The Relief

Jesus, Peace troubled soul! it ’s not thy brinish flood, Nor troubling passions that must do thee good: Come i freely drink, and bathe thee in this blood.

Sinner. What I? so vile a wretch! it cannot be! Alas I I fear it was not shed for me!

Jesus. Yea, e’en for thee: so far ’twas shed for all, That they may come and welcome, at my call.

Sinner. Alas, Lord! I have trampled on thy blood, And thy reproofs and calls of grace withstood.

Jesus. And yet I call thee: take my mercy yet: I ’11 answer for thee: I have paid thy debt.

John xx, 13, 15, Sinner. What mine! that have provoked thee so long? And done thy blood and spirit so much wrong?

Jesus. I died for enemies: it is my glory, To wash foul hearts, and blot out all their story.

Sinner, What! one so long! so terrible! so sad! Love one so hateful! pardon one so bad!

Jesus. Hast thou such sins as I cannot forgive? Or any wants which I cannot relieve?

Sinner. I know thy blood can wash away my guilt: I doubt not thou canst heal me, if thou wilt.

Jesus. How hath my will deserved thy suspicion, When I have made acceptance the condition? Consent, and all is thine: my gift is free: The purchase is not to be made by thee. [done:

Sinner. 1 know what thou wilt do, shall sure be But some God hates: I fear that 1 am one.

Jesus. And must the love declared at such a rate, Go veil’d by the suspicion of hate? For this I came to men from God above, To manifest his great abundant love: Mark what my doctrine, life and death intend This is their principal design and end: Not only to reveal God’s power and skill, But chiefly his great mercy and good will.

Sinner. Yet he will save none but his own elect: Not those that his salvation neglect.

Jesus. My promise, and thy duty, thou may’st see, But canst not search the depth of God’s decree. Mercy intreats thee: here it’s brought unto thee: Take it, and God’s decree shall not undo thee.

All are elect that do not to the last Refuse me, and my grace behind them cast.

Sinner. This I have done, and fear I shall do still, Till I the measure of my sins fulfil. Though God be love itself, I shall have none: I fear my day of grace is past and gone. Methinks I feel, grace doth my soul forsake; Thy holy spirit thou dost from me take. [thee;

Jesus. Here thou art yet alive; my grace attends And from the jaws of death and Hell defend thee. Satan would fain at once thy soul devour: What dangers dost thou walk in ev’ry hour? Yet thou art safe, and hear’st the preacher’s voice: Come, close with mercy, and Heav’n will rejoice. Dost thou not feel my spirit still contend? And tell thee what it is that thou must mend? If yet thou’lt be but willing to be mine; I and my benefits will sure be thine. I seek; I knock; thou find’st I have not done: Yet dost thou say, thy day of grace is gone?

Sinner. O but I have a heart as hard as steel! I see my misery, but cannot feel!

Jesus. Fully to feel what thou deservest, is Hell, What measure ’s best, it ’s I that best can tell.

Sinner. I can scarce weep a tear for sin: this heart Was never melted yet by all thine art! Sure it ’s a sign my day of grace is gone, When this unhumbled heart remains a stone.

Jesus. Consent but to my covenant, and be sure, The remnant of thy hardness I will cure.

i)4 Baxter’s poems.

I’ll put a tender heart into thy breast:

Believe in me, and I’ll forgive the rest.

It is no mortal hardness, if thou choose

My covenant; and dost not me refuse.

Should’st thou but fully feel thy sin, thou’dst die:

None could sustain so great a load but I.

I felt it for thee: leave it to my care,

To wound or heal; to break, afflict, or spare.

Sinner. My sin, my wants, my misery is such”, That I can never feel and grieve too much, [of sin:

Jesus. Such breaking ’s good as breaks the heart And maketh way for love to enter in. But not the grief that only breaketh ease, Weak’ning the soul, and strength’ning the disease. Hinder not love and joy; but grieve in measure: My blood, and not thy tears, must be thy treasure.

Sinner. Indeed my purest streams are too impure: And cannot thy severity endure. The grief of an impatient selfish spirit, Cannot thy pardon or acceptance merit. But if this harden’d heart do not relent, And so great sin and misery lament, How canst thou smile on such a brazen face, As never felt the want and worth of grace? [hear,

Jesus. Whence do I this complaining language If neither want nor worth of grace appear? I ’11 save thee, if but so far thou repent, As to my Gospel-covenant to consent. Wilt thou be healed? truly say, I will, And trust the cure on thy physician’s skill, [be free,

Sinner. O there ’s my sin and woe! though grace I cannot take thy grace, or come to thee.

My heart is harden’d; I cannot repent: My will ’s enthralled; I cannot consent. This will condemn me at the dreadful day: I may have life, but will not when I may.

Jesus. Art thou not willing? why then dost thou crave it? have it?

Dost thou complain for grace, and would’st not If thou hadst rather be ungodly still, It seems thou speak ‘st all this against thy will.

Sinner. Would not the worst of men be saved from Hell? And in delight and endless pleasure dwell? But to be holy I have no desire, But as a means to keep me from Hell-fire. When I seem to do good, or ill forbear, It is not out of love, but slavish fear. All my religion is but from self-love: I find no pleasure in the things above.

Jesus. Natural love of self is the foundation Which grace builds on, and useth for salvation. He that loves not himself, loves not another: It’s as thyself that thou must love thy brother: Thy own salvation is the lawful end, Which grace and nature bind thee to intend. Why was I made man, but for man’s salvation? I suffer ‘d death to hinder thy damnation. These are the ends for which thou must believe. Life through a Saviour’s that thou must receive It’s carnal self that wicked men do love: The lawful love of self they ’11 not improve. They all prefer sin’s pleasure for a season; Their fleshy appetite doth rule their reason.

Me and my healing grace they will not hare; They ’11 not endure that mercy should them save. They hate the light that would their sin display, And would direct them in the holy way: Though they fear Hell, they always fear much more The loss of honour, pleasure, health, or store. No fear of Hell will take their idol down, And make them seek first the eternal crown. The fear of God is wisdom’s true beginning .- It calls to duty, and preserves from sinning: God must be fear’d, as one that can destroy The soul, and shut it out of endless joy. The fear of God’s the just man’s character. They fear not God indeed that wicked are. God would be fear’d as a consuming fire: This is no sin but what he doth require. Love may lie hidden as a covered seed: When fear in troubling passion doth exceed. If angry parents make the child afraid, He feels not love, till passion be allay ‘d. Excessive fear may hinder active love, And yet the vital habit not remove: When God’s rebukes and frowns the soul affright, It may dispose his children unto flight. Where love is true, some hatred may arise, When terrors and despair the soul surprise. A loving child will not his father own, When through mistake or distance he’s unknown. The pleasing part of love cannot appear, Under prevailing grief, and too much fear: Until the soul be calcined, and these abate, Love is oppress’d, and seemeth turn’d to hate.

But doth not love appear in thy desire?

Wouldst thou not love God more! and fain get higher?

Would it not please thee more if thou could st find

His image clearly printed on thy mind,

His love and spirit dwelling in thy heart,

Than of this world to have the choicest part?

Wouldst thou not have a heart that can repent,

And hate sin more, and tenderly relent?

A heart more fit to meditate and pray?

And walk exactly, and God’s laws obey?

A clearer light, which may God’s mind reveal?

More life and feeling? greater heat of zeal? A stronger faith to live on things above,

Where endless praise shall be the breath of love? Sinner. Whether I should desire these I doubt, If possibly I could be sav’d without.

J. What ’s grace for, but to bring thee to salvation? To heal thy soul, and keep thee from damnation? Wilt thou its nature and its use destroy, And then conceit thou dost it not enjoy? Think on’t, as that which doth salvation bring, Or else thou mak’st it quite another thing. Grace were not grace if it did not intend Thy happiness and glory as its end. Thy means is nullified by separation From the just end to which it hath relation. What do men trade for but their lawful wealth? And what is food and physic for but health? Look not on grace in one divided notion: But the concordant perfect frame and motion. Take not one single part, but view the whole, As it ls the health and beauty of the soul;

The life, the strength, the glory, the delight,

And that which makes it lovely in God’s sight;

The honour, safety, gain, and true content;

And that which must the pains of Hell prevent:

Take these as undivided; all in one;

And view not one disjointed part alone:

If all together seem a choicer treasure

Than worldly gain, and sinful fading pleasure,

And turn the scales in thy deliberation;

Then doubt not of thy title to salvation.

But dost thou not desire that God would love thee?

And make thee just and lovely, and approve thee?

Wouldst thou not see his face in glorious light,

And there sing Allelujahs in his sight?

And love him perfectly world without end,

More dearly than thou lov’st thy dearest friend?

Where thou shalt be replenished with joy,

And no disturbance shall thy soul annoy.

Where no temptation, sin, or grief shall come:

Where my own love and joy shall be thy home,

Abiding with the host of Heaven always,

In the sweet music of Jehovah’s praise.

This glorious life with God, thou must love best:

Yet as thy own felicity and rest:

In union and fruition of a friend,

Nor one, but both the lovers are the end.

And hast thou no desire or will to this?

Wouldst thou not live with God in endless bliss?

S. Some cold desires of Heav’n the worst may have But dreaming lazy wishes will not save.

Jes. Judge by these three for ending all the strife: Thy estimation, choice, and bent of life.

These fleshly pleasures stand in competition: Know which thou choosest as thy best condition. If thou the everlasting sure reward, More than sin’s fading pleasures dost regard; If God and thy salvation be the part, Whose interest stands highest in thy heart; If thus his kingdom thou first seek and crave; Both it, and all things needful thou shalt have. Sinner. I fear I do not these thy terms fulfil; And have not truly a consenting will: Because so great averseness I still find To God and holiness upon my mind; Such deadness to believe, love, and repent, That there seems more of hatred than consent. Necessity and reason use a force Against my will and nature’s bent and source.

Jesus. No man can conquer and obtain salvation, But by resisting carnal inclination. Fleshly desires run with speedy course, And need not faith’s or reason’s help and force. Earthward you sink propensely as a clod; But not so easily ascend to God. One motion ’s downward; th’ other ’s all up-hill; Against the bias of the carnal will. Too much of flesh remaineth in the best: Some enmity to good sticks in their breast: Something of hatred, e’en to God and grace, Contends with love, andtroubleth your race. In the most mortified, the flesh yet liveth, And constantly against the spirit striveth: You cannot hear, read, meditate, or pray, Or any thing that’s good think, do? or say;.

But flesh makes war, and stiffly doth resist,

And would prevail, did not my grace assist.

Conflict and conquest of this in-bred foe

Must be the way of all the good you do.

The question is not, whether flesh do strive?

But, whether after flesh or spirit you live?

It is not opposition that will prove

That thou art void of faith, or hope, or love.

The law that ’s in thy members will still find

Weapons against the law that ’s in thy mind:

The flesh will so rebel, and put thee to it,

That when thou wouldst do good, thou canst not do it.

There’s in one breast a two-fold will and heart,

Acting each of them a contrary part:

There is a will to good, and will to evil:

One’s rul’d by God, the other by the Devil.

A will to read, and pray, and meditate;

A will that doth all this oppose and hate.

Do not now stand and whine, nor yield, nor fly; But use thy weapons: thou must fight, or die.

Now live by faith: be glad thou hast a Christ,

Whose spirit fortifies thee to resist:

Making the greatest thing thy chiefest scope;

Keeping alive a secret spark of hope;

Which will not only strive, but overcome;

And through all foes will safely bring thee home. Sinner. But how can [ find favour in thy sight,

That have sinn’d wilfully, even in the light?

Jesus. Though they that wholly to the last reject

My sacrifice, no other can expect;

All kind of sin is pardon’d by my merit,

Save the grand blasphemy against the spirit.

Sinner. Alas! this is the thing that I fear most, Lest I have thus blasphem’d the Holy Ghost.

Jes. No man that fears, or thinks he hath this sin, Hath ever truly guilty of it been. For they deny me all to be the Lord, Think it no sin to violate my word. They set themselves against me with despite, And justify the sin which they commit.

S. But wilt thou take this, Lord, for true consent, From a hard heart that can no more relent? From one that loveth thee no more than I That is constrained by necessity? And while he thus subscribeth to thy will, Knowingly crosseth it, and sinneth still?

«/. If thou consent, it ’s good that doth thee move. And to consent to good, is truly love. Believe if thou wouldst love: and in my face Behold the fulness of God’s love and grace. If his abounding love thou didst but know, Thy heart with love to him would overflow. Love kindles love; but faith must hold the glass; This sight would win thy heart before thou pass. He that will love God, must not think him evil; Nor print him in his fancy like the Devil. Satan will make thee fly from God with hate, If he can make thee throughly desperate. Think’st thou to find thy love, before by faith Thou ‘It come to me? and hear what mercy saith; Thou may’st as wisely search for marks to prove Thou lovest God, before thou wilt him love. Believe, consent, give up thyself to me; And I will give myself and spirit to thee.

1 will enable thee to do the rest;

And take the stony heart out of thy breast:

1 ’11 put God’s fear and love into thy heart,

That thou may’st never more from him depart.

I ’11 quench the flames of thy corrupt desire;

And save thee from God’s wrath, and from Heil fire.

Sinner. And wilt thou pardon all the crimson sin, Of which my wilful heart hath guilty been?

Jesus. Have I not told thee 1 will pardon all? Hast thou sinn’d more than raging bloody Saul? Or than Manasseh’s long and matchless flood Of witchcraft, rage, idolatry, and blood? That yet was pardon’d wThen he did return, And in his prison-irons pray and mourn. Trust me, subscribe my covenant and be mine, And I and all my benefits are thine.

Sinn. O wondrous love! where this is kindly felt, The heart must needs with love and sorrow melt! Wilt thou accept so vile a wretch as I? I’ll cast myself upon thee, live or die. My soul and body here to thee I tender: All that I called mine, I here surrender. To this consent I here subscribe my hand, Whatever changes come, to this I stand: Not by my strength! I trust on thee, my Lord, That for performance thou wilt grace afford.

January 26, 1661.

Mr. VINES’s POSTHUMOUS TREATISE

ON THE SACRAMENT,