language of a melting Heart breathing out a compassionate Lamentation after Pardon desired obtained and sealed The cause of fear was past Nathan had declaratively removed it upon his acknowledgment The Lord hath put away thy Sin thou shalt not die God had put away his Sin from before him because he loved David but David could not forget his Sin because he loved the Lord. Love maketh God forget it and the Sinner to remember it David's love to God so freely forgiving such hainous Sins did increase daily and with this love his sorrow grew that he should so ill requite the Lord the thought of it carried him more and more into God's Presence whose Purity and Brightness meeting with the light of David s Conscience represented his Sin more clearly as ever before him When he considered what God had done for him and what he had now done against the Lord moving common Enemies to blaspheme he was even ashamed and confounded so Planet-struck he was that he could not durst not lift up his Face Tacita sudant praecordia culpâ Juven he is at the Meridian Zenith Vertical Point of Shame he could not mount higher The End why it was penn'd and published was partly in respect of himself to get further assurance of God's re-promised Favour in his own apprehension and partly with reference to others to leave a ground of encouragement for poor Souls that fall after Baptism against that Spirit-quenching Doctrine of the Novatians who leave no room for pardon of Sin after Baptism or Repentance to assure them it is possible they may be forgiven and received into Favour as also to leave a pattern of Penitency to all Posterity After grievous falls even into â—resumptuous Sins it is possible Men may â—e raised return'd and entertain'd but it â—ust be done thus after the pattern shewed â—s in this Mount such Sins will be ever beâ—ore them in Memory and Detestation and â—he burden will be intollerable so that they â—ill often cry out with David My Sins are â—er before me The meaning may be thus unfolded as â—f David had said and enlarged himself after â—his manner First I am mindful of my Fault as if it â—ere written upon every Wall God hath â—orgiven the Guilt that it should not redound â—o Condemnation but my Conscience cannot â—et go the Memory of that I have done in â—he Day-time I think of it and in the Night 〈◊〉 dream of it as my Book it is when I reade â—nd as an Image when I pray ever before â—e while I am alone it doth accompany me and when I am in Company the thought â—f it doth not forsake me Whither-soever 〈◊〉 go that woful Story is still presented with all the aggravating Circumstances Bathsheba defiled Vriah slain a harmless Sacrifice and both by David a Man called from the Sheepâ—ook to the Scepter raised to highest Digâ—ity out of deep Obscurity and honoured with such a Style as never any Man had Oh Ingratitude Shall not all Men in all Ages cry out upon David that he should so far forget God as to leave his own many of his own and to take his poor Neighbour's Lamb to dress for his Stranger Oh fearful These or the like are my thoughts by Day and no other are my conceits by Night in Company I am alone and while I am alone I have these Companions My Sins are ever before me Secondly I am wonderfully troubled about it For me-thinks mine Eyes and Ears have no other Object I see my Sins in that order as they were acted Idleness first but followed with Adultery first of the Eye next of the Mind and lastly of the Body Adultery is attended by Drunkenness-active he made Uriah drunk and that Drunkenness by Murther See the Bead-roll viz. Idleness Adultery Drunkenness and Murther and hearken to the cry of them one answering another but all are against David one was occasioned by another and the former still punished in the latter Many and fearful they are more hideous than Hell pursuing me like so many Furies into every place as of the whole Army accusing me of Negligence and Security of Bathsheba bewailing the stain of her own Body and her Husband's Bed of Vriah's Blood calling from the Ground for vengeance of all my Subjects brought in danger by their Prince's Folly yea of all the Birds in the Air whistling David's Crime on every Tree of Heaven and Earth groaning under the burden of such a Report That David a Man after God's own Heart so beloved and advanced should be thus fouly overtaken and lastly of Jesus Christ shewing his Wounds rub'd up afresh by these Abominations of mine What Ear â—an endure or Heart hold to see and hear his â—ins thus set in order before him Thirdly I am horribly afraid not so much â—f Damnation God hath graciously put away my Sin I know I shall not die as of the ugly face of Sin at first it was not apprehended by me I little thought of what I how feel but now it is presented to me in true Colours black as Hell bitter as Gall and more heavy than Mountains the pleasure was small and past but the bitterness â—s present and doth far exceed it was momentany that delighted me but lasting that â—exeth me I am ashamed of every passage that I knowing so much and professing the contrary should be so foolish and forgetful â—irst to perpetrate the Act then to cover it with Fig leaves as if any Person Thing or Act could be hid by any means from this bright Eye of the Word Well may God be hid from me but I can never be hid from God All things are naked and open to him Sin deceiveth most when it promiseth most and bringeth a Curse with its sweetest Morsels being like that Gold which ever brought destruction to the Owners of it Aurum Tholosanum Or like that Horse which had all perfections that could be named belonging to an Horse Of Cn. Cejus for stature feature colour strength limbs comliness but withal the Owner of him was sure to die an unhappy death This is the misery of Sin how pleasant profitable or advantagious soever it may seem to be unto Flesh and Blood it hath always Calamity in the end it ever expires in Trouble Fourthly I acknowledg all not confusedly as before through the light of Conscience but distinctly and feelingly by the Light of God's Word closing with the light of Conscience All this while I went about to please my self but now I find by woful experience that the things which I have done displease the Lord and therefore now I desire my Repentance may be answerable to my Sin i. e. multiplied and ever before me that others may hear and learn by my example how deceitful Sin is taking away from Men what it promiseth to bring viz. Pleasure and Contentment and for one pleasing sight or touch it presents it presents an ugly face for ever after O that Men were Wise
it hasteneth when you shall see them all presented at once and shall no way avoid that sight when you will think you see nothing but Fire that you hear nothing but a sudden noise passing the greatest clap of horrid Thunder and shall choose Death rather if it were possible to annihilation than Life with such an object before you As it fell out to that usurping Richard after the horrible Murther committed upon his innocent Nephews he could rest no where he could be no where free a tumultuous army of Thoughts struck an Alarm to his Repose at Bed and Board Day and Night alone and in company he thought he saw and heard them when as in truth it was his Sin that was ever legally before him and his own guilty Conscience that did pursue him And to that Judg Morgan who gave Sentence upon that vertuous and innocent Lady Jane in so much that he grew Mad shortly after and still cried out Take away the Lady Jane from me and in that Horror ended his Days and wretched Life As Mr. Speed relates in the Life of Q. Mary and Mr. Clark in his Life of the Lady Jane And so it will be with you here or hereafter Tell me then is it not better to see them apart now when you may repent and be freed than to put them off unto another Day when you must see them altogether and sink under them without any hope of recovery O consider this all ye that forget God lest he tear you iâ— pieces and there be none to deliver Thirdly The use of this Point may be to instruct the Person in matter of Duty and so like a well drawn Picture looks upon all that look upon it If this be so that Sin once committed will be often presented it prompts all 1. To think thus of Sin When you are tempted remember this Text set before you here or else you will think of it after to your pain It is momentany and frothy that delighteth you in Sin but it is eternal that will vex and torment you To repent is to take a bitter though wholesome Potion and Impenitency is followed with Damnation Say you purpose and do repent yet your Sin will ever be before you either to grieve and terrifie you as it did David or to allure you to the same again as it did Augustin often Especially the sins of Blood corporal Vncleanness Apostacy after knowledg and profession of the Truth These sink Men either under sensless Sottishness or unsupportable Horror Witness Cain for the first David for the second and Francis Spira for the third because they are not only Sins but Scandals David thought he might have cover'd one Sin with another Adultery with Murther but hereby they were both augmented and seen further Not only he himself but all Posterity must know it David did that which was right in the Eyes of the Lord save only in the matter of Uriah That stuck in Memory and shall in History Not because he had never committed other Sins but because none of the rest were so scandalous none so accented none so burdensome to the Conscience as these being against so much Light of Nature of Scripture and of Humane Laws few Repenting none without difficulty and many falling into presumption or despair by them Under the guilt of any of these for the most part Men feel either too much or too little either they keep themselves out of sight always when the Conscience is seared the Heart hardened and Men are past feeling or else they are still present and staring in the face of Conscience as it were with the eyes of many Devils Think of this aforehand and beware 1. Of Apostacy in whole or in part because it is better never to know the way of Righteousness than to sin against Knowledg 2. Of Murther because Men are made after God's Image and such Blood crieth from the Earth till it have hearing So many drops of Blood so many Tongues and every drop a Voice to cry for Vengeance Give them Blood to drink for they are worthy Rev. 16.6 And it is threatned He that sheddeth Man's Blood by Man his Blood shall be shed Gen. 9.6 3. Of Adultery because it brings with it much guilt and great stain upon the Soul Hoc grande flagitium est saith Job 31.11 This is an hainous Crime a Wickedness with a witness a Fire that consumeth to destruction God will judg it who ever be slack to punish it Hear what the Scripture saith of this Sin the hainousness and danger thereof as a motive to avoid it Prov. 22.14 A Whore is a deep Ditch and he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein David moiled himself in this deep Pit and there might have stuck in the Mire had not God drawn him out by a merciful Violence and purged him with Hysop from that abhorred filth Prov. 6.32 33. Who so committeth Adultery with a Woman lacketh understanding he that doth it destroyeth his own Soul A Wound and Dishonour shall he get and his Reproach shall not be wiped away It is not therefore leve peccatum a small Sin as the Pope's Canonists call it Divine Justice doth not use to kill Flies with Beetles Briefly it is a Sin that hurts both Body and Soul it hurts Men in Goods in Name Posterity and will be ever before them to make them mourn and say How have we hated Instruction and our Hearts despised Reproof And have not obeyed the Voice of our Teachers O what length and depth of Comfort doth a Man lose for a little Folly not worth the name of Pleasure because it is brutish and brings many and heavy burdens indeed a stain upon the Soul rottenness into the Bones and a blemish indelible on the Name Who would purchase that at so dear a rate which he may have for nothing Or use Violence where he may have leave and a blessing too Run the way of Hell for that Pleasure which they may enjoy more fully in the right Path and Way of Heaven This Men consider not Had David thought of the end he would never have adventured on the beginning had he thought of ever seeing Sin he would have wished he had never seen Bathsheba or that his Eyes had gone alone and left his Heart at home then they could never have brought their Lord into such a straight Remember David and all his troubles His sweet never countervailed his bitter Sawce Bathsheba was a pleasing Object for a time but Sin is fearful and grievous for ever Lust wrestleth till it bring forth Sin but Sin groweth and laboureth till it bring forth Death And although the Combat be healed and the Wound healed yet some Scars remain A great deal of preventing Sorrow and wholsome Suffering must be undergone reade it in David The Child that was born unto him must die Thamar was defiled Ammon murdred and he himself turned out of House and Kingdom by his own Son It is a bitter
the rebellion of Absolon and the death of Ammon with the occasion thereof yet it is not said that these were before him he was comforted concerning them but his Sin was ever before him All the Sufferings and Evils in the World could not so much affect him St. Paul went through many Tribulations endured great Sufferings as may be read 2 Cor. 11.23 24. at large yet all these Scourges Prisons and Persecutions went not so near his Heart as Sin even the presence though not the power of Sin Though he suffered much yet we reade not that ever he cried Oh! for all and yet he doth for Sin O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Sin And we reade of Chrysostom when he was threatned Banishment by Eudoxia said Go tell her Nil nisi peccatum timeo I fear nothing but Sin To such a one there is more evil in a drop of Corruption than in a sea of Affliction Say then are all your Burdens nothing to the burden of Sin It is a good sign Fourthly If you can think somewhat comfortably of Death and be content and desirous to Die chiefly for this end to be freed from Sin with those combats and destractions in Duty following it That this ever may be turned into never that Christ might be as Sin is now ever before you It is a very good sign and blessed are they which are in this condition They may be assured in the Name of Christ Jesus and by the Authority committed to his Ministers to absolve and heal Sin-sick-souls that all their Sins are done away by Faith in the Blood of Christ they shall not die He that caused your Sins to be set before your Face hath cast them behind his own Back When Israel see their own Sins the Lord seeth no Sin in Israel When the Church complains that she is Black the Lord proclaimeth her the fairest among Women Thus would I comfort all those who are in this Condition that I my self might partake with them in their Consolation It is my judgment all the Promises belong to them and they ought to apply them So that they may say with the Apostle It is good to be here and build Tabernacles to shield us from the roaring Lion and our own Fears pursuing us Vse 3. To close up all in the last place by way of Instruction From what hath been said you may learn some Duties most needful to be practised by you viz. First To draw back Sin which else will keep out of sight and memory till the day of Death or Judgment as Joab did Abner to kill him even all your Sins for the kinds of them spare none from the first that was imputed to the last that was committed by you and set them in order before you either by your Memory or the help of a Note-book so far forth as God shall enable you particularly to recall and give them their Deaths-wound by the application of Christ's Death It is conceived Job did so when he said He could not answer for one of a thousand It is manifest in David and reported of that holy Martyr Mr. Bradford that he kept a Diarie or a Debt-book of Receipts and Expences between God and his own Soul It is a course full of Comfort and Profit Hereby it will come to pass that when a Man draweth nigh to his Journeys-end he shall have nothing to do but to give good Counsel to pray and die Now that you may so do know this to be one main difference between Nature and Grace the one seeth Sin ever the other seeth it never or to no purpose Nature is ever boasting of Innocency of good Deeds and of good assurance of Salvation without any doubting O God I thank thee I am not as other Men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or as this Publican I fast twice a Week c. Luke 18.11 Non vulnera sed munera ostendit He shews not his Want but his Worth While Grace most complains of Sin of defects and imperfections in the best Duties Even the Righteousness of gracious Souls appears in their sight like the Moon full of spots A penitent Publican dares not lift up his Eyes towards Heaven but beats his Breast and crys O God be merciful to me a Sinner even the chief of Sinners Though he is high in his Priviledges yet how low is he in his Affections Lord I am Hell thou art Heaven said that holy Man Secondly Be thankful for this sight of Sin and testifie this your thankfulness by a timely use of the Means to finish what is begun Means I say of Inspection Meditation and Prayer Of Inspection into the Glass of the Law This is that Light which discovers those Corruptions which lie unknown in the darkness of Ignorance and makes them appear in their due shape and proportion That which seemed but as a Mote will now be judged as a Mountain and that to be Sin which before look'd as Righteousness Hereby you will see much to bemoan to confess and be ashamed of nothing to boast and glory in Of Meditation after every Exercise and therein be frequent and constant Reading and Hearing without Meditation is like weak Physick which will not work It is not taking in of Food but the Stomach concocting it which makes it turn into Blood and Spirits so it is not the taking in of any Truth at the Ear but the meditating it which is the concoction thereof in the Mind makes it nourish Be frequent in Meditation Press your Conscience with Particulars saying with deep Sorrow These are my Oaths my Carnal Sports and unlawful Pastimes which now terrifie more than ever they delighted me This is my Luxury my Pride and Impurity This is my Blindness and Hardness Hypocrisy and Sacrilegious Vain-glory which is so much struck at from Press and Pulpit I am the Man and my sins are ever before me Unto this effect let your Meditation be raised and continued And lastly Use the exercise of frequent and fervent Prayer in private to your offended God that he would not only put away your Sins but also wash you throughly and restore you the joy of his Salvation Be instant and the Lord will not deny You shall reap if you faint not Thirdly Your duty is to set the Mediator always before you at the same time To see Sin without Christ will drive you to despair and to see Christ without Sin may cast you upon Presumption or at least occasion you to undervalue Christ and not prize him so highly as he deserves Labour to see both together Set Sin on one hand and Christ on the other as a King a Priest and a Prophet as a King to rule you as a Prophet to teach and as a Priest to sacrifice and satisfie for you and all yours under Covenant Then by an appropriating Act of Faith receive and apply all his Doctrine to inform you his Government to subdue and bring you unto Self
the more mortal it is As a Disease the longer it groweth the harder will the Cure be or as it is in a Journey the further we go out of the way the more Toil and Time will be required ere we get in again Rejoice O young Man and play the Prodigal yet know for all this God will bring thee to Judgment Then thou must turn again by weeping Cross or nâ—ver enter Heaven Old Sinners are rare Converts Grace is seldom grafted on such withered Stocks Who can expect Water from a drained River The common Proverb is true As is a Man's Life so is his Death a wicked Life a cursed Death 2. Let no Man judg his Brother touching his final Estate What he is at present you may say but what he will be you cannot Mount not into God's Chair judg nothing before the time It is the Office of Angels to sever Sheep from the Goats the Tares from the Wheat Those that undertake peremptorily to determine of Mens final Estates they know not what Spirit they are of with the Sons of Zebedee they take too much upon them with the Sons of Levi they understand not what they say or whereof they affirm with those Impostors in Timothy Indeed it is a kind of Apostacy and Rebellion against God's Providence to judg without calling God to be a President into our Council As was intimated before we may judg the Tree by its Fruit leaving the final Doom to the Searcher of all Hearts censure him for the present to be God's Enemy and in a most wretched Estate but leave him under the charitable Influence of Heaven Suppose thy Neighbour be now wild he may hereafter be tamed he is now unclean hereafter he may be washed as the Corinthians were he is now intemperate he may be sober there is Blood and Merit enough in Christ Of great Sinners the Lord hath and can make great Saints to be so much the more zealous for God in his Service as they have been desperately mad and furious in the service of their own Lusts Let all Men in hope attend upon all Means constantly if one Means work not another may if it work not now it may anon Who knoweth what a day may bring forth Neglect no Means delay no Duty and still remember to crave God's blessing upon all For as it followeth in a third Observation Doct. 3. No secondary Means can avail to work Grace without a concurrence of the first Cause Means are used for the reducing of Israel Prophets were sent and divers Rods laid upon them yet the Lord addeth I will allure her Without his helping hand there is no success to be expected Means cannot turn or encline themselves to our help unless God turn encline and command them If God do not act and use them the Instruments can do nothing It was not the Clay and the Spittle that cured the blind Man but Christ's anointing his eyes with them What Music can the Organ Pipes make without breath Paul may plant and Apollos may water but God giveth the increase The reason is because they are not natural Agents working by inherent Virtue but ordained thereunto and qualified by an higher hand He that chose them maketh them effectual According as God is pleased to work or not to work so they prove Assistances or not Assistances to us All the means in the World in themselves considered are but as a Mill which grinds not the Corn unless the Wind come to it or like a Dial on which if the Sun shine it may direct us but if the Sun lies under a Cloud it is of no present use to us So if God hold off from the means if he breath not upon them and cast not a lively Influence into them they can do nothing for us Means are not absolute Lords of their own Operations but subordinate Agents and depend upon God as for being so for operation or restraint As a Master that puts a rich Cabinet of Jewels into his Servant's Chamber but keepeth the Key himself none of the Jewels can be given out but by his will and appointment In like manner God hath put an aptness in the means to do us good yet himself keeps the Key to give out according to to his good pleasure Vnde tanta virtus Aquae ut Corpus tangat Cor abluat nisi faciente Verbo Whence hath Water such power by touching the Body to wash the Heart but from the Word Aug. Hence it may be concluded 1. That all Means must be used We have God himself for a Pattern he could enlighten us without the Sun and afford Fruit without the Earth but he will have his creatures operate and so we are commanded to serve Divine Providence and to leave the Issue to him Man goes not to Heaven as the Ship moves in the Tide whether the Master sleeps or wakes We must with the skilful Mariner have our Eyes on the Stars and our Hands on the Stern Provided still that the right means be used hearing of the Word preached Receipt of the Sacraments Meditation and Prayer that the Lord would be pleased graciously to add his Influence that thereby Grace may be begun and strengthned in the several Acts thereof because the Lord will not work by any means but such as are of his own appointment Naaman must be cleansed by washing in Jordan a River in Israel not in Abana or Parphar Rivers in Damascus Now the forementioned means are of the Lord's appointment as may be read in Isa 55.3 Rom. 10.17 2 Tim. 2.7 Jam. 1.5 And as you must use the right so you must be careful to use them as Means that is First Subordinately with respect to the Lord upon whose hand and blessing the whole depends 2dly Regularly with respect to those Directions set down in Scripture which are principally such as follow viz. 1. Diligently both in regard of frequency of Action and fervency of Spirit as Men are diligent in such matters whereby their Lives might be preserved To this is the Promise made Ask seek knock Such a diligent Hand maketh rich Be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord. Therefore David prays Quicken us O Lord that we may call upon thy Name Psal 80.18 Therefore we have Line upon Line Precept upon Precept to provoke our diligence A Neglect or careless use of the means is little better in the sight of God than contempt of the means yea of Himself He that despiseth you despiseth me 2. Opportunely and seasonably Every one hath his day there is an acceptable hour when the Lord will be entreated while God calls and waits while Grace is dispensed Days of Grace have their dates The Vision is for an appointed time Hab. 2.3 What the Prophet said of the Prophetical Vision may be said of other Divine Dispensations The Means of Grace have their Limits Prov. 1.24 Because I called and ye resused c. Therefore will I laugh at your Calamity
this freedom and particularity of Choice in electing to the End and predestinating to the Means most of the Fathers downwards from Augustine and among the founder sort of School Divines Lumbard Aquinas and many of the Dominicans do strike in with the Divines of our Reformed Church 3dly Here is the Means whereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will allure or whereinto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wilderness Because I have known her I will allure her into the Wilderness Whosoever is ordained to the End is also pre-ordained to the Means The Lord can do it without Means but commonly he doth it by such as suit best with that Nature whereupon he is about to work Mans will is naturally free from Co-action therefore the Lord compelleth none but gently allureth all by degrees of unwilling making them willing 1. By illumination of the Vnderstanding Things unknown have no motive Faculty As no Good wrapp'd up in Darkness excite desire so no Evil swathed up in Ignorance strikes trouble or sorrow 2. By an effectual persuasion of the Will and then by an Infusion of renewing Grace Faith is his Work and Gift both for preparation of the Subject the beginning of Grace and for the increase and consummation of the exercise thereof Phil. 1.29 Heb. 12.2 God worketh all in Man to will what he should do and then to do what he willeth according to his own good pleasure but not as upon Stocks or Stones these are moved without knowledg as uncapable of Consent reasonable Creatures not so they consent and approve they know they will they love wha◠God worketh in them I will make ther◠is God's first work that they shall walk in my Statutes there is Mans after Co-operation Without me ye can do nothing And Wha◠hast thou O Man that thou hast not received A place which St. Cyprian usually urged to exclude all boasting on Mans behalf and whereby St. Augustine was brought to retract what he had wrote before of Faith in us and from us Means must be used but the Work is ascribed to an higher Power More distinctly know that Means are of two sorts either principal or instrumental The principal are either more principal as Christ in and by whom the Church hath all and without whom nothing or less principal as the Benefits which flow from Christ such are Adoption by the communication of his Filiation Justification by his Grace and Sanctification by his Spirit The instrumental Means are either preparative in and by the Law or effective in and by the Gospel of which more hereafter 4thly Here is to be considered the End whereunto all this is directed and that is twofold either last or next The last End is the Glory of his rich Grace in the glorification of his Spouse the Church the next End is the present Good of the Persons to be converted being thus under preparation for Regeneration As it is with a Goldsmith that would make a Cup for use or a Ring for Ornament his Oar is hard and full of dross therefore he casteth it into the Fire to soften and refine it this done he formeth and fashioneth it according to his Will Gregory applieth this Similitude thus We are the Gold hard and full of filth this World is the Shop Troubles are the Fire God the Workman let us learn how to suffer he knoweth best how to prepare and fit us for his Service As skilful Physicians hunt away the Lethargy by casting the Body into some degrees of a Fever to dry up that adventitious Moisture which else would quench natural Heat and bring in Death so the Lord brings his Children into Spiritual Distress to prevent Eternal Death and everlasting Torture in the burning Lake Or as it is with a tender Mother who clothes her Breast with Gall or Wormwood to wean the Child in its Affections and gain it to eat stronger Meat so and no otherwise is it with the Lord in this Work he weaneth them from the Dugs of the World and leadeth them into the Wilderness that he might bring them into the possession of Canaan Now no trouble for the present seemeth joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness to them that are exercised therein enabling them to say it was good for us that we were afflicted and broken that we might rejoice in more strength This the Lord only can do God shall persuade Japhet No finite power can work so upon the Spirit much less upon a weak fearful Man and yet sustain him under hope The Spirit of a Man may help against Man and against his own Infirmities but when he cometh to grapple with the Almighty when he is brought into the Wilderness to answer God charging him with his Debt a terrified burthened and wounded Conscience who else can support Prov. 18.14 For the further opening of the Point and consequently of this preparative Work to the capacity of the meaner sort three things shall be here insisted on viz. That it hath been so bow it is effected and wherefore In which we shall find what Sampson did in the Lions Belly many Honey combs of Spiritual Honey 1. This hath been and is the Method observed ordinarily in the Dispensation of Grace though a diversity may be granted as to the measure of it Look as in Music all the Strings of the Instrument are touched with the same hand yet not with a like stroke so here And the Lord is the Agent for Man being once turned from Life and dead in Sin cannot bring himself into any of this wholsom Pain much less out of it no no it is the Lord that in great Love doth both these for him Our first Parents had a legal Sermon made to them before they had any Promise applied Gen. 3.16 Hagar was brought into a Wilderness real to her typical to others before she was fully wrought upon in Faith to say I have seen him that seeth me Gen. 16.13 God begins the Work and seeth his before they see or seek him Manasses was sent into Captivity he was put in Prison and fettered in Irons the best Ornaments he ever wore before his Mountain could be brought low In such a proud Heart the Devil keeps his hold a long time such rusty Locks will not easily open Now he is as weary of his Sins as he is of his Chains As a Physician deals with Persons distracted and out of their wits he commands that they be kept in the dark to be bound in fetters to have miserable and hard Fare that by all they may be brought to their Understanding Thus God dealeth with some Sinners that are turned mad and grown out of their right Reason by their Wickedness that he may recover them he binds them in Chains brings them low that at length they may consider of their Condition and be healed Paul had both a Voice and Light to guide him into this Wilderness before the Lord would speak unto his Heart and
to smart whereby the Lord awakeneth Conscience indeed and striketh terror into the Hearts of his Chosen casting them down very low to Self-denial he breaks their stony Hearts in pieces convincing Men as Transgressors telling them that they are the Men even Men of Death this they have done and that they deserve discovering millions of Sins more than they ever dreamed of quickning Sin in the Conscience and putting a Weapon into its hand to kill the Sinner under his Guilt For this is properly the Office of the Law to detect and convince Men of such and such Sins to pass sentence against them for those Sins and to follow them so convicted with a thundring noise from place to place hedging and hemming them in on every side that they can neither get out nor be quiet any where till they humble themselves and fall down before the Lord's Mercy-Seat Fourthly We may not exclude from this Preparative Work a branch of the Gospel which the Lord makes use of for the completing this Preparation by it as by beams and heat from a Fire far off to soften and melt those broken pieces that so the Heart being ready to fall asunder and grieving more kindly than it can do under mere Legal Terrors may readily and delightfully admit of Spiritual Infusions and be the more speedily brought into a new Mould And this the Gospel doth First By unvailing unto such distressed Minds the holy and pure Nature of God himself which the Law discovereth only as he is a Creature the Gospel further as he is a Father his patience and loving kindness in Christ his rich Mercy great Love Free-Grace those Spiritual Beams by which the Divine Nature shines forth upon us Saul Saul why persecutest thou me One that is so holy and harmless one that hath done so much for thee one that doth so entirely love thee and desire thy good Hast thou none to sin against but thy Saviour None to abuse but thy Friend None to kick against but the Bowels of Love Did not I suffer enough upon the Cross Must I needs suffer more This struck the Nail on the Head this made his Eyes to water his Heart to melt with this kind salutation Saul's hard Heart was softned and made pliable to a further work Secondly By discovering the sinfulness of Sin that it is not only fearful as the Law saith but filthy also not only evil but the greatest evil whence once disrobed of that pleasing and deceitful shining Skin patcht up of the shreds of Pleasure Profit and Carnal Content it is apprehended as opposit to the greatest Good and consequently more to be hated and avoided than Hell There is no Hell without Sin nor any Heaven with Sin Hell is Penal but Sin is a Criminal evil The evil of pain is contrary to the good of a finite being only while the evil of fault is opposite to an infinite purity Both these namely the Law and the Gospel being thus amplified prest and applied to the sinners Soul so that he can find no starting hole to evade no corner to run into no gap open to get out of this Wilderness by this time it comes to pass that he finds a combustion in his Brest a fire kindled in his Bones such new trouble as he never felt now Hope appears anon Despair at one time Fear another time Love cometh into the Soul like flashes of Lightning both followed with Tears and Complaints he may be often heard to sigh and sometime to beat the Brest and say O Lord that I could repent O that I could believe O that I had a soft tender Heart That my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a fountain of Tears that I might weep Day and Night Help me O my Friends for the terrours of the Almighty oppress me he makes me inherit the sins of my youth so that I am ready to sink Help me O my God to do what thou commandest command what thou wilt and thou shalt not command in vain Make me a Man after thy own Heart give me O give if not a Fountain yet a Stream if not a Stream yet some few drops of penitent Tears to ease a burdned Heart and to prepare a loathsom Soul for the more precious streams of Christ's Blood And yet as if all this were not enough behold and see there steppeth up another Witness more against this terrified Creature And that is a reflecting power of the Soul called Conscience which joyneth with the Law and Gospel in their Sentence and meeting him alone as flying from both the former and hoping somewhere to escape assaults the poor Soul and concludes to this effect Nay whither now Think not to shift off all hope not to carry all away as Sampson did the Gates go not about to hide it do not deny or extenuate it for all this is true which thou hast heard from the Law and Gospel O wretched Creature thus and thus hath God walked towards thee in Justice in Mercy in Power in Patience and Bounty he sent Christ with healing in his Wings to heal and do thee good and yet thus and thus rebelliously and ungratefully hast thou walked towards him thou hast put away Salvation bolted out thy Physician What wilt thou say Whither wilt thou go Nay nay think not of pleading dream not of flying much less of any hiding except thou wilt contract farther guilt and a greater burden on thy self which is heavy enough already Down proud Heart down with it lower than thy Knees cloath thy self in Sack-cloth and Ashes put a Rope about thy Neck as Benhadads Servants did confess thy faults humbly aggravate thy folly ingenuously and then thou mayst hope to hear the voice of Mercy there is no way to flie from him but by falling down before him Blood-letting is a cure of Bleeding To close and get in is the only way to avoid the blow Thirdly Why the Lord thus brings his Children into the Wilderness Answ All God's Actions are ordered by infinite Wisdom therefore some reason may always be rendred of his Will In case we apprehend it not we must acknowledg the weakness of our own Capacities and subscribe it without enquiring after any Reason because we know it is his Will Yet in this business something may be said as probable and with due reverence He doth it First To divorce the Heart from Sin and to break that Love-knot between the Heart and Sin in every Natural Man which ordinarily is not done without some throws of this Spiritual Trouble While Men run up and down in the seeming pleasant fields of Liberty sin is sweet and fair unto them so far from fear that they are in love with it Who ever saw a covetous Vsurer troubled in mind when he is telling his Money and reckoning up his Bonds and Bills An Adulterer mourning with his Mistress in his Arms Belshazzar indeed was taken and troubled among his Cups and so are some Drunkards but that was an extraordinary
and Power unto it for this end To know how the Law doth this may give some Light to Ministers in the use thereof And that may be 1. By way of Illumination of the Understanding to see Sin as it is sin which no word nor means in the World can do beside because God hath imparted to it the brightness of his own Purity so much as he pleased and thought to be needful for this end with a searching faculty undeniably to charge Conscience with all and every Sin this supernatural splendor closing with the innate light of Conscience proceeding in this manner viz. First to discover Actual Sins beginning often with some of the most hainous and going on by degrees to the rest for number and nature how many how foul and to that end the Law presenteth to the Soul First With her Soveraignty for Constitution and Commission being made and ordained by him who is infinite in every Attribute and hath an absolute dominion over our Bodies and Spirits and sent abroad with a large Commission to show all Sins unto all sorts impartially whether they be high or low rich or poor prophane or holy the Law hath a soveraign power and exerciseth it after a regal manner sparing none Secondly With her Integrity and Extent In this Wilderness the Law sheweth Conscience her Spiritual Authority her Aggravating Faculties her exact Purity and that mutual Dependency one Law and one Member of the Law hath upon another Her Spiritual Authority to go into the inward Rooms yea into every corner of those Rooms and every crevice of those Corners where Sin lieth hid and to search and bring out all Sins great and small of Omission and Commission Like a two-edged Sword it pierceth to the very Marrow to the very intents of the Hearts Her Aggravating Faculty to set forth particular Sins to the Eye as the Glass doth the spots of the Face in the most odious Colours that so Sin may appear exceeding sinful Her Exact Purity to discover such practices of our Life to be sinful which we never dreamt of nor before took notice of so much as to suspect I had not known Sin i. e. some Sins to be Sins but by the Law this discovers that to be a Mountain which before the Sinner judged to be a Mote and that to be Sin which before he esteemed Righteousness and like a Light exposed to view those Corruptions which lay hid and unseen in their due proportion Her Mutual Dependency one Branch doth so hang upon another that whosoever breaketh one is guilty of all James 2.10 The whole Law is but one Copulative and this dependance of one Precept with another and all upon the Law-Maker whose Authority is violated and contemned in the breach of one as well as of all occasioneth even one Sin to be so infinitly weighty Secondly The Law proceeds to discover Original Sin in the Root and Branches how we participate in the first sinful Act of Adam how that Guilt is imputed and how Habitual Corruption is propagated from immediate Parents to all their Posterity proceeding from them by an ordinary way of Generation as Poyson is carried from the Fountain to the Cistern all herent in the Nature or redounding on the Person by virtue of the Covenant and this the Law doth either by way of Comparison or else by way of positive Description comparing and preferring it for the evil thereof to Actual Sin as the Root or Cause thereof Et quod efficit tale est magis tale is said in Philosophy and is true in Divinity Then describing it either by Names or Properties By Names first calling it the Old Man the Body of Death as if Death were nothing without this Sin a Weight that presseth down c. By Properties next and they are especially four viz. Eminency Predominancy Insensibility and Perpetuity For Eminency the Law saith it is a Transcendent Evil and the worst of all Evils Predominancy strangely to rule and oversway like a second Nature which Men often confess while they say It is their Nature to do this or that is to be furious to swear and curse a little now and then they cannot help it 't is their Nature when indeed it is the corruption of Nature reigning Insensibility to keep all the parts in a sleepy peace that Men are not aware of their danger till they be awakened and brought into this Wilderness Perpetuity to cleave fast unto our Nature even to the end of our Life While Blood is in our Veins Sin is in our Nature like the Jebusites this remains as a Thorn in the side in the Flesh even when Victory is obtained by Grace over all Actual Sin in a competent measure that is still living and stirring gathering new Forces and breaking into Rebellion ever and anon Thus the Law bringeth Men into the Wilderness by the work of Illumination 2. By the work of Conviction whereby the Conscience is brought to this Spiritual assent that the former Testimony of the Law is true both for Crime Object and Curse denounced and the Person to a particular application both of the Sins to be personal and of the sentence against such Sins and Sinners to be Legal The sum of which Work may be comprised in this practical Syllogism viz. Whosoever is thus Sinful and Cursed according to the Law is fully miserable but I saith the assuming Conscience am thus sinful and cursed therefore I am fully miserable What shall I do miserable Man that I am who shall deliver me in this vast Wilderness O help help me for the Lord's sake I am ready to faint to sink to die with fear and grief The Spirit by the Ministry of the Law worketh this distinct and sound Conviction divers ways 1. By removing all Impediments which are usually observed to hinder this Conviction One is natural Deadness and penal Hardness caused by Love and Custom in some one or many Sins which while it is interposed between the Law and Conscience will not suffer them to close and so nothing is done till that be in part removed Another is Spiritual Sloth which is a prevailing Backwardness and a precipitating Carelesness to consider what the Law discovereth and concludeth against Sin Men naturally love their ease and quiet they would not be disturbed A third is carnal Craft to pretend Religion and to perform all outward Duties and yet all the while to keep Sin in the Heart untouch'd to remain as habitually and delightfully unclean as ever This Soul-destroying Subtilty appears 1. In a readiness to shift off Sin and Reproofs from our selves to others The Minister met with such an one to day there was a Lesson for him indeed c. 2. In loathing a sound plain-searching Ministry as sore Eyes do the Sun which goes about to answer all the Objections of a natural Heart against the Goodness of Divine Truth Thus the Law removes Impediments 2. It worketh Conviction by applying unto the Soul and Conscience 1.
Gentle Expostulations frequently and movingly here and there as unto Adam and Gehazi Gen. 3.9 2 Kin. 5.26 Tell me poor Soul was it not â—ven so hast not thou done thus and thus went not my Spirit with thee and was not mine Eye over thee Confess thy Sin ease thy self and give glory to God O how loving is the Lord even in his Terrors and Enditements In the midst of Judgment he remembreth Mercy Tho his Robes be red they are not without some streamings of white and if he be compelled to pronounce Judgment as it was said of Augustus he doth it even with Tears in his Eyes 2. Instances very pertinent and those either direct as Psal 50.18 c. or Parabolical As Nathan dealt with David so the Lord deals with those whom he intends to restrain and renew You are the Men saith he that have been so much addicted to and delighted with Idleness Wantonness Luxury Pride Covetousness Slandring Drunkenness Swearing Lying and the like 3. Threatnings are added where the former avail not Cursed is every one that doth not all which is written in the Law He shall be pursued with Judgments of divers Natures to one end sometimes with prosperity on the right and anon with adversity on the left hand and last of all which is the worst of all dying impenitently he must needs be damned Thus the Lord thundereth in his Law against some whom nevertheless he intends to sanctify and save as a Father may threaten and terrify that Child whom he intends to make his Heir But withal you must know that he doth inwardly and secretly support them that they dash not upon Presumption nor sink under final Despair So that at length being driven from all their hiding Places they are brought into this Wilderness and forced freely to take upon themselves all those Sins discovered by the Law to fall down before God and to acknowledg their Guilt and Desert before the Throne of his Majesty resolving there to lie prostrate till he raise them in Mercy Now say they we see we feel we know how true the Word of God is how faithfully such Ministers dealt with us while we slighted and laughed them to scorn and how deceitful Sin is that appears at first small sweet and clean when as it is weighty bitter and filthy They cry who will take this Dagger out of my Heart this Mill-stone off my Back this Fire out of my Loins this Sting out of my Conscience Now the seeming sweetnesâ— of Sin is turned to Gall. O Sin how grievous is thy remembrance Away ye wicked we will henceforth endeavour to keep thâ— Commandments of our God No morâ— Swearing much less Perjury no Drunkenness no more Uncleanness When thesâ— knock at the door the answer is O thesâ— are they that cost us dear at such a time wâ— yet feel the sad Impressions of our former Afflictions for them we find a Pardon no easy Enterprize nor Repentance so pleasing a Potion we would not for all the World bâ— under that Anger of God nor feel one drop of his scalding Indignation which we have perceived for those Offences Thus the biâ—â—â—â— Child dreads the Fire And this with submission is the Course that Ministers musâ— take in opening and pressing the Law firsâ— which is God's Instrument effectually to charge the Conscience with Sin and to bring a Person into this Wilderness 2dly The People may learn to join with the Lord in his Ambassadors so to furtheâ— this Work of the Law when and where iâ— is once begun and to follow the Lord undeâ— his Cloud and after this Fire into this Wiâ—derness And that 1. By a serious Meditation of these many Impediments which keep Men out of it oâ— hinder them much in the way towards it when the Lord is about to bring them into it Eye them that you may avoid them For instance to esteem of the Law as a strange thing as not appertaining to them or wherein they are little or nothing concerned to interpose some beloved Sin between these two Lights of the Law and Conscience that they cannot join This alone hindered Herod's Conversion under John's piercing Ministry the interposition of his Herodias caused a fearful and final Eclipse So likewise to go away unthankfully and carelesly from a good Discourse doth hinder the Work and quench the Sparks which might have bred a Flame 2. By frequent Meditation on divers good Subjects moving this way as 1. Upon the Mercies of God bestowed upon you in particular from time to time This Course the Lord took to humble David 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. And whosoever hath tried will say It is a very piercing way to bring the Heart into a through and kindly grief I have read of one who reading a Pardon sent him from the King fell a weeping and burst out into these Words A Pardon hath done that which Death could not do it hath made my Heart to relent As the Sugar-Loaf is dissolved and weeps it self away when it is dipp'd in Wine so will Penitents dissolve and melt themselves away in the sweet sence of Divine Love and their neglect or abuse of it Without doubt the very Behaviour of the Prodigal's Father brake his Heart with more thawings and kindly mourning than ever his former Hardship and Misery did O this that ever he should run to meet him that he should fall upon his Neck and kiss him This kindness of his Lips wounded his Heart with the deeper sence and judging of his own unkindness When the Surface of the Water is glazed with Ice the Sun-beams dissolve it such operation hath the Grace of Christ upon frozen Hearts which are never truly melted into Contrition but by Evangelical Beams Surely when a Sinner shall consider the great Love the sweetest Kindness the freest Pardons offered the choicest Mercies bestowed his Heart cannot but melt into a River What all these to and for me Lord yea for thee What after such deep Rebellions and Refusals yea after all and that most freely and willingly Good Lord how can the Soul but weep and mourn now 2. Meditate for that purpose upon the Justice and Power of God able to revenge the Quarrel of his Covenant and to bruise all his proud and stout Enemies with a Rod of Iron He is not only a Rock of Refuge to the Godly but also a Rock of Destruction to dash the Impenitent in pieces The strength of the Rock is seen as in upholding the House that is built upon it so in breaking the Ships that dash against it The force of Fire is manifested as in refining the Gold so in consuming the Dross There is none like unto thee O Lord thou art great and thy Name is great who would not fear thee thou King of Nations Jer. 10.6 And It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God Heb. 10.31 As a Lion he tears in pieces the Adversaries Psal 50.22 There is no standing before him if his Wrath
short like a Land-flood occasioned by a Storm which when it is over the Flood is gone too But if it be a preparative to Renovation then it is deep and lasting more or less during Life it is a Spring which continually runs Neither would God have the Wounds of Godly Sorrow to be so closed up as not to bleed afresh upon every good occasion And this Godly Sorrow may be discerned from all counterfeit dashes of Hypocritical and Vain-glorious Mourning Thus 1. By the disposition and desire of the Party in whom it is to keep it secret Although he can rest no where nor answer himself being in little ease yet is often ashamed any â—hould know it Hypocrisie loves a Stage to â—ct her Part upon to get Credit from Men â—ather than to glorifie God Mat. 6.16 But â—lle verè dolet qui sine teste dolet He grieves truly that grieves privately So much is contained in that Prophecy Zach. 12.12 The Land shall mourn every Family apart To shew the soundness of their Sorrow their sincerity by their Secresie They were severed to shew that they wept not for company Sed spontè proprio affectu as Calvin hath it but of their own accord and out of pure affection 2. By the quality of the Confessors which at length after much a-do he chuseth to make known his case unto even the most Orthodox and Impartial Divines that excel in Sanctity Experience and soundness of Judgment who he thinks will not flatter him and dare not deceive him for a World Judas being troubled went to the Scribes and Pharisees and they cared for none of these things but turn him off with a What is that to us see thou to it This is all the help and comfort they can afford him Miserable Comforters Physicians of no value The Devil and his Imps love to bring Men into the Briars and there leave them As familiar Devils forsake their Witches when they have once brought them into Fetters If you confess your selves to a Priest and not to God said that Martyr you shall have the reward that Judas had who confessed to a Priest and afterward went and hanged himself But they that are kindly toucht with those in the Acts of the Apostles Chap. 2. ver 37. Haste to those which wounded them even to the Disciples saying Men and Brethren what shall we do to be saved 3. By a restless hatred of Sin wheresoever seen It is as fearful and odious now as the Devil was heretofore His Eye and Hand are toward it his desire and endeavour is to have it discover'd and kill'd resolving to do and suffer any thing rather than to sin give him any Plague except the plague of an hard unclean Heart He hateth Sin not only in the publick acts which might shame him but also in secret thoughts which might stain and defile him The vengeance of Sin is not only frightful but the venom of Sin is distastful he fears Corruption not only as it is a Fire burning but as it is a Coal that is blacking Further This Work may be known by Fruits and Effects of it For First If it be right it is followed with a full and free confession of Sin The Person that is in a Wilderness-condition confesseth more than all the World know or can accuse him of As the sensible Sick-man relateth all his Distempers to the Physician he resteth not in generals but descendeth to particulars How frequent and full is David in confessing his Murther and Adultery What an History doth Nehemiah make of Israel's Sins in his Prayer to God How exact doth Paul describe his Madness against the Church his Blasphemy against Christ And all to this end that themselves may be the more ashamed and God the more glorified Quest But may not Wicked Graceless Men make confession of Sin Answ Yes for Judas did and others may also But see the difference He confessed to Men but not to God and by his confession sought only to ease his Heart As Drunkards by Vomiting rid their Stomachs Thus as Melancthon relates it Chronico p. 5. Latomus of Lovain confessed Inter horrendos mugitus se contra Conscientiam adversatum esse veritati Roaring and crying out That against his Conscience he had persecuted the Truth of God In trouble of Mind all will out Conscience like Sampson's Wife will not conceal the Riddle Like Fulvia a whorish Woman who declared all the secrets of her foolish Lover Cneius a noble Roman But these Confessions of Graceless Men are not from the concurrence of a judicious active Will but rather as the sparkles forced by the Collision of Flints elicited by the impressions of appearing and urging Evils Like Pharaoh's obedience forced from Judgments and nothing else as that of some Mariners in a Storm who in the Calm turn as wicked as before and court the return of those Goods they cast out in a Tempestuous season when the Winds are silenced Here is no true brokeness of Heart no love of Holiness Secondly It is accompanied with Self-condemnation for Sin The true penitent hath a County Palatinate within his Bosom and arraigns and judges himself Abraham crys out I am but dust and ashes Dust minds us of Mortality Ashes of Fire as if he had deserved both Jacob saith I am less than the least of all thy Mercies Gen. 32.10 The Centurion I am unworthy thou shouldst come under my Roof St. Peter Depart from me O Lord for I am a sinful Man Bishop Hooper in our Martyrologie Lord I am Hell thou art Heaven I a sink of Sin thou a Fount of Grace This is one chief part of Self-condemnation to acknowledg that the utmost Wrath and Severity of God is justly due to such Sins as we have committed For tho gracious Persons by their Sins do not actually become subject to the Wrath of God and his Vengeance yet they meritoriously make such Persons liable to Death so that a true Penitent under the apprehensions of his Sins may say truly as the Prodigal did I am no more worthy to be called thy Son Thirdly The practice and course of Sin is stayed no more Swearing no more wanton Dalliance no more drunken Meetings Tho he cannot but sin yet he doth not will Sin It is not his Trade yea all the ways and mâ—ans are cut off which did or might provoke or succour Corruption As Generals do in besieging a Town or Castle they deprive them of all such ways and means whereby they might provide for themselves Or as the Men of Abel dealt with Sheba the Son of Bichri they cut off his Head and cast it over to Joab that he might depart 2 Sam. 20.22 So did Zacheus Luke 19.8 in restitution and contribution he pulled down the tents of Sin And as Mary Magdalen dealt with her wanton Eyes and whorish Locks she wept Rivers of Tears with the one and wiped our Saviour's Feet with the other Loth to have done so before It is usual
with Men that would destroy the brood of some Beasts and Birds they pull down their Nests and destroy their Dens So it is with the true Penitent in respect of Sin down with all now that they would uphold before Fourthly There followeth a great Love to a sound-searching Ministry that will fully search and try the deceitful Heart and batter the deceitful holds of Sin Threatnings are welcome that shake the proud stony Heart and dash Babels Brats against the Wall I mean the crawling Vermin of noisome Lusts O strike thou Man of God strike in Christ's Name and spare not burn and cut here O here is an impure hard Heart as ever was harboured in any Breast And then goeth most chearfully most thankfully and best contented when he is struck to the quick What a blessed opportunity was this happy that I lived to see this day to hear such a Sermon If we hate an Enemy nothing will satisfie but his death Fifthly There remains still many fears and an holy jealousie that every Sin he reades or hears of is his Master is it I As it is reported of Socrates that when he walked in the Streets and saw any Person disorder'd would say to himself Am I such a one And as Master Bradford did when he looked into the lewd Lives of others And so do all humble Christians Nay commonly in this case he takes all to himself I have been this and I am thus and deserve that He needs neither Accuser nor Judg but is ready to cast the first stone at himself Thus the intented Convert is brought into the Wilderness of Spiritual Trouble where he yet remains a miserable Spectacle in Chains under Bondage tossing to and fro sighing and looking about now upon himself where he seeth his Chains but no power to loose them then abroad to see if there be any near but there is none to hear or help Finally he raiseth up his Eyes towards Heaven in such an earnest humble fixed manner as if he would never leave till he heard some word of comfort for which here is a Promise which comes in the next place to be handled III. I will speak unto her Heart Containing the third General of the Text viz. The first infusion for Apprehension or actual excitation of Sanctifying Grace In which Promise is presented to your view 1. The subject of this Evangelical Work and that is the Heart Instruments work directly upon the outward Man only he hath his seat in Heaven that works upon the Heart This is as Fire among the Elements that doth assimulate every thing to it self or as the Primum Mobile to the inferiour World which carries all the inferiour Orbs with it the first Mover or great Wheel in a Clock once moved moves with it all the rest the Tongue Eyes Hands Feet all move to the motion of the Heart and when God hath once fram'd the Soul to his Discipline by the ministry of the Law then he takes the Heart to be a fit hearer and speaks unto it 2. The manner of Exccution I will speak unto or above Two things may be conceived as promised herein First To speak comfortably to a solitary disconsolate Soul So much doth the Hebraism every-where import Comfort ye my People speak comfortably to Jerusalem Isa 40.1 The words are originally as here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Speak to the Heart of Jerusalem i. e. speak things grateful to her comfort raise up chear as both the Syriack and Chaldee Paraphrase do take it As it was with the Jews when God gave the Law to Israel by Moses they heard the Thunder and saw the Lightning but neither heard nor saw God so it is in this preparative work of Faith Men see the bright purity of the Law they hear many Woes and Curses denounced but God in Christ they neither hear nor see till he further enlighten them and raise them up by speaking to their Hearts Secondly To speak Victoriously above all the strength of that natural resistability which is in every untamed and unsanctified Heart In few words it is thus much I will chear and change her Whence Ministers are fitly called Comforters 1 Thess 2.11 and the Gospel a Peace-offering a word of Comfort and Reconciliation How the Lord works this whether as a Moral Persuader only by proposing Objects or as a Physical Agent determining the Intellect changing the Will and ordering the whole Business both for efficacy and event How the Will of Man hath it self towards the Grace of God in the act of Conversion hath been and is the great question of the Christian World Divines of all sorts are beating about it some to defend others to bolt out the Truth Pelagians with the Jesuits on one hand are for the strength of Nature and liberty of the Will to accept or refuse the Voice of God The Primitive Fathers from Augustine downwards with most Protestants and the Dominican Friars on the other hand are more for the Glory of God's Free-grace Who worketh both to will and to do of his own good Pleasure Here will be nothing interposed in order to any determination of this Controversie only the studious whom it may concern are referr'd to what is extant * Chamier Tom. 3. operum lib. 3. Cameron respons ad Epist docti viri alibi Zanch lib. 5. de Nat. Dei D. Rivet comment in Hos in disput 13. D. Twiss in defens Perk. Vind. gra and may yield better satisfaction For others who are willing to rest in plain Truths and fear to offend by curious enquiries they may take what follows for answer viz. First God speaketh and worketh after a secret if not an unexpressible manner Divine Graces curiously and mysteriously insinuate themselves and the impressions of the Will are extremely nice Therefore Men should not be rash in determining nor over-bold in presenting to the Eye what God hath vailed endeavouring to make Windows in God's Closet and to unclasp his secret Books St. Augustine's Rule is surely safe Praestat dubitare de occultis quam de incertis litigare And his Counsel is very prudent viz. Compescenda est humana temeritas id quod non est non quaerat nè quod est inveniat Contra. Manich. l. 8. c. 1. i. e. We must bridle our Temerity and check our Curiosity lest we pursue what is not revealed and find that which is Let all take heed of soaring too high lest they be scorched and wading too deep lest they be drowned There are some things we may nescire sine crimine not know without blame but cannot know them sine discrimine without danger And in respect of these a learned Ignorance is to be preferr'd to an ignorant Learning Stobaeus reports of Thales that he gazing on the Stars fell into a Pit so may all pryers into God's Secrets be suffered to fall into the Pit of Error Secondly Man hath certainly lost his freedom to Good by his first choice of Evil. Seipsum
that are meanest in their own apprehensions Such shall understand this secret and partake in it to sit on Thrones as crowned Kings and Queens for evermore Vse 3. Lastly What transcending Comfort doth this Truth and Text afford to all troubled Minds Such I mean as have been stayed by Divine Power when they were running towards Hell in all sorts of Vanity and Prodigality and had been there ere this had not God in Christ been more merciful to them than they were careful about their own safety If the King should vouchsafe to speak to a mean Person before many what an honour would it be what ravishing thoughts would arise and what applause would it procure How much more should it be so here when the King of Kings speaks and that unto the Heart of a forlorn Creature comfortably I have heard thy Prayer I have seen thy Tears behold I will heal thee c. so the Lord spake unto the Heart of Hezekiah 2 Kings 20.5 Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a memorial before God c. so the Lord spake unto the Heart of Cornelius Acts 10.4 And how often did our blessed Lord and compassionate Saviour Jesus Christ raise up disconsolate Souls with such words as these Son be of good chear thy Sins be forgiven thee Daughter great is thy Faith go in peace thy Faith hath made thee whole Yea all the precious Promises are such Cordials See Prov. 28.13 Who so confesseth and forsaketh his Sins shall find Mercy Job 33.27 28. He looketh upon Man and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which is right and it profiteth me not he will deliver his Soul from going into the Pit c. Isa 1.18 Come now let us reason together saith the Lord though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow c. Chap. 55. ver 7. Let the Wicked forsake his way and the Righteous Man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have Mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Mich. 7.19 He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our Iniquities and cast all their Sins into the bottom of the Sea Hos 14.4 5. I will heal their Back-slidings I will love them freely Mal. 4.2 To them that fear my Name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his Wings Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Rom. 8.1 Now therefore there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ c. 1 John 1.9 Rev. 21.6 So almost in every Book of that holy Volume may be found such Stars of Light such pieces of Treasure such Bezar-stones to keep sick Souls from fainting under their Sins and Sorrows Promises wherein the Lord speaks something to the Hearts of believing Penitents to this effect The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's Head Whatsoever Christ did or suffered was for you by his satisfaction God is reconciled to you all your Sins are pardoned and your Souls shall be saved This is to speak to the Heart of a poor Sinner Now as some Artificers after long poring upon a piece of Black Work and finding a dimness in their Eyes are wont to refresh themselves with the beholding the Verdure of Meadows or lustre of Emeralds so let poor Penitents wearied and heavy laden with the consideration of their Sins for their refreshment make use of those Gospel-Cordials the Promises they will be chearing to the Eye of Faith But 't is sufficiently known that those to whom this Comfort belongs are most ready to put it from them as none of their Portion The troubled Spirit makes Darts of every thing it can to fight against Reason and kill it self not suspecting its own Poyson The conclusion therefore of this subject shall endeavour to prevent that mischief by proposing and answering some Cases which may contain the complaints of such troubled Spirits Object 1. My Sins have been so many and great that I fear to apply any Promise Answ Nay therefore you should be the more ready and willing to apply this Lord come unto me for I am a sinful Man and have most need of help Save me Lord or I perish Greater Sins should hasten all to the Mercy Seat the greater Wounds to the Physician No Man flies his Counsel because his Cause is great and intricate but plies him the more Especially while you consider the extent of his Power and Love who speaketh His Power passeth the nature and number of your Sins whatever they be Christ is a great Saviour He is called a Mighty Saviour and the Salvation in him is called Great Salvation and the Redemption in him Great Redemption 1 John 2.1 If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous And for his Love that extends to all sorts of Penitents to Manasses Mary Magdalen to the Romans and Corinthians to foul Sinners griping Oppressors sharp Persecutors Sinners in the highest form 1 John 2.2 And he is the Propitiation for our Sins c. In the Levitical Law there were Sacrifices for all sorts of Sins and what did they prefigure but the ample efficacy in Christ's Death which was an Atonement for Sins of all kinds and was as the daily Sacrifice for the Expiation of the continued and augmented number of Transgressions Even where Sin hath abounded there Grace hath after much more abounded So if you consider the nature of those Promises made unto distressed Souls both for Constitution and Condition For Constitution they are absolutely free no Foreign Power to enforce them from him that made them nor any Natural Abilities in Man to reserve them And for Condition they are Evangelical bringing with them what they require of you Be of good comfort when he calleth you fear not refuse not to receive what he offereth Say rather Speak Lord and speak home for thy Servant desireth to hear Object 2. But alas it is pleaded my Corâ—â—ptions have been and are strong and abominaâ—â—â—â— that I know not what to do Answ The sense of Sin 's strength is no â— hopeful symptom nor prejudice to Faith â—f all tempers the hardned is most dangeâ—â—us and Sin hath the greatest strength â—here there is the least sense When a Patiâ—â—t is deadly sick he saith and thinks he is â—ell and feels no pain but when he is reâ—â—vering he is full of sense and complains â—s Head is weak his Stomach sick his Bones â—me all is amiss every thing is too hard â—â— him There is more hope of one sensible â—â—nner than of a thousand presumptuous â—â—rdned Wretches Sense of Sin doth ever â—â— before sense of Christ Besides the powâ—â— of God's Voice will weaken them and â—â—e Efficacy of his Spirit mortifie and subâ—â—e them Here it may be said as it was of â—â—thage a little before it was taken Moriâ—â—ium bestiarum violentiores esse morsus dying â—asts
the Mount will the Lord be seen FINIS A CANAAN OF COMFORT DISCOVERING That a true sight of Sin is an infallible sign of Grace â—rom that Expression of Holy and Penitent David Psal 51.3 My Sin is ever before me By W. C. London Printed in the Year 1679. A Consolatory Preface to poor Christians dejected under the sense of their Sins GOd's Ministers are commanded by the Voice of that Evangelical Prophet Isaiah to comfort to speak to the Lord's People to comfort Jerusalem and cry unto her that her Warfare is accomplished and that her Iniquity is pardoned In obedience to this Command I have presumed to publish this Word in season for your Benefit in the following plain Discourse and the plainer because such a dress doth best become Divinity Affected terms may please the Fancy but will never feed the Vnderstanding they Court but not Comfort In these Points Experience is more than Reading Both ways all praise be to the Author of Grace you have learn'd how the Lord by degrees allureth and draws Men and Women out of the pleasing Fields of Prodigality into the Wilderness of Spiritual Trouble that he might there speak unto their Hearts and work them to a gracicious Temper wherein afterwards he keeps them partly by presenting Sin to the Eye and Conscience as he did to David Which you must know is not to sink nor drive them to Dispair but to nourish and increase in them an hatred of Sin and a longing love after Christ seeing the one daily to loath it and feeling the want of the other more to desire him It was an excellent Speech of that eminent Martyr Mr. Lambert who lifting up his Hands flaming with Fire as his Heart did with Love and Zeal cried aloud to the People out of the Fire Christ and none but Christ Which I designedly put you in mind of and commend to you whereby to encourage you in your dejected Condition and to propound as a pattern for your Practice For an adequate object of Faith to accept and rest upon as the only Mediator of Justification and Salvation Christ and none but Christ In the exercise of Repentance for a term to which we must trust and by whom we have access to the Father Christ and none but Christ In the duty of Prayer for an Intercessor to give weight and worth unto them Christ and none but Christ For a compleat Saviour both to redeem by Purchase â—nd Conquest in regard of Man's twoâ—old Bondage and to adorn the Soul with Righteousness Christ and none but Christ As Sin is so let Christ be ever â—efore you in his Incarnation Death Resurrection Ascension and Intercessiâ—n In his Natures and Offices in the excellency of his Merit and Efficacy of â—is Spirit in his Beauty and Innocenâ—y in his Power and Pity in his hidden Treasure and Riches unsearchâ—ble believe it there is no such Image â—o look upon no such Picture to pray â—efore as the Promises present in him â—o every believing Eye in your Chamber â—nd at Church Alone and in Company â—n Health and Sickness in Life and Death look upon him love him and say Christ and none but Christ Then may you be assured that God hath brought you the best way out of Egypt into Canaan that he hath spoken unto your Heart indeed and that Christ's Blood is and shall be effectually applied to put Sin both out of Affection and Memory and in due time to cleanse your Nature from the power and being of Sin In a word be of good Courage keep on in your way your Labour will not be in vain in the Lord. Heaven or rather Christ will pay for all If then you would have Sin pardon'd Hardness and Dulness removed Grace bestowed in the Habit Acts or Degrees Doubts answered Weakness strengthened Prayers and Tears with Christ will do it Children of many Tears cannot perish Farewel A Canaan of Comfort DISCOVERING That a true sight of Sin is an infallible sign of Grace Psal 51.3 My Sin is ever before me OF Books the Scripture of Scripture the Psalms of Psalms the Penitentials of Penitentials this hath worthily obtained the place of Eminency Basil Hom. 12 in Psal and for Use and Comfort were it meet to compare things which are in their own nature Superlative of Super-excellency in the Church of God And that justly whether we regard the Author the Occasion the Subject or the End of it The Author was David a King a Prophet a Penitent Sinner every way great great in his Gifts great in his Person and Place and greatly Beloved great in his Fall and great in his Recovery and all to draw transgressing Greatness unto imitation either by Watchfulness to prevent or by Penitency to recover themselves out of Satan's snares The Occasion was his too too-long departure from God in that great and presumptuous Sin against the Lord in the matter of Vriah being at the Leaguer of Rabbah David violated the Chastity of Bathsheba his Wife whosoever dareth the Devil by Idleness shall surely be tempted by him to some forbidden Employment Ocium est principium malè faciendi Basil Hex She conceived he labours to hide it as fast as she by growth did discover it by sending for Vriah home that so he might be deem'd the Father of that Adulterous Issue This not succeeding altho he had added the strength of Wine to his command to make him at once forgetful and inordinate he gives way to another bloody Project For commonly Sin goeth not without company being like the Sea the end of one Wave is the beginning of another or like the Circles in a Pond one begets another And as in a case of Stairs one is a step to another so every Sin is a Stair to help up to higher and worse Sins And that was to send him back with Letters drawn by David s Pen to the General Joab that he might under some Warlike Adventure place him in the way of Death so to free David as he deceitfully thought both from Vriah's presence and his Blood while he was taken out of the way by the Sword of the Children of Ammon Not I but they have done it Which being done David married Bathsheba thinking that way to cloak his Sin and so all was husht and quiet on David's side But the Thunder-clap is yet behind The thing that David had done displeased the Lord. God loved David and therefore hated his Sin and would not suffer it by concealment like a dangerous Sore to fester but sends Nathan to take away the evil that blinded him and to allure him by a borrowed speech into the Wilderness that there he might speak unto his Heart to open what Sin had shut to cleanse what Sin had defiled to soften what Sin had hardened and to bring him to some satisfaction and that by way of publick Confession and as it were to do open Penance in a white Sheet The Subject is an expression of Evangelical Sorrow or the
aforehand or would be warned by my Example thus tormented with the sight and thought of former Sins to consider what Sin will do either sooner or laer when it is once committed as it is implied in this short Sentence a part of David's Confession viz. My Sin is ever before me The sum whereof may be comprised and presented in these two Positions viz. First That Sin once committed will be often presented Secondly That whosoever is thus mindful of Sin and troubled about it to him it is a good sign of the Pardon of it First That Sin once committed will be often presented The Act is soon past but the Guilt remains more firm Before Repentance Forgetfulness may cover it but after nothing can hide it Although a Person should be willing yet Conscience will not suffer it to be out of sight It is so bitter to the taste so ugly to the sight and so heavy a burden to a tender awakened Conscience that it will not easily out of Memory again and for any thing is known to the contrary this was true of David to his dying Day though not always alike for Degrees If you do not well Sin lieth at the Door Gen. 4.7 The presence and conscience of Sin like a bawling Ban-Dog will be ever Barking at you when you go out and when you go in it is ready to fill your Ears with terrifying Clamours If you sin against the Lord be sure your Sin will find you out Numb 32.23 both by way of Manifestation and Vindication as it did our first Parents Righteous Job Zealous Paul 1 Tim. 1.13 I was a Persecutor a Blasphemer Injurious these were always before him after his Eyes were once opened and Religous Austin as his Confessions do abundantly testifie All these cried out as David did My Sins are ever before me This Man complains of one Sin and that of another according to the nature of the Sin and measure of delight taken in Commission Much delight argueth much consent of the Will and great Sins do trouble greatly they appear as it were in Battel Array and compass a Man about till they make him cry out Wretched Man that I am I was conceived in Sin enough to have sunk me to the lowest Hell and yet I have not ceased daily to add unto it by a wilful omission of Duties and a greedie commission of foul Enormities I have been Ignorant and Idle I have been addicted to Drunkenness Uncleanness Murther and Lying to Pride Covetousness and Swearing to Sacrilege Bribery with an infinite more besides those inward Sins of a more Spiritual Nature as Infidelity Idolatry Impenitency Hypocrifie Vain-Glory Covetousness c. Once they appeared but Toys and tricks of Youth but now the least of them seems heavier than Weight it self Thus Conscience awakened and set on work by Justice brings in many Bills of Account some of long standing others lately entred happy is he that can over-look them without Horror and Delight It is a great work of the Spirit and doth argue a mighty work of Grace to stand before the sight of Sin without horror for â—t or delight in it as it was with David here otherwise it will fall out that upon every presentation of Sin we should either turn again to act it a-new at least in Speculation or sink under it For commonly if it appear not delightful it appeareth very fearful For the further opening and illustrating of this Point it may not be unprofitable to enquire after the Time when the Grounds whereupon and the Ends why Sin once committed should be so often presented to the â—rue Penitent First The Time when is either in our Life and Health or at the hour of Death â—ometimes and to some Persons it is preâ—ented in both To all those living under â—he Means and Covenant of Grace commonly the Lord causeth it to be presented in their Life and Health at one time or other by one means or other either by the Ministry of the Word so the Law presents it and makes Men mourn out of fear the Gospel presents it and causeth more kindly Grief out of Love or else by the Tongues of Men our Neighbours and they our Christian Friends who do it privately in Love not carrying their Teeth in their Tongues nor bite whilst they speak not leaving a Scaâ— upon their Persons when they are endeavouring to heal a Wound in their Brethrens Actions And such reprehension should be ever well taken yea the Gracious will say Let the Righteous smite me Or by our Enemies in anger As Augustin reports of his Mother Monica that her Sin was set before her * A young Maid formerly her Partner in Potting fell at Variance with her and as Malice when she shoots draws her Arrows to the head called her Tosspot and Drunkard whereupon Monica reformed her Life and became Temperate Thus bitter Taunts sometimes make wholesom Physick when God sanctifies unto us the malice of our Enemies to perform the office of good Will So Fuller in his Holy State in the Life of Monica by a Servant Maid and as Shimei dealt with David Thus a Man may gain by an Enemy as Poison unto some Creatures affords Nourishment As Telephus his Imposthume was open'd by the Dart of an Enemy which was intended for his hurt And as they say those Roses are sweetest which grow near unto Garlick so the nearness of an Enemy makes a good Man better For both Friends and Enemies the Lord makes use of to set our Sins in order before us According to the saying of an Heathen though no Heathenish saying That he who would be good must either have a faithful Friend to instruct him or a watchful Enemy to correct him Exclude not the good use of many excellent Discourses sent abroad for this end By reading what another speaks a Man may by reflexion observe and learn what himself hath been and what he is for the present So for the time of Life And then for the hour of Death â—ain and fear do stir up Conscience to call back and present Sin to the Sinner's Eye God withdraws the Vail and gives the Sinner penitent once more a full view of his own Fruits that they may be as much loathed as ever they were loved nay he perâ—itteth Satan sometimes to come after and â—hew his black Claws to joyn with Sin and â—o second these accusing Cries whereby the â—anguishing Spirits of a poor Penitent who may not live and yet dares not die â—re much moved and affrighted to the astonishment of unexperienced beholders This â—s a heavy Conflict for such as have endured â—he heat of the Day in the close when they â—hought all Enemies had been overcome and subdued to meet with such an Assault and yet it may be so order'd in great Love and Mercy Either because they had not seen it â—right before or that now they might take their farewel of it never to see it more And so truly gracious Souls have
Error though not so common and that is when upon these and the like Grounds Men and Women enough opprest with the thought and burden of their former Sins will â—et be alway poring upon them till at length â—hey are either intangled with delight in them â—r almost overwhelm'd with horror for them There is an excess in this Men may look â—pon their Sins too much as upon Christ too â—ittle See and consider the Consequence â—ereby it cometh to pass that Men's Hearts â—re straightned and bound up from the due praise of God that they walk heavily and bring an evil report upon the Truth as if 〈◊〉 were indeed as desolate and uncomfortable 〈◊〉 way as the Devil and his Servants commonly esteem and declare performing Chriâ—tian Duties constantly with great unchearfulness when as we know the Lord delights in a chearful Servant and threatneth the contrary Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and gladness of Heart for the abundance of all things therefore shalt thou serve thine Enemies in Hunger Thirst and Nakedness and in want of all things Deut. 28.47 48. Let your Sins be set before you that they may humble and drive you not from God nor from the sight of God's Grace and free Mercy in Christ but more out of your selves toward Christ Endeavour to see your Sins that you may behold also at the same time your safety from them in Christ and let the frequent sight of your Sins be more and more often accompanied with Love than Fear Vse 2. The second Use may be to shew in what case they are whose Sins are never before them The Harp and the Viol the Tabret and Pipe and Wine are in their Feasts they lie upon the Beds of Ivory and stretch themselves on their Couches they eat the Lambs out of the Flock and Calves out of the Stall they chant to the sound of the Viol and drink their Wine in Bowls they anoint themselves with chief Oyntments and cast away Care Riches Pleasure and Honour with all the Gay-branches of Worldly-glory are the pleasing objects of their Eyes They eat drink and are merry driving all Objects from their Minds which may bring the least disgust and afford the Body all Pleasures which may preserve it in a flourishing Health accompanied with Grace vigour and vivacity of Senses but for their Sins they are ever behind them out of sight out of mind but what follows which one day they must hear Thou Fool this night thy Soul shall be taken from thee and then whose shall all these things be Suddenly they are cut down as the Philistines and Belshazzar were and sink into the Infernal Pit in a moment Such I mean to reprove in this Use 1. As continue in any known Sin after discovery or that sufficient means for Detection and Conviction have been afforded 2. As are busied in setting other Men's Sins before them but not their own Only Swine delight to be muzling in Dung and Dogs we know are pleased in licking Sores Flies pass over the sound parts and if there be any raw they light on them Beetles fly over sweet Flowers but creep into Dung Such for condition are those People who are always rubbing on their Neighbour's Sores and searching the Wounds of others whilst their own do bleed to Death Were it not for other Men's sins Sin would seldom be seen or spoken of by such this setteth before him the Sins of that and that the Sins of this Man The Covetous Man setteth before him as odious the Sin of the Drunkard and the Drunkard the Sin of the Covetous Man and both the Sins of a third but neither sets before him his own Sins One thing more which is worse Too many as may be feared esteem a chief part of Religion to find faults abroad and reproving others especially Superiours who are further out of their power to redress than from their Sight and Hearing whereby it cometh to pass that much precious Time is lost and mispent good Conference hindred and Christian Meetings frustrated of their main end I speak not this to shield common Corruptions and National Abominations from just Censure nor to debar Men from manifesting their dislike of that whereby God is dishonoured and Religion hindred provided Men have a Calling thereunto and power with opportunity to do Good 3. Such as cannot endure a sound plain-searching Ministry no more than Ahab could endure Micah Herodias a John Baptist or Festus a Paul Like gaul'd Horses they cannot endure the rubbing of their Sores Such blunt Fellows say they preach all of Righteousness of Temperance and of Judgment to come we cannot have a Dalilah nor an Herodias for them they will set our Sins in order before us as plainly and boldly as ever Nathan did David's or Chrysostom Eudoxia's Luxury and wanton Dancing But this know that if these kind of Men Sound Sober Godly Divines I mean be an Eye-sore to you Sin was never before you as a Burden to you nay it was not so much as once in your sight except as an object obscured from the Sense either by disproportion of Distance or distemperature of the Medium and then upon such a confused glimmering your study and endeavour hath been and is either with Gehazi to deny it or with Achan to hide it from the sight of others or with Adam and Saul to extenuate it or else to be angry with if not to plot Revenge against such as did present it like the Serpent which they say the more he is stirr'd the more he gathers up his Poison to spit at those that move him and so by degrees you labour to forget it And how soon may a Man forget that which he hath neither will nor delight to remember But in the Name of Christ let me entreat all suâ—h to know and consider First How grosly the Devil deludes them whilst for a time he hideth the ugly face of Sin from them either with variety of Presidents or some probability of deluding Promises as of Pleasure Content and Secrecy when as indeed there ever followeth abundance of bitter Discontent and an impossibility of Concealment As he did of old so he doth still he shews the Honey but hides the Gall offers the Rose but covers the Pin in it The Devil deals with Sinners as deceitful Tradesmen who shew their Chapmen the better part of the Cloth and conceal the worst as the Panther deals with Beasts who hides his deformed Head till his sweet scent hath drawn them into his danger Till Men have sinned Satan is a Parasite when they have sinned he is found a Tyrant Like a treacherous Host though he welcome us into the Inn with a smiling Countenance yet he 'l cut our Throats in the Bed Secondly How far they are yet from the truth of Grace that were never troubled with any sight of Sin or sense of it Sorrow through fear is a preparative for Grace St. Austin compares it to the Needle that
thing to sin against the Lord. He fasteth and prayeth weepeth and sigheth saying often or to this effect O Lord rebuke me not in thine Anger neither chasten me in thy hot Displeasure have Mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my Bones are vexed My Soul is sore troubled but thou O Lord how long Return O Lord deliver my Soul O save me for thy Mercy-sake I am weary with groaning all the Night make I my Bed to swim I water my Couch with my Tears mine Eye is consumed because of grief How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy Face from me My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my Roaring O my God I cry in the Day-time but thou hearest not and in the Night-season and am not silent I am poured out like Water and all my Bones are out of joynt my Heart is like Wax it is melted in the midst of my Bowels my strength is dried up like a Pot sheard my Tongue cleaves to the roof of my Jaws Have Mercy upon me O Lord for I am in trouble my Eye is consumed with grief yea my Soul and my Belly My Life is spent with grief and my Years with sighing my strength faileth because of my Iniquities and my Bones are consumed Make thy Face to shine upon thy Servant save me for thy Mercy-sake Day and Night thy Hand is heavy upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer Blessed is he whose Sin is covered and whose Transgression is forgiven O Lord rebuke me not in thy Wrath neither chasten me in thine hot Displeasure For thine Arrows stick fast in me and thy Hand presseth me sore There is no soundness in my Flesh because of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my Bones because of my Sin for mine Iniquities are gone over my Head as a heavy Burden they are too heavy for me I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the Day long My Loins are filled with a loathsome Disease there is no soundness in my Flesh I am feeble and sore broken My Heart panteth my Strength faileth me my groaning is not hid from thee Yea Lord all my desire is before thee Have mercy upon me O my God according to thy loving Kindness according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies blot out my Transgression wash me throughly from mine Iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for I acknowledg my Transgressions and my Sin is ever before me Purge me with Hssyop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow Make me to hear the voice of Joy and Gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Hide thy Face from my Sins and blot out all mine Iniquities create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Cast me not away from thy Presence take not thy Holy Spirit from me Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit Then will I teach Transgressors thy Ways and Sinners shall be converted unto thee I remembred God and was troubled I complain'd and my Spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest mine Eyes waking I am sore troubled that I cannot speak Will the Lord cast me off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his Mercy clan gone for ever Doth his Promise fail for evermore And will he be favourable no more Hath God forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies c. Stay now and look back and say Is not this a great Mourning Was not David in deep distress How many ways doth he take What words doth he use Do not you see a Penitent exceedingly humbled a Heart bleeding a sad and disfigured Face a Body made thin Sighings redoubled one upon another Here are Joints pined away with sadness here is a fixed love of Tears the joyous Harp hangs up and knows no more what Songs of Triumph mean he is wholly employed in expressing Griefs He dies to all Mortal things of the Earth and being cast upon the Sea of Repentance he makes it to eccho with Groanings and continually swell with his Weepings And all to describe his condition by the presence of his Sins and excite the Divine Compassion towards him And if David penitent David was thus pursued with the thoughts and sight of Sin if he were sent and kept such a strong Beggar for Mercy all his days for the matter of Vriah Oh what will become of most of us who sin more and desire less who are more cunning to Transgress and more careless in Praying Where is our Rhetorick our Fervour our Sighs our Tears Oh how faint are our Desires How cold our Prayers As if our many Sins were never before us or not fearful to us as if Mercy and Grace were as easie to get as to lose or as if Heaven and God's Favour would fall upon us at last without any labour which cost David so much Fasting so many Prayers so many Tears in secret And yet his Fasting his Prayers and Tears could not do it without satisfying-Blood applied and pleaded If it be so as we have proved from the Text then do you your selves set Sin before you be desirous of it and patient while others do it Yea kiss that Hand and praise God for that Means whereby it is done Attend to your Pastours look your selves in the Glass of the Law and pray with David search and try me O Lord set my Sins in order before me now that I may be wail them and thou mayest forgive them Never leave this endeavour till you be enabled to see and say Wo and alas wretched Man that I am thus to dishonour God what shall I say or do Mine Iniquities have separated between me and my God My Sins have hid his Face from me so that I cannot see him The Glory is departed and thâ—t bright Sun fearfully eclipsed towards me Can I rejoyce with the joy of other People Can I laugh and be merry while my Sins are always before me Can I sing the Lord's Song in a strange Land Call me not Naomi but call me Marah the Lord deals bitterly with me yet deservedly Sin hath been my Delight now it is my Torment I have followed Sin and now Sin followeth me See do you not see my Drunkenness here my Whoredoms there my Pride my Hypocrisie my Covetousness and Vain-glory a bundle of blasphemous Thoughts in one place and a flying roll of Lyes and Oaths in another place save me from them sweet Jesus A wounded Israelite was healed by looking upon the Brasen Serpent Wounded I am the stings of Death all of my own making for other Death hath none do stick in me and compass me about to the Lord Jesus I look unto his Arms I flie and there resolve to rest Yet me thinks
Ahab Saul and Judas Yea they may go further to leave some Sins at least for a time as it is probable Herod did at St. John's Preaching and yet for all this they may not repent Evangelically so as to be grieved and throughly changed But this is it we say No Man in a state of Nature can see Sin and be troubled about it as David here was Vebridius * Aug. refert Epist 23. ad Bonificium non proculà fine exceedingly hated de quaestione magna responsionem brevem a short Answer to a weighty Question A little more therefore to clear this in hand see the difference of the sight of Sin that is in Natural Men and Unregenerate from that of true Converts viz. First David's sorrow proceeded from Love When he considered that God who had done so great things for him was dishonoured by him and displeased with him that his own Heart was made unfit for God's Service and that the common Enemies were occasioned to rejoyce and blaspheme then he burst out into this supplicatory Confession This was the Fountain whence his penitential Tears did flow But thus it is not with any meer graceless Person his sorrow for Sin is at the best from Fear not from Love Judas had an hellish sorrow a desperate grief for Sin David was Evangelical Against thee thee only have I sinned Lo there lay the pinch of his grief in that he had offended so good a God that had maintained him loved delivered crowned and redeemed him Oh against thee thee only Such matchless Love melting Bowels such precious Blood of such a Saviour He is pricked with the Thorns of Christ's Crown he bled over his bleeding Wounds with the truly sorrowful Soul even tares himself in pieces for taring Christ's Side open Secondly It was free like Water out of a Spring Fained forced Grief is nothing worth * Virtus nolentium nulla est it is like that of Judas which was fired out of him as sweet Water is out of Roses and squeezed out of him as Verjuice is out of Crabs But gracious Persons are Volunteers in their sorrow which we see practised by David after he had numbred the People 2 Sam. 24.10 His Heart smote him and David said to the Lord Take away the iniquity of thy Servant for I have done very foolishly And a shadow hereby we find in the example of Epaminondas the Theban General who the next day after Victory and Triumph went drooping and hanging down his Head and being asked why he did so Answered Yesterday I found my self too much elated with Vain glory therefore I correct my self to day But a better example we have of David whose Heart smote him as before He was not smitten by God's Hand or the Prophet's Reproof as afterwards yet his sanctified Conscience did its Office that of a faithful Monitor his Heart misgave him Bee-masters tell us those are the best Hives that make the greatest noise Sure it is that Heart is best that suffers a Man not to sleep in Sin As for Unregenerate Men it is not so with them Thirdly David saw Sin and was troubled about it as it was Sin ugly as Hell opposite to the holy and pure Nature of God a defacer of his Image and pleasing only to the Devil God's greatest Enemy But Natural Men see and grieve for Sin only as it is attended with pain of loss and sense Take away this Plague said Pharaoh the outward Scourge not take away this hard Heart the greatest Plague of all All trouble like Mercury's Influence is good only if joyned with a good but bad if joyned with a bad Planet The Object of sorrow must be observed and that will shew the nature of it Fourthly David saw Sin with more hatred indignation and abomination than ever It swell'd like a Toad in his Eyes he spat it out of his Mouth with utmost abhorrency resolving to watch for ever after more carefully all his ways I considered my ways that they were not good and turned my Feet unto thy Testimony I have now hid thy Word in my Heart that I may not sin against thee Turn away mine Eyes from beholding Vanity and set a watch before the door of my Lips Thus David saw it and these effects followed So then that sight of Sin which I account an infallible consequent of renewing Grace that none may be mistaken is and must be timely kindly fully and constantly Timely while the Day of Grace lasteth as Judas saw Sin when it was too late Kindly and willingly being led and kept in view thereof by an inward light and power of Grace fighting against Corruption and thereby keeping it still in Memory else Reprobates may and do often see their Sins here by force driven to it by Judgments casting out their Sins as Mariners do their Goods in a Storm wishing for them again in a Calm Fully it must be both for Intention and Extension for the nature of it it must be hearty and for the Object it must be universal Greater and lesser Sins open and secret Evils the sins of Youth and riper Age all must be bewailed where one is seen though all are not alike burdensome some wound and terrifie more than others according as there was more or less delight in commission Adultery and Murther did flash most in David's Face bringing along with them into his mind and sight even his Birth-sin St. Austin was much troubled for that he brake into an Orchard when he was a Boy and for that he had staied another time delightfully to behold two Cocks fighting and that but once So much he testifies in his Confessions And if so how will they be troubled another day who spend many Days the most of their Time in Hunting Cock-fighting Bull or Bear-baiting turning Recreation into Vocation How will they be disquieted with the sight of Sin who rob not only Orchards in their School-way but Houses not of Men but of God as our Appriators and Simonists do of whom the Prophet Malachy complains The trouble of others should raise some trouble in their Minds who are guilty in any kind Sin will have Trouble I have read of one who was a Steward to some Gentleman or a Factor to some Merchant that was much afflicted as for other Sins so for one dash with his Pen which was done to wrong another The redounding guilt of a small Act is heavy Sin receiveth weight from the purity and justice of God who forbids it indefinitely not only great Sins but all Sins For if he arm but one Sin against us which Men may deem little if not Venial that little one is enough to hunt and sink a Man as far as it is possible for a Creature to fall from God And as it must be fully so it must be constantly This sight of Sin which is nothing but Evangelical Sorrow for Sin following upon the Spiritual Combat and renewed light of Conscience is not bounded but by Death More
or less it continueth during Life and rather increaseth than decayeth as Love doth It is not sufficient to see Sin once a Year and yet it would be better for some then it is did they go so far as our Adversaries require Confession nor once in our Life only at Death to cast an eye upon it and bid it adieu with an O Lord Lord be merciful and open unto me which good words and seasonable too are not blamed but the delaying of so main a Duty till then Heaven is not to be had usually at so cheap a rate Satan ordinarily is not so soon vanquished nor Sin so easily put off Whosoever thinks it so easie a matter to repent and believe as that he hath seen and sorrowed enough for Sin now he may desist from both did never see nor sorrow for it at all What David here said of himself is true of every renewed Heart more or less during Life My Sin is ever before me Vse 1. The use hereof may be 1. To discover to you a two-fold Error to be carefully avoided because common and dangerous First Of the Romanists who in their Doctrine and Practice do place Sin rather before the Ear of the Confessor than before the Eye of the Committer That the one must hear it is absolutely necessary without which there is no Salvation that the other should see it is not so at least not so much prest by them Auricular Confession is more insisted on than inward Contrition And Penance is too far sever'd by them from Repentance We hear much and often of the one but of the other there is too deep a silence Confession and Satisfaction are strictly lookt unto by such as profess their Religion in earnest to give them their due that nothing may be blamed in them but what is blame-worthy But Contrition and Sanctification this personal sight of Sin and Evangelical sorrow for it are not so much urged neither in their Writings nor Practice for ought I can learn However I dislike not Confession it is a Duty very comfortable and useful the abuse set aside I could wish it more frequent among us but never used in publick or private without Contrition Let the Heart accompany the Tongue else it is the most unsavoury piece of Formality that can be Secondly Of our common People who deem the worst of such as are thus troubled condemning rash judgment in others do yet pass the bounds of Charity towards them As if poor Souls they only were curst of God and hated of others because they are thus pursued by Sin and baited by Satan especially if it be on their Sick-bed Strange it is to hear them cry out upon profession of Religion as if Religion were the worse for it because her followers are thus affrighted for their good They will not profess Religion no not they nor be tied to frequent the Church to perform Duties in private because such and such are distracted by it Sure they are out of their Wits this Book-learning hath made them Mad else they would never complain and cry out so that their Sins are ever before them Why say they are not we all Sinners as well as they and yet our Sins never trouble us More is the pity and greater is their Misery Poor Souls you cannot distinguish between trouble for Sin and senslessness under Sin between the desperate pangs of Despair and the genuine thâ—ows of a troubled Mind Miâ—ht you not as truly have said the same of David St. Paul and all the rest of God's Saints in every Age who have passed through this Wilderness to Canaan But in so doing know you dishonour God lay a blemish on his Work and often condemn the Generation of the Righteous This trouble of Mind being one of the most infallible marks of true Penitency the Road-way to Heaven for adult Persons and one of the best signs of this Nature that any one can see in himself or desire in his Friend Let my Sins good Lord be always before me as David 's were Let all thine be so disquieted here that so all our Sins may never come in sight at that Day but be buried in everlasting forgetfulness True it is some Men may superstitiously endeavour to make the Way to Heave narrower than indeed it is but far more there are who voluptuously endeavour to enlarge it and make it more broad and easie than God hath made it without any such sight of Sin or trouble about it crying out To what end serveth this waste What needeth all this ado Cannot Men be saved without this sight of Sin and sorrow for it Whether they can or no I will not stand to determine sure I am ordinarily they will not Till they be brought into the Wilderness they are intractable indocible therefore the Lord troubleth them that they may be willing to be saved To all such as think otherwise I should commend these following passages of holy Scripture to be considered in their most retired Thoughts Numb 32.23 Gen. 4.7 Psal 50.21 22. Mat. 7.13 14. Phil. 3.11 1 Pet. 4.18 The Righteous shall scarcely be saved ad praesentis Vitae difficultates debet referri c. saith a judicious Interpreter on that place Our Race or Warfare here in this World is like a Voyage by Sea beset and encountred with many Difficulties Rocks Tempests Pirats open Enemies and false Brethren Ardua prima via est which made St. Paul say If by any means I may attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead A phrase importing difficulty without doubtting he was perswaded he should attain it but not without the use of such means and after much strugling What else is meant by the Wrestling of Jacob the Praying and Fasting of David the Running of Paul the Scruples and Cases of Conscience proposed by the Saints of God frequently and in great variety when once they begin to benefit by the Word Men and Brethren what shall we do Sirs What must I do to be saved And the like Complaints are very frequent where the Word hath awakened them The Pains and bitter Sufferings of all our renowned Martyrs both of the Primitive Times and in the late Marian-Days do preach unto us the Straight-way The difficulty of obtaining and keeping a grounded persuasion of God's Favour in the free pardon of all our Sins through the Satisfaction and Intercession of Christ The Church Militant is a Lilly among Thorns having Enemies ever about her and her Sins always before her Non est ad astra mollis è terris via We may not expect to be carried to Heaven on Beds of Down but through many Tribulations not to go to Paradise through Paradise a Way â—â—rowed with Roses The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence few arrive in this Harbour without danger and difficulty It is not so easie a thing to work out Salvation as most deem and yet through Christ it is easie to all them that receive him Thirdly Hereunto may be added another