you come to the day of judgment, all this will fail you; but you will say in the former use: "You labored us from despair, and encouraged us to hope, and yet now you take away all our hopes. Why if neither creation may comfort us, nor the experience of God's kind dealing with us may encourage us, nor the afflictions that we have endured in this world, nor the privileges that we have enjoyed, nor the mercy, of themselves may give us any hope to receive mercy, why then it seemeth you would have us despair, and cast away all hope of any good?"

The truth is, as I must not make the way broader than it is, so I must not make it narrower than I ought, therefore know these two things:

As long as thou retainest and keepest a proud, stubborn, unconverted heart, there is no hope in heaven or earth, that God should ever show mercy unto thee, and save that hard, stony, impenitent, unbelieving heart of thine.

THE FEARFUL SOUL.

[The Soule's Humiliation. 1637.]

HY doth the soul seek for succor from itself, and will not go out to Christ?

WHY

The first reason is, because the sinner, being conceived not yet to be in Christ, out of the guilt of sin dares not to be so proud as to think that he shall have any favor at God's hands, for the sinner being now overwhelmed with the body of death and the guilt of his abominations galling of him, and being starved by reason of his sins, and still his sins being before his eyes, and to this day having gotten no assurance of the pardon of them, and God being angry against him, his heart shrinks in consideration of the eternal wrath of the Almighty against him; and he saith, "Because I have despised justice and abused mercy, how dare I appear before God's justice; for fear justice consume me and execute vengeance upon me."

And therefore the soul dares not yet venture to come before God, and hence it is that the soul saith, "Can I not take some course of myself and do it without Christ; must I needs go and hear? Certainly the word will condemn; and must I needs go and confess my sins? What, shall I, a rebel, go before a Prince? To come before him, it is the next way to be executed and have some plague thrown upon me!" As a malefactor will devise some shift that he may not

come before the judge, so while the soul may have some succor from himself and the staff is in his own hand there is some hope, and he would willingly do any thing for himself; but for the soul to have salvation out of his own reach, and to put the staff out of his own hand, and to hang his salvation upon God's good pleasure, whose love and mercy, as yet, he was never persuaded of-oh, this is very hard, and the heart is marvellous shy and careful in this, and it is with the heart in this kind as Rabshecah said to the people of Israel: "If you say to me, is not that he whose altars you have broken down," etc. Thus he labored to pluck away the hearts of this people from trusting in the Lord. The soul in this kind sometimes shakes and shrinks in the apprehension of his own vileness, and saith as this wretch did, "Have you offended him, and do you look for any succor from him?" This argument was very peevish and keen and yet false, for they were the altars of idols, but the soul saith against itself and marvellous truly; when a minister would persuade a man to go to heaven for mercy, the soul begins to reason thus with itself, and saith, "Shall I repair to God? Oh! that's my trouble; is not he that great God whose justice and mercy and patience I have abused? And is not he the great God of heaven and earth, that hath been incensed against me? Oh, with what face can I appear before him, and with what heart can I look for any mercy from him? I have wronged his justice, and can his justice pardon me? I have abused his mercy, and can his mercy pity me? What! such a wretch as I am? If I had never enjoyed the means of mercy I might have some plea for myself, but oh! I have refused that mercy and have trampled the blood of Christ under my feet; and can I look for any mercy? No, no, I see the wrath of the Lord incensed against me, and that's all I look for!"

The soul rather desires the mountains to fall upon him, that he may never appear before God. Nay, I have observed this in experience: In the horror of heart, the soul dare scarce read the word of God, for fear he should read his own neck-verse, and he dare not pray, for fear his prayers be turned into sin, and so increase his judgment. Thus the soul out of the guilt of sin dare not seek out to the Lord, and therefore it will use any shift to help itself without going to God.

MY

GOD'S DEALINGS WITH HIS SERVANTS.

[The Activity of Faith, or Abraham's Imitators. 1651.]

Y brethren, let me say so to you: You will find trouble and inconveniences, and hard measure at the hands of the wicked in this world, many Nabals and Cains will set themselves against you; but go on, and bear it patiently. Know it is a troublesome way, but a true way, it is grievous but yet good, and the end will be happy; it will never repent you, when the Lord hath performed all the good that he hath spoken concerning you.

Oh! to see a man drawing his breath low and short, after he hath spent many hours and days in prayer to the Lord, grappling with his corruptions, and striving to pull down his base lusts, after he hath waited upon the Lord in a constant course of obedience; take but such a man, and ask him, now his conscience is opened, whether the ways of holiness and sincerity be not irksome to him, whether he be not grieved with himself for undergoing so much needless trouble (as the world thinks it) and his soul will then clear this matter. It is true, he hath had a tedious course of it, but now his death will be blessed; he hath striven for a Crown, and now behold a Crown! Now he is beyond the waves; all the contempts and imprisonments and outrages of wicked men, are now too short to reach him; he is so far from repenting, that he rejoiceth and triumpheth in reflecting back upon all the pains and care and labor of love whereby he hath loved the Lord Jesus, in submitting his heart unto him.

Take me another man, that hath lived here in pomp and jollity, hath had many livings, great preferments, much honor, abundance of pleasure, yet hath been ever careless of God and of his Word, profane in his course, loose in his conversation, and ask him upon his deathbed, how it standeth with him; Oh! woe the time, that ever he spent it as he hath done! Now the soul begins to hate the man, and the very sight of him that hath been the instrument with it in the committing of sin; now nothing but gall and wormwood remaineth; now the sweetness of the adulterer's lust is gone, and nothing but the sting of conscience remaineth; now the covetous man must part with his goods, and the gall of Asps must stick behind; now the soul sinks within, and the heart is overwhelmed with sorrow! Take but these. two men, I say, and judge by their ends, whether ever it will repent you that you have done well, that you have walked in the steps of the faith of Abraham. My brethren, howsoever you have had many miseries, yet the Lord hath many mercies for you. God dealeth with his servants, as a father doth with his son, after he hath sent him on

a great journey to do some business, and the weather falleth foul, and the way proveth dangerous, and many a storm, and great difficulties are to be gone through. Oh! how the heart of that father pitieth his son! How doth he resolve to requite him, if he ever live to come home again; what preparation doth he make to entertain and welcome him; and how doth he study to do good unto him! My brethren, so it is here; I beseech you, think of it, you that are the Saints and people of God! You must find in your way many troubles and griefs, (and we ought to find them,) but be not discouraged; the more misery, the greater mercy. God the Father seeth his servants, and if they suffer and endure for a good conscience, as his eye seeth them, so his soul pitieth them, his heart bleeds within him for them. That is, he hath a tender compassion of them, and he saith within himself, "Well, I will requite them if ever they come into my kingdom; all their patience, and care, and conscience in walking in my ways, I will requite, and they shall receive a double reward from me, even a Crown of eternal glory." Think of those things that are not seen; they are eternal: the things that are seen are temporal, and they will deceive us; let our hearts be carried after the other, and rest in them forever.

IT

William Hooke.

BORN in Southampton, England, 1601. DIED near London, 1678.

ON HORRIBLE WAR.

[New-England's Teares for Old England's Feares: A Sermon preached at Taunton, Mass., 1640.]

T is commonly observed, that men and women who have turned Witches, and been in league with the devil, thereby to do mischief, are never given over so to do, till they begin to have an evil eye, which grieveth at the prosperity, and rejoiceth at the misery of others. Hence Witchcraft is described by an evil eye.

I know not what eye hath bewitched my young lambs. And when any are bewitched, it is a phrase of speech among many to say, they are overseen, i. e. looked upon with a malicious eye. Nay, it is the property of the devil to be thus affected. Man's prosperity is his pain, and man's adversity his rejoicing, as we see in Job; neither is there (scarce) any thing that doth more import the seed of the Serpent in a man, than this same nezapenaxia, rejoicing in the evil and misery

of another. It is then the property of Edomites, abjects, witches and devils, to rejoice in the misery that befalleth others. And though I am not able to charge any of you with this cursed affection, yet I do wish you to look into your own hearts; for this I am sure, here are strong temptations sometimes, leading towards it in this land, which when they meet with an heart void of grace, must needs stir up the disposition in it, and not only emulations and envyings, but witchcraft itself is a work of the flesh.

But the use that I do principally intend, is of exhortation to you all, as you desire to approve yourselves the true friend and brethren of your dear countrymen in old England, to condole with them this day in their afflictions. Job's friends, you see, did it for him seven days and seven nights, i. e. many days. O let us do it then this one day; at least, for these.

Indeed when we look upon ourselves at this time in this land, the Lord hath given us great cause of rejoicing, both in respect of civil and spiritual peace. God hath at once subdued the proud Pequots and the proud opinions that rose up in this land: and for plenty, never had the land the like. Yea, which is much better, the Word of God grows and multiplieth; the churches have rest throughout the whole land, and are edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, are multiplied. This is much, and more it would be, if the edge of these and other our comforts were not this day turned by the fear of civil strifes and combustions in the land of our nativity, which do not a little abate the sweetness of all other our happiness to us, and call for lamentation and sackcloth at our hands.

When Artaxerxes said unto Nehemiah, "Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick?" Have you not read the answer? "Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lies waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?" Why? Nehemiah was well enough at ease, he had honor, and power, and favor, and pleasure enough, and being the king's cup-bearer, he had wine enough of all sorts at his command, which maketh glad the heart of man. But what is all this not to cloud his countenance, and overcast it with grief and sorrow, when the city of his fathers was laid waste, and the gates thereof consumed with fire? Thus, beloved, if our comforts were treble to what they are this day, yet could it not but much abate the sweetness of them, to consider what distresses may lie at this time upon our native country, for aught we know, and to have too just cause to fear. When the Ark and Israel and Judah abode in tents, and Joab and his men were encamped in the open fields, Uriah took no comfort in his beautiful wife, nor in his house, nor in his meat and drink.