punishment of his sin it is his mercy that wee are not consumed Thus Faith brings to remembrance our sins Such a time such a place c. It laies the finger on the sore place discovers the cause which causes a man to make himself the subject of Gods anger and turns a mans anger against himself This was some ground of Davids patience when Shimei cursed Go up thou Bloody man It made him smel his own sin his Blood and so became patient 3. Sometimes from the end of Gods dealings 1. In general And that is for good though it be not bonum yet it is in bonum Though it bee not good yet it is for good It is a Chastising-mercy not in vindictive-Justice There is a Misericordia-puniens and there is a Justitia-parcens A punishing-Mercy and a sparing-Justice As God doth exercise his Sparing-Justice towards the wicked when hee suffers them to go on in sin and doth not punish them as wee read Hos 4 14. I will not punish your Daughters when they commit Whoredome nor your Spouses when they commit Adultery the like Ezek. 16.42 I will cause my fury towards thee to rest and I will bee quiet and will bee no more angry Upon which one saith Solo auditu tremisco I tremble at the very hearing For if God will correct no more then hee will destroy next This is a Sparing-Justice And as God doth exercise this towards the wicked so hee exerciseth a punishing-mercy toward the good Hence the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.32 Wee are chastised of the Lord that wee might not bee condemned with the World That wee may not bee condemned with the World Hee suffers the World to condemn us That wee may not love the World hee suffers the World to hate us That wee may bee crucified to the World hee suffers the World to crucifie us Therefore wee meet with Crcrosses with abuses in the World because hee will not have us perish with the World God takes liberty to chastise our carkasses to heal our consciences to afflict our bodies to save our souls And wee have oftentimes occasion to bless God more for crosses than for comforts As there is a curse hid in the best things to the wicked so there is a blessing hid in the worst things to the Godly There is a blessing in sickness a blessing in crosses in losses c. Hence All his wayes are wayes of mercy His correcting and comforting wayes His scourging and solacing wayes The wayes of health and the wayes of sickness wayes of prosperity and wayes of adversity All are in Mercy All things shall work together for good unto them that love God Thus in the general Faith doth clear to the soul whereby it doth possess the Soul with patience under any evil and laies the tumults and quarrels of the Soul 2. In particular Faith discovers at what end God aims 1. It may bee the trial and exercise of our Graces as in Job 2. It may bee for the Destruction of sin and ruine thereof Either Pride Worldly-mindedness Adherency to the Creature with many more To humble us to wean us to win us to make us more thankful with many such ends All which discovered and cleared by Faith to the Soul do exceedingly calm and still the heart in every condition Fifth Royalty 5. Faith is a Soul-Securing-Grace It is such a Grace that doth shelter and secure the Soul from all evil Hence 5. Faith is a Soul-securing Grace Prov. 29.25 They who trust in the Lord shall bee safe or shall bee lifted up on high as the word signifies above men above the World above all storms above all troubles shall bee set out of danger out of Gunshot As Noahs Ark was carried above all waters So Faith shall carry the Soul above all dangers Hee that trusts shall bee safe So that you see Faith is an Heart-securing-Grace Wee may sit down securely under the shadow of Faith It is a Soul-Securing-Grace Nothing else will secure you but beleeving Build as many Towers of succour as you can Raise up as many Castles of strength as your provisions will reach yet all these are but Castles in the Air there 's no foundation for them nor shelter in them Beat and cast out as many Anchors as you can yet you will but Anchor on the waves you shall never finde a bottom to rest on to secure your souls from trouble All the provisions in the Creature All that thy power thy Policy can do and finde out will not compass thee with safety if thou do not trust There is nothing doth secure the Soul and set the Soul out of danger but a Resolved-Trust And no Trust but a Trust in God 1. Not a Trust in Riches The Rich mans wealth is his strong City but it 's so in his conceit only it is weak 2. Not a Trust in Friends Deceitful Friends Job calls them Waters that fail as Jeremy calls them But broken Walls and tottering Fences as the Psalmist stiles them Psal 62.3 3. Not a Trust in Princes If any could secure the Soul one would think they might but these cannot Psal 62. throughout Psal 146.3 4. Prov. 10.15 Nahum 3.12 13. Wee read the Children of Israel would trust in the shadow of Egypt Egypt was a Wel-spread-Tree it promised security under her boughs and branches but it could not there was no security Jer. 2.37 God threatens hee would reject their confidences and they should not prosper thereby So that no Trust but a Trust in God will compass the Soul with safety and this will it is an Heart-Securing-Grace 1. It sets a man upon a Soul-Security-Bottom which is God himself Christ himself This is that Bottom David cryed to bee set upon Set mee upon the Rock that is higher than I. Why one would have thought David had been secure enough upon his own Bottom Hee had a good bottom to stand on if there bee one in the World Hee was a King and had provisions for safety If any man might be secure then he But hee sees hee could not be secure in himself His feet began to sink And therefore crys out for a better bottom Oh! Set me upon the Rock that is higher than I. Time was a Man was his own bottome A bottome to himself But it was but a Sandy-bottome Even in his Innocency there was no Security in it But now God hath appointed our Bottome to bee out of our selves and to bee in him And therefore our conditions are secure the Soul that stands on this bottome is safe is secure This Christ sets down in the Parable of the Hoâ—se built upon a Rock that is upon himself Though The winds blow the waves and billows beat yet there is no danger of our fall We stand upon a Rock Why but may not a Weak and Tottering house bee built upon a strong foundation And what is it then the surer for the Foundation It may bee blown down though the foundation bee never so strong Yea But no
special and particular fruits set down 2 Cor. 7.11 of godly sorrow on which I want time to insist But now an hypocrites sorrow is a sorrow to sorrow a paenal not a fruitful sorrow hee is never the better for all his howling his heart never the more humble his spirit never the more broken his soul never the more set against Sin These tears they leave him as they found him they are not changing and transforming tears hee is never the more watchful never the more careful to please God hee rather grows more secure takes more heart to sin against God hee thinks hee hath done penance and satisfied the Law hee hath discharged the former score by his present roarings and therefore may beginne a new reckoning a new score and sin more freely against God whereas true mourning makes us watchfull and so our falls make us secure To sum up all in a little 1 The unsound heart hee mourns for Sin either as clad with punishment or as it bringeth the evil of punishment after it the first you see in Pharaoh the second in Ahab The other laments Sin as Sin sin abstracted and separated from wrath and punishment 2 The one howls under the present lashes the evil of punishment the other under the evil of sin 3 Sence doth provoke the one to mourning faith and love do cause the other to mourn 4 The ground of the one is self-love the ground of the other love to God 5 The one is slavish the other childish 6 The end of the one is peace and joy of the other it is discouragement and dispair as in Cain and Judas c. 7 The one breeds a bitternesse and turbulency of spirit the other humility mildness self-denial Thus I have shewed you these three things and cleared them I beleeve there 's many of you who do not pray at all many who are yet to shed one tear for Sin Alas when was the time thou hast entred thy Chamber thy closet and broken thy heart for sin humbled thy soul for sin Let mee tell thee thus much thou hast sinned this sinne will have sorrow one time or other if not here in fruitful mourning hereafter in paenal mourning in weeping and gnashing of teeth If thou wilt not sorrow for a time thou shalt howl for ever It may bee thou thinks no such matter conscience is now at peace Ista tranquillâ—tas tempestas erit it is like a book bound up if once opened your peace shall end in a storm your joy in sorrow happy thou if God wound thee that hee may heal thee break thee that hee may bind thee humble thee that hee may comfort thee It is better bee broken here than to go whole to hell better be wounded here than to go sound to hell better to bee a sad Saint than a merry Devil What David prayed for his enemies may wee pray for our best friends Send them down quick to Hell Send them down here by humiliation that they may avoid eternal damnation hereafter Wee began with the last first viz. clear your sincerity in your performances in particular wee named three particulars in Hearing Praying Mourning Wee come now to the end which is the first in order of nature though wee have made it last in time Clear sincerity in Obedience in the general 2. Clear the sincerity of your hearts in Obedience in general Now to this as to the former I will give you some Characters of a sincere Obedience Sincere Obedience is 1. A faithful 2. An universal 3. A fruitful 4. A filial Obedience Wee shall only single out some of them because wee are willing to finish this Doctrin 1. Character Full. A sincere Obedience is a full Obedience an universal Obedience It is universal in respect of the subject the whole man it is universal in respect of the object the whole Law it is universal in respect of durance the whole life Hee who obeyes sincerely obeyes universally his obedience is not only sutable to the rule in respect of the nature and quality of it but it is proportionable also to the rule in respect of the latitude and extent of his obedience There is no man that serves God truly who doth not indeavour to serve God fully Sincerity turns upon the hinges of universality It is said of David that hee had respect to all the Commandements of God and that hee hated every false way Hee had not obeyed any if hee had not respected all nay which is yet more Act. 13.22 hee fulfilled all the will of God the words are in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the wills and Commands of God and of Zachary and Elizabeth Luk. 1.6 that they walked in all the Commandements of God blameless hee who obeyes sincerely indeavours to obey thoroughly Wee will instance in these branches 1. In suffering as doing First Hee will obey God in suffering Commands as well as doing in losing as well as gaining Commands An unsound spirit may follow God while hee can follow his own game too while they can serve God without cost without pain or losse c. such men love cheap obedience But when Obedience comes to bee chargeable when his Obedience to God may cost him his liberty his riches his estate then they retire while Religion and the World do walk in the same path there are many who will tread the paths of Religion but when there comes a turning that they must shake hands and part riches one way Christ another God one way the World another then they will forsake Christ You see it was so with the young man hee was willing to follow Christ so far as hee might bee no loser so far as to keep his wealth too But when Christ told him if hee would follow him hee must sell all when it comes to this that either hee must part with his Riches or with Christ then hee falls off and went away sorrowing But hee who obeyes sincerely serves God for himself such a man will obey God though to the hazard and loss of all hee will obey God in costly as well as cheap losing as well as gaining duties Such a man prizeth more of one act of Obedience than hee doth of all his injoyments and will take up naked Obedience though with the loss of all As hee will not commit a sin though hee might gain the World for it so hee will not neglect a duty though hee lose a World for it You see this in the three Children in Daniel and in Queen Maries dayes those go in Sheep-skins who might have gone in Silks c. Secondly Hee will obey God in relative Commands as well as absolute Sincerity doth not only lye in absolute Commands towards God but in relative Commands one towards another And where the heart is sincere hee will not only hear and pray and obey God but hee will walk in all duties of Righteousness and charity towards his Brother Hee is
what sweat what blood hee hath laid out to save us and how easily hee might have damned us Oh! this melts and dissolves the soul the soul even crumbles into dust and dissolves into water under the thoughts of it You see this set down in Ezek. 36.31 Then shall you remember your doings Then when when God shall expresse love as you see vers 25 26. why thâ—n will the soul say to it self as Absolom to Hushi is this thy kindness to thy friend art thou so cruel to him who hath been so kinde to thee so evil to him who hath been so good to thee Oh these thoughts do lay a man in the dust God hath taken such a way to justifie and save men that if wee bee but men it will break our hearts that wee have offended him Who is it that can read over that place without tears Isa 43.24 25. Thou hast bought mee no sweet Cane with money neither hast thou filled mee with the fat of thy sacrifices but thou hast wearied mee with thine iniquities and hast made mee serve with thy sins thou hast made my mercy to serve my patience to serve with thy sinnes even to look on while thou abusedst mee And what would a man imagine now would follow after this Therefore I will plague thee I will punish thee But read and wonder and read withhold from tears if thou canst if any spark of ingenuity bee in thee I even I am he who blotteth out thine iniquities for my own names sake and will not remember thy sins Here was the wonder of mercy 2. It ariseth from the love of thy soul to God The love of the person offended doth cause a godly man to mourn that hee hath offended him You see David Psal 51. Against thee against thee have I sinned godly sorrow sincere mourning is an ingenuous mourning scarce a thought of Hell and damnation comes into the mind if they do alas these do not trouble him so much as his sin that hee hath grieved and offended so good a God by Sin Hence Zachary hath this expression Zach. 12.10 They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn c. In which there is nothing but pure love the expression is observable the Prophet doth not say they shall mourn as a son for a Father there may bee self-love in that a child may see himself undone in the loss of a father but hee saith they shall mourn as a father for a son in which there is pure love But now with Hypocrites it is neither the consideration of Gods love to them nor any love or good will which they bear to God that makes them mourn but indeed love to themselves they have Sinned and are afraid God will damn them for Sin therefore it is terror no principle of love to God which draws them to mourn for Sin As they hate Sin only in reference to hell so they mourn for Sin only in reference to hell What St. Augustine saith of fear of sin I may say of sorrow for Sin Hee that fears sin for Hell fears not to Sinne but to burn but hee hates sinne indeed who so hates sin as hell it self Qui gehennam metuit non peccare metuit sed ardere So he who sorrows for Sin for fear of hell and wrath hee is not sorry for sin but howles for fear of hell but he sorrows truly who is more grieved for sinning than he is afraid of burning 7. Character Sincere mourning is a friutfull mourning There are paenal tears and fruitful tears Worldly sorrow that is paenal sorrow it is a weeping to weeping but godly sorrow is a fruitful sorrow a weeping to repentance and amendment as the Apostle Godly sorrow works repentance not to bee repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 There is a great deal of difference between the pains of the gout and of a woman in travel the one is pain to pain no fruit of the pain meer torture the other is pain to ease travel to rest a travel to birth Other sorrow is a sorrow to sorrow this is a sorrow to joy as Christ expresseth it under the parable of a woman in travell Sincere mourning is a fruitfull mourning for repentance is like the waters of jealousy which either rot or make fruitful And first It is a heart humbling sorrow 2 It is a soul fattening sorrow by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better 3 It is a grace strengthning a grace increasing sorrow And therefore doth God preserve such springs as these in the hearts of his people on purpose to water the seed of holinesse the garden of graces in the hearts of his people Every grace within us doth look fresh every disposition within us buds shoots forth after a showre of repentant tears that man who hath such springs as these within him his graces must needs flourish they cannot wither nor decay Observe it A mourning Christian is evermore a thriving a growing Christian 4 It is a divorcing sorrow it breaks the league and union between heart and Sin There is a league between the heart and sin they are as neer together as the skin to the flesh as the flesh to the bones the bark to the tree Godly sorrow doth divorce between a mans heart and sinne separates between them it sets the soul at a distance with sin Unsound hearts may mourn may lament sin but leave not Sin they Sin and Repent and Repent and Sin as if their Sinning did but make matter for repenting c. This is like the Drunken mans round his drink goes out in tears and then to drink again Pharaoh could say hee had sinned but hee left not his Sinne Saul could say hee had Sinned too yet hee retained his sinne Judas said the like yet if he had lived he had been the same if God had not changed his heart No if a man should have lain as long in flames as Cain hath and should come out of hell red hot out of flames hee would bee the same man still All the terrors of God all the horrors in the World all the flames of hell cannot change the heart These may dare a man make a man afraid to sin but not hate Sin this must come from a principle of Grace a Gospel work The justice of God may terrify the heart the power of God may awe the heart but it must be the love and mercy of God which must thaw the heart must change the heart Now godly sorrow doth work a change in the soul Job 34.32 such a man saith with Job If I have done iniquity I will do it no more hee lamenteth sin and leaveth Sin he confesseth and forsaketh Sin God forgives and he also foregoes sin Beside these fruits I might name many more which are the fruits of sincere mourning It worketh peace our tears end in joy it worketh spiritual tranquillity of Conscience as it worketh a change And besides these you have seven
Deliverance then will God perform his whole work upon Zion and will punish the fruit of the proud Doer 7. When the glory of God is mightily concerned His worship his Truth his Cause Then is the time God will do wonders Though God will not do it for us yet hee will do it for his own Names sake Hee will not suffer his glory to bee polluted And this was the Argument Joshua had Josh 7.8 9. When Israel had sinned and God had delivered them up to their enemies hee pleads with God Lord what will become of thy great Name Though Israel deserve not that thou shouldest stand out for them yet let not thy glory suffer for their sin but let thy Name which is so much concerned draw thee out to relieve and help The like you have Isa 48.9 10 11. For my Names sake I will defer my anger and for my praise will I refrain for thee that I cut thee not off For my own sake even for my own sake will I do it For how should my Name bee polluted And I will not give my glory to another 2 King 18.35 Who are there among the Gods of the Countries that have delivered their Country out of my hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand Here you see now was Gods Glory concerned and therefore to preserve his own Glory hee shews a wonder to help them And happy are they whose deliverance is joyned with Gods Glory Though God will not alway deliver for our sake yet will hee deliver for his Glory for his own Name-sake As hee tells them in Ezek. 36.32 Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord God bee it known unto you bee ashamed and confounded for your own wayes Oh house of Israel But though hee would not do it for their sâ—kes yet hee did it for his own sake even for the Glory of his own Mercy as you see in that place 5. Quere 5. How shall wee know that God will work a wonder for us Wee are now in sad and distressed conditions and a wonder must bee wrought for the helping and relieving of us But whether God will work a wonder for us or no There is the great question This I am sure of If God do not work a wonder for us wee shall bee made a wonder Nay three Wonders to all Nations 1. Wee shall bee made a wonder of folly a wonder of madness Who because none else could therefore we would with our own hands ruine our selves Which should wee effect it would bee the grief of our friends the joy of our enemies the Popes Holy-day Germanies tears Irelands ruine Scotlands hazard and our own overthrow 2 Wee shall bee made a wonder of scorn a hissing and a by-word to all Nations That England that was Compendium Mundi Of which I may say as did the Historian of Ormus that if the whole World were a Ring England were the Diamond that England should ruine her self and with the foolish Woman in the Proveâ—bs pull down her house with her own hands 3 And a wonder of misery For all the World were not able to bring that misery upon us that wee shall bring upon our selves In which combustion if wee preserve our Jewels though wee lose the rest it 's well But wee may fear all will bee indangered if those who were the first movers of our trouble such who Viper-like would eat out the heart of their common Parent bee not taken away Well then The case is so with us As a wonder must bee done or wee shall bee made a wonder a wonder of folly scorn misery But whether or no God will now do wonders for us Here is the Question And I must confess there are many sad presages of evil amongst us many things which speak that God will rather make us a wonder than do a wonder for us 1 Grounds of Fear I will first give you the grounds of my Fears and then give you the grounds of my Hopes that God will not desert us at this time The Grounds of Fear are 1 Either Spiritual 2 Or Natural 1 Spiritual grounds of Fear 1 Spiritual and they are 1 The Universality of sin 2 The Impudency 3 The obstinacy of sin amongst us 1 Universality of sin 1 The Universality of sins All persons all places are fill'd with all kinds of sins The Land is full of Adulteries full of Oathes full of Oppression full of Injustice of Pride Prophanation of the Sabbath contempt of the Ordinances full of Drunkenness the whole land is defiled with blood Prince and People Magistrates and Ministers great and small poor and rich Wee are all defiled with sin Wee may take up the complaint of the Prophet Isa 1.6 from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores they have not been closed nor bound up nor mollified with ointment But there are four sins especially that threaten evil to us and those are such as do more immediately concern God and his worship 1 Idolatry 1 Idolatry 2 Prophanation of his Ordinances 3 Prophanation of his Sabbath 4 Contempt and abuse of his Ministers Any of which are enough to sink a Nation though guilty of no more 2. But secondly Adde unto this The impudency of sin 2 Impudency of sin Sin hath gotten a Whores-forehead without modesty or restraint Men are not ashamed to publish sin as Sodom and their iniquities like unto Gomorrah Not ashamed to swear to drink to prophane the Sabbath to contemn Ordinances Many are more ashamed to pray than others are to swear 3 And thirdly Adde to this The obstinacy of sin 3 Obstinacy of sin Sin is not only universal and impudent but it is grown obstinate stubborn and incorrigible Insomuch that neither Mercy nor Judgement Word nor Works Promises nor Threats will bee powerful to perswade with men Then indeed may sin bee said to bee incorrigible when it is grown too strong for that means God hath set up to keep it down When sin is too strong for the Ordinances and Offices God hath set up for the suppressing and keeping down of sin Then it is incorrigible Jer. 6. ult The Bellows are burnt The Prophets lungs consumed Besides these diverse others might bee named 1 Too much fleshly confidence 2 Our unanswerable walking to the means and mercies wee injoy 2 Natural grounds of Fear 2 Natural grounds of Fear 1. The great opposition of wicked men and unsound spirits against the indeavours of Reformation Too many there are who hate to bee reformed Old bottles will never brook with new Wine Nor will old hearts close with a spiritual way It is now with us as the Lord complained of Ephraim Hos 7.1 When I would have healed Israel then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered All the while before their corruptions did lye a sleep they little thought there were any such spirits in them But when the