lam. 3.3 Psal 73.21 22. Nevertheless they may be deeply plunged in this ditch and may arrive 1. To formidable conceptions of God as if God were not only not kind but cruel to them as if he failed his promise had forgotten to be gracious and in anger shut up his tender mercies As if he were not only deaf to their prayers but distorted his providence and did not do them justice and were immovably determined upon their destructions Such a feaver or such a frency rather may these distresses sometimes draw upon the understanding So that the Soul may not stick to say I am troubled at his presence when I consider I am afraid of him Job 30.21 Psal 77.8 9. Lam. 3.8 Job 19.7 c. 23.13 15 16. 2. To false constructions of Godliness as if they had laboured in vain and spent their strength for nought and in vain Thou saidst saith Elihu what advantage will it be unto thee and what profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my sin Thinkest thou this to be right 'T is true I do not find the abode and fixing of such apprehensions upon a faithful heart But holy David's feet were almost gone his steps had well nigh slipt when he saw obdurate sinners prospered and himself
for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lie Though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry beyond God's appointment or your advantage 2 Cor. 1.3 4. Ephes 1.9 Psal 85.8 Heb. 10.37 Hab. 2.7 Be patient therefore there is some peace even in patience for it calms and stills the passions and gives the soul the possession of it self and 't is seldom but peace ensueth on patience for this hath the promise of it I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry He brought me up also out of an horrible pit out of the miry clay c. Jam. 5.7 8. Luk. 21.19 Psal 40.1 2 3. Isa 40.27 31. c. 26.9.64.4 Direct 3. Abet hope This will be an Anchor sure and stedfast in the most astonishing tempests when you cannot use either sails or rudder What though thy heart be cast down there is no happiness nothing but horrour in hand yet shouldst thou charge thy Soul with David Hope thou in God Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him there is plenteous redemption His compassions fail not he hath corrected thee but he hath not consumed thee And whence is this but of his mercy This I recall to mind saith the Church in her sore and nigh sinking condition therefore have I hope Heb. 6.19 Psal 42.5 11. 130.7 Lam. 3.21 22. I grant your case is deplorable but not desperate Your recovery is ardnous but not impossible Others have been restored Job David Heman c. whose feet were as fast yea faster locked in these stocks than yours If you make reflection you 'l meet with little or no reason to let your hopes flag and fail at this rate Is there not the same way open still the same mercy in God the same merit in Christ the same ministration of the Covenant Are you not as capable of peace now when God hears you praying crying lamenting after him and sees you pursuing panting after him and pressing on him as you were heretofore when he heard little else perhaps than blasphemies saw you weltring in your blood and yet was then found of you when you sought him not Why should you cast away those confidences of hope or not rather hold them fast Heb. 10.35 c. 3.6 14. Besides the valley of Achor i.e. of trouble which had its name from Achans troubling them and there being troubled of the Lord may be for a door of hope So great a darkness may presage and be but the immediate precursor of a dawning When I am weak i.e. in my self then am I strong i.e. in my Saviour saith Paul When his feet were fastest in the stocks his liberty was nearest and his bands were loosed When Job's and David's distresses did most overflow their banks then did their most peace and joy flow into their bosoms God comforteth those that are cast down Yea when men are cast down then thou shalt say there is lifting up and he shall save the humble person Josh 7.26 Hos 2.15 2 Cor. 12.10 Act. 16.24 26. Job 42. Psal 31.22 2 Cor. 7.6 Job 22.29 Direct 4. Adhere yet to him and that with full purpose You have lost your assurance this is expired in lamentation and anguish but do not let go your adherence this will end in life and happiness at the last God's end by putting you to feed on husks is not to keep you off but to quicken you home to your father's house not that your Souls should drive further from him among the shelfs and sands of despair but draw nearer to him in the still and safe waters of dependance Act. 11.23 Deut. 30.20 Psal 83.16 Hos 5.15 He expects that you cleave to him with steadier resolutions and commit your selves to him with a steadier recumbence 1. Cleave to him more stedfastly You that fear him are called on to cleave unto him And alas whither can you go from him and find the good and peace you look for Thou mayst call for thy lovers but among all thy lovers there is none can comfort thee while God is wounding and chastising thee Is it not thy loosness and inconsistency with God which hath brought thee into these labyrinths of confusion and mazes of perplexities Call back thy Soul hither Return unto thy rest O my Soul My Soul wait thou only upon God And keep thy Soul here For there is no quiet off the center But every thing is quiet in its center Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God Deut. 10.20 Lam. 1.2 19. Jer. 30.14 Psal 116.7 62.5 146.5 I doubt your restlesness groweth out of irresolution You are not throughly resolved for God as your center and chiefest good Or how is it that you are so easily carried from him or cleave no more entirely to him a stone needs not to be driven downward nor fire upward they affect their center and acquiesce in it nor are drawn from it but by force and violence Come then and gather up your resolutions for God Be ye stedfast and immovable Yea thou maist humbly tell him I will not let thee go except thou bless me No though thou hast sore broken me in the place of Dragons and covered me with the shadow of death my heart shall not turn back from thee While I live I will serve thy Majesty and when I die it shall be at the feet of thy mercy O how such prayers and purposes have power with God and prevail Lo this is the rest wherewith we may cause the weary to rest and this is the refreshing 1 Cor. 15.58 Gen. 32.26 28. Psal 44.18 19. Isa 28.12 2. Commit your selves to God more steadily I see your case comes off but badly from your hands will you cast it once at length into God's hand Unto him will you commit your cause Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee Commit thy way and works unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass and thy thoughts shall be established But if you think to warm you by your own sparks and to walk in the light of your fire This shall ye have of mine hand saith the Lord ye shall lie down in sorrow Job 5.8 Psal 55.22 37.5 Prov. 16.3 Isa 50.11 Unbelief like a growing torrent will bear down all the props and pillars of hope and obedience before it and leaves thy duties bare without spirit or strength Nor wilt thou be able to extricate thy mind out of that maze of doubtful and perplexed reasonings wherein she is intangled without this exercise of faith Obj. Ah but may such as I dare to adventure it Will it not be presumption in me to transfer over my case to him and trust in God Answ No in no wise 1. Devolve thy cares and case thou must some-where or thou must still droop under them and die away
is and it is offered and exposed to the imbraces and improvements of your faith love patience and hope Gen. 17.1 Isa 45.22 24 25. His infinite and immutable perfections have your Souls to feast with and feed upon Your strength and your heart faileth you But if the bottle be empty the well of water which is by you though perhaps you see it not is full God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Psal 73.26 Jer. 10.16 Gen. 21.15 19. Remember 't is an infinite and immutable mercy that orders you out this condition an infinite and immutable wisdom that over-rules it for duration how long for degree how far c. an infinite and immutable goodness upholds you in and under it and an infinite truth and power is bound in his own time to pluck you out of it and to make good all his promises in and by it God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it 1 Cor. 10.13 2 For Christ What an abundance is there in him to quiet you yea fulness all fulness and this for you If you will but by faith fall in with him you shall receive of his fulness grace for grace Col. 1.19 Joh. 1.16 Nay in Christ there is not only matter of peace and joy for you but of boasting of triumph His preaching his prayers his promises his passion resurrection ascension c. Do all call upon you as himself sometime did in person Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me Yea he is now touched with the feeling of your infirmities in way of compassion though not of corrupt passions so that you may come boldly to the throne of grace Phil. 3.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 2.14 Joh. 14.1 Heb. 4.15 16. 3 For Christians You may fetch matter of heart-quieting from their distresses which yours cannot equal from their dignity which yours cannot exceed from their deliverance which is an earnest of yours as also from their directions and exhortations which tell you it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. That he is the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we are comforted of God Lam. 3.26 2 Cor. 1.3 4. Secondly From the operation ends and effects of these sad troubles This I had principally in my eye and let me pitch here a little because the pious Soul is apt to pore more upon their extremity than to pry into their ends and effects neglecting the bright side of the Cloud and noting only the black and dark side Consider then these sharp throws and bitter agonies are not only to punish but to purge to prove to approve to improve and to prepare his Saints for more signal services or sufferings Of which you will see full proof in the further progress Consider then in these agonies 1. Happily they are to purge me The spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning is but to wash away the filth of the Daughters of Sion Like fullers sope and a refiners fire not to consume but cleanse and purifie them to purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged And shall I quarrel at that pill or cast away that potion which is blessed with such a sequel because 't is bitter in it self or breaks my sleep or burdens my stomach c. whence it conserves nature and cures my diseases and the little pains I feel are preventive of far greater Isa 4.4 Mal. 3.2 3. Isa 27.9 Perhaps it is to purge and so heal thy sleepiness and inanimadvertence David lay in an apoplectick drowsiness for a long time This state required strong purgatives and sharp prescriptions God therefore applieth this medicine and it effectually awakens and recovers him Psal 51. Or perhaps it is to purge out pride and stiffness of spirit And gentle potions will not do it there must be some other draught or the dose must be doubled David had enough to humble him but his heart stood it out undauntedly till God put this cup of trembling into his hand and this fetcheth all up and his heart down and his Soul-health returneth to its old frame ibid. What ever it is this may quiet that these troubles are not a ponyard to kill but a purge to cure 2. Happily it is to prove me Behold I will melt them and try them for how shall I do for the daughter of my people 'T is not said I will burn them and make an utter end of them Let it be to a Judas or a Cain an evil an only evil But to a Job there is good as well as evil These troubles were for his probation rather than punishment not at all for his perdition Thou O God hast proved us thou hast tried us as silver is tried God knoweth us perfectly and intuitively but 't is that we may upon trial know our selves and be less strangers to our own hearts or that others may know us This furnace then is not â—o destroy but to discriminate Judg. 9.7 Ezek. 7.5 Job 2.3 c. 7.18 Psal 66.10 May not this quiet you that whereas it might have been a milstone to tear you 't is but a touch-stone to try you to acquaint you more with your selves and acquaint others more with your sincerity Why doth God suffer you to wander thus long in the Wilderness but to numble you and prove you and to know what is in your hearts God might have thrown you like brands into the fire but he casts you like Gold into the furnace This affliction is not to ruin but to refine you Peut 8.2 Isa 48.10 Zach. 13.9 3. Happily it is to approve me When he bath tried me saith Job I shall come forth as gold more pure and more approved The Primitive Saints were tried with inward hâ—â—viness as well as outward hardships And why But That the trial of their faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth might be found unto praise and honour and glory Job 23.10 1 Pet. 1.6 7. Perhaps it may be to approve you to others here Job is to this day propounded for a pattern of patience to the faithful and must pray for his three friends as the person whom God would only accept He became the more signally approved by being so strangely afflicted Paul's necessities distresses afflictions stripes sorrows did but commend him the more to the Churches of our Saviour The skill of the Pilot is best spoken by storms and tempests Jam. 5.11 Job 42.7 8. 2 Cor. 4.4 11. Or beyond a perhaps it is to approve you at the appearing of Christ when he shall say Lo these
should come to repentance Behold he is ready to pardon Hebr. a God of pardons gracious merciful slow to anger and of great kindness Ezek. 33.11 c. 18.32 2 Pet. 3 9. Neh. 9.17 I know thou lookest upon him as clothed with righteousness and armed with omnipotent justice to revenge thy disobedience And 't is true he is so if thou shalt persist in thy sins But wilt thou revolve these few questions in thy heart and return an answer to them in thy own bosom 1. Is not Omnipotent mercy as propense and willing to save thee as Omnipotent justice is to damn thee Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God and not that he should return from his ways and live He doth not so much as afflict willingly Judgment is his strange work but he rejoyceth to shew mercy He is as it were drawn to acts of justice but he delighteth in acts of mercy Ezek. 18.23 Lam. 3.33 Isa 28.21 Jer. 32.41 Mic. 7.18 Why then such confusion of heart Why dost thou cast away thine hope why shouldst thou fear and fly from him as one that will not forgive when there is forgiveness with him that he may be feared Psal 130.4 7. 2. Is not Omnipotent mercy as prevalent with him to save thee as justice is or can be to damn thee Behold mercy rejoyceth against judgment Acts of mercy flow freely from him they are of his own meer will and motion He hath mercy because he will have mercy Acts of justice have their foundation still without him and are laid in the desert of sin Justice requireth desert Mercy remitteth desert and requireth only distress or defect and knows no motive out of its own self Mercy doth not extend it self upon any former obligations or upon any future hopes Its acts are all free and both from and for it self How marvellous must the influence of mercy then be that is not raised upon the goodness or worth of the sinner but upon the good will of himself Yea when justice seems ready to strike mercy stays its arm and that for its own sake when there is nothing but misery and necessity can be suggested for the sinners sake Jam. 2.13 Rom. 9.15 16. Job 37.23 Psal 78.38 39. Isa 48.9 Behold then the foulness and merit of thy sins is supererogated by the freeness and super-abundance of his mercies 3. Hath not Omnipotent mercy provided and done more in order to thy Salvation then justice hath for thy damnation Yea he hath sent his Son to save thee if thou wilt accept of him his servants by office to shew thee the way of Salvation if thou wilt attend them his Scriptures and Ordinances to skill thee in and work in thee the things that accompany Salvation if thou wilt improve and obey them And nothing can damn thee but thy impenitence in sin Hath justice done as much to fit thee for hell as mercy hath to fit thee for heaven Now the designs of all his acts of justice are but to drive thee to the acceptance of his mercies If justice threatens 't is that she may not punish or if she punish here 't is that she may not punish for ever If thou art judged of the Lord 't is that thou mayst not be condemned with the world Joh. 3.16 Act. 16.17 c. 13.26 Tit. 2.11 1 Cor. 11.32 Oh! turn thy amazing fears of justice into admirings and hopes of mercy 4. Hath not Omnipotent mercy hitherto preponderated the proceeds of justice toward you Yea 't is not for want of might but of meer will and mercy that he hath hitherto forborn you and that your forfeited souls states c. have not been fearfully snatcht from you by some signal arrest of divine vengeance Hath he not indured you with much long-suffering Could finite mercies have put up a thousandth part of such continued injuries and indignities What bowels what bounties of mercies have yearned on you and been extended to you why should not Conscience reflect and say may not the same mercy at last save me that hath so long spared me yea and it will save you if you will yet shake off your sins and submit to its terms Nay this is the very end of it Oh may it so end in you Account that the long-suffering of God is Salvation in the end and design of it He waits that he may be gracious unto you Return and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger for ever Rom. 9.22 c. 2.4 2 Pet. 3.15 Isa 30.18 Jer. 3.12 5. Doth not Omnipotent mercy proffer and perswade you to imbrace its Propositions of Salvation and to prevent the ominous strokes of provoked justice yea God will have all men to be saved The grace of God that bringeth Salvation to all men hath appeared Lo he proffers it to all Whosoever will Ho every one that thirsteth He presseth it upon all who soever thirsteth let him come let him come let him come 'T is urged yet a fourth time Encline your ear and come to me He perswadeth it Here are waters here is wine here is milk here is bread for you whatsoever may raise your natures or relieve your necessities Here is the good which you seek after and which alone can satisfie you He prevents the exceptions whereupon men stand off its worth and their unworthiness Come buy without money and without price He pleads and expostulates wherefore will ye spend your money for that which is not bread c. Why will ye die Yea he prayeth and entreateth by his Ambassadors as though God did beseech you by us we pray you to be reconciled Lost man do but suffer me to save thee poor sinner suffer me to love thee These are the charms as one saith * Manton on Jude v. 2. p. 75. of Gospel rhetorick 1 Tim. 2.4 Tit. 2.11 Rev. 22.17 Isa 55.1 2 3. 2 Con. 5.20 Shall your diffidence and despair turn the deaf ear to all this and frustrate both God's design and your own desires to all eternity 6. Hath Omnipotent justice ever condemned any under the publication of the Gospel but upon the neglect or refusal of the offers of Omniptent mercy No mercy must disclaim you ere justice can damn you Vindictive justice must have the permit at least of divine mercy ere it can so punish This this is the condemnation the neglect of that great Salvation mercy shews us the miserable refusals and abuse of the riches of mercy Mercy never refuseth till men refuse What say you are you willing to be at peace and friends with that God to whom you say you have been so long enemies Never were there any who were willing to accept the conditions of mercy and to accord the quarrel of justice that mercy hath abandoned or justice arrested and cast into hell-torments If you are but willing truly throughly willing be you never so weak or have you