thought nor expectation that thou shalt receive any Grace nay that Grace that thy rebellious and proud heart hath opposed and resisted will work thy own ruine Thou art the mark of Gods direful indignation and vengeance he plants all his Forces against thee If all the Wisdom in Heaven can contrive thy confusion all the Power in Heaven work it all the Justice there determine it it shall be done God is nigh to them that are of a contrite heart he saveth such as be of a broken spirit Psal. 34. 18. true and mark it Of such but such thou 〈◊〉 not such thou deridest scornest whose hearts fail them under the weight of their abominations thou lookest at them as mopish silly despicable men well such you shall see saved for ever when such untamed 〈◊〉 proud wretches as thou art shall be turned into Hell But we do see our 〈◊〉 and have had many girds and galls of Conscience for them True It may be there hath 〈◊〉 some blows upon thine heart Conscience it hath 〈◊〉 thee the 〈◊〉 of the Word it hath laid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it 〈◊〉 not broken thy heart to this day 〈◊〉 that is thus 〈◊〉 to go no further now than the very expression of the Text. If thy soul be beaten to 〈◊〉 with this oppression of thy distempers for so this brokenness of heart was opened before then as it is with the hardest flints when they are broken to dust they are easily 〈◊〉 and give way to take the impression of the hand or whatever is laid upon them The stone which out of its hardness before opposed and started aside from the strongest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was laid now it s turned into dust the least and easiest touch leaves a print and impression upon it so it is expounded as appears in this opposition 2 Chron 30. 8. Be not stiff-necked but yield your selves Observe then is it so when the power of the Word comes the Scriptures are pregnant Arguments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sweet 〈◊〉 sharp and 〈◊〉 yet 〈◊〉 heart shifts and starts aside and hits back the Authority of the truth which thou canst not gain-say The heart may be battered but it was never broken it may be over powred and awed but it was néver humbled to this day It s that of Prov. 3. 32. The froward in heart is an abomination to the Lord but the upright he that lies level and bows to the Truth are his delight A froward man that is he that turns off from the Authority of the Truth Is this thy temper thy heart was never broken to dust to this day but frampful and froward know thou art an abomination to the Lord. If thou shouldst go to Heaven to dwel there truly God would go out of Heaven he would not dwell with thee Pharaoh is the pattern of all proud Hearts he hardened himself in his wickedness against the Word of the Lord. But a broken and humble heart either lies right or will come right it will come to that bent of the 〈◊〉 that is revealed Hard things makes that which is 〈◊〉 soft to assimilate to them easie and yielding things assimilate to whatever they close so Water in a round Vessel 〈◊〉 that form in a three square Vessel takes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To teach us to delight in such to desire the 〈◊〉 of such as are 〈◊〉 and humble men ' to dwel there where God dwels seem their persons never so mean their conditions never so base their estates never so low themselves never so despitable yet if they be men of broken Spirits God is with them Go into their Societies as men that resolve to go to the Court for where the King is the Court is and where God is Heaven is the Lord hath two Thrones the one of Glory in Heaven where he is all in all to his another here on Earth an humble heart where he doth all only of himself and for himself Therefore as they in Zachary 8. last Ten men shall lay hold on the skirt of a Jew and they shall say we will go with you for we have 〈◊〉 God is with you Much more here for the Lord is not only with humble hearts but he dwels in them we should therfore entertain such Servants into our Families such Inhabitants into Plantations and such Members into Congregations for so you entertain God himself Resolve as Ruth to Naomi Entreat me not to forsake thee for where thou 〈◊〉 I will live thy people shall be my people thy God my God where thou diest I will die and there will I be buried and nothing but death shall part thee and me Nay go further ye blessed Spirits say death shall not part us I will be broken-hearted with you and humble with you and God shall dwel in us and we shal dwel with him in Heaven for ever Oh now ye are right keep here and be happy here for ever Exhortation To perswade us all and to prevail with us to take the right way to enjoy Gods presence not only to seek for mercy but seek it in Gods Order not only to covet Gods presence but in Gods 〈◊〉 labor to be humble and broken-hearted Christians then expect we may that the Lord will manifest the presence of his Grace and Spirit with us and in us but not else Every man catcheth at Christ and Mercy and Comfort but not in a right Method and therefore they lose him and their labor also This is Gods order First be humble and broken and then he will revive your Spirits with his presence 2. Cor. 6. 19. Come out from among them and touch no unclean thing then I will receive you and be a Father to you In a word strive to enter in at the straight Gate of Contrition and Humiliation and then you will hit the right way to Christ and eternal Life The Tenth Book ACTS 2. 37. And when they heard this they were pricked in their Hearts and said unto them Men and Brethren what shall we do THere be two Things especially observable in that disposition of Heart which the Lord requires and works in those he will draw to Christ 〈◊〉 and Humiliation The necessity of both these we declared the last day as that they were not only to be looked at for complement and conveniency but such as are of necessity required that the heart may be fitted for the impression of Faith and by it for the entertainment of the Lord Christ for if the sinner be so settled in secure Contentment of his own condition as that he thinks he need not change or if he must he is so confident of his own ability that he can change himself and out of himself and out of his own strength relieve himself he wil never go out to another for succor and supply Contrition loosens a man from his sin makes him see an absolute necessity to be another man or else he is a damned man Humiliation loosens a man from himself makes him see an
is sufficient to support thee to live in hope nay it is a portion provided on purpose and came for this very end Isa. 61. 3. to appoint unto them that mourn in Sion beauty for ashes the Oyl of gladness for the spirit of heaviness yea God himself wil come for this end to bring consolation uto thy soul. That 's a likely matter indeed when the vileness of my corrption makes me loathsom to my self and weary of mine own soul how justly may God loath me and estrange himself who is so great and holy a God That which thou conceivest a cause why God should withdraw his presence it 's that why he delights in thee thy sins are loathsom that 's true but to loath thy sin and thy self for them its that which makes way and room for the Lords both Love to thee and presence with thee Isa. 57. 17. Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity I dwel with him also that is of an humble contrite spirit to revive the heart of contrite ones The greatness of God and holiness of God takes most content in a broken heart burdened with sin and loosened from it And herein the doubts of a distressed soul may be answered and discouragments also cured and removed wil so great a God vouch ase to cal upon so base a creature so holy a God so sinful so filthy and polluted a sinner yea behold God reveals him 〈◊〉 in the height of al his greatness and holiness and professeth he hath but two habitations where he takes 〈◊〉 i. e. the highest heavens and a broken heart that sees his own weakness and therefore the greatness and power of God is most 〈◊〉 it ackonwledeth its own vileness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 own filthyness and there the holiness of a God is most honored feared and advanced therefore the 〈◊〉 for God to dwel in where his honor may most of al be advanced and he comes with his cost and for this intent and purpose that he may revive and quicken therefore he wil not therefore he cannot miss of his end and the attaining of that he intends nor thou of thy comfort It 's matter of comfort to such 〈◊〉 are frinds and wel-wishers to those burdened and distressed creatures Mourn for them you should but yet be comforted with them you ought For if you desire their good in truth and in earnest its certain they are now and never were before in the road of mercy in ready way yea the onely way to attain favour and everlasting compassions from the hand of the Lord. It 's now the day of Gods visitation the Lord seemed to pass by as a stranger before as though he cared neither for them nor the welfare and comfort of their souls but suffred them to live and dye in their sins not so much as looking after them behould now is the day of their visitation wherein the Lord comes to visite the sinner and to enquire touching the eternal prosperity of the soul to loosen him from the power of his lusts and to free him from the prevailing power of those corruptions that would certainly ruinate his happiness Yea now the spirit seems to travel upon the soul until the Lord Jesus be formed in him when as formerly he bore the image of sin and Satan so the Father of the Prodigal when his heart had been pinched under the pressures and miseries of his baseness brought upon him and constrained him to take thoughts of forsaking his former course see what solace it was to his Father For this my son was dead but is alive again he was secure he is now affected with the sight and sence of his sin he was hard-hearted and perverse in his way now he is plyable and yeilding to any impression I speak it the rather because carnal persons conceive that this broken heartedness is a kind of curse and that which makes men unsuitable to their Places and unserviceable wholly for any imployment the prophane Husband the unjust Master the loose Companion curse the day that ever the Minister came amongst them the wife was vain and froathy to suit 〈◊〉 folly but now the former 〈◊〉 is turned into mourning she grows mopish and melancholly there is no content in her The Apprentice that was as the Glove to the Hand fitted his turn at all times at al assaies would lye for his humor cozen for his profit but now forsooth is grown so tender and conscientious he dare do nothing there is no service in him his companion that would ruffle it out in mirth jollity is becom so pensive under the pressure of his Conscience that there is no society in him they look at them as lost and undone persons the Preacher hath spoiled them they are fit for nothing And so also some poor ignorant people whose waies were civil and moral and never acquainted with Gods manner of dealing in such cases when they see their friends and children and kindred sinking under the sence of their sin and Gods displeasure their hearts taken up wholly with attendance to their own Spiritual necessities and taken off from all other occasions they look at it as a kind of madness and distraction and they fear they will not come to themselves again when in Truth they never came to themselves before now nor in truth considered where they were or what they did whereas this broken-heartedness doth not impair any mans abilities but turns them the right way and improves them for the Lords advantage it makes men unhandy to sin but fit for the Service of the Almighty only it is a spiritual sickness and you must in reason wait til the extreamity be over before the party can be free for any work but this because he finds this most needful He that takes Physick retires into his Chamber but it is not to hinder his imployment but further it for future time the Child when he sees the Grapes a pressing he fals a crying and fondly conceives his Father spoils them to bring 〈◊〉 out of them The unexperienced stander by imagines that the pieces of Gold that are put into the refining pot and that into the fire will utterly be spoiled until he sees a Vessel of Gold framed out of them glorious for shew and Service he then changeth his mind So here when thou 〈◊〉 the Lord putting men into the furnace of his fierce wrath scorching their Consciences know the Lord hath them now in the 〈◊〉 and intends to make them Vessels of Grace and Mercy who before were Vessels of Dishonor fit for nothing but to serve sin and Satan help thou 〈◊〉 the work and 〈◊〉 in it and as Paul in a like case wish'd That not only they but all thy friends and children and kindred 〈◊〉 not almost but altogether such as they are broken-hearted sinners DIRECTION How to carry ourselves towards distressed sinners in this condition who are thus pierced unto the heart whose perplexities
his Heart to do Farewel Thomas Goodwin Philip Nye COLE 1216. The Application of Redemption by the effectual work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The Ninth Book ISAIAH 57. 15. Thus saith He that is the High and the Lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the High and the Holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit THe Work of Preparation having Two Parts First The Lords manner of Dispensation as he is pleased to deal with the Soul for the setting up the praise of his Rich and Glorious Grace and therefore with a holy kind of Violence he plucks the 〈◊〉 from his sins unto himself and his Christ. This hath been dispatched already in the former Discourse The Second now follows And that is the Frame and Disposition which is wrought in the Hearts of such as the Lord hath purposed to save and to whom he hath dispensed himself in that gracious Work of his Contrition Humiliation This Disposition consists especially in Two Things That so I may follow the Phrase of Scripture and retain the Lords own Words in the Text where the Lord saith that he dwels with him that is of an humble and contrite Heart To omit al manner of Coherence and other Circumstances we will pass all the other Specials in the Verse and point at that Particular which will suit our proceeding and may afford ground to the following Discourse that we may go no further than we see the Pillar of Fire the Lord in his Truth to go before us We shal fasten then upon the last words only as those that fit our Intendment To make way for our selves in short there is one word alone to be opened that so the Point may be better fitted for our Application we must know what it is to dwel or how God is said 〈◊〉 dwell in a contrite and humble heart I Answer To Dwell implies Three Things First That the Lord owns such as those in whom he hath an especial interest and claims a special propriety as though he left all the rest of man-kind to lie wast as a Common that the World and the Devil and Sin may 〈◊〉 and use at their pleasure reserving the Honor of his Justice which by a strong hand he will exact as a Tribute due to himself out of all things in Heaven and Earth and Hell and all but persons whom he thus fits he reserves for his own special Improvement As Princes and Persons of place and quality do lease out and let some Forrests and Commons to the Inhabitants bordering thereabout reserving some acknowledgment of Fealty and Royalty to themselves but the choyce and best Pallaces or Granges of greatest worth and profit they reserve for their own peculiar to inhabit in So here the Lord leaseth out the World and the wicked in it to the Devil and his Angels and Instruments reserving a Royalty and Prerogative to himself as that he will have his Homage and Acknowledgment of dependance upon himself but his broken-hearted ones are his own for his own Improvement Deut. 32. 8 9. When the most High divided to the Nations their Inheritance and separated the sons of Adam he set the bounds of his People according to the number of the Children of Israel for the Lords Portion is his People Israel the Lot of his Inheritance Ye are the Temple of the Living God 2 Cor. 6. 16. Yea to them the Lord himself saies Ye are my People and they shall say thou art my God Zach. 13. last Therefore he professeth that though in the course of his Providence he goes on progress over all the world yet he takes up his dwelling and abode amongst his own People For Secondly Where a man dwels as he owns the house so he takes up his abode there it is the place of his residence we say any may know where to seek men or where to find them at home at their own house That 's the difference between Inning and Dwelling we Inn at a place in our passing by when we take repast only and bait but depart presently intending not to stay but where we dwel we settle our abode we take up our stand there and stir no further So the Lord is said then to dwel in the Soul when he vouchsafes the constant expression of his peculiar presence and assistance to the soul. True it is that the Lord fills Heaven and Earth with his presence yea the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain him Jer. 23. 24. His infinite Being is every where and one and the same every where in regard of himself because his being is most simple and not subject to any shadow of change being all one with himself Yet he is said to take up his abode in a special manner when he doth put forth the peculiar expression of his Work as in Heaven he dwels because he puts forth the constant expression of his Glory and that in the full brightness of it without any alteration and change Here in this Spiritual Temple the Souls of his Saints he puts forth the peculiar expression of the constant assistance of his blessed Spirit I will pray the Father and he shall send you another Comforter who shall abide with you for ever John 14. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 23. Ye have received an anointing which abideth in you Dwelling if it be attributed to the chiefest Inhabitant and Owner of the House it implies also the ruling and ordering of the occasions that come under hand there the exercising of the Government of the house and family where the Owner is and dwels He that lodgeth at a House as a stranger comes to an Inn as a Passenger he takes what he finds hath what he can receive of kindness and courtesie but the Owner is the Commander of the House where he dwels and the orderer of all the Affairs that appertain thereunto So doth the Lord with a broken Heart Thus we are said to live in the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit Gal. 5. 25. And it 's that which follows by Inference upon this ground John 15. 4. 5. If I abide in you and you abide in me you shal bring forth much fruit and therefore it s added also in this place that the Lord dwels in the contrite and humble heart to receive the Spirit of the contrite ones they yeeld themselves to be acted by him and they shall be acted and quickened by him to Eternal Life So that the full meaning is The contrite and humble heart is such to whom the Lord vouchsafes acceptance special presence and abode and peculiar guidance he owns him abides with him and rules in him for ever True it is said Christ dwels in our Hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. and as many as beleeve in him they receive him John 1. 12. That is done as by the next and immediate hand by which we say hold on Christ and
a broken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his great request unto God that he may not go 〈◊〉 again to his 〈◊〉 In this 〈◊〉 from sin the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We here see the reason of al those 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of such 〈◊〉 promised better things the 〈◊〉 to his 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 to his 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 man to the world after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are the same men they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to their former follyes and are as bad as ever These men were never cut off from their corruptions the union was there stil the soul was in league and love with sin stil and therefore it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 and therefore they 〈◊〉 and grow worse and worse many years after If thou hast a privy lust harbored in thy heart that wil be thy ruin thou wilt be as bad or 〈◊〉 than ever EXHORTATION To 〈◊〉 all our endeavors to see a 〈◊〉 of it and to seek to heaven that God may work it in us let this be alwayes in thy prayers Lord that I may hate my sin that I may put off the love of sinning whatever thou hatest sin is worse than that it s worse than reproach disgrace sickness poverty thy love to sin should be turned into hatred and thy hatred to it should be greater than ever thy love hath been And if thou dost not hate thy sin its certain the God of Heaven wil hate thee the froward in heart is an 〈◊〉 to the Lord Prove 3. 32. Thou thy self 〈◊〉 an abomination to the Lord if thy 〈◊〉 be not an abomination to thee If thou wilt part with thy sins the Lord wil set his love upon thee Jer. 3. 1. though thou 〈◊〉 done evil things as thou couldest yet return unto me It 's said Judg. 10. 15. 16. when the people of Israel came bewailing their sins crying for mercy and putting away their Gods that then the soul of the Lord was grieved for the misery of Israel and he had mercy on them He is the same God stil and if he sees thee grieving for thy sins he wil grieve for thy sorrowes When Ephraim bemoaning himself judging himself for his sin and crying out unto the Lord turn me and I shal be turned it s said he heard Ephraim bemoaning himself and his bowels were troubled for him and I do earnestly remember him stil I wil surely have mercy upon thee saith the Lord. Jer. 31. 18. 19. 20. FINIS The Contents BOOK IX On Isa. 57. 15. I dwell with him that is of an humble and contrite spirit DOCT. THe Heart must be contrite and humble before the Lord will take up his dwelling in it 5 Reasons two In regard 1 Of our selves there be two Hindrances 7 1 Contentedness in a Natural 〈◊〉 ibid 〈◊〉 removes 〈◊〉 2 Sufficiency to help a mans self Humiliation removes that 9 2 Of God his Word will not cannot take place till the soul 〈◊〉 contrite and 〈◊〉 10 Uses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Terror to hard-hearted sinners God wil not dwell with them 11 2 Instruction teaching us to delight in chuse and dwel with such as are contrite and humble 13 3 Exhortation to seek for 〈◊〉 in Gods way and order viz. 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 14 BOOK X. On Acts 2. 37. When they heard this they were pricked to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do 15 DOCT. 1. Stubborn and bloody sinners may be made broken-hearted 20 Reasons three taken from  1 The infinite Mercy of God 22 2 The infinite 〈◊〉 of Christs Merits 23 3 The Almighty Power of the Spirit 24 Uses three hence  1 Matter of Admiration at the riches of Grace 25 2 Encouragement to keep distressed sinners from despair yet no ground of presumption 26 3 Instruction shewing the 〈◊〉 nature of despair It 's 29 1 Injurious to God 30 2 Dangerous to the Soul 32 Helps against Despair are two  1 Listen not to 〈◊〉 Conclusions 34 2 Attend not our own 〈◊〉 but Gods Mercy and Power 34 DOCT. 2. There must be a true sight of sin before the heart can be broken for it 35 For Explication four things  1 How God works this sight of sin 37 1 The Law of God discovers our sins ibid 2 There is a new Light put into the mind 38 3 The Spirit takes 〈◊〉 the Rule of darkness out of the mind 41 4 The Spirit leaves a set upon the understanding God-ward 42 2 How far the sinner is 〈◊〉 in this sight of sin 43 1 There is an insufficiency in the Understanding to reach the right discovery of sin 1 ibid 2 An incapability also to receive Spiritual Light 45 3 Christ forceth the Understanding to bear the 〈◊〉 of his Spirit whereby 〈◊〉 47 1 Destroyes the Soveraignty of 〈◊〉 Reason 48 2 Fits it to receive the impression of Spiritual Light 50 4 This Light received the Understanding is acted by it and so acts in vertue of it and so the sinner comes truly to see his sins 51 3 Wherein this true sight of sin is discovered 52 1 It is a cleer sight of sin 53 1 In regard of God as 54 1 It would dispossess God of his Soveraignty 55 2 It smites at the Essence of God 57 3 It spoils all the Works of God 59 2 In regard of our selves as ibid 1 It separates 〈◊〉 God and 〈◊〉 ibid 2 It makes us uncapable of any good 60 3 It 's the Cause of all other evils 62 4 It brings a Curse upon all Blessings ibid Hence sin is the greatest evil ibid Why do not men see sin thus 166 The Causes are ibid 1 The Delusions of Satan ibid 2 Men judg of sin by present sence 67 3 Or by present pleasure and profit 68 4 Or by the long suffering of God 70 5 Want of Spiritual Light 71 The Cure of these mistakes 72 1 Look upon sin so as it will look upon thee at death and Judgment ibid 2 Get a cleer sight of God 73 2 It is a convicting 〈◊〉 75 That implies  1 A particular application to our selves ibid 1 A man must reflect upon his own sins ibid 2 And pass an impartial Sentence against them 78 1 An over-powring settling of them upon the Conscience and that 79 1 Undeniably 80 2 Immovably 82 3 Invincibly 85 Reasons two Because  1 Nothing comes to the heart but by the Understanding 86 2 Ignorance frustrates all our Endeavors in the use of means 88 Uses five hence  1 Instruction An ignorant heart is a naughty heart 90 Such a one 1 Is liable to all evil 92 2 He can receive no good ibid 3 He can expect no mercy 93 2 To be hard to be convinced is 94 1 A dangerous sin ibid 1 Against a mans own soul ibid 2 Against Gods Ordinances 95 3 Against the Spirit of God ibid 2 A dreadful Curse 97 1 It makes way for Satan ibid 2 God
give entertainment to him but unless the heart be broken and humbled we cannot receive Faith that we may receive Christ. And while the soul is thus breaking and humbling Faith also is coming in a right sense rightly understood whereof we shal speak somwhat largely if the Lord give us leave to come to that place The Words thus opened the Point is the very letter of the Text which looks full upon every Hearer or Reader that will look upon the Text. The Heart must be broken and humbled before the Lord will own it as His take up his abode with it and rule in it There must be Contrition and Humiliation before the Lord comes to take possession the House must be aired and fitted before it comes to be inhabited swept by brokenness and emptiness of Spirit before the Lord will come to set up his abode in it This was typified in the passage of the Children of Israel towards the promised Land they must come into and go through a vast and a roaring Wilderness where they must be bruised with many pressures humbled under many over-bearing difficulties they were to meet withal before they could possess that good Land which abounded with all prosperity flowed with Milk and Honey The Truth of this Type the Prophet Hosea explains and expresseth at large in the Lords dealing with his People in regard of their Spiritual Condition Hos. 2. 14 15. I will lead 〈◊〉 into the wilderness and break her heart with many bruising Miseries and then I will speak kindly to her heart and will give her the Valley of Achor for a door of hope the story you may recal out of Jos. 7. 28. when Achan had offended in the execrable thing and the hearts of the Israelites were discomfited and failed like water spilt upon the ground because they had caused the Lord to depart away from them the Text saies they having found out the offender by lot they stoned him and they said thou hast troubled Israel we will trouble thee and they called it the Valley of Achor and after that God supported their hearts with hope and encouraged them with success both in prevailing over their Enemies and in possessing the Land So it shall be Spiritually the Valley of Consternation perplexity of Spirit and brokenness of heart is the very gale and entrance of any sound hope and assured expectation of good This I take to be the true meaning and intendment of the place and part of the description of a good Hearer Luke 8. 15. Who with an honest and good heart receives the Word and keeps it by strong hand and brings forth fruit with patience the fruit is Obedience Patience is part of Sanctification and the holy disposition of heart that must be in the heart that brings and bears such fruit that which makes the heart good is Faith in Vocation which enables the soul to lay hold upon Christ in the Word and from him to receive that lively vertue of Patience and readiness to every holy word and work And an honest heart is a contrite and humble heart so rightly prepared that Faith is infused and the soul thereby carried unto Christ and quickened with patience to persevere in good Duties As we say of Grounds before we cast in Seed there is two things to be attended there It must be a fit ground and a fat ground the ground is fit when the weeds and green sword are plowed up and the soyl there and made mould And this is done in 〈◊〉 and Humiliation then it must be a fat ground the soyl must have heart we say the ground is plowed well and lies well but it 's worn out it 's out of heart Now Faith fats the soyl furnisheth the soul with ability to fasten upon Christ and so to receive the Seed of the Word and the Graces of Sanctification and thence it produceth good 〈◊〉 in Obedience Upon this condition Gods favor is promised Psal. 34. 18. The Lord is nigh to them that be of a contrite spirit and saveth them that be of a broken heart Isay 61. 3. He gives the Garment of praise to those that have had the spirit of heaviness it will suit none fit none it 's prepared for none but such it 's their Livery only Upon this condition it is obtained Mat. 18. 3. Unless ye be converted and become as little Children ye can in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 2 Chron. 33. 12. It 's said of Mannasseh he humbled himself greatly and made supplication and the Lord was intreated of him such persons and services are highly accepted Psal. 51. 17. A broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise nay he wil undoubtedly accept of it The Reasons of the Point are taken partly in regard of the heart which without these will neither be fitted nor enabled to act upon God in Christ for any good partly in regard of God all his Ordinances and Dispensations will be unprofitable and unable to do that good which he intends and we need To the first in regard of our Hearts those Lets and impediments which put a kind of incapability yea and impossibility upon the soul whereby the coming of Faith into the Heart and so the entrance and residence of the Spirit are hindred are by this disposition wrought and removed These Impediments are two The 〈◊〉 which stops the way and work of Faith is a setled kind of contentedness in our corrupt condition and the blind yet bold and presumptuous confidence that a natural man hath and would maintain of his good condition Each man sits down willingly well apaid with his own estate and portion sees no need of any change and therefore not willing to hear of it Each man is so full of self-love that he is loth to pass a sentence against his own soul to become a judg and self-condemner and consequently an executioner of all his hopes and comforts at once and so put his happiness and help out of his own hand Besides we are Naturally afraid out of the privy yet direful guilt of our own Consciences to profess the wretchedness of our own miserable and damnable Condition as to put it upon a peremptory conclusion and that beyond question I am undone I am a damned man in the Gall of bitterness in the bonds of iniquity lest they should stir such horrors which they are neither able to quiet nor yet able to bear And therefore out of the presumption of their own hearts they would easily perswade and delude themselves they have no cause to alter their condition and therfore they should not endeavor it Hence the carnal heart is said to bear up himself against all the assaults of the Word Deut. 29. 19. When all the Curses of the Law were denounced with never so much evidence yet the presumptuous sinner blesseth himself promiseth all good to himself and secretly feeds himself with vain hopes that he shal attain it therfore he wil
not in your power to bring them in yet bring them as neer to the Kingdom of God as you can c. They were pricked in their hearts The last Doctrine which is considered touching the Work it self Sorrow for sin 〈◊〉 set on pierceth the heart of the sinner through that is truly affected therewith They were pricked not in their eyes to weep for their sins so Esau could not in their tongues only to confess their sin so Judas did I have sinned in betraying innocent blood nor in their hands alone to reform it outwardly so those Apostats did 2 Pet. 2. 20. They escaped the pollutions of the world through the acknowledgment of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but it reached their hearts their souls bled inwardly their souls were most guilty and had the greatest hand in the commission of those bloody and execrable cruelties the fountain of their sorrow did rise as high as the beginning of their sin soul sins and soul sorrows Nor was the stroke slight not the ripling of the skin a lighter touch a sudden pang a sigh and away nay not only lanced and gashed the rotten imposthumes of the corruptions of their hearts in a great measure but ransacked the very root of the corruption pierced the heart quite through through and through again as it were let out the core of the most inward and most retired corruptions that were lodged in their bosom and bottom of their hearts And this work proceeded not from any power of their own nor from the liberty and freedom of their wils as that which they made choyce of and out of their own ability did readily put forth but it was set on by the hand of the Almighty in the entrance whereof they were Patients went against the heart and hair and wholly beyond their purposes and expectations So the words are in the passive form they were pricked they did not prick themselves Nay certainly could they have told how to prevent it how to remove it or to procure any ease and relief unto themselves they would never have cryed out as men in a maze and astonishing straights of Spirit What shall we do Thus God proceeds when he purposeth to make a through work When God was purposed to set upon the revolting people of the Jews and to bring them savingly home to himself Hos. 13. 4. so 〈◊〉 carry it according to the foregoing and following words I am the Lord thy God from the Land of Egypt and there is no Savior besides me ver 4. and blames also the frowardness and folly of their Spirits not yielding so readily and taking the advantage of Gods dealing for their good ver 13. The sorrows of a travelling woman shall come upon him he is an unwise son for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of Children q. d. The Lord in mercy offers himself to the Israelites under their terrors as a Midwife that would make way for them out of their sins and sorrows Now in this 〈◊〉 of his towards the people to be converted he professeth that he will meet with them 〈◊〉 a Bear bereaved of her whelps he wil rend the caul of their hearts ver 8. the words are the closure and shutting up of their hearts sinners are shut up under the power of their distempers as the Apostle saith all men by Nature are shut up under unbelief Rom. 11. 32. especially there be some closets and secret corners and conveyances of soul wherein the most sweet and delightful abominations are hugged and harbored the Lord leaves not a poor wretch if indeed he intend his good before he breaks open those great depths rests not before he come home to the root and let out the heart-blood of thy lusts and then their death wil undoubtedly follow And hence it is this sorrow is compared to such as enter into the very inwards of Nature and sinks the soul with unsupportable pressures when that great conversion and return of the Jews to the entertainment of the Gospel shal be brought about by the Lord. The Prophet sets forth the greatness of that sorrow of theirs under a double similitude First Zach. 12. 10. They shall mourn for him as the mother mourns for her only son and for her first born the mourning of a tender hearted mother for her son her first born and for her only son he adds al degrees of grief if she had possessed many she might more easily have wanted one or at least parted with it or had it been any but her first born which had the first of her strength and the first of her love yet she might have born it with more quietness but when al these meet together her life and comfort is wrapped up in the life of the Child the mourning becomes unmeasurable fils the heart as it were Secondly It shall be like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon when al Israel lamented the death of their good Josiah the light of their eyes the breath of their Nostrils the comfort of their souls 2 Chron. 35. 25. Therfore the original words which lay open this work are of marvelous weight and discover the overpowring vertue thereof Isai. 57. 18. The Lord dwels with him that is of a contrite spirit Isai. 61. 6. The Lord binds up the broken heart The first whereof signifies to pun to pouder and to bring to smal dust it is so used Psal. 90. 3. Thou bringest man to the dust of death again thou sayest return ye children of men That as the hardest stone when it 's broken al to smal mammocks and pouder as it were it 's easie and yielding under the touch of the hand what ever ruggedness and resistance was in it before So it is with the soul that is punned to pouder so that there is not any unbroken or any whol part to be found there no sodering in any secret manner with any retired distemper but the weight of godly sorrow hath shatter'd all asunder distress of Conscience hath brought it to dust parted all the privy closures with any particular of any distemper all that knotty stiffness and perversness of spirit in siding with any corruption is now taken off The soul comes easily to give way to the Authority of the Truth that would take any sinful lust away To the like purpose is that of Job Job 23. 16. when the Armies of Gods indignation had encamped against him and the terrors of the Lord had drunk up his spirit saies he God makes my heart soft or hath melted my soul the word signifies a severing and separation of one thing from another and is opposite to setling and fastening making firm stiff and hard as that of Pharaoh Exod. 9. last Pharaoh hardened his heart his soul fastened by an invincible resolution to the sinful purpose of his malicious detaining and oppression of the Jews When the fierceness of Gods dupleasure brought home by the breathings of the Spirit
unsearchable and marvelous things without number This may support thy heart and carry thee on with some Hope in a waiting way They who are truly pierced for their sins do in an especial manner prize and covet deliverance from them For this is the scope of their complaint and the end and aim of their request that they might be freed from that which they found so bitter and indeed unsupportable to their souls and it 's of 〈◊〉 implied in their speech that which in the like case was openly expressed by the Jaylor Acts 16. 30. He came trembling and astonished saying what must I do to be saved not what shal I do to be eased of my destraction cured of my fears freed from my shame but what shal I do to be saved from my sin he was plagued most with the remembrance of that prizeth most freedom from it the venom of his transgression is that which lies heaviest upon his heart and thence it is to be safe-guarded from that is of highest esteem in his account Saved from the guilt of sin as that which sets the Almighty at a distance from him and raiseth the controversie between God and the soul and forceth him to withdraw his favor and loving kindness which is better than life which David felt by woful experience and therefore sues with such importunity Psal. 51. 14. Deliver me from blood guiltiness O God thou God of my Salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness After the Commission of these evils by David the Lord threatened the sending of the Sword that might hazard the safety of his person and the prosperity of such as should succeed him So Nathan 2 Sam. 12. 10. The Sword shal never depart from thine House he threatens to raise up cruel and subtil conspirators out of his own bosom and bowels as Absalon out of his own Counsel and Kingdom as Achitophel and Jeroboam whose plottings and conspiracies should shake the Pillars of the Kingdom and the peace of his Government all which were marvelous bitter potions and heavy expressions of Gods displeasure but the sting of all those troubles the venom of al that vengeance issued from his sin that is the evil in all evils and therefore he overlooks al the rest and seeks most earnestly to be rescued from this Deliver me from blood-guiltiness it 's not the cruelty of the Sword that wil destroy nor the conspiracy of Enemies that desire to undermine my Crown and Kingdom and Safety which I so much fear nonso much labor to be freed from but deliver me from blood-guiltiness O God of my Salvation q. d. that is the deliverance I look for and long for and here in the Salvation of a God wil appear and shew it 〈◊〉 and wherein the soul of thy servant shal most rejoyce Saved also they would be from the 〈◊〉 of corruption which carries the soul from God and keeps the 〈◊〉 estranged from him and hence it is the 〈◊〉 Church makes 〈◊〉 the matter of their most bitter complaint Isai. 63. 17. Why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear and caused us to err from thy waies When they withdraw their hearts from God he 〈◊〉 his gracious presence and 〈◊〉 from them when they would not deliver up themselves to the Authority of his Truth and holy Will to be ruled thereby he delivered them up to the power of their own perverse Spirits they that would not be guided in his 〈◊〉 by his holy Spirit they should be hardened from his fear by the perversness of their own Spirits this is the most dreadful plague of al plagues the deliverance from which they so highly prize and seek it with such importunity Look down from Heaven thy holy Habitation where is the sounding of thy bowels are they restrained Oh why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear The price the contrite sinner puts upon this deliverance from his sin discovers it self in four Particulars In the lack of this the soul is not cannot be quieted though it doth enjoy all other things the World can afford and his heart could desire The want of this takes off the sweetness of al the comforts contentments the sap and 〈◊〉 of al priviledges and the consluence of all Earthly Excellencies that can be enjoyed in this Pilgrimage when the soul is under the pressures of Gods displeasure and the tyranny of his own distempers which carries him from God and keeps him under the dreadful indignation of the Almighty present him then with the beauty of al the choycest blessings that ever any man had on Earth yea what ever others hoped for but in vain Put them into his hand conceive him possessed of the fulness of al worldly perfections Crowns Kingdoms Honors and preferments the broken heart 〈◊〉 al under 〈◊〉 with neglect what is that co me saies the soul had I al the Wealth to enrich me al Honors to advance me Pleasures and Delights to content me and my sins stil to damn me miserable man that ever I was born in the 〈◊〉 of al these falsly conceived comforts This sowr Sawce spoils al the Sweet-meat this dram of poyson makes deadly al the delights and pleasures that 〈◊〉 can be attained or expected As 〈◊〉 when he was recalled from his Banishment and had the liberty and use of his House and all the conveniencies and helps that were at his Command but was charged not to see the Kings face upon a two yeers tryal he found a straightness of all his Comforts in these enlargements 〈◊〉 he thus expresseth his resolution to 〈◊〉 2 Sam. 14. 32. What avails me to be at Jerusalem and in my House to come from Geshur if I may not see the Kings face let me see his face and let him 〈◊〉 me It is so with the broken-hearted sinner What avails it me to be compassed about with al conven ences my heart can desire and be compassed about with my corruptions to see all Earthly happiness heaped up together but never to see the face of God in another world the belly filled and back cloathed and house stored and the soul damned and east out from Gods presence in whose Presence there is fulness of joy and pleasures for ever more These are but dead things sapless shadows and are to a man of a contrite Spirit as though they were not nay the 〈◊〉 he hath 〈◊〉 more trouble he hath because there is more sin and more guilt more curse and condemnation he sees in all and expects by all from God and so remains restless in all He is content with this though he want all the rest because he prizeth this more than all Skin for Skin and al that a man hath wil he give for his life c life and al for the Salvation of his soul. For sin now he 〈◊〉 it now he hath found it to be more bitter than death and therefore to be saved from it he judgeth and that truly to be better than
a reserved device how to contrive some colorable 〈◊〉 by some Caution and Interpretation to entertain it it is Hellish Hypocrisie As the 〈◊〉 brabbles with her Mate before her Husband 〈◊〉 so she may meet with him without the suspicion of her Husband So the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he wil readily without any hunching acknowledg his sin and error in one sence that so as occasions serves he may plead for it and only pretend another sence The Confession in then serious when 〈◊〉 is leaves the soul base and makes the sinner put his mouth in the dust looks at himself as vile loaths his sin and himself for it and is desirous that the evil and he for it may be loathed of al that have heard and known it willing that 〈◊〉 himself and sin should by al for ever be dishonored who have dishonored God Dan. 9. 8. Vnto us belongs shame and 〈◊〉 of face for ever to be opposed and rejected who have rejected his Truth that 〈◊〉 hearts of all should be estranged from it and from that frame of Spirit which acted him because they have estranged him and others from God he would shame himself and therefore is content others should cast shame upon him Ezek. 36. 31 32. Then they shal 〈◊〉 themselves for all their abominations which they have committed Lam. 3. 29 30. He 〈◊〉 alone and 〈◊〉 silence because he hath born it upon him be puts his mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope The Soul by this serious Confession intends to take an ADVANTAGE against his sin and so much more engages his heart by the Witness of God and Men and Angels to keep himself for 〈◊〉 from al 〈◊〉 and provocations thereunto and holds his heart in a holy bent of 〈◊〉 for ever not once to admit any consideration or pretence of any carnal Reason that may seem to leave the least inticement that way when temptations come and corruptions stir as formerly this stops him I have 〈◊〉 these 〈◊〉 before al and they are condemned by al therefore I wil not I dare not give way 〈◊〉 16. last That thou mayest remember and be confounded and 〈◊〉 open 〈◊〉 mouth any more because of thy 〈◊〉 3. How doth Contrition bring in this Confession and enlarge the Heart this way I Answer upon Three Grounds all which are so many Arguments of the Point propounded Taken from that bitterness which the soul in this contrite disposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that undeniably to be in those distempers in which it hath taken so much content in former time the poysoned loathsomness which now it hath 〈◊〉 experimentally to be in such pleasing lusts and which formerly have 〈◊〉 the delight and diet of the soul And therefore it is the heart 〈◊〉 the sinner is not able to brook or 〈◊〉 them 〈◊〉 vomits them out with vehement distast and unsufferable disdain abandons them by open confession In the Body we see it the Stomach when it was clogged with abundance of gross and foul Humors as in the disease called Pica it wil 〈◊〉 upon 〈◊〉 and ashes and loom wall will down as desirable diet because such noysom diet suits best with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Humors which 〈◊〉 in the Stomach but when it 's recovered and brought to any wholsom constitution if 〈◊〉 with any such provision which is 〈◊〉 loathsom and 〈◊〉 upto it it 's 〈◊〉 sick and 〈◊〉 be eased before 〈◊〉 cast it out It 's so with the 〈◊〉 when once he hath attained this wholfom constitution and disposition of a contrite spirit Those noysom abominations which seemed so sweet and savory to his sensual and base heart that it could digest them as its only diet and delight corrupt lusts were most suitable to corrupt nature and no marvel that the Toad and Spiders lick up poyson which is so agreeable to their poysonful Nature but when the Lord hath wrought this through contrition as a wholsom disposition and constitution of soul so that not only the punishment of it which is tedious but the poyson and filth becomes more detestable and grievous to the sinner the heart is not able to suffer the loathsom bitterness thereof but forthwith endeavors to cashier it utterly by acknowledgment and confession that the very scent and savor yea the least remembrance of it may be for ever removed Pain wil make the dog vomit out his meat sence of punishment constrain'd Judas to cast out his morsel fling away his money the bribe of the bloody Treachery and Treason of his but had they been both poysoned the one with his meat the other with the venom of his sin it would have wrought more freely and fully in both That Godly Sorrow which was wrought in the hearts of the Corinthians who bore with the 〈◊〉 person a long while and the 〈◊〉 person 〈◊〉 who committed the evil 2 〈◊〉 7. 10. It wrought a cleering in the one as the Text expresseth 〈◊〉 and no question in the other upon the same ground i. e. a naked full and free-hearted acknowledgment Godly Sorrow like a strong Potion cleers the Stomach casts out the core suffers no remainders behind of any secret reservation of a wretched distemper in any degree or circumstance makes a cleer Conscience quit of any combination with any lust in the least correspondence When the corruption which is gathered in the 〈◊〉 ered sore grows ripe and rotten it wil break presently though no man lance or touch it and 〈◊〉 plentifully and abundantly So with this through contrition it works a separation and therefore an evacuation loosens the affection from the sin inwardly and 〈◊〉 it wholly by acknowledgment It 's true In Nature and Grace and Reason each thing 〈◊〉 it self and therefore expels its contraty to the utmost distance it may that it may neither find nor fear any annoyance or hazard therefrom and therefore we find in diseases Agues and Feavers when Nature by the help of Physick hath gained some strength forceth the malignant humor as far from the heart as it can it breaks forth into the lips and then it 's conceived and 〈◊〉 the fits wil end the danger is over So it is with the soul when it 's helped by the Spirit in piercing the soul with Godly Sorrow he causeth the disease and distemper to break forth into the lips by open confession and forceth it as far as may be from ever annoying the heart any more The sweetness of sin is in this taken off contrition severs it from the heart confession vomits out and removes it that it may never annoy the soul or disturb the peace of a mans Conscience any more The distressed sinner now comes 〈◊〉 to feel and so to know the danger of sin as undoubtedly hazarding a mans everlasting happiness and welfare and to find also by woful proof his own weakness and inability either to prevent it or bear it or remove it and help himself against that eternal ruin and confusion which God hath threatened and he must expect
and yield to that power and is acted and moved by the like opposition and detestation against its sin according as the impression of the Spirit is left upon him And hence it comes the sinner is transported with that holy 〈◊〉 and indignation at such times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ward he doth never find 〈◊〉 may be can never again attain unto As the Gibeonites when all the Princes of the Cities and Provinces were gathered together against them they had not power in themselves to oppose yet withdraw themselves they would from under their Rule and Confederacy and yielded themselves to the Authority and Soveraignty of Joshua though it were to hew wood and draw water or as the Boat that is run a ground and hath neither tackling nor 〈◊〉 yet by a mighty wind and a Spring Tide he is carried with more speed to the Haven than by all 〈◊〉 and helps he could ever after attain So the Soul being acted wholly by that power and impression of the 〈◊〉 having yet no principle of its own it 's carried with a detestation against sin here Christ applies this power only afterward in Sanctification we apply the power of Christs death to this end with him This is the first work of God in the extent of it and the way he takes to turn the soul from sin and the Creature Fear stops him sorrow tires him hatred turns him Fear troubles his sin sorrow loosens it hatred abandons it Fear finds the knot Griefunties it Hatred dissolves and breaks it off Fear questions the Lawfulness of the match between sin and the soul Sorrow gives in proof and evidence out of sence of the evil of it Hatred disanuls the League and fues out an everlasting Divorce betwixt sin and the soul. This Hatred is the hatred of Preparation not of Sanctification the difference between which may be discerned by the former Discourse That in Sanctification is from the Spirit inhabiting this from the Spirit Assisting That of Sanctification is by a gracious habit infused into the Soul this is without a habit the Spirit only by 〈◊〉 irresistible motion working upon the soul. In that there is an inward Principle received whereby we meet with Christ and concur with him to the work here we have no habit and therefore no inward principle to meet with Christ he wholly and only 〈◊〉 upon us and we act as acted by him Take the wheels of a Watch out of place if you wil bring them into the right room and place they wil then move because there is a principle of motion put into it So of a Member out of Joynt if you wil by strong hand pul and move it unto the place being wholly moved it wil move into his order and rank it doth not concur or meet with your hand for the joynting of it self but stirs wholly and only as stirred but being settled and confirmed in the place it wil move to your hand and concur with your hand to help it self So here That hatred in Sanctification we receive from our union with Christ this the Spirit works upon us to make way to bring us to Union with the Lord Jesus we must turn from our sins before we come to God there must be an aversion from sin before there can be a conversion unto God we cannot be under two Covenants in the first Adam and the second grow upon two stocks together It 's said that Adam begot a son in his own Image that a Son was generated by the first Adam the act of Generation was no part of the Image but the Image is the corruption of Nature that came by Generation So that we are united that 's none 〈◊〉 Christs Image but the Image of Christ which is 〈◊〉 communion with him in his Graces this Image and these graces issue from our union The sum in short then is this There must be an aversion from sin before conversion unto God there is nothing in the soul that can work this but Christ must do it When Christ works this it is not by any habit of Grace infused into the soul but by the motion and work of the Spirit upon the Soul In this work Christ as the Head of the Covenant by 〈◊〉 of his death whereby he satisfied the Law brings a release from the hand of Divine Justice to reverse and repeal that Commission by which sin had Authority over the soul and Satan by sin 〈◊〉 that the act of sin is stopped and the right of the Rule of sin is wholly 〈◊〉 and made voyd the contrite sinner feeling the evil of sin and yet no power of himself to oppose and subdu look in what opposition and detestation the 〈◊〉 power of the spirit goes out against sin as acted by the impression of that power it acts by opposition and detestation against its sin and is turned from it 2. How this hatred discovers it self and how it may be discerned This hatred is attended with a continual fear of the presence and the deadly infection of sin and so with a constant watch against it or a watchful fear is a never fayling work whereby this hatred 〈◊〉 it felf in the carriage and daily conversation of a 〈◊〉 sinner the venom of sin which formerly he hath felt the plague and vengeance which those his distempers hath brought upon him leaves so fresh and yet so 〈◊〉 a remembrance of them upon his soul that the very thoughts of them afright him but any temptation or provocation that may draw him to the 〈◊〉 of the like is so loathsom that the least appearance that looks that way he sees presently and shakes at it 〈◊〉 it as the 〈◊〉 of hell as that which wil hazard the happiness of the soul and 〈◊〉 as present 〈◊〉 to him As it is in the work of nature in the body of a man he that hath surfeted upon some sweet meat or some pleasing potion that hath been prepared in a guilded cup happily suited with his palate for the present but in issue had in reason hazarded his life in his own sence and each mans apprehension but that the Lord was merciful you need not 〈◊〉 him with arguments the loathing of 〈◊〉 stomach and the very hatred and Antipathie that nature hath against that which procured the hazard wil make him watchful and shy how he is deceived in that kind any 〈◊〉 the very sight of the gally-pot the sent or smel of the potion yea the least suspicion that such a receit is coming towards him 〈◊〉 him to fear and fly his stomach begins to turn riseth from the 〈◊〉 removes out of the room 〈◊〉 frame of nature begins to fail and shake with the remembrance of the 〈◊〉 and with the fear of the like danger It behoves me to look what I take it had like to have cost my life therefore I wil come there no more So it is with a 〈◊〉 sinner that hath felt the poyson of those pleasing distempers upon which