that which is at this time most sencible in my heart to speake to you from what God hath spoke to me in my present Condition is three things The first is a discovery of the unsupportable Burthen of sinne when discovered by the light of Gods love Secondly The restles resolution of a Saint when he is Saint-like sencible of his withdrawing from God to turne to God Thirdly The gracious and sweet Entertainment the soule finds with God when that he is brought home And I shall declare it from three portions of Scripture The first from Psalme the 38. and the 4th verse the second from Psalme the 11 6th and the 7th verse The third from Luke the 15th and the 20th verse but I shall begin with the first at this opportunitie Psalme the 38. and the 4th verse For my Iniquities are gone over my head as a heavie Burthen they are too heavy for me DEare friends this Scripture I have formerly viewed and have formerly spoke something from it but I am now constrained to declare what God hath preached to mee for he hath been pleased thorough a discovery of my unsutablenes and my unkindnes by which he hath not onely broken my bones but he hath left no soundnes in my flesh I doe not meane by flesh fleshly nature but all the fleshlines of my owne Righteousnes by which formerly I refreshed my selfe with the sparkes of my owne performance and refreshed my selfe with the peace and tranquilitie I gathered from thence But now my wound is too large to be healed with such a salve but no more of that but to the words and in them you may consider in generall an affirmation wherein you may first consider the partic affirming that is David Secondly the affirmation it selfe that is twofold first That his iniquities are gone over his head Secondly They were a heavie burthen too heavie for him Thirdly You may consider the time when it was when God had shewed him so much of his own nothingnes that he had nothing left to live upon besides free love There was no rest in his Bones nor no soundnes in his flesh by bones and flesh wee are not to understand it naturally but spiritually and by flesh we are to understand it in a double sense according to these Scriptures Galatians the 5. and the 19 verse Gal. the 6. and the 12 verse Philippians the 3. and the 3 and 4 verses Deare friends wee might observe a Conclusion from the party affirming the affirmation it selfe and the time when and the manner how but wee shall draw up all into one Conclusion and that is this Doct. That sinne to a Saint like sencible heart is an unsupportable Burthen In the prosecution the Conclusion observe these foure things First the proofe of it by Scripture Secondly Consider what sin is Thirdly What a Saint-like sencible heart is Fourthly The reasons why sin to a Saint-like sencible heart is an unsupportable burthen First The Scriptures to prove the Conclusion are these In the first place view the Text which cleerly Confirmes the Truth of the Conclusion Further see Romaines the 7 and the 24 verse how Paul cryes out as a restles man under the sense of sin You may further see Psal 51. the 1 2 3. and 4 verses Jeremiah the 3. and the 25 verse Lamentations the 5. the 15 16 17 verses All which doe discover how unsupportable the Burthen of sinne is to a heart that is Saint-like sencible of sinne Deare friends wee need not much proofe to him that knowes it as I am confident every heart that is acquainted with God hath sufficient Experience of this to confirme it The daily heart-breakings in that soule who is sencible of his owne unkindnes by reading Gods kindnes doth demonstrate it But I shall adde no more but this That heart which needs Confirmation of this truth without himselfe and hath not a sufficient proofe within himselfe his Condition is sad Secondly let us Consider what sin is And in that Consideration wee will Consider three things First The nature of sinne Secondly The Concomitants of sin And Thirdly The Effects First What is sin the Apostle tells you in the first Epistle of John the 3 Chap. and the 4 verse That sinne is the Transgression of the Law had there been no Law there had been no sinne The variation from a Law is sinne To speake out the nature of sinne is almost as impossible as to speak out the nature of God For sinne in all things is contrary to God Whatsoever you can say of Darknes of Death of Hell and Devils you may say of sinne Sinne comprehends all and is one with either John in the Revelations tels us of the depth of Satans Temptation Revel 2.24 which Temptation peradventure is but the limbe of the least lust Oh! what a depth is there then in the whole body Whatsoever happines and glory is seene in Light the contrary is found in Darknes whatsoever content and freedome you finde in love Light the contrary misery and bondage you finde in Death but the perfections of all these miseries is comprehended in sinne as the body of them both That heart which is most sencible of sinne is not able to speake out the nature of sinne But I know that that heart which is Saint-like sencible of sinne and doth see sinne to present himselfe as it doth so ugly in his owne eyes thinkes sin can never be presented ugly enough and especially because they see that in sinning they doe not onely crosse Law but Love they do not onely pierce paper but the precious tenders of grace love Zech. 10. It is endles boundless to Anatomize the nature of that where not so much as nature dwels but is inslaved by it Secondly Consider the Concomitants of sinne There are many but I shall onely present so many of them as it at present in my owne view First It s that which drawes a darke Cloud over a mans eyes and hinders him in his cleare beholding of God Though a Christian hath never so glorious a view of divine Light Love that lives in God if God suffers that heart to be padling and medling with sinne and Darkness Isa 59.2 Psal 30.7 Cant. 5.2 3 4 5 6. and then the heart goes expecting to view God as before though God be as he was before an unalterable God yet there is a thick myst drawne upon the eye that he is like a man in a myst and knowes not where he is nor what he sees just like a man whose eyes are fixed upon the Sunne and there he beholds glorious objects than takes them off from that Sun and looks upon the Earth and then goes to looke up to the Sunne againe his eyes dazell that he can see neither Though it is true It is not the glory that we view in God that covers our eyes but rather the thick myst that intercepts our view of that unchangeable object And therefore the Example of
is punished for all his prosecuting doth but pierce into his owne spirit and all his stirring doth but rouse up guilt in his owne heart and all his rubbing doth but rub upon his owne soare which doth much kill disturbe and disquiet his owne spirit which causes many men in Authoritie when they are a punishing to wish they had not knowne it and they are apt to curtayle and lessen it if not cover it And all this is occasioned as a fruit of sinne from which wee may observe thus much That none are like to be good Common-wealths men but they that are godly and honest men for them that have a chiefe Authoritie in the State or in Counties or Parishes can never suppresse vice vertuously if themselves are strangers to vertue and practisers of vice In the close of this remember but this Scripture Prov. the 28. and the first verse The wicked flies when no man pursues but the righteous is as bold as a Lyon Thirdly It is Injurious to a man as he is a Master of a familie and that thus It binds him up in Exhorting his familie to walke holily when he knowes that his familie knows that he himselfe walks unholily or can he reprove vice when he himselfe is vitious No he cannot do it If it be it is very cold poore emptie The guilt in their owne hearts produced by their unsaint like carriage doth exceedingly straiten their hearts and tye their hands not onely to themselves as reproving and correcting but also to their familie reproved and corrected for at the very best their familie who are sencible of their evills will judge it as the Devill correcting sin Therefore in the close of this let all that desire to be profitable in their families in suppressing evill and encouraging good Let them first shew it in their * 1 Tim. 6.2 Mat. 7.5 practice before they first shew it in their power But I shall say no more as to the Effects of sin though there be many more but I shall come to the reasons why sin to a Saint-like sencible heart is an Insupportable Burthen and the Reasons are these A Saint sees that sin hath brought him into a Condition so bad and so low that himselfe with all the world cannot recover him * Act. 2.37 Act. 16.30 Job 7.20 If a Christian had any crevis to behold helpe besides Christ he would have some way to uphold his heart and inable him to beare his burthen without going to Christ but sin is so large and so broad and so full of weight that it sincks all things under on this side of Heaven which goe to beare it And this a Saint sees and therefore sin to his heart is an unsupportable burthen Secondly Sin takes away the ground of patience and therefore unbearable and that it does why because though there are promises to beare all oppressions yet no promises to beare the practice of sin Therefore my former thus That Condition which is without promise is unbearable but the practice of sin as the practice of sin is without promise Ergo * Gal. 3.29 The third Reason which makes sin so unreasonable and so unsupportable to a Saint-like sencible heart is because he sees that sin is not onely a * Rom. 7.11 lye in speaking that which it will nor cannot doe but whatsoever is contrary to sins promise is brought upon him Contradiction in Expectation works distraction but no where so unsupportable as the busines of sin for there is no contradiction like that It expects joy but beholds sorrow it promised Light and Life but behold Darknesse and * Rom. 6.23 March 24.50 51. Death Fourthly That which makes sin so unsupportable to a Saints heart is this though it be the last it is not the least It is this That Light and Love which discovers a mans sins to him and by it his Lost Condition it doth sweetly make up his Losses by supplies from it selfe that makes the soule in seeing sin to see that it hath not onely sinned against Law but against that Light and Love which discovers and * Zech. 12.10 Luk 15.21 Isal 51.4 supplits And for a heart to see that he cannot lye safely no where but in the Fathers Love and for him to Reflect upon himselfe and see how much not onely below but contrary to that Love he hath lived in Oh! how much doth this breake the heart and wound the spirit I leave to that Soule that after all his owne unkindnesse hath now all his Refreshments from the sweet Incomes of the Fathers loving kindnesse he cannot choose but there see to the continuation of the Fathers nature as he is the Father yet the want of his owne as he is a Childe and he cannot but see how much hee indeavoured to kill that by which he now lives 't is impossible to declare how much the Reflection of this Love doth kill and Crucifie a Saints Spirit The knowledge of which doth make sin to be unsupportable but no more of the Reasons but a word or two of use The first Use Is an use of Information to Informe us of the miserable Condition of those who make light of sin If sin be so unsupportable to one that is made alive sure these people must needs be dead But some will object and say They blesse God they see sin and they conceive sin is cast out and subdued in them In this there may be a very great mistake for men may see sin and yet not Saint-like sencible of sinne And in some the Devill is said to goe out when he is not Cast out according to that Scripture Matth. the 12.43 44 45. But know this sin be onely gone out and not conquered it will Returne againe according to the same Scripture and if you see sin and not Saint-like you may see it and be sencible and yet nothing As Pharaoh Cain and Judas c. And therefore for feare of mistakes I shall propound two questions and give my Answer to them according to what Experience I have found in the like Case The first question is What the difference betwixt a Saint-like sence of sin and the sence of sin a man may have and be nothing Secondly What are the demonstrations to discover that sin is not onely gone out but cast out To the first The difference betwixt a Saint-like sence and a bare seeing lyes in these things First Where it is really Saint-like it is alwayes sencible of that most which is by men seene least Rom. 7.24 Psal 51. â—0 Jer. 17.9 I meane the emptinesse barrennesse basenesse and unsutablenesse of its owne heart But others who are Judas-like are sencible of that which men see most If they are but conformable to what is without they are never troubled for what is within but he that is made sencible of sin by the comings in of grace he is so sencible if God should cut off all dead branches without yet that will not
satisfie him so long as there is an old Coare within but he will cry out as Paul O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sinne The people of God know that Actions without are but branches though they oppose that yet they minde the body most which is the uncleane fountaine within and therefore you shall alwayes finde them crying out of an unsutable heart quite contrary to others practice who will sometime complaine of such unsutable and sinfull acts but at that time they will say they have a good heart and a good desire alas can the streames be foule and the fountain cleere that 's impossible Secondly A Saint-like sencible heart when it is most sencible of pardon it s most earnest for power quite contrary to the other which never cryes for power but when it is sencible of a want of pardon and if any thing comes in the Imagination to prompt phansie so as to cause any conceit that it enjoyes pardon it is then not more but lesse earnest for power and so their apprehensions of Liberty doth immediately beget Loosenesse But that heart which is Saint-like sencible of sinne the more God discovers pardon the more they are earnest for power for all the discoveries of Gods love to such a heart bindes up the heart more in Gods love and the sence of his kindnes produces double indearments of their hearts to God Thirdly A Saint-like sencible heart is alwayes as thankfull to God for power as he is for pardon Rom. 7.25 1 Cor. 15.56 57. nay I dare say that that heart which ever was really wounded thorough the discoveries of his owne darknesse by the comings in of Gods Light thinkes it selfe so much bound to heaven for any sin as well as pardon that when he doth enjoy any power he is with as much Light and Love carried out to blesse God for that mercy as he is for pardon quite contrary are other hearts who see sin but not Saint-like they have some carryings out sometimes to acknowledge mercy in pardoning sin but at that time they are cold in begging power nay if they could see into their owne hearts they would see that they had a heart that would thinke it a mercy to Enjoy pardon of sin and with it Liberty to sin not lesse but more Fourthly Those hearts which sees sin Saint-like their sorrow for sin doth very much swallow up the sense of danger but others that are onely sencible of sinne by the Convictions of a Law without the Comings in of his Love they through the sence of danger are so swallowed up in horror that there is hardly any roome for a godly or a Gospel sorrow Deare friends if God would give us hearts to minde our hearts in this thing wee should see very great mistakes in Relation to this godly or Gospel sorrow but I shall leave that knowing all soules that live with God see the difference of that in their owne spirits And to make others see before God gives them Eyes it is impossible Fifthly A Saints sence of sin makes him run not lesse but more to God The other mans sence of sin makes him run not lesse but more from God The one runs like the * Luk. 15.19 20. Prodigall Sonne to his Fathers house or rather his Fathers heart The other is farre from it but it rather causes him like * Mat. 27.5 Judas to run to the place of Execution Truly in this there is a very strange Paradox that Light and Love which comes into a Saints heart doth not onely discover sin but produce much shame upon the heart upon the sence of sin and most when it drawes neerest God yet the soule cannot chuse but run to God and is never well but when it is neerest God Sixtly A saint-like sence of sin is alwayes so strict upon his watch to prevent sin that he feares the appearances of sin as well as the power but another heart is not so but no more of this but to the second question to demonstrate the difference betwixt sins going out and sins being cast out First If sin be cast out it alwayes leaves an awfull feare and care behinde it but if it onely went out it leaves a man very secure as you may see by the Text Matt. the 12th and the 45. verse Secondly That heart which Christ hath conquerd in and cast out sin for when it is sensible it is not lesse but more humble and it must needs be so for that Light and Life that did conquer sin and doth discover sin doth discover to the heart its unsufficiency as before to subdue sin now again to keep under sin that the soule cannot chuse in that sence but lye very low But it s otherwise with that heart where sin onely went out They thinke highly of themselves and are apt to sacrifice to their owne nets or like the Pharisee Luke the 18.11 I thanke thee that I am not as this Publican but alas it is not so with a heart that is sencible of sin by the commings in of Christ he judges himself the worst of Creatures * Psal 22.6 Eph. 3.8 Thirdly If sin be cast out the Light and power that cast it out teaches that soule to leane more upon Gods power and to goe lesse upon his own Legs but it is not so with the other Fourthly That heart which sin is cast out of and doth not goe out is so sencible of what is done for it that it doth not onely lye low before God and feare the appearances of sinning against God but it is much carried to blesse and give glory to God Rom. 7.25 1 Cor. 15.57 But where sin onely went out that man is not wounded thorough the sence of his own sin and weaknesse so as to give glory to God for any victory over sin but rather minde his own Industry and strength and attributes much to his owne care but little to Gods kindnesse But I shall say no more in answer to those questions but another word or two of some other uses and so conclude The second use is an use of advise to the people of God by any meanes to beware of sin I might use many Arguments but I desire you to minde what I have said before and doe not onely consider how unsupportable a burthen it will be and how much it will wound you when the Lord causes you to returne but consider withall these things following First Consider the nature of sin how low base and unworthy a thing it is you shall never see what it sayes unlesse it be in the last pangs when God makes it speake out its own nature and that is death and darkness * Rom. 6.21 Mat. 24.50 51. Secondly Consider how much it is below a Saints * Hos 14.8 spirit nay the truth is if you consider sin well as Sin it is below the Reason of a naturall man t is so poore base and
such a heart from his returning to God Alas God is not onely his Life and so his Center but he so lives by him that he cannot live without him Those dayes and nights wherein a heart is thus sencible of his withdrawings and hath no Refreshings in his returning they are dayes and nights of Death and not of Life to such a heart and how sad a Condition that is and how Restles that Condition is I leave to you to judge Secondly You may see from what we have already said that this restles running out to God doth arise from Gods making the heart sencible of his withdrawing Therefore this is to Informe us that the power of a hearts returning to God is of God * Can. 1.4 Joh. 6.44 Phil. 2.13 Oh what cause then have soules in that condition to acknowledge the power to be of God they cannot but cry out as David Psalme the 66. and the 16. O come see what the Lord hath done for my poore soule The mercy and kindnesse of God in this act is beyond what any can expresse but he that doth injoy it Oh you that doe enjoy it have cause for ever to speak out Gods love To convert a sinner and make him a Saint is an eminent favour but to returne and call home a Prodigall Sonne is that which speaks out much more of the power kindnesse and unchangeable love of God Oh you that have tasted of it let your life speak out Gods love and I shall say no more to you but this that Christ sayes John the 5. and the 14. Sin no more least a worse thing come unto you In the next place this may Informe us of the great mistakes of some men who in their writings and expressions declare that they are againe brought home to God but yet they are so far from being restlesse in their returne to God that they rather rest in their satisfying of others then in their assurance of their entertainment with God Alas Gods mercy is double and treble in returning such a heart to himselfe but the returnes of such are hardly single towards him but to such I shall say no more but rather with teares beg that they may be sensible of the want of sense I meane of their withdrawings from God I am sure then they will be restlesse till they doe returne Againe This is to informe us If it be so that those hearts who are withdrawne from God when made sensible are so restlesse till they doe returne then 't is no strange thing why they get so much ground of them who have all this time stood and not withdrawne Christ sayes Matthew the 19 and the 30 verse The first shall be last and the last shall be first Alas these soules that are thus recovered are exceeding swift in their returnes though know by experience what it is to capitulate with or to give entertainment to or to shake hands with sin the bitternes they have found out of their fathers heart makes them cleave close A burnt Childe dreads the fire Deare friends observe it that a child so soon as he hath gotten a knock commonly doth not onely leane to but lay hold of with both hands the Mothers knee Deare friends I speake this the rather that any of you that stand may not too much rejoyce and glory in your owne condition over them that are fallen as many in this poore Nation are who through a gathered light liberty have put themselves in it before God brought them to it and so have turned their liberty into Loosenesse These sort of people doe either belong to God or they doe not but I am confident many doe and if so God will bring them home and they will be restlesse in their returnes And take notice you that God hath made yet to stand that for ought I know these poore lost hearts may get ground on you and therefore doe not neglect your pursuite in spending time to censure them but rather double your owne diligence in your owne pursuite and endeavour with humility care and teares to recover them The second Use is an Use of Comfort to Comfort those poore hearts who are sadly fallen from God and being made sensible are restlesse in their returnes though their condition seemes in their owne eyes sad yet they have much cause of Comfort and Rejoycing and that in these things First Their condition is not alone there is not onely a David and a Prodigall but many more who have sadly fallen as well as they Secondly Consider that you are changed God is not changed for though we be unfaithfull God is faithfull and cannot deny himselfe as you may see the 2 Epistle of Timothy the 2 and the 13. Malachy the 3 and the 6 verse Thirdly Consider that there is as much readinesse in God to receive you as restlesnesse in you to be received by him Doe but view what Christ sayes about the lost sheep Luke the 15. the 5 6 and 7. verses there was greater rejoycing for the returne of that one then was for the ninety nine it was so with the lost groat and with the Prodigall more then his elder Brother Luke the 15. and 30. verse All these Scriptures hold forth the great rejoycing God takes in and the great readinesse of Gods giving entertainment to a poore soule thus returned I know the Devill doth set upon such a heart drawing Arguments not onely from the breach of a Law but their sinning against Light and Love which Arguments are of such a power and force sufficient to sinke any soule in the world were it not for the abundance of love and kindnesse given in from the Father suitably at such a season But Oh deare soules I speake to them which are in such a condition doe not be discouraged but consider not what you are in your selfe but what you are in God and at your leisure view these Scriptures Jeremiah the 3 and the 1 vers Zech. the 13 and the 1 Isay the 1 and the 18 Isa the 43. the 22 23 24 and the 25 and 26. verses Isa the 44. the 21 22. Isa 49. the 15 and 16. Jer. 31. and the 20. Read the 16. of Ezekiel from the first to the last 1 Ep. of John 2 and the 1. Mat. the 11. and the 28. Psalme 147. 3. The Third and Last Use is an Use of Exhortation to Exhort all that are thus fallen and thus made sensible that they give glory to God for giving of them a heart againe to returne it 's a double mercy Oh what hath God done for you he hath not dealt by you as you have dealt by him Ezek. the 16. the 59 and the 60. verses but he hath returned love for hatred and shewed himselfe to be a God though thou wast but a creature O praise him and prize him loose no time in speaking out his Love thou hast lost too much time already all thy dayes are too little to declare what God hath done for
the 28. verse It is endlesse to reckon up the great heart-earnings and the tender and sweet entertainments that God gives to poore unworthy spirits beyond what they can expect The Lord give you power to believe it and cause you to rejoyce in it with joy unspeakable and full of glory The third and last Use is an Use of Exhortation to exhort all those that are withdrawne from God and are againe returned O take heed of wandring any more Sin no more least a worse thing come unto you * Joh. 5.14 know that the second withdrawing will be a great deale worse then the first and further consider if you are really brought home what panges and throwes you had before delivered and know it was enough nay too much that you have trampled upon Gods kindnesse so long and besides take notice it is very dangerous and desperate to make second attempts of withdrawing from God * Heb. 6.6 Heb. 0.26 27. Alas you cannot have better provision abroad then you have at home Why will you goe Jacob reproved his Sons and said Why looke you upon one another is there not bread enough in Aegypt Gen. 42.1 2. But I say unto you why will you returne back againe to Aegypt Is there not delight enough in Canaan It is better to abide with your Father and friends then to shake hands with Enemies that harbour nothing in their hearts but darts of death as sin doth Romanes the 6th and the last O I beg of you to consider what hath been said and the Lord so discover it to you that you may be overcome by it and so endeared to it that you may never again goe from God but for ever dwell with him O it is good to be there I shall say no more to this Use nor to this first Conclusion but come to speak briefly a word or two from the words in order as they lye The words are these But when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and ranne and fell on his necke and kissed him The first Doctrine from these words He saw him a great way off and had compassion on him is Doct. Large distances will not cause so great a disdaine but that the least reall movings towards God is eyed and imbraced by him with great compassion The word a far off is a metaphoricall expression it doth not imply any thing that doth deny Gods omni-presence but implies holds forth thus much that the poor Prodigall was very low and very far from that state or frame of heart wherein the did apprehend to meet God and the truth was there was so little and small a beginning of what in comparison ought to have been and also was when he was further enriched with commings in of God and in that sense also he was a great way off How far off think you those people were in that sense which the Lord speaks of in the 42. of of Isaiah and the 3. Concerning the goings out of his grace and love in Christ he tells you he will not breake the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax The words imply a great deale more then is there exprest for they doe imply thus much That if there be but so much fire that is to say so much grace as causes smoak though the flame be not discerned God will runne through the smoak and imbrace the fire he will by no meanes quench it but nourish and cherish it and if there be but so much beginnings of life as to give a soule the denomination of a Reed though it be a bruised Reed which commonly men cast away as being not worthy of the ownning yet God will owne it and by no means reject but imbrace it Beloved all this holds forth thus much that the least and lowest motions towards God if reall are imbraced by him How far off doe you think Ephraim was Hosea the 11 and the 3 when God taught him how to goe leading him by the arme and laid meat unto him but he knew not that the Lord led him David in the first of the Kings and the 18th had a thought in his heart to build a House to God but it was onely a thought in his heart not brought up so far as to expression or action yet the Lord pierces through all and comes into the secret Cabinet of Davids heart and finds those thoughts and tells him it was well that it was in his heart How sweetly did God imbrace those thoughts though they were a far off from the act of doing for it was Gods intent he should not doe it Beloved how far off doe you think those hearts are whom the Lord speaks of in the 50. of Isaich and the 10. God there sends comfort and consolation to a people that feare him and obey his voyce but alas it wat a far off for the Text saith they were a people that walked in darknesse and see no light that is to say they were surrounded with sorrowes and trouble and had no comfort but though they had not so much light as to rejoyce in Gods Love yet God in his Love runs out to meet them rejoycing over them and imbracing them in that condition with great compassion If you ask me the Reasons why the Lord doth eye and take notice of such small movings towards him and doth imbrace them with great compassion though a far off the Reasons are these The first Reason is because the beginnings as well as the * Phil. 1.6 Heb. 12.2 perfecting of any good in the creature is of God it being therefore one with him it must needs be owned by him The least desires or smallest groanings or heart-breaking after God though it be but a desire to desire or longing to long really after God it is that which God ownes and he cannot but doe it for it is a streame that flowes from no fountaine but his owne fullnesse he is a Father that must and will owne his owne child though covered with a ragged coat my meaning is if there be the least spark of life in a poor groaning heart groaning after Love and though it doth but groan and sigh and cannot expresse it selfe but with poore ragged and tattered expressions yet God will imbrace it and why because it flowes from himselfe Romanes the 8. the 26. 27. O what comfort and sweet encouragement is this to poor broken spirits were they but sensible The second Reason is taken from the nature of God which is so free and so ready and prone to shew mercy that he longs and waites to shew mercy Isa the 30.18 It is the delight of his soule to meet with objects to manifest Love The same pity that is in Parents is transcendently in God if the Child cannot speak but cry for the dug the mother will take it up and lay it in her bosome and if it cannot stand she will carry it and hold it dandling it upon
out of the water that doth nothing but gaspe and pant longing for his owne Element without which he cannot live It is just so with that heart which hath ever tasted of Gods Love cannot long Live without those Injoyments though sometimes the best of Saints are apt to withdraw yet when Light and Life appeares Raising up a Remembrance of the former solace it had in Divine Loves O it pants groanes and is Restles till againe it is refreshed with those Injoyments and it will say as Sampson in another Case said Give me her or els I dye At your leisure reade the fifth of the Canticles you shall see where Christ came to the Spouse in the beginning of the Chapter and put in his finger at the hole of the doore that is to say he gave in so much Light so much remembrance of former Loves which did not onely shew her where and what shee was but caused in her a Restlesnes till she found him whom her soule loved and she was so earnest in the pursuit of his society that all the oppositions reproaches and smitings of the watchmen of the Citie could not take her off but she still cryes out and tells the Daughters of Jerusalem that she was sicke of love and she was never at rest till she had found him whom her soule loved Deare Friends Look upon any place of Scripture where any soule did withdraw from God and is now by him made sencible of that withdrawing you will then there finde them very restless till they did returne If you aske me the Reasons for it they are these The first Reason is implyed in the latter End of this verse which is the reason and ground David gives his soule to Returne to God It is because God hath dealt bountifully with him That power of Life and Light that doth convince a soule of his withdrawing from God doth raise up a remembrance and sence of the former sweetnes plenty and bounty he injoyed in God Psal 77. and the 6. It is that which is cleerly seene in the Prodigalls Expressions Luk. 15. where he saith There is enough in my fathers house Deare Friends the sence of this is a conquering and over-coming power and the rather because that Light which presents this remembrance doth exceedingly plead and expostulate with the heart telling it that it was not as now when he lay in his Fathers bosome there he had bread enough he had there smiles without frownes and was alwayes danied upon the knees of his fathers kindness and was fed with marrow and fatnes and then it will ask and demand of the soule saying What dost thou here Deare Friends I am not able to tell you how these lively appearances of Gods precious plenty doth break and wound the soule That heart who ever lived under it can and will say that it is unexpressible how the heart breakes in longing after God and how the sence of his fullnes makes it Restless till it doth Returne The second Reason Why a soule is and must be Restless that is convinced of his withdrawings Is because that Light and Life which is raised up in the heart makes that part which is made sencible of his withdrawings not onely sencible of the fullnes of God but brings him into an union with God Therefore I forme my Reason thus Every thing doth and must be eager in its running to its Center God is the Center of the heart and by the soule that is made sencible he is knowne to be so Therefore it cannot but be earnest in his running to God Streames must returne to the fountaine and beames to the body O how restles are these streames which are hindered in their pursuit It must needs be much more with that heart who is brought to know himselfe one with * Jer. 3.23 Cant. 5. Mat. 11.22 God and also sencible that he is withdrawne from God The sence of this onenes and propriety in God was the cause of Davids heart-breakings after God Psal the 63. and the 1. The third Reason That Light and power which makes the soule sencible of its withdrawing from God doth not onely shew its onenes with God and a fullnes in God but also by it shews the emptinesse of all things besides God Take notice it was the Argument the Prodigall used that was that he was in an empty starving Condition truly there is very much of the sweet dealings of God seene in that discovery for God never shews this emptines but by his own fullnes and when he doth it he doth not onely shew the emptines in something but in every thing besides * Jer. 3.23 24. himselfe For he presents all things to be as they are and even those things which sin and the Devill presents pleasant and lovely I meane all the wanton practises and withdrawings from God and all glory pleasures and contents on this side God and God doth doe it in away of sweet pleading with the heart telling it when it was at home in his bosom it had all contents which was not for a moment but for ever and the last would be best and saying to the soule What are all these delights * Isa 41.21 22 23. Ezek. 23.5.22 Loves thou hast spoused with They speake faire but they end foule and if they smile in the day commonly in the night they frowne or if smile in the night in the day they frowne All content ends with the action all profit pleasure and honour ends with the person and place and what was is no more but all things are vanitie and a meere bubble Can all the contents and pleasures procure peace in the day of a storme or make thee well when sicke or give thee life one houre when dead No all things are so empty not onely in themselves but in their remembrance of thee that when thou ceasest it takes its leave as never manifesting more * Psal 37.10.17.20 Psal 34.16 Love Oh! it is not so saith the Lord with me to thy heart What I was I am and shall be for ever and the last will not be the least but the greatest O the sence of this emptines thorough the discovery of Gods fullnes makes the heart exceeding restles till it is seated in that Center Friends I could wish my soule were able to discover how taking and over-coming this kinde of dealing is with a poore broken heart but it is God alone that can make out the fullnes of this to you I shall say no more to the Reasons but speake a word or two to the Uses of this Conclusion The first use is an use of Information to informe us of two things from what we have already spoke from this Conclusion First 'T is to shew you how Restles that heart is to returne to God who is really made sencible of his withdrawings from God It is easier to keepe a streame from the fountaine or a beame from the body then to restraine