Comfort for All Those Afflicted in Conscience, Letter 1
A Letter from M. Robert Greeneham to a frend of his, against hardnesse of heart.
I Beseech God the father of Iesus Christ, giuegive mee his holy spirite in writing to giuegive aduice, and you in reading to receiue it, Amen. Since the time I receiued M. S. his letter, wherein hee declared his carefull compassion ouer your estate, I hauehave beene not a little grieued because of my manifolde distractions with the like occurrances and other waighty affayres, I hauehave beene hindred hitherto from wrighting vntounto you, and albeit euen still I am euen in the same case, yet conscience towardes God, & compassion & louelove towards you, forceth me to ouercom lets which hardly I could otherwise preuaile against: and albeit I cannot write as I woulde, yet of that which I shall write proceeding from the forenamed groundes, I looke for some blessing from God through Iesus Christ, if you will not too much faint in faith, and yeelde to the aduersary, yea, if you will but hope so well of your selfe, as in the feare of God I doo write it I hope of you. First, whereas it seemeth you are sometimes grieued, because you tarried not still at Cambridge according to mine aduise, you must knowe I aduised it not as a thing necessary, but more conuenient as I then supposed, but that I aduised you to obaye your father, if his pleasure still continued to hauehave you home, whereunto you yeelding, I canot see how you offended, it beeing your Fathers pleasure you should so doo: and who knoweth whether beeing here you might not hauehave bin as much troubled, there beeing no priuiledge for persons and places. In such cases who knoweth whether it be the Lordes pleasure, for the ensample and instruction (& I hope the consolation) of others in the ende. And albeit you will nowe thinke that heere you were nearer the the more & stronger means, yet knowe you and bee perswaded, that God can & doth in such cases worke by fewer and weaker according to his good pleasure: Besides, it is in our corrupt nature to make much of such meanes as wee cannot hauehave, and not so to esteeme those which God dooth offer vsus as wee should; I beseech you therefore in the name of Iesus Christ, humbly to praise God for those meanes he offereth in merciemercy vntounto you, and to vse them in faith accordingly; and so God shall blesse you by them. And then by such conference as you may hauehave from hence, wherein if I may stand you in any steede, rather for the good opinion you hauehave of me, then for any great matter I am able to performe, I shalbe ready to offer any office of louelove vntounto you as God shall inable mee, and so farre foorth as I shall bee at any time instructed in your perticular estate. In some letters sent from you by conuenient messengers, I perceiue that you ar afflicted with the blindenes of your minde, and hardnes of your heart, which cannot be mooued either with the promises of Gods mercies, or feare of his iudgements; nor affected with the louelove and delight of the thinges which bee good, nor with the hatred and loathing of the euill: great cause you hauehave of griefe I confesse, but no cause of dispaire dare I graunt, because I am perswaded that your perswatiō is somewhat false, partly for want of a sounde iudgement of your estate, and partly for some defect of faith somwhat through your owne default. First therefore know you for certainty, that this is no other tentation, than such as diuers of Gods children hauehave been humbled with, & afterward hauehave had a good issue out of it: & if it please God to moue ye to credit me, my selfe hauehave known others, as deeply this way plunged, as you can be. Remember therefore, God is faithfull, who wil not suffer you to be tēpted aboue that you shalbe able to bear. And farther yet to confirme you, the holy scriptures do shew, that this way god heretofore hath humbled his own people: in whose person the prophet Esaye lamentably complaineth, Esa. 3. 15. O Lorde looke downe from heauen, behold from thy dwelling place of thy holines, and of thy glorie. VVhere is thy zeale & thy strength, the multitude of thy mercies, and of thy compassions? They are restrained from me. And afterwards; O Lord why hast thou made vsus to erre from thy waies, and hardened our hearts from thy feare? And in the next chapt. VVe hauehave been alas an vnclean thing, & all our righteousnes is as filthy cloutes: and we all doo fade as a lease, and our iniquities as the winde doth take vsus away: and there is none that calleth vponupon thy name, neither that stirreth vp himself to take hold on thee for thou hast hid thy face from vsus, & consumed vsus because of our iniquities. And before 59 chap. 5. We grope for the wal like the blinde, and we grope as one without eyes, we rore like beares, and mourne lyke doues. So complaineth Ezechias in the bitternes of hys soule; Like a crane or a swallowe so did I chatter, I did mourn as a doue: and when Dauid crieth, Create in me O God a cleane hart, renue in me a right spirit. Restore to me the ioy of my saluatiō, establish me with thy fre spirit: doth he not coūt his hart vnclean, his spirit croked, the ioy of his saluatiō lost, & himselfe subiect to the spirit of bondage; so that wā ting the spirit of libertie or adoption, he could nether cry Abba Father, nor hauehave anye power against sin. Thus you see how Gods children maie be blinded in minde, & hardned in heart for a time, so that they feel the grace of the holy spirit to be in thē nere perished and dead. Farther to releeue the infirmitie of your iudgement in this case, which may much distres you, know that there bee two kindes of hardnes of heart, the one not felt, the other felt; and of the former ther be two sorts, the first (which is most fearefull) when any do purposely and wilfully resist the motions of Gods spirit, & means of their saluation; of which the Prophet Zachary speaketh. 7. 11. They refused to harkē, & pulled away their sholder & stopped their eares that they shuld not heare: yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, & the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the ministery of the former Prophets. The outragious sin of these men, the Prophet Esay expresseth in their owne fearful termes, 28. 15. VVe hauehave made a couenant with death, and with hell we are at agreement: though a scourge run ouer & passe thorough, it shall not come at vsus: for we hauehave made falshood our refuge, & vnderunder vanitie are we hidden. This was a fearfull estate indeede; yet for all that no man can saye, but some of those might bee, and were afterward conuerted. The other kinde of hardnes of hart which is not felt nor perceyued, or is perceiued yet not felt; (albeit it is lesse fearfull, yet it is daungerous enough) is in such, as although they wilfully resist not Gods spirite in good means; yet securely & willingly they lye in sin, without anie remorse of it, or true taste of good things. Such was Dauid his estate for the space of a yeare before Nathan the Prophet came to reproue him, & rouse him from his lulled sleepe. Both these kindes I am perswaded you are free from, otherwise th…n in temptation, Sathan maye sometimes mooue ye therevnto: the other kind of hardnesse of heart which is perceiued & felt, is of two sorts; the one in them which are desirous of meanes whereby they may be releeued, although they finde smal or no ease at all in themselues for a time.
Of this kinde the Prophet Esay (in the name of some of Gods people) complaineth, Esa. 63.
Such was Dauids state, after Nathā reproued him & gods spirit begā to work with him, that he crieth out as ye heard before, of the losse of Gods graces: & when he saith, that God will accept of no sacrifices nor petitions, without a contrite hart & broken spirit, he sheweth that for a time (euen after the prophet had reproued him) he w̄ated both. This is your case, & therfore you are in the state of saluation; for Dauid was in this case, euen after hee had confessed his sin, as my trust is you doo: & was certainly perswaded of the pardonablenesse of it, throgh gods merciemercy, althogh he was farre off from the feeling it, or applying to his wofull conscience: his state was good, and very wel to be hoped of; and you must knowe and be perswaded, that those things which are written of Gods saints, & namely of Dauid and Peter, & such others, are examples for vsus, if we will stay our selues vpō the word of God in the mysterie of his seruants, and wait vppon the Lords good time, til he come neerer vntounto vsus by his spirite: nerer I say, for he is come alreadie vntounto you; or it may be he neuer went from you; because to be greued and humbled with blindnes of minde and hardnes of heart, to beleeue certainly the trueth of God is promised in generall, & to reuerence the seruants of God, which bring the glad tidings of the Gospel; & praier, the Sacrament of the supper, & the companie of gods children, contrarie to hope, vnderunder hope, yea without any present feeling: all this is a certaine argument, that gods spirit is with such, and therefore with you. This estate although it bee verie grieuous, yet it is neuer dāger us, much lesse is it fearfull; vnlesse anie bee so wilfull, that they persevere and continue in desperate refusing al good means: vnles they perseuere I say, for through the subtill sleight of the spirituall aduersarie, and his forceable power, wherby God suffereth him sometime for a season to winnow them as wheate, they are so bewitched and intoxicated, that they are carried by violent force of temptation, to wexe wearie of, or to refuse all meanes of comfort by fittes; yea, almost to hauehave no desire at all vntounto them: yea, sometimes to speake verie euill of them.
But all this is but temptation, and therefore God will bee mercifull vntounto them for Christ his sake.
Thus Iob cursed the daye of his birth, & wished to be strā gled; Ieremie almost repented that euer he preached in the name of the Lord: both scarcely abstain from blasphemie. Dauid moued with the spirit of ambition (though dutifully admonished) wilfully wēt on in numbring the people; Peter also vaingloriouslye presuming of his owne strength, being most wisely & effectualy admonished of his weaknes euen by our Lorde Iesus, yet wittingly rusheth as the horse into the battel, & then verie cowardlye yeeldeth, yea doubly denieth, yea strengthneth his sinne with a threefold coard, and fastneth it with banning and cursings: & yet all these obtained merciemercy most bountifully. For why as Satan desired to winnowe them, so our Lord Iesus praied for them, that theyr fayth though it was vehemently assaulted, it should not be ouercome; although it was battered, yet that if should not bee destroied; and though it was oppressed, yet it shuld not be extinguished. And here bee you fully perswaded, that albe it Luk. 22. 31. the wordes seeme to runne as belonging but to Peter; vz. I hauehave praid for thee that thy faith should not faile, yet he praied for the rest of the Apostles, yea for all the faithfull. For first he saith not; Simon, sathan hath desired to winow thee: but you. Why then saith hee, I hauehave praied for thee? Verely because hee should more greeuously offend than the rest: although their offence was verie great; therefore hys: and our most blessed Sauior applyed to him the promise, but not appropriated it vntounto him onelyonly, and restrained it from the rest. Compare with this place Iohn. 17. 20. & you shall see, that the heauenlye verity affirmeth; that he praied not only for the Apostles, but for all those that shoulde beleeue through their word: yea farther, Our Lorde Iesu Christ was yesterdaye, is to day, & shalbe for euer. And as the fore-fathers were baptized vntounto him, and did eate his flesh and drink his blood; so was his praier effectuall euen to them vnderunder the lawe, then more to vsus vnderunder grace. And when you can find testimonie in your hart, that whē you would doo well, euill is present with you, and that ye doo the euil you would not; then do not you it, but sinne in you, when it leadeth you captiue, Rom. 7. much more, when satā works with al buffeting you, assure you GOD hath pity on you, that the vertue of his power shall be perfect in your weaknes. If you beleeue, according to your faith it shalbe done vntounto you. B… …ou will say, you cannot be… that this vile & crooked hardnes of your hart can be remitted and renued▪ and euē this was the second point which in the former part of my Letter I gaue you to vnderstād was the cause of your excessiue distresse. I beseech you, and I charge you in the name of our Lord Iesus, that you will not willingly lie, nor offer iniurie to Gods spirite, nor to your self who hath receiued it. Tell me, what is the reason why you thinke you hauehave no faith? Verely because you hauehave no feeling, nor any other fruites thereof, as you thinke. Well, first then agree with me herein (as you must if you will not disagree with the truth) that feeling is but an effect and frute of faith; & therefore there may be faith without feeling, aswell as the cause may be without the effect, and the tree without anie appearance of frute, yea, of sap for a season. And as a man sore wounded and diseased, may for a season be depriued almost of all operations of the naturall life to the outward show of his owne indnment and feeling; so may a spiritual man be fore wounded by satan, and diseased by the present sight and feeling of his sinful corruptions, speally in temptation; that hee may think, yea appeare to others, that the life of the spirit is not in him. Thus, Peters faith did not wholly faile, (as you hauehave heard) or else the praier of our Sauiour preuailed not. Thus when Dauid in the one and fiftie Psal. the twelueth verse, declared that his heart was vncleane, and his spirite crooked or vnstable; and in the fourteenth verse, that he had lost the ioy of his saluation, and the spirit of libertie, or adoption: yet in the thirteenth vearse hee prayeth, that GOD would not take his holie spirit from him: therefore hereby it appeared hee was not depriued of the spirite of sanctification.
Heere seemeth to bee repugnaunce, but there is not anie: hee was depriued indeed for a time of the graces of the sanctifiyng spirite, but not of the holie Ghost wherwithall hee was sanctified; which graces, as God restored vntounto him, so I am perswaded he will do vntounto you: Yea, and I doubt whether you are depriued of them; but onelyonly that partly melancholy, partly Satan working therewith, make you doo iniurie to your selfe, and to the graces of the Spirite in you; which I beseech you to take heed of.
But the messenger cannot staye, and therefore I cannot write as I would, either of this, or of the remedie which you should vse; which hereafter I will, as God shall enable me: and I pray you let me vnderstand (as I requested in the beginning) of your estate in perticular somwhat more, and by this Bearer if you can; becaus he is of your acquaintance, and will bring it to me faithfully. OnelyOnly I doo adde now vntounto you, that I hauehave written of hardnes of heart at large, that you must diligently obserue the Woorde Create, which Dauid vseth in the one and fiftie Psalme; declaring that he had no feeling of his hearte. To this, ioyn that which the Prophet Esay speketh in the person of God, 57. 23. I create the frute of the lips to be peace, peace, to him that is far off as to him that is nere. Therfore in faith you may as well praye, with hope to obtain as did Dauid: therfore say with him often, and with Gods people, Esay 64. 12. O Lord, thou art our Father: we indeed are claye, but thou art our maker, wee are the worke of thy hands. Knowe also, God can cause wolues, lions, & leopards, to dwell louingly with lambes, calues and kids: and that that is vnpossible to men, is possible with god, euen to cause a cable to go throgh a needles eie, that is, to change the hard hart of the vnbeleuing couetous man; much more yours: yea knowe that all things are possible to him which beleeueth. Cry then, I beleeue, O Lord help my vnbeliefe: & I dare promise ye in the name of Iesus Christ, that you shall hauehave your heartes desire in goodnes. Thus abruptly I must end; commending you to God and the word of his grace, which is able to builde you vp, & giuegive you the right of inheritaunce among them that are sanctified. The verie God of peace sanctifie you throughout, that your whole spirit and soul and body may bee kept blamelesse vntill the comming of the Lord Iesus Christ. Faithfull is hee which hath called you, which will do it. Amen. I pray you pray for me, & I trust as I hauehave, so I shal pray for you, and much more. Yours in Christ Iesus to vse in anie need.
R. G.