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A52407 Twenty sermons preached upon several texts by James Nalton ; published for publick good. Nalton, James, 1600-1662. 1677 (1677) Wing N124; ESTC R28705 269,750 474

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and say Lord what will become of me Lord what will become of me Vse 2. Of Exhortation I shall close this Point with a word of Exhortation If it is possible for many that profess the Truth and true Religion and are confident that they are in a state of grace and seem to come very near to Heaven and yet for all that to come short of it then as you love your God as you love your Souls as you love your Peace as you desire to appear with comfort before your Judg rest not in any bare outward profession rest not in a naked name of Religion Be not contented that you have the Lamps of Profession unless you have the Oyl of saving Grace Consider what advantage will it be for you to come near to heaven to come to the brow of the hill as it were and afterwards to drop down into hell What advantage will it be for a man to be lifted up to heaven and not lifted up into heaven it is the greatest curse that can possibly be expressed Oh what a cutting Corrosive what a gnawing Worm will this be to all Eternity for a man to say I came near to Heaven to the top of the Hill and yet I fell short of those glorious hopes that are laid up for the Saints in light O what a stinking Cockatrice will this be to them that have but a bare naked name of Religion an outward profession only It may be thou art no Swearer nor Lyar nor Sabbath-breaker but it may be thou art a covetous wretch over head and ears in the world tumbling up and down in dirt and clay as if there were no other happiness but here below It may be thou art but a formal Christian it may be thou art but a picture that hath hands and eyes but no legs it may be thou hast eyes but no feet to run the ways of Gods Commandments It may be it may be said of some of you young men that hear me this day what was said of the young man in the Gospel You are not far from the Kingdom of God what will this advantage you if you do not follow Jesus Christ fully and obey him sincerely that you may enjoy him eternally O that my counsel this day were accepted by you in the fear of the Lord give no rest to your eyes nor slumber to your eye-lids until you can say Blessed be God I am more than the best Hypocrite in the world though he can outstrip me in shew yet for the inside I outstrip him But it may be you will say What is this inside of Christianity this essential Religion wherein you would have us outstrip Hypocrites and those that come short of Heaven I will tell you in three words To the Essentials of Christianity there are these three things required 1. Union with Christ 2. Renewing Grace 3. A Compliance with the Will of Christ First Union with Christ Till you are united to him you have no interest in him nor benefit by him therefore look this that you have the Spirit of God to unite you to the Lord Jesus Christ Our Saviour saith John 15.4 As the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine so neither can you bring forth fruit unless you abide in me O labour for this Union when the Soul is once united to him then it hath communion with him in his life in his death in his resurrection in his intercession in his graces and comforts and all What is that which knits the Cistern to the Fountain You know it is the Leaden Pipe that is it that is the conveyance from the Conduit-head to the Cistern so here What is it that knits thy Soul to Jesus Christ that thou mayst be continually partaking of him who is the Fountain of light and life and peace and consolation What is it but this Pipe the Union that is between Christ and the soul Now a Hypocrite hath not this Union he is not united to Christ it may be he bears the name of Christ but never was ingrafted into him it may be he is tyed to Christ by the thred of an outward profession as the Seions is tied to the stock but yet he is not ingrafted into the stock Secondly It consists in renewing Grace If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 An Hypocrite may have many trinkets and bables as we say I but a Regenerate man he brings forth one Jewel worth ten thousand of them An Hypocrite may have restraining grace but a truly Regenerate man he is renewed in the spirit of his mind he hath a new name which I spake of in so many Sermons the white Stone and the new Name Rev. 3. Thirdly This Essence of Christianity consists in a total compliance with the Will of Christ he that is a true Believer a true Regenerate man an inside Christian he can say Lord not my will but thy will be done Lord Rule in me as thou pleasest so I may be but thine take possession of my heart and dispossess sin and Satan he will say Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee But now an Hypocrite it may be he gives up his name to Jesus Christ in profession but he doth not give up his heart to Christ in subjection and submission it is one thing to give up the name to Christ and another thing to give up the heart to Christ when you give up the key of the Castle to Christ then you will say Lord I will do what thou wouldst have me do and suffer what thou wouldst have me suffer and forsake what thou wouldst have me forsake there is nothing I have though it be as dear to me as my right-hand and right-eye but I will part with it at thy command To shut up all If you would not come short of them that come short of Heaven then rest not in a bare profession in a bare naked name of Christianity labour to be united to Christ labour for renewing Grace labour to give up your selves to Jesus Christ let there be a compliance in your will to the will of Christ Again If many may be confident that they are in a state of Grace and yet come short of Heaven O then take heed of self-delusion and self-flattery to think your selves something when you are nothing and so deceive your own souls It is better a thousand times for a man to think himself nothing when he is something than to think himself something when he is nothing saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.10 I have laboured more abundantly than they all and yet not I but the grace of God which was with me Beg earnestly of God that you may know the worst of your selves and the best of Jesus Christ and pray O Lord let me not be deceived in this great business of Eternity let me not go to hell with vain hopes of Heaven
and Comfort and Mercy and lead men to Heaven in a mild and meek and gentle way To this I Reply What would you have us apply a Plaister where there is no sore Would you have us apply a Cordial where they are not sick Would you have us pour in the Oil where there is no wound God himself pours not in the Oil of Mercy but into a broken Vessel Isa 61.1 The Lord knows we delight not in preaching any terrible Doctrines to you if you were but fitted for mercy but if you are not fitted for Mercy then as the pricking Needle makes way for the sewing of the Cloth together so this kind of Preaching convincing and humbling the Sinner makes way for the bringing of Christ and the Soul together and therefore you may well bear with it A second Instruction that we may learn from hence is this It serves to let us see what the reason is that there are so few Believers so few converted and convinced O Ministers cannot speak of this scarce without watery eyes Truly heretofore three thousand were converted at one Sermon but now there is scarce one that is converted with three thousand Sermons O whence is it that the work of Conversion is almost at an end in England in London It is rare to hear of a Soul converted we hear of many that are perverted that are led into by-paths of Error and Heresie and Blasphemy and Schism but it is a rare matter to hear of one converted they are but few that see the need they have of Christ that prize him that believe in him that obey him that constantly cleave to him but most men are very well contented to be in a natural condition they are secure and quiet without Christ but what is the Reason Because they do not see the need they have of Christ for if they did but see the need they have of him they would say They may better want light than want Jesus Christ who is the Light and by whom they may have the Light of Life John 8.12 They may better want Bread for their bodies than the Lord Jesus Christ who is the bread and spiritual food of the Soul I am the Bread of Life John 6. If they did but see the need they have of him doubtless they would close with him but why do not they see the need that they have of him The Reason is Because they are not humbled they were never yet stricken with the sense of sin they never yet saw the inside of themselves they never with the Jaylor in the Text were afrighted amazed stricken down in the sense of sin Oh this is the misery of all miseries which Ministers have most cause to complain of that men are not fitted enough for Jesus Christ they are not lost enough in themselves for a Saviour Hos 14.3 With thee the fatherless find mercy Were we more hopeless helpless and fatherless we should find more mercy from the hand of Jesus Christ O that God would awaken and shake some sin-sleeping Soul this day Oh that this Doctrine thus opened might be as a Thunderbolt to let some of you see the inside of your selves O poor Sinner thou hast an insupportable burden of sin and guilt lying on thy Soul ready to press thee down to Hell and yet thou feelest it not thou hast the wrath of God hanging over thy head by the twined thred of a short life which it may be thou mayst not be free from one year nay perhaps not one month but thou seest it not if thou didst but see it then thou wouldst cry out as he did in Bosworth field A Horse a Horse a Kingdom for a Horse so thou wouldst cry out None but Christ nothing but Christ ten thousand Worlds for Christ The second Use of Exhortation And I have but two Exhortations to tender to you First I beseech you and exhort you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ whose poor Messenger I am that you would labour to be convinced of the necessity of humiliation believe it be perswaded of it be convinced of it that thou must be broken if ever thou wouldst have Jesus Christ to bind thee up thou must be sick of sin if ever thou wouldst have Jesus Christ to heal thee thou must be dejected and cast down if ever thou wouldst have Jesus Christ to comfort thee if God therefore do not open thine eyes and awaken thy Conscience and touch thy heart I do pronounce against thee that there is no Christ no Heaven no Pardon no Peace no Comfort no Salvation for thee Oh the miserable deplorable condition of all you that were never yet humbled you that never yet were convinced of sin you that never tasted the bitterness of sin you that never felt the burden of sin that never yet complained with the Apostle Rom. 7 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Some derive the word from a man that is troubled with the stone in the bladder O wretched man that I am O miserable is the condition that you are in you that never yet felt sin to be sin that have not felt the burden of it nor tasted the bitterness of it you are not fit to come to Jesus Christ you are out of his Commission for he is sent to the humble and broken hearted Sinner Isa 61. It may be thou knowest what sin is and Christ is and Grace is notionally but there is a great deal of difference between knowing and inward feeling wretched was thy condition if thou didst but feel it but a thousand times more wretched it is because thou feelest it not My second Exhortation to you is this If so be sound humiliation be a necessary Antecedent to Faith and Salvation then use the utmost of your endeavours that you may be humbled broken and bruised Sinners that you may be put into a capacity to close with a Saviour Now because I know this is but a harsh Exhortation give me leave to sweeten it with these three Considerations First Remember that the promises of Grace and Mercy are made to all humbled Sinners Levit. 26.41 If then their uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled and they accept of the punishment of their iniquities then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob and also my Covenant with Isaac and also my Covenant with Abraham will I remember and I will remember the Land Secondly Consider God never looks with so much mercy and compassion on any as those that are most humbled Jer. 31.18 20 When Ephraim bemoaned himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke I have been proud and stout and stubborn under all thy Rods Turn thou me and I shall be turned Surely after I was turned I repented after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded Now in the 20 verse you have God bemoaning Ephraim Is Ephraim my dear
from vers 27 to ver 59. Thirdly You have the issue or consequence of the Sermon some believed and some revolted some murmured and some marvelled The Text that I have now read unto you is part of the Sermon it self wherein our Lord and Saviour because of the stupidity and incredulity of his Auditors doth again and again both press and prove this Heavenly Doctrine that he himself was the Bread of Life I am says he the Bread of Life he that cometh to me shall not hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst In which Text you may take notice of these two parts First An undeniable Proposition I am the Bread of Life Secondly A comfortable Inference upon that Proposition He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall nevtr thirst I shall begin with the first the evident and undeniable Proposition I am the Bread of Life which words must not be understood literally as if our Saviour was such Corporal Bread as could be chewed in the mouth and digested in the stomach as the Capernaites did fondly conceive when they said How can this man give us his flesh to eat this was as gross a conceit as Nicodemus's who askt If he should go into his Mothers womb again and be born But the words must be understood in a Metaphorical sense That as Bread strengthens the body and revives the spirit and supports the nature of a man and enables him to perform natural actions with more vigour and vivacity so likewise the Lord Jesus Christ strengthens the Soul and revives the spirit and supports us in our spiritual life and helps us to perform spiritual duties in a spiritual manner therefore he saith I am the Bread of Life He is not only bread but the bread of life because it is he that gives us spiritual life here and preserves that life and will hereafter give to us Eternal lise in Glory and therefore he is called The Bread of Life So then the Doctrine I would commend to you from hence is this Doct. The Lord Jesus Christ is that living bread that gives Spiritual and Eternal life to all those that have a part and interest in him This is a Truth so unquestionable that it is no less than six times repeated in this one Chapter And for the better Confirmation of it it may be demanded First Wherein doth our Saviour resemble bread Secondly And how doth it appear that our Saviour is better than bread I shall speak briefly to them both First Wherein doth our Saviour resemble bread I will name but three particulars though I know more might be reckoned up First Bread you know it is prepared food the Corn must be threshed and winnowed and ground in a Mill and baked in an Oven before it can be bread for us to eat So the Lord Jesus Christ he was threshed as I may say by afflictions and tribulations He was a man of sorrows and he was winnowed by temptations he was baked and scorch'd as it were in the Oven of his Fathers wrath for it was he that trod the Winepress of his Fathers wrath alone for us and all this was done before he could be made fit Bread that is a fit Saviour for our Souls Secondly Bread you hnow it is common food it is common to the poor as well as to the rich for the foolish as well as the wise the poor have bread if they have any thing so the Lord Jesus Christ he is a common Saviour common for all ranks and conditions of men for high and low and rich and poor noble and ignoble all are beholding to Jesus Christ here There is neither Greek nor Jew Circumcision nor Vncircumcision Barbarian Scythian Bond nor Free but Christ is all and in all Col. 3.11 Thirdly Bread you know it is the principal food it is the stay and support of a mans life therefore it is called The staff of bread Isa 3.1 So the Lord Jesus Christ he is the principal portion of the Souls of all Believers He is the choicest of ten thousand Cant. 5.10 We may better want any thing than bread The Lord Jesus Christ is as I may say not only the food of our Souls but the Soul of our Souls and the Life of our Lives Secondly It may be demanded But wherein doth Jesus Christ excel this corporal bread I answer in these four respects First Corporal bread though it doth help to preserve life yet it cannot give life but now the Lord Jesus Christ is he that gives spiritual Life he begins it and begets it in his People Ephes 2.1 You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins And hence it is that the Lord Jesus Christ is called the second Adam The first man Adam was made a living Soul the last Adam was made a quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 And in John 5.21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickneth them even so the Son quickneth whom be will Secondly Bread doth satisfie but one appetite namely hunger never was it known that bread could satisfie thirst but now the Lord Jesus Christ he can satisfie all the desires of the Soul and supply all the wants of the Soul he is both the bread of life and the water of life nay not only bread and water but he is cloathing to the Soul as it is in Rom. 13. ult Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ So that he is both Food and Spiritual Cloathing Thirdly Bread though it satisfie your hunger for the present yet it cannot so take away your hunger that you shall hunger no more if it satisfie hunger to day you will be hungry again to morrow But now the Lord Jesus Christ doth so satisfie the hunger of our Souls that we shall never hunger nor thirst more for so the Text tells you He that comes to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst Fourthly Corporal bread you know is perishing and doth but nourish a perishing life John 6.27 Labour not for the meat that perisheth But now the Lord Jesus Christ is not perishing bread but that bread that endures for ever and that life that he gives is not a perishing life neither John 6.51 I am the living bread which came down from Heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever and the bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world So you see the Point opened Let me briefly apply it because I principally aim at the second part of the Text the comfortable-Inference But for the improvement of this Point First By way of Information and then by way of Exhortation First By way of Information there are three Doctrinal Inferences from the Point thus opened that may be thence deduced First If the Lord Jesus Christ be that living bread that gives Spiritual and Eternal life to them that believe in him then you may learn this
Lesson That such and so great is the indispensable need that we have of the Lord Jesus Christ that without him we are undone for ever In the 53d verse of this exeellent Chapter Verily verily I say unto you except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you He speaks there of eating of his flesh and drinking his blood in a spiritual manner You know there are many desires of the Soul that may be dispenced with but hunger is a desire that must be satisfied unless you have bread for your sustenance the body dies so unless you have Jesus Christ for your spiritual sustenance your Souls die and drop down into Hell for ever for look as the union of the Body with the Soul is the life of the Body so the union of the Soul with Jesus Christ is the life of the Soul O hearken to this thou that art yet in a natural and unregenerate estate uncalled unconverted that never was yet transplanted from off the old rotten stock of Adam and replanted into the true Vine the Lord Jesus Christ if thou livest in this estate and diest in this estate thou art undone for ever the poorest worm that crawls upon the ground is in a better condition than thou art in Acts 26.27 Believest thou the Prophets said St. Paul to King Agrippa I know that thou believest Believest thou this Doctrine say I to thee that art yet uncalled unconverted I know thou believest it not for if thou didst believe it thou couldest not rest contented in a Christless condition for one week no not for one day but wouldest by prayers and tears and supplications cry out Lord Jesus give me thy self whatever thou denyest me give me thy self though I be as poor as Job upon the Dunghil But we cannot perswade men that the danger of a natural estate and condition is so great as indeed it is but the Lord convince you and perswade you of it A second Doctrinal Inference that may be hence deduced is this If Jesus Christ be the living bread then it follows the vanity and emptiness and insufficiency of all Creature-accommodations is exceeding great name what you will of these outward accommodations that the World do so greedily gape after whether Riches or Honours or Pleasures or goodly brave Buildings this and that alas we may say of them they are not bread Isa 55.2 Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread Your money that is your precious opportunities your time that is your money to make your Markets for Eternity with for Moments are the Markets for Eternity Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Alas alas these outward things they are neither satisfactory nor permanent they are not satisfactory for Solomon tells us that He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with encrease Eccles 5.10 As soom may you hope to fill a Chest with Wisdom and Knowledg as to fill a Soul which is a spiritual substance with temporal things And as these outward things are are satisfactory so neither are they permanent or lasting 1 Cor. 6.13 Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall deslroy both it and them Look as the belly devours the meat so the worms at last shall devour the belly and so both meat and belly perish together But if you can but once get this spiritual bread the Lord Christ you shall never perish Alas alas consider your own folly and brutishness in seeking for satisfaction here below where none is to be found your bread without Christ is but gravel in your throats your moral Vertues without Christ are but glittering sins your bodies without Christ are but dust and ashes dust that will drop down into the Grave and ashes that are fitted for the Furnace of Hell-fire your Souls without Christ are but the Devils Palace your lives without Christ is but the service of sin and your deaths without Christ will be nothing else but the wages of sin Oh who would rest then in a Christless condition Who would sit down contented with these poor transitory shadowy comforts A third Lesson we may learn by way of Inference is this If Jesus Christ be the living bread then our main end and errand in coming to the Lords Table is not to feed the Body but to feed the Soul 1 Cor. 11.21 What have you not Houses to eat and to drink in saith the Apostle So that it is not the end of your coming to the Lords Table therefore you eat but a little piece of Bread and drink but a little draught of Wine to put you in mind that it is not the Body that you come to feed but you come to feed the Soul and therefore you should labour to get a preparation suitable to that spiritual bread that you are to taste of But what is that you will say I answer There should be something done before your coming and something done in the Administration of the Elements and something done after the receiving of the Elements First There should be something done before you come Oh beg a blessing upon your spiritual bread Man lives not by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Matth. 4.4 I may apply it thus Your Souls will not live by this Sacramental Bread but by the Word of Gods blessing If God will bless this spiritual food to you your Souls shall live On therefore beg the Blessing of God upon this Heavenly Bread Secondly And then there is something to be done while you are eating this Bread you should get your hearts all on fire with love to this blessed Redeemer that was contented to be made bread to be prepared food as I told you even now to be threshed and winnowed and ground and bak'd and scorch'd in the Oven of his Fathers Wrath Oh how should your hearts be all on a flame with Love as the two Disciples were going to Emaus As Jesus Christ brake bread and gave it to them and opened to them the Scriptures their hearts did burn within them Luke 24.32 they were as it were all on a fire So should it be with you when you come to the Lords Table you should have your meditations wholly taken up with that which is the life of the Sacrament even the death of our Saviour let not your hearts be roving and wandering about watch them narrowly you will hardly keep them close to a duty two Minutes without great watching Thirdly There is something to be done after when you have eaten of this living bread that is to be exceeding thankful study to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing That 's the first Use of Information The second Vse is of Exhortation Is Jesus Christ that living bread that gives eternal life to all those that have a
I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Secondly Thou mayst know it by that spiritual strife and combat and conflict that is in thee certainly there will be a conflict in thy soul because there are two contrary principles there put water to water or fire to fire and there is no conflict but put water and fire together and there will be a great conflict So corruption will not strive with corruption but where there is Grace and corruption in one soul there will be a combat and conflict the Flesh will lust against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5.17 Thirdly Thou mayst know thou hast life in thee by thy spiritual crying thou wilt cry out for deliverance from danger and evil O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Thou wilt make this the chief subject of thy suit and supplication to God from day to day O that once I might be freed from a base whorish backsliding-heart that continually is departing from God Fourthly If thou hast life certainly that grace thou hast though it be but weak though it be but little though it be but as a spark yet it shall prevail against corruption for wherever the Lord Christ enters into the soul to dwell there he comes like a Conquerour and he brings forth Judgment unto victory Matth. 12.20 That is his Government shall be victorious over all the opposition of sin and Satan Grace like oyl will be uppermost if there be but a spark of Grace in thy heart it shall not be quenched but it shall rather increase more and more and at last shall grow up into a flame as the fire of the Lord that came upon Elijahs offering 1 Kings 18.38 consumed the burnt-sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench Grace is a fire that comes down from Heaven though there be but a little spark of it at first yet by little and little it will lick up all the water of our corruptions and consume our sins Grace will grow stronger and stronger and corruption weaker and weaker That is the first symptom of an infirmity If there be spiritual life in the soul but if there be not spiritual life there is no infirmity Secondly The second Sign or Symptom of an infirmity is this That may be said to be an infirmity when some particular action crosses the main intention of the heart If thine eye be single if thy heart be upright if the Byas and bent of thy soul be towards God then all the obliquity or all the swervings in thy life are but lookt upon as infirmities For example A good Archer that is handling his Bow may-be his eye is right and his aim is right but through the weakness of his hand or the distemper of his Bow he may miss the Mark that is an infirmity So here if thy eye be right towards Gods Commandments if thy intention be to please God if the bent and byas of thy soul be God-ward not sin-ward then all the rest of the obliquity or swervings that are in thy actions are lookt upon but as infirmities As a Traveller for example in his journey if he set his face the right way and he be enquiring the way and willing to follow the way or if when he goeth out of the way he check himself though he may miss of the way through ignorance or may be seduced by some that told him wrong yet that may be said to be but an infirmity So here when thou canst set thy face towards Heaven as the children of Israel and Judah are described Jer. 50.5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten When a man thus sets his face towards Heaven then his wandrings out of the way if they be beside the intention of his purpose and mind are lookt upon but as infirmities David was out of his way when in a fury he would be avenged on Nabal for his churlishness when he said God do so to me and more also if I cut not off Nabal and every one that belongs to his Family yet when Abigail a wise Woman comes and tells him he was out of his way how glad was he and stops his course and said Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging my self with my own hand 1 Sam. 25.32 33. See the difference between the sin of Judas and the sin of Peter Judas you know he sinned with deliberation and his intention was stark naught his intention and purpose of betraying his Master was to inrich himself he was a Thief and nibled money out of his Masters Bag therefore his intention was naught But on the contrary look on Peter when he thrice denyed his Master it was a great sin too but it was without his intention or purpose certainly Peter had no intention at all to deny his Master but it fared with him as a man that is writing with his Pen in his hand and writing a straight Line but it may be some body comes and joggs him on the Elbow so he makes a crooked line against his will Or as a man that is shooting at a Mark but some body comes and joggs his Elbow and makes his Arrow to go awry thus was it with Peter This is the second Sign or Symptome of an infirmity Thirdly That is an Infirmity when a mans judgment is kept sound and upright that he does not approve of any sin when no sin hath any allowance or approbation in his heart this was the fruit of John Baptist his Preaching Isa 40.4 Every Valley shall be exalted and every Mountain and Hill shall be made low and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain that is those that are converted by John Baptists preaching they would not look on crooked things as plain or plain things as crooked that is they would not defend or justifie themselves in sin but look upon sin as sin and duty as duty and they would not look upon the ways of God as crooked but straight they were indeed crooked to them before because their judgment was not sound but now they look upon them as straight and all his ways to be equal ways A child of God will be sure to commend that duty which yet he cannot practise and he will be sure to condemn that sin into which yet he often slips and falls and that because his judgment is right duty will be duty in his eye and sin will be sin in his eye though through infirmity he may fail in the one and fall into the