as matter to be received And further take notice that all this he doth by bringing strength into weaknes and manifesting Light in darknes causing the glory of his Love to shine breake forth in our poore base loathsome forme thorough which he doth breake downe all the corrupt fabrick that lives in mens fancies there places the Authoritie of his owne beames of Love sweetnes wisdome and meeknes by which the Creature becomes a partaker of the Divine matter 2 Pet. 1. Thirdly Consider for whom he doth it it is to a people that are altogether worthlesse * Isa 61.1 2 Isa 65.1 2 3. Ephes 2.3 they have not onely been ignorant of him but all along have endeavoured to bring dishonour to him they are not onely one with and carry on designes for the Power Prince of darknesse but they shut their eyes against the tenders of Light and Love As you may see Joh. 1.11 Joh. 3.19 20. They are so farre from being objects to attract and draw on Love that they are altogether loathsome lying in their bloud Ezek. the 16. the 5 and 6 verses Truly it is Endles to reckon up the Creatures nothingnesse Whatsoever may be said of an Enemy of a Traytor of a Runnagate that spends all and despiseth every thing and mindeth nothing but what may dishonour God These are they whom God doth all this for and that he waiteth all the day long for and whom he in mercy finds meete and seekes before they seeke him Isa the 65. the 1 and 2. Nay he is pleased not onely to doe so but to wooe us and beseech us to be reconciled to him the 2 of the Cor. the 5. and the 20. Beloved if you doe seriously weigh what hath been said in these 3 things you will see how much God Condescends to us in dispensing mercy and grace to poore wandring Spirits and it may fitly be Expressed in this word falling which holds forth the great Condescension of God as well as the familiaritie of God And he fell upon his neck and kissed him Beloved you may observe from thence this Conclusion Doct. That it is Gods way to bring all poore hearts upon whom he casts his favour into a friendly and a neere familiaritie and communion with himselfe Joh. 15.15 Jonathan and Davids love and affection and neere communion was never more Exprest then when they fell upon each others neck 1 Sam. 20. Wherein did Josephs love appeare more to his Brethren then when he fell upon their necks to manifest his love by weeping over them and kissing of them Gen. 45.14 15. But farre beyond all this doth God manifest his Love and sweetness to poore broken hearts falling upon the neck of the soule kissing and embracing it and bringing it into a deare and neere friendly communion with himselfe at your leisure reade these Scriptures following Cant. 2.4 5. Cant. 5.1 Isa 61.10 Isa 62.5 Now Beloved I should further illustrate this Conclusion and speak more largely to it being that which is worthy of our minding and worth our beleeving and embracing I know all hearts that have tasted of this Love and Life after the bitter pangs and throws of sorrow death through a sense of their wandrings from God will freely acknowledge this and declare a hundred times more then I can here expresse But I having spoken largely of that which relates to this in the former Conclusion I shall briefly speake a word or two of the Use of this and the other Conclusion and so conclude The first is an Use of Information to Informe us from what hath been said in relation to these three last things Viz. Gods ready running forth in mercy to minde and meet poore wandring spirits in their returnes to him which is from the word Ran. 2. The great condiscention of God in dispensing grace and merey and in entertaining poore wandring soules and that is implied in the word Fell. 3. The sweet communion and near and dear discoveries of love that are given out from the Father in their returnes implied in these words He fell upon his neck and kissed him from whence we might observe many Consectaries and Conclusions that might eminently present God in his dealings with us and the high exaltation of the creature who is enriched with these enjoyments But I shall passe over all these and make brief and plaine use of them according to the dictates of God to my owne spirit and that is to informe us of these things 1. Of the great mistakes of poor broken spirits they apprehending by the Reason of their owne sin and unsuitablenesse that they have so provoked the Lord that mercy will not be easily gained O remember from what hath been said that God is not onely sweet but swift in dispensing mercy he runs mercy being not onely one with him but the delight of him Beloved take notice that he is more ready to imbrace you then you are to beg imbracements and though you can hardly goe yet he runs experience proves that he that acts in a delight is more ready then he that acts to gaine a delight O it is the joy and content of the father thus to befriend poore broken spirits in their returnes who have dealt unkindly and unfriendly with him 2. It is to Informe such hearts who through an apprehension of Gods highnesse glory and greatnesse apprehended with a sense of their weaknesse and nothingnesse apprehended so great a distance that they thinke it is impossible that ever God and they should close they see themselves unable to come up to God and they being so unkind and unsutable that they dare not conclude he will come downe to them and upon that accompt rather sit downe fearing and trembling before him then expressing faith in him O know that it is Gods way as in mercy to run forth in dispensing grace in great readinesse to meet us so it is his way and delight to condiscend to us he it is that doth manifest strength in weaknesse fullnesse in emptinesse light in darknesse O therefore let the apprehension of what hath been said take us off from all discouragements as to our entertainment with God and let us know and beleeve though we cannot come up to God God will come downe to us and it is not our weaknes nor wants that can or will hinder a poor nothing spirit from being somthing in him who is all in himself all to us 3. It is to Inform us of the sweet inrichments that poor wandring soules injoy in their returnes God falls upon the neck and kisses them that is to say they are entertained and brought into a near and dear fellowship and communion with himself O what can a soule desine more then to be made Gods bosome friend his daily acquaintance nay his near and dear darling unto whom he will give out kisses and imbraces and they shall be daily his delight The second use is an use of Comfort and Consolation to all poor wandring spirits who are carnest in their Returnes to meet the Lord yet their apprehension of the great distance from him and the consideration how much they are beneath and below him doth exceedingly discourage them O beloved if this be any of your conditions take notice for your comfort what Scripture and Experience here declares It is not our distance to him or lownesse before him or unsutablenesse to him that can hinder his dispensing of Kindnesse Love and Grace to us * Isa 1.18 Isa 38.7 Isa 44.21 22 Isa 43.25 Mat. 1.28 and he will not goe but runne and stand when we fall but he will fall on us that we may stand by him and not onely entertaine our Request when we come begging to injoy relation to him but he will enrich us with a near and dear communion with himselfe falling upon our necks and kissing us O Beloved I beg of God to give you power to beleive it and as cheerfully to entertaine that as that entertaines you But no more of this Use but a word or two of Exhortation and so conclude 3. And lastly These are to exhort all soules that are againe returned to consider what hath been said and seing God is so transcendently carried out in mercy to mind us let us be tender and carefull to owne him and know as grace transcends sin so sin becomes transcendently sinfull in transgressing and neglecting the tenders of grace At your leisure carefully and candidly read these Scriptures Heb. 2.3 Heb. 6.6 Heb. 10.26 27. O they are sad saying I beg of the Lord that you and I may never be brought to justifie the truth by woful experience O walk close with God and live up to his Loves death is near them that live below that doth God run with great readinesse in mercy to meet and mind us O what cause have we to run out to him keep neer him when he come Is he pleased to fall upon our necks let us fall at his foot is he pleased to kiss us let us chearfully imbrace him and what is commanded by him Beloved friends I beg of the Lord to make you sensible of what hath been said and not to mind the scorns of the world nor the undervaluing expressions of some who seemingly profess God as to a careful endeavour to walk close with God know it is not men but God that you must mind and consider from the consideration of the sweet entertainment that poor souls in their returns to God find with God consider I say what duty * Heb. 2.3 Ps 116.12 Rom. 12.1 2 Tit. 2.11 12.1 Jo. 3.2 3.2 Pet. 3.11 that cals for and know our time is short and our life too little to speak out his love There is much more to be said to these Conclusions and to this Use but I shall say no more but the Lord hand over the knowledge of this truth to you from his own heart that by the knowledge of it you may abide with him from his abiding with you which is the earnest prayer of him that hath declared this from what experience God hath made him find in his mistakes in wandring and from his unexpected entertainment in his returne FINIS
A TREATISE CONTAINING THREE THINGS Viz. 1. A Discovery of the unsupportable Burthen of Sinne to a heart that is Saint like sensible of Sin 2. The restlesse Resolution of a Soule to returne to God who is Saint-like sensible of his withdrawings 3. A Discovery of the sweet and unexpected Entertainment that wandring hearts meet with in their returnes to God Written by Lieutenant Collonel PAVL HOBSON Against thee onely have I sinned and done this evill in thy sight Make me to heare joy and gladnesse that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Psal 51.4.8 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soule thirsteth for thee my flesh longs for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is Psal 61.3 Ephraim my deare Son is he a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I doe earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. Jer. 31.20 London Printed by M. S. for Tho Brewster and are to be sould at his shop at the three Bibles in Pauls Church yard near the West End 1653. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER CHRISTIAN READER Vnto whose hands these few lines of mine may come that which I beg of God both for my selfe and you is That we may both in writing and reading be made able to understand the Truth from an enjoyment ef it selfe Light is never known till it is injoyed I am very sensible that my appearing in publike may occasion many strange reasonings in many mens mindes if I had onely hearkened to that or to the reasoning of my owne spirit which did strongly importune my silence I should not a presented my Judgement and present condition to a Publique view but being by providence after a large travell and strong encounter with my owne spirit through the discoveries of my owne great mistakes and also through the sence of the great unsutablenesse of my owne soule to God I am cast into these parts where there is not many more Eyes then there is Censuring Spirits condemning the practice of many with whom I meet to discover to each other the daily Experiences that we have of the Fathers dealings with us and what power we injoy from Heaven to make an Improvement of those Mercies We are by many I say Censured as men creeping in private to divulge Vntruths and discovering things contrary to Faith in Christ and Holinesse of Life and Conversation And whatsoever miscarriages and unsutable walkings was of any of us in former times is brought as an occasion to cloud our present practice and to render us odious amongst men affirming that we dare not divulge that publiquely which we doe privately vent which occasioneth a stumbling to many precious hearts and Causes many Scandals and Clouds to be Cast upon truth by the gainsayers thereof Vpon which Consideration many Friends did desire me to present that in publique which I had delivered in private which I have here done in the same forme and manner as it was there delivered not being willing to adde any fine spunne Expressions or quaint distinctions to Court any Mans fancy to minde it but in the plaine downe-right and humble Expressions as being most sutable to them to whom I speake and to the present Condition and frame of my owne Spirit God having very much wounded my heart as for doing things dishonorable to him so doing or saying any thing that may procure honor to me amongst men that doth not punctually suite with the sinceritie and simplicitie of Truth Therefore I beg of the Christian Reader that in Reading over these few Lines that you would seriously Reade over all before you Conclude any thing to any And to minde and seriously weigh as what is spoke by whom so to whom And let not any thing that is really Truth be disowned because it is accommodated with such poore and low Expressions I am very much perswaded that those hearts who have been brought home thorough a sence of their wandrings and long for nothing so much as the Enjoyment of Gods Love and Power to Live up to it may and will finde something in this that may Refresh their poore drooping Spirits in that Condition It is to them Especially that I desire to present These And as for them I beg the same Refreshments thorough Reading as was the Cause of Speaking And as for others who may Critically Carpe at the Expression or the party Expressing I desire them to take notice that the Father hath made it a very small thing to me to be judged of Men All I beg is to have my heart kept up in daily Communion with God And to have a Life sutable to his Love for the Enjoyment of which mercies I desire of all that really Live with God to minde me as I desire to minde them in our approachments to God And that they would in Reading over these not suffer any Infirmitie they know of the Author to Cause them to aggravate or Enlarge any Infirmitie in the Expressions of the matter but that they would in Christian Wisdome and Love Endeavour to Cover and Remove both And I further desire that if any to whom these may come who have wantonly gone from God and are at present unsencible of the great necessitie of their Returning to God and of a Close walking with God That they would Candidly Reade over these few Lines It may please the Father thorough that which they may looke upon as folly to manifest Wisedome And Darknesse to manifest Light Such an Effect as this is the Earnest prayer of him that is Christian Reader Yours in that Life which Commands me to Love all but to serve none in a way contrary to that Life P. H. A DISCOVERY of the unsupportable Burthen of sinne to a heart that is Saint-like sencible of Sinne. What sinne is in a Saints sence BEloved those sayings are most sutable that flow from seeing and those seeings are Saint-like when they flow from Enjoyments And whatsoever is said or seene and not upon that accompt it may probably profit the hearer but not the speaker God by a providence hath cast mee amongst you after a large travell in a wildernes condition wherein God hath made me travish all my former tracts and mistakes in and under all Gods dealings with me and my Actings towards him God was pleased to carry me thorough Strength and Weaknes thorough good Reports and bad Reports to honour and dishonour In which Conditions I sometimes stood and sometimes fell sometimes my heart was raised up with some high Ravishments which I judged Experiences and at other times very low and in my selfe much lost After all God hath been pleased thorough a sence of my owne unkindnes to bring my heart upon its knees and to lay me very low before himselfe but hath againe by a discovery of his owne kindnes and love Refreshed mee and caused that which was made dumbe to speake now
the Sunne in an Eclipse is more sutable for the Sunne at that time doth not loose its glory in it selfe but to us our eyes being Intercepted by an Earthly substance Deare friends If there be any that thinkes this Concomitants is not unsupportable I will then appeale to that heart who doth not onely love to looke but lives by looking upon Gods everlasting Love He will not onely say as the Philosopher did who onely delighted in viewing the Sunne who would oftentimes say to them that Intercepted the beames of the Sunne You take that from me which you cannot give to me But they will say O take away sinne which is not onely that which intercepts my view of that which is the comfort of my life but it is Life it selfe But I shall say no more to this particular but this O happy is that heart which is oft with God and whose eyes are fixed upon that glory Secondly It takes off a mans edge off his earnest desires after God the comings in of Heaven is that which quickens enlivens Heb. 3.13 Heb. 12.1 and sharpens the Eye of a mans affections after God And the Trading with sinne is that which deads and dulls a mans Spirit in his progresse towards God Rom. 8.10 If you aske me the reason it is this The Injoyment of Heaven is the Element of a Saints life And there is in sinne a direct Antypathy Take a fish out of the water at first he may be full of motion but when he hath moved a little upon the Earth the eye of his activitie is soone lost And though a Fowle that can soare very high yet if once it comes downe to the Element of water it flyes very heavily It is just so with a heart who is made able to fly high thorough the comings of Heaven yet if once it paddles in the filthy poole of sinne it becomes like Pharaohs Chariots whose wheeles are off The sadness of which Consequence I leave to that heart which God hath made sencible what it is to live in Divine Loves as his proper Element And what it is by sin to be made dull in his motions heaven-wards A third Concomitant Sinne alwayes brings horrour and terrour with it not onely as the Cause producing it as an Effect Isa 57.2 but as the handmaide for it lives in the very nature of it Sinne brings smiles in the hand but frowns in the heart Isa 33.14 honey in the mouth but bitternes in the bowels and though wee doe not see it and therefore wee thinke it not a Concomitant yet it is so Lightning is seene before thunder but they are both together It s true if men could heare the thunder before they see the Lightning it is possible they might avoyde it but there is a secret in nature preventing that So there is as to the other a great mysterie in Divine pleasure But I shall say no more as to this but remember when you see Lightning that Thunder will come and that heart is constrained to say it who sees both Fourthly and lastly It so far darkens the heart that it makes the heart to love that least which discovers sinne most O this is a sad Concomitant but it is so Joh. 3.19 20 21. Truly sometimes it is with a Saints heart as it is with a young Scholler that hath play'd the Truant he is afraid to goe to Schoole and ashamed to go home though he knowes not how to live abroad It is just so with a Saints heart who hath dealt unkindly with God And though he cannot live without God yet sinne hath so duld his spirit and brought such a shame upon his heart that that which discovers God most produces most sadnes and shame It is in this case as it was with Adam Gen. 3.8 9 10. When God called he was unwilling to make answer At last said I was naked and therefore was ashamed I need not minde that heart which lies under the sence of his unsutablenes what the meaning of that is He knowes the frame of his owne heart and the motion of his minde while he was Trading with sinne then he knowes he loved that least which discovered truth most and loved that most which discovered sin least The third thing in order are the Effects of sinne and they are these It disframes the heart from either harkening to Heb. 3.13 Mark 6.52 or pleading with God nay it makes the heart uncapable of performing any duty savourly that he owes to God his heart is as it were benumbd and his language lost O what sweet Exchanges of language that doth flow from that heart where God lives and sinne dyes and how savourly doth a Saint speake out God and Heaven when he lives sencibly in that Light but when there is any withdrawings from his dayly Communion with God and Heaven come to a heart then and you will finde him very unable either to say or doe especially when his Light is Eclipsed by some trading in Darknes The Effects of sinne is not so in all for those men that are onely professors and act duty in a bare forme and speake by art they are not capable of these alterations of the frames of the Spirit in being framed and unframed upon this accompt wee are a speaking off and all times are alike to them unless it be when nature is made drunke with sinne and so hath lost his abilitie and art to move in Religion so as to cover vice with seeming vertue but I shall say no more to that The second Effect in sinne It brings the heart not onely to question his Interest in God Matth. 26.70.72.74 but to question God in his truth O this is a sad Effect often seene but seldome sencibly seene The nature of sinne is to endeavour to cloud Light though it cannot conquer it and if there be so much of the Dictates of Light left in the heart as to tell it doth not doe well to deale so unkindly with God The Devill then begins to worke to make the soule question his propriety in God and so goe from him If that will not doe then to question God and truth and by that to undervalue him and as much as in us lyes to shut out of doores all dictates of Divine Light that doth any way invite the heart to return O that heart which is in this Condition is much to be lamented and I feare there are too many in these times Thirdly Mat. 5.6 13. Trading with sinne places the heart in a Station and Condition wherein the sweet Riches of Light and Love runnes not into It is true God dispensing grace makes sinners Saints and so finds them in sin when he comes * Ezek. 16.6 but for Saints to run out in the practise of sinners Rom. 5.8 they goe beside the Rivers and Streames in which God was pleased to refresh and make fat their hearts Though it is true some of Gods
people which run wantonly from God doe for sometime Live in that wantonnes upon some of the Reliques of their former Injoyments so long as they will last which is but a little time for then they must Live upon huskes wish the Swine Luk. 15.15 16 17. till they are brought to Returne to their Fathers house O that all who have wantonly strayed in their hearts from their Fathers Streames wherein they were Refreshed as with marrow and fatnesse would now consider where they are and that so long as they sit downe in the practise of sinne they Live not neere the Injoyments of Saints Fourthly Sinne brings shame upon the soule and most when the heart is neerest God A Converted sinner is brought home to God with much shame seeing himselfe look so unlike God when he is brought before him But a revolted Saint when recovered hath much more Cause of shame Jer. the 3 Chap. and the 24 and the 25 verses for God hath more ground of lashing and wounding such a heart for he can tell them not onely of lying in their bloud in the day of their nativitie but of their destroying and spoyling the Earerings and Jewells he bestowed upon them As you may see in the 16 of Ezekiel beginning at the 10th verse and so to the end of the Chapter It is impossible to expresse how much the heart of a Saint blushes and what shame covers the Spirit of a soul that hath gone astray from God when it is brought again to look upon the old wonted loves and to minde againe his happiness in Gods heart He is then like the Publican Luk. 18.13 dares not looke up to Heaven or like the Prodigall Luk. 15.19 who desires to be but a servant Let me speake but this one word or two to them who have wantonly gone from God and now delight in sinne Did you know what shame will accompany your Spirit if ever God brings you home it would much imbitter that seeming sweetnes you gather from sinne There are many Effects of sinne but I shall reduce them I meane to speake of to these two heads First Sinne is injurious to God Secondly It is injurious to a Man First to God Job 22.2 3. but in that consider this Caution God as God can neither be injured by us nor receive any addition of good from us but when wee speake of Injuries wee are to looke upon God in his administrations or appearances towards us and so God may be said to be Injured 1 Sam. 2.30 and to be honored or dishonored and in that sence the Injurie to God consists in these things First It clouds his glory amongst men especially the sinne of Saints The Light Rom. 2 23 24. Life Love of God in Saints are beames of that divine body they are sparkes of that fire which purely lives in God and when this Light and Love appeares in a Saints life they are said to glorifie God and to cause men that view them to see their good workes and to give glory to God Mat. the 5.16 But when the lives of the people of God are full of darknes and sinne they doe exceedingly Cloud the beames of Gods beauty as to men Like the Clouds in the Aire which cover the Earth from beholding the Beautie of the Sunne Secondly It denies the Authoritie of God for a man that is a member of a Common-wealth not to conforme to the Lawes doth deny the Authoritie there and so those soules that acknowledge themselves related to God and yet in their lives doe practise things contrary to God they * Tit. 1.16 Jude 4. doe deny his Authoritie Thirdly Sin doth as much as in it lyes binde * Jer. 5.25 and hinder the goings out of God in his Love to doe us good as you may see Isaiah the 59.2 3. It is true when God will arise in his Majestie in glory sin is drove out before him and expelled by him and no sin * Isa 1.4 can hinder him but sinne tends and doth what in it lyes to oppose the goings out of Divine Love and in that sence he is said to be hindered Fourthly It brings blackness upon that beauty which God delights to view God loves a soule so as to beautifie him with the beautie of * Ezek. 16.14 himselfe and then he delights to view * Cant. 2.14 that beauty but so far as any of the people of God doe trade in or medle with sin or darknes so far they draw a dark Cloud over and throw dirt in the face of this beauty As for the Injuries that sin doth to the people of God it may be reduced into three heads First It is Injurious to him as he is a Christian Secondly As he is a Member of the State Thirdly As he is a Master of a familie First The Injuries that sinne doth to the people of God as they are Christians I have already spoken of and therefore shall say no more but onely speake a word or two from the two Latter Secondly Sinne is Injurious to a man as he is a member of the State that 's cleerly demonstrated in many mens practises What is that weakens the heart and tyes up the hands of many men in Authoritie from suppressing of sinne but the guilt of sinne in their owne * Rom. 2.22 23. Consciences how is it possible for any man in any office to be zealously carried out in suppressing of unrighteousnesse when they themselves are unrighteous Can a drunkard punish drunkennes or a swearer punish swearers or an oppressor punish oppressors but as they are constrained to it either by an overruling hand of providence going beyond them while it makes use of them or els the necessitie in their Imployments constraine them to it But such doing is done very coldly with a faint heart and a weake hand vice rather finding out their Authoritie then their Authoritie finding cut vice but such Actions are not honorable to the Actors in Gods sence though the Action may advance them among men It is true Providence sometimes puts on * 2 King 10 8 9 10.1.14 Isa 10.5 6 7. guilty men to suppresse and subdue guilty persons and unrighteous things but then providence doth it in going beyond them As hath not Experience proved that many men have done that which when it was done it appeared in their owne eyes and others to be very righteous yet it was so far beyond them that they themselves had been Instruments to occasion the taking away of the lives of many honest hearts for the standing for the same things but the yeare before If you aske me the reason why sinne hinders men in suppressing sin my answer is this First Because it takes away much of the face of Authoritie in the party punished by his knowing the party punishing to be guilty of the same thing Secondly It doth weaken the spirits of a man when he lies under the guilt of that which he
killing Law so Christ hath freed us from it and as it was meerely considered without us and not wrought in the administration of the Law in that sence we are free from it * Rom. 18.4 5. yet take notice that we are under that Law that doth engage a close walking with God and though God hath been pleased to write that Law within us yet know it is suitable to that Law which is without us I must confesse in some sence it is improper to say a childe of God as a child of God a Christian as a Christian to be under the Law and why because the Saintship of a Saint or that in us which makes us or gives us the denomination of Christians or Gods child is made up of the Law and is Law it selfe and is no further under the Law then a Law is capable to be under it selfe That holinesse purity spirituality that the Law * Heb. 8.10 without us presented to us is now wrought in us and so the power commanding is the power Conforming Now whether this be any ground for Loosenesse I leave to any soule to judge or whether this be not much more binding and admits of no Liberty to a loose walking but engages much * Rom. 7.6 more Object If the Law be within us what need we minde any thing that is without us Answ 1. The Law within us is not contrary to the Law without us as I told you before if you looke upon it in a gospell-sence that 's to say in the hand of Christ for the heart and hand is both one and any Lawes relating to Religion in another sence we are not to minde as being bound to it Secondly But the Law in a Gospell-sence soules that lie in the life of that Law cannot chuse but love it as a glasse to looke upon that which by its Light appeares lovely I meane holinesse and Righteousnesse which is one with the delight of God Thirdly I shall give no further answer to this last objection but onely thus to tell you from what experience I have formerly found that it is a great signe of a heart that 's sick when it endeavours to draw tolerations for Loosenesse from a discourse relating to a Saints Liberty Deare hearts let me conclude with this that that soul which is really acquainted with his Liberty from Divine Love is so swallowed up and so conquered by it that its never in its proper course but when it lives up to that Love And his being unbound to the Law in that sence which before I exprest doth not admit of acting loosely See Rom. 6.1 2. but acting Lively as you may see Gallat the 2. and the 19. verse I thorough the Law saith Paul am dead to the Law that I may live to God so his freedome was not the cause of his dying to God but living to God but no more of this use The next use is an use of comfort to the people of God who groane under the burthen of sin If sinne to a Saint-like sencible heart be an unsupportable burthen then it is a discovery of a Saint like sencible heart when sin is thus a burthen to it Deare hearts though it be sad to lie under the sence of sin yet it is ten thousand times sadder to sinne and not be sencible Truly though the heart be wounded yet those stripes God will heale * Mat. 11.28 Matth. 5.3 4. and they are but deare lashes of his Love in bringing out the soule into a further injoyment of Life and if any soules have cause to rejoyce t is them that mourne and for your comfort consider these things First God is more ready in Christ to take off the burthen then to lay it on see the Prodigall Luke the 15. and the 20. When the Prodigall did but come the Father ran and gave him ease before he discovered his burthen truly did groaning hearts know how much the * Jer. 31.20 Isa 63.15 Bowells of God earnes towards them and how freely Christ is held out to them and how sweetly God in promises runs out for them with freenesse to give out himselfe to them It would much refresh them doth Christ come to save it is not the Righteous * Mar. 9.13 Luk. 19.10 but sinners Doth God justifie then it is the ungodly Rom. the 4.5 Doth the Father make a Feast It was for the returne of a poore Prodigall Doth the Heavens rejoyce it is for the returne of the lost sheep Truly the people of God never mourne as sinners but then God rejoyces over them as Saints Secondly Consider not onely the readinesse of God to take off the burthen but the freeness of Christ to bear * Isa 63.3.2 Cor. 5.21 Phil. 2.5 6 7. it As upon the Crosse where he willingly submitted to the lash of the Law and the frownes of Heaven for the sins of poore undone Creatures so he doth also call upon poore hearts opprest under the burthen of sin to exercise faith in entertaining his tenders to ease their burthens and to give them rest Matt. the 11. and the 28. Thirdly Consider that thy condition is not alone all that God will crowne he thus crosses and all he makes to live he thus crucifies and all he heals he thus wounds * Isa 40.4 5. Isa 61.1 2 3. and therefore when thou art most under the burthen of sinne thinke of David not onely in this text but in the 51 Psalme and in many other places where he cries out as a man undone so did Paul Rom. the 7. so did Jeremiah so did Esay saying Woe is mee for I am undone being a man of unclean lips Esay the 5. and the 6. Fourthly Consider it is Gods way not onely by Light to discover darknesse but by discovering Darknesse and Death bring thee to Light and Life Therefore under the Cloud looke to the Conclusion and behold Light for though there be darknesse in the habitations of Aegypt there is Light in the dwellings of * Exod. 10.22 23. Micah 7.8 Israel my meaning is though there be trouble and darknesse in thy Egyptian heart yet there is enough Love and Light in the bosome of Jesus which is the place of rest for the Israelites of God to dwell in Fifthly Consider That though God in thy eyes seemes to frowne yet know that they are but the beginnings of his smiles And though in thy eyes he hath seemed to withdraw himselfe yet know it is but for a moment and he will meet thy heart with everlasting kindnesse Isaiah the 54. and the 8 verse Object But alas my trouble hath been very long and therefore I feare it is not that burthen which God is so ready to remove which makes me thinke my heart is not Saint-like sencible Answ To which I shall answer thus That it may seeme long in our eyes yet if it be Gods time it is not long Isa 54.8 Secondly Consider that though wee have stayed long
waiting for Heaven Heaven hath stayed longer waiting for us * Can. 5.2 Isa 30.18 Thirdly Know that it shall not abide one houre or moment longer then to accomplish Gods * 1 Cor. 10.13 2 Cor. 4 17 end and though it seemes a losse that losse will be a great gaine Fourthly Though thou hast stayed long thou art not alone David groaned so long till his bones were broken and there was no soundnesse left in his flesh so when God hath destroyed thy strength and thy selfe Righteousnesse which Paul calls flesh Philip. the 3. He will then come and not tarry Object But alas I cannot thinke it is with others as with mee for my sinnes are not onely sinnes before Conversion but I have often withdrawne from God since Answ Was not the Prodigall Sonnes Condition so was it not so with David which I desire you to Consider and other two or three Scriptures which God was pleased to speake much Comfort to my heart by As Jeremiah the 3. and the 1. and so on God sayes in the first verse thus much That if a mans Wife be put away for Adultery he will never returne But sayth he you have played the harlot not with a few but many yet Returne unto me and gives them this Argument afterwards For I am married to you and againe and againe three or foure times he sayth Returne unto mee for I am thy God And these Intreaties were exprest to a people that were fallen from God and he speakes to them before they Returne that they may returne If there were such heart-earnings after them before they returned what deare affection was and is exprest when a soule doth Returne Deare friends at your leisure Reade over the 26 of Ezekiel the beginning of the Chapter discovers Gods great Love to them when they were in their bloud and how he brought them home and beautified them with his owne beauty that was a time of Love In the middle of the Chapter he discovers how his people had run from him and given their Jewells unto harlots and gone a whoring from God not onely once but againe and againe Now in the latter part of the Chapter verse the 59. he declares that he might doe by them as they had done by him yet in the 60 verse he tells them he will not but he will Remember his Covenant and know further for thy Comfort that he speakes this not to a people that were ashamed but to a people that had dealt unkindly and sinned that so they might be ashamed So then if God hath discovered thy sin and made thee ashamed know that he is not lesse carried out in kindnesse to imbrace thy heart though peradventure at present thou see it not according to that in the 11th of Hosea and the first verse Object But that which sads my heart is the longer I live and the more Light I enjoy I yet still see not lesse but more deadnesse darknesse and basenesse in my owne heart Answ In my answer to this objection Consider these things First Thinke it not strange for this is a truth that all Saints finde by Experience that the more they enjoy discoveries of Light from God the more unkindnesse and darknesse they see in themselves * Job 42.5 6. Isa 6.5 and it must needs be so The darker the roome the lesser the filth is discovered The brighter the Sunne the more prospectious the motes and where the beames of the Sunne give out themselves as the flowers give out their sweet smells so the dunghill gives out his noysome smell so the more the Sunne of Righteousnesse doth arise in us though the graces in us flowing from him doe give out their sweet odours in their ready giving way to him so the noysome appearances and the ugly shapes of the old man doe appeare the more as Paul tells you Rom. the 7th and the 9th That when the Law of the Spirit or the Law of grace came sinne revived and he dyed Nay it so Revived that 's to say it was not onely discovered but also Rose up in opposition against the comings in of grace that Paul at last had little els to glory in but his Infirmities Cor. the 1. and the 12 the 9 and the 10th Sin is like a streame the more it is bunged up the more it will roare Therefore deare friends thinke it not strange but rather with satifaction sit silent in the will of God knowing it to be Gods way as with one hand to Lift up thy heart thorough a discovery of kindnesse so to lay thee low by the discovery of thy unsutablenesse and he will never leave thee till he hath discovered all the rotten Roomes in thy owne Spirit and the longer you live you will not see lesse but more for there is still more to be seene Secondly Knowing it is the Devill and sinnes way to worke not onely to Endeavour to goe on in its old Course in a gracious heart but being opposed by the Spirit of God it makes still new oppositions and doth manifest it selfe with more varieties of motion in opposing Light then it doth in that heart where nothing but darknesse dwels for there is nothing to oppose it Now when the people of God see such fresh motions of Darknesse to oppose Light they presently judge their Condition worse then it was before But they have great cause to Rejoyce who are sencible of these things and for your Comfort take notice That all Saints finde not onely by comings in of Light a greater discovery of sinne but there is really new motions of the old Man in opposition to the new which never was before and in that sence Paul saith Sin revived as well as in his seeing sinne more Thirdly In the last place Consider a Cunning practise that the Devill hath not onely in making Christians question grace because they see themselves want grace but in perswading them that all motions to sinne is sinne and for that End sometimes in halfe a quarter of an houre he will cast in a thousand severall motions of sinne and though the heart doth not Entertaine them but lyes groaning as being afraid of them yet the Devill immediately will come with applications to that heart telling him that it is impossible he should have any thing of Heaven in his heart having such unheard of sinnes there and sinnes not to be reported The poore soule thorough Ignorance groanes under this burthen concluding all is truth And so is apt to exclude all Interest in Heaven upon that accompt But deare hearts take heed of such delusions and doe but minde it and you will see many such appearances every day But I shall say no more as to the answer of that objection Object But my Condition must needs be sad and much unlike a Saint for I have not power to exercise Faith in drawing any Refreshment from Christ or Comfort in applying any promise Answ Thy Condition is not alone it is and hath been
out of the water that doth nothing but gaspe and pant longing for his owne Element without which he cannot live It is just so with that heart which hath ever tasted of Gods Love cannot long Live without those Injoyments though sometimes the best of Saints are apt to withdraw yet when Light and Life appeares Raising up a Remembrance of the former solace it had in Divine Loves O it pants groanes and is Restles till againe it is refreshed with those Injoyments and it will say as Sampson in another Case said Give me her or els I dye At your leisure reade the fifth of the Canticles you shall see where Christ came to the Spouse in the beginning of the Chapter and put in his finger at the hole of the doore that is to say he gave in so much Light so much remembrance of former Loves which did not onely shew her where and what shee was but caused in her a Restlesnes till she found him whom her soule loved and she was so earnest in the pursuit of his society that all the oppositions reproaches and smitings of the watchmen of the Citie could not take her off but she still cryes out and tells the Daughters of Jerusalem that she was sicke of love and she was never at rest till she had found him whom her soule loved Deare Friends Look upon any place of Scripture where any soule did withdraw from God and is now by him made sencible of that withdrawing you will then there finde them very restless till they did returne If you aske me the Reasons for it they are these The first Reason is implyed in the latter End of this verse which is the reason and ground David gives his soule to Returne to God It is because God hath dealt bountifully with him That power of Life and Light that doth convince a soule of his withdrawing from God doth raise up a remembrance and sence of the former sweetnes plenty and bounty he injoyed in God Psal 77. and the 6. It is that which is cleerly seene in the Prodigalls Expressions Luk. 15. where he saith There is enough in my fathers house Deare Friends the sence of this is a conquering and over-coming power and the rather because that Light which presents this remembrance doth exceedingly plead and expostulate with the heart telling it that it was not as now when he lay in his Fathers bosome there he had bread enough he had there smiles without frownes and was alwayes danied upon the knees of his fathers kindness and was fed with marrow and fatnes and then it will ask and demand of the soule saying What dost thou here Deare Friends I am not able to tell you how these lively appearances of Gods precious plenty doth break and wound the soule That heart who ever lived under it can and will say that it is unexpressible how the heart breakes in longing after God and how the sence of his fullnes makes it Restless till it doth Returne The second Reason Why a soule is and must be Restless that is convinced of his withdrawings Is because that Light and Life which is raised up in the heart makes that part which is made sencible of his withdrawings not onely sencible of the fullnes of God but brings him into an union with God Therefore I forme my Reason thus Every thing doth and must be eager in its running to its Center God is the Center of the heart and by the soule that is made sencible he is knowne to be so Therefore it cannot but be earnest in his running to God Streames must returne to the fountaine and beames to the body O how restles are these streames which are hindered in their pursuit It must needs be much more with that heart who is brought to know himselfe one with * Jer. 3.23 Cant. 5. Mat. 11.22 God and also sencible that he is withdrawne from God The sence of this onenes and propriety in God was the cause of Davids heart-breakings after God Psal the 63. and the 1. The third Reason That Light and power which makes the soule sencible of its withdrawing from God doth not onely shew its onenes with God and a fullnes in God but also by it shews the emptinesse of all things besides God Take notice it was the Argument the Prodigall used that was that he was in an empty starving Condition truly there is very much of the sweet dealings of God seene in that discovery for God never shews this emptines but by his own fullnes and when he doth it he doth not onely shew the emptines in something but in every thing besides * Jer. 3.23 24. himselfe For he presents all things to be as they are and even those things which sin and the Devill presents pleasant and lovely I meane all the wanton practises and withdrawings from God and all glory pleasures and contents on this side God and God doth doe it in away of sweet pleading with the heart telling it when it was at home in his bosom it had all contents which was not for a moment but for ever and the last would be best and saying to the soule What are all these delights * Isa 41.21 22 23. Ezek. 23.5.22 Loves thou hast spoused with They speake faire but they end foule and if they smile in the day commonly in the night they frowne or if smile in the night in the day they frowne All content ends with the action all profit pleasure and honour ends with the person and place and what was is no more but all things are vanitie and a meere bubble Can all the contents and pleasures procure peace in the day of a storme or make thee well when sicke or give thee life one houre when dead No all things are so empty not onely in themselves but in their remembrance of thee that when thou ceasest it takes its leave as never manifesting more * Psal 37.10.17.20 Psal 34.16 Love Oh! it is not so saith the Lord with me to thy heart What I was I am and shall be for ever and the last will not be the least but the greatest O the sence of this emptines thorough the discovery of Gods fullnes makes the heart exceeding restles till it is seated in that Center Friends I could wish my soule were able to discover how taking and over-coming this kinde of dealing is with a poore broken heart but it is God alone that can make out the fullnes of this to you I shall say no more to the Reasons but speake a word or two to the Uses of this Conclusion The first use is an use of Information to informe us of two things from what we have already spoke from this Conclusion First 'T is to shew you how Restles that heart is to returne to God who is really made sencible of his withdrawings from God It is easier to keepe a streame from the fountaine or a beame from the body then to restraine