in our owne hands Now the better briefly to unfold the nature of these tentations I meane to deliver my selfe in these short Questions 1. What a Tentation is A tentation is the moving of a man to some sin either by or without the senses with a reason to enforce it it is when lust and Satan doe suggest perswade and instigate a man to the committing of some sinne with some shew of reason Every thing is as it is received that is a reason which is so taken else sin can have no true reason for it who can imagine that there is any reason in it for a man to doe that which in its nature and desert casts away his soule and body for ever but yet the tentation would never take except man a reasonable creature were brought over by some reason in appearance Paul cals sinners absurd and unreasonable men neither can they give a reason for any sin they commit but because our apprehension is corrupt and the â—â—culty of discerning is lost therefore Satan may with ease put fallacies upon us and under a colour of dealing wisely leade us into a fooles paradise Our onely way is then to beleeve that there can bee no reason given for sin and that it is nothing but very skill in our great adversary to let in his poyson Come and let us reason with GOD and not with the divell and then wee shall soone espie the folly that is in reasoning with lust and Satan Sometimes wee are tempted to sin and when wee once yeeld then we are tempted for sin to doe this or that because wee have thus sinned when a man is once in a sin then we are apt to fall into tentation of discouragement or worse that now it is impossible to get out I might have kept my selfe when I was well but now there is no hope it is in vaine now to strive and so the tentation is made a snare or else to find some end by some other wicked course and fearefull enterprise to breake out of sin by some other sin and this indeed is all the reason that is for sinning Who are subject to be tempted No man free our Apostle saith Every man is tempted being drawne aside and entised by his owne lust The best men are often tempted and that when they are at the best Satan was neither ashamed nor afraid to set on the LORD IESUS himselfe his malice is mighty towards the godly and if hee can but get one of them downe he is made he hath enough by the end to weaken the hearts of weaker Christians to discredit the Gospell and the best men are apt to be lifted up and carried away with some pangs of spirituall pride and then they are in a foule way for one tentation or other there is as Satan thinks something to be had thence Theeves rob not out-houses where there is nothing but dung or straw the godly have in them the riches of the spirit gold and silver and that makes the divell to carry an evill eye to them and he is ever sicke to ruine such a Christian and God who sits Moderator in all our tentations orders all according to his holy wisdome if he suffer such to be tempted it is for their good to let them bloud to purge their choler to fit them for himselfe Pyrats set not on an empty Vessell but on Merchants laden as deepe as they can swimme Doe not dreame that any perfection shal priviledge thee froÌ„ being tempted thou that art a spirituall man consider with thy selfe lest thou be also tempted and so tempted as overcome that must be the Apostles meaning No man can say when he is tempted that hee shall not bee overcome in and by the tentation He then is wisest that doth keep off tentations all hee can and that way goes S. Pauls exhortation Hee that thinkes that hee is so good that hee ought not to bee tempted or so strong that hee need not feare to bee tempted hath need of a tentation that by experience in himselfe hee may prove what hee ought to have found in the word that of our selves wee have no strength that our goodnesse is not our owne Watch and pray saith Christ lest yea fall into tentation Leade me not must every Christian say into tentation of our selves and of others wee must not Iudg rashly as though either wee or they were not good because frequently and greevously tempted every man whilst hee hath lust in him and divels about him must bee in his armour have all in a readinesse ere he be a day elder a storme may come Ship-men when in a calme or at an haven use to looke to their tacklings make all sure against a tempest no grace no place can exempt any living wight wee must take our turnes and it is our best to bee arming and preparing what ever is past all is not past a thousand to one the fits will come againe He went away from Christ but for a season and after a season hee came to him and will to us the elder wee grow because wee have most faith the more usually and the stronger are our tentations when we are seasoned wee heare of those tentations which we had no acquaintance w th when we were green we shall not have more but we shall have as much as wee can beare we must bee put to it to the very backe and after some greater matter done either for us or by us it is common for to heare of Satan as in Iehosophat he fell so did Asa after God had done great things for them and when Peter made that noble confession Satan begins to be both bold and busie with him presently Make a stand then as we may and must fly from the outward occasions yet from our lusts within or our spirituall enemy without wee neither may nor can fly except we flye to heaven How Tentations to unnaturall sinnes may bee said to come from our owne lusts A man is to expect if hee live out his daies to be urged to all sinnes to the breach of every branch of every one of the ten Commandements he is like to runne thorow them all more or lesse and for his faith Lust and Satan cannot abide faith and we must arme our selves for all assaults that way wee shall bee put to it in respect of every Article of our Creede Satan and our owne lust will try whether they can bring us to question all the Articles concerning God concerning Christ or concerning the Church But for sinne against nature it is not so easie to see how our owne lust may bee said to move and to entice us to them I may say that all our tentations if they may be let runne will become unnaturall they will end there in something which is unnatural touching God as Atheisme and Blasphemy or touching men as others or our our selves as
as the plot of all diseases lyes in the humours of the body so for certaine in the lust of the soule there is in all a kinde of pronesse a very aptitude to the worst of sinnes I know that the power of man is finite and no way able to runne upon divers horrible impieties in all extremitie at once chiefly sith many sinnes in the act doe crosse one another though all concurre in the Roote as in a Common Center but yet now one then another there is no sinne under heaven but man is subject unto by turnes chiefly should the LORD give Satan leave to blow the fire and to baite our lust man would presently shew himselfe in his colours and sinne many divelish sins That which is said is true that there is no sin so bad so base so unnaturall but mans nature is if no enclinable to it yet capable of it If the sin bee but so so an ordinary crime that then our nature is inclinable to it but if most unnaturall and most abhorrent from the principles of nature yet wee are capable of it in some degrees Lust is of it selfe past shame and past sense I may adde that though at first sin against nature sit not with us tast not of our nature by reason of that law and light that is in us yet after a little space when lust hath overcome the law of nature a man is as sicke after sins against nature as hee was after common sins and worse for the greater and fowler a sin is the more headlong is our lust after it wee being by Originall sin most eager after those transgressions which are worst an ordinary stomacke is most of it selfe earnest after usuall dyet that is wholesome but wee see a custome brings children to eate coales and an humour in the stomacke makes young women eate leather to choose and what more usuall than for breeding women to lust after such things which would make the stomacke of another to rise so I may say that as long as our lust is kept in and held downe it is for ordinary faults while the law of nature can rule it against the force and cunning of Originall sinne such unnaturall passions seeme to finde some Antipathy in us but when by custome occasion or tentation lust shewes it self and the light of nature can doe little why then man is not onely capable of unnaturall sins but inclinable to them and more impudent and impotent that way than after other sinnes As wee see Ammon is sick after his owne Sister an unnaturall crime and hungers more after her than ordinary and Caine had rather kill his owne brother than any man else in the world had there bin any Many are more mad after Hee lusts who care not for Shee lusts as in Sodome we see Lots daughters were not worth the looking after they must know the men they went after strange flesh saith Iude strange in their Sex and kinde so Paul saith Rom. 1. 26. that women more shamefast and modest by nature than men did not care for the naturall use which they had lawfully but changed it into that which is against nature thus we see delights against nature are when Originall lust is let out more looked after than naturall our corrupt affections are not more capable of but more inclinable at last to unnaturall sins which they did stare at at the first as long as the law of nature doth fight it out against Originall sin and can carry it we love not to heare these sins named but when nature in the Law of it is suppressed and our lust rules all no sinne in such request as some unnaturall sinne or other these passions of fedity and dishonour doe then burne as it is in Saint Pauls English Wee reade much of Ganimedes and the jest went of Nero and his Sporus that it had beene well for the world if Domitius Neros father had had no other wife In a word a man whose Originall sinne is kept in order doth but hunger after sins of ordinary quality but when nature is out of office and lust doth all men will then long after unnaturall lusts Passions worke more strongly the wrong way and the streame is most swift when it is not in the right channell And in the other passion of bloud how men do put off all naturall affection wee see it for men are more cruell when they take to their own children their owne parents than to any enemies aye the fire of a mans unnaturall sins are not satisfied but with a mans owne bloud and many thinke to lay this divell by killing themselves who have not a thought of murthering any body else Oh that men could once come within sight of the depth of their owne lust Man would then learne not to bee so bold with occasions of sin against nature what if at first nature doth even spit at them yet if once they fire and take they worke strongly and come with a greater swing of delights than naturall sinnes doe and therefore I would we could learne as to be humble for our Originall sinne so to thanke GOD for keeping us and ours that those unnaturall courses have not bin and broken forth in our persons or houses to our shame and scandall as have bin done in houses and families of better than our selves And to pray that God would keepe us as from all other so from taking after unnaturall passions What if wee have grace yet sith these sinnes are not sins against the holy Ghost t is possible for good people to bee infected with them as long as we have Originall sin we want but occasion and a tentation and Gods permission and then we fall sith Originall sin is the same it was and was at first the same it is now there bee perhaps new actuall sins because never drawne out into practise before but no new Originall sin Originall sin is but one and it is the selfe same in kind and degree in all persons and at all times It may and doth in some beare new fruites but it never had nor hath nor shall have new rootes it ever had in it the rootes of all sins and it can never have but the rootes of all Wee must ever stand bound to the goodnesse of our God who hath so kept us hitherto that we have not broken forth into more and into worse sins than we have There is no abhomination so prodigious but our Originall sinne would quickly water at it it is his meere favour alone who hath kept us and our families from occasions of such sins or such occasions from us Blesse God then that Caine hath not killed Abel in our houses that Ammon hath not defloured our Tamar that our Absalom hath not been the death of his brother Ammon 〈◊〉 that our brother Absalom hath not sought our lives also that Reuben hath not gone up to his fathers Couch
be held by great Divines amongst them as by Tapper in art To cast all into a briefe I say that God is not bound to give place of repentance unto dispisers and breakers of his covenant 2. Hee may in Iustice absolutely deny it them and many times doth as to Caine Gen. 4. 11. to Esau Heb. 11. 17. to Corah and his complices Num. 16. 27. to Ananas and Zaphira Acts 5. 5. and infinite others 〈◊〉 saith Aquinas God if he will may doe it for no sin but for to punish Originall sinne onely 3. God doth give place and time and the grace of repentance to most indurate sinners and to such as for the just guerdon of some former sins have bin given up to a reprobate minde and albeit such bee farre spent yet they are not past cure the disease doth admit of a remedy the sin is not the sin against the holy Ghost it is pardonable by a kinde of violent worke of the Law and Gospell by a strong and compacted force of the Spirit of God such hurts are sometimes cured and such sinnes are healed and therefore to avoide the blow of Satans tentations that we are in a reprobate mind and therefore past all remedy Let us say yet there is hope in Israel concerning this sin repent wee and returne and God will shew us mercy For though God may leave such a man utterly in his sins yet that he must and will give men up when their sins are come to such or such a passe is a Doctrine fit for none to teach but Papists whose religion was and is as Luther once noted a Slaughter-house of the conscience of man Quest What be the remedies against tentation They are either Generall or else Particular for some certaine cases as for the Generall there are Rules to be observed some before some in others after the tentation Generall Rules and Remedies for prevention before All I cannot neither would I if I could the chiefe are 1. Beware of spirituall pride the disease of such as have something to be proud of for when men grow into a big conceite of themselves then there needs a tentation to pricke the bladder Swelling in the body is a dangerous Symptome t is no lesse ominous to the soule for if once wee come to please our selves with our well doing the heart presently swels up into a puffe of spirituall pride which is the greatest enemy to the free grace of God that is which spirituall pride is usually cured w th a spirituall fall See in the stories of the Saints in the blessed Bible and we shall finde that their pride of spirit hath ever likely had a fall it was for the pride of wit that those Rom. 1. were given over to passions of dishonour walke humbly with thy GOD and feare nothing What was in Adam is rife in us still yee shall bee as gods was his disease and it is ours ever after 2. The next thing wee must see to is Security and here the precept is Watch When men thinke there is least danger then the danger is greatest sin and Satan are ever watching their oportunities which is when we watch not and is it not fit sin and Satan should bee let loose upon us to feare us out of our security and chiefly such lusts as fire the conscience A man in a swoone must wee know bee rubbed and chafed and some staring lusts which will trouble the spirits of a man and chafe his very soule are a fit of burning fever to cure this spirituall Lethargie Security will rust us undoe us and eate out all that good is out of us and if the word will not doe it nor a crosse will not worke it then comes a sharpe tentation to see what that will doe and if any thing will first awake and then humble the drowsie and sleepy heart of a man it is some vexing sin or other 3. Wee must not abuse any mercy what ever it be for that bringes in a tentation hee that will not use lawfull things lawfully it is just with God that hee should and ten to one hee shal fal into the unlawfull act of the thing abused Bee it Wife or Name or Goods or any mercy if wee abuse it and doe not use it aright the next is to bee set upon with some act of sin in the matter it selfe What ever wee enjoy if we enjoy it not holily and thankefully we shall bee sore tempted about it in one sinfull veine or other 4. Looke not disdainefully on any sin in another bee the sin what it will bee the sinner who he will our nature stands not free from the same we are subject to that very malady and to punish us for looking upon the fals and faults of others with scornes first or last wee are like to bee tempted to and with the same offence that we may learne to know our selves and to bee more mercifull to others against another time A common thing for a man out of passion not compassion to let flye at anothers sins to day and to fall or bee ready to fall into the selfe same sin to morrow We find that we are sollicited to a sinne that we never yet from our youth felt any motion too till now to let us see that we beare about us not only the rootes of those sins which our complexion hath enclined us unto but also of those sinnes wee never thought of nor dream'd of that so wee may learn to consider others in their corruptions with meekenesse to day sith it may bee our case to take their turne to morrow 5. Keepe off from us and our selves off from all occasions of any sinne to rush into harmes way is to tempt our selves and to tempt Satan to tempt us He that will dare to runne into the mouth of any sin he doth conceit that hee is free from that sinne and the next newes hee heares is to heare of that very sin that he may know by experience what a creature man is keepe and doth not he who ventures on occasions of sin take himself free from the danger of that sin whereas the very deed is that the man who doth dare to venture on the occasion of sinne shewes that there was in the heart an implicite likening of that sinne though hee neither thinke it nor feele it but rather dreame the contrary for when the occasion is once afoot then presently comes in mighty provocations to that sin and then the hidden corruption opens and manifests it selfe it is our wisdome as we would shun sin to avoid all occasions of all sins whatsoever For if wee will not keepe our selves from the occasion God will not keepe us from the sin and if God do not keep us we cannot be kept we cannot we will not choose but fall 6. Keep all our armour about us and put sin and Satan out of hope the divell is wiser than usually to tempt where he
particular yet nothing but what wee have faith for one way or other if not in the particular yet in the generall viz. we beleeve that wee shall conquer all the tentations we see and all others wee neither see nor feele such as we doe know and those wee does not know of wherein a kinde of implicite faith is sufficient thus and then wee aske nothing but what wee have faith for one way or other In the generall we aske in the general and we have many things whereof wee have no faith for in the particulars Vp then and bee doing worke it out by having and using our faith Satan flyes at the sight of faith there is such an Antipathy betwixt Satan and the faith of a Christian that faith no sooner comes in place but Satan is gone Other graces have their use and place to resist the impulsions of the divell some one some another but faith as Paul showes doth quench all I say all the fiery darts of the divell because it doth take in Christ Iesus with all his merits Value Virtue and Power And thus much for the first meanes to get out of tentations which is by Beleeving 2. The second is by Resisting Resist saith Peter how resist Stedfastly how stedfastly In the faith and what then why then Satan will flye The Apostle showes us in another phrase Stand saith hee and then Sathan hee fals It is not here saith Chrysostome as it fares w th wrastlers for there except we cast down our adversity we conquer not here wee conquer Satan if hee cast not us down we are then in acceptation as though we did cast him down alas Satan is quelled and as it were cast downe and killed already he is too far in hell ever to come out againe Satan can looke for no crowne hee is in perdition his aime is to cast us downe into the same destruction he himselfe is in so that if we doe resist and but keepe our Stand this is our conquest we must not looke for a greater victory than is to bee had in this world That which troubles some with discomfort is because no sooner doe they begin to resist but it is rather worse with them than it was before these consider not that it will be thus for if we will let sin and Satan alone they will let us alone sleepe in sinne and spare not we may have quiet enough and come by degrees to be past feeling but resist wee sin and Satan and the divell will play his part to hold his hold hee is a strong man and will not out except hee be forced now possession by force wee know is with some stir struggle sin will and must when we labour to cast the old man off it will because it is now a dying and all dying things that dye by peeces as sin doth reluct and struggle and stirre for life it must because else a godly man would not so well discerne the going out of sin the Candle blazeth most stinketh worst when it burnes in the Socket and so it fares with sin when it is towards it's last There is a double death of sin one in respect of the guilt of sinne which then is killed when we have our pardon this is in Iustification and when we beginne to get our pardon the Conscience is more out of quiet greater stirs being there than when wee sate still and did nothing that way But when the pardon is had once then the conscience is alive sin is dead and our hearts are at quiet being justified by faith wee have peace with God The other death of sin is in respect of the power of sin and this is in our sanctification and this wee meane chiefest here when a godly man sets about it to kill up and dry up this running disease the plucking out of the weapon the removing of the guilt of sin is done on a sudden but the healing of the wound the mending of the languor is done gradualy now a little and then a little and when a man is come to abhor his lusts then he hath given his sin it 's deaths wound as touching the power of it so on now some then some sinne doth dye more and more Now when a man can once come to resist sinne hee is dead to sin both wayes to the guilt of it and to the power of it for had hee not the pardon of it he could not resist it had hee not some power against it hee could not resist it Now looke how much power we get to resist it so much power sin loseth And now because sin will not give ground and lose the Field without fighting and some opposition hence it is that when wee begin to resist sin and Satan make to feele to the greater head and wee take our case to bee the worse wee cannot sleepe in a quiet skinne here except wee will sit downe here by Satans fire for if wee once goe about to get off from him hee will not lose us so but some stir he will make but we must live by faith and know that Satan is going and sin is a dying When the divell went of out of the mans body he tare him and puld him miserably he would not take his far-well but he should feele it so when wee doe by prayer conjure and charm him out of our soules he will make all the hurly burly he can when he is going out but bee of good heart our faith doth assure us that there is never a prayer we make nor act of resisting that we doe use but gives Satan a knock and sin a mortifying blow when ones hands do ake for cold yet when wee come first to the fire the fingers ends ake worse which makes children cry when they first come to the fire the cause is because the heat doth draw out the cold to the utmost parts and ends of every finger like to this it is that our sinnes doe make us ake worse when first wee bring our selves to the enlightning and healing ordinances of God our sinnes then are drawne out more therefore they vex more wee doe stirre them more and therefore they stinke worse wee see them more then and are troubled at the sight of them I confesse But yet so as a man is at the sight of many huge enemies whom yet hee knowes that through the helpe of his Captaine by fighting he shall beate and conquer by resisting and fighting what ever we see and feele at first wee doe and shall conquer sin and the lusts thereof and save our selves from the tentation of the divell Some questions may here come in by the way Quest. 1. When lust is sufficiently resisted Ans Some kind of faint resisting may bee made by generall and common graces and some againe against some sins by the law of nature but for the resisting that proves effectuall and is against all sin as sin is against
we must hold our owne and keep in this perswasion to dye for it that wee are the children God Say we have ever so many afflictions desertions corruptions yet that ought not to shake us out of our assurance for David had as many afflictions as any of us and more and for desertions wee finde him all over the Psalmes making heavy complaints that way He that runs may reade all over that Book many a dolefull song and for corruptions and such corruptions too as use to pay us home sins great sins I meane committed after his calling and conversion hee laid hands on another mans wife hee defiled her her husband loving David as his own soule and then fell upon an horrid plot of murther he did art it with hellish skill and shed the bloud of sundry that hee might be the death of one and did hee not number the people against all reason and stood it out too say all the Captaines what they could And yet I hope David added not this sin to all the rest to wit to question it whether God were his God or not I have saith hee done foolishly I have sinned and that greatly Lord forgive what The infirmity No the iniquity of whom Of thy Servant He holds this fast that for all his sins his great sinnes yet hee was Gods servant still let go this and though our sins were but a few or but ordinary yet Satan will sinke us with one tentation or other but now keepe wee our ground in this point never deny the conclusion that God is our God and say our corruptions were more were worse than they are well may Sathan shake his chaine at us but we stand on a rock and the flouds of his tentations cannot come so much as at our feet For we know that our sins are but the sinnes of a creature his mercies are the mercies of an infinite Creator without either banke or bottome keepe wee the maine chance that he is our father and then well may our sins humble us but Satan with all his setting on shall never be able to discourage us we know that Christ died for sinners and for the chiefe of sinners no man was ever kept out of heaven for his confessed badnesse but many are for their supposed goodnesse In a word this only point that hee is our father kept up in our consciences will make us fit and able to dash and blow off al the powers of darknes and push away all the darts of the divell therefore sith it is his method to lay all upon this point hold this fast and wee hold all fast If the Enemy assault one way and the Garrison defend another way the Towne is lost the Enemy will carry the strongest peece We must not bee taken up about other matters and lye open here here Satan will try his skill and doe his utmost to bring us out of conceit with God and to make us think that God hath no love unto us no care of us and then we are gone Live and dye then with this in thy heart and mouth Hee is my God and I am his servant and so we shall bee able to lay all the divels in hell Say God hath confirmed his love to mee so much so often that now I hope I shall never call that matter into question againe And next for afflictions we must frame a new Bible ere we can with any colour finde any thing out of Gods afflicting us to prove that hee doth not love us of the two abundance and plenty and outward peace would yeeld matter to say that God doth not care for us and yet it would be long ere a Christian will come to a Minister and say I have such a deale of wealth of health and so many friends and so much friendship that I feare mee I am not in the right but when afflictions comes and stormes arise then wee come and make a pitious moane sure God is not my father I am not his child and grow we doe into hard conceits concerning God and heavy thought as touching our selves now all this comes out of our fancy who doe so highly prize the things of this life that sure if God did love us we should not bee in such and such wants A very foolery the Text is cleere he correcth every son whom he receiveth let the word bee heard speake and then we may conclude the contrary and say thus doth God afflict me and hee doth withall make mee to make a right use of his afflictions say but of one and by this I am sure that he is mine and I am his for affliction is a part of the curse in its owne nature and God doth never chang the nature of it and turne it to a mercy but onely to those hee loves it should it would hurt me I finde it did me doth mee good and therefore I am a son of his love And lastly for desertion that is but a mist before our eyes Desertion is in it selfe no sin for Christ was without sense aye he was so deepe in it that when he dyed he said why hast thou forsaken me A totall a finall desertion ours is not partiall the best have had and have GOD turnes away his face David himselfe is troubled The just doth live by faith and not by feeling and in that very Psalme where hee complaines that his spirit was over-whelmed within him and that his very heart within him was desolate I say in that selfesame Psalme David saith Thou art my God I passe not whether this Desertion bee for sinne or from sin a chastisement of sin or an effect of sin all comes to one for our dispute it hath is and may bee the case of a right godly man Looke up then and if from want of sight and feeling wee doe say Why hast thou forsaken me yet then let us by faith withall say my God my God and we are safe Sith then this is the order Satan useth to follow us in his tentations to make us to distrust our being in Christ and our standing in grace we must make that our method too and rather suffer to dye at Gods feet than to suffer our assurance to be taken away from us Lose this and lose all our comfort hold this and all is ours let Satan say and doe his worst I confesse it is a heavy hand when a man is put to it to walke without his feeling David was a man for naturall and spirituall cheerefulnesse both above men yet hee had his heart full and say his case were ours that for very sorrow of heart arising from the absence of the light of his countenance wee be like a bottle in the smoak we doe shrim away to nothing become a very Sceleton a bagge of bones an Anatomie of a man yet then our faith must shew it selfe and we must hold up our heads above water no great thankes
be up and down in the world and have much society where men are and yet must not bee maried except some one will come and have her with nothing Examples of any that have so done are so rare that in my experience I never knew any 2. Next when we are to enter our selves and ours into mariage we must see to the chiefe and the principall end which is as the state of man is since the fall to keep a man chast he that maks mariage to be the meanes in his intention to make him rich maries in the flesh and not in the Lord hee cannot with any face invite the Lord to the wedding Mammon not the Lord doth lead the Bride to Church the Apostle saith it is not good for a man to touch a woman but yet saith he to avoid fornication he saith not to pay debts to get money to make one rich let every man have his owne wife but to avoid fornication Matrimony then was ordained to make men and keepe men chast and not to make men rich And we doe finde that many of those who marry to bee rich which is their end and have rich widdowes too after mariage doe attaine neither their owne end nor Gods marry and after are neither rich nor chast and then they fall upon mariage with many heavy complaints and cries and that if there bee any hell above ground it is in mariage We must then be before hand and marry so seasonably for time and so wisely proportionably for age and other convenient circumstances that it may preserve our chastity It is too late to bring water when the house is burnt as soone as the sparkes arise and it begin to grow toward burning and we see the smoke up goe to Physick there must be no time of lusting what ever there bee of woing many complaine of too much trouble in that estate because they bring sin with them thither there bee too many who are afraid to marry but not to sin and at last when it is heard late marry they doe and rue it all daies of their lives did we conceive what the horror of uncleannesse is like to be and that there is in the sinne of fornication a staine above other sins that it makes ones body the member of an harlot it doth defile the soule as in their manner all sins do it doth defile the body in making it an actor in the sin as many other sins doth it doth abuse the body in making it the member of an harlot which no other sin but the sin of uncleannesse doth and this will presse hard on the conscience when time shall serve that in sinning this sin the body is thus made the member of a strumpet 3. When entred into the estate we must be convinced of the greatnesse and foulnesse of the sin of adultery it gives a deadly blow to the 〈◊〉 it selfe it is cried out of exceedingly in the Word it cuts a-sunder the sinews of families we must judge of it by the Word not by the world Once I am sure amongst the Papists it was placed among the lesser sinnes and because too many every where stand guiltie of this sin the world hath not a right â—â—dgement of this sinne it doth corrupt the mind of a man and takes away the use of the power and faculty of discerning it brought Salomon the Wise to run into all idolatry against common sense And Sampson the strong made Iudge of Israel by a miracle from the Lord and therefore no foole though he knew that the harlot would betray him yet when he had once tasted of it hee did so lose his right wits that for his heart he could not forbeare we must not then thinke of this sinne as the world doth but as the LORD doth wee see customs takes away 〈◊〉 and judging exactly of any sin in the very Church it selfe and that a non after Christ we find that by reason of use the Christian Gentiles held fornication to be scarce a sin as we may see in that Synode in the Acts and the second Chapter of the Revelations a tricke of youth it was counted and is amongst too many but for a tricke of youth ye for such tricks God the just will damne men in hell unlesse they repent In 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. we reade that fornicators as distinct from adulterers and adulterers shal not inherit the kingdom of God and againe fornicators adulterers though men doe not as they should yet God wil judge Yea but say a man lye in the least knowne sinne that is he must not inherit the kingdome of heaven and therefore this is no argument to prove these sins to be great because they keepe out of heaven But these sins are named above others to shew that a man cannot be fornicator or adulterer and be in Christ A common practicer of those sinnes one cannot be but he must and shall allow them they are of that nature that they will lord it where they be but other lesser infirmities a man may practice them commonly and yet not allow them and so notwithstanding bee in Christ Iesus These then be sins whose ordinary use cannot stand with grace nor is compatible with ones being in Christ and by that meanes they are said to barre out of heaven over lesser and smaller thoughts and thus the argument is good and firme hence to prove them to be great sins what then love cannot doe let fear doe for God doth puniâ—â— these sins with a chiefly see this in Peter The Lord knoweth how to preserve the unjust to the day of judgement to bee punished but chiefly them that walke after the flesh in the lusts of uncleannesse Being convinced of the hainousnesse of this crime the next is that the mariage-bed must with all care be preserved in all purity the tentation is strong to fornication stronger to adultery for the worser a sin is the stronger is the impulsion of Originall lust unto it and Satan is more eager to make men adulterers after than fornicators before but here is the difference that as I shewed before except a man hath the gift hee that will not take Gods medicine and marry let him doe what he can use any use all other meanes yet he hath no promise it shal do but when married use the meanes and we have a promise and an assurance that we shall be kept undefiled let sin and Satan doe their worst The chiefe and necessary meanes to maintaine conjugall chastitie is for such to-love one another it is not the having but the loving of a yoake-fellow which doth keepe us cleane and chast 2. To keepe in with God in other matters for that man with whom the Lord is angrie for some other former matter shall fall into the hands of a filthy woman We must not then by lying and living in any other crime give God cause
to give us over unto this sinfull sinne 3. Such must be chast betwixt themselves beware of excesse and defect Divines tâ—ll of excesse but if there be too much there may be too little else what meanes that phrase of S. Paul lest Satan tempt you for your incontinencie there must bee quenching nor provoking of lust raging lust is a great enemie to love and it is raging and is loth to be contented with one and if not with one then indeed and upon the matter with none Dalliances are forbidden First words and talke full of obscenity betwixt them two is not lawfull they must not by words corrupt one anothers chastitie worse than to taint the chastitie of a stanger for that here is or ought to be most love What if no body be by yet God is by and chastity the honour and honesty of the estate is by Secondly the eyes must be pure and chaste else the next will be that the eyes of such will be full of adultery it crosseth the end of matrimony which is not to fire but to extinguish lust I have read that it is against the Law of Nature for one without necessary cause to see his owne nakednesse but what ever credit we give to the judgement of men we have it in the Word that Adam and Eve when there was no living creature by the very instinct of nature did teach them to make coverings to hide their nakednesse from the sight one of another this I am sure that the Lord doth use to correct such intemperate couses and practises with strong and vexing tentations after strange flesh this is the ordinary effect of this abuse and they who shall avoid such irregular prankes shall finde a sweet enjoyment one of another and true affections stirred up with more naturall delight and heavenly content Isaac I know sported with his wife but it was no body being by and what if it were such that the King who over-saw all knew thereby that shee was his wife yet it was in all modesty for no dâ—lliance nor sporting is allowed to a man with another woman this sporting did discover to an heathen that hee was her husband although he gave it out that he was her brother But it was not of that nature we now treat of that the Patriarches and Matriarches carried it with all possible modesty in those dayes we may see it cleare by the story of Iacob and Leah Beleeve it modesty is the best preserver of nuptiall chastity mariage is no stale nor cover to any uncleane and base practises love doth no unsightly nor unseemely thing 4. The bed must be sanctified and kept undefiled by the Word and Prayer The Word is as Divines show us up and downe a mighty healer of this corruption and it stands like a strong Tower against all these base and uncleane lusts To the Word there must be Prayer adjoyned else wee rely too much on the Physick and it is not like to doe and if Physicke workes not right it makes one worse and so here as we finde none so uncleane as some married people God must then be sent for to blesse the physick to the soule other things we know as eating and drinking must be sanctified by prayer prayer is then rather and more to bee used here because the passion is so strong and reason so weake where reason is in a manner put besides its present use there I hope prayer hath greatest place eating is to take away the naturall passion of hunger and drinke of thirst yet we are to pray over our meales but here the ordinance is to cure sin to worke on the soule to heale a strong corruption which cannot usually bee done without the influence of heaven and thence it followes that wee have cause to pray more in this case than in eating and drinking praying I say there ought to bee say by way of supposition that prayer at meat should take away ones minde to ones meate why then wee would counsell one to pray for a blessing before-hand so here to pray will bring in the blessing of God which is all in all in spirituall medicines as this is being as I said to cure the sin of the soule prayer will keepe men that they shall not surfet and so come to a loathing nor fall into a defect here must be a satisfying as Salomon sayes and drinking away our thirst at our owne Cesterne lest wee hanker after a strange fountaine prayer will make a man keepe himselfe from all base and absurd and abusive dalliances it will make and keepe the bed undefiled and encrease love and mutuall affection Love hath a sure foundation when it is built not on beauty or wealth but upon prayer and grace Satan cannot abide to see men and women in this estate to live in quiet and love and this makes him to use all the art and power hee hath to trouble the waters to blow up the affections after a wrong object for then when such lusts are in love goes out he knowes that the droppings of love will keepe us from such immoderate desires which makes him to goe all the wayes he can to worke to fill the head full of surmises and jealousies the heart full of extravagant lusts and all to marre the harmony which ought to be betwixt couples the house the towne is out of quieâ— when such are out of love all which cals upon such as are married to be as watchfull and carefull to keepe all right to remember that it is the convenant of the Lord that it is not made by man but by the Lord all covenants else that are lawfull are a far off the covenant of the Lord and done in his sight but here the Lord is a party and God hath a speciall hand in this bargaine and he sees as within book quite â—horâ—w and is acquainted with all our thoughts a far off wherefore wee must in thought in word and in deed keepe close to the party the Lord hath bound us unto and wherein we have entred into bond to the Lord for our faithfulnesse such then must be a covering to one anothers eyes else the heart will not stand cleane and the meanes before prescribed and other both naturall and morall directions which wee finde up and downe in Writers must be used with all care and conscience and much diligence and all little enough our nature is catching this way and once in it is not so easie to come off but rather to runne in this case further and further off or else grow into discontents pangs of conscience terrours of heart inward gripings out of which if wee come the right way it must bee with much bitternesse after we have waded first 〈◊〉 a kinde of purgatory if we never claw off those gripings the right way then such run into a seared conscience or which is worse breake prison and thrust themselves out of this
world the quite contrary way I meane now to grow towards a conclusion and the rest shall be taken up in some directions 1. To prevent these Lusts 2. To helpe against the two effects of these lusts viz. 1. Horrour of the tentation 2. The deadly blowes of senselessenesse which they give First for such as are young these are called the lusts of youth they are most strong in youth and come on worst there because that their affections are strong their judgements weake and youth do conceit that they may take some liberty this way and no man must aske them why they doe so They must be exhorted to flye the lusts of youth Timothy was young in age but old in conditions a very true penitentiary a drinker of water a very weak crazie body a great pains-taker a man fuller of grace than ordinary being an extraordinarie Officer in the Church and yet Paul cals upon him being young 〈◊〉 what onely to avoid No what to runne No but fly from the lusts of youth make all post-haste away from them If Timothy such a chast and chastened peece as he was had need of such a warning-peece then all youth have great need not to come neere the doore of her house as Salomon doth advise his young Saint Secondly such as are old must not crie holy-day and thinke that no danger lyes this way alas the day age will kill no sinne it is Christ and grace onely that can cure any 〈◊〉 there were a sinne 〈…〉 whereof in all 〈…〉 if this bee found that age doth kill it in some such then as are in yeares must not cast away their weapon but walke in feare and care this way yea though they bee good people I know the body is then frigid and there is not that stirring with that strength but if Satan come and blow the coales there will rise a great flame a mighty burning an old house will fire quickly and so will old people if they let Satan alone Iob was not young and married hee was too when he said he made a covenant with his eyes taking bonds of his senses that he would not bee catched with a maid and maides are more inductive this way than such as are married Iob not such a man in the whole world againe a chast man a married man one that had children and now some what in yeares and yet you see his â—are and circumspection this way No man must then thinke to walke at large because hee hath the remedy and is now growing towards his last declension Saint Hierome saith that his face was pale with fasting that his body was cold his flesh halfe dead already yet he complaines that in his witheted carcase the flames of lust did boile and that his minde was inflamed and even all in a scalding fâ—â—e with fleshly desires and old hee was also and therefore we see in the best men that be age of it selfe is no priviledge none must dare to heare himselfe bold on his age Satan can helpe an old man and woman to a wanton eye to a young tooth sin is not so much in the act as in the affection it 〈◊〉 in the root and GOD will suffer such 〈◊〉 one to fall into burning passions that by his 〈◊〉 experience he may learne to know that sinne is properly and immediately in the soule and the soule growes not old that grace not age must be the death of sin now an old man to fall into the passions and lusts of youth is monstrous and proves almost uncurable To see an old man covetous is no such strange sight but to see him lascivious is a great eye-sore as to see an old man to be affected with the Gowte and Stone the diseases of age is not so much but to see an old body to bee taken with the diseases of youth is a strange sight and proves most dangerous as to have the small-pox the wormes and other diseases of children so in his soule to finde an old body wantonly given to be carried away with affections of uncleannesse which are properly and commonly the lusts of youth is dangerous I wish then old people to keepe off and not to thrust themselves upon the fire relying too much on their age yea say that a man hath passed over his youth with some freedome this way and it may be hath not felt himselfe much given after this veine yet he were best see that he hang not loose when he comes to yeares for wee have the confession of a most strict and godly man Gregory Nazianzen by name who having in his fresh and younger time carried a good hand over these lusts when old and even done he cries out that hee was haunted and pestered most miserably with them And David a better man than he yet it was in the afternoone of his age that hee fell into adultery And when Salomon was old saith the Text hee doted on an our-landish woman how comes â—his Like enough because men being young feare themselves when old they thinke the worst is past trust too much to the advantage of the body lye not in their armour have not their weapons ready and then Satan is too hard for them 2. When old then men are subject to much spirituall pride and that perhaps because they stood so free from this sinne as though they had beene somewhat in themselves and now to cure that spirituall sicknesse this base tentation is suffered to molest them 3. If they had beene thus set upon when hot and young and full of sap with such strong motions this way like enough they should and would have sunke and yeelded and GOD will have such know by their owne feeling what these lusts meane wherefore that they may not receive that hurt by the temptation and impulsion they have their hands full of them when old and cold who did scape them when greene and young However I wish both young and old by all meanes to beware of this Snake Thirdly whether they be or bee not given to this sinne yet care must be used to be as much as we can out of the way when the tentation doth come such as are much given to this sinne have cause to looke round about them because Satan hath such a potent friend in their bosome hee holds a side and a faction in the hearts of such This sinne is a sinne which is much drawne out by the temper of the bodie it holds more of the body than any as we see it shewes not it selfe till the body comes to such an age it may rather than any be called a bodily sinne if then wee finde that by the constitution and graine of the body as also by sinister education or otherwise the minde and heart runne much or more than ordinary this way such must be at it day and night to keepe the occasion away all they can to keep
once caught to turne the eye away but the object of the eye must bee out of sight that it may be out of mind and then when another comes be before hand prevent the cunning of Sathan by keeping the eye off Iob as honest and as chast a man as lived yet he did make a covenant with his eyes that hee would not thinke on a maid by the course of the letter he shold have said that hee made a covenant with his eyes that hee should not looke on a maid but in stead of saying looke hee saith thinke because â—ooking usually brings thinking and thinking worse A maid hath an inclination in it in one sense and a cut loafe a covered cup carries strong poyson in it in another sense whether maid or maried hee doth best who binds his eyes from such looking that he be not overtaken and when the fire is once in he doth next best who puts the object out of sight and out of mind Some cry out on their eyes and doth even wish their eyes out and in this sense they may as well wish their hands off their feet off their eares off and member after member til al were off this is but to complain of God who made us these meÌ„bers and senses this is not the way it doth not please God and were it as we wish it would not please us for were we blinde all would bee one as long as the fire is unquenched within and our passions are suffered to bee up Wee know what Christ saith I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of this world but that thou wouldst sanctifie them through thy truth so we are not to wish our eyes out but our sin out and to pray him to sanctifie our hearts and eyes by his truth and then away out of doores with that which wee being led by our lust have made the object and occasion and it will mend and grow better It is true that if the object be removed the tentation for the time may cease and no victory as keepe a Sow from mire in a Meddow and the Sow wallowes not take away the Load-stone and the Iron moves not here is no reall change the intention of the minde is not changed nor the affection of the heart neither Such have a minde and a desire to the old lust still but if a man can remove the occasion of his owne proper motion not another take it away but hee himselfe put it away not be kept from it but keepe ones selfe of ones owne will from it this is from grace and here is a victory Vse these and the like means and hold on for a competent time in using of them and wee shal conquer the tentation must and will away Dis-may not though the conquest come not presently what Give over because the physick doth not heale at once taking Be out of heart because all is not done in a day It is not so easie to untie a knot in a silken thread the conscience is of a fine spinning and knots knit there and such as have bin long a knitting too will not bee undone on a sudden have patience give it time and now some and then some Gods medicines will heale and when wee finde the cure done and wee get some strength of grace by all meanes remember to be thankefull lest the tentation come againe and bring seven worse than its selfe But what if the ease I finde be onely because sin and Satan in skill doe cease to tempt if so then our danger remaines we keepe our weapon about us wee may know if it be onely a ceasing to tempt and the lust is onely for a time asleepe First if it bee done without using GODS meanes in Gods feare Secondly if we finde that the lust is only left not hated but if the sinne be hated then it is more than a bare ceasing from the sinne for Satan forbearing and sinne sleeping cannot bring us to an hatred of the sinne I speake not onely of a disapproving of the sin for so a civill man may doe and because it did molest us we may thence be brought to a dislike of it but if wee finde that we can hate it this proves that there is grace in us a divine nature which is contrary to that lust and that chastity is now in the place of the tentation and this cannot come onely from Satans ceasing and forbearing To cease is but a negative thing but chastitie is a positive qualitie which meere negative ceasing and giving over to solicite and tempt can never worke in us Thus when our chast affections are had out of the fire and we have attained this power by spirituall meanes used and waiting upon God for the successe Dispute nor say I have gotten the victory and the God of heaven hath eased mee of the vexation given mee a chast minde to my content and my comfort with body and soule both wee must exceedingly rejoyce in this vertue It is a grace which doth not onely sanctifie but grace and beautifie us all the paint in the world cannot cast such a shining vernish on the very body of a man as chastitie doth Thus much to shew the readie way how to prevent the tentation of lust and uncleannesse The last of all is in a word to helpe us out in case wee doe goe too far we must take heed of both the extreames 1. That we doe not run upon the Rocks of Despaire there is nothing got by discouragement during the time of huge and mightie terrors it may bee wee shall have no minde nor heart to tamper with those lusts againe but yet for other sinnes every way worse worse to God and worse to us we lye all open to them when we are in great dejection as Discontent Distrust a secret rising against God Vnthankefulnesse A finding fault with all that God either saith or doth No care of the Word to reckon no other of the Scripture than of our very Neck-verse and a world of mischiefes more which are the greatest sinnes indeed in these occasions wee are very apt to fall off from Gods mercie to frie in hellish sorrow no sins doe so fire the conscience of a man as these lusts of uncleannesse doe they stare in our faces looke upon our consciences as it were with the eyes of so many devils and in this respect wee must take great heed that wee be not quite out of heart when a man is past hope hee is in his own sense past grace and when a man is made a terrour to himselfe great danger is at hand and therefore when frights doe come and such doe finde themselves too to apt to joyne with the motion to despaire looke upon Gods love beare up in an apprehension and application of his mercie Looke upon instances in the Word of better men than wee are who in the same or the like have seene a good end of all and are now
the written Word and Law of God it is done by faith and saving grace and by the Spirit of GOD giving lust such a wound that let Satan lick it all hee can it never recovers nor comes to it selfe againe Should we take the word sufficiently in a legall sense then while we breath we neither do nor can resist sin but it may be and it ought to be more and better resisted still but if we take it in an Evangelicall sense so as to be sure that our sin is dead at the heart as some trees be that yet carry boughs that we may bee sure that wee are in Christ here I say that a man hath sufficiently resisted sin and Satan when he doth not allow the sin when he doth no way consent to the tentation Some expresse it by a distinction and say that if a man doe not allow infirmities and doe not live in the practise of grosse sinnes then all is well and there is comfort enough to bee had to stay our thoughts against the day of refreshing as a little will stay the stomacke for a time so will an assurance that wee have broken the heart of sinne binde in our hearts from despaire The answer which is made hath this sense in it that if we allow not infirmities 2. If wee doe not practise grosse sins then there is sufficient resisting as touching the maine That there is a difference betwixt infirmities and presumpuous sins is not to be denied it is expresly in the holy scripture Papists say that the man who doth a mortal sin is not in the state of grace But for venials a man may commit in their Divinity who can tell how many of them and yet be in Christ for all that I hope there is no such meaning in any of our Divines as to tye up mens consciences to hang on such a distinction of sins sith it is beyond the wit of man to set downe a distinct point betwixt mortall and veniall sins now when it is an impossible matter punctually to set downe to the understanding of man which is and which is not a veniall sin they must pardon mee from giving the least way to such Divinity as must needs leave the conscience of man in a maze and Labyrinth I finde that the nature of infirmities doth so depend upon circumstances that that is an infirmity in one man which is a grosse sin in another and some men pleade for themselves that the things they doe are but infirmities He that will sin and when hee hath done will say not to comfort his soule against Satan but to flatter himselfe in his sin that it is but an infirmity for ought I know he may goe to hell for his infirmities Besides if that be good that a man who is in grace may doe infirmities but not practise grosse sinnes Then I would I could see a man that would undertake to finde us out some Rule out of the word by which a sinner may finde by his sin when hee is in Christ and when out of Christ at what degrees of sinning where lies the Mathematicall point and stop that a man may say thus far I may goe and yet bee in grace but if I step a step farther then I am none of Christs Wee all know that sinnes have their latitude and for a man to hang his conscience on such a distinction as hath no rule to define where the difference lyes is not safe Divinity The conscience on the racke will not be layd and said with formes and quiddities the best and neerest way to quiet the heart of man is to say that be the sinne a sinne of infirmity when we strive and strive but yeeld at last or of precipitancy when we be taken in haste as he was who said in his haste all men are lyers or a meere grosse sin in the matter aye say it be a presumptuous sin yet if we allow it not it hinders not but wee are in Christ though wee doe with reluctancie act and commit it and I say that we doe resist it if wee doe not allow it For let us not goe about to deny that a godly man during his being a godly man may commit grosse and presumptuous sins and for infirmities if wee allow them and like them that we know to be sinnes then wee doe not resist them and such a man who allowes himselfe in one is guilty of all and is none of Christs as yet bee the sinne what it will Iames makes no distinction and where the law distinguisheth not there wee must not distinguish I speake not of doing a sin but allowing for a man may doe it and yet allow it not as in Paul that which I would not that I doe and hee that allowes not sinne doth resist it therefore a man may resist it and yet doe it all the difference that I know is this 1. That a man may live after his conversion all his dayes and yet never fall into a grosse sin by grosse I meane presumptuous sinnes so Psal 19. David saith not cleanse but keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins we may then be kept from them I speake not that all are but some be and therefore in it selfe all might be 2. For lesser sinnes secret faults we cannot live without them they are of dayly and almost hourely incursion but yet wee must bee clensed from them as David speakes dayly get your pardon and there is a pardon of course for them and they doe not usually distract and plunge the conscience but yet we must not see them and allow them if we do our case is to be pittied wee are none of Christs as yet 3. Great staring sins a man cannot usually and commonly practise them but hee shall allow them So Ps 19. 13. Keepe back thy servant from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over mee Implying that except wee be kept back from them they will have dominion over us it followes then shall I be upright So that the man in whom presumptuous sinne or sins have no dominion he is an upright man To practise a sin is one thing to live in the practise is another how farre a man being and remaining in grace may goe in the committing of great sinnes is past my skill to determine The case of Salomon and others proves that a man may goe farre tentations may hang long if a day a week if a weeke a yeere if a yeere many yeeres and how many Who can say a man lives in a sin when he loves it though he doe not practise it at all as hee is a Drunkard who is never â—â—unke if hee love drinke and he Covetous who loves money though he have not a penny in his purse So say a man never act the sin yet if hee love it if hee doe not hate it hee lives in it As in the Body a man is said to have his health albeit he hath
usuall infirmities which make no let but that hee eate drinke sleepe work but if a man have great diseases which take away his stomacke and strength then we say he is sickly and in danger In the soule usuall scapes and ordinary infirmities wee cannot live without yet they do not interrupt our peace nor destroy the strength of our soules wee pray reade heare neverthelesse But great sinnes doe distract and disturbe doe weaken threaten the worst and as it is hard I confesse for a man to practise them but hee will bee a lover and an allower of them a consenter to them yet when at the worst I say 〈◊〉 godly man doth not make a trade of them his heart is not on them his minde is another way all the while thus then wee must resist lesser lusts by dissenting and striving to weaken them to lessen them but do we our best we cannot possibly be free from them and for greater sins a godly man may be kept from them live and dye without them But yet we must grant that a man may bee good in the heart and yet for a time and how long who can say be drawn to practise them too albeit not to allow them It is enough for either sort to assure a man that hee is a resister of theÌ„ if he pray or sigh or groan against them for the raigne of sin is when we love them now he that strives loves not sin it being not possible for the heart of man to be against that which it loves sufficient resistance is made in point of justification when a man doth disalow them in his judgement and hates them with his heart though he cannot shake off the practise of them It is not easie to put off ones old companions but in the point of Sanctification there is not sufficient resistance made so as to have our peace of sanctification till we be able so to resist that for greater sinnes grosser and more presumptuous faults we doe not practise them at all and for lesser that wee doe dayly weaken them lessen them when our Iudgement doth carry a command over our wils our wils over our affections our affections over our actions Quest. 2 What order are we to observe in making our Resistance Ans Order is of great use to Resist is to fight and the enemies wee are to fight with are many and mighty and therefore as in Battels so here Array and Order is all in all the Particulars are these 1. Wee must set against and resist the motion that comes from us and the suggestion that comes from Sathan at the very first ere they meete and come together if we can possibly be it never so unlikely and so absurd yet we must tremble at it in respect of our owne weaknesse so as to pray against them at the very first sight of the tentation the affection is suffered to come to humble us that so wee may walke in feare use the meanes and not fall into the action Doe not say it is unlikely I shall never doe it this is the way to grow secure and then farewell Sometimes wee are set upon with tentations likely that is such as our particular nature is most given unto for we are many times soonest overtaken with those tentations that our humour doth itch after and anon againe wee are urged to those lusts we never had much minde unto that that so we may be taken secure and ere we are aware and then we are gone Sith then our enemy never sleepeth wee must watch and wake and bee in a readinesse to oberre all the motions of our devouring adversary if wee resist at first comming the work is halfe downe we shall finde Satan a coward if wee resist not wee shall feele him as a Lion wee must trust neither our selves nor Sathan with any tentation Wee see the tempter changeth hands a man so prodigal that he wastes all when young when old quite another way his life is in his riches aye one way to day to morrow the winde sits in a quite contrary point and therefore wee must be provided for all assaies while the tentation is greene and young and what if we can make no great matter of it as yet to our thinking Wee must hold out still for all that play the man still God meanes to make a sound cure and it may be hee will suffer us to bee held to it somewhat with the longest the venome and poyson must out from the very bottome wee must have patience what Patience at motions to sin yes such a patience as this is to thank God it is no worse and to bee content to wait the Lords leasure dayes moneths yeares and thanke-yee too if we may have it at last impatient at the lust but yet a patient and long suffering minde that we be not tired out Begin as soone as the tentation begins to peepe bee at it to day to morrow every day and after a time the fits will and shall breake away Some Agues aâ—â—â—ured by striving and resisting All tentatiions I am sure are Hee that will drive away his sorry Partner by wrestling must doe it at the beginning before the Ague be setled in the bloud and spirits and in like sort it is soonest done to drive away this divell by striving and resisting to doe it at the first while it is young and not strong ere it get into an habit and creepe into the bones and which is more inward into the marrow I meane ere it can get any great hand over the spirit of our mind the bosome and bottome of our soules 2. Wee must begin where Satan begins and goe on as hee goes on wee are to observe his motions if hee begin with a lesser sin we must not despise small things a little leake drownes all in time and the prick of a pinne le ts out all the winde 〈◊〉 bladder and therefore wee must make up against Sathan even then when hee comes with the smallest sins and if hee turne to greater and fouler faults we must of all bee very carefull to keepe off the pikes of more damnable errors and sinnes They make fowle holes in the consciences and as theeves doe such gâ—shes let in other sins greater and greater still when it first comes it appeares great doe but yeeld to it once or twice and then we begin to thinke it to be not so great a matter the ordinary and common tentation that Satan useth to make the foundation of and to give entry to all the rest is to beare us downe in it that wee are not the children of God and that wee are not in Gods bookes give him but this and then we doe in a manner yeeld him all the rest for if once we conclude that God is not our father in Christ then Satan hath us where he would and hee may leade us into despaire or presumption which he pleaseth and therefore what ever we doe