Tentations their nature, danger, cure. By Richard Capel. Sometimes fellow of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford. To which is added a briefe dispute, as touching restitution in the case of usury.

TENTATIONS . Their Nature , Danger , Cure ,

By RICHARD CAPEL . Sometimes Fellow of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford .

To which is added a Briefe Dispute , as touching Restitution in the Case of Vsury .

1 COR. 10. 13. There hath no Tentation taken you , but such as is common to man : But God is faithfull , who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able : but will with the Tentation , also make away to escape , that yee may be able to beare it .

LONDON , Printed by R. B. 1633.

TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL SIR WILLIAM GUISE Knight ; Grace and Peace from IESUS . CHRIST . SIR ,

THose that a a 1 Sam. 2. 30. honour God , God will honor , and so will godly men : God will ; for he useth not to be behind with any , neither will hee with you : You have done God much honour in setting up such Lights in our Countrey ; Ministers who both b b Mat. 5. 19. Prius actionem posuit mox Doctrinam . Chrysost. Hem. 72. ad Pop. Antioch . Doe and Teach : They ( as Christ hath it ) shall be called great in the Kingdome of heaven ; and so shall you . And so will godly men honour you , both Ministers and Others : Ministers , because you have built us of our coat some Synagogues : Others ( who had it not beene for you , might have sate in the c c Luke 1. 79. Shadow of Darknesse and Death ) for that they now see best by their present mercie , what was their former , and what would have beene their future Misery . To save one soule from death is noted in the d d 1 Tim. 31. Iam. 5. 20. Word to be an honourable piece of service : How great is your Honour and comfort then ? to whom God hath given an Heart and meanes to set up sundrie e e Mat. 5. 14. Lights of it for the Saving of many soules , in many Parishes . Now as God and GODS People will honour you for providing that which is f f Isa. 55. 2. Bread g g Iohn 6. 55. indeed : So you must conceive that Satan will not h h Luke 10. 18 ▪ fall downe from Heaven like lightning thus without some stirre ; You doe plucke downe his Kingdom , and he will pluck at you , and you must , and ( I hope ) doe provide for his assaults . As for your Safety , your i i Luke 10 ▪ 20. Name being written in Heaven ( out of Satans k k Iob 1. 7. 1 Pet. 5. 8. walke ) you stand l l 2 Tim. 2. 19. sure ; The m m Iob. 10. 29. Father holds , and the n n vers. 28. Sonne holds , and none shall plucke you out of their hands : But as touching your inward Quiet , by GODS o o Luke . 22. 31. Leave , Satan will take his time to winnow you ( not as Chaffe ) but as Wheat : Expect it , he will doe what he can ( and he can doe something ) to interrupt your Peace : He hath * * Iam. 2. 19. no Peace himselfe , and so he cannot abide ( as farre as he can doe withall ) that any should have any : He durst and did set upon , and vex the Lord himselfe with the smoake of an p p Matth. 4. 9. heavie Tentation : And will he not , Dare he not , let drive at us ? Verily , when we come to have those * * Luke 16. 11. true Riches about us , and to be in some spirituall strength , ( which usually is in our later and more q q Heb. 5. 14. experienced age ) it is usuall that GOD should , and he often doth suffer Satan ; What ? to beat us ? No! But yet to r r 2 Cor. 12. 7. buffet us , as he did Saint Paul . Wherefore , after some great things done to GODS honour , and Satans undoing , we are then chiefest of all , to looke for the houre of Tentation , and to take the best care we can , both for our Safetie and Peace : This is to fight , not so much s s Ephes. 6. 12. with men , nor with t t 1 Cor ▪ 15 ▪ 32. beasts , after the manner of men , as with u u Ephes. 6. 12. Principalities and Powers : His Arrowes are * * Ephes. ● . 10. firy , and have sorrow enough in them , to make the Heart of a Christian man to x x Prov. 1● . 25. stoupe : We are therefore , all of us , by all meanes to furnish our selves with such y y 2 Cor. 10. 5. Armes as may fit us in our several occasions . And now to helpe the weaker sort of Christians , I have here done somewhat that way , which ( what ever it be ) I doe here make bold to publish it under your Name and Countenance : To whom I wish , as Saint Iohn did to Gaius ( the z z Rom. 16. 23. Hoste of the Church in his Time : ) a a 3 Ioh. 2. That above all things you may prosper , and be in health , even as your soule prospereth ,

Yours in our Lord Christ Iesus . RICHARD CAPEL .

To the Christian Reader .

AFter the Angels left their owne standing , they envied ours , and out of envie became both by office and practice Tempters , that they might draw man from that happy Communion with God , unto that cursed condition with themselves . And successe in this trade ; hath made them both skilfull , and diligent especially now , their time being but short . And if neither the first or second Adam could be free from their Impudent Assaults ; Who then may look for exemption ? the best must most of all looke to be set upon , as having most of Christ in them , whom Satan hates most , and as hoping by dis-heartning of them , to foile others , as great trees fall not alone ; no Age or ranke of Christians can be free : Beginners he labours to discourage ; those that have made some progresse , hee raiseth stormes against ; those that are more perfect , he labours to undermine , by spiritual pride , and above all other times he is most busie , when wee are weakest , then he doubles and multiplies his forces , when hee lookes either to have all , or lose all . His course is either to tempt to sin , or for sinne : To sinne , by presenting some seeming good , to draw us from the true good , to seeke some excellencie besides God in the creature , and to this end , he labours in the first place to shake our faith in the Word , thus he dealt with Adam , and thus he dealeth with all his posterity . And besides immediate suggestions , he commeth unto us , by our dearest friends , as unto Christ , by Peter : so many tempters , so many devils in that ill office , though neither they , or we , are oft aware of it ; the nearest friend of al , our own flesh , is the most dangerous traytour , and therefore most dangerous , because most neare , more neare to us , than the Devill himselfe , with which , if he had no intelligence , all his plots would come to nothing ; this holding correspondence with him , layeth us open to all the danger ; it is this inward bosome enemy that doth us most mischiefe . When Phocas ( like another Zimry ) had killed his Master , Cedren . Mauricius the Emperour , he laboured , like Cain , to secure himselfe , with building high wals , after which , hee heard a voice telling him , that though he built his wals never so high , yet sinne , within the wals , would undermine al : It is true of every particular man , that if there were no Tempter without , he would be a Tempter to himselfe ; it is this lust within us that hath brought an ill report upon the creature : This is that which makes blessings to be snares unto us ; all the corruption which is in the world , is by lust , 2 Pet. 1. 4. which lyeth in our bosome , and as an Achitophel , or Iudas , by familiaritie betrayeth us ; yea , often-times in our best affections , and actions , Nature will mingle with our Zeale , and privie pride will creepe in ▪ and taint our best performances , with some corrupt aime : Hence it is , that our life is a continual combate . A Christian , so soone as New-borne , is borne a souldier , and so continueth untill his crowne be put upon him , in the meane time , our comfort is , that ere long , wee shall bee out of the reach of all tentation , Rom. 16. 20. the God of peace will tread downe Satan under our feet . A carnall mans life is nothing but a strengthning and feeding of his enemie , a fighting for that , which fighteth against his soule . Since Satan hath cast this seed of the Serpent into our soules , there is no sin so prodigious , but some seed of it lurketh in our nature ; It should humble us , to heare what sins are forbidden by Moses , which if the Holy Ghost had not mentioned , we might have beene ashamed to heare of , they are so dishonourable to our nature , the very hearing of the monstrous outrages committed by men , given up of God , as it yeelds matter of thanks to God for preservation of us , so of humility , to see our common nature so abused , and abased by sinne and Satan : Nay , so catching is our Nature of sin , that the mention of it , in stead of stirring hatred of it , often kindles Fancie to a liking of it : the discovery of divellish policies and stratagems of wit , though in some respects to good purpose , yet hath no better effect in some , than to fashion their wits to the like false practises ; and the innocencie of many ariseth not from love of that which is good , but from not knowing of that which is evill .

And in nothing the sinfulnesse of sin appeares more than in this , that it hindereth all it can , the knowledge of it selfe , and if it once be knowne , it studieth extenuation , and translation , upon others ; sin and shifting came into the world together , in Saint Iames his time , it seemes there were some that were not afraid to father their temptations to sinne , upon him that hateth it most , ( God himselfe ) whereas God is only said to try , not to tempt . Our Adversaries are not far from imputing this to God , who maintaine Concupiscence , the mother of all abominations , to be a condition of Nature , as first created , onely kept in , by the bridle of originall righteousnesse , that from hence , they might the better maintaine those proud opinions of perfect fulfilling the Law , and meriting therby . This moved Saint Iames to set downe the true descent and pedegree of sin ; wee our selves are both the Tempters , and the Tempted , as Tempted , wee might deserve some pity , if as Tempters wee deserve not blame , in us there is both fire and matter for fire to take hold on , Satan needs but to blow , and often times not that neither , for many , if Concupiscence stirre not up them , they will stirre up to Concupiscence . So long as the soule keepes close to God , and his truth , it is safe , so long as our way lieth above , we are free from the Snares below , all the danger first riseth , from letting our hearts loose from God by infidelity , for then presently our heart is drawn away by some seeming good , whereby we seeke a severed excellencie , and contentment out of God , in whom it is only to be had . After we have once forsaken God , God forsakes us ▪ leaving us , in some degree , to our selves , the worst guides that can be ; and thereupon , Satan joynes forces with us , setting upon us as a friend , under our owne colours ; hee cannot but miscarry that hath a Pirate for his guide . This God suffereth , to make us better knowne to our selves , for by this meanes corruption , that lay hid before , is drawne out , and the deceitfulnesse of sinne the better knowne , and so wee are put upon the daily practice of repentance and mortification , and driven to fly under the wings of Iesus Christ . Were it not for temptations , we should be concealed from our selves , our graces , as unexercised , would not bee so bright , the power of God should not appeare ; so in our weaknesse , we would not be so pitiful and tender towards others , nor so je●lous over our owne hearts , nor so skilfull of Satans method and enterprises , we should not see such a necessity of standing alwayes upon our guard ; but though , by the over-ruling power of God , they have this good issue , yet that which is ill of it selfe , is not to be ventured on , for the good that commeth by accident . The chiefe thing wherein one Christian differs from another , is watchfulnesse , which though it require most labour , yet it bringeth most safety , and the best is no farther safe , than watchfull , and not onely against sinnes , but tentations , which are the seeds of sinne , and occasions which let in tentations , the best , by rash adventures , upon occasions , have beene led into temptations , and by temptation , into the sin it selfe : whence sin and temptation come both under the same name , to shew us that we can bee no farther secure from sinne , than we be carefull to shun temptations . And in this , every one should labour so wel to understand themselves , as to know what they finde a temptation to them , that may be a temptation to one , which is not to another ; Abraham might looke upon the smoake of Sodome , though Lot might not , because that sight would worke more upon Lots heart , than Abrahams . In these cases , a wise Christian better knowes what to doe with himselfe , than any can prescribe him . And because God hath our hearts in his hand , and can either suspend or give way to temptations , it should move us especially to take heed of those sins , wherby grieving the good Spirit of God , wee give him cause to leave us to our owne spirits , but that he may rather stirre up contrary gracious lustings in us , as a contrary principle . There is nothing of greater force , to make us out of godly jealousie to feare alwayes : Thus daily working out our salvation , that God may delight to goe along with us , and be our Shield , and not to leave us naked in the hands of Satan , but second his first Grace with a further degree , as temptations shall encrease ; it is he that either removeth occasions , or shutteth our hearts against them , and giveth strength to prevaile over them , which gracious providence you cannot be too thankfull for ; it is a great mercy , when temptations are not above the supply of strength against them . This care onely taketh up the heart of those , who having the life of Christ begun in them , and his Nature stampt upon them , have felt how sweet communion and acquaintance with God in Christ , and how comfortable the daily walking with God , is : these are wary of any thing that may draw away their hearts from God , and hinder their peace . And therefore they hate temptations to sin , as sin it selfe , and sinne , as hell it selfe , and hell most of all , as being a state of eternall separation from all comfortable fellowship with God . A man that is a stranger from the life of God , cannot resist tentation to sin , as it is sin , because hee never knew the beauty of holines , but from the beauty of a civill life he may resist tentations to such sins as may weaken respect , and from love of his owne quiet , may abstaine from those sins that will affright conscience . And the cause why civil men feele lesse disturbance from temptations , is , because they are wholly under the power of temptation , til God awaken their heart . What danger they see not , they feare not , the strong man holds his possession in them , and is too wise , by rowzing them out of their sleepe to give them occasion of thoughts of escape . None more under the danger of tentation , than they that discerne it not , they are Satans stales , taken by him , at his pleasure , whom Satan useth to draw others into the same snare ; therefore Satan troubleth not them , nor himselfe about them , but a true Christian , feares a temptation in every thing , his chiefe care is , that in what condition soever hee bee , it proves not a temtation to him : Afflictions , indeed , are more ordinarily called temptations , than prosperity , because Satan by them , breedeth an impression of sorrow and feare , which affections have an especiall working upon us , in the course of our lives , making us often to for sake God , and desart his cause ; yet snares are laid in every thing we deale with which none can avoid , Domine , quis vadet l●●ueos isto ●●nultos 〈◊〉 videat istos , & 〈◊〉 vid● iistos , nis● 〈◊〉 illuminaveris ●●mine 〈◊〉 ipse enim pater ten●●●●rum 〈◊〉 queo● sous abscondit . out those that see them , none see , but those whose eyes God opens , and God useth the ministery of his servants for this end , to open the eyes of men , to discover the net , and then ( as the Wiseman saith ) in vain is the net spred before the sight of any bird .

This moved this godly Minister , ( my Christian friend ) to take paines in this usefull argument , Soliloq . cap. 16. as appeareth in this Treatise , Which goeth under Augustines name , Tome 9. which is written by him in a cleare , quicke , and familiar stile ; and for the matter and manner of handling , solid , judicious , and scholler-like ; and which may commend it the more , it is written by one , that besides faithfulnesse , and fruitfulnesse in his ministry , hath beene a good proficient in the schoole of temptation himselfe , and therefore the fitter , as a skilfull Watch-man , to give warning and aime to others ; for there be spirituall exercises of Ministers , more for others , than for themselves . If by this , he shall attaine , in some measure , what hee intended , God shall have the glory , thou the benefit , and he the incouragement , to make publike some other Labours .

Fare-well in the Lord . R. SIBBS .

Faults escaped .

PAge 40. line 20. for , sinne this , reade , this sinne . p. 123. l. 7. for , who can say . r. who can say ? p. 183. l. 23. for , stake , r. slake . p. 212. l. 9. for , blame , r. flame . p. 225. l. 5. after againe , put in , who can say . p. 380. l. 22. for , manner . r. Manour . p. 416. l. 18. for , we keep , r. keep we . p. 549. l. 23. for , alienated , r. alienum . p. 203. l. 17. for , freed once , r. freedome . p. 58. l. 24. for , will , r. would . p. 65. l. 8. after not , put in , only . In the Epistle to the Reader , for desart . r. desert . p. 18. l. 20. r. armand . p. 387. l. 18. for , thoughts r. faults . p. 239. l. 21. r. sinfull affections . p. 240. l. 18. for , both , r. back . p. 238. l. 20. for , grave , r. growne . p. 190. l. 17. for , we , r. he . p. 191. l. 10. for , the sure , r. sure the. p. 136. l. 15. for , doth God , r. God doth . p. 137. l. last , for , from , r. for . p. 108. l. 21. put out , and. p. 75. l. 23. for , reproved , r. approved . p. 61. l. 18. after certaine , put in , of all sinnes . p. 138. l. 10. for , suffer , r. chuse . p. 290. l. 18. put out , Art . p. 342. l. 19. after man , put in , may . 362. l. 7. in the margent , after , they dranke , put in , they married . p. 84. l. 9 r. liking . p. 376. l. 8. r. convenient . p. 384. l. 3. put out the point at heard . p. 337. l. 7. put out , to . p. 377. l. 25. the point at not , put at will . p. ibid. l. 22. first of Timothy 5. 11. put in the margent . the first 227. must be 225.

THE TABLE . A ADams first sinne from himselfe . Page 〈◊〉 How sinne came first into the Angels . 〈◊〉 Adam deprived himselfe of righteousnesse . 〈◊〉 We must keepe all our Armour about us . 〈◊〉 An Angell without God , serves not . 〈◊〉 Afflictions no proofe that God loves us not . 〈◊〉 Atheisme how tempted to it , and how cured of 〈◊〉 Satan neither is , nor can be an Atheist . 〈◊〉 Adultery a great sinne , how prevented , and how cured , 〈◊〉 B TEntations of Blasphemy , what , and how cured 270 Blasphemy against the holy Ghost . 〈◊〉 Baptisme properly no vow . ●88 Beastiality : Tentations that way , and their 〈◊〉 3●6 The Body , a great occasion of uncleannesse . 〈◊〉 Helps against such as have hurt their Bodies by the sinnes . 〈◊〉 C COnscience simply is not our Iudge . 309 Sinnes the worse or lesse , for that they trouble the Conscience , how and why . 370 D DEceits of sinne . 22 Men doe wrong the Devill . 39. 40. Wee must not lay our faults on the Devill . 44 Dispute not with sinne and Satan . 96 Desertion in it selfe no sinne . 137 Discontent is caused by sinne , not by crosses . 337 Despaire in lusts of uncleannesse , prevented . 419 F FVlnesse of sin , what , and when 75 Fly not in tentations . 97 Faith our weapon in Tentations . 100 Fight and conquer . 104 Friends to be chosen to helpe us in tentations . 188 After Fals , rise againe . 212 Feare , a meanes to prevent hurting ones selfe . G GOd to bee our God , wee must hold in Tentations . 131 H Sinne against the Holy Ghost , not in the old Testament . 40 Sinne against the Holy Ghost , a part of Originall sinne . 41 Sinners in Hell doe not demerit . 146 I INclosure , a great sinne . 27 , 28 Infirmities , what , and how knowne . 118 K KIndred must take heed one of another in the lusts of uncleannesse . 40● L LVst unconsented , forbidden in each Commandement . 17 Long-suffering , a great meanes to helpe in Tentations . 166 Love of God keepes us from relapsing . 226 M FIrst Motions to sinne , are great sins . 12 Abuse of Mercies brings Tentations . 81 Tentations of Murther , and their cure . 322 Selfe - Murther discovered , and the cure of it . 324 ●●ch as have the gift ought not to Marry . 375 Marriages are to be provided for children in due time . 375 Marriage not appointed to make men rich , but chaste . 383 Rules how to Marry , and how to order our selves in the married estate . 386 N SInnes against Nature . 53 Law of Nature , no part of originall sin . 55 How men become inclinable to sinnes against Nature . 63 O ORiginall sinne , is properly a sinne . 11 Originall sinne for bidden by the Law . 14 Originall sinne , is virtually every sinne . 38 Originall sinne equall in all men . 41 Old Christians most tempted . 51 Occasions of sinne to be avoyded . 83 The helpe of Others in tentations . 183 Avoyding Occasions of sinne , a signe of grace . 205 Old people must see they avoyd lusts of youth . 400 No Ordinary conquest against sinne , without putting away the occasions . 411 Opinion prevailes too much in judging of sins . 350 P THe Pharisies held all inward motions to bee no sinnes . 20 Spirituall Pride makes worke for tentations . 79 Pride the master sinne in all . 88 Prayer brings more than we beleeve , how . 108 Tentations of Perjury what , and how cured . 281 When Prayer for others come too late . 365 R NO true Reasons to be found for any sinne . 47 Reprobate-sense in such as are not Reprobates . Many Reprobates never committed some sinnes of are probate sense . 71 , 72 Reasons will not serve in Tentations . 106 Resisting , a great helpe in Tentations . 109 Relapses dangerous , yet curable . 214 To Repent of sinne , is as great a worke of grace , as not to sinne . 298 Relapses not usuall after Repentance in the lusts of uncleannesse . 426 S SAtan did and doth properly sinne . 5 Sinne not the cause of the first sinne . 7 A single apprehension of Sin , is not sinne . 15 Satan must have leave ere he can hurt us . 33 Satan hath no naturall affection in him . 53 Every man Subject to every sinne . 60 Security makes way for Tentations . 80 Death of Sinne , what , and how . 111 Sinne punished with sinne . Sinne the punishment , is not ever greater than the sin punished . 147 Strength from God helps us in Tentations . 161 A man after repentance may fall into the same grosse Sinne againe . 215 Not to Sinne is better than to repent . 219 Sinne is not to be made worse than it is . 2●5 Satan hurts most when he comes with holy ends . Sodomy , the tentation of it , and the Cure . 358 T SAtans Tentations . 30 Tentations comming from our selves . 38 Mixe Tentations . 43 The definition of Tentation . 46 The best that be , often Tempted . 48 Vses to be made of the Tentation . 86 Rules , after the Tentation is over . 201 Evill Thoughts , how farre subdued . 208 We are subject to the same tentation againe . 245 Theft a sore Tentation , the cure of it . 318 How to know when the lust is killed , or Satan doe onely cease to Tempt . 416 V ALL Vices properly sinnes . 11 Vnnatur all sinnes . 50 Vowes broken prove great Tentations . 289 Vprightnesse of obedience , and of repentance . 300 Vnbeleefe in Christ a great Tentation . 302 Lusts of Vncleannesse , their tentation and cure . 345 Religious men and women must beware one of another in the lust of Vncleannesse . 407 Heed must be taken of our owne servants that they infect him not in the lust of Vncleannesse . 410 Lust of Vncleannesse dangerous . 345 W SAtan himselfe cannot force the Will of man . 31 Will , not taken for the Deed in sins . 93 Watching , a great helpe in tentations . 158 Wisedome , a great helpe in tentations . 164 The Word , a chiefe weapon in tentation . 168 Women stand freer from perjury than men . 282 Widowes estates , and their danger . 399 Y YEelding hurts , not helps in Tentations . 157 How to avoyd the lust of Lust . 399 The end of the Table .

TENTATIONS . Their Nature . Danger . Cure . IAMES 1. 14. But every man is tempted when hee is drawne aside of his owne lust , and entised .

IT appears that we all came out of Adams loynes , in that we smell of his disease , to father our sinnes on the Lord : a common thing it is , and not so common as wicked for a man to say that hee is tempted of God , and so to make God at least a co-authour of our sins , which S. Iames finding to be up and downe in his time , cleares God , Diaboli hoc opus est ut faciat ●●ultos potius & corpus , & D●um , & proximum , quam corruptum animum accusare , ne scîli●cet , inventa peccandi cousa a malorum radice liberentur . and layes the fault on man , where the root of all tentation is . He would have man to learne , that hee carries the cause of all tentations within his owne bosome ; which the Apostle findes out to be our Lust : This Lust doth worke our tentation by degrees .

1 By drawing the minde of man aside from thinking on God and goodnesse , Chrys. in 1 Cor. 6. Hom. 17. raising up sudden thoughts in us , of that which is not good without any consultation , giving a man no time to dispute the matter with himselfe , or with his God .

2 By inticing and baiting the hart of man , as men do for fishes ; working on the will to bend towards such or such object represented by Lust , as in appearance good and pleasant ; and here though we doe repell such thoughts as draw , and withdraw , and such wishes as intice and allure , even as fast as they come to our consideration : yet S. Iames tels us here , that they are the first fruits and effects of our concupiscence . By Lust is meant our naturall and originall corruption ; the conclusion is , That all our tentations are long of our originall sin : I deny not but Satan tempts , and so doth the World ; but yet neither Satan nor the World can now hurt us , if all be well within ; they tempt , but it is by working on our own concupiscence , should they finde nothing in us , we needed not to care thus much for their tentations . Christ indeed was tempted , and had no Lust in him , and did not Satan lose his labour ? And all because nothing was found in him : fire burns not where is no matter for it to work upon ; no meere man is tempted and drawne aside , but he may thanke his owne concupiscence .

The greatest quaere is of Adam in Paradice , and of the Angels in heaven . The maine answer is , that Iames speakes of Man as he is now , not as he was then . The greatest matter then is , how sin came into Adam , which must be from the liberty of his will , hee was tempted from without , and so was Eve , but no motion of Lust within could draw him to his first sinne , for then there must needs have beene in him a sin before his first sinne , and then the first sin could not have beene his first sin ; he was of such a condition , that he might fal if he would , and hee did fall , but not without any tentation simply , though without any from himselfe , for he was tempted by the Devill . Lust in Satan was the occasion of Adams fall , Roff : art. 39. but the cause was his owne will ; Contra. his first sin was from Satans sin , Luth. Sandf . ( sin , De Dese : l. 3. Sect. 96. I say , ) for it is a weake conceit for any learned man to write that the divill hath no sin , because the Law was not given to him ▪ which proves that in forme he is not such a sinner as man is , but a sinner hee was and is , being and doing that which was contrary to the will and Law of God , laid upon him in his Creation . The holy Page is for it , in the very termes , Io. 8. 44. Hee was a murtherer from the beginning , and abode not in the truth , therefore a sinner : He is a Lier and the father of lies ; therefore a sinner , and 1 Iohn 3. 8 , The Devill sinneth from the beginning . His Lusts then that were in him , did draw him to worke upon Eves and Adams free-will to draw them aside . The Devill was an Angell , and then he had no Lust within him to draw him ; no object without , being in heaven , where was nothing but all perfection : A Deepe it is then to conceive , how sinne came first into the Angels . That one great Angell ( now Belzebub ) did first fall , and then drew after him the rest , is like enough ; but yet the question remaines , how the first sinne came into that Angell sith there was no defect within nor none without : I must first say that sin is a privation , an Obliquity , no effect but a defect , and therefore wee are not to trouble our selves to enquire after any proper and efficient cause ; God cannot bee a deficient cause , bee cause there can bee no defect in him , and therefore the defect must bee in the Angell , and wee must rest in the will of the Angel who without motion from with in , or any tentation from without , fell from his estate , abode not in the truth as Iudes Phrase is , Iude v. 6. left his habitation voluntarily and maliciously , left it because he would leave it . The first sin or Lust was a sinne then , whose cause was ( such cause as a sinne could have ) not sinne , for then the first sinne could not bee the first sinne , if there were a sinne the cause of that sin ; and againe , we are where we were ; and are left to inquire the cause of that sin , to which if wee say , sinne , to have bin the cause of that , Vid. Scot. Collat. 5. then wee may aske after the cause of that sinne againe and so in infinitum . Here then we must stop and say , that Eves sinne and Adams sin came not from any Lust within , but from an act of their owne free will , drawne out by the tentation of the devill , and of the devils first sin , no internall Lust , no externall tempter at all , was the cause , for there was neither , but we must say that of that sin , sin was not the cause , but the will of the Angell created good , but mutable and free ; no good I confesse can be the univocall cause of any sin but an equivocal cause ; and accidentall cause of sin good may be , for the will of the Angels good in it selfe was the cause , not by working neither , but by not working . Adam then ( to come to him ) turning himselfe of himselfe from God : Censur . Remonst: in ca. 7. Becan . God then took away his assisting and actuall grace , Sum. part. 2. c. 9. q. 6. concl . 6. Aquin. 2. 2. q. 24 , art. 10. and then Adam did put away from him his original righteousnesse , put out his owne eyes and so came in Originall sin , viz. this Lust , Bradward . that ever after tempts all meere men that are tempted , Sum. contr. by drawing them aside from good , Pelag. l. 2. c. 9. and enti●ing them to evill . They dreame then , who say that God tooke away originall righteousnesse from Adam , and that hee by an act of his will did not thrust it away : T is safest to say that hee deprived himselfe , fell off from God , else wee come to neare to make God some kinde of author of his sinne . Thus came in this Lust , the fewell of all sinful tentations whatsoever ; What cause have wee then to looke about us , sith our righteousnesse within , in the regenerate is very weak , and exceeding imperfect , our lusts strong , a world of sins lurking up and downe in our soules . For did the Angels in heaven whose innate holinesse and righteousnesse was most perfect , in whom there was a concurrence of all grace in all perfection , did they fall ? and did Adam in whom there was no spice of sinne ? oh then , how stands it us upon to implore the continuall assistance of the actuall grace of God , and incessantly to call in for the a a Phil. 1. 19. supply of the spirit of Iesus Christ , else we fall and sin most miserably ; we have strange lusts within ( the devils souldiers ) warring against our soules , 1 Pet. 2. 11. & Satan ever blowing at the divine Candle of the spirit of God , Rom. 7. 23. hee never gives over by a circle and round of tentations to powre cold water on our faith ; 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . Looke wee ever upward then for the daily ayd of Gods assisting grace , Non friglde repugnat . that hee would ever blow the bellowes to keepe this holy fire in ; Pro. 20. 27 ▪ for we see by Adam and the Angels , that it is not the perfect habit of internall grace , no , nor the absence of external tentations neither , that can keepe a man from sinne , Zu●res Opuse . 8. l. 3. c. 4. ●●m. 1. t is onely the actuall worke of the right-hand of the most high must doe the deed ; else if Adam having no lust fell , we having little else but lust must needs be drawne aside and enticed : Say day and night , Lord lead me not into tentation . Habits of grace are like the fire of a Smith , Ward . be they never so pure and perfect , Grat. Discrim . they burne not in us no longer than they bee blowne : if God withhold or withdraw his assisting hand , Lust drawes us aside presently and down we fall .

CHAP. 2. Of drawing aside

QVestion is made , whether this first drawing of lust be sin , I say it is ; for if lust be sin , then the effect of it must needs be sin . Evill may come out of good by accident , but out of sinne comes nothing but sinne : Lust is sin and cause of sin , and of nothing but sin . Let it goe for a weake opinion of the Iesuites , Summ. part 2. tract. 2. cap. 9. q. 3. & 8. who tell us of vicious things that are no sin : for Becanus ( no babe ) doth confesse , that God doth hate this concupisence with a true hatred , but ( forsooth ) not redounding on the person in whom this lust is , Psal. 45. ● as though that were not sin ; and all that sin , which God hateth , God can hate nothing but what is against his nature and will , and whatever is against his nature and will is sin . Originall sin is properly sinne , and to make it a sin it is enough that it is voluntary in the will of Adam so a a Voluntate Adae . In sent . Lib. 2. Dist. 41. 4. 2. q. 1. in Resoint , Bonaventure ; Besides , as soone as ever wee come to have the power to do it , we doe all give a full and a free consent to that sin and the motions of it , which after-consent makes the sin in the guilt of it the more ours : wee then have no excuse left but to cry peccavi , and to fetch all from the sin ( as David did ) in which we were conceived , Psal. 51. 5. In originall sin lies a tacite consent ( eminently ) to all sin .

2 Iames makes this drawing aside to be a fruit of sin , 2. to be a sin , 3. to be a cause of sin ; therfore these drawings aside are sins .

3. They bee sins whether wee like them or mislike them , Aliquid dicitur voluntarium quia estab aliquo potente prohibere , non tamen prohibente , hic primus motus dicitur esse voluntarius . Bonav . l. 2. D. 41. Dub. 3. because they are against the Law of God . For that which is urged that there is no consent : I think there is some consent : as the offers of the understanding are quicke , so the Acts of the will are quicke and sudden . I rather say that there is some sudden inchoate imperfect consent given to all motions that arise : Semper in tentatione carnis est aliquis consensus . Durand . li. 2. Dist. 21. q. 1. Num. 11. that an actuall sin should bee without all consent I cannot conceive ; Paul did sin against his Iudgement I confesse ; for so he meanes when hee saith , he did that hee would not : but to speake in proper tearmes , he neither did , no , nor could sinne , either without or against all motion , or any inclination of his will : Paul did sin this sinne with his will , for else hee would not do it , it was an act of his will , and it is impossible to coact and force the will of man ; though the consent makes it not properly a sin , but rather our sin to be imputed to us , yet I thinke ther is no motion , Scot. l 3. Di● 34. Sect. Ad. arg. Absolute nullus vitiose agit , nisi ex deliberatione — Intelligere enim propter quod agit est deliberare , quasi imperceptibiliter deliberat propter promtitudinem in Syllogizando practice . no first thought that riseth out of our Lust , but as the thought is , so the consent is sudden , short , quicke , and almost insensible : a consent such as it is then , ever goes with our desires , and motions ; but say that they were unconsented to , yet being against the Law of God , sins they are , and for sins they must goe . For if concupiscence it selfe , and Originall lust be sin , because it is against the Law of God , then all the operations of it must also be of the same kind . By the way then they are deceived , who would faine say , Moulin . Anat . Armin. ca. 8. Wotton on Ioh. pag. 146. Can. relict . part. 4. that original sin is not forbidden by the Law ; Directly indeed and immediately it is not ; but forbidden it is , because it is condemned by Gods Lawes . That which Iames here cals Lust , Paul Rom. 7. 8. names it sin , sin taking occasion by that Commandement . Now the Law doth curse none but such as breake it : Originall sinners the law doth curse , and ( if not in CHRIST , ) God will damne ; therefore they doe against the Law , and the Law then is given to them . Directly the Law forbids actions of sinne , Praeelectio videtur esse maxime propria virtutis : & Iudicare mores magis , quam Actiones , Arist. Eth. l. 2. c. 2. by consequence the Law forbids the habits of sin : But to return , the Law of God is so pure and perfect , that it doth binde the most sudden thoughts that arise , for thoughts being acts of a man , the whole man being bound , those must needs stand bound ; there sin begins , and our thoughts are not free ; thoughts of sinne arising out of our Lusts are sinfull thoughts : Consent or not consent , doth not make an act to bee simply a sin or not a sin : Sin is not defined to be a thing done with or against our assent , but against Gods Law , and Gods Law doth bind our very first and originall thoughts . A meere and single apprehension or cogitation of a sin suggested by another , is not straight a sin , for this was or I know might have beene in Christ ; and Adam before his fall might dutifully have thought of the thing forbidden him without sin , but the difference is , that in him they could not have risen , as they doe in us on such a sudden , the sudden moving of the thinking power , proves that they come from an evill fume and are not right : besides in Adam there must have bin a perfect meditation of the naughtinesse of them , and lastly a true affection of perfect hatred of them , where as in the naturall man now , there is no hatred at all ; in the most regenerate the hatred that is , is but in part ; it commeth in nature ever , in time most an end after the motion : or if with it , yet that is not sufficient , in Adam it would have beene antecedent to the thought of his minde .

These drawings aside , ( moving the powers of our soules out of the right place , ) dislike wee them as much as we can , they are sins forbidden in all the Commandements of God ; for looke in what Commandement the finished sin is forbidden , in the same Commandement is the first motion of that sin forbidden also . Neither in my minde doe they distinguish the Commandements aright , who reserve these kind of sins to the last Commandement . The Lust St. Iames speakes of , is forbidden , in all the ten Commandements ; but these unconsented motions ( as many cal them ) are the drawings aside of this lust , and therefore forbidden in every Commandement as Lust is . All desires to a sinne are forbidden , where the sin it selfe is forbidden , the only argument for that opinion worth the while is out of Rom. 7. 7. I had not known Lust ( saith Paul , ) except the Law had said thou shalt not Lust ; that by Lust Paul here meanes , The affirmative of the tenth Commandement is such a contentation with our owne estate , as not to desire ought of our neighbours ; no not for our mony without his free consent : to love our neighbour for degree fully as ones selfe , vid. Sum. of Divin . published by Mr. Downam . lib. 1. c. 14. a Lust forbidden in one single Commandement cannot be proved : but as the Law , that is the whole body and context of the Law , saith , thou shalt not Lust , that is , thou shalt not sin , sin and Lust being synonimaes : the word Lust is as broad in extent as the word sin . The reason by which many thinke to carry it , is in my opinion very weake ; Paul ( say they ) did know when he was a Pharisie , that Lusts consented unto were sins ; for the Philosophers and heathens as blind as they were , saw so much , But here Paul speakes of such a Lusting which Paul had not known , had he not knowne the Law , Hic ( id est precepto 20. ) non prohibetur Ancilla pro usu concubinae & usu voluntatis , quia sic prohibetur prohibitione qua prohibetur concupiscentia carnis , sed quantum ad servilem actum , & usum utilitatis , Azmand De Bello visu tract. 2. cap. 128. vid. Bonav . in 3. Sent. 14. Dub. 1. and therfore Paul takes the Law to forbid Lust without consent . Grant all this , and much is not made of it . That Paul did not know those first motions ( before his conversion ) to be sin is a truth , and that by the Law too , such Lusts are forbidden is as true . Doth it follow then , that by the Law forbidding such Lusts , must be meant the tenth or one distinct Commandement ? Why may not the sense run thus , that Paul did not know that in any of the Commandements such Lusts were forbidden at all ; but now being made a Convert , his eyes were so opened , that hee now saw such lusts to be forbidden in every Commandement ; as the first rising to Idolatry in the first Commandement , & sic in caeteris .

But now to answer all ; I say that it is disputable , whether the Philosophers and Heathens did confesse Lusts consented unto , to be sin : if of all Lusts that Gods Law doth forbid , I flatly deny ; many went with them for vertues , as to Lust after the hurt of an enemy , Inimicos ulcisci potius quam illis reconciliari honestum censetur , Arist. is commended by the wisest and purest of the heathens ; and so in a world of Instances , as a man may see , in Aristotle , Plato , Seneca , and the rest . If of any Lusts and desires that goe no further than a meere inward consent of the minde and will ; Rhet-lib . 1. cap. 9. Philosophers doe rather deny such motions & affections to be vices , except they swel and rage , putting still a difference betwixt passions and vices . But for Pauls case , it is not the like , hee was no morall Philosopher but a Pharisie , and I affirme it , that Paul did hold that in ward motions consented unto ever so much were no sins at all . T is too late to say that nature morallized and generally inlightened , is able to finde out such consented Lusts to bee sins , for Paul was otherwise doctrinated , Homo saepe non potest apprehendere ver itatem quia illa sequitur quibus est assuetus educa ti enim in scriptis quae inter ipsos magni fiunt . Sic ut prae a more illarum opinionum quibus quispiam innutritus est , ab illis dimoveri nequeat . Rabbi Maimon : More Nevochim . part. 1 ▪ ca. 31. his judgment was carried another way ; it being the constant Tenet of the Schoole of the Pharisies to hold , that the Law of God did only forbid the outward action , without having to doe at all with any inward motion and affections whatsoever . This hee learn'd at the feet of Gamaliel : He was a Zelot among the Pharisies ; and this was a Case among the Pharises , received and beleeved by them all : that the inward desires stood free and no way obligated by the Law of the Decalogue , give a man , what assent and consent to them in the motions thereof he would . Act. 22. 3. This to have bin the generall and constant opinion of the Pharises is made so plaine by Doctor Raynolds out of the fifth of Mathew , Phil. 3. 56. that there is no denying of it ; Confer . c. 8. and therefore it was Pauls religion to hold , Dia 4. that deeds and acts onely where sins and not affections : And so wee conclude , that Paul had not knowne any inward Lust whatsoever ( albeit consented unto with a free consent , and liked of with a full delight ) to have bin sin , had not the Law said , thou shalt not Lust ; and so for all this place of Paul , our assertion stands good , that in every commandement where the act of sin is forbidden , there the motion of the same sin is forbidden ; aye the first motion , this drawing aside spoken of by the Apostle S. Iames.

CHAP. 3. Of the enticing of Lust .

AFter Lust hath drawn us aside from God , 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . it doth entice us and wooe us ; the word signifies baiting us , as men doe bait for fishes , coozening sometimes the eye , sometimes the of the silly fish , so doth sin use us puts on guises and maskes , making the sin to appeare in an other colour than it is . Thus our own Lust doth nibble at us with some delight , proposeth it to us under tearmes of pleasure , profit , honour ; alluring us with the seeming sweetnesse , that to our sancies and senses do appeare to be in several sins , and all to bring us to accept of the motion to finish sin , and to finish it , is to act it indeed ; so meanes S. Iames. Lust I know doth worke by force , but nothing so much as by enticing . Man is a creature guided by his will , and where will is , there constraint and violence prevailes little , wee love not to be forced , and therefore our Lust doth goe most an end the other way to worke , Inest peccatum cum delectatis : regnat si consenseris , August . in Psal. 50. to bring us on to sin by licorish courses , sawcing us with a proposall of some seeming sweetnesse to bee found in the doing of sin , for then is sin like to breake out into act , when it hath gained consent within ; and enticing is the likeliest way to wooe us to consent and assent to sinne the sin in question ; sin useth not to come against the haire , but when wee are caught with the spiced pleasures of sin , then we goe a maine downe the streame , and wee give too free consent and allowance to sinne , when wee are besotted with the deceits of sin . T is very often that wee read in the Word of the deceitsulnesse of sinne : and I doe desire all Christians to beware , lest that their owne hearts , that is their owne lusts doe not goe beyond them with cunning , and get within them by some enticing sleight . For Lust is such an enticing harlot , as will undoe the party enveagled for ever , and leave him nothing but shame and misery , loocheth him from his right master , and makes him a slave of slaves , even to delight in his slavery ; robs a man of his liberty , honesty , comfort , salvation and all . Goe to GOD then , that hee would bee pleased to stand betwixt us and this Coozener , that our concupisence having great advantage , in that it is within us , may not cheate us with golden mountaines , and leave us in the suds at last . I meane not to enter into the description of the particular veynes that sinne hath to entice us ; Bookes are full of admirable matter about the deceitfulnesse of sin ; shewing , how the heart first deceives us with colours , and when we are once a doting after sin , then wee joyne and deceive our hearts ; Iam. 1. 26 using fallacious and specious Sophismes , to make our selues thinke that to be lawfull to day , which we our selves held to be unlawfull but yesterday . Lye therefore day and night at God for wisdome to prevent the stratagems of sinne ; by nature our imaginations are vaine , our hearts are foolish , and willing to be deceived by sin , little suspecting to find a Serpent and a Snake in the grasse of sin . Lust would allure us to pleasure it in the tents of Meshecke , Gen. 9. 27. God will perswade and allure his to dwel in the tents of Sem : Only I must commend to the honest Christian , the two maine treacheries of Lust to goe beyond us . 1. Lust sits upon our upper part ; and by probable reasons to see to , strives to win our judgements , and in case a man looke not well to the matter ; Lust will so bleare his understanding with mysts , that he shall think he hath reason to bee mad , and that there is great sence in sinning ▪ Man being a reasonable creature is apt to be caried by reason ; and if lust can once bring us over with pretended reasons , why then the will is glad of the motion , the affections wait on the will , as on their Queen and Mistris , and the sin is like to be finished and bring forth death . Against this we are to set the Word , and sith sin can shew no reason out of the Word ; say my reason is corrupt and I am onely for the Word . 2. Lust works on our inferiour parts , and slatters our affections with pausible perswasions ; and a man is soone taken by faire offers to satisfie his affections : they be quick and sudden , and it is hard to hold them in ; & when the fume of sin hath wound it self into the affections , it quickly creeps up into the very judgment and eates out all faculty of discerning , and then good goes for evill , and evill for good . Wat●h we over our selves both wayes before hand , in making head at the very first against these entisings of lust , lest both our reason and affections go after sin ; a world of difficulties will come in , when we are not onely to bring in our affections , but our judgement too : That Fort lost is not had againe with a song ; remember that we have not a novice in hand , but are to deale with an old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts , so Paul ▪ Most dangerous of all is the deceit of lust , when it seemes to carry with it our reason : because then it is next to an impossible thing , to keepe out of the snare and clutches of sin ; an instance or two , and then an end . Why is it past the power of our Divines with their pens and tongues to cry downe vsury ? the cause is , because most men doe thinke that they have reason to make the most of their money , and as yet they will see no reason against it ; there is an unanimous consent I thinke amongst all the Divines ; that to inclose is an oppressio of an high degree , and yet many of our Gentry inclose more and more every day , and that they doe it with an high hand is too plain , else they would not have us in derision as they have ; and dare proclaime that they will inclose , say all the Preachers in the world the contrary . A proud word , and well might they , if GOD did not say the contrary , Pro. 13. 23 12 11. 28. 19. as hee doth ; the best is , God is not mocked : for we see that the posterity of the great inclosers , would be right glad with all their harts to feed a poore beast in some common and cannot . Thus the Lord doth laugh at their calamity , Pro. 26. 31 and mocke when their feare commeth : but why are men so set in that sin ? Because they thinke that they have reason to inclose . Thus when Lust hath enticed and bewitched our reason : wise men grow to desperate resolutions ; all I say , is in a word . He that keepes from sinne because reason is against it , Audaciam existimo de bono divini precepti disputare , nec quia bonum est , auscultare debemus , sed quia deus praec epit , Ter●●l de poenit . and not because the Word of GOD is against it ; that man obeyes reason and not GOD.

CHAP. 4. Of our being tempted by our lust .

GOD I know is often said to tempt us , Aug. Tract. 13. in Ioan. Evang. Deus neminem tentat secundum eam teutationem quae decipit . Deus neminem tentat formaliter loquendo , tentatione ad peccandum . Caiet . in Iacob . 1. vid Twisse Vindic : but never to sin ; we speake not of his tempting us for our triall , but of our tempting our selves : His tentation meant often for our good wee abuse , and take occasion thence to sin , and so wee turne it in the event to be our owne . As for our tempting our selves it is a reflect act , wee are the tempters , we are the tempted : t is not hard for a man to make himselfe a worse sinner than hee is . Grat. l. 2. And is not Sathan said to tempt us ? Criminat . hee is ; 3. Digress . 2. cap. 5. hee is the Grand tempter ; he brought sin into mankind first , and he is still by tentations keeping of it in , and increasing of it : sometimes , though seldome , Satan tempts us and we joyne not with him : sometimes , and but seldome , neither we tempt our selves , and Satan doth not joyne with us ; but most times our tentations are mixt , hee and we concurre and make one act of tempting ; the sin finished is his and ours too .

SECT. I. Of Satans Tentations .

SAtan at first sinned without a Tempter ; for hee had no lust in him to draw him or intice him : having sinned without a tentation , and without any remedy , he sets upon man , & by his beguiling , he wrought upon that power he had in his will and man was overcome . As the case stands with us , Satan could not hurt us , were it not for our lust .

He did set upon Christ , Ioh 14. 30. but found no matter in him , he had no power over him not simply , Pis● : & Ma●don : in lo●cum . because in Christ there was no sin , but because hee was also so supported by the eternall Spirit , that Satan had not to doe with him . Heb. 9. 14 ▪ Eve had no sin : yet his tentations went beyond her , and her first listening to him and his Syren song , was a sinne in her ; his first tempting her to the first sinne could not possible presuppose a former sinne in her to worke with and upon . T is onely the power of God , not of our will , that doth keepe us from the fiery darts of the Divell : how farre Satan can goe I cannot set downe ; onely I say that hee cannot goe so farre , as to force the wil of man by plain violence : will were no will , if it could be compulsed or constrained by any . It is held to be the priviledge of God alone , immediately to inflow into the worke upon that noble part , the soule of man ; much lesse is any created power able directly to turne and winde the will of man ; Tile● . De malis Angelis . Th. 31 , 32 & de Pro. 24. Bonav . lib. 2. Dist. 8. part. 2. per. totum . it is beyond the sphere of Satan , and quite out of his element to reach so farre : but to trouble the spirits pote●tly , to raise the humours , to proceed by presenting matter immediately to the phantasie of man , is within his reach ; that the divell can doe , and therefore ( having leave ) hee is able to put those acts into a man , and to worke with power in the children of disobedience .

In the phrase of the Scripture it is said : Hee put it into the hart of Iudas to betray his Lord and Master : He filled the heart of Ananias to lye to the holy Ghost . Act. 5. 3. The best is Satan hath no kinde of command over , nor power in us to force us , and therefore the care of a Christian is to resist him , and not to feare him : he is a coward and trembles all over ; fly not but stand , and he will fly : for Satan must have a double leave ere he can say or doe any thing unto us .

1. Hee must have leave of God , as we see in Iob ; hee was faine to come morning after morning to have his Commission renewed : 1 Kin. 22. 22. GOD must bid him goe and doe , or else we need not care ( thus much ) for all his power ; hold in with God , Calvin . Instit. l. 1. c. 14 ▪ Sect. 17. and then let Satan doe his worst : hee doth of himselfe wish us all evill , but for the effect how farre hee shall goe ; it is in the hands of God , not of Satan ; according as we read , Luke 22. 31. Satan hath desired to have you to winnow you , as a challenger desireth to have one of the other side to combate with , so did Goliah . So we see Satan must desire leave of God to harme us ; our prayer then is , that God would not lead us into temptation : what a matter of comfort is this ? that our case is in the hands of Christ , who is our head .

2. So he must have leave of us ; Diabolum potentem ad homines sibi subdendos & in captivitate retinendos non virtus ejus facit , sed humana peccata . I meane we must give way to his Tentation , else his Tentation will be frustrate , so Acts 5. 3. Why hath Satan filled thy heart ? hee doth there expostulate the matter with Ananias , not with Satan ; Mat. 12. 29 ▪ and askes him what he meant to give Satan occasion to fill his heart with such wickednesse , August . in Psal. 71. wee must then thanke our selves if the Divell snare us : he had a consent from our first Parents , hee did wooe them to it , and hee must winne us to yeeld , else the sinne is his , not ours : I am perswaded that many men do discourage themselves over and above , by reason of the too much feare they have of Sathan ; I would wee would feare God more and Satan lesse , and then the divell and we should be lesse accquainted ; wee yeeld often out of a base feare : feare of yeelding occasions us to yeeld , when it is too much . Many dispute it , how to find out the point of difference ; betwixt tentations that are ours , and such as are wholly diabolicall ; I thinke hee doth best who doth study how to resist them , rather than to difference them . That there is a difference I know ; but where the indivisible point of the difference doth stand , I know not : some tell us that a man may finde them out by their suddennesse , and because they are independent and not consequent of any former occasion : but to say that our lust doth not push out as sudden or as independent motions and suggestions is hard . Besides for a man to determine the difference betwixt the independency and suddennesse of Satans tentations , and our corrupt flying motions , I conceive to be a worke to hard for most men . And for the other note commonly produced , that they bee unnaturall and terrible it satisfies not : in that originall sin worketh unnaturally , and violently , and terribly , deny it who can , and where the act of our sinne ends , and Satans begins , who can tell ? What needs all this if we reject them , whether they come from him or us : in the matter of justification wherein lies our salvation and our peace ; they are not imputed to us , Rom. 5. 1. no more being ours than we accept and assent unto . In a naturall corrupt motion : Paul saith , R●m. 7. 20. When I doe that I would not , All c●●e used . it is no more I that doe it : therefore no more is imputed by God , than is seene and allowed by us ; wee shall doe well then not to perplex our selves with needlesse queries which be Satans , and which be ours : sith that we all find that the act of our owne minde , the motion of our fancy , the wishes of our owne will in those things wee have no reason to suspect Satan hath any thing to doe ; I say , wee finde them to goe and come , to be in and our very suddenly , and without any coherence at all ; and the rage of our Lust is terrible and violent of it selfe , and therfore passe that ; and be sure come the tentation which way it will , wee doe reject it and then wee are safe , it is not set on our score : if it come from Satan it is no sinne of of ours at all : if from our lust , sin it is materially , but not formally , for the guilt is done away , in that we doe not allow it but abhorre it , as some are of opinion .

SECT. II. Of Tentations which come from our selves .

I Confesse it is but now and then , that Satan if he may bee suffered doth not joyne issue with us when wee doe deceive and tempt our selves : but yet the thing I urge is , that there is no sin that is committed , but might bee committed if Satan were dead and buried . Could one kill the Divell ? Yet you cannot name the sinne , that Originall lust would not draw and entice a man unto . It is agreed on , that Originall sin is ( virtually ) every sinne ; neither would God have forbidden all sins to man , if mans nature had not in it seminally sinnes of all sorts and sizes , and so much we have from Christs own mouth , Mat. 15. 19. Out of the heart proceeds evill thoughts , murthers , adulteries , &c. That , is all evill thoughts , what sinne worse than murther and adultery ? and may we not think that the holy Ghost saith not murther but murthers , not adultery but adulteries ? to shew that all sorts , and so the worst sorts of murthers came out of the heart of man , yea , selfe murthers and all . Neither stands our heart , that is , our lust , free from highest impieties against God ; and therefore those blasphemies , that is , all sorts , kinds , and degrees of blaspheming are said to proceed out of the heart ; Sathan need not put them in , there they are , though he draw them not out thence , they will spout out of themselves ; so that though the divell did not owe men a spight , yet the lust of man may marre all , and will make some sinne all manner of sins whatsoever . I thinke the divell hath great wrong done him , when men to excuse themselves derive their sins from him ; when perhaps , Satan hath not to doe in the provoking them to sin those things . He is not truly acquainted with the depth of Originall sinne , nor soundly humbled , who thinkes he had never done those faults , except the divell had tempted him ; for a man hath in him all sins that be , ( at least potentially : ) Indeed we read not of any mention made in the old Testament of the sinne against the holy Ghost not that original sin had not this sinne hid in it then , but I think there was not the occasion then of finishing and acting this sin ; for sin this supposeth greater light , as touching CHRIST IESUS in the Gospell , than was set a foot under the Old Testament , and therefore I say that in lust then it was , but it was not drawne forth . How can it come into the heart now , if it were not there from the very first ? Is there a new Originall sin ? or a new kind and species added unto it ? was not the heart of man onely evill and prone to all evill ever since the fall ? Peccatum non infunditur de novo , sed elicitur & educitur de potentia peccati Originalis . Out of the heart saith Christ proceedeth blasphemies : What ? some , or all , if not all ; which are excepted ? and why those rather than these ? if all , as truth is : then blasphemies against the holy Ghost , comes out of the motions of mans heart ; all this is to shew that there is no new sinne which hath not ever bin radically in our lust and nature , else we are more in Adam than ever all men have bin ; but all have equally sinned in Adam , and therefore Originall lust is equall in all ; Rom. 5. 12. perhaps by our default we doe ad new strength to Originall sin in us , Aquin. 1. 2. q. 82. a. 4. but for the kindes of it , Scot. 4. Sentent . D. 14. q. 1. Originall sin is equall in all , and there is no sin but lust had it in ever ; and my conclusion is , that a man doth carry fire in his bosome , which hath enough in it to kindle any sin , though the divell should stand by and say nothing . We all read that the heart of man is deceitfull above all things , Ier. 17. 9. yea , above the divell , why ? Because Satan doth not so know the thoughts of our hearts as wee our selves doe : as also for that Satan cannot come within us to deceive us , except ( as I have said ) our hearts doe give some way unto him ; how true is that then , that every one is tempted when hee is drawne aside , and enticed by his owne Concupiscence .

SECT. III. Of mixt Tentations wherein Satan joynes with us , and wee with him .

THE next are such Tentations , wherein either Satan begins to us , and wee pledge him , or wee begin to him and hee joynes with us ; when wee by discontent , or other inward motion , as by offering our selves to some outward occasion , expose our selves ; then wee doe light a candle to the divel , then we begin : but when Satan doth make the offer , by moving the fancie with thoughts within , or by proposing some object without , and wee entertaine him , then he doth begin to us : these waies are ordinary , and it is but rare that the divell will not interpose . Hee dogs us up and downe , and waites upon his opportunities , by sin to devoure us ; and now because we sin few sins where Satan hath not a hand , and Satan seldome sets upon us indeed , but more or lesse wee hearken unto him : therefore understand , all that follow to-bee meant of those Tentations where lust and Satan joyne hands , the cheefe hand is from our selves , the principall lyes in our owne lust ; without us Satan could not have his desire ; but wee may and doe finish many sins without Satan : the cause of those sins is in us , whereof the occasion is from him , and so we finde that people of God in the confession of sins ( we have in the word ) doe never so much as touch upon the divell , as knowing that to bee but a bare excuse . Indeed Eve who had not then her heart wrought upon , put off all upon the Serpent , but the Saints charg all on themselves . David was by very importunity of the divell wonne to number the people ; 2 Chro. 21. 1. the Text saith , Satan provoked him : but yet we see when hee comes , to confesse , not a word of Satan ▪ but al is his own , I have sinned greatly , I have done very foolishly , Lord forgive the iniquity of thy servant . When the Saints were to speake of the sins of others , it is often found , that for their encouragement they make Satan an agent : he is not then left out : as Christ rebuking Peter , Mat. 16. 23 get thee behind me Satan , because Christ saw , Satan was too hard for Peter , and wrought him to it : and so Paul , lest Satan tempt you for your incontinency . But when men are on their owne sins , all is laid on their owne con-nate lust , nothing said of Satan : he perswades us we yeeld , the amends is in our owne hands . Now the better briefly to unfold the nature of these tentations , I meane to deliver my selfe in these short Questions .

1. What a Tentation is .

A tentation is the moving of a man to some sin , either by or without the senses with a reason to enforce it : it is when lust and Satan doe suggest , perswade and instigate a man to the committing of some sinne , with some shew of reason . Every thing is as it is received , that is , a reason which is so taken , else sin can have no true reason for it : who can imagine that there is any reason in it , for a man to doe that which in its nature and desert casts away his soule and body for ever : but yet the tentation would never take , except man , a reasonable creature were brought over by some reason in appearance .

Paul cals sinners absurd and unreasonable men : 2 Thes. 3. 2 neither can they give a reason for any sin they commit , but because our apprehension is corrupt , and the ●●culty of discerning is lost , Exod. 1. 10 therefore Satan may with ease put fallacies upon us : The new King said , Come , let us deale wisely . and under a colour of dealing wisely , leade us into a fooles paradise . Our onely way is then to beleeve , Yet every oppressor is a foole , Pro. 28. 1● ▪ that there can bee no reason given for sin ; and that it is nothing but very skill in our great adversary to let in his poyson . Isa. 1. 16. Come and let us reason with GOD , and not with the divell : and then wee shall soone espie the folly , that is in reasoning with lust and Satan . Sometimes wee are tempted to sin , and when wee once yeeld then we are tempted for sin to doe this , or that , because wee have thus sinned : when a man is once in a sin , then we are apt to fall into tentation of discouragement or worse : that now it is impossible to get out , I might have kept my selfe when I was well , but now there is no hope it is in vaine now to strive , and so the tentation is made a snare , or else to find some end by some other wicked course and fearefull enterprise , to breake out of sin by some other sin , and this indeed is all the reason that is for sinning .

Who are subject to be tempted .

No man free , our Apostle saith , [ Every man is tempted being drawne aside , and entised by his owne lust . ] The best men are often tempted , and that when they are at the best : Satan was neither ashamed nor afraid to set on the LORD IESUS himselfe ; his malice is mighty towards the godly , and if hee can but get one of them downe , he is made , he hath enough by the end to weaken the hearts of weaker Christians , to discredit the Gospell ; and the best men are apt to be lifted up and carried away with some pangs of spirituall pride , and then they are in a foule way for one tentation or other , there is as Satan thinks something to be had thence . Theeves rob not out-houses where there is nothing but dung or straw , the godly have in them the riches of the spirit , gold and silver , and that makes the divell to carry an evill eye to them , and he is ever sicke to ruine such a Christian ; and God who sits Moderator in all our tentations , orders all according to his holy wisdome ; if he suffer such to be tempted , it is for their good , to let them bloud to purge their choler , to fit them for himselfe . Pyrats set not on an empty Vessell , but on Merchants laden as deepe as they can swimme . Doe not dreame that any perfection shal priviledge thee from being tempted : thou that art a spirituall man , consider with thy selfe lest thou be also tempted , and so tempted as overcome ; that must be the Apostles meaning , No man can say when he is tempted that hee shall not bee overcome , Gal. 6. 1. in and by the tentation : He then is wisest that doth keep off tentations all hee can ; and that way goes S. Pauls exhortation : Hee that thinkes that hee is so good that hee ought not to bee tempted , or so strong , that hee need not feare to bee tempted , hath need of a tentation , that by experience in himselfe hee may prove what hee ought to have found in the word , that of our selves wee have no strength , that our goodnesse is not our owne . 2 Cor. 3. 5. Watch and pray saith Christ , Ioh. 15. 5. lest yea fall into tentation . Non ait sine me de●iClius potestis facers : sed ait , sine me nihil potestis facere . Concil. Milevit . cap. 5. Leade me not , must every Christian say , into tentation ; of our selves and of others , wee must not Iudg rashly , as though either wee or they were not good , because frequently and greevously tempted ; every man whilst hee hath lust in him and divels about him , must bee in his armour , have all in a readinesse , ere he be a day elder ; a storme may come : Ship-men when in a calme , or at an haven , use to looke to their tacklings , make all sure against a tempest : no grace , no place can exempt any living wight : wee must take our turnes and it is our best to bee arming and preparing ; what ever is past , all is not past , a thousand to one the fits will come againe . He went away from Christ but for a season , Luk. 4. 13. and after a season hee came to him , and will to us : the elder wee grow because wee have most faith , the more ( usually ) and the stronger are our tentations ; when we are seasoned wee heare of those tentations which we had no acquaintance with when we were green ; 1 Cor. 10. 13. we shall not have more , but we shall have as much as wee can beare , we must bee put to it to the very backe , and after some greater matter done , either for us or by us : it is common for to heare of Satan , as in a a 2 Chron. c. 18. Iehosophat , he fell ; so did b b 2 Chron. c. 16. Asa after God had done great things for them ; and when Peter made that c c Mat. 16. 16. noble confession , d d Mat. 16. 22 , 23. Satan begins to be both bold and busie with him presently . Make a stand then ; as we may and must fly from the outward occasions yet from our lusts within , Eph. 6. 4. or our spirituall enemy without ; wee neither may , nor can fly , except we flye to heaven .

How Tentations to unnaturall sinnes , may bee said to come from our owne lusts .

A man is to expect if hee live out his daies , to be urged to all sinnes : to the breach of every branch of every one of the ten Commandements , he is like to runne thorow them all , more or lesse ; and for his faith , Lust and Satan cannot abide faith , and we must arme our selves for all assaults that way , wee shall bee put to it , in respect of every Article of our Creede : Satan and our owne lust will try , whether they can bring us , to question all the Articles concerning God , concerning Christ , or concerning the Church . All sins are in a sense against nature , as nature was and should be : these are so called because they are against natures law , as nature is . Vid. Aquin. in Rom. 1. But for sinne against nature , it is not so easie to see how our owne lust may bee said to move , and to entice us to them : I may say , that all our tentations if they may be let runne , will become unnaturall , they will end there in something , which is unnatural touching God ; as Atheisme and Blasphemy ; or touching men , as others or our our selves , Rom. 1. 26. as unnaturall killings , selfe murthers , pollutions against nature , passions of dishonour and the like : Satan hath no naturall affection in him , nor lust ( as lust ) hath none neither : Satan hath no naturality in him , for he lost all in his fall : the law of nature was not given to him , hee was not to hold order and termes of civillity and humanity amongst men , and therefore there was not use of any such law to bee given to him . All wee can say of him , is , that Satan is kept under , held in awe by God , restrained by feare within , and ordered by Gods providence without ; it is awe , not naturall law that keepes Satan within bounds . Man hath indeed in him naturalnesse , but lust which is our Originall sin , hath no naturall affection in it : some sins then are called unnaturall , because they are against the law of nature in us , which law of nature is no part of Originall sin ; for in it selfe it is good and the very unwritten law of God , which law of nature as it is now in us , doth neither see nor greeve at all sinnes , but only at some greater sins , which sins are therefore called unnaturall . In every man there are two things ; Vid. Sclater on Rom. p. 170 , 171. the law of nature is one , Ames Theolog ▪ l. 2. c. 2 ▪ Sect. 15. Originall sin the other ; for the law of nature some say it is a relique of the old Image left in Adam , This law of Nature tho it bee good in it selfe , yet in us it is no part of our Regeneration , nor of our New man . I thinke not : for then man in Adam lost not all the Image of God , then in man by nature there is some peece of goodnesse , but the frame of mans heart is onely evill . Vid. Twisse Vindie . ● lib. 3. errat 8. Sect. 11. There is none that doth good , no not one , wee are all together become filthy . Then it would follow that man brings with him of his own into the world , Vid. Scla . o● Rom. 1. v. 31 the seeds of vertue , Gen. 6. 5. some roots of goodnesse , Ps. 14 , 1. 3. which is Pelagianisme , Contr. Collator : c. 27. Sclat . of Tythes pag. 171 , 172 , 173 , 174. and condemned by the Church of God . The seeds of vertue are not ( saith Prosper ) in the soule of man , Morton Appeale l. 5 c. 17. Sect. 2. Sclat . of Tythes p. 171 , 172 , 173 , 174. because they are utterly lost in the first sin of Adam , neither can wee come by them , except GOD who first gave them , restore them againe ; Feild Appendix part 2. Sc. 6. p. 54 ▪ I thinke rather to say , that in things usefull to hold in the wild lusts that be in man , Vid. Harris Serm. on the Covenant . pa. 15. GOD presently after all was lost by the fall , ( all and every peece of the Image of God ) I say to maintaine discipline amongst men , GOD planted in the heart of all mankinde , an inward law , checking many sins against God , but more against men ; and accordingly GOD hath made a fuller and greater revelation to nature in the things of the second Table , than in the first : and what else is meant by the phrase , where speaking of the power of nature , to see into the booke of the creature , it is said , God shewed it unto them , viz. by the law and light of nature which God hath given to all men , as men ; they shewed it not to themselves , God is said to shew it unto them . Now then to come home to ou● point Sins against nature are such , as are against the law of nature : lust hath in it all sins ; and when it is so great and breaketh out so grossely that nature cries shame of it , why then wee call that sin an unnaturall lust a sinne against nature ; which sinnes have their roote in Original sin , and would shew themselves and appeare were there no divell , albeit herhaps not in that manner and measure : as wee see some men who cannot bee said to bee haled to it by the divell , but onely by their owne wicked lusts , who when their lusts are in , care no more for wife , children , friends , brother , father , than they doe for a dog ; are moved no more with the teares of their owne bowels , than with the whinening of a pigge . Let lust alone , and without any help from Satan , it will make a man give over to bee a man : shake off all humanity , go beyond all shame , all sense , put off all naturall affection , deliver a man up to obdurate heart , not discerning betwixt good and evill , either in morall or naturall respects , Rom. 1. 17. as Paul shewes ; how some men put off all manhood , Deu. 23. 18 become dogs , The price of a Dog , id est of a Buggerer . Iun. & Deodare in Loc. yea worse than dogges ; for dogge with dogge useth not to commit filthinesse , and some women shaketh off all woman-hood also : 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 Phocil . for there is no who with lust , for were it not for the watching providence of God over us , and the restraining power of God with us , and the law of nature in us ; men would fling out into all kind of wickednesse , there would bee no being , no living amongst men ; we would all bee such fooles as to thinke with our hearts , and say with our mouthes there is no God . Originall sin , hath all Atheisme in it : there will bee nothing but murther amongst us : Psa. 14. 1. Husband would kill the wife ; and wife the husband , father son , sonne the father ; brother , brother , Caine , Abel , our houses and townes , would bee full of parracides , and fratricides , and men would doe execution on themselves as common as might be : oh the bottomlesse depth of Originall sin ! Our own lust is a fearefull murtherer , it comes immediately from Satan at the first , and he is a murtherer from the beginning . Ioh. 8. 44. Men would bee Wolues , Homo homini Lupus . Beares , Tygers , Divels , one to another : neither would any shame keepe men and women from monstrous adulteries , most infamous uncleanenesse , Incests , Rapes , Beastiality , what not ? Looke wee what is in any man , that is by nature in the heart and lust of every man , were it not for God restraining , and natures law curbing : should our Originall sinne be drawne forth and let out , we should all doe as Caine did , as Absalom did , as Ammon did , as the Sodomites did ; for what sin soever is forbidden in the Word , and hath bin ever practised in the world , that sin every man carries in his bosome : 2 King . 8 13. there is no man but is of himselfe a dead dogge ; for why should God forbid that in the word to all , if the nature of all were not subject to it ? Bestiality ( the foulest sin ) is forbidden to thee as well as to any other ; Lev. 18 23 therefore it is in thy corrupt nature , The morall law was indeed given immediately to Moses : but Moses stood as a common father , and was then and there every man representative . as well as in the nature of any other : Besides wee are cut all out of the same cloth , we are al alike in the guilt of Adams sinne , one man hath not sinned more in Adam than another , and therefore our Originall sin being the penalty of Adams sin , must needs bee one and the same in all ; where the cause is just the same , Maiemonid in more Nevochim , part 2. c. 33. there the effect must needs bee the same , Originall sin then by nature is no more , no worse , in one than in another ; it differs not so much as Magis & minus : In some what by reason of the tempter of the body , education , occasion , tentations , influences of Gods providence , and chiefly by reason of the liberty of mans will , ( man having his will at some command to sin , ) I say by reason of that and other things , lust is drawne forth more in one than in another , and more to one sinne than another , and that breakes out in the life of one , which doth not in another : but as the plot of all diseases lyes in the humours of the body , so for certaine in the lust of the soule : there is in all a kinde of pronesse , a very aptitude to the worst of sinnes . I know that the power of man is finite , and no way able to runne upon divers horrible impieties in all extremitie at once , chiefly sith many sinnes in the act doe crosse one another , ( though all concurre in the Roote as in a Common Center ) but yet now one then another : there is no sinne under heaven , but man is subject unto , by turnes chiefly ; should the LORD give Satan leave to blow the fire , and to baite our lust , man would presently shew himselfe in his colours , and sinne many divelish sins : That which is said is true , that there is no sin , so bad , so base , so unnaturall , but mans nature is , if no enclinable to it , yet capable of it : If the sin bee but so , Adrian the Emperour canonized Antinous his Catamite for a God Spartian . in Adrcano Iulian : in Caesaribus . so , an ordinary crime , that then our nature is inclinable to it : but if most unnaturall and most abhorrent from the principles of nature , yet wee are capable of it in some degrees : Lust is of it selfe past shame and past sense ; Tertu . Apol. c. 13. The like did Alexander for his boy Ephestion . Iustin hist. l. 12. I may adde that though at first sin against nature sit not with us , tast not of our nature by reason of that law and light that is in us ; yet after a little space , when lust hath overcome the law of nature , Alii morbosi vel ex consuetudine quem-ad modum pilorum evulsiones , & ungnium esus , praeterea vero Carbonum & terrae . Adhaec autem libidin●sorum concubitus cum ma●ibus : aliis enim quidem natura , aliis vero ex consuetudine contingunt utii qui assueti fuerint a pueris . a man is as sicke after sins against nature , as hee was after common sins and worse , for the greater and fowler a sin is , the more headlong is our lust after it , wee being by Originall sin , most eager after those transgressions which are worst : an ordinary stomacke is most ( of it selfe ) earnest after usuall dyet that is wholesome ; but wee see a custome brings children to eate coales , and an humour in the stomacke , makes young women eate leather to choose , and what more usuall , than for breeding women to lust after such things which would make the stomacke of another to rise : Arist. Eth. l. 7. c. 5. so I may say , that as long as our lust is kept in , and held downe , it is for ordinary faults , while the law of nature can rule it against the force and cunning of Originall sinne , such unnaturall , passions seeme to finde some Antipathy in us ; but when by custome , occasion , or tentation , lust shewes it self and the light of nature can doe little , why then man is not onely capable of unnaturall sins , but inclinable to them , and more impudent and impotent that way than after other sinnes . As wee see Ammon is sick after his owne Sister , an unnaturall crime , and hungers more after her than ordinary ; and Caine had rather kill his owne brother than any man else in the world had there bin any . Many are more mad after Hee lusts , Gen. 19. 8. 9. who care not for Shee lusts : as in Sodome we see Lots daughters were not worth the looking after , they must know the men ; they went after strange flesh saith Iude , strange in their Sex and kinde , so Paul saith Rom. 1. 26. that women ( more shamefast and modest by nature than men ) did not care for the naturall use which they had lawfully , V. 7. Non solum jure sed natura fiet . but changed it into that which is against nature ; thus we see delights against nature are ( when Originall lust is let out ) more looked after than naturall ; Quod dicit mutaverunt naturalem usum ad habentes illum spectat Chrys. in loc. our corrupt affections are not more capable of , but more inclinable at last to unnaturall sins , which they did stare at at the first : as long as the law of nature doth fight it out against Originall sin and can carry it , 1 Cor. 6. 1. we love not to heare these sins named , but when nature in the Law of it is suppressed and our lust rules all , Rom. 1. 29 no sinne in such request as some unnaturall sinne or other , Non dicit quoniam , a maverunt aut de●ideraunt sed exarserunt Chrys. in loc. these passions of fedity and dishonour doe then burne , as it is in Saint Pauls English : Wee reade much of Ganimedes , and the jest went of Nero and his Sporus ; that it had beene well for the world , Sueton in Neron . c. 29. if Domitius Neros father had had no other wife : In a word , a man whose Originall sinne is kept in order , doth but hunger after sins of ordinary quality : but when nature is out of office and lust doth all , men will then long after unnaturall lusts : Passions worke more strongly the wrong way , and the streame is most swift , when it is not in the right channell . And in the other passion of bloud , how men do put off all naturall affection wee see it ; for men are more cruell ( when they take ) to their own children , their owne parents , than to any enemies , aye the fire of a mans unnaturall sins are not satisfied , but with a mans owne bloud ; and many thinke to lay this divell by killing themselves , who have not a thought of murthering any body else . Oh that men could once come within sight of the depth of their owne lust ! Man would then learne not to bee so bold with occasions of sin against nature ; what if at first nature doth even spit at them ? yet if once they fire and take , they worke strongly and come with a greater swing of delights than naturall sinnes doe , and therefore I would we could learne as to be humble for our Originall sinne ; so to thanke GOD for keeping us and ours , that those unnaturall courses have not bin , and broken forth in our persons or houses to our shame and scandall , as have bin done in houses and families of better than our selves : And to pray that God would keepe us , as from all other , so from taking after unnaturall passions . What if wee have grace ? yet sith these sinnes are not sins against the holy Ghost , t is possible for good people to bee infected with them : as long as we have Originall sin , we want but occasion , and a tentation , and Gods permission , and then we fall ; sith Originall sin is the same it was , and was at first the same it is now : there bee perhaps new actuall sins , because never drawne out into practise before , Bonav●l . 2. D. 33. a. 2. q. ● . et . 2. but no new Originall sin , Originall sin is but one , and it is the selfe same in kind and degree , in all persons and at all times : It may and doth in some beare new fruites ; but it never had , nor hath , nor shall have new rootes : it ever had in it the rootes of all sins , and it can never have but the rootes of all . Wee must ever stand bound to the goodnesse of our God , who hath so kept us hitherto that we have not broken forth into more and into worse sins than we have . There is no abhomination so prodigious , but our Originall sinne would quickly water at it ; it is his meere favour alone , who hath kept us and our families from occasions of such sins , or such occasions from us . Blesse God then , that Caine hath not killed Abel in our houses : that Ammon hath not defloured our Tamar , that our Absalom , hath not been the death of his brother Ammon ; 〈◊〉 , that our brother Absalom hath not sought our lives also ; that Reuben hath not gone up to his fathers Couch . What are we ? what are our fathers houses , that we have beene preserved in our houses from such scandalous sins ? are we better ? are wee so good as these fathers were ? Should God sit still , and the law of nature stand still and looke on , and let our Originall sin , our lust within shew it selfe ? the next would be sin upon sin ; against Scripture , against Nature , no Bonds , no Bounds , would hold us worse and worse still ; with greatest violence we should long after the greatest sins , and the end would be a reprobate sense , from the which good Lord deliver us .

The Summe is , that the cause why wee feele not such pronenesse to the sin against nature is , not because Originall lust is not as prone in it selfe ( if not more prone ) to those sins as to others , but because there is by God for necessary causes a law of nature superadded to Originall sin in all mankinde , holding us off from such unnaturall passions , which law of nature doth suffer when such sins are committed , Aq●in . in Rom. 1. Lect. 8. Dicuntur passiones , secundum quod proprie passio dicitur , ex eo quod aliud trahi●ur extra ordinem suae naturae , puta cum aqua cale●it , aut cum homo infirmatur . and therefore the Apostle fitly cals them Passions ; as water suffers when it is made hot , and therfore as long as the law of nature is not suppressed , a man is not patient about such lusts : But when our lust hath gotten the better of natures law , then to what sins are such men more eager , than to those ? Therefore such lusts are by the Apostle stiled , the lusts of their a a Ro. 1. 24. owne hearts . We said with St. Paul that God doth deliver men into a reprobate sense , and then they fall into such lusts . Here a doubt may arise , whether such sins are done onely by those who are Reprobates , sith one would thinke , that this Reprobate sense were onely in Reprobates , and therefore so named .

This is I confesse out of my way , yet because I would not stumble any mans conscience , I am bold to speak a word to the point , and the thing I affirme is , that unnaturall sinnes are done sometimes by such as are no Reprobates : and I thinke there are many reprobates , who nein all their lives committed and acted these sins . It is a fearfull estate to be cast by God into a reprobate sense ; and the danger is so much , that hee is not himselfe , who dares to venture on such rocks because some onely escape . There is no sin ( except the sin against the holy Ghost ) but an elect person may commit , all sins else may stand with the grace of Election , but this reprobate sense , is not that sin against the holy Ghost what ever it bee ; what ever a man may repent of may stand with our estate in Christ . Now to say that this is a condition which admits not of repentance is hard , neither can it be proved , and 1 Cor. 6. Instance is given in one of the worst of all unnaturall sins , and yet the Apostle saith , Such were some of you , and they were Elect , repented , and are now in heaven : GOD forbid then , that we should bee so s●uer to the conscience of man , as to thinke that all those Rom. 1. and all others like to those who are in Gods Iustice for a time given up to a reprobate minde , are past all hope of reconciliation and salvation . There is a sacrifice for those sins , Heb. 10. 26. some have gotten out of that estate and others may . It is then called a Reprobate minde ; not because it is the minde of none but Reprobates ; but because such have in regard of their present condition , Sclat in Rom. 1. 28. Aquin. in Rom. Lect. 8 Dicitur Reprobus sensus , quo aliquis reprobandum judicium habet de agendis , secundum illud , 2 Tim. 3. a mind ( as one saith ) rejected , disallowed , abhorred of God ; yet not a mind past all hope of cure and recovery , or if you will a minde as another speakes worthy of reprobation , making choice of matters reprobated : Wee have a phrase in St. Paul , That Christ is in you , Homines mente corrupti , reprobi circa fidem , Cajetan . in Loc. except you bee reprobates : but such are in such an estate , that except they get Christ into them , it is all one with them as with Reprobates ; 2 Cor. 5. 13. 5. they are ( as it were ) for the pre●ent in the state of reprobation for any goodnesse that is in them , but Reprobates they are not , and as Beza notes , the scope and dispute of the Apostle will not beare this sense , sith hence hee proves that no man can be justified by the law of nature , because it is in all men to breake the law of nature , and that the Apostle proves by this , that all men , except GOD stay them , all run on to a reprobate minde , by a reprobate minde then he will have meant a mind , going against the dictates of conscience , and the principles of Nature , out of which estate it pleaseth GOD to call some to grace : God doth call in some that are cast farre behind hand by their sins ; and therefore we must not say that there is such a point of sinning , that no man doth ever come backe from it againe , for no man goes so far but hee might have done worse and gone farther ; and therefore when and where can one fix the measure to rest , that a man going so farre can never come to good againe ? There is a fullnesse I know of sinning which some must come unto , ere the Iudgement can come on them ; but that all who fill up sinne or sins to the height are Reprobates , or that none are reprobates , but such as make up the extremity of sinning I deny : for the conscience must have some where to rest , and to pitch a degree of sinning , that hee that comes not to that degree may repent , and returne : hee that comes to that degree of sinning and may not returne , would trouble the wit of the acutest Disputer in all the world .

Neither doth indeed the Greeke word properly carry the sense of one cast away , but of one reproved ; not as contrary to the word Elect , but as contrary to the word reproved : so Paul useth it , 1 Corin. 9. 27. Lest I my selfe be a Reprobate , that is , reproved ; for Paul knew full well by confession of all Papists , that hee neither was nor could be a Reprobate , Vid. Rittez . in Salvian . pag. 10. and the learned Borgius expounds 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Reprobates minde to be a minde , that no man hath cause to glory in , but rather to be much ashamed of , which is indeed the right and full sense of the Greeke word . Artic. 36. Contra. L●ther Roffensis therefore is in an uncomfortable errour ; who writes , that when a man is hardened as Pharaoh was , or given up to a Reprobate sense , as those of whom Saint Paul speakes , were ; that God doth cast them off for ever without ever tendring to them the offer of his grace again : that God doth forsake some such is true , but that hee doth forsake all such ( which is his assertion ) is false . And sundry learned amongst the Papists have a dreame ; that when a man comes to such a number , and such a measure of sinnes , then God is bound in Iustice , not onely not to give him ( though that were too much ) but to deny him favour and grace ever after , and so ( saith Abulensis ) it is all one as though such a man were already actually in hell . Quast. 12. in Exod. 4. Cajetan . jentac . 8 , q. 1. This unsound and unsafe opinion is also confessed to be held by great Divines amongst them , as by Tapper in art . De lib. Arbit . Medin . l. 3. de recta in deum fide c. By Dried . de Captiv . cap. 3. vid. To cast all into a briefe ; I say that God is not bound to give place of repentance unto dispisers and breakers of his covenant . 2. Hee may in Iustice absolutely deny it them , Valcut . To. 2. Dis. 8. q. 3. punct. 4. and many times doth : as to Caine , Gen. 4. 11. to Esau , Heb. 11. 17. to Corah and his complices , Num. 16. 27. to Ananas and Zaphira , 2. 2. q. 2. art 5. ad 1. Acts 5. 5. and infinite others , 〈◊〉 saith Aquinas , God ( if he will ) may doe it , for no sin , but for to punish Originall sinne onely . 3. God doth give place and time , and the grace of repentance to most indurate sinners , and to such as for the just guerdon of some former sins have bin given up to a reprobate minde , and albeit such bee farre spent , yet they are not past cure , the disease doth admit of a remedy , the sin is not the sin against the holy Ghost , it is pardonable by a kinde of violent worke of the Law and Gospell , by a strong and compacted force of the Spirit of God , such hurts are sometimes cured , and such sinnes are healed ; and therefore to avoide the blow of Satans tentations that we are in a reprobate mind and therefore past all remedy : Let us say , Ezek. 10. 2. yet there is hope in Israel concerning this sin ; repent wee and returne and God will shew us mercy . For though God may leave such a man utterly in his sins , yet that he must and will give men up , when their sins are come to such or such a passe : is a Doctrine fit for none to teach but Papists , whose religion was and is , as Luther once noted , a Slaughter-house of the conscience of man .

Quest. On Gal. What be the remedies against tentation .

They are either Generall , or else Particular , for some certaine cases , as for the Generall , there are Rules to be observed ; some before , some in , others after the tentation .

Generall Rules and Remedies for prevention before .

All I cannot , neither would I if I could , the chiefe are :

1. Beware of spirituall pride , the disease of such as have something to be proud of : for when men grow into a big conceite of themselves , then there needs a tentation to pricke the bladder . Swelling in the body is a dangerous Symptome , t is no lesse ominous to the soule : for if once wee come to please our selves with our well doing , the heart presently swels up into a puffe of spirituall pride , which is the greatest enemy to the free grace of God , that is ; which spirituall pride is usually cured with a spirituall fall . See in the stories of the Saints in the blessed Bible , and we shall finde that their pride of spirit hath ever likely had a fall ; it was for the pride of wit that those Rom. 1. were given over to passions of dishonour : V. 21. 22. walke humbly with thy GOD and feare nothing . What was in Adam , Gen. 3. 5. is rife in us still ; yee shall bee as gods was his disease and it is ours ever after .

2. The next thing wee must see to is , Mar. 14. 38. Security , and here the precept is , Watch : When men thinke there is least danger , then the danger is greatest ; sin and Satan are ever watching their oportunities , which is , when we watch not : and is it not fit sin and Satan should bee let loose upon us , to feare us out of our security , and chiefly such lusts as fire the conscience . A man in a swoone must wee know bee rubbed and chafed , and some staring lusts which will trouble the spirits of a man and chafe his very soule , are a fit of burning fever to cure this spirituall Lethargie . Security will rust us , undoe us , and eate out all that good is out of us , and if the word will not doe it , nor a crosse will not worke it ; then comes a sharpe tentation to see what that will doe , and if any thing will first awake , and then humble the drowsie and sleepy heart of a man , it is some vexing sin or other .

3. Wee must not abuse any mercy what ever it be , for that bringes in a tentation : hee that will not use lawfull things lawfully , it is just with God that hee should , and ten to one hee shal fal into the unlawfull act of the thing abused . Bee it Wife , or Name , or Goods , or any mercy , if wee abuse it and doe not use it aright : the next is to bee set upon with some act of sin in the matter it selfe . What ever wee enjoy , if we enjoy it not holily and thankefully , we shall bee sore tempted about it , in one sinfull veine or other .

4. Looke not disdainefully on any sin in another , bee the sin what it will , bee the sinner who he will , our nature stands not free from the same , we are subject to that very malady and to punish us for looking upon the fals and faults of others with scornes ; first or last wee are like to bee tempted to and with the same offence , that we may learne to know our selves , and to bee more mercifull to others , Gal. 6. 1. against another time . A common thing for a man out of passion , not compassion , to let flye at anothers sins to day , and to fall , or bee ready to fall into the selfe same sin to morrow . We find that we are sollicited to a sinne , that we never yet from our youth felt any motion too till now ; to let us see , that we beare about us not only the rootes of those sins which our complexion hath enclined us unto , but also of those sinnes wee never thought of , nor dream'd of , that so wee may learn to consider others in their corruptions with meekenesse to day , sith it may bee our case to take their turne to morrow .

5. Keepe off from us , and our selves off from all occasions of any sinne , to rush into harmes way , is to tempt our selves , and to tempt Satan to tempt us . He that will dare to runne into the mouth of any sin , he doth conceit that hee is free from that sinne , and the next newes hee heares is , to heare of that very sin , that he may know by experience what a creature man is ; keepe and doth not he who ventures on occasions of sin , take himself free from the danger of that sin ? whereas the very deed is , that the man who doth dare to venture on the occasion of sinne , shewes that there was in the heart an implicite likening of that sinne , though hee neither thinke it nor feele it , but rather dreame the contrary ; for when the occasion is once afoot , then presently comes in mighty provocations to that sin , and then the hidden corruption opens and manifests it selfe : it is our wisdome as we would shun sin to avoid all occasions of all sins whatsoever : For if wee will not keepe our selves from the occasion , God will not keepe us from the sin ; and if God do not keep us , we cannot be kept , we cannot , we will not choose but fall .

6. Keep all our armour about us , and put sin and Satan out of hope : the divell is wiser , than usually to tempt where he hath no hope to speed . Iudah went about an honest businesse : Gen. 28. yet because hee tooke not his armour with him in the morning , he fell ere night : we must carry our Antidotes about us , because wee walke in places that are infectious ; and chiefly we must see to our matters in sins wee are given unto , if to pride , then goe not where fashions are , without a commission and weapon ; if wee be apt to quarrell , goe without a sword , and when we have not our weapon about us , wee shall not bee so tempted to brawle ; if to the lust of unelcannesse , come not neere the doores of her house , and that will keepe our hearts free , having our hearts still an end full of serious meditation of the presence of God Almighty ; sith our nature is so apt to be tempted by our lust , and we are so soone afoot after every sin , that like children wee had rather be in the dirt than in the cleane : have wee not cause to looke after these directions , and such as these are , that we may not be lead into tentation ; that our lust may not draw us aside from God , and entise unto evill .

2. Rules for the remedy in the Tentation .

To him that would know what hee is best to doe , when the tentation is come or comming , we prescribe him to follow this order .

1. To make a right use of it .

2. To get by good meanes out of it .

For the use to be made of the Tentation , doe thus . 1. Know that the tentation is suffered to come upon us by God for our humbling , whether it bee to commit a sin , or , to despaire for some sin committed , when it is to some fault , as in this case most times it is , which is against our mindes and to the trouble of our soules : God he knowes that if any thing under heaven will humble us , this will doe it ; what else will so gaule and cut the heart of a Christian man ? what else will so set us a praying , a whining , a watching , a fasting ? this hee see , will even vile a man in his owne eyes , and make him base to himselfe : this will season and fit us for Gods building , and the use wee are to make of it , is ; to see our selves what we are , and to looke up to Christ Iesus : God sees and wee must see : that wee cannot well come to heaven without such a purge and therefore wee must joyne with God , make his end , our end : hee doth it to breake us and humble us , and wee must humble our selves : humbly our selves saith St. Iames , Iam. 4. 10. and God will exalt us ; it is to humble us and doe us good , Deu. 8. 16. when ? In the latter end saith the Text : this is not done in a day ; and therefore we must waite Gods time : It is a plaster and it must lye on some time , if God meane us any good , the tentation shall not over straight , but hover and hang about us some long time , some good space . GOD doth drive out one naile with another , Pride with a tentation of Lust , but this is not done in an houre , if it be somewhat long a doing , yet it is worth our while . Let us stay and waite upon God from whom commeth our humiliation : the cause of a tentation is pride , the use of the tentation is to take away our pride : there is great dispute which is , and which is the way to finde out our master-sin , but when all is done , pride is the master-sin in all . Wee all hold of Adam in Capite , pride was the first and and great sin in Adam , and so it is in all his see , wee had our lust from him ; He his from the Angels ; the sinne of sins in the Angels was pride ; 1 Tim. 3. 6. it gave them their fall ; August . in Psa. 58. Caput Omnium peccatorum superbia . so it was in Adam , it gave him his fall , and so it is in us . There is we say in trees a master-roote , Aug. tract. 25. in Ioan. Evang. and that roote in Originall sinne is no other than pride ; indeed there is in most some other particular streame and vaine , which carries , one , one way , another , another ; arising from Complexion , Education , Condition and other causes and occasions , which often varies as the temper of our bodies , and the order of our estate doth change ; and this yeere it is one sin , seven yeere henc ( as every seven yeere there is a sensible change in the humour of the body ) it is another , when poore it is one , when rich it is another sin ; but that sin of all sins which goes thorow all the race of man kinde is pride , the universall and general Captaine , Sin , in all the world : Vnbeleefe may have that name and be well called our master-sin , in respect of our Iustification , instrumentally taken , because it hinders our union with Christ : but the chiefe sin , which is our greatest morall vice , and carries the greatest straine and power with it in respect of sanctification , is this same sin of Pride , and spirituall pride is the pride of all prides , all other sins doe a kind of homage to pride , as to their king and Lord. De Civit. Austine hath it , that the Romans did forbeare many vices that carried shame with them , Dei . lib. 5. cap. 12. and did many commendable acts , Lib. 4. in Iulian . c , 3. and all to serve their sin of of vaine-glory : and a a Val. Mar. l. 4. 26. Lev. l. 26 Scipio by name and b b Alexan. vid Plut. in Alex. others , did abstaine from that which their nature would have beene right willing to have enjoyed , and all to keepe their name , and to maintaine their credit , and outward reputation amongst men : so that all other sins doe as it were vaile to this , and therefore God may bee said to resist all other sins , but this sin he resists afarre off ; Ps. 138. 6. he cannot abide the sight of it , and so wee say that God doth use to give us up for some time , in some measure , to some base tentations , he lets out some vile corruptions and why ? but all to take down this sin of pride ; it is say wee all little enough to humble us : affliction without the true sight and sound feeling of some of our corruptions will not doe it : a man is then humble , when hee is humbled before his Originall sin , and amonst all the bitter fruites of that cursed lust , pride is chiefe , and doth play the Rex amongst the rest : other sins that wee ( speaking from feeling ) doe call our master-sin or sins , our predominant lusts are but made use of by God to humble us , and to eate out this dangerous sinne of pride ; and therefore it cleares it selfe , my thinkes to say , that this sinne of pride is in every man his cheefest sin , sith other beloved sins are let to have their swing in men , all to master , this Master of sins , our pride . The use then that wee are to put our tentations unto when they come , is : to humble our hearts , to abase us , to pluck away the feathers of our pride .

2. The next use wee are to make of our tentation , is ; that we see a mercy in it whatsoever it be , if wee feele nothing but what is common to man , and others have had and have the like , we must learne to beare it with a kinde of impatient patience ; why should not wee beare what others beare , what are wee ? is our nature better than others ? here must bee a kinde of content , else it is like it will be worse yet , else as yet , we are neither truly nor sufficiently humble : Phil. 2. 3. it must teach us to thinke better of others , Vere existimemus aliquid occultum esse posse in alio quo no bis superior sit . than of our selves ; and wee must learne to render thanks to God , considering what our deserts are , Aug. 83. Quaest. q. 71 and what our nature is ; that we are no worse , that wee are broken out no more .

3. The last use is , that we must consider a providence in it , in that we are kept from sinning , by being tempted for sin , God doth suffer us to fall into the thoughts and affections , that so we might not fall into the outward deed and action of sinne : better have a motion in the wil , than the will and the deed too ; the will is taken for the deed in good things , but not in sinne , for that Gods accepting and rewarding our good deeds , comes out of his grace and favour ; it is a matter of mercy & drawes out of the merits of Christ , and therefore God may , and doth many times take the hearty will and desire for the deed : but in sin it is not so , for there the punishment is according to the desert , and merit of the sin , it is more or lesse , as the desert of the sin is more or lesse ; now there is more guilt in the act and will too , than is in the will alone : evill workes really deserve punishment , and the punishment is never more than the guilt that is in the sin , and therefore the will is not so bad as the deed : There be more degrees of malice and evilnesse in the act , than in the purpose alone , and therefore of the two , it is better to have it in the affection within , than in the act without , too chiefly when the thoughts be such as we cannot abide , doe not allow , but abhor ; we fall soonest into the outward act of that sin , which thrusts in upon us on a sudden whereof wee felt not the drawing tentation first within : had David bin haunted with pestilent and violent suggestions & motions to adultery and murther , he had then felt those corruptions to have beene strong in his flesh ; his care then would have been , to have beene earnest with God by prayer , to be pardoned , healed and preserved ; and so hee had found such strength , that hee would not , nor should not have done those faults : what if we finde that wee doe loath such lusts when they begin to fire ? yet we must not stay there as though it were impossible that wee should ever fall into the sinnes themselves : David would have taken it in as much scorne as another , had one spoken before to him as touching adultery and murther ; our disliking the inward motion , is not thorow enough , except it bring us on our knees and beg of God , that it proceed no further , Tentari & in Tentationem non inferri non est malum imo etiam bonum est , hoc enim est probari . and so we see by accident , it is a mercy to be held under some such profitable tentations , and wee must make this mercy of it : that the tentation drive us to God , to keepe us from finishing the sin it selfe : Aug. l. 2. de bono persev : c. 6. Non nobis exped it esse sine tentationibus , necro gemus Deum ut non tentemur , sed ut non inducamur in tentationem . Aug in Psa. 73. our tentation must bee a meanes of our prevention , we must take it as a warning peece to arme us against falling into the foule fault it selfe .

The second maine branch , is , how we should get the tentation off , and draw our selves out of the snare , and here we are to show what wee must not doe , and then what we must doe .

1. We must not dispute with sin nor Satan : Satan when they came to arguing ; was too hard for our first parents in their innocency , when they had wit at will , and their reason , at command , and now that wee are as we are , we loose all if once wee begin to enter into disputation with such an old Sophister and crafty fox as Satan is ; and our owne lust is the greatest , both deceiver and distembler in the world . Greeneham . He ( as one saith ) shootes with Satan in his owne Bow , who thinkes by disputing and reasoning to put off Satan , our reason is corrupt , and on his side , and it will betray us into his hands .

2. Wee must not flye away from Satan , a run-away never makes a good conclusion of his tentations from Idolatry : 1 Cor. 6. 8. 10. 14. and from Adultery and Fornication wee must flye : 1 Tim. 6. 11. Flye these things . such sins are best conquered by flying , 2 Tim. 2. 22. and we are to hold our selves from all occasions of all sins whatsoever , Flye also youthfull lusts . when and where we may doe it without offending of God ; Libidinem fugiendo superare . but from the divell it is neither possible nor lawfull to flye from him ; Vid. Aug. De honestate mulierum ▪ not possible because the divels are exceeding many , Eph. 6. 13. and they are spirits and there can bee no flying from them ; Iam. 4. 7. nor lawfull , because wee are bid to resist him , 1 Pet. 5. 9. and therefore forbid to flye from him , and then againe , because it is a kinde of service done to Satan , a yeelding to him some kinde of worship , When Satan seeth his threatnings to be feared , then he terrifies more and more , such as are terrified already Luth. on Gal. sith that it is to feare him ; and we are commanded to feare GOD , and not the divell . A feare there is granted , so as to send us to God , and to the use of Gods meanes : but such a feare as to make us run , ( a fainting feare ) is unlawfull and dangerous ; and after a sort a serving of Satan the deadly enemy of the Lord Iehovah .

Make the case thus , a man is on just occasion alone , by himselfe , aye in the darke too , and hath reason so to be : now sinne and Satan let flye at him with their fiery bloudy dartes ; here wee must not runne , not avoid the place , it is a kind of serving Satan , and a yeelding to the divell , God is angry with it , and it is often the way to great danger ; what if by this shifting the roome , we finde ease for the present , yet it is but his skill , like a lightening before death , it leades us securely into the hands of the same or some other tentation ? what must wee doe ? Eph. 6. 14. Even stand it out , hold there , as we have a calling to be there , what if wee quake ? better quake , than serve Satan , better tremble every veine than sin , better dye in the place , than flye from the place , because it is a flying from Satan , and hee that in this sense flyes from Satan for feare , seemes to distrust Gods providence on him , for that particular .

Thus far for what wee must not doe ; now next is , what we must do , and here we have many things , the heads are these .

1. The first thing is beleeving ; Eph. 6. 16. get faith ( saith Paul and then wee shall quench all the fiery darts of the Divell . Our faith will doe wonders if wee apply the victory , that Christ hath made over Satan for us ; what if wee bee Cowards , In Christo tu tentaberis — Si in illo nos tenati sumus , in illo nos Diabolum superamus , Aug. in . Psa. 60. Christus Diabolum vicit & pro te vicit , & tibi vicit , & in te vicit . Aug. in Psa. 49. yet Christ did not play the Coward ; His victory Mat. 4. was ours , and for us : Hee stood in our place , plaid our prize , beate Satan to our hands : His glorious triumph over Satan , is a kinde of satisfaction for all our yeelding so much , aye , too too much to the divell : what if Satan beate mee may a Christian , say , yet I passe not ; sith my Christ in my stead , for my part hath beaten Satan all to peeces : In him my head , I have long since beaten satan hand to hand , hee is then to mee in him ( my Captaine ) a very vanquished enemy : thus faith makes his victory as touching the price of it ours , as though we our selves had in our own proper persons , conquered Satan , and beate the Divell . The next thing that we must doe by our faith , is , to take Christ Iesus , and set him against the Tempter , why ? Because there is scarce any tentation wherein Satan is not : the divell hath put some of you in prison : Get thee behind mee Satan ; Rev. 2. 10. the divell is usually in it then : Mat. 16. 23. We are then by faith to set Christ against Satan : wee are not of our selves so weake in the hands of Satan , as Satan in the hands of Christ ; turne him then over to CHRIST , and let Christ alone with him ; faith will be satisfied with none else , nothing but Christ ; and faith is said to be our victory , which neither hope nor charity are said to be , 1 Ioh. 5. 4. because it doth make Christ ours , who is our victory over sin and Satan both . Faith is not content with the presence and assistance of an Angell neither , except the Lord Iesus be there himselfe : Exo. 33. 2. for God did promise to send an Angell with his people , and to drive out the Canaanite and the rest of that Crue , ver. 3. but hee himselfe would not goe : the people of GOD were no way content with an Angell , they tooke no comfort in this ; V 4. this was saith the Text , Deus iratus dioere videtur tu & populus tuus , — alioquin dixisset Tu & populus meus . Aug. Quest. 149. Super Exod. Tom. 4. evill tydings , they mourned and put on blacks , like a loving wife ; shee must have her husband ; what do you tell her of sending a trusty servant along with her , nothing will content her but her husband . So when our faith is set on worke , it makes us but sicke to tell us of an Angell , except we may have Christ Iesus also , him or none ; and therefore wee are not safe except we doe and can by faith lay fast hold on Christ Iesus , and set up him and his power against the gates of hell and powers of darkenesse . Say an Angel bring strength with him yet an Angell brings no merits , nor that authority with him . Faith must have one to side it with us against Satan , who hath absolute command over Satan , and merits to make amends and payment to God for all our sins , ( that way ) now these concurre in none but Christ , and so we finde that no substitute , no not an Angell will serve , but Christ must bee ours by faith and by a living faith wee must take him , and make him our Buckler and sword against the Divell and his Angels : If Christ doe but say the word , the Divell himselfe is said , his tentations dye . To him then who is our refuge and our strength , no creature is to be our refuge , because none can be our strength , Psa. 46. 1. but if wee rest on them , say , on the Angels themselves , Vid. Aug. in Loc. they will prove our weakenesse ; but Christ Iesus the Lord our righteousnesse , he will be sure to be our strength . Say I of my selfe , am as weake as water , but in Christ , Phi. 4. 13 made mine by faith , I am strong , Lu. 10. 18 can doe all things , can , and shall , and will beate downe Satan himselfe ; like lightening from heaven , and treade downe the divell under my feet : Ro. 16. 20. but when ? Mat. 23. 37. Shortly , Aug. in Psa. 62. Through whom ? Through the God of peace , so saith St. Paul . Let the divell and his angels be unto us as a Kite ; yet as long as wee may succour our selves under the wings of the Lord Iesus Christ , wee are safe , wee are sure . The last remedy that wee have by faith , is , to learne us to rely on that promise , that if we fight wee shall conquer . The promise is , that if we resist Satan stedfast in the faith , he will flye . Iam. 4. 7. Beleeve then that we shal overcome ; and we shall overcome : we are more than Conquerers , as the Greeke is : We doe over-come ; other fighters fight first , Rom. 8. 37 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . and then conquer ; but we through faith in Christ are said to overcome before we fight , and so we are more than Conquerors ; this is to be more than a Conqueror , to be sure of the victory before one fight . Beleeve , and prosper ; doe , but by faith say it shall be so , and it shall be so . 2 Chro. 20 20. A man shall not presently conquer : a man he is to fight with , though he doth beleeve that he shall conquer him , because there is no promise made by GOD that hee shall , there is no covenant past betwixt God and us to that end . But now GOD hath said the word , wee have him fast in a Bond ; that if wee fight against Satan wee shall conquer Satan , resist him and he shall flye ; war against sin , and sin shall dye : I speake not of presumption , but faith , when a man hath grounds for it , useth GODS meanes in Gods sight . Have wee not a command to pray ? Lead us not into tentation : If a command , then it is attended with a promise ; that he that prayes not to bee lead , shall not bee lead into the tentation ; wee are bound then to beleeve , that following Gods wayes , wee shall not bee lead into tentation : Iohn . ● . 4. Faith is our victory , and nothing but faith , because it is not hope , but faith which apprehends and applyes the promise . Wee see then that Saint Paul speakes to great purpose , when he cals upon the Ephesians above all things , Eph. 6. 16. to get faith and the use of faith , to quench not some , but all the fiery darts of Satan : reason can do nothing ; as it is naturall , it is in vaine , and doth no good ; the tentation is a spirituall thing , reason , a naturall weapon : now a naturall thing , can have neither strok nor force against a spirituall , and therefore reason is a false weapon ; and as our reason is carnall , it is a secret friend to Satan , takes part with him against us , The weapons of our warfare are not carnall , but mighty , how ? Through God . good stuffe for a man to thinke to conquer the divell , with a wisdome which the Apostle saith is divelish : How divelish ? Because it hath the divell for its damme ; 2 Cor. 10. 4. wee must not then consult with flesh and bloud ; Iam. 3. 15. downe with reason , away with our owne wit , let faith doe all , else faith will do nothing ; faith never workes so well , as when it workes alone : And is it no more , but beleeve the promise , and is Sathan gone ? No , no more : and must wee have all we beleeve ? all and more too . All , for it is with us according to our faith , as Christ said to the beleeving woman of Canaan ; a beleever shall have what he will . Mat. 15. 28. More than , we beleeve , because wee shall have beyond our faith ; above what wee are able to aske or thinke , Eph. 3. 20. and that abundantly too . How so ? must we not have a promise and faith for all ? I answer and say , wee have more than wee have faith for , in the particulars ; a world of matters ther be that come to our hand , that we did not know of nor thinke of in the particular ; yet nothing but what wee have faith for , one way or other , if not in the particular , yet in the generall , viz. we beleeve that wee shall conquer all the tentations we see , and all others wee neither see nor feele , such as we doe know and those wee does Sith wee have this in us , that if we did know them we would aske them and doe , do our diligenc to know them . not know of , wherein a kinde of implicite faith is sufficient , thus and then wee aske nothing , but what wee have faith for , one way or other . In the generall , we aske in the general , and we have many things whereof wee have no faith for in the particulars . Vp then and bee doing , worke it out by having and using our faith ; Satan flyes at the sight of faith , there is such an Antipathy betwixt Satan and the faith of a Christian , that faith no sooner comes in place , but Satan is gone : Other graces have their use , and place to resist the impulsions of the divell ; some one , some another , Eph. 6. 16. but faith as Paul showes , doth quench all ; I say , all the fiery darts of the divell , because it doth take in Christ Iesus with all his merits , Value , Virtue and Power . And thus much for the first meanes to get out of tentations which is by Beleeving .

2. The second is by Resisting . 1 Pet. 5. 9. Resist saith Peter , Iam. 4 7. how resist ? Resist the divell and he will flee ● not onely run , but flye . Stedfastly , how stedfastly ? In the faith , and what then ? why then Satan will flye . The Apostle showes us in another phrase : Eph. 6. 14. Stand , saith hee , and then Sathan hee fals . It is not here saith Chrysostome , as it fares with wrastlers ; for there except we cast down our adversity , we conquer not : here wee conquer Satan , if hee cast not us down , we are then ( in acceptation ) as though we did cast him down : alas Satan is quelled , and as it were cast downe and killed already ; he is too far in hell ever to come out againe ; Satan can looke for no crowne , hee is in perdition , his aime is to cast us downe into the same destruction he himselfe is in ; Iud. 1. 6. so that if we doe resist and but keepe our Stand , this is our conquest : we must not looke for a greater victory than is to bee had in this world . That which troubles some with discomfort , is , because no sooner doe they begin to resist , but it is rather worse with them , than it was before , these consider not that it will be thus : for if we will let sin and Satan alone , they will let us alone , sleepe in sinne , and spare not , we may have quiet enough , and come by degrees to be past feeling : but resist wee sin and Satan , and the divell will play his part , to hold his hold : hee is a strong man , and will not out except hee be forced ; now possession by force , wee know is with some stir , struggle ; sin will , and must , when we labour to cast the old man off : ( it will ) because it is now a dying ; and all dying things , that dye by peeces , as sin doth reluct and struggle , and stirre for life ( it must , ) because else a godly man would not so well discerne the going out of sin : the Candle blazeth most , & stinketh worst when it burnes in the Socket ; and so it fares with sin , when it is towards it's last .

There is a double death of sin : one in respect of the guilt of sinne , which then is killed when we have our pardon , this is in Iustification ; and when we beginne to get our pardon , the Conscience is more out of quiet , greater stirs being there , than when wee sate still and did nothing that way : But when the pardon is had once , then the conscience is alive , sin is dead , and our hearts are at quiet ; being justified by faith , wee have peace with God . The other death of sin , is in respect of the power of sin , and this is in our sanctification , and this wee meane chiefest here : when a godly man sets about it to kill up and dry up this running disease ; the plucking out of the weapon , the removing of the guilt of sin , is done on a sudden ; but the healing of the wound , the mending of the languor , is done gradualy , now a little , and then a little : and when a man is come to abhor his lusts ; then he hath given his sin it 's deaths wound as touching the power of it , & so on ; now some , & then some , sinne doth dye more and more . Now when a man can once come to resist sinne , hee is dead to sin both wayes ; to the guilt of it , and to the power of it : for had hee not the pardon of it , he could not resist it : had hee not some power against it , hee could not resist it : Now looke how much power we get to resist it , so much power sin loseth . And now because sin will not give ground , and lose the Field , without fighting and some opposition ; hence it is , that when wee begin to resist , sin and Satan make ( to feele to ) the greater head , Rom. 6. 2. and wee take our case to bee the worse , Delectationes carnales nobis illicite multa suggerent , quibus non consentimus sed tamen non consentiendo contendimus , Aug. in Psa. 64. wee cannot sleepe in a quiet skinne here , except wee will sit downe here by Satans fire , for if wee once goe about to get off from him , hee will not lose us so , but some stir he will make ; but we must live by faith , and know that Satan is going , and sin is a dying . When the divell went of out of the mans body , he tare him and puld him miserably ; he would not take his far-well , but he should feele it : so when wee doe by prayer conjure and charm him out of our soules he will make all the hurly burly he can , So. Isa. 26 ▪ 16. Prayer is in the Hebr● . called 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 Id est a Charme . when he is going out ; but bee of good heart , our faith doth assure us , that there is never a prayer we make , nor act of resisting that we doe use , but gives Satan a knock , and sin a mortifying blow : when ones hands do ake for cold , yet when wee come first to the fire , the fingers ends ake worse ; which makes children cry when they first come to the fire ; the cause is , because the heat doth draw out the cold , to the utmost parts and ends of every finger : like to this it is that our sinnes doe make us ake worse ; when first wee bring our selves to the enlightning and healing ordinances of God , our sinnes then are drawne out more , therefore they vex more ; wee doe stirre them more , and therefore they stinke worse ; wee see them more then , and are troubled at the sight of them I confesse . But yet , so as a man is at the sight of many huge enemies , whom yet hee knowes that through the helpe of his Captaine , by fighting , he shall beate and conquer : by resisting and fighting what ever we see and feele at first , wee doe and shall conquer sin and the lusts thereof , and save our selves from the tentation of the divell . Some questions may here come in by the way .

Quest. 1. When lust is sufficiently resisted .

Ans. Some kind of faint resisting may bee made by generall and common graces ; and some againe , against some sins by the law of nature ; but for the resisting that proves effectuall and is against all sin , as sin is against the written Word and Law of God , it is done by faith and saving grace , and by the Spirit of GOD giving lust such a wound , that let Satan lick it all hee can , it never recovers nor comes to it selfe againe . Should we take the word ( sufficiently ) in a legall sense ; then while we breath we neither do , nor can resist sin , but it may be , and it ought to be , more and better resisted still : but if we take it in an Evangelicall sense , so as to be sure that our sin is dead at the heart , ( as some trees be that yet carry boughs ) that we may bee sure that wee are in Christ : here I say , that a man hath sufficiently resisted sin and Satan , when he doth not allow the sin , when he doth no way consent to the tentation . Some expresse it by a distinction , and say , that if a man doe not allow infirmities , and doe not live in the practise of grosse sinnes , then all is well and there is comfort enough to bee had , to stay our thoughts against the day of refreshing : as a little will stay the stomacke for a time ; so will an assurance that wee have broken the heart of sinne , binde in our hearts from despaire . The answer which is made hath this sense in it : that if we allow not infirmities . 2. If wee doe not practise grosse sins , then there is sufficient resisting as touching the maine : That there is a difference betwixt infirmities , and presumpuous sins is not to be denied ; Psa. 19. 31. it is expresly in the holy scripture . Praesumptuosus peccat , non aestimando nimis misericordiam Dei : sed contemnendo justitiam ejus . Aquin. 22. q. 21. a. 2 ad. 2. Papists say that the man who doth a mortal sin , is not in the state of grace : But for venials a man may commit ( in their Divinity ) who can tell how many of them , and yet be in Christ for all that : I hope there is no such meaning in any of our Divines as to tye up mens consciences , to hang on such a distinction of sins , sith it is beyond the wit of man , to set downe a distinct point betwixt mortall and veniall sins ; now when it is an impossible matter punctually to set downe to the understanding of man ; which is , and which is not a veniall sin ; they must pardon mee from giving the least way to such Divinity , as must needs leave the conscience of man in a maze and Labyrinth . I finde that the nature of infirmities doth so depend upon circumstances , that , that is an infirmity in one man , which is a grosse sin in another ; and some men pleade for themselves , that the things they doe are but infirmities : He that will sin , and when hee hath done will say ( not to comfort his soule against Satan ) but to flatter himselfe in his sin that it is but an infirmity , for ought I know , he may goe to hell for his infirmities : Besides , if that be good , that a man who is in grace may doe infirmities , but not practise grosse sinnes ; Then I would I could see a man that would undertake to finde us out some Rule out of the word ; by which a sinner may finde by his sin , when hee is in Christ , and when out of Christ ; at what degrees of sinning , where lies the Mathematicall point and stop , that a man may say , thus far I may goe and yet bee in grace , but if I step a step farther , then I am none of Christs . Wee all know that sinnes have their latitude : and for a man to hang his conscience on such a distinction , as hath no rule to define where the difference lyes , is not safe Divinity . The conscience on the racke will not be layd , and said with formes and quiddities ; the best and neerest way to quiet the heart of man , is to say that be the sinne a sinne of infirmity when we strive and strive ; but yeeld at last ; or , of precipitancy , when we be taken in haste , as he was , who said in his haste , all men are lyers ; or , a meere grosse sin in the matter : aye , say it be a presumptuous sin , yet if we allow it not , it hinders not , but wee are in Christ : though wee doe with reluctancie , act and commit it ; and I say that we doe resist it , if wee doe not allow it : For let us not goe about to deny , that a godly man during his being , a godly man , may commit grosse and presumptuous sins ; and for infirmities , if wee allow them and like them , that we know to be sinnes , then wee doe not resist them ; and such a man , who allowes himselfe in one , is guilty of all , and is none of Christs as yet : bee the sinne what it will , Iames makes no distinction , and where the law distinguisheth not , Scot. l. 4. D. 22. Qua●tum ad aeternam , &c. there wee must not distinguish . I speake not of doing a sin , but allowing ; for a man may doe it , 2. Factus est omnium reus , &c. and yet allow it not : as in Paul , that which I would not , Sic Martyr loc. com : part 2. c. 14. Sect. 7. that I doe , and hee that allowes not sinne , doth resist it , therefore a man may resist it , and yet doe it , 3. Dispositive , nam ut ais , &c. all the difference that I know is this .

1. That a man may live after his conversion all his dayes , Vid. Rog : Treat. 6. c. 5. and yet never fall into a grosse sin : by grosse I meane presumptuous sinnes , Greg. mor●lw l. 21. c. 9. so Psal. 19. David saith ; not cleanse , but keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins : we may then be kept from them ; I speake not that all are , but some be , and therefore in it selfe all might be .

2. For lesser sinnes , secret faults , we cannot live without them , they are of dayly and almost hourely incursion , but yet wee must bee clensed from them , as David speakes : dayly get your pardon ; and there is a pardon of course for them , and they doe not usually distract and plunge the conscience , but yet we must not see them , and allow them ; if we do , our case is to be pittied wee are none of Christs as yet .

3. Great staring sins , a man cannot usually and commonly practise them , but hee shall allow them . So Ps. 19. 13. Keepe back thy servant from presumptuous sins , let them not have dominion over mee : Implying , that except wee be kept back from them , they will have dominion over us : it followes , then shall I be upright . So that the man , in whom presumptuous sinne or sins have no dominion , he is an upright man . To practise a sin is one thing , to live in the practise is another : how farre a man being and remaining in grace , may goe in the committing of great sinnes , is past my skill to determine : The case of Salomon and others , proves that a man may goe farre ; tentations may hang long , if a day , a week , if a weeke , a yeere , if a yeere , many yeeres ; and how many ? Who can say , a man lives in a sin when he loves it , though he doe not practise it at all ; as hee is a Drunkard , who is never ●●unke , if hee love drinke ; and he Covetous , who loves money , though he have not a penny in his purse . So , say a man never act the sin , yet if hee love it , if hee doe not hate it , hee lives in it . As in the Body , a man is said to have his health , albeit he hath usuall infirmities which make no let , but that hee eate , drinke , sleepe , work ; but if a man have great diseases , which take away his stomacke and strength , then we say he is sickly , and in danger . In the soule , usuall scapes and ordinary infirmities , wee cannot live without , yet they do not interrupt our peace nor destroy the strength of our soules ; wee pray , reade , heare , neverthelesse . But great sinnes doe distract , and disturbe , doe weaken , & threaten the worst ; and as it is hard I confesse , for a man to practise them , but hee will bee a lover and an allower of them , a consenter to them , yet when at the worst ; I say 〈◊〉 godly man doth not make a trade of them , his heart is not on them , his minde is another way all the while : thus then wee must resist lesser lusts , by dissenting and striving to weaken them , to lessen them ; but do we our best , we cannot possibly be free from them : and for greater sins , a godly man may be kept from them , live and dye without them . But yet we must grant , that a man may bee good in the heart , and yet for a time ( and how long who can say ? ) be drawn to practise them too , albeit not to allow them . It is enough for either sort to assure a man that hee is a resister of them ; if he pray , or sigh , or groan against them : for the raigne of sin , is when we love them : now he that strives , loves not sin , it being not possible for the heart of man , to be against that which it loves ; sufficient resistance is made , in point of justification ; when a man doth disalow them in his judgement , and hates them with his heart , though he cannot shake off the practise of them . It is not easie to put off ones old companions : but in the point of Sanctification , there is not sufficient resistance made , so as to have our peace of sanctification , till we be able so to resist : that for greater sinnes , grosser , and more presumptuous faults , we doe not practise them at all , and for lesser , that wee doe dayly weaken them , lessen them , when our Iudgement doth carry a command over our wils , our wils over our affections , our affections , over our actions .

Quest. 2 What order are we to observe in making our Resistance .

Ans. Order is of great use , to Resist , is to fight , and the enemies wee are to fight with , are many and mighty , and therefore as in Battels , so here : Array and Order , is all in all ; the Particulars are these .

1. Wee must set against and resist the motion that comes from us ; and the suggestion that comes from Sathan at the very first , ere they meete and come together , if we can possibly , be it never so unlikely and so absurd , yet we must tremble at it in respect of our owne weaknesse , so as to pray against them , at the very first sight of the tentation : the affection is suffered to come to humble us , that so wee may walke in feare , use the meanes , and not fall into the action . Doe not say it is unlikely I shall never doe it , this is the way to grow secure , and then farewell . Sometimes wee are set upon with tentations , likely , that is , such as our particular nature is most given unto : for we are many times soonest overtaken with those tentations that our humour doth itch after , and anon againe , wee are urged to those lusts we never had much minde unto , that that so we may be taken secure , and ere we are aware , and then we are gone : Sith then our enemy never sleepeth ; wee must watch , and wake , and bee in a readinesse , to oberre all the motions of our devouring adversary : if wee resist at first comming , the work is halfe downe , we shall finde Satan a coward ; if wee resist not , wee shall feele him as a Lion : wee must trust neither our selves nor Sathan with any tentation : Wee see the tempter changeth hands , a man so prodigal , that he wastes all , when young , when old , quite another way : his life is in his riches ; aye , one way to day , to morrow , the winde sits in a quite contrary point , and therefore wee must be provided for all assaies , while the tentation is greene and young : and what if we can make no great matter of it as yet , to our thinking ? Wee must hold out still , for all that , play the man still : God meanes to make a sound cure , and it may be , hee will suffer us to bee held to it somewhat with the longest ; the venome and poyson must out from the very bottome , wee must have patience , what ? Patience at motions to sin : yes , such a patience as this is , to thank God it is no worse , and to bee content to wait the Lords leasure , dayes , moneths , yeares , and thanke-yee too , if we may have it at last , impatient at the lust ; but yet a patient and long suffering minde , that we be not tired out . Begin as soone as the tentation begins to peepe , bee at it to day , to morrow , every day , and after a time , the fits will and shall breake away . Some Agues a●●●ured by striving and resisting : All tentatiions I am sure are . Hee that will drive away his sorry Partner by wrestling , must doe it at the beginning before the Ague be setled in the bloud and spirits , and in like sort it is soonest done , to drive away this divell by striving and resisting , to doe it at the first , while it is young , and not strong , ere it get into an habit , and creepe into the bones , and which is more inward into the marrow ; I meane ere it can get any great hand over the spirit of our mind , the bosome and bottome of our soules .

2. Wee must begin where Satan begins , Eph. 4. 23. and goe on as hee goes on : The spirit of a thing is the quintessence of it . Marbury thus , the spirit that is the imagination of our minde . wee are to observe his motions ; if hee begin with a lesser sin , we must not despise small things , a little leake drownes all in time , and the prick of a pinne , le ts out all the winde 〈◊〉 bladder , Rep. p. 20. and therefore wee must make up against Sathan , even then , when hee comes with the smallest sins ; and if hee turne to greater and fouler faults , we must of all , bee very carefull to keepe off the pikes of more damnable errors and sinnes : They make fowle holes in the consciences ; and as theeves doe , such g●shes let in other sins , 2 Pet. . 2. 1 greater and greater still ; when it first comes , it appeares great , doe but yeeld to it once or twice and then we begin to thinke it to be , not so great a matter : the ordinary and common tentation , that Satan useth to make the foundation of , and to give entry to all the rest , is to beare us downe in it that wee are not the children of God , and that wee are not in Gods bookes ; give him but this , and then we doe in a manner yeeld him all the rest ; for if once we conclude , that God is not our father in Christ , then Satan hath us where he would , and hee may leade us into despaire , or presumption which he pleaseth , and therefore what ever we doe , we must hold our owne , and keep in this perswasion , to dye for it , that wee are the children God . Say we have ever so many afflictions , desertions , corruptions ; yet that ought not to shake us out of our assurance , for David had as many afflictions as any of us , and more : and for desertions , wee finde him all over the Psalmes , making heavy complaints that way : He that runs , may reade all over that Book , many a dolefull song , and for corruptions , and such corruptions too , as use to pay us home : sins , great sins , I meane committed after his calling and conversion : hee laid hands on another mans wife , hee defiled her , her husband loving David , as his own soule , and then fell upon an horrid plot of murther : he did art it with hellish skill , and shed the bloud of sundry , that hee might be the death of one : and did hee not number the people against all reason , and stood it out too , say all the Captaines what they could ? And this was the last Act that David did before hee tooke his bed . And yet I hope David added not this sin to all the rest , to wit , to question it ; whether God were his God or not . I have ( saith hee ) done foolishly , 2 Sam. 24. I have sinned and that greatly ; ● Kin. 1. ● . Lord forgive , what ? 2 Sam. 24. 10. The infirmity : No , the iniquity ; of whom ? Of thy Servant . He holds this fast , that for all his sins , his great sinnes , yet hee was Gods servant still ; let go this , and though our sins were but a few or but ordinary , yet Satan will sinke us , with one tentation or other : but now keepe wee our ground in this point , never deny the conclusion that God is our God : and say our corruptions were more , were worse than they are , well may Sathan shake his chaine at us , but we stand on a rock , and the flouds of his tentations cannot come , so much as at our feet : For we know that our sins are but the sinnes of a creature , his mercies are the mercies of an infinite Creator , without either banke or bottome : keepe wee the maine chance , that he is our father , and then , well may our sins humble us , but Satan with all his setting on , shall never be able to discourage us : we know that Christ died for sinners , and for the chiefe of sinners : no man was ever kept out of heaven for his confessed badnesse , 1 Tim. 1. 5 but many are for their supposed goodnesse : In a word , this only point , that hee is our father , kept up in our consciences , will make us fit , and able to dash , and blow off , al the powers of darknes , and push away all the darts of the divell ; therefore sith it is his method to lay all upon this point , hold this fast , and wee hold all fast : If the Enemy assault one way , and the Garrison defend another way , the Towne is lost , the Enemy will carry the strongest peece . We must not bee taken up about other matters , and lye open here ; here Satan will try his skill , and doe his utmost to bring us out of conceit with God , and to make us think that God hath no love unto us , no care of us , and then we are gone . Live and dye then with this in thy heart , and mouth ; Hee is my God , and I am his servant , and so we shall bee able to lay all the divels in hell . Say , God hath confirmed his love to mee so much , so often , that now I hope I shall never call that matter into question againe : And next for afflictions , we must frame a new Bible , ere we can with any colour finde any thing out of Gods afflicting us , to prove that hee doth not love us ; of the two , abundance , and plenty , and outward peace , would yeeld matter to say , that God doth not care for us ; and yet it would be long , ere a Christian will come to a Minister , and say , I have such a deale of wealth , of health , and so many friends , and so much friendship , that I feare mee I am not in the right : but when afflictions comes and stormes arise , then wee come and make a pitious moane : sure God is not my father , I am not his child , and grow we doe into hard conceits concerning God , and heavy thought as touching our selves : now all this comes out of our fancy who doe so highly prize the things of this life , that sure if God did love us we should not bee in such and such wants . Heb 12. 6. A very foolery , the Text is cleere : he correcth every son , whom he receiveth ; let the word bee heard , speake , and then we may conclude the contrary , and say thus , doth God afflict me , and hee doth withall make mee to make a right use of his afflictions , ( say but of one ) and by this I am sure , that he is mine , and I am his : for affliction is a part of the curse in its owne nature , and God doth never chang the nature of it , and turne it to a mercy but onely to those hee loves , it should , it would hurt me , I finde it did me , doth mee good , and therefore I am a son of his love : And lastly for desertion , that is , but a mist before our eyes . Desertion is in it selfe no sin : for Christ was without sense , aye , he was so deepe in it , that when he dyed , he said , why hast thou forsaken me ? A totall , a finall desertion , ours is not partiall : Ps. 22. 1. the best have had and have ; GOD turnes away his face , David himselfe is troubled : The just doth live by faith , Ps. 30. 7. and not by feeling : Heb. 10. 38 and in that very Psalme , where hee complaines that his spirit was over-whelmed within him , and that his very heart within him was desolate : I say in that selfesame Psalme , David saith ; Thou art my God : I passe not whether this Desertion bee for sinne or from sin , a chastisement of sin , or an effect of sin , all comes to one for our dispute ; Psa. 143. 4. 10. it hath , is , and may bee , the case of a right godly man . Looke up then , and if from want of sight and feeling wee doe say , Why hast thou forsaken me ? yet then let us by faith withall say , Psa. 22. 1. my God , my God , and we are safe . Sith then this is the order Satan useth to follow us in his tentations , to make us to distrust our being in Christ ; and our standing in grace , we must make that our method too , and rather suffer to dye at Gods feet , than to suffer our assurance to be taken away from us : Lose this and lose all our comfort , hold this and all is ours , let Satan say , and doe his worst . I confesse it is a heavy hand , when a man is put to it , to walke without his feeling . David was a man for naturall and spirituall cheerefulnesse both , above men , yet hee had his heart full : and say his case were ours , that for very sorrow of heart , arising from the absence of the light of his countenance , Ps. 119. 83 wee be like a bottle in the smoak , we doe shrim away to nothing , become a very Sceleton , a bagge of bones , an Anatomie of a man , Ps. 22 ▪ 17. yet then our faith must shew it selfe , and we must hold up our heads above water : no great thankes to swim , when God doth hold us up by the chin , with comfortable feeling : But he is a man of faith that can then say , God is my God , my King , when hee sees nothing but the promise ; Ioh. 20. 29. Oh , Blessed is the man , who beleeves and sees not : for want of sense their song once was ; 1 Ps. 69. 3. 119. 82. mine 1. eyes failes , my 2. flesh failes , my heart faile , 2 Ps. 73. 28. my 2. knees faile , my all failes ; but my faith which never failes ; 3. Ps. 109 well then , though a mans marrow be consumed like the drought in Summer , Ps. 32. 4. say , Ps. 31. 10. not onely ones flesh be pined , which after sicknesse will come againe ; but ones very bones be consumed , which when once dried they say , never come to themselves againe , aye , and ones juice ( whithin the bones ) do wast away , Rom. 4. 18. yet there wee must hope against hope , and set faith against sense ; when wee cannot see one shine in the face of God , yet we may fetch support out of the promise : Gods countenance doth change and turne away , but the promise is ever the same , and al in al is in the promise ; we are 1 1 Rom. 9. 8 childern , of what ? of the promise ; 2 2 Gal. 3. 29. heires , of what ? of the promise : sight and sense , lookes onely on the face of God , Heb. 11. 1. but our faith lookes onely on the promise ; and it is the Evidence of thing● not seene , it gives a being to that which in existence is not , and thus living by faith , a Christian on all occasions may say , God is mine , and so mine , as though hee were nones but mine , he is all mine ; and what we speake out of feeling , a tentation may make us unspeake it againe ; but what we say by faith once , wee say it ever , and all the tentations Satan can devise , cannot make us unsay it againe . Mat. 5. 4. I mourne , Blessed ( not shall be ) but are those that mourne , why ? They shall be ( not are ) comforted . He then is a blessed man , who mournes though hee be without present comfort .

3. We must keepe this order , Medieus quando aegritudine , &c. Aug. in tract. 28. in Evang. as to begin with the right end , and the right end , is then to finde out what the sin is , that is chastise or punised , Ioan. when the tentation to a lust is a punishment for some other sin : it is all in vaine , and meere lost labour for a man to thinke , to get off the sin , which is the punishment , when we let the sin punished alone : hence it is that we doe finde many a good man strive and strive , even his very heart out to master a lust , and are where they were or rather worse , and why ? But because that vexing sin , is a correction for some other sin , which wee over-see and say nothing unto , and thus men run upon flats of discomfort , as though they were none of Gods , and all because they cannot conquer a sin ; which is not , because they are not Gods , nor for want of faith neither , but for want of art and method . The effect cannot bee taken away untill such time the cause be removed : now wee must know , that one sin is the cause of another , two wayes :

1. First , by effecting and producing by a very efficiency another sin , as Covetousnesse is a very Caust working oppression , Vsury , rapine , buying and selling for dayes and enclosure , now I confesse it is hard to bee convinced ; that that which is an effect of a former sin , is a sin till we be convinced ; that the sin which is the cause , is a sin , as hee that knowes not what covetousnesse is , or is not convinced , that covetousnesse is a sin cannot bee cured of Vsury , Enclosure , hoarding up of Corne , &c. and therefore the sin which is the cause , must bee pardoned and healed first . So pride of life is the cause why men doe follow fashions ; to follow that which was a fashion is no sinne , but to bee in that which is the fashion , whilst it is called the fashion is a sin , else there is no such sin , as following of fashions , which a a Zeph. 18. Isa . 15. Vid. Calv. in Zeph. 1. 8 Scripture , and b b Vid. Leges Sumptuarias . Compta & ornata ista co njugum vita nihil differt a Tragaedorum in Scena versantium ornatu , Sic. Arist. O●con . l. 1. c. 4. Cas. Thesau . De con . l. 1. c. 4. Nature , have condemed for a sin . I say , this sin comes out of pride , as out of a working cause ; and t is not possible for a man to bee mended in one , except hee dig out the other : So Passion springs out of pride of heart , as out of his very next cause , and so doth Envy too : many are troubled with their Passions and disquieted with Envy , and make a great marvell of it , that they cannot get the victory all this while , I will tell you the reason ; they pray against passion , but not against the cause , not against pride ; they stop at the streame , but choake not up the spring , they lop the boughs , and it growes thicker after , and pluck not up the roote . Therefore if we meane to cast out of our heart and life such a sinne , as is an effect of a former sin , wee must first begin with the causing sin ; or else he doth wash a stone , and Satan will hold him where he was , doe what he can ; and what a weary hand is this , for a man to pray , to reade , to heare , to fast against a sinne , and yet to make nothing of it .

2. By meriting , Aug. contra Iulian. l. 5. c. 4. Field . l. 3. c. 24. which Schoole Divines call demeriting ; and deserving to bee cast into some sin by God , as a just Iudge for some other offence , and this as it comes from God , is a Good of justice : thinke not that wee meane it , as though God did infuse , Nec haec quae pa●●ris mala , &c. or put into a man , the matter or forme of the punishing sin ; Aug. in Psa. 102. it needs not , there is matter enough in our hearts already : God cannot breath sin in the minde or breast of any man , but by letting lust out , and setting Satan loose upon us , we are punished and corrected by one sin for another . Some say , it ought not to be said , that God doth punish sin with sin , why ? ( then say they , ) that sin which is the punishment doth deserve more punishment , and so it doth : What ( say they ) and doth that deserve another ? no , for albeit God may and doth punish sin with sin , it followes not , that the second sin ( must ) bee punished with another sin , but with some other punishment it must : and what if in some cases , sins in a row be punished with sins ; yet there is no processus in Infinitum , because as the Schooles have agreed , when once it comes to hell , there is no demerit : Damnati blasphemant Deum & in hoc peccant . sinnes on earth merit further punishment , but sins in hell doe not , because there is satisfaction given , Aquin. 2. 2. q. 13. 4. 2. and so full a point put to the Iustice of God . Aquin. 2. 2. q. 13. 4. 2. 11 & supplem . 9. 98. a. 6. Besides , the damned are in actuall possession of their last punishment , and therefore there is in them no demerit of more or further torment : God in justice then doth and may punish one sinne with another here , some say with a greater ; that is not alwaies so : for hee punisheth Idolatry with Fornication , yet Fornication must not bee held to bee a greater sin than Idolatry ; De ratione poenae , &c. it is sufficient , that the sin which is made the punishment , Aquin. 2. 2. q. 94. a. 3. ad. 4. 3. m. be a more vexing sin , bringing more shame , and more inward or outward distresse , that so the sinner may be made the more detestable to himselfe or others : the greatest sins doe not alwayes vex ; they should I know , but they doe not . To come to our point : Wee say that sin doth cause sin , by way of desert , when GOD doth by Permission , Desertion , and Tradition , give a man up to some sinne , Can. Loc. l. 2 c. 4. p. 24. of shame or inward biting sorrow , Edit , Colo● . to judge him for some other sin : bare permission it is not ; for so we sin all sins we commit , I hope wee cannot sin any sin , except he suffer , and his power doe permit : yet wee finde , that Pharaoh had his heart hardened worse for manner and measure , than other common sinners had ; Rom. 1 24 but all sinners are sinners by permission , Aug. con . Iulian . l. 5. c. 3. therefore there was a delivering up , For this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew my power in thee . an act of justice and power in hardening the heart of Pharaoh , and so it is , when God doth plague one sin with another : the thing I educe is this , Rom. 9. 17. that it is impossible with all our whining to get off the sin merited , except we first deale with the sin meriting : we cannot affront the justice and power of God , when he doth inflict and lay it on for some other fault : it is out of our element to take it off , till first wee have removed and done away the guilt and power of the former sin : when sin doth worke and produce another sin by its own force , then it comes from the power of sin : when sin doth demerit , to have another sin made a punishment of it , that comes out of the guilt of sinne and justice of God , therefore we must make our peace for the sinne which is is the cause , and subdue that ere wee can possibly make any hand with the other sin , which is the punishment . That then wee may cleere our selves of some tentations , wee must looke & see what brought it , if wee try and try and can make nothing of it , then wee may see it is for some other sin ; which sin wee must finde out and then cast out that corruption , and the worke is done : we finde some what to the purpose in Ionas , a good old Prophet ; he fled away from God , was found out , throwen into the Sea , swallowed by a Whale , and God in his goodnesse did deliver him , and yet after hee fell into the like sin againe : no doubt he did aske God forgivenesse in the Whale for his first sin , yet hee after fell into the same way againe , and did chafe , because Ninive was not destroyed : now see here the roote of sinne was not moared up ; he did at first flye out of pride , because hee would not bee thought to preach the destruction of so famous a place , hee thought none would be well pleased with such a message , and therefore do it whose would for Ionas . This fact hee was sorry for , but saw not the cause of all , to be pride ; and therefore after , when hee saw that Ninive was not destroyed , what a chafe was hee in ? and was not this horrible pride too ? that so many must be destroyed , rather than Ionas should bee thought to misse in denouncing a judgment which should not come : had he found out the Canker at the first and killed it , he had not fallen this second fall . T is certaine , that as in diseases in the body , if one disease bee caused by another , that is more in the spirits and humours of a man : the disease causing must bee done away , ere the disease caused can be remitted , it may be eased for a time , but it will returne again , as long as the sicke matter is there to feed it : and therefore wise Physitians strike alwayes at the roote ; so must wee , and when Satan is upon us with some vexing lust , and we cannot with all our power put it off : Let us say , sure it is for some other sinne , that must bee killed , ere this will bee cured , and so we must cast out the mother-lust : we must not say that we cannot find what it is , what the sin is for which we are vexed , with these or those afflictions ; for the Word and the Spirit will show it , if wee aske it at the hands of God , the Lord will point it out unto us : so David , Psal. 139. 24. See ( saith he ) if there be any wicked way in mee , and leade me into the way everlasting . See if there be any wicked way in mee , see it , and show it unto me ; it being the office of the Spirit , Ioh. 16. 9 to convince a man of his sins , it followes that the Spirit ( if we secke it in sincerity with a desire to be healed ) will finde out our sinnes for us , and shew them unto us ; and when by the line of the Word and Spirit , we have found out that Nest , we are to turne our griefe upon those lusts rather than upon the present tentation : the matter is , that when wee are thus haunted and dogged with such tentations as are corrections , say , it is rather for some sins , either :

1. Past , So some when maried are tempted , but not brought to adultery , because when single , they were uncleane one way or other , and thought to mend all by marying without repentance ; and so when once maried , they grow secure , and lay all on the Physick , 2 Chro. 15. 11. and not on God ; as Asa did in another case : and then when they feele that sinne urgeth , and Satan tempteth ; as much , and perhaps , more after , than before , because the sinne is worse ; men faint and sing many a heavy song , and hang up their sword , and say , as good not at all , as never the better : Now here the right and ready way to heale all , is to repent truly and thorowly of former uncleannesses & lusts , and then the Coasts will cleere , first doe that , and then marry ; bring not old sins to the mariage bed , and when the knot is knit , tentations as many , as strong , perhaps more , perhaps greater may come , but they shall not overcome ; and therefore they must not say better , not marry at all if it be so ; I say he that hath the gift let him not marry : Mat. 19. 11 but hee who hath not the gift , 1 Cor. 7. 7. as all have not , C. Quid proposuisti . 32. qu. 7. hee were best marry , or he must , and will doe worse : Resolve the case thus ; Ambros . in 16. Luc. Necessitas illius crimen tuum . such a man if hee marry not , use what helpes , naturall , morall , spirituall , 1 Cor. 7. 37 he can , yet he burnes still , and the more he opposeth , the more strong his affections grow ; a man maried cannot say , that hee shall not bee tempted , to defile the bed ; but this I say , that using all GODS meanes , and calling in for Gods blessing on the ordinance , hee shal not fal , his soule will heale . Now in case one finde that for all his care , his lusts grow exorbitant and violent ; look back and humble , for what are past before , this is to pluck us by the eares for what we were before we were maried , make all that well , compound with God for old matters , and then ease and peace will come .

2. Present , As say a worldly man to bee told and convinced of his sin , and yet will not mend ; as wee see a man may see a sin to be a sin , and yet goe on in it : witnesse that young Gentleman , who went away like one well beaten , when it came to selling all . Now many times in such a case , God will have such an one to be tempted by Satan , Mat. 19. 22. as his Instrument , with strong passions to adultery , which usually of all sins he could never abide , Deus utitur Satana , &c. and this goes to the heart of him : He whines and wrings his hands , Vasq. 1. d 96 c. 10. 11. 64. teares his haire , Ibid. D. 99. c. 4. n. 22. & . c. 3. n. 9. Can Loc. l. 2. c. 4. ad Arg. 7. is weary of himselfe , knowes not what to doe , and is even angry with God , because he cannot finde ease , and is often upon the point to despaire : here I say it will not off , the tentation will not away till it hath done its cure ; till , I meane , we finde out , that all that is for our covetousnesse , by which sin wee vex and anger God ; and therefore hee doth order Satan to follow us with wave upon wave , in that sinne of uncleannesse which God sees will vex us : Hee would not have us sit and rest quiet in that sinne of earthlinesse , the worst of the two , and for that it is , that wee are terrified with those or some other passions of shame & dishonour .

3. To come ( so we are tempted ) to some sins , we thought our hearts till now had no minde unto : now in this case we must know , that it is a mercy , and so to be taken , to let us see and feele that by tentation , when we might justly be suffered to fall into the action it self , that we may know , that it was neither in our worth nor in our strength , but onely in the preventing grace of God , that wee have stood cleere all this while , and that it must bee , by the same supporting grace of God , that wee must stand firme for the time to come .

Looke what is past , present , forward , backward , every way to see what it is for , that wee may remove the cause for which wee are thus tempted , and then the tentation will away , even of it selfe , when that is once cured : of all wee must beware of Sathans Sophistry , when hee would needs perswade us to ease our selves of the vexation by yeelding once or twice , or so , to the sinne in hand , and then no more ; now this is quite against Reason and Experience ; against Reason , for in all morall acts , whether vertuous and vicious ( chiefly vicious , because our nature is so strong that way ) this is certaine ; when we once commit it , it doth leave a wonderfull pronenesse to doe it againe : When then Satan saith , doe it once , and then no more ; no Satan , must we say , should I commit it once , I should be more earnest to commit it the second time than ever I was the first . Against Experience , for wee doe finde , that when wee once sin a sin , the power of grace and faith doth decay , we have not that heart to pray against it , and so wee are ready to turne that way againe ; as , put fewell to the fire it burnes the more , so doth hee , who thinkes to satisfie the motion to a sinne , by sinning the sin , the onely way to satisfie a lust , is not to satisfie it .

3. The third Generall Rule is , to make use of the Ordinances , to put off the tentation , and they are chiefly two .

1. Prayer : Mark . 14 68. Watch and Pray ; Watching is but a preparation to , and a fortification of Prayer : Prayer is a turning of our selves to God , and so a turning of us from the tentation ; some turne to some other sin , as to thinke of the world when they are tempted to some unpleasing Passions : some to that which is lawfull in it selfe , and here they finde some kinde of respite , but the cure is not done except we doe by prayer come to God , and call unto him , for favour and succour . A man is never overcome in and by the tentation , as long as one can pray against it ; the tentation prevailes not till it please , Ego Adolescens petieram , &c. it pleaseth not as long as we can pray in earnest against it ▪ Some for forme doe pray , Conf. lib. 8. c. 7. as ( Augustine saith ) once hee did against the lust , but would not for any thing part with the profit or pleasure of them as yet , this is to say , Rom. 7. 25 rather than to pray a prayer ▪ delight in prayer and in the Lord , and then the tentation doth not delight ; wee cannot promise that you shall pray away the suggestion , but the consent and delight you shall : But you will say , I pray , and yet I finde some delight in the sin : what of that ? This is the delight of the flesh , which Paul instancing in himselfe , dates call it a serving the law of sin with his flesh ; but the matter is , whether we doe take delight in that delight , which way the delight of our inward man is carried , as long as wee finde that our delighting in the lust , doth grive and trouble us more , than the lust it selfe doth . Our case is good , Tentationi carnis nunquam , &c. and our prayer is of force , and what if for all that , Durand . l. 2. D. 21. q. 11. 4. sinne bee there , yet it raignes not there ? and what if worse haunted than when I set my selfe against it then before ? Rogers Trea. 4. c. 16 Rule . 4. It is common to bee worse sick when we first take our Physick ; we thinke of the sinne and the circumstances of it most , when in our prayers we set our selves to aggravate it ; and out of that Satan picks matter to delight us with , and when we oppose the lust , the lust then doth most oppose , us and Satan will come upon us then with his greatest impressions , to see if now hee can allure us with some fleshly delight , then hee cals upon us to give over prayer , that sure our prayer is naught , that wee are naught , that God hath no mind to us , that sin hath dominion in us , sith it stirres and pricks most , even then when at prayer : but wee must beleeve that sith , we aske according to his will , Ioh. 5. 14 , 15. hee heareth us , wee know that we have the petitions wee desire of him , Perk. Cas. Cons. l. a. c. 7 what ever wee feele , say our prayers prove an occasion to ripen a disease , when it must ripen ere it will cure ; all is to drive us out of all selfe confidence and then the malady will heale . Go then on in praying with perseverance , all manner of prayer , and the end will be , that if we doe not give over to pray , Satan must , and will give over to tempt . The three maine matters I could wish Christians to sue for in their prayers are , 1. Strength to conquer satan when he sets upon us , with main force , and plaine violence , and seidge ; I know hee cannot compell us , for then the sinne were his , not ours ; but yet forall that he can and doth with a strong hand drive and make us to consent , & bringeth us to yeeld , Bonav . l. 2. D. 11. a. 1. q. 1. ad arg. & . D. 25. q. 4. and in that sense we cannot of our selves stand in his hands , when hee comes against us with his power : no standing against him and his tentation , except we bee underlaid by the power of God ; he wil wrest a consent from us , and worke us to a delight , doe we what wee can ( for wee can doe nothing of our selves , ) it is out of our hands to bee able to gaine say him , when he comes with his authority , and frights us with his power , wee must then pray in the power of God , and when wee see Satan come roaring like a Lion , cry out and say , helpe , helpe , though it bee as much as ever wee can doe to speake . If a woman cry shee is faultlesse , Vid Aug. de Civ . Dei . l. 1. c. 17. 18. simply faultlesse ; we are , if we cry as soone as the Satanical impulsion doth appeare , but in the tentations of the flesh which are sins in themselves , there some secret consent goes with them as far as they move and goe ; a woman may , but the will of a man cannot be ravished , because it cannot possibly bee forced , Satan must by his strength and terrifying draw a consent from us , else wee are free and the sin cannot be done , and that he will doe , except we do bespeake by prayer the power of God : But now sith that we have by reason of Gods promise the power of God at command , it is in our selves , if wee want his strength in our soules , it is , because wee will not doe so much as aske for it : Phi. 2. 13. if wee find that he hath given the Wil , he will give the Deed , Rom. 7. 18. though not ever answerable to our wil ; as we see in Paul , to will , is present with me , but how to performe that which is good , I finde not ; that is not answerable to my desire , simply then he doth not deny us all performance , nor such as shall be accepted to our comfort , pray then for strength and Sathan will prove but weake , either God will weaken him , or else he will further strengthen us .

2. The next thing we must pray for , is Wisdome , that we may not bee ignorant of his wiles , which if we be , he will coozen and cheate us : Sathan comes not ever as a Lion , but rather most an end , like a Serpent , a Fox , with all his art and skill that hee may circumvent us , and bring his ends together , by reason of our simplicity and folly : we must up , to the onely wise God by prayer , that he would enrich us , with the wisdome that commeth from aboue : if any man saith Iames want : Iam. 3. 17. What ? Wisdome , Let him aske of God : Iam. 1. 5. but he will not give me , yes , he giveth to all : and what if our wants that way bee great ? why , hee gives liberally : and say we have bin great sinners , are as unworthy as they that are most , if followes ; ( he upbraideth no man ) hee will not hit us in the teeth with old matters : all want wisdome , but he that is sensible of his want , let him aske and hee shall have wit enough , to prevent the Stratagems of the divell : the Lord God is too wise for Satan ; hee will make children of us , if we set to him hand to hand , our wit to his will come to nothing : looke how a crafty pate , may coozen a child of all that he hath for an apple , or so ; In like manner , Satan with a toy , will deceive us of our soules , and beguile us of our peace ; there is then neither wit nor grace in it , for a man to venture on him without prayer to God , for the spirit of wisdome , and in particular , with a speciall straine of spirituall understanding to be able to wind out of the pollicies of the divell . What with his naturall wit , Age , Time , Experience ; Satan is full of depths and profundities , we cannot hold our owne , if wee have no better skill to plead with him than our owne ; Prayer will make us wise to salvation , and helpe us to that understanding in the Mysteries of his iniquity , 2 Tim. 3. 15 that wee shall soone finde him out , and save our selves .

3. The third thing wee are to aske for , is Long-suffering ; for when Satan cannot have his will by Violence , by Craft , then he will see what he can doe by Continuance and meere Importunity : I cannot expresse my selfe better , than in the words of Martin Luther : On Gal. when the divell ( saith he ) cannot by force overcome those that he tempteth ; then seeketh hee to overcome them by long continuance , for he knoweth that wee bee earthen vessels which cannot long endure , and hold out many knockes and violent strokes ; therefore with long-continuance of tentations , hee overcommeth many and therefore long-suffering is needfull to wait for the end of those tentations , Psa. 30. 18 which the divell raiseth up against us . 1 Cor. 10. 13. So he , how long wee shall bee put to it to waite , I know not ; the best is , if we dye while we are waiting we goe to heaven , for such are happy and blessed ; but usually and commonly , God gives us an issue here , first or last : wee must then pray that it may bee , and waite with patience till it shall bee , which will bee , and shall be in Gods time : hee never comes too soone , nor never stayes too long : We say , Lord how long ; but GOD saith , in the appointed time ; therefore waite and pray : and in some cases where single prayer will not doe , as in some , it will not , there helpe it with a fast . Mat. 17. 21.

2. The next Weapon , is the word , Eph. 6. 17. Read , Heard , Meditated ; Paul cals it , the sword of the Spirit ; a fit instrument for a man to enter into the Combate with : for Satan being a Spirit , our weapons must not be carnall , 2 Cor. 10. 4 but spirituall , & the Word of GOD is the sword of the Spirit , Gladius dicitur sermo divinus , &c Chrys. in Mat. Hom. 8. which being had and used , kils up all the lusts of the flesh , and hee that kils sin , doth in a sort kill the divell . A man that is to ride where Theeves way lay him , will bee sure to have his sword : Wee are to passe up and downe where we shall light upon the divell , and sinfull occasions at every turne ; he is still at the hedge corner as we travell , hee is at home , hee is at Church , hee misseth not a Sermon , hee is the god of this world , under the great GOD of Heaven and Earth as he shall give way , and there is no place priviledged from him ; 2 Cor. 4. 4 we cannot take Sanctuary any where under Heaven , and therefore we must ever have the sword of the Spirit about us , in all readinesse ; wee must not onely have it , Heb. 4. 1● . but we must have the heart to draw it , and the skill to use it , wee must bee able to fence with this weapon of proofe , and then the divel will be gone , this two-edged sword will make him run . Wee finde that Christ , Mat. 4. being at it with the divell , did not make use of his authority or power , to command or to force him away , Ideo Iesus omnes has tentationes , &c. Cajetan . in Mat. 4. & Ia●ic● . in L●c. but to sanctifie the use of this weapon to us , stops his mouth with ( thus it is written , Satan doth vow and sweare our death , therefore it stands us upon to looke to our heads , and we must not thinke with a few big words of our own to make this mighty and crafty foe to flye the field , it must bee done by the word of God which is mighty through God ; 2 Cor. 10. 4 Sathan comes with his Bible too , as wee see Mat. 4. but hee doth corrupt and falsifie the Text ; the word used aright sets him going , it hath to back it , the Almighty power of God , and Satan cannot stand before this breath of the Lords nostrils : we deceive o●r selves , if we thinke that Reason is of any force , that Inconveniences will hold against Satan ; to say , shame will follow , danger will come , I shall but create trouble to my selfe ; should I kil , or whore , or steale , Satan will come within us , for all these ; hee will set such a glosse on the matter , that wee shall thinke wee have greater reason to sin the sinne , than we can show to the contrary : Reason was never appointed or sanctified to this use : dispute but with Satan and hee will so befoole us , that we shall think we cannot live , no , nor scarce goe to heaven neither , except wee sin some sins for a time , or so . Beware then of going that way to worke , wee have a better course , that is , to runne to the Word ; the Word will doe it , ( it is written ) will pack him away : but what if he come againe and againe with the selfe-same tentation , as Satan both may and doth , why , the same places of the word will doe the deed againe ; Satan is not afraid of big lookes and words ; circles and holy water are but toyes to him , but it is the word of GOD which makes him avoid : Christ wee see , did not pray ; hee could have prai'd , I hope , none the like ; but onely the word is his defence , being thus to grapple and enter into duell with the divell ; I speake not , that prayer is not of great use , I have set downe my mind of that already , but that with our prayer must be joyned ; the word ; and the word will doe it , and of these two , if both by strictnes of time cannot be used , bee we sure to make use of the Word of God : the words and experience of Luther , On Gal. are just to our purpose , when ( saith he ) the motions of the flesh doe rage ; the onely remedy is to take to us the sword of the Spirit , that is , the word of salvation , and to fight against them , which if wee doe , let us not doubt but we shall obtaine the victory , although so long as the battell endureth , wee feele quite the contrary : but set the Word out of sight and there is no help nor counsell remaining ; of this that ( I say ) I my selfe have good experience ; I have suffered many great passions , and the same also very great and vehement , but so soone as I ●aid hold of any place of Scripture , and staid my selfe upon it , as upon my chiefe Anchor-hold , strait-wayes my tentation did vanish away , which without the word it had beene impossible for me to endure any little space , and much lesse to overcome them . Thus Luther ; A brave speech , and fitting the Author of it : Learne of him , to have our Bible at command , and Satan dares not stay . I speake not , as though we were to turne the Text of Scripture into a charme , as though to repeate a place by rote , and in a heartlesse manner , would prove a bug-beare to Satan . Wier . de praestig . Daemon . l. 5. c. 4 No , no , Satan hath gotten much amongst the superstitious and ignorant by that conceit ; Phi. 2. 16. but the Word must bee held out by faith : it was not so much Scanderbegs sword as his arme that held it , which gave him such victories ; it is the hand of faith , and of the spirit by which the word of God is held out , which doth the deed ; wherefore we see what reason we have , sith wee have such an adversary , who is ( though not simply every where ) yet in every place where we be , hee is , or some of his Angels are : great reason I say there is , Heb. 4. 13 , 14. that we should bee expert in the word of righteousnesse , to have places at our fingers ends ready to draw out as occasions shall require , that we may have a fit & a pat place to meet with the severall impulsions of the flesh , and objections of the divell : there is neither sin or tentation , neither inward corruption nor outward motion , but the word hath a soveraigne remedy for it , to be fitted in a peculiar sort to the nature of the disease ; Omnis morbus animae habet in scripturis medicamentum suum , Aug. in Psa. 36. it is not for nothing , that we are commanded to search the Scriptures , and as Chrysostome often notes , as men doe in Mynes for gold , and the rather , because here is all gold and no drosse ; Ioh. 5. 39 and as there is an art in mining for gold ; De verb. Isaiae , vidi Dominum . Hom. 3. so there is an holy skill to finde out golden places fit for our present purpose : and thus a godly wise Christian , say hee bee often in the fire , yet he is like the burning bush , never consumed ; and why ? because one place or other of the word comes in to his succour ; the particulars that wee are to follow are three .

1. We must have ready the precept , and statute of God forbidding the sinne to which we are solicited , as say , it be to Sabbath breaking , then say , it is written , thou shalt keepe holy the Sabbath day ; or to murther ones selfe or some other , say , it is written , thou shalt not kill ; or to uncleannesse , urge the place , avoid Satan , it is written , thou shalt not commit adultery , and so , thou shalt not steale , and the like , in the speciall branches of every Commandement .

2. Wee must have at hand , the promise too , that in case we consent and obey not , and refuse the divels offer , wee shall have comfort here , and heaven hereafter . The divell will come with his hands full of glorious proffers , but we must out of the Word , set against him the faire and certaine , and goodly promises of the Word , as there is no sinne but we shall finde one promise or other made in plain termes to us , if we resist it ; resist the divell and GOD will draw neere to you : hee offers the kingdoms of the world , and the glory of them ; God offers the kingdome of heaven and the glory of it .

3. The threatning , that if we yeeld , we endanger al , that we do subject our selves to the curse of God ; say we doe beleeve the Commandement , yet except wee doe beleeve the threatning , and doe set the commination against the tentation , wee are not like , nor sure to hold ; here Eve lost her selfe ; in whose losse we all lose our selves ; the commandement shee did hold , that shee was not to eate of the for bidden fruit ; but now for the threatning , that in the day shee did eate thereof she should dye the death , there she came short and so yeelded : that shee was quick and strict in the precept , it is plaine by the words of the Text ; Gen. 2. 17. for whereas it is in the charge of the Lord , of the tree of knowledge , of good and evill , Thou shalt not eate of it ; Eve having occasion to urge this divine prohibition , doth not onely say , that God said , Ye shall not eate of it , but to shew her pious minde to the mandat of the Lord , she saith more and addeth , Gen. 3. 3. yee shall not touch it ; which words wee finde not in the letter of that law , but when it came to the commination , Parae . in Gen. 3. 3. ye shall dye the death : Satan was too hard for her , and put her off from that , and so she fell ; perhaps she halted in adding to the Lords words , for IEHOVAH had forbid them to eate it , but hee did no where forbid them to touch it , yet this shewes , that therein she was strict , and more strict than the words wil beare ; but for the theatning , where God said , yee shall dye , she falters , and hath it thus , least yee dye : and for certaine , when we doe not keep to the threatning , wee shall not hold our selves to the commandement : it goes with us as it did with our first fathers , a want of holding the threatning fast did cast them downe ; and if we be short there , and doe not oppose the threatning , wee cannot stand : as soone as ever Satan is at us to yeeld to our lust , say no , it is forbidden by God : let it be to Adultery ; answer , it is written , thou shalt not commit adultery ; Heb. 13. 4. then adde to the prohibition the commination , Adulterers and Fornicators God will judge . I must not , I am forbidden , I dare not yeeld , if I do , I shall dye the death , I shall damne , and so Satan hath his answer .

The last generall Rule wee propose , is to aske helpe of other men , and the directions which come in here to bee set downe are these . 1. Never to let any man know what the matter is , if by any meanes we can have comfort from GOD , acquaint no man with it ; if we can get him to doe the cure in ordinary matters , see what the use of ordinary prayer will doe ; in cases extraordinary , stretch our strength to the most , that our prayers may bee strong and long , let us wing them with faith , and with a fast , that they must up to the bosome of the father ; to say , I have prayed and can finde no ease , and therefore I will make use of a friend is well enough ; but I have prayed , fasted , and waited too , as long as ever . I can , and yet it will not come , then we must , but til then till we have tried the utmost , I could wish men to secret their tentations from the world : God will not take himselfe to be wel used , for us to goe to others , when wee may have it for the comming at his hands , with comfort and encouragement . A father loves not a child shold run to neighbours for physick , when hee may have it of him ; besides , it is sweetest , when we have it immediately from the hands of God our father : when a child is sick , the same cordiall or sweet meat sent by a servant , is not so accepted when father or mother brings it and gives it with their owne hands ; we see many must have mother give it , else they will not take it : so it is with us , it cannot but be best welcome , when God doth give us our comforts with his owne hands , and tell us good tydings of peace and mercy with his owne mouth ; and then againe , we do not conceive , how it wil wound out hearts , that we have let any man know our state and case , when wee are to come to our selves againe ; if so be then wee finde and conceive that all might have beene well , and the cure done betwixt God and our selves , without the knowledge of any man , the trouble that way many times , wounds more than ever the tentation did , and some have even wished them dead and fairely buried , to whom in times of their heavinesse they have broken their mindes , and therefore the counsell I give is , first , to try all meanes , to use all patience , to watch , to pray , to fast , to waite , and if God at any time will come in with comfort , let him doe all , and have all the praise , we hiding our grifes from all the world , in great inward sorrowes wee are too apt to open our selves more than needs , therefore this counsell is in season . 2. See whether we can cure our selves ( as thus ) what would I say to , or think of another , should he come to me with my sore complaint , the same , say wee to our selves , and see what that will do . 3. When all will not doe , and we finde that GOD doth look straying yet ; and wee can hold no longer , then wee must know , that GOD doth call us to vent and open our griefe to some one or other ; now the griefe must be opened , God doth call us to a free discovery of our selves to another , and without wee doe breake open the matter , the end is not like to be good . So Iames , Confesse your sinnes one to another , and pray one for another , Ch. 5. 16. and there shall bee an healing ; and in this case , without this mutuall and reciprocall confession , there shall not be an healing ; I know God could make all well without this , but he will not : there is a naturall reason , why we find ease by this venting , because it doth open the sore , and make it as it were runne , and so there comes some ease , but the spirituall cause is it , which carries it , and it is because God will have acommunion of Saints amongst us ; he will not have us straying one to another , and hee knowes that by curing another , we cure our selves , & upon that it is , that the pain of the foule in this case doth not nor shall not stake , till we have acquainted one or other with our case ; so wee see , that tho the party to whom we confesse , say no more to us than wee knew before , yet the very venting brings some ease : Satan I know cannot abide this , for few ever open all , but there is a remedy , and his tentation is at an end , and therefore hee urgeth hard upon the point , to hinder us by all meanes from telling any body : What ( saith he ) it will all the Country over ; hee will tell his friend , and that friend another friend , and out it will , and thou art either shamed or undone for ever . Indeed , when God doth not call us to this , it is dangerous to tell our veriest friend ; for though he be our friend , yet commonly we are not his confident friend , but he bath some other , and hee must know it under benedicite , and then he is sick , til his friend knowes it too ; who is commonly some third man , and so there is great danger that it will abroad ; wherefore if wee can doe up our matters by telling God alone , let no man know : but now when wee have tried and it will not be , then say , God hath called mee to out with it , and out with it I must , and will live by faith , The way to have our secrets kept , is not to keepe them but to reveale them . that God will make them keepe my counsell ; or if they doe not , yet shame mee no shames , I will follow God , Vid. Hook. on Act. 2. 37 p. 243. and confesse I will , what ever comes of it : and here we must know ; that when we find a great disposition in us , to keep it from all the world ; that then Satan meanes us some great danger , and therefore hee will fill our heads , with a thousand proclamations of shames and dangers , and all to make us keepe all close to our owne undoing and ruine , say then , I know by this , that great hurt comes by my hiding , and great good is to be had by my confessing , in that I finde my selfe so unwilling to confesse it to men , and therefore because I finde my selfe so loth , I will sure confesse , I see , I must tell it some body , else all will bee naught , there lies danger , else Sathan would not keepe such adoe at mee to hide it , and by no meanes to disclose it to any man living . I thinke I may say it , that never any who disclosed all to some godly friend did ever yet miscarry ; but many who , out of some conceits , or of the power of Satan , cannot be brought to open the veine , after long languishing , have made away themselves ; when then we find a great unwillingnesse ( after we have bin with God ) to let any man know our minde , say , there is a mischiefe meant to mee by Satan ; I know by this , in that , it is so sore against my will to disclose , and therefore to prevent the worst , I will breake thorow , and out of hand confesse to some friend ; and in our confessing , we must confesse all that paines our soules , in telling Physicians wee must leave nothing materiall as touching our disease , that will endanger all ; so wee must not tell some peeces onely , but for the substance and circumstances , all that is to the purpose we must discover , else a naile , a stub left in the conscience , will hold the fire burning ; many have undone themselves by this , in that they have left some maine matter out : by maine matter I meane , that which turnes the conscience out of its peace : thinke not that we would have Christians run up and downe to Preachers for every thing that moves in the conscience : hee makes worke , who will to the Physician for every stitch and ache ; but when the trouble of minde is such , that it wounds the conscience ( as Salomons phrase is , Pro. 18. 14. and every sore is not a wound you know ) when it doth so distresse the heart of man , that hee cannot enjoy God , cannot doe his duty as a Christian , nor enjoy himselfe , cannot live in his calling as a Man ; then it is high time , first to make up to God , and if we be kept off there , then to make out to Man : when then we finde it such a burthen to the conscience that we cannot stand under it , ( For a wounded spirit who can beare ? ) there dispute no longer , but away to some one or other ; now for the choice we must make .

1. First , if all circumstances concurre , let it bee some godly & learned Minister , for though that another speake the same words of comfort , yet they will sound better out of his mouth , and it is his office , and he hath a more particular promise that his words shall prosper ; every thing workes much ; what as it is taken , what he saith because he is a Minister , will bee better taken , and disgest better with our consciences : so wee finde in Iob , that it is principally and usually the Messenger , the Interpreter , the one of a thousand that doth it .

2. If wee see that a Minister cannot be had , or not trusted , or not comfortably used , any godly Christian will serve : Iames saith to private men ; Confesse your sins one to another , and pray one for another : Writing , and speaking to private Christians , hee doth not tye us to any auricular confession to the Priest , for then the Priest were also by the place in Iames , bound to confesse to private men also ; for here is a mutuall confessing one to another , and here they are to pray one for another , Scot. Sent. l. 4. D. 17. q. 1. Aug. Conf. l. 10. c. 3. Ambro. Serm. 2. in Psa. 119. Sozom Hist. l. 7. c. 16. which cannot bee to absolve : For if to pray were to absolve , then their Laity hath as great authority by that place to absolve their Priests , as their Priests their Laity : but to passe them , wee say , that a private man may serve as well , and sometimes better , to let us see that all is from God , and from his grace alone ; a simple Christian man or woman shall do it by speaking a few plaine words out of the Scripture , when many great Divines have bin used , and can make nothing of it ; as somtimes , when the Chirurgion gives the cure over ; some woman makes the party as whole as a fish : and what if wee our selves , can at other times say as much or more than we can , yet we must use Gods way ; he is a stander by , and sees more than we can , in and by our selves , and no man is so fit a Physitian of himselfe , Ad seipsos adhibent medici ; aegroti medicos alios . whether soule or body ; but whether it be Minister or private Christian , who is used , the care must bee , that a wise choice bee made , Arist. polpit l. 3. c. 12. and for our choice , let the party be some godly humble man , and one who hath bin in the fire himselfe , and then hee will ( as hee sees it to bee his duty ) confesse the same or the like to us , and comfort us with the comfort , hee himselfe hath beene comforted by . Take a man of whom we have the opinion , that hee is the sure servant of God , and then when we finde by his free confession to us , that hee hath had the same or worse corruptions and tentations , then wee shall soone joyne hand with him , that for all this , wee may be the servants of God too , and that we shall see day , and comfort againe ; and then wee will waite with content and comfort , as the watchman doth for the light , because he knowes , that be it ever so darke , it will be day againe : when wee have an assurance for the present , that when we are at the worst , wee are the servants of God , and that wee shall in good time bee as well and as comfortable as ever we were ; as we see by experience in our friend , whom now wee make our Comforter and Physitian , it is easie for us then , to possesse our soules with quiet and comfort .

Another thing , that wee are to looke to , is , that he be a man who can and will keepe our councell ; for if hee bee a blab , the more wee conjure him all secresie , the more sick hee will bee ( like those in the Gospell ) to out with it all abroad ; and it may be , he would keepe counsell better if wee did not binde him : and by the way I could wish , that whom soever wee make use of ; that wee bee not too too strict to binde them to secresie ( except in some things the danger be so great that there may bee need of an oath , ) for it is our nature , the more wee are kept from a thing , the more earnest wee are after it , and therefore too too severe termes that way , are not so fit . Well , wee must then doe what wee can , to chuse out a man that can hold ; and herein I thinke wee shall doe wisely to doe as they doe , who doe try a new vessell , prove it with Water first , before they trust it with Wine ; thus we shall do well and wisely to sound them , with some lesser matters , and if wee finde them wanting in secresie there , then trust them no further ; some cautions are delivered here , as that wee meddle not with men who are full of tongue , of a talkative disposition , Pro. 11. 13 for such cannot hold for their lives , nor such as can keep nothing from their wives or husbands ( for women may bee fitter , and in some cases make use of women rather than men ) nor such as bee of an inquisitive disposition ; a man willing to fish out our counsels , is not a likely man to keepe our counsels ; indeed , if we come to a man of purpose , to reveale our selves , and when wee come to the Tooth-drawer , our teeth leave aking for a time : if the tentation withdraw for the present , or that wee are so oppressed that wee cannot utter ; in this case , the friend shall doe full wisely to pierce us , to draw it out of us , to bid us write our minde , lay it down , and leave it behind us , Epistola non ●rubescit . Cic. epist. l. 5. ep. 12. Lucceio . but except in some cases , as these ; the man who hath this in him , that he is desirous to know our minde , who doth even itch after our secrets , busie and inquisitive to know what aises us , Percuncta ●orem fugito , nam garrulus idem est . Mor. lib. 1. Epist almost whether we will or not ; that man is not to be used , he wil ten to one , tell it to one or other : looke out then for a man godly , wise , secret , one who hath been sick of the same , or the like himselfe , an experienced man in himselfe and others , a Physitian in practice , and a friend too , a bosome friend ; and if wee have him a David , a Ionathan , a sworne-brother , a still , grave , sober spirited , and humble-minded man , and then confesse to him and spare not , confesse to him and feare nothing ; and when wee have so done , let us not distrust but wee shall see a good end ; and when we have spoken our minde to one or two , and wee have our comfort under two or thee witnesses , let 's not out with it to any body else in the world ; I know spirituall sorrowes are apt to vent themselves when once we beginne , for when wee finde a little ease by opening the sore to one , we thinke that the more wee open unto , the more ease wee shall have , and so wee are in danger to shew our case to all we meet , and here Satan hath a Stratagem that when hee sees hee cannot make us secret our matters from a friend , then hee will urge us to out with it to all , and after wound us with a sore and heavy tentation , that now wee have shamed our selves for ever : and therefore my counsell here is , Pro. 11. 13 that when wee have found a faithfull friend , that then we begin and end with him , except wee call in one or two at the most , to have the matter under the teste of two or three witnesses ; and before I leave the particular , I must make bold to call upon such , as are made Physitians to the soules of their friend , to make use of these things .

1. That they bee not over-earnest to fish out mens secrets , for if wee meane honesty and secrecy , they are more bound to us , that wee will heare them than wee , that they will tell us , for wee are thereby , bound to one great duty more than wee were , and that is to keepe secrecy .

2. Wee must bee willing to bee made use of by men , as by women , by poore , as well as by rich . Greeneham . For as one speakes , who was of great experience this way ; there lyes a great corruption in it , when wee finde our selves more ready , to take the confessions of Women , than of Men , of young women , than of old , of faire than of foule , of Gentlemen , and rich men , than of poore : and which we must see that wee humble for and avoid , and bee rather for the poore than the rich , for Men than Women , &c.

3. By all meanes wee must keepe councell , except the matter stand so , that wee sin in keeping close their secrets ; and here if wee have cause to doubt any thing ; as though his secrets would be pernicious , wee shall doe well to tell him , that if he aske for counsels sake , that then we will heare him ; but if that he have a farther intent and his plot bee dangerous , assure him we will breake friendship with him ; and rather lose a friend of him , than keepe his sinfull secrets , and lose a friend of God : but if it may bee done , then by all meanes keepe it from all , and chiefest of all , some secrets of the wife from the husband , of the husband from the wife .

4. Confesse againe to them when we our selves have beene healed of the like ; and say I was sick of the same disease , and by taking such or such things , by using my selfe to these or those courses , I was cured , and am as comfortable as ever I was in all my life : ye would not beleeve how this will settle the heart of a poore Christian , who hath a good opinion of us and our sincerity : doe not stand thinking , that they will never think well of us againe , if they doe not , an happy losse , if we may thereby bring them to peace and comfort ; but the truth is , these are but fancies . If a man have a calling from God for the good of mens soules , to open all his heart , in the sight of all the Parish , men will thinke never the worse of him , but the better ; and indeed we can confesse nothing one to another , but what we may in a manner know one by another before hand , sith we have all one and the same heart , cut out of the same rock , of the same complexion and disposition , as touching our lust and Originall sinne , and therefore if they confesse to us , to have comfort from us , wee may doe well to tell them our sinnes and errours in a mutuall manner , Cartw. in Iam. 5. v. 16 as they doe their wounds to us .

5. We must pitty them and pray for them , and helpe to carry their burdens : wee of our selves can doe nothing , Gal. 6. 2. but we must commend their state and case to God ; as hee is to pray for himselfe , so we are to pray to God for him , Iam. 5. 16. and the prayer of a righteous man availeth much , and is of force : where many may fitly come together in prayer , the more the better : but in this case of secrecy , one onely is made acquainted with the matter , and in this matter , the prayer of one righteous man shall do the deed ; for it is not the worth or force of prayer , but the promise of GOD which is all in all , here we have a promise , and by vertue of that promise the prayer of one will carry it .

The Generall Rules after the Tentation is over .

1. Wee must not bee coozened so as to think the tentation is resisted and conquered , when it is not , nor yet suffer our selves by Satans deceipt , and that of our owne hearts , to be made beleeve it is not conquered , when it is : sometimes Satan doth for a time withdraw himselfe , hee may , and doth in skill , cease to solicit ; and lust may sit still for a space , and all to lull us asleepe , as though all were done , when nothing is done , as though all were killed , when it is as live as ever it was . The tempter will come , and bring seven worse with him than before ; and our lust will come againe , and take us at some advantage , and doe us a spoile : in case wee thinke the tentation ended , when there is a politike giving over to bite for a season onely : What must wee doe , to know when the ceasing is , because the tentation is conquered , and when it is onely by withdrawment for a time ? Many things might here bee said ; that which satisfies is to affirme , that if wee have taken paines , used Gods meanes , waited Gods time , then the worke is done as it should be ; but if meanes , or all ordinary meanes to bee had have not beene used , wee have not set God and prayer , against the motion : if we find that the lust is gone , we know not how on a sudden , no sooner come almost but gone , hereis cause of suspicion , to feare that all is but a practise of our great enemy , a purpose to rock us in security , that he may come and take us in the sinne or some other , when we least thinke of it , and and stand unprepared . Againe , if wee finde no good fruits and effects to follow , no good to come of it to our heart and life , that wee are no more humble , no more ( if not lesse ) spirituall than before ; here is great doubt that the tentation is gone the wrong way ; for if we do drive this Divell away by GODS meanes , which are spirituall , as prayer , reading , watching ; spirituall seed-corne , will leave behind it , some spirituall fruit ; prayers , and holy exercises use not to bee lost , they fall not in the dust , but mortifie , and sanctifie , they both must and doe , and therefore if wee finde ease , but not grace , Heb. 12. 11 some quiet , but not the quiet fruit of righteousnesse ; for all that I know , as good the tentation had stayed , as depart thus . But if we finde that we have not onely a bare freed once from the stirre and power of the tentation ; but the tentation is over , and good , is left behind , more modest , humble , fearefull of sin , carefull of God ; then the worke is done by God , and we have our comfort : when a man then doth finde some respit by turning his thoughts over , to thinke of the world , that this or that is to be got or saved , be set or sold , here or there is a purchase to bee made ; this is not Gods cure , but if the liberty we now have , over we had , be made ours by turning to God and his wayes , then wee may boldly tell our selves , and bid our consciences rest upon it , that we have gone the right way to worke , and that there is no mistake in the matter : and as wee must not thinke wee have it , when wee have it not ; so wee must not think we have it not , when indeed and in truth we have . Satan doth play on both sides , and his devices to coozen us of our comfort this way are many : what saith hee , all that is nothing but a forbearing of old and wonted occasions , and a wicked man may doe this ; indeed , we must not lay the fault on the occasion , as the Tipler doth on drinke , that it is made so strong ; and the Glutton on his fare , it is so choice , that who can choose but feed by the belly , for the creatures are no kind of cause . Before the Floud , when men did ( as great Divines conceive ) drinke water and feed upon plants ; Chrys. in Gen 9. hom. 29. Rain . Apol. Thes. Sect. 33. wee see there was a world of abominations , and therefore we must lay the fault on our lusts within , not on the occasions without : yet this I say , that if a man finde , that by the use of prayer and the word , a man doth in conscience and with constancy shun all the occasions of that sin , which heretofore hee neither could nor would ; there is a cure wrought , for a brunt in some fit , an unregenerate man may ; but to doe it still , alwayes , forever hereafter : thus to doe is a signe of power , of grace ; and after constancy we must see that wee doe it in conscience , that we do not avoid the thing or person , which were to us occasions of sinning out of hatred , to the person or to the thing , but to the sin ; that our stomack doth not rise at them , as they are such or such things materially , but formally as they are to us occasions of offending , and that by reason of coruption , not in them , but in us : He that can doe that , that man may say that Sathan lyes when hee tels him , that a wicked man may surcease , by hiding himselfe from his old occasions : for in this sense , nothing but grace and the spirit , and some power of the Holy Ghost , can make a man shake off his old occasions a man in his sins will be so far from refusing occasions when they come in his way , that hee will look and make after them , and have them he will , Pro. 23 35 if hee may have them for love or money . An hungry man , will thorow stone wals for meate ; so where the love and raigne of sin is , there a man will and must breake thorow fire and water to have his desires finished ; the occasions of that sin , hee must and will follow , what ever come of it : I say it , that nothing but grace , can make a man abstain from the occasions of sinne when hee is tempted ; when not tempted , the matter is not so much , and some men without the strength of grace may forbeare , but when the tentation is up , and the passion is on fire , though a man dye , and ( without Gods mercy ) damne in the place , he cannot possibly forbeare without the force of the spirit : I dare affirme it , that hee that can , and doth , in the order and manner I have set down either put the occasion from him , or himselfe from the occasion of a sin he hath been and is tempted unto , that man hath made an acceptable conquest of that lust : and wee doe wrong our selves I cannot say how much , when we suffer Satan to perswade us the contrary . The next thing wee are to looke to , is , that we doe not coozen and deceive our selves , so as to thinke we have not overcome the tentation : why ? Because we are not rid of evill thoughts ; it is conquest enough , that evill thoughts are borne as a burthen and that lust and Satan for their hearts are not able to bring it any further than thoughts . I know God could if he would , and would if hee saw it good and fit , take away the swarme of evill thoughts ; but for our good they are suffered to flye up and down in our imaginations , not onely to humble us , for as the thoughts are , so we should be if we were let alone ; they show our nature , and when wee are come to some practise and growth , wee are then apt to heave up with conceits of our selves above what is written , to thinke that wee are not as other men are , and therefore to prevent and discure the malady , evill thoughts are left in us , to remember us what wee are of our selves ; as also that by feeling the thoughts stirring within , and praying against them , we may be kept from acting the sin in it selfe , in the deed : This must be borne , for wee must know that our inward lust , ever foameth out a loathsome fume , ( loathsome I say , even to the naturall conscience of a man ) and would if it were possible defile ( as one notes ) the very regenerate part ; Greeneham . sin is to be in us till we dye , and therefore evill motions , suggestions , and delusions of Satan must be borne withall : the help is , that wee doe delight in the law of God , Rom. 7. 22 as touching the Inner man ; and what if we see them to bee more than they were before , yet it , is because our light is more , our sight is cleerer , our spirituall sense quicker ; so that if wee have by prayer wonne then , delight and consent away from sinne , the more grace we have , the more sinnes wee have not ; but the more sins wee see , for that if God should let us see the sinnes heretofore , when we had little or no grace , wee see now , wee then must needs have despaired we could not have borne it , it being a great worke and power of grace , to be able to stand before the sight of our sins : and againe wee can discerne more corruption now , than we could then , because our eyes are now more open , wee must not goe about , then to conclude against the haire : that sure the victory is not got , because wee see , and feele ( perhaps ) more evill thoughts , or our evill thoughts to stir more than before ; alas , did we not feele them , and the burthen of them , we would never care to come to God , to have them done away : and therefore it is rather an argument , that the conquest is comfortably made , and that the Lord doth intend us a good turne , even to helpe us away with our lust , more and more every day , for that wee finde that our lusts doe burthen us , and appeare in their odious colours more and more every day : make not that then an argument against us , which is rather for us : & say that I find it , and feele it more and worse , I hate it more , I delight in it lesse , I consent not at all ; this is sufficient for our comfort for the present , and that man who hath gone thus far , may well be said to overcome the tentation .

2. The second thing to bee considered of , after the tentation , is , that in case we do catch a fall , and the tempter without , lust within , doe blow and push us downe , yet wee must not make the matter worse by despairing , for to despaire is a greater fall , than the fall it selfe ; this were to leape into the fire , to save our selves from the blame : I know a godly man can never utterly despaire , there is still a seed in him , 2 Cor. 4. 8. and where faith is , there is some hope , where hope is , there is not a totall despaire ; but doubt wee doe saith Paul , yet not despaire , and such doubtings we have as do make our life uncomfortable and some degrees of despaire we do admit , and for every degree of despaire that wee doe suck in , wee doe suffer the losse of a degree of comfort : wherefore wee must hold out against thoughts & propositions tending to despaire , rise with David , rise with Peter , and grow better after-than before the maine push is given , because we sin after knowledge , so did these two Worthies , and they are in heaven and dyed for all that in peace and honour . Davids conscience when hee came to dye , was troubled about a lesser matter , I meane the cases of Shimei and Ioab : as for his bloud and murther , not a word , why ? Because hee had made a thorow-peace with God : for those sins in his life and health-time , he had compounded with his Iudge : let us doe so in any hand , resist , hold out , doe and suffer any thing , rather than sin : but if Satan hath gone beyond us , lye not in sin , up againe ; it is not death to commit sin , but it is , to lye in sinne ; repentance doth give the soule a vomit , Sicut hi qui habent inclusam , &c. Orig. in Ps. 31. & . Hier. in Eccl. c. 10. up comes all againe ; it showes great love in God , and great faith in us , to rise up againe out of great fals ; and when up once , then fortifie our selves we must against relapses : there is a se● depth of trouble in minde will follow , if after our rising we fall againe into the same or the like offence , this will cost deare : but yet by the way I affirme , that this may befall the child of God . In the story of the Iudges , the Church up and downe did sin the sin of Idolatry ; repented , Perk. Estate of a Christian Sect. 16. Pige at sane peccare rursus , &c. Tertull. de poenit . c. 7. and yet fell , againe and againe : and this were to unchurch the Church of the Iewes , to say , that Gods people cannot doe that sin after repentance which they did doe before . And who can thinke , that Abraham did not repent of that his sin in the matter of Sarah ? yet the next occasi●n , he sinned the very sinne againe : and was not that a grosse sinne , to tell a tale as hee did , to lay his wife open to adultery to save his life ? which many heathens would rather have lost their lives than have endured , and what ? to make a bargain , that not for once or so , but where ever we come , Ge. 20. 30. doe thou say , thou art my sister . If this were not in substance , in circumstance a grosse sin , I know not what is : they did as it were consent unto it : and that Abraham finding so strange a deliverance by God as he did , repented not , were straying ; and yet after , he fell into the very same sinne againe : and one dares say , that David committed adultery often , because he took Bethsheba and had six wives besides , and ten Concubines : and for murther , Perk. Conflict of Satan with a strong Christian . deny it who can , that David went far , when hee said and swore that he would be the death of Nabal , Vid Perk. Cas. Consc. lib. 1. c. 11. Sect. 1 pag. 284. Latinae Edit. and all his innocent family , wherein was a godly and right vertuous wife , and some religious servants : this was a grosse sin , and what if hee did not act the deed ? No thankes to him ; he was resolved if ever man were : and yet after hee fell into the foule murther of Vriah ; the Church in Nehemiah and Ezre fell the second time , after solemne repentance , into the grosse fact of having many wives : and for the word , wee have nothing against it , God will forgive us seventy times , that is , infinite times ; a certaine number being put for an uncertain : me thinks it is a sinfull limiting the holy one of Israel in his free and infinite mercies ; of Christ our redeemer in his merits , to say the contrary as though GOD did forgive us , because wee have done the grosse sin , but once after wee are in Christ ; and for reasons I propose but these . 1. What ever sin wee may repent of , that God may and will pardon : but the sinne of falling againe after repentance into the selfesame great offence , is a fault that a man may repent of , which I thus prove ; because it is not the sin against the Holy Ghost , or there is no sinne , but that sinne which doth exclude repentance : and that every grosse sin done after true repentance , could not be the sinne against the Holy Ghost . I need not prove , because no man can or wil affirme it . 2. T is on al hauds granted , that a man may fall into some other grosse sinne , but not ( say they ) into the same : But of this they neither can nor doe give good reason , there being no place in the word , nor no ground in the nature of faith or of repentance ; but that a man may as well fall into the same grosse sin as another ; as great , because that another sinne as great , is as contrary to the habit of grace and act of repentance as the same . 3. What may stand with the grace of God , that a godly man may do ; but to sin the same grosse sin after repentance , is not incompatible with the grace of God as now it is in us ; for what may stand with Christ , may stand with grace . Prin. perpet . p. 3. 5. It is written , that one act of sinne cannot destroy the habit of grace , as though many might : indeed one act of a great and foule fault hath done it ; as we see , the Angels fell in heaven ; and the fall of Adam in Paradise , in whom , one act did cast out grace ; there grace being not the grace of Christ , the grace of justification : Vitia Ferina . and Philosophers hold it , in some ferall vices : but now as the case stands with us , to double that act againe and often , and I cannot say how often , cannot of it selfe thrust a man out of Christ : why ? Because wee are kept in him , and his graces in us , by the power of God and the spirit of Christ : now for a man to say , to sin such a sin wee treat of , cannot stand with grace in us , sith that grace is kept in by the power of God and of Christ , is to me uncomfortable divinity . 4. That Doctrine cannot hold , which leaves the conscience of man without a stay , and so doth this : when a man shall be set on the rack for ever , that he is not in Christ , & why ? Because hee doth sinne the same grosse sin after true repentance , or at least , that his repentance was not true ; and if I were not a true Christian , I know not when I shall be ; and if this my repentance were not true , I feare I shal never repent aright . It must bee held against all true repentance , or else there can be no state of the question made : for true repentance hath a breadth with it , and doth admit of degrees : and if they say , that when a man hath attained to a great measure of repentance , then it will carry it for him , that he shall never sin the same grosse sin againe . Here the heart of a man can finde no sooting , because by this their assertion , no man can possibly set downe , when a man hath attained to the point and degree of true repentance , and therefore they must affirme it of any true repentance ; that whosoever hath truly in the least degree , and measure repented for a grosse sinne , shall never while hee lives , commit the same againe ; and if hee doe , then as yet he is not , nor never yet was in Christ : which is a tenet very uncomfortable , and no way agreeable with the sweet principles of the covenant of grace , and the free and infinite mercies of God , proposed to us in the Gospell . Lastly , this cannot stand , because no man can satisfie the conscience of man , when the sin he hath committed is , or is not a grosse sinne . They say that a man may sinne smaller sins of infirmity againe and again after repentance , and I say , that there can be no sound reason , why a man may not after his repentance doe the same grosse sin againe , as well as an infirmity humbled for , and repented of . But to passe that , the thing I urge is , that it passeth the skill I thinke of any man living , to set me downe a limit , that so farre I may goe , and my sin is but an infirmity , but if I goe a point further , that then it is a grosse sin ; for if I may step one degree and point further , and yet my sin be an infirmity still , then I say , why not another degree further ? and so , why not another ? and so another , and who can say , when and where we must stay . The conscience of a man in perplexity , must have a rock to settle upon , but when it is a grosse sin , and when it is not , cannot be punctually defined ; circumstances after the case , and many sins of the first table , are grosse and great enough , which yet to many of us , are accounted of , as no such sins : many determine a grosse sin from the matter , Forma dat Nomen & esse . but the forme is , it that chiefely gives name and nature to a sin , and the manner is the forme of a sin , rather than the matter : and hence somtimes when the matter is not so great , yet the manner may be such , that it may well goe for a grosse sin : the only reason that ever I heard is , for that after a man comes to repent of a foule fault , a mans sorrow is so great , hee feeles such smart , that hee will never come there againe , because hee will drinke of that bitter cup no more . T is true that such a man will goe his wayes , and doe so , no more if hee can doe withall ; but I hope our Divinity tels us , that what ever our sorrowes hath been , how much soever the griefe was ; yet except God doe keepe us , the remembrance of former compunctions cannot preserve us , when the winde and Sun , the occasion and tentation doe meet . Now show mee a place that hath in it a promise , that when our greefe hath beene so great , that then God will preserve us from ever falling into the same fault : I know GOD doth so tender us , that he useth not to let us come to that passe againe , and he makes our fits of former sorrow , a meanes thorow his blessing for to preserve us ; but that a godly man shall ever be so preserved , is besides the Text I thinke . Againe , I desire proofe , that still an end a regenerate man doth , when ever hee repents of a grosse crime , entertaine his heart with a great deale of sorrow ; some I know doe , and many , and if you will the most ; but that ever it is so , that we never after conversion repent truly of a grosse sinne , but our sorrow is much and great ; I thinke there is no such thing in the word of God : many have that initiall repentance brought about by the pricking of a pin , without a Lance ; by the sweet musicke of the Gospell , without any great noise of the law , and so I say , there after repentance too , when they by occasion and tentation , fall into some foule fact : and then againe , how much this sorrow must bee that will keepe one from relapsing and ever doing so againe , is past my wit to conceive the quantity of it ; and the conscience must be able to spell it out , and to say , thus much I must grieve , else my repentance is not right , for such a sin , and I may fall againe .

Now where this full point lyes , that a man may be able to speake it ; thus much I must and have grieved , and am now come to the height of sorrow that is required ; and now I know I shall never fall the same fall againe . These bee strange riddles , the heart of man I know must come down , it must melt and breake , but yet a little sorrow doth it in one , when a great deale doth but do it in another : some mens hearts after sin are like hard wax , great heate is required to melt it ; but others like soft wax , a little will supple it , as we finde that at mans first conversion , some men turne to it without much adoe , with legall sorrowes , and the sinne before regeneration , I hope , hardens the heart , more than the sinne after , for before , there is nothing but a stone , nothing but sin and flesh ; but after , be the sin committed never so great , yet there is some spirit , some grace abiding , and so some softnesse with all . We Divines doe use to teach , that it is the love of God ; and not the sorrow for sinne , Vid. Can. Relict part. 1. which is the cause to keepe us from relapsing , and that too much sorrow doth hurt and drive us from Christ . We all agree , that a man may goe too far , when there is so much as doth bring us to Christ , Durand . l. 4. D. 17. q. 4. n. 7. it is sufficient ; and that sometimes , a lesser degree of humbling and mourning will doe that : GOD doth not delight to see us in our ashes , no further than he may heare of us , and t is not terror of the law , but the peace of God which doth garrizon and keepe our hearts , 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . and mind , and therfore this reason is of no force , it hangs the conscience on uncertainty , and no man can determine , when his sorrow is come , to bee enough , and serve the turne in this Divinity : besides who sees not that wicked men doe grieve over and above out of feare or shame or both for some sins and more than godly men doe , for the same or the like sinnes , and yet who dares say , that by reason of this their griefe , they could never offend in the same againe . Iudas did grieve and sob extraordinary , for killing Christ : yet I do not thinke , but had the case come in his way , hee would have murthered him againe : no trusting him , who presently after killed himselfe : and we finde some , who for murther fall into those flats of sorrow , that they doe run upon their owne deaths , and cause themselves for very remorse of conscience to dye a dogs death . Mat. 27. 5 Let us then say , that it is a dangerous case , for a godly man to sinne the same great sin after repentance , what if it doe not put him out of Christ ? what if it do not hang him ? Yet it burnes him in the hand , whips him up and down the towne , my meaning is , that it doth cast him into a bed of miserable sorrow ; but withall we must say , that it may possibly be , that after true & hearty repentance for such a fault , a child of God may chance to fal into the same sin againe and again : how often I cannot tel , but this I can tell , that how often soever hee sinneth , let him repent , and returne , and his pardon is ready : They wrong GOD in his mercy , and men in their comfort who doe say the contrary .

3. The third duty that wee are to looke to after the tentation , is , that in case we do not finish the sin , not act the fault , but doe drive away this fury : that then wee bee very thankefull to God , t is his doing only , t is his grace that moved him to stand for us , when we were in danger to cast away our comfort : it is a great mercy to rise againe , but a greater too , when God comes and stands betwixt us and the fall . Of the two , it is better not to sin the sin , Scot. 3. Sent D. 3. q. r. than to bee recovered after wee are down , Sect. Dicitur communiter . as it is in it self for a man to bee preserved from a disease , than to be cured of the disease . I confesse that wee have a greater experimentall taste , both of the love and power of GOD , when wee are recovered , but yet as touching our peace and comfort : I hope wee all see , it is better not to sin the sin , than having sinned to be healed , we save a great deale of inward paine and bitter sorrow by the bargaine , Christ I know tels us most Divinely and sweetly ; that to whom much is forgiven , Luk. 7. 47. such doe love much , but yet we must not sin many sins , that so much may bee forgiven us , and wee love much , this were to turne the grace of God into wantonnesse ; Iude v. 4. and that which Augustine hath up and downe in his Tomes answers all , that those also are to love much , who have beene preserved by the providence and power of God , from doing such and so many transgressions as some others have : for why , saith hee , have we not sinned those sins ? was the cause in our nature ? Is the reason in our will ? No , but only in the goodnesse of God ; wee are then to thanke him , and love him for the sins we have committed , and have had our pardon for them , and for those many more which wee should have done , had not the Lord beene , all one , as though wee had done them , and had found a pardon of them ; and one degree more , and that is , that by reason of his meere mercy , we have beene strongly preserved from so sinning against our God , from so troubling the quiet of our owne hearts and in some particulars , from so scandalizing the Church and people of GOD.

4. The fourth duty after the tentation , is , to make a good use of it , to get some good out of it , wee must come to some fruit after wee have beene so handled with such bitter plunges . The Earth after Winter becomes fruitfull , so must wee be ; now the good that comes by tentation is manifold . 1. A sight of some corruption wee saw not before ; the beginning of all our comfort ariseth from an humble sight of our corruptions , and t is fit , that when we will not see them , and abhor them by what we finde in the word , we should have the experience of them in our selves ; then we say , till now , little did I thinke , I had beene thus and thus given to such rebellions , then wee cry , ah wretched man that I am , what a Beast , what a divell am I ? This doth mightily empty us of our selves , and then we quickly fill with God , with Christ : this is amends enough for all our toile , that wee are made to see somewhat in our selves , which wee never thought to bee in our hearts .

2. The second is to see that ther is some sin , not sufficiently and thorowly mortified , that as yet wee have not gone to the quick of it , and what that sin is , and now to take it in hand againe , and never give over till wee breake the heart of it , lest it lye in the winde and doe us some spight against another time . 3. A third is to grow acquainted with the wiles and depths of Satan : A godly man should bee well acquainted with the divell , so as to know and to finde him out in his stratagems , and this is done more by tentation , than by all the reading in the world . 4. To be acquainted with the goodnesse and mercy of God , to bee able to finde out somewhat to purpose , in the mystery of godlinesse , how God doth make sin to cure sin , one theefe , one corruption to cut the throat of another , one corruption to prevent a worser , fetch heaven out of hell , to learne to speake it by experience , and to say , I had sinned , except I had sinned , I had gone to hell , except I had gone to hell ; that the worst pride comes out of our graces , that our best grace , the grace of humility ( which makes roome and way for all the rest ) comes out of our sins : Iam. 4. 6. Now then we should not finde our selves , or Satan , or the Lord out , were we not taught it by our tentations . This made Fox to say , that his graces did him most hurt , and his sins most good , a Paradox : but by our owne tentations we know his meaning : this made Luther to say , Praefat. that these three things make a good Divine . Tom. 1. 1 , Prayer . German . 2. Meditation . 3. Tentation : this good we have by our tentations , that wee come to know our selves , to know Satan , and to know GOD ; such is our estate , that the furthest about , is the neerest way to heaven ; we cannot goe to heaven by Geomitry : we must fetch a compasse by the gates of hell , and see what newes with Satan , ere we can relish the sweetnesse and goodnesse of the promise , we cannot else take God for Gods sake , and have heaven on Gods tearmes ; we cannot come to God but we must follow Christ , and follow Christ we cannot except we deny our selves , Mar. 8. 34. and deny our selves we will not , were it not , for the crosse , and man would do any thing , rather than take up his crosse ; were he not buffeted and beaten to it by some tentation or other , 2 Cor. 12. 7. and therefore thanke yee tentation , that ever we come to heaven : what ever it is to beare a crosse , when God doth lay it on , I am sure it is an hard and an hard thing , for a man to take up his Crosse ; and yet by tentations we are brought to this : He. 11. 35 wherefore wee must do our selves this good by our tentations , Tortured , not accepting deliverance . when they are gone and over ; that now against another time , we know the better how to doe with Satan , that he shall not put such tricks upon us , and coozen us out of our comfort , and that cheefest of all , by his art and skill . 5. We must learne for ever after to pitty others ; and out of pitty and mercy , to do them in their spirituall sorrowes , all the helpe that possibly wee can ; let us mourne with them , and have a feeling of their case , and the rather , because once or often it hath beene our case . Paul doth not say to the incestuous Corinthians thou art puffed up , but turnes himselfe to the standers by , 1 Cor. 4. 15. and saith not ( hee is ) but ( ye ) are puffed up , and have not rather mourned : Chrys. de poenit . hom. 10. now the sense & the fresh remembrance of this , that but the other day wee our selves were as sick as they , and by the meere mercy of God we got our selves out , should and it will bring us to shew all mercy to them , to mourne over them , and not to pride it over them , as though wee were free from ever suffering the like lust ; whereas , by our owne experience wee rather learn to walke humbly before God and man ; remembring what hath bin , and considering what may be , if wee our selves should bee tempted . This then is a golden lesson which our owne tentations ought to teach us without booke , to restore such an one with the spirit of meekenesse , do ( saith the Greek text there ) as Surgeons do , 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . who use all tendernesse in handling armes and joynts , Vid. Bud. in Comment. when they are out of joynt : Nihil sic probat spiritualem virum , &c. let 's do what we can to set them in joynt againe with all love , Aug. in Gal. 6. meekenesse , pitty , and compassion , you would not beleeve what good it will doe a sick soule , Rom. 12. 15. to see another pitty his case , to weepe with them that weepe , it furthers the cure exceedingly , and wee doe become the more willing by ods , to set our hand to helpe , because we doe remember how it stood with us , when we were in the same or the like case ; say I may thanke my tentation for this , that I have either such will or skill to restore my poore brothers soule ; & so much the rather are we to study mercy and meekenesse , because when we go about to fetch men out of their sins , men are subject to fret and snarle , it is like wakening one out of sleep , Multi homines cum a somno , &c. Aug. in Gal. 6. and then wee see how out of quiet they be , ready to braule at their best friends ; so here , and therfore we have need of meeknesse , and patience which our owne experience in our owne assaults and tentations will learne us sooner than all the teaching in the world . 6. And lastly , by the bitter taste of our tentative corruptions , we must now out of our owne sense , learne to loathe and to abhorre them , that our corrupt nature may bee an ugly sight in our owne eyes : we see in the word , that grave Christians have bin the men who have come to loathe themselves in dust and ashes ; so Abraham , so Iob , when old , they did by reason of their sin abhorre themselves , in dust , and in that which is worse than durt , in ashes , and this wee shall never come so thorowly to doe , till we come by reason of tentation , to be as Paul was , Gal. 6. 14. a very crucifix of mortification . Ah this selfe-love , how it makes us carry a moneths minde to our lusts , we have a doting humour after our corrupt lusts still , and therefore al is little enough to bring them out of request with us ; they had need sting us , and that home too : say we have a running sore in our bodies , which none else can well abide to come neere ; yet such is our Philovety and selfelove , that wee can abide the sight and smell of it well enough ; right so , wee are so inward with our owne selfe-affection , that albeit our lusts are a corrupt matter and doe stinke like any carrion , and would make one sick to see them , yet wee can abide them well enough ; our nature is altogether by Adams fall and our fals become filthy ( the Hebrew is stinking ) wee stinke horribly , and yet , because we have an ill and a stinking nostrill of our owne , Habeat aliquis sanum olfactum animae sentit quomodo puteant peccata . Aug. in Psa. 38. 5. we can away with the smell well enough . Now comes a tentation , stirres the wound , makes it stinke and smell ; wee are so peppered with the sorrow & woful fruit , of it that we come to take our sins as they are in their kinde , and at last wee are so changed and altered , that what we l●ved rather than our life , that wee come to hate as any death : this use we may and must make , by looking both on our sore and heavy tentation ( which wee may thanke our lusts for ) when once they are past and over .

The fifth and last duty after our tentations are shut up , is to prepare for a further battell , for an other encounter : Luk. 4. 13. hee went away from Christ but for a season , therefore ere long hee will come againe ; how long it will be first I cannot say , but ere long it will be , he will stay away no longer than needs must , as soon as ever he can get leave he will come without sending for : though I name Sathan , yet I meane such mixt tentations wherein lust and Satan doe tye together ; but because Satan useth to fire the matter , and to set the wheeles going , therfore it is that wee doe use to name him , as though all were his doing . The thing I first propose is , that we waite in daily expectation to have some other fits , for wee are too too apt to dreame of , I know not what , peace and freedome after tentation is done away , and then we are in danger to grow secure , which when our enemy once perceiveth , hee will then come and make use of his advantage . A boy in the schoole , after a sound beating is past , fals to his liberty promising to himselfe that he shall not be had to horse yet a while , & is of from his book , till his master comes again and hath him by the skin : so when we have had a scourging with the smart of some sowre tentation , we thinke now the worst is past , and that wee shall have no more such reckonings : then comes the tempter , cals up our lusts , and finding us secure , doth us a shrewd turne ; so we finde in the Saints that after a storme once blowne over , they use to catch their fals ; when we have stood free from our usuall sicknesse a yeere or so , wee use to give our selves to disorder in dyet , as thinking that no sicknesse can now take hold of us , and then wee are over head & eares in some disease ere we are aware ; so t is in the soule , we must then when we are on the other side of some heavy tentation , doe as Marriners doe in a calme , mend our tacklings , get our things about us ; as not knowing how soone , how sudden , another , a worser storme may fall : take heed then after wee have put off our fits , of a secret floth ; watch still , lye in our armour , for as sure as wee live , if wee live any time , wee shall meet with another bout ere long : for when wee grow up in grace and come to some perfection , wee shall heare of more sorrowes . God hath ever been upon his Saints with greatest tryals , when they come to some age and strength . He will then build with us when wee are seasoned , as farre as our strength will goe we shall have it . And therefore when old , when Paul aged , doe not say I have done ; Philem. 9 now our faith is most , our wisdome most , our graces strongest , and therefore repent and say , there is worse behind still , we must have some intervalle , sometime betwixt our fits , some good dayes to breath in , Ferus . in Iob. 3. Serm 18. else we should not be willing to live , else we should not have strength to hold out the next fit ; and more fits in their times we must have , else wee should not bee willing to dye . Say then I looke every day for a fit , and therfore I will not bee without my medicines in a readinesse ; and in all our physick be sure to put the bloud of Christ : Satan is not so beaten , nor such a coward neither , but hee dares come againe , hee will put it to the adventure , he had little hope to do any thing against Christ , never was hee beaten as he was by him , yet he came againe , and againe , and so hee will to us : the thing I commend then to all our care , is , to stand upon our watch and sure guard . A question is made by some , whether Satan may come to the same man , with the same tentation after hee is well beaten and conquered : Lib. 2. D. 6. q. 4. Durand saith , he may to others with the same , hee may to the same man with some other tentation , but to come to the same man , with the same tentation , to shoot the same bitter arrow at the same man who did conquer him , he thinks Satan will not , ; his reason is , because Sathan will not come where hee hath no hope to be the victor : but saith he , hee hath no hope of having the victory in the same , and over the same man . As a man who is once beaten in the field , you cannot get him into the field , with the same man at the same weapons ; and a Cock once made to runne away , will fight no more . The answer is , that man is usually beaten in the field for want of courage , or strength , or skill ; but Sathan is beaten onely , because wee will not give assent and way unto him ; and therefore what if we repell Satan , by resisting him in his tentation : now it may be at another time wee shall not bee found in so good a minde , nor in so prepared a disposition , to resist and deny him in his suite : what knowes hee whether we have lost of our former strength , or wit , or will , or grace , or care , and vigilancy ? But above all Satan wil try , whether that God , who now doth not , at another time for some causes , will suffer us to be led into the tentation . It is not our strength , but Gods that doth it ; it lies not simply in our will , but in the will of God . Aquinas I thinke is in the right ; Sathan would come oftner than hee doth , Paat . 1. q. 114. art. 5. but that GOD who knowes our strength , or rather our weakenesse will not suffer him : and though he loves not to be beaten , and desires not to come where there is no hope , yet it must bee as God will , and not as wee and the divels pleasure is : if we need it , we shall have another triall ; it is the divels nature , he is a tempter , his malice is his formall being , and he cannot chuse but come against us , as farre as the Lord shall please to let out his chaine : what if he hath no hope to conquer us , yet he knowes he shall molest us ; Hee is at no quiet himselfe , and he would not that we shold have any rest neither , as far as he can doe withall : it doth as it were doe him good , to goe about to doe us hurt : he will , because he must goe away for a season , and after a season , he both will and must come againe ; and if we grow negligent , lye open and naked , as not once thinking to heare of him at all , or at least not as yet ; then he is for us , and hath his blow , his full blow at us : from hence it is , that often in the same lust wee beate him now , because wee are prepared ; hee comes and beates us another time , because he takes us unprepared . Againe , Satan is not ignorant , that when we have had as much as ever we can doe to get him off at first , we shall be loth to be troubled there again and that it is a weary hand to be tired with the same anguish , and this moves him to try the second , the third time , 〈◊〉 , and sometimes oftner the same way , to prove what he can doe ; for he is not to learne , that it is more for want of heart than strength that wee use to yeeld : these may bee the reasons , why Satan comes againe many times with the same assault ; but if we looke to God , he doth order it , that we shall be tempted in the same veine , because he sees that we by use and experience have got more skill there than any where else , and that wee have our weapons ready to breake the blowes which come that way ; and thus because our loving father knowes , that now wee can tell how better to fight at that weapon and war , than any other ; hee out of his goodnesse , will have Sathan come that way , or not at all . He intends us the victory , and now sith our conquest is in the same tentation , in which wee are tried and skilled , both certaine and easie over it is in any other , Satan must come upon us with the very same trickes and tentations ; thus we see that the same tentation doth befall us more than once or twice .

2 Sometimes Satan changeth his weapon , and tries us the cleane contrary way , with such assaults as wee yet never felt in all our dayes before : he hopes that there wee have no defence , that wee doe not expect him at that doore , and thus he thinkes , comming in with his blast at a contrary point , to blow us downe ; and here we must doe as the Pilot doth , have our compasse ready , and stand ready to turne our needle to any point , knowing , that our lust within is for any sinne , and Sathan hath skill at any tentation ; all is in a manner one to him , hee can tempt us to covetousnesse with as much ease and art , as to prodigality ; and therfore what ever our tentation hath bin , and what ever our humour hath done , Sathan can change hands and so must wee expect to finde . The Word will furnish us against him , come when hee will , or which way he will , be it the same or some other way ; here we must take councell , that say he come with some other weapon , it ought to be to us an argument , that sure now he begins to bee out of hope , sith he doth shift his weapons thus . 2. That God will have him turn some other way , to purge some other streame ; another lust , must have another purgation . 3. Change of physick is good , for that the same potion alwayes used will not worke so well , the longer wee are used to the same tentation , the lesse it worketh with us . 4. God will have us learne skill , by experience at all sorts of spirituall combates , trials , weapons . The summe is , that sith when we have gotten the better of some great tentation , wee are subject to bee drawne into spirituall pride or security and so to cast away our armour : we must learne to expect to heare of another encounter , to weare our armour about us , to stand ready against all assaies ; Hezekiah , Asa , Iehosophat , after they had gotten thorow some sore brunts are said then to fall , and this came because they thought not of it , grew into some conceites , were willing to please themselves , with hopes of freedome or respite ; now for a time or for ever after , or that what was done , was by their own strength and that now they needed not to looke after God in such particular manner any more . By their mistakes and fals , we must learne to stand still in a continuall expectation & preparation , when one tentation is over and past , that another will come , and that ere we be many yeers elder ; if it come not so soone as wee looke for , there is no hurt done , we are provided against another time . And thus much of some generall rules as concerning tentations in the generall .

The SECOND PART : Part II. Containing some particular Rules , serving to helpe us in some speciall cases .

A Great Doctor in our Israel doth observe , that the conscience of man is wounded most with the third Commandement in cases of Perjury ; the sixth , of Murther , the seventh , of Adultery ; I may adde ( besides some others ) the tentations of Blasphemy , against the nature of his Essence , Being , and prime Attributes of God : these do shake the conscience of a man , because there is a maine principall in the heart and conscience of man , fully and strongly convincing him of those particulars , viz. That there is a God , that he is truth , that he is an avenger of all perjury , that wee must let men alone with their lives and wives ; things wherein a man may make restitution & salve the sore , they do not use to urge so much , when once we are brought to restore that which by fraud or force wee have taken away ; but in matters of bloud and unchastity , no restitution can possibly bee made to man : for who can helpe men to their lives or chastity again ? and this is the reason , that these sinnes make such a foule cry above others ; but of those particulars more hereafter . I meane first to propose some Rules which may serve all these in common : then some that are more proper to each tentation in severall .

1. We must not make the matter worse than it is , which in those tentations , which are accompanied commonly with most horror , is dangerous ; for as we are not to lessen the matter , so it is neither lawfull nor safe to make the things worse than they be ; to pore into the sore , to breake it up into too many peeces , in this case is perillous : indeed when wee are apt to grow secure and presume , we are advised to aggravate matters to the most ; but when we are downe the wind , and subject to despaires and feares , this is not approved to be either lawfull or safe . 1. It is not lawfull to make that a sin which perhaps is not ; or that which is a sin , to appeare to us greater than it is : things must be represented unto us in their true colours ; and as wee must not set the sin higher than it is , so not the guilt of it neither , this were to sing the song of Cain , Gen. 4. 13. My sin is greater than I can beare : He did not say so because it was so ; but it was so , because he said so : we must see that wee doe not make sinnes where God makes none ; lest wee come to make that not to be a sin which is a sin ; and some men are miserably tormented , for things which are onely sins in their conceit , and not in truth . 2. It is unsafe in all , but most of all in these kind of tentations , because man is a timerous creature , and when in this veine , he is apt to be discouraged ; feare of discouragement makes a man fall , weakens , a mans purpose and resolution of resisting ; as a boy is many times out in saying his lesson , onely for feare lest hee be out , who could say perfect till hee came to say : and a girle being threatned and terrified , breaks the glasse only for feare of breaking it : so when we are in feare joyned with discouragement Satan hath a great advantage ; Frangere dum met●it , &c. Mar. Apoph . 111. and those sinnes amplified and set up , doe mightily faint , and discourage the heart and spirits of men and who can fight with any heart against an enemy , that hee hath little or no hope to conquer . Now when we doe make our sins worser than they are , then it doth secretly steale away our hope ; and so we make no great hast to resist , nor have no great heart to fight : we then must learne , not to make it lesse , lest we be too slothful , nor more lest we be too fearefull ; but just as the matter is , as neere as we can , that so wee may bee fitted and prepared , to fight the good fight of faith , with diligence and watchfulnesse .

2. Wee must not suffer the thoughts of these horrible tentations to tarry in our mindes ; 2 Tim. 6. 12. they are Gods and our greatest enemies , and we must shut the doore against them ; what if we dislike and distaste them ? Greeneham . yet as one notes , this rowling of them up and downe in our heads , doth show that there is an insensible likening of them in our hearts ; we must set our hatred against them , and thrust them away presently , and hold it a dangerous thing to thinke of them . God cannot take it well , if wee mislike a thing in judgement , and doe not set against it , with the meanes God hath appointed and sanctified to that use , Satan will coozen us , as though that our very misliking of them were enough in things foule , and that there were no feare of danger ; wheras nature it selfe , doth looke sadly at these tentations , and the mislike we feele , may well come from the influence of the law and light of nature . I have learned that we are never the further off from a tentation , for our misliking it onely , but the nearer , except withall in affection , we humble for it ; as well as distaste it in our judgments : what if the dislike be not , because it is a sin , but because there is some feare or shame ? This is selfe-love and pride , and this will worke in the sin , if we goe no further , and that by Gods just judgement : our duty then , is not to suffer the thoughts of such wounding and terrifying tentations , to tumble up and downe in our mindes , though we have no minde to them ; for either by discouraging us or enticing us , they will get further hold : but wee must cast them off , set the word against them , and turne our thoughts to some better subject , and chiefly to thinke on those two great Dayes , the day of Death , and the day of Iudgement .

3. Wee must of all see , that we set not against those : of our owne strength we can doe nothing , Arist. Eth. l. 7. c. 6. by our owne power against any lust ; but least in these , because , Cum quisque Legem viribus suis , &c. Aug. Expos. proposit . ex Epist. ad Rom. what through feare & horror in som , what through the swinge and violent torrent of these two passions of anger and lust , a man hath but little use of that reason he hath ; and so the more he strives this way the worse it is , 2 Cor. 12. 9. it doth but encrease our desires to the sinne ; Aug. in . Psa. 31. our strength is here to pray and expect , and laying all naturall and carnall weapons aside ; let God alone to doe all , and out of grace it is , that hee doth doe for us , what he doth in our trials and conflicts ; and therefore Paul had his answer , that all was to bee done by the grace and mercy of God ; and so we finde that the Lord said not to him , my power , but my grace , is sufficient for thee : wherefore we must put al upon the power and grace of God , turne Satan to God to Christ for his answer , set the grace of God against our sins , when comming to prevent them , when come to pardon them : set the power of God against the strength of them all ; beleeve it , that the grace of God is sufficient , either to prevent us , or preserve us . He is in great danger ( who in any ) but of all in these potent tentations , goes by his owne wit , or reason , or worth , or strength : Hee is in safe case , who can say , I deserve nothing , I can doe nothing but hurt my selfe , and make worke for sinne and Satan ; I meane to put all upon GOD , who will worke mightily in me , and for me ; but the grace of God which is with me ; 1 Cor 5. 1 he is all in all , Gal. 20. hee will doe all or nothing , that he may have all the praise of his grace .

The helpes which serve in severall for every particular assault might be many ; some we will propose , and first for those tentations which are in things of God , then in things of man ; for God , we are much assaulted to Atheisme , and Blasphemy ; to Atheisme , as the greatest sin that is , in that it smites at the roote of all , for to say the truth , all sin is from Atheisme : for who would sin , did he then verily thinke , that there were a God that saw all , and would punish all ; and such a God , God must be , or no God : and to Atheisme , for when we have sinned , sinne doth draw towards Atheisme , exceedingly wipes out all notions of a Deity as much as it can ; and when wee are in sin , wee must bee either willing to get out of it by repentance , or else wee shall bee willing to turne Atheists ; the best of our play then , being to feed our selves with a conceit , that all is but talke to hold men in awe , and that there is indeed neither heaven nor hell , no place of torment ; that when wee dye all is gone , no otherwise than with a Beast : when the conscience will not get quiet by turning to God by repentance , Animus qui multorum scelerum sibi conscius est , &c. then it will seeke to quiet it selfe by unbeliefe , bearing it selfe in hand , Chrys. in 1 Cor. 6. Hom 17. that there is no such thing as hell to torment men in : consider withall , that Sathan doth all he can to make men Atheists , because , when there is no feare of God before mens eyes , they will sinne all manner of sinnes that the divell would have them sin . So Psal. 14. The foolish hath said in his heart there is no God , what followes ? They are corrupt , they have done abominable works ; thus then , when once men take to Atheisme , they grow most corrupt and doe abominable workes ; there is no hoe in sinning then , for what shold or can keep the wit and wil of man in , when once wee conceit , that there is no such thing as God : the divell cannot bee a flat Atheist , for he beleeves & trembles ; and were it nothing but the sence he hath of the wrath of God , tormenting : why ? That is enough to prove , that Satan doth fully & undoubtedly acknowledge a Divine power . He is not an Atheist , because he cannot , because he shall not , but yet he beares good will to Atheisme , because that sin doth much advantage his kingdome Saint Iames doth prove , C. 1. v. 13. that God tempts no man , because himselfe cannot bee tempted with evill : by nature he doth hate sin , and therefore he cannot tempt to sinne : and Satan could not tempt Eve till he had sin ; nor Eve Adam , till shee had sin her selfe : all this proves not , but that Sathan may and doth tempt us to Atheisme , a sinne which he himselfe hates not : for though he cannot sin the sin himselfe , ( as the divell cannot do the act of many sins , as Adultery ) yet hee loves the sinne ; it is not for want of will that he is not an Atheist ; for he would give any thing , he could turne Atheist , and finde some kind of ease , by thinking there were no God at all : and it is a sin which is incompatible with the estate of a damned Angell ; but now his desire being to damne soules , and this being the most damning sinne that is : he doth use all meanes , to wipe out of the heart of man , all impression of the God-head , and the best men that be , have too many thoughts this way ; and ( as I shewed ) it is the master-veine in our Originall lust ; and were it not for the law of nature , our sinne and Satan would make monstrous flat Atheists of us all out of hand ; but God hath so wrought in us , Perk. Of imaginat . cap. 3. an impression of a Deity , being the maine pillar of the law of Nature , that we never can possibly , nor all the divels in hell comming in with their forces , Calvin . Inst. l. 1. c. 3. Sect. 1. Clem. bring our hearts to an utter extinguishment of that law , Alex. in Protreptico . and that principle of natures law ; and we doe finde , that our deepest Atheists in the world , Dici frequenter audimns O Deus . Cyprian . de Idol . vanit . Molin . D● cognit . Dei . p. 7. when in extremity , and put to it with some sudden affrightment , to use to cry O God aloud , and therefore this corruption and tentation , is with the more ease opposed and answered : a man hath on his side the workes of nature , the law of nature , the law and fire of his conscience , fearing and trembling at the wrath to come , but when all is done , that which must and only will hold us against the tentation when it is strongly put to by Sathan , is to flye to the word of God . The Word saith , that there is a God , and therefore I will beleeve that there is a GOD : out of tentation , other considerations taken from nature and divers acts of Divine providence may stop the mouth of our Lust , which would not have God in all , Psa. 10. 4. that is , in any of our thoughts ; but when once wee are set upon with some fierce tentation , I would wish al Christians to do these things ; the first is not to enter into dispute with his owne reason , for the understanding of man , is too weak , & too short , to reach the comprehension of a Deity : hee that shall take in his owne thoughts , and muse about the nature and infinite Being of God , shall but let in Satan the more : the counsell then I am bold to give to the poore Christian , is , in any hand not to study this point , but to take his minde off , from thinking & disputing this argument , lest he come to say in his heart , I cannot conceive what God is , and therefore I doubt me there is no such being . Away then with all reasoning and syllogismes about that subject . 2. Then cleave to the Word & say though my reason cannot tell what to make of it , tho lust in me , say there is no God at al , tho Satan say it that there is no God , and most doe live as though there were no God ; yet because it is in the Word , the Scripture saith it , and I must and will and doe beleeve it ; wee must see both God and Heaven and all in the Word . Tit. 1. 16. Doubts I know , that have any ground , 2 Pet. 2. 1. ought to bee scanned , 2 Tim. 3. 5 disputed , answered : but Atheisme is a deniall of the first principle of all Religion ; Mala & impia corsuetudo , &c. and therefore the best way is to begin and end with the Word , Cie . de Nat. Deor. l. 1. and to know that such a principall , as is the essence and existence of a GOD ought not to bee so much as questioned . It is a meere scruple , and the safest way is to reject it as soone and as often as it doth come ; put it off , as a thing neither worth nor fit for consideration ; wee shall finde that by often rejecting such scruples , the conscience will be better confirmed and setled , than by going about by reason and arguments to answer them . Hee that shall goe about by the force of his owne wit to conquer his Atheisme , is in great danger to fall into some degrees of it ; for when he sees that reason cannot doe it , and find out , what this God is , he wil come to question all , and to thinke that there is no such being . He then doth best , who doth dispute least , and in the heate of the tentation , rests himselfe wholy on the Word .

2. For tentations of Blasphemy , Iob. 2. 9. as Curse God and dye : the servants of God are more afraid of them than hurt ; they are rather bugbeares than such as use to produce in them any reall effects : they carry with them such a deale of horror that they seldome take ; for when once wee confesse a true GOD , it will make our haire stare to thinke of blaspheming him , and so we fall into pitious moodes of terrour and horror , which keepes us from the sin it selfe : but wee must set downe what we conceive may doe us helpe this way .

1. We must get an assurance that God doth love us , and then we shall love him , and love alwayes thinks and speakes well ; but if wee once take a thought and it grow firme in us , that God doth hate us and wil curse us , we will hate him againe and be ready to curse him : and this is incident to us in times of some great afflictions ; as in Iobs case , when God doth handle us sore , and worse than hee commonly doth others : and wee finde some circumstances , that we cannot fetch a president for in the world ; never was the like before , then wee begin to apprehend some hard dealing in it , and we grow to conclude , that sure God doth hate us , and then we will be even with him and hate him again . It is natural and usuall for hatred to breed hatred ; and when wee abhorre and hate God , we begin to enter into some termes of Blasphemy : we all hate God by nature , but yet there is a further measure of hatred wrought in us to God , when we conceive , that out of very malice and spleene towards us , he doth use us as he never did nor doth use any other ; and in this case our very stomacks will rise , and our bloud will swell against the LORD GOD Almighty . To prevent and cure this , wee are to know , that no afflictions bee they ever so great , usuall , and unheard of , are any certaine signes at all of Gods anger , much lesse of his hatred : Iob was the first , who was ever used as hee was , and his wife shewed her selfe a weake and a foolish woman ; thence to gather the hatred of God to her and her husband . Ionas had a crosse that the world never saw the like before , yet it was no fruit of Gods hatred . Iacob had sore and heavy afflictions , yet it went ever for truth , Mal. 1. 2. ( Iacob have I loved ) hee loved him , when ? When hee afflicted him . Esau had more outward matters to his minde than ever Iacob saw : and many great Lords were of his family , and yet , Esau have I hated ; ) hold it then , that God doth love us , and when wee have this perswasion in us ; all the divels in hell , and all the lusts in Originall sin can never make us blaspheme our GOD , whom we love , and of whom wee have this minde , that hee doth love us : say then , he loves me , and I love him , & then , one cannot be brought to sin the sin of Blasphemy . 2. We must get the pardon of our sins , repent we of all our iniquities , and then the Crosse can never wring from us words of blasphemy : when we are in great sorrowes Satan will tempt very strongly that way , and we feare what we shal doe in times and cases of great extremity : I feare me , saith the poore Christian , what I shall do in great afflictions ; repent wee of our sins and feare nothing : it is not the greatnesse of the Crosse , but it is the guilt of sin working with the sting of the Crosse , which makes men in their tribulation to blaspheme . Rev. 16. 11. we read , that the fifth Angell powred down his viol on the seat of the Beast ; and it is written , that they gnawed with their tongues for pain , and blasphemed the GOD of heaven , because of their paines and their sores , ( now marke ) & repented not of their deeds . Here wee see that it was not for their paine , so much as for that they repented not of their deeds , that they blasphemed . Have we repented , or have we not ? If wee have not , then though our pain be not so much we are in danger to blaspheme : but if we have repented be our paine ever so much , wee need not feare , wee shall not blaspheme .

3. Say the worst , have wee blasphemed ? Yet we must repent of our blasphemy and hope in God : to despaire , is to put our selves out of Gods mercy and protection : to despaire by reason of Blasphemy , is a worse sinne than Blasphemy , they are both against the goodnesse of GOD , but yet despaire , is against his goodnesse , his mercy , and his truth . I confesse it is an horrible crime to blaspheme against God ; and so much the worser , because it is a sin somewhat like the impardonable blasphemy against the Holy Ghost : neither is it in the wil of every man , to say , where the difference lies betwixt them . Deus optimus , maximus ; optimus , is before maximus . Vid. Molin . De Cognit . Dei . p. 25. Besides , other sinnes are against God in his Greatnesse , Governement , but this of Blasphemy , doth speake against the Goodnesse of God ; and God as he is represented to us , stands more on his Goodnes than his Greatnesse ; and therefore also this sin of Blaspeming hath beene ever held amongst the greatest of sins : all which must teach us by all meanes to beware of this sin , and we may the easier take heed of it , and save our selves from it , because it being against our naturall inbred principle of a Deity : Nature it selfe is afraid of this sin , which is a great meanes to stay us from the sin-it selfe . Satan , I know , is a great blasphemer , and he will assay hard to it to make us to blaspheme ; but wee must set the Word & Spirit of God against it , and let the Law of nature doe all it can against it too . And if at any time we have bin to blame this way , yet we must know that there is a pardon to bee had : I was , saith Paul a blasphemer , 1 Tim. 1. 13. and Paul is in heaven ; and which is worse , he compelled men to blaspheme , Act. 26. 11 yet on his true repentance , all went well with Paul ; and so it may and will with us , if we returne as Paul did Christ hath it , Mat. 12. 31. That blasphemy against God is a sin , which may on the same termes , that any the least sinne that is , shall and must bee forgiven , I meane , on our repentance . There is a blasphemy against the Holy Ghost , which is a sin unto death , and there is no repentance for this sin , nor no hope ; the cause is , because no man can repent unto life , except God give him the grace : and wee have it revealed , that there is a decree passed in heaven , that the Lord will never afford this sinner the grace to repent . Divers other sinners never have this favour done to them as to repent , but all sinners of this sort are past all hope for ever . There is a difference , betwixt this blasphemy against the Holy Ghost , and this blasphemy against God and Christ , not onely in the measure , but in the very kinde ; I know Satan would faine put it upon us , that we have sinned against the Holy Ghost when it is no such matter : on ignorant Christians hee layes this , that when they sin against their knowledge and conscience that then it is the sin against the holy Ghost , when the Spirit hath bin at them not to sin , yet they sin and grieve and vex the Spirit of God : then Satan makes his advantage , oh saith he , this is to sin against the Holy Ghost that it is a sin against the Holy Ghost , I doe not deny ; but that it is the sinne against the Holy Ghost , is false : I prove it to be false , because this sin is pardoned . Moreover , we speake of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost ; now that every sinne against the Holy Ghost must needs be Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost , cannot be proved : and when we goe so farre as to blaspheme God , then we make a cry , now it is too late to thinke of repenting ; this is , saith he , that unrepentable and unpardonable sinne against the Holy Ghost . Our answer must be , by denying this to bee that sin , our reason must be , because we are sorry for it , and were it to doe againe , wee would not doe it for a world : but the sinner against the Holy Ghost , is no whit sorry for his sinne , his heart never akes for his offence , but would have all do it as well as himselfe , and is desirous to have hell as full as hee could : and he doth even wish withall his heart , that wife , that children , that parents , that brethren , that neighbours , that all might blaspheme the Holy Ghost as well as himselfe . It is then nothing but a policy of Satan , to play upon the ignorance of men , as touching the nature and effects of this sinne , and to beare them in hand , that when they have blasphemed God , they have blasphemed the Holy Ghost : but wee must hold a maine difference to lye betwixt this blasphemy , against God the Father , and the Holy Ghost , that as the persons differ , so doth the sins against the severall persons . As long then as our blasphemy is against the first and not against the third , we may be safe ; it is but to repent and all is well : they doe not prize the infinite mercy of God according to the infinite worth of it , who thinke their sin of blasphemy against God , too great for him to pardon , as though it were possible for man to sinne a sinne , which Gods mercy being simply infinite , had not enough in it to forgive it . This their errour is worse than the first to thinke so meanly of the rich and high and boundlesse mercy of the most Eternall and Infinite GOD : we must now learne better to prize the mercy of God ; and say , I cannot once repent of a sin , bee it ever so great and maine , but the mercy of God is ready to forgive it . Could the Blasphemer against the Holy Ghost repent , he must have his pardon : conceive wee hope of pardon and then we will returne to the Lord by repentance , and the Lord will take away the guilt and wash away the staine of this great sin .

The third tentation is of perjury : Quo in loco a facinore abhorrebit , &c. Arist. Here we must take great heed that we doe not forsweare our selves , chiefly in open Court ; where , Rhet. l. 1. c. 14. if any where a man should shew himselfe , a religious , Esta bonus miles , &c. a true , a just , and an honest man ; Iuven. Sat. 8 a fruit it is , of deep Atheisme to perjure ones selfe , and perjured persons bee hated of God and man , wherefore the conscience will deepely and bitterly accuse for this sinne of perjury . I could wish all men who love their owne quiet , and have a desire to sleep in a whole conscience , that they would take heed that they do not take a false oath : come what will , rather dye a thousand deaths , it is much against the light of nature , 1 Tim. 1. 10. and more against the light of Scripture ; Lev. 19. 12 and these two will flye in our faces with wild fire , and except God bee mercifull to us , make us weary of God and of our selves . And me thinkes ( by the way ) Women may comfort themselves , against the infirmities and troubles which have ever bin afflicted on their sex , 1 Tim. 2. 14. since they were first in the transgression ; I say , that sex may see a mercy that they are not so subject to this sinne of formall perjury as men are ; they serve not in Iuries grand or petty , they are not brought in Courts , to take oathes in Homages and the like ; they serve not the office of Church-wardens , and so are not sworne and deposed any thing so often as men , & hence they have a great freedome from sinning this vexing sinne over men have , which I would have them thanke God for , and amongst other matters , take this as a recompence for those many inflictions and revenges , which God at first laid on that sex ; so that in respect of this sin and some other tentations , that they are free from , over men bee : they may when they doe thinke of it , even thanke God that they were made women and not men : let not then Satan bring us into this brake , it is hard getting out of it . Eccl. 9. 2. Feare an oath , and of all such oathes , 1 Sam. 14. 26. wherein wee doe wrong and hurt to men , for though there be sometimes some corruption in it , as tasting of selfe-love to our selves , yet for certaine , sins wherein wee wrong men whom we see doe so much the more torment and racke the conscience of man ; and many men have mightily miscarried for this offence and sin of perjury ; wherefore beware ; and now to provide for the worst , we must tell the man who hath done this sin , Ier. 10. 2. that there is hope in Israel concerning this sinne also . David himselfe was not still as good as his oath , as in the case of Mephibosheth , 1 Sam. 20. 15 , 16. hee fell short of that oath of the Lord which hee made to Ionathans house and family ; and because instances work easier on weake spirits than Rules , I would have such to thinke of Peter , who did forsweare and renounce the person of Christ , and when ? But in his troubles ; and where ? But in the High Priests Hall , and who ? Why Peter a chiefe Apostle in the love and favour of Christ his master ; and is not Peter in heaven ? Teares of repentance will fetch out the deepest staine that this sinne of perjury can possibly make , but it is the Rule must settle us at last ; and it is , that if wee repent of any sin bee it never so great in substance , in circumstances it is as no sinne to us . Psa. 32. 5. I said I will acknowledge my sin ; he was but about to doe it , and God forgave the iniquity ( the guilt ) of his sin . Ier. 3. 12. If we confesse our sins ( indefinitely , set downe our sins without exception , ) GOD is faithfull and just to forgive them ; it stands upon him in respect of his Iustnesse to be as good as his word , to forgive all repentant sinners all their sins . S. Iob 33. 27. If one say I have sinned , hee will deliver his soule : say peccavi , and cry GOD mercy , and we shall ( saith Salomon ) have mercy ; mercy presently , in pardoning of our sins , and mercy , now some and then some , in healing our iniquities . Never did any man confesse his sin to God , Pro. 28. 13 but hee went away with his pardon ; wicked men may confesse to their fellowes , and to good men they may , as Saul did to David ; but it is an harder matter than so , for a man to confesse to God , except it be for company , or for outward glory : but for a man to take God aside to confesse alone to him , I thinke a wicked man cannot doe that . I finde no instance in the Word , that ever any unregenerate man did it . A man had need have hope of pardon to confesse to the Iudge : Adam did flye from God , fell to shifting , and so wee doe all , while wee are as hee then was , out of the state of grace . I meane not the grace of election ; no man can have hope of pardon but by faith : and by that I doe hold , that it is a signe of a godly man , to confesse all alone to God ; and then I can never beleeve that a man will confesse his sin honestly and ingeniously betwixt GOD and his owne soule except he hate that sinne . Now how a wicked man can come to the hatred of his sinne , is past my skill to understand . To come backe I say despaire not , it is worse than perjury , it makes GOD a lier , or worse than a lier , it accuseth him of a kinde of perjury ; for a man to say , there is no hope , no pardon to be had , repent we never so much ; sith God hath not only said it , Ezek. 18. but sworne it , that he will not the death of a repentant sinner ; repent and bee pardoned .

The fourth is breaking of Vowes : a vow broken doth crack the comfort of mans conscience exceedingly . A vow is defined to bee a religious promise made to God , I say , that every vow is such a promise , but al such promises are not vowes , for a vow properly and strictly taken , is , when a promise is made to GOD of this or that within our power , with condition of obtaining some what at Gods hands ; other promises are simply made , and absolutely without any such condition of getting any thing from the hands of God ; and thus Baptisme is soundly and learnedly denied to bee formally a vow . Abbots ans. to Bishop . c. 1. Sect. 1. p. 995. The Schooles teach us , that two things are of the very Essence of a vow . Bonav . l. 4. D. 38. a. 1. q. 1. Resol . 1. A promise . 2. An obligation and binding of a mans selfe , and thus we see hee that breakes his vow violates two things . Fractio voti est quaedam Infidelitatis species . Aquin. 2. 2. q. 88. 3. c. 1. His duty . 2. His fidelity , hee deales undutifully and unfaithfully with God , and from this it is , that breach of a solemne vow doth so bite the conscience , because we doe not onely faile , but ( which goes nearer ) forfeit our fidelity , A double bond is broken , and a double blow is given to the conscience , and the minde is made to be full of trouble : and now because there breeds such a stirre in the conscience of a man , when once hee hath broken his vow , therefore I would wish , that men would bee but sparing in making of vowes , there is use and place for vowes and great good they doe , but it is a duty ●●●●er for a strong Christian than for every young beginner . It is strange to see , how Satan doth push on every boy and girle on any occasion , to runne into a corner and there to make vowes ; it showes that the duty is not so spiritual , for a man to tye himselfe to do that he should doe , without any such obligation , in that we find our selves too too forward to run into vowes , whereas to comfortable duties we are unwilling enough . God loves a willing people , and wee should serve him with a free spirit , Ps. 110. 3. and vowes , Ps. 51. 12. which are as shackles , are not to bee used but in some cases of some necessity ; when otherwise we cannot hold our selves to some particulars in the worship of God , or in our daily life : Aquin. 22. q. 88. and his opinion is not sound ( as I thinke ) who saith , that a worke done with a vow is more laudable and acceptable ; than the same worke and duty done without a vow . A vow broken doth punish the heart of a Godly man extreamly ; no man can say how much , but they who have felt the smart of it : and when rash vowes are made , Satan was never so earnest to move us to make them , but he doth as much to make us breake them , and then , thou art a child of God and a breaker of vowes . Aw●v man , never once goe about to thinke , that there is any favour for thee in heaven . My advice is then :

First , that wee bee sparing in vowing , sith we breake many , and keepe few . On Gal. Doctor Stanpicius ( saith Luther ) was wont to say , I have vowed to GOD above a thousand times , that I would become a better man , but I never performed that which I vowed : hereafter I wil make no such vow , for I have now learned by experience , that I am not able to performe it . This is too much , to say one will never vow again , who can say what need one may have ; what good a vow may doe one ? I rather follow him who wils us to vow , Greentham on Psa. 119. v. 106. but for a time ; as a man who hath beene overtaken with drinke in such and such places , company , or so , may doe well to tye himselfe by a vow , not to come where they are for a Moneth or so , and then see what he can doe , whether he can forbeare without a vow , and if hee can , that is taken best at the hands of GOD ; but if we finde some relique of the humor still , then vow for a Moneth more , and so at length by times , the conquest will be had ; to bind our selves by perpetuall vowes is not so convenient , because our nature is even made to break those bonds that wee doe binde our selves with for continuance , Quod licet ingratum est &c. Ovid Amor. lib. 2. and our mouthes will water , Vid. Aquin. 2. 2. q. 35. a. 1 ad 4. Becan . Sum. tom. 2. tract. 2. c. 5. q. 5. Sect. 6. our flesh will itch the more to breake them : wherefore I have held it an high point of wisdome , first , to vow no oftner than needs must , and then to doe it but for a short period of time ; & whether wee doe it oftner or seldomer , for a longer , or a shorter space , to doe all by the grace of God , and never once thinke to make or to keepe our vow so made , but by and through the onely and the speciall hand of God : his strength must doe it , and therefore a vow made without prayer is never kept .

Secondly , but to provide for the worst ; make the case that we have broken our vowes , yet wee must not spend our spirits too much with hellish melancholy , so we shall carry an hell in our consciences , our tormenting our selves with extremities of legall sorrowes will doe us no good , nor God no pleasure ; we may hurt our selves by it , and that is all the good which comes of punishing our selves over and above . The way is to returne to the Lord with all speed , and to bring us to God , wee must know , that it is no such sinne ( as bad as it is ) but that we may be Gods servants for all that ; for hardly was there over a more godly man than Iacob ; Gen. 28. 20 , 21 , 22. and hee wee know vowed a vow , and it was to make that stone to be GODS Chappell , and hee being now but a poore man doth promise , that in case God would give him but bread to eate , and cloathes to put on , that God should bee his God , and have the tenth of all : but wee finde that God did not onely give him necessaries but abundances ; Gen. 32. 10 hee came over with his staffe , but he returned with two armies , and now being made rich , we finde no great remembrance of , nor haste to performe his vow . One would thinke , if ever man were bound to bee as good as his vow , it was Iacob ; yet we find he did nothing in it for a great time , but lingred , as though he had no care of his promise made to God : for wee read , Gen. 31. 13. some twenty yeeres after the making of that his vow , God was faine by an Angell to pluck him by the eare , to give him an Item in plaine words , saying , I am the God of Bethell , where thou annointedst the pillar , and where thou vowedst a vow ; now arise , get thee out from this land , and returne unto the land of thy kindred . One would thinke here were plaine English , and round dealing enough , and yet for all this Iacob is slow and makes no speed to hie him up to Bethel . View the particulars . 1. I am the God of Bethel . 2. Where thou annointedst the Pillar . 3. Where thou vowedst a vow unto me , all are as so many instances , to put him in minde of his promise and vow made to God : that he might now arise at last , and be as good as his word to God : yet for all this Iacob lies behinde , delayes the performance of his vow , which sloth and sin of his , Gen. 33. God did punish . First , by Esaus lying in waite for him . Gen. 34. Secondly , by having his onely daughter deflowred . Thirdly , by the rage and murther committed by his sonnes ; upon which horrible and hypocriticall Massacre , Gen. 34. 30 the good old man cried out , that they had made him stinke ; and that now the next would be , that the Nations would unite and destroy him and his house . Now the Lord tooke him , when his heart was downe with those heavy tydings and grievous feares ; and just in the nick , God said unto him ; Arise , goe up to Bethel and dwell there , Gen. 25. 1. and make there an Altar unto God , that appeared unto thee , when thou fled'st from the face of Esau thy brother : and then both long and late , yet at least being drawne to it , Iacob doth performe his vow . It is true , he did it though it were long first , yet wee see , the Lord was faine to fire him out of his negligence , and to force him to remember himselfe . His putting off so often , his long delaying was as great a sinne , as our very breaking of our vow , neither had he ever done it , had he bin let alone ; and yet Iacob was all this while a deare servant of God , and he was pardoned his delaying , his vow , and he is in heaven : let us not thinke but our case is good , albeit we have made and broken many a vow . Repentance will come & heale all againe . The summe is , that we make no more vowes than needs must , sith Satan is apt to thrust us on our vows , knowing that our nature is sick to breake out when it is so bound ; and when we have failed , then hee roares and cries , there is nothing left but hell and desperation for a covenant-breaker with God ; and therefore wee must be choice this way , never to vow , but when we are truly called unto it , and when we are called to it , to vow , and feare nothing , sith wee vow not on our owne strength , but only on the power and grace of God : Non sitis p●gri ad vovendum : &c. Aug. in Psa. 75. were we to performe the vow by any force , any wit of our owne , men should rather vow , never to vow , than to vow at all : but sith we go , by the help , presence , and assistance of God , when wee have a calling to it , vow and spare not , and if wee doe fall so farre as to breake our vowes , Ps. 76. 11. yet let us hold our own , we are not the first , others have done it , and are in heaven ; it is a pardonable sinne , repentance will take up the matter betwixt God and us , & make us as good and perhaps better friends than ever . The best friendship is often after a falling out , and wee must know , that many times repentance pleaseth God better , than never to have done the sin , because it humbles a man more , Luk. 15. 7. and drives a man more out of himselfe ; Ma. 18. 12. and there is as much saith in it , for a man to beleeve that God on his meere repenting will forgive him , as there is in holding out against the tentation , and not breaking the vow at all : neither is it besides the booke , to say , that there is as much grace in it for a man when hee is downe to repent and returne , as there is in not falling at all ; for by our fall the powers of the soule are weakened , the force of grace is decaied , and the strength of our sinfull matter is confirmed ; and the conscience of a man after a fall is as a distempered lock , the more wee tamper with it , the worse ; all this showes , that it is a signe of much love , & great favour of God to repent of a great and foule fault ; it is the vomit of the soule , and of all physick none so difficult and hard as it is to vomit , and therfore we must comfort our selves and say , I confesse I did God great wrong in breaking my promise , and did highly provoke him ; but I now see , that hee meaneth all good to my soule , in that he hath given mee the heart and grace to repent of my sin , and this is a fruit of an upright heart to take displeasure at sin . There is I know an uprightnesse , and that is of obedience when we sin but a few sins in comparison : so Ezekiah comforted himselfe , Isa. 38. 3. in that he walked uprightly before the Lord .

2. Another of repentance , Respicere nihilo facilius est , &c. Arist. Polit. l. 4. c. 1. when we catch many sore fals , sin many great & heynous sins , but yet we pick up al againe , by mourning and repentance ; & so David did , and his heart was all out as upright as ever Hezekiahs was , he was a man after Gods owne heart , and carries as large-testimonies of his uprightnesse and sincerity , 1 Kin. 11. 4. 15. 3. as the Old testament hath any . Now this uprightnesse of repentance is as sincere and showes as true an heart to God , as the other of obedience ; rest wee then our comfort on this point , that say , we have not kept our selves to our covenant and our vow : yet saving that it must and wil cost us sorrow upon sorrow , our repenting of our breach of promise , is as pleasing to God , and ought to bee as comfortable to us as our Not sinning would have been ; and sith God thinks never the worse of us for our breaking our vow , we must not be more just , or more holy than God , we must not thinke ever the worse of our selves .

The last is unbeleefe and a kind of Atheisme , as touching Christ Iesus . Atheisme I call it ( with the Apostle , ) sith he that is without Christ is without God : Eph. 2. 12. and when a man is a spirituall man , hee shall finde , that his unbeleefe this way will mightily punish his conscience , for lose our hold here and all is lost , it being not faith in God but Christ which doth save us ; and this is an high and an hard point of Divinity , here a man is put upon a totall deniall of himselfe , sense , reason and all ( but meere pure faith ) is against it . A man hath a law of nature , and principles answerable , which teach him somewhat concerning the Being of God ; So Rom. 2 15. Paul saith , not that the Gospell , but that the worke● of the Law is written in our heart . a man hath in him ( as hee is a man ) somewhat which will give a kind of sight of GOD ; but for Christ , his Nature , his Birth , his Offices , his Death , his Resurrection , natures law hath not a letter in it to teach us any thing concerning these matters : 1 Tim. 3. 16. they are Mysteries , heavenly Riddles , nothing can spell them and find them out but faith alone ; they are ours onely by revelation ; as good goe about to fore-see future contingents , Mat. 11. 25. as to finde out any thing as touching Christ Iesus , except by the Word and Spirit only . Things in the morall law , finde some seeds in the light and law of nature ; but ask nature at the best as touching Christ , and the answer is , that the Gospell is foolishnesse . 1 Cor. 1. 20. 23. God to be made man , by dying , to conquer death , to rise , and not rot in the grave , and for manhood , to put it selfe for the maine of heaven & happinesse , on one who 〈◊〉 as the worst of the three , was crucified betwixt two theeves , these are things impossible and incredible to flesh and bloud to beleeve . Mat. 16. 17. Now here is a field yeelding a world of perplexities to the disputer , and therefore our only course must be , to become fooles in our selves , 1 Cor. 1. 20. that we may be wise in Christ , to rely only on the Word of God , to find out our Christ in the word , 1 Cor. 3. 18. to circumcise the eyes of reason ; it is faith must doe it , I shall lose my selfe except I put my selfe upon , It is written . Say , though I cannot finde a reason of things beleeved , as touching Christ Iesus , yet I doe finde a reason of my beleeving them , and that is , because I finde it so in the Word : I must live and dye by the booke , the Bible must carry it . How do I know that there is any such thing as sin , but because it is written ; I must then passe my soule upon it . First , that there is Christ . Secondly , that Iesus is the Christ . Thirdly , what this Christ is , and what he did and doth for the salvation of the Church . Fourthly , that hee is , my Christ , my Iesus , my Saviour : I say , I must dye upon it , because these things are in and out of the Word ; many scruples break in , but dare any man set it under his hand , that Iesus is not the Christ , that any else is the Saviour ? No. Are wee not ready when wee are at the worst ( if we be called ) to subscribe with our hands to this proposition , that Iesus borne of the Virgin Mary , was and is the Messias , the Saviour of his people . Why then , downe with all oppositions and dubitations , dash them al out of countenance with this ; I doe beleeve in Iesus Christ , because it is in the Word , the eye and hand of faith must doe it , dye with this in our mouthes ( hee is hee ) because the word saith so : and I do beleeve it the rather , because Satan and lust cannot abide to heare of it . Hold we our selves then to the letter and tenor of the Gospell , and the tentation will blow away : faith workes strongest at last , where reason is most against it , and we finde dying men doubt least of all about the Articles of Christ , and the principles of faith ; it being a received axiome in the Church of Christ , that saith workes best and clearest , when it workes alone , and it workes alone in things wherein reason saith no , but the word of God saith yea . Thus much concerning the particulars in the first Table ; now followes to bee treated of some chiefe of the second table . The thing we must begin with is , that the pangs of conscience which arise out of sinnes in the second Table , were generally greater and stronger than of the first ; and it is , because that there is lesse of the light and law of nature in us , of the worship of God , than of the duties of our neighbour ; we have here a double sting , the spirituall conscience cries , and the naturall conscience cries ; and when two come together to cry , that cry must needs bee great : it is the better to maintaine order and discipline amongst men ; that there is more of natures law in the things of men , than of God , and a greater light to discerne those than these . The world must stand and hold in some quiet , til the period of it expire , which could not be , were it not for this bond and law of nature and thus wee have it , that in weaker Christians especially , greatest troubles of mind come , from matters of the second table . And if you aske what the matters of the second table be , which doe most vex the conscience of a man , and doe prove the worst tentations ; wee answer that men are usually most disquieted which murther against the sixth , uncleannesse , against the seventh , and theft , against the eighth Commandement . Disobedience to Parents and Authority , as it is first in the second table , so caeteris paribus , it is the greatest sin and hath the sharpest punishment ; Pro. 30. 17 ▪ the Ravens of the Valleys shall pick out their eyes , which is never set downe for a punishment of murther it selfe ; wee read not that hee that is cholerick with his brother must dye ; Mat. 15. 4 ▪ 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . but hee that , but speaketh evill of father or mother , is a man of death by the word of God : but yet these cases doe not use to stagger the conscience most , in most , be-because it is not so flat against the light of Nature , neither are they held such heynous faults amongst men , and wee use to judge too much of the greatnesse and soulenesse of sins by custome & the estimate of men , we do account those the worst sins , not ever which the Word saith are the greatest sins ; but such as amongst men in the time and place where we live , goe for the mighty sinnes , and trouble of conscience doth arise from our opinion and apprehension wee have of things , which by the way must teach us , not altogether to be led by the wrack of our conscience ; for conscience is blind in al unregenerate men , and in the best , it is in part defiled and corrupt and imperfect , and therefore it is mistaken and cannot bee our rule , Rom. 9. 1. and it is our sin , to set our conscience in the roome of the Word of God , when conscience speakes in the Holy Ghost and according to the word , then it must be heard , else conscience doth sometimes complaine most of some things that , are no sins at all , as we see in the Pharisie , who was troubled in minde , if hee should chance to eate with unwashen hands , Mat. 15. 2. and through misprision and error , Mar. 7. 2. they thought they did GOD good service , Ioh. 16. 2. to kill Christ and his Apostles , and therefore we must not set up conscience too high ; put it not in Gods place but when it speakes for God and from God , and hath light enough to see what is what , then when it speakes out of the word , the conscience must bee heard ; God is greater than our heart , 1 Ioh. 3. 20 ▪ and therefore wee must hold to him and to his Word , which onely is his Interpreter in this world : it concludes not then simply , to say , my conscience tels me it is a sin , my conscience tels me I am not in Gods favour ; but to returne , we must know that those sins doe trouble most , which doe most disturbe the society of men , for it is the naturall conscience that gives the heaviest blow ; there is most light and sight in the natural conscience of man , in those matters which concerne humane societies of men ; and so because bloud , lust and theft do undermine the state of mankinde , and cast all into confusion : hence it is that these sins make such a cry as they doe , and that not simply , because they are the greatest that bee ; nor for that they are most against the nature or will of God , but because they doe most hurt to men , and are most against the order and governement of mankinde ; before I descend to those particulars , I would have men to aske the question , whether their trouble bee , because the tentation is bad , or base ; or bad and base both .

1. If we be troubled only because the sin is base , and brings with it , or after it , the shame of the world , than it is from sinne and pride that we are so vexed , and that is made a matter of conscience , which is wholly or chiefly a matter of self-respects ; or if it be within our selves and secret , and yet out of a conceit of our selves , wee are much afflicted that we should be haunted to doe , or drawne to act such and such vile and base corruptions or some dishonourable passions , then this is from spirituall pride , and all this is no true trouble of conscience at all ; we may know whether it be thus or not , if that other sins as grosse and great in Gods sight , which have in them or after them no shame , nature shames not at them , the world doth not cry shame of them , but ( rather as many sinnes of profit and delight ) are in credit in the world , and doe bring respect amongst men ; now if wee finde , that such sins do passe without any such trouble : the conscience saith as much as nothing , though wee be convinced that they are sins ; if thus , then the case is cleare , that it is a trouble which wee make , and not which sinne or God doth make . It is shame as shame , not sinne as sin , that doth cause all this cry ; it is not for the sin , but for the effect of sin that we thus complaine .

2 ▪ If bad and not base , whether to the face of the world or to the naturall principles which are in us , then the troubles that wee feele in the conscience are spirituall and sincere , they are for sinne as sinne , because it is naught , or rather , because it is for bidden by God ; for many things have no morall naughtinesse in them , yet are sins , because they are forbidden by God ; and if these things trouble the minde , such wounds come the right way and God will cure them : as because wee heare not the Word , receive not the Sacrament , which in the dictates of nature were no sinnes , had not Gods written law bin : In a word , when we finde that the blow our conscience doth give us , is because the fact is a fault , a thing forbidden by God : here the matter doth run right , and it is very conscience which moves in that case .

3. When bad and base , both the terror is great , and it proves an occasion of great humiliation and casting a man downe ; wee are so proud and high in our owne conceits , that base tentations which produce inward shame to the minde of a man , and if they come abroad , outward shame and scorne amongst men , doe mightily abase a man , and are an excellent cure for spirituall pride . Here wee shall finde a mixt passion working feares in the heart , and complaints in the conscience of a man ; for as the sin is bad , so it doth trouble because it threatens the wrath of God , and is accompanied many times with a fore-feeling of the wrath to come . As it is base so it doth draw over the heart and conscience of a man an inward blushing and shame ; and I may say it , that true internall shame , making the conscience red againe with blushing , testifies repentance more and rather than sorrow . A wicked man may grieve , but for this spirituall intrinsicall shame , it is not in wicked men : we must note that an outward shame is in the unregenerate , when they have sinned some sins which the world doth point at ; this is a shame before man , and there is some inward shame also , which wicked men do feele in themselves too , and that is in and for such sins as are against the law of nature ; and such conviction as generall illumination and common graces doe cause : here the heart will blush , but in such sins as are not knowne to be sins , but by the conviction of the spirit ; here to shame , Spirituall sins are not so base , as carnall sins : to have an heart as red as fire , with a blushing before GOD , this is a good thing and proper to the godly , 1. Because they are not so common to us with Beasts . and it is most , when the sins are base : thinke not that there is any sin which is not base in it selfe , 2. Because they do not so take away the naturall use of reason . but to us ( and in comparison ) we use to name some speciall sins , base sins ; this is that shame Paul meanes , Aquin. 2. 2. q. 144. a. 2. ad. 4. m & q 142. a. 4. 0. what fruit have you in those things wherof ye are now ashamed ? Ro. 6. 21 ▪ Yee are now , which showes that when , and whilst they were in the state of nature they were not ashamed of them : Well then , a wicked man may grieve for sin , because of the punishment feared or felt , or both , because there is wrath hanging over his head by an haire , because sins lyes at the doore ; Gen. 4. 7. and here are selfe-respects out of love and care to our skin , because we would not be punished here , or hereafter : but this shame is not because sin is punishable , Arist. Rhet. 2. c. 6. Aqui. 2. 2. q. 144. a. 2. but by reason that it is filthy , it ariseth from the turpitude of sin , and this is hearty to make a stand at sin , because it is filthy and ugly . To be ashamed of some effects of sin , as Adam in his fall , I meane at his nakednesse , Gen. 3. 7. is in wicked men : but to have this inward shame in the conscience , because of the innate filthinesse and turpitude of sin ; this is not in the wicked , nor in their trouble of minde , and was not in Iudas , when I say , there is not onely griefe for sin as bad , as punishable ; as bad , respecting God , as punishable respecting our selvs , but also a shame in the mind of a man that he cannot looke up for blushing , Luk. 18. 13 then it is as it should be ; Ps. 40. 12. and the pang of conscience which comes from this sorrow and shame , is many times very great , and this is a troublesom estate while it doth last , but it is not danger ou● .

To apply the three sins , I mentioned , viz. Theft , Vncleannesse , Murther , doe smite home , partly because they be bad , and partly because they be base .

1. To begin with Theft , wee must beware that wee doe not filch the worth of a penny from any man , that which in our common notation is called theft , is more base than the great sin of Rapine , and Robery , because that in rapine there is som manhood and fortitude showed , Aquin. 2. 2. q. 144. ● . 2. ad ult. such as it is : but in theft is nothing but a base minde ; and because the law is so strict and flat against theeving ; the name of a theefe is odious , and it doth pay our hearts home , and there is very much trouble of minde , Furem odio habet & Sycophantam quisque Arist. Rhet. 1. c. 4. because men doe use to spit at this sin , and the reason is , rather because it is a wrong to man , than for that it is a sinne against God : and sure wee must see that wee doe keepe cleane fingers , that by no kinde of unjust alienation , wee either take or keepe any thing from any body which in right is his ; wee all love to be truly and justly dealt with , and therefore nature it selfe , if it may bee heard speake , will cry fye and shame upon a false finger . Because then it maks a breach into the meum & tuum of m●n , which we see rather , than for that it doth make a breach in the law of GOD which wee see not ; this sinne doth clogge the consciences of men what ever the ful cause be , we finde that it doth pester the minde of man ; and the conscience , held and hampered with a clogge , is like a distempered lock which no key will open : we must therefore , to keep our conscience as free as may bee , beware that wee doe not touch that which is anothers : but if wee have , doe , or shall , what then ? We must free our mindes againe by confession to God , and restitution to men . Here wee see that a great cause why these same sins of theft do urge the conscience so much , is , because of the wrong done to men ( whom we see ) in that as soone as ever we have made restitution , the minde begins to settle , and the heart to quiet it selfe presently . I know if wee have meanes so to doe , we must give as a work of charity , to expresse our thankefulnesse to God , a largesse to the poore too , as Zachous did : Luk. 15. 8. but the maine thing which quiets the conscience , is to restore , which is a worke of Iustice , the other of Charity : this worke of making restitution to the party wronged , or to the poore in case of defect , that the party cannot be knowne or had , will still the Allarum which the cry of unjustice ariseth in the conscience of men . And by the way we may note , that the very cause why the other sinnes of murther and uncleannes are more dangerous to the peace of our consciences , is , because that in them there is no possible place left for restitution ( for who can restore to another their life or chastity ? ) But here , in theevery there is , and therefore there lies a faire way to hush all in this sinne which doth not in those . The summe is , take nothing from no man ; it saves a great deale of horror , if wee have , then let him that stole , repent of the sin , restore the dammage , Eph. 4. 18. and steale no more .

2 The next shall be murther , a sinne that makes a foule and hellish noise in the conscience , in that it deprives a man of his life , his best peece : I meane not to speak of murthering our enemies , or plaine killing any , as David did , to avoid shame or so . Tentations to this sinne , are amongst the people of God , David for one , did it for once , and it did so cast him behinde hand , that he came not to himselfe about a yeere after , and then too , by the particular strok of Nathans ministry ; hee himselfe was a Prophet and a rare Saint of God , Luk. 15. 17 yet he lost himselfe for a great time ; and Nathan being sent from God , was faine to goe about the bush , and at last to close with him ; and to take him as it were by the throat , and say , thou art the man ; David had his fits of minde in all this space betwixt , 2 Sa. 12. 7. hee roared , hee cried , by reason of the quietnesse of his heart ; Ps. 32 , 4 , 5. his marrow was dried within him , he was like a chip or hearth , and therefore this sin by all meanes must be avoided , and the occasions and causes of it : it springs from anger and hatred , The cure in repentance ▪ Quis homicida desperetsi in spem redditus est , &c. Aug. tract. 28. in Ioan. Evan. and these irascible passions must be mortified , and to mortifie them we must deny our selves in our reason , else wee shall say , when wee are provoked and abused , that we have reason to bee angry ; 1 Ioh. 3. 15. and to beate downe hatred we must beware of envy . Mat. 5. 21 , 22. Cain killed Abel for nothing but envy ; and the Scribes and Pharisies did what they did to Christ for very envy . 1 Ioh. 3. 12. Downe with these burning and provoking affections , Mat. 27. 18 and we are safe from the sin : but the tentations to murther , which follow many of the people of God are to murther ones selfe , or ones nearest friends , as parents , wife , children ; the cause of this is diverse in selfe-murther , that which makes way for this hellish motion is discontent , arising for some sin , or from some heavy crosse ; and when we are in this case , then because wee have not faith to beleeve that it will ever be better ; and are so full of pride , that because wee cannot be as we would be , we begin to thinke it is best not to be at all : wee must then labour for faith , to beleeve that one day it will mend ; if a sin , God will forgive it , if a crosse , God will remove it , and to be content to be any thing , t is no matter what , as long as we be out of hell , and then this tentation will away : and of all , see that wee dispaire not ; for he that is once out of hope , wil desire to see the worst as soon as may be , & so leape into their own death . Hold out , be patient , waite , stand still , and fee the salvation of God ; Ex. 14. 13 Satan will tempt the Lord Iesus to breake his neck ; Mat. 4. 6. and are we better than our master ? And when Moses , Eliah , Ionas , and others of the best sort of Saints , were in a fit of discontent , and grew weary of their lives , wishing for death I doubt not but Sathan gave a push at them , to dispatch and ease themselves of the present , by cutting off their own dayes . Far be it from us then , to thinke that wee are none of the Lords , because wee are tempted or followed with such hideous tentations ; or that sure we shall at last doe it , sith we are tempted to it long and often : No , no , thousands of Saints have gone thorow this tentation ; and have happily closed their eyes in peace : our lives are not our owne , the Lord gave them and it lies not in us , to take away our owne lives from our selves ; our lives I say , are not our owne , and wee neither ought nor can without GODS permission take our lives away . Man in his life being so neere himselfe as his life is , and the consequent being of such danger , wee must trust and hope that the Lord will hold our selves in life : I meane not to give any way to any in this sin ; for though I see that many have beene weary of their lives ; yet in all the Word wee read not of any godly man or woman that ever did it : few scape the tentation that live out their time ; they are to follow Christ in that as in other tentations of Satan ; but in all the word , we read not of any of the generation of the just that ever did it : that God who kept them , will , if wee looke up to him doe as much for us . A marvellous matter it is , serving much to humble us , that men who dares not thinke of taking away the life of another , should be so pestered with impulsions to stop their owne breath ; but to settle the point , we will remove false meanes of ease , and set downe the true way to peace in this malady .

1. A false meanes is for a man to yeeld to much to feares , so as to thinke to avoid the tentation , by declining , and not by resisting ; as some dare not carry a knife about them , or when their knife is out , cast it from them , this is to yeeld too much to Satan : neither doth it helpe the matter , but rather keepe the tentation in . I will not say what may bee fit , when a man is subdued and held downe by Satan , herein weakens may dispence ; but while a man is in the conflict , this is not the way : indeed if a man have his knife about idle occasions , perhaps it may doe well to put it up , to put it out of sight , and so out of mind ; but if a man have it in his hand , about his meales , or any other good use , then to put the knife up ere one hath done , out of these feares , is to faint and come in too much to the devill ; and though one doe finde some seeming ease for the instant ; yet it is but like drinking cold Beere in the shakeing of an Ague , the disease will grow the worse after . Right so , Satan will hold on his tentations with the greater violence : the way to drive away our tentation , is to keepe our knives about us ; and when out about some good and usefull imployment , by no meanes to put them up for feare ; but to fight it out against Satan , by setting the Word and Christ against him ; and do this a while , and wee shall have peace : so others dare not come , or not abide in such or such a place , bebause there they use to be tempted to selfe-murther , but this is not the way : have we businesse there , or have we not ? If none , What make we there ? Chiefly in the night or darke ; if wee have , then go thither , stay there out our time ; the tentation wil more fright us than hurt us , and it will ere long settle us , Ps. 119. 62 that we shall have as much quiet there as in any roome else : some in their beds , in t●e dead time of the night are assaulted , they rise , and think that the way ; if they rise to fit themselves the better to pray , I say nothing to that , I rather commend it ; but if we rise and avoid the bed & chamber for very feare , I like it not : it never helpes , the more wee rise , the more we may , we shall never have done , rather wee shall grow worse , and the tentation will grow upon us : what then ? Lye still , looke to God , to his Word ; in any hand yeeld not to the divell ; to flye the roome , the bed , to call for candle , it is to flye from the divell ; wee must abide by it , fight it out by faith , and Satan will flye from us . God would have us stand , and it is best to beate the divell in the selfe same place where Sathan thinkes to foile us : Eph. 6. 13 , 14. I am at prayer by my selfe , or meditating in a secret place , within or without doores ; I am filled with a feareful thought that sure Satan is behind mee ; what now ? Doe not flye the place , goe on , make an end , Satan cannot hurt : say , we quake every joint of us , yet hold on , quake and pray , quake and meditate , and we shall make Satan quake and flye : neither is it good to bee looking behinde one , for it is a service and kind of obeying the divell ; a man shall never have done ; but stand our ground , out-looke the divell , say I am about a lawfull worke in my right place , I will not turne my feet or face aside for all the divels in hell . Satan is the Lords enemy , and God cannot take it well , that wee should doe any thing for feare of him . Againe , I never goe over such or such a bridge , but I am tempted to cast my selfe in , and therefore I go round about ; or if I goe over the bridge , I run over , to bee on the other side quickly for very feare : alas the day , what a miserable life this is , we must not thus yeeld , but goe over , and not about ; and goe over , as we use to go on the plaine ground , and as others use to go over the same bridge ; doe thus with a constant heart , and after a time or two , we shall bee free from such horrors and feares , else we shall hang in this misery perhaps while we live , as not to dare to go over such a bridge , but wee must runne . O Cowards ! These be you think but toies ; beleeve it , there is more in it than you are aware of ; it helpes against the divell , it frees the heart of a man from a world of vexing and disquieting feares : so for our nearest and dearest friends , Satan doth sometimes push at the people of God , to lay violent hands on their wives , their children , and that in the night ; now the way to helpe all , is not to doe as some doe , to rise , to avoide the bed , the chamber , this is a kind of base fearing and yeelding to the divell ; lye still , stirre not a foote , Satan is soonest vanquished , and our hearts best eased by resisting : so for children , when wee are assaulted with such hideous tentations , many thinke to mend the matter by putting the children out of the roome , out of the house , out of sight ; this is but to shift , their their place is to be in the house and roome where we are ; it is our duty to have them much in our sight ; it doth but skin over the matter for a time to put them away : the best way is to stand to it , and beat off Satan in those tentations , our children standing by . Now here wee must beware that wee doe not entertaine a tempting conceit , as though we did not love our wives , we did not care for our children , and were with out naturall affection , because we are haunted with such monstrous motions : This proves indeed that Satans tentations are unnatural , and would produce much unnaturall effects ; this proves that Satan cannot abide , that families ( the ground-worke of all communion amongst men in Townes , and States , ) should accord and be in any peace , this proves , that if Satan might have his way , he would have us all to be as he is , but so many pititious murtherers . First , of our best friends , and then of our selves : it proves not that wee love not our friends , because of these motions ; for a man may bee often assaulted to doe himselfe harme , and yet for all that he doth love himselfe , and tender his owne good too for all that : and therefore a man may well bee a tender husband to a wife , and parent to a childe , for all these Satanicall suggestions : for let any other touch the least haire of our heads , and offer the least hurt , to the worst and least member we have , we doe startle at it ; and should any other person or thing come with any violence towards our children , we will step betwixt them and the blow , and even venter our owne lives to bee a meanes to save theirs : and wee finde that such as are vexed with such sudden motions towards their children , are yet so tender over them , that they will scarce suffer the winde to blow upon them ; and sick with them , when they are sick , reckon of no pain , no care for them , when in any danger , which showes naturall affection to abound . A man is not to judge of the affections by the feeling motion of them , nor by the stirring of them in his bowels ; nor at all by what he feeles himselfe to bee in the tentation , but by the effects : if there bee such fruits which nothing produceth but love and affection , it is past all question that there is no such totall want and generall defect that way . We cannot abide to heare God evill spoken of , which showes that our heart is towards him , albeit for the present wee feele not our hearts and affections to move towards him , our affections are usually most deepe , when they run on without any noise ; wherefore what ever Satan puts upon us , we must hold our owne ; that for all him and his tentations , and those impulsions of Originall sin , we doe love our selves and love our second selves full dearely , and would be full loth to suffer any wrong to bee done to them .

2 The true and right meanes of helpe in these bloudy tentations are , First , to labour to bee contented with our selves , the peace wee have , the comfort wee have , the health wee have , the meanes we have , and considering what we doe deserve ; to blesse God that it is no worse with us . A cheerefull heart is not subject to such malicious motions of the divell ; he useth to worke on man whom hee takes to bee discontented . We are alone thinking on heaven by some Well-side , he seeing us alone , taking us to bee there , in some discontented moode , thrusts at us with a tentation to cast our selves into the water : here runne not away , walke on still , proceed in good meditations , thrust away these thoughts that are put in by the divell ; and know that our Originall sin is the receiver worse than the theefe . 2. Humble for that wee carry about with us , such a corrupt heart , as will on such occasions take thought of discontent ; it is our proud flesh that will not sit downe under some heavey crosse ; and because we have not al we would have , and cannot bee that wee would be , we care not to be at all : we must have as others have , else wee fall a powting presently ; we must learne to be thankfull for any life ; downe with the proud humour , bee not high minded , these thunders and lightnings of tentations are to fright us , and by such feare to bring us to walke humbly before the Lord . 3. See what sin wee live in , if in any , that is a true cause of deepe discontent : repent of that ; doe the contrary duty ; sin is the proper cause , not to the crosse which makes us weary of our lives ; Satan sets our eyes onely on the crosse , for he knowes , it is out of our reach to remove that ; but indeed it is some sinne that doth pinch us , and put a sting into the affliction , and we have it in our hands by repentance to remove the sin , and the crosse will remove it selfe : Goe to God to finde out the sinne for us , and away with that , if there bee any , and ( as when the tooth is once drawne ) we shall finde ease and peace presently ; if we bee not weary of sinne , it is but fit , wee should be made to be weary of our selves : if no sin ▪ then know , it is to humble us , and to fit us for some great peece of service that the Lord meanes to imploy us in . Waite and joyne with the tentation , to rend the heart , to bring the minde low , and then it will be gone . 4. See whether we do not abuse God and our selves in our wives and children ; perhaps , we dote upon them , make so many Gods of them ; and if so , then it is reason that they shold by this tentation be made bitter unto us ; that wee may have wives and children , 1 Cor. 7. 29 as though wee had none at all ; or if otherwise we sinne against God in them o● for them , let this goe for the cause , why Satan is set on , and let on us , with such killing suggestions , that we may be corrected in the very thing wherein wee have offended . 5. That which must hit it on the head and doe the deed it selfe , is to get it off by prayer , by a fast , if need bee , and by the Word . There are some which will not off but by prayer , and fasting ; but there are none so terrible , so strong , but prayer and fasting will give us ease and comfort against them : but the matter must bee sanctified to us by the Word ; wee must bring Scripture , not reason ▪ To tell Satan or our selves of the shame , of the danger to us , to ours , will not doe the deed : that which will worke the worke , is to set the word of commandement , of promise , of the threatning against the powers of Sathan , I shall sin if I doe , I shall offend God : It is written , thou shalt not kill ; if not an enemy , then not a friend , if not a friend , then much lesse my selfe . Love to mine enemy , is the reason , why I must not murther him ; love doth begin at home , and it runs warmest in mine owne veines , in mine owne bosome , & therefore I will not lay hands on my selfe , I shall dye the death if I doe . The word and prayer will fright him away ; sin and Satan care for nothing , feare nothing but the word : they are the Ordinances and the power of God , and by his might , do extinguish all the fiery darts of the divell . 6. Never thinke of making any mends or satisfaction , by destroying ones selfe for any sin : Rom. 1. 16 perhaps Iudas thought by killing himselfe to make some amends for his horrible murther committed against the person and life of Christ Iesus : Satan never doth a man more hurt , than when hee comes preaching , and sets upon us with holy ends ; that because we have done this or that grand offence and abuse to God ; that therefore they are to pacifie him or to satisfie him , by sacrifising of our selves . This corrupt Divinity growes in our flesh , as we see by those , who fetch their penniworth as they thinke out of themselves , by whipping themselves : 1 King . 18 28. a mad part it is for a man to thinke that by committing murther , the greatest of all murthers upon himselfe , to make any an ends for their sinfull life ; and yet so foolish doth the divell make som men . Beware of this deceit , fire is not put out with fire ; no satisfaction can possibly bee made but by the bloud of the Lambe , that holy Lambe Christ Iesus : and I would have men beware how they plead for such as draw their owne bloud , because thereby they doe make way for Satan , to push hard on the consciences of weake Christians , by bearing them in hand , that they may ease themselves of some present horrors by killing themselves , and yet be saved in heaven for all that : such cases perhaps may possibly be ; but for man to pleade for such , to exempt them out of the rule , may make foule worke for Satan , to play upon the weaknesse of many poore Christians souls I know no medicine ( next to the Word and prayer ) of better use to hold such mens hands from their own lives , than feare of being damned in hell : an indirect plea it is , for any to speak for such , and full of danger ; Givitas eum qui se ipsum necaverit mulctat . &c. some think thereby to ease perplexed consciences , but it is the ready way to perplex the hearts , Arist. Eth. l. 5. c. 11. and engulsie the soules of feeble Christians ; they doe not know , what hurt they doe to men , under this tentation to vent such unsavory Doctrine ; that a man do well for the main , for all this , that this may bee a way to heaven . As I love not , so I meane not to judge ; the way of charity , Inter pontem & fontem miserecordia Domini . is to leave Gods secrets to himselfe ; but I urge this , that men would hold their tongues and pens as much as may be , least in thinking to doe good , they doe hurt ; and by going thus about the bush , hoping thereby to ease the hearts of men , doe mightily plague and disquiet them : for what will Satan say , dispatch man , thou maist be saved for all this ; such a learned man hath so written , hath so said . And lastly , wee must all worke it out with feare and trembling , and know that wee have no safety , no not from our selves ; but under the shadow of the Lord , wee are alwayes to stand as in his hands , and keepe our continuall acquaintance with , and dependance on God ; know that without him , we are poore weake creatures , that we cannot beare our selves ; that the greatest earthly blessing under heaven , ( life it selfe ) is quickly made a mans greatest burthen : that no man can stand before a wounded conscience , before an Angell we may stand , but wee cannot stand before him when he is angry ; that man hath no spirit , no courage in him , if God leave him to himselfe : keepe in with God and pray him to defend us from our selves .

The last , is the lust of uncleannesse , which doe presse upon the conscience as much , if not more than any , because they are very sensuall and of a beastiall and brutish nature ; deprives a man not onely of religion , but of the free use of reason , are many of them committed with and upon another , Cupidi●as si solum dixerit , &c. and so a second person is brought within the guilt , Arist. Eth. l. 7. c. 6. as also by reason of the concomitant fleshly delight , for they are acted with very great willingnesse : and when many of them are done , though nature it selfe say , No to them , they are done with very much wilfullnesse : and now , where much will is , there is much guilt , where much guilt is , there is much horror : and then againe , because these lusts do pervert , the order and course of man-kinde irregulating the right succession of families ; and in the point of adultery , and that kinde of bastardy , it doth put in a strange bird to inherit the nest , and weare away the feathers , So Ioh. 8. 4. which is unspeakeable theft , Taken in adultery in the very act . and to be confessed of the adulternesse ; The word translated act is 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . lest to her foule adultery she adde horrible theft that the child of a stranger carry not away the goods or lands of the family . Id est , in the theft , perhaps to intimate the great theft which is in adultery . These and many other concurrant or consequent absurde●ies doe make this sinne cry aloud ; and it hath a speciall measure and order of uncleannesse above any sinne else . All sins are uncleane , and Satan is an uncleane spirit , but there is something in it , why the Apostle is so distinct , Mat. 12. 43 as to call this sin above all other the lust of uncleannesse . Great care and diligence is to be used to hold these lusts off . 2 Pet. 2. 10 They are in the Originall appointed to preserve the species of mankinde : and as hunger is a potent desire , it being ordained to preserve the person of man in the individuall ; so much more these motions are violent and mighty , being made to make good the succession and propagation of the whole kinde of man : mighty they are when they runne in the right channell ; but if wee suffer them to take a wrong bias , and to fall into unlawfull courses , where Sathan drives them on , how then doe they beare downe all ? And cast a man into such a subjection , and ( as I may call it ) voluntary compulsion , 2 Pet. 2. 14 that the Apostle saith , such cannot cease to sin . Againe , I must borrow leave to put in this , that wee are the rather to take heed of these pollutions because when we are in once , by reason of the great sense of guilt they carry with them , in that they flie in the face of both spirituall and naturall conscience at once : they bring men to great terrors and inward horrors making men beleeve that there is no hope of such , and from thence , men run upon the rocks of selfe-murthering tentations ; and more , I think , have made themselves away out of inward feares arising from some uncleane prankes , than for any one thing else : and the cause hereof , is because that these lusts bring great shame amongst men if once out ; but the maine is , because they carry with them great inward ●●●●e , not only spirituall betwixt 〈◊〉 and ones selfe , but naturall , 〈◊〉 twixt a man and himselfe : and as wee see in those actions of this nature where they are without sin , yet there is a kind of naturall shame . And now because there is such shame of all sorts , Vt merere , alvum leva . re , liberis operam dare . vid. Cic. Offic. l. 1. men are wondrous loth to let any man know what the matter is that troubles them . And in tentation of selfe-killing , if a man keepe the core to himselfe , he is in great danger ; but if a man doe once out with it , after he hath beene with God , and it will not doe ; I say , if then one doe out with all , to a wise and a trusty friend , that he is in the tentation of murthering himselfe , and the cause to be some foule uncleane pollution ; why then one would wonder , upon what a sudden the heart will feele ease , and the cure is as good as done . But now because there is such shame , and we are loth to out with it , that we have beene uncleane ; and the burning fire will hardly quench except one breake up the Boile , and vent the corruption , by opening all our mind to some godly friend , upon these considerations , I propose it as an excellent peece of counsell to all , to beware of the lusts of uncleannesse ; the sin is great , the consequence greater .

Moreover , this is a great matter in it too ; that we doe grow into troubles of minde for sin , according as we do apprehend them in the greatnesse of them ; and we doe conceive much of the greatnesse of sin , according as the opinion and judgement of the world goes . These are not in our apprehension ; ever the greatest sinnes , which the world saith are : but which are most out of request with the world . Now this lust of uncleannesse is a great eye-sore amongst men ; it is so rated at by many men , as though God had made but onely the seventh Commandement ; whereas covetousnesse and pride far greater sinnes in themselves ( take them precisely , ) are not so esteemed amongst men , no nor amongst common Christians . A man may goe for a great professor , and yet be extreame covetous , as we see in Iudas : but if he be a man given to uncleannesse , it is a sin so out of all credit , that a man knowne to be infected with it , cannot amongst men in their opinion goe for a professor , as some tearme themselves ; and now because the world doth hoote at this sin , wee are apt to ●ind exceedingly in our consciences ; when we are overtaken in this uncleane passion ; and to grow towards a bloudy conclusion , as though the sinne had in it that greatnesse , that there were now no hope of us . And this may well go for another usefull consideration , to move us by all meanes to keepe from the lust of uncleannesse . Pro. 5. 11. 7. 26. 31. 3 And lastly , the sinne many times weakens the body , and pines away that , darkens ones semes , shortens ones life , and then comes in a huge cry , that wee have rotted away our life : are guilty of hastning our own death , and much adoe there is to quiet the storme which comes in this way : Wherfore for this cause also abstain from fleshly lusts . 1 Pet. 2. 11. We see then that it leaves the greater brand on the conscience , Pro. 9. 7. because of the dishonour and blot of this sin , as well as by reason of the dishonesty of it , as also for that there is a degree of uncleannes in this sin , over there is in any else ; which foulenesse , the heart of man doth rise against : and this cannot but touch us with some degrees of terrour also ; and that this sinne doth carry some speciall staine of dishonour with it , Pro. 6. 33. read it in Solamon . A wound & dishonour shall he get , and his reproch shall not be wiped away . And in Paul : Who cals chastity a mans honour ? 1 Thes. 4. 3. Vpon these grounds and considerations it was that Saint Peter saith , 1 Pet. 2. 11 That fleshly lusts doe warre against the soule . These are the devils Captaines , and doe ( meaning to kill us ) smite at the head , war against the soule : other lusts doe war against the soule too ; but there is some speciall matter in it , that these fleshly lusts are said to warre against the soule : shall I say , that it is , because that the other lusts doe warre as much against the graces of the soule : yet there is not any that doe war more , no , nor in some respects so much against the peace of the soule ; and therefore in Peters words we are to be beseeched ( of all lusts ) to abstaine from fleshly lusts .

Wee will now enter into a particular discovery of such speciall branches as may make the matter the plainer . Lust of uncleannesse are committed either : First , with ones selfe : Secondly , with others . First , we will begin with that committed with ones selfe , Aeschines Temar . chum a concione arcendum , &c. which are greater in themselves , abtract them from all other circumstances than with any other ; Vid. Navar. Manual . c. n. 6. as selfe-murther is worse than the murther of another ; so in and of it selfe , this sin is worse than of another . For the rule is , that the sin that doth breake the order of love , is the worst , love being the keeping of the Commandement : So Paul , 1 Cor. 6. 18. I must not defile my neighbour , Aggravates Fornication for that it is against our owne body . because I am to love my neighbours chastity ; but I am to love my selfe and mine owne chastity , Vid. Erasm . before the chastity of any else : Paraph. in 1 Cor. 6. 18. and this is a foule sinne much against nature , and therefore the worse , for the more unnaturall the sin is , the greater the guilt is still in that respect : and whereas it is thought that there is not that wrong in it , as is in taking away the chastity of another : I urge , that there is most wrong when a man doth wrong himselfe : and as the theefe doth in the candle , so these selfe defilements doe rot and weaken the body , by the curse of God exceedingly . Vid. Gen. 38 ver. 9. And ( as in all such inordinate practises ) there is a secret kinde of murther ; what , if not in the intention of the doer , yet in the condition of the thing done : God is much displeased with these kinde of sins , they are execrable in his sight , pay the conscience home when they are set before us in their true and right colours ; make people unfit for mariage without the great mercy of God ever after . I could wish people to marry on ever so poore termes , Quisquis affectus illos frenare non potest , &c. rather than to fall into such illicite , darke and abominable practises , Lact. l. 6. c. 23. which doe grieve the very principals of nature ; say , let the worst come that can , for outward things , it is better to beg than burne in hell ; I will trust in God , I will follow him ; he that feeds the Ravens he will provide ; I will rather bring trouble on the outward man , than on the soule : it is wisdome to look to the soule what ever becomes of the body : whatsoever comes , it cannot bee worse than sinne ; nay , whatsoever it be , it cannot bee bad with us so long as we obey . For howsoever there may bee some difference of Estates in the generall , yet sure it is , that is the best for us in the particular , which God cals us unto , there lyes our peace , our joy , our comfort . 2. With others , and here comes many kindes ; we will begin with the worst first , and that is , Lev. 18. 23 20. 15. Beastiality , forbidden in the Word , and therefore our corrupt nature and originall sin is capable of it , and when once in too too prone unto it . The worst things , when the law of nature is suppressed yeeld strongest delight such as it is ; this must be looked unto , it turnes man into a very beast , 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . makes a man a member of a bruite creature ; a sinne that man would soone fall into , if the Lord shold let sin and Satan alone with us ; Phocil . what one man doth , that another may possibly doe , wee being all of the same masse and cloth , and that since the law was given , men have run upon this horrible abomination . Stories , and experience , and law , have shewed and doe show ; wherefore by all meanes this soule corruption must be avoided : Praeceperunt nobis sapientes nostri , &c. over familiar usage of any bruite creature is to bee abhorred . And the Iewish Doctors doe charge their novices , Maiemon . More nevoch . par. 3. cap. 49. by no meanes to feed their eyes with staring on the generation of beasts for feare of the worst . It is a pit , out of which those few that do fall into it do hardly recover : it is like a winter plague , some doe recover , but in comparison of those that perish , a poore few .

2. The next is Sodomy . Iud. v. 7. A going after strange flesh ; not onely strange in the law of God , as in fornication it is , but strange in nature : a sin to which our law of nature hath no great minde unto at first ; but if our corrupt lust , Lev. 18. 22 our originall sin bee let out , So Iudg. 19. 22. They would rather do wickednesse on the man , than commit folly with the old mans daughter , a Virgin 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . Phocil . wee see how it carries too many after this abomination . God would never have forbidden it in the law , but that our nature is subject to it : we see how it did over-run Sodome and Gomorrah ; when it once takes , how doth the sinfull flesh of man runne after it ? Lots daughters were young , fresh , and maides too ; and yet they would not serve , they must have the men . And Ro. 1. they forsooke the naturall use of the women ; therefore it is spoken of such as had wives , else how could it bee said that they forsooke the naturall use of the women : and it is said , that such doe burne or scald , and not only men with men , working that which is unseemely , but women also : when given up to this unnaturall passe , doe as Paul said , change the naturall use into that which is against nature ; that is , so against nature , that posterity , which is natures end , is utterly lost by it : and such as are acquainted with Stories and Poets , know that this sin hath beene too much in many Nations . Arist. in pol lib. 2. c. 9. & Euseb. De prepar . Evan. l. 6. And many particular persons have doted wonderfully after this preposterous lust , Athaen . l. 13 and have taken more bruitish and hellish delight in it , than in those passions which are according to nature . This then must be avoided by all meanes , and all occasions of it warily eschewed ; he sinne is great , it is a corrupting and a rotting of the very rudiments of nature ; & in all things , looke what corrupts , the foundation and principall of things must needs be worst . The punishment was great in that utter overthrow of Sodome . In the Deluge , water from heaven drownds : Erat justa quaedam retributio his qui naturae subverterant leges , &c. here , as in their sinne , they had over-turned the law of nature : so , in their punishment , there was an inversion of the course of nature ; Chrys. Ser. de Adam . Sadomitis . See the phrase Luk. 17. 29. It rained , fire and brimstone , ( not water . ) for not water , but fire came from heaven and burned them , whose lusts were thus set on fire of hell . It is used as a type of hell , it is a crying sin . The cry of Sodome and Gomorrah is great , Gen. 18. 20. Grandis peccatorum clamor est , &c There is no sin but hath a voice ; but this amongst many and above most other sins hath a lowd and a crying voice , Salvian . de Guber . Dei l. 1. it is heard to heaven , it hath a lowd mouth to accuse , which cry , is nothing else but the guilt of conscience ; and the justice of God , the conscience being full of matter , and ready to accuse , Miserecordia mea suadet ut parcam , &c. and God to heare . As a man through importunity , is drawn to execute justice against his minde , Salvian . Ib. so this sin doth so put God to it , that hee must needs proceed , except we come with hearty repentance ; hee cannot res , nor be just , till hee have sorely and sharpely punished it .

The thing I urge then , sith the sin and the guilt is so great , O fuge te tenerae pue●orum credere turbae : Nam causam justi , semper amo ris habent . and will make such a noise in the conscience , is , by all meanes to keepe from the sin and from all spice of it , to shun all occasions of it ; to take heed of that which Quintilian puts off in a Schoole-Master ; Tibull : 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . which is , Nimium est quod intelligitur : and he is so strict this way , that he will not have bigger and lesser youths sit much together . We may see what wrought Sodome to this sin ; Quae qua●ti sint criminis , &c. Salvian de Guber . Dei . l. 6. Idlenesse , pride , fulnesse of bread , these must be heedfully avoided : and such sins as wee read , Rom. 1. were in the justice of God punished with and by this passion of dishonour : we must be thankfull to God , for the light we have , and in some measure , walke according to the truth wee see . They made God like a foure-footed beast ; and GOD gave them up to a sin , which did abase them into a worse condition than of beasts ; and for such as are unmaried and have not the gift , and by the use of al the meanes cannot get it ; such must know , that it is better to marry than to burne : and if they will rather burne than marry , they are in a foule way to fall into this scalding sin ; 1 Cor. 7. 9. which sin if they commit , brings with it a world of misery ; and after when such shall happen to marry , Luk. 17. 27. by the just hand of God they are suffered , In the daies of Noah , saith the Text , They did eate , they drank . &c. But ver. 28. we read , That in the daies of Lot they did eate , they dranke , &c. for a punishment of the former wickednesse , to forsake ( as Paul saith ) the naturall use , and run into that which is unnaturall : and these are most monstrous lusts ; when all is done , by way of preparation & disposition of our hearts and thoughts , against these corruptions ; It is not ●aid ( they maried ) in Lots dayes . that which will save us from the staine of these filthy puddles , must be the pure and holy Word of God . Set the Word against the sin , and the sin is laid ; set the Word against Satan in this his tentation , and ●atan cannot abide by it ; Satan 〈◊〉 no more abide the light of 〈◊〉 Word , than an Owle can 〈◊〉 ●●ining of the Sun : say I 〈…〉 doe it , I may not , I 〈◊〉 , it is forbidden in such 〈◊〉 place , and againe , in such a place : It is called , not onely a sinne , but which shewes an height of sinning abomination ; both of them have committed abomination , Lev. 20. 13 saith the text . Lev. 18. 22 The punishment of it by Gods own Law , was death , no lesse than death , present death ; they shall surely bee put to death , Lev. 20. 13 their bloud shall bee upon them : and the law was flat and peremptory , that no Sodomite must bee amongst the sons of Israel : and in that never the like reformation , Deu. 23. 17 Iosiah brake downe the houses of the Sodomites which were by the house of the Lord , 1 Kin. 20. 12. 2 Kings 23. 7. Asa the father , and Iehosaphat the sonne , 2 Kin. 22. ● . had swept away those unclean nests in their dayes : but we see they grew on againe , till Iosiah came and made a ful purgation . These and such other places , show that this sin is strong ●●●den , and severely 〈◊〉 , to which adde the wrath 〈◊〉 God on such in hell , 1 Cor. ● . These are the best medicines that bee ; which being rightly used and applied , doe ever doe the cure . Next , to provide against the worst ; say a man be a sinner in this great wickednesse , yet he must not run away from his father , that will marre all . There be I know degrees in this sinne , but say it bee at the worst , yet there is mercy with God , repentance will make it up againe : Eph. 4. 19. it is good to make all hast to returne , sith lasciviousnesse is a sin which useth to seare up the conscience , till the time of reckoning for al comes ; and God doth sometimes after a while shut up his gates of mercy : Ser. Ne desperamus si in bene operando tardi sumus . Et Hom. 1. m. and then as Chrysostome notes often , though Noah , Iob , Moses , Samuel , and Daniel , shold intercede , 1 Thess. 1. it would bee to no purpose . Ier. 15. 1. They were men of God , Ezek. 14. 14 who in their times did by their prayers do great things and compasse marvellous matters for particular persons , for Families , for Countries ; and yet when the glasse is out , and the decree determined is past ; when the time is over wherein God may be found , their prayers for others come in too late ; it is good then to bee at it with the soonest : I meane not that ever it is too late to repent , or that if we repent , we can misse of mercy . Zach. 13. 1 No , no , the fountaine stands open , alwayes open in the house of David , for sin and for uncleannesse ; and this unclean person ( as Paul cals him ) if he repent , he shall finde mercy : God forbid we should have such a thought , as though this sin could staine so deepe , that the bloud of Christ could not fetch it out : our meaning is , that whilst the conscience is awake , and we have a faire offer made us , by the Word and Spirit , knocking at our hearts ; it is good wisdome to take Gods offer ; delaies be dangerous , for if we will not know the day of our visitation , God may : and what if in justice he shall refuse to give us to repent ; then let our friends move for us , God will not heare , were they as good at praying as ever Iob , Daniel , Noah , and Samuel were . Let such then who are in this offence , come in by all meanes , in all hast to the Lord ; and when the Angell moves the water , step into this Bath , this Fountaine : know that GOD would never move our hearts to repent and returne , had hee not a meaning to pardon , and to accept : as looke into the 1 Cor. 6. and there we read , that some who were thus sinfull were yet sanctified , 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . were washed , and are now with Christ : and if they , then why not some now ? It is not to the purpose , that they were so before their callings , sith Divines do agree ; that there is no one sinne that a man may commit before his calling ; but should God leave that man to himselfe , to his lust , to Satan , he might , and would , and should , commit the same sin after : neither lies there any reason , why on our repentance , a sin done before is pardoned ; and the same sin if wee repent after , must stand unpardonable : or that a man may repent , of a sin done before ones conversion , and not repent of the same sin after : adde but this , that the sin committed before , is in it selfe greater , than the same sin committed after ; for before it is done with a full swing , saving that perhaps , the law of nature and in-bred modesty , doth at the first make some recoile ; but after calling , there being some seeds at least of grace in the wil , there is some inward opposition made ; it is not done without some saying , Rom. 7. 23 nay , in the law of their minde , and so the sin is the lesser . Now if repentance could doe it at first , when the sin was greater ; can wee question , whether repentance doth fetch it off , when the sin is lesser ? Indeed , if no repentance , no healing , no not of the least knowne sin ; but if we repent , all our Divinity lies upon it , that such shall bee pardoned ; and that God hath not peremptorily bound himselfe , to deny repentance unto life to any sinner , except the blasphemer against the Holy Ghost ; is point agreed on , in our Schooles and Pulpits . Indeed , if such as are in this foule fault doe finde , that it workes a stupifying , that it seares , takes away , the inward power of discerning things , that are not convenient , deadens our tast ; if such finde that their inward touch-stone hath now lost its vertue , the danger is a great deale the greater ; because such having little or no feeling of their estate are not as yet in the way to repentance : but if such finde it a fiery dart , burning like any poyson , working a world of troubles in the minde , and a fearefull consternation in the conscience ; then there is the more hope , that true humiliation and mercy is not far off : such have a faculty in them , which will worke out of their feares a desire to be eased ; and if once upon sight of the promises , they conceive hope of mercy , they are in a faire way to repent of their wickednesse : and that God who hath made tender of his mercy to worse than Sodomites , Isa. 1. 10. will receive those to favour upon true sorrow for what is past , and stedfast resolution to doe so no more , for the time to come .

And here I will leave this uncomfortable argument , wishing all who meane not ( say they do scape hell ) to carry the smoke of this sinne to their graves , to flye from it . Now because I said , that when in committing a sinne the conscience is against it , the sin is the lesse ; I will not conceale , what a late Divine saith ; that the sin is the greater when it is done , when the conscience doth say no : for saith he , if this were any signe of a mans having grace , that in acting his sin , he feeles a moving within , against those sinnes he doth doe : it would follow , that great sinners , aye , all sinners might perswade themselves , that their estate were good , because there is a con-flicting against vices , out of the principles of natures light ; which are in the brests more or lesse of all men living ; that in an unregenerate man , sins against the naturall conscience are the worse even in that respect , because he doth them against his conscience is most true : We must then say , that when the sin is done against the voice of the conscience , sometimes it makes the sinne the lesse , sometimes the worse : If we , take part with the sinne against the conscience , are angry that our conscience would not let us take that fill of Delight , and content in committing the sinne , and are not willing that conscience should say any thing unto us when we have done , here the sin is much the worse , because it was done against conscience : Isay 30. 21 but now if we take part with the voice within , and are heartily sorry that the temptation and our passion meeting together , doe beare downe the power of our conscience , and doe what wee can , to take part with the reluctation , Vnderstand all this of a conscience sanctified . while it , is a doing ; and when it is done , nothing in the world troubles us so much , as that wee did not give way to the act of conscience , and keepe from the sinne ; and doe joyne with our conscience against our lust , and are putting more strength into the power of grace and conscience against another time . In this case when wee take part with the conscience against the sinne , it makes the sinne the lesser , which the ungodly never doe ; but doe joyne with the sinne against the conscience , and for inward combates , there are some in the unregenerate where no grace is ; betwixt originall sinne and other habituall lusts and the Law of Nature , but not with such sinnes , as nothing saith are sinnes , but the Word and Spirit of GOD. So Paul stiles them , 2 Cor. 7. 1. In unnaturall Lusts , wee grant there is some strife in some , yea , in most unregenerate men ; but in other more spirituall sinnes , there neither is , nor can bee that civill warre within , because there is not a power of grace to make the resistance : how-ever , the wicked doe take part with Lust , even against the Law and rules of Nature ; which circumstance doth aggravate thei● sinnes : but of the difference betwixt the combate , which is onely in the good , and that combate , which is also in the bad , Dow● . there is enough and enough said by Divines to Satisfie any man : Warf . p. 4. l. 2. c. 8. Sect. 3. and in this point , all care must bee used to keepe off unnaturall passions : the sting of conscience is great , the cure is hard , and so much the more difficul●● because , what for the danger , and what for the shame of them , men cannot be easily brought to make their minde knowne to any man ; which gives the greatest advantage to Satan to worke his will upon us : but if any be overtaken , in any hand let him send up to God ; and in case GOD put him off , out with it to some spirituall man , who must and will , and as God shall be pleased to blesse his labours , shall restore him with the Spirit of meekenesse . Gal. 6. 1.

Next wee are to looke over those which are naturall ; called naturall , because that nature hath an end in them : for though the wrong way in unlawfull lust , yet they tend to the propagation and continuation of mankinde : and first for such as are single , then for such as are married .

1. Such are single ; if God give them by the use of his meanes the gift , let them keepe themselves so , if they be wise : if not , then marry , and so marry , that they attaine a principall end of marriage . Paul gives wise councell to Parents , that they suffer not their Virgins to passe the flower of their youth ; 1 Cor. 7. 36 his meaning is , when they have need of , and a minde unto that estate : else hee tels us what is best , and here many of our Gentry are too blame , who keepe not their younger sonnes so much from marriage , but they doe post and thrust their daughters on this estate , albeit they have no minde or need , which is a misery ; as to bee made to eat when one is not an hungred : avoid all extreames , and when God and Nature call , goe on in any hand , and that in time , and not stay till the Lusts of youth , which mariage is to cure , be past : have the house first all on a light fire , and then goe about to quench it ; whereas mariage is ordained to prevent & kill the lusts of youth : and know that if wee bee about to provide for our children ; then in hope that ere long it will be had , children will containe and hold in the better , In 1 Thes. c. 4. Hom. 5. & in Gen. 35. ( as Chrysostome observes ; ) but in case that they see that we make no hast , Hom. 59. take no care , they will marry themselves , or else ease themselves by some such ungodly courses . The counsell then is , to make all good hast to enter them into this estate in fit time ; 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . and in the Interim , to maintaine their naturall modesty , and spirituall chastity all wee can : speake not an immodest word , 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . Phocil Turpe habitum erat , &c. Alex. looke not an immodest looke , use not any light action in their presence . A Roman was degraded for that he did but kisse his own wife before his children ; & the ancient Christian was very curious and dainty this way : Geneal . l. 4. c. 20. their order was , that men and maides sate so at Church , that one did not , Philo. De vit. contemt . Aug. de Civ . Dei . l. 2. c. 28. Chrys. nor could not , see one another ; the women-kind had their vailes : And in the East Churches , Hom 74. in Mat. Neceph . in vit. Chrys. Durant . de rit . I am sure Virgins and Maids , were not used to come at mariages ; we cannot doe too much this way ; Eccl. l. 1. c. 18. Regius Orat. Christ l. 1. c. 3. and many take such liberty before , that after mariage they do rue it all dayes of their lives . Chrys. in Coloss. 4. Many stay to provide a rich match , Hom. 12. till it be too late ; for all the while the streame is dammed up with untempered morter , it doth and will rage the more , and a vent one way or other , it will and must have : and hence wee see , that such as are kept from that estate by a kinde of force , are the worst that way that bee this day in the world ; as your Iesuits , Fryers , & Nuns . It is our corrupt humor , to bee strongest in our passions , where wee are denied ; and a wound bound up & not healed , ranckles worse than if it were open : which made the Apostle to call that Doctrine ( which forbids mairage and gave not the gift ) the Doctrine of devils ; sith it puts a man upon a necessity of sinning a sin , and so foule a sin as uncleannesse , and for want of a naturall streame to run over , into unnaturall practises , Viduis , 1 Cor. 7. 8. which doe carry a man and woman much beyond the line , Sic vocat muli●res nuptas , &c. Parae , in 1 Cor. 7 , 8 , 9. and put him far and far from God . And this makes way for some complaint against widdowes states , which in some chiefly of the younger sort , 1 Tim. 5. 14. must needs prove a practise of devils in the Apostles sense , because it doth thrust some women into a necessity of sinning . The Apostle doth counsel the younger widdowes to marry , to beare children ; else saith he , they will not , onely they may , but they will marry and wax wanton against Christ .

All that is said is , that these widdowes may mend it & marry if they will ; but it is hard for women to turne themselves out of house and all , rather than sin : and if they have nothing , who will have them as things goe now . Indeed amongst the Iewes , where they gave money for their wives , this exception would bee of some force ; but now amongst us , where mony makes the match , they may sit and fry long enough , ere any will make suite unto them to marry them , when they must on their mariage bee outed of all . What ever they thinke they may bee able to doe while the husband is alive ; yet when the man is dead , the widdow is in danger to sing another song : we care not much for that wee may and must have , but when it is denied us , and wee are tied from it ; then as in the Gospell , they told it abroad the rather , because Christ bid them tell no body ; so the passions of women will rage the more , because now they must not marry ; and a young widdow will bee lesse able to containe and bee chast then when shee was a Virgin . They urge that it is covenient , they so remaine , to bring up their children ; but a curse is like to follow that condition , wherein is a needs-must sin , and all to breed up children : that estate of life is fittest for a woman to live in to breed up children , wherein she is most free to serve God , and is most of all preserved from sin . And we see widdowes that have children and stand free , will tell you that they marry , to have one to helpe them to bring up their children and the sons will stand in more awe of their father-inlaw than of a woman their mother ; and we doe see , that men doe use to take as great care for their wives former children , as tho they were their owne : and when two have a joint care , it is better than if one only ; and a womans care and power is never the lesse when she hath one in commission with her to help her . A little matter in the taker wold help al to turn a widdows estate into a life ; and it were nothing in the setter to suffer such as they see have or are like to have need to marry . Please God and please all ; I know now and then , a booty comes in to suffer such to marry ; but of all inconveniencies , sinne is the worst , there lies the mischiefe . Many do sin for want of the medicine , and he doth best , who frees his manner most from sin ; neither will they live ever the longer , because they doe marry : the times of men and women are defined by the Lord , longer they cannot live , sooner they shall not dye : I will not deny , but want this way , may and doth in some bodies breed diseases , as both Physitians and Philosophers teaco : but I hope no man hath this in his head , to bar widdowes from their necessary liberty to marry when they will in the Lord , a purpose to kill them up with discontent , or to cast them into any diseases . I would I could perswade men to consider the matter , and make their case their owne ; and then say , whether setting aside all opinion of merit and supererogation , the case of a Nun bee not easier , who is cloistered up from having to be amongst men , than of a widdow in a widdowes estate : whose life is to be up and down in the world , and have much society where men are ; and yet must not bee maried , except some one will come and have her with nothing . Examples of any that have so done are so rare , that in my experience I never knew any .

2. Next when we are to enter our selves and ours into mariage , we must see to the chiefe and the principall end , which is ( as the state of man is since the fall ) to keep a man chast : he that maks mariage to be the meanes in his intention to make him rich , maries in the flesh , and not in the Lord , hee cannot with any face invite the Lord to the wedding ; Mammon , not the Lord , 1 Tim. 5. 11. doth lead the Bride to Church ; the Apostle saith , it is not good for a man to touch a woman , but yet saith he , to avoid fornication : he saith not , to pay debts , to get money , to make one rich ; let every man have his owne wife : v. 2. but to avoid fornication , Matrimony then was ordained , to make men and keepe men chast , and not to make men rich . And we doe finde , that many of those who marry to bee rich , Si qui impediti sunt ex nuptiis . &c. Chrys. in Hebr. Hom. 7. which is their end , and have rich widdowes too ; after mariage , doe attaine neither their owne end , nor Gods : marry , and after are neither rich nor chast ; and then they fall upon mariage , with many heavy complaints and cries , and that if there bee any hell above ground , it is in mariage . We must then be before hand , and marry so seasonably for time , and so wisely & proportionably for age and other convenient circumstances , that it may preserve our chastity . It is too late to bring water when the house is burnt : as soone as the sparkes arise and it begin to grow toward burning , and we see the smoke up , goe to Physick ; there must be no time of lusting , what ever there bee of woing : many complaine of too much trouble in that estate , because they bring sin with them thither : there bee too many who are afraid to marry , but not to sin , and at last , when it is heard , late marry they doe , and rue it all daies of their lives : did we conceive , what the horror of uncleannesse is like to be , and that there is in the sinne of fornication , a staine above other sins , that it makes ones body the member of an harlot ; it doth defile the soule , 1 Cor. 6. 15 as in their manner all sins do : it doth defile the body in making it an actor in the sin , as many other sins doth : it doth abuse the body , in making it the member of an harlot , which no other sin but the sin of uncleannesse doth and this will presse hard on the conscience , when time shall serve , that in sinning this sin , the body is thus made the member of a strumpet .

3. When entred into the estate , we must be convinced of the greatnesse and foulnesse of the sin of adultery ; it gives a deadly blow to the 〈◊〉 it selfe ; it is cried out of exceedingly in the Word , it cuts a-sunder the sinews of families ; we must judge of it by the Word , not by the world . Once ( I am sure ) amongst the Papists it was placed among the lesser sinnes , Cap. Et● Clerici extra de judiciis , &c. and because too many every where stand guiltie of this sin ; Iac. Cujacius reprehendit in recit . posthumus ad . c. 4. 〈◊〉 clerici . the world hath not a right ●●dgement of this sinne ; it doth corrupt the mind of a man , and takes away the use of the power and faculty of discerning : it brought Salomon the Wise , Neh. 13. 2. to run into all idolatry against common sense . And Sampson the strong , ( made Iudge of Israel , by a miracle from the Lord , Iudg. 16. and therefore no foole , ) though he knew that the harlot would betray him ; yet when he had once tasted of it , hee did so lose his right wits , that for his heart he could not forbeare : we must not then thinke of this sinne as the world doth , but as the LORD doth ; wee see , customs takes away 〈◊〉 and judging exactly of any sin in the very Church it selfe , and that a non after Christ , we find that by reason of use the Christian Gentiles held fornication to be scarce a sin , as we may see in that Synode in the Acts ; and the second Chapter of the Revelations , Aliquid est dandum adolescentibus . a tricke of youth it was counted , and is amongst too many , but for a tricke of youth , ye for such tricks , God the just will damne men in hell , unlesse they repent . In 1 Cor. 6. 9 , 10. we reade , that fornicators ( as distinct from adulterers , ) and adulterers , shal not inherit the kingdom of God : and againe , fornicators & adulterers , though men doe not as they should , Object . yet God wil judge . Yea , but say a man lye in the least knowne sinne that is , he must not inherit the kingdome of heaven : and therefore this is no argument to prove these sins to be great , because they keepe out of heaven . But these sins are named above others , Sol. to shew that a man cannot be fornicator or adulterer and be in Christ . A common practicer of those sinnes one cannot be , but he must and shall allow them , they are of that nature that they will lord it where they be : but other lesser infirmities a man may practice them commonly , and yet not allow them , and so notwithstanding bee in Christ Iesus . One act doth not ever denominate . These then be sins , whose ordinary use cannot stand with grace , nor is compatible with ones being in Christ , and by that meanes they are said to barre out of heaven ( over lesser and smaller thoughts ) and thus the argument is good and firme , hence to prove them to be great sins ; what then love cannot doe , let fear doe , for God doth puni●● these sins with a chiefly : see this in Peter , 2 Pet. 2. 9 , 10. The Lord knoweth how to preserve the unjust to the day of judgement to bee punished but chiefly them that walke after the flesh in the lusts of uncleannesse .

Being convinced of the hainousnesse of this crime ; the next is , that the mariage-bed must with all care be preserved in all purity ; the tentation is strong to fornication , stronger to adultery ; for the worser a sin is , the stronger is the impulsion of Originall lust unto it : and Satan is more eager to make men adulterers after , than fornicators before : but here is the difference , that ( as I shewed before ) except a man hath the gift ; hee that will not take Gods medicine and marry , let him doe what he can , use any , use all other meanes , yet he hath no promise it shal do : but when married , use the meanes , and we have a promise , and an assurance that we shall be kept undefiled , let sin and Satan doe their worst . The chiefe and necessary meanes to maintaine conjugall chastitie , is for such to-love one another ; it is not the having , but the loving of a yoake-fellow which doth keepe us cleane and chast .

2. To keepe in with God in other matters : for that man , with whom the Lord is angrie , for some other former matter , shall fall into the hands of a filthy woman . Eccl. 7. 26. We must not then by lying and living in any other crime , Pro. 22. 14. give God cause to give us over unto this sinfull sinne .

3. Such must be chast betwixt themselves ; beware of excesse and defect ; Divines t●ll of excesse , but if there be too much , there may be too little , else what meanes that phrase of S. Paul , 1 Cor. 7. 9. lest Satan tempt you for your incontinencie : there must bee quenching , nor provoking of lust ; raging lust is a great enemie to love , and it is raging , and is loth to be contented with one ; and if not with one , then indeed and upon the matter with none . Dalliances are forbidden : First , words and talke full of obscenity betwixt them two is not lawfull , they must not by words corrupt one anothers chastitie : worse than to taint the chastitie of a stanger for that here is , or ought to be most love . What if no body be by , yet God is by , and chastity the honour and honesty of the estate is by . Secondly , the eyes must be pure and chaste ; else the next will be , that the eyes of such will be full of adultery , 2 Pet. 2. 14. it crosseth the end of matrimony , which is not to fire , but to extinguish lust . I have read , that it is against the Law of Nature , for one , without necessary cause to see his owne nakednesse ; but what ever credit we give to the judgement of men , we have it in the Word , that Adam and Eve , when there was no living creature by ; the very instinct of nature did teach them to make coverings to hide their nakednesse , from the sight one of another : this I am sure , that the Lord doth use to correct such intemperate couses and practises , with strong and vexing tentations , after strange flesh , this is the ordinary effect of this abuse ; and they who shall avoid such irregular prankes , shall finde a sweet enjoyment one of another , and true affections stirred up with more naturall delight and heavenly content . Isaac . I know , sported with his wife , but it was , no body being by ; and what if it were such , that the King who over-saw all , knew thereby that shee was his wife , yet it was ; in all modesty , for no d●lliance nor sporting , is allowed to a man with another woman : this sporting did discover to an heathen , that hee was her husband , although he gave it out that he was her brother . But it was not of that nature we now treat of , that the Patriarches and Matriarches carried it with all possible modesty in those dayes ; we may see it cleare by the story of Iacob and Leah . Gen. 29. 25 Beleeve it , modesty is the best preserver of nuptiall chastity ; Modestie keepes the key of Chastitie . mariage is no stale nor cover to any uncleane and base practises ; Quod unum habebant in malis bonum , perdunt peccandi Verecundiam . Senec. de vit. Beata , cap. 12. Peribit ille cui periit pudor . Plau. in Bacch . Erubuit salv●res , Terent . Moderator cupiditatis est pudor . Cic. de Fin. l. 2. love doth no unsightly nor unseemely thing .

4. The bed must be sanctified , and kept undefiled by the * * 1 Tim. 4. 5 Word and Prayer . The Word is as Divines show us , up and downe , a mighty healer of this corruption , and it stands like a strong Tower , against all these base and uncleane lusts . To the Word , there must be Prayer adjoyned , else wee rely too much on the Physick , and it is not like to doe ; and if Physicke workes not right , it makes one worse ; and so here , as we finde none so uncleane as some married people ; God must then be sent for ; to blesse the physick to the soule : other things we know , as eating and drinking must be sanctified by prayer , prayer is then rather and more to bee used here , because the passion is so strong and reason so weake : where reason is in a manner put besides its present use , there I hope prayer hath greatest place ; eating is to take away the naturall passion of hunger , and drinke , of thirst ; yet we are to pray over our meales ; but here the ordinance is to cure sin , to worke on the soule , to heale a strong corruption , which cannot usually bee done without the influence of heaven ; and thence it followes , that wee have cause to pray more in this case , than in eating and drinking : praying , I say , there ought to bee , say by way of supposition , that prayer at meat should take away ones minde to ones meate , why then wee would counsell one to pray for a blessing before-hand : so here , to pray will bring in the blessing of God , which is all in all in spirituall medicines , as this is , being , as I said , to cure the sin of the soule ; prayer will keepe men that they shall not surfet , and so come to a loathing nor fall into a defect , here must be a satisfying , Pro. 5. 19. as Salomon sayes , and drinking away our thirst at our owne Cesterne , Ver. 15. lest wee hanker after a strange fountaine : prayer will make a man keepe himselfe , Heb. 13. 4. from all base and absurd and abusive dalliances ; it will make and keepe the bed undefiled , and encrease love and mutuall affection . Love hath a sure foundation , when it is built not on beauty or wealth , but upon prayer and grace . Satan cannot abide to see men and women in this estate , to live in quiet and love ; and this makes him to use all the art and power hee hath to trouble the waters , to blow up the affections after a wrong object ; for then when such lusts are in , love goes out : he knowes , that the droppings of love will keepe us from such immoderate desires , which makes him to goe all the wayes he can to worke , to fill the head full of surmises and jealousies , the heart full of extravagant lusts , and all to marre the harmony , which ought to be betwixt couples : the house , the towne , is out of quie● , when such are out of love ; all which cals upon such as are married to be as watchfull and carefull , to keepe all right , to remember that it is the convenant of the Lord , that it is not made by man but by the Lord ; all covenants else that are lawfull are a far off , Pro. 2. 17. the covenant of the Lord and done in his sight : but here the Lord is a party and God hath a speciall hand in this bargaine ; and he sees , as within book , quite ●hor●w , and is acquainted with all our thoughts a far off ▪ wherefore wee must in thought , in word and in deed , keepe close to the party , the Lord hath bound us unto , and wherein we have entred into bond to the Lord for our faithfulnesse : such then must be a covering to one anothers eyes , Gen. 22. 26 else the heart will not stand cleane , and the meanes before prescribed , and other both naturall and morall directions , which wee finde up and downe in Writers , must be used with all care and conscience , and much diligence , and all little enough : our nature is catching this way , and once in , it is not so easie to come off , but rather to runne in this case further and further off , or else grow into discontents , pangs of conscience , terrours of heart , inward gripings ; out of which if wee come the right way , it must bee with much bitternesse , after we have waded first 〈◊〉 a kinde of purgatory : if we never claw off those gripings the , right way then such run into a seared conscience , or which is worse , breake prison and thrust themselves out of this world the quite contrary way . I meane now to grow towards a conclusion , and the rest shall be taken up in some directions .

1. To prevent these Lusts . 2. To helpe against the two effects of these lusts , viz. 1. Horrour of the tentation . 2. The deadly blowes of senselessenesse which they give .

First , 2 Tim. 2. 22 for such as are young : these are called the lusts of youth ; they are most strong in youth , and come on worst there : because that their affections are strong , their judgements weake , and youth do conceit that they may take some liberty this way , and no man must aske them why they doe so . They must be exhorted to flye the lusts of youth , Timothy was young in age , but old in conditions ; a very true penitentiary , a drinker of water , a very weak crazie body , a great pains-taker , a man fuller of grace than ordinary , being an extraordinarie Officer in the Church ; and yet Paul cals upon him being young 〈◊〉 what , onely to avoid ? No ; what , to runne ? No , but fly from the lusts of youth , make all post-haste away from them . If Timothy , such a chast and chastened peece as he was , had need of such a warning-peece , then all youth have great need , not to come neere the doore of her house , Pro. 5. 8. as Salomon doth advise his young Saint .

Secondly , such as are old must not crie holy-day , and thinke that no danger lyes this way : alas the day , age will kill no sinne , it is Christ and grace onely that can cure any 〈◊〉 there were a sinne 〈…〉 ; whereof in all , 〈…〉 if this bee found , that age doth kill it in some : such then as are in yeares , must not cast away their weapon , but walke in feare and care this way , yea , though they bee good people . I know the body is then frigid ; and there is not that stirring with that strength : but if Satan come and blow the coales , there will rise a great flame , a mighty burning : an old house will fire quickly , and so will old people , if they let Satan alone . Iob was not young , and married hee was too , when he said , Iob 31. ● . he made a covenant with his eyes , taking bonds of his senses that he would not bee catched with a maid ; and maides are more inductive this way , than such as are married . Iob , not such a man in the whole world againe , Iob 1. 8. a chast man , a married man , one that had children , and now some what in yeares , and yet you see his ●are and circumspection this way . No man must then thinke to walke at large , because hee hath the remedy , and is now growing towards his last declension . Saint Hierome saith , that his face was pale with fasting , that his body was cold , his flesh halfe dead already ; yet he complaines , that in his witheted carcase the flames of lust did boile , and that his minde was inflamed , and even all in a scalding f●●e with fleshly desires , and old hee was also ; and therefore we see in the best men that be , age of it selfe is no priviledge ; none must dare to heare himselfe bold on his age : Satan can helpe an old man and woman to a wanton eye , to a young tooth ; sin is not so much in the act as in the affection , it 〈◊〉 in the root : and GOD will suffer such 〈◊〉 one to fall into burning passions , that by his 〈◊〉 experience he may learne to know , that sinne is properly and immediately in the soule , and the soule growes not old ; that grace , Arist. de A●im . l. 1. c. 5. Turpe est cum aetate senueris , & defluxeris , libidinem tamen minime consenuisse . not age , must be the death of sin : now an old man to fall into the passions and lusts of youth is monstrous , and proves almost uncurable . To see an old man covetous , is no such strange sight , but to see him lascivious is a great eye-sore ; Na● . orat . 40. p. 648. as to see an old man to be affected with the Gowte and Stone , Edit. ●aris . the diseases of age is not so much , Turpe sen●lis amor . but to see an old body to bee taken with the diseases of youth , Petrarch . is a strange sight , Epist. l. 5. and proves most dangerous ; Epist. 9. as to have the small-pox , the wormes , and other diseases of children ; so in his soule , to finde an old body wantonly given , to be carried away with affections of uncleannesse , which are properly and commonly the lusts of youth , is dangerous : I wish then old people to keepe off , and not to thrust themselves upon the fire , relying too much on their age : yea , say that a man hath passed over his youth , with some freedome this way , and it may be , hath not felt himselfe much given after this veine , yet he were best see that he hang not loose when he comes to yeares , for wee have the confession of a most strict and godly man , Gregory Nazianzen by name , In Carmin . De rebus suis & de Calamit ani●● suae . who having in his fresh and younger time , carried a good hand over these lusts , when old and even done , he cries out that hee was haunted and pestered most miserably with them . And David a better man than he , yet it was in the afternoone of his age , 2 Sam. 11. that hee fell into adultery . And when Salomon was old , saith the Text , 1 Kin. 11. 3 , 4 hee doted on an our-landish woman : Neh. 13. 26. how comes ●his ? Like enough , because men being young feare themselves , when old , they thinke the worst is past , trust too much to the advantage of the body , lye not in their armour , have not their weapons ready , and then Satan is too hard for them . 2. When old , then men are subject to much spirituall pride , and that perhaps , because they stood so free from this sinne , as though they had beene somewhat in themselves ; and now to cure that spirituall sicknesse , this base tentation is suffered to molest them . 3. If they had beene thus set upon , when hot and young and full of sap , with such strong motions this way , like enough they should and would have sunke and yeelded : and GOD will have such know by their owne feeling , what these lusts meane ; wherefore that they may not receive that hurt by the temptation and impulsion , they have their hands full of them when old and cold , who did scape them , when greene and young . However , I wish both young and old , by all meanes to beware of this Snake .

Thirdly , whether they be , or bee not given to this sinne , yet care must be used , to be as much as we can out of the way , when the tentation doth come ; such as are much given to this sinne have cause to looke round about them , because Satan hath such a potent friend in their bosome , hee holds a side and a faction in the hearts of such . This sinne is a sinne which is much drawne out by the temper of the bodie , it holds more of the body than any ; as we see it shewes not it selfe , till the body comes to such an age : it may rather than any be called a bodily sinne ; if then wee finde that by the constitution and graine of the body , as also by sinister education , or otherwise the minde and heart runne much or more than ordinary this way : such must be at it day and night , to keepe the occasion away all they can ; to keep themselves away , not to bee within ( as it were ) when Satan comes , to call in for all the helpe they can , to put the matter into Gods hands , to weaken the corruption , to breake the blow of the tentation , or else mightily to strengthen us ; as knowing that such walke in the midst of dangers , and by care and feare and other meanes , it is brought to passe , that such as have most inclination to uncleannesse , prove the chastest of all . That is not properly chastity , when a man hath no minde at all , but frigidity .

If but a little by reason of his temper , he may thanke his body : but when a man feeles raging lusts , and yet by resisting , by chastising his body , by praying , fasting , by following God in the use of his remedies , by begging chastity from heaven , gets power and strength that is the chast man . There is no lust so hotte and violent , but Gods medicines being rightly applied will coole and heale . And now , for such as are not very violent that way , by reason of education , being ever kept under the wing , or of complexion , or because as yet by the providence of God have not beene much tempted ; such are apt to fall , because they doe not suspect themselves , care not to goe armed because they dreame of little or no danger : now here Satan hath great advantage , for bee the inclination this way with the least ; yet if wee beare our selves bold , and Satan bee let to have his way , he will make a mountaine of a mole-hill , and bring men to a miserable passe with scalding affections , let him ( the Devill ) have leave to blow the fire , and then ( in respect of this sin ) the most naturally chast men in the world , shall have cause enough to crie out , O wretched man that I am . Such then as 〈◊〉 no great matter this way , must yet be wise , and keepe watch and ward , not thrust themselves upon the Devils dangers , least they smart for it .

4 Both old and young , single , and married , more or lesse addicted to these passions . All I say , all are to see that they take these caveats .

1 Religious people must take heed one of another . Many when they meet thinke no hurt when they come nigh one another , but are the worse one for another ere they part : it is no hard matter for Sathan to turne religious affections into carnall : we see in the Elements that are Symbolicall and agree in one quality the transmutation is easie , as of water into aire , because both agree in moisture , so here because some men and some women beare a deere affection and love one to another ; there lyes danger , lest Satan cause it to degenerate into fleshly lust . This caveat is in Paul , Rebuke the younger women as Sisters , with all purity , 1 Tim. 5. 2. So that a mortified Timothy had need see to it , that when hee is to rebuke young godly women , he doe it , not with some onely , but with all purity and chastity , for feare of the worst . 2. Care must be had of such as are our kindred in the flesh ; the sin is incest , and being great : our Originall sin , when once the vaile of modestie is downe , and the wall that nature makes broken , then , I say , our corrupt flesh growes even mad after this sin , as in Amnon with Thamar . The change is easie , from naturall love to carnall . Againe , such as are neere in bloud , thinke they may make bold one with another , and many times feare nothing till they are caught , ere they once dreame of it ; and then the world takes no notice to see men and women who are of alliance ( any thing neere ) to toy and sport one with another , to bee together and alone too , which proves but a cloake for most abhominable incest : I could therefore desire such to see to themselvs , and beware of the least motions and occasions of this foule vice . The like for affinity , I propose it to men , not to come to neere the daughters of their wives by a former husband , nor the sisters of their wives , nor women to be too bold with the sons of their husbands by a former wife , nor with the brothers of their husbands , least too much of the affection hee beares to his wife fals on his wives sister . Satan can turne hands here ere wee thinke of it , and make carnall lust out of that love , which we beare to our wives kindred . Ad but this , that the daughter or sister of the wife carries many times the proportion of the wife , and out of that , the divell can suck much poyson ; to draw the man to dote on the sister or daughter of his wife ; as on his wives picture , till it goe so far that all is too little for the sister , nothing but bitternesse left for the wife ; and what tentations of uxoricide and the like , Satan can destill out of these base and monstrous births , I leave it to others to judge .

3. Great heed is to be taken of such as are under our power , as of man-servants and maid-servants , and the rather if they be comely , they are in our way every day , come neere our persons , and Satan useth to tempt on both sides the hedge if hee can . See this in Iosephs Mistris , hee was a servant in the house , gave her no occasion , onely she let her eyes fix on his person , Gen. 39. 6. he being a very proper young man and a little and a little , she was overtaken and went so far , that no bonds of modesty could hold her in ; and when Ioseph had got off from her , the Text saith , Gen. 39. 10w he came no more where shee was . The occasion must be put a way in al these tentations what ever we doe . Many think they must get the conquest , and yet keepe the occasions by them still : No , Iosephs mistris was to put away Ioseph ; had he beene a better man , a better servant than he was : Satan coozens us out of all cry in this , when he beares us in hand that it is no conquest except we do beat away the tentation , and yet keep the occasion by us : To venture on the occasion shewes there is in the heart an implicite consent to the sin , tho for the present we seem to feele the contrary . for he knowes that ordinarily , we neither can nor shall get the victory , except we do put away the occasions from us , when it is such a thing , or such a person , as may lawfully be removed : God will not remove the tentation , except we doe remove the occasion ; to pray that it may away , and yet keepe ( Ioseph ) with us , is all one , as though we should hold our finger in the fire , and pray to God it should not burne . It is not enough to say , that the fault is not in Ioseph , hee doth not entice ; for if Satan and corruption entice the mistris to Ioseph by the eye , Ioseph must bee put out of sight , and Ioseph if possibly and lawfully hee may , must remove himselfe too , else in ordinary course the cure will not be done ; and when we have another , and the fire take there too , that person must bee done away also , and so on till at last the conflict will cease , and the victory will come : it is not enough when once caught , to turne the eye away : but the object of the eye must bee out of sight , that it may be out of mind and then when another comes , be before hand , prevent the cunning of Sathan by keeping the eye off . Iob as honest and as chast a man as lived , yet he did make a covenant with his eyes , that hee would not thinke on a maid ; by the course of the letter he shold have said , that hee made a covenant with his eyes , that hee should not looke on a maid ; but in stead of saying looke , hee saith thinke , because ●ooking usually brings thinking , Iob 31. 1. and thinking , worse . A maid hath an inclination in it in one sense , and a cut loafe a covered cup carries strong poyson in it in another sense ; whether maid or maried , hee doth best who binds his eyes from such looking , that he be not overtaken , and when the fire is once in , he doth next best , who puts the object out of sight and out of mind . Some cry out on their eyes , and doth even wish their eyes out , and in this sense they may as well wish their hands off , their feet off , their eares off , and member after member til al were off , this is but to complain of God who made us these members and senses : this is not the way , it doth not please God , and were it as we wish , it would not please us ; for were we blinde , all would bee one as long as the fire is unquenched within , and our passions are suffered to bee up . Wee know what Christ saith , Ioh. 17. 15. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of this world , but that thou wouldst sanctifie them through thy truth : so we are not to wish our eyes out , but our sin out ; and to pray him to sanctifie our hearts and eyes by his truth ; and then away out of doores with that which wee ( being led by our lust ) have made the object and occasion , and it will mend and grow better . It is true , that if the object be removed , the tentation for the time may cease , and no victory ; as keepe a Sow from mire in a Meddow , and the Sow wallowes not , take away the Load-stone , and the Iron moves not : here is no reall change , the intention of the minde is not changed , nor the affection of the heart neither . Such have a minde and a desire to the old lust still ; but if a man can remove the occasion of his owne proper motion , not another take it away , but hee himselfe put it away ; not be kept from it , but keepe ones selfe of ones owne will from it ; this is from grace and here is a victory .

Vse these and the like means and hold on for a competent time in using of them , and wee shal conquer , the tentation must and will away : Dis-may not , though the conquest come not presently : what ? Give over because the physick doth not heale at once taking ? Be out of heart because all is not done in a day ? It is not so easie to untie a knot in a silken thread ; the conscience is of a fine spinning , and knots knit there , and such as have bin long a knitting too , will not bee undone on a sudden : have patience , give it time and now some and then some , Gods medicines will heale ; and when wee finde the cure done , and wee get some strength of grace , by all meanes remember to be thankefull , lest the tentation come againe , and bring seven worse than its selfe . But what if the ease I finde , be onely , because sin and Satan in skill doe cease to tempt : if so , then our danger remaines , we keepe our weapon about us , wee may know , if it be onely a ceasing to tempt , and the lust is onely for a time asleepe . First , if it bee done without using GODS meanes in Gods feare . Secondly , if we finde that the lust is only left not hated , but if the sinne be hated , then it is more than a bare ceasing from the sinne : for Satan forbearing ; and sinne sleeping cannot bring us to an hatred of the sinne : I speake not onely of a disapproving of the sin , for so a civill man may doe ; and because it did molest us , we may thence be brought to a dislike of it ; but if wee finde that we can hate it , this proves that there is grace in us , a divine nature which is contrary to that lust : and that chastity is now in the place of the tentation , and this cannot come onely from Satans ceasing and forbearing . To cease is but a negative thing , but chastitie is a positive qualitie ; which meere negative ceasing and giving over to solicite and tempt , can never worke in us . Thus when our chast affections are had out of the fire , and we have attained this power by spirituall meanes used , and waiting upon God for the successe . Dispute nor , say , I have gotten the victory , and the God of heaven hath eased mee of the vexation , given mee a chast minde to my content and my comfort : with body and soule both , wee must exceedingly rejoyce in this vertue . 1 Thes. 4. 4. It is a grace which doth not onely sanctifie , but grace and beautifie us : all the paint in the world cannot cast such a shining vernish on the very body of a man , as chastitie doth .

Thus much to shew the readie way , how to prevent the tentation of lust and uncleannesse . The last of all , is in a word to helpe us out , in case wee doe goe too far , we must take heed of both the extreames . 1. That we doe not run upon the Rocks of Despaire ; there is nothing got by discouragement , during the time of huge and mightie terrors : it may bee wee shall have no minde nor heart to tamper with those lusts againe , but yet for other sinnes , every way worse , worse to God , and worse to us ; we lye all open to them , when we are in great dejection , as Discontent , Distrust , a secret rising against God , Vnthankefulnesse , A finding fault with all that God either saith or doth , No care of the Word , to reckon no other of the Scripture , than of our very Neck-verse , and a world of mischiefes more , which are the greatest sinnes : indeed in these occasions wee are very apt to fall off from Gods mercie , to frie in hellish sorrow : no sins doe so fire the conscience of a man , as these lusts of uncleannesse doe ; they stare in our faces , looke upon our consciences , as it were , with the eyes of so many devils : and in this respect wee must take great heed that wee be not quite out of heart ; when a man is past hope , hee is in his own sense past grace ; and when a man is made a terrour to himselfe , Biblida quid refer●● ? Ovid. de Arte. great danger is at hand ; and therefore when frights doe come , and such doe finde themselves too to apt to joyne with the motion to despaire ; looke upon Gods love , beare up in an apprehension and application of his mercie . Looke upon instances in the Word , of better men than wee are , who in the same or the like have seene a good end of all , and are now with the Lord . 2. The other extreame is to grow senselesse , to be past feeling ; wee are apt in these cases to feele too much or too little ; for if our terrours overcome us , wee despaire , if wee overcome them by faith , wee take comfort , if wee put them off by the flesh ; we grow secure , and it is common out of great feares to runne into great want of feeling , and so we finde it in the Apostle , Eph. 4. 13. that lasciviousnesse breeds in us a senselesnesse , it feares up the conscience , and such come to be past feeling . To open this , there is a partiall want of feeling , when wee commit sinnes and aile nothing in some particulars . Thus wee finde that otherwise good people , breake out into excesses in buying and selling , doe they care not what in matters of profit and feele nothing ; the conscience sees all , saith nothing , or as good as nothing : one would wonder how men can sell day , ( I speake not against giving day , but selling of it , ) let out their money to use , hoard up corne , directly against the Word of God in the very letter , Pro. 11. 36 make up some peeces of workes on the Lords day , are told of it in the ministry , and yet nothing come of it ; why ? Because custome in them and in others hath taken away their feeling : covetousnesse hath made them in most matters of commodity to bee past feeling , yet this is but partiall ; we meane not to say that those allow those sins , for the point is , that though the Word be plaine , yet custome doth so dazle their eyes , that they cannot in the particulars see the right : so David and Salomon did multiply wives against that Text , Deut. 17. 17. The like did the Patriarches for Polygamie . And the beleeving Gentiles saw not single fornication to be more than a thing indifferent , Act. 15. 20. 21 , 25. Rev. 2. 15. 20. Yet this fornication is forbidden in the Word . So great is the force of custome : But should these men meddle halfe so much in forbidden lusts of uncleannesse : oh what pangs rise in their conscience , they feele it with a witnesse : But now the passions of lasciviousnesse , when once men have broken thorow the terrours of it , which usually come first ; then they bring a man to a total senselesnesse to be past feeling , not only in these and the like affections , but in all universally to make conscience of nothing , to commit any sinnes that comes to hand with all greedinesse , devoure any thing , like some stomackes , and be never troubled with it : it is so sensuall a sinne and gives such a blow to the naturall conscience too , that like a sound knocke on the head , it takes away all sense and feeling ; let Satan propose what he will , nothing comes amisse ; for this sinne of uncleannesse fights against both light of nature and grace , and if the naturall conscience speake and wee will not heare , and the spirituall conscience crie , and we will not hearken ; the conscience will grow speechlesse , and speake no more : and hence it is that such as come to a custome in some covetous practises ▪ are past feeling in some things for some time , but such as come to a custome in the lust of uncleannesse are soone made to be past feeling simply and totally , scruple at nothing whatsoever .

Sith then the danger is as great as a seared conscience comes to , such as have broken the peace with God , must returne and make all haste to * * 2 Cor. 12. 21. repentance ; the crie is so great and the sight of it is so odious , and the sense of it is so grievous at first , and so palpable , that we may with the more ease come to repent . It is a sinne that doth convince it selfe to bee a sinne , ( till a man hath lost his judgement and his spirituall taste , ) while it is a doing , the judgement cries shame , and there is little to doe , because our worke lyes in a manner onely with our affection , whereas many passions of anger , and pride , and covetousnesse are such , that the offender is long ere hee can bee brought to see the thing to be a sin , the fact to be a fault . But in pollutions of uncleannesse they are so direct against the principles of reason , and so flat against al shew of Religion , that they carry their conviction in their mouthes , which makes the heart the more ready to entertaine the work of repentance unto life . Iudah repented , David repented , Lot repented , and so did Thamar , and so did others , and they were taken into speciall favour and honour , as we see them upon record in the first of Matthew . Those sinnes which much humble , doe much honour ; none humble more than such base lusts : David died in honour , Mary Magdalen is in great honourin the Church of God ; Christ to comfort and honour her , Mat. 28. 9. appeared first and foremost to her , what ever heales the soule heales the name . repentance doth both . The truth of our repentance wil best appeare ; if wee goe away as Iudah did and doe so no more , Gen. 38. 26 come not neere the garment spotted with the flesh ; Iud. v. 13 affections of another nature are more apt to bring a relapse than these passions , they leave such a sting and sent behind them , goe away ( but with a smart , ) have such a tast , and are such a base sight that few relapse ; such as are by Gods mercy cured of these diseases , are commonly ever after very chast , Become as children in all purity and chastity : when wee fetch out a great staine , the cloth is after whiter than ordinary , and so after this staining sin is washed away : such must be very holy , passing chast ; beware of the least sparke of sin : this is the meaning of that of Iohn the Baptist , Mat. 3. 8. Bring forth fruits meet or worthy of repentance : how worthy of repentance ? It is that when a man hath beene at it in the worke of repentance ; his workes and deeds must afterwards be better than ordinary ; hee must looke like a true penitent , Opus Imperf. in c. 3. Mat. Hom. 3. that as a Physitian can judge by the colour of the face that his patient is recovered , so must our workes shine and carry such a lustre and colour with them , that one of skill may read it as written in our faces , that there is amendment of life , that now all is well and sound within .

And say by intemperate courses , one have bin the occasion of hastning our owne end before the time . I grant that there is just cause ( as Salomon speakes ) to mourne at the last , Pro. 11. 5. when the flesh and the body are consumed , and we are accidentally guilty of hastening our owne death , before the time of Natures Period , but never before the time of Gods councell : mourne here & spare not , but yet not as men without hope , repentance will mend this also . First , hardly one man in a thousand , but one way or other , more or lesse , cuts off some of his dayes . Had it not bin for one thing or other , hee might have lived a day , a yeere longer ; as I thinke is plaine enough in David , who was bed-rid at or about the age his father begat him ; either nature would have lasted , or might have lasted longer in almost all , were it not for some defect , excesse , or default in our selves : and therefore this accusation lies against almost all . Secondly , this is besides a mans intention to give his yeeres to the cruell . Pro. 5. 9. The Libidinous intention is to satisfie this sin in the lusts thereof ; in that there is withall a waste of the radicall moysture , and thereby a cutting off of his dayes ; this is by accident only , and a consequent of the thing done , not a thing meant by the door . Thirdly , sith repentance heales the pollution intended by the offender , it is against Religion & reason both , to question whether it will heale the consequent consumption not intended . Amen .

OF VSURY . Nehemiah 5. 11. Restore to them even th●● 〈◊〉 , their Lands , thei●●●●e-yards , their Olive 〈…〉 and their houses ; also the hundred part of the Money , the Wine , and the Oile , that yee exact of them .

THE matter here is a case of Restitution , Vulg. & Vatabl. Vsura Geneva . of Lands , & Monies gotten from the poore by usury , Burdens , Their note is , you presse them with usury . so our last translation reades it , Ver. 7. The Hebrew is Burden , Deodate . because usury is a great burthen , Gravezze His note is Le usure . and carries an heavy weight with it .

The hundred part of the money , Exod. 22. 25 is meant either of the yeare & then it is but one in the hundred ; Thou shalt not bee to him as an Vsurer Heb. or of the moneth , as some thinke then , it is twelve in the hundred . We see that covetousnesse is rightly tearmed , the roote of all evill , & of al wrongs and evill dealings ; ( besides other sins ) else it could not bee imagined , that in their bondage the Iewes should thus have grated one upon another . The place , the time , the scandall , besides , the expresse law of God , one would have thought , shold have made them forbeare : but a covetous heart cannot hold ; he cares more for money , than all reports of God and man .

The next thing of note is , that what comes in by usury ( aswell as by other extortion ) must ordinarily be restored out of hand ( even this day ; ) it is not safe to give the heart of man time in any sin , but of all , not in this wilely sin of covetousnesse : if ever Satan bee a fox and a serpent , it is here ; give him but a space to play , and angle a little with our hearts , with this sin of worldlinesse , & he will quickly catch us with a golden hook . It is great wisdome to be present , the wit of man will distinguish else , and creepe out by one evasion or other ; we are too apt to be pleased with any leafe , and shift to beare our selves in hand that we may lawfully continue in such practises , as feed this greedy humour , this eating Wolfe : doe it then while it is called to day , doe it now , lest our hearts deceive us , Iam. 1. 26. and wee deceive our hearts , and so we doe it never . Delayes are ever dangerous , but in nothing like as in getting out of the hands of sin , but of no sin , Quid dicam de usuris quas etiam ipsae leges & judices reddi jubent . August . ep. 54. Decret. Caus. 13. q. 4. c. 11. so as to get out of the snare of this sinne of covetousnesse .

The last thing is , that Vsurers are bound by the Law of God to make restitution . What ever comes in this way , comes in at the wrong doore , and it must out againe : If the conscience be not ●eared , it makes it sick againe ; there is paine , there is no quiet , Iob. 20. 15. till the conscience take a vomit and up comes all : We use to Saint the man , who doth but give over this golden trade of usury , but the truth is , that such come but halfe way : our repentance is not thorow , our sorrow comes not home , except ( as it is here ) we doe restore . When we leave the practise of usury , we doe not properly leave the sin ( as sin ) except wee restore and turne the stolne dog home againe : when we have not wherwithall , there necessity hath no law . The King of heaven must and will lose & will part with his right , where nothing is to be had , and there the will doth stand for the deed ; but where there is no such answer ( that wee cannot ) but we see that we ought , wee have wherewithall and ( will not ) here I say it is right and reason , that the Lord should make use of his authority , and use us according to law and justice .

Now as this act of restitution secures our hearts , so that the bels ring not backwards in our consciences within ; in like manner it makes much for the safety of our estate without : it sets a marke upon our goods , and they are safe thereby under the Kings Seale ; whereas a little of these ill-gotten profits , like fellons goods , endanger all ; a little you know , brings all the rest into the tenure of the Crowne , and all must bee as it were in capite : I am certaine , that a golden wedge will fire all the rest of the stuffe ; Iosh. 7. 11. 24 , 25 and therefore hee that hath been or is an Vsurer , he must leave his usury and make all well by restitution , as hee meanes good to his soule , as he intends safety to his estate ; and it is his happinesse that his sin lies in such a thing , wherein he may make restitution , and lick the parties wronged whole againe : this makes the conscience quiet , helpes us to peace , when as in murders , adulteries , in such and some other the like sins , where there is no place left for restitution ; an hard matter it is , to set such in comfort , when once the conscience fals a complaining : but here , let the conscience accuse at the worst , yet as it is a sinne , godly sorrow makes all well , and as it is a wrong , repaire is made by restoring ; repenting takes up the matter as it is to God , restoring helpes & heales all , as it is to men . The most that can be said is , that the Vsury-taker paies the use willingly : and where a man parts with his money willingly , restitution is not of force . Iudas might have retained the money , with the good content of the Priest , who gave it willingly , yet hee did restore it and was bound to doe it : and were this good Divinity , then a great deale of that which comes in by bribery , and dicery may bee lawfully and comfortably kept . If I have received any bribe , I will restore it , 1 Sam. 12. 3. Then I say , that though it bee not against the will of the borrower that the Vsurer keepe the use , yet it should bee : what if hee thinke that to take use be no sin in the Vsurer ? What if he bee not convinced , that the fact of the Vsurer herein is a fault ; in this case , he may be willing , he should keepe it for want of true light and sound judgement : wheras were he aware of what is truth , that the Vsurer had no right to take it , he would withall thinke , that the Vsurer hath no reason to keepe it ; and this kinde of willingnesse is an interpretative unwillingnes . And lastly , I say , that he seemes many times to be willing , because hee cannot tell how to helpe it : the Travellor gives his purse to the theefe , because hee cannot doe otherwise , or at least dares not ; and there is a morall necessity which is of force , to cause a man to pay use , and to shew a contentednesse , that the Vsurer should hold it when he hath it , because of great inconveniencies , in that he else cannot have money to serve his need against another time ; this is a mixt act of willingnesse , which is construed to be naturally , done unwillingly , but willingly accidentally . All this is grounded on the law of God , Arist. Eth. l. 3. c. 1. which makes usury a sin , and a sinne against justice too . Zacheus did offer to restore that which hee did fetch in by forged cavillation , he might like enough have kept it , and no man have thought much of it ; it was gotten by sin and restore he would ; and what the Vsurer takes is his by sinne , and restore he must . The Law , I know , permitted it to the Iewes , to the stranger , what of that ? It followes the rather that it is of it selfe a sin , because permission is of sins , not of duties ; but the thing I say is , there was a law to kill the Canaanite , and yet I hope , that killing was not murther ; no more was that usury to them a sin . The Law doth urge it most , that it be not done to the poore : was it not because the Iewes were then too noble and generous to goe a borrowing , except it were the poorer sort ? What , should the Law then forbid that to bee done by rich men , which most rich men never did ? Neither is there any one place giving leave to a Iew , to hire his money out to a rich foe , only to ( the Stranger . ) but after wee have prohibitions , plenty that are indefinite ; we are forbidden , wee must not rob the poore , because hee is poore : good sport for theeves , if therefore it may bee thought to follow , that it is a lawfull matter to rob the rich : neither can the law against usury be thought to be a judiciall law of Moses , for such lawes ( as such ) are knowne only by some intelligence from the bookes of Moses ; but Heathens of all sorts , who never once heard of Moses's writings , have with one voice cryed sinne upon usury , and shame upon Vsurers , Poets , Orators , Historians , Philosophers , all .

They have condemned this sin by the instinct and light of nature , and therefore it could not be a politicall law of Moses . Besides , we have it forbidden in the New Testament , when judicials were out of date ; lend , Luk. 6. 35. saith the LORD IESUS , looking for nothing againe .

Question is made , whether children bee bound to restore that which their Parents have gotten by use upon use , and left unto them . The negative seemes to bee affirmed by a most holy man ; Neque enim tu eris obnoxius , quae pater quesivit iniquo forte compendio : e●si enim quae habes ex rapina collecta sunt , non tu tamen ca rapuisti . but my thinkes , reason would that we say , such goods should be restored , though not we , but our predecessors , have gotten them unlawfully ; the saddle is anothers still in equity and conscience , and it ought to bee set on the right horse : meere possession cannot give us a right title to that , Chrys in 1 Tom. cap. 4. which in truth & Coram Deo is anothers . Hom. 12. E. contra Navarr . And what if the property be altered , Manual . c. 17. n. 270. & seq. yet that makes nothing against restitution , sith a child is bound ( by the grant of all ) to restore the price now in his hands , of any thing his father first stole , and then turned into money . Restitution is to be in the very kinde if that may bee ; if not , then in that which is answerable and equivalent . The Schooles are divided in setting downe the reason of restitution , one side will have it to be because the Vsurer is a dammage to the borrower : the other sort with whom I joyne , say that it is , because by usury there is no true title ( Iure Divino ) no not in justice , to that which comes in that way ; and ( sith this is the truth ) I conclude and say , Vid. Greg. de Val. Tom 3. Dis. 5. q. 21 p●n . 3. that the child is bound to make restitution , because his father hath conveyed that to him which never was his fathers right , and therefore cannot be the sonnes : some cases may free the child , which also would have freed the father , as when it is not in his power , hath not the ability to doe it , and the like ; but in ordinary course it is not his owne , it is anothers , and by that reason he is not to keepe it , but to restore it .

Papists teach us , that in case a man be in very necessity when he t●kes use , and makes profit by his money , yet if after this , necessity cease , he is not bound to make restitution when hee hath wherewithall , and this necessity they stretch and will have reach to his estate . A large field for a man to lose his conscience in : for when will a man say that he is not in some necessity , in respect of his estate and condition ; and when will hee bee out of need to beare up his port ? Men will make necessities enough , might this goe for good doctrine . But dangerous it is , and the ground of it is most false : for ( say they ) by the law of nature all things are common , ( mine & thine ) came in after by law positive . Iure divino omnia sunt communia : &c. Aquin. 2 2 q 66. a. 7. Now say they , necessity dispenseth with all positive lawes , and makes the goods of another mine , Lumb . Sent. 14. D. 15. and mine againe his ; and so they say , that when a man to fill up his necessities , doth gaine by use from another , indeed and in right it is but his owne , because then and in that case all things are common , & no man is after bound to restore that , which when he tooke it , was but his own . Write ( false ) upon these conclusions , for the truth is , that meere necessity of a mans person doth not take away propriety ; Ferenda est magis omnis necessitas quam perpetranda est aliqua iniquitas , Tamen aliud est de necessitate Peccare aliliud in abundantia ▪ pauper men dicus fur●um facit , ex ●macie pro●essit iniqui●as . Aug. in Psa. 73. in great extremity for a man to take this or that , which is anothers , is to lay hands on that which is not ones owne : what ever it should have beene , had not Adam fallen , I enquire not ; but since Adams fall , there is such a propriety of Meum & Tuum , that no necessity , bee it never so urgent , can dissolve . Tully resolves the case thus , that say a man bee on the point to starve , yet rather than hee should take the least matter from another , Porsitan quispiam ●ixerit , non●●e igitur sa●iens , &c. Offic. lib. 3. he should rather famish , it being better to dye the death , than to violate any man for ones owne cause . Erasmus doth descant on this quid●●y of the Schooles , Colloq . in 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 . what ( saith he merrily and truly ) is not theft , theft in case of necessity , nay , though one do it with a minde to make it good again ? say one must lose his life if hee doe not perjure himselfe , and beare false witnesse , doth that necessity make it no sin ? say one by committing adultery without offering violence to the person of the adulteresse , may save his owne life , doth the necessity of saving ones life make adultery lawfull now ? Antiochus Seleuci filius , contrahendis incestis cum noverca nuptiis egra vissimo evásit morbo . Put the case ( saith he ) that a man must dye or tell a lye , is it not a sinne in this case of necessity to lye ? If then meere personall necessity doth not dispence with these Commandements , Appian : de Bell ▪ Syriac Plut: vita Demetr . Thou shalt not lye , Not beare false witnesse , Not commit adultery : what colour of truth can there bee in this , to affirme that any necessity whatsoever can make that law to be no law , when he saith , Thou shalt not steale . If necessity cannot make an others wife at my command ; no more can necessity make an others goods mine owne . Gods Ten lawes are in the substance of them , the very lawes of nature : and by the Decalogue , there is in all cases of necessity still a propriety of goods ; the argument in Melancthon is firme . The eight Commandement is a naturall law , Quaest. a Paulo Ebero propos . Georgio Mullero an 1552. it stands Iure Divino ; but by the eighth Commandement there is established a distinction between mine and thine , Vid. Sclat . in 2 Thess. c. 3. v. 12. & so it concludes strongly , that propriety of things is not by law positive , but by law Divine and naturall . Moreover if that community of things were a law of nature , it had bin immutable , and al things shold and ought to be common in all times and cases . Neither can any man shew , why the eighth Commandement being a law of nature , should be subject to be dispensed , with by cases of necessity any more than any other , or al the ten Commandements . Al the rest stand firme in the body of them against all necessities whatsoever and therefore this .

Next , we prove our case out of the Word . There is a stealing for need ( saith Salomon , ) Pro. 6. 30. but if this be so , that need maks all things common , there can bee no stealing for need , And the law did count it to be done for need , though a man were able to make fourefold restitution . sith in cases of necessity , what ever a man takes to supply his need , he takes but his owne , say they . I am sorry then , that any Protestant should write and print that in this case , necessity taketh away all reason of sinning . Ames de consc : l. 5. c. This is but to close with Bellarmine , 1. Sect. 17. as though now in extreame necessity it were ( alienated ) no longer . De matrim . lib. 1. c. 27.

The onely objection worth the answering , is from Mat. 12 1. where we read , that the Disciples being an hungred , did pluck and eate the eares of c●rne , and that therefore ( they doing well in it ) it is a lawfull thing to take that which is anothers in case of necessity .

The answer is , that this was not done by them on this ground , because necessity tooke away propriety , but because it was their owne , they tooke by the gift of God , who is the right & chiefe owner of all the creatures in the World . In Deut. 23. 25. God had given them a warrant so to doe in the Land of Canaan , and that things were not then made common by necessity it is plaine , by the words which follow in that very text , ( But thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbours standing corn ; which might have been done without offence to GOD , or wrong to man ; if this were true , which Iesuites teach ; that in point of necessity , not onely in respect of one person , but also in respect of ones condition , nothing is any mans , but all things are every mans : for the case may bee , that a man and his family may be cast upon extreame need , that a sickle put in his neighbours corne , will not supply the hunger of him and his , so much as the plucking the eares of corne did stay the stomacks and the hunger of the Disciples ; and yet I think that it was never held but as a thing forbidden to the Iewes by that law , for a man in never so great necessity to put his sickle in his neighbours corne , and that a Iew was rather to famish than so to doe : which shewes the little truth that is in that assertion , that necessity maks things common amongst men . The Disciples did it , because they had warrant and leave from God , who was the owner of that corne , and the law of God was on their side . And for our times , I doubt not but it is lawfull for one to pluck an apple , or to take an eare or so , of corne and eate it , not only for ones very need , but for ones delight and content . The equity of that judiciall law of Moses , saith somewhat , but my ground is , because a man in such cases hath an implicite and tacite consent ; the owner sometimes is by when we pluck plums and apples or so , and wee never aske him leave though he looke on , and in this case , hee that saith not no , saith yea : and say he be absent , and we know not who is the owner neither : yet I thinke this lawfull , because we have an interpretative consent ; wee have a morall perswasion , that were the owner by , hee would give us leave to pluck an eare , to catch a peare , with heart and good will ; which motion being in the heart of man , doth free him from any theft ; and also wee see it a ( common ) matter : which ordinarinesse of the thing helpes to make this good , that there is in all men a kinde of consent and leave , vertually given to all passengers ; and the like to pluck an eare , an apple , or apples , a plum , a peare , or so : and this is warrant enough if it bee not abused , to save the conscience of a man harmelesse , against that law of God : Thou shalt not steale ; here is no stealing , because here is a kinde of consent of the owner , though not actuall , yet vertuall and implicite : and such a tacite consent is enough , whether the fact be done before the owners face , or behind his back .

Againe , if need did make things so far forth common as might satisfie our need ; then where no need is , we sin if we pluck a peare or so : but wee may lawfully doe it onely for delight , so also were this new Divinity right : in case of need , wee might satisfie our soule even against the consent of the owner , he flatly forbidding us ; for in their sense ( who thus teach ) wee take but our owne , all which is false ; wherefore we must rather speake with the truth , and say , that not only for need , but for our very delight in the owners absence ( in case he directly forbid us not ) wee may ( I say ) lawfully pluck an ●are of corne or so , by vertue of a common supposed consent ( intimated in the equity of that law of Moses ) which in such cases doth run thorow the veines of all mankinde .

Lastly , I conceive this matter to bee put past al peradventure , by the very law of God once in force amongst the Iewes : commanding the theefe stealing for very need , to make restitution to the forth and fifth , and in a case to the seventh degree ; Exod. 22. 1. and if , 2 Sam. 126. selling all to his very shirt would not make up the summe , Pr. 6. 30 , 31. Deodate then by law hee was to bee sold and lose his liberty , Annotat. on Pro. 6. 30 , 31. to make restitution for the principall ( not for the over-plus ) of his theft . Ainsw . on Exod. 22. 3. Now this Law of God had gone against sense : if need did dispence with propriety , and give a right and title to so much of ones neighbours substance as would serve to satisfie ones want : for I hope , reason it selfe is flat against it , that a man should be thus bound to make restitution for taking that which ( by their Doctrine ) is his owne ; Aye , common understanding it selfe at the first sight is against it , that a man , can be said to steale his owne , can stand bound by Gods law , thus to restore his owne : and therefore to returne home again , I conclude and say , that our main point doth stand free and firme , viz. That albeit in case of need ( as of some Orphans ) a man take use , yet hee is to make restitution : sith usury in the law of God & of conscience , carries a false finger : need is no salve , it onely excuseth á Tanto , neither can the Iesuits or any else make any sound proofe to the contrary .

FINIS .

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