A Sovereign Salve to Cure a Sick Soul Infected with the Poison of Sin
The source for this document is https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A19519.0001.001
Project Note
This is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
The source of this document is the Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP) website. Those books were transcribed in a character for character manner and can be very cumbersome to read since there was no standard spelling during that time. Many spelling variations such as "unlesse", "vnlesse", and "vnles" regularly appear.
This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.
Although this is no substitute for a properly compared, proofed, and scholarly edition, I believe that the result is a document which is far more accessible, particularly for searching for terms using standard spelling. The document has been cleaned and presented in what I hope is a pleasing and useful format for the vast majority of Christian brothers and sisters who just want access to read these spiritually nourishing works.
However, a word of warning: The Puritans were a very diverse group of people and their age was characterized with godliness, but also much upheaval, disputation and strife. They disagreed on many doctrines and some of these works contain less orthodox or Scriptural views than others. The reader is strongly advised to read with discernment, particularly if it is unknown whether author is trustworthy.
This project took a huge amount of time and skill to bring to fruition. I would particularly like to thank David Jonescue for the initial list of Puritans he found on EEBO and the concept behind this project as well as the continuous, unceasing efforts toward seeing this complete. Without his labor, this would not be available. Alex Sarrouf was invaluable in providing the initial list of over 7,000 spelling variations he had identified and corrected, as well as continuing to review more than 16,000 additions to that list for any typos.
Logan West
(with David Jonescue and Alex Sarrouf)
www.puritansearch.org
The Author to the Reader.
I. A. Minister and Preacher of God's Word.
A SOVERAIGNE Salue to cure a sick Soul, infected with the poison of sin.
Wherein is Contained,
1 The strength and force of the poison of sin.
2 How man's soul became poisoned?
3 How the soul of man poisoned by sin may be cured, and restored.
These parts are all Authentical, and comprised in a most short and Compendious method, briefly to be read, that they may be Effectually Practised.
Newly Published by I. A. Minister and Preacher of GOD'S Word.
LONDON : Printed by NICHOLAS OKES, and are to be sold by FRANCIS GROVE, dwelling at the sign of the Wind-Mill, near to S t . Sepulchers Church. 1624.
The Book to the Reader.
First, of the strength and force of the poison of sin.
T O be plain in words, certain in sense, and short in writing, I will briefly describe the strength of the poison of sin. It is a spiritual poison, The breach of God's Law, 1 John. 3.4. The which whosoever committeth is of the Devil, 1 John 3.8. Yea, it is the vile, and most damnable thing in the world. The only Noli me tangere, which no man without the displeasure of Almighty GOD, could ever taste, or touch in the least degree. For, Via peccati ingredientes contaminat, progredientes obstinate, egredientes exterminat. Sin in the first entrance defileth, in the progress hardeneth, and at his going out destroyeth. It causeth all those that commit it to dishonor God, to crucify Christ a fresh, and to grieve the Holy Ghost: It makes the Angels to moure, and all God's creatures to groone and sigh under the burden of it, Rom. 8.22.
It is the very excrement of the Devil, that old Serpent; the age of it is almost as old as the world: for scarce was there a world, but it was a prisoned world with sin; and almost no sooner was there a man, but he was infected with this poison. And so strong was this poison, even at the first committing of sin, that it made all the world mourn for her mallidy, the which neither Ghiron, Esculapius, nor Apollo could ever heal: No, if all the Angels and men both of heaven and earth were in one, they could never heal it.
Our poisoned souls could not be cured without a Mithradate confection of the best blood that ever was in the world, even the most precious blood of Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. So this spiritual poison can be nowayes cured, but by a spiritual antidote ; this most deadly poison must have the most sovereign antidote ; only here is the difference, that as hell giveth the poison, so heaven gives the helps.
There is no sin so small, that hath not cost the Son of God even a sea of sorrows. O what a hell (think we) was Jesus Christ in for our sins, when he sweet both water and blood, and prayed thrice most fervently to have that bitter cup pase from him? Yea he brake out into this sundring voice, and cried to God his Father. Quare dereliquisti me? Why hath thou forsaken me?
Whose bloody sweat came trickling down to the ground Luke 22.44. In the which (no doubt) he felt the force and strength of sin, the wrath of God against it, the Justice of God requiring punishment for it, the power of the Law pronouncing condemnation to it; the force of death, the tyranny of Satan, and the torment of hell, which was forcible enough to have drawn streams of tears out of the driest eye that ever was in the head of man, and to have excited a multitude of sorrowful groans out of the hardest heart that ever GOD made.
Oh, was the strength of sin so great, that it caused Christ to shed dropps of blood for our sins, and cannot we shed forth one tear for the same?
Oh, I beseech you, let the horror of it be always fresh in our memory, and the meditation thereof imprinted in our hearts, that we may remember those grievous dropps of that most precious blood, which Jesus Christ shed for our sakes, for our sins, for our souls, and for our salvation. Let us love him for it, thank him for it, and serve him for it, all the days of our lives. So that our hands may tremble and shake for fear, and our whole body may quake with terror of it, when any evil imagination is hatched in our hearts, or any wicked deed should be acted with our hands, that we may be ever terrified from nourishing sin in our bosom, whose condition is so vile and base. For such is the nature of sin, enter where it will, it is the heart it aims at, and it will not stay until it comes there: because sin and Satan love no venison but the heart, no fowl but the breast, and no fish but the soul. The heart is the throne where sin would reign, and the soul it self is the seat where sin would sit. And therefore, the more sin labors to poison that part, the more should we strive to preserve it.
If our heart be God's throne then is he a most vile traitor to God and himself, that suffers sin, God's great enemy, that proud, presumptuous, aspiring Tyrant, to sit in the seat, and tyrannize in the throne of the Sovereign Majesty of Almighty God.
Thus we may see, that the very subject and seat of sin is the heart and soul of man, that most glorious and precious part, which God made like to himself, and for the which the Son of God was crucified.
And as sin delights to sit and captive both the heart and soul of man, so the longer it reigns there the worse it is; for as in good things the elder the better; so in the evil of sin, the elder the worse, and the more they will grow in number. Ask one of the holiest men, he that had fewest sins; They are more in number (saith he) than the hairs of my head. Oh who can understand his errors? Psalm 40.12. Psal. 19.12. Or who can tell how oft he offendeth? Yea, sin is grown so foul, so great, and is so scattered abroad into so many men's hearts, that S. John saith, Totus mundus in maligno positus est: The whole world lieth plungeth in wickedness.
Now to speak more of the evil of sin, it appeareth in three things; First in the deformity. For God doth loath it. Secondly, in the iniquity, For the Devil doth love it. Thirdly, in the general contagious poison and leprosy thereof: (as S. John saith) the whole world is infected therewith.
Secondly, how man's soul became infected therewith.
At the beginning, God suruaying his works with the eyes of his wisdom, after they had passed the hand of his power, his Justice pronounced this infallible sentence, Genesis 1.31, Loe they were all very good. How then came it to pass, that man's soul became poisoned? And Christ saith in another place, From the beginning it was not so. Mat. 19.8. Solomon saith, God made man righteous, Eccles. 7.29.
The answer whereof our Christian Philosophy showeth us, that our poisoned souls which defile our whole nature came from the fault and fall of Adam ; and from the curse of the earth through Adams transgression. For the Devil, that Roaring Lyon, in whom the full perfection of malice lies, knowing how to most hurt, hath poisoned the Fountain, Adam and Eve: & the Fountain once poisoned, then the streams issuing from the same are sure and most certainly infected. The which David confesseth in the person of all regenerate men, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me, Ps. 51.
Thus our spiritual poison came into the soul and body of man by the subtlety of Satan, that arch-enemy of man-kind. For he being once an Angel in Heaven, a goodly creature, would needs become a God, and consequently a Creator. Now, a Creator must needs make something, and therefore here we may behold his work; Lo • , it is even sin, for sin is the true creature, and only work of the Devil. And as he is a spirit, so he hath society with the spirits, as bodily creatures have with our bodies.
Thirdly, How the soul of man poisoned by sin, may be cured and restored.
The soul of man that is poisoned by sin, must begin to be cured in this life, but it cannot be perfected in this life: For whatsoever is begun here in grace, in the life to come shall be perfected in glory.
And for this great cure, we ought diligently to observe three things.
1. First, we must know our selves, what estate we are in, that we may see how we are poisoned.
2. Secondly, we must use the remedy to cure the poison.
Thirdly, we must take our medicine in due time.
Therefore, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear; and that hath eyes to see, let him see, and diligently observe what salve he must take to cure this poison of sin. The first and principal thing is to take this precept of the philosopher, Nosce teipsum, Know thyself; It is the first thing to be done to this cure, and the beginning of all grace: For in vain is the medicine ministered, where the disease is dissemblingly covered, and kept unknown.
Wherefore, whosoever thou be that feelest thyself to be infected with this poisoning sin, and art inwardly touched with any care of thine own salvation, and doest groan with earnest desire to stand in favor again with God; thou must seriously enter into thyself, and make a true survey of thine inward man, that thereby thou mayst know how sin hath poisoned thee both in greatness and danger. For until thou knowest thy sins, and how they have infected thy soul, that thy conscience may be convicted by them, thou canst never be cured. No man can rightly acknowledge his own sins, no man can truly confess his faith, no man can duly use the Sacraments, that doth not first earnestly try and examine his own conscience: That is, thoroughly to try, narrowly to search, and diligently to prove, who, and what manner of person he is, and in what case he feeleth himself, how deeply his own conscience is poisoned with sin. And withal, to know how, and which way he may come into favor again with God. To the same effect S. Paul saith, Let every man prove his work, Gal. 6.4. And again, Prove yourselves whether you be in the faith, 2. Cor. 12.5. Examine yourselves, and be sorrowful for your sins; not for some sins, but for all sins wherewith you are infected and poisoned: And that not for an hour, nor a day, nor for a week, nor a month; but mourn for your misdeeds, and be sorry for your sins continually, even so long as you live.
We must do as the Prophet David did, when he had considered his ways, and found they were evil, He ever after turned his feet unto the testimonies of the Lord. Ps. 119.56
So must everyone do, that mindeth to be cured from the poison of his sin; examine his own conscience, and make his heart smart for his sin, by aggravation thereof.
The Church of God confesseth not her sins lightly, but with wonderful grief. Dan. 9.
Secondly, we must use the remedy to cure the poison of sin.
As by nature we hate everything that hurteth us, how much more by grace should we abhor sin that woundeth us? Amongst all the works of the Devil, there was none so mighty and malicious as the poisoning and destroying the souls of men by sin.
So for to cure our souls from this deadly poison, our Savior Jesus Christ, that heavenly Physician, hath accordingly given us a remedy proportionable to our malady, out of his glorious storehouse of the holy Scriptures If we will he cured from the poison of sin, we must take Christ, and the virtuous physic he gives us by a lively faith; but we must keep and retain him, and it, by holiness of life. These two, faith and holiness are the two bonds of our union with Christ: Faith brings Christ to us, and holiness keeps him with us, and us with him. If any man (saith Christ) hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will stay with him, and he with me. Thus by faith we take this heavenly Physic, and by holiness we keep it. Wherefore, all those which formerly obeyed sin, if they will be cured from the poison thereof, by faith and holiness of life, they must now withstand it. They which were wont to yield unto it, must now strive against it: they which were wont to delight in it, must now lament it: they which did formerly let sin reign and captive their souls in them, must now reign over it, quench it, and subdue it, and fly from it, as from the most venomous sting of a Serpent. If the filthy and stinking poison of their sins cannot move them, let the shortness and uncertainty of their lives damp them. If the shortness of their lines cannot, let the small number of them that shall be saved fray them. If that cannot, tell Death terrify them. If Death cannot, let the day of judgment shake them. If all these cannot, then will the torments of hell for evermore torment them.
Thirdly, we must take our medicine in time.
For common experience teacheth us, that Tempus est pretiosum, breue, & irreuocabile, Time is precious, short, and irrevocable, Qui non ost hodie, cras minús aptus erat, He that is not ready to receive this Heavenly physic today, will be less ready tomorrow. Let us therefore take this time while we have it, for we have no time but this present time; the time past is not ours, it is gone, and cannot be recalled the time to come is not, for being not come, it may be it never shall come: Only the present hour is ours, let us take and make good use of it.
So that now, even now is the time to take this wholesome and brauenly physic to purge away our sins; while we are here in this life, the time is in our hands. Now the door is open, but after this life it will be shut. Therefore now while the Gospel shineth, now while Christ calleth, now while he speaketh, now while he kneeketh, let us amend our former lives; let us now therefore hear God's word, let us now obey him, let us make this day our day to return unto God. And although we could never be moved by reading any book heretofore, or by hearing God's word preached hitherto, yet let us now be moved at the last, and with good Hezekiah, let us be afraid of God's threatening, sorrow aforehand, examine our consciences, and mourn for our sins, let us cleanse and purge our hearts and souls from this poison, and let us never drink, nor taste that deadly dregs again. Let us walk no more so inordinately in it, wallow no more in the filthy mire of it, obey no more the lust of it, nor give our members anymore to be weapons to fight for it: But with all our power let us oppose it, resist it, and manfully with all our force fight against it. Oh let us shake off our sins, banish them, send our dearest darlings packing, and never pity them, never love them, never be led by them, for they would poison our souls most deadly unto eternal destruction.
To conclude, God grant that we may all, and everyone of us forsake our sins in time, before it be too late; and as Physicians do heal many sore maladies with sharp medicines: so give grace O eternal and most gracious God, that these my labors (though they seem unsavory, and sharp to the wicked) may yield such sound and godly Physic, that they may become a salve to cure, and preserve the souls of the godly, in their zeal of thy glory.
And furthermore grant O sweet Jesus, that it may offer and minister all such spiritual Physic unto the souls infected with the poison of sin, that it may be a means to withdraw them from the same. And that the salve, which is here presented unto such as are sick, and almost past recovery, may work so effectually one them, that it may both strengthen, help, and heal them of that damnable poison, wherewith they are so deadly infected.
This GOD grant, without whose help all the labor of man is in vain. And thus both from the poison of sin, and the punishment due for the same, the Lord deliver us all, even for his dear Son Christ Jesus his sake, our only Savior, To whom with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all honor, glory, praise, power, and dominion, both now, and forever. Amen.
The Author to the Reader.
Gentle Reader, I most humbly desire thee, (what so ever thou be) that gatherest any spiritual Physic to cure thy souls mallady out of these my labors to pray unto my Savior Jesus Christ for me, to direct me with his holy Spirit, and give me his grace, to use it to salve and cure my own soul; that as I endeavor to cure thee in words, I may also labor in deeds to raise and preserve myself from all my sins, to the setting forth of God's glory, and the salvation of my own soul, which God grant for his Son Jesus Christ his sake, Amen.