bring thee back he will make conscience for to be like a mastiff Dog for to fly in thy face for thy back-sliding from God and conscience shall tell thee what thou hast done in thy wicked departure from God and then thy own conscience will be worse then the snarling of a dog to thee then shall conscience use this season for to tel thee of thy sins against God Seventhly A seventh Season is this when a man comes for to lie on a sick bed or on his death bed that is the last season that God taketh to rouze the sleepy sinner and to let conscience awake and disquiet him for the sin he hath done It may be you can be living drunkards and living adulterers and not be troubled I but can you when you lie upon a sick bed or your death-bed when conscience shall be awakened canst thou then be a dying drunkard and a dying adulterer and not be troubled Take heed of these sins There is a caution in Pro. 5. 8. Remove thy way far from her and come not nigh the door of her house Here is a caution for young men laid down by Solomon to take heed of a whorish woman least you become mourners at last this is the season for conscience to disquiet thee for sin and if you belong to God he will make thee to mourn at last for the evils thou hast done In Job 21. 25. Another dyeth in the bitterness of his soul and never eateth with pleasure O the bitter pangs that are in many a mans soul when he dyeth and another may think he goeth away in peace and thus you have the second Question what those seasons are that God doth take to trouble mens consciences and disquiet them for sin I now come to the third Question to shew you what difference is between the disquiet for sin that is in the godly and the disquiet that is in the wicked and reprobate men for 't is possible that wicked and ungodly men may have trouble in conscience for the sins they have done because God hath put natural conscience in wicked men for to rebuke and check and trouble and disquiet them for some sins sometimes Now in the resolving of this Question there are thirteen or fourteen differences between the one and the other First Wicked and ungodly men are troubled for sins I but their trouble and their disquietness it is onely for great and gross sins and not for small and secret sins Before conversion Paul was never troubled and disquieted for concupiscence for secret corruption and heart lusts therefore saith Paul I had not known lust if the law had not said Thou shalt not covet Rom. 7. 7. That is he had not known the inward part of lust that the inward and secret desires of the heart were sin he was alive then without the law and he thought himself to be in a very good condition and kept himself from great and gross enormities but never made any reckoning and account of smaller and lesse enormities and lesser evils Unconverted men see sins as we see stars in the night we may see the stars of the first magnitude onely but we cannot see the lesser stars So wicked men by the light of natural conscience they can see sins of the first magnitude gross sins and infamous sins but they never take notice of lesser crimes smaller sins secret sinful lustings and desires for to check their hearts for them these the light of nature as it was with Paul never takes notice of But now look upon a godly man and there you find a great difference their disquietness of conscience doth much differ for their conscience doth disquiet them not onely for sins as big as Camels but for sins as small as Gnats not for mountains of sins but for Mole-hills of corruption small and little sins are the trouble and disquieting of good mens spirits Hezekiah he did greatly humble himself though it was but for an inward sore For the lifting up of his heart in pride This is an Argument of true grace when the soul shall be humbled for inward secret and heart sins So David his heart smote him after he had numbred the people It is questionable what was the particular sin because for a King to number his people it is in it self lawful I but it was some secret evil heart-sin heart-pride some other sin for this his heart smote him Those sins that will not trouble wicked mens sleep will break a godly mans heart that which may be to a wicked man as dust in the finger of his glove not any trouble to him to a godly man is as gravel in his kidneys greatly to trouble and disturbe him The second Difference Wicked men may be disquieted for sin and for some outward acts of sin but they are never troubled for the inward habit of sin for the sinful nature that depraved disposition of heart to sin We read many times wicked men have been troubled for the raigning acts of sin but never troubled at all for the sin of their nature Cain he was troubled for the murdering his brother and Balaam for Witchcraft and Ahab was troubled for the sinful acts of Idolatrie Judas for his treachery and Saul for his cruelty but neither these nor any wicked man in the World was troubled for original sin for the depravity of their natures But now godly men their disquietness for sin doth not only reach to the acts but also to the habits of sin to the natural depravity which is the foundation and fountain from whence all these corrupt actions flow this is that which doth greatly trouble them You read of Paul in Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death or this body of death alluding to those sins wherein men were wont in a way of punishment to tie a dead body to a living body he speaks here of his body of sinful and depraved nature that was to him as a dead man tyed to a living man whereas before conversion he never did complain of any inward corruption nor once make mention of corrupt nature Art thou troubled for sin but can thy conscience bear thee witness thy disquietness of soul is for the sin and depravity of thy nature as well as for the sins of thy life Art thou troubled as well for the nature of sin as well as for the acts of sin Art thou troubled as well for the corrupt fountain as well as for the corrupt streams that flow from thence If thou art thus troubled and disquieted for sin all thy conflicts with sin shall end in conquest over sin another day The third difference Wicked men may be troubled for sin but their disquietnesse for sin is more for the evil of punishment that is the effect of sin then it is for the evil that is in the nature of sin they are disquieted for sin but it is because sin
a faithful God a merciful God a pittiful Father and then you can see those blessings that God bestoweth upon you and blesse and glorifie God but when you throw your selves on the ground by a faithful sorrow and lie on your faces for sin to be too much humbled under the sight and sense of it in this case God hath neither glory nor you have no comfort But Ninthly When your sins do discourage your souls from laying hold on Jesus Christ then art thou cast down too much for sin that man surely is sick to death when his disease will not let him send for a Physitian Troubled ones often say doubtingly what the wicked say scoffingly there is no help for me in God this is sinful sorrow Whereas true sorrow and Gospel humiliation for sin it is such a measure and degree of sorrow that instead of discouraging the soul to goe away from Christ it doth encourage the soul to come to Christ and to lay hold on Christ and to prize Jesus Christ above all the world But that is a sinful sorrow when it drives the soul off from Christ and discourageth the soul from comming to him and from setting a high estimation and price upon him nor can the soul in such a condition venture it self upon him As we must not with the Antinomist so fix our eyes upon free grace and mercy that â—e have â—o eye to look upon sin So should we not with doubting and despairing Christians so look upon sin as never to cast an eye upon Jesus Christ And thus I have laid doâ—n â—n these Nine particulars when it may be said that a man may be too much cast down for sin First What sort of men God doth cast down for sin And then Secondly When Gods people may be said to be cast down for sin too much I now come to the Use and that is 1. For Comfort and 2. For Caution Use 1 First of all it may be for comfort if it be so that Gods people may be cast down too much for sin under the sense sight of sin then the first comfortable observation to the people of God is this That God will never cast off his people although he doth and may many times cast down his people though thou be cast down yet comfort thy self Thou shalt never be cast off Ps 94 14 The Lord will not cast off his people neither will he forsake his inheritance Cast down he will his people for sin but cast off his people he will not This made the Apostle come with a God forbid hath God cast off his people God forbid God hath not cast off his people whom he foreknew Rom. 11. 1 2. Secondly It is true Gods people may be cast off seemingly when they are not cast off really it is with them as it was with Christ when he met the two Disciples in the last of Luke he seemed to go away from them as though he would have gone further but Jesus Christ did not intend to goe from them So may God doe to thy soul he may seem to goe from thy soul but God will never leave thy soul he may seem to withdraw his face but he will never really withdraw from thy soul So in Psal 74. 1. O God why hast thou cast us off for ever why doth thine anger smoak against the sheep of thy pasture So Psalm 7. 7. Will the Lord cast us off for ever Psal 89. 38. Levit. 26. 44. Now this was not really so but it was only seemingly so God did not cast his people off though he cast them down the Church apprehended that God had cast them off but God did not so really Augustin hath a good observation on Job 14 45 Whither I go ye know and the way ye know But Thomas said we know not whither thou goest and how can we know the way Here is a seeming contradiction between Christ and Thomas Now Augustin hath a good note on these words They said they did not know and Christ said they did know Now how shall this be reconciled Now the meaning is this The Disciples and Thomas did not know their own knowledge and they had more grace and knowledge then they knew of themselves It may be so with thee God may cast thee of seemingly when thou maist think it really but God doth not really cast off his people therefore let this comfort thee Thirdly It is not the measure of humiliations for sin but the truth of humiliation for sin to which grace is annexed the promises are made to grace not as strong grace but as true grace not to humiliation as to the measure of it and the length of it but to the truth of it the Scripture doth not entaile a promise to faith as strong faith but to weak faith to little faith to faith that is small if true though it be but as a grain of mustard seed and the greatest promises is entailed to the least measure of faith It may be O Christian thou hast not a great measure of faith but hast thou little faith not strong faith hast thou weak faith O comfort thy self all the promises are entailed to that beginnings of faith it may be thou hast not faith like to an ear of where but is it like to a grain of mastard seed there is promises for that It may be thou hast not rivers of tears but hast thou any tears for sin any sorrow for sin God accepts of that God doth hold open his bottle to those whose eyes distilâ—e few drops of tears as well as to those that make their heads fountains of water and their eyes rivers of tears Though that be false of Libertiues and Antinomist that say promises are made to sinners as sinners so it is false too to hold that they are made only to sinners just so far and thus deeply troubled For total want of grace many a soal hath perished but never was any man damned for want of degrees Promises are made to grace to its truth and not to such a degree of grace grace true though it be weak is looked upon by God as having Interest in the promises therefore this should comfort thee Fourthly Let this comfort thee that God hath made promises not only to humiliation but also for humiliation hast thou a hard heart God hath made promises that he will break thy hard heart God hath promised to take away thy heart of stone and give thee a heart of flesh God hath promised to take away thy old heart and give thee a new heart both these you have laid down Ezek. 11. 19. I will give them one heart and I will put a new Spirit within you and I will take their stony heart out of their flesh and I will give them a heart of flesh And thus much for comfort I now come to the Use of Caution In the treating on this doctrine that Gods people may be cast down under the sight and
seeming pleasure in the committing of sin It is a notable instance that you read of in Eccles 7. 25. 26. I applied my heart to know and to search and to seek out wisdome and the reason of things and to know the wickedness of folly even of foolishness and madness And I find more bitter then death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands as bands whoso pleaseth God or who so is good before God shall espape from her but the sinner shall be taken by her Here Solomon applied his heart to find out the deceits of sin as if he had said I have studied to know the secret snares and the private nets that sin laies for to catch sinners and in a special manner Ilaboured to know the secret mischief of that sin of adultery For you read that he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines 1 Kings 11. 3. And when God made him see the evil of that sin and cast him down under the sense of that sin then he could say that I find a thing more bitter then death a harlot whose heart is snares and nets and then he could say that it was folly and wickedness and madness Now when God doth cast down his people under the sight and sense of sin he doth bring them to see and to make them to confesse with Solomon that sin is more bitter then death and to confesse that there is more evil in the least sin then there can be seeming pleasure and profit and contentment in the commission of it the hearts of the people of God have never tasted of the bitternesse of sin until that God doth lay them low and cast them down under the weight and sense of sin and by this means he makes them to see how bitter a thing sin is Seventhly God doth this to make wicked men afraid to commit sin and this is done in mercy to them did they but consider of it may not wicked men reason thus to themselves why if God doth use his own people so for sin what may I expect at Gods hands if God doth cast down his own people under the sense and under the sight of sin what may I expect from his hands who do so delight in sin which his own people suffer so for surely if God casteth down his own people under the sight and under the apprehension of sin then surely I may expect to be cast off for sin if they be cast down to the ground for sin I shall be cast into hell for sin doth he cast them down in the apprehension of Hell surely he may cast me down to the possession of Hell and have not I cause to be cast downe for sinne that shall be cast off for sin if his own people do shed tears for sin then surely I should shed blood for sin and if they be cast down for sin that shall never be wholly rejected shall not I be cast down for sin whose sins shall make me be rejected So that I say God in his casting down his own people he doth it out of mercy to wicked men that they thereby may beware and not venture to commit sin against God And thus I have in those seven particulars answered this fifth question why the people of God those who shall never be cast off may yet be cast down under the sight and sense of sin Question 6 The sixth and last question I am to handle is this What Theological rules may be laid down to the people of God that they may not be too much cast down for sin under the sight and sense and burden of it nor be too much dejected under it Now in answer to this query consider these particulars Rule 1 First Rule is this Do not expect so much sorrow and casting down for sin as some other men have had and the reason why I give you this Rule is this because that some of the people of God will thus reason I must be thus and thus cast down for sin and I must have such a degree and such a measure of humiliation because I see other men have so and I must have such a sight of sin and lie so low for sin because other men do so and what shall not I do so shall not I lie so low shall not I be so humbled for sin as I see others are I have as many sins as they and I have as great sins as they and my sins are accompanied with as hainous circumstances as theirs are and therefore why should not I be humbled as they are Now consider What and if others have been cast down more then thou hast been what is this to thy humiliation for sin for other mens degree and other mens manner and measure of humiliation is not to be a rule for thee to humble thy self by for it may be others that have had such a degree of humiliation and casting down for sin they have been more notorious in sin and they it may be have more rugged natures and are of a more stubborn temper then thou art of it may be thy temper is more flexible and more pliable and more yielding and more easily wrought upon then others have been therefore there is not required such a degree and measure of humiliation as they require it may be thou caust not bear that which others can that ballaste will but serve a Ship would overload a little Boat therefore do not reason thus with thy self to compare thy casting down for sin with others least thou dost cast thy selfe too low for sin other men it may be do contract more sin then thou dost and it may be thou hast not so stifled thy conscience as they have done and it may be thou hast not committed those sins that they have committed and it may be thou hast not laid waste thy conscience as they have done and thou it may be hast not been so ill a liver as they have been therefore thou dost not need so great a measure of humiliation for sin as they have had need of You have an expression therefore 1 Pet. 1. 6. if need be ye are in heavineinss through manifold temptations God in his wisdome sees some men that they stand in need yea in more need of a greater measure of affliction casting down for sin then others have need of It may be some men have more spiritual pride of parts and gifts and graces and more guilt lying upon them then thou hast Rule 2 The Second rule is this by way of direction Rest satisfied in thy conscience though thou maiest not find the measure of thy humiliation yet if thou find the end of thy humiliation rest satisfied in that if in thy humiliation thou dost desire to be truly humbled for sin and if thou dost desire to lay thy self low in the presence of God if thou dost desire to abhor thy self in regard of the sinfulness of thy nature and life and if
down his life for me voluntarily and meritoriously and laid himself down very low to be my Saviour therefore why O my soul shouldst thou be cast down excessively for sin It is true O my soul if thou hadst been to die and to have purchased thy own redemption to have been thy own Saviour and if the waight and the extreme burden of thy sins had been to be laid upon thy own shoulders and if thou hadst been to have made perfect satisfaction to divine justice in thy own person if thou hadst been obliged to have kept the whole Law perfectly and if thou hadst been for to make a full recompence for the wrong and evil that thou hast done and thou wast to offer the fruit of thy body for the sin of thy soul yet this would not doe nor procure the least satifaction nor make the least compensation and recompence for the evil thou hast done Now if this were thy case to be thy own mediator and thy own intercessor and to have thy blood spilt for thy sins if this was thy case thou hadst cause to be excessively cast down for sin A finite creature can never make satisfaction to infinite justice Could I give a thousand Rams ten thousand Rivers of Oyl yet I could not make an attonement or give a sufficient ransome for my redemption But it is far otherwise the quite contrary is thy portion not thy case Here O my soul is thy case which may abundantly administer thee comfort the blood the precious blood of Jesus Christ is laid down for sin that thou maist not excessively be cast down for sin and thou maist draw abundance of comfort satisfaction from this consideration First Consider with thy self O my soul Jesus Christ did not shed his precious blood for himself but for me he did like a good shepherd lay down his life for his sheep Joh. 10. 15. Secondly Consider that God the Father did accept of the laying down of his life in this behalf Joh. 10 17. The Father loves him because he laid down his life Thirdly Consider and reason with thy self O my soul What though there are great arguments to greaten sin and to heighten sin so there are many great arguments to greaten the mercy of God in Christ Are thy sins great the mercies of God are greater Doe thy sins deserve great punishments even eternal death the death of Jesus Christ and the merit of Christ are of infinite value to merit life even eternal life Are thy sins the sins of a man I but the satisfactions of Jesus Christ are the satisfactions of a God do thy sins merit the frowns of God O but Christs death doth merit and purchase the favour of God In a word as Christs Person doth excell thy person so doth his obedience infinitely exceed thy disobedience therefore said the Apostle Paul Rom. 5. 16. c. But the free gift is of many offences unto justification Here the Apostle intimates that though there is great guilt in sin yet there is greater mercy and merits in Christ for as by Adam there came sin and death so by Jesus Christ there came righteousness and life for as the wages of sin is death so the gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. 23. There is not so much guilt in sin as there is merit in Christ there is not so much guilt in sin to condemn as there is merit in Jesus Christ to save Therefore why shouldest thou be cast down O my soul Jesus Christ hath laid down his life for me and in laying down his life he hath made full satisfaction for sin unto his Father and though there are required more tears for sin by way of humiliation yet there wanteth no more blood for sin by way of satisfaction therefore be not thou excessively cast down for sin Thirdly Reason thus with thy own soul that thou maist not be too excessively cast down for sin O my soul consider excessive casting down may hinder thy soul from holy endeavours in suppressing and mortifying of sin It is the policy and subtilty of the Devil to draw men to run into extreams sometimes the Devil draweth men to possess them so with the reigning power of sin as that they shall never so much as think of the guilt of sin and sometimes to possess them so with the power of sin as not to be able so much as to look at the pardon of sin I may say to thee as God to Joshua chap. 7. 10. Get thee up why liest thou on thy face it was fit Joshua should be cast down at the disaster but not be taken off from pursuing the enemy Therefore reason and say O my soul it doth not become thee to be cast down excessively under the guilt of sin but to lift up thy self against it by resting upon God Fourthly Reason thus with thy soul O my soul consider are not these dejections of minde are not these excessive castings down for sin exceeding great disparagement to Gods free grace and mercy and to Christs merits if a man that is a thirsty shall come to the Sea the mighty Ocean to seek water and when he comes there to be cast down with the thoughts that all the water in the Sea cannot quench his thirst this would render the Sea to be but an empty thing so thou to be troubled and to be exceedingly and excessively cast down for sin and to think that the mercy in God and the merits of Christ cannot comfort and bear up thy dejected soul this doth exceedingly disparage the mighty Ocean of Gods mercies and Christs merits for thee to think that thy sins do out-vye mercy and out-strip free grace In the time of the Law the Mercy-seat did wholly cover the Ark where the Law was kept to shew that if a man doth violate not only one command but every command of the Law yet all that might be covered over with mercy and notwithstanding the violation of the Law they had a Mercy-Seat to go to though we do violate all the Law all the commands of God yet this Law is covered all over with mercy the mercy of God is far above thy dejections The red Sea did dround Pharaoh and all his Host with as much ease as it could dround one man so can the red Sea of Christs blood drown every sin though they were mountains of transgressions as well as the least sin In Psal 25. 11. For thy Name sake O Lord pardon my iniquity for it is great it is a word in the Hebrew emphaticall we reade it for it is great but it may be rèad though it be great for the sake of thy Name O Lord pardon thou my iniquities because they or although they are multiplied or therefore thou wilt pardon them because they are great Fifthly Reason thus with thy soul why wilt thou cast thy self down O my soul especially considering that the casting down of the soul doth cast down
and this will allay all unquietness and inordinate trouble in thy mind Tenthly and Lastly Consider that God in his wisdome will proportion all afflictions that befall thee in this World according to thy strength that thou art able to bear them 1 Cor. 10. 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able If the Lord laies heavy burdens on thee he will give thee strong shoulders Seneca saith Si gravis brevis si longa levis if afflictions be heavy they shall be short but if afflictions be long they shall be light heavy afflictions they shall be short afflictions and long afflictions shall be light afflictions God will proportion them Job 14 1. Man that is born of a Woman is but of few daies and full of trouble troublesome daies are made short daies Why now if they be full of trouble they are but few how sad would it be of perpetuity and misery a multitude of troubles and a multitude of daies met God will proportion thy afflictions according to thy strength Isa 28. 27. For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin but the fitches beaten with a staff and the cummin with ard The meaning is that God will not exercise weak people with great afflictions there shall be afflictions proportionable to their strength this God hath promised Isa 27 8. In measure when it shooteth forth thou will debate with it he stayeth his rough winds in the day of his East wind If men be not able to bear a boisterous storm he will stay his rough wind he will abate the measure of his afflictions Let this quiet thy soul that God doth proportion all his dealings with thee according to thy strength thus you have laid down ten Rules how to bear afflictions without inordinate disquiet of soul Qu. But since we must not be stocks to be insensible of Gods afflicting hand and seeing some kind of trouble and sorrow for afflictions is allowed by God How shall we know whether we be inordinately 〈◊〉 for outward afflictions A. sw First When outward afflictions doth swallow up the comforts and enjoyments of present mercies then you are excessiv thus we see in Ahab Ahab had a flourishing Kingdone and statel Palaces yet could take no comfort in them all because he could not get poor Naboths yineyard from him that argued too much disquiet in him And thus we read of Rebecca Genesis 27. 46. And Rebecca said to Isaac I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. A very impatient speech that when a present affliction shall make thee say I have no joy in my life as many people when they are once crost of their wills Well say they I have no joy in my life though they have many mercies such speeches us these are but the issues of disquiet let not one crosse make thee flee off from all thy comforts in the World Thus we read of Jacob likewise he was too much disquieted in that one loss which made him he could not take joy in all his comfort in all his mercies Read the story in Genesis 37 35. And all his sons and his daughters rose up to comfort him but he would not be comforted Jacob had eleven sons living that he knew and many daughters and all came about him for to comfort him but he refused to be comforted Why beloved Men are so over-born and over-whelmed with troubles upon a cross that if they lose one child all the other children shall not affect them certainly this kind of sorrow is an excessive sorrow Secondly Then disquiet of soul for worldly afflictions are inordinate when afflictions in the World doth so disquiet a mans mind that it makes a man weary of life and maxes him wish for death meerly because of afflictions This was the failing of Jonah chap. 4. v. 8. It is better for me to die then to live because God took away the gourd The like you read of in Job chap. 7 15. So that my soul chuseth strangling and death rather then life Job was in a distemper and he wisht death rather then life this was a sin in him for afflictions so to disquiet a mans mind that to wish Would to God I were out of the World all these are but the flowings and impatiency of a disturbed heart And so again chap. 10. v. 1. My soul is weary of my life I will leave my complaint upon my self this was his trouble You that have drank deep of a bitter Cup either by crosses in children or in estates or reproach in your names and all this makes you inordinate and cryeth out I am weary of my life you are sinfully disquieted You have a passage in Isa 32. 2. And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land Speaking of Christ the Land cannot be weary but it refers to the inhabitants of the Land here is a rock a weary Land the inhabitants of the Land were weary to live in the Land because they were so scorched with the heat of afflictions when affliction shall oppresse so hard upon you that it shall make you unwilling to live this argues that disquiet of soul is very inordinate Thirdly When a man is disquieted for afflictions that lie upon him yet he is no whit troubled for all the afflictions that befall the Church of God and never laies them near his heart when disquiet for personal sufferings shall justle out all compassion for the sufferings of Gods Church this argues thy trouble is excessive Fourthly When a man is disquieted for outward afflictions that it doth indispose a man to duty then a man is too much disquieted Thus in Exodus chap. 6. 9. The poor Israelites they were so in anguish and trouble because they were held such vassals in Egypt that it is said they could not hearken to Gods word because of the grief and anguish of their spirits When afflictions make you unfit to hear Sermons and make you unfit to pray as in Psal 77. 3. I remembred God and I was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed This is a sinful disquiet Fifthly Disquiet under afflictions is then inordinate when a man dares venter on any sinful shifts or means to get rid of his afflictions Suppose thou beest poor and darest venture on cozenage and deceit to get an estate suppose thou beest in a low place and thou darest sin against conscience to get a place of preferment here in this World this is sinful disquiet Thus we read of Saul an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him the Philistins were upon him he was in distresse in his spirit 1 Samuel 28. 7 8. And Saul said unto his servants Seek me a woman that hath
heart and sin in the habit and nature of it Sixthly When a wicked man is disquieted for sin he doth not go to God's Word for comfort and consolation and to allay the sorrow and trouble of mind he lieth under but he hath recourse to sinful and sensual pastimes and delights in the world to allay the troubles of his soul and conscience So you read in Genesis 4. from v. 15 to 18. There you read that Cain he lay under sore troubles of mind for his sin even to despair insomuch that he said his sins were greater then can be forgiven I but under this disquieted condition What did he doe what course did he take Did he take to God for satisfaction and to allay his troubles No he took a wrong course for 't is said And Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah and then after he was gone from God then be went to build Cities His going out from the presence of the Lord is meant he went out from the Ordinances of God and from the Church of God to sensual delights in the World not as though Cain could go out from the essential presence of God that no man can So Ainsworth intimateth on this Verse that it is meant his going from the place of God's Word and publique Worship And so to come into God's presence it is the greatest joy for a godly man in this life to come into God's presence in his Ordinances in his Church which joy Cain now was deprived off whereas he should have had recourse to these to allay his trouble of mind and not to have gone to build Cities in the World to stifle his conscience But godly men know when they are disquieted for sin for them to have recourse to pleasures and profits and pastimes and sensual delights in the World it cannot administer no true comfort no true joy no true peace of conscience no more then a silken Stocking will administer comfort to a broken Leg and what can this do it may cover the broken Leg but it cannot cure it so delights may cover the wound of conscience for a time but it cannot give any real comfort But they know they must hear and pray and seek God publique and private in his own way according to his own will in ways which he hath sanctified to that end to ease troubled consciences You read of Jonah he was troubled for sin in going from Gods presence in not obeying his voice but under his trouble for sin his soul fainted within him but did Jonah go to worldly and sinful and sensual delights to allay his troubled soul No the Text saith I remembred the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee in thine holy Temple He saw no other way was available to ease his spirit and pacifie conscience but onely in Gods ways which he hath sanctified for that very end Godly men will present their supplications to God and addresse themselves to him in the way of his Worship to cure their distempered soules and to labour to find God's love in Christ in his promise Godly men may see that sin in their hearts and guilt upon their spirits may make them sad but they labour to find a smile from the face of God to make their souls glad and to speak their sins dead and to speak peace to their consciences and joy to their heart and satisfaction to the soul and delight in the spirit which makes the soul to rejoice and be glad in Gods presence SERMON XIV Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God I Have laid down six Differences already of that disquiet that doth arise from a natural Conscience in wicked men under the guilt of conscience for sin and between that holy disquiet of soul for sin found in the godly The seventh Difference in orders is this Wicked men are disquieted for sin but it is as causing outward afflictions rather then as causing inward and spiritual withdrawings of Gods face I may allude to that in Job 41. 25. When he raiseth up himself the mighty are affraid by reason of breakings they purifie themselves When God breaks them by outward afflictions then they be think themselves what evil they have done and how they must amend and better their days but it is more because of danger of death then out of love of purity this makes men say I must purifie my self not because sin is impure but because it breaks my body and breaks my outward comforts from me it sin did not afflict the body it should never afflict the soul of a wicked man by his will Wicked men are like that man that was in a deep consumption of his Lungs and complained to a Physician of a Whitloe upon his finger Men are troubled at afflictions that are but trivial and toyes but when they do consume in their graces and neer unto an eternal death sin and the consumption of grace that doth not trouble them men that are thus disquieted more because of affliction then the inward withdrawings of God's face from them they are fitly set out by Ducks in a Pond of Water let a little Peble stone be cast into the Water and the Ducks will dive but let it Thunder in the Heavens the Ducks are not affraid I may make this Use of it Wicked men are like Ducks let God but give them a blow on their outward man afflict their bodies this will make them dive croutch tremble and make them affraid but let the Heavens be lowring let God's face be eclipsed if sin did not trouble the body it should never trouble the conscience A godly man is troubled at affliction for sin-sake but a wicked man is troubled at sin for affliction-sake it is affliction makes him troubled at sin But now a godly man is of a far different temper he is disquieted at sin more because of the inward withdrawings of God's face then because of the outward afflictions of the body Psal 30. 7. Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled David had trouble in the Kingdome at that time had troubles on his Person but all this did not go so near his heart as the hiding of God's face the heaviest stroke of God's hand did not so much disquiet David as the Eclips of God's countenance Outward troubles they were to David but as the scratch with a Pin in the flesh but the withdrawings of Gods face did trouble him as a Sword in his bones this is a seventh Difference between the one and the other The eighth Difference is this Wicked men under disquiet for sin they do more complain of God then they do complain to God but Good men more complain to God then of God when they are disquieted for sin wicked men more
ver 2. From the end of the Earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is over whelmed lead me unto the rock that is higher then I. This is the carriage and behaviour of ungodly men Again Wicked men look more after comfort then after duty if God give them ease and peace they never care for grace but God's people look after duty more then comfort in disquiet of conscience when the Converts were troubled in mind they cry'd not after comfort but after duty they cry'd Men and Brethren What shall we doe what shall we doe to be saved Thus I have dispatched to you the third Querie the Differences in these fourteen Particulars between the disquiet of soul for sin that may be found in wicked men that Evangelical holy trouble of soul for sin which is found in the godly The fourth Querie is But why are God's people so much disquieted for sin that they are more troubled for sin then they are comforted in the sight of their graces sin shall damn their souls Why then doth sin so much disquiet their consciences There are five Reasons 1. It ariseth partly from that softness of heart that tenderness of Conscience that is implanted in God's people by God the eye it is troubled at a mote when the hand is not troubled at a greater thing the eye is the tenderest part of the body Why beloved God's people they have tender consciences sin on their consciences is as a mote in their eye that greatly troubles them It is worth your notice that as God doth make a promise that he will keep his people as the apple of his eye Deut. 32. 10. He found him in the desart land and in a waste bowling wilderness he led him about he instructed him he kept him as the Apple of his eye So Gods people are said to keep his law as the apple of their eye Prov. 7. 2. Keep my Commandements and live and my Law as the apple of thy eye Beloved a blow on the eye offends the eye you must keep the Law as the Apple of the eye the apple of the eye is the tenderest part of the eye one breach of the Law by sin will as much disquiet thee as a blow on thine eye if thou keepest the Law as the apple of thine eye A second cause or reason is this God's people are troubled for sin because God's people seeing themselves that they are more in sinning against God then they are in obeying God therefore sin troubles them and disquiets them more grace is as the gleaning of the Vintage and sin is as the full harvest Job 15. 16. How much more abominable filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water God's people see their sins like Mountains and their graces like Mole-hils my lusts burn like a flame but my graces like a glowing coal my sins at full tide but my graces at a low ebb that makes God's people to be so much troubled for sin disquiet of soul is more incident to the godly as the moth is ordinarily in the finest Cloth and the worm in the Rose sooner then the Briar A third Reason is this Because sin is more visible and manifest to the soul then their graces are therefore they are more troubled for sin You read in Galatians 5. 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred â—â—riance emulations wrath strife c. But when the Apostle gives you the list of the graces of the Spirit he doth not say that the fruits of the Spirit are manifest but the fruits of the flesh are manifest to shew as one observes well that a man may more easily discern and have a sight of his sin then a godly man can have in the sight of his grace A fourth Reason is drawn from a Consideration that Christ's soul was troubled for sin Christ's soul was troubled for sin as imputed to him though he had no sin inherent in him Now is my soul troubled saith Christ Christ did not only suffer in his body upon the Crosse but likewise in his soul in the Garden John 12. 9. His soul was not troubled for his own sin for there was no guile found in his mouth but it was for our sins he was troubled Now Beloved O! Christ was troubled for thy wounds for thy sins and this makes a godly man reflect shall Christ's soul be troubled for my sin that was imputed to him and shall not I be troubled for sin that is inherent in me A fifth Reason is this That the People of God might taste and see the evil and the bitternesse of sin the more in the course of their lives and may be more put in awe to commit sin for time to come this is a reason that Solomon gives why godly men are troubled in mind for sin Eccles 7. 25 26. I applied mine heart to know and to search and to seek out wisedom and the reason of things and to know the wickednesse of folly even of foolishness and madness And I find more bitter then death the woman whose heart is snares and nets That is to know the evil of sin folly and madnesse is meant sin in Solomon's Dialect and saith he I find it to be more bitter then death Solomon by experience speaks this I find sin to be worse to me then death Beloved this is God's end why he will make a man to find out the wickednesse of sin to be troubled in conscience for sin is that thou mightest find sin to be more bitter to thee then death that so thou mightest avoid those sins and shun them for which thou hast smarted so much And thus I have finished the fourth Quaery SERMON XV. Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God Question 5 A Fifth Quaery in order is this When may God's people be said to be excessively or too much disquieted in soul for sin There are seven particulars to resolve this four of them I shall gather from one Psalm Psal 77. 2 3 4. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my sore ran in the night and ceased not my soul refused to be comforted I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest my eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak Here are four discoveries laid down when a man's disquiet and trouble of soul for sin is immoderate and excessive First When a man is so disquieted under the guilt of sin that he is not only unable to receive comfort but he is unwilling to receive that comfort that belongs to him v. 2. my soul refused to be comforted This was his sin I prove it by the 10. v. And I said This is mine infirmity It was an infirmity in Asaph