sent him for this end would drive me out of my sins and send me to him for succour and relief that I may be sure to speed And I may be sure the Father who is so deeply offended wil never refuse him 〈◊〉 me if I come to him through his Christ. So we have done with the Explication of the Point Instruction We may hence by way of Collection inferr several things which are of much Consequence in our daily Course and yet al appertain to this place as to their proper residence where they have their first rife and therefore may most cleerly and rightly be here discussed and so discerned by those who will encline their ear and apply their heart unto wisdom Hence it follows by force of undeniable Consequence that this work of Attraction and so of preventing Grace proceeds from God as the only Cause thereof and depends wholly upon his 〈◊〉 pleasure and that he works in us without us We being destitute of al Ability which might help thereunto That which is done by a Holy kind of Violence against the natural inclination of the heart that must needs be done upon us but not by us we have no hand in that work and so it is here as hath been proved Let me ad Two or Three Reasons more besides the Evidence of the Rule from whence it is immediately deduced Here that Weapon comes first to hand which some of the Ancients have so often used in this Cause and its the Canon of the Apostle and that Staple Principle that cannot be gain-said Rom. 9. 16. It is not in him that willeth or in him that runneth but in God that shews Mercy Where al other helping Causes that may share in the Conversion and bringing home of the sinner are wholly denied cast out though they were Means of special improvment that if any thing might seem to further it they might have been of peculiar use and of a speeding nature It was not a sleepy careless slighting of the attainment of any spiritual good or a sloathful attendance upon it nor is it a kind of heartless and spiritless Affection to it that are here rejected nay though his will was there and the strength of endeavor yet both miss the mark The Apostle is Plain and peremptory Let him set Heart and Feet and Hand and Head on work he shal never do no good on it it is not there It s meerly only in him that shews Mercy It was wont to be Answered by the Pelagians that it is so said That it s not in him that Runs or Wills without Mercy pittying of him and Grace assisting of him he cannot do it without these let him do what he can yet he can do it with these The vanity of which Answer hath been long since discovered as that it crosseth and corrupteth the very meaning of the Apostle For then the meaning upon the self same grounds would here be thus As it is not in him that Wills and Runs without God assisting co-working so you might turn the tables It s not in God that shewes Mercy without him that Wills and Runs For if the words be not a plain peremptory denial but only comparatively to be taken It s not so much or not in his willing and running without Mercy prevailing and helping yet they concur as Causes in this work then may they as 〈◊〉 be taken the other way It s not in God that shews Mercy only and wholly but in him that wills and runs in part which is to destroy the text and to cross the intendment of the Spirit That Dispensation of God which gives ability and a Principle to the will for to work that act and dispensation must be before the ability of the will and act of it and so cannot be caused by it As if God put a soul into those dead dry bones in Ezek. 37. that they might live this putting in of the 〈◊〉 whence comes life is before and so without the work of the soul or life also and not at al caused by either But this Preparation and pulling away from sin is to make way for a spiritual ability to be given to the will for to work and therefore it is before the will and work and either of them as any cause So the Apostle John 1 Joh. 5. 20. He hath given us a mind to know him and his Christ. Not only drawn out this act of Knowledge but given a mind also to enable us hereunto 2 Cor. 3. 5. We 〈◊〉 no sufficiency as of our selves to think a good thought but all our sufficiency is of God Not only the thinking but the 〈◊〉 thereunto It s he that gives a 〈◊〉 of flesh and then causeth us to walk in his wayes Ezek. 36. 26 27. This is to be Observed against a wretched Shift and cursed Cavil of the Jesuits when they would pretended to give way to the Grace of God and yet in truth take away what they give And therefore they yeild freely and fully That it is God who gives both the will and the deed And Grace is required of necessity unto both and neither can be without it nor will nor deed But in truth this is nothing but a colour of words when the sense which they follow sounds quite contrary For ask but their meaning and when they have opened themselves al comes to thus much That the Lord hath a Concourse and a co-working in the Will and Deed and sends forth an influence into the act of the Will and of the work done and leads forth and guides both unto their end And this is no more than he doth with the act of any Creature the first cause concurring with the second For in him it is that we live and move and have our being As it is with Two men that draw a Boat or a Ship together each man hath a principle and power of his own whereby he draws but both these meet and concur and co-work together in the drawing So that al this that is said is but indeed to darken and delude the Truth yea and to destroy the work of Gods Grace and deceive the Reader For this gives no more to the work of Gods Grace in Conversion than it doth to the Act of Providence upon and with the act of any Creature reasonable Whereas this must be observed carefully and for ever maintained as the everlasting Truth of God That the Lord gives a power spiritual to the work which it had not before he Concurs with the act of that power when it is put forth he gives him a being in the 〈◊〉 of Grace before he leads out the act of that being He first lets in an influence of a powerful impression upon the Faculty of the Will before he Concurs with the Act 〈◊〉 Deed. He gives a heart of flesh and then causeth them to walk in his wayes As if one could put a Principle of life and motion into another and then
Hebrews 6. 8. The Earth that often drinketh in the rain and yet brings forth thorns and 〈◊〉 is nigh is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned The rain is the Word heard understood embraced acknowledged and yet have their malicious venemous conspiracies against the Gospel of God and Saints of Christ and that in 〈◊〉 like thorns under the leaves like bryars under pretence of moderation and humility can scratch bitterly it 's a heavy suspicion their end wil be burning Take heed thou content not thy self in thy rebellious condition for upon this supposition that thou wilt have this thou puttest thy self out of any possibility of good goest against Gods Order Course and Covenant and the whol Work of Redemption Christ comes to bless his by turning them away from their sins Acts 3. last and therefore when the Lord comes to hale thee out of thy sins take heed thou dost not go from under Gods strivings lest he strive with thee no more EXHORTATION We have hence special motives to quicken the desires and provoke the endeavors of the most carnal minded men in the world to attend with all the care and diligence they may upon the means of Grace But you wil tel us It is not in our Preparations Performances and Improvements that our Spiritual good depends there is nothing we can do can procure it it depends wholly upon the good pleasure of the Lord Why then should we trouble our selves to endeavor any thing I Answer The Inference is the quite contrary way All is in God and his good pleasure attend therefore upon him in his own means that thou mayest receive al from him If a man should reason thus I can do nothing for my self therefore I wil take a course that no man shall do any thing for me it were not a weakness but a kind of madness but rather in common sence a man would be provoked to press his own heart thus I can do nothing of my self therefore I must attend upon God in those means which he useth to do for all those he useth to do good unto So the Disciples to our Savior when he would arm them against his departure Will ye also go away John 6. 68. They answer Lord whither should we go thou only hast the words of eternal life Christ only can humble and convert Christ only hath peace and pardon therefore only go to him We are so wise for our bodies where one is most like to speed every man is most willing to go especially considering as nothing can purchase his favor 〈◊〉 nothing can 〈◊〉 the expression of his good pleasure when he wil go therefore what ever thy condition is When thou art at the weakest here is supply As he said Why stand you gazing fainting and famishing get ye into Egypt for Corn that we may live and not die though thou livest in the height of the perversness of thy heart in the out-rage of thy rebellion though thou carriest a scornful contemptuous spirit with thee yet go who knows when is Gods time what he may do bring your own souls your rebellious Servants and disobedient Children fall down at the foot of Christ in his Ordinances and say Here are a company of Hellish Traitrous hearts which bring proud stubborn scornful rebellious distempers like so many bloody weapons even to wound thy good Majesty withal Oh pluck these weapons out of our hands these treasons out of our hearts that would pluck us to thee and so to destruction As we cannot deserve any thing so our wretchedness cannot hinder thy Work And because thou knowest not the season of mercy take al seasons thou knowest not what time God may or wil work because it is in his own pleasure therefore attend upon him at al times 2. Tim. 2. 25. Proving if at any time God will give thee Repentance Attend upon him in all Ordinances because it is in his pleasure to breath in which he wil and to bless which he wil for thy Spiritual Comfort Sow thy Seed in the morning and in the evening because thou knowest not which may prosper this or that Eccles. 11. 6. Thou knowest not whether Prayer or Meditation or Reading wil prosper and which of these or any other Ordinance God wil bless for the saving good of thy soul. When thou findest the Lord stirring moving enabling and working in thee move thou and work thou also As the Marriner when he finds the gale coming any way he tacks about 〈◊〉 way to take the advantage God was tampering with the heart of Agrippa it was at a ha now a ha Thou hast almost perswaded me to become a Christian saies he to Paul Acts 26. 28. Ah what a pity was it he should fal back again It 's matter os wonderment able to swallow up the heart of a sinner with the everlasting admiration of this 〈◊〉 unmatchable kindness of the Lord. Micah 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that pardonest iniquity and passest by the transgression of the remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he 〈◊〉 in mercy he will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea You that have tasted how good the Lord is and found this Truth made good in your own hearts by your own experience as Paul was wont to recount his course I was a persecuter blasphemous and injurious but I obtained mercy I doubt not but many of you may say if ever there was a Fiend in Hell or a Rebel upon Earth I was one an opposer of the Gospel a despiser of the means of Grace a hater of the holy waies of the Lord and his servants that walk therein yet then God did me good when I desired and 〈◊〉 my own hurt Get ye homeye blessed Saints and in the secret of your Closets cal Heaven and Earth together and leave these compassions upon Record Say the time was this carnal mind of mine plotted my wretched 〈◊〉 and mine own ruin but then the Lord prevented both I opposed 〈◊〉 entreaties and he yet pursued me and would take no 〈◊〉 he called after me wept over me Turn ye turn ye why will you die I provoked him he pitied me I resisted him he imbraced me I said I would have none of him nor his Grace he said he would have no denial I resolved to walk on in the frowardness of mine own 〈◊〉 and to perish in the despight of al means and he would and did shew me mercy in the despight of the pride and rebellion of this heart or else I had never seen this day nor never had hope to see his face in glory Be astonished and confounded at this O ye Devils and come down ye blessed Angels from Heaven and magnifie this mercy Leave this in your last will and testament to your little ones O ye Fathers leave
ful 〈◊〉 of his Dispensation ran in that other Channel Of whose Ministry 〈◊〉 is also said Luk. 1. 16. 17. That 〈◊〉 of the Children of Israel should he turn to 〈◊〉 Lord their God And shal go before him namely Christ in the spirit and power of 〈◊〉 to turn the hearts of the Fathers to their Children and the Disobedient to the 〈◊〉 of the just to make ready a people 〈◊〉 for the Lord. The meaning whereof is he came to restore the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 Conversion and in that point 〈◊〉 bring and reduce the Children of the 〈◊〉 back again unto the same 〈◊〉 and wayes necessary to Salvation 〈◊〉 which the Fathers and all the 〈◊〉 Saints of the old Testament 〈◊〉 been brought in unto God And 〈◊〉 by that means to become of the same Religion saving Conversion being the 〈◊〉 practick Foundation and Centre 〈◊〉 all Religion that the Godly Jews 〈◊〉 old were of So what know we but 〈◊〉 God in some lesser proportionate 〈◊〉 both in respect of persons and times may have had this in the eye of all wisely designing Providence to set out this great Authors works and writings amongst the labors of others also upon this very Argument to bring back and correct the Errors of the spirits of Professors of these times and perhaps by urging too far and insisting too much upon that as Preparatory which includes indeed the beginnings of true Faith And a man may be held too long under John Baptists water To rectify those that have slipt into Profession and Leapt over all both true and deep Humiliation for sin and sence of their natural Condition yea and many over Christ himself too professing to go to God without him However this we may say without diminution to any other or detraction from the Author himself in respect of his more raysed knowledg of Christ and Gods free Grace That if any of our late Preachers and Divines came in the Spirit and power of John Baptist this man did This deeply humbled man and as 〈◊〉 raised both in Faith and 〈◊〉 with Christ the Author of 〈◊〉 Treatises He had been trained up 〈◊〉 his Youth in the Experience and 〈◊〉 of Gods Dispensations and 〈◊〉 this way and vers'd in digging 〈◊〉 the Mines and Veins of Holy 〈◊〉 to find how they agreed with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Soul had 〈◊〉 the intricate Meanders and the 〈◊〉 through temptations 〈◊〉 of this narrow passage and 〈◊〉 into Life and few there be that 〈◊〉 it And by deep reflections upon 〈◊〉 step of Gods Procedure with 〈◊〉 hath descried those false and 〈◊〉 by-waies which at every step 〈◊〉 man who errs in his heart not 〈◊〉 the knowledg of Gods waies is apt to 〈◊〉 astray when they have but inferior 〈◊〉 of the Spirit on them from 〈◊〉 way of Life which only those do 〈◊〉 that are un-erringly guided by the 〈◊〉 Spirit peculiar to the Elect into 〈◊〉 waies of Peace And whereas there hath been published long since many Parts and Pieces of this Author upon this Argument Sermon-wise preach'd by him here in England which in the preaching of them did enlighten all those Parts Yet having been taken by an unskilful hand which upon his recess into those remoter parts of the World was bold without his privity or consent to print and publish them one of the greatest injuries which can be done to any man it-came to pass his genuine meaning and this in points of so high a Nature and in some things differing from the Common Opinion was diverted in those printed Sermons from the fair and cleer draught of his own Notions and Intentions because so utterly deformed and mis-represented in multitudes of passages And in the rest but imperfectly and crudely set forth Here in these Treatises thou hast his Heart from his own Hand his own Thoughts drawn by his own Pensil This is all truly and purely his own not as preached only but as written by himself in order to the Press which may be a great satisfaction to all that honored 〈◊〉 loved him as who that was good and knew him did not especially 〈◊〉 that received benefit by those 〈◊〉 imperfect Editions And we cannot but look at it as a blessed Providence of God that the publishing of the same by others in that manner that hath been mentioned should have provoked him and that by the excitation of the Church whereof he was the Pastor in New-England to go over again the same Materials in the Course of his Ministry amongst them in order to the perfecting of it by his own hand for publick Light thereby to vindicate both himself and it from that wrong which otherwise had remained for ever irrecompensible And hereby it came to pass that so far as he hath proceeded this Subject came to have a third Concoction in the Heart and Head of him that was one of the most experienced Christians and of acutest Abilities that have been living in our Age. He Preach'd more briefly of this Subject first whilst he was 〈◊〉 and Chatechist in Emanuel Colledg in Cambridg The Notes of which were then so esteemed that many Copies thereof were by many that heard not the Sermons written out and are yet extant by them And then again a Second time many yeers after more largely 〈◊〉 Great Chelmsford in Essex the 〈◊〉 of which was those Books of 〈◊〉 that have gone under his Name And Last of all now in New-England and 〈◊〉 in and to a setled Church of Saints to which the Promise is made of being The Seat and Pillar of Truth and 〈◊〉 which all Ordinances set as the Load stone in the Steel have the greater power and energie In which the Presence of Christ breaks forth and all 〈◊〉 Springs are found therein And truly we need not wonder 〈◊〉 God set his heart and thoughts a work 〈◊〉 much and so repeatedly about this Subject VVe see that the Holy Ghost himself the Author of this Work of Conversion doth somtimes and that in an 〈◊〉 manner go over the whol of that Work again and again in the hearts of Christians whom God means to make great in his Church as in Peter when 〈◊〉 art converted c. who was yet 〈◊〉 already And to the Disciples Except ye be converted c. And the 〈◊〉 of the Holy Ghost upon them at and 〈◊〉 Pentecost was as a New Conversion 〈◊〉 them making them to differ 〈◊〉 much from themselvès in what they were afore as wel-nigh they themselves 〈◊〉 afore truly wrought on did 〈◊〉 differ from other men The 〈◊〉 of God himself goes over this work 〈◊〉 in al the parts of it As to 〈◊〉 anew to draw to Christ to change and 〈◊〉 the heart to higher strains of 〈◊〉 And when so then his Second 〈◊〉 excels the First that it comes not into mind and his Third the Second 〈◊〉 it ceaseth as it were to be remembred as the Prophet in other works of wonder speaks for thereby he every 〈◊〉 Spirituallizeth the
that as Preparatory which includes indeed the beginnings of true Faith And a man may be held too long under John Baptists water To rectify those that have slipt into Profession and Leapt over all both true and deep Humiliation for sin and sence of their natural Condition yea and many over Christ himself too professing to go to God without him However this we may say without diminution to any other or detraction from the Author himself in respect of his 〈◊〉 raysed knowledg of Christ and 〈◊〉 free Grace That if any of our late Preachers and Divines came in the 〈◊〉 and power of John Baptist this man did This deeply humbled man and as 〈◊〉 raised both in Faith and 〈◊〉 with Christ the Author of 〈◊〉 Treatises He had been trained up 〈◊〉 his Youth in the Experience and 〈◊〉 of Gods Dispensations and 〈◊〉 this way and vers'd in digging 〈◊〉 the Mines and Veins of Holy 〈◊〉 to find how they agreed with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Soul had 〈◊〉 the intricate Meanders and the 〈◊〉 through temptations 〈◊〉 of this narrow passage and 〈◊〉 into Life and few there be that 〈◊〉 it And by deep reflections upon 〈◊〉 step of Gods Procedure with 〈◊〉 hath descried those false and 〈◊〉 by-waies which at every step 〈◊〉 man who errs in his heart not 〈◊〉 the knowledg of Gods waies is apt to 〈◊〉 astray when they have but inferior 〈◊〉 of the Spirit on them from 〈◊〉 way of Life which only those do 〈◊〉 that are un-erringly guided by the 〈◊〉 Spirit peculiar to the Elect into 〈◊〉 waies of Peace And whereas there hath been published long since many Parts and Pieces of this Author upon this Argument Sermon-wise preach'd by him here in England which in the preaching of them did enlighten all those Parts Yet having been taken by an unskilful hand which upon his recess into those remoter parts of the World was bold without his privity or consent to print and publish them one of the greatest injuries which can be done to any man it-came to pass his genuine meaning and this in points of so high a Nature and in some things differing from the Common Opinion was diverted in those printed Sermons from the fair and cleer draught of his own Notions and Intentions because so utterly deformed and mis-represented in multitudes of passages And in the rest but imperfectly and crudely set forth Here in these Treatises thou hast his Heart from his own Hand his own Thoughts drawn by his own Pensil This is all truly and purely his own not as preached only but as written by himself in order to the Press which may be a great satisfaction to all that honored 〈◊〉 loved him as who that was good and knew him did not especially 〈◊〉 that received benefit by those 〈◊〉 imperfect Editions And we cannot but look at it as a blessed Providence of God that the publishing of the same by others in that manner that hath been mentioned should have provoked him and that by the excitation of the Church whereof he was the Pastor in New-England to go over again the same Materials in the Course of his Ministry amongst them in order to the perfecting of it by his own hand for publick Light thereby to vindicate both himself and it from that wrong which otherwise had remained for ever irrecompensible And hereby it came to pass that so far as he hath proceeded this Subject came to have a third Concoction in the Heart and Head of him that was one of the most experienced Christians and of acutest Abilities that have been living in our Age. He Preach'd more briefly of this Subject first whilst he was 〈◊〉 and Chatechist in Emanuel Colledg in Cambridg The Notes of which were then so esteemed that many Copies thereof were by many that heard not the Sermons written out and are yet extant by them And then again a Second time many yeers after more largely 〈◊〉 Great Chelmsford in Essex the 〈◊〉 of which was those Books of 〈◊〉 that have gone under his Name And Last of all now in New-England and 〈◊〉 in and to a setled Church of Saints to which the Promise is made of being The Seat and Pillar of Truth and 〈◊〉 which all Ordinances set as the Load stone in the Steel have the greater power and energie In which the Presence of Christ breaks forth and all 〈◊〉 Springs are found therein And truly we need not wonder 〈◊〉 God set his heart and thoughts a work 〈◊〉 much and so repeatedly about this Subject VVe see that the Holy Ghost himself the Author of this Work of Conversion doth somtimes and that in an 〈◊〉 manner go over the whol of that Work again and again in the hearts of Christians whom God means to make great in his Church as in Peter when 〈◊〉 art converted c. who was yet 〈◊〉 already And to the Disciples Except ye be converted c. And the 〈◊〉 of the Holy Ghost upon them at and 〈◊〉 Pentecost was as a New Conversion 〈◊〉 them making them to differ 〈◊〉 much from themselvès in what they were afore as wel-nigh they themselves 〈◊〉 afore truly wrought on did 〈◊〉 differ from other men The 〈◊〉 of God himself goes over this work 〈◊〉 in al the parts of it As to 〈◊〉 anew to draw to Christ to change and 〈◊〉 the heart to higher strains of 〈◊〉 And when so then his Second 〈◊〉 excels the First that it comes not into mind and his Third the Second 〈◊〉 it ceaseth as it were to be remembred as the Prophet in other works of wonder speaks for thereby he every 〈◊〉 Spirituallizeth the heart stil more 〈◊〉 it from Hypocrisie and makes it 〈◊〉 refined causeth the heart to come forth from each new Cast and moulding with a deeper and fairer Impression 〈◊〉 his Image and Glory If then the Holy Ghost the Writer of his Law in the Heart set that high value upon that Work 〈◊〉 his that he vouchsafeth to take 〈◊〉 pains to write it over and over again in the same Tablet Let it be no Diminution to this great Author but let us bless God rather for the Providence that the same Divine Hand and Spirit should set him this Task to take the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 VVork into a second yea a third Review and thereby make it as it were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the VVork of his Life Only thus it is That the other Great Points as Union with Christ Justification Adoption Sanctification and Glory which Subjects as he was able for so his heart was most in them he hath left unfinished And so thereby as is most likely multitndes of precious yea glorious thoughts which he might have reserved as often fals out to Preachers and Writers for those higher Subjects as the Close and Centre and Crown of what forewent as preparative thereto are now perished and laid in the dust with him None but Christ was ever yet able to finish all that Work which was in
for help and recovery and to expect to receive it from the hand of the Lord. That Disease is not past Remedy which hath been cured nor the Condition past hope that hath been recovered As bad and vile as thou have been humbled and broken-hearted and why not thou saved Turn but thy thoughts aside and attend the Text and trust thine own eyes behold look here upon the most loathsom Hell-hounds that 〈◊〉 the Sun saw or the Earth bore listen and hear these hideous blasphemies they belch out against the Son of God they cried away with him away with him not him but Barrabas they chuse a Murderer rather than a Savior behold their butcherly hands imbrued in the blood of Jesus some goaring his side others nailing his feet piercing his pure and holy hands and that they might be bloody Creatures indeed they do not only shed his blood but they keep his blood upon Record for their Condemnation say they His Blood be upon us and upon our Seed That which they have done and desired for their own ruine is it not just but they should have it dost not thou wonder that the Earth did not open and swallow them that the Lord did not thunder from Heaven and immediately destroy them or that he sent not Legions of Devils to drag those wretches souls out of their Bodies to send them packing to the pit And yet stay but a little and see what God hath done in the midst of all this hellish wickedness look a little further they who took away the life of Christ he is now taking away their 〈◊〉 and guilt from them they crucified him and he is now crucifying their cursed corruptions they pierced his tender body to put an end to his daies he is now piercing their souls with Godly sorrow to put an end to their sins and 〈◊〉 Come hither therefore all you poor desolate undone Creatures You whose sins are written with a pen of Iron and graven with the point of a Diamond they stand upon record in every coast and corner you stout-hearted rebellious sinners the Seats of the Place where you sit the Stones in the Street where you walk the Walls of the Houses where you dwel the Decks of the Ships where you have sailed and the Shoars where you have Landed and the Wildernesses where you have travelled they can bear witness against you of the contempt of Gods Truth the neglect of his Ordinances unprofitableness under all you slight all Counsels and Admonitions you are amongst the number of them that are laden with lusts ever learning but never coming to the knowledg of the Truth So that the floods of iniquity seem to compass and overwhelm and might force you to sink down in irrevocable discouragement I confess your condition is extreamly desolate and dangerous yet it 's possible it may be there is a peep-hole of hope it may be otherwise and happy it is for you that there is yet a may be left that God hath not sealed you up to condemnation and turned the Tomb-stone upon you Look up a little thou art yet alive Oh therefore lay about thee while yet opportunity and possibility lasteth Say Lord these sinful wretches that opposed thy Grace so long resisted thy Ordinances thy Servants yea crucified the Lord of Life and yet their hearts are now wounded for their sins Oh break my heart also humble my soul also Yea but I cannot think it truly I dare not I cannot I am ashamed to beg mercy who have so long abused it Why mark what the Apostle saies Ephes. 3. 20. God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all thou canst think or ask All this while the presumptuous secure sinner he stands by and hears all this and he blesseth himself in his lazy course contents himself with this possibility and here takes up his stand but neglects to do any thing that may attain it Oh is it not pitty to cast such Dainties before Dogs and Pearls before Swine Did I say it was possible True I said so indeed but it 's pity thou 〈◊〉 in the hearing of it it 's pity to speak such precious encouragements to such poysonful and malignant spirits that will pervert all to their own ruine The word is past and cannot be recalled but take these Preservatives or Corrosives rather to eat out that impudent corruption Know though it be possible yet it is not possible to thee nor any power thou hast nor any means thou canst use Matth. 19. 36. With man this is impossible Nay know That so long as thou continuest in that careless presumptuous self-confidence it is not possible that God should save thee Heb. 3. 18. He hath said it and sworn it that they who rest in their carnal confidence they shall never enter into his rest and God will not nay cannot deny himself and his Oath As it 's possible God may so it 's possible he may not break thy heart and it 's a great suspicion he will not if thou so impudently abuse his Mercy Patience and long suffering wherby he calls thee to repentance and would melt thy rebellious heart Rom. 2. 4. Thou after the hardness of thy heart which cannot repent treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath It 's a shrewd suspicion if thou strivest long against his Spirit and slightest the season he will cease to strive with thee and take away the season Luke 19. 42. If thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things belonging to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes It will cost much labor and long time before it be done in an ordinary way and therefore if thou art wise for thy soul omit no time be faithful to do what thou canst and yet fearful because it 's in Gods hand to do what He will Therefore seek seasonably tremblingly and uncessantly unto the Lord to do this work for thee It 's not the dipping but rubbing and soaking an old stayn that will fetch it out thou must soak and steep thy soul with godly sorrow It 's not Salving but long tenting an old sore that will do the Cure It may be it will make you go crying to your grave and well if you get to heaven so at last This shews the 〈◊〉 nature and the inconceivable haynousness of the sin of dispaire which rusheth the sinner upon irrecoverable ruine and would seem to overcome the mercy of God wherein he overcomes himself laies a mans present comforts and future hopes wast at once beyond the reach of any relief or recovery puts the soul beyond the sight and expectation of any succour and supply that might support it in the least measure That look as when the Ship runs a ground or splits upon a Rock neer shore or within the sight of land there is yet a possibility that some help may come from the Coast to them or they at least may be wafted to land and so swim out
with a fals-harted 〈◊〉 as it did with the wife of Jeroboam when she came to enquire of her sick Child all the while she had received no certain evidence whether it would 〈◊〉 or live her heart was 〈◊〉 and comforted in her present hopes But when Abijah the Prophet related the message of the Lord Come in thou wife of Jeroboam why fainest thou thy self to be another behold I am sent to thee with heavy 〈◊〉 the Lord 〈◊〉 bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam and wil cut off him that is left get thee home to thy house and assoon as thy feet enter into thy house the Child shal dy this sunk her hopes so fares it with a fals-harted ignorant sinner he may be quieted with the persent appresion of his good condition when he hath no evidence to the contrary But when the Lord sets up an overpouring conviction in the mind which may give in 〈◊〉 and infallible witness of its 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 estate 〈◊〉 thou fals-hearted hypocrite why 〈◊〉 thou thy self to be another and befoolest thy self with vayn hopes behold here is heavy tidings sent unto thee from the Lord of hosts thou art yet in the gal of bitterness in the bond of iniquity and if thou diest so thou 〈◊〉 certainly 〈◊〉 from the presence of the Lord for ever This fastening the truth upon the conscience comes home and forceth the heart to feel and to be affected therewith Ignorance frustrates wholly the end of all the means we use and the endeavours we take up for reformation of the evills of our hearts and lives For. 1. First it misleads all our endeavors that they succeed not it misleads our whol course and our proceedings against our sins and out of mistakes presents our corruption as appearing sweet through our misguided apprehension and causes us to oppose our Saviour Christ and his truth that would subdue them This Paul professed to be the ground of his 〈◊〉 carriage when he should have persecuted the enemies of the Church he 〈◊〉 the Church and that out of 〈◊〉 Phil. 3. 6 concerning zeal I persecuted the Church so far from finding his sin bitter to him 〈◊〉 having his heart broken from it as that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the practice of it with the greatest expression of zeal as that which deserved the best of his endeavour and wherein he might spend the best of his pains and that you may see how ready we are in the dark to put up Snakes in our bosoms instead of sweet 〈◊〉 He nakedly and ingeniously confessed whither his 〈◊〉 led I did verily think in my self I should do many things against the Name of Jesus Acts. 26. He that conceived it as a matter of duty to do such things his heart upon such grounds under such delusions would never be carryed against these Ignorance wil make a man swallow the worst 〈◊〉 any change 1 John 16. 2. the time will come that they who shall kill you will think they do God good service that which keeps the soul insensible of the bitterness of sin and from feeling of the weight of sin that will also keep it from being weary of it and willing to part with it It 's a popish practice and a principle of the power of darkness Ignorance is the Mother of devotion when men cannot tell how to lead themselves or see their own way you may lead them 〈◊〉 way you wil and if once Satan can keep a man from the sight of his sin he wil keep him sure under the command of sin and drive him to do his drudgery and that with delight and resolution when the Phylistians had put out Sampsons eyes they led him whither they would and made him do what they would Paul in his ignorance strikes a Friend instead of an Enemy and strikes he neither knowes nor 〈◊〉 who Acts. 9 who art thou Lrod 2 As thus ignorance misleads a mans whol course that it succeds not so it perverts the power of all means that they profit not misapplies al the means he hath and so spoyles them and his own peace and comfort also insomuch that his corruptions grow more strong and incorporated into him and he more unwilling to part with them and that 's the fruit of ignorance the promises and comforts of the Gospel which do not appertain to him he catcheth greedily at them as a portion provided for 〈◊〉 and goes away with that dream and swels unmeasurably 〈◊〉 presumption and self-confidence Are not al the Congregation holy what needs this severing and differencing of men what are 〈◊〉 who would be the only Saints are not we al sinners and Christ dyed for such and for us as wel as for them the threatnings and curses which the Lord denounceth against the ungodly 〈◊〉 cast them away with a fearless contempt as such as do in no wise touch them or concern 〈◊〉 particulars and therefore should not trouble them tush say they we have made a league with death and a covenant with Hell and when the destroying scourge passeth over it shal not come near to them Isay. 28. 15. yea they do commit evil and yet say they are delivered by the Lord Jer. 7. Thus they grow 〈◊〉 and hard hearted the wholsom counsels and directions of the word which should be light unto their feet and a discovery of al their failings they slight the exact attendance thereunto as that which God wil not exact at their hands because in many things we sin al and so become careless or negligent as though they should not answer and the Lord would not exact what they cannot do It s with an ignorant sinner in the midst of all means as with a sick man remaining in an Apothecaries shop ful of choycest 〈◊〉 in the darkest night though there be the choycest af all receipts at hand and he may take what he needs yet because he cannot see what he takes and how to use them he may kill himself or encrease his distempers but never cure any disease so here with an ignorant person he enjoyes al means and yet abuses them he may encrease his corruptions but not reform them his heart grows more hard and his corruptions more strong but he cannot in reason expect any help Hence we learn by way of Instruction An ignorant 〈◊〉 is a naughty heart whether out of blindness they do not or out of prophaness they wil not understand and look into their estates He that never saw his sin aright he never yet saw good day nor the least appearance of any saving work of Gods grace in his soul yea he is so far from attaining such a condition that in truth he is not in the way to it We wil go no further than the consideration of the former truth and then let thy Conscience be judg in the case propounded Suppose then thou shouldest hear a distressed creature under the terror of his Conscience freely and ingeniously lay open his condition unto thee The day is yet
Servants may be surprized with a pang of pride overborn with a sudden hurry of passion and frowardness and the Lord pities and pardons and passeth it by and wil not lay it to their charge because it was their Disease not their disposition their temptation and surprizal not their purpose the Lord looks at it so You have heard of the Patience of Job James 6. But when such noysom lusts become Natural and that we live in them as in our Element when we have and keep and own an accursed poysonful Nature it 's that which the Lord detests The froward in spirit is an abomination to the Lord Prov. 3. 32. In the old Law it was observed that when the Leprosie tainted the Skin but did not spread the Leaper was pronounced clean but if it did fret into the flesh it was unclean to teach us that though we had leprous distempers that tainted and defiled our performances yet if they did not fret into the flesh our affections taken aside with them the Lord looks at us as clean in his Christ because it was not we that in our hearts purposed the evil but sin that prevailed against our purpose but if we hugged them in our bosom laid them nigh unto our hearts and took them as our Natures we were loathsom in the sight of God The third Shift whereby a carnal heart comes to lighten the hainousness of his evil and therefore looks not at it as so loathsom as he should and it deserves Because he can put off the blame from himself as he conceives upon his Companions who either by their 〈◊〉 and perswasions have deluded him and led him into sinful courses beyond his intendment and sometimes contrary to his desire and therefore he concludes he may justly free himself from blame and lay the blame upon them wholly It was the fault of such such I am free Had not they counselled it I had never committed the sin had not they perswaded me I had never purposed it it was not in my thoughts but they allured deluded and drew me to it Let them be charged with the guilt and bear the punishment I hope I may be excused This manner of sinful shifting of our faults unto another is that which all of us have 〈◊〉 from our first Parents It was their practice immediately after the fal We their Posterity have made it a president to our Posterity unto this day when the Lord challenged Adam for his offence and breach of covenant why hast thou done this he puts it 〈◊〉 to the woman the woman to the Serpent Gen. 3. 12. 13. 14. The woman which thou gavest me Saies Adam she gave unto me and I did eat the woman she takes the rebound and puts the ball behind her The Serpent beguiled me but al in vain this could not free any of them from the punishmeut or excuse them from the fault To shew the feeblness of this fond pretence I shal answer several things The Aggravation of the evil of this sin in yielding to the corrupt Counsel of loose and bad companions and the suffering of a mans self to be 〈◊〉 by their delusionsappears in this that they who are here in guilty they do in this their practice prefer the folly of man before the wisdom of God their falshood above his truth serve their turn and base ends maintain their honor that in an ungodly way rather than the honor of the eternal God from whom they have received al they do possess to whom they owe themselves and should improve al they have and are to his praise and yet they do not only set up base men but even the lusts of men before the honor of the Almighty and profess so much by their practice it s not the command of God but the corrupt 〈◊〉 of vile men shal carry us not his promises though great and precious but their perswasions shal prevayl with us 〈◊〉 suffer the name and honor of the Lord to lye in the dust nay trample it under their feet that they may promote their persons and 〈◊〉 credit of their proceedings though wretchedly wicked And what greater indignity can be offered to the great God of heaven and earth who wil require it at your hands when your companions wil not open their mouths to excuse you nor can defend you from his vengeance the 〈◊〉 of this conspiracie against the Lord he himself acknowledgeth in Eli's indulgence yielding out of the easiness of his spirit to his sons in their prophane carriage in that he did not proceed with that rigour and severity as the 〈◊〉 of their carriage did justly 〈◊〉 for The Lord doth plainly and peremptorily charge him with a double evil 1 Sam. 2. 29. 30. 31. that they kicked at his Sacrifice that is cast contempt upon his holy things and honored his Sons and that in their lewdness above him when out of a feeble childishness he would suffer his sons to abuse Gods ordinances and not administer a sharp reproof or execute a just and severe censure suitable to the nature of the fact upon them he gave so far allowance to the contempt of Gods ordinances and was more willing to please them than God therefore the Lord denounceth his direful displeasure against him he repented him of all the good he had intended and would pursue him and all his Posterety to the utter confusion of their faces because thou hast kicked against my 〈◊〉 and hast honored thy sons above me therefore the 〈◊〉 shal come I wil cut off thy arme c. For those that honor me shal be honored and those that despise me shal be despised Thus the Lord dealt with 〈◊〉 when he inconsiderately joyned sides with Ahab 2. Cron. 18. 2. 〈◊〉 thou love those that hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. Sodering with the society of the wicked is to 〈◊〉 it against the God of all the world the Lord cannot bear it but his anger breaks out immediately against such By your yielding to the counsel of the ungodly you do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their wickedness and appear as a 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 with them strengthen their hands and encourage their hearts steel their faces and make them resolutely bold and impenitently impudent in their ungodly 〈◊〉 they dare adventure to say and do what ever evil may serve their turnes and maintain what they do without either fear or care to hear or reform because they have others to maintain them in what they do As the scripture speaks of Absolons rebellion 2 Sam. 15. 12. The conspiracy grew strong for the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Absolon the company and encrease of his numbers added encouragment to his rebellious course Whereas had the people forsaken him his project and proceeding must needs have fallen to the ground and he been forced to have forsaken his rebellious course and hence it was 〈◊〉 policy that accursed counsel he gave to Absolon to enter
it 's my debt and I must pay it It 's my duty appertaining to me and required at my hand and I must discharge it as I wil answer it at my peril at the day off accounts Our lazy hearts if they can find any dispensation or exception they wil slip the collar and put off the perfourmance cal therefore upon thy self as sometimes they upon Ezra Arise thou sluggish and sloathful soul the matter belongs unto thee to me you 'l say that 's a likely matter indeed I am a silly mayd an ignorant youth or an aged and decrepit creature my memory and 〈◊〉 worn out I pray you have me excused my place my ability suits not my times and leasure in the multitude of 〈◊〉 many occasions permit not such and such who have abilities can such who have leisure opportunity may such who have dexterity skil in such performances should indeed both own the duty perform it but alas my place and abilites suit not my time and leasure in the multitude of so many occasions permit not therefore it cannot belong to me yes to young ones and ignorant ones it appertains to you doth it not appertain to you to be Humbled and to turn your feet to the testimonies of the Almighty doth it not appertain to you to be blessed and to have your wayes made prosperous in which you walk If you would come to Gods end you must attend Gods way If you would attain a blessing and success from God you must use the means appointed by him for good go your waies you poor creatures commune with your own hearts and set down this for an everlasting conclusion Come we can tel how to muse and plot about the pleasures of a sinful course how we may commit them Oh it appertains to us to meditate of the danger of our wicked waies how we may resorm them and avoid it we can tel how to muse upon the wayward perversneis of our own Spirits that we may break the righteous Laws of God let us consider the evil of our waies that we may turn our feet unto his Testimonies Consider how much you run in Arrearages and how far you are cast behind hand in this Spiritual Service how unacquainted with it in former times and how 〈◊〉 since you have known the way and therefore so much more need you have to double your diligence and to recover your former carelessness with more studious and consciencious endeavor to your utmost He that hath much work and little time hath reason to be exceeding laborious he that hath a long journey and sets out late had need to make hast he that hath many antient reckonings almost past remembrance he must resolve to sit at it and that it cost him the setting on to make any through accounts when thou art to cal over the folly of thy Child-hood the vanity of thy youth the rebellion of thy riper yeers to search into the sinful distempers of thy heart which thou hast long harbored and thy miscarriages worn out of mind and remembrance it wil cause thee to sit at it night and day and to bring in those 〈◊〉 and to read them over it 's almost impossible for thy life and therefore thou must labor hard Zach. 12. 10 11 12 When the Lord shall powr out the spirit of Grace and supplication upon the Jews they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn apart the Wives apart and the Husbands apart c. Consider what need thou hast of this holy Ordinance that wil compel thee to prize it and to use it also it 's that which wil yield some supply in most of all thy Spiritual wants lend a hand 〈◊〉 support in most of thy feeblenesses which may befal and would hinder thee in a Christian way thy memory is weak thou dost attend the holy Word of God and many times close with the 〈◊〉 and precious comforts but alas they are gone and slip away Meditation wil strengthen thy feeble memory and though these blessed Truths would depart yet it wil stay them and retain them with thee Jos. 1. 8. The words of this book shall not depart away from thee how 〈◊〉 we prevent that Thou shalt meditate therein day and night Thy apprehensions are shallow and thou narrow in thy conceiving Meditation wil ripen and enlarge thy judgment so that thou shalt exceed the most udicious and learned Psal. 119. 99. I have more understanding than all my teachers how came that about For thy Testimonies are my Meditation Thou art simple and imprudent in thy way not able to discover or prevent the over reachings of such as be wily and cunning in their contrivements Meditation wil sharpen thy apprehensions and make thee able to discern the secret conveyances and slights of the falshearted and to prevent the danger of them Psal. 119. 98. I became wiser than mine Enemies because thy Commandements were ever with me and that was by Meditation Thy Spirit is sluggish and wearish thou wantest life and mettal in the discharge of thy duty prayest without sence and confessest without sorrow begs mercy and dost not affect it Meditation will quicken thee in Conference make thee apt and ready to all undertakings store thee with matter fraught thy apprehensions and tongue warm thy affections and make thee go with readiness to the work Meditation adds as it were wind to a mans Sails and wings to a mans endeavor While I was musing my heart burned then spake I with my tongue Psal. 39. 2 3. If then thy memory be weak and thou needest that that would strengthen it thy apprehension narrow and dul thou need'st that that would enlarge it thy spirit dul and sluggish and thou needest that that may add quickening vertue thereunto a ful stream that may turn the wheel behold Meditation is the Medicine it hath a Probatum est upon it approved of al the Saints and the Cure left upon Record Thy needs are great and manifold so do thou prize this means and use it for thy good Consider the Soveraign Vertue of this Spiritual Service and special Ordinance of God as that which sucks out the sap and sweet of al other Dispensations of God and means of Grace wherein he discovers himself to us so that though they be good in themselves yet the good of them is not received but by meditation As it is in the body naturally be it that thy meat is choyce that is provided the dressing neat and wholsom the appetite strong and sharp and that a man feeds liberally and heartily of such dainties set before him though these provisions be never so savory and Cordial and able to refresh and strengthen yet al labor is lost and meat lost also if his digestion be naught Nature is loaded and 〈◊〉 but never nourished thereby So it is in the soul be the means of Grace never so powerful and precious sappy and Spiritual Opportunities great to enjoy them liberties
contrary and who can expect but he wil accomplish what he hath said the Word excepts no man what folly is it then that I should except my self 2 Thess. 2. 12. That all they might be damned that have pleasure in unrighteousness If I take the same pleasure I must look for the same plagues Luke 13. 5. Except ye repent ye shal all likewise perish If I be in that condition I must expect the same condemnation and be likewise accursed and confounded and cast out from the presence of the Lord. It 's certain it will be so and it 's uncertain how soon it may be What if God do Who knows but God will What if God should pluck me out of the Land of the Living I may truly justly suspect it may be so and fear it will When I lie down I shal never rise more when I go forth I shal never return more when I depart from the house I should take my leave and never see Sabbath more nor the Assembly of the Saints more why may not my meat be my poyson my table my ruin my bed my grave all Creatures instruments of death to me who have been an enemy to God So that their hearts begin to fail them for fear 〈◊〉 21. 26. Thus the 〈◊〉 under the 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts. 19. 27. Adam at the coming of the Lord into the garden feared and fled Gen. 3. 10. this is the fruit of the spirit of bondage Rom. 8. 15. and the distressed sinner becomes as Pashur a terror to himself Jer. 20. 3. 4. the slying of a 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of a leaf the shadow of darkness and approach of the night like the shadow of death he knowes not but the devils may have received a commission this night shall they 〈◊〉 away thy soul 〈◊〉 thee and drag it down to hell While the sinner is 〈◊〉 fearing the evil that is deserved behold the feet of the officer now approaching to see present excution 〈◊〉 and therefore the Lord in the third place puts a commission into the hand of Conscience really to attach and arrest the soul of a sinner to fasten all those curses upon the soul and to force it to feel the vennome of those punishments which were formerly threatned and feared That as it was said to Belshazzar when he was quassing in his cups and bowls of the Sanctuary and the hand writing came out against him the appearance of it affrighted him with the expectation of some direful evil but the present execution of it ushered in ruin upon him and his Kingdom Dan. 5. 28. 30. So the Prophet to thee be it spoken thou art weighed in the ballance and found too light thy Kingdom is departed from thee So Conscience as Gods officer comes to see 〈◊〉 execution done and therefore comes authorised as a serjeant to arrest as a witness to accuse as a judg to condemn tells the soul thou art weighed in the scales of the Sanctuary and 〈◊〉 too light thy doom is past thy destiny is determined thy sentence set down and thy salvation is departed from thee that which thou didst fear is now befallen thee and thou must feel it to thy wo Psal. 140. 11. wickedness hunts the wicked man but it overtakes them also If Conscience condemnes God is greater than our Conscience and he condemnes much more His iniquities lay hold upon him that he is not able to look up Psal. 40. 14. thou hast feared the punishment of sin before man and hast not 〈◊〉 to commit sin before God and thus thou hast sealed up thy condemnation casting away the goodness of the Lord. If thou doest evil sin lyes at the dore Gen. 4. Hence flowes in the fearful expression of the displeasure of the Almighty the dreadful wrath of the Eternal like the mighty waves of the Sea overwhelm and sink the soul of the sinner in desperate discouragement There be 2 things in sin 1 The 〈◊〉 of it 2 the punishment that comes from it the stayn in it and the sting and tartness of it cross to me and cross to God cross to my honor and shames me cross to my quiet and peace and troubles me cross to my safety and destroyes me And this second the sinner is firstly most sensible of the plague of sin first stings and stabs the heart Because nature seeks its own preservation and self love carryes al men readily and easily to provide for their own safety And here sorrow begins usually when the Lord by the Ministry of Conscience awakened encamps about the sinner with al the curses of his righteous law broken besigeth him with the armies of his indignation and his fierce wrath followes him at every turn So that now 〈◊〉 ever he is which way so ever he turns himself his sins and plagues compass him about on every side If he look to heaven he sees a just God there ready to destroy him before him are his sins ready to accuse him within him nothing but guilt to condemn him below him hell opening her mouth prepared to receive him and the Devils at 〈◊〉 to torment his wretched 〈◊〉 as soon as it 〈◊〉 depart out of his body And 〈◊〉 behold 〈◊〉 pale 〈◊〉 those weak hands and feeble knees that the poor creature becomes not worth the ground he goes on a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself and weary of his life The Lord dishes out 〈◊〉 sins and plagues to him on the table where he 〈◊〉 writes them upon the tester of the bed 〈◊〉 he lyes his pressures and miseries become unsupportable and unsufferable and were it not that God sustaines with one hand as he beats him with the other A wounded Conscience no man can bear Hence it is in such horror men betake themselves to the pit to the knife to the halter rather choose not to be then to be so miserable In these perplexities the sinner as a man under his burden would shift shoulder try al conclusions turn every stone wind every way if any way he could get ease or relief And if the counsel of carnal friends can lessen the trouble company allay it false reasonings of his own vain mind abate it time and continuance wear out the terror his confessions and reformations put in bayl upon his Conscience and quiet it or some false mistakes of pardon and mercy heal the wound he walks in a wily way how to serve sin and yet God too how to keep in with the truth upon some fayr tearms and yet attend his own ends the man is where he was returnes to his ould sinful distempers and the latter end proves worse than the beginning he dyes in the birth Thus millions of men perish go within the view of Canaan and never possess it cast away in the very haven within the sight of land and never arrive But he whom God loves he wil not leave here though his hand be upon the sore and his eye upon the sting and terror the plagues and judgments