finite his sinne being the erring act of a creature cannot every way be infinite Wherefore such an act or transgression cannot in it selfe be unpardonable by a Creator a God who is every way infinite SecoÌ„ndly Consider that the price to satisfie GODS justice namely the death of CHRIST even the precious bloud of God the onely begotten Sonne of God doth exceed all sinne in infinitenesse of satisfaction of GODS justice and wrath due for sinne For if Christs death be a sufficient ransome for the sinnes of all Gods Elect in generall then much more of thine in particular whosoever thou be and how great and how many sins soever thou hast committed Thirdly Know that the mercy of God the forgiver of sinnes is absolutely and every way infinite For mercy in God is not a qualitie but is his very nature as is cleare by the description of his Name proclaimed Exod. 34. Which rightly understood and beleeved taketh away all the objections which a fearefull heart can make against himselfe from the consideration of his sinnes First He is mercifull that is he is compassionate and to speake after the manner of man is one that hath bowels of pittie which yerne within him at the beholding of thy miseries not willing to punish and put thee to paine but ready to succor and doe thee good But I am so vile and so ill deserving that there is nothing in mee to move him to pittie mee and doe me good 2. Hee is Gracious whom he loveth hee loveth freely of his owne gracious disposition who saith I even I am hee that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes And when God saith hee would sprinkle cleare water upon sinners and that hee would give them a new heart c. hee saith not for your sakes doe I this saith the Lord God That you should be sensible of your owne misery and then in the sense thereof that God may be enquired after and sought unto for mercy is al which he looketh for in you to move him to pitty and mercy and such is his graciousnes that he will worke this sense and this desire in you that he may have mercy But I have a long time prouoked him 3. He is long-suffering to you-wards nÌ„ot willing that you should perish but that you should come to repentance but waiteth still for your repentance and reformation that you may be saved Yea But I am destitute of all goodnesse and grace to turne unto him or doe any thing that may please him 4. He is abundant in goodnesse and kindnesse he that hath beene abundant towards others heretofore in giving them grace and making them good his store is no whit diminished but he hath all grace and goodnesse to communicate to you also to make you good Yea but I feare though God can yet God will not forgive me and give me grace 5. Hee is abundant in truth not onely the goodnesse of his gracious disposition maketh him willing but the abundance of his truth bindeth him to bee willing and doth give proofe unto you that he is willing He hath made sure promises to take away your sinne and to forgive it and not yours onely but reserveth mercie for thousands Beleeve therefore that God both can and will forgive you Yea but my sinnes are such and such and such bred at the bone â—â—numerable hainous and most â—â—ominable I am guilty of sins 〈…〉 all sorts 6. He forgiveth iniquity transâ—ession and sinne He is the God â—hat will subdue all your iniâ—uities and cast all your sinnes â—â—to the bottome of the Sea Yea but I renew my sins daily 7. I answer out of the Psalm His mercy is an everlasting mercie his mercy endureth for ever He biddeth you to aske forgivenesse of sinne daily therefore hâ— can and will forgive sinne daily yea if you sinne Seventie time seven in a day and shall confess it to God with a penitent heart he will forgive for he that biddeth you be so mercifull to you brother will himselfe forgive much more when you seeke unto him I But I have not onely committed open and grosse sinnes both before since I had knowledge of GOD but I have been a very Hypocrite making profession of GOD and yet daily commit grievous sinnes against him 8. What then Will you say your sinnes are unpardonable God forbid But say I will follow the Counsell which GOD gave to such abominable Hypocrites I will wash mee and make me cleane I will by Gods grace wash my heart from iniquitie and my hands from wickednesse by washing my selfe in the Laver of regeneration bathing myselfe in Christs bloud and in the pure water of the Word of truth applying my selfe to them and them to me by faith Say in this case I will heare what God will speake And know that if you will follow his counsell Isa 1 18. If you wil hearken to his reasoning and embrace his gracious offer made to you in Christ Iesus the issue will be this though your sins have beene most grosse reiterated double dyed even as crimson and sear let they shall be as wooll even as white as snow God will then speak peace unto you as unto other his Saints onely he will forbid you to returne to folly For not onely those which committed grosse sins through ignorance before their conversion as did Abraham in Idolatry and S. Paul in persecuting noâ— yet onely those which committed grosse sinnes through infirmitie after their conversion as did Noah by drunkennesse and Lot by incest also and Peter by denying and forswearing his Master Christ Iesus obtained mercy because they sinned ignorantly and of infirmity But also those that sinned against Knowledge and Conscience both before after conversion sinning with an high hand as Manasses before and in the matter of Vriah David after conversion they obtained like mercy and had all their sinnes forgiven Why are these examples recorded in Scripture but for patterns to sinners yea to most notorious sinners of all sorts Which should in after times beleeve in Christ Iesus unto eternall life Be willing therfore to be beholholding to God for forgivenes beleeve in Christ for forgivenes which when you doe you may be assured that you never yet committed any sin which is not and which shal not be forgiven For was it not the end why Christ came into the world that he might save sinners yea chiefe of sinners as well as others Was he not wounded for transgressions viz. of all sorts Is it not the end of his comming in his Gospell to call sinners to repentance What sinners doth hee meane there but such as you are who are laden and burdened with your sinne Doth hee not say if any man sinne marke if any man we have an advocate
for joy before ever they have made a legge and shewn any signe of thankfulnes you will easily be overtaken in this kinde and neglect God that gave it The furtherances of thankfulnesse are most of them directly contrary to the former hindrances of many take these First Get sound knowledge of God and of his infinite excellencies and absolutenesse every way of his independency on man or any other creature whence it is that he needeth not any thing that man hath or can doe neither can he be beholding to man But know that you stand in need of God and must be beholding to him for al things Know also that whatsoever God doth by whatsoever meanes it be hee doth it from himselfe induced by nothing out of himselfe being free in all that he doth Know likewise that whatsoever was the instrument of your good God was the Author both of the good and of the instrument Next Fill your selfe with a due knowledge of the full worth and excellent use of Gods gifts both common and speciall Wealth honour libertie health life senses limmes wit and reason c. considered in themselves and in their use wil be held to be great benefits but if you coÌ„sider them in their absence when you are sensible of poverty sicknesse and the rest or if you be so blessed that you know not the want of them then if you shall advisedly and humbly looke vpon the poore base imprisoned captives sicke deafe blind dumbe distracted c. Putting your selfe in their case you will â—ay that you are unspeakeably beholding to God for these corporal and temporall blessings But chiefely learne to know aâ—d consider well the worth of spirituall blessings One of them the peace of God passeth all understanding To enjoy the Gospell upon any tearmes to have â—â—â—vation such a salvation offered by Christ to have faith hope love and other the manifold saving graces of the Spirit though but in the least measure in the very first seed of the Spirit though no bigger then a grain of Mustard-seed with never so much outward affliction is of such value and consequent that it is more then eye hath seene eare hath heard or ever entred into the heart of man For besides that the least grace is invaluable in it selfe it doth give proof of better gifts namely that God hath given his Spirit hath given Christ and in him hath given himselfe a propitious and gracious God hath given all things also When you know God aright his gifts aright knowing all things in God and God in all things then you will be full of praises and thankes Secondly Be low and base in your owne eyes Let all things be base in your eyes in comparison of God account them worthlesse and helpelesse things without him Iudge your selfe to be as indeed you are lesse then the least of Gods mercies For what are you of your selfe but a compound of dust and sinne unworthy any good worthy of all misery You stand in need of God â—he not of you It is his mercy that you are not consumed When you can be thus sensible of your owne neede and that helpe can come onely from God and that you are worthy of no good thing then you will be glad and thankefull at heart to God for any thing An humble man will be more thankfull for a peny then a proud man will for a pound Thirdly Call all the forementioned knowledge of God and of his gifts into fresh memory Commune with your soule and cause it to represeÌ„t lively to your thoughts what God is in himselfe what to his Church and to you how precious his thoughts are to you-ward Tell your selfe oft what God hath done and what he will doe for your soule Call to minde with what varietie of good gifts he doth store his Church blesse you you will find that they will passe all account and number When withal you call to minde that God is free in all his gifts to you who are unworthy the least of them If you would cause your selfe to dwell upon these and the like thoughts they would worke in you an holy rapture and admiration out of which you shall with David break out into these or the like prayses Oh Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth I thanke thee I praise thee I devote my selfe as my best sacrifice to thee I will blesse thy Name for ever and ever Fourthly Be perswaded of Gods love to you in these good things which he giveth unto you First he loveth you as his creature and if onely in that regard he doth preserve you and doe you good you are bound to thanke him Secondly you cannot know but that he loveth you with a speciall love to Salvation Gods revealed will professeth as much you must not meddle with that which is secret I am sure he maketh proffer of his love and you daily receive tokens of his love both in means of this life and that which is to come Did not he love you when out of his free and everlasting good will towards you He gave his Sonne to die for you that you beleeving in him should not dye but have everlasting life What though yet you be in your sinnes Doth hee not bid you turne and hath hee not said â—hee will love you freely What though you cannot turn to him nor love him as you would yet endevour these in the use of all good meanes to be and doe as God will have you then doubt noâ— but that GOD doth love you and you must wait till you see it in the performance of his gracious promises unto you But if you would consider things aright you may know certainly that the good things you have received of God are bestowed in love to you I will onely aske these Questions Hath Gods mercie made you to bethinke your selfe of your dutie and obedience to God have you had a will to be thankefull upon the thoughts thereof or if you finde a defect and barrennesse herein hath not this unfruitfull and unthankefull receiving of good things from God beene a great burden and griefe of heart to you If yea this is an evident signe that God gave those good things to you in love because this holy and good effect is wrought in you by them Againe Dâ—â— you love God would you love God and his wayes and Ordinances yet more This provetâ— that God loveth you for 〈…〉 man can love God till God have first loved him Likewise doe you love the children of God Theâ— certainly you are Gods childe and are loved of God By these you have proofe of your calling and election how that you are now translated from death to life after which time though God may give you many things in anger as a father giveth correction yet he never giveth any thing
should bee patient taken 1 from GOD that sent it 2 from your selfe on whom it â—eth 3 from the nature and â—â—e of the affliction it selfe 4 by considering the evils of impatience 5 by comparing the blessings you have and are assured that you shall have with the crosses you have especially if patiently endured You shall from all these considerations see reason why your heart should be quiet under the greatest afflictions First consider well that whatsoever the trouble and crosse be and whatsoever bee the instrument of it either in the sense of evill or in the want of good promised God your Father 1 who doth all things according to the wisedome and counsell of his will 2 who doth afflict with most tender affection 3 who correcteth and afflicteth in measure 4 who hath alwayes holy purposes and ends in all afflictions and that for your good hath sent it First consider that it was God that did it There is no evil 〈…〉 of punishment in a City whicâ— the Lord hath not done saith Amos It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good saith El. I opened not my mouth saith David because thou Lord didst it The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed bee the Name of the Lord saith Iob. 2. All this GOD doth to his children with a fatherly affection in much love and pitty He hath your soule still in remembrance while you are in adversitie Yea he beareth some part of the burden with you for speaking after the manner of man hee saith that in all the afflictions of his children he is afflicted He delighteth not in afflicting the children of men much lesse his owne children If you aske Why then doth hee afflict or why doth he not ease you speedily I aske you Why a tender-harted father being a Chirurgion who is grieved and troubled at the paine and anguish which he himselfe caused his childe to feele with corrosives or hot irons would notwithstanding apply the burning irons and suffer those plaisters to vexe him for a long time You will say Sure the wound or malady of the childe required it and that else it could not be cured This is the case betwixt God and you Gods heart is tender and yerneth towards you when his hand is upon you therefore beare it patiently 3. God afflicteth you in measure fitting your affliction for kinde time and weight according to your need and according to the strength of grace which he hath already given you or which certainely he will give you He doth never lay more upon you then what you shall be able to beare and will alwayes with the crosse and temptation make a way to escape The husbandman will not alwayes bee plowing and harrowing of his ground but onely giveth it so many earths and so many tynes to some more to some lesse as the ground hath need and as it can beare them So likewise he thresheth his divers sorts of graine with divers Instruments according as the graine can endure them the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument neither is the cart wheele turned about upon the cummin bread-corne is bruised because hee will not ever be threshing it nor breake it with the wheele of his cart nor bruise it with his horsemen If the husbandman doe all this by the discretion wherewith God hath instructed him can you think that God who is wonderfull in counsell and excellent in working will plow and harrow any of his ground or thresh any of his corne above that which is fit and more than his ground and corne can beare Should not you his ground and corne bee patient at such tillage and at such threshing 4. Gods end in afflicting is alwayes his owne glory in your good as to humble you and to bring you to a sight of your sinne to breake up the fallow ground of your heart that you may sow in righteousnesse and reape in mercy to harrow you that the seed of grace may take root in you All Gods afflictions are either to remove impediments of grace By this saith Esay shall the inequity of Iacob bee purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin All the plowing is but to kill weeds and to fit the ground for seed all the threshing and winnowing is but to sever the chaffe from the corne and all the grinding and boulting by afflictions is but to sever the bran from the flowre that Gods people may be a pure meate-offering acceptable to him Or else he afflicts that his children might have experience of his love power in preserving and delivering them or that they might have the exercise proofe and increase of faith hope love and other principall graces scil to worke patience and experience by them which serve for the beautifying perfecting of a Christian God doth iudge his children here that they may repent and be reformed that they may not bee condemned with the world Gods end in chastising you shall be found to be alwayes for your good that you shall be able to say It was good for mee to be afflicted For it is that you may be partaker of his holinesse and accordingly of his glory and happinesse Beare therefore all afflictions patiently for they are for your good If this be your crosse and trouble that you want many of the graces and good gifts of GOD which he hath promised Know also that this deferring to give graces and comforts is of God not out of neglect or forget fulnesse of you but of set wise and good purpose even to you-ward As to inkindle your desires more and more after them and it may be that you should seek them in a better manner It is likewise to try your faith and hope whether you will doe him that honour as to wait and rest upon his bare word When you are fit for them you shall have them You must therefore worke your heart yet to wait patiently for them considering the faithfulnesse power of God that promised and how that all the promises of God are Yea and Amen in Christ He is wise true and able to fulfill them in the due time and in the best manner for faithfull is he that hath promised and will fulfill it and yet a little while and hee that shall come will come and will not tarry Secondly when the Soule beginneth to be disquieted consider your selfe how unworthy you are of any blessing how worthy you are of all Gods curses yea of eternall damnation in Hell and that justly because of the sin of your nature and wicked actions of your life When you shall doe thus your heart will be quiet and content you wil say with the Church whatsoever your trouble be I will beare the indignation of the Lord for I have sinned against him He that doth acknowledge that he hath deserved to be hanged
drawne and quartered for an offence against the King if the King will be so mercifull that he shall escape only with a severe whipping to remember him of his disloyaltie though he smart terribly with those lashes yet in his mind he can beare them patiently and gladly If you can thinke thus I deserve more punishment in this kinde nay in any other together with this inal other with this one or with these few my punishment is lesse than mine iniquities deserve for I might have beene frying in Hell long since and have beene past all meanes and hope of salvation but I live and have time and meanes to make a good use of my afflictions These thoughts will cause you to say Why am I Why is living man sorrowfull that is impatiently sorrowfull or why doth he complaine saith the Prophet what shall man who is punished for his sinne but not fully to his desert yet complaine for he yet liveth to search his wayes and turne to the Lord and seeke mercy Say with the Church in all your distresses Its Gods mercy it is not worse It is Gods mercy I am not utterly consumed Thirdly When your soule beginneth to bussle and bee out of quiet under afflictions whether inward in soule or outward in body or state consider the nature use of them to you-ward To the eye and touch of sense they are evill and as poyson things hurtfull and dangerous but to the eye and touch of faith they are good as good physicke most healthful to the soule and saving God the skilfull Physician hath quite altered the nature of crosses to his children he that bringeth light out of darknesse so tempers afflictions that they become good antidotes and preservatives against sinne and good purgatives of sinne The core sting and curse of the crosse which remaineth to a wicked man is by Christs patient suffering and Gods mercy taken quite away out of the afflictions of beleevers Afflictions to the godly are not properly punishments serving to pacifie GODS wrath for sinne but are onely chastisements to remove sinne and are exercises of graces and meanes of holinesse For they serve either to prevent evil or to reforme it either to make way for grace or to quicken and increase grace or to discover and give proofe of it God is as a wise and skilful Gold-smith he knowes how to purge his Gold by casting it into the fire of affliction which fire is not the same to the drosse which it is to the gold it consumes the drosse but refineth the gold that it may be fit to be made a vessell of Honour Fire serveth to trie gold as Well as to purge it for pure gold though it remain in the fire manie daies the fire cannot waste it when it is once pure it will hold its waight still for all the burning Hence it is that the Psalmist saith It is good for me that I have beene afflicted that I might learne thy statutes and the Apostle saith All things worke together for good to them that love God He is a froward foolish person who being sicke of a deadly disease doth not patiently and gladly endure the gripings extreame sicknes of stomacke and bowels when he knoweth that this his sicknesse caused by bitter physicke is for his health You will say If you could finde that your afflictions did you any good you should not onely be patient but glad under any afflictions I answer Whatsoever you feele faith in Gods Word will tell you that they both now doe you good and hereafter you shall feele the benefit of it The benefit of Physicke is not alwaies felt the day you take it but chiefly when the Physicke hath done working The chiefe end why GOD tryeth and purgeth you by afflictions is that he may humble you and prove you to doe you good at your latter end Reade Deut. 8. 15 16. You should therefore be patient in the meane time Fourthly If yet your heart begin to be disquieted because of such or such an affliction Consider with your selfe what harme impatience will doe you compared with the good that will follow a patient enduring of it For besides that it depriveth you of your right understanding and maketh you to forget your selfe as I have said even to forget your dutie both to God and man it is the readiest meanes to double and lengthen the affliction not to abate it and take it off That parent which intended to give a childe but light correction if this childe be impatient and catch at the rod and struggleth to get the rod or to get away by force from him is hereby more incensed and doth punish him more severely But if in any affliction you doe patiently submit your selfe under GODS mightie hand besides that ease and quiet it giveth to the soule and experience and hope which it worketh in you it is the readiest meanes of seasonable deliverance out of it for then GOD will exalt you in due time GOD is wise and too strong to be overcome by any meanes but by strong prayer and humble yeeldance to his will Fifthly If yet your soule be disquieted within you at anie crosses that you may quiet your soule you must not as most doe take onely into the one skale of your consideration the waight and number of your crosses together with such and such aggravations but withall put into the other skale the manifold mercies and favours of God both in the evils you have escaped and in the benefits which heretofore you have received and doe now enjoy and which you beleeving have cause to hope to receive hereafter But amongst all his mercies forget not this one which you have alreadie GOD hath given Christ unto you whereby he himselfe is yours is your portion Now if you have Christ you have with him all things also which are worth the having When you have thus weighed unpartially blessings mercies against crosses you will tell me that for one crosse you have an hundred blessings yea a blessing in your crosses and you will say that this one mercie of being in Christ it alone weigheth up all crosses and maketh them as light as nothing giving you so much matter of joy thankes even in the midst of affliction that you can neither have cause not time to be impatient or to repine at anie affliction but to reioyce even in your tribulations And as for the time to come when you thinke thereof you wil with the Apostle Paul when you have cast up all your crosses and sufferings of this presēt time yet reckon that they are not worthy to be compared with the Glorie that shall be revealed in you For they are but short for time and light for weight being compared with the everlasting weight of glorie which they will cause to you if you endure them patiently I will say nothing of
them no mercie and he that formed them will shew them no favour Thus it is spoken to every sinner remaining in his sin notwithstanding that GOD made him 2. Some say their afflictions have beene so many so great and so long-lasting that they hope they have had their Hell in this life whence it is that their hearts are quiet in respect of any feare of wrath and judgement at the last day I would aske such Whether they being thus afflicted have returned to God that smote them whether their afflictions have made them better or whether like Salomons foole brayed in a morter their sinne and folly is not departed from them if so they must know the more they have beene and now are afflicted if they be not reformed by it this doth presage that there is the more worse behinde as it was in the case of Iudah Many have beene oft and extreamely whipt by their Parents and at the house of Correction yet they remaining incorrigible were at last executed on the Gallowes 3. Some though their wayes be never so grievous yet because to them Gods Iudgements are farre above out of their sight and because they have no changes God forbearing to execute his judgements upon them speedily they perswade themselves that God seeth not or that hee is not angry with them or that hee regardeth not and that hee will neither doe good nor bad thinking that God hath forgotten or that hee is like them well enough pleased with them Hereby they lay their Consciences asleepe promising unto themselves immunity from punishment and that they shall never be mooved Know yee that Gods for bearance of his wrath is not because he seeth not or because hee hath forgotten or regardeth not your wickednesse but because hee would give you time and means of repentance it is because hee would not have you perish but come to repentance that you may be saved Which if you doe not this his bounty and long-suffering maketh way for his justice and serveth to leave you without excuse and to heape up wrath for you against the day of Iudgement the day of the revelation of the iust iudgement of God who shall render to every man according to his workes For God knoweth how to reserue the wicked to the day of Iudgement to be punished He will take his time to heare and afflict you When hee shall set all the sins of you that forget him in order before you then if your speedy repentance doe not now prevent it he will teare you in peeces when there shall be none to deliver The longer he was in fetching his blow the more deadly will his stroke be when it commeth Many malefactors are not so much as called at a quarter Sessions when lesse offenders are both called and punished yet have they no cause to promise safety to themselves for they are reserved for a more solemne try all and execution at the grand Assises So wicked men that are not afflicted here are reserved for the last Iudgement at the great and terrible day of the Lord. 4. There are some which hope that God doth love them and that hee doth intend to save them for they prosper in every thing and are not in trouble and distresse as other men hereupon their Consciences are quiet and without feare Let mee tell you who thus thinke that alas this is a poore foundation to build your hope upon What are you the better for your prosperitie are you more thankefull and more obedient Doe you the more good by as much as you doe prosper more If so well if not know Salomon by the Spirit of truth telleth you that â—o man can know Gods love or haâ—red by all that is before him be it prosperity or adversity In these things there may be one and the same event to the righteous and â—o the wicked Know moreover that the wicked for the most â—art thrive most in this world God giving them their portion in this life wherewith they fat theÌ„selves against the day of slaughâ—er making their owne table their snare and their prosperitie their ruine 5. There are many who comparing themselves with themselves passing by their own many sins looking onely upon their owne Hypocriticall and civill good purposes and deeds comparing also their sinnes with the notorious sinnes of Gods people committed before their Conversion and with the grosse sinnes of Noah Abraham Lot Peter and other godly men after Conversion hence conclude that sith such are saved they conceive a good opinion of themselves and hope they shall be saved they thinke that all is well with them being such of whom our Saviour speaketh that need no repentance I would have these to know that they that compare themselves with themselves are not wise and they that thinke well of themselves and commend themselves are not approved but those onely whom the LORD commendeth Moreover the slips and fals of the Elect both before and after Conversion did serve for their owne humbling and for a warning to all that should heare thereof God knoweth how to reproove and chasten his owne that offend giving them repentance to life and Salvation and yet justly will condemn all those that shall wittingly stumble at their fals and wilfully lye in their sinnes being fallen It is not safe following the best men in all their actions for in many things they sinne all not onely before but after conversion And as the cloud that guided the Israelites had two sides the one bright and shining the other blacke and darke such is the cloud of Examples of godly men Those which will be directed by the light side thereof shall with the children of Israel passe safely towards the heavenly Canaan but those that will follow the dark side of it shal all perish with the Egyptians in the Red sea of destructioÌ„ Whatsoever any were before coÌ„version or whatsoever grosse sinne they fall into after conversion if they be humble and truely penitent none of them are laid to their charge because they are done away by Christ Iesus These are in better state than those who for matter never committed so great sins if Pharisie-like they repent not of their lesser sinnes as they esteeme them and are proud of their supposed goodnesse and wel-doing For God in justifying the humble Publican rather than the proud Pharisie sheweth that proud innocencie is alwayes worse than humble guiltinesse 6. There are likewise some others who are guilty to themselves of damnable sins yet hope to be saved by the goodnesse of other men by pardons from the Pope by absolutions of Priests and by certaine satisfactory penitentiall externall acts of their owne and by good workes such as almes c. These are Papists who if they may have hope of the Popes Indulgences if they can get his pardon and a Priests absolution if they
â—ffer of grace as it is for the Blackmoore to change his skin or â—he Leopard his spots It cannot be denyed but that God is free and if he please may open a doore of hope and gate of mercy unto the most obstinate sinner who hath deferred his repentance to his old age wherefore if such a one finde his heart â—o bee broken with remorse for his other sinnes and is troubled inconscience for this his sinne if not accepting of Gods grace when it was offered I wish him to humble himselfe before God and conceive hope For God hath promised pardon to the penitent whensoever they repent And though no man can repent when he wil yet such a one may hope that God is now giving him repentance in that he hath touched his heart and made it to be burdened with sinne Yet for all this hope which I give to such a man know that it is rare and very seldome to be found that those that continued to despise grace untill their age did ever repent but God left them justly to perish in their impenitency because they despised the means of grace the season in which he did call them to repentance and did offer them his grace whereby they might repent GOD dealeth with all sinners ordinarily as hee said he would doe and as he did to Iudah Because I would have purged thee saith he that is I tooke the onely course to purge thee and bring thee to repentance and thou wast not purged therefore thou shalt not be purged from thy filthinesse any more till I have caused my fury torest on thee Thus I have endevoured to discover and remove the false grounds and misapplication of true grounds whereby the Conscience is deluded and brought into a dangerous quiet and false peace In the third place he that would not be gulled with a false peace in stead of a true must beware of obstinacie delight and senslesnesse of sinne For this seares the Conscience as with an hot iron Now a seared conscience is quiet with a false peace not because there is no danger but because it doth not feele it Great care must be had therefore lest the Conscience be seared being made thicke skinned brawny and senslesse for then it doth altogether or for the most part forbeare to checke or accuse for sinne be it never so hainoâ—s This searednesse is caused by a witting and customary living in any sinne but especially by living in any grosse sinne or in the allowance and delight in any knowne sinne also by allowed hypocrisie and dissimulation in any thing and by doing any thing contrary to the cleare light of nature planted in a mans own brest and head or contrary to the cleare light of grace shining in the motions of the Spirit in the checks of conscience and in the instructions of the Word Keepe therefore the conscience tender by all meanes 1 By hearkning readily to the voyce of the Word 2 By a carefull survay of your wayes dayly 3 By keeping the conscience soft with godly sorrow for sinne 4 By harkening to the voyce of conscience admonishing checking for sinne Either of these three kinds of conscience viz. the blind presumptuous and seared conscience will admit of a kinde of peace or truce rather for a while while it sleepeth but what God said of Cains sinne must bee conceived of all sinne If thou doest not well sinne lyeth at the doore And upon what termes soever it bee that it lie stil and trouble not the Conscience for a time yet it will awake in its time and then by as much as it did admit of some peace and quiet it will grow more turbulent mad and furious and if God give not repentance this false peace endeth for the most part either in reprobate minde or a desperate end even in this life besides the hellish horrors in that which is to come Now to the end that no man should quiet his hart in this false and dangerous peace whether it proceed from the aforementioned causes or from any other â— would advise him to try his Peace whether it bee not false by these infallible markes First is any man at peace with Gods enemies allowing himselfe â—n the love of those things or persons which hate God and which are hated of God such as are the world and the things of the world whereby he denyeth the power of godlinesse living wittingly and delighting in any evil company or in any grosse sin as vaine or false swearing open prophanation of the Sabbath Malice Adultery Theft Lying or in any of those mentioned 2 Tim. 3 2 3. or in any knowne sinne â—ith allowance The holy Ghost saith of such that the love of God is not in them therefore the peace of God is not in them and whosoever maketh himselfe a friend to his lusts and to the world maketh himselfe an enemy of Gods As any man is at peace with the flesh the world and the Devill hâ— is not at true peace with God noâ— God with him If any such expecâ— peace and should aske is it peace answer may be made like to thaâ— which Iehu made both to thâ— servants and king of Israel Whaâ— have you to doe with peace Whaâ— peace so long as your notorious sinne and rebellions wherein you delight are so many For he that careth not to keepe a good conscience towards GOD and towards men cannot have true peace of conscience For there is no true peace but in a good conscience Secondly Is any man not at peace but at warre rather with GODS friends and with the things which God loveth being out of love with spiritual and conscionable prayer hearing the Word good company of Gods people and the like if any man despise the things God commandeth and loveth certainly God and he are two and whatsoever his forme of godlinesse be GOD holdeth him to be yet in state of perdition For whosoever saith he knoweth GOD but yet loveth not and keepeth not his Commandements he is a lyar And if any man love not his brother whatsoever shew of peace and friendship is betwixt God him I am sure God saith hee that doth noâ— righteousnesse is not of God neither hee that loveth not his brother he is a childe of the Devill and therfore hath no true peace with God Thirdly He whose quiet of heart and Conscience is from false peace is willing to take it for granted that his peace is sound and good and cannot abide to looke and to enquire into his peace to try whether it be true and whether it be well grounded or no being as it seemeth afraid lest stirring the mud and filth that lyeth in the bottom of his heart he should disquiet it And for this cause it is that such a one cannot endure a searching Ministry nor wil like that Minister which will dive and rake into the
And while you walke in his waâ—es they are charged to support you lest you should receive any harme Fifthly When you walkâ— with â—od though you be alone and â—ithout all other companions â—u doe walke with the best compaâ—y even such whereof there is â—ost need and best use While God and you walke together â—ou have an advantage above â—ll that walk not with him For â—ou have a blessed opportunity of that holy acquaintance with God which is required in Iob. You have opportunity to speak unto him to aske him his advice in every thing praying with assuraÌ„ce of a gracious hearing Abraham and his faithfull servant made use of their walking with God for these purposes Is it not a rare favor that the most high God shall vouchsâ—â—â— to come downe from Heaven and walke on earth with base man nay rather to call up man from earth to Heaven to walke with him It would be therfore shameful hatefull ingratitude not to accept this offer and not to obey this charge Sixtly â—o set the Lord alwaies in your sight is an excellent preservative and restraint from sinne With this shield chaste Ioseph did repell and quench the fiery darts of the temptations of his lewd Mistris For who is so foolish shameles as to transgresse wittingly the just lawes of a Father King and Iudge knowing that he is present and doth observe him with detestation if he so doe Seventhly to have the Lord alwayes in your eye and thought is an excellent remedie against spirituall stoth and negligence in good duties and it is a sharpe spurre to quicken you and make you diligent and abundant in the worke of the Lord. What servaÌ„t can be slothfull false in his Masters sight And what Master will keepe a servaÌ„t that wil not observe him and do his commands while â—e himselfe looketh on Eightly Walking with God in â—anner abovesaid doth exceeâ—ingly please God please Gods â—oly Angels please Gods faithâ—â—ll Ministers and doth please â—d strengthen all those good peoâ—â—e of God with whom you doe â—â—nverse It is to walk worthy â—â— Godin all well pleasing Ninthly Thus walking with God you shal be assured of Gods â—ercy and gracious favour Hee â—â—epeth covenant and mercy with â—ll his servants that walke before â—im with all their heart When â—ou doe thus walk in the light â—ou have a gracious fellowship with God and the blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth you from all sinne There is no condemnation to you which thus walke Your flesh when you die shal rest in hope â—or to them that set God before â—heÌ„ he doth shew the path of life which wil bring them into his â—â—orious preseÌ„ce where are fulâ—esse of ioyes and pleasures for eâ—ermore Any one of these motives advisedly thought upon by a willing an humble and prayerfull person were enough to perswade to this holy walking with God Notwithstanding it is woefull to consider how few there be which walke thus For most men seeke not after God God is not in all their thoughts they walke in the vanity of their mindes After their owne lusts the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life walking according to the course of this world according to the will of Satan the Prince of the Power of the ayre the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Who refuse to return orto cal themselves into question though God doc wait and hearken for it no not so much as to say What have wee done But every one runneth to his course as the horse rusheth into the battell Now touching all that walke â—…us contrary unto God God hath â—…id that hee will set his face aâ—â—inst them and punish them seven â—…es even with many and sore â—…agues And if yet they will â—alke contrary to him he will â—alke contrary to them in fury and â—…nish them seven times and seven â—…mes more for their sinnes And if yet they will walke in impeniâ—ency notwithstanding Gods offâ—r of mercy to them in Christ Saint Paul could not speake of such with dry eies but peremptorily pronounceth that their end is destruction As for your selfe I will say no more but this Weigh well the premises Compare the way wherein you walke with God with all other wayes compare company with all other company compare guide with guides and compare the issues and end of this way with the issues and end of all other wayes and the choyce of your walke will easily and quickly be made Thus much be said in generall of walking with God CHAP. II. How to walke with God in all things at all times THE Commandement to walke with God is indefinite without limitation therefore must be understood to be a walking with him in all things and that at all times in all companies and in all changes conditions and estates of your life whatsoever To walke with God in grosse is not sufficient You are not dispensed with for any momeÌ„t of your life but all the daies of your life and each day of your life and each houre of that day and each minute of that houre you must passe the time the whole time of your â—welling here in feare even all â—he day long saith Salomon You must indevor to have a consciâ—nce voyd of offence alwaies â—s saith the Apostle You must â—ive the rest of your life not to the lusts of men but to the will of God taking heed lest at any time there bee in you an evill heart of unbeliefe in departing from the living God 1. For this end Christ did redeeme you from the hands of your enemies that you might serve him in holinesse righteousnes which is the same with walking with God al the daies of your life without feare 2. The end of the instructions of the Word which is the light to your feet in this walking is that it be bound upon your hart 〈…〉 continually to lead keepe and â—alke with you at all times 3. The lusts of your owne â—eart and your Adversary the devill lye alwayes upon the advantage to stay you or to divert you out of your godly course so that upon every intermission of your holy care to please GOD they take their opportunity to surprise you 4. You are accountable unto God for losing mis-spending all that precious time wherin you doe not walke in his wayes 5. Besides he that hath much worke to do or that is in a long journey or is running a race for a wager hath no need to lose any time If you be cast behinde in your work and race you will hardly recover your losse but with much sorrow with renued â—aith and with more than ordinary repentance Wherfore when you do awake in the night or in the morning and while you are awake in the day and when you betake
God which is Invocation and earnest prayer to God in the Name of Christ through the holy Ghost in particular large harty confessions and complaints against your selfe for your sinnes asking forgivenes making known your holy resolutioÌ„s asking grace and giuing thankes for that he is at one with you having giveÌ„ Christ for you and to you and for that he hath given you a minde to know him and the power of his resurrection with other the first fruits of the Spirit which is the earnest of your inheritance Let this solemn and more then ordinary seeking of GOD by prayer alone by your selfe be twise at least in the day of your Fast besides your ordinary prayers in the Morning Evening having thus made your peace with God you may nay ought to pray for the good or against the evill which was the occasion of the Fast But in praying you must in ferrency of spirit cry mightily striving and wrastling in prayer The extraordinary burnt offerings sinne offerings meate and drinke offerings besides the finâ—ffering of the Attonement and the continuall burnt offering meate and drinke offering to be offered the solemne day of the Fast under the Law which in the substance of it is the standard of religious Fasts doth shew that a Fast must be kept in manner as hath beene said For hereby we prepare sanctifie our selves and seeke to God in Christ hereby we by faith lay hold on Christ the onely true sacrifice for sin hereby we doe by him draw nigh to God and in token of thankfulnes doe giue our selves to be an whole and living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is our reasonable serving of God For your greater and more thorough humbling of your self and further exercise of your faith in God and love to your brethren and Church of God something yet is to be added You must represent to your thoughts also the sinnes and evils that are already upon or hanging over the head of your familie and neerest friends and of your towne Country or Kingdome where you live together with their severall aggravations lay them to heart considering that they by sinning doe also dishonour God your Father and doe bring evill of soule and body upon those whom you should love as well as your selfe And it is a thousand to one but that you are involved in their sinnes and become accessary if not by comand example counsell permission conniving not punishing familiarity with sinners or concealement yet in not grieving for them in not hating them and in not confessing and disclaiming them before God These also bring common Iudgements upon Church and State which you should prefer before your own particular wherin you may look to have your part You must therfore affect your heart with these thoughts and mourne not onely for your owne first but then for the abhominations of your family town country and Kingdome For the sins of Princes and Nobles for the sins of Ministers and People And not onely for the present sinnes of the Land but for the sinnes long since committed whereof it hath not yet repented Rivers of waters should runne downe from your eyes at least sighs and grones should rise from your heart because others as well as your selfe have forgotten Gods Law and have exposed themselves to his destroying Iudgements Doe all this so that you may poure out your heartlike water to the Lord in their behalfe This is to stand in the Breach the prayer of a righteous man availeth much if it be servent though he have infirmities If it should not take good effect for others yet your teares and sighs shall doe good to your selfe it causeth you to have Gods seal in yourforehead you are marked for mercy God will take you from the evill to come or will make a way for you-to escape or will pturne the hearts of your enemies to you as it was with Ieremie or if you should be carried captive he will be a little Sanctuarie to you in the land of your captivitie or if you smart under the commoâ— judgement it shall be sanctified to you and if you perish bodily yet when others that cannot live and are afraid to die are aâ— their wits end you shall be able in the conscience of your mourning and of disclaiming your own others sins to welcome death as a messenger of good tidings and as a â—ortall to everlasting happines If it be a publike Fast all these things before mentioned are to â—e done alone both before and after the publike exercises which amongst the Iewes tooke up two â—ourth parts of the artificiall day â—t which time you must joine in publike hearing the Word read and preached and in praier with more than ordinary intention and fervency If you fast with your Family or with some few let convenient times bee spent in reading the Word or some good Booke or Sermons which may be fit to direct and quicken you for the present worke also in feruent prayer The other time alone let it be spent as I have shewed before If some publike or necessary occasion such as you could not well foresee or prevent when you made choice of your day of private fast happeÌ„ to interrupt you I doe judge that you may attend those occasions not withstanding your Fast but doe it thus if they may be dispatched with little adoe then dispatch them and after continue your fast but if you cannot I thinke that you had better be humbled that you were hindred breake off your fast and set some other day apart in stead thereof even as when a man is necessarily hindred in his vow The Benefit that will accrew to you by religious Fasting will be motive enough to an often use of it as there shall be cause It was never read or heard of that a fast was kept in truth according to the former directions from the Word but either obtained the particular thing for which it was kept or a better to him at least that tasted And besides that it will if any thing will obtaine the thing intended thus fasting will put the soule into such good plight and tune into such an habit of spiritualnesse that like as when against some speciall entertainment a day hath been spent in searching every sluts corner in a house and in rubbing and washing it it will be kept cleane with ordinary sweeping a quarter of a yeare or long time after I doe acknowledge that some have fasted and God hath not regardedit yea hee telleth some before-hand that if they fast he will not heare their cry But these were such who fasted not to God they onely sought themselves they would not hearken to his Word there was no putting away of sinne as loosing the bands of wickednesse c. No mortification of sinne no renewing
in hatred and in wrath as hee doth to his enemies All things works together for good to them that love God therfore whatsoever he giveth to such is in love Fifthly Preferre the honour and glory of God before and above all things that may be beneficiall to your selfe preferre likewise the kindnesse and love of God in the gift farre above the gift it selfe then you will never bee so taken up with the enjoyment of the gift as to forget to give prayse and thankes to the Giver Sixthly unto the former helps â—dde this take upon you with â—n holy imperiousnesse over your soule charge your selfe to be thankefull and sith you have good reason for it take no nay Say with David Blesse the Lord O my soule and all that is within me blesse his holy Name c. Lastly to all other meanes ioyne earnest prayer to God to give you a thankefull heart It is not all the reasons you can alleage for it nor at the morall perswasions you can propound to your soule can worke it though these bee good meanes yea Gods means if you goe about to worke your heart to it in the power of your owne might all will be in vaine For as you cannot pray but by Gods Spirit so neither can you give thankes but by the Spirit Therefore say as David did Renew O Lord a right spirit in me and open my lippes that my mouth may shew forth thy prayse SECTION 2. Touching proofes of Thanks IT is not enough to professe and utter prayse and thankes to God you must give proofe of it First by devoting and giving your selfe to God to be at the will of him who is your Soveraigne Lord who giveth you all that you have who is alwaies giving unto you and alwaies doing you good Pay your vowes to him that performes his promises to you Let it appeare that you acknowledge him to be such a one as you say in your prayses and that you stand bound and beholding to him indeed as you say in your thankes in that you carrie your selfe in your life towards him as to him who only is Excellent who onely is God who is your God the God of your life and salvation and that in all holy service and in all holy living For Thankes-doing is the proofe and life of Thanks-giving and it is a divine saying The good life of the Thankefull is the life of Thankefulnesse Wherfore every new mercy should quicken your resolution to persevere and increase in well-doing serving God the rather with gladnes of heart because of the abundance of all things Secondly Doe good with those blessings which God giveth you For every good gift is given to a man to profit withall not onely himselfe but every member of that body whereof he is part Whatsoever good gift God hath given you whether corporall or spirituall it must be imployed to Gods glory and to your neighbors good as well as to your owne as God shall minister opportunitie If riches and the same must be understood of health strength wisdome skill c. be given to you you must honour God therewith and as God doth prosper you in any thing you must communicate to them that need as to the poore sicke weake simple and ignorant If God give knowledge faith spirituall wisdome abilitie to pray or any other of his rich graces you must not hoard them up and keep them reserved for your owne private benefit but you must communicate them to others and improve them for the good of others for the procuring their spirituall good and edifying them in faith hope and love By communicating your goods and common gifts of God in this sort you make your selfe friends with them against a day of need and when you honour GOD and doe good with any the talents which GOD putteth into your hand to trade with then you make the best improvemeÌ„t of them Hee who thus maketh God his friend in his prosperitte shall certainely finde him to be his sure friend in adversity in this life and when he shall be put out of his Stewardship at death then he shall be received into the everlasting habitations When the more you prosper the better you desire and endevour to be and to doe more good this is an infallible proofe of true thankfulnes and is an evident signe that you walk with God in prosperity as he would have you Give all diligence therefore to learne this lesson how to be full and how to abound But know it can be learned no where but in Christs Schoole and can never be practised but by Christs strength This is it which the Apostle had learned and said he was able to doe it through Christ that strengthened him It is a most needfull and high point of learning to be instructed and to know every where and in every thing how to be full and to abound of the two it is more rare and more difficult then to know how to bee abased and to suffer want which shall be the subject of the next Chapter CHAP. XI How to walke as in Gods sight under crosses in all adversity SECTION 1. EVery day wil bring forth his evill and crosse whether lighter ordinary or more heavy and rare The first sort riseth partly from the common frailties of the perverse natures of theÌ„ with whom you shall converse and partly from your owne as from tetchinesse and aptnesse to take things in ill part Such are discourtesies from those of whom you looked for kindnesse Imperiousnesse and too much domineering of Superiours sullennesse negligence and disregard from inferiours an awkewardnesse and crossenesse in the persons and things with which you have to deale Touching these the Rule is Lay not these to heart too neare you Make them not greater than they be through your impatiency as many doe who upon every light occasion of dislike cast themselves into such an Hell of vexation and discontent that all the blessings they receive that day are scarce observed or can make their lives comfortable Whereas Wisdome should prevent and Love and Wisedome should cover and passe by most of these seeing as if you saw not or if you will give way to any passion at these let it be with hatred of their and your sin which is the cause of these and all other crosses These should occasion you to pitty and pray for them that give you this offence and for your selfe who many times without cause take offence You may if need require shew your dislike and admonish the offender if so bee you doe it with meekenesse of wisedome but learne hereby to warne your selfe that you give not the like offence But whether your crosses and afflictions be seeming onely and in conceit or indeed whether from God immediately or from man whether light or heavie follow these directions 1. Be not transported with passion and choler
worldly griefe must be avoided in all sorts of crosses For by it you repine against GOD fret against men and doe make your selfe unfit for naturall civill and spiritual duties and if it be continued it worketh death The best remedy against worldly sorrow for any crosse is to turn it into godly sorrow for sin which is the cause of the crosse This will cause repentance to salvation never to be repented of and will drive you to Christ in whom if you beleeve you shall have joy and comfort even such ioy unspeakeable which will dispell and drie up both this and all other griefes whatsoever For godly sorrow doth alwaies in due time end in spirituall joy SECTION 2. Of bearing all crosses patiently IN the third place I told you that you must beare all your afflictions and crosses patiently By Patience I doe not meane a Stoicall sensclesnesse or blockish stupiditie like that of Isachar Nor yet a counterseit patience like Esau's and Absaloms Nor a meere civill and morall patience which wise Heathen to free themselves from vexation and for-vaine-glorie and other ends attained unto Nor yet a prophane patience of men insensible of GODS hishonour Nor a patience-perforce when the sufferer is meerely passive But a Christ an holy patience wherein you must be sensible of Gods hand and when you cannot but feele an unwillingnesse in nature to beare it yet for conscience to Gods Commandement you doe submit to his will and that voluntarily with an active patience causing your selfe to be willing to beare it so long as God shall please like the patience of Christ Not my will but thine be done The excellencie of Christs suffering was not in that he suffered but in that he was obedient in his suffering He was obedient to the death So likewise no mans suffering is acceptable if he be not active and obedient in suffering This Patience is a grace of the Spirit of God wrought in the heart and will of man through beleeving and applying the Commandement and promises of God to himselfe whereby for conscience sake towards God he doth submit his will to Gods will willing quietly to beare without bitternesse and vexation all the labours changes and evill occurrents which shall be fall him in the whole course of his life whether from God immediately or from man as also to wait quietly for all such good things which God hath promised but yet are delayed and unfulfilled To induce you to get and to shew forth this holy Patience know that you have need of it and that in these respects 1. You are but halfe a Christian you are imperfect in your parts you want a principall part if you want patience thus S. Iames argueth implying that hee that will be entire and want nothing to make him a Christian man he must have patience This passive obedience is greater than active it is more rare and more difficult to obey in suffering than to obey in doing 2. You have not a sure possession of your soule without patience In your patience possesse yee your soules saith our Saviour A man without patience is not his own man hee hath not power nor rule over his owne spirit nor yet of his own body The tongue hand and feet of an impatient man will not bee held in by reason But he that is patient enjoyeth himselfe and hath rule over his spirit no crosse can put him out of possession of himselfe Thirdly There are so many oppositions and lets in your race and growth of Christianity that without patience to suffer and to wait you cannot possibly bring forth good fruit to God nor hold out your profession of Christianitie to the end but shall give off before you have enjoyed the promise Therefore you are bid to runne with patience the race which is set before you And the good ground is said to bring forth fruie with patience And the faithfull are said through Faith and Patience to inherite the Promises Fourthly Patience worketh experience without which no man can be an expert Christian this experieÌ„ce being of the greatest use to confirme a Christian soule in greatest difficulties This be said of the necessitie together with the benefit of patience that you may love it and may desire to have and shew it By what meanes you may attaine it followeth First you must be after a sort impatient and must spend your passion on your lusts which war in your members fall out with them mortifie them for nothing maketh a man impatient so much as his lusts doe both because they wil never be satisfied it is death to a man to be crossed in them and because the fulfilling of lusts doth cause a guilty conscience whence followeth impatience troublesome vexation upon every occasion like unto the raging Sea which with every wind dothâ—ome and rage and cast up nothing but filth and dirt And as Saint Iames saith Whence are warres and brawlings So I say of all other fruits of impatiencie But from your lusts that warre in your members Take away the causes of impatiency then you have made a good way for patience Secondly Lay a good soundation of patience you must be humble and low in your owne eyes through an appreâ—eÌ„sion that you are lesse then the least of GODS mercies and that your greatest punishments are lesse than your iniquities have deserved As any man hath abounded in humility so hath â—ee abounded in patience witnesse the examples of Abraham Moses Iob David and others Thirdly Store your heart with faith hope and love all these and either of these do calm â—he heart and keepe it â—eadie For besides that they quiet the heart in the maine giving assurance of Gods love in Christ For being iusâ—â—fied by faith we have peace with God reiâ—yce in hope whence joy and patience in tribulation And who can be impatient with him whom hee loveth with all his heart and strength These graces also doe furnish a man with an ability of spiritual reasoning and disputing with a disquieted soule whereby it may be quieted in any particular disquietment Wherefore the fourth meane of patience is to doe as Davâ— did whensoever you finde your heart begin to boyle and to be impatient you must before passion hath got the bit in the teeth and carried you out of your selfe into height of impatience aske your soule what is the matter and why it is so disquieted within you This do seriously and your heart will quickly represent to your thoughts such and such crosse or crosses stretched out upon the tenters of manifold aggravations All which you must answer by the spirituall reasoning of your faith grounded on the word of God whereby you may quiet your heart and put it to siâ—ence Whatsoever the affliction be that may trouble you you may â—e furnished with reasons why you
exercises of Religion and the company of those that be religious ignorantly judging all of that Religion to be such Besides Hypocrisie is high treason against God for it is a guilding over and setting the Kings stampe upon base mettall It is tempting and mocking of God to his face A sinne so abominable that his holy justice cannot indure it Fourthly Gods judgements on such hypocrites are manifold For this cause God giveth them over to beleeve lyes even Popery or any other damnable error or heresie Hence it is that God giveth them over many times to fall from good in seeming to evill in profession and thence from evill to worse even unto finall Apostasie And at last when God taketh away an Hypocrites soule he is sure not onely to lose his Hope which addeth much to his Hell but to be made to feele that which he would not feare being ranked with those Sinners which shal be punished with the greatest severity in the eternall vengeance of Hell-five For after that an hypocrite hath played the civill and religious man for a while upon the Stage of this World his last Act when his life is ended is to be in deed and to act to the life the part of an incarnate and tormented Devill He shall have his portion with the Divell and his Angels When feare hath surprised the Hypocrites who shall dwell with devouring fire Who shall dwell with everlasting burning Saith the Prophet Happy were it for them if this warning might fright them out of this their sinne Consider likewise that Hypocrisie doth much harme even there where it doth not raigne and that more or lesse according as it is more or lesse mortified For first it bringeth the soule into a generall consumption of grace no sinne more Secondly it blindeth the minde and insensibly hardeneth the heart no sinne more Thirdly it maketh a man slight and overt in the best actions Fourthly it causeth fearefull declinations and falling backe Fifthly it deprives a man of peace of Conscience in such sort that a spirituall Physician can hardly fasten any hope or comfort upon him on whose Conscience doth lye the guilt of hypocrisie yea hardly upon him that doth but feare he is guilty For he putteth off al the remembrances of his good affections and actions saying all that I did was but in hypocrisie Sixthly and lastly Besides that it bringeth many temporall iudgements it causeth that a man loseth many of his good workes done in Hypocrisie though through Gods mercie hee lose not himselfe which not losing himselfe is because he is found in Christ Christs Spirit of uprightnesse raigning in him Now to induce you to love Vprightnesse and to labour to be upright Consider the good which accompanieth uprightnesse First temporall and outward but secondly and chiefly that which is spirituall eternall and inward Vprightnesse hath the promises of this life It is a meanes to keepe off Iudgements or in due time to remove them If affliction like a darke night overspread the upright for their correction and tryall for a time yet light is sowne for them and in due time will arise unto them The upright caÌ„not want health wealth friends or any thing that can be good for them Moreover this uprightnesse doth not onely provide well for a mans selfe but if any thing can leave a blessing and a good portion to his Children and to his Childrens Children Vprightnes will The holy Ghost saith the generation of the upright shall be blessed The spirituall blessings which belong to the upright are manifold The upright man is Gods faverite even his delight Hee is hereby assured of his Salvation For although an upright man may fall into many grievous sinnes yet presumptuous sinnes shall not reigne over him he shall be kept from the great transgression he shal never sinne the sinne unto death Yea hee shall be kept from the dominion of every sinne By uprightnes a man is strengthened in the inward man it being that Girdle that buckleth and holdeth together the maine peeces of the complete armor Nay it is that which giveth proofe to every piece of that armour it strengthneth the backe and loynes yea the very heart of him that is begirt with it Hee that is upright is sure to haue his prayers heard and to be made able to profit by the Word of God and by all his holy Ordinances Doe not my words saith God doe good to him that walketh uprightly The upright mans services to God in prayer hearing receiving Sacraments c. though performed with much weakenesse and imperfections shal through Christ bee accepted of God Nay where there is not power the will of an upright man is taken for the deed and where there is power and deed both even there the uprightnesse and readines of the will is taken for more than the deed according to that commendation of them who were said not onely to doe but to be willing a yeare agoe For many do good things which yet doe them not with an upright will and ready minde 6 The upright man hath alwayes matter â—f boldnesse before men He can make an Apologie and Defence for himselfe against the slanders of wicked men and against the accusations of Satan who are ready upon every slight occasion to hiâ— him in the teeth and say he is an hypocrite and that all which he doth is but in hypocrisie but hee can gave all them thelyâ— that charge him with dissimulation or hypocrisie He knoweth more of his hypocrisie than they can tell him he findeth fault with it and accuseth himselfe for it more than they can doe yet this he can say hee alloweth it not he hateth it and his hart is upright towards God He careth not though adversariâ—t write a booke against him Iob 19. 2â— 24 25. He hath his defence if men will receive it they may if not he dareth to appeale to Heaven For his Record is on high Hee hath alwayes a witnesse both within him and in Heaven for him 7. Vprightnesse is an excellent Preventer and Curer of despaire arising from accusations of Conscience even of a wounded Spirit of which Salomon saith Who can beare it For either it keepeth it off Iob 27 5 6. Or if it be wounded this Vprightnesse in beleeving and in willing to reforme and obey is a most soveraigne meanes to cure and quiet it or at least it will allay the extremitie of it Not but that an upright man may have trouble of minde and that in some extremitie but he may thanke himselfe for it because he will not see acknowledge that Vprightnesse which he hath and doth not apply it nor cherish it which if he wold doe there is nothing would answer the accusations of his accusing Conscience nor bring more feeling comfort to the soule soo ner or better than this will 8
The Vpright man hath an Holy boldnesse with God When Abimelech could say In the integritie of my heart and innocencie of my hands I have done this he had boldnesse to expostulate and reason his case with God An uprigh man in his sicknesse or in any other calamity yea at all times when he needeth GODS helpe can bee bold to come before GOD notwithstanding his sinne that hangeth so fast on his originall sinne and his many great actuall transgressions So did Hezekiah upon his death-bed as he thought saying Remember O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done good in thy sight So did Nehemiah saying Remember mee O my GOD concerning this and spare mee according to the greatnesse of thy mercy This Vprightnesse giveth boldnesse with God but without all Presumption of merit as you see in good Nehemiah 9 Lastly Whatsoever the upright mans beginning was and whatsoever his changes have bin in the times that have gone over him both in the outward and inward man in his progresse of Christianity mark this his end shall be peace The last and everlasting part which he shall act indeed and to the life is everlasting happinesse And to contract all these motives into a short but ful summe The Lord is a Sunne and Shield The Lord will give grace and glory No good thing will hee withhold from them that walke uprightly SECTION 4. Touching meanes to subdue Hypocrisie and to nourish uprightnesse IT remaineth now that you should know by what meanes you may abate and subdue hypocrisie and may get keepe and increase this grace of uprightnesse First you must by a due and serious consideration of the disswasives from hypocrisie and motives to uprightnesse worke your heart to a loathing and detestation of the one and to an admiration love and hungring desire of the other And withall by this means you must worke your heart to a resolution by the grace of God to be upright This must first be wrought for untill a man stand thus affected resolved against hypocrisie and for uprightnesse he will take no paines to be rid of the one nor yet to get the other Secondly you must be sensible of that Hypocrisie which yet is in you and of the want of uprightnesse though not altogether yet in great part For no man will boat cost and paines to remoove that disease wherof he thinketh he is sufficiently cured though indeed he did judge it to be never so dangerous nor yet for to obtain that good of which he thinketh that hee hath enough already though hee esteeme it never so excellent Hitherto both in the motives and meanes I have indevoured to gaine the will to will and resolve to bee upright and to be willing to use all good meanes to be upright Now those meanes that will effect it follow Thirdly doe your best to root out those vices that beget and nourish Hypocrisie Then plant in their râ—ome those graces which will breed and feed uprightnesse The chiefe vices are Ignorance and unbeleefe selfe-love pride and an irresolved unsetled heart unstable and not firmely resolved what to chuse whereby it wavers and is divided between two objects dividing the heart between God and something else whether it be false gods a mans selfe or the world whence it is that the Scriptures call an hypocrite a man that hath an heart and an heart one that is double minded The graces which breed and nourish uprightnesse are a right knowledge of GOD and of his will and faith in him Selfe-deny all Humility and lowly mindednesse Stability and â—nenesse of heart and that to God-ward For the more cleare light you can get into your minde the more truth you shall have in your will And when you can so deny your selfe that you can â—uite goe out of your selfe and first give your selfe to Christ and unto God then there will follow readinesse of minde and heartinesse of will to doe whatsoever may please God Also the more humilitie you have in your minde the more uprightnesse you shall have in your heart For while the soule is lifted up that mans heart is not upright in him saith the Spirit Lastly when your eye is single and your heart one and undivided you wil not allow your selfe to be in part for God and in part for Mammon in part for GOD and in part for your lusts whether of the flesh or of the world or of pride of life you will not give your name and lips to God and reserve your heart for the world the flesh or the Divell But by your will God shall be all in all unto you Fourthly if you would be in earnest and in truth against sin and for goodnesse you must represent sinne to your thought as the most hurtfull hatefull and most loathsome thing in the world and must represent the obeying and doing of Gods will unto your mind as the best and most profitable most amiable most sweet and most excellent thing in the world Hereby you may affect your heart with a through vexation and loathing of sinne and with an hearty love and delight in Gods Commandements If you doe thus you cannot choose but shunne sin and follow after that which is good not in seeming onely but indeed and in truth with all your heart For a man is alwaies hearty against what he deadly hateth and for what he dearely loveth Fiftly if you would be sincere and doe all your actions for Gods glory and for his sake you must by the light of Gods Word and Workes fully informe and perswade your selfe of GODS Soveraignty and absolutenesse and that because he is the first absolute and chiefe good he must needs be the last the absolute and chiefe end of all ends For he that is Alpha must needs be the Omega of all things Sith all things are of God and sith hee made all things for himselfe therefore you should in all things you doe be upright intending GODS glory as your principall and utmost end in all things Sixthly Consider oft and seriously that how close and secret soever hypocrisie may lurke yet it cannot be hid from the 〈…〉 of God with whom you haâ—… and before whom you wâ—… who will bring every secret 〈…〉 to Iudgement Wherefore take continuall notice that you are in the eye of God that made your heart who requireth truth of heart who perfectly knoweth the guilâ—or truth of your heart This will much further your uprightnesse for who can dare to double and dissemble in the presence of his Lord and Iudge who knoweth his hollownesse and dissimulation better than himselfe Seventhly Vnite your selfe more and more strongly unto your head Christ Iesus by all good meanes Goe so out of your selfe that you may every day be more and more in him Wherefore grow dayly in faith
fulfill their pennance injoyned if they be devout in certaine superstitions in their will-worship and voluntary religion their conscience is quiet for a time notwithstanding their soule and blacke sinnes even their abominable Idolatries I do these to wit that all this is but a blindfolding smothering and stupifying the conscience for a time laying a double and a farre greater guilt upon it it is farre from being any meanes truly to pacifie it For how can any man have true peace from any or from all such actions as are in themselves an actuall denying of the true head of the Church Iesus Christ and are a cleaving to a false head which is Antichrist And how can any man merit for himselfe when our Saviour saith when hee hath done all that is commanded hee is an unprofitable servant and hath done but his dutie which thing hee must say and acknowledge All these before mentioned build their hopes upon false grounds Those that follow build their presumptuous false hopes upon a misse-application of true grounds 7. Many acknowledge that they have sinned doe deserve eternall damnation but they say God is mercifull therefore their heart is quiet without all feare of Condemnation It is most true that God is most mercifull but how Know hee is not necessarily mercifull as if he could not choose but shew it to all men Hee is voluntarily mercifull shewing mercy onely to those unto whom he will shew mercie God could and did hate and in his justice comdemne Eâ—au notwithstanding his love and mercy to Iacob God is all iustice as well as all mercy but he hath his severall obiects of justice and mercy and hath his severall vessels of wrath and mercy into which respectively hee doth powre his wrath or mercy When God speaketh of obstinate sinners he saith that hee will not â—e mercifull to their iniquities and saith againe Hee that made them will not have mercy on them And David prayeth with a Propheticall Spirit saying to God Be not mercifull to wicked transgressours And who are these but such as hate to be reformed who are presumptuous and turne the grace of God into wantonnesse Now concerning them that alwayes erre in their heart hee hath in effect sworne that hee will shew them no mercy For hee hath sworne that they shall not enter into his rest 8. Some others goe farther they acknowledge that GODS Iustice must be satisfied and they thinke it is satisfied for them they dreaming of universall redemption by Christ who indeed is said to dye to take away the sinnes of the world This causeth their conscience to be quiet notwithstanding that they live in sinne It must be granted that Christ gave himselfe a ransome for all This ransome may be called generall and for all in some sense but how namely in respect of the common nature of man which he tooke and of the common cause of mankinde which hee undertooke and for that in it selfe it was of sufficient price to redeeme all men and it was paide in such sort that it is appliable to al without exception by the preaching and ministry of the Gospell And it was so intendedby Christ that the plaster should be as large as the sore and that there should be no defect in the remedy that is in the price or sacrifice of himselfe offered upon the Crosse by which man should be saved but that all men and each particular man might in that respect become saveable by Christ Yet doth not the salvation of all men necessarily follow hereupon nor doth it follow that all men may be saved if they will nor yet must any part of the price which CHRIST paid be held to be superfluous though many be not saved by it For it being of infinite value because he was the eternall son of God that suffered and so it was to be because he was to feele the wrath of an infinite God it receiveth not the consideration of more or lesse And the whole price and merits of Christ are not to bee applied by parts but the whole merit is to bee applyed to each particular maÌ„ that shal be saved But know that the application of the remedy and the actuall fruit of this all-sufficient ransom redoundeth to those which are saved onely by that way and meanes which God was pleased to appoint which for men of yeares iâ— faith by which Christ is actually applyed Which condition many to whom the Gospell doth come make impossibleto themselves through a wilfull refusing of the Gospell and saluation it selfe by Christ upon those termes which God doth offer it Vpon this sufficiency of Christs ransome and intention of God and Christ that it should be sufficient to save all is founded that generall offer of Christ to all and to each particular man to whom the Lord shall please to reveale the Gospell likewise that universall precept of the Gospell commanding every man to repent and beleeve in Christ Iesus as also the universall promise of salvation made to every one that shall beleeve in Christ Iesus Although in an orthodox sense â—ightly understood Christ may be said to have dyed for all yet let not every one nor any one presently presume he shall be saved For God did intend this all-sufficient price for all otherwise to his elect in Christ than to those whom he passed by not elected for he intended this not only out of a generall and common love to mankinde but out of a peculiar love to his Elect. He gave not Christ equally and alike to save all and Christ did not so lay downe his life for the Reprobate as for the Elect. Christ so dyed for all that his death might be applyable to all He so dyed for the Elect that his death might be actually applied unto them He so dyed for all that they might have an object of faith and that if they should beleeve in Christ they might be saved But he so died for the Elect that they might actually beleeve and bee saved Hence it is that Christs death becommeth effectuall to them and not to the other though sufficient for all Now that many beleeve not they having â—he means of saith the fault is in themselves through their wilfulnesse or negligence but that any beleeve to Salvation it is of Gods grace attending his Election and Christs dying out of his especiall love for them and not of the power of mans free will God sending his Gospell and giving the grace of faith new obedience to those whom of his free grace he hath ordained to eternall life both where he pleaseth and when he pleaseth Furthermore it must be considered that notwithstanding the all-sufficiencie of Christs death whereby the new Covenant of grace is ratified and confirmed the Covenant is not absolute but conditionall Now what GOD prodoundeth conditionally no man must take absolutely For God
the brethren when hee breathed out threatning was as he himselfe saith mad against them Was hee at that time a Reprobate Did hee not afterwards being coÌ„verted so love GODS people that he could be content to spend and be spent himselfe for them So many thousands whose consciences for the present may justly condemne them of not loving those that be zealous and indeed Gods children may yet love them hereafter as dearly as their owne soules Some will yet say certainely we are Reprobates For we have according to the command of the Apostle tryed whether we be in the faith or no and whether Christ be in us but we finde neither the Apostle saith we know these to be in us else we are Reprobats 2 Cor. 13. 5. By Reprobate in this place is not meant one that is not elect one whom God in his just judgment past by and ordained unto wrath For none of the Elect can before their conversion know by any search that they are in the faith or that Christ is in them For that cannot bee knowne which yet is not Many are not converted untill they be thirtie fortie or fiftie yeares old Will you say these in their younger yeares were Reprobates You may say they then were in state of condemnation and children of wrath but no Reprobates Besides a man must not bee said not to be in the faith and not to have Christ in him because he doth not know so much For many have faith and are in Christ yet do not alwaies know it The word Reprobate because it is ordinarily understood by our common people for a man ordained to condemnation is too harsh except its true meaning were expressed and the Greeke doth not necessarily inforce it Yet I confesse it is a terme proper enough if it were not in our English almost appropriated to the former sense These words now rendred except ye be Reprobates may as I judge rather be translated thus Except you be unapproved or except you be without proofe namely of your being in the faith and of Christs being in you whereof you outwardly make profession Howsoever it bee translated for in this I submit my selfe to the Church let any that is judicious observe the matter therin handled and the Metaphor taken from Goldsmiths in trying of mettals and they shall finde it must bee understood in tâ—hs sense The Corinthians did question the lawfulnesse of Pauls calling to his Apostleship therefore they require of him to give them a proofe of Christ speaking in him His answer is to this purpose as if he should say I will goe no farther to seeke a signe or proofe of Christ speaking in mee then to your selves Hath not the Word and Gospell of CHRIST beene powerfull by my Ministery to convert you and to beget faith and to forme Christ in you Looke into your selves try if you have not faith and if Christ be not formed in you If you find this I need no other proofe of my calling nor of Gods power and grace blessing me in my calling But if upon tryall you cannot finde that you are in the faith c. you are unapproved Christians Either you have yet onely a meere forme of Christianity and like false coyne or Reprobate silver are but hypocrites and counterfeits or if you be Christians in truth yet you are inexperienced Christians and without proofe of it to your selves But whether you finde that you have faith or no c. I trust and am assured that both I the rest of Christs Ministers with me shall approve our selves to be true and faithfull Ministers of Christ though in the account of the false Apostles and of some of you wee bee as Reprobates or unapproveable that is such as in your opinion cannot give proofe of CHRIST speaking in us Our late excellently learned and reverend Translators ver 7. translated the same word in the affirmative Approved wherefore the privative particle being added the translation may well be unapproved or without proofe or refuse Some may Reply if I find upon tryall that I am a counterfeit and as Reprobate silver may I not then judge my selfe to be a Reprobate No. For first you may erre in judging of your selfe Secondly if you do not erre you can judge only this that yet you are not in state of grace but in the use of the meanes you may be God can as well convertian Hypocrite as a Pagan For though now you be drosse and refuse you may ere long be pure Gold For God in making vessels of honour doth more than all earthly Kings and all their Goldsmiths can doe For they by their prerogative setting their stampe and by their Goldsmiths skill can make currant coyne and rich Vessels if that they have pure mettall to worke upon But they cannot make good mettal of base stuffe or can make gold of brasse But such is the force of Gods Word and Spirit that whereas they finde you base and drossie stuffe they by imprinting the Character and stampe of Gods Image upon your hearts doe metamorphise and transforme you into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. As soone as you are truly touched and annointed with this Spirit you shall become good Gold and Silver vessels of honour fitted for the LORDS use whereunto you were pre-ordained There are yet others object fearefully saying that they are cast-awayes and that God will not have mercy on them and that because now it is too late they have passed the time and date of their Conversion they therefore will not use or at least have no heart in using GODS meanes to convert them such as prayer reading hearing the Word c. Nor yet willingly will suffer others to pray either with them or for them and all because they think it is now too late and in vaine mistaking this and such other Scriptures Because I have called saith GOD and you have refused they shall call on mee and I will not answer And because they thinke they sinne when they pray and heare the Word and that the more means is used to save them their condemnation shall be the more increased Thus Satan a fearefull heart deludeth many It must be acknowledged that God would have all men walke and worke while they have light because the night will come when no man can worke And whilst it is called to day hee would have every one returne and accept of grace offered and not to harden their hearts against it And our Saviour bewaileth Ierusalem because they did let slip the day of their visitation All which doth shew that God hath his set period of time betweene his first and last offer of grace which being passed hee will offer it no more and that justly because they took not his offer when they might And this time is kept so secret with God