Treatise of Conscience Wherein Divers Secrets are Discovered, Chapter 10
CHAP. X.
What comfort they may hauehave, that are afflicted in Spirit and Conscience.
FOr so much as it is impossible to man, or Angell, by any reason, perswasion, or consolation; to comfort that persone from whome the Lord hes hid his favourable face: while it please his majestie to turne againe his loving countenance, & to worke a sure perswasion of his favour inwardly in the hart, by the operation of his holy spirit. Nevertheles, the ordinary means and citation of the gracious promises of the Lord, whereby man may receiue comfort in troble, ought not to be contemned: Bot by the contrary, we suld hauehave refuge in al our afflictions therevnto, being left to vsus by God to that effect: For comfort must proceed from faith, & faith must come through the hearing of the word, and promises of God sounded, quhilk the holy Ghost thereafter makes to work in the heart. Therefore, the sweet comfort that thou may receiue (O man! that art afflicted in spirit and Conscience) is greter nor I am able to expresse; wherof, a part is this. First for confirmation of thy faith, thou may knowe by extraordinary experience, that there is a divine power, even a God that rules the hearts of al men; and that the same God among all his creatures, is mindefull of thee. Secondly, It is a manifest token, that thou art beloued of God, when he chastises, & rebukes thee: For, whome the Lord loues (saith the Apostle) he chastises, & scourgeth every Son that he receiues:Heb. 12. 5. VVhen he corrects thee,Prou. 3. 11. he offers himselfe vntounto thee,Reu. 3. 19. as vntounto his Son; and doth it for thy profit, that thou may bee partaker of his holines. Thirdly, It is not possible, that thou can be exalted to Christs kingdom, except thou be first assaulted with temptation,Act. 14. 22 except thou be casten down, and hauehave a liuely feling of thine own sin and wretchednes: Thou can not be victorious, vnles thou fight; & thou cannot obtaine a crowne of victory, vnles thou be victorious.2. Tim. 2. 12 But if thou suffer with Christ,Rev. 3. 21. thou sal also raigne with him: and if thou resist & overcome temptation, as he did, thou sal be sure also to sit with him in his throane, as hee sits with his Father in his throne. Fourthly, albeit thou be in great perplexitie, thou suld not thinke that the Lord hes forsaken thee, or is wrath with thee: For the Lord is not at all times angrie with his children, when he appeares to them to be angrie, & when they hauehave a feling of the lack of his favour: Neither doth hee alwaies chastise them for their sins: but is accustomed at some time, to hide his face from them for a litle season; to let them knowe their owne weaknes, and wretchednes, to worke patience in them, to acquaint them with his Discipline, and to let them know how miserable their estate is, when his favourable face is hid from them. Fiftly,Iohn. 3. 3. There is a time, at the quhilk the Lord makes intimation to al his chosen children, of their election and salvation, by sending them his holy spirit,Tit. 3. 5. by whome they are baptised, and regenerat to amendment of life: And commonly before this calling and receiving of the holy Ghost, there goes a great trouble of the minde, a dejection, and a terrible feare; that it wald seeme to man, that God had forsaken him, and casten him away; where by the contrary, he is drawing him to him, and knocking to hauehave entrie in his hart by his holy spirit. What sal I recount the gracious & comfortable promises of the Lord, to his afflicted members, that are touched with a feeling of their owne sin, and miserie? He saith, by the mouth of the Prophet;Psa. 103. 13 That as a Father hes compassion on his Children; so hes he compassion on them that fear him:Esai. 49. 15 And though a woman suld forget the son of her wombe, yet will he not forget his elect. For a litle while (saith the Lord to his people) hauehave I forsaken thee,Esa. 54. 7 but with great compassion will I gather thee: For a moment, in mine anger, I hid my face from thee for a little season, but with everlasting merciemercy hauehave I had compassion on thee.Psal. 34. 18 The Lord (saith David) is neere vntounto them that are of a contrite heart, and will saue such as be afflicted in spirit.Psal. 51. 17. And againe, The sacrifices of God, are a contrite spirit: a contrite, and a broken heart, O God, thou wilt not reject & despise. Mairover, saith not our savior Iesus Christ, that hee came not to saue the righteous, but to bring sinners to repentance? The Son of Man (saith he) came to saue that quhilk was lost:Mat. 18. 11. hes hee not also commandit such as ar weary & laden, to come to him,Mat. 11. 28 promising that he will ease them?Esa. 55. 1. and such as are thirstie to come to him,Ioh. 4. 14. and he wil giuegive them of the water of life to drink,Esa. 61. 1 quhilk sal spring vp into ever lasting life?Luke 4. 18. yea, certenly his very office is & for that effect was he sent in the warld by his father; to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captiues, recovering of sight to the blind, & to set at libertie them that are in prison. Farther, dois not the Lord assure vsus, that so soone as ever a sinner sal repent him of his sins, from the bottome of his heart; he wil put away his wickednes out of his remembrance? And speking to his people be the mouth of his prophet, he saith wash you,Esa. 1. 16 make you cleane; take away the euill of your works from before my eies; cease to do evill, learne to do wel; seek judgment, releue the oppressed, judge the fatherles, and defend the widdow: Come then, and let vsus reason togither (saith the Lorde) Though your sins were as crimsin, they salbe made white as snowe: Though they were red, like skarlet, they salbe as wooll. Besides this, he hes commandit vsus by the mouth of the Psalmist, saying, Call on me in the day of thy trouble,Psal. 50. 15 so wil I deliver thee, and thou shalt glorifie me.
Are not these also the vndoubted words of our saviour speaking to his Disciples? Verely,Ioh. 16. 23. verely, I say vntounto you, that whatsoeuer ye sal ask the Father in my name, he wil giuegive it you: ask, and ye sal receiue, that your joye may be made full. What more gracious & comfortable promises can the heart of man wish, nor these? Or what greter assurance wald thou hauehave of the merciemercy and compassion of the Lord, toward penitent sinners, nor this quhilk hee giues thee in expresse tearmes, with his own mouth? whereof one jote sal not faile: for he cannot lie. But I knowe thou wilt hauehave recourse to predestination, to the secret election, & reprobation of God, and is perswaded with thy selfe, that thou art one of them whome God hes forsaken & casten away. O foole! quhilk certifies thy selfe (to thine own damnation) of that quhilk is hid, not only to man on earth, but also to the very Angels in heauen: For whome hes the Lord admitted on his secreit counsell to knowe them▪ whome hee hes chosen, or them whome he hes forsaken? Nay, nay, that knowledg is reserved only to himselfe. Therfore, albeit thy affliction be never so great, thy sins never so hainous, thy repentance & amendment never so small, and thy faith never so weak: yet, neither thou, nor any mortal man can conclude, absolutly, that thou art reprobate, and forsaken of God. My reason is this, Because it is vnknown to thee, or to any man, when it may plese God to call thee to repentance, when he will instrengthen thy faith, and consequently forgiue thy sins, and bring thee to his kingdom. Why art thou then discouraged, and dispaired of thy salvation for the bitternes of thine afflictioun, for the multitude, and gravitie of thy sinnes, for the slacknes of thine amendement, or weaknes of thy faith; considdering, that none of these tokens canne import the necessitie of thy reprobation? For thou knawis, that affliction hes ever ben most proper to the children of God, from the beginning of the world. As to the number & waight of thy sins, They can be no hinderance to the merciemercy of God: In respect, that where it pleaseth the Lord to shew merciemercy, it is no more difficil to him to remit innumerable sins, of whatsoever gravitie and waight; nor to forgiue the least offence that man can commit: The whol generation of mankind, was shut vp in sin,Rom. 3. 23. and was sinfull out of measure: But of the free merciemercy of God, the sins of the worlde were taken away, by the death of Iesus Christ: In such sort, that all that repents them of their sins, and beleeues in him the saviour, sal obtain free remission of al their sins whatsoever. Now, as concerning thy repentance & amendement of life; art thou dismaid, & dispaired of thy salvation, because thou cannot abstaine from sin, nor attaine to a perfect vprightnes? Surely thou hes na just occasion: For no flesh can be without sin, nor attaine to a perfection in this life.Pro. 24. 16. The most vpricht man (saith Salomon) falls every day seaven times;Iob. 4. 18. & the very Angels ar not without spot in the sight of the everliving God.Rom. 3. 30. Knowest thou not, that man can not be justified by the workes of the Lawe? Na, doubtles,Psa. 143. 2. if the Lord will enter in judgement with man, & deal with him according to the precise rule of his law; no flesh suld be saued: For albeit the lawe of God be set before vsus, as a rule whereunto wee suld apply and confer all our actions: yet are we not any more vnderunder the lawe, but in the estate of grace through the comming of Iesus Christ. And albeit the children of God hauehave his law deeply imprinted in their harts, & likes wel to keep the same:Galat. 3. 11 yet sall they not be counted righteous for fulfilling thereof, as though they had deserved everlasting life,Act. 13. 39. seeing no man ever fulfilled the Lawe: But because they beleeue, that they are redeemed by the blood of Iesus Christ, who hath accomplished the law in all points, and hes merited all good things of his Father for vsus: Therefore, the Children of God sall be justified, and receiue eternall life. If then thou bee sory, that thou can not amend thy life, if thou hauehave ane earnest, desire, and bent intention to doe good, and eschew evill, ioyned with a true faith in Iesus christ: assure thy self, that the spirit of God works that in thee, & that it sal be impute vntounto thee for righteousnes, & that the Lord in his own appointed time sall make that desire, and intention to be effectuall, bringing forth good works to amendment of life. What canst thou say farther? that thou art daily relaps in publick sins, from the quhilk thou cannot refraine; and that neither thy sorrow therefore, nor thy desire to abstaine, are any thing earnest & notable. Indeede, if so be thou art in an evill cace for the present. Nevertheles, there is yet no cause here of desperation: Forasmuch as none can truly repent while they be called of the lord to repentance. No man can come to me, (saith our saviour) except the Father that sent me,Iohn. 6. 44. drawe him. Seeing then, repentence is not the gift of man, but of God; & that thou knowest not the time, when it sall please the Lord to call and convert thee: Thou ought in no wise to dispaire, but to liue continually in gude hope, dailie attending thy calling and conversion. Hes thou not heard the Parable of the labourers in the Vineyard,Mat. 20. 1. That he quhilk came at the last hour of the day, received equall wages, with him that came in the morning? whereby our saviour signifies vntounto vsus, that there is no time of mans life at the quhilk the Lord wil not cal & convert man vntounto him. I hauehave heard of some men, quhilk at the latter houre on their deathbed, being put in remembrance of their god, by the assistants; hes burst forth with horrible blasphemies against God, and vttered words of plaine desperation. But in ane instant, through the singular mercy of God, & fervent praier of the assistants, was converted to the Lorde, by lamenting carefully such blasphemies, by making manifest declaration of their faith in Iesus Christ, and giuing al liuely signs of their election, departed plesantly, & in a happy estat to the sight of men. VVhen Paul wasted the Kirk of Christ, & persecuted his Saints,Act. 9. 1. both men and women, to the death; who wald hauehave thoght but that he had bin a reprobat, & a fagot prepared for hell? Nevertheles, hee was called to repentance, & was made a chosen vessell of the Lord. Who wald hauehave said,Mat. 26. 69 but that Peter had bin the son of perdition, and that there could be no salvation for him; when after hee was called to be one of the disciples of Iesus christ, had bene sa long conversant with him, had heard his doctrine, seene his miracles, & confessed that he was the very Christ of God: For all this, he denied him thrise on a night? Notwithstanding, he came to repentance that same night, was accepted of the Lord, & made a notable Apostle, & Preacher of the Evangel of Iesus Christ, both to the Iews & Gentils. Finally, who wald not hauehave thought, but the Gentills had bene forsaken of God, & predestinat to eternall damnation, quhilk baith misknew God, and committit al kind of abomination vnderunder heven? Yet the Lord forgot al their iniquities, and of his infinite merciemercy brought them to the knowledge of him, of his Sonne Christ Iesus, & called them to be partakers of his caelestiall kingdome. HaueHave we not also seene in our daies, men of maist disolute & licentious liues, quhilk afterward beeing converted & sanctified by the spirit of God, hes become notable & profitable members of the Kirk of Iesus Christ? Heirfoir, albeit such as leads a life repugnant to the Law of the Lord, may be justly counted reprobates with this restriction, except they turne to God by repentance: nevertheles, let no man condemne absolutely, either himself, or his neighbor before his deth: because there is nothing in any man, but corruption & sin, til he be sanctified, and regenerate by the spirit of God; the time whereof none knowes but God only:Iohn. 3. 8 for as the wind blowes where it listeth, so is every man that is borne of the spirite. I come nowe to thy faith, quhilk because thou finds it weake, and full of doubting, thou art dispaird of thy salvation. Indeed the truth is, that no man can be saved vnles he beleeue: But if al were condemned whose faith is weake, & doubtfull; I pray thee then tel me who suld be saved? when the Disciples of Iesus Christ inquired of him,Mat. 17. 19 why they could not cast the Devill out of the Lunatik person; he answered, becaus of their vnbeleef: and declared to them, that if their faith had bene as meikill as a graine of mustard seede, they suld remoue mountains, & that nothing suld be impossible to them. Farther, albeit our Saviour had oftimes instructed his Disciples and forewarned them with his own mouth, that he wald rise againe on the 3. day after his death. Nevertheles, when Mary Magdalen told them of his resurrection,Mark. 16. 11. 12. & that he had apeared to her, they beleeved it not: Thereafter, he appeared to two of themselues, quhilk shewe it to the remnant, but they beleuit it not: yea, after he had shawin himself to the eleven in Galile, Mat. 28. 17yet some of them were in doubt and beleeved not.Luc. 24. 41 If this weaknes of faith then, & doubting was in the disciples of Christ, who notwithstanding shall sit on twelue throans,Mat. 19. 28 & judg the twelue tribes of Israell, when the Lord shall sit on the throane of his Majestie: What cause hes thou, O nauchtie man! to be dispaired of thy salvation, althogh thy faith be weak, and full of doubts? Certainly, if thy faith continued as weak as the faith of the Disciple Thomas, quhilk wald not beleeue the resurrection of Iesus, whil he put his finger in the wound of his hands, and of his side; thou might think that thou were in an evil cace:Ioh. 20. 27. But seing Thomas after he had seene Christ beleued, & was blessed; Blessed art thou if thou beleeue in him, quhilk saw him never. What sal I speak of the waknes, dulnes, & ignorance of man? The haill Apostles after the ascension of Iesus Christ,Act. 11. 2. For all their reading of the scriptures, and doctrine quhilk they had heard of his mouth; were ignorant of the caling of the Gentils, & knew not that the Evangel suld be preached to them, till it was first shewd to Peter in a vision, quhilk thereafter declarit the mistery & circumstances thereof to the rest, beeing assembled at Ierusalē. O! But thou wil say, I feel no spunk of faith in me, I feele the wrath of God kindled aganis me, and a strong perswasion that he hes forsaken me. Thir ar hard sayings: but I hauehave alredy shewen thee the cause of this thy perswasion; To wit, becaus the Lord hes hid his face from thee for a little while; to humble thee, to try thy patience, & to let thee know how miserable thy estate wald be, if thou were altogither destitute of his favour. But I pray thee, remember, what thou beleued before thou entered in this troble, before the Lord hid his face from thee: and hauehave not respect what thou beleeues now, but what thou beleeuedst then. And if at any time of thy life thou beleeved assuredly, that Iesus christ hes suffered deth for thy redemption: thou may certifie thy selfe, that the Lord sal turne his loving counte nance towards thee, & that then thou sal receiue that same faith againe in greater mesure. Mairover, it is to be vnderstand, that mans election, & reprobation ar not ruled according to mans own Imagination: For who liues in greater securitie, (in their own conceipt) who brags faster of their faith, and perswades themselues more of Gods favour, nor the most prophane, and godles livers? Will they not boldly & confidently say, that they dout nothing of their salvation, but thinks to be as high in heven, as any other? When nevertheles they are running a course direct contrary to the ordinance of God. The Iewes spake hardly to Christ & said, that they were not borne of fornication,Ioh. 8. 41. but had a father, quhilk was God. But Iesus answered them, that if God had bene their father, they would hauehave loued him, who proceeded from God: Quhilk seing they did not; he declarit vntounto them, that they were of their father the deuil. By the contrary, there is none that hes a greater feling of their own sin, ar sorer troubled with tentations, & doubtings (as thou art presently nowe) nor the dearest servants of God. Example of David, Hezekiah, Iob, the Prophetes and Apostles, and a number of notable men in these our daies, whereof the particulars were long in this plaice, to alledge. VVherefore, gird vp thy loines, like a man, & comfort thy self in these things: ground & repose thy self in the merciful promises of God, and merits of his Son Iesus Christ: And not on thine own fantasies, & vaine imaginations. And if thou wald be counted the Son of God, submit thee willingly to his correction: If thou would receiue a crowne of glory, fight valiantly, & be victorious: If thou would receiue the holy Ghost, cleanse thy hart, & be lowly minded: If thou would be exalted for ever to reigne with Christ on his throne, be content to be cast downe, & paciently to suffer with him: For by these degrees of necessitie thou mon passe & ascend to the highest heuens. Stand fast then, watch, & hauehave patience, yet a little while, and thou sall see great things:Heb. 12. 11 For albeit no chastesing seemeth joyous, but grievous for the present, yet afterward it brings the quiet frute of righteousnes to them, quhilk are thereby exercised. After Winter, comes sommer, peace after warre, gladnes after sorrowe, & after the tempest comes the faire wether:Psal. 103. 9 The Lord wil not threat & rebuke continually, nor keepe his anger for ever, but is neere vntounto them that are of a broken heart. He wil come, hee will come with speed, strang, merciful, & gracious, his holy name be praised, through his sonne Iesus Christ for ever. Amen.