PHYSIC, TO CURE THE MOST dangerous Disease of Desperation.  
Collected for the direction and comfort of such Christians as travailing and being heavy loaden in their Consciences, with the burden of their sins, stand in danger either in time of their sickness to fall away from their God, through deep Despair, or else in time of their health, to yield to one desperate end, or other, to the ruin and utter confusion of both bodies and souls for ever.  
By W. W.  Prou. 18.14. Who can bear a wounded spirit? Aug. in lib, de utilitate paenitentiae agendae. Ne desperatione auge●mu● peccata propositus est penitentiae p●●●u●●●●sus n● sperando au●●amus 〈◊〉 est ●●e mortis incer●●● 
AT LONDON, Printed for Robert Boulton, and are to be sold at his shop in Chancery lane 〈◊〉 Holborn. 1605.   

TO THE RIGHT Honourable, the Lord THOMAS HOWARD, Earl of Suffolk, Baron of Walden, Knight of the most honourable order of the Garter, Lord High Chamberlain to the Kings most excellent Majesty, and one of his most honourable privy Counsel.  
GReat, manifold, and terrible (Right Honourable) are the tumults, turmoils, troubles, fears, and anguishs, which the remembrance of sins bypassed, and present, conjoined with the careful contemplation, and inward consideration of God's grievous threatenings, and wrathful indignation set forth in holy Scriptures, bring unto weak, troubled, and ignorant, consciences. Great again is the diligence, and continual is the wandering to and fro● of Satan, that deadly and mortal foe of mankind, to tempt and assault, to bring to desperation, & devour sinners at all times, & in all places; but especially in the days of affliction, troubles, plagues, pestilences, and sicknesses; yea, and most of all at the hour of death, when man is at the weakest, and most unfit and unable to withstand him; when man's memory faileth him, and his senses wax dull, his body is tormented and feebled, his heart fainteth, his wits decay, and every part of his body ceaseth to perform and fulfil his due office: then, even than I say, most vigilant, diligent, and busy is that foul fiend to vex, trouble, disquiet, to turmoil men, and to work blasphemy and desperation in their hearts by laying before the eyes of their consciences all their former sinful manner of living, and ungodly conversation, the breach of God's commandments, and his grievous wrath against offenders; the unsupportable pains, and torturing torments, death, and damnation; which, are prepared for the wicked with the Devil and his damned Angels. The consideration of these things, and the great negligence, carelessness, and contempt of providing remedies and physic in due time, against this dangerous disease of Desperation, hath moved me at this present, to employ my Pen, according to that one poor talon which the Lord God hath committed unto me to the setting forth of this Treatise following, thereby to arm and furnish poor ignorant Christians with some necessary counsel, comfort, and spiritual physic, whereby they may become the more able and ready in time of need, to defend themselves; yea, and to propel and drive back their common enemy: the Devil tempting and enticing to the most deadly sin of Desperation.  
These my poor labours (written both for the comfort of myself, and strengthening of mine own Faith, and for the like good of others, if they will for their own good, take the pains to read, consider, and accept thereof) I your Honour's poor incumbent of the mediety of the rectory of Ruskington in Lincolnshire, the true and undoubted Patronage whereof lately was the kings Majesties, and now is yours to dispose at your Honour's good liking, have attempted to send forth to the view of the world under your shielding protection, and patrociny. And so with my humble petition for th' acceptance hereof, with that submission that best befitteth myself, and belongeth to a person of so great place, & calling, I humbly lake my leave.  
At Ruskington in Lincolnshire this first of November. 1604. Your Hon. ever ready to be commanded in all Christian duty, William Willimat.   

A PREFACE TO THE Christian Reader.  
IT is a wonder of the world, a wonder to be seriously marked, and diligently considered of; and a wonder being seriously marked, & diligently considered of, worthy to be deeply weighed, and inwardly to be laid up in men's hearts as a thing most necessary, profitable, and available to Christian piety, and everlasting felicity both of soul and body, 
The first thing to be wondered a● and seriously to be considered of.  to see and to think of it, how careful, watchful, diligent, earnest, and painful, almost all the world every where is to avoid, to prevent, to cure, and to remedy, all such troubles, crosses, griefs, maladies, infirmities, and sicknesses, as do or may befall the body: And on the other side to see, or find so few watchful, careful, and painful to avoid, prevent, cure, or expel the most dangegerous wounds of the spirit, the troubles of the conscience, or Desperation; a mischief of all other mischiefs, most needful to be looked unto.  

●he second ●hing to be honoured at, 〈◊〉 seriously 〈◊〉 be considered of.  It is a wonder to see, and consider, how many there are in the world which either loath and are afraid of bodily sickness, or love & likes health, will send for and seek, run and ride after bodily Physicians, and inquire after the best, the most expert & most skilful of them, to learn by their direction, and to be advised by their counsel (though it cost their purse full dear) how to purge and avoid such corrupt humours as may breed (though not presently bring forth) noisome diseases, and sicknesses: how careful and how scrupulous they are to keep a temperate order and a diet in eating and drinking: and how moderate they will be in sleep, and all other bodily exercises: And on the other side, how few there be in the world that will either abate their sleep, forego their pleasures, abridge their diets, or seek after the spiritual Physician or prepare physic to purge and expel those dangerous & peccant humours, of notorious and heinous sins, which in time will both breed and bring forth the most deadly disease of Desperation, the very pest of soul and body for ever.  
It is a wonder to see, 
The third thing to be wondered at.  how many abhor, and are afraid of worldly poverty, and for the avoiding thereof, and for the love and liking of transitory riches, will with great cark and care rise up early, and late take their rest: they will far hardly, and go clad full barely: they will hazard both bodies and souls; they will toil and tear their flesh in unmeasurable labours by land and sea, be the weather fair, be it foul, per mare pauperiem fugientes, per saxa, perignes: And yet on the other side, how few can abide any costs, charges, or pains, to escape and remedy spiritual decays: to avoid poverty of conscience, or in time before it be too late, to beware that they be not plunged ere they be aware into the most deadly and devilish gulf of Desperation; as though salvation, and peace of a godly conscience, were a matter not worthy the talking of, or labouring for.  

A thing to be lamented.  It is a lamentable thing to behold, how many in the world will undertake and attempt any thing, be it never so chargeable and troublesome, not sluggish not sleepy; not careless and slothful, but most earnest & watchful, most careful & painful, at every assay; by prudence and prowess, by wit and by wariness, by counsel and by cunning, by learning and by labouring; ambitiously to hunt, gain, and gape after honour, and unfatigablye seek to attain fame, and highly account of it to be gazed on, and talked of, with the eyes & tongues of all men: And again, how few take any care at all, or once endeavour themselves to avoid shame, and confusion in the presence of the Almighty, to become glorious in the sight of God and his Angels, and to use and exercise any of those good means and instruments ordained and appointed of God for the increase of Faith, Hope, and Charity; and for the weakening and abandoning of all desperation & diffidence in Gods infinite mercies, and infallible promises.  
It is a lamentable thing to mark and consider how vigilant, careful, 
The second thing to be lamented.  & heedful many of the wiser, and circumspecter sort of men of this world will be to escape, and avoid, all the penalties, pains, and punishments, provided and set down, for offenders of mortal men's laws; how painful they will be in Penal Statutes, & how skilful in every branch of the Civil Laws, lest they should ignorantly incur the dangers of imprisonment, of loss of lands, forfeitures of their goods, or death itself.  

Many have greater ca●e of mortal men's laws ●hen of God's laws.  But the mighty God, the only highest Lawgiver, that Lord of Lords, and King of all Kings; Let him ordain, publish, and proclaim his Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances, to be hearkened unto, observed, and kept, and that under never so rigorous and seveere conditions, punishments, and penalties, How few men will search his Book of Statutes and Laws? How few are afraid of his not temporary, but everlasting threatenings and punishments, contained in his Laws? and how few men regard, esteem, an● thankfully embrace his covenant of Reconciliation, set forth in his most joyful, and comfortable Gospel?  
And yet most certain it is, that all these aforesaid things, so much to be wondered at, and so greatly to be lamented for; so lightly looked on, so smally regarded, and so little thought on, & many such other of the like fraternity & order of disorders, & sins, being delighted in, and securely continued in, without all care or endeavour to forsake them in time, by repentance, and true returning to the Lord, do first breed and engender, and afterwards bring forth Desperation; then the which, all the ●uries, and Devils in hell, can not lightly excogitate nor find out a greater torment, or a more intolerable pain, and that because that all other torments, penalties, and pains, are but temporal, and pursue men no further then bodily death: but this endeth not with bodily death, but becometh eternal. Whosoever then he be, that is once surely catched in this net of Desperation, he needs no more accusers to come against him, than his former unrepented sins, which lie at the door to arrest him; his own heart will give evidence against him, and his own iniquity will plead him to be guilty, and that to his own face.  
Upon consideration of these things, I have now in this Treatise following, (good Christian Reader) endeavoured myself to set down, First, a definition of Desperation; then the grievousness thereof: after this, certain principal causes thereof; together with remedies for the same: and lastly, a general preservative against Desperation, arising of what cause so ever: To the intent, that the children of God, falling by some occasions into some degrees of it, (for if it rage in extremities, in the opinion of some learned Writers, it is an evil incurable, and unrecoverable) may with the more ease and quietness be recovered, and saved as it were out of the devils claws; even out of as great danger as ever was the poor Sheep that David took out of the Bears or Lion's mouth. 
1. Sam 17.34 35.   
Accept hereof (gentle Reader) with no worse a mind, than I have attempted to be the writer; and then I doubt not, but it shall either minister unto thine heart some comfortable Physic, or else give thee occasion to seek, read, or collect a better.  
Thine in all christian affection, W. W.   

The Contents of this Book, entreated of in every several Page as followeth.  

A Definition of every thing which is to be disputed, or reasoned of, is necessary, and wherefore. Page. 1.  
The Definition of Desperation of two sorts. Page. 1. & 2.  
Two kinds of Desperation: the one wicked, the other good and holy. Page. 3.  
Three things especially to be noted in the Treatise of Desperation. Page. 4.  
God is constant and faithful: and how, and wherein. Page. 4.  
The duty of the faithful towards God, in regard of God's faithfulness towards him. Page. 5.  
The horriblnes of the sin of Diffidence, Mistrust, or Desperation. Page. 5.  
When especially the Devil deginneth to tempt to Desperation. Page. 6.  
What kind of Physic and surgery the Devil practiseth. Page. 7.  
The absurd dealings of such as yield to desperation. Page. 8.  
What great inconveniences they fall into, that yield to Desperation. Page. 8.  
Saint Bernard his opinion concerning the heinousness of the sin of Desperation. Page. 9  
Scylla and Charybdis not so dangerous as Desperation. Page. 9  
The dangers of Desperation. Page. 10. & 11.  
Of the degrees by which the Devil draweth men into Desperation. Page. 13.  
The Devil the chief cause of Desperation. Page. 13.  
The forerunners of Desperation. Page. 14.  
What the Devil will obict to bring us to desperation. Page. 15.  
Ignorance the second cause of Desperation Page. 16.  
Ignorance the mother of Desperation. Page. 17.  
Servitude or bondage of sin, the third cause of Desration. Page. 17.  
The woeful effects of sinne●. Page. 18.  
The fourth cause of Desperation. Page. 18.  
The manifold adversaries of man's salvation: all which the Devil useth as means to Desperation, Page. 19  
The fift cause of Desperation. Page. 20. & 21.  
The sixth cause of Desperation. Page. ●2.  
Long custom groweth into a second nature. Page. 22.  
The first preservative against Desperation. Page. 88  
An example showing that many men put more trust in mortal men then in God. Page. 89.  
another proof, that many put more trust in mortal man then in God. Page. 90.  
The second general help against Desperation. Page. 91.  
The third general help against Desperation. Page. 92.  
What soever could be looked for at God's hands, or what soever man could be charged with, that hath Christ performed. Page. 93.  
The fourth general help for the avoiding of Desperation. Page. 94.  
The fift general help against Desperation. Page. 95.  
Saint Paul & S. james their counsel against the temptations and assaults of Satan. Page. 24.  
A description of the armour with which S. Paul would have Christians to resist the Devil Page. 25.  
The first kind of Armour to resist the Devil with. Page. 25.  
The second kind of Armour wherewith the Devil is to be resisted. Page. 25.  
Whereby the Devil is emboldened to tempt, & whereby on the other side he is discouraged. Page. 26.  
The third kind of Armour against Satan. Page. 27.  
The fourth Armour against Satan. Page. 28.  
What Faith is. Page. 29.  
The fift kind of Armour to resist the Devil. Page. 29.  
Christ himself an example how to resist the devil. Page. 30.  
The Scriptures do minister store of Armour against every kind of temptation. Page. 31.  
The sixth kind of Christian Armour. Page. 32.  
Remedies against Ignorance. Page. 34.  
The dangers of wilful Ignorance. Page. 35.  
What the Ignorant must do. Page. 35.  
Counsel very necessary for the Ignorant. Page. 36.  
What the Ministers of God's word are. Page. 36.  
How the Ministers of God's word are to be accounted of. Page. 37.  
Of the great servitude and bondage of sins, and of the remedies thereof. Page. 3●.  
Examples tending to the strengthening of our Faith, Hope, and Patience against, Desperation. Page. 39 & 40.  
Wherefore Christ came into this world. Page. 41. 42. & 43.  
What manner of righteousness God requireth at our hands. Page. 45.  
Sin dwelleth even in the believers, and in the most righteous in the world; but yet reigneth not, neither can it condemn them, and why. Page. 46. & 47.  
Places of Scripture setting forth God's great mercy. Page. 49.  
A Catalogue or rehearsal of many things whereby the Devil craftily tempteth many men to sin and Desperation. Page. 50.  
How the Devil tempteth by riches. Page. 50.  
How the Devil tempteth by poverty. Page. 51.  
How the Devil tempteth by friends. Page. 51.  
How the Devil tempteth by enemies, Page. 52.  
How the Devil tempteth by carefulness. Page. 52.  
How the Devil tempteth by security and carelessness. Page. 52.  
How the Devil tempteth by strength, by health, ableness of body, beauty; by honour & dignie, by quickness of spirit, & sharpness of wit. Page. 5●. & 53.  
How the Devil tempteth by God's word, and how he will abuse, wrist, & misapply God's word. Page. 53. & 54.  
The true use of those Scriptures which the Devil seeketh to abuse, to bring men to Desperation thereby. Page. 55.  
The comfort and commodities of the crosses and afflictions of God's children. Page. 57 & 58.  
Why God sendeth evils to his children, and how he sendeth comforts in the midst of evils. Page. 59  
How God loveth, and dealeth with his children. Page. 60.  
God's rods of what sort they are. Page. 61.  
What God seeketh to work by dealing hardly with his children. Page. 62.  
God's affection to his children like unto a kind loving mother's affection. Page. 63. & 64.  
God dealeth with his children as Physicians and Surgeons do with their Patientes. Page. 66.  
God useth sometimes the service and ministery of Devils and of wicked men. Page. 67.  
The wicked are not be●ered by their troubles and afflictions. Page. 67.  
Whence it cometh that afflictions and crosses profit God's children. Page. 67.  
The conceits and opinions of the wicked in their adversities and troubles. Page. 68 & 69.  
The ends that the Devil brings the wicked unto by their afflictions, troubles and crosses. Page. 70.  
Two commodities to be reaped by the lives, and manner of the deaths of the wicked. Page. 71.  
The great danger of custom of sin, and of delaying of amendment of life. Page. 71. & 72.  
A comparison showing the danger of long custom and weltering in sin. Page. 72. & 73.  
Whence repentance & amendment of life are to be had, and how they are to be come by. Page. 74,  
Many are and may be deceived in the manner and time of their repentance. Page. 75.  
A note for such as defer repentance unto their last day. Page. 75.  
Examples showing that it is dangerous trusting unto the last hour. Page. 76.  
Notable examples of sudden and unprovided death, out of holy Scriptures & other writers. Page. 76. 77. 78 79.  
A catalogue or rehearsal of sundry lets and impediments which oftentimes fall out when we come to our last hour, to hinder and put by that late repentance, which so many trust to at the end of their lives. Page. 81. & 82.  
The effects of choler in time of extreme sickness. Page. 82.  
The manner how the Devil will busy himself to hinder repentance at our last pant. Page. 83.  
The example of joseph of Arimathea most worthy to be imitated. Page. 85.  
The use and custom of the Egyptians to bridle evil actions. Page. 86.  
The notable and imitable example of King Ezechias. Page. 86.   
FINIS.   

Of Desperation.  

CHAPTER. I.  
The first Chapter containing the Definition, and Division of Desperation.  
M. T. Cicero, that most worthy Father of the Roman eloquence, was of that mind, 
A definition o● every thing which is to be disputed or reasoned of, is necessary, and wherefore.  that every thing which was to be reasoned & disputed of, should first begin at the Definition thereof, that so it might briefly be understood what the substance of the matter was, whereof reasoning or disputation was to be holden: Of the like opinion & mind am I at this present, concerning the dangerous pest of most wicked and damnable Desperation; being the matter which now I have in hand (through God's assistance) to write of.  

Definition of Desperation is of two sorts.  The Definition then of Desperation, I find and read to be of two sorts as concerning the words, and yet in sense, and substance of matter little differing one from the other: 
The first Definition of Desperation  Whereof the one is, Desperatio est horribilis mertis & c●rdis seu conscientiae trepidatio ex sensu irae divinae propter peccatum concepta cum metu aeternae damnacionis sine ulla expectatione veniae: Desperation is an horrible fear, or trembling of the mind & heart or conscience, conceived through a sense and feeling of God's wrath for sin; with a fear of eternal damnation, without all expectation or hope of pardon or forgiveness thereof.  

The second Definition of Desperation.  The other (which is a far more ancient Definition) is this, Desperatio est malum quo quis diffidit de voluntate dei, aestimans malitiam suam magnitudinem divinae mis●ricordiae & bonitatis excedere: Desperation is an evil through which a man mistrusteth dispaireth utterly, and is past all hope of the good will of God, verily thinking that his naughtiness, or sins, excel the mercies and goodness of God; according to that saying of the f●rst desperate man Cain; 
Gen. 4.13.  Mine iniquity is greater than can be pardoned. Genes. 4.13.  
Thus it being made plain and easy what Desperation is, by these aforesaid Definitions, it followeth in the next place, (to proceed after the same order that the said Cicero used) that I speak of division of Desperation; which I likewise find and read to be of two kinds: 
Two kinds of Desperation: the one wicked, the other holy.  the one a wicked kind of Desperation of God's promises, power, goodness, & mercy towards sinners, the matter which here I am to entreat of: The other an holy Desperation of a man's own power in the obtaining of eternal life, conceived and wrought by a sense or feeling of a man's own defects, infirmities, and corruptions. Concerning this former kind of Desperation, being especially the mark which I would have poor silly distressed souls to have a diligent and a watchful eye unto, to the intent that both myself, and my poor brethren, living and warring yet with me in the militant Church of Christ here on earth, may be the better forewarned (for that as the say Tela praevisa minus nocent) of this most subtle and deadly stratagem, concerning this most dongerous and fatal assaulting engine, of the arch-enemy of our souls, this deep Despair, and devilish soule-poyson, I have thought good by the penning of this short Treatise, to put myself and others in remembrance of these three points; 
Three things especially to be noted in th●s Treatise of Desperation.  to wit, first of the haynousnhsse's, greeuous●esse, & perniciousness of Desperation. Secondly, of the causes thereof: and thirdly of the remedies.   

CHAP. II.  
The second Chapter, wherein is described how heinous grievous, hurtful, and pernicious, the sin of Desperation is.  
IN sundry and manifold places of holy Scriptures are we taught, 
1. Cor. 1.9. 2. Thes. 3.3. 1 john. 1.9.  that God is faithful: faithful in his words, and true in all his promises: All the promises of God are Yea and Amen: 
2 Cor 1.20. God is constant & faithful, and how, or wherein. Revel 15.3. 2. Cor. 6. 1●.  Faithful in his mercies, for they never fail: Faithful, just & true, are his ways; according to the Song of the holy Angels, reve. 1.5.3. Yea moreover, God is careful for the Faithful, and hath promised to be their God, and they shall be his people. It is thy duty therefore, o man! to do God this honour, to believe without all wavering, doubting, or despairing; that God hath both Power and Will to do all things that he promiseth, 
The duty of the faithful towards God in regard of god's faithfulness towards him.  and not to permit any such cogitations, thought, or conceit, once to enter into thine heart, as that God should prove himself a liar; or that it shall not come to pass, which he hath promised. But if thou once suffer the distrust and diffidence in God's promised mercies (through the multitude of thy sins, and the grievousness of thine offences, through the nature of sin itself and the crafty ingestion and suggestion of Satan) to take hold of, and possess thine heart: O horrible & grievous is this last sin of Despairing, which thou addest to thy former sins. 
The horribleness of the sin of diffidence, mistrust, or desperation.  So heinous, so hurtful and pernicious, is this thy sin of Diffidence and Distrust in God's mercies to be obtained, according to his promised Word, that I may say of thee, as S. Augustine said of judas the traitor, 
Aug. in Lib. de utiliti to paenitentia agendae.  Non tam sc●lus quod comm●sisti, quam indulgentiae desperatio facit te penitus interi●e: Not so much the sin which thou hast done, as thy despair of forgiveness, hath utterly cast thee away. Surely judas his despair and distrust (according to S. Augustine his opinion) was a more grievous sin, than his treason in the betraying of his Master. Whereunto agreeth S. jero. Magis inquit offendit deum Iudas in hoc quod desperando seipsum suspendit, quam in hoc quod deum tradidit. Desperatio enim reddit hominem maledictum, & protectione dei indignum. 
jer. super Psal. 108.  judas (saith S. Jerome) more offended God herein, that in despair he hanged himself, then in that he betrayed his Lord and Master: For Desperation maketh a man accursed, and unworthy God's protection. And thus likewise Cain his despairing in God's mercy after his murder committed, was a more grievous sin, than the shedding of his brother Abel his blood: For to add Despair to former sins, is to draw sin after sin as it were with Cartroopes, to heap sin upon sin, to fulfil the measure of iniquity, and so to purchase swift and most certain damnation. It is in deed the fashion and old wont of Satan, 
When especially the Devil beginneth to tempt to despair.  to persuade man (when he hath once committed many heinous sins) after his other sins, to Despair, and so to commit the greater sin after the lesser: which is as much as if an unlearned ignorant and a murdering Physician should cause his Patient for the remedying of a little cold taken, to drink the juice of Hemlock, which by adding cold to cold, is most sure to bring present death: Or as if a man having an Ache in one of his fingers, should cut off the whole hand to take away the Ache of a finger. Even such like Physic and Surgery doth the Devil practise to minister unto lewd and wilful sinners, 
Note what kind of physic & surgery the Devil practiseth.  when he enticeth and draweth them after many precedent heinous sins, through despair of finding mercy & forgiveness to shorten their lives, by killing and murdering themselves, by poisoning, by stabbing, by throat-cutting, by drowning, by judas-like hanging of themselves; and finally by casting off all use of Faith, all use of Hope, and so quite to despair of God's mercy: then the which, what can be a more dangerous course for any man to yield unto? What can be more foolish or contrary to all reason, if a man's reason were not blinded and bewitched that he could not see nor perceive, nor consider well of it, then whiles a man is afraid of water, presently to cast himself headelong into it, and so seeingly and wittingly to drown himself? 
The ol sur● dealings of such as ea●●ly yield to desperation.  or than whiles a man is afraid of fire, presently to run into it and to dispatch himself therein? Or whiles a man is afraid of hell fire, out of hand most desperately to plunge himself into the dangers thereof?  
And yet such as these are the persuasions, and temptations of the Devil, to a man whole barking conscience continually pangeth and plagueth him for his sins.  
Such as these are the fruits of the most monstrous sin of Desp●aring of God's mercy and grace.  
May not he be accounted worse than mad, that is to forward and ready to yield unto, 
Mark this o man, le●st thou yield to desp●●●tion before thou be awa●e wh●t great inconveniences thou y●●ld● 〈◊〉.  and to follow after the devils whistle, alluring & enticing unto desperation, seeing it is no means to diminish, but to increase sin, and the rewards of sin; seeing that it is no relief, but an everlasting burden and grief of the soul● seeing that it is not a delivery of the soul, but a certain destruction of the soul: seeing it is not a redemption, but an undoubted condemnation of soul and body for ever.  
And finally, seeing that it changeth temporal grief into eternal grief, and the pangs of conscience into the pains of hell for ever. And thus is verified that saying of Saint Bernard, Desperatio auget peccatum, Desperatio maior est omnibus peccatis, Desperatio peior est omni peccato: 
S. ●erbards opinion concerning the heinousness of the sin of desperation.  Desperation increaseth sin: Desperation is greater than all other sins, Desperation is worse than all other sins.  
This is a thousand times worse than the dangerous rock Scylla, against which so many poor Mariners have dashed their Ships, 
Scylla and Charybdis not so dangerous as desperation.  to the great loss both of Ships, goods, and lives: or then that no less dangerous gulf Charybdis, which hath devoured up so many passengers: For at this unfortunate and deadly rock of Desperation, many thousands of poor souls, overcharged with the burden of their iniquities, and turmoiled in their consciences with the waves of fearful thoughts, and troublesome conceits by the blustering blasts and surgy storms of God's vengeance threatened against sinners, both have and daily do make dangerous & fearful shipwreck. This is a worse dungeon for both souls and bodies of poor desperate sinners, than was the Den of Lions into the which the Rulers, Officers, and Governors of King Darius caused Daniel to be cast, 
Dan. 6.17.  and closed up: Yea, and this is seven times worse than the seuen times hoated burning Oven or Furnace, 
Dan. 3.19.  into the which that proud Idolatrous King Nabuchadnezzar commanded Sidrach, Misa●h, and Abean●go, the true Servants and worshippers of the only true and everliving God, to be cast in. This is that incurable remediless, and desperate sore wound and malady, which the Prophets of God jeremy and Micheas, 
jerem. 3. Mich. 1.  in their days complained of among their people. This is that great stop and let that hindereth and resisteth God's holy Grace from flowing and entering into die souls of sinful men. This is the Axe that heaweth and choppeth a sunder the Chains wherewith God in his great mercy and merciful kindness, would draw the hearts of sinners unto himself by Repentance; 
Ozeas. 11.  whereof speaketh the Prophet Ozeas. Trust in the Lord, and do good, 
Psalm. 37.3.  saith the holy Glost by the Prophet David: where he placeth & setteth trust in God in the first place, and doing good in the second: trusting in God, goeth before as the Mistress, and doing good, followeth and attendeth on as the Handmaid. For as it is said, Spes alit agricolas, were it not for Hope, the Husband man's heart would burst; Hope nowrisheth his heart: Even so Despair and Diffidence, or distrust in God, is a Stepmother to well doing, and draweth back from doing good; according to the saying of a learned Writer upon the said 37. Psalm, 
Musculus in Psalm. 37.3.  Desperatio & diffidentia abstrahit ab omni studio boni, nam cogitat omnia fieri frustra: ita namque ex spe & fiducia promanant mortalium conatus, ut ex ipsis cenatibus satis liqueat quid quisque sperat: 
Desperation draweth men back from all well doing, and why.  Desperation and Mistrust draweth back from all desire of well doing, for it thinketh all to be but lost labour: for so do all men's labours and endeavours flow and spring from Hope and Trust, that every man's doings do plainly testify what he hopeth or trusteth for.  
And now let this suffice briefly to give a taste how great and grievous hurtful and pernicious this sin of Desperation is.   

CHAPTER. III.  
The third Chapter containing the chiefest and most principal causes of Desperation.  
THat memorable and notable saying of S. Gregory in one of his Homilies, moveth me to think, and here to commit it to writing, that one cause of Desperation, and not the least, but rather the primary and principal cause of all other, ariseth from the subtle, cunning, and cozening counsel, inducement, persuasion, and allurement of the Devil: for saith S. Grigorie, 
Gre●. in qu●dam 〈◊〉.  Qu●m in gravi peccato miser homo libitur: si● idet ei diabolus ne poe●iteat, ne confi●●atur, peccatum leave et modicum in cord● affirmat: misericordiam praedicat, lo●gum spacium vitae promittit, permanere in peccato suggerit, ut sic in contemtum dei, & desperationem sui inducat & pereat: When wretched man slippeth into some grievous sin, the devils counsel is, that he repent not at all for it, that he confess it not: he tells him in his heart, 
The degrees by which the Devil draweth men on into desperation.  that it is but a light and small offence: he says, God is full of mercy, he promiseth him long life, he suggesteth unto him to lie still in sin, that by these means he may bring him at the last into contempt of God, and into utter Desperation, and so he may become a castaway for ever. Hear doth S. Gregory in most manifest and plain words describe, and decipher the Devil himself to be the author, and so consequently the chiefest causer, and cause, of this horrible soul murdering desperation; and here also doth he set down by what steps and degrees he brings and leads a poor careless wretched man into Despair.  
Now consider this moreover, that if Satan that archenemie of man's welfare, 
job. 1.  durst very boldly and sawcely without any bidding, presume to thrust himself into God's presence amongst his holy Angels; if he durst so subtly and cunningly, dissemblingly and lyingly, assail and assault our first Parents Adam and Eve, being yet innocentes, 
Gen. 3.  unstained, and pure from all sin: Nay more than all this, if he durst approach, and with divers temptations assault and allure Christ jesus himself, 
Math. 4.3.  both God and Man; and yet Man free from any spot or blemish of sin, endeavouring himself to the uttermost of his skill and power, if it had been passable, to have brought him, and wrought him to his own wicked will. Alas, is it any marvel then if he do as diligently and busily bestir himself with his manifold wiles, and guiles, to assail us weak, poor, and miserable sinners? Who (without the daily and hourly strenghthening of God's holy spirit) are of ourselves prompt, apt, and ready, every hour to decline and fall away from God, 
The forerunners of desperation, except we look to ourselves in time.  and to fall unto Idolatry, blasphemy, perjury, murder, whoredom, theft, pride, disobedience, and what not; wherein, after we be once plunged over head and ears, and overrun with the guilt of many sins, then will Satan lay about him, and apply his business like a most valiant Champion, to catch us in the most dangerous snare of all other, even deep Despair: He will challenge our souls by the severe justice of God, let us say against him whatsoever we can, and argue against him as long as we will, yet will he insult, rejoice, and reply, saying: Neither God's mercies, nor Christ's merits, can any thing help, but thou must needs be damned, so lightly heretofore hast thou esteemed God, and his precepts; 
What the Devil will object against us, to bring us to despair.  so smally hast thou regarded Christ jesus and his merits, or rather so willingly, wittingly, and seeingly, hast thou vilipended, and contemned them; and so obstinately, carelessly, and desperately, trodden them under foot, that even as thou hitherto hast made no reckoning of God, and hast not opened the door of thy heart to receive him, and give him entertainment when he stood without & knocked to be let in there; so now God will requite thee with legetalionis, with like for like: he will make no reckoning of thee, he will not open his ears unto thee when thou criest unto him, he will not let thee have though thou ask, he will not let thee find though thou seek, he will not open unto thee though thou knock. Behold now art thou tossed like waves of the Sea, thy Faith wavereth between Hope & Dread, and therefore canst thou receive nothing at the lords hands: with these and infinite such like disputations, will Satan set upon, & vex the very elect of God, to bring them (if it were possible) to Desperation. And if the elect shall be thus fitted, (as Peter was) in what case then shall the wicked and reprobate be?   

CHAPTER. FOUR  

The second cause of desperation.  THe second cause of Desperation, is ignorance of God, and want of knowledge of the will of God, unto mankind revealed by his holy word: for as ignorance of the Scriptures, 
Math 22.  as it was pronounced by the mouth of Christ jesus himself speaking against the Saducees, 
2 king. 17.26 psal. 35.10 11 Prou. 28.29.30.31. Esa. 1.34. Ho●e. 47. Ephes. 4.18.  concerning the resurrection of the dead, was the cause of that their so great error; Even likewise the ignorance of God, is oftentimes the occasion and cause of God's heavy displeasure; and so of divers and sundry inconveniences and mischiefs: 
Bern. super Cant.  and among the rest, it is also a cause of this cursed Desperation, as writeth S. Barnard: utraque cognitio dei scilicet et tui, tibi necessaria est ad salutem, quia de ignorantia tui venit superbia, ac de dei ignorantia venit desperatio. The knowledge both of God, and of thyself are necessary unto salvation, because out of the ignorance of thyself, ariseth pride; and likewise out of the ignorance of God, cometh Desperation. Out of this ignorance of God, must Desperation needs arise: 
Ignorance the mother of Desperation.  for how can it otherwise be, but that he that is altogether without any knowledge of God, must despair to receive any good thing of him? For as no man can take pleasure nor any profit by hid and unknown Treasure: so no man can look for grace, mercy, and forgiveness of sins, or any other benefit or good gift at his hands, of whom he is utterly ignonoraunt, & of whom he hath no knowledge.   

CHAPTER. V  
THe third Cause of Desperation is the great servitude or bondage of sin: 
The third cause of desperation.  with which, who soever is clogged, he becometh thereby the Servant of sin; john 8.34. And the woeful and hurtful effects of sins, are the procurements of God's curses and plagues upon bodies, 
The woeful and hurtful effects of sins.  souls, lands, children, stock, crop, and every thing else that a man hath, or goeth about, at home or abroad, in town or in field, in city or in country, by land or by Water. Deut 28. Levit. 26. Sin hardeneth the heart. Heb. 3.13. It fighteth against the Soul. 1. Pet. 2.11. It gnaweth and tormenteth the conference. 1 Sam. 25.31. And so bringeth men into the most damnable gulf of Desperation, wherein multitudes of Worldlings, Matchevillians, ●picures, and impious Atheists are daily implunged, and irrevocably drowned for ever.   

CHAPTER. VI  

The fourth ca●se of desperation.  THe Fourth cause of Desperation do many gather to themselves upon the words of Christ in Math. 7.13. Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. And again out of Math 20.16. Many are called, but few are chosen. And again out of Luke 13.24. S●r● e to enter in at the strait gate, for many, Lay unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able: All which places do plainly teach, that few shall be saved; for in bidding to strive to enter in, Christ giveth us to understand that it is not an easy matter, but a matter that requireth great strife, pains, and earnest diligence against the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.  
Upon these considerations, 
The fear and doubt of many.  many begin to fear, and to tremble, to stagger, and to doubt, whether they may think themselves to be in the number of those few that shallbe s●●ed yea or no● and so are drawn into Despair, whiles that they find this present evil world against them with all the baits, snares, ne●●es, and lets, pleasures, and profits thereof, to catch them, letter them, and entangle them, whiles they find their own flesh, 
The great & manifold adversaries to man's salvation, all which the Devil useth as means to drawmen into desperation.  their own corrupted nature against them; their reason poisoned, their wills and affections blinded, their natural wisdom, concupiscences, and lusts, ministering strength to Satan's temptations, taking part against them, daily & hourly ready to betray them into his hands, whiles that they see and perceive even legions of Devils, even all the Devils in Hell against them, with all their crafty heads, marvelous strength, infinite wiles, cunning devices, deep sleights, & tried temptations, lying in ambush against their poor souls; and who seethe not that thousands are carried headlong to destruction through the temptations of either the world, the flesh, or the Devil. And thus are we poor wretches in a most pitiful case assaulted & betrayed, on every side.   

CHAPTER. VII.  

The fift cause of desperation.  THe fift cause of Desperation ariseth from the manifold crosses & afflictions of this present life: for from hence it is that some men being daily ferrited, followed on, and even almost pressed down with temporal afflictions & troubles, 
Sundry kinds of crosses and afflictions.  as penury, poverty, hunger, nakedness, sickness of body, troubles of mind, unquiet suggestions of the flesh, temptations of the Devil, persecutions, imprisonments, loss of friends, loss of goods, loss of good name & fame, a wicked, crooked, and froward mate in matrimony, disobedient & untoward children, unkind & unthankful friends, undeserved malice, envy, and hatred of froward neighbours, and many other such like crosses, as daily in one sort or other befall men: When they once feel themselves touched & tried herewith, anon they take occasion hereby to cry out, and lamentably to howl, 
jerem. 20.  and curse the day wherein they where borne, to call that an unhappy hour wherein their mothers brought them forth, 
jerem. 15.  to wish they had died in their birth, 
job. 3.  and that they had perished so soon as they came out of their mother's womb; that some hill might fall upon them & overwhelm them, that so they might shortly be rid out of their pains: Yea they will not be persuaded that these things are sent of God (for the most part) to such as he loveth, but rather to such as he hateth; and that never a loving Father will handle his children so as they are handled. Now the Devil most subtly lying in wait for his advantage, taketh hold on this their weakness, and striveth by little and little by such occasions as these to work utter desperation in them; and by these means oftentimes forceth some to some sudden, wretched, and desperate ends.   

CHAP. VIII.  

The sixth cause of desperation.  THe sixth cause of Desperation is long custom of sin, whereby a man yieldeth and submitteth himself as an obedient and ready bondslave to the Devil, little respecting, if not utterly contemning both God and his word, whose dull conscience through giving himself over to impurity & filthiness of life, is waxed hard in iniquity, and corrupt ways, and as it were burned with a hot Iron, so that he is now past all sense and feeling of sin, and this long custom groweth as it were into a second nature (in process of time) which to expel is a matter of great difficulty. 
Long custom: ●o w●th into a second nature.  This is it which the Prophet jerem. meant, where he affirmed that it is as hard a thing for such to do any good that have been continually enured with doing of evil, as it is to wash a Blacka-Moore or Aethiopian skin white: or to change the spots of a Leopard: And therefore according to our English adage, as that which is bred in the bone, will never lightly out of the flesh: so an old wont or long custom of any vice, be it of lying, swearing, gaming, drinking, whoring, or any other such like, will seldom or never be remedied: whereby it oftentimes cometh to pass, that in the end the Devil by this means having laid a foundation so sitting his purpose to work on, bringeth his old customers to despair.   

CHAPTER. I.  
The first Chapter concerning the Remedies against the temptations and assaults of Satan, being the first spe●i●●l cause of Desperation, before intrenced of in Chap. 3.  
TO meet with the dangerous and manifold temptations of Satan, that great enemy of mankind, wherewith he continually after other sins first committed, laboureth to bring us into the deep gulf of Desperation; It shall not be amiss, nay rather it shall be our best course and remedy, to learn and practise that most sure, safe, and excellent counsel, which the holy Ghost giveth by those two worthy Apostles of our Saviour Christ S. Paul and S. Iam●s: 
Ephes. ● jam. 4.  whereof S. Paul saith, 
Saint Paul 〈◊〉 S. I●mes 〈◊〉 cou●●●●●●●●nst the temptations and adickes of Satan.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the assaults of the Devil etc. S. james saith, Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you: that is to say, we must strive against all unlawful and forbidden lusts by which he eggeth, draweth, and haileth men from sin to sin, from bad to worse, and finally to Desperation, the worst of all sins.  
Had Cain thus resisted the Devil, he had never been so far drawn (as he was) from faithless hypocrisy, to envy; from envy to murder, and from murder to Desperation. Had judas the traitor thus re●●●●●●d the Devil when he by his enticement first yielded to covetousness, and so for a little filthy lucre to betray his most loving, gentle, and kind Lord & master, he had not from those sins one in the neck of an other finally fallen into despair, wherein he became his own hangman, to the everlasting testimony of his own damnation.  
Full worthy therefore, and very needful in this case, is S. james his counsel, 〈…〉 D●●●ll. etc. yea and that in the beginning.  
And S. Paul goeth further on with the like good counsel, 
A description of the manner of armour wherewith Saint Paul would have Christians to resist the Devil.  and setteth down very plainly, with what manner of Armour he would have Christians to buckle and furnish themselves with, that so they may be found the more ready and able to encounter their general enemies temptations: As first, with Verity, or Truth; 
The first armour to resist the Devil with.  which is in the arming of themselves with true and sincere knowledge of God. Tit. 1.1. In the true service of God without hypocrisy, in Spirit and truth. josua. 24.14. joh. 4.24. 3. Kin. 2.4. And likewise with upright true speaking and dealing with our neighbours, in word and deed. Ephes. 4.25. Exod. 23.1.  
Secondly, 
The second kind of armour wherewith the Devil is to be resisted.  with the Breastplate of righteousness: that is, with the earnest applying and endeavouring of ourselves to all virtue and godliness in our lives and conversations: Where note, that the Apostle having placed Verity, Truth, or true knowledge of God, in the first place: in very fit and good rank and order, he placed this Righteousness; that is to say, practise of true knowledge in holiness of life in the second place; as a godly Father hereupon hath very well observed in these words: Vera dei cognition & animi sinceritate, & puritate primum, deinde pia et sancta vita ●rna● debent Christiani milites: Christian Soldiers ought first to have their hearts and minds decked and furnished with true knowledge of God, with true sincerity and purity of mind; and secondly, with godly & holy life answerable to their true knowledge. Hereby all slighty cunning and forcible entries unto Satan's engines and subtle snares, shallbe debarred and shut up: hereby all the passages of our thoughts and imaginations shall be prevented and taken up, that he shall not so easily find any breach or weak place to invade. 
Whereby the Devil is emboldened to tempt, and whereby on the other side he is discouraged and resisted.  For as on the one side, by looseness and licentiousness of the flesh, by lewdness of our lives, by our iniquity and ungodliness, the Devil is an●●ated, fleshed, and emboldened, daily to tempt and assault us: for he seeing in the corruption of our nature a forwardness to wickedness, he bloweth the bellows, and kindleth the flame of our bad inclination; he stirreth us up, and pricketh us forward, till after the heaping up of one sin after an other, at t●e length he casteth us down headlong into the bottomless pit of Desperation: So on the other side, by this Armour of righteousness, sincerity, and integrity of an holy life, is the Devil withstood and resisted, and we become the more able to stand fast in the day of our temptation: So that it is not without just cause, that the Apostle compareth this Righteousness, the second kind of spiritual Armour, unto a corporal Breastplate; for that like as a Breastplate saveth and fenceth the vital parts of man, as his heart, liver, and entrails; 
The good fruits of uprightness, and holiness of life.  which once being stricken and pierced, man's life is lost: so doth uprightness, and holiness of ●●e, preserve the heart and conscience of man free and safe from the invasion and confusion wrought by Satan, from the sicrie darts of infidelity, hardness of conscience, coldness in religion, wickedness of life, corruption in conversation and finally from Desperation, the very upshot of all mischiefs.  
Thirdly, 
The third kind of Armour for a Christian against Satan.  must we arm and furnish ourselves to resist Satan the Devil, with the Gospel of peace, that is, our hearts must be thoroughly acquainted, and fully fraughted with the knowledge of that glad tidings of great joy, which the Angels of the Lord brought at the birth of Christ; 
Luke. 2.10.  that tidings of great joy, which must be unto all Nations, with that most comfortable and joyful embassage of the Reconciliation of Man with God, which may full well be called the Gospel of peace, for that it only maketh the Conscience of man quiet, and at peace with God, and itself: then the which, what one thing in all the world, can set a man more free from all Desperation?  

The fourth Armour. ●. Cor. 16.13  Fourthly, with Faith in jesus Christ; wherewith the same S. Paul arming men against spiritual assaults by Satan and his ministers, and preparing them to the spiritual battle against the Devil and his members, encourageth them not to shrink, but to cleave fast to this Faith, whereby we may resist and beat back our spiritual enemy.  
And likewise S. Peter instructing us to prepare and make ourselves strong, to encounter with the common enemy the Devil, teacheth us to resist him by Faith especially: 
●. Pet. 5.8  Be sober (saith he) and watch, for your adversary the Devil, goeth about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith.  
For this cause Saint Basil upon the 32. 
Basilius in Psalm. 32.  Psalm saith, What man is able to wage war with the Devil, unless he flee for help to the Captain of the Host through Faith in him, to wound and thrust through his enemy?  
And likewise S. Augustine accounted this Faith to be so powerful, 
Augu. lib 3. Cap. 20. de lib. a●bi trio  that it resisteth, vanquisheth, and overcometh the Devil.  
And this true Christian Faith which is of such power as is aforesaid, 
What faith is.  is a sure trust in the mercy of God the Father, through the merits of Christ jesus, when we do persuade ourselves most certainly of the pardon of our sins through Christ's righteousness; and of eternal salvation by his passion, hereby obtaining peace in our conscienses with God, and rest, and walk in obedience to his will and commandments by his word unto us revealed. Of this kind of Faith is entreated in Abac. 2.4. Rom. 3.28. Rom. 5.1. Ephes. 2.8.  
The fift kind of Armour to resist the Devil with, 
The fift kind of Armour.  whereof S. Paul in the catalogue of a Christian Soldiers armour maketh rehearsal, is the Word of God: this is the Sword of the Spirit, whereby the suggestions and wicked temptations of Satan, are beaten back, propelled, and kept off, even as a man keepeth back his enemy at the point of his Sword.  
With this kind of Armour did our chief captain Christ jesus in his manhood here on earth, resist and put back all the Devil his subtle and false temptations, answering every one of them with Scriptum est, It is written: Whence we may learn by the like means, 
Christ himself an ex●mple● how to resist the devils temptations  after his most excellent example, to combat with the Devil, and to give him the foil, when soever by him, or any his wicked instruments, we shall be tempted to this Desperation, or any other sins whatsoever.  
If we be tempted to swear and blaspheme the holy name of God, it is to be resisted with Scriptum est, It is written, Thou sh●lt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. If to pollute and break the Lords Sabbath day through either labouring about our pleasures or profits, answer, It is written Remember that thou keep holy. etc. If to murder, and shedding of blood, by any forbidden way or means, or upon any unlawful occasion what soever; answer, It is written, Thou shalt do no murder. If to steal and purloin by any unlawful means, directly or indiractly; answer, It is witten, Thou shalt not steal. If we be tempted to Usury, 
Exod. 22.25. Deut 23.19. Levit. 25.37 Psalm. 15.5.  let us draw out this Sword of the Spirit, Thou shalt not give to Usury unto thy brother, Usury of money, Usury of meat, or of any other thing. If he move us to deceit and fraudulent dealing, let us resist him with, It is written, 
1. Thes 4.5. Levit. 25.14.  Let no man oppress or deceive his brother in bargaining, for the Lord is a judge in such things. If we be solicited to Disloyalty, and disobedience to Princes, let us strive against that, with, It is written, Let every Soul be subject to the higher powers. &. Finally to be short, 
Rom. 13.1.2.3.  to what kind of sin, mischief, or inconvenience so ever any of us all shall hoppen to be drawn, enticed, or inveigled, 
The Scriptures do minister store of sword against every kind of temptation.  let us search the Scriptures, and we shall soon find store of sword, of one kind or other to answer, foil, and recoil, what soever this mortal enemy of ours can use or object against us: here is armour enough to find him occupied with.  

The sixth kind of Christian armour.  The sixth kind of spiritual Armour, and heavenly furniture, wherewith Saint Paul, or rather the Holy Ghost by Saint Paul, would have us complete and furnished against all the dangerous combats, conflicts, and wicked suggestions of this wicked and damned spirit, thereby to avoid, repel, & vanquish him utterly, is devour, hearty, zealous, & godly prayer. Over and beside S. Paul his instruction, and most needful exhortation, in this case his and our Lord, Master, and Saviour Christ jesus, hath commended unto us this kind of weapon, when he taught to pray with this Petition, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Let us then apply this Armour, this kind of propulsative weapon, and fervently and heartily use it: And firmly believe that which David the Prophet for our good encouragement hath written in Psa. 145.19. God is near: to those which call upon him, and will fulfil the desire of them that fear him, and deliver them. Whensoever therefore we are tempted, alured, and drawn on by Satan through covetousness to riches, through ambition to honour, through envy to murder, through concupiscence to adultery, through intemperance to gluttony; or to be short through any other sin to iniquity. Let us strait ways by prayer, crave for power and strength from above, to overcome these temptations, and especially the most dangerous suggestion of Despair.  
This kind of Armour is always ready at hand, so that Satan can no sooner attempt any thing against us, but this weapon is as soon ready (if we heartily and zealously lay hold thereon) to repel and vanquish all his practices against us: And therefore, Pray, pray, pray.   

CHAP. II.  
The second Chapter concerning remedies and helps against Ignorance, the second cause of Desperation, entreated of before in Chapter. FOUR  
COncerning the Second cause of Desperation, to wit, Ignorance; Our Lord jesus Christ who was nothing ignorant of the manifold mischiefs, and of the manifest dangers that the Devil leadeth silly men into, as it were blindfolded through blind Ignorance: and he knowing that Ignorance is rather the mother of Desperation (as heretofore in the iiii. Chap. of the Causes of Desperation hath been sufficiently proved,) then of Devotion, as the Papists have in this point ignorantly taught & maintained: hath in his own person, and with his own mouth exhorted and admonished all men, 
john. 5.29.  to Search the Scriptures, which is a lesson in this case most necessary for all men, to learn thereby to deliver themselves out of the dangerous gulf of Ignorance, and so consequently out of many other sins, and finally out of Desperation; whereinto thousands through Ignorance, have been implunged and drowned for ever.  

Remedies against Ignorance.  Let us therefore for the remedy and avoiding of final Desperation, whereunto so many run headlong through Ignorance, little knowing, and less regarding what they do, until it be too late, receive the word of God, which (as S. james saith) Is able to save our souls: with all readiness like unto the Noble men of Berea, and search the Scriptures daily. 
Act. 17.11.  Let us seek after the knowledge of God in time, And as the Prophet Esai said, 
Esai. 55.6.  Seek the Lord whiles he my be found, and call upon him whiles he is near. 
The danger of wilful Ignorance.  And let us be assured of this, that all manner of Ignorance is perilous; but wilful Ignorance, of all other is most perilous: For it is (as a learned Writer hath affirmed) a plain Prognostication, 
A. D. in the plain man's path to heaven.  and a demonstrative argument of eternal death. It is a most horrible and a fearful thing for a man to refuse Instructions, depise Counsel, harden their Hearts, stop their Ears, & close up their Eyes against God: this is the very upshot of everlasting ruin.  
Let the Ignorant therefore that stand in this dangerous estate, 
What the Ignorant must do.  repair with all diligence and attentiveness unto the learned Mimisters & dispensers of Gods most sacred word, and at their mouths inquire the knowledge of God's Laws. This doth God himself command us by the Prophet Malachi, 
Malach. 4.  And when we feel our Consciences wounded, let us, after the example of the godly, faithful, and devout people, who after the hearing of God's word preached, came unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles, saying, Men and brethren, 
Act 2.  what shall we do? Even thus I say, let us come unto God's Ministers, 
Counsel for the inorant very necessary.  and confess and acknowledge our great blindness and ignoraun●●, and say unto them, Help us, instruct us, teach us, set us in the way, & guide us in the paths of the knowledge of God, and of our salvation: for surely they are the Physicians and Surgeons of our souls, 
Wh●t the tru● Ministers of god● word are.  so that if we repair unto them, they shall give us to drink of the wholesome Waters of knowledge, to quench our thi●●t of Ignorance: they are the di pincers of the manifold graces of God, and the Lords Stewards to giu● each one of us our portions in due time.  
We have not Christ always amongst us (as appertaining to his bodily presence.) but as himself saith, we have the Po re always amongst us: Even so also we have not Christ himself (that body I mean, which sitteth at the right hand of God the father) always with us: but yet our Lord Christ, ascending up on high, gave unto men among other gifts, this gift also (if we could rightly consider of it) of no small value, even Pastors & Doctors; that is, the Ministers of the Gospel of Christ, that might instruct, inform, and teach us in the way of life, that might declare unto v● the secret counsels and hidden mysteries of God, that might arm us with the Sword of the spirit, 
How the true ministers of gods word are to be accounted of.  which is the word of God, to encounter & resist our deadly enemy the Devil therewith. Let us joyfully receive them; for who so receiveth them as they ought to be, receiveth also with them, him that sent them, whose Messengers they are: Let us hear them, for they bring unto us the word of life: Let us give credit unto the Lords Ministers, and Glory unto the Lord himself, that hath given in his great love this blessing unto us, to have his Messengers and Ambassadors abiding among us, to declare and make known unto us by them, what his own good will and pleasure is in all things, to the avoiding of this blind Ignorance, the very mother of Desperation, and so consequently of eternal Damnation with the author thereo●, and his cursed Angels for ever.   

CHAP. III.  
Of the great servitude and bondage of sins, and of the remedies thereof.  
Concerning the great servitude & bondage of sin, being the third (before noted) cause of Desperation, for the helps and remedies thereof this have I briefly to say, that what though we have been servants unto sin, and have been pressed, and surpressed with the bondage thereof, so that we must needs confess, (unless we should prove ourselves liars, and that there were no truth in us) that we through our often doing of those things which we should not have done; and on the other side, through our leaving off those things undone which we should have done, have most justly deserved Gods threatened curses and plagues to light on our bodies, our souls, our children, our stocks, our crops, and every thing else we go about, and put our hands unto. What though our sins fight against our souls, and gnaw our consciences, and be ready even out of hand to lead us into the most dangerous state of Desperation? What though we have contended and fallen out with our brethren? as did Paul and Barnabas, 
Examples tending to the strengthening of our faith, hope, & patience against Desperation.  who were so h●at in contention one against an other, that they forsook one another's company in high displeasure and heat of their stomachs, the one taking with him Luke, the other john? What though we have yielded unto, practised, and followed Oppression, Extortion, polling, pilling, and wresting what we can by hook or crook from our brethren? 
Luke. 19.2.  So did Zacheus, yet notwithstanding after his repentance, his forsaking and ceasing from bad getting, his restitution, and alms giving, received that most cheerful and comfortable saying of Christ, 
Luke. 19 ●.  This day is salvation entered into thine house. What though we have been thieves, robbers and stealers of our neighbour's goods? so was the Thief that was crucified with Christ; and yet upon his humble, contrite, and sorrowful confession of his sins, he heard this most sweet word from Christ, This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. What though we have murdered and shed the blood, or caused the blood to be shed of some of our brethren? so did David to Urias, and yet upon his zealous, inward, & true unfeigned sorrowfulness and repentance, he was not taken away in his sin, but found pardon. And so did the jews which put to death the Lord of life.  
King Manasses was an Idolater, he defi●ed the Temple of God, he withstood and did beat down the truth, he set up Idolatry, 
2. Kin. 21.  he was a conjuror and a Soothsayer, he shed abundance of Innocent blood, so that the streets flowed therewith, he committed more abominations than the Canaanites or Amorites whom for their filthinest the Lord cut off out of the land of the living; he sacrificed his sons and daughters to Devils: and yet upon his true returning to the Lord from the bottom of his heart, he found favour and mercy,  

2. Chro. 33.  If our sins then, or the sins of any one of us, were as grievous as ever were the sins of Manasses, yet upon our true and unfeigned return to the Lord, shal● we despair of his mercy? shall we, or may we, or dare we think that the mercy and power of the Lod is shortened? or that God is not the same God he was? Is he not as ready to pardon and forgive sins, the sins of a man repenting, returning, and faithfully calling upon him, as ever he was the sins of Manasses?  
All these examples, and many more, are written for our learning, comfort, and strengthening of our faith; hope, and patience, that we should in no wise despair upon our true repentance, neither for the multitude, nor grievousness of our sins.  
And likewise also it is written for the bruising, and as it were even for the breaking of the back of all damnable. Desperation, and to hold the hearts, and to restore the fainting and dullie spirits of all such as the servitude and bondage of sin, this our third cause of Desperation doth vex and press down: It is (I say) written, 
Luk. 9.56.  that the Son of man is come to save men's lives. And he himself hath said, I am come to call not the just, but sinners. 
Math. 10. Math. 20. joh. 3. Wherefore Christ can into this world.  And again, jesus Christ is come to give his life a redemption for many. Also, God the Father hath not sent his Son to judge the World, but to the end the World may be saved by him.  
Now what is it to save, & not to judge? but to deliver from death and damnation; wherein we lay in the midst of the bondage of sin; for sin is the death and damnation of the soul: Now he can not save us except sin be first taken from us; And therefore, and for this cause came jesus Christ the Son of God, 
joh. 8.  and he hath declared himself to the world, to the end that he should take away sins, and should destroy the works of the Devil. If it be so that jesus Christ be come into the world to take away sins; and if the same were his intent and his message, the purpose of jesus Christ shall not fail at all, and his message remaineth steadfast and true; he then without all doubt, hath taken away this which the Devil would persuade us to be a cause of Desperation, this great servitude and bondage of sin, from all those that trust in him, and do verily believe and persuade themselves in the bottom of their consciences that it is most true: but yet how comes this to pass? to wit, by jesus Christ only, by his own free grace and mercy; by the benefits and merits of himself, who is our only Saviour, 
joh. 1.29.  without any other mean or merit; for he is the only Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. 
Act. 4.12.  As also S. Peter said to the jews, There is none other salvation, but only in jesus Christ; for among men there is given none other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. And so Christ himself said after he was risen from the dead. It must needs have been, that Christ must have suffered death, 
Luk 24.44.  and that he must have risen the third day from the dead, and that amendment of life, and forgiveness▪ of sins must be preached in his name to all people, and to all nations. O how sweet and comfortable are these words and sayings of God, which is the only eternal truth in deed? O how worthy are they to be laid up in the depth of our hearts, and to have our whole confidence reposed freely upon them. 
coloss 2.  And to the Collossians it is said, God hath quickened us which were dead in sins with jesus Christ, forgiving us all our trespasses, and hath put out the hand-writing that was against us, he even took it out of the way, and fastened it on the Cross. What meaneth he by this, but only that jesus Christ hath taken away the Obligation of our debt? to wit, that we did owe for our sins, and hath taken it and tied it with himself upon the Cross, and hath in deed paid it full bitterly: who also is for us, and will surely take away this great servitude & bondage of sin, (which the Devil would use as an instrument of Desperation against us) in case we will believe his word, and that we can settle out minds, and quiet our hearts, to account and esteem his bitter passion and merits to be so great and of such value, th●● they are able, effectual, and of sufficient strength, to obtain these aforesaid things for us. And Christ's prayer to his heavenly Father is heard, and remaineth heard continually when he prayed, 
●o. 17, 20.  saying, I p●●y not for these alone, (●eaning his there present Disciples) but for them all o which shall believe in me through their word: Wherefore the same prayer includeth every one of us, so far forth as we believe, and place the same in our hearts, and wholly repose ourselves thereon.  

●ct 10.42.43.  And S. Peter saith, jesus Christ hath commanded us to preach unto the pe●p●e, and to testify th●t it is he that is ordained of God a judge of the quick and the dead, and that to him all the Prophets give witness that through his name all that believe, should receive remission of sins.  
Moreover, S. Paul saith, 
2 Cor. 5.21.  God hath made him which knew no sin, sin for us, to the end that we should be made the righteousness of God in him.  
And here is to be noted, 
What manner of righteousness God requireth at our hands.  what Righteousness, or justice and Goodness that is, which God requireth and esteemeth; which is no other, but that only which dwelleth and holdeth upon the justice, Goodness, and Merit of jesus Christ, being utterly ignorant of the justice, or Righteousness and Goodness which many do seek in their own good works.  
But yet when I stand so much upon this point, to prove that our sins should be no cause of Desperation, (a thing which the Devil greatly urgeth & objecteth against the conscience of an ignorant man) for that our sins are taken away by the innocent Lamb Christ jesus, that he hath sufficiently pai●e the ransom thereof, & that we are become righteous by the righteousness of I sus Chri●t, it is not here my meaning, neither would I have any man so to mistake me, and misunderstande me, that I think, or would have any other men to think hereby, that there is no more sin in us, or that sin dwelleth not in these our mortal bodies: 
Sin dwelleth even in the believers, and in the most righteous men in the world: but yet reigneth not in them  for I confess it plainly, and it is too true, that sin indeed dwelleth in us; but yet to the great comfort of an afflicted conscience against Desperation I affirm it (having the holy Scriptures for my teachers herein) that although the root of sin, the naughty disposition, and inclination to sin remaineth always strong in a Christian, and never can be wholly vanquished before we put off by death, this sinful flesh of ours; although (I say) it do dwell in us, yet it doth not reign in any Christian believer; yet it is not able to damn a true faithful believer: It can not (I say) damn us, for as much as we are in jesus Christ, and that we do fight and strive against the remanent of sin, albeit we stagger and waver sometimes, and do feel and perceive ourselves to be assailed sometimes by the strong temptations of the Devil, and the flesh. This is it that S. Paul writeth of when he saith, There is now no damnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, 
Rom. 8. ●.  which walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.  
The remaynent & root of sin dwelleth always in us, but we like unto licentious worldlings, give it not the bridle, and suffer it not to range too far, and to take too deep a root, but we break it, tame it, and make it subject unto us by walking after the spirit. etc. and then nothing more sure than that there shallbe no condemnation at all unto us thereby, neither any cause of Desperation thereby, for that we are justified by our Faith and delivered from sin; to wit, these sins which might condemn us, the root, original, and mother of sin yet notwithstanding still abiding, remaining, and dwelling in us; against which we war and strive, as long as we continue in this life; but the victory remaineth to our Chieftain & head-Captaine jesus Christ, by the law of his spirit, which maketh us to live in him, and hath set us free from the right of sin and death (in such sort that we may no more fear sin, nor death) by jesus Christ, who hath overcome all for our wealth, and hath reconciled us eternally to his Father; who as our dear Father, from henceforth will show favour unto us, for the love of jes s Christ his dear Son, and so will take from us all our sins as though we had never committed them: Even so doth he promise, saying, 
Mich. 7.18.19.  God is one God, willing to show us grace and mercy, he will ●u●●e to us, and will be favourable, and he will take away our iniquitus, and cast our sins into the depth of the Sea. And again it is said of God's wonderful mercies, The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, 
〈◊〉. 100LS. 8. ●. 10. etc.  long suffering and of great goodness: He will not always be chiding, neither keepeth he his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities: For look how ●igh the Heaven is in comparison of the Earth so great is his mercy also towards them that fear him Look how wide also the Fast is from the West so far hath he set our sins from us. Yea, like as a Father pitieth his own children, even so is th● Lord merciful unto them that ●●●●e him: For he knoweth whereof we be m●●e; he remembreth that we are but dust. etc.  
Of the great mercies of God towards sinners, read more in Psal. 145 8.9 and 147.8.10 & in joel. 2.13. Math. 18 11. 2. Cor. 1 3. 
Places of holy Scriptures, setting forth gods great mercies.  Ephes 2.4. 1. Tim. 1.13. unto the 18. verse.  
Surely these places are words of most rare and singular comfort, and they be certain, sin, sure, and unchangeable, spoken and pronounced by the eternal verity itself, and therefore not to be mistrusted or despaired of. But yet let us take heed, lest that verse be verified in us, Stulti dum vitant vitia in contraria currunt. Let us not abuse God's mercies, making a cloak thereof to cover our sins: Let us not presume too far, and say as in Ecclesiasticus 5.6. The mercy of God is great, he will forgive my manifold sins: for mercy, and wrath cometh from him etc.   

CHAP. FOUR  
The fourth Chapter concerning the Remedies to be used against the Fourth cause of Desperation, arising of the doubts suggested by the Devil unto many men to bring them into despair of their salvation, by means of the small number of those that shall be saved, in comparison of the great number of the reprobate.  
GReat in deed is the power, and manifold and marvelous are the policies, devices, wiles, subtleties, assaults, and suggestions, wherewith and whereby that wily Fox, 
A catalogue or rehearsal of many things ●hereby the Devil craftily tempts men to sin & desperation.  that old bitten Dog, that subtle Satan the Devil, daily and hourly practiseth to entice, allure, and even as it were to force multitudes of men here on earth, into one sin or other, whereunto he findeth and proveth them to be naturally inclined; and last of all upon one occasion or other, into Desperation.  

How the di●●l tempteth by riches.  If he espieth a man to he rich, and to have worldly blessings through the gift of God, then will he apply him earnestly by his prosperity to lull him asleep 〈◊〉 the forgetfulness of God, in world Pleasures, pleasant Vanities, and transitory delights, comforts, and solaces; and by trusting in his Riches to lift up himself arrogantly above others; to swell in pride, & to contemn his brethren, committing (and that with great sauciness and boldness) many fond, palpable, and gross errors and follies, against God's word, even as if he should say, Who is the Lord?  
On the other side, if a man be poor, 
How the devil tempteth by poverty.  he laboureth thereby to make him contemptible before the world, to pinch and nipp him with the want of many things necessary both for back and belly, that he seethe before his face many others have in great and in abundant measure: 
Prou. 30 9,  he soliciteth him to steal, to take the name of God in vain, to seek after gain by unhonest, unlawful, and ungodly means; to murmur, distrust, blaspheme, and despair.  
If a man have Friends, 
How the Devil tempteth by friend's 〈◊〉 Gen. 3.6.  he will use them as his instruments, to tempt unto some evil by their lewd & wicked counsel, as he did procure Eva to do unto Adam, job his Wife to job. Haman his Wife unto 〈◊〉 man. 
job. 2.9. ●ster. 5.14.   

How the 〈◊〉 tempteth by enem●●●.  If thou hast enemies, then will he prick thee forward by their proceedings and dealings against thee, unto unjust choler, wicked anger, and devilish revenge.  

H●● the 〈◊〉 tempts by carefulness.  If thou be careful for thy family, wife and children, he will take hold upon that occasion to stuff thy heart with too much desire of having, and getting by right or by wrong, and thereby through extreme covetousness, make thee to forego all godliness and piety.  
On the other side, if thou be careless, that's it that he can make use of also; 
〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 by 〈◊〉 or ●l●●nes.  for as S. Bernard saith, Infert diabolus securita●●●, ut inferat etiam perditionem. etc. In In heaven Angels became Devils. In Paradise Adam and Fuah fell into disobedience. In the School of Christ, judas became a ●raytor to his Lord & Master: and all this (saith S. Bernard) through security and retchlesnes to keep themselves in that good state wherein they were once set.  

Ho● the di●●●●●p●th by strength, by health, & ableness of body and beauty.  Hast thou strength? thereby will he t●ke occasion to embolden and harden thee to do injury & wrong, & to set upon thy weaker.  
Hast thou health and a strong able body? by those will he induce and entice thee to one kind or other of lewdness and dissoluteness.  
Hast thou beauty? that will he make an instrument for bawdry; an enticement and an allurement to voluptuousness and wanton delights.  
Hast thou honour and dignity in the world? 
How the devil tempteth by honour & dignity.  thereby will he blow the bellows of pride, audacity and boldness, to oppress, to crush, and tread under foot thine inferiors.  
Hast thou Vivacity, 
How the devil tempteth by quickness of spirit and sharpness of wit.  or quickness of spirit, and sharpness of wit and learning? these also will he strive to abuse & wrest to serve his turn to excogitate, invent, and devise a thousand vanities: yea, and all the rare and excellent gifts of God, which God doth bestow on any man: this Devil, this arch-enemy of mankind, will leave no ways, nor means unattempted, to procure man to abuse the same to a clean contrary end (if it were possible) to that for which they were bestowed.  
And finally, the very Word of God, 
How the ditempteth by God's word.  given through God's great and infinite goodness, to be our spiritual Sword, to resist and encounter the Devil with; which as S. james saith, is able to save the souls of men: which as S. Paul saith, is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth: which as holy David saith, was a lantern unto his feet, and a light unto his paths. This, even this, will the Devil so far forth as ever he may, with all the cunning fetches, crafts, and policies that ever he can devise, seek to abuse, wrist, and misapply, 
How the Devil will abu●e, w●est, & misapply God's word.  from the true meaning sense and signification thereof, to confirm lies, untruths, and heresies thereby: he will draw some texts and sentences thereof, to bring men into presumption of their own Virtues, Worthiness, and Merits, to their utter overthrow. And likewise with some other places and sentences thereof, he will bestir himself to bring men to waver in Faith, to doubt of God's graces and mercies through Christ, and so finally to fall into utter desperation. And thus doth he daily abuse and wrest all those places of holy Scriptures before noted and alleged in the Fourth cause of Desperation, tending to prove the small number of those that shall be saved, in comparison of the huge and great number of the reprobate.  
Those places I say, doth he urge upon the consciences of many in the world, and by his misapplying of them, and by his misconstruing of Christ's purpose, drift, and meaning therein, draweth and driveth them to fear and to tremble, to doubt and despair, that they are none of that small number, seeing so few shall be saved.  
But o thou man that art thus tried, tempted, and drawn towards temptation! for thy remedy and help herein, Search the Scriptures, and consider upon those places, to what end and purpose Christ delivered this doctrine, and thou shalt anon prove and find, that his meaning was nothing less than to drive men into despair, 
The true use of those Scriptures which the Devil seeketh to abuse to ●r●●g men to desperation thereby.  but rather hereby to exhort, persuade, and to give caveats, and warning pieces unto all men that run at random after the world, to remember themselves, and their dangers, and tickle states; to awake & rouse them up that are so fast lulied a sleep in the dangerous cradle of security, & wretchlessness, that so they might be touched, moved and stirred up to embrace in time when time serves, a far more diligent and watchful care of their salvation, that by such means, they may be found in the number of Christ's little flock, and of those few that shall be saved; whom the Apostle Paul exhorted to make an end of their salvation with fear and trembling: 
Phil. 2.12.  by which they might be made more careful and more diligent in that their so weighty a business.   

CHAP. V.  
The Fift Chapter wherein are contained the comforts, helps, and remedies against the fift cause of Desperation, which is the heavy and great weight of crosses, afflictions, troubles, and necessities, that God suffereth to full upon many in this life.  
MOst true, most notable, and most comfortable for the distressed and afflicted children of God, is that golden sentence of the holy Ghost, penned by his chosen vessel S. Paul, 
Rom. 8.28.  Rom. 8.28. All things work together for the best, to them that love God. For even the afflictions and troubles of God's children are so sanctified unto them by the spirit, 
Heb. 12 10.  that by the same they are made partakers of God's holiness. 
Heb. 12 14.  By the same they enjoy the quiet fruit of Righteousness. 
1 Thes. 1.6.  By the same they attain unto a greater measure of joy in the holy Ghost. 
Gal. 6 14.  By the same the world is crucified to them, and they to the world. By the same they are made conformable to Christ's death. 
1 Cor. 11.32.  By the same they are kept from the condemnation of the world. By the same they learn experience, 
Rom. 5.5.  patience, hope etc.  
So that these things rightly pondered, 
The comfort, & commodities of crosses and afflictions to God's children.  weighed, and considered, their Crosses are mercies, their losses gains, their afflictions are their schoollinges, and their adversity their learned University. Avoid thou Satan, thou canst not make these afflictions crosses and troubles, neither good nor likely causes of Desperaration, so they be taken, borne, and used as they ought to be, for it is written for the learning, comfort, help, and remedy of all God's afflicted children, whom thou woul●●est ●ull gladly persuade, that their afflictions are signs and prognosticating tokens of God's wrath; and so consequently if thou couldst, thou wouldst draw them thereby to despair of God's love and mercies. It is written I say, 
Prou. 3.12.  That the Lord correcteth him whom he loveth, even as the father doth the child in whom he delighteth. And again, My son, 
Heb 12.5, 6, 7, 8, 9 etc.  despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when thou art rebuked of him, for whom the Lord loveth, he chastineth; and he scourgeth every son that he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God offereth himself unto you, as unto sons; for what son is it whom the father chasteneth not? If therefore ye be without correction, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons, and so forth unto the 12. verse. These and many other such like sayings and sentences of the holy Scriptures, are most evident testimonies, that afflictions, troubles, crosses, and vexations, are sure tokens of God's grace, mercy, and favour, whereby God assureth us of his merciful will and fatherly good heart towards us, and not signs of his wrath and heavy displeasure, as the Devil would persuade us, thereby to cause us to despair.  
God in deed oftentimes sendeth evils even upon his own beloved children; 
Why God sendeth evils to his children, & how he sendeth comforts in the midst of evils.  but yet to the intent to do them good thereby: and withal in the midst of those evils which he toucheth them with, he sendeth them some comforts to hold their hearts with. Examples hereof you may see in Adam and Eva, for when for their disobedience God would banish them out of that most pleasant place in all the world, wherein at the first he had placed them, yet in the midst of that punishment which he had laid upon them, his fatherly kindness showed itself; for before he drove them out, he made them coats to arm them against all weather, 
Gen. 3.12.  and he comforted them with a promise of the blessed Seed (jesus Christ) which should restore that salvation to mankind, which they had lost by yielding to the Serpent's entysings.  
This was, and this is, the most kind and loving dealing of God with man, he will make us to smart a little for our sins: here is his justice; but yet so, that he will not utterly forsake us, nor give us over for ever: here is his mercy. Avoid therefore Satan, once I say again avoid: cease to suggest or to ingest into any man's heart, that he should think because that God doth cross & afflict him, that therefore he doth hate, forsake, and utterly casteth off those with whom he so dealeth: for this is most true, that as Christ jesus hath taught us to call upon him by the name of a Father, saying, Our Father which art in heaven. etc. so he loves us as a Father for his sake: and again he will be more mindful of us, than our own Mothers; for why? himself hath so taught us, and so promised, as appeareth in Esa. 49. 
Esa. 49.   
Examine and consider but a little the proceedings and dealings of Mothers and Fathers with their children, 
How God ●o●eth and deals with ●●s children  & thereby shall you see and perceive more clearly, how God handles his children under their afflictions, troubles, and crosses.  
It is the fashion and manner of a good, kind, and natural Father, that feign would see good proof of his child, first to instruct and teach him in the virtuous course and ways of well doing: Secondly, to give him oftentimes warning ●●d monition, to keep him in that good way which he hath taught him: Thirdly, if words will not serve, then to iercke him now and then with the rod: Fourthly, in case his child being now grown up, wax stubborn, malapert, and disobedient, if he will needs spend his thrift wanton, prodigally, and riotously, in ill company, then comes his Father and draws him out by the ears, and with a whip or cudgel, beats him till his bones crack.  
All this he doth, and yet with a fatherly love, and a natural kind affection, to fear him, and to tame him; and as it were with violence, to bring him to amendment, not minding to forsake him, nor utterly to cast him off for ever.  
Even such as this, is the dealing of our heavenly Father with his untowardly, stubborn, and disobedient children: For, first be teacheth and instructeth them by the Ministers, Teachers, and Preachers of his holy word and will: he giveth them often monition and warning to walk in his ways, and to live in his obedience; which if they despise and will not follow, than he useth his rods, as poverty, sickness, diseases, 
God's rod of what so they are.  crosses in their children, in their stock, in their crop, and such like: and when this will not serve, nor do any good, but still on they wax obstinate and stubborn, and care not neither for words nor warning, for stripes nor gentle correction; then God sendeth upon them more heavy and grievous punishments, as plagues, pestilences, dearth, casualties of fire, wars, loss of victory, fire and sword, captivity, and other such like great & almost intolerable mischiefs: and all these to work in them acknowledging of God, humbling themselves under the mighty hand of God, 
●hat God seeketh to ●orke by ●aling ●●dly with 〈◊〉 children  sorrowfulness of heart for their negligence in serving of God, and true unfeigned repentance, and turning again unto God, who then is as ready to receive them as ever he was before, and with mercy and loving kind benefits to bless them: Examples hereof, holy Scriptures afford us not a few, but especially in the govenement of God's choose people the Israelites, wherein it doth plainly appear, that although God did often times punish the disobedience & falling away of those his people; yet it ever proved nothing else, but the displeasure of a kind and loving father, which sought not their utter overthrow, but rather their reformation and amendment. Let us therefore in the like cases, not despair of God's mercy, but amend our former wicked course of life, and yield ourselves patiently unto our heavenly father, and rejoice in him, in the midst of our troubles & afflictions, for as much as there is nothing more sure than that if we return to him, but he will likewise turn again unto us with a gracious and fatherly mind, heart, and goodwill.  
In this behalf also is God compared and likoned unto a kind loving Mother; 
God's affection to h●● children like unto a kind loving Mother's section.  for like as a natural Mother is very careful, watchful, & diligent about her child, she trimmeth it, she dresseth it, feedeth it, nourisheth it, prayeth to God heartily for it, and doth all the good she can for it with a most loving, tender, & motherly affection; and yet now and then she is so disquieted in her mind, so moved and provoked by her child's peltishnes, frowardness, and unruliness, that she is even against her own nature, forced to be angry with it, to chide it, & sometimes to beat it: Even so like unto this motherly dealing, is the property and natural affection of God towards mankind, who as he would not the death of a sinner, so neither delighteth he in any manner of grief, sorrow, trouble, or misfortune of man, were he not sometimes stirred up, moved, and provoked, through our frowardness, unthankfulness, and unkindness, to chasten & correct us. And like as a Mother, though she be angry & offended with her child for a time, yet her displeasure soon passeth away, she giveth it not over, she forsaketh it not, she forgetteth it not for ever: Even after the like fashion doth God our heavenly Father deal with man. Nay more mindful, more kind, and more pitiful is God towards us. This is most true, the mouth of God himself hath spoken it; for these are his words. 
9.15.  Can a Woman forget her own Child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? though she should forget, yet will not I forget thee. And finally (to draw to an end of this comparison) even as a Mother when her child is impish, peevish, and wayward, menaceth and threateneth it to throw it away to a Beggar, and scarreth it with some Bugs, Throstes, Hobgoblines, or such like, & all to make it quiet, and to cling the more unto her: so likewise our good Father, when he seethe that we forget him, make smaller reckoning of him then becomes us, and wax unthankful and untowardly to all goodness, declining and hasting on apace to follow all sin and iniquity; then he sometimes showeth us the terrible faces of fearful troubles and dangers, and he will bring us into great perils: yea, and for our unthankfulness, and other such like offences, he will now and then take away by one means or other, our health, our wealth, our peace, our liberty, our safety. etc.  
And all this doth he to cause us to turn back again unto him, to cleave and cling the faster unto him, to pray and call upon him the more faithfully, heartily, and zealously for his help & deliverance, to esteem better of his gifts when we enjoy them, and to be more thankful for them when we have them.  
So that the very causes of all our troubles, crosses, and calamities, are not to work in us murmuring, & grudging, and despair; but if we will weigh them & consider them thoroughly, to make good use of them, they may turn to our great profit and benefit, and not to our hurt: For like as a natural Father and Mother do, so doth God love us when he smiteth us; he favoureth us, when he seemeth to be most against us; when he seemeth to be most angry, he aimeth most at our good, for as S. Augustine saith, Meltus novit medicus quid expediat quam aegrotus, The sick man the patiented, never knoweth so well what is good for him as doth the Physician. 
God dealeth with his children as Physicians and surgeons do ●ith their ●acientes.  And therefore the Physicians and Surgeons when they see no other remedy for the recovery, curing, and amending of their sick corrupted & infected patients, use to minister unto them tart, bitter, harsh, and unpleasant things, and to sear, burn, & cut away corrupted, rotten, and dead flesh with saws, iron, and other such like instruments, and all to save and cherish the sound and whole parts, Ne pars sincera trahatur, lest that which is whole, should by the other be corrupted, infected, & poisoned: Even so doth God sometimes (when he sees it best for us) plague our bodies sharply & grievously, that our souls may be preserved and saved. The Physician in compounding of his best treacle, useth Serpents, Adders, and other poisoned things, that with the same he may drive out one poison with an other: Even so God (as by Histories plentifully in God's Book it appears) useth the ministery, help, 
How God useth sometime the service & ministery of Devils and wicked men  and service of Devils, and of most devilish and wicked men, by them to afflict and chastise us, and yet to do us good withal; and afterwards burneth the rods when he hath corrected and beaten his children with them awhile. It is not given to every man (I must needs confess) to understand this, & to make this good use of afflictions, crosses, & troubles laid upon them for their sins sake; 
The wicked are not bettered by their troubles and afflictions,  for than should Pharaoh and many of his wicked courtiers, like himself than should Cain, Saul, judas Ischariot, and many other vile lewd and desperate persons beside, in their manifold crosses, troubles, and adversities, have turned unto the Lord and been saved. But we must learn & know, that adversities, troubles, and afflictions, of themselves, and of their own proper nature, 
Whence it cometh that afflicti● and cross●s profit God's children.  can not work & bring such profits, and so much good unto men: But it is the spirit of God, which resting in Gods faithful children, purgeth, reformeth, comforteth, & strengtheneth them, and by these outward means worketh all these good things in us: And so whatsoever goodness hath been spoken of heretofore to befall men by means of adversities, crosses, & troubles, is to be understanded only of the faithful and godly, which are taught and led by the spirit of God, to consider rightly of them, and to make such use of them, that according as in the beginning of this Chapter it is truly said, to them that love God, all things work together for the best. 
Rom. 8.28.   
Whereas on the otherside, in the unfaithful, unrepentant, and wicked ones, they work after an other fashion, and are of clean contrary operation, 
The conceits & opinions of the wicked in their adversities & troubles.  whiles that they ascribe their adversities and troubles, either to blind Fortune and Chance; as though Fortune had a certain power to work, without the working and providence of God; or else, unto them that are not of their own sect, faith, and religion, as did wicked Ahab to godly Elias, 
4. King. 18.  or to the Magistrates, or to the Ministers of God's word, or to Faith and Religion itself, or to the Planets, Stars, and influences of the Elements; yea, and some will blame God himself, as though they themselves were so innocent and blameless, that God deals not well with them to lay upon them such crosses and punishments: and so very busy they make themselves, to shift off all blame ever to otheres faults.  
And although their sins be multiplied to exceeding multitudes of offences, yet they will not see nor confess any such things in themselves, nor any thing consider, nor regard the punishments of God laid upon them, and cleaving unto them for the same. But through their hardness of heart, and want of faith (which is the mother of all blasphemy & abomination) they can not spy whose hand it is that is against them, nor wherefore; or else being even as it were violently forced to know it, that it is the working of the Lord against them, and his vengeance in heavy displeasure upon them; yet they will not be moved thereby, nor any thing at all stirred up to amend their lives but like unto King Pharaoh, the more God correcteth them, the more obstinately they serve, decline, and fly away from him, being like unto graceless children, with whom neither words, threatenings, nor beating, can prevail. Like unto them that will neither dance with the piper, 
Math. 11.17. Luk. 7.31 32  nor lament with the mourner: And so far off are they from being recovered, won, and reform by means of any crosses, afflictions & troubles lighting on them; and following them even as the shadow doth the body; that they will sooner burst out into all manner of impatientnes, bitterness, and spiteful poisonful railing and blaspheming words against the righteousness of God, saying, That their punishment is greater than their sins, and heavier than they can brook or bear: and that they are wronged, and are not indifferently dealt with, and so at the length after heaping one sin in the neck of an other, the Devil brings them on, and by little and little winds them into that he gapes for, 
The ends that the Devil brings the wicked unto by their afflictions, troubles and crosses.  namely into a reprobate mind, and deadly Desperation, in so much that at the last they fall to, and yield to murdering, hanging, drowning, or by other such means most miserably, to dispatch themselves with their own hands, like unto Saul, Achitophel, & judas, so giving themselves over to the Devil; and as they lived for a while most wretchedly, so they depart out of the world as devilishly, forgetting utterly, & altogether inconsiderate, reckless, and careless what shall become of them afterwards for ever. By whose lives, 
Two commodities to be reaped by the lives and manner of the death of the wicked.  and manner of deaths the children of God may yet reap two commodities: first, they shall be eased of the great troubles, disturbance, and discommoditis, and of the lewd and evil examples which they gave to others whiles they lived. And secondly, they which remain alive after them, may learn and take warning by their shameful falls, and by their terrible examples, and desperate deaths, lay hold on repentance and amendment of their lives before it be too late.   

CHAP. VI  
The sixth Chapter concerning the Remedies against Desperation, arising and growing by long custom of sin, and by delaying & putting off the forsaking of sin from day to day.  
IT is written, that the continual and long custom of sin, and the delaying, and putting off from time to time of the amendment of life, 
The great danger of custom of sin, and of delaying of amendment of life.  is one of the greatest and most dangerous deceits, and cunning stratagems and policies which the enemy of mankind doth use towards the children of Adam: for he is not ignorant how that like as Links in a Chain one catcheth hold and hangeth by an other, and one draweth an other: Even so by continuance, long custom, and secure sleeping in sin, one sin draweth on an other, and so every day sin is added to sin, so that by toleration and procrastination, sin so mightily increaseth, & by this means waxeth so headstrong, that in the end, the saying of the Poet proveth very true; to wit, Qui non est hody, oras minus aptus erit. He that is not ready to day (to forego & forsake sin) to morrow-day shall he be more unfit. 
A comparison showing the danger of long custom and weltering in sins.  The Devil knoweth well enough, how that like as old festered and long grown sores & diseases of the body, are far more dangerous, more troublesome, and harder to be healed, & require a longer time by much to be cured, then if they had been looked to at the first: Even so the diseases of the soul, as swearing, thieving whoring, drunkenness, and such like, being once long accustomed, settled, & having gotten an habit, are either never, or seldom, and that with greater difficulty afterwards rooted out, then at the first beginning they might have been.  
And so by these diseases of the soul, the habit thereof having once taken root in man and the Devil by them having gotten the surer hold and possession, he endeavoureth & most diligently by all ways and means applieth to keep men still on in ure, and practise with old and long accustomed sins, until at the length in extremity of sickness towards the hour of death (if not before) he may by such causes and occasions plant & work in the heart of man deep despair, to his utter confusion for ever.  
To resist therefore, to remedy and help this cankerlike creeping & infectious evil, let us to day while it is yet to day, study to turn again unto God, cast out the Devil, and with him this great cause and occasion of Desperation, even long custom of sin, and delay of amendment of our lives, the thing that so hangeth on, and presseth us down, & let us in time while we have time, take a better course, looking up unto jesus Christ, and set him before the eyes of our faith, as the only mark to shoot at. And for as much as we can not turn again unto the Lord, & forsake our former wallowing in our former long accustomed sins, except the Lord our God reach us his helping hand to turn us unto him; and that repentance is not in our own power to take it up, 
Whence repentance & amendment 〈◊〉 life are to 〈◊〉 had, and ●ow they ●e to be ●me by.  & lay it down at our own pleasure, and that of ourselves we can not put it into, nor plant it in our hearts when and where we list, except it first come from above; for that it is an excellent and a rare gift of God: Let us earnestly and heartily with our humble and fervent prayers beg and crave the same at God's hands: Let us practise much and often hearing, reading & meditating the word of God, and with care & diligence use all ordinary means for the better, more ready, and speedy attaining of it: for it is not so easy a matter to be come by, as the world thinketh it: It is not an hours work when we lie on our deathbeds, that will serve the turn: It is not, Cry God mercy a little for fashion sakes that will do it: 
Many are 〈◊〉 may be deceived in the manner time of their repentance.  It is not a coursing or mumbling up of a few Prayers at a man's last farewell, that will avail: And yet if we were sure that that would serve, yet we are very unsure, whether we shall have time and leisure, wit, senses, reason, & remembrance at our last gasp to do that yea or no. To trust to do it at our last hour, is but a broken staff to be relied on and trusted unto: And yet it is not so uncertain, but on the other side it is as certain, that then we shall have many byasses and bars, many rubs & stops, 
Note th● you that yferre rep●tance vn● your last end.  many lets and impediments to lie in our ways, and to hinder our course in going forward at that time with last gasping repentance, which many infatuated, fond, & foolish men rely so much upon, and trust so much unto, passing away their days, and carelessly neglecting good opportunity when time serveth, like unto those five foolish Virgins that made no preparation aforehand to be in a readiness to enter in with the Bridegroom, till it was too late: this is I say, a very broken staff to trust unto, & a thing very doubtful and uncertain to depend upon, or to make any reckoning of, for a man to repent and cry God mercy, and make himself fit and ready for God at his last hour, because that very many in all ages, and in all places have been, and are taken away oftentimes with a sudden death, and have neither that hours nor half hours leisure that they before spoke so much of, and trusted so much unto.  

●uke 17. ●7. ●amples ●ewing that ●s dangers trust●● to the 〈◊〉 hour. ●n 19.23.  When the World was eattng and drinking, planting and building: when they were most secure and careless, then suddenly came the Flood, and overwhelmed them all. Though it were a fair morning at Lots going out of Sodom, yet by and by when they least thought of any such matter, they were all suddenly destroyed. When Nabuchadnezzar was most brag, 
●ni. 4.12.  and thought himself most safe and sure, suddenly (never dreaming nor once suspecting any such things) was he pulled on his knees. 
●ke. 12.20. ●es. 5. are ●o notable ●●mples of ●aine and provided ●th, in ●nias & 〈◊〉 wife.  The Rich man thought himself never more like to have lived, then when he so busily made such great provision, and laid up store for many years: yet was his soul suddenly taken from him the very same night. And what knowest thou o man! that trustest so much, and puttest off till the last day and hour, whether that day and hour may not come as suddenly on thee, and as unlooked for, as it did on any of these?  
Augustine and Ambrose did write one of them to the other, what his opinion was concerning the state of an old Adulterer which in their time, as he was going in the night time to his Whore, passing over a Bridge in his way, fell into the River; and so being drowned, was taken away suddenly in the very purpose of his wickedness, having neither hour, half hour, nor minute, to cry God mercy, to repent and to pray in.  
joannes Rivius, a learned Writer, 
Lib. 1. ●stultia● mortali● in procr●nanda rection vitae.  and of good credit, affirmed that in his time, and in a Village of his country, two old men lying with their Whores whom they had aforetime haunted, in one and the self-same night died, suddenly taken as it were with the manner; having likewise neither hour nor half hour to prepare themselves in: for the one was suddenly stabbed to death; the other was taken with a sudden Apoplexy, whereof he presently gave up his Ghost.  
And what knoweth any of us all, or what greater privildge hath any of us all, but that we may be suddenly prevented, & carried away in the midst of our sins as these were? And whether we have not the like examples of such hasty deaths here in England, whereby many of us have been disappointed of these two or three hours at their last end, to make us ready in, I report me to the deaths of Earl Godwin, 
●e God● his so●e and defull ●h.  and Grimwood of Hitcham? whereof the Earl after he had traitorously slain the brother of King Edward the third, being charged afterwards by the King therewith at Windsor (where he happened to sit at table with the King) he falsely denied the fact, and for his better excuse, he falsely forswore it; and besides all this, he moreover took a piece of bread and put it into his mouth, wished that he might be choked thereof, if he were guilty of his blood; and it followed in deed according to this desire: for he being choked therewith, yeeled up his Ghost, and fell down dead in the presence and sight of all at the Table, and from thence was had to Winchester to be buried. And likewise the said Grimwood of Hitcham in the County of Suffolk, 
Grimwood his sudden and fearful death.  known to be a wilful forsworn man, in the Harvest time next after his perjury, feeling no pain, complaining of no disease, being strong and able to labour, as he was stacking up Corn, suddenly his Bowels fell out of his body, whereof immediately he died most miserably.  
But what need I to stand bestowing time, paper, and ink, troubling both myself & future Readers, in setting down the manner of the sudden deaths of many men, seeing that both holy and profane Writers, & daily experience itself, may fully fraught, store, and furnish us with infinite examples of this sort? And what charter, privilege, or certain hold of life hath any of us all, more than these here before recited, or thousands of others in the like case have had?  
O let us not presume therefore to run on headlong in the long and hardened custom of our sins! nor to delay and put off the reforming of our wicked lives until the last hour: And although we be not stricken with sudden death, but have both certain days and hours before our death, yet (as I before said) full many are the stops; lets, and impediments, which both may, & also daily do fall out to hinder & put by this late repentance, that so many will needs trust unto, 
A catalogue of lets and impedimnts which oftentimes fall out when we come to the last hour, that hinder and put by that late repentance, which so many trust unto.  and make all their reckoning of, putting off from day to day, & from year to year, till this last time approach and f●l on them in deed: For so long as the extremities of sickness do nip and pinch our mortal bodies, the dolour, pangs, and pains racking and tormenting our flesh, will keep our minds so occupied, sometime calling on the Physician for help, sometime turning, tossing, and seeking for ease in every corner of the bed; yea, and from bed to bed, while strength doth serve: sometime taking this Receipt, and sometimes that, as the Physicians shall minister: sometimes turmoiled and occupied both in mind and body by the working and purging of the Apothecary's drugs received, sometimes disquiet and brawling with those that are attending about us, crying out on them, as though their using and handling of us were the occasion of our greater pangs and pains: with these and such like circumstances, are both bodies and minds exercised and vexed, so long as the vigour and strength of flesh and blood are able to endure and hold out, and so busied herewith continually, that we seldom have any rest or leisure to frame ourselves to any quiet calling on God; to any repentance, or unfeigned and zealous crying for mercy: for if we sometimes endeavour ourselves to begin to go about it, yet behold one thing or other soon striketh all out of mind, and disturbs us so, that never a whit the better: But if after the powers and senses of our bodies be once worn and weakened, and the feeling of the extreme dolours and pangs of the sickness be mitigated, whereby the body after a time of wrestling and wearying of itself is now somewhat quieted, 
More lets 〈◊〉 impediment of late repentance 〈◊〉 converting to God.  and so the mind more settled, we then begin again to take better hold, yet still on either the care of children & wife, for want of sufficient provision for them, or grief to departed from them, or the remembrance of lands, goods, houses, and possessions, and other worldly treasures; the love, liking, and delights whereof have possessed our hearts all our life time before, will now so afresh enter and trouble our heads and minds; that yet time serves not for to continue any such godly and christian exercises as we in health time when we should have done it, made no account of, and deferred until the last hour. 
The effects of choler, in time of extreme sickness.  Sometimes are we troubled and diseased with melancholy and frenzies, choler shooting up into our brains, and with such cramps & convultions caused by much evacuation, and such abundance of choler in our veins, that hereof follows the natural effects, ravings, blaspheming, unsensible talking, writhing of the lips, strange and unaccustomed wresting and turning of the neck, buckling of the joints & whole body; yea & often times such extraordinary strength, that three or four men can not hold us nor rule us without bonds. With these and such like strange effects, are many men deprived not only of the right use of the parts of their bodies, but also of their reason & right wits, and last of all of life itself. Are not here then lets and stays enough from the performance of that amendment of life, prayer, and crying God mercy, which we prorogued and put off in our life time?  
Put case that we be neither cut off with sudden death, nor annoyed at our last end with any of these aforesaid lets and impediments of strange diseases and extraordinary effects thereof, nor with any other such like noisome & troublesome circumstances or sicknesses, but that we have time, leisure, and quietness to do all such things as any of us all trusted unto at our last farewell with the world? 
The Diuel● will be mo●● busy to hinder repentance at o●● last hour.  yet will that deadly enemy, that mortal adversay of ours Satan the Devil, at that time above all other apply himself; and let us look for no other, but what vile sin we have committed & delighted in in all our life time, that will he lay to our charge, and clog our conscienses with, & to bring us into desperation with and by them, he will put us in mind, and terrify us with God's severe threatenings against sin. He will object against us that saying of our Lord Christ, 
Matth. 19  that if we would have entered into life, we should have kept his Commandments. 
Math. 7.  He will tell us that not he that saith Lord, Lord, but he that doth the will of the father of heaven, shall enter into the kingdom of God. He will put us in mind that, Not the hearers of the Law, 
Rom. 2. Rom. 8.  but the doers shall be justified. He will threaten us, that because we have lived according to the flesh, we shall die. He will crack us, 
●. Cor. 6.9.10.  that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God: and that neither Fornicators, nor Idolaters, nor Adulterers, nor Wantoness, nor Buggers, nor thieves, nor the Covetous, nor Drunkards, nor Raylors, nor Extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.  
And that such as have lived according to the works of the flesh, which are repeated up Gala 5. 
2. Cor. 5.  shall not attain to the kingdom of God. 
●er. 2.  And that we must be presented before the judgement seat of Christ, 
Apocal. 20.  and every man receive particularly according as he hath done in this life, 
2. Peter. 2.  good or evil: every man shall receive according to his works. And that God spared not the Angels when they sinned. 
1. Pet. 4.  And if the just shall scarce be saved, where shall the Wicked man and sinner appear?  
When all these, and a great deal more, describing and setting forth unto us the rigour of God's severe justice, and the reckoning whereunto we shall be called, shall be put into our minds on our deathbeds; and that damned Satan, which all the days of our lives before, laboured to make us careless and negligent of the knowledge, or consideration of any of these things, that so he might make us the more boldly and blindly to run headlong into sin, shall charge us with this, and much more like stuff, appealling to our own consciences for witness hereof, and so hereupon plant in our guilty hearts deep Desperation, Alas in what case shall our poor souls then stand? Would a man then for a thousand worlds, and all the profits and pleasures thereof, be brought to such a quandary?  
O thou therefore that readest or hearest this damnable and miserable state that silly souls may be implunged into, for the better avoiding of these perils, read, & read again, meditate, ponder, and put in practise the direction, advice, and counsel in the beginning of this present sixth Chapter. 
The example of joseph of Arimathia, most worthy to be imitated.   
And take this lesson of joseph of Arimathia, that like as he in his life time had made ready a Sepulchre in the midst of his Garden, which was the place of his pleasure (as all Gardens of great men most commonly are:) Even so thou in the midst of these things wherein thou takest thy greatest felicity and delight, remember yet thy Grave, and what one day (thou knowest not how soon) shall become of thy poor soul, and afterward of thy soul and body for ever.  
Remember and learn likewise at the Egyptians, who perceiving the mindfulness of death to be a good help to bridle their evil actions, 
●he use and custom of ●●e● Egipti●ns.  used to bring a Picture or Image resembling Death, into their great and solemn Feasts; which fearful and ugly sight, trembling and shaking they took to be a special occasion to keep the beholders in sobriety, by the remembrance of their end, which they must all come unto sooner or later.  
And finally, learn at the good King Ezechias, 
●he notable ●nd imitable example of ●ing Eze●hias.  when thou shalt be by any occasion put in the remembrance of death, be afraid of God's threatenings, and sorrow a little before hand, lest thou be constrained to sorrow, howl, and cry remeddesse always afterwards: for according to the old saying, Qui ante non cavebit post dolebit, he that will not beware before, shall afterward be sorry. 
Ecclesiasticus. 7.40.  And he that in all his doings remembreth the end, shall never lightly do amiss: The which wise remembrance of our ends, he vouchsafe to plant in our hearts, who hath full dearly bought us, jesus Christ, the righteous; to whom with his, and our heavenly Father, and the holy Spirit, three persons; and one eternal majesty of Godhead, all worthy glory, honour, and praise, be worthily attributed for ever and ever. Amen.   

CHAP. VII.  
The seventh Chapter containing the General preservative against the despair or doubting of God's mercy arising upon any cause whatsoever.  
FOr as much as it is a thing manifestly to be proved by holy Scriptures, that a man endued with true faith itself, may notwithstanding now and then be toubled and assaulted with motions of doubtings, wavering; yea and of despairing: therefore for the bridling, suppressing, and overcoming of these assaults, it shall be good to put in practise these five things especially.  
First, we are to think and consider thus much, 
The first preservative against Despair.  that as not to murder, not to steal, not to commit adultery, and all the rest of the Decalogue or ten Commandments, are the Commandments of God, and we are careful, and strive with ourselves that we should not break any of them; lest that in breaking any of them, we should so highly offend God, that he would therefore power down upon us his heavy wrath, and in his indignation seveerely punish us, as by many examples we see he hath done to others in the like offences: So also it is God's commandment as well as any of the other are, 
1. joh. 3.23.  That we believe in the name of his son jesus Christ: and therefore we must think we offend against God as grievously, or rather far more grievously in violating and breaking this Commandment by incredulity, doubting, wavering, and despairing, as if we should shed man's blood, commit whoredom, theft, perjury, or any other such like notorious sin.  
O what a heinous sin must it needs be to cast no doubts, nor despair in the help of a mortal man in the time of need! and yet to mistrust and despair of the like in God? As for example: We can settle our hearts to believe in our mortal Fathers if we stand in need of meat, drink, or clothes, 
An exam●●● that man men put more tru●● in morta● man ther● God.  we then call on them: and if they promise us any such things, we can set our hearts at case, and count it as a thing done; we doubt nothing of their good will towards us, nor of the performance of their word unto us, we depend upon them, we rely only on them and none other, and what they give their word to do for us, we make as sure reckoning of it, as if it were already in our hands.  
Again, if we stand in need of a piece of money as of x. 
●nother example ●ewing ●at many ●on put ●ore trust 〈◊〉 mortal ●●n, then 〈◊〉 God.  xx. li. thirty. li. or be it more or less, to discharge some dangerous Bond, or for any such like use by a set day, or to save our bodies out of prison; and in the mean time, before the day appointed come, some one of our honest rich neighbours, that is counted an honest substantial man, and of good credit, promise us certainly so much money as we want, and stand in need of to serve our turn with, and bids us trust unto it, that before that day he will be sure to help; we hereupon trust his honest promise, we believe his word, & make as sure account of it as if we had it already in our purses, and take no more thought nor care for it. O how much more should we trust Gods most faithful, just, and true word and promise; believe him without all distrust, doubting, or despair, and depend upon him who is a thousand times more able and more willing to do us good, and to keep touch with us, than ever was, or ever shallbe any mortal earthly Father, or friendly neighbour?  
The second thing in this case to be considered of is, that every one of us, 
The second general help against desp●●ation.  is particularly to believe that he is in the number of those that shallbe saved, by the merits of Christ's death & passion: for the promises of salvation in Christ are indefinite, excluding no particular man, as for example: God so loved the world, 
john. 3 16.  that he gave his only beloved Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have life everlasting. In which general words, is included every particular believing person, although he have not his name severally & particularly set down: and here God excludeth none from his promise, unless through their unbelief and despair, they exclude their own selves. If the King of Great Britain, of his own mere mercy, and motion of compassion, or at the sure and mediation of some Noble man or other that is dear unto him, should freely pardon and forgive all the malefactors and prisoners of any gail, within his Kingdoms, may we not account them very fond & foolish men, and not worthy the benefit of the kings gracious Pardon, if some two or three should doubt and despair that this general Pardon appertained not unto them, because their own particular and several names were not therein specified and expressed? Even thus is our case.  
Let not therefore any illusion of Satan, nor fear of our own unworthiness, nor want of our particular names, nor any other argument or reason whatsoever, withdraw us from challenging our own portions and parts of Gods most merciful promises, of his free pardon, and remission of our sins: Let us not doubt nor distrust the performance and truth of God's promises.  

●●e third ●●nerall ●●pe against asperation.  Thirdly, to comfort ourselves, and to suppress Satan's temptations to despairing, we may further meditate and ponder with ourselves these two points especially: First, that seeing the Lord hath promised to forgive our sins, & to put all our wickedness out of his remembrance (as by plain and most manifest evidence of holy Scriptures it may easily be proved) than it standeth with his justice and truth, to perform the same, and that upon such a necessity, that he must either forgive us our offences according to his own word, or else we must count him unfaithful for the breach of his promises; or else (which were horrible to think) judge him an hypocrite or a dissembler, if he should pretend one thing, and intent another; or at the least wise unconstant in altering and changing that which he hath spoken with his own mouth, & so to be thought (which is monstrous) to be unjust: For the second point, we may consider likewise to our comfort, and to the weakening & overthrow of all desperate conceits, 
Esai. 75.  that God hath already punished jesus Christ for our offences, & therefore can not in justice punish them again in us. We offended, and Christ was punished for the same. 
what so●● could b● looked at ma● hands what s● man co●● be cha● with, t●● Christ forme● discha●  What soever in justice God could either demand, or man owed, that paid our Lord Christ. Man aught to die, Christ satisfied for the same: Man ought to have borne the heavy wrath & displeasure of the father, Christ did bear the same: Man ought to have been cast down into hell, Christ satisfied for that also: yea, he so fully contented, paid, & pleased God the Father, for all whatsoever the Lord could look for at man's hands, that the Father himself acknowledged, and in thunder from heaven confessed the same, in the hearing of many witnesses present; and hearing the same at the baptizing of our Lord Christ by john Baptist in the Flood Iorden: And so all faithful believers hereof, are hereby fully and freely acquit and discharged from all debt of sin they owed unto God, for ever.  
Why should thou then, o Satan! so busily charge us with any such matter, to drive us into desperation, seeing that Sublata causa tollitur etiam & effectus? The cause whereby thou so urgest desperation by jesus Christ, being taken away, the effects also must needs then cease.  

●●e fourth ●●pherall ●●pe for 〈◊〉 auoy●●g of desiring.  The fourth thing to be used and practised for the better avoiding of Despair, is that at what time soever we feel our hearts through Satan's crafty suggestion assaulted and molested with this venomous sting of Desperation, we should then strait way convey ourselves into some quiet and secret place, and there in some humble manner power out our hearts before God with inward hearty, & zealous prayer, desiring him of his infinite mercies to work in our hearts increase of faith, and to suppress and vanquish all our unbelief, and utterly to expel from thence all despair.  
The fift and last Remedy that now I purpose to handle here against Desperation, 
The 〈◊〉 ●●nerall 〈◊〉 against operation.  is that we frame ourselves carefully, diligintly, and with godly zeal to use, and oftentimes to frequent such godly means as God hath appointed and set forth unto us, for the obtaining and increasing of faith, as (over and beside earnest prayer, last before spoken of) the use of reverent reading, hearing, and meditating of God's word, and the receiving of the Sacraments, being holy Signs, and as it were Scales seen with our outward or bodily eyes, which inwardly do signify, and set forth to our hearts the secret and inward graces of God.   
FINIS.