irresistable operation of his Spirit when the soul having that impediment removed it comes to be in the next passive power and immediately disposed to a Spiritual Work vult moveri God leaves a powerful impression upon the will acts this capability to carry it from sin in a right order to God at the entrance of which the soul is moved and takes the impression having taken the impression or motion it moves again and in vertue of that is said to act and consent so that this consent is not from our selves though not without our selves And thus we are put beyond any principle of our own or to be the beginners of our own work by any thing we have in our selves which cuts the sinews of the Covenant of Works and hither many times God wil bring us to our beginnings to the bare board even to leave our souls with him that he may carry us from sin to himself and act us upon himself and keep us with himself for ever Thus David Psal. 119. 29. Take from me the way of lying 〈◊〉 could not take it away himself Hos. 14. 2. Take away all iniquity they leave themselves in Gods hand that the Lord would cause them to turn from iniquity So that in this Condition it 's true to say a man hath not a principle of concurrence with God as by sanctified habits we have but the Spirit puts in us a power whereby we are carried to God The Fourth Particular for opening of the Point The behavior of the heart under this stroak and that appears in the Particulars following When this Sorrow is rightly set on and the soul rightly affected therewith the sinner hath the loath somness of corruption ever in his sight keeps it ever within his ken he could not be brought before to take to heart the hainousness of 〈◊〉 evil Ministers pressed him with it in publick others minded him of it in private forewarned him of the direful venom and 〈◊〉 that lay in those distempers of his that one day he was like to feel to the hazard of his everlasting happiness it would be bitterness in the latter end but he turned the deaf ear to al would not so much as take it into consideration not once look back into the danger of his rebellions nor listen to any thing that may force the same upon his soul but now the case is altered he that could not be brought to see sin before now he wil see nothing but sin cannot be brought to look off from it he feels now the plague of those provocations of his and finds by woful proof and experience the truth of al that formerly hath been told him and hath time enough now to recount the savory counsels those seasonable reproofs directions entreaties which would have kept him from the commssion of those evils the hainousness whereof he is not able to conceive the bitterness and poyson whereof he is not able to bear now he is constrayned to feel the sting thereof He hath now leisure to survey the folly and perversness of his spirit in former times and to sit down in silence and shame now he can seal to that as an eternal truth of God which before he east behind his back as slight and vain Oh I now see the Ministers were faithful watch-men which foresaw the danger and foretold me how dreadful the evils would be which did attend my distempers If I would not leave my sin mercy and blessing would leave me and my heart feels it so The Christians were loving and compassionate which laboured by earnest and affectionate entreaties to with draw me from the wayes of wickedness which with drew me from God by woful experience I sind it so Though it were a sharp yet it was a sure safe word that I have often heard but would never receive It were better to cut off my hand to pluck out mine eye and to enter lame and maimed into the Kingdom of Heaven lame and maimed in comforts and credit and carnal and sensual delights than to have 〈◊〉 these and go to hell where the worm never dyes and the fire never goes out and now my Conscience confesseth it is so Lord where was my mind that could not see this how hard and senseless my heart that could not be affected with this the sinner thus wounded his hand is ever upon the sore his eye upon his distemper as the extream danger that hangs over his head and the deadliest enemy that is in pursuit of his soul he sleeps wakes eats and drinks with this as his daily diet a standing dish carryes it up and down as his daily companion Psal. 51. 3. My sin is ever before me listen to him when he sighes out his prayers in secret ye shal observe his complaints run upon this confer with him enquire of his condition his speech ever returns to this point and al his questions lead stil to the discovery of the loathsomness of his rebellions As it is with a commander or General of the field when he sees the enemy come on furiously his numbers many his power great his souldiers skilful and couragious so that he sees al ly at stake the shock is like to be sudden fierce either conquer al or loose al A prudent commander seeing where the stress of the battle and the strength of the enemy lyes and the safety or ruin of the whol consists he leaves the thoughts of comforts conveniencies wife and family the profits and priviledges which he hath formerly enjoyed and prized bends al his thoughts exerciseth the utmost of al his 〈◊〉 now to defeat the enemy how to encounter him how to overcome him and this takes up the whol mind and the whol man its vayn to attend other things when the neglect of the enemyes approach is the loss and overthrow of al. So it is with a broken hearted Christian when the numberless company of those hellish abominations of heart and life lay siedg against and threaten his everlasting ruin either he must destroy them or they wil undoubtedly destroy his comforts he leaves the consideration of other things and looks to the main chance If my sin live I dye for it either I must be separated from them or they from me and therefore bends al his forces bestows al his thoughts how the hainousness of this may be forever discovered the heart forever freed from the power and authority thereof The Apostle Paul hath his sin ever in his eye he keeps it in fresh remembrance and consideration never hath occasion to mention any thing of himself but stil he strikes upon that string to me the least of all Saints and then the chiefest of all sinners I was a persecuter and blasphemer the main evil was there and his eye and thoughts were most upon that So the lamenting church Lam 5. 16. wo to us because we have sinned the plague famine and sword though they were beyond measure
about This particular application wil be as a sudden flash of Lightning sliding through our minds which leaves all as dark as ever when once over therefore there must be a settling of this with an overpowring strength leaving it there enrolled that it may stand upon record in a mans Conscience The former arrests the sinner this latter layes hold upon him pinions him and imprisons him as it were until he have answered what the truth hath against him herein lyes the life and power of a conviction and if it be of the right stamp and carry indeed an overpowring virtu in it it will appear in three things It must be 1. Undeniable 2. Immoveable 3. Victorious and invincible Conviction must carry an undeniable evidence with it that as the truth hath layd and pleaded an action against the soul so the understanding may be forced to confess it and sits down satisfied under the uncontroulable authority thereof and of the truth therein The Scriptures are so pregnant reasons so plain arguments so strong that though before they did not see they could not think it or be brought to beleeve that their sins were so heinous or their condition so miserable yet they now know not how to gainsay it Thus 〈◊〉 when he stood upon the terms of his 〈◊〉 at several times when God had terrified him by the discovery of himself he then yeilds the day Job 7. 20. I have sinned what shal I do unto thee Oh thou preserver of men q. d. I have no reasons to alledge no excuses to make no arguments to plead I 〈◊〉 the action I have sinned Thus the Lord took down the height of of the Word that as it is said of Stephen they could not 〈◊〉 the Spirit by 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though the 〈◊〉 would gain say yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 18. 15. Nay but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Spirit follows the soul and 〈◊〉 and removes these Cavils and Objections that the sinner makes and still shews and saies nay but this is thy sin and 〈◊〉 will be thy damnation that the sinner is 〈◊〉 to yield and say this is the Truth I cannot 〈◊〉 it it is my condition I cannot deny it this is my sin and will be my 〈◊〉 I cannot but expect it It must be Immovable of such 〈◊〉 That as it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understanding to sit down under the evidence of the Truth as confessing of it so it keeps it under the sting and 〈◊〉 of it That as it is with the Bird in the Net the more she stirs to get out the faster she is taken So with the sinner the more he desires to fly from the 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 it the more strongly the Truth takes hold of him in the terror of it So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where he will do what he will go whether he will the Truth will go with him as a Jaylor with the Malefactor for the Truth is so 〈◊〉 when 〈◊〉 brings in the discovery of our sins at the first that it 〈◊〉 a man weary of each 〈◊〉 each condition 〈◊〉 and of his life that 〈◊〉 could wish not to be that he may not be under the terror of it And therefore though he cannot 〈◊〉 the Evidence of it yet he would 〈◊〉 some 〈◊〉 and shifts that may be to take off the 〈◊〉 of the dreadfulness of it or make an escape from under the stroak and strength of it but all in vain for the Conviction is immovable no man can take it off if God set it 〈◊〉 All the Carnal Reasonings corrupt Pleas sinful Cavils whereby men would put by the blow they do all vanish before this Light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the Sun The more he opposeth it the more he is under guilt and so the strength of the convicting Truth his sins way-lay him in every place he sees his sins dished out before him on the Table where he eats lie down with him in the Bed where he rests when he dreams they terrifie him when he awakes they are as so many Sergeants to arrest him summon him to Judgment they are imprinted in the paths where he walks and where ever he goes he sees his sins going before him and he going to Hell with them Such an immovable discovery the Lord set upon the heart of Job when he let in the light of himself that he sits down in silence and hath not one word to say no way to wave it or to slip aside from under the evidence of it Job 40. 4 5. Once have I spoken but I will say no more yea twice but I will go no further While his friends were talking with him their Arguments were so feeble that he could find a way out and could free himself from the stroak and deliver himself from the dint of the blow but now the conviction besieged him with such evidence that no carnal reason could relieve him stops all passages that there is not a muse or crevis for him to creep out therefore he sits down in silence sees he cannot ease himself nor wind away by any pretences and wiles he can devise It is so with a corrupt heart beleaguer'd with the light so that if his carnal friends or ignorant neighbors his loose companions would strive to take off his thoughts alter his apprehensions and abate the edg of the blow and 〈◊〉 to put in bail for him his state is not so miserable and helpless nor his sins so vile quiet your heart there is mercy with God and satisfaction in the merits of Christ. He replies I have often cozened my self with such devices miserable comforters are ye all I have thought as you do and said that which you speak in former times but alas these shifts will not serve the turn Christ came not to comfort sinners but to convert them also to humble sinners as well as redeem them he came to save sinners but to destroy their sins first I never found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I must not expect the other nor you neither This is to 〈◊〉 the thoughts to bring them under 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Authority of the Truth that they may not once hush or 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 10. 5. And this is that spirit of 〈◊〉 the Apostle speaks of Rom. 8. 15. It makes us 〈◊〉 of our slavery and binds a man hand and foot as it were fenceth his way with fears besets his passage on every side with expectation of evil which he cannot tell how to bear or how to avoid he sees he can procure no 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 to himself and fears he shall never obtain none from the Lord dares not commit sin as formerly yet cannot tell how to be freed from it So that as Reuben somtimes in another case so the sinner in this and I whither shall I go Gen. 37. 30. evils appear from every quarter which way soever he looks if to Heaven there is Justice to punish if to Hell there are Devils to torment into himself there is Conscience to accuse on Earth
men out of that senceless security in which they were buried makes them look about them puts them upon the serious consideration of their own spiritual condition not long before they scant thought whether they had louls to be saved or sins to be pardoned or mercy and grace to be looked after they never put it to the question what they could say or shew for heaven but now they begin to think with themselves what they are this is set forth to be the guise and behavior of converting sinners when God begins to tamper with the hearts for the alteration of their states Jer. 50. 4. In those dayes and at that time when God hath stirred their hearts to recover themselves out of the Babilonish Captivity Deliver thy self O Sion 〈◊〉 who dwellest with 〈◊〉 Daughter of Babilon See how they bestir themselves Going and weeping shall they go and 〈◊〉 the Lord their God weep stil and go stil sorrow stil and seek stil they who stirred not a foot before nor looked after the Lord nor their own happiness and comfort So it was with Ephraim when the Lord began to work his heart to a right apprehension of himself Jer. 31. 18. while he was in his Natural Condition he was like an untamed Bullock unacoustomed to the Yoke but when the Lord had taken him to task then he begins to 〈◊〉 with himself and betake himself to new thoughts verse 19. When I was turned I repented when I was instructed I smote upon my thigh Thus John Baptists Hearers when once the Word wrought kindly upon them it made them al busie and inquisitive even as one man Luke 3. 10. to 15. The People they came and asked the Publicans they enquired the rude Soldiers they also began to demand Master what shal we do This disposition of spirit set men a going who sat stil before as in a dream The covetous Publicans whose thoughts were after their gain how to compass their Commodities from every Quarter the rude and unruly Soldiers who cared for nothing nor thought of nothing but how to satisfie their own lusts and sult their own corrupt desires al was fish that came to net and the sottish multitude who meerly followed the sight of their eyes after a bruitish manner minded that which concerned the out ward man What shal we eat what shal we drink what shal we put on In likely hood had never a thought of God nor of themselves whether there were a Heaven to be expected or a Hel to be avoided but followed their present pleasures see now how serious and inquisitive they be they now conclude somthing must be done and they would willingly know what course they ought to take when God sets upon mens souls then they set upon their Service The Reasons are Two Because they now feel the evil they never feared before now they see the danger and misery hanging over their heads able to overwhelm them and sink their hearts which they never suspected formerly And therefore now not only Reason 〈◊〉 them but their own safety Nature and 〈◊〉 love wil force them to bestir themselves to the utmost of their strength and improve al their abilities to the utmost of their power to prevent such over-bearing evils and provide for 〈◊〉 own relief and welfare and so the more to use al diligence here because they are unknown and yet spiritual which concern their eternal estate and therefore cause most fear and threaten most hazard and therefore constrains them to seek 〈◊〉 and neer for succor and relief So it was with the Prodigal when he came to 〈◊〉 before he had not the right 〈◊〉 of his Reason nor conceived of things as they were but as frantick men fal into fire and water and fear nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but now being come to the 〈◊〉 of his understanding he considers How many Servants are in my Fathers Family that have bread enough and I 〈◊〉 with hunger Luke 15. 17. then he 〈◊〉 himself I will arise and go to my Father and say c. So it is with many prodigal 〈◊〉 deluded Creatures they spend time and strength and lay out themselves 〈◊〉 nothing and therefore fear no after-claps until the time of Famine and day of 〈◊〉 and horror come in upon them they never saw need of reading hearing prayer seeking and enquiry but now when they find themselves besieged with sins and plagues and dayly expect the execution to be done Heaven frowning Hell gaping their Consciences 〈◊〉 and themselves dropping down to the Grave and their souls to Hell they think it high time and more than time to bestir themselves to do what they can and to cry for help and direction in so desperate distresses and danger I wil arise and go confer I wil arise and go enquire I wil arise and go pray The whol need not the Physitian therefore they do not send nor yet are they willing to receive nor care to enquire or take any Physick but when the Difease grows fierce and life is in danger then post out Messengers 〈◊〉 far and neer for a Physitian search every bush enquire of every man what might be good what have you 〈◊〉 what would you advise So here Thus God dealt with his People when he would awaken them Hos. 5. last In their affliction they will seek me early then Hos. 6. 1. Come let us return to the Lord he hath wounded and he will heal The full soul loaths the Honey Comb but never looks out for provision but the 〈◊〉 soul that is now starving runs if he can if he cannot run he wil go if he 〈◊〉 go he wil creep enquires where he may have food uses all means to get he wil buy or beg or borrow So here c. They begin now to see the folly of their own conceits and that confidence which in former times they had how easily they could procure their own comfort and how certainly without fail they could provide for the 〈◊〉 of their own souls and everlasting happiness they said it and thought what they said that there needs not so much 〈◊〉 to get to Heaven at the time of 〈◊〉 and before their departure draw on it 's but bewading 〈◊〉 sins and seeking to God for mercy Oh but when it comes too they 〈◊〉 another 〈◊〉 matter of it than ever formerly they did 〈◊〉 they 〈◊〉 at an utter loss with themselves they know not what 〈◊〉 to take which 〈◊〉 to turn they know not poor Creatures how to come at a Christ nay how to 〈◊〉 him how to attain 〈◊〉 pardon or peace And therefore now though 〈◊〉 late it may be they see they know not what to do or how to turn their hand to any spiritual work which in pride of heart said and concluded they could 〈◊〉 any thing They are made of nothing but doubts and questions If thou 〈◊〉 est the gift of God thou would'st ask of him and he would give thee
Isa. 66. 3. I wil look saith the Lord i. e. with a gracious look of mercy upon this man that trembles at my word that trembles at a counsel least he should despise it at commands promises least he should not receive them The Lord is terrible out of his holy places When the terror of the truth of God is fallen upon the soul then what ever exhortations directions come from the word he dares not resist or gainsay but submit and fal under the wil of God made known there then a man wil fear to go from under a command as to go to hell it self EXAMINATION we may hence know whether ever the word hath wrought kindly and left this impression of broken heartedness this is a never fayling evidence As thy subjection is to the word so thy contrition is If the word hath pierced thee the word wil awe thee 1 Thes. 1. 6. Our Gospel came not in word but in power and ye became followers of us and of the Lord. Did the word over-power thy heart then thou art a follower of the faithful Ministers of God who left those impressions upon thy soul the word is mighty through God and brings every thought into the obedience of Christ hence 2 Cor. 8. 5. they gave up themselves to the Lord and then to us by the wil of God so far as they set forth the Goverment of Christ. This fals heavy upon two sorts Those that are open rebells sons of Belial that acknowledg no Lord no Law what to tremble at every word that is delivered No they are not such Babies c. Conspirators and traitors that pretend and profess subjection and yet maintain rebellion in their hearts they yield fainedly but when it comes to reallity to stoop to the authority of the truth they wil not these are traitors to the truth 〈◊〉 the Swissers wil be enemies when they cannot serve their own turns and friends when they do 〈◊〉 the Papists in England they are content to take the benefit of the Law but when it comes to take the oath of Allegiance they wil by no means do it because they are sworn Vassels to the Pope or Pensioners to the King of Spain though they equivocate to serve their own turns so these when they come to take the oath of Allegiance to set up Christ as supream in their hearts and minds to submit to the power of the truth then they take up armes against Christ and his word and wil not submit This is the evidence of a servant of sin Rom. 6. 17. when men receive the power of the Gospel they are not servants of sin else they are Psal. 45. 5. a man that wil not fal before the truth the arrows of Christ never stuck fast in his heart What shal we do We have done with the parties to whom the complaint was made men and brethren c. The complaint it self is ful of bitterness some things are implyed in it some things expressed That which is implyed in this complaint may be attended in four particulars Their ignorance and inability how to help themselves An absolute necessity to come 〈◊〉 of this condition which now they find themselves in A secret hope to receive advice and relief from the Apostles The price and excellency they now put upon the 〈◊〉 from their sins for this is the end of their request that which is supposed and implyed as the end of their complaint namely to bedelivered from that which was the plague sore of their souls and did so extremely pierce and pinch them That which the jalour in the like case did openly mention and these also did intend Sirs what shal I do to be saved Acts. 16. 30. namely from those sins which now overwhelm his soul. Sinners in distress of Conscience are ignorant and unable to help themselves The manner of the speech proclaimes so much to each mans experience at the very first inckling and hearing of it They speak as men at their wits end what shal we do we know not what to do it 's beyond our skil and above our reach either to bear or avoyd to make an escape from his sins and the plagues due therunto As Ruben said when he went down into the pit found not his Brother Joseph there being sold before he returned to his bretheren the child is not I whither shal I go Gen. 37. 30. So it is with the soul in distress of Conscience seeing it self forsaken of God Because he hath forsaken him by his backslidings and departures God is gone my God is not to this poor soul and I 〈◊〉 shal I go whither shal I look if to heaven there justice wil reject and condemn me if to hell there the Devils are ready to torment should I take the wings of the morning fly to the utmost parts of the earth there the wrath of the Almighty shal pursue and if I look into my own soul there is a Conscience to accuse 〈◊〉 a hell of horror to confound me for ever We know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 way to take 〈◊〉 we are 〈◊〉 of our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 makes it more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know 〈◊〉 how to get either relief or release We are at a loss 〈◊〉 our 〈◊〉 we are at a loss in our thoughts how we may find succor and deliverance you 〈◊〉 are the seers of Israel shew us the way of help Paul acknowledgeth as much at his first Conversion Acts 9. 6. when the Lord had met him and discovered the evil and 〈◊〉 of his way he then conceived he did not wel and yet could not conceive what to do Lord what wilt thou have me to do I do not know and therefore I cannot tel how to do thy wil nor yet how to procure mine own peace When the Israelites were driven to perplexities by the expression of Gods 〈◊〉 against their 〈◊〉 carriage in chusing themselves a King and 〈◊〉 cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 us for we have sinned 1 Sam. 12. 〈◊〉 they durst not go to the Throne of Grace themselves but forced out of guilt and horror they were ready to go the wrong way and therefore Samuel by seasonable prevention stops their passage Ye have sinned yet turn not aside from following the Lord q. d. the distressed sinner as a Traveller in amazement when they have once missed their way the further they go the further they go aside Reasons are Two The 〈◊〉 of Grace and Life unto which men are to turn at the times of their Conversion they are hidden and secret and men in their Natural Condition when the Lord is pleased first to stop their passage and build a wall before them they are wholly unacquainted with the narrow path that 〈◊〉 to Christ and life by reason of that inbred blindness of their minds and the dayly 〈◊〉 of their lives and that from their 〈◊〉 For 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 part of the description of the Grace 〈◊〉 to enter in at the straight gate for straight 〈◊〉
soul as somtimes to his Disciples Be not afraid it is I I come not as a Judg to condemn thee but as a Savior to save thee I desire thy Conversion not thy Confusion So our Savior expressed himself to 〈◊〉 Acts 9. Who art thou Lord saies he I am Jesus i. e. I am a Savior to save my People from their sins and so of thee to save thee from thy sins Why wilt thou oppose thine own mercy and so thine own safety Why wilt thou persecute him that comes to preserve thee This Cable of Mercy is made up of four Cords which cannot easily be broken The infinite sufficiency of that saving health that is in the Lord Jesus the boundless and bottomless depths of Mercy and that plentiful redemption that is provided and laid up in Christ. That Sea of Mercy and Grace that is able to drown al our sins and guilts and remove al our 〈◊〉 a treasure that cannot be spent a fountain that cannot be drawn dry Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy and to our God and he will abundantly pardon He hath pardons in store such as lie by him they are not to seek he hath bowels of mercy yet opened arms of pitty and compassion yet stretched out to 〈◊〉 thee Nay though thou coldest not imagine it or conceive it yet he can do it Psal. 103. 10 11. He deals not with us after our iniquities but as the heavens is high above the earth so great is his mercie to them that fear him Psal. 1 30. 7 8. Let Israel hope in the Lord for with him there is multiplyed 〈◊〉 and he shall deliver him from all his iniquities Thou hast multiplyed thy sins and provocations he hath multiplied Compassions Lo there thou shalt see a Manasseh pardoned a Paul 〈◊〉 and yet there is room for thee also He never casts off any that come unto him therefore it s thy fault only which casts off Mercy If yet the sinner stand murmering behold yet further He hath not only sufficiency and enough to do thee good but freely and frankly offers 〈◊〉 to al that wil have it He is not only content and ready that thou shouldst come but invites and perswades thee for to come that thou mayst be partakers of it Jer. 3. 22. Come unto me ye rebellious Children and I will heal your back-slidings With that the sinner is at a wonderment with himself did he not say Rebellious sinners did he not invite such Why may not I therefore be entertained Yes The words are express Come ye back-sliding Children If then there be any Doubt arising God Cleers it any Question the Lord Answers it any Hinderance he Removes it Jer. 3. 1. 2. 7. They say if a man put away his wife shall she return again Amongst men its usual and ordinary if an Adultress Wife depart away her Husband receives her not again Yet return unto me saith the Lord though thou hast played the Harlot with many lovers And vers 7. After thou hast done all these things yet return unto me Then the Soul bethinks it self shal al these abominations be clensed al these rebellions remitted What after al this pride and uncleanness and Covetousness nay after al the abuse of Gods Grace and Mercy yet accepted yet received yet 〈◊〉 Either then now or never He that 〈◊〉 so gracious a command so kind an offer it s a wonder if the Lord do not cast him off and accurse him for ever nay is he not worthy he should be so The Lord not only offers it freely that we might be encouraged but heartily intends it yea entreats it earnestly that indeed we might be perswaded without gain-saying to yeild He not only commands the sinner to come but if he go away Mercy pursues him if yet he seems to withdraw himself Mercy laies hold on him wil not leave him but weeps over him kneels down before him and begs importunately at his hands his own reconciliation with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 17. The Lord by us doth beseech you to be reconciled the Ministers proclaim it but God professeth it they desire men and God in them 〈◊〉 and entreateth to be reconciled This makes the bowels of a sinner to rowl within him and drives him to a stand and almost overcomes our unkind natures What! A King to entreat a Traytor to be pardoned the Judge a Theif to be acquitted a Conqueror fal at the foot of a Captive and his Prisoner and desire him to be reconciled I hat God the great God of heaven and earth who was offended by us who hath no need of us who was infinitely happy in himself without us who might with the breath of his nostrils for ever confound us and that justly why it had been enough and enough a Conscience but to admit such accursed dust and ashes into his presence 〈◊〉 to hear him speak and give him but leave to bewayl his sins before he should have perished for them It had been a high favor and mercy to have given him leave to have begged mercy though he had never granted it But to hear me when I cal and cry to receive me to favor when I come that is as much as could be desired But that God should stoop to man heaven to earth 〈◊〉 to meanness he that was offended by me had no need of me was happy without me and might have honored the name of his Justice in my everlasting confusion not only to hear me and receive me when I come but to send after me but to beseech a damned forlorn Creature to be pardoned This is the wonder of Mercy more than I could have conceived durst have begged yea I should have conceived it unreasonable to have desired it nor could I have thought it but that the Lord hath said it and done it His wil be done and blessed be his holy name for ever Oh that I should live to hear of this Mercy but wretch that I am if I should out-live the offer of it or not entertain it I need not question that the Lord is serious and heartily willing to have the tender of his Grace entertained and my self for ever comforted therein and thereby Why he takes his Oath not that he can change but that he would have me be settledly assured thereof As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner but rather that he should repent and live Ezek. 33. 11. If God do not desire my death but my repentance Why should I desire my own death so that the heart of a sinner could almost be content to give way but yet his loose domineering lusts wil not give leave If yet the sinner wil not come away but staies stil and clings to his darling lusts the Lord leaves the Record of these his kindnesses upon his heart and stil out of his long sufferance waits
the Head of the Second Covenant when he comes to 〈◊〉 a holy seed and call home his Sons to himself he will then make the old man fall And this the Lord Jesus forceth the Understanding to submit unto and this is easily yielded on all hands for it 's commonly confessed by Phylosophers and Divines that there is a constraining force in the undeniable evidence of Argument 〈◊〉 on by the Spirit that the Judgment is necessitated to fall under and yet hereby no liberty is prejudiced for that is in the will Thus Pauls Commission runs Acts 26. 18. To open their Eyes to turn them from darkness to light from the power of Satan to God What is the opening of the eyes distinct from that which follows it may be 〈◊〉 that common enlightening in the History Matter and Truth of the Scripture wherein the understanding must in reason be informed and themselves also yield a full assenr and so far be perswaded of the Truth and Goodness of the Doctrine of the Gospel for it 's opposite to all the Rules of Reason and Providence that persons should step from prophaness in the depth of it unto the height of Christian Piety and Holiness but there must be a passing through the common Truths that are in the way and rode to come to that end First a man must know there was a Christ and who he was and what he did and wherein that Redemption of his is recorded in the Scriptures and of what value and infallibility they be Then we come to see our former follies and delusions in which we were drown'd and so to be turned from darkness that we cast away the former forgeries of our carnal reasonings where note that Paul turns them not they themselves that it 's from darkness they were nothing but darkness and darkness could not nor would not turn from it self therefore from a more Soveraign light in Christ that darkness must be removed In all which the soul behaves it self meerly passively and is wrought upon and that by an over-ruling power The second Operation mentioned follows without fail and by force of constraining Reason the Soveraignty of darkness being removed there is room made for the ready Spirit of light of the guidance of the Spirit of Christ as the Head of the Covenant who begins to set up his Throne where Satan had his hold and this is like the Sun-rising whose beams spread themselves from one end of the Heavens to the other and nothing is hid from the light thereof So there is not the most secret corner or crevis of our corrupt hearts and consciences but the beauty and shine of the 〈◊〉 of this light will discover it and this seems to me to be called the Spirit of the ' Mind as that which best 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the intendment of the Spirit in the place for it is the meer impression of the Spirit falling upon the 〈◊〉 now turned from darkness Eph. 4. 23. where the Apostle describing the two parts of Sanctification Mortification verse 22. Put off the old man in reason it should have followed immediately and put on the new man he inserts this by the way and be renewed in the spirit of your mind in the passive form and then put on the new man q d. This renewing is another work and is to be referred to another place and it answers none so fitly and fully as this place and the word also suits it beyond imagination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a comparison taken from Earth turned a new and another way So should the act of the understanding be turned afresh and lie constantly under the light and guidance of the Spirit and here we are passive meerly That which is meerly the act and impression of the 〈◊〉 to the entertainment of the mind is meerly passive but this is the meer act and impression of the Spirit as the beams of the Sun dispersing themselves into the Air. Again that which is wholly darkness that cannot be active or causal of any Spiritual light but the mind naturally is meer darkness Eph. 5. 8. This light so received the vnderstanding being overpowred with it and acted by it acts also in the vertue thereof and so the sinner may be sayd 〈◊〉 to see and understand for he doth so but in a right order and after a right manner conceived In a right order for as before of himself he had an Impotency unto this yea an incapability of this spiritual light before he was forced from the holds of his carnal reason and made sit to receive it In a right manner The vnderstanding being acted and moved by the power of this light doth move again so that the action 〈◊〉 not so much from any habitual principle of grace whereof a man hath the free use and command at his own pleasure and so doth act or not act by it as he will for so experience tells us it is not The sinner at first would not see his sinnes were it in his power and might he have his own mind he would have the ghastly visage of them gone out of his sight Nay he useth al the wayes and contrives all the means he can that he might put them out of his thoughts that they might not come into his consideration or remembrance It 's against the heart and hair utterly against his will that he cannot get off it which argues that he acts not so much here as a cause by Counsel out of his own choyce and habitual disposition whereof he hath the command but meerly as he is acted and after when the spirit withdraws he cannot so see them though he would as that phrase Gal. 4. 9. After ye have known God or rather are known of God It 's not so much from our own ability we have from within that we do it but because he looked upon us we look back again upon him As a looking Glass reflects the light not from any light it hath of it's own but because the light of the Sun fals upon it so that it 's true to say the light is reflected by it rather than it reflects the light For because the light 〈◊〉 reflect 〈◊〉 it comes to be reflected So Job Complayned Job 13. 26. Thou makest me to possess the sins of my Youth So David Psal. 77. 4. Thou keepest mine eyes waking Wherein this true sight and apprehension of sin properly discovers it self I Answer A true sight of sin hath two Conditions attending upon it or it appears in two things We must see sin 1. Cleerly 2. Convictingly what it is in it self and what it is to us not in the appearance and paint of it but in the power of it not to fadam it in the notion and conceit only but to see it with Application We must see it cleerly in its own Nature its Native color and proper hue It 's not every slight conceit not every general and cursorie consused thought or careless consideration that will serve the
Psal. 19. 7. the law of God makes wise the simple 2. Tim. 3. 15. it's able to make us wise unto Salvation 3 There 's a Sufficiency of God to content and satisfy us Blessed are they who walk in his wayes and blessed are they that keep his Testimonies Psal. 119. 1. 2. Great prosperity have they that love the law and nothing shal offend them ver 16. and in truth there can be no greater reward for doing wel than to be enabled to do well he that hath attayned his last end he cannot go further he cannot be better Now by sin we justle the law out of its place and the Lord out of his Glorious Soveraignty pluck the Crown from his head and the Seepter out of his hand and we say and profess by our practice there is not authority and power there to govern nor wisdom to guide nor good to content me but I wil be swayed by mine own wil and led by mine own deluded reason and satisfied with my own lusts This is the guise of every graceless heart in the commission of sin so Pharaoh who is the Lord I know not the Lord nor will I lett Israel go Exod. 5. 2. in the time of their prosperity see how the Jews turn their backs and shake off the authority of the Lord we are Lords say 〈◊〉 we will come no more at thee Jer. 2. 31. and our tongues are our own who shal be Lords 〈◊〉 us Psal. 12. 4. So for the wisdom of the world see how they set light by it as not worth the looking after it Jer. 18. 12. we wil walk after our own devices we wil every one do the imagination of his own evil heart yea they sett up their own traditions their own Idols and delusions and Lord it over the law making the command of God of none effect Math. 15. 8. 9. So for the goodness of the word Job 22. 17. Mal. 3. 14. It is in vayn to serve God and what profit is there that we have kept his ordinances yea his Commandemnts are ever grievous It s a grievous thing to the loose person he cannot have his pleasures but he must have his guilt and gall with them It s grievous to the worlding that he cannot lay hold on the world by unjust means but Conscience layes hold upon him as breaking the law Thou that knowest and keepest thy pride and stubbornness and thy distempers know assuredly thou dost justle God out of the Throne of his glorious Soveraignty and thou dost profess Not Gods wil but thine own which is above his shall rule thee thy 〈◊〉 reason and the folly of thy mind is above the wisdome of the Lord and that shal guide thee to please thine own stubborn crooked pervers spirit is a greater good than to please God and enjoy happines for this more Contents thee That when thou considerest but thy Course dost thou not wonder that the great and Terrible God doth not pash such a poor insolent worm to pouder and send thee packing to the pitt every moment 2 It smites at the Essence of the Almighty and the desire of the sinner is not only that God should not be supream but that indeed he should not be at all and therefore it would destroy the being of Jehovah Psal. 81. 15. sinners are called the haters of the Lord. John 15. 24. they hated both me and my Father Now he that hates endeavours if it be possible the annihilation of the thing hated and its most certain were it in their power they would pluck God out of Heaven the light of his truth out of their Consciences and the law out of the Societies and Assemblies where they live that they might have elbow room to live as they list Nay what ever they hate most and intend and plott more evil against in al the world they hate God most of all and intend more evil against him than against all their 〈◊〉 besides because they hate all for his sake therefore wicked men are said to destroy the law Psal. 126. 119. the Adulterer loaths that law that condemns uncleaness the Earthworm would destrow that law that forbids Covetousness they are sayd to hate the light John 3. 21. to hate the Saints and Servants of the Lord John 15. 18. the world hates you he that hates the Lanthorn for the lights sake he hates the light much more he that hates the faithful because of the Image of God and the Grace that appears there he hates the God of all Grace and Holiness most of all so God to Zenacharib Isa. 37. 28. I know thy going out and thy Comming in and thy rage against me Oh it would be their content if there was no God in the world to govern them no law to curbe them no justice to punish no truth to trouble them Learn therfore to see how far your rebellions reach It is not arguments you gainsay not 〈◊〉 Counsel of a Minister you reject the command of a 〈◊〉 ye oppose evidence of rule or reason ye 〈◊〉 but be it known to you you fly in the very face of the Almighty and it is not the Gospel of Grace ye would have destroyed but the spirit of Grace the author of Grace the Lord Jesus the God of all Grace that ye hate It crosseth the whol course of Providence perverts the work of the Creature and defaceth the beautiful frame and that sweet correspondence and orderly usefulness the Lord first implanted in the order of things The Heavens deny their influence the Earth her strength the Corn her nourishment thank sin for that Weeds come instead of herbs Cockle and Darnel instead of Wheat thank sin for that Rom. 8. 22. The whol Creature or Creation grones under vanity either cannot do what it would or else misseth of that good and end it intended breeds nothing but vanity brings forth nothing but vexation It crooks all things so as that none can straiten them makes so many wants that none can supply them Eccles. 1. 15. This makes crooked Servants in a family no 〈◊〉 can rule them 〈◊〉 inhabitants in towns crooked members in Congregations ther 's no ordering nor joynting of them in that comly accord and mutual subjection know they said the adversary sin hath done all this Man was the mean betwixt God and the Creature to convey all good with all the constancy of it and therefore when Man breaks Heaven and Earth breaks all asunder the Conduit being cracked and displaced there can be no conveyance from the Fountain In regard of our selves see we and consider nakedly the nature of sin in Four particulars It s that which makes a separation between God and the soul breaks that Union and Communion with God for 〈◊〉 we were made and in the enjoyment of which we should be blessed and happie Isai. 59. 1. 2. Gods ear is not heavy that it cannot hear nor his hand that it cannot help but your iniquities have separated betwixt God and
you your sins have hid his face that he wil not hear for he professeth Psal. 5. 4. that he is a God that wills not wickedness neither shal iniquity dwell with him Into the new Jerusalem shal no unclean thing enter but without shal be doggs Rev. 21. 27. The Dogs to their Kennel and Hogs to their Sty and Mire but if an impenitent wretch should come into Heaven the Lord would go out of Heaven Iniquity shall not dwell with sin That then that deprives me of my greatest good for which I came into the world and for which I live and labor in the world and without which I had better never to have been born nay that which deprives me of an universal good a good that hath all good in it that must needs be an evil but have all evil in it but so doth sin deprive me of God as the Object of my will and that wills all good and therefore it must bring in Truth all evil with it Shame takes away my Honor Poverty my Wealth Persecution my Peace Prison my Liberty Death my Life yet a man may still be a happy man lose his Life and live eternally But sin takes away my God and with him all good goes Prosperity without God will be my poyson Honor without him my bane nay the word without God hardens me my endeavor without him profits nothing at all for my good A Natural man hath no God in any thing and therefore hath no good It brings an incapability in regard of my self to receive good and an impossibility in regard of God himself to work my spiritual good while my sin Continues and I Continue impenitent in it An incapability of a spiritual blessing Why trangress ye the Commandement of the Lord that ye cannot prosper do what ye can 2 Chron. 24. 20. And He that being often reproved hardens his heart shal be consumed suddenly and there is no remedy He that spils the Physick that should cure him the meat that should nourish him there is no remedy but he must needs dye so that the Commission of sin makes not only a separation from God but obstinate resistance and continuance in it maintains an infinit and everlasting distance between God and the soul So that so long as the sinful resistance of thy soul continues God cannot vouchsafe the Comforting and guiding presence of his grace because it 's cross to the Covenant of Grace he hath made which he will not deny and his Oath which he will not alter So that should the Lord save thee and thy Corruption carry thee and thy proud vnbeleeving heart to heaven he must nullify the Gospel Heb. 5. 9. He 's the Author of Salvation to them that 〈◊〉 him and forswear himself Heb. 3. 18. He hath sworn unbeleevers shall not enter into his rest he must cease to be just and holy and so to be God As Saul said to Jonathan concerning David 1 Sam. 20. 30 31. So long as the Son of Jesse lives thou shalt not be established nor thy Kingdom So do thou plead against thy self and with thy own soul So long as these rebellious distempers continue Grace and Peace and the Kingdom of Christ can never be established in thy heart For this obstinate resistance differs nothing from the plagues of the state of the damned when they come to the highest measure but that it is not yet total and final there being some kind of abatement of the measure of it and stoppage of the power of it Imagine thou sawest the Lord Jesus coming in the clouds and heardest the last trump blow Arise ye dead and come to judgment Imagine thou sawest the Judg of all the World sitting upon the Throne thousands of Angels before him and ten thousands ministring unto him the Sheep standing on his right hand and the Goats at the left Suppose thou heardest that dreadful Sentence and final Doom pass from the Lord of Life whose Word made Heaven and Earth and will shake both Depart from me ye cursed How would thy heart shake and sink and die within thee in the thought thereof wert thou really perswaded it was thy portion Know that by thy dayly continuance in sin thou dost to the utmost of thy power execute that Sentence upon thy soul It 's thy life thy labor the desire of thy heart and thy dayly practice to depart away from the God of all Grace and Peace and turn the Tomb-stone of everlasting destruction upon thine own soul. It 's the Cause which brings all other evils of punishment into the World and without this they are not evil but so far as sin is in them The sting of a trouble the poyson and malignity of a punishment and affliction the evil of the evil of any judgment it is the sin that brings it or attends it Jer. 2. 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy back slidings shall réprove thee know therefore that it is an evil and bitter thing that 〈◊〉 hast forsaken the Lord. Jer. 4. 18. Thy waies and doings have procured these things unto thee 〈◊〉 it is bitter and reacheth unto the heart Take miseries and crosses without sin they are like to be without a sting the Serpent without poyson ye may take them and make Medicines of them So Paul 1 Cor. 15. 55. he plaies with death it self sports with the 〈◊〉 Oh death where is thy sting Oh Grave where is thy Victory the sting of death is sin All the harmful annoyance in sorrows and punishments further than either they come from sin or else tend to it they are rather improvements of what we have than parting with any thing we do enjoy we rather lay out our conveniences than seem to lose them yea they encrease our Crown and do not diminish our Comfort Blessed 〈◊〉 ye when men revile you and persecute you and speak all manner of evil of you for my sake for great is your reward in Heaven Matth. 5. 11. There is a blessing in persecutions and reproaches when they be not mingled with the deserts of our sins yea our momentary short affliction for a good cause and a good Conscience works an excessive exceeding weight of Glory If then sin brings all evils and makes all evils indeed to us then is it worse than all those evils It brings a Curse upon all our Comforts blasts all our blessings the best of all our endeavors the use of all the choycest of all Gods Ordinances it 's so evil and vile that it makes the use of all good things and all the most glorious both Ordinances and Improvements evil to us Hag. 2. 13. 14. When the Question was made to the Priest If one that is unclean by a dead Body touch any of the holy things shall it be unclean And he answered Yea. So is this People and so is this Nation before me saith the Lord and so is every work of their hands and that which they offer is unclean If any good
they were and therefore may cal and choos thee also They are not only dry but dead bones which the Lord makes to live Ezek. 37. 2. can these dead bones live they are not onely miscarrying but barren wombs which the Lord makes to bear and be fruitful Not only when things are under hope but when there is nothing in present appearance or expectation then God can do it Rom. 4. 24. when it is not onely beyond thy power and ability God can support thee and strengthen thee teach and quicken thee when it is beyond not thy apprehension but thy very thought and hope he hath done so 〈◊〉 do so he lives stil and can do so to thee also True my weaknesses are many but that 's not al nor yet the worst the way wardness and perversness of mine own heart ads the greatest weight unto my misery and wretchedness not onely destitute of any spiritual good but not willing to be made better my brow as brass and my neck like an iron and sinew as the Lord complaynes Isa. 48. 4. My heart harder than the nether milstone Job 41. 28. If life and Salvation were laid before me and that I might have heaven and grace for taking or entertainment of it yet I would neither have word nor Christ nor heaven it self unless I might have my wil in heaven such is the invincible stiffness and desperate perversness of my spirit unless I may have what I wil when it comes upon the narrow God must not have his glory nor service nor subjection nor alleagiance nor duty in the least 〈◊〉 discharged I must burn for I can neither break nor yield nor mercies perswade me nor judgments awe me I can receive no good nay I can see no reason why God should do any good to me that would not have it Here is the dead lift and the wonder of al wonders the overpowring of the soveraignty of a stubborn self-willy heart 〈◊〉 the throne where Satan dwells which 〈◊〉 the doctrine of free-wil to be a doctrine of Devils and that which drives the soul to everlasting discouragement pretend what such deceivers can to the contrary But the former doctrine affords support and that which wil bear up thy heart even in this particular also thy Salvation depends not upon thine owne wil for then neither thou nor any flesh should be saved But God shewes mercy to whom he will shew mercy Rom. 9. 19. As nothing can deserve his mercy so nothing can resist his good pleasure when he wil shew it he wil make thee find it and others see it James 1. 18. of his own good wil begot he us by the word of truth It 's not according to the wil of Satan for then no man should be saved it s not according to the wil of man fallen for then no man could be saved But he dispenseth the work of his grace according to his own wil And his counsel shal stand and he will do what he wil. Isai. 46. 11. let the wil of men and Devills oppose it to the utmost of their power Quiet thou thy heart I cannot do any thing that might purchas not yet in truth would I have grace if God would give it only it is with God to do good to this miserable soul of mine as he wil who doth what he wil in heaven and in earth his wil be done and blessed be his holy name for ever and ever and there stay thy self It was the expression of a man in heavy perplexity of Conscience finding the crosness of his wil to snarl at the Lords dispensation his heart sunk within him with unsupportable horror that he had 〈◊〉 the sin against the Holy Ghost and with many prayers and tears he sought to heaven to bring his heart to an under subjection to the good pleasure of the Lord but the Lord left him to his own perversness nothing he could do could prevail with his own spirit and proffessed against that cursed cavil of the Arminians that reproach of the doctrine of Gods free grace which leads to despayr and discouragement openly acknowledging that if his own salvation depended upon his own wil he should perish irrecoverably but that only held his heart in some hope that his happiness was in Gods hand and that it meerly depended upon the wil of the Lord to give him a heart to fear and serve him or else his heart would fayl And it was a savory speech of a gracious woman that had a great deal of Do with her own heart when she could not find her heart to come off so willingly to give way as she ought to what her judgment allowed she besought the Lord to give her such a disposition of heart whether she would or no. Thou yet replyest that which ads to the hainousness of my evil is this these loathsom distempers have not been harboured in mine own breast onely confined in mine own bosom which yet had been too much but they have broken out into the most sierce and professed rebellion and that in the highest degree I have been a professed opposer of the gospel and the power thereof an open Rabshekah a Ringleader and Encourager to such that would revile and reproach the righteous and good wayes of Gods grace a jearing Ishmaelite of such as with 〈◊〉 of Conscience had care to walk therein and have resolved and attempted also even with an impudent face and a brazen forehead to outbrave the authority of the truth and made it matter of scorn to drop and give in to the most dreadful threatnings that could be denounced out of the word I have trampled al the entreaties of the Lord and tender offers of mercy under feet that when I have called over my course and viewed my carriage in cold blood I have wondred that the Lord hath not made me a spectacle of his displeasure before I departed out of the place that the very earth did not open and swallow me quick as Corah 〈◊〉 and Abiram So that God cannot be God unless he do avenge himself and pluck the praise of his justice 〈◊〉 the heart blood of such a wretch nay he should be accessory to the dishonor of his own name if he should shew mercy to such who openly impudently in a hellish haughtiness of heart have trampled his mercy under their feet True flesh and blood could not do it nay the heart 〈◊〉 man cannot think it how this should be did wee measure Gods compassions according to our narrowscantling but Gods thoughts are not ours nor his wayes ours so far as the heavens are above the earth so great is his mercy unto them that fear him Isai. 55. Psal. 103. 11. infinitely above and beyond our own desires and thoughts our imaginations and expectations They are I confess amazing expressions of miraculous compassions of the Lord yet such they are as he is pleased to manifest to sinful dust and ashes He can tel how to have the
Christ 〈◊〉 Purchased to himself for if he could he 〈◊〉 do it some of these wayes Either by force we must take it rush by 〈◊〉 into the right and possession of the Lord Jesus 〈◊〉 wrest by strong hand everlasting happiness from 〈◊〉 whether he will or no. But that 's impossible 〈◊〉 what is the clay to the Potter So the Prophet ex presseth the difference the interogation shewes 〈◊〉 impossibilitie of the opposition they may 〈◊〉 with his will but they cannot cross it 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Who hath resisted his will and therefore the Lord 〈◊〉 the Vineyard determines it by his absolute good 〈◊〉 sure Mat. 20. 14 15. I will give to this last 〈◊〉 thee may I not do what I will with my own As by force we cannot take it So by justice we 〈◊〉 not challenge it or claim any interest therein for 〈◊〉 thing we have or do Nothing we have can 〈◊〉 it nothing we can do can deserve it at the hands 〈◊〉 Christ. For the conclusion is firm When we 〈◊〉 done all we can we are 〈◊〉 Servants 〈◊〉 have done no more than we should Luke 17. 〈◊〉 Nay we do much that we should not do Psal. 〈◊〉 3. If 〈◊〉 shouldest strictly mark what is done 〈◊〉 misse Lord who could abide it Wee of our selves are not capable of this 〈◊〉 provided and freely offred to us John 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shined in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the darkness 〈◊〉 ded it not John 14. 17. I will send the Spirit whom the World cannot receive 1 Cor. 2. 14. The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit neither can he receive them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therfore our Saviour complaìns that his word found no place in them all the room was taken up already as our Saviour when he came into the World so when 〈◊〉 comes into mens hearts yea if a naturall man might 〈◊〉 Heaven for the taking if it were put into his hand 〈◊〉 were not able to hold it So the young man when he 〈◊〉 as free an offer and as fair terms as ever were 〈◊〉 to any Go and sell all that thou hast come 〈◊〉 me and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven it 〈◊〉 said he went away sorrowfull he would none of the Kingdome of Heaven upon those terms he neither 〈◊〉 nor could receive it A man would not be made capable he would not 〈◊〉 God enable him to receive that grace which being 〈◊〉 would take away those distempers which do 〈◊〉 take place in him Hence comes al those quarrels 〈◊〉 that contention between the heart and the word 〈◊〉 men are not able to bear or hear the blessed truth 〈◊〉 God that it should reveal or remove their 〈◊〉 from them The soul saith to the word as he did 〈◊〉 thou found me O mine enemy The carnall 〈◊〉 is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 7. So Augustine consessed that when 〈◊〉 prayed against his lusts he secretly wished that 〈◊〉 would not hear his prayer It dasheth the vain imagination of a company of 〈◊〉 ignorant creatures whom Satan carries 〈◊〉 down to Hell by a false conceit of their 〈◊〉 to compass and contrive their own spirituall 〈◊〉 according to their own humor They put 〈◊〉 opportunities slight al offers of life and means 〈◊〉 grace proceed fearlesly in the pursuit of any 〈◊〉 what ever best suits their own carnal 〈◊〉 presuming vainly of their own power to help as they list and like best when and 〈◊〉 they will Tell them of the 〈◊〉 of the work shortness of their time uncertainty of their lives how 〈◊〉 and irrecoverable their hazard and loss will be and therefore they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and take greedily each opportunity that is presented unto them They 〈◊〉 their retreat hither and here they 〈◊〉 themselves against all fears that might surprize terrors that might take hold upon them threatnings of the 〈◊〉 which might shake their hearts in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They have found a nearer way and 〈◊〉 would not put themselves to unnecessary 〈◊〉 though they begin late they can do 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bour and much 〈◊〉 and yet do it well what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out his dayes in melancholly 〈◊〉 sink his heart in sadness and discouragement 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 of her present content and delight and 〈◊〉 themselves more miserable than they need when 〈◊〉 years grow on and their eyes grow dim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strength 〈◊〉 them then they will cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seek pardon and repent of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christ and then 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus they conceive 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either to 〈◊〉 mercy or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 or take eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salvation as they list True they cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor are they able to purchase it but 〈◊〉 hath 〈◊〉 rited eternal Life and God so freely 〈◊〉 it to 〈◊〉 man that wil they put it beyond 〈◊〉 peradventures 〈◊〉 make no doubt of it but to make 〈◊〉 their own as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And by this selfdeceiying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men suddenly drop down to destruction 〈◊〉 they do indeed 〈◊〉 where they are and what 〈◊〉 do But what a desperate folly is this so to 〈◊〉 mans soul as to put the weight of eternal Life and Salvation and al the hopes thou hast meerly upon 〈◊〉 so that according to the course thou hast plotted it 's utterly impossible thou shouldest 〈◊〉 of any good For First thou knowest not whether thou shalt live it is 〈◊〉 in thy hand to maintaine thy own natural life for 〈◊〉 what is our life a bubble a flower a shaddow 〈◊〉 bubble breaks and the flower fades and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 away thou art not certain thou shalt live til 〈◊〉 evening or if thou doest how doest thou know 〈◊〉 shalt have ability to seek to the Lord for mercy 〈◊〉 thy brain is grown weak not able to remember or 〈◊〉 the things belonging to thy peace and when 〈◊〉 is grown 〈◊〉 weak it 's not able to grapple with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the daies of sorrow and sickness are 〈◊〉 upon thee and thou sayest I have no pleasure in 〈◊〉 Imagine God give thee life and thou have ability 〈◊〉 nature about thee yet who knows whether ever God wil give thee a heart to look for mercy Luke 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is said one of the Theeves reviled Christ when 〈◊〉 was to die he fell a railing afresh upon our Saviour 〈◊〉 saying if thou be the Christ save thy self 〈◊〉 us One would have thought the place of 〈◊〉 and the gastly looks of Death now presented 〈◊〉 his eyes might have put other words into his 〈◊〉 other thoughts into his mind but he could 〈◊〉 leave his life than his blasphemy So a 〈◊〉 going to dye a Minister coming to him stirred 〈◊〉 up to cry to the Lord and to look to Heaven for 〈◊〉 he professed though he was then going to 〈◊〉 Gallows that he would not do it O saies he I 〈◊〉
rejected counsell in my life and I cannot take 〈◊〉 at my death If yet the rack of conscience doth constraine thee towards thy latter end to vent out those hideous apprehensions of Gods displeasure and thy own misery and therefore thou art now restless in seeking for mercy it shall be al in vain and without 〈◊〉 John 8. 21. The rebellious Jewes who disdained Christ and al his counsels and refused his mercy when it was tendered to them at their dores Christ saies to them You shall seek me but you shall not find me but shall dye in your sins you lived in them and you shall dye in them though you leave your lives your sins wil not leave you they shall rot with you in your graves and rise with you to judgment and go with you to Hell whither I go ye cannot come therefore you cannot come to Christ and Grace for if they might do so they might come to Heaven It was one part of the folly of the foolish Virgins To sleep away their time and never sought to get oyl into their Lamps untill it was too late and then they cryed to their fellows 〈◊〉 us some of your 〈◊〉 for our Lamps are gone out some of that faith and repentance which formerly they conceived they could find at every shop but they had little enough for themselves and therefore bid them go into the Citie and buy but al was in vain they missed of their oyl and missed of their entrance also into the Bridegrooms Chamber Thou art one of these deluded creatures thou thinkest either thou canst make oyl or buy oyl when thou list thou wilt find too late that thou doest egregiously befool thy self when though thou knockest never so hard cryest never so loud thou shalt find no acceptance nor gain any entertainment from the Lord. Nay our Saviour that he might crush such 〈◊〉 conceits he 〈◊〉 down the conclusion peremptorie that it might for ever silence such imaginations after the young man had the offer of eternal life and trampled it under seet and our Saviour had told them it was easier for a Camell to go through the eye of 〈◊〉 needle than for a rich man to enter in at the Kingdom of Heaven they replyed Who then can be saved He answered plainly and beyond all question Mat. 19. 26. With men it is impossible if all the Angels in Heaven would come to help if all the Ministers on Earth should labor to perswade it would be impossible that of thy self thou shouldest entertain the offers of Grace If thou supportest thy heart and thy hopes also upon this what thou purposest what thou intendest to do know it is impossible that ever thou shouldest be good or partake of any Spiritual good for thy 〈◊〉 welfare It 's not in thy power to live to have 〈◊〉 ability to seek or a heart if able or success in seeking nay it is impossible thou shouldest be made partaker of any Spiritual Good if thou wilt go no other way to gain interest therein Ground of Tryal and Examination whether ever we had any saving and Spiritual Good applyed unto us in a right manner In our temporal Estates in Civil Proceedings amongst men it 's not enough to lay claim to Lands and Inheritances unless by a Legal course they be conveyed and setled upon us otherwise a man may be unsettled and shaked out of all before he be aware It is so in our Spiritual Estate Those high and happy Priviledges which Christ hath purchased 〈◊〉 great Salvation he hath wrought and tenders also in the Gospel it 's not enough to claim it and catch at the comforts and benefits that come thereby unless they be conveyed and settled upon us in a Gospel way otherwise the Devil may sink our hearts and shake all our hopes when we least suspect it Thou sayest the Pardon that Christ hath purchased the Holiness that he hath promised to bestow upon His that Grace and Life that rich Mercy and plentiful Redemption which he hath revealed so fully so freely tendered to His thou sayest it 's thine I say How camest thou by it How camest thou to be made possessor of it Thou wilt hapily Answer Though long it was before I either knew or considered what Sin or 〈◊〉 meant yet the Lord at last by the Ministry of the Word and the Work of the Spirit made me see the 〈◊〉 of my heart and life the terrors of my conscience were like a continued wrack night and day and the wound thereof was so dreadful that I found it beyond the skil 〈◊〉 power of means to do me good until the Lord Christ and his abundant Mercy and rich Redemption which he had wrought was proclaimed and there I heard and found there was no Name under Heaven whereby I might be saved but only the Name of Jesus and so I took the Promises of the Gospel cast my self upon Christ and hung upon free Mercy for the supply of all that good I desired and wanted You take Christ you hang upon free Mercy but how came you by the power which did enable you so to do You say you took the Promises but who gave them you or gave you a hand to lay hold upon them True Mercy is free and sufficient the Promises are precious and saving but if they never come to be thine but as thou by thine own power didst make them thy own certainly thou wilt in the issue fall short of them and of thy own comfort and all Unless he who provided and gave thee Promises do provide and give thee a heart 〈◊〉 to take them thou wilt never take possession of them unless Christ comprehend thee thou wilt never apprehend him Phil. 3. 11. Thou art utterly mistaken if thou dost not find Application beyond thy strength as well as Redemption This mistake in imagining that we can make the Application ariseth especially upon a double ground which is most dangerous and least discerned First When from the general offer of the freeness and fulness of that superabundant mercy that is in Christ and invitation thereunto from the Lord with 〈◊〉 instant and overbearing importunity and 〈◊〉 of compassion Oh that there 〈◊〉 such hearts in 〈◊〉 turn ye why will ye die As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner the heart 〈◊〉 to be tickled and affected at the goodness of the 〈◊〉 as being beyond its expectation that there is 〈◊〉 a possibility of relief and succor and therefore 〈◊〉 at it out of a misguided apprehension that it lies 〈◊〉 common for all comers not looking for any special 〈◊〉 the soul must have before it come to share 〈◊〉 This was the wound of the stony ground Hearers 〈◊〉 received the Word with joy and yet had no root Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners Oh that 's a word for ever to be received Scarlet sinners may be pardoned the heart is tickled with it and