be in bitternesse for them before the Lord will passe them by it is not every trouble that will serve the turne look that it be such as separates thy soule from thy sin or else it will separate betweene thy soule and God I know it is not in your power to breake your owne hearts no more then to make the rocks to bleed yet remember he that bids thee cast up and prepare the way of the Lord he hath promised that every mountaine shall be brought low and the crooked wayes made plaine and the rough smooth and the valleys filled He only can doe it for thee and will doe it for some it may be for thee he that broke the heart of Manasseh and Paul after their blood and blasphemies when they never desired any such thing he can break thine much more when thou art desiring him to doe it for thee here are many of you that feare you were never humbled nor burthened enough I say feare it still feare lest there be a stone in the bottome not so as to discourage and drive thy heart from Christ but so as to feele a greater need of his grace to soften thy heart and to take thy senslesnesse away the Lord doth purposely command thee to plough up thy fallow ground that thou mightest feel thy impotency so to do and come to him to take it away every thing will harden thee more and more untill the Lord come and take thy stony heart away by his owne hand all Gods kindnesses will make thee more bold to sin and all Gods judgements more fierce and obstinate in sinne unlesse the Lord put to his hand if Pharaohs heart be softned for a time it will grow hard againe if the Lord take it not away The means therefore for thee to get this compunction is 1. To feele the evill of thy hard heart no surer token of Reprobation then hardnesse if continued in especially for thy heart to grow hard under or after softning meanes as it was in Pharaoh 2. To look up to the Lord in all ordinances that he would take it away Have not you great cause of abundant thankfulnesse into whose hearts the Lord hath let in feares and sorrowes concerning your estates the blind world lookes upon all troubles of conscience as temptations of the devill to despaire and the very way to run mad but consider what the Lord hath done for you that have such what if the Lord had left you without all feeling as those in Eph. 4.19 what if the Lord had smitten you with a spirit of slumber as those Rom. 11.8 would not your estate have beene then lamentable and have you no hearts to acknowledge his unspeakable goodnesse in awakening of you in shaking thy very foundations dost thou think that any ever had such a hard heart as thou hast dost not say so in secret before the Lord sometimes oh then what rich grace is this to give thee any sence and feeling of thy sin and danger by it though it bee never so little in thine eyes some think these terrors are a judgement it is true if they were meerly imaginary or worldly and desperate but saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 7.7 I thanke God I made you sorry Suppose thy sorrow should be only in regard of the punishment of sin yet this is the Lords goodnesse to make thy heart so far sensible that once didst goe like a beast to the slaughter fearing no danger at all the very meanes to prize favour from God is to feel wrath as well as sin and the very reason why the Lord hath let thee feele thy punishment heavy is that thy soule might feel the evill of sin by considering that if the fruits be so bitter what is then the cause be not therefore weary of thy burthen so as to think the Lord powres out his vengeance on thee while thy trouble remaines oh consider that this is the hand of the Lord Jesus and that he is now about to save thee when he comes to work any compunction in thee especially such as whereby he doth not onely cut thy heart with feares and sorrowes but cut thee off from thy sin so far only as humbles thee and drives thee to the Lord Christ to take them away And so I come to the third particular of Humiliation SECT IV. The third Act of Christs power which is Humiliation THe Lord Jesus having thus broken the heart by compunction is not like a foolish builder that leaves off his work before he hath fully finished it and therefore having thus wounded a poore sinner hee goes on to humble him also for though in a large sense a wounded contrite sinner is an humble sinner yet strictly taken there is a great difference between them and therefore he is said to dwell with the contrite and humble i. e. not onely with those that bee wounded with sin but humbled for sinne although it is certaine the soule is seldome or never effectually wounded but it is also humbled at the same time A man may bee wounded sore even unto death and yet the pride of the man is such that he will not fall downe before him that smites him so it is with many a poore sinner the Lord hath sorely wounded him that hee will resist no more yet he will rather fly to his duties to heale him or dye alone and sinke under his discouragements then stoop Oh beloved man must downe before the Lord Christ will take him up and therefore in Isay 40.5 6 7. the glory of the Lord is promised to be revealed but what meanes must bee used for this end Cry saith the Lord what should I cry saith he the Lord answers that all flesh is grasse and that the glory of it fades and that the people are this grasse i. e. not only that mens sinnes are vile but that themselves also are grasse nay their glory and excellency is withering and fading and therefore not only mountains must be pull'd downe but all flesh and the glory of it wither before the Lord shal be revealed I shall briefly open these foure things 1. What is this humiliation 2. What need there is of it 3. What meanes the Lord useth to work it 4. What measure of it is here required What is this humiliation Look as pride is that sinne whereby a man conceited of some good in himselfe and seeking some excellency to himselfe exalts himselfe above God so Humiliation in this place is that work of the Spirit whereby the soule being broken off from self-conceit and selfe-confidence in any good it hath or doth submitteth unto or lyeth under God to be disposed of as he pleaseth 1 Pet. 5.6 Levit. 26.41 That look as compunction cuts the sinner off from that evill that is in him so humiliation cuts it off from all high conceits and self-confidence of that good which is in him or which he seeks might be in him and so the soule is abased
with them in the same way as they doe Suppose some Reprobates doe see sin yet the Lord puts a secret vertue in that work of conviction upon thee which makes thee cry to heaven for a Spirit of brokennesse for sin which without this sight of sinne thou wouldst never so much as have desired and this they have not However conviction is a work of the Spirit though it should be but common and wilt not be thankfull for common mercy suppose it be but outward how much more for this that is spirituall though it should be common especially considering that it is the first fundamentall work of the Spirit and is seminally all Sense of sin begins here and ariseth hence as ignorance of sin is seminally all sin Remember that the discovery of Faux in the Vault was the preservation of England we use to remember the day and houre of the beginning of some great and notable deliverance oh remember this time wherein the love of Christ first brake out in convincing thee of thy sin who els hadst certainly perished in it And thus much of this first work of Conviction now the second followes Compunction SECT III. The second Act of Christs power in working Compunction or sense of sin COmpunction pricking at the heart or sense and feeling of sin is different from conviction of sin the latter is the work of the understanding and seated in that principally the other is in the affections and will and seated therein principally a man may have sight of sin without sorrow and sense of it Dan 5.22 with 20.21 Iames 1.24 Rom. 2.20 21. Yet that conviction which the Spirit workes in the Elect is ever accompanied with compunction first or last For the better unfolding of this point let me open these foure things to you 1. That compunction or sense of sin immediately follows conviction of sin in the day of Christs power 2. The necessity of this work to succeed the other 3. Wherein it consists 4. The measure of it in all the Elect. That compunction followes conviction is evident from Scripture and Reason Acts 2.37 When they heard this that is when they saw and were convinced of their sinne in crucifying the Lord of life which they did not imagine to be a sinne before what followes next it is said They were pricked at the heart Loe here is compunction Ephraim also in turning unto God Ier. 31.19 hath these words After that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh as men in great calamity befallen 〈◊〉 use to doe I was ashamed even confounded because I did beare the reproach of my youth The men of Nineveh hearing by the Prophet they were all to dye within forty daies it is said they beleeved God in the work of conviction and then fell to sack-cloth and ashes in the work of compunction which did immediately follow Iosiah 2 Chron. 34.27 in his renewed returne unto God after hee heard the words of the law his heart melted and he wept before the Lord. For what is the end of conviction is it not compunction for if the Lord should let a man see his sin and death for sinne and yet suffer the heart to remaine hard and unaffected the Lord did but leave him without excuse nay the Lord should but leave him under greater misery under a more fearfull judgement viz. for a man to see and know his sin and yet unaffected with it and hardned under it hardnesse of heart is one of the greatest judgements to see sinne and not to be affected with it argues greater hardnesse For it is no wonder if they that see not and know not sin remain senselesse of sin alas they know not what they doe but for a man to be enlightned and see his sinne and yet unaffected Lord how great is this hardnesse and how unexcusable will such a man be left before God when the Lord shall reckon with him for his hardnesse of heart â— What is the end of that light the Lord lets into the understanding in other things is it not that thereby the heart might be affected throughly with it Why doth the Lord let in the light of the knowledge of Christ and of his will Is it that this knowledge should like froth float in the understanding and be imprisoned there No verily but that the heart might be throughly and deeply affected therewith And doe you think the Lord will in the light of conviction imprison it up in the mind is there not a farther end that by this light the heart might be deeply affected with sinne if any say that the end of conviction is to drive the soule to Christ I grant that is the remote and last end of it but the next end is compunction For if the understanding be convinced of misery and the heart remain hard the mind may see indeed that righteousnesse and life only is to be had in Christ yet the heart remaining hard the wil and affections will never stir toward Christ its impossible a hard heart remaining such wholly unaffeâ—ted with sin or misery should be truly affected with Jesus Christ but of this more hereafter What necessity is there of this compunction to succeed conviction I speak now of necessity in way of ordinary dispensation not of Gods unusuall and extraordinary way of working where hee useth neither Law nor Gospell as ordinaâ—rily he doth to work by Many have been nibling lately at this doctrine and demand What need is there of sorrow and compunction of heart A man may be converted only by the Gospell and God may let in sweetnesse and joy without any sense of sinne or misery and in my experience I have found it so others godly and gracious also feele it so why therefore doe any presse such a necessity of comming in by this back-doore unto Christ This point I conceive is very weighty and much danger in denying the truth of it yet withall there needs much tendernesse in handling of it lest any stumble and therefore before I lay downe the reasons to shew the necessity of it give me leave to propound these rules both for the clearing of the point and answering sundry objections usually made about this point In this work of compunction doe not think that the Lord hath not wrought any true sense of sinne because you find it not in such a measure as you imagine you should desire to have and that others feele sense of sin admits degrees I doubt not but Iosephs brethren were humbled yet Ioseph must be more he must be cast into the ditch and into the prison and the iron must enter not onely into his legs but into his soule Psal. 105.18 He must be more afflicted in spirit because he was to doe greater work for God and was to be raised up higher then the rest and therefore did need the more ballast some are educated more civilly then others and thereby have contracted lesse guilt and stoutnesse of heart
against God and his wayes therefore these have not such cause of trouble and being lesse rugged have lesse need of axes to hew them some mens sorrow breaks in upon them more suddenly like storms and breaches of the sea and the Lord is resolved to hasten and finish his work in them more speedily and it may be more exemplarily for every Christian is not a faire coppy as in those Acts 2.37 In others their sorrowes soake in by degrees Gutta cavat lapidem the Lord empties them by continuall droppings and hence feele not that measure of sorrow that others doe every Christian is not a Heman Psal. 88. who suffers distracting feares and terrours from his youth up ver 15 who is afflicted with all Gods waves ver 7. for he was a man of exceeding high parts and gifts as you may see 1 King 4.31 and therefore the Lord had need of hanging some speciall plummets on his heart to keep it ever low lest it should be lifted up above measure Some sense of sin the Lord will work in all he sayes but not the same measure the Lord gives not alway unto his that which is good in it self its good I confesse to be deeply affected and humbled but that which is fit and therefore best for thee Doe not think there is no compunction or sense of sin wrought in the soule because you cannot so cleerly discern and feele it nor the time of the working and first beginning of it I have knowne many that have come with complaints they were never humbled they never felt it so nor yet could tell the time when it was so yet there it hath been and many times they have seen it by the help of others spectacles and blest God for it When they in Esay 63.17 complained Lord why hast thou hardned our hearts from thy feare doe you think there was no softnesse nor sensiblenesse indeed Yes verily but they felt nothing but a hard heart nay such hardnesse as if the Lord had plagued them with it by his owne immediate hand and not borne and bred with them onely as with other men Many a soule may think the Lord hath left it nay smitten it with a hard heart and so make his mone of it yet the Lord hath wrought reall softnesse under felt-hardnesse as many times in Reprobates there is felt softnesse when within there is reall hardnesse The stony-ground-hearers were plowed and broken on the top but were stony at the bottome Some men may be wounded outwardly and mortally this may easily be discerned The Lord may wound others and they may bleed out their sorrow is more inwardly and secretly and therefore cannot point with their finger to their wound as others can Doe not think the Lord works compunction in all the Elect in the same circumstantiall work of the Spirit but onely in the same substantiall work the Lord works a true sense of sin for the substance and truth of it yet there are many circumstantiall works like so many inlargements and comments upon one and the same Text. Ex. gratia The same sin that affects Paul it may be doth not affect Lydia or Apollos The same notions for the aggravation of sinne in one doe not come into the mind of the other the same complaints and prayers and turnings of spirit in the one may not be in the same circumstances and with the like effects as in the other and yet both of them feele sin and therefore complaine they both feele sin yet by means of various apprehensions and aggravations This I speak because you may the better understand the meaning of Gods servants iâ— opening the work of humiliation You may heare them say the soule doth this and thinks that and speaks another thing it may be every one doe not so think in the same individuall circumstances and therefore are to be understood as producing onely exemplum in re simili something like this or for the substance of this is there wrought In this work of compunction we must not bring rules unto men but men to rules Crook not Gods rules to the experience of men which is fallible and many times corrupt but bring men unto the rule and try mens estates herein by that For many will say Some men are not humbled at all never had any precedent sorrow for sinne Gods mercy onely hath melted their hearts and experience proves this and many finde this who are sincere and gracious Christians I answer we are not in this or any other point to be guided by the experience of men onely but attend the rule if it be proved that according to the rule men must be broken and affected with their sin and misery before mercy can be truly apprehended or Christ accepted what tell you me of such or such men let the rule stand but let men stand or fall according to the rule many are accounted godly and gracious for a time much affected with mercy and Christ Jesus yet afterward fall or wizen into nothing and prove very unsound What is the reason Truly the cause was here their first wound and sorrow for sin was not right as hereafter shall be made good many thousands are miserably deceived about their estates by this one thing of crooking and wresting Gods rules to Christians experiences let all Gods servants tremble and be wary here wrack not the holy Scriptures nor force them to speak as thou feelest but try all things by them 1 Thes. 5.21 Doe not make the examples of converted persons in Scripture patternes in all things of persons unconverted do not make Gods work upon the one run parallel with Gods work upon the other Some say that many in Scripture are converted to Christ without any sorrow for sin and produce the example of Lydia whose heart God sweetly opened to receive Christ and the Eunuch Acts 8. converted in the same manner I answer these are examples of persons converted to God before who did beleeve in the Messiah but did not know that this Jesus was the Messiah which they soon did when the Lord sent the meanes to reveale Christ and therefore Lydia a Jewish proselyte is called a worshipper of God Act. 16.14 and so was the Eunuch Act. 8.27 and in the same condition as the Centurion Act. 10.2 who feared God and whose prayers were accepted ver 4. which cannot be without faith yet did not know that this Jesus crucified was the Messiah untill Peter came unto him So that suppose here was no sense or sorrow for sinne at this time doth it therefore follow they never had any when the Lord at first wrought upon them are these examples in persons converted fit to shew forth Gods work in persons unconverted in some things indeed they are examples in others not so their examples of beleeving in Christ are not in that act examples of sorrow for want of Christ. And yet let me adde to say that God opened Lydia's heart to beleeve in
and death for sin that this end might be attained Gal. 3.22 And therefore feeling of sin and death and misery being the meanes must precede the other as the end and therefore as grace may be seen by conviction of misery so the sweetnesse of it only can be felt by feeling misery in this worke of compunction But you will say What is this compunction and wherein doth it consist This is the third particular to be opened in generall it is whereby the soule is affected with sin and made sensible of sin but more particularly compunction is nothing else but the pricking of the heart or the wounding of the soule with such feare and sorrow for sin and misery as severs the soule from sin and from going on toward its eternall misery so that it consists in three things 1. Feare 2. Sorrow 3. Separation from sin The Lord Jesus when hee comes to rescue his elect look as Satan held them in their misery First by blinding their eyes from seeing of it Secondly by hardening their hearts from feeling of it So the Lord Jesus having cut asunder the first cord of Satan by conviction breakes asunder the second by compunction and causing the soule to feele and be affâ—cted with its misery and as the whole soule is unaffected before he comes so he makes the whole soule sensible when hee comes and therefore hee sils the conscience with feare and the heart with sorrow and mourning so as now the will of sinne is broken which was hardened before these feares and sorrowes seised upon it Let me open these particularly that you may tast and try the truth of what now I deliver I sâ—y the Lord Christ in this work of compunction lets into the heart of a secure sinner a marvellous fear and terrour of the diâ—efull displeasure of God of death and hell the punishment of sin Oh beloved look upon most men at this day this is the great misery lying upon them they doe not feare the wrath to come they feare not death nor damning even then when they heare and know it is their portion but their hearts are set to sin Eccles. 8.11 The Lord Christ therefore lets in this feare that look as the Lord when hee came to conquer the Canaanites Exod. 23.27 28. He sent his hornets before him which were certaine feares which made their hearts faint in the day of battell and by this subdued them so the Lord Christ when hee comes to conquer a poore sinner that hath long resisted him and would goe on to his owne perdition le ts in these feares that the soule shrinkes in with the thoughts of its woefull estate and cryes out secretly Lord what will become of me if I dye in this condition Paul trembles astonished at his misery and wickednesse and now he begins to cry out the Jayâ—â—ur was very cruell against Paul but when the Lord Jesus comes to rescue him from this condition you shall see him trembling The Lord had let in that feare that now he is content to doe any thing to be saved from the danger he saw he was now in when a man sees danger and great danger neare and imminent now man naturally feares it before Christ come the soule may see its misery but it apprehends it farre off and hoping to escape it and hence doth not feare it but when the Lord Jesus comes hee presents a mans danger death wrath and eternity neare unto him and hence hath no hope to escape it as now he is and therefore doth feare and seeing the misery exceeding great he hath an exceeding great though oft times deep feare of it as men neare death and apprehending it so begin then to be troubled and cry out when it is too late The Lord Jesus deales more mercifully with the elect and brings death and eternity neare them before they draw neare to it whiles it is callâ—d to day the poore Jaylor began to think of killing himselfe when feares were upon him and so many under this stroke of Christ have the same thoughts because they see no hope but this measure is not in all this work is in all Put them in feare oh Lord that they may know they be but men before this feare comes men are above God and think they can stand it out against him the Lord therefore le ts in this feare to make them know they bee but men and that as proud and stout great as they are yet thaâ— they are not above God and that it is in vain to kick against the pricks and goâ— on as they have done for if they doe he will not endure it long The spirit of Bondage makes makes men feare before the spirit of Adoption comes these feares therefore are such as the regenerate after they have received the spirit of Adoption never have and therefore they are such as pursue the soule with some threatning of the word pronouncing death and perdition to him in that estate Ex. gr He that beleeves not is condemned already thus the word speakes to conscience Iohn 3.17 Thou beleevest not saith a mans owne conscience the Spirit witnessing with it therefore thou art condemned saith conscience now the spirit of Bondage is the testimony of Gods Spirit witnessing to both the premisses and conclusion now this Spirit no regenerate man indeed ever hath after this time but the feares he hath arise from another principle of corruption of conscience and malice of Satan through the present desertion of the Spirit leaving him not from any positive witnesse of the Spirit of any such untruth which yet is truth while the soule is under this strâ—ake and not regenâ—â—ate marke therefore diligently that this â—eare is the worke of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus and hence it followes 1. That these Fears are not meerly naturall as those Rom. 2.15 arising from naturall conscience only which only accuse of sinne but never affect but they are supernaturall they are arrowes shot into the conscience by the arme of the Spirit so dreadfull that no word nor meditation of death and eternity can beget such feares but creates them 2. Hence it followes that they are cleare feares for the Spirits work is ever cleare before he leaves it Eph. 5.13 they are not blind confused feares and suspitious and sad conjectures whereby many a man is afraid and much afraid and affrighted like men in a dreame that thinke they are in hell yet cannot tell what that evill is which they feare but they are cleare feares whereby they distinctly know and see that they are miserable and what that misery is 3. Hence it followes that they are strong feares because the almighty hand of the Spirit sets them on and shakes the soule they are not weak feares which a man can shake off or cure by weake hopes sleep or businesse c. like some winds that shake the tree but never blow it downe but these feares cast down
tumultuous complaints the deepest sorrowes run with least noyse If a man can have teares for outward losses and none for sins t is very suspitious whether he was ever truly sorrowfull for sinne Otherwise as the greatest joyes are not alway exprest in laughter so the greatest sorrowes are not alway exprest in shedding of teares what the measure of this great sorrow is we shall heare hereafter Thirdly it is a constant mourning for so it is here called a spirit of heavinesse as that woman that had a spirit of infirmity and was bowed downe many yeares Hannah constantly troubled is called a woman of a sorrowfull spirit 1 Sam. 1.12.15 As the spirit of pride and whoredome Hos. 4.12 â—is a constant frame where though the acts be sometime suspended yet the spirit remains so a spirit of mourning is such sorrow as though the acts of mourning be sometime hindred yet the spirit and spring remaines Hypocrites wil mourn under sin and misery but what is it it is the hanging down the head like a bull-rush in bad weather for a day Oh how many have pangs and gripes of sorrow and can quickly ease themselves again these mourners come to nothing in the conclusion I grant the sorrow and sadnesse of spirit may be interrupted but it returnes againe and never leaves the soule untill the Lord looke downe from heaven Lam. 3.48 49 50. The cause continues guilt and strength of sinne and therefore this effect continues Fourthly it is such a sorrow as makes way for gladnesse for so it is here said the Lord gives beauty for these ashes and hence it is no desperate hellish sorrow but usually mixt with sense of some mercy at least common and some hope not that which apprehends the object of hope particulary which is done in vocation but that the Lord may find out some way of saving it Ionah 3.9 Acts 2.37 which hope with sense of mercy waiting so long preserving from hell and death so oft c. doth not harden the heart as in reprobates but serve to break the more and to load it with greater sorrow thus the Lord works this sorrow in all his elect I know it is in a greater measure and from some other grounds after the soule is in Christ but this sorrow there is for substance mentioned for the reasons given if Christ hate you you shall mourne but never till it be too late if he love you you must mourne now how great and many are many of your sinnes how neare is your doome the Lord only knows how fearful your condemnation will be you have oft heard but yet how few of your hearts are sad and very heavie for these things sin is your pleasure not your sorrow you fly from sorrow as from a temptation of Satan who comes to trouble you and to lead you to despaire Davids eyes ran down with rivers of waters because others brake Gods law and Ieremy wisht he had a cottage in the wildernesse to mourne in and yet you doe not you cannot powre out one drop nor yet wish you had hearts to lament your owne sinnes but oh know it that when the Lord Christ comes hee will sad thy soule when hee comes to search thy old sores by the spirit of conviction he will make them smart and bleed abundantly by the spirit of compunction 3. Separation from sin is the third thing wherein compunction consists such a feare and sorrow for sin under a sinfull estate as separates the soule from sin is true compunction without which the Lord Christ cannot be had the soule is cut and wounded with sin by feare and sorrow but it is cut off by this stroake of the Spirit not from the being but from the growing power of sin from the wil to sin not from al sin in the wil which is mortified by a Spirit of holines after the soule is implanted into Christ for compunction contrition brokennesse of heart for sin call it what you will is opposite to hardnesse of heart which is in every sinner whiles Christ leaves him now in hardnesse as in a stone there is First insensiblenesse Secondly a close cleaving of all the parts together whereby it comes to passe that hard things make resistance of what is cast against them So in compunction there is nor only sensiblenesse of the evill of sin and death by feare and sorrow but such as makes a separation of that close union between sin and the soule and hence it is that the Lord abhorres all fastings humiliations prayers teares unlesse they be of this stamp and are accompanied with this effect The Lord flings the dung of their fastings and sorrowes in their faces because they did not breake the bonds of wickednesse to mourno for sin and misery and yet to be in thy sinne is the work of justice on the damned in hell and all the Devills at this day that are pincht with their black chains not loosened from them and not the work of the grace of Christ in the day of his power Hee that confesseth his sins shall have mercy that is true but remember the meaning of that confession in the next words and forsaketh he shall find mercy What is the end of the mother in laying worme-wood and gall upon her brest but that the child by tasting the bitternesse of it might be weaned and have his stomack and will turned from it what is the end of fear sorrow but by this to turn away the soule from sin This point is weighty and full of difficulty of great use and worthy of deep meditation For as the first wound and stroake of the Spirit is so it is in all other after-works of it both of faith and holinesse in the soule if this be right faith is right holinesse is right if this be imperfect or naught all is according to it afterward the greatest difficulty lies hâ—re to know what measure of separation from sin the Spirit makes here for after wee are in Christ then sinne is mortified how then is there any separation of the heart from it before it doth fully beleeve or what measure is there necessary here therefore I shall answer to the fourth and last particular viz. Fourthly what is that measure of compunction the Lord workes in all the elect So much compunction or sense of sinne is necessary as attaines the end of it now what is the end of it no other but that the soule being humbled might goe to Christ by faith to take away his sin the finis proximus or next end of compunction is humiliation that the soul may be so severed from sin as to renounce it selfe for it the finis remotus or last end is that being thus humbled it might goe unto Christ to take away sinne for beloved the condemnation of the world lies not so much in being sinfull under guilt and power of sin as in being unwilling the Lord Jesus should take it away this I say
me no more therefore in asking Whether a Christian is in a state of happinesse or misery in this condition I answer he is preparatively happy he is now passing from death to life though not as yet wholly passed Nor yet whether there is any saving work before union I answer No for what is said is one necessary ingredient to the working up of our union as cutting off the branch from the old stock is necessary to the ingrafting it into the new indeed without faith it is impossible to please God nor doe I say that this work doth please i. e. it doth not pacify God for that is proper to Christs perfect righteousnesse received by Faith yet as it is a work of his owne Spirit upon us it is pleasing to him as the after-worke of Sanctification is though it neither doth pacify him nor doe I see how this doctrine is any way opposite to the free offer of grace and Christ because it requires no more separation from sin then that which drives them unto Christ nay which is lesse that makes them by the power of the Spirit not resist but yeeld to Christ that he may come unto them and draw them you cannot repent nor convert your selves Be converted therefore saith Peter Acts 3.19 that you may receive remission of sins and in this offer the Spirit works and verily hee that can truly receive Christ without that sense of misery as separates him from his sin as explained to you let him beleeve notwithstanding all that which is said and the God of heaven speakes peace to him his Faith shall not trouble me if hee bee sure it shall not one day deceive himselfe Of lamentation for the hardnesse of mens hearts in these times as it is said the Lord Jesus mourned when he saw the hardnesse of the peoples hearts Mark 3.5 are there not some so farre from this as that they take pleasure in their sins they are sugar under their tongues as sweet as sleep nay as their lives and you come to pul away their limbs when you come to pluck away their sinnes though they have broke Sabbaths neglected prayer despised the word hated and mocked at the Saints been stubborne to their parents curst and swore which made Peter goe out and weep bitterly though lustfull and wanton which broke Davids bones though guilty of more sinnes then there bee moates in the Sunne or Starres in heaven though their sins be crimson and fill heaven with their cry and all the earth with their burthen yet they mourne not never did it one houre together nay they cannot doe it because they will not if you are weary and loaden where are your unutterable groanes if wounded and bruised where are your dolorous complaints if sick where is your enquiry for a Physitian if sad where are your teares in the day in the night morning and evening alone by your selves and in company with others Oh how great is the wrath of God hardning so many thousands at this day whence comes it that Christ is not prized but from this senselesnesse name any reason why the blessed Gospell of peace and all the sweet promises of life are undervalued but from hence and what doe you hereby poore creatures but onely aggravate your sins and make those that are little exceeding great in the eyes of God whence it is that you treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.2 3 4 5. This hardnesse is that which blunts the edge of all Gods ordinances whence Gods poore Ministers sit sorrowfull in their closets seeing all Gods seed lost upon bare rocks oh this is the condition of many a man and which is most fearfull the meanes which should make the heart sensible make it more proud and unsensible Tyre and Sydon and Sodom are more fit to mourne then Chorasin and Capernaum that have enjoyed humbling means long Nay how many be there that mourne out their mournings confesse out their confessions and by their owne humiliations grow more senselesse afterward did wee ever live in a more impenitent secure age wee shall seldome meet with one broken with sin but how few are broken from sinne also and hence it is many a tall Cedar that were set downe in the Table-Book for converted men once much humbled and now comforted stay but a few yeares you shall see more dangerous sins of a second growth one turnes drunkard another covetous another proud another a Sectary another a very dry leafe a very formalist another full of humerous opinions another laden with scandalous lusts woe to you that lament not now for you shall mourne Dost thou think that Christ should ever wipe off thy teares that sheddest none at all dost thou think to reap in joy that sowest not with these showers verily God will make his word good Prov. 29.1 Hee that hardens his owne heart shall perish suddenly heare this you secure sorrowlesse sinners if ever Gods hand bee stretcht out suddenly against thee in blasting thy estate snatching away thy children the wife of thy bosome the husband of thy delight in staining thy name vexing thee with debts and crosses short and sore or lingring sicknesses know that all this comes upon thee for a hard heart but oh mourne for it now you parents children servants the tokens of death are upon you desire the Lord to breake your hearts for you lye under Gods hammer be not above the word and suffer the Lord to take away that which grieves him most even thy stony heart because it grieves thee least meditate much of thy wofull condition chew that bitter pill remember death and rotting in the grave that many are now in hell for thy sins that Christ must dye or thou dye for the least sin remember how patient and long suffering the Lord hath bin to thee and how long he hath groaned under thy burthen that it may be though hee would yet hee cannot beare thy load long let these things be mused on that thy heart may bee at last sorrowfull before it bee too late But oh the sad estate of many with us that can mourne for any evill except it bee for the greatest sinne and death and wrath that lye upon them Of exhortation Labour for this sense of misery this spirit of compunction how can you beleeve in Christ that feel not your misery without him a broken Christ cannot doe thee good without a broken heart bee afflicted and mourne yee sinners turne your laughter into mourning tremble to think of that wrath which burnes downe to the bottome of hell and under which the eternall Sonne of God sweat drops of blood great sins which thou knowest thou art guilty of cause great guilt and great hardnesse of heart and therefore are seldome forgiven or subdued without great affliction of spirit they have loaded the Lord long they must load thee Little sinnes are usually slighted and extenuated and therefore the Lord accounts them great and therefore thy soule must