to beare I sinke I sinke under it then Christ looks out of the heavens and sayes Cast thy burthen upon the Lord man and he shall sustaine thee Psal 55.22 or Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Mat. 11.29 The supporting grace of God is the Anchor of the soule which staies the Ship of the soule when a tempest of sorrow arises the waves beat upon it Now this Anchor hath two flukes The first is her Beloveds mercies and merits The second is her Beloveds promises When she is in this sad wildernesse of sorrow her Beloved gives her a staffe of merits and mercy and free grace to leane upon and a clue of promises to lead her out of this Labyrinth and the mercies and merits of her Beloved have two hooks both which take fast hold to stay her soule 1. The fulnesse of them 2. The freenesse of them First the fulnesse of them The soule cries out O I am damned Christ suggests to her But didst thou never heare of one that came to save those which were in their owne apprehension damned I deserve to dye everlastingly saith the soule oh but did not he dye for thee that deserved to live everlastingly saith Christ I deserve infinite torments saith the soule Oh! but are not thy Christs mercies infinite mercies saith God Thy mercy held me up My sinnes have cryed up to heaven saith the soule O but my mercies are above the heavens saith Christ Psal 108.5 My sins are more in number than the haires of my head saith the soul but my mercies saith Christ are more in number than the sand which lyes on the Sea shore Psal 139.17 18. My sins have abounded saith the soule but my grace hath much more abounded saith Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 5.20 O but my heart is as hard as Iron and the face of my sinnes like Brasse saith the soule but that God that made the Leviathan is as strong as the Leviathan He esteemes Iron as straw and Brasse as rotten wood My sinnes are many saith the soule but were their name Legion saith Christ I could cast them out O but I am an old sinner I have a mountaine of sinnes But my mercies are from everlasting saith Christ so are not thy sinnes and I came to levell Mountaines Luke 3.4 The more old thou art the more glory shall my free grace have all the world shall see I doe not pardon thee for any service thou canst or wilt doe me thou must ere long lye downe in the grave Thus the soule in this wildernesse of sorrow leanes upon the fulnesse of Gods mercies But secondly there must be freenesse as well as fulnesse or else what hath the soule I know that the least drop of Christs bloud is fully able to wash away all my guilt But what have I to doe with Christ I am a poore creature the fitter object for divine charity what dowry have I for Christ to marry me Because thou hast nothing therefore I will doe it saith Christ If thou hadst any thing that thou thoughtest riches I would not have married thee saith Christ Thou art mistaken in my thoughts I doe not marry thee because thou art rich but because I have a delight in thee and have an intention to make thee rich Hos 14.4 I will heale their back-slidings I will love them freely Ezek. 16.7 8 9. Now the soule being fully perswaded of this that Christ is full of mercy and able to pardon her and free in his mercy therefore willing to forgive her and desiring nothing for her pardon but to live like a Spouse in his sight begins to leane beleeving he will pardon her But yet saith the soule I could desire to see it under Christs hand I thinke I could take his word now So she leanes upon Christs promises which are as the other Fluke of this Anchor Now sayes the soule O that I might have it but under Christs hand that my sinnes which I am scarse able to thinke can be pardoned may be pardoned though I staid his leisure for the sealing of it Here she enquires for Promises and Presidents Did ever Christ promise saith the Soule to pardon such a scarlet crimson sinner as I am Yes I have saith Christ looke Isa 1.18 Though your sinnes be as skarlet they shall be as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll and so Isa 55.6 7. I will have mercy upon you I will abundantly pardon you Mat. 11.29 O but where hath Christ promised freely to dispence these mercies saith the soule Christ turnes her again to Isa 51.1 2 3. Ho every one that thirsteth come buy of me without mony or mony-worth But secondly where did he ever pardon such a sinner as I am saith the soule Christ puts her in mind of Mary Magdalen Manasses O but where one that was so near hell as I am saith the soule an old sinner the theefe upon the Crosse saith Christ Now it must not be understood that Christ Jesus should reveale these Promises Audibly to the soule but 1. Either sets his Ministers a worke to declare his Charters of Grace and read the soules pardon 2. Or else he suggests into the soule such promises in such a seasonable time which must be taken as the voice of God to that soule Thus the soule furnished with presidents trusting upon promises wipes her eyes comes out of the wildernesse leaning upon her blessed Saviour and saying O my sweet Saviour thou that hast drawne mee from the pit of hell and hast reached out thy arme for a worthlesse lost worme to leane upon thee I dare beleeve thee I now roule my soule upon thee I am shipwrackt but thou art my harbour and now O what shall I doe for thee O my God! I am sick of love Thou hast ravished my heart I am thine I am thine Thus have I shewne how the soule comes out of the wildernesse of sinne and sorrow leaning upon her Beloved And here the ship is in harbour but yet ever and anon she is tossed still persecuted though not forsaken This is the most dangerous wildernesse afterwards she is often in the corner of a Desart I must shew you how even then she leanes and how out of them she comes leaning upon her Beloved She is alwayes a dependent creature she leanes when ever she is wearied The third Wildernesse therefore is the wildernesse of afflictions in this she leanes out of this she comes leaning upon her Welbeloved id est in afflictions she leanes Christ is her comfort in her saddest troubles She leanes upon him viz. upon his supporting grace Thy rod and thy staffe comforted me Psal 23. The staffe held him up while the rod was upon his back The rod was a comfort because of the staffe the more he had of the rod the more he had of the staffe also In afflictions the beleeving soule leanes upon God and says Lam. 2.20
idle construction that giddy headed Sectaries have of late devised to help themselves to heaven with The Devils are so lost yet Christ never came to save them No no friend it is those that are lost in their own apprehensions those that know not what to dot o be saved those that feel themselves even in the jawes of hell he makes apprehensions of his wrath precede the apprehensions of his love But woe and alas how many thinke they have a part in Christ That the Devill hath as great a part in Christ actually as they have Heaven is growne the common journeyes end and let men ride which way they list Not the most debauched wretch in a Congregation but aske him what he thinks shall become of him if he dyes in that condition why he hopes he shall goe to heaven nay I wish he doth not say he is sure of it too All men are sinners He is lost but Christ came to seek and save that which was lost Tell him of mourning for his sinnes if he meanes to be comforted of humbling himselfe if he meanes to bee exalted of feeling hell if ever he means to feele heaven O then you are a legall Preacher Heare what the other side saith what those you call Antinomian Preachers O these are the only Gospell-preachers to them This makes them to passe for such honest men O they shew a fine Cushion-way to Heaven that you shall not need wet a foot or eye in But let them preach what they will friend beleeve him who although he knowes but little yet knowes you must go out of the wildernesse if ever you come there The way is neither the Drunkards Ale-way nor the Aoulterers uncleane way nor the Covetous man his dirty way nor the Ambitious mans high way nor the Hypocrites hidden way nor the Carnall-Gospellers formall way nor the Antinomians easie way It is a way through a wildernesse not a way in a wildernesse The Spouse is not described by her staying in the wildernesse but by comming out of the wildernesse Who is this commeth out of the wildernesse Secondly Doth the Spouse of the Lord come out of a wildernesse of sorrow leaning upon her Beloved First she is in then she commeth out then this reproves the folly of those that preach men found before they were lost and of those that dreame of leaning before they are in the wildernesse The Spouse leans but it is when she is comming out of the wildernesse Is there any that preacheth down a needlesnesse of duties that mockes at mourners that learne people a way to be found before they are lost Examine the Scriptures before you trust them under a pretence of exalting Faith doe they not cry downe sorrow for sinne and all other duties Nay they doe cry downe the preaching of the Law to bring men to see they are in the wildernesse that they might leane Doe they make you beleeve that preaching the Law is a price of Anti-christianisme and no one ought to preach it And for their part they will take heed of it for feare of preaching away their hearers O beware of this leaven For my part I cannot close with this novell Doctrine when I consider First that this other way of preaching hath bin that which God hath most blest by his servants labours Witnesse our Rogers our Hooker our Pious Shepard those three to which many threes may be added though they will scarse come up to the first three Those three Constellations of Heaven that have more light to darke Travellers that wandred in the night of sinne while they shined in our Firmament then all these Ignes fatui mis-leading poore Travellers Was ever any of these Leaders so honoured though they have beat up the Drums almost in every street of the Kingdome for followers as to gather such Troopes of Saints to the Christian warfare as these before mentioned Did ever God honour their labours so much as these who poor soules shone in their daies like lights under Bushels too had only the corner of a Pulpit or a Pulpit in some blind corner tolerated them Nay looke upon these that have lately fallen into this Veine and were Preachers of Gods whole truth before was not their first fruits better and more accepted of God then their harvest is now Hath not God distinguished which way of preaching he will must honour by making the first ripe grapes sweeter then the whole Vintage were it onely for this And Secondly For the constant experience of the Saints of God let them speake their minds freely hath not this beene the way of their conversion Have not the best Saints in Heaven cryed out of the belly of Hell before God heard their voice Was not Paul strucken downe to the earth before he went in the Triumph of Glory Did not the Gaolor come in trembling and fall at the Apostles feet and cry what shall I doe to be saved before they bid him beleeve and thou shalt be saved Neither can they evade it with saying That trembling was not an humiliation for sinne but occasioned for feare his prisoners were gone Least people should wrest in that manner The Holy Ghost hath cleared it to their hand for before we read of his trembling Paul had cryed with a loud voice vers 28. Doe thy selfe no harme for we are all here Neither doe wee read that he trembled for that at all but like one struck senselesse and his spirits dead as it were in a fit of desperate madnesse was about with his Sword to let out his owne blood Now I say were it no more then to heare such Doctrine contrary to the Doctrine which God hath chiefly honoured in his Servants lips by making it efficacious for the salvation of their soules and contrary to the experience of the generalitie of Gods Servants if not contrary to the Preachers owne former and better thoughts and practice it would be sufficient to make me suspend my faith from being too hastie to beleeve this new way to heaven But it is enough to confirme me to heare my Christ calling Come unto me all yee that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Before you are sensible of an heavy load you will need no ease and to heare my Text speaking of leaning but in a wildernesse Nay it may be noted too The Text saith Who is this that commeth Not who is this that jumpeth up from the wildernes I cannot fancy this going to Heaven at a running jump nor can I like this pressing faith without preaching repentance also Faith is an act of an humble soule Nor can the soule apprehend the beautie of Christ and love Christ before it apprehends it 's owne miserable conditions The onely harme this Doctrine doth is to make poore soules presume instead of beleeving for alas Tell an impenitent soule of beleeving it apprehends it easie because it doth not understand it and runnes upon a supposition that it hath faith when alas it beleeveth
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
what to doe If I stay in my sinnes I perish if I go out of the world I perish Here stands the soule turning it selfe every way and seeing comfort no way till the Lord Christ bowes the heavens and thrusts out his arme of salvation his shoulder of merits and takes the soule by the hand saying Come my Beloved I will tell thee what thou shalt doe I am the way out of this wildernesse come out leaning leane thy arme of faith upon the shoulder of my merits Free grace is able to beare thee I am thy Welbeloved and thy Welbeloved is thine And ordinarily the soule when it comes to the Lord Christ comes through this wildernesse this losing place of conviction and contrition and weeps her selfe a path where she would drown in the waters of Marah if Christ did not hold her up Indeed God could have brought the Israelites a shorter Journey than through the wildernesse to Canaan and sometimes God miraculously drawes a soul to himselfe onely by the cords of mercy God is not tyed alwayes to bring a soule the same road to heaven Elijah was carried to heaven in a fiery chariot but the more ordinary way is by Jacobs ladder The common way to heaven is by the gates of hell the way to life is through the chambers of death through a wildernesse Who is this that commeth up out of the wildernesse The third Wildernesse in which Christ's Spouse may somtimes have her dwelling in is the Wildernesse of affliction bodily afflictions I meane A Wildernesse is a place full of bryars and thornes and through such a wildernesse the holy Ghost tells us lies the Saints way to heaven By much tribulation much pricking of thrones thornes in the flesh somtimes must we enter into the kingdome of God The Spouse hath a dirty way to go to marrying in and when shee is marryed she hath a dirty way home too A wildernesse on either side The Apostle speakes plain Heb. 11.37 38. They wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skines being destitute afflicted tormented they wandred in deserts and in mountaines and in dens and in caves of the earth And who were these that wandred thus in the wildernesse They were such of whom the world was not worthy the Spouses of the Lord Christ And truely afflictions may be called a wildernesse for the disconsolacy of them too they are times of sorrow no delights please the spouse in affliction is in a wildernes 4. A fourth wildernesse that the Spouse sometimes dwells in is the wildernesse of temptations The Bridegroom himself was in this wildernesse He was led into the wildernesse to be tempted of the Devill The spirit took him thither Matth. 4. vers 1. and Paul was in this wildernesse troubled on every side this is Satans wildernesse that he leads many a poore soule into and it had been a sad wildernesse had not our WAY been their first If the Devill could have lost our Saviour in it we should never have found the way out of it A dangerous a disconsolate place well tearmed a wildernesse as the Saint will tell you that hath been in it 5. A fifth Wildernesse that the Spouse is sometimes in is the Wildernesse of desertion Here 's a sad wildernesse a desert indeed Quum Deus deseruit When God hath forsaken or withdrawne himselfe from the Soule this Desert Christ himselfe was in Eli Eli lamasabachthani My God my God why hast thou forsaken me was the voice of the Lord Jesus hollowing in the wildernesse such a wildernesse was the Spouse in when she sought him but found him not Cant. 3. v. 2. In this desert the soule is solitary her God is gone and she knowes not what is become of him the soule never calls any company her company if her God be not there David was in this wildernesse too he is often crying out of the wildernesse he was in when God hid his face from him The soule that belongs to the Lord Jesus goes through many a wildernesse in this world but scarce any which Christ hath not walkt in before it and hewn a way through it through every wildernesse we may follow the Lamb in his own path 6. Nay lastly The Saints whole life below is but a wildernes Earth is a Christians desert while she lives here she lives in widowhood it is a sinfull place a dangerous place a thorny place and a place where she finds an abatement of the joyes she shall be swallowed up in in glory Mortality is but Meshech and her best habitations are but tents of Kedar nothing to the temple of Glory she shall worship her God in hereafter and the former deserts are but as severall corners of this wildernesse but she commeth up out of every wildernesse That is the next branch of Doctrine I hasten to Branch 2. That though the Saint of God hath had and may have her dwelling in the wildernesse she rests not there but commeth up out of it She cometh up It seemes to argue a propriety in the motion as if she were not driven nor drawne up nor made to come but of her selfe came and of her owne strength and yet not of her own strength neither her owne leggs would not beare her for the text tells us she comes up leaning she had fallen had she not leaned Here is the Question stated what the soule doth towards its conversion what power of doing any thing tending towards its conversion before it is sanctified or after it is sanctified whether it may meerly passive what she may doe what she cannot doe how far she may come where she must lean Whether hath the soule any power to come up out of the wildernesse of sinne to the Lord Christ to move one step heaven ward of it selfe And here I have a narrow path to tread betwixt the Pelagians and Arminians on the one side that would make the soule have more power than it hath and the Antinomians and Sectaries on the other side that are so farre from holding that the soule hath no power to come to Christ that they would make us beleeve she hath no power to come to Church neither I shall not know how to determine this Question better than in the words of pious and learned Bishop Davenant Determ Q. 9.49 Non potest quodvis opus ex divina promissione ad impetrandam peccatorum remissionem aut adeundam possessionem regni coelorum ordinatum The soule cannot doe any thing that is ordained by God or hath the promise of God to obtaine pardon of sinnes or possession of the Kingdome of heaven she cannot savingly beleeve repent love c. for these are the acts of grace and God is the fountain and donour of all grace 1. But first she may by Gods generall restraining grace without speciall and saving grace abstaine from grosse sinnes the heathens did so the light of nature which God keeps from none will shew her that this is darknesse 2. Secondly She may by Gods exciting
Otherwise she would not leane Fourthly It doth argue a confidence that the soule hath in the Lord that he is able to beare her Otherwise shee would not trust the weight of her soule upon him First it doth argue wearinesse If she were not weary she would not leane Humiliation is a preface to faith and the way to be found is to be lost It is not a leaning of wantonnesse but a leanning of wearinesse O Lord I am sinking into Hell let me save my selfe from sinking by thy shoulders I am falling Lord let me leane whiles the soule hath any strength to goe it is too proud to be beholden to leane Come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Mat. 11.29 First weary then come First heavy laden then I will ease you What shall I doe to be saved saith the Gaolor O I am lost undone I am at a Non-plus O what shall I doe I am weary for I am farre readier to beleeve that that Voice What shall I doe is rather the Voice of the soul at it's nil ultra sadly sensible of it's lost and miserable condition sufficiently humbled in the sense of it than the voice of a soule thinking it might doe any thing that might be but in the least contributary to the desert of salvation I cannot be perswaded to think that when the Gaolor spake those words prostrated by humiliation at the Apostles feet that he had the least thought that he could throw in so much as two mites into the Treasury of free grace But as it is the ordinary speech of one drown'd in the depth of sorrow O what shall I doe What shall I doe though at that instant they know they can doe nothing to help themselves So the Gaoler in a true sense of his owne lost condition cryes out O what shall I doe he was weary it was time for the Apostle to bid him leane then beleeve saith the Apostle and thou shalt be saved It is but a wresting of the place or mocking it rather to bring it to perswade that duties preparatory were here excluded Surely had not the Apostles seen him humbled in some degrees they would as well have prefixed Repent here as Peter did to them Act. 2. Repent and be baptized Christ came not to call the Righteous but sinners to repentance He is a Saviour but it is for them that are lost in their owne feeling too And the truth of it is the soule scornes to leane upon Christ so long as it is able to goe alone when it hath never a crutch of merits or duties to rest upon then it lookes out for some rest for it's foot for some shoulder to beare up for some staffe to stay it selfe upon Leaning doth argue wearinesse that 's the first Secondly It doth argue a willingnesse in the soule to come to Jesus Christ Leaning is not a forced action Indeed as I said before Christ first works this willingnes he it is that gives us power to will and it is by his power that we are willing as it is written Psa 110.3 They shall be willing in the day of my power But he doth not let us leane before we are willing Leaning is an action proceeds from the will Who is this cometh up leaning Thirdly leaning doth argue love who leans upon his enemies I will not leane upon one whom I cannot trust I must have some good thoughts of his love The soul that leans upon the Lord Jesus Christ loves Christ that Faith that pretended dependancy of any upon Christ that proceedeth not out of a principle of love groweth out of a false root the loving soule is only the truly beleeving soule Leaning is a loving posture that is the third Fourthly It doth argue fiduciam a resting a trusting the soule upon Christ he that leans upon another reposeth his whole weight trusteth his whole strength upon him He doth as much as say well I know I cannot goe alone I cannot stand but I will trust my self upon thy strength will I leane if I fall I fall So the soule that comes up out of the wildernesse of sinne to the Lord Jesus Christ doth repose it's whole weight upon the Lord Christ it sayes O Lord I am a great and grievous sinner I am not able to stand upon mine owne legges but I trust my soule upon thy armes thou hast mercies and great mercies and free mercies if I fall I fall if be damned I am damned here I will leane And here you have the second thing plaine viz Secondly The soules hand with which she leanes upon Jesus Christ for salvation and these 4. things which I have hinted from this expression leaning are as the foure fingers of the hand of Faith And we may thus give a description of it Faith is the hand of a soule which God hath humbled whereby the soule being not able to stand alone nor daring to trust to any thing else and being made willing by God out of a principle of love layes hold upon Jesus Christ and trusts and rests it selfe upon him for her salvation And that leads me to the third thing I propounded the Person upon whom she leanes the text renders it Her beloved or as I conceive the old Translation better Her welbeloved The Latine dilectum suum him that is her conjugally beloved This is the last Branch of the doctrine That though the beleeving soule comes up from the wildernesse leaning yet she will onely leane upon her beloved and he only can and will beare her We know that whosoever leanes must have a person to leane upon Secondly There must be a capacity in this arme to beare her some strength yea there had need to be a great deale to hold up the weight of a soule First let us enquire who the Person is rendred in the Text dilectum Her welbeloved in plaine termes her Husband one that hath more than an ordinary portion of her love Here are five things hinted in this Expression 1. It is one whom she loves The word signifies a speciall sort of love and every greater includes a lesse 2. One that she is married to he is welbeloved her dearest love not charum but dilectum one that hath a title to her 3. Her Beloved not anothers Beloved 4. Her Beloved He that is her Beloved not who was her Beloved 5. Her Beloved not her Beloveds First It is one whom she loves This I hinted at before it is a principle of love that drawes the Soule to leane upon the Lord Jesus Christ The hatred of her selfe hath bred the love of her Saviour in it And no Soul loves Christ more than that wich loaths it self most When the soule shall consider what a Brand for Hell it was in its originall how worthlesse a worme it is how basely it hath dealt by God trampling upon his rich offers of Grace scorning his Invitations And again consider that God hath no need at all of it But
her owne Merits with another no nor dares shee leane upon the Merits of another shee durst not trust the weight of her soule upon the wings of an Angel nor to the Prayers of a Saint she relies upon God and upon God onely The Papists leane upon Christ but not upon him alone shee knowes it wil be a dishonour both to her and her husband to take any thing in partem amoris to share with her husband in his love shee will keep her honour in being the wife of one Husband And so I have shewed you how she leanes what is her hand who it is she leanes upon what title she hath to him what rules she observeth in her leaning I have but one thing more and that is to shew you what strength there is in the Lord Christs shoulders to beare her how she leanes even in every wildernesse and what fulnesse of strength there is in her husbands arme to keep her up from falling The first wildernesse you may remember was the wildernesse of sinne Here the Spouse cannot be said properly to leane upon her beloved for she wants the hand of faith to lay hold upon Christ and indeed she is not weary yet I doe not know why in some sense even in this estate the elect soule is not beholding to free grace he is her Christ here though he hath not yet manifested himselfe to be her Jesus her Saviour The elect soule in sin is elect and decreed to be saved though shee be not declared to be elect she is beloved in decree though God hath not actually manifested his love unto her he is not her beloved but the soule is his beloved not actually but decretally he hath thoughts of good to her but his thoughts are kept within himselfe till he is pleased to reveale them to her at his best time she is his beloved though there be no correlation she is in his thoughts his Spouse aye and positively not conditionally The Arminians falsely dreame of Gods conditionall decrees because they comprehend not the wayes of God Beleeving is necessarily required yet it was not a condition in Gods decree The soule is his beloved though yet there be no correlation though she be not his wife yet yet she is intended for his wife To speake according to the wayes of men I may intend to make a woman my wife before I actually declare my intentions to her she is my wife in my determinations and thoughts before I wooe her though not actually my wife bâ—fore I have wooed her and she hath â—â—elded too there lyes only this difference my determination must be but conditionally if she will accept of my proffer'd love There lyes a power in her to refuse We may therefore make the simile a little higher A great Emperour buyeth a woman that is a slavâ— which he intends to marry and will whether she will or no yet he will wooe her and if it be possible marry her will as well as her person yet whether she will or no he will and may marry her for she is his purchase she is his wife in his determination before he hath married her But yet even this simile is lame Every simile comparing the wayes of God with the wayes of man must at least halt of one foot for though this Emperour hath power to force the womans body to the action yet hee hath no power to force her will to be willing to the action The will is alwayes independent sui juris but God hath power not only to marry the soule which he hath bought from being a slave to the Devill but to make her willing to marry him yet she is in Christs decree his Spouse before he hath actually revealed his decree unto her so though strictly and properly the soule cannot be said to lean upon Christ in the wildernesse of sinne yet she may be said to be beholden unto the Lord Christ and that thus 1. Every soul hath the like principles of corruption and would act to the full of it's depraved operations were it not for Gods preventing and restraining grace She is beholding unto God for his preventing and restraining grace though here she is meerly passive Secondly She is beholden unto God for his exciting grace The soule heares and fasts and prayes meditates of her owne sad condition though for the substance of the action it is her owne yet it is Gods exciting grace makes her willing to heare fast pray though not his speciall saving-grace yet his common grace But this is not the leaning meant in the Text she leanes here upon Christ but not upon Jesus a Saviour upon God but not as her Beloved And here the soule is brought into a second wildernesse 2. The wildernesse of Sorrow Contrition Repentance call it what you please though I know the later tearme Repentance be controverted by some Yet I know not why we may not say That a man may repent without saving-grace And for that Repentance which they say must be the effect of faith If I were a School-man I should rather call it Godly Sorrow but I desire not to play upon tearmes And for their defining Repentance To be a sorrow for sinne out of the sense of the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ it is a definition they have devised for their owne purpose And give them their premises according as they please they would be poore Logicians if they made the conclusion to displease them For from hence they argue If the love of God be the ground and cause of Repentance viz. the love of God manifested and sensible to us we having apprehended it by faith the speciall love of God then faith must goe before Repentance viz. an apprehension of Gods saving love and reliance upon it But I answer the definition which they give us of Repentance is deceitfull it is a definition of a Species in stead of a Genus as we say in Logick As some unwary Divines define Faith to be an assurance of Gods love in Iesus Christ This is true but this is a faith of the highest stamp and many a precious soule is without this faith to his dying day Faith of adherence is another thing as if I should goe to define a man to be a reasonable creature skil'd in all sorts of Learning Any man would understand me that I did not goe about to describe a man in generall but this or that particular man And I say once againe if I were a School-man I should rather call this A godly sorrow and define Repentance in generall to be A sorrow for sin there is the genus and differentia Or if there be required a fuller definition with the ground though I conceive such a definition would be more proper to give of Repentance in it's severall kinds than of Repentance in generall yet we may give it thus It is a sorrow for sinne arising out of the feare of Gods wrath or apprehensions of Gods love And I know
and his lusts at the head then Christ should be as welcome as any thing to him but he is loath to sue a divorce from this Beloved he is loth to part with his old love for a new till he seeth how he can love him but at a venture he will take him in partem amoris O wretch flatter not thy selfe if Christ be thy Beloved he will endure no Polygamy you must leave your sinnes or be without Christ The true Spouse leanes upon her Beloved not upon her Beloveds upon her now Beloved she forsakes her old Lastly this may serve to reproove 1. Those that would leane upon Christ but they dare not trust their soules upon Christ alone Forsooth he will be the Spouse of Christ but he must leane upon Christ with one hand and his good works with the other The whore of Babylon commits adultery with her selfe 2. Under this lash comes a better ranke of people that when God hath shewed them their owne sinfull sad condition they doe not only performe duties pray and mourne and repent and be humbled all which they ought to doe but they are ready to rest in them and make them their Beloved It is naturall to the soule that God hath made to loath its sinnes to love its duties it finds duties almost as consentaneous to its nature as sinnes were before and it is too ready to thinke that its saving or damning depends upon such a quantity of teares and humiliation Hence you heare soules in this condition often complaining Oh! I could beleeve if I were humbled enough if I could but mourne enough This soule doth well to be sensible of the hardnesse of its owne heart and it is too true it can never mourne it can never be humbled enough But it doth ill to think that free grace stints its operation and blessed influence to such a quantity of teares if it be humbled enough to see its want of Christ The water runs through the river that is the way to the Sea but it doth not rest in the river but with a swift and continued motion runs betwixt the banks till it comes and is swallowed up in the Sea Even so the soul ought to run through duties but not to rest betwixt the banks of duties but to run through till it come to the Sea of free grace where it will be swallowed up of infinite mercy and our imperfections will be drowned in his infinite perfection we ought to take duties in our way to Christ but not to make duties our Jesus God hath ordained that they should sit us for him but it is written My glory will I not give to another The glory of the Lords free grace is his greatest glory he will not give that to any other None shall share with him in his Spouses love he is a jealous Saviour The Spouse leanes upon her Beloved not Beloveds Thus I have done with my use of reproofe The next use is for examination here may every one try himselfe whether he be the Spouse of the Lord Jesus Christ or no Even by what hath been already said I will reduce it all to three heads First Examine thy selfe whether thou beest out of the wildernesse of sinne yea or no. Secondly Whether thou wert or art in any other wildernesse yea or no. Thirdly What was or is thy demeanour in these wildernesses thou hast been or art in and how hast thou come or dost thou come out Examine whether thou beest not in the wildernesse of sinne yea or no It was given as the Character of the Spouse to come out of this wildernesse O but how shall I know that will the soule say I will name two or three notes by which thou mayst suspect thy selfe as from probabilities 1. The wildernesse it is an incult place a place where the soyle was never tilled it is hard almost as a milstone the over-growne Trees were never pruned the unruly boughs never lopt the bushes never cut or stubbed dost thou find thy heart in such a condition that it is as hard as ever neither judgement breaks it nor mercy melts it the fallow ground of it is not plowed nor the seed of righteousnesse sowne in it Thy unruly lusts are not tamed thy life is as much overgrowne with sinne as ever it was thy sinnes were never yet cut off from the body of thy life O friend suspect thy selfe Thou mayest justly feare yea and know too that thou art not the Spouse of Christ thou art in the wildernesse in thy naturall estate Secondly The wildernesse is a barren place it brings forth no corne for the sickle no wholsome fruit no grapes for mans pallat for can a man gather grapes of thistles or figgs of thornes No pastures wholsome for the beasts The fire hath devoured the pastures of the wildernesse Joel 1.19 And God complained that Nineveh was dry like a wildernesse Zeph. 2.13 Art thou a barren and unfruitfull creature that dost nothing for God thy heart is a barren heart no seeds of good are sown there thy tongue is a barren tongue no good words come out thence thy whole soule a barren soule not a good action upon the record of thy life Indeed no soule can be barren the soule is of a working nature but sinfull works are unfruitfull workes in the Apostles language The unfruitfull workes of darknesse and what fruits had ye of those things whereof you are now ashamed Gods Spouse is a fruitfull creature Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering c. A barren soule is alwayes a wildernesse-soule Those that are borne of God bring forth fruits unto God Thirdly thou mayest know whether thou beest in the wildernesse or no by the company thou delightest in It is a knowne rule Noscitur ex socio qui non dignoscitur ex se He that is a wildernesse-creature loves wildernesse-company the Wolves and Beares and Foxes but he that is out keeps the company of men dost thou love the wildernesse-company the swinish drunkard the politike Fox the malitious Lyon the venomous lyer and slanderer the lascivious wanton more than the Children of God Oh suspect thy selfe l By this we know saith John that we are translated from death to life if we love the Brethren Lazarus when he was raised from the grave we do not read he went to keep the dead men company againe those that God hath raised from the death of their sins live amongst living men and delight in living mens company Thus examine whether thou beest come out of the wildernesse of sin or no. Secondly As comming out of the wildernesse is a signe of the child of God so being in the wildernesse is likewise a note whereby thou mayest know thy selfe Gods Spouse comes out of one wildernesse into another out of the wildernesse of sinne into the wildernesse of sorrow and out of that to their Saviour Wouldest thou know whether thou art found or no Examine whether thou wert lost or
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
keep the love of the husband the blind man need to keep the love of his guid O Christian thou hast much more need to keep the love of thy Christ It is he that must succour thee at every need he that must make the rugged wayes plaine for thee It is he that must carry the Babe of grace in his armes lest it should dash its feet against the stones of affliction It is he that must lead the child of God upon his hand lest in this world of afflictions it fall and hurt it self O keep close in his armes keep thy selfe warme in his bosome feare that which may make thy God go free from thee Gods departing from the creature is a piece of hell thou knowest not how soone thou mayest need him yea thou alwayes needest him therefore take heed of sinning against him thou wilt anger thy best friend I will assure thee I hasten to the last Use which shall be a word of Exhortation Doth the Spouse of Christ come out of the wildernesse leaning upon her Beloved First O then you that are yet in the wildernesse of sinnes come out come out get this Spouses Beloved and then leane upon him 2. You that are in the wildernesse of sorrow for sinne afflictions temptations desertions leane upon your beloved live leaning and dye leaning you that say you are sinking and you cannot beleeve Oh leane and come out of this wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved A word to the first Is there any before the Lord this day that is yet in the gall of bitternesse and in the bond of iniquity with what arguments shall I plead with such a soule Those are not wanting but with what arguments shall I prevaile with such a soul to come unto the Lord Christ were any here drowning in the water a little Rhetoricke would perswade them to let me helpe them out were any lost in a wood I should not need much entreat them to give me their hand and I would shew them a way out of that loosing place why should I not as much prevaile for heaven this day 1 Consider what estate it is that thou takest such pleasure to continue in first it is a dangerous place more dangerous then the sands to the ship thou art ready to be swallowed up of hell every houre in it A troop of judgments waites upon thee to destroy it how canst thou abide consuming fire or dwell in everlasting burnings Secondly Consider it is a joylesse condition There is no true joy to the sinner though he sings sometimes amongst his drunken cups yet he cannot feed heartily upon a feast of joy because the Sword hangs over his head it is but a fained joy that the sinner hath a sudden short lived flame without any coales underneath to preserve it There is no peace to the wicked saith God and if no peace there can be no joy when the sinner is serious he cannot rejoyce his rejoycing is like the skipping of mad men that know not what they doe Thirdly Consider it is a starving condition The sinners soule starves whiles he feasts his body like a glutton his soule dyes for thirst when his body is overslowne with drunkennesse It is impossible the puffe-past of iniquity should nourish a soule Doth an Angell feed upon the earth doth a Saint feed upon hell The soule is of an Angelicke substance it cannot feed upon sinne sinne starves it Dost thou love to be in the middest of thornes dost thou delight to lye downe in sorrow canst thou endure to see thy better part starved whiles thou pamperest thy filthy Carcasse O let this deterre thee from the wildernesse of sinne and perswade thee to come out of it unto Paradise There First Thou shalt be in a safe condition Out of the feare of judgements out of hells gunshot There life or death will be either peace temporall or else eternall either grace or glory unto thee here thy soule shall be in a harbour if thousands fall at thy left hand and ten thousands at thy right none shall make the afraid thou shalt laugh at trouble when it comes Thou shalt be sure to goe to heaven either by land or water If thou goest through the fire thou shalt be sure to have Christ with thee Heaven is a security in all estates a protection from all Arrests if the King of glory hath a mind to sue thee thou shalt not be arrested like other men with a writ of wrath but invited to sup with him in glory onely by a letter of love and he will send his Ushers of glory to waite upon thy soul to the chambers of glory Luke 16.22 The soule of good Lazarus was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome you shall not live like other men haunted with the blood-hounds of wrath nor dye like other wretches that goe out of the world haled by the Sarjeants of hell to everlasting prison but quietly sleepe and awake againe one day in glory O who would not desire such a protection for himselfe such a security for his soule who would not throw off his raggs of sinne to put on Christs livery of grace when Christs badge upon his shoulder shall free him from all Arrests That he shall walke up and downe and nothing shall make him afraid Secondly Consider that Heaven is a place as full of joy as ever the wildernesse was full of sorrow and trouble of this I spake before O thinke of the joy of the Saints you children of vaine pleasure you mad-men of the earth that can dance over the hole of the Aspe and put your hands on the Cockatrices den Your false and flattering joy is nothing to the reall joyes of heaven There is joy like the joy of the harvest like the joy when men divide the spoyle The yoake of their burthen is broken and the rod of the oppressour O you that love your drinking meetings and dancing dayes that you would but love heaven where you might drink new wine with your Lord Christ where you might dance in glory and make all your dayes dayes of joy and every houre an houre of pleasure Thirdly consider that there and there onely is provision for your soule Christs robes is the only cloathing that will cover the nakednesse of it his flesh is meat indeed and his bloud is drinke indeed there my friends Eate and drinke and be merry there you may have wine and milke without money or without price O spend not your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which profits not Here you may eate that which is good and let your soule delight it selfe in fatnesse Here is a Feast of fat things The fatlings are killed O come to the wedding Why should your roomes be emptie in the day of the Lords Espousals You shall bee welcome to my Masters Table Now O now Behold he stands at the doore and knocks Lord breake where thou knockest If any man will heare his voice and open the
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