weare away the 〈◊〉 that stuck in his heart and therefore fondly conceited he could make a 〈◊〉 to beare the weight that should befal that he might possess and injoy the pleasures and content his 〈◊〉 courses did promise to his carnall heart But he finds it otherwise his heart say les him under pressure of one sin Psal. 130 3. If thou shouldest mark what is done amis Lord who should 〈◊〉 it An ignorant soul settled in his secure condition out of self deluding pride of his own spirit would 〈◊〉 that he could abide the misery and so the danger that might accrew to him by his distemper and so is fearless to maintain it But now he findes he is not able to abide that which his sin doth bring let him put the best of al his abilities together to emprovement 〈◊〉 14. can thy heart endure c. the time was they thought their hearts could endure the frollick Epicure and flinty hearted sinner he wonders at he feebleness of the distressed and broken-hearted that they should be such children persons of such feeble and milksop dispositions to sink at a Sermon and be troubled at the words of a Preacher tush his Conscience is cannon proof he can heare and bear al and yet pleal 〈◊〉 and bless himself in the pursuit of his lusts as before times Oh thou 〈◊〉 do so while men deal with thee thou mayest avoyd their blow or make an escape out of their hands but when God shal deal with thee in that day when thou fallest into the hands of the living God Hebr. 10. who lives to torment the to eternity what wilt thoudo The shadow and appearance of the hand-writing shook Belshazzars heart when he was quaffing in his cups in the ruff of his riot what would the stroke of that hand have done and this hand now the 〈◊〉 finds and finds himself absolutely unable to 〈◊〉 the evil of 〈◊〉 sin and therefore concludes it absolutely 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 of it whatever it cost him He knowes now by proof this evil to be such as that no other can equal it the evil such as no contrary good in this world can countervail it And therefore he sees reason and chooseth never to have any good in this world rather than to have his sin to part withal rather than not part with this or be plagued with it Rather undergo al evils and suffer the utmost extremity 〈◊〉 suffer his sin to remain with him Math 16. 26. What wil it profit a man to gain the whol world and to Ioose his soul or what shal a man give in exchange for his soul. The broken in heart he sees now by proof also the cursed combination that is amongst corruptions a league 〈◊〉 lusts if any corruption rule in the heart it makes a man a slave to what ever distemper presents it self unto the soul In a word He that wil keep 〈◊〉 sin he keeps himself under the power of al corruptions he keeps off the power of al the means of grace and good for working upon or prevailing with the soul for its 〈◊〉 wolfare The keeping of one sin keeps possession for Satan and his right unto the soul and under the Allegiance of all the accursed lusts that either can come from without or arise from within one 〈◊〉 the Soveraignty but he is a slave to al as special occasion may be offered he wil serve any 〈◊〉 that he may suit the beloved distemper of his heart 〈◊〉 Tim. 2. last the 〈◊〉 rakes them captive according to his wil. and therefore its 〈◊〉 of the thorny 〈◊〉 in that the nick of 〈◊〉 they fel away 〈◊〉 8. 15. Whither sel it Nathely it gave 〈◊〉 to whatover either error in opinion or 〈◊〉 in practice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or satisfyed the 〈◊〉 desire of the soul. He that misseth the right way be is for any by way that comes next in view a City that is under the command of the chief Captain they must be subject to the out rage of any or al of his 〈◊〉 or underlings that wil but execute his wil and attend his tyrannous commands so it is in the soul if one lust rule it it s a salve unto what ever distemper may be serviceable and seem to give content to that they went as they were led 1 Cor. 12. 1. 2. The heart pierced with this through sorrow perceives also by woful experience that the keeping of one corruption keeps off the power of any ordinance that it cannot work kindly or 〈◊〉 effectually for any spiritual good it way 〈◊〉 the work of an ordinance The heady and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would have a King and they would hear no counsel nor yet take the savorest argument into Consideration that did concern their peace and prosperous proceeding in their way 1 Sam. 8. 18. the 〈◊〉 Idolaters run madding after their Idols they cast off al the advice of the Prophet with scorn contempt Jer. 44. 16. As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we wil not hearken to thee Nay when they are set upon is they profess plainly there is no hope but we wil walk every one after the vanity of his own imaginations Jer. 18. 12. so that the sinner now 〈◊〉 and resolves either he must part withal or els for ever be deprived of al good and be a slave to al sin TRYAL We may hence gain undoubted evidence whether ever our hearts were soundly soaked in this Godly sorrow for sin 〈◊〉 or no. Contrition if it be of the right stamp it hath a constraining power with it to force the heart against corruption It silenceth al shifts puts by and puts off al false pleas scatters al sluggish pretences that are made in behalf of our distempers 〈◊〉 a word it casts the ballance against al carnal reasons that are 〈◊〉 and stirring and usually cast in by Satan and our sensual disposition to keep us in our former estate and to procure some if not toleration yet mitigation in our 〈◊〉 against our 〈◊〉 It layes and leaves a pressing 〈◊〉 upon the soul that overbears what ever may come on the contrary part to plead for any connivence for any sin in any kind As we say in the Proverb there is no reasoning against sence a man hath no patience to hear words 〈◊〉 or appearances which are against a mans feeling experience If any stander by should perswade a man the potion is pleasant when a man 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 and his stomach 〈◊〉 it or that the fire is cold when he finds it 〈◊〉 and burn he can hardly give him the hearing but disdains him an answer say what you wil I regard not what you say shal not I trust mine eyes or so far befool my self as to go against mine own feeling I pass not that you speak in that behalf So it is with a broken hearted sinner what ever Satan shal suggest his carnal friends and companions counsel his deceitful
Christ 〈◊〉 Purchased to himself for if he could he 〈◊〉 do it some of these wayes Either by force we must take it rush by 〈◊〉 into the right and possession of the Lord Jesus 〈◊〉 wrest by strong hand everlasting happiness from 〈◊〉 whether he will or no. But that 's impossible 〈◊〉 what is the clay to the Potter So the Prophet ex presseth the difference the interogation shewes 〈◊〉 impossibilitie of the opposition they may 〈◊〉 with his will but they cannot cross it 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Who hath resisted his will and therefore the Lord 〈◊〉 the Vineyard determines it by his absolute good 〈◊〉 sure Mat. 20. 14 15. I will give to this last 〈◊〉 thee may I not do what I will with my own As by force we cannot take it So by justice we 〈◊〉 not challenge it or claim any interest therein for 〈◊〉 thing we have or do Nothing we have can 〈◊〉 it nothing we can do can deserve it at the hands 〈◊〉 Christ. For the conclusion is firm When we 〈◊〉 done all we can we are 〈◊〉 Servants 〈◊〉 have done no more than we should Luke 17. 〈◊〉 Nay we do much that we should not do Psal. 〈◊〉 3. If 〈◊〉 shouldest strictly mark what is done 〈◊〉 misse Lord who could abide it Wee of our selves are not capable of this 〈◊〉 provided and freely offred to us John 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shined in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the darkness 〈◊〉 ded it not John 14. 17. I will send the Spirit whom the World cannot receive 1 Cor. 2. 14. The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit neither can he receive them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therfore our Saviour complaìns that his word found no place in them all the room was taken up already as our Saviour when he came into the World so when 〈◊〉 comes into mens hearts yea if a naturall man might 〈◊〉 Heaven for the taking if it were put into his hand 〈◊〉 were not able to hold it So the young man when he 〈◊〉 as free an offer and as fair terms as ever were 〈◊〉 to any Go and sell all that thou hast come 〈◊〉 me and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven it 〈◊〉 said he went away sorrowfull he would none of the Kingdome of Heaven upon those terms he neither 〈◊〉 nor could receive it A man would not be made capable he would not 〈◊〉 God enable him to receive that grace which being 〈◊〉 would take away those distempers which do 〈◊〉 take place in him Hence comes al those quarrels 〈◊〉 that contention between the heart and the word 〈◊〉 men are not able to bear or hear the blessed truth 〈◊〉 God that it should reveal or remove their 〈◊〉 from them The soul saith to the word as he did 〈◊〉 thou found me O mine enemy The carnall 〈◊〉 is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 7. So Augustine consessed that when 〈◊〉 prayed against his lusts he secretly wished that 〈◊〉 would not hear his prayer It dasheth the vain imagination of a company of 〈◊〉 ignorant creatures whom Satan carries 〈◊〉 down to Hell by a false conceit of their 〈◊〉 to compass and contrive their own spirituall 〈◊〉 according to their own humor They put 〈◊〉 opportunities slight al offers of life and means 〈◊〉 grace proceed fearlesly in the pursuit of any 〈◊〉 what ever best suits their own carnal 〈◊〉 presuming vainly of their own power to help as they list and like best when and 〈◊〉 they will Tell them of the 〈◊〉 of the work shortness of their time uncertainty of their lives how 〈◊〉 and irrecoverable their hazard and loss will be and therefore they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and take greedily each opportunity that is presented unto them They 〈◊〉 their retreat hither and here they 〈◊〉 themselves against all fears that might surprize terrors that might take hold upon them threatnings of the 〈◊〉 which might shake their hearts in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They have found a nearer way and 〈◊〉 would not put themselves to unnecessary 〈◊〉 though they begin late they can do 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bour and much 〈◊〉 and yet do it well what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out his dayes in melancholly 〈◊〉 sink his heart in sadness and discouragement 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 of her present content and delight and 〈◊〉 themselves more miserable than they need when 〈◊〉 years grow on and their eyes grow dim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strength 〈◊〉 them then they will cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seek pardon and repent of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christ and then 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus they conceive 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either to 〈◊〉 mercy or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 or take eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salvation as they list True they cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor are they able to purchase it but 〈◊〉 hath 〈◊〉 rited eternal Life and God so freely 〈◊〉 it to 〈◊〉 man that wil they put it beyond 〈◊〉 peradventures 〈◊〉 make no doubt of it but to make 〈◊〉 their own as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And by this selfdeceiying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men suddenly drop down to destruction 〈◊〉 they do indeed 〈◊〉 where they are and what 〈◊〉 do But what a desperate folly is this so to 〈◊〉 mans soul as to put the weight of eternal Life and Salvation and al the hopes thou hast meerly upon 〈◊〉 so that according to the course thou hast plotted it 's utterly impossible thou shouldest 〈◊〉 of any good For First thou knowest not whether thou shalt live it is 〈◊〉 in thy hand to maintaine thy own natural life for 〈◊〉 what is our life a bubble a flower a shaddow 〈◊〉 bubble breaks and the flower fades and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 away thou art not certain thou shalt live til 〈◊〉 evening or if thou doest how doest thou know 〈◊〉 shalt have ability to seek to the Lord for mercy 〈◊〉 thy brain is grown weak not able to remember or 〈◊〉 the things belonging to thy peace and when 〈◊〉 is grown 〈◊〉 weak it 's not able to grapple with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the daies of sorrow and sickness are 〈◊〉 upon thee and thou sayest I have no pleasure in 〈◊〉 Imagine God give thee life and thou have ability 〈◊〉 nature about thee yet who knows whether ever God wil give thee a heart to look for mercy Luke 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is said one of the Theeves reviled Christ when 〈◊〉 was to die he fell a railing afresh upon our Saviour 〈◊〉 saying if thou be the Christ save thy self 〈◊〉 us One would have thought the place of 〈◊〉 and the gastly looks of Death now presented 〈◊〉 his eyes might have put other words into his 〈◊〉 other thoughts into his mind but he could 〈◊〉 leave his life than his blasphemy So a 〈◊〉 going to dye a Minister coming to him stirred 〈◊〉 up to cry to the Lord and to look to Heaven for 〈◊〉 he professed though he was then going to 〈◊〉 Gallows that he would not do it O saies he I 〈◊〉
crew the lusts with whom he 〈◊〉 been in league see that he is got out of prison 〈◊〉 they again set upon him to see if by any means 〈◊〉 can bring him to their bent to embrace the old 〈◊〉 waies of ungodliness Tush saies carnal Reason the worst is past the danger is over why should he slay himself with needless sorrow and 〈◊〉 smoak away his daies in desperate 〈◊〉 and make himself miserable in laying more burden upon himself than God requires or Reason allows If the Lord in his Providence hath 〈◊〉 him of his inconveniences why should he ad 〈◊〉 them without need and without profit let him therefore refresh himsélf with those former 〈◊〉 and shake off those heavy damps which are indeed the death of the soul the ruine of his 〈◊〉 and himself also in the issue In conclusion the heart begins to recoil back again to the former courses to 〈◊〉 after those former lusts as ancient Lovers to parley with them to give entertainment to them 〈◊〉 so to be overcome by them So that now he is 〈◊〉 deeply endeared to them as ever follows them as eagerly and takes as much contentment in them as 〈◊〉 do in their ancient play fellows and 〈◊〉 when they have been long parted 'Till 〈◊〉 laies the last hook upon him and rends him al in pieces As it forewarned him of sin that it might not 〈◊〉 committed and accused him for sin when it 〈◊〉 committed so now it becomes an Executioner 〈◊〉 the final Doom and Judgment which belongs 〈◊〉 him because against all means of redress he 〈◊〉 continues in his sin so that now Conscience 〈◊〉 not present him before the Tribunal of the Lord 〈◊〉 tryal or accusation for that is over but as one 〈◊〉 is convicted and condemned he drags him to 〈◊〉 1 John 3. 20. If our hearts condemn 〈◊〉 God is greater than our hearts Prov. 29. 1. 〈◊〉 that being often admonished hardens his heart 〈◊〉 shall perish without Remedy thou art the man 〈◊〉 is thy condition this will be thy condemnation 〈◊〉 hast been often admonished 〈◊〉 such a time 〈◊〉 such a time by a 〈◊〉 a Friend a Minister 〈◊〉 did thy heart rise with 〈◊〉 and indignation 〈◊〉 not able to abide the man nor to undergo the 〈◊〉 nition therefore thou 〈◊〉 perish 〈◊〉 there is 〈◊〉 Remedy with that Conscience delivers him up 〈◊〉 the hands of the tormentors take him ye 〈◊〉 spirits depart from hence to thy grave and 〈◊〉 thence to the place of Execution He would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his evil let him perish in it he would not 〈◊〉 reformed let him be for ever accursed So that 〈◊〉 sinner conceives himself past hope and help looks 〈◊〉 very hour and moment to be turned off the 〈◊〉 For as a man arrested for one debt may be a 〈◊〉 some few pounds many thousands are presently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon him al Creditors come in with Bill after 〈◊〉 so that as a man utterly undone lie he may and 〈◊〉 he must but to be delivered he cannot once look So the 〈◊〉 being under the arrest of Conscience for the transgression of the Law the Gospel now comes in upon the sinner his Bill comes in fresh upon him he is arrested at the suit of Patience which 〈◊〉 hath abused of Mercy which he hath sleighted long Sufferance which he hath perverted they al 〈◊〉 for Justice Justice Lord against this sinful 〈◊〉 So that the sinner conceives himself in the 〈◊〉 of the Devil really and irrecoverably in Hell Lo saies the sinner The Devil the Devil there he is he is come for me When he lies panting upon his sick-bed if he do but close his eyes together to sleep his dreams 〈◊〉 him his thoughts 〈◊〉 him and he awakens gastered and distracted as though he were posting down to the pit he 〈◊〉 up and Raves Why go then I must go His Friends pitty him weep over him and endeavor to 〈◊〉 him Why you are in your bed and amongst your dear Friends Whither wil you go I must go 〈◊〉 Hell Satan is sent from God to fetch me Oh my stubbornness my carelesness my contempt of the Lord and his Truth hath justly brought me to this Why but there is yet Grace and Mercy Oh! it had been happy for me I had never had the offer of Grace and Mercy Its Mercy that I have rejected and Grace that I have opposed and cast al the compassions of the Lord behind my back to follow my 〈◊〉 Courses And with what face can I beg Mercy who have abused it crave Grace who have opposed 〈◊〉 He cannot be saved that Mercy cannot but 〈◊〉 and Mercy should be unmerciful to its 〈◊〉 if 〈◊〉 should not cast away him that hath cast away it But do you now judge so and would you now do so as formerly you have conceived the greatest 〈◊〉 in your sinful distempers pleased your self in your pride and loosness and vanities taken content in your Corruptions in casting away the holy Commands of God Would you give your self the like Liberty Or can you take the 〈◊〉 Comfort in the same wayes now Oh no I now see how sin hath deceived me and mine own corrupt heart hath couzened my self that which was my pleasure and delight is now my plague my poyson but would you be content to part with these and take Grace and Mercy in the room of them Oh that I might but there is no reason that I should expect it 〈◊〉 God should do it Why if you would have mercy God will shew you mercy Then the Lord give me a Will and give me Mercy and give me Grace whether I wil or no it would be better with me then than now Hos. 2. 8. By this time the Heart and Corruption are almost pulled asunder therefore the last Cord is this The Lord by the hand of his Almighty Spirit 〈◊〉 pluck it quite asunder that the Will of the sinner may never soulder again with his Corruption nor suit any 〈◊〉 with them It s the same power that raised Christ from the dead Eph. 1. 19. It s the same power that raiseth the dead to life Joh. 5. 25. The dead shal hear the voice of the Son of God and those that do hear shal live Yea the Lord is said to Create lips to speak Peace Isa. 57. 19. He puts forth a creating power when he wil lead and heal the sinner The Lord Christ commands sin as somtimes Satan Come out of him thou unclean spirit and trouble him no more That which al the Disciples did not could not Christ did there in the possession bodily so here spiritually How this holy kind of Violence may best be discerned I shal Answer to this in several CONCLUSIONS The Will of a man is in it self and in its own nature a capable subject of Sin and Grace I say Look at it as in its own Nature considered both these in a right order and according to a rule of right 〈◊〉 may be in it
will 92 It discovers two dangerous mistakes about the work of Application  1 When a man catcheth at the general offer of mercy and Christ without getting a special title thereunto  2 When a man takes hold of Christ from self-love for self-ends 93 See the folly and madness of men who are unwilling to be made happy  See the Justice of God in the destruction of such as will not have Christ.  〈◊〉 The manner and Order how this 〈◊〉 good made ours  The soul for whom Christ hath purchased  1 Is made capable of it  2 Hath a right unto it 〈◊〉 3 Is estated in it 〈◊〉 4 Hath liberty to use all as it 's own  Uses five hence  Admiration at the riches and freeness of Gods grace in Christ. 95 He works that in all his which he requires of them  2 Humiliation in the sight of our own vileness 〈◊〉 unworthiness 〈◊〉 3 Encouragement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hearts of the 〈◊〉 sinners sinking under 〈◊〉 apprehension of their own  1 〈◊〉 not able to reach this work  2 Crossness to it and 〈◊〉 against it  4 Direction shewing the 〈◊〉 way how to set 〈◊〉 the work of Application  1 Look at Christ first all our good being laid up 〈◊〉 him  2 Look at all Graces either as leading to Christ 〈◊〉 coming from him  3 When we would have our Graces acted 〈◊〉 to them but to Christ as the Author and 〈◊〉 of all 〈◊〉 5 Exhortation to the Faithful  1 Make sure keep sure your Evidences for Christ.  2 Challenge and make use of all the good things 〈◊〉 Christ.  3 Grow rich upon the revenues of the Gospel  III. The Causes of Application 〈◊〉 1 The Principal Cause is 〈◊〉 himself  1 The 〈◊〉 is satisfied by Christ.  2 Christ as Mediator and Head of the 〈◊〉 Where that of Christ from whence 〈◊〉 issues is the Resurrection of Christ 〈◊〉 Use Hence distressed sinners should look to the 〈◊〉 surrection of Christ.  3. The Spirit sent from the Father and the 〈◊〉 make this Application  2 That Power by which the Spirit works in 〈◊〉 tion is an Almighty power 〈◊〉  Rea on s two 〈◊〉 Because  1 Of that Hellish opposition in us against it  2 That good that is to be communicated is a 〈◊〉 natural good  The Instrumental Causes are those means which the Lord is pleased to appoint and 〈◊〉 viz. The Word in the Ministry of it 133 1 The Power resideth in Christ and his 〈◊〉  2 From thence it is in the Word  3 From thence to the Administration thereof by the 〈◊〉  〈◊〉 four hence  Information  1 The Work of Application is not wrought by moral 〈◊〉  2 It is 〈◊〉 136 Tryal whether we have found the impression of Gods Power by the means  Support unto sinners sinking in the thoughts of  1 The 〈◊〉 between this work and them  2 Their opposition against it  Exhortation to attend upon God in his own means 138 1 Slight not any but try every Ordinance  2 Fear 〈◊〉 we should fall short of Gods Power in an 〈◊〉  3 When the Lord works by an Ordinance take heed of withdrawing our 〈◊〉 from under his working power  BOOK III. On Luke 1. 17. To make ready a People 〈◊〉 for the Lord. DOCT. 1. The soul must be fitted for Christ before 〈◊〉 can receive him 144 1 What this Preparation is in four things  1 Arenouncing the Authority of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Of our own abilities 〈◊〉 3 Of our own worthiness 〈◊〉 4 A readiness to side with Christ 〈◊〉 2 The manner of this 〈◊〉  1 The soul is passive herein  2 It 's an act of the Spirit dispossessing sin  3 This being done Faith certainly follows  4 The soul prepared yields wholly to Christ 〈◊〉 Reasons why there must be such a Preparation 〈◊〉 taken from  1 The testimony of several Scriptures  2 Else the soul should be implanted into Christ 〈◊〉 it is in a state of Nature  3 The soul must be cut off from the root of old Adam before it can be 〈◊〉 into Christ the 〈◊〉 Adam  Uses five hence 〈◊〉 1 Instruction Christ cannot be united to the soul 〈◊〉 in its 〈◊〉 For  1 Such a one cannot receive the Spirit  2 He is in the state of Cendemnation  3 He doth oppose Christ.  4 He is under the Covenant of Works  5 He is under the Power of Sin  2 It discovers the folly of carnal men who conceit they may have Christ without any preparation for him 3 Tryal whether we have come to Christ in the right way 166 The difference between restraining and preparing Grace 166 Gods ends in restraining men  1 To shew his Dominion over the worst of men  2 To provide for the Societies of men  3 That he may put his Servants to a narrower search  Gods end in preparing Grace is That he may implant the soul into Christ.  This 〈◊〉 Evidence against four sorts  1 Such as 〈◊〉 this Work as 170 1 〈◊〉 secure sinners  2 Presumptuous Atheists  2 Such as come to Christ and yet renounce 〈◊〉 their corruptions  3 Such as come to Christ and renounce not their own abilities  4 Such as renounce not their own worthiness  4 Encouragement to distressed 〈◊〉 such are in way of preparation therefore in way to Christ.  5 Exhortation to prepare for Christ  1 Consider how sinful and miserable we are 〈◊〉 must prepare 200 2 Who it is we must prepare for  Here consider  1 The worthiness of Christs person  2 The good he brings with him  3 He beseeches you to receive him  DOCT. 2. A plain and powerful Ministry is the ordinary means to prepare the heart for Christ. 20 1 Plain in  Words Matter 2 Powerful as delivered with  1 Evidence of Reason 212 2 Zealous 〈◊〉 213 Reasons two 〈◊〉  1 Such a Ministry discovers the secrets of sin  2 It over-powers Corruption and sets an awe upon the spirits of men  Uses three hence 216 1 〈◊〉 may see the reason of the little success they find viz. Want of plain and powerful preaching  2 See the fearful estate of such as have lived long under such a Ministry and yet not prepared for Christ.  3 Exhortation Attend upon the Word that the end of it may be attained viz. Preparation for Christ.  BOOK IV. On 2 Cor. 6. 2. In an acceptable time have I heard thee in the day of Salvation have I succored thee 221 DOCT. 1. The VVork of God is altogether free  1 In appointing  2 In revealing  3 In blessing the Means 229 Reasons three Because  1 〈◊〉 we have can purchase it  2 Nothing we can do can
nor can testifie that For he is the Spirit truth he cannot be deceived himself he will not 〈◊〉 ceive us he is the Spirit of God he cannot lye 1 〈◊〉 he cannot tell it much less give approbation or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereunto But the former 〈◊〉 made appear undeniable That it is a Falshood and an 〈◊〉 to say any man living hath right to or can challenge 〈◊〉 spiritual good in Christ before he doth Beleeve 〈◊〉 is no such thing to be found in the Word of 〈◊〉 Therefore the Spirit will never testifie that To affirm that the Spirit should say to any 〈◊〉 that he is in a state of Grace when he is in a state 〈◊〉 Sin that he is justified when he is Condemned 〈◊〉 little less than Blasphemy If the Spirit doth reveal a mans good Estate to 〈◊〉 it is for this purpose that he may know it and he 〈◊〉 inable him to receive that intimation that he may discern it else the one of these Two will follow 〈◊〉 Spirit should reveal this for no end if no good 〈◊〉 got by it or else not attain his end if the party 〈◊〉 not be able to understand what it doth reveal If 〈◊〉 former he should not be a wise Worker If the 〈◊〉 he was not a powerful Worker But know and understand this Testimony the Soul cannot by any power either of Nature or Corruption 1 Cor. 2. 14 The natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God neither can he know them because they 〈◊〉 spiritually discerned Nay Rom. 8. 7. The 〈◊〉 of the flesh is not subject unto the law therefore 〈◊〉 unto the Lord nor his Spirit If it be beyond Nature or Corruption then it 〈◊〉 be Grace that must help a man to discern it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be a qualification and the first 〈◊〉 of this k nd of saving knowledge must be an 〈◊〉 unto Faith if not Faith it self Fides est ex 〈◊〉 notitia This is eternal life to know thee the 〈◊〉 true God Joh. 17. 3. Two Inferences from the former Cases of Conscience thus Resolved These Two Cases being thus cleered 1 That an 〈◊〉 hath no right to any spiritual Good in 〈◊〉 And 2 That the spirit of God doth never 〈◊〉 known this to such a Soul Hence it s cleer 〈◊〉 manner and order that men have devised to make own the mind of God to a man and to give comfort the Soul in distress being cross to these truths now 〈◊〉 is an Erroneous and False way As for 〈◊〉 You being in distress about your Sins and 〈◊〉 under the Spirit of Bondage you must first lay 〈◊〉 in the bottom lay him in the foundation Christ 〈◊〉 first be yours and so united to you and your 〈◊〉 forgiven by him before you have any Faith or 〈◊〉 qualification wrought in you This Opinion 〈◊〉 sayes That Christ may be united to the Soul and 〈◊〉 be Justified and Adopted before he have any 〈◊〉 it is a dangerous Opinion a desperate 〈◊〉 that I may say no worse of it Mark what 〈◊〉 here 's the plot of all prophaness the ground of loosness and famalism A man may have Christ 〈◊〉 be Justified and Adopted while he is without 〈◊〉 and therefore while he is under the power of Sins and the Spirit of God may witness this And 〈◊〉 though a man fall into any Sin or live in any sin 〈◊〉 it be he may have recourse to this 〈◊〉 this witness of the Spirit and that 's enough If a man say Prove it Are you in a state of Grace Is Christ yours Prove it then Prove it say they that I cannot do but the Spirit witnesses this to me Ay but prove this witness of the Spirit that it is from God according to his Word They will be forced to confess I cannot prove it neither to my self nor to another only thus I must beleeve it and you must beleeve me I was in trouble and distress about my Sins and then there was a voyce from Heaven the spirit did witness to me That Christ was mine and my Sins were pardoned c. This is a Spirit of Delusion the Devil is there Whatever the Spirit of God sayes it is that which the Scriptures say Therefore if you have a testimony which is not to be found in the Scripture nor can be proved and made good by the Scripture it is the testimony of the Devil not 〈◊〉 the Spirit of God for the Spirit of God and the Word of God ever go together therefore if you say you Have a witness of the Spirit and the Word say No I 'le say It is a Delusion Secondly Hence it follows also There are 〈◊〉 Promises wherein any saving good is Revealed or Evidenced to the Soul but either they are such 〈◊〉 God promiseth to work the Condition or suppose the Condition already wrought either 〈◊〉 mentioning a qualification or necessarily implying 〈◊〉 including the same out of other places to be collected where the same is professedly handled All spiritual good Redemption Justification Salvation purchased by Christ were intended only for them that do beleeve therefore there is no Promise in the Scripture but doth evidence this Sometimes you have the Covenant laid down in 〈◊〉 lump as it were in a brief Expression as in a 〈◊〉 sum comprehending all the whole frame and then 〈◊〉 several actions in their distinct order and manner 〈◊〉 Gods working are to be attended and conceived as though they had been more fully and in the several branches set forth unto us Take a tast of some few Gen. 3. 5. The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head The head of Satan implys Three things Policy Power and Poyson To break this head is to crush and confound all these The Policy and and Power of Satan is overthrown in the work of vocation when the Soul is turned from darkness to light from the power of Satan to God the venom and poyson of Satan is taken away partly in the 〈◊〉 and punishment which is done away in Justification partly in the stain and pollution of sin which is removed in Sanctification All these Christ doth in 〈◊〉 hearts of all his and some of these all the Saints of God must have evidence of before they can gain evidence that they are within the compass of this Covenant Thus the Apostle John disputes 1 Joh. 3. 3. to 5. Every one that hath this hope purifieth himself as Christ 〈◊〉 pure Why For sin is the transgression of the law and Christ was manifested to take away our sins therefore vers 6. whosoever abideth in him sinneth not Christ came to take away sin and therefore he that abideth in Christ cannot abide in sin and vers 8. The Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil So again Jerem. 31. 33. I will be their God and they shall be my people Zach. 13. last I will say it is my people and they shall say thou art the
any saving Work If there were no Doubt moved no Question Controverted by way of any seeming Collection from the place the very Mysterious depths of the 〈◊〉 herein delivered drives all Interpreters to a stand and puts the most Judicious beyond their thoughts so that there is more 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 the mind of God in the words then to make Answer to the Objection hence collected We will 〈◊〉 Shortly open the meaning of the Words 2 Then 〈◊〉 what may be truly Collected from them and 〈◊〉 it will appear that the Objection fetched from 〈◊〉 will find no footing in this place The scope of the Apostle in vers 4 5. is That 〈◊〉 Christ is the Son of God and that Faith which 〈◊〉 the world must look to him and rest 〈◊〉 him This he 〈◊〉 to me to prove and explicate in both the parts of it in vers 6. And secondly amplyfieth it in the following 7. and 8. verses His proof is taken from 〈◊〉 type of his Priestly-Office the truth whereof he accomplished in the great Work of Redemption He that comes by water and blood he is the son of God But Jesus Christ came by water and blood His comming implys 1 His Fathers Sending 2 〈◊〉 Own Undertaking that great Work of our Recovery not only by Water as the Levites who were washed Numb 8. 6. 7. but by Blood also as the Priests Levit. 8. 6. 22 23 24. By Water I conceive is meant The Holiness of his Nature in which he was Conceived and for which end he was overshad owed by the Spirit By Blood is meant that Expiation and Satisfaction he made to the Law of God by shedding his Blood So that He that had all that and 〈◊〉 all that which was shadowed by the Priests He is that Jesus the son of God for 〈◊〉 And the Spirit bears witness because the Spirit is Truth This seems to me to be the fairest sense and to be preferred before all that I can see brought By Spirit in the First place is meant Gods 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost By Spirit in the Second place I do think 〈◊〉 is meant For so you shall find the word used 2 Cor. 4. 13. Having the same Spirit of Faith So that the Spirit of God comming from the Father and the Son would testifie by the aspertion of this Water and Blood that my Faith is true when it assures my heart that this Jesus is the Son of God 2 He amplifies this proof by bringing in the number of witnesses and the manner of their witnessing For their number they are Six The Father sending The Son coming The Spirit certifying in this 〈◊〉 manner of working they are distinct and herein appear to be distinct witnesses and this their witness is from Heaven signifying where they are and from whence they express their witness The Father speaks from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Mat. 3. last The Son professeth so often of himself That he came out of the bosom of the Father John 1. 18. John 3. 13. No man can ascend to Heaven but the Son of man who came down from Heaven John 6. 38. I came down from Heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent 〈◊〉 Lastly in Mat. 3. last The Spirit of God descended down upon him in the likeness of a Dove these speak from Heaven and their expressions are 〈◊〉 in the word without us whether we beleeve or no. Three again speak and witness from Earth for Christ dwels in us here on Earth the Spirit Water and Blood There is no doubt but by Water is meant Sanctification by Blood Justification all the Question lies upon the third What is meant by Spirit Under correction I take it It 's meant of Faith for besides that 2 Tim. 1. 7. all graces are called the Spirit we have received the Spirit of Power of Love and of a sound mind this is expresly so named 2 Cor. 4. 13. we having the same Spirit of Faith this is most safe and most sutable to the analogy of Faith and the intendment of the Text. There are but Three great Works unto which all the rest may be referred Vocation Justification Sanctification all these in us give in witness and evîdence That Jesus the Savior of the World must be the Son of God sent of him who sends also his Spirit into our hearts to work thus in us and by these works to evidence to us Himself and his Office The Truths then which according to the right meaning of the words may hence be collected are these There be six Witnesses Three of these witness from Heaven and their Testimony is left in the word without us The other three from Earth from the operation of the work of Grace and these are within us Al these agree in this as the thing winessed 〈◊〉 Jesus the Saviour of his People is the Son of God The witness of those from Heaven is greater than that which is on Earth But touching the witnessing of my good 〈◊〉 without respect to a gracius disposition or qualification there is not a syllable in the Text that sounds that way or carries any appearance to that purpose If every Work of Grace or the truth of a gracious qualification be witnessed by the Spirit and is lastly resolved therinto So that I Beleeve the work of Grace in me to be true because the Spirit witnesseth it then I must have an absolute ground to Beleeve the Spirit I wil open this Phrase the witness of the Spirit on an absolute ground Either it s meant 〈◊〉 the witness of the Spirit is attended without any respect to a work that is witnessed then its false and absurd that I should discern the witness of the Spirit without any respect to the thing witnessed 〈◊〉 made known to me by it for as hath been 〈◊〉 before witness and the thing witnessed go both together Or it s meant thus That when I have received the witness of the Spirit to my self then I 〈◊〉 prove it upon an absolute ground Hath Christ purchased al spiritual good for His for Beleevers Hence then we may see the 〈◊〉 of the faithful and the priviledg of those that 〈◊〉 above all people upon earth To you the Father intended al the treasuries of grace and glory in your stead Christ suffered performed all that the Law required and Justice exacted for you it is he hath purchased al that good that you need doth not that please you al you can desire doth not that quiet you nay all that you can receive through al eternitie doth not that satisfie There is none like unto you never the like was done for any as for you It was Moses Collection and caused his wonderment in the Consideration thereof Deut. 33. 29. When he had recounted the wonderful Preservations the Lord had wrought Priviledges he honoured them with and bestowed upon them he breaks forth into these expressions Blessed art thou
rejected counsell in my life and I cannot take 〈◊〉 at my death If yet the rack of conscience doth constraine thee towards thy latter end to vent out those hideous apprehensions of Gods displeasure and thy own misery and therefore thou art now restless in seeking for mercy it shall be al in vain and without 〈◊〉 John 8. 21. The rebellious Jewes who disdained Christ and al his counsels and refused his mercy when it was tendered to them at their dores Christ saies to them You shall seek me but you shall not find me but shall dye in your sins you lived in them and you shall dye in them though you leave your lives your sins wil not leave you they shall rot with you in your graves and rise with you to judgment and go with you to Hell whither I go ye cannot come therefore you cannot come to Christ and Grace for if they might do so they might come to Heaven It was one part of the folly of the foolish Virgins To sleep away their time and never sought to get oyl into their Lamps untill it was too late and then they cryed to their fellows 〈◊〉 us some of your 〈◊〉 for our Lamps are gone out some of that faith and repentance which formerly they conceived they could find at every shop but they had little enough for themselves and therefore bid them go into the Citie and buy but al was in vain they missed of their oyl and missed of their entrance also into the Bridegrooms Chamber Thou art one of these deluded creatures thou thinkest either thou canst make oyl or buy oyl when thou list thou wilt find too late that thou doest egregiously befool thy self when though thou knockest never so hard cryest never so loud thou shalt find no acceptance nor gain any entertainment from the Lord. Nay our Saviour that he might crush such 〈◊〉 conceits he 〈◊〉 down the conclusion peremptorie that it might for ever silence such imaginations after the young man had the offer of eternal life and trampled it under seet and our Saviour had told them it was easier for a Camell to go through the eye of 〈◊〉 needle than for a rich man to enter in at the Kingdom of Heaven they replyed Who then can be saved He answered plainly and beyond all question Mat. 19. 26. With men it is impossible if all the Angels in Heaven would come to help if all the Ministers on Earth should labor to perswade it would be impossible that of thy self thou shouldest entertain the offers of Grace If thou supportest thy heart and thy hopes also upon this what thou purposest what thou intendest to do know it is impossible that ever thou shouldest be good or partake of any Spiritual good for thy 〈◊〉 welfare It 's not in thy power to live to have 〈◊〉 ability to seek or a heart if able or success in seeking nay it is impossible thou shouldest be made partaker of any Spiritual Good if thou wilt go no other way to gain interest therein Ground of Tryal and Examination whether ever we had any saving and Spiritual Good applyed unto us in a right manner In our temporal Estates in Civil Proceedings amongst men it 's not enough to lay claim to Lands and Inheritances unless by a Legal course they be conveyed and setled upon us otherwise a man may be unsettled and shaked out of all before he be aware It is so in our Spiritual Estate Those high and happy Priviledges which Christ hath purchased 〈◊〉 great Salvation he hath wrought and tenders also in the Gospel it 's not enough to claim it and catch at the comforts and benefits that come thereby unless they be conveyed and settled upon us in a Gospel way otherwise the Devil may sink our hearts and shake all our hopes when we least suspect it Thou sayest the Pardon that Christ hath purchased the Holiness that he hath promised to bestow upon His that Grace and Life that rich Mercy and plentiful Redemption which he hath revealed so fully so freely tendered to His thou sayest it 's thine I say How camest thou by it How camest thou to be made possessor of it Thou wilt hapily Answer Though long it was before I either knew or considered what Sin or 〈◊〉 meant yet the Lord at last by the Ministry of the Word and the Work of the Spirit made me see the 〈◊〉 of my heart and life the terrors of my conscience were like a continued wrack night and day and the wound thereof was so dreadful that I found it beyond the skil 〈◊〉 power of means to do me good until the Lord Christ and his abundant Mercy and rich Redemption which he had wrought was proclaimed and there I heard and found there was no Name under Heaven whereby I might be saved but only the Name of Jesus and so I took the Promises of the Gospel cast my self upon Christ and hung upon free Mercy for the supply of all that good I desired and wanted You take Christ you hang upon free Mercy but how came you by the power which did enable you so to do You say you took the Promises but who gave them you or gave you a hand to lay hold upon them True Mercy is free and sufficient the Promises are precious and saving but if they never come to be thine but as thou by thine own power didst make them thy own certainly thou wilt in the issue fall short of them and of thy own comfort and all Unless he who provided and gave thee Promises do provide and give thee a heart 〈◊〉 to take them thou wilt never take possession of them unless Christ comprehend thee thou wilt never apprehend him Phil. 3. 11. Thou art utterly mistaken if thou dost not find Application beyond thy strength as well as Redemption This mistake in imagining that we can make the Application ariseth especially upon a double ground which is most dangerous and least discerned First When from the general offer of the freeness and fulness of that superabundant mercy that is in Christ and invitation thereunto from the Lord with 〈◊〉 instant and overbearing importunity and 〈◊〉 of compassion Oh that there 〈◊〉 such hearts in 〈◊〉 turn ye why will ye die As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner the heart 〈◊〉 to be tickled and affected at the goodness of the 〈◊〉 as being beyond its expectation that there is 〈◊〉 a possibility of relief and succor and therefore 〈◊〉 at it out of a misguided apprehension that it lies 〈◊〉 common for all comers not looking for any special 〈◊〉 the soul must have before it come to share 〈◊〉 This was the wound of the stony ground Hearers 〈◊〉 received the Word with joy and yet had no root Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners Oh that 's a word for ever to be received Scarlet sinners may be pardoned the heart is tickled with it and
which the Lord 〈◊〉 appointed for the revelation and communication 〈◊〉 all Spiritual Good Again remember this The Word is but an Instrument or means and therefore it 〈◊〉 no further than the Lord Christ works with it 〈◊〉 the operation of his Spirit hence it 's called the 〈◊〉 of the Spirit Eph. 6. 17. and Rom. 1. 16. The Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation as 〈◊〉 Lord puts forth his Power in and by the Gospel Secondly It is the Word in the ' Ministry of it the 〈◊〉 published and preached the Word rightly 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks 2 Tim. 2. 15. that is 〈◊〉 the Word is rightly opened and rightly applied works then more powerfully because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Will of the Principal Agent and according to the weakness of them to whom it is delivered as the chewing of meat fits it for the Stomach and therfore it nourisheth more the pounding of 〈◊〉 makes it smel more so it is with the Word when opened and applied according to the mind of God it 〈◊〉 the savor of Life unto Life 2 Cor. 2. 16. so 〈◊〉 Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by hearing of the Word of God it is not meant that faith comes by hearing of the Word read for that kind of preaching is 〈◊〉 meant for which a man is sent 〈◊〉 15. How can they preach except they be sent but for bare reading no man had need to be sent 2 Cor. 5. 17 18. God 〈◊〉 in Christ reconciling the world to himself and hath committed to us the Word of Reconciliation that is the Lord hath delegated the dispensation of his Word in a way of Explication and Application of it to 〈◊〉 faithful Ministers Only here observe Gods Order 1 The Power resideth first in Christ and his Spirit 2 From Christ and his Spirit it comes to the Word 3 From the Word to the Administration thereof by the Dispensers where you find most of the Word and most evidence of the Spirit there you shall find the work to go on powerfully and successfully for the bringing home of souls to God It is not all Eloquence 〈◊〉 humane Excellency in the world but where a man walketh with God in the use of his Ordinances as when Paul was preaching God opened the heart of Lydia Acts 16. 14. The Word is like a Burning-Glass that which burns and heats is not the Glass but the beams of the Sun that pierceth through the Glass so it is the Power of Christ in a Promise in a Command that makes it pierce to the heart Gal. 2. 8. He that wrought effectually in Peter to the Ministry of the Circumcision was mighty in me towards the Gentils alas what is Paul or Peter or Apollo as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 2. 5. but Ministers by whom you beleeve as the Lord gives to every man 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 Instruments which stir no further than the 〈◊〉 will move by them nor can do no more than the 〈◊〉 will work by them Word Prayer Preaching Sacraments these are 〈◊〉 weak in themselves yet are they mighty through God to bring in the souls of men in obedience to the Lord. Thus I have done with the Explication of this general Conclusion together with the particular Propositions contained in it that God himself the Father through Christ by his Spirit by an Almighty Power is the Principal Cause and the Ministry of the Word the Instrumental Cause of the Application of all saving good Let me ad some Uses that flow from 〈◊〉 Information in Two things First Hence we learn That the 〈◊〉 of the work of Gods Grace upon the souls of his Servants is not done by moral perswasion that 's Pelagianism and Arminianism they require no more to the conversion of a sinner but meer perswasion the Promises of Grace must be pressed the excellency and glory of Christ discovered and that say they is all that is needful lay but these before a man and he hath power to embrace and receive them if he will It is a false conceit If that Power that raised up Christ from the dead must be put forth for the bringing home of a soul to God then there must be more than moral perswasion which only stirs up and draws out that ability that is within us Men may come dead and sit so and return so and be never the better for all the Ordinances and means of Grace if they have no more than them Isa. 57. 19. I create the fruit of the Lips peace peace to him that is neer and to him that is far off it is a creating Power that must be put forth Ministers do speak in vain else Hence again it 's certain the work of God in Application is irresistible This is the main 〈◊〉 from whence that Error is confuted That Power 〈◊〉 raised Christ from the dead was irresistible notwithstanding all sins and all Devils notwithstanding 〈◊〉 hour and power of darkness yet he 〈◊〉 up himself from the dead and by the same Almighty 〈◊〉 Power he works faith in our hearts and quickens 〈◊〉 with Spiritual Life when we were dead in sins and trespasses Eph. 2. 1 2. It 's true there is nothing but Nature and corruption in a man and by vertue of that a man opposeth and resisteth the work of Grace yet so to resist as to frustrate the work of God it is impossible God were not Almighty if sin and Satan could hinder his Work Tryal of our Conversion Observe whether the work of Application come from Heaven or no if so it leaves the 〈◊〉 of an Almighty Power upon the soul as Christ said The Baptism of John 〈◊〉 it from Heaven or from man So I say of Application Is it from Heaven or from your self 〈◊〉 is certain if it be not from the Almighty Power of God it will never bring thee to God neither in this world nor the world to come If the soul can say it was not the power of Men or Means or Ordinances I had all these I understood all these and yet was the same man still I had the old pride and lusts still they lodged in my bosom and came out as occasion served as a dog returning to his vomit till the Lord came from Heaven and broke in mightily upon my heart and there was no resisting of him If you say Must every one see the working of this Almighty Power in his own soul This Work may be really and savingly wrought though the Saints do not generally see and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and how there is an impression made upon the 〈◊〉 the Almighty Power of God even as 〈◊〉 are grown though it be not observed how We see the Power of God in other things They are Natural and outward this inward and Spiritual Take the influences of the Heavens and 〈◊〉 Minerals and wonderful things that are wrought 〈◊〉 yet there is not one of a thousand that are 〈◊〉 to discern and discover these But this Influence of the
attend upon him at all 〈◊〉 Say not then out of the shortness of thy spirit I have come often begged much and 〈◊〉 long at the gate of grace I find not the work yet done my heart not yet throughly humbled for my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 refreshed with the assurance of Gods Favor Shall I wait any longer Oh fearful Pride Is it come to this If you be in such haste you may go to Hell time enough What not wait See who will have the worst of it God can better keep his Compassions than thou canst want them And as its fit he should so its certain he will make thee to know thou must wait nay bless his Name that you may wait for his mercy The 〈◊〉 of all men that 〈◊〉 breathed have done it So David Min eyes fail with looking for thy Salvation saying O when wilt thou comfort 〈◊〉 Psal. 119. 82. 123 It s enough we may beg the Grace of God as a 〈◊〉 not command it as a Debt Labor we then to 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 those proud and impatient distemper whereby we repine and quarrel at the 〈◊〉 on of Gods dealings with us if he answers 〈◊〉 Expectation to the full Others seek and the 〈◊〉 hath bestowed and they have received a great 〈◊〉 sure of Grace with little labor and in a short 〈◊〉 When we have labored long and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet the Lord answers not our 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 us that Spiritual Good we need Learn we now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and controul those boystrous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spirits with that of the Apostle Who art 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that reasonest against God What if 〈◊〉 will not Rom. 9. 20 21 22. What if he will 〈◊〉 ver 〈◊〉 our hearts never pacifie our Conscience pardon our sins save our Souls It is 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he may do what he will and therefore he doth us no wrong what ever he does Fit then it is we should stay his times who hath all times especially of Grace and Life in his own hands While this life lasts and the Gospel is continued that is the particular Season and Period wherein the Lord expresseth his good pleasure to work graciously upon the 〈◊〉 of His. The time of Grace and day of Salvation is here discovered in the Two Periods of it which make up the parts of the Doctrine 1 Grace is only to be gained in this life 2 While the means of Salvation are continued that 's the Season which the Lord usually takes to work upon the Souls of those 〈◊〉 belong to him we shall severally open and prove both 〈◊〉 and after make joynt Application of them Preparation and Conversion of the Soul must be made in this life Seek ye the Lord while he may be found Isaiah 55. 6. The time of our living is one of Gods whiles the time of finding Grace and Mercy if ever we come to share therein The 〈◊〉 of Jacobs Ladder is here on Earth though the top of 〈◊〉 unto Heaven The Lord must dwell with 〈◊〉 here in an humble and contrite heart Isaiah 57. 15. 〈◊〉 else we shall never dwell with him in that high and holy place whither Christ is gone to prepare a mansion for us Now is the time of 〈◊〉 and gaining Grace in the other world we shall enjoy the fruit and sweet of it here we must get the conquest if we think to wear the Crown in another world Reasons are Two Because after the parting of the Soul from the body and the dissolution of the whole Gods peremptory Sentence is passed and the final doom of the Soul is determined a Sentence never to be revoked a judgement never to be repealed and therefore the sinner becomes irrevokably either miserable or happy Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed for all men once to die and after death comes judgement Death and Judgement are coupled immediately one to another the end of the one is the entrance of the other as Death leaves us so Judgement will find us Though the full and compleate execution of the Sentence is deferred until the great day of accounts yet condemnation seizeth upon each part as soon as they be severed the one from the other if they do deserve The body is imprisoned in the dungeon of the grave and the Soul of him 〈◊〉 is wicked is taken instantly and dragged by the Devils into torment Luke 12. 20. This night shall they fetch away 〈◊〉 Soul With the Saints contrariwise Their bodies are laid in the Grave as in a bed of Down perfumed with the precious Death and Burial of the Body of Christ the ashes thereof carefully preserved yea loved by the Lord So the Apostle Rom. 8. last I am perswaded that neither life nor death is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus So that the Lord loves the very dust of the bodies of his Saints in the Grave and receives their Souls to himself in glory as soon as Body and Soul are parted one from another Luke 16. 22. The Soul of Lazarus was by the Angels carried into Abrahams bosome For at the great day of accounts we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether good or 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 5. 10. The Sentence we see shall not 〈◊〉 according to that men do in Purgatoty as the Papists dream but according to that only which they did while they had Being and Breathing in this Natural life The Condition of a man after this life is 〈◊〉 For as the Godly after this life ended receive perfect Sanctification and so become wholly 〈◊〉 of the Spirit of God and thereby fully and unchangeably confirmed in the state of Glory never more to be pestered or annoyed with the presence of Sin or Misery Rom. 8. 23. Here in this world we 〈◊〉 but the first fruits of the Spirit but there 〈◊〉 then the full Harvest So contrarily the Wicked after Death are 〈◊〉 delivered up to the tyranny and authority os 〈◊〉 Corruptions and there settled and that 〈◊〉 in a state of rebellion and become utterly 〈◊〉 of receiving any spiritual Grace or 〈◊〉 any spiritual Good but sink down in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without hope of either For those 〈◊〉 Graces whereby the Lord in the time of life 〈◊〉 their distempers and those outward 〈◊〉 Word and Sacraments wholsome Laws and 〈◊〉 Counsels and Examples which formerly 〈◊〉 them from many notorious outrages are now 〈◊〉 away Now the Lord plucks up the Hedge 〈◊〉 pulls down the VVall takes away all the 〈◊〉 Gifts of his Grace vouchsafes not one 〈◊〉 of his Spirit to strive with the Sinner any more 〈◊〉 one check of Conscience to aw him not the least 〈◊〉 of any Good to affect him any more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the reins in the neck of the Rebel and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loose upon him to execute the fulness of the fierceness of his malice to the uttermost 〈◊〉 his rage was consined before he could
successively As the same vessel is capable of puddle and pure water the same eye is capable of sight and blindness So the Will at several times as several impressions may be made upon it is capable of Sin and Grace Jer. 4. 3. Break up 〈◊〉 fallow ground of your hearts The Nature of man is arrable ground though now it lie fallow by 〈◊〉 of the weeds of wickedness the brambles of Baggage base lusts have over-run it yet it may be 〈◊〉 the soul may be converted again So men are called Living stones 1 Pet. 2. 5. Though the frame of the heart like that goodly building of Jerusalem have not a stone left upon a stone yet the stones wil 〈◊〉 again And hence though there be not the next passive power in a soul possessed with sin to receive the things of God because the soul is wholly possessed with corruption so becomes wholly indisposed thereunto It being impossible that Two Contraries should be in the same subject at the same time that the body distempered with unnatural heats should receive a natural and moderate temper at the same time cannot be yet remove the unnatural and the body is capable of the natural Hence it is the soul hath ever in it a remote power to partake of Grace As the Soul is ever seeking of a better but because it cannot meet with it it is unsatisfied which shews it was made for a better Which makes me that I cannot yet see Why there is any need to flye to the Obed ential power which men marvelous Judicious betake themselves to in this Dispute When a Creature hath not a capability in its kind and nature to entertain such an impression further than it yeilds to the Almighty hand of God to make it what he wil As Matt. 3. 9. God is able of stones to raise up Children unto Abraham Stones wil yeild to God to make them Children But under favor I conceive that is not here needful That God should make a new Faculty or give another natural power than before as he must do if he make Bread or Children of stones As a Wheel that runs wrong you need not another Wheel but another and a right 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 The Faculty of the Will attended only in its natural being and ability cannot Will a spiritual or supernatural good but must have aspiratual and supernatural power put into it to enable it to put forth a 〈◊〉 work Because nothing can act beyond the bounds of its being and ability The Trees grow but move not the bruit Creatures move but Reason not Wicked men can Reason and Will natural and corrupt things because they have Reason Nature and Corruption And Morral things also because they have some 〈◊〉 of the Spirit as wil carry them to act seemly between man and man but to close with God and his Holiness and the purity and spiritualness of a Rule they cannot 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receives not the things of God Prov. 24. 7. Wisdom is too high for a fool If the Will out of a Nature Ability or Faculty could chuse a supernatural good then where there is this Faculty this act may be put forth Then the Devils and Damned in Hell may love God above al make choice of the chiesest good and close with the last end and so might be happy For they have this faculty of Will The Promise is full and free Let him that Wills take of the water of life and live for ever Rev. 22. 17. Hence its plain its a false Opinion and grounded on a false bottom and principle that to have an indifferency to any thing propounded to take it or not to take it is that liberty which issues from the nature of the Will Because it issues not from the Faculty at al to wil a supernatural good no more than from a dead man to take meat As a Wheel doth not run round because wood or iron but because the art of wheel-making is imprinted upon it because so framed and fashioned If therefore the question be asked If the Will be not free in Preparation Answ. There is no Will in the first work of Preparation there is the Faculty of Will but not the act of Will The Corruption that takes possession of the Will and rules in it it utterly indisposeth the soul to receive any spiritual power from God and consequently disenables it to put forth any spiritual or supernatural work It is not subject to the Law of God neither can be Rom. 8. 7. It wil not beat the impression of the power of the Spirit Job 8. 37. The Word of Christ found no place in the Jews that were under the power of their Corruptions Acts 13. 46. They put away the Word from them yea Truth is a trouble and a torment to a Carnal heart and the nature of the thing evinceth so much Matthew 6. 24. Ye cannot serve two Masters God and Mammon Joh. 5. 44. Ye cannot believe that seek honor one from another Rom. 2. 4. The hard heart cannot repent Shut up we are under unbelief and we shut out the Lord Jesus who comes not unless the door be opened It is not possible that contraries should be at the same time in the same subject Though there be no force afforded to the Faculty of the Will yet the power of Corruption must by a holy kind of Violence be removed before any spiritual power can be imprinted upon the soul wherby it may put forth any spiritual act First I say There is no violence offered to the Faculty of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that as it hath been proved before is a capable subject both of Grace and Sin successively and in order as the air is capable of light and darkness indifferently and the one being removed the other is entertained with ease and readiness without any compulsion there needs none it requires none here As the same wax wil receive several and contrary impressions at several times so the soul which hath been made partaker of the image of God is also capable of the print impression of the image of old Adam when once the gracious disposition hath been defaced it 's capable of receiving the impression of Gods Image again when once Adams image is dispossessed Yet Secondly There must be a holy kind of violence offered unto Corruption before it can be dispossessed and removed and so way and room made for the entertainment of Faith and Christ thereby Reasons are Either Corruption must by violence be taken away or else it wil naturally and of its own accord go away and depart from the soul. For it hath been in the former Conclusions manifected That there must be a spiritual power put into the will before it can put forth a 〈◊〉 act And while Corruption takes place there is no place of entertainment 〈◊〉 this spiritual ability therefore Corruption must be removed by violence Naturally it wil not go away therefore by
is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 send the Lord Jesus I shal shortly open both 1 Why it is ascribed to the Father And 2 Why to the Father as sending the Lord Jesus Unless the Father which hath sent me draw him First then Why the Father is said to Draw This Drawing as we have Disputed formerly implyes Two Things in it of necessity 1 〈◊〉 from whence the soul is drawn and that is sin upon which the soul was 〈◊〉 2 Somthing unto which the soul is drawn and that is 〈◊〉 Now both the Expressions serve both these Intendments in a most pregnant manner Because the Fathers manifesting himself in his displeasure unto the soul doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and most 〈◊〉 the work of that holy violence 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 unto the soul 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 from it and 〈◊〉 which this drawing we know is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be conceived The sin of Adam falling from his Creation in which the 〈◊〉 of the Fathers working is especially discovered in that he is the original in the Deity first in Order and Working from himself and Creation is the Original of things there they have their beginnings Hence in Scripture it is said to be 〈◊〉 directly against him and indirectly against the Son and the Holy Ghost because that work wherein though they al wrought yet the manner of the Fathers dispensation did principally appear 1 Joh. 2. 1. Little Children sin not at al but if any man do sin we have an Advocate with the Father He sayes not We have an Advocate with an Advocate Christ is not properly and firstly and directly an Advocate to himself but an Advocate is to plead with the party offended in behalf of him who stands guilty and hath offended and therefore he is said to be an Advocate with the Father because he was the offended party properly and directly Christ an Advocate to plead the Cause of his people the Spirit the Witness to Certifie of the Success what the Advocate hath done for them and what acceptance he hath found with the Father in their behalf Hence the Fathers Displeasure in the fierceness of it comes as most cross and directly contrary unto sin and so the sinner because directly wronged and therefore hath most reason and is most ready to offer violence to the sin for the destruction of that and the Confusion and Condemnation of the sinner because of that And hence therefore the resistance of sin comes to be destroyed and the soul of the sinner most affrighted for it and wearied with it and so compelled to part And therefore our Savior who was in our stead and became our surety and bore our sorrows the chastisement of our peace being upon him He sayes Shall I not drink of 〈◊〉 Cup which the Father will give me Joh. 18. 11. By Cup is meant those sufferings in our behalf 〈◊〉 the Father had appointed and did also lay upon him and so Consequently upon us in him If the fierceness of the wrath of the Father as the Partie directly offended is most cross to the sin of 〈◊〉 sinner and most dreadsul to his soul as guilty 〈◊〉 the Expression thereof even in that regard is most fit by a kind of violence to remove sin from the soul and to force the soul from it Again The Father as he sends Christ 〈◊〉 unto him Because when he so makes himself manifest unto the sinner he shews the soul whither 〈◊〉 should go and what certain success it may expect yea easie and ready acceptance with the Father and deliverance from his wrath and the vengeance deserved if it'do go For when the sinner comes indeed to look upon the ghastly visage of sin to see the heinousness and the unsufferable bitterness of that Evil that doth undoubtedly attend upon it He now Concludes he must either part from sin or else he must needs perish in it it cannot be avoided Go he must from his sin but whither to go he cannot tel that the filth and guilt of sin may be removed from him and he delivered from the wrath of the Father which he hath deserved by it When he hath sought far and neer for succour and shelter that Heaven and Earth professeth there is no salvation to be had in us Holy Ordinances and Duties say We have heard of the Name thereof but we neither have it nor can give it only we have heard tel there is Salvation in Christ and in no other Name under Heaven The 〈◊〉 therefore intends to make out to a Christ but 〈◊〉 the Question and Doubt meets him Though Christ can Discharge my Debt lay down and present sufficient pay It s yet doubtful whether the 〈◊〉 being the Creditor wil accept of it and rest 〈◊〉 with it or no Yea sayes the text The Father hath sent him for this purpose to be his salvation unto the ends of the earth and therefore he wil not refuse him briefly therebe Three things 〈◊〉 in this sending which may draw the 〈◊〉 of the sinner towards Christ. 1 That God hath appointed him in his 〈◊〉 purpose and Counsel to accomplish this work 〈◊〉 49. The Lord hath called me vers 1. And he 〈◊〉 unto me Thou art my Servant in thee will I 〈◊〉 glorified vers 3. Thou shalt be my salvation to 〈◊〉 ends of the earth vers 6. Joh. 6. 27. For him 〈◊〉 the Father sealed A Comparison taken from Princes when they would send any with certain Evidence of their Appointment and Approbation they 〈◊〉 him a Commission and signifie their mind under 〈◊〉 Hand and Seal So the Commission and 〈◊〉 of the Father is as it were the Evidence and 〈◊〉 undeniable that he was Designed to this 〈◊〉 2 That he hath fitted and furnished him with all 〈◊〉 abilities and sufficiency to discharge the 〈◊〉 of Redemption committed to him Psal. 89. 19. He hath laid salvation upon one that is mighty 〈◊〉 save Yea Isa. 61. 1. 2. The spirit of God was 〈◊〉 him and he hath anointed him i. e. 〈◊〉 him with Grace that he might suit al the 〈◊〉 and desires of his people yea with the spirit above measure Joh. 3. 34. 3 That he accepts of him and his Service and Mediation in the behalf of al those whose 〈◊〉 and places he sustains Matt. 3. last This is my 〈◊〉 in whom I am well pleased Not with whom only but in whom with al those whose place he sustains and whose surety he was If God the Father who was offended and that deeply with my sin and therefore is now come out against me either to destroy my sin or to ruinate and condemn my soul he hath appointed the Lord Jesus his Son to deliver poor Creatures from their sins and from his wrath and he hath fitted him for this so great a work and he wil accept him only and al that sue for acceptance in him He only appointed fitted and accepted for sinners let us therefore look towards him and go to him The Father that hath
helps or if they be used in any other Order than that he hath ordained these are disorderly perverted and abused and made unserviceable to do their work or attain their end And yet when the power of al these is improved to affect the Will and stir and provoke it but not change it it is never savingly brought home to God So Moses touching the Condition of the Israelites Deut. 4. 34. Compared with Deut. 29 4. Did ever God assay to take a people to himself with signs and wonders and great temptations and out of the heavens he made thee to hear his voyce that he might instruct thee What then was wanting He suited them with al miraculous expressions of his Love and Mercy but this was 〈◊〉 To this day he hath not given thee a heart And if he give you al Mercies beside tryed you with al Corrections pursued with miraculous Expressions of his power and faithfulness if yet he give 〈◊〉 a new heart al that ever he shal give wil never do you good So the Prophet when he was appointed and fitted in an especial manner having his tongue touched with a Coal from the Altar when he was furnished with gracious abilities from Christ to dispense the Word yet al was to make their ears heavie and their hearts fat and their eyes blind that they should not see nor beleive nor be converted Isa. 6. 7 8. And therefore the Apostle when he had given the doom upon those back-sliders he ads We are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation which these did not 〈◊〉 6. 9. If al Means and Helps that can be used in way of Moral Perswasions are wholly incongruous and utterly unable to work upon the Corrupt heart of man then there is no congruity of such Perswasions that can savingly Convert or Call the Soul or draw the sinner to Christ But al Means in way of Moral Perswasions that can be used are indeed wholly incongruous and utterly unable to work upon the corrupt heart of a sinner unto his Conversion but they reach not the Distemper or Cause of a mans misery and therefore can never do the Cure For these are to Call forth the power a man hath into act whereas the 〈◊〉 wants al spiritual power whereby 〈◊〉 may be enabled to put forth any act that may be acceptable unto God Rom. 5. 6. When we were without strength and the Apostle doth not say We have some sufficiency to think a good thought if some Arguments were suggested to draw it out but doth plainly and peremptorily affirm That all our sufficiency is from God and therefore none firstly of our selves 2. Cor. 3. 5. How silly was it incongruous to common sense to provide the sweetest sounds and choicest musick to delight a deaf man To present the pleasingest colours to affect and please him that is blind to set the most soveraign cordials and the most curious rarities and dainties before a dead man to refresh him Yet such is the Condition of every natural man touching the things of Grace He is deaf and hears not blind and sees not dead and relisheth not any thing that appertains unto his peace unless then you give him a new soul whereby he may live al outward services are utterly unsuitable to his Condition In a word this quaint devise of the Jesuit is so far from any sap or any real subtilty in it that the Opinion quite contrary in a true sense is most consonant to the truth The Means then appointed and used in Providence by the Lord may be attended in a double respect either in regard of the end the Lord aims at and the effect he intends and so it is true the Means which the Lord hath Ordained carry Congruity and and suitableness for the attainment of his own end and accomplishment of his own work But Secondly If we look at the corrupt Heart and Nature and Will of man which is now to be subdued and his darling Corruptions now to be removed from him then it is most certain the Means which the Lord hath Ordained and useth for his Conversion carry not any Congruity but a Contrariety to his corrupt heart and Will That which must expel and 〈◊〉 Corruption in the heart that must not have 〈◊〉 but a 〈◊〉 to it But the Means which the Lord 〈◊〉 to Call and draw 〈◊〉 are to destroy and expel the Corruption therefore they must 〈◊〉 not a Congruity but a Contrariety and crossness to them That Question which is attended with so many tedious 〈◊〉 is from the former Doctrine 〈◊〉 and Concluded and that undeniably and because 〈◊〉 doth 〈◊〉 properly to this place I shal 〈◊〉 Express it Hence then it Follows The Power of Grace put forth in the Work of Conversion is irresistable When I say Irresistable We mean not that the Corrupt Heart doth not Oppose and resist the Operation of the Spirit and the 〈◊〉 of the Ordinance for whilest that 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 it cannot but labor the preservation of it self and therefore cannot but oppose the power of Gods Spirit which works the destruction of it But this is the meaning It cannot so prevail as to 〈◊〉 Gods intent or to prejudice the work of his Grace as that it should not find 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 of the sinner or hinder his 〈◊〉 home to Christ This Collection in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 Demonstratively and undeniablely from the former Doctrine That Grace which takes away the power of Resistance stirred up by Satan or the Corrupt Heart of a Sinner that cannot be resisted But the Grace of God put forth in Preparation and drawing doth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 take away the power of resistance in the 〈◊〉 Heart of a Sinner and therfore it cannot be resisted Hence it Follows again in the Fifth Place Wheresoever there is spiritual sufficiency of Grace there is also spiritual efficacy put sorth 〈◊〉 work of 〈◊〉 These Two go hand in hand in this 〈◊〉 of God and are either the same really or do 〈◊〉 accompany one another And I therefore mention this Collection not only 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 of it as that it needs to be unfoulded and apprehended aright especially considering 〈◊〉 is the proper seal unto which it must be referred where his stock and 〈◊〉 may be observed and where his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be Disputed and 〈◊〉 But 〈◊〉 I 〈◊〉 it Convenient to take the more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereof 〈◊〉 of the special Benefit and Use thereof The right 〈◊〉 of this makes ready way for the cleer 〈◊〉 of the Delusions of the Jesuits which they have invented and set up as blinds in the way that men might not see the 〈◊〉 of the Lord and set forth and acknowledge the power and Glory of his 〈◊〉 Nay it hath found favor with some who otherwise follow the 〈◊〉 and that truly in their 〈◊〉 of the drawing of God 〈◊〉 according to their divers Apprehensions they set down Explications of their own Thoughts
his Heart to do Farewel Thomas Goodwin Philip Nye COLE 1216. The Application of Redemption by the effectual work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The Ninth Book ISAIAH 57. 15. Thus saith He that is the High and the Lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the High and the Holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit THe Work of Preparation having Two Parts First The Lords manner of Dispensation as he is pleased to deal with the Soul for the setting up the praise of his Rich and Glorious Grace and therefore with a holy kind of Violence he plucks the 〈◊〉 from his sins unto himself and his Christ. This hath been dispatched already in the former Discourse The Second now follows And that is the Frame and Disposition which is wrought in the Hearts of such as the Lord hath purposed to save and to whom he hath dispensed himself in that gracious Work of his Contrition Humiliation This Disposition consists especially in Two Things That so I may follow the Phrase of Scripture and retain the Lords own Words in the Text where the Lord saith that he dwels with him that is of an humble and contrite Heart To omit al manner of Coherence and other Circumstances we will pass all the other Specials in the Verse and point at that Particular which will suit our proceeding and may afford ground to the following Discourse that we may go no further than we see the Pillar of Fire the Lord in his Truth to go before us We shal fasten then upon the last words only as those that fit our Intendment To make way for our selves in short there is one word alone to be opened that so the Point may be better fitted for our Application we must know what it is to dwel or how God is said 〈◊〉 dwell in a contrite and humble heart I Answer To Dwell implies Three Things First That the Lord owns such as those in whom he hath an especial interest and claims a special propriety as though he left all the rest of man-kind to lie wast as a Common that the World and the Devil and Sin may 〈◊〉 and use at their pleasure reserving the Honor of his Justice which by a strong hand he will exact as a Tribute due to himself out of all things in Heaven and Earth and Hell and all but persons whom he thus fits he reserves for his own special Improvement As Princes and Persons of place and quality do lease out and let some Forrests and Commons to the Inhabitants bordering thereabout reserving some acknowledgment of Fealty and Royalty to themselves but the choyce and best Pallaces or Granges of greatest worth and profit they reserve for their own peculiar to inhabit in So here the Lord leaseth out the World and the wicked in it to the Devil and his Angels and Instruments reserving a Royalty and Prerogative to himself as that he will have his Homage and Acknowledgment of dependance upon himself but his broken-hearted ones are his own for his own Improvement Deut. 32. 8 9. When the most High divided to the Nations their Inheritance and separated the sons of Adam he set the bounds of his People according to the number of the Children of Israel for the Lords Portion is his People Israel the Lot of his Inheritance Ye are the Temple of the Living God 2 Cor. 6. 16. Yea to them the Lord himself saies Ye are my People and they shall say thou art my God Zach. 13. last Therefore he professeth that though in the course of his Providence he goes on progress over all the world yet he takes up his dwelling and abode amongst his own People For Secondly Where a man dwels as he owns the house so he takes up his abode there it is the place of his residence we say any may know where to seek men or where to find them at home at their own house That 's the difference between Inning and Dwelling we Inn at a place in our passing by when we take repast only and bait but depart presently intending not to stay but where we dwel we settle our abode we take up our stand there and stir no further So the Lord is said then to dwel in the Soul when he vouchsafes the constant expression of his peculiar presence and assistance to the soul. True it is that the Lord fills Heaven and Earth with his presence yea the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain him Jer. 23. 24. His infinite Being is every where and one and the same every where in regard of himself because his being is most simple and not subject to any shadow of change being all one with himself Yet he is said to take up his abode in a special manner when he doth put forth the peculiar expression of his Work as in Heaven he dwels because he puts forth the constant expression of his Glory and that in the full brightness of it without any alteration and change Here in this Spiritual Temple the Souls of his Saints he puts forth the peculiar expression of the constant assistance of his blessed Spirit I will pray the Father and he shall send you another Comforter who shall abide with you for ever John 14. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 23. Ye have received an anointing which abideth in you Dwelling if it be attributed to the chiefest Inhabitant and Owner of the House it implies also the ruling and ordering of the occasions that come under hand there the exercising of the Government of the house and family where the Owner is and dwels He that lodgeth at a House as a stranger comes to an Inn as a Passenger he takes what he finds hath what he can receive of kindness and courtesie but the Owner is the Commander of the House where he dwels and the orderer of all the Affairs that appertain thereunto So doth the Lord with a broken Heart Thus we are said to live in the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit Gal. 5. 25. And it 's that which follows by Inference upon this ground John 15. 4. 5. If I abide in you and you abide in me you shal bring forth much fruit and therefore it s added also in this place that the Lord dwels in the contrite and humble heart to receive the Spirit of the contrite ones they yeeld themselves to be acted by him and they shall be acted and quickened by him to Eternal Life So that the full meaning is The contrite and humble heart is such to whom the Lord vouchsafes acceptance special presence and abode and peculiar guidance he owns him abides with him and rules in him for ever True it is said Christ dwels in our Hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. and as many as beleeve in him they receive him John 1. 12. That is done as by the next and immediate hand by which we say hold on Christ and
is the way that God hath appointed and he wil bless the order which he hath set in his infinite wisdom and which he wil prosper If you would find his blessing walk in his way if you expect success attend his order and direction which he hath left to bring us to his Christ and so to life and happiness If you see not your sins you are in hazard never to see good day while you live nor when you dye Christ is said to stand at the dore and knock and if any man wil open unto him he wil come in and supp with him Rev. 3. 20. Saving Contrition is a shooting back the boults of our base lusts a severing and unlocking the heart from the Soveraignty of ones noysom Corruptions that stop the passage and hinder the coming of our Saviour this clear and convicting sight of our sins is as it were the lifting up of the latch or letting in of the Key the powerful dispensation of the truth and operation of his spirit whereby the knot and combination between sin and the soul is broken and severed and the way made that the authority of the truth may come at the heart and work kindly upon it for good An error here in the entrance is hardly ever recovered to miss here is mervailous dangerous it spoyles our whol proceeding in the great work of our calling and everlasting comfort as the naturallist and Physitian observe an error in the first concoction is never recovered in the second for the Lord in his wisdom and the course of nature hath so ordayned that each part doth that which is its proper and peculiar work but doth not rectify or redress that which was done amiss by another and so the goodness of the nourishment is never recovered or the body strengthened or health so comfortably preserved herby as were to be desired So it is in the entrance of 〈◊〉 great work of preparation for Christ and our effectual bringing home unto him never see sin aright the soul cannot be affected with it in a right manner never truly see the need of a Savior never seek after him or come to him this through sight of sin is as it were the setting open of the window whereby the light and good of the truth and the loath 〈◊〉 of sin is laid open unto the soul and comes in a main upon the Conscience to prevayl with it whereas shut this window and stop this passage the soul is cooped up in the dungeon of darkness and delusion be the ordinances never so powerful the means never so effectual there 〈◊〉 no coming into the heart no hope to work upon it or to prevail with it for good the evil of sin is not acknowledged and therefore not prevented that which his reason cannot see a man cannot shun the excellency and necessity of a Christ is not discerned and therefore not endeavoured after as were meet It befalls the soul smote with this spiritual blindness as with the Assyrian Host when they came to surprize Elisha 2 Kings 18. 19. 20. He prayed Lord smite this people with blindness he did so and they saw nothing before they were in the midst of their enemyes so here when the sinner is misguided by the dimness of his deluded mind he goes on in an evil way and knowes not whither he goes or where he is before he be in the botintoless pit Oh be wise and wary therefore that we err not here least we rush into ruine and that past alrecovery Expect then Gods blessing upon our endeavour but in Gods order attend his work in his own way It is the aym of our Saviour in sending and the office of the Holy Ghost in coming into the world when he intends to work effectually the saving good of his people to intitle them to the pardon of their sins and to establish their hearts under the government of his spirit John 16. 7. 8. If I depart I wil send the Comforter and when he is come he wil reprove he wil convince and set down the world by 〈◊〉 conviction of sin of righteousness of judgment of righteousness that the law is satisfied justice answered and that fully because he that was in prison is now released and therefore the debt payd and he gone to heaven to his Father Of judgment the power of his Kingdom government erected and set up in the soules of his servants and children in that by death he overcame him that had the power of death that is the Devill and therefore he is judged and falls in his cause as having no right nor in reason can challenge no rule in the hearts of those for whom Christ hath satisfied divine justice and therefore are free from that authority that sin and Satan had of them thereby But before we can share either in the righteousness of Christ for our justification or the rule of his spirit in our Sanctification the Holy Ghost must and doth convince us of sin that we have rejected and not entertained this Saviour If we do not convictingly see our sin in settling upon the root of our Corrupt rebellions and casting away the riches of Christs mercy the rule of his Grace it s not possible that those spiritual benefits should ever be made ours As ever therefore you desire to see and find the mercies of Christ sealed up unto your Consciences in pardoning of sins and acceptation of your persons As ever you would find the Kingdom of Satan cast down in your hearts and the government of his Grace and spirit there set up labor for this clear and convicting sight of sin begin you where the Holy spirit begins that you may find his presence with you his effectual power and blessing to accompany your endeavours in that way Catch not disorderly at pardon look not for peace of Conscience or hope to see the government of Christs Grace set up in your souls before you come to 〈◊〉 your sins by convicting evidence of the Holy Ghost The holy spirit of Grace wil not cross his course to gratify our Corruption That I may further set on the exhortation I shal endeavour to do these two things First To propound some means to help in 〈◊〉 work Secondly Some motives to quicken you therein The means are these that follow First Labor we to see that unconceivable excellency of holiness that is in the Lord and search we into the 〈◊〉 and the righteous laws there recorded for the direction of our daily course and that wil make us see the loathsomness of our own hearts and the vileness of 〈◊〉 As it s said of darkness it cannot be seen by it self but its light that discovers it self and darkness It s as true of sin it is not by it self to be discerned for it is spiritual darkness the light of Gods Holiness and wisdom which by sin are wronged and the law which is transgressed these are both lights God is light and in
man cares 〈◊〉 he laies it and can easily find it and that in the dark So it is when thou lookest at the Commands the Lord gives and the duties he requires as matters of no great consequence and therefore bestowest not thy thoughts or remembrance about them see how the prophet argues from this ground Jer. 2. 32. Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire yet my 〈◊〉 have forgotten me daies 〈◊〉 number so where their esteem is their memories are also It 's certain it 's a base 〈◊〉 heart of the duties which are in daily practice and the discharge of his place which ought to be his daily wear A man should put on Christ his holiness meekness c. and 〈◊〉 themselves with a quiet and modest and peacable spirit yet these are not in his way nor his thoughts It 's certain thou carest not so much for Gods command as a frothy headed maid doth for a clout Weigh then but in serious consideration the wretchedness of thy pretence shouldest thou hear a servant or a child excuse their idleness or disobedience to Master or Father on this manner I hope you wil excuse my neglect and pardon 〈◊〉 disobedience because I do not love your person 〈◊〉 or esteem your place or command were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aggravate the evil no way to excuse it Such is the silliness of this shift of thine when thou wouldest make thy forgetfulness to lessen thy fault Because thou doest not love the Lord nor reverence his holy law this encreaseth the evil exceedingly It argues a sensual sottish Atheistcal disposition of heart tolive without God and 〈◊〉 in our course 〈◊〉 to put off the apprehensions of Christians and men these are joyned together Ezek. 23. 35. Thou hast forgotten me and cast me behind thy back to live an outlaw upon earth when we attend not mind not a law by which wee live Thy duty is plain which is required the sin evident that is forbidden thou neglectest the one and committest the other and this is the balsom that heals and helps al I did not once think of it It was wholly out of thy mind I did quite forget it why then forget thou art a Christian nay a man forget there is a God that there is a Heaven to reward 〈◊〉 a Hell to Torment thee forget thou hast a soul to be saved or sins to be pardoned or avoyded until thou feelest the plagues of them which thou 〈◊〉 never be able to forget nor yet to bear Another Shift which keeps off the edg and power of a Conviction Is the deadly and destroying hazards they expect and great extremities which they fear will 〈◊〉 befal if they should not dispense with some sins in such cases Hence it is their Arguments come on armed with such unanswerable Interrogations in their apprehensions Why what would you have us do You little know the desperate streights unto which we are driven were you but in our places we are perswaded you would not only pity us in what we have done but would do the same things Alas would you have us begger our selves undo our families destroy our Liberties and Comforts yea hazard nay lose our lives herein we hope the Lord wil allow us some dispensation or connivance Thus they with one 〈◊〉 consent not only desired but took it for granted they should also obtain their desire which to them appeared so reasonable Luke 14. 18. 〈◊〉 Guests began to excuse themselves One hath hired a Farm and he must go and see it Another a yoke of Oxen and he must try them and therefore I pray you have me excused Another hath married a Wife and he cannot come and 〈◊〉 desires he may be excused q. d. We conceive the case so equal and reasonable we suppose we need not speak our selves you wil plead our excuse which indeed pleads for it self should not a man preserve his state and therefore in a way of providence go visit his Farm should he not attend his Calling if he be called to follow the Plow why should he not follow it For Answer I shal shortly leave two or three Scriptures with thee Is it not one Command of the Gospel That they that will 〈◊〉 godly in Christ must suffer persecution and through many Tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 2 Tim. 3. 12. He that will save his 〈◊〉 shall lose it Matth. 16. 25. He that loves 〈◊〉 or Mother more than me is not worthy of me Matth. 10. 37. If thou art so far from yielding obedience to the Gospel as to refuse the terms of it canst thou be excused To fear man more than God to preser thine own ease more than his Honor canst thou be excusable To attend the Comforts of this world with the loss of the peace of thy Conscience to look after the preservation of thy life and neglect the Salvation of thy soul nor God nor man nor Angels nor Devils nor 〈◊〉 own Conscience will excuse thee The Seventh Shift and forgery whereby our Carnal Reason would 〈◊〉 and defeat the power of the Truth and lessen the loathsomness of sin is that which seems to them so reasonable even to common sence as that it admits no denial and it 's taken from THE HOLINESS AND SPIRITUALNESS OF THE LAW unto which they are bound and that overbearing strength of the body of sin and original corruption 〈◊〉 they are wholly disenabled to the performance thereof so that there is not only a difficulty but even an impossibility to corrupt Nature and to men in their Natural condition to answer the exactness thereof doth not the Text say 〈◊〉 such cannot cease from sin 2. Pet. 2. 14. That which is 〈◊〉 of the flesh and comes from it is flesh John 3. 8 9. Are not the words plain That the Prince of the Air rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience and that he takes them captive at his will 2 Tim. 2. last Nay if the holy Apostle who had the Spirit of Grace yet found his distempers bear up so hard and make head against him that they soiled him and put him to the worse and forced him to cry out as under captivity and thraldom I see another Law in my members carrying me captive Oh wretched man who shall deliver me Rom. 7. If he that had received the power of Grace against his sin was yet so overborn what can they be able to do that are yet in their natural condition and have nothing but sin as al the Sons of Adam are since the Fall That as 〈◊〉 in a storm are forced by the rage of winds and weather to go whither they wil carry them not whither they should men pity them for what they suffer do not 〈◊〉 them for what they cannot do So it is with the strength of distempers which like a mighty stream carry us uncontroulably to the commission of evil and it 's impossible for us to prevail against
delivers touching Gods Dispensation and I know not but it may hold here Psal. 18. 27. With the froward thou wilt deal frowardly the place is hard for the apprehension of it in the fair and full sence of it The words that go before will give in some light With the bountiful thou wilt shew thy self bountiful with the perfect thou wilt be perfect with the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure and with 〈◊〉 perverse or froward thou 〈◊〉 shew thy self froward thou wilt make thy self deal frowardly To speak to the pinch of the Point but in two words I conceive 〈◊〉 to be the meaning 〈◊〉 the place and the mind of God in it He that walks with God in the exercise of the Rule in a 〈◊〉 manner God 〈◊〉 meet with him in it and give him the 〈◊〉 and comfort that follows and flows from it he that conscienciously keeps the Rule shal be more fitted for to keep it and to share in the blessing and 〈◊〉 of it he that deals bountifully in vertue of the Rule he shal be more apt to that Duty and shal find bountiful dealings from the hands of others God and men he that is upright thorough and simple in Spirit and practice he shal be more exact every way and find peace and praise as the fruit of that he that is pure that is not only contents himself to be simple and sincere hearted in his whol course but is dayly purging himself and clensing his own heart 〈◊〉 severing himself from such taints and remainders of distempers that appear and 〈◊〉 to cleer up the Rule in the beauty and excellency thereof to himself that he may see more of it submit more freely and fully to it the Lord will make himself pure to him So the word God wil let in pure instructions that no darkness or dimness may stumble him or cause him to mistake pure evidence of pardon and acceptance no guilt may unsettle him pure comforts and peace that no doubts or fears may discourage him pure holiness and power of 〈◊〉 that no strength of corruption may blur the Image of God in him or darken the Evidence of the Work of Grace received But 〈◊〉 a man will be froward crook the Rule go cross to the Command and wil walk in the vanity of his own 〈◊〉 and stubbornness of his own Spirit oppose the power of the Truth not willing to look upon or abide to hear of the purity of it God will shew himself froward towards such a one he wil 〈◊〉 you and cross you in your whol course and in al your comforts you crook and wind away from the Rule to content your sins God by his Righteous Law by vertue of the provoking power therof wil deliver you up to the power of your sins and to al the terros and plagues and expressions of his 〈◊〉 that attend thereupon and in the daies of thy distress when nothing wil help thee but the holy Word of God God wil then deal with you and follow you with the 〈◊〉 of your own 〈◊〉 thou would'st not see the holiness and purity of Gods Precepts thou 〈◊〉 have a mind not able to attend or receive or remember any thing that may be for thy direction support or comfort but only live upon thine own guilt and the terrors that attend thereupon and the perversness of thine own heart wil be thine own plague In your froward pangs you flinch and fling care not what you say or do God can be as 〈◊〉 as you nor hear prayers nor regard your complaints nor pity your necessities but pursue you with his plagues let fly on every hand the fierceness of his displeasure God can and wil hamper thee if thou had'st a heart as sierce as a 〈◊〉 of Hell make thee weary of thy part be as perverse as thou wilt or canst be And therefore the word in the place is marvelous pregnant it signifies to contend with another as one that wrastles wil do wreath and 〈◊〉 and turn his body every way that he may meet with his adversary with whom he is to grapple So the Lord will meet with thee at every turn the greater thy opposition hath been against him the greater expression of his displeasure shalt thou be sure to 〈◊〉 and that in the most dreadful manner The sins of Manasseh were high handed and hellish abominations mighty provocations out of measure sinful 2 Chron. 33. 11. Therefore God abased him mightily fettered and 〈◊〉 and humbled him mightily and made him cry mightily before he could 〈◊〉 audience and acceptance with him the cruel and harsh carriage of the Jaylor Acts 16. exceeded his Commission and so the bounds of common Humanity to deal worse with the distressed than either their Fact deserved or the Law permitted or Authority allowed him in that behalf a 〈◊〉 transported with deadly indignation against the waies of God and his People and as it appears by the circumstances of the story a man that pleased 〈◊〉 in such unreasonable practices the Lord therefore handles him answerably to the harshness of his spirit makes the Earth quake and the Prison totter the bolts break and the door fly open and at last his heart begins to shake and die within him notwithstanding the fierceness of his Spirit So Paul Acts 9. he comes trembling to crave the Counsel of those whose presence formerly he loathed There is a Three-fold Ground from whence the Reasons of this Point may be fetched which will Evidence That this manner of proceeding best suits with the insinite Wisdom of God look we at God at others at the sinner himself with whom the Lord is now trading The Holiness of Gods Nature and exactness of his Truth not only commends but even seems with some kind of comely necessity to call for such a manner of Dispensation The Lord stiles himself the holy One of Israel a God of purer eyes than can endure to behold iniquity not able to pass by sin in the least appearance of it and therefore leaves so strict a charge beware lest there be an evil thought in thy heart and abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thes. 5. When the Lord is to convince the sinner of sin to express his mind and displeasure against him because of those his evils so scandalous and detestable to al that have but the least spark of saving knowledg and Grace yea loathsom to the very light of Conscience in corrupt Nature Should the Lord casily and overly 〈◊〉 them by with some smal 〈◊〉 of some little dislike it could not but impeach his Purity and make himself accessary to the dishonor of his own Holiness When Eli proceeded not with that zeal against 〈◊〉 evil of his Sons as the 〈◊〉 thereof might justly have provoke 〈◊〉 him unto but after a slight manner manifested a heart-less dislike of it the Lord 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 2. 39. That he honored his sons before him rather respected their carnal content that they might not be
the other she would have made a hard shift but she would have followed and sound her lovers but the hedg was made of thorns 〈◊〉 and unsufferable sorrows and necessities unavoydable not to be indured not to be removed and those wearied her out of al pretended delights she had formerly taken This is the method that God 〈◊〉 Hos. 5. 12. 14. Hos. 6. 1. First I wil be a Moath 2 if that wil not do I wil be a Lion 3 If that wil not do I wil leave them and go to my place withdraw his comforting and protecting presence and then we hear 〈◊〉 Come let 〈◊〉 return unto the Lord for he hath torn and be wil heal us this did it This 〈◊〉 way for our spiritual comfort in a special blessing if he be pleased to follow the 〈◊〉 with his blessing For its a special means to bring in clearer evidence and 〈◊〉 assurance both of the soundness of the work and the certainty of a mans good estate al the dayes 〈◊〉 his life if the Lord be pleased to second these heavy breakings of heart with his blessing For it is the nature of 〈◊〉 when they are set in opposition to make each other appear more 〈◊〉 For a conscientious 〈◊〉 to be made of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is so 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 especially when the dreadful expressions of Gods displeasure have been so amazing in the eyes of al that have been the spectators and in a peculiar manner astonishing to the soul of the prophane creature that hath selt the arrows of the Almighty sticking fast in him 〈◊〉 he cannot be but restless before he get relief and help so he cannot but know it when he hath gained it the change is great and open Gods dispensation so glorious This man is able to say at such a time in such a place by such a man out of such a 〈◊〉 the Lord was pleased to speak home to my heart to make known himself my self and sin to my self which caused my soul tody within me in the sence of my vileness and misery and from that time forward followed me daily with fears and horrors the venom of vengeance drinking up my spirits until in such and such a manner and by such means he was pleased to work my heart to his own tearms made me glad to seek him importunately yea restlesly and more glad to find him sealing up the truth of his free love by his own spirit in the word of truth This man can tel how he came by his grace and can tel what to say and shew for heaven and happily unless it be through his own careless neglect may carry the assurance with him to his grave Whereas such as the Lord doth sweetly but secretly draw unto himself in an insensible and undiscernable manner restrains them from common evils traynes them up under Godly Parents religious government good company and spiritual means of Instruction and so implants by little and little into the Lord Jesus without their privity or apprehension however their estate is good and their condition safe in its self yet they gaine littl evidence or maintain little assurance thereof in their own hearts but upon every turn are questioning and quarrelling doubting and staggering touching their condition whereas they that come to their grace by many and great troubles retain it commonly with great evidence Thus Paul when the Lord Christ had made a glorious conquest over his proud rebellious and malicious heart against the holy wayes of his truth and 〈◊〉 He could tel and did upon al occasions when the field was fought how the Lord Christ got the day over his hellish distempered heart Thus he relates Gods dealing Acts. 26. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Acts. 22. 1. to the 14. And so issues having obtained help of God I continue until this day thus it was so it is thus it was wrought so maintain d. And though it be true I confess that no man should or wil break his arme that he may have it the stronger for the setting or know how it is set or therefore be careless to become scandalously vile that God may be gloriously merciful yet through the riches of mercy which makes our losses gaines The certainty of the assurance we find doth countervail and exceed the terrors and horror we felt Give me the man who can say I was blind but now I see I know I was in prison but am now delivered it s not delusion but a vision and real accomplishment of the work by the Allmighty hand of God Lastly its honourable for a poor scandalous wretch to be under such heavy breakings of heart and therefore it should be comfortable to him I rather mention this to stop the mouths of the reffuse rabble of the world and to shew the desperate mistakes unto which carnal reason carryes us out of the pride of our own spirits wee know that sin is 〈◊〉 and shame loathsom even to nature especially corrupt and proud to be forced to acknowledg the one to take the other It appears very direful to the apprehension of al the sons of Adam And therefore when the Lord is pleased to hold a scandalous wretch upon the wrack and to make him roar out his wretchedness vomit out his sin and take the shame he hath deserved His companions that have conversed with him and his freinds that have honored him they are driven to their dumps in discouragment and discontentment and cry out the man is undone and curse the day that ever the Minister came into the countrey and blames his folly and silliness that he would attend to what he saied and be troubled with any thing he heard to bring an everlasting blemish upon himself No I say ther 's no such matter This is the greatest honor that yet ever befel him in this world and wil be a means of blessing to him in another It is a shame to commit sin but not to have the heart breaking under the apprehension of it Nay it is an expression of Gods favour and as it may prove a sign of Gods special love if it be rightly emproved God thus far honors a poor wretch that he wil speak to him as he passeth by Should a Prince that was provoked by the conspiracies and rebellions of many Traitors as he passed by should he vouchsafe to send unto and cal upon some one to reclaime him from his crew and company and courses and that upon very equal terms he might find acceptance and pardon and peace when he wil not so much as look after others or change a word with them would not this be accounted matter of marvelous respect from the King and honor to the man So here As David begs favour from the Lord. 〈◊〉 119. 132. be merciful to me and lookupon me as thou usest to do upon them that desire to fear thy name he takes it to be the highest pitch of his happiness to be so dealt withal If God deal with
thee as with these as he dealt with the Jaylour as he dealt with Paul whom he made a choyce vessel for himself art thou not highly honored why should God knock at thy dore and cal in upon thy Conscience c. ADVISE unto Ministers whose place and calling it is under the Lord to deal with such persons undersuch diseases Hence we may see a right way in holy prudence how to proceed with them in the times of temptations and their saddest distresses of spirit See what God doth and that we may do As Gods deals so we may deal as the safest way and most likely to find 〈◊〉 When therefore we have fortifyed the heart with hope in regard of the sufficiency of God free grace and possibility of relief from him As that he is able to do excessive exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think As in desperate cures men use cordials to fortify against faintings of heart that they may better bear the hardness of the cure this being supposed then the rule is The sharpest receits are most seasonable in a right manner of proceeding and that in three things 1 Be not slight in the searching 2 Be not too hasty to heal 3 Be not too suddeenly confident of the cure Not slight in the search for that is most dangerous and an error here can hardly ever be recovered go therefore to the quick see the bottome if ever you hope to make work of it or to lend help indeed He that cleaves knotty logs must have the sharpest wedges and hardest blowes Here pity is unseasonable and greatest cruelty When out of 〈◊〉 we are afraid to put men to pain we encrease their pains and hasten their destruction Jer. 6. 14. they have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly The Apostle teacheth another way Titus 1. 13. reprove them sharply that they may be sound in the faith Sharp reproofes make sound Christians He shewes greatest love and mercy which followes the Lord in love and mercy Yea it is a course that procures most ease to the party the corrosive that eats away the proud flesh brings soonest ease because that proud flesh and humors bring al the pain So these dreadful overbearing threatnings abate the pride of the heart and a mans perversness and so brings ease for the waywardness of our own wils work our own woe and here not to trouble mens sins and Consciences is indeed to trouble their peace and comfort in issue Thus Samuel 1 Sam. 12. 20. He lesseneth nothing of their sin onely sendeth them forth to mercy for relief Ye have indeed done al this wickedness yet do not forsake the Lord. Be not too hasty to heal the wound More hast than good speed draws here desperate in conveniences with it and may be hazards their comforts while they live Old and deep sores as they have been long in gathering corrupt humors so they must have a time to wast and wear them away which wil not be done in a moment old stayns must lye long in soak and have many fresh lavers before in reason they can be clensed So old distempers which have taken strong possession and are of long continuance happily if the cure be too hasty it wil hazard our comforts The Israelites left War too suddenly with the Canaanites they tribured them and not destroyed them and they proved goads in their sides which they could not get rid of all their daies Be not suddenly confident of the Cure Let men be Probationers in our apprehensions let them proceed in a fearful and painful way to make proof of the inward disposition of their hearts by their outward practices in a constancy of an holy conversation As Solomon said of Adonijah 1 King 1. 52. Let him shew himself a worthy man This creating of Professors making men Christians by our applause and approbation because they have attained the under strokes of horror skil ability to holy Services proves the bane of their souls the blemish of their Profession and a breach of their Peace either they have turned wretches again or else have been overtaken with their carelessness so that they have been foyled by gross falls and hardly ever recovered their peace and comfort though they have taken off the scandal Therefore as John Baptist told them if indeed you purpose to 〈◊〉 from the wrath to come bring forth fruits worthy of amendment Matth. 3. 8. such as wil carry weight and fetch up the scales as it were and undoubtedly evidence the work of Grace Matter of Caution and Direction unto such whom God hath exercised with such heavy breakings of heart for their scandalous courses beware ye be not weary and labor to make an escape from under the Dispensation of the Lord but give welcom thereunto help forward the work do not resist it make way for the Dispensation of the Lord do not oppose it and therefore possess thy heart with a necessity of subjection thereunto Why should'st thou think to have an exception be rather fearful thou shouldst not find the Truth of the work of these terrors than that thou should'st be fearful to endure these if he wil land thee in Christ he wil toss thee in this manner As a Patient having a 〈◊〉 wound he enquires what the 〈◊〉 did to others and how the Salve did work upon others in his case and if he find the Salve and working be the same he hopes that he also shal be cured So here EXHORTATION Improve the utmost of our endeavor to keep our selves and all ours from scandalous sins Restraining Grace is but common Grace yet is it a great favor of the Lord that he wil curb and restrain a man by this means the work of Conversion is more easie and such persons freed from dreadful terrors that seize upon others Mark 12. 34. Thou ant not far from the Kingdom of God 〈◊〉 's bring our Children as neer to Heaven as we can it is in our power to restrain them and reform them and that we ought to do As it was the speech of a godly woman she 〈◊〉 that al means might be used to restrain her Children that if it were possible their reckoning might not be so heavy as mine 〈◊〉 A Prophane course cannot hinder the unresistible work of Gods Grace It 's true But though God may save thy soul yet he may scorch thy soul in the flames of Hell fire and make thee weary of thy part and of thy lusts and all Are there no terrors dreadful but those of the torments of the damned in Hell Yes you wil find it you may pay deer for al your pleasures in sin for al your fleshly lusts before your hearts be brought off from them therefore you that are Parents joyn your helping hands to this great and good Work beat down the stubbornness do what you can to restrain the loosness and prophaneness of the spirits of your children though it 's
it vexed al the veyns of their hearts that 's the way to weary them and there they solace themselves ah it's roast meat to them and thus it is a pastime to a fool to do wickedly but know thou art a hard-hearted fool a graceless wretch in the wise mans account do not our plantations groan under such sons of Belial such senceless 〈◊〉 do they not swarm in our streets are not our families pestered with such Esau-like when he sold his 〈◊〉 eat and drank and rose up and went his way not affected with what he had lost not ashamed of what he had done but 〈◊〉 of al or like the man in the Gospel possessed with the Devil sometime he cast him into the fire and sometime into the water so these rush headily into sin and impudently continue in such 〈◊〉 courses they commit sin and continue in sin hasten Gods wrath and their own ruin and go away senceless of al so that it 's now seasonable to take Jeremiahs complaint I 〈◊〉 and heard and no man sayd what have I done 〈◊〉 Jer. 8. 6. He might and did hear of hideous vile evils without any diligent hearkning see and meet loathsom distempers without any searching but when he followed men home wondring in what quiet do these men live what comfort do these men find how do they bear up their hearts under such hellish carriages I wil go see how they lye down in their beds and whether they dare sleep or no under such trangression and such guilt and when he came he hearkned surely I shal now hear them mourn bitterly afflict their hearts with unfained grief there is no such thing no man said what have I done not a word of that it was the least part of their care the furthest off their thoughts And this is the temper the condition and disposition of scores hundreds of you that hear this word at this instant Is not the day yet to dawn the hour yet to come that ever you shed a tear sent up a sigh to heaven in the sence of thy evils or set thy self in secret to bewail thy distempers before the Lord God knows and your hearts know the Chambers where you lodge the Beds where you lie can bring in witness against you you are strangers to this blessed brokenness of heart yea enemies to it you were pricked no not so much as in your eyes nor in your tongues God and his word and al means that have been tried could never wrest a tear from thine eye not a confession out of thy mouth thou wilt commit thy follies and die in the defence or excuse of them but to have thy heart affected in serious manner with the filth of thy sinful distempers it is to thee a riddle to this day Nay there be thousands in the bottomless pit of hell that never had the like means as thou never committed the like sins and yet never had such a senceless sottish heart under such rebellions as thy self Wo be to you that laugh now you shal mourn those flinty spirits of yours wil not break now they shal certainly burn you draw a light harrow now you find no burden of your pride and stubbornness rebellions idleness and noysom lusts they are no burdens ye can go boult upright with them and Sampson like carry the very gates of hell upon your backs and never buckle under them wel the time wil com you wil cal to the mountains to fal upon you and the hills to cover you from the infinite weight of Gods everlasting displeasure Tast a little the sting of this sin and see the compass of this accursed condition of thine and go no further than the point in hand Thou art far without the walk of the Almighty there is no dealing and entercourse between thee and the holy one of Israel the Almighty passeth by and wil not so much as change a word with thee or cast a look 〈◊〉 thee to leave any remembrance of himself upon thy soul thou livest as though thou hadst nothing to do with him nor he with thee nothing to do with grace or heaven the holy spirit a wes some humbles others some it quickens that were sluggish establisheth others who were weak onely thou art senceless of any operation of the Lord thou hast a heart that puts away the presence of the Lord out of thy mind if it were possible thy fleece is dry when there is dew upon al the earth this is that which the Apostle discovers to be the cause of that heavy curse of the heathen Eph. 4. 18. strangers from the life of God by reason of the hardness of their hearts Oh thou hast a 〈◊〉 heart and leadest a strang life even as opposite to God as darkness to light hell to heaven differs onely but in degree from that 〈◊〉 which appears most eminently amongst the Devills and damned even to be an adversary to God and his grace to stand it out in defiance with the divine goodness of God his power and faithfulness Pharaoh he 〈◊〉 it but thou dost it 〈◊〉 it out with the Almighty and impudently darest the great God who is Jehovah I know not Jehovah neither wil I let my heart go to yield subjection and service to him I know no authority of a command that shal rule me nor admonition that shal awe or reforme me Thus thou art a stranger to the wisdom of God the folly of thine own self-deceiveing mind and heart leads thee and deludes thee thou art a stranger to the grace and holiness of the Lord the perversness and rebellion of thine own wretched heart takes place onely with thee yea a stranger to mercy and to the compassions and consolations of the Lord Jesus and his blessed spirit who choosest thine own ruin lovest thine own death following lying vanities and forsakest the mercies purchased and tendred to thee Upon these tearms in which thou now standest God hath appoynted no good for thee while thou continuest in this temper as he said write this man childless so write upon it write thy soul graceless that shal never prosper Isa. 61. 1. 2. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath annointed me to preach good 〈◊〉 to the meek to bind up the broken hearted liberty to the captives opening of the prison to those that are bound to appoint to them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes the garment of gladness for the spirit of heaviness thou hearest the glad tidings of mercy pardon and peace grace of life that passeth understanding joy unspeakable rich and plentiful redemption from al sins and miseryes which God hath layd up in his everlasting decree and laid out in the great work of redemption by the Lord Jesus but thou mayest set thy heart at rest as long as thou seest that hard heart of thine thou shalt never see good day joy and comfort and liberty they are not thy allowance they are childrens bread it
s prepared intended and appointed of purpose for others thou hast no share and portion in al these precious things of life hands off thou hard 〈◊〉 wretch There is good 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 poor shall be enriched the mourners comforted but no good to thee no look the second 〈◊〉 there is other provision the Lord makes for stiffnecked Creatures he proclaims a yeer of Jubile a day of acceptance from God to the distressed but there is a day of Vengeance of our God to those that are of a contrary disposition there is Vengeance and it 's from God he wil be revenged upon thee for all the contempt of his Truth grief done to his Spirit resistance of his Grace he will rain fire and brimstone storm and tempest upon thee this shall be the portion of thy cup for the conclusion is peremptory Job 9. 4. Who ever 〈◊〉 his heart against the Lord and prospered Can there any example be alledged that wil evidence it any reason given or conceived that might prove it possible Search the Stories of so many Generations and enquire since the day that God created 〈◊〉 upon Earth if there were ever such a thing heard When there were Gyants upon earth the whol earth was filled with violence al the world 〈◊〉 themselves in open rebellion against God God opens the windows of Heaven and the fountains of the great 〈◊〉 and sends in a Deluge of his displeasure and wrath and destroies those hard-hearted Rebels from off the face of the Earth me thinks I hear those flinty stiffnecked wretches 〈◊〉 and crying drowning and dying and roaring out their wretchedness those loose Libertines eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage and knew nothing i. e. and would know nothing their Cups in their hands and Queans in their Arms and despair in their mouths Oh we shut our Ears and hardened our hearts against the striving of Gods Spirit the call of Gods Messengers the warning and entreaties of Gods patience We would not receive Counsel and terms of Peace and Mercy and therefore we now perish without Mercy cursing one another and breathing out their last Cursed be the day that ever I knew thee by thy carnal deceits I was strengthened Cursed be thou and thy company by thy example I was deluded and hardened Thus they are accursed and go cursing down to the depth of the Sea and so to the depth of the bottomless Pit It is beyond the Scope of our Saviors coming into the world and the Commission he hath received for the great Work of Redemption to communicate Grace and Life to thee in the condition in which now thou art Luke 19. 10 The Son of man is come to 〈◊〉 and save that which is lost not such as was miserable for so all was but such as were sensible of that undone condition in which they lay Yea his expression is peremptory I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Marth 9. 13. Those who conceited themselves whol in a safe and secure estate he had no Commission to call or comfort such they 〈◊〉 be broken before he bind them weary and laden before he ease them wounded before he will pour in the Oyl of Mercy to heal and relieve them Hence it was that when our Savior had prepared his Feast killed his Fatlings and drawn forth his refined Wines and sent and invited his guests all pleaded their excuses and refused to come not being hunger-bit and sensibly affected with their own miserable estate and the need they had of supply from those rich Provisions of a Savior their-careless and secure hearts could rellish other sensual care and swinish contentments which they had at home when men set no price see no need of those Dainties and Rarities of the riches of Grace and Salvation purchased by Christ and offered in the Gospel he peremptorily concludes Such shall never tast of them Luke 14. 24. The second sort of hard-hearted sinners or of a further and higer degree in this hardness are such as have been exercised under the displeasure of the Almighty 〈◊〉 had many stabs by the Truth and threatnings of the Word and have had many bruises and blows from the Dispensations of God in his Ordinances deeply affected and almost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the danger of their own Estates and the dreadfulness of those everlasting burnings which now they felt in their souls and were not able to bear but at last they have SHOOK OFF THEIR TERROR 〈◊〉 away the vexation and trouble that lay upon their spirits and now they grow more fierce and hard-hearted than ever before and dare out-face and out-brare the severest threatnings the most dreadful Judgments that can be denounced and which they find confess themselves liable unto having their conscience seared with a hot Iron 1 Tim. 4. 2 themselvs becoming fearlessly impudent to adventure upon sin without the least touch of any remorse or trouble for it The time was they confess they sate with trembling hearts under the Dispensation of the Word and so silly and feeble spirited they were that their hearts failed with fear and 〈◊〉 away in the apprehension of the hainousness of their sin and the unsufferable plagues that were due thereunto But now that dale is 〈◊〉 those daies are past they have got more wit and skil than to be scared with such Bug-bears they can tell how to fence themselves against such fears and disquiets they can sit and hear and attend all that can be said let them speak while they will and wear their 〈◊〉 to the stumps they can hear all and slight all nay rather than fail deride and make a mock of what they have heard but to be troubled at what they hear they are 〈◊〉 such Babies they are not so much as stirred with any thing Oh wo to thee that ever thou sawest thy heart at this pass the greater will thy trouble be one day The Devils beleeve and tremble and doest not thou stir Art thou in Hell here on Earth before thou comest thither and dost thou come short of the Devils themselves in sensibleness of heart and canst thou content thy self yea bless thy self in this condition Hear what God hath determined against thee and wil certainly bring upon thee Deut. 29. 19. He that shal 〈◊〉 the words of this Curse and shall bless himself in his heart saying I shal have peace though I walk in the Imagination of my heart 〈◊〉 drunkenness to thirst the wrath of the Lord will smoak against that man to cut him off from the Land of the Living c. But before I part with thee suffer me to spread the dreadfulness of thy condition before thy face and leave it upon Record in thy Conscience that thou mayest say thou 〈◊〉 forewarned Know therefore thy case is almost desperate and beyond Cure thy doom draws on and hastens which thou canst 〈◊〉 escape thy plagues are beyond the utmost of all extremity which thou canst not
forerunner of life and 〈◊〉 which wil undoubtedly take up their 〈◊〉 in the soul he that goes in the vally of tears he 〈◊〉 on comfortably because he goes in the right way to Zion they shal go weeping and mourning with their faces toward Zion 〈◊〉 50. 4. this is the guise and the way of such who are travailing towards the holy land Immanuels Land the land of Promise they may be content to bear the hardness of the way when they are sure to attain the end of their journey the salvation of their souls that wil pay the charges and recompence the labor and quit cost in the issue it 's the travellers conclusion that carries them through the harshest way they meet withal he hath never an il day that hath a good night and when he finds the marks of the way that are given him the directions that are suggested to discover his approach to his own home that makes him 〈◊〉 al the rest as happily they may be to this purpose 〈◊〉 you are passed so many dayes journey you shal come 〈◊〉 last to a most tedious and heavy way and deep waters such as you must be forced to swim can feel and find no bottom yet if you keep the right causey there is no danger at al It 's a sad way but sate and then know you may you are nearer home 〈◊〉 danger is past and the worst is over ye are within sight of your own house when the traveller who hath taken these directions and retaynes his marks in his mind when he finds that by experience which hath formerly been spoken the way mervailous heavy tedious he sticks fast in the mire and clay anon the waters are so deep that he feels no bottom he remembers and concludes now I know where I am I am sure I am in the right way and certainly near home this makes him devour al the difficulties wet and weary he feels he fears nothing he thinks of nothing but his wife wil welcome him his children rejoyce in him his friends refresh and accompany him there he shal take up his lodging and refresh his weary nature so here in thy spiritual travel when the weight 〈◊〉 thy sins which of al other is the heaviest the loss of a God and his favor and presence which are depths and floods of distress which come even to the soul there thou findest no bottom they are unsufferable unsupportable then lift up thy head know this is the right way to Christ and thou near home even within the ken of the Promise of eternal life Thou wilt come immediately to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant thy head and husband who wil wipe awayal tears from thine eyes who wil embrace and welcome thee in the armes of his mercy thee into the bosom and bowels of his love rejoyce over thee with everlasting joy come thou mourning weary and weatherbeaten sinner I have wept for thee and died for thee and prayed for thee and looked many a long look for that distressed soul Oh be humbled be estranged and divorced from thy lusts when wil it once be Oh welcome though come weary and tired no sooner there arrived but the spirit of comfort shal poure peace into thy Conscience which passeth al understanding joy unspeakable and glorious al the first born of God they wil come about thee and be glad to enjoy thy fellowship and the innumerable company of Angels wil sing Hallelujahs in heaven peace on earth and good wil towards men God and Christ Heaven and Earth Men and Angels rejoyce in thee and thy condition and why may est not thou be refreshed in it There is no other way whereby God can according to covenant convey spiritual good to thee no other way whereby thou eanst receive it Be therefore forever comforted in thy condition God must cut if he cure thee of a stony heart God must wound that secure and careless soul of thine if ever he heale it so himself professeth it is the method he takes in relieving the misery and distressed and sinful condition of a son of Adam Isa. 19. 22. The Lord shal smite Egipt and shal heal it and they shal return to the Lord and be wil be entrated of them and he wil heal them Oh but my terrors have been many formerly but never as now passing strength my burdens were 〈◊〉 before but never such as now beyond al extremity above al the ability I have beyond al possibility I can conceive to endure and not to dy under them in everlasting discouragement never to look for any good Therefore thy comfort never so near as now As in child-birth so in this new birth the stronger and sharper the throwes the more speedy and successeful the deliverance As it is in the cure of an old festered sore al the while it breaks and runs there is some ease but there is yet no cure while the core remains when that is pressed out though it be with much pain and extremity yet then the healing comes on with most speed When thy sorrowes have seized upon thee and thou hast breathed out thy sighs and complaints to God there hath happly been some ease Oh but there was a core of some bosom lust or corruption that lay within and yet not loosened and dislodged and there is no perfect cure or healing wil befal so long as that remaines and there must be much pressing much struggling by word and paryer before that wil part and when thy heart parts from that know undoubtedly health and Salvation and comfort is near Comfort Alas what do ye speak to me of comfort who am unfit and unworthy nor have any right unto it Light is sowen for the righteous and joy for them that are upright in heart yea but they have it hardly for whom it was prepared even planted and sown of purpose it 's their harvest let them reap it and receive it But what have I to do with it to put my sickle into anothers corn who am a sinful unrighteous wretched creature Not onely the righteous who by the power of grace can subdue sin but even the mourners in Sion who by the spirit are burthened with their sins these I say have allowance and that from God to share in this comfort Blessed are they that mourn they shal be comforted Math. 5. 3. thou Sayest thou art not thou findest none for the present be it so that is not in the promise but it's sure enough thou shalt be that is sufficient God wil make thee stay for it and beg for it and prize it before it come that thou mayest be thankful for it when it comes it shal be in Gods time and in due time and if thou wouldst have it before know thou art not sit to receive nor God willing to bestow thou hast it not in hand but its 〈◊〉 in hope it wil be and wil not fail and the reversion of it
for further counsel Oh but if his old fits befal him he is then as careful to use his old Physick send presently to the Physitian for fresh counsel and advice So it wil be with the soul of a sinner when once the wound is healed God 〈◊〉 allayed the venom of the vengeance which sin brought with it the heart growes up in some evidence of the work and assurance of Gods love so that the worst is past and the 〈◊〉 is over men begin to lay aside their diet and that careful 〈◊〉 they ought to use the daily renewed repentance they should take up until the Lord le ts loose their lusts afresh their old fits and force of their 〈◊〉 distempers seem again to overbear them which hazard their truth and peace they begin to find their hearts and prayers and begin again to be awakened to the work The Corinthians were careless either of the sin or misery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persons or their own duty and careful endeavor to reforme until the Apostle 〈◊〉 sharply to them and affects their hearts with godly sorrow this set them al awork what care in what fear what zeal did it provoke them to express both in their carriage towards him and in their daily course before God 2. Cor. 19. 11. Pauls new 〈◊〉 with his corruptions and the body of 〈◊〉 makes him renew his complaints Rom. 7. 24. Oh wretched man that I am who shal deliver me from this body of death when God left a splinter in the 〈◊〉 and sent a messenger of Satan to buffet him this made him to bestir himself to purpose 2 Cor. 12. I besought the Lord thrice that is many times and with much importunity he 〈◊〉 post hast to heaven 〈◊〉 supply 〈◊〉 In the City besiedged the way to make them 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their attendance is to give the alarum upon every occasion He that is in a 〈◊〉 ague though upon his better day he feels no fit yet he is 〈◊〉 and watchful o himself where he goes and what he does 〈◊〉 he expects his fit he knowes he may hasten it and hazard his life It is so with a Christian we are in the leaguer continually though not assaulted our 〈◊〉 like 〈◊〉 lye in our bones though we have a better day now and then expect the 〈◊〉 and give the Allarum and look for our 〈◊〉 before it come that wil make us busy and watchful to prevent it that it may never come In their affliction they wil seek me early Hos. 5. last God is forced somtimes to withdraw and go away that he may force his Saints to seek after him They are ready to submit to the Ministers of God making known his mind the very words which they expresse argues such a disposition of spirit they come as Patients to the Physitian to know his advice that they may take it As clyents to the Lawyer to understand his counsel that they may follow it So it was with Paul when God set upon his heart intimates his mistake to him that it was hard for him to kick against the pricks he trembling astonished Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. 6. not his own wil but Gods he attends now not what he would have done but what God would have done Psal 45. 5. When Gods arrows are sharp and stick fast in the hearts of his enemies the people fal under him Because the pride of their carnal reason is now conquered the Lord hath dashed and confounded the overweening conceit which once they had of their own worth and the excellency of their own abilities they now see that al the wit in the world doth not keep common-wealth in their brain that their apprehensions are not Oracles but that they are and have been miserably mistaken and see now by experience the vanity of their imaginations and that they have been deluded by the darkness of their own 〈◊〉 hearts when they professed themselves wise they became fools Rom. 1 And therefore they are ready to lay down their own conceits and to follow Gods counsels they begin to 〈◊〉 and suspect their own blindness and therefore yield easily to the directions of others A man that is bewildred and hath lost himself he is content that a child should shew him the way that he conceives hath but any acquaintance with the coast So it was prophesied of Converts in the time of the Gospel Isa. 11. 6. That a Child should lead them even the meanest that brought arguments should prevail with them especially the ministers of the Gospel of whose wisdom and faithfulness and acquaintance with the way and wil of God they have had 〈◊〉 experience That stubbornness and rebellious resistance of their wills out of the soveraignty whereof they durst set themselves against God and heaven is now tamed and subdued So that they dare not gainsay but become plyable to the holy and acceptable wil of God and ready to take the impression of his good pleasure when it appears and is presented before them The hardest peble when it is broken and 〈◊〉 to pouder it wil take any impression that is put upon it So Job joynes these two Job 23. 15. 16. Job is afraid of Gods presence for God hath melted or made my heart soft and the Almighty hath troubled me and hence when God had schooled him out of the whirlwind and tamed the stiffness and perversness of his spirit see how he yields himself to Gods hand to do any thing with him even works like wax Behold I am vile once have I spoken but I wil say no inore twice but I wil proceed no further Because they have found the truth of the word and the terror and authority thereof made good upon their souls and that they cannot now but acknowledg and admire and therefore dare not but readily submit thereunto as knowing they cannot resist but with their own ruine and there own safety consists in subjection thereunto which they could never formerly be perswaded of before he found it by woful experience how terrible God hath been out of his Sanctuary Psal. 110. 3. thy people shal be willing in the day of thy power so the woman of 〈◊〉 when the truth of our Saviors speech pierced her heart like a two edged sword she then fals to admire him when before she had 〈◊〉 both his speech and practise 〈◊〉 here see the reason of that 〈◊〉 and way-ward unteachableness that sometimes appears in the hearts of Gods 〈◊〉 they are awk to know wearish to give 〈◊〉 to the evidence of Gods counsel they want broken heartedness and therefore want this measure of teachableness as it is with an unruly Colt it costs him many a blow first before he be brought to be at command so it is with the unruly heart of man which must have many sad stroaks and blows before it be throughly subdued to the obedience of Gods wil. Men never knew what sin meant almost
a whit the worse and the Lord loves him never a whit the less because his pressures and sorrows 〈◊〉 upon him but that is the season of Gods saving health 〈◊〉 is most neer when there is most need and our 〈◊〉 makes way for the enlargement of his love and mercy to us Joseph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prison land God is with him with his in the fire 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 not and the Waters that they drown 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Isa. 43. 2. God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. 25. 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 is seven times 〈◊〉 and the three children 〈◊〉 into it then the Son of God 〈◊〉 visibly with them in the 〈◊〉 thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 all manner of 〈◊〉 then God doth al manner of good for great 〈◊〉 your reward in Heaven So that what the Apostle enjoyns the sinner now finds true by proof that we have reason to count it all joy when we fall into many temptations James 1 2 3 4. For in al those wants which out 〈◊〉 befal become 〈◊〉 and intire and want nothing spiritually and 〈◊〉 the contrite is content to bear these when he finds they do not hinder the happiness of the soul. He now finds that the presence of his sins only poysons all the Comforts he hath with a curse and 〈◊〉 off the Hope and Expectation of any blessing from the hand of the Lord in al the Dispensations in the waies of Providences or Ordinances towards him nothing can prosper Why transgress ye the Commandement of the Lord for ye cannot prosper Sin stops the passage and puts him beyond al possibility of 〈◊〉 or good 〈◊〉 to be extended towards him sor the Lords determination is past and it 's peremptory there is no peace to the wicked saies my God Isai. 57. 21. he hath said it the word is past out of his mouth and no 〈◊〉 can 〈◊〉 it You know what a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Messenger the thing was so reasonable What! peace so long as the 〈◊〉 of thy mother 〈◊〉 remain Jos. 7. 12. It 's that which the Lord professeth so peremptory I 〈◊〉 be with you no more except you destroy the 〈◊〉 thing from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 his blessing and 〈◊〉 in al the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 is the meaning he would not be with 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 Warring in 〈◊〉 going forth and coming in he wil not be with them in 〈◊〉 in receiving praying improving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shal not work Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 place a man 〈◊〉 have them but no 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 no Spirit with 〈◊〉 no Blessing upon them no good from them at al. That which poysons al the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay in truth the evil of al evils with it He now finds the removal of 〈◊〉 would set open the floodgate of the infinite favor and goodness of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in amain upon the 〈◊〉 Jer. 5. 24. your 〈◊〉 with-hold good things from you God doth not with-hold them or keep them from us 〈◊〉 onely through the desert of our sins his arm is not 〈◊〉 that he cannot help nor his 〈◊〉 heavy 〈◊〉 he cannot hear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power that he cannot nor mercy that he wil not help It s his desire Oh that there were such a heart in them that they might fear me and keep my commandements that it may go wel with them and theirs for ever 〈◊〉 5. 29. Nay he hath taken a sollemn oath As I live saith the Lord I desire not the 〈◊〉 of a sinner but that he 〈◊〉 repent and live 〈◊〉 18. 32. so that he wants not mercy but we want 〈◊〉 unworthy of the mercy he tenders uncapable Yea unwilling to receive the grace he offers Oh 〈◊〉 man that wil let him come and 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 of life freely Rev. 22. 17. If you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it God wil give 〈◊〉 and no man wants it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it s he that wil have it and it s his corruption that keeps him that he 〈◊〉 not nay is not subject nay would not be made able to receive this mercy Come out of them my people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and touch not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he offers himself readily I 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 God I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and walk with them he wil constantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comfort them by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cor. 6. 18. 19. He wil walk up and down see their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for them answerable to al their needs and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which brings 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we should prize as a good 〈◊〉 above al 〈◊〉 things we should prize it INSTRUCTION We here seethe 〈◊〉 why the most men in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Physitian never looked for 〈◊〉 because they were never sensible of their thraldom c. REPROOF A bil of inditement to accuse and 〈◊〉 thousands giving in evidence that they never 〈◊〉 the work of God upon their souls Two sorts especially The secure sinner who is so far from seeking and coveting deliverance that he wil not take it when it s offered but is content to be in the prison of his natural condition and to lye in the boults and 〈◊〉 of his sins stil. Of this temper were those Jews in captivity that had so long lived in Babilon they were content to remain there when liberry was proclaimed and the way opened deliver thy self O Zion thou that dwellest with the daughter of Eabilon Zach. 2. 7. yet they stayed behind in Captivity stil so it is with many a sluggish 〈◊〉 he is content to perish rather then do any thing to deliver himself he blesseth himself in his misery and so is a devoted slave to the Devil as Exo. 21. 6. If when the servant had his liberty to go out free he said plainly I love my Master I wil not go out free then his ear was to be bored with an awl and he was to be his servant for ever the boaring of his ear did signify his yielding obedience to the Command of another So when Christ comes to set a man at liberty offers mercy and grace and pardon if a man then say I love my master Pride perversness and Idleness let me have and live in my sins if God say Amen thou art a bond servant of 〈◊〉 for ever thou 〈◊〉 a miserable 〈◊〉 creature for ever The sluggish professor or hypocrite that hath had some conviction of his sins and remembrance of the stings of his distempers and some promises and purposes of amendment the blow is no sooner over but al is at an end lazy prayers and feeble endeavours but when it comes to the poynt he wil do nothing he wil give you the hearing of counsels and admonitions you would think the man were in a very
and shal endure by reason of the same He thought indeed in the time of his folly That Preachers in point of policy presenting sin in a more dreadful visage and appearance than there was just cause or Reason would in truth conclude at least he imagined if the worst befel that either he would remove the guilt or avoid the plague or subdue the strength of such distempers that did threaten Gods displeasure and his destruction but now he finds it otherwise yea his own Conscience nay his own sence and experience doth abundantly confute his folly and mistakes that notwithstanding al the waies he can take and means he can use guilt stil continues he cannot remove it plagues he cannot avoid violence and venom of his corruption he cannot master nor help himself against the 〈◊〉 Command and Authority they yet live and are mighty And therefore he is forced to send up to Heaven dayly yea to seek out unto the faithful Servants of the Lord that they may lend a helping hand for his relief that may help him by their prayers when he sees his own prevail not guide him by their Counsel when through his own ignorance he is at a loss in his thoughts and cannot direct himself that they may tent and heal his sore when out of unskilfulness he cannot 〈◊〉 how to dress the wounds of his own diseased and distressed spirit Thus Nature doth not only teach men but necessity compels al when they find themselves helpless to call yea cry for help yea to send far and neer for succor unto such in whose power it is to support when men have used al Kitchin Physick and taken some Ancient Receipts they have by them and yet the disease grows desperate and the cure more difficult they presently speed out to those who are able and learned Physitians for Counsel and Cure He that fears an on-set he would have a Second in the field with him So here God hath given the tongue of the Learned to some to speak a word in season to a weary Conscience Isai. 50. 4. To others God hath given a dexterous hand to joynt the souls and comforts of such who by some dangerous fall and sudden surprizal of distempers have made a breach in their spirits and peace Gal. 6. 1. You that are spiritual joynt such a man with a spirit of meekness handle hin skilfully yea gently and tenderly To some again God hath given precious Receipts rare experiences of his peculiar mercies to their own souls which few have heard almost none besides themselves have had the like proof 2 Cor. 4. 1. 4. Paul was afflicted and comforted that he might 〈◊〉 and comfort others in afflictions 2 Cor. 2. 11. he professeth he was not ignorant of Satans Methods but was wel acquainted with his Stratagems having been in so many pitcht fields so many Sieges Hence it is that these poor wounded sinners in the Text press in upon the Apostles as skilful and experienced 〈◊〉 for such as were in spiritual distress Men and Brethren what shall we do q. d. You understand we are ignorant and know not what way to take you are experienced and we unacquainted wholly with Gods dealings and directions and perceive not what to do Besides were mens abilities equal yet many eyes see more and many hands can do more than one as in some wounds which we cannot reach by our own hands another though weak and unskilful wil lend ready help wil search and tent the wound we cannot touch nor reach the meanest Christian hath more Experience in some Case than those who are far more able and thou canst not reach it nor come at it he will search it with ease A Contrite sinner is willing to take shame and therefore willing to open himself and sin that he may bear shame that is due unto him for it He sees now the vileness of sin and himself vile because of it and therefore looks at shame as his due desert which he hath mericed at the hands of God and man and therefore accounts it but reasonable that he should be dishonored and rejected of others who hath 〈◊〉 the great Name of God and cast shame and contempt upon the good waies of his Grace he sits down really convinced of his own baseness and therefore doth not complement and speak words of course against himself he wil say I am so and so vile and wretched and doth not condemn himself that others might acquit him not 〈◊〉 his person and practice that others might praise and pity him But as it was said of them They should wash themselves and judg themselves worthy to be cut off and condemned and therefore worthy to be despised and trampled upon as unsavory salt and hence he is willing out of a holy indignation to shame himself and the sinfulness of 〈◊〉 heart and life which hath been a shame to his profession and cast shame upon the righteous and holy waies of the Lord. That which takes away all the hindrances of this holy duty of Confession and puts the soul upon the necessity of the performance that must needs fit the soul for the discharge of this Service But Contrition takes away the hindrances which are these three Either a man would not have his sin removed and subdued Or else he need not help to that purpose Or else he is afraid and ashamed to take help which is provided in that behalf But this Work of Contrition makes a man willing to be helped against his sin makes him see a need and seek for help makes him willing to take shame and he sees a necessity he should that he may receive help against his sins Therefore Contrition fits and enables the soul to a right Confession of sin INSTRUCTION We here see the reason of those sinful windings and turnings of Devices which generally appear in mens practices after the commissions of evil when they should be brought to a naked acknowledgment of their errors herein So many muses to escape so many sleepy senceless shifts to save their own stake their credit and respect yield nothing though they can gainsay nothing with color of Reason they spend their wits and thoughts and lay about them to the utmost skil of al the carnal reason they have to latch the blow to defeat and put by the stroak of the Truth the dint and evidence of the Argument that would discover their evil In a word here is the root and reason of those turnings aside from the Authority of the Truth They never came where this Contrition of heart grew nor yet indeed knew what it meaneth they never saw sin aright their souls were never sensibly affected with the direfulness of the scandal they give unto others and the guilt they bring upon their own Consciences for all which they must one day answer It 's said Luke 3. 6 7. that when God prepares way for the coming of the Lord Jesus or the coming of it within the sight and
and found not the harlot he was content to let her go away with his ring and bracelet lest saith he we be ashamed So David would have covered his solly with 〈◊〉 by sending Uriah to his own house 2 Sam. 11. And for a push the very servants of the Lord may be surprised with this sinful shifting away of their shame from them and al that while never see their sincerity nor find peace but when they are brought to see their sin then they yield immediately 2 Sam. 12. 13. I have saith David sinned against the Lord. Sometime by falshood gainsaying and denying so Gehazi 2 Kings 5. 25. Where hast thou been Gehazi thy servant went no whither Somtime colouring excusing putting it off as Saul to Samuel first it were not done then the people did it then he did it but for sacrifice and for love to Gods worship 1 Sam. 15. and in the issue he would be helped against his shame but not against his sin yet honor me before the people v. 30. he doth not say let me be humbled before the people who have sinned before them of this rank are these when the stals of Conscience and the pressures of their spirits constrain them to confess and seek for ease their complaints are like Lapwings cryes farthest from their nest or their bosom distempers which lye in the deck onely their acknowledgments are so general and of such evils that more or less belong to al and therefore they conceive they are yet under a safe cover little shame wil fal to their share Oh they are proud and dead hearted and have a deal of self within them the issue is here and the English is this I say I am thus and who is not so more or less and so a little shame wil come to their allowance and allotment And if their words which fal from them give a prudent man advantage of further enquirie and just suspicion to lay his hand upon the loathsom sore you wil see what shuffling and winding and biting of the lip wil presently appear The fourth and last sort are such who when the arrowes of the Lord have stuck fast in them and the venom therof hath drunk up their spirits when the poyson of their sin and pangs of conscience like a strong potion hath made them extremely sick that they are not able to conceal their evils any longer but the vengeance of the Lord forceth them to vomit out al their filth to the ful as a stiring potion kept in works with much violence but when it s over and they have thus taken the shame it s with no content to them it s a secret torment that their own tongues have gone beyond their own intents they do inwardly repine and befool themselves and could eat their flesh that ever they should lay themselves open so to contempt and therefore they begin to devise wayes and means how to mitigate the matter that it may not seem loathsom nor they so vile by reason of it and therefore they make constructions of some things and interpretations of others and then lay the extremity upon their distemper which was fired and followed by Satan that they belyed themselves in some things and said they knew not what and thus like the unclean dog they lick up their vomit again they cannot be quit of the shame and wash away the filth they have flung in their own faces but they are in no wise content with it and therefore would fain get it off by al the means they can devise thus their sins come to be healed too soon like a sore that closeth too fast not being daily tented and opened and so it festers again and proves dangerous so it is with the soul when it is not tented with daily taking shame for the evil and so kept open it again rankles and growes worse But how shal we know that we are content to take shame for sin by a right confession of it I answer that wil appear in four particular evidences The heart that is indeed content to take shame fon the sin it hath committed and stands guilty of it hath this disposition wrought in it and expresseth this affection also as occasion serves namely it opposeth not that Truth which doth evidently discover a mans 〈◊〉 and how worthily he deserves it though it doth it sharply To be content with a thing and to be opposite against the same thing implies a professed contradiction which neither Reason allows nor common sence wil admit He that is content in earnest with the portion and condition that is carved out to him in the course of Providence when it 's offered he welcoms it when it 's come and that he hath it in his possession closeth therewith as that which is a suitable good and most serviceable to him for the present necessity all circumstances considered An humbled heart takes his shame as a sick man doth his physick he could heartily wish he did not need it and yet as the case stands he cannot want it but in reason he shal want his Cure and health the potion is loathsom to take and troublesom in the working of it but the disease he knows to be far worse and more dangerous which he conceives may be purged by the use of this means and therefore seeks it earnestly and is not content without it and glad indeed to be so troubled because he may be eased as he hopes So it is with a heart truly sensible of sin and turned from it looks at this shame as a most loathsom and tedious potion and could have wished and that heartily he had never need of it had never so miscarried himself as to have deserved it but as the case now stands the dishonor done to Gods Name and Truth the scandal to others the danger to the spiritual and everlasting welfare of his own soul he looks at the Truth which shal be most evident and most sharply set on as the most special Receipt and Soveraign Medicine which he is glad to seek and more glad to take that the noysom distempers may be taken from his soul the dishonor from Gods Name and scandal from before the way of his Brethren 〈◊〉 to have a thing and crossness of spirit to resist that which brings it cannot stand together and in this sence it is you shal find the Saints pray so earnestly and affectionately for the keeping away of shame somtimes Psal. 119. Turn from me rebuke and shame and again Let me not be ashamed And somtime again so willingly to welcom and entertain it We lie down in our shame and are covered with confusion Jer. 3. 〈◊〉 Shame is a heavy curse as deserved by sin and justly inflicted from the Lord but to accept of it with an under abasedness of heart as the punishment of our 〈◊〉 from the hand of the Lord this is indeed the work of Grace and a gracious heart wil not side it against that Truth which
the lusts of men and the will of the Gentiles yea fulfil the desires of the flesh and walk after the Prince of the Air. Eph. 2. 2. As a man cannot turn himself so this first Aversion from sin and the Creature is not wrought by any gracious habit that is put into the soul by the Lord i. e. That is not the way and means by which this first Aversion and turning from sin is wrought And the Reasons are First All gracious qualities and habits as all other accidents and attendants upon things never have any being but in a subject and therefore must first be there before they can put forth any operation Wisdom must first be in the mind before a man can act wisely Skil must be in the Head and Understanding of the Artificer before he can work build and plant skilfully Holiness Righteousness Patience in our Hearts before we can work holily patiently and that 's the Reason though we have the same faculties of mind and wil before our Conversion as we have after yet we neither do nor can put forth any gracious action before but after Grace Hence it follows That if the first Aversion from sin were wrought by a habit of Grace we should first have this i. e. The Habit of Grace should be in the soul before it should work this Aversion of the soul from sin but that implies a contradiction that a man should have Grace and yet be wholly averted from God for the least moment Secondly If the soul be uncapable in that condition and under that consideration to receive the Habit of Grace then there cannot be a gracious habit in the soul to work any thing but while the soul is wholly possessed and acted by sin it is not capable of a gracious habit no more than it 's possible to be in light and darkness together The wisdom of the Flesh is enmity against God it is not subject nay it cannot be subject to the Law if not subject then it cannot receive the gracious impressions of it Rom. 8. 7. and John 14. 17. it 's said of the Comforter that the world cannot receive him the issue is if a gracious Habit neither is nor can be there in the soul wholly possessed and averted from God by sin then this Aversion from sin cannot be wrought by it Though the Lord doth not put a gracious habit INTO the Soul by which this may be done yet the Spirit of Contrition puts forth an irresistible power by which it works UPON the Soul thus turned from God to sin to return it from sin to God For the Spirit in the Work of Application sustains a double Office and so a double Respect As a Spirit Assisting As a Spirit Inhabiting And yet the same Spirit of Regeneration in such as shall be saved taking Regeneration in the breadth thereof including the whol Work though the operation be double or divers according to the diversity of the subject as the soul of a sinner upon which the work of Application must be made according to the degrees thereof The Spirit works upon the Soul in Preparation to make way for gracious habits but never inhabits the heart makes the soul a Temple without some gracious qualisication 1 Cor. 6. 18 19. Ye are the Temples of the holy Ghost Christ dwels in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. there is the Spirit inhabiting yet it is said The world cannot receive the Spirit because they do not see him nor know him but you know him for he dwels in you and abides with you John 14. 17. yet those who are nothing for the while but the world the Spirit doth work upon such to cal them out of the world by turning of them from darkness to light The Lord Christ as the Second Adam and the Head of those whom he shal bring back and beget unto God the Father in the vertue of his death he brings a Release from under the hand of Divine Justice to reverse that Commission which sin and Satan had to fasten the soul to the Creature and so to sin and by sin and the Creature to rule in it For when Adam jarred and justled against the Law the Law was strong and hard i. e. just the Law and the Lord in Justice pushed Adam away from him sin takes occasion to fall in and by that advantage when Divine Justice by reason of his provocation pushed him away it carries him to the Creature and the Devil by sin and the Creature challengeth Soveraignty over him The Lord Jesus by and in the vertue of his death suffering and satisfying Divine Justice delivers both himself and his from the Authority of sin God raised him from the Grave because it was impossible be should be held by the sorrows and power of the grave and therefore not by the power of sin and darkness Acts 2. 24. for they had no power but by vertue of Divine Justice which being now appeased their Commission is reversed and repealed By Death Christ destroyed him that had the power of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2. 14. So our Savior gives the ground of comfort and release to his I was dead and 〈◊〉 alive and behold I have the keyes of Hell and Death Rev. 1. 18. The Lord saies to sin hands off that soul is mine and doth therefore by the power of his Spirit not only stop the work-of sin but over-bears and abolisheth and takes off the right of Rule which Satan by sin challenged he brings the soul off from the Soveraignty of sin into another Jurisdiction The Lord having forced the sinner whereof I formerly disputed to feel sin as it is sin to be cross to the end of his being though not to the corruption of the soul yet to the Nature of the soul and therefore as it 's possible that the soul may be forced to 〈◊〉 so now upon feeling the soul finds it to be a most bitter thing and that unto the being of the soul as an immortal Creature made next for God as its last end And therefore Observe though it want Spiritual and Supernatural ability to enter into combate or vanquish a corruption by any Grace received yet being sensible by the Spirit of Contrition of the evil of it and so loosened from it it becomes subject stands readily prepared to 〈◊〉 any impression of the power of the Spirit whereby the exercise and power of sin may be stopped the challenge of any right of Rule and Soveraignty may be shaken off and for ever destroyed and the soul be carried to God in Christ to be owned ruled and blessed for ever So that when Christ as the Second Adam and Head of the Covenant comes to take a soul and to 〈◊〉 him from sin to God the Father look by what irresistable power he acts in opposition and 〈◊〉 against it as cross to his Glory the soul wanting power of its own it takes advantage to fall in
and yield to that power and is acted and moved by the like opposition and detestation against its sin according as the impression of the Spirit is left upon him And hence it comes the sinner is transported with that holy 〈◊〉 and indignation at such times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ward he doth never find 〈◊〉 may be can never again attain unto As the Gibeonites when all the Princes of the Cities and Provinces were gathered together against them they had not power in themselves to oppose yet withdraw themselves they would from under their Rule and Confederacy and yielded themselves to the Authority and Soveraignty of Joshua though it were to hew wood and draw water or as the Boat that is run a ground and hath neither tackling nor 〈◊〉 yet by a mighty wind and a Spring Tide he is carried with more speed to the Haven than by all 〈◊〉 and helps he could ever after attain So the Soul being acted wholly by that power and impression of the 〈◊〉 having yet no principle of its own it 's carried with a detestation against sin here Christ applies this power only afterward in Sanctification we apply the power of Christs death to this end with him This is the first work of God in the extent of it and the way he takes to turn the soul from sin and the Creature Fear stops him sorrow tires him hatred turns him Fear troubles his sin sorrow loosens it hatred abandons it Fear finds the knot Griefunties it Hatred dissolves and breaks it off Fear questions the Lawfulness of the match between sin and the soul Sorrow gives in proof and evidence out of sence of the evil of it Hatred disanuls the League and fues out an everlasting Divorce betwixt sin and the soul. This Hatred is the hatred of Preparation not of Sanctification the difference between which may be discerned by the former Discourse That in Sanctification is from the Spirit inhabiting this from the Spirit Assisting That of Sanctification is by a gracious habit infused into the Soul this is without a habit the Spirit only by 〈◊〉 irresistible motion working upon the soul. In that there is an inward Principle received whereby we meet with Christ and concur with him to the work here we have no habit and therefore no inward principle to meet with Christ he wholly and only 〈◊〉 upon us and we act as acted by him Take the wheels of a Watch out of place if you wil bring them into the right room and place they wil then move because there is a principle of motion put into it So of a Member out of Joynt if you wil by strong hand pul and move it unto the place being wholly moved it wil move into his order and rank it doth not concur or meet with your hand for the joynting of it self but stirs wholly and only as stirred but being settled and confirmed in the place it wil move to your hand and concur with your hand to help it self So here That hatred in Sanctification we receive from our union with Christ this the Spirit works upon us to make way to bring us to Union with the Lord Jesus we must turn from our sins before we come to God there must be an aversion from sin before there can be a conversion unto God we cannot be under two Covenants in the first Adam and the second grow upon two stocks together It 's said that Adam begot a son in his own Image that a Son was generated by the first Adam the act of Generation was no part of the Image but the Image is the corruption of Nature that came by Generation So that we are united that 's none 〈◊〉 Christs Image but the Image of Christ which is 〈◊〉 communion with him in his Graces this Image and these graces issue from our union The sum in short then is this There must be an aversion from sin before conversion unto God there is nothing in the soul that can work this but Christ must do it When Christ works this it is not by any habit of Grace infused into the soul but by the motion and work of the Spirit upon the Soul In this work Christ as the Head of the Covenant by 〈◊〉 of his death whereby he satisfied the Law brings a release from the hand of Divine Justice to reverse and repeal that Commission by which sin had Authority over the soul and Satan by sin 〈◊〉 that the act of sin is stopped and the right of the Rule of sin is wholly 〈◊〉 and made voyd the contrite sinner feeling the evil of sin and yet no power of himself to oppose and subdu look in what opposition and detestation the 〈◊〉 power of the spirit goes out against sin as acted by the impression of that power it acts by opposition and detestation against its sin and is turned from it 2. How this hatred discovers it self and how it may be discerned This hatred is attended with a continual fear of the presence and the deadly infection of sin and so with a constant watch against it or a watchful fear is a never fayling work whereby this hatred 〈◊〉 it felf in the carriage and daily conversation of a 〈◊〉 sinner the venom of sin which formerly he hath felt the plague and vengeance which those his distempers hath brought upon him leaves so fresh and yet so 〈◊〉 a remembrance of them upon his soul that the very thoughts of them afright him but any temptation or provocation that may draw him to the 〈◊〉 of the like is so loathsom that the least appearance that looks that way he sees presently and shakes at it 〈◊〉 it as the 〈◊〉 of hell as that which wil hazard the happiness of the soul and 〈◊〉 as present 〈◊〉 to him As it is in the work of nature in the body of a man he that hath surfeted upon some sweet meat or some pleasing potion that hath been prepared in a guilded cup happily suited with his palate for the present but in issue had in reason hazarded his life in his own sence and each mans apprehension but that the Lord was merciful you need not 〈◊〉 him with arguments the loathing of 〈◊〉 stomach and the very hatred and Antipathie that nature hath against that which procured the hazard wil make him watchful and shy how he is deceived in that kind any 〈◊〉 the very sight of the gally-pot the sent or smel of the potion yea the least suspicion that such a receit is coming towards him 〈◊〉 him to fear and fly his stomach begins to turn riseth from the 〈◊〉 removes out of the room 〈◊〉 frame of nature begins to fail and shake with the remembrance of the 〈◊〉 and with the fear of the like danger It behoves me to look what I take it had like to have cost my life therefore I wil come there no more So it is with a 〈◊〉 sinner that hath felt the poyson of those pleasing distempers upon which
and therefore the true convert sets himself most to seek the ruin and rooting out of them which would have wrought the ruin of his soul but there he rests not but what ever sins come within his reach 〈◊〉 labors the removal of them out of the familyes 〈◊〉 he dwels out of the plantations where he lives out 〈◊〉 the companies and occasions with whom he hath occasion to meet and meddle at any time he that 〈◊〉 treason indeed pursues the pack of conspirators 〈◊〉 ever they become until there be not one remaining 〈◊〉 the Nation open both these a little 1 He labors the destruction of sin in his own 〈◊〉 and that two wayes 1. He doth what he can himself 2. He seeks for help from others that they may send in new supply of forces to do what he cannot He sets himself to the utmost of his power to procure the utter ruine of his lusts as 〈◊〉 enemies if there be a settled hatred indeed they are not satisfyed until they have the blood of each other So it is here It s not to weaken the work of sin to stop the spreading of it to confine the compass of it to some private course or yet to imprison 〈◊〉 by restraint that it may not stir abroad nor yet have the liberty of the prison but be layed aside as the malifactor in the dungeon no this hatred seeks the death and the not being of it and until then its restless in pursuit As David with his enimies Psal. 78. 37. I have pursued mine enimies and overtaken them neither did I turn again until they were consumed A contrite heart deals so with his distempers He ceaseth not until he see his desire upon his 〈◊〉 until he hath his wil of him And if we view the expression of the scripture we shal see how hatred vents itself against such as be enimies whose destruction it intends partly by 〈◊〉 partly by conspiracy it s said of the Egiptians that God turned their hearts to hate his people and the fruit of that is in the following words and they dealt subtilly with them what that subtilty was the text discovers Exod. 1. 10. first they oppressed them with heavy burdens then they plotted by trechery to kil their males in the birth that so in issue they might take away their strength and numbers also in the issue 〈◊〉 is subtilty which is one way how hatred expresseth itself Againe if we look Psal. 83. 2 to 6. the enemies of the Lord and his Church who 〈◊〉 his hidden ones 〈◊〉 have consulted together with one consent and are confederate Moab Ammon and 〈◊〉 c. there is a combination of al policies and power to overbear and destroy them This is the nature of hatred when it is disordred and unwarrantable in a wrong way and the exercise and expression of it wil be in some measure proportionable When it s put forth in a right manner according to the rule of God and the operation of his spirit against sin The contrite soul when it s carried with this hateful detestation against its own abominations by a spiritual kind of prudence observes where the first stirrings and male strength of our corruptions appear in the birth and breeding of them in our minds and hearts where the root 〈◊〉 spawn of those loathsom abominations have their warming and hatching in the heart There hatred improves al prudence that may be to stifle those distempers in the first stirrings of them crush the Cockatrice in the shel kil the Serpent in the egg that they may never have being nor be brought forth into the world if it be possible But if by policy these spiritual enemies cannot be undermined then this hatred brings the combined forces of confederated power of the whol man his whol endeavor to destroy the nests of those noysom lufts what head can contrive heart desire handwork the endeavor accomplish head and heart and hand desires endeavors tears prayers in a deadly feud to pursue the 〈◊〉 enemyes to their not being Thus he doth what he can in himself and when that is not enough 〈◊〉 seeks for help against these hellish abominations from God by his Saints and al such ordinances which he hath appointed for his succour In a word the carriage of the heart of a contrite sinner under this kindly hatred thus discovers it self he is willing to attend any means but gives most welcome to such as wil do most execution in the slaughter and destruction of his sins for that is his ayme nor wil he complement with the Lord nor is he squeamish 〈◊〉 stomached that each dispensation must answer his expectation point vice or else it wil not down As it was with Naaman when Courtier-like-state-complement more prevailed with him than his own health I had thought he would have come and layd his hand upon 〈◊〉 and called upon his God so if the counsel be suggested in such a 〈◊〉 and such intimations the admonition with such meekness or by such a man c. then he can hear and receive otherwise he wil be wel contented rather to quarrel with the manner that crosseth him than embrace the truth which may help hmi against his sin no this is far from a contrite heart he passeth not much how or what the means are or manner of the dispensation if he find it to give a deadly blow to his distemper it s that which pleaseth him he can easily pass by al the rest as be the person never so mean and 〈◊〉 to the service or the time unseasonable as in Abigail A General upon his design to be crossed and countermanded by a woman A spirit that had not been very under and hated his sin more than any enemy would have found many cavils but he saw how it suited the slaughter of his sins and he receives it gladly nay be the manner rude and rugged either not suiting the place of him that speaks nor the person to whom it s spoken yet the broken heart takes it quietly As in that of Joab to David 2. Sam. 19. 5. 6. 7. though the physick was good it was too hot yet because it was wholsom the King took it down nay when neither the person nor manner nor matter it self which is spoken are answerable to the service yet if he sees the hand of God to come out against his corruptions he takes that advantage against his distemper and passeth by the other 2 Sam. 16. 7. 11. when Shimei cursed David let him alone saith he the Lord hath bidden him curse it may be the Lord wil look upon me for good c. As Saul entertained the message of the Ziphites concerning David whom he hated and whose death he hunted after 1 Sam. 23. 19. then came the Ziphites to Saul saying doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood in the hill of Hackelah now therefore O King come down according to al the desire of thy heart and
Reasons three Because he finds that  1 The presence of other evils will not hinder him in his spiritual estate 615 2 The presence of sin alone poysons all good things to him 616 3 The removal of this would set open the flood-gates of mercy 617 Uses two hence  1 See the reason why most men prize not Salvation because never broken-hearted ibid 2 Reproof to  1 Secure sinners 618 2 〈◊〉 Professors ibid. DOCT. 17. True Contrition is accompanied with Confession of sin when God calls thereunto 619 For Explication three things  1 When a sinner is called to Confession 619 1 Publick sins must be publickly confessed 621 2 Private sins to the persons wronged 624 3 Secret sins 625 1 If a man hath confessed them to God and he hath pardoned he need not should not confess them to men 626 2 If the Lord deny pardon and power then he calls him to confess unto man 628 3 In case restitution cannot otherwise be made he must confess to man 629 2 When is Confession serious and hearty 630 1 When it is free that is when a man is  1 Easie to be convinced ibid. 2 Ready to acknowledg 633 3 And takes the evil to himself 636 2 When it is full and that in regard of ibid. 1 Relating sins as they are 638 2 The opposition of the heart against them 639 3 When it leaves the sinner base in his own eyes 640 4 When he intends to take advantage against himself and his sin by it ibid. 3 How doth Contrition bring in this Confession 641 It causeth a man  1 To see the danger of sin ibid. 2 To feel the bitterness of it 643 3 To be ashamed of himself and sin 645 Uses four hence  1 Instruction See the reason of sinful turnings and windings to hide sin 646 2 Reproof to such as think it weakness and baseness thus to confess a mans sins 647 3 Tryal whether a man hath been brought to this frame of spirit thus to confess sin when called thereunto 650 It discovers the falsness of four sorts  1 Such as out of hardness of heart and custom are without all sence of sin 651 2 Such as instead of bearing the shame of their sins cast shame upon the Truth that discovers sin 652 3 Such as seek for shameful hidings to cover sin 653 4 Such as repent of their Confessions 654 How to know we are content to take shame for sin by a right Confession of it 655 1 He opposeth not the Truth that discovers his sin and shame ibid. 2 He is not offended with the man that is the Instrument 656 3 He is not disquieted in the bearing of it 636 4 He will not chuse unlawful means to be rid of it 665 4 Exhortation to attend the duty of Confession when thou art called thereunto ibid. Be wise in chusing the Party to whom you confess He must be  1 Skilful 666 2 Merciful ibid. 3 Faithful 667 Motives to Confession  1 It 's an honorable thing ibid. 2 A matter of safety 668 3 A Means of Secrecy ibid. DOCT. 18. The soul that is pierced for sin is carried with a restless dislike against it and separation from it 670 Branch 1. Detestation or hatred of sin Concerning which for Explication two things 672 1 What is the Nature of this hatred of sin here in Contrition discovered in six Conclusions 673 1 As Adam and all his departed from God so Christ brings back all his to God in a contrary way 673 2 There is nothing in the soul can turn it from sin 674 3 This first aversion from sin is not wrought by any habit of Grace put into the soul. ibid. Reasons two Because  1 Gracious habits cannot act before they have being in the soul as the subject of them 675 2 The soul in its natural estate is uncapable of receiving the habit of Grace ibid. 4 Yet the Spirit puts forth its power upon the soul to turn it from sin to God ibid. 5 Christ as the Head of the Covenant takes away the Commission that sin and Satan had to hold the soul. 676 6 The soul in the Nature of it being forced to find sin bitter is loosened from it and so becomes subject to the power of the Spirit turning of it from sin to God 677 2 How this hatred may be discerned 680 1 It is attended with a continual fear of the deadly infection of sin ibid. 2 It seeks the destruction of sin Hence 684 1 He opposeth sin most in himself ibid. 1 He doth what he can against it 685 2 He seeks help from God in Christ. 686 2 He seeks the removal of it in others where-ever he finds it 688 3 It admits no terms of agreement 689 Reasons three Because  1 Without this there is no room for faith 690 2 Without this no expectation of Salvation from Christ. ibid. 3 Sin is the only enemy of the Soul 691 Uses two hence 1 Humiliation that there are so few in the world that know what this hatred against sin means ibid. 2 Tryal discovering such as never had this hatred against sin wrought were never contrite As ibid. 1 Careless fearless Professors 693 2 Neuters in Religion 696 3 Lazy Hypocrites 697 4 Treacherous Hypocrites 698 Branch 2. Sequestration from sin  Which discovers it self in two things  1 No allurements can entice 700 2 Nor miseries force the soul to former sins ibid. Uses two hence  1 Instruction See the reason of all revolts and backslidings want of this separation 701 2 Exhortation to seek to the Lord that he would work this in us ibid. FINIS The Names of several Books Printed by Peter Cole in Leaden-Hall London and are to be sold at his Shop at the sign of the Printing-press in Cornhil neer the Exchange Eight several Books by Nich. Culpeper Gent. Student in Physick and Astrologie 1 The Practice of Physick containing seventeen several Books Wherein is plainly set forth The Nature Cause Differences and Several Sorts of Signs Together 〈◊〉 the Cure of all Diseases in the Body of Man 〈◊〉 chiefly a Translation of The Works of that Learned and Renowned Doctor Lazarus Riverius Now living Councellor and Physitian to the present King of France Above sifteen thousand of the said Books in Latin have been Sold in a very few Yeers having been eight times printed though all the former Impressions wanted the Nature Causes Signs and Differences of the Diseases and had only the Medicines for the Cure of them as plainly appears by the Authors Epistle 2 The Anatomy of the Body of Man Wherein is exactly described the several parts of the Body of Man illustrated with very many larger Brass Plates than ever was in English before 3 A Translation of the New Dispensatory made by the Colledg of Physitians of London Whereunto is added The Key to Galen's Method of Physick 4 The English Physitian Enlarged being an Astrologo-Physical Discourse of