bondage and shall enable you to set your feet on his neck c. More clearly Isai 61. 1 2 3. He gave Christ and annointed and sent him for that end to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound and not only to proclaim it by the Word but to apply it by the Spirit ver 3. To appoint to them beauty for ashes the oyl of joy for mourning and the garment of joy for the spirit of heaviness or the Spirit of Adoption for the Spirit of Bondage So Psal 126. 5 6. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy c. And Isai 57 15. a remarkable Promise I dwell with the contrite and humble spirit wherefore To revive the spirit of the humble and the heart of the contrite ones For I will not contend for ever lest the soul should fail before me and the spirit which I have made See v. 18 19. The Spirit that is promised by Christ is called the Comforter Why so if not to denote the principall part of his work the comforting of the hearts of Gods people John 14. 26. Arg. 2. The Designe of God in troubling the conscience Soul-troubles are not brought on us meerly for their owne sakes for God afflicts not willingly nor grieves the Lam. 3. 33. children of men but they are ordinary Prologues of Comfort and Peace and therefore ordained to fit us to receive and prize it Hos 2. 14. I wil bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her to her heart Heb. Into the Wildernesse i. e. a maze and wood of troubles that she shall know no way out of into such a condition in which a dram of comfort will be dearer then all the world and then I will speak to her heart when she is quite out of heart Gods usages to his people in this world are like Tragi-Comedies sad beginnings divers times that put all the Spectators into a maze to think what will come of them that so he may come off the more gloriously at the last by giving a comfortable close beside all mens expectations He sets off as Painters do a light colour by the neighborhood of a dark He caused light at the first to shine out of darknesse not before it or 2 Cor. 4. 6 without it but out of it And as he doth in conversion so in comfort First darknesse in conversion then light Ye were darkness Ephes 5. 8 c. so he doth in the work of consolation When I sit in darknesse the Lord shall be a light to me saith the Church Micah 7. 8. So in the Apostles experience We had the sentence of death in our selves that we might trust not in our selves but in him that raiseth the dead 2 Cor. 1. 9. And as Christ would not keep Lazarus from dying when he could have done so but rather chose to raise him from the dead by a miracle so will Christ deal with his people quite bring them to the grave that then he may get the glory of a kind of miracle and say Return ye sons Psalm 90. 3 and daughters of men Now can we think that God will lose the glory of his grace when he so aimes at it in those troubles that work it And surely he will do so if his people perish under them Thence the Spirit of God teacheth the Saints in darkness to urge that as an Argument Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead c. What remembrance of thee is there in the grave where all things are forgotten Psalm 88. 10 11 and 6. 5. q. d. I know thy aim in all these dark nights that I undergo is to make thy glory shine the clearer and is this the way to let a poor soul that would fain praise thee to drop into the grave and for ought he knowes into hell in darknesse without the least smile from thee c. Arg. 3. The duties God expects of his Saints which cannot be so perfectly and ingenuously performed by any as by an assured spirit Indeed the truth of them may proceed from a soul that is not assured but such high and noble measures cannot 1 Love to him again A man may and every Saint doth love God by a holy sympathy as soon as he is regenerated whether he know it or no and the demonstration of that love in the Saints when they come to discerne it becomes a means of assurance to them As in Antipathies sometimes they are strong in nature and no reason can be given for them Non amo te Sabidi nec possum dicere quare c So in sympathies founded in the nature of the things Why doth Iron love the Load-stone and cleave to it or the needle touched with it point Northward This I constantly affirm that where the soul loves God Gods love is the cause of that love to him and so it is whether it be manifested to his conscience or no because every grace is a fruit of Gods eternal love This I am sure is held out in that excellent place 1 John 4. 19. though I shall not grant it a fruit thereof only when knowne 'T is not said Because we are assured he loved us first but Because he loved us first But yet the love that is without assurance is not so strong so rational so active as that that proceeds from assurance when the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost for this will enable a soul to love much Luke 7. 47. to rejoice in tribulation Rom. 5. 3 5 and do many other difficult duties with more vigor and activity A young child may truly love the Father when it is unable to reason it selfe into the duty of love from experience of the Fathers love but the love that a growne child shews to the father after his experience of many acts of love for many years is more strong solid and rational So when a soul can say as David I love the Lord for c. Psal 116 1 Now God requires his children should grow up into an ingenuous filial love upon grounds of thankfulnesse and reciprocation Ephes 1. 16 17 18 19 He would have them be rooted and grounded in the experimental knowledg of the love of Christ and thence to draw strength to obey him in all things And therefore it must needs be his ordinary way to those Saints from whom he expects this fruit to give them the Spirit of Adoption to testifie this Love to them And there is a Promise that love of good will to Christ shall be seconded with manifestation of love from Christ Joh. 14. 21. 2 Joy in the Holy Ghost and that alwayes 1 Thes 5. 16 Now although a soul may have some sprinklings of joy upon the general hopes which it gathers to it self from general Promises yet it is nothing to that whicâ— particular assurance gives Now God will have the joy of his Saints full joy John 15. 11. And
Spiritual pride may undo a convinced soul It may make a man take that for the end which is but the way nay but the first step in the way Trouble of conscience for sin is a rare thing in the world and where it is wrought in the soul to any large measure especially it puts a great difference between man and man this difference a soul may apprehend too soon so as to be puffed up with the experience of such a work on his spirit Suppose of a crew of profane persons the conscience of one may bee troubled for his lewd courses and this trouble sticks close and drives him from his loose companions and to resolve upon a new course of life Now is Satan apt to strike in and blow up the heart with the thoughts of this work and the man by comparing himself with what he was and what his Associates still are is apt to think Sure now I am in a good condition for I have been troubled for my sins and forsaken my former wayes and therefore I am savingly converted and therefore I have ground to take comfort and apply Promises to my selfe and entertain no more doubts of my condition Here let me at least allude to Matth 12. 43 44 45. The unclean spirit may in some notorious lust or other be cast out and he is rest lesse till he have again recovered his possession and therefore waiteth a time till it be swept and garnished till a barren profession of Religion be taken up and pride make such persons carry it high this furnisheth a lodging for the Divel then he returnes but in another disguise such an unclean dirty spirit must never think to be harboured again in a garnished house therefore he may perhaps wipe his shooes at the door and under a pretence of holinesse or light may get a firmer possession An erroneous Divel in such a proud heart may get possession when a scandalous Divel cannot though afterwards he open the door to more scandalous and unclean then himself Neither doth such a frame of spirit only give advantage to Satan but it also puts a man into a condition incapable of further grace from God seeing he every where annexeth the Promises of grace to those whom he hath throughly humbled Psal 25. 9. Isai 4. 6 He giveth grace to the humble 7. Indiscreet handling by godly Ministers and friends As many a child that comes to the birth is spoiled by the indiscretion of the Midwife Now here are two miscarriages to be avoided A birth may be endangered by over-slacking or overhastning 1 An over-rigorous exacting of such and such 1. preparatory measures in all as in some or 2. such measures of preparation to grace as cannot be attained unto before grace 3. and of such dispositions to the least measure of grace as presuppose growth in grace So when I find a soul humbled and broken under the guilt of sin and the work by all likelihood is serious but failing in some formalities of what is ordinary and usual in others for here I must not think to fit every foot with one shooe if I should hide the Gospel which only converts as to the formal act of conversion from such a soul till I see conviction of sin bring a sinner to attempt self destruction c. because it brings some so far or till it shew it selfe in a floud of tears as in others or till it heighten his troubles into a kind of distraction as in others here I go besides the rule on this side Or should I require in that sorrow for sin a freedome from all self-respect a single aiming at Gods glory absolutely divided from a mans own good should I require that those breakings of heart which I discerne be derived from meer love to God and Christ c. tempers which must needs attend the discovery and enjoyment of Christ and that not only in truth and reality but in sense and evidence and such as all persons who are arrived to a great measure of the Spirit of Adoption do not find or at least very weakly in themselves here I should not only be indiscreet in expecting and requiring that from the Law which is not to be found but in the Gospel but occasion the damping and cooling if not utter quenching those blessed affections through despair of ever causing the stream to ascend so high and so furnish Satan and mans cowardly sloathful heart with matter enâ—ugh of temptation to Apostacy This is a great evil to detain a soul long in the passage from death to life Hos 13. 13. 2 An over hasty and inconsiderate application of comfort before the soul give evidence that it is truly and soundly humbled And this is overhastening the birth which occasions many distortions weaknesses and defects in the person so born into the new world and divers times exposeth the soul to eternal undoing seeing there are very few if any over early and abortive children but are still-born Here is to be considered that all Promises that concerne the Application of Comfort to us are conditional and we are not to administer it but only to capable Subjects So as I have shewed before Christ tyes his yoak and rest together and feeling and removing the weight of sin are in the same place conjoyned Mat. 11. 28 29 30. And the comfortable indwelling of the presence of God in any soul is conditioned with an humble contrite and trembling frame of spirit Isai 66. 2 And blessed are the Mourners for they shall be comforted Mat. 5. 4. Now certainly ere God will speak he will not onely find shewes of these tempers but realities and therefore a Minister who is Gods Deputy in dealing with such persons should labour to come neer him herein for how can Ministers keep to their commission if they loose where God binds 'T is true they are not bound to an infallibility of concluding that such a work is true but only to judg by the effects but when they have sufficient evidence to sway their judgement concerning the real conversion of any soul then to speak comfort is a duty Isai 40. 1. till then 't is a sin The way then how to deal with such persons is this We must search whether the trouble be real or counterfeit sleight or deep fowl or clean inflamed or not and accordingly either widen the wound more to make it capable of admitting a Tent or apply a lenitive plaister to allay the fire of it or a drawing one to fetch out the corruption or lastly an healing to close the Orifice And indeed whiles the trouble is meerly legal and from a Spirit of Bondage the main care and skil of a Minister or friend as to such a one ought to be to find out the mean between these two extremes the heightning the trouble so as to render the soul too superstitiously fearful to close with Christ and lightning or asswaging it so as to undo the soul by a lusory and unsound
sin of ordinary incursion which thou hast been most secure of and madest ordinarily the least account of when thou hast at any time fallen into it Sometimes whiles a Saint watcheth diligently against the incursions of greater sins or such as are more suspicious to him some sin that he makes little account of lyes lurking in the throng to do him a mischief like the Adden in the path as Dan is described Gen. 49. 19. biting the horse heels so that the Rider falleth backward Now the truth is no sin is smal in it self and a smal sin in comparison frequently admitted either by wilfulnesse or security may like a little thief as well steal away such a Jewel as thy spiritual Assurance is as a greater nay because thou thinkest it smal it thereby becomes great by customary commission It may be thou hast not repented for it in particular though often fallen into as thou hast of others and that hath made thee so easie to admit it again into thy heart of late that now it is growne a familiar sin and thou beginnest to regard it in thy heart It need not amaze thee if in this case God withdraw the light of his countenance from thee and that smal sin may do thee that mischief which a greater of which thou art more jealous cannot As a Pick-purse in the habit of a Gentlewoman is least suspected in a Fair and can more securely steal then in ragged beggarly accoutrements That sin which is most unlikely may do it the more easily because it is so unlikely CHAP XXXII Seven other particulars of Advice in this case 3 IF you find that you lost it by such or such a miscarriage of your own you must speedily labour by proceeding in an holy severity against the Malefactor to turn away wrath from you The longer thou delayest the harder it will be to recover the clear sight of thy evidences when thou hast suffered them to lye long under the dirt and dust of such sinful pollutions Take this course then 1 Lament and bewaile both your losse and the cause of it When sin provokes God to hide his face there is a double cause of mourning If a man could notwithstanding sin enjoy the smiles of Gods face yet it is the duty of Gods Saints to mourn for sin and certainly the Saints never mourne more kindly then when the warm beams of Gods love distil the soul into tears as they will do and that upon this account that it is a thing directly contrary to Gods holy nature and Law and therefore displeasing to him though he do not alwayes testifie his displeasure against it But now when to this shall be added the actual manifestation of his high displeasure in the turning away of his face from the souls of his dear Saints for its sake here certainly their sorrow hath a double occasion and they are inexcusable if they shall in this case rejoice as other people Hos 9. 1. Those persons are vain talkers as the Apostle speaks Tit. 1. 10. who deny the Saints of God the exercise of so necessary an affection as godly sorrow in such a condition which is in effect to expose them to a continual darkness uncomfortableness under the absence of God seeing God hath professed that he will with-draw till men acknowledge their offence Hos 5. 15. and hath annexed comfort to a mourning condition Mat. 5. 4. and promised to dwell with the contrite spirit and to revive their hearts Isa 57. 15. and 61. 2. and anointed his sonne with the oyl of gladnesse in especial manner for the sakes of them that mourn in Zion and especially confines his healing grace to brokennesse of heart Isai 61. 1 2 3. putting so honourable a name upon it as to own it for his chiefest and most acceptable sacrifices yea to account it in stead of all other sacrifices For so the expression imports Psal 51. 17. Friends will you lament the losse of your temporal evidences and vex at your own folly in mislaying them or parting with them and can you so easily bear the losse of eternal ones 2. Repent and do your first works Except Apoc. 2. 5. the cause be removed the effect will still remain Till the sinne be removed for which God hath withdrawn himself God will not returne He that avoyds a place because of the infectious ayre or any other inconveniency in his habitation there will not in reason returne till the cause of his removal be removed If thou wilt have Gods face towards thee as at former times thou must set thy face towards him as at former times I have formerly enlarged upon that remarkable place Jer. 31. 18 19 20. Where as soon as Ephraims heart turnes Gods bowels are turned too Is Ephraim a pleasant child c. therefore my bowells are troubled for him c. It is no boot for men to bewail their losse except they remove the sinne that causeth it God may say in this case as he did to Joshua Why lyest thou upon thy face Israel Josh 7. 12. hath sinned and I will be with you no more except you destroy the accursed from among you So he may say to thee why dost thou lye whining at my feet Vp and destroy the accursed thing take away the sinne that makes me leave my habitation and I will return again but till then I will not be drawn to rteurne by all thy prayers and tears Mourning for sinne pleaseth God no farther then it turns us from sinne 3. This and some other special duties which may tend to Gods special glory you may bind your selves to by vowes Psalm 51. 13. 4. But if you cannot finde any thing extraordinary in your selves as to matter of sinne which may move God to withdraw and the Spirit to detain from you the clear sight of your evidences it will yet be good to wait upon God in all duties of Religion with double diligence at such a time and to labour at adventure in the exercise of those duties to affect your hearts with the farther sense of your inclination to those sinnes which are more peculiarly hinted out to you before as especially active in procuring all such sad days to the people of God to waite patiently upon God without those usual distempers of spirit which oftentimes the people of God prolong their troubles by during this time of expectation 5. Labour as much as possibly you can to grow in selfe-abasing humility and an high prizing and pretious esteem of Gods presence that thou maist thereby answer Gods expectation in his present cloudy walking towards thee seeing perhaps he withdrawes his witnessing spirit meerely by way of prevention as oft times he doth God may fore-see the inclination of thy heart to spiritual pride which thou dost not see God may foresee that too much familiarity with him may be apt to be answered with contempt on thy part and if so he may in pity and prudence withdraw the matter