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
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
be kindled though but a little 3. Meditate upon sinful Nature there is both Guilt and Filth such a Nature which Sighs and Tears may better express than Words We were in Adam as in a common Root and he sinning we became guilty Rom. 5.12 In whom all have sinned By his Treason our Blood is tainted and this Guilt brings Shame with it as its Twin Rom. 6.21 And not only is the Guilt of Adam's Sin imputed but the Poison of his Nature is disseminated to us our Virgin-Nature is defiled the Heart is spotted 1 Kin. 8.38 How then can the Actions be pure If the Water be foul in the Well it cannot be clean in the Bucket We are all as an unclean thing Hell it self which is the sole Receptacle of Sin and Sinners is not in some respect more filthy than Mans Nature Poor Man is like a Patient under the Physician 's hands that hath no sound part his Head bruised his Liver swelled his Lungs perished his Blood enflamed his Feet gangren'd Thus it is before Grace comes Isa 1.6 Yea though your Nature be changed there are Remainders of this Corruption The best Saint alive who is taken out of the Grave of Sin yet smells of the Grave-clothes still upon him As Basil said of the Rose that it was a fair Flower but it wanted not its Prickles that might put him in mind of the Curse the Earth was subject unto so in the best there are those Remainders and Relicks of Sin which might cause them to mourn and weep before the Lord. 4. Meditate on the Lord Jesus Christ his Suffering Agony how sharp and bitter it was if your Heart be as hard as an Adamant the Blood of this Scape-goat will soften it It affected his Head for upon the fore-sight he began to be amazed Mark 14.33 It affected his Heart for he began to droop to faint Math. 26.37 See how he was affected in his Soul the innocent for the nocent it was overcast with an heaviness to death yea in his Body he sweat drops of Blood Luke 22.44 Meditate on his Sufferings see if they will not move you to sorrow The sight of Caesar's bloody Robes greatly affected the People of Rome and edged them to revenge When St. Augustin read the Story of Dido he could not but weep And when Julius Caesar saw Pompey's Head tho his Enemy he wept and refused at his return to Rome to ride in Triumph for his Victory The like did Charles the 5th upon his great Victory over the French King at the Siege of Paris How much more may the Meditation of Christ's Sufferings who was our Friend suffering for our Sins melt our Hearts See him in the Wilderness of Suffering it may bring you into the Wilderness of Sorrow 5. Meditate upon the dangerous Consequence if you have not Sin charged upon you here in this Life If you follow not God into this Wilderness of Trouble for Sin now but still cleave to Aegypt preferring the momentany Pleasures of Sin to this Manna be assured one of these two Evils will follow either the Lord will break this League and Union between Sin and your Hearts or else he will permit and order that Disorder till you attain the fulness of Hardness and Blindness When Conscience shall be awakened and Sin charged upon the Soul suddenly and fully both for number and weight your jovial Meetings excessive Drinkings and Heathenish Quaffings will have weeping and howling here or hereafter when it will not be the whole World on Fire nor the terrible presence of the Judg coming with shrill-sounding Trumpets and Troops of Angels only nor Hell and all the Devils there shall be so fearfully heavy and unsupportable but Sin so deceitfully pleasing now appearing then more ugly than Hell or the foulest Fiend there committed now by degrees one after another some this Day more next now an Oath than a Lye but presented and pressed and imputed altogether even to the sinking of a Soul O think of this often all you in whom the custom of Sinning hath taken away the sence of Sinning if any thing this will help to awaken and bring you into this Wilderness 3. You may help the Work forward by special application of what you hear when the Law is personally applied the legal work upon the matter is ended and when the Gospel is believed the whole is perfected As it was in the Creation of the World and in the Conception of Christ so soon as ever his blessed Virgin-Mother did close by her understanding and will with the Word and Message of the Angel the Hypostatical Union was begun in her Womb as Zanchy following Gregory and Damascene is of opinion so it is in the Regeneration and Sacramental nutrition of the new Man he said it was done no sooner is the Word applied but the Work is wrought Put it not off therefore to others but say Certainly this is my case I am the Man that have done so and so that have such an Heart so hard so unclean and deceitful c. Then hear what threatnings are denounced against such Offâ—nces then see what judgments have been inflicted upon the like Offenders this will pluck the Plumes and allay the Jollity of any Person This is the way to draw proud Minions and roaring Gallants out of their Fools Paradise into a World of saving trouble to see and bewail their monstrous Vanities and youthful Folly And here let all such be advised to stay till the Lord be pleased to speak unto them and to bring them as by a Hand of Comfort into Canaan O pluck not off the Plaster because it smarts refuse not the Potion because it is bitter confine your selves to his Rules of Physick break not those Bonds and cast not off these Cords from you haste not out of this Wilderness too soon because it is Solitary the end and issue will support Patience he that believes will not make haste to apply unseasonable Comforts The Lord will be seen in the Mount and heard in the cool of the Day The Corrosive must eat out Corruption to the bottom before any healing Salve can well be applied that so there may be a perfect Cure The Law is that Corrosive promises that healing Oyl both must have their time and place for Working O let not let not preposterous haste prevent good speed be more desirous to be ready for Comfort than to have it and then doubt not but it will be enjoyed time enough Vse 3. Thirdly The use may serve for Consolation This Doctrine like the Carcass of the Lion which Sampson found and therein a swarm of Bees with sweet Hony-combs yieldeth sweet Consolation to such as have been or at present are exercised in this uncomfortable condition No Affliction is for the present joyous but rather greivous Especially a wounded Conscience who can bear To be alone in a vast Wilderness encompassed with Sins with divers and horrid Fears and which is heaviest of all to have the
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
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
Sin was ever before them Happy are those who learn Wisdom from the harms of others Secondly The use hereof may tend to reform the Life by reproving three sorts of Misbelievers Though as Calvin said in one of his Books concerning God's Government of the World I suppose my Discourse will be unwelcome to many and that because it is a smart and sharp reprehension Men love not the taste of Wormwood of Increpation But the Diet though not so toothsome yet is wholesome this rebuke though not so pleasing yet is surely profitable and especially being seasonable and suitable And 1. It reproves such as make a mock of Sin Prov. 14.9 Fools make a mock of Sin and drink down Iniquity like Water selling themselves to work Wickedness and so heaping up Wrath against the Day of Wrath. As if Sin were but a Trick of Youth a Toy a Vapour a Bubble to be seen to day and never after as if it were as soon past as done and as short-liv'd as the Ephemora that lived but eight Hours and were no more How do such swarm amongst us Have we not our Cains that kill their Brethren with Envy and Anger Our Nimrods mighty and cunning Hunters after the Souls Bodies and Estates of Men Our Esau's that sell their Birth-right all their hope and right to Heaven for Carnal Contentment Our Achan's who commit Sacriledg and steal Coals from the Altar to burn up themselves and Posterity after them by appropriating or selling the consecrated Portion Our Ahab's that covet their Neighbours Vinyards their Places and Goods to build up their own Houses higher though it be with Blood Our Jezebel's in many proud and flanting Minions who mispend their precious time in Spotting Painting Gaudy-dressing as if they were meer lumps of Flesh or a Body without a Soul having no other Deity but Pleasure and Ambition no Idol but their conceited Beauty Have we not our ambitious Absolon's our Politick Achitophels Vain-glorious Herods whose natural inclinations proceed from them as flashing streaks from a Cloud to be instantly turned into Lightning Many a Worldly Demas who have no other God but Self to adore and therefore confound Elements and mix Stars with the Dust of the Earth bring God to submit to the Creature whereby to attain the end of their exorbitant pretentions And which is worst of all even in the Lord's House there are found Hophni and Phineas Gehazi and Simon Magus too many dark Lanterns blind deceitful Guides whose Feet cast Dirt in their Mouths and whose Lives are at Sanballat's Work when the Doctrine is or should be at Nehemiah's and make Hebrew of their Discourses reading them backward in their Practice whose Inconformity pulleth down more than they build We know the end of these Men and yet dare imitate them Te miror Antoni quorum sacta imiteris eorum exitum non perhorrescere was the Orator's saying against Antonius I wonder Anthony thou art not afraid of the end of those Men whose deeds thou dost imitate Time hasteth when such shall feel what they will not now believe When they shall see nothing but Sin hear nothing but Devils and yelling of damned Ghosts remember nothing but the vanity of Carnal Pleasures past and the eternity of present Wo. O Fools and Mad-men will they then cry out that we were to forget God hate Instruction and imitate such wild Wretches knowing their end aforehand and so delightfully to imbrace this deceitful Harlot Sin to our own Ruine c. But then it will be too late to complain 2. Such who though they do not slight Sin in it self yet they are thus conceited of it that it will never trouble them after Commission In the Act they think the best and worst is past True it is you your selves may make a shift to forget it for a time to put it out of your fight and your Neighbours who once knew may forget it for ever But God and your own Conscience cannot finally they may as soon cease to be as to forget to work according to their Nature What is not now may be hereafter Men lose not their right because they take not that time which other Men ignorantly prescribe them Nullum tempus occurit Regi The King may lay claim to his right at any â—ime forbearance is no acquittance much â—ess can any time prescribe against the King â—f Kings Because Sentence is not speedily exeâ—â—ted against an Evil-doer shall we therefore conclude that it will never be The thing â—s certain the time free Some difference â—ndeed there is between the commission of Sin â—nd the presentation of it after Sins are committed single and apart now one then another sluggish Idleness in the Morning swiâ—ish Drunkenness at Mid-day and filthy Whoredom at Night the first occasioneth â—he second and the last is a Punishment of the former but as Vapours that ascend â—nvisibly come down in Storms and plentiâ—ul Showers they are presented altogether â—These things even all these things hast thou done As it is with Stewards their disbâ—rsments are divers and at divers times â—ut the Account is brought in at once as one so it is with Sinners Item for this Item for that Which Multitudes never think of and yet this is one thing that makes Sin so heavy 3. Such as put Sin off and will not see it and deal with their Souls as others do with their Bodies who when their Beauty is deâ—aâ—ed they desire to hide it from themselves by false Glasses and from others by false Excuses If they are told these and these are your Sins they will not acknowledg them What am I a Dog that I should do such a thing When as indeed there is no Dog though he want Reason will do so much against Reason as some Natural Men that have Reason Yet a private Christian a loving Friend or Neighbour must not seem to dislike what they do so as to admonish them though wisely and lovingly done and are like the Nettle which will sting though touched never so gently Ministers must not reprove them then they personate Magistrates must not punish them for then they are Cruel others must not mind them of their Duty for their good for then they are Busie-bodies intermeddling with Matters that concern them not What have you to do with us Are you our Keepers Let us alone we must answer for our selves and every Vessel shall stand on his own bottom c. Like stray'd Asses they will not be brought Home And the more you touch them like Toads the more they swell and like Serpents the more they are meddled with the more Poison they gather to spit out Go about to cool them you shall but add to their heat as the Smith's Forg-fries when cold water is cast upon it and as hot water stirred casts up the more fume But let them know for all their anger that Sin will be presented either to humble them here or to damn them hereafter A Day is coming and
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