Symp(omes of Melanchuly. rrjr~ce,_ becaufc the ftr!i.n~ of his p4itt forbiddtth him. They look on h~sban_d) wife, friends, s;hil~ drcn, houfe, goods and an without any comfon ; as.one would do that JS gom~ to be executed for fom:: crime, 1:2. Their Confcienccs are quick in telling them of fiu, and puttmg them Uf'OJ.l any deJtelion as a dmy: but thty -arc dead to all duties that tend to confolation; as _to Thankfgiving for mercies, Praifes of God, meditating on his Love and grace--and Chrifl and promiies : Put them ne~ ver (o hard on thtfe, and thty frel ,tot their dHty, nor make no confcimce of it, but think it is a duty for others, but unfuira.b\e tO them. 13. They alway fay that thty c.zmtot btliwe, and therefore think they cannm be faved : Becaufe that commonly they mifiake thenature of faith, and take it to be a Refit< ing that they tiJemfe!vu are forgive;, and in favoztr with God, and lhall be favtd : And be- . cauft: thly cannot believctiJH (which their difeafe will not fuffer them to believe,) therefore they think that they are t10 believers: whereas fav ing faith, is nothing but fuch a Btliif that the Go[pel ~ it trrt~ and Cbriji i1 tlJe S::vioter to be trufted wirb our flulr, M ca11[Nh our WiUt to Confent that be be ~Jtrs and that n·e be hM, and fo to fubfcribe the Covenant of Grace. Yet while they thur confent, •nd w~nld give a world to be fure that Cbrijl "'"' theirs, and to be perfe[lly holy, yet they think they bdiu:e not, b~caufc: they believe not that he will forgive or favc them. 14· They are liill difpleafcd and difcontcnded wi<h <hcmfclves :_ jufi as apievi01. froward perfon is apt to be with otlurs: fee one that is hard to be pleafcd, and IS hndmg fault w1th every thmg that they fee or hear, and offended at every one that comes in their way, and fufpicious of evqy body that they fee whifpeting ; and jult lo is aMelancholy perfon againfi himfelf; fufpecring, difplcafed and finding fault with all. '5· They are much addicted to folitarinefi, and weary of company for the moll parr. 16. They are given up to fi.<ed mufingt, and long pcring thoughts to little purpofc: fo that deep mufings :md thinkings arc th<.ir chief employments, and much o_,f their difeafe. 17. They are much averfe to chcbbours of their callinss, and given to idlenefs; either to lye in bed, or fit think. ing unprolitlhly by themfelves. 18. Their thoughts are moji ztpon themfolver, like the mi1J ...fiones thar grind on t>~e.mfdvcs, when they have no grifi: foone thought begets another: Their thoughts are taKen up about their thoughts; when they have been ~binkj;tg irregularly, they thin{ agai,n what they h.tve been tfJinkJng on : They medit:tte not much on God, ( unlefs on his wrath ) noJ Heaven, nor Chrifi, nor the fhte of the Church, nor any thing without them ( ordinarily); but all their thoughts are contracted and turned inwar<is on thcmfelves: felj.troubling is the fum of their tboughts and livrr. I9· T heir thoughts are all pcrpltxrd like ravelled Yarn or Silk; or like a qun in a maze, or wildcrncfs, or that bath loll himfelt and his way in the night: He is poring and groping about,. anrl c1n m;~.kc little of any thing, but is bewildred, and rr.oithered and entangled the more: full of doubts, a:1d difficulties, ou't of which he cannm tind the way. 20. He is endlefr in his fcrup!e.t: afraid ltH he fin in every word he fpeaktth and in every thought, aud every look, and every meal he (arerh, and all theCJoaths he wearerh: And if he think to amend them, he is liill fcrupling his fuppokd amendments: He date r.dchcr travel, nor fl~yat home; neither [peak nor be fiient; but he is fcruplingall: as if he were wholly compofdd of (elf-perplexing fcruples. :zr. Hence it comes to , pafs that he is greatly addicted to foperjiiti'ln :, to make many Laws to himfelf that God never made Col. i; t a, him; and to enfnare himfdf with need1efs Vows, and rcfolutions, and hurtful aulieritics, Touch not, J9, 2o) :.r, talle not, handle not; and to place his Religion much in fuch Outward felf-impofed tasks : to fpend n) 1 3· {o many hours in this or that act of devotton, to wear {uch cloatbJ, and forbear other that are finer; to forbear all dyet that pleaf<th the appetite, with much of the like : A great deal of the Perfection ()f PopiCh dtv~tion proceedc:d from Melancholy, though their Government come from Pride and Co.: vcrouC.1efs. 22. They have lofi the power of Governing their thoughts by Reafon: fo that if you convince them thatthey jhould call out their (elf. perplexing unprofitable thoughts, and rurn their thoughts to other fubj<.Cl:s, or be VJ.cant; they are not able to obey you : They feem to beunder a r.ecrffity or confiraint ; They c.mnot call out their troublefome thoughts : They camzot rurn away their minds: They cannot think of Love and mercy : They c&1Z think of nothing but what they do rhink of, no more than aman in the Tooth-ache can forbear to think of his pain. 23. They ufually grow hence to adifability to any private: proyer or meditation: Their thoughts are prefently cafi all into a confulion, when they 01~uld pr_ay or. ~cditate: They. fcatter ab~oad .a hundred wayes ; and they cannot keep them upon any tlung: For th~s IS the very pomt of the1r d1feafe; a diflcmpcrcd, confuled fantafie, with a weak reafon which cannot govern it. Sometime terrour drivc:th theq~ from Prayer : they dare not hope, and therefore dare not pray: and ufually they dare n'ot receive the Lords Supper; here they arefearfullefi of all: And if' they do receive it, they are catt down wirh terrours fearing that they have taken thtir own damnation, by receiving unWorthily. 24· Hence they grow t~ a great averfiuji toaU holy duty: Fear and difpair make them go to prayer, hearing, reading, as a Bear to the fiake: And then they think they are hsters of God and Godlinefi, imputing the effects of their difea{t, to th•ir [PuiJ: whenyet at the fametim~, thofc of them that are Godly, wculd rather be freed from aU their fins, a11d he. prrfitiiy holy, than have all the ~iches ?r honour in the \VOrld. 2 5• They arc uC.101ly fo tal<en up W(th bufieand <•rneft th,ughtJ (whiCh hetng all perplexed do but firjvc with thcmfelves, and contradict one another,) that they feel it jufi as if fomcthing were[peakjn" within tbem, and all their own vio!eut thoughts were the pleadings and impnlfe of fome other: And therefore they are wont to impute all rheir fantalics, either to fomc extraordiqary actings of the Devil or to iOme extraordinary motions of the fpirit of God : And they are ufed to exp.refs themfelves' in fuch words as thefe [It W:~r flt upon my heart, _or it 1J'df [aid to me that I muft do thur antlthM: and tbcn it w<ll [aid I mull not d• tbi< or th•t ; and I war told I mujl do fo or [o ]. And they think that SC2 tl\cir
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