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
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
no Wouldest thou know whether ever thou wert a beleever examine whether ever thou wert a penitent or not This is Gods ordinary way thence he complaines of his people that they would not repent that they might beleeve in him Dost thou find God in another manner of working in thy soule blesse God for it and if thy title be good to heaven which will be knowne by thy walking with God beleeve me God hath used thee kindly heaven hath cost thee cheaper then it costs many a poore soule and walke humbly before God because he hath not humbled thee under his mighty hand as he hath done many another poore creatures And though I would not condemne those that plead their title to heaven this way for feare I should condemne the generation of the righteous yet beleeve me I should suspect it in my owne cause They that goe out weeping and carry precious seed shall returne rejoycing and bring their sheaves with them 2. Examine thy selfe What other wildernesses thou meetest with Afflictions temptations c. I would not give this as an infallible marke yet God sayes whom he loves he chasteneth and scourgeth every child whom he receiveth and thence the Father drew out his Conclusion Unicum Deus habuit filium sine peccato nullum sine flagello God had one Sonne without sinne but none without a rod. But I know even the wicked sometimes begin their hell upon the earth and though I would suspect my selfe if I met with no afflictions yet I would not be glad to have a life full of crosses and afflictions my best evidence for heaven I rather named this for a preface to the next note 3. Examine how thou carriest thy selfe in the wildernesse there is a different carriage betwixt the child of God and the child of the Devill in afflictions the one sinkes into the grave with despaire the other lifts up his head to Sion with hope the one is prest to death under crosses the other above all crosses Cain cries my punishment is too heavy for me to beare Job cries though he should kill me yet I will trust in him The Reprobate cryes Who is the Lord that I should wait for him The Saint sayes I will patiently wait for the Lords Salvation the wicked man dyes the Saint leanes the eyes of the sinners faile that day but the Saints look up to Sion from whence comes their helpe that day 4. Examine How thou hast come out of thy wildernesse of thine owne strength or leaning Canst thou say That God knew thee in the wildernesse in the land of great drought Hos 13.5 If thou thinkest thou camest out alone thou art there stil What gave thee comfort in the depths of sorrow what thy merry company did thy duties do it If any thing did it but thy Christ I feare thou art still in the Wildernesse when thou didst mourne as one that mourneth for his onely begotten sonne dist thou look upon him whom thou hadst pierced there is nothing but the blood of Christ can give a cordiall to a fainting soule nothing but the hand-kerchiefe of free grace that can wipe thine eyes nothing but the blotting out of the hand-writing which was written in Gods Booke and thy owne conscience against thee that can make thy heart leave trembling and thy knees leave beating together for terror Thou canst not come out alone if ever thou camest out it was leaning 5. Examine thy selfe How thou hast carried thy selfe since thou camest out How hast thou beene since thou wert humbled and lost in the wildernesse of sorrow What effects hath the wildernesse of sorrow wrought upon thee Hath thy sorrow beene like the sorrow of Achan that thou hast been onely sorry because thou hast been under an Attachment of wrath Or like Ahab renting his cloathes putting on his sack-cloth and going softly 2 Chron. 22. Or like Pharoah saying I have sinned Exod. Or like Balaam saying I have sinued I will returne back againe when he might have had more thanks for his labour and never have come there he had checks enough Art thou worse when thou commest out of the wildernesse of affliction that wee may brand thee with Ahaz his Brand This was that King Ahaz Or doest thou come out of thy Afflictions leaning with thy weak faith strengthened and thy strong faith confirmed Hast thou lost no graines but got in the fire Is thy gold as good weight now as before it is a good signe it is good then But I hasten to the next Use which may be to informe us First The sad condition that all unbeleevers are in Secondly The joyfull condition that all the Children of God are in Thirdly The great love of God that he would send Christ to seeke us up in the wildernesse and give his hand to poore creatures to lead them out And lastly If in every wildernesse wee must leane upon the Lord Jesus Christ It may informe us what need wee have at all times to walke close with the Lord Christ First here see the sad condition that all men and women by nature are in that have not the Lord Jesus Christ It consists in two things First They are in a wildernesse Sinne is a wildernesse Now which of you friends but would thinke himselfe as good as a dead man if he were in the midst of an Arabian desert that he could not see any possibilitie of getting out nor any comfort he could enjoy there terror on every side comfort on no side the Lyons and beasts of prey of every hand ready to devour him and it is well if he can keepe his flesh for food for himselfe for he can get no provision for his body nothing except he would eate the barke of trees or the parched grasse What man would not tremble to thinke of one that should be condemned to such an axile Doe not your hearts pittie as oft as you think of those poore men that were left but halfe a yeare in Greenland And yet O Lord How few pittie themselves O poore creatures Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur the Story is thy owne apply it therefore You that are in your sinnes are all in a sad wildernesse the judgements of God like the beasts of prey are ready to swallow you up on every hand 't is a miracle of mercy you are not in hell there is but a thread betwixt you and death the Sword of Gods wrath hangs over your head while you are at your Drunken Banquets of sinne Oh! what comfort what joy can can you have in the wildernesse friends that when you lye downe at night you know not but you may wake in the morning past Repentance even with Hell flames about you as the Lord lives there is but a haires breadth betwixt you and Hell 2. Consider That you have no one to helpe you out of any wildernesse if Christ be not yours nothing is yours what will you doe in a stormy day of Affliction when you shall
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
not why we may not say That a man may repent without saving grace Bishop Davenant sayes A man by exciting the grace of God may Peccata propria considerare ad sensum corundem expavescere liberationem ab hoc metu exoptare tremble for his sinnes and mourne for them and desire deliverance out of them and if this be not Repentance I know not what is not taking Repentance for the whole worke of conversion as sometimes it is taken in Scripture but taking Repentance for a wearinesse of sinne and sorrow for it But those of our Brethren here that are so afraid of Babylon that they will run quite beyond Jerusalem so afraid of being Arminians or Papists to ascribe any desert to duties or tye that God hath to concurre with our duties that they are resolved they will not be sober Protestants So afraid of being Heterodox that to avoid it they will not be Orthodox tell us that this is a legall not a saving Repentance It sounds ill to distinguish between a legall and saving Repentance I will digresse a little to rend this Fig-leafe being all they have to cover the nakednesse of their opinion I would faine understand that tearme saving Repentance in what sence they take it the Scripture warrants no such distinction 1. If they meane by saving Repentance such a repentance as merits Salvation or such a Repentance as God is tyed necessarily to concurre with with his saving grace I say no Repentance can be saving repentance No Repentance saith Learned Davenant can so dispose the heart Ut ex merito câ—ngrui teneatur Deus gratiam cuiquam infundere 2. If they meane by saving Repentance such a repentance as of it selfe without any more adoe shall be sufficient to Salvation I say againe no Repentance can be called a saving Repentance For Without Faith it is impossible to please God 3. If they meane by saving Repentance a repentance that conduceth to Salvation I say this kind of Repentance let them call it legall or what they please is a saving Repentance 4. If they meane by saving Repentance such a repentance as is wrought ordinarily in such as shall be saved I say in that sense this Repentance is a saving Repentance Now Whether it ought not to be preacht as Well from law as Gospell-motives is a question lyes not in my way to determine only I here my Saviour though he were Gospel it self preaching it from a Law-motive Luk. 13.2 Except yee repent yee shall all likewise perish Let the unprejudiced Reader judge if damnation be not there preached as a terrible motive to Repentance Surely I then may learne to preach from the Best of Preachers and preach Repent or you will goe to Hell Repent or you will be damn'd as well as Repent because God hath loved you Yea and John too preached repentance as well because The axe was laâ—d to the root of the tree and whatsoever tree brought not forth good fruit should be hewn down and cast into the fire as because The Kingdom of Heaven was at hand I dare not learne contrary to Christ and the Baptists Coppy I will preach Mercy and Judgment The Law and the Gospell go well together let me not be accursed for separating what God hath joyned But Lastly I conceive Wee cannot call any Râ—pentance saving Repentance til the worke of conversion be wrought fully in our souls Nay I make a question whether any man without the grace of Assurance can properly call his Repentance saving Repentance till he comes in Heaven And for my owne part I am full in the Negative But I have digressed too farre to convince some who I feare are not so willing to suffer the word of conviction as I to speake it We left the Spouse in the second wildernesse The wildernesse of sorrow 't is time we now return to her and comfort her and shew you how she comes out of that leaning upon her Beloved Here now the beloved Soule is mourning like a Turtle and crying O what shall I doe to be saved I am lost oh how shall I finde the way out of this wildernesse O my sins pull me back I cannot set a step forward Sin trips up my heeles The Devill tels me I am his and my sins beare witnesse to his words Now she that is not the Spouse of Christ sinkes in these mighty wateres she sinkes to hell in dispaire is quite lost if once she comes into them But he that said not one of those whom his father had given him should perish seeing the poore soule like Peter Mat. 14.30 that thought to have trode upon those waters sinking in them and crying Lord save me or else I perish when he sees such a poore soules ship in which he is though he seemes to sleepe tost in these bitter waves when the tempest ariseth and hearing the soule in this Agony crying out Master save me or else I perish now he begins to arise and stretch out his shoulder for the soule to leane upon speakes and rebukes the winds and calmes the busie tempests when the Whale of sorrow hath sallowed up these Jonahs â—nd they are in the bottome of the Sea in the Whales belly they cry their God heares and causeth the Whale to vomit them out on the dry land Me thinks that voice of Jonah is the voice of every penitent soule Jonah 2. The soule cries by reason of her affliction unto the Lord and the Lord heares her out of the belly of hell she cryes and he heares her voice for he hath cast her into this deep into the midst of the Seas and the flouds compasse her about and all the billowes and the waves past over her Then the soule saith I am cast out of the Lords sight yet I will looke againe towards his holy Temple The waters compasse her about even to the soule the depths closed round about her the weeds were wrapt about her head she went downe to the bottome of the mountaines the earth with her barres was about her yet her Lord her God brings up her life from corruption when her soule faints within her she remembers the Lord and her prayers come unto him even into his holy place And when the soule is in this wildernesse in the deeps of sorrow then her Beloved doth throw her his shoulder of supporting grace to lean upon that she saith as David Psal 94.17 18. Unlesse the Lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence when I said my foot slippeth thy mercy Lord held me up When the soule cryes I am drowned Then the Lords mercy holds her up No saith God thou art not drowned here is a cord of mercy for thee to lay hold upon and I will draw thee out by it Here is my hand be still O ye waves this soule is mine When the soule is burthened with sins laden with the sense of them and in the sad apprehension of them cryes out my burthen is too great for me
cry unto God and he shall say unto you as he once said to the roaring Isralites Jud. 10.14 Goe and cry unto the gods which you have chosen let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation Cry unto your Gold now unto your Lusts now trust your Riches now make you a golden Calfe See if it will now save you O think You that live in sinne and love and delight in sinne what shall I doe in a sad day of sicknesse when the feare of the grave shall surround me and the terrors of Hell shall make me afraid What shall I leane upon when these comforts shall be no comforts when I shal l say to all creature-enjoyments miserable comforters are you all Where shall I warme me when these flashes will be out when the sparkes of pleasure and profit shall be choakt and kill'd with the dust and ashes of my grave Heare yee this all yee That kinâ—le a fire that compasse your selves about with sparkes walke in the light of your fire and in the sparkes that you have kindled This shall ye have at the Lords hand you shall lye downe in sorrow Your pleasurable sinnes are but as sparks Sirs What will you doe when your sparkes are out They are as we say of a short flame but a Widdowes joy for a moment Take heed that when your sparks are out you blow not your nailes in hell Take heed that your sparkes doe not kindle everlasting burnings for you What will you doe in a wildernesse of Affliction how will you come out what will you come out What will yee leane upon Secondly This may serve to informe us of the happy condition of Gods children and that è contrario in a just position to the others misery O lift up your heads yee righteous and be glad yee upright in heart Your happinesse consists in these two things First You are out of the wildernesse out of the danger of Hell and those that can spell in their thoughts but that word hell will know it to be a mercy to be out of the feare of it You are out of the wildernesse O blesse that God that hath helpt you out 't is a great happinesse to be delivered of feares beleeve me Did the wicked men seriously thinke what a weight of wrath they lye under what a cloud of bloud hangs over their heads they would pray till all their knees were melted though they were all steele to be delivered from it Hold up your hands that you have escaped a drowning that you feare not the wild beasts that belong to the wildernesse Gods dreadfull judgements you dare meet the Lyon and the Beare and they dare not set the print of their teeth upon you A godly man is like a man under protection he owes much but the Bayliffe dares not meddle with him Christ hath undertaken the debt for him he is under the protection of the Sonne of God he can looke a Judgement in the face and never run for it The wicked man on the contrary is like one that hangs upon every bush as we say owes more than he is worth he dares scarse looke out of the doores whiles the Bayliffes are about when the judgements of God are about the wicked wretch dares not looke out he sinks into his grave in the thoughts of it This Plague this Feaver this Ague may be a Bayliffe to arrest me that God hath sent to carry me bound hand and foot and throwne into Hell where is weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth And then thinks with himselfe O that they did so Where is my surety if it should be so who would be bound for the payment of the Debt due for my sinnes and to be paid at Gods Judgement Seat The godly man he likewise saith This Plague this Feaver this Sicknesse may arrest me But suppose they should the Son of God is bound for my Debt My Judge surely will not demand better Surety then his owne Sonne I blesse God I am out of the wildernesse O happy man Here 's a portion of thy happinesse but here is not all 2. Consider That if thou shouldest fall into the corner of another wildernesse Thou hast one to leane upon even in every wildernesse If thou shouldst have a rod upon thy backe thou hast a staffe to comfort thee Thou hast one to lead thee out whensoever thou art in an arme that thou mayest trust to Happy is he that hath a friend in the Court such is thy friend A friend in adversity is better than a brother saith Solomon thou hast a friend in adversity and he is thy brother Thy brother Christ is thy friend that will lead thee through and out of every wildernesse Is the childe happy that in want hath a father to run unto the wife happy that hath a husband in time of sicknesse to comfort her The servant happy that hath a Master in adversity to pitty him then I dare pronounce thee in all times happy Thy husband loves thee thy father sends his son to lead thee thy husband is alwayes by to comfort thee and lead thee by his hand God hath said Esay 58.11 That he will guide thee continually and satisfie thy soule in drought and make fat thy bones Thou hast alwayes a friend at need a brother in adversity Thirdly Is it so that the Spouse comes out of the wildernesse leaning upon her Beloved This may then shew us the infinite love of God to the creature that he would be pleased to looke us up in the wildernesse and let us leane upon him Christ was led into the wildernes because thou wert there he had a bad journey to fetch thee come Oh! what should what could besides his infinite free-grace make his bowels of mercy so yerne towards the creature as to look it up in the wildernesse to cloath it naked to wash it polluted to save it damned Christ the shepheard had lost his stray sheep and goes after that which was lost in the wildernesse untill he findeth it then he layeth it on his shoulders and bringeth it home O blessed be the name of the Lord for his free grace and mercy The shepheard followed the sheep whiles the sheep regarded not the shepheard we were in a wildernesse he came to find us out O! was not this infinite love astonishing mercy Lastly Is it so that we must come out of every wildernesse leaning upon our Beloved O then let this informe us what need we have to walk close with the Lord Jesus Christ what need we have to be fearfull of offending and carefull to please him It is he that must help us in every need he that must lead us in every wildernesse If he forsakes us we are undone Have we but one friend let us keep him then if we anger him we lose our best friend Hath the shiftlesse child need to keep the love of the Father the Babe need to keep in the armes of the Nurse the wife need to
doore he will come into him and sup with him and he shall sup with him O let me intreat you to pittie the yerning of your Saviours bowels toward you pittie the groaning of his tender heart for you pittie your selves if not your Christ and O come come out of the wildernesse of sinne into this wildernesse of sorrow that of a drunken profane creature thou mayest be a mourning pious soule of a proud carelesse sinner become a poore humbled paenitent that the world may admire Saul amongst the Prophets and Paul amongst the Apostles and thee amongst the Saints of Christ and say of thee who art now a profane Swearer and Blasephemer Behold he Prayeth Of thee that wert a filthy Wanton Behold he Mournes Of thee that wert a filthy Drunkard and Glutton Behold he fasts And may in time say of thee Who is this that commeth up from the wildernesse leaning upon her Beloved But Secondly Is there any before the Lord this day that is in any other wildernesse of Sorrow Affliction Temption Desertion c O leane Come out of your wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved First Is there any one here to whom the Lord hath shewne their owne sad condition too and yet hath not revealed the fulnesse of his free grace to them O leane upon the Lord Jesus Christ and leaning come out of thy wildernesse Beleeve and thou shalt be saved But here 's the hard taske to perswade such a soule to beleeve Consider but these few things 1 That now thou art in a capacitie of beleeving Povertie of spirit is the nearest capacitie of faith Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousnesse Now thou art weary Christ hath promised to ease thee now thou art heavy laden he hath promised to help thee Secondly Consider that thou hast ground enough to build thy faith upon Christs power and love are two Pillars able to hold up the weakest faith First Beleeve leane upon Christ for he is able to pardon thy sinnes thou shouldest blaspheme in thy thoughts if thou shouldest not thinke this Can infinite mercy be fadomed thinkest thou Can any one plead his underservings against free grace Were thy burthen farre heavier then it is cast it upon Christ for he is able to beare it Art thou thick darknesse he is infinite light Art thou all sinne he is all pardon Art thou altogether lovely why Christ is altogether lovely Secondly Beleeve because Christ is as much love as he is power he is not only able but he is willing to pardon thee free grace thirsts after thee Nay beleeve me thou canst give Christ no greater satisfaction then to receive his mercies Christ is with child of free grace to speake it with reverence and he desires nothing more then to be delivered in thine heart He is a Sea of mercy and he would rejoyce to empty himselfe by drops into his peoples hearts But why did I say empty Can the Sun lose any light by communicating his light to others When the creature speaks of God he must speake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would fill thee and yet continue full himselfe He is satisfied when thou art full He shall see of the travell of his soule and shall be satisfied Thou art not so willing to receive as he is to bestow free grace O then lean upon him Thirdly Consider that canst not dishonour thy God more then when thou art humbled by him for thy sins and cast downe in thine owne thoughts and cal'd to beleeve in his mercies and secured upon his word if thou wilt but trust him If thou wilt not then beleeve in him Surely then thou art of a little faith if not an Infidell Thou couldst not beleeve when thou wert an impaenitent hard-hearted creature Why because thou knewest no need thou hadst of faith Neither couldst thou hear Christs invitation because thou wert not weary and heavie loaden but now that the Lord hath humbled thee now the promises belong unto thee what darest thou not take Christs word Suppose a Traytour were condemned to dye and the King should send a Pardon by the hand of hâ—s owne Son to this forlorne wretch and he should refuse it saying The King cannot pardon me what hath he to do to send me a Pardon I know he doth but mock me he meanes nothing lesse c. Were not this a peice of unworthinesse by which he should dishonour his Prince as much as with his Treason before O take heed of provoking the Lord still it is enough that thou hast provoked him once yet he will pardon thee And on the contrary thou canst not honour Christ more then in beleeving for thou acknowledgest the unfadomable depth of his free love and mercy Thou proclamest God to be a God gracious long-suffering a God that may be trusted by the creature which hath deserved nothing at his hand that he is so pure an Essence of love that he will create himself a cause of love where is none And though he coould find nothing in thee to pardon thee for thy sake yet he would pardon thee for his owne Name sake So likewise you that are in any wildernesse or shall be of Affliction Desertion Temptation c. O leane leane T is that which God requires at your hand 't is that which will ease you when you are weary help you when you are heavie laden Beleeving will ease you when complaining will not 't is that which honours God and honours Christ It gives him the glory of his Power and Providence Dominion and free Grace and mercy Christ beleeve me will take it kindly at your hands that you will try him in need and trust him even in despaire though he kills you yet you will trust in him Those that venture upon Death with such a faith cannot dye Those that have such a Spirit must live eternally The way to live is to dye beleeving and the way to stand is to leane falling O come all yee that love the Lord trust in his mercies I have done only I conclude with my Text. O you that are falling as you think into the pit of despaire that are lost in the wildernesse of sorrow Beleeve beleeve and you shall be saved Come out trusting upon God resting upon the fulnesse of his mercy and the freenesse of his grace come out come out leaning upon your Beloved O you that are in a wildernesse of afflictions lean upon Gods staffe let his rod comfort you beleeve that he smileth while he smiteth thee beleeve in affliction you shall have no more then you are able to beare he will let his grace be sufficient for you and all shall worke for your good And come you out of your wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved O you that are in the wildernesse of temptation in the snare of the Devill beleeve and leane your Christ was tempted and he knowes how to succour those that are tempted leane upon him to beare you up in and to give you an happy issue out of your temptations in which you are in for the triall of your faith and come you out likewise leaning upon your Beloved You that are in the wildernes of Desertion cry My God though you be forsaken keep your faith retaine your Interest O leane lose not your hold you have upon the Almighty leane in and come out of this your wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved Finally All you that are in the wildernesse of sin the worst wildernesse of all Let me conclude with you And once more as the Embassadour of Jesus Christ in my Masters name as if he himselfe were here I beseech you by the many and tender mercies of him whose bowels yerne towards you by his precious bloud which was powred out upon the Crosse for sinners and who knowes whether not for you as well as others as you tender the life happines of your own souls the joy of your faithfull Pastors nay which is most of all as you tender the honour of God come out O come out of your sad wildernesse be humbled and mourne sit downe in dust and ashes that you may rise up adorned with grace and be crowned with glory that you may leane upon your Beloved and O that my first or last words might prevaile with some great sinner this day for whom we might all rejoyce concerning whom we might all say who is this that comes out of the wildernesse leaning upon her beloved FINIS