ready at hand always good and kind to Man but then especially when Man stands in most need of him as all the Saints have found and testified Manasses in Prison Hagar in the Wilderness Daniel in the Lions Den and they in the fiery Furnace Job David Hezekiah in great distress and anguish of Spirit When the Bottle is dipped under Water he saveth it from drowning The more grievous their Oppression the more gracious hath been his Redemption And the reason hereof is good First Because none else can do it Not Men or Angels much less the Gilded Toys of the World or all that exteriour Lustre which charmeth the Eyes of so many esteemed by a troubled Mind but as a Cloud in painting a petty vapour of Water or as Chaff driven of the Wind. The Jews have a saying common among them viz. It is he that openeth our Heart in his Law i. e. By his Spirit he enableth the Heart to understand and effect Spiritual things it is a branch of his Prerogative Luke 24.45 He opened their Vnderstandings by removing Impediments by breathing into them the Holy Ghost and bestowing further Functional Graces As S. Ambrose expounds and explains that Text by some passages of S. Paul 1 Cor. 12.8 9. God toucheth the Heart as the Musician doth the strings of his Instrument and it soundeth what he pleaseth Secondly He hath Undertaken and Promised it by Himself to our First Parents and by his Prophets unto the Church in every Age successively It is the sum and end of the New Covenant to accept those who deny themselves to raise up them that are cast down to inrich those that are poor in Spirit and to speak comfortably to those who will not be comforted any other way He brings them into this Wilderness for this end that he may speak and not speak in vain unto them Till then commonly Man is like an untamed Heifer or wild Asses Colt that runs and revels here and there that breaks all Bonds and will hear no Advice When Sin is discovered and Conscience awakened one syllable of the Gospel one word of Comfort is as good News out of a far Country In every natural Man there is a three-fold Bar hindering the entrance of Spiritual Light and Life Ignorance in the understanding it is covered with Ignorance as the Deep was at first with Darkness there is a very Chaos Hardness in the Heart like that of Nabal's which became like a Stone and a malitious pravity in the Will which is like a noisom Sepulchre so that as such he can neither understand receive nor affect this Supernatural Work till the Lord hath removed them by his Spirit Cooperating with the Law and Gospel It is said of Lydia that the Lord opened her Heart i. e. effectually called her as Calvin saith He gave her Divine Light and Grace without which special Concurrence of his Paul's labour had been fruitless In effect it is all one with this I will speak unto her Heart i. e. I will speak Friendly Plainly and Effectually Conceive this Evangelical Work to go on in this Order First The Lord revealeth himself to such a Heart so dejected and troubled as a Wise and Loving Father not willing nor suffering any such to perish As St. Ambrose told Monica Filius tantaram lachrimarum c. A Son of so many Tears as she shed for her Augustine cannot perish Now these brought by a Voice into the Wilderness are all Sons of Sorrow many Tears are shed by them as a living Fountain sends forth plentiful Streams and often many Tears are shed for them therefore they cannot Perish And this the Lord doth in three degrees 1. He makes it evident that there is a possibility of Ease Purity and Peace And to that end he brings many presidents to their Mind of old hard rusty Hearts renewed softned and opened For they are recorded in Scriptures for that purpose Paul saith he obtained Mercy for this cause 1 Tim. 1.16 For a pattern to them which should hereafter believe The Lord speaks to some as bad as might be compared to Sodom and Gomorrah Isa 1.9 Yet in the 18. ver there is Come let us reason together though your sins be as Scarlet c. Others are bespatter'd with Idolatrous filthiness yet I will cleanse you from all your filthiness is God's Promise Ezek. 36.25 Besides many others with the Apostles black Roll 1 Cor. 6.10 11. Such were some of you but ye are washed and sanctified These and the like Instances are here brought to mind as evidences of Divine Favour and incouragements to Faith 2. He discovereth Christ and acquaints them with the New-Covenant as the only Remedy to make up the breach of the First-conditions Behold saith the Lord my Son a Lamb slain from the beginning to take away the Sins of the World Behold him in Union with your Nature and in Unction to the Office of Mediatorship Behold him in his Obedience Active and Passive assuming the Crime and Curse of your Nature undergoing the penalty and fulfilling the Precept of the Law in his own Person but in your stead and room Behold him in his Meritorious Viatory Office by way of Purchase and Conquest as also in his Applicatory-Intercession for all burdened Souls who seeing you are truly weary of Sin behold the Mediator by a real tender of his own Merits prevailing for you among the rest 3. He offereth Christ unto all such upon condition of Faith and Repentance to the performance of which Condition he enableth in his Offer So that they will to do what they are required saying often with grief and fear O that we could Repent and Believe O that we could take the Lord's offer c. Although Actual Faith be not yet in the Heart as some are of Opinion tho Mr. Perkins judgeth the contrary yet it is very near and shall infallibly follow Hagar had her Eyes opened to see the Well before she went to it and stooped down to take and taste it Faith comes in by exercise to manifest it self by certain steps and degrees And let all those who find themselves past any of them thankfully acknowledg God's Work and be humbly constant in the use of Means for the Lord will speak again Phil. 1.6 He which hath begun a good Work in you will perform it c. And pray as Luther wonted to do Confirm O Lord in us what thou hast wrought and perfect the Work that thou hast begun in us to thy Glory As Queen Elizabeth prayed Look upon the Wounds of thine Hands and dispise not the Work of thine Hands thou hast written me down in the Book of Preservation with thine own Hand O read thine own Hand-writing and save me Secondly He openeth the Heart towards himself and that in three Degrees 1. He persuadeth it of the truth of those Passages formerly revealed and discovered and that the Lord doth seriously intend them to all in this condition 2. He raiseth up in it an
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.
my weak Abilities Not doubting but your Noble Disposition will be satisfied with such ordinary Acknowledgments I commend you to the Blessing of Heaven and remain Your Servant in Christ W. CROMPTON ADVERTISEMENT The Author being very remote from the Press and not having seen the Sheets 't is likely some Errata's have escaped which the Reader is entreated to Correct or Pardon HOSEA 2.14 Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her THis with the rest of the Chapter is no National History limited to the Body as some temporal Felicity conveyed in a Promise to that People but an Evangelical Prophecy extended to the Soul discovering the means and assuring everlasting Beatitude to the Church as under Grace True it is and from the Letter of the Text we may gather that God was good and bountiful to Israel but ungrateful Israel abused God's bounty As the fed Hawk forgets his Master and as the Full Moon gets farthest from the Sun so they forgat God and wickedly departed from him like ill Grounds they cast up Thorns where Roses were planted they printed the steps of Sin upon Divine Clemency Which moved the Lord to deprive her of his Blessings and to send her into Captivity by absence to learn the worth of his Presence and to take good leave and leisure to bewail her own Folly What can he do less than forget them so they may remember him Where being oppress'd and disconsolate as a mourning Widow bereft of Friends and means to relieve her she returns upon her self and complains unto God who saw her Tears heard her Cries and brought her from Babylon to Canaan turned all her sighing into singing and made her rejoice on that Bed which had soaked in Tears and made to swim again like David Psal 6.6 Repentance can turn Crosses into Comforts and like the Philosophers stone make Golden Afflictions But all this was for a further intent and purpose even to set forth their Sin spiritual Bondage and the manner of Conversion Under that this was meant And so the words are to be taken with the best Interpreters of the manner of God's dealing in the dispensation of his Grace to all in Covenant with him The ordinary Method which he observeth in bestowing Grace upon Men converted after actual Sins is here fully discovered First He convinceth all those of their Sins that distinctly and throughly whom he intends to convert as the skilful Chirurgeon searcheth that Wound to the bottom which he labours to heal This may be gathered from the 2 4 5 vers Plead with your Mother plead for she is not my Wife neither am I her Husband Let her therefore put away her Whoredoms out of her Sight c. As if the Lord should take a Prodigal aside and say These and these O Man are thy Sins thy Wantonness and Uncleanness thy Oaths and Lies thy Pride and Covetousness thus it is with thee thou art the Man that hast abused my Blessings profaned my Ordinances and mis-pent thy time and which is worst of all hast often refused Grace so seriously offered stay now and consider it what will be the end hereof God's Word is not like a Shadow which representeth obscurely and confusedly but as a Glass or rather a Picture which setteth forth things in their distinct Lineaments Which Conviction is begun and finished in part by the Law and in part by the Gospel as in the Sequel will appear Secondly He threatneth and denounceth deserved Judgments if they still persist and go on in their sinful Practices in vers 6 9 10 11 12 13. Therefore behold I will hedge up thy Way with Thorns and make a Wall that she shall not find her Paths Therefore will I return and take away my Câ—rn in the time thereof c. i. e. Except thou accept of Grace now in this thy day except thou repent and turn to me I will pursue thee with variety of Rods both privative and positive and will never leave thee till thou be amended or confounded It is Sin and Obstinacy that putteth Thunderbolts into God's hand and provoketh him to do his Work his strange Work and to bring to pass his Act his strange Act. Thirdly He proceedeth to some melting Promises in the 14 vers and others following like Sun-shine after a boisterous Storm or some purling Dew after a wasting heat or refreshing Spring after a nipping Winter The Sun of Righteousness never loves to set in a Cloud I will give her the Valley of Achor for a Door of Hope I will make a Covenant for them with the Beasts of the Field c. The meaning whereof is thus much If both the former ways viz. of Conviction and Affliction shall prove ineffectual as indeed they would if the Lord should leave them there and go no further if neither prevail to bring thee home unto me rather than thou shouldest remain still in the State of Nature or in the Wilderness of Legal Terror but almost converted or else after thy Confirmation of a League and Covenant with me should'st totally and finally apostatize I will take the whole Business into my own hand and go one step further with thee using such means as work infallibly and never fail I will allure her into the Wilderness c. Wherein are three things to be explained all tending to the Confirmation of the Proposition laid down in the beginning viz. I. The Certainty of the Work here intended I will allure her and I will speak to her The Lord is serious in his Offer of Grace and infallible in working it at one time or other for the Conversion of all those in Covenant with him Though it be full of difficulty yet it is certain for success It is difficult therefore the Lord undertakes it when no other means is able to do it and certainly it shall be done in his time and way Therefore he promiseth and annexeth certain binding Particles the more to assure it in our apprehension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore behold which Particles are diversly construed by divers great Divines not unskilful in the holy Tongue causing some obscurity about the meaning but more touching the Connection of these with the former words what dependance they have and what Grammatical Construction they may admit Some take and understand them here casually only as if their profaneness and stubborness in Idolatry had been the moving cause to this Evangelical Work but then it would follow Let us sin that Grace may abound Which Devils Logic the Apostle confuteth Rom. 6. Others take them illatively thus Seeing she is grown to that height of Wickedness so vile and so proud that there is no hope nor possibility of her thinking or willing by any strength of her own to return therefore I will make her mindful and willing to come home O the never enough adored Depth of God's free Grace and super-abundant Love to his People I will heal them and
the Great Rich Learned Stars of the first magnitude or the greatest Letters of the Alphabet and civil Formalists of the World to pitch on poor mean and ignorant Wretches Where Sin hath abounded Grace doth super-abound Surgunt indocti rapiunt Coelum c as Augustin speaks the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence from the poor lost Sheep while others puffed up with their conceited Riches of Knowledg and Holiness dreaming of Self-sufficiency are kept out and thrust down into Hell If he should do otherwise and call only those in whose Policy and Life could be seen some outward Goodness to shine forth Men would believe what some cannot forbear to say that it is the work of Men that obliges God to call them and if in rigour they be not worthy of this Favour they merit it at least in a seemliness of Equity and Congruity as they speak of it in the Schools of Rome And therefore further we may conceive it is to proclaim the Freeness of his Grace no natural Abilities can merit it nor any Sin hinder the bestowing of it The Wind bloweth where it listeth Nos solemus eligere digniores at Deus ut ostendat suam electionem non ex nostris meritis sed ex solâ sua gratiâ fieri solitus est indigniores eligere Zanch. i. e. Men chuse the most worthy but the Lord chuseth the most unworthy to shew that his Choice is not grounded on our Merits but on his own free Grace Secondly It is for the Instruction of the Church And so 1. That no Flesh should glory in his Presence but that the Glory might be wholly ascribed to the Lord whose only work it must needs be acknowledged in such Libertines There is nothing to merit nor any preventing Abilities stirring to share with the Lord in this Work And indeed the Lord's power is most manifest in reclaiming such wild Prodigals in washing such Blackmoors changing such Leopards Digitus Dei All that see and hear may wonder and say It is the Finger of God or as Protogenes said of a curious Line which he saw drawn in a Painter's Shop None but Apelles could draw this none but God could do this It is a Work worthy of none but of him who can do what he will and will do what he hath purposed This is indeed the great Miracle of the World to change Lions into Lambs Sinks into Fountains Thorns into Roses Mercy is never so resplendent as over Misery The Ice of Winter makes the Beauty of the Spring Darkness contributes to the Lustre of Light nor is the Sun more bright than after an Eclipse Thus Grace which is the Splendor of Eternal Light makes it self to be seen in more triumph where it hath subdued most Iniquity And Praise will be more fully ascribed to him by such as could deserve no favour both occasionally and practically Occasionally in regard of others who are stirred up thereby to admire his Power to magnify his Love and to hope for acceptance upon their unfeigned submission And practically in respect of themselves who are commonly more humble and thankful zealous and watchful ever after Observe such as have drank deep of the deceitful Cup of Rebellion and Prodigality and after come to taste of the bitter Potion of sound Humiliation and say whether you do not find them of an excellent temper Paul being made sensible of himself as the greatest of Sinners how passionatly doth he break forth to admire the Love and Mercy of God! I was a Blasphemer a Persecutor and injurious but by the Grace of God I am what I am And this Grace bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly c. Where you see his diligence in redeeming the Time and ascribing his Change wholly to the Grace of God 2. That none in the Church should despair especially among those in whom the Offer of Mercy hath stirred up any desire after Grace This Reason is rendred by the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.16 For this cause I obtained Mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all Long-suffering for a Pattern to them which should after believe on him to Life everlasting He that seemed to be an Epitome an Abridgment of all Wickedness obtained Mercy for this cause that Jesus Christ might shew forth all Long-suffering i. e. evidence by full demonstration so that all might see and say There is Mercy with Christ that he may be feared yea Mercy rejoycing over Judgment Though your Sins be in number like a Cloud and for quality like Crimson or Scarlet Yet come let us reason together saith the Lord and I will make them white as Snow or Wooll Yea they shall be as tho they had never been Sin is finite in respect of matter but Divine Mercy is infinite The Consideration of this Disproportion should be a powerful Loadstone to draw Sinners to Repentance it should be as a Cork to the Net to keep the Heart from sinking into despair it should be an Antidote to keep that Poison from entring or at least from lodging in the Heart If Manasses Saul Mary Magdalen and some of the adulterous drunken Corinthians were remembred in Mercy converted sanctified and saved why should any despair When Man hath withstood his Good and the Gates of Hell have prevailed a long time even then the Lord's hand hath done it for many blessed be his Name We had never heard of these Examples had it not been for our encouragement With this let the penitent Heart be encouraged God can turn noisom Dunghil into a Mine of Gold Brands of Hell into lightsom Stars in hi◠Firmament Slaves of Doemons into Angels But without presumption lest abused Mercy give place to rejecting Fury and the Lord say Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out mine hand and no Man regarded Therefore now tho you call upon me I will not answer and tho you seek me early you shall not find me 3. That the Hearts of all reasonable Creatures capable of such a Mystery might be enlarged to rejoyce in God for his Goodness and to praise him who by plucking such Brands out of the Fire doth manifest such Love and Power to free and defend his chosen Ones from the devouring Mouth of the roaring Lion The lost Sheep being found the wild Prodigal returned first home to himself and after to his Father occasion Joy in the Families to teach us what we should do upon the Conversion of any prophane Person Son Daughter Servant or Neighbour Was he once proud and is he now humble Was he once intemperate and is he now sober was he dead in Sin and is he now alive through Grace It is most singular Mercy rich Love it is meet we should be merry The Lord hath doth and will deliver that the Church may be encouraged Satan enraged by the loss of his Prey and the Name of Christ glorified and magnified so much the more A second Doctrine to be
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
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
to smart whereby the Lord awakeneth Conscience indeed and striketh terror into the Hearts of his Chosen casting them down very low to Self-denial he breaks their stony Hearts in pieces convincing Men as Transgressors telling them that they are the Men even Men of Death this they have done and that they deserve discovering millions of Sins more than they ever dreamed of quickning Sin in the Conscience and putting a Weapon into its hand to kill the Sinner under his Guilt For this is properly the Office of the Law to detect and convince Men of such and such Sins to pass sentence against them for those Sins and to follow them so convicted with a thundring noise from place to place hedging and hemming them in on every side that they can neither get out nor be quiet any where till they humble themselves and fall down before the Lord's Mercy-Seat Fourthly We may not exclude from this Preparative Work a branch of the Gospel which the Lord makes use of for the completing this Preparation by it as by beams and heat from a Fire far off to soften and melt those broken pieces that so the Heart being ready to fall asunder and grieving more kindly than it can do under mere Legal Terrors may readily and delightfully admit of Spiritual Infusions and be the more speedily brought into a new Mould And this the Gospel doth First By unvailing unto such distressed Minds the holy and pure Nature of God himself which the Law discovereth only as he is a Creature the Gospel further as he is a Father his patience and loving kindness in Christ his rich Mercy great Love Free-Grace those Spiritual Beams by which the Divine Nature shines forth upon us Saul Saul why persecutest thou me One that is so holy and harmless one that hath done so much for thee one that doth so entirely love thee and desire thy good Hast thou none to sin against but thy Saviour None to abuse but thy Friend None to kick against but the Bowels of Love Did not I suffer enough upon the Cross Must I needs suffer more This struck the Nail on the Head this made his Eyes to water his Heart to melt with this kind salutation Saul's hard Heart was softned and made pliable to a further work Secondly By discovering the sinfulness of Sin that it is not only fearful as the Law saith but filthy also not only evil but the greatest evil whence once disrobed of that pleasing and deceitful shining Skin patcht up of the shreds of Pleasure Profit and Carnal Content it is apprehended as opposit to the greatest Good and consequently more to be hated and avoided than Hell There is no Hell without Sin nor any Heaven with Sin Hell is Penal but Sin is a Criminal evil The evil of pain is contrary to the good of a finite being only while the evil of fault is opposite to an infinite purity Both these namely the Law and the Gospel being thus amplified prest and applied to the sinners Soul so that he can find no starting hole to evade no corner to run into no gap open to get out of this Wilderness by this time it comes to pass that he finds a combustion in his Brest a fire kindled in his Bones such new trouble as he never felt now Hope appears anon Despair at one time Fear another time Love cometh into the Soul like flashes of Lightning both followed with Tears and Complaints he may be often heard to sigh and sometime to beat the Brest and say O Lord that I could repent O that I could believe O that I had a soft tender Heart That my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a fountain of Tears that I might weep Day and Night Help me O my Friends for the terrours of the Almighty oppress me he makes me inherit the sins of my youth so that I am ready to sink Help me O my God to do what thou commandest command what thou wilt and thou shalt not command in vain Make me a Man after thy own Heart give me O give if not a Fountain yet a Stream if not a Stream yet some few drops of penitent Tears to ease a burdned Heart and to prepare a loathsom Soul for the more precious streams of Christ's Blood And yet as if all this were not enough behold and see there steppeth up another Witness more against this terrified Creature And that is a reflecting power of the Soul called Conscience which joyneth with the Law and Gospel in their Sentence and meeting him alone as flying from both the former and hoping somewhere to escape assaults the poor Soul and concludes to this effect Nay whither now Think not to shift off all hope not to carry all away as Sampson did the Gates go not about to hide it do not deny or extenuate it for all this is true which thou hast heard from the Law and Gospel O wretched Creature thus and thus hath God walked towards thee in Justice in Mercy in Power in Patience and Bounty he sent Christ with healing in his Wings to heal and do thee good and yet thus and thus rebelliously and ungratefully hast thou walked towards him thou hast put away Salvation bolted out thy Physician What wilt thou say Whither wilt thou go Nay nay think not of pleading dream not of flying much less of any hiding except thou wilt contract farther guilt and a greater burden on thy self which is heavy enough already Down proud Heart down with it lower than thy Knees cloath thy self in Sack-cloth and Ashes put a Rope about thy Neck as Benhadads Servants did confess thy faults humbly aggravate thy folly ingenuously and then thou mayst hope to hear the voice of Mercy there is no way to flie from him but by falling down before him Blood-letting is a cure of Bleeding To close and get in is the only way to avoid the blow Thirdly Why the Lord thus brings his Children into the Wilderness Answ All God's Actions are ordered by infinite Wisdom therefore some reason may always be rendred of his Will In case we apprehend it not we must acknowledg the weakness of our own Capacities and subscribe it without enquiring after any Reason because we know it is his Will Yet in this business something may be said as probable and with due reverence He doth it First To divorce the Heart from Sin and to break that Love-knot between the Heart and Sin in every Natural Man which ordinarily is not done without some throws of this Spiritual Trouble While Men run up and down in the seeming pleasant fields of Liberty sin is sweet and fair unto them so far from fear that they are in love with it Who ever saw a covetous Vsurer troubled in mind when he is telling his Money and reckoning up his Bonds and Bills An Adulterer mourning with his Mistress in his Arms Belshazzar indeed was taken and troubled among his Cups and so are some Drunkards but that was an extraordinary
judgment While Men are Drunk with Pleasures and besotted with delightful Objects commonly they are not sensible of any danger but being once brought into the Wilderness of fear and solitary Silence they have leasure to consider and ability to discern that Sin is treacherous as a Jesuit bitter as Gall Ugly more ugly than the Devil And then they loath and fly it then they cry out Lord what wouldst thou have us to do When before they would not be ruled nor persuaded by any reason The Jews will not part with their Idols till they bring them into Captivity nor Sampson with Dalilah till she betray him into the hands of the Philistines then away Idols and let Dalilah be burned alone Sampson repenteth The Viper beaten casteth up her Poyson The Traytor on the Rack will confess and forsake all The burnt Child dreads the fire and the Wormwood upon the Brest weans the Child from it Secondly It is to humble the Soul and cause her to set a right Estimate upon Christ hitherto undervalued Christ would not be so sweet if Sin were not so bitter The Man upon whom the Law hath not passed Sentence will not say Gramercy for a Pardon Besides it is necessity that endears any thing to us Extremity of pain makes us to prize a little ease and extremity of want to admire a little plenty Darius being vanquished by Alexander and in flight being in extremity of Thirst drank Water out of a Puddle mingled with much Blood of slain Souldiers and said It was the sweetest Drink that ever he tasted in his Life The Prodigal that disregarded all the Dainties of his Father's House did highly value the Servants Bread there when he was reduced to feed upon Husks in the Wilderness As it is with a weary Swimmer floating in the restless Sea ready to sink every moment how welcome is a bough to him when as if he had been upon the shoar he would not have regarded it So it is with such a wearied Man brought into the Wilderness of great distress and danger he is so humble and gentle that a Child may lead him He cried out and looked about him but few hear none can help him O how welcome then is the Thought the Sight the Presence of Christ that Tree of Life He will part with all Sins Goods Liberty Life or any thing if he may but touch the hem of his Garment Only then and to all such he is a Jesus indeed Thirdly It is that they may be the better ever after More zealous and serviceable to God who hath some great Work commonly for such to do and therefore their preparation is answerable A high Building must have a low Foundation Luther observed of himself that when God was about to set him upon any special Service he either laid some fit of Sickness upon him before-hand or turned Satan loose upon him For he was much exercised and beaten from his tender years with Spiritual Conflicts as Melancthon testifieth in his Life And this was in all likelihood to fit him for the great Work the Lord had cut out unto him There is no whole Heart to the broken None so sound to hold Grace as that and the more it is broken the more it contains A Paradox in Nature but not in Grace Besides they are hereby made more compassionate and helpful unto others Hence it was that God gave Luther such a Grace that in his Sermons all that heard him thought every one his own Temptations had been toucht and noted by him and when signification thereof was made to him by his Friends and being demanded how it could be answered Mine own Temptation and Experience are the cause thereof As a Physician that trieth the virtue of some sovereign composition upon his own Body he is the better able to Cure another with that Receipt It is a great invitation to Mercy to see one in the same condition that we our selves have been in As he said Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco As a Woman that hath had a Child can more pity such as are in Travel because she hath suffered the like pain When Christians by their own experience know the Way like old Travellers they can lead others and bring them into and guide them through this Spiritual Trouble saying Thus and thus were I brought in and so came I off this course I took and this success I found c. Experienced Learners are the best Teachers These are some of many Reasons which might be given of the Lord 's proceeding in this manner towards his People The Sum of all is for their good He casteth them down very low that he might lift them up the higher he leads them through a Wilderness to convey them into Canaan As hereafter will appear So much by way of Doctrine The Application follows which is a principal part of this Discourse And Vse 1. It condemneth such first as are frequently in the Wilderness of Sin and wanton Prodigality but never in the Wilderness of sorrow and saving Fear much under Worldly but never under Spiritual Trouble How far are such from Grace who have not past this Preparation How far from Christ from Comfort from true Happiness As far as the East is from the West Darkness from Light Belial from Christ in point of Communion Such have cause to fear that Sin sits like a Queen in her Regency that the strong Man keeps Possession and that they are slaves to Satan subjects of the Kingdom of Darkness A Man may have some Trouble and yet not be Converted but he cannot be Converted without some Trouble The Heart cannot be broken for Sin without the sight of Sin The Sun looketh upon the Earth thence draweth up Vapours and distilleth them down again so doth the Sun of the Understanding which till it be Convicted the Heart cannot be Compuncted Sight of Sin must necessarily precede sorrow for Sin An Infant in the Womb cries not because it seeth not but as soon as it comes into the Light sets up its note The blind Eye and the hard Heart go together as unseparable Companions Men will never loath themselves till there be a remembring of their ways and doings that have not been good Ezek. 36.31 Quest It may be demanded who are they and how they are kept out Answ Who they are that were never yet in this Wilderness may easily be known by what hath been spoken already in the description of this preparative Work let any one bring himself and compare his present estate with it and the truth will readily be discovered especially if he consider and impartially answer to such like demands 1. Whether he doth not retain in his Heart the love of some Sin which either he knoweth or might know to be a Sin Though he do many things yet hath he not an Herodias that he will not part with Though with the Vintner he pull down the Bush yet hath he not as much Heart to his Sin
Gentle Expostulations frequently and movingly here and there as unto Adam and Gehazi Gen. 3.9 2 Kin. 5.26 Tell me poor Soul was it not â—ven so hast not thou done thus and thus went not my Spirit with thee and was not mine Eye over thee Confess thy Sin ease thy self and give glory to God O how loving is the Lord even in his Terrors and Enditements In the midst of Judgment he remembreth Mercy Tho his Robes be red they are not without some streamings of white and if he be compelled to pronounce Judgment as it was said of Augustus he doth it even with Tears in his Eyes 2. Instances very pertinent and those either direct as Psal 50.18 c. or Parabolical As Nathan dealt with David so the Lord deals with those whom he intends to restrain and renew You are the Men saith he that have been so much addicted to and delighted with Idleness Wantonness Luxury Pride Covetousness Slandring Drunkenness Swearing Lying and the like 3. Threatnings are added where the former avail not Cursed is every one that doth not all which is written in the Law He shall be pursued with Judgments of divers Natures to one end sometimes with prosperity on the right and anon with adversity on the left hand and last of all which is the worst of all dying impenitently he must needs be damned Thus the Lord thundereth in his Law against some whom nevertheless he intends to sanctify and save as a Father may threaten and terrify that Child whom he intends to make his Heir But withal you must know that he doth inwardly and secretly support them that they dash not upon Presumption nor sink under final Despair So that at length being driven from all their hiding Places they are brought into this Wilderness and forced freely to take upon themselves all those Sins discovered by the Law to fall down before God and to acknowledg their Guilt and Desert before the Throne of his Majesty resolving there to lie prostrate till he raise them in Mercy Now say they we see we feel we know how true the Word of God is how faithfully such Ministers dealt with us while we slighted and laughed them to scorn and how deceitful Sin is that appears at first small sweet and clean when as it is weighty bitter and filthy They cry who will take this Dagger out of my Heart this Mill-stone off my Back this Fire out of my Loins this Sting out of my Conscience Now the seeming sweetnesâ— of Sin is turned to Gall. O Sin how grievous is thy remembrance Away ye wicked we will henceforth endeavour to keep thâ— Commandments of our God No morâ— Swearing much less Perjury no Drunkenness no more Uncleanness When thesâ— knock at the door the answer is O thesâ— are they that cost us dear at such a time wâ— yet feel the sad Impressions of our former Afflictions for them we find a Pardon no easy Enterprize nor Repentance so pleasing a Potion we would not for all the World bâ— under that Anger of God nor feel one drop of his scalding Indignation which we have perceived for those Offences Thus the biâ—â—â—â— Child dreads the Fire And this with submission is the Course that Ministers musâ— take in opening and pressing the Law firsâ— which is God's Instrument effectually to charge the Conscience with Sin and to bring a Person into this Wilderness 2dly The People may learn to join with the Lord in his Ambassadors so to furtheâ— this Work of the Law when and where iâ— is once begun and to follow the Lord undeâ— his Cloud and after this Fire into this Wiâ—derness And that 1. By a serious Meditation of these many Impediments which keep Men out of it oâ— hinder them much in the way towards it when the Lord is about to bring them into it Eye them that you may avoid them For instance to esteem of the Law as a strange thing as not appertaining to them or wherein they are little or nothing concerned to interpose some beloved Sin between these two Lights of the Law and Conscience that they cannot join This alone hindered Herod's Conversion under John's piercing Ministry the interposition of his Herodias caused a fearful and final Eclipse So likewise to go away unthankfully and carelesly from a good Discourse doth hinder the Work and quench the Sparks which might have bred a Flame 2. By frequent Meditation on divers good Subjects moving this way as 1. Upon the Mercies of God bestowed upon you in particular from time to time This Course the Lord took to humble David 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. And whosoever hath tried will say It is a very piercing way to bring the Heart into a through and kindly grief I have read of one who reading a Pardon sent him from the King fell a weeping and burst out into these Words A Pardon hath done that which Death could not do it hath made my Heart to relent As the Sugar-Loaf is dissolved and weeps it self away when it is dipp'd in Wine so will Penitents dissolve and melt themselves away in the sweet sence of Divine Love and their neglect or abuse of it Without doubt the very Behaviour of the Prodigal's Father brake his Heart with more thawings and kindly mourning than ever his former Hardship and Misery did O this that ever he should run to meet him that he should fall upon his Neck and kiss him This kindness of his Lips wounded his Heart with the deeper sence and judging of his own unkindness When the Surface of the Water is glazed with Ice the Sun-beams dissolve it such operation hath the Grace of Christ upon frozen Hearts which are never truly melted into Contrition but by Evangelical Beams Surely when a Sinner shall consider the great Love the sweetest Kindness the freest Pardons offered the choicest Mercies bestowed his Heart cannot but melt into a River What all these to and for me Lord yea for thee What after such deep Rebellions and Refusals yea after all and that most freely and willingly Good Lord how can the Soul but weep and mourn now 2. Meditate for that purpose upon the Justice and Power of God able to revenge the Quarrel of his Covenant and to bruise all his proud and stout Enemies with a Rod of Iron He is not only a Rock of Refuge to the Godly but also a Rock of Destruction to dash the Impenitent in pieces The strength of the Rock is seen as in upholding the House that is built upon it so in breaking the Ships that dash against it The force of Fire is manifested as in refining the Gold so in consuming the Dross There is none like unto thee O Lord thou art great and thy Name is great who would not fear thee thou King of Nations Jer. 10.6 And It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God Heb. 10.31 As a Lion he tears in pieces the Adversaries Psal 50.22 There is no standing before him if his Wrath
things Or at least they will quench all a killing pity too common by daubing with untempered Mortar So that one day you will say out of woful experience Miserable Comforters are ye all Physicians of no value good for nothing Seek not to them rest not on them it is God only in and through Christ who speaks peace unto his Saints in this case hear only what he saith Thirdly A third sort to be blamed are such as are converted outwardly in Profession only the Lord make them sound Pictures without Life Clouds without Water Sodoms Apples fair only to see to The outward Man is spoken unto and convinced so far as to perform Duties the Ear is spoken unto so far as to hear often the Tongue is spoken unto so far as to discourse well but the Heart is not spoken unto all the devotion of these Men is in Hearing and Censuring they come to arraign the Minister at the Bar of their own Judgment and to judge that Word by which they must be judged at the last Day they come to debate the Man not the Doctrine to censure the Preacher not to practise the Sermon Like Merchant's Coopers they taste much Wine but deal for none their Hearts are not changed the same Lusts lodg there as before restrained only they are hard and impure as ever the virtue of Christ's Death and Life is not yet applied to such they are yet destitute of Grace whatever their profession be Nay you and your Profession are but like the cursed Fig-tree that bare Leaves and no Fruit. God hath not spoken to your Hearts neither did you ever speak in your Hearts to God Many Prayers you may haply say over and yet never pray for Prayer is an offering up of the Heart or Will to God by Christ Vse 2. The second Vse will direct to Duty which concerneth either Minister or People Ministers must learn to speak unto the Heart as near as possible they can because God doth so whose Ambassadors they are Like Marks-men though they cannot shoot so as to strike yet they must aim at this Mark their Arrows must be sharpened for this purpose though like the Arrows of Jonathan some fall short of others go besides the Mark yet some or other being guided by a Supreme Power may pierce the Hearts of the King's Enemies whereby the People shall fall under him Those Ministers speak best who strive to profit more than to please and so must all they that desire to do good in that relation they must preach to the Conscience to the Quick As King James of famous Memory said of a Reverend Bishop of this Land This Man Preaches as if Death were at my Back So should every Minister do Preach as if Death Judgment and Hell were even at Mens Backs Bring the point as near as may be home to the hearers Door that is plainly particularly earnestly otherwise they preach as a Man that shoots his Arrows at randon and hits not the Mark it is as if the Minister should lay his Sermon on his Cushion and never dart it into the Peoples Bosoms If People do not feel your Points at their Backs Spears in their Sides and Swords in their Bellies they will feel nothing it will be lost labour You that are People and Hearers may learn 1. To bring your Hearts with you to God's Ordinances How many heartless Sermons have some heard and made Else you bring nothing for God to speak unto and it is no more than if you sent your Clothes stuft with Straw Yea upon the matter you deny his Presence and Office Men that are his Messengers speak unto the Ears and present things from their Lord unto the Eyes of the Body and those parts you leave not at Home for what should we do at Church you will say without our Ears and Eyes But I say What make you there without your Hearts God is there who speaks unto the Heart as Men unto the Ear If that be away it is all one as if you were absent Nay you aggravate your Sin and provoke him more by your heartless presence in preferring Men whom you vouchsafe to hear unto God whom you will not hear but highly dishonour him by offering a dead Carkass in his Temple an unreasonable service in such cold Devotion All such are Abominable they put a Cheat upon God and mock the most High They come full Mouth'd but empty Hearted offer a Case without the Jewel a Gilded Cup and no Wine in it To such God will say Who required these things at your hands thus to tread my Courts My Sons give me your Hearts or you give me nothing As Joseph said to his Brethren concerning Benjamin Gen. 43.3 so God saith of the Heart Ye shall not see my Face without it Bring your Family and Bibles to Church but especially your Hearts which are most out of order and there the Lord will begin his Work Joyn with the Congregation Hand and Heart offer them both to God in earnest Prayer and attentive Hearing wait and say When Lord how long Holy and True Accept what thou callest for and speak one word to my poor Heart among the rest before I go that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce 2. To labour most about the Heart the Heart in the Body and the heart of Religion yea and to prize good Men who by their good Fruits testifie to others the goodness of their Hearts as the good Fruit doth the good Tree because the Lord hath spoken to them No Relick comparable no image can be a more lively remembrancer If David did so admire Man as Man how then ought we to admire and reverence Man as united to Christ shining with his Image adorn'd with his Beams clothed with his Righteousness and entitled to an everlasting Kingdom Many as Beautiful some as rich in Apparel are very powerful to draw and dazzle the Eyes of weak Beholders but for Beauty and Honour none are comparable to gracious Hearts they now partake of Angelical Splendor and hereafter shall exceed the Sun in brightness Acts 6. ult Mat. 13.43 Phil. 3. ult But Who is sufficient for these things sufficiently qualified to set forth to the Life the Beauty and Brightness of Christ mystical He had need of a refined Nature of sublimated Thoughts of a Quill taken from the Wing of a Seraphin and to soar aloft free from the pressure of terrene mixtures in heavenly Contemplation Who can reade or seriously think of this mystery of Mercy without a readier expression of joy mixt with tears than their conceits in words What a Man a sinful Man weltering in Blood full of Sores and Ulcers fitter to be loathed than loved for such a one Poor Blind Miserable and Naked to be married to a Prince such a Prince the Heir of Heaven and Earth Who can believe our report or believing it not love such an one To whom will the Arm of the Lord reveal this but to humbled Souls
their Joy and Happiness encreased thereby were this remembred it would prove a comfort to those whose Religious Friends do often end their Days in such distress For by coming so immediately from the sight of such an ugly Objâ—ct to the Intuition and Fruition of such Beauty as is in Christ the Vision is more beatifical To pass from the presence of Sin into the presence of God doth more ravish the Soul with Coelestial Joy God in Christ will excel in Beauty and Glory to that Man's Eye and Apprehension who hath lately seen the sinfulness of Sin As the Sin is never more glorious than when it breaks out of a black Cloud so the Glory of Heaven will certainly be more admirable and lovely to those unto whom Sin hath appeared exceeding sinful Now if it pass unseen these two Days and if it be not presented to be seen and loathed in one of those Hours then it will be presented at the Great-Day which is emphatically called the Day of Discovery 1 Cor. 3.13 in fulness of Horror and inevitable Fury When the Curtain shall be drawn aside and all the secrets of the World discovered and every Man see the actions of his Life as upon a piece of Tapestry spread before his Eyes appearing as so many Thorns and Venemous Beasts and no Mercy to be shewed no Grace to be offer'd when no Petitions will be received nor any Voice heard but Go ye Cursed into everlasting Fire As may be gather'd from divers passages of sacred Scripture viz. Psal 50.21 Matth. 7.22 23 25 41. Hodie hodie poenitentiae locus saith St. Augustin To day there is room for Repentance you must repent now or perish then If the Tap be not now thaw'd it may be frozen for ever Hell vomiteth up our highest desires and will afford no felicities Happy is he whose Sins are ever before him here in a grieved memory they shall never be set before him there if they vex thee now as a loathed burden they shall not torment thee then The Sins which ye have seen to Day ye shall see them again no more for ever Secondly The Grounds whereupon this truth resteth are such as follow viz. 1. That inviolable dependency which all effects and conclusions have upon their own Causes and Principles whence they flow Acts Powers and Habits are unseparable from the Person as they are one from another Every Agent is and shall be attended with its own Works the Dead in the Lord are blessed and their Works follow them The Ox knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Master's Crib Sin lieth at the Sinner's door and will acknowledg no other Master What is once done cannot be undone No Power can recal it from being Only a penitent sight of Sin may hide it from the sight of Justice and Mercy can recal it from being imputed An act contracting Guilt may pass from a Person and yet not redound upon the Person by a supernatural interposition of satisfying Merit Christ must come between and stay his Course or else Sin would not only be set before us but even upon us in full Guilt and Weight and that for ever 2. The nature of the Soul in her retaining Faculties is another Ground whereby she is necessarily enabled by reflexion to recal to see and judg all her own past Actions This is essential and therefore it is that such Power and Impressions do remain inseparated either to punish or chear them by the remembrance of things past To which you may adjoyn the office of Conscience which is to bear witness and accuse or excuse according to Demerit A guilty Conscience we use to say and more say than some are aware of what they say is as a thousand Witnesses It will tell us all that we have done for many Years ago and present us with all the Follies of our Youth This is the Book wherein Men may read their own History and Doom both what they have done and what they have deserved There are two Rules the one is God's Word which pointeth out both Estates and the other is every Man's Conscience which is privy to the frame and standing of his Heart and which of these Estates is his As long then as there is such a Soul with us endowed with such admirable Faculties viz. Understanding Memory and Conscience so long will Sin be before us if we once do evil we shall hear of it ever after till Sanctification be perfect and Grace be crowned with Glory 3. The Order of Divine Justice requiring some proportion between the pleasure taken in Sin and the vexation for it after Beautiful it appeared in coming but ugly and deformed in going sweet it was in the offer and act but bitter in the close like Hony which is very sweet but begets most bitter Choller Or as Claudius his Mushrom which was pleasant but poysonful How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her Rev. 18.7 As it shall appear hereafter with the Impenitents in Hell suffering by way of Satisfaction so it is here on Earth with Penitents suffering by way of Correction Intention of delight in the act of sinning is justly recompensed with extension of continued Grief It will vex you long because it did affect you much Sin was before you when it should not and now it must be before you when you would not Justice being refused in the first will be heard in the latter Thirdly The Ends of all this wherefore a single Commission is followed with frequent Presentations we may conceive to be such as these 1. To keep the Heart of God's People in a spiritual frame of Self-denial and Humility and that the habitual grace of Repentance may be upheld and more lively in exercise Hereupon I am apt to think that Mr. Fox that industrious preserver of the Honour of many of God's Servants was observed to say That nothing did him more hurt than his Graces nothing more good than his Sins being ever before him His Graces through the prevailing power of Corruption remaining were ready to puff him up and to set him in God's room by self-seeking whilst his Sins kept him down and kept him humble and meek Few know the benefit of this Combat It is one of the best remedies against spiritual Pride and Security to keep the Mind upon Sin and Sin in the Mind Hence that confident speech of renowned Austin I dare be bold to say that it is good for proud Persons to fall into some Sin Vnde sibi displiceant qui jam sibi placendo ceciderunt Salubrius enim Petrus displicuit quando flevit quà m sibi placuit quando presumpsit Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 14. That they may be humbled as Peter was and so saved 2. To terrifie his Adversaries and so to leave them inexcusable when the full weight of Sin falls upon them If the memory of Sin do so follow them which have repented and are pardoned how will it be