with a deniall of lawfull contentments have I not thereupon tasked my selfe with the harder duties of obedience and doe I not now resolve and carefully indeavour to walke conscionably in all the wayes of God Maligne therefore how thou wilt my repentance stands firme against all thy detractions and is not more impugned by thee on earth then it is accepted in heaven III. TEMPTATION Thou hast small reason to bear thy self upon thy repentance it is too slight seconded with too many relapses too late to yeild any true comfort to thy soule Repelled NOr thus can I be discouraged by thee malicious spirit The mercy of my God hath not â—et any stint to the allowed measure of repentance Where hath he ever said Thus farre shall thy penitence come else it shall not be accepted It is truth that he calls for not measure That happy thief whom my dying Saviour rescued out of thy hands gave no other proofe of his repentance but We are justly here and receive due reward of our deeds yet was admitted to attend his Redeemer from his Crosse to his Paradise Neither do we heare any words from penitent David after his foule crimes but I have sinned Not that any true penitent can be afraid of too much compunction of heart and is ready to dry up his teares too soone rather pleasing himselfe with the continuance and paine of his own smart but that our indulgent father who takes no pleasure in our misery is apt to wipe away the teares from our eyes contenting himself only w th the syncernesse not the extremity of our contrition Thy malice is altogether for extreams either a wild security or an utter desperation that holy and mercifull Spirit who is a professed lover of mankind is ever for the meane so hating our carelesnesse that he will not suffer us to want the exercises of a due humiliation so abhorring despaire that he abides not to have us driven to the brinke of that fearfull precipice As for my repentance therefore it is enough for me that it is sound and serious for the substance yet withall thanks be to that good Spirit that wrought it it is graciously approveable even for the measure I have heartily mourned for my sinnes though I pined not away with sorrow I have broken my sleep for them though I have not watered my couch with my teares and next to thy selfe I have hated them most I have beaten my brest though I have not rent my heart and what would I not have done or given that I had not sinned Tell not me that some worldly crosses have gone nearer to my heart then my sins and that I have spent more teares upon the losse of a sonne then the displeasure of my heavenly father The father of mercies will not measure our repentance by these crooked lines of thine he knows the flesh and bloud we are made of and therefore expects not we should have so quick a sense of our spirituall as of our bodily affliction it contents him that we set a valuation of his favour above all earthly things and esteeme his offence the greatest of all evils that can befall us and of this judgement and affection it is not in thy power to bereave my soule As for my relapses I confesse them with sorrow and shame I know their danger and had I not to do with an infinite mercy their deadlinesse Yet after all my confusion of face and thine enforcement of justice my soul is safe for upon those perilous recidivations my hearty repentance hath made my peace The long-suffering God whom I have offended hath set no limits to his remission After ten miraculous signes in Egypt his Israel tempted him no lesse then ten times in the wildernesse yet his mercy forbore them not rewarding their reiterated sin with deserved vengeance Hath not that gracious Saviour of mankind charged us to forgive our offending brother no lesse then seventy times seven times and what proportion is there between our mercy and his Could'st thou charge mee with incouraging my selfe to continue my sin upon this presumption of pardon thou hadst cause to boast of the advantage but now that my remorse hath been syncere and my falls weak my God will not with-hold mercy from his penitent that hath not only confessed but forsaken his sin As for the late season of my repentance I confesse I have highly wronged and hazarded my soule in the delay of so often required and so often purposed a worke and given thee faire advantages against my selfe by so dangerous a neglect but blessed be my God that he suffer'd not these advantages to be taken I had been utterly lost if thou hadst surprized me in my impenitence but now I can look back upon my perill well passed and defie thy malice No time can be prejudiciall to the king of heaven no season can be any barre either to our conversion or his mercifull acceptance It is true that latenesse gives shrewd suspitions of the truth of repentance but where our repentance is true it cannot come too late Object this to some formall soules that having lavisht out the whole course of their lives in wilfull sensuality profanenesse thinke to make an abundant amends for all on their death-beds with a fashionable Lord have mercy These whom thou hast mockt and drawn on with a stupid security all their days may well be upbraided by thee with the irrecoverable delay of what they have not grace to seek but that soule which is truly touched with the sense of his sin and in an humble contrition makes his addresse to God and interposes Christ betwixt God and it selfe is in vain scarred with delay and finds that his God makes no difference of houres Do I not see the Prodigall in the Gospel after he had run himselfe quite out of breath means yet at the last cast returning and accepted I do not hear his father austerely say Nay unthrift hadst thou come whiles thou hadst some bags left I should have welcomed thy returne as an argument of some grace and love but now that thou hast spent all and necessity not affection drives thee home keep off and starve but the good old man runs and meets him and falls on his neck and kisses him and calls for the best robe and the fatted calfe Thus thus deals our heavenly Father with us wretched sinners if after all refuges vainly sought and all gracious opportunities carelesly neglected we shall yet have sincere recourse to his infinite mercy the best things in heaven shall not be too good for us IV. TEMPTATION Tush What doest thou please thy selfe with these vaine thoughts if God cared for thee couldst thou be thus miserable Repelled AWay thou lying Spirit I am afflicted but it is not in thy power to make me miserable And did I yet smart much more wouldst thou perswade me to measure the favour of my God by these outward events Hath not the
so divine a work whereas presumption comes with ease it costs nothing no strife no labour to draw forth so worthlesse and vicious a disposition yea rather corrupt nature is forward not only to offer it to us but even to force it upon our admission and it is no small maistery to repell it True faith struggles with infidelity this Iacob is wrestling with this Esau in the womb of the soule and if at any time the worse part through the violence of a temptation get the start of the better the hand laies hold on the heel and suffers not it selfe to be any other then insensibly prevented but recovers the light ere the suggestion can be fully compleated and at last so far prevails that the elder shall serve the younger This is the victory that overcomes the world even our faith Whereas presumption is ever quiet and secure not fearing any perill not combating with any doubt pleasing it selfe in its owne ease and safety and in the confidence of a perpetuall prosperity can say I shall never be moved True faith wheresoever it is purifieth the heart and will not suffer any known sin to harbour there and is ever attended with care awfulnesse love obedience Whereas presumption impures the soule and works it to boldnesse obduration false joy security senslesnesse True faith grows daily like the graine of mustard-seed in the Gospel which from small beginnings arises to a tall and large-spreading plant presumption hath enough and sits down contented with its own measure applauding the happinesse of its own condition True faith like gold comes out pure from the fire of Temptation and like to sound friendship is most helpfull in the greatest need Presumption upon the easiest triall vanisheth into smoak and drosse and is never so sure to faile us as in the evill day So then this firme affiance of mine being grounded upon the most sure promises of the God of Truth upon frequent use and improvement of all holy means after many bickerings with thy motions of unbelief being attended with holy and purifying dispositions of the soule and gathering still more strength and growing up dayly towards a longed-for perfection and which now thy experience convinces thee to be most present and comfortable in the hour of Temptation is true faith not as thou falsly suggestest a false presumption It is true my unworthinesse is great but I have to do with an infinite mercy so as my wretched unworthinesse doth but heighten the glory of his most mercifull pardon and acceptation Shortly then where there is a divine promise of free grace and mercy a true apprehension and embracing of that promise a warrant and acceptance of that apprehension a willing relyance upon that warrant a sure knowledge and sense of that relyance there can be no place for presumption This is the case betwixt God and my soule His word of promise and warrant that cannot deceive me is He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and He that believes in him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life My owne heart irrefragably makes out the rest which is the truth of my apprehension relyance knowledge Mine therefore is the faith the presumption in casting sclander upon the grace of Gods spirit is thine owne IX TEMPTATION Thou thoughtest perhaps once that thou hadst some tokens of Gods favour but now thou canst not but find that he hath utterly forsaken thee and withdrawing himself from thee hath given thee up into my hands to which thy sins have justly forfaited thee Repelled BE not discouraged O thou weak soule with this malicious suggestion of the enemy Thou art not the first nor the holiest that hath been thus assailed So hard was the man after Gods owne heart driven with this Temptation that he cries out in the bitternesse of his soul Will the Lord cast me off for ever and will he be favourable no more hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Is his mercy cleane gone for ever doth his promise faile for evermore Thy case was his for the sense of the desertion why should not his case be thine for the remedy Mark how happily and how soon he recovers himself And I said This is my infirmity But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember the wonders of old I will meditate of all thy works Lo how wisely and faithfully David retreats back to the sure hold of Gods formerlyexperimented mercies and there finds a sensible reliefe He that when he was to encounter with the proud Giant could before-hand arme himselfe with the proof of Gods former deliverances and victories Thy servant slew both the lyon and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistim shall be as one of them now animates himself after the temptation against the spirituall Goliah with the like remembrance of Gods ancient mercies and indearments to his soule as well knowing that what ever we are God cannot but be himself God is not as a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent Having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the end Hast thou therefore formerly found the sure testimonies of Gods favour to thee in the reall pledges of his holy Graces live thou still whiles thou art thus besieged with temptations upon the old store know that thou hast to do with a God that can no more change then not be Satan cannot be more constant to his malice then thy God is to his everlasting mercies He may for a time be pleased to withdraw himself from thee but it is that he may make thee so much more happy in his re-appearance It is his owne word For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy redeemer In the case wherein thou now art thou canst be no meet Judge either of Gods respects to thee or thine owne condition Can the aguish palate passe any true judgement upon the tast of liquors Can the child entertaine any apprehension of his parents favour whiles he is under the lash Can any man looke that the fire should give either flame or heat whiles it lies covered with ashes Can any man expect fruit or leaves from the tree in the midst of winter Thou art now in a fit of temptation thou art now smarting under the rod of correction thy faith lies raked up under the cold ashes of a seeming desertion the vegetative life of thy soul is in this hard season of thy triall drawne inward and run downe to the root thine estate is never the lesse
sooner askt then had Thou hast to do with a God of mercies with whom no time is too late no measure too sleight to be accepted Repelled OF all the blessed Attributes of God whereby he is willing to make himself known unto men there is none by which he more delights to be set forth then that of mercy When therefore he would proclaime his stile to Moses this is the title which he most insists upon The Lord The Lord God mercifull and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin And all his holy Heralds the Prophets have still been carefull to blazon him thus to the world Neither is there any of those divine Attributes that is so much abused by men as this which is most beneficiall to mankind For the wisdome of God every man professes to adore it for the power of God every man magnifies it for the justice of God every man trembles at it but for the mercy and long-sufferance of God how apt are men and devils to wrong it by a sinfull mis-application Wicked tempter how ready art thou to mis-improve Gods patience to the encouragement of my sin and to perswade me therefore to offend him because he is good and to continue in sin because grace abounds Thou bidst me sin still God forbids me upon paine of death to sin at all whether should I listen to God cals me to a speedy repentance thou perswadest me to defer it whether counsell should I hold more safe Surely there cannot be but danger in the delay of it in the speed there can be nothing but a comfortable hope of acceptation It is not possible for me to repent too soone too late I may To repent for my sin when I can sinne no more what would it be other then to be sory that I can no more sin And what thank is it to me that I would and am disabled to offend Thou telst me that mine age and death-bed are meet seasons for my repentance As if time and Grace were in my power to command How know I whether I shall live till age yea till to morrow yea till the next hour Doe not I see how fickle my life is And shall I with the foolish Virgins delay the buying of my oyle till the doores be shut But let me live Have I repentance in a string that I may pull it to me when I list Is it not the great gift of that good Spirit which breatheth when and where it pleaseth It is now offered to me in this time of Grace if I now refuse it perhaps I may seek it with teares in vaine I know the gates of hell stand alwaies wide open to receive all commers not so the gates of heaven they are shut upon the impenitent and never opened but in the seasons of mercy The porches of Bethesda were full of cripples expecting cure those waters were not alwaies sanative if when the Angel descends and moves the water we take not our first turne we may wait too long But of all other that season whereon thou pitchest my death-bed is most unseasonable for this work most serviceable for thy purpose How many thousand souls hast thou deluded with this plausible but deadly suggestion For then alas how is the whole man taken up with the sense of paine with grapling with the disease with answering the condoling of friends with disposing the remainder of our estate with repelling then most importunate temptations with encountring the horrours and pangs of an imminent dissolution And what roome is there then for a serious task of repentance No wicked one I see thy drift thou wouldst faine perswade me to do like some idle wanton servants who play and talk out their candle-light then go darklings to bed I hate the motion and do gladly embrace this happy opportunity which God holds forth to me of my present conversion Thou tell'st me how hard it would be if I should not have one mouth-full of breath at the last to implore mercy I tell thee of many a one that hath not had so much neither hath it been hard but just that those who have had so many and earnest solicitations from a mercifull God and have given a deafe eare to them should not at the last have a tongue to aske that mercy which they have so often refused But let me have wind enough left to redouble the name of mercy am I sure upon so short warning to obtaine it How many are there that shall say Lord Lord and yet shall be answer'd with Depart from me I know you not Do I not hear that God whom vaine men frame all of mercy say even of his Israel I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy but destroy them There is a time for judgement as well as a time for mercy neither of these may encroach upon other as judgement may not be allowed to seize upon the soule during the season of mercy so neither may mercy put forth it selfe to rescue the soule in an execution of judgement both must have their due turnes let me sue therefore for grace ere the time of grace be over-passed Heaven is as a strong castle whereto there is but one way of entrance the draw-bridge is let down all the day all that while the passage is open let me stay till night the bridge is hoysed up the way precluded I may now stand without and call long enough for an hopelesse admittance It shall be my care to get within those gates ere my Sun be set whiles the willing neglecters of mercy shal find hell open heaven inaccessible III. TEMPTATION Thou art one of Gods chosen Now God sees no sin in his elect none therefore in thee neither maist thou then take notice of any sin in thy selfe or needest any repentance for thy sin Repelled DEceitfull tempter now thou wouldst faine flatter me into hell and make Gods favour a motive of my damnation I doubt not but I am through Gods mercy one of his chosen his free grace in Christ my Saviour hath put upon me this honour neither will I fear to challenge any of the happy priviledges of my Election But that this should be one of the speciall prerogatives of Grace that God should see no sin in me I hate to hear That God imputes no sin to his elect is a divine truth but that he sees no sin in his Elect is a conceit hatch't in hell For tell me thou Antinomian spirit if God see no sin in his Elect is the reason on the behalfe of God or of the sin Either for that there is no sin at all to be seen or for that though there be sin in them yet God sees it not If the former it must be either in relation to the person of the sinner or to the act and nature of the sin Either that he cannot do that act which is formally sinne or that though
hands of God he only knows that shall judge this I am sure of that without this Saviour there can be no salvation That in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse is accepted with him That he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life As therefore we do justly abhor that wild scope of all religions which thou suggestest so we do willingly admit a large scope in one true religion so large as the author of it hath thought good to allow For we have not to do with a God that stands upon curiosities of beliefe or that upon pain of damnation requires of every believer an exquisite perfection of judgment concerning every capillar veyne of Theologicall truth it is enough for him if we be right for the main substance of the body He doth not call rigorously for every stone in the battlements it sufficeth for the capacity of our salvation if the foundation be hold in tire It is thy sclander therefore that wee confine Truth and blessednesse to a corner of Reformed Christians no wee seek and find it every where where God hath a Church and Gods Church we know to be Universall Let them be Abassines Cophties Armeniant Georgians Jacobites or what ever names either sclander or distinction hath put upon them if they hold the foundation firme howsoever disgracefully built upon with wood hay stubble wee hold them Christs we hold them ours Hence it is that the new Jerusalem is for her beauty and uniformity set forth with 12 precious gates though for use and substance one for that from all coasts of heaven there is free accesse to the Church of Christ and in him to life and glory He who is the Truth and the life hath said This is eternall life to know thee and him whom thou hast sent This knowledge which is our way to life is not alike at tained of all fome have greater light and deeper insight into it then others That mercy which accepts of the least degree or the true apprehension of Christ hath not promised to dispense with the wilfull neglect of those who might know him more clearly more exactly Let those carelesse soules therefore which stand indifferent betwixt life and death upon thy perswasion content themselves with good meanings and generalities of beliefe but for me I shall labour to furnish my self with all requisite truths and above all shall aspire towards the excellency of the knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings TEMPTATIONS REPELLED The second Decade Temptations of Discouragement II. DECADE I. TEMPTATION Were it for some few sins of ignorance or infirmity thou might'st hope to find place for mercy but thy sins are as for multitude innumerable so for quality haynous presumptuous unpardonable with what face canst thou look up to heaven and expect remission from a just God Repelled EVen with the face of an humble penitent justly confounded in himself in the sense of his owne vilenesse but awfully confident in a promised mercy Malicious tempter how like thou art to thy selfe when thou wouldst draw me on to my sins then how small sleight harmlesse plausible they were now thou hast fetch 't me in to the guilt of those foule offences they are no lesse then deadly and irremissible May I but keep within the verge of mercy thou canst not more aggravate my wickednesse against me thē I do against my selfe thou canst not be more ready to accuse then I to judge and condemn my selfe Oh me the wretchedest of all creatures how do I hate my selfe for mine abominable sins done with so high a hand against such a Majesty after such light of knowledge such enforcements of warning such indearments of mercy such reluctations of spirit such check of conscience what lesse then hell have I deserved from that infinite justice Thou canst not write more bitter things against me then I can plead against my owne soule But when thou hast cast up all thy venome and when I have passed the heaviest sentence against my selfe I who am in my selfe utterly lost and forfeited to eternall death in despight of the gates of hell shall live and am safe in my Almighty and ever-blessed Saviour who hath conquered Death and hell for me Set thou me against my selfe I shall set my Saviour against thee urge thou my debts I show his full acquittance Sue thou my bonds I shall exhibit them cancell'd and nayled to his crosse presse thou my horrible crimes I plead a pardon sealed in heaven Thou tell'st me of the multitude and hainousnesse of my sins I tell thee of an infinite mercy and what are numbers and magnitudes to the infinite To an illimited power what difference is there betwixt a mountaine and an ant-heape betwixt one and a million were my sins a thousand times more and worse then they are there is worth abundantly enough in every drop of that precious blood which was shed for my redemption to expiate them Know O tempter that I have to doe with a mercy which can die my scarlet sins white as snow make my crimson as wooll whose grace is so boundlesse that if thou thy selfe hadst upon thy fall been capable of repentance thou hadst not everlastingly perished The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works And if there be a sin of man unpardonable it is not for the insufficiency of grace to forgive it but for the incapacity of the subject that should receive remissision Thou feel'st to thy paine and losse wherefore it was that the eternall sonne of God Jesus Christ came into the world Even to save sinners and if my owne heart shall conspire with thee to accuse me as the chiefe of those sinners my repentance gives me so much the more claim and interest in his blessed redemption Let me be the most laden with the chaines of my captivity so I may have the greatest share in that all-sufficient ransome And if thou who art the true fiery serpent in this miserable wildernesse hast by sin stung my soul to death let me as I do with penitent and faithfull eyes but look up to that brazen serpent which is lift up far above all heavens thy poyson cannot kill cannot hurt me It is the word of eternall truth which cannot faile us If we confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse Lo here not mercy only but justice on my side The spirit of God saith not only if we confesse our sins he is mercifull to forgive our sins as he elswhere speaks by the pen of Salomon but more he is faithfull and just to forgive our sins Our weaknesse and ignorance is wont to flie
p. 100. X. Temptation Thou art more nice then needs your Preachers are too strait-laced in their opinions and make the way to heaven narrower then God ever meant it Tush man thou maist be saved in any religion Is it likely that God will be so cruell as to cast away all the world of men in the severall varieties of their professions and save onely one poor handfull of Reformed Christians Away with these scruples A generall Beliefe and a good meaning will serve to bring thee to heaven without these busie disquisitions of the Articles of faith p. 114. II. DECADE I. Temptation WEre it for some few sins of ignorance or infirmity thou might'st hope to find place for mercy but thy sins are as for multitude innumerable so for quality haynous presumptuous unpardonable With what face canst thou look up to heaven and expect remission from a just God p. 127. II. Temptation Alas poor man how willing thou art to make thy self beleeve that thou hast truly repented whereas this is nothing but some dump of melancholy or some relenting of nature after too much expence of spirits or some irksome discontentment after a satiety and wearinesse of pleasure or some slavish shrinking in upon the expectation of a lash True penitence is a spirituall businesse an effect of that grace which was never incident into thy bosome p. 138. III. Temptation Thou hast small reason to beare thy selfe upon thy repentance it is too sleight seconded with too many relapses too late to yeeld any true comfort to thy soule p. 145. IV. Temptation Tush what dost thou please thy selfe with these vaine thoughts If God cared for thee couldst thou be thus miserable p 155. V. Temptation Foolish man how vainly dost thou flatter thy self in calling that a chastisement which God intends for a judgment in mistaking that for a rod of fatherly correction which God lays on as a scourge of just anger and punishment p. 165. VI. Temptation Away with these superstitious feares and needless scruples wherewith thou fondly troublest thy selfe as if God that sits above in the circle of heaven regarded these poor businesses that are done upon earth or cared what this man doth or that man suffereth Dost thou not see that none prosper so much in the world as those that are most noted for wickednesse dost thou se any so miserable upon earth as the holiest Could it be thus if there were a providence that over-looks and over-rules these earthly affairs p. 173. VII Temptation If God be never so liberall in his promises and sure in performances of mercy to his owne yet what is that to thee Thou art none of his neither canst lay any just claim to his Election p. 195. VIII Temptation Alas poor man how grosly deludest thou thy selfe Thou talkest of thy faith and bearest thy selfe high upon this grace and think'st to doe great matters by it whereas the truth is thou hast no faith but that which thou mis-callest so is nothing else but meer presumption p. 208. IX Temptation Thou thoughtst perhaps once that thou hadst some tokens of Gods favour but now thou canst not but find that he hath utterly forsaken thee and withdrawing himselfe from thee hath given thee up into my hands into which thy sins have justly forfaited thee p. 216. X. Temptation Had God indeed ever given thee any sure testimonies of his love thou mightst perhaps pretend to some reason of comfort and confidence But the truth is God never loved thee he may have cast upon thee some common favours such as he throwes away upon reprobates but for the tokens of any speciall love that he beares to thee thou never didst never shalt receive any froÌ„ him p. 2â—6 III. DECADE I. Temptation THou hast hitherto thus long given entertainment to thy sin and no inconvenience hath ensued No evill hath befallen thee thy affaires have prospered better then thy scrupulous neighbours Why shouldst thou shake off a companion that hath been both harmlesse and pleasant Go on man sin fearlesly thou shalt speed no worse then thou hast done Go on and thrive in thine old course whiles some precisely conscientious beg and starve in their innocency p. 237. II. Temptation Sin still thou shalt repent soon enough when thou canst sin no more Thine old age and death-bed are fit seasons for those sad thoughts It will go hard if thou canst not at the last have a mouthfull of breath left thee to cry God mercy And that is no sooner askt then had Thou hast to do with a God of mercies with whom no time is too late no measure too sleight to be accepted p. 246. III. Temptation Thou art one of Gods chosen Now God sees no sin in his elect none therefore in thee neither maist thou then take notice of any sin in thy self or needest any repentance for thy sin p. 256. IV. Temptation Thou maist live as thou listest Thy destiny is irreversible If thou be predestined to life thy sins cannot damne thee for Gods election remaineth certaine If thou be ordained to damnation all thy good endevours cannot save thee Please thy selfe on earth thou canst not alter what is done in heaven p. 271. V. Temptation Why wilt thou be singular amongst and above thy neighbours to draw needlesse censures upon thy self Be wise and do as the most Be not so over-squemish as not to dispense with thy conscience in some small matters Lend a lye to a friend swallow an oath for feare be drunke sometimes for good fellowship â—alsify thy word for an advantage serve the time frame thy selfe to all companies thus shalt thou be both warme and safe and well respected p. 284. VI. Temptation It is but for a while that thou hast to live and when thou art gone all the world is gone with thee Improve thy life to the best contentment Take thy pleasure whiles thou maist p. 297. VII Temptation It is for common wits to walk in the plain road of opinions If thou wouldst be eminent amongst men leave the beaten track and tread in new paths of thine owne Neither let it content thee to guide thy steps by the dim lanterns of the Antient he he is no body that hath not new lights either to hold out or follow p. 306. VIII Temptation Pretend religion and doe any thing what face is so foule as that Maske will not cleanly cover seem holy and be what thou wilt p. 315. IX Temptation Why shouldst thou lose any thing of thy height Thou art not made of common mold neither art thou as others If thou knowst thy self thou art more holy more wise better gifted more inlightned then thy neighbours Justly therefore maist thou over look the vulgar of Christians with pity contempt censure and beare thy selfe as too good for ordinary conversation go apart avoid the contagion of common breath p. 323. X. Temptation However the zeale of your scrupulous Preachers is wont to make the worst of every thing and to damne the
least slip to no lesse then hell Yet there are certaine favourable temperaments of circumstances which may if not excuse yet extenuate a fault such as age complexion custome profit importunity necessity which are justly pleadable at the barre both of God and the conscience and are sufficient to rebate the edge of divine severity p. 335. March the 14. 1646. I Have perused this Treatise intituled Satans fiery darts quenched in which I find so many excellent helps for the strengthning of the Christians faith the repelling of Temptations and the comforting of afflicted consciences in the day of triall that I judge it well worthy to be printed and published JOHN DOWNAME TEMPTATIONS REPELLED The first Decade Temptations of Impiety Satans fiery darts quenched I. DECADE I. TEMPTATION Foolish sinner thou leanest upon a broken reed whiles thou reposest all thy trust in a crucified Saviour Repelled BLasphemous Spirit It is not the ignominy of the Crosse that can blemish the honour of my Saviour Thou feelst to thy endlesse pain and regret that he who would die upon the tree of shame hath triumph't victoriously over death and all the powers of hell The greater his abasement was the greater is the glory of his mercy He that is the eternall God would put on man that he might work mans redemption and satisfie God for man Who but a man could suffer and who but a God could conquer by suffering It is man that had sinned it is God that was offended who but he that was God man could reconcile God unto man He was crucified through weaknesse yet he liveth and triumpheth in the power of his omnipotent God-head Neither was it so much weaknesse to yeeld unto death as it was power to vanquish it yea in this very dying there was strength For here was no violence that could force him into his grave who should offer it I and the Father are one saith that word of Truth and in Unity there can be no constraint And if the persons be divers He thought it no robbery to be equall with God the Father and there is no authority over equals and for men or Devils what could they do to the Lord of life I lay down my life saith the Almighty redeemer that I might take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to â—â—ke it againe Oh infinitenesse both of power and mercy met in the center of a willing death Impudent tempter doest thou not remember thine owne language The time was indeed when thou couldst say If thou be the Son of God but when thou foundest thy self quelled by that divine power and saw'st those miraculous works fall from him which were only proper to an infinite God-head now thou wert forced to confesse I know who thou art even the holy one of God and againe Jesus the Son of the most high God and yet againe What have we to do with thee Jesus the Son of God art thou come to torment us before the time Lo then even in the time of his humane weakness thou couldst with horrour enough acknowledge him the Sonne of the most high God and dar'st thou now that he sits crowned with celestiall glory disparage his ever-blessed Deity Thy malice hath raised up as in the former so in these later daies certaine cursed imps of hereticall pravitie who under the name of Christians have wickedly re-crucified the Lord that bought them not sparing to call into question the eternall Deity of him whom they dare call Saviour whom if thou hadst not steeled with an hellish impudence certainly they could not professe to admit the word written and yet the whiles deny the personall Word How clear testimony doth the one of them give to the other when thou presumedst to set upon the Son of God by thy personall temptations he stopt thy mouth with a Scriptum est how much more shall these Pseudo-Christian agents of thine be thus convinced Surely there is no truth wherein those Oracles of God have beene more clear and punctuall Are we not there required to beleeve in him as God upon the promise of eternall life under the paine of everlasting condemnation Are we not commanded to baptize in his name as God Is not the holy Ghost given as a seale to that baptisme Are we not charged to give divine honour to him Is not this required and reported to be done not only by the Kings of the earth but by the Saints and Angels in heaven Is he not there declared to be equall with God Is he not there asserted to be one with the Father Doth he not there challenge a joynt right with the Father in all things both in heaven and earth Are not the great works of divine power attributed to him Hath not he created the earth and man upon it have not his hands stretched out the heavens hath not he commanded all their host Are not all the Attributes of God his Is he not eternall Is it not he of whom the Psalmist Thy throne O God is for ever and ever the scepter of thy kingdome is a right scepter Is not he the Father of eternity the first and the last have not his goings forth been from everlasting Had not he glory with the Father before the world was Is not he the Word which was in the beginning the word that was with God and the word that was God Is he not infinite and incomprehensible Is it not he that filleth all things that was in heaven whiles he was on earth Is he not Almighty even the mighty God who upholds all things by the word of his power Yea is he not expresly stiled the Lord Jehovah The Lord of hosts God blessed for ever The true God and eternall life The great God and Saviour The Lord of glory Hath he not abundantly convinced the world of his Godhead by those miraculous works which he did both in his owne person whiles he was here on earth and by the hands of his followers works so transcending the possibility of nature that they could not be wrought by any lesse then the God of nature as ejecting of Devils by command raising the dead after degrees of putrefaction giving eyes to the borne blind conquering death in his own resuscitation ascending gloriously into heaven charming the winds and waters healing diseases by the very shadow of his transient disciples Yea tell me by what power was it that thine Oracles wherby all the world was held in superstition were silenced What-power whereby the Gospel so opposite to flesh and bloud hath conquered the world and in spight of all the violence of Tyrants and oppugnation of rebellious nature hath prevailed Upon all these grounds how can I do lesse then cry our with the late-believing
not the great day of the Lord shall the all-wise and righteous Arbiter of the world decree and reverse Hath he not from eternity determined and set this day Wherein we must all appear before the judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or evill That there is therefore such a day of the Lord in the which the heavens shall passe away with a great noyse and the Elements shall melt with fervent heate the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up wherein the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God is no lesse certaine then that there is an heaven from whence he shall descend All thy cavill is concerning the time Thou and thine are ready to say with the evill servant in the Gospell my Master defers his comming And was not this wicked suggestion of thine foretold many hundred yeares agoe by the prime Apostle and by the same pen answered Hath he not told thee that our computations of time are nothing to the infinite That one day with the Lord is as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeares as one day Hath he not told us that this mis-construed slacknesse is in mans vaine opinion not in Gods performance He is slack to man that coms not when he is lookt for he is really slack that comes not when he hath appointed to come Had the Lord broken the day which he hath set in his everlasting counsel thou mightst have some pretence to cavill at his delay but now that he onely overstayes the time of our misgrounded expectation â—he doth not slacken his pace but correct our errour It is true that Christians began to look for their Saviour betimes insomuch as the blessed Apostles were fayne to perswade their eyes not to make such haste putting them in mind of those great occurrences of remarkable change that must befall the Church of God in a generall apostasie the revelation of the great Antichrist before that great day of his appearance And the prime Apostle sends them to the last dayes which are ours for those scoffers which shall say Where is the promise of his comming If they lookt for him too soon we cannot expect him too late He that is Amen will be sure to be within his owne time when that comes he that should come will come and not tarry In the meane while not onely in the just observation of his owne eternall decree but in much mercy doth he prolong his returne mercy to his elect whose conversion he waits for with infinite patience it is for their sake that the world stands The Angel that was sent to destroy Sodom could tell Lot that he could doe nothing till that righteous man were removed no sooner was Lot entred into Zoar then Sodome is on a flame mercy even to the wicked that they may have ample leisure of repentance Neither is it any small respect that the wise and holy God hath to the exercise of the faith and hope and patience of his deare servants upon earth faith in his promises hope of his performances and patience under his delayes whereof there could be no use in a speedy retribution In vaine therefore dost thou who fearest this glorious Judge will come too soone go about to perswade me that he will not come at all I beleeve and know by all the foregoing signes of his appearance that he is now even at the threshold Lo he commeth he commeth for the consummation of thy torment and my joy I expect him as my Saviour tremble thou at him as thy Judge who shall fully repay to thee al those blasphemies which thine accursed mouth hath dared to utter against him VII TEMPTATION If there must be a resurrection and a judgment yet God is not so rigid an exactor as to call thee to account for every petty sin those great Sessions are for hainous malefactors God is too mercifull to condemn thee for small offences be not thou too rigorous to thy self in denying to thy selfe the pleasure of some harmelesse sinnes Repelled FAlse tempter there is not the least of those harmelesse sinnes which thou wilt not be ready to aggravate against me one day before the dreadfull tribunall of that infinite justice those that are now small will be then hainous and hardly capable of remission thy suggestions are no meet measures of the degrees of sin It is true that there are some sinnes more grievous then others there are faults there are crimes there are flagitious wickednesses If some offences be foule others are horrible and some others irremissible but that holy God against whose onely majesty sin can be committed hath taught me to call no sin small The violation of that Law which is the rule of good cannot but be evill and betwixt good and evill there can be no lesse then an in finite disproportion It is no smal proofe of thy cunning that thou hast suborned some of thy religious panders to proclaime some sinnes veniall and such as in their very nature merit pardon Neither thou nor they shall be Casuists for me who have heard my God say Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the booke of the Law to doe them Sin must be greater or lesse according to the value of the command against which it is committed there is as my Saviour hath rated it a least Commandement and there are mo points then one in that least Command now the Spirit of truth hath told me that whosoever shall keepe the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all And shall he that is guilty of the breach of the whole Law escape with such ease I am sure a greater Saint then I can ever hope to be hath said If I sin thou markest me and wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity and old Eli as indulgent as he was to his wicked sonnes could tell them If one man sin against another the Judge shall judg him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him What need is there thou sayest of any intreaty Gods mercy is such that he will pardon thy sinnes unasked neither will he ever stick at small faults Malignant spirit how fain wouldst thou have Gods mercy and justice clash together but thou shalt as soon wind thy selfe out of the power of that justice and put thy selfe into the capacity of that mercy as thou shalt set the least jarre between that infinite justice and mercy It is true it were wide with my soule if there were any limits to that mercy That mercy can doe any thing but be unjust it can forgive a sinner it cannot incourage him forgive him upon his penitence when he hath sinned not incourage him
satisfaction It is true were we strangers to a Saviour his righteousnesse could have no relation to us but now that wee are incorporated into him by a lively faith his graces his merits are so ours that all thy malice cannot sever them I even I who sinned in the first Adam have satisfied in the second The first Adams sinne was mine The second Adam was made sin for me I made my selfe sinfull in the first Adam and in my selfe My Christ is made to me of God righteousnesse and redemption The curse was my inheritance Christ hath redeemed me from the curse of the Law being made a curse for me that I might be made the righteousnesse of God in him It is thy deep envy thus to grudg unto man the mercy of that redemption which was not extended to thy self but in despight of all thy snarling and repining wee are safe Being justified by faith wee have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ IX TEMPTATION How confidently thou buildest upon a promise and if thou have but a word for it mak'st thy selfe sure of any blessing whereas thou maist know that many of those promises which thou accountest sacred and divine have shrunk in the performance How hath God promised deliverance to those that trust in him yet how many of his faithfullest servants have miscarried what liberall promises hath he made of provision for those that wait upon him yet how many of them have miserably perished in want Repelled BLasphemous spirit that which is thine own guise thou art ever apt to impute unto the holy one of Israel It is indeed thy manner to draw on thy clients with golden promises of life wealth honour and to say as once to my Saviour All these will I give thee when thou neither mean'st nor canst give any thing but misery and torment As for my God whom thou wickedly slanderest his just title is Holy and true his promises are Amen as himself Thy Balaam could let fall so much truth that God is not a man that he should lie nor the sonne of man that he should repent Hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good Cast thine eyes back upon his dealings with his Israel a people unthankfull enough and deny if thou canst how punctuall he was in all his proceedings with them Heare old Joshua now towards his parting professe Behold this day I am going the way of all flesh ye know in your hearts in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you all are come to passe unto you and not one thing hath failed therof Heare the same truth attested many ages after by the wifest King Blessed be the Lord saith he that hath given rest unto his people Israel according to all that he promised There hath not failed one word of all his good promise which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant And lest thou shouldst cavil that perhaps God takes greater liberty to himself in matter of his promises under the Gospel then he formerly did under the Law Let me challenge thy malice to instance in any one absolute promise which God hath made since the beginning of the world unto this day which he hath failed to performe It is not I grant uneasie to name divers conditionate ingagements both of favours and judgements wherein God hath been pleased to vary from his former intimations and such alteration doth ful-well consist with the infinite wisdome mercy and justice of the Almighty for where the condition required is not performed by man how just is it with God either to with-hold a favour or to inflict a judgement or where he sees that an outward blessing promised such a disposition of the soul as it may meet withall may turn to our prejudice and to our spirituall losse how is it other then mercy to withdraw it and in stead thereof to gratifie us with a greater blessing undesired In all which even our own reason is able to justifie the Almighty for can we think God should be so obliged to us as to force favours upon us when we will needs render our selves uncapable of them or so tied up to the punctuality of a promise as that he may not exchange it for a better The former was Eli's case who received this message from the man of God sent to him for that purpose The Lord God of Israel saith I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever but now the Lord saith Be it far from me for them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed God meant the honour of the Priesthood to the family of Eli but what was it in so absolute termes that how ever they dishonored God yet God was bound to honour them All these promises of outward favours do never other then suppose an answerable capacity in the receiver like as the menaces of judgement how ever they sound do still intend the favourable exception of a timely prevention by a serious repentance And though there be no expresse mention of such condition in the promises and threatnings of the Almighty yet it is enough that he hath once for all made knowne his holy intentions to this purpose by his Prophet At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdome to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it If that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evill I will repent of the evill that I thought to do unto them And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it If it do evill in my sight that it obey not my voice then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them The message of Hezekiah's death and Niniveh's destruction was in the letter absolute but in the sense and intention conditionate with such holy and just reservations are all the promises and threats of the Almighty in these temporall regards whiles they alter therefore he changeth not but for his spirituall ingagements that word of his shall stand everlastingly I will not suffer my faithfulnesse to faile My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth Indeed this is the Tentation wherewith thou hast formerly set some prime Saints of God very hard How doth the holy Psalmist hereupon break out into a dangerous passion Will the Lord cast off for ever and will be favorable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise faile for evermore hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he shut up his tender mercies in displeasure Lo the man was even falling yet happily recovers his feet And I said this is
mine infirmity thine infirmity sure enough O Asaph to make question of the veracity and unfailablenesse of the sure mercies and promises of the God of truth Well was it for thee that thy God not taking advantage of thy weaknesse puts forth his gracious hand and staies thee with the seasonable consideration of the years of the right hand of the most high with the remembrance of the works of the Lord and of his wonders of old these were enough to teach thee the omnipotent power the never-failing mercy of thy maker and redeemer In no other plight through the impetuousnesse of this temptation was the man after Gods owne heart whiles he cried out I was greatly afflicted I said in my haste all men are liers the men that he mis-doubted were surely no other then Gods prophets w ch had foretold him his future prosperity peaceable setlement in the throne these upon the cross occurrences he met with is he ready to censure as lyers and through their sides what doth he but strike at him that sent them But the word was not spoke in more haste then it was retracted I believed therefore I spake and then sense of mercies doth so overtake the sense of his sufferings that now he takes more care what to retribute to God for his bounty then he did before how to receive it pitches himselfe upon that firme ground of all comfort Oh Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid Thou hast loosed my bonds Here shall I stay my soul against all thy suggestions of distrust O thou malicious enemy of mankind building my self upon that steddy rock of Israel whose word is I am Jehovah I change not Thou tel'st me of deliverances promised yet ending in utter mis-carriages of provisions vanished into want Why dost thou not tell me that even good men die These promises of earthly favours to the godly declare to us the ordinary course that God pleaseth to hold in the dispensation of his blessings which he so ordereth as that generally they are the Lot of his faithfull ones for the incouragement and reward of their services and contrarily his judgements befall his enemies in part of payment But yet the great God who is a most free agent holds fit to leave himselfe at such liberty as that sometimes for his own most holy purposes hee may change the scene which yet he never doth but to the advantage of his owne so as the oppressions wrongs which are done to them turn favours The Hermite in the story could thank the thiefe that rob'd him of his provision for that he helpt him so much the sooner to his journies end and indeed if being stripped of our earthly goods we be stored with spirituall riches if whiles the outward man perisheth the inward man be renewed in us if for a little bootlesse honour here we be advanced to an immortall glory if we have exchanged a short and miserable life for a life eternally blessed finally if we lose earth and win heaven what cause have we to be other then thankfull whereto we have reason to adde that in all these gracious promises of temporall mercies there is ever to be understood the exception of expedient castigation and the meet portage of the Crosse which were it not to be supplied Gods children should want one of the greatest proofs of his fatherly love towards them which they can read even written in their own bloud and can blesse God in killing them for a present blessednesse So as after all thy malice Gods promises are holy his performances certain his judgments just his servants happy X. TEMPTATION Thou art more nice then needs Your preachers are too strait-laced in their opinions and make the way to heaven narrower then God ever meant it Tush man thou maist be saved in any religion Is it likely that God will be so cruell as to cast away all the world of men in the severall varieties of their professions and save only one poor handfull of reformed Christians Away with these scruples A generall belief and a good meaning will serve to bring thee to heaven without these busie disquisitions of the Articles of faith Repelled IT is not for good that thou makest such liberall tenders to my soule thou well know'st how ready mans nature is to lay hold on any just liberty that may be allowed him and how repiningly it stoops to a restraint but this which thou craftily suggestest to mee wicked spirit is not liberty it is licentiousnesse Thou tell'st me the way to heaven is as wide as the world but the spirit of truth hath taught me that strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it I know there is but one truth and one life and one way to that life and I know who it was that said I am the way the truth and the life He who is one of these is all My Saviour who is life the end of that way is likewise the way that leads unto that end neither is there any way to heaven but he All that is besides him is by-pathes and errour And if any Teacher shall enlarge or straiten this way Christ let him be accursed And if any Teacher shall presume to chalk out any other way then Christ let him be accursed Tell not me therefore of the multitudes of men and varieties of religions that there are in the world If there were as many worlds as men and every of those men in those worlds were severed in religion yet I tell thee there is but one heaven and but one gate to that heaven and but one way to that gate and that one gate and way is Christ without whom therefore there can be no entrance It is thy blasphemy to charge cruelty upon God if he do not that whereof thou wouldst most complaine as the greatest loser set heaven open on all sides to whatsoever commers Even that God and Saviours which possesseth and disposeth it hath told us of a strait gate and a narrow way and few passagers In vaine dost thou move me to affect to be more charitable then my redeemer He best knows what he hath to do with that mankind for whom he hath paid so dear a price Yet to stop thy wicked mouth that way which in comparison of the broad world is narrow in it selfe hath a comfortable latitude Christ extendeth himselfe largely to a world of believers This way lies open to all no nation no person under heaven is excluded from walking in it Yea all are invited by the voice of the Gospel to tread in it and whosoever walks in it with a right foot is accepted to salvation How far it may please my Saviour to cōmunicate himselfe to men in an implicite way of beliefe and what place those generall and involved apprehensions of the redeemer may find for mercy at the
in despaire persecuted but not forsaken cast downe but not destroyed Of the Jewes five times received I forty stripes save one Thrice was I beaten with rods once was I stoned thrice I suffered shipwrack a night and a day I have been in the deep In journying often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils by my owne countrymen in perils by the heathen c. In wearinesse and painfulnesse in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakednesse Yea which was worse then all these dost thou not heare him say There was given to me a thorne in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me Dost thou not too well know for thou wert the maine actor in those wofull Tragedies what cruell torments the blessed Martyrs of God in all ages have undergone for their holy profession None upon earth ever found Gods hand so heavy upon them none upon earth were so dear to heaven The sharpnesse therefore of my pangs can be no proofe of the displeasure of my God Yea contrarily this visitation of mine what ever thou suggestest is in much love and mercy Had my God let me loose to my owne waies and suffered me to run on carelesly in a course of sinning without check or controll this had been a manifest argument of an high and hainous displeasure God is grievously angry when he punishes sinners with prosperity for this shows them reserved to a fearfull damnation but whom he reclaims from evil by a severe correction those he loves there cannot be a greater favour then those saving stripes When wee are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world Besides the manner of the infliction speaks nothing but mercy for what a gentle hand doth my God lay upon me as if he said I must correct thee but I will not hurt thee what gracious respites are here what favourable inter-spirations as if God bade me to recollect my selfe and invited me to meet him by a seasonable humiliation This is not the fashion of anger and enmity which ayming only at destruction indevours to surprise the adversary and to hurry him to a sudden execution Neither is it a meer affliction that can evince either love or hatred all is in the attendants and entertainment of afflictions Where God means favour he gives together with the crosse an humble heart a meek spirit a patient submission to his good pleasure a willingnesse to kisse the rod and the hand that wields it a faithfull dependence upon that arme from which he smarts and lastly an happy use and improvement of the suffering to the bettering of the soule who so finds these dispositions in himselfe may well take up that resolution of the sweet singer of Israel It is good for me that I have been afflicted I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou in very faithfulnesse hast afflicted me Contrarily where God smites in anger those stroakes are followed and accompanied with wofull symptomes of a spirituall maladie either a stupid senslesnesse and obdurednesse of heart or an impatient murmuring at the stripes saucy and presumptuous expostulations fretting and repining at the smart a perverse alienation of affection and a rebellious swelling against God an utter dejection of spirit and lastly an heartlesse despaire of mercy Those with home thou hast prevailed so far as to draw them into this deadly condition of soule have just cause to thinke themselves smitten in displeasure but as for me blessed be the name of my God my stripes are medicinall and healing Let the righteous God thus smite me it shall be a kindnesse and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyle that shall not break my head VI. TEMPTATION Away with these superstitious feares and needlesse scruples wherewith thou fondly troublest thy selfe as if God that sits above in the circle of heaven regarded these poore businesses that passe here below upon earth or cared what this man doth or that man suffereth Dost thou not see that none prosper so much in the world as those that are most noted for wickednesse and dost thou see any so miserable upon earth as the holiest Could it be thus if there were providence that over looks and over-rules these earthly affairs Repelled THe Lord rebuke thee Satan Even that great Lord of heaven and earth whom thou so wickedly blasphemest wouldst thou perswade me that he who is infinite in power is not also infinite in providence He whose infinite power made all creatures both in heaven above and in earth beneath shall not his infinite providence govern and dispose of all that he hath made Lo how justly the spirit of wisdome calls thee and thy clients fools brutish things They say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard Vnderstand ye brutish among the people and ye fools when will ye be wise He that planted the eare shall he not heare he that formed the eye shall not he see he that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know It was no limited power that could make this eye to see this eare to heare this heart to understand and if that eye which he hath given us can see all things that are within our prospect and that eare that he hath planted can heare all sounds that are within our compasse and that heart that he hath given us can know all matters within the reach of our comprehension how much more shall the sight and hearing and knowledge of that infinite Spirit which can admit of no bounds extend to all the actions and events of all the creatures that lie open before him that maâ—e them It is in him that we live and move and have our being and can we be so sottish as to think we can steale a life from him which he knows not of or a motion that he discerneth not That word of his by whom all creatures were made hath told me that not one sparrow two whereof are sold for a farthing can fall to the ground without my heavenly Father yea that the very hairs of our heads though a poor neglected excrement are all numbred and can there be any thing more sleight then they How great care must we needs think is taken of the head since not an haire can fall unregarded The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth down and lifteth up He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the begger from the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth are the Lords and he hath set the world upon them Even Rabshakeh himselfe spake truer then he was aware of Am I now comne up without the Lord against this place No certainly thou insolent blasphemer thou couldst not move thy tongue nor wag thy finger against Gods inheritance
Wo were us if we were not thus hated Let the world hate and hurt us thus still so we may be the favorites of heaven None fare so ill on earth as the godly both living and dead The dead bodies of Gods servants have they given to be meat to the fowls of the heaven the flesh of his Saints unto the beasts of the field their bloud have they shed like water and there was none to bury thē They are become a reproach to their neighbours a scorn and derision to them that are round about them Oh the poor impotent malice of wicked spirits and men What matters it if our carcasses rot upon earth whiles our souls shine in heavenly glory What matters it if for a while we be made a gazing-stock to the world to Angels and to men whiles the Son of God hath assured us of an eternall royalty To him that over-commeth will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set downe with my Father in his throne None are so ill intreated as the godly It is true for none are so happy as they Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the kingdome of heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evill of you falsly for my sake Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven Who would not endure wrongs a while to be everlastingly recompenced Here is not place onely for patience but for joy and that exceeding in respect of a reward so infinitely glorious It is no marvell then if we be bidden to pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us these are the men that are our great Benefactors though full sore against their wills contribute to our eternall blessednesse The wicked triumph whiles the righteous are trampled upon What marvell we are in a middle region betwixt heaven and hell but nearer to this latter which is the place of confusion It is but staying a while and each place will be distinctly peopled with his owne there is a large and glorious heaven appointed for the everlasting receptacle of the just an hell for the godlesse till then the eternall wisdome hath determined for his most holy ends to give way to this confused mixture and to this seeming-inequality of events How easie were it for him to make all heaven but he hath a justice to glorifie as well as a mercy and in the mean time it is the just praise of his infinite power wisdome goodnesse that he can fetch the greatest good out of the worst of evils All things go crosse here the righteous droop the wicked flourish The end shall make amends for all The world is a stage every man acts his part the wise compiler of this great interlude hath so contrived it That the middle Scenes show nothing but intricacy and perplexednesse the unskilfull spectator is ready to censure the plot and thinks he sees such unpleasing difficulties in the carriage of affaires as can never be reconciled but by that time he have sate it out he shall see all brought about to a meet accordance and all shut up in a happy applause Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crowne of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him The world is an Apothecaries shop wherein there are all manner of drugs some poysonous others cordiall An ignorant that comes in and knows only the quality not the use of those receits will straight be ready to say What do these unwholsome simples these dangerous mineralls these deadly juices here But the learned and skilfull artist knows how so to temper all these noxious ingredients that they shall turn Antidotes and serve for the health of his patient Thus doth the most high and holy God order these earthly though noxious compositions to the glory of his great name and to the advantage of his chosen So as that suggestion wherewith thou meant'st to batter the divine providence of the Almighty doth invincibly fortifie it his most wise permission and powerfull over-ruling of evill actions and men through the whole world to his owne honour the benefit of his Church VII TEMPTATION If God be never so liberall in in his promises and sure in performances of mercy to his own yet what is that to thee thou art none of his neither canst lay any just claime to his election Repelled HOw boldly can I defie thee O thou lying spirit whiles I have the assurance of him who is the word of Truth How confidently dare I challenge thee upon that unfailing testimony which shall stand till heaven and earth shall passe Ye that have believed in Christ are sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance untill the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory Lo here a double assurance which all the powers of hell shall in vaine labour to defeat The Almighties Scale and his Earnest both made and given to the believer and therefore to me In spight of all temptations I believe and know whom I have believed I can accuse my faith of weaknesse thou canst not convince it of untruth and all the precious promises of the Gospel and all the gracious ingagements of God are made not to the measure but to the truth of our beliefe and why should not I as truly know that I relie upon the word of my Saviour as I know that I distrust and reject thine Since then I am a subject truly capable of this mercy what can hinder me from enjoying it Cheare thy selfe up therefore O my soule with this undefeisible confidence that thou hast Gods seale and his earnest for thy salvation Even an honest man will not be lesse then his word but if his hand have seconded his tongue he holds the obligation yet stronger but if his seale shall be further added to his hand there is nothing that can give more validity to the graunt or contract yet even of the value of Seales there is much difference The Seale of a private man carries so much authority as his person the seale of a Community hath so much more security in it as there are more persons interessed But the signet of a King hath wont to be held to all purposes authenticall as we find to omit Ahab in the signatures of Ahasuerus and Darius Who desires any better assurance for the estate of him and his posterity then the Great Seale And behold here is no lesse then the great seale of heaven for my election and salvation Ye are sealed with the spirit of promise But lest thou shouldest plead this to be but a graunt of the future and therefore perhaps upon some intervenient mis-deamures or unkindnesse taken reversible know that here is yet further
is a charge to be trembled at Yee shall not sweare by my name falsly neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God I am the Lord And if the word of charge be so dreadfull what terrour shall we find in the word of judgment Lo God sweares too and because there is no greater to sweare by he swears by himself As I live surely mine oath that he hath despised and my Covenant which he hath broken even it will I recompence upon his owne head It was one of the words that were delivered in fire and smoak and thunder and lightning in Sinai The Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine I dare not therefore feare any thing so much as the displeasure of the Almighty and to dye for will neither take an unlawfull oath nor violate a just one As for that sociable excesse whereto thou temptest me how ever the commonness of the vice may have seemed to abate of the reputation of hainousnes in the opinion of others yet to me it representeth it so much more hatefull as an universall contagion is more grievous then a local I cannot puchase the name of good fellowship with the losse of my reason or with the price of a curse Dayly experience makes good that word of Solomon that Wine is a mocker robbing a man of himselfe and leaving a beast in his roome And what woes do I heare denounced against those that rise up earely in the morning that they may follow strong drink that continue till night til the wine inflame them If any man thinke he may pride himselfe in a strong brain and a vigorous body Woe to them that are mighty to drink wine men of strength to mingle strong drinkes Let the Iovialists of the world drink wine in bowles and feast themselves without feare let me never joyne my selfe with that fellowship where God is banisht from the companie Wouldst thou perswade me to falsifie my word for an advantage what advantage can be so great as the conscience of truth and fidelity That man is for Gods tabernacle that sweareth to his owne hurt and changeth not Let me rather lose honestly then gaine by falshood and perfidiousnesse Thou biddest me serve the time So I will doe whiles the time serves not thee but if thou shalt have so corrupted the time that the whole world is set in wickednesse I will serve my God in opposing it gladly will I serve the time in all good offices that may tend to rectifie it but to serve it in a way of flattery I hate and scorn I shall willingly frame my selfe to all companies not for a partnership in their vice but for their reclamation from evil or incouragement in good The chosen vessell hath by his example taught me this charitable and holy pliablenesse Though I be free from all men yet have I made my self a servant unto all that I might gain the more To the Jewes I became as a Jew that I might gaine the Jewes to them that are under the Law as under the Law that I might gaine them that are under the Law To them that are without Law as without Law being not without Law to God but under the Law to Christ that I might gain them that are without Law To the weake I became weake that I might gaine the weake I am made all things to all men that I might by al means save some My onely scope shall be spirituall gaine for this will I like some good Merchant trafique with all nations with all persons But for carnall respects to put my selfe like the first matter into all formes to be demure with the strictly-severe to be debaucht with the drunkard with the Atheist profane with the Bigot superstitious what were this but to give away my soule to every one save to the God that ownes it and whiles I would be all to be nothing and to professe an affront to him that hath charged me be not conformed to this world Shortly let me be despicable and starve and perish in my innocent integrity rather then be warme and safe and honoured upon so evill conditions VI. TEMPTATION It is but for a while that thou hast to live and when thou art gone all the world is gone with thee Improve thy life to the best contentment Take thy pleasure whiles thou maist Repelled Even this was the very noâ—e of thine old Epicurean clients Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die I acknowledg the same dart and the same hand that flings it a dart dipped in that deadly poison that causeth the man to dye laughing a dart that pierceth as deeply into the sensuall heart as it easily retorted by the regenerate These wilde inferences of sensuality are for those that know no heaven no hell but to me that know this world to be nothing but a thorow-fare to eternity either way they abhorre not from grace onely but from reason it selfe In the intuition of this immortality what wise man would not rather say my life is short therefore it must bee holy I shall not live long let me live well so let mee live for a while that I may live for ever These have been still the thoughts of gracious hearts Moses the man of God after he hath computed the short periods of our age and confined it to fourescore yeares so soon is it cut off and we fly away inferres with the same breath So teach us to number our daies that we may apply our hearts to wisdome As implying that this holy Arithmeticke should be an introduction to Divinity that the search of heavenly wisdome should be the true use of our short life and the sweet singer of Israel after he hath said Behold thou hast made my daies as a span long mine age is nothing to thee findes cause to look up from earth to heaven And now Lord what wait I for surely my hope is even in thee He that desired to know the measure of his life findes it but a span and recompences the shortnesse of his continuance with hopes everlasting as the tender mercy of our God pities our frailtie remembring that we are but flesh a wind that passeth away and cometh not againe So our frailty supports it selfe with the meditation of his blessed eternity My daies saith the Psalmist are like a shadow that declineth and I am withered like grasse But thou O Lord shalt endure for ever and thy remembrance to all generations As therefore every man walketh in a vain shadow in respect of his transitorinesse so the Good man in respect of his holy conversation can say I will walke before the Lord in the Land of the living and knowes himselfe made for better ends then vaine pleasure I shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord It is for them who have their portion
that head and this body Into their secret let my soule come and unto their assembly let mine honour be united But if where I find weaknesse of grace and involuntary failings of obedience I shall say Stand by thy selfe come not neer me for I am holier then thou how can I make other account then that this pride shall be a smoke in the nostrils of the Almighty a fire that burneth all day and that he will recompence it into my bosome Shortly I know none so fit to depart from as from my selfe my owne pride self love and the rest of my inbred corruptions and am so far from over-looking others that I know none worse then my selfe X. TEMPTATION However the zeale of your scrupulous Preachers is wont to make the worst of every thing and to damne the least slip to no lesse then hell Yet there are certaine favour able temperaments of circumstances which may if not excuse yet extenuate a fault such as age complexion custome profit importunity necessity which are justly pleadable at the barre both of God and the conscience and are sufficient to rebate the edge of divine severity Repelled VVIcked tempter I know there is nothing upon earth that so much either troubles thee or impairs thy kingdome of darknesse as the zeale of conscionable Preachers those who lift up their voice like a trumpet and shew Gods people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sin this is it that rescues millions of souls from the hand of hell and gives thee so many foyles in thy spirituall assaults This godly and faithful zeal represents mens sins to them as they are and by sins the danger of their damnation which thy malicious subtilty would faine blanch over and palliate to their destruction But when thou hast all done it is not in their power to make sin worse then it is or in thine to make it better As for those favourable temperaments which thou mentionest they are meere Pandarismes of wickednesse faire visors of deformity For to cast a glance upon each of them Age is not a more common plea then unjust The young man pretends it for his wanton and inordinate lust The old for his gripplenesse techinesse loquacity All wrongfully and not without foule abuse Youth is taught by thee to call for a swing and to make vigour and heate of blood a priviledge for a wild licentiousnesse for which it can have no claime but from a charter sealed in hell I am sure that God who gives this marrow to his bones and brawne to his armes and strength to his sinewes and vivacity to his spirits lookes for another improvement Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth saith Solomon And his father before him Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word Lo the young mans waies are foule with lusts and distempered passions and they must be cleansed and the way to cleanse them is attendance not of his owne vaine pleasures but of the holy ordinances of his maker Thou wouldst have him run loose like the wild Asse in the desert God tells him It is good for a man to beare the yoake in his youth even the yoke of the divine precepts the stooping whereunto is the best truest of al freedoms so as he may be able to say with the best Courtier of the wickedest King I thy servant feare the Lord from my youth The aberrations from which holy lawes of God are so far from finding an excuse from the prime of our years as that holy Iob cries out of them in the bitternesse of his soule Thou hast made mee to possesse the iniquities of my youth and as David vehemently deprecates Gods anger for them Remember not Lord the sins of my youth so Zophar the Naamathite notes it for an especiall brand of Gods judgement upon the wicked man that his bones are full of the sins of his youth and God declares it as an especiall mercy to his people Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth The more head-strong therefore my youth is the more straite shall I curbe it and hold it in and the more vigorous it is so much the fitter it is to be consecrated to that God who is most worthy to be served with the best of his own As for old age it hath I grant its humours and infirmities but rather for our humiliation then for our excuse It is not more common then absurd and unreasonable that when we are necessarily leaving the world we should be most fond in holding it when wee are ceasing to have any use of riches then to endeavour most eagerly to get them when we should bee laying up treasure in heaven to be treasuring up wrath for our selves and baggs for we know not whom To be unwilling to spend what we cannot keep and to be mad on getting what we have not the wit or grace to spend If then thou canst perswade any man to bee so gracelesse as to make his vicious disposition an apology for wickednesse let him plead the faults of his age for the excuse of his avarice As for morosity of nature and garrulity of tongue they are not the imperfections of the age but of the persons There are meek spirits under gray haires and wrinkled skinnes There are old men who as that wise heathen said of old can keepe silence even at a feast He hath ill spent his age that hath not attained to so good an hand over himselfe as in some meet measure to moderate both his speech and passion If some complexions both incline us more and crave indulgence to some sinnes more then other the sanguine to lust the cholerick to rage c. wherfore serves grace but to correct them If we must be over-ruled by nature what doe we professing Christianity Neither humours nor stars can necessitate us to evill whiles thou therefore pretendest my naturall constitution I tell thee of my spirituall regeneration the power whereof if it have not mortified my evill and corrupt affections I am not what I professe to be a Christian The strongest plea for the mitigation of sinne is Custome the power whereof is wont to be esteemed so great as that it hath seemed to alter the quality of the fact and of sin to make no sin Hence the holy Patriarchs admitted many consorts into their marriage-bed without the conscience of offending which if it had not been for the mediation of Custome had beene justly esteemed no better then criminous But however where is no contrary injunction Custome may so far usurp as to take upon it to be no lesse then a law it selfe Yet where there is a just regulation of law the plea of Custome is so quite out of countenance as that it is strongly retorted against it selfe neither is there any more powerfull reason for the abolition of an ill use then that is a custome so much
spirit answered by the returns of an humble and thankfull obedience here is not love onely but intirenesse What other is that poor measure of love which our wretched meannesse can return unto our God but a weak reflection of that fervent love which he bears unto us It is the word of Divine Wisdome I love them that love me and the disciple of love can tell us the due order of love We love him because he first loved us The love of God therefore which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us is an all-sufficient conviction of Gods tender love unto us My heart tels me then that I love God truly though weakly God tels me that he embraceth me with an everlasting love which thy malice may snarle at but can never abate TEMPTATIONS REPELLED The third Decade Temptations of Allurement III. DECADE I. TEMPTATION Thou hast hitherto thus long given entertainment to thy sin and no inconvenience hath ensued no evill hath befallen thee thy affaires have prospered better then thy scrupulous neighbours why shouldst thou shake off a companion that hath been both harmlesse and pleasant Go on man sin fearlesly thou shalt speed no worse then thou hast done Go on and thrive in thine old course whiles some precisely conscientious beg and starve in their innocence Repelled IT is right so as wise Salomon observd of old Because sentence against an evil worke is not executed speedily therfore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evill Wicked spirit What a deadly fallacy is this which thou puttest upon miserable soules Because they have aged in their sins therefore they must die in them because they have lived in sin therefore they must age in it because they have prospered in their sin therefore they must live in it whereas all these should be strong arguments to the contrary There cannot be a greater proofe of Gods disfavour then for a man to prosper in wickednesse neither can there be a more forcible inducement to a man to forsake his sin then this that he hath entertain'd it What dost thou other in this then perswade the poor sinner to despise the riches of the goodnesse and forbearance and long suffering of God which should lead him to repentance and after his hardnesse and impenitent heart to treasure up unto himselfe wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God What an horrible abuse is this of divine mercy That which is intended to lead us to repentance is now urged by thee to draw us from repentance Should the justice of God have cut off the sinner in the flagrance of his wicked fact there had been no roome for his penitence and now God gives him a faire respite for his repentance thou turnest this into a provocation of sinning Let the case for the present be mine If sin have so far bewitcht me as to win me to dally with it must I therefore be wedded to it or if I be once wedded to it through the importunity of Temptation shall I be tyed to a perpetuall cohabitation with that fiend and not free my self by a just divorce Because I have once yeilded to be evill must I therefore be worse Because I have happily by the mercy of my God escaped hell in sinning shall I wilfully run my self headlong into the pit by continuing in sin No wicked one I know how to make better use of Gods favour and my own miscarriages I cannot reckon it amongst my comforts that I prospered in evill Let obdured hearts blesse themselves in such advantages but I adore that goodnesse that forbore me in my iniquity neither dare provoke it any more Thinke not to draw me on by the lucky successe of my sin which thou hast wanted no indeavour to promote Better had it been for me if I had fared worse in the course of my sinning but had I been yet outwardly more happy do I not know that God vouchsases his showers his sun-shine to the fields of those whose persons he destines to the fire Can I be ignorant of that which holy Iob observed in his time That the Tabernacles of the wicked prosper and they that provoke God are secure into whose hands God bringeth abundantly That they spend their days in wealth and in a moment go downe to the grave and as the Psalmist seconds him There are no bands in their death but their strength is firme They are not in trouble like other men therefore pride compasseth them about as achaine And let these jolly men brave it out in the glorious pompe of their unjust greatnesse The same eyes that noted their exaltation have also observed their downefall They are exalted for a little while saith Job but they are gone and brought low they are taken out of the way as all others and cut off as the tops of the ears of corne And in his answer to Zophar Where are the dwelling places of the wicked Have ye not asked them that go by the way and do ye not know their tokens That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath The eyes of the wicked even those scornfull and contemptuous eyes which they have cast upon Gods poor despised ones shall faile and they shall not escape and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost How false an inference then is this whereby 〈◊〉 goest about to delude â—y soule Thou hast hitherto prospered in thy wickedness therefore thou shalt prosper in it still and ever To morrow shall be as yesterday and more abundant As if the just God had not set a period to iniquity As if he had not said to the most insolent sinner as to the raging Sea Here shalt thou stay thy proud waves How many rich Epicures have with Crassus sup't in Apollo and broken their fast with Beelzebub the prince of Devils How many have lien downe to sleep out their furfeit and have waked in hell Were my times in thy hand thou wouldst not suffer me long to enjoy my sin and forbeare the seizure of my soule but now they are in the hands of a righteous God who is jealous of his owne glory he will be sure not to over-pass those hours which he hath set for thy torment or my account Shortly therefore I will withdraw my foot from every evil way and walk holily with my God however I speed in the world Let me with the conscientious men beg or starve in my innocence rather then thrive in my wickednesse and get hell to boot II. TEMPTATION Sin still thou shall repent soon enough when thou canst sin no more Thine old age and death-bed are fit seasons for those sad thoughts It will go hard if thou maist not at the last have a mouthfull of breath left thee to cry God mercy And that is no