true the Saints of God are sometimes discontented and discouraged but when they see it they are content that the Word should worke upon them against it and they complaine of these wretched hearts and when they finde this discontentednesse they quarrell with themselves for it and a good man would even pull out that heart which quarrels against the Word of God and he saith is not this the Word of God by which we must be saved and is not this the power of Christ and shall I be angry with it God forbid But these distempers are naturall in a carnall man and though he be reprooved for a foolish fashion yet hee will hold his corruptions still he puls and the Minister puls the Minister would pull downe his proud heart and take away his corruptions but he will have his pride and foolish fashions and his corruptions still then keepe them and perish with them and know that thou art a wretched man the humble heart contends with his corruptions and sinfull distempers and hee is not quiet therewith As it is with a treason If it be revealed to a Traitor and a good Subject the Traitor keeps it secret but the true Subject reveales it and complaines of the Traitor and the Treason and calles for justice against them so it is with a gracious good heart Hee seeth these cursed distempers and sometimes finds bublings of heart against the Word of God and this shakes his Free-hold yet when a good heart seeeth the Treason he doth not joyne with it but he complaines to the Lord of it and saith Oh treason Lord this vile heart will bee my destruction good Lord reveale it yet more to mee and take away all these corruptions take thou the possession of mee that I may serve thee here and be with thee for ever hereafter Thus much for the use of Examination Vse 3 Is it so that the heart truly humbled and prepared for mercy is content to be at Gods disposing as you have heard then what shall wee say of those that lift up themselves against the Almightie this discovers the fearefull condition of every such Soule It is certaine the haughtie Soule is furthest of all from Salvation how proove you that hee that is furthest of from Humiliation he is furthest of from the beginning of grace here and from perfection afterward the gate of grace is meerely here for except you become as little children that is except you be humbled you cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven a proud heart is farre from grace now and from happinesse in the end of his dayes For the discovery of this mans misery let mee lay open foure particulars and I would have my selfe and you to consider them that our proud hearts may be puld downe First Foure degrees of a proud mans misery Pride is professely against God and is the most directly contrary to the whole beeing of God and that in the whole man Indeed Pride opposeth God all sinnes are nothing else but a kinde of crossenesse to the Lord of Hosts and a kinde of thwarting of some Attribute or other in God As falshood crosseth the Truth of God impatience crosseth the patience of God and injustice crosseth the Iustice of God So that these sinnes goe against the Almightie in their measure some against one Attribute some against another but a proud heart smites at the whole Essence and Being of God Nay he doth as much as in him lyeth labour to take God out of the world and he would be God himselfe and have no God but himselfe The Lord doth principally Attribute two things to himselfe which can bee in none but himselfe God is the first of all causes and the last End of all All things were created by him for himselfe He made all by his Will and Wisedome and by his Wisedome and Providence he governes all for himselfe Before any thing was God was and all must returne tribute of praise and thankesgiving to God A man may be like God in Mercy and in Iustice though not so perfectly yet sincerely and a man may be like God in other of his glorious Attributes but God onely is first and last If it bee a creature then it was made but here is the venome of a proud heart he would be first and last He doth all by his owne power and hee will promote his owne praise in all that he doth As the great King Nebuchadnezzar saith Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babel that I have built by the might of my power I built it there is the first for the honour of my Majestie there was the last So it is not the wisedome and pleasure of God that must stand but his owne proud heart it must not be what God commands but what he would have all of a proud man is against the Almighty The Saints of God have wondered that the Lord is able to beare a proud man that thus out braves God in regard of his speciall prerogatives it is a wonder that God sends not some lightning from heaven and even stamp them to pouder and send them downe packing to hell suddainely I take this to be the sinne of the devills that are now chayned up in eternall darknesse untill the judgement of the great day nay I take this pride of a mans Spirit of his minde his reason his will and affections to bee an other old man of sinne Drunkennesse is a lymme of this old man and so is adultery and other sinnes but pride is as it were the old man it selfe This is the broader the Spawne and the very mother from whence the sinne against the Holy-ghost growes and there wants nothing but the illumination of the truth to come in upon the heart when a mans understanding is enlightned and this Illumination comes upon the heart and hee is violently carried against the truth with indignation this is the sin against the holy ghost 2. Pride opposeth the covenant of grace Secondly as Pride is opposite to God himselfe so it is opposite to the covenant of grace beleive and live for the truth is that which wee call infidelitie and the ingredients of it are pride as the Apostle saith Rom. 3.7.7 Where is boasting then it is excluded by what Law by the Law of workes no but by the Law of faith If there be beleeving then away with carnall reasoning and with pride Therefore I may say by collection if faith exclude all boasting then pride or boasting opposeth the covenant of faith Faith is excluded by this pride of a mans Spirit and by this swelling of heart and the holy Prophet Habakkuk saith Habak 2.4 the Soule that is lifted up himself is not not upright within him hee that swells and bubles up in his heart and puffes up himselfe against the word of God hee hath no upright Spirit within him but the just man shall live by his faith above all see that place in Esay hearken to
againe the second time Well Christ opens the mystery of regeneration and the secrecy of it the second time and when Nichodemus could not comprehend what Christ had spoken yet hee would hold his owne and said how can this be I cannot conceive it because he could not comprehend it therefore he throwes all away Marke how Christ hits him in the right veine and strikes him to the bottome and see how hee tames him Art thou a Master in Israel and a Doctor in Law and yet art such a novice in this worke of regeneration downe with that proud heart of thine Lay downe all thy carnall reasoning and become a foole and so thou may understand this truth that is communicated to thee This is ordinary amongst us for a man to say I cannot beleeve it I see it not and I thinke not so and yet they have no reason at all to carry them but because they cannot comprehend it by that light which they have therefore they will not yeild to any reason because they cannot see it by their owne light they will not use Gods spectacles as I may so say looke how much of this carnall reasoning thou hast so much pride thou haste and this is very much specially in the most ignorantest Soules Secondly because of the weakenesse and feeblenesse of their judgements which are not able to hold a truth when they have it in their hands but it goes away like lightening and because the minds of these poore creatures are over-worne with many thoughts and cursed reasonings and troubled therewith they grow unable to helpe themselves against those distempers And hence it is that though the Word of God be let in and made cleare yet a man stoopes to those conceits and cursed reasonings that have beene attended to so that they take of the power of the truth As it is with a Ferriman hee applyes the Oare and lookes home-ward to the Shore where he would be yet there comes a gust of winde that carryes him backe againe whether he will or no So many a poore humbled creature that is truly wrought upon and hath a true title to Christ he applyes his Oare and would have assurance of mercy from Christ yet the over-whelming of carnall reasonings and cursed suggestions that are either cast in or stirred up in his heart throwes him backe againe and take of the power of the truth insomuch that he can see nothing nor yeild to any thing for the good and comfort of his Soule I take this to be the ground of all the trouble that befals a broken heart Let any man under heaven give mee the reason of this why any Soule that is truely burthened for sinnes as sinne and hath found God marvellous gracious to him this way why I say after all his cavils are remooved and all his objections are fully answered and all controversies are ended and this often done yet a poore broken hearted creature will still recoyle to his former carnall reasonings againe the reason is because all the answers that were given are now forgotten and all his cavils and carnall conceits will be fresh in his minde as ever they were partly from the haunt they have had in his minde and partly from that selfe-willy waywardnesse of the heart that is content to goe that way They that have beene long over-whelmed with these cursed carnall cavellings they will rather labour to oppose a direction then to hold it and to walke in the comfort of it onely because of the weakenesse of their understandings and their carnall reasonings are so violent against them Vpon this hindge it is that as I take it all the objections of a company of poore broken hearted doe hang and by this meanes they keepe out that comfort which they might have and in the strength whereof they might walke all their dayes I might propound many instances as thus come to a contrite Soule and say to him why walkest thou so uncomfortably seeing thou hast now a title to mercy and salvation in Christ see what he replies I a title to mercy nay I am utterly unworthy of that title it is a great gift and few have it and I have beene a vile wretch and an enemy to God and his glory what I a title to mercy we reply againe God gives grace to the unworthy he justifies the ungodly and not the godly and if he will give you mercy too what then hee replyes againe What mercy to me Nay it is prepared for those that are fitted for it had I such a measure of humiliation and so much grace if I were so and so fitted and if my heart were thus disposed then I might have some hope to receive it wee reply againe But have not you beene weary of your corruptions and are you not content that God should doe that for you which you cannot doe for your selves this is the qualification which God accepts and requires and by which hee fits the Soule for mercy unlesse you have that other of your own conceits you will have none and so you deprive your selves of mercy you have a childs part and a good portion too if your proud hearts would suffer you to see it Then the Soule saith I would have the Lord say to my Soule be of good comfort I am thy Salvation if the Lord would witnesse this to mee by his Spirit then I could beleeve it content then only let us agree upon the manner how it must be done and how God shall speake it Will you then yeild it Yes then know this what the Word saith the Spirit saith for the hand and the sword the Word and the Spirit goe both together For as the text saith My Word and my Spirit are one Then take the Word and lay thy heart levell to it and see it The Word saith Every one that is wearie shall be refreshed Hast not thou beene weary and hast not thou seene sin worse then hell it selfe The Text the Word the Lord and his Spirit saith Thou shouldst come and the Spirit saith thou shalt be refreshed Oh saith the sinner I cannot finde this assurance and this witnesse of Gods Spirit I cannot see it and I cannot beleeve it Thus he leaves the judgement of the Word and Spirit and cleaves to the judgement of his finding and feeling and thus he judgeth Gods favour in regard of his own imaginations and not according to the witnesse of the Word and Spirit the Spirit saith Thou art fitted for mercy but because thy ignorant blinde minde conceives it not hence it is that thou shuttest the doore against the mercy of God revealed and that would be setled upon thy Soule for thy everlasting comfort Thinke of this and say Whether is it fit that my wit should determine my estate or the word of God Will you determine the cause and perke into the place of judgement and say I feele it not and I feare it Is not all this carnall reason Here they runne amaine even
of an adulterer or of a blasphemer are an abhomination to the Lord Hee cannot abide them they are such unsavory dead stinking prayers that the God of heaven abhors them I would to God you were perswaded of it I would have a man to reason thus with himselfe and say This is just my condition How many gracious commands have I sleighted and despised How many precepts have I trodden under my feete therefore even my best prayers are abhominable to the Lord and if my prayers bee such then what is my person and all my sinnefull lusts Looke what wee doe with a dead body we may pitty him and bury him but we cannot quicken him So wee may pity a poore drunkard and pray for him and bury him with teares but we cannot save him Nay all the meanes in the world will not save him except the Lords mightie power come from heaven to worke upon his heart Three degrees of our misery Thirdly the sentence of condemnation is now already past upon him and one foot is in the pit all-ready Ioh. 3 18. Hee that believes not is condemned already Hee doth not say he may be condemned but the sentence is already past upon him his hard heart was never soundly broken and his proud heart was never content to part with it self and all for Christ and therefore he goes to endlesse torments for evermore Every naturall man is an unbeliever and therefore stands under the sentence of condemnation So that unlesse the Lord bee pleased to open his eies and to breake his heart and to draw him from that estate he is like to perish and goe to hell for ever Fourthly and lastly if this be not enough The fourth degree of our misery hee is not onely deprived of all spirituall good and dead in sinne and stands under the sentence of condemnation though this were enough to lay out hearts low before the Lord. You see the sinner in the pit But will you see him sinking into the bottome I am loath to speake the worst Nay I durst not have thought it had not the Lord Christ spoken it in his Word Therefore see what hee saith Ioh. 6.70 Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a Divell Who was that It was Iudas Why what did he What a dead man and a damned man and a divell too What will become of such a poore forlorne creature It is said of Iudas that the Divell put it into his heart to betray Christ out of a covetous humour to get money and the Divell entred into Iudas Thus the divell puts it into his mind Ioh. 13.27 and suggested it into his heart to devise a way how to compasse his end nay the Divell entred into Iudas not by a corporall possession but by a spirituall kind of rule which the divell did exercise over Iudas that is when the divels counsell and advise tooke place with Iudas to betray his Master this is not Iudas his condition alone but it is the condition of all men by nature That looke as it said of the Apostles They were inspired with the Spirit of God Act. 1.4 and as it is said of all sound Christians They are led by the Spirit of God So on the contrary the wicked are led by Ephes 2.2 and with the spirit of the divell He rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience The divell casts wicked thoughts into their hearts and carries them into the commission of those evils which formerly he had suggested The divell rules in them he speakes by their tongues and workes by their hands and thinks and desires by their minds and walkes by their feet Revel 2.10 The divell shall cast some of you in prison saith Saint Iohn All men are naturally under the power of Sathan and therefore Saint Paul was sent to preach the Gospel that he might deliver them from the power of Sathan to God Acts 26.18 You thinke your selves brave men and you can despise the word and the grace of God and abuse his Ministers Alas the divell hath power over you as it is with a dead sheepe all the carrion Crowes in the Countrey come to prey upon it and all base vermin breede and creepe there So it is with every poore naturall sinfull carnall creature under heaven a company of divels like so many carrion crowes prey upon the heart of a poore creature and all base lusts crall and feed and are maintained in such a wretched heart Now brethren thinke of all these and search seriously It is better to know this now then to know it when there is no remedy I say no more for pitie is it so with thee and mee and all of us by nature Then judge the case clearely and passe the verdict Doest thou thinke that a few faint cold prayers and lazy wishes and a little horror of heart can plucke a dead man from the grave of his sinnes and a damned soule from the pit of hell and change the nature of a divell to be a Saint No it is not possible and know that the worke of renovation is greater then the worke of thy creation and there is no helpe in earth either goe to Christ or there is no succour for thee We can pitty poore drunkards and sorrow for them but we are as able to make worlds and to pull hell in pieces as to pull a poore Soule from the paw of the divell Nay he is a divell and a damned divell as you have heard if this were well considered it would dash in pieces all those carnall conceits of a great many which make nothing of turning a divell to be a Saint Secondly consider seriously the infirmitie The second meanes and feeblenesse and the emptinesse of all meanes that we enjoy and all duties that we doe it were argument enough to perswade a poore broken-hearted sinner not to relye upon a poore broken reede that will deceive him when he hath most need therefore since they cannot succour us let us draw our hearts from resting on them This is a matter of great weight also for the Soule being thus broken for sinne sets a great matter of excellency and sufficiency in holy duties Nay people hang all their hope of eternall life upon what they have and what they can doe Come to a poore broken hearted sinner and tell him of his sinne that he stands guiltie of Marke what his reply is I confesse saith he it is true I have beene so and so but the world is well amended I meddle not with my sinnes and I have reformed all those base courses Nay the Lord knowes that my corruptions have cost mee hot water my heart hath beene exceedingly vexed with them I hope I have had my hell here and I shall no hell hereafter Alas poore wretch is this the hooke that upholds thy heart and is this all the ground that thou goest upon it is good that thou doest repent and amend
and reforme thy wayes and blessed be God for what hee hath made thee able to doe but this I must tell thee If thy repentance and reformation be all thy hope and thou relyest upon them as the Iewes did upon their Legall righteousnesse thy Soule and all will sinke everlastingly if thou looke no further for helpe for all these cannot procure thy acceptance before God in that great Day of accounts nor give any satisfaction to Gods Iustice Now the weakenesse of all these priviledges and duties may appeare in five particulars First Thou canst not do that which God requires of thee Rom. 8.14 in all this that thou so much braggest of Thou hast a hard heart and canst not repent If thou canst doe what God requires of thee then why doest thou not breake that hard heart of thine It is a heart that cannot repent The Saints of God finde this though they see their sinnes yet their hearts will not breake Thou art as able to rend the rocks in pieces as to breake thy hard heart The good that I would doe saith Saint Paul Rom. 2.5 I cannot doe and the evill that I would not doe that I doe The Church complaines of it and saith Why are our hearts hardened from thy feare Therefore God may justly take exception against thee Secondly Thou art not many times carefull to doe what thou canst sometimes thou lettest passe opportunities and if thou takest the occasions it is marvellous slightly and hoverly though God have put power and abilitie into thy heart to performe holy duties so that thou seest the occasions yet thou slightest them over most shamefully Iam. 3.2 In many things we sinne all saith the Apostle Saint Iames and the Prophet Esay saith Esa 64.7 There is none that calleth upon thy name neither stirreth he up himself to take hold of thee It was the common fault of the wise Virgins they all slumbred Matth. 25.5 this befals even those that are the most beloved of the Lord. Thirdly Doe what thou canst in the best of all thy services when thou commest to the highest pitch of the holinesse of thy heart and to the most ferventest prayers that ever thou didst make and the most broken heart that ever thou haddest and the most exactest way of godlinesse I say in the very best of all thy duties there is still some imperfection and for which God may in exact rigour frown upon thee now Iudge this can that service save thee in which there is enough to condemne thee that 's impossible in the best of thy duties there is enough to make God frowne upon thee And therefore the Priest that was to offer Sacrifice Heb. 7 27. Was to offer Sacrifice for the sinne of his offering Where we see that even the holiest service that ever the Minister puts up to God and in the best care that ever he exprest he hath need to offer Sacrifice for his offering and so it is in all your services You little thinke that God may condemne you for your Prayers and Sacraments and Fastings But I will make it cleare to you for this is a common rule we all beleeve in part we know in part and we love in part so that though our hearts are renewed yet they are but renewed in part there is some hatred mixed with our love some unbeliefe with our faith and some ignorance with our knowledge And as the Apostle saith Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh so that these two are contrary the one to the other There is so much corruption in thee so that when thou wouldest doe good thou canst not doe it with that readinesse that thou oughtest thou canst not doe it with all the whole streame of thy heart The Law requires that wee should love the Lord with all our hearts and with all our strength So that we have no hangings backe in our duties but in all our prayers and hearings and readings there is flesh that opposeth the spirit and corruption that crosseth the worke of grace So that we are not able to performe any service as God doth require of us how backward are we to duties and how weary in duties what wandring thoughts what privy pride and what seeking of our selves have we in them You know nothing if you know not this but whether you know it or no it is so There is much corruption opposing and thwarting the worke of the Spirit and therefore you had need pray for the repentance of your repentance and to begge the pardon of all your prayers and whereas you thinke that you will repent and amend and heare and pray and the like I tell you that though it be commendable to pray and heare yet there is so much sinne in your amendment and repentance and duties that in exact justice God may curse all that you doe and execute his Iudgements upon you for the same therefore these cannot save you He that heretofore hath prophaned the will now Sanctifies it and soe he thinks all is quit but I tell thee that in all thy sanctification of the same thou hast neede of a Saviour Fourthly Were it graunted and let it be supposed which I confesse will not nay can never bee but Imagine it were so that after God hath opened a mans eyes and broken his heart he should never commit the least sinne in all the world and never have any failing in holy duties nor any distemper in his Soule though this cannot bee but Imagine it were so that he did never sinne after his repentance yet even the sinne of his nature which he brought into the world with him were enough to make the Lord take the advantage of him for ever and to cast away all that ever he doth as abhominable from his presence Our repentance and our exactest performance of duties though we could doe them even to the uttermost it is a duty that we are bound to doe and the doing of that which we owe can never satisfie for that which hath beene done amisse by us but our repentance of sinne and our reformation is a duty which the gospell requires and therefore will not satisfie for that which is done amisse before our conversion As a Tennant that is run behind hand with his Land-Lord soe many hundreths and at last he begins to consider with himselfe what hee hath done and he bringes the rent of the last halfe yeare when his lease is out will this man thinke that hee hath now satisfied his Land-Lord if he should say now Land-Lord I hope you are contented and all is answered and have fully paid all that is betweene you and mee you Land-Lords would be ready to reply thus and say this satisfies mee for the last halfe yeare past but who payes for the odde hundreths so it is with a poore soule be it so that after those arrerages that thou hast run upon the score with God after
all thy contempt and pride and all thy Stubbournes of Spirit at last God opens thine eyes and breakes thy heart and gives thee a fight of and sorrow for these sinnes wilt thou come before the Lord and say Lord I haue repented of my sinnes past and soe I hope thy Iustice is satisfied and all accounts made euen betweene thee and mee the Lord would answere it is true thou dost repent and reforme thy selfe the gospell requires it but who payes the od thousands and who satisfies for thy old drunkennes and for thy thousands of pride and Stubbornesse and all thy carelesnes and all thy contempt of God and his grace and who satisfies for all thy blasphemies and omissions of holy duties and the like the Lord may justly take the forfeit of thy Soule and proceede in Iudgement against thee to thy destruction for ever our repentance and amendment is a new dutie which the Lord requires of us from the gospell but it is not the paying of the old debt for if we do not repent we stand guiltie of the breach of the gospell and soe must satisfie for that sinne The breach of the Law is sinne and the wages of sin is death the wages of sinne is not repentance nor amendment but it is death then repentance will not satisfie for sinne noe noe the wages that must bee laid downe for a mans sinne is death As the Lord said In the day that thou eatest of the forbidden fruite Gen. 2.17 thou shalt dye the death And therefore the Apostle saith Gal. 3.10 cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the Law to doe them Repentance is onely a worke of the gospell to bring our hearts in frame againe but the breach of the Law must be satisfied for soe that having sinned against the Lord and wronged his Iustice we must either dye our selves or have one to dye for us then there is noe laying downe of any satisfaction to God by any thing that we can doe in this case but we must have recourse to our Saviour who onely can satisfie gods wrath for our sinnes Fifthly As a sinner is utterly unable to bring himselfe into a good estate by all the meanes that he can use so he is unable to maintaine his lot and to keepe himselfe aforehand in a Christian course when he is brought unto it Therefore as it necessary to have a Saviour to pardon us So it is necessary to have a Saviour to continue that estate of grace to us for our good When the Lord in mercy had given to Adam in his innocency perfect holinesse and righteousnesse insomuch that hee was able to keepe the Law and to purchase favour for himselfe Adam then fell and spent all that stock of grace and if we had our stocke in our owne hands we should spend all and be ruinated for ever if God did leave us to our selves If Adam having no sinne could not keepe himselfe in that happy estate much lesse are we able that have much corruption in us therefore it is not onely required to goe to Christ for grace to pardon us but we must goe to Christ to maintaine our grace and to keepe our hearts in frame here and to bring us to a Kingdome for ever hereafter When Adam had spent all the stocke of grace and proved a bankrupt the Lord would raise him up againe but he would not put the stocke into his owne hands againe but he puts it into the hands of Christ As a man that gives his childe a portion and he spends it all now his father will raise him againe but will not put it into his owne hands but into the hands of some friend and will have his Sonne goe to that man for his allowance every day and for every meale So it is with the Lord our heavenly Father because we have mispent all that wisedome and holinesse and righteousnesse which God gave Adam and in him to all of us therefore the Lord would not put the stock of grace into our owne hands againe but he hath put it into the hands of Christ and will have us depend upon Christ for every crum of grace yea even for the will to doe any good and we must goe to him that he may preserve and maintaine the worke of grace in us and wonderfull happy are we that it is so For should the Lord set the divell and us together all were gone The Lord Iesus gives grace and continues it and helps us to persevere in grace and so makes us come to the end of our hopes even the salvation of our Soules Oh therefore looke up to the Lord Iesus Christ and say Oh it is a blessed mercy that when my heart is proud vaine loose and foolish that then I may goe to the Fountaine of grace 1 Peter 1 5. for humilitie and for grace We are kept saith Saint Peter By the power of God through faith unto salvation As if he had said all the powers of hell and darknesse are come about us and a world of wickednesse besets us and all the powers of the world and the corruptions of our owne hearts allure us Now we cannot stand by our own strength therefore we have need of a Christ that we may be kept by his power and be able to suffer and to doe any thing for his names sake and that hee may preserve us in that great day of accounts 1 John 4.4 And the Apostle Iohn saith Little children you are of God and have overcome the world for greater is hee that is in you then hee that is in the world Hee doth not say greater are you then he that is in the world but greater is he that is in you c. Hee doth not say greater is your humilitie then your pride greater is your patience then your impatience and greater is your love then your hatred but he saith The Lord Iesus is greater in us to succour and to helpe us then all the temptations of the divell and the corruptions of our hearts that can presse in upon us to doe us any hurt or to hinder us in a Christian course Doest thou thinke thy owne hearing and praying and duties will serve the turne and save thy Soule No no thou art an undone man if thou rest upon thy owne crazie bottomes Amend thou mayest and pray thou oughtest but these will not save thee these will not cause the acceptation of thy person with God nor justifie thy Soule before his Tribunall All these are poore weake and crazie meanes For if thou canst not doe what God requires and if thou doest not what thou art able and if in the best of thy services there is pride and stubbornnesse enough to condemne thee and when thou risest up from prayer thou hadst need pray againe for pardon of thy prayer Nay couldst thou doe all that thou shouldest after conversion in the most strictest and exactest manner yet that doth not
that is you will not goe out from your selves to the Lord Christ and therefore cannot receive mercy and grace from his Majesties hands though thou art never so base and vile if thou couldst goe to the Lord Iesus and rest upon him for mercy nothing should stand betweene thee and heaven but if thou stickest in thy selfe all the grace in Christ can doe thee no good Secondly This carnall confidence makes a man unprofitable under all the meanes that God bestowes Ier. 17.5 6. As the Prophet Ieremy saith Cursed is he that trusts in the arme of flesh and departs from the Lord Why What shall become of him the text saith he shall be like an heath in the wildernesse and shall never see good The nature of the heath is this though all the dew of heaven and all the showers in the world fall upon it and though the Sunne shine never so hotly it will never grow fruitfull it will never yield any fruit of increase but it is unfruitfull still Such a Soule thou wilt be thou that restest upon thy own services sayest because thou hearest and prayest and doest sanctifie the Lords Day therefore thou must needs goe to heaven I say thou shalt never see good by all the meanes of grace if thou makest them independent causes of salvation all the promises in the Gospel shall never establish thee and all the judgements in the world will never terrifie thee thou shalt never have any saving grace wrought in thee by them The truth is hee that hath all meanes and hath not a Christ in all hee shall never see good by all Therefore thou that restest upon thy parts and gifts and upon thy duties thou wilt have a heart so besotted that grace will never come into thy heart and God will never quiet thy conscience It may be a poore drunkard is converted and humbled but thou standest still and canst get no good by all the means in the world Therefore say thus to thy selfe doth this carnall confidence cut mee off from all the grace and mercy that is in Christ and without mercy and pardon from Christ I am undone for ever and without grace I am a poore defiled wretch here and shall be damned for ever after if I rest here I may bid adue to all mercy Nay all the meanes that I have never doe mee good Is this the fruit of my carnall confidence Oh Lord withdraw my heart from it Lastly When all the meanes of grace will not plucke away the Soule from resting upon it selfe The fourth meanes when reason will not rule him nor meanes will not prevaile with a poore sinner as commonly a great while they will not then the Lord tires a poore Soule with his owne distempers And the Lord deales with the Soule as an enemy deales with a Castle that he hath besieged When the Citizens will not yield up the Castle he famisheth them and cuts off all provision and makes them consume within and so at last they are forced to resigne it up upon any termes So When the Lord hath laid siege to a carnall heart and hath shewed him his woefull condition and yet the heart will not of nor will not take up any termes of peace but still hee will shift for himselfe Now what doth the Lord doe hee takes away the comfort of all the meanes that he hath till hee is famished with the want of Gods favour and then hee is content to yield up all to the God of heaven and earth It was just so with this Prodigall all the world could not perswade him but he might live better of his portion and so away hee goes and when hee had tried the world and could get no succour at last he confest it was better to be at a fathers finding and now he saw that a fathers house was admirably good and that the servants and children in their fathers house are happy for they have bread enough and enough againe and to spare too and so hee is forced to returne So it is with many poore distressed soules all the arguments under heaven cannot quiet them and all the meanes in the world cannot plucke them from themselves and we tell them daily that they must not expect grace nor power nor pardon from themselves 2 Ioh. 3. It is mercy and peace saith the Apostle You would have peace of conscience and pardon of sinne and assurance of Gods love and whence would you have it you would have it from your duties it is not prayer and peace nor hearing and peace but it is mercy and peace and therefore away to the Lord Iesus that you may receive mercy from him Yet we cannot get poore creatures from themselves but they would faine shuffle for themselves and have a little comfort of their owne and they say Lord cannot my prayers my care and fasting merit salvation Now what doth God then he saith to such a Soule goe try then put to the best of thy strength and use all the meanes that thou canst and see what thou canst doe See if thou canst cure thy conscience and heale those wounds of thine and subdue the corruptions of thy heart with thy prayers and abilities but when the Soule hath made triall and weltred and wearied it selfe at last he finds that all the meanes he can use cannot quiet him nor comfort his conscience and the poore sinner is pinched and wearied and the Lord will not answer his prayers nor sweeten the desires of his Soule and the Lord will not blesse the Word to him for his comfort and at last the Soule saith Such a poore Christian even a man of meane parts and weake gifts how is he comforted and such a profane drunkard is puld home and hath gotten the assurance of Gods love The Lord hath puld downe the proud hearts of such and such and they live comfortably and sweetly and I have no peace nor assurance of Gods love You may thanke your selves for it they saw nothing and they looked for nothing from themselves and therefore they went home to the gate of mercy to the Lord Iesus Christ and they have bread enough if you would come home to Christ you might have beene comforted also Now therefore goe to the Lord Iesus Christ and as certainly as God is in heaven refreshing and comfort will come into your hearts and mercy which is better then marrow shall satisfie those feeble fainting spirits of yours You see what the way is and what the helps be to pluck off our hearts from resting upon these duties and therefore thinke thus with thy selfe and say is my misery so great and are my duties so weake and is my carnall confidence so dangerous that I may be troubled for ever for any thing that I can doe of my selfe and is comfort no where else to be had but in the Lord Iesus Christ Oh then Lord worke my heart to this duty Sticke not in your selves doe all this but goe
despaire I would not have you go away and say the minister saith we must despaire It s true you must despaire of all saving succour in your selves but you must not despaire of all mercy in Christ Answer For the answer to this question you must know that there are three particular trialls of our owne hearts whereby wee shall know when the Lord is pleased to deale so kindly and sweetly with us as to drive us from our selves to Christ The first triall First the Soule of a poore sinner that seeth all meanes helplesse and hopelesse in themselves will freely confesse and acknowledge and that openly that the worke of salvation is of an unconceiveable difficulty and he seeth an utter insufficiencie and impossibility in himselfe and in any meanes in the world to be saved of himselfe He seeth that it is beyond his power and the staffe is out of his owne hand and the Soule almost sinks under it and conceives it almost impossible to come out of it in regard of that which it apprehends Hee seeth now that all those broken reedes and rotten props and all that boldnesse whereby the heart did beare up it selfe they are all broken in peeces and all those Castles which he hath built in the ayre wherein hee comforted himselfe with dreames of consolation they are all throwne downe to the ground and battered about his eares and now the Soule wonders how he was so deluded to trust to such lying vanities and to such deceitfull shadowes This is the difference that the Soule will finde in it selfe before this worke of conversion and after it is wrought Before a man thinks it an easie matter to come to heaven and judgeth it a foolishnesse in people to be cast downe and discouraged in the hardnesse and difficultie of the worke of salvation and hee conceives it to be a foolish conceit in the frantick braine of some precise Ministers Oh saith he God blesse us if none be saved but such as these whatsoever he saith a man may goe to heaven and repent and get the pardon of his sinnes it is nothing but confessing his sinnes before God and craving mercy in the pardon of them and is this such a hard matter this man in the dayes of his vanitie thinks he hath heaven in a string and mercy at command and he can come to heaven and breake his heart at halfe an houres warning but take this man when the Lord hath awakened his conscience and put him to the triall when he seeth that after all his prayers and teares yet his conscience is not quieted and his sinnes are not pardoned and the guilt still remaines now he is of another minde now he wonders at himselfe that he was so deluded and now he saith where is the deluded heart that did thinke it and the mouth that did speake it Nay he thinks it a great mercy of God that he is not in hell long agoe and he stands and wonders that ever any man comes to heaven and he saith certainly their hearts are not like mine and their sinnes are not so great as mine good Lord who can ever be saved such a divell to tempt and such a world to allure and such corruptions boyling within He wonders how Abraham got to heaven beyond the Starres and Moses but above all Manasses yet he saith blessed be God that ever he did this for them but for my selfe all things considered I thinke it a matter impossible how I nay how can I ever be wrought upon shall ever any mercy comfort mee and shall ever any meanes doe mee good Why have not all those meanes that I have had done mee good I shall never have power to pray better then I have done and I shall never be able to wrestle with God more earnestly then I have done and yet I see all meanes profit not therefore I am but a gone man I am but lost and I know not which way my soule should be saved When our Saviour Christ was discovering the difficultie of the way to Salvation His Disciples said Good Lord who then shall be saved So the poore Soule saith Oh the meanes that I have had and the prayers that I have made So that I have thought the heavens did even shake againe and yet Good Lord my heart did never stirre at all and therefore how can I be saved And as the Prophet Ieremy saith Shame hath eaten up the labours of our fathers and we lye downe in our shame c. They had the meanes of grace and the ordinances of God and shame hath eaten up all and where are their Temples and Priviledges now Shame hath consumed them to nothing So it is with a poore feeble fainting Soule he saith shame hath eaten up all my labours I have laboured in prayer in hearing and in fasting yet I have no pardon sealed nor no mercy granted I am as much troubled as ever I see as much evill as ever I did hell is gaping for mee and so soone as life is gone from my body the divell will have my Soule This is the nature of despaire to put an impossibilitie in the thing that it despaires of and to say can it be and will it be and will it ever be Nay it is impossible for ought I know Where is the man now that thought it an easie matter to goe to heaven he is in an other minde and his heart is of an other frame now he hath found by woefull experience that there is no hope nor helpe in himselfe nor in the creature Secondly The second Triall this followes from the former disposition of spirit the Soule is restlesse and remaines unsatisfied in what he hath and what he doth The heart cannot be supported and therefore it growes to be marveilously troubled and it is not able to stay it selfe There is nothing that can satisfie the Soule of a man but it must be some good No man is satisfied with evill but rather more troubled with it It must be some good either in hand and in present possession or else in expectation of some good that he may have and he saith it may be and it will be But when he seeth the emptinesse of all his priviledges and the weakenesse of all his duties when these failes his heart and all must needs sinke because he seeth no other good but them for the while As it is with the building of a house if the bottome and foundation be brittle and rotten and begin to shake all the whole building must needs shake So the Soule that sought for comfort mercy and salvation from his outward priviledges and duties when all these begin to shake under him and to breake in sunder and he seeth no helpe thereby and that it can receive no ease therein hence it is that Soule thus troubled and despairing is in such an estate that if all the Ministers under heaven should come to flatter him and to daube him up with untempered mortar
satisfie of himselfe he cannot and his friends will not and he knowes that the bonds are still in force and his creditor will sue him avoyd the suit he cannot and to beare it he is not able and therefore he comes in freely and offers himselfe and his person and gives up himselfe into his creditors hands onely he beseecheth him to remit that which he can never pay Iust so it is with the soule of a poore sinner The Soule is the Debtor and Divine Iustice is the Creditor When the poore sinner hath used all meanes to save and succour himselfe and to make payment and he hath as it were made a gathering of prayers all the Countrey over and yet he seeth that there is a controversie betweene God and him and yet his sinne is not pardoned and God is Iust and will have his honour and he is not able to avoyd the suite nor to beare it Psal 139.7 8. and the Soule saith as David did Whither shall I goe from thy spirit and whither shall I flye from thy presence if I ascend up into heaven thou art there c. So the Soule saith God will have his payment from this heart blood of mine if I goe into the East the Lord will follow mee and bid his Serjeant Conscience to arrest mee and I shall lye and rot in the Prison of hell for ever Now the Soule offers himselfe before the Lord and saith Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee Oh shew mercy if it be possible to this poore distressed Soule of mine thus the Prodigall did An other Similitude is this Me thinks the picture of those foure famished Lepers may fitly resemble this poore sinner When the famine was great in Samaria 2 King 7.3.8 9 c. There were foure leprous men sate in the gate of the Citie and they said Why sit we here untill we die If wee enter into the Citie the famine is there and if we sit here wee dye also Now let us therefore fall into the hands of our enemies if they save us alive we shall live and if they kill us we shall but die They had but one meanes to succour themselves withall and that was to goe into the Campe of their enemies come said they we will put it to the venture and so they did and were relieved This is the lively picture of a poore sinner in this despairing condition When the Soule of a poore Leprous sinner is famished for want of comfort and hee seeth the wrath of God pursuing of him and the Lord besets him on every side at last he resolves thus with himselfe I say when he hath used all meanes and finds succour in none hee resolves thus with himselfe and saith if I goe and rest upon my priviledges there is nothing but emptinesse and weakenesse if I trust in them and if I rest in my naturall condition I perish there also Let mee therefore fall into the hands of the Lord of Hosts who I confesse hath beene provoked by mee and for ought I see is mine enemy I am now a damned man and if the Lord cast me out of his presence I can but be damned that way and then hee comes to the Lord and falls downe before the footstoole of a consuming God and saith as Iob did What shall I say unto thee oh thou preserver of men I have no reason to plead for my self withall and I have no power to succour my selfe my accusations are my best excuse all the priviledges in the world cannot justifie me and all my duties cannot save me if there be any mercy left Oh succour a poore distressed sinner in the very gall of bitternesse This is the behaviour of the Soule in this work of subjection The reason why the Lord deales thus with the Soule and why hee plucks a sinner upon his knees there is great reason why he should doe it The reason is two-fold First That the Lord may herein expresse and glorifie the greatnesse of his power And secondly To shew forth the glory of his mercy Reason 1 First the glory of his power is mervailously magnified in that the Lord shewes that hee is able to pull downe the proudest heart and to lay low the haughtiest spirit under heaven and those that have out-braved the God of heaven and beene opposite to him and despised the glory of his name For herein is the glory of his name greatly exalted that hee makes a poore wretch to come and creepe and crawle before him and begge for mercy at his hands and to be at his dispose Exod. 9.27 It is a fine passage You know how Pharaoh would out-face the Lord saying Who is the Lord that I should obey him And as the Master sometimes saith to his servant You shall And you shall doe this saith the husband to his wife This is the sturdy fiercenesse of a company of wretches Well the Lord let him alone for the while but in the 27. verse when the Lord had freed and delivered his servants and had plagued the Aegyptians with the haile then Pharaoh said Now I know that the Lord is greater then all Gods and that he is righteous but I and my people are wicked Where is Pharaoh and Nimrod and all the rest of those mighty ones of the world they are all gone downe to hell and God hath destroyed them for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly hee was above them Herein is the glory of Gods power So it is here As we use to say Doe you know such a man Yes What was he A profest drunkard and a desperate despiser of God and his grace and one that did hate the very face of an honest man Oh the Lord hath brought him upon his knees Oh admirable saith he what is he humbled and is his heart broken Oh yes the Lord hath dejected him in that wherein he was proud As it is amongst men If two men be in controversie and the one enters into suit with the other and before a man will submit and yeeld himselfe hee will dye and rather spend all that he hath then to want his will and he will make that tongue denie what it hath spoken He thinks this his excellencie So it is with our God Herein is the power of the Almighty magnified that he hath brought downe those great Leviathans and all those Nimrods and great Kings which said Who is the Lord hee hath made such as these are to come in and to submit unto him Secondly The second Meanes by this meanes the Lord doth mervailously promote the praise of his mercy First Partly for the greatnesse of it And secondly partly for the freedome of it First in that the Lord helps a poore sinner at a dead lift and when all prayers and hearings prevailed not and when all priviledges were not able to purchase mercy and favour then the Lord shewes mercy Doth not this argue the excellencie of that Balme that will cure
when all other meanes cannot doe the deede that the Lord should then I say looke upon a poore sinner and refresh him with one drop of mercy Oh this is unspeakable mercy As the Prophet David saith All my bones can say Lord who is like unto thee as if hee had said This eye that hath wept for my sinnes this tongue that hath confest my sinnes and this heart that hath grieved for sinne all these have beene refreshed by thee This prayer is not like to thee this fasting and these priviledges are not like to thee for these could not succour mee but thou art the Lord that didst deliver and succour thy poore servant And secondly herein is also admirable freenesse of mercy that when the Lords mercy was but lightly looked after that then the Lord should give mercy and that to an enemie For the Soule can say if any thing in the world would have saved mee I should not have gone to the Lord for mercy and yet when all would not doe and when I did not thinke of any such matter then the Lord saved mee This is free mercy The hope of Israel is not like others and the God of Iacob is not like other Gods You distressed Soules did not you know the time when God terrified you and then offered mercy and you would none but you would scramble for mercy and shift for your owne comfort and yet the Lord brought downe those proud hearts of yours and when you were at a dead lift and could find comfort no where else then did the Lord shew mercy to your Soules Was not this free mercy wonder at it and give God glory for it even for ever Vse 1 This being so that the Soule that is throughly humbled yields to submit it self to the Lord Then this is like a Bill of inditement against all the stout ones of the world This shewes how unworthy they are of any mercy Nay how unfit they are for mercy They are so farre from partaking of Gods mercy that they will not be humbled and therefore they cannot be exalted Nay they have a base esteeme of it and so they hate their everlasting salvation For looke how farre they are from submission so farre they are from the comfort and happinesse of the Lord. He that will enter in at this strait gate of subjection is so farre from ever going in the way to life that he never set one foot yet in this way Let me speake as once the Prophet did Heare and tremble all you stout ones of the earth you that account it a matter of credit to cast off the Commandements of God and that you can lift up your selves against the Almightie Good Lord is it possible you know what I say there is many one here and if they be not here as commonly they are not let them heare of it How is it that men slight all corrections and snap all Gods Commandements in sunder as Samson did the Cords and they say their tongues are their owne and their lusts are the commands that carry them Nay is it not come to this passe now adayes for the Lords sake thinke of it that men account it a matter of basenesse of spirit to be such childish babes and to be so womannish as to stoope at every command Oh you must not be drunke saith one it is a hot argument and are you such a childe as to yield to it No let us follow our owne wayes is it not thus I appeale to your owne Soules there are too many guiltie in this place Doe you thinke to out-brave the Almightie in this manner doe you provoke the Lord to wrath and doe you not provoke your Soules to your owne confusion Doest thou thinke to goe to heaven thus bolt upright the Lord cannot endure thee here and will Hee suffer thee to dwell with himselfe for ever in heaven What thou to heaven upon these termes Nay thou must not thinke to out-brave the Lord in this manner and to goe to heaven too How did the Lord deale with Lucifer and all those glorious spirits He sent them all downe to hell for their pride Let all such spirits heare and know their misery I doe not trouble my selfe with any matter of indignation it is no trouble to me but onely because of your sinnes for you are the greatest objects of pitty under heaven You that know such and have such husbands oh mourne for them exceedingly The Lord doth detest their persons As the Wise man saith Prov. 11.20 The froward in heart are an abhomination to the Lord. The Lord doth abhorre that heart of thine And shall God abhominate that proud heart of thine and yet blesse it and save it and will He dwell with such a heart in heaven No he hath some body else to give heaven to Secondly thy estate is desperate here and marvellous unrecoverable As the same Wise man saith He that being often reprooved hardneth his necke and will not stoope to any counsels nor reproofes but saith Who meddles with you and I know what I have to doe and let every Tub stand uppon his owne bottome How many of you here have beene reprooved for your swearing but you leave it not How many of you have beene reprooved for your prophaning of the Lords Day doe you withdraw your selves from it Oh no such matter Goe your wayes then and mourne over those hard hearts of yours and in private say thus This is my sentence right The Lord be mercifull to my father saith the child and the Lord be mercifull to my proud husband saith the wife and to my wife saith the husband are not we they that have beene often reprooved have not we had such exhortations as have made the Church to shake the divels would have gotten more good if they had had them and yet we have cast of all and we would not come in we doe not yet pray in our Families but we throw away all the Lord hath said it hee that being often reprooved hardeneth his necke and will not come in shall perish hee is gone then and therefore thou may say Oh my husband is but a dead man and my childe is a dead childe he shall perish but is there no remedy may some say No the text saith so he shall suddainly be destroyed and that without remedy The truth is I need say no more but you that know your owne hearts bewaile those hard hearts of yours that as the water by continuall dropping at last melts the flint so if it be possible those proud hearts of yours may be brought downe If a drunkard or an adulterer will submit to the Word there is remedy for them but there is no remedy for him that will not yield to the Spirit of God The Lord bee mercifull to the Soules of them Will you see your sturdy hearted husbands and children perish the Lord in mercy set this home to your hearts at last and prevaile with them Will you perish
and that suddenly Oh let us pitie them will you not yield now but you will stand it out to the last man The Lord comes out in battell aray against a proud person and singles him out from all the rest and when the vyalls of his wrath are poured out upon all wicked ones mee thinks the Lord saith Let that drunkard and that swearer alone a while but let mee destroy that proud heart for ever You shall submit in spite of your teeth when the great God of heaven and earth shall come to execute vengeance and doe not think to scarre God with your mocks you that wil sweare a man out of your company Consider that place in Iob and see how the Lord comes with all his full might against a proud man Iob 15.25.26 27. It is good to read this place often that God may pull downe our proud hearts For he stretcheth out his hands against the Almighty saith the text and strengtheneth himselfe against God and he saith I will do it though my life lie at the stake for it he strengthens himselfe and will doe it Surely God is afraid of him he comes so well mann'd the Lord must deale some way with him to overthrow him Mark what the text saith The Lord runnes upon him even on his neck upon the thick bosses of his bucklers because hee covereth his face with his fatnesse and maketh collops of fat upon his flankes the Lord comes upon him not at the advantage but in the height of his pride and in the rage of his malice the Lord will come upon him and ruinate him for ever Those that now stand it out and cast off all carelesly throwing away the commandements of God I would have them at the day of their death to out-stand the curse of God The Lord God commands to sanctifie his Sabbaths and to love his truth and his children yet you will not but you will strive against all I would haue you to out-stand the curse of God in the day of judgement and when the Lord Iesus shall say Depart from me yee cursed into everlasting fire stand it out now and say I will not goe to hell Lord I will not be damned No no you broke the cords here but the Lord will binde you in chaines of darknesse for ever remove those chaines if you can No Esay 2.17 the haughtinesse of men shall be brought low and the loftinesse of men shall be abased and the Lord shall onely be exalted in that day Vse 2 The second Use is for instruction to shew unto us that an humble Soule is mervailous teachable and tractable and is willing to yeeld unto and to be guided by any truth it submits and there is no quarrelling against the commandements of God one word of Gods mouth is enough If the Lord reproves it takes the same home to it selfe if the Lord promiseth it beleeves and if the Lord threatens it trembles It is easie to be convinced of whatsoever it is informed if it have no good reason to gaine-say it It is not of that wayward and pettish disposition that it will not be satisfied though all his reasons be answered and all objections taken away It is not led by his owne humours as many a man is though his conceits be against reason and opposite against God and his grace Nay it is content to yeeld to the authority of the truth and to take the impression of every truth it heares and yields Iob 34.32 and obeyes and frames it selfe answerably As Iob saith That which I know not teach thou mee and if I have done any iniquity I will doe so no more The humble Soule is content to confesse his ignorance and to submit to any truth that may enforme him and it is content to receive that mercy and grace that is offered by what meanes soever God seeth best to Communicate it Nay the heart that is truly submissive is as willing to take comfort when it is offered upon good grounds as it is to performe dutie enjoyned By a foolish pettishnesse the divell withdrawes the hearts of Gods owne people from much comfort that God hath dished out of purpose for their benefit For howsoever the Soule of a poore sinner be truly touched yet for want of this lowlinesse and this teachablenesse and submission it refuseth that sap and sweet that it should take and receive from the Lord. Take a poore sinner that hath many sinnes burthening of him and hee is crushed with them and that in truth he desires comfort but receives none Let the Minister of God come and answer all his arguments and satisfie all his quarrels that he can make and set him on a cleare boord and tell him that the work of grace is cleare and mercy is appointed for him Now marke how he flyes of through that sullennesse and untoward peevishnesse and pride of Spirit hee casts away the mercy and yields not to the comfort offered though he is content to yield to the duties enjoyned and so he deprives himselfe of that mercy and comfort that is offered and thus when all is done time after time the Soule saith I see it not and I perceive it not and all the world shall not perswade me of it Why what are you wiser then all the world what a pride of heart is this Oh saith he another man may be cozened and deceived but I know my owne heart better then any Minister doth But you tell the Minister what your condition is and so what you know hee knowes and hee hath more judgement to enforme you then you have of your selfe Then saith the Minister all your cavils and objections are answered and remooved and all that worke of grace that God hath wrought you have made it knowne and revealed and all this is made good by the Word of God now if all these quarrels be answered and if all the reasons and evidences of the worke of grace be made cleare that you cannot deny them then why may not you take comfort Downe with that proud heart of yours that will not beleeve whatsoever the Minister saith Oh the height of pride and haughtinesse of heart in this case I speake to you to whom comfort and mercy is impropriated downe with those proud spirits I say It is not because you cannot but because you will not It is said in Esay God prepares the garment of gladnesse for the spirit of heavinesse When the Lord seeth the soule prepared and humbled Esa 61.3 he takes measure of it and disheth out a comfort answerable he prepares a consolation as fit as may be and yet the Soule will not put it on nor be warned and refreshed with it as it is with some way-ward untoward childe who when his father hath prepared a suit of cloathes fitting for him because he hath not such and such a lace hee will not put it on but throwes all away Oh it is marvellous pride of spirit a rod
never be blessed for I have had these ends and by respects in all my duties it is I that have sinned against checks of conscience and against knowledge and therfore it is just that I should carry this horror of heart with mee to my grave it is I that have abused mercy and therefore it is just and righteous with God that I should goe with a tormenting conscience downe to hell Oh that if I be in hell I might have a Spirit to glorifie and justifie thy name there and say Now I am come downe to hell amongst you damned creatures but the Lord is righteous and blessed for ever in all his dealings and I am justly condemned Thirdly Hence the Soule comes to be quiet and frameable under the heavy hand of God in that helplesse condition wherein he is so that the Soule having beene thus framed aforehand it comes to this that it takes the blow and lyes under the burthen and goes away quietly and patiently hee is quiet and saith not a word more oh this is a heart worth gold He accounts Gods dealing and Gods way to bee the fittest and most reasonable of all Oh saith he it is fit that God should glorifie himselfe though I be damned for ever for I deserve the worst whatsoever I have it is the reward of my owne workes and the end of my owne way if I be damned I may thanke my pride my stubbornnesse my peevishnesse of Spirit and all my base corruptions what shall I repine against the Lord because his wrath and his displeasure lyes heavy upon mee let mee repine against my sinne that made him do it Let me grudge against my base heart that hath nourished these adders in my bosome shall I bee unquiet and murmure against the Lord because this horror of heart doth vexe mee oh noe let mee blesse the Lord and not Speake one word against him but let mee repine against my sin as the holy prophet David saith Psal 39.9 I held my tongue and Spake nothing because thou Lord haddest done it So the Soule saith when the sentence of condemnation is even seazing upon him and God seemes to cast him out of his favour then he saith I confesse God is just and therefore I blesse his name and yeild to him but sinne is the worker of all this misery that hath befallen mee The holy Prophet Ieremy pleading of the great extremity that had befallen the people of God saith woe is mee for my hurt Ier. 10.19 my wound is grievous but I said truly this is my griefe and I must beare it This is the frame of a heart that is truly humbled it is content to take all to it self and so to be quiet saying this is my wound and I must beare it this is my sorrow and I will suffer it thus you see what the behaviour of the heart is in this contentednesse Hold these well for they are of marveilous difficultie and great use Quest But what is the dealing of the Lord that the Soule must be contented with Answ The behaviour of the Lord towards the Soule in this kind discovers it selfe in two things First In what hee will do to the Soule Secondly in the manner of his dealing how hee will deale with the Soule and the heart must bee contented with both these Sometimes a man will beare a thing but not the manner of it that kills him but God will make a sinner wayt upon God for mercy and beg againe and againe and bee content with the harshest of his dealings and glad he may have it so too The first thing that God will have the Soule contented with 1. First thing that God will doe to the Soule and which the Soule must be contented with is that salvation and happinesse and the acceptation of a mans person now must be no more in a mans own hands nor in his owne abilitie the Lord hath taken the staffe out of his hand and salvation must bee no more put in his owne power Here is a wonderfull height of pride exprest before the Soule will yield to this When Adam was created in his innocency the Lord put a faire stocke into his hand and hee might have traded for himselfe and he had libertie of will and power of grace so that he might have gotten the favour of God by that which he could doe if hee would have done hee might have lived But when Adam had betrayed that trust which God committed to him in the state of Paradise because hee had forfeited this trust the Lord tooke all away from him and nothing shall be in him or from him any more in the point of Iustification or acceptation as any way meritorious Adam in his innocency might have required mercy by vertue of a Covenant from God but Adam shall now have nothing in his owne power any more but he shall have his Iustification and acceptation not in himselfe but in another even Iesus Christ So that the reason why any Soule is justified and accepted with the Lord it is meerely in an other not in himselfe It is a great matter to bring the heart to this for the Soule to see nothing in himselfe but all in and through Christ Oh this is a difficult worke The Lord will not trust him with a farthing token There are two passages marveilous usefull this way and therein you shall see the exceeding pride of a mans heart and it is very common One passage is in the Romanes Where the text saith Rom. 9.31.32 The Iew and the Gentiles sought for righteousnesse that is how they might finde acceptance and righteousnesse in the sight of God The Iew sought this by the works of the Law that is by himself by his sacrifices and washing and the like and he thought these would have acquitted him in the sight of God But the text saith Israel which followed after the Law of righteousnesse hath not attained it that is they have not attained it because they sought it not by faith and from Christ but in and of themselves and therefore they never came to attaine it But most pregnant is that other place Rom. 10 2 3. where the Apostle saith I beare them record that they have the zeale of God but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of Gods righteousnesse and going about to establish their owne righteousnesse have not submitted themselves to Gods righteousnesse the cause why any man is acquitted of God it is not because of any thing that he hath or doth but it is from anothers righteousnesse But what a great matter is this The text faith That going about to establish their owne righteousnesse they have not submitted c. here in this place there is this remarkable They thought to establish their owne righteousnesse that is their owne duties and services their owne parts and abilities and because they thought to find acceptance for what they did they did not submit Submission argues
a point of subjection and the want of this horrible pride This is marveilous divellish pride that a man should set up the lusts of his owne righteousnesse and duties and thinke to finde acceptance and reconciliation with and pardon from the Lord because of these So that now the Soule is nothing and the Lord saith unto him thou shalt goe in ragges all thy dayes that Christ may be thy righteousnesse Thou shalt be a foole that Christ may be thy wisedome and thou shalt be weake that Christ may be all thy strength and I will make the submit to that righteousnesse of Christ Nay the Lord saith further if you thinke to finde acceptance and to purchase mercy by what you can doe then come your way and bring all those prayers and duties and see if they can all answer my exact Law of righteousnesse and satisfie my Iustice Thus the Lord is faine to emptie a man of himselfe this is an admirable worke of the Spirit when the heart is thus content to be at Gods carving and to have nothing of its owne to be ignorant weake and meane and to have all from a Christ This is considerable every man would faine bring something with him even where God hath wrought grace and then we are all dead in the nest and all amort when we find it not and we are ready to say if I had these and these enlargements then God would accept mee but because I have not the Lord will reject mee What is this but to set up the merits of a mans parts and duties therefore it is that the Lord will bring the Soule to this to be content to be justified not for what he hath but for something in another besides what hee can doe to entitle himselfe to heaven and happinesse Therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 4.5 To him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly is faith accounted for righteousnesse This is our nature We would faine be Ioynt-purchasers with Christ and have something of our owne of merit to make us finde acceptance with God as well as Iesus Christ in the point of Iustification But the Lord will bring the heart to this it shall come as an ungodly wretched traitor that the Lord may Iustifie him in Christ Why dare not a poore sinner sometimes come to Christ and looke to him for mercy Oh he is not worthy But art thou not content to see thy unworthinesse Yes saith he but I see such pride such lithernesse in holy duties and such corruption that I dare not goe to Christ for mercy If this be a burthen to thee and if thou art content to be rid of this then Christ hath prepared mercy for thee and thou maist take it the Lord will make thee know that thou art not accepted because thou art worthy but through Christ The Lord justifies the ungodly The second thing that the Soule must be content with The second part of the Lords dispose that hee brings the Soule unto it is this As the Soule must looke for what it hath from another so in the second place it must be content to take what mercy and what that other will give Not what the Soule thinkes fitting but what mercy accounts the best for him Now see this blessed frame of heart in these three particulars First The Soule is content that mercy shall deny what it will to the Soule and the Soule is content and calmed with whatsoever mercy denyes If the Lord will not heare his prayers and if the Lord will cast him away because hee hath cast away the Lords kindnesse and if the Lord will leave him in that miserable and damnable condition which hee hath brought himselfe into by the stubbornesse of his heart the Soule is quiet Though I confesse it is harsh and tedious and long it is ere the Soule be thus framed yet the heart truly abased is content to beare the estate of damnation because hee hath brought this misery and damnation upon himselfe In a word the Soule seeth that it deserves nothing at Gods hands and therefore he is content if God deny him any thing 2 Sam. 15.25.26 and it befals the Soule in this case as it did David See how willingly hee takes whatsoever the Lord shall allow him Where hee saith Carry backe the Arke of God into the Citie if I shall finde favour in the eyes of the Lord hee will bring mee againe and shew mee both it and his habitation but if he shall say I have no delight in David Behold here I am let him doe whatsoever is good in his eyes As it was with David for a Temporall Kingdome So it is with the Soule for a Spiritual Mercy The Soule saith if there be any mercy for a poore rebellious creature the Lord may looke graciously upon mee but if the Lord shall say thou hast brought damnation to thy selfe therefore I will leave thee in it Behold here I am let the Lord doe with mee what hee will Object But some may here object and say Must the Soule can the Soule or ought it to be thus content to be left in this damnable condition Answ For the answer hereof Know that this contentednesse implies two things and it may be taken in a double sense First Contentednesse sometimes implies nothing else but a carnall securitie and a regardlesnesse of a mans estate he regards not his owne Soule what he is nor what he hath nor what shall become of him This is a most cursed sinne and this contentednesse is nothing else but a marveilous negligence either of Gods glory or his owne good and it is a sinne to give way to it and it is a fore-runner of damnation to that man which entertaines it The Soule that is truly humbled and abased cannot nay it dare not say so in cold blood setting aside passions and temptations Nay this contentednesse argues damnation for ever This is not meant in this place neither is it lawfull to give way to it and it is certaine upon these termes the Soule shall never be saved God will make him prize mercy and care for it too before he have it But then Secondly it implyes a calmenesse of Soule not murmuring against the Lords dispensation towards him and this contentednesse is ever accompanied with the sight of a mans sinne and the following of God for mercy The Soule that is thus contented to bee at Gods disposing it is ever improving all meanes and helpes that may bring him nearer to God but if mercy shal deny it the Soule is satisfied and rests well apaid this every Soule that is truly humbled may have and hath in some measure Yet you must not throw all at sixe and seavens no it is a cursed distemper of Spirit that you must hate as hell it self But this contentednesse is opposed against quarrelling with the Almighty and this every humbled Soule doth attaine unto though it bee not soe plainly seene As it is with
that mercy shall deny him any thing and take any thing from him so it is content that mercy enjoyne what it will and make what Edicts and Law it will So that the Commands and Precepts of the mercy of God in Christ may take place in his heart When Iohn Baptist came to prepare them for Christ and the hearts of the people were humbled the Publicans came to him saying Master What shall we doe Luk. 3.13 14 and so the souldiers said Master what shall we doe and he said Doe no man wrong but bee content with your wages The question is not now covetousnesse and crueltie what shall wee doe No the souldiers came now and said Thou art our Master the Spirit of God and the Spirit of wisedome is revealed to thee in the Word command and enjoyne thou what thou wilt and they are content with whatsoever hee commands them The humbled heart is content that mercy doe what it will with him not onely that mercy shall save him for so farre a reprobate and a carnall hypocrite may be content The hypocrite is marveilous willing that mercy shall save him but his lusts and corruptions must rule him still You are content that mercy should save you from your peevish heart and yet your peevish heart must rule you still and you are content that Christ should save you from your drunkennesse and prophaning of the Lords Day but these lusts must rule you still A drunkard that hath gotten some dangerous surfeit is content that the Physician should cure him not because he would leave his drunkennesse but because he would have his health and therefore being up hee returnes to his drunkennesse againe And the thiefe that is condemned to die cryes for a pardon not because he would live to be an honest man but to be free from the halter and therefore when he is freed he goes to the hie way and robs againe it is not for honesty that he desires a pardon but for libertie Deceive not your selves mercy will never save you except mercy may rule you too Here is a heart worth gold and the Lord delights in such a Soule that falls into the armes of mercie and is content to take all from mercy and to be at mercies disposing and to have mercie sanctifie him and correct him and teach him and to rule in him in all things This the heart of a truly abased sinner will have and it will say Good Lord do what thou wilt with me rule this Soule and take possession of me onely doe good to the Soule of a poore sinner If the Lord give any thing he is content and if the Lord take away any thing or command any thing he is content You that are ruled by your lusts think of this When the Lord hath awakened and arrested your Soules and you are going downe to hell Oh then you will crie Lord forgive this and that sinne it is true I have hated and loathed the Saints of God good Lord forgive this sinne oh that mercie would save mee then mercy will answer and say When you are out of your beds you will returne to your old courses againe no he that ruled in you let him save and succour you I will save none saith mercy except I may rule them too Thirdly The last degree of contentednesse is this The Soule is willing that the Lord should make it able to take what mercy will give This is a lower pegge that the Soule is brought unto The sinner before had nothing of his owne in possession nay he can challenge nothing of the other but meerely to doe what hee will and hee is not able to take what mercy will give and bestow And therefore hee is not onely content that mercy provide what it thinks good but also to give him strength to take what mercy gives The beggar that comes to the dole though he have no meanes to help himselfe withall and though he can challenge nothing of the man yet hee hath a hand and can receive the dole that is given him but a poore sinner is brought to this low ebbe and this shewes the emptinesse of it that as hee hath no spirituall good at all and can challenge no good neither is hee able to take that good which mercy provides The hand of the Soule whereby it must receive mercy is faith and the humbled Soule seeth that he is as able to satisfie for his sinne as to beleive in a Saviour that must satisfie And hee is as able to keepe the Law as to beleeve in him that hath fulfill'd the Law for him In Saint Iohn beleeving is call'd receiving Ioh. 1.16 and therefore the poore sinner seeth that it is not onely mercy and salvation that must do him good but hee seeth that if mercy and salvation were laid downe upon the naile for beleeving and receiving of it hee could not doe it of himselfe and therefore the Lord must give him a hand to receive it with You know the Apostle Paul saith Phil. 1.29 The naturall man cannot receive the things that be of God And the same Apostle is plaine to you it is given to beleeve So that faith is a gift and a poore sinner is as able to create a world as to receive mercy of himselfe The want of this is the cause why many a man that hath made a good progresse in the way of happinesse hee falls short of his hopes Many a sinner hath beene awakened and his heart humbled and the Soule comes to heare of Christ and thinks to lay hold of mercy and Christ out of his owne proper power and thus he deceives himselfe and the faith that he dreamed to have was nothing else but a fancie a faith of his owne framing it was never framed by the Almighty Spirit of the Lord in heaven hee never saw need of the power of God to make him able to beleeve as well as to save him and therefore his faith and all came to just nothing Now the broken hearted sinner saith All that I expect it must be from another and I am content to take what mercy will give and that mercy shall deny me what it will and give me what it will and I am content that mercy rule in me nay that mercy must give me a heart to beleeve and to take mercy or else I shall never beleeve Now you see what it is that the Soule must be contented withall The manner of Gods dealing Now I come to shew the maner of Gods dealing with the Soule for the Soule must be content with this too as I told you before The manner of Gods dealing may appeare in three particulars First the Soule stoopes to the condition that the Lord will appoint be it never so hard it is content to come to Gods termes be they never so harsh and wearisome As sometimes when the soule finds that the heaviest hand of the Lord hath laid long upon him that the sharpest
for the other haply they come to quicken up their hearts and to renew that which they knew before What swayes our Reasons First Let us try whether we submit in our judgements or no Here is a maine breach contrary to this submission is a mans carnall reason and that marvellous height of our conceits when we raise up our owne carnall reasonings as so many holds and we maintaine them against the truth of Christ and wheresoever this frame of minde is there this worke of Humiliation was never wrought And this is in too many When a man swels in his owne conceits against the truth of Christ That 's a sweet place to this end in the Romans Where the text saith The Wisedome of the flesh or as it is in the Originall The carnall minde is enmitie against God Rom. 8.7 for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be The carnall minde and all the reasonings and wisedome of it is not onely an enemy but it is enmitie against God The Apostle doth not say that a carnall mans wisedome and reason doth not obey but he is not able to beare the truth he as it were sets himselfe in battle aray against it it cannot be subject to the Law of God This is a maine wound in all the sonnes of Adam That a man as it were deifies himselfe and his owne dreames and devices and makes his owne conceit a line and levell to all his conversation So that the carnall minde will bend the truth to his minde though he breake it Here is the marvellous pride of a mans minde Hence it is that the Apostle adviseth us to be wise with sobrietie Rom. 12.3 As if he had said a man may be drunke with his owne conceits as when a drunkard hath gotten his braines well steeped in Wine and Beare then whatsoever he conceits in his minde must needs be as true as Gospel So it is with a carnall minde Though arguments be never so plaine and Scriptures never so pregnant yet a carnall wretch will carry himselfe against all and say it is not my Iudgement I am not of that minde This is the height of our minde as if he did say I doe not thinke it let the word of God and his Ministers say what they will to the contrary they shall not perswade mee of it Doest thou finde this in thy selfe then it is an undoubted argument thou never hadst a heart truly humbled See what the Apostle saith If a man thinks that hee knowes any thing 1 Cor. 8.2 he knowes nothing as he ought to doe You thinke you are as wise as you need to be and you are not children yet You that thus lift and set up your selves in your owne conceits whatsoever you bee you know nothing as you ought to do And therefore the Apostle speaks of some that were puft up in their owne conceits Colloss 2.18 intruding into those things which they have not seene vainely puft up in their owne minds You conceive and imagine thus and thus and will not beleeve the Minister of God whatsoever he saith therefore you are puft up and this is not a heart truely humbled and kindly wrought upon A carnall man presseth into some imagination as to his owne propper possession As the old proverbe is The foole will not leave his bable for all the Citie of London So a carnall heart saith I cannot be otherwise perswaded I say then the case is cleare is it so with thy judgement and carnall reason then as yet thou wert never under the power of this truth thou shuttest up doores against Iesus Christ he cannot come in to informe thee thou art so full of thy selfe Object But some will say how doth this carnall reasoning lift up it selfe against the truth of Iesus Christ Answ To this I answer the lifting up of my carnall reason makes it selfe knowne in three particulars and by these you shall know when your conceits carrie you aloft from the truth of Christ First A carnall reason being thus puft up it is not willing to know the word of God nor his truth especially those truthes that are troublesome and tedious to him preach and speake what you will but preach not that Hee either wisheth himselfe deafe that hee could not heare or the Minister dumbe that hee could not deliver those truthes The Lord sent the Prophet Esay to preach to the people and yet to seale them downe to eternall destruction Esay 6.9 10. and therefore the Lord saith Goe tell this people heare but understand not see but perceive not make the heart of this people fat they winke with their eyes As it is with a bleare eye that is not able to looke against the Sunne but shuts for feare the Sunne should hurt it So a carnall proud minde is not able to looke into the truthes that may trouble it and that would awaken his bleare eye And in another place the people doe intreate the Prophet Esay to goe out of the way and to turne aside out of that path Esay 30.11 cause the holy one of Israel to cease from before us As if they had said We cannot endure this holinesse wee cannot brooke this exactnesse you bid us to be holy or else God will destroy us get you out of that path they were weary of those blessed truthes A double example we have of this distemper of spirit in holy Scriptures As in Iob Where the wicked say to God depart from us for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes The drunkard desires not to heare of any horror of heart for his sinne and the hypocrite desires not to heare that he must be sound and sincere and keepe touch with God in every thing and so all vngodly men goe against the truth of God which crosseth their lusts and corruptions And in Timothy it was the tange of a cursed distemper of spirit in a company of wretches in this age The text saith The time shall come when they shall not endure sound doctrine Tim. 4.3 And here it is to be noted that a company of carnall Gentlemen and base refuse people of other degrees are come to this passe that let a plain searching truth be discovered they turne away from it and cannot heare it with patience but if any man will tell them some fine stories Oh this pleaseth them admirably they cannot endure sound doctrine that searcheth the heart and awakens the conscience they cannot brooke that now an humble heart is of another minde it is willing to heare any thing from the Lord and any message from heaven and the humble Soule saith Speake on Lord thy servant desires to heare the word never so troublesome and the truth never so much crossing his lusts hee is well content to heare it Nay hee desires that especially and hee is calmed with it Marke what Eli said Sam. 3.17 Keepe not back from me but let mee heare whatsoever
he that burnes in his lusts here shall burne in hell And the drunkard wisheth that there had never beene any Law made against that sinne and he saith it is pittie that every man may not drinke what he will and the unjust person that would be stealing and pilfering he wisheth there were no Law against that sinne and when the Word and his Conscience workes and the Law makes havocke in his heart and labours to throw him to the wall Oh he is weary of it Now a carnall heart thinks it the greatest plague in the world to be paled in within the compasse of Gods commands that hee may not doe what he list but still Word and Conscience and the Ministers checke him When the Lord required Sacrifices at the peoples hands in Malachy Malachy 1.13 They thought it a wearisomenesse and snuffed at it What every morning Sacrifice and every evening too what a wearisomenesse is this So you ought to have morning and evening prayer in your Families how are your hearts affected towards it doe not you say what a wearisomnesse is this why doe you tell us of prayer and of humbling your soules This is a burthesome thing this argues a heart that is above the truth and that would bee free from the truth and justle it to the wall therefore the wicked are as it were in bonds and fetters as the Apostle saith Rom. 1.28 they did not like to have God in knowledge As if he had said it is a vexation to their Soules still to have conscience calling be holy and humble and and be not proud nor drunke nor adulterous their consciences flies in their faces and the word galls them they doe not like to have this in knowledge And therefore the Lord deales with them after their desires and he gives them over to a reprobate mind and to a heart that shall never embrace the truth You that have no delight to heare of your duties and wish there were no minister to controll you the Lord will satisfie your desires and give you up to a reprobate sence As if the Lord did say you are weary of my wisedome and goodnesse and weary of my word and commands I will ease you of that burthen you shall have hearts that never shall be mooved with my spirit goe all you damned lusts and reigne in him rule over him and make him a slave and bring him downe to destruction for ever If the Lord comes and will needs be revealed to him then a sturdy heart layes violent hands upon the command he disposeth of it and will not let the command dispose of him he hinders the power of the truth that would draw him to God As the Apostle saith Rom. 1.18 they withhold the truth in unrighteousnesse The word in the originall is they imprison the truth as if the Apostle had said you know you should not bee loose nor covetous nor drunke is it so conscience are you drunke loose and covetous still when the conscience saith I will be loose and covetous still and you will have the vengeance of God to follow you and go to hell too They doe imprison the truth The covetous man imprisons the truth and he must have his covetousnesse still and the truth is imprisoned at the suite of the adulterer and he must be uncleane still And so the oppressor must lye and dissemble and oppresse still and therefore he justles the truth and will of God to the wall Hee takes the wall of Gods will As the people said there is noe hope but wee will walke after our owne devices Ier. 18.12 and wee will doe every one the Imaginations of his evill heart They said most desperately wee will doe it heare it and feare all you whose consciences doe convince you of it and you know that theeving and stealing and pettishnesse and peevishnesse and all your profainnesse is forbidden what saith your hearts to this who disposeth of your wills in this case doe not you say 1 Sam. 8.19 wee will doe what wee list As when Samuell had made an evcellent sermon and told them the danger of having a King they said nay but wee will have a King over us So it is with many of you Is this humilitie The Lord saith you shall not and you say you will oh fearefull is this humilitie aske but common reason you say wee must have and we will have it wee have had our liberties and wee will have them and so destruction too Thirdly This is the lowest and least kinde of rebellion the Soule is content happily to doe what God requires but it must be upon his owne conditions and his owne termes This is the last and it argues no saving worke of preparation for Christ The hypocrite is content that God shall have his glory but hee must doe it And a man is content to be painefull in his place provided hee may have ease and honours and parts and preferments and be respected but when these faile then God hath broken his condition and hee will none Thus God is at his dispose and stands to his agreements This is a cursed hypocrite You can be content to heare and pray that you may have some corruption and that under the name of profession you may be adulterous and loose still The God of mercy send some veine of good motions into your hearts to awaken you if it be possible Thus it is with some Ministers that are content to be painefull in their places so long as they may have honour and be respected but if they misse of their end they give over all If there be any such here you are hypocrites and shall never be comforted upon these termes Now I come to the third passage of this triall A mans life must be subject namely what it is that disposeth of our lives A mans life and conversation must be at Gods disposing If the heart be distempered and the reason be thus lifted up then the actions of a mans life must needs be answerable If those wheeles goe false then the actions of a mans life must strike false As they said they would walke in their own wayes And as the Lord saith Esa 66.4 I will bring their feares upon them and my soule shall loath them because they did choose their owne devices That is whatsoever their owne corrupt hearts would have that they will take and that way they will walke in Not according to Gods will but according to their owne rebellious hearts So that all the practices of a mans course are nothing else but as so many distempered behaviours of a rebellious carnall minde and heart This disordered carriage discovers it selfe in three particulars First when a mans life and conversation comes contrary to God and goes abreast against the Almighty as they did or whom the Apostle speaks Having their understandings darkened Eph. 4.18 have given themselves over to all lasciviousnesse They doe not what God will
but what their pride and idlenesse will Prov. 28.18 The wise man saith He that is perverse in his wayes shall fall at once And the Apostle saith When you were the servants of sinne Rom. 6.20 you were free from righteousnesse What 's that Holinesse and Gods command had nothing to doe with them that never tooke place in their hearts Doe you thinke these mens hearts are at Gods disposing See what the Apostle saith Fashion not your selves like unto this world Rom. 12.2 I onely appeale to mens consciences what strange apparell and haire laid out and what Spanish locks be there now adayes who disposeth of these things Oh forsooth they are newly come up and they must come up to thy head and armes and all These strange fashions doe argue strange distempers of spirit and doe you thinke that God rules in those hearts and minds and God over-power those affections when as they will not give him leave to meddle with a haire or a locke or an excrement this is my judgement in this case If it be so that the Word of God may not take away a lap and an excrement our shame and those things that are scandalous then surely the Word of God must not plucke away our lusts No no you are as farre from subjection as heaven is from hell and as the divell is from the God of Hosts The Lord speakes plainly by the Prophet Zephany Zeph. 1.8 Hee will visit all those that are cloathed with strange apparell When the fire shall flame about your eares and the enemies come to plucke your feathers from your Caps then you will remember this You would not have God to dispose of your cloathes and haire and the like and therefore God will now dispose of your lives and liberties and when you lye upon your straw and see that you must not goe gay to heaven you would then be content that the Lord should dispose of you and looke graciously towards you and then you will recommend your souls to God But then the Lord will make you answer and say who had the disposing of you before a drunken adulterous and fashionable Soule therefore let them succour you now get you to your fashions and let them make you fry and roare in the fashion he that will not have these base trifles to be at Gods command surely he will never have his heart at Gods disposing and therefore neither minde nor heart nor life Secondly If God will over-rule wicked men a little and pull downe their trim fashions and will gripe the Vsurer and send the thiefe to remember his Chests and if the Lord say you shall not be rich nor honourable as you would though you seeke them never so fast Yet secondly they use all carnall shifts and sinfull devises to come from that woefull condition into which God hath cast them A man cannot endure to be poore and therefore he will steale coosen or oppresse and take any course to lift up himselfe Thirdly Sometimes a man is content to be at Gods disposing in an outward conformitie and he will doe the duties that God reveales and leave the sinne that God forbids and gives a charge against but why will he doe this He doth not these to honour God but for some by and base ends As when the hypocrite prayeth God doth not make him pray as the first mooving cause of the worke but his hypocrisie and so the dissembling professor that will professe for advantage to draw people to his house or to sell off his Wares more readily And that people may say Oh he is a marvellous honest man yes and a covetous wretch too and he makes Religion as a stalking Horse for his lusts You are not at Gods disposing unlesse you be at his command in all these Thus you see the pride of a mans reason in his will his heart and life wherein you see the desperate villany of a mans nature and all is opposite against the God of heaven If every bird had her feathers and the worme her silke and every creature their owne what would become of the man that is proud This is base enough yet this is nothing to that Masse of haughtinesse and Luciferian wretchednesse that is in the heart That a poore creature should set his will against Gods will and his way against the way of the Almightie before whom the Angels stand amazed and the divels doe tremble God saith I will have this and the Soule saith I will not have it God saith thou shalt not walke in this way but the Soule saith I will walke in it God saith thy reason thy will thy life and all shall be subject to race but the Soule saith they shall not Is not this infinite intollerable haughtinesse What to make God no God and that he must have no will no providence and no rule over a mans life Oh you that are guiltie in this case take notice of it And let me exhort you all that have heard the Word of God this day and are poore ignorant men and prophane and carnall hypocrites Ignorance rules one man and his corrupt lusts rules an other man but there is no good rule at all You have the Word of God and his counsels and you have seene the way set out now what remaines but that you be intreated to goe home and humble your selves in secret and say this is my proud reason my proud heart and this is my proud carriage it is I that would not submit to the command of Gods Word And let every servant come in and say this is my proud heart my Master and my Mistris may not speake but I give word for word this is my fault And you wives reason thus Now the Lord hath revealed the pride of my heart and this is my proud reason and will that would not yeild to the command of my husband though never so warrantable Let the child also humble himselfe and say when my father counsels mee I turne my deafe eare and my mother is but a woman and therefore I would have my owne will and walke in my owne way this is my vaine minde How many be there present here this day that are not willing to know some truths You know you have made many conspiracies against the Word of God in the middle of the night because your honours ease and liberties lay at the stake therefore the Word must not rule If it be thus then to this day you are carnally minded and stout-hearted and vaine Goe home therefore I charge you and as you tender your owne good goe into your private chambers or else into some fields and there get downe your knee though your hearts will not bow and say good Lord I know and confesse it to this day my carnall minde hath not beene brought under and this vaine and idle conversation hath not beene ordered by thy word I have known much and gone on in rebellion against thee and it is
a wearinesse to mee to sanctifie the Sabaoth and hearing praying and other holy duties are a burthen to mee to this day my heart is not prepared for mercy good Lord to this day I am a wretched carnall man This is something Now there is some hope And the Soule goes on further and saith Good Lord what will become of my Soule am I Gods to dispose of no no pride and peevishnesse hath rul'd mee and I must cloath my selfe as Pride would have mee This is somewhat indeed And the adulterer saith If the adulteresse come I must goe though I dye for it When the drunkard comes to pull you out tell him of this and say Who hath disposed of you this day and all your life a drunken wretch and a base queane You have heard the word of God checking of you and yet nothing would doe Oh now at last yield and say The Lord hath not disposed of me Now therefore labour that God may dispose of you and let the mighty God pull downe that mightie heart Challenge the Lord with his promise and give him no rest till hee have mercy upon you And you servants humble your selves and say Wee have beene proud and idle together now let us mourne and pray together The time shall come when you will be content that God should dispose of you and you shall desire the Lord to looke graciously towards you and that God would take away your corruptions and that pride which accuseth you and all those abhominations that have beene a shame and disgrace to you therefore now resolve with your selves and say Lord take away this sinne and subdue that corruption and doe thou rule and reigne over my heart and life for ever let the power of thy truth carry mee and turne me from my wickednesse and over-power this proud will of mine and whatsoever vanity is in my life good Lord take it away and frame me after thy minde When this time comes say That a poore Minister did wish you good and that you had a faire offer If you will be at Gods disposing in minde in heart and life the Lord will prepare a place for you in heaven and rancke you there amongst his blessed Saints and Angels for evermore If another mans servant come to demand of you meat drinke and wages you will say You have not beene at my command therefore goe to the Master that you have served let him pay your wages So it will be with you if you goe to God for mercy and comfort in that day the Lord will send you to your lusts and new fashions c. but if any man be Gods servant then every thing shall be fitted for him and though that day be troublesome to the proud and haughty spirit yet it will be a comfort to the godly that they have submitted themselves to Gods word For then Christ shall fill their mindes with wisedome and their wills with holinesse and their lives shall be made honourable and acceptable before him Think of this and labour to bring your hearts to it that Gods will may be your wills and if you be humbled you shall and must be for ever comforted Thus much of the triall of the truth of our humiliation The second part of the use Now I come to the second part of the use that is to examine the measure of our humiliation for as I conceive all the difficulty of a mans course lyes here and the cause why a man receives not the assurance of mercy from God that hee desires or that comfort that he might it is all from hence I say because he is not empty For if the heart be prepared Christ comes immediatly into his temple and the lesse wee have of our selves the more we shall have of Christ This is mervailous usefull and therefore you must know that though the heart be truly humbled and laid low in it selfe in truth and the thing is done yet there remaines a great deale of pride in the heart Take a mighty Castle though it be battered downe yet there remaines many heapes of rubbish and happily some of the pillars stand many Winters after So it is with this frame of Spirit in a high imagination 2 Cor. 10.5 in these Towers of loftinesse Though this Dagon of a mans selfe be fallen downe yet still the stumps remaine and will doe many yeares And it will cost much horror of heart and much trouble before this haughtinesse of heart will be every way pull'd downe and made agreeable to the good will of God Though this distemper is mervailous secret yet a man may take a measure and scantling of it How to try the measure of humiliation The first particular Triall and hee may know how much of this cursed rubbish remaines in his heart by these foure particular rules First looke what measure there is of carnall reasoning against the truth of God when it is made knowne what measure there is of it either subtilly comming in upon the heart or else that doth violently transport the spirit against the spirit so much need thou hast of Humiliation and so much thou wantest of it This is a cleare case Every Saint of God is willing to know the truths that he shall doubt of and is content to yeild himselfe to the truth that shall be revealed and of which he shall be convinced yet there remaines much carnall reasoning against the truth As the Apostle saith Let no man deceive you intruding into those things which he hath not seene Coloss 2.18 vainely puft up in his fleshly minde The ground and roote of this carnall reasoning or the measure of it may appeare in two causes First There is a kinde of perverse darknesse in the heart still sticking in the minde and understanding even of a gracious Godly man And from hence namely out of this mistaking of the minde followes all that carnall reasoning that howsoever the Soule is satisfied yet it will not sit downe but still it sticks in this carnall reasoning and the sinner cannot conceive the truth nor fathom the compasse of it by reason of his owne weakenesse therefore it is long before hee will be perswaded that it is truth and that he is bound to yeild to it When the wisedome of the truth is so plaine and evident that he cannot resist the clearenesse of it yet because he cannot conceive of it he thinkes that hee is not bound to yeild thereunto Object But some will say should a man yeild to that which he cannot conceive Answ To this I answer When the minde is so farre enlightened that he cannot gain-say any thing in reason though he cannot compasse the depth and bottome of the truth yet he should yeild to it and rather goe with reason then follow his owne imagination when there is no reason for it Iust so it was with Nicodemus When Christ spake of the worke of regeneration Ioh. 3.9 he said Can a man be borne
conceive that they doe well to be discontented and they cast all the fault upon their sinne Answer This is a desperate hinderance to all good duties and therefore I answer it thus It is true the Lord allowes it and warrants it that thou shouldest be displeased with thy sinne not to bee under the power and rule of it and the humbled heart is at the dispose of God nor at the dispose of sinne but yet bee wise in this case It is one thing for a man to bee discontented with his corruption and its an other thing to be discontented with that condition wherein he is Thou mayst and oughtest to bee discontented with thy pride and corruption and with thy unbeliefe but take heede that thou be not discontented with the weakenesse of thy gifts and parts This is damnable pride and it is an argument that thou art not content to bee at Gods finding and this is thy disease twenty to one Now that thou mayest know whether thy discontentment is for thy corruption or for thy estate and the weakenesse of thy parts I shew it thus he that is discontented with his sinne will never sinne in his discontentednesse As wee use to say of immoderate sorrow If any man loose a freind and begin to grieve and sorrow excessively wee use to say take heed that you mourne not out of measure Marke what he replyes may not a man sorrow for his his sinne To this I answer Art thou sorrowfull for sinne and wilt thou sinne deepely in thy sorrow and resist the good will of the Lord no thou hast lost a freind and meanes and therefore thou mournest This is carnall sorrow and in this thou never sorrowest for sinne he that is sorrowfull for his sinne will not sinne in his sorrow it is for thy condition that thou art so sorrowfull and discontented Is it not so with thy Soule that thy heart is tossed up and downe in a restlesse disquiet and art thou not out of the command of thy selfe and art thou not hurried up and downe in a confused lumber in thy mind because thou art not fit for duties if it be so with thee then thou dost sinne desperately in thy discontentment It is a rule in warre If an Army be once scattered and dispierced it will hardly come on againe because it is put out of ranke and order So that Soule is discontented with his estate that is made unfit for duties and unweldy in them that discontentment which unfits a man to be at Gods disposing it is not the worke of humiliation but a worke of pride But it is so with thee thy discontentment makes thee unable to beare Gods hand and the want of any thing and makes thee more unfit for duties and it is not for sinne but for thy weaknesse in gifts and for thy condition and therefore thou art possessed with this pride of heart The fourth and last note of the measure of our humiliation The fourth and last note and triall of the measure of our humiliation is this If thou wilt know how much pride is in thy heart then consider how thy Soule stands in regard of the word and truth of God that crosseth thy beloved lusts and those corruptions to which thy Soule hath cleaved in the time of thy wretchednesse and in this there are two passages First see how thy heart behaves it selfe in regard of the strict commands of God Secondly in regard of the keenest reproofes and the sharpest admonitions that are suggested into thy heart See how thy heart is able to beare the reproofe of an enemy or the admonition of a faithfull Minister of God when he meets with thy darling lust When thy heart comes under these commands and these reproofes if thou finde thy heart swelling and bubbling against the truth and thy heart begins to bee angry with the Word and Minister and all then know this that certainly so much of this as there is in thy heart so much thy Soule wants of Humiliation Is not this pride that the Soule should lift up it selfe against the Lord of heaven and take the way of Gods Word and when the frothy franticke heart of a man wil beare down the command of God let the command of God fall to the ground rather then let a corruption fall is not this infinite pride You may take notice of this distemper in severall passages When the Prophet came to that wicked King Amaziah and said to him Why hast thou sought after the Gods of the Heathen 2 Chron. 25.15 16. which could not deliver their owne people out of thine hand then the King said to him Art thou made of the Kings counsell forbeare why shouldest thou bee smitten Then the Prophet said I know that God hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast done this and hast not hearkened to my counsell Amaziah was naught and God did deale with him accordingly So when Gods Word doth meete with mens hearts and lusts they are mad and if it were not for shame and feare they would pull a man from the Pulpit Object But some may say can the Saints of God be thus transported with this vile distemper Answ Yes this cholericke distemper of heart sometimes creepes in upon a good Soule but the difference will appeare afterward Aza was a strange man though Divines hold him a good man When Hanani the Prophet dealt plainly with him and said 2 Chron. 16.7 10 11.12 Thou hast done foolishly in resting upon the King of Aram c. See how the King entertaines this He was wroth with the Seer and put him in prison But see what befell the King He never saw good day afterward he fell into many sinnes so the Lord leaves a man to his corruptions and after that hee fell into a strange disease in his feete A strange thing that God should leave a good man in this misery thus hee dyed and all this was for opposing the Word of God This is the nature of a peevish colericke spirit The humble spirit doth not quarrell with the Word of God Iam. 1.21 but receives it with meekenesse and with a quiet still spirit If any sinne be revealed and if any dutie be commanded he beares the Word without contending unlesse it be now and then for flesh will have his bouts Looke home therefore into your owne hearts and families how can you beare the checks and reproofes of a Master or Mistris when they say you are idle And so you wives when your husbands reproove you is not all on a light flame Oh this is infinite and intollerable pride You may bee good servants and good women but its strange if you be so Object But you will say how shall a man see a difference in all these Answ I say the Saints of God and the sinners the faithfull and the faithlesse all have this in their manner and measure but this corruption is poyson in the heart of a good man It s
mee all you stout hearted ones of the world which are farre from righteousnesse Esay 26.12 Let mee speake to all you stout hearted men and women that are heere this day you that swell against the truth of Christ and will not come under the power of Gods ordinances you are farre from righteousnesse The further you are gone in this sinne the further you are from the righteousnesse of God A stout hearted man is a thousand miles from righteousnesse Drunkards and adulterers are far enough from it but a proud man is as it were 20. hundreth thousand miles from it hee is far from the covenant of faith Faith goes out for all that it hath to an other it reacheth up to heaven for all it wants meate and nourishment and therefore it goes to Christ for all and pride onely rests upon it selfe for all faith gives the glory of all that it hath to another but pride takes all the glory to its selfe Faith goes to another for strength in what he doth but pride rests upon it selfe for strength So that though all sinnes hinder the worke of faith yet pride hinders it more then any thing You that thinke it a brave matter to be proud and you must not buckle to the Minister and you must doe what you list you are stout-hearted men but you are farre from beleeving men The more faith the lesse pride and the more pride the lesse faith 3. A proud soule is farre from mercy Thirdly As pride opposeth God himselfe and as it opposeth the covenant of grace so it followes from the two former that the proud Soule upon these conditions that it is in shall never receive any grace from the Lord. Set your hearts at rest for that You may swell and lift up your selves but if ever you receive the worke of grace and mercy upon these termes I will bee your bond-man for ever For he that is professely contrary to the grace of God that gives all and he that is contrary to the covenant of grace by which all is conveyed let him set his heart at rest for ever receiving any mercy The Lord himselfe is not able to endure the sight of a haughty spirit he cannot looke upon him much lesse will he live with him He beholds the proud man a farre off hee drives a proud man farre from heaven Psal 138.6 The Lord deales by a proud man as a man doth that is carried with indignation against his enemy he will not looke upon him So it is with the Lord hee will not be within the ken of a proud man and if the Lord doe come neere a proud man woe to him that he doth so The Lord resists the proud Hee whets all the sharpest arrowes of his vengeance and shuts them all against a proud man You broken hearts consider this The Lord gives grace to the humble but the proud man must be content with his portion he shall be resisted not received he shall be resisted not converted nor saued nor sanctified Hee may bid farewell to all grace hee shall never have it upon those termes and as God intends no good to him so a proud man comes not within the scope of mercy nor of that redemption which Iesus Christ hath wrought and purchased Christ came not to call the righteous that is them that looke loftily in regard of what they do You stout hearted people thinke of it The Lord Christ came not to call you The devill calls and you may goe to him but Christ came to call and save the poore broken hearted sinners It is said of Christ That hee was annointed of the Lord Esa 61.1 2 3. to preach the glad tidings of the Gospell to whom to the meeke c. You meekened Soules shall heare good newes from heaven But there is not any one sillable of one promise in all the Gospel that any proud spirit can conceive to belong unto him If I could seperate all the good from the bad I would have the good to stand by and heare these good newes that I have for them and if you proud hearts will come in and yeild they may be yours too You that tremble at Gods Word and are willing to doe what God shall command if there be any such here this day as I doubt not but there are many then know that the Sonne of man came to seeke and save you it is good tidings Nay in the Lord Iesus Christ are all the Treasures of wisedome and knowledge and out of this fulnesse of holinesse and happinesse he fills all your meeke hearts and hee will give all grace according to your necessities here is newes of salvation life and comfort from heaven But to whom is it Christ came to seeke and save them that are lost that is them that are lost in their owne apprehension but the proud man was never lost in himselfe A lost man in the Wildernesse is content to be guided into his right way but the proud man saith hee will be filthy and fashionable still therefore hee was never lost and Christ never came to seeke nor save him All meanes doe a proud man no good All the meanes of Grace that God gives will never benefit a proud man So that now it is as possible nay more possible for heaven and earth to meete together then for a proud man to come to heaven except God give him a heart to stoope No man can receive benefit by the word except he be under the power of it if the wax be not under the Seale how can it receive any impression As the Apostle saith Rom 6.17 They were delivered into the forme of that doctrine propounded The forme of the Gospell tooke place in their hearts There is no Soule can get any benefit by the Gospell but hee must receive what it reveales and what it commands hee must doe and what it forbids he must labour to avoyd but a proud heart is above all meanes and therefore the word will not nay it cannot worke savingly on him As those wicked ones said Our tongues are our owne we ought to speake Psal 11.4 who is Lord over us What reproofe shall awe me saith a proud heart I will be led by my owne lusts Your owne reason leades you and your owne wills rules you your owne mindes and your lusts and what your hearts will have they must have You stout hearted ones that are resolved not to yield nor to come under the grace of God you will not have your affections framed nor made more teachable then seeing you will not bee taught be for ever deluded goe your way and be for ever hardned and for ever cast off from the presence of God and goe downe to the bottomlesse pit you will have your owne wills therefore goe to your owne places for that 's all you can have You that are the faithfull of God and know any such mourne for them Fourthly Againe 4. A proud
mans end is exceeding fearfull The destruction of a proud man is both certaine exceeding heavie and it is like to be mervailous fearfull There is nothing to be expected and hoped for but totall ruine and that suddainly and unconceiveably to every proud spirit that beares up himselfe against the blessed God of heaven Let mee open it thus A proud man is marked out for Gods Iudgements and is made as it were the white against whom all the arrowes of his vengeance are fully bent When Amaziah would needs out bid the Prophet in his advice 2 Chron. 25.15 16. and said forbeare Why shouldst thou bee smitten I will forbeare saith the Prophet but know what shall befall thee I know the Lord hath purposed to destroy thee because thou wilt not hearken to my counsell You that are acquainted with your stout-hearted husbands and wives and friends and know how your children bandy themselves against the blessed truth of Christ goe in secret and bemoane their estates and pray for them that if it be possible destruction may be prevented goe in secret and say it is my husband or my wife or my childe that yeilds not to the direction of the Word and therefore howsoever we may live a while together yet I know God hath decreed to destroy him and her Thinke of this with your selves you that are proud and say If I will not be exhorted then I shall be destroyed I cannot avoyd it Oh me thinks if every proud spirit would write this upon the palmes of his hands and upon the tester of his bed that he might see it wheresoever he goes how would his heart sinke within him When thou goest abroad say for ought I know I shal never returne home God hath decreed to destroy me And when thou lyest down think thus for ought I know I shal never rise more It is not the word of man but of the Almightie When the Lord would as it were frame a path for destruction hee sends a proud heart If once the Lord intend to destroy a People or Nation he gives them over to pride of heart The sonnes of Ely did not hearken to the voyce of their father because the Lord meant to destroy them 1 Sam. 2.25 hee gave them over to proud hearts Nay the proud Soule is not onely the ayme of Gods wrath but as the Lord determines destruction for him so he brings destruction first upon him When the Citizens said We will not have this man to rule over us then the King was wroth and said Luk. 19.4.27 bring hither those mine enemies and slay them before mee c. There was no delay nor no mitigation of the punishment to be granted Oh thinke of this all you proud spirits Indeed the Lord will confound all the wicked in the Day of Iudgement but he will execute even the fiercest of the Vials of his vengeance against a proud man and when the Lord shall say where are those wretches mine enemies then the Ministers of God shall come in and say this man was a drunkard and this man an adulterer Yes saith the Lord I will plague them anone but where are those mine enemies those stout-hearted men and women that hated to be reformed let mee see those damned and destroyed for ever And for ought I know God hath a strange indignation in store for them Nay it shall bee so executed upon a proud man that there shall be no reclaiming of it and God will not be perswaded to pitty him Prov. 1.26 27 28. They shall call upon mee saith the Text but I will not answer they shall seeke mee early but they shall not finde mee So that it is no wonder though a company of rebellious wretches have no comfort upon their death beds and though a thousand divels seaze upon them and hurry them downe to hell it s no wonder I say cry and call they may but God will not heare them Nay the Lord will laugh at their destruction and mocke when their feare commeth It is a griefe for a man to be in misery but to be laughed at that 's a plague of all plagues But to have mercy rejoyce in the destruction of a man this makes the plague out of measure miserable If any man say this is false doctrine and this is too sharpe and too keene Brethren we dare doe no other and wee can doe no lesse and you had better heare of it now while you may prevent it then to heare of it and feele it hereafter when there is no remedy But here is the maine wound of our Ministery you will not stoope nor yield to our Ministery Wee speake not in wrath and anger as you imagine but in mercy wee now preach against a proud heart that you may be humbled and finde mercy and so be comforted and saved for ever Therefore take your owne shame and the Lord prevaile with those hearts which word and counsell cannot worke upon And the Lord now fit you for mercy that you may receive mercie from the Lord. That 's all the hurt wee wish you Oh that you would so heare of these plagues that you might never feele them The Lord hath an old grudge against a proud heart Goe away you proud hearts feare and tremble When you are gone from the congregation do not say What if he say so we fare well enough yet and wee see none of all these judgements and all this winde shakes no corne no no once stoope and come in and take the yoake of Christ and the Lord make it easie Goe in secret and reason thus good Lord have not I onely lifted up my selfe against man like my selfe but against God and against his ordinances and hath God yet shewed mee mercy in sparing of me and it is yet mercy that I may bow my body though I cannot bow my proud heart oh what mercy is this You wives thanke God that yet hee hath spared your husbands and that yet they have breath and being here pray to God that they may lay about them for humble hearts that so they may finde mercy against the evill day Our God is very mercifull but it is no contending with him Did ever any man provoke the Lord and prosper Come in therefore shame your selves that the Lord may humble you now and shew mercy to you hereafter Vse 4 The last Vse is for exhortation You see the woe and misery of a proud spirit What remaines then onely this Be exhorted as you desire to finde favour with God and to receive mercy from him now be content to be at his disposing Walke in this way and ayme at this marke strive hard for it and put forth the best of your abilities that you may get humble hearts You must not thinke that every lazy wish and every desire will serve the turne and that it will be enough to say is it so that a proud heart is so farre from heaven I would I had an humble heart and
in at the straite gate c. This gate or this entrance into life is Humiliation of heart When the Soule is loosened from and bids farewell to sinne and himselfe then the gate is opened And as it is in other wayes If there be but one way or gate into an house and the traveller misseth that gate he looseth all his labour and must goe backe againe but if he once get in at this gate he is safe enough then So it is here There is a most narrow way of Gods Commandements and there is but one way or gate into this happinesse it is narrow and a little gate and a man must be nothing in his owne eyes and if you misse this gate you loose all your labour and shall never come to Salvation If a man could heare and pray all his dayes yet if his heart be not humbled he and his profession shall goe to hell together In Saint Matthew the conclusion is very peremptory when the Disciples were contending who should be highest Christ set a childe in the middest of them and said Except you become as little children Math. 18.3 you cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven You may doe any thing with Infants and all that they have to doe is to cry Vnlesse you have humble hearts you cannot enter into heaven Hee doth not say You cannot be great men or you cannot goe farre into heaven but he saith You cannot enter So then the danger being so great and the mistaking so full of hazard and seeing it is possible to have it therefore let us use all diligence to make this worke sure Thirdly 3. Motive consider the mervailous good that God hath promised and which hee will bestow upon all that are truly humbled And let all these be as so many cords to draw us to looke for this blessed frame of heart Wee have need of all the motives in the world I know it is a hard matter for a man to lay downe himselfe and his parts and all his priviledges in the dust I say it is mervailous irksome and tedious to the nature of a carnall man but it will quit all his cost in the end When wee shall tast of those sweet benefits that come by a humble heart and have gotten Iesus Christ and mercy from him then it will never repent us that wee have spent so many teares and made so many prayers and used so many meanes to pull downe the pride of our hearts Oh brethren thinke of it See and consider the admirable benefits and the exceeding great good that will come to you thereby The good things that come by a heart that is truly humbled they are specially foure and with those the truth and substance of whatsoever the heart can crave and desire The first benefit of an humble heart is this by this meanes wee come to be made capable of all those riches of the treasure of wisedome and grace and mercy that are in Christ and not onely of the blessings for a better life but of all things in this life so farre as they are good for us First wee are made capable of all those treasures of wisedome grace and mercy that are in Christ and for this cause was Christ sent to preach glad tidings to the meeke as you heard before all the Gospell and all the glad tidings of it doe belong to an humble soule And the Prophet Malachy saith Malac. 3.1 Behold I will send my messenger to prepare the way before mee and the Lord whom you seeke shall suddainly come into his Temple Iohn Baptist was Christs harbenger and hee made way for Christ and when the way was prepared Christ came immediatly Wee are the Temple of the holy Ghost saith the Apostle Now if the heart bee once prepared and humbled looke then immediatly for Christ Are you not content to have Christ dwell in your hearts If you will be humbled and so prepared there is neither want of love nor speed on his part This should mervailously lift up the heart of every man to seeke for this blessed grace If thou art truly humbled care not for the love of men the love of Christ will satisfie thee And though thy father and mother cast thee out of doores and thy husband tumble thee out of his bed yet if thou be truly humbled Christ will be in stead of father and husband and all comforts to thee God hath but two thrones the humble heart is one So the Text saith Esa 57.15 I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit c. If the Lord Iesus come to dwell in thy heart and that hee will doe if thou be truly humbled then certainly hee will provide for thee all needfull comforts for this life See what Zephany saith Zeph. 2.3 Seeke yee the Lord all yee meeke of the earth which have wrought his judgement seeke righteousnesse seeke meekenesse it may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger When all things threatned desolation and destruction see who they were that had safety promised onely the meeke Object But some will say Is it not better for a man to be proud with the proud and to play the Beare amongst Beares and the Lyon amongst Lyons and to shift for one Answ No saith the text seeke meekenesse The humble Soule may take this to himselfe as his part and portion If there should be desolation amongst us as there is in Bohemia in the Palatinate and in other Countries the humble Soule shall be hid When the mightie tall trees are blowne downe by strong winds the little shrubs may be shaken a little but they stand still they are safe and sure when the mighty Oakes are either horribly shaken or puld up by the roots So if ever you will seeke safetie and deliverance seeke meekenesse and then you shall be hidden When the proud heart shall be weltering in his blood the Lord will provide a shadow to succour and to comfort you If Christ dwell in your hearts he is bound to all reparations 2. Benefit Secondly as Humiliation of heart doth estate a man into Christ and his merits and all provision in this kinde so it gives him the comfort of all that good which hee hath in Christ There are many that have a right to Christ and are deare to God and yet they want much sweet refreshing that they might have and as the Proverbe is They never see their owne because they want this Humiliation of heart in some measure To be truly humbled is the next way to be truly comforted The Lord will looke to him that hath an humble contrite heart Esay 62.8 and trembles at his word that is an humble Soule a poore Soule a very beggar at the gate of mercy the Lord will not onely know him for he knowes the wicked too in a generall manner but hee will give him such a gracious looke
a rod. Even so when the Lord prepares the garment of gladnesse you will not put it on nor receive the comfort that is offered and so swelt your owne hearts Now I come to this last passage in this worke of Humiliation and this is the dead lift of all The Prodigall doth not stand it out with his Father and say I am now come againe if I may have halfe the rule in the Family I am content to live with you No though he would not stay there before yet now he cannot be kept out hee is content to be any thing Oh saith he I confesse I doe deserve the worst but if any man will once helpe me in and but throw mee over the threshold if I may but Scoure the Kettles or doe any drudgery I will never out againe Oh that I could get in once As if he had said you that thinke nothing sufficient if you had tasted the bitternesse of affliction as I have done you would be glad of any thing in a Fathers house Come all you drunkards and adulterers you will needs away from God and his grace I tell you if you were bitten and troubled as I have beene then you would say it is good being in a Fathers house and it is good yielding to the Lord upon any termes as it was with this Prodigall So it is with every Soule that is truly humbled with the sense of his owne vilenesse When the Soule seeth that no duties will quiet his Conscience nor get the pardon of his sinne he comes home and is content not onely to take up the profession of the Gospel upon some agreements with the Lord and to say if I may have honours and preferments and ease and libertie and the like then I am content to follow it Nay the Soule saith let mee be a miserable slave and imprisoned let mee be a servant and be brought to the heaviest hazards I care not what I be if the Lord will but receive mee to mercy Lord saith he shew mee mercy and if I am content to be and to suffer any thing So from hence the Doctrine is this 4. Doctrine The Soule that is truly humbled is content to be disposed of by the Almightie as it pleaseth him The maine pith of this point lyes in the word content This phrase is a higher pitch then the former of submission and this is plaine by this example Take a debtor who hath used all meanes to avoyd the creditor in the end hee seeth that he cannot avoyd the suit and to beare it hee is not able Therefore the onely way is to come in and yield himselfe into his creditors hands where there is nothing the King must loose his right so the debtor yields himselfe but suppose the creditor should use him hardly and exact the uttermost throw him into prison Now to be content to under-goe the hardest dealing it is a hard matter this is a further degree then the offering of himselfe So when the Soule hath offered himselfe and he seeth that Gods writs are out against him and his Conscience the Lords Serjeant is comming to serve a Subpena of him and he is not able to avoyd it nor to beare it when it comes therefore he submits himselfe and saith Lord whither shall I goe thy anger is heavy and unavoydable Nay whatsoever God requires the Soule layes his hand upon his mouth and goes away contented and well satisfied and it hath nothing to say against the Lord. This is the nature of the Doctrine in hand and for the better opening of it let me discover three things First What is the behaviour of the Soule in this worke of contentednesse Brethren these are passages of great weight that I would have every man to take notice of Secondly What is the behaviour of the Lord or what is the disposition wherewith the Soule must be contented Thirdly The reason why the Lord will have the heart at such an under and to be at his command For howsoever the Lords worke is secret in other ordinary things yet all the Soules that ever came to Christ and that ever shall come to Christ must have this worke upon them and it is impossible that faith should be in the Soule except this worke be there first to make way for faith How shall a man know when his Soule is thus contented this frame of heart discovers it selfe in three particular acts or passages First You may remember that I told you before Wherein this contentednesse consists that the sinner was resolved to yield to God and to submit himselfe to his power and pleasure and he did begge mercy Now the Soule that is truly abased though he seeke mercy yet hee seeth so much corruption and unworthinesse in himselfe that he acknowledgeth himselfe unfit for mercy He cannot avoyd the wrath of God neither can he beare it therefore he saith Oh mercy mercy Lord What saith the Lord I had thought your owne duties and prayers would have carried you out against my Iustice and have purchased mercy Oh no saith the Soule it is onely mercy that must relieve and succour mee but such is my vilenesse that I am not fit for the least mercy and favour and such is the wickednesse of this wretched heart of mine that whatsoever are the greatest plagues I am worthy of them all though never so insupportable and all the Iudgements that God hath threatned and prepared for the divell and his angels they are all due to this wretched Soule of mine for I am a divell in truth onely here is the difference I am not yet in hell and oh saith the Soule had the divels the like hopes and meanes and patience that I have enjoyed for ought I know they would have beene better then I am It is that which shames the Soule in all his sorrowes and makes him say had they the like mercy Oh those sweet comforts and those precious promises that I have had and that the Lord Iesus hath made to mee and hath come so many heavy Iourneyes to knocke at my heart and said Come to mee yee rebellious children turne yee turne yee why will yee die Oh that mercy that hath followed mee from my house to my walke and there mercy hath conferred with mee and from thence to my closet and there mercy hath woed mee and in my night thoughts when I awaked there mercy kneeled downe before mee and besought mee to renounce my base courses yet I refused mercy and would needs have my owne will had the divels but such hopes and such offers of mercy they that now tremble for want of mercy they would have given entertainment to it for ought I know And what doe I seeke for mercy shall I talke of mercy Alas shall I seeke for mercy when in the meane time I have thus slighted and despised it what I mercy the least of Gods mercies are to good for mee and the heaviest of Gods plagues are too little for mee
so forth You must not thinke that God will bring you to heaven before you be aware of it and that a humble heart will drop into your mouthes The Saints of God have alwayes had it before they received Christ and thou must have it too if ever thou wilt have him therefore make it a chiefe part of thy daily taske to get it And suffer not thine eyes to sleepe nor thine eye lids to slumber nor the temples of thy head to take any rest before thou hast this gracious disposition of spirit You see the price the worth and excellency of this blessed grace doe not now let this grace lye lay cast it not into a bye corner but in all your desires covet this and in all your hunting up and downe after commodities prize this more then all and labour to get it above all I know one man hath his eye upon the world and another on his pleasures and every man saith what shall we eate and drinke and wherewith shall we be cloathed but doe not thou say how shall I be rich or honourable but how shall I get this humble heart What 's that to thy Soule that thou art rich and a reprobate and that thou art honourable and damned If thou bee once humbled then thou art past the worst It is the choisest good and the chiefe of thy desires should be for an humble heart Now to draw our hearts to this there are three considerations that may be seasonable and serviceable to this end And they are these First Consider that it is possible to have an humble heart Secondly Consider the danger if you have it not I will not give a rush for all that you can doe without it though you live Methuselahs dayes Thirdly Consider the exceeding benefit that will come by this grace For the first 1. Motive It is possible for any Soule present for ought I know or that he knowes to get an humble heart This may be a provocation to us to set upon this dutie If a man had no hope to get this desire he would have no heart to use any meanes for it A man had as good sit still as rise up and fall as the Proverbe is But seeing it is possible why may not thou and I or any man here get an humble heart and therefore seeke to the Lord for it and say there hath beene many as proud hearts and as stout as mine though I have beene like a divell for my pride yet they have had this grace and therefore Lord why may not I have it as well as they who knowes but God may give mee an humble heart too though my heart be now stout and stubborne and rebellious yet Lord I see no command that forbids mee not to expect this mercy and I see no truth that excludes mee no the Lord saith in his command humble your selves under the mightie hand of God Yea the Lord hath appointed meanes for the working of this grace and hath ever blessed those meanes for the good of others and why not mee Lord Lord hast thou blessed these meanes to others and made them stoope and yeild why wilt thou not blesse them to mee too Lord who knowes but God will doe it for mee as well as hee hath done it for others Therefore goe thou to God and say The truth is Lord I confesse this haughty and this rebellious heart of mine will not come downe it is not in mans power to pull downe my proud heart No it is not in the power of Angels to humble a proud heart Lord now take this stout heart and humble it and doe what thou wilt with it didst not thou tame the heart of Manasses that Witch and bloud-sucker that made the streetes of Ierusalem to swim with blood didst not thou humble him and didst not thou bring downe the proud heart of that sturdy Iaylor and didst not thou tame the heart of proud persecuting Saul Didst not thou make him come creeping in upon his knees Lord thus thou hast done Lord humble me too Thus importune the God of heaven Nay presse God with his promise and with that engagement whereby hee hath tyed himselfe The day of the Lord of Hoasts shall be upon every one that is lifted up Esa 2.12 and that is proud and lofty saith the text and he shall be brought low and upon all the Cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and upon all the Oaks of Bashan That is upon all mighty vile sturdy and unreasonable men and what then they shall be brought full low and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day The day of the Lord shall be upon all flesh presse God with this promise and entreate the Lord to remember it and say Lord make all those sturdy hearts yield Oh that this may be the day and that I may be the man and that my heart may be the heart that thy mercy and grace may onely be admired and wondered at Thus you see that God may doe as much for you as he hath done for others and it is possible to get an humble heart therefore labour for it Secondly as it is possible to get an humble heart 2. Motive So consider that if you mistake your selves and faile here the danger is wonderfull desperate and fearefull and therfore use so much more care and diligence not to be deceived therein If you misse here never looke to be saved nor recovered hereafter Misse now and you are undone for ever it s as much as your soules be worth as your Humiliation is so your Faith so your Sanctification and your obedience will be If that be naught all will be naught It is observed by Philosophers and Physicians that if there be any fault in the first disgesture it cannot be amended in the next if the stomacke disgest the meate ill the Liver can never make good blood So a wound here can never be amended If the bottome and foundation of a building be not sound and substantiall though the frame be never so neate and handsome yet there is no mending of it it must be all puld down and the ground-worke made more sure and therefore when men set up some maine pillars to uphold a house they digge deepe and low and set them strong So if this worke of Humiliation be not deepe and low enough all the frames of a mans profession will fall downe there is no mending of it If the foundation of the house be sound though the thatch and sparres flye of there is some helpe but if that be naught the house will downe whatsoever the other be So many weakenesses may be succoured and the heart may be sustained under them all if this worke of Humiliation be good but if a man once prove false here thy faith and obedience will be naught and the Spirit of God will never dwell in thee nor quicken thee See what our blessed Saviour saith Math. 7.13 Strive to enter