idle construction that giddy headed Sectaries have of late devised to help themselves to heaven with The Devils are so lost yet Christ never came to save them No no friend it is those that are lost in their own apprehensions those that know not what to dot o be saved those that feel themselves even in the jawes of hell he makes apprehensions of his wrath precede the apprehensions of his love But woe and alas how many thinke they have a part in Christ That the Devill hath as great a part in Christ actually as they have Heaven is growne the common journeyes end and let men ride which way they list Not the most debauched wretch in a Congregation but aske him what he thinks shall become of him if he dyes in that condition why he hopes he shall goe to heaven nay I wish he doth not say he is sure of it too All men are sinners He is lost but Christ came to seek and save that which was lost Tell him of mourning for his sinnes if he meanes to be comforted of humbling himselfe if he meanes to bee exalted of feeling hell if ever he means to feele heaven O then you are a legall Preacher Heare what the other side saith what those you call Antinomian Preachers O these are the only Gospell-preachers to them This makes them to passe for such honest men O they shew a fine Cushion-way to Heaven that you shall not need wet a foot or eye in But let them preach what they will friend beleeve him who although he knowes but little yet knowes you must go out of the wildernesse if ever you come there The way is neither the Drunkards Ale-way nor the Aoulterers uncleane way nor the Covetous man his dirty way nor the Ambitious mans high way nor the Hypocrites hidden way nor the Carnall-Gospellers formall way nor the Antinomians easie way It is a way through a wildernesse not a way in a wildernesse The Spouse is not described by her staying in the wildernesse but by comming out of the wildernesse Who is this commeth out of the wildernesse Secondly Doth the Spouse of the Lord come out of a wildernesse of sorrow leaning upon her Beloved First she is in then she commeth out then this reproves the folly of those that preach men found before they were lost and of those that dreame of leaning before they are in the wildernesse The Spouse leans but it is when she is comming out of the wildernesse Is there any that preacheth down a needlesnesse of duties that mockes at mourners that learne people a way to be found before they are lost Examine the Scriptures before you trust them under a pretence of exalting Faith doe they not cry downe sorrow for sinne and all other duties Nay they doe cry downe the preaching of the Law to bring men to see they are in the wildernesse that they might leane Doe they make you beleeve that preaching the Law is a price of Anti-christianisme and no one ought to preach it And for their part they will take heed of it for feare of preaching away their hearers O beware of this leaven For my part I cannot close with this novell Doctrine when I consider First that this other way of preaching hath bin that which God hath most blest by his servants labours Witnesse our Rogers our Hooker our Pious Shepard those three to which many threes may be added though they will scarse come up to the first three Those three Constellations of Heaven that have more light to darke Travellers that wandred in the night of sinne while they shined in our Firmament then all these Ignes fatui mis-leading poore Travellers Was ever any of these Leaders so honoured though they have beat up the Drums almost in every street of the Kingdome for followers as to gather such Troopes of Saints to the Christian warfare as these before mentioned Did ever God honour their labours so much as these who poor soules shone in their daies like lights under Bushels too had only the corner of a Pulpit or a Pulpit in some blind corner tolerated them Nay looke upon these that have lately fallen into this Veine and were Preachers of Gods whole truth before was not their first fruits better and more accepted of God then their harvest is now Hath not God distinguished which way of preaching he will must honour by making the first ripe grapes sweeter then the whole Vintage were it onely for this And Secondly For the constant experience of the Saints of God let them speake their minds freely hath not this beene the way of their conversion Have not the best Saints in Heaven cryed out of the belly of Hell before God heard their voice Was not Paul strucken downe to the earth before he went in the Triumph of Glory Did not the Gaolor come in trembling and fall at the Apostles feet and cry what shall I doe to be saved before they bid him beleeve and thou shalt be saved Neither can they evade it with saying That trembling was not an humiliation for sinne but occasioned for feare his prisoners were gone Least people should wrest in that manner The Holy Ghost hath cleared it to their hand for before we read of his trembling Paul had cryed with a loud voice vers 28. Doe thy selfe no harme for we are all here Neither doe wee read that he trembled for that at all but like one struck senselesse and his spirits dead as it were in a fit of desperate madnesse was about with his Sword to let out his owne blood Now I say were it no more then to heare such Doctrine contrary to the Doctrine which God hath chiefly honoured in his Servants lips by making it efficacious for the salvation of their soules and contrary to the experience of the generalitie of Gods Servants if not contrary to the Preachers owne former and better thoughts and practice it would be sufficient to make me suspend my faith from being too hastie to beleeve this new way to heaven But it is enough to confirme me to heare my Christ calling Come unto me all yee that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Before you are sensible of an heavy load you will need no ease and to heare my Text speaking of leaning but in a wildernesse Nay it may be noted too The Text saith Who is this that commeth Not who is this that jumpeth up from the wildernes I cannot fancy this going to Heaven at a running jump nor can I like this pressing faith without preaching repentance also Faith is an act of an humble soule Nor can the soule apprehend the beautie of Christ and love Christ before it apprehends it 's owne miserable conditions The onely harme this Doctrine doth is to make poore soules presume instead of beleeving for alas Tell an impenitent soule of beleeving it apprehends it easie because it doth not understand it and runnes upon a supposition that it hath faith when alas it beleeveth
Otherwise she would not leane Fourthly It doth argue a confidence that the soule hath in the Lord that he is able to beare her Otherwise shee would not trust the weight of her soule upon him First it doth argue wearinesse If she were not weary she would not leane Humiliation is a preface to faith and the way to be found is to be lost It is not a leaning of wantonnesse but a leanning of wearinesse O Lord I am sinking into Hell let me save my selfe from sinking by thy shoulders I am falling Lord let me leane whiles the soule hath any strength to goe it is too proud to be beholden to leane Come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Mat. 11.29 First weary then come First heavy laden then I will ease you What shall I doe to be saved saith the Gaolor O I am lost undone I am at a Non-plus O what shall I doe I am weary for I am farre readier to beleeve that that Voice What shall I doe is rather the Voice of the soul at it's nil ultra sadly sensible of it's lost and miserable condition sufficiently humbled in the sense of it than the voice of a soule thinking it might doe any thing that might be but in the least contributary to the desert of salvation I cannot be perswaded to think that when the Gaolor spake those words prostrated by humiliation at the Apostles feet that he had the least thought that he could throw in so much as two mites into the Treasury of free grace But as it is the ordinary speech of one drown'd in the depth of sorrow O what shall I doe What shall I doe though at that instant they know they can doe nothing to help themselves So the Gaoler in a true sense of his owne lost condition cryes out O what shall I doe he was weary it was time for the Apostle to bid him leane then beleeve saith the Apostle and thou shalt be saved It is but a wresting of the place or mocking it rather to bring it to perswade that duties preparatory were here excluded Surely had not the Apostles seen him humbled in some degrees they would as well have prefixed Repent here as Peter did to them Act. 2. Repent and be baptized Christ came not to call the Righteous but sinners to repentance He is a Saviour but it is for them that are lost in their owne feeling too And the truth of it is the soule scornes to leane upon Christ so long as it is able to goe alone when it hath never a crutch of merits or duties to rest upon then it lookes out for some rest for it's foot for some shoulder to beare up for some staffe to stay it selfe upon Leaning doth argue wearinesse that 's the first Secondly It doth argue a willingnesse in the soule to come to Jesus Christ Leaning is not a forced action Indeed as I said before Christ first works this willingnes he it is that gives us power to will and it is by his power that we are willing as it is written Psa 110.3 They shall be willing in the day of my power But he doth not let us leane before we are willing Leaning is an action proceeds from the will Who is this cometh up leaning Thirdly leaning doth argue love who leans upon his enemies I will not leane upon one whom I cannot trust I must have some good thoughts of his love The soul that leans upon the Lord Jesus Christ loves Christ that Faith that pretended dependancy of any upon Christ that proceedeth not out of a principle of love groweth out of a false root the loving soule is only the truly beleeving soule Leaning is a loving posture that is the third Fourthly It doth argue fiduciam a resting a trusting the soule upon Christ he that leans upon another reposeth his whole weight trusteth his whole strength upon him He doth as much as say well I know I cannot goe alone I cannot stand but I will trust my self upon thy strength will I leane if I fall I fall So the soule that comes up out of the wildernesse of sinne to the Lord Jesus Christ doth repose it's whole weight upon the Lord Christ it sayes O Lord I am a great and grievous sinner I am not able to stand upon mine owne legges but I trust my soule upon thy armes thou hast mercies and great mercies and free mercies if I fall I fall if be damned I am damned here I will leane And here you have the second thing plaine viz Secondly The soules hand with which she leanes upon Jesus Christ for salvation and these 4. things which I have hinted from this expression leaning are as the foure fingers of the hand of Faith And we may thus give a description of it Faith is the hand of a soule which God hath humbled whereby the soule being not able to stand alone nor daring to trust to any thing else and being made willing by God out of a principle of love layes hold upon Jesus Christ and trusts and rests it selfe upon him for her salvation And that leads me to the third thing I propounded the Person upon whom she leanes the text renders it Her beloved or as I conceive the old Translation better Her welbeloved The Latine dilectum suum him that is her conjugally beloved This is the last Branch of the doctrine That though the beleeving soule comes up from the wildernesse leaning yet she will onely leane upon her beloved and he only can and will beare her We know that whosoever leanes must have a person to leane upon Secondly There must be a capacity in this arme to beare her some strength yea there had need to be a great deale to hold up the weight of a soule First let us enquire who the Person is rendred in the Text dilectum Her welbeloved in plaine termes her Husband one that hath more than an ordinary portion of her love Here are five things hinted in this Expression 1. It is one whom she loves The word signifies a speciall sort of love and every greater includes a lesse 2. One that she is married to he is welbeloved her dearest love not charum but dilectum one that hath a title to her 3. Her Beloved not anothers Beloved 4. Her Beloved He that is her Beloved not who was her Beloved 5. Her Beloved not her Beloveds First It is one whom she loves This I hinted at before it is a principle of love that drawes the Soule to leane upon the Lord Jesus Christ The hatred of her selfe hath bred the love of her Saviour in it And no Soul loves Christ more than that wich loaths it self most When the soule shall consider what a Brand for Hell it was in its originall how worthlesse a worme it is how basely it hath dealt by God trampling upon his rich offers of Grace scorning his Invitations And again consider that God hath no need at all of it But
her owne Merits with another no nor dares shee leane upon the Merits of another shee durst not trust the weight of her soule upon the wings of an Angel nor to the Prayers of a Saint she relies upon God and upon God onely The Papists leane upon Christ but not upon him alone shee knowes it wil be a dishonour both to her and her husband to take any thing in partem amoris to share with her husband in his love shee will keep her honour in being the wife of one Husband And so I have shewed you how she leanes what is her hand who it is she leanes upon what title she hath to him what rules she observeth in her leaning I have but one thing more and that is to shew you what strength there is in the Lord Christs shoulders to beare her how she leanes even in every wildernesse and what fulnesse of strength there is in her husbands arme to keep her up from falling The first wildernesse you may remember was the wildernesse of sinne Here the Spouse cannot be said properly to leane upon her beloved for she wants the hand of faith to lay hold upon Christ and indeed she is not weary yet I doe not know why in some sense even in this estate the elect soule is not beholding to free grace he is her Christ here though he hath not yet manifested himselfe to be her Jesus her Saviour The elect soule in sin is elect and decreed to be saved though shee be not declared to be elect she is beloved in decree though God hath not actually manifested his love unto her he is not her beloved but the soule is his beloved not actually but decretally he hath thoughts of good to her but his thoughts are kept within himselfe till he is pleased to reveale them to her at his best time she is his beloved though there be no correlation she is in his thoughts his Spouse aye and positively not conditionally The Arminians falsely dreame of Gods conditionall decrees because they comprehend not the wayes of God Beleeving is necessarily required yet it was not a condition in Gods decree The soule is his beloved though yet there be no correlation though she be not his wife yet yet she is intended for his wife To speake according to the wayes of men I may intend to make a woman my wife before I actually declare my intentions to her she is my wife in my determinations and thoughts before I wooe her though not actually my wife bâ—fore I have wooed her and she hath â—â—elded too there lyes only this difference my determination must be but conditionally if she will accept of my proffer'd love There lyes a power in her to refuse We may therefore make the simile a little higher A great Emperour buyeth a woman that is a slavâ— which he intends to marry and will whether she will or no yet he will wooe her and if it be possible marry her will as well as her person yet whether she will or no he will and may marry her for she is his purchase she is his wife in his determination before he hath married her But yet even this simile is lame Every simile comparing the wayes of God with the wayes of man must at least halt of one foot for though this Emperour hath power to force the womans body to the action yet hee hath no power to force her will to be willing to the action The will is alwayes independent sui juris but God hath power not only to marry the soule which he hath bought from being a slave to the Devill but to make her willing to marry him yet she is in Christs decree his Spouse before he hath actually revealed his decree unto her so though strictly and properly the soule cannot be said to lean upon Christ in the wildernesse of sinne yet she may be said to be beholden unto the Lord Christ and that thus 1. Every soul hath the like principles of corruption and would act to the full of it's depraved operations were it not for Gods preventing and restraining grace She is beholding unto God for his preventing and restraining grace though here she is meerly passive Secondly She is beholden unto God for his exciting grace The soule heares and fasts and prayes meditates of her owne sad condition though for the substance of the action it is her owne yet it is Gods exciting grace makes her willing to heare fast pray though not his speciall saving-grace yet his common grace But this is not the leaning meant in the Text she leanes here upon Christ but not upon Jesus a Saviour upon God but not as her Beloved And here the soule is brought into a second wildernesse 2. The wildernesse of Sorrow Contrition Repentance call it what you please though I know the later tearme Repentance be controverted by some Yet I know not why we may not say That a man may repent without saving-grace And for that Repentance which they say must be the effect of faith If I were a School-man I should rather call it Godly Sorrow but I desire not to play upon tearmes And for their defining Repentance To be a sorrow for sinne out of the sense of the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ it is a definition they have devised for their owne purpose And give them their premises according as they please they would be poore Logicians if they made the conclusion to displease them For from hence they argue If the love of God be the ground and cause of Repentance viz. the love of God manifested and sensible to us we having apprehended it by faith the speciall love of God then faith must goe before Repentance viz. an apprehension of Gods saving love and reliance upon it But I answer the definition which they give us of Repentance is deceitfull it is a definition of a Species in stead of a Genus as we say in Logick As some unwary Divines define Faith to be an assurance of Gods love in Iesus Christ This is true but this is a faith of the highest stamp and many a precious soule is without this faith to his dying day Faith of adherence is another thing as if I should goe to define a man to be a reasonable creature skil'd in all sorts of Learning Any man would understand me that I did not goe about to describe a man in generall but this or that particular man And I say once againe if I were a School-man I should rather call this A godly sorrow and define Repentance in generall to be A sorrow for sin there is the genus and differentia Or if there be required a fuller definition with the ground though I conceive such a definition would be more proper to give of Repentance in it's severall kinds than of Repentance in generall yet we may give it thus It is a sorrow for sinne arising out of the feare of Gods wrath or apprehensions of Gods love And I know
if it were burning in hell could be as glorious as in its Salvation and yet would be pleased to powre out his precious bloud for it yet so unworthy To wooe the Soule that hath need of him and yet never praies to him nor ever was a sutor for mercy This breeds love in the Soule And the more the Soule sadomes her owne misery the more yet she loves and admires the Lords mercy and loving thus she leanes upon him Secondly It is one that she pleades some title to and interest in she cals him hers Christ is the Bridegroome of the Soule and the Soule is Christs Bride Beloved in all this Song is taken for the highest degree of love and nearest relation conjugall love therefore Christ elsewhere calls her his Sister his Spouse she hath a title to and interest in him possession of him and in another place I am my welbeloveds and my welbeloved is mine She is his and he is hers they have a propriety each in other But suppose we should put the Spouse to prove her title to him What is thy Beloved more than anothers Beloved Or why is he thy Beloved O beleeving soule more than the Beloved of another shew thy title to him And againe why is she Christs more than another Why should the beleever monopolize Christ and how came Christ to be hers she is his and he is hers by right of gift her heavenly Father hath given her unto him hence is that Phrase of her Saviours Prayer John 17.9 All that the Father hath given me and I pray for them that thou hast given me She hath given her selfe to him Cant. 1.2 Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better than wine She hath said Draw me and I will run after thee ay and he hath given himselfe to her he hath given his grace unher Gal. 1.6 And his glory unto her The glory which thou hast giveÌ„ me I have given them Her Beloved by right of gift 2. She is his and he is hers by right of bargaine and sale The Ancients had three waies to get themselves wives by gift purchase or desert The Fathers sold their Daughters and the Bridegroome bought his Bride he gave a Dowry for her Hence when Sechem had a mind to Dinah the daughter of Jacob he sayes Aske me what Dowry thou wilt and I will give it thee Christ hath bought his Beloved hence saith the Apostle He hath paid a price for us A bloudy price more than all the world was worth But he would have her because he delighted in her and so she is his and he is hers by right of purchase 3. She is his Beloved and he is hers by right of desert she deserved not him but he deserved her This was a third way by which the Ancients got them wives by some gallant explâ—it or great service Their wives were somtimes given them for wages Jacob served 14. years for Rachell Gen. 29.17 David for his Soveraignes daughter encountred great Goliah and afterwards robbed the Philistines of their foreskins he paid more for her than she proved to be worth By this right the beleeving soule is the beloved of Christ he hath served a long service for her not fourteene but above thirty yeares he hath vanquished the Goliahs of our soules and hath conquered our Spirituall Enemies 4. He is hers and she is his by right of possession he dwels in her and she dwels in him The second person in the Trinity is an inmate with the beleeving soule He dwels under the roofe of her heart He hath a chamber in the soule and hath pitched his tent within her and she is in him too united each unto other this is very plainly exprest Gal. 2.20 I live but yet not I but Christ lives in me I am the Carcasse Christ the Soule the soule moveth the body so Christ moves my soule I move not from any principle in my selfe but from a principle of Grace The life I live in the flesh I live by the life of the Sonne of God who dwelleth in me who loved me and gave himselfe for me Thus you see she may well call Christ her Beloved and Christ may well call her his Beloved He hath a propriety in her and shee hath a propriety in him also hee hath marryed her and dwels with her yea and in her dilectum suum her wellbeloved indeed Thirdly It is her beloved not anothers beloved Every soule hath a Beloved the Drunkard hath his beloved cups the wanton hath his beloved Queanes the Covetous person his beloved gold The soule that leanes upon Christ goes not a whoring after other Gods The Spouse of Christ leanes not upon the Papists beloved merits nor upon the Turks beloved Mahomet nor upon the Pharisees beloved duties nor upon the Idolaters beloved Saints she sayes Abraham knowes her not and Israel is ignorant of her Isa 63.16 but the Lord is her Father Christ is her Redeemer and her Maker her Redeemer is her Husband Creator tuus est sponsus tuus Her beloved not anothers Beloved Fourthly He that is her Beloved not that which was her Beloved She once loved her sins and her lusts were the beloveds of her soul The name of Baalim was in her mouth her lusts were her Lords and they ruled over her But now the name of Baalim is taken out of her mouth she calls the Lord Ishi God alone is her beloved Sin was the dearly beloved of her soule but now shee calls sinne no more Naomi shee calls it Marah that which was once the sweetnesse is now the bitternesse of her soule shee takes no pleasure in it no nor doth she account her duties her beloved she useth them but shee dares not trust her soule upon them she dares not plead any desert in them though once perhaps she had a Pharisaicall conceit that her duties would be her healing yet when she comes to the Lord Christ to leane upon his Arme though she useth duties and is as full of Prayer and humiliation as ever shee knocks her hand upon her breast and cryes she is a sinner Oh but what remedy the knocking her hand upon her breast shee knowes cannot save her no for that God be merciful to her she leanes upon Christ that is her now Beloved not upon any duties or any other merits that was before her Beloved Fifthly Her beloved not her beloveds The soule that comes to the Lord Jesus Christ loves him intensly and as she loves him best so she loves him onely As nothing shall have her whole heart so neither will she divide her heart betwixt him and another he shall have her heart and he onely shall have her heart and he shall have her whole heart too she dare trust her strength upon Christ and upon him alone she desireth only to be found in the Lord Jesus who is her Bridegroome shee is a Virgin not a Whore she leanes not upon Christ with one hand and
to beare I sinke I sinke under it then Christ looks out of the heavens and sayes Cast thy burthen upon the Lord man and he shall sustaine thee Psal 55.22 or Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Mat. 11.29 The supporting grace of God is the Anchor of the soule which staies the Ship of the soule when a tempest of sorrow arises the waves beat upon it Now this Anchor hath two flukes The first is her Beloveds mercies and merits The second is her Beloveds promises When she is in this sad wildernesse of sorrow her Beloved gives her a staffe of merits and mercy and free grace to leane upon and a clue of promises to lead her out of this Labyrinth and the mercies and merits of her Beloved have two hooks both which take fast hold to stay her soule 1. The fulnesse of them 2. The freenesse of them First the fulnesse of them The soule cries out O I am damned Christ suggests to her But didst thou never heare of one that came to save those which were in their owne apprehension damned I deserve to dye everlastingly saith the soule oh but did not he dye for thee that deserved to live everlastingly saith Christ I deserve infinite torments saith the soule Oh! but are not thy Christs mercies infinite mercies saith God Thy mercy held me up My sinnes have cryed up to heaven saith the soule O but my mercies are above the heavens saith Christ Psal 108.5 My sins are more in number than the haires of my head saith the soul but my mercies saith Christ are more in number than the sand which lyes on the Sea shore Psal 139.17 18. My sins have abounded saith the soule but my grace hath much more abounded saith Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 5.20 O but my heart is as hard as Iron and the face of my sinnes like Brasse saith the soule but that God that made the Leviathan is as strong as the Leviathan He esteemes Iron as straw and Brasse as rotten wood My sinnes are many saith the soule but were their name Legion saith Christ I could cast them out O but I am an old sinner I have a mountaine of sinnes But my mercies are from everlasting saith Christ so are not thy sinnes and I came to levell Mountaines Luke 3.4 The more old thou art the more glory shall my free grace have all the world shall see I doe not pardon thee for any service thou canst or wilt doe me thou must ere long lye downe in the grave Thus the soule in this wildernesse of sorrow leanes upon the fulnesse of Gods mercies But secondly there must be freenesse as well as fulnesse or else what hath the soule I know that the least drop of Christs bloud is fully able to wash away all my guilt But what have I to doe with Christ I am a poore creature the fitter object for divine charity what dowry have I for Christ to marry me Because thou hast nothing therefore I will doe it saith Christ If thou hadst any thing that thou thoughtest riches I would not have married thee saith Christ Thou art mistaken in my thoughts I doe not marry thee because thou art rich but because I have a delight in thee and have an intention to make thee rich Hos 14.4 I will heale their back-slidings I will love them freely Ezek. 16.7 8 9. Now the soule being fully perswaded of this that Christ is full of mercy and able to pardon her and free in his mercy therefore willing to forgive her and desiring nothing for her pardon but to live like a Spouse in his sight begins to leane beleeving he will pardon her But yet saith the soule I could desire to see it under Christs hand I thinke I could take his word now So she leanes upon Christs promises which are as the other Fluke of this Anchor Now sayes the soule O that I might have it but under Christs hand that my sinnes which I am scarse able to thinke can be pardoned may be pardoned though I staid his leisure for the sealing of it Here she enquires for Promises and Presidents Did ever Christ promise saith the Soule to pardon such a scarlet crimson sinner as I am Yes I have saith Christ looke Isa 1.18 Though your sinnes be as skarlet they shall be as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll and so Isa 55.6 7. I will have mercy upon you I will abundantly pardon you Mat. 11.29 O but where hath Christ promised freely to dispence these mercies saith the soule Christ turnes her again to Isa 51.1 2 3. Ho every one that thirsteth come buy of me without mony or mony-worth But secondly where did he ever pardon such a sinner as I am saith the soule Christ puts her in mind of Mary Magdalen Manasses O but where one that was so near hell as I am saith the soule an old sinner the theefe upon the Crosse saith Christ Now it must not be understood that Christ Jesus should reveale these Promises Audibly to the soule but 1. Either sets his Ministers a worke to declare his Charters of Grace and read the soules pardon 2. Or else he suggests into the soule such promises in such a seasonable time which must be taken as the voice of God to that soule Thus the soule furnished with presidents trusting upon promises wipes her eyes comes out of the wildernesse leaning upon her blessed Saviour and saying O my sweet Saviour thou that hast drawne mee from the pit of hell and hast reached out thy arme for a worthlesse lost worme to leane upon thee I dare beleeve thee I now roule my soule upon thee I am shipwrackt but thou art my harbour and now O what shall I doe for thee O my God! I am sick of love Thou hast ravished my heart I am thine I am thine Thus have I shewne how the soule comes out of the wildernesse of sinne and sorrow leaning upon her Beloved And here the ship is in harbour but yet ever and anon she is tossed still persecuted though not forsaken This is the most dangerous wildernesse afterwards she is often in the corner of a Desart I must shew you how even then she leanes and how out of them she comes leaning upon her Beloved She is alwayes a dependent creature she leanes when ever she is wearied The third Wildernesse therefore is the wildernesse of afflictions in this she leanes out of this she comes leaning upon her Welbeloved id est in afflictions she leanes Christ is her comfort in her saddest troubles She leanes upon him viz. upon his supporting grace Thy rod and thy staffe comforted me Psal 23. The staffe held him up while the rod was upon his back The rod was a comfort because of the staffe the more he had of the rod the more he had of the staffe also In afflictions the beleeving soule leanes upon God and says Lam. 2.20
no more then the Devill beleeveth sorrow for sinne is better understood by a carnall heart then faith is for the truth of it is the humble soule onely can tell what faith is The other sees neither the want they have of faith nor yet the nature of that precious grace Shall I tell you what pious M. Rutherford sayes concerning this Faith saith he is bottomed upon the sense and paine of a lost condition Povertie is the nearest capacitie of beleeving This is Faiths method be condemned and be saved be hang'd and be pardoned be sick and be healed Faith is a flower of Christs onely planting yet it growes out of no soile but out of the margin and banke of the lake which burnes with fire and brimstone Antinomians saith he againe make faith an act of a lofty Pharisee applying immediato contactu presently his hot boyling and smoking lusts to Christs wounds blood and merit without any conscience of a precedent command that the person thus beleeving should be humbled wearied loaden grived for his sinnes I confesse saith he This is hastie hot work but it is a wanton fleshly presumptuous opinion that it is an immediate work to lay hold on the promises and be saved In his Book of the Tryal and Triumph of Faith you hear the opinion of Gods Servants and the Text mentions a comming too pedetentim gradatim little by little step by step Those that come cannot goe so fast as these because they are weary and heavy loaden Those that learne people to jump must take away Math. 11.29 the heavy load of sinnes which the Spouse hath upon her shoulders keepes her from that hastie motion that Antinomians make I doe not speake to limit the Almighties power but to shew you his ordinarie dispensations not what he can doe but what he will doe what he hath used to doe and God ordinarily walkes in his owne paths not in the paths our fancies make for him we may looke for God in his ordinary wayes of Providence and dispensations of the soule if he comes in a new way it must be beyond our expectations though not beyond our faith that he can doe it yet beyond our faith that he will doe it When wee have no word to assure us what shall faith be builded upon God can turne midnight into mid-day ipso facto But we know in Gods ordinary course of Providence first comes the dawning of the day then the morning then the noone-day God can take a soule and marry it and never humble it but where hath he promised it where hath he done it or if he hath done it wee say one Swallow makes not a Summer one example makes not a Rule one president makes not a law It is no rule for thee or me to trust in that no more then the saving of the thiefe upon the Crosse might be a safe president for us to deferre repentance till our dying day Let thee and I learne to be humbled to get broken hearts to loath our selves see our owne misery Sorrow is the ordinary doore to joy Humiliation the ordinary step to exaltation Mourning for sinne the onely preface to Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in Gods ordinary way of dealing out grace The Latine is full Quae est illa quae ascendit that ascends from the wildernesse Our Translation commeth up implying an ascensive motion t is her running up an hil They that run up a mountaine if they run too fast they may quickly run themselves out of breath it is bad jumpping over a broad ditch especially if it be drowning depth for feare if wee jumpe short we jumpe our last It is a great jump from the bottome of Hell to Heaven to take it at one leape I wish those that dare take it doe not fall short and drowne themselves eternally I had rather goe up Gods steps then make such a hasty motion God give me grace to ascend up the Saints staires to the chambers of glory Elijah was such a favourite to heaven that God sent a coach for him But those that will expect till that fiery Chariot be sent downe for them too I suppose may waite something a longer time then they desire O beg of God to humble you to powre out his spirit of mourning and supplications upon you this will learne you to beleeve friends It is the humbled soule only that construe that word Faith it is Hebrew to others it poseth the impenitent heart Faith is a riddle to them Christ findes his Spouse in the wildernesse and there he gives her his shoulder to leane upon But Thirdly She commeth up leaning out of the wildernesse Is it the duty of a soul that is in a wildernesse of affliction or temptation or desertion to leane upon the Lord Christ Then this may reprove those that are in these wildernesses and yet cannot be perswaded to leane upon the Lord Christ hence they cry out O faith is impossible is it possible to beleeve that Christ will save me me that have scorned his salvation and slighted his mercies And because thou hast slighted mercy wilt thou therefore still slight mercy still refuse his offer of grace Thou sinnest as much now in not beleeving there is mercy for thee that hast dispised mercy as thou didst sinne in dispising that mercy O why is it harder to rise up then to cast downe a soule Why wilt thou not beleeve O thou of little faith Is the mole-hill of thy sinnes like the mountaine of his mercies doth the voice of thy sinnes roare like the voice of his loving kindnesse Is there any humbled soule before the Lord O doe not provoke God by thy infidelity now he hath made thee capable of faith You that are Christians for shame in your severall wildernesses of afflictions temptations and desertions doe not O do not cast downe your heads and say who shall shew us any good or if you doe say againe with the Saint in the ensuing words Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Beleeve in your depths of sorrow beleeve in your most trying afflictions most sadding temptations most killing desertions beleeve me it is the greatest honour you can put upon the Lord Christ And it is the greatest dishonour you can put upon your God to have any diffidence in the Lords armes any distruct in the Lords free grace It is the property nay it is the duty of the Spouse to come out of wildernesses leaning Fourthly Doth she leane upon God before shee can come must he worke the first motion to make her willing before she can beleeve in him Then how are those to be here reproved that would make mans will to be the Author of its first motions unto God Pelagius was a great defender of it First he would hold That the grace of God was not necessary but by the law of nature we might be saved 2. That the grace of God which the Apostle speaks of was only in giving the law
and his lusts at the head then Christ should be as welcome as any thing to him but he is loath to sue a divorce from this Beloved he is loth to part with his old love for a new till he seeth how he can love him but at a venture he will take him in partem amoris O wretch flatter not thy selfe if Christ be thy Beloved he will endure no Polygamy you must leave your sinnes or be without Christ The true Spouse leanes upon her Beloved not upon her Beloveds upon her now Beloved she forsakes her old Lastly this may serve to reproove 1. Those that would leane upon Christ but they dare not trust their soules upon Christ alone Forsooth he will be the Spouse of Christ but he must leane upon Christ with one hand and his good works with the other The whore of Babylon commits adultery with her selfe 2. Under this lash comes a better ranke of people that when God hath shewed them their owne sinfull sad condition they doe not only performe duties pray and mourne and repent and be humbled all which they ought to doe but they are ready to rest in them and make them their Beloved It is naturall to the soule that God hath made to loath its sinnes to love its duties it finds duties almost as consentaneous to its nature as sinnes were before and it is too ready to thinke that its saving or damning depends upon such a quantity of teares and humiliation Hence you heare soules in this condition often complaining Oh! I could beleeve if I were humbled enough if I could but mourne enough This soule doth well to be sensible of the hardnesse of its owne heart and it is too true it can never mourne it can never be humbled enough But it doth ill to think that free grace stints its operation and blessed influence to such a quantity of teares if it be humbled enough to see its want of Christ The water runs through the river that is the way to the Sea but it doth not rest in the river but with a swift and continued motion runs betwixt the banks till it comes and is swallowed up in the Sea Even so the soul ought to run through duties but not to rest betwixt the banks of duties but to run through till it come to the Sea of free grace where it will be swallowed up of infinite mercy and our imperfections will be drowned in his infinite perfection we ought to take duties in our way to Christ but not to make duties our Jesus God hath ordained that they should sit us for him but it is written My glory will I not give to another The glory of the Lords free grace is his greatest glory he will not give that to any other None shall share with him in his Spouses love he is a jealous Saviour The Spouse leanes upon her Beloved not Beloveds Thus I have done with my use of reproofe The next use is for examination here may every one try himselfe whether he be the Spouse of the Lord Jesus Christ or no Even by what hath been already said I will reduce it all to three heads First Examine thy selfe whether thou beest out of the wildernesse of sinne yea or no. Secondly Whether thou wert or art in any other wildernesse yea or no. Thirdly What was or is thy demeanour in these wildernesses thou hast been or art in and how hast thou come or dost thou come out Examine whether thou beest not in the wildernesse of sinne yea or no It was given as the Character of the Spouse to come out of this wildernesse O but how shall I know that will the soule say I will name two or three notes by which thou mayst suspect thy selfe as from probabilities 1. The wildernesse it is an incult place a place where the soyle was never tilled it is hard almost as a milstone the over-growne Trees were never pruned the unruly boughs never lopt the bushes never cut or stubbed dost thou find thy heart in such a condition that it is as hard as ever neither judgement breaks it nor mercy melts it the fallow ground of it is not plowed nor the seed of righteousnesse sowne in it Thy unruly lusts are not tamed thy life is as much overgrowne with sinne as ever it was thy sinnes were never yet cut off from the body of thy life O friend suspect thy selfe Thou mayest justly feare yea and know too that thou art not the Spouse of Christ thou art in the wildernesse in thy naturall estate Secondly The wildernesse is a barren place it brings forth no corne for the sickle no wholsome fruit no grapes for mans pallat for can a man gather grapes of thistles or figgs of thornes No pastures wholsome for the beasts The fire hath devoured the pastures of the wildernesse Joel 1.19 And God complained that Nineveh was dry like a wildernesse Zeph. 2.13 Art thou a barren and unfruitfull creature that dost nothing for God thy heart is a barren heart no seeds of good are sown there thy tongue is a barren tongue no good words come out thence thy whole soule a barren soule not a good action upon the record of thy life Indeed no soule can be barren the soule is of a working nature but sinfull works are unfruitfull workes in the Apostles language The unfruitfull workes of darknesse and what fruits had ye of those things whereof you are now ashamed Gods Spouse is a fruitfull creature Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering c. A barren soule is alwayes a wildernesse-soule Those that are borne of God bring forth fruits unto God Thirdly thou mayest know whether thou beest in the wildernesse or no by the company thou delightest in It is a knowne rule Noscitur ex socio qui non dignoscitur ex se He that is a wildernesse-creature loves wildernesse-company the Wolves and Beares and Foxes but he that is out keeps the company of men dost thou love the wildernesse-company the swinish drunkard the politike Fox the malitious Lyon the venomous lyer and slanderer the lascivious wanton more than the Children of God Oh suspect thy selfe l By this we know saith John that we are translated from death to life if we love the Brethren Lazarus when he was raised from the grave we do not read he went to keep the dead men company againe those that God hath raised from the death of their sins live amongst living men and delight in living mens company Thus examine whether thou beest come out of the wildernesse of sin or no. Secondly As comming out of the wildernesse is a signe of the child of God so being in the wildernesse is likewise a note whereby thou mayest know thy selfe Gods Spouse comes out of one wildernesse into another out of the wildernesse of sinne into the wildernesse of sorrow and out of that to their Saviour Wouldest thou know whether thou art found or no Examine whether thou wert lost or
keep the love of the husband the blind man need to keep the love of his guid O Christian thou hast much more need to keep the love of thy Christ It is he that must succour thee at every need he that must make the rugged wayes plaine for thee It is he that must carry the Babe of grace in his armes lest it should dash its feet against the stones of affliction It is he that must lead the child of God upon his hand lest in this world of afflictions it fall and hurt it self O keep close in his armes keep thy selfe warme in his bosome feare that which may make thy God go free from thee Gods departing from the creature is a piece of hell thou knowest not how soone thou mayest need him yea thou alwayes needest him therefore take heed of sinning against him thou wilt anger thy best friend I will assure thee I hasten to the last Use which shall be a word of Exhortation Doth the Spouse of Christ come out of the wildernesse leaning upon her Beloved First O then you that are yet in the wildernesse of sinnes come out come out get this Spouses Beloved and then leane upon him 2. You that are in the wildernesse of sorrow for sinne afflictions temptations desertions leane upon your beloved live leaning and dye leaning you that say you are sinking and you cannot beleeve Oh leane and come out of this wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved A word to the first Is there any before the Lord this day that is yet in the gall of bitternesse and in the bond of iniquity with what arguments shall I plead with such a soule Those are not wanting but with what arguments shall I prevaile with such a soul to come unto the Lord Christ were any here drowning in the water a little Rhetoricke would perswade them to let me helpe them out were any lost in a wood I should not need much entreat them to give me their hand and I would shew them a way out of that loosing place why should I not as much prevaile for heaven this day 1 Consider what estate it is that thou takest such pleasure to continue in first it is a dangerous place more dangerous then the sands to the ship thou art ready to be swallowed up of hell every houre in it A troop of judgments waites upon thee to destroy it how canst thou abide consuming fire or dwell in everlasting burnings Secondly Consider it is a joylesse condition There is no true joy to the sinner though he sings sometimes amongst his drunken cups yet he cannot feed heartily upon a feast of joy because the Sword hangs over his head it is but a fained joy that the sinner hath a sudden short lived flame without any coales underneath to preserve it There is no peace to the wicked saith God and if no peace there can be no joy when the sinner is serious he cannot rejoyce his rejoycing is like the skipping of mad men that know not what they doe Thirdly Consider it is a starving condition The sinners soule starves whiles he feasts his body like a glutton his soule dyes for thirst when his body is overslowne with drunkennesse It is impossible the puffe-past of iniquity should nourish a soule Doth an Angell feed upon the earth doth a Saint feed upon hell The soule is of an Angelicke substance it cannot feed upon sinne sinne starves it Dost thou love to be in the middest of thornes dost thou delight to lye downe in sorrow canst thou endure to see thy better part starved whiles thou pamperest thy filthy Carcasse O let this deterre thee from the wildernesse of sinne and perswade thee to come out of it unto Paradise There First Thou shalt be in a safe condition Out of the feare of judgements out of hells gunshot There life or death will be either peace temporall or else eternall either grace or glory unto thee here thy soule shall be in a harbour if thousands fall at thy left hand and ten thousands at thy right none shall make the afraid thou shalt laugh at trouble when it comes Thou shalt be sure to goe to heaven either by land or water If thou goest through the fire thou shalt be sure to have Christ with thee Heaven is a security in all estates a protection from all Arrests if the King of glory hath a mind to sue thee thou shalt not be arrested like other men with a writ of wrath but invited to sup with him in glory onely by a letter of love and he will send his Ushers of glory to waite upon thy soul to the chambers of glory Luke 16.22 The soule of good Lazarus was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome you shall not live like other men haunted with the blood-hounds of wrath nor dye like other wretches that goe out of the world haled by the Sarjeants of hell to everlasting prison but quietly sleepe and awake againe one day in glory O who would not desire such a protection for himselfe such a security for his soule who would not throw off his raggs of sinne to put on Christs livery of grace when Christs badge upon his shoulder shall free him from all Arrests That he shall walke up and downe and nothing shall make him afraid Secondly Consider that Heaven is a place as full of joy as ever the wildernesse was full of sorrow and trouble of this I spake before O thinke of the joy of the Saints you children of vaine pleasure you mad-men of the earth that can dance over the hole of the Aspe and put your hands on the Cockatrices den Your false and flattering joy is nothing to the reall joyes of heaven There is joy like the joy of the harvest like the joy when men divide the spoyle The yoake of their burthen is broken and the rod of the oppressour O you that love your drinking meetings and dancing dayes that you would but love heaven where you might drink new wine with your Lord Christ where you might dance in glory and make all your dayes dayes of joy and every houre an houre of pleasure Thirdly consider that there and there onely is provision for your soule Christs robes is the only cloathing that will cover the nakednesse of it his flesh is meat indeed and his bloud is drinke indeed there my friends Eate and drinke and be merry there you may have wine and milke without money or without price O spend not your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which profits not Here you may eate that which is good and let your soule delight it selfe in fatnesse Here is a Feast of fat things The fatlings are killed O come to the wedding Why should your roomes be emptie in the day of the Lords Espousals You shall bee welcome to my Masters Table Now O now Behold he stands at the doore and knocks Lord breake where thou knockest If any man will heare his voice and open the
grace without any saving grace performe many previous actions that are required of men to faith and repentance she may by vertue of Gods generall grace his exciting grace goe to Church hear the word of God meditate of God peccata propria considerare seÌ„su eorum expavescere saith Davenant Ay and she may beg deliverance from that wofull condition which she apprehends her selfe in but she stirrs not one of these stepps after a spirituall but after a naturall manner till the quickning grace of God come A man may in a wildernesse conceive himselfe lost look about for the way out call for help be willing to be out yet not be one step in the way that will lead him out and this the soule must doe so farr as it can Negamus etenim hanc gratiam regenâ—rantem infundi hominibus inertibus sed animis per verbum Dei erectis subact is per praedict as actiones quodammodo dispositis viz. We deny that regenerating grace is infused into sloathfull men but into soules subdued by Gods word and law and after a manner disposed by the foregoing actions yet we say that even these foregoing actions have their first motions from God and the question is whether God doth not first work a sight and sense of sinne and an humiliation for it by his exciting grace before he comes with his regenerating quickning and saving grace into the soule we say he doth in his ordinary course of his dispensations Only I must bee here safely understood that I speak according to mans apprehension for in respect of God nothing is first or last he works all in an instant all graces together in the soule but the question lies not whether God works the habit of Repentance before the habit of Faith or no for without question he works together all his works but whether God makes humiliation act before faith which we say he doth Esau and Jacob may be in their mothers womb together but Esau may come out and be seen in the world before Jacob yet not tying up the Almighty to this method who can and will work any way even which way it pleaseth him Nor doe we say any such previous action can be performed by the Creature ut de merito congrui teneatur Gratiam dare That God is bound for the desert of any such privious action to give his inward and regenerating quickning grace But yet this we say Dave ibid. that in the Church of God where men are dayly stirr'd up by the word and spirit to repent and beleeve savingly God will give though not for any of these previous or dispository actions yet freely regenerating grace to all such as are capable of it unlesse they have resisted the spirit of God in the preceding operations and rejected his quickning grace but yet we deny that any man can performe these actions so but he will offend and resist the Spirit of God in them Now why when as all resist God should reject some as they have rejected him and leave them to the hardnesse of their own hearts and work irresistibly on others who have resisted their God as much and break open their hearts though lock'd and barr'd against him and fill them with quickning grace and pull a Lot out of Sodom by force and draw a soule out of the wildernesse by head and shoulders I say why he should doe it when two are grinding at the same mill take one and leave the other when two are in the same field why-the one should be taken the other left when two soules are equall in duties fasting mourning in the way that God hath appointed why he should baulke this and take the other when perhaps that which is taken hath been the least penitent too I will conclude with Dr. Davenant is Sacrum Misterium divinae voluntati reliquendum A sacred and secret mistery to be left to the divine pleasure and the reason lies in the agents own breast It is because he will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy and whom he wills he hardeneth God is his owne reason and his free grace it s owne cause So then we conclude that the soule cannot move one foot to a spirituall action spiritually not by any common grace it must be only by Gods regenerating and saving grace So that to answer yet more distinctly to the Question In respect of Gods exciting and preventing grace if we looke so farre we cannot come but that preventeth us We are as clay in the hands of the Potter we are all dead in sinnes But when the Lord hath changed the soule then it commeth The first motion upon the will is from God before there is any motion of the will unto God but when the will is healed of God then the soule commeth then the soule which was meerly passive before is active and will endeavour to doe somthing for that God that hath done so much for her It followes the drawing of Gods most holy Spirit Draw me saith the Spouse and I will run after thee First I must be drawne but then I will run In the same moment God makes us to will and we will yet all the efficacy of the Action comes from Gods most holy Spirit Certum est nos velle quum volumus sed ille facit ut velimus qui operatur in nobis velle It is certaine saith Augustine that wee are willing when wee are willing but he makes us willing that workes in us to will and to perform Phil. 2.13 And so he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God drawes but he drawes the soule that is willing Ay but first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he makes it willing So I have shewed what proprietie the soul hath in the Action how she commeth and how willing she is to the motion She is drawne but she is willing to be drawne to Jesus Christ But first she is made willing before she is willing ay and in her life after she is come to Christ in her walking with Christ Non suis confidit viribus she trusts not her owne strength she even then commeth leaning which is the next Branch of the Doctrine I have to handle Though she comes up from the wildernesse she comes up not of her owne strength but leaning First Let us enquire what the expression holds out to us Secondly What is the soules hand Thirdly Who is it she leanes upon Fourthly What in him she hath to trust to and how in every wildernesse she leans and out of every wildernesse comes up leaning I conceive here are foure things hinted in this expression leaning which I may tearme the foure fingers of the Spouses hand which she layes upon her Saviours shoulders First It doth argue that the soule is weary otherwise she would not leane Secondly It is a willing posture I am not forced to leane I do it willingly The soule that comes up with Christ is willing Thirdly It is a posture of love