at any time God would give repentance that they may acknowledge the truth and come to amendment of life out of the snares of the Devill It is onely but peradventure it is a rare worke and few have it Thirdly some will say God may give me repentance Quest. Christ came into the world to save sinners and why may he not save me Answ. I answere is that all is it come to this and who knows but that God may damne thee too if that be all why may you not say more truly what know I but that God may give me up to a hard heart and a blinde minde for ever and I may for ever be cast out of the presence of God is it but It may be all this while And therefore for a full answere consider these two things to shake off this carnal security wherby men resolve to pin their salvation Gods mercy though they purpose to oppose his mercy First know this that there is a time wheÌ„ God will not shew mercy Behold saith God I gave her a time of repentance but she repented not therefore I will cast her upon the bed of sicknes and as our Saviour saith to Ierusalem Oh that thou hadst knowne in this thy day the things belonging to thy peace but now they are hid from thy eyes God had sealed up hâ—s mercy and the day of salvation was past and when the day is over though Noah Daniel and Iob should pray for a people they should save neither sonne nor daughter And if thy father did pray for thee that art a childe if mercy be past the Lord will not spare that man saith the text as if the Lord had said I have abundance of mercy but thou shalt never tast of it nay for ought I know the Lord may set a seale of condemnation upon thee and so give thee over to all evill to all sinne to all curses and blot out thy name from under heaven Are you yet perswaded that this is Gods word if you were but perswaded of the sorrow some have had it would make you looke about you The Wise man saith that wisedome professeth to poure out abundance of mercy saying Oh you simple ones how long will you contemne and despise puritie and holinesse Now marke when a people hath had this mercy and wisedome offered to them and yet they will despise it then shall the cry and call but I will not answere saith God they shal seeke me early but shall not finde me The period of Gods patience is come to an end and there is no expectation of mercy call and call you may but God will not heare you you whose consciences flie in your faces tel you that you have despised mercy you would none of Gods Counsells you hate the knowledge of his wayes Do you think to get it now by crying when the date of mercy is out No no you would have none of Gods mercy before and now he will none of you Doe you think it fit that grace and mercy and the spirit should still stand and waite upon you and strive and alwayes be despised Is it not marvellous just that that word which you have despised should never worke more and that mercy you have refused should never be offered to you any more It is just and you shall finde it so in the end and take heed the termes of mercy be not out Lastly if we cannot avoyde it then we are resolved to beare it as we may if we be damned we shall undergoe it as we are able This is that we poore ministers finde too often by woefull experience that when we have taken away all cavills from wicked men and then if we could weepe over them and mourne for them and beseech them to consider of it aright Marke what they say Good sir spare your paines we are sinners and if we be damned then every tub must stand upon his owne bottom we will beare it as well as we can What is the winde in that doore Is that all you can say O woe to thee that ever thou wert bone O pooâ—e creature if I should cease speaking all of us joyne together in weeping and lamenting thy condition it were the best course It is impossible thou shouldest ever beare Gods wrath with any comfort And let these three considerations be remembred retained which wil make any man come to a stand even the vilest wretches who will blaspheme and sweare and if they be damned they say they have borne something and they will also beare this as well as they can First judge the Lyon by the pawe judge the torments of hell by some little beginnings of it and the dregges of Gods vengeance by some little sipps of it And judge how unable thou art to beare the whole by thy inabilitie to beare a little of it in this life In the terrour of conscience as the Wiseman saith a wounded spirit who can beare When God layes the flashes of hell fire upon thy soule thou canst not indure it what soever a man can inflict upon a poore wretch may be borne but when the Almighty comes in battaile array against a poore soule how can he undergoe it witnesse the Saints that have felt it as also wittnesse the wicked themselves that have had some beginnings of hell in their consciences When the Lord hath let in a little horror of heart into the soule of a poore sinfull creature how is he traÌ„sported with an insupportable burthen When it is day he wisheth it were night and when it is night he wisheth it were day All the friends in the world cannot comfort him nay many have sought to hang themselves to doe any thing rather then to suffer a little vengeance of the Almighty And one man is roaring and yelling as if he were now in hell already and admits of no comfort If the droppes be so heavy what will the whole sea of Gods vengeance be If he cannot beare the one how can he beare the other Secondly consider thine owne strength and compare it with all the strength of the creatures and so if all the creatures be not able to beare the wrath of the Almighty as Iob saith Is my strength the strength of stones or is my flesh as brasse that must beare thy wrath As if he had said It must be a stone or brasse that must beare thy wrath Though thou wert as strong as brasse or stones thou couldst not beare it when the mountaines tremble at the wrath of the Lord shall a poore worme or bubble and a shadow endure it Conceive thus much if all the diseases in the world did sease on one man and if all the torments that all the tyrants in the world could devise were cast upon him and if all the creatures in heaven and earth did conspire the destruction of this man and if all the devils in hell did labour to inflict punishments upon him you
thou sowest up mine iniquities Wicked men doe treasure up vengeance against the day of the Lord the profane person treasures up wrath and in the eighteenth verse he saith The mountaines falling come to nothing as if he had said good Lord who can beare all those sinnes that I have committed Are they all sealed up and shall all the judgements due unto them fall upon me heavier then the mountaines Good Lord what rock or mountaine can beare the weight of my sinnes thus sealed up setled and laid close to my heart And so God seales up an hundred thousand oathes in one bagge and an ocean of pride and mischiefes done to Gods people and Church are barrelled up in another and the Lord shall one day lay all these upon thy necke Who is able to beare all these sinnes Now it falles out with a sinner as it is with a banckrout debtor one man throwes him into prison and when he is there every one comes against him and so he shall never come out but die and rotte in the prison so though the Lord will not execute judgement on thee speedily yet in the end the Lord will be paid for all thy sins and when thou art in hell then mercy and justice and patience will cry all to heaven for justice and vengeance then happily a drunkard is cast into prison for his drunkennesse and for his blasphemy and then all his filthinesse comes in as so many bills of inditement against him Oh therefore labour to see sinne alive we play with sinne as if it were dead when children see the picture of a dead lyon upon a wall they labour to pull him in pieces but if there were a live lyon in the place it would make the strongest to runne So thou paintest thy sinne and sayest it is thy infirmity God forgive your swearing the like and thus you dally with your sinnes but brethren labour to see sinne alive and to see sinne roaring upon you see the pawe of sinne and the condemnation that shall be throwne upon the soule by it and this will awake the soule in the apprehension of it Secondly we must see sinne convictingly that it may be so to us as it is in it selfe that looke what sinne is in it selfe we may so conceive of it in our soules being guilty of it and this discovers it selfe in these two particulars First when we have a particular apprehension in our owne person that looke what we confesse to be in sinne in generall we confesse the same in our owne soules and that our sinnes are as bad as the sinnes of any this is the cursed distemper of our hearts howsoever we hold it to be truth in generall yet when we come to our owne sinnes the case is altered and we never come to the right seeing of them as they concerne our owne particular As the adulterer can easily confesse the danger and filthynesse of that sinne in others but he thinkes not his sinne to be so vile as the Wise man saith He that enters into the house of an harlot doth he ever returne againe doth he ever take hold of the path of life The Lord is pleased to set such a heavy stamp on this sinfull distemperature These are truths and a man in his cold blood wil easily confesse it in the generall that he never returnes againe Take the words as they are in the letter of them and howsoever they have some other interpretations yet in the letter it is thus read he is euer hardly recovered Howsoever it may be yet with much difficulty David had let his soule loose in that he did hardly recover himselfe againe scarce one of a thousand yet ever tooke hold of the way of life And the drunkard will confesse the danger of his sinne in generall when he sees his drunken mates lie grovelling in the dust he will be ashamed of it and say Now no adulterer or drunkard shall ever come into the kingdome of heaven but here is the wound of it when he comes to his owne particular drunkennesse and uncleannesse that he must looke into them then the sight of a mans knowledge hath not so much power as to judge himselfe rightly or to make a particular application to himselfe but he thinkes his adultery and drunkennesse is not like to another mans or else his knowledge is but weake or else he seeth as a man in the twylight when the sun is downe and the heavens begin to withdraw their light though a man can see to read abroad yet he cānot see to read in the house or in the chamber So it is with a weake knowledge and with a feeble understanding in a wicked man he is notable to see the vile nature of sinne in himselfe when he comes to read his owne closet sinnes and his bosome abominations then he hath not so much light as to perceive them so fully in himself as he thought to doe therefore the rule is this Arest thy soule in a speciall maner of those sinnes whereof thou standest guilty that phrase in Iob is to good purpose thou lookest narrowly to my pathes thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet so God followed Iob to the hard heeles and did narrowly observe his waies so deale thou with thy owne soule and set a print upon the heele of thy heart arest thy heart in particular for thy sins and I would have you perceive your owne particular sinnes and follow them to your hearts and make huy and cry after your sinnes and dragge your hearts before the Lord and say Is murther pride drunkennesse and uncleannesse such horrible sinnes and doth God thus fearefully plague them Lord it was my heart that was proud and vaine it was my tongue that did speake filthily blasphemously my hand hath wrought wickednesse my eye was wanton and my heart was uncleane and filthy Lord here they are it is my affections that are disorderly and it is I that doe delight too much in the world Thus bring thy heart before the Lord you shall observe the same in David so long as Nathan spake of sinne in generall he conceived of it truly and confessed the vilenes of it and the heart of this good King did rage against the man saying It is the Sonne of death but as soone as the prophet had said Thou art the man though he never saw his sinne kindly before yet now his heart yeelded and he began to see himselfe and his sinne in the naturall colours of it So the Apostle Iohn saith Hee that hateth his brother is a man-slayer and you know no man-slayer hath eternall life abiding in him Then play thou the part of Nathan and say I am the man it is this wretched heart of mine that hath hated the Saints of God and therefore if I be a murtherer will not my sinne keepe me from the kingdome of heaven as well as another mans Yes that it will if pride
in the originall is Call her into the Court call her by her name and say that shee is not my wife and I am not her husband And the Lord saith by Ezechiel Son of man cause Ierusalem to know her abominations he doth not say cause the country to know her abominations or the country to know the sins of the court but make Jerusalem know her owne abominations The reasons are these First because the word thus applyed hits sooner then otherwise it would A master commands a servant to do such a thing because he names him not one thinkes it is not he and another it is not he only because he is not named So when a minister saith in many things we sinne all he hits no man and so none are affected with it But now particular application brings every mans part and portion and not only sets the dish afore him but cuts him meat and carves for him and we doe in this cause as the nurse doth with the child she not onely sets the meat before it but she minceth it and puts it into the childs mouth the steward doth no◠onely say There is meat enough in the market but he buyes it and brings it home and sees it prepared and gives direction what is for every one The words of a faithfull minister are like arrowes which if they be shot a cocke height they fall down againe and do nothing but when a man levels at a marke then if ever he wil hit it So many ministers can tell a grave faire tale and speake of sinnes in generall and these common reproofes these intimations of sinne are like arrowes shot a cocke height they touch no man but when a minister makes application of sin in particular and saith O all you drunkards and adulterers this is your portion and let this be as venome in your hearts to purge out your lusts When our Saviour Christ lapped up the Pharises all in one speech it is said that they heard the parable and knew that he meant them Overly discourses that they are sinners and great sinners in other countries and you should doe well to looke to your wayes and the like These are like the confused noise that was in the ship when Ionah was asleep in it which never troubled him at last the Master commeth and saith Arise O Sleeper and call upon thy God And as a father observes they came about him and every man had a blow at him and then he did awake So because of generall reproofes of sin termes a farre off men come here and sit and sleepe and are not touched nor troubled at 〈◊〉 But when particular application commeth 〈◊〉 to the heart and a minister saith this is thy drunkennesse and thy adulterie and prophanenesse and this will breake thy necke one day what assurance hast thou got of Gods mercy and what canst thou say for heaven Then men beginne to looke about them There was never any convicting Ministery nor any man that did in plainnes apply the word home but their people would be reformed by it or else their consciences would be troubled and desperately provoked to oppose God and his ordinances that they may be plagued by it The word of God is like a sword the explanation of the text is like the drawing out of this sword and the florishing of it and so long it never hits But when a man strikes a full blow at a man it either woūds or puts him to his fēce so the application of the word is like the striking with the sword it will worke one way or other if a man can fence the blow so it is I confesse it is beyond our power to awaken the heart but ordinarily this way doth good Secondly as the word of God particularly applyed hits soonest so it sinckes deepest the words of the wise are compared to nailes fastened by the masters of assemblies the doctrine delivered is like the nailes pointed but when it is cleare and then particularly applyed it is like the setting on the nailes fast upon the hearts and consciences of men And this I take to be the reason why many that have come many times to oppose the ministers of the Gospell yet God hath broken in upon them and humbled their hearts made them see their miserable condition Gather up all then if a plaine and particular application of the word hits the heart soonest sincks deepest into the heart then it is a speciall meanes to worke a sight of sinne and affect the heart with sorrow for it But the former part is true Therefore the latter cannot be denied The first use is for instruction Here we finde the reason why plaine teaching findes such opposition why it is so cavilled at by all ministers others because thereby the eye of the soule comes to be opened and all a mans abominations are discovered and his conscience is pinched by the same Our Saviour saith He that doth evil hates the light lest his deeds should be reproved as a theefe hates the light and the lantorn-bearer because they shew his villany so they that are guilty of many sinfull courses and base practises hate the minister that brings the word with any power to their soules A malefactor at the Assises can be content to see an hundred men in the towne and is never troubled with them but if he sees one man that comes to give in euidence against him and knowes his practises Oh how his heart riseth with desperate indignation against that man Oh saith he this is he that seekes my life he will make my necke cracke so it is with this soule saving ministery it is that which brings in a bill of inditement against a man Now a man can be content to come and heare though it be never so many sermons but if a minister comes in for a witnes against him and begins to arraigne him and to indite him for his pride and malice and covetousnesse and to convince him of them and to lay him flat before the Lord his conscience Oh then he is not able to beare it What is the reason of this He can heare others quietly and say oh they are sweet men they deale kindly and comfortably Why The masse bites not as the proverbe is such a kind of ministery workes not at all and this is the reason why they are not troubled but goe away so well contented I have sometime admired at this why a company of Gentlemen yeomen and poore women that are scarcely able to know their A. B. C. Yet they have a minister to speake Latine Greeke and Hebrew and to use the Fathers when it is certaine they know nothing at all The reason is because all this stings not they may sit and sleep in their sinnes and go to hell hoodwinckt never awakened and that is the reason they will wellcome such to their houses and say oh he is an excellent man I
saving worke thereof Therefore plow up all by sound saving sorrow labour to have thy heart burthened for sin and estranged from it and this is good husbandry indeed the want of this was the wound of the thorny ground as you may see in the parable those hearers had much of the world in them much ease and profit and pleasure and these choaked the word and made it utterly unfruitful and so they never received comfort nor mercy afterwards This is that which the Prophet David saith A contrite and an humble heart O God thou wilt not despise If you would have your hearts such as God may â—ake delight in and accept you must have them broken and contrite David saith The Lords voice breaketh the Cedars of Libanus So the voice of the Lord like lightning must thunder into the corrupt heart of sinfull creatures A contrite heart is that which is powdered all to dust as the Prophet saith Thou bringest us to dust and then thou sayest returne againe yee sonnes of men So the heart must be broken all in pieces to pouder and the union of sinne must be broken and it must be content to be weaned from all sinne as you may make any thing of the hardest flint that is broken all to dust So it is with the heart that is thus fitted and fashioned If there be any corruption that the heart lingers after it will hinder the worke of preparation If a man cut off all from a branch save one sliver that will make it grow still that it cannot be ingrafted into another stocke So though a mans corrupt heart depart from many sinnes scandalous abominations yet if he keepe the love of any one sinne it will be his destruction as many a man after horror of heart hath had a love after some base lust or other and is held by it so fast that he can never be ingrafted into the Lord Jesus This one lust may breake his necke and send him downe to hell So then if the soule onely can be fitted for Christ by â—ound sorrow then this must needs pierce the heart before Christ can come there but the heart cannot be fitted for Christ without this and therefore of necessity the heart must be truly wounded with sorrow for sinne The last reason is this because by this meanes the heart comes to set a high price upon Christ and grace either the grace of God offered in the gospell or that good way which God hath commanded us to walke in If the heart finde the greatest evill to be in horror and vexation then ease and quietnesse from these will be the greatest good but now the soule seeth grace to be truly precious because it seeth sinne to be truly vile and this is the end why the Lord makes the soule see the vilenesse of sinne that the heart may be brought to see the excellency in Christ and prize him above all Now there are two questions to be answered First whether this sound sorrow be a work of saving grace and such a worke as cannot be in a reprobate Secondly whether God doth worke this in all men that are truly converted and brought home to Christ and whether he workes this in all alike or no. For the first whether is this a worke of saving grace yea or no and such as cannot be in a reprobate for answer to this First I will shew the order that this worke hath to the other workes Secondly I will shew the difference of this from sanctifying sorrow and yet it comes to be sanctifying sorrow For the order first the heart in this worke is not yet conceived to be in Christ but only to be fitted and prepared for Christ. If you stoppe here in your consideration and despute not of any worke to come it is only in the way to be ingrafted into Christ but so that undoubtedly that soule which hath this worke upon it shall have faith powred into it for this is the meaning of that place The Lord Iesus came to socke and sâ—ve that which was lost Now to be lost is not because a man is sinfull and miserable in himselfe but he is lost that seeth the evill of sinne and the punishment that comes therby comes to be lost in his owne apprehension in râ—gard of his owne estate and he that is thus lost shall be sure to have Christ and salvation by him It was the end why Christ came and therefore it shall be fulfilled But he that is truly sensible of his sinne and the vilenes of it and abhors himself for it he is truely lost he is not yet settled on Christ for then he were safe enough but he is truly sensible of his lost estate and therefore shall have faith and Christ though yet he partake not of them yet he shall be everlastingly saved and redeemed by Iesus Christ. Quest. And therefore this is an idle question what if a man die in this worke of preparation before he come to have faith I say it is an idle question because it is impossible that he which is thus prepared for Christ and grace but he shall have them before he die As the Prophet saith Behold I will send my messenger before me to prepare my wayes When the heart is fitted and prepared the Lord Christ comes immediatly into it The teÌ„ple is the soule the way is the preparation for Christ so as the soule is yet to be conceived as in the way of preparation for Christ not to have any formall worke of grace whereby he is able to do anything for himselfe The next thing is the difference of the sound saving sorrow from sanctifying sorrow and you must know there is a double sorrow First there is a sorrow in preparation Secondly there is a sorrow in sanctification The sorrow of the soule in this preparative worke of it is thus to be conceived when the word of God leaves an impression upon the heart of a man so that the heart of it selfe is as it were a patient and onely beares the blow of the Spirit the Spirit of the Lord and the over-powring force of the same forceth the soule to beare the word and hence come all those phrases of Scripture as wounded pierced pricked and the like only in the passive voice Because the soule is a patient and the Lord by the almighty hand of his Spirit breakes in upon the soule so that this sorrow in preparation is rather a sorrow wrought upon me then any worke comming from any spirituall ability in my selfe This is sorrow in preparation when I am a patient and wherein I receive the worke of the Spirit and am forced and framed by the spirit to doe that which I doe in this kinde But then Secondly there is a sorrow in sanctification and that is thus that sorrow that doth flow from a spirituall principle of Grace from that power which the
day of accompts there was never sâ—nner broken hearted but God did bind him up and there was never any truly wounded for sinne but God did ever heale and comfort him and therefore labour to looke your face in the glasse of Gods Law and so see your owne spots I confesse this is tedious to your sinnes the plagues due to them but looke thou on them that God may not If an adversary offer meanes of agreement we use to say suffer it not to come to the publike triall for the case is naught I say it will be so with every wicked mans case the Lord hath a controversie with every wicked man and it must be tryed in the publike day of judgment or else you must make a private agreement betweene God and your owne soules If there be any drunkard or adulterer or unjust person that is guiltie of any sinne you had better take up the matter in private Doe not feare to looke upon your sins but bring theÌ„ all out before the Lord and see the ugly face of them and intreate the Lord to seale up unto you the pardon of them that you may never be called to an accompt for them I tell you it is the most comfortable course in the world The last use for instruction to all my fellow brethren let me speake a word to them and to my selfe too let us all take that course in dealing with the people and Gods ordinances which God himselfe takes up As the steward disposeth of every thing at his masters will and the Apothecary orders drugges as the Physitian appoints so let it be with us to we are but stewards and Apothecaries let us take that course and use those meanes that God hath appointed for his peoples good God saith you must see your sinnes and be humbled for them and therefore let us labour to make men see them as the Apostle saith I hope we were made manifest to your Consciences Did not your Consciences say so that you could not gaine-say it we must take up that course the Scripture hath revealed and which the faithfull servants of God have ever used and which God hath ever blessed nay it is our wisdome so to doe Mathew the seventh and the last Christ taught the people with authority not as the Scribes there is a kind of commanding power which the word ought to have upon mens Consciences if a man be a sinner it will reprove him and command reproofes to sease upon him and if he be in distresse of Conscience it will command comfort to take place in his heart Give me leave to speake my thoughts and it is my judgement too What doth it profit a man to scrape up a little Greek and Latine together and to leave the sense of the Scripture undiscovered and the Conscience no whit touched nor the heart stirred He that knowes any thing this way though he were but an ordinary schoole-boy that had but any skill in the tongues if he could not doe it he should be scourged by my consenâ— But let it be in case of Conscience a poore soule comes to anguish of spirit the onely way to â—et this man on foote againe is to answer all his objections and questions and resolve all his doubts and to make the way good and the case cleare Alas this course is not knowne amongst us And in the way of examination if a man come to examine a sinner he takes away all his cavils and all his carnall shifts that he hath to hinder the word and forces the soule to say It is Gods word though he will not entertaine it Let a man try this course and he shall finde a marvellous difficulty this is the reason why our ministery thrives not and the hearts of men are not wrought upon because we labour not the right way to shew men their sinnes and to convince their conscience that they may not flinch out from the ordinances of God Nay I take it to be the speciall cause why after all the pretious promises that God makes knowne no man receives good by them We offer salves to them that know not whether they have any sores or no And we offer Physicke to those that we know not whether they have any disease or no we speake of grace Christ but people thinke they have no need of theÌ„ suffer me to speake my mind herein freely That ministery which doth not ordinarily humble the soule breake the heart doth not convert and draw to Christ but that ministery that doth not inlighten the mind and convince the soule of sinne that never humbles ordinarily and therefore never doth draw home to Christ Now we come to shew the causes why and the meanes how sinners come to see their sinnes The Apostle speakes it to their faces You are they that have committed this sinne you have crucified the Lord of life this is your sinne The Doctrine from hence is this A speciall application of particular sinnes is a chiefe meanes to bring people to a sight of their sinnes and to a true sorrow for them The Apostle doth not generally propound their sins but he comes home to their hearts and it is not onely done in this place but it hath beene the practice of all Gods faithfull ministers heretofore As Iohn Baptist he goes not cunningly to worke secretly to intimate some truths but he deales roundly with them and saith O generation of vipers who fore warned you to flie from the wrath to come And he shewes them their sinnes in particular And when the publicans came to be baptised he saith Receive no more then is appointed for you and he saith to the souldiers Doe violence to no man and be content with your wages he was the minister of humiliation and preparation and therefore he deales thus plainely with them When Ahab had slaine Naboth the Prophet Elias came to him and sayes In the place where dogs lickt the blood of Naboth shall dogges licke thy blood Ahab said Hast thou found me out ô my emenie And he said I have found thee out because thou hast sould thy selfe to worke wickednesse in the sight of the Lord and the text saith When he heard this he put on sacke-cloth and went softly This was the power of a particular reproofe though he were a miserable wicked man Thus did Paul deale with Peter wheÌ„ he halted before the Jewes he did plainly reprove him to his face and that not secretly but because he had sinned openly therefore he reproves him openly so also our Saviour Christ shakes up the Scribes and Pharisees And this is the rule in generall as the Apostle saith Reprove theÌ„ sharply that they may be sound in the faith Oh! but some will say If I doe thus plainly deale with them I shall discourage them altogether Answ. Nay it will make them sound Christians indeed see what the Lord saith Plead with your mother the word