contrarie Hence again we may know that we have claime to Christ and all that hee hath done for the Elect. For if I am not under the dominion of sinne I am under grace and the true subject of Christ even a member of his body But I plainly finde in me a rebellion against sinne within by loathing it as a body of death and a stinking carrion without by opposing it in all my actions and labouring to free my selfe not onely from subjection but from the encumbrance and molestation of it utterly to root it our as the spirituall Canaanite Certain am I therefore that Christ hath subdued sinne in me setled me in his kingdome and in his bodie Nothing can separate mee from him As it is very easie to see the soule in the body though invisible in the substance by the effects and workes of it so will it be no difficult matter to discerne the blessed Spirit dwelling in us by his many and manifest operations For as in the whole body of Christ so in every member the holy Ghost is ever working Looke as in the bodie the soule is never idle but ever in action even in swoones when we feele it not yet then it ceaseth not and though at such times wee have no sense of it yet others conversing with us evidently perceive it working for life so in the new man It is the same Spirit which worketh all in all so that when we feele it not our selves others easily see it Two maine actions of the Spirit comprehending the rest are mortification opposing resisting and working out the old man all sinfull matter in us or Vivification quickning repairing and strengthening the new man No sooner the Spirit enters but it discovers to us much ignorance and then stirres up to incline the eare unto wisedome and apply the heart to understanding the tongue to crie for knowledge and lift up the voyce for understanding When now the iâ—â—elligible part is somewhat cleared and light brought forth in this new Creation strait the dulnesse and deadnesse of the concupiscible part the will and affections is laid open Then the heart longues and the tongue calls out for quickeâ—iâ—g grace Take notice of this in the Saints Thus David begs for more light Open mine eyes that I may see the wonders of thy Law Teach me O Lord the way of thy Sâ—atâ—tes Give mee understanding But now when by the grace of God in the exercise of the Word hee was growne wiser than his enemses and of more understanding than all his teachers then strait his eye was upon that sluggishnesse and deadnesse of spirit and how loud and frequent is he for quickning Quicken me according to thy Word quicken me according to thy judgement quicken me according to thy loving kindnesse how often repeated in that one Psalme Certaine is it that as wee can never in this life wholly shake off all sinfull infirmities so that blessed Spirit will never suffer us to rest in any Looke as in the earthly Canaan the Israelites untill the reigne of Salomon were never in full peace sometime vexed with Iabin of Canaan sometime with the Philistims but ever victorious Remarkable is it that ever their vexation was a sure signe of their enlargement and oppression by the enemy ushered in the destruction of the oppressor for when Israels soule was grieved with the Canaaâ—ites Gods soule was grieved for his Israel So in the state of grace till that true Salomon the Prince of peace shall fully reigne over all his and our enemies wee shall ever be in continuall strife with our sinfull corruptions first with one then with another and nothing should more fully assure us that God hath certainly purposed to cut off any sinfull affection in us then that discovering it to our eyes and giving us sense of the burden he gives us no rest that wee may give him no rest but seek importunately for helpe till we finde it subdued and destroyed in us Neither doth the blessed Spirit by his baptisme of fire onely mortifie and purge out the drosse of our sinfull nature but quickens us by that heat of life in vivification so that the soule enflamed with the thirst of grace and glory can make no stay in his race till it touch the marke with all diligence adding to faith vertue to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance and when we are not destitute of any grace then putting us forward to grow in the grace which we have received Hence is it that even in the depth of tentation when our selves judging by sense suppose that all is lost standers by as they say see further then wee and can easily discerne this Spirit mightily working in us grieving under the load of sinne and unutterably groaning under this oppression judging our selves sighing for grace By this then may wee evidently disâ—rne the Spirit dwelling in us that we are ever in spirituall motion action and exercise sometime mortifying sometime quickning ever leading us forward to perfection See Rom. 8.11.13 14. so that we can never rest or sit downe in a contented estate till wee are fully compleat in happinesse and glory Lastly another signe whereby we may without all faile conclude that we are translated from death unto life is our love to the Brethren For certainely He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive the reward of a righteous man and hee that gives a cup of water to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple verilie hee in no wise shall lose his reward Nay this token of our love proves and makes good all the former namely that God is our Father the Lord Iesus our Saviour and we Temples of the holy Ghost For whosoever beleeveth that Iesus is the Christ is borne of God and every one that loveth him that begot loveth him also that is begotten of him And Behold let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is borne of God and knoweth God Where the love of Gods children is set out by the Spirit as a sure token both of our love to God and our new birth by God Againe our Saviour appointeth it as the Badge of his Disciples By this shall all men how much more our selves know that you are my Disciples if you love one another Read also 1 Ioh. 3.23,24 This is his command that we should beleeve and love one another and he that keepeth this Commandement dwels in him and he in him And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit he hath given us The two great commandements of the Gospell are Faith and love which when they are written in our hearts by the Spirit and he stirres us up to cleave unto our head by faith unto our fellow members by love it is manifest that we
this day and much more abundant as if a man should seeke for Paradise under the frozen Poles for heaven in hell Now as nothing is more vaine then to search for comfort against the sorrowes of this world in this world of sorrowes so as fond were it for a Christian to rake out any comfort from the puddles of heathen and naturall men Their best Physitians and medicines can never possibly worke upon the part affected thâ—t is the Conscience The choice of them are but as Ioâ—s friends mâ—serable comforters Their barrennes in this fruit will yeeld us an excellent document how beggar-poore our nature is in any grace when we obserue what weake comforts those strong wits with all their studie and helpe of nature produced in the necessities of themselues and their friends Looke what difference wee finde in swoons and qualmes betweene hot water and small beere such infinitely more shall wee obserue betweene the consolatioÌ„s given by God in the Scriptures and naturall men in their writings See it in some instances As first against affliction in generall All calamities say they are either casuall and a wise man will despise chanceable events or else fatall such as by destiny are set out for us and therefore cannot be avoided but must be borne Now consider what vertue there is in such a plaister to heale the least scratch of any trouble Compare with this the comforts of the blessed Spirit .i. God offers himselfe to thee in affliction as a Father armeth thee with proportionable strength to passe through it clenseth thy defiled heart by this purging fire and purifies it from the drosse of sinne prevents eternall condemnation and embrightens thy heavenly crowne by it And what wound so deepe which these ingredients will not perfectly cure and skin soundly Come to particulars In banishment the Phylosopher will tell thee Every soyle is a valiant mans Country In disgrace and infamy It is but popular breath lighter theÌ„ ayre In death Cities say they States the whole world of men are mortall Now alas what strength is there in these weake reeds to beare up a soule plunged and even swallowed up in feare and horror Certainly if a man were sinking before these comfortours would be so farre from raising his dejected heart that they would rather utterly overwhelme and drowne it in all hopelesse perplexity But our great comfort maks us to see that here we are strangers and Pilgrims neither can we be exiled from God and from our heavenly Ierusalem and Blessed are you when men revile and persecute you and say all manner of evill of you Reioyce and leape for ioy for great is your reward in heaven Hee maketh us to know that death is buâ— a sleepe in the Lord a rest from all labouâ— which cannot separate from the love of God but uniteth us unto Christ. By these and such like the soules of the faithfull have beene revived and quickned in the midst of death and supported in spite of all opposition of Satan and his instruments Heathens then are Physitions of no value and all their Simples gathered from their naturall reason like to those of our Empiricks which perhaps will not hurt but certainly will nothing helpe us Therefore passing by these dry pits which will hold no water let us come to the spring-head even our glorious head the Lord Iesus who is both the Physitian and medicine of the broken heart and to his holy Ordinances the channels full channels of all heavenly consolation For I purpose not here to summe up all the Cordials which may refresh and glad an humbled dejected Spirit that must bee the worke of greater gifts and longer time Verely as the Bee drawes honey from every herbe eveâ— weeds and venemous plants so the faithfull Christian may extract comfort from all things even the most grievous and fearefull If he looketh up to heaven it was made for him here to light him hereafter to harbor him If downe to the earth it is given to the Sonnes of men especially the Sonnes of God as a Nursâ— of their temporall life and a bed in death All the Creatures are his nay death and hell yeeld him this comfort not onely that he is delivered from them but that they shall revenge him of his enemies and torment his tormentors But I desire to bee short therefore wil confine my selfe to narrower limits Now as in any great house there are not onely Cisternes retaining and by divers pipes conveighing water unto every Office but specially a living well or fountaine feeding these Cisternes So in the Church which is Gods house wee shall find certaine Ordinances of God wherein he layes up and whereby hâ—e conveyes these sweet refreshings unto our soules Afterward they will lead us on unto the Well-head that River of God nay Seas and Oceans of all consolation even the God of all comfort First therefore to omit many the Lord hath stored up for us bringeth home to us much comfort as well in other holy meanes as in affliction it selfe But as Nathaniel of Nazareth so some Christian perhaps will speake of affliction Can any good thing come out of evill CHAP. III. The description and distribution of Afflictions TRue it is that Affliction is of it selfe the very Spring of bitternesse worldly sorrow and death The naturall fruit of it is no other but murmuring cursing and desperate blaspheming but is wholly changed through the grace of God powerfully working in it Looke as the waters of Marah were very bitter yet whâ—n the Tree pointed out by God was cast into them they became sweet And as those Springs of Iericho flowed with death and barrennes yet were healed by Elisha with salt so when God seasoneth Afflictions with that Tree of Life who was himselfe consecrate through Afflictions and with that Salt of his Spirit he maketh them wholesome and pleasant The Crosse therefore is as some wine which though of it selfe it be tart unpleasant yet seasoned with a little Sugar it will not only goe down with delight but warme the stomacke and make the heart merry Now Affliction is nothing else as wee know but some evill and grievance pressing us either in body or soule drawn in by sinne and sent in by our just God in generall as an Herald of Armes to summon all men to lay downe their rebellion and come in by Repentance in particular a Messenger of wrath and beginning of hell to the reprobate and disobedient but an Embassadour for peace and the narrow gate to heaven to the Elect and faithfull Briefly to runne over this discription That Affliction is a grievous evill shall need no other witnesse but our sense yet further testified by that infallible Truth No chastisement for the present seemeth to bee ioyous but grievous That it is the attendant of sinne is evident Death entred by sinne and the wages of sinne is death
these Sacraments and nature of these seales what rivers of comfort must needs flow into the heart of him who rightly partaketh them Look as Princes grave their owne portraitures in their seales sitting in state upon their Thrones invested with their royall apparell adorned with their Crownes and Scepters So the Lord Jesus Christ in these his Signets hath lively represented himselfe in his death conquering triumphing and leading captive all our enemies and even trampling them under our feete But Princes can grave nothing on their seales but their dead Images Not so here For in these the very person of the Lord Jesus is given us as being not onely represented but presented and exhibited to the faithfull The body of Christ feeding and strengthning the blood of Christ washing and more than wine cheering up our fainting spirits is there offred and given us who reach out the hand of faith to receive him Now how hee should be unhappy who hath Christ or misse of comfort whose soule is filled with the Lord Jesus it is not possible to conceive But let us consider them a little severally Baptisme is that Sacrament wherein God applyes the bloud of Christ to wash us from all the pollution of our sin and to communiâ—â—te unto us his own glorious purenes Let us therefore take some notice first as well of the filthinesse of sinne as our filthinesse by it and then of this excellent purenesse Certaine is it that our created understanding cannot find power in it selfe to conceive much lesse words to expresse the infinite loathsomnesse of sinne Hence is it that in Scripture the wisedome of God resembleth it to all those things which are to our senses most abhorred sinne to stinking mudde a sinner to aswine wallowing in that mire sinne to a loathsome vomit a sinner to a dogge licking up his vomit in a word sinne to death a sinner to a rotten carkasse and his throat to an open Sepulchre exhaling and belching out stench and putrefaction so infectious that one sinne entring into the world tainted and slue the whole world with sinne turning Saints into swine Angels into Divels so loathsome that even both the materials of man in the very touch defile and the most pure and holy duties passing through a sinfull heart are altogether abhorred and abominable It staineth the very righteousnesse of the Saints who are not on earth yet absolutely clensed from it so that in it selfe it is no better than a filthy clout This is our estate from which by Christ applied unto us in Baptisme wee are delivered Secondly ponder well what is this image of Christ which Baptisme imprinteth upon us It is even the Divine nature that glorious beauty of holinesse which in God the blessed Angels above all other attributes admire and prayse Esa. 6.3 Surely if any thing can be in God more excellent than other then holinesse is it As the face is in the body so is holinesse in the Lord the very beauty of the Divine Nature And as a passionate Lover is even ravished with the presence and sight of his beloved so is it the compleate happinesse of the creature to behold that face of God shining with that ravishing bewty of holinesse Men sweare by the greater but because none is greater than God therefore God sweareth by himselfe but in himselfe by nothing that I remember but his holinesse Oh then how unspeakeable is the comfort of this holy Ordinance which clensing us from such a filthinesse washeth us into such a beauty Againe the Lords Supper is that holy Mysterie wherein the Spirit perfecteth this worke which hee hath begun in us and throughly assures us Christ. Looke as when the wax is hard the first impression changeth the forme and makâ—th some though no perfect print of the Image ingraved in the seale so that Image of God which by Baptisme is stamped upon us but by reason of our sinfull hard hearts as yet in part onely is by often applying the Lord in that other Seale more perfectly expressed and more lively pourtrayed in us So being entred into life by Baptisme wee are nourished by the Lords Supper and more strengthned till wee attaine unto full growth and ripenesse CHAP. XII Meditation in these comforts given in the Sacraments NOw here againe let us commune with our owne hearts and say Why oh my soule art thou so distracted and rent with doubts and distrustfull feares Hast thou not the seales of Gods Covenant for thee yea in thee If hee will doe thee good shall any creature bee able to hurt thee If he will knit my heart to him in his feare what shall separate it from his love Oh be perswaded for which thou hast so strong evidence and assurance That no tribulation nor anguish nor life nor death nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come shall be able to seperate thee from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Now therefore cast thy burthen upon his truth leane and stablish all thy hopes upon these his sealed Promises Oh let perfect love cast out all distrust and feare Assure thy selfe hee will not nay in his truth cannot faile thee in such assurances How should not he pitty his owne though never so weake life in thee who pittied thy death in sinne How should hee hate thee now his childe who loved thee once an enemy Oh my God as thou hast given me an eye in some measure to see my sinfull filthinesse so hast thou given me an heart in the same measure to loath my selfe so polluted and filthy Lord thou hast made mee to know and I desire with more feeling to acknowledge that I am beyond measure beyond mine owne apprehension in nature horrible and lothsome my roote rottennesse my stalke corruption my fruit contagion more vile than the earth I tread on more polluted than the dung I scorne to tread on But oh incomprehensible heigth depth bredth and length of thy grace those thine infinitely pure eies could even then with compassion behold this unmeasurably impure and infectious mire when no eye pittied me when I had no pitty on my selfe even then hadst thou compassion on me When I was cast out as the execrable and loathsome dunghill of the world even then dâ—ddest thou not despise me I was dead in sinne stinking in the grave of my lusts yet even then didst thou say unto me Live Thou washedst mee with the water of life the Blood of the Lord Jesus annoyntedst me with the oyle of thy gracious Spirit and diddest set thine owne beauty upon me Thou hast nourished me with the true Manna That bread of heaven which giveth life unto the world And daily dost thou vouchsafe to renew mee after thine image and to strengthen thy life and nature in me And now my God is there any thing like this to be like to thee Oh what an honour what a Crowne is this unto me In all other