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.