02. THE SECOND SERMON,UPON THE PREPARATION TO THE LORD'S SUPPER.

THE SECOND SERMON,UPON THE PREPARATION TO THE LORD’S SUPPER.

Let every man therefore examine himself, and so let him eat of this Bread, and drink of this Cup. 1. COR. 11.2. In the doctrine of our trial and due examination, the Apostle (as ye have heard, well-beloved in Christ Jesus) gave us a special command, that everyone of us should try and examine narrowly ourselves: that is, that every man should condescend and enter into his own conscience, try and examine the estate of his own conscience, in what estate he finds it with God; and in what estate he finds it with his neighbor. He enjoins this trial to ourselves, and commandeth that everyone of us should take pains about the true examination of our consciences. He enjoins this work to us, why? Because no man knoweth so much of me, as I do myself; because no man can be sure of the estate of my conscience, but I myself; because no man can so diligently, nor so profitably try my conscience, as I myself. Therefore chiefly it behooveth every man and woman, before they do enter in to the hearing of the Word, before they give their ear to the Word, or their mouth to the Sacrament, it behooveth them to try and examine their own consciences. Not that the Apostle would seclude the trial of other men: for as it is lawful for me to try myself, so no doubt it is lawful for my Pastor to try me. It is lawful for other men that have a care over me to try, and examine me: but no man can do this so profitably to me as I myself. And though we had never so many tryers and examiners, all is nothing if we try not our selves. So whether there be a second or a third tryer and examiner, let ourselves be one, and the first. And no doubt the Apostles mind was this, to let us see clearly, that he that cometh to that Table, and hath not that knowledge, nor is not of that ability to try him-self, is a profane comer, cometh uncleanly; and therefore must needs come to his own destruction. Let every man therefore grow in knowledge, grow in understanding, grow in the spirit, that he may be the more able to try and examine his own conscience. To the end that ye may go forward and proceed in the work of this trial, with the better speed, and with the better fruits, in this examination we laid down this order: First of all, I shown, what that is which we call a conscience, and what is meant thereby. Next, I declared for what causes ye should put your consciences to this trial, and narrow examination. And thirdly, so far as time suffered, I entered into the points, wherein every one of you should try and examine your own consciences. As for conscience, that ye may call that definition to your memory, I will resume it shortly. We call a conscience, a certain feeling in the heart, resembling the righteous judgment of GOD, following upon a deed done by us, flowing from a knowledge in the mind. A feeling, accompanied with a motion in the heart; a motion either of fear, or joy, trembling or rejoicing. I leave the opening up of these parts to your memories, and I pray God, that they may be well sanctified. I come next to the causes, wherefore every one of you should be careful in trying & examining your own consciences. The first cause is, because the Lord of heaven hath his eye continually upon the conscience: the eye of God is never from the conscience and heart of man, as I proved to you by diverse places. Next because this God hath chosen his lodging, and hath set down his throne, to make his residence in the conscience: Therefore, that he may dwell in cleanness, ye ought to have a regard to his dwelling place. Thirdly, he is the Lord, yea the only Lord of this conscience, who hath power only to control, who only hath power to save or to cast away: therefore that it may do good service to thy own Lord, thou oughtest to take heed to thy conscience. And last of all, in respect yt the health of thy soul standeth in the estate of thy conscience, and if thy soul be in good health, thy body cannot be ill: therefore in respect that the soul and body depend upon the estate of the conscience, every one of you should carefully look to your consciences. I will not amplify this, but leave it to your memories, how the health of the soul and welfare of the soul should be kept. Next I come in the third and last place to the points, in the which every one of you should try and examine your consciences. And as ye may remember, I set down two points wherein ye ought to put your consciences in trial: First, to know whether your consciences were at peace with God or not: Secondly, whether your consciences were in love and charity, and in amity with your neighbor or not: In these two points chiefly ye must try and examine yourselves. To know whether ye be at peace with God or not, ye must first try whether ye be in the faith or not, (as the Apostle saith) whether ye be in the faith of Christ or not: For being in the faith, and justified thereby, of necessity ye must have peace with God. Then the next care must be to try your faith, and to see whether ye have faith or not. Faith can no ways be tried but by the fruits: Faith cannot be judged of by me that look upon it only, but by the effects. Therefore, to try whether ye be in the faith or not, mark the fruits; Take heed to thy mouth, take heed to thy hand, take heed to thy words and to thy deeds: for except thou glorify God in thy mouth, & confess to thy salvation, and except thou glorify him also in thy deeds, and make thy holy life a witness of thy holy faith, all is but vain, all is but mere hypocrisy. Therefore to know the sincerity of thy faith, thou must take heed that there be a harmony between thy hand, thy mouth, and thy heart, that there be a natural consent, that thy doings prejudge not thy heart, that thy mouth prejudge not thy heart, but that mouth and hand may testify the sincerity of the heart. If the heart, the hand, and the mouth, consent and agree in one harmony together; no question, that heart that breaketh forth into so good fruits is coupled with God; there is no question, the light of thy actions, the beams & shining of thy life, shall make the name of thy good God to be glorified.

Therefore, the whole weight of thy trial stands chiefly upon this point, to see whether we be in the faith or not; to try and examine whether Christ dwell in us by faith or not: for without faith there can be no coupling or conjoining betwixt us and Christ; without faith our hearts cannot be sanctified and cleansed; and without faith we cannot work by charity: so all depends on this only. And therefore that ye might the better understand whether ye have faith or no, I was somewhat the more exact in this matter, and I began to let you see how the holy Spirit createth faith, and worketh faith in your souls, hearts and minds: I began to show you what order the holy Spirit kept in forming & in creating this notable instrument in your hearts & minds. Not only how he engenders and begins faith, but also how he entertaineth it, how he nourisheth it. And I shown you the external means and instruments, which he useth to this effect: To beget faith in our souls, the holy Spirit useth the hearing of the word preached by him that is sent, and the ministry of the Sacraments, as ordinary means and instruments: which ordinary means are only then effectual, when as the holy Spirit concurs inwardly in our hearts with the word striking outwardly in our ears, and with the Sacrament outwardly received. And except the holy Spirit grant his concurrence to the word and Sacrament, word and Sacrament both will not work faith. So all dependeth upon the working of this holy Spirit: the whole regeneration of mankind, the renewing of the heart and of the conscience, depend on the power of the holy Spirit; and therefore it behooveth us carefully to employ ourselves in calling upon God for his holy Spirit. By the same means and no other, that the holy Spirit begetteth faith in us, by the same means he nourisheth and augmenteth that which he hath begotten: And therefore as we got faith by the hearing of the word, so by continual and diligent hearing we have this faith augmented and nourished in us. And from hence I took my exhortation, that if ye would have that spiritual life nourished in you, and if ye would have a further assurance of heaven, of necessity ye must both continually & diligently hear the blessed word of God.

Now it resteth that every one of you carefully apply this doctrine to your own souls, and enter into the trial of your own consciences, to see if this faith as I spake, be begun in your hearts and minds, or not: how far, or how little the holy Spirit hath proceeded in that work, try with me, and I with you. The first effect of the holy Spirit whereby ye may try your minds, whether ye be in the faith or not, is this: Revolve in your memories and remember, if at any time it pleased the Lord in his mercy to turn the darkness of your minds into light, to cause that natural darkness which was within you to depart: through ye which darkness, neither had ye an eye to see yourselves what you were by nature, nor yet had ye an eye to see God in Christ, nor any part of his mercy. Examine, I say, whether this darkness of the natural understanding be turned into light, by the working of the Spirit or not. If thou art become a child of the light, a child of the day; if thou art become (as the Apostle speaketh) light in the Lord: if there be this alteration made in thy mind, that whereas naturally before, it was closed up in darkness, whereas it was filled with vanities and errors, whereas it was closed up in blindness: If the Lord hath at any time enlightened the eye of thy mind, and made thee to see thine own misery, to see the ugliness of thine own nature, to see the heinous sins in the which by nature thou liest; If he hath granted to thee an insight of thyself in some measure; and on the other side, if he hath granted thee the remedy, and hath given thee an insight of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, if thou hast obtained an insight of the riches of his grace in Christ; no doubt the holy Spirit hath begun a good work in thee, a work which will bring forth repentance, which in his own time he will perfect. So this is the first care which ye ought to have, and the first point wherein ye ought to examine your minds, to see if there be any light in it, whereby ye may know your misery, & have an insight of the free mercy of God in Christ Jesus. This being done, that thou findest a sight of these two in thy mind, from thy mind go to thy heart: and as thou hast tried thy mind, so try thy heart: And first examine thine heart, if it be altered or not, that the will of it be framed and bowed to God’s obedience, that thy affection be turned into the life of God, and be poured out on him, as it was poured out on vanities, on filthiness, and on the world before. Try whether the ground of thy heart and the fountain from whence thy motions and affections proceed be sanctified or not: for from a holy fountain holy waters must distill: from a holy fountain, holy motions, holy cogitations, and sanctified considerations must flow.

Try then and examine your hearts, if the Spirit of God hath wrought any such reformation, as I speak of in your hearts or not. And that ye may perceive the working of the holy Spirit the better in your hearts and consciences, (for the holy Spirit hath his chief residence in your hearts) I will declare unto you the first effect that ever the holy Spirit bringeth forth in the heart, in framing it, in mollifying it, and in bowing it unto the obedience of God. You shall know the working of the holy Spirit by this effect: namely, if your minds see and behold what is ill, see & behold what is good, perceive and discern your own misery and your sins, which have brought this misery upon you; and withal perceive and behold the riches of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. If as your minds see these two, your hearts be reformed and prepared to love the sight of them: and as you see in your minds the mercy of God, and that in Christ, if ye have hearts to desire mercy, if ye have a thirsting and earnest desire to be partakers of mercy; where this desire & thirst is there ye holy Spirit is, he hath no doubt opened the heart. On the other side, if as thou seest mercy, thou seest thy misery; if as thy mind seeth thy misery, it seeth also the fountain from whence thy misery floweth, to wit, from thine own sins; if then thy heart also hate this, the holy Spirit is there: if as thou seest sin, which is the cause of thy misery, with the eye, which is given thee in the mind; thou hatest this sin with thy heart, no question the holy Spirit is there. And as thou hatest it, if also thou sorrow for it (for it is not enough to hate it, if thou lament not the committing of it, and with a godly sorrow deplore it) the holy Spirit is there. And thirdly, if with thy lamenting, thou hast a care and a study to eschew that sin, (for what avails it to lament, if like a dog returning to his vomit, thou fall into that same gulf again?) Therefore, where there is a hatred of sin, a sorrow for sin, a care and a study to eschew sin; no question, the holy Spirit hath opened the heart, and is working out that precious instrument. Observe all this in a word, all the operation of the holy Spirit and working in the heart, and by this examine thine heart: See and perceive it the holy Spirit hath entered so far in thee, to work in that hard heart of thine an earnest and a diligent study, a careful solicitude, continually to be reconciled with the great God whom thou hast offended: Is there such a thing as a thirst, as a desire, to be at amity with him, whom thou hast offended, to be reconciled with the God of heaven, whom thou hast offended by thy manifold transgressions? where this care and study of reconciliation is, if this care & study of reconciliation be in the heart, there is no doubt but the heart that thirsteth for this reconciliation, is heartily content not only to renounce sin, to renounce all the impieties that separated thee from God; but the heart that is endued with this thirst, will be heartily content to renounce itself, to cast down itself as stubborn as it was before, to cast down itself at the feet of the mighty God, and be wholly content at all times after to be ruled by his holy will: Not to follow its own lust, its own will and appetite, as it did before; but to resign itself wholly into the hands of the mighty God, to be ruled by his will, at his pleasure, and to obey his commands. And except ye find this disposition in your own hearts, to acquire yourselves, to renounce yourselves, it is a vain thing for you to say, that ye have a thirst to be reconciled. So the greater thirst of reconciliation that we have, and the more that the care & study thereof groweth; the greater that the apprehension of my misery, of the deep gulfs, and very hells (whereunto my soul is subject) increaseth in my soul, the more earnest would I be to be reconciled. And to be reconciled, I would not stand for the renouncing of the lusts of my heart, but I would renounce my heart, & the obedience of the will and desire: why? Because I see I must die forever except the Lord reconcile himself with me: I see the huge deeps & oceans of all misery, into the which I shall fall in the end, except in mercy the Lord reconcile himself with me. To eschew these miseries and inconveniences, is there any question but the heart that hath any sense and is touched with them, will most willingly endeavor to acquit itself? Again, seeing the Lord hath taken pains to deliver me out of the deep misery in the which I had drowned myself, and hath purchased my redemption by so deer a price, not with gold nor with silver or any dross of the earth, but by such a wonderful means, by such a precious price, and rich ransom; looking to the greatness of our misery, and to the greatness of the price whereby he hath redeemed us, what heart is it but would willingly renounce itself, to get a part of that redemption, and to be delivered out of that hell wherein we are presently, and wherein we shall be in a greater measure hereafter, except we be reconciled? So then with this there is joined a disposition in the heart, whereby the heart is willing in some measure to renounce itself. This lesson is often taught us by our Savior Christ; we must both take up the cross and renounce ourselves also before that we can follow him. The more that this thirst groweth in the heart, the more this renouncing of ourselves groweth in the heart: the more that this thirst decayeth & is diminished in the heart, the more we cleave to the world, the more we love the flesh, and the more are we ruled and guided by them. So either we must nourish a thirst of righteousness, a hunger of life everlasting, a thirst of mercy, a hunger after that justice that is in Christ, or it is not possible that in any measure we can be his disciples.

Now to proceed: The heart that after this manner is prepared, that with a thirst to be reconciled, is resolved also to renounce itself; this heart in the which there remaineth so earnest a thirst, is never frustrate of the expectation, is never disappointed. But as the Lord hath imprinted in it an earnest study to be reconciled, and to lay hold on Christ: so in his mercy he grants unto that heart, the possession of mercy; he puts that heart in some measure, in possession of mercy which it seeketh, in possession of Christ Jesus himself whom it seeketh: the which apprehension which it hath of Christ, the heart sensibly feeleth, and apprehendeth in that peace which he giveth to the conscience. So that the conscience which was terrified, exceedingly gnawen and distracted before; by the approaching of this peace and of Christ with his graces, incontinent it is quieted and pacified; there cometh a calmness and soundness into the heart, and all troubles and storms are removed. With this peace is conjoined a taste of the powers of the world to come; the heart gets a taste of the sweetness that is in Christ, of the joy which is in the life everlasting, which taste is the only earnest penny of that full and perfect joy, which soul and body in that life shall enjoy. And the earnest penny (as ye know) must be a part of the sum, and of the nature of the rest of the sum. And therefore that earnest penny of joy assures us, that when we shall get possession of the whole sum, it shall be a strange joy: and these documents lift up the heart, and make it not to linger, nor weary in the expectation of that life: but being refreshed now and then therewith, by so many earnest pennies, they assure us of the full fruition of that joy, for the which in patience we will sustain all troubles. So as the holy Spirit worketh a thirst in us to be with Christ, a thirst of mercy and reconciliation with him; the same holy Spirit disappointeth not that same expectation and thirst, but putteth the soul and heart in possession of Christ, by the which the conscience is pacified, the heart is rejoiced, and we get a taste of the sweetness and of the power of that life to come. The sensible feeling of the which taste that passeth all natural understanding, what doth it in my heart and conscience? It worketh a wonderful assurance and persuasion that God loveth me: The feeling of his mercy in the bowels of my heart, in the bottom of my conscience, worketh a certain assurance and persuasion that he is my God, that he will save me for Christ’s sake yt the promise of mercy, which I durst not apply unto my conscience before, now by the feeling of mercy I dare boldly apply, and say, mercy appertaineth to me; life and salvation belongeth to me. For the conscience being exceedingly terrified, and seeing nothing in God but fire and wrath, it is not possible but it must fly from him, it cannot approach to a consuming fire. But from the time that the conscience getteth a taste of this peace, mercy and sweetness; how fast soever it fled from the presence of God before, now after this reconciliation, it will run as fast to him, and will possess him more & more fully. So the assurance & persuasion of mercy ariseth from the feeling of mercy in the heart and conscience. And except the heart feel it and taste it in some measure, no conscience dare apply God and his mercy to itself. I may be sure in general, that all my sins are remissible, and that I may obtain mercy, before I feel it. But to apply this mercy particularly to myself until I feel a taste of it, I dare not. So this particular application whereby we claim God and Christ as a property unto us, as if no man had title to him but we, & to call him my God, my Christ; & to claim his promises, as if no man had interest in them but we; this cometh of the sense and feeling of mercy in the heart: and the more that this feeling groweth, and the greater experience that we have in our own hearts of this peace and mercy, the more increaseth our faith and assurance. Our persuasion becometh so strong, that we dare at the last say with the Apostle, what can separate us from the love of God? Neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This particular application which ariseth (no doubt) upon the feeling and sense of mercy, is the special difference, the chief mark and proper note, whereby our faith who are justified in the blood of Christ, is discerned from that general faith of the Papists. Our faith by this particular application, is not only discerned from the general faith of the Papists, but it is discerned from all the pretended faiths of all the Sects in the world. For the Papist dareth not apply the promise of mercy to his own soul: he accounteth it presumption to say, I am an elect, I am saved and justified. And from whence floweth this? Only from hence; that in their consciences they have never felt mercy, they have never tasted of the love, favor and sweetness of God. For look how fast the conscience flieth from God before it get the taste of his sweetness; it runneth as diligently to him, and threateneth love of him, after that it hath gotten that taste. So they miserable men, content themselves with this general faith, which is no other thing but an historical faith, which groundeth only on the truth of God, whereby I know that the promises of God are true. But the Papists dare not come and say, they are true in me. Why? Because they have not felt it, and their hearts are not opened. But our justifying faith, as I told you, consecrateth the whole soul unto the obedience of God in Christ. So that it resteth not only upon the truth of God, nor it resteth not only upon the power of God, (though these be two chief pillars of our faith also) but especially and chiefly it resteth upon the mercy of God in Christ. It resteth also upon the truth and power of God, but especially upon the promise of grace and mercy in Christ. The soul of the Papist, being destitute of the feeling and taste of mercy, dare not enter into this particular application, and so he cannot be justified. Yea no doubt, so many of them as are justified in the mercy of God, get a taste of this mercy and kindness before they depart this life. Thus far concerning the effects.

Then ye have only this to remember; The opening of the heart, the pacifying and quieting of the conscience, they work an assurance and a strong persuasion of the mercy of God in Christ. The more that the heart is opened, the more yt the conscience is pacified, the more that the taste of that sweetness continueth and remaineth, the more art thou assured of God’s mercy. So then wouldest thou know whether thy faith be strong or not, whether thy persuasion of God’s mercy be sure or not? Look to thy conscience.

If thy conscience be wounded, assuredly thou wilt doubt: and if thou doubtest, thou canst not have such a strong persuasion as otherwise thou wouldest have, if thy doubting were removed. Not that I will have faith to be so perfect in this life, that there be always no doubting joined with it; I require not that perfection: but I say, that a wounded conscience must ever doubt; and the more we doubt, the less is our persuasion. So the more that thou woundest thy conscience, the less faith thou hast. Then thou must come to this point; Keep a sound conscience, entertain peace in thy conscience, and thou shalt keep faith, and shalt have thy persuasion in that same measure that thou hast of rest & peace in thy conscience: & the more that thy conscience is at peace and rest, the greater shall thy faith and persuasion be. So this ground is certain; A doubting conscience causeth a weak faith; and the more the doubting in thy conscience is, the weaker is thy faith. Then true it is that the Apostle saith, that faith dwelleth in a good conscience, that faith is locked and closed up in a good conscience. So that if ye keep a good conscience, ye shall keep a strong faith: and if ye wound your consciences, ye shall wound your faith.

Now to make this more sensible; How can I be persuaded of his mercy whose anger I feel kindled against me, and against whom my conscience showeth me that I am guilty of many offenses? No question, so long as the sense of his anger, and feeling of my offenses remaineth, I cannot have a sure persuasion that he will be merciful unto me: but when I get access unto his presence, and a sight that he hath forgiven me, then I begin to be surely persuaded. So then keep a good conscience, and thou shalt keep faith; and the better that thy conscience is, the surer will thy faith be.

Then the whole exhortation that we gather from this point, dependeth upon this; That every one of you in what rank soever ye be, take heed unto your consciences: for losing it, ye lose faith; and losing faith, ye lose salvation. Are ye in the rank of great and rich men? Ye ought to take heed unto your consciences: especially in respect that the Lord hath placed you in a higher calling. Ye have many things wherein ye ought to control your consciences; ye ought to crave the advice of your consciences before ye attempt any great work, in respect that ye are bound in manifold duties to God, and to your inferiors. And no doubt if some great men had advised well with their consciences, such dissolutions had not fallen out in their own houses, such oppressions of the poor, deadly feuds with men of their own rank would not have burst forth in so high a measure. But the Lord seeing them take so little care unto their consciences, depriveth them of faith, and of the hope of mercy; and their end will be miserable. Ye shall see that the God of heaven will make those who live so dissolutely, spectacles of his judgments unto the world: for the Lord leaveth not such men unpunished. By their examples it were very necessary, that men of inferior rank should take heed unto their consciences: and therefore let every man according unto his calling examine his calling by the rule of his conscience.

Let the Judges before they give and pronounce forth judgment, advise with their consciences, and the law thereof; and in judgment not to follow their affections, but to follow the rule of their consciences. Likewise, they that are of inferior degree unto Judges, let them control their doings by their consciences; and give not the poor subjects just cause to complain of them. Let them not terrify them from the pleading of Justice, by exorbitant prices and extraordinary kind of dealings: but let them moderate all their actions so, that they agree with the rule of their consciences; that so far as in him lieth, Justice cease not. Likewise the Merchants, let not them look so much to this, or that, as to the conscience that is in them; what in conscience they may do, according to the measure of knowledge that God hath placed in them; and whatsoever they do, let them beware that they do not against their knowledge.

I grant their knowledge will not be so learned as it should be; and this maketh many deformed actions: yet let no man do against his knowledge; but let every man do according unto the measure of knowledge wherewith God hath endued him. And though it be not well reformed, yet do not anything by guess, but advise well with thy conscience, and follow thy knowledge: for that which is done doubtingly is sin. So whatsoever thou doest let not thy eye, thy hand, nor any member of thy body, do against thy knowledge: for this is a step to that high sin against the holy Ghost. This is the ready way to put all knowledge out of your minds: for if men do against knowledge, and continue in doing against knowledge, at the last they will become a mass of darkness; the Lord will scrape out all knowledge out of their minds, and all feeling of mercy out of their hearts. Therefore let every man follow his knowledge: and according to the measure of his knowledge let his actions proceed.

It hath pleased the Lord to pour this liquor, this precious ointment into us: though we be earthly and frail vessels, miserable creatures, yet it hath pleased our gracious God to pour such a precious liquor into our hearts and minds, and to credit such a Jewel in our keeping, that by virtue thereof we may take hold on Christ; who is our justice, our wisdom, sanctification, and redemption.

Though we be miserable creatures, yet the Lord of his mercy hath a respect to us in Christ, in giving us this precious liquor, whereby our souls may be seasoned to life everlasting. In this that he pours it into our hearts, we see clearly that it grows not in our hearts, nor breeds not in our nature. No, this gift of faith is not at man’s command, nor under his arbitrement, as if it were in his power to believe, or not to believe, as he pleaseth. It is the gift of God poured down freely of his undeserved grace, in the riches of his mercy in Christ. That it is a gift ye see clearly, 1. Cor. 12.9. where the Apostle saith; And to another is given faith by the same Spirit. As also, Philip. 1.29. For, unto you it is given for Christ, that not only ye should believe in him, but also suffer for his sake. So faith is the gift of the holy Spirit: and this gift is not given to all men and women, as the Apostle plainly declareth; All have not faith. This gift though it be given, it is not given to all, but is only given to the Elect: that is, to so many as the Lord hath appointed to life everlasting. This gift where-ever it is, and in what heart soever it be, it is never idle, but perpetually working; and working well by love and charity, as the Apostle affirmeth, Galatians 5:6. This gift where-ever it is, is not dead, but quick and lively, as the Apostle James testifieth, in his second Chapter. And to let you know whether it be lively and working, or not, there is no better means then to look unto the fruits and effects that flow from it. And therefore that ye by your own effects, may be the more assured of the goodness of your faith, I will give you three special effects to observe, by the which ye may judge of the goodness of your faith.

First look to thy heart, and cast thine eye on it: If thou hast a desire to pray, a desire to crave mercy for thy sins, to call upon God’s holy Name for mercy and grace: if there be such a thing in thy heart, as a desire to pray, if thy heart be inclined, and hath a thirst to seek after mercy and grace; though the greatest part of thine heart repine, and would draw thee from prayer, yet assuredly that desire that thou hast in any measure to prayer, is the true effect of the right faith. If thou have a heart to pray to God, though this desire be but slender, assure thyself thy soul hath life: for prayer is the life of the soul, and maketh thy faith lively. And why? Prayer is God’s own gift, it is no gift of ours; for if it were ours, it would be evil: but it is the best gift that ever God gave man; and so it must be the gift of his own holy Spirit; and being his own gift, it must make our faith lively. Without this thou art not able, nor thou darest not call upon him in whom thou believest not, as the Apostle saith, Romans 10:14. For if I entreat him by prayer, I must trust in him. Then prayer is a certain argument of justifying faith and belief in God: for I cannot speak to him, much less pray to him, in whom I trust not. And though the heart be not fully resolved and well disposed, yet if there be any part of the heart that inclineth to prayer, it is a sure gage that that part believeth. The second effect whereby thou shalt know whether faith be in thee, or no, is this: Observe and advise with thyself, if thy heart can be content to renounce thy rancor, to forgive thy grudges, and that freely, for God’s cause. Canst thou do this? And wilt thou forgive thy neighbor, as freely as God hath forgiven thee? Assuredly, this is an effect of the right Spirit; for nature could never give yt. There is nothing whereunto nature bendeth itself more then to rancor and envy; and there is nothing wherein nature placeth her honor more greedily, then in privy revenge.

Now if thy heart be so tamed and brought down, that it will willingly forgive the injury for God’s cause, this is the effect of the right Spirit. This is not my saying, it is the saying of Christ himself in the Evangelist, Math. 6.14. where he thus speaketh; If ye do forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. And in the fifteenth verse, but if ye do not forgive men their trespasses, no more will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses. So that Christ saith, He that forgiveth wrongs, shall have wrongs forgiven him: but he that will revenge his wrongs, wrong shall be revenged upon him. Therefore, as thou wouldest be spared of thy wrongs done unto the mighty God, spare thou thy neighbor. I will not insist; examine whether ye have faith or not; examine it by prayer, examine it by the discharge of your own privy grudges: for if ye want these effects, a heart full of rancor, a heart void of prayer, is a heart faithless and meet for hell. The third effect of faith, is compassion. Thou must bow thy heart, and extend thy pity unto the poor members of Christ his body, and suffer them not to want, if thou have: for except ye have this compassion, ye have no faith. Examine yourselves by these three effects; and if ye find these in any measure, though never so small, you have the right faith in your hearts; the faith that ye have is true and lively: and assuredly, God will be merciful unto you. This faith of ours, though it be lively, yet it is not perfect in this world; but every day and every hour it needeth a continual augmentation, it craveth ever to be nourished: for the which increase the Apostles themselves, Luke 17:5. said, Lord increase our faith. And Christ himself commandeth us to pray, and say, Lord increase our faith: I believe, Lord help my unbelief. Then by Christ his own command we plainly see, that this faith needeth continually to be nourished & helped; and it cannot be helped but by prayer: therefore should we always continue in prayer. That this faith should be helped, and that we should be perpetually upon our guard, in fear and trembling, to get it augmented, the terrible doubtings, the wonderful pits of desperation, into the which the dearest servants of God are cast, do daily teach. For the best servants of God are exercised with terrible doubtings in their souls, with wonderful stammerings; and they shall be brought at sometimes, as appears in their own judgment, to the very brink of desperation. These doubtings and stammerings let us see that this faith of ours would be perpetually nourished, and that we have need continually to pray for the increase of it. It pleaseth the Lord at sometimes to let his servants have a sight of themselves, to cast them down, and to let them see how ugly sin is: It pleaseth him to let them fall into the bitterness of sin; and to what end? Not that he will devour them, and suffer them to be swallowed up of destruction.

Though Hezekiah crieth out: That like a hungry Lyon, the Lord is like to devour him, and bruise him in pieces; yet the Lord suffers him not to despair. And though David cry, I cannot away with this consuming fire; I cannot endure the fire of the Lord’s jealousy, yet he despaireth not. But the Lord casteth his servants very low. To what end? To the end that they may feel in their hearts and consciences, what Christ suffered for them on the Cross, in soul and body. Yea, we would think that there had been plain collusion betwixt the Father and the Son, and that his suffering had been no suffering, except we felt in our souls in some measure, the hell which he sustained in full measure. So to the end that we might clearly understand the bitterness of sin, that we might know how far we are indebted to Christ, who suffered such torments for our sins, and that we may be the more able to thank him, to praise his holy Name, he suffers his own servants to doubt, but not to despair; he forgives their doubtings, he forgives their stammerings, and in his own time he supports them, and brings us unto the waters of life.

These doubtings, as I have often said, may lodge in one soul with faith; for doubting and faith are not directly opposite: only faith and despair are opposite; and therefore faith and despair cannot lodge both in one soul. For despair overthroweth the pillars of hope; and where there is no hope, there can be no faith. But as for doubting, it may lodge, it will lodge, and hath lodged in the souls of the best servants that ever God had. Mark the speech of the Apostle, we are always in doubt, saith he, but we despair not. So doubting and faith may lodge both in one soul. And from whence floweth this doubting? We know that in the regenerate man, there is a remnant of corruption: for we have not our heaven in this earth; though we begin our heaven here, yet we get it not fully here. And if all corruption were taken away, what should there want of a full heaven here? So it is only begun in this life, and not perfected: therefore there remains in the soul a great corruption, which is never idle but continually occupied. This corruption is ever bringing forth the birth of sin more or less; every sin hurts the conscience: a hurt conscience impaireth the persuasion, & so comes in the doubting. For there is not a sin that we commit, but it banisheth light, and casteth a mist over the eye of our faith, whereby we doubt and stagger in our sight: and were it not that the Lord in his mercy taketh us up, giveth us the gift of repentance, and maketh us every day as oft as we sin, to cry as oft for mercy, and so to repair the loss that we have of faith, to repair the loss that we have of the feeling of mercy, we would wholly put out that same light. But it pleaseth the Lord though we be every day sinning, to give us the gift of repentance; and by repentance to repair our faith; to repair the sense and feeling of mercy in us, and to put us in that same state of persuasion wherein we were before. Therefore if God begin not, continue not, & end not with mercy, in that very moment that he abstracts his mercy from us, we will decay. So we must be diligent in calling for mercy; we must be instant continually, in seeking to have a feeling of mercy. Thus much for the doubting.

Now howsoever it be sure and certain, that the faith of the best children of God is often subject to doubting; yet it is as sure and certain, that it is never wholly extinct: albeit it were never so weak, yet it shall never utterly decay and perish out of the heart, wherein it once maketh residence. This comfort and consolation the Spirit of God hath set down in his word, to support the troubled heart; That howsoever faith be weak, yet a weak faith is faith: and where that faith is, there will ever be mercy.

Ye have in Romans 11:29. that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. But among all the gifts that are of this sort, faith is one of the chiefest: therefore it cannot be revoked again.

Ye have in Jude 1:3. That faith was once given unto the Saints. Once given, that is, constantly given, never to be changed, nor utterly taken from them. The Lord will not repent him of this gift: but the soul which he hath loved once he will love perpetually.

It is true and certain, that the sparkles of faith which are kindled in the heart by the Spirit of God, may be obscured and smothered for a long time; they may be covered with the ashes of our own corruption, and with our own ill deeds and wickedness, into which we daily fall. It is true that the effects of a lively faith will be interrupted, and that thy lusts and affections will prevail for a long time: so that when thou lookest on thyself, upon the judgments of God that hang over thy soul and body, & when thou lookest upon thy dissolute life, and on the anger of God against this dissolute life: in the mind, in the heart and conscience of him that hath so smothered and oppressed his faith, it will oft times come to pass in his own judgment, having his eyes fixed on himself only, that he will think himself to be a reprobate, to be an outcast, and never able to recover mercy. Where this corruption bursteth forth in this gross manner, after that the Lord hath called thee; look how soon the Lord beginneth to waken thee again, incontinent thou fixest thine eyes upon thine own life, and enterest into a deep consideration as well of the weight of thy sin, as of the weight of the wrath of God, which thou seest following thereupon; and art loath to remit these cogitations, to think upon the deepness of the mercy of God.

Resting on these considerations, it cannot but come to pass that in thine own judgment thou art an outcast. And yet God forbid it were so; for though these sparks of the Spirit be covered by the corruption that is within thy soul, yet these sparkles are not wholly put out. And to let you see that they are not extinguished, though they break not forth in the outward effects, that the world may know thee to be a faithful man as heretofore; yet these sparkles are not idle, & thou shalt find them not to be idle in thee. As for confirmation of my argument, that howsoever our bodies are let loose to all dissolution, after our effectual calling within us in our souls, that yet the sparkles are not idle; ye see that though the fire be covered with the ashes, yet it is a fire: there is no man will say, that the fire is put out, though it be covered. No more is faith put out of the soul, though it be so covered that it neither give heat nor light outwardly. An example of this we have clearly in the Prophet David, after his lamentation in that Psalm of Repentance, Psal. 51.11. he prayeth to God in these words, Cast me not away from thy presence. And what addeth he? And take not thy holy Spirit from me. Had he not lost the Spirit by his adultery and murder? No: for he would not have said then, take it not from me: but, Restore it to me.

It is true that he useth the like in the verse following, Restore me to the joy of thy salvation. Not that he wanted the Spirit wholly, but that the Spirit lacked force in him, and needed strengthening and fortification: it would be stirred up, that the flame of it might appear. Therefore I say, in that David speaketh so plainly after his adultery and murder, Take not thy Spirit from me, it is a certain argument, that the faithful have never the Spirit of God always taken from them in their greatest dissolutions. The second point is this: How prove I that these sparkles are not idle, though the outward effects be interrupted? As David felt this in his conscience, so everyone of you may feel it in your own consciences. The Spirit of God in man’s heart cannot be idle; but these sparkles during the time that the body is let loose to all dissolutions, these sparkles are accusing thy dissolution, are finding fault with thy manners; these sparkles suffer thee not to take the pleasure of thy body without great bitterness and continual remorse. And these sparkles where they are, will make the soul wherein they dwell to utter these speeches at one time or other, once in the twenty-four hours; Alas, I am doing the evil which I would not do, if I had power or strength to resist my affection: & if I might be master of my affections, I would not for all the world do the evil which I do. Again, if I had power to do the good which I would do, I would not leave it undone for all the world. So these sparkles, though they have not such force and strength presently as to resist the affection & abstain from doing evil deeds, yet perpetually in the heart they are finding fault with thy corruption, and suffer thee not to take thy pleasure without pain, but last of all force thee to utter these speeches; If I had strength to resist, I would not do the evil which I do. Where these speeches are, no question they are the words of a soul which the Lord hath begun to sanctify: and being once sanctified, in despite of the devil and of the corruption that is in us, this faith shall never perish: but if the whole soul without contradiction, with a greedy appetite and pleasure be carried to evil, and hath no sorrow for it, that soul is in an ill estate; I can look for nothing in such a soul but death, except the Lord of his great mercy prevent it. But where this remorse and sorrow, and such speeches are in the soul, that soul, in the time that God hath appointed, shall recover strength. The Lord shall never suffer those sparks to be wholly taken away; but in his own time he shall fortify them, and make them to break out before the world in good works. The Lord in his own time will sanctify them, he will scatter the ashes of corruption, stir up the sparkles, and make them to break out into a better life then ever they did before; as ye may clearly see that David’s repentance hath done more good to the God, then if he had never fallen. Thus far concerning the effects.

Though the effects of repentance be interrupted, yet those sparkles are not extinguished. For there is no man will think that the fire which is covered with ashes, is extinguished; but being stirred up in the morning, it will burn as clearly as it did the night before. There is no man will think the trees that now in the time of Winter want leaves, fruit, and external beauty, to be dead. There is no man will think the Sun to be out of the firmament, though it be overshadowed with a cloud of darkness and mist. There is great difference between a sleeping disease, and death: for men are not dead though they be sleeping; and yet there is nothing liker unto death then sleep. As there is great difference betwixt a drunken man, and a dead man; so there is great odds betwixt the faith that lieth hid for a while and uttereth not itself, and the light that is utterly put out. When we break not forth into outward deeds, God forbid that we should think that these sparkles are wholly extinguished. Indeed the soul which is visited after foul and heinous backslidings from his calling, and against his knowledge, before this soul recover the former beauty, it is in a strange danger. For if the Lord suffer thy corruption to get loose, in such sort that it carry thee as it will, and by all means possible maketh thee to labor to put out the sparkles of regeneration; when the Lord begins to challenge thee, or to make thee render an account of this life past, the soul of that man when it is challenged, is in great danger. So that no question, when the Lord begins to lay to your charge your dissolute life, the contempt and abuse of your calling, assuredly your souls are so near to the brink of desperation that there can be nothing nearer. For wilt thou look to God? Thou wilt see nothing but his anger kindled as a fire against thee. Wilt thou look to thyself? Thou wilt see nothing but sin provoking his anger: thou wilt see the contempt and abuse of thy calling enlarging his anger; thou wilt see nothing but matter of despair. And what is the best pillar and surest retreat, whereupon such a soul that is so near to the brink of desperation, may repose? I will show you the help whereupon. When thou art assaulted by all the greatest temptations thou canst imagine, when there is nothing before thee but death; when thou seest the devil accusing thee, thine own conscience bearing him witness against thee, thy life accusing thee, and the abuse of thy calling accusing thee: whither shalt thou go? Look back again to thy forepast experience, cast over thy memory, and remember if God at any time, and in any measure, hath loved thee; if ever thou hast felt the love and favor of God in thy heart and conscience. Remember if ever the Lord hath so disposed thy heart, that as he loved thee thou lovedst him, and hadst a desire to obtain him. Remember if ever the Lord hath so disposed thy heart, that as he loved thee, thou lovedst him, & hadst a desire to obtain him. Remember this, and repose thine assurance on this, that as he loved thee once he will love thee ever, and will assuredly restore thee to that love before thou departest this life. The heart that felt once this love of God, shall feel it again: and look what gift or grace, or what taste of the power of the world to come that ever the Lord gave to his creatures in this life, to that same degree of mercy he shall restore his creature before it depart this life. So the soul that is tossed with high assaults and great dangers, where present things will not help, it is necessary that it have recourse unto things past, and keep in memory the fore-past experience of mercy, which the Lord hath freely shown towards that soul. This same memory shall be so pleasant to the soul, that it shall stay it presently from desperation, and uphold it unto the time the Lord pacify that heart, and give comfort to that soul: which being done, that soul shall see, that howsoever God was angry, he was angry only for a while.

I speak these things, not that I think that every one of you hath tasted of them; & yet in some measure the servants of God must taste of them: and ye that have not tasted of them, may taste of them before ye die. And therefore whether ye have tasted or not tasted of them, it cannot be but profitable for you to lock up this lesson in your hearts, and remember it faithfully, that if the Lord at any time strike at your hearts, ye may remember and say with yourselves, I learned a lesson: To look back unto my forepast experience, and thereon to repose. And though ye be not touched presently yourselves, yet when ye visit them that are troubled in conscience, let these things be proposed to them as comforts, & use them as medicines most meet to apply to the grief of the inward conscience, and so ye shall reap fruit of this doctrine, and possess your souls in a good estate. Thus far for the first point, wherein every one of you ought to try and examine your own consciences. The second point is this; Try whether ye have love towards your neighbor or not. For as we are coupled with God by faith, so by the band of love we are coupled with our neighbor: For love is the chief and principal branch that springs from the root of faith. Love is that celestial glue that conjoineth all the faithful members in the unity of a mystical body. And seeing that religion was instituted of God, to serve as a path-way to convey us to our chief felicity: & happy we cannot be except we be like unto our God; like unto him we cannot be, except we have love. (For, as it is 1. John 4:8. God is love.) So seeing God is love itself, whosoever will resemble him, must be endued with the oil of love. This only one argument testifieth to us, that this love is a principal head, whereunto all things that are commanded in religion ought to be referred. To spend long time in the praise of love, I hold it not necessary, seeing the holy Scripture resounds in blasing the commendations of it: but that we speak not of anything ambiguous, I will let you see how this word is considered & taken in the Scriptures. Love is considered either as a spring or fountain, from whence the rest proceeds, that, is for the love whereby we love God. And as love cometh first from God, and is poured by his holy Spirit into our hearts: so it first redounds upward, and strikes back upon himself: for the love of God must ever go before the love of the creature.

Next, we take this word for that love whereby we love God’s creatures our neighbors, & especially them that are of the family of faith. And thirdly, it is taken for the deeds of the second Table, which flow from this love.

Now when I speak of love, I speak of it as in the second signification; to wit, as it is taken for the love of our neighbor. And taking it so, I call love the gift of God, poured into the hearts of men and women: by the which gift we first love God in Christ our Savior; and next in God, and for God’s cause, we love all his creatures, but chiefly our brethren that are of the family of faith, the children of one common Father with us. We will examine this definition; I say, first the love of God as it cometh from God, it returneth to God; as it comes down from him, so it strikes upward to him again. And is it not good reason? And why? Let thy heart fixe thy love as long as thou wilt upon the creatures, thou shalt never be satiate, nor thy affections shall never be content, except thou lay hold on God: but if once thou love God in thy heart, and cast thy affections upon him, & once takest hold on him, the longer thou lovest him, the greater safety and contentment shalt thou have; thou shalt not thirst for any other. For as to the creatures there is never a creature that God hath created but it is stamped with his own stamp, and every creature beareth his Image: and looking to the Image of God in the creature, should it not draw thee to him, that thou fixe not thy heart upon the creature? For his own Image in his creature, should lead thee to himself. And therefore the more that thou knowest the creatures, and the greater variety of knowledge that thou hast of them, the more should every particular knowledge of them draw thee to God: and the more shouldest thou wonder at thy God, and know thy duty towards him. And seeing that delight floweth from knowledge, and every knowledge hath his own delight; as the variety of knowledge that ariseth from the creature should make the mind to mount up to the knowledge of God: so the variety of delights that arise upon the diversity of this knowledge, should move the heart upward to the love of God: and the heart getting hold of God, and being seized with the love of God, and the mind being occupied with the true knowledge of God; so soon as heart and mind is full of God, the heart is quiet and the mind is satisfied. So that the more this knowledge groweth in the mind, the greater contentment thou hast; and the more the love of God groweth in thy heart, the greater joy and rejoicing hast thou in thy soul. And why? In God ye have not only all the creatures, but ye have himself beside the creatures: and therefore in God ye have all the knowledge and delight that can arise of the creatures; and besides the creatures ye have God himself, who is the Creator. And so I say, the mind of man can never quiet itself in the knowledge, nor the heart can never settle itself in the love of naked creatures; in respect they are flowing and vanity, as Solomon calleth them: But in the infinite God rightly known, and earnestly loved, the mind shall find a full rest, and the heart shall have a perfect joy. For our affection is so insatiable that no finite thing will satisfy it; nor there can be no solid settling upon the thing that is transitory. So the love ought to mount upward, first to God, in whose face the heart shall find full and perfect joy. The second argument that I use is this; Seeing there is only one precept left by our Master in recommendation to be observed by us, namely, that everyone of us should love another: therefore our wise Master understanding well, that where love was there needed no more laws, that the life of man by love only behooved to be most happy, left only the same in chief recommendation, and taketh up the whole Law and Gospel in one word, Love. And if the heart of man were endued with love, his life might be most happy and blessed: for there is nothing maketh this life happy, but the resemblance and likelihood that we have with God. The nearer we draw to God, the more blessed is our life; for there cannot be so happy a life as the life of God. In the first Epist. of John, 4.8. God is love: therefore the more we are in love, the more near we are to that happy life: for we are in God, and partakers of the life of God. When I speak this, ye must not think that love in God and love in us is one thing: for love is but a quality in us, and it is not a quality in God. There is nothing in God but that which is God; so love in God is his own essence: therefore the more that ye grow in love, the nearer ye draw to God, and to that happy and blessed life. For there is nothing more profitable, more agreeable & convenient unto nature then to love, and above all things to love God. And therefore it is that God and his Angels are most happy and blessed, because they love all things, and desire ever to do good. On the other side, there is nothing more unhappy, nothing more noisome, more hurtful & that eateth up nature more, then to burn with envy and hatred: and therefore it is that the devils are most miserable, who torment themselves with continual malice and hatred, burning with a vehement appetite to be noisome unto all creatures. So as the life of the devil is most unhappy, because he is full of envy and malice; so our life will be most happy, if we be full of love. I will no further speak of love: Only if ye have love, mark the effects of it set down, 1. Cor. 13.4.5.6.7. verses, which effects if ye have not in some measure, ye have not true love.

I end here. Ye see in what points every one of you ought to be prepared: Ye must be endued with this love, and ye must be endued with faith; and if ye have these in any small measure, go boldly to the hearing of the word, and to the receiving of the Sacraments. This is the preparation that we allow of. I grant the Papists have a preparation far differing from this, and therefore they can have no warrant from the word of God. Last of all, seeing that we are commanded to try ourselves, he that lacketh knowledge cannot try himself, a mad man cannot try himself, a child cannot try himself; therefore they ought not to come to the Lord’s Table. All these things being considered aright, he that hath faith and love in any kind of measure, let him come to the Table of the Lord. And all these things serve as well for the hearing of the word fruitfully, as for the receiving of the Sacrament. Therefore the Lord of his mercy illuminate your minds, and work some measure of faith & love in your hearts, that ye may be partakers of that heavenly life, offered in the word and Sacraments; that ye may begin your heaven here, and obtain the full fruition of the life to come: and that in the righteous merits of Christ Jesus. To whom with the Father, and the holy Ghost, be all honor, praise and glory, both now and forever, Amen.