of God is eternall life both these are given to the man not to the soule The body is copartner in the sin it must therefore share in the torment it must therefore be raysed that it may be punished Eternity of joy or paine is awarded to the just or to the sinner how can the body be capable of either if it should finally perish in the dust How can it stand with the infinite mercy of God who hath given his Sonne intirely for the ransome of the whole man and by him salvation to every beleever that he should shrink in his gracious performances making good onely one part of his eternall word to the spirituall halfe leaving the bodily part utterly forlorne to an absolute corruption Know then O thou wicked one that when all the rabble of thine Athenian scoffers and Atheous Sadduces and carnall Epicureans shall have mis-spent all their spleene my faith shall triumph over all their sensuall reason and shall afford me sound comfort against all the terrors of death frō the firme assurance of my resurrection and shall confidently take up those precious words which the mirror of patience wished to be written in a book and graven with an iron pen in the rock for ever I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God and my soule shall set up her rest in that triumphant conclusion of the blessed Apostle This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortall shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to passe the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ VI. TEMPTATION If the soule must live and the body shall rise yet what needest thou to affright thy selfe with the terrours of an universall judgement Credulous soule when shall these things be Thou talkest of an awfull Judge but where is the promise of his comming These sixteene hundred yeares hath he beene lookt for and yet he is not come and when will he Repelled THy damned scoffers were betimes foreseene to move this question even by that blessed Apostle whose eyes saw his Saviour ascending up to his glory and who then heard the Angell say Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven What dost thou and they but make good that sacred truth which was delivered before so many hundred generations Dissemble how thou wilt That there shall be a generall assise of the world thou knowest and tremblest to know what other couldst thou meane when thou askedst my Saviour that question of horror Art thou come to torment us before the time That time thou knowest to be the day in which God will judge the world in righteousnesse by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead How clear attestation have the inspired Prophets of God given of old to this truth The ancientest Prophet that ever was Henoch the seventh from Adam in the time of the old world foretels of this dreadful day Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him From the old world is this verity deduced to the new and through the succession of those holy Seers derived to the blessed Apostles and from them to the present generation Yea the sacred mouth of him who shall come down and sit as Judge in this awfull tribunall hath fully laid forth not the truth onely but the manner of this universall judicature The Sonne of man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepheard divideth his sheep And if this most sure word of the Prophets Apostles yea and of the eternall son of God be not enough conviction to thee yet to my soul they are an abundant confirmation of this main point of my Christian faith that from heaven he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead Indeed thus it must be How many condemned innocents have in the bitternesse of their souls appealed from that unrighteous bar of men to the supreame Judge that shall come those appeals are entred in heaven and sued out how can it stand with divine Justice that they should not have a day of hearing As for mean oppressors there are good laws to meet with them and there are higher then the highest to give life of execution to those lawes but if the greatest among men offend if there were not an higher then they what right would at last be done Those that have the most power and will to doe the greatest mischiefe would escape the fairest And though there be a privy Sessions in heaven upon every guilty soule immediatly upon the dissolution yet the same justice which will not admit publique offences to be passed over with a private satisfaction thinks fit to exhibite a publique declaration of his righteous vengeance upon notorious sinners before men and Angels So as those very bodies which have been ingaged in their wickednesse shall be in the view of the whole world sent downe to take part of their torment and indeed wherefore should those bodies be raised if not with the intent of a further disposition either to joy or paine Contrarily how can it consist with the praise of that infinite justice that those poore Saints of his which have been vilified and condemned at every barre persecuted afflicted tormented and have passed through all manner of painful ignominious deaths should not at the last be gloriously righted in the face of their cruell enemies Surely faith the Apostle it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels What is it O thou wicked spirit whereto thou art reserved in chaines of darknesse Is it not the judgement of the great day what is it whereto the manifestation of all hidden truthes and the accomplishment of all Gods gracious promises are referred Is it
VERA EFFIGIES-REVERENDI DO NI IOSEPHI HALL NORWICI EPIS COPI This Picture represents the Forme where dwells A Mind which nothing but that Mind excells There 's Wisdome Learning Witt there Grace Love Rule over all the rest enough to prove Against the froward Conscience of this Time The Reverend Name of BISHOP is no Crime W. M. sculâ—â—it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SATANS FIERY DARTS QUENCHED OR TEMPTATIONS REPELLED In three DECADES For the help comfort and preservation of weak Christians in these dangerous times of Errour and Seduction By I. H. D. D. B. N. LONDON Printed by M. F. for N Butter And are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard at the Bishops-head and Golden-Lyon and in Corn-hill by N. Brooks 1647. To the Christian Reader Grace and Peace SOme few months are past since a worthy and eminent Divine from the West once part of my charge earnestly moved mee to undertake this taske of Temptations seconding his Letters with the lines of a deare intercessour from those parts Upon the first view I sleighted the motion returning only this answer That I remembred this work was already so compleatly performed by the reverend and learned M r Downame in his Christian warfare as that who so should meddle with this subject should but seem to gleane after his sickle But when I had sadly considered the matter my second thoughts told me that there is no one point of Divinity wherein many pens have not profitably laboured in severall formes of discourse and that the course which I was solicited unto was in a quite different way of Tractation namely to furnish my fellow-Christians with short and punctuall answers to the particular suggestions of our great enemy and that our deplored age had rifely yeelded publicke Temptations of Impiety which durst not looke forth into the world in those happy daies I was thereupon soon convinced in my selfe how usefull and beneficiall such a Tractate might be to weak soules and embraced the motion as sent from God whose good hand I found sensibly with me in the pursuance of it I therefore cheerfully addressed my self to the work wherein what I have assaied or done I humbly leave to the judgement of others with onely this that if in this Treatise my decrepit hand can have let fall any thing that may be to the service of Gods Church to the raising up of drooping hearts to the convincing of blasphemous errours to the preventing of the dangerous insinuations of wickednesse I desire to be thankfull to my good God whose grace hath been pleased to improve those few sands that remaine in my glasse to so happy an advantage That God the father of all mercies fetch from these poor labours of his weake servant much glory to his own name and much benefit to the souls of his people And may the same God be pleased to stir up the hearts of all his faithfull ones that shall through his goodnesse receive any help by these wel-meant indeavours to interchange their prayers with and for me the unworthiest of his Ministers that I may finish the small remainder of my course with joy Amen From my Cottage at Higham near Norwich Feb. 12. 1646. A List of the hellish Temptations here Repelled I. DECADE I. Temptation FOolish sinner thou leanest upon a broken reed whiles thou reposest all thy trust in a crucified Saviour Pag. 1. II. Temptation Still thou hast upon all occasions recourse to the Scriptures as some divine Oracles and think'st thou maist safely build thy soule upon every text of that written word as inspired from heaven whereas indeed this is nothing but an humane devise to keep men in awe and never came nearer heaven then the braines of those Politicians that invented it p. 17. III. Temptation Art thou so sottish to suffer thy understanding to be captivated to I know not what divine authority proposing unto thee things contrary to sense and reason and therfore absurd and impossible Be thou no other then thy self a Man and follow the light and guidance of that which makes thee so right Reason and whatsoever disagrees from that turn it off as no part of thy beliefe to those superstitious bigots which are willing to lose their reason in their faith and to bury their braines in their heart p 29. IV. Temptation In how vain and causelesse awe art thou held of dangers threatned to thy soule and horrors of punishment after this life whereas these are nothing but politique bugs to affright simple and credulous men Sinne freely man and feare nothing Take full scope to thy pleasures After this life there is nothing The soule dies together with the body as in brute creatures There is no further reckoning to bee made p. 40. V. Temptation Put case that the soul after the departure from the body may live but art thou so foolishly credulous as to beleeve that thy body after it is moldred into dust and resolved into all its elements having passed through all the degrees of putrefaction and annihilation shall at last return to it selfe again and recover the former shape and substance Dost thou not apprehend the impossibility of this so absurd assertion p. 54. VI. Temptation If the soule must live and the body shall rise yet what needst thou affright thy selfe with the terrors of an universall judgement Credulous soule when shall these things be Thou talkst of an awfull Iudge but where is the promise of his comming These sixteen hundred years hath he been look't and yet he is not come and when will he p. 69. VII Temptation If there must be a resurrection and a judgement yet God is not so rigid an Exactor as to call thee to account for every petty sin Thâ—se great Sessions are for haynous malefactors God is too mercyfull to condemne thee for small offences Be not thou too rigorous to thy self in denying to thy selfe the pleasure of some harmlesse sinnes p. 83. VIII Temptation What a vaine imagination is this wherewith thou pleasest thy self that thy sins are discharged in another mans person that anothers righteousnesse should be thine that thine offence should be satisfied by anothers punishment Tush they abuse thee that perswade thee God is angry with mankind which he loves and favours or that his anger is appeased by the bloudy satisfaction of a Saviour and that thou standest acquitted in heaven by that which another hath done and suffered These are fancies not fit to find place in the heads of wise men p. 91. IX Temptation How confidently thou buildest upon a promise and if thou have but a word for it mak'st thy selfe sure of any blessing Whereas thou mayst know that many of those promises which thou accountest sacred and divine have sbrunk in the performance How hath God promised deliverance to those that trust in him yet how many of his faithfull servants have mis-carried What liberall promises hath he made of provision for those that wait upon him yet how many of them have miserably perished in want
it were not a spirit How evidently then doth the present estate of my soul convince thee of the future Al operations proceed from the formes of things and every thing works as it is Canst thou now denye that my soule whiles it is within me can and doth produce such actions as have no derivation from the body no dependence on the body for however in matter of sensation it sees by the eyes and heares by the eares and imagines by those fantasmes that are represented unto it yet when it comes to the higher works of intellectuall elevations how doth it leave the body below it raising to it selfe such notions as wherein the body can challenge no interest how can it now denude and abstract the thing conceived from all consideration of quantity quality place and so work upon its owne object as becomes an active spirit Thou canst not be so impudent as to say the body doth these things by the soule or that the soule doth them by the ayd concurrence of the body and if the soule doth them alone whiles it is thus clogged how much more operative shall it be when it is alone separated from this earthen lump And if the very voice of nature did not so sufficiently confute thee that even thine owne most eminent heathens have herein taken part against thee living and dying strong assertors of the soules Immortality how fully might thine accursed mouth be stopped by the most sure words of divine truth Yea wert thou disposed to play at some smaller game and by thy damnable clients to plead not so much for the utter extinction as for the dormition of the soule those oracles of God have enough to charme thee and them and can with one blow cut the throat of both those blasphemies That penitent theefe whose soule thou madest full account of when he was led to his execution which yet my dying Saviour snatcht out of thy hands could hear comfortably from those blessed lips This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise shal we think this malefactor in any other in any better conditiō then the rest of Gods Saints Doth not the chosen vessel tel us that upon the dissolution of our earthly house of this Tabernacle we have a building of God not made with hands eternal in the heavens Presently therfore after our flitting hence we have a being that glorious who can think of a being in heaven without a ful sense of joy Doth not our Saviour tell us that the soul of poor Lazarus was immediately carried by Angels into Abrahams boome The damned glutton knew so wel that he was not layd there to sleep that he sues to have him sēt on the message of his refrigeration Did not the beloved disciple when he was in Pathmos upon the opening of the fifth feale see under the altar the Soules of them that were slaine for the word of God and for the testimony which they held Did he not heare them cry How long Lord holy and true What Shall wee think they cryed in their sleep Did he not see and heare the hundred forty four thousand Saints before the throne harping and singing a new song to the praise of their God Canst thou perswade us they made this heavenly musick in their sleep Doth he not tell us most plainely from the mouth of one of the heavenly Elders that those which stood before the throne the Lamb cloathed with white robes and palmes in their hands were they that came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the throne shal dwell among them They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountaines and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes This service both day and night and 〈◊〉 leading forth can suppose nothing lesse then a perpetuall waking Neither is this the happy condition of holy Martyrs and Confessors only but is common to all the Saints of God in what ever profession Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord How should the dead be blessed if they did not live to know themselves blessed What blessednesse can be incident into those that either are not at all or are senselesse They rest but sleepe not they rest from their labours not from the improvement of their glorified faculties Their works followthē yea and overtake them in heaven to what purpose should their works follow the if they lived not to injoy the comfort of their works This is the estate of all good soules in despight of all thine infernall powers and what becomes of the wicked ones thou too well knowest Dissemble thou how thou wilt those torments and hide the sight of that pit of horrour from the eyes ofthy sinfull followers He that hath the keyes of hell and of death hath given us intimation enough Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Neither is he more able out of his omnipotence then willing out of his justice to execute this righteous vengeance on the impenitent and unbeleevers Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evill In vaine therefore dost thou seek to delude me with these pretences of indemnity and annihilation since it cannot but stand with the mercy and justice of the Almighty to dispose of every soule according to what they have beene and what they have done To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternall life But unto them that are contentious and doe not obey the truth but obey unrighteousnesse indignation and wrath shortly after all thy devillish suggestions on the one part The soules of the righteous are in the hand of God and there shall no torment touch them On the other In flaming fire shal vengeance be taken on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power V. TEMPTATION Put case that the soule after the departure from the body may live but art thou so foolishly credulous as to beleeve that thy body after it is moldred into dust and resolved into all its elements having passed through al the degrees of putrefaction and annihilation shall at last returne to it selfe againe and recover the former shape and substance Dost thou not apprehend the impossibility of this so absurd assertion Repelled NO Tempter it is true and holy faith which thou reproachest
for fond credulity Had I to doe with no greater power then thine or then any Angels in heaven that is meerely finite I might well be censured for too light beleefe in giving my assent to so difficult a truth but now that I have to doe with omnipotence it is no lesse then blasphemie in thee to talk of impossibility Doe not thy very Mahumetan vassals tell thee that the same power which made man can as well restore him and canst thou be other then apposed with the question of that Jew who asked whether it were more possible to make a mans body of water or of earth All things are alike easie to an infinite power It is true The resuscitation of the body from its dust is a supernaturall work yet such as whereof God hath beene pleased to give us many images and prefigurations even in nature it selfe In the face of the earth doe we not see the image of death in winter season and in the spring of a cheerfull resurrection Is not the life of all herbs flowers trees buried in the earth during that whole dead season and doth it not rise up againe with the approching Sun into stemmes and branches and send forth blossomes leaves fruits in all beautifull variety What need we any other then the Apostles instance Thou foole that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die And that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare graine it may chance of wheat or of some other graine but God giveth it a body as it pleaseth him and to every seed his own body Lo it must be rottenesse and corruption that must make way for a flourishing increase If I should come to a man that is ignorant of these fruitfull productions of the earth and shewing him a little naked grayne should tell him This which thou seest shall rot in the ground and after that shall rise up a yard high into divers stalkes and every stalk shall beare an eare and every eare shall yeild twenty or thirty such graines as it selfe is or shewing him an akorne should say this shal be buried in the earth and after that shall rise up twenty or thirty foot high and shall spread so far as to give comfortable shade to an hundred persons Surely I should not win beleefe from him yet our experience daily makes good these ordinary proofes of the wonderful providence of the Almighty Or should I shew a man that is unacquainted with these great marvells of nature the small seed of the Silk-worme lying scattered upon a paper and seemingly dead all winter long and should tell him these little atomes so soon as the mulberry tree puts forth will yeild a worme which shall work it selfe into so rich a house as the great Princes of the earth shall be glad to shelter themselvs with after that shall turn to a large flye and in that shape shall live to generate then speedily die I should seem to tell incredible things yet this is so familiar to the experieÌ„ced that they cease t owoÌ„der at it If from these vegetables we shall cast our eyes upon some sensitive creatures Do we not see snayles and flyes some birds lye as senslesse and livelesse all the winter time yet when the spring comes they recover their wonted vivacity Besides these resemblances have we not many clear instances and examples of our resurrection Did not the touch of Elishaes bones raise up the partner of his grave Was not Lazarus called up out of his sepulcher after four daies possessâ—ion and many noysome degrees of rottenesse Were not the graves opened of many bodies of the Saints W ch slept Did not they arise and come out of their graves after my Saviours resurrection and go into the holy city and appeare unto many Besides examples have we not an all sufficient pledg of our certaine rising againe in the victorious refurrection of the Lord of life Is not he our head Are not we his members Is not he the first fruits of them that slept Did not he conquer death for us Can the head be alive and glorious whiles the limmes doe utterly perish in a finall corruption Certainely then if we beleeve that Iesus dyed rose again even so them also which sleep in Iesus wil God bring with him And if there were no more that one argument wherewith my Saviour of old confounded thy Sadduces lives still to confound thee God is the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob But God is not the God of the dead but of the living The soule alone is not Abraham whole Abraham lives not if the body were not to be joyned to that soule Neither is it onely certain that the resurrection will be but also necessary that it must be neither can the contrary consist with the infinite wisdome goodnesse justice mercy of the Almighty For first how can it stand with the infinite goodnesse of the all-wise God that the creature which he esteemes dearest and loves best should be the most miserable of all other man is doubtlesse the best piece of his earthly workmanship holy men are the best of men Were there no resurrection surely no creature under heaven were so miserable as the holiest man The basest of brute creatures find a kind of contentment in their being and were it not for the tyranny of man would live and dye at ease And others of them in what jollity and pleasure do they wear out their time As for wicked men who let the reynes loose to their licentious appetite how doe they place their heaven here below and glory in this that they are yet somewhere happy But for the mortifyed christian were it not for the comfort and amends of a resurrection who can expresse the miserie of his condition He beates down his body in the willing exercises of sharp austerity and as he would use some sturdy slave keeps it under holding short the appetite oftentimes even from lawfull desires so as his whole life is little other then a perpetuall penance And as for his measure from others how open doth he ly to the indignities oppressions persecutions of men how is he trampled upon by scornful malignity how is he reputed the off-scouring of the world how is he made a gazing stock of reproch to the world to Angels and to men Did there not therefore abide for them the recompence of a better estate in another world the earth could afford no match to them in perfect wretchednesse which how far it abhorreth from that goodnesse which made all the world for his elect and so loves them that he gave his owne Son for their redemption let any enemy besides thine accursed selfe judge How can it stand with the infinite justice of God who dispenseth due rewards to good and evill to retribute them by halves The wages of sin is death the gift
were extant As it was onely the Spirit of the most high God in Daniel that could fetch back and give an account of a vision fore-passed All the Soothsayers and Magicians confesse this a work of no lesse then divine omniscience And as for things future the predictions of this word of things to be done after many hundreds yea some thousands of years the events having then no pre-existence in their causes being accordingly accomplished show it to proceed from an absolute unfailing and therefore infinite prescience And whereas there are two parts of this word The Law and the Gospel The Law is more exact then humane braines can reach unto meeting with those aberrations which the most wise and curious Law-givers could not give order for extending it selfe to those very thoughts which nature knows not to accuse or restrain The Gospel is made good as by the signes and wonders wrought in all the primitive ages so by the powerfull operation that it hath upon the soul such as the word of the most prudent man on earth or of the greatest Angel in heaven should in vain hope to parallel And whereas the pen-men of both these were Prophets and Apostles The Prophets are sufficiently attested by the Apostles to be men holy inspired by the Holy Ghost the Apostles are abundantly attested by the Holy ghost powred out upon them in their Pentecost besides variety of tongues enabling them to do such miraculous works as astonished convinced their very enemies To these may be added the perfect harmony of the Law the Gospel the Law being a prefigured gospel the gospel a law consummate both of them lively setting forth Christ the redeemer of the world both future exhibited Neither is it lightly to be esteemed that this word hath been by holy men in all ages received as of sacred and divine authority men whose lives and deaths have approved them eminent Saints of God who have not only professed but sealed with their bloud this truth which they had learned from him that was rapt into the third heaven That all Scripture is given by inspiration of God a truth which cannot but be contested by their own hearts which have sensibly found the power of this word convincing them of sin working effectually in them a lively faith and unfaigned conversion which no humane means could ever have effected Lastly it is a strong evidence to my soule that this is no other then the word of a God that I find it so eagerly opposed by thee and all thy malignant instruments in all ages Philosophers both naturall and morall and politique have left large Volumes behind them in their severall professions all which are suffered to live in peace and to enjoy their opinions with freedome and leave but so soon as ever this sacred book of God looks forth into the world hell is in an uproar and raises all the forces of malice and wit and violence against it Wherefore would it be thus if there were not some more divine thing in these holy leaves then in all the monuments of learned humanity But the protection is yet more convictive then the opposition that not withstanding all the machinations of the powers of darknesse this word is preserved intire that the simplicity of it prevails against all worldly policy that the power of it subdues all nations and triumphs over all the wickednesse of men and devils it is proof enough to me that the God of heaven is both the author and owner and giver of it Shortly then Let my soul be built upon this rocky foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Let thy storms rise and thy flouds come and thy winds blow and beat upon it it shall mock at thy fury and shall stand firme against all the rage of hell III. TEMPTATION Art thou so sottish to suffer thy understanding to be captivated to I know not what divine authority proposing unto thee things contrary to sense and reason and therefore absurd and impossible Be thou no other then thy self a man and follow the light and guidance of that which makes thee so right Reason and what soever disagrees from that turn it off as no part of thy beliefe to those superstitious bigots which are willing to lose their reason in their faith and to bury their brains in their heart Repelled WIcked tempter thou wishest me to my losse wo were to me if I were but a man and if I had no better guide to follow then that which thou call'st Reason it is from nature that I am a man it is from grace that I am a man regenerate Nature holds forth to me as a man the dim and weak rush-candle-light of carnall reason The grace of regeneration shows me the bright torch-light yea the sun of divine illumination Thou bid'st me as a man to follow the light of reason God bids me as a regenerate man to follow the light of faith whether should I beleeve whether should I listen to It is true that reason is the great gift of my Creator and that which was intended to distinguish us from brute creatures but where is it in the originall purity to be found under heaven Surely it can now appear to us in no other shape then either as corrupted by thy depravation or by Gods renovating grace restored as it is marred by thee even naturall truths are too high for it as it is renued by God it can apprehend and imbrace supernaturall verities It is regenerate reason that I shall ever follow and that will teach me to subscribe to all those truths which the un-erring Spirit of the holy God hath revealed in his sacred word how ever contrary to the ratiocination of flesh and bloud Onely this is the right reason which is illuminated by Gods spirit and willingly subjected to faith which represents to me those things which thou suggestest to me for unreasonable and impossible as not faisible only but most certain That in one Deity there are three most glorious persons distinguished in their subsistences not divided in their substance That in one person of Christ the Mediator there are two natures divine and humane not converted into each other not confounded each with other That the Creator of all things should become a creature That a creature should be the mother of him that is her God how ever they be points which carnall reason can not put over yet they are such as reason illuminate and regenerate can both easily and most comfortably digest Great is the mystery of godlinesse God manifested in the flesh What mystery were there in godlinesse if the deepest secrets of religion did lie open to the common apprehension of nature My Saviour who is truth it self hath told me that no man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him and with the same breath gives thanks to his heavenly Father that he hath hid these
things from the wise and prudent who were most likely if reason might be the meet judge of spirituall matters to attaine the perfect knowledge of them hath revealed them to babes It is therefore Gods revelation not the ratiocination of man that must give us light into these divine mysteries Were it a matter of humane disquisition why did not those sages of nature the learned Philosophers of former times reach unto it But now a more learned man then they the great Doctor of the Gentiles tels us that the Gospel and preaching of Jesus Christ yeelds forth the revelation of the mysteries which was kept secret since the world began But now manifested by the Scriptures of the Prophets and according to the commandement of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith Lo he saith not to the obedience of reason but of faith and that faith doth more transcend reason then reason doth sense Thou urgest me therefore to be a man I professe my self to be a christian man it is reason that makes me a man it is faith that makes me a christian The wise bountifull God hath vouchsafed to hold forth four severall lights to men all which move in four severall orbes one above another The light of sense the light of reason the light of faith the light of ecstaticall or divine vision and all of these are taken up with their own proper objects Sense is busied about these outward and materiall things reason is confined to things intelligible faith is imployed in matters spirituall and supernaturall divine vision in objects celestiall and infinitely glorious None of these can exceed their bounds and extend to a sphere above their owne What can the brute creature which is led by meer sense do or apprehend in matters of understanding and discourse What can meer man who is led by reason discerne in spirituall and supernaturall things What can the Christian who is led by faith which is the evidence of things not seen attain unto in the clear vision of God and heavenly glory That God who is a God of order hath determined due limits to all our powers and faculties Thou that art a spirit of confusion goest about to disturb and disorder all those just ranks labouring to jumble together those distinct orbes of reason and faith and by the light of reason to extinguish the light of faith wouldst have us so to put on the man as that we should put off the Christian but I have learned in this case to defie thee grounding my self upon that word which is mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting downe imaginations and every high thing that exalts it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ I will therefore follow my sense so far as that will lead me and not suffer my self to be beaten off from so sure a guide Where my sense leaves me I will betake my self to the direction of reason and in all naturall morall things shall be willingly led by the guidance thereof but when it comes to supernaturall and divine truths when I have the word of a God for my assurance farewell reason and welcome faith as when I shall have dispatcht this weary pilgrimage and from a Traveller shall come to be a Comprehensor farewel faith welcome vision In the mean time I shall labour what I may to understand all revealed truths and where I cannot apprehend I shall adore humbly submitting to that word of the great and holy God My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord For as the heavens are higher then the earth so are my wayes higher then your wayes and my thoughts then your thoughts IIII. TEMPTATION In how vaine and causelesse awe art thou held of dangers threatned to thy soule and horrors of punishment after this life whereas these are nothing but politique bugs to affright simple and credulous men Sin freely man and feare nothing Take full scope to thy pleasures After this life there is nothing The soule dyes together with the body as in brute creatures There is no further reckoning to be made Repelled DEceitfull spirit How thou goest about to perswade me to that which thy selfe would be most loathe should be true for if the soule of man expired with the body what subject shouldest thou have of that tyranny and torment which thou so much affectest How willingly dost thou seem to fight against thy selfe that thou mighrest overcome me But this dart of thine is too blunt to pierce even a rationall brest Why dost thou not go about to perswade me that I am not a man but a brute creature such I should be if my soul were no other then theirs For as for bodily shape there are of them not much unlike me Why dost thou not perswade me that those brute creatures are men if their soules were as ours What were the difference Canst thou hope I can so abdicate my self as to put my selfe into the ranke of beasts Canst thou think so to prevaile with thy suggestions as to make reason it selfe turne irrationall How palpably dost thou confound thy selfe in this very act of Temptation For if I had not a soul beyond the condition of brute creatures how am I capable of sinning Why dost thou perswade me to that whereof my nature if but brutish can have no capacity Dost thou labour to prevaile with thy temptations upon beasts Dost thou importune their yeildance to sinfull motions If they had such a soul as mine why should they not sin as well as I why should they not be equally guilty Contrarily are those brute things capable of doing those works which may be pleasing unto God the performāce whereof thou so much envyest unto me Can they desire and indeavour to be holy are they capable of making conscience of their waies Know then O thou wicked spirit that I know my selfe animated with another and more noble spirity then these other materiall creatures and that I am sufficiently conscious of my own powers that I have an inmate in my bosome of a divine originall W ch though it takes part with the body whiles it is included in this case of clay yet can and will when it is freed from this earth subsist alone and be eternally happy in the present and perpetuall vision of the God that made and redeem'd it and in the meane time exerciseth such faculties as well shew whence it is derived farre transcend the possibility of all bodily temperament Can it not compare one thing with another Can it not deduce one sequel from another Can it not attaine to the knowledg of the secrets of nature of the perfection of Arts Can it not reach to the scanning of humane plots and the apprehension of divine mysteries Yea can it not judge of spirits how should it doe althis if
hands of God he only knows that shall judge this I am sure of that without this Saviour there can be no salvation That in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse is accepted with him That he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life As therefore we do justly abhor that wild scope of all religions which thou suggestest so we do willingly admit a large scope in one true religion so large as the author of it hath thought good to allow For we have not to do with a God that stands upon curiosities of beliefe or that upon pain of damnation requires of every believer an exquisite perfection of judgment concerning every capillar veyne of Theologicall truth it is enough for him if we be right for the main substance of the body He doth not call rigorously for every stone in the battlements it sufficeth for the capacity of our salvation if the foundation be hold in tire It is thy sclander therefore that wee confine Truth and blessednesse to a corner of Reformed Christians no wee seek and find it every where where God hath a Church and Gods Church we know to be Universall Let them be Abassines Cophties Armeniant Georgians Jacobites or what ever names either sclander or distinction hath put upon them if they hold the foundation firme howsoever disgracefully built upon with wood hay stubble wee hold them Christs we hold them ours Hence it is that the new Jerusalem is for her beauty and uniformity set forth with 12 precious gates though for use and substance one for that from all coasts of heaven there is free accesse to the Church of Christ and in him to life and glory He who is the Truth and the life hath said This is eternall life to know thee and him whom thou hast sent This knowledge which is our way to life is not alike at tained of all fome have greater light and deeper insight into it then others That mercy which accepts of the least degree or the true apprehension of Christ hath not promised to dispense with the wilfull neglect of those who might know him more clearly more exactly Let those carelesse soules therefore which stand indifferent betwixt life and death upon thy perswasion content themselves with good meanings and generalities of beliefe but for me I shall labour to furnish my self with all requisite truths and above all shall aspire towards the excellency of the knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings TEMPTATIONS REPELLED The second Decade Temptations of Discouragement II. DECADE I. TEMPTATION Were it for some few sins of ignorance or infirmity thou might'st hope to find place for mercy but thy sins are as for multitude innumerable so for quality haynous presumptuous unpardonable with what face canst thou look up to heaven and expect remission from a just God Repelled EVen with the face of an humble penitent justly confounded in himself in the sense of his owne vilenesse but awfully confident in a promised mercy Malicious tempter how like thou art to thy selfe when thou wouldst draw me on to my sins then how small sleight harmlesse plausible they were now thou hast fetch 't me in to the guilt of those foule offences they are no lesse then deadly and irremissible May I but keep within the verge of mercy thou canst not more aggravate my wickednesse against me thē I do against my selfe thou canst not be more ready to accuse then I to judge and condemn my selfe Oh me the wretchedest of all creatures how do I hate my selfe for mine abominable sins done with so high a hand against such a Majesty after such light of knowledge such enforcements of warning such indearments of mercy such reluctations of spirit such check of conscience what lesse then hell have I deserved from that infinite justice Thou canst not write more bitter things against me then I can plead against my owne soule But when thou hast cast up all thy venome and when I have passed the heaviest sentence against my selfe I who am in my selfe utterly lost and forfeited to eternall death in despight of the gates of hell shall live and am safe in my Almighty and ever-blessed Saviour who hath conquered Death and hell for me Set thou me against my selfe I shall set my Saviour against thee urge thou my debts I show his full acquittance Sue thou my bonds I shall exhibit them cancell'd and nayled to his crosse presse thou my horrible crimes I plead a pardon sealed in heaven Thou tell'st me of the multitude and hainousnesse of my sins I tell thee of an infinite mercy and what are numbers and magnitudes to the infinite To an illimited power what difference is there betwixt a mountaine and an ant-heape betwixt one and a million were my sins a thousand times more and worse then they are there is worth abundantly enough in every drop of that precious blood which was shed for my redemption to expiate them Know O tempter that I have to doe with a mercy which can die my scarlet sins white as snow make my crimson as wooll whose grace is so boundlesse that if thou thy selfe hadst upon thy fall been capable of repentance thou hadst not everlastingly perished The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works And if there be a sin of man unpardonable it is not for the insufficiency of grace to forgive it but for the incapacity of the subject that should receive remissision Thou feel'st to thy paine and losse wherefore it was that the eternall sonne of God Jesus Christ came into the world Even to save sinners and if my owne heart shall conspire with thee to accuse me as the chiefe of those sinners my repentance gives me so much the more claim and interest in his blessed redemption Let me be the most laden with the chaines of my captivity so I may have the greatest share in that all-sufficient ransome And if thou who art the true fiery serpent in this miserable wildernesse hast by sin stung my soul to death let me as I do with penitent and faithfull eyes but look up to that brazen serpent which is lift up far above all heavens thy poyson cannot kill cannot hurt me It is the word of eternall truth which cannot faile us If we confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse Lo here not mercy only but justice on my side The spirit of God saith not only if we confesse our sins he is mercifull to forgive our sins as he elswhere speaks by the pen of Salomon but more he is faithfull and just to forgive our sins Our weaknesse and ignorance is wont to flie
Spirit of Truth taught me that in these externall matters All things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and cleane and to the uncleane to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an Oath But if there were any judgement to be passed upon these grounds the advantage is mine I smart yea I bleed under the hand of my heavenly father Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Lo there cannot e so much paine in the stripes as there is comfort in the love of him that layes them on He were not my father if he whip't me not Truth hath said it If ye be without chastisements ye are bastards and not sonnes He cannot but love me whiles he is my father and let him fetch bloud on me so he love me After all thy malice let me be a bleeding son to such a father whiles thy base-borne children enjoy their ease Impudent tempter how canst thou from my sufferings argue Gods disfavour when thou knowest that he whom God loved best suffered most The eternall Sonne of his love that could truly say I and the Father are one indured more from the hand of that his heavenly Father then all the whole world of mankind was capable to suffer Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows He was wounded for oue transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisements of our peace were upon him the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all What poore flea bitings are these that I am afflicted with in respect of those torments which the Sonne of God under went for me Thou that sawest the bloudy sweat of his agony the cruell tortures of his crucifixion the pangs of worse then death the sense of his Fathers wrath our curse dost thou move me whom he hath bought with so dear a price to murmur and recoyle upon divine providence for a petty affliction Besides this is the load which my blessed Saviour hath with his owne hands laid upon my shoulders If any man will come after me let him deny himselfe and take up his crosse daily and follow me Lo every Crosse is not Christs each man hath a crosse of his owne and this crosse he may not think to tread upon but he must take up and not once perhaps in his life but daily and with that weight on his neck he must follow the Lord of life not to his Tabor only but to his Golgotha And thus following him on earth he shall surely overtake him in heaven for if we suffer with him we shall also reigne with him It is still thy policy O thou envious Spirit to fill mine eyes with the crosse and to represent nothing to my thoughts but the horror and paine of suffering that so thou may'st drive me to a languishing dejectednesse of spirit and despaire of mercy But my God hath raised and directed mine eyes to a better prospect quite beyond thine which is a crowne of glory I see that ready to be set upon my head after my strife and victory which were more then enough to make amends for an hell upon earth In vaine should I hope to obtaine it without a conflict how should I overcome if I strive not These struglings are the way to a conquest After all these assaults the foyle shall bee thine and mine shall be the glory and triumph The God of Truth hath said it Be faithfull to the death and I will give thee a crown of life Thine advantage lies in the way mine in the end the way of affliction is rugged deep stiffe dangerous the end is faire and greene and strewed with flowers No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous neverthelesse afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby What if I be in paine here for a while The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us It is thy maliciousnesse that would make the affliction of my body the bane of my soule but if the fault be not mine that which thou intendest for a poyson shall prove a cordiall Let patience have her perfect work and I am happy in my sufferings For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory Lo it doth not only admir of glory but works it for us so as we are infinitely more beholden to our paine then to our ease and have reason not onely to be well apayd but to rejoyce in tribulations knowing That Tribulation worketh patience and patience experience experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed Tell mee if thou canst which of those Saints that are now shining bright in their heaven hath got thither un-afflicted How many of those blessed ones have indured more then my God wil allow thee to inflict upon my weaknesse Some more and some lesse sorrowes all some yea many so true is that word of the chosen vessell That through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdome of God By this then I see that I am in my right way to that blessednesse I am travelling towards Did I find my self in the smooth pleasant and flowry path of carnall ease and contentment I should have just reason to think my selfe quite out of that happy road Now I know I am going directly towards my home the abiding City which is above So far therefore are my sufferings from arguing me miserable that I could not be happy if I suffered not V. TEMPTATION Foolish man how vainly dost thou flatter thy selfe in calling that a chastisement which God intends for a judgment in mistaking that for a rod of fatherly correction which God laies on as a scourge of just anger and punishment Repelled IT is thy maliciousnesse O thou wicked spirit ever to mis-interpret Gods actions and to sclander the footsteps of the Almighty But notwithstanding all thy mischievous suggestions I can read mercy and favour in my affliction neither shall it be in the power of thy temptation to put me out of this just construction of my sufferings For what Is it the measure of my smart that should argue Gods displeasure How many of Gods dearlings on earth have indured more What say'st thou to the man with whom the Almighty did once challenge and foyle thee the great patterne of patience was not his calamity as much beyond mine as my graces are short of his Dost thou not heare the man after Gods owne heart say Lord remember David and all his troubles Dost thou not hear the chosen vessell who was rapt up into the third heaven complaine We are troubled on every side yet not distressed perplexed but not
spirit answered by the returns of an humble and thankfull obedience here is not love onely but intirenesse What other is that poor measure of love which our wretched meannesse can return unto our God but a weak reflection of that fervent love which he bears unto us It is the word of Divine Wisdome I love them that love me and the disciple of love can tell us the due order of love We love him because he first loved us The love of God therefore which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us is an all-sufficient conviction of Gods tender love unto us My heart tels me then that I love God truly though weakly God tels me that he embraceth me with an everlasting love which thy malice may snarle at but can never abate TEMPTATIONS REPELLED The third Decade Temptations of Allurement III. DECADE I. TEMPTATION Thou hast hitherto thus long given entertainment to thy sin and no inconvenience hath ensued no evill hath befallen thee thy affaires have prospered better then thy scrupulous neighbours why shouldst thou shake off a companion that hath been both harmlesse and pleasant Go on man sin fearlesly thou shalt speed no worse then thou hast done Go on and thrive in thine old course whiles some precisely conscientious beg and starve in their innocence Repelled IT is right so as wise Salomon observd of old Because sentence against an evil worke is not executed speedily therfore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evill Wicked spirit What a deadly fallacy is this which thou puttest upon miserable soules Because they have aged in their sins therefore they must die in them because they have lived in sin therefore they must age in it because they have prospered in their sin therefore they must live in it whereas all these should be strong arguments to the contrary There cannot be a greater proofe of Gods disfavour then for a man to prosper in wickednesse neither can there be a more forcible inducement to a man to forsake his sin then this that he hath entertain'd it What dost thou other in this then perswade the poor sinner to despise the riches of the goodnesse and forbearance and long suffering of God which should lead him to repentance and after his hardnesse and impenitent heart to treasure up unto himselfe wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God What an horrible abuse is this of divine mercy That which is intended to lead us to repentance is now urged by thee to draw us from repentance Should the justice of God have cut off the sinner in the flagrance of his wicked fact there had been no roome for his penitence and now God gives him a faire respite for his repentance thou turnest this into a provocation of sinning Let the case for the present be mine If sin have so far bewitcht me as to win me to dally with it must I therefore be wedded to it or if I be once wedded to it through the importunity of Temptation shall I be tyed to a perpetuall cohabitation with that fiend and not free my self by a just divorce Because I have once yeilded to be evill must I therefore be worse Because I have happily by the mercy of my God escaped hell in sinning shall I wilfully run my self headlong into the pit by continuing in sin No wicked one I know how to make better use of Gods favour and my own miscarriages I cannot reckon it amongst my comforts that I prospered in evill Let obdured hearts blesse themselves in such advantages but I adore that goodnesse that forbore me in my iniquity neither dare provoke it any more Thinke not to draw me on by the lucky successe of my sin which thou hast wanted no indeavour to promote Better had it been for me if I had fared worse in the course of my sinning but had I been yet outwardly more happy do I not know that God vouchsases his showers his sun-shine to the fields of those whose persons he destines to the fire Can I be ignorant of that which holy Iob observed in his time That the Tabernacles of the wicked prosper and they that provoke God are secure into whose hands God bringeth abundantly That they spend their days in wealth and in a moment go downe to the grave and as the Psalmist seconds him There are no bands in their death but their strength is firme They are not in trouble like other men therefore pride compasseth them about as achaine And let these jolly men brave it out in the glorious pompe of their unjust greatnesse The same eyes that noted their exaltation have also observed their downefall They are exalted for a little while saith Job but they are gone and brought low they are taken out of the way as all others and cut off as the tops of the ears of corne And in his answer to Zophar Where are the dwelling places of the wicked Have ye not asked them that go by the way and do ye not know their tokens That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath The eyes of the wicked even those scornfull and contemptuous eyes which they have cast upon Gods poor despised ones shall faile and they shall not escape and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost How false an inference then is this whereby 〈◊〉 goest about to delude â—y soule Thou hast hitherto prospered in thy wickedness therefore thou shalt prosper in it still and ever To morrow shall be as yesterday and more abundant As if the just God had not set a period to iniquity As if he had not said to the most insolent sinner as to the raging Sea Here shalt thou stay thy proud waves How many rich Epicures have with Crassus sup't in Apollo and broken their fast with Beelzebub the prince of Devils How many have lien downe to sleep out their furfeit and have waked in hell Were my times in thy hand thou wouldst not suffer me long to enjoy my sin and forbeare the seizure of my soule but now they are in the hands of a righteous God who is jealous of his owne glory he will be sure not to over-pass those hours which he hath set for thy torment or my account Shortly therefore I will withdraw my foot from every evil way and walk holily with my God however I speed in the world Let me with the conscientious men beg or starve in my innocence rather then thrive in my wickednesse and get hell to boot II. TEMPTATION Sin still thou shall repent soon enough when thou canst sin no more Thine old age and death-bed are fit seasons for those sad thoughts It will go hard if thou maist not at the last have a mouthfull of breath left thee to cry God mercy And that is no
not pityed us Thou hast covered thy selfe with a cloud that our prayer should not passe thorough Doubtlesse then God so sees sin in his elect that he both more notes and hates sin more in his dearest children then in any other Upon this impious supposition of Gods not seeing sin in his chosen wouldst thou raise that hellish suggestion that a man must see no sin in himselfe no repentance for sin Then which what wider gappe can be opened to a licentious stupidity For that a man should commit sinne as Lot did his incest not knowing that hee doth the fact what is it but to bereave him of his senses To commit that fact which he may not know to be sin what is it but to bereave him of reason not to be sorry for the sin he hath commited what is it but to bereave him of grace How contrary is this to the mind and practise of al Gods Saints Holy Iob could say How many are mine iniquities and sinnes make me to know my transgression and my sinne and at last when God had wrought accordingly upon his heart I abhorre my selfe and repent in dust and ashes Penitent David could say I acknowledg my transgression and my sin is ever before me and elsewhere I will declare mine iniquity and be sorry for my sin and Solomons suppliant that would hope for audience in heaven must know the plague of his own heart carry on therefore thy deluded clients in a willing ignorance of their finnes and a secure regardlesnesse of their repentance for me I will ransack my heart for my secret sinnes and finde no peace in my soule till it bee truly sensible of my owne repentance and Gods remission IV. TEMPTATION Thou maist live as thou listest Thy destiny is irreversible If thou be predestined to life thy sins cannot damne thee for Gods election remaineth certaine If thou be ordained to damnation all thy good endevours cannot save thee Please thy selfe on earth thou canst not alter what is done in heaven Repelled THe suggestion is pernicious and such as that Satans quiver hath not many shafts more deadly for where ever it enters it renders a man carelesly desperate and utterly regardlesse either of good or evill bereaving him at once both of grace and wit The story tells us of a great Prince tainted with this poyson whom his wise Physician happily cured for being called to the sicke bed of him whom he knew thus dangerously resolved in stead of medicine he administers to his patient this just conviction Sir you are conscious of your stiffe opinion concerning predestination why doe you send to mee for the cure of your sicknesse Either you are predestinated to recover and live or else you are in Gods decree appointed to dye If you be ordained to live and recover you shall live though you take noe helps of physick from me but if to dye all my art and meanes cannot save you The convinced Prince saw and felt his errour and recanted it as well perceiving how absurd and unreasonable it is in whatsoever decree of either temporall or spiritual good to sever the means from the end being both equally determined and the one in way to the other The comparison is cleare and irrefragable Gods decree is equally both certaine and secret for bodily health and life eternall The meanes appointed are food and medicine for the one and for the other repentance fait◠obedience In the use of these we may live we cannot but dye in their neglect were it any other then madnesse in mee to relye upon a presupposed decree willingly forbearing the while the means whereby it is brought about To say If I shall live I shall live though I eat not If I shall dye though I eate I shall not live therefore I will not eate but cast my self upon Gods providence whether to dye or live In doing thus what am I other then a selfe murderer It is a prevailing policy of the Devill so to work by his temptations upon the heart of man that in temporall things he shall trust to the meanes without regard to the providence of the God that gives them In spirituall he should cast himself upon the providence of a God without respect to the meanes whereby they are effected whereas if both these goe not together we lose either God or our selves or both It is true that if God had peremptorily declared his absolute will concerning the state or event of any creature we might not indevour or hope to alter his decree If God have said to a Moses Goe up to the Mount and dye there it is not for that obedient servant of God to say Yet I will lay up some years provision if perchance I may yet live Although even thus in the minatory declarations of Gods purpose because we know not what conditions may be secretly intended we may use what meanes we may for a diversion The Ninivites heard that expresse word from Ionah Yet fourty daies and Nineveh shall be destroyed and though they beleeved the Prophet yet they betooke themselves to an universall humiliation for the prevention of the judgement David heard from the mouth of Nathan The child that is born unto thee shall surely dye Yet he besought God and fasted and lay all night upon the earth and could say Who can tell whether God will bee gracious to mee that the child may live good Hezekiah was sick unto death and heares from Isaiah Set thy house in order for thou shalt dye and not live yet he turnes his face to the wall and praies and makes use of his bunch of figges and recovers But where the counsell of God is altogether secret without the least glimpse of revelation for a man to passe a peremptory doome upon himselfe and either thereupon wilfully to neglect the knowne meanes of his good or to run willingly upō those courses which will necessarily work his destruction it is the highest degree of madnesse that can be incident into a reasonable creature The father of mercies hath appointed meanes of the salvation of mankind which lye open to them if they would not be wanting to themselves but especially to us who are within the bosome of his Church he hath held forth saving helpes in abundance What warnings what reproofes what exhortations what invitations what intreaties what importunities hath he forborn for our conversion what menaces what afflictions what judgments hath he not made use of for the prevention of our damnation Can there be now any man so desperately mad as to shut heaven gates against himselfe which the mercifull God leaves open for him or as to breake open the gates of hell and rush violently into the pit of destruction which God had latched against him Thou sayst If I be predestin'd to life my sinnes cannot damne me Man thou beginnest at the wrong end in that thou takest thy first rise at Gods eternall counsails and then
judgest doubtfully of thine owne waies It is not for thee to beginne first at heaven and then to descend to earth this course is presumptuous and damnable What are those secret and closed bookes of Gods eternall decree and preordination unto thee They are onely for the eyes of him that wrote them The Lord knoweth them that are his Look if thou wilt upon the outer seale of those Divine secrets and read Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity Thy way lies from earth to heaven The revealed wil of God by which onely wee are to be regulated is Repent beleeve obey and thou shalt be saved live and dye in thy sinnes impenitent unbeleeving thou shalt be damned According to this rule frame thou thy courses and resolutions and if thou canst be so great an enemy to thine own soule as determinately to contemne the meanes of salvation and to tread wilfully in the paths of death who can say other but thou art faire for hell But if thou shalt carefully use and improve those good meanes which God hath ordained for thy conversion and shalt thereupon find that true grace is wrought in thy soule that thou abhorrest al evill waies that thou dost truly beleeve in the Lord Iesus and heartily purposest and indevourest to live holily and conscionably in this present world thou maiest now as assuredly know thy name written in heaven as if thou hadst read it in those eternal characters of Gods secret counsell Plainely it is not for thee to say I am predestinate to life therefore thus I shall doe and thus I shall speed but contrarily thus hath God wrought in me therefore I am predestinate Let me doe well it cannot but be well with mee Glory and honour and peace to every man that worketh good Let me doe my utmost diligence to make my calling and election sure I am safe and shall be happy But if thou hast been mis-carried to lewd courses and hast lived as without God in the world whiles thou dost so thy case is fearefull but who allowed thee to â—it judg upon thine own soule and to passe a peremptory doome of necessary damnation upon thy selfe Are not the meanes of grace Gods blessed ordinances stil held forth unto thee Doth not God still gratiously invite thee to repentance Doth not thy Saviour stand ready with his armes spread abroad to receive thee into his bosome And canst thou be so desperately and presumptuously mercilesse to thy selfe as to say I shall be damned therefore I will sinne Thou canst not be so wicked but there may be a possibility of thy reclamation whiles God gives thee respite there may be hope Be not thou so injurious to thy selfe as to usurpe the office both of God and the Devill of God in passing a finall judgment upon thy selfe of the Devill in drawing thy selfe into damnation Returne therefore O sinner and live break off thy sinnes by repentance and be saved But if otherwise know that Gods decree doth neither necessitate thy sin nor thy damnation Thou maist thank thy selfe for both Thy perdition is of thy selfe O Israel V. TEMPTATION Why wilt thou be singular amongst and above thy neighbours to draw needlesse censures upon thy self Be wise and do as the most Be not so over-squemish as not to dispense with thy conscience in some small matters Lend a lye to a friend swallow an oath for feare be drunke sometimes for good fellowship falsify thy word for an advantage serve the time frame thy selfe to all companies thus thou shalt be both warme and safe and kindly respected Repelled PLausible tempter what care wouldest thou seeme to take of my ease and reputation that in the mean time thou mightst run away with my soule Thou perswadest mee not to be singular amongst my neighbours it shall not be my fault if I bee so If my neighbours bee good and vertuous I am with and for them let mee be hissed at to goe alone but if otherwise let me rather go upright alone then halt with company Thou tellst mee of censures they are spent in vaine that would disharten mee from good or draw me into evill I am too deep rooted in my resolutions of good then to be turnd up by every slight wind I know who it is that hath said Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evill against you falsly for my names sake Let men take leave to talk their pleasure in what I know I do wel I am censure-proofe Thou bidst me bee wise and doe as the most These two cannot agree together Not to follow the most but the best is true wisdome My Saviour hath told me that the many goe in the broadway which leadeth to destruction and it is the charge of God Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe evill whiles I follow the guidance of my God I walk confidently as knowing I cannot goe amisse as for others let them look to their own feet they shall be no guides of mine Thou bidst me dispense with my conscience in small matters I have learnt to call nothing small that may offend the Majesty of the God of heaven Dispensations must onely proceed from a greater power Onely God is greater then my conscience where he dispenseth not it were a vaine presumption for me to dispense with my selfe And what are those small matters wherein thou solicitest my dispensation To lend a ly to a friend why dost thou not perswade mee to lend him my soule Yea to give it unto thee for him It is a sure word of the wise man The mouth that lyeth slayeth the soule How vehement a charge hath the God of truth layd upon me to avoid this sinne which thou the father of lies wouldst draw me unto What marvell is it if each speak for his own He who is truth it selfe and loveth truth in the inward parts justly calles for it in the tongue Laying aside lying saith the Spirit of God speak every man truth with his neighbour Thou who art a lying Spirit wouldst be willing to advance thine own brood under the faire pretence offriendship But what shall I to gratifie a friend make God mine enemy shall I to rescue a friend from danger bring destruction upon my selfe Thou shalt destroy them that speake leasings saith the Psalmist Without shall be every one that loveth or maketh lies If therefore my true attestation may availe my friend my tongue is his but if he must be supported by falshood my tongue is neither his nor mine but is his that made it To swallow an oath for fear No tempter I can let down none such morsels an oath is too sacred too awfull a thing for me to put over out of any outward respects against my conscience If I sweare the Oath is not mine it is Gods and the revenge will be his whose the offence is It
that head and this body Into their secret let my soule come and unto their assembly let mine honour be united But if where I find weaknesse of grace and involuntary failings of obedience I shall say Stand by thy selfe come not neer me for I am holier then thou how can I make other account then that this pride shall be a smoke in the nostrils of the Almighty a fire that burneth all day and that he will recompence it into my bosome Shortly I know none so fit to depart from as from my selfe my owne pride self love and the rest of my inbred corruptions and am so far from over-looking others that I know none worse then my selfe X. TEMPTATION However the zeale of your scrupulous Preachers is wont to make the worst of every thing and to damne the least slip to no lesse then hell Yet there are certaine favour able temperaments of circumstances which may if not excuse yet extenuate a fault such as age complexion custome profit importunity necessity which are justly pleadable at the barre both of God and the conscience and are sufficient to rebate the edge of divine severity Repelled VVIcked tempter I know there is nothing upon earth that so much either troubles thee or impairs thy kingdome of darknesse as the zeale of conscionable Preachers those who lift up their voice like a trumpet and shew Gods people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sin this is it that rescues millions of souls from the hand of hell and gives thee so many foyles in thy spirituall assaults This godly and faithful zeal represents mens sins to them as they are and by sins the danger of their damnation which thy malicious subtilty would faine blanch over and palliate to their destruction But when thou hast all done it is not in their power to make sin worse then it is or in thine to make it better As for those favourable temperaments which thou mentionest they are meere Pandarismes of wickednesse faire visors of deformity For to cast a glance upon each of them Age is not a more common plea then unjust The young man pretends it for his wanton and inordinate lust The old for his gripplenesse techinesse loquacity All wrongfully and not without foule abuse Youth is taught by thee to call for a swing and to make vigour and heate of blood a priviledge for a wild licentiousnesse for which it can have no claime but from a charter sealed in hell I am sure that God who gives this marrow to his bones and brawne to his armes and strength to his sinewes and vivacity to his spirits lookes for another improvement Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth saith Solomon And his father before him Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word Lo the young mans waies are foule with lusts and distempered passions and they must be cleansed and the way to cleanse them is attendance not of his owne vaine pleasures but of the holy ordinances of his maker Thou wouldst have him run loose like the wild Asse in the desert God tells him It is good for a man to beare the yoake in his youth even the yoke of the divine precepts the stooping whereunto is the best truest of al freedoms so as he may be able to say with the best Courtier of the wickedest King I thy servant feare the Lord from my youth The aberrations from which holy lawes of God are so far from finding an excuse from the prime of our years as that holy Iob cries out of them in the bitternesse of his soule Thou hast made mee to possesse the iniquities of my youth and as David vehemently deprecates Gods anger for them Remember not Lord the sins of my youth so Zophar the Naamathite notes it for an especiall brand of Gods judgement upon the wicked man that his bones are full of the sins of his youth and God declares it as an especiall mercy to his people Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth The more head-strong therefore my youth is the more straite shall I curbe it and hold it in and the more vigorous it is so much the fitter it is to be consecrated to that God who is most worthy to be served with the best of his own As for old age it hath I grant its humours and infirmities but rather for our humiliation then for our excuse It is not more common then absurd and unreasonable that when we are necessarily leaving the world we should be most fond in holding it when wee are ceasing to have any use of riches then to endeavour most eagerly to get them when we should bee laying up treasure in heaven to be treasuring up wrath for our selves and baggs for we know not whom To be unwilling to spend what we cannot keep and to be mad on getting what we have not the wit or grace to spend If then thou canst perswade any man to bee so gracelesse as to make his vicious disposition an apology for wickednesse let him plead the faults of his age for the excuse of his avarice As for morosity of nature and garrulity of tongue they are not the imperfections of the age but of the persons There are meek spirits under gray haires and wrinkled skinnes There are old men who as that wise heathen said of old can keepe silence even at a feast He hath ill spent his age that hath not attained to so good an hand over himselfe as in some meet measure to moderate both his speech and passion If some complexions both incline us more and crave indulgence to some sinnes more then other the sanguine to lust the cholerick to rage c. wherfore serves grace but to correct them If we must be over-ruled by nature what doe we professing Christianity Neither humours nor stars can necessitate us to evill whiles thou therefore pretendest my naturall constitution I tell thee of my spirituall regeneration the power whereof if it have not mortified my evill and corrupt affections I am not what I professe to be a Christian The strongest plea for the mitigation of sinne is Custome the power whereof is wont to be esteemed so great as that it hath seemed to alter the quality of the fact and of sin to make no sin Hence the holy Patriarchs admitted many consorts into their marriage-bed without the conscience of offending which if it had not been for the mediation of Custome had beene justly esteemed no better then criminous But however where is no contrary injunction Custome may so far usurp as to take upon it to be no lesse then a law it selfe Yet where there is a just regulation of law the plea of Custome is so quite out of countenance as that it is strongly retorted against it selfe neither is there any more powerfull reason for the abolition of an ill use then that is a custome so much