and glorifie his own mercy in crossing the reckoning and acquitting thy soul. All sums are equally dischargeable to the munificence of our great Creditor in heaven as it is the act of his Justice to call for the least so of his Mercy to forgive the greatest Had we to do with a finite power we had reason to sink under the burden of our sins Now there is neither more nor less to that which is infinite Onely let thy care be to lay hold on that infinite mercy which lies open to thee And as thou art an object fit for mercy in that thou art in thy self sinful and miserable enough so finde thy self as thou art a subject meet to receive this mercy as a penitent believer Open and enlarge thy bosom to take in this free grace and close with thy blessed Saviour and with and in him possess thy self of remission peace salvation § 4. Complaints oâ— unrepentance anâ— unbelief Sweet words thou sayest to those that are capable of them But what is all this to me that am neither penitent nor believer Alas that which is honey to others is no better then gall wormwood to me who have not the grace to repent and believe as I ought Why wilt thou my son be so unwise and unjust as to take part with Satan against thine own soul Why wilt thou be so unthankfully injurious to the Father of mercies as to deny those graces which his good Spirit hath so freely bestowed upon thee If thou wert not penitent for thy sins wherefore are these tears What mean these sighs and sobs and passionate expressions of sorrow which I hear from thee It is no worldly loss that thus afflicts thee it is no bodily distemper that thus disquiets thee Doubtless thou art soul-sick my son thy spirit is deeply wounded within thee and what can thus affect thy soul but sin and what can this affection of thy soul be for sin but true penitence § 5. Complaints of a misgrounded sorrow satisfied Alas thou sayest I am indeed sorrowful for my sin but not upon the right grounds I grieve for the misery that my sin hath brought upon me not for the evil of my sinâ— for the punishment not the offence for my own danger not for the displeasure of my good God Beware my son lest an undue humility cause thee to belye the graces of Gods Spirit thou art no meet judge of thy self whiles thou art under temptations Had not thy sorrow a relation to thy God why wouldst thou thus sighâ— towards heaven why would thy heart challenge thee for unkindness in offending why dost thou cry out of the foulness not onely of the peril of thy sin What is it that makes the act of thy sin to be sinful but the offence of the Divine Majestie how canst thou then be sorry that thou hast sinned and not be sorry that thou hast offended Tell me What is it that thy conscience primarily suggests to thee in this deep impression of thy sorrow Is it Thou shalt be punished or iâ— it not rather Thou hast sinned And were it put to thy choice whether thou hadst rather enjoy the favour of God with the extremest smart or be in his displeasure with ease whether wouldst thou pitch upon Or if liberty were tendred unto thee that thou mightst freely sin without the danger of punishment whether doth not thy heart rise at the condition as ready to flee in the face of the offerer Besides fear and horrour dost thou not finde an inward kinde of indignation at thy miscarriage and such an hatred of thy sin that were it to be done again if it were possible to be hid from God and men and if there were not an hell to avenge it thou wouldst abhoâ— to commit it All these are strong convictions of the right grounds of thy repentance and of the wrong which thou dost to thine own soul in the unjust scruples which thou raisest against it § 6. Complaint of the insufficient measure of sorrow satisfied If the grounds thou saist of my repentance be right yet the measure is insufficient I am sorrowful for my sins but not enough An effectual grief for sin should be serious deep hearty intensive mine is slight and superficialâ— I sigh but my sighs come not from the bottom of an humbled heart I can sometimes weep but I cannot pour out my self into tears I mourn but I do not dwell upon my sorrow My son thou hast to do with a God which in all the dispositions of our soul regards truth and not quantity If he find thy remorse sound he stands not upon measure He doth not mete out our repentance by inches or by houres but where he findes sincerity of penitence he is graciously indulgent Look upon David and acknowledge his sin formidably hainous no lesse then adultery seconded with inebriation and murder yet no sooner did he in a true compunction of heart cry Peccavi I have sinned against the Lord then he heares from the same mouth that accused him The Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die you doe not hear of any tearing of hair or rending of garments or knocking 's of brest or lying in sackcloth and ashes but onely a penitent confession availing for the expiation of so grievous crimes Thou art deceived if thou thinkst God delights in the misery and afflictedness of his creature So far onely is the grief his dear ones pleasing unto him as it may make for the health of their souls in theâ— due sensibleness of their sin in their meet capacity of mercy I do not with some Casuists flatter thee with an opinion of the sufficiency of any slight attrition and empty wishes that thou hadst not sinned doubtless a true contrition of spirit and compunction of heart are necessarily required to a saving repentance and these wert thou but an indifferent censurer of thine own waies thou couldst not choose but finde within thy selfe why else is thy countenance so dejected thy cheeks pale and watered so oft with thy teares thy sleeps broken thy meales stomacklesse wherefore are thy so sad bemoanings and vehement deprecations But after all this be thou such 〈◊〉 thou accusest thy selfe defective in the measure of thy repentance dâ—st thou rest contented in this conâ—ition dost thou not complain of it as thy greatest misery Art thou not heartily sorry that thou canst be no more sorry for thy sin Comfort thy selfe my son even this this alone is an acceptable degree of repentance Our God whose will is his deed accounts ours so What is repentance but a change of minde from evil to good and how sensible is this change that thou who formerly delightedst in thy sinne now abhorrest it and thy selfe for it and art yet ambitious of more grief for being transported into it Let not the enemy of thy soule who desires nothing more then to make thee perfectly miserable win so much of thee as to render thee unsatisfied
for the benefit that he hath been pleased to make of thine offending him § 5. â—omplaint 〈◊〉 relapses 〈◊〉 to sin â—ith the â—â—medy â—ereof But alas thou sayst my case is far worse then it is conceived I have been more then once miscarried into the same sin Even after I have made profession of my repentance I have been transported into my former wickedness Having washed off my sin as I thought with my many tears yet I have suffered my soul to be defiled with it again I may not flatter thee my son this condition is dangerous Those diseases which upon their first seizure have without any great peril of the Patient received cure after a recidivation have threatned death Look upon the Saints of God thou shalt finde they have kept aloof from that fire wherewith they have been formerly burnt Thou shalt not finde Noah again uncovered through drunkenness in his tent thou shalt not finde Judah climbing up again to Tamars bed Thou shalt not take Peter again in the High-Priests hall denying his Master or after Pauls reproof halting in his dissimulation But tell me notwithstanding art thou truly serious with thy God hast thou doubled thine humiliation for the reduplication of thine offence hast thou sought God so much the more instantly with an unfained contrition of heart hast thou found thy soul wrought to so much greater detestation of thy sin as thine acquainâ—tance with it hath been more hast thou taken this occasion to lay better hold on thy Saviour and to reinforce the vows of thy more careful and strict obedience Be of good chear this unpurposed reiteration of thy sin shall be no prejudice to thy salvation It is one thing for a man to walk on willingly in a beaten path of sin another thing for a man to be justled out of the way of righteousness by the violence of a temptation which he soon recovers again by a sound repentance The best cannot but be overtaken with sin but he that is born of God doth not commit sin he may be transported whither he meant not but he makes not a trade of doing ill his heart is against that which his hand is drawn unto and if in this inward strife he be over-powered he lies not down in a willing yeeldance but struggles up again and in a resumed courage and indignation tramples on that which formerly supplanted him Didst thou give thy self over to a resolved course of sinning and betwixt whiles shouldst knock thy brest with a formal God forgive me I should have no comfort in store for thee but send thee rather to the Whipping-stock of the Almighty for due correction if possibly those seasonable stripes may prevent thine everlasting torments But now since what thou hatest that thou doest and thou doest that which thou wouldst not and it is no more thâ—u that doest it but sin that dwells in thee cry out as much as thou wilt on the sinfulness of thy sin bewail thy weakness with a better man then thy self O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death But know that thou hast found mercy with thy God thy repeated sin may grieve but cannot hurt thy soul. Had we to do with a finite compassion it might be abated by spending it self upon a frequent remission like as some great river may be drawn dry by many small out-lets But now that we deal with a God whose mercy is as himself infinite it is not the greatness or the number of our offences that can make a difference in his free remissions That God who hath charged our weak charity not to be overcome with evil but to overcome evil with good justly scorneth that we should think his infinite and incomprehensible goodness can be checked with our evil It was not without a singular providence that Peter came to our Saviour with that question in his mouth Lord how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times that it might fetch from that blessed Son of God that gracious answer for our perpetual direction and comfort I say not unto thee Until seven times but until seventy times seven Lord if thou wouldst have us sinful men thus indulgent to one another in the case of our mutual offences what limits can be set to thy mercies in our sins against thee Be we penitent thou canst not but be gracious Comforts against weakness of grace §. 1. Comfort from the common condition of all Saints THou complainest of the weakness of grace some little stirrings thou feelest of Gods Spirit within thee but so feeble that thou canst not finde any solid comfort in them Thou seest others thou sayst whose brests are full of milk and their bones moistned with marrow whiles thou languishest under a spiritual leanness and imbecillity Thou wantest that vigorous heat of holy affections and that alacrity in the performance of holy duties which thou observest in other Christians I love this complaint of thine my son and tell thee that without this thou couldst not be in the way of being happie Thinkst thou that those whom thou esteemest more eminent in grace make not the same moan that thou dost Certainly they never had any grace if they did not complain to have too little Every man best feels his own wants and is ready to pass secret censures upon himself for that wherein he is applauded by others Even the man after Gods own heart can say But I am poor and sorrowful He was a great King when he said so it was not meanness in outward estate that troubled him but a spiritual neediness for he had before in the same heavenly Ditty professed O God thou knowest my foolishnesse and my guiltinesse is not hid from thee It was an old observation of wise Solomon There is that maketh himselfe rich and hath nothing there is that maketh himselfe poore yet hath great riches In this latter rank are many gracious soules and thine I hope for one who certainly had never been so wealthy in grace if they had been conceited of greater store Even in this sense many a Saint may say with Saint Paul When I am weak then I am strong Since the very complaint of weaknesse argues strength and on the contrary an opinion of sufficient grace is an evident conviction of meere emptinesse §. 2. Comfort from the improvement of weak graces and Gods free distribution But suppose thy selfe so poor as thou pretendest It is not so much what we have as how we improve it How many have we known that have grown rich out of a little whereas others out of a great stock have run into debt and beggery Had that servant in the Gospel who received but one talent imployed it to the gain of a second he had been proportionably as well rewarded as he that with five gained ten In our temporall estate we are warned by the wisest man
with the expectation of that blessednesse which if thy torments were no lesse then those of hell would make more then abundant amends for all thy sufferings §. 12. 11. Comfort The favour of a peaceable passage out of the world Thou art sick to die having received the sentence of death in thy selfe thy Physitian hath given thee up to act this last part alone neither art thou like to rise any more till the generall resurrection How many thousands have died lately that would have thought it a great happinesse to die thus quietly in their beds whom the storme of warre hath hurried away furiously into another world snatching them suddenly out of this not suffering them to take leave of that life which they are forced to abandon whereas thou hast a fair leasure to prepare thy self for the entertainment of thy last guest to set both thine house in order and thy soule It is no small advantage my son thus to see death at a distance and to observe every of his paces towards thee that thou maist put thy selfe into a fit posture to meet this grim messenger of heaven who comes to fetch thee to immortality That dying thus by gentle degrees thou hast the leasure with the holy Patriarch Iacob to call thy children about thee to bequeath to each of them the dear legacy of thy last benediction and that being incompassed with thy sad friends now in thy long journey to a far country though thine and their home thou maist take a solemn farewell of them as going somewhat before them to the appointed happy meeting place of glory and blessednesse That one of thine own may close up those eyes which shall in their next opening see the face of thy most glorious Saviour and see this flesh now ready to lie down in corruption made like to his in unspeakable glory Comforts for the sick Soul § 1. The happiness of a deep sorrow for sin THy sin lies heavie upon thy soul Blessed be God that thou feel'st it so many a one hath more weight upon him and boasteth of ease There is musick in this complaint the Father of mercies delights to hear it as next to the melody of Saints and Angels Go on still and continue these sorrowful notes if ever thou look for sound comfort It is this godly sorrow that worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of Weep still and make not too much haste to dry up these tears for they are precious and held fit to be reserved in the bottle of the Almighty Over-speedy remedies may prove injurious to the Patient and as in the body so in the soul diseases and tumors must have their due maturation ere there can be a perfect cure The inwards of the Sacrifice must be three times rinsed with water One ablution will not serve the turn but when thou hast emptied thine eyes of tears and unloaded thy brest of leasurely sighs I shall then by full commission from him that hath the power of remission say to thee Son be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven thee § 2. Comfort from the welgrounded declaration of pardon Think not this word meerly formal and forceless He that hath the keys of hell and of death hath not said in vain Whose sins ye remit they are remitted The words of his faithful Ministers on earth are ratified in heaven Onely the Priest under the Law had power to pronounce the Leper clean had any other Israelite done it it had been as unprofitable as presumptuous It is a precious word that fell from Elihu When a mans soul draweth nigh to the grave and his life to the destroyer if there be a messenger of God with him an interpreter one among a thousand to shew unto that man his uprightness then he i. e. God is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down into the pit I have found a ransom Behold this is thy case my son the life of thy soul is in danger of the Destroyer through his powerful temptations I am howsoever unworthy a messenger sent to thee from heaven and in the Name of that great God that sent me I do here upon the sight of thy serious repentance before Angels and men declare thy soul to stand right in the Court of heaven the invaluable ransom of thy dear Saviour is laid down and accepted for thee thou art delivered from going down into the pit of horrour and perdition § 3. Aggravation of the grievous condition of the Patient and remedies from mercy applied Oh happie message thou saist were it as sure as it is comfortable But alas my heart findes many and deep grounds of fear and diffidence which will not easily be removed That smites me whiles you offer to acquit me and tells me I am in a worse condition then a looker on can imagine my sins are beyond measure hainous such as my thoughts tremble at such as I dare not utter to the God that knows them and against whom onely they are committed there is horrour in their very remembrance what will there then be in their retribution They are bitter things that thou urgest against thy self my son no adversary could plead worse But I admit thy vileness be thou as bad as Satan can make thee It is not either his malice or thy wickedness that can shut thee out from mercy Be thou as foul as sin can make thee yet there is a fountain opened to the house of David a bloody fountain in the side of thy Saviour for sin and for uncleanness Be thou as leprous as that Syrian was of old if thou canst but wash seven times in the waters of this Jordan thou canst not but be clean thy flesh shall come again to thee like to the flesh of a little childe thou shalt be at once sound and innocent Be thou stung unto death with the fiery serpents of this wilderness yet if thou canst but cast thine eyes to that Brazen Serpent which is erected there thou canst not fail of cure Wherefore came the Son of God into the world but to save sinners Adde if thou wilt whereof I am chief thou canst say no worse by thy self then a better man did before thee who in the right of a sinner claimeth the benefit of a Saviour Were it not for our sin what use were there of a Redeemer Were not our sin hainous how should it have required such an expiation as the blood of the eternal Son of God Take comfort to thy self my son the greatness of thy sin serves but to magnifie the mercy of the Forgiver to remit the debt of some few farthings it were small thank but to strike off the scores of thousands of talents it is the height of bounâ—y Thus doth thy God to thee he hath suffered thee to run on in his books to so deep a sum that when thy conscious heart hath proclaimed thee bankrupt he may infinitly oblige thee
blessed Martyr Theodorus have upon racks and gibbets found their consolations stronger then their pains Whiles therefore the goodnesse of thy God sustaines and supplies thee with abundance of spirituall vigour and refreshment answerable to the worst of thine assaults what cause hast thou to complain of suffering The advice is high and heroicall which the Apostle James gives to his Compatriots My brethren count it all joy when ye fâ—ll into divers temptations Let those temptations be rather trials by afflictions then suggestions of sin yet even those overcome yeeld no small cause of triumph for by them is our faith no lesse tried and the trying of our saith worketh patience and the perfect work of patience is a blessed entirenesse of grace The number of enemies addes to the praise of the victory To overcome single temptations is commendable but to subdue Troopes of temptations is glorious § 3. The restraint of our spirituall enemies and their over-matching by the power of God Alas thou saist I am overlaid not with multitudes onely but with power In all challenges of Duels there is wont to be respect had to the equality both of the Combatants and weapons But woe is me how am I overmatched For me I am a weak wretch and we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against Principalities and powers against the rulers of the darknesse of this world against spirituall wickednesse in heavenly places Behold the Amorite whose height is like the height of the Cedars and their strength as the strength of oaks What are we but poor pismires in the valley to these men of measures Who can stand before these sonnes of Anak I did not advise thee my son to be strong in thy self alas we are all made up of weaknesse One of those powers of darknesse were able to subdue a whole world of men but to bee strong in the Lord whose lowest Angel is able to vanquish a whole hell of Devils and in the power of his might who commandeth the most furious of those infernal spirits to their chains Wo were us if we were left in our own hands there were no way with us but foiling and death But our help is in the Name of the Lord who hath made heaven and earth The Lord is our strength and our shield he is our rock and our salvation he is our defence so as we shall not be moved It is he that hath girded us with strength unto battel and that subdueth those that rise up against us Take courage therefore to thy self man there cannot be so much difference betwixt thee and those hellish powers as there is betwixt them and the Almighty their force is finite and limited by his omnipotence How fain dost thou think Jannes and Jambres the great Magicians of Egypt by the conjoyned powers of hell would have made but a Louse in an affront to Moses yet they could not How earnestly was that legion of Devils fain to beg but for leave to prevail over a few Gaderene-swine How strong therefore soever they 〈◊〉 to thee yet to him they are so meer weakness that they cannot so much as move without him Who can fear a Bear or a Lion when he sees them chained to their stake Even children can behold them baited when they see their restraint Look not upon thy self therefore look not upon them but look up to that over-ruling hand of the Almighty who ordinates all their motions to his own holy purposes and even out of their malice raises glory to himself and advantage to his servants §. 4. The advantage that is made to 〈◊〉 by our temptations and foils It is a woful advantage thou sayst that I have made of temptations for alas I have been shamefully foiled by them and what by their subtilty and what by their violence have been miscarried into a grievous sin against my God and lie down in a just confusion of face to have been so miserably vanquished Hadst thou wanted tears my son for thine offence I should willingly have lent thee some It is indeed a heavie case that thou hast given thy deadly enemy this cause to triumph over thee and hast thus provoked thy God Be thou thorowly humbled under the consciâ—ence of thy sin and be not too sudden in snatching a pardon out of the hand which thou hast offended be humbled but after thou hast made thy peace with God by a serious repentance be not disheartned with thy faâ—lings neither do I fear to tell thee of an advantage to be made not of thy temptations onely but even of thy sin What art thou other then a gainer if having been beaten down to thy knees thou hast in an holy indignation risen up and fought so much the more valiantly A wound received doth but whet the edge of true fortitude Many a one had never been victorious if he had not seen himself bleed first Look where thou wilt upon all the Saints of God mark if thou canst see any one of them without his scars Oh the fearful gashes that we have seen in the noblest of Gods Champions upon earth whose courage had never been raised so high if it had not been out of the sense of some former discomfitures As some well-spirited wrestler therefore be not so much troubled with thy fall as zealous to repay it with a more successful grapling We know saith the blessed Apostle that all things work together for good to them that love God All things yea even those that are worse then nothing their very sins The Corinthians offended in their silent connivence at the incestuous person the Apostles reproof produceth their sorrow what was the issue For behold this self-same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what fear yea what vehement desire yea what zeal yea what revenge Lo what a marvellous advantage is here made of one offence What hath Satan now gotten by this match One poor Corinthian is mis-led to an incestuous copulation The evil spirit rejoyceth to have got such a prey but how long shall he enjoy it Soon after the offending soul upon the Apostles holy censure is reclaimed he is delivered over to Satan that Satan should never possess him The Corinthians are raised to a greater height of godly zeal then ever Corinth had never been so rich in grace if it had not been defiled with so foul a crime Say now whether this be not in effect thy case Shouldst thou ever have so much hated thy sin if thou hadst not been drawn in to commit it Shouldst thou have found in thy self so fervent love to thy God if it had not been out of the sense of his great mercy in remitting it Wouldst thou have been so wary of thy steps as now thou art if thou hadst never slipped Give glory to God my son whiles thou givest shame to thy self and bless him