Grace 2. That God will remove this corruption The first general circumstance of the souls Preparation is on Gods part wherein is The offer of Christ Jesus The condition of this offer and The easiness of this condition we may have all in this one Comparison As with a Malefactor convicted of High Treason for plotting some wicked practice against his Prince if after the discovery of all passages the King make a Proclamation That upon the surceasing of his Enterprises he shall be pardoned nay if the King shall continue to send Message after Message secretly to tell him that would he yet lay down his arms and take a pardon he shall freely be remitted and graciously accepted into favor again if this Traytor now should rather fling away his Pardon then his Weapons then should the King raise an Army and overcome him and take him and execute him without any pity or mercy I appeal to your own Consciences is he not justly rewarded What will the world say he had a fair offer of Pardon and the King sent Messenger after Messenger unto him seeing therefore he refused and neglected such offers it is pity but condemnation should befal him thus would all say Why this is the condition of every poor soul under heaven we are all Rebels and Traytors by our Oathes and Blasphemies we set our mouth against heaven and yet after all our pride and stubbornness and loosness and prophaneness and contempt of Gods Word and Ordinances the Lord is pleased to proclaim Mercy still to every one that will receive it All you that have dishonored my Name All you that have prophaned my Sabbaths and contemned my Ordinances All you cursed wretches Come Come who will and take Pardon therein is the Offer onely let them lay aside all their weapons therein is the Condition and then have Christ for the taking therein is the Easiness of the condition Blessed God may every Soul say if I will not do this for Christ I will do nothing had the Lord required a great matter of me to have attained salvation had he required Thousands of Rams and Ten thousand Rivers of Oyl had he required the first-born of my body for the sins of my soul had he required me to have kneeled and prayed until mine eyes had failed until my hands had been wearied until my tongue had been hoarse and until my heart had fainted one drop of mercy at the last gasp would have quit all this cost But what goodness is this that the Lord should require nothing of me but to lay down my weapons and to receive Christ offered Lo the Lord this day hath sent from heaven and offered Salvation unto you Sons of men the Lord Jesus is become a suitor to you and I am Christs spokesman to speak a good word for him O that we may have our errand from you O that there were such an heart in my people saith God to fear me and keep my Commandments always Shall the Lord and his Messengers thus woo and intreat and will any yet stand out against God and say I will none of Christ I will try it out to the last O then if the great God of Heaven and Earth shall come with Ten thousand thousand of Judgements and execute them upon that man if he shall bring a whole Legion of Devils and say Take him Devils and torment him Devils in Hell for ever because he would not have mercy when it was offered he shall not have mercy because he would not have salvation when it was tendred let him be condemned If God should thus deal with that man the Lord should be just in so doing and he justly miserable SECT. 2. The general Circumstances of Preparation on Mans part THe second general circumstance of the souls Preparation is on Mans part and herein is observable 1. That Corruption opposeth Grace 2. That God will remove this Corruption First The first is clear 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them and Acts 7. 51. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye Give us a man in the state of Nature and though all the Mininisters under heaven should preach mercy unto him though all the Angels in heaven should exhort and intreat him though all glory and happiness were laid before him and he were wished onely to believe and take it and it should be his for ever yet in his natural condition he could have no power to receive so blessed an offer howsoever this hinders not but he is to wait upon God in the means And then Secondly God may remove this Corruption which he himself cannot do Herein observe we The Author Time of this Grace First The Author is God I will take away their stony hearts saith God and give them an heart of flesh I will remove that sturdy heart which is in them and will give them a frameable teachable heart which shall ply and yield to whatsoever I shall teach them The taking away of the indisposition of the soul to any duty and the fitting framing and disposing of a soul to perform any Spiritual service is the alone work of God Quiet then thy soul and content thy heart thou mayst say I have an hard heart within and it will receive no good from without the Word prevails not the Sacraments have no power over me all the means and cost and charges that God hath bestowed upon me is lost and my heart is not yet humbled my corruptions are not yet weakned But in this be thou comforted though means cannot do it which God useth at his pleasure yet the Lord can do it there is nothing difficult to him that hath hardness it self at command Be then Exhorted you that have stony hearts to have recourse unto this great God of heaven Should a Physician set up a Bill That he would cure all that were troubled with the Stone in the Reins and that we should hear of many healed by him this would stir up all to repair to him that labored of this Disease Why the Lord this day hath set up a Bill That he will cure all stony hearts that will but come to him and all the children of God have found to the proof hereof to the comfort of their souls You wives therefore that have husbands with stony hearts and you parents that have children with stony hearts tell them You have heard this day of a Physician that will cure them and exhort them to repair unto him Secondly the Time of this Grace is either in regard of the Means Men 1. In regard of the Means and that is when the Sons of men have the Gospel shining in their faces if ever good work upon their hearts it will be then This should teach us how thankful we ought to be unto the Lord that enjoy
am afraid therefore to approach near unto the Lords presence Is it so hear what the Lord saith Come unto me ye rebellious people and I will heal your rebellions You that never prayed never came to hear all Rebels come unto me and then the people answer Behold we come unto thee for thou art our God This is great encouragement to a poor sinner he begins now to wonder and say Lord shall all my sins be pardoned shall all my oathes and abominations be forgiven I that slighted so many mercies and committed so many follies shall I be entertained Yes saith the Lord come unto me and thou shalt be forgiven come I command you come 3. The Lord doth not onely command a poor sinner to come in but when he is nice in this case saying There is mercy with God but not for me the Lord then followeth him still and sends another cord after him that if it be possible he may win him and woo him to receive mercy of him If command therefore prevail not he intreats and beseeches him to come and receive mercy and this me thinks should move the hardest heart under heaven We saith the Apostle are embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be reconciled unto God rather then you should go away from Christ even Mercy it self will come and kneel down before you and beseech you and intreat you for the Lord Jesus sake to pity your poor souls and to receive pardon for your sins A sinner is not able to comprehend this but he begins to be at a stand and at amazement What that the Lord should beseech him O that thou wouldst receive pardon for thy sins and be blessed for ever Good Lord saith the Soul is this possible that the great King of Heaven should come and beseech such a Traytor such a Rebel as I am to take pardon That a King on Earth should proclaim a pardon to some notorious Traytor this were much but that the King of Heaven should lay down his Crown and come creeping to me and beseech me on his knee as it were to take mercy this is a thing beyond all expectation What shall Heaven stoop to earth shall Majesty stoop to misery shall the great God of Heaven and Earth that might have condemned my soul and if I had perished and been damned might have took glory by my destruction Is it possible is it credible that this God should not onely entertain me when I come and command me for to come but intreat and beseech me to come and receive mercy from him O the depth of the incomprehensible love of God! Imagine you saw God the Father intreating you and God the Son beseeching you as he doth this day Come now and forsake your sins and take mercy which is prepared for you and shall be bestowed upon you Would not this make a soul think thus with it self What for a Rebel not onely to have mercy offered but to be intreated to receive mercy it were pity if I will not take it but I should go to Hell and be damned for ever The Lord he complains Why will ye dye as I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner Turn ye turn ye why will ye dye ye sinful Sons of men Mercy is offered you the Lord Jesus reacheth out his hand to you fain would he pluck the Drunkard out of the Alehouse and the Adulterer from his Whore O if you break this cord I know not what to say to you this is able to break a Mountain in pieces Shake O Mountains saith the Prophet Why because God hath redeemed Jacob The Redemption of Jacob was enough to break a Mountain let his Mercy break our hearts it is God that begs the blessing is our own 4. If yet all this prevail nothing at all the Lord will then wait and stay in long patience and suffering to see if any time a sinner will turn unto him Our Savior follows poor sinners from Alehouse to Alehouse and says I beseech you Drunkards take mercy and have your sins pardoned The Lord as we may say tires himself and wearieth himself with waiting one day after another and one week after another It may be saith Christ this week this Sabbath this Sermon a sinner will turn unto me what will it never be Are you not ashamed my friends that the Lord Jesus should thus wait your leisure and follow you from house to house and from place to place nay that Christ should every morning appear to your understanding and every night come to your bed-side saying Let this be the last night of sinning and the next day the first day of your repentance O when will you be humbled when will you receive mercy that it may go well with you and with yours for ever If none of the other will move you yet for shame let this cord draw you to the Lord Hear hear his doleful pangs O Jerusalem Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean O when will it once be A woman that is in travel O how she expects and longs for her delivery I now a throb comes and then she cryes anon comes a second throb and then she cryes again O when comes deliverance Thus God the Father takes on him the person of a travelling woman he travels and travels until he bring forth a son until some soul be converted and brought home unto him O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean when will it once be I have waited one ten twenty thirty forty years long have I waited on this generation when will it once be The Lord thus travels in patience looking when we will receive mercy will never our proud hearts be humbled will never our stubborn hearts be softned will never our prophane hearts be sanctified when will it once be Christ hath waited this day this week this moneth this quarter this year these ten twenty thirty forty years on us You old sinners that are gray-headed in your wickedness how long hath the Lord waited on you O for shame let him wait no longer but turn turn ye unto him that ye may receive mercy from him Thirdly if bonds of love move not the Lord hath iron cords that will pluck in pieces to wit the cords of Conscience which thus disputes He that being often reproved doth still harden his heart shall perish everlastingly But thou being often reproved dost still harden thy heart therefore thou shalt perish everlastingly In this Syllogism are contained the Monition Accusation Condemnation of Conscience In the first Proposition Conscience gives the sinner a Monition to come from sin upon pain of the heaviest Judgement that can be inflicted It is the Lord that sends the Conscience on this errand Go to such a man and tell him You have blasphemed Gods Name and you have spoken against Gods Saints and you have broken Gods Sabbaths and you have contemned
through his heart and he is breathing out his sorrow as though he were going down to hell and he saith If there be any mercy any love any fellowship of the Spirit have mercy upon me a poor creature that am under the burthen of the Almighty O pray and pity these wounds and vexations of Spirit which no man findes nor feels but he that hath been thus wounded It is a sign of a soul wholly devoted to destruction that hath a desperate disdain against poor wounded creatures Is it possible there should harbor such a Spirit in any man if the Devil himself were incarnate I cannot conceive what he could do worse 2. If ever thou wouldst be comforted and receive mercy from God labor never to be quiet till thou dost bring thy heart to a right pitch of sorrow thou hast a little slight sorrow but Oh! labor to have thy heart truly touched that at last it may break in regard of thy many distempers remember the longer seed-time the greater harvest Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted but wo to you that are at ease in Zion Thou hadst better now be wounded then everlastingly tormented and therefore if thou desirest to see Gods face with comfort if thou wouldst hear Christ say Come thou poor heavy-hearted sinner I will ease thee Labor to lay load on thy heart with sorrow for thy sin O what a comfort shall a poor broken heart finde in that day SECT. 5. The extent of this Sorrow HItherto of Contrition the next work is Humiliation which differs from the other not in substance but circumstance For Humiliation as I take it is onely the extent of Sorrow for Sin of which we have spoken and it contains these two Duties 1. Submission 2. Contentedness to be at the Lords disposal The first part of Humiliation is Submission which is wrought thus The sinner having now had a Sight of his Sins and a Sorrow in some measure for Sin he seeks far and wide improves all means and takes up all Duties that if it were possible he might heal his wounded soul Thus seeking and seeking but finding no succor in what he hath or doth he is forced at last in his despairing condition to make tryal of the Lord It is true for the present he apprehends God to be just and to be incensed against him he hath no experience of Gods favor for the while no certainty how he shall speed if he go to the Lord yet because he sees he cannot be worse then he is and that none can help him but God if it would please him therefore he falls at the footstool of Mercy and he lies grovelling at the gate of Grace and submits himself to the Lord to do with him as pleaseth himself or as it seemeth good in his eyes This was the Ninevites case when Jonah had denounced that heavy Judgement and as it were thrown wilde fire about the streets saying Within forty days Niniveh shall be destroyed See what they resolved upon They fasted and prayed and put on sackcloth and ashes who can tell said they but God may turn and repent him of his fierce wrath that we perish not as if they had said We know not what God will do but this we know that we cannot oppose his Judgements nor succor our selves Thus it is with a sinner when he seeth hell fire to flash in his face and that he cannot succor himself then he saith This I know that all the means in the world cannot save me yet who can tell but the Lord may have mercy on me and cure his tdistressed Conscience and heal all these wounds that sin hath made in my soul This is the lively picture of the soul in this case Or for a further light this Subjection discovers it self in four particulars First he seeth and confesseth that the Lord for ought he knows will proceed in Justice against him and execute upon him those Plagues that God hath threatned and his Sins have deserved he seeth that Justice is not yet satisfied and those reckonings between God and him are not yet made up and therefore he cannot apprehend but that God will take vengeance on him What else when he hath done all he can he is unprofitable still Justice remains unsatisfied and saith Thou hast sinned and I am wronged and therefore thou shalt dye Secondly he conceives that what God will do that he will do and he cannot avoid it if the Lord will come and require the glory of his Justice against him there is no way to avoid it nor to bear it and this crusheth the heart and makes the soul to be beyond all shifts and evasions whereby it may seem to avoid the dint of the Lords blow Thirdly he casts away his weapons and falls down before the Lord and resigns himself into the soveraign power and command of God Thus David when the Lord cast him out of his Kingdom he said to Zadock Carry back the Ark of God into the City if I shall finde favor in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me back again and shew me both it and his Habitation But if he thus say to me I have no delight in thee behold here I am let him do with me as seemeth good in his eyes This is the frame of a poor soul when a poor sinner will stand upon his priviledges the Lord saith Bear my Justice and defend thy self by all thou hast or canst do and the soul answereth I am thy Servant Lord do what is good in thine eyes I cannot succor my self Fourthly the soul freely acknowledgeth That it is in Gods power to do with him and dispose of him as he will and therefore he lies and licks the dust and cryes Mercy mercy Lord he thinks not to purchase Mercy at the Lords hands but onely saith It is in Gods good pleasure to do with him as he will onely he looks for favor and cryes Mercy Lord mercy to this poor distressed soul of mine O replies the Lord dost thou need mercy Cannot thy Hearing and Praying and Fasting carry thee to heaven without hazard Gird up now thy loyns and make thy ferventest Prayers and let them meet my Justice and see if they can bear my Wrath or purchase any Mercy No no saith the sinner I know it by lamentable experience that all my prayers and performances will never procure peace to my soul nor give my satisfaction to thy Justice I onely pray for Mercy and I desire onely to hear some News of Mercy to relieve this miserable wretched soul of mine it is onely Mercy that must help me O Mercy if it be possible to this poor distressed soul of mine Me thinks the picture of those poor famished Lepers may â—itly resemble this poor sinner when the Famine was great in Samaria There were four leprous men sate in the gate of the City and they said Why sit we here until we dye if we enter into
mean time I dye and starve It falls out in this case with a broken-hearted sinner as with a prodigal childe The Prodigal he hath spent his means and abused his Father and now is there a Famine in the Land and poverty is befallen him he knows indeed there is meat and cloaths enough in his Fathers House but alas what can he expect thence but his Fathers heavy displeasure if a man should say Go to your Father he will give you a portion again would he think you believe this No would he say it is my Father I have offended and will he now receive me yet should a man come and tell him that he heard his Father say so and then shew him a Certificate under his Fathers hand that it was so this would sure draw him into some hope that his Father meant well towards him So it is with a sinner when he is apprehensive of all his rebellions if a man should tell such a soul Go to God and he will give you abundance of mercy and compassion the soul cannot believe it but thinks What I mercy no no Blessed are they that walk humbly before God and conform their lives to his word let them take it but for me it is mercy I have opposed it is grace I have rejected no mercy no grace for me But now if God send a Messenger from Heaven or if it come under the hand of his Spirit that he will accept of him and pass by all his sins this makes the soul grow into some hopes and upon this ground it goes unto the Lord But here observe me that none either in heaven or in earth but onely Gods Spirit can make this Certificate when it is night all the candles in the world cannot take away the darkness so all the means of grace and salvation all the candle-light of the Ministry they are all good helps but the darkness of the night will not be gone before the Sun of Righteousness arise in our hearts Hence it is that it proves so difficult a matter to comfort a distressed soul I shall one day perish saith David I shall one day go down to hell saith the soul Let all the Ministers under heaven cry Comfort ye comfort ye still he replyes I mercy and I comfort will the Lord pardon me It is mercy I have despised and trampled under my feet and I mercy no no Thus we Ministers observe by experience Some that in their own apprehensions are gone to the bottom of hell we make known to them Reasons and Arguments and Promises but nothing takes place what 's the Reason O none but Gods Spirit can do it he must either come from Heaven and say Comfort ye comfort ye my people or it will never prevail let me speak therefore to you that are Ministers you do well to labor to give comfort to a poor fainting soul but always say Comfort Lord O Lord say unto this poor soul that thou art his salvation SECT. 3. Hope in Christ THe minde being thus illightned the Lord calls on the affections Come desire Come love but the first voice is to Hope now Hope is a faculty of the soul that looks out for mercy and waits for the same So the Apostle Phil. 1. 20. According to my earnest expectation It is a similitude taken from a man that looks after another and lifts up himself as high as he may to see if any be coming after him so here the soul stands as it were a tip toe expecting when the Lord comes he hath heard the Lord say Mercy is coming towards thee mercy is provided for thee now this affection is set out to meet mercy afar off it is the looking out of the soul O when will it be Lord Thou sayest mercy is prepared thou sayest mercy is approaching the soul standeth a tip-toe O when will it come Lord here is the voyce of Hope This sinful soul of mine it may through Gods mercy be sanctified this troubled perplexed soul of mine it may through Gods mercy be pacified this evil and corruption which harbors in me and hath taken possession of me it may through Gods mercy be removed and when will it be Lord The maner how Gods Spirit works this is discerned in three particulars 1. The Lord doth sweetly stay the heart and fully perswade the soul that a mans sins are pardonable and that all his sins may be pardoned and that all the good things he wanteth they may be bestowed this is a great sustainer of the soul when a poor sinner seeth his sins in their number nature when he seeth no rest in the creature nor in himself though all means all help all men all Angels should joyn together yet they cannot pardon one sin of his then the Lord lifteth up his voyce and saith from Heaven Thy sins are pardonable in the Lord Jesus Christ 2. The Lord doth sweetly perswade the soul that all his sins shall be pardoned the Lord makes this appear and perswades his heart that he intendeth mercy that Christ hath procured pardon for the soul of a broken-hearted sinner in special and that he cannot but come unto it by this means Hope comes to be assured and certainly perswaded to look out knowing the Promise shall be at the last accomplished the former onely sustained the heart and provoked it to look for mercy but this comforts the soul that undoubtedly it shall have mercy The Lord Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost now saith the broken and humble sinner I am lost Did Christ come to save sinners Christ must fail of his end or I of my comfort God saith Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden I am weary and unless the Lord intend good unto me why should he invite me and bid me come surely he means to shew me mercy nay he promiseth to relieve me when I come therefore he will do good unto me 3. The Lord lets in some relish and taste of the sweetness of his love some scent and savor of it so that the soul is deeply affected with it and carryed mightily unto it that it cannot be severed it is the letting in the riches of his love that turneth the expectation of the soul another way yea it turneth the whole stream of the soul thitherward This Reproves 1. Those that cast off all Hope 2. Those that without ground will do nothing but Hope 1. If the Lord stir up the heart of his to hope for his Mercy then take heed of that fearful sin of Despair Despair we must in our selves and that is good but this Despair we speak of is hainous in the eyes of God and hurtful to thee 1. Injurious to God thou goest to the deep dungeon of thy Corruption and there thou sayest These sins can never be pardoned I am still proud and more stubborn this distress God seeth not God succors not his hand cannot reach his Mercy cannot save Now mark
thou now restore the Kingdom of Israel to whom our Savior answered It is not for you to know the times and seasons as who should say Hands off it is for you to wait and to expect mercy it is not for you to know If you begin to wrangle and say How long Lord When Lord And why not now Lord Why not I Lord now check thy own heart and say It is not for me to know it is for me to be humble abased and to wait for mercy SECT. 4. A desire after Christ VVHen the soul is humbled and the eye opened then he begins thus to reason O happy I that see mercy but miserable I if I come to see this and never have a share in it O why not I Lord why not my sins pardoned and why not my eorruptions subdued my soul now thirsteth after thee as a thirsty Land my affections now hunger after righteousness both infused and imputed Now this desire is begotten thus When the soul is come so far that after a through conviction of sin and sound humiliation under Gods mighty hand it hath a timely and seasonable revelation of the glorious mysteries of Christ of his excellencies invitations truth tender-heartedness c. of the heavenly splendor and riches of the pearl of great price then doth the soul conceive by the help of the Holy Ghost this desire and vehement longing And least any couzen themselves by any misconceits about it as the notorious sinner the meer civil man and the formal Professor it is then known to be saving 1. When it is joyned with an hearty willingness and unfeigned resolution to sell all to part with all sin to bid adieu for ever to our darling-delight it is not an effect of self-love not an ordinary wish of natural appetite like Balaams Numb. 23. 10. of those who desire to be happy but are unwilling to be holy who would gladly be saved but are loth to be sanctified no if thou desirest earnestly thou wilt work accordingly for as the desire is so will the endeavor be 2. When it is earnest eager vehement extreamly thirsting after Christ as the parched earth for refreshing showers or the hunted Hart for the Water-brooks We read of a Scotish Penitent who a little before his confession freely confessed his fault to the shame as he said of himself and to the shame of the Devil but to the glory of God he acknowledged it to be so heynous and horrible that had he a thousand lives and could he dye Ten thousand deaths he could not make satisfaction Notwithstanding said he Lord thou hast left me this comfort in thy word that thou hast said Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will refresh you Lord I am weary Lord I am heavy laden with my sins which are innumerable I am ready to sink Lord even into hell unless thou in thy mercy put to thine hand and deliver me Lord thou hast promised by thine own word out of thy own mouth that thou wilt refresh the weary soul And with that he thrust out one of his hands and reaching as high as he could towards Heaven with a louder voyce and a streined he cryed I challenge thee Lord by that word and by that promise which thou hast made that thou perform and make it good to me that call for ease and mercy at thy hands c. Proportionably when heavy-heartedness for sin hath so dryed up the bones and the angry countenance of God so parched the heart that the poor soul begins now to gasp for grace as the thirsty Land for drops of rain then the poor sinner though dust and ashes with an holy humility thus speaks unto Christ O merciful Lord God Thou art Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end Thou sayest it is done of things that are yet to come so faithful and true are thy Decrees and Promises That thou hast promised by thine own word out of thy own mouth that unto him that is a thirst thou wilt give him of the fountain of the water of life freely O Lord I thirst I faint I languish I long for one drop of mercy As the Hart panteth for the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God and after the yearning bowels of thy wonted compassions Had I now in possession the glory the wealth and pleasures of the whole world nay had I Ten thousand lives joyfully would I lay them all down and part with them to have this poor trembling soul of mine received into the bleeding arms of my blessed Redeemer O Lord my spirit within me is melted into tears of blood my heart is shivered into pieces out of the very place of Dragons and shadow of death do I lift up my thoughts heavy and sad before thee the remembrance of my former vanities and pollutions is a very vomit to my soul and it is sorely wounded with the grievous representation thereof The very flames of Hell Lord the fury of thy just wrath the scorchings of my own conscience have so wasted and parched mine heart that my thirst is insatiable my bowels are hot within me my desire after Jesus Christ pardon and grace is greedy as the grave the coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame And Lord in thy blessed Book thou callest and cryest Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters In that great day of the feast thou stoodest and cryed'st with thine own mouth If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink and these are thine own words Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled I challenge thee Lord in this my extreamest thirst after thine own blessed self and spiritual life in thee by that Word and by that Promise which thou hast made that thou perform and make it good to me that lie grovelling in the dust and trembling at thy feet Oh! open now that promised well of life for I must drink or else I dye The means to obtain this desire are these three 1. Be acquainted throughly with thine own necessities and wants with that nothingness and emptiness that is in thy self a groundless presumption makes a man careless see into thine own necessities confess the want of this desire after the Lord Jesus Christ 2. Labor to spread forth the excellency of all the beauty and surpassing glory that is in the Promises of God Couldst thou but view them in their proper colours they would even ravish thee and quicken thy desires 3. After all this know it is not in thy power to bring thy heart to desire Christ thou canst not hammer out a desire upon thine own Anvil dig thy own pit and hew thy own rock as long as thou wilt nay let all the Angels in Heaven and all the Ministers on Earth provoke thee yet if the hand of the Lord be wanting thou shalt not lift up thine heart nor