I Am now to lay down some Scripture rules for to help a child of God that is cast down under the want of assurance of Gode love how to recover the sense of Gods love again Now for your help in this matter I shall proceed in two general directions 1. You are to remove those things which cause a suspension of Gods favour and love within you which did cast you down 2. You must labour to practice those things that may further you in the attainment of this comfortable sense and certain assurance of Gods love For the first Here are eight things which are to be removed which happily hath occasioned this suspicion of Gods love 1. Labour to remove natural melancholy there is such a natural sympathy between the soul and the body that a distemper in the one causeth trouble in the other It is no more wonder for a consciencious man overcome with melancholy to fear doubt c. then for a sick man to groan or a child to cry when it is beaten if there be melancholy on the body there will be trouble on the soul that is under desertion and trouble of mind in Christians it doth sometimes begin from a natural melancholy Now this must be removed in case you would recover a comfortable sense and assurance of the love of God Saith the Physitian natural melancholy hath sad effects that do attend it as fear subject to frets terrible dreams sad apprehensions why now the devil can tell when thy apprehension is disturbed and he can tell how to turn this and to make you fear your salvation the devil is a powerful spirit and when the natural temper is thus exorbitant he can make this that was a natural to become spiritual evil 2. You must remove spiritual pride Job 33. 17. that he may withdraw man from his purpose and bide pride from man If those swelling humours of pride be in thy spirit God will send a messenger of Satan to buffet thee men of proud spirits saith Preston They are exposed to sad desertions and darkned eclipses of their comforts it is usual with God when he seeth men proud and high-conceited of the measure and degree of their graces to pull down their pride he keeps from them the comfort of their own graces Pride is not onely a bane of grace but of comfort too God resists the proud the Greek word signifies That God puts himself in battel array against him Beloved God doth put himself in battel array against a proud man therefore if ever you would regain the certainty and assurance of Gods love remove pride 3. If you would regain this comfortable assurance remove dulnesse and deadnesse of heart in holy duties when the vigor and liveliness of our spirits are abated in duty the comforts of Gods spirit shall be detained little duty and lesse comfort shall go hand in hand together when the affections are dead and the heart straitned in duties evidences will be darkned and comfort will be eclipsed carelesse performances are recompenced by God with frowns not with smiles 4. Sensual joyes and delights in the Creature in the things of this world they do enervate spiritual joy the Sun when it shines on the fire doth hinder the burning of the fire When thou hast a Sun shine of comforts in this world it is a hundred to one but that thy affections have neither light nor heat comforts are heated by grace the more heat is in thy affections the more strength is in thy comforts and consolations Now sensual delights they take away the heart and when the heart is gone comfort is gone Hosea 4. 11. Whoredome and wine and new wine take away the heart To be swilling and guzling at the Cup and to be following of wantons this takes away the heart Sensual joys they are very contrary to godly joyes a man will never have joy in the Holy Ghost that is overwhelmed with sensual and vain delights in the things of this world 5. Take heed of grieving the spirit if ever you would retain the comfortable assurance of Gods love Isaiah 63. 10. But they rebelled and vexed his holy spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and fought against them If thou dost grieve his spirit in heaven he will sadden thy spirit on earth Res delicata est spiritus sanctus it a nos tract at sicut à nobis tractatur saith Tertullian The spirit of God will handle us as we handle it if you grieve Gods spirit he will grieve yours he wil not powre joy into your spirits when you but grieve his if you vex Gods spirit by resisting the holy motions of the spirit he will vex your spirits by retaining the comfortable motions of the spirit It is observable the spirit of God in Scripture it is not only called a Comforter but the Holy Ghost therefore it is in vain to believe that the spirit shall be a Comforter to you if you withstand the office of the spirit as he is the holy ghost therefore O you that grieve the spirit by resisting the holy motions of it you shall never regain the comforting work of the spirit 6. Remove all unmercifulnesse and uncompassionatenesse of spirit to others that are troubled in mind Many Christians are like a herd of Dear it is their manner that when one of the herd is wounded by the Forrester all the rest leave him and forsake him and put him away from them and let the wounded Deer shift for it self alone there are many such uncompassionate souls that if a man be in trouble of mind and have the arrows of Gods wrath sticking in the soul they run away from them and leave them many men are thus wanting tenderness and wanting bowels of compassion towards tempted and troubled souls full of censures contempt rough dealing now for this rigidnes and uncompassionatenes God doth oftentimes cause eclipses in their own souls If ever you would regain comfort pity tempted soule pity and compassionate disquieted souls and that is the way to regain your comfort 7. Remove a wantonnesse and a fearlesnesse of the Majesty and greatnesse of God if the parents dandle a child on the knee their child wanting discretion is apt to grow wanton therefore the Parents are forced sometimes by an austere earriage to prevent this wantonnesse If God should alwayes manifest smiles it would breed a contempt to God therefore God doth with a majestick Soveraignty carry himself with a seeming displeasure with frowns in his brow and all to correct that spirit of wantonnesse that is in his people The Persian Kings shunned familiarity with their Subjects and would be but twice a year seen by them lest their Subjects should contemn them if they should often see them so God doth hide himself from them lest there should be a spirit of wantonnesse growing in his people Lastly If you would not be cast down under these desertions then remove from you all worldly-mindednesse to be
v. 9. Why hast thou forgotten me why goe I mourning because of the oppession of the enemy And yet even then in this great and sad condition of trouble that was upon him did he breath out this sweet ejaculation or Soliloquie Why art thou troubled O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Therefore observe by the way that the people of God have many times to their great comfort cause in the midst of their greatest troubles and sorrows to have these divine meditations in their minds that their souls be not cast down too much under trouble Why said David notwithstanding he was in great trouble yet Why art thou cast down O my soul So you read that Paul that he did write most of his Epistles when he was under bonds in prison and trouble and yet even then was his heart filled with joy to his great comfort So David his heart was better within him at that time when he was in a Cave then at that time when he was in a Palace and though troubles were upon him yet he could then call to his soul not to be troubled within him Thirdly Davids troubles was from the Divel and from wicked men that did oppress him Wicked men opprest him and the Divel tempted him yet David chides his own heart and nothing else David did not chide at Saul nor chide at Absalom but he checks and chides his own heart Why art thou cast down O my soul Though the Divel and wicked men the one do tempt the other do oppresse as instruments of punishment for sin yet we with David are to chide our own hearts David had cause to chide at Absalom and to chide at Saul yet he doth not so but chiefly checks his own heart Why art thou east down O my soul c. Fourthly Consider what though in our translations the words are translated and rendered positively Why art thou cast down yet in the Original they are rendered actively we read it Why art thou cast down c. But in the Original it is read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why bowest or pressest thou down thy self my soul and why tumults thou against me As Arias Montanus Cur humiliasti te Cur deprimes te anima mea So Lorinus Pro. 12. 25. And the words so read they do intimate thus much that Gods own people may be cast down too much for the sense of sinne and they are most active in their own defection It is not God nor the Divel that cast thee down but Why dost thou cast down thy self to Create more trouble on thy self then either God doth inflict or the Divel tempt thee too In the words themselves there are three parrticulars to be considered First Here is a twofold distresse complained of differing gradually from each other disquiet being more then cast down cur tumultuaberis Secondly Here is a twofold duty to be performed hope in God and praise of God Thirdly Here is a twofold encouragement in these distesses he is the health of my countenance and my God Why art thou cast down O my soul Or if you read it in the active voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What dost thou cast down thy self my soul Believers are agents in their own sorrow and trouble neither God by inflicting nor the Divell in tempting doth so much trouble us as we our selves In Prov. 12. 25. Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop c. the sense of sin casteth him down in Gods presence First Casting down it is sometimes in a good sense that is when the soul is duly humbled before God for sin and for judgement as in 2 Cor. 7. 6. God that comforteth those that are cast down c. that is that are cast down in humiliation for sin under the sense of sin and miserie and in this sense David did never nor doth not here check his heart for he never checked his heart for the exercise of grace and doing his duty Secondly It is also sometimes taken in a bad sense where sorrow for sin is inordinate and more then is required and enjoyned where this is found it is not to be cherished but checked and so for this it was that David did check himself as in the text Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me These words in the explaining thereof treating on them will be of singular use to the people of God Therefore I intend to spend some time upon them I shall at this time make entrance into the first part of the text Why art thou cast down or why dest thou cast down thy self my soul Doctrine The Doctrine that I shall draw from these words is this That the Children of God though they cannot be cast off yet they may be cast down Why art thou cast down O my soul There are five particulars why Davids soul was cast down in this Psalm As first He mourneth because of his enforced absence from Gods publike worship that they could not gather together in the place where God was to be worshipped See the breathing of this good man in verse 2. of Psalm 42. my soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before him So in the 4th verse When I remember these things I poure out my soul in me for I had gone with the multitude I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy-day David was deprived of the publike worship of God and this made him mourn Secondly His soul was cast down under the sense of sinne that he had committed against God and the evil effects of sin to remember what he had done against God and he felt the sense of the wrath of God in the remembrance of sin Thirdly He lay under the eclipse and sad suspension of divine favour in the ninth verse I will say unto God My rock why hast thou forgotten me The apprehensions of the suspensions of Gods favour made Davids soul to be cast down within him because he lay under the loss of Gods love and favour and he wanted the light of Gods countenance this made him mourn Fourthly Because of the opprâ—sion and prevailing of the enemies over the people of God verse 4. Fifthly He was grieved more for sin then personal afflictions because of the reproach blasphemies and dishonour that was cast upon the name of God by other men which made him say As with a sword or with killing in my bones my enemies reproach me while they say daily to me where is thy God So likewise in the 3. verse My tears have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me where is thy God All this sheweth that he was more troubled about spiritual troubles then outward afflictions of the body blasphemie against God is as a sword in his bones when troubles on himselfe was but as a scratch in
the soul into such a frame to be cast down for sin and to have the soul humbled under the sight and sense of it Now there are three wayes that the Lord doth use for to cast down the souls of sinners and to humble them under the sight and sense of sin The first is this God doth let in a light into the understanding and sets on worke that great Officer of God in man his conscience which doth so smite the heart and convince the whole soul of the evil of his doings and makes the man to single out sin yea to single his master sin his beloved Dalilah his bosome lust that hath made him most guilty of the breach of the righteous Law and laid him most liable to the wrath of God he singles out that sin that hath been his companion all his days God doth not only make him to look upon sin in general because a general view of sin in the soul doth work in the soul a general repentance for sin but God doth by the light that he puts in the understanding and conscience single out thy sin thy dearly beloved sin and as it were bring it to thy understanding that it may understand the guilt and weight of it Therefore you read of some in their first conversion Acts 2. 37. they were guilty of many sins that they had committed I but God by setting their consciences on work did single out one sin in a special manner the sin the iniquity that they were most guilty of and that was the crucifying of the Lord of life You have it laid down in the 36. verse Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Whom ye have crucified there was the sin that came home to them to their hearts as you may read in the 37 verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts here they were taken in the sin that they were most guilty of God made their consciences to bring that in a most special manner and this troubled and pricked them at the very heart though they stood guilty of many great sins yet God laid that one great sin to their hearts that they might be humbled for that most of all So when the woman of Samaria came to Jesus Christ when he was at the Well speaking concerning her husbands he told her what was her sin he whom thou hast now is not thy husband Christ told her what her sin was in plain terms he told her shee was a harlot and shee went and told it that he told her all things that ever shee had done Christ did not tell her shee was a sinner in general but he did single out what her great sin was for which shee was most guilty and that worked upon her heart and conscience her conscience told her she understood the truth of it and this made her to be cast down for it So now if God gives thee grace to be cast down for sin under the sight and sense of it he will put a light into thy understanding and set conscience on work for to single out thy beloved sin the greatest sins thou standst guilty of thy mastercorruption that so thou maiest be humbled for it The Second way that God takes to cast a man down under the sight and sense of sin it is this God doth stir up the affections of the soul in the remembrance of those aggravations and hainous circumstances with which that sin is clothed withall You read Job 36 9. He sheweth unto men their works and their transgressions that they have exceeded He sheweth unto men their iniquities and what follows and their transgressions which have been exceeding great God doth not only shew men their sins that their sins are great but also he sheweth to men the aggravations of their sins and it is not a Transient view of the greatness of their iniquities and transgressions but he causeth them to know it he causeth them to know that their sins are clothed with hainous circumstances as that they have sinned against means and sinned against mercies and sinned against love and sinned against light and sinned against the checks of conscience for thy sins and all this to make thee to be cast down and humbled for thy sins The Third and last way that God takes for to cast a man down for sin it is this God doth put conscience into office in men not only to single out one particular master sin but also to bring to remembrance those sins that thou standst guilty of before God and to set them in thy sight and in especial manner that master sin this beloved sin and to humble thee for it and abase thee before God until that sin be mortified in thee sin must not only be seen and the affections stirred up in remembrance of those hainous circumstances of it with which it is clothed and that they are exceeding great but also conscience must keep them in remembrance until they are mortified in thee untill that sin is subdued and mortified and these are the three steps that God doth take to cast men down in the sight and sense of sin And now all you that are strangers to this work that never yet knew what this casting down for sin meant in any measure Labour to find these three particulars wrought upon thy soul that so thou maiest be cast down under the sight and sense of sin and so I have done with this doctrine concerning casting down for sin SERMON IV. Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God NOw before I come to the Second branch of the words I shall consider the Text in the Dialect or form of speech which the Psalmist here useth and then draw out some Doctrine that the words will afford You see that the form of speech here is by way of a Soliloquie which is a form of speech to himself as between two friends Why art thou cast down O my soul From which expression or form of speech take this Observation Observation That such self-conferences or Soliloquies that the Psalmist here useth are duties that believers ought to be much conversant about and ought to busie themselves much in The Psalms are full fraught with these divine Soliloquies as you may read Psal 103. verse 1 and the last Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name And verse 22. Bless the Lord O my soul And Psal 104. 1. Bless the Lord O my soul So Psal 34. v. 1. I will bless the Lord at all times So likewise Psal 146. v. 6. Praise the Lord O my soul and many places in the Psalms of his praising God All those do intimate to us those
divine Soliloquies that the people and Saints and servants of God have had in themselves to bless God See not only the divine Soliloquies here mentioned but also the works of Augustin and Bernard Gerrard Dr. Hall and others that have had divine Soliloquies between God and their own souls in secret therefore let this be your care yea make conscience of to be much in these divine Soliloquies to have much conference between God and your own souls in secret it is a duty that Christians are bound to to confer with others and this God takes notice of So also it is a duty to confer with your own souls between God and your own souls David sometimes blesseth God and sometime he checketh himself sometimes he calls to his soul to bless God and raiseth up his soul to praise God and sometimes he chideth his soul for being cast down Why art thou cast down O my soul Are you at any time troubled in mind then use this holy reasoning of this holy man Why art thou cast down O my soul Are you at any time sluggish in duty then say to thy self it is better to be the servant of God then to be the Divels drudge so draw up thy soul again to a frame sutable to the duty thou goest about and the God thou servest it is better to live in peace with God and a good conscience then to live in the service of the Divel which will bring trouble of mind and horror of conscience to thee and say by conferring with thy self with thy soul What am I what is my condition am I an elected person or am I a reprobate am I an heir of glory or an heir of hell am I a child of God or a child of wrath am I in the state of grace or in the bonds of iniquity Such conferences as these with thy own heart will be a means to awaken thy heart from the sleep of securitie to consider of its own estate this is thy duty let this be your practice to enter into a discourse with your own hearts as David did But I shall not follow this particular There is something more in the words to be considered and that is the manner how David doth speak to his own soul and how he reasoneth with his own heart and saith Why art thou cast down O my soul from this manner of speech consider this doctrine Doctrine 2 That a child of God should check his soul for and use holy reasonings against excessive castings down for sin and this I draw from the manner of the Psalmists speech he checks his own heart and reasons with his own soul concerning this particular Why art thou cast down O my soul In the handling of this doctrine there are two particulars to be considered First A child of God should check his heart for and use holy reasonings against excessive sorrow and casting down for sin Secondly To shew you in what manner you are to use these holy reasonings against your excessive casting down for sin First Why a child of God should check his heart for and use holy reasonings against inordinate and excessive casting down for sin Because First he is the chief actor and principal agent of his own dejections and he being the chief agent of his sorrow he is to lay the fault and blame on his own self I told you though the words lie to be read passively Why art thou cast down O my soul yet they are to be read actively according to the original text Arias Montanus cur humiliasti te Lormus cur deprimes te anima mea Why or what dost thou cast down thy self O my soul Therefore if thou art cast down thou art the actor and agent of thy own dejection thou dost cast down thy self therefore check thy own heart for and use holy reasonings against immoderate and excessive dejections for sin God enjoynes his people to believe in him to keep up their souls to lift up their souls to God and yet sometimes they are subject to cast down themselves and cast down their souls by immoderate and excessive casting down for sin When the Divel by his temptations doth not cast them down yet will they cast down themselves Why dost thou cast down thy self O my soul Secondly This is the ready and most effectual way to recover himself out of that dejected condition by checking his own heart for being excessively cast down holy and religious arguments with a mans own soul are prevalent arguments to work the soul out from his dejected estate which if he should let himself alone in this dejected estate he would soon plunge himself into such a condition and excessive and immoderate casting down for sin into such a gulf of misery as that he would not be able to get out again As it is good for a man to reason with his heart when he is assured of salvation so why he doubts of it There is a Why am I cast down in sorrow as well as Why am I raised up in comfort Then Secondly After what manner are the people of God to use these holy reasonings against immoderate and excessive casting down of their souls for sin Answer There are seven waies how the children of God are to check their hearts for and to use holy reasonings against excessive sorrow and casting down for sin First The children of God should reason thus with themselves after this manner O my soul I am not cast off by God everlastingly by lying low before God therefore why should I be cast down excessively for sin In Psal 94. 14. For the Lord will not cast off his people neither will he forsake his inheritance Although God doth not say I will not cast down my people yet he doth say I will not cast them off So Romans 11. 1. the Apostle he repeats the words again God hath not cast off his people and he puts a God forbid upon it in the 1 verse Hath God cast off his people God forbid The Apostle brings it in as a strong negation God hath not cast off his people whom he foreknew Therefore seeing that God doth not cast off his people Why should I be too much cast down let wicked men let reprobates that shall be eternally cast off let them be excessively cast down but let not me be cast excessively down for sin seeing I shall never be cast off though I may be cast down for a little moment according to that expression in Isa 54. 7 8. For a small moment have I forsaken thee but in great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath have I hid my face from thee in a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer This casting down for sin is but momentary a small time a little season but he will not cast off for ever Secondly Reason thus with thy own soul against thy dejections and say Jesus Christ he laid
God doth bear to them I shall reduce the Reasons into these Four Heads First It ariseth from a mans own self Secondly It commeth from God Thirdly From the Divel Fourthly It commeth from other men These may be the Four general Causes why Gods people are cast down under the want of Gods love and favour to their souls First It ariseth from a mans own self and that in these Six regards First From the prevalency of natural melancholy in a mans body The prevalency of melancholy in a man doth darken the understanding and it troubles the fancy and it doth disturbe the reason and sadden the soul and cloaths it in mourning weeds and when these meet together it must needs cast the man down and suspend the sense of Gods favour from him Melancholy it is the mother of discomfort and discontent and it is the nurse of doubts Think of that story which you read of Daniel 4. concerning Nebuchad-nezzar He did eat grass like an Oxe he knew not whether he was a beast or a man But his fancy was troubled and his understanding was darkened and his reason was gone and thus natural melancholy maketh a child of God to think that he is a child of the Divel when he is a child of God and it makes him to think he is a brat of Babylon when indeed he is a son of Sion It is no more wonder saith Baxter for a melancholy man to doubt and fear despair then it is to see a sick man groan and a child crie when he is beaten the best way to cure this belongs rather to a Physitian then to a Divine There is a natural distemper in the body is the cause of melancholy yet trouble of conscience doubtings distresse of spirit are the companions of it You may silence a melancholy man when you cannot comfort him If you abate his sadnesse by convincing arguments yet when he retires alone through the prevalency of this humour all is forgotten his comforts are but a day or two old 2. The second cause of the suspension of the favour of God it is this spiritual security and indulging and harboring in the heart any known sin there is nothing in the world that will so much hinder him of and keep the soul from the assurance of the favour of God as the harbouring in the soul any known sin for all the while David did harbour in his heart and indulge and hide his sin from God he did lose the light of Gods countenance and he lost the shining of Gods face upon his soul insomuch that he prayeth to God to restore unto him the joy of his salvation It is true the salvation of David was not lost but the joyes of his salvation the comforts and consolation that he formerly enjoyed that was lost and for this he begs of God for to restore unto him Psal 51. 12. restore unto me the joyes of thy salvation Although that sin cannot make a child of God to lose salvation it self yet sin may cause God to suspend the comforts and the wonted joyes of his salvation I may say concerning this case as Philosophers say of Earth-quakes When the wind is in the Air spread abroad and diffused in the Air then it doth not throw down either hill or mountain but when the wind is gathered together and lies in the caverns of the Earth then it causeth Earth-quakes and over-turns all that is about it so while that sin is not kept close in the soul and while it is not indulged there and whiles it is not hid and concealed but confessed and repented of and prayed against it doth not much hurt but when that sin is indulged and kept close and not repented of nor prayed against but indulged in the soul this will make a heart-quake and a conscience-quake and will fill thy heart with horror and amazement Psal 32. 3. When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day When a man doth conceal his sin it troubles his soul and woundeth his heart and breaketh his peace if you will break Gods Law it is but just and righteous with God to break your peace God will not encourage any of his people by giving them peace and comforts and mercies in any sinful course and however the Antinomians hold us in hand and would make us believe that our comforts have no dependance on our sinful actions whereas God teacheth us no such thing saith the Prophet Isaiah The work of Righteousness that is peace and the end thereof is quietness and assurance for ever Here you see that comfort and consolation and joy and peace and assurance is annexed to the works of Righteousness when as discomforts and discouragements are annexed unto sin if you break Gods Law God will break your peace God will break your heart the same promises of peace cannot be made to the godly and wicked for they have promises of divine peace the other have not Ezek. 14. 4. Therefore speak unto them and say unto them Thus saith the Lord God Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquities before his face and cometh to the Prophet I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols When a man shall come to the Prophets to the Ministers of God and shall make great complaint of his inward trouble in his soul and much cast down within himself and yet in the mean time keep and harbour known sins upon his own heart God hath said he shall not answer that man that he might give him comfort but saith God in the 5. v. Thus saith the Lord repent and turn your selves from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations and then God will answer him but those that will not turn from their evil wayes God will answer such a man with rebuke and God will set his face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb and cut him off he that keeps sin in his heart and indulges sin there there shall be no peace in his conscience nor serenity nor quietness of soul he shall not in joy the smiles of Gods face the light of Gods countenance but the sense of his wrath much anguish and sorrow and perplexity of mind for his sin The third cause of the souls suspension and want of Gods favour it is the defectiveness of the people of God in the exercising of their graces little grace shall have but little evidence and if you are not abundant in the exercise of grace you will not have the comfort of grace but in a weak measure Ioh. 14. 21. He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him You know that all the stars in the Firmament
a familiar spirit that I may enquire of her And his servants said unto him Behold there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor c. What doth he doe in his afflictions why he goeth to a Witch and useth sinful means and all to try what he might doe to prevent the prevailing of the Philistins over him O thou that darest venture on any sinful shift to avoid any affliction why this is an Argument that thou art inordinately disquieted under afflictions Lastly A man is then excessively disquieted under afflictions when he is so troubled for bodily afflictions that he doth distemper his own body You shall read this of Job he was so troubled that his spirits were dried up and his bones they were consumed and his strength was wasted And thus you read in the 38. Psalme of David Thine arrows sticke fast in me and thine hand presseth me sore What follows There is no soundness in my flesh Here the Psalmist did so grieve for Gods hand upon him as to weaken his own body and consume his strength this then is an Argument that sorrow is too inordinate when disquiet and trouble of mind for afflictions doth distemper the body Thus I have done with the third cause of Soul-disquieting that is for outward afflictions SERMON XIII Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God I Am on the second part of David's trouble In general I shewed you what are these causes for which the souls of Gods people are troubled and disquieted 1. For the Prosperity of the wicked 2. For the Calamities of the Church 3. For the want of the Assurance of Gods love 4. For the Personal afflictions of the body I now come to the Fourth Fourthly Godly men are disquieted in their soules because of guilt of sin on the conscience the guilt and the power of sin on the conscience of all things in the World doth trouble the soul of a godly man For the handling of this Particular there are several Particulars to be considered First I shall shew you how it appears Gods people are disquieted in conscience for sin Secondly In what seasons and cases the People of God may be most troubled and cast down for sin Thirdly The difference between that sorrow and disquietness of soul of those that are godly and the disquietness of soul of those that are ungodly and reprobate men Fourthly How it comes to pass they are so much disquieted for sins Fifthly When may Gods people be said to be too much disquieted for sin Sixthly If the godly be disquieted so much What is the reason the wicked are not disquieted at all First How it doth appear that the souls of Gods people are apt for to be disquiet in their souls under the guilt of sin And first I shall instance it in David Psal 38. 3. There is no peace in my bones by reason of my sins that is I am exceeding troubled Psal 6. 2. Have mercy on me for my bones are vexed Now the Scripture by a trouble in his bones means an exceeding great measure of trouble that is I am in so great and sore troubles that it doth even vex my soul and trouble my body So likewise again in Lament 1. 13. From above he hath sent fire into my bones c. Now when a man is in so great trouble of spirit and so afflicted in body by reason of sin that there is no quietness in his bones when he is in so great affliction for sin to disturbe soul and body this is immoderate sorrow and too much disquietness So the Psalmist cries out in Psal 51. 8. Make me to hear the voice of joy and gladness that so the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice that is as if he said I have lost by reason of my sin the light of thy face and I have broken my peace Now let the light of thy countenance come into my soul and let the peace of conscience come to my soul which I have lost let this come to me again So again the Psalmist saith I go mourning all the day by reason of my sin and I am sorely troubled for I roar because of the troubles of my heart Psal 38. 6. 8. So again in Psal 77 3. When I remembred God I was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak So in Psal 88. 3. It is spoken of Heman My soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave And in verse 7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves And so in verse 16. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me thy terrors have cut me off See how this man doth multiply his complaints by reason of his sore troubles and his great afflictions that lay upon his body and spirit So likewise you read of Job's troubles how he was sorely disquieted by reason of his personal troubles Job 23. Job was troubled and affraid of God and his presence was terrible to him And he complaineth that the Almighty troubled him All which doth make it to appear that the people of God are apt to be disquieted for their troubles and sins Secondly In what seasons is it that the people of God are most apt for to be troubled and disquieted for sin A man is not alwaies disquieted and troubled for the guilt of sin but there are some special seasons wherein God doth let their consciences to be more troubled and disquieted for sin then ordinary Now there are Seven special Seasons wherein conscience is most troubled and disquieted for sin First Case is Upon the consideration of the threatning and denunciation of some great judgement The apprehending of some great judgement doth bring the guilt of sin to remembrance and then conscience is sorely troubled And thus we read of wicked men that they are troubled in conscience in 1 Kings 21. 27 28 when it was told Ahab that he should be destroyed then guilt of sin came to mind and conscience was troubled and his mind perplext and then be went and humbled himself And it came to passe when Ahab heard those words that he rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh and lay in sackcloth and went softly When he heard of the denunciation of judgement threatned by the Prophet then he went and humbled himself before the Lord. So likewise Jehoshaphat and Hezekia's hearts and consciences were troubled at such a time as this was Secondly a second Case is When the Lord doth lay them under some great affliction when it is not nigh them but when it is already upon them An instance you have of Manasseh 2 Chron. 33. 10 11 12. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people but they would not answer nor hearken
ver 2. From the end of the Earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is over whelmed lead me unto the rock that is higher then I. This is the carriage and behaviour of ungodly men Again Wicked men look more after comfort then after duty if God give them ease and peace they never care for grace but God's people look after duty more then comfort in disquiet of conscience when the Converts were troubled in mind they cry'd not after comfort but after duty they cry'd Men and Brethren What shall we doe what shall we doe to be saved Thus I have dispatched to you the third Querie the Differences in these fourteen Particulars between the disquiet of soul for sin that may be found in wicked men that Evangelical holy trouble of soul for sin which is found in the godly The fourth Querie is But why are God's people so much disquieted for sin that they are more troubled for sin then they are comforted in the sight of their graces sin shall damn their souls Why then doth sin so much disquiet their consciences There are five Reasons 1. It ariseth partly from that softness of heart that tenderness of Conscience that is implanted in God's people by God the eye it is troubled at a mote when the hand is not troubled at a greater thing the eye is the tenderest part of the body Why beloved God's people they have tender consciences sin on their consciences is as a mote in their eye that greatly troubles them It is worth your notice that as God doth make a promise that he will keep his people as the apple of his eye Deut. 32. 10. He found him in the desart land and in a waste bowling wilderness he led him about he instructed him he kept him as the Apple of his eye So Gods people are said to keep his law as the apple of their eye Prov. 7. 2. Keep my Commandements and live and my Law as the apple of thy eye Beloved a blow on the eye offends the eye you must keep the Law as the Apple of the eye the apple of the eye is the tenderest part of the eye one breach of the Law by sin will as much disquiet thee as a blow on thine eye if thou keepest the Law as the apple of thine eye A second cause or reason is this God's people are troubled for sin because God's people seeing themselves that they are more in sinning against God then they are in obeying God therefore sin troubles them and disquiets them more grace is as the gleaning of the Vintage and sin is as the full harvest Job 15. 16. How much more abominable filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water God's people see their sins like Mountains and their graces like Mole-hils my lusts burn like a flame but my graces like a glowing coal my sins at full tide but my graces at a low ebb that makes God's people to be so much troubled for sin disquiet of soul is more incident to the godly as the moth is ordinarily in the finest Cloth and the worm in the Rose sooner then the Briar A third Reason is this Because sin is more visible and manifest to the soul then their graces are therefore they are more troubled for sin You read in Galatians 5. 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred â—â—riance emulations wrath strife c. But when the Apostle gives you the list of the graces of the Spirit he doth not say that the fruits of the Spirit are manifest but the fruits of the flesh are manifest to shew as one observes well that a man may more easily discern and have a sight of his sin then a godly man can have in the sight of his grace A fourth Reason is drawn from a Consideration that Christ's soul was troubled for sin Christ's soul was troubled for sin as imputed to him though he had no sin inherent in him Now is my soul troubled saith Christ Christ did not only suffer in his body upon the Crosse but likewise in his soul in the Garden John 12. 9. His soul was not troubled for his own sin for there was no guile found in his mouth but it was for our sins he was troubled Now Beloved O! Christ was troubled for thy wounds for thy sins and this makes a godly man reflect shall Christ's soul be troubled for my sin that was imputed to him and shall not I be troubled for sin that is inherent in me A fifth Reason is this That the People of God might taste and see the evil and the bitternesse of sin the more in the course of their lives and may be more put in awe to commit sin for time to come this is a reason that Solomon gives why godly men are troubled in mind for sin Eccles 7. 25 26. I applied mine heart to know and to search and to seek out wisedom and the reason of things and to know the wickednesse of folly even of foolishness and madness And I find more bitter then death the woman whose heart is snares and nets That is to know the evil of sin folly and madnesse is meant sin in Solomon's Dialect and saith he I find it to be more bitter then death Solomon by experience speaks this I find sin to be worse to me then death Beloved this is God's end why he will make a man to find out the wickednesse of sin to be troubled in conscience for sin is that thou mightest find sin to be more bitter to thee then death that so thou mightest avoid those sins and shun them for which thou hast smarted so much And thus I have finished the fourth Quaery SERMON XV. Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God Question 5 A Fifth Quaery in order is this When may God's people be said to be excessively or too much disquieted in soul for sin There are seven particulars to resolve this four of them I shall gather from one Psalm Psal 77. 2 3 4. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my sore ran in the night and ceased not my soul refused to be comforted I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest my eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak Here are four discoveries laid down when a man's disquiet and trouble of soul for sin is immoderate and excessive First When a man is so disquieted under the guilt of sin that he is not only unable to receive comfort but he is unwilling to receive that comfort that belongs to him v. 2. my soul refused to be comforted This was his sin I prove it by the 10. v. And I said This is mine infirmity It was an infirmity in Asaph
and to have nothing for to trouble them all their days A second Reason is this It proceeds from that grosse ignorance that is in a wicked man's mind or understanding whereby he doth not see the evill nature of sin and the aggravation of it a blind mind and a dumb conscience they both go hand in hand together if the understanding of a man wants an eye to see the evill of a sin distinctly the conscience will want a hand to smite for sin effectually if sin were more in mens eyes sorrow for sin would be more in mens hearts It is worth your notice the comparing of two Scriptures together Psal 51. 3. I acknowledged my transgression and my sin is ever before me And Psal 38. 17. For I am ready to halt and my sorrow is ever before me How came the Psalmist to have sorrow for sin continually but by having the fight of sin continually he had the sight of sin continually before him he had then the sorrow of sin before him it is the sight of sin that is an inlet to sorrow and trouble of mind for sin What is the Reason that a man that seeth a Lion in the Wildernesse it maketh him affraid but if that man seeth a Lion painted on the wall he is not troubled the reason is because he knows the Lion in the Wildernesse is of a sierce and cruel nature therefore fears that but he knows no such evil in a painted Lion therefore he is not troubled at that Beloved if wicked men could look upon sin as a loose Lion in the Wildernesse that would fly in their faces why the sight of sin would make them affraid then but they look upon sin as a painted Lion they do not see sin to be so odious and aggravated this is the great cause why men are so little disquieted in soul under the guilt of sin Thirdly It proceeds from a judicial hardnesse in the heart and from a cauterizednesse to scarednesse in the conscience Rom. 2. 5. But after thy hard and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgements of God To let you know that it is from hardnesse of heart and scarednesse of conscience that a man cannot repent cannot confesse and be troubled for the evils he hath done and the guilt he lies under scared flesh is sensible of no touch with a Pin it is your raw flesh that is sensible mens consciences are cauterized and scared that makes that sin is not as a sword in the flesh Fourthly It proceeds from a continued custome in a course of sin Custome in sin doth harden the heart and doth fear the conscience it is in this case as with a man when he first comes to be an Apprentice to an Artificer or Handy-crafts-man he comes with a tender hand to the work and when he begins to work with hard Instruments he cannot work but he gauls his hand and blisters his hand but when he hath been many years at work by continual labour at the work his hand doth then harden that so he can use it and never blister his hand It is just thus with a sinner before a man be accustomed to an evil way conscience is tender and full of remorse I but a continued custome and making a trade of sin it doth make the conscience to be hard and brawny and to feel nothing as in a Smith's house a Dog that comes newly in cannot endure the fiery sparks to fly about his ears but when the Dog is used to it he sleeps quietly Let wicked men be long used to sin to the Divels work-house to be slaves and vassals to sin the sparks of Hell fire may fly about their ears and this never troubles them and all this ariseth from a continued custome in a course of evil The fifth Cause is that a wicked man is not disquieted for sin it ariseth from this From a wicked man's stifling the checks and ebukes of his own conscience as quenching the spirit in its holy motions to doe good doth cause God to withdraw the holy motions of his Spirit So stifling the conscience it provokes God that conscience shall not trouble thee more but shall be given up to a sottish stupidity and to a senseless stupidity of conscience Sixthly It ariseth from a mistake and a misapprehension that wicked men maintain that trouble of conscience for sin it is an utter enemy to all worldly joy and if a man comes once to be troubled in conscience for sin he shall never have a merry day more but must hang down his head in penfiveness and lead a melancholy sad life Beloved wicked mens vailing holy disquiet with these prejudices is a special reason why they are no more troubled for sin then they are this is hinted to us in the saying of Solomon Eccles 7. 4. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools in the house of mirth The wicked are affraid to be in the house of mourning to mourn and grieve for evils they have done lest they should never have glad and comfortable days in the World Thus the Papists did entertain this prejudice against the Protestant religion that spiritus Calvinianus est spiritus melancholicus Beloved the way to have a well composed and ordered joy and comfort in the World is to have a gracious sorrow and an Evangelical grief for the evils thou hast done in the World Seventhly It proceeds from a groundless and a presumptuous perswasion that wicked men have of pardoning grace tush saith a wicked man if I have hopes of Heaven when I die what need sin trouble me I hope it shall not damn my soul and therefore it shall not disquiet me I will not lay sin to my heart for God will not lay sin to my charge I shall go to Heaven when I die what need I break my peace while I live This was the great reason of those that were no more troubled for sin Deut. 29. 19. And it come to pass when he heard the words of this curse that he blessed himself in his heart and said I shall have peace though I walk in the imaginations of my heart God doth not bless them but they will bless themselves they presume of mercy and they presume of Heaven they will presume of blessing why this makes them that they are not troubled for adding drunkenness to thirst they can add sin to sin but not add sorrow to sorrow for sin The eight Cause is this Men contenting themselves under a daubing and a flattering Ministry Men that under pretence of preaching free-grace the love of God and the merits of Christ all their Sermons are comfortable strains when indeed they are but the making the Way to Heaven wider then God makes it This reason is given by God himself Isa 8. 11. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should