perdit liberum arbitrium as St. Augustin hath it Man can move no more of or by himself in Spiritual things especially without preventing and assisting Grace than a dead Man can in Naturals naturally * According to the Church of England as she teacheth Art 10. no more than a Worm can fly And therefore Luthâ—r with St. Augustin before him in opposition of the other side thought it was better to style it servum arbitrium a servile rather than a free Will Though some kind of Freedom cannot be denied to be essential and unseparable from the Will If we consider this power of Man as in the lower Region he is not naturally but morally dead and as a dead Man is not able to produce any Vital Actions so neither can any natural Man produce any Spiritual Action Quid boni operari potest perditus nisi quantum fuit à perditione liberatus Victore peccato amissum est liberum arbitrium non nisi ad peccatum valet ut malè agendo fit damnabilis ancilla O humana Natura O Adam Quando sanus eris non stetisti tuis viribus surrexisti Ecce dico ego quod qui superbè sapiunt ut suae voluntatis viribus tantum existiment esse tribuendum hi non posse credere in Christum c. August Thirdly That no Creature nor created Instrument can reach to work upon the Will the frame thereof is too high and the temper divine God only can change and order it Which indeed he doth working upon Man as upon an intelligent Creature â—uaviter flectendo non violenter torquendo in a way agreeable to hâ—s Frame and Constitution without committing a Rape upon any faculty first enlightning the Mind then effectually and sweetly persuading the Will to yield by surrender and accept of Grace whereby the whole Man is enabled to coâ—perate in the use and exercise thereof as will appear in the sequel only first observe the contents of this Promise as it may be drawn out into two Theological Conclusions viz. First That it is the Heart which is chiefly wrought upon in the work of Conversion Call it the Heart the Will or the inner Man or what else it is that within us which no Instrument nor finite Power can reach unto And herein this differeth from the former Work the Vnderstanding was chiefly touched in that the Will in this which is attended as a King with all the rest of the inferiour Faculties and Senses A good Will is the good Tree that maketh the Fruit good and a bad Will is the bad Tree that maketh the Fruit bad As all the evil or good of a Tree cometh from the Root so doth all the evil or good of a Man come from his Will and till this be sanctified till this be renewed nothing can be good in him The Eyes may look the Tongue may talk and the Feet may in Men's apprehensions be moving towards Heaven and yet the Heart all the while may be bent Hell-ward As Men rowing in a Boat look one way but drive a contrary Course and intend another way The outward Man may be seemingly Converted without any saving change in the inward but the inner Man cannot be long without the other as the Candle in the Lanthorn will appear by its own Light and as the Diamond or rich Jewel will cast a sparkling Lustre sooner or later before the Eyes of others Therefore our Gracious Lord and Wise Physician takes the surest and soundest way to work a perfect Cure Give him the Heart and the rest will quickly follow It is the Heart that is hard by speaking to it he softens it it is the Heart that is unclean by speaking to it he sanctifieth it it is the Heart that is poor by speaking he doth inrich it it is the Heart that is distressed with fears and doubts by speaking unto he comforteth and confirmeth it it is the Heart that is most out of order by speaking to he brings it into a spiritual frame Ezek. 36.25 26. Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and you shall be clean A new Heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you c. Thus the truth of this Point shineth with its own Lustre We will pass from it with the resolution of a Case here to be propounded viz. All this I believe may some Person say but how may I discern when my Heart is thus wrought upon Answ 1. When it is tender not in the present act or exercise of Hearing only but after while you meditate on your Sins as David did Psal 51. Against thee thee only have I sinned He doth even drown himself in Tears Or upon God's Mercies in Christ upon any relation of the Churches distress at Home or Abroad not only as they are Men but as they are Members of Christ both being melting Considerations and nothing can bring the Heart to this temper but the fulfilling of this promise 2. When it closeth with God's Precepts and Promises together desirous to do the one as delighted to believe the other Where true Conversion is wrought the Will is master'd of unwilling is made willing and ready to chuse what it once abhorred Lord what wilt thou have me to do Now the Heart makes a stand at nothing objecteth nothing it is as willing to a word of Command as to a word of Promise to the Work as to the Reward It is all over yielding and submitting Which is all that shall be said here to the Case propounded because occasion will be offer'd to speak more fully to it shortly in the amplification of this Point Doct. 2. A second Conclusion from this Promise is this viz. That it is one and the same Hand which woundeth and healeth which casteth down and raiseth up Which brings into the Wilderness and after speaks unto the Heart I will allure and I will speak As the rust of Achilles his Sword only cured the Wounds which it made Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken Heart and saveth such as are of a contrite Spirit He breaks the Vessel and then pours out the Oyl of Salvation into it Hos 6.1 He hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up The Hand of God even when it strikes drops Balsam his very Rods are bound up in Silk and softness and beforehand dipt in Balm He wounds that he may heal and in wounding healeth What the Poet's Fable concerning Telephus his Spear is here truly verified Vna eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit The same holy Hand that wounded us must cure us Rom. 9.16 So then it is not of him that willeth or of him that runneth but of God that sheweth Mercy 2 Cor. 1.4 The Lord of all Comfort who comforteth us in all our Tribulation Jesus Christ brings the Soul into saving Trouble and then sheds abroad into the Heart the comforts of Sanctifying Grace He is alway
this freedom and particularity of Choice in electing to the End and predestinating to the Means most of the Fathers downwards from Augustine and among the founder sort of School Divines Lumbard Aquinas and many of the Dominicans do strike in with the Divines of our Reformed Church 3dly Here is the Means whereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will allure or whereinto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wilderness Because I have known her I will allure her into the Wilderness Whosoever is ordained to the End is also pre-ordained to the Means The Lord can do it without Means but commonly he doth it by such as suit best with that Nature whereupon he is about to work Mans will is naturally free from Co-action therefore the Lord compelleth none but gently allureth all by degrees of unwilling making them willing 1. By illumination of the Vnderstanding Things unknown have no motive Faculty As no Good wrapp'd up in Darkness excite desire so no Evil swathed up in Ignorance strikes trouble or sorrow 2. By an effectual persuasion of the Will and then by an Infusion of renewing Grace Faith is his Work and Gift both for preparation of the Subject the beginning of Grace and for the increase and consummation of the exercise thereof Phil. 1.29 Heb. 12.2 God worketh all in Man to will what he should do and then to do what he willeth according to his own good pleasure but not as upon Stocks or Stones these are moved without knowledg as uncapable of Consent reasonable Creatures not so they consent and approve they know they will they love wha◠God worketh in them I will make ther◠is God's first work that they shall walk in my Statutes there is Mans after Co-operation Without me ye can do nothing And Wha◠hast thou O Man that thou hast not received A place which St. Cyprian usually urged to exclude all boasting on Mans behalf and whereby St. Augustine was brought to retract what he had wrote before of Faith in us and from us Means must be used but the Work is ascribed to an higher Power More distinctly know that Means are of two sorts either principal or instrumental The principal are either more principal as Christ in and by whom the Church hath all and without whom nothing or less principal as the Benefits which flow from Christ such are Adoption by the communication of his Filiation Justification by his Grace and Sanctification by his Spirit The instrumental Means are either preparative in and by the Law or effective in and by the Gospel of which more hereafter 4thly Here is to be considered the End whereunto all this is directed and that is twofold either last or next The last End is the Glory of his rich Grace in the glorification of his Spouse the Church the next End is the present Good of the Persons to be converted being thus under preparation for Regeneration As it is with a Goldsmith that would make a Cup for use or a Ring for Ornament his Oar is hard and full of dross therefore he casteth it into the Fire to soften and refine it this done he formeth and fashioneth it according to his Will Gregory applieth this Similitude thus We are the Gold hard and full of filth this World is the Shop Troubles are the Fire God the Workman let us learn how to suffer he knoweth best how to prepare and fit us for his Service As skilful Physicians hunt away the Lethargy by casting the Body into some degrees of a Fever to dry up that adventitious Moisture which else would quench natural Heat and bring in Death so the Lord brings his Children into Spiritual Distress to prevent Eternal Death and everlasting Torture in the burning Lake Or as it is with a tender Mother who clothes her Breast with Gall or Wormwood to wean the Child in its Affections and gain it to eat stronger Meat so and no otherwise is it with the Lord in this Work he weaneth them from the Dugs of the World and leadeth them into the Wilderness that he might bring them into the possession of Canaan Now no trouble for the present seemeth joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness to them that are exercised therein enabling them to say it was good for us that we were afflicted and broken that we might rejoice in more strength This the Lord only can do God shall persuade Japhet No finite power can work so upon the Spirit much less upon a weak fearful Man and yet sustain him under hope The Spirit of a Man may help against Man and against his own Infirmities but when he cometh to grapple with the Almighty when he is brought into the Wilderness to answer God charging him with his Debt a terrified burthened and wounded Conscience who else can support Prov. 18.14 For the further opening of the Point and consequently of this preparative Work to the capacity of the meaner sort three things shall be here insisted on viz. That it hath been so bow it is effected and wherefore In which we shall find what Sampson did in the Lions Belly many Honey combs of Spiritual Honey 1. This hath been and is the Method observed ordinarily in the Dispensation of Grace though a diversity may be granted as to the measure of it Look as in Music all the Strings of the Instrument are touched with the same hand yet not with a like stroke so here And the Lord is the Agent for Man being once turned from Life and dead in Sin cannot bring himself into any of this wholsom Pain much less out of it no no it is the Lord that in great Love doth both these for him Our first Parents had a legal Sermon made to them before they had any Promise applied Gen. 3.16 Hagar was brought into a Wilderness real to her typical to others before she was fully wrought upon in Faith to say I have seen him that seeth me Gen. 16.13 God begins the Work and seeth his before they see or seek him Manasses was sent into Captivity he was put in Prison and fettered in Irons the best Ornaments he ever wore before his Mountain could be brought low In such a proud Heart the Devil keeps his hold a long time such rusty Locks will not easily open Now he is as weary of his Sins as he is of his Chains As a Physician deals with Persons distracted and out of their wits he commands that they be kept in the dark to be bound in fetters to have miserable and hard Fare that by all they may be brought to their Understanding Thus God dealeth with some Sinners that are turned mad and grown out of their right Reason by their Wickedness that he may recover them he binds them in Chains brings them low that at length they may consider of their Condition and be healed Paul had both a Voice and Light to guide him into this Wilderness before the Lord would speak unto his Heart and
A VVILDERNES OF TROUBLE Leading to a Canaan of Comfort OR The Method and Manner of God's dealing with the Heirs of Heaven in the Ministry of the Word Wherein is shewed How the Lord brings them into this Trouble supporteth them under it and delivereth them out of it So that none finally miscarry By W. CROMPTON Minister of the Gospel Hos 6.1 He hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up LONDON Printed by J. D. for J. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard to be sold by Mich. Hide Bookseller in Exon. 1679. To his Honoured Friend Mr. JOHN MAYN Of the City of EXON MERCHANT THat there is a Summum Bonum or chief Good to be enjoyed by Man all sorts acknowledg Philosophers and Divines Ancient and Modern Desired by all as naturally as the greatest flames and the little sparks of Fire ascend to their Sphere either confusedly or distinctly attained only by some and in the fruition whereof true Happiness consisteth But what that is all agree not Varro out of Philosophers and St. Augustin out of Varro maketh mention of two hundred eighty and eight Opinions about it Some placing it here others there and have accordingly pursued their own conceits Error in this Point is not more common than dangerous being attended with variety of Vncertainties every one striving to maintain what he doth most affect whether an independing real-Good apprehended and presented by an Vnderstanding rightly informed or an apparent Good only offered by an Erring faculty Sense and understanding in Act is by union between the Faculty and the Object the Soul is said to be what it understandeth if the Object be a real Good the Soul by virtue of that union hath an answerable denomination In this Philosophy is an insufficient Guide looking only on this Life and the felicity of the more ignoble part of Man duâ—ing his abode here in the Visible World A supernatural Revelation is needful Reason cannot fathom nor the light of Nature reach unto the end for which Man was made Divinity discovers this and Faith comprehends it That Man was created for God to be like and enjoy him Christ is the Means to bring this to pass Man is made perfect but mutable He falleth Christ steppeth in to raise him again A new Covenant is established whereof Christ as Head undertakes to perform Conditions The Humane Nature must be united to the Divine in his Person that Christ might suffer what Man had deserved and Man might receive what Christ merited The Hypostatical Vnion is the ground or medium of another Mystical Vnion whereby every Penitent Believer is made a partaker of the Divine Nature and of all the priviledges of Christ's Obedience as if they had done it in their own Persons as of Adoption Justification Sanctification Glory The End was first the Reasonable Creature thought on next and the Means last All which were foreseen and ordered by an eternal Act of the first Cause not that for this or this after that not the Means first for the End nor the End so first as a motive to the Means but the End Object and Means together according to the freedom and counsel of his Will foreseeing still to preserve an order in the means both of Precedency and instrumental Efficiency He willed the Law and Gospel should be Preached that Knowledg and Faith might be wrought in his he willed Faith that they might be justified he willed Justification that they might be sanctified and glorified He willed all these joyntly that the End might be attained after all viz. The Communication of his own Excellency for the compleating of Man's Felicity It is not these Titles therefore can make Man happy The line of his Life being drawn forth with so many uncertainties and the height of his Power laid on so weak a foundation At one time or other of the best it may be said and the greatest on Earth may say of himself I was all things and yet nothing part of the Emperor Severus his Speech to his Council and Captains at York where shortly after he died leaving behind him this Testimony as many others have have done That Man's chiefest Good is not here below The Earth in her most glittering furniture is but Earth Fabulous and Enthusiastick and can afford but brittle Happiness Honour Riches Pleasure are but deceitful Toys So far from being Man's happiness that they often prove greater letts than helps towards Happiness Our chiefest good is Bonum immobile immutabile but Riches make themselves Wings and are uncertain like the Swallow in Winter season suddenly bidding farewel never perhaps returning again as a word once spoken nescit vox missa reverti Our chief Good is Bonum aeternum perfectum while Carnal Pleasures even the deepest here are most empty frothy and momentany like Comets made fat with smoaks and vapours of the Earth and in stead of giving Light and Brightness they bring forth Murders and Contagions Our chief Good is Bonum Immortale firm and ever flourishing always the same but Honour is fading and often buried in the Dust or quickly swallowed up in Oblivion Man was happy by Creation while the prime faculties of the Soul had that blissful Object to reflect upon the true God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom only is found a satisfying sufficiency to fill unto contentment the infinite appetite of the Soul When man turned from the Creator to the Creature he lost a real for a seeming Happiness onlâ— in this happy that the footsteps to true Happâ—â—â—sâ— are left imprinted in the Fall Let him but once think whence he is fallen and return and he cannot miss of Happiness No regaining it without returning Return return O Shulamite return How often and earnest doth the Lord call for it as that one Thing necessary which should be most intended by us How vain and empty is the Creature How full and solid the Creator Deformity in the one Beauty in the other Bitterness in this Sweetness in that To fear God and keep his Commandments is the whole of Man The Duty and Dignity Honour and Felicity of Man to know Thee and whom thou hast sent is Eternal Life In his Presence is fulness of Joy and at his Right Hand are Pleasures for evermore In him are all the Perfections of all Creatures by way of Eminency Quicquid convenit enti quatenus ens illud maximè competere in primum ens quod est Deus Who may be enjoyed either by Faith properly termed Felicity here in the Way or by Sense in our Country more fitly called Beatitude Here is a short and sure Way return to God by Christ and be happy for ever Eph. 1.10 Col. 2.10 How this is brought about and how it may be discerned is the subject of the following Discourses unto which I have taken leave to prefix your Name and by this poor way endeavoured to serve you since more ample Demonstrations are wanting to
the more mortal it is As a Disease the longer it groweth the harder will the Cure be or as it is in a Journey the further we go out of the way the more Toil and Time will be required ere we get in again Rejoice O young Man and play the Prodigal yet know for all this God will bring thee to Judgment Then thou must turn again by weeping Cross or nâ—ver enter Heaven Old Sinners are rare Converts Grace is seldom grafted on such withered Stocks Who can expect Water from a drained River The common Proverb is true As is a Man's Life so is his Death a wicked Life a cursed Death 2. Let no Man judg his Brother touching his final Estate What he is at present you may say but what he will be you cannot Mount not into God's Chair judg nothing before the time It is the Office of Angels to sever Sheep from the Goats the Tares from the Wheat Those that undertake peremptorily to determine of Mens final Estates they know not what Spirit they are of with the Sons of Zebedee they take too much upon them with the Sons of Levi they understand not what they say or whereof they affirm with those Impostors in Timothy Indeed it is a kind of Apostacy and Rebellion against God's Providence to judg without calling God to be a President into our Council As was intimated before we may judg the Tree by its Fruit leaving the final Doom to the Searcher of all Hearts censure him for the present to be God's Enemy and in a most wretched Estate but leave him under the charitable Influence of Heaven Suppose thy Neighbour be now wild he may hereafter be tamed he is now unclean hereafter he may be washed as the Corinthians were he is now intemperate he may be sober there is Blood and Merit enough in Christ Of great Sinners the Lord hath and can make great Saints to be so much the more zealous for God in his Service as they have been desperately mad and furious in the service of their own Lusts Let all Men in hope attend upon all Means constantly if one Means work not another may if it work not now it may anon Who knoweth what a day may bring forth Neglect no Means delay no Duty and still remember to crave God's blessing upon all For as it followeth in a third Observation Doct. 3. No secondary Means can avail to work Grace without a concurrence of the first Cause Means are used for the reducing of Israel Prophets were sent and divers Rods laid upon them yet the Lord addeth I will allure her Without his helping hand there is no success to be expected Means cannot turn or encline themselves to our help unless God turn encline and command them If God do not act and use them the Instruments can do nothing It was not the Clay and the Spittle that cured the blind Man but Christ's anointing his eyes with them What Music can the Organ Pipes make without breath Paul may plant and Apollos may water but God giveth the increase The reason is because they are not natural Agents working by inherent Virtue but ordained thereunto and qualified by an higher hand He that chose them maketh them effectual According as God is pleased to work or not to work so they prove Assistances or not Assistances to us All the means in the World in themselves considered are but as a Mill which grinds not the Corn unless the Wind come to it or like a Dial on which if the Sun shine it may direct us but if the Sun lies under a Cloud it is of no present use to us So if God hold off from the means if he breath not upon them and cast not a lively Influence into them they can do nothing for us Means are not absolute Lords of their own Operations but subordinate Agents and depend upon God as for being so for operation or restraint As a Master that puts a rich Cabinet of Jewels into his Servant's Chamber but keepeth the Key himself none of the Jewels can be given out but by his will and appointment In like manner God hath put an aptness in the means to do us good yet himself keeps the Key to give out according to to his good pleasure Vnde tanta virtus Aquae ut Corpus tangat Cor abluat nisi faciente Verbo Whence hath Water such power by touching the Body to wash the Heart but from the Word Aug. Hence it may be concluded 1. That all Means must be used We have God himself for a Pattern he could enlighten us without the Sun and afford Fruit without the Earth but he will have his creatures operate and so we are commanded to serve Divine Providence and to leave the Issue to him Man goes not to Heaven as the Ship moves in the Tide whether the Master sleeps or wakes We must with the skilful Mariner have our Eyes on the Stars and our Hands on the Stern Provided still that the right means be used hearing of the Word preached Receipt of the Sacraments Meditation and Prayer that the Lord would be pleased graciously to add his Influence that thereby Grace may be begun and strengthned in the several Acts thereof because the Lord will not work by any means but such as are of his own appointment Naaman must be cleansed by washing in Jordan a River in Israel not in Abana or Parphar Rivers in Damascus Now the forementioned means are of the Lord's appointment as may be read in Isa 55.3 Rom. 10.17 2 Tim. 2.7 Jam. 1.5 And as you must use the right so you must be careful to use them as Means that is First Subordinately with respect to the Lord upon whose hand and blessing the whole depends 2dly Regularly with respect to those Directions set down in Scripture which are principally such as follow viz. 1. Diligently both in regard of frequency of Action and fervency of Spirit as Men are diligent in such matters whereby their Lives might be preserved To this is the Promise made Ask seek knock Such a diligent Hand maketh rich Be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord. Therefore David prays Quicken us O Lord that we may call upon thy Name Psal 80.18 Therefore we have Line upon Line Precept upon Precept to provoke our diligence A Neglect or careless use of the means is little better in the sight of God than contempt of the means yea of Himself He that despiseth you despiseth me 2. Opportunely and seasonably Every one hath his day there is an acceptable hour when the Lord will be entreated while God calls and waits while Grace is dispensed Days of Grace have their dates The Vision is for an appointed time Hab. 2.3 What the Prophet said of the Prophetical Vision may be said of other Divine Dispensations The Means of Grace have their Limits Prov. 1.24 Because I called and ye resused c. Therefore will I laugh at your Calamity
c. Whosoever steps in when the Angel moves the Waters shall be healed Neglect not any opportunity as many do The Loss of Opportunity is an irrecoverable Loss Say not we shall meet with enough hereafter a day pasâ— cannot be recalled Every thing is beautiful in its season God takes delays for refusals Saul lost his Kingdom by not discerning his Time Archimedes drew lines so long in the dust till his City was taken and the Souldiers brake in upon him and slew him So many that have thoughts of Repentance lose their precious Souls by sinful delays Consider the foolish Virgins and be wise Let not such a Sun set on Earth by the Beams oâ— which you should walk to Heaven 3. Entirely submitting to all means oâ— Salvation even those which to human Reason seem weak and mean yea contrary to ouâ— proud Capacities and the bent of our Affections He that will be saved must deny his own Will crucify his own Affections captivate his own Imaginations resign up his own Desire and Pleasure give up his Heart as a Blank that God may write down what he shall please Man must not be Funambulus Virtutum to use Tertullian's Phrase go in a narrow Tract of Obedience pick and chuse what he will do and what not follow God only in such Duties as will suit with himself and no further There must be an illimited Resolution for all the ways of Salvation To slight any is to slight the Author 4. It must be sincerely and constantly used in obedience to God's command leaving the Lord free for time and measure Confine not the Holy one no not in your thoughts or desire Limit him not to time or means Deus non alligat gratiam Sacramentis further than he is pleased to confine and limit himself It was a bold carriage of Popilius the Roman Ambassador towards Antiochus when he drew a Circle round about him and bad him give answer ere he stirred out of it for he would be put off no longer Men are more bold than welcom to God who dare to set him bounds where he hath left himself free Learn to wait for him you shall reap if you faint not Attend in the Morning and absent not thy self at evening thou knowest not whether this or that or both may prosper Leave not off because thou prevailest not at once or twice He that endureth to the end shall be saved Importunity prevails at length no Oratory like to it 2. It may be concluded hence that we may not rest on the means A Man may put his Hand but not his Heart on them God commands the one but forbids the other Noah's Dove might make use of her Wings to fly but trusted only to the Ark a Man useth his Feet to go over a Bridg but trusteth to the Bridg for safety Christians may and must walk and fly with the Wings of Obedience but in the mean time they must trust to the Ark to the Bridg Christ to carry and lead them over the devouring Sea of Destruction otherwise they rob God of his Honour like Michal who put an Image in David's room they put the Means in the room of God and themselves of the Help and Comfort To advance the Means above their place is a most compendious way to render them useless to make the River a barren Wilderness as to lay too much weight upon the Pillars raised by any Man's hands is the way to pull the whole Frame upon their Heads That Stomach will râ—main unsatisfied that feeds on the Dish instead of the Meat Nothing can avail without God's blessing After all to him we must fly and on him we must wait till he be pleased to bestow what he offers and of this we may be assured in his time because as it follows in the fourth and last Observation hence Viz. Doct. 4. That the Lord is earnest in his Offer of Grace to all under the Means so that if any perish it is through their own default Behold I will allure and I will speak He meaneth what he saith indefinitely and will do what he meaneth unless Men turn the deaf ear and through stubborn resistance exclude themselves As it fares with some Persons who are wilfully set to destroy themselves notwithstanding they have many excellent Remedies and Means to the contrary This Point will appear two ways 1. From the truth of the Means designed by the Lord for such an end The Means are for the End and the End is as truly and more really intended than the Means if I may so speak Now it is certain and presupposed that the Lord is earnest in the Means therefore much more in the end A Man may love the End for it self but the Means are ever chosen and loved for the End I cannot see how it can stand with the Wisdom and Goodness of God to be earnest in the Means and not to intend the End or to offer that to any which he hath no purpose to give The Lord never said to the Seed of Jacob Seek ye my Face in vain But whoso doth seek him in the use of means shall find him 2. It appears from the qualification of the Means 1. It is proportioned to the Nature of a reasonable Creature The Lord works not upon Men as on Blocks or Brutes or on the Stars who being irrational and uncapable of acting by any Rule are therefore acted and run their Course by the mighty Word of God's Power they live of the Spirit 's Omnipotency and immediate Acts. But on Men he worketh as upon Creatures endued with understanding and Will he enlightneth allureth speaketh unto the Heart and persuadeth by such Arguments and Motives as cannot be gainsaid A Sign that the Lord doth really intend what he doth pretend 2. It is followed close with Precepts enjoining them Constancy in the use of such means pressing Line upon Line day after day here a little and there a little and divers Promises of acceptance and success See those pathetical and affectionate Expressions which hold forth not only his Will but the strength and height of it in this matter Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord then the Ingemination of it Turn ye turn ye with a vehement expostulation Why will ye die And in divers other places Which does assure us that the Lord doth really purpose what he speaks and is more ready to give than Man is to accept We are Ambassadors for Christ as if God did beseech you by us we pray in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God And who can think or say he doth not desiré our Reconciliation It is highly injurious to conclude Deum non sincerè velle quod se velle dicit sub conditione That God doth not truly and really will what he saith and willeth under the conditions of Faith and Repentance What Comfort or encouragement is there for a poor Sinner to come home to God if this fail In and from whom these three Grounds are required
tell him what he should do And those of whom mention is made Acts 2.37.16.30 with many other such of our own observation were brought into great distress through fear and desire fear of Sin desire of God's Love and Favour not able to resist any where Men and Brethren what shall we do Comforts they refuse Threatnings they apply with hand and heart witty and ready they are to hurt themselves as if their vital and animal Spirits were stopp'd in their Passage by some Disease they are often near sinking such affinity and agreement there is between the Mind and the Body Observe such troubled Spirits you may to look heavily sigh deeply as if the Heart would break and at last to cry out Wo and alas if this and that be so as I fear it is and do believe how can I be saved If the spots of a Leopard can be wiped out if the hue of an Indian can be changed if a Camel can go through the eye of a Needle then may I be cleansed renewed and saved But Lord how can that be is there any Balm any Blood any Mercy for such an one as I Tell me O my Friends speak thou Man of God was there ever such an one read or heard of a presumptuous Sinner a beastly Wretch a close Lover of Wickedness an Hater of Holiness To look upon I am afraid of my self what shall I do whither shall I fly say do not you loath me and blush to behold and hear me was there ever such an one as I accepted This is that narrow Way that leads many to Life that great Strait whereinto the right dearly beloved of the Lord are often brought to learn how that is possible to God which is impossible with Men. As the Woman by God's appointment is to bring forth in pangs and travail so must the Heart of Man ordinarily labour till Christ be formed in it 2. How and after what manner doth the Lord effect this It is either by removing Impediments or by presenting to the Eye of the Conscience 1. The many deceitful Grounds there are whereon Men naturally rest and boast of as if their Estate at worst were well enough And till these deceitful Props be removed they will not in earnest seek after Christ much less accept him to rest upon him These the Lord removes by shewing unto Men their weakness and insufficiency to yeeld them any comfort And they are either inward or outward Inward as Knowledg without Love Invention without Judgment and a Memory without any practical delight in the Notions retained all which a Man may have and yet be no better than a Devil the sufficiency of Baptismal Regeneration without any care or thought to perform Conditions These being without the power of Godliness are only as a dead Corps strewed and adorned with Flowers as a gouty Foot covered with a Crimson Shoo or a Statue of Earth and Dirt with some glorious colouring and old Sepulchers with new painting over them The Lord convinceth them that this Ark is not sure enough to keep them in the deluge of many Waters yea that all things without Grace will prove an Aggravation of their Condemnation As in some Countries when their Malefactorâ— were to be burn'd in the Fire they poured Oil and Pitch to encrease their Torments so will every Privilege make Hell the hotter for such as these In the day when the fiery Trial shall be all their painting will melt away Outward as Riches Honour Health Learning meer Civility and Formality all commendable in their kind but not sufficient These Men may have and yet come short of Grace and Life in Glory Few rich Men shall be saved 1 Cor. 1.26 Corpulent Birds seldom fly high These many things cumber them And If your Righteousness exceed not the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The best of these are but Weeds in God's Garden Tares in his Wheat Chaff in his Floor Therefore the Lord doth wisely and timely remove these Impediments 2. He presenteth Sin and the Consequents thereof in their true Colours pulleth off the Skin of that Viper washes off the paint and shews its Face in full deformity And this he doth ordinarily four ways viz. 1. By corporal Calamities and temporal Rods occasionally opening that Eye which Prosperity and Security had fast closed As in Joseph's Brethren and the Prodigal Son we have an Instance The former Gen. 42.21 declare the force of Conscience and fruit of Affliction Old Sins are brought to a new reckoning We are very guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the Anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this Evil come upon us The latter came to himself when he was under want his Affliction like Eye-bright Water had a strange and great Influence on his bedulled Sight now he resolves to go to his Father Yea many now living can say I doubt not It is good for them that they have been afflicted They had been undone had they not been undone that they might go weeping towards Heaven while others go laughing towards Hell Poverty may be so ordered as to prove a Preparative to Spiritual Riches Imprisonment antecedent to Evangelical Liberty Sickness and weakness of Body often tendeth to the strength and health of the Inner Man This brings to mind that Story in Bromiardus concerning an Apprentice that had served an hard Master by whom he had been sore beaten These Blows the Lord had made a means of the Man's Conversion Whereupon lying on his Death-bed and his Master standing by he catched hold fast on his hands and kissed them saying Hae manus perduxerunt me ad Paradisum These hands have helped to bring me to Paradise And Beza tells us of himself that God was pleased to lay the Foundation of his Spiritual Health in a violent Sickness which befell him at Paris Morbus iste verae Sanitatis principium Ep. praefix Confess What is it that God cannot make the Channel to bring in the Ship the Cistern-pipes to convey the Water whose Spring is in Heaven Ezekiel's Wheels shall move if the Spirit drive them and the Pool of Bethesda communicate Health if the Angel descend and stir the Waters Blessed is the Man whom thou correctest and teachest 2. By Spiritual Combats raised by the Spirit of Bondage between Fear and Desire Hope and Distrust continued and encreased by the unregenerate Will going one way and the Light of natural Conscience going another way so that their very Constitution is in discord there is no more agreement than between Fire and Water by reason of which the Soul is brought into great Anguish much Fear because of Sin and the great Danger it apprehends as the Consequents of both these Conflicts being like the Opposition of Planets in the Superiour Orb fore-runners of great Evils 3. Usually it is by the Ministry of the Law that School-master whose Lash makes Sinners Backs
Wrath of the Almighty presented to a solitary Soul no Friend in sight but all apprehended Enemies to him this is a lamentable Case Yet here is comfort for all this if the Eye be once opened as Hagar's was or the Servants of the Prophet to see a Fountain near us opened for Sin and Vncleanness to see the Mountains covered with armed Souldiers and Chariots of Fire on our side if we once look up and consider the end which the Lord proposeth in so doing it will never after be so doleful he can lead you through the Sea feed you in the Wilderness and easily limit and destroy all your Enemies Nay in time he will do it And if the Lord be on our side we need not fear ten Thousands homming us in on every side Many there be in the World to whom this Comfort belongs who will not take it and they run into two Extremes either such who have drunken so deep of this Cup of Legal Terror that they judg themselves hated of God as if none of his Beloved had ever been in that Case when as his own dear Son was so far brought into this Wilderness as to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And here it is a merciful Promise made unto a beloved People an ordinary Course which he doth take with those that are dear unto him through many Tribulations to bring them into possession of a Kingdom Let not Satan nor your own slavish Fears so far prepossess you as to deny audience unto God when he shall be pleased to speak unto our Hearts Or else they are such who have had either none or so little of it in their apprehensions that they deem themselves still in the State of Nature because they were never humbled enough as such and such they were never in this Wilderness and so consequently never yet in the ready way to Heaven Therefore they refuse Christ and all Comfort offered no Promise they say belongs to them To such I would say True it is that all ordinary Converts are humbled all are brought into this Wilderness and all taste more or less at one time or other of this Cup of Legal Terrour The Soul that is so prone to Sin must be stayed Conscience must be charged with the guilt and weight of Sin and pursued with deserved Anger from one place to another till the Soul be weary of Sin and the Party oft-times so afraid that he dares not be alone and yet finds little ease in Company But then you must know withal that the Lord is a free Agent he hath not limited himself to one degree or measure so neither can any Man set a stint to say Whosoever shall be saved must be humbled to this and this degree God cannot be tract in his goings none can find out his Footsteps His ways are past finding out they are like the way of an Eagle in the Air. Besides all need it not alike and he works it diversly upon most according to the number nature and continuance of their Sins and with reference to that Emploiment he intends them for after as hath been formerly noted A familiar Instance may serve to bring the meaning hereof to every Capacity Of Locks some are new and easily opened others old and rusty and must with violence be broken open of Stones some are harder than others So of Persons some are more glued unto and faster riveted in Sin than others Paul was knock'd down while Lydia had her Heart gently opened Zaccheus a Publican and Extortioner is not stricken from the Tree which he climbs by any Rays of Divine Majesty shining upon him but is like ripe Fruit gathered by the Hand not shaken off by the tempestuous Winds If an old Adulterer or a deboist lewd Companion be once brought into this Wilderness he is dreadfully handled his foul Sins pursue him like Acteon's Hounds Hell-fire seems to flie in his Eyes and he fears sinking every moment Such as have taken much delight in Sin are made for their health to vomit up their sweet Morsels with much bitterness O my Drunkenness crieth out one in such a place and with such Company O my Fornication and Adultery with such and such saith another Once pleasant now bitter as Gall and Wormwood Wo unto us that ever we were born to go on so long in Sin c. So that by this time all the Town and Country hear and speak of them such a Change cannot escape wonder Thus the Case is difficult with some As a Disease come to a Paroxism is hardly cured And as where the Enemy is stronger there the Victory is more difficult Now for others who have been by careful Parents more restrainedly brought up and religiously educated they may be brought into it softly and by degrees not knowing when or how thus far they are come they hate Sin all in all sorts they love Grace and good Company God's favour they prize above all Contentments loving and cleaving unto Jesus Christ with sincere Hearts good Duties they perform and dare not often omit them in private or in public and a good Conscience they desire to keep towards God and Man they are the same in words and deeds to the exactest of their care and sincere intention charitable to the Poor doing good to all especially to the Houshold of Faith This they know but that they were ever in this Wilderness they remember not Many times and unto many Persons the Lord hideth the violence of this Terror knowing their weak and tender disposition and affords them a saving Proportion by continuance it is long upon them that have least and of shorter continuance in them that have most Let none measure themselves by others A wise Physician proportioneth his Receit to the Constitution of the Patient else he might sooner kill than cure Who will say his Potion can do him no good because he had not so many drams as another had when as his Body would not bear it neither doth his Disease require it The Lord knoweth best what he hath to do and how Leave it to him and look rather to the Quality than to the Quantity that you be utterly driven out of your selves to rest effectually on Christ as your Lord and Saviour and then fear not Quest But how may a Man know whether he have been at any time brought into this Wilderness in truth Answ By the Manner of working it and by the Nature of his Sorrow 1. By the manner of working as hath been formerly described When a Person is so far humbled by the Law as that he acknowledgeth both Crime and Curse and hath nothing to say for himself but to cry out with Tears I am unclean I am unclean When his Plea is an Appeal and his Suit is deeply set and closely followed for Mercy and Grace it is a good sign 2. By the nature of this Sorrow and Grief which if it be only to restrain him it is shallow and
with Men that would destroy the brood of some Beasts and Birds they pull down their Nests and destroy their Dens So it is with the true Penitent in respect of Sin down with all now that they would uphold before Fourthly There followeth a great Love to a sound-searching Ministry that will fully search and try the deceitful Heart and batter the deceitful holds of Sin Threatnings are welcome that shake the proud stony Heart and dash Babels Brats against the Wall I mean the crawling Vermin of noisome Lusts O strike thou Man of God strike in Christ's Name and spare not burn and cut here O here is an impure hard Heart as ever was harboured in any Breast And then goeth most chearfully most thankfully and best contented when he is struck to the quick What a blessed opportunity was this happy that I lived to see this day to hear such a Sermon If we hate an Enemy nothing will satisfie but his death Fifthly There remains still many fears and an holy jealousie that every Sin he reades or hears of is his Master is it I As it is reported of Socrates that when he walked in the Streets and saw any Person disorder'd would say to himself Am I such a one And as Master Bradford did when he looked into the lewd Lives of others And so do all humble Christians Nay commonly in this case he takes all to himself I have been this and I am thus and deserve that He needs neither Accuser nor Judg but is ready to cast the first stone at himself Thus the intented Convert is brought into the Wilderness of Spiritual Trouble where he yet remains a miserable Spectacle in Chains under Bondage tossing to and fro sighing and looking about now upon himself where he seeth his Chains but no power to loose them then abroad to see if there be any near but there is none to hear or help Finally he raiseth up his Eyes towards Heaven in such an earnest humble fixed manner as if he would never leave till he heard some word of comfort for which here is a Promise which comes in the next place to be handled III. I will speak unto her Heart Containing the third General of the Text viz. The first infusion for Apprehension or actual excitation of Sanctifying Grace In which Promise is presented to your view 1. The subject of this Evangelical Work and that is the Heart Instruments work directly upon the outward Man only he hath his seat in Heaven that works upon the Heart This is as Fire among the Elements that doth assimulate every thing to it self or as the Primum Mobile to the inferiour World which carries all the inferiour Orbs with it the first Mover or great Wheel in a Clock once moved moves with it all the rest the Tongue Eyes Hands Feet all move to the motion of the Heart and when God hath once fram'd the Soul to his Discipline by the ministry of the Law then he takes the Heart to be a fit hearer and speaks unto it 2. The manner of Exccution I will speak unto or above Two things may be conceived as promised herein First To speak comfortably to a solitary disconsolate Soul So much doth the Hebraism every-where import Comfort ye my People speak comfortably to Jerusalem Isa 40.1 The words are originally as here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Speak to the Heart of Jerusalem i. e. speak things grateful to her comfort raise up chear as both the Syriack and Chaldee Paraphrase do take it As it was with the Jews when God gave the Law to Israel by Moses they heard the Thunder and saw the Lightning but neither heard nor saw God so it is in this preparative work of Faith Men see the bright purity of the Law they hear many Woes and Curses denounced but God in Christ they neither hear nor see till he further enlighten them and raise them up by speaking to their Hearts Secondly To speak Victoriously above all the strength of that natural resistability which is in every untamed and unsanctified Heart In few words it is thus much I will chear and change her Whence Ministers are fitly called Comforters 1 Thess 2.11 and the Gospel a Peace-offering a word of Comfort and Reconciliation How the Lord works this whether as a Moral Persuader only by proposing Objects or as a Physical Agent determining the Intellect changing the Will and ordering the whole Business both for efficacy and event How the Will of Man hath it self towards the Grace of God in the act of Conversion hath been and is the great question of the Christian World Divines of all sorts are beating about it some to defend others to bolt out the Truth Pelagians with the Jesuits on one hand are for the strength of Nature and liberty of the Will to accept or refuse the Voice of God The Primitive Fathers from Augustine downwards with most Protestants and the Dominican Friars on the other hand are more for the Glory of God's Free-grace Who worketh both to will and to do of his own good Pleasure Here will be nothing interposed in order to any determination of this Controversie only the studious whom it may concern are referr'd to what is extant * Chamier Tom. 3. operum lib. 3. Cameron respons ad Epist docti viri alibi Zanch lib. 5. de Nat. Dei D. Rivet comment in Hos in disput 13. D. Twiss in defens Perk. Vind. gra and may yield better satisfaction For others who are willing to rest in plain Truths and fear to offend by curious enquiries they may take what follows for answer viz. First God speaketh and worketh after a secret if not an unexpressible manner Divine Graces curiously and mysteriously insinuate themselves and the impressions of the Will are extremely nice Therefore Men should not be rash in determining nor over-bold in presenting to the Eye what God hath vailed endeavouring to make Windows in God's Closet and to unclasp his secret Books St. Augustine's Rule is surely safe Praestat dubitare de occultis quam de incertis litigare And his Counsel is very prudent viz. Compescenda est humana temeritas id quod non est non quaerat nè quod est inveniat Contra. Manich. l. 8. c. 1. i. e. We must bridle our Temerity and check our Curiosity lest we pursue what is not revealed and find that which is Let all take heed of soaring too high lest they be scorched and wading too deep lest they be drowned There are some things we may nescire sine crimine not know without blame but cannot know them sine discrimine without danger And in respect of these a learned Ignorance is to be preferr'd to an ignorant Learning Stobaeus reports of Thales that he gazing on the Stars fell into a Pit so may all pryers into God's Secrets be suffered to fall into the Pit of Error Secondly Man hath certainly lost his freedom to Good by his first choice of Evil. Seipsum
earnest longing after them as the only good to be desired with which they may be happy and without them they must be everlastingly miserable The wise Spiritual Merchant having once found this Treasure hideth it and makes haste for joy that there is some possibility of enjoying it he selleth all that he hath and resolveth to purchase it whatever he pay whatever the conditions be As the hunted Hart longs after the running Stream so these Men do now cry out Give us Christ or else we die They Hear Reade Fast and Confer O they will part with all they will do any thing for Christ A Sight a Touch a Taste of him is more worth than the World 3. After many Conflicts Doubts and Fears the Heart is wrought upon not only willing to receive Christ for so it was before but actually to cast it self upon Christ to rest on him and to resign it self wholly to his dispose O the sweet Repose which a fainting Soul finds in a Promise rightly applied after a storm of Spiritual Trouble The Heart is ever with him the Eye is alway upon him and the Tongue is delighted often to mention him Sweet Jesus hast thou done and suffered so much for me Was thy Heart pierced was thy Head bowed was thy Body nailed to the Cross for my Redemption How unworthy am I such a wretched Creature such a rebellious Prodigal such an impure lump of Sin to hear of such Mercy much more to taste thereof But seeing it was thy great Love to do it and thy Bounty to prevent me by offering it 't is my duty to receive it with all readiness of Mind and thankfulness of Heart Tho thou should'st kill me yet will I trust in thee tho thou should'st after cast me into Hell by me merited yet would I come unto thee Lo Lord Jesus lo a dumb deaf and lame Leper before thee if thou wilt thou canst make me clean and whole and if thou wilt not none else can do it I resolve to sink at thy Feet and if it were possible to perish in thine Arms. Thirdly The Lord speaks again to this same Heart thus far wrought upon three times he spake unto Samuel before he knew what and to whom to answer and the end and effect of it is three-fold 1. By the power of his Word he turneth out the old Inhabitant for intus existens probibet alienum Satan who did reign there by Sin and brings another into possession even Christ by his Spirit and Graces 2. He changeth the natural Disposition of the Heart truly for Parts though not perfectly for Degrees There is no part but is bespangled with Grace As Air in respect of Light so is the Heart in respect of Grace of a double he makes one single a hard and stony Heart he softeneth Understand not this of any Natural Moral or Legal yielding all which are presupposed but of an Evangelical softness a tenderness following upon serious deliberation and consideration of God's infinite Love Christ's bitter Sufferings and the odious nature of Sin And lastly Of an impure deceitful hypocritical Heart he makes an honest clean sincere Heart Ego non sum ego It is not what it was Such power and healing Vertue there is in the Word of God 3. By his Divine Breath and Power this Marriage between Christ and the Soul is consummate the Spiritual Bond apprehended and the Mystical Union manifested as it followeth in this very Chapter I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in Righteousness Judgment Loving-kindness and in Mercies i. e. In him in whom Mercy and Justice meet and are reconciled I will do it truly and firmly so that all his Benefits shall be made over by way of Joynture or Dower thy Poverty and Deformity shall be accounted his his Riches and Beauty thine This is that the Lord speaks to the Heart finally for this he allured her into the Wilderness that he might win her to himself and thus is this Work finished The manner of Conversion as for the present we apprehend it to be ordinary thus far concluded and briefly in the Heads only unfolded we may for further satisfaction light and benefit require Quest First When is the Lord said to speak unto the Heart Answ I answer 1. When he overcomes the natural hardness of the Heart and begins to let out that Spiritual Impostume or mass of Impurity which lieth hid in every one by Nature This is a Work to which neither Men or Angels are able to set their Hands The Heart-maker is the only Heart-breaker and he alone that knows the Heart can purifie or purge it When Rocks are turn'd into streams of Water and the Mountains melt like Wax and clods of Earth are made like Stars of Heaven surely then God putteth forth his Power then he speaketh to the Heart 2. When he raiseth any comfort in distressed Minds by closing with them in some promises of Pardon or power over Sin This is the Voice of God for he only can prepare a Door of Hope in every Valley of Trouble provide Manna in the Wilderness Water in every dry Rock and Light in every Dungeon There is no precious Electuary for sick Souls but by his Prescription and Administration 3. When he answereth the desire of the Heart against such and such a Sin or in a timely supply of such a Grace either in truth where it is not or for degrees where it was in a little measure before All Grace is originally from Heaven it comes from above James 3.17 i. e. from God the first and second preventing and assisting God bids the Soul to mortifie such a Lust and the Soul complains as Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 20.12 I have no might against this great Army then the Lord comes in with Auxiliary Forces and his Grace hath been sufficient God bids him to pray for such a Mercy and he finds himself very unfit his Heart at first was dead and flat but on a sudden he is carried above his own strength his Tears drop his Love flames God hath then spoken then he came in with assisting Grace If the Heart burn in Prayer God hath struck the Fire the Spirit hath been tuning the Heart therefore it maketh sweet melody 4. When there is a close concurrence and an orderly subordination between God's Word and the Heart When the Word is not only delivered to the Heart but the Heart also is deliver'd up unto the Word By the closing of these two our Wills are wholly taken up in God's Will So that the Heart ever saith after as Christ did not my Will in any thing but thy Will be done in all O Lord This is one reason alledged by St. Augustin why he would have all sorts to reade the Scriptures and frequently to hear them Quia in illis loquitur Deus ad Cor indoctorum atque doctorum Because therein God speaks unto the Heart of the Learned and Unlearned Aug. Epist 3.
bite most cruelly dying Sins trouble â—â—d oppose the Soul most stoutly Sanctifiâ—â—tion follows Faith and presupposeth our â—â—ion to Christ You may not stand safely â—â— this pretence that you will labour to get â—â—me power over your Corruptions and then â—â—u will hearken to what God will speak â—â—to your Hearts but first hearken and â—â—ctory will follow by degrees and that neâ—â—ssarily upon this ground viz. The Principle whence Grace cometh the Stock out oâ— which this fair Flower groweth is strongeâ— than the Principle and Root whence Corruption that stinking Weed floweth beinâ— joyned the weaker must yield in the end Only do you resist it and complain often about it in private prayer to Christ and bâ— assur'd that he who hath broken the Serpentâ— Head for you will also bruise it in you Object 3. Oh but Satan and my own Hearâ— do condemn and tell me I am a Cast-away Answ In this case hearken not what Meâ— or Angels say much less what Satan anâ— your own deceitful Hearts suggest but whaâ— the Lord saith It is his Prerogative to speaâ— unto the Heart and your duty to hear him only before your selves much more beforâ— Satan Suppose the Devil should tell you thaâ— all were well your Sins pardoned and thaâ— you should be saved would you believe him for himself I trow not And for your selves you are no competent Judges in this perplexed condition as the distemper'd Palaâ— is not fit to judg of Meats or the vitiated eye of an Object Consult with experienced Christians and still keep an Ear open foâ— this Voice of God speaking at all hours oâ— the Day I will hearken what the Lord will say for he speaketh peace to his People But withal let not his Saints return to folly Object 4. Me-thinks I behold God not as speaking to my Heart but as still frowning upon 〈◊〉 and speaking against me as a Judg for the â—ach of his Laws and after the use of much â—ans in private and publick I can feel no â—â—mfort Answ This is a sore scruple which veheâ—ently beats upon most sensible Sinners â—ore need therefore to assoil it The anâ—wer is this You must learn to live and walk â—â— Faith and not so much by Sense to beâ—â—eve more than you feel Your comfort is â—et more in Promises than in Possession Alâ—â—ough the Fig-tree should not blossom neither â—ruit be on the Vine though the labour of the â—live should fail and the Fields should yield no â—â—eat c. Yet saith the Prophet by Faith â—ould I rejoyce in the Lord and joy in the God â—f my salvation who is my strength and â—ill make my feet like Hinds feet and make â—e to walk upon my high places Even â—ith Abraham beyond hope to believe under â—ope so shall you bring much Glory to God Now to help forward this Spiritual Appreâ—ension and Resolution 1. Labour to have your Judgments rightly â—nform'd in the manner of Divine Dispensaâ—ion of Grace what Method and Degrees â—he Holy Spirit observeth in Converting and Sanctifying the Heart Ignorance of this is â—ollowed with great heaviness and much â—auseless discomfort of long continuance 2. Look off your selves and beyond all means which are as Guides and Conduits Guides to lead you to Christ and Conduits to convey Virtue from him unto your Hearts Dwell not on the well-doing of Duties rest not on the exercise of Grace there is no satisfying Merit no purifying Blood in all or any of these that so you may look upon the Mediator only all our Riches and Safety is from without from this blessed Object conveyed and received by Faith and through him upon the Father It is horrible to think on God and terrible to hear him much more to see him without Christ Guilt dare not look on Majesty and Majesty is most terrible in an Enemy and a Judg. I have read of a politick Practice of a Macedonian Courtier who being banisht King Philip's presence adventured once again to come into the Court and further into the King's presence with young Alexander in his Arms as if he said Let him plead for me and accordingly for his Wit he was pardon'd and accepted into Favour Change the Persons and you may make it a President True it is you are deservedly banisht Heaven and God frowneth upon you but come with Christ in your Arms make him your Friend and then no doubt of acceptance He hath made us accepted in the Beloved In Christ he is a reconciled God a tender Father in Jesus Christ in Christ God's Nature is lovely to us and our Persons lovely to God 3. Meditate often what it is you have in and with Christ viz. Perfect Righteousness imputed to Justification and imparted to Sanâ—â—ification All your Sins remitted freely your Persons accepted to Eternal Life So â—hat Men nor Devils the Gates of Hell shall not finally prevail against you either actively to hurt or hinder or passively to withstand you Object 5. But I find my Heart hard and impure therefore I fear God hath not spoken 〈◊〉 it Answ To find this and in truth to bewail it is one sign of God's speaking to it God in the still Voice hath discovered that â—nto you which undiscover'd might have proved your Bane The Scum appears not â—ill forced by the heat of the Fire the impurity of the Heart would lie undiscern'd were â—â— not for the Fire of God's Word Live â—ot under the reign of any one Sin pray for more Sanctity and Softness remembring those two precious Promises viz. Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart to love the Lord Ezek. 36.25 26. Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and you shall be clean c. Wherein God speaks again to perfect what he hath begun and for more Spiritual enlargement to be more thankful for this that the Lord hath vouchsafed to single you out above many others to allure you into this Wilderness and to speak unto you be sure God's Words and Works shall not be left imperfect Upon the falling of your Eyes towards the Earth in token of Humility let your Hearts be raised towards Heaven to testifie your Spiritual Joy by saying with Mephibosheth What is thy Servant that thou should'st look upon such a dead Dog as I am With Abigail Behold let thy Hand-maid be a Servant to wash the feet of the Servants of my Lord. With Ruth Why have I found Grace in thine Eyes that thou shouldest take notice of me seeing I am a Stranger And with Jesus Christ I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes even so O Father because it was thy good pleasure Quest After all this how may a Man know the truth and soundness of his Conversion Answ To this the following Discourse will offer some resolution for which purpose it is designedly adjoyned Reade and reap Profit Give Glory to God by Jesus Christ In
the Mount will the Lord be seen FINIS A CANAAN OF COMFORT DISCOVERING That a true sight of Sin is an infallible sign of Grace â—rom that Expression of Holy and Penitent David Psal 51.3 My Sin is ever before me By W. C. London Printed in the Year 1679. A Consolatory Preface to poor Christians dejected under the sense of their Sins GOd's Ministers are commanded by the Voice of that Evangelical Prophet Isaiah to comfort to speak to the Lord's People to comfort Jerusalem and cry unto her that her Warfare is accomplished and that her Iniquity is pardoned In obedience to this Command I have presumed to publish this Word in season for your Benefit in the following plain Discourse and the plainer because such a dress doth best become Divinity Affected terms may please the Fancy but will never feed the Vnderstanding they Court but not Comfort In these Points Experience is more than Reading Both ways all praise be to the Author of Grace you have learn'd how the Lord by degrees allureth and draws Men and Women out of the pleasing Fields of Prodigality into the Wilderness of Spiritual Trouble that he might there speak unto their Hearts and work them to a gracicious Temper wherein afterwards he keeps them partly by presenting Sin to the Eye and Conscience as he did to David Which you must know is not to sink nor drive them to Dispair but to nourish and increase in them an hatred of Sin and a longing love after Christ seeing the one daily to loath it and feeling the want of the other more to desire him It was an excellent Speech of that eminent Martyr Mr. Lambert who lifting up his Hands flaming with Fire as his Heart did with Love and Zeal cried aloud to the People out of the Fire Christ and none but Christ Which I designedly put you in mind of and commend to you whereby to encourage you in your dejected Condition and to propound as a pattern for your Practice For an adequate object of Faith to accept and rest upon as the only Mediator of Justification and Salvation Christ and none but Christ In the exercise of Repentance for a term to which we must trust and by whom we have access to the Father Christ and none but Christ In the duty of Prayer for an Intercessor to give weight and worth unto them Christ and none but Christ For a compleat Saviour both to redeem by Purchase â—nd Conquest in regard of Man's twoâ—old Bondage and to adorn the Soul with Righteousness Christ and none but Christ As Sin is so let Christ be ever â—efore you in his Incarnation Death Resurrection Ascension and Intercessiâ—n In his Natures and Offices in the excellency of his Merit and Efficacy of â—is Spirit in his Beauty and Innocenâ—y in his Power and Pity in his hidden Treasure and Riches unsearchâ—ble believe it there is no such Image â—o look upon no such Picture to pray â—efore as the Promises present in him â—o every believing Eye in your Chamber â—nd at Church Alone and in Company â—n Health and Sickness in Life and Death look upon him love him and say Christ and none but Christ Then may you be assured that God hath brought you the best way out of Egypt into Canaan that he hath spoken unto your Heart indeed and that Christ's Blood is and shall be effectually applied to put Sin both out of Affection and Memory and in due time to cleanse your Nature from the power and being of Sin In a word be of good Courage keep on in your way your Labour will not be in vain in the Lord. Heaven or rather Christ will pay for all If then you would have Sin pardon'd Hardness and Dulness removed Grace bestowed in the Habit Acts or Degrees Doubts answered Weakness strengthened Prayers and Tears with Christ will do it Children of many Tears cannot perish Farewel A Canaan of Comfort DISCOVERING That a true sight of Sin is an infallible sign of Grace Psal 51.3 My Sin is ever before me OF Books the Scripture of Scripture the Psalms of Psalms the Penitentials of Penitentials this hath worthily obtained the place of Eminency Basil Hom. 12 in Psal and for Use and Comfort were it meet to compare things which are in their own nature Superlative of Super-excellency in the Church of God And that justly whether we regard the Author the Occasion the Subject or the End of it The Author was David a King a Prophet a Penitent Sinner every way great great in his Gifts great in his Person and Place and greatly Beloved great in his Fall and great in his Recovery and all to draw transgressing Greatness unto imitation either by Watchfulness to prevent or by Penitency to recover themselves out of Satan's snares The Occasion was his too too-long departure from God in that great and presumptuous Sin against the Lord in the matter of Vriah being at the Leaguer of Rabbah David violated the Chastity of Bathsheba his Wife whosoever dareth the Devil by Idleness shall surely be tempted by him to some forbidden Employment Ocium est principium malè faciendi Basil Hex She conceived he labours to hide it as fast as she by growth did discover it by sending for Vriah home that so he might be deem'd the Father of that Adulterous Issue This not succeeding altho he had added the strength of Wine to his command to make him at once forgetful and inordinate he gives way to another bloody Project For commonly Sin goeth not without company being like the Sea the end of one Wave is the beginning of another or like the Circles in a Pond one begets another And as in a case of Stairs one is a step to another so every Sin is a Stair to help up to higher and worse Sins And that was to send him back with Letters drawn by David s Pen to the General Joab that he might under some Warlike Adventure place him in the way of Death so to free David as he deceitfully thought both from Vriah's presence and his Blood while he was taken out of the way by the Sword of the Children of Ammon Not I but they have done it Which being done David married Bathsheba thinking that way to cloak his Sin and so all was husht and quiet on David's side But the Thunder-clap is yet behind The thing that David had done displeased the Lord. God loved David and therefore hated his Sin and would not suffer it by concealment like a dangerous Sore to fester but sends Nathan to take away the evil that blinded him and to allure him by a borrowed speech into the Wilderness that there he might speak unto his Heart to open what Sin had shut to cleanse what Sin had defiled to soften what Sin had hardened and to bring him to some satisfaction and that by way of publick Confession and as it were to do open Penance in a white Sheet The Subject is an expression of Evangelical Sorrow or the
language of a melting Heart breathing out a compassionate Lamentation after Pardon desired obtained and sealed The cause of fear was past Nathan had declaratively removed it upon his acknowledgment The Lord hath put away thy Sin thou shalt not die God had put away his Sin from before him because he loved David but David could not forget his Sin because he loved the Lord. Love maketh God forget it and the Sinner to remember it David's love to God so freely forgiving such hainous Sins did increase daily and with this love his sorrow grew that he should so ill requite the Lord the thought of it carried him more and more into God's Presence whose Purity and Brightness meeting with the light of David s Conscience represented his Sin more clearly as ever before him When he considered what God had done for him and what he had now done against the Lord moving common Enemies to blaspheme he was even ashamed and confounded so Planet-struck he was that he could not durst not lift up his Face Tacita sudant praecordia culpâ Juven he is at the Meridian Zenith Vertical Point of Shame he could not mount higher The End why it was penn'd and published was partly in respect of himself to get further assurance of God's re-promised Favour in his own apprehension and partly with reference to others to leave a ground of encouragement for poor Souls that fall after Baptism against that Spirit-quenching Doctrine of the Novatians who leave no room for pardon of Sin after Baptism or Repentance to assure them it is possible they may be forgiven and received into Favour as also to leave a pattern of Penitency to all Posterity After grievous falls even into â—resumptuous Sins it is possible Men may â—e raised return'd and entertain'd but it â—ust be done thus after the pattern shewed â—s in this Mount such Sins will be ever beâ—ore them in Memory and Detestation and â—he burden will be intollerable so that they â—ill often cry out with David My Sins are â—er before me The meaning may be thus unfolded as â—f David had said and enlarged himself after â—his manner First I am mindful of my Fault as if it â—ere written upon every Wall God hath â—orgiven the Guilt that it should not redound â—o Condemnation but my Conscience cannot â—et go the Memory of that I have done in â—he Day-time I think of it and in the Night 〈◊〉 dream of it as my Book it is when I reade â—nd as an Image when I pray ever before â—e while I am alone it doth accompany me and when I am in Company the thought â—f it doth not forsake me Whither-soever 〈◊〉 go that woful Story is still presented with all the aggravating Circumstances Bathsheba defiled Vriah slain a harmless Sacrifice and both by David a Man called from the Sheepâ—ook to the Scepter raised to highest Digâ—ity out of deep Obscurity and honoured with such a Style as never any Man had Oh Ingratitude Shall not all Men in all Ages cry out upon David that he should so far forget God as to leave his own many of his own and to take his poor Neighbour's Lamb to dress for his Stranger Oh fearful These or the like are my thoughts by Day and no other are my conceits by Night in Company I am alone and while I am alone I have these Companions My Sins are ever before me Secondly I am wonderfully troubled about it For me-thinks mine Eyes and Ears have no other Object I see my Sins in that order as they were acted Idleness first but followed with Adultery first of the Eye next of the Mind and lastly of the Body Adultery is attended by Drunkenness-active he made Uriah drunk and that Drunkenness by Murther See the Bead-roll viz. Idleness Adultery Drunkenness and Murther and hearken to the cry of them one answering another but all are against David one was occasioned by another and the former still punished in the latter Many and fearful they are more hideous than Hell pursuing me like so many Furies into every place as of the whole Army accusing me of Negligence and Security of Bathsheba bewailing the stain of her own Body and her Husband's Bed of Vriah's Blood calling from the Ground for vengeance of all my Subjects brought in danger by their Prince's Folly yea of all the Birds in the Air whistling David's Crime on every Tree of Heaven and Earth groaning under the burden of such a Report That David a Man after God's own Heart so beloved and advanced should be thus fouly overtaken and lastly of Jesus Christ shewing his Wounds rub'd up afresh by these Abominations of mine What Ear â—an endure or Heart hold to see and hear his â—ins thus set in order before him Thirdly I am horribly afraid not so much â—f Damnation God hath graciously put away my Sin I know I shall not die as of the ugly face of Sin at first it was not apprehended by me I little thought of what I how feel but now it is presented to me in true Colours black as Hell bitter as Gall and more heavy than Mountains the pleasure was small and past but the bitterness â—s present and doth far exceed it was momentany that delighted me but lasting that â—exeth me I am ashamed of every passage that I knowing so much and professing the contrary should be so foolish and forgetful â—irst to perpetrate the Act then to cover it with Fig leaves as if any Person Thing or Act could be hid by any means from this bright Eye of the Word Well may God be hid from me but I can never be hid from God All things are naked and open to him Sin deceiveth most when it promiseth most and bringeth a Curse with its sweetest Morsels being like that Gold which ever brought destruction to the Owners of it Aurum Tholosanum Or like that Horse which had all perfections that could be named belonging to an Horse Of Cn. Cejus for stature feature colour strength limbs comliness but withal the Owner of him was sure to die an unhappy death This is the misery of Sin how pleasant profitable or advantagious soever it may seem to be unto Flesh and Blood it hath always Calamity in the end it ever expires in Trouble Fourthly I acknowledg all not confusedly as before through the light of Conscience but distinctly and feelingly by the Light of God's Word closing with the light of Conscience All this while I went about to please my self but now I find by woful experience that the things which I have done displease the Lord and therefore now I desire my Repentance may be answerable to my Sin i. e. multiplied and ever before me that others may hear and learn by my example how deceitful Sin is taking away from Men what it promiseth to bring viz. Pleasure and Contentment and for one pleasing sight or touch it presents it presents an ugly face for ever after O that Men were Wise