they pass beyond our Imagination Fancy what thou wilt and Majesty Pomp and Beauty can present thee with it 's all but a poor faint Resemblance of the Glorious Life to come It 's easier for a Pencil to draw the Picture of Sound and Tast than for the Tongue to utter or the Heart to imagin The Joys of Heaven All that a curious Artist can do to describe the Content of a Soul at Rest with God and perfectly Happy is so far from what he would but cannot say as Heaven is from Earth We know There 's nothing of all this that we see hear or tast or imagin in the Heavenly Paradise But thou mayest be sure there 's more than all this Considerations to excite Shame and hearty Sorrow for all former Departure from God and present Strangeness to him THough God delighteth not in Sorrow and Contrition meerly as it is the Misery and Affliction of his Creature but rather is afflicted with them in all their Sorrows Isaiah 63.9 yet as it is an expression of any sincere hatred of former sin and willingness to forsake it and comes from any true Love to God who is dishonoured by it and Mens own Souls of which it is the death and destruction and leads directly to their future Reformation and Happiness so the Lord is delighted therewith And a sinner one that is yet under the guilt of his sins cannot present him with a better Sacrifice For The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and contrite heart O Lord thou wilt not despise Psalm 51.17 1. Thou wilt take pleasure in by a usual Figure called Litote or Mecoses And in the former Clause of the Verse The Sacrifices that is The Sacrifice of Sacrifices as the Heaven of Heavens is put for the Highest Heaven In which Forms of Speech it 's customary with the Hebrew Language to leave out the first Substantive * Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for the Elephant because she is the chief Saith Grot. of Beasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for God himself because he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most excellent wisdom Psal 49.3 So the Canticles is put for the Canticle of Canticles or the most excellent Song Instances there are many of this kind to shew that the Plural Number is sometime instead of the Comparative Degree Thus you see in what sense God is delighted in our Sorrow and taketh pleasure in a sighing and broken Heart even in the same sense that Paul was glad at the sadness of the Corinthians even as it was a sign of and step to their future Amendment and Happiness 2 Cor. 2.2 For if I make you sorry saith he who is he then that maketh me glad but the same which is made sorry by me And indeed it is no wonder that the merciful God that delighteth so much in the welfare and felicity of his Creatures should yet be so well pleased in the bitter Repentance and heart-breaking Sorrow of sinful Creatures since it is such a preparative to your future Joy and that so many excellent Texts of Scripture are dropt from the Holy Spirit to encourage Sinners to labour after such a wounding piercing Sorrow as this is So Isaiah 57.15 Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the High and Holy Place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the Spirit of the Humble and the Heart of the Contrite one So Isaiah 66.2 There he seemeth to despise and slight the most magnificent stately Structure which they could build him and to prefer the humble contrite Heart far before all that the Hands of Men could possibly make Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footstool where is the House that ye build unto me And where is the place of my rest For all these things hath my Hand made But to this Man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my Word And how frequently is he said to comfort those that Mourn and to bind up the broken in Heart to regard their Sighs and bottle up their Tears as if there were no Temper that God more delighteth in There are some though very few that need to be warned and admonished that they do not place the Principal Part of God's Worship and Service in Sighs and Tears and pricking Sorrow and shameful Confessions of their Sin Not that I disswade any from giving due Time and Measure to these humbling self-abasing Acts For it is the design and business of this present Labour to promote this Sorrow in the Heart so far as it is a fit Instrument to promote Reformation in the Heart and Life But yet some I say have need of this Caution that they lay not too much stress upon this part of our Duty we owe unto God much less that they confine the whole work and business of Religion to Acts of Contrition and Mortification For though the Lord delighteth in the penitent broken Heart that mourneth over all its former Sin and Folly and is ashamed of his odious hainous Transgressions and doth loath himself for his Iniquities and doth particularly search into his Sores and uncover them before God with the most distinct clear and open Confession yet this is but a lower and preparatory step to that Love of God constant delight in him praises of him chearful obedience to him in the which he is far more delighted so that Tears and Sorrow and heart-melting Repentance and afflicting our Souls are not absolutely pleasing to God and a part of the immutable unchangeable Worship we owe to him but only acceptable to him 1. Upon supposition of former Miscarriages 2. In preparation to future Obedience Had we never sinned Sorrow and Repentance had been no acceptable Service to God at all neither would it have pleased him to see us go heavily as those that mourn But now supposing that every one of us is born into the World with hereditary Corruption and a depraved Nature quite contrary to that which God gave Man at the first the very first acceptable Service that we can perform to God is to be sensible of and to bewail this perverse Disposition according to its desert and to weigh and consider all the sad and woful Consequences of such a poisoned corrupted Nature how hateful it is to God how disgraceful to our selves here and how destructive to our souls hereafter and how dangerous and infectious it is to others that we are firmly resolved to take any Course to recover our former Freedom and Priviledge we had in the state of Innocency that God shall suggest to us It is as preposterous to offer up any Service to God till this be done as it is to â—earn to Read before we are acquainted with
Reason can easily stir or command is a great Enemy to this Duty He therefore that would be always fit for this Duty must with all his Might resist the true and principal Cause of Sadness I mean Sin and when he cannot prevent it he must speedily repent of it and turn from it and renew his Faith in Christ and then his Soul will not refuse to be comforted but will chear up and at length attain such a good measure of Alacrity as will become Christianity and constantly dispose him to this Duty provided his Body be not oppressed with melancholy Fumes and Vapours For in such Case the Art of the Physician must be joyned with the fore-mentioned Prescriptions And such Temperance and Exercise of the Body must be used as may reduce it again and make it fit to subserve a chearful Mind There 's no greater pull-back nor obstruction to this becoming generous heavenly Work than a sower dejected and contracted Spirit The Jews had a Proverb amongst them that Spiritus sanctus non descendit super Animum maestum which though taken without limitation is not true because the Spirit of God works Godly Sorrow and dwells in the contrite Heart that 's broken for sin to revive comfort and bind it up again yet with some restriction it contains a very great Truth viz. That the Divine Spirit in it more Noble and Excellent Operations of Love Joy and Delight and those other Affections that have a very near confederacy with these and chearful Obedience which results from these doth not descend upon those that are of a sad and heavy Heart whilst such But they are first exhilerated and cheared by the Heavenly Comforter before they can get up to these higher Duties And though Godly Sorrow for sin be consistent enough with some Spiritual Joy and Concomitant Affections before mentioned whilst it keeps its just degree and measure yet when it proceeds to Heighth and Excess and goes beyond its just Bounds it greatly indisposeth to Works of that Elevation But the Sorrow of the World worketh Death and is therefore very inconsistent with Works that require the greatest Life yea the sorrow and dejectedness that arise from the Temper and Complexion of a Melancholick Body do very much hinder the Soul in these more sublime and raised Operations And the more voluntary it is through the wilful neglect of Means either Medicinal or Moral whereby it may be shaken off still the greater Enemy it is to the joyful Heavenly Work When therefore we prepare for this Work every weight must be cast away and the sin that presseth down and all indisposing dulness must be shaken off as much as may be And therefore Elisha to make way for the Holy Spirit in these noble Operations of it calls for a Musical Instrument 2 Kings 3.15 the better to compose and exhilerate his Mind And it came to pass whilst the Minstrel played that the Hand that is the Spirit of the Lord came upon him 2. He must be of a competent Candour and Ingenuity towards Men One that will readily do good and as easily acknowledge it when it is done by others That affects not to conceal his own Infirmities nor the Worth of others but can quickly spy out both That judgeth not according to outward Appearance but judgeth righteous Judgment And is prone to take every thing by the right handle and to pass the fairest construction upon every thing He that 's disingenuous and base towards Men will be so towards God For it is in other Affections as it is in Love Now he that loveth his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Is the Argument of the beloved Apostle 1 John 4.20 3. He must be very well contented with his Condition None more Averse to the Duty in hand than he that 's displeased with his Estate How can that Man be thankful unto God for any thing he hath that liketh nothing Male-Content filleth a Man with rage and bitterness against every thing almost as supposing it to contribute something to his uneasie Condition It puts him frequently upon sinful study and contrivance to better himself And it is so far from disposing any to the sweet Temper I am now speaking of that it prompts him to be angry with every one Such a one tasts no sweetness in any good he hath be it never so great and therefore forgets all but his discontents He pores wholly upon his Misery and nothing else seems worthy his observation And that Man that hath no eye to observe any Comfort that he hath will never think himself obliged to him from whom they come and such a one is most unfit for a Thankful Acknowledgment 4. He must have made some good progress in the work of Mortification and be pretty well weaned from all Sublunary Good and Pleasure That hath no strong propension to Sensual Comforts and Carnal Delights but hath got a considerable Conquest over the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts And hath a Love that 's rational and doth propend most to that which most deserves it For how can he perform the highest Acts of Spiritual Life that is not first dead to those things that do stifle and utterly quench the Spiritual Life Or how can he thank God aright for any thing that is not in a capacity to make a true judgment of what God doth bestow which is the Case of every one that hath his Affections inordinately wedded to these Earthly Contentments Such a one cannot take a worldly Cross or Reproach and Shame and Sickness and other Afflictions to be such Mercies as they sometimes are nor thank God sometimes for them more heartily than for any outward prosperity 5. He must have a deep Sense and Perswasion of the Certainty and Excellency of Eternal Things The Immortality of the Soul The worth of God's Favour The unspeakable Misery of the damned And the Felicity of those that must live for ever with God otherwise the Pleasures of this World are but a Dream and the Happiness of this Life but a shadow and all the Comforts that are tyed to this state so fickle and unsatisfactory that a wise and considerate Man will not much regard them unless as they be Pledges and Fore-runners of a better Felicity and so cannot rise to any high pitch of Joy and Thankfulness whilst it hath no better Materials to erect such a Frame nor better Motives to this Duty Thus much for the Matter or what is prerequisite to make way for these High and Heavenly Acts of Gratitude and Praise which are always accompanied with some degree of joy and delight in God which formally and principally imply First A due observation and worthy estimation of the Amiable Perfections of God and of his Grace and Favours towards us If we overlook these and our Eyes be in the ends of the Earth when they should be intent upon the infinite Majesty and his Mercies towards us every
the Letters of which every Word we read is composed or as it is to give restorative Food to a distempered Body before the peccant Matter be purg'd out that is the cause of the Distemper But then though it be the first step in Religion and the first acceptable Service we can perfornâ—â—â— God It is not there that we must rest we are not there to sit down and advance no further as if we were gotten to Hercules Pillaâ—s and there were no higher Perfection to be attained in Religion And to mistake the subordinate and subservient part of God's Service for that which is more perfect and principal for hereby Sin and the Devil will get these Two great Advantages 1. God will be misrepresented both to our selves and others and he that is so full of Compassion and Mercy and all amicable and lovely Perfections will be thought by the Religion which he preserâ—bes to be cruel and unmerciful and to delight in the Torment and Affliction of his Creatures For Men will be drawing his Image by such a false Pencil And then 2. They that make it their whole endeavour to weep and mourn and afflict themselves for their sins will thereby disable both Body and Soul for any Service of God at all and both destroy their Bodily Health and overthrow their Reason And so whilst they are bewailing their Sin and as they think are conquering of it they do but entangle themselves the more and utterly waste that strength that should mortifie and subdue it And the reason why God doth speak so much in his Word in approbation of the sorrowful broken and contrite Heart which I doubt is the Reason of these Mens mistake is because such Persons have need of such Encouragement and might otherwise faint under the Anguish and Burthen of their Spirits and therefore because he would not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax till he hath brought forth Judgment unto Victory He gives these Cordials to such as are under the Pangs of the New Birth But he had much rather that Men would leave the Principles of the Doctrin of Christ and not stick always at the Foundation of Repentance from Dead Works and of Faith towards God Not that we are to shake hands with Repentance and sorrow for Sin after we are once heartily converted unless we could be sure to commit no more sin But then sin will need a more short and transient sorrow when we presently bewail it so soon as ever it is committed But our first Repentance and Sorrow will cost us hotter Water and put us to â—â—â—e trouble If a Man that hath a long Journey to go should set out a quite contrary way to the place whither he is to go and so travel on till he hath spent half or more of the time that is allotted for his Journey you must needs think that will cost him more vexation and trouble to get into his right way than after he is gotten in if he should chance to step out a Mile or two A small Errour is more speedily corrected than a great one of long continuance But yet it is always true That it 's better to prevent sin and keep out of it at the first than to get out of it by Repentance Though by Accident and through the Mercy of God it may sometimes prove better to the sinner that he did fall into sin if he doth afterwards heartily rerepent of it But absolutely and in it self it is not better And he that should presume to let loose the Reigns to Sin upon that account I believe would find it much worse But before I produce those Considerations which through the Blessing of God may stir up and strengthen this Affection which must prepare the way for Faith in Christ which lays the Foundation for all Joy and Peace I will first shew what this Godly Sorrow doth imply or what Acts are included in it if it be such as will work Repentance never to be repented of And here let me Note That Repentance is sometimes taken by a Synechdoche for the whole Work of Conversion and then it includes Faith in it so it 's taken Luke 15.7 There shall be joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance So Luke 13.3 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish where Faith also is implied So Acts 11.18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life where Repentance is named as the only condition of Life which without Faith also in Christ cannot be had and therefore it is included Sometime Repentance is taken only for Contrition and then usually Faith is joyned with it So Acts 20.21 Testifying to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ And in this latter sense I here take the word Repentance when I make use of it And so Repentance or Godly Sorrow is a deliberate Act of the Soul performed upon the Motions or by the Assistance of the good Spirit of God whereby a Man being touched with unfeigned Sorrow and Remorse for all that he hath sinned whither in his Parents or in himself either inwardly and in secret or else openly and in the sight of Men is now resolved to close with Christ as his only Remedy against the Guilt and Power of it So that you may perceive by this Description that sincere Repentance and Sorrow for Sin must imply these following Acts or otherwise it can never be an advised and deliberate Act nor conclude in a firm resolution and purpose to take Christ as his only sufficient Saviour First It implys a deep Conviction of the Holiness of God and his sin-hating Nature And that you may as soon reconcile Light and Darkness as God and the least Sin whether you take it in its Material or Formal Consideration In its Material Consideration it 's nothing but Deformity and Absurdity and Contradiction to all Right and Reason And in its Formal Respect it 's a thwarting God's Will that 's supreme and governed with infinite wisdom and a breach of his righteous Law And in both these Respects it must needs be the Object of Divine Hatred and Abhorrence surely he must needs abhor to see a Creature cross his own Will and oppose his own Government and when he hath endued him with reason to see him act so absurdly Hence the Psalmist tells us That such as are foolish cannot stand in his sight he hateth all the workers of iniquity Psalm 5.5 And if an imperfect Saint such a one as David hath such an aversation to such Works and the doers of them that he can say depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity much more doth he that is of spotless purity hate all Filthiness and Pollution which every sinner hath some degree of If the Lord were not an utter Enemy to all Iniquity he had never turned so many Angels