and loath to rise turning like the doore on the hinges but still remaining upon the same hinges The Lord hath said Deut. 29. that he will not be mercifull to such a man but his anger shall smoake against him But you will say what doe you preach damnation to me will you leave us desperate I answer you we preach damnation to you whilst you are in such courses and would make you despaire of your selves to drive you out of your selves unto Christ and it were an houre well spent to put you out of hope but what may wee have no hope left None in the estate you stand but that of the hypocrite which perisheth with him for if thy hope were true it would purifie thy heart as S. Iohn speakes But I may pray But if thou continuest in thy sinnes thy sinnes shall out cry thy prayers and at the day of thy death when the least interest of these promises will bee worth a world it will bee said to thee that thou hadst nothing to doe with them and there was a time when God call'd upon thee and thou wouldst not and therefore then though thou cry to him God will not heare thee But if there bee any broken-hearted sinner desiring to feare the Lord and serve him sincerely that have this witnesse in their consciences that though they doe not that good they would yet they strive against all sins allow themselves in none whether small or great to you I say that of the Apostle 1 Pet. 1. 13. Trust perfectly on the grace brought unto you by the revelation of Iesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trust not by halves but trust perfectly if I had bidden you trust in your sanctification you might have done it imperfectly because your sanctification is but imperfect but seeing it is the free grace of God is brought to you as a rocke to trust and rely upon trust perfectly upon it commit all your waight and burthen to it Heb. 6. 18. God when hee made the covenant of grace tooke an oath to that end that we might have strong consolation this is an argument commonly forgotten among Christians and so they want that strong consolation which they might have Do you think it a small matter to take an oath of God partly and in any degree in vaine God hath sworne that you might have strong consolation and he would have it so strong that when Satan sets upon you it may be as a strong fortresse to hold out against all assaults why is your faith so weake then what are the impediments 1 One is that wee are deceived in the covenant hath not the Lord promised to justifie the ungodly and commanded us to believe on him that justifies the ungodly Rom. 4. 5. and bidden us come with an empty hand and thou commest with an handfull of humiliation and sayest that thou durst not come before and now I can come better in the more thou hast in thy hand the lesse firme is thy hold A man that is in danger to bee drowned cannot take hold of a Cable cast to save his life if hee keepes any thing in his hand an empty hand takes the fastest hold thy humiliation if true will empty thee of all selfe conceit therefore if thou through humiliation hast nothing of thine owne to trust to thou art the fitter object for mercy Be not alwayes poring downewards on thy sinnes but looke up to God Heb. 6. They have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to the hope laid before us which hope wee have as an anker of the soule both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the vaile Verse 18 19. This our hope is not said to bee any thing in our selves but is as a refuge which wee flie unto out of our selves and is laid afore us growes not within from what is within us and is from above now by hope wee are not to understand the thing hoped for or the grace of hope in us but that sure promise of God ratified by an oath this is the object of our hope and so call'd our hope that is it which is our refuge and which is laid afore us and proceeds from Gods owne brest and nature which if we anchor upon wee shall have strong consolation both for surenesse of not failing us and for steadinesse establishing our hearts but whilst we flie for refuge to any thing in our selves or cast anchor upon it we are tossed with every wave 2 Our daily infirmities they also are a great impediment A man thinkes if I had faith that would so purifie my heart as I should not fall thus oft as I doe which whilst I doe how can I have such strong consolation for this I say to all upright hearted Christians that their infirmities should not dishearten their faith and consolation but they should rather labour to strengthen their sanctification Say with thy selfe because my sins are and have been greater than other mens therefore I will labour more for sanctification hereafter I will love more than others and be more serviceable for the time to come but say not therefore I will doubt or despaire of Gods mercy 3. Hinderance to their laying hold of the promises of forgivenesse is a conceit of their want of humiliation as if they were not humbled enough but if it bee so much as brings thee home to Christ if thou thirst for Christ so as nothing will content thee till thou hast him feare not to lay hold this is enough stand not upon the measure Lastly it may bee thou hast not prayed enough for assurance of forgivenesse and therefore wantest it It is here put in as a condition if my people pray and among other things for this to forgive your sinnes and to give them the assurance of it All the arguments in the world cannot perswade the heart of this nothing but the spirit of adoption and can so great a mercy be obtained without fervent prayer therefore goe to God and intreate his favour and though hee deferres yet continue in prayer for it may be the Lord also with-holds it because hee would have thee set an high prize upon it which thou wouldest not doe if thou shouldest obtaine it easily but be not discouraged continue thou to pray still and in the end thou shalt have it with a full hand Heare you mee all yee that are upright and sincere in heart here is your comfort continue thus to seeke Gods face and all your sinnes shall bee as if they had never beene committed by you and what is said of the sinnes of Israel and Iudah Ier. 50. 20. The iniquity of Iacob shall bee sought for and there shall none be found so shall thine be in the day when they shall be sought for Is not this a great and unspeakeable mercy A man shall bee as if hee had never committed sinne even as if hee were as innocent as Adam was
government upon him Let it not seeme strange that he hath or should deale thus with his Churches abroad what though the Candlestick bee removed out of the Palatinate because they were luke-warme and falne from their first love what if he should do it in France what if in England in the Low countries should it seeme strange to us It is his manner so to doe Hee removed Iudah and Ierusalem often out of their pla ces wee should not be offended at it if he doth or if he should doe thus with us as thinking that it is a signe that our religion is not the true religion and that he doth not love his Churches yes those hee loves most hee soonest afflâ—cts for Iudgement must begin at the house of God that is hee lookes on all the world as on Europe now and where he seeth his house is there he beginneth with them for hee is to use others to afflict them and therefore he beginnes with them first Amos 2. 2. You have I knowne of all the Nations therefore will I afflict you soonest and frequentliest though not more deeply than others for though the Church bee brought under water yet she shall rise againe I speake this because men are subject to bee offended at it and Bel larmine I remember makes that an argument that theirs is the Church because they have had so ma ny victories against the Protestants and our Church hath beene ever and anon downe but by that argument the captivity should not have lighted upon Iudah's but upon Nebuchadnezzars people The second Doctrine was that Though God send very sharpe afflictions upon his owne people yet therein his kindnesse and compassions are exceeding great towards them hee cals them you see here my people as if hee should have said you are mine and I cannot forget you a man loves that which is his owne much more God who is all love And this Do-Doctrine had need to bee added to the former Now the reasons and demonstrations of this are three Because he is exceeding slow to afflict and exceeding long about it ere he do's begin and therefore hee makes many offers often before he does it as one that could finde in his heart not to doe it at all Psal. 78. 38. It is said he being full of compassion forgave their iniquity yea many a time did hee call backe his anger when his hand was up and hee giving the blowe hee called it backe againe as one that could not finde in his heart to do it and when hee did it hee did not stirre up all his wrath hee let fall some droppes of it but would not shed the whole shower of it and hee gives the reason of both for they are but flesh and indeed his primary scope is to shew mercy and that hee afflicts is but upon occasion and therefore he is provoked and provoked much before hee doth it As the Bee to give hony it is naturall to it but it stings but by occasion when it is provoked and this wee see to bee true in GOD by experience who suffersmen and suffers them long they continue in their sinnes and yet he continues his mercies and with-holds his judgements His compassion is shewen in sustaining them in their afflictions and in helping them in the mid'st of them Daniel 11. 33 34. When his people should fall by the sword and by the flame c. it is said they should bee holpen with a little helpe that is so much as would sustaine them beare them up the like wee have Zach. 13. 9. I will bring a third part through the fire and they shall come out refined as Gold and Silver is refined lose nothing but their drosse so as hee would sustaine them hold them up And this hee doth by doing of two things 1 by moderating their affliction 2 by so framing and fashioning their hearts so as they shall be able to beare them Hee moderates them they are Still in measure and not beyond their strength Revel 2. 10. saith Christ to the Church of Smyrna Feare none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold Sathan shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and you shall have tribulation ten dayes as if hee should have said I will moderate this persecution and doe measure out the time to you but ten dayes and no more and therefore feare not so as you shall not have so much as Sathan would for he would never give over nor so little as you would for then you should not be afflicted at all If you aske now what it is to be afflicted in measure I answer if afflictions lye so upon his children as to cause them to put forth their hands to wickednesse then it is above measure but if so as they never fret nor faint under it it is not now he hath promised that he wil so accommodate afflictions as they shall not worke so with his people Psal. 125. 3. The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous lest he put forth his hand to iniquity it shall not bee so long as to cause a distemper in the spirit of them so as they should not carry themselves in a meeke manner under it I meane not so but that at the first it may cause a bustling in their spirits as it did in Iob when it grew sharpe and hee spake unadvisedly yet not a substantiall disquiet he came to himselfe againe To this purpose let the Psalme 129. 3 4. be compared with the former God compares there the afflicters of his people to plowers set to plow his ground the Babylonians and all the other enemies were but Gods plowers now they should not doe it as to do them any hurt no more than for his advantage and his Churches they should not goe a foote further for then God cuts their cords in sunder and when the traces are cut then the plow stands still goes not a jot further let the horses doe what they will The second way of sustaining them is in that he so fashioneth their hearts as they shall be able well to beare it and then though it be great if they have strength to beare it it is the lesse A great burthen on a strong mans shoulders is no more than a small one on a weake mans Wee oft wonder that God should lay so great afflictions on his children but we do not see their inward strength and ability they have to beare them Now first he fashioneth their hearts to pray and not to murmure and the greatest affliction it is nothing if they can but pray in Rom. 8. 26. that is one comfort brought in among the rest that sweetneth our afflictions that the Spirit helpeth our infirmities and teacheth us to pray He frameth their hearts to repent and that they should not sinne against him and if sinne bee not mingled with an affliction
it is not bitter if a good conscience bee joyned with it for then it is heavie when it falls upon the shoulder out of joynt or upon the sore place and therefore S. Paul he cared not for death or the prison because he had a cleare conscience all his afflictions were nothing to him for he bare them with a whole shoulder sinne wounds the soule and then affliction dropped in causeth smart Hee frames their hearts to patience and so that keepes their spirit whole so as they possesse their soules and themselves as on the contrary impatience takes the soule off the hinges puts it out of it selfe but whilest a mans spirit is strong and it selfe it will beare its infirmities but when impatient it will beare nothing when therefore afflictions are thus mingled with prayers and repentance and a good conscience and patience it is easie to beare them and it is GOD mingles their cup thus And as CHRIST said shall not I drinke of the Cup which my Father hath mingled although the cup be bitter yet the ingredients he puts in it makes it sweete GOD mingles a cup to them in another manner then to others See how hee mingled a cup to Ahitophel it was no great thing in it selfe it was but that disparagement in the rejection of his counsell yet such an ingredient was put in such an apprehension by Gods providence for though God was not the author of it yet he suffered Sathan to doe it as that it brake his heart and he hanged himselfe See the contrary in David when Ziglag was burnt a great and suddaine affliction yet he bare it well for he had comfort from the Lord an ingredient with it which incouraged him in God and so when he fled before Absalom his owne sonne a great and bitter affliction yet he bare it with such a mind as if hee had beene in his bed asleepe as appeares by the third Psalme which was made upon that occasion when tenne thousand were encamped against him yet hee feared no more then if hee had had never an enemy in the world I will lay mee downe and sleepe c. Thirdly his compassion is shewen in bringing them through and giving them a good issue and comfortable fruit of all as appeares by that place of Zachary 13. 9. Hee carried them through the fire and fined them thereby as Gold led them out and caused them to lose nothing but their drosse or as the Wheat loseth nothing in the winnowing but the chaffe There is an excellent place for this purpose in Esay 27. 8. In measure in the branches thereof thou wilt debate with it so some reade it God promiseth in the former part that Israel should grow like a fruitfull tree and flourish and though he afflicted them yet it should not be so as he afflicteth others hath hee smitten him as he smote those that smote him no hee smote them in the root but him in the branches so as he should grow the more by it God compares himselfe to a man that loppeth his tree but medleth not with the root or body of the tree but with the branches onely and that just so farre as neede was and where they should bee cut and that in season and at the just time that it may grow the more for this is to doe it in measure and this is no more than necessary to make the tree shoot the more and it were spoyled if hee did not deale thus with it Now hee smites others at such a time as they are most unfit for it and that in the roote so as he causeth them to wither they are losers by it as appeares by that wicked King Ioram 2 Kings 6. 33. This evill is of the Lord and what should I wait on the Lord any longer and by that of Ahaz 2 Chron. 28. 22. c. Then in time of distresse Ahab yet trespassed more against the Lord this was that King Ahaz this was the end of that affliction But some good soule will object and say I doe not finde this fruit of my afflictions It may be thou dost not for the present but stay a little till God hath made an end and thou shalt see that affliction which thou thoughtest most sharpe and for which thou sawest no reason and by which for a while you saw you got no good yet when the Lord hath made an end and put all together then I say thou shalt finde thy worst takings thy worst condition profitable and usefull to thee in the time of Winter when the trees wither an unwise man would wonder to see such a spoile but when the Spring comes you know the benefit of it you should not have had such a Spring but for such a Winter And so those varieties of afflictions and crosses which God leades thee through those sins those puttings backe which wee thinke can no way bee advantageouâ— to us they ever in the end will bring forth a Spâ—â—â—g time for all things worke together for good Iudge not by one particular but stay till God hath put all together and thou shalt see it is for good Thence it is that Saint Iames would have us Iames 1. 2. When wee fall into divers temptations to count it exceeding great joy that is hee doth not say when you goe in step by step but when you are precipitated fall all on the suddaine and are pluhged into them so the word in the originall signifieth And secondly not into one but into all sorts into divers afflictions at once affliction in Estate Body Wife Children one upon the necke of another yet rejoyce and not onely so but bee exceeding glad as glad as a Merchant man is to see his Ships come from the Indies laden with riches and full of treasure so beneficiall should they be in the end Now except they did always bring home such treasure and proved not in the issue exceeding good and profitable he could not have desired them thus to rejoyce Now if you aske the reasons why it is so that God deales thus with his Children in afflictions I answer out of the text First sayes hee they are my people they are his owne and therefore hee is full of bowels of compassion towards them as a man is to his owne child because it is his Hosea 11. 8. thou art mine and I cannot deale with thee as with a stranger for my bowells are turned within me as it is there when it came to the casting away of his child he cannot do it So 1 Sam. 12. 22. The Lord will not forsake you for you are his people And so also 〈◊〉 7. 18. Who is a god like unto our God that pardâ—â—◠〈◊〉 iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of thine heritage there lies the reason they are a remnant they are chosen out of the rest of the world and to them hee is so mercifull as there is none
in thee yet they have not that full effect they should for they overcome not that evill that is in thee for notwithstanding all these good things thou art still a Sabbath profaner a drunkard given to company I might goe over all other sins but in a word if they overcome not every sin they are nothing for the saving thee if they had beene effectuall in thee they would have driven out the darknesse all the good things thou hast availe not to thy salvation because they make thee not a good man yea all these good things and the good fits thou hast had will helpe forward thy condemnation because thou hast prophaned the truth in thy heart and hast not put fuell to these sparkes which God in mercy did put in that thou shouldest suffer such Talents as these to lie hid in a Napkin will he not say thou art an unprofitable servant A second thing that is to be added to the sight of your sinnes to humble you is to know that misery and vanity that is in your selves wee see by experience that men will grant that they are great sinners but what is the reason that yet notwithstanding they stand out They doe not know their owne misery and vanity and though wee have preached to men againe and againe their misery yet they are not stirred but when death comes then they are humbled and why but because then they see what God is and what themselves are death shewes them the vanity of the Creature so that the way to bee humbled is to know how unable a man is to bee happy within his owne compasse And to this end consider First the greatnesse of God and his power and the terrours of the Almighty that he is that God in whose hands is thy life and wayes and all and consider that unlesse thou seriously lay thy sinnes to heart this God is thy enemy and him with whom for ever thou hast to doe Consider what a weake creature thou art thinke with thy selfe a sicknesse may come on my body a crosse may come on my estate yea an apprehension of my soule that may sucke up the marrow of my bones and above all I have an immortall soule in a vessell of clay and thinke when that glasse that shell is broke what will become of that poore soule of thine And this would bring a man to the Prodigalls case Belshazzar saw this when hee saw the hand writing upon the wall Had it not beene wisedome in him to have seene and acknowledged it before Thou art well now thou doest not know what alterations may befall thee in the yeare and thou hadst better leave a thousand businesses undone than this And yet thirdly all this will not doe it except the spirit of God come on thee to humble a man is a mighty worke Though Eliah should preach to you yea all the sonnes of thunder should come yet without the spirit they will not be able to humble you yea God himselfe came downe from heaven upon Mount Sinai and with what terrours and yet the people remained unbroken though they were amazed for a time When Christ spake to S. Paul and strucke him off his horse if he had not had a light within as well as without hee had not beene humbled nor the Iaylor if there had not been an earthquake in his heart as well as in the earth Ieroboam had as great a miracle wrought before him as Saint Paul you may well thinke the drying up of his hand amazed him yet made him not give over his sinne and what was the reason there was a miracle in both but not the spirit and if wee did worke miracles before you from day to day yet unlesse God sent his spirit of bondage upon you you would not bee humbled See the necessity of the spirits helpe in admonitions also Amaziah was admonished by a Prophet as well as David by N. than yet hee was not humbled and so wee see some are humbled by afflictions and others not Therefore pray that God would send his Spirit to convince you and learne also not to be offended at us when in preaching the Law your consciences are troubled It is the spirit that troubleth you else our words would not trouble you and therefore bee not angry at us and therefore also doe not put off this duty of getting your hearts humbled for thou art not able so much as to humble thy self therefore take the opportunities of the spirit when he stirs thy heart But you will say this rather discourageth us from the worke for then wee must ever waite like marriners till the tide and the gale comes and I had as good sit still for I may goe about it to no purpose seeing the Lord must doe it I answer thee that if thou wouldest goe about it and shut up thy selfe in private a day and after that another in the end God would send his Spirit When Christ bad them goe and rowe though they rowed all night to little purpose yet CHRIST came at last and they were on the other side presently it may be thou mayest bee about it a moneth or two ere thou findest the Spirit comming yet hee will come in the end and then the worke wil be throughly done for God hath made a promise of the Holy Ghost that hee will baptize with the Holy Ghost as with fire not onely to his Disciples but those that yet never had it for it is not onely for increase but to begin grace Yea if God hath given thee a heart to pray to consider this promise so as thou hast taken up a resolution to waite and to set thy selfe to the worke when thou hast done so the spirit is already in thine heart the worke is begun though thou thinkest not so and never pleade thou canst not do it without the spirit for I aske thee this question didst thou ever commit a sinne in which thou couldest say I did it against my will was there ever any duty which thou hadst a thought to doe that thou couldest say thou couldest not doe it thy heart tells thee no. Therfore set about this duty which is the maine which therefore we have prest much because it is as a naile driven into a wall on which other graces hang. This and Faith are the great things which the master builders are occupied about and indeed the foundation which therefore above all you must looke to and these our exhortations should bee as forked Arrowes to sticke in you and not out againe and not as other Arrowes that wound onely We have done with the negative part That such as doe not humble themselves have no interest in the promises We come now to the affirmative part which is for comfort That if any man doth humble himselfe God will heare his prayer his sinnes shall be forgiven c. The Doctrine is this The Lord will be mercifull unto the humble I
called the vanities of the Heathen that they did neither good nor hurt And such should Gods actions bee Therefore if the crosse doth a man no good by healing his sinne it must needs do him hurt You will aske what hurt It doth aedificare ad Gehennam builds thee up to destruction If you saw a corrasive applyed to the live flesh and to eate out that and not the dead you would say it were applyed for hurt So if you see an affliction that workes upon the live flesh that wounds the heart with sorrow but takes not away the sinne such a crosse you would reckon not the medicine of a friend but the wound of an enemy By this thou maiest judge of thine estate and of Gods love to thee by the issue of thine afflictions T is true that all kindes of crosses fall alike to all sicknesse poverty c. upon the godly and the wicked the difference is onely in the issue The same Sunne shâ—nes upon all but it hardens one and it softens another and the same winde blowes upon all but it carrieth one Ship into an Haven and dasheth another against a rock Consider therefore whether thy afflictions brings thee home to the Lord or whether it drives thee from the Lord upon the rockes T is a common observation that when physicke works not you say the party is mortally sicke So when afflictions worke not it is a signe hee is a man of death If as Matth. 7. Hee that takes not an admonition from his brother is desperately wicked either as a Swine to trample on it or as a Dog to devour How much more when a man is admonished by God himselfe and is worse after it Now every affliction is an admonition from the Lord. In the fifth of Esay when God had pruned his Vineyard and it did it not good it was then at the next doore to destruction and laying wast If therefore thou hast had some great affliction and now it is off thinke with thy selfe what profit and good came to thee by it Did it come from Gods providence or not if it did there was somthing he intended and which it did imtimate to thee If thou then didst suffer it to passeby without taking any notice of God in it or if thou didst yet art not reclamed God must needs be exceedingly provoked he will suffer the tree to stand one yeare or so to see if it will bring forth fruit but if it doth not then says cut it downe There are certaine times wherein the LORD by affliction shâ—wes himselfe as it were to a man makes apparitions so as a man may grope after him and feele him and take notice what hee would have If such passe away and no good is done it is no presage of health as is that sicknesse which comes by physicke but of destruction 't is but as a drop of wrath fore-running the great storme a crack fore running the ruine of the whole building Seeke not therefore in distresse so much to have the crosse removed as the sin Iames 1. Rejoyce sayes the Apostle when you fall into sundry tentations which hee would not have said if healing the sin had not been the greater mercy than the induring the affliction is grievous and dolorous and if thou hast an affliction on thee say 't is best I will be content to indure it still for God meanes me good by it on the contrary if thou lashest out and yet art in health and prosperity c. and thy sins still continue but thou art not afflicted and God suffers thee to thrive in sinne it is a signe God will destroy thee that hee leaves thee wast as a vineyard to bee overgrowne with briars and thornes And the last doctrine is That take away the sinne the crosse will surely follow and bee taken away also either it or the sting of it so as it shall be as good as no crosse An Affliction consists not in the bulke of it but in the burthen What is a serpent without a sting what is a great bulk if it have no waight God can so fashion the heart as that it shall not feele the burden of it 1. Because crosses do come for sinne Indeed some are not for sinne but for triall for the confirmation of the Gospell some for the glory of God as that blindnesse in the blind man some for triall onely as Abrahams offering up his sonne yet for the most part they come from sinne 2. God never afflicts but for our profit so says the Apostle Heb. 12. Our fathers after the flesh corrected us not alwayes for our profit but they out of passion oftentimes but He for our profit Now when he hath thereby made us partakers of his holinesse and so we have ceased from sinne then he will cease to afflict It was otherwise you will say with David his sinne was forgiven as Nathan told him and yet the crosse was not removed for his child died and the sword departed not from his house There is an exception in these two cases 1. Of scandall when the name of God is blasphemed then though he forgive the sinne yet he may go on to punish for his names sake 2. When we are not throughly humbled for there may be true repentance when our lusts are not enough mortified God doth it that the heart may be the more cleansed Thus David Psal. 51. cries out of his broken bones and why his heart he sayes was not cleansed and therefore hee prayes for a cleane heart and a right spirit This affords matter of comfort When any judgement is upon us we are apt to thinke we shall never be rid of it but if thou canst get but thy heart humbled and thy lusts mortified God will take away the crosse It is our fault to say when we are afflicted that we shall never see better daies why so is not God able to remove it and if the sinne be removed he will be willing also No man is in an hard case but he that hath an hard heart we are apt to think in all conditions that what is at present will alwaies continue if we be in prosperity we are apt to think as they in the Prophet that to morrow will be as to day and much more abundant so if in affliction to say also that as it is to day it will be to morrow and so for ever But know that if you humble your selves and turne from the evill wayes God will take away the calamity There is an excellent place for this 1 Pet. 5. 6. Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God and he shall exalt you in due time When a man is humbled by God let him humble himselfe and then God will exalt him that is the due time and he will not stay one jot longer And that which I say of present affliction I say also of crosses for the future which you may feare that your sinnes will
to bring the soule backe againe you must therefore take a great deale of paines with your hearts That which is said of Ministers fullones animarum fullers of mens soules that is every man now to be himselfe to wash out the staines of his heart and to make his soule whiter as it is Dan. 11. and that will move GOD either not to bring afflictions or to remove them and therefore clense your hearts from all pollution of flesh and spirit and know that to get staines of a deepe dye out will cost a great deale of paines you must scoure till your soules ake againe and though it cause the skinne to come off and if you do the worke your selves thus and plow your owne hearts GOD shall not need to doe it by afflictions therefore doe it and give not over till you have done it and have brought your hearts to be throughly humbled for them for that is a great meanes to doe it What else is the meaning of that in Iames 4. Cleanse your hearts yee sinners c. but how should we doe it would some say afflict your selves and mourne and let your laughter be turned into mourning bee content to sit alone get out of company and not to take your former liberties and mourne and humble your selves and doe it constantly for it is not bowing downe the head for a day which God regards but let sorrow abide in your hearts It is continuance that God regards doe it and doe it to purpose for the want of this is the reason of the coldnesse and remisnesse in our profession namely that we are not throughly and constantly humbled it is the ground of every grace and the growth of it What seed is sowne in a heart broken in pieces thrives and prospers but all instructions falling upon an heart not broken will bring forth no fruit If you were humbled wee should find wonderfull fruit of our Ministery Doe this therefore but one day and you will be the fitter for it the next Sorrow should be as a spring that runs a long constantly from day to day The sorrowes of many are but as land-flouds and take heed that the continuance of this duty from weeke to weeke make you not slacken your course herein suffer not your hands to faint When these duties are new you are apt to do much but when a while continued to bee perfunctory in them And let not any man complaine that he loseth a daies work for is there any work so necessary as the salvation of the soule Neither complaine that a daies study is lost for is there any excellency to the saving Image of God stampt on the heart Wee are hence to be exhorted to chuse the Lord for our God when you heare hee is so mercifull a God for no man ever served the Lord but he first made choyce of him to be his Master Every man when he comes to yeares of discretion and to be master of himselfe adviseth with himselfe what course he should take whether he should serve God or the world Now all the Saints of God have made this distinct choyce we will serve the Lord and goe to no other Moses when both stood before him the pleasures of Aegypt on the one hand and God and his people with their afflictions on the other hee chose the latter before the former Heb. 11. 25. So David sayth he did I have chosen the way of truth thy Iudgements have I laid before mee Psal. 119. 30. for to chuse is when a thing lyes before a man and hee considers and takes it So Ioshua I and my house will serve the Lord. Now I exhort you that seeing you are to make some choyce that seeing God is such a God so exceeding mercifull that you would make this choyce let him be your God for what moves a man to make choyce of one course of life rather then another the ground of it is some happinesse that he seekes when men consider what makes most for their happinesse that they will chuse Now if men were perswaded that to chuse God were the best way for happinesse they could not but chuse him and surely if God be so exceeding kind and mercifull a God their chiefest happinesse cannot but be found in him alone and surely there is no husband no friend so loving as he no father so kind as he so tender hearted he goes beyond all the sonnes of men for love and tendernesse and kindnesse for if there be any kindnesse in any man or woman the Lord hath put it in him That naturall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and affection in Parents c. is not a drop to that Ocean not as a beame to the Sunne to what is in him And if the kindnesse in them be an excellency then surely it is in him And if the Lord hath commanded us to be amiable and full of bowells and goodnesse and easie to be entreated as being a part of that his image and that holy frame of heart which ought to be in us is it not then much more in himselfe but that I may not urge a bare exhortation without some reason Consider how mercifull the Lord hath beene to us and how gracious he is to them that make choyce of him for first hee giveth them the comfort of his presence and there is no comfort like that For joy and comfort is nothing else but the agreeablenesse of a thing to a mans minde applicatio convenientis convenienti Now there is nothing that better agreeth with mans minde then the presence and face of God for lusts and pleasures are the diseases of the soule and the pleasures that agree to them are the destruction of it Besides when thou art reconciled to him thou art out of all debt and danger he will set thy soule at rest that was rest lesse before And besides when thou hast the Lord to be thy God thou hast one to whom thou maiest goe and unbosome thy selfe to advise withall when thou canst not gâ—â— to any in the world one thou maist fetch comfort from when thou seest no comfort any where else thou maist runne to him as to a refuge when thou art overwhelmed with oppositions slanders and ill reports and besides all this and the glory which we shall have in heaven consider what there is that thy heart can desire that hee will not doe for thee If thou hast any businesse to doe God will doe it better for thee then thou canst for thy selfe the Lord workes all our workes in us and for us Esay 26. 12. Art thou a Scholler and hast studies to bring to perfection a Tradesman and hast enterprises to bring to passe art in straights he will be entreated of thee to doe all for thee if thou go to him and hee will bring it better to passe then thou canst with all thy policie Againe Art thou fallen into poverty into sicknes into disgrace thou shalt finde
of the Lord and the Lord is called by their names so he is called the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob c. so that it sâ—â—mes that there is as it were a certaine match betweene them a mutuall agreement and relation as there is betweene a husband and a wife a father and a sonne so if thou beest one who is married to Christ and hee hath changed thy heart and begotten thee anew by his word and art dedicated to his service as his Temple then thou art called by his Name And the only reason of this is because he hath chosen thee there is no other when hee cast his eyes upon all the earth he chose thee out to have his Name called on thee as it is said of the Temple at Ierusalem that he chose that place rather then any other to put his Name there and there is the same reason why his Name is called upon a whole Church as when he looked on Europe he chose out the reformed Churches to put his Name there and where the Lord puts his name there he dwels so as the one is put for the other either to say he chose a place to dwell in or that his name is called upon it they are all one There are two places where God dwelleth Isa. 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 who is of a contrite and humble spirit c. The highest heavens and the lowest hearts are Gods chiefest dwelling places He hath indeed other places he dwelleth elsewhere but in these two he manifesteth a peculiarity of his presence and that peculiarity is of the presence of his grace and comfort for he saith in the same vers to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones hee reveales himselfe to these and his secrets which are hid from all the rest and hee fills their hearts with joy and comfort If we be such as beare the Name of God then let us learne to be obedient unto him to give up our selves unto him for so much is intimated by this that we are called by his Name and therefore we are said in Scripture to bee baptized into the Name of Iesus Christ that is we doe by our baptisme professe thus much that we give our selves to his service for to beare his Name is to beare our owne names no more that is our owne natures no more A man that is called by the Name of the Lord is no more sui juris his owne man As a man that giveth himselfe to serve another how much hee serveth himselfe so much hee wrongeth that man And the reason why a wife leaves her owne name it is to shew that shee is to give up her selfe to the obedience of her husband shee is not mistresse of her selfe not free shee depends on her husband as the Ivie on the tree shee hath no root of her owne to rest on but dependeth on him So wee having taken the Name of the LORD upon us wee must thinke that wee are no longer free wee leave our owne names wee must have no more root of our selves but of the Lord we must have no will of our owne his will must be ours therefore yee that beare the Name of the Lord let it not bee in profession onely but doe that thing which the Name requireth that is follow no more your selves but follow GOD. A Wife before had the name of her father but when shee is married as she leaves that name so she leaves father and mother also to cleave to her husband if her Parents command one thing and her husband another shee leaves her father and mother and cleaves to her husband so as leaving father and mother implies leaving to beare affection to them in comparison to her husband and thus must you doe to Christ as you have it in Luke 14. 26. If thou wouldest bee matched to the Lord thou must be divorced from all things else in the world from every thing that is very neare and deare to thee father and mother sonnes and daughters are deare but you must hate them all for Christs sake or you can not be his Disciples yea he that is married to the Lord must hate and deny his owne soule when his owne soule desires one thing and Christ another he must deny it and be divorced from himselfe and take no roote from himselfe but from the Lord because he is able to sustaine him Wives are not bound to destroy themselves for their husbands but this bond is nearer therefore Ephes. 5. 31 32. this neere conjunction betweene man and wife is made but as a shadow of that betweene Christ and his Church who is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone verse 30. And as for this cause they leave father and mother as the Apostle sayes verse 31. so for this cause must wee leave all to cleave to Christ and bee subject to him as verse 24. that is our will must be subject to the Lords As if thou hast such a journey to go say yea but what sayes my husband to it thus Saint Iames teacheth us to speake Iam. 4. I will goe into such a City if God will so in other businesse say if the Lord will to whom I am married I will doe it else not and you have reason for it because Christ loves us as his Spouse and body by this union we are one flesh with him yea one spirit and no man hates his owne flesh saith the Apostle there though a man hath all the imperfections in his body that may be soares and biles c. yet he hates not his owne flesh but laboureth partly to cover those wounds and imperfections and to heale them if he can for it is his owne body So doth the Lord love you if you have taken him to bee your husband you have reason therefore never to forsake him And if any should object and say I am a sinfull wretch an unfit match for him Con sider that yet being his he will cover your imperfections with his righteousnesse as a man covers his sores from the view of others and he will wash you from your corruptions As if a man have a sore arme he doth not only cover it but also washeth it and heales it because it is a member of his So sayeth the Apostle there hee hath washed his Church with his owne bloud And this the Apostle S. Paul calleth a great mystery as if hee had said great things are now revealed therein to you and worth your considering why therefore should wee not give up our selves to him a Wife may object against her husband and say another ones husband is more wise more kind but thou canst say nothing against him Consider this and let it not only be as a notion in your heads but let it sink down
heart is hard still It may be so indeed and your heart not softned but yet this I say First for thy comfort that if thou continue doing this the Lord accepteth it but if thou dost it not thy bloud shall bee upon thine own head we require that thou shouldst only labour to doe it and the Lord will accept it though thou art not able to soften thine heart And secondly know for thy comfort also that God will joyne with thee if thou labour thus with thy heart and send the spirit of humiliation on thee as the Disciples though they rowed all night yet CHRIST came at the last so though thou toilest many dayes and makest no proficiency as thou thinkest yet know that God at length will come and help thee and that because he hath commanded thee to doe this he will not suffer you to be doing that alwayes in vaine which he commandeth and therefore hee will come but that you may have the more ground for this remember that you have many promises made of Gods helpe as in Luk 11. 13. If yee then being evill know how to give good gifts unto your chil dren c. You shall never alone of your selves bee able to soften your hearts without the Holy Ghost but continue knocking and the Lord will give you the Holy Ghost though you bee but strangers So that every man may come to God and say Lord thou hast made such a promise thou canst not goe from thy word and therefore deny me not and bee earnest with God and hee cannot deny thee The woman of Canaan was not a Iew yet shee having this ground that hee was the Messias she would not bee put off therefore doe thou so and thou shalt in the end finde that thy heart is softned and the longer thou waitest the greater measure thou shalt have of the spirit and when thou hast him hee shall humble thy heart as in Zach. 12. 10. I will poure upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and supplications and they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for an onely sonne The people of Israel were here exhorted to mourne and to separate themselves and to doe it every family apart The businesse was the same that you are to doe every fast-day Now sayes GOD if you seeke me aright you must have the spirit and sayes GOD I will doe my part I will poure on you the spirit of bowells for so the word may be translated The meaning of it is this that when the Spirit of God is thus upon you you will bee tenderly affected to the Lord even as a mother toward her child then saith hee they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for his only sonne and be in bitternesse for him that is you shall then remember your rebellions and the remembrance of them shal be bitter to your soules as bitter things are to your tast so it was with Iosiah the reason why his heart melted and he wept when he heard the booke of the Law read was because he had the spirit of bowells which every one of us should have So Iob Now I have seene thee I abhorre my selfe Iob 42. he was not thus before he was a holy man but this was a new worke for says he I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now my eye sees thee He was enlightened anew as it were the spirit shined into his heart with a new light I have beene in a myst all this while in comparison but now mine eye hath seene thee and I have an experimentall feeling of thee now I abhor my selfe It is a hard thing to abhorre a mans selfe thus which then a man doth when Gods Spirit with a new light enableth a man to see Gods love and kindnesse and his owne unkindnesse in their colours If the Lords Name be called upon us we should learne hence to keepe his Name faire to keepe it pure and unspotted As it was said of Saint Paul he was a chosen vessell to carry Gods Name and therefore it behooves them to take heed how it bee polluted by them or they give occasion that it be blasphemed for the evill committed by you reflects vpon the Name of the Lord. A small thing is a great matter in you one fly corrupts a box of oyntment but many flies in a barrell of Pitch or Tarre are counted nothing so many sinnes in a wicked man redound not so much to the dishonour of Gods Name as one in the Saints When a Saint doth a thing that is uncomely hee polluteth the Name of the Lord not that it can be polluted in it self but it seemes so to other men Before men are regenerate their sinnes are as blots upon a table before a Picture be drawne upon it which are not regarded of any but after it is drawne the least blot is seene of every one So it is when men are but strangers to God the sinnes which they commit reflect not to the disgrace of God but when Gods Image is renewed in a man then these sinnes are more taken notice of and cause the Name of God to be blasphemed of his enemies This should teach us not to be ashamed of God and the profession of his Name for shall the Lord not be ashamed of us as he shewes he is not when he is willing to put his Name upon us and shall we be ashamed of him it is an unreasonable and an unequall thing for a child to be ashamed of his father for a wife to bee ashamed of her husband and so for us to be ashamed of the Lord whose Name we beare This is the rather to bee spoken of because it is a fault very common amongst us that we doe not take notice of But the most will say we are not ashamed of religion but wee account it rather a glory to bee accounted Christians Give mee leave to examine you by these two Questions First are you not ashamed of the strictest ways of religion There is a common course of Religion that you need not be ashamed of because all are for it and commend it but yet there are some speciall acts of Religion that men cast shame upon such was that act of David when he daunced before the Arke which seemed absurd in Michals eyes for a King to doe yet he said I will be yes more vile some of the wayes of God give a more peculiar distaste to wicked men and there is a shame cast upon the power of Religion by reason that the multitude goeth another way Now what is singular that shame is cast upon as in any thing let the multitude have never so ill favoured a fashion it is no shame whereas if a few others weare a garment farre more
those hearers signified by the second and third ground did who received the seed with joy and as those of whom it is sayd Christ would not commit himself to them but stay with him men will not unlesse they be humbled For unlesse a man be brought to part with al for Christ and to sell all he will in the end repent of his bargaine if there bee a reservation of any thing the time will come he will goe backe and start aside like a broken Bowe and untill a man be throughly humbled he will not be brought to part with all for CHRIST he that is humbled he onely is the Merchant-like minded man who sells all hee hath and goes away rejoycing is glad at the heart that hee hath Christ though with the losse of the whole world he is willing to take Christ upon all conditions with losses and crosses and to deny himselfe in every thing for he knowes the bitternesse of sin and so sets such a price upon Christ as if the bargaine were to make againe he would doe as hee had done but the other what he hath done in a fit he repents him of afterwards and therefore true repentance which godly sorrow and true humiliation worketh is called repentance never to be repented of 2 Cor. 7. 10. Other sorrow than Godly may worke a repentance but it is such as men afterwards repent of Men are soone weary of the yoke of CHRIST because they have not felt how grievous the yoke of sin and Sathan is but to one who hath felt the burthen of sin the yoke of CHRIST is easie and sweete The last Reason hath relation to the last thing here promised of taking away the Iudgements and healing the Land God should not have the praise of his Iudgements and of his Mercy in taking them away unlesse men were humbled for if when God did afflict men he should restore them againe without this humiliation men would thinke that God wronged them before and now did but right them but when God hath humbled them so farre that they acknowledge his Iustice in afflicting them and their owne desert to be utterly destroyed and confesse that it is his mere Mercy they were not consumed and humble themselves under his mighty hand and now if the Iudgement be taken off and his wrath blowne over then they give him the praise of his Mercy and Iudgements Thus you see why of necessity it is required Now let us see the reason of the order of it why it is required thus in the first place It is the first condition here there is something in the order and to be said by way of reason for it and the reason in generall is because nothing is acceptable to God till the heart be humbled You may pray which is another condition and you may heare c. but all you doe is but lost labour unlesse it come from a broken heart For first that is alone a fit sacrifice for God without which act no sacrifice is accepted This you may see Psalme 51. 16 17. Thou desirest not sacrifice else I would give it thee thou delightest not in burnt offerings The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite hart oh God thou wilt not despise David knew that till his heart was broken all his good deeds and all holy duties would have beene in vaine and it is as if David should have said Lord before I was thus humbled and my heart thus broken as in the beginning of the Psalme hee had expressed that it was Thou didst desire no sacrifice of me nor wouldst have delighted in no burnt offering from mee but the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and other duties but as they come from it This is the maine sacrifice and with out it nothing acceptable unlesse it be laid upon this low Altar which sanctifies the Sacrifice As it is only a fit Sacrifice for God so this only makes us fit Priests to God and before we are fit to offer a sacrifice acceptable we must be Priests and we become not Priests to God till we have offered our selves first to God as a sacrifice 2 Cor. 8. 5. and that we are not till we our selves be slaine and broken and so made a sacrifice Nothing is accepted till the Holy Ghost dwell in the heart and untill a man bee Humbled the Spirit of God dwells not in his heart And therefore what he doth till then savours not of the Spirit but a carnall heart and so is not acceptable Til a man is humbled he keepes the doore shut upon the Lord and His Spirit There is one within his heart is full already hee dwells in his owne heart himselfe therefore it is said Esa. 57. 15. That he dwells in a contrite heart that is in it alone for there is only roome for him to do what he will in all the chambers of it Vntill a man will be obedient in all things no thing he doth is acceptable Hee that turnes his eare from the Law his prayer shall bee abominable Now one that is not humbled throughly hee may bee obedient in many things hee may pray c. but yet he will have by wayes of his owne he hath not fully renounced himselfe that is not Humbled Now unlesse a mans obedience be generall nothing is acceptable And so wee come to the second thing propounded what this humiliation is and herein our maine enquiry is after that which is mainely intended in the text What it is to humble a mans selfe But because the finding of it out depends upon the other also wee will with it shew also what it is to be humbled that so wee may the better know the true humiliation required of us and for the finding out of this wee will first set before you the examples of them who have humbled themselves and have been humbled in Scripture and from thence gather what it is For this you shall finde Manasses in the 2 Chroâ— 33. in his affliction humbling himselfe greatly and the Lord was intreated of him vers 12. Likewise wee have that of S. Paul humbled Acts 9. 6 where we find him trembling and astonished and saying Lord what wilâ— thou have me doe See another example in Acts 2. 37. of those who were prickt in their hearts crying out what shall we do to bee saved And so of the Goaler Acts 16. who came trembling and astonied and would have killed himself and likewise of the Prodigall Luk. 15. which though a parable yet sets forth this condition of a soule humbled to us of whom it is said that none gave unto him and that hee came unto himselfe c. Out of all these we gather those two maine parts of Humiliation mentioned humiliation passive and active The first whereof makes way for the second unto which no promise is made and which may be found in an unregenerate man the second which is
the fruit of Sanctification which is meant here and unto which the promise is made These goe both together in the godly and hee that hath the second never wants the first in some measure more or lesse though many have the first that have not the second Now the first is nothing else but a sence of sin and Gods wrath for it expressed to us in those former examples by being prickt in the heart it being a wounding of the heart and spirit Vnto which is joyned trembling feare with considering and comming to a mans selfe aswee have it in the Parable And this passive Legal humiliation stands in these particulars A sensiblenesse of sinne before a man is as one that is in a dead sleep what is done to him he feeles not nor what is said he heares not is sensible of nothing But this is the awakening of a man to be sensible of sinne so as now hee is wounded now he is smitten with it now he feeles it So the Goaler as the foundation of the prison was shaken so was his heart also and had an earth-quake within as well as one without and his awaking out of sleepe was a resemblance of his awakened heart This humiliation makes a man fearefull of his estate whereas before he was bold and others that are not humbled goe on boldly and are punisht as it is said of the foole in the Proverbs It makes a man consider his estate which he never did before as the Prodigall came to himselfe that is entered into a serious consideration of his estate before a man thought himselfe in a good estate little imagined hee was in the gall of bitternesse but this worke shewes him his poverty and that he is altogether naked and that hee hath nothing to sustaine him as the Prodigall saw he had not no worth at all in him And this first worke of humiliation is wrought by the Law and the curse thereof which sayes in his hearing Cursed be he that abides not in all things to doe them By the Law I say which is the rule of righteousnesse whereof all particular rules are branches and by the threatnings thereof which are all branches of that great curse The one being as the lightning to discover sinne the other like the thunder-bolt that strikes the heart with feare of Gods Iudgements the one is like the Inditement the other as the Sentence of the Judge I put both these together because both goe to humble a man The Law is like the Task-masters of Egypt that commanded the Israelites to do the worke but gave them no straw so the Law tells us this and this is to bee done and binds us to doe it but gives us no strength and so thereby discovers our sinfulnesse and unability to any good and then as the task-masters did beate them that failed of their tale so comes the curse and strikes them dead that continue not in all things to do the Law and these two put together worke this Legall humiliation neither by the Law is meant only those ten words spoken in Horeb but together with the explanation of them as wee finde them expounded in the Prophets and the whole Scriptures so that by the Law is meant that rectitude which the whole Scripture doth require Now therefore when the Scriptures are laid to our hearts the rectitude of the Scriptures is compared with the crookednes of our hearts and lives and thereby we come to see how that the least sinne is forbidden and that the least dutie must not be omitted and that we must give an account for every idle word and every lustfull thought and motion in the heart as S. Paul when humbled saw lust to be sinne and then we come to see withall the curse due to the lease This humbleth a man And unto this is further required the help of the Spirit joyning therewith without which the Law doth not humble a man who is therefore called the spirit of bondage because he enlightneth a man to see his bondage and slavery to sin and Sathan and his subjection to Gods wrath not that hee makes him such or brings bondage with it but discovers it and this not onely by shewing a man his bondage but he makes him believe it For there must be a faith to humble as well as to comfort whereas wee set light by the threatnings and believe them not for would the swearer sweare if he believed that threatning the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine When therefore the Spirit enlighteneth a man to see his sinnes and makes him believe the threatnings denounced against them then a man is humbled and not before And yet though these threatnings are propounded by the Word and made effectuall by the Spirit yet usually some affliction puts life into them as wee see in Manasses and also in S. Paul who was first struck off his horse to the ground and in the laylor who thought verily all his prisoners gone for whom his owne life must have beene answerable so as hee would have killed himselfe sometimes a reall affliction sometimes an imaginary one an apprehension of Judgement shame poverty misery doth God use to put life into the threatnings and they put life into the Law and then the Law is brought home to the conscience and so sinne is brought to light for when men are sensible of miseries then they are often brought to to inquiry into the Law of God to find what should bee the cause of it and when the Law is brought home to the conscience then sinne is made alive Saint Paul saies Romans 7. Sinne appeares to bee sin which before was as colours in the darke and sin being made alive then I dyed saies Paul there that is he apprehended himselfe a dead man in which is a discovery of sinne and our subjection to death for it wherein doe consist those two parts of this former humiliation which makes way for the second humiliation Thus you see what to be humbled is Now wee come to the second what it is to humble a mans selfe which begins when the other ends for then a man lookes out for the remedy as those who cryed out what shall we doe to be saved which is the second thing to be observed in those examples after the wounding of their hearts they made an enquiry what to doe to be saved For those that belong to Gods Election goe yet further there is another kinde of Evangelicall humiliation wrought in them which is a fruit of sanctification for in one whom GOD meanes to save when hee is come to this the LORD sends the spirit of adoption into his heart the spirit of grace as Zaâ—hary calls him which gives him some secret hope hee shall bee received to mercy if hee will come in which is a worke of faith in some degree begun and then says the soule with it selfe I will
goe and humble my selfe I will goe home to God and change my course and give up my selfe to him and serve him and this we shall finde in these examples mentioned before especially of the Prodigall Luk. 15. he came to this conclusion If I stay here I dye for hunger but in my fathers house there is bread enough here was hope that bred this resolution I will goe home and say to my father I have sinned against heaven and against thee c. here was that true humiliation we speake of So Manasses hee humbled himselfe greatly out of an hope of mercy for a man comes not to this active humiliation wherein he kindly humbleth himselfe unlesse hee hath hope of mercy and the beginning of faith is with a hope of mercy which sets a man a worke to goe to God and say Lord I have committed such and such sinnes but I will returne to them no more I am worthy of nothing Now there are foure severall compositions or foure paires of ingredients that have influence into this second kind of humiliation to cause us to humble our selves 1 Payr an hope of mercy as wel as a sence of misery that whereas before wee did looke upon God as a severe Judge we looke now on him as one willing to receive us both are requisite Sence of misery onely brings a man but to himselfe as the Prodigall first is said to come to himselfe but hope of mercy joyned with it drives a man home to God as it did also him without which sence of misery drives us from the LORD but hope of mercy being added to it causeth this active humiliation wee speake of whereby wee say I will goe and humble my selfe 2 Payre of ingredients are the sence of our own emptinesse together with an apprehension of that Alsufficiency that is in God which we also may see in the Prodigall when he said I shall starve and die if I stay here but in my fathers house is bread enough he lookt to that alsufficient fulnesse that was in God to supply his wants The creature whilst it findeth any thing in it selfe it will stand upon its owne bottome and not bee humbled but when it finds nothing in its selfe but emptinesse then it beginneth to seeke out for a bottome which it seeing to be in God alone it goes out to him for men will not be drawne off from their owne bottome till they see another bottome to stand upon 3 There must bee a sence of a mans owne sinfulnesse and the LORD JESUS his righteousnesse and so a light comes in that discovereth both thus when S. Paul was humbled there was a light shone about him which was an outward symbole of that new light which shone within him of Christ and his owne sinfulnesse A sence of the love of God and Christ joyned with the sence of a mans unkindnesse unto God whereby wee looke upon sinnes as injuries done to God and an unkindnesse shewne therein And now let us see the difference betwixt these two works or parts of humiliation that wee may further understand what it is to humble our selves And first they differ in the matter they are conversant about in that first a man is humbled properly but for the punishment a man indeed is humbled for sinne yet principally as it hath relation to punishment it is guilt works on him he is not humbled for sin as it is contrary to God and his holinesse but as contrary to himself and his own good and thus we are not humbled till we come to love God and to have a light discovering the holines and purity of his nature which one that is savingly humbled hath wrought in him They differ in their grounds and principles whence they arise The first ariseth but from selfe-love and is but a worke of nature though thus farre a worke of God to stirre up self-love by the sence of misery and to awaken it but so as any unreasonable creature if in danger useth to be sensible of it and what wonder then is it for a man when hee begins to have some sence of hel and death let into his conscience to be wounded and apprehensive of it but the other ariseth from the love of God kindled in the heart by hope of grace and mercy They differ in the instrumental causes that work them the one is wrought by the spirit of bondage by an enlightning meerly to see his bondage and the soule is as one that is in bondage fearing God as a master and he hath no further light than thus to see God as a Judge but this other is wrought by the spirit of adoption making the Gospell also effectuall discovering God as a father They differ in their effects as The one driveth a man from GOD but this latter causeth a man to goe to GOD and to seeke Christ it workes that affection to Christ that the Church in the Canticles had to him who would not give over seeking him till she had found him whom her soule did love Though there bee twenty obstacles in the way yet the soule hath no rest as a stone hath no rest till it bee in its owne center so nor this soule thus humbled but in God and therfore gives not over seeking him though it hath never so many denyalls The first breeds death an acedia a deadnesse and listlesnesse it makes a man as a log that moves not to God in prayer So it wrought in Nabal and Achitophel it breeds such discouragement as often ends in death Of worldly sorrow and such is all sorrow whereof God is not the end commeth death but when it is right and true and kindly sorrow for sinne it doth that which an affection should doe it quickneth him to doe that which he ought to do so feare when it is right worketh and so all other affections which were put into the soule for that end that it might bee stirred up by them to that which it should doe for GOD and its owne good and therefore this affection of sorrow for sinne quickens a man to seeke out to God when it is right The first breeds a fiercenesse and turbulency in a mans spirit as we see often in men whose consciences are awakned to see their sinnes they are fiercer then they were before for guilt of sin vexeth their spirits and where there is no sence of mercy from God there is none to men but hee that is broken for sinne spends his anger upon himselfe frets chiefly for his owne vilenesse and unworthinesse and the Peace of God which his heart hath a sence of makes his spirit gentle and peaceable and easie to be entreated and perswaded bring him Scripture and a child may lead him and perswade him The rough wayes are made smooth the rough and froward dispositions of the heart and every Mountaine-like affection cast downe as it is said they were by Saint
Iohns ministery who came to humble men and prepare men for Christ. They differ in their continuance the former a lone proves but a passion and it comes but from flesh so as all the fruites of flesh are it is but as the flower of the grasse of the same fading nature the roote is from whence it comes though it comes like a violent torrent into the heart and swells above the bankes yet it is but as a land-floud but this latter is as a constant river that hath a spring which though it keepes within the bankes and doth not overflow so much as the other yet it runnes constantly and the further it runnes the greater it growes I will give you also some properties of that humiliation to which the promise is made here by which it may bee yet further knowne and differenced We will take those fruites of it wee finde in the text 1 It will make a man pray and 2. Seeke Gods face and turne from his evill wayes it hath alwayes these as the consequences of it To pray Iudas was humbled but hee had no minde to pray nor an ability to pray the spirit of prayer went not with it but hee that hath that true humiliation is able to poure forth his soule to God and indeed prayer is not the worke of the memory and wit but the proper worke of a broken heart Againe secondly to seeke Gods face this true humiliation cuts a man off from his owne roote and bottome and causeth him to seeke the Lord alone which seeking useth to be expressed in prayer that other will cause a man to seeke mercy but this to seeke Gods face that is if they have his favour it is enough they seeke God as sequestred from all things else though such a soule had assurance of being freed from hell it would not content him unlesse he saw Gods face That which Absalom counterfeited as knowing it to be a true straine of a loving and humbled child to a Father when he had his life given him though banished from the Court Let mee see my Fathers face though hee kill mee it is an humbled soule in truth towards God others as God sayes in Hosea Seeke mercy but they turned not to mee they sought not me True humiliation causeth a man to turne from his evill wayes the other makes a man but give them over for a time whilst he is sicke of them and then returnes againe as a Dog to his vomit 2 Chron. 33. 23. It is said Amon humbled not himselfe as Manasses his father had humbled himselfe but transgressed more and more which implies that when a man is humbled as hee should he transgresseth no more as hee had done and so Manasses did so humble himselfe as he transgressed no more It will make him become stronger against that sin he hath transgressed in as a bone that hath been broken is stronger when it is right set againe hee especially humbleth himselfe for and turnes from his beloved sin and with that from all the rest 2 Property is it makes a man to cleave fast to Christ and so draw nigh to him in all the duties of obedience to obey him constantly generally and throughly Men may have light wounds made in their hearts which do not drive them to the Physitian which awakeneth men a little but they fall asleepe againe but when God humbleth so as to save he so fastens the apprehension of his misery upon him as to bring him home to Christ he sets on the avenger of bloud to pursue him to the utmost and not for a mile or two but to follow him till he be driven into the Citty of refuge There is an humiliation which hath not this effect and consequent of it and therefore I mention it as a property of the true and this because of a defect that is in it in which respect though it come neare the true yet differs from it which is in the event seene in this that the true causeth to come to Christ and to cleave to him without separation That you may therefore see the difference betweene this and the other and wherein that other is defective marke how that which is true workes this in one who yet is not quite cut off but hangs by a thread as it were there being some secret Fibrae some veines and strings that are not cut in peeces which keepe life in the old man and a man remaineth still upon his old stocke and so long CHRIST comes not into the heart not untill a man be unbottomed of himselfe and sees he can no way be happy in himselfe or within his owne compasse but sees all is to bee had in and from the LORD JESUS untill then he will not goe out of himself nor cleave to or follow the LORD JESUS CHRIST fully Now then the other humiliation is defective in this in that it is not in this manner enough bottomed it cuts not a man wholly off from himselfe the foundation is not laid low enough there is wanting depth of earth there is indeed so much earth as shall bring forth a greene blade of profession and such a foundation as there may bee erected a slight building upon but it is not low enough to beare a substantiall building that shall stand out all windes and weathers This true humiliation hath these two things goe with it A man sees no bottome in himselfe Seeth a bottome out of himselfe to stand upon and so hee casts himselfe upon that clasps about CHRIST and wholly adhereth unto him and so draws all sap and life from him as the branch doth from the roote and thence comes that resolution and ability to cleave to the Lord and to please him in all things As the resolution to doe it so all his ability to goe through with it for being joyned to CHRIST there comes the spirit of grace cal'd the vertue of CHRISTS death because it workes a vertue like unto his death into the heart But when the heart is not yet in this manner broken many take up purposes and good desires but are not able to keepe them because they were bottomed on their owne strength whereas if the heart were broken from it selfe and engrafted into CHRIST such purposes made in his strength would thrive and grow there For if the soile bee made good and fit plants bee planted in it it is certaine they will thrive Now in a good heart those desires that bee planted there doe thrive and wither no more and though there may now and then waves arise and so they may be tossed to and fro yet substantially they doe not wither nor fall from the foundation Those therefore who have begun a good course for a yeare or a moneth and go not on in it it is a signe they want humbling Hee that is truly humbled falles backe no more Manasses did not nor Saint Paul Lord what wilt thou have
you had lost Thou mayest seeke salvation and deliverance from hel out of the strenght of naturall wisedome because it is for thy good and also being convinced of the necessity of faith and repentance to escape hell and obtain salvation Men may thereupon go farre in the performance of many duties and be constant a while in them and yet not seeke the Lords face in all these and then the Lord regards them not Take a thiefe that is arraigned at the bar he will cry earnestly for his life but yet he seeketh not the face of the Iudge i. e. he doth it without love to the Iudge but onely out of the love of life So we may do much to escape hel and to attain the life opposite to it and yet all this while not seeke the presence of God and then GOD regards it not You find this disposition in your selves and see it in others if a man bee never so observant of any of you and performe never so many offices of friendship to you yet if a man can say he loves me not for all this hee doth not prize mee nor desire my love and favour so much for it selfe but for his owne ends in this case you care not for what hee doth So the LORD hee knowes the heart and the reines and what thine end is whether it bee communion with his person immediately or thine own welfare meerely and if so regards not thy humbling thy selfe nor thy prayers The promise you see is suspended upon it it is a distinguishing point and will separate betweene the precious and the vile it is a marke set upon Gods people alone To seeke Gods face Wee will therefore further and more particularly consider what it is to seeke Gods face or presence And there are three wayes to finde it out First by what is here joyned with it If they humble themselves and seeke my face and so by considering the connexion that these two have together find out what seeking of Gods face is Now there is a twofold humiliation wrought in men The one is for that bitternesse and punishment that sin brings with it and this never brings forth either faithfull prayers or seeking Gods face But there is another kind of humiliation which hath a further ingredient in it and that is the sight of the foulenesse of sinne when God openeth a crevise of light to looke upon sin not onely as that which brings bitternesse with it but as that which in it selfe is most filthy and abominable and by that light it is made such in his account for it is one thing to flee from the sting of the Serpent an other thing to hate the Serpent it selfe and so to take heed of the Wolfe because of his cruelty and to hate the Wolfe it selfe are differing things Other creatures may hate the properties and conditions of a Wolfe but a Lambe only hates the Wolfe it selfe Now with this latter kind of humiliation there goes and is conjunct with it an enlightning whereby God shewes to a man his owne glorious face the lustre whereof helpes him further to see the foulnesse of sinne God by the same light of the Spirit whereby he shewes a men the uglinesse of sinne discovers withal his own excellencies which makes the sinner thus humbled to seeke his face to seeke grace as well as mercy But other men either see not Gods face at all or onely see his angry countenance onely those whom the Lord calleth effectually see his gracious face Now hee to whom it is hid and sees it not seekes not Gods face for none can seeke it unlesse they have seene it and hee who sees it onely as angry flies from God but he discovers himselfe to the truly humble the secrets of the Lord are with such Psal. 25. and so Ioh. 15. 15. I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth but I have call'd you friends for all things I have heard of my Father I have made knowne to you Hee reveales himselfe to those who are already his friends or to those he is about to make his friends one of the first things he doth is to reveale his face to them With men indeed men are first made friends and then secrets are revealed but contrarily with God he reveales his secrets to us and his face that we may be made friends with him and then wee grow into further acquaintance with him and they are therefore cal'd the secrets of the Lord because only revealed to the Saints Servants indeed see what is done in the house but there are many things which their masters reveale not to them and so many come here to the house of God and heare what is spoken of GOD and CHRIST but yet there are some certaine secrets that are hid from them that are told only to the children the sonnes and daughters of God The other heare as much and see as much for the outside as Gods children do yet the secrets of things are hid from them and among others Gods face and the excellencies thereof are hid from them This he reveales as his other secrets onely to those that feare him and this revealing it is a speciall worke of the Spirit If a man would see the Sunne all the starres in heaven and torches in the earth could not helpe him to see it or shew it to him unlesse the Sunne it selfe shines and ariseth and there come a light from the Sunne it selfe you cannot come to see it and so all the Angels of heaven and wits of men on earth cannot shew you Gods face unlesse hee opens the clouds and reveales himselfe by his owne Spirit it will not bee done which is therefore called the Spirit of Revelation Ephes. 1. 17. by which God reveales his secrets to his children when he begins to call them effectually they see him and none else wee make knowne the Doctrines about GOD and CHRIST c. to all alike but the Lord makes the difference by revealing himselfe to one and not unto another that which is said especially of the Iewes 2 Cor. 3. 15 16. verses and so on is in like manner applicable to us all The Lords face shines as Moses face did verse 15. and hee gives the knowledge of his glory in the face of Iesus Christ in the ministery of the word every day but there is a vaile lies upon all mens hearts upon all but those whom the Lord calls and upon theirs also till hee calleth them as upon the Iewes hearts verse 16. Neverthelesse when they shall turne unto the Lord the vaile shall be taken away and untill then Gods face cannot bee seene as Moses face was not and who shall take away that vaile The Spirit of the Lord where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty vers 17. and when hee doth free us of that vaile then we behold the Glory of the Lord as in a
one is desirous to heare evill spoken of his enemy that sinne is his greatest enemy therefore you could not have done David a better turne than Abigail and Nathan did to tell him of his fault or a worse to Amaziah and Ieroboam then the Prophets did when they reproved them hee that would have a building downe is glad of those that come with pickaxes but if hee would have it stand hee cannot endure any body that should offer to meddle with it so the strong holds of sinne being to be puld down a godly man likes him that will helpe him against them when conscience doubteth such a course is not good which yet is ambiguous If thou be loth to have it examined to the full it is a signe thou hast a false heart and art desirous to continue in it It is a sweet morsell to thee Ioâ— 20. 12. when sin is kept as an ulcer which thou wilt not have a man come nigh to it is a signe thou lovest it and art not turned from it 2 There is a great difference in the ground and principle of a godly mans abandoning sinne and obeying the Law from that which is in an unregenerate man that is not truly turned though he may go farre in both for the upright hearted man hath not only some present checks and transient resolutions to leave sinne but there is a law stamped upon his mind whereby to resist the law of sinne for ever this law the other wants Rom. 7. 23. I see a law in my members warring against the law of my minde To a man truly converted there is a double law the outward written in Scripture the inward prinâ—ed in his heart which is able to guide him Therefore sayes the Apostle 1 Tim. 1. 8. The law was not given for the righteous that is it is not given to him as to others for others having no law in them must therefore be pressed only with that without but it is as it were needles to the other hee hath one in his minde continually opposing the law of sin Now because the explication of what this law of the minde is will exceedingly conduce to cleare this difference the more I will further shew what this law of the minde is It is an inward habit of holinesse agreeing with the Law of God as a picture with the prototype answering in every respect unto it And it is called a Law because it commands powerfully as a Law which hath authority in it effectually inclining and carrying the heart on to do what the Law without commands and on the contrary it doth forbid with efficacy and power the committing of sin and it hath this power in it because it is the very power vertue and fruit of the resurrection of Christ and is the immediate worke of the Spirit who is stronger than Satan the world and the flesh And likewise because as a law it rewardeth and punisheth refreshing the obedient with peace of conscience joy in the Holy Ghost and when a man disobeys it it causeth griefe and wounds the heart that law in David smote him when he had numbred the people and caused Peter to weep bitterly And in the second place it is called the law of the minde because though it sanctifies the whole yet it is most in the minde as the Law of the members is called so because in a regenerate man it is strongest in the members and least in the minde and will This law doth both enlighten the minde with saving operative knowledge of GOD and his Law and stampes all the habits of grace upon his will Iere. 32. 4. An unregenerate man may through his conscience enlightened give a stop to evill courses but without such a law as this This being thus explained the difference betweene a naturall conscience enlightened and this Law of the minde stands in these effects The first is taken from the phrase it self when it is called the law of the mind it having a differing worke upon the mind from that which the light of conscience hath for the knowledge this Law stampes upon the mind differs from that which is brought into the conscience of a naturall man Though an unregenerate man may first know the Law and 2. may consent to it that it is good yet a regenerate man that hath this law of the mind goes further and consents to it as good for him this is the meaning of that which the Apostle sayes verse 15. that hee consents to the Law that it is good and therefore it hath this same worke upon his minde as concerning also that hee allowes it not vers 16. that is not as good for him pro hic nunc This the other wants for want of light whereby the Holy Ghost convinceth a regenerate man that it is best for him to obey the Law at such and such times in all circumstences and when he comes to act it upon all occasions by answering all objections the other sees it good in it self but not for him in such and such circumstances An envious man first knowes what is good secondly consents that it is excellent but thirdly not that it is good for him and so also though an unregenerate man allowes sinne to be evill in it selfe yet not for him in such and such circumstances But then you will object it seemes then that the knowledge of a carnall man and a regenerate man differ but in degrees not in kind The want of degrees here alters the kind as in numbers the addition of a degree alters the species and kind This law of the mind puts a lusting into the soule against that which is evill and to that which is good Gal. 5. 17. So as he is not only stirred up to his duty by conscience but hee hath an inward inclination also thereunto and so for sin this law doth put a strong inclination into the faculties which doth not onely represse the outward acts but it weakens the habits of sinne by a contrary ingredient but the light of conscience though it may weaken the act yet not the habit So Gal. 5. 24. not onely the acts are restrained but the lusts are crucified the vigour of them is abated by a contrary lusting a lusting passeth through every faculty which weakens it Now nothing is weakened but by that which is contrary if the refore we look to repressing of outward acts therein they both agree and againe if wee looke to the abatement of a lust and no more we also may be deceived but if the habit of sinne bee weakened by a contrary lusting then it is from Grace and the law of the mind The difference is in the willingnesse to performe what is good and to abstaine from evill To will is present with me sayes the Apostle in that seventh Chapter another act of provokements of conscience may do what is good but to will it
is to put in a graft of another nature which wil change it and by little and little sweeten the constitution of it But you will say what is to be put in I answer goe not about it as a morall man but as a Christian get Iustification and Sanctification It is true it is profitable to bee much humbled for thy sinne and you ought to bee so yet this is not the onely way to heale it but the heart must be strengthened with the assurance of the forgivenesse of it There is a double way to get the heart turned away from sinne the one to see the loathsomnesse of that which we turne from the other the beauty of the contrary object wee turne to Spend not all your paines about the first but do something in the later the more contrition the better But it is not got all at once it is more increased by assurance and hope of pardon when a man begins to have hope he purifies himselfe So it is in all other exercises it is hope quickens our endeavours One that is not neare a kingdome goes not about it but when he comes to have hopes he begins to bestirre himself tolle spem tolle conatum therefore get and encrease the hope of the pardon of your sinnes Hence the Apostle Rom. 15. 13. prayes Now the God of hope fill you with al joy and peace through believing c. By the words following it appeares to bee to strengthen and set them right concerning al their infirmities and he points to this as one meanes to be fild with joy and peace in believing as if he had said if your hearts were full of spirituall joy through faith and assurance your hearts would be purified and therefore faith also is said to purifie the heart and besides when the bloud of Christ is applyed by faith there goes a vertue with it Heb. 9. 14. How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternall spirit offered up himselfe to God purge your consciences from dead workes And adde to this sanctification set upon that work Ioh. 17. Christ hath prayed that they might be preserved from the evill of the world But how shal that be done Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth that is when they shall passe through this world full of evill and corruption the way to preserve them spotlesse and untainted is to have the heart sanctified When the heart is well oyled with grace the dirt of the world falls off This is an antidote against corruption Though in your passage you meete with much bad aire and infection this will preserve you But then how should wee bee sanctified By truth The more truth you get into your hearts the more grace Grace and Truth goes together 1 Iohn and came by CHRIST who is full of both Therefore 2 Pet. 3. ult these two are joyned grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. By truth but what truth thy word is truth Every truth is not fit to sanctifie as all water will not take sope to scowre the word is that truth that doth it Morall truths may doe many things in the soule they may adorne it but they cannot heale or purifie it Wash in Iordan saith the Prophet to leaprous Naaman There is a speciall vertue in this Iordan to heale thee of thy seprofie that is not in the waters of Damascus You came not to the word as to a lecture of Philosophy but as to that which workes wonders the power of God goes with it For withall marke this that it is not the word of it self that doth it it doth not work as Physicke that hath a vertue in it of its owne but the LORD doth it by the word and therefore CHRIST prayes to his father to sanctifie them by the word As a man writes a letter by a pen so the Lord sanctifies by the word To consecrate the heart to GOD is to sanctifie it and divine truths alone doe consecrate the heart to God and no other Let us therefore get much grace and truth into our hearts assurance of justification and joy in the Holy Ghost that by tasting of better the heart may be taken off from the pleasures of sinfull wayes sound joy will swallow up all other joyes the joyes of sin Stirre up those graces that are in thee for when wee exhort you to goe to God to helpe you our meaning is not that you should leave all the worke some labour is required of thee I speake to those who have some beginnings of grace you must stir up those graces GOD hath given you Hence Saint Paul sayes 1 Tim. 4. 15. neglect not the gift that was given thee as if hee had said Timothy thou maiest doe much if thou consider what ability thou hast received so much spirit so much liberty so much regeneration so much free will to good So he sayes to the Church of Philadelphia Thou hast a little strength it is a Talent therefore use it Therfore also he sayes in Iude 20. build up your selves and cleanse your selves and many the like But you will say how can wee doe this seeing it is the LORD that workes in us the will and the deed and wee can doe nothing without the Spirit Though the Spirit doth it yet we in this worke are to bee agents also Rom. 8. 13. If you through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh as if hee had said though you do it by the Spirit yet do you go about it We may do something to draw the Spirit nigher us as we may doe something to grieve the Spirit and to smoke him out of the house so to please the Spirit as wee intend the flame of the Spiritby pure thoughts so we put him out by foggy thoughts But you will aske what it is to stirre up our graces Stirre up thy light examine thy selfe of thy evill wayes endeavour to see them clearely and confesse them for that is the way to forsake them Prov. 28. 13. and despise none of them with that light thou hast examine every thing what ever thou hast the least doubt search it out to the full This idle speech this jollity and vanity of conversation how little soever it seemes as dalliance in thy thoughts and eyes overly performance of duties Vse that light further to get reason against thy sinne This is to consider a mans wayes as David did to ponder the reasons Let a man take paines with his heart from day to day and consider what reasons there are by which a mans heart may be taken off from his sin as against unlawfull gain to thinke it but as stealing custome whereby a man forfeits all the rest that what is unlawfully gotten is as the coale that was carried in by the Eagle into her nest with a peece of broyled flesh which consumed her nest young and her selfe and all treaties of infirmities that
bring That if you humble your selves and turne from your evill wayes God will be mercifull to you and heale you FINIS Horat. 1. 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 4 1 Doct. 2 Doct. 3 Doct. Reas. 1. 2. 3. Num. 16. 9 4 Vse 1. Psal. 4. Vse 2. Ier. 40. 2 Observe Gods dealing Psalm 30. 5 verse 7. Vse 3. God will be more severe to wicked men Psalm 50. 1 Cor. 10. 22 1 Prophane 2. Civil men Revel 2. Exod. 23. 21. Vse 4. Not to think strange that God afflicts his Doct. 2. God pitties his people in affliction Reas. 1. He is slow to afflict Psal. 78. 38. Simile 2 He sustaines them in afflictions Dan. 11. 33. 34. Zach. 13. 9. 〈◊〉 By moderating them To be afflicted in measure what Psal. 125. 3. Psalm 129. 3 4. 2 Fashioning their hearts to beare it 1 To Pray Rom. 8. 26. 2 To Repent 3 To Patience Psalme 3. Reas. 3. In bringing them through Esay 27. 8. 2 Kings 6. 33. 2 Chron. 28 22. Quest. Answ. Afflictions of Gods people worke good in the end Iames 1 2. God deales thus 1 Because they are his people Hose 11. 8. 1 Sam. 12. 22. Micah 7. 18. 2 They are called by his name Numb 14. Object Answ. Mistake in afflictions 2 Cor. 6. Object Answ. Afflictions needfull 2 God afflicts no more then needs Esay 28. 24. Object Answ. Difference in afflictions Ier. 24 Object Answ. Why God sends many and great afflictions Dan. 11. Vse 1. Not to bee discouraged in afflictions Psalme 31. Psalme 30. Mica 7. 8. Object Answ. No avoyding afflictions sent God in due time removes affliction Marks 5. Mar. 4. 40 41. Vse 2. To come to God when we have offended him 1 Sam. 12 20. What keeps men from comming to God Ieremy 3. Vse 3. To leade us to repentance Rom. 2. 4. Double performaÌ„ce of Fasts 1 Publike 2 Private Zach. 12. 1 By confession of sinnes 2 Seeking reconciliation 3 Renewing covenants 4 To bee willing to leave fin 5. Labour to keepe our hearts in a good temper Dan. 11. Iames 4. Vse 4. To chuse the Lord for our God Heb. 11. 25. Psal. 119. 30 Happinesse in chusing God Motives to chuse God Ioy what Isay 26. 12. Psal. 31. 7. Vse 5. To confirm this choyce Doct. 3. The Lords Name called upon his People 2 1 Cor. 3. ult Reas. Because of Gods choyce Isa. 57. 15. Vse 1. To learne Obe dience We are not to serve our selves Luk. 14. 26. The nearenesse of our relation to God Ephes. 5. 31 32. verse 24. Iames 4. Exod. 23. 21 1 Cor. 7. 11. The wife the glory of the husband how 1 Pet. 2. 9 Vse 2. To humble our selves having sinned Humiliation double Love humbleth Ier. 2. 2 3. 2 Sam. 12. 7 8. Psalme 51. Two things in sinne Way to humiliation Cause of hardnesse of heart Levit. 23. 29 Object Answ. 1 God accepteth endeavours 2 Hel pes them Promises of Gods helpe Luk 11. 13. Zach. 12. 1â— The Spirit workes humiliation Iob 42. Iob. 42. Vse 3. Not to pollute Gods Name Simile Vse 4. Not to be ashamed to professe Gods name Object Answ. 1 Men ashamed of the power of re ligion Simile 2 Before wicked men Mark 8. 38. Rom. 10. 10. Outward profession is required Why men are asham'd of profession 2 Sam. 6. 24 Deut. 4. 6. Vse 5. Comfort concerning our selves and the Church Esa. 4. 5 6. Object Answ. c 1 2 Doct. 4. Without hu miliation no mercy What meant by humiliation 1 2 1 Necessity of humiliation Humiliation required 1 By God the Father 2 God the Sonne Luk. 4. 4. 3 God the Holy Ghost Ioh. 16. 8. 〈◊〉 1 2 Reas. 1. From the necessity of it 1 The relation it hath to the other conditions 1 Seeking for Christ. 2 Seeking merâ—cy Mat. 22. 5 6 Christs righteousnesse not esteemed by men unhumbled Reas. 3. No turning else from our evill wayes Simile Act â— Pride the cause of disobedience 2 Cor. 5. 10. Esay 66. 2. Reas. 4. Else there would not be constancy 2 Cor. 7. 10 Reas. 5. God should not have the praise of his mercy Why humiliation required first Reas. 1. No sacrifice accepted without it Psal. 51. 16 17. Reas. 2. It makes us Priests â— Cor. 8. 5. Reas. 3. Else the Spirit of God dwells not in us Esay 57. 15. Reas. 4. It makes us obedient in all things 2 Humiliation what Examples of men hum bled 2. Chron. 33. 12. Manasses The converts Acts 2. 37. The Goaler Acts 16. Prodigall Luk. 15. 〈◊〉 Humiliation of two parts Passive humiliation 〈◊〉 Sensiblenesse of sin 2 Feare of his estate 3 It workes consideration 1 It is wrought by the Law Simile The Law what 2 The Spirit workes humiliation 3 By afflictions Rom. 7. 2 Active humiliation Examples of this humiliation Luke 15. Foure payâ—s of ingredients in it 1 Hope of 〈◊〉 mercy and sence of mi sery 2 Our owne emptinesse and Gods alsufficiency 3 Sence of our sinnes and Christs righteousnesse 4 A sence of Gods love and our unkindnesse Difference betweene active and passive humiliation 1 In the matter 2 In the ground 3 In the instrumentall causes 4 In their ef fects 1 2 3 4 5 Properties of this humiliation 1 Prayer 1 2 Seeke Gods face 3 Turne from sinne 2 Chron. 33. 23. Simile 2 To cleave fast to Christ. 1 2 Two things accompany this humiliation Falling away the ground of it 3 Moderates the affections 4 To love God much 5 To be content with any condition 1 In want of outward things 2 Bearing crosses Lev. 26. 41. Ezech. 36. Case Whether such a measure of Legall sorrow be necessary Answ. Sorrow dou ble Violent sorrow not alwayes necessary 1 It 〈◊〉 not alwayes the greatest 2 1 Not necessary on mans part 2 Nor on Gods part 1 2 Simile 3 Greatnesse of sorrow 1 Comfort comes late Simile 2 From ignorance Simile Object Answ. Sence of sin necessary Two ends of humiliation To take Christ. 2 For Sanctification Simile Vse 1. 1 Exhortation to those that are humbled Degrees of grace from degrees of humiliation 2 Faith â—aith what Simile 2 Love 2 To those that are not humbled 1 To see the greatnesse of sinne 1 Single out some great sinne Acts 2. 〈◊〉 Iohn 4. Simile Sins great how 5 To make past sinnes present 3 Let sorrow abide Psalme 51. 2 Cor. 12. Simile Ioel 2. 4 Take heed of false reasonings Other excuses are in those Sermons upon Rom. 1. 17 18. 2 The sight of our misery and vanity to that end 1 See the greatnesse of God 2 Our owne weaknesse 3 Labour for the Spirit Object Answ. God gives the Spirit in our indeavours Doct. The Lord is mercifull to the humble Levit. 23. 27 Lev. 16. 20. Iames 4. 6. Psalme 25. Esay 57. 15. Esay 62. 2. 2 Chron. 12 Reas. 1. They give God the glory Acts 3. Iohn 17. 4. Reas. 2. It keepes a man in com passe Simile Reas. 3. Makes a man usefull 〈◊〉 others