Most part these kind of persons make [6749]away themselves, some are mad, blaspheme, curse, deny God, but most offer violence to their own persons, and sometimes to others. “A wounded spirit who can bear?” Prov. xviii. 14. As Cain, Saul, Achitophel, Judas, blasphemed and died. Bede saith, Pilate died desperate eight years after Christ. [6750]Felix Plater hath collected many examples. [6751]A merchant's wife that was long troubled with such temptations, in the night rose from her bed, and out of the window broke her neck into the street: another drowned himself desperate as he was in the Rhine: some cut their throats, many hang themselves. But this needs no illustration. It is controverted by some, whether a man so offering violence to himself, dying desperate, may be saved, ay or no? If they die so obstinately and suddenly, that they cannot so much as wish for mercy, the worst is to be suspected, because they die impenitent. [6752]If their death had been a little more lingering, wherein they might have some leisure in their hearts to cry for mercy, charity may judge the best; divers have been recovered out of the very act of hanging and drowning themselves, and so brought ad sanam mentem, they have been very penitent, much abhorred their former act, confessed that they have repented in an instant, and cried for mercy in their hearts. If a man put desperate hands upon himself, by occasion of madness or melancholy, if he have given testimony before of his regeneration, in regard he doth this not so much out of his will, as ex vi morbi, we must make the best construction of it, as [6753]Turks do, that think all fools and madmen go directly to heaven.
SUBSECT. VI.—Cure of Despair by Physic, Good Counsel, Comforts, &c.
Experience teacheth us, that though many die obstinate and wilful in this malady, yet multitudes again are able to resist and overcome, seek for help and find comfort, are taken e faucibus Erebi, from the chops of hell, and out of the devil's paws, though they have by [6754]obligation, given themselves to him. Some out of their own strength, and God's assistance, “Though He kill me,” (saith Job,) “yet will I trust in Him,” out of good counsel, advice and physic. [6755]Bellovacus cured a monk by altering his habit, and course of life: Plater many by physic alone. But for the most part they must concur; and they take a wrong course that think to overcome this feral passion by sole physic; and they are as much out, that think to work this effect by good service alone, though both be forcible in themselves, yet vis unita fortior, “they must go hand in hand to this disease:”—alterius sic altera poscit opem. For physic the like course is to be taken with this as in other melancholy: diet, air, exercise, all those passions and perturbations of the mind, &c. are to be rectified by the same means. They must not be left solitary, or to themselves, never idle, never out of company. Counsel, good comfort is to be applied, as they shall see the parties inclined, or to the causes, whether it be loss, fear, be grief, discontent, or some such feral accident, a guilty conscience, or otherwise by frequent meditation, too grievous an apprehension, and consideration of his former life; by hearing, reading of Scriptures, good divines, good advice and conference, applying God's word to their distressed souls, it must be corrected and counterpoised. Many excellent exhortations, phraenetical discourses, are extant to this purpose, for such as are any way troubled in mind: Perkins, Greenham, Hayward, Bright, Abernethy, Bolton, Culmannus, Helmingius, Caelius Secundus, Nicholas Laurentius, are copious on this subject: Azorius, Navarrus, Sayrus, &c., and such as have written cases of conscience amongst our pontifical writers. But because these men's works are not to all parties at hand, so parable at all times, I will for the benefit and ease of such as are afflicted, at the request of some [6756]friends, recollect out of their voluminous treatises, some few such comfortable speeches, exhortations, arguments, advice, tending to this subject, and out of God's word, knowing, as Culmannus saith upon the like occasion, [6757]“how unavailable and vain men's councils are to comfort an afflicted conscience, except God's word concur and be annexed, from which comes life, ease, repentance,” &c. Presupposing first that which Beza, Greenham, Perkins, Bolton, give in charge, the parties to whom counsel is given be sufficiently prepared, humbled for their sins, fit for comfort, confessed, tried how they are more or less afflicted, how they stand affected, or capable of good advice, before any remedies be applied: to such therefore as are so thoroughly searched and examined, I address this following discourse.
Two main antidotes, [6758]Hemmingius observes, opposite to despair, good hope out of God's word, to be embraced; perverse security and presumption from the devil's treachery, to be rejected; Illa solus animae, haec pestis; one saves, the other kills, occidit animam, saith Austin, and doth as much harm as despair itself, [6759]Navarrus the casuist reckons up ten special cures out of Anton. 1. part. Tit. 3. cap. 10. 1. God. 2. Physic. 3. [6760]Avoiding such objects as have caused it. 4. Submission of himself to other men's judgments. 5. Answer of all objections, &c. All which Cajetan, Gerson, lib. de vit. spirit. Sayrus, lib. 1. cons. cap. 14. repeat and approve out of Emanuel Roderiques, cap. 51 et 52. Greenham prescribes six special rules, Culmannus seven. First, to acknowledge all help come from God. 2. That the cause of their present misery is sin. 3. To repent and be heartily sorry for their sins. 4. To pray earnestly to God they may be eased. 5. To expect and implore the prayers of the church, and good men's advice. 6. Physic. 7. To commend themselves to God, and rely upon His mercy: others, otherwise, but all to this effect. But forasmuch as most men in this malady are spiritually sick, void of reason almost, overborne by their miseries, and too deep an apprehension of their sins, they cannot apply themselves to good counsel, pray, believe, repent, we must, as much as in us lies, occur and help their peculiar infirmities, according to their several causes and symptoms, as we shall find them distressed and complain.
The main matter which terrifies and torments most that are troubled in mind, is the enormity of their offences, the intolerable burthen of their sins, God's heavy wrath and displeasure so deeply apprehended, that they account themselves reprobates, quite forsaken of God, already damned, past all hope of grace, incapable of mercy, diaboli mancipia, slaves of sin, and their offences so great they cannot be forgiven. But these men must know there is no sin so heinous which is not pardonable in itself, no crime so great but by God's mercy it may be forgiven. “Where sin aboundeth, grace aboundeth much more,” Rom. v. 20. And what the Lord said unto Paul in his extremity, 2 Cor. xi. 9. “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my power is made perfect through weakness:” concerns every man in like case. His promises are made indefinite to all believers, generally spoken to all touching remission of sins that are truly penitent, grieved for their offences, and desire to be reconciled, Matt. ix. 12, 13, “I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance,” that is, such as are truly touched in conscience for their sins. Again, Matt. xi. 28, “Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden, and I will ease you.” Ezek. xviii. 27, “At what time soever a sinner shall repent him of his sins from the bottom of his heart, I will blot out all his wickedness out of my remembrance saith the Lord.” Isaiah xliii. 25, “I, even I, am He that put away thine iniquity for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” “As a father” (saith David Psal. ciii. 13) “hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him.” And will receive them again as the prodigal son was entertained, Luke xv., if they shall so come with tears in their eyes, and a penitent heart. Peccator agnoscat, Deus ignoscit. “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger, of great kindness,” Psal. ciii. 8. “He will not always chide, neither keep His anger for ever,” 9. “As high as the heaven is above the earth, so great is His mercy towards them that fear Him,” 11. “As far as the East is from the West, so far hath He removed our sins from us,” 12. Though Cain cry out in the anguish of his soul, my punishment is greater than I can bear, 'tis not so; thou liest, Cain (saith Austin), “God's mercy is greater than thy sins. His mercy is above all His works,” Psal. cxlv. 9, able to satisfy for all men's sins, antilutron, 1 Tim. ii. 6. His mercy is a panacea, a balsam for an afflicted soul, a sovereign medicine, an alexipharmacum for all sins, a charm for the devil; his mercy was great to Solomon, to Manasseh, to Peter, great to all offenders, and whosoever thou art, it may be so to thee. For why should God bid us pray (as Austin infers) “Deliver us from all evil,” nisi ipse misericors perseveraret, if He did not intend to help us? He therefore that [6761]doubts of the remission of his sins, denies God's mercy, and doth Him injury, saith Austin. Yea, but thou repliest, I am a notorious sinner, mine offences are not so great as infinite. Hear Fulgentius, [6762]“God's invincible goodness cannot be overcome by sin, His infinite mercy cannot be terminated by any: the multitude of His mercy is equivalent to His magnitude.” Hear [6763]Chrysostom, “Thy malice may be measured, but God's mercy cannot be defined; thy malice is circumscribed, His mercies infinite.” As a drop of water is to the sea, so are thy misdeeds to His mercy: nay, there is no such proportion to be given; for the sea, though great, yet may be measured, but God's mercy cannot be circumscribed. Whatsoever thy sins be then in quantity or quality, multitude or magnitude, fear them not, distrust not. I speak not this, saith [6764]Chrysostom, “to make thee secure and negligent, but to cheer thee up.” Yea but, thou urgest again, I have little comfort of this which is said, it concerns me not: Inanis poenitentia quam sequens culpa coinquinat, 'tis to no purpose for me to repent, and to do worse than ever I did before, to persevere in sin, and to return to my lusts as a dog to his vomit, or a swine to the mire: [6765]to what end is it to ask forgiveness of my sins, and yet daily to sin again and again, to do evil out of a habit? I daily and hourly offend in thought, word, and deed, in a relapse by mine own weakness and wilfulness: my bonus genius, my good protecting angel is gone, I am fallen from that I was or would be, worse and worse, “my latter end is worse than my beginning:” Si quotidiae peccas, quotidie, saith Chrysostom, poenitentiam age, if thou daily offend, daily repent: [6766]“if twice, thrice, a hundred, a hundred thousand times, twice, thrice, a hundred thousand times repent.” As they do by an old house that is out of repair, still mend some part or other; so do by thy soul, still reform some vice, repair it by repentance, call to Him for grace, and thou shalt have it; “For we are freely justified by His grace,” Rom. iii. 24. If thine enemy repent, as our Saviour enjoined Peter, forgive him seventy-seven times; and why shouldst thou think God will not forgive thee? Why should the enormity of thy sins trouble thee? God can do it, he will do it. “My conscience” (saith [6767]Anselm) “dictates to me that I deserve damnation, my repentance will not suffice for satisfaction: but thy mercy, O Lord, quite overcometh all my transgressions.” The gods once (as the poets feign) with a gold chain would pull Jupiter out of heaven, but all they together could not stir him, and yet he could draw and turn them as he would himself; maugre all the force and fury of these infernal fiends, and crying sins, “His grace is sufficient.” Confer the debt and the payment; Christ and Adam; sin, and the cure of it; the disease and the medicine; confer the sick man to his physician, and thou shalt soon perceive that his power is infinitely beyond it. God is better able, as [6768]Bernard informeth us, “to help, than sin to do us hurt; Christ is better able to save, than the devil to destroy.” [6769]If he be a skilful Physician, as Fulgentius adds, “he can cure all diseases; if merciful, he will.” Non est perfecta bonitas a qua non omnis malitia vincitur, His goodness is not absolute and perfect, if it be not able to overcome all malice. Submit thyself unto Him, as St. Austin adviseth, [6770]“He knoweth best what he doth; and be not so much pleased when he sustains thee, as patient when he corrects thee; he is omnipotent, and can cure all diseases when he sees his own time.” He looks down from heaven upon earth, that he may hear the “mourning of prisoners, and deliver the children of death,” Psal. cii. 19. 20. “And though our sins be as red as scarlet, He can make them as white as snow,” Isai. i. 18. Doubt not of this, or ask how it shall be done: He is all-sufficient that promiseth; qui fecit mundum de immundo, saith Chrysostom, he that made a fair world of nought, can do this and much more for his part: do thou only believe, trust in him, rely on him, be penitent and heartily sorry for thy sins. Repentance is a sovereign remedy for all sins, a spiritual wing to rear us, a charm for our miseries, a protecting amulet to expel sin's venom, an attractive loadstone to draw God's mercy and graces unto us. [6771]Peccatum vulnus, poenitentia medicinam: sin made the breach, repentance must help it; howsoever thine offence came, by error, sloth, obstinacy, ignorance, exitur per poenitentiam, this is the sole means to be relieved. [6772]Hence comes our hope of safety, by this alone sinners are saved, God is provoked to mercy. “This unlooseth all that is bound, enlighteneth darkness, mends that is broken, puts life to that which was desperately dying:” makes no respect of offences, or of persons. [6773]“This doth not repel a fornicator, reject a drunkard, resist a proud fellow, turn away an idolater, but entertains all, communicates itself to all.” Who persecuted the church more than Paul, offended more than Peter? and yet by repentance (saith Curysologus) they got both Magisterium et ministerium sanctitatis, the Magistery of holiness. The prodigal son went far, but by repentance he came home at last. [6774]“This alone will turn a wolf into a sheep, make a publican a preacher, turn a thorn into an olive, make a debauched fellow religious,” a blasphemer sing halleluja, make Alexander the coppersmith truly devout, make a devil a saint. [6775]“And him that polluted his mouth with calumnies, lying, swearing, and filthy tunes and tones, to purge his throat with divine Psalms.” Repentance will effect prodigious cures, make a stupend metamorphosis. “A hawk came into the ark, and went out again a hawk; a lion came in, went out a lion; a bear, a bear; a wolf, a wolf; but if a hawk came into this sacred temple of repentance, he will go forth a dove” (saith [6776]Chrysostom), “a wolf go out a sheep, a lion a lamb. [6777]This gives sight to the blind, legs to the lame, cures all diseases, confers grace, expels vice, inserts virtue, comforts and fortifies the soul.” Shall I say, let thy sin be what it will, do but repent, it is sufficient. [6778]Quem poenitet peccasse pene est innocens. 'Tis true indeed and all-sufficient this, they do confess, if they could repent; but they are obdurate, they have cauterised consciences, they are in a reprobate sense, they cannot think a good thought, they cannot hope for grace, pray, believe, repent, or be sorry for their sins, they find no grief for sin in themselves, but rather a delight, no groaning of spirit, but are carried headlong to their own destruction, “heaping wrath to themselves against the day of wrath,” Rom. ii. 5. 'Tis a grievous case this I do yield, and yet not to be despaired; God of his bounty and mercy calls all to repentance, Rom. ii. 4, thou mayst be called at length, restored, taken to His grace, as the thief upon the cross, at the last hour, as Mary Magdalene and many other sinners have been, that were buried in sin. “God” (saith [6779]Fulgentius) “is delighted in the conversion of a sinner, he sets no time;” prolixitas temporis Deo non praejudicat, aut gravitas peccati, deferring of time or grievousness of sin, do not prejudicate his grace, things past and to come are all one to Him, as present: 'tis never too late to repent. [6780]“This heaven of repentance is still open for all distressed souls;” and howsoever as yet no signs appear, thou mayst repent in good time. Hear a comfortable speech of St. Austin, [6781]“Whatsoever thou shall do, how great a sinner soever, thou art yet living; if God would not help thee, he would surely take thee away; but in sparing thy life, he gives thee leisure, and invites thee to repentance.” Howsoever as yet, I say, thou perceivest no fruit, no feeling, findest no likelihood of it in thyself, patiently abide the Lord's good leisure, despair not, or think thou art a reprobate; He came to call sinners to repentance, Luke v. 32, of which number thou art one; He came to call thee, and in his time will surely call thee. And although as yet thou hast no inclination to pray, to repent, thy faith be cold and dead, and thou wholly averse from all Divine functions, yet it may revive, as trees are dead in winter, but flourish in the spring! these virtues may lie hid in thee for the present, yet hereafter show themselves, and peradventure already bud, howsoever thou dost not perceive. 'Tis Satan's policy to plead against, suppress and aggravate, to conceal those sparks of faith in thee. Thou dost not believe, thou sayest, yet thou wouldst believe if thou couldst, 'tis thy desire to believe; then pray, [6782]“Lord help mine unbelief:” and hereafter thou shall certainly believe: [6783]Dabitur sitienti, it shall be given to him that thirsteth. Thou canst not yet repent, hereafter thou shall; a black cloud of sin as yet obnubilates thy soul, terrifies thy conscience, but this cloud may conceive a rainbow at the last, and be quite dissipated by repentance. Be of good cheer; a child is rational in power, not in act; and so art thou penitent in affection, though not yet in action. 'Tis thy desire to please God, to be heartily sorry; comfort thyself, no time is overpast, 'tis never too late. A desire to repent is repentance itself, though not in nature, yet in God's acceptance; a willing mind is sufficient. “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness,” Matt. v. 6. He that is destitute of God's grace, and wisheth for it, shall have it. “The Lord” (saith David, Psal. x. 17) “will hear the desire of the poor,” that is, such as are in distress of body and mind. 'Tis true thou canst not as yet grieve for thy sin, thou hast no feeling of faith, I yield; yet canst thou grieve thou dost not grieve? It troubles thee, I am sure, thine heart should be so impenitent and hard, thou wouldst have it otherwise; 'tis thy desire to grieve, to repent, and to believe. Thou lovest God's children and saints in the meantime, hatest them not, persecutest them not, but rather wishest thyself a true professor, to be as they are, as thou thyself hast been heretofore; which is an evident token thou art in no such desperate case. 'Tis a good sign of thy conversion, thy sins are pardonable, thou art, or shalt surely be reconciled. “The Lord is near them that are of a contrite heart,” Luke iv. 18. [6784]A true desire of mercy in the want of mercy, is mercy itself; a desire of grace in the want of grace, is grace itself; a constant and earnest desire to believe, repent, and to be reconciled to God, if it be in a touched heart, is an acceptation of God, a reconciliation, faith and repentance itself. For it is not thy faith and repentance, as [6785]Chrysostom truly teacheth, that is available, but God's mercy that is annexed to it, He accepts the will for the deed: so that I conclude, to feel in ourselves the want of grace, and to be grieved for it, is grace itself. I am troubled with fear my sins are not forgiven, Careless objects: but Bradford answers they are; “For God hath given thee a penitent and believing heart, that is, a heart which desireth to repent and believe; for such an one is taken of him (he accepting the will for the deed) for a truly penitent and believing heart.”
All this is true thou repliest, but yet it concerns not thee, 'tis verified in ordinary offenders, in common sins, but thine are of a higher strain, even against the Holy Ghost himself, irremissible sins, sins of the first magnitude, written with a pen of iron, engraven with a point of a diamond. Thou art worse than a pagan, infidel, Jew, or Turk, for thou art an apostate and more, thou hast voluntarily blasphemed, renounced God and all religion, thou art worse than Judas himself, or they that crucified Christ: for they did offend out of ignorance, but thou hast thought in thine heart there is no God. Thou hast given thy soul to the devil, as witches and conjurors do, explicite and implicite, by compact, band and obligation (a desperate, a fearful case) to satisfy thy lust, or to be revenged of thine enemies, thou didst never pray, come to church, hear, read, or do any divine duties with any devotion, but for formality and fashion's sake, with a kind of reluctance, 'twas troublesome and painful to thee to perform any such thing, praeter voluntatem, against thy will. Thou never mad'st any conscience of lying, swearing, bearing false witness, murder, adultery, bribery, oppression, theft, drunkenness, idolatry, but hast ever done all duties for fear of punishment, as they were most advantageous, and to thine own ends, and committed all such notorious sins, with an extraordinary delight, hating that thou shouldst love, and loving that thou shouldst hate. Instead of faith, fear and love of God, repentance, &c., blasphemous thoughts have been ever harboured in his mind, even against God himself, the blessed Trinity; the [6786]Scripture false, rude, harsh, immethodical: heaven, hell, resurrection, mere toys and fables, [6787]incredible, impossible, absurd, vain, ill contrived; religion, policy, and human invention, to keep men in obedience, or for profit, invented by priests and lawgivers to that purpose. If there be any such supreme power, he takes no notice of our doings, hears not our prayers, regardeth them not, will not, cannot help, or else he is partial, an excepter of persons, author of sin, a cruel, a destructive God, to create our souls, and destinate them to eternal damnation, to make us worse than our dogs and horses, why doth he not govern things better, protect good men, root out wicked livers? why do they prosper and flourish? as she raved in the [6788]tragedy—pellices caelum tenent, there they shine, Suasque Perseus aureas stellas habet, where is his providence? how appears it?
[6789]Marmoreo Licinus tumulo jacet, at Cato parvo,
Pomponius nullo, quis putet esse Deos.
These are abominable, unspeakable offences, and most opposite to God, tentationes foedae, et impiae, yet in this case, he or they that shall be tempted and so affected, must know, that no man living is free from such thoughts in part, or at some times, the most divine spirits have been so tempted in some sort, evil custom, omission of holy exercises, ill company, idleness, solitariness, melancholy, or depraved nature, and the devil is still ready to corrupt, trouble, and divert our souls, to suggest such blasphemous thoughts into our fantasies, ungodly, profane, monstrous and wicked conceits: If they come from Satan, they are more speedy, fearful and violent, the parties cannot avoid them: they are more frequent, I say, and monstrous when they come; for the devil he is a spirit, and hath means and opportunities to mingle himself with our spirits, and sometimes more slyly, sometimes more abruptly and openly, to suggest such devilish thoughts into our hearts; he insults and domineers in melancholy distempered fantasies and persons especially; melancholy is balneum, diaboli, as Serapio holds, the devil's bath, and invites him to come to it. As a sick man frets, raves in his fits, speaks and doth he knows not what, the devil violently compels such crazed souls to think such damned thoughts against their wills, they cannot but do it; sometimes more continuate, or by fits, he takes his advantage, as the subject is less able to resist, he aggravates, extenuates, affirms, denies, damns, confounds the spirits, troubles heart, brain, humours, organs, senses, and wholly domineers in their imaginations. If they proceed from themselves, such thoughts, they are remiss and moderate, not so violent and monstrous, not so frequent. The devil commonly suggests things opposite to nature, opposite to God and his word, impious, absurd, such as a man would never of himself, or could not conceive, they strike terror and horror into the parties' own hearts. For if he or they be asked whether they do approve of such like thoughts or no, they answer (and their own souls truly dictate as much) they abhor them as much as hell and the devil himself, they would fain think otherwise if they could; he hath thought otherwise, and with all his soul desires so to think again; he doth resist, and hath some good motions intermixed now and then: so that such blasphemous, impious, unclean thoughts, are not his own, but the devil's; they proceed not from him, but from a crazed phantasy, distempered humours, black fumes which offend his brain: [6792]they are thy crosses, the devil's sins, and he shall answer for them, he doth enforce thee to do that which thou dost abhor, and didst never give consent to: and although he hath sometimes so slyly set upon thee, and so far prevailed, as to make thee in some sort to assent to such wicked thoughts, to delight in, yet they have not proceeded from a confirmed will in thee, but are of that nature which thou dost afterwards reject and abhor. Therefore be not overmuch troubled and dismayed with such kind of suggestions, at least if they please thee not, because they are not thy personal sins, for which thou shalt incur the wrath of God, or his displeasure: contemn, neglect them, let them go as they come, strive not too violently, or trouble thyself too much, but as our Saviour said to Satan in like case, say thou, avoid Satan, I detest thee and them. Satanae est mala ingerere (saith Austin) nostrum non consentire: as Satan labours to suggest, so must we strive not to give consent, and it will be sufficient: the more anxious and solicitous thou art, the more perplexed, the more thou shalt otherwise be troubled and entangled. Besides, they must know this, all so molested and distempered, that although these be most execrable and grievous sins, they are pardonable yet, through God's mercy and goodness, they may be forgiven, if they be penitent and sorry for them. Paul himself confesseth, Rom. xvii. 19. “He did not the good he would do, but the evil which he would not do; 'tis not I, but sin that dwelleth in me.” 'Tis not thou, but Satan's suggestions, his craft and subtlety, his malice: comfort thyself then if thou be penitent and grieved, or desirous to be so, these heinous sins shall not be laid to thy charge; God's mercy is above all sins, which if thou do not finally contemn, without doubt thou shalt be saved. [6793]“No man sins against the Holy Ghost, but he that wilfully and finally renounceth Christ, and contemneth him and his word to the last, without which there is no salvation, from which grievous sin, God of his infinite mercy deliver us.” Take hold of this to be thy comfort, and meditate withal on God's word, labour to pray, to repent, to be renewed in mind, “keep thine heart with all diligence.” Prov. iv. 13, resist the devil, and he will fly from thee, pour out thy soul unto the Lord with sorrowful Hannah, “pray continually,” as Paul enjoins, and as David did, Psalm i. “meditate on his law day and night.”
Yea, but this meditation is that mars all, and mistaken makes many men far worse, misconceiving all they read or hear, to their own overthrow; the more they search and read Scriptures, or divine treatises, the more they puzzle themselves, as a bird in a net, the more they are entangled and precipitated into this preposterous gulf: “Many are called, but few are chosen,” Matt. xx. 16. and xxii. 14. with such like places of Scripture misinterpreted strike them with horror, they doubt presently whether they be of this number or no: God's eternal decree of predestination, absolute reprobation, and such fatal tables, they form to their own ruin, and impinge upon this rock of despair. How shall they be assured of their salvation, by what signs? “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinners appear?” 1 Pet. iv. 18. Who knows, saith Solomon, whether he be elect? This grinds their souls, how shall they discern they are not reprobates? But I say again, how shall they discern they are? From the devil can be no certainty, for he is a liar from the beginning; if he suggests any such thing, as too frequently he doth, reject him as a deceiver, an enemy of human kind, dispute not with him, give no credit to him, obstinately refuse him, as St. Anthony did in the wilderness, whom the devil set upon in several shapes, or as the collier did, so do thou by him. For when the devil tempted him with the weakness of his faith, and told him he could not be saved, as being ignorant in the principles of religion, and urged him moreover to know what he believed, what he thought of such and such points and mysteries: the collier told him, he believed as the church did; but what (said the devil again) doth the church believe? as I do (said the collier); and what's that thou believest? as the church doth, &c., when the devil could get no other answer, he left him. If Satan summon thee to answer, send him to Christ: he is thy liberty, thy protector against cruel death, raging sin, that roaring lion, he is thy righteousness, thy Saviour, and thy life. Though he say, thou art not of the number of the elect, a reprobate, forsaken of God, hold thine own still, hic murus aheneus esto, let this be as a bulwark, a brazen wall to defend thee, stay thyself in that certainty of faith; let that be thy comfort, Christ will protect thee, vindicate thee, thou art one of his flock, he will triumph over the law, vanquish death, overcome the devil, and destroy hell. If he say thou art none of the elect, no believer, reject him, defy him, thou hast thought otherwise, and mayst so be resolved again; comfort thyself; this persuasion cannot come from the devil, and much less can it be grounded from thyself? men are liars, and why shouldst thou distrust? A denying Peter, a persecuting Paul, an adulterous cruel David, have been received; an apostate Solomon may be converted; no sin at all but impenitency, can give testimony of final reprobation. Why shouldst thou then distrust, misdoubt thyself, upon what ground, what suspicion? This opinion alone of particularity? Against that, and for the certainty of election and salvation on the other side, see God's good will toward men, hear how generally his grace is proposed to him, and him, and them, each man in particular, and to all. 1 Tim. ii. 4. “God will that all men be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.” 'Tis a universal promise, “God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that through him the world might be saved.” John iii. 17. “He that acknowledged himself a man in the world, must likewise acknowledge he is of that number that is to be saved.” Ezek. xxxiii. 11, “I will not the death of a sinner, but that he repent and live:” But thou art a sinner; therefore he will not thy death. “This is the will of him that sent me, that every man that believeth in the Son, should have everlasting life.” John vi. 40. “He would have no man perish, but all come to repentance,” 2 Pet. iii. 9. Besides, remission of sins is to be preached, not to a few, but universally to all men, “Go therefore and tell all nations, baptising them,” &c. Matt. xxviii. 19. “Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature,” Mark xvi. 15. Now there cannot be contradictory wills in God, he will have all saved, and not all, how can this stand together? be secure then, believe, trust in him, hope well and be saved. Yea, that's the main matter, how shall I believe or discern my security from carnal presumption? my faith is weak and faint, I want those signs and fruits of sanctification, [6794]sorrow for sin, thirsting for grace, groanings of the spirit, love of Christians as Christians, avoiding occasion of sin, endeavour of new obedience, charity, love of God, perseverance. Though these signs be languishing in thee, and not seated in thine heart, thou must not therefore be dejected or terrified; the effects of the faith and spirit are not yet so fully felt in thee; conclude not therefore thou art a reprobate, or doubt of thine election, because the elect themselves are without them, before their conversion. Thou mayst in the Lord's good time be converted; some are called at the eleventh hour. Use, I say, the means of thy conversion, expect the Lord's leisure, if not yet called, pray thou mayst be, or at least wish and desire thou. mayst be.