slaine from the beginning of the world yet as a fruite of our repentance expects from vs a holy reuenge vpon our selues We must iudge our selues that wee bee not iudged and least our iudgements become fruitlesse and elusory We must put them in execution seuerely without pitty or partiality Let vs therefore preuent his face of Maiesty his countenance of Authority by confession wich confession is a profession of forsaking our former faults The Iudge we cannot the iudgement we may preuent if we take the opportunity and repent truly and timely of our sinnes thou wilt mercifully and graciously repent thee of the iudgements denounced doomed against vs. Therefore it be houeth euery man to keepe a Court at home and therin to sit as chiefe iustice to indict and arraigne himself at the barre of his owne conscience where he findes the fault there to inflict punishment In as much as at these Assizes the heart must needes be found the greatest offender because from the heart doth flow all vaine and sinfull imaginations all idle and wicked words all lewde and scandalous actions let him doe Iustice vpon his heart in the first place let him correct the pride of it by humiliation the wantonnesse of it by contrition the iolity of it by sorrow the stubornenesse of it by weeping the gluttony of it by fasting the couetousnesse of it by almes-giuing and so according to the rule of Physicke cure each contrary by his contrary affection The physicke must bee applied to that part of the body which is ill affected the salue laid vpon the place that is sore Where the sinne breedes swels there must the sinner cut and launce He must pricke his heart to the quicke and let out store of teares as the former and latter rayne As our hearts haue beene fatted and pampered as it were with sinne so they should grow leane and meagre againe by sorrow for sinne Looke how much the lesse I spare my selfe so much the more wilt thou spare me My repentance doth in a sort execute thy vengeance and with a temporall vexation doth preuent and auoide thine eternall damnation by casting me downe it lifts me vp by making me vgly in mine own it presents me pure in thine eyes by accusing it doth excuse by condemning it doth acquite me It is a kind of vnhappinesse to be seared and cauterized with an hot yron and fretted with an eating powder but those meanes and medicines which doe cure by sharpenesse and sowernesse by the benefit which they procure doe excuse their distastfulnes and by the succeeding profit do allay the present paine By sin thy spirit takes occasiō to increase grace not by the nature of sinne but by the soueraignety of that spirit which euen of sinnes makes a plaister against sin For I being as sicke of sorrow as of sinne may hopefully resort to thee the Physitian of my soule whose end of comming into the world is to cure the sicke especially such as feele themselues sicke enen at the heart I must breake my golden Calfe that is any idoll of sinne which my corrupt heart doth serue and worship I must burne it with zeale and with contrition grinde it to powder and then strowing it vpon the water of teares drinke it vp againe By this thy gracious meanes an Antidote will bee drawne out of poyson the oyle will cure the bitings of Scorpions the worme wil gnaw the wood the moth the cloth that bred it the very excrements of my sinfull soule like dung and mannor will fatten and make it fruitefull in goodnesse The hunted and wounded Hart by eating of an herbe knows how to helpe and heale himselfe and to make the arrow that pierced his ribbes to fall to the ground The Swallow when she hath put out the eyes of her young ones knowes by an herbe of her owne name how to restore their sight againe Thy herbe of grace the iuyce whereof is our repentance doth expell the fiery darts of Sathan shot by sinne into our soules and this eye-salue doth cause vs though neuer so much blinded with sinne to see both our error in committing and thy mercy in pardoning our offences The most powerfull rhetoricke to mooue thee to pitty is repentance and the most delightfull Musicke in thine eares is that dolefull ditty tuned to a trembling tongue and a quauering voyce peccaui in coelum c. Against thee against thee onely I haue offended The string bends the strongest bowe the fire mollifies the hardest steel the Goates blood breakes euen the Adamant I hope my harts humble and melting repentance will appease thy hottest and heauiest indignation conceiued against me The most worne and torne linnen by contusion and grinding in the Mill makes smooth and white paper Euen so my most base and rotten ragges of vanity and wickednesse by true contrition with thy benediction will produce a cleane heart and renew a right spirit within mee The corruption and consumption of the one will prooue the generation or regeneration of the other To sacrifice to kill are expressed by one and the same word in holy writ because euery sacrifice was slaine in thy Leuiticall lawe but this breaking of my heart and offering my body in sacrifice to thee is an Euangelicall sacrifice because therin which may seeme strange the sacrifice is slaine and yet liueth For it is my faith not my death which thou seekest thou thirstest for my holy desires not my polluted blood thou art appeased with my willingnesse to renounce the world not with my departure out of the world This was Abraham the Father of all thy faithfull ones his sacrifice which thou requiredst of him For what did Abraham but offer his owne body in his Son What didst thou require of him but his Faith who as thou diddest command his Sonne to be offered so thou wouldest not suffer him to be killed I hold it a wise and an aduantageous course in any man to dye to sinne that hee may liue to righteousnesse to mortifie the old man that hee may bee quickened in the new to dye daily that hee may liue eternally Wherefore I will dye that I may not dye I will wound my hart with temporary contrition that I may auoyde the deadly wounds of 〈◊〉 who desires my euerlasting destruction I will liue a dying life that I may not dye a 〈◊〉 death For thy sake are we killed all the day long and right deare in thy sight is this death of thy Saints Here I can bee contented to stirre vp an holy emulation betweene those that thus dye and such as are stoned burned or otherwise done to death for defence of thine honor and testimony of thy trueth who by excellency are termed Martyrs These dye but once and at once their paine is soone past but the other dye a lingering death they dye daily and continually It is accounted a mittigation of cruelty and a
a greater cannot be bestowed vpon the soule of man whiles it is confined within this valley of teares inclosed within this bodie of death And because through the frailty of my flesh and the fraud of Satan I am so prone to recidiuation and backe shding so ready to fall away from thee euen 〈◊〉 many Apostasies pardoned vnlesse I be still vpheld and supported giue me thy free spirit that 〈◊〉 may cheerefully thy firme spirit that I may constantly accomplish thy blessed will and 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 good duties that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnto me And for that thankefulnesse is the best returne for benefits receiued and the strongest meanes to purchase new fauours giue mee grace as to promise so to performe gratitude euery way and euermore highly to esteeme and zealously to affect the reducing reclaiming and conuerting of sinners and impious persons those that erre in their religion or conuersation or both as the most acceptable seruice that can be done vnto thee vpon earth Teach me to vse all earnest compellation and powerfull insinuation to winne thy fauour againe when I haue forfeited it by committing some grieuous sin especially quicken mee by faith to make a particular application and appropriation as it were of thy saluation to mine owne soule which pious presumption and holy ambition thou art well pleased withall Giue me grace with the deepest straine of my hart and the loudest tone and tune of my voyce to magnifie thy marueilous goodnesse Though I be lesse then the least of thy mercies yet teach me in duty and discretion for more bountifull fauours to returne more plentifull praises If I be deliuered from a crying sinne I ought of congruence to sing aloud of thy iustice which giuing assurance of thy mercy by performance of thy couenant of grace cannot but produce an exultation of the heart and an exaltation of the voyce and tongue in the celebration of thy iust praises But alas how can I make that poore returne for thy rich mercies which mee thinkes I ought to vowe and promise When all is done I must therein also craue thy blessed assistance that thou wilt be pleased to open my lips and to vntie my tongue strings I must owe thee for that grace also and goe on thy score euen for those praises which onely by Eccho I resound vnto 〈◊〉 Blessed be thy name O Lord who in my deepest distresse and heauiest condition for my sinnes when I seeke for ease and reliefe tellest mee the meanes whereby thine anger may be appeased and thy fauour redeemed Thou requirest no sacrifice that with labour and charge should bee purchased abroad but such as is or should be at home and within me thou expectest no other satisfaction from me but the humiliation of my proud heart and the sorrow of my rebellious soule O wonderfull goodnesse O vnspeakeable mercie What more fauourable termes can be deuised or propounded then that thou wilt accept my submission and reconciliation so as I will aske thee forgiuenesse humbly and freely professe and expresse effectually mine hearty repentance for the manifold sinnes I haue committed against thy divine Maiestie Out of the the apprehension of this louing kindnesse and tender compassion if there were nothing else I ought to melt into teares of griefe breake my heard hart bruize my obstinate spirit which haue transported me so farre and plunged me so deepe into thy displeasure O Lord inable mee whom thou hast ordained a Priest for this purpose to offer daily and duly this acceptable sacrifice vnto thee which I should the more willingly present because it no way intends the destruction of my body but the correctiō of my soule I am only to slay my sensuality to quell my vnruly affections and subdue them to thy holy will for mine own good not to impech nature but to increase grace and for my better incouragemēt to this mortification thou art graciously pleased to vse this protestation that If I iudge my selfe thou wilt not iudge me if I chastise my selfe thou wilt not condemne mee if I execute my owne iust and vnpartiall sentence against mine owne heart the capitall offender thou wilt fauourably spare and mercifully pardon mee for euer O Lord I pray not for my selfe alone but for thy whole Church wheresoeuer dispersed howsoeuer distressed vpon the face of the earth As I pray that thou wilt bee mercifull to mee particularly so I beg also that thou wilt be fauourable to Sion vniuersally Being a member of that mystical body whereof thy Christ is the head so long as I haue spirituall life in me I cannot but resent such afflictions as any of thy chosen do sustaine ô Lord I pray thee for Ierusalem the kingdom wherein I liue that peace may be within her walls prosperity in her palaces I cannot but out of honest affection wish well to my brethren neighbours and companions that their persons may be protected their walls of wood or stone reedifyed fo often as neede requireth that not for necessity onely but for comelinesse also But I must still professe that I regard the Case for the 〈◊〉 sake which is compassed therewith the Common-wealth for thy house and that portion of thy Church that is preserued therein I respect chiefely Sion thy darling and the ioy of the whole earth My precious goods are imbarqued in that ship What fortune betides them I am contented shall befall me I will sympathise reioyce and mourne with them vpon all occasions I doe acknowledge no neerer affinity no deerer consanguinity no better fraternity then is Christianity nay my spirituall kindred is of more esteeme with mee 〈◊〉 any naturall or legall coniunction whatsoeuer O Lord shew thy fauor to Sion for thy good pleasures sake shee hath no other motiue to induce thee no other mediator to intercede with thee Bee gracious to her for his sake in whom thou art well pleased Be pleased of thy selfe thine owne goodnes for thy selfe thine owne glory to shew this loue vnto thy Spouse though foule in her owne nature yet faire by thy gracious acceptation These graces O Lord which I begge zealously for my selfe and others I beseech thee to grant mercifuly that I may 〈◊〉 thee with prayse and prayse thee with loue that I may thankefully acknowledge thy gracious goodnesse and in testimony thereof render vnto thee all honour and glory all manner of prayses and thankes all the dayes of my life euen for euer and euer Amen FINIS Bern. ad frat in Mon. Tertul. de Paenit Aug. in 〈◊〉 51. Chrysost. in hunc Psalmum Psal. 103. Melius impressum quà m expressum innotescit In his non capit intelligentia nisi quantum attingit 〈◊〉 Bern. in Cant. 3. Qui non gustauerit non intelliget quà m 〈◊〉 sapit mel Aug. in Psal. 30. Rom. 5. Miserationum Dei nec magnitudo mensurari nec multitudo numerari potest Basil. Ierem. 31. Psal. 38. Iob. 7. Iohn 13. Rom. 12. 〈◊〉
houses that at their comming in and going out they might bee euer mindfull of their iourney and passage to death If those Heathen by the light of nature tooke so wise a course how much more ought Christians by the lampe of grace still behold their sins as their Graues wherein their soules must lye eternally buried vnlesse they bee timely raised and thorowly renewed by repentance As the sight of the Brazen Serpent did cure the sting of the serpents so the 〈◊〉 and displeasing sight of my sins doth take away the biting of these serpents So then in the middest of the discontent which I finde in this fearefull and wofull sight of my grieuous sins there is this singular comfort that thou in mercy turnest thy face from them thou castest them behinde thee while I set them before mee They doe not deepely displease thee and me at one and the same time when they procure my sorrow and humiliatiō they cease to prouoke thine anger and indignation My sins neuer 〈◊〉 mee but when they delight mee they neuer displease thee but whē they please me Wherefore as fóule as the obiect as odious as the 〈◊〉 is in my better iudgement I am contented with an impatient patience still to represent it to my soule because howsoeuer in it selfe vgly it vshers me by degrees to the view and contemplation of thy vndeserued loue and fauor which at length as the bright sun dispels all the cloudes of care and mists of Melancholy and raises my deiected heart to the participation of vnspeakable consolation Wretched and vnhappy I was in committing so great and grieuous sinnes but I am happy in a sort in this vnhappinesse if I haue eyes to see my sins being committed to see them as it were thorow a perspectiue glasse so as they may seeme in ful proportion as great to mee as they are in deed Satan deales with his vassales as the Rauen doth with the Lambe the Rauen first picks out the silly creature his eyes and then carries him out of the way securely to deuoure him First Satan blindes me in sinne and then hee bindes me in the chaines of darknesse as fast as hee can of purpose to throw me into vtter darkenesse When after shippewracke I see the Rocke which I could not foresee before I fell vpon it I striue by all meanes to auoyde it the second time When I see my sinnes past in the true lineaments of their vgly shape I cannot but bee shie and wary to shun the like monsters euer after When the bayted hook of sinne is cast before me I see the baite of pleasure only but not the hooke of thy iudgements but after I haue beene catched and felt and seene the bare hooke without a bayte I become circumspect and suspect euery bit I swallow for feare lest I be ensnared againe My sinne is euer against me ranged as it were and marshalled in battaile aray against me My sinne doth proudly affront and directly oppose mee nay it doth euen outface mee shamelesly Before Nathan came vnto me I had cast my sinnes behinde my backe his message hath caused mee to transpose them for now they are set before my face they stand stoutly against me euen to my face My sinne O Lord as it is a witnesse so is it an informer against my conscience it charges and conuicts me before thy iudgement seate I haue no hope of preuarication I see no way of euasion It makes hue and crie against mee with eager pursuite it will not giue ouer till I be apprehended and deliueted into the hands of iustice When there is no man to vexe mee outwardly I torment my selfe inwardly as holy Iob confessed in those words Why hast thou set me ouer against thee I am become burden some euen to my selfe Thou diddest set his sinnes against him which made him conceiue that thou diddest set him against thee as a marke to shoote thine arrowes of anger at but when 〈◊〉 began thorowly to feele thou diddest begin graciously to ease him of his burden My sinne as it opposes against mee so it interposes betweene thee and me in such sort as neither my prayers can ascend to thee nor thy graces descend to mee vnlesse thy mercy interuene to keepe the peace and cleere the passage betweene vs. Against thee thee only haue I 〈◊〉 Now my inclosed sorrow must haue vent my oppressed conscience must be disburthened This knowledge and representation breeds an acknowledgement and recognition of my sin The contrition of my heart forceth from me a confession of my mouth I can hold no longer but must needs with teares in mine eyes and anguish in my soule crie out Peccaui and with an ingemination by way of aggrauation Against thee against thee onely to declare my iust indignation against my selfe for committing so foule and grieuous faults against that great Maiestie and that gracious goodnesse which I haue so highly offended And thus doe I limit and as it were appropriate my offences as committed against thee alone for many causes For although I haue sinned against Heauen and against Earth yet is there no witnesse of my sinne on earth but thou O God in Heauen so closely and cunningly haue I carried it That I defiled the wife to conceale that destroyed the life of Vriah was not knowne to the world that I so treacherously and cruelly exposed to slaughter a great troope of Souldiers fighting for mee and vnder my command to couer my wicked designe against Vriah was hidden from the eyes of men Thou knowest and seest all things wherefore against thee onely haue I sinned Againe though there bee no man that dare reprooue mee that will accuse me that cā punish me being a King and aboue the Law yet euery King and kingdome vpon earth is subiect to thee the King of Kings and thy soueraignety I must render thee an account of my demeanour which I tremble and quake to thinke of Moreouer although I haue not onely sinned against thee in Heauen but scandalized men on earth also yet it vexeth mee beyond all comparison that I haue wittingly and presumptuously offended thee Although all the world should 〈◊〉 emee yet it is too too much to me to finde and feele thee my Iudge that mine own conscience doth summon mee before thy Tribunall and frame my proces against me before thy Iudgement seate In this case no flattery of my seruants who according to the fashion of Court doe sooth and claw their Masters can lessen my paine asswage mine anguish or pacifie my conscience Say what they will or can I must say still Against thee against thee only I haue offended Furthermore none but thou that art iust and without sinne hast of right the cognizance of sinne and coertion of offenders Sinners are not competent Iudges of sinners Men doe murmur and grudge to giue account of their sinfull actions to sinfull men who are tainted with the same or greater vices but
pleasing because they were offered with a louing and sincere heart vnto thee Thou doest not accept the person for the sacrifice but the sacrifice for the persons sake The truth and sincerity of the heart is all in all with thee Lastly that it is not so much any vprightnesse in me in regard of the worth and dignity much lesse of the perfection and purity of it that ministers this comfort vnto mee but as it is a fruit of thy fauour and a token of thy loue not it selfe so much as that whereof it giueth me assurance and that in two respects First as it is a signe and seale of my Adoption assuring me that I am thine adopted child For my regeneration whereby this sincerity is wrought in me doeth ratifie and seale vp my Adoption the old man harboureth no such ghest None are thy Adopted but such as are thy regenerated children and on the other part all that are thine by Regeneration are thine by Adoption also Now as earthly parents loue their children not so much for their wit and comelinesse as because they are theirs so doest thou O God loue thy children because they are thy children If thou doest not loue them before they haue they shall neuer haue any thing to make them bee loued of thee So then this beginning of true grace argueth thy child and a weake child of thine being yet thy child as well as a strong may in that regard expect a childes portion in thy heauenly inheritance Secondly as it is an earnest or Gods-penny of my glorification For this sincerity is the earnest of that Spirit which thou giuest me before-hand for full 〈◊〉 of the faithfull performance of all thy gracious promises afterward Therefore as a penny giuen in earnest bin deth as strongly as a pound the person that giueth it being a sufficient man Euen so the least measure of true grace being thy earnest bindes thee to the faithfull ac complishment of all thy fauours promised to all thy faithful seruants whatsoeuer It is thou only ô Lord that preparest my heart and workest this truth in it and thou wilt neuer frustrate the desire that thou thy selfe hast there wrought As no man canseeke thee but hee that hath found thee so no man can desire grace but hee that hath grace for euermore hee that desireth Grace hath grace to desire it It is thy gracious Proclamation The Lord God will be mercifull yea hee hath beene alreadie and is mercifull to those that set their hearts aright that desire to feare his name Whereupon I take heart and say Then shall I not bee confounded when I haue respect to all thy precepts and when I am vpright with my God The louing kindnesse of the Lord is from euer and for euer vpon those that thinke vpon his commandements to doe them and therefore vnto such also is ioy in plaine termes promised The righteous shall bee glad in the Lord and trust in him and all without exception that are but vpright in heart shall reioyce And therefore hauing by warrant of the blessed Spirit pronounced them blessed not that neuer sinned but that haue sincerely repented their sinnes and in whose soule there is no guile I conclude with an Iniunction awarded vnder the seale of the same Spirit and laid vpon all such to reioyce Be glad ye righteous and reioyce in the Lord be merry not onely in your owne selues and soules but euen with acclamations and iubilations shout for ioy all you that are vpright in heart The summe of all is I doe not finde my heart so free from sin or so full of grace as it would and should bee but I finde it to be true plaine and vpright wherein I appeale to thee O thou searcher of hearts not such as hath no sinne for it hath in a manner nothing but sinne but such as loues no sinne not such as wants no grace but such as is hum bled for want of grace hauing the grace to feele that want 6. In the secret of my heart thou shalt teach me wisdome or Thou shalt teach the seacrets of wisdome in my heart or hidden part THe conscience of my vnfained sorrow for sin on the one side my true desire to serue thee better hereafter on the other doe raise my dciected soule and make me beleeue and hope that thou in thy gracious goodnesse wilt teach me more wisedome euen the mystery of godlinesse and art of Religion which is the soule of the soule in the secret of my heart I say thou shalt because I begge earnestly and hope confidently that thou wilt teach mee such Wisedome The teaching of the inward man by the true instruction of heauenly wisdome the end wherof is eternall saluation belongeth to thee alone It is thy proper and peculiar worke whereupon thine elect ones are termed The taught of God for flesh and blood reueales not these things vnto me Hee hath his chaire in heauen that teacheth the heart and to thy schollers it is only giuen to know the secrets of thy Kingdome Therefore I trust thou wilt teach me thy wayes and thy statutes thou wilt open mine eyes that I may sce the wonders of thy Law thou wilt giue me true vnderstanding and send me thy good Spirit as a perfect Pylot to leade and guide me into all truth goodnesse This is the wisedome of the heart and brest not of the head and braine whereby I shall become not more learned or politicke but more godly 〈◊〉 vertuous not more able to discourse and dispute but to doe and liue well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 become righteous that is by a little variati on of the word right wise For whē all is said done That is right wisedome which makes me wise vnto Saluation That is not seeming and shining but sound and solid wisedome that is reall and operatiue not speculatiue and formall wisedome The true information and thereby Reformation of the soule is the soule of wisedome It is neuer taught enough which is neuer sufficiently learned and this wisedome is of that nature that the soule is neuer satiated therewith but is still hungry and couetous of more I haue heard and read many lessons by way of instruction in this wisedome but either through my dulnesse I could not apprehend them or through my obliuion I could not remember thē or through my infirmity I could not practise them Howbcit by the supereminent authority of thee the Teacher the excellencie of the matter taught and the increase of my diligence all happily concurring together I hope at length to attaine the depth of wisedome in the deepe and secret corners of my heart 7 Purge me with Hysope and I shall be cleane THe tongue wil be licking where the tooth is aking the finger will be touching where the paine is fretting The Leprosie of my sinne is so irkesome and lothsome vnto mee as
hope and hopefull assurance of eternall happinesse This hope is the heart of my soule and the very life of my life It putteth spirit into my decayed spirit and vigor into my dead heart for a hopelesse is a heartlesse life and were it not for this hope amidst the inward and outward crosses of this life my very heart would breake All the ioyes vpon earth cannot make me cheerfull vntill I bee seized of this ioy nor can all the crosses and calamities which the world affoords dishearten me while I finde and feele this ioy of thy saluation What greater ioy to an afflicted soule lying 〈◊〉 oppressed vnder the heauy apprehension of thy wrathfull indignation and for a long and tedious time suffering euen hell out of hell then to receiue a gracious pardon of all his sinne freely granted vnto him by thee through the mediation of thy Christ sealed by thy blessed Spirit and deliuered to his spirit into the hand of faith Wherefore turne O Lord my mourning into dancing loose my sackcloth and gird mee with gladnesse O Lord let me shout out songs of deliuerance from the captiuity and thraldome of sinne and Satan I haue wilfully put my selfe out of possession of this ioy which I so happily enioyed O Lord restore it vnto me againe by a new order iniunction out of thy Court of equity and mercie let mee returne into it by Remitter hold it as in my former ancient right I haue iust cause to stile it Thy saluation For I am the patient onely thou O God the onely agent thou hast not the greatest share but all the interest in this affaire Thou art the sole not only Author but also actor in it For the purchase thereof I neede thy first grace of Initiation and thy second of Confirmation thy preuenient and thy subsequent grace thy accompanying and thy perseuering grace All is thy grace and thou art all in all and therefore to thee alone I ascribe all the honour and glory It is meerely and intirely thy saluation Christ his righteousnesse imputed and imparted to me is the true roote ioy and peace are the happy fruite and faith is the rooting of it in my soule Though there come a winter of affliction to restraine the sap and hinder the shewe yet the Summer of cheerefulnesse will make all to flourish againe in perfect lustre But how can I expect the serenity and Sunshine of this ioy in the valley of teares Why should I desire this garment of gladnesse when my heart ought cōtinually to weare the sables of sadnesse and the mourning weede of repentance for my daily or rather howrely sinnes how can there be any time or place left for ioy when there is almost a 〈◊〉 of sorrow enioyned He that will reconcile himselfe to thee O God may easily reconcile these different passions make them dwell together in his soule with amity and vnity Else thou that hast required mee oft-times to mourne wouldest neuer haue commanded mee to reioyce alwaies The faithfull man hath a sorrow mingled with ioy and a ioy mingled with sorrow There is a griefe in ioy as there is a ioy in griefe nay which may yet seeme more strange the greater griefe sometimes the greater ioy and the greater ioy the greater griefe for one and the same man at one and the same time may bee exceeding sorry for his sin and excceding ioyous with the apprehension of thy mercy in the free forgiuenesse of his sinne The greater griefe hee conceiueth for his sinne the more comfort he may iustly take euen in that regard And the greater ioy hee feeleth in the hopefull assurance of thy fauour the greater sorrow must hee needs conceiue for his sinne that bred thy displeasure for the more assurance hee hath of thy loue towards him the more hee will loue thee Loue is the loadstone 〈◊〉 loue and will draw loue euen from an yron heart and the more hee loueth thee the more his soule must melt into teares when he recounts considers how by his wicked and rebellious courses he hath demeaned himselfe wretchedly and vnworthily towards that God whom he findeth so graciously and pittifully affected towards him Sorrow may bee sometimes vnseasonable but this spirituall ioy as wee say of some kinde of meates is neuer out of season The precept of reioycing though conceiued in the affirmatiue doth alwaies binde at all times Reioyce in all things and euermore reioyce The grace I beg is the complement crowne and garland of all the graces I haue formerly craued For although I be washed neuer so cleane from my former staynes though my hart be neuer so throughly purged from old corruptions my spirit neuer so well renewed and rectified for the time to come yea though I obtaine a full restauration of the ioy of thy saluation which I had and haue lost yet vnlesse thou bee pleased to confirme and stablish me with thy firme and free 〈◊〉 none of those blessings apart nor all of them 〈◊〉 together can much auaile me For without this 〈◊〉 and establishment I 〈◊〉 neuer be able to 〈◊〉 and perseuere in true Piety of Religion in sincere probity of 〈◊〉 Well I may like a bankrupt Marchant supplied by friends or credit set vp my trade of godlinesse awhile but I shall soone be enforced to shut vp shop againe Well I may beginne to runne the race of godlinesse but I shall neuer get the goale well I may enter the lists afresh with my old and deadly enemy the Deuill and his two valiant Champions the World and the Flesh but I shall quickly be foyled I shall neuer 〈◊〉 the victory fully and finally Wherefore do not onely raise mee that am falne but vphold me when I am raised sustaine mee continually with thy firme Spirit that I may not onely begin well and proceed cheerefully but also perseuere constantly and end happily I did endeauour when time was in some sort to serue and please thee I frequented publike assemblies in thy holy Tabernacle I sent vp sundry Prayers from my priuate Oratory and the secret closer of my heart vnto thy Maiestie I laboured to gouerne my people with Iustice and equity to punish wilfull offenders seuerely to reward well-deseruers cheerefully to deliuer the oppressed to relieue the needy but this notwithstanding how soone alas was I taken with the sight of Bathsheba and through my frailty carried captiue into Adultery to satisfie my 〈◊〉 and into Murther to conceale my Adultery Wherefore settle confirme and establish me O Lord. I haue directed generally All you that trust in the Lord be strong and hee shall establish your heart he keepeth the faithfull and vpholdeth the iust by him alone the steps of men are established that is firmely directed and perfected My spirit which must bee wrought vpon by thy Spirit through the contagion of my flesh and the carnality of it is become almost wholly carnall and by that meanes weake and fraile soone weary of well doing it
so euen thy praises must come from thy 〈◊〉 to set forth thy glory Thou desirest not sacrifice else would I giue it or had giuen it In regard of the heauy burthen of many sins oppressing my soule and the feareful apprehension of thy iust indignation conceiued against me to ease and free my selfe to appease and please thee what would I not doe what would I not suffer what would I not offer But I haue nothing whereby I might redeeme thy fauour towards mee For if I had Mountaines of Gold if I had Riuers of Oyle if I had tenne thousand sacrifices to bestow vpon thee it booted mee nothing they are all thine owne already and besides thou makest not account or esteeme of any of these things at all which I doe not deliuer to disallow or altogether disualue all kinde of 〈◊〉 by slaughter of Beasts and Birds appointed by thee and prescribed by thine owne Law but because these are signes onely and representations to the weake capacities of mortall men of that reall effectuall renowned and eternall sacrifice once to be offered for the redemptition of mankinde I know O Lord by the illumination of thy holy Spirit that it is an inward and internall not an outward or externall sacrifice which thou being a spirit delightest in Thou lookest vpon the heart and pious affections thereof alone I conceiue that to draw thine owne people from the superstitious Idolatry whereunto the Gentiles through the blindnesse of their vnderstanding and the delusions of Satan were so prone and so much addicted and to teach them to embrace such worship of thee as thou shouldest prescribe not themselues 〈◊〉 thou hast instituted sundry kindes of sacrifices vpon seuerall occasions to be offered vnto thee with an indulgent respect to our infirmity who being carnall delight in outward shewes without which wee cannot so easily comprehend those inward seruices and spirituall duties to bee performed by vs and euer with relation to the true substance of the hearts affections to be erected and consecrated wholly to thine honour For thou hast not 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for thy selfe 〈◊〉 wouldest not drinke the bloud of Bulls and Goats The eternall God doth neither hunger nor thirst c. But a single and sincere minde fearing God of those that offer such things as they haue from thee is a sweet smelling and well-pleasing sacrisice to thee by thy gracious acceptation who dost not so much regard the thing that is done in this kinde as the minde where with it is done and the end wherfore it is done to wit thine owne glory Thou dost not respect the shadow but the substance not the shel but the kernell not the chaffe but the corne not the signe but the thing signified At least thou doeft not esteem the type without the truth nor the figure in any degree of comparison with that which is represented thereby and therewith to be presented vnto thee that is a broken heart The sacrifices of God in the plurall number because this one is many sacrifices this one is all the sacrifices that thou expectest at our hands A broken heart a contrite spirit diuers words importing one and the same thing is a heart wounded a spirit deiected and perplexed with the sight and sense of sin committed mourning and melting into teares through the remorse of conscience grieuously lamenting that it was so wretched and wicked as gracelesly and vngratefully to reiect the iust lawes of so powerfull a Iudge and to neglect the kinde inuitations of so pittifull a Father and all for a little vaine idle foolish frothy and fruitlesse pleasure which was mingled with 〈◊〉 in that little time wherein it was so greedily 〈◊〉 and pleasingly 〈◊〉 Now 〈◊〉 doth thy gracious goodnesse wonderfully shew and 〈◊〉 forth it selfe that thou not only 〈◊〉 to teach vs what to doe and what to say how to 〈◊〉 our actions and frame our supplications that both in word and deed wee may please thee but also whē we haue offēded displeased thee to tell vs how to pacifie and appease thee againe The Sacrifices of God are c. Nay further thou dost not require such a sacrifice as must be procured and purchased from abroad with much care and cost farre fetcht and deare bought as they say but such a sacrifice as we haue or may haue in our owne bosomes 〈◊〉 à te extrâ to quaeritur Thou requirest nothing from mee but what is within mee Beyond all this thou doest vs the honour and trustest vs with the office of Priests that wee may be sure to see this Sacrifice duly performed We must our selnes for our 〈◊〉 offer vp our 〈◊〉 in humility contrition which is 〈◊〉 only 〈◊〉 and vnbloody 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thee Euery 〈◊〉 as a 〈◊〉 Priest 〈◊〉 a victime within 〈◊〉 to offer the franke-Incense that must be put vpon the Altar in his owne bowells in his owne heart a Sacrifice that is of force to 〈◊〉 and winne thee to compassion he neede not seeke for a beast abroade to slaughter and burne to ashes he hath within himselfe that hee may and should kill He may slay sin he may mortify his earthly members he may strike with the hammer of sound repentance vpon the hard Anuile of his stony heart till it be mollified bruised and brayed to pieces and then it will be thy time turne as it is thy greatest honour to binde vp and heale the wounded and broken hearted Hee may kill and sacrifice to thee his Bull of pride his Goat of lasciuiousnesse his Ramme of stubbornenes his Birds of flying and wandering imaginations and so the rest of his carnall sensuall affections which being beastly doe turne men into beasts defacing that Image of thee wherein they were created to holinesse and righteousnesse The morall whereof is this He may in a life of vertue and piety offer vp the death of his vices iniquities to thee He that repents his sins doth chide and braule quarrell and brabble hee doth expostulate and fall out with himselfe in this tune Oh vnhappy wretch why wouldest how couldest thou so basely stoope to the lure of fleshly wantonnesse of wordly profit of spitefull reuenge of trecherous infidelity how couldest thou be induced to sell thine inheritance for a mesle of Pottage thy euer during treasure in heauen for a little flitting and vnconstant trash of the world What fruite hast thou now of 〈◊〉 the forbidden fruite of enioying those sinfull and momentany pleasures whereof thou art so much ashamed was not the terrible voice of the Law thundring out hell and damnation of power to fright thee from rebellion were not the sweete promises of the Gospell of force to inuite thee to the 〈◊〉 and constant seruice of God Nay beyond chiding and brauling a true penitent must chastise and punish himselfe Thy Lustice O God although it be fully satisfied by that all sufficient obedience and propitiatory Sacrifice of the Lambe
things in heauen earth for the seruice of man and man for thy seruice who hast disposed all things in number 〈◊〉 and measure who hast caused all things contained in holy Writ to be recorded for the instruction and direction of thy Church and chosen giue me grace so to behold this mirror of humane frailety and diuine mercy with the eye of true iudgement that I may not with the Spider draw poyson to the destruction but with the Bee sucke such honey as may bee gathered out of it to the solace of my sinfull soule Thou diddest permit Dauid being an holy Prophet as well as a mighty King aduanced anoynted specially for the gouernement of thy people to fall fouly into the heynous and grieuous sinnes of Adultery and Murder that no man might presume of thy fauor or confide in his owne strength but euermore serue thee in feare and reioyce in thee with reuerence Thou didst also endue him with grace after his fall by humiliation and repentance to rise againe and recouer his former estate notwithstanding his long security and carelesse continuance vpon the dregs of his wickednesse as it were in contempt of thy Iustice that no man might dispaire of thy rich and tender mercy Thou didst propound his fall for caution that all men might shun that dangerous racke whereon he suffered shipwracke his repentance for imitation that euery man plunged into the sea of sinne might catch hould of the planke of repentance to saue himselfe from drowning As thou didst bring light out of darkenesse and life out of death so dost thou in an incomprehensible manner draw good out of euill turne the very sinnes of thy seruants to thy glory and their good Farre be it from mee to vouch this example by way of excuse or defence much lesse warrant to offend as hee did howbeit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hope confidently with Dauid when and after I haue offended through thy gracious goodnesse and free promise by the teares of mine eyes the contrition of my heart and prayer of my spirit to obtaine a full and gracious pardon of all my offences whatsoeuer Thou canst not O Lord but be highly displesed when wormes of the earth dust and ashes rottennesse and corruption hauing without any desert at all beene adorned with thy gifts and enlightened with thy graces shall presume of thy fauour so farre as vngraciously and vngratefully instead of thankes and prayses to returne contempts and dishonours to thy diuine Maiesty But on the other side thou canst in no wise endure that the most wretched caitiffe the most shamefull and wilfull sinner that Satan can furnish out of hell should despaire of thine endlesse and bottomelesse mercy wherein aboue all other things thou dost so much delight and glory which doth so farre surmount thy iustice as thou dost continually wooe inuite thy greatest enemies to the participation thereof O Lord being a sinner as Dauid was I cannot but pray for mercy as he did and because I haue grieuosly sinned pray for great mercy and because I haue many times and many waies multiplied my sins so as they are growne to a number numberlesses pray for a multitude of thy tender mercies that the whole debt-booke wherein my sinnes are registred may be quite crossed and defaced I must begge againe and againe that thou wilt wash me againe againe wash mee thorowly from the pollution and filth of my sinne Giue me grace O Lord to see my sinnes fully to confesse them freely intirely to giue thee the glory to take the shame to my selfe deseruedly Giue me leaue to lay open my festred wounds and lothsome sores to thy viewe in abasement and humiliation to stirre thy bowels of tender commiseration Make me to loue in my selfe what thou louest inme to wit truth and sincerity of heart accept O Lord my honest study and faithfull indeuour for true and full performance Let me solace my soule in the conscience of my vnfained sorrow for my sins past and my true though weake desires to serue thee better in time to come for which purpose enable me with wisedome teach me the art of godlinesse and the mysteries thereof in my hidden parts And because the Leprosie of sin hath infected mee from top to toe temper and prepare for mee a powerfull purgation with those ingredients which are of strongest operation that is without shadowes or figures the bloud of that Immaculate Lambe slayne from the beginning of the world applied by a liuely faith to my diseased soule Be pleased to bathe my vgly soule in thy Lauer of Iustification till I become white and bright in thy pure and piercing eyes Let mee when I am confounded in my selfe and cast downe into the Dungeon of Sorrow through the sight of my sinnes yet hopefully and zealously seeke ioy and comfort in thee and thy saluation Let mee so place my sinnes before mine owne sorrowfull face that thou mayest hide thy face at least thine angry face from them or rather so quite deface them that they may 〈◊〉 be to be seene hereafter that they may 〈◊〉 rise vp in iudgement either to shame me in this or condemne me in the next world And because my iustification which consists in thy free remission of my sinnes cannot subsist without sanctification and holinesse of conuersation as the light of that Lampe and heate of that fire And because it is impossible to draw a cleane out of an vncleane thing I beseech thee Lord to worke a wonder on me that is to create a cleane heart within mee Purge the fountain and then the streames which 〈◊〉 from it in my thoughts words and actions will be clearer and purer Giue mee a 〈◊〉 spirit that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carry my selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thee and for 〈◊〉 this spirit 〈◊〉 becomes decayed and distorted by the peruersnesse of my nature and obliquity of my transgressions vouchsafe to renew it in me from time to time by a continuall supply of thy heauenly grace Although I haue many wayes and times deserued thy iust indignatiō yet for thy mercies sake abandon me not from thy presence banish mee not from thy Courts let me behold thy face though ouerclouded with a storme of displeasure Although I haue grieued yea and despighted thy good spirit when it endeauoured my reformation direction and consolation yet I beseech thee not to take it vtterly from me let not that holy fire though raked vp vnder the ashes of my sins bee quite extinguished When thou doest for my sinnes bereaue mee of the comfortable confidence I found in the assurance of thy saluation giue mee leaue to claime still mine interest in it euen when I tremble and quake at thy iudgements and thereby to craue a restitution of that tranquility of minde and peace of conscience which I formerly enioyed with contentment make mee by the want rightly to value the worth of so great a fauour then which
the Third part of the Christian Warfare which gaue the first ouerture to our accquaintance and begat sundry conferences betweene vs sithence to my no small comfort as I doe in all thankefulnesse professe Whether it shall dye in your hands vpon your priuate perusall or liue a while and so passe further through the hands of others I leaue wholy to your discretion You shall beare the blame on the one side howsoeuer you bee like to receiue small thankes on the other The God of all consolation returne with interest into your owne bosome those comsorts which you so freely and plentifully haue imparted vnto other Yours in true Christian affection I. B. THE PSALME OF MERCY OR A MEDITATION vpon the 51. Psalme by a true Penitent To the chiefe Musician A Psalme of Dauid when Nathan the Prophet came vnto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba THE ARGVMENT AFter that Dauid in many successefull battailes was become a Conqueror and had defeated and destroyed the Syrians and Mesopotamians who came to succor the Ammonites his Opposites hauing now no enemy abroad of any account to encounter withall he was surprized by his dangerous enemy at home and taken prisoner by Securitie he grew by Plenty and Prosperity as it commonly fares with men in such case forgetfull of his former miseries and God his singular mercies and was captiuated wholy by his lustfull desires and sinfull concupiscence For not contented to take by stealth Vriah his wife from him in his absence while hee was imployed in his seruice but which is the nature of sinne still to increase and multiply to his foule Adultery hee added cruell Murther giuing order to his trusty Commaunder Ioab to marshall him in the front and poynt of those Israelites who did assaile the Suburbs of Rabbah when there was no possibility at least no probability of preuailing and which could not but bee more displeasing to God was wittingly contented that many other his best seruants and soldiers vnder Vriah his command should perish with Vriah for company to cloake and disguise his particular wicked designe against him To omit his practice in calling Vriah from the Warres and sending him home both sober and drunke though he went not at all to couer the shame and shadow the sin which Dauid had committed she being then with child by him no sooner was Vriah slaine but hee married the widdow whom being a wife hee had defiled and so securely enioyed the forbidden fruite of his filthy pleasure and mischieuous Policie till Nathan the Prophet was specially sent as an Herald to summon and challenge checke and reprooue him for these manifold defections and manifest rebellions against God Now the time of Nathan his comming to Dauid is purposely recorded to shew that Dauid was in a kind of Lethargy for about a yeeres space as it is collected by the story which is a strange and remarkable thing that so great a person so endued with God his excellent Spirit could sleepe and snort in the bed of security as if he had beene quite bereaued of the sence and life of Piety and out of his wits as it were for so large a time For who would not thinke and say he was bewitched by Satan benummed with the spirit of slumber growne if not obstinately contemptuous yet retchlesly careles of God his Iudgements Which circumstance as it doth much aggrauate his fault that hee felt not true remorce of conscience till the Prophet Nathan came to rowze and raise him so doth it exceedingly amplify the mercy and goodnesse of God who when ordinary meanes of Prayer reading and meditating of Gods Word could not worke and preuaile with him for who can imagine that such a person could altogether in that time want such helpes addressed an extraordinary Ambassador euen one of his Prophets a Prophet to a Prophet a Phisicion to a Phisicion but to a sicke Phisicion who could not cure himselfe to handle and search his wounds to touch him to the quick and so to reduce him to a sound and sincere repentance Now who on the one side doth not tremble and quake to thinke of this fearefull example that so holy a Prophet so worthy a King could after so foule a fall lye so long in this dyrt and myre and bee so ouerwhelmed with such a beastly and sencelesse sluggishnesse On the other part whose heart is not rauished with delight and euen resolued into teares of ioy and comfort to behold such a mirrour of Gods mercy in Dauid after hee had plunged himselfe into so many and manifold great and grieuous sinnes as were folded vp in those capitall crimes of Adultery and Murther that hee should yet finde grace to rise againe by Repentance obtaine pardon of all his sinnes and be restored and reintegrated into God his speciall loue and fauour So then the Title tells both the tyme and occasion of composing this Psalme which doth passionately declare and liuely expresse Dauid his humiliation sorrow and discontentment for the offences he had done and publish and record to posterity a forme and Modell as it were of penitent prayer to be vsed by Sorrowfull Sinners in all succeeding ages This excellent Ditty of the sweet Singer of 〈◊〉 was as the Title purports recommended to him that excelled to wit the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 Chanter to be 〈◊〉 into a note 〈◊〉 tune fit for it and to bee played vpon an Instrument of Musike called Neginoth that the Art 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might 〈◊〉 as all other humane arts ought to bee accessary and seruiceable to the aduancement of diuine glory For the fashion was in those times to sing such Hymnes artificially set and tuned to some Instrument in the publike Assemblies that by the melody of the eare the Iubilation of the heart might be enlarged THE ANALYSIS or Resolution of the Psalme THis is a penitentiall Psalme and the chiefe of the penitentials in common account a liuely mirror of a true penitent and a zealous prayer of a mournefull soule oppressed with the weight and perplexed with the sight of sinne The prayer is either Speciall for himselfe such are all the petitions to the 18. verse Generall for the whole Church in the 18. verse and so to the end As repentance hath two parts To lament and 〈◊〉 sins past To preuent and auoide sin to come So the petitions of the Psalme are either for Iustification by pardon of sinnes committed to the 10. verse Sanctification by future holinesse in the rest But the 〈◊〉 doth not exactly pursue this method but rather the order of his own iudgement often iterating and varying his petition for one the same thing by the Metaphors of washing cleansing purging blotting out and doing away his sins and in the middest of his prayer for sanctification abruptly and passionately interlacing his sute for pardon of his crying crime of Murder O Miserable wretch that I am what shall I say What shall I doe Which way shall I turne To
distressed soule Wash mee wash mee againe and againe or wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse mee from my sinne As my sinnes being in nature of debts are registred in thy book and set vpon thy score so like spots and staynes they blemish and deface the Image of thy diuine nature ingrauen in my soule at the Creation of it in such sort as thou canst hardly discerne it to be thy workemanship and therefore I intreate thee to wash me often and throughly that I may appeare cleane and holy in thy pure and piercing eyes There is nothing so pure O Lord as thou art in thy diuine nature nothing so foule as I am by naturall and actuall corruption Wherefore I thinke nothing too much to bring the most defiled thing on earth to the 〈◊〉 Essence in heauen and that makes me to beg againe and againe that thou wilt wash me againe and againe Sinne is filthy to thinke of more filthy to speake and heare of most filthy to act and commit there is nothing in it or any part or passage of it but vilenesse basenesse and filthinesse All the washings in thy Leuiticall Law were types and figures of this Spirituall washing in the blood of the Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world Wash me O Lord with the water of thy grace with that water whereof whoso drinketh shall neuer thirst wash mee with the water of mine owne teares with the water of thy Word with the water of thy Sacraments I know O Lord that vnlesse thou wash mee I can haue no part or portion in the. e Wherefore I beseech thee to wash not my feete onely but my head also and all the parts and members of my body yea to rince and scowre my soule and all the powers and faculties thereof that I may present both soule and body an holy and acceptable sacrifice vnto thee It is thy blessed busines O Christ to 〈◊〉 me in this worlde that thou maist render me spotlesse to thy Father in another world I sinne daily and therefore had neede of daily washing I sinne continually and therfore had 〈◊〉 of continuall washing for the word including a multiplication of washing doth imply a multiplication of sinning For if my soule lothing the filth and mire wherewith shee hath soiled her selfe euen to vglinesse take a course by the teares of contrition for the cleane washing of her face how soone doth the old dirt of sinne spurt into her visage againe So that the businesse of the soule in this life if it be a life of repentance is neuer at an end being indeed nothing else but the washing of that which is foule and the fouling of that which was washed There be as it is reported in the story of nature certain flying fishes whose wings by flying waxe dry and being dry lose their flying so as they must euer and anon returne to the Sea by the moisture thereof to enable their flight againe Euen so my soule washed in the lauer of regeneration and mounting vp towards heauen through this wicked world her wings euen her best purposes cogitations and conceptions easily grow dry by the contagion of earthly conuersation vnlesse they bee often bathed and moistened in the waters of repentance to carry her thorow to her iournies end So then my case and condition is such as in regard of many sports howerly falling and deepely staining my ill fauoured and disfigured Soule 〈◊〉 haue iust cause to pray earnestly that I may bee both often and throughly washed and by thee who canst alone make me cleane and clense me from my sinnes As I haue a great debt to be discharged much filthinesse to bee washed so haue I a loathsome Leprosie of sinne to be clensed wherefore I pray thee O Lord to clense mee from from my sinnes This Leprosie and the cure of it were shadowed out and figured also by sundry purgations clensings in thy Leuiticall law all poynting to that blood of the Lambe whereby my sinnes are purged The Leprosie as Physiicans tell vs is an hereditary disease descending from the Father to the Child An ignominious and odious disease banishing the Leper from all company a contagious disease spreading from man to man 〈◊〉 then the Plague a dull and stupid disease that makes him insensible altogether and a dangerous or rather desperate disease 〈◊〉 or not at all to be cured In all which 〈◊〉 sinne may fitly bee resembled to a 〈◊〉 for sinne comes by propagation from our first Parents to all their posterity It separates vs from thy presence from the company of thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Angels and all good men It infecteth others and poyloneth not onely with the breath but with the sight of it too It benums vs so as wee feele not thy fearefull iudgements It is vtterly incurable otherwise then by the blood of the Lambe It hath been obserued that the teares of a Vine when it bleedes are a very good medicine for curing of the bodily Leprosie 〈◊〉 so the teares of the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lies lowe as doth 〈◊〉 Vine that 〈◊〉 and mournes in humility for sinne auaile much to 〈◊〉 clensing of this Leprosie of the soule My sinne as a Leprosie doth ouerspread both my soule and body from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foote from the highest faculty of my vnderstanding to the lowest affection of my will there is no sound part in mee my disease is growne to the height to full ripenesse or rather foule rottennesse it hath put out the scabbe as they say by enormious and scandalous actions Wherefore I beseech thee who art the prime and soueraigne Physician to looke vpon me with the eye of pitty and to clense and cure mee of my Leprous sinne and sinfull Leprosie 2. I know mine owne wickednesse and my sinne is euer before me or my sinne is euer against me BEfore the Prophet Nathan was sent as a speciall Bailife to summon me by a writ ad meliùs inquirendum I cast mine eye carelesly I did not fixe it fully I looked slightly and superficially as in passage not sadly and mournefully vpon my grieuous sins I did not behold them so seriously as I ought to haue done I saw but the Epitome or grosse summe of them I did not viewe them in the large volume written at length or rathere painted out as now they are in their true shapes and colours Euery man by the light of nature must needs see somewhat of this kinde in the glasse of his owne conscience but through the corruption of nature no man is willing to take a perfect suruay and make a full portraiture of his own transgressions There is in man an affected ignorance and blindnesse in this behalfe and who so blinde as he that will not see who so ignorant as hee that will not know As wee put off the euill day so long as we can so we put by the euill obiect so farre as wee may
from our sence and sight I knew I had offended but I knew not that I had so highly offended I thought thou diddest see my sinnes but I did little thinke that thou haddest taken such speciall and exact notice of them as to send an Herald or extraordinary Ambassadour of purpose to challenge and reproue me for them and to rowze me out of my sound sleepe and snorting security in them It was thy great mercy O God to send a Prophet to check admonish and correct mee and it is of thy gracious goodnesse that crosses which are thy Messengers for that purpose afflictions of body or mind outward or inward one or other are ordinarily laid vpon thy children to make them know themselues and by knowing themselues to know thee and by knowing to loue thee and by louing thee to bee beloued of thee This is that golden chaine euery linke whereof is fastened within another whereby a man is tyed and nexed to thee this is that Ladder of Iacob by which thou descendest to him and hee ascends to thee None is so dangerously sicke as hee that doth not finde and feele himselfe to be sicke I know mine own maladies and therefore resort to thee the great Physicion to be eased and cured therof It is in vaine to seeke health and helpe vnlesse I lay open my wounds and discouer the malignity of my disease which is morbus complicatus as the Physicions terme it not a simple or single but a compound disease wherein many diseases are folded and wrapped together so as if there be not extraordinary care taken to apply somewhat to each ill affected part respectiuely I may soone come ad diliquium animae to the fainting and failing of my spirituall life I know my sinnes in the plurall number which albeit they flowed from one and the same fountaine yet ranne they into diuers streames for as much as to my adultery I added both trechery and murder neither did I betray and expose to slaughter one man alone or a few persons but a whole band and troope of men fighting in mine owne quarrell and in defence of thy Church Wherefore it is not without cause that in one grosse body of sinne I represent vnto my selfe many seuerall branches and kindes of sinne by multiplication and seuer it into sundry parts by diuision He that knowes his sin knowes himselfe which the Heathens held to be a diuine lesson and most profitable instruction For what can hee vnderstand that knowes himselfe but that the imaginations of his heart the words of his mouth the workes of his hands are euill onely and wicked continually On the other part he is not a sinner onely that is one that hath sinne in him and somewhat also besides sinne but hee is a great lumpe and intire masse of sinne nothing but sinne that doth not know himselfe to bee a sinner and that hee hath committed many and manifold sinnes Hee that knowes himselfe and his sinnes cannot but displease himselfe and thereby please thee as also he that neither knows himselfe nor his sins may haply please himselfe but he cannot possibly but displease thee Hee knowes his owne sinne as is fitting who is sorry for it and displeased with it he that is readie to abide Gods chastisement and mans reprofe for his amendmēt he that resolues for the time comming to auoid sin and all occasions of sinning who seriously considers what the malignity of sin is of what good things it bereaues him to what penalties it makes him liable how venemous 〈◊〉 poison of it is at home how contagious the example of it is abroade Thou hast giuen me O Lord the knowledge of thy Law and by the knowledge of thy Law the knowledge of my sinne For that which is right and straight doth both shew it selfe and that which is crooked also But if thy written Law were silent and dumbe and did conceale it selfe or my sinnes from me yet thy vnwritten Law grauen in euery mans heart both Iew and Gentile doth accuse me so oft as I transgresse the limits thereof and leaue me without excuse Mine owne conscience cryes alowde and layes wide open before mine eyes the Booke wherein my enormous sinnes are 〈◊〉 in capitall Characters so that I may runne and read them It stands Centinell in the watch-towre of my soule and doth keepe me waking when my sence or sensuality would faine be sleeping it doth restlesly rayse and rowze my dull and dead spirits out of the deepe dungeon and spirituall Lethargie of carnall security The true fence and full knowledge of my sinnes makes me so anxious and ardent in begging pardon because I cannot rest till I haue made my peace and wrought my reconciliation with thee The extremity of my danger and distresse doth cause mee incessantly to importune thee for reliefe and remedy and my strong hope is that this force will not be displeasing to thy tender mercy My sinne is euer before me I doe not onely know and vnderstand my sinnes and there leaue the matter I doe not vpon a bare enumeration and cogitation of them cast them carelesly behind my back but I muster them before my conscience daily I behold them as in a Table set before mine eyes continually that vpon sight of the vglines of them I may be humbled and cast downe of the terror and horror of them I may tremble and quake for feare of the basenesse and filthinesse of them I may loath them my selfe for them For sinnes committed being truly felt and liuely represented to the conscience like furies or ghosts of hell fright their beholders away with their vgly shapes deformed forms Sinne is of that ill nature and condition that it will cast him that hath done it in the teeth as they say it will lye vpon the conscience as vnsauory oyle floates vpon the stomacke it will neither bee disgorged nor digested Thou toldest Cain If thou dost euill sin lies at the dore it is restles it will not be stil it wil not keep house it wil not hide it selfe in a corner of the heart it will lye in the way so as thou canst neither come in nor goe forth but thou must needs stumble vpon it A sinner is fitly resembled to a dreamer not only because the pleasure of sinne doth quickly and lightly vanish away like a shadow or dreame but also because the shapes and formes of his day-sinnes doe represent themselues to him in the night the pleasurable actions thereof for the time doe beget hideous apparitions afterwards On the other part a sinners conscience is like a graue that casts vp the earth againe as fast as hee casteth it in It is a graue euer open though hee cloze it neuer so often It is reported of the Indian Bracmanni that to the end they might still be occasioned to thinke of their end they kept their graues ready digged and alwaies open before their
shalt bee found iust and pure and it is my part as to beleeue there is equity and iustice in all thy proceedings 〈◊〉 sometimes through my blindnesse I cannot sometimes through my 〈◊〉 I will not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so euen when 〈◊〉 doe most bitterly smart to bridle my vnruly passions and with a calme and subdued heart to kisse the rod wherewith I haue been scourged and to indeuour by all meanes that thy righteousnesse as it is indeed so it may shine cleere and bright to the face of all the world Behold I was borne in iniquitie and in sinne hath my mother conceiued me Vpon the straight inquisition and exact suruay of my selfe and my sinnes searching and ransacking euery corner of my house of clay I haue found a noysome sincke and filthy puddle or rather a poysoned and poysonous spring a paternall or a parentall sinne an hereditary a radicall and originall sinne whence all the sinnes of my thoughts words and deedes are continually and plentifully deriued This is that canker of sin which being bred in the bone will neuer out of the flesh This is the law of my members which doth alwaies resist the Law of my minde the euerliuing seed of rebellion which maintaines the implacable warre betweene the flesh and the Spirit which will neuer 〈◊〉 till mortality hath put on immortality and death the last enemy be swallowed vp in victory This is peccatum peccans a sinning or a spurning sinne It is a sinne a punishment of sinne and a cause of sinne Which yet I do not alleadge to excuse or extenuate but rather to accuse my selfe and aggrauate my sinne knowing right well that the viler I am in mine owne the more acceptable I shall bee in thy sight and hoping that the franke confession of my miserable condition proceeding from true humiliation and contrition will the rather moue thy tender compassion as beggers vpō earth to stir the bowels of pitty in their beholders lay open to their view their grieuous sores and lothsome diseases The greater misery is the fitter obiect of thy greater mercy the more desperate the malady the more honourable will the cure bee to the Phisician Where my sinne abounds thy grace delighteth to superabound For the onely and singuler sinne of Adam as of him that bare the person of all his posterity is iustly the sinne of the whole posterity and all being guilty of sinne by his singuler sinfull act thou O God in thy Iustice diddest permit the naturall propagation of sinne in his off-spring which deserued such a punishment for such a sinne Hereupon it commeth that my inbred corruption and the inherent sting of sensuality in mee who sinned in Adams as Leui tithed in Abrahams loynes is not the first cause of my guilt but a fruite or reward thereof according to thy iust iudgment whence it may well bee termed the penalty of sinne For that prime sin the chiefe source of sinne which the further it runneth the faster it increaseth by this streame falling into it growes in the end to such a strong and forcible current as doth euen carry and compell me violently to sinne if thy grace do not resist the 〈◊〉 thereof because hence doe flow my sinfull passions my euill affections my sinister inclinations and from them my sinnes of action or omission which are sins of action also in their full perfection or imperfection rather which I daily or rather hourely and continually commit In which regard my woe arising from mine owne wickednesse my case is most deplorable euery way Wherefore I beseech thee with the eyes of pitty and mercy to behold it I was conceiued in sinne And therefore there is no sinne that I am not apt and ready to conceiue yea to engender and produce from imagination to assent from assent to delectation from delectation to resolution from resolution to execution if thou O Lord doe not beget me anew by the immortall seed of thy Word if thou doe not quell and extinguish in me this old seede which will alwaies be springing and sprouting in the ranke soyle of my sinfull flesh When my mother first warmed me in her bowels shee conceiued sinne when she brought me forth into the world she was deliuered of a child of sinne The child in the mothers wombe is held to be a part of the mother and vndoubtedly the mother hath a great share in the Child before shee depart with it besides her nature and substance shee imparts vnto it her qualities inclinations and dispositions being as it were a scion takē from her tree and a collop cut out of her flesh That which is borne of flesh is flesh and therefore holy 〈◊〉 asketh this vnanswerable question Who shall appeare cleane before thee or Who 〈◊〉 bring a cleane thing out of an 〈◊〉 Not onely actuall 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 and naturall not the second motions of it onely put into forme but the first that are vnshapen doe plot and contriue the treason are authors if not actors of it they bring fewel to the fire which afterwards is kindled and set a burning that fomentation of sinne is not onely the cause of sinne and the punishment of sinne but sinne it selfe This is that threefold cord euery part and piece whereof is sinfull that bindes me fast to the barre of thy iustice First Adam his primitiue sinne then the diriuation of sinne to all his posterity and afterwards the particular actions of sinne proceeding from them both Now if I were a sinner in my mothers wombe when and where shall I be faultlesse If I were so bad before I saw the light how should I not be much worse when through the corruption of the world and the contagion of sin I haue sucked in the infectious aire thereof How can it bee but that my inbred naughtinesse must needes gaine strength and gather increase And what can the progresse and end bee when the beginning of my life is so 〈◊〉 and sinfull If I bee cast out of my mothers wombe into the roade-way of sinne and trauell the iourney of sin still onward let mee but recount the vanity of 〈◊〉 childhood the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my youth the slips or rather falls of my 〈◊〉 age the infirmities of my old age and I shall 〈◊〉 finde that from my 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 to my death and 〈◊〉 I trod the way not of life but of sinne 5. 〈◊〉 I was conceiued in sinne 6. Behold thou louest Truth c. IN these two Ecce's which are happily sorted together I desire to intimate two remarkeable things The one is the misery of my wretched condition The other the largenesse of thy tender affection The first Ecce is on thy part Behold O Lord my conception and birth in sinne behold mee drowned and ouerwhelmed in a sea of sin The other Ecce is on my part I behold in thee O Lord a fire of loue because thou louest the least sparkles of grace in mee which mounting vpwards make me
I cannot but it erate my earnest Petition and re-enforce my humble Prayer to bee purged thereof and for the fitter application and better operation of the purgation to bee purged with Hysope Thou O Lord didst appoint Hysope to be vsed in thy Law for diuers purposes In the institution of the Passeouer the blood of the Lambe was appointed to bee sprinkled vpon the doore cheekes with a bunch of Hysope and with a Scarlet lace In the purgation of the Leper the bunch of Hysope was to bee dipped in the blood of the Sparrow In the burning of the red Heifer which was to bee chosen without spot or wrinckle the Priest was to put in Hysope besides Cedar wood and Scarlet By the blood of the Lambe the Sparrow and the red Heifer the blood of that immaculate Lambe was vndoubtedly prefigured and represented By the bunch of Hysope the besprinkling of the soule with that blood and the applying of it thereunto by faith by the red or crimson lace the vnion and communion of thy Saints was shaddowed who are tyed together by a True-loues knot and sprinkled with that same blood for the remission of their sinnes Whiles I suruey the vertues and qualities of this herbe to vnfold this riddle of thy Law I may iustly take occasion as to magnifie thy goodnesse O God who hast prouided so powerfull a medicine to cure all mans corruptions so to obserue thy wisedome who for our better apprehension hast so fitted the signe and figure to the thing signified and represented thereby Hysope whence I borrow this Allegory hath many things whereby it doth aptly and neerly resemble Christ. It is obscure base and low the Hysope as the lowest herbe is opposed to the Cedar as the tallest tree In the person of Christ I haue said I am a worme and no man the reproach of men and despised of the people all they that see me doe scoffe at me they 〈◊〉 a mowe with the lip and they wagge the head Hysope growes of it selfe among stones not planted by man Christ was hewne out of the Rocke without hands Hysope is bitter and sowre vnpleasing to the taste so Christ his Crosse by which we are crucified to the world the world vnto vs is harsh and vnsauourie to flesh and blood Though Hysope bee sowre it is wholesome for the body The bitter medicines are euer the better so the Recipe of repentance albeit odious to the flesh is most profitable to the soule The doctrine which is seasoned with salt and Hysope is fitter for vs then that which is sweetened with honey For on the one side honey was neuer appointed to be vsed in any sacrifice on the other side not any sacrifice but was to bee seasoned with salt Hysope as Physicians tell is powerfull to purge the lungs The humility of Christ like Hysope doth purge our pride which floteth in the lungs and is discouered by the fuming puffing and blowing thereof Hysope being hot in operation doth cut and extenuate the grosse and flegmaticke humours of the body So true grace takes away all the dulnesse and drowzinesse of my Spirit makes me feruent in prayers and zealous in holy duties Hysope euacuateth the body nourisheth the natiue colour cureth the biting of Serpents prouoketh the appetite sharpeneth the sight warmeth the blood cooleth Feauers So grace purgeth by contrition spitteth foorth by confession warmeth by charitie seasoneth by temperance quencheth the fiery inflamations of vnruly passions maketh vs hungry after righteousnesse quicke-sighted to discerne our own errours and faults yeeldeth remedies against the stings of concupiscence restores againe that spirituall vigour which we daily lose by our manifold transgressions Hysope hath many vertues and properties if well vsed for the health of our bodies But that which is shaddowed by it towit the bloud of Christ cures all the diseases of the soule and clenseth vs from all our sinnes With Hysope this blood is sprinkled vpon vs that is by faith it is applied to our consciences to purge and purifie them from dead workes 7 Wash me O Lord and I shall be whiter then snow BEcause I finde my selfe so spotted with the staines so polluted with the dirt and drosse of my sinne so soone soyled againe after my washing euen in the teares of repentance so prone with the Dog to returne to my vomit with the Hog to the myre wherein I formerly wallowed therefore I harpe still vpon this string which I touched before I doe iterate this Petition also and cry againe Wash me c. If thou Lord bee pleased to wash mee often and thorowly I shall not onely be freed from the foule blacknesse which my grieuous sinnes haue cast vpon mee but I shall become neate faire and white yea whiter then snow If I wash my selfe with snow water saith holy Iob and make my hands neuer so cleane yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch or myre that is thou shalt discouer an vncleannes in me which was not perceiued before and mine own clothes shall abhorre me But if thou Lord bee pleased to wash me I shall be whiter then snow that is I shall abandon all euill affections and preserue my heart pure and holy consecrating all the faculties of my soule and members of my body to thy true and sincere seruice Can the Blackamore change his skinne or the Leopard quit his spots If that cannot be yet thou O Lord canst so wash me that I shall be whiter then snow That which is impossible by nature is possible and factible by grace That foulenesse which is propagated to mee by discent and bred in me by naturall generation as also nourished and increased by continual actuall transgression is not only remooued but quite changed by free iustification and supernaturall regeneration If my sinnes bee as red as skarlet thou canst make them as white as wooll if they bee like crimson thou canst make them whiter then snow O wonderfull mysterie O incomprehensible miracle that blood should make me white that the washing and bathing of my soule in the blood of that immaculate Lambe should make wee whiter then snow that euen the garments of thy Saints by washing in this blood should become white which yet shall bee reuealed to and wrought vpon thy Saints I shall bee white heere by grace yea whiter then snow I shall bee bright heereafter in glory brighter then the starres yea then the Sunne in the firmament grace heere shall be the beginning of glory there and glory there shall bee the complement and perfection of grace here This is arcanum 〈◊〉 diuini a secret of thy Diuine state and gouernement which thou shalt I am hopefull thou wilt not onely teach by infallible demonstration but also worke by thy blessed Spirit his powerfull operation in the secrets of my heart The cause of the snow his whitenesse is held by Philosophers to bee the store of ayre shut vp by the
extremity of cold in the cleere water that distilleth from the cloudes Thy celestiall ayre and light which surpasseth all bodily and naturall whitenesse being gathered into my soule when it is melting into the teares of repentance makes it cleere and bright euen to admiration Christ by washing my soule hath taken my spots out of mee vpon himselfe hee himselfe remaines all 〈◊〉 and stained with my sinnes insomuch that the Spouse is amazed at it and wondring demands Wherfore doest thou weare garments all spotted and dyed with blood like vnto them that stampe grapes in the wine-presse Thy seruant Moses out of his kinde and vndeserued loue tooke an Aethiopian woman to his wife No wife is deformed in her owne husbands eyes if he be such a husband as he ought to be The mysticall Moses who in loue hath married himselfe vnto his Spouse the Church not onely blacke and deformed but vgly and filthy in her selfe hath by his gracious election of her though neither by her beauty nor manners recommended vnto him made her because he so esteemeth her faire comely and graceful he hath changed her color and complection yea and her nature and condition too so as she sticks not to say I was black by nature but I am faire by grace Can that which is blacke as Pitch or Ebeny become perfectly white and whiter then snow yes verily for my state by adoption and regeneration in Christ is of more perfection then Adam his happiest condition in Paradise This might and did faile that can neuer alter or decay but abides firme and sure to all eternity Blacke by the art of man can take no other hue nor can this whitenes by the fraud or force of the prince of darkenesse be euer either darkned or defaced Snow is white without and within on euery side Thy Grace will make mee not like a painted sepulcher faire without and foule within not hypocritically specious but really sound and sincere and the beauty of the soule thus washed will infinitely exceede the whitenesse of any body yea euen of snow it selfe Make mee to heare of 〈◊〉 and gladnesse c. O Lord I beg of thee the whole tree of life growing by the riuer side in the Garden of Eden whose roote is iustification by remission of my sinnes and whose fruite is true ioy and consolation in thy gracious fauour There may bee a roote without a stocke as when a Tree is hewne downe a stocke without 〈◊〉 as in the winter season but nor fruite nor stocke where no roote is The forgiuenesse of my sinne is the root of all my ioy O Lord giue me the fruite of that roote and that will assure me of the roote of that fruite Vnlesse thou make me I cannot heare Vnlesse thou open mine eare the voice of gladnesse will not enter or if it goe in at the one it will go out at the other eare I shall be neuer the better for hearing Thou must not only tel me the tale but finde me eares also thou must not onely present the obiect but enable my faculty also to perceiue or receiue it The Adder or Cockatrice is as some say naturally as some others cunningly deafe laying the one eare close to that ground stopping the other with his tayle purposely to preuent the skill of the Charmer who seekes to enchant him in such sort as he shall not be able either to bite or sting So man in his pure or rather impure naturals is either sencelesly deafe and cannot or voluntarily deafe and will not heare any voice that tends to the spirituall solace of his soule no not the sound of sound ioy not the melodious noise of true gladnesse vnlesse thou that sendest the tidings of Grace doe giue him the grace also to entertaine those tidings Now what is the end and indeuor either of this corruption by nature or peruersenesse by will but that none of thy words or spels O God none of thy holy Spirit his motions or inclinations may haue power wickednesse being so powerfull to charme or inchant me but that I may still bite and sting still hurt and annoy both my selfe and others I desire ioy and gladnesse doubled that is both of soule and body and I cannot rest contented with one or two or a few comforts I seeke to haue them multiplied that as my tribulations were increased so in like proportion my consolations may be inlarged and I terme this ioy and gladnesse indefinitely because this is the onely solid ioy and true gladnesse All other ioyes are but toyes like false fires and counterfet 〈◊〉 such as deserue not the name of ioyes at all I beseech thee O Lord not onely to blot out my transgressions and to take away the guilt of my sins but for the raising of my deiected the relieuing of my distressed soule to let me know so much also let me heare this ioyfull Word in the eare of my heart from thine owne mouth by thine holy breath and Spirit Thy sins are forgiuen thee Not onely bee vnto me a Sauiour but say vnto my soule I am thy saluation For I may stand pardoned and iustified in thy gracious 〈◊〉 and certaine resolution and yet not know so much and not knowing it how can I be but grieuously perplexed fearefully distracted in my conscious distrustfull cogitations Wherefore O Lord let thy Spirit certifie my spirit that All is peace Let my soule sensibly feele though it cannot fully conceiue this peace which passeth all vnderstanding To a Prisoner conuicted and condemned for high treason to cruell death and euery houre expecting execution according to course of Iustice what greater ioy can there bee then to heare of a gracious and free pardon of all his offences from his Soueraigne This is the true character of my selfe and euery other sinner in respect of our spirituall condition Wee were damned before wee were borne in sinne since our birth wee haue liued in sinne we haue multiplied sinne vpon sinne wee haue drunke vp iniquity as a fish drinketh vp water wee haue committed sundry hainous and horrible treasons against thy diuine 〈◊〉 to say nothing of other capitall crimes wee haue after all this wilfully drawne downe thine indignation and called for thine eternall vengeance vpon vs In this deplorable and euen desperate case what more welcome tydings then to heare of this Iubile Sinne doth not onely bring me into a dull slumber but euen into a dead sleepe also In sleepe all my sences are bound vp as it were in chaines when I am fast asleepe I heare nothing at all Wherefore awake me O Lord and make me to heare Make mee to heare thy Word the conduit of comfort openly taught with such diligence and deuotion as is meete make mee to heare the secret whisperings of thy blessed Spirit with such reuerence and obedience as is requisite make me so to heare as I may beleeue faith commeth by hearing with thy blessing
creature which thy hands haue made and fashioned looke vpon thine owne Image which thou hast stamped vpon me looke not vpon my sinnes which haue blemished and disfigured my soule which haue almost quite defaced that thine Image and in stead thereof haue placed the very portraicture of Satan Although custome of sinning haue made my sin another nature in me although I be so compassed with infirmities so inclosed in my corruptions as they may seeme to be incorporated in me and become my very substance yet thou O Lord canst distinguish between the 〈◊〉 and the rust between thine owne and Satans worke between man and a sinner Thou canst looke on that which thou hast made and look off that which I haue marred with one and the same Eye of pitie and mercie When thou seekest a sinner thou 〈◊〉 the man and not his sinne that thou mayest despise the sin which is mans worke and not lose the man which is thy worke Hee that loseth a precious Iewell seeketh it in all the sluts corners and stickketh not to rake the kennell and stirre the dunghill to finde it The Iudge when he will pardon lookes vpon the man not vpon his fault the father when he is disposed to pitty his child thinkes vpon his owne affection and not vpon his sonnes transgression Euen so O Lord thou art mindfull of thine owne worke that thou mayest forget the worke of another thou turnest thy face to the tone that thou mayest hide thy face from the tother O Lord at least hide thine angry face from me I cannot deny but that I neede correction and am not therefore altogether vnwilling to beare it if thou holdest it meete Correct me but not in thy fury chastize me but not in thy displeasure let mine afflictions be instructions not destructions rather medicines then punishments castigations not condemnations Let them be the wounds of a louer Let me perceiue thy grace euen when thou doest seeme to frowne vpon me let me discerne the sweete sunshine of thy mercy thorow the thickest cloudes of thy fiercest wrath I will follow the way which thou hast taught me I will set my sinnes before mine owne face that thou mayest hide thy face from them I will remember that thou maiest forget them I will confesse that thou mayest forgiue them I am much ashamed and agreeued to see mine own sinnes I am much more ashamed and agreeued that thou with thy pure eyes and bright face shouldest behold the fowlenesse and filthines the folly and madnesse the absurdity and grossenesse of them Yet O Lord let mee behold my sinnes alwaies so as thou wilt be pleased to hide thy face from them altogether Thou canst but thou doest not alwaies because thou wilt not sometimes in fauour see the faults 〈◊〉 thy people Thou diddest not because thou wouldest not see iniquity in Jacob nor peruersenesse in Israel If thou canst not in Iustice but looke towards my sinnes yet I beseech thee in mercy to suffer the Blood of thine Immaculate Lambe to interuene betweene thy glorious face and my lothsome corruptions Let that spectacle either diuert or restraine thy sight and hinder the representation of the vgly shapes of my faults to thy pure and perceiuing eyes Looke vpon that precious obiect first and there stay and terminate thy sight or at least looke through it as men looke through a coloured glasse that the foule obiect may appeare in the colour of the glasse and not in his owne colours Let the robe of the Lambes innocency couer the shamefull nakednesse of my vnrighteousnesse so as it may be hidden from thy angry face and fearefull countenance Blot out all my transgressions When a man feeles his soule laden with the burden and his 〈◊〉 affrighted with the apparition of some one or two grieuous offences lately done hee begs earnestly for pardon of those sinnes in particular or 〈◊〉 his sinnes indefinitely 〈◊〉 falls not at the first into computation or consideration of the rest of his sinnes in former times committed The fresher wounds seeme euer the more fearefull and the new terrible obiect doth so dazle and confound the soules sight as it cannot looke either beyond or besides it But the more grieuous and enormous sinnes after awhile doe occasion vs to make a more narrow inquisition and take a more exact suruey of the whole course of our sinfull life whereby wee cannot but finde that we haue runne into many errors and manifold crimes the remembrance and recognition whereof wee had formerly in a sort neglected Then we beginne seriously to consider that in this generall muster there is not any one sin seeme it neuer so light or slight but being an offence against an infinite Maiesty and a violation of the whole Law of God deserueth an heauy iudgement in the seuerity of 〈◊〉 and that if some of our sinnes 〈◊〉 bee remitted and others retayned we remaine still in a most wofull condition therefore doe not content ourselues with a praier that some or many of our spots and sinnes may bee wyped out but craue with a note of vniuersality an abolition of them all Blot out all my transgressions my sinnes in thought word and deede my sinnes of omission and my sinnes of action my sinnes of childhood youth middle-age and elder yeeres my sins of infirmity and my sins of presumption my sinnes within and my sins without my body my bloody and my vnbloody sinnes my sinnes committed in mine own person and my sins committed by others through my ill example for they are mine too my single sinnes committed by me as a priuate person my double sinnes committed by me as a publike magistrate who when hee sinneth doth rather teach then act sinne my lesser and my greater sinnes the sins of Soueraignes are 〈◊〉 sinnes my secret and open my knowne and vnknowne sins who can tell how 〈◊〉 he offendeth my sinnes past present yea and to come for whilst I liue in this body of death I cannot but sin all my sinnes whatsoeuer when I say all I except none no minyon or darling sinne at all Thou diddest command 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 away Who is not sinfully 〈◊〉 and whose sinnes are not more in number then the haires of his head Let them all come vnder the Raisor of true repentance and then they will come within the reach of thy free remission Not one Egyptian escaped out of the red Sea Saul was commanded to kill all the Amalekites men such as offend of malice women such as offend of infirmity children such as transgresse out of ignorance onely Create in mee a cleane heart and renew a right spirit within me Whoso beggeth Iustification which is the foundation will seeke Sanctification also which is the goodly frame 〈◊〉 thereupon and cannot but after sinnes committed and remitted shine and flourish in holinesse of life and conuersation Hee that hath that fire cannot
bee without this heate he that hath that Sun cannot be without this light When my great and enormous sinnes had plunged me into the sea of misery finding no other meane of helpe in that fearefull danger I catched vp and tooke hold of the planke or boordof Repentance to saue me from drowning Repentance hath two faces and so looketh two wayes backward and forward to sinnes past and holinesse to come I haue grieuously lamented my offences formerly done and importunately begged pardon for them accounting this remission because thou art pleased O God so to esteeme it my iustification I now earnestly craue a cleane heart and a new spirit that being clensed I may keep my selfe cleane that being renewed I may entertaine newnesse of life for my sanctification For if I fall againe vpon the same rock of presumption which caused my shipwracke before it will plainely appeare that I haue not really acted but formally counterfeited repentance in which case I must pronounce an heauie doome against my selfe for dissembled holinesse is double wickednesse wickednesse masking vnder the sinfull vayle and vizard of hypocrisie Repentance neuer attaines her Crowne and Garland till shee haue brought forth amendment of life after lamentation for sin to make some kind of reparation That which thou requirest of me O God is my heart and how can I deny thee one thing that hast giuen me all things for what haue I that I haue not receiued of thee Well then I resolue as it is meet to giue thee my heart But when I looke into my heart by the helpe of thy suruey for it is thou that declarest vnto man what and how ill his heart is I finde it so foule and full of corruption as I am ashamed to present it vnto thee in that plight Nay I tremble to thinke that thy Pure and Radiant Eyes should behold such a puddle and sincke of sinne as lurketh in my heart For alas euery imagination of the thoughts of my heart is onely euill continually Were my heart such as it should be I would cheerefully giue thee my heart O Lord therefore create in mee a cleane heart Thou madest my heart first in Adam hee marred it and I in him by disobedience from him to all his posterity the contagion of this pollution is spred and propagated wherefore create my heart againe create it a cleane heart either a cleane heart or no heart at all I affect purity of heart by thy grace for indeed I cannot so much as affect much lesse effect it without thee Vnlesse thou take the worke in hand it will be vndone My heart that is originally and totally vncleane by naturall generation and daily soiled by actuall transgression cannot become cleane and neate without spirituall washing and supernaturall regeneration and that is thy proper operation Seeke not to new make mould my defiled hart out of the forebeing matter thereof That may seeme a strange enterprize and fruitlesse worke But thou O God who by thy power madest the world of nothing by thy powerfull grace Create which is thy peculiar attribute a cleane heart within me To create is not to make a thing out of the power of any subiect or matter formerly being But to create is to make a thing of nothing and that is an act of diuine power that is a case excepted and a prerogatiue reserued to thee alone The production of grace in a gracelesse heart is a wonderfull and gracious creation Create in mee powerfully and of nothing without any 〈◊〉 matter create in me 〈◊〉 and for nothing without any precedent merit of mine a pure heart so 〈◊〉 thou crowne in mee not my deserts but thine 〈◊〉 gifts if ought proceed from my heart to my tongue or hand not displeasing vnto thee Worke this worke thy selfe and take the praise of it to thy selfe alone O God Not vnto mee not vnto me I doe iterate and ingeminate my disclaymer but vnto thy Name giue all the glory It is another manner of power to make the quality then the substance of the heart yea it is a harder taske to make a heart cleane that hath beene soiled with the filth and tainted with the putrifaction of sin then to make a pure and innocent heart at the first The more shall be my thankfulnesse if thou O Lord vouchsafe me so great a fauour I will not curiously enquire into the meanes or manner of atchieuing this worke Let me henceforth really finde by the imaginations and inclinations of it that it is a cleane heart conformed as it may be in the frailty of 〈◊〉 flesh 〈◊〉 thy holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all is well As a woman 〈◊〉 by the stirring of the 〈◊〉 in her wombe that 〈◊〉 hath conceiued so 〈◊〉 me feele by the effectuall motions of thy good 〈◊〉 that I am begotten anew vnto a liuely 〈◊〉 by the resurrection of Christ according to his abundant mercy The summe of all is Giue me O Lord what thou enioynest and then enioyne mee what thou pleasest I am of no ability to do what thou commandest and therefore am enforced to beseech thee thy selfe to do in me what thou requirest to bee done of me Create a cleane heart in me If my heart as the spring and conduit head be pure and cleane the waters that flow thence though conueighed in earthen pipes will be cleare still my secret thoughts my open words my visible workes though they sauour somewhat of earth and flesh will not be altogether vncleane and vnsauoury A man must bee twice borne ere he can enter into the kingdome of heauen As he is made to the similitude of the first Adam so must he be made to the similitude of the second Adam and the regeneration is a more excellent worke then the generation the re-creation then the creation In the first man was wrought out of clay in the other God workes grace out of sinne In the former he breathed a soule into the dead body here he breatheth his holy Spirit into a dead heart In the creation he made man perfect in all his members In this re-creation not only all the members of the body but the faculties of the soule also must be framed anew It is a greater matter to raise a man dead in sinne then to raise a rotten carkasse out of the graue In the one birth and the other the heart is the first 〈◊〉 that is enlyued my 〈◊〉 must first take fire 〈◊〉 can I neuer bee 〈◊〉 with the true zeale of 〈◊〉 glory and mine owne saluation In the first creation this 〈◊〉 Chaos and darke 〈◊〉 was couered by thy 〈◊〉 without any contradiction or resistance Thou spakest but the word and all was readily done and perfectly framed But in my re-creation my flesh or my spirit or my fleshly spirit doth oppose and incounter thy holy Spirit grieueth and maketh it sad laboureth to quench it euen then when it striueth to reuiue repaire and reforme me This is notoriously verified
not onely in the aliens reprobates but euen in the domesticks of the houshold of faith in thy most inlightned and best disposed children euen in the Elect themselues and those that are sealed vp for the Day of Redemption Wherefore I must say freely as I may truly I am thy workemanship not onely of thy power as all other creatures are but of thy mercy also created in Christ vnto good workes whereof he is the sole Author and Actor working effecaciously in mee both the will and the deed according to his good pleasure O Lord giue me a liuely Faith thy Gift alone which hath power to quicken my dull to enlyue my dead to purifie my impure heart Giue me grace stedfastly to beleeue thy Word to take sure hold of thy promises euermore to cleaue and sticke fast to thy goodnesse Kindle this fire in my soule which will inflame my loue of all good duties on the one and on the other side waste and consume eate vp and de uoure my concupiscence and all my carnall desires and cause them to returne into that dead sea whence they were first exhaled Renew a right Spirit within me Hee whose spirit is deserted by Gods Spirit loseth the vigor and viuacity of his spirit his spirit waxeth old crooked in him Sinne where it inuades makes such spoile and hauocke of all goodnesse and vertue in the soule as it cannot subsist vnlesse it be timely repaired and truly renewed by repentance When a man lyes groueling vpon earthly and houering vpon fleshly desires his spirit which should directly 〈◊〉 vpward is bowed downe and made crooked A 〈◊〉 spirit then is a sincere and vpright heart raysed and lifted vp into heauen and heauenly things What is sinne else but an obliquity a depriuation or deprauation of that rectitude and vprightnesse which was originally and should be continually in the soule if it were throughly purged and purified I haue impayred this rectitude and vprightnesse which once I had in some measure by my heynous and enormous transgressions and therefore resort to thee for helpe who onely art able to renewe and repaire it againe Giue me O Lord a spirit rectified in it selfe directed by thy Spirit corrected by thy discipline and erected to thy glory a spirit firme without failing constant without varying and durable without decaying that I may happily choose new waies walke in them carefully and perseuere in them constantly giue me grace to turne ouer a new leafe as they say to abandon the old man with the lusts and affections thereof and to put on the new man and so to serue thee in holinesse and newnesse of liuing all the dayes of my life hereafter I doe wittingly and thankefully ascribe the purity of my heart to thy Creation the vprightnesse of my spirit to thy renouation alone as to giue thee thy due honour so to preuent and anticipate the proud and fond conceit of those men if any such there be or shall be hereafter who to grace thēselues wil abate the power diminish the lustre of thy grace who though they cannot but confesse that they neede the assistance of thy Spirit that they are holpen by thy both preuenting and following grace yet betweene those two graces for their own credit will needes vainely interpose or rather violētly intrude mans reason whereby he chuseth what is good and mans will whereby he assenteth to thy diuine power in the blessed worke of regeneration But hereby I take secret comfort in my selfe to preserue my perplexed soule from vtter despaire that I discerne the foulenesse of my heart feele the weaknes of my spirit and therefore pray earnestly for a purification of the one and a renouation of the other for I know I cannot craue either of those graces without some measure of grace As the sunne cannot be seene but by the Sunne nor the light be perceiued but by meanes of the light so neither can I begge a full cleansing of my heart without some cleanenesse in it nor a through-renouation without some newnesse in my decayed spirit at least in true affection and vnfaigned desire Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me I feare and cannot but feare thy face and yet I feare withall to be cast from thy face 〈◊〉 presence Mine owne 〈◊〉 makes me on the one side to feare the face of a seuere Iudge and my worthlesse weaknesse on the other being not able to subsist at all without the light of thy countenance makes mee desire thy presence and sight What-euer thou doe with me while thou lookest vpon me I shall indure though not without feare and perplexity But if thou cast me quite away from thy presence I am vtterly vndone for euer The presence of the Physicion is a present if not helpe yet comfort to the sicke patient But thy presence Lord being the soueraigne Physicion ministers all comforts and cures all maladies both of soule and body Therefore I loue the habitations of thy house and the place where 〈◊〉 honour dwelleth As the hunted and chased Hart desireth the water brookes So longeth my soule after thee When shall I come and appeare before thee O how amiable are thy Tabernacles My soule euen longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. One day in thy Courts where thou art present and resident is better then a thousand elsewhere I had rather bee a dorekeeper there then to dwell at liberty and in iollity in the tents of the vngodly The priuation of Gods presence is the position of all misery and the withdrawing of his countenance drawes with it all manner of discomforts Heauen it selfe were not heauen if thou wert not there present and Hell could not be hell if thou wert not absent thence To bee cast out of thy presence is to be cast out of ioy into sorrow out of light into darkenesse out of life into death not the first onely but the second also out of heauē into hel The very sight and vision of thee is of it selfe and in it selfe the height of happinesse In thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand is plenty without satiety of pleasure and delight for euermore Wherefore though I haue multiplyed and increased my contumacie beyond all measure yet I beseech thee O Lord not to excommunicate me I submit my selfe with teares in mine eyes and anguish in my heart humbly and wholly to thy discipline I am content to endure any penance rather then to bee banished from thy presence What the want of this presence is none can know but he that feeleth and he that feeleth cannot make another know by any relation Hee may indeuour to shaddow it out slenderly but hee is not able fully to expresse it If the Master turne his seruant out of doores if the Father abandon his sonne from his fight if the King command his subiect from the Court that hee come not within the Vierge how
grieuous and irkesome will the damage and disgrace be to euery or any of these respectiuely Thou O God art our Master and to serue thee is to raigne with thee Thou art our Father and what greater preeminence then to bee the Sonne of God Thou art our King and to be in subiection to thee is our chiefest dominion How then doth it concerne me being an vnfaithfull Seruant a prodigall Childe and a trayterous Subiect to beg earnestly of thee my bountifull Master my louing Father my gracious Soueraigne that thou wilt not take away thy 〈◊〉 banish me from thy fight nor expell mee from thy Courts As the soule doth excell the body and the 〈◊〉 the flesh beyond proportion so the one losse is incomparably greater then the other Thou O God art present with me by thy good Spirit and so long as I haue this Ghest in my soule I haue the fruition of thee and thy presence wherefore suffer not this noble Ghest to be dislodged and taken from mee Thou and thy Spirit are vndeuided companions If thou cast me from thy presence thou takest thy holy Spirit from me and if thou takest 〈◊〉 Spirit thou takest thy selfe from me I doe yet enioy thy presence in a sort I behold thy countenance though full of anger I feele thy Spirit within mee though sad and grieued for I find contrition in my heart confession in my mouth and confusion in my face for my grieuous offences I hate my sinnes and my selfe for my sinnes This smoake cannot ascend but from that fire of thy Spirit this fruit cannot grow but from that roote of repentance Howbeit when I behold the vglinesse of my offences with an vnpartiall eye and consider how hard harsh a thing it is for Purity and Holinesse to dwell or abide with wickednesse and filthinesse I tremble and quake in an awefull feare that thou wilt as iustly thou mayest depriue me of thy gracious presence and bereaue mee of thy blessed Spirit Lord thou art in all things by thine Essence thou art in all places and at once by thy Power and presence I may well bee asked Whither wilt thou flye from his Spirit or whither wilt thou goe from his presence c If thou shalt say The darkenesse shall couer me euen the night shall bee light about thee Yet thou canst and wilt cast me from thy presence and withdraw thy holy Spirit from me if I be settled vpon the dregs of my sinnes without remorse in contempt of thy Maiestie and abuse of thy mercie If thou in thy iust iudgement and wrathfull indignation abandon mee from thy presence thou castest me out of thy prouidence and protection thy blessed Spirit doth quite desert mee I am banished out of the land of the liuing into the Desert of desolation which is without the compasse of the whole Vniuerse that thou didst create and d'st vphold In that case happy were I to bee no more but I shall be most vnhappy to bee and continue helpelesse and hopelesse in endlesse misery Thy holy Spirit is by a speciall title stiled The Comforter by excellencie because all other comforters and comforts are cold and vncomfortable without and beside it I haue I confesse with griefe many times checked this Spirit when it hath presented good motions to my minde and good desires to my hart I haue grieued it exceedingly while I carelesly neglected and stubbornely refused the good counsell it ministred vnto me Howbeit sithence without this Comforter I must bee for euer comfortlesse in the depth of discomfort I 〈◊〉 thee not to take vtterly and finally thy holy Spirit from me Thy gifts O Lord are without repentance therefore I trust I shal neuer be without repentance whō thou louest once thou doest euer loue if thou begin thou wilt perseuere to loue Although I doe not alwayes feele the graces of thy Spirit in my sinfull soule yet I shall 〈◊〉 trust haue 〈◊〉 euer because once I had them My sinne may take away the sence and 〈◊〉 for a while but not the interest and property if I may so say which I haue in thy blessed Spirit Which notwithstanding the fruition of this Spirit being so precious and the losse of it so inualuable I cannot but in feare and anxiety of soule instantly pray that it may not be taken from me Although the seed of thy Word whereby I am begotten againe to a liuely Hope be immortall and incorruptible yet it is so choked with the weeds of fleshly desires so intangled with worldly allurements it lyeth so buried in the furrowes of my hard and stony heart as I may much doubt and in a manner distrust the shooting and springing of it vp againe without an extraordinary influence of thy heauenly grace which cannot descend vpon me vnlesse my humble and earnest prayers ascend vp to thee Wherefore retaine mee O Lord in thy fauour and permit thy blessed Spirit not onely to soiourne for a season but to remaine continually with me Let me so keepe a doore in the Sanctuary of my soule which is one of thy Courts as I may neuer suffer this Ghest to goe out of it 12 Restore vnto mee the ioy of thy saluation and vphold mee with thy firme Spirit or stablish mee with thy free Spirit I Doe not say Giue mee what I neuer had but restore vnto mee what I had and haue lost by mine owne fault and folly It is a greater fauour to restore then to giue in as much as it is a greater vnhappinesse to lose a Iewell which I had then neuer to haue had it Priuation is a greater punishment then want It is the height of misery to haue beene happy To come out of darknesse into light out of sicknesse into health out of perplexity into security out of sorrow sadnesse into ioy and gladnesse and so by the contrary to come out of cheerfulnesse into pensiuenesse sets out more liuely and causes to be felt more sensibly both the one and the other condition One contrary is a foyle vnto another We then make the tru est valuation of thy greatest mercies O Lord when we are for a time depriued of them which is one speciall cause why thou takest them from vs that by the want we may learne the worth of them and shew our selues accordingly thankefull because thou diddest vouchsafe vs the fruition of them so long and much more ioyfully imbrace and charily preserue them when thou pleasest to restore them to vs againe For as the eyes cannot discerne a goodly obiect when it is held close vnto them but when it is remoued in some distance so our vntoward vnthankfull hearts cannot iudge of the excellency and sweetnesse of present graces but when they are withdrawne a while from vs then doe we more cheerefully behold and fully obserue the riches of thy bounty mercy in them This ioy of thy saluation consisteth in an assured
more to abhor the bloud of man wherein his life consisteth Deliuer mee O God from the guilt of that bloud which I haue spilt by the 〈◊〉 of Captaine 〈◊〉 and so many Souldiers vnder his commaund from the punishment of that sinne threatned by Nathan that bloud should not depart from my house and finally from future bloud that I may neuer embrew my hands in bloud hereafter The teares of those widdowes whose husbands were slaine in that disastrous assault made at Rabbah the cryes of those children whose Fathers then lost their liues haue mounted vp to 〈◊〉 do frame my Enditement and make my Processe against me before thy Tribunall and doe call instantly for iudgement according to the iust law of Retaliation He that sheddeth mans bloud his bloud shall be shed Wherefore that I may the sooner obtaine my pardon in such latitude as I desire it I doe re-enforce my prayer with all manner of zeale and earnestnesse Deliuer me O God thou that art the God of my saluation I double thy Name when I tender this single supplication hoping by my affectionate insinuation and vehement compellation to draw thy gracious compassion towards me I take hold of thee as it were with both my hands I cry incessantly for pardon of this sin which cries so eagerly in thine eares for vengeance against me Thou God of my saluation I said elsewhere that saluation is the Lords because it can flow from no other fountaine but here I desire to apply it particularly to draw the water to mine owne Mill and to appropriate it as it were wholly to my selfe Thou art of that gracious nature as wee cannot better please thee then by challenging a speciall interest in thy loue by assuring our selues that thou art ours so that howsoeuer our premisses be generall for remission of sins our conclusion must be speciall proper and peculiar Thou art my God and the God of my saluation I will sing ioyfully or aloud of thy Righteousnesse The satisfaction should be answerable to the trespasse done and the retribution to the benefit receiued in some proportion As to a greater sinne a deeper repentance is due so for a more bountiful fauor a larger returne of thankefulnesse is of congruence required I haue grieued beyond measure for my bloody sinne for the inestimable benefit of my free pardon I know not what to render againe In briefe I can returne nothing but praises and thankes a poore requitall for so rich a mercy But sithence I can yeeld no better no other it is meete I should improoue this and set it forth to the vtmost aduantage Wherefore I will sing ioyfully with a liuely spirit with a cheerefull heart I will sing vocalissimè Alleluia My tongue shall become a Trumpet of thy praises which shall sound them out lustily and loudly I will bestow all my breath and strength in proclayming thine honour I will become a chiefe Chanter I will eleuate the note in the highest straine I will so chant out thy praises as thou shalt take notice of it abundantly and so as the noyse may be heard not only in my priuate Chappell or Oratory but in the chiefe Cathedrall Churches in the greatest congregations on Earth yea euen in the blessed Synode of Angels and Saints in heauen Nay I will not onely sing my selfe but I will call in others also to make vp a full Quire O come 〈◊〉 vs sing loudely let vs 〈◊〉 reioyce c. Thy righteousnesse that is Thy faithfulnes and truth in accomplishment of thy gracious promises to such as truly and sincerely repent and humbly hopefully craue pardon for their sinnes for true iustice doth much consist in the due performance of promises Thou thy selfe hast made thy selfe our debtor not by receiuing from vs. but by promising to vs. No man can say vnto thee Render Lord what thou hast receiued but euery man may and must say Performe O Lord what thou hast promised All thy waies are mercy and truth Mercy whereby thou forgiuest sinners and Truth whereby thou makest good thy promises O then how happy are the people whose God is the Lord who by his 〈◊〉 promise is become their faithfull debtor and whose iustice giues assurance of his mercy whose mercy and truth are met together and whose righteousnesse and peace haue kissed each other So as by a reuerent confidence and a holy kinde of boldnesse I may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thee in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the worth of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of thy promise not to lay my sinnes to my charge bee they neuer so many neuer so great I may pleade my interest in the death of my Sauiour and in thy faithfull promise and free pardon to this effect O my God thou that art the God of my saluation it is agreeable to diuine and humane iustice to keepe promise to performe couenant In the new and sacred couenant it is the Article of Inprimis as they say that thou wilt forgiue the sinnes of thy people remember their iniquities no more Make good then thy word and full agreement really and effectually It stands not with thy iustice to exact twice one and the same debt of mee My suerty and elder Brother Christ Iesus hath paied the debt which I owed hath suffered the punishment which I deserued wherefore enter not into iudgement with thy vnworthy seruant O Lord but for the 〈◊〉 of his death and passion accepted by thee with free consent for full satisfaction let me be acquited and discharged of all my transgressions whatsoeuer I will rely and repose my selfe securely vpon thy word and promise because thou hast ratified and confirmed it with an oath with a solemne oath Thou hast sworne by thy selfe because there is no greater to sweare by by thy 〈◊〉 the Lord Iehouah sware vnto Dauid Truth that is a true oath a faithful promise or Truth that is God sware vnto Dauid He will not turne away the face of his Anoynted his seed shall indure for euer thou hast sworne by thy life I will not the death of a sinner if he repent he shall liue Oh happy people for whose cause thou vouchsafest to sweare Oh most miserable wretches if we beleeue thee not when thou swearest Thy word O Lord is an 〈◊〉 in it selfe and of it selfe so faithfull thou art but to giue vs full 〈◊〉 thou dost condescend to our capacity and infirmity thou makest assurance to men after the manner of men with whom a promise clothed with an oath seemes of greater strength and validity then a bare and naked word and therefore out of abundance of thy loue dost vse a protestation or adiuration otherwise needlesse to remooue out of our incredulous hearts all distrust and colour of dubitation 15 Open thou my lips O Lord and c. BVt I haue beene too forward now I thinke of it to engage my selfe so deepely to sing ioyfully and sound loudly thy righteousnesse I confesse I haue promised more
kind of mercy to put men to death quickely This Martyrdome of mortification God doth highly prize without that other which is by effusion of blood this must goe before that and that without this is of no worth nor deserues the name of Martyrdome at all Whose Martyrdome shall I dare to compare with the various hideous and tedious sufferings of holy Iob The best is this contention for immortalitie will not onely be mortall but soone at an end The Martyrs of both sorts so I tearme them because they dye in and for thee shall haue fulnesse of felicity to satiate their largest desires for they both shall haue both ioy without measure and life without end they shall both enioy abundance of pleasures at thy right hand for euermore The summe of all is I must drench and drowne my sinnes and the corrupt affections of my wicked heart in the sea of sorrowfull repentance and then my soule will nimbly and swiftly swim to the land of promise and hauen of happinesse They that will offer this sacrifice their hearts must fall from the high mountaine of pride downe into the lowest valley of humiliation and they must bee bruised with the fall pained with the bruise I will present an humble bruised and sorrowfull heart vnto thee Thou O Lord art nigh to them that are of a contrite spirit who speake to thee in bitternesse their soule who crye like the Draggon and Ostriche for griefe of their sinnes committed They who cry De profundis out of the deepe are not in the deepe their very crye reares and raises them vp Thine eare is within mans heart thou perceiuest the hearts first relenting before it come to the tongues relating I did purpose and say within my selfe I will confesse my sinne and thou tookest notice thereof and forgauest the iniquity of my sinne Thus saith the High and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity whose Name is holy 〈◊〉 dwell in the High and holy place with whom with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit to what end to reuiue the spirit of the humble and to reuiue the heart of the contrite ones Thou wilt not despise nay thou wilt highly prize graciously receiue 〈◊〉 and comfort thou wilt giue them beauty for ashes the oyle of ioy for mourning the garment of gladnesse for the spirit of heauinesse As a bone in the arme or legge once broken and being well set againe growes stronger then if it had neuer beene broken so our hearts being well and soundly healed by true repentance of the sores and bruises of sinne become more firme and stable then euer they were before Thus my foule fall becomes foelix culpa I am after a sort happy in my vnhappinesse for out of my great misery through thy greatest mercy a greater happinesse doth arise then euer I felt before 18 O be fauourable to Sion for thy good pleasure HEE that prayes to thee must not pray for himselfe alone Howsoeuer hee beginne with prayer for himselfe when he hath gained some interest in thee for himselfe hee may the sooner preuaile for others hee must end with prayer for thy Church hee must not end till hee haue recommended the whole Church in his prayers vnto thee He that is a liuely and feeling member of that mysticall body whereof thy Christ is the head must pray for the whole body As in the naturall body the heart feeles the akeing of the head and the head the oppression of the heart the heart and head both doe resent a fellon in one of the fingers and the gowt in one of the toes the stomacke simpathizeth with the braine and the braine with the stomacke so and much more is it in the mysticall body True Christians are like those Twynnes who are reported to haue wept and laughed slept and waked liued and dyed together They must weepe with them that weepe mourne with those that lament suffer hunger thirst nakednesse and imprisonment with others their brethren afflicted with such crosses participate with them in all their miseries and aduersities what soeuer Captaine Vriah mine honest seruant could say The Arke and Israel and Iudah abide in Tents and my Lord Ioab and the seruants of my Lord are incamped in the open field and shall I then goe into my house to eate and drinke and lye with my Wife While they are in ieopardy I cannot be in iollity while they liue in feare I cannot enioy security Wherefore be fauourable to Sion to thy Church and chosen I being one of them must abide one and the same fortune and condition with them This is that vnion of the Saints in thy Christ that communion of them among themselues which cannot easily bee comprehended much lesse fully expressed and yet must it bee constantly belieued and will be in some measure continually resented The Church is represented by the name of Sion Sion the holy Mountaine in Hierusalem which thou louest from whence thy lawe should come and where thou wilt dwell for euer Iehouah hath chosen Sion and desired it for his seate and said This is my rest here will I sit euen to perpetuity But besides this generall I acknowledge my selfe tyed by a speciall obligation to pray for Sion for there was no let on my part but that the whole kingdome of thy Christ might haue fallen to the ground for I being raised from the dunghill to the Diadem from the Parke to the Pallace from following the Ewes great with young to feede thy people and anoynted King to the end I should gather thy Church together by my Apostasie haue scattered and wasted it so farre forth as there is great cause to feare the vtter ruine and desolation thereof Wherefore by force and in remorse of conscience I beg for the sustentation and preseruation of thy Church through thy free and vndeserued mercy Thou O Lord art the onely founder of this choise Company and corporation As out of thy loue onely thou didst single and select them from other refuse people before the foundation of the world as by the same loue thou hast supported and preserued them amids all dangers and disasters euer sithence so I beseech thee still to continue thine ancient accustomed and affectionate fauour to them Let not my vnhappinesse impeach their happinesse let not the darke and foggy mists of my wickednes ecclipse the light and luster of thy countenance towards them let them be still as deare vnto thee as the apple of thine owne eye doe not spill them for my faults but spare mee and them for thine owne sake Thou doest often and mayest alwaies punish the people for the sins of their Princes Wherefore I beseech thee not onely to pardon my sins to my selfe but to be fauourable to my people also and not to suffer them to smart and suffer for my offences It is I that haue sinned and done euill indeed but as for these sheepe what haue they done let
Ut liberiùs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ignorant Bern. de grad humi Nemo est 〈◊〉 insanabilior qui sibi sanus 〈◊〉 Greg. in 〈◊〉 Initium salutis notitia 〈◊〉 Qui peccarese nescit corrigi non vult 〈◊〉 Frustrà medicantis auxilium expectat qui valnus non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non 〈◊〉 scire quo modo morbos curare conueniat qui vnde hi sunt ignorat Cornel. Cels. de Re 〈◊〉 lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coelo descendit c. Gen 6. Chrysol Rectum index sui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 4. Peccatores somniantibus similes Ioan. Her Insepulta sepultara Peccata non nocent si nō placent August de temp Job Meum cognoscere Meum agnoscere Tuum ignoscere August Explorandum 〈◊〉 Implorandum 〈◊〉 Syst. Omne sub regno grauiore regnum est 〈◊〉 Chrysol Fac illum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysol Chrysost. Confessio peccati est professio desinendi Hilar. Seneca Reatus redundat ad iudicem si Poena percellat innoxium Chrysol 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nisi homini Deus placuerit Deus non erit Homo iam Deo propitius esse 〈◊〉 Tertul Apolog. Peccatum poena peccati causa peccati Aug. contra Iuli. 〈◊〉 Chrysost. Aug. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sapiens 〈◊〉 Deus est 〈◊〉 fractumnon recipiet 〈◊〉 Bernard de gradib obed Iob 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meretur quà m amicum simuans inimicus 〈◊〉 de Conuers cap. 27. Tota vita honi Christiani est sanctum desiderium Aug. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tota posita est in voluntate faciendi bona Lact. 〈◊〉 l. 6. Melius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 auri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Cantic Nec vinum 〈◊〉 etsi fecem habeat 〈◊〉 aurum quamuis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Voluntas pro facto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. 77. 〈◊〉 Iuris Res mira ille viuit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 homicida Illa casta tu tamen 〈◊〉 Aug. de verb. Dom. Nisi fortè putetur in 〈◊〉 quà m in bono c. Nos etsi 〈◊〉 minus diligimus quá 〈◊〉 diligimus 〈◊〉 qu 〈◊〉 valemus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vt à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnde amplius diligamus 〈◊〉 Epist. 85. 〈◊〉 5. 6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 14 21 30. Mal. 1. 14. Leu. 14. 22 30 31 32. 2. Cor. 8. Quic quid vis non potes 〈◊〉 Deus reputat Aug. Gen. 4. Si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ea quae 〈◊〉 merita nostra sunt spei quaedam seminaria bernard de 〈◊〉 lib. arbit Si non dilexisset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amicos Sicut nec quos 〈◊〉 essent si non dilexisset qui nondū erant Bern. in Cant. 20. Qu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inuenit neminem saluat nisi quem 〈◊〉 idem de 〈◊〉 li ber a. b 〈◊〉 10. Arra potius quà m 〈◊〉 quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arra 〈◊〉 August de 〈◊〉 Apost Pignus donum est verbo 〈◊〉 vt Iureconsulti nec potest esse sine pacto pignus Ipse vt diligeretur dedit qui non dilectus dilexit Aug. in Joan. Psa. 119. 6. Psal. 64. Psal. 32. Psal. 32. 11. Cathedram in Coelo habet 〈◊〉 docet August Sol non omnes quibus lucet etiam calesacit Sic sapientia 〈◊〉 quos docet 〈◊〉 sit facien dum non 〈◊〉 accendu ad 〈◊〉 Bern. in Cant. Non 〈◊〉 sapientem sed timor facit quia afficit Grego Nunquam nimis dicitur quod nunquam satis dicitur Lingua sequitur dentem dolentem Vbidolor ibidigitus Ex. 12. 22. Leu. 14. 6. Num. 19. Prouerb Vermis non homo Omnis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Hug. Card. Lorin in Psal. 51. Iob 9. 30. Ier. 13. 23. Esay 1. Reuel 7. Esa. 63. Num. 12. Nulla vxor proprio marito deformis 〈◊〉 Nigra formosa Cantic 1. 5. Potest esse radix sine 〈◊〉 stipes sine fructu sed nec stipes nec fructus sine radice Mat. 9. 2. Psal. 35. 3. 〈◊〉 antequam nati Bern. Iob 15. 16. 〈◊〉 redditur arra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bernard Gaudium in praesenti exhibitione Gaudium in futurâ expectatione Et res plena gaudio 〈◊〉 Idem Gaudium in fine sed gaudium sine fine Bernard Iob 15. 35. Esa. 57. 20. Psal. 4. Cùm de transitorijs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non poterit non transire laetitia 〈◊〉 ijs de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ignis 〈◊〉 de Temp. Exod. 7. 〈◊〉 Psal. 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deut. 32. Psal. 23. Psal 27. 8. Duo nomina Homo Peccator August Chrysol Chrysol Chrysol August in Psal. 103 〈◊〉 a diligentis Leuit. 〈◊〉 1. Sam. 15. Simulata aequitas non est aequitas sed duplex iniquitas quia 〈◊〉 simulatio August in Psal. 63. Amos 4. Psal. 115. 1. Cor. 15. Primum 〈◊〉 Arist. Psal. 42. Psal. 84. Psal. 1 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 13. 1. 〈◊〉 31. 3. Semel 〈◊〉 semper 〈◊〉 Mulier soetum conceptum non semper molitantem 〈◊〉 vbi tamen semel iterum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 se esse non ambigit Spin. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Pet. 1. 23. Tertull. de poenit Quid boni sanitas habet languor ostendit Hier. Gratior est reddita quā retenta sanit as Post tempestatem dulcior serenitas Quint. Desiderata dulcius obtinentur August de Verb. Dom. Quoniam ob bona 〈◊〉 gratias Deo non agimus necessaria nobis est priuatio vt quid habutrimus sentiamus Basil. Plus sensimus quod habuimus postquam habere desinimus Hier. in Consol. 1. 〈◊〉 5. 16. Rom. 8. 15. Ex. 13. 13. Onerat nos Deus 〈◊〉 quando 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug. in Ps. 〈◊〉 iniquorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia tales 〈◊〉 Bonum naturá sui diffusiuum Naturalis opus viuen gignere sibi simile Arist. Homines malunt exempla quā verba 〈◊〉 act 〈◊〉 ver sap Validior 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quà m oris oratio Greg. Regis ad exemplum nec sic inflectere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 edicta valent ac vita regentis Claud. Habent opera suam linguam Author de dupl martyr Sinne of infirmity Rom. 6. Vitia catenata inter se. 〈◊〉 in lib. Sapient Sinne of presumption Volo te praesumere ne diffidas 〈◊〉 praesumere ne torpescas Bern. Ep. 87. Psal. Bernard Psal. 101. 1 Absit vt redundantia clementiae coelestis libidinem faciat humanae temeritatis Tertul. de poenit Prauicordis est ideò 〈◊〉 esse quia Deus bonus est Bern. in Cantic Qui 〈◊〉 poenitenti veniam non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 August Psal. 34. 15 Psal. 2. 11. Sinne of Desperation 〈◊〉 1 3. Facilè impetratur quod filius 〈◊〉 Tertul. de 〈◊〉 Esa. 49. Tam pater nemo tam 〈◊〉 nemo 〈◊〉 depoenit Iob 19. 25. 〈◊〉 16. 1. Rom. 8. 31. 〈◊〉 variata 〈◊〉 non fides August in Psal. 51. 2. Cor. 6. Ezek. 18. Esa. 1. Gen. 4. August Job 13. 15. August in Psal. 51. August ibid. August in Psal. 51. Chrysost. in Psal. 51. Nec enormitas criminis nec extremit as temporis Inter pontem fontem Sera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vera Psal. 48. 1. 95. 3. 〈◊〉 2. Verse 9. Leuit. 7. 26 27. Psal. 3. 8. Psal. 95. Debitorem se fecit deus non accipiendo Sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Augus Psal. 25. 10 Psal. 132. 11. Ezech. 33. 11. O nos soelicis quorum causd Deus iurat O nos 〈◊〉 si nec Deo c. Tertul. 〈◊〉 Quid retribuam Psal. 116. 12. Inuenit 〈◊〉 aliquid Aug. Iob 22. 2. 1 Cor. 4. 7. Psal. 103. 〈◊〉 cont Mar cio 〈◊〉 50. 〈◊〉 PP 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug in 〈◊〉 Omnis quē poenitet rixatur secum Aug. in Psal. 33. Peccatores vindica 〈◊〉 exige de te poenas crucia teipsum c. Aug. in Psa. 140 Currat poenitentia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sententia Cbrys. In quantū tibi non peperceris in tantum tibi Deus parcet Tertul. de poenit Exod. 32. Tertul. de poeniten 〈◊〉 Nerue curuabitur arcus Igne Chalibs Adamas Sanguine corde Deus Mantuan Hostia 〈◊〉 ctatur viuit Crysol in 12. Rom. Sicut offerri iussit sic non 〈◊〉 occidi Chrysol Cyprian de dupl 〈◊〉 Genus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cito occidere Seneca Morsque minus poenā quam mora 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maxim Eleg. Non Mar 〈◊〉 Sola sanguinis effusio consummat nec solam dat Palmam exustio illa 〈◊〉 Multi ducunt 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 Aug. Auth. de dupl Martyr Iob. 30. 29. August in Psal. Psal. 32. Esay 57. Esay 61. 3. Firmior est fides quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. Psal. 132. 14. Saluian Saluian Non Elegit 〈◊〉 sed c. Aug. Quare gratia quia gratis datur Quare gratis datur quia merita tua non 〈◊〉 sed beneficia Dei te 〈◊〉 Aug. in Psal. 30. Haue mercy vpon me O Lord c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I know my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Behold I was borne in iniquity c. Behold thou louest truth in the 〈◊〉 c. And in the 〈◊〉 of my heart c. Purge mee with Hysop c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 c. Make mee to heare of ioy c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sinnes c. Create in me a cleane heart c. Renew a right spirit within me c. Cast me not away from thy presence c. Take not thy holy spirit from me c. Restore vnto me the ioy of thy saluation c. Vphold me with thy free or firme spirit Then will I teach 〈◊〉 c. Deliuer me from bloud c. Thou God of my saluation c. I will sing aloud of thy righteousnesse c. O Lord open thou my lips c. The sacrifices of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. A broken and a contrite heart c. Be fauourable to Sion c. Build 〈◊〉 the walls 〈◊〉 Ierusalem c. For thy good 〈◊〉 c. Then 〈◊〉 thou accept c.