A Cordial for a Fainting Soul, To the reader
To the Chriſtian Reader, eſpeciallie ſuch an one as walks with a troubled Spirit.
FOr thy ſake (Dear Heart!) were theſe Sermons compoſed, preacht, and now made publike. The world (this day) abounds with treatiſes, and excels former times in the Spirituality of the penmen, who have written powerfull, and practically. Some there are that have made it their work to Plant: Theſe have led ſouls up the ſtairs to Ieſus Chriſt, ſhewing them the way to the land of Glory; ſuch have been our Shepheard, and Hooker, with divers others. Others God hath ſet to build, and as he uſed the other chiefly as his porters, ſo he ſeemeth to have uſed theſe as the Grooms of his chamber, & appointed them to ſet out the excellency of the Lord Ieſus Chriſt, to them that are ſick of love: Theſe have led ſouls from chamber to chamber, ſhewing them all the chambers of free grace, and making it their chiefeſt work, to ſet out the Bridegroom in his glory, and exalt the Riches of free mercy. The work of the firſt was to dreſſe the Bride; The ſecond diſcover the Bridegroom in his wedding Robes. A third ſort have had their work allotted them, to ſhew Chriſtians how to keep houſe with Ieſus Chriſt: Theſe have directed Chriſtians how to walk cloſely with Ieſus Chriſt; of that number have been our Bolton, and Burro…ghs, and Sibbs, and Downham. A fourth ſort have been Gods weeders, making it their work to deliver poor ſouls from the ſnares of the Devil, and the truth of God from thoſe errours which this age hath brought forth: (And no wonder if in greater plenty then former times, in regard we have had a ſummer ſo wet with ſhowers of grace, in the diſpenſations of Goſpel-myſteries, excelling the drineſſe of former times.) A fifth ſort there have been, (though a ſcanter number) that have attended upon Chriſts hoſpitall, indeavouring to heal the wounds of bruiſed ſpirits: In this way have our Downham, and Bolton, and Sedgwicks, and Sibbs, laboured in part. I have laboured to rank my ſelf in the latter number, offering to thee ſome Receits for the ſtaying of thy ſoul (if ſick of love) If there be any thing in this Treatiſe ſpoken to thy ſouls particular wants, Let God have the glory, and the Author thy prayers: Sure I am, to ſome of thoſe, (in whoſe ears they were delivered) they were As apples of Gold in Pictures of ſilver. Think not there is any vertue in theſe lines, they are but as Eliſhaes ſtaff to the face of the dead childe. Poſſibly thou mayeſt from hence diſcover, how irrationall the temptations of Sathan are, (if once duly weighed) Uſe theſe poor meditations with faith, and prayer, and poſſibly Chriſt may honour them ſo far, as to make them inſtrumentall for the clearing the way of thy faith, and eſtabliſhing thy ſouls peace. Truly (Reader!) it was not my own but others opinion of them, which hath made them publike. If by removing a block out of thy way, they but quicken thy pace to Ieſus Chriſt, if by removing, or preventing thy doubts, they adde but a dram to thy faith, it ſhall be m…crown: if they but diſcover to thee, the evenues of Gods wayes, (which the Devil, and thy, and my baſe heart would make rugged) I have my end, who deſire nothing from them but a giving glory to God, in helping on the peace of thy ſoul.
My intention is to make a further progreſſe, I have ſent this but to uſher the way, and to ſee, if this age can like any treatiſe, that quarrels not in cholerick diſputes, nor ſmells of novelties.
It is a ſad Age (Chriſtian!) in which we live; while moſt of our time is ſpent in Tithing mint, and Annis, we neglect the weightier things of God law. Diſputing opinions hath eaten up the Religion of Chriſtians; we are all too apt to ſpend more time in examining our Brethrens Tenets then in ſearching our own hearts: How much of our times, How many of our Books, are ſpent in quarrelling for the Ius Divinum of a Church-government, which is but as the mint and Annis to the weightier things of Gods Law? (Yet am I not of ſo looſe principles as to think, The Government of the Church a meer circumſtance; nor can I think that form of Government, worth taking up in a ſtreet, that for the eſſentials is not to be found in the word of God, Iuxta, & ſecundum are terms I underſtand not.) Every Truth of Chriſt hath the brightneſſe of a ſtar in its forehead; but of theſe ſtars, ſome differ from others in glory. Reader! thou ſhalt ſee here, a great deal of the poor creatures weakneſſe, but his ſtrength muſt be perfected in weakneſſe, whoſe work it is to ſtay up the hearts of them that relye upon him. Search the Scriptures, ſee if theſe things be true which thou here meeteſt with; if they be, receive them for truths ſake, and uſe them as an handkerchief to wipe the tears from thine eyes. I have endeavoured neither to darken them with miſty expreſſions, nor yet to paint them with beauteous vermilion-language: I had rather they ſhould take thine heart, then thine ear, and be rather an object of thy meditation, then admiration. I remember that true ſpeech of Hierom, in his Epiſt. ad Nepotianum, inſtructing him how to preach: Docente te in Eccleſiâ non clam…r populi ſed gemitus ſuſcitetur, lachrimae auditorum laudes tuae ſint; Sermo Presbyteri ſcripturarum ſale conditus ſit. Nolo te declamatorem, & rabulam, garrulumque ſine ratione; ſe… myſteriorum peritum, & Sacramentorum Dei tui eruditiſsimum. Verba volvere & celeritate dicendi apud imperitum vulgus admirationem ſui facere, indoctorum hominum eſt. Nihil tam facile quam vilem plebeculam & indoctam, concione linguaeque volubilitate decipere, quia quicquid non intelligit, plus miratur. I would (ſaith he) that thou ſhouldſt ſo preach in the Church, not that the people ſhould be provoked to humming but ſighing; that the tears of thy hearers, may be the praiſe of thy Sermon. The Sermon of a Miniſter (ſaith he) ſhould be ſeaſoned ſale Scripturarum, with the ſalt of Scripture, [he doth not ſalibus, with idle querks.] And he goes …n; I would not have thee like a declamer in the ſchools, or a brawler, or one that ſhould have a great deal of expreſſion, without the ſubſtance of reaſon; but one that ſhould be skild in the Word, and Ordinances of God. In ſhort (ſaith he) It is the trick of dunces, to rumble over words, and by their meer expreſſions, make people admire him: For there is nothing ſo eaſie, as to deceive a poor unlearned people, with a voluble tongue: for they, by how much the leſſe they underſtand, by ſo much the more they admire. Thus he. And yet was not this the deſigne of our old Cathedrall, and Univerſity Preachers? nay is it not yet of many in this City, that have not left making uſe of the Pulpit, to tell us what they have of Greek, and Latine Fathers, in their common place book? A generation of the worſt of men (Miniſters of the Goſpel I ſhould lye to call them) that go about to convert, and heal ſouls, as the Devil heals diſeaſes, by charms that the Patient underſtands not. Their whole deſigne is to make people admire them, To this end they preach, as if the dayes of Pentecoſt were ſtill continued: The men are Galileans, and their hearers too; yet if Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and the dwellers in Meſopotamia were there, they might hear ſomething of their own language, and ſomething poſſibly that neither the Preacher nor the hearers underſtand. They are admired, Verily they have their reward. Obſerve how theſe men court an humme, with their jeſts, and ſpittings; how ambitious they are to ſmooth up their ſentences with an eſſe poſſe videatur. Such Pulpit-monkies, that bring the Ordinance of God into contempt, and make the Word of God of none effect, They may well be ſtiled opprobrium Evangelii. Thus ſaith the Lord unto the ſhepheards,Ezra 34. 2, 3. Should not the ſhepheards feed the flock? wo be to you ſhepheards, that Feed your ſelves then, that …at the fat [of applauſe] and cloth your ſelves with the wooll [of admiration.] The diſeaſed have yee not ſtrengthened, neither have you healed that which was ſick, neither have you bound up that wch was broken, neither have you brought again that wch was driven away, neither have you ſought that which was loſt: You ſhall one day without repentance for theſe Sermons, hear your reward in plainer Engliſh, Mat. 25. 41. While theſe wretches vend themſelves, the poor hungry ſoul ſtarves, at meat, crying out, Death is in the Pett, Theſe unnaturall Fathers, while poor ſouls cry for Bread, cheat them with Stones, and while they call for Fiſh, they beguile them with Scorpions. My heart bears me witneſſe, that in theſe following leaves, I have laboured not to ſmooth, but to ſettle thy ſoul, which muſt be by putting thee on to truſt in the Lord.Iſai. 50. 10. If thou miſlikeſt theſe Sermons for their plainneſſe, know that I had rather diſpleaſe thy taſt, and teach thee to rectifie thy pallate, then by ſtudying to pleaſe thy childiſh tooth, loſe the advantage of ſpeaking to many an others heart. Read it; thou ſhalt not leave it without learning ſomething; if thou getteſt no good in relation to the intended end, thou ſhalt learn yet a leſſon of the poor creatures nothingneſſe, and give glory to God, by looking to him, and truſting in him for thy ſouls peace. If from any thing in theſe Sermons, thy ſoul (by the bleſſing of God) gets any comfort, and ſettlement, Let thy and my God have the glory, and his ſoul the benefit of thy tears, and prayers, who is, and ſhall be for ever,
The Worthleſſe Ambaſſadour of Ieſus Chriſt for thy ſouls good, and peace. IOH: COLLINGS. From my ſtudy in Chappel-field-houſe in Norwich. Auguſt 17, 1648.