Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	believe_v	faith_n	word_n	11,191	5	4.5836	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44342	The application of redemption by the effectual work of the word, and spirit of Christ, for the bringing home of lost sinners to God ... by that faithful and known servant of Christ, Mr. Thomas Hooker ...	Hooker, Thomas, 1586-1647.	1656 (1656)	Wing H2639; ESTC R18255	773,515	1,170

Work of the 〈◊〉 it brings in the light of the truth as a mighty 〈◊〉 with more strength and plainness to the heart 〈◊〉 draws out this act of divine Faith whereby it 〈◊〉 this as a truth of God For look what the 〈◊〉 of another man may do in the use of the Word 〈◊〉 Ordinance that my Reason used in such a manner 〈◊〉 to God may do But another man by the 〈◊〉 of Reason or strength of Argument out of the 〈◊〉 may convince my Conscience nay settle and 〈◊〉 my heart in assurance of a truth which formerly I saw not and therefore it is said Acts 14. 22. they confirmed the souls of the Disciples exhorting them c. True it is the Grace and Habit of Faith is presumed and was wrought before by the 〈◊〉 power of the Spirit which raised Christ from the dead 〈◊〉 being wrought the truths of God under the exercise of 〈◊〉 Reason will not only settle our judgement in knowing but our assurance of Faith in 〈◊〉 firmly beleeving and embracing for first truths 〈◊〉 to the understanding to be judged before they be 〈◊〉 up and presented to the heart to be beleeved Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy name will trust in 〈◊〉 This is eternal life to know thee Joh. 17. 3. 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1. 3. Through the knowledge of our Lord 〈◊〉 Savior For a blind hood-winkt Faith is the 〈◊〉 of Apostates and Papists of Deceivers and 〈◊〉 but not the Faith of Gods Elect. Secondly This Evidence is laid out according 〈◊〉 its proper object according to which it looks in 〈◊〉 place and in this Dispute Namely 1 Its 〈◊〉 aright to what spiritual benefit we shall have Or 〈◊〉 the possession or partaking of what we do enjoy 〈◊〉 Christ and these are rather some spiritual priviledge or blessings received and manifested by our 〈◊〉 tions than the Qualifications themselves as the 〈◊〉 terms of the Question do undeniably determine Hence its plain according to the Opinion of 〈◊〉 that hold the 〈◊〉 of the Question 〈◊〉 ed It is not touching the 〈◊〉 of Faith in 〈◊〉 Soul because this Evidence in the Question 〈◊〉 Faith wrought Again it s not touching any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on or Qualification of Grace to be wrought in 〈◊〉 Soul For I take 〈◊〉 to be an everlasting truth The 〈◊〉 never doth give nor can there be any vidence that God will work the first Condition Grace or the first Grace in the Soul before it be 〈◊〉 for as we heard Evidence carries Two things 〈◊〉 it 1 God reveals his Will to or work upon the 〈◊〉 2 There is both Science issuing from that 〈◊〉 wisdom that hath been set up in the mind and 〈◊〉 of Faith which embraceth that truth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 firmly being so cleerly and firmly assented 〈◊〉 Hence it follows necessarily and 〈◊〉 That which presupposeth the first Grace wrought 〈◊〉 the Soul and is an effect of that that cannot be 〈◊〉 before the first Grace be wrought but Evidence 〈◊〉 presupposeth spiritual science and assurance 〈◊〉 Faith therefore it cannot be before the first Grace 〈◊〉 before Faith be wrought 〈◊〉 the Soul Hence that 〈◊〉 the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. last Who knows the mind 〈◊〉 the Lord but we have the mind of Christ because 〈◊〉 have the Spirit of Christ and that cannot be had without Faith Gal. 3. 14. That we may receive the Promise of the spirit through Faith Those Promises then which imply the working of 〈◊〉 Condition of the Covenant or the first Grace do 〈◊〉 Three things 1 What God alone can do as 〈◊〉 to his peculiar Prerogative 2 What 〈◊〉 will do for his that is Such as shall come of his Son Christ the second Adam 3 What the means 〈◊〉 manner is by which he will do it As The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents 〈◊〉 I will take away the heart of stone and give 〈◊〉 an heart of flesh c. That is I alone can do 〈◊〉 and I will do it for those that are the Seed of the Covenant for still such Promises have an eye to the Covenant of the Church and the Faithful 〈◊〉 it as 〈◊〉 will Circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed c. And by the manifestation of the Fulness and Freeness of this Mercy of mine I will work it There is an irresistable light which the Lord lets into 〈◊〉 mind at the first call which makes way for Faith and is a direct act of Knowledge which turns the 〈◊〉 of the Soul to look to that fulness of power and 〈◊〉 of mercy by which the heart is drawn to 〈◊〉 but the reflect act of evidence by which we are assured of what God hath done to us and for us 〈◊〉 whereby we see that we do see is after this and implyes the thing done before we see it The issue is The object of this Evidence we now speak of is not gracious Qualifications wrought 〈◊〉 to be wrought but our right to or possession of 〈◊〉 Priviledges as thou art my Son thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accepted thy sins are pardoned But how 〈◊〉 shouldest be brought to these or have thy heart framed to receive these that is not attended at all the spiritual Priviledges which we have or hope 〈◊〉 mainly attended in this work of Evidence are Pardon and Forgiveness in our Justification our Adoption and Acceptation to be Sons and the Reconciliation of our Persons to the Lord and our happiness 〈◊〉 These are the spiritual Benefits which are here considered and about which the 〈◊〉 is meant The Third term to be opeend in the Question is Immediate Evidence without respect to Faith or any saving Qualification Its called Immediate in this Dispute not because it is without the word or not by means of the Word for to deny that would be too loathsom 〈◊〉 but immediat in respect of 〈◊〉 condition going before out of which it might 〈◊〉 For however the Question propounded grants 〈◊〉 Faith and Grace is there yet the Evidence must be had without eying or attending any thing of a Qualification I 〈◊〉 a double Pretence which 〈◊〉 this kind of Curiosity First a fear least they should prejudice the freeness Grace if any Condition or Qualification in any 〈◊〉 should be attended 1 A Conceit directly and expresly contrary to 〈◊〉 very letter of the Text and intendment of the 〈◊〉 Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of Faith that it might by Grace and if the being of Faith in the relying 〈◊〉 Christ in the act of it do not hinder free Grace 〈◊〉 less will the seeing of it 2 Besides if a 〈◊〉 attended would 〈◊〉 free Grace then the Covenant of the Gospel 〈◊〉 not attend and by name expresly require 〈◊〉 or else it should not be a Covenant of 〈◊〉 3 It s Free Grace that makes and works the 〈◊〉 and when it s wrought there is nothing given 〈◊〉 it or the Party who beleeves for his Faith but 〈◊〉 its an Empty hand to take

they should have received the Word with sorrow first and then afterwards with joy and therefore this sudden and disorderly coming brings as sudden and shameful departing away therefore it follows in the 21. verse Yet hath be not root in himself but dureth only for awhile and in the time of temptation falls away As it is with the corn upon the House top it flourisheth and fades speedily but no man fills his hand with it But would you not have a man to beleeve is it not a duty which God reveals and commands upon no less hazard than the loss of eternal life He that beleeves not is condemned already John 3. 18. This is the sin of all sins which the spirit convinceth the world of that they do not beleeve John 16. 8. Can a man do so necessary a duty too soon or hath he allowance to neglect it and not beleeve at any time why would you not have a man to beleeve at some times when God commands him to beleeve at all times No God forbid There is no allowance for unbeleef at any time It 's his duty for ever to 〈◊〉 it the Ministers duty to exhort unto it and require it Beleeve 〈◊〉 he can but that he will never be able to do it to be married to Christ and sin also to be under the 〈◊〉 of corruption and 〈◊〉 command of the Lord Jesus to grow upon two stocks at one and the same time t is not possible And when the Lord in his word so strictly enjoyns it and his 〈◊〉 call upon men to beleeve the aim and intendment of both is to 〈◊〉 them to use 〈◊〉 means and take that 〈◊〉 whereby they may come and beleeve First to make room for Faith before they can receive Faith first go out of themselves and 〈◊〉 before they can go unto a Savior and therefore this is not to hinder the work of Beleeving but to further it and that unto the utmost according to the mind of God A Third sort who miss the way to the Lord Jesus are such who indeed attend 〈◊〉 work in the right place but spoyl it in the doing make an entrance but never come to any perfection yea pervert it 〈◊〉 by their rash and unskilful proceeding There be some quarrels and babbles raised between the soul and a mans sinful distempers they begin to be at ods and contention and therefore upon a push they purpose to part dwellings because of some hard measure that they find unexpectedly from their beloved lusts the venom thereof vexeth his spirit and the sting of those terrors and the righteous plagues which are now deserved and so presented before the veiw of the soul makes him sal out with his corruptions as having expected other and more pleasing dealing at theirhands and that upon their 〈◊〉 and pretences made but 〈◊〉 he feels the bitterness thereof and therefore can 〈◊〉 judg of them by his owne sense and experience and thus the terror and trouble and hart-smart which his sin hath wrought in him setts him busily and resolutely to the reformation and amendment of it and in this turn there may be no Sinne he Sees or knowes but in his own apprehension he would renounce all no Service or duty but he doth approue and practise all selfe-terror setts him a worke for 〈◊〉 owne honor or quiet and pitch him at what narrownes you will he will Come to it And as the dint of the blow is and the power and strength of the ordinances under which he lives and the Constant houlding himselfe to the use and excercise of holy duties continue this may continue long and cause both Confidence and comfort with it And this is a dangerous and desperate mistake being a preparatiue for a Child of the law i. e. to a legall reformation not for the implantation of the soul into Christ and here millions perish When by self terror occasioned by the sting of Sin the Sinner is set upon reformation and that with much violence with a kind of thorownes stricktnes to procure his owne safetie selfe loue meeting with terror setts a man upon amendment of himselfe for selfe ends as his owne salvation and honor That preparation which sets a soul upon reformation so that he attayns his end and ease there so that there is deep silence about a Christ nor yet sight and sence of the need of him its certaine it s naught for it issues only from this principle and when that failes both his duties and comforts come to an end This was the guise of that young man Matth. 19. 20. who could say to our Saviour I have kept all the commandements from my youth what lack I yet he lived in a reformed way and rested there when yet his heart was not loosened from his 〈◊〉 Corruptions and therfore when he came to the triall he would rather part with 〈◊〉 and heaven and happiness then part with his 〈◊〉 I his was also the frame of those hipocrites Isay. 50 36. who fasted and afflicted their soules and yet did not loose the bonds of wickedness A saving preparation though it be not a principle of life yet it makes way and roome for the comming of a Christ that will 〈◊〉 a principle of life into the soul this is the end of it and if it cease before it come 〈◊〉 it misseth its end A fourth sort are such who have weltered long in their owne sorrowes and their owne performances and Services and 〈◊〉 find and therfore are forced to 〈◊〉 there is neither power nor pardon nor peace there to be had for their guilt and 〈◊〉 and distempers remaine as before and therfore they see all in 〈◊〉 Christ know they must have it from him and are 〈◊〉 to expect it therfore they ply him with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prayers yea are contented that he should doe all for them Only they would 〈◊〉 with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this proviso that he must doe it for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spoke of the Centurion Luke 7. 4. he is 〈◊〉 for whom thou shouldst doe this So they thinke of themselves since they sorrow and seek and attend upon him according to his will they cannot 〈◊〉 with patience to think they should misse These men have not renounced their owne worthyness and would inded 〈◊〉 in upon the prviledge of the Lord and not make it free and so not grace How shall the soul know it 〈◊〉 thus look to much to its owne worthiness I answer in two things 1. If it 〈◊〉 snarle at Gods dealings and quarrell with his 〈◊〉 and privily 〈◊〉 and repine when they see others have more and better then they I see others have been humbled and pardoned and comforted but I go on still in a disconsolate way the Saints of God have sought the Lord and found him gracious to their souls they have used the means and found a blessing upon them but I pray and fast and use all the means of Grace and yet I feel

his Heart to do Farewel Thomas Goodwin Philip Nye COLE 1216. The Application of Redemption by the effectual work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The Ninth Book ISAIAH 57. 15. Thus saith He that is the High and the Lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the High and the Holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit THe Work of Preparation having Two Parts First The Lords manner of Dispensation as he is pleased to deal with the Soul for the setting up the praise of his Rich and Glorious Grace and therefore with a holy kind of Violence he plucks the 〈◊〉 from his sins unto himself and his Christ. This hath been dispatched already in the former Discourse The Second now follows And that is the Frame and Disposition which is wrought in the Hearts of such as the Lord hath purposed to save and to whom he hath dispensed himself in that gracious Work of his Contrition Humiliation This Disposition consists especially in Two Things That so I may follow the Phrase of Scripture and retain the Lords own Words in the Text where the Lord saith that he dwels with him that is of an humble and contrite Heart To omit al manner of Coherence and other Circumstances we will pass all the other Specials in the Verse and point at that Particular which will suit our proceeding and may afford ground to the following Discourse that we may go no further than we see the Pillar of Fire the Lord in his Truth to go before us We shal fasten then upon the last words only as those that fit our Intendment To make way for our selves in short there is one word alone to be opened that so the Point may be better fitted for our Application we must know what it is to dwel or how God is said 〈◊〉 dwell in a contrite and humble heart I Answer To Dwell implies Three Things First That the Lord owns such as those in whom he hath an especial interest and claims a special propriety as though he left all the rest of man-kind to lie wast as a Common that the World and the Devil and Sin may 〈◊〉 and use at their pleasure reserving the Honor of his Justice which by a strong hand he will exact as a Tribute due to himself out of all things in Heaven and Earth and Hell and all but persons whom he thus fits he reserves for his own special Improvement As Princes and Persons of place and quality do lease out and let some Forrests and Commons to the Inhabitants bordering thereabout reserving some acknowledgment of Fealty and Royalty to themselves but the choyce and best Pallaces or Granges of greatest worth and profit they reserve for their own peculiar to inhabit in So here the Lord leaseth out the World and the wicked in it to the Devil and his Angels and Instruments reserving a Royalty and Prerogative to himself as that he will have his Homage and Acknowledgment of dependance upon himself but his broken-hearted ones are his own for his own Improvement Deut. 32. 8 9. When the most High divided to the Nations their Inheritance and separated the sons of Adam he set the bounds of his People according to the number of the Children of Israel for the Lords Portion is his People Israel the Lot of his Inheritance Ye are the Temple of the Living God 2 Cor. 6. 16. Yea to them the Lord himself saies Ye are my People and they shall say thou art my God Zach. 13. last Therefore he professeth that though in the course of his Providence he goes on progress over all the world yet he takes up his dwelling and abode amongst his own People For Secondly Where a man dwels as he owns the house so he takes up his abode there it is the place of his residence we say any may know where to seek men or where to find them at home at their own house That 's the difference between Inning and Dwelling we Inn at a place in our passing by when we take repast only and bait but depart presently intending not to stay but where we dwel we settle our abode we take up our stand there and stir no further So the Lord is said then to dwel in the Soul when he vouchsafes the constant expression of his peculiar presence and assistance to the soul. True it is that the Lord fills Heaven and Earth with his presence yea the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain him Jer. 23. 24. His infinite Being is every where and one and the same every where in regard of himself because his being is most simple and not subject to any shadow of change being all one with himself Yet he is said to take up his abode in a special manner when he doth put forth the peculiar expression of his Work as in Heaven he dwels because he puts forth the constant expression of his Glory and that in the full brightness of it without any alteration and change Here in this Spiritual Temple the Souls of his Saints he puts forth the peculiar expression of the constant assistance of his blessed Spirit I will pray the Father and he shall send you another Comforter who shall abide with you for ever John 14. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 23. Ye have received an anointing which abideth in you Dwelling if it be attributed to the chiefest Inhabitant and Owner of the House it implies also the ruling and ordering of the occasions that come under hand there the exercising of the Government of the house and family where the Owner is and dwels He that lodgeth at a House as a stranger comes to an Inn as a Passenger he takes what he finds hath what he can receive of kindness and courtesie but the Owner is the Commander of the House where he dwels and the orderer of all the Affairs that appertain thereunto So doth the Lord with a broken Heart Thus we are said to live in the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit Gal. 5. 25. And it 's that which follows by Inference upon this ground John 15. 4. 5. If I abide in you and you abide in me you shal bring forth much fruit and therefore it s added also in this place that the Lord dwels in the contrite and humble heart to receive the Spirit of the contrite ones they yeeld themselves to be acted by him and they shall be acted and quickened by him to Eternal Life So that the full meaning is The contrite and humble heart is such to whom the Lord vouchsafes acceptance special presence and abode and peculiar guidance he owns him abides with him and rules in him for ever True it is said Christ dwels in our Hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. and as many as beleeve in him they receive him John 1. 12. That is done as by the next and immediate hand by which we say hold on Christ and

prayed in vain and no man ever attained 〈◊〉 thereby if they would and as they may and mought according to this Doctrine of Devils resist the 〈◊〉 of the blood of Christ and his Spirit and their 〈◊〉 Salvation purchased for them by Christ. So that the Seed of the Woman did not break the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. It was not certain that 〈◊〉 Savior should see his Seed Isa. 53. 10. Our Savior Christ was mistaken when he said I have other 〈◊〉 those also I must bring they shall 〈◊〉 my voice they might reply But we may chuse and Christ must 〈◊〉 us leave It hence follows That our Savior Christ is not so able to save as Adam to destroy It s not in the Will of Adams Posterity to stop the guilt and filth of his 〈◊〉 to seiz upon them to their condemnation but the first Adam will undoubtedly pollute and condemn all those that he Covenanted for and 〈◊〉 the second Adam cannot save ánd sanctifie all that he 〈◊〉 for contrary to the triumph of the Apostle Rom. 5. 15. If through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many It hence follows Christ hath purchased a right to all Spiritual good but not the Communication and Possession thereof undoubtedly to be bestowed contrary 〈◊〉 Job 17. 19. For their sakes I sanctifie my self that 〈◊〉 also may be sanctified Eph. 1. 3. Lastly How deeply injurious and dishonorable is 〈◊〉 this to our blessed Saviour How derogatory to 〈◊〉 Wisdom to purpose that he can never accomplish How cross to his power that he should aim at that by 〈◊〉 Death which either Satan or mans corruption 〈◊〉 be more able to cross than he to effect Nay How senseless and unreasonable is it that Gods justice 〈◊〉 hinder this work and yet sin should when all 〈◊〉 strength that sin hath is indeed from the Law the 〈◊〉 of sin is the Law 1 Cor. 15. 56. from that Commission which Divine Justice puts into its 〈◊〉 If Christ Merited and Purchased Redemption for All then he Wills and intends seriously that all should 〈◊〉 saved then he will afford the means to attain it for 〈◊〉 end and the means the end in intention and the 〈◊〉 in execution go both together and none in 〈◊〉 sever them much less will the Lord who is 〈◊〉 Author of all wisdom Rom. 10. 17. Faith comes 〈◊〉 Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God But Sense and Experience of all men of all ages makes it beyond question That God gives not the means of Salvation to All Psal. 147. 19. He hath given his word unto Israel he hath not dealt so with 〈◊〉 Nation Paul makes it the priviledge of 〈◊〉 Jew to them was committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. They alone Called they alone in 〈◊〉 they alone honored with all the Priviledges of all Gods Ordinances Yea the Lord neglected the 〈◊〉 condition of the Gentiles in former ages he 〈◊〉 not after them cared not for them nay they 〈◊〉 without God without Christ without Hope a far off not within the ken and call of Salvation 〈◊〉 such is the condition of many Nations of the 〈◊〉 at this day who have not so much as any means of 〈◊〉 granted unto them nor any sound of the Gospel of Christ amongst them Now do any in 〈◊〉 prepare Physick for the good of another and yet 〈◊〉 Patient never have it never hear of it The Answer which is here made by Papists and 〈◊〉 is this That though God doth not afford equal external means of Calling yet he calls all 〈◊〉 therefore they make a double kind of Calling 1 〈◊〉 diately by the Law 2 Immediately by the 〈◊〉 Not that the Law can cause Faith in Christ 〈◊〉 but only in way of preparation by these degrees 〈◊〉 Lord hath left the work of the Law and the 〈◊〉 of his Image in the nature of man and withal hath 〈◊〉 forded him so much and so many helps out of 〈◊〉 creatures to manifest his goodness and majesty to 〈◊〉 that if he use this stock well he out of his bounty 〈◊〉 afford him the Gospel and other saving means to 〈◊〉 him to Faith and so to Happiness and to this 〈◊〉 that place is usually alleadged Rom. 1. 19 20. 〈◊〉 which may be known of God is manifest in them 〈◊〉 If they use this light of Nature well God will 〈◊〉 them the light of Grace when they abuse that 〈◊〉 have its just with God to with-hold what they 〈◊〉 and to take away that he gave To this I Reply The Ground of the 〈◊〉 1 False 2 Vain False Because it crosseth that Liberty which 〈◊〉 Lord challengeth and useth in the dispensation of 〈◊〉 means of Salvation without any respect to the 〈◊〉 use of the gifts of Nature The Lord chose a 〈◊〉 to himself of the weakest and the worst Deut. 7. Deut. 9. 5. 6. The Lord set his love upon thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for thou art a stiff necked 〈◊〉 he set up a partition wall between them and 〈◊〉 meerly out of his own good pleasure whereas 〈◊〉 to this Opinion had the Gentiles used their 〈◊〉 well they might have pulled down the partition 〈◊〉 2 It s contrary to that experience we have of Gods 〈◊〉 in the sending of the means that many times 〈◊〉 who abuse them most they enjoy them those who 〈◊〉 have used them 〈◊〉 they want them Matt. 1. 21. 〈◊〉 to thee Corazin Wo to thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great works been done in Sodom ànd 〈◊〉 which have been done in thee they would 〈◊〉 repented in sackcloth and ashes As its a false so it s a vain Conceit Because no man 〈◊〉 ever have the means of grace vouchsafed upon 〈◊〉 condition in that no man ever did or in truth will 〈◊〉 the Condition for then are these Gifts used 〈◊〉 when they attain their end they then attain their 〈◊〉 when they are used in a right order and 〈◊〉 to God and his Glory Rom. 1. 21. so as to 〈◊〉 God as God but no natural man did or ever will 〈◊〉 this Instruction From the Doctrine delivered we may 〈◊〉 to Answer some Cases of Conscience which 〈◊〉 our Spiritual Estates and Comforts First Case of Conscience Whether a man can challenge any interest in any Spiritual Good in Christ or can bring in any proof 〈◊〉 himself of any Spiritual Good received or 〈◊〉 to him from Christ before he beleeve By no means It is a conceit cross to the Covenant of God the Scriptures of Truth the grace of God in Christ and unto the 〈◊〉 of that plentiful and great Redemption which our Savior Christ hath wrought for his For God never decreed any good 〈◊〉 ver intended any good but for beleeving Sinners 〈◊〉 suffered and performed all that he did only for 〈◊〉 sinners as be the seed of the

〈◊〉 World or another World of Men. The ground 〈◊〉 is this Because our Saviour being the head the second Covenant as Adam of the first a 〈◊〉 Person in the room of al such whose persons he 〈◊〉 His merits the very same individual 〈◊〉 death and obedience are apylyed and do 〈◊〉 appertain unto al as Paul had al so Adam 〈◊〉 Noah had al and the same death and 〈◊〉 belongs to any other Beleever as wel as to 〈◊〉 For as Adams actual sin was equally imputed 〈◊〉 al his original equally convayed So Christs 〈◊〉 and righteousness to al His. Adam must 〈◊〉 sin before he can condemne one and if 〈◊〉 it condemnes many thousands as wel as one Christ dies to save one and no more to save 〈◊〉 thousands For the sufficiencie of our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be 〈◊〉 as we do the sufficiencie of 〈◊〉 cause which is ever considered according to 〈◊〉 end at which it looks and for which it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it doth not exceed it is not to be attended 〈◊〉 to the thing in which it doth appear 〈◊〉 end of our Saviours sufferings and merits was save his seed and such for which he had 〈◊〉 and should beleeve whether never so many never so few but for al that come within that 〈◊〉 As a ful tide or stream is sufficient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al Vessels that come upon it yet not 〈◊〉 to carry one Vessel that is not 〈◊〉 So here The Ocean of Gods love and Sea of Redemption 〈◊〉 Christ is sufficient to carry and convay al that 〈◊〉 unto eternal Salvation but not sufficient 〈◊〉 save one that doth not Beleeve And therefore 〈◊〉 any Orthodox Divine the meaning of this 〈◊〉 Sufficient for all Is the sufficiencie of Christs 〈◊〉 in the room of al Is the sufficiencie of 〈◊〉 death intended and performed for the spiritual 〈◊〉 of al they wil al renounce both the sences 〈◊〉 what reason they wil put upon these words 〈◊〉 than that I have now expressed I cannot tel 〈◊〉 only looking at the internal virtue of Christs 〈◊〉 with this condition there is value enough in it 〈◊〉 save al that come within this condition of 〈◊〉 ving As the sin of the first Adam was sufficient 〈◊〉 infect Milions of Worlds if they should 〈◊〉 of him by natural generation and yet not 〈◊〉 to infect one if he did not so proceed But why then are Reprobates commanded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leeve and punished for not Beleeving 〈◊〉 which any is bound to Beleeve that is a truth 〈◊〉 each Reprobate that hears the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Beleeve that Christ dyed for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a truth This is an old deceit which hath much 〈◊〉 the World and wherein the enemies of Gods 〈◊〉 have seemed to triumph and yet in truth it 〈◊〉 fallacie a false form of reasoning But to let 〈◊〉 pass we shal examin whether the 〈◊〉 of it 〈◊〉 true The first part That which any is bound to 〈◊〉 is true may admit many sences A man is bound to Beleeve upon a 〈◊〉 ground Either 1. Of Charitie Or 2. Of 〈◊〉 taintie I am bound sometimes to Beleeve that 〈◊〉 Charity which in it self is not and in the issue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 true But upon Certainty things revealed and 〈◊〉 here I am bound to Beleeve nothing but 〈◊〉 is a truth Again another sence is this The object upon 〈◊〉 my faith is placed is a truth or true 〈◊〉 But to the second part That Christ dyed for me 〈◊〉 the Pronoune is in place of a Noune for me 〈◊〉 Reprobate And then it is a falshood It s not 〈◊〉 in any Gospel that I know nor required in 〈◊〉 Scripture of God that I should beleeve this for 〈◊〉 truth that Christ dyed for Reprobates If it be replyed that therefore a Reprobate is 〈◊〉 bound to Beleeve I Answer the consequence hath no colour of 〈◊〉 I am not bound to beleeve this falshood 〈◊〉 I am not bound to Beleeve The command to 〈◊〉 carries two things with it First that I must 〈◊〉 al means appointed by God to get faith 〈◊〉 when I have got it I must put forth the act 〈◊〉 in resting upon and receiving from the Lord what 〈◊〉 need The sum is Because a Reprobate is bound 〈◊〉 use al means appointed by God to get Faith and 〈◊〉 he hath got it he is bound also to exercise 〈◊〉 faith by resting upon Christ therfore he is 〈◊〉 also to Beleeve this proposition that Christ 〈◊〉 for Reprobates this consequence is cross to 〈◊〉 and in truth to common sence What ever therefore can be said to the contrary 〈◊〉 it is that unbeleif makes a man uncapable of 〈◊〉 of the spiritual good which Christ hath 〈◊〉 and is willing to communicate unto His. So the 〈◊〉 determins this cause Jer. 17. 5 6. Cursed 〈◊〉 the Man that trusteth in the arm of flesh and 〈◊〉 heart 〈◊〉 from the living God he shall be 〈◊〉 the heath in the Wilderness he shal never see when good comes Art thou such a one set thy heart at 〈◊〉 then There is mercie enough saving good 〈◊〉 in Christ and its comming to this and that 〈◊〉 thy Neighbour thy Child thy Servant who 〈◊〉 they shal have it they shal partake in it 〈◊〉 thou shalt never see it never share in it Rom. 〈◊〉 32. It s that which the Apostle describes the condition of such Men by They are shut up under 〈◊〉 so that there 's no way for any means to 〈◊〉 upon them to come at them or to do good 〈◊〉 them al the passages are not only stopped but 〈◊〉 tercepted by the power of Satan and infidelity 〈◊〉 the Soul the soul being shut up under that 〈◊〉 shuts out the power of the Word it works not 〈◊〉 motions of the spirit they perswade not al 〈◊〉 al judgments al ordinances al means they 〈◊〉 not come at the Soul and therfore it s not 〈◊〉 that any spiritual good either Pardon or Peace 〈◊〉 or Comfort should ever come in Exhortation 1 To provoke our hearts to 〈◊〉 Faith 2 How to carry our selves when we 〈◊〉 it First this should whet our desires and provoke 〈◊〉 endeavours since there is al good Purchased 〈◊〉 Christ and al for those that 〈◊〉 Beleeve 〈◊〉 would not now be a Beleever above al our 〈◊〉 get Faith since we are sure to gain so much by 〈◊〉 be the time trouble or prayers pains what 〈◊〉 wil be its worth our labour though it cost 〈◊〉 so much in the getting it wil quit cost when 〈◊〉 we have it first or last you wil find it It was said when the Jews prospered and 〈◊〉 led in the time of Mordecai they had joy and 〈◊〉 ness and a good day and many became Jewes 〈◊〉 would undergo the same condition that 〈◊〉 might have the same comforts And it s an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which nature hath left upon the minds and hearts 〈◊〉 all Men the places which have Priviledges Profits 〈◊〉 Endowments annexed to them carry the

〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Men after them good is the Loadstone of a Mans 〈◊〉 and labour and where most of that appears our 〈◊〉 go thither with most earnestness and 〈◊〉 So you know how the Chief Captain spake 〈◊〉 Paul concerning the Roman Liberties with a 〈◊〉 sum obtained 〈◊〉 this freedome that deliverance 〈◊〉 this fredome they were little not the dust of the 〈◊〉 if they be compared with freedome from Hell 〈◊〉 Death Sin and Guilt and with those 〈◊〉 unconceivable benefits of Grace and Glory hast 〈◊〉 but Faith thou hast interest in all these 〈◊〉 give no sleep to thy eyes nor flumber to thy 〈◊〉 give God no rest nor thy own Soul no quiet get 〈◊〉 though it be with a great sum great diligence 〈◊〉 endeavours vehement desires leave not before 〈◊〉 hast it and then be sure to keep it thine 〈◊〉 welfare lies upon it Each Man hath his aime and there he is eager but 〈◊〉 others look at what they like labour thou for this 〈◊〉 the coverous Man have the World the loose Man 〈◊〉 Pleasures and the ambitious Man his Honours 〈◊〉 do thou say Lord give me Faith If thy 〈◊〉 heart conceive it wil cost the setting on the loss of 〈◊〉 eye or a hand some darling content that must be 〈◊〉 and cast away before thou canst come to it 〈◊〉 thy self and help thy soul over all these 〈◊〉 difficulties with the dayly eying of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to be had in Christ whom thou shalt have 〈◊〉 Faith As Hamor and Shechom his son 〈◊〉 and prevailed with the Shechemites to cut off the 〈◊〉 of their flesh though it carryed an 〈◊〉 of harshness and difficulty upon this plea 〈◊〉 nor their Cattle their Substance and every Beast of theirs be ours only let us consent to them in this and they hearkened to him though it was hard Gen. 34 23. So deal thou with thy own soul shall not the blood and Merits of Jesus shall not that Pardon and acceptance he hath procured that great Redemption he hath wrought the Glory he hath 〈◊〉 be ours shall not every grace of Christ be ours to sanctifie and adorne us every Comfort and those Joyes unspeakable and glorious be ours torefresh our hearts only consent O my soul to Beleeve 〈◊〉 be thou wilt say this work is 〈◊〉 passing thy power and beyond thy strength true be it never 〈◊〉 hard to thee and not possible yet it is not hard to him who hath hardness at command he hath done it for others who can tel but he may do it for thee only let others experience provoke thee and their success encourage thee to seek for it As 〈◊〉 did for the blessing when he knew it was in his Fathers hand to give and that Jacob had received it see how he presseth on with earnestness and tears that he might not go away empty O my Father saies he blesse me also So lay thou Lord I know thou hast done it for others I know thou canst do it for me such proud ones have been humbled such unbeleeving ones have been converted setled comforted and for ever saved O bless me also convert me also call me effectually and cause me also to Beleeve That which was the command of Christ to that man in Mark 5. 36. Is the exhortation to thee only beleeve let this be the pearle in thy eye and pursuit thou seest how comfortable it would be to have those scores of thine quit thy sins pardoned thy heart setled in peace only Beleeve and it 's done thou surveyest the great Redemption that Christ hath Purchased the Kingdome immortall undefiled and that fadeth 〈◊〉 away 〈◊〉 the Lord hath prepared for His only Beleeve and it 's thine thou findest the power the plague of those noysom distempers and hellish temprations which unfit thee for any work make thee wearish in it nay weary of thy life only Beleeve in Christ and they are conquered and for ever subdued 〈◊〉 thus Were there an engine of that use and strength that were it but skilfully handled it would performe al things which otherwise were impossible to be accomplished there need no reasons to press no arguments to perswade men to get it I can do nothing without it I can do every thing if I have it So it is with Faith Mark 9. 23. All things are possible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that beleeves thou thinkest that the wrath of God is so fierce his justice so strict they can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suffered it is not possible they should be undergone corruption is so strong discouragements so great It 's 〈◊〉 possible to overcome but Faith saith nay to that All things are possible to him that can beleeve because he hath Christ to whom all things are possible 〈◊〉 therefore as blind Bartimaeus said touching his sight Mark 10. 48 51. say thou touching thy Faith 〈◊〉 the Lord should put that question to thee What 〈◊〉 thou have say O Lord that I may beleeve that I may receive the grace of Faith whereby I may 〈◊〉 able to receive Christ and all Spirituall good in 〈◊〉 The second part of the Exhortation Is to provoke 〈◊〉 how we should carry our selves towards Christ when we have Faith Christ hath Purchased all for His how should they be to him what should they 〈◊〉 for him then why truly they should lay out 〈◊〉 and all they have received for him who hath 〈◊〉 so much for them and our Saviour seems to 〈◊〉 a prerogative royall and that in a kind of peculiar 〈◊〉 in our services as touching the order in which 〈◊〉 should be tendered 1 Cor. 2. 18. All are yours 〈◊〉 you are 〈◊〉 and Christ is Gods all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through Christ to us all from us by Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 returned again to God And the duty is double 1. Have all at his command 2. Lay out all to his prayse 1. First have al at his command all the graces all the abilities we have received all the blessings of this 〈◊〉 we do possess they should all be laid up and reserved for the Lords use that they may 〈◊〉 hand in 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 his good pleasure when ever he 〈◊〉 call for them As the spowse Cant. 7. last At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits new and 〈◊〉 which I have laid up for thee O my beloved 〈◊〉 the Lords propriety upon them and 〈◊〉 his Image and superscription upon them as they in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 44. 5. One shall say I am the Lords c. So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords and these graces these abilities 〈◊〉 liberties these conveniences they are all the Lords So Christ he assumed our nature took upon him the 〈◊〉 of a servant he did all and suffered all and 〈◊〉 gives the reason and shews the aime at which he looked in all that he did John 17. 19. For their 〈◊〉 I sanctifie my self So do thou say I have all I do all I get these I keep these good things 〈◊〉 Christs sake that I may more

which the Lord 〈◊〉 appointed for the revelation and communication 〈◊〉 all Spiritual Good Again remember this The Word is but an Instrument or means and therefore it 〈◊〉 no further than the Lord Christ works with it 〈◊〉 the operation of his Spirit hence it 's called the 〈◊〉 of the Spirit Eph. 6. 17. and Rom. 1. 16. The Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation as 〈◊〉 Lord puts forth his Power in and by the Gospel Secondly It is the Word in the ' Ministry of it the 〈◊〉 published and preached the Word rightly 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks 2 Tim. 2. 15. that is 〈◊〉 the Word is rightly opened and rightly applied works then more powerfully because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Will of the Principal Agent and according to the weakness of them to whom it is delivered as the chewing of meat fits it for the Stomach and therfore it nourisheth more the pounding of 〈◊〉 makes it smel more so it is with the Word when opened and applied according to the mind of God it 〈◊〉 the savor of Life unto Life 2 Cor. 2. 16. so 〈◊〉 Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by hearing of the Word of God it is not meant that faith comes by hearing of the Word read for that kind of preaching is 〈◊〉 meant for which a man is sent 〈◊〉 15. How can they preach except they be sent but for bare reading no man had need to be sent 2 Cor. 5. 17 18. God 〈◊〉 in Christ reconciling the world to himself and hath committed to us the Word of Reconciliation that is the Lord hath delegated the dispensation of his Word in a way of Explication and Application of it to 〈◊〉 faithful Ministers Only here observe Gods Order 1 The Power resideth first in Christ and his Spirit 2 From Christ and his Spirit it comes to the Word 3 From the Word to the Administration thereof by the Dispensers where you find most of the Word and most evidence of the Spirit there you shall find the work to go on powerfully and successfully for the bringing home of souls to God It is not all Eloquence 〈◊〉 humane Excellency in the world but where a man walketh with God in the use of his Ordinances as when Paul was preaching God opened the heart of Lydia Acts 16. 14. The Word is like a Burning-Glass that which burns and heats is not the Glass but the beams of the Sun that pierceth through the Glass so it is the Power of Christ in a Promise in a Command that makes it pierce to the heart Gal. 2. 8. He that wrought effectually in Peter to the Ministry of the Circumcision was mighty in me towards the Gentils alas what is Paul or Peter or Apollo as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 2. 5. but Ministers by whom you beleeve as the Lord gives to every man 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 Instruments which stir no further than the 〈◊〉 will move by them nor can do no more than the 〈◊〉 will work by them Word Prayer Preaching Sacraments these are 〈◊〉 weak in themselves yet are they mighty through God to bring in the souls of men in obedience to the Lord. Thus I have done with the Explication of this general Conclusion together with the particular Propositions contained in it that God himself the Father through Christ by his Spirit by an Almighty Power is the Principal Cause and the Ministry of the Word the Instrumental Cause of the Application of all saving good Let me ad some Uses that flow from 〈◊〉 Information in Two things First Hence we learn That the 〈◊〉 of the work of Gods Grace upon the souls of his Servants is not done by moral perswasion that 's Pelagianism and Arminianism they require no more to the conversion of a sinner but meer perswasion the Promises of Grace must be pressed the excellency and glory of Christ discovered and that say they is all that is needful lay but these before a man and he hath power to embrace and receive them if he will It is a false conceit If that Power that raised up Christ from the dead must be put forth for the bringing home of a soul to God then there must be more than moral perswasion which only stirs up and draws out that ability that is within us Men may come dead and sit so and return so and be never the better for all the Ordinances and means of Grace if they have no more than them Isa. 57. 19. I create the fruit of the Lips peace peace to him that is neer and to him that is far off it is a creating Power that must be put forth Ministers do speak in vain else Hence again it 's certain the work of God in Application is irresistible This is the main 〈◊〉 from whence that Error is confuted That Power 〈◊〉 raised Christ from the dead was irresistible notwithstanding all sins and all Devils notwithstanding 〈◊〉 hour and power of darkness yet he 〈◊〉 up himself from the dead and by the same Almighty 〈◊〉 Power he works faith in our hearts and quickens 〈◊〉 with Spiritual Life when we were dead in sins and trespasses Eph. 2. 1 2. It 's true there is nothing but Nature and corruption in a man and by vertue of that a man opposeth and resisteth the work of Grace yet so to resist as to frustrate the work of God it is impossible God were not Almighty if sin and Satan could hinder his Work Tryal of our Conversion Observe whether the work of Application come from Heaven or no if so it leaves the 〈◊〉 of an Almighty Power upon the soul as Christ said The Baptism of John 〈◊〉 it from Heaven or from man So I say of Application Is it from Heaven or from your self 〈◊〉 is certain if it be not from the Almighty Power of God it will never bring thee to God neither in this world nor the world to come If the soul can say it was not the power of Men or Means or Ordinances I had all these I understood all these and yet was the same man still I had the old pride and lusts still they lodged in my bosom and came out as occasion served as a dog returning to his vomit till the Lord came from Heaven and broke in mightily upon my heart and there was no resisting of him If you say Must every one see the working of this Almighty Power in his own soul This Work may be really and savingly wrought though the Saints do not generally see and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and how there is an impression made upon the 〈◊〉 the Almighty Power of God even as 〈◊〉 are grown though it be not observed how We see the Power of God in other things They are Natural and outward this inward and Spiritual Take the influences of the Heavens and 〈◊〉 Minerals and wonderful things that are wrought 〈◊〉 yet there is not one of a thousand that are 〈◊〉 to discern and discover these But this Influence of the

reason Where there is nothing but opposition and resistance between two there can be no union for all union implies 〈◊〉 and agreement there must be a mutual accord 〈◊〉 things on both hands before they can be made one Amos 3. 3. Can two walk together except they be agreed love tends to unity and 〈◊〉 the cause of it and that ever presupposeth some I keneis But 〈◊〉 man remaining in the state of Unbeleef and Corruption is wholly opposite to Christ and the work of his Spirit he is wholly Flesh John 3. 6. And the flesh lusts against the spirit and these are 〈◊〉 Gal. 4. 17. the wisdom of the flesh is 〈◊〉 against God it is not subject nor can be subject to the Law so far from closing with the work of the Spirit as it is not able to bear it The Scribes and 〈◊〉 rejected the counsel against themselues i. e. to their own 〈◊〉 Acts 7. 51. Ye stifnecked and 〈◊〉 hearted ye have ever resisted the Spirit of the Lord. Paul did no more than every Natural man would do Being mad saies he I persecuted that way The way of Christ and so Christ himself In a word It 's said of all and it 's true of all the best of the Saints take them in their Naturals ye were darkness Eph. 5. 10. darkness cannot but oppose light He that is acted wholly by the power of Infidelity he must resist the work of Faith and so the receiving of Christ by it There are but Two Covenants that ever God made with man touching his everlasting Estate The Covenant of Works or of the Law the Covenan of the Gospel and so of Grace and these two Covenants are so opposite that the one 〈◊〉 the other If it be of Works it is no more of Grace else Works were not Works If it be of Grace it is no more of 〈◊〉 else Grace were no more Grace Rom. 11. 6. Hence they are severed as far as blessing and cursing Gal. 3. 9 10. So then they which be of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham For as many as are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse Now all men by Nature are Members and Heirs of the first Adam and therefore under his Covenant and under his Curse Rom. 7. 5. 8. Whilst we were in the 〈◊〉 the motions of sins which were by the Law did work in our Members to bring forth fruit unto death Those who are in Christ are under the Covenant of Grace and Life for he that hath the Son hath Life Hence I 〈◊〉 To be under two contrary Covenants of Law and Grace is impossible because so a man should be accursed and blessed at once But he that is in his corrupt Condition and state of Infidelity he is under the Covenant of Works he that is in Christ under the Covenant of Grace Hence followeth a Fifth Reason Who ever is under Grace over them sin shall not have Dominion Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under Grace 〈◊〉 they who are in their natural condition and in the state of Unbeleef they are under the power and dominion of 〈◊〉 therefore they are not under Grace nor yet in Christ. This discovers the folly and dasheth the fond conceit of many carnal men who have framed a speedy way to Heaven in their own fancies through which yet never any had passage thither to wit they fondly imagine they have Christ and Mercy at command and that they can make a step to Heaven in the turning of a hand they 〈◊〉 not make such large provision or preparation before to tire out themselves with tedious and heart breaking sorrows and dayly remorse 〈◊〉 their dayly failings smal warning will serve 〈◊〉 mens turns Be it they love their lusts and practise them they harbor continually their noysom distempers in their souls express 〈◊〉 also in their lives they crave but the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 few hours before their 〈◊〉 to fit themselves for their departure and happiness a few forced sighs faigned and formal confessions of their evils and howling for pardon out of the horror of their spirits now and then customarily adding a Lord have mercy on me they suppose they have made all even with God but if they can but get the Sacrament they conclude all is sure they must needs go post hast to Heaven if they can but say they beleeve Christ must comfort them cannot but save them No no Brethren the Word reveals none our Savior accepts of no such agreement he comes upon no such terms to bring any comfort with him unless any man should be so far forsaken of reason and sense as to imagine the Lord Jesus would carry the Drunkard and his Cups the Adulterer and his Harlots also the riotous Gamester his Cards and Dice Hawks and Hounds and all to Heaven together which is 〈◊〉 and incredible Oh! these men will one day find and that to their wo they cozened their own souls by their own folly whereas sound 〈◊〉 cost more the way must be prepared thy heart loosened rent and plucked away from thy corruptions before the Lord Jesus will vouchsafe once to look in upon thee No Harbenger before no King follows after where the heart is not 〈◊〉 for a Savior there is no hope to 〈◊〉 the presence of a Savior It 's the condition upon which his coming is promised and can be expected upon any sure ground It 's the order and connexion of things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath set in the work of Grace Luke 3. 8. And all flesh shall see the 〈◊〉 of the Lord. The Copulative Particle And tells us the sight of Salvation depends upon that which went before when we see the mountains of Pride high and lofty imaginations levelled crooked perversness of our own spirits taken off and we made meek and tractable then there is some hope that Salvation will appear unto us but if any man will yet rear up mighty Bulwarks and strong holds of rebellion and hardness of heart and maintain those high imaginations sturdy distempers of pride security and carnal confidence he must know whoever he be that as yet he is not within the ken of mercy and though he look until his eyes 〈◊〉 in his head and his heart 〈◊〉 in his body he 〈◊〉 never come within a true sight of Salvation much less may he think ever to be made partaker of it why confer with thy own conscience Dost thou think it fit the King should lie in the Truckle-bed under a company of Traitors Is it reasonable the Lord 〈◊〉 should be an 〈◊〉 to thy lusts No certainly the gods that thou hast obeyed by those thou must be saved thou would have thy lusts but reject Christ thou shalt perish with them but the presence of the Lord Jesus thou canst not enjoy Let the 〈◊〉 man forsake his way and the unrighteous man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and return unto the Lord for he will

his fury was at the height when breathing out threatnings against the Church he came armed with authority and hellish resolution to carry all to Prison Acts 9. In a word while Paul proceeds furiously with a 〈◊〉 intention to oppose Christ to persecute his Members and in the issue to procure and hasten his own everlasting ruine then our Savior prevents him and pitties him and doth him most good while he strives to do most harm and to make havock of the Church the truth and his soul also yea then works his conversion when he most seriously endeavors to work his own Confusion of himself and such as professed the Faith in sincerity the aim of God in all the Apostle directed by the Spirit expresseth to be this 1 Tim. 1. 16. I was a Persecutor but I obtained Mercy to the end that the Lord in me might shew all long-suffering to the example of those that should beleeve on his Name Such a forlorn Sinner at that time was the fittest subject to receive the full print of Gods love and compassion in great Letters as it were that he might be a pattern to all 〈◊〉 of the boundless compassions of the Lord. That as Seamen after a dangerous wrack and miraculous deliverance set up a Monument of their Preservation to all that pass that way to work fear in them to prevent shipwrack and yet hope of Recovery if they do To the like purpose is the Conversion of the Apostle in this heat of his Rebellion set upon Record in publick view As though the Lord should say Look here you forlorn sinners see a desparate Rebel running post-haste to his everlasting ruine and behold withal the hand of Mercy then stopping of him in his way Paul persecuting Christ in his Members Christ then pittying and preserving Paul the one most kind when the other is most vile and 〈◊〉 Oh the madness of a deluded Soul 〈◊〉 reason But Oh the Compassions of a Savior beyond all compare Be afraid you never proceed to such hellish folly and yet bless God That there is such a Savior if you do These be the Seasons of Gods acceptation the first here principally intended the rest not excluded and in these opportunities thus appointed by God in his Wisdom according to his good will he doth put forth the work of his Grace to bring home the Souls of his unto himself Hence we learn That a long life is a great blessing in it self a great temporal blessing as it comes from the Lord. Why Because all that while a man is in the way Mercy may meet with him and he may meet with it While there is life there is hope unless a man have sinned against the holy Ghost Physitians observe all the while there is strength in Nature there is hope the Physick may prove profitable It is much more for the comfort of the Soul while there is life there is yet a possibility Thy heart is stubborn and rebellious and proud but thou yet livest and the Lord lives and his Mercy lives therefore it may be he may shew mercy to thee But when a man is dropped down into the grave and the pit hath shut its mouth upon him then all his thoughts perish then with a sad heart he may remember all the helps he had the opportunities he had but never had a heart to get any good by them Then he reads over all the Sermons he heard by the flames of Hell and remembers all the kindnesses of the Lord and then there is no hope You therefore that know your bosom abominations you have your back doors and your base haunts you know your sins are not pardoned you have not repented of them when you are gone home go your waies and bless God that you live For let me tell you This is all the hope in the world that yet you are alive and therefore the Lord may shew Mercy to you if your dayes were ended and you gone down to Hell then not all the world nay not Christ nor the Mercy of God it self could not save you then therefore look as it was with a Child which was followed by a Bear into a pond the Child cryed out to the people that were running and came to the ponds sides Oh help help and still as the Bear 〈◊〉 him first his Arms than his Legs and still he cryed out Oh help help yet I am alive yet I am alive this is your condition beleeve it Not Bears but Sins and Devils are upon you they have you in their clutches tearing and devouring your Souls Oh look to Heaven and cry out unto the Lord and say Lord a proud stubborn Creature but yet I am alive the Devil is Devouring my soul but Lord help me and deliver me yet I am alive bless God you are so and know its all you have to shew for your everlasting welfare For while there is Life there is Hope Matter of Caution and Advice to fence our souls and fortifie our selves against that hellish distemper of self-Murther that our hearts may be carried with hatred of it and our souls preserved from the commission of it when partly from discontentments and partly from terrors of Conscience men are not able to bear with themselves but they will run to a Halter or a Knife they will put an end to their lives that they may put an end to their sorrows they wil not live that they may not live thus and thus Why Consider Art thou sure of a better life They will Answer No that 's my misery I see all my sins before me and Hell gaping for me and the Devils attending to seize upon my Soul and it makes me weary of my life Weary of your life Take heed of that bless God for your life and pray for life and seek to preserve your life what you may for while your life lasts you are in the way to Mercy Dives had so much experience of the torments of Hell that he sends to those that were alive Oh take heed of coming hither you are in a better condition than I what ever your case be Learn therefore for ever to fear and flie from temptations to self Murther as that which would put an end to your life and to put an end to all hopes and possibilities of Mercy from the Lord. But the main Fruit of the Point which properly belongs to this Place is a Use of Instruction which ought to be observed and settled upon the Consciences of us all Doth the Lord then usually accept of the Soul and do good to it while he provides and continues the means of Grace What then remains but we should give all dilligence to attend upon his times take his means and improve all to the 〈◊〉 for our Spiritual good Suffer me here to stay a while and urge the Collection with an Argument or Two and yet go no further than the Words nor take other Reasons than the Text will

And this was usual in the Course of Providence and the Dispensation of the Means of Grace for himself gives the ground of Gods dealing and his aim in this 1 Tim. 1. 16. To wit That he might be an example and pattern to all Posterity to support the hearts of the rebellious Gentiles that they might not sink under the weight of their unsufferable 〈◊〉 but yet to seek the Lord. So it was with these Converts Acts 2. Some mocked some blasphemed 〈◊〉 derided the Apostles and that was the season the Lord took to set upon their hearts by the Ministery of the Apostles And were the Scripture silent in this case how often have we found it in our own experience acknowledged by many those who came purposely to deride and scom the Ministery of the Word somtimes to entrap and ensnare the Minister somtimes to see and slight and jear at the Assemblies of the Saints that was the time which the Lord took to seize upon their souls to Convince Convert and Save them through Mercy what Congruity or suitableness was there then for this work unless you wil make Contrariety and the height of sinful rage and opposition to be Congruity this is Gods manner to do wonderful things beyond the reach of Common Reason when it was hard to the people of the Captivity to beleive it God then sayes it was not hard to work it Zach. 8. 6. Thus saith the Lord unto this people If it be marvelous in your eyes should it be marvelous in my eyes God usually carries the chiefest of the Expressions of his Providence by way of Contrariety and cross Means in Common Apprehension and the course of things that he might silence the pride of al flesh and the forgery of al 〈◊〉 who are the professed enemies of his Grace So Elias when he would make way for the Glory of the Miracle and Manifestation of Gods power he doth nor only lay the Sacrifice upon the Altar without Fire but digs ditches deep and fills them with water that the power of the Fire might appear more remarkablely 1 Kings 18. 33 34 35. So here To this Experience which cannot be 〈◊〉 take these Reasons for further cleering of the truth and the crushing of this Erronious Conceit If the Conversion or Attraction of a sinner be lastly resolved into the Congruity and suitableness of Moral Perswasions then may it lastly depend upon some natural Cause or in truth upon some Common Circumstance of some outward occasion and Conveniency with which the sinner may meet in the use of Means For in the meeting and Concurence of these as time place order or outward helps and the disposition of the party in some or al of these this Congruity wil consist But this is to resolve our spiritual and supernatural Call into a natural Cause against Rule and Reason For nothing can exceed the bounds of that ability which the Lord in the way of his Providence hath set in the Creature natural Causes produce natural Effects only Joh. 1. 12. Which are born not of blood nor of the will of man nor of the will of the flesh There is nothing in Corruption or natural Disposition or the excellency of any 〈◊〉 that brings forth this spiritual birth Nay the Apostle professedly excludes al these as not able to bring about this work and therefore sets out the vanity and emptiness of them when they are at the highest We Preach saies the Apostle Wisdom to those that are perfect which this world nor the Princes of this world were never able to reach unto 1 Cor. 2. 6. 8. If any were suited with the choicest Means or had liberty to enjoy the choicest Opportunities or the best Advantages according to their hearts Content these were the men and yet these could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this work 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 of outward Means which properly reach not the 〈◊〉 work prove an 〈◊〉 unto this effectual Calling So the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 26. Not many wise not many rich 〈◊〉 many noble 〈◊〉 wisdom and choice abilities wealth and outward 〈◊〉 honor and 〈◊〉 they are in 〈◊〉 and so 〈◊〉 and therefore Congruous to help forward a 〈◊〉 Course because those that are not subordinate 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Argument follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reason if any then these who had 〈◊〉 and choice abilities to improve the Means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work those who had wealth to purchase them those who had authority to 〈◊〉 and them to serve their turn they should be suited to al 〈◊〉 encouragements to 〈◊〉 on in a Christian Course but we see this doth it not Some who have the greatest 〈◊〉 and suitableness of al Moral Perswasions to draw their hearts to Christ do remain for ever at greatest distance from him therefore saving Conversion is not resolved into nor depends certainly upon the Congruity of Moral Periwasions That some have such suitableness and yet remain at such a distance I instance in 〈◊〉 those that sin the sin against the holy Ghost and count the Blood of Jesus a Common thing That these have the Congruity of al means to prevail with them the Word wil give in 〈◊〉 proof Heb. 6. 5 6. They taste of the heavenly gift that is Faith are made 〈◊〉 of the holy Ghost have tasted of the good Word of God and of the powers of the world to come They have a taste of Vocation of Adoption and 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 and that there were 〈◊〉 of Moral 〈◊〉 to work these I thus shew Where there is a Concurrence of al Moral Causes which by the rule of Providence the Lord hath appointed all those that he hath fitted and proportioned both to the nature of the soul and the nature of the spiritual work needful for it such whom he hath so far breathed upon and wrought withal that there is a taste of al the saving work of God left upon the soul only the truth and reality of the work is 〈◊〉 comes as neer to effectual Calling as may be and not be Called as neer to the stamp of true Sanctification as can be and not be Sanctified there is the Congruity of al Moral Perswasions and the meeting and Concourse of the strength of al Arguments and Reasons that can be propounded only there is yet a principle internal wanting which should indeed change the Will For if the contrary to al these be incongruous and carry a kind of unsuitableness either to the necessities of the soul and the work of God upon the soul for its saving good then the presence of these carry an undoubted congruity and answerableness to all the good of the soul and the work that should be done upon it For certain it is when al the Means that God hath appointed are attended and used also in the order and manner he hath appointed neither more help nor more Congruity can be desired nor yet attained for if there be any other Means which God hath not appointed those wil prove hinderances not

give entertainment to him but unless the heart be broken and humbled we cannot receive Faith that we may receive Christ. And while the soul is thus breaking and humbling Faith also is coming in a right sense rightly understood whereof we shal speak somwhat largely if the Lord give us leave to come to that place The Words thus opened the Point is the very letter of the Text which looks full upon every Hearer or Reader that will look upon the Text. The Heart must be broken and humbled before the Lord will own it as His take up his abode with it and rule in it There must be Contrition and Humiliation before the Lord comes to take possession the House must be aired and fitted before it comes to be inhabited swept by brokenness and emptiness of Spirit before the Lord will come to set up his abode in it This was typified in the passage of the Children of Israel towards the promised Land they must come into and go through a vast and a roaring Wilderness where they must be bruised with many pressures humbled under many over-bearing difficulties they were to meet withal before they could possess that good Land which abounded with all prosperity flowed with Milk and Honey The Truth of this Type the Prophet Hosea explains and expresseth at large in the Lords dealing with his People in regard of their Spiritual Condition Hos. 2. 14 15. I will lead 〈◊〉 into the wilderness and break her heart with many bruising Miseries and then I will speak kindly to her heart and will give her the Valley of Achor for a door of hope the story you may recal out of Jos. 7. 28. when Achan had offended in the execrable thing and the hearts of the Israelites were discomfited and failed like water spilt upon the ground because they had caused the Lord to depart away from them the Text saies they having found out the offender by lot they stoned him and they said thou hast troubled Israel we will trouble thee and they called it the Valley of Achor and after that God supported their hearts with hope and encouraged them with success both in prevailing over their Enemies and in possessing the Land So it shall be Spiritually the Valley of Consternation perplexity of Spirit and brokenness of heart is the very gale and entrance of any sound hope and assured expectation of good This I take to be the true meaning and intendment of the place and part of the description of a good Hearer Luke 8. 15. Who with an honest and good heart receives the Word and keeps it by strong hand and brings forth fruit with patience the fruit is Obedience Patience is part of Sanctification and the holy disposition of heart that must be in the heart that brings and bears such fruit that which makes the heart good is Faith in Vocation which enables the soul to lay hold upon Christ in the Word and from him to receive that lively vertue of Patience and readiness to every holy word and work And an honest heart is a contrite and humble heart so rightly prepared that Faith is infused and the soul thereby carried unto Christ and quickened with patience to persevere in good Duties As we say of Grounds before we cast in Seed there is two things to be attended there It must be a fit ground and a fat ground the ground is fit when the weeds and green sword are plowed up and the soyl there and made mould And this is done in 〈◊〉 and Humiliation then it must be a fat ground the soyl must have heart we say the ground is plowed well and lies well but it 's worn out it 's out of heart Now Faith fats the soyl furnisheth the soul with ability to fasten upon Christ and so to receive the Seed of the Word and the Graces of Sanctification and thence it produceth good 〈◊〉 in Obedience Upon this condition Gods favor is promised Psal. 34. 18. The Lord is nigh to them that be of a contrite spirit and saveth them that be of a broken heart Isay 61. 3. He gives the Garment of praise to those that have had the spirit of heaviness it will suit none fit none it 's prepared for none but such it 's their Livery only Upon this condition it is obtained Mat. 18. 3. Unless ye be converted and become as little Children ye can in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 2 Chron. 33. 12. It 's said of Mannasseh he humbled himself greatly and made supplication and the Lord was intreated of him such persons and services are highly accepted Psal. 51. 17. A broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise nay he wil undoubtedly accept of it The Reasons of the Point are taken partly in regard of the heart which without these will neither be fitted nor enabled to act upon God in Christ for any good partly in regard of God all his Ordinances and Dispensations will be unprofitable and unable to do that good which he intends and we need To the first in regard of our Hearts those Lets and impediments which put a kind of incapability yea and impossibility upon the soul whereby the coming of Faith into the Heart and so the entrance and residence of the Spirit are hindred are by this disposition wrought and removed These Impediments are two The 〈◊〉 which stops the way and work of Faith is a setled kind of contentedness in our corrupt condition and the blind yet bold and presumptuous confidence that a natural man hath and would maintain of his good condition Each man sits down willingly well apaid with his own estate and portion sees no need of any change and therefore not willing to hear of it Each man is so full of self-love that he is loth to pass a sentence against his own soul to become a judg and self-condemner and consequently an executioner of all his hopes and comforts at once and so put his happiness and help out of his own hand Besides we are Naturally afraid out of the privy yet direful guilt of our own Consciences to profess the wretchedness of our own miserable and damnable Condition as to put it upon a peremptory conclusion and that beyond question I am undone I am a damned man in the Gall of bitterness in the bonds of iniquity lest they should stir such horrors which they are neither able to quiet nor yet able to bear And therefore out of the presumption of their own hearts they would easily perswade and delude themselves they have no cause to alter their condition and therfore they should not endeavor it Hence the carnal heart is said to bear up himself against all the assaults of the Word Deut. 29. 19. When all the Curses of the Law were denounced with never so much evidence yet the presumptuous sinner blesseth himself promiseth all good to himself and secretly feeds himself with vain hopes that he shal attain it therfore he wil

confession be of the right make not counterfeit but currant he shal not only have mercy 〈◊〉 for him in the Deck but he shal have the use of it find the sweet of it he shal find mercy pardoning pitying pacifying comforting and saving mercy As when we have sought the thing that we have in our house we say we have found it when we have it in our hand and for our use Yea God is marvelous ready to meet the sinner half way in his mercy and compassions when he perceives that with a serious purpose of heart he sets himself 〈◊〉 this work Psal. 32. 5. I said saith the Prophet I wil confess my sin and thou forgavest 〈◊〉 iniquity The unfeigned purpose of Spirit this way God takes in good part and is so marvelously pleased therewith that he gives him pardon and forgives his sins before he can mention by his words what he purposed in his mind 1 Kings 8. 38. 〈◊〉 prayer shall be made by any man that shall know the plague of his heart he will hear in Heaven and forgive c. And in this Case we need not nay we should not make confession of our secret sins for we have no Command to carry us unto this no Example to warrant such a practice nor yet have we the Institution of any Ordinance which may challenge our attendance to it And this you must carefully heed and maintain against that cunning forgery of the Popish consession which they have imposed upon al their followers and drudges Their 〈◊〉 and Opinion is this That every man is bound once at the least before the Sacrament to confess in particular all and every one of his mortal sins whereof he stands guilty into the Ear of the Priests the memory whereof by due and diligent premeditation may be had even such as are hidden and are against the two last Commands of the Decalogue together with the Circumstances which may alter the kind of the sin If not say they let him be accursed This Canonical Institution is the erecting of an Engine of Cruelty to rack mens Consciences and pick mens Purses to satisfie their own greedy covetous desires and to set up their Lawless Soveraignty in the hearts of such who have captivated themselves to their Directions and Counsels for thus they have a noose upon mens Consciences and hold men between hopes and fears leaving them between Heaven and Hell as they suit their minds If they please their Humors then they pardon them and pull them out of Hell If they satisfie not their expectations in giving so much for good use or paying so much yeerly to further the Catholick Cause then their sins are such to Hell they must go they cannot be acquitted This made their Drudges even weary of their lives as never seeing an end of their misery nor knowing what would become of their souls And it 's that which is called by John in the 〈◊〉 The torment of a Scorpion when he stings a man Rev. 9 6. That men shall seek death and 〈◊〉 not find it and shal desire to die and death shal fly from them And holy and judicious Brightman expounds it of this sting That the Jesuites keep men upon the rack of this Confession never knowing what wil be come of their souls nor an end of their misery further than it suits their conceits And the Popish School who were more ingenuous have delivered in their Judgments from these unnecessary burdens which the Jesuits as hard Task-Misters have laid upon other mens 〈◊〉 and which they wil neither 〈◊〉 nor move the least finger to 〈◊〉 any ease That which the soul hath obtained from Heaven at the hands of God that is needless we should desire from the hands of men whose only help is to evidence Gods mind But by humble confession in secret to God the soul hath received pardon srom Heaven sealed up in his bosom by Gods Spirit and the testimony of his own 〈◊〉 therefore it 's needless to desire it from the hands of men when we have what we desire and that in a better manner than they can give it Again To be wise above that which is written is unlawful and to do more than we have warrant for is ever unacceptable to God but the Lord in his Word requires no more before the Sacrament but that a man should 〈◊〉 himself and by the exercise of Faith and Repentance gain assurance of the pardon of his sin not go to confess his secret sin to another therefore to do that is more than Christ and the Gospel 〈◊〉 or God wil accept When the soul lies under the guilt of secret sins if the Lord in the use of all other means denies either POWER or PEACE Power to oppose and master the Corruption so that stil the soul is overborn by the violence and malignity of it Or denies Peace so that the old guilt returns afresh after all prayers and confessions we make cries and 〈◊〉 we put up in fervency and importunity unto the Lord After the improvement of al means of Reformation and Repentance yet the Lord for Reasons best known to himself denies to seal up the assurance of Love and the forgiveness of sin unto the Conscience then the Lord cals to this Duty of Confession to such who are fitted and enabled to lend help and relief under God in such a case That which the Lord hath promised to bestow and we are bound to obtain we are bound consequently to use al 〈◊〉 means appointed by God for this purpose that we may be made 〈◊〉 thereof But the pardon of our 〈◊〉 the acceptation of our 〈◊〉 and the peace of our 〈◊〉 God hath promised to bestow and we 〈◊〉 bound to obtain therefore we must improve al means to this end If then we find by experience that God is not pleased to dispense power or peace by our own 〈◊〉 on improvements of al means by our selves he then cals us to use the help of the prayers and counsels of others who are called the 〈◊〉 of our Faith and Joy who are appointed to build us up in our holy Faith whose duty it is to comfort the feeble minded and to instruct the ignorant and whose prayers are effectual means to obtain the removal of sicknesses and the forgiveness of sins James 5. 15. And some sins there be as secret Adultery and murder which God never usually pardoneth to the heart of the Offender but he compels him to lay open those Hellish corruptions by open confession unto some other Nay as he never usually pardons them to his commonly he never suffers them to go away 〈◊〉 even in the wicked but when men are not willing to take shame by private confession he forceth them by horror of Conscience to vomit out their 〈◊〉 in the face of the world and to bear their 〈◊〉 and leave 〈◊〉 names an everlasting reproach when they 〈◊〉 out their 〈◊〉 upon the 〈◊〉 or upon the 〈◊〉 of their sicknesses

will 92 It discovers two dangerous mistakes about the work of Application   1 When a man catcheth at the general offer of mercy and Christ without getting a special title thereunto   2 When a man takes hold of Christ from self-love for self-ends 93 See the folly and madness of men who are unwilling to be made happy   See the Justice of God in the destruction of such as will not have Christ.   〈◊〉 The manner and Order how this 〈◊〉 good made ours   The soul for whom Christ hath purchased   1 Is made capable of it   2 Hath a right unto it 〈◊〉 3 Is estated in it 〈◊〉 4 Hath liberty to use all as it 's own   Uses five hence   Admiration at the riches and freeness of Gods grace in Christ. 95 He works that in all his which he requires of them   2 Humiliation in the sight of our own vileness 〈◊〉 unworthiness 〈◊〉 3 Encouragement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hearts of the 〈◊〉 sinners sinking under 〈◊〉 apprehension of their own   1 〈◊〉 not able to reach this work   2 Crossness to it and 〈◊〉 against it   4 Direction shewing the 〈◊〉 way how to set 〈◊〉 the work of Application   1 Look at Christ first all our good being laid up 〈◊〉 him   2 Look at all Graces either as leading to Christ 〈◊〉 coming from him   3 When we would have our Graces acted 〈◊〉 to them but to Christ as the Author and 〈◊〉 of all 〈◊〉 5 Exhortation to the Faithful   1 Make sure keep sure your Evidences for Christ.   2 Challenge and make use of all the good things 〈◊〉 Christ.   3 Grow rich upon the revenues of the Gospel   III. The Causes of Application 〈◊〉 1 The Principal Cause is 〈◊〉 himself   1 The 〈◊〉 is satisfied by Christ.   2 Christ as Mediator and Head of the 〈◊〉 Where that of Christ from whence 〈◊〉 issues is the Resurrection of Christ 〈◊〉 Use Hence distressed sinners should look to the 〈◊〉 surrection of Christ.   3. The Spirit sent from the Father and the 〈◊〉 make this Application   2 That Power by which the Spirit works in 〈◊〉 tion is an Almighty power 〈◊〉   Rea on s two 〈◊〉 Because   1 Of that Hellish opposition in us against it   2 That good that is to be communicated is a 〈◊〉 natural good   The Instrumental Causes are those means which the Lord is pleased to appoint and 〈◊〉 viz. The Word in the Ministry of it 133 1 The Power resideth in Christ and his 〈◊〉   2 From thence it is in the Word   3 From thence to the Administration thereof by the 〈◊〉   〈◊〉 four hence   Information   1 The Work of Application is not wrought by moral 〈◊〉   2 It is 〈◊〉 136 Tryal whether we have found the impression of Gods Power by the means   Support unto sinners sinking in the thoughts of   1 The 〈◊〉 between this work and them   2 Their opposition against it   Exhortation to attend upon God in his own means 138 1 Slight not any but try every Ordinance   2 Fear 〈◊〉 we should fall short of Gods Power in an 〈◊〉   3 When the Lord works by an Ordinance take heed of withdrawing our 〈◊〉 from under his working power   BOOK III. On Luke 1. 17. To make ready a People 〈◊〉 for the Lord. DOCT. 1. The soul must be fitted for Christ before 〈◊〉 can receive him 144 1 What this Preparation is in four things   1 Arenouncing the Authority of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Of our own abilities 〈◊〉 3 Of our own worthiness 〈◊〉 4 A readiness to side with Christ 〈◊〉 2 The manner of this 〈◊〉   1 The soul is passive herein   2 It 's an act of the Spirit dispossessing sin   3 This being done Faith certainly follows   4 The soul prepared yields wholly to Christ 〈◊〉 Reasons why there must be such a Preparation 〈◊〉 taken from   1 The testimony of several Scriptures   2 Else the soul should be implanted into Christ 〈◊〉 it is in a state of Nature   3 The soul must be cut off from the root of old Adam before it can be 〈◊〉 into Christ the 〈◊〉 Adam   Uses five hence 〈◊〉 1 Instruction Christ cannot be united to the soul 〈◊〉 in its 〈◊〉 For   1 Such a one cannot receive the Spirit   2 He is in the state of Cendemnation   3 He doth oppose Christ.   4 He is under the Covenant of Works   5 He is under the Power of Sin   2 It discovers the folly of carnal men who conceit they may have Christ without any preparation for him 3 Tryal whether we have come to Christ in the right way 166 The difference between restraining and preparing Grace 166 Gods ends in restraining men   1 To shew his Dominion over the worst of men   2 To provide for the Societies of men   3 That he may put his Servants to a narrower search   Gods end in preparing Grace is That he may implant the soul into Christ.   This 〈◊〉 Evidence against four sorts   1 Such as 〈◊〉 this Work as 170 1 〈◊〉 secure sinners   2 Presumptuous Atheists   2 Such as come to Christ and yet renounce 〈◊〉 their corruptions   3 Such as come to Christ and renounce not their own abilities   4 Such as renounce not their own worthiness   4 Encouragement to distressed 〈◊〉 such are in way of preparation therefore in way to Christ.   5 Exhortation to prepare for Christ   1 Consider how sinful and miserable we are 〈◊〉 must prepare 200 2 Who it is we must prepare for   Here consider   1 The worthiness of Christs person   2 The good he brings with him   3 He beseeches you to receive him   DOCT. 2. A plain and powerful Ministry is the ordinary means to prepare the heart for Christ. 20 1 Plain in   Words Matter 2 Powerful as delivered with   1 Evidence of Reason 212 2 Zealous 〈◊〉 213 Reasons two 〈◊〉   1 Such a Ministry discovers the secrets of sin   2 It over-powers Corruption and sets an awe upon the spirits of men   Uses three hence 216 1 〈◊〉 may see the reason of the little success they find viz. Want of plain and powerful preaching   2 See the fearful estate of such as have lived long under such a Ministry and yet not prepared for Christ.   3 Exhortation Attend upon the Word that the end of it may be attained viz. Preparation for Christ.   BOOK IV. On 2 Cor. 6. 2. In an acceptable time have I heard thee in the day of Salvation have I succored thee 221 DOCT. 1. The VVork of God is altogether free   1 In appointing   2 In revealing   3 In blessing the Means 229 Reasons three Because   1 〈◊〉 we have can purchase it   2 Nothing we can do can

procure it   3 There is no Promise made to a Natural man   Uses three hence Matter of   1 Thanksgiving 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Grace   2 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 sinners in the sight of their sins and 〈◊〉   3 Exhortation to such as want and are seeking mercy to stay Gods time and wait his pleasure   DOCT. 2. VVhile this life lasts and the Gospel is continued that 's the day of Salvation   1. The time of this Life the time of getting Grace 241 Reason Because after this Life   1 The Sentence past is irrevocable   2 The condition of a man is unchangable   2 While the 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods 〈◊〉   In regard   1 Of the Causes and means which are then afforded   2 Of the effect and work it self which is then wrought   3 Of the subject the persons wrought upon   Uses three hence   1 Learn That long life is a great blessing   2 Caution To fortifie our selves against self-murder   3 Exhortation to improve the time of Salvation   1 It is a Season 251 2 It is a short one but a day   3 A Season not of our but of Gods acceptation   4 It is a day of Salvation   BOOK V. On Matth. 20. 5 6 7. He went out about the sixth ninth and eleventh hour and hired Laborers   DOCT. God calls his Elect at any Age but the most before old Age. 〈◊〉 1 God calls his at any Age some in yonger some in elder yeers   〈◊〉   1 To shew the freeness of his Grace   2 To shew 〈◊〉 Power   〈◊〉 God calls the most before old Age viz. In their yonger or middle 〈◊〉   Reasons Because that 's the fittest Age in regard of   1 The Subject For   1 The Faculties are then most capable of being wrought upon   2 Corruptions are not so strongly rooted   2 The End why Grace is given viz. the Glory of God   Uses three hence 271 1 Instruction Be not rash in censuring the 〈◊〉 Estate of any   Though we may judg of their present state by their fruits   2 Consolation to support aged sinners though it 's not ordinary yet possible they may be converted then 276 3 Exhortation to yonger men take 〈◊〉 present time defer not till old Age if you do   1 Either you will never attain it   2 Or it will be uncomfortable if you do   Motives to provoke such Consider   1 What good you may do while you live   2 What Comfort you will have at your death   3 What your Glory will be in Heaven   BOOK VI. On Revel 3. 17. Thou sayest thou art rich when thou art poor and miserable c.   DOCT. The soul is naturally setled in a sinful security 285 1 The sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his Condition   2 He 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 present   3 He 〈◊〉 none 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 future   4 Hence 〈◊〉 puts his condition beyond question   5 And therefore 〈◊〉 scorns   6 And openly 〈◊〉 an alteration of his estate   Reasons three taken from 292 1 The 〈◊〉 of sin   2 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the soul   3 〈◊〉 and Self-ease   Uses four 〈◊〉 295 1 See the reason why sharp and soul-saving preaching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little acceptance Because it awakens men out of security   2 It 's the 〈◊〉 plague for a man to be let alone in his sins   3 〈◊〉 as never were 〈◊〉 and awakened to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet in it   4 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such should   1 Suspect their 〈◊〉   2 〈◊〉 about it   3 Yield that 〈◊〉 the present their condition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉   BOOK VII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the slesh is enmity against the Lord and is not subject to his Law   DOCT. The frame of the whol heart of a Natural man is wholly unwilling to submit to the VVord that would sever him from his sins 305 1 He seeks not after truth   2 He is loth to meet with it   3 He stops the passage of it   4 He doth what he can to defeat the power and evidence of it   5 He will professedly oppose it   6 He will privily 〈◊〉 the stirrings of the Truth in his Conscience   Reasons four taken from 315 1 The Corruption of the will   2 The Revenging Justice of God   3 The power of Satan   4 The 〈◊〉 and neer alliance between the heart and sin   Uses sive hence   1 It 's the heaviest plague for a Natural man to have his own corrupt will   2 The will of a Natural man is the worst part 〈◊〉 him   3 The 〈◊〉 of a carnal man 〈◊〉 cross to sence and reason   4 Tryal of our estates by our 〈◊〉 or unwillingness to part with sin   He that is willing 331 1 He is speedy and 〈◊〉 in improving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉   2 He takes delight in those means that 〈◊〉 and work most   3 He is not content till his sin be removed   4 He takes not up his stand till he come at God   5 Exhortation Labor for willingness to part with sin 343 1 The greatest and hardest work lies with the wil.   2 Beleaguer the heart with the evidence of Truth   3 Look up to God that he would work upon the heart   BOOK VIII On John 6. 44. None can come to me but whom the Father draws   DOCT. God the Father by a holy kind of 〈◊〉 plucks his out of their corruptions and draws them to beleeve in Christ. 349 This work of Attraction is a transient work 〈◊〉 both these   1 Plucking from sin   2 And drawing to Christ are handled together   For Explication six Particulars   The sorts of drawing two   1 By moral Suasion   2 By Physical or internal operation   This latter is meant here 353 The proper Nature of this drawing it 's the motion or impression of the Spirit upon the Soul not any habit in it or act put forth by it to 〈◊〉 with the Spirit 355 The means how God works and by wich he draws   These are four 355 1 By a hook of Instruction shewing a man that he is out of the way to Heaven   2 By the Cords of Love shewing that Christ and Mercy are   1 Able to 〈◊〉 him   2 Willing to save him   3 Are freely offered for that end   4 The Lord waits to see when the sinner will come   3 By the Iron Chains of Conscience   1 Warning   2 Accusing   3 Condemning   4 By the hand of the Spirit himself   How the holy violence in drawing the Soul from sin to Christ may be discerned in four Conclusions 373 1 The will of man as such is a subject capable of sin and Grace successively   2 The faculty of the will cannot actually

peccator sed 〈◊〉 crediturus as may appear in this expression As Adam being a common person and root of all mankind and in their room he sinned for himself and all his that is all those that were to proceed of him by natural generation so that if there were any 〈◊〉 should not have been begotten of him as they 〈◊〉 not of his nature no more should they be 〈◊〉 or his fault So it is with the second Adam 〈◊〉 a common root suffered and obeyed for all his 〈◊〉 is all those that should come of him and be 〈◊〉 by spiritual generation so that if there were any 〈◊〉 did not partake of his spirit in effectual Vocation 〈◊〉 Faith neither should they have benefit by his 〈◊〉 so that if the Lord should in his Election 〈◊〉 and create thousands of men 〈◊〉 in holiness 〈◊〉 so save them by a Covenant of works in yielding 〈◊〉 obedience they should never be partakers of 〈◊〉 death and obedience of Christ or have the vertue 〈◊〉 applied to them though Elect. A sinner then under the Covenant of Grace the 〈◊〉 of the Covenant for whom he undertakes to make him self denying and beleeving and so one of the posterity of Christ for him Christ dies and this I chuse 〈◊〉 than that consideration of Elect as Elect for these Reasons 1. Because the merits and mediation of our Savior seem to challenge in Scripture some special respect in the party to himself and put a new kind of relation and consideration upon him Now to be Elect is before or without any such respect God Electing of his out of his meer good will and pleasure not looking to our sin or Savior Eph. 5. 23. Christ is the Savior of his Body vers 25. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that is the called beleeving and this is the reason Paul and the rest of the Saints 〈◊〉 themselves into the company of Beleevers He gave himself 〈◊〉 us Tit. 2. 14. John 17. 20. I pray not for the world but for those that shall beleeve on me 2. In what relation Christ looks at his as the Head of the Covenant in the same he looks at his in the work of Redemption and purchase for that he performs as head But as he is head of the Covenant 〈◊〉 looks at his as Members called by him and to be 〈◊〉 ted to him Therefore in that relation he laid 〈◊〉 his life and blood for them 3. By this means we may perceive a more easie passage for the execution of Gods Judgments and 〈◊〉 and a fitter way to stop the mouths of many 〈◊〉 would fain load the truth with many absurdities 〈◊〉 Hence men are made justly faulty and guilty 〈◊〉 their own death in not beleeving nor relying upon Mediator thus graciously offered in the second 〈◊〉 nant through their own corruption and hardness 〈◊〉 heart neglecting their Savior Though it be as impossible to beleeve as to fulfil the Law yet because 〈◊〉 comes through their own original sin whereby 〈◊〉 refuse beleef in the one as obedience to the other they are punished for both Hence also that cavil is crossed whereby they 〈◊〉 load our Doctrine of special Redemption with 〈◊〉 In vain it is say they to perswade a Reprobate to beleeve for if he could attain it he is 〈◊〉 come within the compass of a person rightly qualified for Redemption for he is not elected Now Election is the Lords work only and not mans no not in innocency and therefore in vain to labor for it when 〈◊〉 was and is impossible to attain it Whereas this gloss is hence plainly confuted For if Christ died for al that shal beleeve in him whosoever shall or will beleeve in him shall not spend his labor in vain If he say he cannot beleeve Answ. The fault is his own let him but lie under the stroke of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 resistance and he shall receive it FOR HIS The meaning of that Particle is 〈◊〉 Two things 1. In their room in their stead 2 Sam. 18. last Would God I had died for thee Rom. 5. 7 8. Christ 〈◊〉 for us we being sinners should have died and suffered our selves but Christ did this for us he died in our room 2. For their good He died for us to redeem and save us to make us partakers of that his obedience and suffering for our good and benefit Coloss. 1. 24. I rejoyce in my sufferings for you saies Paul he suffered for their good comfort and encouragement And thus Christ layed down his life for his sheep Joh. 10. 11. that they might have life and salvation thereby It 's true in both the second issues from the first the first is the ground of the second The Reasons of the Doctrine come now to be scanned Christ died and merited either for his and the faithful only or for all indifferently If for all then 〈◊〉 shed his blood suffered the pains of the first and the second death and performed whatever was due unto Divine Justice in the behalf of the unfaithful and such which are and shal be damned and that in their stead as their surety for that 's the meaning of those phrases He laid down his life for his sheep Joh. 10. 11. He gave himself for his Church Eph. 5. 25. that is he suffered and performed all in their room as their surety Heb. 7. 22. And that he must be their surety and in their stead perform all may appear divers waies 1 For as the first Adam was a common person and head of the first Covenant and did covenant with God for himself and his so that what he performed or failed in they were all subject unto the same condition and should in the same manner partake thereof So the Lord Christ the second Adam he is the head of the second Covenant of Grace and therefore engaged himself unto God the Father as a common pledg for himself and his posterity that shall come of 〈◊〉 2 What the Lord Christ 〈◊〉 and performed that the Law exacted and the Father required of him even when he endured the direful indignation of God the Father and bore the sierceness of his fury seizing upon him But the Father could neither in Equity exact these punishments or in Justice 〈◊〉 them upon him for any desert of his own for any thing he had that was evil or any thing he did commit which 〈◊〉 contrary to his righteous Will and holy Rule of the Law Being wholly 〈◊〉 from all sin he should be freed from all plagues and death which is the 〈◊〉 of sin where there is no 〈◊〉 no sorrow no 〈◊〉 can be His punishments which he endured and God exacted for there was nothing done but according to his counsel were for sin therefore for 〈◊〉 sins imputed to him therefore he was surety in 〈◊〉 room therefore if he suffereed for all he had the 〈◊〉 of all imputed and so was surety in the place or all 3 Lastly The

necessity of this consequence 〈◊〉 appears For whom the Lord Christ is not 〈◊〉 for them there is no salvation to be expected for 〈◊〉 it be conceived that our Savior should willingly endure such torments though never required of God which is false for he had a command to lay down his life or that he should have done it meerly of his own pleasure not undertaking for any not tendering of it in any mans name or stead he could require nothing at the hands of God the Father and God the Father might in Justice deny him or any other any recompence For if a man will freely give so much money out of his own liberal 〈◊〉 though it countervail a debt due unto me yet being tendered in no mans name I am not bound to cancel any mans bond or remit his debt the Answer is It was not paid for 〈◊〉 It 's then cleer if Christ died for all the wicked 〈◊〉 he suffered and died as a Surety in their room and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he did not For if he paid all as their 〈◊〉 then God in Justice cannot exact the payment 〈◊〉 r hands nor inflict the plagues upon their 〈◊〉 require two payments for one debt to punish the 〈◊〉 and Surety for the same offence that Justice Christ should be satisfied in the behalf of all this 〈◊〉 beloved Son in whom I am 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 that satisfaction should again be required Justice 〈◊〉 yea common sence abhors The damned and 〈◊〉 are now paying the debt in Hell 〈◊〉 God in Justice requires it therefore his Justice 〈◊〉 not satisfied therefore Christ did not satisfie for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God the Father intended the benefit and 〈◊〉 of all by the death and blood-shed of Christ and 〈◊〉 also undertook and discharged it for that end 〈◊〉 that seriously and throughly then the Lord Jesus 〈◊〉 use those means which might be most useful and 〈◊〉 to attain it then he would pray for them 〈◊〉 his sufferings which he did intend for their good 〈◊〉 be made available thereunto for that is an 〈◊〉 and ever speeding means But Christ professeth 〈◊〉 nor would not pray for the world John 17. 9. 〈◊〉 for them I pray not for the world and the 〈◊〉 proves it for what Christ praies for that he 〈◊〉 John 11. 22. 42. I know that thou hearest me 〈◊〉 but this is not obtained therefore was 〈◊〉 desired therefore not intended by Christ 〈◊〉 for this end our Savior did not lay down his life undertake his sufferings For what he suffered that he intended his own end was most serious in own intention that he intended he desired that he 〈◊〉 he obtained that he obtained not he desired not and that he intended not therefore for that 〈◊〉 he did not suffer If it be said He did pray for those that 〈◊〉 him and yet many of those were not saved nor 〈◊〉 prayers heard Luke 23. 34. Father forgive 〈◊〉 they know not what they do His Crucifiérs were of two sorts 1 〈◊〉 Scribes and Pharisees most of these knew what 〈◊〉 did for they sinned the fin against the Holy 〈◊〉 Mat. 12. 24. to 33. 2 Other poor ignorant 〈◊〉 who were swayed by the sinful example of 〈◊〉 Governors and like the blind followed the blind 〈◊〉 they fell into the ditch shed that blood that 〈◊〉 them they were the cause of his death that was 〈◊〉 means to bring them to life and happiness 1 Cor. 〈◊〉 8. Had they known it they would not have 〈◊〉 the Lord of Glory Now many of those shared in 〈◊〉 blessing of our Saviors prayer Acts 2. 37. 〈◊〉 assuredly that you have crucified the Lord of 〈◊〉 they heard and were pricked in their hearts 〈◊〉 the word and the remission of their sins 〈◊〉 were added to the Church They pierced the 〈◊〉 of Christ to take away his blood Christ pierced 〈◊〉 hearts to take away their sins Christs prayers 〈◊〉 much more than Peters preaching they 〈◊〉 his destruction and death and he then wrought 〈◊〉 salvation He sent his prayers to Heaven 〈◊〉 forgive them the Lord sent down his grace and 〈◊〉 obtained the remission of Their sins If Christ died and by his death merited 〈◊〉 for all why then are not all saved for the 〈◊〉 God is satisfied that will not hinder their 〈◊〉 sin and Satan are subdued and vanquished by his 〈◊〉 and they cannot hinder it Heb. 2. 15. By 〈◊〉 destroyed him that had the power of death that 〈◊〉 the Devil and delivered them who through the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 death were all their lives long subject unto 〈◊〉 Those for whom Christ died their salvation 〈◊〉 be frustrate nor they deprived of it God will 〈◊〉 sin and Satan cannot hinder it but all are not 〈◊〉 therefore for all salvation is not merited by the 〈◊〉 of Christ. The old shift and pretended plea of the Papists and 〈◊〉 to put by the dint of this Argument is this 〈◊〉 is say they a broad and wide difference to be 〈◊〉 between the merits of Christ and the application 〈◊〉 the death of Christ is sufficient quoad 〈◊〉 non quoad applicationem it 's available 〈◊〉 obtain salvation for all men but that the good and 〈◊〉 which is obtained is not applied the 〈◊〉 of that is in mens unbeleef As in a Medicine 〈◊〉 and prepared and appointed to cure but some 〈◊〉 not take it As a ransom to deliver but some will 〈◊〉 receive it The Reply is this That this pretence is in truth a 〈◊〉 of words but reacheth not the main strength 〈◊〉 force of the Argument alleaged which stands still 〈◊〉 as it shall thus appear for I demand If 〈◊〉 hath fully purchased salvation what hinders 〈◊〉 it is not applied They will say and they must 〈◊〉 for they can say no other their infidelity is that 〈◊〉 hinders they will not trust in a Christ or come 〈◊〉 him that they may be saved But the sting and 〈◊〉 of the Argument prevented this cavil before it 〈◊〉 to be pleaded so that this comes too late for it 〈◊〉 said 〈◊〉 Christ be a perfect Savior and hath 〈◊〉 salvation for his at the hand of Divine Justice 〈◊〉 God in Justice will not hinder Sin and Satan 〈◊〉 hinder When the Law is satisfied the prisoner 〈◊〉 be released Christ came for this end and he 〈◊〉 the end he came for He saves his people from 〈◊〉 sins Then from all sin original actual then from infidelity they are saved from that and 〈◊〉 that cannot hinder Besides if Christ be no otherwise a Savior than only to merit so much for them and to offer so much 〈◊〉 unto them that they may receive it if they w ll and refuse it if they list then the execution of Gods 〈◊〉 our Saviors Purpose in Dying and the Fruit and Success of his Death is lastly resolved into the 〈◊〉 man and meerly depends thereupon so that if 〈◊〉 men would our Savior might have died in vain 〈◊〉

Lord our God Here again is the sum of the Covenant comprised and all the particulars with the manner of the work included and presupposed as the Apostle once for all expounds these and the like passages 2 Cor. 6. 16. I will be their God and they shall be my people wherefore come out from among 〈◊〉 and be ye separate and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father to you and ye 〈◊〉 be my sons and daughters saith the Lord 〈◊〉 If they touch no unclean thing but be separate 〈◊〉 Sin Self and the Creature and so come out of 〈◊〉 these in preparation and come to him in effectual vocation then he will be a father to them in his Christ and make them his Children in Adoption and then he will write his laws in their hearts and renew them to that Holiness which in Adam they lost and so enable them to walk in his wayes And therefore when the Lord promiseth by the 〈◊〉 Isa. 43. 25 I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own names sake and will not remember 〈◊〉 sins that is I do justifie thee freely when I have made thee to beleeve by my free grace For it cannot be conceived that the Lord would pass the Sentence of Absolution upon her while she remained in the 〈◊〉 of Unbelief For then that of the Apostle should fail It s one God that justifies the Jews by Faith and the Gentiles through Faith Rom. 3. 30. Therefore look the 20 and 21 vers of this Chapt. for we must not have one place justle against another and there you shall 〈◊〉 it is said I will do this and that for my People my Chosen which are Beleevers and of them and unto them it is said vers 25. I will blot out thy sins for my own sake The resolving of these Cases and information of these Doubts infers undeniably thus much That there is no Absolute Promise that either gives or maintains assurance of our good estate but such only wherein God engageth 〈◊〉 to work the Condition or else doth of necessity imply it wrought It will be said That the Covenant of Grace is free and issues out of the free Mercy of God in Christ and therefore the Lord hath not in it any respect to any thing we have or do It s all confessed and yet there is no prejudice at 〈◊〉 accrews to the Cause in hand Free Grace is the Fountain of all It makes the 〈◊〉 it works the Condition it maintains the 〈◊〉 which is wrought Ephes. 2. 8. By Grace 〈◊〉 ye saved through Faith And though God both require and work the 〈◊〉 Eph. 2. 8. Faith is the Gift of God Yet it not for our Faith or for the worth of any Grace 〈◊〉 is in us that we have life and salvation but by 〈◊〉 and those as means and wayes by Grace 〈◊〉 and provided to give life 〈◊〉 is of 〈◊〉 Grace doth it not therefore require 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 Party that is Justified nor yet suppose him to be 〈◊〉 The Apostle openly contradicts such a 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 30. Whom he called them he justified 〈◊〉 is also of Free Grace and yet doth it 〈◊〉 suppose Sanctification and Holiness in the Party 〈◊〉 must possess it Without Holiness no man shall 〈◊〉 the Lord Heb. 12. 14. As my Glorification doth 〈◊〉 hinder the freedom of my Justification because it 〈◊〉 before it so my Justification doth not hinder the 〈◊〉 of my Vocation because Vocation goes 〈◊〉 it but only shewes the order and manner of Gods 〈◊〉 Third Case of Conscience Though a man can have no Right to any Spiritual 〈◊〉 in Christ without Faith and though the 〈◊〉 never witnesseth this without or before Faith 〈◊〉 when Faith is there when some gracious 〈◊〉 is wrought may not doth not the Spirit 〈◊〉 a mans good estate without any respect to 〈◊〉 or any gracious Qualification existent in the 〈◊〉 I Answer So marvelous secret and unsearchable are the Dispensations of the Spirit unto the Soul 〈◊〉 as the wind blows where it 〈◊〉 thou hearest 〈◊〉 sound of it thou knowest not whence it comes 〈◊〉 whither it goes So it is here The hidden 〈◊〉 ousness of the manner of the Spirits work in the 〈◊〉 of it is so hard to discern that to make any approach so as to discover the way of God and to undermine an Error entrenching thereabout by 〈◊〉 of Reason is more than ordinarily 〈◊〉 and therefore for our better proceeding in Answer 〈◊〉 this Question I shall Endeavor to do these 〈◊〉 Things 1 State the Question and open it in the 〈◊〉 thereof 2 Give in such Arguments as we conceive 〈◊〉 plainest Evidence with them to settle 〈◊〉 Truth 3 Answer some such Objections as are of greatest weight For the right 〈◊〉 of the Question in 〈◊〉 to the Case propounded I lay down this Conclusion The Spirit of God never gives in immediate 〈◊〉 of any right we have to or that we are made 〈◊〉 of any benesit from Christ without respect 〈◊〉 some Qualification gracious Disposition or Condition in the Soul There are Three Particulars to be Opened for the right understanding of this Conclusion First What is meant by Evidence Answer 〈◊〉 light of 〈◊〉 let in on Gods part and 〈◊〉 on ours whereby either we have or may have 〈◊〉 true and never failing ground of right discerning 〈◊〉 what is so manifested and apprehended so that Evidence 〈◊〉 First That God by his Spirit manifests his 〈◊〉 and our Good and that we either do or may 〈◊〉 it for our Comfort For it s the aim of the 〈◊〉 to understand this Evidence with Application 〈◊〉 the truth to our own particular estate For we 〈◊〉 not now what the Word is in it self or what 〈◊〉 Spirit doth in the ordinary dispensation thereof 〈◊〉 that is light in it self and makes all things 〈◊〉 indifferently at all times Eph. 5. 13. but here we 〈◊〉 this Discovery and Manifestation of the Mind 〈◊〉 God as it comes home to our Particular that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hearts may be settled As Luke 24. 32. He opened the Scriptures vers 45. He opened their 〈◊〉 that they might understand the 〈◊〉 and so the truth was more cleer and their sight 〈◊〉 cleer 1 Cor. 2. 12. He hath given us his spirit 〈◊〉 we may know the things that are freely given to 〈◊〉 of God 1 Joh. 5. 20. He hath given us an 〈◊〉 that we may know that we know him Secondly This right discerning on our part is not 〈◊〉 a certain knowledge or science of that good 〈◊〉 is thus witnessed to us but an assurance of Faith whereby the heart embraceth it as true to it 〈◊〉 good for it The one of these is a help to the 〈◊〉 sanctisied reason or reason exercised about 〈◊〉 truths is an instrument appointed by God in the and of his Spirit to beget this act of Faith for 〈◊〉 exercised about the Word and

names sake Here 〈◊〉 no Qualifications you 'l say whereas if you 〈◊〉 but look into some Verses of the Chapter going 〈◊〉 as vers 20. he speaks to his People His 〈◊〉 these are said 〈◊〉 21. to be such as he had 〈◊〉 for himself and vers 22. he calls them Jacob 〈◊〉 Israel that is The Israel of God as the Apostle 〈◊〉 them Gal. 6. 16. true beleevers Hos. 14. 4. I 〈◊〉 love them freely therefore here 's no 〈◊〉 because none expressed But mark the 1 2 and 〈◊〉 verses you shall find who those are that the Lord 〈◊〉 freely such as having fall'n by their iniquitie Return to the Lord saying Take away all iniquity 〈◊〉 shall not save us in thee the fatherless sind mercy that is Those that have such Qualifications as these they are the Persons whom the Lord 〈◊〉 freely It is impossible it should be 〈◊〉 Rom. 4. 23. As Abraham was justified so must we but he was justified by Faith and therefore there 〈◊〉 no Promise revealing Justification or Adoption but either it doth expres or imply this condition of 〈◊〉 When the Spirit doth Evidence my Justification or Salvation out of the Word it doth it one or these Two wayes Either by the Application of some general Promise in which each Particular and so myself as a particular am included Or 〈◊〉 there 〈◊〉 some special Word appointed appropriated to me alone and is spoken to none but me as Isa. 45. 〈◊〉 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus c. None was here intended but Cyrus This second 〈◊〉 a Familistical Dream and forceth men to Revelations without the Word because there is no such expression to be found in the Word 〈◊〉 therefore sober-minded men who have their senses about them dare not entertain it perceiving indeed as the 〈◊〉 is that such a Conceit is little better than a Frenzy The first way then of Evidencing must needs be taken Whence I Reason Whatever is testified to the Soul by way of Application of the General to the Particular or by way of Collection of the Particular from the General that is ever done with respect to a Condition As it thus appears by Induction the Evidence must needs run in this manner Either All men are Justified but thou art a man therefore thou art justified Or All Sinners are justified but thou art a sinner therefore thou art justisied Or All Self-denying beleeving sinners are justified but thou art such a one therefore thou art justified The Two First here are false only this Third 〈◊〉 last is true and that carries a Qualification 〈◊〉 it If a man fly to Election and say All the Elect are justified that 's false Or thus 〈◊〉 the Elect shall be called and justified that is no 〈◊〉 of Evidencing neither for as was shewed 〈◊〉 there can be no Evidence i. e. Science and 〈◊〉 of Faith of the working of the first 〈◊〉 before it be wrought therefore there is no 〈◊〉 way but the applying of a General including a 〈◊〉 to my self in particular as All that 〈◊〉 as Abraham are justified but I am one 〈◊〉 them This is good To make the Spirit testifie a falshood and my 〈◊〉 to receive it is unlawful to charge untruth 〈◊〉 the Spirit is blasphemous to bring my self into 〈◊〉 by-path that is erroneous But to make the 〈◊〉 testifie that Pardon and Adoption belongs to any 〈◊〉 falls upon any subject without respect to a 〈◊〉 is to make the Spirit testifie a falshood 〈◊〉 it is to make it testifie cross to a rule of Truth which the Spirit of God hath given in the Word For the Rule of Truth is plain Rom. 8. 30. Whom 〈◊〉 called them he justified and them he glorified Therefore to say the Spirit will witness to one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not called is to make him witness against 〈◊〉 Rule Joh. 1. 12. To them that receive him he gave 〈◊〉 to be the Sons of God It s a staple Rule Therefore no man is a Son before he receive Christ therefore to make the Spirit to witness to a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Son of God when he hath not received Christ would make him speak Cross to this Word of Truth Look how the Covenant of Grace testifies a mans good estate and the interest he hath to any spiritual good in Christ so the spirit of Grace doth 〈◊〉 it fo the Spirit of Grace and the Covenant of 〈◊〉 go hand in hand and otherwise how could it 〈◊〉 true That the Gospel should be sufficient to make 〈◊〉 man perfect and compleat in the spiritual 〈◊〉 of his Soul as well as in those things which 〈◊〉 mainly and meerly Essential to eternal life 2 〈◊〉 3. 16. And here is the limits and bounds of that comfort the Spirit is sent to bring its confined 〈◊〉 this compass Joh. 14. 26. I will send the 〈◊〉 and he shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you when he comes 〈◊〉 a Comforter when that is the main scope of 〈◊〉 Commission to make known all the grounds of Comfort to the Saints and to let in the good of them into their Souls when he remembers them of all 〈◊〉 and teacheth all things appertaining thereunto 〈◊〉 ads no more but recals what Christ hath said Besides that testimony which is beyond the Gospel should not be tryed by the Gospel for that which 〈◊〉 beyond the measure cannot be measured by it 〈◊〉 Gospel is the Rule of our Faith and of our Comfort and if this testimony was beyond the reach of the Gospel it could never be judged by it This would not only set open a Gap to all Delusions but break down the banks that the sea of all sottish Imaginations may break in upon the mind and apprehensions of a man and carry them away with mighty violence without controul But the Covenant of Grace doth 〈◊〉 our interest in these Priviledges ever with an eye and respect to some spiritual 〈◊〉 It is the tenure of the Gospel according to the very letter and naked terms of it Mark 16. 16. Go preach the Gospel 〈◊〉 that beleevs shall be saved they and they only and none but they therefore it follows he that 〈◊〉 not shall be 〈◊〉 Jer. 31. 33. This is the 〈◊〉 that I will make with the house of Israel I will 〈◊〉 my laws in their hearts and in their inward 〈◊〉 will I put them Look to the Covenant as made 〈◊〉 Adam Gen. 3. 15. as renewed with Abraham He beleeved and it was counted for righteousness Gen. 15. 6. And so it is in the whole frame of the 〈◊〉 still the Covenant of Grace gives witness to 〈◊〉 mans good estate with respect to Faith therefore 〈◊〉 the Spirit of Grace doth testifie also If God the Father intended these Priviledges 〈◊〉 to such under such a respect or Condition Christ 〈◊〉 all these benefits for such alone and the 〈◊〉 applyed them only unto such then the 〈◊〉 witnesseth the

O Israel who is like unto the O People Saved by the Lord. That was in the Type Resemblance only but here is the Truth and Substance of Shadowes those Shadowes Accomplished in the Purchase of Christ or his faithful ones who are Saved not from the Oppression of a Pharaoh but from the Power of Darkness and Dominion of the Divel not delivered from the house of Bondage but from the bottome of Hell Blessed are ye O ye beleeving Souls your Excellencie is incomparble your Privilidges are inconceivable Who is like unto you O People thus blessed and saved by the Lord. The Wicked are not the World is not it is not so with them they have the Gleanings you have the Harvest they may have Rivers of Oyl but you the Rivers of Pleasures at the right hand of the Lord Nay now while you are in this World Al is yours All that the Obedience of Christ could procure Al that the Blood the precious Blood of Christ could Purchase precious Grace and Peace precious Comfort and Assurance precious Holiness and Glory Excellent things are not only spoken of you but done for you you blessed Beleeving Soules Hence it is when Moses would plead the Priviledges of the Saints he stands upon terms of comparison 〈◊〉 challengeth al the World to shew the like Eminency of Gods love upon Earth again Deut. 4 33 34 35 36 37. Did ever People partake of such Good as 〈◊〉 Purchased for you hath God essayed to go and take 〈◊〉 himself a Nation from among the Nations shal I say by Tempations Signs and Wonders to bring 〈◊〉 out of Egipt No no it was not from the house of Bondage from the tyranny of Pharaoh nor from Death and Miseries outward but from the bottom of Hel the tyranny of Sin the power of the Devil from everlasting Death and Condemnation 〈◊〉 this not by making Water become Blood but by making Happiness to become Misery God to become Man and Life it self Christ Jesus the 〈◊〉 of Life to die that he might restore thee to Life and Glory Go therefore ye blessed Beleeving Servants of the Lord go on comfortably and the blessing of Heaven go with you know your Priviledges and be for ever quieted and contented 〈◊〉 Fret not you at the prosperity of the Wicked be 〈◊〉 troubled at their Pomp since your portion is far 〈◊〉 and of incomparable Excellencie When the Father had entertained his prodigal Son after 〈◊〉 return with a Gold Ring change of 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 fatted Calfe the elder Son began to mutter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shew his 〈◊〉 the answer was reasonable 〈◊〉 exceeding satisfactory Son thou art ever with 〈◊〉 and all that I have is thine Luke 15. 31. So here Suffer the Dogs to gnaw the bones and 〈◊〉 to have their scraps let 〈◊〉 have the Gold Ring to adorne them and the fatted Calfe to feed and 〈◊〉 upon but know al you Beleevers al that is 〈◊〉 Earth al that is in Heaven al that the Father 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 hath al the Mercy of a Father the edemption of a Jesus the Consolations of the 〈◊〉 al these are yours you cannot have more you 〈◊〉 be better me thinks you should not be I 〈◊〉 almost said you cannot but be for ever 〈◊〉 and Contented And now al you that sit by and here of al this 〈◊〉 thinks your hearts should sink within you 〈◊〉 that never knew what it was to be Humbled 〈◊〉 to be Called and to Beleeve in Christ 〈◊〉 al is gone before you Beleevers have al 〈◊〉 therefore and arise to follow hard after 〈◊〉 Lord that you also may be Humbled that you 〈◊〉 may be Called and Comforted and for ever 〈◊〉 by Jesus Christ. This wil be the plague of 〈◊〉 damned in Hell They shal see Abraham and 〈◊〉 and Jacob and all the Saints of God in Heaven 〈◊〉 themselves cast out You shal see al those poor 〈◊〉 whom you have known in the Townes and 〈◊〉 where you have lived you wil see them go to Heaven and your selves cast out O therefore 〈◊〉 you would give God no rest nor your owne 〈◊〉 no quiet til you have got a beleeving heart Why have Beleevers al this have they Christ and 〈◊〉 and Pardon and Peace and Glory and 〈◊〉 and all say Lord why not I a Beleever too 〈◊〉 I see no reason but you may God affords you 〈◊〉 and you may be wrought upon by the Means 〈◊〉 ought I know therefore seek earnestly to the 〈◊〉 that you also may be brought in amongst the 〈◊〉 of Beleevers for whom al this good is Purchased by Jesus Christ. The Doctrine delivered dasheth that dream and 〈◊〉 that false opinion wherewith many carnal hearted men are easily and willingly taken 〈◊〉 who fondly perswade themselves that Christ died for al and Purchased both Grace and Glory mankind indifferently for Cain as wel as Abell Esau as wel as Jacob for Judas as wel as Peter that al that spiritual good that any of the Saints ver share in it was al intended to them al 〈◊〉 sed for them al provided for their good but the out of the perversness of their own wills 〈◊〉 that Physick that would have cured them 〈◊〉 upon the blood of the Covenant that was shed 〈◊〉 their Redemption A conceit cross to the 〈◊〉 formerly delivered and thereby confuted and 〈◊〉 demned but an opinion it is which 〈◊〉 derogates from the Justice of God the 〈◊〉 of the Lord Jesus the glory of his Free 〈◊〉 which is Childrens bread and appoynted ouly 〈◊〉 peculiar kindness for his own People yet by 〈◊〉 erroneous imagination is prostituted under the 〈◊〉 of a company of prophane beasts This universalitie of Redemption makes way 〈◊〉 universalitie of Corruption and these sensual 〈◊〉 deceiving men make the gate of Mercy and 〈◊〉 so wide that so they find room not only 〈◊〉 themselves but to carry their sins to Heaven 〈◊〉 them also But such shal one day find by 〈◊〉 experience they befooled themselves and fel 〈◊〉 of their hopes and expectations when they 〈◊〉 know to their terrour that the Lord Jesus was 〈◊〉 so lavish of his blood as to spil it in vain 〈◊〉 he should miss of his end or they of their good 〈◊〉 whom it was shed though they ery never so 〈◊〉 knock never so hard Lord Lord open 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they 〈◊〉 have no other answer but that 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 know you not 〈◊〉 workers of iniquitie Math. 7. 23. I never prayed for you I never dyed for you 〈◊〉 is that which will sink the hearts and dash the 〈◊〉 of al unbeleeving self deceiving Creatures Is there 〈◊〉 rich Grace plentiful Redemption abundant 〈◊〉 Merits unvaluable in the Lord Jesus True 〈◊〉 that 's thy misery thou shalt see it but never be 〈◊〉 partaker thereof Thou shalt not tast of those 〈◊〉 dainties the Lord hath provided for his 〈◊〉 as long as thou remainest in that unbeleeving 〈◊〉 thy doom is set thy sentence is

past 〈◊〉 3. 18. He that beleeves not is condemned already is cast in al the Coutrs of Heaven and Earth the 〈◊〉 cannot the Gospel wil not save thee a body 〈◊〉 appeal from Justice to Mercy but if Mercy 〈◊〉 him who shal comfort who can releeve 〈◊〉 what ever he doth where ever he is the wrath God abides upon him thou art not within the 〈◊〉 of Mercy nor the compass of that Redemption 〈◊〉 Lord hath wrought Nay that thou mayest see 〈◊〉 thou art and what to hold to the Lord 〈◊〉 hath sealed up thy destruction by a sollem oath 〈◊〉 can never be repealed He hath sworne he that 〈◊〉 beleeves shal never enter into his rest Heb. 3. 〈◊〉 That which God saies barely he many times 〈◊〉 so the first Covenant Do and live a man may 〈◊〉 do himself and yet live but he that wil not 〈◊〉 God swears and his oath is unchangable 〈◊〉 he shal never enter into life That a man may 〈◊〉 with reverence God himself cannot save a man 〈◊〉 never shal Beleeve because he cannot deny 〈◊〉 and his oath Rest thou mayest in thy vain 〈◊〉 in thy carnal confidence sit down secure in 〈◊〉 self-pleasing humor but thou shalt never enter to Gods rest of Pardon Peace Comfort and 〈◊〉 but shalt be in a restless fear and dread 〈◊〉 and discouragement which wil pursue the 〈◊〉 endless disquiet and the powers of Heaven 〈◊〉 a fford thee releif in this condition if thou 〈◊〉 herein There is no peace saith God to the 〈◊〉 Isay. 57. last But if this be so and you pale in the precious 〈◊〉 demption of Christ into such a narrow 〈◊〉 you wil straiten it and the comforts of sinners 〈◊〉 much and extend as much mercy to Devils 〈◊〉 Unbeleevers for by this means you make the 〈◊〉 probates in as desperate a condition as the 〈◊〉 themselves being wholly voyd of al help and 〈◊〉 of Salvation either in themselves or any 〈◊〉 they cannot save themselves and the Lord wil 〈◊〉 save them A Blasphemous Cavil I Answer The consequent part of the reason unsound and blasphemously false as shal appear 〈◊〉 sundry Considerations The merits of our Saviour and the compleat 〈◊〉 ture of his sufferings is made up or issues out two principles without either of which there new had been any satisfaction to divine Justice 〈◊〉 Divinity cannot suffer the Humanitie canot 〈◊〉 without blood there is no Redemption Justice 〈◊〉 quireth death and unless it be the death of 〈◊〉 that is God there is neither value nor vertue 〈◊〉 to the infinite wrong done and therefore 〈◊〉 satisfaction In that nature therefore the Lord 〈◊〉 offended in that he must he satisfied for the 〈◊〉 of Angels may be annihilated but die or be 〈◊〉 ved they cannot therefore the nature of man 〈◊〉 assumed therefore Redemption and Purchase 〈◊〉 longs to that nature because sufficient 〈◊〉 was only tendred for that Hence al that Beleeve of this nature may be 〈◊〉 ved there is not an impssibilitie in the nature 〈◊〉 the thing To many Persons of this nature God afford means so that if they wil but submit to the 〈◊〉 and be content to receive Grace they shal not 〈◊〉 and that Adam could do and we in him The Gospel doth not require a Man should 〈◊〉 of his own power but that he should be 〈◊〉 and content to be made able to Beleeve and 〈◊〉 of that Grace he is called unto But the fallen Angels differ in al these regards For theirs being the sin against the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 Lord provided no remedy for them For Christ no case took upon him the nature of Angells Heb 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in no wise it was in no case comely or 〈◊〉 enient Their nature not assumed for them no 〈◊〉 was made as the Apostle disputes purposely 〈◊〉 2. 11 12. c. And therefore no possibility they 〈◊〉 receive any good by Christ if possibly they 〈◊〉 Beleeve Therfore the Lord neither provides nor offers any 〈◊〉 to convert them so that there is a broad and 〈◊〉 difference in al these That which is only true in the objection is this at the wicked being dead in sins and trespasses it no more possible for them to help themselves by 〈◊〉 own power on t of this condition than it's 〈◊〉 for a Devil For with Man there is no 〈◊〉 no more than there is with Devils and 〈◊〉 negation admits no degrees in regard of the 〈◊〉 of their nature But the riches of Gods 〈◊〉 on His part in taking our nature entering into 〈◊〉 with His in it providing means and 〈◊〉 with Men for their good by the Covenant and 〈◊〉 no more but the bare receiving of that 〈◊〉 al these shew great ods But Christs merit is infinite and of infinite 〈◊〉 therefore is able to save al Angels and al Men it not The consequence of the reason is false which wil appear by the right understanding how Christs 〈◊〉 rits are infinite and how the sufficiencie of 〈◊〉 can reach all Christs merits are said to be infinite then 〈◊〉 ther properly in regard of the Person of the 〈◊〉 head whence that virtue comes or in regard of 〈◊〉 Persons to whom it is applyed as that it should 〈◊〉 infinite Creatures and this is very improper and 〈◊〉 The merit of him who is an infinit God and of 〈◊〉 finit vertue is not sufficient for infinite 〈◊〉 for then had he taken any nature he had been a 〈◊〉 ficient Saviour which the Apostle contradicts 〈◊〉 2. 11 12. Then had he suffered any outward evil as 〈◊〉 cution the spilling of some drops of his blood 〈◊〉 would have sufficed for that had been the 〈◊〉 of a partie who is infinit and yet justice 〈◊〉 that which requires not only payment from an 〈◊〉 nit Person but in the same kind and nature also 〈◊〉 that upon such conditions as the Covenant 〈◊〉 red before agreed and now exacted Merits from such an infinit Person performed 〈◊〉 such a kind and nature have an infinit vertue to 〈◊〉 swer an infinit justice for al such for whom such Person shal undertake And according to this 〈◊〉 pass it must be conceived that Christs death is 〈◊〉 cient for all else the phrase wil not bear a rigid 〈◊〉 That which I would leave to your thoughts 〈◊〉 be expressed in two things thus 1. Christs death is sufficient to save al 〈◊〉 they shall Beleeve 2. It 's not sufficient to save one Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beleeve It s sufficient to save al if they Beleeve and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the meaning of that phrase which is 〈◊〉 amongst judicious writers That if God had 〈◊〉 and Christ intended to save many 〈◊〉 more he needed not nor intruth should have 〈◊〉 any other or any more punishment so 〈◊〉 he must have suffered for the substance of the 〈◊〉 and second death to save one sinner and no 〈◊〉 he needed to have suffered if he should save al

〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 than the Application therof so that Christ should die for manie that shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his death it would exceedingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vertue of the merits of Christ and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the worke of our redemption for then it 〈◊〉 follow The Sufferings and obedience of our Savior 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of lesse vertue and 〈◊〉 to save men than the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 guilt of Adams transgression was to condemne 〈◊〉 For Adam did not onely purchas the curse and 〈◊〉 by the breach of Covenant but convey it 〈◊〉 that Certainly to all his posteritie so the Apostle 〈◊〉 2. 3. wee were Children of wrath by nature 〈◊〉 well as others All in whose room Adam 〈◊〉 and so sinned all they had his sin imputed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inflicted without fail But if Christ fully 〈◊〉 life and blessing for those in whose stead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Suretie but Leaves the Application of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Libertie of their owne wills his merits should 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 power and efficacie for the recoverie and 〈◊〉 of his than Adams sin was for the 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 Which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that in this point wherin he makes Adam a tipe of Christ 〈◊〉 5. 14. 21. For if through 〈◊〉 offence of one many be dead nay death raigned 〈◊〉 Adam to 〈◊〉 and that ovr Children also 〈◊〉 sinned not after the similitude of him much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace of God and the free Gift by Grace 〈◊〉 unto many to 〈◊〉 and life that 〈◊〉 Sin Raigned unto death So Grace might raigne 〈◊〉 Eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Confutation Learn wee in wariness and 〈◊〉 to hold this wholsome word of truth this 〈◊〉 which is according to 〈◊〉 wherby 〈◊〉 may be fensed and have our hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many dangerous errors wherby the vain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the carnal hearts of the sinful sons of men are easily 〈◊〉 and taken aside all which will vanish away 〈◊〉 the evidence of this truth 〈◊〉 the smoke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wind and the Snow before the Sun And 〈◊〉 we should with more care attend to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Delivered because wee shall have so much use of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dayes when the Clouds of Errors have 〈◊〉 the world As men doe when the plague or some infectious Disease begins to Spread if there 〈◊〉 some choyce antidotes which are of Speciall 〈◊〉 and virtue to preserve against such malignant 〈◊〉 each man will be sure to have it alwayes in his 〈◊〉 ever readie in his hand Such is this Saving truth 〈◊〉 once taken in and rightly understood and 〈◊〉 will fortify both mind and heart from the infection 〈◊〉 such false opinions which are exceding prejudicial 〈◊〉 Gods free Grace and the comfort and peace of 〈◊〉 own souls Hold this truth then Redemption and Applycation are of equal extent For whom Christ 〈◊〉 to them Christ applyes First then Hence that vain conceit falls to the Ground as Dagon before the Ark that devised distinction wherby Satan and his instruments have darkned the power and 〈◊〉 of Christs death viz. that Christ died for all in point of Impetration but not 〈◊〉 Application that is he Purchased Redemption for all but the Application is not unto all the 〈◊〉 he layed down but the application in 〈◊〉 he left to themselves and their owne free wills in the last resolution As though God in Justice should exact a payment and that to the full of the Suretie and never let it redound to the benefit of the partie As though our Saviour should so fail in wisdom as to lay down his blood a full price for the redemption and reconciliation of men when he well forelaw they would not or could not get any good therby in a word this device is dashed from hence If for whomsoever Christ purchased to them it is applyed the Impetration and Application are of equall extent Hence again it follows by undeniable Evidence That Christ died not for all For if he died only for those to whom the Vertue of his death is applied then he died only for some because the 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 is not applied to all some only shall be 〈◊〉 saved by his Death therefore he died but for 〈◊〉 Application is not to all therefore 〈◊〉 was not for all Hence again it 's cleer The Application of Mercy 〈◊〉 Grace purchased depends not upon mans will 〈◊〉 then our Savior had died at uncertainties and it 〈◊〉 been in the power and pleasure of man to have 〈◊〉 frustrate the death of our Savior and the end of 〈◊〉 Redemption purchased thereby For Christ 〈◊〉 it should be applied and therefore purchased 〈◊〉 and the will of man would cross the will of our 〈◊〉 and say it shall not be applied which is indeed 〈◊〉 confound Heaven and Earth and pervert the whol 〈◊〉 of our Savior in bringing back lost man 〈◊〉 God to make Gods saving Grace serve mens 〈◊〉 and humors and the success of the death of the 〈◊〉 Jesus to depend upon the sinful distempers of 〈◊〉 hearts of men Nay hence the Vertue of Christs 〈◊〉 should be lastly resolved into and wholly 〈◊〉 upon the will of man though he intended to 〈◊〉 yet they might chuse and so Christ might have 〈◊〉 his blood in vain We may hence see the reason of that miraculous Dispensation of the Lord Jesus in the work of his Grace upon the sinful 〈◊〉 of men whose salvation 〈◊〉 hath 〈◊〉 in his everlasting Counsel and 〈◊〉 which he made with his Father here lies the 〈◊〉 of the wonderful mysteriousness of that 〈◊〉 That it prevails most powerfully for the good 〈◊〉 sinners when they do most of all oppose it when 〈◊〉 seem to be 〈◊〉 in their wretched courses 〈◊〉 down in their sinful distempers and furthest 〈◊〉 from the waies and hopes of life intrenched 〈◊〉 dayly custom and long continuance in the strong 〈◊〉 of their prevailing corruptions and lusts of their 〈◊〉 and lives when there is many times no 〈◊〉 bility nay not appearance of any possibility in 〈◊〉 that ever they should receive any spiritual good 〈◊〉 being so opposite against it and yet suddenly 〈◊〉 unexpectedly and that by very weak means 〈◊〉 times the Lord Christ most effectually applies 〈◊〉 Word and Work of his Grace to their souls 〈◊〉 we to sit down in silence and look at the 〈◊〉 power of the purchase of Jesus the precious 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 blood of Jesus which though 〈◊〉 and unseen to the eye of the world yet in its 〈◊〉 will undoubtedly accomplish the end intended 〈◊〉 very man should observe it and say such a poor 〈◊〉 wretched creature that out 〈◊〉 God and his 〈◊〉 and all the means of his own good that then the 〈◊〉 should meet with him and stop him and turn 〈◊〉 and call him home to himself O the Vertue of 〈◊〉 Blood of Jesus the power whereof nothing can 〈◊〉 pose the efficacy and success whereof nothing 〈◊〉 hinder he hath purchased the good of this 〈◊〉 creature

rejected counsell in my life and I cannot take 〈◊〉 at my death If yet the rack of conscience doth constraine thee towards thy latter end to vent out those hideous apprehensions of Gods displeasure and thy own misery and therefore thou art now restless in seeking for mercy it shall be al in vain and without 〈◊〉 John 8. 21. The rebellious Jewes who disdained Christ and al his counsels and refused his mercy when it was tendered to them at their dores Christ saies to them You shall seek me but you shall not find me but shall dye in your sins you lived in them and you shall dye in them though you leave your lives your sins wil not leave you they shall rot with you in your graves and rise with you to judgment and go with you to Hell whither I go ye cannot come therefore you cannot come to Christ and Grace for if they might do so they might come to Heaven It was one part of the folly of the foolish Virgins To sleep away their time and never sought to get oyl into their Lamps untill it was too late and then they cryed to their fellows 〈◊〉 us some of your 〈◊〉 for our Lamps are gone out some of that faith and repentance which formerly they conceived they could find at every shop but they had little enough for themselves and therefore bid them go into the Citie and buy but al was in vain they missed of their oyl and missed of their entrance also into the Bridegrooms Chamber Thou art one of these deluded creatures thou thinkest either thou canst make oyl or buy oyl when thou list thou wilt find too late that thou doest egregiously befool thy self when though thou knockest never so hard cryest never so loud thou shalt find no acceptance nor gain any entertainment from the Lord. Nay our Saviour that he might crush such 〈◊〉 conceits he 〈◊〉 down the conclusion peremptorie that it might for ever silence such imaginations after the young man had the offer of eternal life and trampled it under seet and our Saviour had told them it was easier for a Camell to go through the eye of 〈◊〉 needle than for a rich man to enter in at the Kingdom of Heaven they replyed Who then can be saved He answered plainly and beyond all question Mat. 19. 26. With men it is impossible if all the Angels in Heaven would come to help if all the Ministers on Earth should labor to perswade it would be impossible that of thy self thou shouldest entertain the offers of Grace If thou supportest thy heart and thy hopes also upon this what thou purposest what thou intendest to do know it is impossible that ever thou shouldest be good or partake of any Spiritual good for thy 〈◊〉 welfare It 's not in thy power to live to have 〈◊〉 ability to seek or a heart if able or success in seeking nay it is impossible thou shouldest be made partaker of any Spiritual Good if thou wilt go no other way to gain interest therein Ground of Tryal and Examination whether ever we had any saving and Spiritual Good applyed unto us in a right manner In our temporal Estates in Civil Proceedings amongst men it 's not enough to lay claim to Lands and Inheritances unless by a Legal course they be conveyed and setled upon us otherwise a man may be unsettled and shaked out of all before he be aware It is so in our Spiritual Estate Those high and happy Priviledges which Christ hath purchased 〈◊〉 great Salvation he hath wrought and tenders also in the Gospel it 's not enough to claim it and catch at the comforts and benefits that come thereby unless they be conveyed and settled upon us in a Gospel way otherwise the Devil may sink our hearts and shake all our hopes when we least suspect it Thou sayest the Pardon that Christ hath purchased the Holiness that he hath promised to bestow upon His that Grace and Life that rich Mercy and plentiful Redemption which he hath revealed so fully so freely tendered to His thou sayest it 's thine I say How camest thou by it How camest thou to be made possessor of it Thou wilt hapily Answer Though long it was before I either knew or considered what Sin or 〈◊〉 meant yet the Lord at last by the Ministry of the Word and the Work of the Spirit made me see the 〈◊〉 of my heart and life the terrors of my conscience were like a continued wrack night and day and the wound thereof was so dreadful that I found it beyond the skil 〈◊〉 power of means to do me good until the Lord Christ and his abundant Mercy and rich Redemption which he had wrought was proclaimed and there I heard and found there was no Name under Heaven whereby I might be saved but only the Name of Jesus and so I took the Promises of the Gospel cast my self upon Christ and hung upon free Mercy for the supply of all that good I desired and wanted You take Christ you hang upon free Mercy but how came you by the power which did enable you so to do You say you took the Promises but who gave them you or gave you a hand to lay hold upon them True Mercy is free and sufficient the Promises are precious and saving but if they never come to be thine but as thou by thine own power didst make them thy own certainly thou wilt in the issue fall short of them and of thy own comfort and all Unless he who provided and gave thee Promises do provide and give thee a heart 〈◊〉 to take them thou wilt never take possession of them unless Christ comprehend thee thou wilt never apprehend him Phil. 3. 11. Thou art utterly mistaken if thou dost not find Application beyond thy strength as well as Redemption This mistake in imagining that we can make the Application ariseth especially upon a double ground which is most dangerous and least discerned First When from the general offer of the freeness and fulness of that superabundant mercy that is in Christ and invitation thereunto from the Lord with 〈◊〉 instant and overbearing importunity and 〈◊〉 of compassion Oh that there 〈◊〉 such hearts in 〈◊〉 turn ye why will ye die As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner the heart 〈◊〉 to be tickled and affected at the goodness of the 〈◊〉 as being beyond its expectation that there is 〈◊〉 a possibility of relief and succor and therefore 〈◊〉 at it out of a misguided apprehension that it lies 〈◊〉 common for all comers not looking for any special 〈◊〉 the soul must have before it come to share 〈◊〉 This was the wound of the stony ground Hearers 〈◊〉 received the Word with joy and yet had no root Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners Oh that 's a word for ever to be received Scarlet sinners may be pardoned the heart is tickled with it and

so catcheth at it meerly out of their own 〈◊〉 This 〈◊〉 false Application and this I take to be the cause of the blind presumption of the unwelcome guest Mat. 22. 12. Friend how camest thou in hither not 〈◊〉 thy Wedding Garment He heard of the 〈◊〉 provided and that the Lord kept open doors and therefore he adventured to croud in amongst the company therefore our Savior challengeth him How camest thou in If Coming here was 〈◊〉 why should he be blamed whether was not the wound therefore in a disorderly manner of beleeving and coming He came in his own strength and did not look to Christ to give him a heart to beleeve it answers not the guise and wear at this Wedding which is that the Lord must as well guide us in our coming and order that as well as order the dainties he prepares and 〈◊〉 us unto The Second Ground of mistake in our Application When out of common illumination set up in the mind terror and astonishment let in upon the 〈◊〉 together with notice and conviction it 's only in Christ that must and can do us good Out of these common insightnings and legal terrors the soul is stirred out of a natural 〈◊〉 to procure it's own safety to catch at that comfort and supply whereby it may succor and releeve it self out of these pressures which are too heavy for it Now as long as those fears and the noyse of those direful threatnings of the Lord continue in the view of the soul and as long as it doth not discern its own falsness in this imagined and self-deceiving application out of self love to self ends all that while in a blind kind of boldness it may pretend to hang upon Christ and free mercy But when either the legal stroke ceaseth that he feels not a need of the balsom or that he fails of his end and this groundles application which is nothing els but a presumption fails then al this work falls to the ground and his hopes and heart fails him and all he will then say I applyed mercy to my 〈◊〉 but God never did I catcht at a promise and Christ but God never gave him to me And this is the cause why thousands 〈◊〉 short when it comes to a dead lift their conversion the promises and mercy they have laid hold upon come to nothing the truth is they took a Christ but God never applyed him to them O Application is a wonderful work Thus Esau who despised the birthright and blessing indeed yet out of self love for self ends he seeks the blessing with tears but not with a faith of Application a faith of Gods operation For the root of faith is in the Lord Christ issuing from the work of his spirit and therefore he must apply himself to us before we can apply him to our own hearts As the beams of the Sun must come down to the waters before it can draw up the water in clouds and vapors So here The Root of this Application being in Christ when we cannot keep our selves yet he keeps us by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation he keeps us and keeps our faith I have prayed said Christ to Peter that thy faith fail not he keeps us to a Kingdom and keeps a Kingdom for us he puts us into possession and none can put us out Hence we may observe the madness of the 〈◊〉 hearts of men which transports them beyond all the bounds of reason carries them against the Principles of Nature and common Sense which makes them not only miserable but unwilling to be made happy Was there ever any sick man that was not content to be healed and any in prison and pressures that was not willing to be delivered any helpless that was not desirous to be eased and succored by another yet this is the hellish and unreasonable venom of a distempered and sinful heart that loves its poyson delights in its bolts and prison destitute of all Spiritual good hath neither hope nor help in its self to get or receive any can do no good for it self and yet is unwilling that God should do any good fot it or make it capable of receiving any famish they do and would not have meat provided that might sustein them perish they do and yet would not have the power of the Word work kindly and effectually upon them for their safety and deliverance it 's not a sickness only but a Spiritual madness if men carry themselves so when they are sick we say it is a Frenzy thus Isay 30. 10 11. They say to the Seers see not to the Prophets prophesie not 〈◊〉 not counsel not but cause the holy one of Israel to cease from us This is the temper of every Natural man in this world This serves to justifie the equal and righteous proceedings of the Lord in the utter 〈◊〉 and destruction of the ungodly and the Enemies of his Grace at the great day of Judgment when they shall be full of their 〈◊〉 and full of their plagues cast out of the presence of the Lord or the least expression of any gracious 〈◊〉 attribute of God nor bounty to pity them nor patience to bear with them but they lie under the power of their sins and the infinite displeasure of the Almighty This is that will stop all mouths and answer all cavils they have no more but what they would have they want nothing but what they were weary of You would be proud and stubborn and rebellious and you shall be so you shall have your belly full of your abominations and now you have your wills you were weary of the Word that would reveal your sins convince your consciences subdue your corruptions the truth was your only trouble you were troubled with Counsels Reproofs 〈◊〉 Ministers that you could not have your full swing in your sins God will ease you of that trouble you shall never see the face of a Saint that may counsel you never hear the voyce of a Minister to reprove you never have the Word to work upon you you have said to the Almighty 〈◊〉 away from us we desire not the knowledg of thy 〈◊〉 now you have your desires They that 〈◊〉 me love death Prov. 8. last you have what you loved you could not help your selves you say but you would not have the Lord make you capable of any help Thus every mouth is stopped and the Lord justified out of the Consciences and Confessions of the wicked themselves 2 How this good is made ours For the manner and order of putting us into 〈◊〉 of all this good it will appear in Four Particulars The Soul is made capable of all that Spiritual good and those Precious blessings which 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is and must be first room made for the 〈◊〉 of these or els there is no Possibilitie to 〈◊〉 of these a man cannot be in heaven and hell at 〈◊〉 happy and miserable at

raising up himself with himself he raised up us 〈◊〉 for as he suffered as our 〈◊〉 so he rose again as our Surety and so we were raised with him Therefore when Christ will come and make Application of all Spiritual Good to any soul he doth it by the Vertue and Power of his Resurrection When the hard heart resists the Power of the Word and saies all Threatnings all Promises all Commandements shal not prevail with me and when Sin and Satan 〈◊〉 themselves to the uttermost to keep the soul still in the Gall of bitterness in the bonds of iniquity the Lord Christ comes from Heaven and shews 〈◊〉 Power 〈◊〉 his Resurrection give way Sin give 〈◊〉 Satan that soul is mine and they all give way 〈◊〉 thence comes the prevailing vertue of the Word 〈◊〉 the soul for its effectual 〈◊〉 home to God 〈◊〉 you 〈◊〉 the Frame of this Truth The Lord Jesus by the Power of his God-head did 〈◊〉 up himself from under the Power of Sin and 〈◊〉 and Death 〈◊〉 he had a Sovereign 〈◊〉 Power over Sin and Satan therefore he is able 〈◊〉 conquer and to 〈◊〉 Sin and Satan where ever 〈◊〉 meets them The Spirit of God also hath a hand in this great Work of Application and indeed it is in a special 〈◊〉 attributed to him not because all the three 〈◊〉 do not joyntly work throughout in all the works of Application for according to the received 〈◊〉 of Divines all the Works of God upon the Creature are common to all the three Persons of the Trinity but because the manner of the Spirits work 〈◊〉 principally appear here There are but three 〈◊〉 Works in the World Creation Redemption and Application which are given to the three Persons of the srinity according to the special manner of their working Creation is given to the Father that 's the first Work and therefore given to the first Person Redemption is given to the Son that 's the second Work and therefore given to the second Person Application of that Redemption is the third and last Work and therefore is in a peculiar manner attributed to the third Person the Holy Ghost Conceive it thus A Malefactor that hath committed high Treason against his Prince and being taken he is imprisoned in the strongest Hold the deepest Dungeon without hope of release imagine a man comes and satisfies the wrath of the King and answers the Law so that the King saies upon satisfaction given the Law is fully answered no wrong is done If he shall so do the King is bound not only to be 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 of himself and the wrong done to 〈◊〉 and his Law but he is also bound to give his 〈◊〉 Hand Authority and Commission to him that paid for the Prisoner that he may go and fetch the Prisoner from the Dungeon and 〈◊〉 him away with him Imagine that the Jaylor grows sturdy and stiff he 〈◊〉 the Prisoner is prositable to him therfore he 〈◊〉 and saies the Prisoner shall not depart now he that hath Authority from the King must be able to break the Prison doors and then to slay the Jaylor and by force to deliver the Prisoner from the bondage he was in Thus it is here every sinner is a Prisoner to Divine Justice Sin is the Prison and the Devil is the Jaylor that holds him in bondage by reason of the power of Sin and by vertue of Commission from Divine Justice Christ Jesus hath come and payed our debts satisfied Divine Justice and answered the Law that God the Father hath professed This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased the Law is performed my anger fully appeased and my mercy procured therefore all those sinners for whom thou hast died and obeyed shall be redeemed from the power of Sin and authority of Satan and now God the Father gives him a full Commission to 〈◊〉 those sinners from the hands of sin and Satan But now when Christ comes for the soul Satan and sin refuse they will not let the sinner go therfore Christ by the vertue of his Resurrection and by the power of his Spirit he doth rescue the soul whether sin and Satan and a mans heart will or no he will have the soul and humble him and call him and justisie him and 〈◊〉 him and glorifie him and then deliver him up to his Father at the great day Direction How to help the souls of poor Sinners that are under the work of Application either 〈◊〉 in it or in Preparation to it here is Direction to you al in the greatest streights whatsoever When the Lord gives intimation to sinners that they are not in the right way and he begins to be 〈◊〉 with them and our Savior Christ comes as the High Sheriff when he would put a man into Possession of his Land that is Possessed by those that have no right to it The High Sheriff comes with his Company and knocks at the door now al that are within come and make resistance and labor to keep him out as much as they can So when our Savior Christ comes and saies to a desperate rebellious sinner that soul of thine was never made for Sin or Satan but thou must come and shouldest come out of thy sins and come to me saies Christ when the Word is thus 〈◊〉 with Life and power now the soul is in an uproar now the soul resists this Work he makes al the doors and bolts fast and he that comes in he dies upon it But the Lord presses in stil upon the soul he must he wil conquer and subdue it to himself now the sinner sees nothing but Hel and Death and Damnation before it die he must and that for ever if he stand out and now he sees he should yeild and submit he sees now the body of death that hangs upon him the power of his lusts that prevails with him and he finds his heart shut up under unbeleef under the chaines of pride and vainglory and earthlimindedness and the Devil presents impossibilities to his view canst thou think that ever those sins of thine should be pardoned or that ever that soul of thine should be delivered from under the power of them Now Brethren here the soul 's at a stand above al the stifness and stubborness of a mans own wil no Threatnings no Mercies no Afflictions no offers of Grace can prevail but a man wil have his sins though the Devil have his soul he finds his heart so 〈◊〉 he must have his sin and his wil though he 〈◊〉 for it Ay now what wil you do The Cause 〈◊〉 this work of Application is 〈◊〉 of your self in Christ Therefore send your thoughts and keep your 〈◊〉 upon the Resurrection of Christ set your eye keep your eye there for ever see a passage or two from Scripture here Rev. 1. 18. I was dead but 〈◊〉 am alive and I live for evermore and I have the Keyes Hell 〈◊〉 Death saies Christ Thou

the soul let the best obects be presented the most perswasive and strongest 〈◊〉 pressed to a man under the power of his sins 〈◊〉 these wil never prevail with him Let God come 〈◊〉 Heaven and preach to Cain Gen. 4. 6. 7. Let our Savior preach to and weep over Jerusalem with many tears O Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thee Mat. 23. 37. Let Judas live in the Family of Christ yet if there be no more but an ordinary power Cain wil be Cain and Judas wil be Judas and go to Hell for all this For 1 The Soveraignty of Mans 〈◊〉 Will is such that it exceedeth all created power in Heaven and Earth Amos Chap. 4. See what conclusions the Lord there tries upon the rebellious Israelites I 〈◊〉 given you cleanness of teeth and want of bread 〈◊〉 6. I have witholden the rain from you vers 7. I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you with blasting vers 9. I have sent among you the 〈◊〉 and overthrown you as Sodom vers 10. 11. And still this is added at the end of every instance Yet ye have not returned to me Rev. 16. 11. They blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and sores and they repented not Dan. 9. 13. All this evill is come upon us yet made we not our prayer c. The Seventy years Captivity was ended but their repentance was to begin When the Jews had travailed forty years in the Wilderness and been spectators of the wonders of God yet they wanted a heart to turn unto their God Deut. 29. 4. There is nothing but God that made the Will that is above the Will and can bow it and frame it to the obedience of his own Will 2 Besides the strength of the corrupt Will look we at the power of Satan that hath possession of the soul Mat. 12. 29. The Devill is said to be as a strong man that keeps the house till a stronger than be comes and binds him he improves al his policy and power to the utmost to keep the soul under the power of it's sins and there is no created policy or power above that of Satan He is only subject to the Almighty power of God to be driven out and 〈◊〉 thereby Look to the nature of that good which the soul is to be made partaker of It 's a supernatural good That which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man what the Lord hath prepared for those that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9. It 's meant not only of the things of glory but the things of grace Now a man is naturally and wholly corrupted and possessed with sin Jo. 3. 6. That which is born of 〈◊〉 is flesh that which comes by Generation is but either nature or corruption Gal. 5. 19. The flesh lusteth against the spirit Therefore it is beyond the power of the flesh to close with the spirit because contrary thereunto therefore Paul concludeth it Rom. 7. 14. The law is spiritual and I am carnal sold under sin Again that which must lift up Nature to act above its self must be something above nature for nothing can act beyond its own sphere and compass Trees grow but they have not sence Beasts have sence but not reason Devils have 〈◊〉 but they cannot close with God That that must cause the Dog not to return to his vomit again must change the nature of a Dog into a Lamb It 's beyond the power of darkness to bring light so 〈◊〉 It must be as the Apostle expresseth it 2 Cor. 4. 6. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness that must shine into our hearts to give the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 〈◊〉 is the 〈◊〉 of power not only to work something out of nothing but something out of that which is contrary to it And therefore this work of the Application of Redemption to a lost sinner is harder than the work of Creation it self for as the Lord had nothing then to help him so he had nothing to hinder him in Creating the World but here the Lord must take 〈◊〉 the heart of stone he must turn the heart of flint into a heart of flesh he must cause light to shine out of darkness and work one contrary out of another Why then are commands so frequent it Scripture as make you a new heart and a new spirit Ezek. 18. 31. Turn ye turn ye why will you die Ezek. 33. 11. Beleeve in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Acts 16. 31. If a man have no power to turn himself to what purpose are these commands if there be need of an Almighty power to work these why are they required of us 1 These and the like commands of God in Scripture do shew not what we can do but what we should do not what our ability is but what our duty is and what would be acceptable to the Lord if we could perform the same 2 When the Lord gives a command together with the command he gives a power unto al his Elect to enable them to obey the command as when he commanded Lazarus to come forth Jo. 5. 20. 3 When we are commanded to return to repent and beleeve the meaning is not that we of our selves by our selves and our own power should do this but thus that we should be content that the Lord should work in us what he requires of us we should lie under the stroke of the truth and receive the powerfull impression of the spirit and be content to be made able The Third Proposition We have heard 1 That God himself is the Principal Cause of Application and 2 That the Power which he puts forth in this Work is an Almighty Power Now Thirdly Those means which the Lord is pleased to appoint and to use are the instrumental causes of Application This meets directly with that vain conceit of the Familists Doth the Lord do all the Work it seems then a man may sit still and do nothing nothing is required of us there is nothing for us to do It was a wise speech of one of the Antients He that created thee without thy self will not save thee without thy self know therefore we must God by his Almighty Power is the Principal Cause and those means that he hath appointed are the Instrumental Causes These are First The Word accompanied by the presence and operation of the Spirit Isa. 59. 21. My Word and my Spirit shall never depart away from thee The word he hath sanctified and promised to accompany for this great Work and it is the Word of the Gospel mainly which makes this Application for our good He hath left an Impression of his own 〈◊〉 upon it It is called the Ministration of the Spirit 〈◊〉 of Life 2 Cor. 3. 6 7 8. but the Law is a killing Letter it shews a man what he is and what he 〈◊〉 but the Gospel shews the means

〈◊〉 Power of God in the conversion of a 〈◊〉 is far more secret and Spiritual such as we are 〈◊〉 able to reach It is the prayer of the Apostle for the Ephesians Chap. 1. 17 18. that they might know the working of his mighty Power in working Faith it is the most mysterious of all the works of God it shakes the 〈◊〉 of the ablest Divines upon Earth Comfort to releeve the hearts of sinners against desperate discouragements when the floods of iniquity 〈◊〉 in amain upon the soul the sinner looks to his 〈◊〉 to Gods Ordinances and Providences and 〈◊〉 the Work of God that should be wrought in him and 〈◊〉 what ods and disproportion there is between his Soul and that blessed Work that should be in him why truly this is the only help to a soul in such a case with man it is impossible but not with God for with him all things are possible Matth. 19. 26. Though there be such a vast disproportion between thy own ability and this Work that thou shouldest never attain 〈◊〉 if thou wert left to thy self yet know that Christ by the Almighty Power of his Spirit is able to do it for thee But the soul will say the truth is there is not so much disproportion but there is as much opposition in my soul to the work of Grace why should God ever give me that mercy which I would not have and that Grace which my soul hath so much opposed this is another depth Why yet know thou that Gol can overwork all these and will do so for thee if thou seek unto him But know this to thy ever lasting terror That if thou do 〈◊〉 thus in the hardness and opposition of thy heart against Christ and his Grace that this Power of the Lord that would convert thee will put forth it self to confound thee to thine eternal ruine Exhortation Not to defer the time 〈◊〉 Grace but every soul of us with trembling hearts to attend upon the Lord in the use of means that he may be pleased to work his own good Work in us It 's that the Apostle exhorts unto Phil. 2. 12. Workout your 〈◊〉 with fear and trembling and he gives the reason of it For saies he it's God that worketh in you to 〈◊〉 and to do of his own good pleasure that is it is in Gods hand to help us or to forsake us either 〈◊〉 make the means effectual for our saving good or else to withdraw his presence and blessing from them while we do enjoy them 〈◊〉 Be 〈◊〉 fearful not to slight any Ordinance God hath appointed as Naamans 〈◊〉 said to him Go and try it he that now counsels you to it may bless it and work by it if it please him Secondly Tremblingly fear to fall short of Gods Power in an Ordinance for a man may fall short of God and Christ and Grace and all good even while he doth enjoy the Ordinances of God and live under them therefore say as Elisha did Where is the Lord God of Eliah Here is the Word and here is the Ordinance but where is the Lord God of this Word the God of Preaching and Praying It is not in the Minister or the means to do good to my soul but Lord speak thou the word and it shall work upon my soul as he said 2 Kings 4. 29 30. As the Lord lives 〈◊〉 will not leave thee till thou go with me do thou so when the Lord gives thee means say I will not leave the Lord until he make this Counsel this Word this Ordinance effectual for my saving good Be also tremblingly fearful when the Lord works by any Ordinance lest you should go out from or with draw your self from the power of it when you find and feel somthing more than Man and Means and Ordinances Oh let it not slip away the Lord was in that word do not suffer that stroke to go away because God is there now the Lord is working be you sure to follow the blow and give not over wrastiing 〈◊〉 striving with the Lord until he bless you with the 〈◊〉 working of his Word and Spirit and so apply unto thy soul all Spiritual Good in Jesus Christ. BOOK III. LUK. 1. 17. To make ready a People prepared for the Lord. HAving dispatched the Nature of Application in the General The Parts thereof come to be Considered in the next place These are Two 1 A Preparation of the Soul for Christ. 2 An Implantation of the Soul into Christ. That so having the Son we may be sure to have life 1 Joh. 5. 12. possessing him who is the heir of all we may be possessed of all both Temporal and Spiritual Blessings with him But before the Soul can be engrafted into the true Vine Christ Jesus it must be prepared and fitted thereunto by the powerful work of the Spirit of God upon it being not fit to receive a Christ by Nature and unable to fit its self thereunto by any liberty of Will or any sufficiency natural it hath When then these Two Works are imprinted upon the Soul the Sinner comes to take full possession of a Savior and to have all those Spiritual good things which Christ hath Purchased applyed unto him And thus these Two taking up the whole Nature of Application it 's manifest they must be the Parts of Application as reason inforceth The First is thus Described Preparation is a fitting of a sinner for his Being in Christ. The words of the Text will afford us full ground for the Handling and Discovering of this Truth To prepare a People fitted for the Lord Which words make known the main Task that was imposed upon John the Baptist and that great Work of his Ministery being the Forerunner of our Savior Christ wherewith he was betrusted and for which he was every way fitted with Gifts and Graces proportionable Therefore it s said in the beginning of the Verse He shall come in the Spirit and Power of Elias i. e. He shall have that large measure of gracious and Ministerial Gifts that special presence and assistance of the Spirit of the Lord accompanying of him as somtimes Elias had that so in the corrupt and declining state of the Church which was now exceeding great he might set things in a better frame build up the Breaches made taking off those Dissentions Errors and Divisions which had spread over the Body and eaten into the Bowels of the Church of the Jews like a Gangrene or Cancer And therefore as it was foretold of him so it was performed by him Matth. 17. 11. He did restore all things Namely such was the lively and over-ruling power of his Ministery that he wrought the Hearts of the Children otherwise 〈◊〉 and rebellious to the wisdom of the just men that laying aside all carnal wisdom of the 〈◊〉 which was enmity against God and caused 〈◊〉 and strifes among men they came to judge 〈◊〉 of things that were excellent to

set the greatest Price and account upon those things which were of greatest worth the Truth of God his Will and Wayes warily to observe the seasons 〈◊〉 these are Dispensed and Revealed And so with readiness to attend thereupon and to entertain those opportunities and means of Grace and Good whence follows a mutual agreement between the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and these their converted Posterity They long before expected a Savior 〈◊〉 now fitted 〈◊〉 Receive the Lord Christ their Saviour now 〈◊〉 In the Words there be Three divine Truths which 〈◊〉 will take notice of in which the Pith of the foregoing Description is expressed 1 All men by Nature are unfit to Receive Christ. 2 There must be a Preparation therefore made for that end 3 The Ministery of Elias is the means to do this The First of these though proper enough for this 〈◊〉 yet we shall reserve the 〈◊〉 thereof 〈◊〉 we come to discover the manner of Gods 〈◊〉 in drawing of a sinner to himself where the 〈◊〉 fastening to his Corruption and the Lords 〈◊〉 him from it being handled together will 〈◊〉 way the one for the other and give light the 〈◊〉 to the other we shall therefore defer the further 〈◊〉 of that till we come to that place Proceed we now to open the Second Point That is The Soul must be sitted for Christ before it can receive Him or Salvation by Him This is the Scope of the Place the Way and Order of the Lords approach where there is no Preparation made there is no Expectation of a Savior to come Thus it was Prophesied Mal. 3. 1. 〈◊〉 I will send my Messenger and he shall Prepare the way before me and the Lord whom yee seek will suddenly come into his Temple Thus was it accomplished by the Baptist to whom the Word of the Lord came and he came 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 about Jordan saying The voyce of one crying in the Wilderness Prepare yee the way of the Lord and make his paths streight Luke 3. 4. A similitude taken from Earthly 〈◊〉 our Savior he is the King and he was now to come in his own Person and in the Ministery of the 〈◊〉 and thereby into the Souls of his People And 〈◊〉 the Baptist makes Proclamation Not for their 〈◊〉 so much as for their Hearts that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereof might be dislodged And the 〈◊〉 fit to entertain the Lord Jesus And that this was a Spiritual Preparation the nature of Christs Kingdom 〈◊〉 being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 world Joh. 18. 36. And the 〈◊〉 of his Proceeding being professedly 〈◊〉 to the pompe of Earthly Potentates will evidence 〈◊〉 For 〈◊〉 shall hear his voyce in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 12. 19. But the Baptists Sermon who 〈◊〉 knew the 〈◊〉 of his own 〈◊〉 puts it out of doubt For so he ads 〈◊〉 3. 1 2. Repent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kingdom of Heaven is at hand As the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes Prepare yee the way of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he had said Repenting is Preparing And 〈◊〉 3. 5. Every ' Mountain shall be made low and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thing streight The sense of which words that it could not be literal but Spiritual the accomplishment of them in Experience is proof most pregnantly undeniable The Sum is The Heart is the high way while the Gospel is Preaching Christ is coming the Heart must by Repentance be fitted for Christ offering himself in that and then Christ will come by that means thereunto In this Preparation for the Explication of it we are to attend Three Things 1 Wherein it Consists 2 The manner of the Work 3 The Reasons of it For the First of these What this Preparation is or wherein it 〈◊〉 Generally It is a renouncing of whatsoever might cross the coming and entertaining of our Savior Christ into the Heart And it is the fitting of the Soul 〈◊〉 Faith and for being in Christ by Faith Particularly it shewes it self in Four Things The First is the Renouncing the Authority of those bosom Corruptions which have Lorded it over the Soul and kept out the Power of the Gospel from prevailing and taking place in the Heart That accursed Union and Combination that hath been long between the Heart and its secret Lusts which for their naturalness are said to be The old man Eph. 4. 22. And for their néarness our earthly members Col. 3. 5. born and bred with us which make and 〈◊〉 the Corrupt disposition of our Hearts This Combination must be broken this League 〈◊〉 else there is no place for the Presence of a 〈◊〉 True These noysom Distempers will be as Tyrants still Usurpiug Authority over the Soul but they are not acknowledged as Lawful 〈◊〉 by the Soul rightly prepared for the Lord But the sinner rightly fitted shakes off the yoak and 〈◊〉 from under the 〈◊〉 of these Distempers 〈◊〉 though he be not able to wage War and to mortifie them by any power received 〈◊〉 he withdraws his 〈◊〉 from his Lust and stands ready to entertain a deliver This 〈◊〉 Work the 〈◊〉 here 〈◊〉 by the Evangelist implyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 perfect onem sonat 〈◊〉 concinnitatem 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 aptantur saith Calvin in Locum And the Original in the Prophet Isa ah 40. 3. imports no more both shewing the same thing even an utter Emptiness that ought to be in the heart Thus also is this Work 〈◊〉 and set out in the 〈◊〉 thereof Every mountain shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 low It is not paving but levelling not a bringing in of some 〈◊〉 ability so much which this Preparative stroak 〈◊〉 stamp looks at take it strictly in hoc signo 〈◊〉 as they say but a removing of all that out 〈◊〉 the way which might stop or stay our Saviors coming for 〈◊〉 he Professeth Matth. 10. 37. He 〈◊〉 loveth Father or Mother more than me is not 〈◊〉 of me Not 〈◊〉 that is Not fit to 〈◊〉 him or Mercy by him As we use to say A fusty Vessel is not worthy of precious Liquor A dusty Cabinet not worthy to have a Diamond put into it That is They are not fit to Receive these 〈◊〉 the Things will be spoyled not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them The Soul is brought to Renounce 〈◊〉 might serve to share in the Work and Glory of Free Grace and so cast some blemish 〈◊〉 or at 〈◊〉 diminish the due worth thereof which the 〈◊〉 Christ who doth all to the praise of the Glory 〈◊〉 his Grace will not suffer and therefore he will have this Coast cleared also before his coming And the Soul must be emptied not only of those things which out of the intr 〈◊〉 Evil of their nature do cross the Nature of Grace as Sins and Corruptions but also of all that confidence in any spiritual sufficiency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which while we would seem to share with him in the Work of our Conversion and ease 〈◊〉 of some part of the Labor we do indeed take some part of the Honor from him concerning which 〈◊〉 hath said That he will

not give his Glory to 〈◊〉 Isa. 42. 8. The Lord Jesus as he will not suffer 〈◊〉 Corruption never so strong to hinder his Work when he will accomplish it so neither will he suffer 〈◊〉 of our performances or abilities be they what 〈◊〉 will to joyn Purchasers with him in the 〈◊〉 of Grace as though he were not either able or willing to be the Author and sinisher of our Faith 〈◊〉 No no We must not ad of ours but in 〈◊〉 case take all of him and from him not bring 〈◊〉 own wisdom with us but become fools that we 〈◊〉 be wise and that 's the way which God hath 〈◊〉 to gain information not think to ioyn our 〈◊〉 with Christ and so become Co-partners with 〈◊〉 I speak of the first Work of Conversion to 〈◊〉 our selves Holy Just and Wise but 〈◊〉 our selves we must look that he should be made Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and 〈◊〉 to us Hence the Apostle Phil. 3. 9. professeth he desired 〈◊〉 to be found in Christ not only as not having his 〈◊〉 sins but not having his own 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 by the Law A Real Renouncing of our own worthiness of that Grace and Mercy which we need and without which 〈◊〉 are most miserable this being one Condition of the Second Covenant of Grace made in Christ wherby it 's differenced from that of the Law made with Adam Namely That Holiness and Righteousnes wherewith the Nature of man was beautified in Paradice though it was not so natural as issuing out of the Principles out of which he was compounded and made yet by all Orthodox Divines it is in this sense judged natural in that in Gods wise Providence and righteous appointment it was due to Nature It being cross to the wise proceeding of the infinite wise God to require Obedience from a Creature if he should not have given ability to the Creature to perform it It Arguing weakness and unskilfulness at the least in the Workman to make a thing for an End and not make it able to attain the End 〈◊〉 which it was made But in this Second Covenant of the Gospel it is far otherwise when we in our first 〈◊〉 had mispent the stock the Lord had bestowed upon us we were unworthy to be betrusted with any more and hence it coms to pass when the Lord wil lay hold upon the proud heart of a Sinner and draw him to himself he sinks his Spirit with the sence of his own wretchedness so that he sees and confesseth freely that he is undone without Mercy and yet conceives it 's not possible that ever such a worthless worm should partake thereof acknowledgeth it's just with God to deny to give nay to offer Grace to him that hath slighted rejected opposed Grace from day to day He knowes he cannot procure or Purchase Gods favor challenge he dare not without it he concludes he must perish and yet deserves by his own confession he should never obtain it Dan. 9. 7 8. O Lord Righteousness belongs to thee but unto us confufion of face nothing but shame and confusion belongs to us no mercy nor grace Ezek. 36. 31 32. They shal loarh themselves in their own eyes and not for your 〈◊〉 do I these things saith the Lord be ashamed and confounded O house of Israel In a word then is a man truly worthy that is fit to hear of and to receive mercy when he is rightly really become 〈◊〉 of his own unworthiness The soul now stands ready to side it with Christ for him to take possession of it that though the soul be not able to kill sin yet it 's empty the Coast is cleer as when Joab sent to David to come and take the City so the soul stands ready that if Jesus Christ would come and take possession of it and do that for it which it cannot do it self this is that that it would have the soul is content that Christ should do all as suppose a City that is Garrisoned with Enemies they cannot get them out themselves but they are willing that the General should come with his Soldiers and drive them out and place another Garrison there so the soul is content that Christ should dispossess whatsoever opposeth him and do whatsoever is pleasing to himself Isa. 26. 13. O Lord our God 〈◊〉 Lords besides thee have had Dominion over us but by thee only will we make mention of thy Name as if the soul should say I cannot subdue my sins my self but let Christ do what is good in his eyes the soul is content that Christ should work upon it and do all for it The Second Particular to be attended for the Explication of the Point is to shew the Manner of this Work and that will also appear in Four things The soul of a sinner is meerly patient herein it 's wrought upon him not wrought by him by any power he hath inherent in himself so the phrase and language of Scripture Jer. 31. 18. Turn me and I shal be turned and verse 19. After I was turned I 〈◊〉 that also includes as much Gal. 4. 9. we know God 〈◊〉 rather in this first Work are known of him And therefore it 's no work of Sanctification properly and as it 's taken in a narrow and strict sense for the sinner be ng justified by Faith and having the Spirit of Adoption dwelling in him hath received a principle of life wherby he comes to be active Act. 15 9. Having purified their hearts by faith This only is in way of preparation to fit us for our being in Christ that I may receive this power this is to make room for faith and Christ that having received him I might be enabled by the power of the Spirit to run right which is Sanctification Hence then go no further than this work the sinner as yet is not a good Tree nor can he bring forth good Fruit but is in way of preparation to be made one yet this work as it comes from the Spirit is good and pleasing to God because the Spirit is a good tree and is the Author of this I only am the receiver of it and therefore it is none of my fruit properly nor am I said to do any thing to please God by this because it 's done in me not by me As it is in the infusion of the Grace of Faith look at it as the soul is the subject of the Work the act it self comes from the Spirit and as a fruit of the Spirit it is good and accepted of God yet I cannot properly be said to please God in it because it is not an act done by me Hence those feeble Objections fall to the ground and are wiped away with a wet finger If there be any saving Preparation before the infusion of Faith then the soul brings forth good fruit and is a good tree without Faith And Secondly then there is somthing which pleaseth God

aboundantly pardon Isaiah 55. 7. We have hence a ground of tryal whereby we may gain certain evidence whether ever we came the right way to Christ or that Christ is come or that we have any grounded hope that he will come unto our souls If Christ fit the soul he wil certainly never loose the soul if he prepare it for 〈◊〉 he will undoubtedly possess it by his spirit and grace Our Savior is not either so weak or unwise so weak 〈◊〉 at he cannot accomplish his work and intended end 〈◊〉 unwise that he will loose his labor or leave his work without success as though he had mistaken himself and enterprised that that either he could not or should not accomplish This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between Restraining and Preparing Grace the Lord may restrain a soul for other Ends but if he 〈◊〉 the soul it is for Christ and he will never 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that End There be 〈◊〉 other ends for which the Lord in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sees fit to curb and keep in the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 wicked and restrain the rage of their 〈◊〉 distempers why he should take of the edge and keens and 〈◊〉 the sury and hellish fiercness that 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 hearts of wretched and unreasonable men who are 〈◊〉 by Satan according to his will and ruled by him even the Prince of the Air who is an enemy to Gods glory and to mankind As first that the Lord might shew his power and that absolute soverainty he hath over the worst men the worst of Creatures those infernal 〈◊〉 and the worst and most violent of all their corruptions and that he hath the reins of all their violence and rage 〈◊〉 his own hand and orders it and their wills and wickedness not as they please but as he 〈◊〉 and therefore he inlargeth their commission and recals 〈◊〉 commission as he pleaseth And therefore as Jab speaks of the Sea Job 38. 11. He 〈◊〉 the bounds and compass of their course which they shall not pass thus far and no further So to the Devil he tels 〈◊〉 punctualy how far he shall proceed he is in thy hand only save his life Job 2. 4. Which was a 〈◊〉 to Satan as though God had said break this Bottle but do not spill this Wine thus the Lord 〈◊〉 in Pharoah when the Israelites were to go out Exo. 11. 7. There was not a dog moved his tongue against man or beast that they might know that I am the Lord. That by this means he might provide for the subsistance and continuance of the society of Men in Churches and Commonwealths especially the relief and safety of his own Servants whereas had but wicked men their wills it 's certain there was no being nor breathing nor living for the Saints upon the face of the Earth the Dragon the Devil in his instruments doth so malignantly pursue the woman that is the true Church and Children of God Rev. 12. 13. The Lord therefore breaks their teeth pares their nails and cuts short their tether 〈◊〉 they cannot do as they would As Laban said to Jacob Gen. 31. 29. It is in the power of my hand to do thee harm but the God of thy Father spake unto me saying speak unto Jacob neither good nor bad It is in the wills and power of wicked Men and Devils to do harm to the people of God but the Lord will not suffer them to act that rage and malice that is in their hearts and so not to do that hurt which otherwise they could and would So to Abimelech the Lord whispers his displeasure in the 〈◊〉 Gen. 20. 3. And so restrained him from that which his own heart would have carried him unto That he might indeed put his Servants to a more narrow search and to cause them to look to their heart 〈◊〉 and not content themselves with the lighter strokes of common impressions and 〈◊〉 since many have something like preparation and yet fall short of any saving work the Saints may be careful to go further and not content themselves with 〈◊〉 Copper and counterfeit appearances of hearts prepared for a Christ and breachings after him but to 〈◊〉 themselves as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and walk 〈◊〉 a jealousie and a suspicious fear over 〈◊〉 and return and search and 〈◊〉 question with themselves Am I no other No better 〈◊〉 I as such Then I shall fall and perish as 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 19. Had they been of us 〈◊〉 would never have gone out from us There must be heresies and that amongst you 〈◊〉 saith Paul to the Corinths that they that are sincere hearted may be tryed 1 Cor. 11. 9. When there is fal e Coyn goes up and down each wise man examines what he hath and what he takes Now those upon whom legal terrors and these restraining strokes are laid for 〈◊〉 and the like ends in the counsel of the Lord In the issue the strength of their corruptions like waters that are stopped break out with greater violence the Lord le ts loose their distempers upon them and commonly these blows leave them at a greater distance from the Lord Christ than ever before and many times a Reformation of a mans own is but a Preparation for Sin He that is otherwise cannot be hid 1 Tim. 5 25. It had been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the holy commandement and so to return with the Sow that was washed to wallow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 again and with the Dog to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dogs that lick up their vomit grow more filthy than ever so such as these grow the most 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adversaries to Christ and his Gospel that 〈◊〉 Earth They seemed to be prepared by God 〈◊〉 it was as I say for other ends than for Christ and when these ends are attained in Gods secret Counsel he usually plucks up the stake and le ts loose their tether that they may hurry headlnog to everlasting ruine But if the Lord do not only curb a sinner or hack and rough hew him a little by the word but cut him off as a branch or scion fit for a savior he will never let him lie and wither Look then to those sinful lusts those special and beloved corruptions unto which thy heart hath ben so strongly tyed and linked and whereby Satan and thy corrupt heart have intrenched themselves and set up as so many strong holds against the Lord Christ the work of his spirit and power of his truth as being in league and confederacie with these noysom distempers Hast thou felt the tyranny and treachery of them that bondage and bitterness unto which thou art brought that thou longest and breathest after relief and deliverance and the comming of a Christ that thou mayest deliver up thy self and all into his hands and thou findest thy soul opposite to that that hath been opposite and cross to Christ Isay 59. 20. The Redeemer shall come out

of Zion who are those to them that turn from transgression If the Lord turn thy soul he will Redeem thy soul and if ever he Redeem thee he will turn thy soul from thy transgressions he will make a divorce between thy soul and sin Hast thou found the strong man bound those temptations which formerly were so sweet thou couldest not 〈◊〉 them those corruptions which were so natural that thou couldest not but yeild obedience yea willingly religne up thy self to the authority and right of 〈◊〉 they challenged over thee and thou wentest as an 〈◊〉 to the slaughter and as a fool to the stocks But now thy heart is revolted from that right and power these corruptions and temptations had over thee and thou waitest only for a way of escape now thou art for a Christ and he wil be for thee for such as thou art alone And therefore this gives in heavie Evidence against sundry sorts of men as such who as yet never came into the suburbs of Salvation never made entrance or preparation towards the enjoyment of Christ and therefore are far from ever coming to the participation or 〈◊〉 of him The first are those which slight this work as a matter meerly superfluous they look at it as an invention of some discouraged and drooping melancholly persons a course which out of dark and misguided 〈◊〉 have contrived but was never required by the Almighty These are of two sorts 1 Such as they who are in a dead sleep of senseless 〈◊〉 conclude their condition good because they never knew what a good condition meant and therefore conceive they need not be troubled they should not be altered from it They observe no Mountains discern no crooked paths nor see their own sins nor the danger of their own condition and therefore fondly conceive they need be no better they should be no other and if men could be as wel contented with them as they are with themselves they see no reason but that they might sit down in quiet without trouble and distraction and yet I will to Heaven also It 's a needless and rigid curiosity of some singular humorous men that require more than needs that they might be counted more than ordinary they cry out as they Yee take too much upon you yee sons of Aaron are not all the Congregation of the Lord holy they wonder why men should be so troubled for their sins distressed in the apprehension of their own condition they count it a blessing they never yet knew what it meant and hope they never shal Thou that never sawest thy 〈◊〉 for a Christ art not yet in a way to be 〈◊〉 thou who never faults the waies which might stop the passage of Christ thou art never like to mend them upon these terms This was Laodiceas temper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 16. Thou sayest thou art rich and wise and wants nothing and knowest not that thou art poor and naked and miserable and indeed hast nothing nay thou art cut out for confusion fited and prepared on purpose for an everlasting rejection Isay 6. 10. Mark how when the Lord will prepare a people for utter desolation and shut them out from sharing in mercy he sends the Prophet with Commission Go saith he make the ears of this People heavy their eyes dim and their hearts fat that seeing they may see and not understand hearing they may hear and not perceive lest they be converted and I should heal them as if he should have said if they never see if they never be made 〈◊〉 of their sins and selves they will never be converted and so never saved 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that perish There is not a thought that the King will come on progress when there is no Harbenger to make preparation before 2 To this rank of those who slight this way and work of God are your presumptuous Atheists when the terrors of the Law are denounced and the power of the Truth in the dispensations thereof is planted on 〈◊〉 to make battery against the strong holds of the 〈◊〉 corruptions of mens hearts and lives that they might 〈◊〉 down before 〈◊〉 Christ and 〈◊〉 up all to him These wretches defeat the power and stroke of the Truth by their 〈◊〉 conceits It 's true 〈◊〉 they the Lord requires the soul should sue out an everlasting divorce between it self and sin such emptiness and such underness It 's but a white at which we should aim not which we can hit a Copy after which we should write but though it be scribled and blurred it will serve the turn God requires so much but he will take less he threatens and it's wisdom indeed to affright sinners and in a Spiritual policy as Fathers do terrifie but he intends not Execution it 's but to awe men not to condemn men Let all 〈◊〉 presumptuous Atheists hear and fear and tremble at what the Lord hath said in Deut. 29. 19. He that beareth the words of this Curse and shall bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart to ad drunkenness to thirst Such a one is a subject prepared on purpose for the everlasting wrath of God for the Text saies in the next verse The Lord will not spare that man but the anger of the Lord will smoke against him and all the Curses that are written in the Book of God shall be upon him he shall cut him off and root him out from amongst the number of his People Another sort are such who though they are not come to this height of prophaneness 〈◊〉 as to slight this Work yet they 〈◊〉 another way of coming to a Christ which is as sure as they conceive and much more easie They catch after Christ and comfort in him before ever there be any breach of league with their lusts or sad abasement of their hearts before the Lord in the sight of their Natural condition And thus as Travellers when they meet with deep waies and soul and long lanes that are hardly passable they make bold to cut a way for 〈◊〉 and break over the Fence and Hedg to avoid the 〈◊〉 of the travel so they make a way of their own not keep the Kings Road. So here when this way of preparation is too narrow and tedious a passage they have contrived a narrower course and compass 〈◊〉 their own They will catch at a Christ and press on for mercy and to take hold of a Christ and not come by this coast of breaking the league with 〈◊〉 and renouncing the 〈◊〉 of any 〈◊〉 besides and in a misguided mistake they 〈◊〉 they have carried the cause This was the guise of the stony ground Matt. 13. 20. He 〈◊〉 received the seed into stony places the same is he that heareth the Word and immediately with joy receiveth it They should first have ploughed up the stones there should have been brokenness of heart

day the things belonging to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Will you suffer Christ to stand thus knocking at the door of your hearts and not let him in Take heed of this Christ knocks this day at your hearts if you now give him his last Answer and shut the door against him it may prove to be the last knocking you may hap never to see him more A plain and powerful Ministerie is the only Ordinary Means to Prepare the heart soundly for Christ. Hence it is when our Savior would have this work done he prepares a workman fit for it and furnisheth him with abilities which might enable him to the discharge thereof the work is great and the service difficult and therefore Elias is fitted with a Spirit suitable with Power answerable unto that purpose for which he was appointed an Instrument as we say for the nonce John the Baptist he also inherits these abilities and that Minister must be an Elias i. e. must have his Spirit and Power in proportion if ever this great work of preparation followeth his hand with Comfort and Success As it was in the Material so also is it in the building of this spiritual temple in which the holy Ghost doth dwell The Elect of God are like trees of righteousness the Word is like the Ax that must be lifted by a skilful and strong arm of a cunning Minister who like a Spiritual Artificer must hew and square and take off the knotty untowardnrss in the Soul before we can come to couch close and settle upon the Lord Christ as the Corner stone Paul calls the Saints Gods husbandry 1 Cor. 3. 9. A powerful humbling Ministery is like the Plow to plow up the fallow ground the thorny sensual hearts of sinful men to receive the immortal seed of the Word of Promise and the Spirit of Christ thereby For the Opening of the Point Two Things are 1 What is meant by a plain and powerful Ministery such as that of Elias 2 How this hath force to effect so great a Work The plainness of the Ministery appears When the Language and Words are such as those of the meanest Capacity have some acquaintance with and may be able to conceive when the Preacher 〈◊〉 his Speech to the shallow understanding of the Simplest Hearer so far as in him lies alwayes avoiding the frothy tinkling of quaint and far 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which take off and blunt as 〈◊〉 were the edge of the blessed Truth and Word of God 〈◊〉 the Apostle rejects the wisdom of Words as that which makes the Cross of Christ that is The Doctrine of Christ Crucisied revealed in the Gospel to lose his proper and powerful effect when it is lo Preached where let it be observed that it is not only the vanity and emptiness of Words which is here condemned but even that pompous gaudiness and elegancy of 〈◊〉 which after an unsuspected manner steals away the mind and affection from the truth and stayes it with it self when it should be a means both to convey both Attention and Affection from it self to the truth He that puts so much Sugar into the Potion that he hinders the strength and the work of it by such a kind of mixture though he please the Pallat of the 〈◊〉 yet thereby 〈◊〉 wrongs both the Physick and his Health So here in Preaching For the excellency of Eloquence and entising words of humane Wisdom which in case were commendable to be used by him who is an Orator or a Declamor in the School in the 〈◊〉 becomes ever Fruitless and many times hurtful and prejudicial to the saving success of the Gospel Hence the Apostle makes these as Opposite 2 Cor. 2. 4. My Speech and my preaching was not with entising words of mans wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power taking this for granted as it appears in 〈◊〉 of the Speech the pompe of entising words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be discovered if we would have the Spirit in the powerful work of it be demonstrated and made to appear so much sweetness of words as may make way for the 〈◊〉 of the Gospel may be admitted and no more And as all kind of Curiosity and 〈◊〉 is to be avoided so all obscure and unusual 〈◊〉 dark Sentences and Expressions strange Languages are much more to be rejected as opposite even to the end of speaking much more to plainness of the Preaching of the tuth Words are appointed by God in his Providence to be Carriers as it were by whose help the thoughts of our minds and the savory apprehensions of truth may be communicated and conveyed over to the understanding of others whereas by mystical and dark Sentences he that comes to hear can by no means profit because he cannot conceive and so both Hearer and Speaker must needs miss their end and lose their labor since the one doth no good in his Speech because he so speaks that the other can receive no benefit He that hath a Pastoral heart must be so affected in dispensing the Doctrine of Grace as Paul was in writing Rom. 1. 7. to all that are To all that be at Rome so should he labor to reach out mercy and comfort to every soul in the congregation by every sentence he delivers as much as in him lies whereas mystical cloudy discourses which exceed the capacity and understanding of most in the assembly it s not possible they should work powerfully upon their Consciences That which the Mind conceives not the Heart affects not Ministers should be and if faithful they wil be as nurses to the people they will prepare milk for the meanest and weakest and meat for all but never give dry crust or 〈◊〉 in stead of bread to any for that was not to feed but to starve the Child Hence the Apostle concludes strange Languages in the delivery of the truth to be a Curse sent of God upon a people and therefore the Minister that so Communicates the Word he is the Messenger that brings a Curse to the 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 14. 21 22. In the Law it is written with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people wherefore tongues are fore a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not whereas Prophecying should be in that openness and familiarity of Language that the unbeleiving yea unlearned should be convinced and have the secrets of his heart made manifest to his own Conscience that so he may be truly humbled and acknowledge Gods power and presence in the virtue of his own Ordinance blessed by him 1 Cor. 14. 24. It was the complaint of God Job 38. 2. That Counsel was darkened by Words without Knowledg It was not allowed in Jobs Conference and debate of Questions with his friends it cannot but be much more condemned in publishing the mysteries of Life and Salvation to others Its the scope of the Calling and Work of

Conscience such strength 〈◊〉 truth which like a mighty stream may carry an understanding Hearer When the Apostle was to come amongst the flanting Orators and silken Doctors of Corinth which so excelled in Eloquence he brings the tryal of their Ministery unto this touch 1 Cor. 4. 19 20. I will know not the speech of them that are 〈◊〉 up but the power for the Kingdom of God stands not in word but in Power It s not the 〈◊〉 of words not the sound and tinckling of a company of fine Sentences like apifh toyes and rattles that will commend our Ministery in the account of God there is no Kingdom no Power of the work of the Spirit the heavenly Majesty of an Ordinance is not seen in such empty shels and shaddows A building with painted walls and no pillars would be of little use and less continuance A body framed out of Colours may be a picture of a Bird or Beast but a living Creature it cannot be because it wants the soul and substance which should give life and vertue thereunto So it is when a multitude of gay Sentences are packed together without the sinnews and substance of convicting Arguments there may be the picture of a Sermon but the life and power of Preaching there wil not be in any such expressions That a Minister may be Powerful an inward 〈◊〉 heat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and holy affection is required answerable and suitable to the matter which is to be communicated and those adde great life and 〈◊〉 to the delivery of the truth Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things Mat. 12. 35. Where then there is a heart awanting the chiefest part of Speech the pith and heart of it is gone for the several affections out of which the words arise make an impression and work alike temper of Spirit in him to whom we utter and express our selves Thus we speak from heart to heart and that is the best way to be in the 〈◊〉 of the Hearer and the only way to make our words take place and prevail He that mourns in speaking of sin makes another 〈◊〉 for sin committed An Exhortation that proceeds from the heart carries a kind of Authority and Commission with it to make way for it self not to return before it confer with the heart of him that will give attendance to it 〈◊〉 Discourses talk only with the 〈◊〉 they go no further because they 〈◊〉 no deeper then from the understanding of him 〈◊〉 speaks The Doctrine of the Gospel is like the 〈◊〉 upon the herbs and the dew upon the grass 〈◊〉 32. 2. The strength and stirring of holly affections is like a 〈◊〉 wind or tempest makes the truth delivered to press in with more power and speed and to soak more deeply even to the heart root of him 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 will receive it It may be here enquired for Explication of the Point How a Ministery thus 〈◊〉 and Powerful 〈◊〉 work Answ. To speak only so much here as concerns the Place leaving Particulars until we 〈◊〉 of the several Parts of Preparation know we must the preparing work of a plain and powerful Ministery stands in Two Things It discovers the secrets of Sin makes known the close passages of the Soul to it self and that in the ugliness thereof Heb. 4. 11. The Word of God is 〈◊〉 in Operation sharper than any two edged sword 〈◊〉 betwixt the Soul and the Spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was the work that Paul aimed at in the 〈◊〉 of the Gospel 2 Cor. 4. 4. Pandling the Word of God not deceitsully but plainly by 〈◊〉 of the truth he commended himself to 〈◊〉 mans Conscience in the sight of God As though he had said Speak Oh ye blessed Saints of 〈◊〉 was not Paul in your 〈◊〉 Did he 〈◊〉 every corner of your Consciences 〈◊〉 you cannot but acknowledge it your hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 as much A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Corruption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of luch to whom the Word is spoken and blessed The 〈◊〉 Souldiers the refuse Publicans all 〈◊〉 and stand 〈◊〉 at the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Luke 3. 11 12. they all said Master what shall we do 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 at the Bar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Judge upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence it is the time of the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 is called The 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 day of the Lord Mal. 4. 5. 〈◊〉 that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 10. 5. The weapons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the 〈◊〉 Ministery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 down strong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cast down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thought to the Obedience of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Savior the Chief Master of the Assemblies is said to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scribes Matt. 7. last Not to tell a man a 〈◊〉 tale a toothless sapless 〈◊〉 so that the hearers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are gone are never stirred never troubled for their sins nor quickened onward in Obedience But when the power of the 〈◊〉 the presence and Majesty 〈◊〉 the Lord 〈◊〉 appears in his Ordinances they then carry 〈◊〉 with them and bear down all before them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lightning forsakes his hold and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is forced to give way to the Government of the King of Saints Strong Physick either Cures or Kills either takes away the 〈◊〉 or life of the 〈◊〉 so it is with a spiritual and powerful Ministery it will work one way or other either it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hardens converts or condemns those that live 〈◊〉 the stroak thereof For observe we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word is but an Instrument in the hand of 〈◊〉 who dispenseth the same 〈◊〉 to his good 〈◊〉 and the counsel of his own Will working when and upon whom he will and what he will by 〈◊〉 The Sword in the hand of him that wields it may as easily killas defend another answerable to the affection of him that strikes therewith It is so with the Word which is the Sword of the Spirit It is the savor of life unto life but then and to those only to whom the Lord will bless the same and the savor of death unto death then and unto those when such a 〈◊〉 is denyed Such as be Ministers may hence see the Reason of that little success we find that little good we do in the Vineyard of the Lord Our Pains 〈◊〉 not our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with the hearts of men not one 〈◊〉 levelled not a crooked piece 〈◊〉 not one poor Soul prepared for a Christ after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quarters years travelling in the work of the 〈◊〉 The time was Satan fell like lightning suddenly speedily when the Disciples of Christ as Sons of 〈◊〉 delivered the Gospel in the power and demonstration of the Spirit But now Satan stands up 〈◊〉 full strength takes up his stand maintains his 〈◊〉 in the hearts of men notwithstanding all that 〈◊〉 see done

by the most What is the 〈◊〉 God is as Merciful as ever his VVord and 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 as ever they were I need 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he Where is the Lord God of Elias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I must rather ask Where is the Spirit 〈◊〉 Tower of Elias We want Power and Spirit and then no wonder we do not nay upon these 〈◊〉 in reason we shall never prepare a people for the Lord. The Word of God which is the Sword of the Spirit is as sharp as ever it was but our hands 〈◊〉 weak our hearts are feeble we have no courage 〈◊〉 power 〈◊〉 follow the blow against the sturdy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of men We keep these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much about us condemned by the 〈◊〉 2 〈◊〉 4. 2. in the course of our Ministery 〈◊〉 we are to offend our friends to displease great ones to provoke the wicked and malicious fear we do lest their love should be lost their bounty and kindness taken away and removed or else hazard our own earthly comforts and contents Its pitty but the tongue of that Minister should cleave to the roof of his mouth who speaks any thing less than God requires of him for these base and by respects somtimes Ministers are afraid to speak to the hearts of men and ashamed to reprove them for those sins which they are not afraid or ashamed to do in the face of the world Neither do Ministers many times Convince so soundly as they ought nor gather in those Arguments which may make those 〈◊〉 undeniable and mens Consciences at a stand Again they want that holy spiritual affection which they should deliver Gods Word withal unto his people And this is the Sum of all Ministers do not deliver the Word with a heavenly hearty violent affection they do not speak out of the abundance of their hearts If they would speak against sin with a holy indignation it would make men stand in aw of sin they talk of it hourly and say It is not good to prophane Gods Name and his Sabboths and to live an ungodly life but they do not speak from 〈◊〉 hearts in this kind A sturdy Messenger if he come to a mans house to speak with him he will not be put off he will take no denial but he will speak with him if it be possible before he goes away But send a Child of a Message to a man if a Servant do but tell him His Master is not at leisure or that he may speak with him another time he will 〈◊〉 be put off and go away before he 〈◊〉 delivered his Message So it is with a Minister that 〈◊〉 his Office with a hearty affection For when a man speaks from his heart in this Case he will have no answer he will not be 〈◊〉 withal he will take no denial but will have that he came 〈◊〉 If a man should say he is not at leisure to 〈◊〉 with him or to hear him now he will speak with him another time he will not go away with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will tell him I came to speak with your 〈◊〉 and I will speak with your hearts He will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people Tell your hearts ye that love the world 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 and pleasures 〈◊〉 and my heart 〈◊〉 you did you know the good things that are in Christ 〈◊〉 did you but know what a happy thing it is to have assurance of Gods love you would never love 〈◊〉 nor delight in wick dness as you have done before 〈◊〉 no more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things of the world but for your 〈◊〉 The day is coming when the Heavens shall 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 and you shal 〈◊〉 the voyce o the 〈◊〉 saying A I se ye dead and come to judgement Where you shall hear that dreadful Sentence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all ye workers of 〈◊〉 I know 〈◊〉 not Matt. 7. 23. Oh this may be your case one day And we that are Ministers of God do mourn for you and tell your souls We must have Sorrow 〈◊〉 you we came for Hearts and must have Hearts before we go And this is the First Use shewing the Reason why the Ministers or God do so 〈◊〉 good It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plain and powerful Preaching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 Use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 us the fearful estate and miserable Condition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that lived a long time under a plain and powerful Ministery and yet their hearts have not been 〈◊〉 and prepared for the Lord 〈◊〉 It is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Lord will never bestow any 〈◊〉 Good upon that Soul He that hath lived under a powerful Ministery many yeers and yet is not wrought upon thereby it cannot certainly be concluded but it is greatly to be suspected That the means of Gracewil never profit that man Look as it is with the Master Carpenter when he hath turned every piece of Timber and taken what he will for his turn he tels them that be under him Let this be hewed and that 〈◊〉 framed and made fit for the building Afterward 〈◊〉 finds one piece broken and another crackt and another knotty Why what saies he There is no squaring of these they are sit for nothing but for burning they are not fit for any place in the building Oh! take heed when Gods Ministers have been cutting and hewing now exhorting now perswading now cutting the heart with Reproof and yet finds here a crackt Heart and there a stubborn Soul that will not be squared by the Word 〈◊〉 than the Lord should say These will never be fitted and prepared for me they are fit for 〈◊〉 but the fire Oh! take heed of it for he that will not be fitted for Grace shall be made a 〈◊〉 in Hell for ever Therefore all you that have lived under a powerful Ministery and yet are not prepared go home and reason with your souls and plead with your own hearts and say Lord Why 〈◊〉 not I yet humbled and prepared Shall I thus be alwayes under the hacking and hewing of the Word and never be framed Such a man and such a man was stubborn and wicked and prophane and yet the Lord hath brought him home and he is become a broken hearted Christian What shall I think that am not 〈◊〉 and prepared for Christ by all the means that I have had Alas thou maiest justly suspect God never intends good to thy soul It is no absolute conclusion but it is a great suspition that those that have lived under a plain and powerful Ministery half a dozen yeers or longer and have got no good nor profited under the same I say It 's a shrewd suspicion that God will send 〈◊〉 down to Hell Therefore suspect thy own soul and say Lord will Exhortations never prevail Will Instructions never do me good Will 〈◊〉 and Reproofs 〈◊〉 strik my heart Why I have heard Sermons that would have 〈◊〉 the very stones I 〈◊〉 on that would have moved the eat I sate upon the very fire of Hell hath flashed in my face I have seen

even the very plagues 〈◊〉 hell I have had many Exhortations Instructions Admonitions and Reproofs and as powerful means as may be which 〈◊〉 never did me any good The Lord be merciful to such a poor soul and turn his heart that he may lay hold of Mercy in due time Exhortation Is it so That a plain and powerful Ministery is the means of Preparing the soul of a poor 〈◊〉 for the Lord Jesus Why then when you hear the Word plainly and powerfully preached to you labor that the Word may be so unto you as it is in it self It is a preparing Word labor you that it may prepare your hearts to receive Christ And you that be Hearers every one labor to save the Soul of another let the Father speak concerning his Children and the Husband concerning his Wife and his Family and the Wife concerning her Husband Oh when will it once be when will the time come that my Child may be fitted for the Lord when will it be that my poor Family my poor Wife my poor Husband shall be prepared for the Lord the Lord grant that it may be if not this Sabbath yet on another if not this Sermon then at the next Labour therefore to give way unto the VVord of God and suffer your Souls to be wrought upon by it for the word is powerful to prepare your hearts but the Minister must hew and square your hearts before they can be prepared for the Lord Jesus and you must suffer the words of Exhortation as the Apostle sayes Heb. 13. 22. So likewise suffer the words of Conviction of Reproof of Admonition and hold and keep your hearts under the Word that you may be wrought upon thereby And as when men have set Carpenters a work to build an House then they come every day and ask them How doth the work go on How doth the building go forward When you are gone home do you so reason with your selves and ask your own hearts how the work of the Lord goes forward in you Is my heart yet humbled Am I yet fitted and prepared for Christ I thank God I find some work and power of the Word and therefore I hope the Building will go forward BOOK IV. 2 COR. 6. 2. As he saith in an acceptable time have I heard thee in the day of Salvation have I succoured thee THe general Doctrine of Preparation being dispatched Proeced we to a further enquiry of the Particulars under it And there we have to enquire The 1 Quality 2 Parts of this Work The Quality of this 〈◊〉 wherein are Comprehended those Common Affections which firstly and properly appertain to this Place and as the 〈◊〉 and Spirits pass through the whole Body of a man So these general Considerations convey over a savor and virtue of such truths as they do contain to all the Particulars which follow and 〈◊〉 in reason are to be handled before the rest The quality of this Preparation is to be attended in Two things 1. The Freeness of the Work wrought 2. The Fitness of the time wherein it is Effected For the Discovery of both which I have made Choice of this Text as affording susficient ground for this Discourse 〈◊〉 he saith in an accept able time c. In the handling of which words we shall endeavor Three Things 1 What the Scope of the Text is that so it may appear it naturally fits our purpose and the Point in hand which comes to be 〈◊〉 2 The Sense and Meaning of the words is to be 〈◊〉 into and such Truths to be Collected which serve-our turn and intendment 3 We shall pursue the Explication of each of them in their Order The Scope of the Text which I conceive worth the while a 〈◊〉 to be attended will appear by the Connexion 〈◊〉 it hath with the foregoing 〈◊〉 and the dependance of it is to be fetched 〈◊〉 the 17 th 〈◊〉 of the former Chapter 〈◊〉 from the Consideration of the priviledge and 〈◊〉 they were advanced unto in Christ the Apostle infers and calls sor that newness of life and obedience answerable to that kindness of the Lord and the condition unto which 〈◊〉 were advanced 〈◊〉 any man be in Christ he must be a new 〈◊〉 bebold old things are past all things are made new 2 Cor. 5. 17. And this he shews from the author of this Grace who disposeth of it God 2 From the Mediator who hath purchased it Christ 3 From the Means appointed to Convey and Communicate it to such for whom it was ordained to 〈◊〉 The Ministery of the Apostles All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself through Christ Vers. 18. And whereas the Corinthians being heathens might object True he hath reconciled you Jews but what is that to us He addes in 〈◊〉 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world 〈◊〉 Beleevers both of Jews and Gentiles to himself and for this cause and to this end hath 〈◊〉 the word of Reconciliation to his Apostles for their good that while they as Ambassadors entreated God by them did beseech them to be reconciled unto him And this was done upon susficient warrant and in a way of righteous proceeding for Christ who knew no sin was made sin even for them 〈◊〉 who should beleeve that they might be made the righteousness of God in him vers last Having thus shewed a full and 〈◊〉 ground for their reconciliation and also of his own Commission for that end He further presseth it in the first Verse of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If God be thus Gracious Christs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Commission so Large We 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 together with God 〈◊〉 you 〈◊〉 you receive not the Grace of God i. e. the 〈◊〉 that word of Grace that bringeth Salvation to 〈◊〉 in vain 〈◊〉 receiving benefit by it and comfort from it to your own Conversion and Salvation And whereas they might Reply It is not in our power to receive the spiritual good of this word nor 〈◊〉 in you that are Apostles to work it or if both were granted it s not yet the Season fitter opportunity will be afforded hereafter To all these the Apostle Answers in the words of the text True the Blessing is the Lords but the Endeavor 〈◊〉 be Ours We must Plant and Water it s in Gods Prerogative and depends upon his good Pleasure to give Encrease however the Time now fits the 〈◊〉 are now afforded and though we cannot Do what we should and ought yet let us do what we can and though we have no Power of our selves to Compass our everlasting Comforts yet we have Gods own VVord and most gracious Promise That in an acceptable time he will hear us And that presumes then that we must pray In the day of Salvation he will help and by that it s taken for granted we must take pains and behold now is the day of Salvation now is the acceptable time let us therefore now call earnestly upon him for a Blessing walk

painfully in doing our Duty and let the Lord do what is Good in his own eyes Evident therefore it is That the Aim of the words carries us directly unto the first work of God upon the Soul 〈◊〉 the Prophet Isaiah expresseth in Isaiah 49. 5. 6. 8. That is the acceptable time wherein Jacob must be brought back again to God Undeniable also it is That this work of Preparation as the out-Porch and Entrance which makes way to all the rest is here pointed out Particularly by the Apostle when he entreats them to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VVord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the entrance and admittance 〈◊〉 the Lord when in the power of his Ordinances he stands and knocks at the door of the heart which is then done when the Lord begins to lay hold upon the soul and to grapple witn the sinner in awakening and wounding his 〈◊〉 for his 〈◊〉 And lastly beyond all Question 〈◊〉 49 9. 〈◊〉 thou maiest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go forth The Scope then of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our intended 〈◊〉 Search we then in the Second Place the Sense of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so those divine Truths which are there contained may be Collected by us Time The word in the Original imports Season or Opportunity which is not so much the continuance of days or months or yeers as the Concurrence and meeting together of 〈◊〉 conveniences which may be 〈◊〉 to any work whereof more anon when we handle the Point hence Collected 〈◊〉 Some Difference there is between the Apostle and the Prophet Isaiah from whom this Testimony 〈◊〉 taken but all return to one Sense The 〈◊〉 in the Old Testament refers it to the VVork 〈◊〉 God the time of his acceptation or good VVill The Apostle in the New Testament applys it to the Time A Time accepted Yet so as the work of God is 〈◊〉 and comprehended under it In the 〈◊〉 then it intimates Three Things 1 The time that is appointed 2 The VVork of Grace put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Conversion of any soul 3 The 〈◊〉 of all it depends upon Gods pleasure when he sees fit to accomplish the Decree of his Election to Convert a sinner effectually to himself and out of his free good will to take him into his 〈◊〉 by calling him out of the world to the knowledge of 〈◊〉 and his saving Grace in Christ. Day of Salvation For the more full understanding of the Reason of the first word Day we may enquire the nature and rise of it In the beginning when the Lord made All and amongst the rest the living Creatures he furnished them with powers and abilities for the performance of their work he seated and set every one of them in his proper place as upon a stage for the acting of his part He set also bounds and laid forth several periods and distances of time for each purpose Now the Distinctions of time i. e. the separation of Light and Darkness made so many stops as it were in some or which there must be stayed Thus in Creating every Particular that is added The Evening and the Morning were the first and second Day c. They had their Day of Creation and their Day of Operation so long as they continue that is their Day for the Day and Night are the Distinction of all this Time here below and serve as so many stops and stayes in which each thing is stinted for its being and VVorking And hence it may be it is There is no Day nor Night in Heaven Rev. 10. 6. neither shall there be any more Time there that is Distinction or Measure of Time by Day or Night after the last Judgement for that must needs be the meaning of the Text because in Heaven and Hell the state of things and so their times are unchangable Hence to man His day is his life 〈◊〉 long as he breaths in the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 this Sun that 's the Time allotted to him to act his part in to trade for his everlasting State and Condition Hence again to descend yet lower there is a special period a stinted time for every part of this life and so many courses as I may term them and srames of occasions which belong to any so many seasons and several limits of time hath he allotted to each particular Thus the wise man There is a time to gather and a time to scatter a time to plant and a time to pluck up Eccles. 3. 1. And these 〈◊〉 are called Days in Scripture Thus there are Troubles and Tryals Visitation and Grace which the Lord in the dispensation of his Providence allots to men and there is a day for each of these A day of trouble Psal. 50. 15. A day of Tryal Heb. 3. 8. A day of Visitation Luke 19. 42. and a day of Salvation in this sense as here in the Text. Salvation Presumes alwayes danger and evil and according to the quality and nature of the one the other is to be considered and conceived here it is spiritually to be understood in the sul sense of it to wit from the danger of sin here begun in Preparation perfected in Glorification after this life And that Speech by way of Similitude seems well to interpret this manner of Speech Heb. 3. 9. The day of temptation when your Fathers tempted me i. e. that moment of time when that rebellion was expressed so here That moment or instant wherein the Lord begins to put forth the work of his special Grace about the Salvation of a sinner by the means he hath in mercy appointed And thus the Apostle expounds the word in the Verse following Behold now is the day of Salvation he saw it they could not but perceive it and all might acknowledg 〈◊〉 much because the Word of Salvation Acts 36. 26. viz. The Grace of God that is The Gospel given by grace 〈◊〉 bringeth salvation did now appear tit 2. 〈◊〉 So that it may be truly affirmed in a savory sense This day is Salvation coming to such to whom the word of the Gospel is come in the Ministery therof The Words thus Opened The Collections which are of special weight and Consideration are Four Faithful Ministers ought to be earnest in calling upon God and faithful 〈◊〉 the improvement of means for the spiritual good of such to whom they are sent This is taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text How shall God 〈◊〉 unless they Call How shall God Help unless they Endeavor They who are thus 〈◊〉 according to Gods Command they may expect a 〈◊〉 success according to Gods Promise He 〈◊〉 I will Hear I will Help Therefore their Prayers shall be Answered their Labors Blessed for God will not falsifie his Word nor 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 It s in the meer good pleasure of the Lord to work upon the heart in the Ministery of the Word when he sees fit It 's in the day of Gods acceptation and good Will that the Prayers of Faithful Ministers are heard and their Pains made 〈◊〉 for the Spiritual

good of any While life lasts and the Gospel is continued that is the particular Season and Period wherein the Lord expresseth his good pleasure to work graciously upon the Souls of His. Its in this Season and day of Salvation he performs his Promise For as the Lord may take what time he will so hath he made it known it is his Will to take this time and season when he purposeth to fasten upon the Soul of a sinner for his Spiritual good To omit the Two Former wholly the Two Latter Points we intend only to trade in and to entreat of To Begin then with the First The Work of God is altogether Free It proceeds meerly out of Gods favor and good will it s his acceptation not ours Unless he put forth that Almighty hand of his and take us unto his Grace it s not in our liberty nor ability to take hold of the offer of his Mercy or to reap any saving benefit therefrom Rev. 21. 6. To him that thirsts I will give of the water of life freely It s a gift and free also though one thirst never so earnestly desire it never so constantly endeavor to attain thereunto yet unless the Lord do more out of mercy than any can procure by any sufficiency or worth of his own he will gain nothing As it was in the Building of the Material Temple the laying of the bottom stone upon which it was founded and the adding of the top stone when it was finished and attained its perfection the whole multitude with one consent and one voice acknowledged the only Cause thereof Grace Grace Zech. 4. 7. Much more is it true in the rearing up and erecting of the Spiritual Frame in the Soul from the first entrance of it in Preparation till it come to be consummate in Glorification all comes from the Favor and Free Grace of God This Freeness of this Work appears in Three Particulars First Free it was for God whether he would provide any other Way and Means of Salvation whether he would appoint another Covenant when the first was broken and made void through Adams default The Lord was not bound to set up Adam again when by his carelesness and neglect he had mispent that stock of Grace he had bestowed upon him The Lord was not bound to Recover and Redeem Adam from the power of Sin and Death when through his own folly he had cast away himself and posterity In a word Free it was to the Father to 〈◊〉 this Covenant Free to Christ to Undertake it Free to the Holy Ghost to accomplish it God gave his Son Joh. 3. 16. Christ gave himself Tit. 2. 14. Both gave and sent the Holy Ghost as Commissioner from them both to be the finisher of this work Gal. 4. 6. And if wholly given then it must be wholly free As its Free for God to appoint so it depends upon his good pleasure to reveal and make known the means of Grace as seems best to his heavenly Wisdom why it rains upon one City and not upon another why the dew of heaven the Doctrine of his holy 〈◊〉 is sent to one people and not to another That he reared up a wall of Separation between Jew and Gentile Ephes. 2. 11. 14. That light is in Goshen and darkness in all the parts of Aegipt besides Exod. 10. 22. 23. That to the Jews were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 1. But he dealt not so with other Nations neither have they not known his wayes Psal. 147. last Why Paul is sent for into Macedonia and forbidden to go into 〈◊〉 Acts 16. 6 7 8 9. The Apostles charged not to go into the way of the Gentiles ' Mat. 10. 5 6. not to enter into the Cities of Samaria but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel His own will is the Rule of all this and there is no other Reason to be rendered There were many Widdows in Israel when the 〈◊〉 were shut up three yeers and six months 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great 〈◊〉 was through all the Land but 〈◊〉 of them was Elias sent save only to that one Woman a Widdow of Sarepta Luke 4. 25. 26. There was many Leapers in Israel in the time of Elizeus but none Clensed save only Naaman the Syrian In a word All these Blessings are Gods Own and may he not Do with his Own what he will Free Lastly in regard of the work of the Means that ever they prove profitable unto any or work 〈◊〉 in the hearts of any for their eternal welfare its only from Gods good pleasure to give good success to some which he denyes to others This is the ground which the Evangelist gives of this different Dispensation of a Blessing upon the same Means Mat. 13. compare 11. with 13 14. The Scribes and Pharisees in Hearing they hear and not understand in Seeing they see and not perceive that is They attend dayly and yet do not profit observe dayly and yet do not prosper in their endeavors their hearts waxt fat when others were humbled their ears made heavy when others were bored to entertain the truth And if the cause be enquired our Savior answers Verse 11. To you my Apostles it s given to know the Mysteries of the ' Kingdom but unto them it s not given It is beyond the compass of all inferior Causes that can be conceived That Paul breathing out threatning against the Church coming in open field in 〈◊〉 and professed Rebellion against Christ should have the Lord Jesus revealed to him and in him this I say is beyond the reach of any cause in Nature and therefore the Apostle points at a higher hand It pleased God saith the text to reveal his Son in me Gal. 1. 15. And then also when he opposed and fiercely persecuted his Son in his Members was there at this time any improvement of natural abilities or the remainder of the image left 〈◊〉 man after his fall was there at this time any 〈◊〉 trading with the Talents of Common Graces which should move the Lord in way of 〈◊〉 to give 〈◊〉 and spiritual Graces Was there any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fitness now in the Spirit of Said to 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are groundless dreams of men meerly cozened and 〈◊〉 with their own carnal devices Again That the great Doctors of the Law who were honored as Guides of others for their Parts and 〈◊〉 should despise the Counsel of God against themselves and the 〈◊〉 and Publicans people of most desparate and for 〈◊〉 courses should entertain the Baptists Doctrine and Gospel The resolution of all at last must come to this The 〈◊〉 of the Lord shall stand and 〈◊〉 do whatsoever he will Thither our Savior repairs and there 〈◊〉 rests I thank thee O 〈◊〉 Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the 〈◊〉 and prudent and 〈◊〉 revealed them unto 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 Even so O Father for so it 〈◊〉 thee

Matth. 11. 25 26. The issue then is If it proceed from Gods free pleasure that Means are 〈◊〉 revealed blessed then is there a full freedom 〈◊〉 all and it must be so for these Reasons There is nothing man hath that can Purchase this Simon Magus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and its probable enough 〈◊〉 would nor have stuck at the price had the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never so great Acts 8. 18 19. And when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Holy Ghost was given through 〈◊〉 on of hands be offered them ' Money to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 But the Apostle Peter 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 Thy Money 〈◊〉 with thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast thought that the Gift of God may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Money 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 think such a thing impossible 〈◊〉 for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it Purchases are made by such things as carry some kind of proportionable worth to that which is to be Purchased But there is nothing that can be compared with wisdom and the Spirituall Grace in Christ Prov 3. 15. Much less can be accounted of an answerable Rate and value thereunto There is nothing a man can do of himself whereby he may procure and obtain this spiritual good Rom. 9. 16. It is not in him that Wills nor in him that Runs It is not said in him that goes carelesly about the work but it is not in him that improves the best of his abilitie and that with speed though he 〈◊〉 in this race but it is in God only that shews 〈◊〉 If thou shouldest mark O Lord what is done a miss who should abide it Psal. 103. 3. The best are so far from obtaining favor by any desert of their doings that it is well with them they are not consumed by his displeasure for the failing of their best actions There is no Promise made to any Natural man whereby he can challenge this at the hands of the Lord All men by nature are children of 〈◊〉 Eph. 2. 3. Heirs of perdition if they have their own place its Hell if they have no more but their own Portion Confusion and eternal 〈◊〉 is that they must look for if they have the fruit of their own tree the wayes of their own work it s nothing but wo and misery 〈◊〉 3. 11. All Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ 2 Cor. 1. 20. made and performed in him alone they that are out of Christ therefore what they have besides Hell is 〈◊〉 Mercy The Sum then is It man by nature have nothing to Purchase any Spiritual good can do nothing to deserve it have no Promise to challenge it it is freely out of Gods good pleasure that any 〈◊〉 of any share therein Here then is matter of Thanksgiving to all the 〈◊〉 of God who have been made partakers of so 〈◊〉 favor to wit Their 〈◊〉 should be filled with his praise and their 〈◊〉 with a 〈◊〉 admiration of this so 〈◊〉 a mercy so much undeserved and so 〈◊〉 bestowed notwithstanding The greater and more free the goodness of the Lord is the greater should our 〈◊〉 be in the receiving of it This made the Prophet stand amazed Who is a God like unto thee Micah 7. 18. Men will see somthing in us to move them and expect some good from us to perswade them to shew favor but who is like unto our God who shews mercy not because we can deserve it or have any right to challenge it not because we can please him but because mercy pleaseth him and he doth it only because he VVill now his VVill be done and blessed he his glorious Name for ever Go thy way then in secret thou that hast found this acceptation from the Lord in sincerity of Soul present thy self as in his presence and say Good Lord Why is it How comes it That since many that have lived 〈◊〉 the same Place dwelt in the same Family sare in the same Seat and heard the same Word are yet in the Gall of Bitterness in the Bonds of Iniquity yet in the Kingdom of Darkness under the Power of their Sins and like to perish for them for ever Lord Lord VVhy are mine eyes enlightned to know the things belonging to my peace VVhy my heart touched with any saving remorse for my Sins That I should have any desires after thee any longings for thee Oh its Grace it s thy Free Grace Otherwise I had never been made partaker of any Spiritual good nay I had never known it Father VVhat am I that thou shouldest be thus mindful of me that thou shouldest thus remember me yea mindful of me when I was not mindful of my self remembrest me when I had forgotten thy glory my own soul and mine own everlasting good Was not I as blind as ever any and knew not as careless as ever any and respected not yea stubborn and stout hearted gainsaid I not yea rejected thy compassions so often tendered in the Ministery of the Word and forced upon me by those heart-breaking Exhortations of thy faithful Ministers to reveal these Spiritual good things when out of negligence I did not know them yea then to press them upon my Conscience and by the effectual work of thy Spirit then to prevail with my heart when at first I did oppose and cast them behind my back let me for ever return all praise to thy Majesty out of whose free mercy it is that I have been made partaker of any saving work for the good of my Soul Yea I thank thee Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast revealed these things to babes and sucklings and bid them from the wise and prudent That the Learned of the world are befooled and thou hast taught me a poor ignorant silly wretch That many noble and honorable are cashiered and thou hast accepted of a base worm plucked me out of a smoaky Cottage out of a Corner of Hell to receive me into the Kingdom of thy Christ to bear me in thy own bosom here wildering up and down in this valley of tears that thou maiest glorifie me with thy self when all tears shal be wiped away from mine eyes Oh! it is thy Free thy Free Mercy let my Soul for ever bless thee and walk worthy of thee and it that I may serve thee with a good and a glad and a free heart as I have received freely from thine own Hand whatsoever either I have or Hope for Here is also ground of great Encouragement to all distressed and disconsolate 〈◊〉 who labor under the weight of the guilt of their many sins and sight of their own unworthiness The right Consideration of the former truths may be as a spiritual Cordial whereby their hearts may be quickned to seek unto the Lord as their hopes sustained to expect that succour and supply which may be most seasonable for their Relief Because as there is no worth on our parts that can move the Lord so there is no vileness so great that can hinder him from doing what good he

intends to such undeserving ones as we be His own good will being the only 〈◊〉 of any saving work he is pleased to put forth upon the hearts of those who appertain to the Election of Grace This was that which the Lord proclaims and which he urges upon all drooping and discouraged Spirits to make them put on more cheerfully in the pursuit of life and happiness 〈◊〉 55. 1. Oh every one that thirsteth come to the waters and he 〈◊〉 hath no money come buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price It s very remarkable how the Spirit of God labors to remove that which will and most usually doth hinder the fainting hearts of dismaied sinners in their endeavor after Mercy They fondly conceit they must come with their cost they must bring some Spiritual abilities and 〈◊〉 with them unless they have that money they are like to miss of their market they shall not be able to purchase Gods acceptance the Graces and Comforts of his Spirit signified by Wine and Milk The Lord therefore that he might wholly dath these dreams and take off these 〈◊〉 thoughts he puts it beyond all Question and Doubt by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the contrary He that hath no money that is No Spiritual 〈◊〉 or worth let him buy question it not yea I speak it seriously and mind what I say therefore I say again without money doubt it not yea I 〈◊〉 as I say openly and plainly without money or money worth no in 〈◊〉 no weakness no unworthiness shall hinder be not needlesly suspicious I intend not to sell my Graces and Comforts but to bestow them freely upon such who have an open hand to take them and an empty heart to carry them away This was the ground of Encouragement whereby the Prophet emboldned those rebellious Jews to take words and resolution also to themselves to press in with some hope to speed with the Lord Hos. 14. 2 3. Take unto 〈◊〉 words and say Receive us graciously But the Lord might have replyed You have no worth in your selves you deserve no favor therefore it s added with thee the Fatherless find mercy As if 〈◊〉 should have said Thou doest not vouchsafe mercy to sinners because of any excellency they have any friends they can make any abilities they can bring but the helpless friendless fatherless orphane souls such as be destitute of all succour no eye to pitty no friend to provide no strength to support themselves such find mercy with thee such we are therefore Lord shew us mercy If the Dole or Alms was to be bought and purchased then the 〈◊〉 who had most and needed least would 〈◊〉 be possessors of it but because its only out of the 〈◊〉 to bestow it freely he that 's poor hath never a whit the less but the more hope to receive it so it is here in the Dole of Grace when 〈◊〉 thou considerest the infinite baseness of thy heart on the one side the incomprehensible worth of mercy on the other and withal conceivest an utter impossibility ever to attain it ever to expect it settle this Conclusion in thy heart as matter of marvelous Encouragement yet mercy is free others have received it and why not I Lord If the multitude of thine 〈◊〉 plead against thee if Satan be busie to discourage thine heart and drive thee to despair Why dost thou Canst thou Expect any kindness from the Lord since thy frailties so many thy rebellions so great against the offer of his mercy and the work of his Grace How utterly unable 〈◊〉 thou to do any thing to procure any Spiritual good How unfit to receive it And is it not a folly than to hope for it Thou hast hence to Reply Be it I am as base as can be imagined yet my 〈◊〉 cannot hinder the work of Gods Love for it s altogether Free True I have nothing to purchase it Abraham had not I can do nothing to deserve it David could not I have no right to challenge it at the hands of the Lord nor yet had Paul any thing to plead for him in the like case and yet all these were made partakers of mercy and why not I Lord Put in for thy particular and plead for thy self and say Blessed Lord thy mercy is not lessened thy wisdom decayed thy arm shortned what thou didst freely for Abraham an Idolater 〈◊〉 a Rebel for Paul a Persecutor do for my poor 〈◊〉 also my vileness cannot hinder the freeness of thy Compassions If it be here Replyed That this affords small ground of Comfort for if the Dispensation of Grace depend upon Gods Free Will he may fail us as well as help us he may deny it as well as give it The Answer is He may give it as well as deny it and that 's Argument enough to sustain our hopes and to quicken our endeavors put it then to the adventure Thus the Prophet Joel pressed the Israelites to 〈◊〉 to God for the removal of a Judgement and the Pardon of their Sins upon this very possibility Rent your hearts and not your garments and turn unto the Lord who knows if he will return and leave a blessing behind him Joel 2. 13 14. Thus the 〈◊〉 Ninivites provoke themselves to importune the God of heaven for the with-holding of the destruction threatned Let us cry mightily unto God who can tell if he will turn and repent Jonah 3. 8 9. When then thy Spirit sinks under the unsupportable pressure of thy sins and the expectation of the righteous Judgements deserved thereby here is that which will ad Comfort and Encouragement to look upward to the Lord for refreshing Who knows but God may who can tell but God will yet shew mercy therefore I will yet hope because no man can tell but I may at last be made partaker thereof Lastly Those who want and seek for mercy from the Lord in the use of the means which he hath appointed they are to be exhorted from the former truth to arm themselves with patience to stay Gods time and to 〈◊〉 his pleasure if it seem good to his Majesty to with-hold this Favour or delay the work of his Grace Beggars must not be chusers we must not be Carvers of Gods kindness it s a Free Gift and therefore as he may give what he will so he may give it when it seems most fit to himself Just cause we have to wait no reason at all to murmure against him Hast thou then endeavored after this work of Grace and canst not attain it Endeavor still Hast thou begged it and yet findest not thy desires answered Crave still with perseverance It s good to hope and to wait also for the Salvation of the Lord Lam. 3. 26. both must go together to wait without hope is uncomfortable and to hope without patience is unprofitable We know 〈◊〉 what time God will take it is our duty and will be our wisdom and comfort to

attend upon him at all 〈◊〉 Say not then out of the shortness of thy spirit I have come often begged much and 〈◊〉 long at the gate of grace I find not the work yet done my heart not yet throughly humbled for my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 refreshed with the assurance of Gods Favor Shall I wait any longer Oh fearful Pride Is it come to this If you be in such haste you may go to Hell time enough What not wait See who will have the worst of it God can better keep his Compassions than thou canst want them And as its fit he should so its certain he will make thee to know thou must wait nay bless his Name that you may wait for his mercy The 〈◊〉 of all men that 〈◊〉 breathed have done it So David Min eyes fail with looking for thy Salvation saying O when wilt thou comfort 〈◊〉 Psal. 119. 82. 123 It s enough we may beg the Grace of God as a 〈◊〉 not command it as a Debt Labor we then to 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 those proud and impatient distemper whereby we repine and quarrel at the 〈◊〉 on of Gods dealings with us if he answers 〈◊〉 Expectation to the full Others seek and the 〈◊〉 hath bestowed and they have received a great 〈◊〉 sure of Grace with little labor and in a short 〈◊〉 When we have labored long and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet the Lord answers not our 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 us that Spiritual Good we need Learn we now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and controul those boystrous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spirits with that of the Apostle Who art 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that reasonest against God What if 〈◊〉 will not Rom. 9. 20 21 22. What if he will 〈◊〉 ver 〈◊〉 our hearts never pacifie our Conscience pardon our sins save our Souls It is 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he may do what he will and therefore he doth us no wrong what ever he does Fit then it is we should stay his times who hath all times especially of Grace and Life in his own hands While this life lasts and the Gospel is continued that is the particular Season and Period wherein the Lord expresseth his good pleasure to work graciously upon the 〈◊〉 of His. The time of Grace and day of Salvation is here discovered in the Two Periods of it which make up the parts of the Doctrine 1 Grace is only to be gained in this life 2 While the means of Salvation are continued that 's the Season which the Lord usually takes to work upon the Souls of those 〈◊〉 belong to him we shall severally open and prove both 〈◊〉 and after make joynt Application of them Preparation and Conversion of the Soul must be made in this life Seek ye the Lord while he may be found Isaiah 55. 6. The time of our living is one of Gods whiles the time of finding Grace and Mercy if ever we come to share therein The 〈◊〉 of Jacobs Ladder is here on Earth though the top of 〈◊〉 unto Heaven The Lord must dwell with 〈◊〉 here in an humble and contrite heart Isaiah 57. 15. 〈◊〉 else we shall never dwell with him in that high and holy place whither Christ is gone to prepare a mansion for us Now is the time of 〈◊〉 and gaining Grace in the other world we shall enjoy the fruit and sweet of it here we must get the conquest if we think to wear the Crown in another world Reasons are Two Because after the parting of the Soul from the body and the dissolution of the whole Gods peremptory Sentence is passed and the final doom of the Soul is determined a Sentence never to be revoked a judgement never to be repealed and therefore the sinner becomes irrevokably either miserable or happy Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed for all men once to die and after death comes judgement Death and Judgement are coupled immediately one to another the end of the one is the entrance of the other as Death leaves us so Judgement will find us Though the full and compleate execution of the Sentence is deferred until the great day of accounts yet condemnation seizeth upon each part as soon as they be severed the one from the other if they do deserve The body is imprisoned in the dungeon of the grave and the Soul of him 〈◊〉 is wicked is taken instantly and dragged by the Devils into torment Luke 12. 20. This night shall they fetch away 〈◊〉 Soul With the Saints contrariwise Their bodies are laid in the Grave as in a bed of Down perfumed with the precious Death and Burial of the Body of Christ the ashes thereof carefully preserved yea loved by the Lord So the Apostle Rom. 8. last I am perswaded that neither life nor death is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus So that the Lord loves the very dust of the bodies of his Saints in the Grave and receives their Souls to himself in glory as soon as Body and Soul are parted one from another Luke 16. 22. The Soul of Lazarus was by the Angels carried into Abrahams bosome For at the great day of accounts we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether good or 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 5. 10. The Sentence we see shall not 〈◊〉 according to that men do in Purgatoty as the Papists dream but according to that only which they did while they had Being and Breathing in this Natural life The Condition of a man after this life is 〈◊〉 For as the Godly after this life ended receive perfect Sanctification and so become wholly 〈◊〉 of the Spirit of God and thereby fully and unchangeably confirmed in the state of Glory never more to be pestered or annoyed with the presence of Sin or Misery Rom. 8. 23. Here in this world we 〈◊〉 but the first fruits of the Spirit but there 〈◊〉 then the full Harvest So contrarily the Wicked after Death are 〈◊〉 delivered up to the tyranny and authority os 〈◊〉 Corruptions and there settled and that 〈◊〉 in a state of rebellion and become utterly 〈◊〉 of receiving any spiritual Grace or 〈◊〉 any spiritual Good but sink down in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without hope of either For those 〈◊〉 Graces whereby the Lord in the time of life 〈◊〉 their distempers and those outward 〈◊〉 Word and Sacraments wholsome Laws and 〈◊〉 Counsels and Examples which formerly 〈◊〉 them from many notorious outrages are now 〈◊〉 away Now the Lord plucks up the Hedge 〈◊〉 pulls down the VVall takes away all the 〈◊〉 Gifts of his Grace vouchsafes not one 〈◊〉 of his Spirit to strive with the Sinner any more 〈◊〉 one check of Conscience to aw him not the least 〈◊〉 of any Good to affect him any more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the reins in the neck of the Rebel and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loose upon him to execute the fulness of the fierceness of his malice to the uttermost 〈◊〉 his rage was consined before he could

afford for it issues amain and with a full sourse from all Particulars mentioned before the foregoing Truths meeting together like so many streams to make this more forcible upon the Conscience and like a mighty Current to carry us along to everlasting happiness It is a Season and therefore to be Observed an Opportunity and therefore to be Improved without Delay We should address our selves presently to this so great a work Redeem the time Col. 4. 5. Having opportunity let us do good to all Gal. 6. 10 If unto others much more to our selves If to their bodies especially to our own Soul if to them in Temporal things than most of all our best good in Eternal blessings is to be attended But the Season is not yet come that Opportunity is not yet offered Answ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle points at it as at hand and in view Behold now while I am Speaking and you are Hearing while the doors of the Sanctuary are yet opened while we are in the land of the living behold now is the acceptable time Oh let us not harden our hearts nor shut our eyes 〈◊〉 stop our ears unto the voice of the Lord but pursue opportunity present strike while the iron is hot 〈◊〉 our Harvest while the heat and Sun-shine is upon us while wind and tide lasts sail we cheerfully towards the Haven the end of our hopes the Salvation of our Souls This is the Argument which the Apostle presseth with so much eagerness as having such apparent evidence in it That considering the Season it is high time we should awake from the sleep of security our salvation is neerer than heretofore Rom. 3. 11. The Lord now speaks to us as sometimes to the secure Church Cant. 2. 10. Arise my Love my Dove and come away For lo the winter is gone the flowers appear the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land c. I may truly say This Scripture is this day fulfilled in our ears wherein the Lord Christ by the Ministery of his Word calls and that with all instancy upon every corrupt 〈◊〉 hearted sinner to come to him to receive the word of his Grace and the power and comfort thereof upon his soul Behold the foggy mists of Popery and ignorance are over the shaddows of 〈◊〉 are passed away the flowers grow and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apace peace and prosperity with abundance of outward blessings shoured down upon us the voyce of the Turtle is heard in our Land the sound of the Gospel and the glad tydings of Peace have been and yet 〈◊〉 proclaimed in our streets Arise arise therefore 〈◊〉 secure and dead hearted Sinners and come away Arise ye drunkards come 〈◊〉 from your Cups and Companies Arise ye Adulterous wretches come away from your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and beds of dalliance come to him who 〈◊〉 kindly invites you who promises to accept you who is able and willing to save you Oh! consider opportunities will not last alwayes we have no 〈◊〉 of them much less command of them and who knows whether we shall ever enjoy that which we now neglect Especially considering the Lord at the present vouchsafes all helps to further and perswade us to this Preparation dealing with us as 〈◊〉 he did with the stubborn-hearted Jews by Ezekiel who to strike their hearts with an open Conviction that they must go into Captivity he is injoyned to carry out his stuff in the most plain manner in their sight from one place to another and the end is added If it be possible as some translations reade it if per adventure as the propriety of the Hebrew bears it all to one sense they may consider it Ezek. 12. 3. As if he should say There is some small hope that somthing may procure their welfare and if it be possible this plain dealing is like to prevail A lively picture and resemblance of Gods special bounty to us-ward who enjoy the means of Grace above many others The Lord hath seen other Countryes but he hath settled his abode amongst us he hath passed by many Congregations but he hath lodged with those where he hath set up the Light of his Truth the Son of 〈◊〉 hath sent abroad his beams to many corners of the Earth a glimpse of his goodness hath appeared unto many places but his saving health like the Sun in his full strength hath stood over our heads as it did once in Gibeon and the Moon in the valley of Ajalon Some people have had many means and many people have had some but almost all have met together to procure our good and to make up the fulness of opportunities even the fulness of all fitness that if it were possible we might consider it and 〈◊〉 at the last convert and turn unto the Lord. The Birds of the Heaven the Sinners upon Earth and the Devils in Hell know and pursue their 〈◊〉 Opportunities the one for the comforts of nature that they may enjoy them the other for their 〈◊〉 that they may enjoy their lusts though they perish for it Ask then thou sluggard of the Birds of the Heaven and they will tell thee demand of the Beasts of the Field they will shew thee nay 〈◊〉 of the Devils in Hell and they will testifie how Opportunities ought to be prized and how 〈◊〉 improve them Wilt thou be more unreasonable than the Beasts More careless of thine own 〈◊〉 Comforts than the Devils be to procure thy own Confusion Shall the Lord provide all 〈◊〉 for our Good and shall we neglect both him and them and our own everlasting welfare Wo to our sluggishnes Object True let this Opportunity 〈◊〉 great so 〈◊〉 the Continuance of it long and therefore we may take it hereafter Answ. No It s a Day saith the Text very short and yet most uncertain It is but for the day 〈◊〉 this Life and who knows how soon it may end there be Skuls of all sorts in Golgotha Skins of all sorts in the Market yong and old aged and 〈◊〉 haste unto the rend No man yet had a lease of 〈◊〉 Life which is as Grass a Flower a Bubble and alas how soon doth this Grass wither this 〈◊〉 fade this Bubble break And our day being short so is it almost 〈◊〉 many of us have past our highest point the best 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 time our Evening draws on and behold pale 〈◊〉 and feeble hands crazy bodies dangerous 〈◊〉 which are as Har bengers of our dissolution 〈◊〉 will soon bring us to the house of our age to 〈◊〉 dust of death thus is our breath but a shaddow 〈◊〉 soon passeth away and we are gone Oh! that we 〈◊〉 wise to consider these things and because our 〈◊〉 is short and passeth away we would take hold 〈◊〉 the opportunity present But the yong man Replyes It is a good thing 〈◊〉 the Eye to behold the Sun Eccles. 11. 7. To 〈◊〉 this Light to enjoy the present Pleasures to 〈◊〉 the Rose while it is in the bud to

gather the 〈◊〉 whilest it is fresh while time and strength 〈◊〉 take the pleasures of the world and enjoy the 〈◊〉 of my heart not now to sit moping in a 〈◊〉 go drooping and sorrowing for my sins when 〈◊〉 hair grows gray and decrepit age comes on 〈◊〉 yeers hence when my Sun grows neer the setting 〈◊〉 Life begins to decline and my strength to decay 〈◊〉 shall than have leisure to talk of holiness to turn 〈◊〉 a new leaf and betake my self to my Beads and 〈◊〉 of Grace in the mean time these jolly 〈◊〉 speak unto Preparation and Humiliation as 〈◊〉 somtimes to Paul Go your way for this 〈◊〉 and when we have a convenient time we will 〈◊〉 for you Answ. Thou fool this night may thy soul be 〈◊〉 from thee Luke 12. 20. How knowest thou but the Lord may pluck thee out of the land of the living and send thee packing down to thy own place give thee thy Portion with Unbeleevers and Despisers of his Grace and then all thy thoughts perish thy time is past and Repentance too late when the Pit hath shut her mouth upon thee how fond to think to have leisure to Repent when thou wilt not have time to Live 2 Be it the day of thy Life continue yet the day of Salvation may be ended for this is but a minute or moment of that span of time a point or 〈◊〉 of that opportunity If the Lord remove his 〈◊〉 take away the light of his Word dam up the fountain of Grace and stop the well-springs of Salvation thou mayest perish for thirst and live to 〈◊〉 the folly of the neglect of Means when happily thou shalt not know where they be nor yet have liberty and ability to enjoy them if thou knewest while therefore the day of our life and the day 〈◊〉 Salvation the Mart of Mercy lasts both which are but short and uncertain let us be watchful to observe and careful to take all advantages to buy the chiefest and best Commodities Humiliation and Faith Especially considering it may be any 〈◊〉 particular day as our Savior to Jerusalem Oh that thou hadst known at least in this thy day Luke 19. 42. When the Word is mighty and the Spirit speaks powerfully unto thy soul when the undeniable evidence of the Truth convicteth thy judgement and the keen threatnings thereof cuts and lanceth thy corrupt Conscience to the Core and the Lord raps at the door of thy heart by the hammer of the law Oh now follow those motions and cherish them make much of a little and suffer the blessed Ordinance of God to have its full blow upon thy Soul go aside and consider seriously with thy self Certainly the Lord came home this day unto my heart touched me to the quick and met with my particular Corruptions withstood me to my face and by the authority of his Truth like the naked Sword in the hand of the Angel stopped me in my Course and bad me back again assuredly this is my part a Portion carved out in special 〈◊〉 my Soul this 〈◊〉 is my day of Salvation in which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to work the good work of his grace 〈◊〉 me True it may be so and for ought that thou 〈◊〉 I or any under heaven know it is so Remember 〈◊〉 thou hadst a fair offer and take heed how 〈◊〉 dost refuse it lest thou never have the like 〈◊〉 Break therefore through all Oppositions cast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 listen to no alurements to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 while 〈◊〉 is called to day harden not thy 〈◊〉 And as Paul to his Company Acts 〈◊〉 thou never to see their faces more I know as one of the 〈◊〉 brings in his sins our old 〈◊〉 like old 〈◊〉 will threap kindness from 〈◊〉 plead prescription and continuance we have 〈◊〉 long taken much sweet Counsel together 〈◊〉 much delight and content Give us warning 〈◊〉 before you give us a discharge let us 〈◊〉 our 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 for the while and hereafter let 〈◊〉 think of amendment Thus the same Father when 〈◊〉 had often resolved to renounce his bosom 〈◊〉 and the beloved lusts of the flesh still that sounded in his ears To morrow to morrow as the burden of Satans song To morrow soon enough hereafter time enough thus while he was startling and 〈◊〉 by the terrors of his Conscience he lulled him and rocked him a sleep again by delayes 〈◊〉 at last in a holy kind of violence and indignation of heart breaks through all demurs nomore delayes no longer but cryes out Why not to day why not to day Lord and from that day following God gave him victory Go thy wayes and do thou likewise stand not haggeling and dallying with the Almighty set down a resolution like the Laws of the Meads and Persians never to be revoked that thou wilt from this 〈◊〉 and ever hereafter wait upon the 〈◊〉 of grace and give way to the work therof Dispute no more but determine thus with thy self Why yet am I here in the land of the Living yet 〈◊〉 this side the bottomless pit the Lord still tenders the offers of Salvation strives still with this sturdy heart of mine I know not how soon I may be taken from the Means or the Means from me or the Blessing of the Lord from us both while therefore the spirit speaks to my Soul Seek thou my face give me a heart to eccho back again Thy face Lord will I seek this day After all this the heart still sings loath to depart and the deluded finner lingers after his lust as Lot after Sodom and therefore puts in a new Plea on this manner Imagine the worst should I put off this fair and kind Call of the Lord Yet since it is in my power to entertain it hereafter there is not so much danger though I now refuse it Answ. Be it granted Thy life might be prolonged the words of the text do most apparantly dash this presumptuous conceit It s the Season of Gods acceptation It s not in thy power but depends meerly upon his good Will We are not the Patrons of the means of Grace much less of their work it is not in our Gift the Sending and Blessing of both issues only from the good pleasure of the Almighty prolong not then put not off the time deny not Gods gracious offer lest thou never have offer again he that now holds out the golden Scepter of Mercy to receive thee hath an Iron rod wherwith he can 〈◊〉 thee to nothing and break thee in pieces like a Potters vessel He that hath the Keyes of David and now sets open the gate of Salvation he can shut it and no man shall open it any more and when thou hast stayed too long and comest too late thou mayest knock hard with the foolish Virgin and cry aloud with Esau and yet receive neither Blessing nor Birthright and its just with God it should be 〈◊〉 that the Word which thou hast dispised should

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dead or killing Letter and never work 〈◊〉 the motions of his Spirit which thou hast 〈◊〉 should never stir more with thee Thus Wisdom threatneth the scorners of her Counsel Prov. 1. 24. Because I have called and they resused I 〈◊〉 stretched out my hand and no man regarded 〈◊〉 they shall call but I will not answer they 〈◊〉 seek me early but they shall not find me Nay it may be thou shalt not only not find what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that with some eagerness which is 〈◊〉 state miserable enough but shalt not have a heart 〈◊〉 much as once to seek for Mercy as many 〈◊〉 have and Hypocrites do and this is a 〈◊〉 next to the damned in Hell unconceivably 〈◊〉 This was Jerusalems case just as the Lord 〈◊〉 it Oh that thou hadst known at least in 〈◊〉 thy Day the things belonging to thy peace but 〈◊〉 they are hid from thine eyes Luke 19. 42. Christ 〈◊〉 now weeping over the City preaching his farewel 〈◊〉 amongst them yea now come to die amongst them the presence of the Means makes the Plague more remarkable when through Gods just judgment for their contempt of the truth they have eyes but they are made dim and see not they have ears but 〈◊〉 heavy and hear not and hearts made hard even 〈◊〉 the blessed Ministery of the Gospel and so they understand not they have all before their eyes and 〈◊〉 all hid from their eyes The like Curse the Lord usually pours out upon the hellish despisers of the Doctrine of Grace deliver them up to blind minds and seared Consciences reprobate senses that they who shut their eyes against the power of Gods Ordinances should never see nor be 〈◊〉 of either that or their own misery which is the 〈◊〉 misery of all Yet all this will not content there is one cavil which the carnal heart Objects and its most desperate Be it God will 〈◊〉 vouchsafe Means nor Work by them nor I receive any benefit therefrom let me live as I list now let me shift as I can hereafter if I loose all the loss is not great Answ. What! 〈◊〉 great God forbid that such a Thought should be in any 〈◊〉 Heart such a Word come out of any mans Mouth It s no less than Salvation it self Its 〈◊〉 day of salvation saith the text 〈◊〉 loss not to be valued not to be recovered will never can 〈◊〉 be repaired again yea I appeal to thy own Conscience and 〈◊〉 thy self in cold blood be thy own judge Think but seriously 〈◊〉 the Rivers of pleasure which are at Gods right hand of 〈◊〉 Kingdom 〈◊〉 undefiled and that sadeth not away 〈◊〉 and consider of that Crown of Glory that exceeding 〈◊〉 weight of glory reserved in the heavens and weigh but with 〈◊〉 self in thy most retired thoughts the 〈◊〉 Mercy of a God the 〈◊〉 Redemption of a Christ the Comforts of a Spirit 〈◊〉 glorious imagine you heard that Sentence passed Come ye Blessed 〈◊〉 the Kingdom possess the Crown enjoy 〈◊〉 Pleasures and if thou hast but the heart of a man let it Answer Canst thou lose all these and account the loss little and yet if the day of Grace be gone once all these go too neglect that now and never think to enjoy these An Argument able to stay any in the most eager pursuit 〈◊〉 these lying vanities and to cause him to 〈◊〉 and steer his course another way As Elisha said Is this a time to take 〈◊〉 So when 〈◊〉 consider all Opportunities and Means and Mercies say Is this a time to follow the World and the Profits thereof to 〈◊〉 our selves with sinful Delights and forsake Christ and his Gospel and Salvation and all Me thinks Nature would 〈◊〉 Reason would Perswade It is a Day of Salvation our Lives 〈◊〉 Hopes our Comforts our Salvation and All depend upon 〈◊〉 It is the time that God hath bestowed for this end therefore 〈◊〉 sure to improve this time so as we may attain this end In 〈◊〉 word It is a Day therefore a Season and but a Day 〈◊〉 short a Day of Gods Accepting and a Day of Salvation The Season so Fit the Time so Short and the Purchase so Great what remains then but we should improve this Time to our utmost that we may Receive that Spiritual Good from the Lord in it that he is willing to bestow and we stand in 〈◊〉 of for our Comfort here and our everlasting welfare in another World FINIS BOOK V. MATTH 20. 5 6 7. Again he went out about the sixt and ninth hour and did likewise And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle and saith unto them why stand ye all the day idle He saith unto them Go also into the Vineyard and whatsoever is right that ye shall receive WE have done with the Season of Salvation in regard of the means consider we now the time which the Lord takes in regard of the Parties upon whom it is wrought who do yet enjoy their lives and the means of Grace Amongst these the dispensation of the Lord is divers dealing as it seems best to his Heavenly Wisdom some he calls and converts in their yonger some in their older but most usual it is to bring home sinners to himself in their riper age For the scanning of this Point we have made choyce of this Parable of the Vineyard which presents to us four things at the sirst view 1 The 〈◊〉 of the Vineyard who owed it 2 The 〈◊〉 who drest it 3 The 〈◊〉 when they were hired 4 The Reward here promised and given for their 〈◊〉 Under the Letter or which words this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be conceived The 〈◊〉 is the Church Isai. 5. 7. The Master and Housholder is the Lord Christ The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are his redeemed ones whom he cals by the effectual operation of his blessed Spirit in the 〈◊〉 of his Word to be painful and fruitful in good works as in Christ they are created unto and 〈◊〉 or dained they should walk in The diversity of the time of their hiring shews the difference of the times wherein they are converted some sooner and some later and for the right and ready 〈◊〉 of this Circumstance let it be remembred that it was the received manner amongst the Jews to divide their Nights into four Watches and their Daies 〈◊〉 of twelve hours into four Stations or Portions designing three hours to each part so 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 was the Third hour from 〈◊〉 to twelve the Sixt hour from twelve to three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hour from thence to five the Eleventh 〈◊〉 one hour before the ending of the day To apply The Day is as it were our Life God 〈◊〉 some of his Servants in the morning of their youth some at mid-day in their middle age some at the eleventh hour in their aged and declining time when their Sun is neer setting and they drawing on to the end

Cor. 11. 28. than he that had 〈◊〉 havock of them Acts 9. Who more fit to be 〈◊〉 Messenger of Peace and to breath out glad tidings 〈◊〉 Salvation to fainting souls than he who had 〈◊〉 out threatnings against them Acts 9. 1. Who more 〈◊〉 to pity the Saints than he who cut of his madness had persecuted them and that to the death before Acts 26. 11. But in the crazy and decayed estate of fainting Age when the whol frame begins to shake and go 〈◊〉 ruine how unable are we to perform the meanest service how 〈◊〉 to be imployed in works of greatest weight The members of a man converted are called Weapons of Holiness and Servants of Righteousness Rom. 6. 19. but doting heads palsie hands feeble knees faultring tongues are but broken weapons and lame Servants utterly unworthy to be used in the fighting of Gods Battels or performance of his Service how shall those hands which hang down for faintness be able to work the works of God how shall the feet that cannot stir walk in his waies or that tongue tell of his praise that cleaves unto the 〈◊〉 of the mouth and cannot talk two ready words To gripe the Sum of the Point in short If Nature be now most pliable to be prepared to receive Grace corruption not now so 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 it our abilities most able to improve it then is it a reasonable Truth that the God of Wisdom though he call some at any Age yet he should Convert most at this Age. Learn we hence to take out a Lesson of Sobriety not to be too rash and Censorious touching the final estate of any in this life since it is never too 〈◊〉 for the Lord to call though at the Eleventh hour It 's the Apostles Counsel Judg nothing before the time that is Judg nothing that is secret and uncertain determine not of any mans final condition because the time is not yet come this life is a time of mercy to some sooner to some later After death comes Judgment when God shall lay open the secrets and 〈◊〉 counsels of the heart then judg and spare not but 〈◊〉 then refer al unto the Lord and therfore if the question be touching the final estate of others we should answer with modesty as the Prophet did to the Lord in another case Ezek. 37. 2 3. When 〈◊〉 Lord had shewed him a field full of dead bones 〈◊〉 dry he asked him Son of man shall these dead bone live the Prophet answers Lord thou knowest it rests in thine own wil to work this so great a work and in thine own Counsel to determine it So 〈◊〉 the demand be Shall this gray headed sinner 〈◊〉 come to Grace he that hath been an old Standard-bearer in the Camp of the Devil shal he ever 〈◊〉 a faithful Soldier to the Lord Christ can this seared Conscience ever be made sensible of its sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The answer of the Prophet will 〈◊〉 us Lord thou only knowest It 's not for us to judg Secret things belong unto the Lord. For 〈◊〉 to pry into the Ark of his privy and concealed Counsels we cannot do it without desperate pride and apparent danger Thus far indeed we may go without any breach of Charity and the Word will 〈◊〉 us sufficient warrant to wit Observing the lives 〈◊〉 men Of some of some I say we may conclude and that certainly that as yet they are in the state of Nature in a miserable and damnable condition Object If it be replyed Doth any man know that heart Who knows what is in man but the spirit of man 1 Cor. 2. 11. Answ. Can the spirit of a man pry into every corner of his Conscience and know his own condition After he hath told what he knows I may know it as well as himself and somtimes better Thus the Practice of a man discovers his Spirit A rotten Conversation when the constant tenure and frame of a mans course is corrupt and 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 to all the world who have wisdom to 〈◊〉 there is a refuse and an 〈◊〉 disposition within The fool saies the wise man Eccles. 10. 3. 〈◊〉 to every one as he 〈◊〉 by the way that he is a fool After the 〈◊〉 hath felt the Pulse and heard 〈◊〉 complaint of the Patient what 's the pain and 〈◊〉 the part affected how the fits and returns of 〈◊〉 distemper takes him he knows the disease far 〈◊〉 than the man that feels it it may be it's 〈◊〉 stone in the Reins the inflamation of the Liver Consumption of the Lungs the parts are within and 〈◊〉 cause of the Disease also but it discovers it self 〈◊〉 that undoubtedly many times by Symptomes 〈◊〉 thus it is with the sickness of the Body it is so 〈◊〉 the distempers of the soul the Practice of a 〈◊〉 is as the Pulse if that be commonly uneven 〈◊〉 and irreligious it argues it 's not the fit of a 〈◊〉 but even the very frame and constitution 〈◊〉 a corrupt and irreligious heart When a mans 〈◊〉 carriage and communication leaves a noysom 〈◊〉 and scent and 〈◊〉 of prophaness behind 〈◊〉 it evidently proclaims to any who have but 〈◊〉 Wisdom and Grace that these dead works 〈◊〉 from a rotten carkass of a Body of death 〈◊〉 it's our Saviors direction and conclusion he 〈◊〉 as never failing Matth. 7. 16. 20. By their 〈◊〉 you shall know them An evil tree cannot 〈◊〉 forth good fruits and a good tree cannot 〈◊〉 forth evil fruits and therefore he doubles the 〈◊〉 as that which is undeniable by their 〈◊〉 you shall know them The holy Apostle is 〈◊〉 peremptory 1 John 3. 10. In this are the children of God known and the children of the Devil 〈◊〉 doth not righteousness is not of God and 〈◊〉 that loveth not his Brother Where there be Three Particulars suit the Point in hand 1 There are but two sorts of men in the World 〈◊〉 Children of God and the children of the Devil 2 These may be known 3 He that is a hater of the Saints and a worker of iniquity hath the Brand-mark of a child of the Devil by which he may be discerned It is not then a breach of Charity to judg the tree by the fruits the 〈◊〉 by the Symptomes yea it was folly and little less than madness to do other As the Word 〈◊〉 I may judg and so should But to 〈◊〉 the Lord out of the Throne of Judgment to sit upon the life and death of mens souls to set down mens peremptory doom further than the Word warrants as though we had been admitted into Gods secrets and seen the Books of Reprobation and Election drawn this is hellish impiety and presumption we may boldly say the tree is not a Vine that brings forth Thorns nor that a Fig-tree that beareth Thistles he who hath a naughty life cannot have a good heart He who serves ' Mammon cannot serve God Mat. 6. 24. He who walks after the lusts of the flesh

the Lord such need of Services that he must entertain in the worst hath he such need of Sacrifices that the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 must serve his turn Let men judg Go offer now the 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 unto thy 〈◊〉 will be accept it Mat. 1. 8. will he not loath thy Person and thy 〈◊〉 and can the great and glorious God take pleasure 〈◊〉 either Yea 〈◊〉 others were silent let thy own Conscience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this case when these evil daies these dog 〈◊〉 come thou thy self shalt say I have no pleasure in them Caust thou for 〈◊〉 present that to the Lord which thou thy self 〈◊〉 Nay not only thy self but thy 〈◊〉 may seem to be weary of thy service thy pleasures have taken their leave the world and the delights thereof 〈◊〉 gone from thee thy unclean lusts have forsaken thy 〈◊〉 and languishing members blasphemy is departed from thy speechless tongue and shall the Lord have the Devils leavings When thus thou art become a burden to thy self a trouble to others and fit for nothing but to be fuel for the fire of Hell how 〈◊〉 is it to desire it how hard to conceive it that the holy wise and blessed God will make choyce of thee and therefore it is to be feared thou 〈◊〉 never 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But Secondly I 〈◊〉 thou dost attain it it will he very uncomfortable when thou wilt be like 〈◊〉 that could not tast his meat for age so you will not be able to tast the sweetness of the Promises of Grace and Christ little or nothing A poor old man comes in and gets as near the Pulpit as he 〈◊〉 and listens but he saies he cannot hear he asks 〈◊〉 what was said they tell him Oh the great and precious Promises of Grace and Mercy and Christ saies he I did not hear them where are they and takes his Book and then takes his 〈◊〉 and looks 〈◊〉 child saies he I cannot see tell him of them presently after I cannot remember them And so you will be unfit for any Service to God as an old Journey-man that is but a 〈◊〉 so you will bungle at Prayer and Conference and in all the duties of Obedience and when God hath shewed mercy to you you will wonder and think if I had a thousand lives what could I do again for God but alas he can do little but sit down as a senceless spectacle of Gods everlasting compassions a wonder to himself and a warning to others not to defer 〈◊〉 till old Age it being then so uncomfortable and he so unfit for it And therfore 〈◊〉 little ones that are growing up to years of understanding you have the day before you if you do not take and improve the first of your time to repent and turn to God in God will require it of you beleeve it he will you may read in 2 Kings 2. 23 24. of a company of wicked children who mock'd the Prophet and the Lord sent two Bears amongst 〈◊〉 that devoured two and forty of them they might have said my Father caught me or I did not know what I did or I was but yong but none of all this would serve their turn they had their time to repent in but they spent that time in sin and wickedness and the Lord sent Bears among them to devour them and so he will deal with you that are careless impenitent wicked children beleeve it he will God hath thousands of Devils to torment you for ever if you go on and continue in your Natural condition without Jesus Christ. And you yong men your glass is now running and as yet you have the day before you My heart in with you al you that offer your selves willingly Oh remember your Creator in the daies of your youth before the evil daies of sickness and sorrow and age come upon you 〈◊〉 only say Three Things to you Consider what good you may do now A yong 〈◊〉 and a glorious Christian Your example may be leading to many that may know you and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you all the daies of their lives and 〈◊〉 you shall be going to Heaven in your old age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be able to say Lord here am I and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children that thou hast given me you may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 means to convert others and they will bless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the day of their visitation 1 Pet. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 smell of your gracious speeches and holy 〈◊〉 will be as Lebanon that no man 〈◊〉 meets you but will be the better for you and 〈◊〉 you are going to Heaven every man wil mourn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loss of you He was a Father to me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he was a great help to me saies another 〈◊〉 was a means under God to bring my soul to Christ. Thus you will not only do good to your 〈◊〉 but you will do good to others also 〈◊〉 your death you will have more than this 〈◊〉 to your Peace and Joy will be unspeakable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then you will go to Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death and Hell and Devils and all you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be Fathers serving God in uprightness you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your children I go to my God and to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I leave you to a better Father that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well for you and so he shakes hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saies he we shall meet in Heaven again so Paul 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord shall give unto me he saw it before him and was able to tell others of it So David 2 Chron. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind c. Thus you will be able to give a change and a blessing to your Children and to speak somthing suitable to the condition of all that come about you as a man that hath been a good husband from his youth he hath been a gatherer he is able to give to every one about him somwhat another that hath been a spend thrift can scarce pay his debts and well if he do so So here a man that has been long a gathering of Promises Commands Directions Consolations when his friends come about him on his death bed he knows the frame of every man he knows one man is worldly another hath good Parts and gifts but he is proud another under discouragements and he will speak somthing suitable to every mans condition and his dying words stick by them while they live And this is but the beginning but what will the Crown of Glory be He that begins betimes shall have a 〈◊〉 weighty Excessive Exceeding Crown of Glory he shall go loaded as it were to the Kingdom of Heaven the Sufferings Obedience Commands Promises Counsels of so many years all shal be rewarded other men shall be honored and crowned but he especially and when he

wanted the 〈◊〉 knowledge of himself and of the Law of God 〈◊〉 then imagined his condition was such as those who had and led the life of Grace But when the Law came that the Lord by the Law discovered 〈◊〉 to himself then indeed he did discern where he was that sin was yet alive in him that he was in a deadly and damnable condition See the Point 〈◊〉 good in Five Particulars wherein this security is expressed in the several degrees thereof A Natural 〈◊〉 before the Lord come to seize upon him he sees no danger in his estate and therefore will not suffer himself to be perswaded to any such 〈◊〉 what can be said to evict it by the most 〈◊〉 Arguments to win his assent thereunto so it was with them in the old world Mat. 24. 38. they 〈◊〉 and gave in marriage they did eat and drink and took up themselves in the eager pursuit 〈◊〉 these present pleasing contentments which 〈◊〉 with our Natural hearts but knew nothing either of the 〈◊〉 of their own sins or the heaviness of the plagues decreed and threatned Hence this Security is in Scripture compared to a dead sleep Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee life Eph. 5. 14. In a sleep we know if it fall heavy upon any he sees no dangers nor enemies though he was in the midst of them if any evil be plotted or practised against him he perceives it not and therefore it is said They that sleep they sleep in the night So it is here though the sinner be compassed about with his own sins and the judgments of God ready to be inflicted on him and the Devils of Hell ready to devour him yet being in a dead sleep he discerns not the danger he is in As they see none so while the Lord is pleased to abate them the expressions of his heavy displeasure nor yet proceeds to take them to task for their great and grievous offences they feel no evil they see other men as vile as themselves fare like themselves and therefore they conclude there is no danger Psal. 73. 7. Their eyes stand out with fatness they have more than heart can wish they are not in bonds like other men and therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain c. Upon this ground it is the fals-hearted resolve to joyn sides with the proud because they saw their proceedings prosperous We count the proud happy say they Mal. 3. 15. For Naturally further than the Lord is pleased to grapple with the sinner there is a benummed kind of stupidness of spirit takes possession of them they become senceless wholly or their sins and so of the plagues that are threatned and treasured up for them against the day of wrath When the disease hath mastered Nature so that it hath lost its lively strength when it 's now dying it feels not death because sence was gone before The Soul that is slain by sin it becomes senceless of it As it 〈◊〉 the drunkard Prov. 23. 35. They have stricken me and I was not sick they have beaten me and I felt it not They fear no evil for the time to come senseless before fearless now they feel no evil for the present and they fear none for the future they reason from sense and experience it hath not been therefore it will not be Thus those made a League with Hell and Death Isa. 28. 15. They intrenched and fortified themselves in this fearless presumption against the approach of any future evil And therfore in all the threatnings they reade and hear though such as express the direful displeasure of the Lord yet they take off the edge of all they imagine it s nothing but a kind of policy in men who Preach these threatnings that so they might aw others by a prudent way of proceeding and partly its folly in those who beleive them and entertain them as real when there is no such thing to be feared This was the Conclusion of those who sate upon the Lees and Dregs of this Security Zeph. 1. 12. They profess the Lord will neither do good nor evil Hence the sinner in a blind kind of deluded Confidence puts the safety of his Condition beyond all question and dispute to doubt of Gods love or the work of Gods Grace in his heart or his own everlasting happiness he cannot talk of it but with detestation looks at that as a thing that is past That Dale is mowen and the danger over and gone give any good proof or sound evidence of his spiritual Welfare he cannot yet dispute it he will not takes it for granted and therefore will not trouble himself with it any more Whatever searching truths are expressed for the narrowest search and saving tryal of the soundness of the work of Gods Grace and so a sure title for eternal life he catcheth at those and takes them for his own without any enquiry or consideration Whether they do belong to him or no Whether his heart be right and sound in Gods statutes he will not dispute but that he shall be happy he will certainly conclude and that conclusion he will hold He doubts not but to dye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 go to Heaven as well as the most precise Professor of them all Thus they in Deut. 29. 19 20. When they heard all the Curses of the Law yet they blessed themselves saying I shall have peace Let men speak what they will Preach as they please he promiseth himself comfort and success in his way men saies he must have their 〈◊〉 and will vent their passions and humors but concludes what he conceives is the right all the world shall not perswade if there were a hundred and a hundred Ministers to that they shall never make him believe but his Condition is safe 〈◊〉 his way and person such as God will accept So they to Jeremy Jer. 43. 2 Thou speakest falsly the Lord 〈◊〉 not sent thee to say Go not into 〈◊〉 The things of Christ and waies of his Grace which he hath revealed in his Gospel and enjoyns all to follow because they put them beyond their pace and exceed either their cannal and formal course and the frame of happiness which they have fancied in their own minds and thoughts they look at them with disdain and casts the name of giddiness and folly upon them and follows them with all the reproaches and contempt that may be 1 Cor. 2. 14. 〈◊〉 he natural man perceives not the things of God for they are foolishness unto him Thus the Gospel the glad tydings of salvation and the only way of life in Christ It was foolishness to the Greeks and to the Jews a stumbling block 1 Cor. 1. 23. To become fools that we may be wise to cast away the robes of our own conceaved Righteousness worth and sufficiency and to go a begging to Christ to 〈◊〉 our nakedness it is a thing 〈◊〉 cross to carnal reason as

ignorant A man that is loth to rise shuts his eyes from 〈◊〉 light and stops his ears that he may not hear 〈◊〉 knocks at the door so a man that would sleep 〈◊〉 in the security of his natural state he would 〈◊〉 suffer the certainty of Gods Judgments and the terribleness of them to come home to his soul to awaken him out of his dead sleep Thus the Deceitfulness of Sin promiseth nothing but Good the 〈◊〉 of a mans heart is such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but Good mens Self-love and 〈◊〉 is such it will not suffer any thing but Good to be presented to the view of the soul. These are the Grounds why a sinful Heart settles it self in security and blesseth it self though nothing belongs to him but misery Hence we may see the Reason why sharp and soul-saving Preaching seems so greivous and tedious to the carnal hearts of wicked and natural men they hardly vouchsafe audience but not acceptance What 's the cause It would awaken them out of their sleepy security in which they lye To bring a Candle to a sleepy man is unpleasing but to pluck off the Clothes he will hardly bear it but will let flie at you Why will you not suffer a man to be quiet in his bed c. All men are naturally in a dead sleep of sin therefore to bring the Candle of the Law to them to shew them their condition to pluck away all their coverings and hidings that they may see their sins and themselves as they are it is death to a man in this case Plain dealing and rough dealing evermore finds harsh entertainment here still Musick is pliasing and rocks men asleep but sound blows will awaken men and not suffer them to sleep in their sins and therefore they cannot bear them they have itching ears saith the Apostle heaping up Teachers to themselves after their own lusts and therefore they cannot endure sound doctrine 2 Tim. 4. 3. Such Ministers and such Preaching as answer their desires and please their pallats that they and their sins and all may go to Heaven together this they like very well of Itching ears must be scratched not buffeted You know what he said to Elias Art thou he that troubles Israel And hast thou found me O my Enemy 1 King 18. 17. 〈◊〉 had 400 false Prophets he could endure them well enough because they never disquieted him in his sins but Elias was a troubler of Israel because he troubled his sin therefore he was not able to bear with him Hence again We should be perswaded and informed its the heaviest plague that can befal a man That God should suffer him to sleep in his sins and prosper in a wicked Course Because it argues for ought any man knows that God intends no good to him nor will work no good for him but as if the Lord hath left such a one to be a prey to sin and Satan he is in the hands of his lusts and become a spoil unto them Jesus Christ passeth by him as it 〈◊〉 pitties him not meddles not with him to rescue him out of that Condition as if the Lord should say I have nothing to do with him he is none of mine Therefore know this to your terror all you that never knew what it was to be in distress of Conscience for sin nay when the Word hath come home to you to convince you of your miserable estate for you have not been able to bear it bate of your sleep nor rest you cannot lose any thing of your 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 you will not nay you bless your selves in this condition thinking your case is good enough Mark now The Lord Jesus sees sin and Satan have thee in their power hurrying thee down to Hell with them and he passeth by and saith Let them alone they belong not to me I will not rescue them nor save them my Word and Spirit shall not convince 〈◊〉 nor work upon them this is the heaviest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can befal thee in this world Acts 17. 30. The 〈◊〉 of this ignorance God regarded not they lived in their sins without God and Christ and 〈◊〉 and the Lord never regarded them so as to look after them to recover them out of this estate Acts 14. 16. He suffered the Nations to walk in their own wayes It was the heavie displeasure of God towards them he saw they followed their own wayes and he suffered them so to do to go on still in the broad and the road way that leads to eternal Death All sinners are sick persons and we know 〈◊〉 a sad thing for those that are sick unto death not to be seen not to be helped and succoured when the Physitian will not so much as look in upon them Luke 19. 44. Jerusalem had her day of 〈◊〉 she was sick at the heart and God came to 〈◊〉 her but she would not take his advice therefore the Lord left her and let her alone this is a woful case when the Lord leaves a sinner to himself and doth not visit him with his saving health it s a sign that he hath no love unto nor care to do good to such a soul. Of Tryal Hence we way get undoubted Evidence to our selves whether we are yet in our natural condition or brought out of it I shall press it only negatively now Is the day yet to dawn the hour yet to come that ever thou didst endeavor to come out of thy natural condition nay happily thou never sawest cause why thou shouldest But thou 〈◊〉 and conceivest that all things remain alike with thee from the first beginning unto this day as thou wast thou art thou hast lived quietly and walked comfortably all thy life long Truly know it if thou art not another man than when thou camest into the world thou art but a natural man thou art but a damned man Thou camest flesh and blood into the world thou camest a Child of wrath and thou art so still and if so be thou doest live so and die so thou art sure to be damned for ever for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. 50. We know saies the Apostle that we are born of God and the world lies in wickedness 1 Joh. 5. 19. Brought to bed in 〈◊〉 as the Original saies thou art one that livest in some base wicked courses and liest in the bed of security and thou shalt perish with the world It s observable in the Parable when all things were at peace the strong man kept the house that 's certain As it s said of the City of Laish Judg. 18. 7. They were quiet and secure and had no business with any man Is it so with thee Thou art quiet and secure and hast no business with the Word of God thou dost come and sit and return again as if thou hadst no business with the Lord thy Conscience not convinced thy affections not stirred thy heart not affected with saving

therefore to mind this or to be led by this is present death The minor is thus again confirmed because it submits not to the Law and that is not for a present push only and out of a surprizal of some temptation but it 's certain it will never nay it can never be other because it 's beyond its power nay cross to its Nature so to do so that it hath no ability nor will for to do it nor can it of it self attain any sufficiency thereunto To make way for the collection of the Point of which we purpose to speak there be two words in the Text to be attended for Explication sake 1 What is meant by The Wisdom of the flesh or to be Carnally minded The Original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of large compass and in truth comprehends in this place the frame of the Reasonable Faculties the Understanding and Will in the extent of their full work what he understands and plots by Reason the Will effects and this latter of necessity implies the other for so the word whence it comes is taken 1 For the work of the Understanding Acts 28. 22. We desire to know what thou thinkest they would understand his Opinion and Judgment touching the way of Christianity so the Apostle speaks when he would confine our Reason to the compass of the Wisdom of the Scripture and Gods Counsel therein revealed he adviseth We should not be wise above that which is written 1 Cor. 4. 6. 2 Again It 's used and that often to express the work of the Will and therefore it is 〈◊〉 translated by Care Phil. 4. 10. I rejoyced that your Care of me again flourisheth Somtimes by the work of Seeking If ye be risen with Christ 〈◊〉 those things which are above 3. Col. 1. Or by the act of tasting or savouring Mat. 16. 21. Get thee behind me Satan thou savorest not the things 〈◊〉 be of God And therefore Beza is constrained to Paraphrase and lay out the compass of it in a 〈◊〉 of words That which the carnal man savors is enmity that is the frame of the plotting of the minds and affecting of the hearts of carnal men is enmity against God 2 Enmity as we say in the abstract made up of nothing but malice and hatred and that in an extream manner against the Lord more than against any thing in the world And if it be enquired how that doth appear and can be proved The Evidence is added in the next words It is not subject to the Law As the heart is to the Law so it is to the Lord as it is to the Word of God so it is to God himself It wholly shakes off the Sovereignty and Authority of the Law and it is not a pang only of a temptation that carries it nor a push or 〈◊〉 of some present infirmity that overbears it but in truth it is the very Nature of a naughty and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is born of the flesh is flesh John 3. 6. and nothing else but 〈◊〉 and therefore it can do nothing but oppose the Spirit and the Law which is Spiritual every thing will do and in 〈◊〉 can do no 〈◊〉 but its Nature And this denyal 〈◊〉 only of the Act of Subjection but the very Power of Subjection shews the height of that opposition that is in the heart against the Law and so against 〈◊〉 Lord himself for subjection is one degree lower 〈◊〉 obedience it 's possible for a Servant not to 〈◊〉 the command of his Master and yet he may in 〈◊〉 and subjection submit himself to his authority to bear what he will inflict upon him with 〈◊〉 though not to do what he requires of him A Patient may be subject in silence and meekness to 〈◊〉 the launcings of the Chyrurgion to cut him and so cure him when he can in no wise help 〈◊〉 and yet a carnal heart will not do this for his 〈◊〉 of subjection implies 1 It doth not acknowledg the Authority and 〈◊〉 of the Law 2 It will not obey the Rule of it 3 It will not bear the Power of it whereby it would redress the sinfulness of our hearts and reform the disorders and miscarriages of our lives and pluck away that sin from us that would pluck away our hearts from God He hath no right to challenge 〈◊〉 sovereignty no reason to exercise it no Lawful power but usurped that doth maintain it and 〈◊〉 I do not acknowledg this right nor obey that Rule nor bear that Power saies the Will it would take away my lusts and so take away my content 〈◊〉 life and I will rather die than yield rather be 〈◊〉 than abide my pleasing distempers to be crossed by the Law Hence then the Point is plain The frame of the whol heart of a Natural man is wholly unwilling to submit to the Work of the Lord that would sever him from his sins I say the frame of the whol man to the words of the Text and interpretation of them each plotting of the Mind each affecting of the Will the 〈◊〉 current of the carriage of the inward man and 〈◊〉 is not only unable to follow the direction of the Law and of the Lord but not willing to bear the power thereof to force it to the reformation of those 〈◊〉 and sins unto which it subjects it self and sets it self resolutely to keep So the Lord professed of Nimrod and his company when they had set themselves upon the building of Babel out of their pride and self confidence Gen. 11. 6. Now nothing will 〈◊〉 restrained from them which they have imagined to do let us go down and confound their Language It 's in vain to perswade them in vain to send Messengers and shew Arguments never so sad and weighty to stop them only confound their language that they may not be able to do what they would It 's the Scope of that Parable Matth. 21. from 33. to 41. wherein the waywardness of the hearts of the sons of men and their desperate unteachableness is apparantly discovered Messenger is sent after Messenger all variety of means provided and continued they beat one evil entreat another slay a third and when the Son himself is sent that Reason would have concluded that which the Master of the Vineyard conceived they will reverence my Son they were most outragious against him because happily he was more instant and importunate to press them to Sanctification the rendring of the fruit your fruit in Holiness and the end eternal Life Rom. 6. 22. they express greater opposition against him because he most of all opposed their sins Come say they this is the Heir let us kill him and the Inheritance will be ours Nor was this the guise of some graceless forlorn persons but the disposition of all men it 's part of that Curse we inherit from the Loyns 〈◊〉 our first Parents Gen. 6. 5. The frame of the imagination of our hearts are evil and

it not as a part of weakness but a madness in truth if a Malefactor wil lie in the Dungeon when means of deliverances is afforded for a man to chuse his fetters and to keep on his chains and bolts when he may be freed yet this is the case and condition yea the disposition of men who are not willing to be severed from their sins nor to be set free from those chains of darkness wherewith they are fettered and go up and down imprisoned in the world Sin is compared to a deadly poyson the poyson of Asps is under their tongue Rom. 3. 13. that is Such 〈◊〉 which is deadly and venomous which admits no remedy no cure no recovery Now shouldest 〈◊〉 see a Patient that should be offended with the Medicine that would Cure him or with the Physitian that would counsel him and recover him out of 〈◊〉 Disease Or take it heinously and grievously that any should keep him from drinking the Poyson that would destroy him Each man would conclude that his brain were more distempered than 〈◊〉 body as doing that which is directly cross even to nature which desires the preservation of it self even in unreasonable Creatures Turn but the tables as we say consider aright thine own carriage 〈◊〉 thou wilt confess it is thy case thou art the man Thou art poysoned with the loathsom and 〈◊〉 lusts of thine own Heart which threaten thy everlasting ruine and that beyond recovery in 〈◊〉 course of ordinary means Thou art not able 〈◊〉 hear the Counsel that would direct thee for 〈◊〉 Cure nor bear a savory and seasonable 〈◊〉 which would take away the poyson of those 〈◊〉 distempers Thou canst not endure to be severe from that which wil sever thy soul from God 〈◊〉 canst not abide the Word or the Messengers 〈◊〉 would take away that from thee which wil take 〈◊〉 way thy peace thy comfort thy happiness and a Thus Herodias waited for the Baptists life 〈◊〉 he endeavored to cross her in her Incestuous 〈◊〉 and loathsom abominations Mark 6. 19. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel a secret grudg again him and would have killed him She lay at 〈◊〉 she was watchful and covetous to observe and 〈◊〉 any hint of opportunity offered to do him harm because he desired and endeavored to do her the greatest good that he could A type of this we may 〈◊〉 in the Israelites when their own hearts could tel them and their own experience could testifie and that unto their own sense it was the greatest pressure that ever they found the 〈◊〉 of the wrath of Pharoah and that they sighed under it and their groans went up to heaven And yet they would return to their own ruine and to the house of bondage And Would God said they we had died in Aegypt Aegipt typifyed the kingdom of darkness the state of sin and death and Pharoah was a type of Satan who exerciseth the fierceness of his fury upon the souls of those that are under his power somtimes men wil cry unto the Lord by reason of the hard usage they find from Sin and Satan yet when God comes by his Word and the Counsels of his Servants to pluck them out of their sins and out of their bondage they cannot endure that they wil rather return again unto and lie down under the bondage of sin and Satan than be delivered from it John 5. 40. Our Savior Christ tels the Jews there You will not come to me that you might have life Christ hath Purchased it and Promised it and Offred it yet saies he You wil not come to me you wil not though you may have life and happiness for the coming for Here 's also a ground of Tryal We may hence discern and that undeniably and easily what our condition is Whether we be yet in our Natural estate so far from the interest and possession of Christ or any saving work of his Spirit as that indeed we have not attained any through preparation hereunto We need not send up to Heaven to look into the Cabinet Counsels of Gods everlasting Decrees what is 〈◊〉 concerning us Descend thou into thy own soul thou hast that in thy bosom wil be the best discovery of thy condition Ask but honestly plainly and in earnest thy own heart and that wil cast the ballance and that beyond al question Such as thy will is such is thy condition look what thou wouldest be that thou art in truth and in the account of the Almighty The Lord cares 〈◊〉 for al the Court Complements thou canst express in the wayes of Christianity he 〈◊〉 not for 〈◊〉 thy fair 〈◊〉 and the quaint appearances of 〈◊〉 was thy carriage gilt over with the most glorious shews of Godliness and thy tongue tipped with the language of heaven this wil not do the deed This would not answer the Lords expectation nor thine own hopes and comforts in the issue It was said concerning Eliab Davids elder brother when it was conceived that he should be the man appointed for the Kingdom and indeed holy Samuel was deceived in his goodly stature Surely this is the Lords Annointed The Lord himself checks his judgment Man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh upon the heart 1 Sam. 16. 7. Look we then as God looks and judge we as he judgeth if we would have comfort and truth in our judgment that we may not fail in that and so our hopes and happiness and al fail in the issue Thou saiest Thy 〈◊〉 is savory and free thy understanding large thou art able to search the Mysteries of Grace thou knowest in a great 〈◊〉 the things of Grace and art able fully to express what thou knowest and thou pretendest readmess and zeal for the service of the Lord. Thou 〈◊〉 al these are thus And I say What is thy heart thou lookest to these I say Look to thy heart and then to these that is Gods way The people in Deut. 5. 28. made as full and free a profession as all the world could desire but the Lord desired somwhat more 〈◊〉 went further They have well said but Oh that 〈◊〉 were such a heart in them v. 29. It is the heart then that gives the casting Evidence of a mans condition and wil not deceive The Woman that hath two Suiters that make love and express their 〈◊〉 to her if she ask her own Spirit that will easily speak which is the man that must be her Husband the Answer which will 〈◊〉 it is this Such a one hath her heart he hath got her good will and therefore hath gained the woman 〈◊〉 is his to give one all good language and 〈◊〉 entertainment that is nothing if another hath the heart So if the Question be which is indeed a Question of the greatest consequence in the world Whether art thou to be matched to thy Sin or to thy Savior to thy Lusts or to the Lord Jesus This will put it beyond peradventure hath some bosom

lust got the will of thy soul and holds it to this day thou art certainly a corrupt and carnal wretched Creature All thy 〈◊〉 carriage and 〈◊〉 entertainment or good language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord Jesus it 's nothing thy lusts have thy heart and Satan hath thy heart by means of them and this is thy condition to this very day It 's 〈◊〉 as experience proves it that he that is the Owner of a Country may be forced by the power of an Enemy 〈◊〉 in upon him to forsake the Skirts and Borders of it but if yet the strong Places 〈◊〉 and Citadels be in his possession which command the Country each man concludes he is Lord and 〈◊〉 of the Country still hecause he hath these 〈◊〉 and strong Forts whereby he can command it at his pleasure As in the Country so in the Rule of a mans Carriage and Conscience possible it is nay ordinary that there may come some 〈◊〉 Power and Evidence of Truth and the Lord may so mightily assault the soul with the Battery of his Word and levy such Forces of Arguments against the prevailing power of sin in our practice as that 〈◊〉 may cause our corruptions to retire and forsake the Frontiers and out-works the tongue and hand and behavior but if yet the will which is the main Castle and hath command of all if that I say be still at league with our Lusts and the power of corruption is there entertained and acknowledged thou art yet under the power of Satan and possession of thy sin The unclean Spirit may now and then go on walking and be cast out from exercising that Sovereignty and extent of Jurisdiction as to act the hand and eye and tongue to the practice of evil but as long as his house is swept and garnished the soul willing to give way and welcom to any bosom distemper he returns again and prevails as much nay more than ever Matth. 12. 43 44 45. Whatever thou hast received if thou hast not a heart against thy sin thou hast nothing will do thee good Whatever thou givest to God or doest for him unless thou givest thy heart unto him and bestow that upon his Service thou doest nothing that will stand thee in any stead The want of this was that which Moses so heavily complained of Deut. 29. 3 4. You have seen all that the Lord hath done for you the signs and wonders that he hath wrought for you yet the Lord hath not given you an heart unto this day As who should say all these will but aggravate your sins and encrease your plagues your naughty hearts will abuse all and bring a Curse upon all the Blessings you enjoy All thy Services without a heart severed from thy sins is but as a dead Sacrisice which the Lord loaths As she to Sampson though he pretended all love yet this she looked at as an evidence of want of love because his heart was not with her How canst thou say thou lovest me when thy heart is not with me So the Lord to all the fair pretences of fals-hearted Professors How can you say you love me when your hearts are not with me you wil not part with your Lusts. But you will reply This is a hard saying who can hear it who can bear it this is all we have to bear up and support our hearts and hopes with True it is our Natures are naught and corrupt our distempers strong infirmities many and failings great we cannot deny that which our actions discover we are too frequently and shamefully snatched aside and surprized by our corruptions and our distempers overbear us yet the Lord knows and we would have you to know we would be other we want power against our distempers yet we want not will to be severed from them So said and so done well and good You profess so prove what you profess and it 〈◊〉 I wish it were so and that 's the worst I wish you but try it then and be sure you do not fail for you are brought to the lowest and the last cast it 's as the Book to the Malefactor This is the very Door of Grace and the Gate of Heaven to be willing to be severed from sin God never wrought upon you for good unless this be wrought in you The Evidences are Four He that is willing to part with his sin is speedy and unweariable in seeking and improving of those means whereby he may get rid of it and which may remove it from him The Will is the great Wheel which sets all and keeps all a going and will cause a man to break through all discouragements and 〈◊〉 that can be cast in the way neither difficulties nor oppositions be they what they will be can either daunt it wholly or put it upon delaies the hands may be bound the feet fetter'd either want of liberties or opportunities may prejudice a 〈◊〉 practice or the opposition may be so 〈◊〉 and fell that may force a man for the while to cease the performance of his work but if the will be setled and resolved that cannot be removed So the Apostle Rom. 7. 18. To will is present with me though he cannot do what he is enjoyned God requires and Duty 〈◊〉 yet he can will what he cannot do so the Prophet David Psal. 119. 4 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy Precepts Oh that my heart were so upright and my waies so directed that I might keep them I do not I cannot do as my Duty is but Oh that I could do so I cannot do as I should yet I cannot but wish it This you shal find when the faithful are at the greatest under when some spiritual damps and qualms come over their hearts yet these privy yernings of their hearts towards God and the waies of his Grace will appear As in a swound when al the acts of the Sences are bound up and the Pulse is not to be perceived yet hold a glass to the mouth of a fainting man and you shal perceive some 〈◊〉 breathing ever So it is when al abilities enlargements seem to fail when temptations desertions and violent surprizal of some venemous distempers take away sence and feeling power and performance yet you shall perceive his breathing if you bring the soul to a Command or a Promise Oh that my heart were so upright Psal. 119. 20. My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy Commandements at all times 〈◊〉 David and 〈◊〉 Paul Rom. 7. 19. The good I would I do not the evil I would not that I do I do evil but I would not do it I do not the good but I would do 〈◊〉 And therefore as blind Bartimaeus when his heart was set to seek the recovery of his sight as soon as he heard that Christ passed by he cryed out Jesus thou son of David have mercy upon me they rebuked him and he cried yet more earnestly thou son of David have mercy

on me and our Savior asked him what ailest thou what was his will set upon Oh Lord that I may receive my sight So it is with a sinner whose wil is set to seek relief against his sins if there be any opportunity offred means afforded any occasion that may lend relief against his sin how speedily upon the least inkling will he listen to it If Christ pass by in Conference in Communion in publick or private in set seasons or such as could not be expected whereby the healing vertue of the blood of Christ may be dispensed they greedily repair thither and if the question be what wouldest thou the Answer of the soul is Oh Lord that I may receive power against my sin and if he get it not he will be unweariable to pursue the Lord until he hath attained it So the lamenting Church they took unto themselves words the sum and substance of all their requests Hos. 14. 3. Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously not take away the punishments that pinch us not the Judgments and terrors that may justly perplex us in the times of our necessities but take away our iniquities A wicked man may have a velleity some sleepy wish for a turn against his sin for the attainment of his end but it 's but for a fit and not for the removal of his sin but some evil that it brings Nay the heart of an ungodly man holds counsels against the holy Commandements of the Lord and plots how he may sitly put by the authority of the Truth that would take away his evil Job 22. 18. The Counsel of the wicked is far from me There is a 〈◊〉 purpose of Spirit to maintain some distemper which cannot be in a godly man He that is willing to part with his sin he takes greatest delight in those means which either discover his sin more fully and work most kindly upon the heart that godly sorrow which causeth Repentance never to be repented of and are the most piercing and powerful to remove it from him For it 's the greatest delight that can befal a man to have his will and desires answered that which the Will desires most to have when it wants it delights most in when it hath it It is so in the diseases of the Body when the blood is foul and so feaverish and fit to cause a Pleuresie the Humors gross and 〈◊〉 and molest the stomach so that Nature desires to be unburdened he that hits the right vein and that Physick which works kindly and strongly upon the right humor the Patient receives marvelous ease and Nature special relief and refreshing that which takes away most of the burden bring most ease So it is with a soul truly willing to be severed from his sin being burdened and infested with the venemous pollution thereof it finds most delight in that Ordinance that works most kindly and effectually upon it the saddest counsel the sharpest reproof the most searching tryal that ransacks every corner of a corrupt conscience now a man hath his Will and is marvelously pleased with it So David when Abigail met him and reproved him and counselled him against his sin 1 Sam. 25. 32 33. saies he Blessed be thou and blessed be thy counsel and blessed be the Lord which hath kept me this day from shedding blood that hast kept me this day from venting this distemper and hast met me so 〈◊〉 and spake so effectually unto my soul. 〈◊〉 heart that finds his special corruption his greatest 〈◊〉 wherewith he is most pestered is therefore 〈◊〉 willing to be rid of that which is most 〈◊〉 to him and therefore the word that meets 〈◊〉 directly and works most powerfully his will 〈◊〉 Gods will meet there fully and therefore he is 〈◊〉 pleased When a reproof stabs him to the 〈◊〉 Oh more of that Lord and that comfort 〈◊〉 would remove his main discouragement he 〈◊〉 the continuance of that That exhortation 〈◊〉 would awaken his sluggish spirit and put life 〈◊〉 vertue into his soul he saies speak home there Lord Prov. 2. 10. When wisdom entreth into thy 〈◊〉 and knowledg is pleasant unto thy soul Oh 〈◊〉 hath wished this longed for looked for this and 〈◊〉 now he hath his will and his hearts desire 〈◊〉 is pleased at the heart when the Lord brings off his spirit kindly that was awk and wearish in duty 〈◊〉 the best day that he hath seen a long time Oh 〈◊〉 he that I had such a heart still ever to be in this 〈◊〉 for God and against my sins and still he 〈◊〉 in that frame Psal. 85. 8. I will hear what God will speak to my soul whereas a corrupt heart when the Word meets with his beloved lusts 〈◊〉 the heart is in league and indeed would not only pinch but pluck it away by main force it 's death to him and so distastful as that he cannot endure it though he can hear many Counsels receive some general Reproofs and listen to many 〈◊〉 yet this he bears not It is as though a man should rent a member from his Body or pluck one part from another the sinner riseth up with fell opposition here As she said when she had lost her Darling and conceived that the Man of God had a hand in it What have I to do with thee thou man of God So what have 〈◊〉 to do with that Reproof that 〈◊〉 that Admonition that Examination thus 〈◊〉 Acts 22. 22. They heard Paul till he came to 〈◊〉 word that was most cross to them and then they cried out away wich him they could bear him 〈◊〉 longer then When Demetrius his Trade was 〈◊〉 to fall he could not want his gain and 〈◊〉 not renounce his Idol all is in an uproar Acts 〈◊〉 there was an outcry by the space of two hours 〈◊〉 is Diana of the Ephefians they would not 〈◊〉 with their Gain nor with their 〈◊〉 So 〈◊〉 dealt with Stephen when he came close to them 〈◊〉 discovered the rebellion of their hearts and lives Acts 7. They were not able to bear it but stop 〈◊〉 Ears and run upon him and he must lose his 〈◊〉 rather than they be disturbed in their lusts this 〈◊〉 the guise of the heart of every Natural man who 〈◊〉 not willing to part with his sin If the sinner be seriously willing to part with 〈◊〉 sin he is restless and unsatisfied until it be 〈◊〉 and taken away from him he finds nothing that 〈◊〉 can have any sweet contentment in as long as he 〈◊〉 that distemper which is cross to his will and Gods will also As Haman when he had all the caps in the Country uncovered to him and al knees 〈◊〉 before him yet al this was nothing to him 〈◊〉 avails all this saies he so long as I see Mordecai 〈◊〉 in the Kings Gate Esther 5. 13. So had he all abilities did God vouchsafe unto him al enlargements had he the hearts and approbation of all 〈◊〉 in

the world to honor him to esteem him yet 〈◊〉 dasheth all what avails it so long as this Pride 〈◊〉 peevishness this frothy vain heart remains within me When the heart is assaulted with some sudden qualm or deadly fume that assaults the spirits 〈◊〉 ye drive it from his heart nothing will do him good Oh he is sick at the heart now I thank the Lord it 's gone from my heart So it is with the plague of 〈◊〉 that assaults the heart a man that knows it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is really sick of the lusts and corruptions that are in his heart he can never be at quiet till he find his heart in some measure freed from the power and poyson of those sinful distempers as Rebecca said If Jacob should take a wife of the Daughters of Heth what good shall my life do me Gen. 27. last So what good wil my credit my profit my profession all my priviledges and performances do me if my heart be married to any base lust 〈◊〉 my corrupt will and my wayward peevish stiffness and malignancy of heart continue with me still But thou that canst lift up thy head and know all these evils in thee that God knows and thou knowest there are such bosom abominations which thy heart finds and takes contentment in thou canst live with them talk with them lie down and sleep with them and arise with them again nay and thy corrupt heart is restless if it may not be pleased and satisfied with thy lusts Amon is sick of Incest Ahab of Covetousness unless they may enjoy 〈◊〉 lusts they cannot enjoy their lives Grace I would not trouble my self or spend any time to prove that such have any grace When a mans sins are so far from being his vexation that it is his vexation that he cannot have free 〈◊〉 to commit his sins that he is vexed with the word that discovers his evil vexed with Conscience that checks him for it plagued and tormented with all that come in his way that will cross him in his lusts if there be a graceless heart in Hell thou art one to this very day thou didst never know what it was to put off the will of sinning Observe where the will takes up its last stand and what it looks at as that which lastly satisfies its desire either in pretended parting with sin or in performance of duties or improvement of means The end steers the action and gives in evidence of the goodness of it The Merchant and the Pyrate goes in the same channel useth the same wind to carry them the same Compass to direct the one about his honest Affairs to serve Gods Providence and his own Duty and the other to serve his own covetous and unlawful lusts of Theevery and spoiling So here I speak it for this purpose because it 's one of the cunning cheats of a deceitful heart he will perform such Duties and forsake such sins not because he either loves the Duty or loaths the sin but because he would land himself at the place where he would be at some other end of his own Nay it 's possible and ordinary for a man to part with his sin for a push when indeed it is only that he may keep his sin As Paul spake of Onesimus he departed from him for a season that he might be received for ever and as the Adultress chides her mate before others that she may enjoy him more freely without fear or suspition so it 's usual for a false heart to chide with his corruptions and to speak great words against them when yet the secret 〈◊〉 is but to enjoy them more freely by that means therefore let not the Devil cozen you with colors your confessions and resolutions your prayers and tears against your sins and that in secret and that unto God if your hearts 〈◊〉 these but as means for your own ends you never were willing to part with sin The 〈◊〉 of a gracious heart is Never to take up his stand till he come to God and the guidance of his Grace and Spirit Hosea 14. 2 3. c. Take away all iniquitie and receive us graciously what have I to do any more with Idols c. and the heart wil never more have to do with these sins but with God he sees these evils sorrows for these 〈◊〉 to have these removed that he may be under the power of God and his Grace As Samuel said to Israel 1 Sam. 7. 3 4. If you do return unto the Lord with all your hearts then put away your gods and prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve him only So if you be indeed resolved to forsake your sins and renounce your corruptions then abandon them and al occasions leading to them and al beginnings of them and submit your selves your thoughts and affections to the Lord and to his Word and serve him only Lodg thy soul here and let it never take up its stand until it come hither The last Use is of Exhortation and Direction both together It should guide us and it should perswade us to take the right way of Reformation Never leave thy prayers and tears and sorrows and remorse until thou come to thy very heart thy tongue professeth fair and thy hand forbears the practice of evil but ask thy heart Heart what sayest thou Shame may prevail with thee Authority of men may constrain thee and conscience may force thee to abstain from evil I but what saies thy Heart art thou willing to part with thy sin I do not do it I dare not do it but Will what sayest thou Heart what sayest thou Never cease before you be able to answer I am really willing to part with every sin I am convinced of It was the great complaint of Moses concerning the People of Israel that notwithstanding al that the Lord had done for them yet they had not a heart to fear him and to walk in obedience before him So 〈◊〉 may say God hath crowned thee with 〈◊〉 honored thee with encouragements thou hast the Esteem of others thou hast all Liberties and opportunities to be as good as thou shouldest be but truly all these will do thee no good unless thou hast a heart for God and against thy sin therefore rest no where until thou hast this The great Fort that must be taken is the Will or else all the rest is as good as nothing he that wil cure a disease must not only skin it over but must take away the core of it if he think to heal it throughly and cure it fully So here it is not enough to wash a mans mouth and to wipe his hands but the core of a mans corruptions must be got away thy soul must be brought off from the Will of sinning as wel as from the Practice of sinning or else thy soul will never be brought home to God stay not therefore till thou comest hither and be sure to make sound work

successively As the same vessel is capable of puddle and pure water the same eye is capable of sight and blindness So the Will at several times as several impressions may be made upon it is capable of Sin and Grace Jer. 4. 3. Break up 〈◊〉 fallow ground of your hearts The Nature of man is arrable ground though now it lie fallow by 〈◊〉 of the weeds of wickedness the brambles of Baggage base lusts have over-run it yet it may be 〈◊〉 the soul may be converted again So men are called Living stones 1 Pet. 2. 5. Though the frame of the heart like that goodly building of Jerusalem have not a stone left upon a stone yet the stones wil 〈◊〉 again And hence though there be not the next passive power in a soul possessed with sin to receive the things of God because the soul is wholly possessed with corruption so becomes wholly indisposed thereunto It being impossible that Two Contraries should be in the same subject at the same time that the body distempered with unnatural heats should receive a natural and moderate temper at the same time cannot be yet remove the unnatural and the body is capable of the natural Hence it is the soul hath ever in it a remote power to partake of Grace As the Soul is ever seeking of a better but because it cannot meet with it it is unsatisfied which shews it was made for a better Which makes me that I cannot yet see Why there is any need to flye to the Obed ential power which men marvelous Judicious betake themselves to in this Dispute When a Creature hath not a capability in its kind and nature to entertain such an impression further than it yeilds to the Almighty hand of God to make it what he wil As Matt. 3. 9. God is able of stones to raise up Children unto Abraham Stones wil yeild to God to make them Children But under favor I conceive that is not here needful That God should make a new Faculty or give another natural power than before as he must do if he make Bread or Children of stones As a Wheel that runs wrong you need not another Wheel but another and a right 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 The Faculty of the Will attended only in its natural being and ability cannot Will a spiritual or supernatural good but must have aspiratual and supernatural power put into it to enable it to put forth a 〈◊〉 work Because nothing can act beyond the bounds of its being and ability The Trees grow but move not the bruit Creatures move but Reason not Wicked men can Reason and Will natural and corrupt things because they have Reason Nature and Corruption And Morral things also because they have some 〈◊〉 of the Spirit as wil carry them to act seemly between man and man but to close with God and his Holiness and the purity and spiritualness of a Rule they cannot 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receives not the things of God Prov. 24. 7. Wisdom is too high for a fool If the Will out of a Nature Ability or Faculty could chuse a supernatural good then where there is this Faculty this act may be put forth Then the Devils and Damned in Hell may love God above al make choice of the chiesest good and close with the last end and so might be happy For they have this faculty of Will The Promise is full and free Let him that Wills take of the water of life and live for ever Rev. 22. 17. Hence its plain its a false Opinion and grounded on a false bottom and principle that to have an indifferency to any thing propounded to take it or not to take it is that liberty which issues from the nature of the Will Because it issues not from the Faculty at al to wil a supernatural good no more than from a dead man to take meat As a Wheel doth not run round because wood or iron but because the art of wheel-making is imprinted upon it because so framed and fashioned If therefore the question be asked If the Will be not free in Preparation Answ. There is no Will in the first work of Preparation there is the Faculty of Will but not the act of Will The Corruption that takes possession of the Will and rules in it it utterly indisposeth the soul to receive any spiritual power from God and consequently disenables it to put forth any spiritual or supernatural work It is not subject to the Law of God neither can be Rom. 8. 7. It wil not beat the impression of the power of the Spirit Job 8. 37. The Word of Christ found no place in the Jews that were under the power of their Corruptions Acts 13. 46. They put away the Word from them yea Truth is a trouble and a torment to a Carnal heart and the nature of the thing evinceth so much Matthew 6. 24. Ye cannot serve two Masters God and Mammon Joh. 5. 44. Ye cannot believe that seek honor one from another Rom. 2. 4. The hard heart cannot repent Shut up we are under unbelief and we shut out the Lord Jesus who comes not unless the door be opened It is not possible that contraries should be at the same time in the same subject Though there be no force afforded to the Faculty of the Will yet the power of Corruption must by a holy kind of Violence be removed before any spiritual power can be imprinted upon the soul wherby it may put forth any spiritual act First I say There is no violence offered to the Faculty of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that as it hath been proved before is a capable subject both of Grace and Sin successively and in order as the air is capable of light and darkness indifferently and the one being removed the other is entertained with ease and readiness without any compulsion there needs none it requires none here As the same wax wil receive several and contrary impressions at several times so the soul which hath been made partaker of the image of God is also capable of the print impression of the image of old Adam when once the gracious disposition hath been defaced it 's capable of receiving the impression of Gods Image again when once Adams image is dispossessed Yet Secondly There must be a holy kind of violence offered unto Corruption before it can be dispossessed and removed and so way and room made for the entertainment of Faith and Christ thereby Reasons are Either Corruption must by violence be taken away or else it wil naturally and of its own accord go away and depart from the soul. For it hath been in the former Conclusions manifected That there must be a spiritual power put into the will before it can put forth a 〈◊〉 act And while Corruption takes place there is no place of entertainment 〈◊〉 this spiritual ability therefore Corruption must be removed by violence Naturally it wil not go away therefore by

constraint it must be forced away It wil not depart away of its own accord because of the 〈◊〉 and naturalness it 〈◊〉 to the heart in which it is The Eye wil not go out of the head in which it is seated unless it be plucked out The hand wil not fal off from the body unless it be cut off The Soul would not willingly forsake the Body unto which it is received and in which it takes up its abode unless by some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which breaks the union betwixt it and the body it being driven away and forced away Now our lusts in our hearts are like the Members in our bodies Col. 3. 6. They are tender as the eye 〈◊〉 as the hand as dear as our souls yea even the soul of our souls and life of our lives while we are and remain in our natural and corrupt estate Therefore they must by constraint be driven out they wil not go out yea it is against Reason and in truth cross to common Sense That the quality should of its own nature 〈◊〉 from the subject they who have agreement one with another should as enemies and as 〈◊〉 as be at ods and difference go from the other and this is the Condition and Disposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the nature of man they are in the neerest League of love one with another and therefore of themselves as in truth they cannot so they would not depart one from another Jer. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots Then may you also which are 〈◊〉 to do evil They are not spots that are taken occasionally or sootiness that is smeared upon them but they issue out of their natural Constitution and the very seed which they are made of and therefore their nature must be altered before they can be removed Look we at the Opposition between the Spirit of Grace that doth remove the Corruption and the 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 that is removed And we shal 〈◊〉 have 〈◊〉 Evidence and that 〈◊〉 of the former Conclusion One Contrary drives away another out of the subject in which it is by Constraint and Violence But the work of the Spirit as contrary to Sin drives it out of the soul in which it is seated as in its natural subject therefore this must be done with violence The first part is plain by the Principles of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 received i. e. That the ground of al Constraint is that crosiness and contrariety between the 〈◊〉 of things and their actions every thing is 〈◊〉 to that which is sutable to its own nature our 〈◊〉 it s own proper power and inclination there needs no constraint to make the Fire burn the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 roar and 〈◊〉 things to descend a Wolfe to prey and raven But to make heavie things to ascend the Lion to be as mild as a Lamb the 〈◊〉 as harmleis as a Kid there must be a strong hand of an almighty power to make such a change and by a kind of violence to 〈◊〉 the crossness and 〈◊〉 which carries these in professed opposition The second part is as 〈◊〉 out of pregnant proof from Scripture which settles it as sure as Mount Zion Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the Law of Sin and Death There is a Soveraignty of 〈◊〉 rule set up in the Soul and therefore it gives Law to the whole man for that is the prerogat ve of a supream Commander Now there is a Repeal of these Laws a Crushing and a Conquering of the Supream power by the Spirit of Life in Christ which therefore disannuls al those Edicts and Commands that Carnal sensual Lusts of the Old man had thus set up and erected 2 Cor. 10. 3 4 5. The Weapons of our warfare are mighty through God When the Gospel carries the power of God with it to 〈◊〉 it flings down the strong holds that 〈◊〉 themselves against Christ and 〈◊〉 every 〈◊〉 to the obedience of Christ. Thus it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corruptions And this is done in way of Contrariety Gal. 5. 17. The Spirit lusts against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the flesh against the spirit and these two are contrary And therefore it s termed a Fight and 〈◊〉 Rom. 7. 23. I see another law in my Members rebelling against the Law of my mind 〈◊〉 carrying of me 〈◊〉 Fighting is 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 and violence where there is 〈◊〉 and Enmity there is 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 not kindness and perswasion only Such is the Work here Look we at the Nature of the Work That also wil of necessity require as much Whether 〈◊〉 Sin or Satan the Dominion of the 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 and the Power of the other 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of these can be brought about but by a 〈◊〉 of violence 1 The Dominion of Sin The Lord now quels and crusheth utterly that soveraignty and supremacy it hath formerly exercised over the sinner So the Apostle Rom. 6. 14. brings in this as the ground of that spiritual deliverance from the authority of our Distempers Sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the Law but under Grace When ever we be come under the Covenant of Grace and the Lord Jesus the second Adam 〈◊〉 us and begets us to himself as soon as we are of the seed of that Covenant he thereby takes off that dominion unto which we were formerly subject while we were under the Covenant of the Law broken it did break us and deliver us to the authority of our Distempers This was typed by the year of Jubile under the Old Law when the Slave or Servant was freed from his Masters rule and claim and therefore when our Savior is promised as he that should bring Jacob 〈◊〉 unto God and so become light and salvation to the Ends of the Earth Isa. 49. 5. 8 9. To be the head of the Covenant of Grace And that which is added is marvellous strange To establish the Earth and to cause to inherit the desolate places That restauration which comes by Christ it brings a new face or frame upon the Creatures even those that are of the most despicable condition desolate persons and hearts and lives when wicked men and their waies are like wildernesses overgrown with weeds Then the Lord 〈◊〉 to the prisoners go forth and to such as are in darknest shew your selves They that were buried and over whelmed with the dimness of their own distempers and delusions they should come out of the Dungeon and Grave of darkness Be revealed the word is in the Pastive the Truth should be revealed in you to you to give you a light you had not to act you and carry you to see that you did not your selves should be revealed to your selves and your sins to your souls the first is a power put into them the second an act wrought in them and by them the word in the Original signifying both So that though they might be pursued by their sins they should never

approbation of Satan but by Compulsion For do but weigh a little what manner of Construction in a common apprehension can be made of a Morral Perswasion in this Case Namely The Lord Christ casts in so many Convicting Arguments into the mind of Satan and stirs up that malice and envie that is within him that he doth perswade Satan to destroy his own malice and envie yea perswades him to lay down his power and to make choice and desire that the Spirit of Christ should exercise power in the Soul He Conquers him only by perswading of him to yeild willing subjection to the power of Christ which is indeed to make Satan a Saint and the Devil not to be the Prince of darkness The Power and Rule of Satan cannot be Destroyed without violence but in this work Satan his power is destroyed and himself bound and Conquered therefore it s done by Violence Fifthly Now we are to enquire How the plucking of the Soul from Sin and Drawing unto Christ is accomplished by this holy Violence To which I Answer 1 Generally 2 Particularly 1 Generally thus All that hold that Sin Satan had of the Soul and al that authority they exercised in it is now removed and the bent and set of the heart is now under the hand of the Spirit of God The Lord comes now to manifest his claim and to make good and challenge the right he hath unto the soul through his Christ whom he hath appointed to bring his unto himself This is his good pleasure for the execution whereof he hath sent the Lord Jesus Isa. 49. 45. Therefore he is said to be formed from the womb to be a servant unto God the Father to restore the preserved of Israel and to be the salvation of God to the ends of the earth Hence that of our Savior Christ Joh. 10. 16. Other sheep I have there 's the ground those I must bring and they shall hear my voice they are mine I have died for them sin and Satan shal not keep them shal not hold them hands off sin hands off Satan I must Humble them and Call them and Justifie them and 〈◊〉 them and Save them for ever And therefore the Lord was typed out in the Parable of the Owner that left Ninty and nine to seek the lost sheep Luke 15. 4 5. And when it could not seek its own good or Christ or find either the Lord sought it up and found it and brought it home upon his shoulder 2 ' More Particularly The accomplishment of this Work Discovers it self in Four Particulars The Lord calls in that Commission which formerly he put into the hands of Satan to lay hold of the heart of a sinner as a Malefactor attached of high Treason committed against God and Heaven and therefore it was he sent him with his Mittimus as the Justice doth the Fellon into the Custody and keeping of Satan that since he would not be ruled by the Law of Liberty and Life he should be made a slave unto sin and subject to death and that for ever to be kept in the Chains of darkness until the day of 〈◊〉 great Goal Delivery and the Declaration of the fierce wrath of God and this Durante bene placito during the pleasure of the Lord or until ye shal understand his Majesties pleasure to the 〈◊〉 For still you must remember That as in Courts and Course of Justice amongst men upon earth it is so in the Court of Heaven and the Proceedings of the Almighty the Malefactor is the Kngs prisoner The Jaylor is but the Keeper or under Officer betrusted with the Execution of Justice the Lord is the sole Commander of mens souls and of life and death unto which they are liable by reason of their sins This being the Commission the Lord put into the hands of Satan and sin for the present unless any Express appear to the contrary He is now pleased to signifie to the Prince of Darkness and to the Power of Hell and to those Damned Spirits by the Ministery of the Word in the mouths of his Servants and by the Hand and Almighty Operation of his Spirit Be it known 〈◊〉 you you Principalities of 〈◊〉 and spiritual wickednesses that take possession of and rule in the hearts of the Children of disobedience that upon the first hearing of this holy Word and Message dispensed by my faithful Servant as a warrant under my hand that it is my Royal Wil and Command That you forthwith let loose that poor 〈◊〉 who hath been long prisoner in the chains of Darkness For my Justice is fully answered and satisfaction fully accepted Fail not at your 〈◊〉 under 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 displeasure of the Almighty Dated at the Court of Mercy before all worlds published this present day and instant according to the counsel of mine own Will This puts the powers of Darkness the Devils and his Angels to deep Consultation what to do they see they have no warrant now to hold the sinner any longer and yet they have no wil to let him go They are 〈◊〉 loth to part with him and yet their power is gone whereby they have hitherto kept him For the strength of 〈◊〉 is the law 1 Cor. 15. 56. And this is to take away the Devils Armour Luke 11. 22. When Justice will deliver the sinner Satan hath no power to hold him As our Savior said to Pilate when 〈◊〉 said I have power to bind thee or to loose thee our Savior 〈◊〉 Thou hadst no power 〈◊〉 was given thee from above John 19. 11. So Satan hath no power but what is given from above according to the Edict of Gods revenging Justice and their just deservings Therefore now God the Father through the perfect Death and satisfaction 〈◊〉 the Lord Jesus hath yeilded the Edict of 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 and therefore the Devils cannot 〈◊〉 As it was said touching our Savior when he was in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was impossible he should be 〈◊〉 2 Acts 24. 〈◊〉 Gods Justice was answered to here When the Devils power is now gone and that Justice hath signified her pleasure That the Prisoner must be set loose they then begin to pretend the right they have and the claim they can make yet unto the Sinner Therefore Sin and 〈◊〉 seem 〈◊〉 plead their own Cause in way of Justice and that which cannot be gain-said as that the souls of such 〈◊〉 Creatures do appertain to them for besides saies Satan the Statute Law The soul that sins that soul must die The Evidence is cleer from their practice and experience Whether these be the seed of the Serpent because they express the nature of the serpent in their actions Is it not written John 8 44. You are of your Father the Devil for the lusts of your Father you will do These are they whose hearts if they were discerned whose carriages if they were traced and taken notice of would give in Evidence that the 〈◊〉 of the Serpent was in the one

this 〈◊〉 from the former Doctrine by force of 〈◊〉 Argument several wayes Thus Where there is the Concurrence of all 〈◊〉 putting forth themselves for the work of Conversion there that work wil certainly and effectually be brought forth because there is no more required to the existence of any thing than the Causes of it and those joyntly working for that End But 〈◊〉 there is the sufficiency of preventing Grace there 〈◊〉 al the Causes of Conversion and all these working For in that there is a sufficiency therin al the 〈◊〉 are implyed in that it is the sufficiency of 〈◊〉 Grace which is a motion and impression of 〈◊〉 Spirit therein the action of these is expressed And the work must needs follow and the drawing 〈◊〉 fail to be Efficacious For the reason why a reasonable Agent is sufficient to accomplish and 〈◊〉 doth not it is because he hath power but 〈◊〉 and doth not put forth that power to the 〈◊〉 mance of the work But so it is not here Where Gods preventing Grace is put forth there the work of Conversion doth undoubtedly follow because it alone works it in us without us but 〈◊〉 there is 〈◊〉 help of our drawing there 〈◊〉 preventing Grace is put forth Therefore there 〈◊〉 Conversion must needs be effectual Where all the power of Resistance is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might hinder the work of our Conversion there our Conversion must needs be effectual but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drawing is and so sufficiency of Gods exciting Grace for that and drawing are alone there al the 〈◊〉 of resistance which might hinder is removed herefore where this sufficiency is the work of our Calling must needs be effectual Hence again it follows by undeniable Evidence That al men have not sufficient help of preventing Grace whereby they may be called effectually and 〈◊〉 Conversion wrought without fail if they would but improve the help as they may This 〈◊〉 immediately from the foregoing grant and 〈◊〉 beyond al gain-saying For Sense and Experience puts it beyond al doubt and Dispute That al men have not tasted 〈◊〉 Efficacy of saving Calling but the Efficacy and Sufficiency of exciting Grace are either al one or without fail go alwaies together therfore to whom 〈◊〉 Efficacy of this preventing Grace is not dispensed to them the sufficiency is not Again The Letter of the Text gives in Testimony beyond controul They who share not in the drawing of the Father they partake not of the sufficiency of exciting Grace for herein the very nature of it lies and the words are pregnant No man can come to me he hath not power to come unless the Father draw him But the Father draws not al for that is the scope of our Saviors direction and Caution whereby he would check the murmuring of the Jews quarrelling with his Doctrine and despising his Person now lest any should be taken aside by their sinful example our Savior ads this as the Reason and leavs it upon Record No man can come to me be his place his parts his excellencies and abilities never so great and glorious therefore marvel not it is not in their practise it is beyond their power unless they are drawn 〈◊〉 yet they are not nor are like to be Again There is yet a special work of Gods Grace and Favor the want whereof our Savior makes a never failing 〈◊〉 why the souls of sinners never share in Christ and 〈◊〉 neither in eternal life Joh. 6. 36. I said unto you that you also have seen me and beleeve not But they might have 〈◊〉 a Reason to be rendered and a 〈◊〉 given why that should be charged our Savior gives in His Argument which will admit no Answer to satisfie it hardly a pretence to avoid the 〈◊〉 of it vers 37. All that my Father gives shal come unto me and him that comes unto me I will in no wise cast out Not to be given then is one Cause why men cannot come and so have not sufficiency of help to enable them to that work and to partake of the comfort Lastly the sufficiency of exciting Grace may be attended Two wayes Either 1 In respect of the outward Dispensation of the Means which the LORD 〈◊〉 appointed and by which his Grace and Spirit is conveyed Or 2 dly There is also the internal operation of the holy Ghost wherin only the sufficiency of saving Calling is accomplished Now many thousand thousands there be that never Communicated in any of these either the external or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the external when the special priviledges under the Law were paled in and appropriated to the Nation of the Jews You alone have I known of all the Nations of the world Amos 3. 2. To them belong the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenant and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the Promises Rom. 9. 4. He hath not dealt so with other Nations neither have the Heathen the knowledge of his wayes Psal. 147. 20. They who never heard of 〈◊〉 nor Grace nor Sin nor Conversion nor Salvation 〈◊〉 have not sufficiency of outward Means whereby 〈◊〉 might be Converted Acts 17. 30. The times 〈◊〉 that ignorance he over-looked He regarded 〈◊〉 the Gentiles but now he commands all men to 〈◊〉 and repent as if he should say Before he 〈◊〉 not so much as Call the Gentiles to the 〈◊〉 of the things of Grace And for the inward 〈◊〉 how many thousands have not the Common 〈◊〉 of the Spirit which tend to Conviction and 〈◊〉 Perswasion of whom that of the Prophet is 〈◊〉 To whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed 〈◊〉 53. 1. Multitudes there be to whom the word is 〈◊〉 of death 2 Cor. 2. 16. In whom the God of 〈◊〉 world hath blinded their eyes 2 Cor. 4. 4. That 〈◊〉 might not see the Glory of God who seeing see 〈◊〉 yet perceive not hearing they hear and yet 〈◊〉 not their ears are made heavie and their 〈◊〉 fat that they should not be converted The whole Nation of the Jews now Curse the Lord Jesus 〈◊〉 their Synagogues and therefore have no drawing 〈◊〉 the Lord Jesus And so much for the First Use of Instruction The Second Use is for Consolation to several sorts of men First Here is ground of incomparable and inconceivable Comfort to support the hearts of 〈◊〉 sinners from sinking under desperate 〈◊〉 and that irrecoverably When their Corruptions come in upon them like the mighty Ocean when innumerable evils compass them about 〈◊〉 their sins take hold upon them that they are not 〈◊〉 to look up they are more than the hairs of their 〈◊〉 and their very hearts fail them They find the Opposition so strong and themselves so weak 〈◊〉 work of deliverance so impossible to their own Sense and Experience that their Prayers and Endeavors and Hearts 〈◊〉 them Yet here is a Gale 〈◊〉 Hope and that which will uphold the Heart if 〈◊〉 Lord will have in the soul all Opposition in

from his Cups the Adulterer from the arms of his Queans and the worldly man from all the snares of the world the Lord can do it and wil do it also for those that belong to him therefore to that God look 〈◊〉 that Christ look who hath said it and can do it he can do it for thee as wel as for any other A Third ground of Discouragement which the sinner finds and that is the worst of al viz. The stiffness and stubbornness of his own heart he cannot blame the Devil for 〈◊〉 of him or the world for snaring of him he sayes and knows his heart is as bad as Hell it self he hath courted and desired temptations his heart hath been lingering and hankering after them and had not God been merciful to him he had lived and lien and perished for ever in his sins Nay though there were no 〈◊〉 to tempt nor world to allure yet I have a heart like a dunghil that steams up continually noysom abominations Nay that that 's worst of al If after al the Mercies I have abused and sins committed I had a heart that could repent there was some hope but Oh! the stiffness and knottiness of this heart of mine I have had Conscience checking of me and the Minister reproving of me and the Spirit of God striving with me but Oh! I have a hard heart that cannot repent And this is the plague of al plagues worse than the Devil and Hell it self How shal I help my self here Moral Perswasions Alas my heart spurns at them all and makes nothing of them al I have had the Minister speaking to my soul and the flashes of Hell in my face and yet alas such is the desperate frame of my heart that I wil have my sins or 〈◊〉 die for it What wil al Moral Perswasions and Congruity of Means do here Alas the Heart scorns al As in the Case of a man who fell into deep distress and horror of Conscience 〈◊〉 he had 〈◊〉 the sin against the Holy Ghost lying in that a twelve month together and the Lord let loose the 〈◊〉 of his own Spirit upon him that he often thought to lay violent hands upon himself but this was al that he had to support himself in that sad time my Salvation is not in mine own hand it is not in my Will but in Gods Will It is not in him that Wills or in him that Runs but in God that shews mercy Jam. 1. 18. Of his own Will he hath begotten us by the word of truth He that made the Will can only Convert the Will Oh! then bless God that hath taken our Salvation into his own hand for if it were in our hands if it were left to our Wills we should never have it This is that that may uphold the heart in the midst of al the heavie temptation which wil 〈◊〉 or last seize upon the hearts of men Again Secondly It is matter of Consolation to al the faithful who have found this work of God upon their souls it wil afford them ground of glorious support to fence and fortifie their souls against the dayes of difficulty and times of distress against what ever discouragements or desertions may 〈◊〉 them from within what ever assaults or temptations may press in upon them from without in the following Course of their lives in future times From hence they may promise themselves assistance and deliverance without fail and certainly expect it What ever the temptations be they shal never prevail against them what ever the power and strength of their Corruptions be they shal never be able hurtfully to overcome them If God the Father have once drawn them to his Christ when they did nothing but oppose this work al the power of Hell shal never be able to with-draw them from the Lord Jesus when they desire to cleave to him and to be His. He that plucked me away from my sin with a holy kind of violence when I loved it as my life and was loath to part with it will he deny his 〈◊〉 to me when I strive against it He that forced his Mercy upon me when I resisted it in the dayes of my folly and wretchedness when I resolved I would none of him wil he deny me Mercy when he hath given me a heart to beg and prize it He that sought me and drew me when I forsook him wil he not embrace and entertain a poor Creature when I seek and sue for acceptance from him Thus the Apostle disputes and cleers himself with much boldness and assurance of invincible success and he gains and gets the higher ground of his Fears and Discouragments Rom. 5. 6. 9. If Christ died for us when we were of no strength nay when we were ungodly How much more being Justified by his Death shall we be saved from wrath through him for if when we were enemies we were reconciled how much more shal we be saved by his life If when we had no strength he rescued us from the hand of Hell and Sin and when Enemies reconciled us when he hath given us strength and made us his Friends wil he not for ever releive and succour us yea much more sayes the Apostle he gets upon the higher ground and triumphs over al the enemies of our salvation as knowing he should certainly be Assisted against them al. Thus Samuel shored up the dismayed and sinking hearts of the Rebellious Israelites when the Lord had thundred out his displeasure against them by reason they had wretchedly and treacherously and unfaithfully rejected the Lord and his gracious Government when they would not beleive Samuels words he tels them That God would thunder out his threatnings from heaven 1 Sam. 12. 17 18. c. And when the people saw the lightning and heard the thunder and then saw the hamousness of their sins and feared what heavy punishment they might expect from so terrible a God Then they that cared not for his words and Counsels crave his Prayers Oh pray for us say they for we have sinned and to all our other sins have added this in asking for a King Samuel to prevent the deadly symptom of desperate Discouragement which would drive them from the Lord and so from their own Comfort heads You have indeed sinned yet turn ye not aside from following the Lord And again he ads Turn not aside unto vain things that cannot help And he gives this as a ground For the Lord will not forsake his People for his great Names sake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people He that out of Mercy made you his people when you were not he wil not forsake you when he hath called you to him As the Elders of Israel Reasoned when they were to War with Jehu in the defence of their Masters Sons 2 King 10. 4. Behold two Kings could not stand before him how shall we Let this be thy comfort and undoubted evidence of succour and deliverance

When thy heart was Satans home and the power of darkness dwelt in it when he had levyed al his Forces he was strengthened and encouraged by al the advantages that might be he had the hold of the heart and entrenched himself in the stubbornness and invincible stiffness of my Will and that I was resolved to leave my life but never to leave my lusts nor renounce his temptations which I entertained as my delight and sided with al alurements and stood in open 〈◊〉 against the Holy One of Israel If Satan in his ful power could not keep his hold nor my heart but the Lord cast him out when he is Conquered and his Forces spoiled by the Lord Christ Shal he not for ever keep him out When I was under the power of Satan he then rescued me being now rescued from his rage and beyond his power shal he not preserve me He that destroyed the works of Satan when he was in his ful strength intrenched fortified in the unconquerable stiffness of his Will and took away his Armour being Disarmed Dispossessed and Conquered shal he ever be able to recover and set up his works again By no means The Third and Last USE of this Doctrine is of Exhortation First To the Converted Then To the Unconverted Here is somthing for both First the Converted are hereby to be provoked to follow the dealing of the Lord Here is a pattern to order their daily practice by Hath God doth God deal so with poor Creatures as to draw them from their sins to 〈◊〉 Christ Go thy wayes and do thou likewise Herein shew your selves Children of your heavenly Father be merciful as he is merciful And if in any case I take it Mercy is herein to be discerned ought to be practised and expressed As the Elect of God put on bowels of mercy Col. 4. 11. If you be the Elect of God shew it in this if ever you have received Mercy express it if ever God hath shewed favour to you shew the fruit thereof in shewing compassion to others put too the best of your endeavors even by a holy kind of violence to pluck away poor sinners from their sins unto the Lord. So David Psal. 51. 13. I will teach transgressors thy wayes and sinners shall be Converted unto thee I wil take no nay at their hands they are stubborn I was so they resist I did so they are unwilling to part with their sins I was so and yet the Lord hath done me good and overcome al my evil with goodness when I was in my blood when I lay weltring in the guilt and filth of my sins when I said I would have my sins and I would die and was resolved to destroy my self then he said unto me Live poor Creature Live You cannot get your heart away from your Corruptions the Lord wil do it for you nay he can do it for you without you If he wil put forth the same power upon your soul as he hath done upon my soul you shal be drawn from your sins to Jesus Christ. In a word 1 Do what you can your self 2 Help them with supply from others First do what you can your self let every man in his own particular set upon al such loving Means as are in your power Compassionately and Couragiously to draw sinners from their sins to Christ Heb. 3. 13. Exhort one another daily lest any be bardened through the deceitfulness of sin 1 Thess. 5. 14. Now we exhort you Brethren warn them that are unruly comfort the feeble minded support the weak be patient towards all men As who should say Lay about you to do al the good you can he makes a Christian man to be as busie as a Bee that he should go no whither but should seek and find occasion of doing good to one or other you wil meet with some that are unruly warn them and instruct them and some that are weak labor to strengthen them some that are feeble minded and discouraged Christians labor to quicken and encourage them Let not those thoughts be found once in thy heart Am I my Brothers keeper Yes thou art or else thou art his murtherer wilt thou defend his house from a thief his body from 〈◊〉 nay wouldest thou ease and raise his Ass from falling and return his Ox from straying and wilt thou not do much more for his Soul Therefore take al opportunities that are offered and seek what is no offered and improve what you have to the 〈◊〉 Jude 23. And others save with fear plucking them out of the fire If thy neighbors Ox were in the pit or himself in the fire thou wouldest break 〈◊〉 the door and not strain Complements much more when his soul is fallen into his distempers as into a deep ditch his soul is 〈◊〉 on fire from Hell 〈◊〉 away the Drunkard from his Cups and hale the Covetous man from the world and those whom you see to be 〈◊〉 by any special Corruption do 〈◊〉 you can to rescue them from the snare of the Devil and double thy forces lay battery against the heart to it again and take better hold it may be he sees his evil and acknowledgeth his sin and yet returns to it again return thou to thy prayers and tears an 〈◊〉 if he forget thy Counsels Counsel him again admonish again besiege him lie at him when thou meetest him in the way walkest in the field 〈◊〉 at the table leave some remembrance upon 〈◊〉 of those you converse withal say and do som thing that may help to draw their souls from their sins to Christ. God hath dealt so with thee therefore deal thou so with others Succour them also by all other Means 〈◊〉 thou according to thy power and place to 〈◊〉 them under the means of Grace As they said one 〈◊〉 another Isa. 2. 3. Come let us go up to the house 〈◊〉 the Lord he will teach us of his wayes And as 〈◊〉 good man Cornelius when Peter was to come 〈◊〉 Preach the Gospel to him Acts 10. 24. he Calls 〈◊〉 his friends and kindred together that the Lord 〈◊〉 work upon them and sayes he We are all here ready to hear what the Lord hath commanded thee This especially belongs to al such as have power and authority over others as Magistrates may compel the Subjects the Master may compel his Servants and the Father his Children to use the Means for they can go no farther than a moral violence and to be under those Ordinances which they in their own Consciences are convinced of to be the Means of Conversion and Salvation And look as they did when our Savior Christ came to any place they brought the blind and the deaf and dumb and those that were possessed of Devils and laid them down before him and intreated him to Cure them Mar. 2. 4. So if thou hast a stubborn Servant or a Rebellious Child al the Means thou hast used can do no good upon him bring

him before the Lord in the use of the Ordinances lay him down before him and tell him what his Case is what a blind mind and what a hard heart he hath and how he is possessed with a Devil of pride and self-willedness and resistance against God and Grace and say It is with thee alone O Lord to work upon him Thus we should use al the Means we can to draw others to Jesus Christ. Here is also a word of Exhortation to the Unconverted such as are not yet Called You are to be entreated That as ever you desire to see the face of God in Christ as ever you desire to gain Evidence of Gods love here and happiness in another world be sure of this That you come under the Call of God This work of drawing is Gods proper work come therefore under his hand when doles are stirring every man goes to that door So here It is not in Man nor in Ordinances that 's true but there God dispenseth it Rom. 1. 16. The Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation And if the Lord draw by his Spirit in his Ordinances repair thou to his Ordinances for ever It is the Lord only that makes his Call effectual therefore come under 〈◊〉 Call of his in his Ordinances It is God only that doth this work in us 〈◊〉 us It is not in our power to help our selves therefore better sit still then rise and fall why 〈◊〉 we endeavor that we can never do I do not say thou canst do the work but do 〈◊〉 go to him that can do it Thou sayest thou canst 〈◊〉 go I confess thou canst not as a Christian but 〈◊〉 I exhort unto is Do what thou canst as a man improve those Faculties and Parts and Gifts that 〈◊〉 yet left in thee and come under and keep 〈◊〉 the Call of God God meets his People in the 〈◊〉 of his worship in the use of the Ordinances which he appoints therefore go thou thither to meet with him Thou hast an Ear to hear the word therefore thy feet can carry thee to other places let them carry thee to the house of God that mind and memory of thine can meditate upon other things 〈◊〉 it meditate upon the word and fasten upon the truth and the reasons thereof I do not say thou 〈◊〉 pray so as to please God but pray still who know but God may help thee thou canst confer 〈◊〉 things of no profit and remember idle things of 〈◊〉 worth nay such as leave a taint of Corruption 〈◊〉 Pollution upon thy soul use that mind and 〈◊〉 thoughts and that tongue of thine about the 〈◊〉 of God and Jesus Christ. Thou mayest do this 〈◊〉 shouldest do this Attend further these Two Directions Present thy self before God in the use of 〈◊〉 Means of Grace and when thou art there 〈◊〉 thy own abilities either to do good to thy self or 〈◊〉 receive good from God in al the Means that are appointed for thy good Say therefore Lord it 〈◊〉 not in Man or Means to do any good to my soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heart here and be sure thy soul be rightly 〈◊〉 of it And mark what Balaam said Lo I 〈◊〉 come now have I now any power at all to say 〈◊〉 thing Numb 22. 38. So say thou Here 's a 〈◊〉 mind a dead heart a damned soul I live to 〈◊〉 and hear that that thousands desired but never 〈◊〉 but now I am here Lord have I any 〈◊〉 to receive any good from any of the Ordinances 〈◊〉 Lord the work is thine do al for thy Servants 〈◊〉 receive al the Glory from me you think you 〈◊〉 a large understanding to catch the reason of the 〈◊〉 and a strong memory and can recount what 〈◊〉 hear and you go for a right Godly man because 〈◊〉 hear and repeat and profess c. Thou mayest 〈◊〉 al this be utterly destitute of any saving work 〈◊〉 thy soul thou hast the out-side but thou canst 〈◊〉 come at the kernel the sap the sweet the good of the Ordinances therefore say thus I can hear 〈◊〉 Word blessed be thy name and I am able to remember and repeat and to discourse of the things of God but Oh! the power of God to work upon my 〈◊〉 that I want here 's a blind mind and a dead 〈◊〉 a lame heart Lord work upon it and draw 〈◊〉 to thy self and that effectually It was 〈◊〉 speech 2 Chron. Chap. 20. Vers. 12. when 〈◊〉 had Mustered up all the Forces of ISRAEL Yet sayes he We have no strength nor do 〈◊〉 know what to do but our eyes are unto 〈◊〉 So shouldest thou say for thou mayest have 〈◊〉 strength and moral strength but spiritual 〈◊〉 to hear profitably and savingly and to bring 〈◊〉 fruit unto God this is not in any mans power of himself Therefore say it and acknowledge it Lord though I do what I can yet I have no strength 〈◊〉 do I know what to do but mine eyes are unto 〈◊〉 When you are got hither and keep here be sure now not to leave the Ordinances of God before you find some power beyond the power of Ordinances and Man and Means leave them not till you find the almighty power of God working upon your souls As the Woman that labored of the Bloody-issue and had 〈◊〉 al she came and desired Oh! that 〈◊〉 might touch the Hem of the Garment of Christ and she felt in her self she was made whole Mat. 9. 21. 22. Thou knowest the pride and peevishness 〈◊〉 uncleanness of thy Nature the bloody-issues of corruption in thy soul that nor word nor Ordinances could help thee to this day thou hast spent all and done al thou canst do in the use of Means and yet the issue is the proud heart the carnal heart the unclean heart remains still taken aside by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still what will you do now you are in the croud of Means and Helps but say Oh! the Hem of the Garment of Jesus That Vertue and Power may come from Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 work upon this Soul 〈◊〉 mine But how shal I know that Answ. When you see the Ordinance so upon your soul really as you see it in your understanding and judgement when you find it in the work of it upon your heart as you apprehend it in the letter of it And 〈◊〉 you shal 〈◊〉 the work really done and your heart bowed and loosened from those base Distempers you never touch Jesus Christ until you find it so Therefore as the Widdow whose Child was dead when Elisha sent his Servant she was not contented with that but sayes As the Lord lives and 〈◊〉 thy soul 〈◊〉 I will not leave thee 2 Kings 4. 30. The man came and the staffe was laid but 〈◊〉 Child was dead till the Prophet came and the power of God came along with him and then 〈◊〉 Child arose Let me leave this upon Record for ever amongst you This effectual drawing and quickning of the

heart is the alone work of God It is not in him that Wills nor in him that Runs 〈◊〉 in God that shews Mercy You know many of you hundreds for ought I know that you never knew what Christ and his Grace meant and you know your hearts close with your sins though you dare not give way to them Now mark when you come and hear the mind of God and the Ministers speak unto you and the Will of God is published Oh! Go your wayes home and say As the Lord lives I will not leave thee until the Lord hath spoken to my soul till I find the effectual work of the Word and Spirit of God drawing my soul from my sins to Jesus Christ. Therefore call for that same shewing Mercy which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 9. 16. So then it is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth mercy When you have run what you can and willed what you are able then look up to the Lord to shew you Mercy the Minister hath spoken what he can and I have heard what I can but Lord shew Mercy and never leave until you have found that the Lord hath shewed you Mercy in this work of drawing your Soul from Sin to Christ. FINIS THE Application OF Redemption By the Effectual Work of the Word and Spirt of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The Ninth and Tenth Books Beside many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed ●●The heart must be humble and contrite before the Lord will dwell in it ●●Stubborn and bloody Sinners may be made broken-hearted ●●There must be true sight of sin before the heart can be broken for it ●●Application of special sins by the Ministry is a means to bring men to sight of and sorrow for them ●●Meditation of sin a special means to break the heart ●●The same word is profitable to some not to others ●●The Lord somtimes makes the word prevail most when its most opposed ●●Sins unrepented of makes way for piercing Terrors ●●The Truth terrible to a guilty conscience ●●●Gross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before they be brought to Christ. 11. Sorrow for sin rightly set on pierceth the heart of the sinner throughly 12. They whose hearts are pierced by the word are carried with love and respect to the Ministers of it And are busie to enquire and ready to submit to the mind of God 13. Sinners in distress of conscience are ignorant what they should do 14. A contrite sinner sees a necessity of coming out of his sinful condition 15. There is a secret hope wherewith the Lord supports the hearts of contrite sinners 16. They who are truly pierced for their sins do prize and covet deliverance from their sins 17. True contrition is accompanied with confession of sin when God calls thereunto 18. The Soul that is pierced for sin is carried with a restless dislike against it By that Faithful and known Servant of Christ Mr. THOMAS HOOKER late Pastor of the Church at Hartford in New-England somtimes Preacher of the Word at Chelmsford in Essex and Fellow of Emmanuel Colledg in Cambridg Printed from the Authors Papers written with his own Hand And attested to be such in an Epistle By Thomas Goodwin And Philip Nye London Printed by Peter Cole at the sign of the Printing-Press in Cornhil neer the Royal Exchange 1657. READER IT hath been one of the Glories of the Protestant Religion that it revived the Doctrine of Saving Conversion And of the new creature brought forth thereby Concerning which and the necessity thereof we find so much indigitated by Christ and the Apostles in their Epistles in those times But in a more eminent manner God hath cast the honor hereof upon the Ministers and Preachers of this Nation who are renowned abroad for their more accurate search into and discoveries hereof First For the Popish Religion that much pretend to Piety and Devotion and doth dress forth a Religion to a great outward Gaudiness and shew of 〈◊〉 and wil-worship which we confess is entermingled with many spiritual strains of self-denial Submission to Gods wil Love to God and Christ especially in the writings of those that are called Mistical 〈◊〉 But that first great and saving Work of Conversion which is the foundation of al true piety the great and numerous volumns of their most devout writers are usually silent therein Yea they eminently appropriate the word Conversion and thing it self unto 〈◊〉 man that renounceth a Secular life and entereth into Religious orders as they cal them and that Doctrine they have in their discourses of Grace and free wil about it is of no higher elevation than what as worthy Mr. Perkins long since may be common to a Reprobate though we judg not al amongst them God having continued in the midst of Popish Darkness many to this day and at this day with more Contention than ever that plead for the Prerogative of Gods Grace in mans Conversion And for the Arminian Doctrine how low doth that run in this great Article this we may without breach of Charity say of it That if they or their followers have no further or deeper work upon their hearts than what their Doctrine in that point calls for they would fal short of Heaven though those other great truths they together therewith teach God may and doth savingly bless unto true Conversion he breaking through those Errors into some of their hearts And how much our reformed Writers abroad living in continual wranglings and Disputes with the Adversaries of Grace have omitted in a Practical and Experimental way to lay open and anatomize the inwards of this great work for the Comfort and settlement of poor souls many of themselves do greatly bewayl And to find them work and divert them from this it hath been the Devils great Policy who is at the head of all those Controversies as also ever since Pelagius time to this very day to make that dry and barren plot of Ground namely the naked dispute of the freedom of mans wil to be the great seat of this War as the Pope did the Conquest of the Holy Land in the darker times to find al Christian Princes work and thither to draw al the forces and intentions of mens minds jejunely in a great part Phylosophically to debate what power mans wil for-sooth hath in the Summity and Apex of Conversion to resist or to accept the Grace of God and so whether Moral perswasions only be not Sufficient or that Physical Pre-determinations be not also requisite to Conversion whilest in the mean time al those intimate actings of a soul in turning to God The secret particular passages both on Gods part and on the souls part which are many and various by which the soul is won over unto God and Christ those treaties the souls of men hold with God and Christ for justifying and

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

detestation and sequestration appears in the last words Men and Brethren what shall we do we will do any thing suffer any thing command what you wil enjoyn what you please be it never so hard we will endeavor it never so cross to our hearts or comforts we will bear it better be any thing than be thus 〈◊〉 let 's be in any condition that once we might be freed from this sinful and accursed condition in which we be We have taken liberty to lay out our Work with as much plainness and openness of order as we may because we shall have occasion to mind you of the particulars in our future proceeding and how the several 〈◊〉 serve each others turn in their place and order Before we come to the Particulars one Point 〈◊〉 in the very entrance which will be very serviceable to make way for all the Truths following and therefore we shall take in that at this time that it may be as an Harbenger to make room for all the rest And it ariseth from a right consideration of the parties to whom 〈◊〉 here speaks and with whom his word so prevailed and took place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 36. verse he tels them that same 〈◊〉 whom ye have crucisied They were therefore such as had rejected blasphemed 〈◊〉 the Lord of Glory those who in a bloody manner 〈◊〉 away the life of 〈◊〉 who came to take away their sins Is it possible is it credible that ever mercy should be extended unto such that ever good should be wrought in such Yes Lo here When they heard this they were pricked in their hearts They whose hands were imbrewed in the blood of Jesus their hearts are now 〈◊〉 with Godly sorrow and so made fit to receive Grace and Mercy Hence the Doctrine is Stubborn and bloody sinners may be made broken-hearted sinners Bloody hellish abominable 〈◊〉 may yet obtain broken hearts worse than these could hardly be conceived or imagined and yet God makes work of these knotty way ward Spirits It was said of him that betrayed Christ it had been good for him that be had never been born What shall we say of them that murdered our Savior they are in the highest rank of the most wicked men that ever were born yet even such as 〈◊〉 who also opposed the Word and Gospel of Grace the Disciples and Apostles the Preachers and Publishers of Grace the Author and God of Grace yet such as these have now their hearts broken and in some measure prepared to be partakers thereof The Apostle speaks of the Gentiles Rom. 1. 29. That they were full of all unrighteousness there can hardly be added any thing to the largeness of the expression No sin worse for the kind more for the number greater for the measure for they had all unrighteousness all the kinds of evil and all degrees in the largest extent they were full and yet of such the Apostle professeth 1 Cor. 6. 9. when he had mentioned a heap of most loathsom and hideous abominations Know ye not that no unrighteous person shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate self-Polluters Extortioners Covetous persons shall ever enter into the Kingdom of God then verse 11. And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Some such as these were savingly brought home to God Yea when corruption becomes like an old cankered sore of long continuance and the sinner incorrigible under all the choycest means that have been used yet then the Lord works the Cure Isay 57. 18. I was angry with him for his evil lustings and he went on in the frowardness of his own heart ther is no help if the Disease grow worse for the dressing the Prophet adds I have seen his waies I will heal him and lead him and restore comforts to him and to those that mourn with him as if he should say Ah poor Creature he cannot see himself nor me yet I see him and his way he wounds himself but I will heal him he deludes himself but I wil heal him sink he must in his own sorrow but I will succor him and supply to him Isay 48. 4. I know thou art obstinate and thy neck is an Iron sinew and thy brow is Brass and yet Verse 17. I am the Lord thy Redeemer that teach thee to profit and leadest thee by the way thou shouldest go The Lord bows an Iron sinew and makes it bendable unto his will The Lord makes snowy Saints of scarlet sinners scarlet we know is twice dyed in the Wool and in the Web and Cloth and therefore it is beyond all the skil and art of man to alter it Yet though our Sins be such bred in our Natures committed in our Lives and therefore beyond our reach 〈◊〉 and the power of all means and performances we can take up to remove them yet the Lord hath undertaken it and he will do it Isa. 1. 18. There is a Threefold Argument to settle this Truth Taken from the largeness of his Mercy which is as himself Infinite and therefore infinitely exceeds all our wants and can supply them all our weaknesses and infirmities and therefore can forgive them and remove them as he will as though they had never been Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and return unto the Lord for he will abundantly pardon and to our God for he will have mercy But the discouraged sinner might happily reply It is Mercy that I have abused and his pardons he hath tendered yet I in the time of my folly have trampled under my feet and therefore with what face could I beg mercy or upon what ground could I think ever to receive it He answers For my thoughts are not your thoughts nor your waies my waies for as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my thoughts than your thoughts there is no proportion no comparison the Earth is not of a valuable consideration to the Heavens but like a Centre in the Circumference it is as though it was not So here the thoughts of Gods Mercy to pardon thee is so far beyond the evil of thy waies and thoughts to condemn that they are as though they were not nay though thou couldest not beleeve it or think it yet the Lord could and would do it This is one of his names He keeps mercy for thousands Exod. 34. 7. he hath it in store for thousands and FORGIVES Iniquity Transgression and Sin that is all kinds and degrees of sin and he must be thus or else he were not God For did our sins exceed his mercies our weakness his strength were Satan more malicious to tempt 〈◊〉 and powerful to overcome 〈◊〉 than he was gracious to defend and Almighty to deliver then were he not God if any thing were

but when the Vessel is now carried into the main Ocean that it should then founder in the waves or be overwhelmed in the midst of the Sea they are wholly without sight of land or least hope of any relief there is no eye to 〈◊〉 them in their misery and therefore none to pitty them nor any hand to help them or any means within the ken of Providence for them to conceive they might expect deliverance So it is with this in Comparison of al other sins the unpardoable one excepted what ever other 〈◊〉 surprise the soul what ever the nature or number or haynousness be hightened with all circumstances that may attend as long as the soul can look out to the infinitness of Gods Mercy and free Grace the invaluable efficacy and vertue of the Merits of the Lord Christ his death and obedience a man is within sight of Land when the Ship is split he may swim to shore Look unto me all ye ends of the Earth and be ye saved saies the Lord Isa. 45. 22. there is yet hope in Israel touching this thing for it is a true saying and worthy of all acceptation That Christ came to save sinners whereof I am chief saies Paul 1 Tim. 1. 16. And as the Heaven is high above the Earth so are the thoughts of God above our thoughts Isa. 55. But this sin of despair sinks a mans heart and comforts as a stone flung into the midst of the Sea carries a man beyond the ken and compass of the boundless favor and compassions of the Lord. To go no further than the Doctrine delivered the malignity of this evil herein discovers it self as that which brings the greatest dishonor to God and irrecoverable danger to the soul. It 's deeply injurious and dishonorable to the Almighty it sins against more of God and tramples the riches of his Graces and tender Mercies under the feet of contempt and counts the Covenant of life and Salvation in the Gospel not only a common thing but a vain thing it 〈◊〉 Gods Truth and Faithfulness and his enlarged Favors into his face with scorn as unable to help and unworthy to be attended And when all the glorious Attributes and Excellencies of God have met together in contriving and accomplishing the Salvation of a sinner in despight of all the power of Hell and darkness this dasheth and blurreth all with the highest disdain and contumelious indignity that may be There was an infinite power wisdom and goodness put forth in making a World of nothing adorned and enriched with such beauty and goodness which each man may see in the frame thereof but in the plotting and performing the great Work of Redemption there was wisdom beyond all the wisdom in the Work of the Creation power beyond and above all that power God said let there be a World and it was so but saying will not serve the turn here it must be the sending of his own Son the death and suffering of Jesus Christ it must cost him his life before lost man could be restored to life again here was Mercy above all the former Bounty and Goodness that goodness then vouchsafed continued not with man nor he in it but this is everlasting mercy which doth not only put us into the possession of Grace and Glory but keeps us there in despight of all the power and policy of Devils all the treachery and weakness of our own hearts despair casts the Crown of all his Power and Wisdom Truth and Faithfulness down unto the dust and proclaims to all the world in our apprehension our weakness is beyond his power it cannot support us our folly too hard for his wisdom it cannot lead and enlighten our minds our misery and sins surpasseth the vertue of his mercy it cannot help and relieve us This is the reason why the Lord cannot endure the least appearance of these desperate pangs as deeply injurious to the Honor of his Name and that in the greatest Excellency Isa. 40. 27. Why saiest thou O Jacob and speakest thou O Israel my way is hid from the Lord and my Judgment is passed over of my God Let no more such words be heard the Lord cannot endure to hear you speak so or to have you think so you cast the most vile unsufferable indignity upon the Lord that may be You drooping discouraged hearts you think it is the loathsomness of your own sins the vileness and unworthiness of your own persons that you look at in all those dreadful complaints you make Is there water enough in the Sea to clense this sink of hellish rebellions in this wretched Nature Can such loathsom abominations of so deep a dye of so long continuance committed against so much Light Grace committed against knowledg and Conscience against patience and goodness and that multiplied from day to day Can these be pardones Mercy should be accessary to its own dishonor if it should shew mercy to such a wretch which hath so abused it Know assuredly you speak against the Lord al this while while you would seem to speak against your own wretched distempers so the Psalmist Psal. 78. 19. Yea they not only sinned more and provoked God as in the former verses but they spake against God saying Can God prepare a Table in the Wilderness You blaspheme and speak against his Power which is not able to work it against his Wisdom which cannot contrive it against his Mercy which is not willing or not able to succor you It was the greatest sin that ever Cain committed when he said his sin was greater than could be forgiven Gen. 4. Then thy heart is more sinful than God can be merciful Satan more able to damn thee than God is able to save thee then God is no God and Christ is no Christ and the Spirit no Comforter yea this is to make the Devil which is the worst of all Creatures and Sin which is no Creature but weakness and worse than the Devil himself to be above God and the Lord Jesus and the blessed Spirit of Grace worse than which blasphemy Hell it self can hardly afford any Hear therefore and fear and for ever abhor that such thoughts should once come into your minds such words proceed out of your mouths As it 's dishonorable to God so it 's dangerous yea deadly to the soul It not only crosseth a mans present comfort darkens our evidence sence and assurance of Gods Favor but utterly cuts off all possibility from the soul for ever expecting the least drop of refreshing or smile of Gods Face For hope in the Heart is the last sprong or sucker in the root of the Tree whereby it lives and stands Though the soul see nothing feel nothing have nothing yet Hope saies 〈◊〉 may be otherwise this proud heart may be abased this sturdy heart may he forced to stoop this unbeleeving heart though it hath had and abused and slighted and been unprofitable under so many means and after so

many prayers promises resolutions continues still yet it may be otherwise saies Hope this holds up the head from sinking the heart from failing But despair takes away this you have tried used the means expected help but you see it comes to nothing nay there is no hope it will ever be set your heart at rest it will never be This stops all the passages that there is no hope for any good or comfort to accrue to the soul. This is the Instrument of death whereby the Enemy at once makes an end of the very life of our comfort The hope of Salvation is made the Helmet of a Christian so the Apostle 1 Thes. 5. 8. Put on the Breast-plate of Faith and Love and for an Helmet the Hope of Salvation Well-grounded evidence and assurance of Gods Love in Christ is as it were the head and the highest top of a Christians comfort hope is the Helmet for when our sence and feeling experiences and performances yea our hearts fail in regard of any present sweet or refreshing we have yet hope saies it may be it will be better hereafter and this holds the aking head of a Christian The Devil who ever fights at the head labors to shake our assurance and comfort and if he can dash a mans hopes by despair he kils him dead in the head there is no help nor recovery to be looked for know this and be wary and wise for after times 2. As it dams up the way and stops the passage that there is no possibility of any good to come so it deads all a mans endeavors takes off the edg of a mans abilities puts all out of joynt and off the hooks that there is no striving after a good when there is no hope to attain it All men that are carried by counsel if not fools or mad-men they ever have an end in their eye at which they look and for which they labor this is the white they shoot at the price they run for for this they devise and contrive means and use what they have attained improve what they take in hand in hope the end they have attended may be brought about Now where there is no hope which 〈◊〉 casts off there is no good to be expected therefore no possibility to attain our end therefore no reason to attend our labor in that behalf Why should I se k saies the despairing man when I have no hope to find Why should I spend my labor in praying hearing reading improving any Ordinance when there is no possibility I should speed that ever God should help or hear or bless as good sit still as rise and fall So Cain when he had laid that desperate conclusion My sin is greater than can be forgiven he flies into the Land of Nod drowns himself in sensual delights but forsakes the Lord. The Hope of Good is the Load-stone of a mans labor it carries on our course with speed and resolution So they in Jonah 3. 9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not Therefore do these two things Let not Satan make conclusions from our weaknesses nor do thou listen to them nor beleeve them if he should make them We should be wary not to suffer our selves to be deluded by his false collections Thy Conscience saies thy corruptions are strong and many and of long continuance therefore there is no hopes saies Satan Temptations are violent and subtil saies thy experience thou feelest them so therefore there is no expectation of relief or abatement saies Satan the inference is unreasonable and grosly false the sins of Manassah Paul these Converts in the Text were such and yet such received the work of Grace and Mercy also therefore listen not to him who is the father of lyes Look not to the power of means we do enjoy the abilities we have the performances we take up for we shall find them all broken staves and bruised 〈◊〉 they will not only break under us but pierce us 〈◊〉 they will fail us and our hearts also there is no sufficiency for our succors and therefore no sound ground of Hope But we should keep our eye constantly and continually upon the sufficiency of Gods saving health and incomprehensible power Who is able to do abundantly above all that we can ask or think Eph. 3. 20. Do you not see saies the Enemy the means do not work your prayers do not profit the abilities you have and the endeavors you take up serve rather to encrease your sin than to help you they nor you are able to subdue the least sin to gain the least assurance not able to procure the least peace True be it so Yet God is able Thus our Savior to his Disciples dismayed with the difficulty of the work Lord say they who then can be saved he answers With man it is impossible but not with God for with God all things are possible Matth. 19. 26. It 's not possible saies Satan so many waies have been tryed so many means used and yet all is in vain Ay but saies Christ though with man and means it is impossible yet with God it is possible Psal. 73. 26. My 〈◊〉 fails and my heart fails but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever So much for that Point We are come now to enquire the Particulars expressed in the Description and here also presented to our view And first touching the sight of sin whereby the sinner is made rightly apprehensive of his own corruption and his condition by reason thereof The Point thence is this There must be a true sight of sin before the heart can be truly broken for it A right apprehension goes before through Contrition The Judgment must be rightly enlightened to see the nature of our sins before the heart can be pierced with that sence and sorrow that is meet This is Gods way which he takes in whose hand it is only to do this work Job 36. 8. to 11. When sinners come to be bound in fetters and holden in cords of affliction then he sheweth them their work and their transgressions wherein they have exceeded and then bows their ear to Discipline and commands them to turn from iniquity So repenting Ephraim prosesseth it was the course the Lord took with him After I was instructed I repented Jer. 31. 19. That which the eye sees not the heart rues not that which is not apprehended by the understanding is not affected by the will so in 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. when 〈◊〉 word comes home in power and plainness so that the thoughts of his heart come to be discovered he falls down and saies God is in you of a Truth The want of this was the reason why the Woman of Samaria manifested such sawcy impudency and peremptory boldness in her conference with our Savior though she could not be ignorant that those abominable loose haunts of hers would call to

Psal. 19. 7. the law of God makes wise the simple 2. Tim. 3. 15. it's able to make us wise unto Salvation 3 There 's a Sufficiency of God to content and satisfy us Blessed are they who walk in his wayes and blessed are they that keep his Testimonies Psal. 119. 1. 2. Great prosperity have they that love the law and nothing shal offend them ver 16. and in truth there can be no greater reward for doing wel than to be enabled to do well he that hath attayned his last end he cannot go further he cannot be better Now by sin we justle the law out of its place and the Lord out of his Glorious Soveraignty pluck the Crown from his head and the Seepter out of his hand and we say and profess by our practice there is not authority and power there to govern nor wisdom to guide nor good to content me but I wil be swayed by mine own wil and led by mine own deluded reason and satisfied with my own lusts This is the guise of every graceless heart in the commission of sin so Pharaoh who is the Lord I know not the Lord nor will I lett Israel go Exod. 5. 2. in the time of their prosperity see how the Jews turn their backs and shake off the authority of the Lord we are Lords say 〈◊〉 we will come no more at thee Jer. 2. 31. and our tongues are our own who shal be Lords 〈◊〉 us Psal. 12. 4. So for the wisdom of the world see how they set light by it as not worth the looking after it Jer. 18. 12. we wil walk after our own devices we wil every one do the imagination of his own evil heart yea they sett up their own traditions their own Idols and delusions and Lord it over the law making the command of God of none effect Math. 15. 8. 9. So for the goodness of the word Job 22. 17. Mal. 3. 14. It is in vayn to serve God and what profit is there that we have kept his ordinances yea his Commandemnts are ever grievous It s a grievous thing to the loose person he cannot have his pleasures but he must have his guilt and gall with them It s grievous to the worlding that he cannot lay hold on the world by unjust means but Conscience layes hold upon him as breaking the law Thou that knowest and keepest thy pride and stubbornness and thy distempers know assuredly thou dost justle God out of the Throne of his glorious Soveraignty and thou dost profess Not Gods wil but thine own which is above his shall rule thee thy 〈◊〉 reason and the folly of thy mind is above the wisdome of the Lord and that shal guide thee to please thine own stubborn crooked pervers spirit is a greater good than to please God and enjoy happines for this more Contents thee That when thou considerest but thy Course dost thou not wonder that the great and Terrible God doth not pash such a poor insolent worm to pouder and send thee packing to the pitt every moment 2 It smites at the Essence of the Almighty and the desire of the sinner is not only that God should not be supream but that indeed he should not be at all and therefore it would destroy the being of Jehovah Psal. 81. 15. sinners are called the haters of the Lord. John 15. 24. they hated both me and my Father Now he that hates endeavours if it be possible the annihilation of the thing hated and its most certain were it in their power they would pluck God out of Heaven the light of his truth out of their Consciences and the law out of the Societies and Assemblies where they live that they might have elbow room to live as they list Nay what ever they hate most and intend and plott more evil against in al the world they hate God most of all and intend more evil against him than against all their 〈◊〉 besides because they hate all for his sake therefore wicked men are said to destroy the law Psal. 126. 119. the Adulterer loaths that law that condemns uncleaness the Earthworm would destrow that law that forbids Covetousness they are sayd to hate the light John 3. 21. to hate the Saints and Servants of the Lord John 15. 18. the world hates you he that hates the Lanthorn for the lights sake he hates the light much more he that hates the faithful because of the Image of God and the Grace that appears there he hates the God of all Grace and Holiness most of all so God to Zenacharib Isa. 37. 28. I know thy going out and thy Comming in and thy rage against me Oh it would be their content if there was no God in the world to govern them no law to curbe them no justice to punish no truth to trouble them Learn therfore to see how far your rebellions reach It is not arguments you gainsay not 〈◊〉 Counsel of a Minister you reject the command of a 〈◊〉 ye oppose evidence of rule or reason ye 〈◊〉 but be it known to you you fly in the very face of the Almighty and it is not the Gospel of Grace ye would have destroyed but the spirit of Grace the author of Grace the Lord Jesus the God of all Grace that ye hate It crosseth the whol course of Providence perverts the work of the Creature and defaceth the beautiful frame and that sweet correspondence and orderly usefulness the Lord first implanted in the order of things The Heavens deny their influence the Earth her strength the Corn her nourishment thank sin for that Weeds come instead of herbs Cockle and Darnel instead of Wheat thank sin for that Rom. 8. 22. The whol Creature or Creation grones under vanity either cannot do what it would or else misseth of that good and end it intended breeds nothing but vanity brings forth nothing but vexation It crooks all things so as that none can straiten them makes so many wants that none can supply them Eccles. 1. 15. This makes crooked Servants in a family no 〈◊〉 can rule them 〈◊〉 inhabitants in towns crooked members in Congregations ther 's no ordering nor joynting of them in that comly accord and mutual subjection know they said the adversary sin hath done all this Man was the mean betwixt God and the Creature to convey all good with all the constancy of it and therefore when Man breaks Heaven and Earth breaks all asunder the Conduit being cracked and displaced there can be no conveyance from the Fountain In regard of our selves see we and consider nakedly the nature of sin in Four particulars It s that which makes a separation between God and the soul breaks that Union and Communion with God for 〈◊〉 we were made and in the enjoyment of which we should be blessed and happie Isai. 59. 1. 2. Gods ear is not heavy that it cannot hear nor his hand that it cannot help but your iniquities have separated betwixt God and

you your sins have hid his face that he wil not hear for he professeth Psal. 5. 4. that he is a God that wills not wickedness neither shal iniquity dwell with him Into the new Jerusalem shal no unclean thing enter but without shal be doggs Rev. 21. 27. The Dogs to their Kennel and Hogs to their Sty and Mire but if an impenitent wretch should come into Heaven the Lord would go out of Heaven Iniquity shall not dwell with sin That then that deprives me of my greatest good for which I came into the world and for which I live and labor in the world and without which I had better never to have been born nay that which deprives me of an universal good a good that hath all good in it that must needs be an evil but have all evil in it but so doth sin deprive me of God as the Object of my will and that wills all good and therefore it must bring in Truth all evil with it Shame takes away my Honor Poverty my Wealth Persecution my Peace Prison my Liberty Death my Life yet a man may still be a happy man lose his Life and live eternally But sin takes away my God and with him all good goes Prosperity without God will be my poyson Honor without him my bane nay the word without God hardens me my endeavor without him profits nothing at all for my good A Natural man hath no God in any thing and therefore hath no good It brings an incapability in regard of my self to receive good and an impossibility in regard of God himself to work my spiritual good while my sin Continues and I Continue impenitent in it An incapability of a spiritual blessing Why trangress ye the Commandement of the Lord that ye cannot prosper do what ye can 2 Chron. 24. 20. And He that being often reproved hardens his heart shal be consumed suddenly and there is no remedy He that spils the Physick that should cure him the meat that should nourish him there is no remedy but he must needs dye so that the Commission of sin makes not only a separation from God but obstinate resistance and continuance in it maintains an infinit and everlasting distance between God and the soul So that so long as the sinful resistance of thy soul continues God cannot vouchsafe the Comforting and guiding presence of his grace because it 's cross to the Covenant of Grace he hath made which he will not deny and his Oath which he will not alter So that should the Lord save thee and thy Corruption carry thee and thy proud vnbeleeving heart to heaven he must nullify the Gospel Heb. 5. 9. He 's the Author of Salvation to them that 〈◊〉 him and forswear himself Heb. 3. 18. He hath sworn unbeleevers shall not enter into his rest he must cease to be just and holy and so to be God As Saul said to Jonathan concerning David 1 Sam. 20. 30 31. So long as the Son of Jesse lives thou shalt not be established nor thy Kingdom So do thou plead against thy self and with thy own soul So long as these rebellious distempers continue Grace and Peace and the Kingdom of Christ can never be established in thy heart For this obstinate resistance differs nothing from the plagues of the state of the damned when they come to the highest measure but that it is not yet total and final there being some kind of abatement of the measure of it and stoppage of the power of it Imagine thou sawest the Lord Jesus coming in the clouds and heardest the last trump blow Arise ye dead and come to judgment Imagine thou sawest the Judg of all the World sitting upon the Throne thousands of Angels before him and ten thousands ministring unto him the Sheep standing on his right hand and the Goats at the left Suppose thou heardest that dreadful Sentence and final Doom pass from the Lord of Life whose Word made Heaven and Earth and will shake both Depart from me ye cursed How would thy heart shake and sink and die within thee in the thought thereof wert thou really perswaded it was thy portion Know that by thy dayly continuance in sin thou dost to the utmost of thy power execute that Sentence upon thy soul It 's thy life thy labor the desire of thy heart and thy dayly practice to depart away from the God of all Grace and Peace and turn the Tomb-stone of everlasting destruction upon thine own soul. It 's the Cause which brings all other evils of punishment into the World and without this they are not evil but so far as sin is in them The sting of a trouble the poyson and malignity of a punishment and affliction the evil of the evil of any judgment it is the sin that brings it or attends it Jer. 2. 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy back slidings shall réprove thee know therefore that it is an evil and bitter thing that 〈◊〉 hast forsaken the Lord. Jer. 4. 18. Thy waies and doings have procured these things unto thee 〈◊〉 it is bitter and reacheth unto the heart Take miseries and crosses without sin they are like to be without a sting the Serpent without poyson ye may take them and make Medicines of them So Paul 1 Cor. 15. 55. he plaies with death it self sports with the 〈◊〉 Oh death where is thy sting Oh Grave where is thy Victory the sting of death is sin All the harmful annoyance in sorrows and punishments further than either they come from sin or else tend to it they are rather improvements of what we have than parting with any thing we do enjoy we rather lay out our conveniences than seem to lose them yea they encrease our Crown and do not diminish our Comfort Blessed 〈◊〉 ye when men revile you and persecute you and speak all manner of evil of you for my sake for great is your reward in Heaven Matth. 5. 11. There is a blessing in persecutions and reproaches when they be not mingled with the deserts of our sins yea our momentary short affliction for a good cause and a good Conscience works an excessive exceeding weight of Glory If then sin brings all evils and makes all evils indeed to us then is it worse than all those evils It brings a Curse upon all our Comforts blasts all our blessings the best of all our endeavors the use of all the choycest of all Gods Ordinances it 's so evil and vile that it makes the use of all good things and all the most glorious both Ordinances and Improvements evil to us Hag. 2. 13. 14. When the Question was made to the Priest If one that is unclean by a dead Body touch any of the holy things shall it be unclean And he answered Yea. So is this People and so is this Nation before me saith the Lord and so is every work of their hands and that which they offer is unclean If any good

about This particular application wil be as a sudden flash of Lightning sliding through our minds which leaves all as dark as ever when once over therefore there must be a settling of this with an overpowring strength leaving it there enrolled that it may stand upon record in a mans Conscience The former arrests the sinner this latter layes hold upon him pinions him and imprisons him as it were until he have answered what the truth hath against him herein lyes the life and power of a conviction and if it be of the right stamp and carry indeed an overpowring virtu in it it will appear in three things It must be 1. Undeniable 2. Immoveable 3. Victorious and invincible Conviction must carry an undeniable evidence with it that as the truth hath layd and pleaded an action against the soul so the understanding may be forced to confess it and sits down satisfied under the uncontroulable authority thereof and of the truth therein The Scriptures are so pregnant reasons so plain arguments so strong that though before they did not see they could not think it or be brought to beleeve that their sins were so heinous or their condition so miserable yet they now know not how to gainsay it Thus 〈◊〉 when he stood upon the terms of his 〈◊〉 at several times when God had terrified him by the discovery of himself he then yeilds the day Job 7. 20. I have sinned what shal I do unto thee Oh thou preserver of men q. d. I have no reasons to alledge no excuses to make no arguments to plead I 〈◊〉 the action I have sinned Thus the Lord took down the height of of the Word that as it is said of Stephen they could not 〈◊〉 the Spirit by 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though the 〈◊〉 would gain say yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 18. 15. Nay but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Spirit follows the soul and 〈◊〉 and removes these Cavils and Objections that the sinner makes and still shews and saies nay but this is thy sin and 〈◊〉 will be thy damnation that the sinner is 〈◊〉 to yield and say this is the Truth I cannot 〈◊〉 it it is my condition I cannot deny it this is my sin and will be my 〈◊〉 I cannot but expect it It must be Immovable of such 〈◊〉 That as it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understanding to sit down under the evidence of the Truth as confessing of it so it keeps it under the sting and 〈◊〉 of it That as it is with the Bird in the Net the more she stirs to get out the faster she is taken So with the sinner the more he desires to fly from the 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 it the more strongly the Truth takes hold of him in the terror of it So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where he will do what he will go whether he will the Truth will go with him as a Jaylor with the Malefactor for the Truth is so 〈◊〉 when 〈◊〉 brings in the discovery of our sins at the first that it 〈◊〉 a man weary of each 〈◊〉 each condition 〈◊〉 and of his life that 〈◊〉 could wish not to be that he may not be under the terror of it And therefore though he cannot 〈◊〉 the Evidence of it yet he would 〈◊〉 some 〈◊〉 and shifts that may be to take off the 〈◊〉 of the dreadfulness of it or make an escape from under the stroak and strength of it but all in vain for the Conviction is immovable no man can take it off if God set it 〈◊〉 All the Carnal Reasonings corrupt Pleas sinful Cavils whereby men would put by the blow they do all vanish before this Light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the Sun The more he opposeth it the more he is under guilt and so the strength of the convicting Truth his sins way-lay him in every place he sees his sins dished out before him on the Table where he eats lie down with him in the Bed where he rests when he dreams they terrifie him when he awakes they are as so many Sergeants to arrest him summon him to Judgment they are imprinted in the paths where he walks and where ever he goes he sees his sins going before him and he going to Hell with them Such an immovable discovery the Lord set upon the heart of Job when he let in the light of himself that he sits down in silence and hath not one word to say no way to wave it or to slip aside from under the evidence of it Job 40. 4 5. Once have I spoken but I will say no more yea twice but I will go no further While his friends were talking with him their Arguments were so feeble that he could find a way out and could free himself from the stroak and deliver himself from the dint of the blow but now the conviction besieged him with such evidence that no carnal reason could relieve him stops all passages that there is not a muse or crevis for him to creep out therefore he sits down in silence sees he cannot ease himself nor wind away by any pretences and wiles he can devise It is so with a corrupt heart beleaguer'd with the light so that if his carnal friends or ignorant neighbors his loose companions would strive to take off his thoughts alter his apprehensions and abate the edg of the blow and 〈◊〉 to put in bail for him his state is not so miserable and helpless nor his sins so vile quiet your heart there is mercy with God and satisfaction in the merits of Christ. He replies I have often cozened my self with such devices miserable comforters are ye all I have thought as you do and said that which you speak in former times but alas these shifts will not serve the turn Christ came not to comfort sinners but to convert them also to humble sinners as well as redeem them he came to save sinners but to destroy their sins first I never found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I must not expect the other nor you neither This is to 〈◊〉 the thoughts to bring them under 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Authority of the Truth that they may not once hush or 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 10. 5. And this is that spirit of 〈◊〉 the Apostle speaks of Rom. 8. 15. It makes us 〈◊〉 of our slavery and binds a man hand and foot as it were fenceth his way with fears besets his passage on every side with expectation of evil which he cannot tell how to bear or how to avoid he sees he can procure no 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 to himself and fears he shall never obtain none from the Lord dares not commit sin as formerly yet cannot tell how to be freed from it So that as Reuben somtimes in another case so the sinner in this and I whither shall I go Gen. 37. 30. evils appear from every quarter which way soever he looks if to Heaven there is Justice to punish if to Hell there are Devils to torment into himself there is Conscience to accuse on Earth

with a fals-harted 〈◊〉 as it did with the wife of Jeroboam when she came to enquire of her sick Child all the while she had received no certain evidence whether it would 〈◊〉 or live her heart was 〈◊〉 and comforted in her present hopes But when Abijah the Prophet related the message of the Lord Come in thou wife of Jeroboam why fainest thou thy self to be another behold I am sent to thee with heavy 〈◊〉 the Lord 〈◊〉 bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam and wil cut off him that is left get thee home to thy house and assoon as thy feet enter into thy house the Child shal dy this sunk her hopes so fares it with a fals-harted ignorant sinner he may be quieted with the persent appresion of his good condition when he hath no evidence to the contrary But when the Lord sets up an overpouring conviction in the mind which may give in 〈◊〉 and infallible witness of its 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 estate 〈◊〉 thou fals-hearted hypocrite why 〈◊〉 thou thy self to be another and befoolest thy self with vayn hopes behold here is heavy tidings sent unto thee from the Lord of hosts thou art yet in the gal of bitterness in the bond of iniquity and if thou diest so thou 〈◊〉 certainly 〈◊〉 from the presence of the Lord for ever This fastening the truth upon the conscience comes home and forceth the heart to feel and to be affected therewith Ignorance frustrates wholly the end of all the means we use and the endeavours we take up for reformation of the evills of our hearts and lives For. 1. First it misleads all our endeavors that they succeed not it misleads our whol course and our proceedings against our sins and out of mistakes presents our corruption as appearing sweet through our misguided apprehension and causes us to oppose our Saviour Christ and his truth that would subdue them This Paul professed to be the ground of his 〈◊〉 carriage when he should have persecuted the enemies of the Church he 〈◊〉 the Church and that out of 〈◊〉 Phil. 3. 6 concerning zeal I persecuted the Church so far from finding his sin bitter to him 〈◊〉 having his heart broken from it as that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the practice of it with the greatest expression of zeal as that which deserved the best of his endeavour and wherein he might spend the best of his pains and that you may see how ready we are in the dark to put up Snakes in our bosoms instead of sweet 〈◊〉 He nakedly and ingeniously confessed whither his 〈◊〉 led I did verily think in my self I should do many things against the Name of Jesus Acts. 26. He that conceived it as a matter of duty to do such things his heart upon such grounds under such delusions would never be carryed against these Ignorance wil make a man swallow the worst 〈◊〉 any change 1 John 16. 2. the time will come that they who shall kill you will think they do God good service that which keeps the soul insensible of the bitterness of sin and from feeling of the weight of sin that will also keep it from being weary of it and willing to part with it It 's a popish practice and a principle of the power of darkness Ignorance is the Mother of devotion when men cannot tell how to lead themselves or see their own way you may lead them 〈◊〉 way you wil and if once Satan can keep a man from the sight of his sin he wil keep him sure under the command of sin and drive him to do his drudgery and that with delight and resolution when the Phylistians had put out Sampsons eyes they led him whither they would and made him do what they would Paul in his ignorance strikes a Friend instead of an Enemy and strikes he neither knowes nor 〈◊〉 who Acts. 9 who art thou Lrod 2 As thus ignorance misleads a mans whol course that it succeds not so it perverts the power of all means that they profit not misapplies al the means he hath and so spoyles them and his own peace and comfort also insomuch that his corruptions grow more strong and incorporated into him and he more unwilling to part with them and that 's the fruit of ignorance the promises and comforts of the Gospel which do not appertain to him he catcheth greedily at them as a portion provided for 〈◊〉 and goes away with that dream and swels unmeasurably 〈◊〉 presumption and self-confidence Are not al the Congregation holy what needs this severing and differencing of men what are 〈◊〉 who would be the only Saints are not we al sinners and Christ dyed for such and for us as wel as for them the threatnings and curses which the Lord denounceth against the ungodly 〈◊〉 cast them away with a fearless contempt as such as do in no wise touch them or concern 〈◊〉 particulars and therefore should not trouble them tush say they we have made a league with death and a covenant with Hell and when the destroying scourge passeth over it shal not come near to them Isay. 28. 15. yea they do commit evil and yet say they are delivered by the Lord Jer. 7. Thus they grow 〈◊〉 and hard hearted the wholsom counsels and directions of the word which should be light unto their feet and a discovery of al their failings they slight the exact attendance thereunto as that which God wil not exact at their hands because in many things we sin al and so become careless or negligent as though they should not answer and the Lord would not exact what they cannot do It s with an ignorant sinner in the midst of all means as with a sick man remaining in an Apothecaries shop ful of choycest 〈◊〉 in the darkest night though there be the choycest af all receipts at hand and he may take what he needs yet because he cannot see what he takes and how to use them he may kill himself or encrease his distempers but never cure any disease so here with an ignorant person he enjoyes al means and yet abuses them he may encrease his corruptions but not reform them his heart grows more hard and his corruptions more strong but he cannot in reason expect any help Hence we learn by way of Instruction An ignorant 〈◊〉 is a naughty heart whether out of blindness they do not or out of prophaness they wil not understand and look into their estates He that never saw his sin aright he never yet saw good day nor the least appearance of any saving work of Gods grace in his soul yea he is so far from attaining such a condition that in truth he is not in the way to it We wil go no further than the consideration of the former truth and then let thy Conscience be judg in the case propounded Suppose then thou shouldest hear a distressed creature under the terror of his Conscience freely and ingeniously lay open his condition unto thee The day is yet

and understand with their heart and convert and be healed 〈◊〉 Instruction why men of the greatest ability for depth of brain and strength of understanding are most hardly brought to brokennes of heart and to be wounded with Godly sorrow for their sins the ground is from the point in hand because they are hardest brought to see their sins the power of carnal reason doth so mightily prevayl in them being now in their natural condition the strength of their abilities becomes wholly perverted to their own hurt and the maintaining of their own distempers their subtilty deceives themselves they abuse the sharpness of their wit to beat back the authority of the 〈◊〉 and to wind away from the evidence of argument that is 〈◊〉 to their view They shut out the light of the truth from coming into their hearts and therefore it s not 〈◊〉 it should work upon them 〈◊〉 or effectually prevail with them for God Hence that peremptory 〈◊〉 of the Apostle not many wise men after the flesh 1. 〈◊〉 1. 26. because the wisdom of the 〈◊〉 is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. 〈◊〉 it is as a weapon in the hand and under the command of our fleshly hearts It fortifies most strongly against the evidence and essicacy of the truth wil not suffer a conviction to fasten upon the Conscience and therefore no Godly sorrow to affect the soul of a sinner As it is in war when the trenches and outworks are slight and the wal of the City low and the Castle weak it s no matter of danger or 〈◊〉 for a wise Commander with compitent forces to surprise it to carry the place and Conquer the people their defence was but feeble but were their out-works strong their walls high the Citadel and Castle impregnable it wil abide many assaults and stand out long even against the 〈◊〉 power that shal 〈◊〉 them and happily be forced to raise the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 place as not able to prevail It is so in our spiritual condition when the Lord coms to lay siege to the soul of a sinful creature who is now under the power of darkness and the soveraign command of his corruptions which rule as supream Lords over him There is no Conversion without Conviction as hath been shew'd in 〈◊〉 the point It s not possible the heart should be content to leave sin unless the understanding clearly see the loathsomness of it the out-works and walls of the soul are our apprehensions and understanding now where there is wiliness depth and subtilty of 〈◊〉 large reaches of carnal reason these the Apostle calls strong holds 2. Cor. 10. 4. and they wil abide the battery and force of the most plain evidences strongest arguments that can be devised and alleadged with the best skil and yet hold it out against all where the opposition is not so strong the entrance is more easy and subjection is sooner yielded to the evidence of the truth This is the ground the prophet gives of that invincible stiffness pride and contempt of Babilon as being unteachable under al dispensations Thy wisdom and thy knowledg they have perverted thee or caused thee to rebell Isa. 47. 10. It was the reason of that stubbornness of which the Lord complains in the Scribes and 〈◊〉 the great Rabbies of the world Luke 7. 30. 31. the Publicans and sinners 〈◊〉 God because of John Baptists doctrine and so yielded themselves and were overcome of the evidence of the truth but the Scribes and Pharisees rejected the counsel of God They put it by and would not suffer the counsel of God to take place or to prevail with them Paul never found worse entertainment and greater opposition than at Corinth and Athens the 〈◊〉 of sciences and Store-house of learning and learned men the excellency of whose parts and the conceit of 〈◊〉 and wisdom did so transport them and puffe up their earthly minds that they slighted the simplicity that was in Christ and trampled upon the meaness of the Gospel Acts. 17. 18. Phylosophers of the Epicure and Stoicks they encountred Paul and said what will this babler say and v. 〈◊〉 some mocked As though the 〈◊〉 of the meaner sort though they had no heart to receive the Gospel yet they had no skil to resist or were able and 〈◊〉 durst not grapple with his arguments These only who had more learning they gave the encounter and openly contemned both his purpose and doctrine As it is with men who are but weak and unskilful at the weapon not able to 〈◊〉 a blow or put by a thrust it 's no hard matter to get within them but those who are 〈◊〉 of defence are dextrous and handy at their weapons there is little hope to hit them or to come within them So here men of meaner capacities and of shallow reach they yield more easily and are forced to let fal their weapons but such who are skilful are masters of defence can devise devices the subtilty of their own reason is 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 suggestions they wil latch allmost any blow and put by the plainest truth for the present push that there is no hope to come in to them And this also is the ground why your painted Formalists and subtil hypocrites who are grown cunning in the craft of profession for so they make it they are so hardly brought on to beleeve Publicans and sinners and Harlots shal goe before them And for this cause it is our Lord so marvailously distasts this condition Rev. 3. 17. I would thou wert either cold or hot Lukewarmnes is worse than prophanness not that fals shewes are worse than grosser evils when heart and life outside and inside are both ill but intruth because such are more difficult to be convinced of their evils and therefore not likely to be amended or brought out of them q. d. As though the Lord had sayed if thou wert openly naught thou mightest be brought to see acknowledg thy naught iness Here Paul issues the strength of that resistance against the Lord and his Gospel 1. Coloss. 21. Enemies in your minds by wicked works but in the original Enemies by reason of your discourses set or attent to evil works It 's the first step to wisdom to become a fool and that 's hard to him that is highly in love with his own wit Examination we may hence gain certain evidence whether ever the Lord 〈◊〉 made any entrance upon this great work of preparation and so any expression of his purpose 〈◊〉 to call us to himself to this day or no. happily the Lord Christ hath been knocking oft at thy dore as he passeth by in the dispensation of his Ordinances in the wayes of his providence in which he hath walked towards thee hath called in upon thy Conscience presented the guilt of thy sins and layd heavy things to thy charge and knocked hard at thy dore awake thou that sleepest so that thou hast heard a confused noyse as it were

with him Thus Elimas the Sorcerer Acts 13. 10. when Paul and Barnabas had preached and he labored to turn away the Deputy from the Faith Paul thus speaks to him O full of all subtilty he had a slight of hand to any wickedness why dost thou crook the strait waies of the Lord. He cast in many cavils put in many suspicions and pretences that he might not look at the simplicity of the Truth delivered The word there used in the Original implies a sleight of hand as we cal it when such wily spirits can turn themselves into al shapes to 〈◊〉 by the evidence of the Truth so many windings and turnings so many wimblings of devices so many outs and doubtings that may bemist the manifest discovery of a Duty which ought to be done or a sin that ought to be avoided and so in conclusion loseth the Truth and the benefit of it also through Gods just Judgment and their own just deservings So the Scribes dealt touching our Savior when he had cured the Eyes of the blind man John 9. they would have taken him off from the attendance to the work to have slighted the person of our Savior We know say they this man is a sinner c. as it 's said of a Fish called the Sepia when the Fisher-man comes to follow her she casts forth a kind of black humor with which she 〈◊〉 the water and puts him to a loss in his proceedings whereas an honest heart that is willing to be convinced he looks most at that where there is most light and most strength and is desirous to attend that which gives in greatest Evidence to overcome the heart So Ely spake to Samuel 1 Sam. 3. 17. bide nothing from me Job 6. 24. teach me and I wil hold my tongue he wil quietly hear al and attend that most which may carry the cause to his Conscience If yet the evidence of the truth be such that he cannot gainsay his mouth is stopped and his reasons are spent he hath nothing to oppose there is a third distemper which is as bad if not worse than the two former A restlesness of spirit to raise new brabbles and quarrels against the determination of the truth which formerly he could not resist When he is caught and held in the strength of Argument is taken captive and prisoner he would fain rescue himself with a restless jangling he sees more and can say more though no man else can see it nor he make good what he pretends He cannot answer yet wil not yield cannot maintain his 〈◊〉 yet wil not forsake them As Lawyers they 'l bring the cause about again and have a fresh hearing in this and that Court the reasons are the same and were answered before yet he brings them over again and just in the place where he was his arguments are at an end if his spirit were so but there is more in it he saies and he cannot see through it and yet cannot tell how to prove his own argument or answer anothers these spirits are like quicksilver which yet no man hath attained any skil to fix so the Rulers Elders and Scribes when they knew not how to dash the Glory of the Gospel and the powerful dispensation thereof mark how restlesly the venome of their spirits transported them against reason Acts. 4. 15. 16. 17. they communed amongst themselves saying what shal we do to these men for that indeed a notable 〈◊〉 hath been done by them is manifest to all men and we cannot deny it but let us straightly charge them that they speak no more in this name when in reason they should have inferred we cannot deny the Miracle and so not the truth let us not deny the liberty to speak so they in John 9. 24. when it was apparent Christ had cured the man wrought the Miracle and so gained honour in the heart of the man therefore they had fished up and down to weaken that and it would not do It appeared he was blind to his parents that Christ had cured him so himself affirmed then they come to this give God the praise we know this man is a sinner But what is that to the purpose or how know they that he answered whether he be a sinner or no I know not one thing I know wheras I was blind he hath opened my eyes and this was to the purpose Then said they what did he to thee how opened he thine eyes I have told you already c. they are upon the same hinges not stirred a haires breadth Here are no reasons but only wrestlings of stomack we are Moses Disciples but this fellow we know not whence he is If it be so that al these devises against the truth serve not his turn in the fourth place he sets himself against the truth he cares not for argument but he wil stand against the truth and then God in his just judgment leaves him 2 Thes. 2. 18. he gave them up to strong delusions that they might believe lyes that they might be damned because they received not but opposed the truth thus it was with Balaam Numb 24. 1 he went out not as formerly but resolved to Curse Israel whether God would or no and this is to hold down the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1. 18. I told you before that in Conviction when the heart is throughly Convicted it lies stil under the work of God but here the heart opposes the word of God Exo. 10. 28. saies Pharaoh to Moses get thee out of my sight the day thou seest my face thou shalt die Moses saies I wil see thy face no more but God sends to him and kills his first born and afterwards drownes himself It 's certain that if the truth followes a man home to his beloved sin if he be a dog he wil snarl against it and resolve to keep his sin Jer. 44. 16. 17. as the proud men there said as for the word of the Lord thou hast spoken to us we wil not hearken unto thee and if a man goes thus far he is very neer to the sin against the Holy Ghost and if ever God bring him home to himself it is by some strange judgments Exhortation to provoke the desires and quicken the endeavors of al that have heard or read the doctrin delivered opened to lay out their labour that unto the utmost of all their abilities never to give the Lord rest nor rest unto their own souls before they get this true sight of sin if ever they hope to see the work of Gods Grace in their hearts here in this world or to see the face of God in Glory in that other world that is to come Bretheren let not Satan deceive you nor suffer your selves so far to be deluded as to dream of another course or to devise a shorter cut to Grace and Glory for its certain if you do you wil fal short of your hopes and Comforts and all This

which he used in the contrivement of that evil and leaves not there until he come to the Root of al the wretchedness of his Nature that Original corruption in which he was born and bred Psal. 51. 5 6. Behold Lord I was warmed in wickedness and in sin did my mother conceive me but thou lovest Truth in the inward parts but I would have colored over my vile carriage and by false pretences I would have hidden the filthiness of my sins by sending for Uriah and sending him to his own house to have lien with his wife that so he might have fathered the sin without suspicion This was the guise and disposition of Eli 1 Sam. 3. 17. he enjoyns Samuel not to 〈◊〉 any thing from him of all the things that the Lord had spoken he would hear al and know the worst of al So it ought to be with every man that in earnest desires to know the evil of his sin If the Word discover Conscience accuse for any sin take the first notice and inkling cease not to make ful enquiry and see what wil become of it search unto the very bottom Labor to take all those cursed Cavils the wily shifts and devices which carnal Reason casts in to break the blow as it were and to defeat and put by the Authority of the Truth So that the edg and powerful Operation of an Ordinance is wholly blunted and hindred that it prevails not with the heart nor can the Judgment 〈◊〉 set down by Evidence of Argument and Reason which comes to be darkened by such Cavils and devices Here is then the great skil and ought to be the chief care of a Christian not to consult with flesh and blood at least to cleer the Coast of al such Carnal Reasonings that the Evidence of the Truth may be entertained without gainsaying and attain his proper powerful effect upon the mind and heart These Cavils and Shifts are commonly referred to Three Heads 1 To lighten the evil of sin that it is not so hainous and dangerous a matter as Ministers seem to make it 2 If it were so dangerous yet the danger may easily be prevented 3 If it cannot be prevented yet it may be suffered without any such extream hazard as many fear and others would bear the world in hand To remove these out of the way that so the Work of Conviction may go on with more success we shal shortly speak to all of them in the Order propounded It 's incident to al men naturally to have a slight apprehension of their sin partly they do not know it partly they are loth to be troubled and disquieted with it and therefore out of their own ignorance and security they would easily perswade themselves it 's not so hainous and dangerous that so they may not fear so much to commit nor care so much to reform them when once they are fallen nor yet suffer themselves to be overborn with terror and discouragement though they continue in them This lessening of the hainousness and dangerousness of sin issues upon a four-fold Ground for the most part The commonness of sin makes men not start at the commission of it that which so many do and so ordinarily and happily such who are for their parts and places of no mean esteem they imagine and conclude they may safely do We are sinners say they and good now are not all so If it go ill with us then God be merciful to many We have our failings we are not alone we have many fellows who lives without them If we were so gross as such you had just reason to condemn us and we to condemn and loath our selves but being no other than the most are I hope there is no great matter in it I Answer in three things 1 The more common thy sin the more 〈◊〉 it is and the heavier thy Curse will be from the Lord. The more they be that oppose the Lord and his Truth the more need of thy help and the greater had been thy love to him and his cause now to stand by it and the greater thy falsness and unfaithfulness to forsake both and to joyn sides with the wicked See how unkindly he takes the suspicion and appearance to be carried away in a common defection 〈◊〉 6. 66. When many went back and walked no more with Jesus if commonness might have given encouragement the Disciples had warrant enough to have carried them in the stream yet see how il the Lord takes the least inclination or suspicion that way Wil ye also go away See how heavily the anger of the Lord breaks out against such Apostats Iudg. 5. 3. Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord yea curse ye Meroz bitterly because they went not out to help the Lord against the mighty When opposition grows sierce and the numbers grow to be many and the power mighty of such as become Adversaries to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who then becomes careless of the Lord and his Cause the Curse of God comes out against such in a peculiar manner he aims at them by name Curse ye such who go not out to help the Lord against the mighty pride the mighty stubbornness the mighty 〈◊〉 and unprofitableness and base Earthly-mindedness 〈◊〉 gets footing and grows common in the places and amongst such with whom we 〈◊〉 2 As it shews thy curse to be heavy so thy estate to be miserable and thy soul as yet destitute of any saving work of Gods Grace Thou art in the road and broad way to destruction and this is one evidence it 's the common track Broad is the gate wide is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that go in thereat Matth. 7. 13. It 's easie to find and as easie yet certain thou shalt perish in it It 's made a description of a Child of wrath and such who are dead in sins and trespasses Eph. 2. 2. Who walk according to the Course of this world according to the prince of the Aire who rules in the hearts of the Children of disobedience Dost thou walk in the common road according to the course of the world thou art in the kingdome of darkness and art ruled by the Prince of darkness and shall go to everlasting darkness Dead Fishes Swim down the stream Thou art a dead man if thou goest with the stream of the world Therefore the Apostle James gives it as an Evidence of true Religion and a man truly Religions James 1. 27. This is true Religion to keep a mans self unspotted of this present Evil world If a man say he be Religious and yet Refrain not his tongue the Religion of that man is vain If a man will lie and Rayl and Shift up and down because others do so truly the Religion of that man is vain and so his hopes and comforts will be The Commonness of this sin doth exceedingly aggravate it and make it out of measure sinful even of

a poysoning and spreading and infectious Nature it 's not consined within a mans own compas and conscience it 's not a sin in a mans self but there be many sins in this one it becomes the Cause of sin to many others Many are provoked and encouraged to the practice of the like Evils by thy practice Examples are of a constrayning Nature Peter dissembles and many are snatched 〈◊〉 by his example to do as he did Gal. 2 Many are strengthened and confirmed in their wickedness because they have thy example to warrant them they will certainly perish But their Blood will be required at thy hand thou wast the man that did lead them to an ungodly Course and didst harden them therein And the Name of God and his truth will be blasphemed amongst the Heathen for thy sake Rom. 2. 24. How can they but conclude that Religion allows such an ungodly Course which men dare So Commonly to commit and to Continue in without remorse or reformation The Second shift whereby our carnal hearts would keep off the Evidence of Conviction is this As the commonness seems to 〈◊〉 our corruption so the naturalness is made pretence to excuse it Here the plea is ready whereby men would challenge pity 〈◊〉 connivance as their debt It is my disposition or constitution I cannot mend it it is my Nature I cannot alter it Al flesh is frail God knows whereof we be made how feeble we be and he doth not expect perfection at our hands no man counts his coat the worse because there 〈◊〉 some moats in it or casts away his Gold because there is a flaw or mark in it It 's my natural infirmity and hath not each man his failings would you have us be Saints Saints Yea either Saints or Devils The Lord would have thee to be so This is the will of God even your sanctification 1 Thes. 4. 3. the Law would have thee to be so 1 Peter 1. 15. Be ye holy in all manner of Conversation thy Profession would have thee to be 〈◊〉 Let every one that cals upon the Name of the Lord depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. And he that hath this hope purgeth himself as he is pure 1 John 3. 5. That generally but to come a little neerer and to shew the vanity of this Shift I Answer First This excuse that would cover one sin discovers another and thy Plea doth give in undeniable evidence that all the means of Grace that ever thou hast enjoyed and God hath vouchsafed hath never wrought upon thee nor prevailed with thee for good to this very day nor hast thou received benefit or profit therefrom but al the pains that hath been taken with thee is like water spilt upon the ground For that 's the manner of the Lords proceeding with the soul of a sinner when he intends savingly and effectually to work upon him he changeth his Nature gives him another heart and as it was said of Saul in a like case 1 Sam. he makes him another man It 's the Prophesie of the power of the Gospel The Leopard becomes as a Lamb and the Lyon as a Kid Isai. 11. 6. the savage harsh and 〈◊〉 distempers which like a fretting Leprosie possessed the nature of sinners are taken away when the Lord comes to take possession of them or to prevail with them in the power of any Ordinance It 's the first step in the profession of the Gospel He that wil be Christs Disciple must deny himself he must be able to say as the blind man whom our Savior cured I was blind but now I see I was dead but now I am alive I was of a proud peevish wayward waspish contentious froward quarrelsom disposition could agree with no body nor with my self neither but since the Lord hath met with me and wrought upon me by his Word and Spirit I am not I I have another mind and another heart and another carriage and Conversation than formerly He that is in Christ and Christ in him he is a new Creature and hath a new Nature he strives most against that unto which he is most addicted by his own disposition he watcheth how to prevent that he fears al the day long lest he should be surprized with it fortifies most in the improvement of al means against that confesseth that with most sorrow and bitterness seeks with most care and diligence to obtain help from Heaven to subdue that and commonly gets the greatest ground against the same Hast thou then the same corrupt Nature Conclude thou mayest and write upon it thou never hast prayed aright heard aright thou hast never received a Sacrament aright unto this day thou hast never profited by any means thou hast enjoyed or duties thou hast performed to this day Thy Disease and distempers are desperate and likely never to be cured and thou recovered out of them when they come to be natural as it were and yield to no Remedy Jer. 13. 23. Can the Black-more change his skin and the Leopard his spots no more can they learn to do well who are accustomed to do evil There be some spots of filth which are cast upon our coats and flesh there is a sooty blackiness wherewith our garments and our skins are somtimes sullied withal by somthing from without which may be clensed and washed away with little labor in a short time but 〈◊〉 which grow out of Nature as Moles and Wens in the Body there is little hope that ever they should be altered as long as Nature it self continues It is so with distempers when some sudden occasions or temptations from without taints and pollutes the soul there is Hope in Israel that some Spiritual means like healing Medicines seasonably applied may help and recover But when men out of a corrupt inclination are customarily carried in the continuance of some distemper it 〈◊〉 like another Nature he may lose his life and soul but is like never to lose his lust that wil go to his Grave and so to Hell with him Job 20. 11 12. When wickedness is sweet in a mans mouth when he hides it under his tongue when he spares it and forsakes it not his bones are full of the sins of his youth they have been bred and brought up with him grown and continued and encreased dayly with them he would not leave them they wil not leave him they shal lie down in the dust with him rise with him to Judgment and go to Hell with him in the end Thy person comes most to be abhorred and loathed by the Almighty for which thou vainly conceivest thou mayest be pitied We pity a man that drinks poyson because it 's not his disposition to be so but the infection that befel him but the Spider and the Toad we abhor the sight and not endure to touch them because they are 〈◊〉 a poysonful Nature So it is with the Spiritual plague of thy Soul even the dearest of Gods

and therefore must bear al the evil that is a consequent of it The Debtor that hath borrowed a Sum of money at the day of payment if he shal return this Answer That the money he borrowed he hath drunk away whored or played it away so that having spent his Stock it 's now impossible he should satisfie his Creditor Doth he not deserve to be punished not only for his not payment but for his prodigality which brought that upon him The Eight Cavil whereby our carnal hearts would shift off the Authority and evidence of the Truth as that it shal not be able to set down the Conscience by an overpowring Conviction is That the sins themselves are SLIGHT of smal consequence not worthy any such serious consideration much less any trouble of heart that should drive a man to a stand and cause him to sit down in silence and sorrow as under just condemnation Alas they were but some sudden words and they were gone and past and if there were no worse I wis the world were at a good pass or they were but the present and inward 〈◊〉 of the heart and the flashy thoughts of my mind no body knew but my self neither did nor could they hurt any body but my self and are not thoughts free Or lastly were it a failing in practice it was but in a petty thing a very trifle not worth the while to spend time to take notice of it some windy words flashy and sudden thoughts petty failings and they are so far from troubling the heart as that they touch it not so far from sitting down convinced of the evil of these as might break the heart as that they see no weight nor just cause at al to burden it they go away as Sampson with the Gates of Gaza and felt them not We shal therefore take the Severals into special consideration and see what hainousness there is in these sins when they are weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary And we shal begin with Words and examine what is the weight of the evil that is in them and that wil appear in many Particulars Look at them in their own Nature absolutely thy words have such weight that they are able to sink thy soul into the bottomless pit and to pass sentence of life and death upon thee for so our Savior By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned Matth. 12. 37. This is one part of the Inditement upon which the Judgment is executed at the great day by our Savior When he shall come with ten thousand thousands Ministring unto him to execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds and of all their hard speeches which they have spoken against him Jude 14. 15. Those harsh Expressions the unkind language currish rugged and cutting Speeches whereby they would daunt and kil the hearts of the Saints the secret scorns and contempts and reproaches whereby they have tossed the names of the Saints in their Meetings Merriments and upon their Ale-benches happily there is no man besides thy mates that hears thee no witness can accuse thee no Judg that can pass Sentence The Lord Jesus he comes for this end and thou art the man and thy speeches are the matter of thy Inditement of these he wil convince thee and for these execute Judgment upon thee at that great day he wil make thee sit down in silence he wil stop that wicked mouth of thine thou shalt not have a word to speak for thy self then this is the Charge that the Lord puts in against such wretched Hypocrites who think to carry al things covertly and cunningly that no man may lay hold of them the Lord puls them out by the pole Psal. 50. 19. Thou givest thy mouth to evil and thy tongue frameth deceit It is his Trade his lips are the forge of fals-hood his mouth is as it were the mint of lying reproaches of back-biting he sits at it keeps his shop it 's the sale and ware that is vented upon al occasions when his Companions as his Chapmen come to buy So the Text Thou satest and spakest against thine own mothers son c. these things thou hast done the Lord keeps these words upon Record and sets them in order at the day of Judgment Oh consider this you do not now consider the Lord doth and he will tear you in pieces as you have torn the names of his Servants by your taunts and reproaches and in truth it 's no marvel for thy language and customary speech gives a tast of the temper of thy soul and spiritual condition and is a sad evidence of thy corrupt and graceless estate James 1. 16. If any seem to be Religious and bridleth not his tongue the Religion of that man is vain his language loose and froathy his words peevish and frampful froward and scornful the Religion of that man is not worth a rush his prayers are vain his hearing vain his profession he wil never do good with it never receive good or benefit from it As we say of Money the sound of it shews whether it 〈◊〉 pure or base true or counterfeit it sounds like Brass or Copper it 's certainly counterfeit it hath not the sound of silver or as we say of Bels the ring of them discovers whether they 〈◊〉 of base matter or of right 〈◊〉 so here a mans speech is the discoverer of a mans Spirit If his heart be the Inditer of a good matter the tongue will be as the pen of a ready Writer Psal. 45. 1. Those words that come from Grace in the speaker wil administer Grace to the hearers empty words do shew an empty heart Thou art one of those and thy speech bewraies thee said they to Peter A jeering and scoffing tongue is a note of an Ismaelite by that Ismael was discovered to be of the flesh Gal. 4. In a word as a stinking breath argues a corrupt Stomach and 〈◊〉 Lungs so it is with base and vain language it argues a corrupt and rotten heart As light therefore as thou conceivest these vain and windy words of thine thou wilt one day find the load of them so heavy that they wil be like a Mill-stone to sink thee down into irrecoverable 〈◊〉 so that thy life and death lies in thy words as little as thou makest of them Look at them with respect to OTHERS cast them into the Ballance of Comparison and Consideration with the evil of others and thereby the greatness of their evil wil more evidently appear I answer therfore in the second place The evil of thy words is in some regard I say in some regard worse than the evil of thy heart though that be the Store-house and Treasury of noysom distempers and the Ware-house which furnisheth a mans whol course yet corrupt language ads a deeper dye and makes those evils of the heart more loathsom As there

Diet that provokes to 〈◊〉 by the tast the harsh and unkind language that provokes to wrath and impatience by the Ear But the Mind and Understanding toucheth the Lord directly meets with his Rule and with God acting in the way of his Government there and when it goes off from the Rule as before and attends its own vanity and folly it justles with the Almighty stands in open defyance and resistance against him This also appeared in Adams sin our of the folly of his own deluded thoughts he would have unthroned the Almighty and hoped by Satans Counsels to set himself in the room of God Ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil Gen. 3. and he saw it to be good to get knowledg and so purchase a Deity to himself and so put it to tryal thus the wicked openly profess They say to the Almighty depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy waies Job 21. when they desire not to have the wisdom of God rule in their minds but set up their own foolish imaginations they say then to God depart from us they shake off the Authority of the Truth and with that the Soveraignty of the Lord himself and his Government Hence the Apostle Collos. 1. 21. They were Enemies and where lay that enmity in their minds in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their Discourse in the exercise of the largest act of their Understandings wherein the use of the whol faculty appears and this enmity appears in the fruit of it which wil undoubtedly follow namely evil works Hence Rom. 8. 7. the wisdom of the flesh is said to be enmity against God not an enemy to him that would somtimes cross and oppose him but Enmity the whol being and working of it is carried in constant opposition against the Law And upon 〈◊〉 ground it is when the Apostle Peter would shew Simon Magus the hainousness of his sin he staies not in the outward expression but cals him directly to consider the thoughts of his heart where that 〈◊〉 language was minted and from whence it proceeded When 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by laying on of the hands of the Apostles the holy Ghost was 〈◊〉 he perceived how he might get a booty and therefore he fel to bargain tries the Market what shal I give c. The Apostle carried with a zealous indignation against so vile a demand which cast so much contempt and contumely upon the holy Spirit and the gift thereof answers with a holy disdain and denounceth a Curse Thy money perish with thee q. d. thou art in a perishing condition and this money of thine which thou conceivest wil further thy proceedings wil perish also yet he ads a caution for his recovery Oh pray if it be possible that the thought of thy heart may be forgiven Acts 8. 22 23. q. d. Thy sin is so hainous so execrable so detestable it 's almost past al possibility of pardon it 's not in the tongue which uttered the word nor in the hand which offered the money nor yet so much in thine eye that saw the work done for all these met not so directly so immediately with the Lord. The words were propounded to the Apostles the money should have been payed to them but Oh it was the hellish villany of his mind and apprehension which did so basely esteem of the gifts of Gods Spirit as if they might be valued or purchased with money He did so conceive as if the holy Spirit of Grace should Lackey after his lusts and be at the beck and command of such a proud rebellious wretch as that it should be disposed and dispensed according to his will and humor This was in his mind and thought and this made it so hainous an evil that the Apostle put it to a may be if it be possible so that the hellish evil of our imaginations and cursed contrivements of our thoughts may put a man almost beyond possibility of pardon So in the sin against the holy Ghost it 's said our Savior saw their thoughts Mat. 12. ver 25. those gave in evidence of the direfulness and inconceivable hainousness of those contumelious speeches against our Savior when they said He casteth out Devils by Belzebub the Prince of Devils It is not said he heard their words though blasphemous but he saw their thoughts they issued out of their apprehensions their thoughts being calm and quiet it was not some base pang or passion but when they had no provocation their own thoughts carried them against the evidence of all Truth meerly out of the venom of their own hearts This was unpardonable blasphemy and in truth there is no Creature but a reasonable Creature that can close not with the Creature only but with God in his Rule that can sin nor is there any sin properly but where the mind and heart is an Ingredient in it So the ravished Maid though her body was abused yet her person was not charged as guilty of sin nor she polluted therewith because her judgment was not there assenting nor her heart yielding thereunto Look at thoughts in regard of al the other evils of our lives which are acted and appear in our dayly course we may thence come to take a guess at the greatness of the evil of our thoughts for it will appear they are the causes of all other evils and therefore it cannot but be concluded there is more and worse evil in them than in all the rest A mans imaginations are the forge of villany where it 's al framed the Ware-house of wickedness the Magazine of al mischief and iniquity whence the sinner is furnished to the commission of al evil in his ordinary course the Sea of abominations which overflows into al the Sences and they are polluted into all the parts of the body and they are defiled and carried aside with many noysom corruptions Matth. 15. 19. Out of the heart comes murders adulteries thefts there is the nest where al these noysom vermine are bred Matth. 12. 34. Out of the abundance of the heart the tongue speaks and the hand works If there be pride and snappishness in a mans speech stubbornness in a course 〈◊〉 in a mans Conversation there is abundance of al these and more than these within The Imagination of our mind is the great Wheel that carries al with it That loathsom and execrable wickedness worse than which the Sun never saw the Earth never bore that unpardonable siu excepted the killing of the Lord Jesus the Lord of Life the seed of it was a thought cast by 〈◊〉 into the heart of Judas John 13. 3. it was warmed with a covetous disposition and so brought forth that hideous treachery the 〈◊〉 of the Lord Jesus If 〈◊〉 be evil in the tongue that 〈◊〉 it is it not worse in the heart that indites it Wickedness in our actions and speeches are but the brats and brood of our minds and hearts there they were conceived and fashioned in al

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

Conscience and knows more than he can express or thou perceive in thy self However it is He had thee in his intendment in what he said If thou wert faulty to reform the evil if not faulty to forewarn thee For a faithful Minister should intend the good of all in al it 〈◊〉 and they should receive it If happily thou be freed from the outward practice of the evil yet thou hast the spawn of it in thy soul and that which wil provoke thee unto it and that corrupt part hath given approbation to the evil thou hast not set thy self so much against the evil and that hath made thee so far share in the evil and so justly subject to share in the reproof Thus the Apostle chargeth the Jew Rom. 2. 1. When the Jew would plead his Innocency from such evils of the Gentiles because he is ready to condemn and judg them in that behalf saies the Apostle Thou therefore that judgest another thou condemnest thy self for thou thy self dost the same things but it might have been replyed We do not we are not whisperers back-biters guilty of 〈◊〉 malice covetousness c. Interpreters answer that the Apostles meaning is Though they committed not such evils yet the corruption of their Nature suited with them and so shared in them and therefore justly liable to the like 〈◊〉 of the Law more or less He meant what he said and what his words meant If there be any evil in them bear witness of the evil John 18. 23. and it 's just a man should bear his blame Would'st thou fish more out of a mans meaning than thou canst find in his words I fear thou meanest to be a Caviller It 's a certain Argument of a captious and contentious disposition and commonly of a man that carries a galled Conscience that seeks waies and means to make a fault when he cannot find one It 's a word 〈◊〉 Exhortation 1. To Ministers 2. To People To Ministers what they should do To the People what they should desire To the Ministers They have a pattern here for their 〈◊〉 If we wil be faithful to our Places and the Work commended to our Care faithful to the souls of the People if we would further the Work of the Lord and the Word and see the fruit of our labors to the conviction and conversion of such as belong unto Gods Council This is Gods way in which we must walk if we purpose to find Gods blessing that others may reap the profit and we the comfort of our pains at the great Day of our Account we must by particular Application make men see their sins if ever we hope they shal see the Salvation of the Lord. How to stere our course in this so tickle a Channel and so tender a Work these following Directions will not be unseasonable First We must learn to bottom our Application upon the blessed Word of the Lord rightly apprehended and opened plainly by undeniable Evidence Then our Application wil come with uncontroulable power to the Conscience when it comes guarded with Authority and 〈◊〉 of the Truth and men cannot but give way to those Reproofs when they cannot gainsay the evidence of Gods mind and Counsel therein That however carnal hearts wil secretly be weary of them yet they wil not dare openly to oppose them because they perceive that they must oppose the Counsel of God plainly dispensed therein and in their own Conscience also Therefore I have ever judged it most seasonable if I would pursue a sinful course breaking out not by the by to pull it into a discourse but to take a Text on purpose wherein it is plainly condemned That the people may hear God in his Word speaking before we speak this is to shew our Commission before we do Execution and this wil stop mens mouths Never balk any thing that is in the Text never wrest any thing out of the Text that is not there for that savors too much of a mans own spirit or passion or private ends al which must be avoided as much as Hell If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God 1 Pet. 4. 11. not our fancies or passions or conceits but let Gods Oracles be heard only It 's lawful for a Minister so to cast the mould and carry the frame of his Application that the guilty parties may conceive it and their Consciences find and feel 〈◊〉 that they be the parties that the Lord points out and intends of purpose to 〈◊〉 and pursue Matth. 21. 41. 45. Thus our Savior laies out the corrupt carriages of the Scribes and Pharisees and paints them out so lively that they felt him and were forced to give in evidence of their own condemnation against themselves as in verse 41. They say he will miserably destroy those wicked men and verse 45. When the chief Priests heard this they perceived that he spake of them In case either some false Opinions are spreading or some corrupt and sinful practices are like to grow and leven and that speedily and dangerously It 's lawful in way of caution and prevention to discover mens sins and errors in their own words that others may avoyd them the better and they be ashamed of them the more Thus Peter discovers the faults and wretched behaviour of the Jewes to our saviour in their own words Acts. 3. 14. you denyed that holy and just one and desired a murderer to be granted to you Not him but Barabbas 1. Cor. 15. 22. How say some among you that there is no resurrection Nay it s lawful to name special persons in an evil if there may thereby be special warning given to others from falling So Paul to Timothy 2. Tim. 1. 15. of whom is Phygellus and Hermogenes it's Calvins 〈◊〉 upon the place they were more famous and therefore their Apostacy might be a means to draw others therefore he gives warning concerning them If any man say this is to shame men I answer their sins should be made shameful they should take shame for them that they may sorrow for them and forsake them Let our Application go so wel guarded and fensed against al exceptions and cavils that a sinner may not be able to rescue himself or make an escape by carnal reason As Acts. 6. 10. It 's said they were not able to resist the wisdome and the spirit by which he spake Math. 22. 34. our saviour Christ put the Sadducees to silence Let it be done with pity and tender compassion to mens souls though with zeal and indignation against their sins 2. Tim. 2. 24. 25. the servant of the Lord must be patient and gentle towards al in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves As a Chirurgeon may be most compassionate when he cutts most deep even to fetch up the core and therefore the Apostle adds both to Titus shew all meekness to all men and therefore to the Cretians and yet rebukes them sharply Titus 1.

13. He that is truly meek and pities the souls of men most he wil shew least pity to their sins all sharpness of rebuke and yet al meekness of spirit do wel accord The exhortation to the people is that as ever you desire to see your sins and have your hearts brought to sorrow for them you must desire it and delight in it that you may have the light brought home to your souls in way of particular applycation to your own sins there is no means so effectual as this therefore desire God that your ministers may take such paines that they may speak to your Consciences Take three considerations here Weigh sadly that when the Minister speaks in way of Applycation so as to discover thy sins he doth no more than he may nay no more than he should in point of Conscience his life lyes at stake if he should not deal plainly and faithfully and therefore know its unreasonable for thee to quarrel with the Minister or with that he speaks when he hath the word for his warrant in what he does Look at the good of the dispensation of an ordinace and overlook the 〈◊〉 of it As some would not see but drink of the Physick minding the wholsomness and bearing with the unpleasantness of it for the present As it 's wearisom to the Surgeon to be raking in the sore so it is to the Minister but it is for thy good and therfore though it be painful and cross to thy carnal affection yet thou shouldest take contentment in such a dispensation of the word as is such an effectual means of thy good When thou findest thy heart 〈◊〉 consider that an under quiet taking in sharp reproof it s a sound argument of the sincerity of thy heart and truth of thy love to God and his word When a man 〈◊〉 to be shaken in his Comforts and a sharp and keen reproof comes home to a man to force him to see and be humbled reform his evil wayes if he can 〈◊〉 receive and yield 〈◊〉 to such a reproofit's a sign his heart is sincere in the sight of God when he saies as they did Zach. 13. 6. these are the wounds I received in the house of my friends When they heard this We heard before that application and special discovery of our particular corruptions what force it had to break the heart We have here yet a Second means couched in the manner of the 〈◊〉 expressed in the Text. The word is read in the Participle and carries a kind of 〈◊〉 endeavor with it a 〈◊〉 of mind about that which was heard In hearing they heard it and when the Sermon was over they had received the message of the Lord delivered by the Apostle when they happily were departed yet that word departed not out of their Ears and hearts They heard it over again they mused upon it it stuck by them their thoughts recoiled afresh upon the consideration thereof it pressed heavy upon their hearts Conviction brings the sin Application laies it Meditation settles it upon the heart that it sinks under it as unsupportable Hence then the Doctrine is Through Meditation of sins applied is a special means to break the heart of a sinner As men that are stoned and pressed to death while the stones are few that are cast and the weight not great may be they are troubled and wounded in some measure but their bones are not broken nor yet their lives hazarded but while they stil continue flinging and adding to the number and weight their bones break and their lives fayl under the overbearing pressure that is put upon them A serious thought and right apprehension and application of a sin toucheth and troubleth the sinner but daily meditation flings in one terror after another and followes the soul with fresh consideration of yet more sin and yet more evil and that more hainious and yet more dangerous beyond al pprehension and imagination so that a sinner is stoned to death as it were and breaks under the burthen of it Thus the repenting Church Lam. 3. 19. 20. In remembring mine affliction the wormewood and the gall my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me in remembring I remembred they were daily musing and continually poring and that made them pierce in wardly look as it is in the body it is so in the soul meat minced if never 〈◊〉 and digested it never nourisheth A potion prepared and given if not retayned and kept in the stomack it never purgeth or worketh kindly for cure So here in the soul Applycation carves out a fit potion of truth to the sinner but Meditation is that which digests it and makes good blood of it Applycation compounds the potion a particular reproof which is keen in the working brings it home but meditation retaynes it that so it may work kindly put forth the 〈◊〉 powerful effect for the loosening of those loathsom lusts which are like noysom and corrupt humours which threaten the death and ruin of the soul. This is one thing which is undoubtedly implyed in that place by the consent of al interpreters that I know Psal. 77. 10. While the prophet was taking up his thoughts with attendance to his own distempers and sinful provocations and the Lords departure from him by reason of the same he sits down almost overwhelmed with the direful apprehension thereof I said this is my death but I wil remember the changes of the right hand of the most high this poring upon his own sins and 〈◊〉 was his death therefore he turns the tables and turns his thoughts another way and that was the cure of those discomforts even the remembrance of the former the former expressions of Gods favour and faithfulness it s also one part of the meaning of that text Psal. 40. 12. My sins have taken such hold of me that I cannot look up when we lay hold upon them by serious meditation then they lay hold upon us and when our minds attend not but slip aside from the serious consideration of them then they slip away from us For explication we shal 1 Shew what this meditation is 2 Apply the general Doctrine to the particular occasion and see how this helps forward this work Then 3 We shal make use For the first Meditation is a serious intention of the mind whereby wee come to search out the truth and settle it effectually upon the heart An intention of the mind when one puts forth the strength of their understanding about the work in hand takes it as an especial task whereabout the heart should be taken up and that which wil require the whol man and that to the bent of the best ability he hath so the word is used 〈◊〉 1. 8. thou shalt not suffer the word to depart out of thy mind but thou shalt meditate therein 〈◊〉 and night when either the word would depart away or our corruptions would drive it

condition that comes to be scanned Psal. 119. 59. I considered my waies and 〈◊〉 my feet unto thy testimonies 〈◊〉 turned them upside down looked through them as it were a present apprehension peeps in as it were through the crevis or key-hole looks in at the window as a man passeth by but Meditation lifts up the latch and goes into each room 〈◊〉 into every 〈◊〉 of the house and surveyes the composition and making of it with all the blemishes in it Look as the Searcher at the Sea-Port or Custom-house or Ships satisfies himself not to over-look carelesly in a 〈◊〉 view but unlocks every Chest romages every corner takes a light to discover the darkest passages So is it with Meditation it observes the woof and web of wickedness the ful frame of it the very utmost Selvage and out side of it takes into consideration all the secret conveyances cunning contrivements all bordering circumstances that attend the thing the consequences of it the nature of the causes that work it the 〈◊〉 occasions and provocations that lead to it together with the end and issue that in reason is like to come of it Dan. 12. 4. Many shall run to and fro and knowledg shall encrease Meditation goes upon discovery 〈◊〉 at every coast observes every creek maps out the dayly course of a mans conversation and disposition The second End of Meditation is It settles it effectually upon the heart It 's not the pashing of the water at a sudden push but the standing and soaking to the root that loosens the weeds and thorns that they may be plucked up easily 〈◊〉 not the laying of Oyl upon the benummed part but the chafing of it in that suppleth the Joynts and easeth the pain It is so in the 〈◊〉 Application laies the Oyl of the Word that is searching and savory Meditation chaseth it in that it may soften and humble the hard and 〈◊〉 heart Application is like the Conduit or Channel that brings the stream of the Truth upon the soul 〈◊〉 Meditation stops it as it were and makes it soak into the 〈◊〉 that so our corruptions may be plucked up kindly by the Roots This settling upon the heart appears in a three-fold work It affects the heart with the Truth attended and leaves an Impression upon the Spirit answerable to the Nature of the thing which is taken into Meditation 2 Pet. 2. 8. It 's said of Lot in seeing and hearing he vexed his righteous soul. Many saw and heard the hideous abominations and were not touched nor affected therewith No more had he been but that he vexed and troubled his own righteous soul because he was driven to a dayly consideration of them which cut him to the quick The word is observable it signifies to try by a touch-stone and to examine and then upon search to bring the soul upon the rack therefore the same word is used Matth. 14. 24. The Ship was tossed by the waves the consideration of the abominations of 〈◊〉 place raised a tempest of trouble in Lots righteous soul. This the wise man calls laying to the heart Eccles. 7. 1 2. It 's better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of laughter for this is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart When the Spectacle of Misery and Mortality is laid in the grave yet savory Meditation laies it to a mans heart and makes it real there in the work of it The Goldsmith observes that it is not the laying of the fire but the blowing of it that melts the Mettal So with Meditation it breaths upon any Truth that is applied and that makes it really sink and soak into the soul and this is the reason why in an ordinary and common course of Providence and Gods dealing with sinners leaving his own exceptions to his own good pleasure that the most men in the time and work of Conversion have that scorn cast upon them that they grow melancholly And it 's 〈◊〉 thus far in the course of ordinary appearance The Lord usually never works upon the soul by the Ministry of the Word to make it effectual but he drives the sinner to sad thoughts of heart and makes him keep an audit in his own soul by serious meditation and pondering of 〈◊〉 waies otherwise the Word neither affects throughly nor works kindly upon him It keeps the heart under the heat and authority of the Truth that it 's taken up withal by constant attendance of his thoughts Meditation keeps the 〈◊〉 under an arrest so that it cannot make an escape from the Evidence and Authority of the Truth so that there is no way but either to obey the Rule of it or else be condemned by it But escape it cannot Meditation meets 〈◊〉 stops al the evasions and sly pretences the fals-hearted person 〈◊〉 counterfeit If a man should deny his fault and himself guilty Meditation will evidence it beyond all gainsaying by many testimonies which Meditation wil easily cal to mind remember ye not in such and such a place upon such an occasion you gave way to your wicked heart to do thus and thus you know it and God knows it and I have recorded it If the 〈◊〉 would lessen his fault Meditation aggravates it or if he seem to slight it and look at it as a matter of no moment yet Meditation will make it appear there is greater evil in it and greater necessity to bestow his thoughts upon it than he is aware of Hence it is Meditation laies 〈◊〉 unto the soul and cuts off al carnal pretences that a wretched self-deceiving hypocrite would relieve himself by and stil lies at the soul this you did at that time in that place after that manner so that the soul is held fast prisoner and cannot make an escape but as David said Psal. 51. 3. My sins are ever before me Consideration keeps them within view and will not suffer them to go out of sight and thoughts and therefore it is Paul ioyns those two together 1 Tim. 3. 15. Meditate in these things and be in them It provokes a man by a kind of over-bearing power to the practice of that with which he is so affected A settled and serious Meditation of any thing is as the setting open of the Flood-gates which carries 〈◊〉 soul with a kind of force and violence to the performance of what he so bestows his mind upon as a mighty stream let out turns the mill Phil. 4. 9. Think of these things and do them thinking men are doing men Psal. 39. 3. While I was thus musing the fire brake out and I spake the busie stirring of Meditation is like the raising of a tempest in the heart that carries out all the actions of the man by an uncontroulable command I considered my waies and turned my feet unto thy Statutes right Consideration brings in a right Reformation with it The Nature of the Duty is thus opened let us apply it

now to the particular and give in the Reasons of the Truth why this Meditation brings in this Contrition and heart-breaking I might argue from the former Description that which makes a through search of our 〈◊〉 and settles them effectually upon the soul that is a fit means to break our hearts with them but thus meditation doth as it hath been formerly disputed therefore it is a fit means to break the heart But I shall add a double Argument briefly they both shal be taken from the special effects of Meditation which are marvelous pregnant to this purpose These come neerer to the Point in hand and apply the general Doctrine to this special occasion Meditation sharpens the sting and strength of corruption that it pierceth more prevailingly It draws out the venom the quintessence of the evil of a corruption and lets in that upon the heart and conscience of a sinner which stings and torments him in greatest extremity makes him see more in his distemper than ever he suspected makes him feel it far worse than ever he could have imagined it could have been As it is in the Art of Chymistry and Distillation by their dexterity and skil in that course they draw out the very spirits of the Mettal or Herb or Liquor as the Spirits of Wine the Oyl of Gold c. and five drops of that wil work more strongly than five 〈◊〉 five spoonfuls of the Body of the Herb or Water in the gross because there is nothing but Spirits as it were gathered together in a narrow room and therefore they are active in the highest degree If it be Spirits of Poyson it kils suddenly it 's present death past recovery if of Cordial or Preservative they comfort and refresh beyond imagination 〈◊〉 and strangely So here Meditation is this Spiritual Chymistry or the art of holy Distillation which draws out the Spirits of the poyson and bitterness that is in corruption Spirituallizeth the plague and venom of the vengeance that attends every transgression and though it was never so smal in the eye of the world yet it stings the heart more than the greatest evil which is committed if not mused on nor attended Thus David when by consideration he had viewed 〈◊〉 his course saw the infinite loathsomness of it that it sunk his heart which for the while when he attended it not did not stick upon him nor trouble him He looks now at the root of sin whence it came at the extent in the highest strain in spiritual wickedness Against thee thee only have I sinned Psal. 51. 4. I said in my hast in my sudden foolish apprehension it was but against a man my Servant my Subject and Vassal and therefore no such great matter nor grievous evil if I as a Prince did gratifie my own desire but now I see it was against thee thee only the God of Justice and Mercy and Fidelity and Truth That was the extent of it how far it went Again Deliver me from blood guiltiness O. God he now saw upon more serious consideration it was not a point of Policy a slight of subtil and secret conveyance that would color over the business and free him from blame because he intimated his mind to Joab to act it But now he saw it was not Joabs treachery nor the Sword of the Children of Ammon 2 Sam. 11. but it was he that had taken away the life of Uriah The dead body of Uriah was dished out to him as his break-fast every morning Thus for the extent of it Again upon consideration he looks to the 〈◊〉 of it Thou Lord lovest Truth in the inward parts Now he 〈◊〉 his sending for his 〈◊〉 his welcoming of Vriah his pretence of care to send him to his own house was nothing but apparent treachery against the Law of God and light of his Conscience and knowledg which the Lord had set up in him The root that bred and fed these bitter fruits was his 〈◊〉 heart and body of sin yet not so mortified which he brought from his Cradle which the Lord loaths as a God of Truth who loves Truth who may justly condemn him and reject him for his departing from it doubling and dissembling in a continual falsifying to Vriah by al his fair speeches and glozing pretences he 〈◊〉 to express his respect unto him Meditation doth not only pinch the heart with the present apprehension of sin committed but by the dayly attendance upon the evil of iniquity now considered it holds the heart upon the rack under 〈◊〉 and unsupportable pressures 2 Pet. 2. 8. Lot dayly seeing and hearing of the loathsomness of their hideous and unnameable abominations vexed his righteous soul Many saw and heard as much as Lot and happily more and yet were never troubled thereby no more would he have been but that he tormented his righteous soul by the dayly consideration of these abominations practiced The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is marvelous pregnant It signifies 1. To prove and examine by means of the rack or by way of torment to make inquisition touching the Truth So Lot kept his soul upon the rack of restless vexation as by the continual hearing so by the constant consideration of the hellish villany of the Sodomites and therefore the Evangelist useth it to signifie the boisterousness of a storm when the Sea is raged by the wind to the height of violence and rage Matth. 14. 24. Meditation raiseth a storm or tempest of distress in the soul. A sudden and present apprehension a flashy thought of the evil of sin is like the flourish of a Sword afar off which a man neither seels nor 〈◊〉 at the utmost it 's but like the glaunce and fall of a blow which it may be ripples the skin whereas deep and through Meditation is as it were doubling of the blow that steddy recoyling of a mans thoughts is the stabbing of the heart through and through again makes the sinner bleed inwardly and abundantly When the sinner would put by the stroke of the Truth and shake off the danger of the sin now discovered and applied and set on Meditation follows the blow home and puts the soul beyond its sence nay it is so it must be so it wil be so beleeve it and expect it for you shal find it worse than others do express or you can conceive for this is the voyce and verdict which Meditation gives in The Prophet Jeremy expresseth the nature of the departure of the people from the Lord thus It is an evil and a bitter thing that thou hast departed away from the living God Jer. 2. 19. And yet Job tels us and experience and profession of the wicked proclaims it to al the world That wickedness is sweet in the mouth of the ungodly he hides it under his tongue though he spare it and for sake it not Job 20. 12 13. but keep it still within his mouth as a pleasing morsel to his 〈◊〉 If you

as a curse of that carelessness and non-attendance which surprized our first Parents whereby they slipped aside from under the stream of Gods Providence and blessing and so undid themselves and al their Posterity only see the evil of it and seek to be freed and delivered therefrom Several things I would suggest here by way of help See what is the breeding and the seeding root the next and immediate cause of this fickle and unsteady roving of thy mind and redress that and the Cure will follow and the cause will be most easily thus discovered and so also removed Observe whether those wandring thoughts that are 〈◊〉 and roving in a restless manner from one thing to another like your fluttering Butterflies which fall upon many Herbs but 〈◊〉 and draw out Honey from none observe I say whether those unsteady thoughts pass upon the multitude and variety of things which have no cohaerence one with another no dependance one upon another but here and there and every where as your vagrant beggars that have no settled abode or else observe though a mans thoughts be full of variety and uncertainty stragling here and there and compassing many coasts to and again yet for the issue they border and Butt for the most part upon some one subject or aim at one thing mainly though Spannel-like they coast up and down and cross al waies and meet with multitudes in their course yet their game is that which at last they look at So here If the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of thy imaginations be of the first kind it issues meerly out of the frothiness and emptiness of thy understanding and the wound lies in the vanity of that faculty As it is with a Boat or Barque that is put to Sea if neither fraught nor ballast every wave tosseth it too and again the least breez of wind that blows almost overturns it because it 's empty wants 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 must needs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So here when the Understanding is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the blessed Truths of God is 〈◊〉 fraught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Wisdom and 〈◊〉 and Comfort of the Word by which it should both receive light and ability to stere our Christian Course according to the stability and 〈◊〉 of the Rule it floats up and down with sroathy and foolish apprehensions The Cure then is here plain If thy wandrings come from this cause store thy understanding with the Heavenly Truths of the Lord let thy mind be furnished and sraught with the rich and precious Promises Commands and Comforts of the Word let them be ballasted with these and they wil make thy thoughts steady and setled in thy constant and dayly imployments Thus the Apostle 〈◊〉 4. 14. when he perswades 〈◊〉 they be no more children carried up and down with every wind of Doctrine and those are nothing but the devices and conceits of men the sleight of mens brains he adds verse 15. Truth in Love so the word attend thou the Truth and have thy mind taken up with that and possessed by the power thereof this wil make a man steady and unmovable that nothing may take him aside Therefore David makes that Cohaerence as though the one would undoubtedly bring in the other I hate vain thoughts how did he attain that Thy Law do I love Psal. 119. 113. It 's the Physitians direction for the state of our bodies the best way tofence the stomach against wind and the head against lightness which comes by that is to feed heartily and make a ful meal of that which is cordial and nourishing nothing better to expel wind and preserve against it So it is in the state of thy soul To preserve our minds from windy and vain imaginations is to have our understandings fully taken up with the blessed Truths of God as our dayly and appointed food If thy wandring thoughts be of the second kind such as be ranging up and down upon the variety of many Objects yet in the end they ever border upon the 〈◊〉 thing It 's then certain the wound lies in the affection firstly Some affection or other either of love fear sorrow hatred is inordinate and violent and that transports a mans apprehensions and thoughts to 〈◊〉 after it and to send post from one coast to another quarter to lay out themselves in what ever special occasions shal present themselves that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 satisfaction As for instance when the covetous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forced and constrained by Comcience to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a serious Meditation about his own estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sooner retired into his Closer to attend that work 〈◊〉 forthwith his affections present some earthly object starts somthing which concerns the benefit of his outward estate as one while may be the hazard of a debt that he is now like to lose his debtors estate growing low and he behind hand and that he persues as a 〈◊〉 for the while when he hath run himself out of breath there and gone as far as 〈◊〉 can anon 〈◊〉 starts a fresh Hare a bargain that 〈◊〉 of late 〈◊〉 him and he conceives there may be a booty in that that he also follows with much eagerness laies out his 〈◊〉 to the utmost how he may contrive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it according to his desire No sooner is he off from 〈◊〉 but then sends post hast to his Lot and Harvest there he is casting 〈◊〉 how to order al to advantage Here are now roving imaginations that range over hedg and ditch in much variety but stil they aim at the same thing border all together upon earthly contentments and how to compass them they do centre there stil therefore it 's an Argument undeniable the unsteadiness of thy thoughts arose from this distempered Affection The like I may say of the unclean person whose affections are fastened upon his lusts he sends his thoughts far and wide how to prevent what he fears how to bring about what he desires one while he looks at the 〈◊〉 that some did unto him that stood in his light and crossed him in his intended course and match his mind wholly taken up with the consideration of the greatness of the wrong that hath been done him busied with diligent search and enquiry how to prevent their proceedings how to repay them in their own coyn and to deal harshly with them because they dealt subtilly or unkindly with him Another while he is suiting himself 〈◊〉 al conveniency that either means or friends can make purchasing such outward comforts and that with 〈◊〉 pains and dividing cares because he knows such outward 〈◊〉 of wealth and state and lands wil be very advantagious to accomplish his own ends Here be variety of thoughts which fetch a compass far and wide about many particulars yet they aim al at this how to satisfie his sensual desires therefore the wound was there The 〈◊〉 because the Channel is narrow and the wind somwhat scant he toucheth in many places tacks about and fetcheth many points but stil because it 's to attain

sinner and to speak terror to his Conscience out of the word that they may be troubled and tumbled and so find rest at the day of Christ. These Quack-salvers send the distressed sinner to sports pastimes and recreations and merry Company that they take up their thoughts and take off their minds from attending to their sins or the truth that is take off the Slave that should cure them spil the Physick that should heal their maladies thus they ease their terrors for the while that they may increase their torment forever accursed comforters or rather they take up the Devils name and Office Apollyon destroyers of the souls of men therefore holy Peter gave that advise to these hearers Save your selves from this crooked generation q. d. your safety and their society cannot stand together you must not continue with them if you would have the power and comfort of the word continue with you and therefore experience evidenceth God so disposeth ever in the dispensation of the work of his Grace either the sinner that is wounded wil shake off his wicked company or els the counsel of the word and the worke of Gods spirit Hence that of the Apostle Eph. 5. 14. Stand up from the dead and Christ shal give thee light and 2 Cor. 6. 17. Come out from among them and be yee separate and then I wil receive you and walk among you God wil not walk with you if you wil walk with the world there is no coming into communion with Christ unless we come out there Christ tells his disciples John 15. 19. I have chosen you out of the world Exhortation We here see the way that the Lord hath chalked out before us the means which in mercy and in way of his providence he hath provided appointed to break our hearts to bring us to his son and so to life We are therfore to be exhorted to attend and follow the counsel of the Lord that we may expect and so receive his blessing even with Consciencious diligence and studious endeavour to press on to the perfourmance of this service some hapily never knew it looked not at it as a labor or task that did 〈◊〉 to them let such now own it and set about it with al 〈◊〉 might others it may be have been convinced of the duty and have been forward in the practice of it in former times and forced to it in the 〈◊〉 of their distrels but now are fallen back and grown wearish in their way those are to be perswaded to proceed on with more chearfulness and speed he that never knew the work let him now learn it He that hath set about it in former times let him be for ever quickened and encouraged in it Joyn al your counsels and resolutions you that are children and servants in the same family members in the same assemblies neighbours in the same place and plantation and 〈◊〉 upon each other to this holy course Lam. 3. 40. Let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord. say so one to another you that are privy to the wretchedness of your own hearts and lives we complain and that justly of a giddy slightness of spirit we meet with many stroks of the word stirrings and recoylings of spirit our hearts misgive us many checks of Conscience and motives we think of the holy Ghost cast into our minds but nothing stayes with us sticks upon us they pass away insensibly and leave no impression no power behind them we wash away al we cannot but see and wonder at the unreasonable hardness of our heart and condemn our selves who have had so many blows from Gods hand and they break not so many dreadful threatnings we hear out of the word dayly able to shak the heart of a Divel we stirr not we are not affected therewith our corruptions are hainous for their nature many for their number accompanied with direful plagues from the Lord are daily before our eyes have driven many to untimely deaths and so to Hel. We cannot but acknowledg al this and yet we be not touched with any saving remorse for them we have had al helps and the Lord hath tried al conclusions upon us and yet al in vain Who knows but we have been negligent this ordinance and therefore God hath cursed al others we have not used this means as wel as others and therefore we have got benefit by none who knowes but the want of this hath hindred the success of al other that we have had and used in our times and places Oh then recover our former carelesness send our thoughts a far off and survey our former conversations let us search and consider our own wayes who knows but the Lord may turn our hearts to him Let us question our own souls and say to our selves what have we done that it may be beyond question that God hath humbled pardoned and accepted of us What is the reason that one sinks under the sin that another never feels It is with our sins as with our burdens he that sees a weight and it may be lifts at it but if he never lay it upon his shoulder or if it be layed he never keeps it there but casts it off immediately he wil never be touched or troubled with it which another dies under as not able to endure so it is here our sins and iniquities are a burden too heavy for any man to bear and not to break under them and they who are forced to feel the Least of them are compelled to confess as much as the Devils and damned in Hel the wicked in horror of Conscience my punishment is greater than can be endured Others whom God abates of the execution of his displeasure for the present these men look at them and may lift at them a little by some sudden flashy and flitting apprehension as they hear or read c. But by Meditation to bind this burden upon their Consciences that the heart cannot get from under it they are not able to abide the weight of them therefore wil not abide the thought of them they 〈◊〉 off and cast away the burden and so they never feel it before the infinite Justice of the Lord seizeth upon their souls by everlasting discouragement Better we set them in order before our eye trouble our hearts with them than that the Lord should set them in order before us at the day of Judgment and tear us in pieces when there shal be none to deliver us To help in this so hard a buisiness let me speak something 1. By way of provocation to stir you up to this work 2. By way of direction to guid you in it To provoke your hearts thereunto take these considerations Let every man take it to himself as his own task charge it upon his own soul as a service which by unavoydable necessity lyes upon him which he may not neglect This wil awaken the soul to the work say

of their course their distempers are such that they stink above ground and yet they poor creatures feel nothing but bless themselves in their present condition Rom. 2. 5. They have hearts that cannot repent heaping up 〈◊〉 against the day of wrath The daily and ordinary commission of any one sin delivers up the sinner to become a prey to the power of al corruptions even the most detestable sin lays wast the soul that it becomes a through-fair and lyes open to the most hellish provocations or distempers that can be presented before it and nothing comes amiss that 's the inference when the heathen had no delight to have God in their knowledg had notliking to such and such righteous and good wayes of God he delivered them up to a reprobate sence Rom. 1. 28. they had no delight to be ruled by the truth and the wisdom and holiness thereof no delight 〈◊〉 know or rellish any good God takes them at their word and leaves them in the hands of their sins they should have minds that should never know the truth hearts that should never approve of it See presently when the soul is thus layed wast what a drove and inroad of hideous abominations come in and take possession and make a prey and spoyl of the poor wretched creature as they wil then ver 29. 30. they are ful of all Unrighteousness Covetousness Fornication Envy proud Boasters beady high minded 〈◊〉 breakers False Unfaithful Disobedient Unnatural nothing is a miss what ever the heart of Belzebub or the bottom of Hel can harbour It 's the ground of the cohaerence of that place also Eph. 4. 19. Who being past feeling they have given up themselves to work al uncleanness with greediness the poor creature is at the 〈◊〉 and beck of any base abomination no temptation presseth in but prevayles no allurement is presented but it surpriseth and taketh aside no corruption 〈◊〉 but it carryes and acts him without gainsaying the Devil and his distempers take him alive and take him at their pleasures lead him as they 〈◊〉 and he knows not where he is before he be in the bottomless pit This is the quintessence of vengeance an unseen evil 〈◊〉 in truth unconceavable the terrors of death and the torments 〈◊〉 hell are nothing in comparison of this When the glorious and blessed God through the just desert of sin leaves the creature at the lust of Satan and his diftemper Loe he is in your 〈◊〉 do what you wil with him I wil have nothing to do with him more this is the sentence passed upon the backslider Prov. 14. 14. the backslider in heart shal be 〈◊〉 with his own wayes he shal have his belly 〈◊〉 Thus as the saints are sealed up in the day of Redemption the wicked are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 up under the soverainty of their sins 〈◊〉 the day of destruction thou 〈◊〉 have thy pride and stubbornness 〈◊〉 be thou for ever proud and for ever 〈◊〉 and for ever 〈◊〉 hearted continu so and perish 〈◊〉 There is no judgment like to this and this is the 〈◊〉 of sin and that which the Lord reserves as the choycest of al his plagues the last and worst 1 Prov. 26. 28. 31. Yee shall call but I wil not hear yee shall seek me and shall not 〈◊〉 me one would think this is heavy and harder measure could hardly be found yes the Lord hath worse because ye despised my counsel and set at naught al my reproof 〈◊〉 they shall eat the fruit of their own wayes and be ful of their own devices they who srame and devise devises to contrive Contentments to their own carnal and corrupt 〈◊〉 carry a forge of falshood and 〈◊〉 about them to succeed in these one would have thought is the 〈◊〉 content such a person could take true it is so and that is the greatest and most dreadful plague that could befal them When the Lord Christ takes away 〈◊〉 of himself and his spirit from the 〈◊〉 and leaves him wholly to himself and the power of Satan his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 distempers nothing of Gods wisdom 〈◊〉 their own folly shal mislead them nothing of Gods 〈◊〉 but the perverse rebellion of their own hearts shal rule them and so destroy them this is to be in hell before he come there and so be a Devil before he come among them They come to be helpless in regard of all means that the Lord hath provided or the mercies that the Lord hath offered unto them and doth yet strive with them in Its sin that stops the entercourse between God and the soul his ordinances and our Consciences takes and 〈◊〉 the passage that the power of the means never work upon us the sweetness of his mercies never affect us the virtue of his ordinances find no place leave no impression upon the soul This is the fruit which the prophet layes forth of the rebellions and 〈◊〉 of the Jewes which made them ripe for everlasting ruine Isa. 6. 9. 10. Make the heart of this people 〈◊〉 and their ears heavy and by that time they are sure enough for ever seeing the face of God or receiving 〈◊〉 by any means seeing they may see and not perceive hearing they may hear and 〈◊〉 understand least they be converted They are far enough from conversion and so from salvation It s that also which is of necessity implyed in the former expression they shal be filled with their own devises so there is no entrance no acceptance of any direction from the wil and word of God As it is in vessels that are brim ful of liquor ready to run over there is no room for a spoonful of the most precious liquor to be put into them So through the just desert of their sin they are so fully possessed with the power of their corruptions which have had commission to rule them that as our saviour said John 8. 37. There is no place for the word Their minds so ful of pride of their own carnal reason that therē is no room for instruction to direct or inform them their hearts so ful of stifness and perveriness that there is no place for reproof that may prevail with them and reform them the spirit so ful of falsness and ready to take hold upon 〈◊〉 that there is no place for the 〈◊〉 of the truth to frame them to the 〈◊〉 and singleness of carriage as suits with Gods mind so that all means of grace and ordinances take their leave of the sinner work no more upon that heart that hath 〈◊〉 long and so often opposed the work thereof 〈◊〉 51. 9. We would have healed Babilon 〈◊〉 she would not be healed leave her then leave instructions and leave exhorting c. so it is with the ordinances the Lord passeth by and wil not so much as speak a word to a rebellious heart the threatnings that troubled before now stir not the instructions that convinced before now awe not at al the reproofs

these are your sins these will be your ruin And I summon thee here to answer it before God in the sight of men and Angels at the great day When the heart cannot shuffle nor shift nor shake off the strength and cleerness of the Truth it 's compelled to own its sin and misery though happily not willing to leave the one nor knows not how to avoid the other True indeed then Meditation hath attained its proper and powerful work and is effectually blessed of God when our hearts are so affected with the evil of our sins as in our judgments rightly informed we did conceive them and in our most serious 〈◊〉 concluded them and indeed we should shine to our utmost to attain this and never give the Lord rest nor our own souls any rest until our hearts feel the bitterness of sin as by meditation we have found it made known in the word This is beyond our power and reach only its good to run after it and though we cannot go as far as we should yet thus far we may go We may put the heart to silence for the while stop and stisle such gainsayings for a time and turn and get the last word of the wil as it were notwithstanding the waywardness thereof This hath its mervailous use and leaves a great restraint upon the soul that it dare not vent it felf in ungodly practices but with a kind of awe and fear It deals with our souls as the Angel with Sarah when she laughed in herself as conceiving it impossible she should have a son in her old age though the Angel had said it Gen 18. 12. the Lord asked why did Sarah laugh and she denied it because she was afraid and sayed I did not laugh but the Lord followed her and held her to it and would not let her go away so nay but thou didst laugh So when the heart would fly off from the evil that is evidenced and charged either excusing or lessening the hainousness of the evil or slighting the danger of it either it was not my fault or it s not so great or the punishment is not so grieous and fearsul as men would bear us in hand Hold the heart to it and do not suffer it to go away Yes it was you that did it you must own it you shal find it upon your score one day you know and God knows and I know it the time when they were committed the manner how and how aggravated with many heightning circumstances It is so know it and thy damnation sleepeth not do not slight it you wil never be able to endure it Yes but I can God wil abate it or I can bear it nay you cannot God cannot abate it if you live in your sins and you cannot bear it Take the leave of your heart thus when you go to bed this is your condition this wil be your misery The sum of this first Rule returns to these three particulars 1 Summon the heart to answer the charge 2 Force the heart to own it 3 Silence the heart for the while under it When thus Meditation hath come into the heart let it lay hold upon the heart That 's the Second thing in this fastening when it hath arrested the soul the undeniable Evidence of the Truth then keep it under the arrest as Officers do such as they have attached not suffered them to go out of the room nor to be out of their sight or presence When thou hast with strong hand as it were forced thy heart by the power of the Truth raised by Meditation from every Coast as it were from all particular circumstances and occasions that it yield the Charge which it cannot gainsay owns the guilt under which it lies and the punishment which it hath deserved sits down silent under the Soveraignty of the Truth which it cannot controul keeps the heart under this awful disposition for ever Do not suffer thy mind to go off from the Duty of Meditation or thy wil and affections from under the impressions which were left upon it thereby For if thou thus givest way out of sloth or wearish negligence thou art in hazard not only to lose thy labor but to leave thy soul much worse by the abuse of an Ordinance than it was before thou did'st enjoy the liberty and practice of it As Iron or any Mettal once melted if it cool it grows more hard than before and more unsit to be fashioned to any use It 's so with the heart awed and melted as it were and made coming under the power of Meditation if once thou growest careless and it grows cold it becomes more unteachable hard and unfit to receive any impression of the Truth with what ever power it be dispensed Therefore by dayly consideration keep the power of the Truth and discovery of thy sins within ken stil before the eyes and sight of thy soul that so thou mayest keep the same heat and temper of Spirit that awful under and silent subjection to the Authority of the Truth the terror and dreadfulness of thine own sins and here our greatest watch is to be improved to follow this direction because the policy of Satan the proneness of our own hearts and professed opposition that the Spirits of the sons of men have against this Dispensation on Gods part and this disposition on ours we are loth to bear it Satan and the wicked are loth to suffer it in us to have the rod dayly shaked over us the silth and guilt and plagues due unto our sins continually presented and pressed upon our consciences it 's exceeding tedious and irksom unto our natures Flesh and blood is very loth to bear it Satan and the world are unwilling we should continue in such a course because they know it 's the next way to make us weary of our lives and of our sins therefore our corrupt hearts are willing to shake off such considerations and they are as restless to pluck our hearts from under the power of such an Ordinance It wil be our comfort let it be our care to have dayly meditation keep us company in our dayly course it wil keep the heart in an awful and under temper Therefore the Apostle joyns both together 1 Tim. 4. 15. Meditate on these things and be in them under the power and prevailing vertue of them As it 's sure of al so of this Truth also John 8. 31 32. Continue in the Truth and it shall make you free It 's not enough for an old cankered sore to make it open but we must keep it open not only lance it but tent 〈◊〉 to force a Truth by Meditation lanceth the sore attention to the same Truth in Meditation is the tenting of the sore and that brings though a slow yet a persect Cure Dog the heart with the dayly consideration of the discovery of sin formerly set on it wil tire a man out of his distemper force the soul either to leave

Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent of the world and hast revealed them unto Babes even so O Father because it seemed good in thy sight It should provoke in us all the 〈◊〉 fear in the 〈◊〉 of the greatest means our deadliest bane may come from the best Ordinances this is speeding Physick it wil work either one way or other either kill or cure Now is the Ax laid to the root of the tree 〈◊〉 3. 10. When Christ came then was their destruction coming on with most hast 2 Cor. 〈◊〉 When the 〈◊〉 had discovered the excellency of his Gospel in the plainness and power of it he leaves with that Supposition If our Gospel be hid it 's hid to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perish When Moses was coming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excellent means of Grace 〈◊〉 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of these as though they had inhaerent prevailing power in themselves Bless not thy self barely by having of these say I may have these Ordinances and yet have death as wel as life yea I may hear of Christ may seek after him and enjoy his presence here in the means and yet never have any saving good by any of these Luke 2. 34. He is as well for the fall of many as for their rising Exhortation to stir us up to use all means and when thou seest the benefit received by som seek thou also for a blessing upon them as Esau said bless me me also So say thou such 〈◊〉 proud heart hath found the Word humbling of him such a discouraged heart hath felt the Word comforting of him Lord let the Word humble me also pierce me also comfort me also The Husband-man sows and waits for the first and latter rain and as David said mine eyes fail for thy Salvation saying when 〈◊〉 thou comfort me when wilt thou enlighten me quicken me when wilt thou break my heart when wilt thou make me spiritual and painful and thriving in 〈◊〉 Christian Course Lastly Return praise and thanksgiving to the Lord for what thou 〈◊〉 receive and find in the powerful dispensations of the Word God hath marvelously separated his mercy unto thee in giving not Physick but health in it not Bread but the staff of nourishment with it not the Word but the life and profit of it Be thou marvelous thankful and careful not to come and hear as 〈◊〉 but set thy heart to the Word bring a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the hearing of it Do not powr out thy words in prayer but powr out thy 〈◊〉 c. Again Secondly Look who these are who are now wounded and pierced with the preaching of Peter and we shal find them some of the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 wretches who were not only guilty of the death of 〈◊〉 but such who now set themselves in an inhumane manner against the Apostles of Christ and carried themselves with 〈◊〉 and contempt against their persons and proceedings the publishing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the great things of God in the 〈◊〉 strain of opposition for 〈◊〉 ye look back into the 12 and 13. verses you shal there see the miracle of tongues wrought a twofold effect in the hearers some were amazed verse 12. some mocked verse 13. and to these Peter addresseth his speech his spirit being stirred in a holy indignation against so hellish distempers against the gracious and miraculous expression of the Spirit of the Lord to them he saies ver 14 15. 〈◊〉 it known unto you that these men are not drunk 〈◊〉 ye suppose c. to these 〈◊〉 and deriders he now speaks and they are now Pricked Some 〈◊〉 wounded and these were the worst and such as did oppose Hence the Doctrine to be observed 〈◊〉 The Lord many times makes the Word pierce and prevail most powerfully in the hearts of sinners for their everlasting good when they oppose the power thereof and their own good therein In a word The Lord often makes the Word work then effectually when the scornful heart is 〈◊〉 against the work and 〈◊〉 at a distance from it This is the Lords profession 〈◊〉 43. 21. Even the people that he formed for himself and such 〈◊〉 should shew forth his praise those whom 〈◊〉 would make most 〈◊〉 to himself 〈◊〉 so did yet see in the following words how he found these and when he formed these for his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 24 25. Thou 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 Cane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Ordinances and cast his commands behind their back yea thou hast made me serve with thy sins and thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities instead of serving God they made his Ordinances and the Priviledges he provided and so his Love and Mercy and himself therein to serve their 〈◊〉 and sensual Hearts they put God to it his Patience and long-suffering that he could no longer endure their lewdness Yet then he ads he would do most good to 〈◊〉 when they had no care of their own good and then enlarge his compassions to them when they multiplied 〈◊〉 provocations against him I even I for mine own sake will blot out thine iniquities and remember thy sins no more This was Gods dealing with Ephraim and the season of that his saving health he extended towards him when he rushed on in the waies of 〈◊〉 according to thè waies of his own heart Isai 57. 17 18. For the iniquity of his covetousness of his evil lustings I was 〈◊〉 with him I 〈◊〉 him I hid my self and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart here is the highest strain of rebellious sturdiness of Spirit When God is angry he smites the soul and hides away himself yet to be froward in the mid'st of al these heavy expressions of his displeasure that might reform him yea to go on after in the 〈◊〉 of wickedness If ever a people seemed to be past cure prepared for ruin and confusion past all hope either of enjoying or profiting by the means this might seem to be the time these the men but Gods waies and thoughts are not as ours for mark the next words I have seen his waies and I will lead him and heal 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 comfort to him and those that mourn with him Then God will see him when he cannot see himself then God will heal his frowardness who cannot help himself then God will guide him when he cannot guide himself then he wil make him mourn and others mourn with him and mourn for him and he wil comfort them both And our Savior for this very end hath ascended up on high to receive gifts for men even for the rebellious that

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

world The 〈◊〉 abilities of wit and learning the nobility of birth the priviledg of our place and state The Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whol course of carnal excellency he chooseth the 〈◊〉 to confound the wise the weak to confound the mighty base things that are not to bring to nought things things that are nothing of any probability or possibility in an ordinary way that might have attained any good being wholly set against it nothing of ingenuity or moderation or common 〈◊〉 but when they grow desperatly wicked yet then the Lord doth good that no flesh may glory in his presence that it is not in your wealth or parts or endeavours or outward pomp behold these poor base creatures base in their condition and yet more base in their carriage scant worse in the bottom of Hel yet these are called Oh how wil it confound the wise to see the foolish of the world brought to the knowledg of Christ when they never knew the things belonging to their peace how wil it confound the Civilian and subtil hypocrite who had painted over his profession with appearance of Godliness to see a prophane wretch whose leudness time was when he loathed as though his person were not fit to be looked on yet now pulled out of his sink and dunghil made a glorious saint in heaven when he shal be cast out amongst dogs So the Prophet Ezek. 16. last Look we at the Work it self There is also a depth of infinite wisdom in this Dispensation to bring that about in many hearts and that by this means and that with most success the Lord suffers many to go to a great excess of sin before he laies hold upon them or seems to take them to task that the grossness of the evils might make way for their more easie conviction and so for the entry of the Word upon their souls and their subjection to the power and evidence thereof Men or Hypocrites of a smooth refined carriage when they carry a conformity in their course to the waies of Godliness and have strength of carnal reason to make the best of an unblameable life it 's hard for any to come within them either to pass a Sentence of their present condition because love hopes the best when it can bring no evidence of the contrary evil much less to perswade their estate is unsafe and not sincere but when the Lord lets loose Satan or some loathsom lusts upon them that they become scandalous and notoriously 〈◊〉 and their 〈◊〉 appears in their fore-heads then they yield to go out of the Camp and confess they are unclean As the Physitian when he would cure the cold Palsey he is content to cast his Patient into a burning Feaver because he can tel how to come the better to the Cure So here our Savior wisheth Rev. 3. 17. I would thou wert either hot or cold because then he could tel how to deal with her if either truly good he would encourage if openly naught he would then convince her he knew how to apply the means and she would be content to receive it bu when she conceives her self rich she wil receive nothing wise she wil hear nothing So I have known some in experience that would take it in indignation that any should question their Grace until the Lord left them to some foul fals gross cozenage scandalous drunkenness c. that hath made them go deeper c. The 〈◊〉 operation of the Word the breaking and so converting the heart of a sinner depends not upon any preparation a man can work in himself or any thing he can do in his corrupt estate for the attaining of life and Salvation For had the Lord expected the good use of a mans free wil in the imployment and exercise of the works of civility and outward moral behavior had he looked for the husbanding of the stock of those moral abilities which are left in corrupt nature or 〈◊〉 by the 〈◊〉 of providence in the restrainning strokes of common grace or had the Lord stayed until these 〈◊〉 had either valued the worth of the Apostles and their administrations and painfully improved the advantages of the means of grace and 〈◊〉 now brought home to their dores or brought a teachableness of spirit to the ordinances If either the preparation and saving conversion of the souls of men had depended upon any such emprovement of themselves it 's certain they had not now been made broken-hearted sinners or savingly brought unto the Lord and for ought any man can tel had never attained it But when cross to the course of humanity they mocked and scorned both 〈◊〉 persons message of the Apostles contrary to truth they cast reproaches and contumelious contempt upon them 〈◊〉 men are ful of new wine nay when they were carried with professed opposition malignant enmity against their persons and dispensations yet now the Lord presseth in upon them by the prevailing power of his spirit and word and doth good to them when they set themselves by al the policy and rage they could to oppose the work of the Lord and their own everlasting welfare clear it is therefore that this spiritual dispensation of breaking or calling of them home depends not upon any preparation which was done nor any performances al which for the present were professedly opposite to their own welfare but meerly upon the power and good pleasure of the Lord and the work of his spirit which he puts forth when it seems best unto himself it s not in him that wills or runs sayes the Apostle he puts both together and denies success unto both that so he may take off al the cavils that could be made or indeed pretended For had it been said the means were powerful and in a plentiful manner bestowed but men would not do what they might and ought may be there was a slight 〈◊〉 some powerless wishing but there wanted the strength of endeavor behould he excludes both It 's not him that wils only nay let him run for it put to the best of his abilities that wil not do the deed It 's not there but in the good pleasure of him that shewes mercy Rom. 9. 17. And hence it is that the very spirit of bondage terror and astonishment and sensible troubles of heart which many times wicked men that fal finally short of saying grace yet attain in some measure or degree even that is beyond the reach of a mans own power Wee have not received the spirit of bondage to fear Rom. 8. 15. even that is a gift and must be received and is dispensed freely al that a natural man can do cannot cal for his old terrors and troubles which out of his sensuality he hath devised wayes to wear out unless the Lord wil set them on by his hand And hence the Apostle makes the exception so general to Timothy 2. Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according

procure it The Lord in the Work of Conversion doth not only by moral perswasion propound the Truths of the Gospel and enlighten the mind but puts a principle into the heart of such as he brings effectually and savingly home to himself In this work of God the Sinner at first is meerly patient That men may 〈◊〉 this from God every man is bound to wait upon him in the means he hath appointed and according to the utmost of his power improve al abilities and advantages he hath When any man hath improved his abilities to attend the means of Grace neither hath used his ability to oppose and cavil at the means it 's in Gods freedom to take either or refuse both for it is not in him that 〈◊〉 andruns but in God that shews mercy Rom. 9. 16. COMFORT Here is ground of incomparable Encouragement and in truth of inconceivable Refreshing to hold up the heads and hearts of the most wretched sinners in the most forlorn condition able to shore and prop up the soul with some possibility of good that it sink not down and be swallowed up with desperate discouragement I am almost afraid to cast such Pearls before Swine And when I do but think or suspect that any carnal wretch should abuse this kindness and turn this Grace of God into wantonness if it do not depend upon my doing I wil do nothing let God do al. I am forced almost to bite in my words and my heart almost misgives me as loth to cast away such compassions of the Lord upon such hellish Varlets who out of the venom of their Spirits would turn these choyce Preservatives into Poyson Yet because it is like a piece of board left after the wrack when the Ship is broken as the last means of relief as a cord of compassion let fall amongst a company of poor perishing Creatures ready to be over-whelmed with the floods of iniquity and who knows but some may catch it at the last cast before they go hence and be seen no more Let me therefore bequeath this Encouragement to you as my last Will even the words of a dying man before you and I appear before the dreadful presence of the Lord. Know then you are yet in the Land of the Living and bless God you are so and know because it 's the will and pleasure of God to do good to some of the worst of men as he sees 〈◊〉 therefore there is yet hope while there is life some little peep-hole of hope like a pins head a possibility there is you may receive good You see here how he prevails with the spirits of 〈◊〉 most perverse they have their hearts 〈◊〉 though it be 〈◊〉 the hair 〈◊〉 heart and all 〈◊〉 when they 〈◊〉 and wounded the godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 poor Disciples 〈◊〉 your hearts eccho then from every corner of the Assembly Pierce me me 〈◊〉 Pardon me me also Humble me me also 〈◊〉 thy abundant goodness and good pleasure If the 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 so dangerous and in appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the disease be 〈◊〉 so deadly and in the apprehensions of al past help If the Physitian and 〈◊〉 be known to have cured and helped in such cases and that he yet lives the patient wil yet support himself with such inferences why may not my sore be cured my disease healed so the Lord lives who hath done as much for forlorn sinners and why not for me poor wretched creature say so thou saiest 〈◊〉 This is the scope of Gods counsel and his very purpose why he leaves such patterns of the freeness of his compassions that yet forlorn creatures might look to him from the depth of their most desperate misery Let not the Lord fayl of his intendment nor you of your comfort 1 Tim 1. 16. I was a Blasphemer a Persecuter and injurious howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me 〈◊〉 Christ Jesus might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting That they might hope stil for Good as he received it and know they may be made partakers of it upon the same terms that he was set the pattern of this compassion 〈◊〉 your eyes and see yet a possibility of relief We shal sever a little the particulars that each man may suit his own condition with that most 〈◊〉 him here is that which answers to every necessity and complaint One complaines his wants are so many he cannot 〈◊〉 how ever they should be supplyed another complains his spirit so perverse he knows not how it can be subdued a third his rebellions so open so grosse against the Almighty al the means of life its 〈◊〉 that ever the Lord should pass by such hellish provocations I 〈◊〉 al your complaints are just and weighty your condition very dangerous And let me tel you did your relief and help depend upon your preparations and 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 its certain your hearts and 〈◊〉 and hopes would utterly fail and give up the Ghost Here is the anchor of your hopes that where in your help lyes is here and leave not this anchor-hold the Lord can do good and wil against al indispositions and oppositions of spirit carriages to the contrary as he sees fit And therefore thou mayest lift up thy head and say then it may be to me yea to thee never so weak to the perverse and rebellious Attend what the Lord sayes take his word and take it with thee Thou seest and confessest thy person baser than the earth that bears thee thy mind ful of blindness stupidity sottish and unteachable in the things of God thou hast heard so many able men enjoyed so many means of conviction and information and al hath slipt away like water spilt upon a rock and why should I think that ever I should be convinced or instructed or any light ever set up in this sottish mind of mine True thou hast been taught by men and man and means have happily done their best and truly they are nothing and thou art nothing and all that they and thou canst do is nothing yea but they shal all be taught of God saies the text Christ now in heaven did more by the Ministry of Peter than in his bodily presence he did nay go further than that then his bodily presence could do though he spake as never man spak No matter how dul thou art if God wil teach thee how weak if God wil strengthen thee Be thy wants what they wil be or can be the al-sufficient God wants neither wisdom nor power nor mercy to do what thou canst need and he wil for thy good And his power pitcheth his tent and taketh pleasure to shew it self in weakness Thou art foolish God chooseth the foolish things of the world to confound the wise 1. Cor. 1. 26. 27. Thou art not any thing thou shouldst be God delights to cal things that are not as though

they were and therefore may cal and choos thee also They are not only dry but dead bones which the Lord makes to live Ezek. 37. 2. can these dead bones live they are not onely miscarrying but barren wombs which the Lord makes to bear and be fruitful Not only when things are under hope but when there is nothing in present appearance or expectation then God can do it Rom. 4. 24. when it is not onely beyond thy power and ability God can support thee and strengthen thee teach and quicken thee when it is beyond not thy apprehension but thy very thought and hope he hath done so 〈◊〉 do so he lives stil and can do so to thee also True my weaknesses are many but that 's not al nor yet the worst the way wardness and perversness of mine own heart ads the greatest weight unto my misery and wretchedness not onely destitute of any spiritual good but not willing to be made better my brow as brass and my neck like an iron and sinew as the Lord complaynes Isa. 48. 4. My heart harder than the nether milstone Job 41. 28. If life and Salvation were laid before me and that I might have heaven and grace for taking or entertainment of it yet I would neither have word nor Christ nor heaven it self unless I might have my wil in heaven such is the invincible stiffness and desperate perversness of my spirit unless I may have what I wil when it comes upon the narrow God must not have his glory nor service nor subjection nor alleagiance nor duty in the least 〈◊〉 discharged I must burn for I can neither break nor yield nor mercies perswade me nor judgments awe me I can receive no good nay I can see no reason why God should do any good to me that would not have it Here is the dead lift and the wonder of al wonders the overpowring of the soveraignty of a stubborn self-willy heart 〈◊〉 the throne where Satan dwells which 〈◊〉 the doctrine of free-wil to be a doctrine of Devils and that which drives the soul to everlasting discouragement pretend what such deceivers can to the contrary But the former doctrine affords support and that which wil bear up thy heart even in this particular also thy Salvation depends not upon thine owne wil for then neither thou nor any flesh should be saved But God shewes mercy to whom he will shew mercy Rom. 9. 19. As nothing can deserve his mercy so nothing can resist his good pleasure when he wil shew it he wil make thee find it and others see it James 1. 18. of his own good wil begot he us by the word of truth It 's not according to the wil of Satan for then no man should be saved it s not according to the wil of man fallen for then no man could be saved But he dispenseth the work of his grace according to his own wil And his counsel shal stand and he will do what he wil. Isai. 46. 11. let the wil of men and Devills oppose it to the utmost of their power Quiet thou thy heart I cannot do any thing that might purchas not yet in truth would I have grace if God would give it only it is with God to do good to this miserable soul of mine as he wil who doth what he wil in heaven and in earth his wil be done and blessed be his holy name for ever and ever and there stay thy self It was the expression of a man in heavy perplexity of Conscience finding the crosness of his wil to snarl at the Lords dispensation his heart sunk within him with unsupportable horror that he had 〈◊〉 the sin against the Holy Ghost and with many prayers and tears he sought to heaven to bring his heart to an under subjection to the good pleasure of the Lord but the Lord left him to his own perversness nothing he could do could prevail with his own spirit and proffessed against that cursed cavil of the Arminians that reproach of the doctrine of Gods free grace which leads to despayr and discouragement openly acknowledging that if his own salvation depended upon his own wil he should perish irrecoverably but that only held his heart in some hope that his happiness was in Gods hand and that it meerly depended upon the wil of the Lord to give him a heart to fear and serve him or else his heart would fayl And it was a savory speech of a gracious woman that had a great deal of Do with her own heart when she could not find her heart to come off so willingly to give way as she ought to what her judgment allowed she besought the Lord to give her such a disposition of heart whether she would or no. Thou yet replyest that which ads to the hainousness of my evil is this these loathsom distempers have not been harboured in mine own breast onely confined in mine own bosom which yet had been too much but they have broken out into the most sierce and professed rebellion and that in the highest degree I have been a professed opposer of the gospel and the power thereof an open Rabshekah a Ringleader and Encourager to such that would revile and reproach the righteous and good wayes of Gods grace a jearing Ishmaelite of such as with 〈◊〉 of Conscience had care to walk therein and have resolved and attempted also even with an impudent face and a brazen forehead to outbrave the authority of the truth and made it matter of scorn to drop and give in to the most dreadful threatnings that could be denounced out of the word I have trampled al the entreaties of the Lord and tender offers of mercy under feet that when I have called over my course and viewed my carriage in cold blood I have wondred that the Lord hath not made me a spectacle of his displeasure before I departed out of the place that the very earth did not open and swallow me quick as Corah 〈◊〉 and Abiram So that God cannot be God unless he do avenge himself and pluck the praise of his justice 〈◊〉 the heart blood of such a wretch nay he should be accessory to the dishonor of his own name if he should shew mercy to such who openly impudently in a hellish haughtiness of heart have trampled his mercy under their feet True flesh and blood could not do it nay the heart 〈◊〉 man cannot think it how this should be did wee measure Gods compassions according to our narrowscantling but Gods thoughts are not ours nor his wayes ours so far as the heavens are above the earth so great is his mercy unto them that fear him Isai. 55. Psal. 103. 11. infinitely above and beyond our own desires and thoughts our imaginations and expectations They are I confess amazing expressions of miraculous compassions of the Lord yet such they are as he is pleased to manifest to sinful dust and ashes He can tel how to have the

honor of his justice and to save thy soul thou sinful rebel Nay he can tel how best to provide most for his own glory when he pardons most sins I beseech thee pardon my sins for they are many Psal. 25. 11. He lets the power of darkness proceed to its ful strength that the power of his exceeding mercy might shew it self in delivering from the nethermost hell He gives sin advantage that it might do its worst and raign unto death that so his grace might raign over sin death unto eternal life According to the soveraignty of his wil whereby he subdues al things to himself Eph. 3. last and here thou mayest yet feel firm bottom to bear up thy fainting heart from sinking down into everlasting discouragement Thus you see the compass of this encouragement which issues from Gods free grace But least some proud flesh should arise by this healing preservative if it should heal too fast to keep thee under this encouragement and yet to keep thee from presumption take these Cautions It 's possible God may do thee good notwithstanding all indispositions and oppositions But know 〈◊〉 for certain he never will do it but in his own way If he save thee he wil humble thee if he pardon that guilty soul and Conscience of thine he wil pierce both to the quick there is not a possibility he should save thy soul 〈◊〉 thy sin also set it down for an undenyable conclusion I cannot have my stubborn and rebellious heart and have any hope that ever I shal have either Grace or Mercy If thou wilt sin that mercy may abound as the Apostle brings in the sons of Belial speaking Rom. 6. 1. thou mayest have thy sin but upon these terms thou shalt never have mercy Either expect that God should take away thy sin or else never expect he should prevent thy ruin When the Lord lets in some light to discover the loathsomness of thy corrupt Nature and begins to grapple with thy Conscience so that thou stand'st convinced of the vileness of thine own waies the worth and excellency of his Grace when God hath thee upon the Anvil and under the Hammer to break thee in the fire to melt thee 〈◊〉 fear fear lest thou should'st make an escape from under the hand of the Lord and fall back again to the old base course it 's a dreadful suspicion of Gods direful displeasure lest either the Lord wil cease to do thee any further good or give thee up to those hellish departures that thou shouldest make thy self everlastingly uncapable of mercy 1. It 's a sore suspicion that the Lord purposeth to leave striving and to meddle with thee no more when the Lord suffers thee to wind away from under the power of the means which formerly thou wert subject to It 's Gods usual manner to make such unexcusable and never make them good that they might go self-condemned and so go to Hell It 's that of the Prophet 〈◊〉 which he makes a Symptom of the out-cast condition of the Jews that they were dross Jer. 〈◊〉 30. Reprobate Silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them How proves he that Verse 29. The Bellows are burnt the Lead is consumed in the fire the Founder melteth in vain for the wicked are not plucked away To this purpose is that of our Savior when he had long striven with the rebellious Jews clocked to them as a Hen to her Chickens and would have gathered them under the wing of his saving Providence by the preaching of the Gospel and ye nothing would prevayl they would drive Christ out of their sight and he smites them with a plague answerable Math 23. 2 last ver ye shal see me no more until ye shal say blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. And this his word hath taken hold upon them unto 〈◊〉 day the poor forlorn Jewes have not had a sight of Christ this sixteen hundred yeers scriptures they have prophecyes promises yea they have the Gospel while they 〈◊〉 the Gospel for so the Apostle Gal. 3. The Gospel was preached to Abriaham saying in thy seed shal al the Nations of the earth be blessed they see al this but the vayl is over their eyes they see no Christ in promises ordinances and therefore no salvation leaving secret things to God So it befals many falshearted Apostates when God hath had them in the fire and they come out too hastily from horror and humiliations before half melted It s a great adventure they never come to Christ but wanse away in a powerless kinde of formality and content 〈◊〉 with the enjoyment of some outward priviledges and ordinances and names of profession they have the scriptures and ordinances but never see a Christ in any of them nor wil the Lord look upon them nor once speak to them when he passeth by but let them live and perish as heartless Christless men Thus our savior dealt with his people in former times when he had sent the spyes into the Land of Canaan Heb. 3. 18. Numb 14. 23. and they returned convinced by their own experience of the goodness of the land as flowing with milk and honey and out of a slothful cowardice because there were iron Charrets and walled cities and mighty Giants they withdrew the duty and Gods charge and disheartened also the people the text sayes the Lord sware in his wrath they should not enter into his rest When God swears it shewes his purpose is unchangable and his execution wil not be altered Canaan is a type of the Kingdom of grace and so of Glory when the Lord let in some evidence of the excellency thereof and the heart cannot but acknowledg it 〈◊〉 leaves off rather than it wil take the paynes to grapple with those Giant-like corruptions that iron and 〈◊〉 hardness of heart why shouldest not thou fear least God should swear thou shalt never enter into his rest thou shouldest never find the power of the death of Jesus in killing the body of death so that thou shouldest cease from thine own works and from the sinful distempers of thy corrupt heart Fear again lest the Lord give thee up to thy old distempers that thou should'st make thy self everlastingly uncapable of any good and sin that unpardonable sin against the holy Ghost When thou goest against those Convictions of thy Conscience those tasts of approbation which somtimes thy heart took in the good Word and waies of God for by this back-sliding thou art in the ready way to run upon that rock This was that which helped Paul the possibility of mercy 1 Tim. 1. 14. But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly it was his zeal that he persecuted the Church i. e. his blind zeal but should he have done so against the Dictates of his Conscience and the evidence of Truth in his own heart he could hardly have seen a way for mercy So the Apostle to the

Hebrews 6. 8. The Earth that often drinketh in the rain and yet brings forth thorns and 〈◊〉 is nigh is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned The rain is the Word heard understood embraced acknowledged and yet have their malicious venemous conspiracies against the Gospel of God and Saints of Christ and that in 〈◊〉 like thorns under the leaves like bryars under pretence of moderation and humility can scratch bitterly it 's a heavy suspicion their end wil be burning Take heed thou content not thy self in thy rebellious condition for upon this supposition that thou wilt have this thou puttest thy self out of any possibility of good goest against Gods Order Course and Covenant and the whol Work of Redemption Christ comes to bless his by turning them away from their sins Acts 3. last and therefore when the Lord comes to hale thee out of thy sins take heed thou dost not go from under Gods strivings lest he strive with thee no more EXHORTATION We have hence special motives to quicken the desires and provoke the endeavors of the most carnal minded men in the world to attend with all the care and diligence they may upon the means of Grace But you wil tel us It is not in our Preparations Performances and Improvements that our Spiritual good depends there is nothing we can do can procure it it depends wholly upon the good pleasure of the Lord Why then should we trouble our selves to endeavor any thing I Answer The Inference is the quite contrary way All is in God and his good pleasure attend therefore upon him in his own means that thou mayest receive al from him If a man should reason thus I can do nothing for my self therefore I wil take a course that no man shall do any thing for me it were not a weakness but a kind of madness but rather in common sence a man would be provoked to press his own heart thus I can do nothing of my self therefore I must attend upon God in those means which he useth to do for all those he useth to do good unto So the Disciples to our Savior when he would arm them against his departure Will ye also go away John 6. 68. They answer Lord whither should we go thou only hast the words of eternal life Christ only can humble and convert Christ only hath peace and pardon therefore only go to him We are so wise for our bodies where one is most like to speed every man is most willing to go especially considering as nothing can purchase his favor 〈◊〉 nothing can 〈◊〉 the expression of his good pleasure when he wil go therefore what ever thy condition is When thou art at the weakest here is supply As he said Why stand you gazing fainting and famishing get ye into Egypt for Corn that we may live and not die though thou livest in the height of the perversness of thy heart in the out-rage of thy rebellion though thou carriest a scornful contemptuous spirit with thee yet go who knows when is Gods time what he may do bring your own souls your rebellious Servants and disobedient Children fall down at the foot of Christ in his Ordinances and say Here are a company of Hellish Traitrous hearts which bring proud stubborn scornful rebellious distempers like so many bloody weapons even to wound thy good Majesty withal Oh pluck these weapons out of our hands these treasons out of our hearts that would pluck us to thee and so to destruction As we cannot deserve any thing so our wretchedness cannot hinder thy Work And because thou knowest not the season of mercy take al seasons thou knowest not what time God may or wil work because it is in his own pleasure therefore attend upon him at al times 2. Tim. 2. 25. Proving if at any time God will give thee Repentance Attend upon him in all Ordinances because it is in his pleasure to breath in which he wil and to bless which he wil for thy Spiritual Comfort Sow thy Seed in the morning and in the evening because thou knowest not which may prosper this or that Eccles. 11. 6. Thou knowest not whether Prayer or Meditation or Reading wil prosper and which of these or any other Ordinance God wil bless for the saving good of thy soul. When thou findest the Lord stirring moving enabling and working in thee move thou and work thou also As the Marriner when he finds the gale coming any way he tacks about 〈◊〉 way to take the advantage God was tampering with the heart of Agrippa it was at a ha now a ha Thou hast almost perswaded me to become a Christian saies he to Paul Acts 26. 28. Ah what a pity was it he should fal back again It 's matter os wonderment able to swallow up the heart of a sinner with the everlasting admiration of this 〈◊〉 unmatchable kindness of the Lord. Micah 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that pardonest iniquity and passest by the transgression of the remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he 〈◊〉 in mercy he will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea You that have tasted how good the Lord is and found this Truth made good in your own hearts by your own experience as Paul was wont to recount his course I was a persecuter blasphemous and injurious but I obtained mercy I doubt not but many of you may say if ever there was a Fiend in Hell or a Rebel upon Earth I was one an opposer of the Gospel a despiser of the means of Grace a hater of the holy waies of the Lord and his servants that walk therein yet then God did me good when I desired and 〈◊〉 my own hurt Get ye homeye blessed Saints and in the secret of your Closets cal Heaven and Earth together and leave these compassions upon Record Say the time was this carnal mind of mine plotted my wretched 〈◊〉 and mine own ruin but then the Lord prevented both I opposed 〈◊〉 entreaties and he yet pursued me and would take no 〈◊〉 he called after me wept over me Turn ye turn ye why will you die I provoked him he pitied me I resisted him he imbraced me I said I would have none of him nor his Grace he said he would have no denial I resolved to walk on in the frowardness of mine own 〈◊〉 and to perish in the despight of al means and he would and did shew me mercy in the despight of the pride and rebellion of this heart or else I had never seen this day nor never had hope to see his face in glory Be astonished and confounded at this O ye Devils and come down ye blessed Angels from Heaven and magnifie this mercy Leave this in your last will and testament to your little ones O ye Fathers leave

to deny the Lord Jesus and his righteousness but if we have fayled and that shamefully as Peter go out immediately and weep with him bitterly for our base departures Math. 26. last the Lord bears not a fearless continuance in any distemper if David bed it securely in base lusts the Lord wil break his bones for it David therefore takes himself here no sooner sees God withdrawing but he seeks him with instancy and importunity Psal. 30. 7. 8. 9. 10. It 's a word of TERROR and astonishment to such who adventure to continue in their sinful distempers because they never found so much as a touch of any 〈◊〉 in their souls for any of those distempers they have continued in know such must assuredly that sin is of the same poysonful nature as ever and the word as true and God as just as ever and therefore their sins they have continued in have al this while made way for over-bearing perplexities which they wil certainly bring upon your souls the less you have felt therefore the more you may expect and without doubt you shal find and receive There is wrath to come tribulation and wrath and anguish wil be and must be upon the soul of every man that sins if you had none as yet there is the more behind when those noysom abominations that have so long nestled in thy bosom and there lyes as it were in ambush wil march in upon thee like armed men and sink your 〈◊〉 in everlasting discouragements cozen not therefore your selves with the present content you seem to find in your corruptions that you can trample upon Christ his ordinances and Servants go away with it without any trouble or controul See these poor creatures and consider their condition what it was and now is they stuck not to profess open rebellion against our Savior Away with him crucify him and they carried al before them with a high hand and so continued from the Passover to Pentecost many weeks together the poyson of their sins that pleased their spirits so much in the practice of them now beginns to work trembling and astonishing confusion unto their souls the pleasure of sin is but for a season and when that is gone look for the like gall and wormewood As it is in the body while the impostume and gross humors are gathering the party finds no matter of grief until at last when it comes to a ful growth and breaks suddenly and proves present death that cannot be prevented and then al the filth and impostumate matter issues out of the ears and mouth and each man can see it when no man can help it It is so with a canckered Conscience and a côrrupt heart who hath hugged and harbored his distempers with pleasure and content so continued Until the Lord break open the 〈◊〉 and then those hideous abominations let in the dreadful terrors of the Almighty which overwhelm the soul of a sinner with unsupportable horrors the Apostle thus concludes it 〈◊〉 Gal. 6. 7. 8. be not deceived God is not mocked as ye sow so you must reap if you sow to the flesh of the flesh you shal reap corruption it may be your ruin is growing but not ripe the harvest of horror is not yet come but be not deceived God is not mocked you shal reap and your crop wil be confusion and perdition the Lord himself hath so revealed it Deuter. 32. 35. in due time their foot shal slide Stay but the time yea he determines it fully as that which he wil not fayl to accomplish Deutr. 29. 20. 21. 〈◊〉 men bless themselves and bear up their heads bravely against al the peal of plagues that were rung in their ears the Lord resolves upon it his anger shal smoak against that man to cut him off from the land of the living c. Pierced As their sins made way for this terror so the word set it on hence The truth is terrible to a guilty Conscience when it prevailingly takes place there It 's a hammer that breaks a fire that scorcheth an axe sharp and keen that cutts and wounds the soul of a wicked unrepentant sinner Acts. 7. 54. When they heard these things they were cut to the heart Because it is a witness to accuse a judg to condemn an executioner to torment such poor creatures as I might make al these good in particulars it 's sayd Rev. 11. 10. That when the two wittnesses were slayn the inhabitants of the earth solaced themselves and sent gifts one to another because those that tormented them that dwelt upon the earth were taken away Matter of trial those who are careful hearers may without fayl discover their condition by the word that is dispensed Art thou sick of the saving dispensations of the holy and righteous wil and law of God thou sits and shakest under it as that which passeth the doom and sentence upon thee which thou art not able to endure nor avoyd do not cozen thy self with any vain conceivings of thy estate or please and delude thy heart with the mistaken apprehensions and approbations of other men it 's certain thy heart is naught and condition also If thou best sick of the truth 〈◊〉 not side with it nor receive approbation from it when it comes in the strength and terror of it As we say of men that are sick at Sea the cause is not in the tempest but in the stomack because there be corrupt and noysom humors there it 's those that raise stir and trouble in the stomack and not the 〈◊〉 when the stomach is purged and clear the passenger can sleep in the most tempestuous Seas So it is where the heart is truly emptied and the Consoience purged from dead works the sharpest truths would find most welcom and entertainment But doth not the truth carry terror with it and that even the best tremble at it It 's true they do so but with a double difference The word though it ever speaks against the corruptions of those that are sincere hearted yet it ever 〈◊〉 sentence on their 〈◊〉 both for the acceptation of their persons and the happiness of that condition they are in through grace and if it appear other to them it is because their judgments are darkned through temptations misguided through some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Micah 7 Are not my words good to them that walk uprightly Isai. 3. 10. Say to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shal go wel with them The Lord and his word sayes no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man ought to say any other there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Rom. 8. 1. but it 's otherwise with the wicked The word not 〈◊〉 condemns their sins but their persons also Because they are one with their sins and incorporate into them and carryed with the power of them Isai. 3. 12. Say to the wicked wo unto them for the reward of their evil works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them The Saints of God

ever find 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 and most keen threatnings and their hearts tremble at them because the 〈◊〉 of God is there 〈◊〉 submit to them close with God in them they take them as 〈◊〉 to cure the 〈◊〉 in them not 〈◊〉 kil them and therefore take 〈◊〉 in them and they wil stil say the word of the Lord is Good and hence are desirous to hear al to know the worst and the whol mind of God so Ely 1 Sam. 3. 17. hide nothing from me that which wounds most deep and works most kindly he welcomes it with a glad heart because he knowes his welfare is there Whereas a fals 〈◊〉 flyes from the terror of the truth Math. 19. 22. He went a way sorrowful they say to the seers see not and to the prophets prophecy not right things but smooth things Isai. 30. 10. He is loath to hear what his heart doth not like and willing to put by the power and darken the evidence of the truth that appears dreadful to him by reason of his sins Cme we now to the main Observation wherein the pith of this spiritual truth consists and that 's in two things 1. Gross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before he bring them effectually to himself 2. Sorrow for sin when it 's rightly set on pierceth the heart of the sinner through that is rightly affected therewith To the First Gross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before he bring them effectually to himself These desperate wretches who had embrewed their hands in the blood of the Lord Jesus and now in an impudent manner set themselves to out-brave the servants of Christ and his Word and Ordinances also the Lord he handles them roughly suitable to their rebellious carriages towards him they had pierced the Body of our Savior and exercised his soul with unsupportable sorrows he pierced their hearts they openly and impudently professed their cruel and accursed rage not him but 〈◊〉 Cruc fie him crucifie him He forceth them to proclaim the loathsomness of this their way in the view of the world they before the multitude scorned the Apostles he forceth them now in the face of the people to reverence and ackn̄owledg them as the dear Servants of God The Lord knows how to deal with men answerable to their sinful dealings with him and the 〈◊〉 of their hearts and doth thus with scandalous ones and not only those whose lewdness and wickedness lies open to the view of the world but with such also who are many times more retired and carry it more cunningly and closely from the eyes of men if yet their evils be gross in which they live and lie as such which oppose the light of Reason the Dictates of Conscience the remainder of those common Principles which are left in the corrupt Nature of men as murder theft forgeries adulteries though molewarplike they carry it never so secretly dig deep to hide their counsel and contrivement from God and man yet commonly God breaks open their Conscience breaks in with dreadful terror upon such plucks those sweet morsels out of their maws and constrains them to vomit out those bosom abominations by open confession after one manner or other to some one or many I say it 's Gods usual manner so to deal with such which implies he may deal so with others but usually so with these Not that he may not nay somtimes deals not so with others whom by the strokes of his restraining Grace he hath preserved and kept untainted from such loathsom abominations and refined by a civil and comely fashion and carriage If either he purpose to use them as choyce Instruments in his 〈◊〉 and improve them in some special Service to set 〈◊〉 and promote his own praise as men use to season their Timber more than ordinary if they intend to use it in some more than ordinary Service and when they mind to raise the building marvelous high they commonly according to a course of prudence lay the Foundation exceeding low Or if the Lord intends to manifest himself to the soul of a sinner with some ravishing sweetness with enlarged and amazed communications of the assurance of his Love Joyes unspeakable and glorious It 's ordinary with the Lord to abase the heart exceedingly under the dreadful apprehensions of it's own vileness that it may be the more fitted to receive such special comforts not to surfet with them by security and pride Great Revelalations have great Humiliations go before them the Eb is very low before the Tyde come with greatest strength and height otherwise the soul would never be able to bear such over-bearing expressions of Gods Love and communications of himself but would certainly abuse them If the Keel of the Boat were little and narrow a large Sail would over-turn it not convey it to the Haven Great Assurances and glorious Joyes are too great a Sail for a heart that is not widened with enlarged contritions and humiliations God would make Job a pattern of Patience to all posterities therefore he exerciseth him with all extremities in all kind of sharp and piercing sorrows and heavy desertions The Lord shakes the heart of Isaiah in the sence of his own unworthiness Wo is me saies he I am undone I am a man of polluted lips before he would reveal unto him those hid Prophesies concerning the Dispensation of his displeasure amongst the Nations and those mysterious depths of the glad tidings of the Gospel which were kept secret from the beginning of the world Paul is buffeted with fierce assaults by the splinter in the flesh that he might not be too much lifted up by Revelations that he might know he was not yet in the third Heavens but in the mid'st of a burry of distempers and a Hell of Devils These are but some exempt cases and that in some persons for some special ends But with gross and scandalous persons it's Gods usual way so to deal not that he is tyed or hath tied himself to this manner of dealing upon necessity but that he hath expressed it to be his good pleasure so to dispense himself to such notorious rebels as that way which best suits the Counsel of his own wil and the attaining his own end his glory and their best good and if ever he make an exemption for causes best known to his own blessed Majesty in bringing such unto himself that he deals tenderly with them at the first it wil hardly ever be found but they tast most 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterwards when happily they least 〈◊〉 them and yet are made better able to bear them When the Delivery hath been speedy the after-throws have been many and hazardful many times If such men get somwhat an easie bargain at first there be hard penny-worths heavy after-claps they meet withal beyond their expectation and it commonly never fails The Rule is general the Prophet

delivers touching Gods Dispensation and I know not but it may hold here Psal. 18. 27. With the froward thou wilt deal frowardly the place is hard for the apprehension of it in the fair and full sence of it The words that go before will give in some light With the bountiful thou wilt shew thy self bountiful with the perfect thou wilt be perfect with the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure and with 〈◊〉 perverse or froward thou 〈◊〉 shew thy self froward thou wilt make thy self deal frowardly To speak to the pinch of the Point but in two words I conceive 〈◊〉 to be the meaning 〈◊〉 the place and the mind of God in it He that walks with God in the exercise of the Rule in a 〈◊〉 manner God 〈◊〉 meet with him in it and give him the 〈◊〉 and comfort that follows and flows from it he that conscienciously keeps the Rule shal be more fitted for to keep it and to share in the blessing and 〈◊〉 of it he that deals bountifully in vertue of the Rule he shal be more apt to that Duty and shal find bountiful dealings from the hands of others God and men he that is upright thorough and simple in Spirit and practice he shal be more exact every way and find peace and praise as the fruit of that he that is pure that is not only contents himself to be simple and sincere hearted in his whol course but is dayly purging himself and clensing his own heart 〈◊〉 severing himself from such taints and remainders of distempers that appear and 〈◊〉 to cleer up the Rule in the beauty and excellency thereof to himself that he may see more of it submit more freely and fully to it the Lord will make himself pure to him So the word God wil let in pure instructions that no darkness or dimness may stumble him or cause him to mistake pure evidence of pardon and acceptance no guilt may unsettle him pure comforts and peace that no doubts or fears may discourage him pure holiness and power of 〈◊〉 that no strength of corruption may blur the Image of God in him or darken the Evidence of the Work of Grace received But 〈◊〉 a man will be froward crook the Rule go cross to the Command and wil walk in the vanity of his own 〈◊〉 and stubbornness of his own Spirit oppose the power of the Truth not willing to look upon or abide to hear of the purity of it God will shew himself froward towards such a one he wil 〈◊〉 you and cross you in your whol course and in al your comforts you crook and wind away from the Rule to content your sins God by his Righteous Law by vertue of the provoking power therof wil deliver you up to the power of your sins and to al the terros and plagues and expressions of his 〈◊〉 that attend thereupon and in the daies of thy distress when nothing wil help thee but the holy Word of God God wil then deal with you and follow you with the 〈◊〉 of your own 〈◊〉 thou would'st not see the holiness and purity of Gods Precepts thou 〈◊〉 have a mind not able to attend or receive or remember any thing that may be for thy direction support or comfort but only live upon thine own guilt and the terrors that attend thereupon and the perversness of thine own heart wil be thine own plague In your froward pangs you flinch and fling care not what you say or do God can be as 〈◊〉 as you nor hear prayers nor regard your complaints nor pity your necessities but pursue you with his plagues let fly on every hand the fierceness of his displeasure God can and wil hamper thee if thou had'st a heart as sierce as a 〈◊〉 of Hell make thee weary of thy part be as perverse as thou wilt or canst be And therefore the word in the place is marvelous pregnant it signifies to contend with another as one that wrastles wil do wreath and 〈◊〉 and turn his body every way that he may meet with his adversary with whom he is to grapple So the Lord will meet with thee at every turn the greater thy opposition hath been against him the greater expression of his displeasure shalt thou be sure to 〈◊〉 and that in the most dreadful manner The sins of Manasseh were high handed and hellish abominations mighty provocations out of measure sinful 2 Chron. 33. 11. Therefore God abased him mightily fettered and 〈◊〉 and humbled him mightily and made him cry mightily before he could 〈◊〉 audience and acceptance with him the cruel and harsh carriage of the Jaylor Acts 16. exceeded his Commission and so the bounds of common Humanity to deal worse with the distressed than either their Fact deserved or the Law permitted or Authority allowed him in that behalf a 〈◊〉 transported with deadly indignation against the waies of God and his People and as it appears by the circumstances of the story a man that pleased 〈◊〉 in such unreasonable practices the Lord therefore handles him answerably to the harshness of his spirit makes the Earth quake and the Prison totter the bolts break and the door fly open and at last his heart begins to shake and die within him notwithstanding the fierceness of his Spirit So Paul Acts 9. he comes trembling to crave the Counsel of those whose presence formerly he loathed There is a Three-fold Ground from whence the Reasons of this Point may be fetched which will Evidence That this manner of proceeding best suits with the insinite Wisdom of God look we at God at others at the sinner himself with whom the Lord is now trading The Holiness of Gods Nature and exactness of his Truth not only commends but even seems with some kind of comely necessity to call for such a manner of Dispensation The Lord stiles himself the holy One of Israel a God of purer eyes than can endure to behold iniquity not able to pass by sin in the least appearance of it and therefore leaves so strict a charge beware lest there be an evil thought in thy heart and abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thes. 5. When the Lord is to convince the sinner of sin to express his mind and displeasure against him because of those his evils so scandalous and detestable to al that have but the least spark of saving knowledg and Grace yea loathsom to the very light of Conscience in corrupt Nature Should the Lord casily and overly 〈◊〉 them by with some smal 〈◊〉 of some little dislike it could not but impeach his Purity and make himself accessary to the dishonor of his own Holiness When Eli proceeded not with that zeal against 〈◊〉 evil of his Sons as the 〈◊〉 thereof might justly have provoke 〈◊〉 him unto but after a slight manner manifested a heart-less dislike of it the Lord 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 2. 39. That he honored his sons before him rather respected their carnal content that they might not be

so 〈◊〉 ashamed and justly 〈◊〉 as they did deserve than the honor of his name and the excellency of his ordinances and worship that they might be preserved in that purity and attended with that awfulness and holiness of heart as was meet Now that which God abhors and punisheth so severely in another it s not possible that the least appearance of any so great an evil should be justly charged upon the holy one of Israel for he should deny himself to be God if he should deny the exactness of his own infinite holiness and he should not be just should he not manifest the glory of his holiness according to the excellency and 〈◊〉 thereof True it is that out 〈◊〉 meer grace and mercy the Lord Christ brings the soul of a sinner from his sin but the same mercy that would save the sinner cannot but destroy the sin and express its detestation 〈◊〉 it otherwise may 〈◊〉 say and the rebellious sinner think that either the word requires more than it needs and the Saints do more than they ought or else the Lord is not holy as men imagin when the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so great detestation against so gross and scandalous evil which the Lord looks at with so little dislike In regard of others the sharpness of this dispensation of the Lord against such scandalous and notorious offenders seems to be very necessarie Least the hearts of the wicked should be encouraged and their hands strengthened to adventure to commit and careless 〈◊〉 reforme the greatest evils when they shal observe some of their crew and company who were as bad or worle than themselves yet 〈◊〉 acceptance and forgiveness at the hands 〈◊〉 the Lord upon such easy terms and with so little trouble It 's that of 〈◊〉 wise man Eccles. 8. 11. When 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Malefactor is but delayed it 's in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sons of men to take encouragement to 〈◊〉 evil If the delay of the punishment which is not long do so encourage them when that is but little and slight how wil that imbolden in a fearless kind of impudency to proceed to any out-rage when they can promise themselves pardon upon the same terms which others have found before them in the like case and condition with themselves Therefore the Lord in his infinite wisdom doth so temper the sweetness of his mercy and the severity of his wrath in the recovery of a lost and forlorn wretch riches of mercy to the soul to save that rigor of severity against the loathsomness of sin to destroy that so that none should be discouraged to seek for pardon of the greatest wickedness and yet none encouraged to continue the shortest time in the least sin since Gods displeasure is so dreadful against al. It was the course that the Lord prescribes to his Vice-gerents here on Earth in their proceedings against sin that it should be such that all Israel may hear and fear and do no more so Deut. 17. 13. he wil not be wanting to do that against sin which he would have to be done by others he wil hamper al such Rebels that the rest of the company shal have little cause to bless themselves in any of their sinful waies In regard of the sinner himself it 's safest for him that he may be throughly recovered from his corruption for the present and preserved against it for the time to come Recovered for the present he needs heavy blows or else he is like never to have any good by them As with Trees that are rooted deep and of long time continuance ordinary winds have setled them it must be a Herricano that must pluck tear them up from their roots So when the sinner is rooted in 〈◊〉 wretched distempers the wood that is knotty there must be sharper wedges the heaviest beetle and the hardest blows to break it So it is with the hard and stupid and knotty heart of a scandalous sinner As with the stomach filled with stiff and noysom humors easie Physick and gentle Receipts may happily stir the humors but it must be strong Ingredients and a great quantity that must remove it So with a corrupt heart This is a means also to preserve him from it afterward if once he have throughly smarted for his sin he will fear to meddle with it 〈◊〉 he have felt the danger of the Surfet he wil tast the Sweet-meat no 〈◊〉 TRYAL We have here Ground of Discovery how to pass a safe Sentence touching the Spiritual Estate of some persons namely The easie and sudden conversion of such who have been grosly wicked or scandalously vile By grossly wicked I mean such who have been taken aside with some loathsom abominations though they carry it never so covertly as your clofe 〈◊〉 fornications thefts murders continued forgeries of fals-hood and injustice By scandalously vile I mean such who have continued in an open tract of profossed opposition against the power of Godliness I say the easie and sudden conversion of such gives just ground of suspicion why they may question the truth of the Work and others justly suspect it 〈◊〉 their judgments be setled by sad proof long experience and that upon serious observation It 's not Gods ordinary way and therefore men should take more than ordinary tryal before they trust or in truth thou trust 〈◊〉 self The proceeding of God in his Word and Providence are according to the Rules of Wisdom and the right order of causes and means by which he hath appointed to bring about his own will and the Work of his Grace in the hearts of his To save men per saltum is not Gods usual way that works of greatest weight and difficulty should be done in so little time and with so little labor and trouble in other cases thou would'st think it 〈◊〉 why should'st thou judg the contrary reasonable in this which is hardest and the weightiest work of all other unless thou hast more than ordinary warrant for it When men grow rich of a sudden and to a great Estate and those who observe their course see neither waies nor means in reason how to raise it each man concludes it 's not his own Estate but other mens Stock that he braves it withal for he is worse than nothing or else he never truly came by it so that a State somtime questions such So here when a man grows up to a great Estate of Grace and no man can tel how 〈◊〉 so many quarters or yeers he was as base a wretch as the Earth bore not fit to sit with the Dogs of a mans flock his carriage so reffuse and vile as that he was not fit for the Society of moral men that no man could tel how to beleeve his words or to trust his dealing and is he now of a sudden come to the top of Religion a sweet godly gracious man fit to be made a Member of a Congregation how came he to such a large

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

of God upon the soul it makes it melt like Wax before the fire makes it easie to give way to the impression of the pleasure of the Lord that his Spirit may take away any of those lusts that have been of 〈◊〉 league with the heart Hence lastly it is that in the Phrase of Scripture the sinner is said to be in 〈◊〉 or the soul to be imbittered by God when he is brought and held under the sence of the loathsomness of his in s and himself by reason thereof so that al the sweet that his liquorish heart takes in any pleasing lust is wholly taken away The Physitian observes and reason teacheth that sweet things only nourish but bitter things clense the Nature of the stomach abhors the presence of them expels them takes no pleasure therein receives no nourishment therefrom So with the sinner in his condition when the Lord 〈◊〉 out the bitterness of sin upon him he can find no food rellish no delight in his former distempers which he followed with that violence and fed so eagerly upon even unto surfetting in former times they wil not down with him now It 's a dreadful thing now to him to take the least tast of them by any serious consideration or remembrance when formerly he could have made a meal of them by dayly meditation When wickedness was sweet in his mouth and he hid it under his tongue but now it 's turned to the gall of Asps and he is not able to endure the poyson and bitterness of it but it makes him heart-sick in the sight and sence of it For the opening of the Point it wil be needful to enquire after Five Particulars 1. The Manner how this sound sorrow seizeth upon or is brought in upon the soul. 2. How God sets it on and makes the soul truly affected with it 3. How far the sinner is or may be said to be active in it 4. What is the behavior of the heart under this stroke being truly affected 5. The Reason and then the Use. To the Former of these The Manner how this Sorrow is brought in upon the soul. It is Three-fold in Gods ordinary Dispensation reserving exceptions as he sees fit in his own infinite Wisdom It is either Successively and by degrees Suddenly and at once Unsensibly to the heart of the sinner who receives it Successively when the Lord would leave the track and footsteps of his Faithfulness and Truth upon record to the observation of the wise hearted he then leaves plain impressions of the Power of his Grace and Spirit 〈◊〉 his proceedings with such as he 〈◊〉 to bring effectually home unto himself that the goings of our God and King may be seen in the Sanctuary and in the souls of his Servants and it may be attended in these several Degrees First The Lord lets in some unexpected flashes of spiritual Truth discovering the evil of sin in the general and the dangerous conditions of such as stand guilty thereof and continue therein which were never considered nor before that time conceived of by him that hath been an ignorant and careless hearer of the Word who came to the means either by constraint or custom or complement in a way of course for company sake never set price upon the means nor attended to the Truth and goodness thereof and therefore the Ordinances were as the Waters that pass by left neither power nor profit upon the soul. But now there is some evidence of Truth which God so directs and darts in that it flashes like lightning into his face leaves a kind of amazement upon his mind and like a sudden blow gasters the 〈◊〉 of the sinner so that he begins to stagger and is driven to give some attendance to that of which he never took notice before not knowing wel 〈◊〉 to make of himself nor yet of that which he heard only he is forced to observe somthing he never formerly regarded Hence therefore 〈◊〉 a confused kind of tumult and lumber of thoughts within himself he begins to be in a muse what such things mean whither they tend is at a loss with himself and knows not which way to take I never heard so much as now if all be true that I have heard and the Minister hath preached there is more in sin than ever I imagined and my condition more miserable than ever I did conceive This maskering of spirit drives him to make enquiry the things seem strange he begins to search 〈◊〉 they be true or no. So they to Paul disputing concerning false Worship and their Idolatrous practices Acts 17. 19 20. Thou bringest strange things to our ears we would know therefore what these things mean So it was with Paul at his first bringing home to God Acts 22. 6. There shone a great light from Heaven about him and he heard a voyce Saul Saul why persecutest thou me The thing was strange but what it was he could not tel and therefore he makes yet further enquiry Who art thou Lord As the poor woman having heard the Minister preach out of that Text Isai. 27. 11. They are a People of no understanding therefore he that made them will not 〈◊〉 them he that created them wil not shew mercy to them It came so directly cross to her own conceivings that she repaired to one of her neighbors to know whether those words were in the Scripture yea or no and what those Scriptures were for saith she If he that made us wil not save us Lord be merciful to us who wil who can So these sudden dazlings and dartings in of the Truth forceth men to fall on questioning enquire they do come they wil resolve to hear more of those strange Novelties and the greater search they make the greater certain Truth they perceive the Law peremptory the Word plain threatnings certain and the Lord just his sin most hainous and his condemnation certain and approaching so that he cannot tel how to avoid it or how to bear it Hence fear surprizeth him forthwith pursues him 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 expectation and 〈◊〉 of what 〈◊〉 befal him I know what I have deserved and I hear what the Word hath threatned against such and I know God is true and cannot deny his Word nor himself and he is just and cannot but execute in his time what hath gone out of his mouth hath not all Ages manifested this the Experience of al men proved it undeniable Did ever any provoke the Lord and prosper Job 9. 4. and can I in reason expect it should be other and better with me than it was with any that was ever before me Can I be so sottish to think that God should send another Christ devise other Scriptures make a new Causey way or a back door to bring such a wretched rebel as I am to Heaven contrary to his own Word and Will God hath said Wo to the wicked it shall go ill with him who can say the

it discovered and however it is even in special distances many times thus also enstamped upon that soul. Yet the Lord doth bind himself to leave such plain tracks and footsteps of proceedings with a poor 〈◊〉 at al times and therefore we must not limit the holy one of Israel to be at our allowance and liking or confine him to the compass of our conceits and desires Therefore it pleaseth the Lord to dispense himself in a divers manner in dealing with divers sinners and those we shal ad in a word Somtimes then in the second place the Lord suddenly sets on the blow and leaves mighty and prevailing impressions at the very present speedily and unexpectedly goes through stich with the work pierceth the soul through at one thrust Sometimes at one sermon may be in the handling of one point nay some one sentence or some special truth the Lord is pleased to arme it and discharge it with mighty power and uncontroulable evidence that it astonisheth and shivereth the heart of the sinner al in pieces As it is in the 〈◊〉 of a piece it may be one scattred shot or splinter hitts and kils when al the rest miss so with the splinter of a truth when directed aright God lets in so much of the amazing beauty of his own holiness and purity the dreadfulness of his displeasure and the infinite crossness in himself to the least corruption and consequently that abhorred 〈◊〉 in the nature of sin even the smallest that look as it is with terrible thunder and lightning it melts al before it and that most where there is opposition against it even the league that is between the heart and the lust soakes into the very root of the soul and hence under such a sudden thunderclap such mauling blowes now and then the sinner dyes and faints away under it in the very place where he sits sometimes roars out as one that hath received his deaths wound in his bosom and that he hath heard his doom and was delivered up into the hands of the Devil ready to drop into the dungeon and to be carried post to the bottomless pit and such soul sinking and confounding terrors which takes off a serious and iudicious consideration of the 〈◊〉 assaulting they vanish away for the most part and come to little or nothing when the tartness of the horrot is once allayed But sometimes lastly the sinner takes in the truth kindly and contains himself hath his load as much as his heart can bear for the while as much as 〈◊〉 and soul can hold together goes away droops and buckles under his burden steps into a solitary place and hangs the wing as a foul that is shot the saving truth thus set on lyes gnawing and eating at the heart blood of a sinner as aqua-fortis doth in iron leaves it not until it eat asunder the league betwixt the lust and the heart Thus this lively truth in the soul like strong physick in the bowels walks up and down the world with a man is working night and day he cannot avoyd the evidence and light of it he cannot lessen nor hinder the operation of it Now he questions with this or that Christian then resolves to speak to such a Minister and to reveal his whol condition and to crave his counsel he is often going and turns back again almost at the dore and yet goes away again sometimes enters into speech and his heart misgives him he pretends another 〈◊〉 and departs again Al this while the soul bleeds inwardly the truth is stirring and the physick working til at last it over-bids the darling distemper then the coast is clear the heart growes to more liberty and his speech more free Thus Paul expresseth Gods manner of proceeding with the Corinthian Convert 1 Cor. 14. 29. when the word is dispensed in plainness there comes in one unlearned and unbeleeving he is convinced of al and judged of al i. e. the evidence of the word convinceth him and judgeth him his 〈◊〉 and it followes the secrets of his heart are made manifest those retired and privy haunts of sin in the soul are discovered so he wil fal down and say God is in you of a truth He saw more of God and his Majesty and purity more of his own sin and the filthy puddle of his own distempers it was the Wisdom of God to discover those hid things of darkness and brought the loathsomness of them to light it was the Holiness 〈◊〉 God that shews the hainous and hellish Poyson thereof it was the power of God that did conquer the prevailing Dominion of these distempers unto which the heart was subject And this was the Lords dealing with Paul he assaults the main hold and strength of his rebellion and drives him at the first dash as it were to look where the loathsomness of his evil lay Saul Saul why persecutest thou me I am Jesus thou persecutest that Jesus that came to redeem thee opposest that Grace that would sanctifie and bring thee to Glory tramplest upon that blood that would free thee from the guilt and curse which thou hast brought upon thy self thus lastly it was with Job in that new Conversion as I may say that the Lord wrought in him Job 42. 4 5. I have oft heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eyes see thee I abhor my self in dust and ashes when God lets in a sight of himself and a sight of 〈◊〉 from thence the soul begins not to abhor his plagues and punishments which the other feels or fears he abhors not Hell and the torments thereof but abhors himself the pollutions and impurity of his own soul which are worse than al the everlasting burnings of the bottomless pit and hence is that Phrase Ezek. 36. 32. They shall loath themselves not their miseries though they were more than they could bear not their Judgments though heavier than they could endure but they loath their own souls the hellish exorbitations swervings and departings of heart from God that they had held any connivence or correspondence with their lusts Lastly Gods manner of 〈◊〉 is sweet and secret and works insensibly 〈◊〉 spirits of such who do receive it when and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 infinite Wisdom whose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 11. 33. He can and doth somtimes 〈◊〉 the soul in the 〈◊〉 as it 's commonly conceived he did John Baptist Luke 1. 44. Many times he begins to tamper and trade with the spirits of his when they are yong and tender and their yeers few drops in some grain of the immortal Seed of the Word which takes root by the powerful operation of the Spirit and grows up with them as they grow in yeers 2 Chron. 34. 3. While Josiah was yet yong 〈◊〉 eight yeers old he began to seek after the God of his Fathers and declined not to the right hand or to the left So the Lord seemed to deal with Joseph and to reveal

grievous yet the plague-sore of their sins was heaviest upon their hearts and most in their thoughts so it is with a contrite sinner his complaints and thoughts return hither as to their center publish the comforts promises and priviledges of the Gospel the sinner acknowledgeth the promises are precious the comforts are sweet the priviledges great and happy they that ever they were born that have a title thereunto But alas what have I to do with these my heart is yet hard and my sins yet unsubdued Those keep good things from me Lay open al the threatnings of the word the plagues the Lord hath prepared the curses iudgments and punishments that are recorded in the scripture and ever were inflicted by the justice of the Lord the contrite sinner looks presently beyond these plagues to his sins which is the cause of al these and worse than al these and that gives the sting and evil unto al these evils what shal I do I have sinned deliver me from blood guiltiness O God not from the sword though that was threatned but from his sin The sinner that hath his heart thus truly affected and pierced through with his sins is marvelous tender easily to be convinced of a yielding disposition i. e. freely and readily enlarged in the open acknowledgment of an evil that is discovered he stands guilty of As it is with the body when it is pierced or pricked with a stiletto He bleeds inwardly it may be but so as the blood hath no vent nor the party relief hence the life is in hazard but when it s thrust quite through though the wound be greater and wider yet the danger is less because the party bleeds kindly and naturally the wound is more 〈◊〉 to be cleansed and healed there is no fear of festering and rankling inwardly but the Chirurgeon may readily come at it for the cure So it is when the soul is wounded aright with Godly sorrow for its sin it bleeds kindly and naturally ready to see the evil the core the root of that corruption from whence it comes and willing and open hearted that the saving word of the truth either of instruction reproof comfort or exhortation may be applyed for cure and recovery A broken hearted sinner fals immediately before the power of the word takes the sin presently home to himself when ever or what ever is presented with evidence to him without cavilling or gainsaying shifting or winding away from under the authority thereof That resistance and gainsaying opposition is now removed which formerly took possession and the irresistible power of the spirit hath flung down those strong holds of Satan and sin hath conquered and captivated the high thoughts of the mind and sturdy rebellions of the heart unto the obedience of the Lord Jesus and therefore there is an entrance and easy passage made for the truth to take place and the heart to take the impression thereof with some pleasing content parts of the body which are wounded broken and sore and very sensible of the least stir or touch of any thing that comes nigh them they feel presently and are affected with some trouble Oh say we it s my broken Arm my sore Hand the least touch it goes to my heart It 's so with broken spirits they are presently sensible of the least touch of any truth the least intimation or discovery of any sin that comes by the by if from a work that fals occasionally it feels it forthwith yields it and owns it without any more ado That 's the deceit of my heart which I never saw before that 's my distemper unto which I have been addicted the law is holy and good but my heart naught and sold under sin Rom. 7. this was the temper of good 〈◊〉 at the reading of the law which the Lord observes and so much 〈◊〉 2 Chron. 34. 27. because thy heart was tender melted when thou heardest the words of this law he took the impression of the truth at the first without the least appearance of any opposition in any particular or rising of spirit against them though the severity and sharpness of the threatnings were marvailous cross not onely to a corrupt heart but to the outward comforts eminent priviledges of his place pomp and prosperity of his Crown and Kingdom the heart is melted and broken is conquered by the truth and therefore can do nothing against it But can do any thing against its own lusts and the pleasing corruption of his own nature this is part of that preparation which the Baptist the Harbenger of our Savior made to make this plain for his coming into the hearts of his as into his temple Luk 3. The rough things shal be made plain and crooked things straight the rugged and sturdy gainsayings of a rebellious heart are taken away and it 's made easy and readily yielding to the evidence of any part of Gods wil it finds a plain passage into the soul no rub in the way no rising against the righteous and good wil of God If any thing be doubtful he is easy to be informed amiss to be reproved and amended thereby Those crooked aymes and by ends also whereby falshearted hypocrites serve their turn of the Lord Jesus seek for grace and mercy either to quiet the horror of their 〈◊〉 promote their own credit or under a profession against sin to get more liberty to commit sin to sin without suspicion or distraction these rugged distempers must be levelled and the spirit of a man made plyable simple and sincere and then all flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord. And unless this de done set thy heart at rest thou canst never see Gods Salvation True indeed I confess the truth many times may be secret and such as at the present exceeds the reach and apprehension of weaker judgments And here wil be and in some 〈◊〉 may a long inquisition and painful and tedious search for the right discovery where the narrow way lyes But there is great ods betwixt an inquisition and serious enquiry that we may see the truth And a quarrelling against the evidence thereof that we may not see it Inquisition is one thing contention against the truth is another that al the Saints should endeavour this none but the ungodly wil practise for it 's given as a never failing note of a graceless person who is appointed to destruction to them who are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness Rom. 2. 8. for where the one is not the other wil be contentious persons joyn sides with their sinful distempers against the truth authority of the righteous law of God openly to maintain a professed opposition against the truth is so loathsom to common sence and 〈◊〉 even to the remainders of light left in the 〈◊〉 of a natural man that hardly any man is come to the height of wickedness that he dare openly own a course so hellish and

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

work of the spirit is the treacherous formalist Formalist I tearm him because he carryes the face of religion the garbe and guise of Godliness in outward appearance and would be counted a friend to the truth so far as he may serve his own turn of it and he is content to be at league with the Gospel provided he may make his own terms and attain his own ends namely that he may have allowance in some lusts and yet 〈◊〉 honored also among the people with the title of an honest Godly and good man But when his carnal ends are not answered and the word requires more than he hath and commands more than he would do and would pluck away his beloved lust that he is loath to part withal he then begins to set up secret conspiracies in his heart against the evidence of the doctrine and therefore I cal him a treacherous hypocrite because he may happily bite the lip and go away for the while and sayes little but he bears a privy grudg against the strictness of such truths that are beyond his pitch and strain and when time comes he wil be revenged of them in the mean time his heart is inwardly tyred with them and goes off from them this the 〈◊〉 cals the counsel of the wicked when wicked hearts cal a counsel and sit in counsel against the commands of God and Job prayes earnestly that God would keep him and free him from it Job 21. 16. Let the counsel of the wicked be far from me namely a reserved resolution to have his distemper rather than to have and welcome that word that would remove it Whereas we have heard a broken-hearted sinner is willing to attend al means but those especially that would help him most and free him from his corruptions this treacherous wretch notwithstanding his pretended love to the word yet when it comes to he is willing to be rid of the word not rid of his corruption so far from being weary of his sin that he is weary of the Minister or Christian brother that would remove it of the word that would subdue it This was the temper of those formalists that followed our savior for the loaves that is the Gospel for their own ends when our savior pressed a spiritual and convicting truth upon them which might carry them beyond their own fals aymes or els would condemn them utterly as such as had no life of Grace in them unless 〈◊〉 eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of man ye have no life in you John 6. 53. nor were it possible they should attain the life of Glory they answer This is a hard saying who can bear it it pinched them to the quick and searched the very core of their corruption and they were resolved to bear their sin but could not bear the saying of our Savior the presence of their sins was pleasant they could welcom them but the power of the Truth was hard they could not indure that nay they speak as though it were a matter impossible who hath power to submit to it truly none but a heart truly pierced with Godly sorrow and therefore it 's added verse 66. From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him because they would walk in their own waies and wicked practices therefore they chose rather to forsake the company and Ministry of a Savior than to forsake their own distempers Thus it hath been often seen in the Country whence we came many a formal wretch hath been at great cost and charges laid out himself and estate to bring a faithful preacher to a place and when the soul-saving dispensation of the Word hath either discovered his falsness and laid open the cursed haunts of a carnal heart shook his hopes and beat all the holds he had of the goodness of his estate and batterred them before his eyes He that had the greatest hand to bring the means and Ministry unto the place ifhe cannot cunningly undermine the man he would rather leave the place than live under the Ministry that would take away his lusts This was the wound of the yong man because he wanted this brokenness of heart not being rightly burdened with his corruption nor loosened from it Matth. 19. he went away from that Counsel of our Savior that would have plucked away his Earthly covetous humor which did take place in him He went away sorrowful al the while our Saviors conditions suited his crooked ends and carnal reason he gave way and welcom to what he was advised All these 〈◊〉 I done from my youth up this is so as I would have it but when our Savior went further Go sell all that was beyond his pace and expectation and he went away he could not bear the Counsel and therefore would not hear it Thus it befals many a man that the Lord hath brought hither confined him to the narrow compass of the Covenant of the Gospel Al the while he lived at large as it were and 〈◊〉 constantly or occasionally attended upon the preaching of the Word and carried an approved kind of conformity thereunto in the Judgment and Opinion of such as only attended the general strain of his profession and so walked aloof off in way of Christian 〈◊〉 and loving entertainment of the Truth al went wel but when he comes to be foulded in the fellowship of the Faith and that men follow him home to his doors and watch him in his retired carriage and have occasion to grapple with his spirit in the specials which concern his particular 〈◊〉 as when he had failed and offended and therefore follows him with Physick answerable and appointed for the purpose a seasonable admonition poor sinful Creature he is not able to 〈◊〉 the Discipline and Government of Christ to 〈◊〉 under it he begins secretly to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 undermine the strictness of those 〈◊〉 that formerly he did como into these Parts for that he might seek them find and enjoy them as 〈◊〉 often professed It 's said of Herodias when John Baptist would give no 〈◊〉 to her lust but professed openly against it so that she must be forced to reform it or to have Gall and Wormwood with it either not have it or not have any 〈◊〉 the Text saies Mark 6. 19. she way-laid him and left not the plotting of her purposes until she procured his ruin she watched him a turn and was revenged of him So it is with a carnal heart he is so far from being troubled for sin that he is troubled he cannot commit it so far from being plagued with the corruption as Solomon speaks he that sees the plague of his own heart the plague of pride the plague of a perverse sluggish heedless heart that he is plagued and tormented with those Spiritual Truths and power of those Ordinances that wil not suffer those lusts to lodg in his bosom nor suffer him to lie and live in

them with any quiet or content Thus when sin should be grievous as the Psalmist speaks the waies and Commands of God are ever grievous to such it 's a grief to him to be counselled checked crossed in a sinful course was 〈◊〉 any man truly sensible of a burden that would not be 〈◊〉 any man oppressed with a load that would not be content to have it removed and taken away from him Of this temper were those the Lord delivered up to a reprobate sence Rom. 1. who did not delight to have God in their knowledg they bear a secret spleen against such saving Truths as would search the core of those noysom corruptions of their hearts It 's certain such never knew what Godly sorrow for sin meant since we have heard that such are willing to attend all means but take most content in those that work most powerfully for the removal of their special distempers A third sort who fall short of this saving Work is your self-conceited Pharisee who hath such an overweening apprehension of his own worth and excellency that 〈◊〉 is not able to take shame for 〈◊〉 sin therfore cannot endure to be convinced of it what he wil not do he wil not know loth to confess his course shameful and vile because then he concludes there is no color of common sence to continue in it but he must be forced to reform it unless he would openly proclaim to al the world that he is resolved to go against Knowledg and Conscience which is too loathsom and gross even to ordinary prophaneness therefore he pretends nothing but the search of the Truth 〈◊〉 further information of the mind of the Lord and if that once could appear how glad would he be to receive it and more glad to follow it because this plea is beyond exception 〈◊〉 carries an appearance of consciencious and judicious watchfulness in a mans course which cannot 〈◊〉 a Cavil but is secretly resolved of the Conclusion the reasons shal never be plain to him that would press and perswade to the practice of that which doth not please his 〈◊〉 heart which he purposeth to satisfie let men say what they can if he may have approbation and allowance from others to follow his own heart it wil be more credit for him and he shal find more ease if not he determines to do what he list without leave and allowance holds out this in his ordinary and dayly profession it 's the way of Truth he desires to find the Rule he would see the mind of God he endeavors to know and follow that he pretends but intends indeed to walk in his own way and follow his own mind and therefore if things answer not his intents suit not his expectation but Arguments seem strong that perswade to the contrary and the evidences of Reason look and lead another way he then keep afoot his old course confesseth he is yet in the dark those reasons do not carry him those arguments do not convince him he desires further light and shal be willing to submit and follow i. e. if men would be willing to submit to his conceit and follow his humor thus he holds his sin and holds his enquiry keeps off al conviction that he may keep his corruption and his course in it As we know it in the Country from whence we came some wily headed persons get possession of a living keep the Owner in suit and restless wrangling many yeers together against the evidence of their own Conscience and Reason because so long they can keep the Living and reap the Commodity of it So while men keep an enquiry and dispute what they should do all that while they do what they list but only waiting for better light Numb 23. 34. when Balaam had gone against the express Counsel and Command of God to listen to Balack to gratifie his malicious desires the Angel of the Lord met him and withstood him in the perversness of his way he crooked his way and perverted his path against Gods express charge observe how pliably he comes in to the Angels reproof I knew it not that thou stoodest in the way now therefore if it displease thee I will get me back he knew it displeased God and though he said so yet he kept his disposition and resolution to curse Israel and so to displease God still and therefore he contrives all waies to compass his 〈◊〉 and therefore here he builds seven Altars and there he builds seven Altars that he might ask leave of the Almighty and when that would not do it he went without leave Numb 24. 1. This is one part of that of the Prophet to lay hold of deceit and so of sin whereas a broken-hearted sinner as we have heard because the holds of sin are cast down and the crossness and resistrance of the 〈◊〉 removed and his soul loosened from his sin he is easily willing to be convinced sensible of the least inkling and intimation of any evil that is or shal be discovered and sits down under the Evidence of it 〈◊〉 but when Reasons are so pregnant that he cannot gainsay and Answers so undeniable that they cannot be shaken yet to stand off from the Truth with a pretence of waiting for a further discovery argues a person strengthened in the stiffness of his Spirit which holds out Truth at the staves end and was never yet subdued to the Soveraignty and Authority thereof he keeps the blow off and therefore breaks not under it shuts the Truth out of their Souls and therefore it stirs not works not at all upon the soul such are afar off from God The fourth sort is your complaning Hypocrite whose Conscience hath been awakened with horrors and fears and the heart startled with the terrors of the Almighty and affected with the sight and sence of his sins and the venom and dread of those Curses that the Truth hath revealed and fastened upon the soul he sees he is now in Gods hand and that he hath him at an infinite advantage to bear it is beyond his power to avoid it is beyond his Skil to resist is bootless and against Reáson and Sence that were to hasten his own ruin his heart is filled with grief and his eyes with tears and his mouth with heavy complaints to God to man and he is free and full this way and that usually and this he hopes may move the Lord to pity and to spare him and abate him of those plagues which he hath denounced in his holy Word and he cannot but confess he hath deserved by reason of his sin and he presumes this wil go for good pay with the Lord considering those many human infirmities that do attend us since the Fall and that it is beyond our power to help our selves and free our selves from our corruptions thus he keeps his complaints and keeps his sins he mourns over his distempers and maintains them while he doth so thus they bath

a good word 〈◊〉 their persons and proceedings and professions yea that they wil confess but it was directly against their own judgment and knowledg and Conscience myne own heart often gave my tongue the lye when I did so speak and so 〈◊〉 their conversation otherwise I must have condemned 〈◊〉 own course and Conscience also but the Lord is with them and the 〈◊〉 is with them and a 〈◊〉 wil undoubtedly follow them Ask why these poor pierced sinners did not go to the Scribes they would tel the truth Oh it was 〈◊〉 that deceived us led 〈◊〉 drew us to the commission of this hellish wickedness we cannot cal them teachers but 〈◊〉 they could never help themselves therefore not help us INSTRUCTION Sound contrition and brokenness of heart brings a strange a sudden alteration into the world varies the price and valew of things and persons beyond imagination turnes the market upside down makes the things appear as they be the persons to be honored and respected as they are in truth that look what the truth determines reason approves and Conscience witnesseth that account is current in the hearts and 〈◊〉 of those whose hearts have been pierced with godly sorrow for their sins Because 〈◊〉 not by outward appearance as it is the guise of men 〈◊〉 corrupt minds but upon experience that which they have found and felt in their own hearts what they have seen and judged in their own spirits they cannot but see so and judg so of others Those who were mocked as men ful of new wine are now the precious servants of the Lord flouted to their 〈◊〉 not long since now they attend them honor and reverence them yea fal at their very 〈◊〉 It was before men and drunkards now men and bretheren the world you see is wel amended but strangely altered It was said of John Baptist the fore-runner of our Savior and the scope of 〈◊〉 doctrine was mainly to prepare the way for the Lord it 's said of him that Elias is come and hath reformed al 〈◊〉 a new face 〈◊〉 frame in the profession of the Gospel Math. 17. 11. Turned the disobedient to the wisdom of the just men the hearts of children to the fathers that though they were so degenerate that Abraham would not own them had he been alive yet when the Ministery of John had hammered and melted them for the work of our Savior they became to be wholly altered their judgments altered and their carriage also For in truth the reason why men see not the loathsomness of other mens sins or else have not courage to pass a righteous sentence upon them It is because they were never convinced to see the Plague sore of their own corruptions never had their hearts affected with the evil of them in their own experience but their own Conscience was misled out of authority and stifled that it durst not outwardly condemn that which inwardly they could not but approve They therefore who either do not see their own evil or dare not proceed in open judgment to condemn they wil either not see or not pass a 〈◊〉 judgment upon others so Paul intimates to Agrippa Acts 26. 8. 9. let it not seem strange Oh King for I my self did think I should do many things against the name of Jesus which I also did q. d. whiles thou so 〈◊〉 thou wilt see as I 〈◊〉 and do as I did but after God had entered into 〈◊〉 with him and spoken dreadfully to his soul see 〈◊〉 is another man and of another mind he destroyed the Churches now takes care of them he that hated the name and Gospel of Jesus counts al things dung and dross for the excellent knowledg of Jesus the world is wel amended but its mervailously altered and therfore we have found this man a Pestilent fellow Acts 17. 16. he hath subdued the state of the world TERROR this shewes the dreadful and miserable condition of al those who after al the light that hath been let into their minds conviction into their 〈◊〉 horror into their hearts touching the evils that have been committed and come now to be discovered unto them they loath the light that hath layd open their evils distast those persons and preachers and Christians most that have dealt most plainly to descover the loathsomness of their distempers it shewes the 〈◊〉 corruption of the mind and heart that grows worst under the best means and cleaves most to its sins under al the choycest means that would pluck their sins from their heart and their heart from them they are either fools or mad men that 〈◊〉 endure the presence of the Physitian without whose help they could not be cured This is made an evidence 〈◊〉 the estrangment of Gods heart from a people and an immediate fore-runner of their ruin Isa. 9. 13. 14. 17. For this people turneth not unto him that smote them neither do they seek the Lord therefore the Lord wil cut off from Israel head tail branch ush one day therfore the Lord shal have no pify on their young men nor mercy on their fatherless for every one is an Hipocrite It takes away al pity in God al hopes in themselves of any good After Pharoah had many qualmes recoylings of spirit by Moses dealing with him the miracles which he had wrought for his repentance at last sides it with the hellish stiffness of his own stubborn heart so that he cannot endure the speech or presence of Moses any more Exod. 10. 28. get thee from me see my face no more for the day thou seest my face thou shalt die God sends ' Moses no more but sends his plagues to destroy his first born he wil not see the face of Moses he shal feel the fierceness of the wrath of the Lord. He that is truly pierced by the Ministry of the word he is buisy to enquire and ready to submit to the Ministers of God making known his mind therein They who never had thought of their own condition never craved nor cared for the counsel direction of any in the things of God as seeing no need of either but now the case is otherwise every mans heart is now ful of fears his mind sul of doubts and he is stored with questions they al with one mouth and one mind as one man that had but one heart they said one spake it but al consented q. d. that is al our cases that is al our de 〈◊〉 men and bretheren we can find no rest in our hearts nor resolution in our judgments we could not but come and seek and we shal be more glad to receive counsel and guidance from you So that broken heartedness doth two things which are the two Parts of the Doctrine 1. It makes men buisy to enquire 2. Ready to receive direction from Faithful Ministers A true fight and sence of a mans finful condition sets men upon the search awakens

men out of that senceless security in which they were buried makes them look about them puts them upon the serious consideration of their own spiritual condition not long before they scant thought whether they had louls to be saved or sins to be pardoned or mercy and grace to be looked after they never put it to the question what they could say or shew for heaven but now they begin to think with themselves what they are this is set forth to be the guise and behavior of converting sinners when God begins to tamper with the hearts for the alteration of their states Jer. 50. 4. In those dayes and at that time when God hath stirred their hearts to recover themselves out of the Babilonish Captivity Deliver thy self O Sion 〈◊〉 who dwellest with 〈◊〉 Daughter of Babilon See how they bestir themselves Going and weeping shall they go and 〈◊〉 the Lord their God weep stil and go stil sorrow stil and seek stil they who stirred not a foot before nor looked after the Lord nor their own happiness and comfort So it was with Ephraim when the Lord began to work his heart to a right apprehension of himself Jer. 31. 18. while he was in his Natural Condition he was like an untamed Bullock unacoustomed to the Yoke but when the Lord had taken him to task then he begins to 〈◊〉 with himself and betake himself to new thoughts verse 19. When I was turned I repented when I was instructed I smote upon my thigh Thus John Baptists Hearers when once the Word wrought kindly upon them it made them al busie and inquisitive even as one man Luke 3. 10. to 15. The People they came and asked the Publicans they enquired the rude Soldiers they also began to demand Master what shal we do This disposition of spirit set men a going who sat stil before as in a dream The covetous Publicans whose thoughts were after their gain how to compass their Commodities from every Quarter the rude and unruly Soldiers who cared for nothing nor thought of nothing but how to satisfie their own lusts and sult their own corrupt desires al was fish that came to net and the sottish multitude who meerly followed the sight of their eyes after a bruitish manner minded that which concerned the out ward man What shal we eat what shal we drink what shal we put on In likely hood had never a thought of God nor of themselves whether there were a Heaven to be expected or a Hel to be avoided but followed their present pleasures see now how serious and inquisitive they be they now conclude somthing must be done and they would willingly know what course they ought to take when God sets upon mens souls then they set upon their Service The Reasons are Two Because they now feel the evil they never feared before now they see the danger and misery hanging over their heads able to overwhelm them and sink their hearts which they never suspected formerly And therefore now not only Reason 〈◊〉 them but their own safety Nature and 〈◊〉 love wil force them to bestir themselves to the utmost of their strength and improve al their abilities to the utmost of their power to prevent such over-bearing evils and provide for 〈◊〉 own relief and welfare and so the more to use al diligence here because they are unknown and yet spiritual which concern their eternal estate and therefore cause most fear and threaten most hazard and therefore constrains them to seek 〈◊〉 and neer for succor and relief So it was with the Prodigal when he came to 〈◊〉 before he had not the right 〈◊〉 of his Reason nor conceived of things as they were but as frantick men fal into fire and water and fear nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but now being come to the 〈◊〉 of his understanding he considers How many Servants are in my Fathers Family that have bread enough and I 〈◊〉 with hunger Luke 15. 17. then he 〈◊〉 himself I will arise and go to my Father and say c. So it is with many prodigal 〈◊〉 deluded Creatures they spend time and strength and lay out themselves 〈◊〉 nothing and therefore fear no after-claps until the time of Famine and day of 〈◊〉 and horror come in upon them they never saw need of reading hearing prayer seeking and enquiry but now when they find themselves besieged with sins and plagues and dayly expect the execution to be done Heaven frowning Hell gaping their Consciences 〈◊〉 and themselves dropping down to the Grave and their souls to Hell they think it high time and more than time to bestir themselves to do what they can and to cry for help and direction in so desperate distresses and danger I wil arise and go confer I wil arise and go enquire I wil arise and go pray The whol need not the Physitian therefore they do not send nor yet are they willing to receive nor care to enquire or take any Physick but when the Difease grows fierce and life is in danger then post out Messengers 〈◊〉 far and neer for a Physitian search every bush enquire of every man what might be good what have you 〈◊〉 what would you advise So here Thus God dealt with his People when he would awaken them Hos. 5. last In their affliction they will seek me early then Hos. 6. 1. Come let us return to the Lord he hath wounded and he will heal The full soul loaths the Honey Comb but never looks out for provision but the 〈◊〉 soul that is now starving runs if he can if he cannot run he wil go if he 〈◊〉 go he wil creep enquires where he may have food uses all means to get he wil buy or beg or borrow So here c. They begin now to see the folly of their own conceits and that confidence which in former times they had how easily they could procure their own comfort and how certainly without fail they could provide for the 〈◊〉 of their own souls and everlasting happiness they said it and thought what they said that there needs not so much 〈◊〉 to get to Heaven at the time of 〈◊〉 and before their departure draw on it 's but bewading 〈◊〉 sins and seeking to God for mercy Oh but when it comes too they 〈◊〉 another 〈◊〉 matter of it than ever formerly they did 〈◊〉 they 〈◊〉 at an utter loss with themselves they know not what 〈◊〉 to take which 〈◊〉 to turn they know not poor Creatures how to come at a Christ nay how to 〈◊〉 him how to attain 〈◊〉 pardon or peace And therefore now though 〈◊〉 late it may be they see they know not what to do or how to turn their hand to any spiritual work which in pride of heart said and concluded they could 〈◊〉 any thing They are made of nothing but doubts and questions If thou 〈◊〉 est the gift of God thou would'st ask of him and he would give thee

Water of Life John 4. 10. Thou knowest not that thou art poor and wretched and 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 Rev. 3. 17. Those that are ignorant of the way wil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any man ask of any child So a soul under 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ignorances wil enquire of any Christian ask of any Minister that may direct him in the way he should take This Doctrine is a Bill of Inditement against a world of ungodly men who live in the Church who may here read their doom and the dreadfulness of their own condition discovered beyond all denial namely to be such who as yet were never troubled never so much as touched with a through sight and sence of their own baseness and cursed corruptions of their Natures and lives they are so far from being broken by the Truth and batterred al to pouder by the power of an Ordinance that indeed the day is yet to come that they 〈◊〉 any 〈◊〉 blow from the 〈◊〉 Word of the Lord 〈◊〉 on upon their Consciences by the hand and good Spirit of the Almighty and that is evidenced out of the 〈◊〉 had they received the like impression with these Converts they would have been 〈◊〉 upon the like practice with them had their spirits been broken as theirs they would have been as 〈◊〉 to seek out for succor and relief as 〈◊〉 do but alas this duty appears not scant in the lives of men therefore this 〈◊〉 is far enough 〈◊〉 their hearts If thou had'st been sick as they thou would'st have enquired of the Physitian as they but where is the man almost that hath put the Quare to his own Conscience propounded the Question seriously to others out of the sence of his own want for to make narrow search of his own estate ' Men and Brethren what shall I do He never saw need to do any thing nor had heart to do any thing men therefore had never desire nor endeavor to seek direction when he hath been loth that men should put him to pains and press him to diligence and doing in this behalf They make it a matter superfluous and needless trouble thus to be taken up what needs all this ado say they and therefore they are willing to sit down with ease but do nothing they are setled upon their dregs and endure not stirring it 's a kind of Hell and like the appearance of Death to be pressed to diligent inquiry to make their Calling sure 2 Pet. 1. 11. The state of the World is somwhat like that which the Angels express upon the proof they had when they went to survey the frame of things Zach. 〈◊〉 11. We have walked to and fro through the Earth and behold all the Earth sits still and in at rest Walk we from one Plantation to another from one Society to another nay which is yet a further misery from one Assembly to another all the Earth sits still and is at rest there is no stirring no trading in Christianity men cheapen not enquire not after the purchase of the precious things of the Gospel what shall I do to be quit of my self what shall I do to be severed from my sins which have pestered me so long prejudiced my peace so much and if it continue wil be my ruin As though Christ were taking the Charter of the Gospel from the present Generation and were removing the Markes there is no stirring Trade is dead men come dead and sit so and return so unto their Habitations there is deep silence 〈◊〉 shal not hear a word What spiritual good they get what they need or what they desire men are willing to do nothing and therefore they wil not enquire what they should do certain it is the Word never wrought kindly upon thee nor prevailed with that carnal and hard heart of thine to this day in any saving 〈◊〉 for thy spiritual good thou never knewest what it was to be loft 〈◊〉 thou never had'st a stir of heart to enquire the way to Sion it 's made an Argument of a man in the bonds of 〈◊〉 in the depth of his 〈◊〉 distemper 〈◊〉 3. 11. They have no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do they seek after God and it 's made an evidence of Satans Rule Luke 11. 21. When 〈◊〉 strong 〈◊〉 keeps the Pallace all his goods are at peace but when a stronger comes and 〈◊〉 him he takes from him all his Armor wherein be trusts and divides the spoil The House and Pallace is the Heart and Spirit of a sinner his 〈◊〉 and Furniture are all those noysom lusts by which he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and exerciseth 〈◊〉 power in the sinner and as the Apostle saith fighteth against the soul as despair is the Head-piece unrighteous and careless and unconscionable walking is the 〈◊〉 carnal Reason the Sword Unbelief the Shield and an indisposition of heart to yield to the terms 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 is that whereby the sinner is prepared to walk in the way of 〈◊〉 his feet shod sit for every evil work While Satan is 〈◊〉 furnished with the Armor of Darkness all his goods are at peace he doth without any trouble act the soul and wrong the Comfort and happiness of the soul and so the Honor of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his goods it 's all he desires endeavors takes as the gain of his Labor and Diligence in his Temptations Doth Satan act thee by his Temptations and so encrease both thy guilt and ruin thereby 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 his goods in peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy wo thy 〈◊〉 is Satans wealth and substance he hath what he 〈◊〉 and doth what he will and thou art not troubled with any thing nor wilt trouble him by seeking out for relief and deliverance enquirest 〈◊〉 what thou mayest do to be rescued and 〈◊〉 know Satan hath his Armor on and he seeks thy heart as his Pallace under his Soveraign Power and Command to this day nor is there any preparation nor the 〈◊〉 inkling or intimation of 〈◊〉 of that wretched 〈◊〉 of thine thou 〈◊〉 in this secure condition as one that meddles not hast nothing to do with the things of Grace and Life As it was said Judges 17. 7. of the men of 〈◊〉 who dwelt careless quiet and secure far from the Zidonians and had no business with man It 's a Picture of this 〈◊〉 temper and secure condition of thine thou 〈◊〉 far from the state and grace of Glory thou hast no business with Christians with Ordinances Officers thou hast nothing to say or to demand touching eternal Life thou knowest nothing yet enquirest not what thou should'st do hast nothing yet 〈◊〉 not for help and succor thou hast no business that appertains to Heaven with any man living thy business lies not with the Word and the Lord and his Word have as little to do with thee that shews thy heart is not there nor thy portion there As each mans affection and expression of himself is where his imployment lies as 〈◊〉 as a Bee they carry their businesses in

Isa. 66. 3. I wil look saith the Lord i. e. with a gracious look of mercy upon this man that trembles at my word that trembles at a counsel least he should despise it at commands promises least he should not receive them The Lord is terrible out of his holy places When the terror of the truth of God is fallen upon the soul then what ever exhortations directions come from the word he dares not resist or gainsay but submit and fal under the wil of God made known there then a man wil fear to go from under a command as to go to hell it self EXAMINATION we may hence know whether ever the word hath wrought kindly and left this impression of broken heartedness this is a never fayling evidence As thy subjection is to the word so thy contrition is If the word hath pierced thee the word wil awe thee 1 Thes. 1. 6. Our Gospel came not in word but in power and ye became followers of us and of the Lord. Did the word over-power thy heart then thou art a follower of the faithful Ministers of God who left those impressions upon thy soul the word is mighty through God and brings every thought into the obedience of Christ hence 2 Cor. 8. 5. they gave up themselves to the Lord and then to us by the wil of God so far as they set forth the Goverment of Christ. This fals heavy upon two sorts Those that are open rebells sons of Belial that acknowledg no Lord no Law what to tremble at every word that is delivered No they are not such Babies c. Conspirators and traitors that pretend and profess subjection and yet maintain rebellion in their hearts they yield fainedly but when it comes to reallity to stoop to the authority of the truth they wil not these are traitors to the truth 〈◊〉 the Swissers wil be enemies when they cannot serve their own turns and friends when they do 〈◊〉 the Papists in England they are content to take the benefit of the Law but when it comes to take the oath of Allegiance they wil by no means do it because they are sworn Vassels to the Pope or Pensioners to the King of Spain though they equivocate to serve their own turns so these when they come to take the oath of Allegiance to set up Christ as supream in their hearts and minds to submit to the power of the truth then they take up armes against Christ and his word and wil not submit This is the evidence of a servant of sin Rom. 6. 17. when men receive the power of the Gospel they are not servants of sin else they are Psal. 45. 5. a man that wil not fal before the truth the arrows of Christ never stuck fast in his heart What shal we do We have done with the parties to whom the complaint was made men and brethren c. The complaint it self is ful of bitterness some things are implyed in it some things expressed That which is implyed in this complaint may be attended in four particulars Their ignorance and inability how to help themselves An absolute necessity to come 〈◊〉 of this condition which now they find themselves in A secret hope to receive advice and relief from the Apostles The price and excellency they now put upon the 〈◊〉 from their sins for this is the end of their request that which is supposed and implyed as the end of their complaint namely to bedelivered from that which was the plague sore of their souls and did so extremely pierce and pinch them That which the jalour in the like case did openly mention and these also did intend Sirs what shal I do to be saved Acts. 16. 30. namely from those sins which now overwhelm his soul. Sinners in distress of Conscience are ignorant and unable to help themselves The manner of the speech proclaimes so much to each mans experience at the very first inckling and hearing of it They speak as men at their wits end what shal we do we know not what to do it 's beyond our skil and above our reach either to bear or avoyd to make an escape from his sins and the plagues due therunto As Ruben said when he went down into the pit found not his Brother Joseph there being sold before he returned to his bretheren the child is not I whither shal I go Gen. 37. 30. So it is with the soul in distress of Conscience seeing it self forsaken of God Because he hath forsaken him by his backslidings and departures God is gone my God is not to this poor soul and I 〈◊〉 shal I go whither shal I look if to heaven there justice wil reject and condemn me if to hell there the Devils are ready to torment should I take the wings of the morning fly to the utmost parts of the earth there the wrath of the Almighty shal pursue and if I look into my own soul there is a Conscience to accuse 〈◊〉 a hell of horror to confound me for ever We know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 way to take 〈◊〉 we are 〈◊〉 of our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 makes it more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know 〈◊〉 how to get either relief or release We are at a loss 〈◊〉 our 〈◊〉 we are at a loss in our thoughts how we may find succor and deliverance you 〈◊〉 are the seers of Israel shew us the way of help Paul acknowledgeth as much at his first Conversion Acts 9. 6. when the Lord had met him and discovered the evil and 〈◊〉 of his way he then conceived he did not wel and yet could not conceive what to do Lord what wilt thou have me to do I do not know and therefore I cannot tel how to do thy wil nor yet how to procure mine own peace When the Israelites were driven to perplexities by the expression of Gods 〈◊〉 against their 〈◊〉 carriage in chusing themselves a King and 〈◊〉 cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 us for we have sinned 1 Sam. 12. 〈◊〉 they durst not go to the Throne of Grace themselves but forced out of guilt and horror they were ready to go the wrong way and therefore Samuel by seasonable prevention stops their passage Ye have sinned yet turn not aside from following the Lord q. d. the distressed sinner as a Traveller in amazement when they have once missed their way the further they go the further they go aside Reasons are Two The 〈◊〉 of Grace and Life unto which men are to turn at the times of their Conversion they are hidden and secret and men in their Natural Condition when the Lord is pleased first to stop their passage and build a wall before them they are wholly unacquainted with the narrow path that 〈◊〉 to Christ and life by reason of that inbred blindness of their minds and the dayly 〈◊〉 of their lives and that from their 〈◊〉 For 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 part of the description of the Grace 〈◊〉 to enter in at the straight gate for straight 〈◊〉

a whit the worse and the Lord loves him never a whit the less because his pressures and sorrows 〈◊〉 upon him but that is the season of Gods saving health 〈◊〉 is most neer when there is most need and our 〈◊〉 makes way for the enlargement of his love and mercy to us Joseph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prison land God is with him with his in the fire 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 not and the Waters that they drown 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Isa. 43. 2. God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. 25. 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 is seven times 〈◊〉 and the three children 〈◊〉 into it then the Son of God 〈◊〉 visibly with them in the 〈◊〉 thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 all manner of 〈◊〉 then God doth al manner of good for great 〈◊〉 your reward in Heaven So that what the Apostle enjoyns the sinner now finds true by proof that we have reason to count it all joy when we fall into many temptations James 1 2 3 4. For in al those wants which out 〈◊〉 befal become 〈◊〉 and intire and want nothing spiritually and 〈◊〉 the contrite is content to bear these when he finds they do not hinder the happiness of the soul. He now finds that the presence of his sins only poysons all the Comforts he hath with a curse and 〈◊〉 off the Hope and Expectation of any blessing from the hand of the Lord in al the Dispensations in the waies of Providences or Ordinances towards him nothing can prosper Why transgress ye the Commandement of the Lord for ye cannot prosper Sin stops the passage and puts him beyond al possibility of 〈◊〉 or good 〈◊〉 to be extended towards him sor the Lords determination is past and it 's peremptory there is no peace to the wicked saies my God Isai. 57. 21. he hath said it the word is past out of his mouth and no 〈◊〉 can 〈◊〉 it You know what a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Messenger the thing was so reasonable What! peace so long as the 〈◊〉 of thy mother 〈◊〉 remain Jos. 7. 12. It 's that which the Lord professeth so peremptory I 〈◊〉 be with you no more except you destroy the 〈◊〉 thing from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 his blessing and 〈◊〉 in al the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 is the meaning he would not be with 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 Warring in 〈◊〉 going forth and coming in he wil not be with them in 〈◊〉 in receiving praying improving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shal not work Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 place a man 〈◊〉 have them but no 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 no Spirit with 〈◊〉 no Blessing upon them no good from them at al. That which poysons al the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay in truth the evil of al evils with it He now finds the removal of 〈◊〉 would set open the floodgate of the infinite favor and goodness of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in amain upon the 〈◊〉 Jer. 5. 24. your 〈◊〉 with-hold good things from you God doth not with-hold them or keep them from us 〈◊〉 onely through the desert of our sins his arm is not 〈◊〉 that he cannot help nor his 〈◊〉 heavy 〈◊〉 he cannot hear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power that he cannot nor mercy that he wil not help It s his desire Oh that there were such a heart in them that they might fear me and keep my commandements that it may go wel with them and theirs for ever 〈◊〉 5. 29. Nay he hath taken a sollemn oath As I live saith the Lord I desire not the 〈◊〉 of a sinner but that he 〈◊〉 repent and live 〈◊〉 18. 32. so that he wants not mercy but we want 〈◊〉 unworthy of the mercy he tenders uncapable Yea unwilling to receive the grace he offers Oh 〈◊〉 man that wil let him come and 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 of life freely Rev. 22. 17. If you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it God wil give 〈◊〉 and no man wants it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it s he that wil have it and it s his corruption that keeps him that he 〈◊〉 not nay is not subject nay would not be made able to receive this mercy Come out of them my people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and touch not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he offers himself readily I 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 God I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and walk with them he wil constantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comfort them by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cor. 6. 18. 19. He wil walk up and down see their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for them answerable to al their needs and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which brings 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we should prize as a good 〈◊〉 above al 〈◊〉 things we should prize it INSTRUCTION We here seethe 〈◊〉 why the most men in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Physitian never looked for 〈◊〉 because they were never sensible of their thraldom c. REPROOF A bil of inditement to accuse and 〈◊〉 thousands giving in evidence that they never 〈◊〉 the work of God upon their souls Two sorts especially The secure sinner who is so far from seeking and coveting deliverance that he wil not take it when it s offered but is content to be in the prison of his natural condition and to lye in the boults and 〈◊〉 of his sins stil. Of this temper were those Jews in captivity that had so long lived in Babilon they were content to remain there when liberry was proclaimed and the way opened deliver thy self O Zion thou that dwellest with the daughter of Eabilon Zach. 2. 7. yet they stayed behind in Captivity stil so it is with many a sluggish 〈◊〉 he is content to perish rather then do any thing to deliver himself he blesseth himself in his misery and so is a devoted slave to the Devil as Exo. 21. 6. If when the servant had his liberty to go out free he said plainly I love my Master I wil not go out free then his ear was to be bored with an awl and he was to be his servant for ever the boaring of his ear did signify his yielding obedience to the Command of another So when Christ comes to set a man at liberty offers mercy and grace and pardon if a man then say I love my master Pride perversness and Idleness let me have and live in my sins if God say Amen thou art a bond servant of 〈◊〉 for ever thou 〈◊〉 a miserable 〈◊〉 creature for ever The sluggish professor or hypocrite that hath had some conviction of his sins and remembrance of the stings of his distempers and some promises and purposes of amendment the blow is no sooner over but al is at an end lazy prayers and feeble endeavours but when it comes to the poynt he wil do nothing he wil give you the hearing of counsels and admonitions you would think the man were in a very

which they would not be brought to see in the dayes of their folly Then send for such and such who have been deeply wronged by me for such who have been corrupted by my example The evil counsel that I have given the loathsom carriages and unsavory language and speeches that I have expressed those subtil insinuations and baits that I have layd to entice and entangle them I desire now that God would pardon and they forgive yea such who have been ringleaders to their wicked and leud courses they were not able to abide their persons and practice either take him away or remove me hence sayes the sick party thus they brought their 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 them openly in the view of all when once God brought their hearts to a through sight and sorrow for their sin Acts. 19. 19. Sometimes upon the place of execution God constrains me 〈◊〉 vomit out their wretchedness to leave shame upon themselves and to 〈◊〉 their 〈◊〉 for a reproach and 〈◊〉 behind them and to confess now to be condemned when they would not confess in humility to seek and receive 〈◊〉 to be pardoned Oh beware by my example that you never rebel against Parents reject the counsel and 〈◊〉 of Governors that was my sin hath been my bane and made me rush on headily to mine own ruin and confusion Nay Secondly If the commission of them were private and yet they be made publick by 〈◊〉 way in a course of providence stil God calls for confession answerable as the season shal require and opportunity 〈◊〉 As suppose a mans secret fact come to open view either by others care or by the weakness of any according to my defect in al these cases open acknowledgment is requisite as for instance in the severals The house is broke the goods stoln conveyed and hid at length the owner sees chalengeth pursues him in the open court of Justice and yet righteously and that which was cunningly carryed before comes now openly to be censured again suppose that there is an offence given to a brother in Church Covenant and while the 〈◊〉 is in 〈◊〉 and depending between them 〈◊〉 the party offended against the rule of our savior carelesly and 〈◊〉 relates this to several persons some without some within the Church and they also report it heedlesly to others so that it growes common and the report publick though they of the Church for the rule of our Savior binds them properly because they have power to reforme or prevent evil and doth not in many cases reach others out of that relation though they I say did sinfully and disorderly make it publick yet this is ground sufficient for a gracious heart and that according to Gods Command to 〈◊〉 the open shame of the evil as seeing Gods hand so pursuing of him for purposes best known to his Majesty for the reality and venom of the scandal issues properly from his sin though the report came occasionally and disorderly from others Since then the Scandal goes so far and the hurt like to be so common by means of his sin it 's requisite the salve should be as large as the sore that the report of the confession for the recovery of the evil may go as far as the infection hath done by the report of the evil committed Nay if through my just desert it be made publick when private Counsels take not place nor admonitions awe nor reasons prevail when no private means that the Lord Jesus hath appointed 〈◊〉 have been improved do good but that they are constrained to appeal to the publick this shews the strength of the distemper and the danger of it and therefore the sinner needs more deeply to be affected with it and with greater shame and sorrow to bewail it As when the Offender wil not hear one nor yet two or three that the stiffness and obstinacy grows so high that the Brethren are constrained to call in the help of the whol Congregation and our Savior is constrained to raise the whol Army the Body of the Church to make head against an evil it argues the corruption grows malignant and deadly and the condition dangerous and desperate and therefore the Confession must be suitable must 〈◊〉 in soak and be of more than usual efficacy or else it wil in reason be no way satisfactory Touching private sins In case of wrong and injury that is done betwixt man and man miscarriages are expressed between party and party in the dayly occasions of their lives in which they are to deal one with another The Apostles Rule is plain and pregnant without doubt and dispute James 5. 16. Confess your sins one to another and pray one for another In our common converse miscarriages commonly break out and appear either harsh unkind discourteous or injurious carriages men should not slight such evils and sit down carelesly for the healing or removing of them but be as careful to apply the Cure as men are heedless to avoid the sin get a heart consciencious and ready to 〈◊〉 those evils and that constantly as we are ready to commit and practice them else our prayers and our comforts wil be prejudiced which by this advice may be quickened and enlarged each for others 〈◊〉 for while we commit offences and not 〈◊〉 we set our hearts and 〈◊〉 at a distance one from another and therefore we cannot pray so affectionately and 〈◊〉 as otherwise we would did 〈◊〉 see the hearts of our 〈◊〉 so easily coming in to the Authority of the Truth and so affectionately carried against the sinful 〈◊〉 of their own souls This 〈◊〉 the ground of that so 〈◊〉 a warning which our Savior suggests Matth. 5. 23 24. When thou 〈◊〉 to offer thy Sacrifice and remembrest that thy Brother hath 〈◊〉 against thee i e. hath any just exception against any sinful miscarriage go first and be reconciled and then come and offer Touching secret sins there is the 〈◊〉 difficulty how to discern when a party is called of God to make confession thereof For Answer there be Three Rules which may serve for our right information therein If the Lord shall as he hath promised in his holy Word seal up the acceptation of our persons and the pardon of our sins as it seems good to his Will when we shall make confession thereof unto himself we then need not 〈◊〉 in truth we should not make confession of our secret sins to man First 〈◊〉 it is God may yea many times nay most usually doth evidence the 〈◊〉 of our sins unto our souls when we humbly and unfeignedly bewail them unto himself So the Apostle John concludes it as beyond question 1 〈◊〉 1-2 last verse If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to clense us from all iniquity nay we shal not only have forgiveness granted in Heaven but evidenced to our hearts on Earth Prov. 28. 13. He that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy If a mans

As the Magicians in Egipt professed touching the liee that wonder which the Lord then expressed though it were in a thing very little and despicable to the eye yet they confessed this the 〈◊〉 finger of God they were not able to turn their hand to that work So dost thou upon through search find this disposition of spirit that thou dost see that infinite loathsomness in thy corruptions and in thy heart being taynted therewith so noysom the plague sore of sin and thy soul and self so defiled with running provocations thereof that in truth thou art loath to see thy heart to own it or to have it which hath nothing but loathsomness in it and conceivest thou art worthy indeed others should judg so of thee as thou judgest of thy self how ever this frame of spirit may seem mervailous mean and despicable in the eye of the world know thou mayest and conclude thou shouldst this is the very finger of God flesh and blood hath not revealed this hath not wrought this in thee but the spirit which is from God That which is at ods with al the excellency that is flesh and blood that which is opposite to it and tramples upon the glory and pride of it that must needs be more than flesh and blood Ezek. 16. 2. last I wil establish my covenant and thou shal know I am the Lord thou shalt know me and own me and beleeve in me as thy God and thy Lord then thou shalt remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame When God sets open the fountain of his free grace in the soul these streams wil follow Hence then this doctrine brings in a heavy inditement against sundry sorts of men and gives undeniable evidence that as yet they never knew what it was to be broken-hearted for sin or turned savingly from sin the stupid sencelessness of whose spirits is wholly uncapable of this holy blush and confusion of face and heart First of those who through the hardness of their hearts by their constant custome and continuance in their sin are beyond the sence of it or shame for it whose faces are settled and their consciences seared with a hot iron so that there is no sting at al or check that 〈◊〉 them but 〈◊〉 a seared part is without sence or feeling they practice their wret chedness and profess it are convinced of it and go away not touched nor troubled with it shrink not retire not with any sence of fear or shame for what they have done such are never like to see the filth of their sins before they see them by the flames of the fierceness of Gods wrath in the fire of hell of this helish temper were those forlorn creatures Jer. 8. 6. I hearkend and heard but no man repented him saying what have I done they take not their sins into consideration nor attend the danger but every man turned to his own course as the horse rusheth into the battle nothing stops them or affrights them v. 12. were they ashamed when they committed abomination nay they were not at al ashamed neither could they be ashamed their minds were wholly 〈◊〉 they did not see the vileness of their sins and their hearts hardened they could not be sensible of them so the Prophet Isa. compluins chap. 3. 9. they declare 〈◊〉 sin as Sodom they commit evil openly and they are bold and brazen-faced to persist in what they do commit they sear not who know it and they shame not to own it I knew saith the Lord thy brow was brass and thy neck like an iron sinnew the heart buckles not it s an iron sinnew the face blusheth 〈◊〉 its brass harlot-like Another sort who are so far from bearing the shame they do deserve that out of their impudency they do rather cast shame upon the truth itself that would discover their sin and so the messenger that brings it Thus out of this devilish wretchedness and 〈◊〉 they dare to flout God to his face and cast scorn and contempt upon the truth rather than they wil lye under contempt themselves and therefore it is the prophet looks at it as desperate beyond hope or help Hos. 4. 4. let no man strive with another or reprove him for this people are as they that strive with the priest they contemn him and his repro of so far are they srom being content to take it or the due shame which it discovers of this stamp were those impudent scorners who jeared the Prophet to his face and made a jeast of the threatnings he delivered Isa. 22. 12. In the day the Lord called to weeping and mourning and baldness and to girding with sackcloath and behold joy and gladness slaying of oxen and killing of sheep let us eat and drink for to morow we shal dye q. d. do you not hear the dreadful threatning that Isaiah hath denounced do ye not expect to dye masters do not your hearts shake within you to hear such tidings let us not dye fasting we wil take our meat sure before our enemies take away our lives if we must dy as the prophet saith let us be merry before our death It were revealed to me saies the Prophet from the Lord of hosts surely this iniquity shal not be purged from you til you dye that is never so tel the rebellious servant of his or her rugged carriage unruly language that they have tongues set on fire of hel 〈◊〉 in wording of it slighting and gainsaying Titus 2. 9. Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters to please them wel in al things not answering again because they are stopped from answering frampfully therefore they wil not modestly and in meekness of wisdom ask counsel and direction from a Governor wish them ask your Mistres enquire of your Master no no I must not speak I promise you would I were Governor they cannot sin they must be pleased in al things whether they please God or no. Thus because their devillish heart cannot bear the truth they flout the truth and cast it away in a scorn as though they should say you may see what sweet rules the scripture gives for the Government of servants nay how unequal and unreasonable they be which is such hideous and hellish blasphemy that the heart of Belzebub in his cold blood would blush to vent it These two sorts out of a stupid impudency are not capable of 〈◊〉 there be two other sorts that out of subtilty of pride are unwilling to bear it such are those who in the third ranck seek up 〈◊〉 shameful hidings that may be imagined strugle as for life to the utmost of their power and policie that they may shift off the shame and make an escape from under that righteous reproach and contempt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vileness of their carriages have justly brought upon themselves sometimes in silence burying and hiding of it As Judah his incest Gen. 38. 23. When he sent the kid

wil pass the sentence of shame upon it as the just fruit of our evil doings and as a means so sanctified to work a hatred against it in our selves and to remove the scandal of it from others and therefore strives not by restless cavils and evasions to make an escape from the evidence of the Word in the work of Conviction when a mans errors should be discovered nor yet doth repine at nor bear a privy grudg after the conviction lies not under the Truth as the 〈◊〉 upon the rack which he therefore bears not because indeed he cannot help himself against it with all the troublesom 〈◊〉 he can use but his soul inwardly approves of that word which judgeth his person and practice vile as himself doth Thus the word in the Original which sign sies confession properly 〈◊〉 to speak as God speaks to judg as God judgeth of his sin this hath been the constant guize of the Saints touched sincerely with remorse for their sin A word snibs David Thou art the man presently I have sinned saith he A wink or a look of the Lord Jesus makes Peter lie at his foot Go out and weep bitterly who had immediately before in a faithless cowardice basely denied him As it is with a Steed of a tender mouth feels his Bit 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 check of the Rider staies him turns him which way he wil So it is with a tender Conscience fals under the greatest shame that the least evidence of Argument wil check him withal So Ezekiah though i. were a sharp word and the threatening 〈◊〉 Isai. 39. last yet saies he The Word of the Lord is a good Wond my heart is naught my carriage naught my apprehensions naught and erroneous but the Word of the Lord is good and the holy Apostle in that inward combate speaks in the Name of all the Saints in the like case Rom. 7. 14. For we know that the Law is spiritual holy and good WE i. e. all that know God the work of his Grace the purity of the Truth they and I and al confess the Law is Spiritual that is for ever to be honored loved obeyed but I am carnal a good and holy Law but an evil and unholy heart true it is that carnal and hollow-hearted Hypocrites may somtimes have their Consciences so far awed with the Soveraign power of the Truth that they may yield 〈◊〉 thereunto and in outward appearance readily profess their approbation thereof with the condemnation of themselves and their own courses because they have no other way to gain ease and quiet to their own Consciences now clamoring against them or their acceptance with men their carriages being gross and inexcusable and therefore must so far bear the shame because he sees he cannot excuse his folly or sin being so open but he shal be accounted impudent in denying and sinning but al this while his heart is carried with an inward distast against it and by a privy spleen imbittered so as to conspire secretly the disparagement of it As it fared with those treacherous Jews when they saw no way and therefore had no hope to take away the life of Paul by open violence then they did cunningly plot it by a color of fair pretence and carried it thus Acts 23. 14. They would have him brought down out of the Castle as though they would enquire somthing more perfectly of him and we ere ever he come neer will be ready to kill him So these fals-hearted Creatures make it by their 〈◊〉 pretences that they would enquire more perfectly concerning the Truth the Servant craves Counsel how he should subdue the ruggedness of his Spirit the froward wife how she should overcome her way ward peevish 〈◊〉 they wil enquire more perfectly as though they would obey perfectly submit perfectly be perfect Servants wives c. But alas there is a conspiracy in their hearts against the strict waies of God So it was with Balaam he hath never done sacrificing to enquire the wil of God and yet his heart inwardly opposeth and resists his wil and this shewed it self in open violence and contempt of the Command and Charge Numb 24. 1. A heart content to take the shame is not offended with the party friend or enemy that wil lay the shame upon him he knows it is the burden which he ought to 〈◊〉 and if therefore any man wil give him a lift and help him to take it up he wil take it kindly at his hands It 's against common sence to conceive that one should be offended with another or take it grievously that he doth any thing which he knows would and he conceives wil give him content No man can be offended in Reason with the party for such a carriage or doing such a thing wherein he is contented and with which he is pleased True it is shame in it self is exceeding distastful to flesh and blood and in truth nothing more cross and contrary to an ingenious spirit Praise is the priviledg and prerogative of a reasonable Agent who acts by Counsel and therefore other Creatures are not so capable of it nor do we give it as their due we commend not the fire for burning heavy things for falling donward they cannot but do their work and therefore no praise no thanks to them for their deed but Agents as Men and Angels who work by Counsel who have wit and wisdom to contrive several waies conceive the best and wil and care to follow that when they might have done other out of their liberty Shame therefore crossing a man in his special priviledg his proper free hold it must in it self be very grievous and a tedious burden but as he sees his duty in it and the good that comes by it and withal his just desert by reason of his vileness he is not offended with the presence of the Chirurgeon but he is glad to see him and his 〈◊〉 though sharp and 〈◊〉 which may lance his imposthume and so save his 〈◊〉 whenas a naughty heart who would not have another take away his 〈◊〉 he is vexed inwardly at the least that he laies the shame and disparagement upon him for it See this odds in those two Kings Ahab and 〈◊〉 the one a self-seeking deluded 〈◊〉 when he was under the whip and terror of Gods stroak and wrath he then humbles his soul fasts and praies and that in print as it were acts his part in that extraordinary duty with outward 〈◊〉 and therefore in reason it cannot but be conceived he bewailed his sin confessed his failings and yet he that hated Elijah 1 Kings 21. 20. he hates also Micaiah 1 Kings 22. 8. There is yet one Micaiah q. d. We are rid of the most of them but yet One is our vexation and I hate him because he hates my sin and wil never speak good that is speak that which pleaseth my corruption and therefore displeaseth me But good Jehosaphat he was not willing to hear his words

a proud heart he must labor to humble him he must apply a salve fitting for the sore 2. And he must be faithful in keeping secret the sin that is laid open to him that nothing may fly abroad no not after his death except it be in some cases Now what remains but that you al be moved to take up this duty and provoke your hearts freely to confess your evil wayes to which purpose let me give you three motives First because it is a very honourable thing and wil exceedingly promote the cause of a Christian you wil hardly yield to this on the sudden a man thinks that if the Minister knew his vileness he wil abhor him for it but I assure you bretheren then is nothing that doth more set forth the honor of a Christian and win the love of a Minister than this Indeed it is a shame to commit sin but no shame to confess sin upon good grounds nay when the heart comes kindly off its 〈◊〉 to see how a faithful Minister wil approve of such persons his love is so great towards them Oh saith the Minister it did me good to hear that man confess so freely I hope the Lord hath wrought kindly in him certainly now he is in the way to happiness Oh how I love him I could be 〈◊〉 to put that man in my bosom whereas this overly and loos dealing of yours is loathsom to us do you think we perceive it not yes we may feel it with our fingers and when you are gone I tel you what we thinke surely that man is an 〈◊〉 he hath an hollow heart he is not willing to take shame to himself for his sin his confession never came to the bottom 〈◊〉 is a 〈◊〉 of great 〈◊〉 I take this to be the onely cause why many a man goes troubled and gets neither comfort in the pardon 〈◊〉 his sin nor strength against it 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 not off kindly in this 〈◊〉 of confession when you do nakedly open your sins to a faithful Minister you go out in battle against sin and you have a second in the field to stand by you but especially there is comfort in this particular 〈◊〉 the Minister wil discover the lusts and deceits of your heart which you could not find out and he wil lay open the 〈◊〉 of Satan and that means of comsort that you never knew I am able to speak it by experience this hath broke the neck of many a soul even because he would go out in single combat against Satan and do what he could not revealing himself to others for help was overthrown for ever As it is with the impostumed part of a mans body when a man lets out some of the corrupt matter and so skins it over never healing it to the bottom at last it cankers inwardly and comes to a gangrene and the part must be cut off or else a man is in danger of his life so when you let out some corruptions by an overly confession but suffer some bosom lust to remain stil as malice or uncleanness c. then the soul cankers and Satan takes possession of it and the soul is carried into fearful abominations Many have fallen foully and lived long in their sins and al because they would not confess freely therefore as you desire to find out the deceitfulness of your corruptions confess them from the bottom of your souls This open and free confession may maintain the secrecy of the soul for the onely way to have a mans sins covered is to confess them that so they may 〈◊〉 be brought upon the stage before al the world Oh saith one this is contrary to common reason we are afraid to have our sins known that is our trouble we keep our sins close because we would preserve our honor I say the onely way for Secrecy is to reveal our sins to some faithful Minister for if we confess our sins God wil cover them if you take shame to your selves God wil honor you but if you wil not confess your sins God wil break open the dore of your hearts and let in the light of his truth and the convicting power of his spirit and make it known to men and Angels to the shame of your persons for ever If Judas had taken notice of his sin and yeelded to Christs accusation and desired some conference with Christ privately and said good Lord I am that Judas that hel-hound that have received mercy from thee in the outward means and have been entertained among thy people yet it is I that have taken the thirty pence Lord pardon this sin and let this iniquitie never be 〈◊〉 to my charge I doubt not but though Judas his soul could not be saved because that now we know Gods decree of him yet God would have saved him from the publick shame that was cast upon him for it but he did not so but hid his malice in his heart and professed great matters of love to Christ and killed him thus he thought to cover his 〈◊〉 wisey but what become of that the Lord forced him to come and throw down his thirty pieces and to vomit out his sin to the everlasting shame of his person I have sinned sayes he in betraying innocent blood So you that keep your sins as sugar under your tongues you wil be loos and unclean and malicious and covetous stil wel you wil have your thirty pieces stil and they are layed up safe as Achans wedg of gold 〈◊〉 remember this God wil one day open the closets of your hearts and lay you upon your death-beds and then happily you wil prove mad and vomit up al were it not better to confess your sins to some faithful Minister now If you wil not give the Lord his glory he wil distrain for it and have it from your heart blood as Julian the Apostat said when the arrow was shot into his heart he plucked it 〈◊〉 and cryed saying Thou Galilean thou hast overcome me the Lord distrained for his glory and had it out of his heart blood We are now come to the last Doctrine layd forth in the words and that is The soul that is truly pierced with Godly sorrow for sin is carryed with a restless dislike against it and separation from it This is the main thing that was in the eye and aym of these 〈◊〉 and intended principally in their complaint Men and bretheren the sins which you have discovered we cannot but own and therefore we do confess them openly and freely in the sight of God and you his servants and the dangers which you have also made known by reason thereof we cannot but expect the evils are great which we fear oh the sins are far worse by which we have offended what shal we do direct any thing we wil follow it command any thing we wil obey and submit thereunto with glad hearts that we may be rid of those evils 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

his sensual 〈◊〉 hath 〈◊〉 it self in the dayes of his folly which now he hath found by woful 〈◊〉 to be gal and wormwood to his Conscience the bane of his peace and would have been the ruin of him and his soul before this day but that it hath pleased the Lord to 〈◊〉 him for the present and not to execute his vengeance upon him as he hath deserved by reason of his former 〈◊〉 therefore he cannot abide the sight of the place where the sin was committed the presence of the party the companion that enticed yea fears the the falsness and treachery of his own heart least that again should betray him thus you see in Davids 〈◊〉 Psal. 101. 3. I hate the work of them that turn aside it shal not cleave to me Hatred is Eagle-eyed to observe the proceedings of the enemy and out of a watchful fear 〈◊〉 stop the passage and to keep his approach that he cannot come near unto us Happily temptations may press in with violence upon the soul and the strength of distempers may make fierce 〈◊〉 make batteries nay make a breach happily and over-bear the sinner for the push 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the fear watch that the heart is carried 〈◊〉 through this 〈◊〉 that it wil prevent their approach or at least never yield to their power A chast Matron that truly hates the unchast 〈◊〉 of adulterous mates they may pester her trouble her lie at her from day to day though she cannot keep her self happily from being tempted yet she wil keep her self unspotted she wil not be unchast nor unfaithful So it is with a heart that 〈◊〉 carryed with detestation against evil though distempers and temptation may pester it yet they shal not cleave to it nor it cleave to them It may do that which it hates as Paul Rom. 7. 15. what I hate that I do yet it wil hate its own doings its own self so far as overborn therby the out-works may be taken yet the soul ever entrencheth herself in this holy hatred of heart and either it wil force them to fly or it wil fly from them though it cannot be quit of these In-mates but stil they wil abide in the soul yea 〈◊〉 them and the soul for them This is the order and method that the Apostle layes forth in this work when the Corinthians came to be touched with Godly sorrow what indignation what fear what zeal what revenge c. 2 Cor. 7. 11. When the heart carries a detestation towards a corruption it stands against it as an enemy then follows fear which is a behavior suitable to provide and prevent the policies plottings and way-layings thereof upon al occasions look as it is with a City that hath been besiedged with a potent and Malicious enemy if once the siedge be raysed and the forces of the enemy put to rout and scattered how wil the besiedged party by a watchful fear stand upon their guard stand centinel night and day send out their perdues and dispatch a party in every coast to discover the carriage of the enemy takes al the passages maintains a narrow search no man goes out no man comes in but enquires learns the intent of the enemy whether he gathers forces and maks head again watcheth strictly to 〈◊〉 his approach with the first apperance its 〈◊〉 fresh in their minds into what great distress they were formerly brought what cruelty they suffered and that there was but a hairs bredth between them and death with what fear and care wil they labor to prevent the like bondage again as the Phylistians cryed one to another when the ark came into the field for the safeguarding of their lives and liberties quit your selves like 〈◊〉 Oh ye Phylistins least you become servants to the Hebrowes So it is with the sinner who hath been besiedged and held captive under the tyranny and soveraignty of sin and Satan when the Lord by the power of ordinances shal cast down the strong holds stop the act of sin in the strength and stream of it disanul and make voyd the authority of any right or claym the sin could challenge in this work of contrition and so rescues the soul and rayses the sieg that Satan layd and maintayned against its distempers as the deadliest enemy it hath in al the world No sooner is the soul revolted from under the tyranny of corruption but the fear of the former misery forceth a man to mervailous circumspection to maintayn a careful watch as suspicious of a surprisal least the old distempers should gather head again if any temptation or occasion be presented any appearance of any provocation which may lead to the entertainment of any evil be cast in how doth the heart shrink and shake as though the enemy were now afresh approaching what narrow search and inquisition doth the soul set up in its daily course weighs the words he speaks examines each thought and stirring of affection whether there be any treacheries plotted any correspondence held any preparation made for the recalling entertainment of the former lusts and corruptions Fear gives the Alarum presently sets 〈◊〉 a work to prevent the evil cryes out to heaven for succor and relief the disobedient child the stubborn and careless servant were their hearts brought to this detestation of these their distempers you would see a new world they would mind themselves of their own misearriages though you never remembred them they would check themselves for carelessness though you never reproved them they would be heart sick of the stirrings of such rebellions though you never reckoned with them in that behalf their own heart would cal to their remembrance their former extremities It was not long since you were raigned before the tribunal of the Lord cast and condemned by the witness of the word the verdict of 〈◊〉 own Consciences and by the testimony of God 〈◊〉 who is greater than your consciences and yet 〈◊〉 respited through the long sufferance of the Lord and 〈◊〉 riches of his mercy you saw cause enough for ever 〈◊〉 abhor those abominations and your selves for 〈◊〉 therefore God forbid I should rush into those evils 〈◊〉 and plunge my self into everlasting confusion 〈◊〉 of body and soul I have cause to hate them as mine 〈◊〉 mies I wil never harbor them as my friends Where this hatred is throughly wrought in the 〈◊〉 against sin it seeks the destruction of sin in ones 〈◊〉 first and in other also so far as comes within the compass of a mans place and 〈◊〉 The indignation 〈◊〉 at home and it s carryed most strongly against the 〈◊〉 of our own hearts which are our greatest enemies and have done us the greatest harm and we by them 〈◊〉 done the Lord the greatest dishonor and we know 〈◊〉 most in al the loathsomness of them and in al the 〈◊〉 nousness and heightning circumstances thereof then 〈◊〉 can be acquainted with the measure and scantling of any others miscarriages

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

delivers up such a one to Satan ibid 3 He will deal no more with him ibid 4 Such a one is every day ripening for ruine 98 3 See the reason why men of deepest understanding are hardliest brought to brokenness of heart because so hardly brought to see their sins ibid 4 Tryal 101 1 Whether we have been brought to see sin cleerly Such a one will not dare not carelesly adventure upon sin ibid 2 Whether we have seen sin convictingly 105 Four Evidences of persons not convinced of sin ibid 1 When a man is unwilling to attend that Truth that would discover 〈◊〉 sins 105 2 When he 〈◊〉 to gain-saying when he cannot avoid the light 107 3 When he is restless to raise quarrels against the determination of the Truth 109 4 When he sets himself against the Truth 110 5 Exhortation to get this true 〈◊〉 of sin 111 The Means are six   1 Labor to see the excellency of the holiness of the Lord and his Word 114 2 When the Lordlets in any light by his Word 〈◊〉 Conscience attend both 117 3 Take off and cast away all cavils and shifts which 〈◊〉 the work of 〈◊〉 ibid Shifts and Excuses for sin referred to three Heads 1 To lighten the evil of sin ibid 1 By the commonness of it ibid Answ. This shews   1 The sin is the more 〈◊〉 120 2 Thy Curse more dreadful ibid 3 Thy self destitute of Grace 121 2 By the Naturalness of it 122 Answ. Hence it appears   1 Thou hast no Grace 122 2 Thy Disease is incurable 223 3 Thy person is abborred of the Lord 124 3 By Example and Companionship in sin 125 Answ. Hereby thou dost   1 Prefer men before God 126 2 Encourage the wicked 128 3 Thou shalt be damned as well as they 129 4 By strength of provocations 131 Answ. Whereas   1 Though Nature cannot hold out yet Grace oan 132 2 This is unreasonable in thee 133 3 It's dishonorable to God ibid 5 By forgetfulness 134 Answ. This argues thou hast   1 No love to Gods 〈◊〉 137 2 A slight esteem of them 138 3 An Atheistical heart 139 6 By their straights ibid Answ. These cannot excuse 〈◊〉 For the Scriptures require Obedience notwithstanding these   7 By the Holiness of the Law 141 Answ. This will not excuse 〈◊〉   1 Thou dost not what thou canst 142 2 Thou art 〈◊〉 to be made able 143 3 Thou art the Cause of thine inability 145 8 By the littleness of sins as but 145 1 Either sinful words 146 Answ. Thy words   1 Will condemn thee ibid. 2 In some regard are worse than evil in thy heart because they 150 1 Bring 〈◊〉 the evil of the heart 148 2 Sometimes hold forth more than is in the heart 149 3 Are more hurtful to others 151 3 In some regard worse than evil in thy practice because they taint more 151 1 Universally ibid. 2 〈◊〉 ibid. 3 The Tongue is untamable 152 4 It is a world of evil 154 2 Or sinful thoughts 155 Answ. See the 〈◊〉 of them ibid. 1 In regard of God they 156 1 Estrange them from God 156 2 Carry thy heart to oppose him 158 2 They are the Causes of all thy other sins 161 3 In the large extent of them 164 4 They do nourish all other evils 165 5 They keep off the power of the Word 166 3 Or a smal matter in practice 167 Answ. The less the thing is   1 The more hainous thy sin 168 2 The less care and conscience hast thou 170 3 The greater the wickedness of thy heart 171 2 The second sort of Shifts and Excuses whereby a man thinks the danger of sin may some waies be prevented 174 Conceiving that   1 Either God takes no notice of their sins 175 2 Or he will not call them to account 176 3 Or they can satisfie for them 177 4 Or the Lord will not be so rigorous but will abate 179 All these confuted ibid. 3 The third sort of Shifts whereby if a man can neither lessen the danger nor prevent it he saies he will and thinks he can bear it 179 This also confuted and the impossibility of bearing Gods wrath is shewed ibid. 1 The dreadfulness of Gods wrath 180 2 The weakness of man 181 3 The sufferings of Christ ibid. 4 Means Yield to the Evidence of the truth when it 's cleer and cónvincing 182 5 Means All those truths we hear or read in the Word which concerns our corruption we must take home and apply to our selves as the special portion the Lord hath appointed to us 185 6 Means Make and keep the evil of sin ever really present with us 186 1 See it in the execution of it upon others 187 2 Act that upon thy self by present consideration 189 Motives to perswade to this endeavor to see our sins   1 The danger of the mistake here 190 2 It 's the easiest way to see sin now 191 3 It 's a safe and sure way 192 DOCT. 3. Application of special sins by the Ministry is a means to bring men to sight of and sorrow for them 193 Reasons three taken from   1 The Office of Ministers 195 2 The necessity of sinners 196 3 The Nature of the Word 197 Uses four hence   1 See the Reason why so little good is done by the Ministry viz. Want of Application 198 2 See the Reason why the best kind of Preaching finds the worst acceptance 200 3 It 's the Duty of Ministers as the Text suits and the condition of the Hearers requires to use Particular   Application of special sins 202 〈◊〉   1 To the Ministers what they should do 204 2 To the People what they should desire 206 DOCT. 4. Meditation of sin a special means to break the heart 208 What Meditation is viz. 210 A serious 〈◊〉 of the mind whereby we search out the Truth and settle it effectually upon the heart ibid. Reasons three Because Meditation   1 Causes the sting of sin to pierce more deeply 217 2 Holds the heart under the pressures of it 219 3 Encreaseth and presseth down the weight of it upon the Conscience 221 Uses three hence   1 Humiliation that there is so little Meditation 223 This in special concerns   1 Such as studiously avoid it 224 Terror to such they take the way to encrease their misery when they would avoid it 225 Advice to such Be afraid to commit sin but never be afraid to see it 226 2 Such 〈◊〉 approve the Practice but plead Excuses why they may neglect it ibid. 1 Meditation is but a matter of indifferency not of Duty 227 2 The want of time 229 3 Unsteadiness of their thoughts ibid. 4 〈◊〉 in the Service 238 All these confuted and Remedies prescribed 239 2 Caution Loose Company an Enemy to the Conversion of a sinner because a hindrance of Meditation 240 3 Exhortation to attend this duty of Meditation 241 Motives four  

1 It 's a Duty belonging to all 244 2 How far we are cast behind hand for want of it 245 3 What need we have of it ibid. 4 The Soveraign vertue of it 247 Directions to help in the practice of Meditation 249 1 Enquire after the Nature of a sin ibid. In this Enquiry   1 Look to the Rule to Authorize us to the work ib. 2 For the manner of proceeding 250 1 Survey particular sins 251 1 In the Root ibid. 2 In the fruits of them ibid. 2 Sum them up joyntly 262 2 Fasten it upon the soul 265 1 By grappling with the heart ibid. 2 By getting the better of the heart ibid. Here take heed of three extreams 272 1 Desperate discouragements 273 2 Hellish provocations 274 3 False conceivings of the measure and manner of Gods work 275 Directions to help here are three   1 Possess the heart with the fear of thy sinful and dangerous estate 276 2 Awaken and call for the help of Conscience 279 3 Seek to the Lord for the Almighty hand of his Spirit to set on thy Meditations 282 DOCT. 5. The same Word is profitable to some not to others 283 Reasons two Because   1 God hath several ends to attain by the dispensations of his Word 284 2 God will shew the Soveraignty of his good pleasure ibid. Uses four hence   1 Learn to fear in the enjoyment of greatest means 285 2 The profitable fruit of the means is not in the means ibid. 3 Exhortation Use means in dependance upon God 386 4 Be thankful when thou dost profit by them ibid. DOCT. 6. The Lord somtimes makes the Word prevail most when it 's most opposed 287 The Lord works many times   1 Upon men when they seek not 〈◊〉 289 2 Upon the worst of men 294 3 In the height of Rebellion ibid. Reasons four Because   1 The greatness of his Power is hereby discovered 292 2 The 〈◊〉 of his mercy 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 294 3 The Lord will stain the Glory of all flesh 295 4 And discovers the depths of his 〈◊〉 296 〈◊〉 Three hence   1 Instruction The work of Conversion depends 〈◊〉 upon any preparation that man can make 297 Hence that 's a dangerous Error 〈◊〉 If a man do what he can God will give 〈◊〉 Grace 300 1 It undermines the Soveraign good pleasure of God ibid. 2 It cuts the sinews of the Covenant of Grace 301 3 It crosseth the end of the means of Grace 302 2 To support the hearts of the most wretched sinners with some hopes of good notwithstanding all their wickedness God may and can if he will work upon them   Cautions here 309 1 God will do thee good in his own way 316 2 Fear lest thou make an escape from the hand of the Lord 317 If thou doest   1 It 's suspicious the Lord hath lest thee ibid. 2 He will deliver thee up to thy sins again 219 3 Exhortation to quicken our desires and endeavors in the use of the means 320 4 Admiration at the riches and freeness of Grace 323 DOCT. 7. Sins unrepented of make way for piercing Terrors 325 Reas. Because the heart is more estranged from God and bardened in sin 327 Uses Three hence   1 Judg not of sin by the present sweetness but by the after sorrows ibid. 2 It should be our greatest care to rise presently after falls into sin 329 3 Terror to such as continue in their sins 330 DOCT. 8. The Truth is terrible to a guilty Conscience 332 Reas. Because it's a Witness to accuse a Judg to condemn an Executioner to torment ibid. Use. It discovers the guiltiness and falsness of such as are afraid of the Truth ibid. Differences between the Saints trembling at the Truth and an Hypocrite 333 1 Though the Word speaks against the corruption yet it speaks for the condition of the Saints ibid. 2 The Saints 〈◊〉 sweetness in the sharpest Truths and close with God in them ibid. DOCT. 9. Gross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before they be brought to Christ 334 Reasons Three   1 From the Holiness of Gods Nature 340 2 That sinners may not be encouraged in their sins 341 3 That the sinner himself may be 342 1 Throughly recovered from 〈◊〉 sin for the present ibid. 2 Preserved from sin for the time to come ibid. Uses Five hence   1 The easie and sudden Conversion of scandalous sinners is to be suspected God doth not use to save men per 〈◊〉 343 2 Support to scandalous sinners when they meet with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 347 1 Such are in the way of Mercy 349 2 The workmay prove speedy and successful 350 3 This makes way for Comforts 351 4 It's honorable for such to be under heavy breakings of heart 353 3 Advice to Ministers who by their Calling are to deal with scandalous sinners in such horrors 354 1 Be not 〈◊〉 in the search 355 2 Nor 〈◊〉 to heal the wound ibid. 3 Nor suddenly confident of the Cure 356 4 Direction to such persons who have had experience of such heart-breakings ibid. Be not weary of Gods Dispensations   5 Exhortation to keep our selves and ours from scandalous sins 357 DOCT. 10. Sorrow for sin rightly set on pierceth the heart of the sinner through that is rightly affected therewith 358 For Explication four Things 362 1 The Manner how Sorrow for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the soul. 363 1 Either successively or by degrees in some ibid. 1 The evil and danger of his sin is 〈◊〉 in the general ibid. 2 He is surprized and pursued with fear 364 3 The Curses and Punishments of sin are fastened upon him 366 4 He is made to feel the evil of sin 〈◊〉 sin and that as his greatest evil 368 2 Or suddenly and throughly 〈◊〉 once in some others 372 3 Or secretly and insensibly in others 374 1 Some are Sanctified in the Womb 375 2 Some wrought upon in Child-hood ibid. 3 Some under good Education Counsels Means are gradually yet really wrought upon ibid. Cautions here   1 Though the manner and measure of Contrition differ in most yet the substance of the Work is the same in all ibid. 2 Though some may not know the time yet every one should and if gracious can give evidence of the Workwrought 360 3 It 's a safe way often to review and to act over the first workings of Contrition 377 For   1 A wound here is never recovered 378 2 Clear this and cleer all ibid. 2 How this Sorrow comes to be set on and the soul made to feel sin its greatest evil 379 1 Sin is cross to the Nature of the soul as such 380 2 If the evil of sin be discovered to the Nature of the soul it may be made sensible thereof 382 3 While the soul is fully and only possessed with sin it cannot feel the evil of it ibid. 4 The Spirit countermands the Authority of sin 383 5 Christ by the

do no 〈◊〉 than his Commission allowed him he had the 〈◊〉 of his temptations set but now he takes full possesion of the Soul after death and hath free leave 〈◊〉 exercise full dominion over it as much as he will 〈◊〉 can Yea the Lord in his severe but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 le ts in the Sea of all sinful 〈◊〉 as with a mighty slow and full tide into the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heart to carry him without all controul or stay from ever enjoying either Means or Hopes of 〈◊〉 least expression of Gods presence for any good 〈◊〉 any kind There is no heart to pitty the 〈◊〉 Sinner no Friend to pray for him no Counsel 〈◊〉 advise Reproof to stop no Exhortation to perswade any more from the approving and 〈◊〉 of whatever might dishonor God In the dayes 〈◊〉 his Life and Vanity he was weary of all these because they hindered him from having his full 〈◊〉 in the wayes of wickedness Now all these 〈◊〉 Means as so many banks which kept in the swelling and boystrous rage of his accursed lusts are all 〈◊〉 down the bottomless depths of all abominations are opened the power of all sinfulness in all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereof seizeth upon the Soul and 〈◊〉 and prevails in it to all eternity without lessening restraint or alteration For to imagine that the fire of Purgatory should purifie the Sinner from any Soul pollution that a Material thing should 〈◊〉 upon a Spiritual Substance such as the Soul is yea a Natural thing work a Supernatural disposition 〈◊〉 a senseless and unconceivable Absurdity not worthy the Consideration much less any serious endeavor to Confute The Second Part of the Doctrine is While the Gospel is 〈◊〉 that is the season of Gods acceptation he then puts forth the power of his grace to prepare the heart so the word implyes in the text an opportunity of acceptation It discovers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Three Particulars There is fitness of opportunity in regard of the cause of the accomplishment of any thing when there is a concurrence or meeting together of many helps for the bringing about 〈◊〉 that we desire and would have for the effecting of any work we intend Thus we use to say when we have wind and tide then is the fittest season to sail while we have health and strength is the 〈◊〉 time to set about works of greatest importance not that the bare continuance of so many hours or dayes or yeers makes any difference for they are alwayes the same in sickness and in health in youth and in crazy and decrepit age in a still calm and in a fair gale but the fitness lies in the causes and means which now are happily afforded unto us which hereafter we may be deprived of or not able to improve though we do enjoy them Thus then there is a season of Gods acceptation when he affords means sends his Messengers of glad 〈◊〉 of Peace when he sets open the stall of the Gospel before our eyes cryes his commodities in our 〈◊〉 and proclaims the offer or his rich mercy to all Commers Ho every one that will let him come and take freely of the waters of the well of life and live for ever Now is the Season of Gods gracious working and our receiving greatest success in his Ordinances this is the Exposition 〈◊〉 the Apostle ads in the following verse behold now is the acceptable time whiles the light shines whilest Wisdom cryes and Ministers call if ever there was opportunity of Conversion and Preparation now is the fittest of all other for God to work it for us to endeavor it When the fat things are killed and finest wines drawn and broached servants sent to invite and all preparations made ready to the marriage feast Luke 14. 17. Then is it time to come to feed to refresh our selves behold all is ready only come when the door is open and warning given behold the bridgroom cometh then is the nick of opportunity to follow hard after if we would find entrance into the Bride chamber ' Matt. 25. 8 9. But when the Feast is over and the door shut we may have time to come and knock but never shall we find entrance or acceptance or welcome because the season is past There is a fitness in reference to the work which the thing now made might have which hereafter happily could not attain Thus came Esther to be Queen in a fit time for Mordecais safety the succor and deliverance of the Nation of the Jews for though she might have possessed the same place enjoyed the same Honor and Royal Preheminence afterwards yet it had been too late to have defeated the Policies of Haman or procured the Preservation of her People from the Plots and pursuits of those who were armed for their utter ruine Esther 4 Thus the Woman of Samaria was then called effectually by our Savior John 4. when it was the pat opportunity to commuicate the notice of a Messias and the work of his Grace to the Samaritans who were as the regions of Corn white unto the harvest and ready to be cut and carried so were the People ready to hear attend and embrace the glad tydings of Redemption through the Lord Jesus There is a fitness in regard of the Subject which howsoever it gives no cause nor help to the accomplishment of the work now in doing yet it makes way for the further manifestation of the skill and goodness of the workman and holds our the work done to greater admiration Thus our Savior is said to come and reconcile all things in the fulness of opportunities Ephes. 1. 10. because the Lord Christ came then when things were at the lowest eb the state of the Church of the Jews in 〈◊〉 extremity when the root of David was dry and the branches of the stock of David quite withered Isa. 11. 1 that is When the Scepter seemed to have departed from the Tribe of Judah and a Law-giver from between his legs Gen. 49. 10. Now however the extremity of this distress was no cause of Deliverance but rather a hinderance in it self and though God the Father out of his own power and according to his own good pleasure might have sent his Son sooner to have redeemed his people out of their distresses yet now the greatness of misery made them such Subjects wherein the glory of his rich Grace might appear in the perfect beauty thereof Hence it is many times in the Dispensation of the work of Grace the Lord takes the Sinner in the lowest and basest estate in the most desparate condition when the distress grows deadly the case to the eye of man is beyond cure and recovery that so the soveraign vertue of his saving Grace might be set forth to the wonder of the World and to the encouragement of those who should come to the like streights Upon this ground it is that the Lord Christ chose that time to convert Paul when he was in the heat of his rage when

with thee for thy direction in this world thou shalt be judged by it then it stands thee in hand to be ordered by it now Rev. 20. 12. The books were opened and the dead were judged out of those things written in their bookes according to their works Thus there is some help and assistance lent to Meditātion that it may awe and keep under the heart and these have their use and fruit also in their time and measure but yet a corrupt heart left to it self wil sooner or later shut out Meditation and silence the serious exercise of his own thoughts against his sin and himself to arraign himself every day to sit in judgment and pass the sentence of Condemnation upon his own soul he is not able to endure He wil not part with his sin and yet he cannot take pleasure in his sin upon these 〈◊〉 He wil shake off his fears and sear his Conscience silence his 〈◊〉 that neither his thoughts nor terrors may trouble him any more and so return again to his old haunt and there perish Unless the Lord in the last place put to his Almighty hand and send his spirit from heaven to set on the work so that it shal undoubtedly succeed 〈◊〉 the malice of Satan and the opposition of our own corrupt hearts An under officer of meaner rank may happily be too weak to cope with a company of prophane varlets and therefore it may be they scorn and slight both his person and place until the Prince himself come with numbers and power he wil certainly bring them under or be the ruin of the whol company So when the fears God 〈◊〉 sent in be scattered the dictates of Conscience as his officer be laid aside the Lord himself wil take the 〈◊〉 to task and so restelesly pursue the sinner with his own 〈◊〉 that he wil not respite him for the least refreshing from the evil that presseth in upon him Job 7. 14. How long wilt thou not depart from me nor let me alone til 〈◊〉 swallow down my spittle It s not the fire but the blowing of the coals that melts the mettal to become fit matter for a vessel to be made It 's not the Law that breaks the heart of a sinner for he neither is nor can be subject to the LawRom 8. 7. but its done by the spirit of Humiliation who hath it in his own hand and must blow up this fire it wil not melt else strike with this hammer 〈◊〉 certain he must or else the heart wil never break Job 13. 26 He makes a man possess the sins of his youth when he hath not minded them may be forgot them he revies them again and presents them afresh to the view of the mind keeps the eyes waking c. They were pricked to the heart From the means we are now to come to the work it self which is attended here with the subject or parties to whom it doth appertayn and in whom it was wrought and these are considered in a double respect and so they wil afford us a double Instruction This pricking it was not of al but some onely who heard the word upon whom it prevailed with saving success some were pierced some went away not touched not stirred there with As it fares with scattered shot when the piece is discharged against the whol flock or flight of the fowl some are hit and slayne with it some sit stil are not afrighted nor stirred with it Hence the doctrine is The same dispensation of the word which is powerful and profitable to some is unprofitable unto others They be together at the same time in the same seat with the same ability intention and devotion and yet one is benefited by the means the other receives no good from it Luke 7. 29. 30. And al the people heard John preaching and the Publicans justified God being baptized of him but the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves So again Acts 18. 6. 8. Some 〈◊〉 others opposed and 〈◊〉 Christ himself is layd as a stone of stumbling for the rising and falling of many 2 Cor. 2. 16. The word 〈◊〉 some is a 〈◊〉 of life 〈◊〉 life unto others the saviour of Death unto Death Because God hath several ends to attain in these dispensations the execution of his justice in a righteous manner the punishment of the sins of the wicked by the means he affords to recover them out of their sins and the conveyance of the work of his grace to those that belong to the election of his grace It 's a strange inference God makes and way that he takes in the sending of his messengers Math. 23. 34. behold I wil send you Prophets and Apostles and some of them ye shal scourge and some ye shal 〈◊〉 and Crucify this was to gratify their corrupt wils and so dishonor his own ordinances how can this stand with his justice yes herin is his justice exceedingly magnifyed that the 〈◊〉 of al that 〈◊〉 been shed might come upon them Nay which is yet most strange God then sends the most glorious means of salvation to a people when in his righteous judgment the work of Conversion shal be furthest off and they aggravate their condemnation Isa. 6. 9. The Prophet had his tongue touched with a coal from the Altar mervailously gifted and fitted and himself unwearied but mark what his commission was go saith the Lord make the heart of this people fat and their Ears heavy least they be converted and should beal them This was the way to convert them and yet by this 〈◊〉 they are hardened and set further off from conversion than they were before The choycest physick and purest ayr meeting with corrupt and decaying bodies kills immediately So here Our Saviour resolves it Math. 13. 11. It s not in the power or parts or improvements of some above others but to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given The same fire we know wil melt the mettal which shal make vessels of honor and dishonor He makes the wicked without 〈◊〉 he makes his Saints serviceable to his own mind That herein he might shew the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good wil and pleasure Rom. 9. 18. He hath mercy on whom 〈◊〉 will and whom he will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hath not the Potter power over the clay to make one vessel to honor another to dishonor He shews that the issue and event of al comes only from his own purpose and pleasure So the Apostle resolves it 〈◊〉 22. What if God will So the Evangelist also John 12. 37 38 39. Though Christ 〈◊〉 done many miracles yet they beleeved not Why did they not beleeve He adds Therefore they could not beleeve because Isaiah had said he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not be converted Hither our Savior comes and sits down in admiration Matth. 11. 25 26. I thank thee

mind and the Rule of the Law and therefore cannot save you yet thy sinful neglects impudent and scornful contempt of the way and means of Grace will undoubtedly damn thee This is condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness more than light John 3. 17. The Scribes and Pharisees despised the Counsel of God against themselves Luke 7. 30. The Law and Command was given to Adam in innocency and to thee in him to Husband all advantages and to lay out thy self in all thy sufficiencies to advance Gods Name and to do his will to love him and serve him with all thy mind and with all thy might 〈◊〉 22. 37. How ever thou beest changed yet the Law is not changed however thy ability is not the same by reason of 〈◊〉 wound thou hast taken by original corruption yet thy Duty is the same to this day Gods will is done in Heaven and should be done in Earth The Debtor that borrows the money and stands bound to the Creditor to answer the Debt though his state alter and he be impoverished and made unable to pay yet his Bond for payment continues in full force against him and he will be constrained to make it good Though all that thou canst do can neither prepare thee for Grace nor purchase Grace for thy self yet the means through Divine Institution are mighty God by them can work effectually and if it seem good to ' his good pleasure he will wait upon him only for that good thou wantest from whom only it can be received As the Leapers in the time of the Famine resolved to try what might be done by others for their safety who could do nothing for themselves That is Gods way and means try what God will do in whose pleasure it is to give or deny I might ad what Divines speak and seasonable 〈◊〉 to the Point in hand While thou art endeavoring as thou canst it lessens thy sin and prevents further plagues unto which thou wilt be subject through Gods just Judgment and thine own just deserving Abab's 〈◊〉 humiliation prevented the 〈◊〉 plague though it did not free him from the eternal 1 Kings 21. 29. Seest thou 〈◊〉 Ahab humbles himself I will not bring the evil in his daies A Patient that hath a Wolf in her Breast and an 〈◊〉 Gout knows neither can be recovered yet both may be eased by use of Physick and moderate Diet and therefore he intends both Cast away the evil of your works but keep your works still keep some Rules if thou canst not keep all better save one side of thy 〈◊〉 good than both naught If thou canst not avoid al sin avoid as much as thou canst Is it then beyond the power and any possibility of man to attain Grace Yes It 's not in man to direct his own way Jer. 10. 23. It 's beyond the power of a dead man to restore himself to life And our Savior is express and peremptory in giving Sentence in this case and his determination is conclusive Matth. 19. 26. when he said it 's as easie for a Chamel to go through the eye of a needle as for a rich man to be saved The Disciples ask Who then can be saved He returns this definitive Answer With man it is impossible but with God all things are possible Look we at the power and performances of man there is no sufficiency 〈◊〉 possibility for of our selves we are not able to think a good thought 2 Cor. 3. 5. But if we look at the Almighty Power of God there is nothing hard to him who hath Hardness at Command But is any man tied to impossibilities and can any be punished because he 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 that which is impossible to him Impossibilities are of two sorts 1. Some are absolute that exceed the compass of our being or all that ability we ever received 2. Impossibilities by supposition which though the things be possible yea easie in their Nature and with reference to their first order and institution yet by reason of some inconveniences hindrances weaknesses which fall in beside and cross to the course and constitution of things as they were at first that which formerly might easily have been compassed there is in ordinary course no possibility to attain unto it And to such 〈◊〉 a man may be justly tyed and failing in his performances may justly be punished by the Law of Nature Nations right Reason and the righteous Rule of God The 〈◊〉 hath borrowed so much money which he may improve and is bound to repay at such a day appointed if he through his prodigality and riot shal vainly mis-spend not only the Sum he borrowed but his stock a fair estate unto which he was born so that it 's now impossible to him thus impoverished to satisfie May not the Creditor according to al the Rules of Right and Reason require his Money in the default of payment punish or imprison No Nation ever questioned it It was not only possible for Adam but easie to love God above all if he through his fall hath brought impossibility of payment upon himself the Lord may in Justice require it and punish him for it And certain it is God justly may and doth deny Reprobates Grace not only because they do not what they may but also because they do that which through the corruption of their own hearts they cannot avoid As namely because of the enmity of the wisdom of the flesh they are not nor cannot be subject to the Law and 〈◊〉 Will of God Rom. 8. 7. That for which God condemns the wicked for that he denies them Grace and Glory For Condemnation implies both and cannot admit either But they are condemned not only because they do not so much but because they did such and such Duties to false ends not because they did not fast and pray but because they did both to a wrong end to serve themselves and lusts and not to serve God and yet they could not aim at Gods Glory as their last end If for the not doing of such Duties they should and might do they only want 〈◊〉 then if they had done such and such according to their power as they could and improvement of their abilities then they had received Grace undoubtedly which hath been fully confuted by the former Arguments To issue this Point that we may fence our selves against so dangerous a conceit let us take in and store our hearts with some saving Truths as a Soveraign Antidote against such fals-hoods and herein I shall not only speak mine own Judgment but the Judgment of all my fellow Brethren as I have just cause and good ground to beleeve that so you may receive them 〈◊〉 Truths under the Testimony of many Witnesses Ballast therefore thy heart with the Conclusions following All men are by Nature dead in sins and trespasses A dead man can not prepare himself for life much 〈◊〉 hath power to