a pitiful face commiserating his frailty then a merciful face converting him and next a gracious and favourable face inviting him If it were a face of Anger see then the nature of Faith in Peter and all the Godly which through the clouds of his displeasure can discover the comfortable light and beams of a Saviour as well as through his vail of flesh and dishonour discern the Power and Majesty of God like the Woman in the Gospel whose Faith could interpret the very odious name of Dog uttered from the mouth of Christ to be a trial of her and not a rejection rather a hiding than a denying of mercy If it were a face of Grace and Invitation see the nature of sin which is to make a man afraid even of an appeased God and of Repentance which when the Soul is invited to the rivers of joy which make glad Gods City can be at leisure to drink of those bitter tears which make heavy the hearts of sinners If it were a pitiful and commiserating face see how it works alike Qualities in Peter who then only can begin to lament himself when he is first lamented by his Saviour Lord never let thy saving face be turned back from me but be thou always pleased to look upon me whether in tender displeasure or in a pitiful mercy that so I may be driven by sorrow out of my self and by faith unto thee MED XXV THE first beginning of Peter's Repentance is a Remembrance of the words of Christ an applicative and feeling recordation of them How powerful is Temptation to banish out of mans mind all conceit of Gods Truth or his own danger He that is too mindful of his safety will be too unmindful of his Faith A sanctified Memory whether in retaining of Divine Truth or in presenting our own sins is an excellent preparative to Repentance and like a steddy wind doth collect and draw together those clouds whence shall after issue forth those happy tears MED XXVI BUT what was it that Peter remembred It is not said Peter now consider'd how he stood naked and open to the flames of Hell or how he had expos'd himself to the scourges of an inward Tormentor to the scorchings of a bosom-hell his Conscience or to the fearful judgment and revenge of him whom he had injur'd by denying and therefore he went out and wept It was fear that made him fall it made him not repent But it was only the merciful prediction of Christ which he remember'd what slight esteem he had made of that gracious caution which should have arm'd him against Temptations and this made him go out and weep The abuse of Gods mercy the grieving of Gods Spirit the undervaluing of Gods Truth more wounds the Soul of a repentant sinner than all the gripes of Conscience or flames of Hell MED XXVII BUT what makes thee O blessed Convert thus to start and turn upon the Look of thy Lord and the remembrance of thy sin as if the repentance for the denial of thy Tongue had made thy Foot again to deny thy Master Whither runnest thou Peter from such a fountain of Mercy Hast thou either mistaken the Look of thy Saviour which was to draw and reunite thee unto him not to drive or banish thee from him or hath thy sorrow drown'd thy Faith and made thee forget that glorious profession which thou once didst make out of a happy knowledg of experience and belief that Christ had the words of Eternal Life and whither then goest thou Hast thou forgotten that he had balm to cure thy grief and blood to blot out thy sin that he could at once both comfort and restore thee and render unto thee thy former joy and grace Why didst thou not run into his embraces and in token of thy repentance and belief in thy body lay hold upon him and wash him with thy tears against his Burial But behold the mystery of Peter's recover'd Faith see how he acknowledgeth his Saviour when he turneth from him and is reinvested with the honour of a Disciple though he seem still rather to forsake than to follow his Lord. His Repentance doth in action confirm what his Faith once did in words confess That Christ was the Son of the Living God Behold in the departure of Peter an Article of thy Faith even the Divinity of thy Saviour Had not Christ been as well without where Peter wept as within the Hall where the Jews blasphemed Peter had again denied and not return'd unto his Lord and that which is now a mystery would have been a revolt It is nothing but Faith that from without could still through the Walls look into the House and there through the infirmity of a buffetted and contemned body descry the glory of a merciful and reconciled God It is nothing but Faith that can from Earth look into the highest Heaven and when it is absent from Christ not only groan after him but grasp and lay hold upon him The Ubiquity of Christ gives unto that Believer who hath interest in him a kind of Ubiquity also And as he is in Earth by his Power though in Heaven by his Presence So a Believer though in his Body on the Earth yet is in Heaven by his Faith It is the nature of Faith to give as subsistence and being unto things yet to come so a kind of presence also unto things most remote and distant and can even converse and lay hold on Christ though he be in Heaven MED XXVIII BUT what Peter though thou canst find thy Saviour without the Hall is there no comfort to be taken in his sensible Presence doth the possession of Faith make vain and fruitless the fruition of sight Is it not some joy to see him because it is so much Blessedness to believe in him Was there health in his Garment and is there no pleasure in his Presence Was the Womb blessed that held him and is there not some blessedness in the eyes that see and the hands that embrace him Was it from Temptation which had before foiled thee that thou didst fly as a burnt Child from the fire Was the voice of a Virgin able to drive thee from the Son of a Virgin or the Challenge of a Servant from the presence of a Lord Was not that Look able to confirm thee which was able to convert thee Or couldst thou fear to fall from the Rock thy Saviour because thou hadst before faln from the Sand thy Presumption Or was it out of a loathing of that place of blasphemy where thy Master and thy God did suffer the base reproaches of wicked men could the air of that place be infectious where was so precious so innocent so saving a breath to sweeten it Was the blasphemy of a Jew more pestilent to pollute than the Grace of thy Jesus to sanctifie the High-Priests Hall The presence of Christ could make that place a Heaven to Peter which the blasphemies of a Jew had made his
discommodity of a cold air and an ensuing Judgment cannot be far from denying of him That man whom the enjoying of any temporal benefit or the opportunity of any sensual and worldly delight can induce to forsake the company of Christ who is ever present in his Ordinances is at the next door if occasion were given to Apostacy and backsliding MED IX THE Devil hath a kind of method and colour of modesty in his Temptations He knew that it would not sort with the Holiness of Peter to shoot at the first a fiery dart towards him and tempt him in the very beginning of his onset unto a perjur'd and blasphemous denial of his Master Peter would have at the first trembled at so fearful a suggestion And therefore like a cunning Captain he so ranks and musters up his forces as that the first Temptation shall like weaker Soldiers make way for the latter which are the old experienced and sturdy fighters the former serve only to weaken Peter the latter to overthrow him At the first the Devil tempts us to small sins to remit something of our wonted vigor to indulge a little unto our corrupt desires to unbend our thoughts and to slacken our pace in prosecution of good courses that by cooling our selves we may be able to hold out the better but when he hath drawn us thus far he hath gotten the advantage of us and having a door open le ts in his more ugly and horrid Temptations Sin hath its several ages and growths first it is but conceiv'd and shap'd in the womb of Concupiscence then it is nourished and given suck by the embraces and delights of the Will as of a Nurse then lastly it grows into a strong man and doth of it self run up and down our little World invade all the faculties of Soul and Body which are at last made the instruments of Satan to act and fulfill it Satan at the first leads us downward towards Hell as it were by steps and stairs which though they go lower and lower yet we seem still to have firm footing and to be able to go back at pleasure But at last we find as the way more and more slippery so the enemy ready at hand to push us down into a dungeon of unrecoverable misery did not Gods mercy pluck us as a brand out of the fire Peter first sleeps only that seemed the exigence of his nature then he followed afar off that haply was pretended to be only the drowsiness of his sleeping then he sits down at the sire and that was but the coldness of the air But then comes denying swearing cursing and had not Christ in time looked back upon him the next step and regress would have reach'd unto the jaws of Hell But it was the great Wisdom and Mercy of Christ to honour the estate of his ignominy and reproach his death and judgment with two of his greatest Miracles The assuming of a repentant Thief and the re-assuming of a revolted Disciple MED X. IT is no wonder if Peter be tempted to forsake his Master when he is far off from him How can he chuse but stumble and fall who hideth himself from the Sun of Righteousness who is absent from the Light of the World who wanders out of the way of Life who is beyond the voice of that word of Truth which only succoreth directeth leadeth instructeth in Holiness and Security He which testifieth his Faith by following and yet lays open his flesh and weakness by following afar off shall be sure to meet with such an enemy as hates our Faith and therefore takes advantage by our weakness to oppose it Our Faith provokes him to enmity for he is adversary to none so much as those that are out of his power and our weakness invites him to an assault for he trembles and flies from opposition Had Peter abode in the company of his Lord Satan would not have dar'd to tempt him unto a Tripledenial in the presence of such a power whence he had formerly received such a Triple-overthrow having been himself broken with those stones and hurled down from that Pinacle and Mountain in which he thought to have batter'd and broken in pieces the Salvation of the World by the overthrow of its Saviour Or if perhaps he would have been so impudent or so venturous as to thrust into the presence of his Maker and before him to issue forth his Temptations yet this advantage should Peter have had that he should have been directed with more light and assisted with greater strength to resist so impudent an assault his Faith haply should bave been confirmed though his adversaries malice had not been abated And we know the Devil never overcomes any that is not first overcome of himself What danger is there in fighting where there is no danger of falling or what difference is there between an unoppos'd security and an assaulted strength save that this is more glorious the other no whit the more safe He is not far from Satans temptations who belonging to Christ is yet far off from his presence and assistance None nearer the fury of a strong and bloody malice than a weak and stragling enemy MED XI I Never read of more dangerous falls in the Saints than were Adams Lots Sampsons Davids Solomons and Peters and behold in all these either the first Inticers or the first Occasioners are Women A weak Creature may be a strong Tempter nothing too impotent or useless for the Devils service We know it is the pride of Satan to imitate God As God magnifies his power in bringing strength out of weakness so doth the Devil labour to gain the glory of a strong enemy by the ruinating of a great Saint with the Temptation of a weak Sex Nor is he herein more apish than cunning for the end of the Devils conflicts is the despair of his enemy He gets Judas to betray his Master that he may after get him to hang himself And he hath the same end in Peter's Denial which he had in Judas his Treason Now what is there that can more draw a man to Despair than an apprehension of greatness in his sin and what fall greater than to be foiled by a Question by a Maid What could more aggravate Peter's sin than that the voice of a Maid should be stronger to overcome him than the Faith in a Jesus to sustain him The Devil tempts us that he may draw us unto sin but he tempts us by weak Instruments that he may draw us unto despair MED XII WOman was the first Sinner and behold in the two greatest falls and most immediate denials of God Adam's and Peter's Woman is made the first Tempter So much as any one is the Devils slave to serve him so much is he his Instrument to assist sin A Sinner will be presently a Tempter MED XIII PEter hath no sooner denied his Master but he goes out farther from him See what a concord there is between our
their own strength which cannot without Christ's assistance uphold them from so deep a fall and not to despair of his mercy which can keep Faith in a corner of that very heart which lies drench'd and weltering in its own blood and can raise up unto Martyrdom a man that had so deeply plung'd himself into Apostacy He that suffer'd Judas to be the horrid subject of his Judgment rais'd Peter from a sin I verily think in it self as great to be the Preacher and Witness of his Mercy MED XVIII HOW leprous and spreading is sin how weak and impotent is nature how unsatisfiabl and importunate is the Devil and his Instruments A double temptation is not enough on Satans part after a double denial nor is a double denial on Peter's part enough confirm'd by a single perjury The Devil goes farther in Tempting the poor Disciple goes farther in Denying The truth whereof that he may the more easily enforce it he confirms according to the Law by two but those wicked Witnesses and to a second Oath is there join'd an Execration An Execration strong and deep enough to make Peter no lyar though an Apostate I mean to verifie the truth of his denial and to make him indeed none of those who alone knew their Saviour For it was if the word retain here the same force which it doth in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans a curse greater than any curse even an Anathema a wish of eternal separation from the presence of God It is no wonder if he dare deny Christ in earth and in dishonour who can adventure to wish an eternal absence from him in Heaven in his Glory I never remember any Anathema that proceeded not from Love and Fear That of Moses and Paul from love of the safety and fear of the destruction of their Brethren that of Peter from a love of himself and a fear of death How strong and violent are Passions whether holy or natural when once truly apprehensive of their object How secure and negligent can they make Peter of his eternal estate to avoid perhaps but the displeasure of a mortal man It is the misery and error of corrupt nature to shelter it self against danger under sin and to think it self sufficiently safe when it is violently wicked MED XIX HE hath not only deserv'd a Curse but provok'd it that hath prayed for it who could but expect the Execution after the Petition But behold the mercy of a provoked God! Though Peter have asked a stone a corner-stone to fall upon him and grind him to powder yet he giveth him instead thereof the bread of Eternal Life the wine of repentant tears Though he craye a Serpent a fiery Serpent to sting him for ever unto death yet he like a compassionate Saviour gives him the voice of a Cock the sight of a brazen Serpent to recover his wounds Peter hath provided a whole load of sins for Christ to carry to his approaching Cross and Christ hath thrown on him such a burden of Mercies as shall sink him deeper in the waters of Repentance and admiration than he was before in danger MED XX. ONE would think that such a great recovery should be effected by the hand of some glorious Ministry by the voice of an Angel or a Prophet But see a Miracle in weakness A Cock is made as it were a John Baptist to forerun the look of Christ and to preach Repentance That God which can in power work without means does in wisdom make use of the befest and can open the mouth of a beast for the conversion of a man How careful ought we to be in the use of Means when God seldom worketh without them How humble in the use of Prayer when the Means work not without God The ordinary courses of nature the most accidental occurrences in the World are sanctified unto the good of the Elect and are the Instruments of God for their Salvation MED XXI BUT why should our Saviour in this great work chuse the service of a Cock for the ministry of Repentance There is ever some mystery in Christ's Instruments If he will give sight to a blind man by impotent and unlikely means they shall be a mixture of something out of his own mouth with something out of the Earth to shew that the vertue of Christ's mouth in the earthy and clayie Vessels of mortal men is of force to open the eyes of the ignorant and impenitent Christ in this Crow of the Cock hath given Peter as well an Example to follow as an Occasion to repent as well taught him in the execution of his Apostleship as converted him from the estate of a backslider A true Minister that loves Christ and his Sheep must have the Wings of a Cock to rouze up first himself from security and then being converted powerfully to awaken and strengthen others and the Watchfulness of a Cock to be ever ready to discover and forewarn danger and the Voice of a Cock to cry aloud and tell Israel of their sins and terrifie the roaring Lion that seeks to devour them and lastly the Hours of a Cock to preach in season and out of season the glad tydings of Salvation MED XXII WHO would think that a weak Cock should be able to do more with Peter than Prophets and Apostles with other men That the noise of a Cock's Crow should be heard so deep as the confines of Hell Surely no man if these weak means were not quickned and seconded with the look of Christ. He first turns and looks back in mercy upon Peter before Peter can return in sorrow and repentance unto him By him live and move and have their being as well Christians as Creatures The very Faithful themselves would lie still in that depth of sin whereinto they have been plunged if that Power which in wisdom suffers them to fall in should not in grace and pity raise them up Peter cannot remember the word of his Master till Christ remember the misery of his Disciple MED XXIII SEE here the greatness of Christs Grace one would think that he should have been wholly taken up with the dishonour of his present condition with the sense of his Father's Desertion with the foresight of his approaching sufferings And yet behold when he is wholly possess'd of weakness he is yet at leisure for a work of power The righteous Justice of his God and the unjust cruelty of his enemies were not able to drive him from the remembrance or exercise of his mercy He that came to suffer all these things for man does in the midst of his sufferings remember man honouring the scorns and buffets of his Judgment with the Conversion of a faln Apostle and the Nails and Ignominies of his Cross with the Conversion of a reviling Thief MED XXIV AND now methinks I see in the face of Christ a throng and a conflict of Affections One while I see an angry and upbraiding face against Peter's revolt another while