into the teares of godly sorrow For after that in the Law we haue seene our miserable and desperate estate in our selues we should presently raue and rage against the Lord did hee not in this our extremity giue vs some hope and inckling of mercy presenting vnto our eye the infinite merits of Christ the indefinite promises of the Gospell calling all without exception to the fruition of those merits excluding none but such as exclude themselues and despise the grace that is offered them But when once mercy is tendred to vs that stand condemned in the Law and that onely vpon condition of our humble submissiue embracing of it Oh then the working of our bowels the stirring of our affections the melting relenting of our repenting hearts reasoning thus with themselues And is it so indeed hath the Lord giuen his owne Son to the death to saue sinners doth hee offer vs the benefit therof who hauing been such desperate Rebels against him stand cast and condemned euen in the sentence of our own consciences What marble brest what oaken heart is there whom such kindnes would not affect How can we chuse but out of loue and affection towards so sweet and gracious a God grieue that euer we haue so grieued him And now hath Contrition it perfect worke in vs when the bloud of the Lambe hath melted the Adamant and the Sun-shine of Gods loue in Christ hath thawen the ice of our hearts For before it was the feare of hell and so indeed selfe-loue and in a manner pride that humbled vs because we would not be miserable But now it is the loue of God that humbleth vs because of the wrong wee haue done him who hath done vs so much good Before it was the hatred onely of punishment that made vs to grieue but now it is the hatred of sin that brings the punishment and that specially because displeasing to the Lord our good God that causes all the trouble And thus we see in what order and by what degrees Contrition is wrought But heere certaine questions may be mooued Quest 1. Whether the sole threatnings and curses of the Law are not of themselues auaileable vnto true contrition forasmuch as Iosiahs heart melted in godly sorrow vpon the hearing of the 2. Chro. 34. 27 threatnings Answ Those threatnings were not meerely Legall but such as were qualified with some tincture of mercy in the Gospell Afflictions soften our hearts but how no otherwise then as we apprehend Gods mercy in them So did Iosiah apprehend mercy in those threatnings that they proceeded from Gods loue and so accounted them as the wounds of a friend and thence came the melting of his heart Dauid relented euen at Shemeies bitter reuilings but it was through the sense of Gods sweet mercy in them Quest 2. Whether God keepe the order spoken of constantly in humbling his children so that none can truely be grieued for sinne till they haue beene cast downe with legall terrours Answ 1. Many may haue the first degree of humiliation by the Law which neuer come to the second by the Gospell As Iudas Caine and other Reprobates vtterly ouerwhelmed with the terrors of the Law as children sometimes in the trauell are killed with the paines thereof before they can be borne But as there can bee no birth without the paines of the trauell going before so neither no true Repentance without some terrours of the Law and streights of conscience None can haue the second degree without the first The Reason is plaine None can haue Repentance but such as Christ cals to Repentance Now he cals onely sinners to Repentance Matth. 9. 13. euen sinners heauy laden with the sense of Gods wrath against sinne Math. 11. 29. He comes only to saue the lost sheep that is such sheep as feele themselues lost in themselues and know not how to find the way to the folde Rom. 8. 15. Yee haue not againe receiued the spirit of bondage vnto feare which shews that once they did receiue it namely in the very first preparation vnto conuersion that then the spirit of God in the Law did so beare witnesse vnto them of their bondage and miserable slauery that it made them to tremble Now there vnder the person of the Romans the Apostle speaks to all beleeuers and so shewes that it is euery Christians common case 2. Yet all are not handled alike Though none wholly scape yet some haue gentler fits then others and some are but sprinkled in this baptisme wherein others are euen doused ouer head and eares and some doe but sippe of that cuppe wherof others drinke to the very dregges It is with the trauell of a sinner in his Repentance as with a womans in child-birth None trauels heere without paine yet some are like those Hebrew women Exod. 1. and haue a farre quicker dispatch then many others Those conuerts Acts 2. in their Repentance had some grudgings and prickes of conscience but yet they had none of Iobs nor Dauids fits which held them many dayes together For the same Peter that wounded presently healed them and being filled with the ioy of the holy Ghost they comfortably conuersed with the Christians Matthew as it is thought at his first conuersion entertained Christ with a feast and so did Lydia the Apostles which they could not haue done if they had beene in any extremities of the agonies of conscience God applies himselfe heere to the seuerall natures conditions and dispositions of his children 1. Some haue beene more hainous sinners and of longer standing then the rest Now the more festred and dangerous the wound is the sharper must be the cure Some sores will as easily bee let out with the pricking of a pinne as others with the Surgeons launching The more viscous and glutinous the humour is the stronger must the purge be The greater the burthen is the greater will bee the paine of the backe Hence it was that Paul being a more hainous offender then the rest of the Apostles as being a malicious persecutor whereas they had beene honest and sober fishermen hence it was I say that hee tasted deeper of this cup then they as we see Acts 9. insomuch that he sayes the Law slew him Rom. 7. Hence also it is that such who in their tender yeeres by meanes of religious nurture haue beene seasoned with the grace of God dropping by little and little into them before any grosser defilement of actuall transgression doe not behold that grim and seuere countenance of the Law which those commonly see who stand idle to the twelfth houre 2. God meanes to employ some in more worthy seruices For the which hee sees it fit to prepare them by the deepest humiliation For the higher and greater the building is the deeper must the foundation be layd in the earth 3. Some are of greater places and parts then others some naturally of a more crabbed crooked disposition some more stout bold hardy then others
1. out of the belly of hell with Ionas call vpon God Euen when wounded by God they goe to him to Ion. 2. 2. be healed Come let vs returne to the Lord hee hath Hos 6. 1. wounded vs and he will heale vs. The Reprobate in hell weepe and waile and yet no godly sorrow there because they cannot crie to God Excellently Luther Hell were no hell if the least whispering vnto God could bee heard there Despaire stops the mouth of the Reprobate that they cannot speake one word to God in their deiections so as the godly do As Ionas complaining of God in the whales belly complaines yet to God Thou hast cast me out Whereas a Reprobate as Caluin notes would haue sayd He hath cast me away in the third person Heere then is further triall of our sorrow and Repentance if as Paul speakes in another case Wee mourne not without hope if as the Lord inuites vs we 1. Thess 4. Is 1. 18. Mar. 1. 15. can come and reason with him if as Christ commands wee repent and in repenting beleeue that as our sinne so also Gods mercy be euer before vs. The wicked as they beleeue without repenting their faith being presumption so they repent without beleeuing their repentance is desperation And therfore they mutter and murmure like the chaffe which when it is shaken flutters in the face of the fanner as angry with him But the Godly are good wheat falling downe at the feete of the fanner as those conuerts that humbled themselues and sought for ease of him that pricked them Men Acts 2. and brethren what shall we doe And the reason is because they haue faith supporting them that they sincke not in the Deepes of Desperation As in Dauid in the 51. Psalme when begging mercy his wounded conscience obiected the greatnesse of his sinnes faith opposeth the greatnesse and multitude of Gods mercies According to the multitudes of thy compassions And againe to that obiection of the deepe rooting of his sinne because hee had lien in it three quarters of a yeere Faith answers Wash me throughly There is no staine so deep but thy hand can fetch it out Heere Dauids faith plucked him out of the mire and made him come to the Lord clinging and clasping about him 3. Because it is offered vp to God as a seruice 3. It is voluntary and sacrifice and that with a free and voluntary spirit Psal 51. The sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite spirit The Godly are Agents in their sorrow For because it is mingled with the sense of ioy in the apprehension of Gods loue by faith they take delight therein and their teares become their meat Psal 42. This voluntarinesse of sorrow in the Godly appeares in two things 1. In the Vse of all good incentiues and prouokements thereof They worke and labour their hearts what they can thereto according to that commandement Iames 4. Suffer affliction And nothing grieues them more then that they cannot grieue But the wicked are meere patients in their sorrow because wanting faith to temper the cup they drinke nothing but pure gall yea deadly poison Hence those strugglings those wrastlings with and murmurings against God With the sturdy horse they irefully champ the bit and desire nothing more then to haue the deadly arrow fall out of our side Hence those so many sleights of their feasting musicke mirth pastime to driue away this so vnwelcome a ghuest Which the Godly haue both inuited and welcommed with sacke cloth ashes fasting going into the house of mourning rending of cloathes and powring foorth whole buckets of water as some expound that 1. Sam. 7. 6. 2. In turning euery thing vnto sorrow worldly not onely griefes but euen ioyes also According to that of Iames Let your laughter be turned into weeping that is let your laughter be made the matter of your weeping Let it bee the fuell to feede that fire So doth repenting Salomon Eccl 2. out of the hony of his abused pleasures hee gathers gall contrary to the Bee sucking sweetnesse out of bitternesse The pleasant witted man will turne euerie thing to a lest euen sad and serious but the touched sinner euery thing vnto sorrow euen sweete and ioyfull The practise of Bradford that worthy M. Samsons preface to his Sermon of Repentance Repentant in this kind was very memorable who to this purpose booked euery notable accident each day that passed and that so that in the penning a man might see the signes of his smitten heart For if he did see or heare any good in any man by that sight he found and noted the want thereof in himselfe crauing mercy and grace to amend If he did see or heare any plague and misery he noted it as a thing procured by his owne sinnes and still added Lord haue mercy on me 4. Because it keeps our hearts in a blessed frame 4. It fits for holy duties of godlinesse fitting them for prayer meditation reading hearing conference admonition or any other spirituall duty Worldly sorrow is a heauy leaden thing making a man fitter to sleepe then to pray as we see in Ionas and the Disciples But godly sorrow in the sense of Gods loue is fresh and liuely and full of spirits We neuer pray or performe any Christian duty better then when our hearts are fullest of this sorrow Againe it makes the heart exceeding soft and tender and so sensible euen of the least sinnes As Dauids heart smote him for cutting off but the lap of Sauls coate and for the entertainement of euill motions Why art thou disquieted why frettest thou my Psal 42. soule It makes the heart like the eye that will feele the least mote or like a straight shooe that cannot endure the least pebble stone which in a wide one would neuer be perceiued And thus we see the properties of true Sorrow or Contrition that it is both a louing Sorrow proceeding from the loue and affection of our hearts towards the Lord and a beleeuing Sorrow comming to God and fastening vpon his mercy and a willing and voluntary Sorrow delightfully bathing it selfe in her teares and lastly a soft and tender-hearted Sorrow working a disposition vnto deuotion And therefore woorthily called godly Sorrow And of the nature of humiliation so much CHAP. IV. Of the measure of Humiliation THe next point is touching the measure of Humiliation or Sorrow for sinne Where I 2. The measure of it propound three rules 1. Rule Of all other sorrowes sorrow for sin must be the greatest Reason 1. Griefe is founded in loue According as our loue is so is our griefe But our loue of God and his fauour is the greatest loue and therfore our griefe for his offence by sinne the greatest griefe Therefore as Dauid saies Thou hast giuen me Psalm 4. more ioy in the light of thy countenance then they haue had when their corne oile abounded So on the contrary must euery
neuer yet truely humbled for their sinnes 3 In not daring Masterly and Iudge-like to censure 3. In not censuring for the humbled sinner finds so much matter at home within himselfe that he hath no leysure to looke so much into others And therfore though seuere to himselfe yet more milde to others in meekenesse of minde esteeming euery man better then Phil 2. 3. himselfe And those faults he sees in others he takes notice of happily in himselfe or else of others as bad at least of the seedes and inclinations to those sinnes Therefore Iames after he had commanded vs to humble our selues hee addes speake not euill Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possumus esse quod hic est Iam. 4. 10 11. one of another For how doth hee humble and cast downe himselfe that goes about to cast downe others and trample them vnder his feete 4 In abasing and submitting our selues to the lowest and meanest offices of loue to our brethren 4. In submitting to lowest offices Thus the humbled sinner will make himselfe a seruant vnto all and according to the Apostles commandement will serue others by loue and bearing other 1. Cor 9. 19. Gal. 5. 13. Gal. 6 2. mens burdens so fulfills the law of Christ CHAP. IX Of the contraries to Humiliation Despaire and a seared Conscience HItherto of the grace of Humiliation it selfe Now to adde a worde or two of the contraries to it Contrary to godly humiliation or contrition are these two 1. Desperation 2. The blockish the seared and sencelesse Conscience that is past feeling Both these indeed must be auoyded but Ephes 4. yet the latter of the two is more vsuall and more dangerous more vsuall because it is more pleasing to our nature whereas Desperation is more distastefull in regard of the bitternesse And therfore Sathan wants that bait to bring men to despaire which he hath to bring men to senslesse security Therefore heere we may say as they sang of Saul and Dauid Desperation slayes thousands Security Sam. ten thousands euen as more die of intemperancy of diet then are killed by the Sword so though Despaire be more fearefull yet Security is more frequent More dangerous also because Desparation may be turned sooner to good for that the despairing person is touched with the sight of his sins feeles his owne misery But the senslesse conscience is nothing so it hath neither sight of sin nor sense of misery Both these extreames of Desperation and of Senslesnesse come from one cause and that is the neglect of the prickes and wounds of conscience It is a great mercy of God to giue vs so faire warning from a monitour within our owne bosomes The warnings others giue vs wee are ready to except against Wee cannot except against the warnings of our owne hearts But as when milder correction preuailes not with our children wee proceed to seuerer discipline so when Conscience her gentler prickings are neglected shee falles to deeper wounding and cutting when rods will do no good God puts Scorpions into her hands to scourge vs to death Euery little prick of an accusation fetches as it were some blood from thy soule Now if presently with a repenting heart thou wouldest craue the bloud of Christ to be applyed to thy soule the bleeding would be stayed But because thou neglectest the bleeding and thinkest to stay it by base medicines of thine owne therefore the wound bleedes still and thou shalt dye of it And thus we see how desperation comes from the neglect of the pricks of Conscience But againe and that more commonly the Conscience growes seared and past feeling so that a man may now sinne freely and that without controule of Conscience after that hee hath once begunne to despise the admonitions and accusations thereof So we see the Father giues ouer correcting his vnhappy child when hee growes worse for all his correcting of him Thus many mens consciences deale with them speaking in a manner vnto them as God speakes to the Iewes Why should we smite you any more since ye fall away more and more you set light by our warning we will euen giue ouer Isay 1. 5. Conscience is Gods officer and it is set by God to doe the best office that can bee to vs. But when God sees his officer not regarded hee will discharge him of his office When a wound is not taken in time the flesh festers and growes dead and rotten so also it fares with the wounds of Conscience A wounding Conscience neglected will grow a dead Conscience O then howsoeuer thou mayst set light by the checkes and rebukes of men and mayst shake off them yet neuer reiect or con-contemne the checks of Conscience In any case take heed of that for either it will continually ring such a loud peale in thine eares as shall make them to tingle and thine heart to tremble or else that which is worse it shall for euer after hold its peace Doe wee then feele the priuy nippes and secret snibs and pulls of our consciences Let vs giue ear to so wholsome a rebuker Let vs seeke presently to the Lord for mercy and forgiuenesse Let vs humble our soules before him in confession Let vs put Conscience out of office no otherwise then thus that as Conscience hath accused vs to our selues so now we will goe and accuse our selues to our God For if Consciences roddes and checks cannot driue thee to Repentance whose should Many there are that in regard of their places are free from the rods and the cheekes of men as Kings and great ones Who dare checke them None may smite them yet God in mercy towards them will 2. Sam. 24. 10. haue their Conscience to smite them as Dauids heart smote him though a King Conscience takes no notice of Kingship Therefore all euen great States and they of all others must most listen to and heede the voice of Conscience lest otherwise it fare with vs as with those whom great and violent noises continually herd at length make deafe as in those that dwell by the fall of the riuer Nilus Or as it doth with vnlucky boyes who beeing vsed to the rodde at length harden themselues and regard it not CHAP. X. Of the names whereby the second part of Repentance viz. change of heart is set out in Scripture HItherto of the former part of Repentance 2. The second part of Repentance Conuersion where Mourning Humiliation or Contrition The second followeth Turning Reformation or Conuersion where consider wee 1. The Names 2. The Nature 3. The Practise of it 1. For the names they are more especially two 1. The names of it 1. An Hebrew name signifying Turning or Conuersion 2. A Greeke name signifying After-wit or wisdome The first name is a metaphor drawen from trauellers who hauing gone out of their way must come backe againe and returne into the right way if euer they meane to arriue vnto the intended period
out of Satans snare but yet so as the prisoner out of prison with the bolt on his legge and so he can goe but slowly yet in his desire hee flies and wishes euery step twenty Wee are still fettered with many infirmities that presse vs so downeward that we cannot runne vp Gods hill and therefore this encreases the vehemency of our desires This is a great comfort to euery true Repentant heart Thou that hast these desires it is an argument of the truth of thy repentance whereby hauing turned thy face towards God thou hast gotten sight of his face and therfore doest so long after him and desire to draw neerer and neerer vnto him A repenting heart is neuer without these earnest desires Blessed saith our Sauiour are they Matth. 5. 3. 6. which are poore in spirit and then hee addes Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousnesse where-euer there is a poore there is a thirsting spirit and these hungring and thirsting desires are euidences of a repenting hearts 6. Duety is Zeale which is a compounded affection 6. Zeale of Loue and Anger There may bee deceit and often is in our desires Euery one pretends they desire Gods commandements but there is no zeale in their desires they are lazie and sluggish desires therefore is Zeale added next to Desire to shewe what kinde of desires these must bee to wit they should be feruent and zealous desires The Desire of the sloathfull slayes him for his hands refuse to worke Prou. 21. 25. But true desire hath zeale ioyned with it which causes vs eagerly to pursue the thing desired and to ouercome all impediments hindring our desires We see in nature how the irascible faculties backes the concupiscible And as fire hath lightnesse whereby it aspires to the highest place so it hath also heat to consume that which should hinder his ascent In the like manner hath the true desire of a repenting sinner the grace of zeale to second it when one had vttered that affectionate speech Blessed are Luc. 14. 14. they that eate bread in the Kingdome of God see how Christ presently entertaines it with the Parable of the ghuests who being inuited to the supper had euery one their excuses from their farmes oxen and wiues whereby Christ seemes to giue a checke to the counterfet desires of many and seemes to insinuate thus much oh you indeede make as if you had a desire to come but you doe but counterfet you meane it not for when God calles you to this supper yee are ready to shuffle off his inuitation with one worldly excuse or another and so are your desires zeale-lesse desires They are so colde so heartlesse and so heatlesse that they cannot leap ouer the least blocke that lyes in their wayes Thus wee see then how fitly zeale followes desire And indeede a true penitentiary cannot but be zealous Zeale must needes be ioyned with repentance for these reasons 1. Repentance is a turning vnto God and a returning into our way out of which we had wandred by our sinnes Now the more way and time a man hath lost the more earnest and zealous he is in the redemption of both A man that hath rid out of his way when once he perceiues it will spurre the harder and gallop the faster till he hath recouered so farre as he might haue beene if hee had kept his way in a good reasonable pace So when the Repentant considers how much knowledge and experience hee might haue gained if the good time which he hath mispent in his sins had beene spent vpon better things when he considers how much of his life is past in sin and knows not how little he hath to come wherin he may walk in obedience he layes the more zealousty about him that what he wants in time he may redeem with his zeale And this is that which Peter vrges That henceforward we should liue as much time as remaines in the body not after 1. Pet. 4. 2. 3. the lusts of men for it is sufficient for vs that we haue spent the time past after the lusts of the Gentiles The longer wee haue beene stragling the more quicke should be our speed in our returne And the same thing doth Paul vrge the Romanes withall As yee haue giuen your members seruants to Rom. 6. 19. Qui per poenitentiam resurgunt magna charitato resplendent saepe maiori quā illi qui nunquā cecidernut Chry. vncleannesse and iniquitie to commit iniquity so now giue your members seruants vnto righteousnesse in holinesse The Repentant will be no lesse zealous in the wayes of grace then hee was in the wayes of sinne and the more zealous will hee bee in the seruice of righteousnesse because hee spent so much of his time and strength in the seruice of iniquity 2. Before repentance wee are blind and cannot see God nor the sweete beauty of his face for indeed our faces are turned from him but in repentance wee turne our faces to God and then seeing him his bounty our crowne and recompence of reward wee arc so rauished and enamoured vpon him as that with Paul in an holy zeale wee forget that which is behind endeuouring our selues to that Phil. 3. 13. 14. which is before and following hard toward the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus 3. The Repentant considers the vnconceiuable loue of God towards him in the pardon of his sins that howsoeuer hee was running headlong into hell to cast away himselfe and his soule yet the Lord stayd him and was mercifull vnto him in the remission of all his offences The meditation of which sweete goodnesse and loue of God constraines 2. Cor. 5. him to bee zealous for the glory of so gracious a God This loue of God in Christ to him constrains him and inflames and fires his heart with an earnest zeale to glorifie the Lord. That whereas before by his sinnes hee had wounded Gods glory now the loue of God who hath had mercy vppon him in plucking him out of the iawes of Sathan makes him now zelous of his glory and carefully to labour to heale these wounds which before his sins had made This we may see in that repenting woman who because much was forgiuen her therefore Luke 7. she loued much that is zelously She had not beene so zelous before in following her filthy and vnclean loues as now she was zelous in following her holy and spirituall loue Now this zeale in repentance shewes it selfe in these properties 1. Property It ouerlookes all difficulties and ouercomes all impediments Much water cannot Cant. 8. quench loue nay it kindles rather and the more water the more loue Zeale dampes at no bogges quagmires hilles or mountaines it is an affection that will wing a man and mount him ouer all It is not a Lyon in the way no nor yet Legions of Deuils in the way can coole it's courage Michols scoffs
vp to the wealthy nation that dwels without care which haue neither gates nor barres but dwell alone And their camels shall be a booty c. Men are neuer so fit a booty for Gods iudgements as when they are without care As generall hardnesse fore-runnes generall iudgments so in particular men their hardnesse goes before destruction See Ieroboams example Hee was reprooued by the Prophet for his idolatry the Altar cleft his hand dried vp and healed againe Any of these might haue cleft his heart and had wrought him to Repentance But yet after this Ieroboam conuerted not but turned againe to his idolatrous 1. King 13. 33 34. courses and continued in his impenitency and what was the issue of all this And this thing turned vnto sinne vnto the house of Ieroboam as who should say all that hee had done before had not turned to sinne had it not beene for this sin of his impenitency But this turned to sinne to his house euen to root it out and destroy it from the face of the earth Balaam hardening his heart against Gods command the Asses rebuke and the Angels sword returnes home by weeping crosse and he that would not returne for the Angels sword was afterward slaine by the sword of the Israelites So was Pharaohs Num. 31. 8. Exod 14. heart hardened to his destruicton in the sea So of the cities of Canaan it is sayd That it came of the Iosh 11. 20 Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle to the iutent they should destroy them vtterly and shew them no mercy but that they should bring them to nought This is made the cause of Gods iudgements vpon Saul Saul died for his transgression against the Lord. Now what was his transgression first hee brake the commandement 1. Chron. 10. 13. 14. of God then he sought and asked counsell of a familiar spirit and last of all which was his sinning sinne after all this hee sought not to the Lord by Repentance therefore the Lord slue him 2. If any impenitent sinner doe escape some 2. Reseruation to worse iudgements temporal iudgements as often he may doth yet his impenitency turnes all his deliuerances but into further curses and iudgements and his deliuerance is a worse iudgement then the iudgements from which he is deliuered for it argues either Gods vtter forsaking of them as desperate patients are giuen ouer by the Physician Why should ye bee smitten any more for yee fall away more and more Or else it Isay 1. 5. argues a reseruation of them for some more fearefull plague If by these former iudgements before specified yee will not be reformed by me but walke stubbornely against me then I will walke stubbornely against you and smite you yet seauen times for your sins So that an impenitent mans preseruation out of one iudgement is but a further reseruation of him to seauen iudgements What mercy or fauour is this nay the mercy is seauen times a greater iudgement C ham was saued from the flood in the Arke but it Gen 9. was for a greater iudgement for his fathers and for Gods curse as good to be drowned as to bee cursed as good to die vnder the waters as to liue vnder a curse Pharaoh escaped many of the former Exod. 14. plagues vnder which the rest of the Aegyptians smarted he was but kept for the sea to be made a prey to the waters Lots wife escaped from Sodom but Gen. 19. Gen. 14. was turned into a pillar of salt The Sodomites were rescued out of the hand of Chedor-laomer but were Gen. 19. after consumed with fire and brimstone from heauen It had beene happy for them if they had bin still captiued slaues vnder Chedor-laomer So true is that of Amos that it is with wicked impenitent Amos 5. 19. sinners as if a man did flie from a Lyon and met with a Beare or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent bit him As also that of Isaiah repeated Isay 24. 18. Ierem. 48 44. by Ieremy He that flyeth from the noyse of the feare shall fall into the pit and hee that comes vp out of the pit shall be taken in the snare Euen as good be in the pit still This is but out of the frying pan into the fire or as Ezekiel speakes out of one fire into Ezek. 15. 7. another fire and the last fire happily like Nebuchadnezzars furnace seauen times hotter then ordinary 3. Thirdly God will euen take pleasure in inflicting Gods delight in iudgement iudgement God indeed delights in mercy but mans impenitency will make him delight in iudgement Heereupon he threatens Loadicea Reuel 3. to vomit her foorth of his mouth if shee still went on impenitently in her luke-warmnesse God signifies by that phrase that hee would take pleasure and delight in their destruction as it giues great ease to the ouer-pressed stomacke to bee disburdened and eased by vomiting Such is that threatning Prou. 1. 24. 25. 26. Because I baue called and yee haue refused I haue stretched out mine hand and none would regard but yee haue despised my counsell and would none of my correction I will also laugh at Risus Dei longa grauiâ—r est ira Dei Quid Deus loquitur cum risu in legas cum luctu Augustin your destruction and mocke when your feare cammeth God is neuer more angry then when hee laughes Gods laughter is an heauier iudgement then his anger for when once hee comes to delight in his anger it is a signe his anger is implacable Wee haue most cause to weepe when God laughes 2. Spirituall euils procured by impenitency 2. Spirituall which are are these 1. Spirituall blindnesse and blockish senslesnesse 1. Spirituall blindnesse further hardnesse and obduration My people would not heare my voyce and Israel would none of mee See what was the punishment that followed vpon it So I gaue them vp to the hardnes of their harts Psal 81. 11. 12 they walked in their own counsels As if he had said Since they will harden their hearts their hearts shall be hardened since they will harden them against my mercy I will harden them in my iustice Thus was Balaam besotted thorough the hardnesse of his heart that hee could not see so much as the Asse did hee rode vpon And the Sodomites were smitten as well with a spirituall as a temporal iudgment of blindnesse So Pharaoh hardening his hart against each plague was also giuen vp to further hardnesse Thus the Apostle seemes to make this the cause of the Gentiles hardnesse of heart because Eph. 4. 18. 19. they being past feeling gaue vp themselues to wantonnesse to worke all vncleannesse with greedinesse So God punished their former hardnesse with further obduration So elsewhere he makes this the cause why they were giuen vp to a reprobate sense and a cauterized conscience
commeth yea and in humility attending vpon him and waiting for his comming in the exercises of the Word and prayer as they Acts 1. 4. 14. But how many may be charged as they Acts 7. 51. Yee stiffe-necked and of vncircumcised hearts and eares yee haue alwaies resisted the holy Ghost And therefore are ye so hard hearted and stiffe-necked because you haue resisted the holy Ghost when he would haue bowe your neckes and softened your heart 4. It is said to be a grace of the sanctifying spirit The sanctifying Spirit to distinguish it from the legall repentance that is sometime in the reprobate hauing receiued the spirit of bondage vnto feare for this repentance is a fruit of an effectuall calling Ier. 31. 19. After I was conuerted I repented and so is peculiar to the regenerate And heereby also is it differenced from that blush and neere resemblance of Repentance which is in such reprobates as haue receiued the enlightning spirit 5. It followeth in the description whereby the In order of nature it is after Faith beleeuing sinner I make the subiect of Repentance to be a sinner for so doth Christ Matth. 9. shewing that such as are perfect neede Repentance no more then whole men do physick But withall I cal this sinner a beleeuing sinner to shew that faith must goe before Repentance as the ground and root thereof In time Faith and Repentance are both together but in the order of nature faith is first Reasons 1. Repentance and griefe for displeasing God by sinne necessarily argue the loue of God for a man would neuer grieue but rather reioyce at the offence of him whom he hates When Christ wept for Lazarus the Iewes sayd Loe how he loued him Ioh. 11. and Christ imputes the repenting teares of that sinnefull woman Luc. 7. to loue Much is forgiuen her for she loued much And wheras Acts 20. 21. Paul makes Faith and Repentance the summe of the Gospell the same Apostle 2. Tim. 1. 13. makes faith and loue the summe of it which shewes plainely that Repentance comes from loue and so consequently from faith because faith works by loue Gal. 5. 6. and it is impossible wee should euer loue God till by faith wee know our selues loued of God 2. Repentance beeing vnto life must needes bee drawen out of Christ the fountaine of all spirituall life and quickning grace So that a man must first receiue Christ before he can receiue Repentance or any grace from Christ Now faith is that which receiues Christ Ioh. 1. 12. 3. Repentance being the softning of our hearts and the changing of our natures how shall our stony harts bee molten but in Christs bloud and what can bathe them in that blood but faith And how shall such wilde oliue branches as wee be changed but by being engrafted into Christ as into the naturall Oliue And what can ingraft vs into him but faith 4. It is impossible that a man apprehending nothing in God but rigour and seuerity should euer relent toward him or come in and submit himselfe No there is mercy with thee ô Lord that thou mightest be feared Psal 130. This is it that brings in the sinner creeping and crouching before God as the Syrians to Ahab because they had heard the Kings of Israel were mercifull Christs 1. Kin. 20. 31. gracious aspect cast on Peter drew foorth the tears Gods gracious reuealing of himselfe not to the ear onely but eye also of Iob made him abhorre himselfe and repent Iob 42. 6. hence the exhortations to Repentance are founded commonly vpon the mercy of God in the Gospell as Ier. 3. 14. O yee disobedient children returne for I am your Lord. So Matt. 3. Repent for the Kingdome of Heauen is at hand in which Christ is ready to dispense mercy and forgiuenesse to the repenting sinner so Os 6. 1. Ioel 2. 13. Rom. 12. 1. 2. Cor. 7. 1. There must be faith then to apprehend at least some hope possibility of mercy or else the sinner will harden his heart and enrage his affections grow furiously desperate against the Lord. 5. As the legall Repentance cannot be without Faith beleeuing the threats of the Law so neither by like proportion can the Euangelicall Repentance bee without faith in the promises of the Gospell going before Ob. Mar. 1. 15. Repent and beleeue Repentance is set first and so Acts 20. 21. Answ 1. The order of placing things in Scripture is not alwayes according to the order of nature But sometimes one thing is set first which in order of nature is last as the effect before the cause and then the cause comes after to shew how wee should obtaine the effect As faith is set after a good conscience and pure heart 1 Tim. 1. 5. when yet it is faith that purifieth the heart Acts 15. So heere first repent and then that yee may repent beleeue 2. Things in Scripture are often propounded according to the order of our sense and feeling Now though faith in order of nature be first and the act of Faith before the Act of Repentance yet it is not so liuely and strong and so not so sensible to vs till after Repentance for the promises are made onely to repenting sinners Ob. Matth. 21. 32. Yee repented not that yee might beleeue Answ Sometimes then name of Repentance is giuen to the first preparatory beginnings and introductions thereof Now the preparations to Repentance are those legall fits of feare and terrour which are both in nature and time to before Faith The Vse 1. Against the Popish Repentance which is made to goe before mercy and forgiuenesse as a meritorious procurer thereof But as we haue seene Repentance is caused by the taste of Gods mercy by faith Therefore the Baptist exhorteth to repentance not that the Kingdome of Heauen may come as earned out by the sweat of pennance but because the Kingdome of Heauen is come Againe there cannot possibly bee any true repentance in Popery because repentance springeth from the particular apprehension of Gods mercy by faith which Popery cannot endure 2. Against the Libertines abusing Gods mercy and easinesse to forgiue vnto wantonnesse As the grace that Kings vse to shew against Parliaments makes many theeues But indeed they are beasts and no men that sin because of Gods mercy and it is an argument that they neuer by Faith tasted of Gods mercy in the pardon of their owne sinnes For they that feele much forgiuenesse loue much Luc. 7. If a man should tell a condemned Traytour that his Soueraigne would forgiue all his treasons and restore him to all his former dignities would not such mercy make his heart euen to melt and knit him faster in loue and duety then euer 3. Heere is comfort to all true Repentants that mourne for their sinnes and purpose a new course This repentance of theirs is an euident argument of their faith that hath tasted of the sweetnesse of Gods mercy or else their hearts would
neuer thus yeeld nor relent toward God 6. It is further added so humbleth himselfe for It consisteth of two parts his sinne that he turnes from it to the Lord. In which words I set downe the two maine and essentiall parts of Repentance namely Contrition or Humiliation and Conuersion or Reformation That both these are required to repentance may appeare 1. By the very names which Repentance hath both in Hebrew Greeke and Latine In Hebrew it is called both Nacham and Teshubha the former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying erking the latter turning Answerable in the Greeke Metameleia signifies after-griefe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or anxiety of minde after the doing of somewhat Metanoia after-wit or after-wisdome when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeing our errour or slip we are better aduised and change our minde So Poenitentia as the word imports the paine of griefe and Resipiscentia the mindes recouering of wisdome or becomming wiser after our folly This harmony of languages as touching the names of Repentance shewes plainely there must bee in it these two things griefe for that which is done amisse and a change of our minde from that it was before 2. By the phrases and manner of speech which the Scripture vseth touching Repentance Sometimes repenting for or of as vncleannesse 2. Cor. 12. 21. for idolatry Reuel 9. 20. which cannot otherwise be vnderstood then of griefe for the committing of such sinnes But sometimes we meet with Repentance from Repent from thy wickednesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 8. 22. And Repentance from dead workes Heb. 26. 2. which cannot in any congruity of speech note griefe but onely a change or departure from sinne 3. By the description of it in this sort in the Scripture when it cals men to repentance as Ioel 2. 11. Turne to the Lord with weeping Rend your hearts and turne to the Lord. That is in one word Repent So Iames 4. after that Psal 8. he had sayd Draw neere to God which is the generall or whole of Repentance afterward explaining it in the particulars he addeth first Clense your hearts and purge your hands There is Renouation or Reformation and then Psal 9. 10. Suffer affliction that is bee touched with smarting griefe for your sinnes as if you were in some grieuous outward affliction Let your laughter be turned into weeping humble your selues vnder the mighty hand of God There is the other part Contrition or Humiliation And 2. Chron. 7. 14. God promising mercy to his people vpon condition of their repentance hee thus describes their repentance If they shall humble themselues and turne from their euill wayes making repentance to stand in these two points in humbling themselues for and turning themselues from their sinnes Ob. 2 Cor. 7. 10. Godly sorrow worketh Repentance Heere sorrow is distinguished from repentance as the cause from the effect Answ Repentance as may appeare by that already spoken sometimes signifies onely one part of repentance sometimes onely the change and alteration of minde sometimes onely the touch of the affections An example of the former is the place obiected as also Ier. 18. If they repent it shall repent me of the euill I had thought that is I will alter my mind and repeale my threatnings And Acts 11. 18. where the Iewes hauing heard Peter relate the descents of the holy Ghost vpon the Gentiles in hearing his sermon conclude thereon Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted Repentance vnto life There was no mention made of any sorrow or humiliation but onely of the wonderfull descent of the holy Ghost causing them to speake strange tongues and to magnifie the name of God Which strange change of their mindes by the holy Ghost it seemeth they call repentance But there are examples of the latter also where repentance onely signifies sorrow and displeasure with our selues as Gen. 6. It repenteth me I made man Luc. 17. It repenteth me the speech of a trespasser crying him mercy whom hee hath offended And Acts 26. 20. That they should repent and turne to God Where Repentance being so plainely distinguished from Conuersion must needes be restrained to the signification of sorrow and humiliation But as from this place we may not gather that Repentance is not a turning to the Lord no more may we from that other 2. Cor. 7. that it is not a godly sorrow Ob. One part is not a cause of his fellow-part But sorrow is a cause of the change of mind 2. Cor. 7. 10. Therefore sorrow and change of minde are not fellow-parts of Repentance Answ One part may bee a cause of his fellow-part As sanctification of the soule is the cause of the sanctification of the body And yet both are parts of sanctification Ob. Contrition seems to be a part of the change and alteration For what greater change then for a hard heart to turne soft and a stony to become fleshie And this is contrition or humiliation Therefore Humiliation and Alteration are not well distinguished Answ The Apostle plainely distinguisheth them when he saith Godly sorrow causeth Repentance that is the change of minde For though godly sorrow bee a part and peece of that passiue change which is wrought in vs at the first instant of our calling by God yet it is a cause of the actiue change whereby we change and alter the purpose and resolution of our harts before set on sinne and now turne them to the Lord. For were it not that we felt the bitternesse of our sinnes and were truly touched in conscience for them wee would neuer in good sadnesse forsake and abrenounce them Howsoeuer then some late Diuines take the word Repentance more restrainedly some onely for a godly sorrow others only for a turning from sinne to the Lord yet the truth is that Repentance accordingly as it is described in the Scripture is the connexion of them both Vse Heere then is the triall of our Repentance If humiliation and Reformation both meete together then is our Repentance accomplished But either of these single make but a halfe and a halting repentance An vnreformed sorrow is but deformed And a sorrowlesse reformation is but a very sorry one Humiliation without reformation is a foundation without a building And reformation without humiliation is a building without a foundation To lay a foundation and not to build on it is to no purpose but to expose our selues to laughter Luc. 14. This man began but could not finish To build without a foundation is to play the foolish builder Luc. 6. 48. for that building will soone fall and so all our labour will be lost Heere then is discouered a double errour in repentance 1. Of such hypocrites as make much adoe and seem to lay their sins much to heart yet stil continue in them bathing cherishing not drowning choaking them in their tears Such a one was Ahab who crept crouched put on sackcloath being threatned for his cruelty against Naboth
the 2. The procurer of grace 1 Pet. 5. humble For all the grace that God giues is obtained by prayer But proud Pharisies that feele no wants well may they giue thankes but pray they will not Luc. 18. 10. 11. The rich are too stout to begge onely the poore speake with supplications Prou. 18. saith Salomon Onely the poore in spirit that mourne in the sense of their hunger and thirst wil open their mouthes wide in the cries of hearty prayer and therefore they onely shall bee filled with good things when the rich shall bee sent empty away Therefore Christ calling sinners to him in the first place biddes them to be humble and Matth. 11. meeke For meeknesse fits vs to conuerse sweetely with men but humility first prepares vs to receiue those graces of God which makes our conuersing with men sweete and amiable The Lord is neere Psal 34. saith Dauid to the contrite in spirit God is high aboue all but loe a mysterie saith Austin The lower a Christian is the neerer is he to this high God For the Lord hath two palaces as it is in Isay one of glory and that 's in Heauen Heauen is my throne c. Another of grace heere on earth and that 's Is 66. 1. 2. the heart of a contrite sinner 3. Humiliation is the preseruer of grace procured 3. The Preseruer of grace And therefore compared to a strong foundation vpholding the building against the force of winde and weather Onely those streames of grace hold out that flow out of the troubled fountaine of a bruised spirit An vnhumbled professor quickly starts back euen as an vnbroken egge or chesnut leapes out of the fire Grace is no where safe but in a sound and honest heart Now onely the humble heart is the honest heart Onely a rent and Non est cor integrum nisi sit scissum broken heart is a whole and sound heart The drosse cannot be purged out of the gold but by melting Crooked things cannot bee straightned but by wringing Now humiliation is that which wrings and melts vs and makes vs of drossie pure of crooked straight and vpright and so sound durable and perseuering Christians 4. Humiliation is that which commends all our 4. The Commander of our seruices seruices making them both profitable to our selues to our brethren and acceptable to the LORD Christ preferred the teares of that repenting woman before all the delicates of the Pharisies table Bottles hath he for the least drops So precious are they with him A little of this soueraigne baulme water is worth in Gods account more then a whole poole of the mudde of confused distempered worldly sorrow The Sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite spirit The plurall number is in Psal 51. steed of the superlatiue degree with the Hebrewes and so notes the excellency of this sacrifice as being the salt that seasons all other sacrifices To him Is 66. 2. 3. will I looke saith the Lord that is poore and of a contrite spirit He that killeth a bullocke namely without this contrite heart whereby hee must first kill his owne corruption is as if he slew a man or blessed an Idoll In effect thus much now He that receiueth the Communion without Humiliation is as if hee went to the Masse For though God would not haue his Altar couered with the teares of worldly sorrow Mal. 2. 13. yet hee would of spirituall as not rellishing any sacrifice without them What good does all our hearing doe vs as long as wee want Iosiahs melting hart no more then the strokes of the hammer doe the anuile All our prayers what are they but idle prattle if they be not piercingly darted out of the Publicanes smitten heart no prayer strikes Gods eares but his whose heart was first stricken with Gods hand Neither commonly doe any exhortations preuaile with others which proceed not from an affected heart Origen Sanctorum enim non tantum verba sed ipsi aspectus spiritali gratia pleni sunt Chrysost after his fall reading for his text that Psal 50. What hast thou to doe to take my word into thy mouth c. and not able to speake for teares set all the Congregation a crying So effectuall is the very silence of a touched heart See the example of the woman of Samaria Ioh. 4. 39. mightily preuailing with her neighbours Christ hauing before humbled her 5. Humiliation is the way to true exaltation 5. The way to exaltation Godly sorrow is the mother of true ioy for it giues a vent to sinne that lies heauy vpon the conscience as lead and so the heart eased of that burthen is light Blessed are they that mourne saith Matth. 5. Christ for they shall bee comforted But woe bee to you that laugh for yee shall weepe Because the fire of Gods mercy and loue could not make you weepe heere the fire of hell shall heereafter Blessed are they that weepe heere where there are wiping hand-kerchers in the hands of Christ Els they shall weepe heereafter euen when they shall see all the teares of the mourners in this life wiped away Happy art thou if thou weepe heere where thy teares may be water to quench the fire of thine own concupiscence Else shalt thou weep where thy teares shall bee oyle to feede those eternall flames Happy art thou if in godly indignation thou gnashest thy teeth at thy sinnes heere Else shalt thou in a desperate murmuring gnash them in hell at thy punishment and gnaw out thy very tongue for sorrow Miserable is that mourning in hell where the Diuell the tormentor is at hand with his Scorpions But happy is the mourning heere where the Spirit the Comforter is at hand with his oyle to supple thy wounds Repenting teares are the wine of God and his Angels Well mayest thou expect from them the oyle of their comfort when thou hast giuen them the wine of thy teares CHAP. VI. Of the the examination of our hearts by the Law THe last point followeth and that the chiefest 4. The practise of Humiliation in two things of all namely the practise of Humiliation And it consisteth in two points 1. In the inward working of it in the heart 1. Inward working 2. In the outward expressing of it when it is wrought In the inward working of it two spciall dueties must be practised 1. In consideration of our owne wayes 1. Consideration of our owne wayes to God 2. Of Gods wayes to vs. 1. For the first There will bee no sorrow for an euill not knowen Sinne must bee seene before it can bee sorrowed for I agnize my sinne saith Psal 38. 18. Dauid and am sorry for mine iniquity Onely sinners that is such as know and feele themselues to bee Matth. 9. sinners are called to Repentance Ieremie calling Ierem. 3. 13. the Church to Repentance first biddes her know her iniquity After Christ had
tell his dreame that is awakened out of his dreame so he only can confesse his sinne that is truely and throughly awakened out of his sinne by the spirit of God farre are they from repentance who in stead of a free and childlike confession after their sinne are ready to vse shifts excuses extenuations minsings mittigations daubings with vntempered mortar nay that do sow cushions vnder their elbowes and lay pillowes vnder their heads that thy may sleepe securely in their sinnes A pittifull thing it is that whereas God hath giuen shame to sinne boldnesse to confession the matter should bee so inuerted Pudorem et vere undiam Deus dedit peccatâ— Confessioni fidutiam Inuertit rem Diabolus et peccato fiduciam praebet confessioni pudorem Non pudet peccare poeuitere pudet Chrys Iosh 7. 19. Dan 9. that men should be impudently bold in sinning and yet ashamed to confesse when they haue sinned Well in concealing thy sinne thou doest but keepe the Diuells counsell his secretary thou art whose pollicie it is thus to ouerthrow thee Hee knowes right well the next way for vs to get glory from God is to glorifie God And then doe wee glorifie him when by confession wee shame our selues According to that of Ioshua to Achan My sonne giue glory vnto God and of Daniel Glory to thee O Lord shame to vs. When man will not glorifie God by shaming himselfe God will glorifie himselfe by shaming man When man will not open his mouth to pleade against himselfe and his sinnes God will stop his mouth when hee would faine plead for himselfe before his iudgement seat and strike him dumbe that hee shall not haue one word to say in his own defence It is deceit enough that the Diuell should bring vs to sinne t is double deceit to make vs hide and excuse our sinnes and so to preuent vs of that mercy which is promised to simple and ingenious confession Hauing sinned therefore lay not in the way of Gods mercy the Noli opponere obicem defensionis sed aperi sinum confessionis Aug. Psal 51. 1. 2. 3. stumbling blocke of thine owne iustification but open the lap of thy confession to receiue it as Dauid doth Haue mercy vpon mee c. but why for I know or acknowledge my iniquity Well may hee open his lap to receiue Gods mercy that opens his mouth to confesse his owne misery Open thy mouth Psal 81. wide in hearty prayer and confession and I will fill it with the sense of fauour and mercy CHAP. VIII Of reall Humiliation THe expressing of our Humiliation in Deede 2. In deed followes And it consists in three sorts of actions 1. Such as respect our selues 2. Such as respect God 3. Such as respect our brethren 1. For our selues And that is the restraint of 1. In regard of our selues our selues in the vse of the comforts and pleasures of this life as meats mirth marriage musicke apparell company c. This restraint must be somtimes Ioel 2 15 16. 17. Exod. 33 4. in action when in more speciall sort we humble our selues in fasting but alwayes in affection so that we bee not deuoured and eaten vp of any earthly pleasure but may reioyce as though we reioyced 1. Corinth 7. not In wearing of sumptuous apparell bee no more puffed vp nor make any more reckoning of it then if it were sack-cloath in faring more dantily be no more prouoked to excesse in gluttony or to satisfying of our appetite then if we sate at a poore leane table Repentance is the sobriety of minde but wordly pleasures make the minde drunken This is the heauinesse spoken of Luc. 21. 34. Take heede lest your hearts bee oppressed with surfetting and drunkennesse It is a drunken heauinesse not the heauinesse of godly sorrow And indeed this is the reason that many are so eager in the pursuits of their pleasures because they would make Gods Sergeant their owne conscience that pursues them drunken with these pleasures iust as many men vse to doe getting the Sergeant that comes to arrest them into the Tauerne and there making him drunke that so they may escape This excesse that is in pleasures shewes how little men haue tasted of true humiliation If they did bathe themselues in salt teares could they bathe themselues in this sweet milke If they did consider what Christ suffred for their sinnes his want of all these outward comforts euen of an house to hide his head in his hunger thirst nakednesse his vineger on the crosse Could they so fill and glut themselues euen to satiety and surfet with the pleasures of this life and spend their whole precious time in them would they not rather steepe their owne dainties in this vineger of godly sorrow and delay this strong wine with this water and eate their meats as the Iewes their Passeouer with sowre hearbs If Exod. 12. their spirituall ioy in that Sacrament where Christ was giuen to the Beleeuer was to be seasoned with this sorrow how much more should this outward temporall ioy Thus did Dauid notably expresse his humiliation I cause my bed euery night to swimme Psal 6. 6. and water my couch with my teares His bedde is the place of his ease Now look how he qualefied that one ease and comfort so by proportion did he all the rest Not our beds onely but our boords our gardens our fine buildings all our delights must be washed with this water as good Bradford vsually at his dinner vsed to shed teares on his trencher So the woman Luc. 7. sate weeping and wiping while they were eating at table Ioseph of Arimathea makes his garden or place of pleasure to be a place of Humiliation by building a sepulcher therein Thus also doth Ieremie bring in the repenting sinner testifying his humiliation He sits Lam. 3. 28. alone retyring himselfe into his closet from his vain and delightfull company he shuts him vp himselfe close and layes his mouth in the dust what then shall we say to our Epicures to our good fellowes and the rest of that crue but that of Amos 6. Woe bee to them that are at ease in Zion not sitting alone not washing their beds with their teares but with their quaffings and carowsings They lie stretching themselues on iuory beds eating the lambs of the flocke and the calues out of the stall and sing to the sound of th violl c. For as they forget Iosephs affliction so they forget their owne sinnes were they remembred they would be sowre sawce to their sweete meate and would be as gall and wormewood to imbitter vnto them all their vaine delights 2. Such as respect God And those actions are 2. Such as respect God are twofold twofold 1. Feare trembling silence at his rebukes and 1. Feare threatnings Is 66. 2. I looke to him that is of an humble and contrite heart but who that is he shewes by the words following
euen in those things are most necessary and most neerely concerne vs we are most supine and secure and neede the goades of the strongest argument to pricke vs forward The motiues Two motiues to repentance then that may perswade vs are of two sorts 1. From the benefits of Repentance 2. From the euils of impenitency Out of these two heads shall spring the motiues following 1. For the benefits which come vnto us by Repentance 1. The benefits of Repentance Which are Exod. 15. Repentance indeed is bitter and many therefore distaste it as the Israelites did the bitter waters of Marah But if we shall consider the benefits that shall accrue vnto vs thereby we shall find them as the tree which the Lord shewed vnto Moses to sweeten and alay the bitternes therof Oh say some this repentance is an heauy a troublesom matter what good shall we get by our mourning mortification but depriue our selues of our pleasures Repentance is a very hell or at lest a Purgatory well be it that it be an hell yet it is such an hell as must bring thee out of hell in the Kingdome of Christ Repent sayth Iohn for the Kingdome of Heauen is at hand Our way to heauen is to goe by this hell And because men aske like those in the Prophet What profit shall wee haue and what Mal. 3. good if we doe repent wee will lay downe more particularly the benefits thereof They therfore consist principally in two things 1. In remoouing of euill 2. In bringing of Good 1. In remoouing euill The euils which are remooued by repentance are either of sinne or of punishment Repentance remooues 1. Of sinne in regard the euill of sinne two wayes 1. In regard of the sting 1. Of the sting 2. In regard of the staine 1. In regard of the sting The sting of sinne is the guilt of sinne in the conscience binding a man ouer to the wrath of God and filling the conscience full of terrour from the expectation of Gods vengeance Now the repenting sinner is freed from this guilt and from the sense of it in his conscience and hath the free and full remission of all his sinnes in the blood of Christ At what time Zach. 13. 1. soeuer a sinner shall repent him of his sinne I will blot out all his wickednesse out of my remembrance The same thing teaches Zachary In that day namely when as it is in the former chapter they shall mourne for their sinnes as for the losse of their first borne shall a fountaine be opened for sinne and vncleannesse They whose heads are fountaines of teares to bathe Christs feet in with Mary Magdalen shall haue Christs heart pierced to be a fountaine of blood to bathe their souls in and to wash away all their guiltinesse These two fountaines must goe together and when wee wash our selues in the one wee shall bee bathed in the other Our mercy to our sinnes breedes Gods seuerity as Ahabs foolish pity to Benhadad was cruelty 1. King 20. to himselfe but on the contrary our seuerity procures Gods mercy Our mercy to our sinnes preuents Gods mercy to our selues but if wee take reuenge vpon our selues in our repentance then will not God take reuenge vpon vs. The promises of remission to repentance are very frequent in Scripture So the Prophet Isay promises pardon to the Penitent Is 1. 16. 17. 18. Wash you make you cleane put away the euill of your workes from you that is to say Repent And then followes Though your sinnes were as crimson they shall be made white as snow c. that is to say you shall be pardoned and forgiuen Haue mercy on mee saith Psal 51. 1. 3. Dauid ô Lord now what is his argument to mooue God to mercy For I know mine iniquities and my sin is euer before me If we acknowledge our sinnes that is if men repent he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our 1. Ioh. 1. 9. sinnes Not that Repentance merits remission nor that it apprehends it for so onely fath brings remission but as it is a necessary attendant of faith in apprehending remission For when wee hold out the hand of faith to receiue Gods mercy wee doe it as beggers crying and lamenting our miseries And Faith lookes vpon Christ with a weeping and a repenting eye And therefore though it bee faith that doth apprehend mercy and pardon yet because this faith is a repenting faith yea euen then most of all repenting when it most of all apprehends mercy therefore it is that that the promise of pardon is made to repentance Hence Repentance and Remission of sinne are ioyned together by our Sauiour Luk. 24. 47. No Repentance no Remission Except yee Luk. 13. 3. repent yee shall all likewise perish so if Repentance then Remission Be it true Repentance though it be neuer so small there is Remission and so life eternall Hence Repentance is called Repentance Acts 11. 18. vnto life The Repenting sinner then is in a most happy case for hee hath his sinnes pardoned and so title to Heauen So that if a man dies in Repentance he dies in the state of saluation and so goes to heauen For looke what way wee are turned when we dye thither goe wee as the tree fals that way wherto it inclined bowed when it stood on the ground Now Repentance as we haue seene is the turning of the heart to God so that if a man die with his face turned to God-ward to God hee goes But if he die in his irrepentance with his face turned from God to God he can neuer come Let this then perswade euery one as euer hee lookes to be saued to breake off his sinnes by Repentance The Papists lye when they teach vs that there are two wayes to Heauen The way of innocency and the way of penitency No there is but this one way of penitency by which euen the most holy must go for all haue sinned and onely the repenting sinners shall be saued And againe here is both exceeding great comfort to the repenting and terror to the impenitent sinner Are thy sinnes many and greeuous If they were as red as Scarlet yet if thou repent they shall bee made white as snow It is onely impenitency that damnes thee not murther not adultery not incest If thou canst repent of these these sinnes thou art safe when the streame of thy sinnes and the streame of Gods wrath fot thy sins come against thy soule let the streame of that water which issued out of Christs heart together with that streame which issueth out of thy repenting eyes meet it and they shall turne away the current of it away from thee The Physician is not so much offended with the loathsomnesse of the disease as with the contempt of his physick which he knows being taken would heale the disease Nor God so much with thy most odious sins as with this
21. much in this did she sinne that shee called her selfe a Prophetesse that she deceiued Gods seruants and made them commit fornication and eat meat sacrificed to idols But this was her heauy and hainous trasgression I gaue her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not Her great sinne was that she repented not for sinne This indeede is the damning sinne It is not simply sinne that now damnes but continuance in and impenitency for sinne It is not the falling into the water but the lying vnder the water that drownes It is not falling into sinne but lying in it by impenitency that drownes a mans soule in perdition There is but one sinne that shall neuer be forgiuen the blasphemy against the holy Ghost and euen this sinne is not simply irremissible and vnpardonable but only because that sinne hath alwayes annexed vnto it finall impenitency euen that sinner but that he is an impenitent sinner might be pardoned But let vs a little more particularly see what the euill of this sinne is Salomon telleth vs in one word what it is He that hardeneth his heart to wit by impenitency shall fall into euill Now this euill that Prou. 28. 14. shall follow impenitency is two fold Temporall euils and Spirituall euils 1. Impenitency brings Temporall euils They are these 1. Temporall they are 1. Iudgments of note 1. Fearefull exemplary and remedilesse punishments God whips not this sinne with ordinary rods but he lashes it with scorpions plagues it with remarkeable vengeance and iudgements of more eminent note The patience of God is that which keepes backe Gods iudgements Now impenitency sinnes against Gods patience and abuses it Mans impenitency causes Gods impatience And whereas Repentance stands in the gappe and keeps out iudgement Impenitency breakes down not a gappe but the whole fence and not onely lets in but as with cart-ropes hales in Gods iudgments The wise man seeth a plague and hideth himselfe Prou. 22. 3. but the foolish goe on still and are punished The wise man hides himselfe by Repentance by it turning backe from his sinne and so turning back the iudgement but the foole the impenitent sinner he goes on still till he meete with the iudgement Repentance is a meeting with God Because I will doe this Am. 4. 12. vnto thee prepare to meet thy God ô Israel Then wee meet God when we seek to him by Repentance sendforth our tears prayers as our Ambassadors to plead for a peace and sue for mercy to God in turning his fierce wrath from vs. But Impenitency makes a man sit still and lets the iudgement come and so because it will not come to meet with God it meetes with his wrath and iudgements So it is noted of the old world They were eating and drinking and marrying and giuing in marriage and knew Mat. 24. 38. 39. nothing till the flood came and tooke them all away They were washt away with the waters of Gods iudgement who would not wash themselues in the tears and waters of Repentance Therefore it is that when the Lord comes to threaten this sinne hee heapes so many threatnings one vpon another against this sin of impenitency as if so be he could not satisfie himselfe in threatning it as if so be the naming of it had enraged his iealousie If any man Deut. 29. 19. 20. 21. c. shall blesse himselfe in his heart saying I shall haue peace though I walke according to the stubbornnesse of mine owne heart c. The Lord will not bee mercifull vnto him but then the wrath of the Lord and his iealousie shall smoake against that man and euery curse that is written in this booke shall light vpon him and the Lord shall put out his name from vnder heauen and so goes on still in that heauy manner threatning impenitent persons to the end of the chapter And wheras the Lord in threatning other sins vses to come in with some qualifications vpon hope of Repentance yet when he threatens this sinne he is absolute in his threatnings to shew that he will be resolute in his iudgements The Lord called to weeping Is 22. 12. 13. 14 and mourning to baldnesse and girding with sack-cloath that is to the exercises of Repentance and Humiliation And behold ioy and gladnesse slaying oxen and killing sheepe eating flesh and drinking wine eating and drinking that is hardening their hearts by impenitency and going on in their sinnes without Repentance Well but how did the Lord take this Surely saith he this iniquity this iniquity of their horrible impenitency shall not bee purged from you till ye die Heere is no qualification of the threatnings but God absolutely threatens that he will neuer pardon this sin of theirs that with so high an hand went on in their sinnes Secure sinning and hardnesse of heart is an vndoubted fore-runner of seuere destruction And when God will giue ouer men to his iudgements he first giues them ouer to this iudgement of an impenitent heart So vpon the iudgement of hardnesse of heart threatned by Isaiah In making their Is 6. 10. 11. hearts fat and their eares heauy c. followes the fearefull threatning of washing the cities till they bee without inhabitant and the houses till they bee without man and the vtter desolation of the Land Thus is hardnesse of heart and impenitency alwayes the harbinger to some fearefull plague As on the contrary when God intends mercy to a nation he first giues them the grace of Repentance In that day saith the Lord by Zachary will I seeke to destroy all nations that come against Ierusalem And I will powre Zich 12 9. 10. vpon the house of Dauid and vpon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and compassion and they looke vpon me whom they haue pierced and they shall lament c. as if had sayd Though I meane to destroy other nations yet will I not destroy Ierusalem but will giue them the grace of Repentance that they may preuent and auoyd destruction But on the other side when our hearts are hardened in sinning Diluvium fuit circa finem Aprilis cum orbis quasi reuiuiscit cum aues cantillant ex ultant pecudes c. Luther in Genes 7. Gods heart is hardened in punishing Yea euen then when men are most securely hardened is Gods hand neerest vnto them to fall heauy vpon them The old world was destroyed in the end of Aprill which is the most pleasant time of all the yeere And the sunne shone vpon Sodome that morning it was destroyed who would haue looked for such a flood now the winrer was past and the yeere now in her prime and pride who after such a faire sunne-shining morning would haue looked for such a dismall day Such dismall euents doth mens impenitency portend and then most of all when they are in their greatest security Arise saith the Lord to Nebuchadnezzer and get you Ier. 29. 31. 32.
because they went on impenitently Rom. 1. in their sinnes with greedinesse This is an heauy and a fearefull iudgement to be giuen vp to the hardnesse of our owne heart Dauid had his choyce of three plagues whether hee would take 2. Sam. 24. but all those three ioyntly are three times easier then this one famine sword and pestilence are mercies to this iudgement Better to bee deliuered vp to the sword famine and pestilence then to an hard heart nay better be deliuered vp to Sathan himselfe then to hardnesse of heart we finde a man deliuered 1. Cor. 5. 5. 1. Cor 2. vp to Sathan and yet he repented and was saued we finde none deliuered or saued that hath beene deliuered vp to the hardnesse of heart Deliuering vp to Sathan is for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit 1 Cor. 5. 5. may be saued but deliuering vp to the hardnesse of heart is for the destruction both of flesh and spirit both of soule and body It is a desperate euill to be deliuered vp to ones owne heart Adulterers by Gods Law should be stoned to death though now mans Law be more fauorable yet God secretly executes his Law vpon impenitent adulterers for he stones them with the heauiest and hardest stone that is euen with a stony heart to which he deliuers all such impure beasts 2. Desperation They that thinke Repentance 2. Desperation is a bitter cup to the which they will not lay their lips shall drinke a cup of Satans owne tempering and shall sucke vp the very lees of it If thou refuse heauenly repentance though shalt with Iudas be forced to a desperate hellish repentance Though sinne may lie a sleepe a while before the doore as with Caine like a drowsie sluggish cur yet at the length it will awaken and barke so hideously and grinne so fearefully in thy face that though thou bee not driuen with Saul to murder thy selfe or with Iudas and Achitophel to hang thy selfe yet shall thy conscience bee no lesse dismayd with desperate feares then theirs were 3. Eternall condemnation The impenitent 3. Eternall damnation Is 4. 4. person shall fall into that bottomelesse pit of fire and brimstone Repentance is called the spirit of burning It is a burning fire that consumes our sinnes if this fire burne not our sinnes Hell fire will burne our soules If our Gospell be hid it is hid to them 2. Cor. 4. 3. that perish saith the Apostle Heereupon our Sauiour threatens those Iewes that they should die in their Ioh. 8. 24. sinnes If they should die in them they should rise in them and if they should rise in them then shold their sinnes rise vp against them and fall heauy vpon them to presse them downe into the lowermost hell This is the sinne which of all others encreases a mans damnation Therefore impenitent sinners are sayd to heape vp wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2. 5. euen the whole heape of all their sinnes and the whole heap of Gods wrath shall be laid vpon them So our Sauiour pronounces an heauy sentence vpon those impenitent cities where he had preached That it should bee easier for Sodom and Gommorrha Matth 11 21. 22. 23. 24. in the day of iudgement then for them Surely they that haue the least paine in hell shall haue but litle cause to bragge of their ease Euen the least sinnes shall haue smart enough what then shall the crying sinnes of the Sodomites haue Sodomy was a monstrous sinne such a sinne that as Chrysostome saies Cogitato quam graue illud sit peccatum et quod ipsam Gehennam etiam ante tempus apparere coegerit Chrys ad Rom. 1. hom 4. it made hell to appeare before the time such a sin as made an hell on earth Such a sinne then as had an hell on earth must needes haue an hell with a witnesse in hell Needes must their damnation be fearefull and easelesse that began so earely And yet the accursed Sodomites shall haue an easier hel then such impenitent persons as reiect Gods mercy in the Gospell Sodom and Gomorrhaes hell shall be an heauen to Bethsaida and Chorazins hell An impenitent person shall thinke himselfe to haue beene an happy man if he had beene one of those accursed Sodomites that once perished with fire and brimstone from heauen and now lie yelling and howling in the lake that burnes with fire and brimstone in hell Oh how heauie shall his condition be how vnconceiueable his woe and torment that shall enuy and grinde and gnash his teeth at a cursed and damned Sodomite for his happinesse Oh consider this all yee that forget God lest he teare you in Psal 50. 22. peeces and there be none that can deliuer you Repent and the Kingdome of God is at hand to receiue thee Repent not and the Kingdome of hell is at hand to double-damne and deuoure thee Gratias tibi Domine Iesu MICHAEL and the DRAGON OR CHRIST tempted AND Sathan foyled Penned by the late faithfull Minister of God DANIELL DYKE Bachelour in Diuinitie Published since his death by his Brother I. D. Minister of Gods word HEB. 2. 18. For in that he suffered and was tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted LONDON Printed by Edward Griffin for Ralph Mab and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Greyhound 1616. THE HISTORIE of Christs temptation recorded by three of the foure EVANGELISTS Matth. 4. 1. THen was Iesus led aside of the spirit into the wildernesse to be tempted of the deuill 2. And when he had fasted fortie dayes and fortie nights he was afterwards hungry 3. Then came to him the Tempter and said If thou be the Sonne of God command that these stones be made bread 4. But he answering said It is written Man shall not liue by bread onely but by euery word that proceeds out of the mouth of God 5. Then the deuill tooke him vp into the holy Citie and set him on a pinacle of the Temple 6. And said vnto him If thou be the Sonne of God cast thy selfe downe for it is written that he will giue his Angells charge ouer thee and with their hands they shall lift thee vp lest at any time thou shouldest dash thy foot against a stone 7. Iesus said vnto him It is written againe Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God 8. Againe the deuill tooke him vp into an exceeding high mountaine and shewed him all the kingdomes of the world and the glory of them 9. And said vnto him All these will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me 10. Then said Iesus vnto him Auoide Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue 11. Then the deuill left him and behold the Angells came and ministred vnto him Mark 1. 12. AND immediately the spirit driues him into the wildernesse 13. And hee was
tempted to doubt whether we be Gods sonnes For the Diuell as he laboureth to sowe diuision betweene brethren among themselues which is cursed so also that which is yet worse betwixt the father and the sonnes yea betwixt the father and his owne naturall sonne yea betwixt the two natures in Christ personally vnited the man-hood and God-head He would make the man-hood think that the God-head did not sustain it Now if he thus tempted Christs humanity that had that speciall vnion with the second person in the Trinity what then may we looke for whose vnion is not so neere We see how he guls the wicked of the world perswades them being his slaues that they are Gods sonnes being very beggers that they are kings And so why may hee not contrarily perswade Gods sons that they are his slaues Vse 3 3. When there come into our mindes Atheisticall thoughts as to doubt whether Christ bee the sonne of God yea whether there be a God or no let vs know that these are the whisperings of the olde serpent let vs not be discouraged ouer-much since he was thus bold with Christ himselfe Doct. For the second In that he tempts him to doubt of Gods care and prouidence Wee see how the Diuell The second temptation will also trouble vs in this poynt of Gods prouidence for this present life as Dauid was troubled The Diuell would draw vs to a distrust of Gods prouidence Psal 73. Ierem. 12. Rom. 8. 32. Psal 73. and Ieremy Ier. 12. let vs strengthen our faith in Gods mercy for our saluation and we haue made sure worke for this Rom. 8. 32 God hauing giuen vs his sonne how shall hee not with him giue vs all things else The third sinne hee tempts him to was to worke a The third temptation miracle of turning stones into bread and so to haue eaten Quest Quest This seemes no such matter Why might not Christ haue done it lawfully Answ Answ After we haue thoroughly weighed it we shall find a great sinne 1. In regard of the ground distrust in Gods prouidence as though hee would not prouide for him 2. In regard of the action it selfe wherein first our Sauiour should haue allowed of the Diuels lies who required this miracle both as the onely meanes of his life and as a necessary demonstration and proofe of his God-head wickedly tying both the faith of his man-hood and the power of his God-head to bread Secondly the third commandement should haue beene broken and a miracle abused and prophaned 1. Because Sathan is a swine a dogge to whom such pearles such holy things may not bee cast and therefore our Lord would neither gratifie Herod with any miracle nor yet those cruell mockers at his crucifying hee owed them no such seruice Nay when his mother vnseasonably made a motion he checked her that though he wrought the miracle afterward yet it might appeare hee did it as of himselfe as knowing best his owne time and not to be instructed or directed by any 2. Heere was no need of this miracle at this time for first God workes not miraculously when meanes may bee had All the while the prouision of Aegypt lasted Manna rained not nor yet after they were come to haue other prouisiō in Canaan Now Christ was in his fathers appointmēt to come out of the wildernes into such places wher he might haue bread without miracle Secondly miracles are for confirmation of faith but the Diuell is vncapable of faith and then being wrought thus in hugger mugger without the sight of iust witnesses how would it haue confirmed faith Thirdly if Christ should haue wrought miracles for his owne belly it might haue seemed suspicious Wee see in the whole history of the Gospell that though Christs miracles were almners to the poore and Physicians to the sicke and with them hee releeued other sicke bodies and hungry bodies yet neuer his owne He chused rather to liue vpon almes Luc. 8. 1. 2. to begge water of the Samaritan Ioh. 4. Yea of his Luke 8. 1. 2. Ioh. 4. cruell aduersaries on the crosse crying out to them I thirst and imploring their mercy least otherwise he might haue seemed in miracles to haue had Simon Magus his mind and to haue sought in such holy things his own gaine and priuate benefit which had beene abominable Here by the way we may Note note how the Diuell laboreth to make vs prophane holy things by referring them to wrong ends and how he would make vs carnall in things spirituall as heere hee would haue had Christ vsed a miracle which should haue beene for Gods glory and the Churches faith for his bellies sake So perswades he many in preaching in professing in praying to seeke themselues and to serue their owne bellies as those phillipicke preachers did Phil. 1. And thus euen Phil. 1. the action it selfe is vnlawfull 3. It was vnlawfull in regard of two necessary appurtenances to this action 1. Vaine-glory and ostentation If a base fellow should daringly prouoke a wise and graue man of great learning and iudgement and say to him if you be a scholler heere construe this Greeke sentence it would not beseeme the stayednesse of the learned man who had already giuen farre more sufficient testimonies of his learning then that presently to doe the thing required 2. Inordinatenesse of appetite For though in a peece of bread eaten of an hungry man no such gluttony and certainely the Diuell aimed not at this sinne as may appeare by our Sauiours answer yet for all that to haue ones appetite carried by the Diuell and to be at his becke argues inordinatenes of it Thus we see how many sinnes the diuell couched and infolded in this one Doct. It teacheth vs not to measure actions by the outward appearance What a matter is it to eat bread We must no measure actions by the outward appearance when one is hungry but wee see what a matter it would haue beene heere in Christ A little pinne specially being poysoned may pricke mortally as well as a great sword Adams eating the fruit seems a small matter to flesh and blood which wonders that so small a pinne should wound all man-kinde to the death But Adams sinne was not simply the eating of the apple but the eating of the apple forbidden by God There was the deadly poison of that little pinne And there also the Diuell so handled the matter that all the commandements were broken in that one action As the first table in his infidelity doubting both of Gods truth and goodnesse contempt of and rebellion against God preferring of Sathan before God and in the prophanation of that fruit he ate which was a sacrament And for the second table he broke the fift commandement in his vnthankefulnesse to God his father that gaue him his being and had bestowed so many blessings vpon him The sixt in the murther of himself and all his posterity bodie and soule The seauenth in
his intemperancy The eight in touching anothers goods against the will of the Lord. The ninth in receiuing the Diuels false witnesse against God The tenth in being discontent with his estate and lusting after an higher Take we heed now of the deceit of sinne It shewes little sometimes but oh the bundle of mischiefe that is lapped vp in that little The second point followes The arguments whereby the Diuell tempts First to vnbeleefe and 2. The Arguments which the Diuell vseth to Christ distrust thus 1 If God regarded thee ought much more if indeed in this manhood this second person in Trinity dwelt personally surely thou shouldst haue bread to preserue thee in this neede though it were made miraculously of stones But thou hast no releefe no stones turned into bread Therefore God regards thee not c. The proposition is built on this ground God prouides for all his specially for such a creature as the humanity of Christ that is vnited to the God-head The husband would prouide for the wife the father for the son in lesse need then this But the vnion betwixt the God-head and humanity of the Messiah is far greater And this ground is true But then another ground necessarily implied by Sathan is false that no other prouision could be had but by bread Doct. D. Hereby we see how Sathan vseth to descant vpon our afflictions therby casts doubts into our It is vsual with Sathan to cast into our minds doubts of Gods loue Psal 73. Iudg 6. mindes of Gods loue So did he with Dauid Ps 73. So Gedeon Iudg. 6. If the Lord be with vs how then is all this vpon vs. As in prosperitie the diuells endeuour is to make vs lay our hearts too neere to it whence that of the Psalmist If riches increase set not your hearts thereon Psal 62. 10. So in aduersitie to Psal 62. 10. make vs to lay it to neere our hearts Vse 1 1. It must teach vs in our afflictions specially to strengthen our faith in the mercy of God It is Sathans pollicie to imbitter our afflictions with this gall of diffidence and so to adde sorrow to our affliction but we must not yeeld but rather take our afflictions as markes of our adoption And as in this hunger of Christ yea in his greater afflictions yea in his death and being in his graue the personal vnion was not dissolued so must we assure our selues that neither is the mysticall vnion betwixt Christ and our selues dissolued by any of our afflictions no not by death or the graue it selfe wherevpon we are said to sleepe in Christ 1. Thess 4. 14. 1. Thess 4. 14. euen then are we in Christ when we are in our graues If any man should be vsed like a dogge or a Beare yet as long as he sees humane shape and discernes the vse of humane reason in himselfe he would still for all this vsage thinke himselfe to be a man So though the children of God be vsed here in this world as if they were wicked yet as long as they feele the worke of grace and the power of Gods spirit they must still hold themselues to be Gods children Vse 2 2. Take we heed that we neuer thus cast downe the smitten of God and vrge them to despayre of Gods mercy as Dauid complaines of some Psal 3. 2. Many say to my soule There is no helpe for him in God This is Sathans course and in so doing we shall shew our selues his instruments The second Argument was to perswade him to the working of the myracle because he was the sonne of God and therfore he was able to worke it Doct. See the Diuells diuinitie That that which wee can do for helping or benefiting of our selues that Psal 3 2. The Diuell tempteth vs to doe what we can doe though neuer so vnlawfull we should do It is no matter whether lawfull or vnlawfull that skills not he would neuer haue vs to sticke at ought Thus deales he here with Christ Thou art the sonne of God and thou canst doe all things and wilt thou not vse this power of thine to helpe thy selfe by turning stones into bread And yet this was an vnlawfull meanes of helping himselfe So Iezebell reasons with Ahab about Naboths vineyard Thou the King of Israel and suffer such a base fellow to crosse thee So still speaks Satan to great men Thou of such a place and power suffer such an one to stand in thy way So in sicknesse he presents vngodly meanes as charmes and witches and tells vs if when we may be holpen and will not we are worthy to be sicke still So to schollers you are men of parts and learning and liue you thus Get you to Rome and to Rhemes and there ye shall haue respect answerable to your desires and deserts The third poynt followes The manner of conueyance 3. The manner of conveyance full of craft and cunning for 1. The matter whereto he perswades as we saw in outward appearance was but small and yet full of deadly danger 2. He framed his tenations so that he might catch him which way soeuer he should take though yet our Lords skill was aboue his for thus the deuill thought If he doe worke the myracle then haue I foyled him and made him to distrust his Fathers prouidence in the vse of an vnlawfull meanes If he doe not then shall I insult ouer him as not being able to doe it and so make him doubt of the truth of his Fathers voyce Thou art my sonne but he was deceiued here 3. Like a Waterman he lookes one way and rowes another The speciall thing he shot at indeed was to make Christ call in question the truth of that oracle that sounded at Iordan to thinke thorough vnbeliefe that he was not the sonne of God But yet the words of the temptation seeme to import that he sought onely the working of the miracle And yet the deuill would rather a great deale he would neuer worke the miracle so he would doubt himselfe not to be the sonne of God for this would haue been the greater foyle Doct. This discloses to vs one of Satans mysteries Somtimes he will tempt vs to some sinne to which yet he cares not much whether wee yeeld or no hoping to get a greater conquest of vs by not yeelding As thus when by not yeelding wee grow proud vaine-glorious secure confident wherein the deuil seemes to deale like a cunning gamester that hides his skill and loses two or three games at the first that he may winne so much the more afterwards 4. He transformes himselfe into an Angell of light and makes semblance of religion for 1. He acknowledges plainely that the sonne of God is God and can doe that which God can that God onely by his meere word can worke miracles and that it seemed likely that Christ was the sonne of God Loe an orthodoxe deuill sound in iudgment 2. He bids not our
But without any true reformation for presently after he fell to as bad cruelty against the holy Prophet Micaiah Iudas was grieued for murthering Christ yet no change ensued hee fell to murthering of himselfe The Israelites being threatned by God when as they meditated a returne into Aegypt wept and howled And yet at the same time being commanded not to goe the next way to Canaan but to fetch a compasse about they disobeyed But these men sorrow not aright because they sorrow not as the Corinthians did vnto a transmentation vnto a change of their thoughts and purposes from euill to good It is not possible a man should truely grieue and be displeased for his sins and yet continue in them without a change For as one very well sayes vnlesse sinne be made a wanton it will not stay It likes no grimme entertainement The sad countenance the weeping eyes the frowning forehead dash it quite out of countenance It is not able to stand before them The teares of true Repentance haue a purging and a raising vertue therfore the Prophet exhorting to Repentance sayes Wash yee make yee cleane These teares therefore Is 1. 16. are washing and cleansing teares where they fall they make cleane worke scouring away the filthinesse of our sinnes The abundance of naturall raine maketh the waies fowle that before were faire But contrarily the more abundantly this raine falleth the cleaner and fairer are the wayes of our hearts and fitter for the feet of the Lord to walke in For this is that same preparing of the way Matth. 3. of the Lord which the Baptist requires Worldly sorrow workes a change in the body it brings gray haires on the head and furrowes and wrinckles in the face It turnes youth into olde age and strength into weaknesse and so causeth death But the change of godly sorrow is quite contrary It turnes olde age into youth and a weaknesse and sicknesse into health and strength No distillations of waters heale our bodily diseases so as this water doth our spirituall This salt brine takes away all our raw humours and makes vs sauory meate for the Lord. This raine dissolues the clowds of our iniquities and ô what a pure cleerenesse is there in the heauen of our hearts And therfore iustly may wee suspect their repentance whose sorrow brings not with it this happy change 2. So also may we theirs whose change and alteration proceedes not from godly sorrow and touch of conscience for sinne Let it not suffice vs that in many things wee haue reformed our wayes For so did Herod Iudas and many other temporary beleeuers But alas this reformation was not grounded vpon true humiliation and so at length it came to nought as an vnfounded building And therefore by humiliation first digge wee deepe in our hearts and cast out the rotten and vnsound ground and so build wee Excellent is the counsell of Christ to luke-warme Laodicea be zealous that is reforme the fault of thy luke-warmnesse Reuel 3. but withall he addes and Repent namely of thy lukewarmnesse let the reformation of thy fault be grounded on sound sorrow for it So may I say to the couetous be liberall and repent to the vncleane be chaste and repent to the neglecter of Gods worship frequent the Church and exercises of Religion and repent Many Professours haue made a goodly flourish and of couetous haue turned liberall and of prophane deuout and who so forward as they But when they turned religious they did not heartily repent and repine at their former prophanesse grieuing and grudging at the seruice which formerly they did Sathan They sowed not the seed of their obedience in tears nay with the stony ground they beganne in ioy and therefore end in sorrow Before haruest comes all is withered and they become vnfruitfull They beganne not in humility and therefore end not in glory Nay they beganne in pride and therefore end in shame They beganne in impenitency and therefore end in despaire And thus haue we opened the definition of Repentance CHAP. II. In what order Humiliation is wrought REpentance then consisting of those two parts Humiliation and Reformation let vs speake of them both seuerally And first of Humiliation where consider first the grace it selfe And secondly the contraries to it In the grace it selfe foure things are to be considered 1. The Nature 2. The Measure 3. The Vse and Excellency 4. The Practise 1. For the nature two poynts must bee considered 1. The nature of Humiliation in two things 1. In what order it is wrought 2. What are the qualities and propeties of it being wrought For the former it is thus to be considered 1. The spirit by the shrill trumpet of the Law arouseth the sinners drousie conscience setteth his 1. The order of it sinnes in order before him and presenteth him with that fearefull spectacle of eternall death and condemnation And that so that the poore sinner selfe-conuict and selfe-condemned holding vp his guilty hands before Gods Tribunall and receiuing the sentence of death doth not onely see hell with a wide and gaping mouth ready to deuoure him but euen in a manner feeleth himselfe in hell already the terrours of God fighting against him and the envenomed arrowes of the Almighty sticking in his ribbes so that in this perplexity being brought downe to the very gate of hell and feeling the very flashings of hell fire in his conscience he cries out Miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me Who shall descend into this deepe to Rom. 7. helpe me out of the myre wherein I sticke so fast A man in this case is like a rocke which with some mighty shaking is made to tremble but yet still retaines his hardnesse or as an iron vessell which with some violent stroakes is broken into peeces but these peeces remaine whole and hard and are not yet molten by the fire Now vnto humiliation there is required not onely a broken but also a contrite spirit And Contrition is when all is stamped to very dust and ground as it were to powder so that there is a through dissolution of that which before was firmely hardened and compacted together But the Law of it selfe cannot dissolue and soften the hard heart of man Therefore the sinner though neuer so violently shaken and battred with the thunderbolts of the Law is not as yet truely humbled but onely prepared for and in the way vnto humiliation As when a thing is torne and broken though into great and solide lumps it is neerer to dissolution then when it was whole and entire 2. Therefore the spirit by the hammer of the Law hauing broken vs doth in the next place by the fire of the Gospell melt vs. For the word of God Ierem. 23. 9. is both a hammer breaking the rockes and a fire A hammer in the Law A fire in the Gospell which with the heat of Gods loue in Christ doth melt mollifie and dissolue our hearts
but the Law is spirituall and requireth euen the rest of thy heart from worldly thoughts much more of thy tongue from worldly speeches And how often hast thou here offended 5. Command Honour thy father c. O I should be vnnaturall if I did not so Yea but thy Magistrate thy Minister thy Husband thy Master thy Superiours are thy Fathers also And hast thou no way failed in performance of honour to all these And thou that art any of these fathers hast thou preserued this Law or rather by an vnbeseeming carriage hast thou not inuited thy inferiours to contemne thee 6. Command Thou shalt not kill Heere thou thinkest thy selfe innocent indeede Yea but there is a murther of the heart hatred wrath c. Perhaps by greeuing the heart of thy brother vniustly thou hast shortned his dayes Or if free from bodily murther yet haply thou hast murthered his soule by thy negligence by thy euill example 7. Command Against Adultery Here also the lust of the heart yea the vse of any prouokements thereof as idlenesse drunkennesse gluttony wanton bookes lookes pictures dances speeches vesture gesture are sufficient to make thee guilty before God yea winking at it in others 8. Command Against stealing Heere euen Couetousnesse is a Pick-purse before God Yea and not to vphold the estate of our brother is stealing for the poore are made owners of part of our goods Prou. 3. 9. Command Against false witnesse bearing Where lying flattering detracting listning to tales yea not giuing testimony to thy brothers name and commending Gods grace in him makes thee guilty 10. Command Cuts to the very quicke condemning the very first motions of sinnes springing out of our hearts though reiected presently Well then this filthy dunghill how euer vnstirred it did not annoy vs yer after this raking in it the stench will bee intollerable Though in our blindnesse wee might please our selues yet when our eyes are opened to looke in this glasse ô what vgly creatures shall wee thinke our selues then Though in the darke seeing no danger wee were fearelesse yet by this light discerning not onely the beames but euen the least moates and seeing so infinite a swarme of sinnes yea an army of iniquities incompassing vs how can we chuse but be confounded in our selues and forced to cry out with Iob Not one of a thousand and with Dauid If thou markest what is done amisse who shall abide it Psal 130. 3. 2. Besides the number of our sinnes their hainousnesse must also be found out A sore which at first seemes nothing by reason of the small quantity of skin that is broken afterward being searched and launched and the dead flesh taken out the hole is much greater then before So sinnes which seeme small and petty sinnes to carnall ciuill men such as they thinke may easily be washed away with a few formall cursory prayers when once they begin to search them by the Law they appeare out of measure sinnefull There is no greater hinderer of serious humiliation then that tricke of extenuation whereby men deale with their sinnes as the steward with his masters debts for an hundred he set downe fifty But Luc. 16. if wee would make our hearts bleede in godly sorrow wee must strictly presse euery circumstance whereby it may be aggrauated It is noted in Peters weeping that he first weighed his sinne and considered the heightning circumstances the person Mar. 14. 72. denied Iesus Christ the Lord of glory his owne person that denied a Disciple of Christ the means hee had to haue kept him Christs admonition the manner with swearing and cursing and that not once but often So doth Dauid amplifie his sinne by his knowledge Psalm 51. Thou hast taught mee wisdome in my secret parts I cannot plead ignorance Psal 51. 6. thou hast most familiarly and fully acquainted mee with thy will In this search also the place where and the time when the sinne was committed would bee inquired after Drunkennesse on the Sabaoth swearing in the Church-assembly receiue increase of filthinesse from the holinesse of the time and place Hosea thus brands the drunkennesse of the Nobles In the day of the King wherein either his birth or Hos 7. 5. coronation was solemnized which craued Prayers rather then Cups euen then they made themselues drunke with flagons of wine Inquire also whether the sinne haue been repeated often and specially after Repentance and how long it hath beene continued in for custome and daily practise ripens sin Idlenesse to the twelfth houre is greater then to the sixt And this is the search we must make for our sinnes 2. As our sinne so our misery procured by sin must be considered and beheld in the Law Euen the curse of God begun heere and to bee perfited heerafter in torments easelesse and endlesse Cursed is euery one that abideth not in all the things written in Deut. 27. 26. this booke And this curse must be applyed to euery particular Commandement and not to the whole Law onely When thus wee shall know our estate our nature to bee poysoned our liues laden with innumerable those hainous and horrible rebellions bringing vs into the state of condemnation on our parts wholly vnauoydable when a man shall know all this what flinty brest is there that cannot be mooued Strike the rocke of thy heart with the rod of the Law discouering thy sinne thy misery and riuers of water will gush foorth And this is the first duty for prouoking of godly sorrow the consideration of our owne wayes 2. In Consideration of God wayes of The second followeth the consideration of Gods wayes both of Iustice Mercy 1. Iustice And Lam. 3. 1. Of Iustice It worketh much vpon the heart when a man considers how the Lord hath met with him in his sinne and hath shaped answerable punishments My soule hath them namely the gall and wormewood of my afflictions in remembrance is humbled within me saith the repenting Church So Haggay prouoking the Iewes to Repentance Hagg. 1. 6. Consider saith he your wayes in your hearts but so that withall yee consider Gods wayes proportionable in the punishment to yours in the sinne Yee haue sowen much and haue reaped little yee haue eaten and haue not beene filled drunken and not satisfied c. marke the long taile of punishments your sinnes haue drawen after them So the Church of Ephesus being called to Repentance is first bidden to remember from whence shee is Reuel 2. 5. fallen by her sinne what she had lost thereby viz. the presence of the spirit boldnesse of faith peace of conscience ioy in the holy Ghost free accesse vnto God in praier Such losses throughly thoght vpon will pierce the heart with godly sorrow and make the fallen Christian say with Iob Oh that it Iob 29. were with me as in times past and with Dauid When I remember these things my soule is powred out within Psal 42. mee 2.
Of Mercy where the patience prouidence 2. Of mercy bounty and kindnesse of the Lord is seriously to be recognized of vs knowing as the Apostle speaketh that it leadeth vs to repentance But heere specially Rom. 2. excelleth the meditation of the death and passion of Christ wherein thou shalt see both the infinitenesse of thy sinne and Gods loue And heere consider thy sinnes as the Iudas that betrayed the souldiers that apprehended bound smote and wounded thy Sauiour as the gall and vineger in his mouth spittle in his face thorns on his head nailes in his hands speare in his side Surely if a man but vnwittingly should kill though the silliest and basest man that is it could not yet but be a great trouble vnto him What then should this be to vs that we haue wilfully murthered the Lord of glory the sonne of God himselfe Behold also Gods infinite loue and see Christ doing the same to thy sinnes which they to him and in suffering death at their hands inflicting death on them and all other thy spirituall enemies for God doth that to his enemies to make vs relent which he bids vs doe to ours If thine enemie hunger giue him meat if he thirst giue him drinke Nay Rom. 12. 20. when we Gods enemies were dead hee gaue vs life and that by the death of his owne sonne and so hath heaped coales of fire on our heads to melt our harts in godly sorrow The way then to pierce our hearts with sorrow for sin is to behold Christ pierced with nailes on the crosse Then shall they looke on mee whom they haue pierced and lament Ezech. 12. And this is the consideration both of our own and Gods wayes required as an incentiue and prouokement of godly sorrow The which shall bee farre more effectuall if we keepe iournals or day-bookes of them both both of our speciall sinnes and Gods speciall mercies for then in the exercises of Repentance may we the more easily set our sinnes in order before our eyes and for the better affecting of our hearts may we spread the catalogue of our sinnes before the Lord as Ezekiah did Rabsakehs 2. Kin. 19. 14. blasphemous letter This course holy Bradford tooke and some thinke Iob did so because of that speech Not one of a thousand CHAP. VII Of Confession and Deprecation HVmiliation wrought in the heart must bee expressed outwardly both in word action 2. Outward expressing it in word In word by his Confession of sinne and Deprecation In Confession consider 1. Parts 1. In Confession In it 1. parts which are 2. 2. Manner The parts of confession are two 1. Accusing of our selues 2. Iudging of our selues Both these are necessary duties For by accusing 1. Accusation In which our selues we preuent Sathan by iudging our selues we preuent God When we haue accused our selues what can Sathan that accuser of the brethen say which wee haue not sayd before so his mouth is stopt Hee comes too late wee being Accusers God is our Discharger and what then shall Sathan be but a Slanderer By iudging of our selues doe wee likewise put God out of office for he will say loe how this man iudgeth himselfe I will not therefore iudge him If in Ahabs hypocryticall iudging seest thou not 1. Kin. 21. 29 how Ahab humbleth himselfe I will not therefore humble him how much more in the sincere and seuere iudging of the Godly Indeed in iudging of others Iudge not least ye be iudged but in iudging Matth. 7. 1. of our selues iudge that ye be not iudged 1. Cor. 11. Now for the former namely the accusing of our Three things selues there must be these three things therein 1. A particularizing of our sinnes In an accusation 1. Particularizing of sinne it is not enough to accuse in generall but we must come to particulars and charge the accused with this or that crime How can the Physitian helpe him that saies he is not well and will not tell him where Many deale with God in the confession of their sinnes as Nebuchadnezar with his Inchanters Dan. 2. about his dreame that hee had dreamed hee told them and desired an interpretation but what his dreame was he could not tell So many confesse themselues sinners and desire pardon But wherein they haue sinned and what their sinnes are they cannot or will not tell Generall Confessions and in grosse are too too grosse No they must be particularly remembred and ranked and sorted together in order 2. And beeing thus set in order some of thy chiefest sinnes must be culled out which haue bin 2. Calling out the chiefe most dishonourable to God and discomfortable to thine owne soule Thus Paul in his confession insists specially in that grand and capitall sinne of persecution I persecuted the Church of God And so those Israelites Besides all other our sinnes wee haue 1. Tim. 1. 13. 1. Sam. 12. 19. sinned in asking a King For he that truely and seriously repents of one sinne specially his deerest and sweetest sinne will much more repent of his other lesser sinnes Hee that will shake off his greatest friends will much more forsake the meaner and lesse respected And indeed vsually Repentance is first occasioned by some one speciall hainous sinne layd to heart The Apostles Acts 2. doe specially presse the murther of Christ vpon the Iewes and Acts 17. Ignorance vpon the Athenians Christ adultery vpon the woman of Samaria calling her to repentance As in battels though they fight against the whole Army yet specially against the Head and Generall as Fight neither against great 1. Kin. 22. nor small but against the King of Israel so specially we must set our selues in our confession against our Master sinnes the King being caught the rest will neuer stand out 3. Though we must specially dwell vpon some of our most speciall sinnes yet the rest must not be 3. Yet not neglecting the rest neglected for as Confession must be particular so also must it be full And our more greeuous offences must bring the rest to our remembrance As Dauids murther and adultery brought euen his birth-sinne to his minde And that sin of strange Psal 51. wiues many other sinnes to Esraes minde As we in correcting our children for one fault thereupon Esr 9. remember them of and reckon with them for many other before and as in accusation when a man is endited of some speciall crime his enemies vpon that occasion bring in whatsoeuer else they can get against him further to disgrace him so heere in accusing our selues nothing willingly must bee omitted Take wee heede of spirituall guile in hiding ought Thou mayest hide God from thy selfe thy selfe from God thou canst not To the Physician thou wilt discouer euen thy most shamefull diseases the fruites of thy filthy wickednesse If thou shouldest conceale but one circumstance of such a disease it might kill thee And sixe