you had lost Thou mayest seeke salvation and deliverance from hel out of the strenght of naturall wisedome because it is for thy good and also being convinced of the necessity of faith and repentance to escape hell and obtain salvation Men may thereupon go farre in the performance of many duties and be constant a while in them and yet not seeke the Lords face in all these and then the Lord regards them not Take a thiefe that is arraigned at the bar he will cry earnestly for his life but yet he seeketh not the face of the Iudge i. e. he doth it without love to the Iudge but onely out of the love of life So we may do much to escape hel and to attain the life opposite to it and yet all this while not seeke the presence of God and then GOD regards it not You find this disposition in your selves and see it in others if a man bee never so observant of any of you and performe never so many offices of friendship to you yet if a man can say he loves me not for all this hee doth not prize mee nor desire my love and favour so much for it selfe but for his owne ends in this case you care not for what hee doth So the LORD hee knowes the heart and the reines and what thine end is whether it bee communion with his person immediately or thine own welfare meerely and if so regards not thy humbling thy selfe nor thy prayers The promise you see is suspended upon it it is a distinguishing point and will separate betweene the precious and the vile it is a marke set upon Gods people alone To seeke Gods face Wee will therefore further and more particularly consider what it is to seeke Gods face or presence And there are three wayes to finde it out First by what is here joyned with it If they humble themselves and seeke my face and so by considering the connexion that these two have together find out what seeking of Gods face is Now there is a twofold humiliation wrought in men The one is for that bitternesse and punishment that sin brings with it and this never brings forth either faithfull prayers or seeking Gods face But there is another kind of humiliation which hath a further ingredient in it and that is the sight of the foulenesse of sinne when God openeth a crevise of light to looke upon sin not onely as that which brings bitternesse with it but as that which in it selfe is most filthy and abominable and by that light it is made such in his account for it is one thing to flee from the sting of the Serpent an other thing to hate the Serpent it selfe and so to take heed of the Wolfe because of his cruelty and to hate the Wolfe it selfe are differing things Other creatures may hate the properties and conditions of a Wolfe but a Lambe only hates the Wolfe it selfe Now with this latter kind of humiliation there goes and is conjunct with it an enlightning whereby God shewes to a man his owne glorious face the lustre whereof helpes him further to see the foulnesse of sinne God by the same light of the Spirit whereby he shewes a men the uglinesse of sinne discovers withal his own excellencies which makes the sinner thus humbled to seeke his face to seeke grace as well as mercy But other men either see not Gods face at all or onely see his angry countenance onely those whom the Lord calleth effectually see his gracious face Now hee to whom it is hid and sees it not seekes not Gods face for none can seeke it unlesse they have seene it and hee who sees it onely as angry flies from God but he discovers himselfe to the truly humble the secrets of the Lord are with such Psal. 25. and so Ioh. 15. 15. I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth but I have call'd you friends for all things I have heard of my Father I have made knowne to you Hee reveales himselfe to those who are already his friends or to those he is about to make his friends one of the first things he doth is to reveale his face to them With men indeed men are first made friends and then secrets are revealed but contrarily with God he reveales his secrets to us and his face that we may be made friends with him and then wee grow into further acquaintance with him and they are therefore cal'd the secrets of the Lord because only revealed to the Saints Servants indeed see what is done in the house but there are many things which their masters reveale not to them and so many come here to the house of God and heare what is spoken of GOD and CHRIST but yet there are some certaine secrets that are hid from them that are told only to the children the sonnes and daughters of God The other heare as much and see as much for the outside as Gods children do yet the secrets of things are hid from them and among others Gods face and the excellencies thereof are hid from them This he reveales as his other secrets onely to those that feare him and this revealing it is a speciall worke of the Spirit If a man would see the Sunne all the starres in heaven and torches in the earth could not helpe him to see it or shew it to him unlesse the Sunne it selfe shines and ariseth and there come a light from the Sunne it selfe you cannot come to see it and so all the Angels of heaven and wits of men on earth cannot shew you Gods face unlesse hee opens the clouds and reveales himselfe by his owne Spirit it will not bee done which is therefore called the Spirit of Revelation Ephes. 1. 17. by which God reveales his secrets to his children when he begins to call them effectually they see him and none else wee make knowne the Doctrines about GOD and CHRIST c. to all alike but the Lord makes the difference by revealing himselfe to one and not unto another that which is said especially of the Iewes 2 Cor. 3. 15 16. verses and so on is in like manner applicable to us all The Lords face shines as Moses face did verse 15. and hee gives the knowledge of his glory in the face of Iesus Christ in the ministery of the word every day but there is a vaile lies upon all mens hearts upon all but those whom the Lord calls and upon theirs also till hee calleth them as upon the Iewes hearts verse 16. Neverthelesse when they shall turne unto the Lord the vaile shall be taken away and untill then Gods face cannot bee seene as Moses face was not and who shall take away that vaile The Spirit of the Lord where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty vers 17. and when hee doth free us of that vaile then we behold the Glory of the Lord as in a
bring That if you humble your selves and turne from your evill wayes God will be mercifull to you and heale you FINIS Horat. 1. 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 4 1 Doct. 2 Doct. 3 Doct. Reas. 1. 2. 3. Num. 16. 9 4 Vse 1. Psal. 4. Vse 2. Ier. 40. 2 Observe Gods dealing Psalm 30. 5 verse 7. Vse 3. God will be more severe to wicked men Psalm 50. 1 Cor. 10. 22 1 Prophane 2. Civil men Revel 2. Exod. 23. 21. Vse 4. Not to think strange that God afflicts his Doct. 2. God pitties his people in affliction Reas. 1. He is slow to afflict Psal. 78. 38. Simile 2 He sustaines them in afflictions Dan. 11. 33. 34. Zach. 13. 9. 〈◊〉 By moderating them To be afflicted in measure what Psal. 125. 3. Psalm 129. 3 4. 2 Fashioning their hearts to beare it 1 To Pray Rom. 8. 26. 2 To Repent 3 To Patience Psalme 3. Reas. 3. In bringing them through Esay 27. 8. 2 Kings 6. 33. 2 Chron. 28 22. Quest. Answ. Afflictions of Gods people worke good in the end Iames 1 2. God deales thus 1 Because they are his people Hose 11. 8. 1 Sam. 12. 22. Micah 7. 18. 2 They are called by his name Numb 14. Object Answ. Mistake in afflictions 2 Cor. 6. Object Answ. Afflictions needfull 2 God afflicts no more then needs Esay 28. 24. Object Answ. Difference in afflictions Ier. 24 Object Answ. Why God sends many and great afflictions Dan. 11. Vse 1. Not to bee discouraged in afflictions Psalme 31. Psalme 30. Mica 7. 8. Object Answ. No avoyding afflictions sent God in due time removes affliction Marks 5. Mar. 4. 40 41. Vse 2. To come to God when we have offended him 1 Sam. 12 20. What keeps men from comming to God Ieremy 3. Vse 3. To leade us to repentance Rom. 2. 4. Double performaÌ„ce of Fasts 1 Publike 2 Private Zach. 12. 1 By confession of sinnes 2 Seeking reconciliation 3 Renewing covenants 4 To bee willing to leave fin 5. Labour to keepe our hearts in a good temper Dan. 11. Iames 4. Vse 4. To chuse the Lord for our God Heb. 11. 25. Psal. 119. 30 Happinesse in chusing God Motives to chuse God Ioy what Isay 26. 12. Psal. 31. 7. Vse 5. To confirm this choyce Doct. 3. The Lords Name called upon his People 2 1 Cor. 3. ult Reas. Because of Gods choyce Isa. 57. 15. Vse 1. To learne Obe dience We are not to serve our selves Luk. 14. 26. The nearenesse of our relation to God Ephes. 5. 31 32. verse 24. Iames 4. Exod. 23. 21 1 Cor. 7. 11. The wife the glory of the husband how 1 Pet. 2. 9 Vse 2. To humble our selves having sinned Humiliation double Love humbleth Ier. 2. 2 3. 2 Sam. 12. 7 8. Psalme 51. Two things in sinne Way to humiliation Cause of hardnesse of heart Levit. 23. 29 Object Answ. 1 God accepteth endeavours 2 Hel pes them Promises of Gods helpe Luk 11. 13. Zach. 12. 1â— The Spirit workes humiliation Iob 42. Iob. 42. Vse 3. Not to pollute Gods Name Simile Vse 4. Not to be ashamed to professe Gods name Object Answ. 1 Men ashamed of the power of re ligion Simile 2 Before wicked men Mark 8. 38. Rom. 10. 10. Outward profession is required Why men are asham'd of profession 2 Sam. 6. 24 Deut. 4. 6. Vse 5. Comfort concerning our selves and the Church Esa. 4. 5 6. Object Answ. c 1 2 Doct. 4. Without hu miliation no mercy What meant by humiliation 1 2 1 Necessity of humiliation Humiliation required 1 By God the Father 2 God the Sonne Luk. 4. 4. 3 God the Holy Ghost Ioh. 16. 8. 〈◊〉 1 2 Reas. 1. From the necessity of it 1 The relation it hath to the other conditions 1 Seeking for Christ. 2 Seeking merâ—cy Mat. 22. 5 6 Christs righteousnesse not esteemed by men unhumbled Reas. 3. No turning else from our evill wayes Simile Act â— Pride the cause of disobedience 2 Cor. 5. 10. Esay 66. 2. Reas. 4. Else there would not be constancy 2 Cor. 7. 10 Reas. 5. God should not have the praise of his mercy Why humiliation required first Reas. 1. No sacrifice accepted without it Psal. 51. 16 17. Reas. 2. It makes us Priests â— Cor. 8. 5. Reas. 3. Else the Spirit of God dwells not in us Esay 57. 15. Reas. 4. It makes us obedient in all things 2 Humiliation what Examples of men hum bled 2. Chron. 33. 12. Manasses The converts Acts 2. 37. The Goaler Acts 16. Prodigall Luk. 15. 〈◊〉 Humiliation of two parts Passive humiliation 〈◊〉 Sensiblenesse of sin 2 Feare of his estate 3 It workes consideration 1 It is wrought by the Law Simile The Law what 2 The Spirit workes humiliation 3 By afflictions Rom. 7. 2 Active humiliation Examples of this humiliation Luke 15. Foure payâ—s of ingredients in it 1 Hope of 〈◊〉 mercy and sence of mi sery 2 Our owne emptinesse and Gods alsufficiency 3 Sence of our sinnes and Christs righteousnesse 4 A sence of Gods love and our unkindnesse Difference betweene active and passive humiliation 1 In the matter 2 In the ground 3 In the instrumentall causes 4 In their ef fects 1 2 3 4 5 Properties of this humiliation 1 Prayer 1 2 Seeke Gods face 3 Turne from sinne 2 Chron. 33. 23. Simile 2 To cleave fast to Christ. 1 2 Two things accompany this humiliation Falling away the ground of it 3 Moderates the affections 4 To love God much 5 To be content with any condition 1 In want of outward things 2 Bearing crosses Lev. 26. 41. Ezech. 36. Case Whether such a measure of Legall sorrow be necessary Answ. Sorrow dou ble Violent sorrow not alwayes necessary 1 It 〈◊〉 not alwayes the greatest 2 1 Not necessary on mans part 2 Nor on Gods part 1 2 Simile 3 Greatnesse of sorrow 1 Comfort comes late Simile 2 From ignorance Simile Object Answ. Sence of sin necessary Two ends of humiliation To take Christ. 2 For Sanctification Simile Vse 1. 1 Exhortation to those that are humbled Degrees of grace from degrees of humiliation 2 Faith â—aith what Simile 2 Love 2 To those that are not humbled 1 To see the greatnesse of sinne 1 Single out some great sinne Acts 2. 〈◊〉 Iohn 4. Simile Sins great how 5 To make past sinnes present 3 Let sorrow abide Psalme 51. 2 Cor. 12. Simile Ioel 2. 4 Take heed of false reasonings Other excuses are in those Sermons upon Rom. 1. 17 18. 2 The sight of our misery and vanity to that end 1 See the greatnesse of God 2 Our owne weaknesse 3 Labour for the Spirit Object Answ. God gives the Spirit in our indeavours Doct. The Lord is mercifull to the humble Levit. 23. 27 Lev. 16. 20. Iames 4. 6. Psalme 25. Esay 57. 15. Esay 62. 2. 2 Chron. 12 Reas. 1. They give God the glory Acts 3. Iohn 17. 4. Reas. 2. It keepes a man in com passe Simile Reas. 3. Makes a man usefull 〈◊〉 others
learne therefore to feare the Lord nothing brings a Iudgement so much as the want of feare security is the next doore to a Iudgement Lâ—â—hish was a secure people and when the Army came against them they and their City fell as Figgs from a tree that are ripe so did they fall in their enemies mouths security is a fore-runner to every mans Iudgement Esay 66. 2. To him that feares mee saith God and trembles at my words to him will I looke to keepe him safe if not I will neglect him as much as hee mee I will have no eye to save him as hee hath no eye to mee to cause him to feare and tremble But you wil say how may I bring my heart to feare the Lord I answer first pray to the Lord to strike your hearts with a feare of him it is the the worke of God to bring the feare of himselfe upon us for it is hee that brings the feare of one man upon another hee brought a feare upon all the Nations of the Land when the people of Israel entered Canaan much more the feare of himselfe for the affections are such things as the Lord onely can meddle with and therefore the Apostle saith You are taught of the Lord to love one another It must be the Lord that must put in such an affection into you for his teaching is planting the affections and so he is said to teach other creatures that is to give this or that inclination and so the Lord is said to fashion the hearts of men and then they cannot chuse but feare him therefore goe to the Lord and say Lord I am not able to feare thee and say Lord thou hast promised to give the Holy Ghost to those that aske it of thee that worketh every grace if you would seeke him so and seeke him importunately though you had the securest hardest heart of any in the world hee would at length teach you to feare him Ier. 40. I will plant my feare in your hearts that they shal not depart from me Thus you see that God takes the doing of this to himselfe it must be of his planting and he hath promised also you see to doe it This is not all but there is something we must doe our selves Therefore secondly observe the Lords dealing with his learne to know him in his wayes and that will be a meanes to cause thee to feare him if any of his children sin he never lets them goe for then should they thrive in evill and prosper in sinne but if they will bee medling they shall be sure to finde some bitternesse in the end When a mans heart is set upon the creatures there being thornes in them all and therefore if hee will graspe too much of them or too hard hee shall finde it Gods children are trained up so to it that God will not let them goe away with a sinne if they bee too adulterously affected they shall finde a crosse in such a thing you may observe this in the 30. Psalme there you may see the circle God goes in with his children David had many afflictions as appeareth by the 5 verse I cryed and then God returned to me and joy came what did David then I said in my heart I shall never bee removed his heart grew wanton but God would not let him goe away so God turned away his face againe and I was troubled At the 7 verse he is you see in trouble againe well David cryes againe at the 8 and 10 verses and then God turned his mourning into joy againe And this to be his dealing you shall finde it in all the Scriptures but because we find this his dealing set so close together in this Psalme therefore I name it Therefore observe the wayes of the Lord to you and they that are not acquainted with these his wayes as yet in themselves see what hee hath done to others in all the world in our neighbour Churches when hee had given a bill of divorce to Israel yet Iudah had not feared now when God hath stricken our neighbour Churches doe you thinke hee will take it well if we be idle spectators therefore when he hath stricken another place learne to feare If hee afflicts his owne children thus sharply let them looke to themselves that are not his whether they be grosse sinners prophane persons of whom there is no question or mere civill men and formal professors in whom there is no power of grace if he bee thus hot against his owne Church his anger will be seventimes hotter against you it may bee longer deferred as his manner is yet when hee strikes hee will strike you in the roote not in the branches and that so as he will not Strike the second time Consider that in the 50 Psalme that hee will teare you in peeces and you that are prophane ones let me say to you as 1 Cor. 10. 22. Doe you provoke the Lord to anger are you stronger than hee Those that lye in open prophanenes and doe fight openly against the Lord and have not so much as a shew of turning yea and those that are meerely civill and yet lye in secret sinnes that yet are in health wealth and credit in the world it is a signe that God meanes them no good hee would not let his owne Garden goe so long unplowed And in the second place for professors that doe not answer their profession in their lives take heed for he that is not with me is against me it may be thou art no enemy not very stirring in any evill way but because thou art not with GOD in good earnest because your hearts are not perfect at the last day you will be found against him CHRIST will come against you in good earnest as an enemy and whereas all your hope lies that GOD is mercifull and CHRIST a Saviour learne to know that this JESUS whome you hope to bee saved by will prove the sharpest enemy against you Kisse the Son lest he bee angry the Son may be angry as he who Rev. 2. hath his eyes like a flame of fire and his feete like fi ne brasse to tread you to powder he shall come against you that are formall and know that JESUS CHRIST is not only a Saviour but a Lord that he came into the world to be a Prince and the government is upon his shoulders you forget that part of his office halfe the end for which CHRIST came into the World and if you would know what kind of Governor he is Ex. 23. 21. I will send my Angel with you saith God that is Christ beware of him and obey his voyce and provoke him not for my name is in him he is of the same spirit and disposition with his father and they are both alike affected to sin beware of him he goes along with you and he will not spare you for the LORD hath put all the
heart is hard still It may be so indeed and your heart not softned but yet this I say First for thy comfort that if thou continue doing this the Lord accepteth it but if thou dost it not thy bloud shall bee upon thine own head we require that thou shouldst only labour to doe it and the Lord will accept it though thou art not able to soften thine heart And secondly know for thy comfort also that God will joyne with thee if thou labour thus with thy heart and send the spirit of humiliation on thee as the Disciples though they rowed all night yet CHRIST came at the last so though thou toilest many dayes and makest no proficiency as thou thinkest yet know that God at length will come and help thee and that because he hath commanded thee to doe this he will not suffer you to be doing that alwayes in vaine which he commandeth and therefore hee will come but that you may have the more ground for this remember that you have many promises made of Gods helpe as in Luk 11. 13. If yee then being evill know how to give good gifts unto your chil dren c. You shall never alone of your selves bee able to soften your hearts without the Holy Ghost but continue knocking and the Lord will give you the Holy Ghost though you bee but strangers So that every man may come to God and say Lord thou hast made such a promise thou canst not goe from thy word and therefore deny me not and bee earnest with God and hee cannot deny thee The woman of Canaan was not a Iew yet shee having this ground that hee was the Messias she would not bee put off therefore doe thou so and thou shalt in the end finde that thy heart is softned and the longer thou waitest the greater measure thou shalt have of the spirit and when thou hast him hee shall humble thy heart as in Zach. 12. 10. I will poure upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and supplications and they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for an onely sonne The people of Israel were here exhorted to mourne and to separate themselves and to doe it every family apart The businesse was the same that you are to doe every fast-day Now sayes GOD if you seeke me aright you must have the spirit and sayes GOD I will doe my part I will poure on you the spirit of bowells for so the word may be translated The meaning of it is this that when the Spirit of God is thus upon you you will bee tenderly affected to the Lord even as a mother toward her child then saith hee they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for his only sonne and be in bitternesse for him that is you shall then remember your rebellions and the remembrance of them shal be bitter to your soules as bitter things are to your tast so it was with Iosiah the reason why his heart melted and he wept when he heard the booke of the Law read was because he had the spirit of bowells which every one of us should have So Iob Now I have seene thee I abhorre my selfe Iob 42. he was not thus before he was a holy man but this was a new worke for says he I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now my eye sees thee He was enlightened anew as it were the spirit shined into his heart with a new light I have beene in a myst all this while in comparison but now mine eye hath seene thee and I have an experimentall feeling of thee now I abhor my selfe It is a hard thing to abhorre a mans selfe thus which then a man doth when Gods Spirit with a new light enableth a man to see Gods love and kindnesse and his owne unkindnesse in their colours If the Lords Name be called upon us we should learne hence to keepe his Name faire to keepe it pure and unspotted As it was said of Saint Paul he was a chosen vessell to carry Gods Name and therefore it behooves them to take heed how it bee polluted by them or they give occasion that it be blasphemed for the evill committed by you reflects vpon the Name of the Lord. A small thing is a great matter in you one fly corrupts a box of oyntment but many flies in a barrell of Pitch or Tarre are counted nothing so many sinnes in a wicked man redound not so much to the dishonour of Gods Name as one in the Saints When a Saint doth a thing that is uncomely hee polluteth the Name of the Lord not that it can be polluted in it self but it seemes so to other men Before men are regenerate their sinnes are as blots upon a table before a Picture be drawne upon it which are not regarded of any but after it is drawne the least blot is seene of every one So it is when men are but strangers to God the sinnes which they commit reflect not to the disgrace of God but when Gods Image is renewed in a man then these sinnes are more taken notice of and cause the Name of God to be blasphemed of his enemies This should teach us not to be ashamed of God and the profession of his Name for shall the Lord not be ashamed of us as he shewes he is not when he is willing to put his Name upon us and shall we be ashamed of him it is an unreasonable and an unequall thing for a child to be ashamed of his father for a wife to bee ashamed of her husband and so for us to be ashamed of the Lord whose Name we beare This is the rather to bee spoken of because it is a fault very common amongst us that we doe not take notice of But the most will say we are not ashamed of religion but wee account it rather a glory to bee accounted Christians Give mee leave to examine you by these two Questions First are you not ashamed of the strictest ways of religion There is a common course of Religion that you need not be ashamed of because all are for it and commend it but yet there are some speciall acts of Religion that men cast shame upon such was that act of David when he daunced before the Arke which seemed absurd in Michals eyes for a King to doe yet he said I will be yes more vile some of the wayes of God give a more peculiar distaste to wicked men and there is a shame cast upon the power of Religion by reason that the multitude goeth another way Now what is singular that shame is cast upon as in any thing let the multitude have never so ill favoured a fashion it is no shame whereas if a few others weare a garment farre more
Church upon all the glory shall be a defence But then if this objection come why doe we not see them afflicted doe they not often suffer a storm are they not often scortched with the heate of reproach Therefore the LORD saith as they have divers persecutions so will I have divers meanes of helpe and there shall bee a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time for the heat and for a place of re fuge lâ—ke the Cities of refuge whither they fled that were pursued by the avengers of Bloud and for a covert from a storme and from raine The Saints in a storme of persecution or any calamity are as a man under a shelter whereas all others are in the midst of the storme Therefore be you assured the Lord will not forsake his owne people they are as the apple of his eye a man may beare much but hee will not suffer you to touch the apple of his eye So God will suffer much but hee will bee avenged on them that wrong his people Thus much for this Doctrine 2 CHRON. 7. 14. If my People that are called by my Name doe humble themselves WEE are now come to the Conditions upon which mercy and forgivenesse are here promised whereof the first you see is Humiliation If my People doe humble themselves In the handling of which I will proceed two ways First Negatively that without humiliation and unlesse men doe humble themselves they can have no interest in these promises Secondly Affirmatively That if they doe humble themselves then God will be mercifull to them and forgive their sinnes For the handling of the first I raise this Doctrine out of the words That without Humiliation no man shall obtaine mercy Wee see that God suspendeth mercy upon it here as without which no mercy can bee expected which therefore must needs bee thought a matter of great consequence and the more largely to be insisted upon I expresse the doctrine in a more large and generall word humiliation which containes in it as well humiliation passive or being humbled as humiliation active as for more cleare distinction sake I call them whereby we humble our selves which is the maine thing intended in the Text explicitly and directly which also in the prosecution of this point I mainely intend yet I shut up both together in this negative part of this discourse because they are though in themselves distinct yet alwayes conjoyned in their working and the latter doth alwayes presuppose the former and doth necessarily imply it here for no man did ever come to humble himselfe that was not first humbled This negative part of excluding men from mercy without both these being also alike common to both it being a like true that no man did ever attaine mercy that was not first humbled and that did not humble himselfe So as in this negative part they agree and concurre Againe though that affirmative part mentioned is proper to that humiliation active the promises of interest in mercy being made to them that humble themselves and not to all that are humbled there being many that are much humbled who yet obtaine not mercy yet I joyne both together in this first part chiefly because as they are conjoyned in their working so they must necessarily bee in the explication of them for we cannot come distinctly to know and finde out what it is to humble our selves which is the thing I principally ayme at without knowing what it is to be humbled the one beginning where the other ends the one being a preparative to the other That therefore wee may see how farre the one and the other goes and how they are distinguished we will shut both up in this first doctrine Now in handling this Doctrine we will do two things First shew that men must be humbled and humble themselves ere they can come to have interest in these promises We will shew what it is to humble a mans selfe and to be humbled For the first this place alone is sufficient ground GOD would not have put in such a condition in vaine if it might have beene spared in any but besides this ground wee have the practise of all the master builders who made it their first worke as here it is the first condition to humble men that they might bee brought to humble themselves And to omit all other instances wee have all the three Persons seales to this method This was GOD the Fathers method in the first Sermon that ever was preached which himselfe also preached as a patterne for all Ministers to follow And when hee would draw Adam and Eve in to seeke the promise of mercy he first expostulates the matter with them to humble them for their sin and then le ts fall the promise of the Messias And secondly JESUS CHRIST the second Person in his first Sermons in Preaching the Gospell as in Luk. 4. 7. shewes his approbation of this method in that hee makes this his first subject of his first Sermon us appeares by the text hee takes to preach the Gospell but to whom to those that are first humble and humbled The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospell to such as are poore and broken in heart And the same order the Holy Ghost the third Person was foretold by Christ that when hee was come hee would observe in working upon mens hearts by the ministery of the Apostles c. Iohn 16. 8. He shall convince the world of sin for humiliation that is his first worke then of righteousnesse for justification lastly of Iudgement that is that sanctification which persons justified are to have wrought in them We come now to the explication and reasons of this point which shall be To shew the necessity of this humillation to the other that follow Of the order of it as it is here placed the first of all the rest For the first it is true indeed that the Lord might bring men home to him without this humiliation Hee could doe as he did at the first creation say no more but let there be light and there would be light and that without any of this thunder he might say Let there be grace and there would be grace hee could come in the still voyce without renting the Rockes and say no more but Open yee everlasting doores lift up your heads yee gates and they would be open but as though hee might have brought the Children of Israel out of Aegypt into the Land of Canaan without leading them through the Wildernesse yet his good pleasure was thereby rather to humble them and prove them so it is here And the reasons of this necessitie may bee drawne from the relation and respect which this humiliation hath both to the other conditions that follow and all that is promised here in the Text unto which we will fit the reasons that
those hearers signified by the second and third ground did who received the seed with joy and as those of whom it is sayd Christ would not commit himself to them but stay with him men will not unlesse they be humbled For unlesse a man be brought to part with al for Christ and to sell all he will in the end repent of his bargaine if there bee a reservation of any thing the time will come he will goe backe and start aside like a broken Bowe and untill a man be throughly humbled he will not be brought to part with all for CHRIST he that is humbled he onely is the Merchant-like minded man who sells all hee hath and goes away rejoycing is glad at the heart that hee hath Christ though with the losse of the whole world he is willing to take Christ upon all conditions with losses and crosses and to deny himselfe in every thing for he knowes the bitternesse of sin and so sets such a price upon Christ as if the bargaine were to make againe he would doe as hee had done but the other what he hath done in a fit he repents him of afterwards and therefore true repentance which godly sorrow and true humiliation worketh is called repentance never to be repented of 2 Cor. 7. 10. Other sorrow than Godly may worke a repentance but it is such as men afterwards repent of Men are soone weary of the yoke of CHRIST because they have not felt how grievous the yoke of sin and Sathan is but to one who hath felt the burthen of sin the yoke of CHRIST is easie and sweete The last Reason hath relation to the last thing here promised of taking away the Iudgements and healing the Land God should not have the praise of his Iudgements and of his Mercy in taking them away unlesse men were humbled for if when God did afflict men he should restore them againe without this humiliation men would thinke that God wronged them before and now did but right them but when God hath humbled them so farre that they acknowledge his Iustice in afflicting them and their owne desert to be utterly destroyed and confesse that it is his mere Mercy they were not consumed and humble themselves under his mighty hand and now if the Iudgement be taken off and his wrath blowne over then they give him the praise of his Mercy and Iudgements Thus you see why of necessity it is required Now let us see the reason of the order of it why it is required thus in the first place It is the first condition here there is something in the order and to be said by way of reason for it and the reason in generall is because nothing is acceptable to God till the heart be humbled You may pray which is another condition and you may heare c. but all you doe is but lost labour unlesse it come from a broken heart For first that is alone a fit sacrifice for God without which act no sacrifice is accepted This you may see Psalme 51. 16 17. Thou desirest not sacrifice else I would give it thee thou delightest not in burnt offerings The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite hart oh God thou wilt not despise David knew that till his heart was broken all his good deeds and all holy duties would have beene in vaine and it is as if David should have said Lord before I was thus humbled and my heart thus broken as in the beginning of the Psalme hee had expressed that it was Thou didst desire no sacrifice of me nor wouldst have delighted in no burnt offering from mee but the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and other duties but as they come from it This is the maine sacrifice and with out it nothing acceptable unlesse it be laid upon this low Altar which sanctifies the Sacrifice As it is only a fit Sacrifice for God so this only makes us fit Priests to God and before we are fit to offer a sacrifice acceptable we must be Priests and we become not Priests to God till we have offered our selves first to God as a sacrifice 2 Cor. 8. 5. and that we are not till we our selves be slaine and broken and so made a sacrifice Nothing is accepted till the Holy Ghost dwell in the heart and untill a man bee Humbled the Spirit of God dwells not in his heart And therefore what he doth till then savours not of the Spirit but a carnall heart and so is not acceptable Til a man is humbled he keepes the doore shut upon the Lord and His Spirit There is one within his heart is full already hee dwells in his owne heart himselfe therefore it is said Esa. 57. 15. That he dwells in a contrite heart that is in it alone for there is only roome for him to do what he will in all the chambers of it Vntill a man will be obedient in all things no thing he doth is acceptable Hee that turnes his eare from the Law his prayer shall bee abominable Now one that is not humbled throughly hee may bee obedient in many things hee may pray c. but yet he will have by wayes of his owne he hath not fully renounced himselfe that is not Humbled Now unlesse a mans obedience be generall nothing is acceptable And so wee come to the second thing propounded what this humiliation is and herein our maine enquiry is after that which is mainely intended in the text What it is to humble a mans selfe But because the finding of it out depends upon the other also wee will with it shew also what it is to be humbled that so wee may the better know the true humiliation required of us and for the finding out of this wee will first set before you the examples of them who have humbled themselves and have been humbled in Scripture and from thence gather what it is For this you shall finde Manasses in the 2 Chroâ— 33. in his affliction humbling himselfe greatly and the Lord was intreated of him vers 12. Likewise wee have that of S. Paul humbled Acts 9. 6 where we find him trembling and astonished and saying Lord what wilâ— thou have me doe See another example in Acts 2. 37. of those who were prickt in their hearts crying out what shall we do to bee saved And so of the Goaler Acts 16. who came trembling and astonied and would have killed himself and likewise of the Prodigall Luk. 15. which though a parable yet sets forth this condition of a soule humbled to us of whom it is said that none gave unto him and that hee came unto himselfe c. Out of all these we gather those two maine parts of Humiliation mentioned humiliation passive and active The first whereof makes way for the second unto which no promise is made and which may be found in an unregenerate man the second which is
in thee yet they have not that full effect they should for they overcome not that evill that is in thee for notwithstanding all these good things thou art still a Sabbath profaner a drunkard given to company I might goe over all other sins but in a word if they overcome not every sin they are nothing for the saving thee if they had beene effectuall in thee they would have driven out the darknesse all the good things thou hast availe not to thy salvation because they make thee not a good man yea all these good things and the good fits thou hast had will helpe forward thy condemnation because thou hast prophaned the truth in thy heart and hast not put fuell to these sparkes which God in mercy did put in that thou shouldest suffer such Talents as these to lie hid in a Napkin will he not say thou art an unprofitable servant A second thing that is to be added to the sight of your sinnes to humble you is to know that misery and vanity that is in your selves wee see by experience that men will grant that they are great sinners but what is the reason that yet notwithstanding they stand out They doe not know their owne misery and vanity and though wee have preached to men againe and againe their misery yet they are not stirred but when death comes then they are humbled and why but because then they see what God is and what themselves are death shewes them the vanity of the Creature so that the way to bee humbled is to know how unable a man is to bee happy within his owne compasse And to this end consider First the greatnesse of God and his power and the terrours of the Almighty that he is that God in whose hands is thy life and wayes and all and consider that unlesse thou seriously lay thy sinnes to heart this God is thy enemy and him with whom for ever thou hast to doe Consider what a weake creature thou art thinke with thy selfe a sicknesse may come on my body a crosse may come on my estate yea an apprehension of my soule that may sucke up the marrow of my bones and above all I have an immortall soule in a vessell of clay and thinke when that glasse that shell is broke what will become of that poore soule of thine And this would bring a man to the Prodigalls case Belshazzar saw this when hee saw the hand writing upon the wall Had it not beene wisedome in him to have seene and acknowledged it before Thou art well now thou doest not know what alterations may befall thee in the yeare and thou hadst better leave a thousand businesses undone than this And yet thirdly all this will not doe it except the spirit of God come on thee to humble a man is a mighty worke Though Eliah should preach to you yea all the sonnes of thunder should come yet without the spirit they will not be able to humble you yea God himselfe came downe from heaven upon Mount Sinai and with what terrours and yet the people remained unbroken though they were amazed for a time When Christ spake to S. Paul and strucke him off his horse if he had not had a light within as well as without hee had not beene humbled nor the Iaylor if there had not been an earthquake in his heart as well as in the earth Ieroboam had as great a miracle wrought before him as Saint Paul you may well thinke the drying up of his hand amazed him yet made him not give over his sinne and what was the reason there was a miracle in both but not the spirit and if wee did worke miracles before you from day to day yet unlesse God sent his spirit of bondage upon you you would not bee humbled See the necessity of the spirits helpe in admonitions also Amaziah was admonished by a Prophet as well as David by N. than yet hee was not humbled and so wee see some are humbled by afflictions and others not Therefore pray that God would send his Spirit to convince you and learne also not to be offended at us when in preaching the Law your consciences are troubled It is the spirit that troubleth you else our words would not trouble you and therefore bee not angry at us and therefore also doe not put off this duty of getting your hearts humbled for thou art not able so much as to humble thy self therefore take the opportunities of the spirit when he stirs thy heart But you will say this rather discourageth us from the worke for then wee must ever waite like marriners till the tide and the gale comes and I had as good sit still for I may goe about it to no purpose seeing the Lord must doe it I answer thee that if thou wouldest goe about it and shut up thy selfe in private a day and after that another in the end God would send his Spirit When Christ bad them goe and rowe though they rowed all night to little purpose yet CHRIST came at last and they were on the other side presently it may be thou mayest bee about it a moneth or two ere thou findest the Spirit comming yet hee will come in the end and then the worke wil be throughly done for God hath made a promise of the Holy Ghost that hee will baptize with the Holy Ghost as with fire not onely to his Disciples but those that yet never had it for it is not onely for increase but to begin grace Yea if God hath given thee a heart to pray to consider this promise so as thou hast taken up a resolution to waite and to set thy selfe to the worke when thou hast done so the spirit is already in thine heart the worke is begun though thou thinkest not so and never pleade thou canst not do it without the spirit for I aske thee this question didst thou ever commit a sinne in which thou couldest say I did it against my will was there ever any duty which thou hadst a thought to doe that thou couldest say thou couldest not doe it thy heart tells thee no. Therfore set about this duty which is the maine which therefore we have prest much because it is as a naile driven into a wall on which other graces hang. This and Faith are the great things which the master builders are occupied about and indeed the foundation which therefore above all you must looke to and these our exhortations should bee as forked Arrowes to sticke in you and not out againe and not as other Arrowes that wound onely We have done with the negative part That such as doe not humble themselves have no interest in the promises We come now to the affirmative part which is for comfort That if any man doth humble himselfe God will heare his prayer his sinnes shall be forgiven c. The Doctrine is this The Lord will be mercifull unto the humble I
the LORD when my selfe comes into competition with any commandement of his And let not this seeme strange to you that the best way to make a mans selfe happy is to resigne up himselfe to the utmost to glorify God You see in common experience that take a Corne that is fallen into the ground if it continue whole it perisheth but if it die it brings forth an hundred fold 1 Cor. 15. 36. That which thou sowest says the Apostle is not quickened except it dye The Apostle there speakes it of the resurrection but we may truly apply it to the resurrection of a sinner here that except a man die that is be willing to let all hee hath goe and to expose himselfe to what the Lord shall put upon him that he perisheth indeed but if he die then he is quickned he shall be a gainer by it even in this life he shall have an hundred fold And when this is considered of throughly by a man he will easily seeke Gods face with neglect of himselfe And that thus when ever a man suffers any thing for a good conscience in obedience to God it is the best way to provide for himself that this I say is not a mere notion may appeare by comparing those places together the first where it is said Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe and thou shalt love God above all even above thy selfe and with it also that other Deut. 10. 13 14. Thou shalt keepe the Commandements of the Lord which I command thee for thy good Now put both together this is Gods commandement to love God above thy selfe and all the Commandements are given for thy wealth for thy good therefore this amongst the rest And therefore denying our selves when God and our selves come in to competition is the best way to provide for our selves therefore set it downe for a conclusion that to have God alone and to seeke his face thus is your happinesse The end of every thing is the perfection of it now God is the end of the creature and therefore to get him is to get thy perfection and happinesse Againe we have all from him as the branch hath all from the root and therefore as the way for the branch to keepe life in it selfe is to keepe close to the root and when it is broken off it dies so we so long as we cleave to and seeke the Lord we are preserved And this was the ground which all the Saints went upon in their sufferings both of persecution and death and this was the case of Moses and Paul when the one wished himselfe rased out of the booke of life and Paul to be accursed from CHRIST that is saith Saint Paul if this be for Gods glory and the good of his Church let me perish In which though they seemed to imply their immediate destructon yet they knew what was ultimately best for themselves And this is all the difference betweene a carnall man and one to whom God hath revealed himselfe they both agree in this they both love themselves and seeke their owne happinesse but they differ in this that they seeke it in a different way the one in the LORD but a carnall man seekes it in himselfe and the creatures A godly man is so perswaded of God that he seekes him and cares not what hee loseth to gaine him but another man when hee is told of an invisible God hee will not trust to things unseene the things hee sees he will rest upon and so seekes for an happinesse within his owne compasse and therefore when himselfe comes in competition with the Lord he lets the Lord goe But then another question comes to be answered how these two should likewise stand together to seeke the preservation of a mans selfe and yet to expose himselfe to destruction as Moses and Saint Paul did For answer you must know that in every regenerate man there are two selves That common nature that is in every man in which the principle is rooted to love a mans selfe hath two binsses the one Spirit which leades to God the other flesh and these two in this common nature makes two severall selves By the first a man is carried to seeke the Lord by the other to seeke himselfe immediately and in the first place and these two are reckoned two severall selves in Scripture and so expressed to us first flesh and corruption is called a mans selfe 2 Cor. 4. 5. we preach not our selves but Christ that is for our owne glory which he calls himselfe because men use to reckon it as themselves So 2 Cor. 12. 2 5. I knew a man in Christ c. caught up into the third heavens of such an one I will glory but of my selfe I will not glory by selfe hee meanes either the corruption which was in him but there was something else in him which he reckons as another man from this selfe a man in Christ of such a man I will rejoyce that is of my regenerate part which is a New Creature in Christ but not of my selfe that is my flesh and corruptions I will not rejoyce or of the regenerate selfe neither as of it selfe but as it is in Christ which is another expression and this corruption is called a mans selfe because it is spread over the whole man as the forme through the whole matter and a man will not part with it but fights against every thing fights against it as if it were himselfe And secondly that the other regenerate part is called a mans selfe which a godly man reckons so rather then the other we have an expresse place for it Rom. 7. It is not I but sinne that dwells in mee that is not the regenerate part which I account my selfe but sinne which I account but an inmate dwelling within my roofe which yet is called a mans selfe for the like reason aforesaid because spread over the whole man and now it is easie to conceive how the preservation of himselfe may stand with exposing himselfe to destruction and how a man may seeke the Lord in opposition to himselfe In that which the flesh desires a man is bound not to seeke himselfe that is not that selfe but yet he may seeke the good of his other selfe and seeke the Lord too for Gods will and it are unisons and he may be said to seeke Gods face alone though he seekes the desire of that selfe for there is no difference no opposition betweene them and likewise that regenerate selfe may seeke him in opposition to that other selfe that is what it desires when it desires amisse for all those desires which are amisse are from that fleshly selfe and so we must not desire what ourselves would desire but destroy it and the desires of it and seeke the Lord in opposition to it which tends to the preservation of our regenerate selfe and proves so in the end
who Christ and God is consider the persons of them and so chuse them as a father and an husband to live and die with And then secondly he is to consider what he shall have with him yea to looke upon the benefits themselves but chiefly to this end and so as that they may stirre up your hearts to love him the better and not simply as benefits only so as to say in your hearts though he is most beautifull in his person and so though I had him alone I should have an exceeding great reward of himselfe yet withall when I consider that all within the compasse of this world is mine a great dowry that Paul and Apollos and all the good Ministers that ever have beene have beene for my sake that whatsoever is in this life or after death is all mine and that all these hee brings with him all which you should looke on as motives entirely to love him and not as bare benefits and say hath not hee given me al these sanctâ—fied me and redeemed me and set me at liberty when I was a bond slave of sinne and Sathan and have I not reason to love him this is to seek his presence It may be though you have done the thing yet you have not had this distinct consideration yet use it henceforth to help you say not I am in misery and there is a promise of pardon and adoption but looke first to the Lord Iesus go to him and take him To convince you further of this there is none of you but will say I cannot be saved without an holy conversation and what is that but to converse with God and Christ all converse is not with things but persons therefore in an holy course all that you have to do is with the Lord himselfe to open your hearts to him to resort to him for counsell to delight in him to converse with a man is to deale with him upon all occasions you are not only to looke unto to be dealing with duties alone and privileges for then with whom doe you converse not with the LORD but with notions with duties and your sinnes but your chiefe businesse is with the Lord in all these and with these as meanes to bring you to the LORD into his presence and unto his person this is to walke with GOD as Enoch did which still respects his person for so walking with implies Againe no man can bee saved without love to God and that love must not be amor concupiscentiae but amor amicitiae a love of friendship the one respects things the other persons your love must first be to the person and then to the commodities you have by him and the duties you are to perform to him But you will say how shall we doe to bring our heart to this this is exceeding hard It is easie to seek the benefits come by CHRIST self-love will cause most to doe so Any man that needs a thing would faine have his wants supplyed A man that is prest with a burthen would willingly have it taken off it is easie to have your desires quickened this way What therefore shall wee say to set an edg upon your affections to seeke the Lords person If wee had the tongue of men and Angells all would bee too little therefore let us beseech the Lord that he would be his owne spokes-man and reveale himselfe unto us There is no way to set our hearts a worke to seeke his face but by seeing of him and to helpe you to a sight of him is not in our power and yet he useth to do it whilst we are speaking of him in the ministery of the word It is said Psal. 9. They that know his name will trust in him and as they will trust in him so they will seeke his face What was the reason Abraham and Moses sought the Lord thus for himselfe because they had seene his face Thus of Moses it is said hee spake with him face to face There are two wayes to know a man by report or sight by heare-say or by face and this later way have all the Saints known him in some degree and have therefore sought him though Moses in a more particular manner yet all saw him Benevolentia Good will sayes Aristotle may arise from a good report but Amicitia Friendship from sight and acqâ—â—intance that is we may beare good-wil to one of whom we have only heard a good report but we doe not come to love him intirely and as friends to him till we have seene him and doe come to know him and be acquainted with him Therefore though a man have a generall knowledge of him by heare-say yet he will not seeke his face till he have seene him face to face 2 Cor. 3. ult The Lords face appeares indeed in the word as in a glasse but yet till the veile be taken away we see him not face to face therefore in the first place go to God and beseech him and say Lord shew me thy face reveale thy excellency to me by thy spirit of revelation that my heart may be stirred up to seeke thee and will the LORD deny you this request if you do so no No man knowes the Father but the Sonne and hee to whom the Sonne reveales Him sayes CHRIST Therefore goe to CHRIST and beseech him to shew you himselfe and his father The reason we see not God as we might or but by glimpses is that we forget to go thus to the Son or if we do we seeke not earnestly You know how hardly Moses did obtaine this and you must beg hard as he did and when you have obtained this know you shall see wonderfull things strange things in him which eye hath not seene There are wonderfull things to be seene in the Law if a mans eyes be opened Open my eyes sayes David Psalm 119. that I may see the wonderfull things of thy Law How much more wonderfull things are there to be seene in the Lord if if he doth but reveale himselfe and open your eys for the Law is but an expression of him such as is the expression of a man in a Letter or Epistle of which we say it is Character animi it is the portraitâ—re of a mans minde When therefore your eyes are opened to see the Lord himselfe you will see such things in him as will make you in love with him What was the reason that the Spouse in the Canticles Chapter 5. was so sicke of love that she could not containe her selfe but because the Lord had taken away the veile and shewne himselfe unto her And so if God would take any of us here into the Holy of holies and into the Presence-chamber and open himselfe to him then we would say as Thomas and Peter did Now Lord we will go with thee now Lord we will live and die with thee and when wee lose him wee would seeke him with the Spouse from
be compared to the Lord they are but as dust blowne away with his breath If our eyes were but opened to see as Gehazies were the host that was about him so ours to see the Lord we should desire him alone and seeke him and then a man would be ready for all varieties of changes put him where you will he will be content to have Gods favour whilest he lives and heaven when he dyes and till this be wrought he doth not seeke God with a perfect heart till a man comes to this choyce I have many things in the world but the LORD is my portion and he is my exceeding great reward and I can live on him alone it being as impossible for me to have him without comfort as to have the Sunne without light so as whatever becomes of him he is able to say I have lost nothing I am not driven out of my inheritance and portion I have Gods presence and that will be a direction and a protection to us in hard times so that we may say The Lords Name is my strong Tower and though others fly to other refuges yet Thither fly the righteous and are safe Thou must seeke Gods presence in time of peace if thou wouldest have it for thy refuge in time of danger Both these we may see Isai. 4. the two last verses The Lord will create upon every place of Mount Sion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoake by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night verse 5. that is as the People of Israel comming out of Egypt had a pillar of fire to guide them by night and a cloudy pillar by day so God promiseth there to his people I will walke before you and direct your way in all your actions in difficult cases God guides them by an immediate enlightning of his Spirit into those wayes that shall be most safe for them 1 Sam. 18. 14. The Lord was with David and hee walked wisely God directed him and was his Counsellor when as the Lord departed from Saul and he erred in all he did As the Israelites if their two pillars had beene taken away they had beene lost in the wildernesse So was Saul when the Lord departed from him he was as a man wildred in a darke night whereas a godly man shall have a voyce behinde him saying this is the way walke in it whereas if hee went another way he should breake his necke and what a great privilege is this But that is not all the benefit which the presence of God doth afford us but it gives protection also as that place in Isay shewes for it followes upon all the glory shall bee a defence and there shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heate and for a place of refuge and for a covert from the storme and from the raine that is looke what a shadow is to a poore traveller in the time of scorching heate in those hot Countries that will the Lords presence be to all his Saints and it shall be a covert also they shall be under it as under a roofe stand like one in an house dry that looks out and sees others in a storme as when the Aegyptians were beaten with haile and perisht in it the Israelites were safe And lastly he will be a refuge to them when they are persecuted by any whether it be by their owne sinnes which follow them as the avenger of bloud or by evill men or the power and malice of Sathan if they run to him he will be their Asylum their Sanctuary See this different priviledge of the Saints from others in Mordecai and Haman both were in distresse Mordecai was persecuted he flew to the Lord by prayer and had him for a refuge but Haman had none when he was out with the King So both Peter and Iudas fell into sinne but Peter had a refuge to fly to even God whom he had been formerly acquainted withall but Iudas had none and so the storme fell on him so Saul being to fight with the Philistimes had no refuge God was departed from him and therefore he fled to a witch but David when hee was in as great a streight and the people talkt of stoning him he had a refuge he encouraged himselfe in his God and therfore you find it so often repeated by him God is my shield and the rocke of my defence In faire weather men care for no such shelter because they thinke they need it not but remember a storme may come and it is good to provide against a rainy day 2 Rev. 5. when the Church was falne from her first love he threatneth to remove the Candlesticke whereby he meanes not the ministry onely as appeares by the last verse of the first Chapter The seven Candlestickes thou sawest are the seven Churches and therefore Captivity is thereby threatned a removall from that Citty which was a place of ease and safety into a barren land where they should live more hardly And this is threatned not because they had utterly forsaken but were fallen from their first love and some degrees of it What cause have we then to feare and if so what cause is there wee should now seek the Lords presence and then we shall be sure to find him a refuge for go whither thou wilt He is there Psal. 139. Whether into the furthermost parts of the earth or the heart of the Sea thou art there sayes David and as nothing is so terrible to the wicked as that go whither they can God is there so nothing is more comfortable to the Godly Now we are come to the last condition which the Lord requires before he will heare prayers and forgive their sinnes or heale the land of his people and that is If my people turne from their evill wayes Whence you may observe this Doctrine That except a man doe turne from his evill wayes hee can have no interest in the promises of the Gospell Now this poynt as the rest hath a double office The one is to shut out those to whom the promises belong not If you turne not from your evill wayes your prayers shall not be heard Another to open a doore of comfort to them that doe it their prayers shall be heard But first for matter of terror to those without and herein our method shall be first to know what it is to turne from our evill waies for when the Lord shall hang all his promises upon these conditions we have reason to examine them narrowly Wherfore for the conceiving of this we must know that every man is borne backward into the world with his backe turned upon God and his face toward sinne and hell and so continues till he heare some call from God to the contrary saying That is not the way c. So that this conversion of the soule is called a turning because it is from one
if thou wert truly turned to God though sinne did creep in as a thiefe yet thou wouldest not suffer it to take possession of the house but you would cast it forth and if it did breake in by violence yet when thou hadst recovered thy strength when thou hadst got the hill that is the upper hand thou wouldst keepe it under The second effect is this that when hee hath thrust out sinne then he hates it as Amnon did his sister Thamar he not only thrust her out of doores and barred the doore on her but also he hated her worse than ever he had loved her So a man that is turned doth hate sinne hate it as truly as ever hee did love it before There is none but the regenerate man that hates sin truly Suppose a man hath lived a long time in some sinne it may be in drunkennesse or whoredome swearing c. hee may sometimes thrust it out of doores and by a resolution upon some grounds barre the doore against it as when he lies on his sicke bed or is in some great affliction but doth not hate it You will say how shall we know that Hatred is implacable and for ever as in a man towards Toads and Serpents he will never be perswaded to receive it again and to grow friends with it but he forsakes it forever And againe secondly he will never mince the matter with sinne and say thus farre will I lop and cut up my sinne but hee will pluck it up by the rootes Hatred desires the utter abolition and destruction of what it hates Thirdly he will hate all kinds of sinnes Sheepe hate all kind of Wolves and the Dove all kind of Hawkes therefore examine thy selfe by these generalls The third effect is this fighting against it The truth of turning is seene by a mans resistance all a mans life as the Israelites were never to seeke peace with Amalek but to fight against them to seeke the destruction of them while they lived Indeed it is true such a man may bee foyld by a sinne but still hee fights against it and so wee will if wee bee truly converted Therein then is the difference betweene the relapse and backsliding of the wicked and the falling of the godly into some sinne A Saint never gives over the warre he never enters into league with sin The spirit lusteth against the flesh Gal. 5. that is will be ever stirring him up against it all the world cannot make peace where GOD hath put enmity Thou wilt never come to say I cannot chuse I must needs yeeld to it but thou wilt never give over for that is the property of one truly converted to look on sin as an enemy and whatsoever helpes him against sinne he accounts his friend as admonitions and reproofes and whatsoever helpes sinne against him hee accounts his enemy But you will say if all this bee to bee done I cannot say I hate sinne for it hangs on mee continually and I finde an aptnesse to delight in it as before It is true that there is something in thee the flesh to which sinne is as suitable as ever it was hence the aptnes to entertain it that is ready to become as friendly to it as ever it was Yet againe the frame is such as there is something in thee namely a new creature a new selfe thy regenerate part that hates sinne with a deadly hatred yea and the flesh also which fosters it So then this may be thy comfort that the spirit that is in thee hates sinne at the same time that the flesh which is in thee delights in it If this turning unto the Lord bee a condition on which all the promises are put then it stands you upon to examine your selves whether any way of wickednesse bee found in you if it bee be it greater or smaller then you are not converted you are still in the bond of iniquity it is the Apostles phrase to Simon Magus Acts that is tyed up in it as in a bond shackled in it as a man still in prison and bound in fetters thou art a fettered bond slave For when there is any way of wickednesse in thee it so bindes the soule that a man is not able to runne the wayes of Gods Commandements Looke backe therefore upon thy former wayes search thy heart as throughly and narrowly as they did for the leaven before the Passeover search as it were for thy life because if there bee a way of wickednesse it will cost thee thy life Search also diligently for selfe-love makes it hard to find it out This point needs application more than explication the busines here is more with the heart than with the head Put case it bee a way of enmitie having an evill eye toward such a man though thy enemy if thou goe on in it thou art in a way of wickednesse It is the LORDS command that thou shouldest overcome evill with good and that thou shouldest love thine enemies and therefore you are your owne utter enemies in walking in a way of enmitie against others Say it bee the way of evill speaking which comes nigh to enmitie and therefore I speak of it in this next plâ—ce in Titus 3. 2. Speake evill of no man You must not speake evill of any man though he be truly wicked for you your selves were such saith the Apostle and therefore doe it not to make a custome of this when thou hast an opportunity and when any man will give thee the hearing this is a way of wickednesse It is one thing to fall into it beyond a mans purpose another to give a mans selfe liberty in it It may bee done for the good of the party or when it concernes GODS glory but not of envie Againe suppose it bee a way of idlenesse which men of all callings are subject to consider that if thou wert free from all other sinnes and yet wert idle thou art in a way of wickednesse The Apostle speakes much against idle persons as 2 Thes. 3. 10. For even when wee were with you this wee commanded you that if any would not worke neither should hee eate c. that is it is such a sinne as he is not worthy to live that lives in it as for scholars that are sent hither with a price in their hands to learne the knowledge of GOD and his true religion for these to spend their time idly of all other they are not worthy to live If Saint Paul may be Iudge thou canst not be saved because this is a way of wickednesse Art not thou the Lords servant doth not he give thee thy wages Suppose it not a positive way of sinning in it selfe yet that will follow upon it Omnis omissio fundatur in aliquo actu voluntatis affirmativo the reason why a man neglects to doe what he should is because hee doth what he should not and therefore 2 Thes. 3
and loath to rise turning like the doore on the hinges but still remaining upon the same hinges The Lord hath said Deut. 29. that he will not be mercifull to such a man but his anger shall smoake against him But you will say what doe you preach damnation to me will you leave us desperate I answer you we preach damnation to you whilst you are in such courses and would make you despaire of your selves to drive you out of your selves unto Christ and it were an houre well spent to put you out of hope but what may wee have no hope left None in the estate you stand but that of the hypocrite which perisheth with him for if thy hope were true it would purifie thy heart as S. Iohn speakes But I may pray But if thou continuest in thy sinnes thy sinnes shall out cry thy prayers and at the day of thy death when the least interest of these promises will bee worth a world it will bee said to thee that thou hadst nothing to doe with them and there was a time when God call'd upon thee and thou wouldst not and therefore then though thou cry to him God will not heare thee But if there bee any broken-hearted sinner desiring to feare the Lord and serve him sincerely that have this witnesse in their consciences that though they doe not that good they would yet they strive against all sins allow themselves in none whether small or great to you I say that of the Apostle 1 Pet. 1. 13. Trust perfectly on the grace brought unto you by the revelation of Iesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trust not by halves but trust perfectly if I had bidden you trust in your sanctification you might have done it imperfectly because your sanctification is but imperfect but seeing it is the free grace of God is brought to you as a rocke to trust and rely upon trust perfectly upon it commit all your waight and burthen to it Heb. 6. 18. God when hee made the covenant of grace tooke an oath to that end that we might have strong consolation this is an argument commonly forgotten among Christians and so they want that strong consolation which they might have Do you think it a small matter to take an oath of God partly and in any degree in vaine God hath sworne that you might have strong consolation and he would have it so strong that when Satan sets upon you it may be as a strong fortresse to hold out against all assaults why is your faith so weake then what are the impediments 1 One is that wee are deceived in the covenant hath not the Lord promised to justifie the ungodly and commanded us to believe on him that justifies the ungodly Rom. 4. 5. and bidden us come with an empty hand and thou commest with an handfull of humiliation and sayest that thou durst not come before and now I can come better in the more thou hast in thy hand the lesse firme is thy hold A man that is in danger to bee drowned cannot take hold of a Cable cast to save his life if hee keepes any thing in his hand an empty hand takes the fastest hold thy humiliation if true will empty thee of all selfe conceit therefore if thou through humiliation hast nothing of thine owne to trust to thou art the fitter object for mercy Be not alwayes poring downewards on thy sinnes but looke up to God Heb. 6. They have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to the hope laid before us which hope wee have as an anker of the soule both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the vaile Verse 18 19. This our hope is not said to bee any thing in our selves but is as a refuge which wee flie unto out of our selves and is laid afore us growes not within from what is within us and is from above now by hope wee are not to understand the thing hoped for or the grace of hope in us but that sure promise of God ratified by an oath this is the object of our hope and so call'd our hope that is it which is our refuge and which is laid afore us and proceeds from Gods owne brest and nature which if we anchor upon wee shall have strong consolation both for surenesse of not failing us and for steadinesse establishing our hearts but whilst we flie for refuge to any thing in our selves or cast anchor upon it we are tossed with every wave 2 Our daily infirmities they also are a great impediment A man thinkes if I had faith that would so purifie my heart as I should not fall thus oft as I doe which whilst I doe how can I have such strong consolation for this I say to all upright hearted Christians that their infirmities should not dishearten their faith and consolation but they should rather labour to strengthen their sanctification Say with thy selfe because my sins are and have been greater than other mens therefore I will labour more for sanctification hereafter I will love more than others and be more serviceable for the time to come but say not therefore I will doubt or despaire of Gods mercy 3. Hinderance to their laying hold of the promises of forgivenesse is a conceit of their want of humiliation as if they were not humbled enough but if it bee so much as brings thee home to Christ if thou thirst for Christ so as nothing will content thee till thou hast him feare not to lay hold this is enough stand not upon the measure Lastly it may bee thou hast not prayed enough for assurance of forgivenesse and therefore wantest it It is here put in as a condition if my people pray and among other things for this to forgive your sinnes and to give them the assurance of it All the arguments in the world cannot perswade the heart of this nothing but the spirit of adoption and can so great a mercy be obtained without fervent prayer therefore goe to God and intreate his favour and though hee deferres yet continue in prayer for it may be the Lord also with-holds it because hee would have thee set an high prize upon it which thou wouldest not doe if thou shouldest obtaine it easily but be not discouraged continue thou to pray still and in the end thou shalt have it with a full hand Heare you mee all yee that are upright and sincere in heart here is your comfort continue thus to seeke Gods face and all your sinnes shall bee as if they had never beene committed by you and what is said of the sinnes of Israel and Iudah Ier. 50. 20. The iniquity of Iacob shall bee sought for and there shall none be found so shall thine be in the day when they shall be sought for Is not this a great and unspeakeable mercy A man shall bee as if hee had never committed sinne even as if hee were as innocent as Adam was