at that great Day upon pain of everlasting Damnation take heed of these sins and lay down these rebellions and withal shews his Warrant and look here 2 Thess. 1. 8. The Lord Jesus will come in slaming fire to render vengeance against all that know not God and obey not the Gospel take heed therefore of this disobedience against the Gospel you wil rue it eternally else and loe here again Prov. 29. 1. He that being often reproved hardeneth his heart shall suddenly be consumed and that without remedy thou hast been often reproved for these and these evils and stil thy heart is hardened against all Reproofs take heed lest sudden destruction come upon thee So again 1 Cor. 6. 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with man-kind nor Theeves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers 〈◊〉 Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God Do not you know this saith Conscience have not I often told you of this have not I warned you of it and yet thou art still guilty of these and these evils Thus Conscience comes armed with Evidence and Authority of the Truth like the Angel with a drawn sword in his hand stands as the Watch-man to give warning he stil minds and remembers the sinner of his waies and of Gods righteous Judgments As somtimes Moses to Israel Deut. 30. 17 18. But if thine heart turn away that thou wilt not hear I denounce unto thee this day thou shalt surely perish and if any man when he hears these words shal bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I ad drunkenness to thirst the wrath of the Lord will smoke against that man and he will cut him off c. This Charge and awful Command of Conscience makes the soul shy of stirring out unto such ungodly courses makes the corruptions skulk in as it were so that they dare not shew their heads this is the roaring of the Lyon that makes al tremble and be at a stand the direful warnings and threatnings that Conscience sets up and gives in out of the Authority and sovereignty of the Truth which is dreadful in presenting the displeasure of the Lord so that the sinner withdraws himself from such courses companies practises unto which he was addicted and had formerly bestowed himself When now the Devil and his Instruments the World and her Favorites perceive their company 〈◊〉 their companions departed they al set 〈◊〉 the soul and labor to withdraw it from under the Charge and Command of Conscience The World by her Allurements Satan by his Temptations and 〈◊〉 accursed delights of our sinful lusts they al 〈◊〉 the soul and by their wiles perswade the sinner 〈◊〉 joyn sides with them and not to be awed or carried by any contrary command these be say they 〈◊〉 denounced but threatned men live long this wind shakes no Corn this is in way of Policy to scare men but it is not in earnest to hurt men the same hath been spoken to others but nothing inflicted upon them they never found never felt any such sore blows as al those terrible shakings of the 〈◊〉 would pretend Thus the sinner is yet drawn aside to follow his sinful courses Conscience therefore makes after him laies violent hands upon him and holds him faster than ever he becomes now an accuser of him who was only a friendly admonisher before a swift witness yea a thousand witnesses against him before the tribunal of the Lord by reason of his sins committed He raiseth therfore Hue and Cry after the sinner finds and attacheth him he that was Gods Herald before to tel and proclaim what should be done becomes now Gods Pursevant to summon his Sergeant to arrest him for what he hath done he that directed him before now smites him as 2 Sam. last 10. Davids heart smote him after he had numbred the people Though the sinner could avoid or neglect the Command of Conscience he cannot avoid the Stroke of Conscience though he could avoid the warning of Conscience and cast away that yet he cannot avoid the horror of Conscience Rom. 2. 14. His thoughts accusing of him in Gods behalf and his accusations wil be heard nay his judgment is now aggravated because of the Command that was 〈◊〉 As Gideon dealt with the men of Succoth who scorned him when he pursued Zebah and Zalmunnah Judg. 8. 7. Returning he tore their flesh with the thorns of the wilderness So 〈◊〉 after his Commands have been slighted and his warnings cast behind the back he surpriseth the sinner in the midst of his 〈◊〉 and greatest Jollity you shal answer for these sins before the Judg of the World and so follows him home to his house and to his bed and 〈◊〉 violent hands upon him and drags him before the Tribunal of the Lord and there indites and accuseth him Lord this is the man an Enemy to thy Majesty a Traytor against the Truth that hath conspired with Sin and Satan and his secret Lusts against the blood of Jesus and the power of Grace and Godliness What is this He that hath born a privy grudg against the power of the Word a spleen against the Saints that hath committed such and such sins Yea Lord He hath done so and been so at such a time and such a place in such a company he hath been guilty of such abominations nay saies Conscience you know that I know such a night what privy plottings and cunning conspiracies your heart and your lusts your pride and 〈◊〉 and uncleanness had what consultations you had against the Lord take him therfore horror anguish of heart keep him in bondage thraldom until he be content to repent to take shame and bid an everlasting 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with that the flashes of Hell fire seize upon his soul the venom of the vengeance of the Lord pursues him his Arrows stick fast in him and the poyson thereof 〈◊〉 up his 〈◊〉 the galls and stabs of Conscience make him bleed inwardly so 〈◊〉 all his friends delights comforts 〈◊〉 corruptions cannot bail him or pluck 〈◊〉 this hook of horror out of his heart And thus 〈◊〉 poor sinner like a Malefactor goes up and down 〈◊〉 his Jaylor an accusing Conscience to attend 〈◊〉 the chains of darkness of horror and guilt to 〈◊〉 and guive him that he becomes weary of his 〈◊〉 and not worth the ground he goes on until he 〈◊〉 to confessing bewailing repenting reforming 〈◊〉 yea engaging himself to his Conscience 〈◊〉 that as in Gods sight that if he will abate his 〈◊〉 he will obey his commands listen to his 〈◊〉 and yield unto whatever either it shall reveal 〈◊〉 him or require of him So that Conscience seems 〈◊〉 be quieted for the while and abates the soul of 〈◊〉 overbearing horror lets him out of prison upon 〈◊〉 sufficient bail When his accursed
not stir to seek for a better estate nor yet receive it if offered Job 22. 17. They say unto the Almighty depart from us we desire not the knowledg of his waies do Ministers press them do others perswade them to a more serious and narrow search to get more grounded assurance of their estate in Grace they profess they bid them to their loss they think they need not be better nor do they desire to be other It is impossible upon these terms that ever the soul should be carried by Faith unto God For to be contented and quieted with our condition as that which best pleaseth and yet to seek out for another are things contradictory And yet this Faith doth For he that is in Christ is a new Creature behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5. 17. he must have new comforts new desires new hopes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heart must be broken to pieces under the weight of the evil of sin and the Curses due to the old condition before this wil part for that the word here used with great elegancy and pregnancy implies viz. by an oppressing weight to be pashed to pouder and dust 〈◊〉 the Psalmist useth it Psal. 90. 3. Thou turnest man to pouder to the dust of death when a 〈◊〉 composition is dissolved and the body returned again into its first principle so the word here by way of resemblance implies that the soul should find his corruption his greatest oppression so that the composition betwixt sin and his soul should be dissolved and taken down and the nature of man return to his first principles and primitive disposition that he sees an absolute necessity to change and then he will seek and be willing to receive a change The 〈◊〉 need no Physitian and therefore will not seek but the sick that need will be content to receive The issue is If the soul be contented with its sinful condition and would not have a change then it cannot be under the power of Faith or receive that which will bring a change but before the soul be broken under the pressure of sin it would not have a change therefore so long it cannot be under the power of Faith Be it granted that the soul finds sin as a plague and therefore would be preserved from the evil of it the second impediment which wholly keeps out Faith is this When the sinner expects supply and 〈◊〉 from its own sufficiency either outward excellencies abilities of Nature or common Graces or the beauty of some performances which issue from any of these For this is Natural to all men ever since Innocency That since the staff was put into his own hand and then needed not nay should not deny their own strength 〈◊〉 to this day this practice of old Adam remain still in all his posterity they will scramble for their own Comforts and try the utmost of their own strength to help themselves rather than be 〈◊〉 to another to help them Hence in cases of Conscience and trouble men are so ready to resolve so apt and free to promise and profess amendment what they will do and others shall see it as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it and so alas it comes to nothing in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either they fall back unto their base courses when horror and fear is over or else wasting 〈◊〉 into a 〈◊〉 formality and so perish in their Hypocrisie This is an apparent bar to faith which is the going out of the soul to fetch all life and power from 〈◊〉 Now wholly to be in our selves and to stay upon our own ability and yet to go out of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and receive all from his sufficiency are things which 〈◊〉 stand together I came not to call the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. 13. While they sought to establish 〈◊〉 own 〈◊〉 they did not submit to the Righteousness of God Hence t 〈◊〉 the second work of Humiliation is required 〈◊〉 God plucks away all his props and 〈◊〉 him wholly of what he hath or seemeth to have For pride unto which Humiliation is opposite is but the rankness of praise and praise is a fruit of a cause by counsel that hath power to do or not to do this or that as he sees 〈◊〉 Humiliation is the utter nothingness of the soul that we have no power it 's not in our choyce to dispose of our selves not yet to dispose of that which another gives nor yet safe to repine at his dispose In a word as in a Scion before it be ingrafted into another stock it must be cut osf srom the old and pared and then implanted In Contrition we are cut off in Humiliation pared and so sit to be implanted into Christ by Faith In regard of God without this disposition his Word will not nay cannot take any place in us or prevail with us for our good Counsels and Commands and Comforts or whatever Dispensations they fal as water upon a Rock when administred to a hard heart they enter not prevail not profit not at all As Christ told the Jews John 8. 37. ' My Word takes no place in you and Zach. 7. 11 12. They hardened their hearts as an Adamant c. A word of terror to dash the hopes and sink the hearts of all haughty and hard hearted sinners God owns not such will never vouchsafe his gracious presence with them or his Blessing upon them for good be where they will dwell where they will the Lord is not with them nor will dwel in them by his comforting quickening saving presence Hear and fear then all you stout-hearted stubborn and rebellious Creatures whose consciences can evidence that the day is yet to dawn the hour yet to come that ever you found your sins a pressure to you they have been your past-time and delight in which you have pleased your selves so far from being troubled for your evils that it is your only trouble you may not commit them with content and without controul you are troubled with Admonitions and Counsels and Commands and Threatnings that cross you in your sins You were never broken-hearted here for your abominations know assuredly that you wil burn for them one day your proud hearts were never abased and laid in the dust the Lord will ruinate both you and them Never expect a good look from God set your heart at rest for that you may draw the Eyes of others after you make many of your deluded followers and Favorites to look upon you but the Lord will not come neer nor once cast a loving look towards you Psal. 138. 6. Though the Lord be high he hath respect to the lowly but he knows the proud afar off Nay the great God of Heaven and Earth is up in Arms against thee he is upon the March to work thy destruction James 4. 6. The Lord resists the proud but he gives Grace to the humble all Grace is in his gift and he doles it only to the bruised and abased but there is no
thought nor expectation that thou shalt receive any Grace nay that Grace that thy rebellious and proud heart hath opposed and resisted will work thy own ruine Thou art the mark of Gods direful indignation and vengeance he plants all his Forces against thee If all the Wisdom in Heaven can contrive thy confusion all the Power in Heaven work it all the Justice there determine it it shall be done God is nigh to them that are of a contrite heart he saveth such as be of a broken spirit Psal. 34. 18. true and mark it Of such but such thou 〈◊〉 not such thou deridest scornest whose hearts fail them under the weight of their abominations thou lookest at them as mopish silly despicable men well such you shall see saved for ever when such untamed 〈◊〉 proud wretches as thou art shall be turned into Hell But we do see our 〈◊〉 and have had many girds and galls of Conscience for them True It may be there hath 〈◊〉 some blows upon thine heart Conscience it hath 〈◊〉 thee the 〈◊〉 of the Word it hath laid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it 〈◊〉 not broken thy heart to this day 〈◊〉 that is thus 〈◊〉 to go no further now than the very expression of the Text. If thy soul be beaten to 〈◊〉 with this oppression of thy distempers for so this brokenness of heart was opened before then as it is with the hardest flints when they are broken to dust they are easily 〈◊〉 and give way to take the impression of the hand or whatever is laid upon them The stone which out of its hardness before opposed and started aside from the strongest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was laid now it s turned into dust the least and easiest touch leaves a print and impression upon it so it is expounded as appears in this opposition 2 Chron 30. 8. Be not stiff-necked but yield your selves Observe then is it so when the power of the Word comes the Scriptures are pregnant Arguments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sweet 〈◊〉 sharp and 〈◊〉 yet 〈◊〉 heart shifts and starts aside and hits back the Authority of the truth which thou canst not gain-say The heart may be battered but it was never broken it may be over powred and awed but it was néver humbled to this day It s that of Prov. 3. 32. The froward in heart is an abomination to the Lord but the upright he that lies level and bows to the Truth are his delight A froward man that is he that turns off from the Authority of the Truth Is this thy temper thy heart was never broken to dust to this day but frampful and froward know thou art an abomination to the Lord. If thou shouldst go to Heaven to dwel there truly God would go out of Heaven he would not dwell with thee Pharaoh is the pattern of all proud Hearts he hardened himself in his wickedness against the Word of the Lord. But a broken and humble heart either lies right or will come right it will come to that bent of the 〈◊〉 that is revealed Hard things makes that which is 〈◊〉 soft to assimilate to them easie and yielding things assimilate to whatever they close so Water in a round Vessel 〈◊〉 that form in a three square Vessel takes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To teach us to delight in such to desire the 〈◊〉 of such as are 〈◊〉 and humble men ' to dwel there where God dwels seem their persons never so mean their conditions never so base their estates never so low themselves never so despitable yet if they be men of broken Spirits God is with them Go into their Societies as men that resolve to go to the Court for where the King is the Court is and where God is Heaven is the Lord hath two Thrones the one of Glory in Heaven where he is all in all to his another here on Earth an humble heart where he doth all only of himself and for himself Therefore as they in Zachary 8. last Ten men shall lay hold on the skirt of a Jew and they shall say we will go with you for we have 〈◊〉 God is with you Much more here for the Lord is not only with humble hearts but he dwels in them we should therfore entertain such Servants into our Families such Inhabitants into Plantations and such Members into Congregations for so you entertain God himself Resolve as Ruth to Naomi Entreat me not to forsake thee for where thou 〈◊〉 I will live thy people shall be my people thy God my God where thou diest I will die and there will I be buried and nothing but death shall part thee and me Nay go further ye blessed Spirits say death shall not part us I will be broken-hearted with you and humble with you and God shall dwel in us and we shal dwel with him in Heaven for ever Oh now ye are right keep here and be happy here for ever Exhortation To perswade us all and to prevail with us to take the right way to enjoy Gods presence not only to seek for mercy but seek it in Gods Order not only to covet Gods presence but in Gods 〈◊〉 labor to be humble and broken-hearted Christians then expect we may that the Lord will manifest the presence of his Grace and Spirit with us and in us but not else Every man catcheth at Christ and Mercy and Comfort but not in a right Method and therefore they lose him and their labor also This is Gods order First be humble and broken and then he will revive your Spirits with his presence 2. Cor. 6. 19. Come out from among them and touch no unclean thing then I will receive you and be a Father to you In a word strive to enter in at the straight Gate of Contrition and Humiliation and then you will hit the right way to Christ and eternal Life The Tenth Book ACTS 2. 37. And when they heard this they were pricked in their Hearts and said unto them Men and Brethren what shall we do THere be two Things especially observable in that disposition of Heart which the Lord requires and works in those he will draw to Christ 〈◊〉 and Humiliation The necessity of both these we declared the last day as that they were not only to be looked at for complement and conveniency but such as are of necessity required that the heart may be fitted for the impression of Faith and by it for the entertainment of the Lord Christ for if the sinner be so settled in secure Contentment of his own condition as that he thinks he need not change or if he must he is so confident of his own ability that he can change himself and out of himself and out of his own strength relieve himself he wil never go out to another for succor and supply Contrition loosens a man from his sin makes him see an absolute necessity to be another man or else he is a damned man Humiliation loosens a man from himself makes him see an
they were from the beginning of the creation 〈◊〉 yee not see how men provoke God and prosper and hath it not been so in all ages 〈◊〉 wicked ungodly continue in sinful courses yet succeed according to their own content It was so in the former ages it went best with the worst men it is so in this and wil be so to the end the Lord lookes not after the mean occasions of men upon earth finds himself employment in the affayres of Heaven it matters not what the desert of our sins be we shal never feel what they do deserve so those rulers Amos 7. they put away the evil day far from them and then they cause the seat of violence to come near 〈◊〉 73. 10. 11. those blasphemers who set their mouths against Heaven and their tongue walks through the midst of the Earth they say how doth God know this and is there knowledg in the most high Upon this ground it is that they let loose themselves in the fearless pursuit of 〈◊〉 loathsom abominations then said he unto me the Angel of the Lord of Hosts the iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great the land is ful of blood and the city ful of perversness For they say the Lord hath forsaken the earth the Lord seeth not Ezek. 9. 9. For since here we must learn to chase out and keep out such imaginations by setting up the light of the truth in our minds and listening wholly thereunto So the psalmist shewes the cause and applyes the cure Psal. 94. 8. Understand ye brutish among the people and ye fools when wil ye be wise He that plantd the ear shal not he hear he that formed the eye shal not he see Yea the Lord professeth to take notice of these mens wayes in an especial manner to make privie search after them Zeph. 1. 12. he wil search Jerusalem with candles and visit such as sit upon their lees and say who sees us you shal find he knows both good and evil and he wil work both as a reward to such as deserve This Job felt by experience Job 14 16. For now thou numbrest my steps dost thou not watch our my sins my transgression 〈◊〉 sealed up in a bag and thou shalt find it so the Lord wil follow thee step by step and track and trace thee in all thy wandrings and keeps an account of al thy sins sealed up as it were in bags But if the Lord doth see and observe al our evils yet he is patient and wil pass them by and put up those many 〈◊〉 being pitiful and compassionate to poor creatures knowing they be but dust True it is the Lord out of his long sufferance wil bear long with the base dealings of the sons of men yet out of the purity and holiness of his nature he cannot but bring them to account and trial for al the swervings of their lives Psal 50. 18. Thus the secure sinner counted the Lords patience a kind of connivence and allowance of him in ungodly wayes I held my tongue and thou thoughtest wickedly that I was such a one as thy self that God could wink at wickedness look aside at the slips and swervings of the ungodly and suffer them to go away with it but al in vain For I wil reprove thee and set thy sins in order before thee consider this yee that forget God so likewise in Eccles. 11. 9. rejoyce O yong man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the wayes of thy youth walk in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these 〈◊〉 thou shalt come to judgment the Lord wil arrest thee for the wrong done to his holiness and follow the suit against thy soul for al thy injurious dealings and he himself wil come in against thee as a swift witness If thy Conscience condemn thee God himself is greater than thy Conscience and he knowes al things and wil bring to light the hidden things of darkness will make manifest the counsels of the heart When al those dunghil stains of Adulterous lusts and malicious envious and covetous desires shal be layd open to the view of the sun al those swarmes of foolish and wicked imaginations shal be then discovered it s better therefore that thou shouldst see them now in the day of Grace better thou shouldst have them now discovered to thy Conscience for thy humiliation then at the day of judgment for thy confusion But if the Lord will require all then I hope I may use means to satisfy for al when my day beginns to decline and my Sun to set and my glass is run when I am dropping down to the grave and groaning upon my sick bed I wil then betake my self to my prayers tears and repentance for my sins I wil sorrow for my sins seek unto God for mercy I wil repent and reform the evil of my wayes and the Lord wil remove the Plague of them In thy declining daies wilt thou do this Oh deluded creature who knows but this day or before thou hast read over this book the Lord may take away thy soul who knows whether thou shalt have time to seek or a heart to seek or God wil accept of thee when thou seekest Whether a time or no. Whether the date of Gods bounty the day of Grace and period of Gods patience be come to an end When thou hast abused 〈◊〉 many opportunities whether ever he wil give thee leave or time once to look out for 〈◊〉 when thy tongue shal be faultring in thy mouth thy eyes fallen in thy head 〈◊〉 heart sink and dy within thy bosom not able to sigh out one desire and the Lord snatch thee out of the land of the living before thou canst see or consider whithere thou art going Luke 19. 41. 42. If thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hidden from thine eyes the things of their peace were before their eyes and yet were hid from their eyes Rev. 2. 21. 23. I gave her day to repent but shee repented not therefore I wil cast her in to a bed and 〈◊〉 her children with death shee had no more dayes of repentance but of ruine shee was cast into a bed of sorrow and had not time to pour out her prayers If thou hast time who knows that God will give thee a heart to seek for mercy or sue for Grace It 's true God may help thee but it 's as true God may harden thee he may humble thee and he may 〈◊〉 thee and it 's most likely he wil thou which hast refused to hear he wil refuse to help Ezek. 24. 13. I would have purged 〈◊〉 and thou wouldest not be purged thou shalt never be purged more Jer. 51. 9. we would have cured Babilon but she would not be cured leave her then leave them to the blindness of their
would judg our selves we shal not be judged of the Lord 1. Cor 11. 31. Who would not now be convinced that he may then be acquitted see his sins now for his humiliation that he may never have them then laid to his charge Jer. 50. 20. In those dayes and at that time saith the Lord the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shal be none and the sins of Judah and they shal not be found for I wil pardon their iniquities and wil remember their sins no more How should this encourage thee to seek out for thy sins now to search thy heart and to look into thy life when as indeed if thou dost so see thy sins as to sorrow for them and by this sight and sorrow thou be driven to a saviour thy sins may be sought for but they shal be found no more When they heard this The description of contrition stood of two parts wherby the nature of the work was especially discoverd Partly in the Causes of it Sight of sin Sorrow for sin Effects of it 〈◊〉 of sin Sequestration from sin Concerning the sight of sin so far as it serves our turn in a true conviction of it in that they stood here as accused by Peter and condemned in their own Consciences as guilty of no less than the blood of Jesus we have already spoken The second thing in the text to be considered is the means how this was wrought And these are two The first is a particular Application of their special corruption the Apostle doth not hover in the general and shoot at rovers but comes close to them chargeth them expresly in a special manner and le ts fly in the very faces of them this Jesus whom yee have 〈◊〉 he names not he blames not any other he sayes not Judas was a wretch that betrayed him the souldiers cruel that took him Pilate base and fearful and 〈◊〉 that condemned him no this is the Jesus and you are the men that have committed this villany A person could not be more innocent a practice more bloody you are men that stand guilty of this horrible abomination of Crucifying the Lord of Glory The Doctrine from hence is this A plain and particular Application of special sins by the Ministry of the word is a special means to bring the soul to a sight of and sorrow for them Plain Application and powerful conviction 〈◊〉 together Let the house of Israel know that God hath made him Lord and Christ whom ye have crucifyed you are the men I mean this is your sin I mention Thus our saviour the great Prophet of His Church who spake as never man spake and best knew how to deal with deceitful hearts he layeth his finger upon the sore and mark how he pincheth with particulars as his ordinary manner of dispensation was to the Churches Rev. 3. 2. I know thy works thou hast a name to be alive but thou art dead I say thou art hypocritical and I know what I say and I tell thee openly what I know thou hast a form of profession but thou hast no heart nor life nor power of religion in thy course He that could not erre in what he did teach he teacheth what Ministers should do in their dispēnsation And there was nothing more usual with our Saviour then to point out particular sins and sinners Woe be to you Scribes Pharisees Hypocrites Math. 23. and therefore he doth not closly and covertly as it were give a kind of intimation afar off what he would and leaves 〈◊〉 to pick and search out his meaning but tells them their own in English as we say plucks them out by the pole goes not behind the dore to tel men their faults but gives in testimony against their sin and that to their teeth Luke 16. 15. when the Pharisees in an impudent manner began to mock at him he lets fly poynt blanck You are they that justefy your selves but the Lord knows your hearts Yea it was the charge he gives to al his prophets when they were to deal with the Jewes and to dispense his counsels unto them Hos. 2. 1. 2. Plead with your Mother plead tell her she is not my Wife Plead is a Law term cal her by name summon her into the court of Conscience follow the suit against her Lay the charge and plead the Acton against her particular sins Thus Stephen Acts. 7. 51. Yee stiff-necked and hard hearted yee have alwayes resisted the holy Ghost as your Fathers did so do yee So the Apostle frequently Acts 4. 10. 11. be it known to you and to all the people of Israel that in the name of Jesus c. whom ye have crucifyed This is the stone refused by you builders you are the men and this is your evil The Reasons shall be touched in a word The place and duty of a Minister requires this who hath a special charge and therefore should have a particular care to foresee and so to prevent the particular and special evils which he perceives to blemish the Christian course and endanger the spiritual comforts of the people under his guidance and of whose safety he must give an account and this wil not be done unless a man single out the persons and set home their sins in special The steward is not only to know 〈◊〉 several conditions of the persons in the family but to provide a portion suitable for each if ever the safety of the whol be provided for and the cordials for the weak milk for the little ones and stronger meat for those who are of able strength the Skil of the Physitian the onely way to cure a settled and inward distemper as the dropsy or falling sickness is not to give the patient an ordinary purge a common receit that every Quack-salver wil do and do no good at al But he must have that wisdom to hit the humor and to provide ingredients that wil suit the temper of the party and the 〈◊〉 nature of the disease So it is the part of a skilful Minnister to hit the humor of the heart of a sinner to make a receipt on purpose to meet 〈◊〉 the particular distemper such as wil worke upon or sluggishness pride hypocrisie perversness and as the medicine doth upon the spleen or choller and so the Lord to the Prophet Ezek. 16. 2. Cause the house of Israel to know their abominations The Sedulous shepheard who indeed would provide for the wellfare of his sheep it s not enough that by common survey he casts his eye upon them but he must pen them and handle them search them and 〈◊〉 them 〈◊〉 to their several ayls and such Maladies unto which they are subject So a faithful Minister must 〈◊〉 with poor sinners as with the Sheep commended to 〈◊〉 care and custody he must find them in their particular evils and follow them with application of special helps The necessity of sinners requires this For this
mourning and then thou shalt be delivered with success and attain the 〈◊〉 that wil stand by 〈◊〉 How may we get help against the stubbornness of but hearts against that resistance and 〈◊〉 that we find in our selves to this contrition of 〈◊〉 The Directions are Three Do not tug with this resistance in thine own power or any ability that is in thee do not in thine own strength contest with that rebellion for it 's certain this wil make it excessive rebellious when thou seemest to 〈◊〉 violence to thy self thou wilt be more 〈◊〉 nay thou wilt grow to a kind of felness and 〈◊〉 of opposition against the Work of Gods Grace Sin becomes out of measure sinful by the Commandement Rom. 7. 13. and instead of quarrelling with thy sins thou wilt quarrel with the Almighty and if I do what I can why should not God help me Mark now you are quarrelling with God and because you cannot do what you should you wil do nothing this is ordinary and usual you wil find a Hellish fierceness of Spirit upon this turn You wil say What shall I do Come and bring thy soul into Gods Presence lay thy self down in his sight and tell the Lord that thou art a Traitor and which is worse thou canst not but be so that 's thy misery make known al the base abominations of thy heart and life before the Lord and al that 〈◊〉 and opposition that thou findest in thy soul to Christ and his Grace beseech him to take away the treachery and falsness of thy heart beseech him that he would do that for thee that thou canst not do for thy self tel him that thou would'st chuse not to be rather than to be thus treacherous tel him that he hath said he will take away the heart of stone Ezek. 36. 26. and that it is not in thy power to put it away and therefore leave thy soul there beseeching him to make known himself as a God hearing prayers pardoning sins and subduing iniquities plead the Covenant of Grace and the Promises of it that al is freely and firstly and wholly from himself that he must make us his People he must make us humble and broken-hearted Look to Jesus Christ and beseech him that 〈◊〉 the Keyes of Hell and Death that he would unlock those brazen gates and doors of thy heart Rev. 1. 18. Do not fear the terror of the Truth so 〈◊〉 to step aside from under it and withdraw thy self from the 〈◊〉 of it but think of the goodness of it as a man though he fear the bitterness of the Pill yet knowing it 's a means of his health he is willing to take it So here When God moves move thou when he stirs stir thou many a man neglects 〈◊〉 stirrings of the Spirit of God and never hath the like again and then on his death bed cries for his old terrors Oh therefore when the Truth meets you and stirs you keep 〈◊〉 heart under it and follow the blow in secret and bless God that hath opened thine eye and 〈◊〉 thine heart in any measure and let thy heart lie stil under the stroak of the Truth the want of this is the reason why many a soul is so long under the workings of Contrition and never grows to any settlement because 〈◊〉 keep not their hearts under the power of the Truth which would throughly break the heart for sin 2 Kings 13. 19. The Prophet bids the King smite and he smote thrice and ceased whereupon the man of God was wroth saying thou should'st have smitten five or six times then bad'st thou smitten the Syrians till thou had'st consumed them So when God hath been grapling with thy heart and would have plucked thee out of the paw of the Lyon thou hast prayed once or twice or thrice it may be and then after a while thy care and diligence and endeavors are over thou should'st have prayed six times thou should'st give God no rest nor thy own soul any rest thou should'st never cease striking until thou hast destroyed those corruptions of thine Possess thy soul with the ticklishness and danger of that condition thou art in In regard of the secrecy and difficulty of the work how easily may I be deceived and how dangerous is it if I be a failing here can never be repaired afterward if never broken for sin then never broken from sin then never united to Christ and then thou shalt never see the face of God in Glory think how many have miscarried in this place as when a Marriner sees the Mast of a Ship he fathoms the Water and tacks 〈◊〉 and looks about him lest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we split upon the rocks also So do thou look to thy self here thousands have sunk and split themselves here and thou art in danger and know that if thou doest 〈◊〉 here thou art 〈◊〉 for ever They said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do Here we have the carriage of these Converts as a fruit of that piercing and brokenness of Spirit which was wrought in them by the power of the 〈◊〉 the inward disposition of the heart discovers it self by the outward expression of their speeches and 〈◊〉 here laid forth before us as 〈◊〉 special effect which followed presently and 〈◊〉 therefrom The breaking of the clouds by 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 beings a storm with it usually the 〈◊〉 in their speeches argued thunder and lightning in their spirits look how the temper and constitution of the body goes so the pulse beats in his proportions answerable the Spirits few and heart faint and actions feeble it moves marvelous weakly if the 〈◊〉 be marvelous quick and speedy the Physitian wil tel you there is a Feaver stirring and it may be hazardful that hath now seized upon the Nature of the party Look as our hearts and consciences are affected within so wil be the 〈◊〉 of our words and actions without 〈◊〉 their 〈◊〉 was deep and their 〈◊〉 are bitter which here they make In it observe Two things 1. The parties to whom they tender their complaint Peter and the Apostles 2. The 〈◊〉 it self The part 〈◊〉 are described and set forth two wayes 1. In regard of the office unto which they were now called Peter and the Apostles 2. In regard of that esteem and respect they 〈◊〉 them they lovingly and tenderly here greet them men and bretheren a stile and compellation that holds forth endeared affection with it so far are these men altered from what they were from what they said from what they did ere while they scorned them now honored them not long since they reproached them are not these men ful of new wine and now behold they reverence and fear before them they rejected their counsel before and are now forced to crave it yea right glad to hear and receive it In a word they repair to them as messengers of Christ they 〈◊〉 them as bretheren the
turn or do the work 〈◊〉 we are all sinners it is my infirmity I cannot help it my weakness I cannot be rid of it no man lives without faults and follies the best have their failings In many things we offend all But alas all this wind shakes no Corn it costs more to see sin aright than a few words of course It 's one thing to say sin is thus and thus another thing to see it to be such we must look wishly and steddily upon our distempers look sin in the face and discern it to the full the want whereof is the cause of our mistaking our estates and not redressing of our hearts and waies Gal. 6. 4. Let a man prove his own work Before the Goldsmith can sever and see the Dross asunder from the Gold he must search the very bowels of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and try it by touch by cast by hammer and by fire and then he will be able to speak by proof what it is So here We perceive sin in the crowd and by hearsay when we 〈◊〉 some common 〈◊〉 customary expressions taken up by persons in their common converse and so report what others speak and yet never knew the Truth what either others or we say but we do not single out our corruptions and survey the loathsomness of them as they come naked in their own Natures this we ought to do There is great ods betwixt the knowledg of a Traveller that in his own person hath taken a view of many Coasts past through many Countries and hath there taken up his abode some time and by Experience hath been an Eye-witness of the extream cold and scorching heats hath surveyed the glory and beauty of the one the barrenness and meanness of the other he hath been in the Wars and seen the ruin and desolation wrought there and another that sits by his fire side and happily reads the story of these in a Book or views the proportion of these in a Map the ods is great and the difference of their knowledg more than a little the one saw the Country really the other only in the story the one hath seen the very place the other only in the paint of the Map drawn The like difference is there in the right discerning of sin the one hath surveyed the compass of his whol course searched the 〈◊〉 of his own heart and examined the windings and turnings of his own waies he hath seen what sin is and what it hath done how it hath made havock of his peace and comfort ruinated and laid wast the very Principles of Reason and Nature and Morality and made 〈◊〉 a terror to himself when he hath looked over the loathsom abominations that lie in his bosom that he is afraid to approach the presence of the Lord to bewail his sins and to crave pardon lest he should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them while he is but confessing of them afraid and ashamed 〈◊〉 any man living should know but the least part of that which he knows by himself and could count it happy that 〈◊〉 was not that the remembrance of those hideous evils of his might be no more Another happily hears the like preached or repeated reads them writ or recorded in some Authors and is able to remember and 〈◊〉 them The ods is marvelous great The one sees the History of sin the other the Nature of it the one knows the relation of sin as it is mapped 〈◊〉 and recorded the other the poyson as by experience he hath found and proved it It 's one thing to see a disease in the Book or in a mans body another thing to find and feel it in a mans self There is the report of it here the malignity and venom of it But how shall we see cleerly the Nature of sin in his naked hue This will be discovered and may be conceived in the Particulars following Look we at it First As it respects God Secondly As it concerns our selves As it hath reference to God the vileness of the nature of sin may thus appear It would dispossess God of that absolute Supremacy 〈◊〉 is indeed his Prerogative Royal and 〈◊〉 in a peculiar manner appertayn to him as the Diamond of his Crown and 〈◊〉 of his Deity so the Apostle He is God over all blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. All from him and all for him he is the absolute first being the absolute last end and herein is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Glory Al those attributes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holiness Power Justice Mercy the shine and Concurrency of all these meeting together is to set out the unconceivable excellency of his Glorious name which exceeds all praise Thyne is the kingdom the power and the glory the right of all and so the rule of all and the Glory of all belo 〈◊〉 to him Now herein 〈◊〉 the unconceavable hainousness of the hellish nature of sin it would justle the Almighty out of the Throne of his Glorious Soveraignty and indeed be above him For the will of man being the 〈◊〉 of all his workmanship all for his body the body of the soul the mind to attend upon the will the will to attend upon God and to make choyce of him and his wil that is next to him and he onely above that and that should have been his Throne and Temple or Chair of State in which he would have Set his Soveraignty for ever He did in an Especial manner intend to meet with man and to communicate himself to man in his righteous Law as the rule of his Holy and righteous will by which the will of Adam should have been ruled and guided to him and made happie in him and all Creatures should have served God in man and been happy by or through him serving of God being happy in him But when the will went from under the government of his rule by sin it would be above God and be happy without him for the rule of the law in each command of it holds forth a threefold expression of 〈◊〉 from the Lord and therein the Soveraignty of all the rest of his Attributes 1. The Powerful Supremacy of his just will as that he hath right to dispose of all and authority to command all at his pleasure What if God will Rom. 9. 22 My Counsel shall stand and I wil do all my pleasure Isa. 46. 10. And as its true of what shal be done upon us so his wil hath Soveraignty of Command in what should be done by us we are 〈◊〉 say the will of the Lord be done Davids warrant was to do all Gods wils Acts. 13. 22. and our Saviour himself professeth John 6. 38. that he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him and therfore his wrath and jealousie and judgment will break out in 〈◊〉 that be disobeyed 2. There is also a fulness of wisdom in the law of God revealed to guide direct us in the way we should walk
thing a wicked man had or any action he did might be good or bring good to him in reason it was the Services and Sacrifices wherein he did approach unto God and perform Service to him and yet the Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Prov. 28. 9. and Tit. 1. 15. To the pure all things are pure but to the unbeleeving there is nothing pure but their very Consciences are 〈◊〉 It is a desperate Malignity in the temper of the Stomach that should turn our Meat and diet into Diseases the best Cordials and Preservatives into Poysons so that what in reason is 〈◊〉 to nourish a man should kill him Such is the venom and malignity of sin makes the use of the best things become evil nay the greatest evil to us many times Psal. 10. 9. 7. Let his prayer be turned into sin That which is appointed by God to be the choycest 〈◊〉 to prevent sin is turned into sin out of the corrupt distemper of these carnal hearts of ours Hence then it follows That sin is the greatest evil in the world or indeed that can be For That which separates the soul from God that which brings all evils of punishment and makes all evils truly evil and spoils all good things to us that must needs be the greatest evil but this is the nature of sin as hath already appeared But that which I will mainly press is Sin is only opposite to God and cross as much as can be to that infinite goodness and 〈◊〉 which is in his blessed Majesty it 's not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 distresses that men undergo that the Lord distasts them for or estrangeth himself from them he is with Joseph in the Prison with the three Children in the 〈◊〉 with Lazarus when he lies among the Dogs and gathers the 〈◊〉 from the rich Mans Table yea with Joh upon the dung-hil but he is not able to bear the presence of sin yea of this temper are his dearest servants the more of God is in them the more opposite they are to sin where ever they find it It was that he commended in the Church of Ephesus That she could not bear those that were wicked Rev. 2. 3. As when the Stomach is of a pure temper and 〈◊〉 strength the least surfet or distemper that befals it presently distasts and disburdens it self with speed So David noted to be a man after Gods own heart He professeth 101. Psal. 3. 7. I hate the work of them that turn aside he that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house he that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight But when the heart becomes like the Stomach 〈◊〉 weak it cannot help it self nor be helped by Physick desperate diseases and dissolution of the whol follows and in reason must be expected Hence see how God looks at the least connivance or a faint and seeble kind of opposition against sin as that in which he is most highly dishonored and he follows it with most hideous plagues as that indulgent carriage of Ely towards the vile behavior of his Sons for their grosser evils 1 Sam. 2. 23. Why do you such things It 's not well my Sons that I hear such things It is not well and is that all why had they either out of ignorance not known their duty or out of some sudden surprisal of a temptation neglected it it had not been well but for them so purposedly to proceed on in the practice of such gross evils and for him so faintly to reprove The Lord looks at it as a great sin thus feebly to oppose sin and therefore verse 29. he tells him That he honored his Sons above God and therefore he professeth Far be it from me to maintain thy house and comfort for he that honors me I wil honor and he that despiseth me shall be lightly esteemed verse 30. Hence it is the Lord himself is called the holy one of Israel 1. Hab. 12. Who is of 〈◊〉 eyes than to behold evil and cannot look upon iniquity no not in such as profess themselves Saints though most deer unto 〈◊〉 no nor in his Son the Lord Jesus not in his Saints Amos 8. 7. The Lord hath sworn by himself I abhor the excellency of Jacob what ever their excellencies their priviledges are if they do not abhor sin God will abhor them Jer. 22. 24. Though Coniah was as the Signet of my right hand thence would I pluck him Nay he could not endure the appearance of it in the Lord Christ for when but the reflection of sin as I may so say fell upon our Savior even the imputation of our transgressions to him though none iniquity was ever committed by him the Father withdrew his comforting presence from him and let loose his infinite displeasure against him forcing him to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken 〈◊〉 Yea Sin is so evil that though it be in Nature which is the good Creature of God that there is no good in it nothing that God will own but in the evil of punishment it is otherwise for the torments of the Devils and punishments of the damned in Hell and all the plagues inflicted upon the wicked upon Earth issue from the righteous and revenging Justice of the Lord and he doth own such execution as his proper work Isa. 45. 7. Is there any evil in the City viz. of punishment and the Lord hath not 〈◊〉 it I make peace I create evil I the Lord do all these things It issues from the Justice of God that he cannot but reward every one according to his own waies and works those are a mans own the holy one of Israel hath no hand in them but he is the just Executioner of the plagues that are inflicted and suffered for these and hence our blessed Savior becoming our Surety and standing in our room he endured the pains of the Second death even the fiercenes of the fury of an offended God and yet it was impossible he could commit the least sin or be tainted with the least corrupt distemper And it 's certain it 's better to 〈◊〉 all 〈◊〉 without any one sin than to commit the least sin and to be freed from all plagues Suppose that all miseries and sorrows that ever befel all the wicked in Earth and Hell should meet together in one soul as all waters gathered together in one Sea Suppose thou heardest the Devils roaring and sawest Hell gaping and the flames of everlasting burnings 〈◊〉 before thine eyes it 's certain it were better for thee to be cast into those inconceivable 〈◊〉 than to commit the least sin against the Lord Thou dost not think so now but thou wilt find it so one day But if sin be thus vile in its own nature why do not men so discern it so judg it That I may give a full Answer to this Question I shall first shew the Causes of mistake and secondly the Cure For the first There
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
the Lord may dwell among them also Psal. 68. 18. Eph. 4. 8. This may suffice for the Proof of the Point See the 〈◊〉 of it laid open in 〈◊〉 Particulars He presseth in upon men by the prevailing work of his Grace in his Ordinances before they look after him or their own welfare prevents their imaginations and desires When 〈◊〉 snorting in their sins sit down securely wel apay'd with their careless and corrupt condition the things of Grace and Christ and Mercy are not so much as in their thoughts or dream the Lord beyond their expectation le ts in the discovery of himself and 〈◊〉 manifestation of the work of his Spirit before they be aware of it Jos. 24. 2. compared with Acts 7. 2. Thus it was in the calling of Abraham when the Lord brought him to himself and made him the Father of the Faithful when Terah and he were drowned in Idolatry without God without Christ and without Hope never heard of any such thing as life in a Savior by Faith never hearkened after it but worshiping the Idols of the Heathen The God of Glory saies Stephen appeared to our Father Abraham when he 〈◊〉 in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran when he dwelt in the mid'st of Idolaters and never had the least thought or apprehension of the Covenant of Grace the Lord then appeared to him and bad him come out from thy country and kindred and from thy fathers 〈◊〉 and so from their Idolatrous Practices God finds men before they seek him he makes known himself before they enquire after him Isai. 〈◊〉 1. I am 〈◊〉 of them that asked not after me I am found of them that sought me not I said behold me behold me to a Nation that was 〈◊〉 called by my Name How often have we heard it and known it in our own Country the Lord hath sent a Minister to see the Country and visit his friends and it hath been the day wherein he hath been pleased to visit the heart of many a careless ignorant Creature who came idling as to a May-game or Morrisdauncing and dropped into the Assembly and the Word hath laid hold on him before he hath been aware of it how often hath the loose Prodigal come to riot it at the Fair and Market and hath been drawn in to hear beyond his purpose cross to his desire and wished himself out of the place and yet hath heard that before he departed which hath been a word of life and peace unto his soul for which he saw cause to bless God to all Eternity Matthew he is sitting at the receit of Custom minds how to take money Peter and James are casting a Net into the Sea to see how to make provision for themselves Christ cals them to himself and so to an Interest in Grace and Glory when they had not so much as a thought that way It 's that of the Apostle Rom. 9. 30. The Gentiles who sought not after righteousness they have attained unto righteousness and yet the Jews who pretended great pains and search that way they fel short of it As the Lord presseth in upon men before they be aware and beyond their purposes So many times he takes the worst of men whose hearts and lives are at the greatest distance from the holiness of his word and waies Thus our Savior posesseth that the Publicans and Harlots such as were in the rank of the most notorious wretches Go before the Scribes and Pharisees into the Kingdom of Heaven Luke 3. 9 10. Luke 7. 29. Which carried a form and appearance of Godliness in the view of the World And you shall observe the Lord to gather the most glorious Churches in the places and amongst the people where there have been the puddles and sinks of all wickedness 〈◊〉 Corinth Creet notorious and 〈◊〉 in all 〈◊〉 for hideous and hellish abominations and yet there the Lord 〈◊〉 Churches of the greatest beauty Saints of most glorious excellency of Grace such as were destitute of no Grace and yet the place destitute of no villany 2. Cor. 6. 7. When he had reckoned up a catalogue of most accursed Villanies yet professed God brought precious Gold out of dirt and 〈◊〉 Know ye not that no 〈◊〉 Idolaters Effoeminate abusers of themselves with man-kind nor Theeves nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God and such were 〈◊〉 of you Ver. 10. 11. But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified by the Name of Jesus and by the Spirit of our God The Lord Jesus prevails with these that are the most reffuse persons even when they are in the ruff and height of all their wretchedness when they are in the extreamest out-rage and running riot in the waies of wickedness beyond the bounds of modesty and moderation Our Savior Christ stops not Paul in his proceeding when his injurious and blasphemous carriage was in the bud beginning while his Spirit was stirring with the pangs 〈◊〉 pride and 〈◊〉 that he stood as a Spectator and 〈◊〉 and kept the Garments of those that stoned Stephen Acts 22. 20. not yet attaining that impudency and violence to lay hands on the Saints and to fly upon the prey But when he became more mad in malice and cruelty and became a principal in such out-rages a leader in bloody persecutions Acts 26. 11. that he goes armed with Authority breathing out threatnings and slaughter Acts 9. 1. resolves to attach and imprison all sorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sexes men and women that prosess the Name of Jesus When he is running full carreer in such 〈◊〉 and cruelty the Lord then meets him unhorseth him takes his weapons out of his hand 〈◊〉 his Commission and causeth him to bear his Name who had before blasphemed it to care sor all the Churches who before destroyed them he makes him fall at his foot and follow his 〈◊〉 and colors Lord what wilt thou have me to do The 〈◊〉 beyond his place commission and allowance he scourges and cruelly handles Paul and Barnabas and when he prides and pleaseth himself in his cruelty and 〈◊〉 behaviour towards the poor servants of the Lord he then takes him to task Acts. 16. 30. puls him down upon his knees and forceth him to seek for mercy and direction from those to whom he shewed no mercy nor humanity before he trembling fel down saying Sirs what must I do to be saved The Lord stops not Manassehs out-rage when he enters first upon his kingdome as he easily could have done but suffers him to fil up the measure of his iniquity so that the bottom of Hel could not afford abominations more or worse than were practised by him he filled Jerusalem with blood shut up the dores of the sanctuary gave himself to witch-craft and conjuring The Lord now grapples with him by the power of his grace and after his mighty provocations persevering also in those desperate courses the Lord humbles him mightily under his almighty hand and brings him
measure of Grace and Godliness Surely not as other men use to do and therefore it 's a great suspicion he came not truly by his Grace nor is he truly that he seems to be great sins cost other men great sorrows grievous scandals cost great grief of heart great heart-breakings humiliations and satisfactions great Grace and power against sin great pains and the highest strain of exactness in speeches and practices they that knew and see the Conversations of such never saw nor knew any such matter it 's certain he and al the Christians in the world may justly question his uprightness 〈◊〉 yet he be not worse than nothing if there were a true inventory taken of his Estate in Grace out of the depth of prophaneness to come to the height of holiness at unawares it 's a work of delusion not of true conversion to God Trees that are planted in Gods Orchard they take root downward and then bring forth fruit upward Upstart Christians are like Jonah his Guord grow 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 presently flourish and fade and al in a day Untimely births are never true nor yet of continuance when an old sore is healed too hastily it never proves sound it 's 〈◊〉 over 〈◊〉 cured festers inwardly proves more grievous and dangerous than at the first The skilful Chyrurgeon wil tel you it must be searched lanced tented before it attain its ful and perfect Cure So it is with that cankered corrupt 〈◊〉 of thine who hast lived and continued in those loathsom abominations which thou hast hugged in thy bosom it must be lanced by the cutting knife of the Law and the dreadful curse thereof searched by the soul-saving preaching of the Gospel and dayly tented with constant contritions and breakings of heart otherwise know assuredly that those hellish lusts of thine wil imposthume within thy soul and in issue break out more loathsomly and thy latter end wil be worse than thy beginning To find little or no hardness in that which in thy reason thou conceivest and concludest to be the hardest work of all how canst thou but suspect thou art cozened and mistaken Make it thine own case in another thing and be thine own Judg 〈◊〉 thou enjoyned to drain a Quagmire or a dirty rotten Swamp to fit it for the Plough and should any man seem to perswade it would cost but litte time or labor might easily be dispatched thou would'st scarsly with patience hear such an expression as that which is expressly contrary to common sense why should men speak of impossibilities or think that men should conceive that reasonable that is against Reason not only Trees felled stubbed removed but the ground gained which is not arable and al this in a short space with ease Look now into thy condition with this resemblance and be thine own Judg thou hast a dunghil heart a soul like a dirty swamp those hellish abominations which have taken up thy mind and will and affections in which thou hast continued and unto which thou hast been accustomed so that thy heart is like a standing puddle of prophaneness which have weakened and wasted the very faculties of thy soul so that thy heart is not fallow ground as the Prophet speaks Plow up the fallow ground Jer. 4. it 's not 〈◊〉 ground even abilities so wasted and disordered with thy wretched and unreasonable lusts and dost thou think that these abilities can be 〈◊〉 easily and thy Spirit made good soyl even a good and honest heart without extraordinary power on Gods part and more than ordinary labor on thine When the covetous yong man that was glewed to the world and had his heart riveted in restless and immoderate desires after these Earthly things so that all the directions which our Savior gave and the great offers he made of Heaven and Salvation could not take off his affections but he went away sorrowful saies our Savior How hard is it for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven it 's easier for a Cable rope to enter in at the eye of a Needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Grace here and Glory hereafter Matth. 〈◊〉 22 23 24. He spake of one it 's true of all by the like proportion how hard is it for a rich man it 's as true to say how hard is it for a riotous unclean malitious voluptuous self-conceited rebellious wretch he that hath scandalously continued in these accustomed himself to these how hard is it for such saies the Text. And doest thou find it easie a Holy-day task and a trifling labor that which may suddenly be done without such trouble either Christ is deceived or thou art mistaken either the Word fails or thy apprehension fails Whether the Scriptures or thy Conceit is to be beleeved let thine heart judg unless thou wilt be an Atheist The Word in reason never wrought that work nor wil it give in Evidence and approbation thereof The Prophet Isai. 46. last describing a rebellious sinner he thus speaks of him Hearken ye stout-hearted who are far from righteousness A man that hath gone many yeers and that with much speed and labor one way which is down-hil to return to the same place when the way is more difficult with a little time and less labor there is little probability if possibility in reason So here thou hast hurried headlong in the waies of wickedness hast had ful wind and tide Satans temptation thine own corruption to carry thee with mighty violence many yeers together in thy 〈◊〉 course dost thou think suddenly and easily to 〈◊〉 back No beleeve it thou must take many a weary step send out many a heavy sigh tug at it with continual prayers and tears and the utmost improvement of al thine 〈◊〉 nay it will cost thee hot water the setting on before thou seest that day I read of a double expression 1. Of the Devils going out 2. Of his casting out 〈◊〉 12. 43 When the unclean spirit goes out c. which is done by 〈◊〉 outward and serious reformation and some sudden resolution wrought out of terror to forsake such and such courses this smoaks Satan out of his house c. COMFORT This is ground of great support and in Truth of strong consolation to shore up the hearts of forlorn and scandalous Creatures when they lie under the most direful strokes of Gods heaviest displeasure When the loath somness of their lives and hellish abominations of their hearts are presented to their view their Consciences now accuse and the Lord from Heaven by his infinite indignation encamps against them with Armies of terrors so that to their sight and sence there is nothing appearing but present ruin and confusion Yet out of the strong comes sweet greatest safety issues out of the heaviest searchings and breakings of heart Here is now ground of strong support to bear thy 〈◊〉 above all these devouring horrors which like so many waves would overwhelm thy soul. The
not in your power to bring them in yet bring them as neer to the Kingdom of God as you can c. They were pricked in their hearts The last Doctrine which is considered touching the Work it self Sorrow for sin 〈◊〉 set on pierceth the heart of the sinner through that is truly affected therewith They were pricked not in their eyes to weep for their sins so Esau could not in their tongues only to confess their sin so Judas did I have sinned in betraying innocent blood nor in their hands alone to reform it outwardly so those Apostats did 2 Pet. 2. 20. They escaped the pollutions of the world through the acknowledgment of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but it reached their hearts their souls bled inwardly their souls were most guilty and had the greatest hand in the commission of those bloody and execrable cruelties the fountain of their sorrow did rise as high as the beginning of their sin soul sins and soul sorrows Nor was the stroke slight not the ripling of the skin a lighter touch a sudden pang a sigh and away nay not only lanced and gashed the rotten imposthumes of the corruptions of their hearts in a great measure but ransacked the very root of the corruption pierced the heart quite through through and through again as it were let out the core of the most inward and most retired corruptions that were lodged in their bosom and bottom of their hearts And this work proceeded not from any power of their own nor from the liberty and freedom of their wils as that which they made choyce of and out of their own ability did readily put forth but it was set on by the hand of the Almighty in the entrance whereof they were Patients went against the heart and hair and wholly beyond their purposes and expectations So the words are in the passive form they were pricked they did not prick themselves Nay certainly could they have told how to prevent it how to remove it or to procure any ease and relief unto themselves they would never have cryed out as men in a maze and astonishing straights of Spirit What shall we do Thus God proceeds when he purposeth to make a through work When God was purposed to set upon the revolting people of the Jews and to bring them savingly home to himself Hos. 13. 4. so 〈◊〉 carry it according to the foregoing and following words I am the Lord thy God from the Land of Egypt and there is no Savior besides me ver 4. and blames also the frowardness and folly of their Spirits not yielding so readily and taking the advantage of Gods dealing for their good ver 13. The sorrows of a travelling woman shall come upon him he is an unwise son for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of Children q. d. The Lord in mercy offers himself to the Israelites under their terrors as a Midwife that would make way for them out of their sins and sorrows Now in this 〈◊〉 of his towards the people to be converted he professeth that he will meet with them 〈◊〉 a Bear bereaved of her whelps he wil rend the caul of their hearts ver 8. the words are the closure and shutting up of their hearts sinners are shut up under the power of their distempers as the Apostle saith all men by Nature are shut up under unbelief Rom. 11. 32. especially there be some closets and secret corners and conveyances of soul wherein the most sweet and delightful abominations are hugged and harbored the Lord leaves not a poor wretch if indeed he intend his good before he breaks open those great depths rests not before he come home to the root and let out the heart-blood of thy lusts and then their death wil undoubtedly follow And hence it is this sorrow is compared to such as enter into the very inwards of Nature and sinks the soul with unsupportable pressures when that great conversion and return of the Jews to the entertainment of the Gospel shal be brought about by the Lord. The Prophet sets forth the greatness of that sorrow of theirs under a double similitude First Zach. 12. 10. They shall mourn for him as the mother mourns for her only son and for her first born the mourning of a tender hearted mother for her son her first born and for her only son he adds al degrees of grief if she had possessed many she might more easily have wanted one or at least parted with it or had it been any but her first born which had the first of her strength and the first of her love yet she might have born it with more quietness but when al these meet together her life and comfort is wrapped up in the life of the Child the mourning becomes unmeasurable fils the heart as it were Secondly It shall be like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon when al Israel lamented the death of their good Josiah the light of their eyes the breath of their Nostrils the comfort of their souls 2 Chron. 35. 25. Therfore the original words which lay open this work are of marvelous weight and discover the overpowring vertue thereof Isai. 57. 18. The Lord dwels with him that is of a contrite spirit Isai. 61. 6. The Lord binds up the broken heart The first whereof signifies to pun to pouder and to bring to smal dust it is so used Psal. 90. 3. Thou bringest man to the dust of death again thou sayest return ye children of men That as the hardest stone when it 's broken al to smal mammocks and pouder as it were it 's easie and yielding under the touch of the hand what ever ruggedness and resistance was in it before So it is with the soul that is punned to pouder so that there is not any unbroken or any whol part to be found there no sodering in any secret manner with any retired distemper but the weight of godly sorrow hath shatter'd all asunder distress of Conscience hath brought it to dust parted all the privy closures with any particular of any distemper all that knotty stiffness and perversness of spirit in siding with any corruption is now taken off The soul comes easily to give way to the Authority of the Truth that would take any sinful lust away To the like purpose is that of Job Job 23. 16. when the Armies of Gods indignation had encamped against him and the terrors of the Lord had drunk up his spirit saies he God makes my heart soft or hath melted my soul the word signifies a severing and separation of one thing from another and is opposite to setling and fastening making firm stiff and hard as that of Pharaoh Exod. 9. last Pharaoh hardened his heart his soul fastened by an invincible resolution to the sinful purpose of his malicious detaining and oppression of the Jews When the fierceness of Gods dupleasure brought home by the breathings of the Spirit
heart But when a sinner is indeed pierced quite through the heart and feels inwardly the 〈◊〉 and evil of sin he loaths that most and his heart most of all that is most guilty and tainted with it In the soul there is 〈◊〉 it were the soul of sin the 〈◊〉 and poyson of it and he opposeth that most that hath opposed the Lord 〈◊〉 Spirit and the Word and Work of his Grace the 〈◊〉 of this mind the preversness of this will the distempers of these corrupt and carnal affections he is at 〈◊〉 with his own heart that ever it hath held any kind of connivence and correspondence with any corruption ever been acted by it carried with it that ever it hath combined and conspired with sin and Satan in 〈◊〉 against the righteous and holy One of Israel the great God of Heaven and Earth and here he finds work enough even matter of abasement al his daies he 〈◊〉 down in shame and is covered with confusion as with a cloak and never lifts up his head more because he 〈◊〉 that about him that wil dayly mind him of his own baseness 〈◊〉 It 's now his dayly task to oppose that which opposed the Lord resist that which hath resisted the work of Grace conspire against the Treacheries and plottings of his own heart where all the conspiracies against God and his holy Law have been hatched Job was vile before but he saw not the vileness of his heart He fears all sin and all provocations to sin because he hath felt the evil of all and knows the danger of all any inclination from within any temptation from without any appearance in the least measure that might provoke thereunto Therefore these two are put in way of opposition Blessed is the man that fears alwaies but he that hardens his heart shal fall into mischief Prov. 28. 14. q. d. A hard heart feels 〈◊〉 knows not the evil of 〈◊〉 and therefore 〈◊〉 like the horso into the battel to his ruine but if the heart be truly wounded and contrite truly affected with sin as having experience of the danger of it it wil come no more there he that hath been scorched with those flames will come no more into that fire As men who have wounded parts broken an Arm or a Leg how careful are they where they sit where they go they wil come neer nothing that may hurt cannot endure any thing neer lest it should so much as touch or trouble So the Apostle adviseth Heb. 12. 13. ' Make straight steps to your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way Lame men observe every step they take every stone upon which they tread see and view the place where they set their feet search and set al right come there no more So here a broken Spirit 〈◊〉 every thought weighs every word takes notice of the least 〈◊〉 of his heart the first appearance of any occasion or temptation Thus they fear al sin above al other evil nay the least sin above the greatest plague because he hath felt them by proof and experience to be such fears rather he shal not be sound than not quiet He that fears one sin and yet is careless to fall into another he never seared nor sorrowed aright sorrow for sin wil not make a man commit sin by sorrowing if he fear or take notice it is a sin it is enough And hence it makes watchful to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prevent the evil So Joseph Gen. 39. 10 11. He would not lie by her nor be with her avoided her company that would withdraw his communion from the Lord. It makes a man speedy to avoid the 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 the place left his garment rather than his 〈◊〉 he that would not fal into the pit wil not come neer the bank As after a 〈◊〉 the party cannot endure the sight the 〈◊〉 of it and are careful to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the appearance 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of such evils 〈◊〉 19. 11. I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy 〈◊〉 in my heart that I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin against thee He is 〈◊〉 to attend all 〈◊〉 but accounts most of those 〈◊〉 work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of corruption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heart and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 from it Though the Truths which are delivered carry dread with them to the Conscience rack the heart of the sinner in restless horror and perplexity are like the bitterest Pils and the sharpest Corrosives cross to the sinful security and that Natural quiet the soul doth covet yea to his Credit and outward Comforts and conveniences in which he pleased himself yet he is content his hand should be cut off and his eye plucked out that is that the 〈◊〉 Truth of God and powerful and plain Dispensation thereof should pluck away those darling distempers be they as profitable as a hand as dear as an eye rather than they should once pluck his heart from the Lord quarrels with the loathsom abominations of his Nature which now are discovered but gladly welcoms those soul-saving Truths that would slay and subdue those sins and not quarrel with them The Word of the Lord is a good Word though a convicting terrifying yea a condemning Word to his own apprehension he that is sensible of his burden as unsupportable and passing strength he is best pleased with that ease A wise Patient when by his tryal he hath found it and the consent of learned Physitians and Chyrurgeons have concluded that his Gangrened part must be cut off and cauterized cannot be healed though his Nature shrink at it yet Reason and his own preservation makes him desire and chuse the sharpest Instrument because by that his life and safety is best procured The sinner that finds the burden of his sin the heaviest of al other and a disease most deadly to his soul the sharpest Truths he accounts the safest and therefore takes most content therein there shal no course that can be prescribed be it never so tedious to flesh and blood no means that shall be appointed to him be they attended with never so much danger and difficulty but he readily addresseth himself to the use thereof and easily submits himself to the Counsel and Authority and Command of God therein willing that God should do any thing with him that he might do good to his soul and remove that which he feels to be the greatest evil of it As Ely to Samuel 1. Sam. 3. 17. Hide nothing from me though the heaviest and hardest of the message that he was to report A broken hearted sinner wil 〈◊〉 capitulate with the Almighty stick with God unless he may have his own 〈◊〉 or look for some abatement from the Lord if the corruption be more than ordinary strong and the means which are to be used be mervailously cross not onely to a mans corruption but to ones outward comforts yea to nature it self yea the heart under this disposition yields quietly that the Lord should take his own course any
it vexed al the veyns of their hearts that 's the way to weary them and there they solace themselves ah it's roast meat to them and thus it is a pastime to a fool to do wickedly but know thou art a hard-hearted fool a graceless wretch in the wise mans account do not our plantations groan under such sons of Belial such senceless 〈◊〉 do they not swarm in our streets are not our families pestered with such Esau-like when he sold his 〈◊〉 eat and drank and rose up and went his way not affected with what he had lost not ashamed of what he had done but 〈◊〉 of al or like the man in the Gospel possessed with the Devil sometime he cast him into the fire and sometime into the water so these rush headily into sin and impudently continue in such 〈◊〉 courses they commit sin and continue in sin hasten Gods wrath and their own ruin and go away senceless of al so that it 's now seasonable to take Jeremiahs complaint I 〈◊〉 and heard and no man sayd what have I done 〈◊〉 Jer. 8. 6. He might and did hear of hideous vile evils without any diligent hearkning see and meet loathsom distempers without any searching but when he followed men home wondring in what quiet do these men live what comfort do these men find how do they bear up their hearts under such hellish carriages I wil go see how they lye down in their beds and whether they dare sleep or no under such trangression and such guilt and when he came he hearkned surely I shal now hear them mourn bitterly afflict their hearts with unfained grief there is no such thing no man said what have I done not a word of that it was the least part of their care the furthest off their thoughts And this is the temper the condition and disposition of scores hundreds of you that hear this word at this instant Is not the day yet to dawn the hour yet to come that ever you shed a tear sent up a sigh to heaven in the sence of thy evils or set thy self in secret to bewail thy distempers before the Lord God knows and your hearts know the Chambers where you lodge the Beds where you lie can bring in witness against you you are strangers to this blessed brokenness of heart yea enemies to it you were pricked no not so much as in your eyes nor in your tongues God and his word and al means that have been tried could never wrest a tear from thine eye not a confession out of thy mouth thou wilt commit thy follies and die in the defence or excuse of them but to have thy heart affected in serious manner with the filth of thy sinful distempers it is to thee a riddle to this day Nay there be thousands in the bottomless pit of hell that never had the like means as thou never committed the like sins and yet never had such a senceless sottish heart under such rebellions as thy self Wo be to you that laugh now you shal mourn those flinty spirits of yours wil not break now they shal certainly burn you draw a light harrow now you find no burden of your pride and stubbornness rebellions idleness and noysom lusts they are no burdens ye can go boult upright with them and Sampson like carry the very gates of hell upon your backs and never buckle under them wel the time wil com you wil cal to the mountains to fal upon you and the hills to cover you from the infinite weight of Gods everlasting displeasure Tast a little the sting of this sin and see the compass of this accursed condition of thine and go no further than the point in hand Thou art far without the walk of the Almighty there is no dealing and entercourse between thee and the holy one of Israel the Almighty passeth by and wil not so much as change a word with thee or cast a look 〈◊〉 thee to leave any remembrance of himself upon thy soul thou livest as though thou hadst nothing to do with him nor he with thee nothing to do with grace or heaven the holy spirit a wes some humbles others some it quickens that were sluggish establisheth others who were weak onely thou art senceless of any operation of the Lord thou hast a heart that puts away the presence of the Lord out of thy mind if it were possible thy fleece is dry when there is dew upon al the earth this is that which the Apostle discovers to be the cause of that heavy curse of the heathen Eph. 4. 18. strangers from the life of God by reason of the hardness of their hearts Oh thou hast a 〈◊〉 heart and leadest a strang life even as opposite to God as darkness to light hell to heaven differs onely but in degree from that 〈◊〉 which appears most eminently amongst the Devills and damned even to be an adversary to God and his grace to stand it out in defiance with the divine goodness of God his power and faithfulness Pharaoh he 〈◊〉 it but thou dost it 〈◊〉 it out with the Almighty and impudently darest the great God who is Jehovah I know not Jehovah neither wil I let my heart go to yield subjection and service to him I know no authority of a command that shal rule me nor admonition that shal awe or reforme me Thus thou art a stranger to the wisdom of God the folly of thine own self-deceiveing mind and heart leads thee and deludes thee thou art a stranger to the grace and holiness of the Lord the perversness and rebellion of thine own wretched heart takes place onely with thee yea a stranger to mercy and to the compassions and consolations of the Lord Jesus and his blessed spirit who choosest thine own ruin lovest thine own death following lying vanities and forsakest the mercies purchased and tendred to thee Upon these tearms in which thou now standest God hath appoynted no good for thee while thou continuest in this temper as he said write this man childless so write upon it write thy soul graceless that shal never prosper Isa. 61. 1. 2. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath annointed me to preach good 〈◊〉 to the meek to bind up the broken hearted liberty to the captives opening of the prison to those that are bound to appoint to them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes the garment of gladness for the spirit of heaviness thou hearest the glad tidings of mercy pardon and peace grace of life that passeth understanding joy unspeakable rich and plentiful redemption from al sins and miseryes which God hath layd up in his everlasting decree and laid out in the great work of redemption by the Lord Jesus but thou mayest set thy heart at rest as long as thou seest that hard heart of thine thou shalt never see good day joy and comfort and liberty they are not thy allowance they are childrens bread it
had been happy for us that we had never listened to the counsel of the scribes and pharisees and been led by their examples or carried with the croud to the commission of such bloody evils the guilt whereof is so great vileness of loathsomenoss whereof is so hellish and unconceiveable but that which is done and past cannot be recalled but what shal we now do is there nothing to be done against these high-handed abominations which have done so much dishonor to Gods name indignity to the Lord Jesus the Lord of life so much injury to our own souls and hazarded our everlasting happiness and comfort what shal we do If any thing that can be done by others we wil seek far and near for help If any thing that can be done by our selves we shal 〈◊〉 it to the utmost of our power is there nothing to be done that we might have the blood of these sins of ours which have taken away the blood of the Lord Jesus this is not an estate to be rested in a 〈◊〉 in which we must continu and quiet our selves we should be willing to do any thing against 〈◊〉 sins and selves therfore the doctrine hence followes 〈◊〉 Sound contrition brings the soul to detestation against sin and sequestration from it When the people lamented 〈◊〉 the Lord who had 〈◊〉 himself so long time from them Samuel that he might have assurance of their sorrow that it were good and that they might give in evidence their hearts were upright he puts them upon this tryal If indeed you wil return unto the Lord put away your Idol 1 Sam. 7. 3. This was the practice of those converts Hosea 14. 1. 2. 3. 4. When they had taken words and desired the Lord to take away their iniquitie the proof of their sorrow and repentance is shewed in that profession of theirs Ashur shal not save us nor wil we go down to Egipt nor wil we say to the works of our hands ye are our Gods these were their special sins and their protestation is bent in a peculiar manner to abandon them for ever Those also who were convinced of their sinful departings from God by their curious arts Acts. 19. 19. To shew 〈◊〉 detestation of their sins they came al as one man and were al of one mind they burn their books in the view of al the people before al men that the memory of such evils might be abhorred and the very instruments which had been abused to the practice of them might be removed from the face of the Earth a 〈◊〉 heart that makes a true 〈◊〉 he is said in phrase of scripture to speak and judg as God doth of sin and to 〈◊〉 the same sentence 〈◊〉 it Now Gods mind is and the conclusion he hath set down is this thou shalt blot out the memory of them from under heaven and so would a broken heart do with his distempers There be two Particulars in the Doctrine wherein the double Effect of sound Contrition is discovered 1. Detestation of sin 2. Sequestration from sin We wil handle them both apart Begin we first with that hatred and detestation which the heart truly burdened carries against sin For the opening whereof we shal discover 1. VVhat is the Nature of this hatred 2. How it doth discover it self and may be discerned 3. The Reasons why this is required in this Work of Preparation To the First To difference this work of Hatred as it is appropriate to this place and comes now to consideration from the like disposition and operation of soul which 〈◊〉 wrought by the holy Ghost and expressed by the Saints in the further progress of the work of Application before it ariseth to the full breadth and further perfection unto which the Beleever arrives It 's a discovery which is attended with much difficulty and hardness to lay out the peculiar bounds and limits of it that each work may take that which is peculiar to it self and not interfer upon the other it 's a matter marvelous intricate and narrow for the search we shall labor to be wise to sobriety so far as light goes and the Lord helps We shal cast that which we would speak by way of Explication into several Conclusions as apprehending that the 〈◊〉 and most familiar way to communicate what may lend some little Direction this way As the first Adam did depart from God and in him all 〈◊〉 Posterity so the second Adam the Lord Christ doth bring back all his again unto God the Father by the contrary way In the departure of Adam and his Seed this is plain to common apprehension There was first an Aversion or turning from God then a Conversion or turning of the soul to the Creature this is the usual course and the usual 〈◊〉 They have 〈◊〉 the Fountain of Living Waters and digged to themselves Pits that will hold no water Jer. 2. 13. Adam attends not Gods Direction and then he attends the delusion of the Enemy contents not himself in what God had found but finds out findings therefore our Savior brings back his contrary way begins where Satan ends as it were there must be an Aversion and turning from the Creature before there can be a conversion unto God he came from God to the Creature he must return from the Creature to God but 〈◊〉 aversion is first that is from his abusive cleaving to the Creature for in truth 〈◊〉 is nothing else but an 〈◊〉 affecting of these inferior things Ambition is the inordinate affecting of praise the aiery applause of men Covetousness an inordinate seeking and 〈◊〉 upon the world Uncleanness an unruly 〈◊〉 unreasonable pursuit of the delights of the Flesh in a word a perverted and exorbitant wil inordinately following and pursuing the Creature not from God for God but from a sinful disposition to self-ends this is the frame of evil in the heart the woof and web of wickedness lie there Now the Lord Jesus he comes 1 John 3. 8 9 to destroy the works of the Devil the Original is to 〈◊〉 and unravel undo or take down 〈◊〉 work as the word implies and therefore he begins to pull down his work where he ended it viz. He first works an Aversion from sin and the Creature sinfully affected and then in Nature and Order there wil be conversion to God The Point of the Compass cannot stand North and South together first it must stand from the South before it stand North The face of the soul cannot stand God-ward and Sin-ward and Creature-ward This is the course of the Scripture and the constant expression of it To turn from Idols to the living God from darkness to light from Satan to God There is nothing in the soul that can turn the soul from sin and the Creature that which is wholly possessed and wholly acted by an inordinate affection to the Creature that can never turn from the Creature 1 Pet. 4. 2. All men live according to
our part shal be to deliver him into the Kings hand And Saul said blessed be the Lord for ye have had compassion upon me go and prepare see his place where his haunt is and take knowledg of his lurking places where he hides himself so the contrite sinner that seeks the death and 〈◊〉 of his sins it gladly welcomes what ever means are most searching sharpest reproofes clearest discoveries convicting arguments that wil discover the haunts and lurking places of a mans lusts and secret shiftings of devices Oh these hit the desire of his heart he counts them blessed counsels blessed reproofes blessed be ye of the Lord that have compassion on my soul to take those distempers from me that would take away my soul from God and life and happiness from my soul nay the soul wil say I see something but O search more narrowly examin yet more throughly al the sinful windings and turnings of my heart and I wil ioyn with you in al such convictions and 〈◊〉 and if there be any way of wickedness any crevis and corner of falshood to be found in the whol frame of my heart I hope God wil reveal and remove and I wil deal nakedly Such smitings are as precious balms that do not break the head but bring a healing virtue comfort a mans heart content his head and apprehensions also Thus he proceeds against his own sin but there this hatred 〈◊〉 not but he labors also the removal of sin in whomsoever he finds it wheresoever he is and with whomsoever he converseth If there be any corruption stirring his enemies appearing his hatred stirs presently his heart riseth against it attacheth the Traitor if any be under pressures he pities them tenderly if in distress of Spirit he comforts in much compassion and fortifies against the common enemy If he sees any go out of the way led aside with their own distempers Satans delusion he cannot keep off from counselling reproving perswading The Servant that could side it with fellow Servants in stubborn idle and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 and consent with them suit with them give them counsel keep their counsel before they were brethren in iniquity but when his heart comes to be pierced and the soul transported with hatred you shal 〈◊〉 the wind in another door if he see them lazy and idle he wil quicken them if stubborn and perverse he wil seasonably advise and pursue them with reproofs and if his 〈◊〉 cannot take place he wil make his complaints to the Governor for redress he cannot endure to see sin thrive and the Traitor live But if the Lord put any Authority into his hand he wil express it to the utmost of al his power and that with the utmost indignation that the nature of the thing wil bear As good Josiah 2 Chron. 34. 4 5 6. He commanded to break down the Altars cut down the Groves carved and molten Images made dust of them and burnt the bones of the Priests upon the Altar in the detestation of their Sacrifices nay he took away all the abominations of all the Countries that appertained to Israel and made all that were present to serve the Lord This Indignation expresseth it self against sin and all that appertains to it and have been Instruments to the commission of it As an Adulterous woman in 〈◊〉 of conscience tore the hair that she had crisped and disfigured the face that she had painted and prided her self Ioathed to look upon the tyres and garments which she had worn to make her beauty a bait and a 〈◊〉 to others So Mary Magdalen c. But if yet the Nation of those noysom corruptions cannot be utterly destroyed but sins live and are mighty abroad and remain in the heart this hatred is beyond all hope and possibility of reconciliation admits no terms of peace no condition of agreement that can be devised or offered will be entertained holds out the quarrel and opposition unto death nay is willing to die and put an end to his daies that he may see an end of his abominations As God with Amaleck Exod. 17. last he commanded it to be writ 〈◊〉 a memorial in a book for God hath sworn he will have war with 〈◊〉 for ever and put out his name from under Heaven this hatred as in deadly feuds gives no quarter the soul wil not tribute his Corruptions and serve his own turn of them but wages War with them until they be utterly destroyed from off the face of the Earth The Counsel that God gave to the Israelites 〈◊〉 carefully and exactly keeps Be sure you make no Covenant with them but smite them and utterly destroy them Deut. 7. 23. c. Reasons of the Point are Three Without this there 〈◊〉 no way to come to Christ for there is no coming of Faith into the soul No man can serve two Masters for if he love the one he will hate the other if he cleave to the one he will despise the other ye cannot serve God and Mammon Matth. 6. 24. If saies Samuel you wil prepare your hearts to seek the Lord put away your Idols 1 Sam. 7. 3. Those must first be removed if God be received there is no halting bet wixt two no man can be in the first and second Adam together the soul cannot be married to two husbands at once The conclusion of our Savior is 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 Luk 14. 26. If any man come 〈◊〉 me and hate not his father and mother wife and children and friends and therefore much more his sins in comparison of Christ he cannot be my disciple he is not worthy i. e. not fit to be Christs disciple Without this there is no salvation can be expected from Christ for this is the method of mercy the order of God in the dispensation of life to lost man and so 〈◊〉 was intended and appointed God sent 〈◊〉 son from heaven to bless you by turning every one of you from his iniquity Acts 3. 26. He wil turn you from your evil way if ever he bless you and it was the way the prophet prescribed of old 〈◊〉 18. 30. turn you from al your transgressions so iniquity shal not be your ruin and Christ came to save his people from their 〈◊〉 Math. 1. 21. that is the first 〈◊〉 to Salvation you cannot be safe if your sins be safe Christ wil not 〈◊〉 you and your sins too if you wil save them he wil not save you this is the great condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness more than light he that loves his sins loves his death Sin is the onely enemy of the soul that which is hateful to God and man and makes us hateful also And therefore is the fittest 〈◊〉 indeed the onely proper object of our hatred They are lusts that 〈◊〉 against the soul 1 Pet. 2. 11. there is nothing in the world that could prejudice the peace comfort of the soul were it not
a broken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his great request unto God that he may not go 〈◊〉 again to his 〈◊〉 In this 〈◊〉 from sin the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We here see the reason of al those 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of such 〈◊〉 promised better things the 〈◊〉 to his 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 to his 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 man to the world after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are the same men they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to their former follyes and are as bad as ever These men were never cut off from their corruptions the union was there stil the soul was in league and love with sin stil and therefore it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 and therefore they 〈◊〉 and grow worse and worse many years after If thou hast a privy lust harbored in thy heart that wil be thy ruin thou wilt be as bad or 〈◊〉 than ever EXHORTATION To 〈◊〉 all our endeavors to see a 〈◊〉 of it and to seek to heaven that God may work it in us let this be alwayes in thy prayers Lord that I may hate my sin that I may put off the love of sinning whatever thou hatest sin is worse than that it s worse than reproach disgrace sickness poverty thy love to sin should be turned into hatred and thy hatred to it should be greater than ever thy love hath been And if thou dost not hate thy sin its certain the God of Heaven wil hate thee the froward in heart is an 〈◊〉 to the Lord Prove 3. 32. Thou thy self 〈◊〉 an abomination to the Lord if thy 〈◊〉 be not an abomination to thee If thou wilt part with thy sins the Lord wil set his love upon thee Jer. 3. 1. though thou 〈◊〉 done evil things as thou couldest yet return unto me It 's said Judg. 10. 15. 16. when the people of Israel came bewailing their sins crying for mercy and putting away their Gods that then the soul of the Lord was grieved for the misery of Israel and he had mercy on them He is the same God stil and if he sees thee grieving for thy sins he wil grieve for thy sorrowes When Ephraim bemoaning himself judging himself for his sin and crying out unto the Lord turn me and I shal be turned it s said he heard Ephraim bemoaning himself and his bowels were troubled for him and I do earnestly remember him stil I wil surely have mercy upon thee saith the Lord. Jer. 31. 18. 19. 20. FINIS The Contents BOOK IX On Isa. 57. 15. I dwell with him that is of an humble and contrite spirit DOCT. THe Heart must be contrite and humble before the Lord will take up his dwelling in it 5 Reasons two In regard 1 Of our selves there be two Hindrances 7 1 Contentedness in a Natural 〈◊〉 ibid 〈◊〉 removes 〈◊〉 2 Sufficiency to help a mans self Humiliation removes that 9 2 Of God his Word will not cannot take place till the soul 〈◊〉 contrite and 〈◊〉 10 Uses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Terror to hard-hearted sinners God wil not dwell with them 11 2 Instruction teaching us to delight in chuse and dwel with such as are contrite and humble 13 3 Exhortation to seek for 〈◊〉 in Gods way and order viz. 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 14 BOOK X. On Acts 2. 37. When they heard this they were pricked to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do 15 DOCT. 1. Stubborn and bloody sinners may be made broken-hearted 20 Reasons three taken from  1 The infinite Mercy of God 22 2 The infinite 〈◊〉 of Christs Merits 23 3 The Almighty Power of the Spirit 24 Uses three hence  1 Matter of Admiration at the riches of Grace 25 2 Encouragement to keep distressed sinners from despair yet no ground of presumption 26 3 Instruction shewing the 〈◊〉 nature of despair It 's 29 1 Injurious to God 30 2 Dangerous to the Soul 32 Helps against Despair are two  1 Listen not to 〈◊〉 Conclusions 34 2 Attend not our own 〈◊〉 but Gods Mercy and Power 34 DOCT. 2. There must be a true sight of sin before the heart can be broken for it 35 For Explication four things  1 How God works this sight of sin 37 1 The Law of God discovers our sins ibid 2 There is a new Light put into the mind 38 3 The Spirit takes 〈◊〉 the Rule of darkness out of the mind 41 4 The Spirit leaves a set upon the understanding God-ward 42 2 How far the sinner is 〈◊〉 in this sight of sin 43 1 There is an insufficiency in the Understanding to reach the right discovery of sin 1 ibid 2 An incapability also to receive Spiritual Light 45 3 Christ forceth the Understanding to bear the 〈◊〉 of his Spirit whereby 〈◊〉 47 1 Destroyes the Soveraignty of 〈◊〉 Reason 48 2 Fits it to receive the impression of Spiritual Light 50 4 This Light received the Understanding is acted by it and so acts in vertue of it and so the sinner comes truly to see his sins 51 3 Wherein this true sight of sin is discovered 52 1 It is a cleer sight of sin 53 1 In regard of God as 54 1 It would dispossess God of his Soveraignty 55 2 It smites at the Essence of God 57 3 It spoils all the Works of God 59 2 In regard of our selves as ibid 1 It separates 〈◊〉 God and 〈◊〉 ibid 2 It makes us uncapable of any good 60 3 It 's the Cause of all other evils 62 4 It brings a Curse upon all Blessings ibid Hence sin is the greatest evil ibid Why do not men see sin thus 166 The Causes are ibid 1 The Delusions of Satan ibid 2 Men judg of sin by present sence 67 3 Or by present pleasure and profit 68 4 Or by the long suffering of God 70 5 Want of Spiritual Light 71 The Cure of these mistakes 72 1 Look upon sin so as it will look upon thee at death and Judgment ibid 2 Get a cleer sight of God 73 2 It is a convicting 〈◊〉 75 That implies  1 A particular application to our selves ibid 1 A man must reflect upon his own sins ibid 2 And pass an impartial Sentence against them 78 1 An over-powring settling of them upon the Conscience and that 79 1 Undeniably 80 2 Immovably 82 3 Invincibly 85 Reasons two Because  1 Nothing comes to the heart but by the Understanding 86 2 Ignorance frustrates all our Endeavors in the use of means 88 Uses five hence  1 Instruction An ignorant heart is a naughty heart 90 Such a one 1 Is liable to all evil 92 2 He can receive no good ibid 3 He can expect no mercy 93 2 To be hard to be convinced is 94 1 A dangerous sin ibid 1 Against a mans own soul ibid 2 Against Gods Ordinances 95 3 Against the Spirit of God ibid 2 A dreadful Curse 97 1 It makes way for Satan ibid 2 God