FINIS.
NOTES.
(a) P. 217. — 'Babylon was so taken,' &c. Consult Herodotus, I. 177, seq., with the annotations and illustrations of Rawlinson, in loc; also Xenophon, Cijrop. vii. 5. For very interesting explorations confirmatory of the fact of. Rich, ' Babylon and Persepolis;' Ainsworth, 'Researches in Assyria;' and Chesney, 'Exped. for Survey of Euphrates.' It need hardly be stated that it was Gyrus who took Babylon in the manner referred to by Sibbes.
(6) P. 226. — ' Particular visible churches are now God's tabernacle.' In a tract by Philip Nye, entitled ' The Lawfulness of the Oath of Supremacy, and Power of the King in Ecclesiastical Affairs ' (4to, 1683, p. 41), the above and other context is quoted. On the margin is placed ' Gospel Anointings,' which misled us into inquir- ing after such a book (of which none had ever heard) by Sibbes. Another tractate, by Bartlet, his ' Model of the Primitive Congregational Way' (4to, 1647), explains the mistake of Nye. The following was evidently his authority : — ' I shall produce only one more that was famous for his Gospell-anointings [in italics, the usual mode of expressing quotations], and little thought by most men to have been of this judg- ment [in the margin here, " see Dr Sibbs "]. And yet you shall find in a little treatise of his (printed before these troubles brake forth in England), called A Breathing after God, that he speaks fully to this purpose, his subject leading him to discover himself herein, being, as I suppose, a little before his death.' Bartlet then quotes the passages to which the present note refers. The manner in which Nye was led into his mistake is quite apparent on an examination of Bartlet's tractate. Sibbes's name in the margin is exactly opposite the words ' his Gospell Anointings,' while the title of the book actually quoted does not apppear till several lines lower on the page.
(c) P. 230. — 'As I have shewed out of that text, 2 Cor. iii. 18,' &c. The sermons here referred to comprise the second half of Sibbes's ' Excellency of the Gospel above the Law.' 18mo, 1639.
(d) P. 240. — ' Where was your church before Luther ? ' &c. There have been many polemical answers to this taunting question. For thoroughness none perhaps excels the old Scottish tractate by Andrew Logie, ' Answer to the question. Where was your religion before Luther?' Aberdeen, 1634, 4to.
(e) P. 245. — ' The field where the pearl is.' Either Sibbes uses pearl as = trea- sure, or here, and elsewhere, he makes a slip. It is ' treasure,' not a 'pearl,' that is hidden in the ' field.' — Mat. xiii. 44. G.
THE RETURNING BACKSLIDER
THE RETURNING BACKSLIDER.
NOTE.
' The Eeturning Backslider ' passed through three editions, viz. : —
(a) 1st, 1639, 4to, ") Portrait cetat 58 prefixed, without the verses. (See prefatory
(b) 2d, 1641, 4to, J note to ' Bowels Opened.')
(c) 3d, 1650, 4to.
It will be remembered that it is on a copy of this work that Isaak "Walton's memor- able couplet is found (Memoir of Sibbes, vol. i., page xx). Our text follows c. Its title-page is given below.* The ' Saint's Privilege ' therein mentioned is an ad- mirable little treatise on John xvi. 8-10, which will be included, with other of Sibbes's minor writings, in a subsequent volume. It will be remembered that Bishop Eeynolds also has a series of expository sermons on 14th chapter of Hosea, entitled ' Israel's Prayer in Time of Trouble, with God's gracious Answer,' 4to, 1638.
G.
* Title-page : —
THE
EETVRNING BACKSLIDER:
OR,
A COMMENTARTE
upon the whole XIV. Chapter of the Prophecy of the Prophet Hosea. "Wherein is shewed the large extent of Gods free Mercy, even unto the most miserable forlorne and wretched sinners that may be, upon their Humiliation and Repentance. Also the Saints Priviledge, ^c. Preached by that Learned and ludi- cious Divine, Dr. Sibs, late Preacher to the Ho- nourable Society of Grayes Inne, and Master of
Katherine-Hall in Cambridge. Published by his own Permission before his Death. The third Edition. Jerem. 3. 12, 13. Goe and Proclaime the^e words toicards the North, and say, Return thou Backsliding Israel, saith the LORD ; and I will not cause mine Anger to fall upon you : for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. Onely acknowledge thine iniqnity, &c. LONDON. Printed by T. Mab and A. Coles for John Saywell dwel- ling in Little Brittain without Alder sgate at the signe of the Gi-ey-hound. M D C L.
TO THE EEADER.
Good re.u)er ! this treatise begs the favour of those concerning whom espe- cially it is said Christ came for, poor trembling sinners, ' the blind,' 'the pri- soners of hope,' * and such who by the assiduity, iteration, and multitude of Satan's discouragements and temptations, sit, as it were, in darkness, and in the valley of death, to whom every sour thing is sweet. Because these, most of all, relish and stand in need of mercy ; for when the least flame of that unsupportable wrath breaks forth in show, which is pom-ed out like fire, and ' kindled by the breath of the Lord of Hosts, like a river of brim- stone,'! which can make * the mountains quake, the hills melt,' I ' bum up the earth, and all that is therein,' § the poor soul for the time thinking on nothing but 'blackness and darkness of tempest,' || whilst b}*past sins, without sight of the Mediator, stares them in the face, with milUons of unconceivable hoiTors and astonishments : then to see light in darkness, mercy in wrath, the sunshine of righteousness, a gi'acious God appeased by a Mediator, with some sight and sense of itu interest therein, this must needs oveijoy the troubled soul, which is the main subject of this book. How gracious God is to encourage miserable sinners to return ! What encouragements and helps he gives them, what effects his gracious working hath in them, and how sweetly they close with him again ! Wherefore, though this mess comes not unto thee set forth in a 'lordly dish,'^ not hav- ing passed, since the preaching thereof, under the exquisite hand of the most worthy author, yet despise it not. For many times, though things of greater judgment affect the understanding most, yet things of lesser con- ciseness work more upon the affections in a plain flowing way, which hap- piness, with all other felicities, he wisheth thee, who is ever