enough of that they have been men of sorrows and labour they have scarce had any respite or breathing time from crosses sicknesses aches in regard 1 of crosses pain povertie toyl and labour in their calling all their life time they hope they have now sufficiently dreyed their Penance that 's the phrase of some of the more Popish sort of them God forbid that God should lay any more sorrow upon them either here or hereafter they hope there is no more for them to suffer hereafter they have had their punishment and sorrow enough in this life Now as for true contrition and sorrow for sinne tell them of that or call on them for it and they will presently stop your mouth yea and answer satisfie or rather suffocate and choak their own consciences by telling you of their sorrows in this life 2 of toil and labour in their callings and that they laboured truly in their callings and wrought hard for their livings and have not eaten the bread of idlenesse they hope God will require no more of them neither will they be convinced of the necessity of any other sorrow for sin In the rank of these we reckon such as popishly and foolishly conceive that if a woman die in child bearing she is undoubtedly saved 3 Of death in Childbearing as if that sorrow were sufficient and expiatory or satisfactory to Gods justice ah poore souls wretched creatures to think Gods Justice can so be satisfied or that God should do them wrong if he required any more at their hands here or hereafter if they be not saved who shall be saved seeing they have toiled moiled and laboured hard in their callings let rich men as was Dives who was cloathed in purple and fine linnen and fared sumptuously every day look to go to hell as for them Gods Justice is not so satisfied they are like Lazarus who went to heaven Thus as in the former of women dying in childbed they can abuse Scripture to their own perdition But let such know that neither Lazarus nor any other went to heaven or escaped hell torments for their poverty sicknesse sorrows labour and toil in this life unlesse they also forrowed for their sins neither is such sorrow from naturall externall causes sufficient and withall sought to the all sufficient sorrows and sufferings of Christ for them by true faith without which all sorrows of this life are but beginnings of eternal sorrows no sorrows sufferings or obedience either active or passive of ours save onely that of Christs can satisfie Gods Justice which is infinite Sin must and will have sorrow if not in this life then everlastingly hereafter as hath been shewed largely and therefore their sorrow being not for their sin nor humbly and willingly undertaken will never save them Sorrow from inward distemper by Melancholy is not true or sufficient sorrow And as for Melancholick dumpish fits of heavinesse they must not simply be taken for sufficient or saving sorrow being the effects of naturall causes and ill constitution and temper of the body I know where sorrow for sin and such a disposition and temper meet in in any one the sorrow becomes the greater and the party is further off from receiving comfort by the the Gospel but this increase of sorrow in such belongs not to Godly and Evangelical Contrition so much as to the work of the law in a deeper apprehension of wrath and punishment furthered by the cunning malice of the Devil whotaking advantage of that dark Though it may and doth increase sorrow for sin neither in the godly dull and ill disposition of their bodies presents strange fancies to their brain and dreadfull apprehensions yea and apparitions to their souls whereby the soul seeing nothing but through such dark and foggy mists and being distempered with the distempers of the body beholds nothing but black darknesse and is disquieted with needlesse and excessive fears and doubts and that often till it come to desperate resolutions tending to the destruction of themselves or those they otherwise dearly love as husband wife child or friend unlesse God mercifully stay them But in such case their sorrow for sin as it is sin may be little enough nay if it were more the other would be lesse seeing true sorrow for sin is not without some apprehension of goodnesse and graciousnes in God and love and hope in themselves who so do sorrow But as melancholie in such doth not argue a greater measure of godly and true saving sorrow in them nor in some other whose naturall distempers being healed so in some others it argues none at all of it self and simply Let such be cured of their melancholy of their naturall and bodily distemper and we shall see that the Divines work is to begin in them when the Physician hath left them sorrow for sinne is to begin pensivenesse for sin is to begin in their souls after sadnesse fullennesse foolish fancies and fears with the cause thereof distemper hath left them in their bodies Not but that where the distemper of body is not very great the Divine may and should take the advantage as much to work on that soul for good as Satan for evil None of these sorrows then caused or occasioned from either sinfull worldly or naturall causes must be mistaken for godly sorrow at all much lesse for sufficient and saving contrition neither are they to be rested in Nor that whereby some in their bodily infirmities especially distempers of brain withall fall a weeping and crying when by others they are spoken to and pitied 4. Such sorrow and Repentance is not sound which is the effect of any power of will in man Before I shew positively what sorrow is and may be taken as sufficient for the present in the young penitent so as to afford him comfort in the assurance it is well-grounded I advise men who it may be little question the truth of their godly sorrow and repentance to consider well with themselves whether they do not ascribe their repentance as other graces to some power of free will in themselves as if God onely by externall motives in the word and by some internall excitations thereupon did let them see what to do and some necessity of doing it but the doing it is of themselves and from the good use of their own free-will and naturall power without the powerfull prevailing and determining grace of God Such men have cause to suspect themselves and their repentance See Matt 9.13 as built upon a weak foundation and standing upon feet of clay as well as iron The work being of men wil undoubtedly come to nought as in another case was said We have heard Acts 5.38 and shall hear more that true contrition and godly sorrow proceeds from and followeth upon self-denyall True sorrow is grounded on self-denyall and felf-despair of a mans own wisdom worth will power as in my
sinnes thinke in time of these things be carefull to avoid the former impediments and to see them removed be conscionable in the use of the aforesaid meanes directed unto please not your selves with your present condition weep and mourne when you especially hear your sinnes discovered to you and reproved be ye also pricked in heart when you are convinced of your evil doings not as those wicked and malignant Jewes who hearing Peter and also Stephen charge them with the Death of Christ were as it may seem Acts 5 33. 7.54 more than pricked in heart even cut to the heart yet took counsel against Peter and stoned Stephen Doubtlesse so farre as there was any the least sparke of good nature in any of them either sinfull grief meerly for the reproof they could not but be convinced within themselves of their sin of malice and of murther but so impatient were they of reproof and to be charged though most justly therewith that this sinfull and greater grief quenched that other if any were from natural conscience as in the bodie when the greater pain takes away the sense and feeling of the lesser as that of the Stâ—â—e doth that of the Gout which when it is or that such as are sicke or have cause of pain in any one part of the bodie and do not feel their pain Hippocr Aph. or of bodily grief and pain whilest repentance is deferred till sicknesse c. Hippocrates will tell them that their minde and understanding is sicke and diseased or else they would feel their pain Take we heed then that sinfull grief and anger for the reproof of the Word take not place when upon the discoverie of our particular sinnes and our conviction thereupon out consciences should be smitten and pricked savingly yea what we do Let it be done quickly and in time of health and youth least old Age Eccles 12 1 2. and diseases and sicknesses come even the yeares when we shall say We have no pleasure in them and bodily and worldly pain and grief will so possesse us and take up our thoughts and attentions yea intention of minde that godly sorrow for sin shall finde no place as we see in those for the most part who in their greatest sorrowes and sicknesses especially in hot burning Feavers and great paines seldom come to sound and saving sorrow for sin or to any more than a forced a formal and hypocritical repentance And thus much for such Uses as more specially belong to those that have not yet sorrowed or have not been pricked in conscience for their sin CHAP. XVI Vses concerning such as have been wounded and first that they returne not to sinnes formerly sorrowed for 3 A third sort of Vses concerning such as have been wounded for their sinnes IT now followeth to speak to such as upon hearing of the Word or upon triall of themselves have found or do finde that they have some way at least been or are wounded pricked and made sorrowfull for their sinnes To these I must say somewhat by way of Caveat and counsel and then of comfort 1. The caveat and counsel is double Who first are instructed and counselled first that they returne not to former sinnes smarted for Secondly that they go forward with this worke and give it not over till it be truly wrought in them 1 not to returne to such sinnes as they have smarted for Joh. 5.14 1. If ever you have smarted sorrowed been burthened or as it were in Hell for your sinnes take heed of returning back to the same or any other sinnes which may cause like sorrow The burnt childe dreads the fire and our Saviours Lesson and Caveat is Sin no more least a worse thing come unto thee I tell you when God thus prickes and wounds for sin he gives us a Lesson for ever returning again to the same or like sinnes Both King David and King Hezekiah complaine of bones broken for their sinnes indeed of broken hearts sorrowes By the example of King David and King Hezekiah Psal 51. Isai 38.13 and terrours of conscience but such was their anguish then that we never read that they returned or did again fall into murther adulterie or to like pride And if any of us have in the same or other kindes sinned with them and have in like manner found like terrours or Gods hand heavie upon us if we like so well of broken bones and to lie under Gods displeasure we may return again to like wicked practises Which were to returne to Hell again but if we have been already in Hell or in the Suburbs thereof let us both give and take warning for ever comming there again and take heed of such wayes and sinnes as may bring us into the same condition again See we that no pleasure of sin ungodly gain love of the world favour of men no unjust dealing or wicked act draw us back into Hell again if ever we have been in it and to lay more weight on themselves If we have at any time found sin an heavy burthen to us or have been wearied therewith I hope we will take heed that we lay no more weight upon it If the heart have by the hand of God upon it been once made tender and sensible of his displeasure it will soon fear and tremble at the first risings and sinfull motions in the heart it will tremble and not sin Psal 4.4 He that hath been under Gods displeasure for his Oathes uncleannesse c. he will fear an Oath quake and tremble to see or meet with his Whore and so in other particulars It is a signe that many It s a signe of unsound sorrow nor to fear sin as in Pharaoh Exo. 9 27-34 10 16-20 who yet seemed to shew some sorrow for their sinnes never truly repented thereof because they so easily returne with the Sow and Dog to the mire and vomit of former sinnes as we see in King Pharaoh often confessing his sin yet as often returning to it again and hardening his heart even as many in their sicknesse and dangers seem very penitent and to crie out of their sins but when Gods hand is removed they their sins are all one again So it was with King Ahab also Ahab who having oppressed Naboth is reproved and threatned for it by the Prophet whereupon he humbled himselfe rent his cloathes 1 Kings 21 27-29 with 22 8-26 27. put sack-cloth on his flesh and fasted but this was no true repentance no hearty sorrow for his sin if it had he would not so soon after have fallen to the like or same sin of oppression imprisoning without just cause of the holy and saithfull servant of the Lord Judas Michaiah Judas seemed as sorrowfull as any repenting confessing restoring if his sorrow had been found he would not so soon and immediately after added the murther of himselfe to the murther and betraying of his
Christ himself God-man in and by the order of that most absolutely perfect form and frame of prayer which he left as a pattern to his Church according to which all our desires and wills should be regulated and bounded in all things That petition which more directly and immediatly concerns God in his glory is premised and set in the first place for order and eminencie In which Gods glory is to be respected first and last as the rule measure and square of all the rest First Hallowed be thy name Yea that respect of Gods glory bounds and shuts in all the former Petitions all which are by us no otherwise to be made nor will by God be otherwise accepted then as they are referred to the same end seeing therewith in the end of our prayers we are to conclude yea and to bind God by urging him with respect to his own glory saying For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen By which Attestation of our faith and desire we confirm that we beg nothing but so far as may stand with Gods glory yea that God thereby may be glorified A double end of man 1. Gods glory 2. His own salvation And wheras the chief end of man and of all his desires and indeavours is or ought to be in the first place and most principally and universally the glory of God 1 Cor. 10.31 and secondarily his own and others eternall good happiness and salvation which before all earthly things he is to desire Matth. 6.33 See ye first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof The Lord teacheth us so much This last subordinate to the first by making our own and others spirituall and eternall good to be desired in the next and second place directing us to say and pray after the other Thy kingdome come whereby we pray that we and others may be of or belong to Gods Kingdom to raign with him in this life by grace and after in glory for evermore Now though this be mans chief end in regard of himself yet in regard of the former which is the glory of God the hallowing and sanctifying of his name it is secondary and subordinate For so Gods eternall decree hath made it Ephes 1.5 6. which is shewed God hath predestinated us to be adopted through Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his will But to what end to the praise of the glory of his grace Yea and contrariwise in the reprobation and damnation of the wicked Rom. 9.17 Even for this same purpose saith God unto Pharaoh have I raised thee up that I might shew my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth And Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evill Not that he is author of his wickednesse but that he according to his eternall purpose permits him through his own impiety to oppresse such as are good reserving him to the day of wrath and punishment that he might shew in him his power and justice by which his name is glorified Job 21.30 2 Thes 1.6 7 8 9 10. The like reason in the generall and in respect to Gods glory is to be considered in such as everlastingly perish be they young or old though they be not so apparantly wicked as the four last petitions are to the four first as those named and intimated So that as the other four petitions in the Lords prayer and our desires of such things whether 1. the purchasing of good 1. Spiritual as the third 2. Temporall as the fourth Or 2. the removall of evill 1. Past and committed the pardon of sin Or 2. such as may hereafter be admitted by the temptation of the Divell should be subordinated to these two ends named Gods glory and our own and others eternall good and glory So the second of these is and ought to be subordinate to the first and not simply and absolutely sought but with like subordination to the first at least with submission thereunto as also to Gods will we being taught in the next Petition in case we be denied the former to say not only Hallowed be thy name but Thy will be done From this ground we infer that we are so far to deny our selves in our own if need were and in others salvation as to subordinate all unto Gods glory and just will Two Inferences hence 1. For others dear unto us and with relation to our love and respect to them whether dead or dying or as yet living 1. Concerning the salvation of others I know first that divers good Christians both can and doe so far submit to Gods will in the death or dying condition of their nearest and dearest friends and tender young children and others brothers sisters parents and associates whether wives or husbands as to rest therein 1. Dead or dying being dear and near to us and in our doubts of their salvation and be content to be denied the comfort of them on earth Only troubled they are and know not what to say or thinke or how to comfort themselves through doubt of their eternall salvation and good estate with God after this life If they could be satisfied herein they would take up and moderate their sorrows and not so excessively mourn as David by some is thought upon this ground to have mourned for the death of Absolom But what can we be content in the one to submit and deny our selves We are howsoever to rest in Gods will and in this that God glorifieth himself in them whether they die apparantly in their sins and not if need be in the other Is not God alike just and holy in both and doth he not in the one as well as in the other seek his own glory and the hallowing of his Name and should not we likewise so do I know it cannot nay ought not but be a cause of very great sorrow to any godly soul to see such as otherwise in naturall respects they love dearly to die apparantly in their sins in the act as well as habite thereof without shewing any signs of remorse or repentance Yet in such case we must in due season moderate and put limits to our sorrow yea and thoughts and so far deny our selves as without grudging gainsaying reasoning against God or replying and questioning his justice holiness and soveraignty lay the hand upon the mouth silence our own thoughts as well as words and rest in his most holy will suffering him to glorifie himself which way soever he please whether it be by the way of mercy or justice will and soveraignty ever mindfull of that He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth where we are not to reply or dispute against God And dashing such in the teeth as are ready to lay all blame on him from off themselves
own private and particular cause of joy should not be thought on but laid aside when it goes not well with Jerusalem and Sion as it was with the Wife of Phinehas as in divers examples Phinehas his Wife who for grief to hear that the Ark of God was seized on by the Philistims fell in labour and would not be comforted in a son which she bare she set not her heart to that neither did she regard it But to shew what she most laid to heart she named the childe Ichabod that is Where is the glory or There is no glory saying The glory is departed from Israel for the Ark of God is taken and so she died 1 Sam. 4.20.21 22. Nehemiah The like we see in that worthy Nehemiah Neh. 1.3 4. who understanding the misery of Jerusalem though he himself was in great favour with Artaxerxes the King and that it was well with himself yet sate down and wept and mourned certain days and prayed before the God of heaven on the behalf of his distressed brethren The like I might shew in Abraham interceding for Sodom Abraham and specially for Lot and in all likelihood not sleeping the night before Gen. 18. Ezekiel Moses Paul Joshua Josh 7 5 6 9. So in Ezekiel and the mourners Ezek. 9.4 8. In Moses and Paul of whom before And in Joshua and the Elders sorrowfully complaining in fear the enemies should environ them round and cut off their name from the earth so that God should not have a Church on earth to serve and honour him And thus by Gods blessing and mercy the care of our dread Soveraign Our own Land at this time and of this our Nation hath shewed it self concerning the distressed estate of Gods Church and people in Ireland not onely by and in the monthly exercise of prayer not sparing either Prayers fasting and supplication for them to draw down a blessing from God upon them and themselves but by supplies made both of money Money or munition and men who to represse those Popish and Romish Rebels and inhumane monsters have hazarded their lives Lives for Ireland yea many of them for the publick good and peace of that Church and people and re-establishing of the true Religion among them and securing it to our selves have already spent their best blood and lost their lives and as we see it in nature Thus in the humane Body the hand will expose it self to save the head and the whole body yea in Nature and in the Vniverse the water and fire will forsake their own proper motion and nature fire will descend and water ascend rather then there be any discontinuity or vacuity in the whole Yea every creature is ordained of God to be serviceable to the more superiour and not for it self alone The Earth is for the corn wine and oyle and these for Gods people Birds beasts bees are fruitfull not for themselves but for us men neither is every man born for himself but for others also and for the more publick good of State and Church Every good man is a common good and of a publick spirit for the good of many This makes such an one a Man among men one of a thousand Let us thus conceive as of the naturalnesse and necessity so of the excellency of this publick spirit Private interests to be denyed for publick persons Example in the Galatians once that so for the publick good of many especially of those that are good and publick persons we may be content to deny our selves in our own particular interests as the Galatians were once so affected to Paul that to have done him good or that it had been possible they would have plucked out their own eys and have given them to him they had him in such love and estimation in Priscilla and Aquila Gal. 4.15 as also had Priscilla and Aquila who for Pauls sake laid down their own necks Rom. 16.4 so ingaging in acknowledgment of thankfulnesse not onely him but also all the Churches of the Gentiles whose Apostle he was However as the need of such requires in an high estimation of them as publick good things and profitable to many let us be willing so far to deny our selves for them as in our wealth and that is but duty to contribute to them and communicate to them in all good things or in all our goods Gal. 1.6 and afford them double honour 1 Tim. 5.17 and in our names by answering for them in our lives if need be by speaking or pleading for them as did Queen Esther Thus to do namely to subordinate a mans self to the more publick and generall good of the Church Signes of self-denyal gathered from the four generall things named cause and people of God is an evident expression of one that denies himself truely as is also the practice of those other things formerly mentioned as Greater care to gain a mans own soul then the world High estimation of Christ of his excellency fulness and All-sufficiency with a true sence of a mans own emptiness worthlessness folly especially an high estimation of Christ with a mean conceit of our selves impotency wretchedness basenesse or in want of the sence of these with a true desire to know the worst by a mans own self as in Eli 1 Sam. 3.17 18. Job 34.32 and Psal 139.23 and by being well-affected to the means of discovery of him to himself and not willingly and willfully ignorant of what may debase him and advance Christ and respect to Gods glory Lastly Subordination of a mans self and all unto Gods will and glory of a mans wealth liberty name yea life rather then deny God in his truth glory worship as wee see in Daniel Dan. 6.10 and in the holy Martyrs of Jesus Christ not being ashamed to confess Christ and to advance Gods glory in any company or upon any occasion The conclusion of this point of self-deniall But now it may seem high time to leave this discourse of self-deniall in this place where it is not so directly and by way of precept taught as gathered and presupposed in these who were so savingly touched by the word and driven out of themselves so as to cry out Men and brethren what shall we do But as I have said the uncertainty of my long abode with you and of having occasion more purposely to handle the argument together with the exceeding great usefulness and profit as I hope of the duty have drawn me on to be so large This if it seem to be prolixity shall be recompenced with brevity in the dispatch of the third and last observation concerning the qualification of those whom God doth save with which all shall be finished CHAP. XXXVII SECT 1. Shewing thirdly that such as God converteth and saveth must be willing and pliable to Gods will and ready to submit to him in matter of 1. Salvation 2. Religion and
sins unsorrowed for an enemy to God how much better then to be pricked here for our curing as a tumor gets ease by pricking then to be put to indure the whole wrath of God hereafter and to be stung to death forever Where we may also note and might consider for our encouragement and seeing wee shall not lose by sorrowing here that the greatest sorrows we here suffer when wee mourn for our sins savingly are in comparison but prickings Note The greatest sorrows of the elect are but prickings yea as flea-bitings considered with the eternal torments of the damned which by timely sorrow now may nay undoubtedly shal be prevented as it was with these mourners here who though whilest they looked on Christ whom they pierced they mourned for him as one mourneth for his onely son and were in bitterness for him as one is in bitterness for his first born and shall be much more so at their calling and at the conversion of their whole scattered Nation and though some few be longer holden under sense of sin and wrath here then most other converts are which should incourage us yet what lost these Jewish converts by this their sorrow and smaller wounds by pricking when they were presently healed and withall obtained the pardon of their sins ver 38. the favour of God freedom from condemnation Rom. 8.1 and from eternal sorrows in hel yea and right of sons and heirship to eternal life and glory No more shalt thou lose by thy sorrow here if in time thou give over thy profane carnal worldly courses and secure living and betake thy self in time to the serious exercises of Repentance and godly sorrow Dost thou think 〈◊〉 â—xhortaâ—â—◠〈◊〉 by Motives or canst thou imagine that thou hast no cause so to do Come tell me have you who are now so secure and merry no true cause of mourning or of being touched and pricked in conscience and soul 1 From the consideration of our sin 1 Orginiall 1. Are ye without sinne 1. Are ye not inwrapped all of you in the guilt of Adams transgression I wil not charge you to have brought each of you for your parts in that regard sorrow sin and damnation upon all men that are or shall be damned though some wil have it so and yet I cannot say but that thou art guilty and sharest in the guiltiness of that sin which did all this And if so it wel weighed were enough to break thy heart that thou and I and each of us have had in our first parents a part in bringing damnation on our selves and others But howsoever know that there is in regard of Original sin that corrupt fountain within thee that leaven that bitter root seed and sink of sin in thy nature whereby as thou art wholly indisposed yea backward and ready to oppose all goodnesse and truth so inclined to do as wickedly as ever did sinners even as did the Sodomites and other heathen and as Judas and those Jews who betrayed Christ and crucified him yea as such Christians as sin that unpardonable sin the sin against the holy Ghost nothing hindering but Gods mercy restraining or sanctifying them And is not this enough to humble thee should it not make thee fear lest taking such liberty in thy ways as thou now dost God leave thee to thy self and to these thy natural and corrupt inclinations and give thee over to commit the same or like wickedness and to come to like ends 2 Actuall 1 Our own considered with their aggravations Job 13.11 which are many 2. But I am sure thou canst not but confess thy self to be guilty of many actuall sins which are obvious to every eye and ringing in every mans ear that lives neer thee Wil not these bring thee to be ashamed of thy self or should they not trouble thee Is not the least of thy sins 1 Against the great and holy God and then shall not his excellency make thee affraid and his dread fall upon thee 2 Against his mercies and goodness and art thou not ashamed of thine unthankfulness and of thy base usage of him and abuse of his favours 3 Against his threats and examples of his judgements on others and shall not that daunt thee 4 Against thy conscience and knowledge especially in these days of light and doth not conscience smâ—te and prick thee See Luk 12 47 Wilt thou stil hold the truth in unrighteousness and yet not fear Gods wrath revealed from heaven against such Rom. 1.18 5 Against thy Covenant with God and vows often renewed and dost thou not fear to receive the just reward of a traytor and of perfidiousness Wherefore should God be angry at thy voyce Eccles 5.4 5 6. Why dost thou by breaking wedlock with him for by covenant thou art become his provoke the eyes of his jealousie and glory against thy self canst thou thus do and yet live secure Ezek. 16.8 3. Other mens which we make ours helping to damn them 3. Nay Besides thine own personal sins think how many thou hast helped to send to hel before thee by having an hand head or heart in their sins Didst thou never intice any to commit folly with thee to cast in their lot with thee in some wicked enterprise Didst thou never incourage provoke counsel or command any to do evil Hast thou never made other mens sins thine own by thy silence consent connivance commendation defence or at least want of sorrow for them Hath not thine example presence and familiarity with sinners in their vanities drawn many into sin and hardened them in the same and hast thou not by such means become a murtherer of their souls And if they be dead in their sins in hel before thee hast not thou sent them thither or helped at least And if so what comfort canst thou have on earth Matth 18.7 to have them so many of them there to curse thee continually unlesse by hearty and timely sorrow thou get the pardon of all thy sins sealed to thy soul Which our sins should cause in us great sorrow Here know it also for certain that if ever thou wouldest kindly grieve the Law must not onely reveal sin unto thee and give thee cause of sorrow but it must cause the offence to abound and so afford thee cause of great sorrow so that if ever thou partake of Gods abundant grace Rom. 5.20 or be saved thou must by the Law see thy sin to be exceeding sinful and to abound considering how they abound 1 For hainousnesse Which therefore see First for hainousnesse according to all the aggravations of it and in the vilenesse of it as by sinning against so much and so long patience in God and against such means of grace which have wrought so effectually in many others 2 Multitude Secondly For multitude and that thou hast been a sinner not in this or that particular being ready to justifie thy self
the City Gaza thou carriest I may say the very gates of hell upon thy back and goest upright under many execrable abominations unclenness drunkenness oppression profanation of the Lords day and other impieties and yet art not pressed therewith though God be even as a cart laden with sheaves Amos 2.13 and groaning as it were under the burden thou hast a whole sea of Gods wrath upon thee Without which we cannot feel the burthen of it and yet as the fishes in the sea or as one diving under water feelest not the burthen But now that thou mayst feel it and be sensible of it consider thy sin in the forenamed aggravating and greatning circumstance thereof and so lay it upon thy shoulders and thou shalt finde it heavier then thou canst bear as David did Psalm 38.4 as one shall do a small vessel of water laid on his back on dry land Sins taken severally and barely and slightly looked on may seem small and little and nothing burdensome but if thou lookest on them in the heap or as on the sand lying on the sea-shore thou wilt finde them and the grief of them heavier then the sand of the sea as Job speaks of his grief and calamitie when it is throughly weighed and laid in the balance together Job 6.2 3. A weight suppose of many hundreds whilest it lieth on the ground is not felt in the burthen and heaviness of it till we begin to pluck and heave at it no more is thy sin till thus thou weigh it in the balance of the sanctuary and take it into deep and serious consideration Hold thy self then constantly to this duty of consideration and pondering thy sin Serious consideration of our sin is needful and then a small sin like a small weight which we carry far and long being much thought on will prove a burthen and make thee in the sense thereof cry and by repentance and faith come to Christ that thou mayst be eased In case thou receive an injury from man or a small affront by much thinking on it thou makest it very great Thus deal with the injuries thou dost unto the great and holy God and which lie upon thy score and I suppose thou wilt finde and feel them a burthen intolerable heavie pressing and oppressing thy heart SECT 3. Gods judgements on our selves past present and to come should humble us 2 God softens our hearts also by his judgements and afflictions 1 On our selves Which accordingly and to that end wee are to make use of Whether the afflictions be NOw moreover seeing God often wounds mens spirits and softens their hearts by his Judgements by Afflictions and Corrections working with his word let us take the advantage thereof and make a right use of the same whether they be his corrections and crosses which befall or belong to our selves or more directly and firstly do concern others 1. God would work in us true and saving sorrow by such outward evils as he is pleased to inflict upon us being otherwise justly procured and deserved by our sins which may and should be diligently considered and made use of by us to the same end and that whether wee consider them as past present or to come 1. We are to call to minde especially being of riper yeers and judgement what great things wee have suffered 1 Past and what fore afflictions have befallen us by dangerous sicknesses hurts wounds extreme perils and sharp corrections of God when we were young or howsoever in former times whether lately or longer since when it may be either through childishness ignorance or otherwise by distraction of thoughts or sharpness of bodily pain or astonishment of our senses we could not so well meditate on the same or take things into such serious consideration as was meet Such corrections would not now be forgot but seriously called to minde and considered of as then sent of God in his displeasure against us for our sins whereby we provoked this patient God so to smite us that so we may now do that which he expected from us then Which wee must remember and be humbled for them that is be humbled in soul and come to true sorrow and repentance for our sin Thus Jeremy in the name of the faithful Remembring mine affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall my soul hath them stil in remembrance and is humbled or bowed in mee Lament 3.19 20. That which was bitter to the body in the present feeling thereof is now bitter to the soul in remembrance thereof and in consideration of sin the cause thereof Thus should it be with us 2 present By which God humbles and converts 2 If Gods hand be upon thee by any outward cross and affliction for the present which hee sends of purpose to humble thee be sure thou let him not smite thee in vain Afflictions by Gods mercy prove means of conversion as in King Manasseh though not without the word Psal 94 12. and 2 Chr. 33.10 12 18. It s said when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers his affliction prepared and made his heart fitter to receive profit by the words of the Seers that spake to him in the name of the Lord. and calls to weeping Isa 22.12 God humbled Manasseh and he humbled himself God at such times cals to weeping and to mourning to baldnesse and to girding with sackcloth and by such means would break the hardness stoutness and stoniness of our hearts thus bringing us under his hammer and stroke to bruise us into his fire and furnace to try fine and melt us unless we be reprobate silver In such case then let thy cross drive thee home first to thy self in consideration of thy sin the cause meritorious of thy cross then to thy God and Father with the Prodigal the efficient and inflicter of thy cross where 1 We are to be sensible of Gods displeasure And here first learne to be sensible of Gods displeasure God will be known by executing judgement he will have thee know he is angry and displeased with thee and would have thee sensible of his displeasure See what God said concerning Miriam after her sin against Moses the servant of the Lord for which she was smitten with leprosie when Moses prayed for her healing the Lord tels him saying If her father had spit in her face should she not be ashamed seven dayes Numb 12.14 Let her be shut out seven dayes c. Even thus when God shewes any token of his displeasure against thee be ashamed and humbled smite on thy breast with the Publican and on thy thigh with Ephraim Thus Naomi which signifieth pleasant disclaimes her name Call not me Naomi call me Mara that is bitter for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me Ruth 1.20 21. Why then call ye me Naomi seeing the Lord hath testified against me and
sorrow is sound and good and such as God accepts of More for the present thou needest not to stay and assure thee and lesse will be too little SECT 2. The truth of sorrow shewed from two Properties seven Effects and six Concomitants of it 2. Particular Trials of the truth of our sorrow 1. By two properties of godly sorrow It is 1. Voluntary BUt now more particularly not to speak of the properties of godly sorrow which some observe as that it where it is is 1. Voluntary whereby men are not so much humbled so was Pharaoh as humble and humbling themselves as did Josiah 2 Chron. 34.27 working their hearts thereunto and grieving that they cannot more grieve yea turning their laughter into weeping making their fond and foolish mirth the matter of their sorrow Of which enough already when I shewed that it must be as well in prosperity as extorted by adversity and feares 2 Durable 2. Durable and a thorough humiliation not for a fit when they as some fitly compare it are only sermon-sick and therein like to such as are sea-sick who are presently well when they come to land or into calm water so when they turn their backs on the Church and preacher and come into merry company and among their old companions whereas true sorrow which is according to God Psal 51.3 is more constant and durable as was Davids My sin is ever before me and so it differs from unsound sorrow and such as is from naturall causes as hath been partly said already and this thorough humiliation is the thing now to bee tried 2 By seven effects of it Neither will I speak or largely discourse of those seven Effects of godly sorrow whereby was wrought repentance to salvation not to be repented of which the Apostle noteth in the Corinthians and which his former Epistle had wrought in them For behold saith he 2 Cor. 7.9 10 11. this self same thing that yee sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what fear yea what vehement desire yea what zeal yea what revenge Dyke of Repentance Chap. 14 15. I will rather refer the Reader to that worthy Treatise of Repentance where they are sufficiently handled and which is in many hands and easily procured Only as occasion shall serve I shall touch upon some of them 3. By divers concomitants and consequents of it Only now I shall mention such concomitants consequents and effects as I find elsewhere in Scripture to be coupled and joyned to such sorrow as God will accept of as sound and sufficient and which he both requires of all and hath accepted of in true penitents reserving such last as my Text will afford or occasion us to take notice of more specially 1. Acceptation of punishment 1. I find Acceptation of the punishment joyned to such humiliation as God looks for so that when we accept willingly of the one God will accept graciously of the other If they shall confesse their iniquity Levit. 26.40 41. c. and that I have walked contrary unto them and have brought them into the land of their enemies if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity then will I remember my Covenant c. This requires an humble not extorted only by an humble patience or yet simply a willing patience and submission unto Gods will and a willing and humble bearing of the indignation of God because we have sinned against him And it is the truer note of sound repentance Micah 7.9 with respect to sin because it brings some evidence with it that sin more then punishment doth trouble that soul and that we grieve and are pricked and broken in heart chiesly because we have grieved and peirced so good a God by our sins according to that in Ezekiel And they that escape of you Ezek. 6.9 shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives because I am broken with their whorish heart which hath departed from me And they shall loath themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations such as was in the good Theef Such a convert was he whose words on the crosse with Christ in reproof of his fellow who in his suffering only sought deliverance saying to Christ Save thy selfe and us were these Doest thou not fear God Luke 23.39 40 41. seeing thou art in the same condemnation And we indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds But of this before when we spake of the procuring cause of godly sorrow 2 Weeping and other outward expressions 2 Chron. 34.27 2. With true sorrow and tenderness of heart and humiliation of soul before God I find that in good Josiah there went weeping and rending of clothes which were outward expressions of true inward and hearty sorrow which accordingly God graciously accepted Because thine heart was tender and thou didst humble thy self before me and didst rend thy clothes and weep before me I have even heard thee also saith the Lord. Whence we will conclude that though all cannot in their sorrow shed teares and that shedding of teares in some as in Esau is deceitfull as also rending of clothes a custome out of use with us now yet true sorrow of heart cannot be without some out-ward expressions of it Nehe. 2.2 Matth. 26.75 Luke 18.13 as sadness of countenance so it was in Nehemiah teares as in Peter smiting on the breast as in the Publican and such like so that though Hypocrites may counterfeit all these whose hypocrisie by other notes hath been and shall be discovered yet for such as give themselves either excessively to mirth laughter and carnall delights or constantly So that a sensuall life cannot consist with godly sorrow Luke 16.19 without the exercise of godly fasting and humiliation as Dives did who was clothed in purple and fine linnen and fared sumptuously every day they are far from true sorrow for sin whatsoever they may pretend It s but like the sorrow of some drunkards who never weep but when they are drunk their hearts are not so much at any time seemingly burthened with sin as when they are overburthened and oppressed with surfetting and drunkenness As in such as seek to put away sorrow by carnall mirth but then is the heart farthest off from true and godly sorrow yea they feeling some qualms of grief through conscience of sin to seize upon them have no readier way to be shut and rid of them then eagerly to pursue their pleasures that so they may forget their sorrow and stop the mouth of their pursuing Conscience as some when they are arrested get the Serjeant into a Tavern and make him drunke that so they may escape him So it was with those whom God colled to weeping and to mourning c. and