Had he studied a thousand years for a name he could not have called it by a worse name then its own sinful sin Luther saith that could a man but see perfectly the evil of his sins on earth it would be an hell to him such a frightful ugly monster is sin Look on sin which way thou wilt and it is exceeding sinful the evil of evils Take it in its nature it is a deviation from Gods Law a wandring from his word a casting his Law behinde the back the Law is strait sin is crookedness Psal 125.5 The Law is holy sin is defilement Rom. 7.12 2 Cor. 7.1 The Law is just sin is unrighteousness 1 John 1.7 The Law is liberty sin is bondage Jam. 2.8 12. 2 Tim. 2.26 Sin is a defacing of Gods image it blots and blurs that fair and beautiful writing not onely meritoriously as it provokes God to withdraw his Grace but physically Numb 15.30 Rom. 2.23 24. 2 Sam. 12.12 as one contrary expels another Hereby it dishonours Gods name and reproacheth his Majesty for what greater disgrace can be done to a Prince then to tread his orders under foot and tear and scratch and deface his picture Nay Lev. 22.26 Zec. 11.8 Rom. 8.7 Rom. 1.30 1 Sa. 15.23 Isa 1.2 Rom. 6 16. Psal 14.1 it s a defying and fighting against God a walking contrary to him a daring of him it is enmity against him loathing him hatred of him contrariety to him it is against his Soveraignity and so is rebellion against his mercy and so is unkindness against his justice and so is unrighteousness against his wisdom and so is folly against his will Omne seccatu est deicidium and so is stubbornness Were it strong enough it would ungod him were the sinners power according to his corrupt heart he would pluck God out of Heaven I would I were above God saith Spira When the body of sin is nailed as a thief on the Cross yet even then it will rage as he and spit out poison against Heaven Reader Canst thou finde in thine heart to hug and embrace such a Traytor against the gracious and blessed God! To stretch out thine hand against God as every sinner doth and strengthen thy self against the Almighty Vid. Car. in loc 10 this purpose Job 15.25 Stretch out thine hand against God! No man should lift up a word against God our mouthes should shew forth his praise Stretch out thine hand against God! no man should lift up a thought against God our meditations of him should be for him Stretch out thine hand against God every man should bow down and worship before God and be satisfied in what ever he saith and doth Stretch out thine hand against God! thou art bound to stretch out thine heart and hand and tongue to think and speak and act and all for God and all little enough Take sin in its effect and what evil is like it Eccl. 1.3 it is the cause of all other evils Dost thou consider the emptiness vanity and vexation in the creatures the heavens fighting against man the earth bearing thorns and briars the diseases in mens bodies the burning Feavor watery Dropsie aking teeth running Gout wracking Stone renting Collick the quivering lips trembling loins gastly looks of dying men The horrors of conscience flashes of the infernal fire curses of the Law wrath of God torments of Hell all these are the fruits of sin All misery calleth sin mother this is the root of bitterness upon which they grow the wages of sin is death Rom. 6.21 ult and 5.12 that big-bellied word Death hath all these woful brats in its belly and Sin is the father that begat them Sin turned Adam out of Paradise Angels into Devils Sodom and Gomorah into ashes flourishing Families Cities Kingdoms into ruinous heaps Sin shuts heaven against man laid the foundation of that dark vault of hell Sin kindled the fire of hell Sin feeds it with fuel and will keep it burning for ever Oh what an evil is sin who would not hate it more then hell Is it good to play with such fire as sin is didst thou believe sin to be the cause of all this thou wouldst never open thy heart or mouth more for it Dost thou know that as where the effect is good the cause is better so where the effect is bad the cause is worse Can there be worse effects then eternal separation from God and suffering the vengeance of eternal fire how bad is sin then which is the cause of them Take sin as a punishment and 't is the evil the only evil there is no suffering like to this to be given up to a course of sining Reader take heed of continuing an hour longer in thine ungodly practices it may be thou hast been ready to think it a great happiness to sin without controle to run in the road of the flesh and to meet with no rubs to prosper though thou art wicked I tell thee and think of it the longest day thou livest for it highly concerneth thee that the infinite God never claps a more dreadful curse on any man or woman on this side hell then to give them up to sin If God should give thee up to the sword famine most painful diseases to thy most cruel potent and malicious enemies to be wrackt by them at pleasure these were nothing to this to be given up to one sin When God hath used his rods scourging men and they will not reform then he takes this ax and presently execution followeth to be delivered up to the power of men may be the lot of Gods sons but to be delivered up to the power of sin is the portion of Rebels of Reprobates This is the stinging whip with which God punisheth Ephrahim 2 Tim. 3.13 2 â—hess 2.10 11. Ephraim is joyned to Idols there is his impiety but what grievous punishment shall he have for his God-provoking Idolatry Let him alone Hos 4.17 It is not I will send the raging pestilence or cruel famine or bloody sword but he is joyned to idols let him alone I will not have him disturbed or molested but he shall have his will though it prove his everlasting woe Rom. 1.21 22. Psal 81.11 12. Hos 8.11 It is a woe with a witness 1 Cor 5. comp with 2 Cor. 7. for God to let thy lusts like so many ravenous Lions loose upon thee and to lay the reins of thy sins upon thy own neck We read of one delivered up to Satan yet he was saved but never of any delivered up to their sins but they were damned It was a sad sight which Abraham saw when he beheld flakes of fire rained from heaven upon the Sodomites but it was a sadder which Lot beheld when he saw the fire of hell burning in their hearts and breaking out in their lives and his righteous soul was vexed therewith Reader have a care that thou never in thy heart plead more for
was a pious plot laid before onely put off till a convenient day asketh the head of some lust in a charger the King sendeth presently commandeth execution to be done accordingly The new creature doth now with a joyful heart look up to Heaven and saith Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who hath this day avenged me of mine enemy would to God that all the enemies of my Lord the King and all that rise up within me against thy Laws were as that one Lust He also withdraweth those things which have fed his spiritual diseases he takes away the fuel that he may put out the fire he hates the very cup out of which he formerly drank his loathsom physick he cuts off those pipes which have supplied his Adversaries he avoideth the occasions of evil he knoweth that his corrupt heart is gunpowder and therefore wheresoever he goeth he is fearful of the least spark He hateth the garment spotted with the flesh Jude 19. He endeavoreth that his raiment may not onely be preserved from burning but as the three childrens from sienging He is a true Dove that doth not only flye from the Hawk from sin but will not so much as smell of a feather which falleth from the Hawke he abstaineth from appearances of evil he dares not come near the brow of the hill so far is he from falling to the bottom Thus the sanctified man useth all means for the murdering of his sins Now Reader consider how is it with thee hast thou applied these several particulars to thy self What sayst thou Is it thy endeavor by every providence and thy end in every ordinance to mortifiethy corruptions to bring those Traytors to execution Is it thy design to cover sin or to kill sin do'st thou pray against sin as Austin confest he did before his conversion as one afraid that God should hear thee and grant the request not of thy heart but of thy lips or is the death of thy sins the very desire of thy soul an unconverted man may put up many prayers but no desires against sin An unregenerate person fighteth against sin Livy as the Athenians against Philip of Macedon with words rather then with swords Or as some that openly prosecute the Law against a Malefactor and yet favor him underhand so this man makes a shew of pursuing sin unto the death accusing arraigning it witnessing against it in prayer and desiring judgement but inwardly he so minceth the matter taketh off the edge of the evidence against it as one resolved that it shall live His expressions cry out of sin as the Jews of Christ Away with it away with it 't is not worthy to live Let it be crucified but his affections call with much more ardency as Pilate Why should it die what evil hath it done we finde no fault in it or at lest as Austins heart Not yet Lord not yet A little longer he would willingly laze upon the bed of lust A little more slumber a little more steep saith this spiritual sluggard Truly all this shew of warring against sin is but false fire which you know can do no execution Fencers at a prize sometimes ply one another so home and strike so hard that they seem to be in earnest when they are all the while but in jest their intentions are to please the people and thereby to advance their profit by getting a little money but not at all to wound one another at lest not dangerously a slight wound possibly may happen Thus unsanctified men combat with sin they seem by their praying reading hearing to aim at its death to be in earnest when indeed their intentions are to carry on their own interest and their resolutions that however they may raze sin slightly for their own ends not to wound it deeply Friend I know not but God knoweth whether it be thus with thee or no Dost thou by civility by the performance of duties by attendance on ordinances tell the world that thou wouldst crucifie thy corruptions when such a thing is not in thy retired thoughts as Caligula with banners displayed battel ranged trumpets sounding set his souldiers to gather cockles Or doest thou enter the list against thy lust as David against Goliah reckoning to kill or be killed resolving through the help of heaven the ruine of the uncircumcised Philistine Is the fight between thy judgment thy wil between thine inlightned conscience and thy affections or btween the spirit and flesth the law in thy mind and the law in thy members the regenerate and the unregenerate part Dost thou hate and fight against sin as sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet. and so against every sin for all true hatred is against the whole kind Dost thou loath it as much when it riseth in thy heart as when it rageth in thy life in thy dearest friends as in thy bitterest enemies It was said of Anthony that he hated a Tyrant not tyranny dost thou abhor the disease or the patient canst thou say as David I hate every false way Psal 119.104 Universality in this is a sure sign of sincerity Herod spits out some sins when he rolls others as sweet morsels in his mouth An hypocrite ever leaves the Devil some nest-egg to sit upon though he take many away Some men will not buy some commodities because they cannot have them at their own price but they lay out the same money on others so hypocrites forbear some sins yea are displeased at them because they cannot have them without disgrace or diseases or some other disadvantage but they lay out the same love upon other sins which will suit better with their designs Some affirm what the Sea loseth in one place it gaineth in another so what ground the corruption of the unconverted loseth on way it gaineth another There is in him some one lust especially which is his favorite some King-sin like Agag which must be spared when others are destroyed In this the Lord be merciful to thy servant saith Naomi But now the regenerate laboreth to cleanse himself from all pollutions both of flesh spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 Grace is like Caesar who would admit of no superior nay like oyl t will allow of no mixture Sin may be in the Saint as rawness and illness in water but the fire of Grace worketh it out by degrees sending it forth in the scum The least drop of water is contrary to and opposed by fire as well as the full vessel so the least sin is contraty to and opposed by Grace is well as the greatest The shepherds dog forceth the whole flock to flie but hath a special eye to one sheep to which he is directed by the staff or a stone from the shepherd Or as the hounds saith a Divine drive the whole herd of Deer before them yet have a special eye to one Deer which is singled out by the dart of the Huntsman that however others may scape yet that shall
oyle to the lamps which will keep them ever burning Philosophers tell us that elementary fire wants no fuell though culinary doth Divines tell us that the Spirit of God needs not ordinances for he is infinite in power but that he will not work without them where he affords them is manifestly his pleasure Reader if thou art humbled as I have before spoken thou lookest on thy self as a vile creature even as a dog I would have thee now very careful that thou wait patiently for the bountiful house-keeper of the world is preparing some good food for thee and do not eatch too hastily at the childrens bread the promises lest it be taken from thee and thou meet with a blow When a wound is deep there is much wisdome required to keep it some time open with a tent and not to heal it up too soon lest its cure be imperfect Do thou wait Gods leisure bemoaning thy sins abhorring thy self praying fervently for thy soul and be confident that Jesus Christ who is already upon his way will arise upon thee speedily with healing under his wings It may be that this tender able Physitian cometh nearer to thee he doth not onely shew thee the nature and danger of thy disease and make thee who wert before sensless apprebensive of it by feeling thy sickness but doth also discover to thee an excellent and costly remedy which hath cured many of thy very disease and will unquesionably heal thee if thou wilt but accept it thankfully and apply it prudently I mean the spirit presenteth to thee when thou art full of anguish and sorrow that rare salve of the blood of Jesus Christ which spread upon a promise is the onely healing plaister for a wounded conscience He acquainteth thee with the alsufficiency of Jesus Christ to save sinners that he is a Saviour of Gods own appointing one in whom God hath given under his hand that he is well pleased a redeemer that hath in him infinite meritoriousness because he is the onely begotten of the father if he sheweth thee long bils of others debts which have been canceld by the blood of Christ and assureth thee that he is not onely able but truly willing to save thee that he was wounded for thy transgressions and bruised for thine iniquities and by his stripes thou mayst be healed The Holy Ghost possibly setteth the King of Saints before thee in all his robes and riches and righteousness as it were thus bespeaking thee Come poor sinner that lyest weltring in thy blood hearken to me and thou shalt see what I can and will do for thee though by thy wilful breach of the Law thou art liable to such endless boundless fury as thou couldst neither abide nor avoid yet I will be a Skreen between thee and the unquenchable fire I le satisfy the law and pacify my father I le not onely deliver thee from sin and Satan wrath and death and damnation but adopt thee for a Son interest thee in that inestimable treasure the covenant of grace and make thee an heir of the eternal weight of glory and all this thou shalt have freely and surely if thou wilt but accept me thankefully and heartily for thy Saviour and Lord. At the hearing of which loving language thou probably art amazed and ready to say as Mephibosheth when David told him that he should eat bread at his table continually What is thy servant that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am Thou admirest the riches of Christs merits the freeness of his mercy and the happiness of his members thy soul begins to be exceedingly in love with him and affectionately longing after him O thinkest thou Had I but Christ for my portion though I were never so poor in temporals I could be heartily contented Now Christian the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto thee thou art now upon thy quickening be but careful there and thou art made for ever I know that thy broken heart is willing to go to Jesus Christ but have a care that thou carry nothing to him that thou keep nothing from him thy miscariage in either of these may quite break off the bargain between Christ and thy soul as near as t is driven I say carry nothing to Christ Thy next step must be quite out of thine own doors the Devil knoweth how to slay thee as well by thy righteousness thy mournful contrition for sin as by thine unrighteousness thy wilful commission of sin which made Austin say That repentance damneth more then sin nay thy trusting upon thy prayers or tears or any good in thee doth alter the nature of them and turn them into sin in this many stick they are hardly brought off from their own bottoms When mens houses are on fire their covetousness to save their goods hath often lost them their lives when mens souls are in a flame their pride to carry out with them their good prayers and good desires and good resolutions hath lost them eternal life they will pay some of their brass-farthings towards the reckoning and God therefore makes them pay the whole shot O how unwilling is the creature to be beholden to Christ his Surety for the payment of all his debts though he be a meer bankrupt yet he hopes he may compound with his Creditor and pay something towards his satisfaction and this ariseth partly from his ignorance of that righteousness which alone can satisfie the Law or pacifie the Lord For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness Rom. 10.3 They were ignorant first how perfect that righteousness must be for which God will justifie a sinner that if there be the least spot in it his pure eyes cannot accept it secondly they were ignorant how compleat that righteousness is which the Law requireth how the Law reacheth to the inward as well as the outward man how it damneth for the smallest idle word wandring thought or complying motion of the heart with sin Did they but know that that righteousness which pleaseth God for their justification must answer the Law in its full latitude and all its dimensions they would not offer their drossy duties no nor their golden graces for currant coin which being weighed in that ballance of the Sanctuary must needs be found infinitely too light Partly from his pride For they being ignorant of the righteousness of God and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the Righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 Mark They have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God Proud man esteems it submission a condescention to be beholden to Jesus Christ for remission and salvation he hath though a beggers purse yet a proud heart and is loth to trouble Jesus Christ so much and to take all his mercies as almes out of the basket of the Redeemers merits Reader now thou art in a storm if thou lovest thy soul do not run to shelter
form of godliness that those who are gracious cannot but judge it to be accompanied with the power when indeed it is but the picture When there was a famine in Samaria a scarcity of good food the fourth part of a cab of Doves dung which might be the quantity of a pinte was sold for five pieces of silver twelve shillings six pence of our money observe at what an high rate that which was nothing worth was valued at in a famine truly so there is such a scarcity of true godliness that godly men who exceedingly long for the advancement of Christ and Christianity in mens hearts and houses prize and encourage any thing that cometh near it that looketh like it or hath any tendency towards it But that which is highly esteemed of men may be abominable in the sight of God Luk. 16.15 Reader do not thou as some Tradesmen live altogether on thy credit with others The most cunning takers of money that are though they take notice of every piece are sometimes deceived and take bad money such as will never endure the touchstone for good coin What a poor comfort will it be to thee when thou art hungry and naked that others think and speak that thou art fed and cloathed he that trades highly and lives wholly upon trust seldom holds out long look therefore not so much at others commendation but at thy own Regeneration for that is it alone which accompanieth Salvation It is a favour that thou dost so walk as to have godly mens good word but for all that thou mayst be a stranger to this regenerating work and then it is not the wind of their breaths that can blow thy soul co the haven of bliss Seventhly Thy confidence of thy own good estate is no infallible evidence The world as they are mistaken in Repentance taking it to be only a little sorrow for sin though no aversion from it or detestation of it be joyned with it so they are also in the nature of Faith esteeming it to consist in the strength of perswasion and that who ever can be confident that Christ died for him and that he shall go to heaven doth believe unto salvation whereas the difference between a deceiving and a saving Faith doth not consist in the strength of perswafion but in the ground of it Matth. 7.3 ult the two buildings might be of equal height and beauty the difference lay in the bottom and foundation An Hypocrite may sail towards heaven with a full gale of confidence nay the strength of that wind doth over-turn the vessel for were he more dubious he would be more anxious about his recovery and so more likely to be saved There is saith the wise man that maketh himself rich yet hath nothing Prov. 13.7 That is there are some that are full of confidence rich in assurance that the love of God the blood of Christ the undefiled inherithnce are theirs when indeed they have not one grain of grace nor any true ground of their joy and peace but are very beggars The Apostle Paul speaketh of himself That he was alive without the Law Rom. 7.9 even then when he was liable to its curse and lash he had high thoughts of his present holiness and great hopes of his future happiness He was a jolly fellow cock-a-hoop taking himself to be somebody his motto was Omnia bene All is well when indeed every thing was ill and there was but a step between him and hell he had much false peace though he had no true purity His way was right in his own eyes but the end was the way of death Prov. 14.12 He was alive without the Law his ignorance was both the mother and nurse of his confidence just like a blind man encompassed about with bloody enemies or in a place full of Serpents and poisonous creatures yet thinks himself safe because he doth not see them Or as a man in a Lethargy he feels no pain though he be very near the pangs of death Christ told the Jews Ye say God is your Father but ye have not known him So these say God is their Father Christ is their Husband Heaven their home when they know neither As every wicked mans conscience is morally evil and stained with sin so many times it is naturally evil that it doth neither check him nor judge him for his sin One main work of conscience is to give evidence either for or against a man now conscience may bear false witness against its neighbor the godly man either through ignorance or mis-information not judging by a right rule or not using that rule rightly And conscience may give in false testimony on the behalf of ungodly men either through its blindness sleepiness security or searedness Conscience by nature doth flatter the sinner Deut. 29.29 Conscience may be seared when t is not setled and asleep when the sinner hath no true rest Some men serve their consciences as David did Vriah make it drunk that they may be rid of it when it hath begun to storm they speak to it by some carnal diversions as Christ to the rough sea Peace be still and if then a calm ensue they are safe While the Devil the strong man armed keep the house all is quiet Luk. 11.21 Conscience having often warned them of their sins and misery and being still resisted at last grows weary and resolveth to give them over to their own ways and wo. These men strongly perswade themselves that all is well and yet stoutly persist in all that is ill but they fall from the high turret of presumption into the bottomless gulf of perdition The worst men have not seldome the best thoughts of themselves both as to their present and future estates How confident was the Pharisee that his condition was safe for the present Luke 18.11 when he was in an estate of wrath and what assurance had those Prophets that they should be admitted into Paradise Matth. 7.21.22 23. How boldly did they bounce at the doore but entrance was denied as the Jews of old spake peremptorily We shall neither see sword nor famine though God himself had foretold both Jer. 5.12 so many now speak presumptuously they shall neither see Laws curse nor Gods wrath death nor damnation when God himself hath ensured them to all in their conditions They cry peace peace when sudden desolation is ready to seise on them as travail on a woman with child which they cannot escape 1 Thes 5.3 The mirth of these men was never usher'd in by godly mourning Their expectation is raised high but its foundation is not laid low Nero shut up the Temple of Janus tanquam nullo residuobello as if no Reliques of war remained saith Sueton when at the same time the Empire was at Civil war within it self How ordinary is it for men whose Consciences are past feeling to brag that God and they are good friends not knowing when they ever fell out when at the same
him he esteemeth the word of Gods mouth more then his appointed food Job 23.12 Mark not then varieties or superfluous fare but then daily necessary food the former might be spared but this for the preservation of life is necessarily required but Gods word was before this Spiritual dainties are most delightful to them that have special grace And truly 't is no wonder that the childe doth so exceedingly long for and love that which is as it were his father I will never forget thy precepts for by them thou hast quickened me Psal 119.93 Some men say they shall never forget such a friend the longest day that they have to live What 's the reason they will tell us they were nigh death either by fire or water or some disease and under God such men saved their lives so saith David I le never forget Gods Law the longest day I shall live why what 's the matter Alas I was nigh death next door to eternal damnation there was but a thin paper-wall of life between me and everlasting wo and under God the Word helped me it saved my soul I will never forget thy precepts for with them thou hast quickened me If Alexander could say That he was more bound to his Tutor Aristotle then to his Father Philip because he had only his being from the latter when he had his well-being from the former and therefore he prized him so much How much therefore doth the true Christian value that word which is instrumental to his being in Christ here and his everlasting wel-being with Christ hereafter So for prayer the regenerate person cannot live without it and fellowship with God in it He is like a full vessel his heart filled with complaints against sin with longings after Christ and his likeness if you will not give it vent 't will burst Prayer is his breathing Godward without breathing the body could not live it would be inflamed and burnt up with the heat of its own entrails no more could the soul unless the Saint should breath often towards heaven crying Abba Father Spiritual breath was the first sign of Pauls spiritual birth Behold he prayeth Act. 9.11 So I might speak of other Ordinances of God for there is a constant trade driven between the Convert and heaven which is carried on by several commodities and if this commerce were broken off he could not subsist He findeth the means of grace as needful to keep grace and soul together as meat to keep life and soul together his heart though fired with this spiritual life is like green wood which will burn no longer then it s blown with the bellows of Ordinances Reader How dost thou find thine appetite unto the bread and water of life dost thou hunger after the Word Prayer Sacraments Commonion of Saints and the Lords day canst thou feed on them with delight dost thou rise from Table with an appetite longing to sit down again Canst thou lay as the Psalmist I watch and am as the Sparrow upon the house top Psal 102.7 Observe the Sparrow upon the top of an house looketh on this side and that side of the house it looketh this way and that way and round about if he can spy any corn and food and when it can see any it flieth to that place and pecks it up so dost thou watch for and resort to the Ordinances of God which are the food of thy soul what sayst thou It may be thou art for high language oratorical expressions such Sermons only are pleasing to thee the dish must be set out with many flowers on which thou lookest more then at the meat Believe it as there is no greater sign of a foul stomack then to loath solid meat and to pick sallats or feed on ashes so there is hardlier a greater sign of an unsanctified heart then to loath the solid food of the word and to pick the flowers of mans wisdom in a Sermon or to feed on the world Or possibly thou art one of the new-fangled opinionists of our unhappy times that are above Ordinances I must tell thee That to live above Ordinances is to live below a Saint He that doth not reckon the means of Grace his greatest priviledge on this side the place of Glory may well question whether ever he enjoyed God in them methinks the begger should know that door again at which he had a large alms a full bait James 1.18 19. 1 Pet. 2.2 3 4. A childe indeed may forbear his meat either in a fit of sullenness or under some disease but if he be a childe his dogged fit will be over he will get the mastery of his distemper and fall to his food again Secondly The new-born creature groweth in Grace the picture of a childe groweth not but a living childe doth After generation followeth augmentation the same word which breeds the new man feeds him and enables him to grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 As the same blood of which the babe is bred in the womb strikes up into the mothers breasts and by a further concoction becometh milk and so nourisheth it The good seed of the word falling into the foil of an honest heart makes it abundant in the work of the Lord Common Grace sometimes like Joshua's Sun standeth still but usually like the dial of Ahaz it goeth ten degrees backward when special grace like the morning light shineth brighter and brighter to perfect day Prov. 4.18 First the blade next the ear then the full corn first they who are begotten of God become little children next young men then old men and fathers 1 Joh. 2.1 12 13 14. The unfound Christian is like the Manna for the Israelites daily use which did corrupt and putrifie or like a pond of water which quickly drieth up when true Christianity as the Manna in the Ark doth keep sweet and as the waters of the Sanctuary is up first to the ankles then to the knees then to the loyns and at last became a River so deep that none could pass over it Ezek. 47.3 4 5. If Grace be true there is a natural tendency in it to growth as there is in seed cast into the earth There is vertually in a little plant the bigness and height of a great tree towards which it is putting forth it self with more and more strength every day So there is in that seed of Grace planted in the soul at conversion vertually that perfection of grace which Christ hath appointed that man unto towards which its putting it self forth every day He that hath clean hands groweth stronger and stronger Job 17.9 They go from strength to strength till they appear before God in Sion Psal 84. This River of living waters runneth along notwithstanding many turnings and windings till it empty it self into the Ocean and grace commence glory The grain of mustard-seed groweth into a tree and the smoaking flax is blown into a flame The least spark of true holiness cannot be put out
then they needed to do of his justifying himself in his transgressions and taking part with Satan against his own soul he crieth Guilty Guilty when such Bills of indictment are read against him but every word in them is a deep wound to him the wolf in the brest and worms in the belly do not cause half that pain which his wickedness doth by gnawing in his conscience Tell him of the Gospel how infinitely merciful God is and how inconceivably meritorious Christ is and how freely the glad tidings of the Gospel are offered to all O this toucheth him to the quick the sword of the Gospel cuts him more to the heart then the sword of the Law O saith he This this is my death were it not for this I should have some hopes of life but alas I have abused mercy which is the only friend I have left I have despised Christ and neglected the great salvation which was tendred to me in the Gospel Vile creature that I am Mercy Love and Grace came many a time woing me how did Jesus Christ himself with pardon and life come beseeching me begging of me to open my heart and let him in and yet cursed wretch that I was I denied him when the world could lie warm in my bosom all night and sin get a good room in my soul yet my Saviour must stand without and not be thought worthy to be let in I have most unworthily spurned against his bowels of compassion scorned his sweetest and most affectionate perswasions most desperately refused the only means of my recovery and therefore I what shall I do whether shall I go If one man sin against another the judge shall judge him 1 Sam. 2.25 but if a man sin against the Lord who shall entreat for him If I had sinned only against my Creator my Redeemer might have satisfied for me but I wretched I have sinned against my Redeemer and therefore who shall intreat for me O the frights and fears the horrors and terrors which this poor creature suffereth under the sight and sence of his sins and guilt but the fore-thoughts of an everlasting miscarriage in the other world sinks him quite down that he is able to hold up no longer Thus the Spirit first plougheth up the fallow-ground of the heart before he casteth into it the seed of grace he first captivates the sinner and brings him into a spiritual dungeon under chains of guilt and horror that the very irons enter into his soul before he proclaimeth liberty to the captive Isa 61.1 2. and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Some indeed are brought lower then others with legal terror but surely not a few have sailed to Heaven by the very gates of Hell God is resolved that men shall feel sin either here or hereafter Thirdly The Spirit convinceth him of the impotency and weakness of all the things in the world to help him that in the whole garden of Nature there is never an herb which can make a salve to heal his wounded conscience Now the sinner is scorched with the heat of Gods wrath he is like a man in a burning feaver full of pain and he tumbleth and tosseth from one side of the bed to the other trying and hoping for ease he goeth to this carnal comfort or that humane help to have his pain abated and his sores cured but none of them will do as fast as he claps on those carnal plaisters the Spirit causeth his conscience to rub them off It may be first the man useth forreign drugs he being troubled in conscience goeth with Cain to the building of Cities to earthly imployments that the noise of the hammers might drown the voice of conscience that his minde and body being occupied about other things conscience might have no time nor leasure to proceed in preaching its cutting Lectures or else like Saul he runneth to his musick to carnal contentments to merry meetings jovial companions his preferment or pleasures in the world or some carnal diversion if it be possible to turn the water of his thoughts into another channel and so to keep that mill from going which makes such a clacking dreadful noise in his ears and threatneth to grind him to powder Thus sinfully foolish is man as soon as ever a fire is kindled in his soul which would aspire to heaven he runneth with his buckets to earthly springs and fetcheth water thence to quench it the throws of the new birth do no sooner come upon him but he like some simple women takes cooling things which cause his labour to go back again But the Holy Ghost for I am now speaking of one in whom the Spirit goeth through with the work makes all these things empty to him the vertue of those poor cordials is soon spent and now the man is as sick as before Conscience for all these interruptions still followeth him with its Hue and Cry by a warrant from Heaven for the breach of Gods Statutes that the sinner can house nowhere in any of these worldly comforts but conscience is at his heels raising the Town upon him and giveth him no rest the man finds this physick but like hot water to one in a cold fit of an ague which warms a little at present but makes his hot fit the more violent When the sinner findes that his exotical drugs will not cure him he will try in the next place Kitchin physick he will be his own both Doctor and Apothecary he hopeth that his praying and grieving and trouble of minde and resolution to be better will satisfie Gods justice and pacifie his own conscience and heal it throughly O how the man endeavors to lick himself whole man is a proud creature unwilling to beg or borrow of his neighbors very solicitous rather to make a poor shift with what he hath of his own The Mariners will row hard in a storm to get to shore by their own power before they will awake Jesus with Save us Master or we perish But the Spirit convinceth him of the insufficiency of all his prayers and tears and duties to appease God or satisfie his Law the Spirit sheweth him the narrowness and shortness of all his rags how they cannot possibly cover his nakedness conscience telleth him that by his very duties he is so far from paying his old score that he runneth further in debt Alas saith Conscience thy very duties may damn thee He who is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity seeth a thousand holes in thy best coat the holy God seeth sins enough in them to send thee into Hell for them Canst thou poor begger with thy counterfeit farthings think to pay an infinite sum Can thy poor finite performances satisfie infinite Justice for the violation of his righteous precepts And for thy resolutions of better obedience canst thou think that future obedience can satisfie for former disobedience No though thou couldst offer thousands of rams and ten
in hope of glory In the middle there stands the fairest of ten thousands adorned as a bridegroom with his richest attire glistering with the jewels of those graces with which his humanity is adorned in a greater degree then the heavens could though every star in it were a glorious sun but O how the diamond of his deity sparkleth in the souls account that millions of worlds would be but a muck-heap to it Ah how lovely is he in the sinners eye How infinitely ravishing to his heart How blessed are those souls thinks this sinner that are interested in such a Saviour Vncâ—nceiveably happy is that spouse which hath so beautiful so accomplish'd so lovely so loving an husband God is hers earth is hers heaven is hers all is hers holiness is her nature and happiness is her joynture O that I O that I might be so blessed as to be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb Who can expresse the vehement violent longings of this man after Christ as the loadstone of his affections as the onely center of his soul the proper remedy for all his maladies had he the beauty of Absolom the renown of Solomon the wealth the worth of the whole world like the wise Merchant he would sell all to buy this pearle of price and think it the best bargain that ever he made nothing is so dear to him but he will give it nothing is so difficult but he will do or suffer for Christ he is of the same mind with the Martyr None but Christ none but Christ It is reported of a woman that was in these throws that she should say I have brought nine children into the world with as much pain as most women yet I would bear them all over again and bear them all my days for Christ There is mention made of a bird in Egypt near Nilus called the bird of Paradise which they say if it be once ensnared is unquiet and mournful till she be delivered so is this convinced sinner now he feels himself entangled in the bonds of iniquity and snares of the Devil he is unquiet till he be delivered Talk to this man of his respect and friends and riches in the world they are as the white of an egg or a dry chip without any savour relish or nourishment to him but tell him of Jesus Christ an able Surety to discharge all his debts O that is the savory meat which his soul loveth As a man that is sick and extreamly pained when you talk to him of his calling or estate he heareth not he regardeth not but tell him of one that can cure him of his disease and ease him of his paine then he will hearken to you thus t is with this sinner all his delight is in hearing of Christ all his longing is to hear from Christ The poor prisoner that is condemned to be hanged and hath sent a messenger to sue for a pardon never longed so much for his return with joyful news as this poor creature for an interest in the Mediatour Thus the Spirit having convinced the soul of its beggery and nakedness bondage and misery causeth it to breathe and long after the riches liberty and righteousness which is in Christ The fourth step is lamentation the soul that breatheth after a Saviour is truly broken for his sins his groans after liberty are accompanied with grief for his slavery Now the clouds gather and thicken over the soul and fall down in tears his sorrow under the conviction of his misery was legal but now t is for his abuse of mercy and so Evangelical His heart before was as a cloud broken by a thunderbolt being torn in pieces violently and making a mighty noise but now like the cloud melted by the shining of the Sun upon it it dissolves down sweetly into a fruitful showre Vemo possit poenitentiâ—m agerâ— nisi qui speraverâ—t indu geâ—tiam Amb He looked on sin before as t was damning as that which would cast his soul and body into hell but now he looks on sin as t is defiling as that which makes him unlike to God and as that by which he hath abused love and mercy and the consideration of this warmeth his heart and kindly thaweth it The man hath now some small hope of mercy and that like the nearer approach of the Sun softneth that earth which was hardned under the frost of legal terrors The pump of the sinners heart was dry till the water of gospel grace apprehended and hoped for was poured in and then it sendeth forth abundantly He returneth now to God with supplication weeping and mourning As Joseph so this sinner seeketh for a place to weep in He goeth into his chamber falleth down before God and poureth out his heart at his eyes and tongue He accuseth shameth condemneth abhorreth himself because of his sins He doth not dissemble his birth but acknowledgeth the pollution of his conception Behold I was shapen in iniquity Psal 51.5 and in sin did my mother conceive me He confesseth the transgressions of his life Psa 58.3 that he hath gone astray from the womb that ever since he was able to go he went astray He acknowledgeth his transgressions and is sorry for his sins with Ephraim he smites upon his thigh saying What have I done with the Publican he beats on his breast crying out God be merciful to me a sinner With the Prodigal he is ashamed to look up to God yet sighs out Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am unworthy to be called thy child He throweth himself down at Gods feet bemoaning himself thus Lord I am the greatest of sinners less then the least of all thy mercies I have defaced thine image broken thy Laws sinned against thy majesty against thee thee I have sinned and done evil in thy sight I have done the work of Satan thine enemy and my wages is nothing but death how thou pleasest to deal with thy worthless creature I know not but however thou deal with me thou art righteous and I will lay my hand on my mouth If thou say that thou hast no pleasure in me â—o here I am do with me what seemeth good in thy sight yet O save my soul ten thousand Hells are my portion but if out of thy bottomless mercy thou shalt pluck my feet out of this bottomless misery my soul shall admire thy free Grace my tongue shall sing aloud of thy rich mercy and O the obligations which this vile wretch shall have to be faithfully and uprightly serviceable to thy majesty His contrition runneth all along parallel with his confession his heart worketh more then his lips and hands his affections are much more self-abasing and humbling then his expressions he seeth him whom he hath pierced and mourneth Calvary is a Bochim a place of weeping to him his eyes are so full that though Christ be nigh him yet like Mary he cannot see him for tears