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
step one step towards Heaven then go to him who is able to work this desire in thy soul It is the complaint of a Christian O they are troubled because they cannot fetch a good desire from their own souls and one falls another sinks a third shakes and they are overwhelmed with discouragement What a wretched heart have I faith one I grace No no the world I can desire the life of my childe I long for and I say with Rachel Let me have honor or else I dye but I cannot long for the unconceivable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ and will the Lord shew any mercy upon me Is it thus remember now desires grow not in thy garden they spring not from the root of thy abilities O seek unto God and confess In truth Lord it is thou from whom come all our desires it is thou must work them in us as thou hast promised them to us and therefore Lord quicken thou this soul and inlarge this heart of mine for thou onely art the God of this desire Thus hale down a desire from the Lord and from the Promise for there onely must thou have it The smoaking flax God will not quench flax will not smoak but a spark must come into it and that will make it catch fire and smoak thus lay your hearts before the Lord and say Good Lord here is onely flax here is onely a stubborn heart but strike thou by thy Promise one spark from heaven that I may have a smoaking desire after Christ and after grace SECT. 5. A Love of Christ VVE have run through two affections Hope Desire and the next is Love A possible good stirs up Hope a necessary excellency in that good setleth Desire and a rellish in that good setled kindles Love Thus is the order of Gods work If the good be absent the understanding saith It is to be desired O that I had it then it sends out Hope and that waits for that good and stays till it can see it and yet if that good cannot come then Desire hath another proper work and it goes up and down wandring and seeketh and sueth for Christ Jesus After this if the Lord Jesus be pleased to come himself into the view of the heart which longeth thus after him then Love leads him into the soul and tells the Will of him saying Lo here is Jesus Christ the Messiah that hath ordered these great things for his Saints and people The Motive or ground of this Love is Gods Spirit in the Promise letting in some intimation of Gods love into the soul thus Psal. 42. 8. The Lord will command his loving kindeness in the day time This is a phrase taken from Kings and Princes and great Commanders in the field whose words of Command stand for Laws so the Lord sends out his loving kindeness and saith Go out my everlasting love and kindeness take a Commission from me and to go that humble thirsty and hunger-bitten sinner and go and prosper and prevail and settle my love effectually upon him and fasten my mercy upon him I command my loving kindeness to do it Thus the Lord doth put a Commission into the hands of his loving kindeness that it shall do good to the poor soul yea though it withdraw it self saying What I mercy will Christ Jesus accept of me No no there is no hope of mercy for me indeed if I could pray thus hear thus and perform Duties with that enlargement and had those parts and abilities then there were some comfort but now there is no hope of mercy for me We demand Is this your case is it thus and thus are you thus humbled and have you thus longed for the riches of his Mercy in Christ Lo then the Lord hath put a Commission into the hands of his loving kindeness saying Go to that poor soul and break open the doors upon that weary weltering heart and break off all those bolts and rend off that veil of ignorance and carnal Reason and all those Arguments Go I say to that soul and chear it and warm it and tell it from me That his sins are pardoned and his soul shall be saved and his sighs and prayers are heard in heaven and I charge you do the work before you come again Here is the ground of Love Gods love affecting the heart and setled upon it it breeds a love to God again We love him because he loved us first The burning-glass must receive heat of the beams of the Sun before it burn any thing so there must be a beam of Gods love to fall upon the soul before it can love God again I drew them with the cords of a man even with the bands of love God lets in the cords of love into the soul and that draws love again to God He brought me into the banqueting-house and his banner over me was love stay me with flaggons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love When the banner of Christs love is spread over the soul the soul comes to be sick in love with Christ Now this love of God doth beget our love in three particulars First there is a sweetness and a rellish which Gods love lets into the soul and warms the heart with you shall see how the fire is kindled by and by As when a man is fainting we give him Aqua-vitae so a fainting sinner is cold at the heart and therefore the Lord lets in a drop of his loving kindeness and this warms the heart and the soul is even filled with the happiness of the mercy of God Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth saith the Spouse in the Canticles for his love is better then wine The kisses of his mouth are the comforts of his Word and Spirit the soul saith O let the Lord refresh me with the kisses of his mouth let the Lord speak comfort to my heart and this is better then wine Secondly as that sweetness warms the heart so the freeness of the love of God let in and intimated begins even to kindle this love in the soul that it sparkles again God setteth out his love towards us seeing that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us This commends the love of God the Lord sends to poor and miserable sinful broken-hearted sinners and saith Commend my mercy to such a one and tell him That though he hath been an enemy to me yet I am a friend to him and though he hath been rebellious against me yet I am a God and Father to him When the poor sinner considers this with himself he saith Is the Lord so merciful to me I that loved my sins and continued in them had it not been just that I should have perished in them but will the Lord not onely spare his enemy but give his Son for him O let my soul for ever rejoyce in this unconceiveable goodness of God! Be thy heart never so hard
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
what the Prophet saith to such a perplexed soul Why sayest thou thy way is hid from the Lord the Lord saith Why sayest thou is any thing too hard for the Lord O you wrong God exceedingly you think it a matter of humility when you account so vilely of your selves Can God pardon sin to such unworthy creatures It is true saith the soul Manasses was pardoned Paul was converted Gods Saints have been received to mercy But can my sins be pardoned can my soul be quickned No no my sins are greater then can be forgiven Why then poor soul Satan is stronger to overthrow thee then God to save thee and thus you make God to be no God nay you make him to be weaker then Sin then Hell then the Devil 2. This sin is dangerous to thy own soul it is that which taketh up the bridge and cutteth off all passages nay it plucks up a mans Endeavors as it were quite by the roots Alas saith he what skilleth for a man to pray what profits it a man to read what benefit in all the means of grace The stone is rolled upon me and my Condemnation sealed for ever I will never look after Christ Grace Salvation any more the time of grace is past the day is gone And thus the soul sinketh in it self Will the Lord cast me off for ever and will he shew no favor I said saith David this is my infirmity the word in the Original is This is my sickness as who should say What is mercy gone for ever this will be my death then is life gone 2. This Reproves and Condemns that great sin of Presumption a sin more frequent and if possibly may be more dangerous as they said Saul had slain his thousands and David his ten thousands So hath Despair slain his thousands but Presumption his ten thousands It is the counsel of Peter That every man should be ready to give an account of his faith and hope that is in him Let us see the Reasons that perswade you to these groundless foolish Hopes you say You hope to be saved and you hope to go to heaven and you hope to see Gods face with comfort and have you no grounds it is a foolish hope an unreasonable hope But comfort ye comfort ye poor drooping spirits They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength you say You cannot do this and you cannot do that I say If you can but hope and wait for the Mercy of the Lord you are rich Christians If a man have many Reversions they that judge of his Estate will not judge him for his present Estate but for the Reversions he shall have Haply thou hast not for the present the sense and feeling of Gods love and assurance away with that feeling do not dote upon it thou hast Reversions of old Leases ancient Mercies old Compassions such as have been reserved from the beginning of the world and know thou hast a fair Inheritance You will say Were my hopes of the right stamp then might I comfort my self but there are many false flashy hopes and how should I know that my hope is sound and good I answer you may know it by these particulars 1. A grounded hope hath a peculiar certainty in it it doth bring home unto the soul in special maner the goodness of God and the riches of his love in Christ Jesus It stands not on Is's and And's but saith It must undoubtedly it must certainly be mine and good Reason for this hope hath a Word to hang and hold upon What is that I will wait upon the Lord and I hope in his Word it is a Scripture-hope a Word hope the Word saith The Lord came to save those that were lost why I finde my self to be lost saith the soul and therefore I hope The Lord will seek me though I cannot seek him I hope the Lord will finde me though I cannot finde my self I hope the Lord will save me though I cannot save my self So the Word saith He appointeth them that mourn in Sion to give unto them beauty for ashes will you have a Legacy of Joy Mercy and Pity here it is the Lord Christ left it you I bequeath and leave this to all broken-hearted sinners to all you humble mourning sinners this is your Legacy sue for it in the Court and you shall have it for ever 2. A grounded hope is ever of great power and strength to hold the soul to the truth of the Promise hence take a poor sinner when he is at the weakest under water when all Temptations Oppositions Corruptions grow strong against him and he saith I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul this proud foolish filthy heart of mine will be my bane I shall never get power strength and grace against these sins Here is the lowest under of a poor soul If a man should now reply Then cast off all hope and confidence reject the means and turn to your sins Mark how Hope steppeth in and saith Nay whatsoever I am and do whatsoever my condition is I will use the means I am sure all my help is in Christ all my hope is in the Lord Jesus and if I must perish I will perish seeking him and waiting upon him Why this is Hope and I warrant that soul shall never go to hell I will wait for the Lord yea though he hath hid himself from the house of Jacob The last Use is of Exhortation I desire you I intreat you I will not say I command you though this may be enjoyned if you have any hope of Heaven if you have any treasure in Christ labor to quicken this affection above all The means are these 1. Labor to be much acquainted with the precious Promises of God to have them at hand and upon all occasions These are thy comforts and will support thy soul as the body without comfort is unfit for any thing so it is here unless a man hath that provision of Gods Promises and have them at hand daily and have them dished out and fitted for him his heart will fail 2. Maintain in thy heart a deep and serious acknowledgement of that supreme Authority of the Lord to do what he will and how he will according to his pleasure Alas we think too often to bring God to our bow We have hoped thus long and God hath not answered and shall we wait still Wait Ah wait and bless God that you may wait If you may lie at Gods feet and put your mouthes in the dust and at the end of your days have one crum of Mercy it is enough therefore check those distempers Shall I wait still It is a most admirable strange thing that a poor worm worthy of hell should take up state and stand upon terms with God He will not wait upon God Who must wait then must God wait or man wait It was the Apostles question Wilt
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
relieved you it was Jesus Christ Oh therefore love him deal equally with him and as he deserves so enlarge your hearts to him for ever 3. Christ seeks our love Here is the admiration of mercy That our Savior who hath been rejected by a company of sinful creatures should seek their love for shame refuse him not but let him have love ere he go Had the Lord received us when we had come to him and humbled our hearts before him Had he heard when we had spent our days and all our strength in begging and craving it had been an infinite mercy But when the Lord Jesus Christ shall seek to us by his Messengers it is all the work we have to do to woo you and speak a good word for the Lord Jesus Christ yea and if we speak for our selves it is pity but our tongue should cleave to the roof of our mouth when the Lord Jesus shall come and wait upon us and seek our love O this is the wonder of mercies think of this O ye Saints The Lord now by us offers love to all you that are weary and have need What answer shall I return to him in the evening shall I say Lord I have tendred thy mercy and it was refused Brethren it would grieve my heart to return this answer O rather let every soul of you say Can the Lord Jesus love me In truth Lord I am out of love with my self I have abused thy Majesty I have loved the world I have followed base lusts and can the Lord Jesus love such a wretch as I am yet saith the Lord I will heal their back-slidings I will love them freely He looks for no portion he will take thee and all thy wants get you home then and every one in secret labor to deal truly with your own hearts make up a match in this maner and say Is it possible that the Lord should look so low that a great Prince should send to a poor Peasant that Majesty should stoop to means Heaven to Earth God to man Hath the Lord offered mercy to me and doth he require nothing of me but to love him again call upon your hearts I charge you and say thus Lord if all the light of mine eyes were love and all the speeches of my tongue were love it were all too little to love thee O let me love thee dearly If you will not say thus then say hereafter You had a fair offer and that a poor Minister of God did wish you well Alas be not coy and squemish the Lord may have better then you lie down therefore and admire at the mercy of the Lord that should take a company of dead dogs and now at the last say as the Prophet did Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in SECT. 6. A relying on Christ VVE are now come to the work of the Will which is the great wheel and Commander of the soul The former affections were but as hand-maids to usher in Christ and the Promises the minde saith I have seen Christ Hope saith I have waited Desire saith I have longed Love saith I am kindled then saith the Will I will have Christ it shall be so and this makes up the match the spawn and seeds of faith went before now faith is come to some perfection now the soul reposeth it self upon the Lord Jesus And this reposing or resting it self discovers a fivefold act First it implyes A going out of the soul to Christ When the soul seeth this that the Lord Jesus is his ayd and must ease him and pardon his sins then let us go to that Christ saith he it is the Lords call Come to me all ye that are weary now this voyce coming home to the heart and the prevailing sweetness of the call over-powering the heart the soul goes out and falls and flings it self upon the riches of Gods grace Secondly It lays fast hold upon Christ when the Lord saith Come my Love my Dove O come away Behold I come saith she and when she is come she fasteneth upon Christ saying My beloved is mine and I am his Faith lays hold on the Lord and will not let Mercy go but cleaves unto it though it conflict with the Lord Should he slay me saith Job yet will I trust in him The case is like Benhadads who being overcome by Ahab his Servants thus advise him We have heard that the Kings of Israel are merciful Kings we pray thee let us put ropes about our necks and sackcloth on our loyns and go out to the King peradventure he will save thy life Thus the Servants go and coming to Ahab they deliver the Message Thy Servant Benhadad saith I pray thee let me live and he said Is he yet alive he is my brother Now the men diligently observed whether any thing would come from him and did hastily catch at it and they said Thy brother Benhadad and they went away rejoycing This is the lively Picture of a broken-hearted sinner after he hath taken up arms against the Almighty and that the Lord hath let in Justice and he seeth or hath seen the anger of God bent against him then the soul reasons thus I have heard though I am a rebellious sinner that none but sinners are pardoned and God is a gracious God and therefore unto him let me go with this he falls down at the footstool of the Lord and cryes O what shall I do what shall I say unto thee O thou preserver of men O let me live I pray thee in the sight of my Lord The soul thus humbled the Lord then lets in his sweet voyce of mercy and saith Thou art my Son my Love and thy sins are pardoned These words no sooner uttered but he catcheth thereat saying Mercy Lord and a Son Lord and love Lord and a pardon Lord The heart holds it self here and will never away Thirdly it flings the weight of all its occasions and troubles guilt and corruptions upon the Lord Jesus Christ He that walks in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God that is if a man be in extremity hopeless in misery and walks in desperate discouragements yea and hath no light of comfort Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God As when a man cannot go of himself he lays all the weight of his body upon another so the soul goes to a Christ and lays all the weight of it self upon Christ and saith I have no comfort O Lord all my discomforts I lay upon Christ and I relye upon the Lord for comfort and consolation Who is this saith Solomon that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved Cant. 8. 5. The party coming is the Church the wilderness is the troubles and vexations the Church meets withal and the beloved is
the Tide the other puts his Boat upon the stream and sets up his sail and then he may sit still in his Boat and the wind will carry him whither he is to go Just thus it is with a faithful soul and an unbeliever all the care of the faithful soul is to put himself upon the stream of Gods Provividence and to set up the sail of Faith and to take the gale of Gods Mercy and Providence and so he goes on chearfully because it is not he that carries him but the Lord Jesus Christ whereas every unfaithful soul tugs and pulls at the business and can finde neither ease nor success Alas he thinks by his own wits and power to do what he would 2. Because faith sweetens all other afflictions even those that are most hard and full of tediousness and howsoever it apprehends all troubles and afflictions yet withal it apprehends the faithfulness of God ordering all for our good and that 's the reason why all our troubles are digested comfortably without any harshness at all When the Patient takes better Pills if they be well sugered they go down the easier and the bitterness never troubles him So it is with Faith it takes away the harshness of all inconveniencies which are bitter Pills in themselves but they are sweetned and sugered over by the faithfulness of God for the good of the soul and therefore it goes on cheerfully You will say if faith bring such ease how may a man that hath faith improve it to have such comfort by it I answer the rules are four 1. Labor to gain some evidence to thy own soul that thou hast a title to the promise The reason why poor Christians go drooping and are overwhelmed with their sins and miseries is because they see not their title to mercy nor their evidence of Gods love To the word and to the Testimonies Take one evidence from the word 't is as good as a thousand if thou hast but one promise for thee thou hast all in truth though all be not so fully and cleerly perceived 2. Labor to set an high price on the promises of God One promise and the sweetness of Gods mercy in Christ is better then all the honors or riches in the world Prize these at this rate and thou canst not choose but finde ease and be contented therewith 3. Labor to keep thy promises ever at hand what is it to me if I have a thing in the house if I have it not at my need If a man ready to sound and dye say I have as good cordial water as any in the world but I know not where it is he may sound and dye before he can finde it So when misery comes and thy heart is surcharged O then some promise some comfort to bear up a poor fainting drooping soul my troubles are many and I cannot bear them Why now Christ and a promise would have done it but thou hast thrown them in a corner and they are not to be found Now for the Lords sake let me intreat thee be wise for thy poor soul there is many a fainting and aguish fit and qualm comes over the heart of many a poor Christian persecutions without and sorrows and corruptions within therefore keep thy cordials about thee and be sure that thou hast them within reach take one and bring another and be refreshed by another and go singing to thy grave and to heaven for ever 4. Labor to drink in hearty draught of the promise bestow thy self upon the promise every hour whensoever thou dost finde the fit coming and this is the way to finde comfort Eat O friends and drink ye abundantly O welbeloved The Original is in drinking drink ye cannot be drunken with the Spirit as you may with wine drink abundantly were dainties prepared If an hunger-starved man comes in and takes onely a bit and away he must needs go away an hungred Think of it sadly you faithful Saints of God you may come now and then and take a snatch of the promise and then comes fear and temptation and persecution and all quiet is gone again it is your own fault brethren you come thirsty and go away thirsty you come discomforted and so you go away Many times it thus befals us Ministers when we preach of consolation and when we pray and confer we think we are beyond all trouble but by and by we are full of fears and troubles and sorrows because we take not full contentment in the promise we drink not a deep draught of it of this take heed too 1. Of Cavilling and Quarelling with carnal reason 2. Of attending to the parlies of Satans temptations if we listen to this chat he will make us forget all our comfort CHAP. VII The growing of the soul with Christ HItherto of the first part of the souls implantation to wit of the putting of the soul into Christ We are now come to the second which is The growing of the soul with Christ These two take up the nature of ingrafting a sinner into the stock Christ Jesus Now this growing together is accomplished by two means 1. By an union of the soul with Christ 2. By a conveyance of sap or sweetness all the treasures of grace and happiness that is in Christ to the soul First Every believer is joyned unto Christ and so joyned or knit that he becomes one spirit 1. He is joyned as a friend to a friend as a father to a childe as an husband to a wife as a graft to a tree as the soul to a body So is Christ to a believer I live not I but the Lord Jesus liveth in me Hence the body of the faithful is called Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. 2. So joyned that the believer comes to be one spirit with Christ this mystery is great and beyond the reach of that little light I injoy Onely I shall communicate what I conceive in these three following Conclusions 1. That the Spirit of God the third person in the Trinity doth really accompany the whole Word but more especially the precious promises of the Gospel 2. The Spirit accompanying the promise of grace and salvation it doth therein and thereby leave a supernatural dint and power a spiritual and over-powering vertue upon the soul and thereby carries it and brings it unto Christ it is not so much any thing in the soul as a spiritual assisting and moving and working upon the soul by vertue whereof it is moved and carried to the Lord Jesus Christ 3. The Spirit of grace in the promise working thus upon the heart it causeth the heart to close with the promise and with it self in the promise and this is to be one spirit As it is with the Moon the Philosopher observes That the ebbing and flowing of the Sea is by vertue of the Moon she flings her beams into the sea and not being able to exhale as the Sun doth she leaves them