any saving Work If there were no Doubt moved no Question Controverted by way of any seeming Collection from the place the very Mysterious depths of the 〈◊〉 herein delivered drives all Interpreters to a stand and puts the most Judicious beyond their thoughts so that there is more 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 the mind of God in the words then to make Answer to the Objection hence collected We will 〈◊〉 Shortly open the meaning of the Words 2 Then 〈◊〉 what may be truly Collected from them and 〈◊〉 it will appear that the Objection fetched from 〈◊〉 will find no footing in this place The scope of the Apostle in vers 4 5. is That 〈◊〉 Christ is the Son of God and that Faith which 〈◊〉 the world must look to him and rest 〈◊〉 him This he 〈◊〉 to me to prove and explicate in both the parts of it in vers 6. And secondly amplyfieth it in the following 7. and 8. verses His proof is taken from 〈◊〉 type of his Priestly-Office the truth whereof he accomplished in the great Work of Redemption He that comes by water and blood he is the son of God But Jesus Christ came by water and blood His comming implys 1 His Fathers Sending 2 〈◊〉 Own Undertaking that great Work of our Recovery not only by Water as the Levites who were washed Numb 8. 6. 7. but by Blood also as the Priests Levit. 8. 6. 22 23 24. By Water I conceive is meant The Holiness of his Nature in which he was Conceived and for which end he was overshad owed by the Spirit By Blood is meant that Expiation and Satisfaction he made to the Law of God by shedding his Blood So that He that had all that and 〈◊〉 all that which was shadowed by the Priests He is that Jesus the son of God for 〈◊〉 And the Spirit bears witness because the Spirit is Truth This seems to me to be the fairest sense and to be preferred before all that I can see brought By Spirit in the First place is meant Gods 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost By Spirit in the Second place I do think 〈◊〉 is meant For so you shall find the word used 2 Cor. 4. 13. Having the same Spirit of Faith So that the Spirit of God comming from the Father and the Son would testifie by the aspertion of this Water and Blood that my Faith is true when it assures my heart that this Jesus is the Son of God 2 He amplifies this proof by bringing in the number of witnesses and the manner of their witnessing For their number they are Six The Father sending The Son coming The Spirit certifying in this 〈◊〉 manner of working they are distinct and herein appear to be distinct witnesses and this their witness is from Heaven signifying where they are and from whence they express their witness The Father speaks from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Mat. 3. last The Son professeth so often of himself That he came out of the bosom of the Father John 1. 18. John 3. 13. No man can ascend to Heaven but the Son of man who came down from Heaven John 6. 38. I came down from Heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent 〈◊〉 Lastly in Mat. 3. last The Spirit of God descended down upon him in the likeness of a Dove these speak from Heaven and their expressions are 〈◊〉 in the word without us whether we beleeve or no. Three again speak and witness from Earth for Christ dwels in us here on Earth the Spirit Water and Blood There is no doubt but by Water is meant Sanctification by Blood Justification all the Question lies upon the third What is meant by Spirit Under correction I take it It 's meant of Faith for besides that 2 Tim. 1. 7. all graces are called the Spirit we have received the Spirit of Power of Love and of a sound mind this is expresly so named 2 Cor. 4. 13. we having the same Spirit of Faith this is most safe and most sutable to the analogy of Faith and the intendment of the Text. There are but Three great Works unto which all the rest may be referred Vocation Justification Sanctification all these in us give in witness and evîdence That Jesus the Savior of the World must be the Son of God sent of him who sends also his Spirit into our hearts to work thus in us and by these works to evidence to us Himself and his Office The Truths then which according to the right meaning of the words may hence be collected are these There be six Witnesses Three of these witness from Heaven and their Testimony is left in the word without us The other three from Earth from the operation of the work of Grace and these are within us Al these agree in this as the thing winessed 〈◊〉 Jesus the Saviour of his People is the Son of God The witness of those from Heaven is greater than that which is on Earth But touching the witnessing of my good 〈◊〉 without respect to a gracius disposition or qualification there is not a syllable in the Text that sounds that way or carries any appearance to that purpose If every Work of Grace or the truth of a gracious qualification be witnessed by the Spirit and is lastly resolved therinto So that I Beleeve the work of Grace in me to be true because the Spirit witnesseth it then I must have an absolute ground to Beleeve the Spirit I wil open this Phrase the witness of the Spirit on an absolute ground Either it s meant 〈◊〉 the witness of the Spirit is attended without any respect to a work that is witnessed then its false and absurd that I should discern the witness of the Spirit without any respect to the thing witnessed 〈◊〉 made known to me by it for as hath been 〈◊〉 before witness and the thing witnessed go both together Or it s meant thus That when I have received the witness of the Spirit to my self then I 〈◊〉 prove it upon an absolute ground Hath Christ purchased al spiritual good for His for Beleevers Hence then we may see the 〈◊〉 of the faithful and the priviledg of those that 〈◊〉 above all people upon earth To you the Father intended al the treasuries of grace and glory in your stead Christ suffered performed all that the Law required and Justice exacted for you it is he hath purchased al that good that you need doth not that please you al you can desire doth not that quiet you nay all that you can receive through al eternitie doth not that satisfie There is none like unto you never the like was done for any as for you It was Moses Collection and caused his wonderment in the Consideration thereof Deut. 33. 29. When he had recounted the wonderful Preservations the Lord had wrought Priviledges he honoured them with and bestowed upon them he breaks forth into these expressions Blessed art thou
rejected counsell in my life and I cannot take 〈◊〉 at my death If yet the rack of conscience doth constraine thee towards thy latter end to vent out those hideous apprehensions of Gods displeasure and thy own misery and therefore thou art now restless in seeking for mercy it shall be al in vain and without 〈◊〉 John 8. 21. The rebellious Jewes who disdained Christ and al his counsels and refused his mercy when it was tendered to them at their dores Christ saies to them You shall seek me but you shall not find me but shall dye in your sins you lived in them and you shall dye in them though you leave your lives your sins wil not leave you they shall rot with you in your graves and rise with you to judgment and go with you to Hell whither I go ye cannot come therefore you cannot come to Christ and Grace for if they might do so they might come to Heaven It was one part of the folly of the foolish Virgins To sleep away their time and never sought to get oyl into their Lamps untill it was too late and then they cryed to their fellows 〈◊〉 us some of your 〈◊〉 for our Lamps are gone out some of that faith and repentance which formerly they conceived they could find at every shop but they had little enough for themselves and therefore bid them go into the Citie and buy but al was in vain they missed of their oyl and missed of their entrance also into the Bridegrooms Chamber Thou art one of these deluded creatures thou thinkest either thou canst make oyl or buy oyl when thou list thou wilt find too late that thou doest egregiously befool thy self when though thou knockest never so hard cryest never so loud thou shalt find no acceptance nor gain any entertainment from the Lord. Nay our Saviour that he might crush such 〈◊〉 conceits he 〈◊〉 down the conclusion peremptorie that it might for ever silence such imaginations after the young man had the offer of eternal life and trampled it under seet and our Saviour had told them it was easier for a Camell to go through the eye of 〈◊〉 needle than for a rich man to enter in at the Kingdom of Heaven they replyed Who then can be saved He answered plainly and beyond all question Mat. 19. 26. With men it is impossible if all the Angels in Heaven would come to help if all the Ministers on Earth should labor to perswade it would be impossible that of thy self thou shouldest entertain the offers of Grace If thou supportest thy heart and thy hopes also upon this what thou purposest what thou intendest to do know it is impossible that ever thou shouldest be good or partake of any Spiritual good for thy 〈◊〉 welfare It 's not in thy power to live to have 〈◊〉 ability to seek or a heart if able or success in seeking nay it is impossible thou shouldest be made partaker of any Spiritual Good if thou wilt go no other way to gain interest therein Ground of Tryal and Examination whether ever we had any saving and Spiritual Good applyed unto us in a right manner In our temporal Estates in Civil Proceedings amongst men it 's not enough to lay claim to Lands and Inheritances unless by a Legal course they be conveyed and setled upon us otherwise a man may be unsettled and shaked out of all before he be aware It is so in our Spiritual Estate Those high and happy Priviledges which Christ hath purchased 〈◊〉 great Salvation he hath wrought and tenders also in the Gospel it 's not enough to claim it and catch at the comforts and benefits that come thereby unless they be conveyed and settled upon us in a Gospel way otherwise the Devil may sink our hearts and shake all our hopes when we least suspect it Thou sayest the Pardon that Christ hath purchased the Holiness that he hath promised to bestow upon His that Grace and Life that rich Mercy and plentiful Redemption which he hath revealed so fully so freely tendered to His thou sayest it 's thine I say How camest thou by it How camest thou to be made possessor of it Thou wilt hapily Answer Though long it was before I either knew or considered what Sin or 〈◊〉 meant yet the Lord at last by the Ministry of the Word and the Work of the Spirit made me see the 〈◊〉 of my heart and life the terrors of my conscience were like a continued wrack night and day and the wound thereof was so dreadful that I found it beyond the skil 〈◊〉 power of means to do me good until the Lord Christ and his abundant Mercy and rich Redemption which he had wrought was proclaimed and there I heard and found there was no Name under Heaven whereby I might be saved but only the Name of Jesus and so I took the Promises of the Gospel cast my self upon Christ and hung upon free Mercy for the supply of all that good I desired and wanted You take Christ you hang upon free Mercy but how came you by the power which did enable you so to do You say you took the Promises but who gave them you or gave you a hand to lay hold upon them True Mercy is free and sufficient the Promises are precious and saving but if they never come to be thine but as thou by thine own power didst make them thy own certainly thou wilt in the issue fall short of them and of thy own comfort and all Unless he who provided and gave thee Promises do provide and give thee a heart 〈◊〉 to take them thou wilt never take possession of them unless Christ comprehend thee thou wilt never apprehend him Phil. 3. 11. Thou art utterly mistaken if thou dost not find Application beyond thy strength as well as Redemption This mistake in imagining that we can make the Application ariseth especially upon a double ground which is most dangerous and least discerned First When from the general offer of the freeness and fulness of that superabundant mercy that is in Christ and invitation thereunto from the Lord with 〈◊〉 instant and overbearing importunity and 〈◊〉 of compassion Oh that there 〈◊〉 such hearts in 〈◊〉 turn ye why will ye die As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner the heart 〈◊〉 to be tickled and affected at the goodness of the 〈◊〉 as being beyond its expectation that there is 〈◊〉 a possibility of relief and succor and therefore 〈◊〉 at it out of a misguided apprehension that it lies 〈◊〉 common for all comers not looking for any special 〈◊〉 the soul must have before it come to share 〈◊〉 This was the wound of the stony ground Hearers 〈◊〉 received the Word with joy and yet had no root Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners Oh that 's a word for ever to be received Scarlet sinners may be pardoned the heart is tickled with it and
impossible to him or had power above him And hence the Lord delights to set forth the praise of his Mercy and therefore when sin is most vile and hainous and hellish then doth he express his compassion in a most glorious manner it 's the glory of the Physitian when the Disease is most deadly then to do the Cure Isa. 43. 24 25. You have wearied 〈◊〉 with your iniquities and made me to serve with your sins behold I even I am be that blotteth out thy transgressions for my name sake q. d. None but a God of endless Mercy could do it therefore behold it acknowledg it I will blot out your iniquities and remember your sins no more This is the dispute of the Apostle Rom. 5. last having said that our Justification Reconciliation and Life comes by Grace he ads why then serves the Law he answers That sin might abound that sin might be encreased and become more and more hainous because against an express Law but where sin abounded grace abounded much more the Lord gave as it were sin all advantages to do its utmost and yet then Grace would abound so much the more in conquering and raigning over sin And therefore it 's certain if all sins in the world that against the Holy Ghost excepted should meet in one Soul as Waters in the Sea the Mercy of the Lord would abound much more 〈◊〉 those sins did abound The Merits of our Savior Christ are of an 〈◊〉 satisfying vertue and exceed the venom of the guilt of all sins Rom 5. 18. So Paul constantly disputes If by the offence of one sin entred unto 〈◊〉 much more by the death and obedience of our Savior Righteousness entred unto eternal Life And therefore it was that our Savior was pleased to receive our Nature even from the vilest of sinners that he might shew himself a Savior from all sins Matth. 1. Hence also his blood is called a fountain set open for Judah and Israel to wash in for sin and for uncleanness Zach. 13. 1. i. e. For all kind of sinners and all sorts of sins So that were thy heart a Sink a Sodom a Hell of wickedness if the water of this Fountain might pass through and be applied it would clense all For our Savior 〈◊〉 the infinite wrath of his Father which was due for our sins more he needed not nay should not nay could not have suffered if he died for a thousand worlds of his Elect if they had come from the Loyns of our first Parents And I do beleeve there is vertue enough there to pardon the sin against the Holy Ghost if it were applied but because it was committed against the work of the Spirit so directly it is not just he should and there is no other that will for the Spirit works from the Father to the Son and therefore last of all so that they both have put forth their works before and if therefore his be wronged he will not apply and there is none else that can if the Work of the Father be wronged Christ may intercede if he be blasphemed the Spirit may apply but if he be despighted there is none left that will or can Because the power of the 〈◊〉 is such that he can conquer and overcome all which with his own Honor he can attempt to remove as all but that which is committed immediately against his Operation he wil and doth this is the ground of overcoming which the Apostle gives 1 John 4. 4. You have over come the world because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world That also which Paul propounds for the clensing of the most loathsom puddles 1 Cor. 6. 11. But ye are washed but ye are sanctified in the Name of Jesus and by the Spirit of our God for that Spirit is above all unclean Spirits and therefore when he will come and work upon the soul and clense it from all its corruptions Sin and the World and the Devil and all give way they cannot hinder his work So that if the Mercy of God be infinite able to forgive all the Merits of Christ of infinite Vertue able to satisfie for all and the Spirit of infinite power to conquer all then the worst of sinners may become broken hearted sinners when the Lord will please to look upon them We have here matter of Admiration to see and stand amazed at the riches of Gods mercy and grace which succors the most desperate sinners relieves at the hardest streights saves even from the nethermost Hell It 's the Collection the Prophet makes from the ground formerly mentioned Mich. 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that par donest iniquity and passest by the transgression of the remnant of thine heritage because mercy pleaseth him He intends pardon to such who have nothing that can purchase it do nothing that can deserve it nay practice nothing which is in any manner pleasing which might perswade him to it yea when he is displeased with all things but his own mercy and indeed can be pleased with nothing else when they dishonor his Name wrong his Justice reject his Commands and grieve his Spirit every thing provoketh him yet because his mercy pleaseth him therefore he doth good against evil therefore he overcomes all their evil in goodness Yea When sinners out of their impenitency and malignant enmity of their Spirits would destroy themselves and his mercy also and cast away his compassions his mercy is pleased to honor it self and to save them who is a God like this God and what mercy like this mercy He is not like the Idols of the Heathens even themselvs being witnesses for the followers favorites of Idol Gods who 〈◊〉 upon them in time of prosperity and devote themselves to their Worship yet in the day of distresse their Idols leave them in the lirch and they are forced to look to the Lord for relief Jer. 2. 27. In the time of their trouble they will say Arise and save us But the hope of Israel is not like them when the Disease is most deadly he then cures the condition of the sinner most desperate he then delivers out of the jaws of Satan and botom of Hell he then rescues It s the Prerogative he takes to himself Thy destruction O Israel is of thy self but in me is thy help Hos. 13. 9. It 's that praise which the Saints give as the proper due of the Lord Psal. 103. Praise the Lord O my soul who forgiveth all thy sins and healeth all thy diseases and Jonah leaves this Cure upon Record after he was landed by the 〈◊〉 Jonah 2. 6. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God and verse 9. Salvation is of the Lord. Here is a ground of Encouragement to sustain the hearts of such forlorn Creatures as are sunk down in desperate discouragement as past help and hope to provoke them yet to seek out
at such a time the light of the word broke in upon my soul and after that I never heard the Minister preach but I received somthing and my heart did close with more than I could bear away but I could understand then and remember also ever after that time This is palpably true in cases of Conscience I wil issue this point thus 2 Pet. 2. 9. who hath called you out of darkness to his mervailous light the soul now begins to wonder and to be amazed at the vileness of sin at the frame of his heart at the patience of God that hath suffered him so long and he marvails with himself where he hath been and what he hath been doing all his dayes he is in another world as it were and if ever you have had this work of the spirit calling and turning of you from darkness to light it wil 〈◊〉 you a wondering you will see sin and your self and grace and Christ and the Ordinances and all after another fashion than ever you saw them before How far the sinner may be said to be active in this sight of sin The answer to this may be expressed in severall particulars that that way of God and the work of his spirit may more distinctly be discovered There is a weakness impotencie and insufficiencie in the understanding to reach this right discovery of sin for however there remaynes so much glimmering in the twilight of Natural reason and so much sensibleness in the stupid benummedness of the corrupt conscience of acarnal man that it can both see and sensibly check for some grosser evil or some such sins or venom of sin as crosseth his own peace and Comfort or those ends which he sets up as the chiefest good at which he aymes but to search into the entrales of sin and discern the spiritual composition of the accursed nature therof he can in no wise attayn this by all the labor and light he hath 2. Pet. 1. 9. He that lacketh these things that is these heavenly graces whereof the chief were faith and heavenly knowledg mentioned before he is blind and cannot see afarr of he may like a purblind-man give guess or have a confused conceiving of things after a dym and dazling fashion if the things be neer as the man in the gospel saw men walking like Trees but there be secrets in sin depths in the disstempers of mens hearts which are far removed from outward appearance and ordinary apprehension these he cannot perceive As it is in natural things and the several actions which issue from them each man is able to hear the sound of a mans words to discern the sence and reason of them and wil easily grant from the received principles of reason that they come from a man and evidence undeniably that there is a reasonable soul there which is and must needs be the cause thereof because they are properties that appertain to creatures of that kind alone and argue a life of the highest excellency nor Trees nor beasts can do so It s beyond their kind and the bounds of their ability But what this reasonable soul is in the constitution and composition therof this is further removed from our sence and so from our apprehension and it wil excercise the most sharp and ablest understanding and that furnished with Learning and reading to apprehend or discover so it is in sin when we hear the falsness of mens language when they speak thay care not how to cover their own shame or deny that which might bring danger to them when we see the cruelty and fiercness of their carriage in stealing or killing each man out of ordinary principles will condemn those these be as it were the words and hands of sin Ah but the spirituall pride and soveraignty of will which lifts up it self above the law and will of God justles his holiness and holy command to the wall this is the inward soul of sin thousands which condemn the former have and harbour and maintayn these to their dying day they never saw the evil of them How the sound of their actions strik outwardly they hear and observe but how the wheels of their mind and wil go inwardly and swerve al the day long and all their lives long in the whol inward frame of the whol man they be as far to seek as though there were no such thing The Conscience checks and the worst of men see the loathsomness of the evil if he should stab and take away the Life of a man but every Blasphemer stabs the Lord and yet his Conscience doth not so check him there because he sees the grossness of the one its near but the spiritualness of the other he doth not see it is a far off To stick in the medium and fall short of the object is feebleness That is the proper intendment of the Apostle when he layes open the seebleness of the wisdom of the most Eminent heathen Rom. 1. 21. they knew God but did not glorify him as God but became vayn in their discourse i. e. they fell short of their end of God whom they pretended to worship they missed of him that was their vanitie and they worshipped the creature in the room of God And hence the Prophet expresseth the practice of such as those who be wholly misguided in their course by reason of their mistakes Isay. 5. 20. They call evil good and good evil they put darkness for light and bitter for sweet and therfore it is they are so easily cousened by Satan and do so easily cousen themselves And upon this ground it is though they in Acts. 17. 23. worshipped an unknown God and Paul would have taught them the true God whom they ignorantly worshipped they would follow their own fancies and worship Gods of their own making but the true God blessed for ever they might have heard of him and been instructed concerning him his being and Worship they would not own nor entertain the Apostles Counsel in that behalf nay verse 32. they mocked him when he spake to them of 〈◊〉 things There is an incapability in our minds to receive this spiritual light by which we might be enabled to come to the right discovery of our Corruptions John 1. 5. The Light shined in darkness and the darkness Comprehended it not This is the Condition of every man by Nature So the Apostle ye were darkness Eph. 5. 8. Now one opposite will oppose and resist another but will not nay cannot entertain another and hence the Apostle gives that to be the ground of that resistance against the truth 2 Tim. 3. 8. They are men of corrupt minds therefore they resist the truth as Jannes Jambres did As it is in Nature when any sense hath lost his right temper and wholsome Constitution it is not possible to put forth its operation with any right discerning or discovery of that which comes to it the tast is corrupt the tongue tainted and over-grown
have been wrought what benefit thou mightest have received hadst thou but suffered and received the helps provided for that end which when thou diddest oppose and not suffer thy self to be convinced thou didst oppose thine own everlasting welfare and therefore art guilty of thine own blood Luke 7. 30. The Publicans and sinners justified God and were baptized but the Scribes and Pharisees rejected the Counsel of God against themselves i. e. against their own good and happiness Yea so the Apostle to the gainsaying Corinthians when he had disputed long and manifested the Truth in the cleer evidence of it Acts 18. 14. and they gainsayed still and blasphemed he shook his rayment in sign of distast and indignation and said your blood be upon your own heads I am clean he was innocent And so one day thou wilt be forced to confess and to cleer the innocency and faithfulness of Gods Servants I was the cause of my confusion my own wayward gainsaying Spirit else I might have been recovered they did their duty with much painfulness but my perverse spirit would not receive that counsel which would have directed and comforted me but now condemns me So Paul to the contradicting Jews Acts 13. 46. Because ye put away the Word and judg your self unworthy of eternal life thou wilt then be forced to yield it I am unworthy that ever the Promises of the Gospel should establish my heart who would not be convinced of the goodness of them unworthy that ever the Gospel should be the savor of life to me who have cast it behind my back as unsavory Salt He sins against the Ordinances the Faithfulness Truth and free Grace of God therein revealed and dispensed for his everlasting good he casts all these behind his back and out of a slight neglect wil not give the least entertainment thereunto This quarrelling disposition like a squeazy stomach spils the Physick when he cannot endure to take it flings away the dainties provided when he is not willing nor hath not a heart or appetite to feed on them and how hainous this contempt is the Apostle intimates Hebrews 2. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation It sins against Gods Spirit in a more than ordinary manner he would seem in his gainsaying frame to try masteries with the Lord and in the highest strain of rebellion to contest with the Almighty Spirit of Christ in the utmost defyance as refusing to yield in the least appearance I call it the highest strain of 〈◊〉 to try Masteries with the Almighty and that may be thus observed When our Savior was to leave the world and to go to Heaven to possess the glory he had with the Father before all worlds he comforts the hearts of his Disciples touching his departure with the Consideration of the incomparable benefit that would accrew therefrom John 16. 7. It is expedient for you that I go away so if I go not away the comsorter will not come but if I depart I will send him that is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus would not dispense the powerful work of his Grace in such an abundant measure unless he ascended unto the Throne of his Grace for the largeness of the dispensation thereof and that in reason until that time The Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified John 7. 39. When he ascended up on high he then gave gifts unto men even for the Rebellious Eph. 4. 8. And herein appears the powerful dispensation of his Grace and operation of his Spirit then when the Comforter is come he shal convince the world of sin he shal set down the Consciences of the Sons of men in the sight of their vileness and guilt This is as it were 〈◊〉 Master-piece of the work of the Spirit when he is sent from Heaven from the Father and the Son with full Commission and Power from our Savior advanced to the highest pitch of supreamest excellency of his Kingly Prophetical and Priestly Offices and that for this end in the first place as the prime and hardest work to convince the world of sin Now to gainsay and contradict this Spirit in this Work for which he hath received this Commission is to contest for Masteries with the Almighty Heb. 12. 25. If they escaped not who refused Moses who spake on Earth how shall we escape if we refuse him that speaks from Heaven And this is the highest strayn of rebellion when a 〈◊〉 wil not give way nor yield in the least but 〈◊〉 out this authority of the spirit from having any entertainment even in the suburbs 〈◊〉 our apprehensions and understandings while we continue in this gainsaying frame there wants nothing but light and malice to make it 〈◊〉 sin against the Holy Ghost Here is the hainousness of the sin See the Curse of it that is dreadful Thou makest way for Satan in the means which are appointed by God to oppose him John 13. 27. The Devilentred into Judas with a sopp so he enters with an admonition and counsel while thou doest oppose that truth which should help thee against his power and subtilty but yieldest thy self fully to be possessed by both Thou wilt not be guided by the counsel of God therfore thou shalt be cousened by the delusions of the Devil Christ in his righteous dealings and according to thy just deservings delivers thee up to the power of Satan whenas thou wast willing to yeild up thy self to his possession So Paul 1. Tim. 3. 20. delivers Hymenoeus and Philetus unto Satan and in Church discipline obstinacy in the least evil is answerable to the greatest offence because by that means the soul shakes off the authority of the Lord Jesus and so is to be cast out Because thou hast gainsayed his dispensations he wil have no more dealing with thee Math. 23. last you shal see me no more He wil pass by and not speak with thee He wil instruct 〈◊〉 admonish others but he wil 〈◊〉 thee no more reprove thee no more He wil not change a word with thee in the 〈◊〉 ' My 〈◊〉 shal not alwayes 〈◊〉 Gen. 6. 3. That spirit which thou hast resisted and opposed shal stir in thee and strive with thee no more thou wouldest 〈◊〉 see thou shalt not see therefore thou wouldest not have thy conscience stirred it shal be seared therefore Thou art every day ripening for 〈◊〉 and reserved in the chayns of darkness til the judgment of the great 〈◊〉 and therefore thy condition is like that of the Devil himself thou hast only the liberty of thy chain that is liberty to encrease thy sins and thy plagues when the Lord would prepare a people for destruction he saves 〈◊〉 a. 6. 10. he seals them up under the curse of a 〈◊〉 mind and a hard heart Hear ye indeed but understand not and see yee indeed but perceiv not 〈◊〉 the heart of this people fat and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes
is the way that God hath appointed and he wil bless the order which he hath set in his infinite wisdom and which he wil prosper If you would find his blessing walk in his way if you expect success attend his order and direction which he hath left to bring us to his Christ and so to life and happiness If you see not your sins you are in hazard never to see good day while you live nor when you dye Christ is said to stand at the dore and knock and if any man wil open unto him he wil come in and supp with him Rev. 3. 20. Saving Contrition is a shooting back the boults of our base lusts a severing and unlocking the heart from the Soveraignty of ones noysom Corruptions that stop the passage and hinder the coming of our Saviour this clear and convicting sight of our sins is as it were the lifting up of the latch or letting in of the Key the powerful dispensation of the truth and operation of his spirit whereby the knot and combination between sin and the soul is broken and severed and the way made that the authority of the truth may come at the heart and work kindly upon it for good An error here in the entrance is hardly ever recovered to miss here is mervailous dangerous it spoyles our whol proceeding in the great work of our calling and everlasting comfort as the naturallist and Physitian observe an error in the first concoction is never recovered in the second for the Lord in his wisdom and the course of nature hath so ordayned that each part doth that which is its proper and peculiar work but doth not rectify or redress that which was done amiss by another and so the goodness of the nourishment is never recovered or the body strengthened or health so comfortably preserved herby as were to be desired So it is in the entrance of 〈◊〉 great work of preparation for Christ and our effectual bringing home unto him never see sin aright the soul cannot be affected with it in a right manner never truly see the need of a Savior never seek after him or come to him this through sight of sin is as it were the setting open of the window whereby the light and good of the truth and the loath 〈◊〉 of sin is laid open unto the soul and comes in a main upon the Conscience to prevayl with it whereas shut this window and stop this passage the soul is cooped up in the dungeon of darkness and delusion be the ordinances never so powerful the means never so effectual there 〈◊〉 no coming into the heart no hope to work upon it or to prevail with it for good the evil of sin is not acknowledged and therefore not prevented that which his reason cannot see a man cannot shun the excellency and necessity of a Christ is not discerned and therefore not endeavoured after as were meet It befalls the soul smote with this spiritual blindness as with the Assyrian Host when they came to surprize Elisha 2 Kings 18. 19. 20. He prayed Lord smite this people with blindness he did so and they saw nothing before they were in the midst of their enemyes so here when the sinner is misguided by the dimness of his deluded mind he goes on in an evil way and knowes not whither he goes or where he is before he be in the botintoless pit Oh be wise and wary therefore that we err not here least we rush into ruine and that past alrecovery Expect then Gods blessing upon our endeavour but in Gods order attend his work in his own way It is the aym of our Saviour in sending and the office of the Holy Ghost in coming into the world when he intends to work effectually the saving good of his people to intitle them to the pardon of their sins and to establish their hearts under the government of his spirit John 16. 7. 8. If I depart I wil send the Comforter and when he is come he wil reprove he wil convince and set down the world by 〈◊〉 conviction of sin of righteousness of judgment of righteousness that the law is satisfied justice answered and that fully because he that was in prison is now released and therefore the debt payd and he gone to heaven to his Father Of judgment the power of his Kingdom government erected and set up in the soules of his servants and children in that by death he overcame him that had the power of death that is the Devill and therefore he is judged and falls in his cause as having no right nor in reason can challenge no rule in the hearts of those for whom Christ hath satisfied divine justice and therefore are free from that authority that sin and Satan had of them thereby But before we can share either in the righteousness of Christ for our justification or the rule of his spirit in our Sanctification the Holy Ghost must and doth convince us of sin that we have rejected and not entertained this Saviour If we do not convictingly see our sin in settling upon the root of our Corrupt rebellions and casting away the riches of Christs mercy the rule of his Grace it s not possible that those spiritual benefits should ever be made ours As ever therefore you desire to see and find the mercies of Christ sealed up unto your Consciences in pardoning of sins and acceptation of your persons As ever you would find the Kingdom of Satan cast down in your hearts and the government of his Grace and spirit there set up labor for this clear and convicting sight of sin begin you where the Holy spirit begins that you may find his presence with you his effectual power and blessing to accompany your endeavours in that way Catch not disorderly at pardon look not for peace of Conscience or hope to see the government of Christs Grace set up in your souls before you come to 〈◊〉 your sins by convicting evidence of the Holy Ghost The holy spirit of Grace wil not cross his course to gratify our Corruption That I may further set on the exhortation I shal endeavour to do these two things First To propound some means to help in 〈◊〉 work Secondly Some motives to quicken you therein The means are these that follow First Labor we to see that unconceivable excellency of holiness that is in the Lord and search we into the 〈◊〉 and the righteous laws there recorded for the direction of our daily course and that wil make us see the loathsomness of our own hearts and the vileness of 〈◊〉 As it s said of darkness it cannot be seen by it self but its light that discovers it self and darkness It s as true of sin it is not by it self to be discerned for it is spiritual darkness the light of Gods Holiness and wisdom which by sin are wronged and the law which is transgressed these are both lights God is light and in
ken of Salvation That crooked things must be made straight before any flesh can see the salvation of the Lord. There be crookings of carnal reason in the heart of every man naturally it was the great Ingredient into the first sin of Adam and hath been his Curse ever since to find out findings Eccles. 7. last to invent inventions to make an escape from the Truth and so to walk in the vanity of their own mind and unless the Lord heat a man in the fire of his fury hold him upon the Anvil beat him and break him by the hammer of the Law in this work of Contrition this crookedness wil never be removed nor he come within the sight of Salvation and it 's made one part of the description of a man that is out of the path of peace Isay 59. 8. They have made their 〈◊〉 crooked By way of REPROOF It dasheth that dream of the wicked and cursed imagination of carnal men who conceit that to fal under the foot of contempt according to the desert of our evil doings they conceive it a point of greatest dispar agement and wickedness that can be imagined and to take up 〈◊〉 abode in that abased condition either by some reach of policy not to prevent such an evil or when it doth befal to be shistless as to sink under it and not to be able to struggle out they look at such and leave it upon Record in their Observation as very simplicians such as are destitute either of wit or courage to swallow down such indignities and never be sick of them these persons they note as feeble and the 〈◊〉 base A hellish delusion directly contrary to the truth here delivered and the practice of these Converts now truly broken-hearted with Godly sorrow for their sins That which issues from the power and work of Gods Spirit upon the soul it argues neither feebleness nor 〈◊〉 and such is this practice and therefore it argues neither 1. Not feebleness because it is of a conquering of a commanding power and that against the greatest forces of sin and Satan which they bring into the field our own carnal ends and high conceited excellency of our worth the seeking our selves and setting up our own persons and names and praises are the very stumps of Dagon which stand longest the very heart blood of the body of death the high and overweening thoughts of the Soveraignty of our wils and worth they are the holds of Satan to batter down the strong holds and to make us lie down in the dust and to be abased in the sight of God and man in quiet subjection is indeed to subdue the power of darkness a work unto which we must be enabled by the power of the Almighty far beyond the might of al Creatures much less shal feebleness be able ever to compass it if thou conceitest it is so easie go thy waies and do thou likewise Alas poor deluded Creature it 's such a task that thy heart misgives thee at the very on-set and thou art never able to turn thy hand to it thou must have allowance from thy lusts and stubbornness of thy own heart and ask leave of thy pride and vain glory and when al is done thou canst not so much as fain a confession such a slave and underling thou art to thy sinful distempers even slavery it self that they wil not suffer thee to speak a word to cross thine own way ward spirit and condemn the wretchedness of thy carnal carriage which by the power of the spirit of contrition these poor Servants of the Lord can do not verbally but really and seriously as in the sight of God Which shews there is more than the strength of a mans self that must 〈◊〉 yea destroy a mans self that is his self pride and praise 2. As there is no feebleness in this so neither is there the least baseness in so blessed a service and work of such excellency as this is a behavior truly honorable and such as indeed beseems persons of the greatest account with God and man 〈◊〉 were the diamond in Solomons Crown Eccles. 1. 1. The words of a soul gathered to his people the son of David King in Jerusalem they were titles of honor but this was the top of al. It was a higher soveraignty to bewail his sin and seek unfeyned reconciliation to the Church and by serious and thorough satisfaction to 〈◊〉 acceptance than to sit in the throne of Israel by that he was above his subjects by this he was above himself by that he had power over his people by 〈◊〉 he prevayled over the power of darkness hel devils distempers by that he was above the Kingdom ruled it according to his own wil by this he is above his wil which was above the King yea above his corruption and lusts who lorded over wil and King and Kingdom and al. Yea this is so eminent a service however it seems other to the deluded minds of men it makes way for the 〈◊〉 pitch of al that happiness we ever hope to obtayn here on earth or hereafter in heaven 1 Cor. 15. 28. the pinacle of al perfection unto which we can be advanced 〈◊〉 that God may be al 〈◊〉 all 〈◊〉 when a sinner lyes under the foot of loathsomness hath nothing doth nothing receives nothing 〈◊〉 himself unworthy to be looked at worthy to be loathed of heaven earth Now God is al in al not onely 〈◊〉 al for him such is his nothingness in himself but here is the glory of al power wisdom and mercy to overcom his unworthyness and to make him fit to receive any thing besides look at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 work it self 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 greatest victory and those must be the greatest conquerors of al who have conquered and made spoyl of al the Glory of the world The heathen King wished there were more worlds to conquer he that is willing to bewail his sins and take shame for them he hath conquered al those worlds and the conqueror himself and those high thoughts that conquered him it s a degree above glory willingly to be content to want it than indeed to enjoy it Ground of EXAMINATION and TRIAL If we would ever gain assurance or bring in evidence and proof to oure own souls and others that indeed our hearts have been broken for our sins and so turned from our sins in a saving manner unto God here in the kingdom of Grace that we may undoubtedly assure our selves that we shal see his face in glory in another world try thy heart and condition by the former truth lay thy soul level to the doctrine formerly delivered if thou findest this work of God thou mayest undoubtedly conclude there is the spirit of God And however it seems so mean in the eyes of men yet the greater the power of the Almighty is seen in it to lay mountains low and level the hand of the Lord must do this
M R Hooker's First Second Third Fourth Fift Sixt Seventh and Eighth Books made in New-England THE APPLICATION OF REDEMPTION By the effectual Work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The first eight Books In which besides many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed 1. Christ hath purchased all spiritual good for HIS 2. Christ puts all HIS into possession of all that Good that he hath purchased 3. The Soul must be fitted for Christ before it can receive him And a powerful Ministry is the ordinary means to prepare the heart for Christ. 4. The Work of God is free And the day of Salvation is while this Life last and the Gospel continue 5. God calls his Elect at any Age but the most before old Age. 6. The Soul is naturally setled in a sinful security 7. The heart of a Natural man is wholly unwilling to submit to the Word that would sever him from his sins 8. God the Father by a holy kind of violence plucks His out of their corruptions and draws them to beleeve in Christ. By that Faithful and known Servant of Christ Mr. THOMAS HOOKER late Pastor of the Church at Hartford in New-England somtimes Preacher of the Word at Chelmsford in Essex and Fellow of Emmanuel Colledg in Cambridg Printed from the Authors Papers written with his own Hand And attested to be such in an Epistle By Thomas Goodwin And Philip Nye London Printed by Peter Cole at the sign of the Pringting-press in Cornhil neer the Royal Exchange 1656. To the Reader READER IT hath been one of the Glories of the Protestant Religion that it revived the Doctrine of Saving Conversion And of the new creature brought forth thereby Concerning which and the necessity thereof we find so much indigitated by Christ and the Apostles in their Epistles in those times But in a more eminent manner God hath cast the honor hereof upon the Ministers and Preachers of this Nation who are renowned abroad for their more accurate search into and discoveries hereof First For the Popish Religion that much pretend to Piety and Devotion and doth dress forth a Religion to a great outward Gaudiness and shew of 〈◊〉 and wil-worship which we confess is entermingled with many spiritual strains of self-denial Submission to Gods wil Love to God and Christ especially in the writings of those that are called Mistical 〈◊〉 But that first great and saving Work of Conversion which is the foundation of al true piety the great and numerous volumns of their most devout writers are usually silent therein Yea they eminently appropriate the word Conversion and thing it self unto 〈◊〉 man that renounceth a Secular life and entereth into Religious orders as they cal them and that Doctrine they have in their discourses of Grace and free wil about it is of no higher elevation than what as worthy Mr. Perkins long since may be common to a Reprobate though we judg not al amongst them God having continued in the midst of Popish Darkness many to this day and at this day with more Contention than 〈◊〉 not scandalous in their lives having in 〈◊〉 Knowledg the Form of Truth by 〈◊〉 adding thereunto some outward 〈◊〉 Duties Such Persons we mean as 〈◊〉 were in our Pulpits plainly 〈◊〉 but Civil Moral 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 really but such kind of Professors of 〈◊〉 as Mutatis mutandis are found 〈◊〉 Turks of Mahumotanism who 〈◊〉 the Principles of that 〈◊〉 and are devout in Duties to God 〈◊〉 thereby through the meer 〈◊〉 of Natural Devotion and Education 〈◊〉 Laws and Customs of that Religion 〈◊〉 also through Moral Honesty are not 〈◊〉 in their Lives Such like 〈◊〉 amongst us have been and that 〈◊〉 a New 〈◊〉 of Religion with 〈◊〉 also from others the Ignorant 〈◊〉 Prophane professedly received 〈◊〉 the Communion of Saints as visible Saints 〈◊〉 Principle and Practice hath as it 〈◊〉 needs weakened and embased the 〈◊〉 purer stamp of the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 as then held forth with such evidence of difference from these 〈◊〉 Profession not only by encouraging such boldly to take on them to be 〈◊〉 as it were by Authority but also by having checked and flatted the spirits 〈◊〉 themselves that would teach it seeing that this Real Application in Practice and Principle to such Moral Christians as Saints is a manifest Contradiction unto al 〈◊〉 can be Doctrinally said in the Pulpit to the contrary concerning the power 〈◊〉 this great work in true Saints And 〈◊〉 the Profession of Religion hath been levelled and diffused into that bulk and commonness that the true marks of saving Graces are as to the open discerning much worn out and wil be more and more if this should obtain Or else as great a Cause as any other a special Profession of Religion being 〈◊〉 Mode and under Countenance Hence many have been easily moved to see what might be in Religion and so attend to what is said about it and upon listening thereto their spirits have been awakened and surprized with some light and then with that Light they have grown inquisitive into what this or that Party of Religion holds what the other or what a fourth And thinking themselves at liberty as the Principle of the times is to chuse as men in a Market what that Light wil lead them to they accordingly fal in either with this or that particular perswasion and this is al of many mens Conversion And yet because such become zealously addicted to such or such a 〈◊〉 some of the Professors of each of which others that differ own as truly Godly therfore they are presently adopted owned as Saints by the several Followers of such Opinions And each sort thinks much that those who embrace their Opinion should not be accounted and esteemed Religious 〈◊〉 all others that do sincerely 〈◊〉 the power of it Thus men Tythe 〈◊〉 and Cummin and leap over the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regeneration namely 〈◊〉 for sin the 〈◊〉 sence of their Natural Condition the Difficult work of Faith to 〈◊〉 them Union and Closing with Christ Mortification of lusts c. which works where they are found and visibly held forth none are to be disowned for other Opinions consisting with the 〈◊〉 yet so as without these no Opinion of what Elevation soever can or doth constitute a man Religious Now look as when among the Jews Religion had run into Factions and Parties and the power of it thereby was 〈◊〉 lost God then set down John 〈◊〉 amongst them a sowr and severe Preacher Urger of the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 and preparative Humiliation for sin which he comparatively to what was brought in by Christ termeth the Baptism of Water though withal 't is said that in the Close of his Doctrine 〈◊〉 pointed unto Christ Saying unto the people that they should beleeve on him that should come after him that is on Jesus Christ. Yet this he did but 〈◊〉 at for the
ful 〈◊〉 of his Dispensation ran in that other Channel Of whose Ministry 〈◊〉 is also said Luk. 1. 16. 17. That 〈◊〉 of the Children of Israel should he turn to 〈◊〉 Lord their God And shal go before him namely Christ in the spirit and power of 〈◊〉 to turn the hearts of the Fathers to their Children and the Disobedient to the 〈◊〉 of the just to make ready a people 〈◊〉 for the Lord. The meaning whereof is he came to restore the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 Conversion and in that point 〈◊〉 bring and reduce the Children of the 〈◊〉 back again unto the same 〈◊〉 and wayes necessary to Salvation 〈◊〉 which the Fathers and all the 〈◊〉 Saints of the old Testament 〈◊〉 been brought in unto God And 〈◊〉 by that means to become of the same Religion saving Conversion being the 〈◊〉 practick Foundation and Centre 〈◊〉 all Religion that the Godly Jews 〈◊〉 old were of So what know we but 〈◊〉 God in some lesser proportionate 〈◊〉 both in respect of persons and times may have had this in the eye of all wisely designing Providence to set out this great Authors works and writings amongst the labors of others also upon this very Argument to bring back and correct the Errors of the spirits of Professors of these times and perhaps by urging too far and insisting too much upon that as Preparatory which includes indeed the beginnings of true Faith And a man may be held too long under John Baptists water To rectify those that have slipt into Profession and Leapt over all both true and deep Humiliation for sin and sence of their natural Condition yea and many over Christ himself too professing to go to God without him However this we may say without diminution to any other or detraction from the Author himself in respect of his more raysed knowledg of Christ and Gods free Grace That if any of our late Preachers and Divines came in the Spirit and power of John Baptist this man did This deeply humbled man and as 〈◊〉 raised both in Faith and 〈◊〉 with Christ the Author of 〈◊〉 Treatises He had been trained up 〈◊〉 his Youth in the Experience and 〈◊〉 of Gods Dispensations and 〈◊〉 this way and vers'd in digging 〈◊〉 the Mines and Veins of Holy 〈◊〉 to find how they agreed with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Soul had 〈◊〉 the intricate Meanders and the 〈◊〉 through temptations 〈◊〉 of this narrow passage and 〈◊〉 into Life and few there be that 〈◊〉 it And by deep reflections upon 〈◊〉 step of Gods Procedure with 〈◊〉 hath descried those false and 〈◊〉 by-waies which at every step 〈◊〉 man who errs in his heart not 〈◊〉 the knowledg of Gods waies is apt to 〈◊〉 astray when they have but inferior 〈◊〉 of the Spirit on them from 〈◊〉 way of Life which only those do 〈◊〉 that are un-erringly guided by the 〈◊〉 Spirit peculiar to the Elect into 〈◊〉 waies of Peace And whereas there hath been published long since many Parts and Pieces of this Author upon this Argument Sermon-wise preach'd by him here in England which in the preaching of them did enlighten all those Parts Yet having been taken by an unskilful hand which upon his recess into those remoter parts of the World was bold without his privity or consent to print and publish them one of the greatest injuries which can be done to any man it-came to pass his genuine meaning and this in points of so high a Nature and in some things differing from the Common Opinion was diverted in those printed Sermons from the fair and cleer draught of his own Notions and Intentions because so utterly deformed and mis-represented in multitudes of passages And in the rest but imperfectly and crudely set forth Here in these Treatises thou hast his Heart from his own Hand his own Thoughts drawn by his own Pensil This is all truly and purely his own not as preached only but as written by himself in order to the Press which may be a great satisfaction to all that honored 〈◊〉 loved him as who that was good and knew him did not especially 〈◊〉 that received benefit by those 〈◊〉 imperfect Editions And we cannot but look at it as a blessed Providence of God that the publishing of the same by others in that manner that hath been mentioned should have provoked him and that by the excitation of the Church whereof he was the Pastor in New-England to go over again the same Materials in the Course of his Ministry amongst them in order to the perfecting of it by his own hand for publick Light thereby to vindicate both himself and it from that wrong which otherwise had remained for ever irrecompensible And hereby it came to pass that so far as he hath proceeded this Subject came to have a third Concoction in the Heart and Head of him that was one of the most experienced Christians and of acutest Abilities that have been living in our Age. He Preach'd more briefly of this Subject first whilst he was 〈◊〉 and Chatechist in Emanuel Colledg in Cambridg The Notes of which were then so esteemed that many Copies thereof were by many that heard not the Sermons written out and are yet extant by them And then again a Second time many yeers after more largely 〈◊〉 Great Chelmsford in Essex the 〈◊〉 of which was those Books of 〈◊〉 that have gone under his Name And Last of all now in New-England and 〈◊〉 in and to a setled Church of Saints to which the Promise is made of being The Seat and Pillar of Truth and 〈◊〉 which all Ordinances set as the Load stone in the Steel have the greater power and energie In which the Presence of Christ breaks forth and all 〈◊〉 Springs are found therein And truly we need not wonder 〈◊〉 God set his heart and thoughts a work 〈◊〉 much and so repeatedly about this Subject VVe see that the Holy Ghost himself the Author of this Work of Conversion doth somtimes and that in an 〈◊〉 manner go over the whol of that Work again and again in the hearts of Christians whom God means to make great in his Church as in Peter when 〈◊〉 art converted c. who was yet 〈◊〉 already And to the Disciples Except ye be converted c. And the 〈◊〉 of the Holy Ghost upon them at and 〈◊〉 Pentecost was as a New Conversion 〈◊〉 them making them to differ 〈◊〉 much from themselvès in what they were afore as wel-nigh they themselves 〈◊〉 afore truly wrought on did 〈◊〉 differ from other men The 〈◊〉 of God himself goes over this work 〈◊〉 in al the parts of it As to 〈◊〉 anew to draw to Christ to change and 〈◊〉 the heart to higher strains of 〈◊〉 And when so then his Second 〈◊〉 excels the First that it comes not into mind and his Third the Second 〈◊〉 it ceaseth as it were to be remembred as the Prophet in other works of wonder speaks for thereby he every 〈◊〉 Spirituallizeth the
heart stil more 〈◊〉 it from Hypocrisie and makes it 〈◊〉 refined causeth the heart to come forth from each new Cast and moulding with a deeper and fairer Impression 〈◊〉 his Image and Glory If then the Holy Ghost the Writer of his Law in the Heart set that high value upon that Work 〈◊〉 his that he vouchsafeth to take 〈◊〉 pains to write it over and over again in the same Tablet Let it be no Diminution to this great Author but let us bless God rather for the Providence that the same Divine Hand and Spirit should set him this Task to take the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 VVork into a second yea a third Review and thereby make it as it were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the VVork of his Life Only thus it is That the other Great Points as Union with Christ Justification Adoption Sanctification and Glory which Subjects as he was able for so his heart was most in them he hath left unfinished And so thereby as is most likely multitndes of precious yea glorious thoughts which he might have reserved as often fals out to Preachers and Writers for those higher Subjects as the Close and Centre and Crown of what forewent as preparative thereto are now perished and laid in the dust with him None but Christ was ever yet able to finish all that Work which was in his Heart to do Farewel Thomas Goodwin Philip Nye Eleven Books made in New-England by Mr. Thomas Hooker and printed from his Papers written with 〈◊〉 own Hand are now published in 〈◊〉 volnms two in Quartò one in Octa. vo VIZ. The Application of Redemption by the Effectual Work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the 〈◊〉 home of lost 〈◊〉 unto God The First Book on 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. The Second on 〈◊〉 1. 21. The Third on Luk. 1. 17. The Fourth on 2 Cor. 6. 2. The Fift on ' 〈◊〉 20. 〈◊〉 6 7 The Sixt on Revel 3. 17. The Seventh 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 7. The Eight on John 6. 44. The 〈◊〉 on 〈◊〉 57. 15. The Tenth on Acts 2. 37. The Last viz. Christ's Prayer for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 17. There are Six more Books of Mr. Hookers now printing in two Volums The Contents BOOK I. On 1 Pet. 1. 18. Ye were redeemed by the Blood of Christ. Oct. Christ hath purchased all spiritual good for His. 5 For Explication three things  What this Spiritual good is  All that we lost in Adam all that we need and 〈◊〉 desire to make us happy  How Christ hath purchased this by laying down 〈◊〉 sufficient price for it viz. His Death and Obedience  〈◊〉 two hence 8 1 Instruction See how difficult it is to obtain the least spiritual good Nothing to be had without this Purchase  2 Reproof to two sorts  1 To those that have interest in this Purchase 〈◊〉 improve it not  2 To those that catch at it having no right 〈◊〉 unto  3 FOR HIS here consider 〈◊〉 1 The special respect in which they come to have 〈◊〉 in Christs merits 〈◊〉 on Sinners 〈◊〉 Elect. 〈◊〉 But as the Seed of the Covenant such as shall 〈◊〉 leeve  2 Christ hath purchased FOR THEM  1 In their room  2 For their good  Reasons why Christ hath purchased only for His 〈◊〉 the Faithful not for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  1 The 〈◊〉 of God is satisfied only for them  2 Christ prayed only for them  3 They only shall be saved  4 They 〈◊〉 have the means of Salvation made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them Many have not so much as 〈◊〉 means  〈◊〉 sour hence 〈◊〉 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three things  1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 challenge any spiritual good to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before he beleeve 〈◊〉 For  1 No man hath Christ but by Faith  2 Beleevers 〈◊〉 are in the Covenant of 〈◊〉  3 〈◊〉 are in the state of 〈◊〉  2 The Spirit of God deth not witness to any 〈◊〉 interest in this spiritual good before and 〈◊〉 Faith Because  1 It 's a falshood cross to the Covenant of 〈◊〉  2 An 〈◊〉 is uncapable of knowing receiving such a witness  Inferences hence 29 1 It 's a delusion to say you may have Christ before Faith this is the ground of Prophaneness and 〈◊〉  2 There are no absolute Promises in the Covenant of Grace but such as do either express or imply the condition of Faith And yet it 's a Covenant of free Grace  3 The 〈◊〉 of Christ never gives evidence to any man of his good Estate without respect to a qualification viz. Faith and Grace Because 41 1 This work of Evidencing is a work of Applicacion  2 The Spirit never Evidenceth without tha Word  3 The Spirit alwaies 〈◊〉 by applying of a general Promise wherein particular persons are included  4 This would be to charge the Spirit with witnessing a falshood  5 The Spirit ever witnesseth as the Covenant of Grace doth  6 The Spirit witnesseth in the same respect as the Father intended and Christ purchased  7 The Evidence of spiritual Knowledge and Assurance of Faith arise upon the same ground  Hence see the excellency and blessed condition of Beleevers 54 Confutation it dasheth the dream of universal Redemption 57 Objections Answered  Exhortation to provoke our hearts 66 1 To get Faith  2 To have all at Christs Command and lay out all for his praise  BOOK II On Matth. 1. 21. He shall save his People from 〈◊〉 sins DOCT. Christ puts all his into possession of all 〈◊〉 Good that he hath purchased  Two Branches  Branch 1. Redemption and Application are of 〈◊〉 extent For 〈◊〉 1 The Spirit applies Redemption to all and 〈◊〉 such as the Father intended and Christ 〈◊〉 sed it 〈◊〉 2 Application was the end of purchasing  3 If the Application were narrower than the 〈◊〉 chase then Christ should have died for many 〈◊〉 should have no benefit by his death  Uses three hence  1 Consutation of these false Opinions  1 Christ died for all  2 Christ died for all in point of Impetration 〈◊〉 not of Application  3 That the Application of mercy depends upon liberty of mans will  2 Instruction See the Reason why the work of 〈◊〉 cation prevails so powerfully though sinners 〈◊〉 it  Christ having redeemed them will and doth 〈◊〉 that Redemption to them  Direction to distressed sinners Look to the purchase and blood of Christ.  〈◊〉 2. The Manner bow this Application is wrought  Three things implied in that 81 No man can make Application of any spiritual good in Christ to himself  1 Nor by power wrest it  2 Nor by Justice claim it  3 Nor able to receive it  4 Nor willing to be made able  Uses four hence  It dasheth the 〈◊〉 of such as conceive they have power to take Christ and Grace when they
of 〈◊〉 4. 〈◊〉 of Assurance 5. 〈◊〉 6. Temptation 7. 〈◊〉 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bleness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Condition it self 〈◊〉 in thirteen Sermons on Psalm 〈◊〉 11. His Four Sermons concerning 1 Sin against the Holy-Ghost 2 Sins of Infirmities 3 The fifth Monarchy 4 The Good and means of 〈◊〉 ment Francisci Tayleri Capitula 〈◊〉 Hebraicè Latinè edita Una 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sensum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cilium Experimentibus Francisci Tayleri 〈◊〉 Jeremiae vatis Denuo è 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 braicis translatae cum Paraphrasi 〈◊〉 daica Masora magna parva Commentariis Rabbi Shelomoh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezrae 〈◊〉 Buxtorfii 〈◊〉 magnis excerptis The Application of Redemption by the effectual work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God 〈◊〉 Introduction to the Work 1 PETER 1. 18 19. 〈◊〉 asmuch as you know that you were not Redeemed with Corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the Precious blood of Christ c. AMongst all the heavenly Truths of the Gospel which the 〈◊〉 Christ hath Revealed and Commended to His Church out of his holy Word there is none more precious then that wherein the Application of the rich Redemption purchased by him is 〈◊〉 and made good to the hearts of those who 〈◊〉 to the Election of his grace as giving a 〈◊〉 to all the rest of the Doctrine taught learned 〈◊〉 putting the Soul into possession of all those treasure grace which were only promised on Gods part 〈◊〉 hope apprehended by the Sinner before In a word that which gives life to the fainting heart in the 〈◊〉 of Gods free grace For what availes it the hungry to hear of fat 〈◊〉 choice wines and rare 〈◊〉 and not to know 〈◊〉 come at them What profits it the condemned 〈◊〉 factor to hear tell of a Pardon and the Party 〈◊〉 give it if yet he be ignorant what way he should 〈◊〉 procure it for his own deliverance So here 〈◊〉 vailes it the forlorn Sinner sitting down under 〈◊〉 tence of Condemnation and fainting away for 〈◊〉 and forgivness to hear of the rich mercy of a 〈◊〉 sufficiency of the merits of a Christ and the 〈◊〉 demption provided by both and yet see no way to tain them or the deliverance of his Soul by them 〈◊〉 knowledge of the mercy adds rather to the 〈◊〉 his misery and distress to think there is so much 〈◊〉 to be had and he hath so much need and yet 〈◊〉 liends no way to get it no well grounded hope 〈◊〉 tain it The truths themselves which properly 〈◊〉 this place of Divinity and lay forth the 〈◊〉 Gods grace and the work of his Spirit in the Soul wonderful for secrecie sweetness and power 〈◊〉 as they ever have and do at this day exercise the 〈◊〉 able judgments that are or ever were so were 〈◊〉 be handled by a head and heart fully fitted to 〈◊〉 good a matter and expressed by a tongue as the 〈◊〉 a ready Writer as the Psalmist speaks I 〈◊〉 would appear that as the difficulty is great so the fit would be equal and the comfort unmatchable 〈◊〉 would issue from the open discovery of those 〈◊〉 ries For my self being privy to my own weakness it 〈◊〉 suffice in a familiar manner to accommodate my 〈◊〉 though it may be somwhat rudely to the 〈◊〉 of the meanest and in the manner of my 〈◊〉 in order to that end attend the Method 〈◊〉 First By a short and familiar description we shall 〈◊〉 what that Work is which we purpose to 〈◊〉 Secondly We shall chuse such Texts in which all 〈◊〉 divine truths contained in the descriptions are 〈◊〉 that so we may go no 〈◊〉 than we have 〈◊〉 Oracles of God his good Word to go before us either shall we meddle with every particular which 〈◊〉 several Texts will offer to our Consideration but 〈◊〉 handle such as concern our purpose Lastly We shall knit the whole frame together by 〈◊〉 joynts and sinews of distributions and divisions 〈◊〉 such as are attentive may never be at a loss nor yet 〈◊〉 or mistake the Lord but that it may be well seen 〈◊〉 David hath it How the Lord goes in his 〈◊〉 where the prints and footsteps of God be in 〈◊〉 proceeding with the Soul in this great Work To press on to our 〈◊〉 purpose Know then 〈◊〉 must after Adam by his Fall and Apostacy had 〈◊〉 away from God and that gracious estate in 〈◊〉 he was Created according to his Image having 〈◊〉 undone himself and his posterity being all 〈◊〉 Children of wrath under the Curse of the Law 〈◊〉 they could not avoid being just nor bear being 〈◊〉 as issuing from the infinite displeasure of an 〈◊〉 God whose Law they had broken and 〈◊〉 the Seal of the Covenant under their feet 〈◊〉 the recovery of him and any of his out of this 〈◊〉 condition two things were requisite to be done 〈◊〉 to Gods righteous dispensation in the way of Providence First There must be a Redemption 〈◊〉 the death and obedience of Christ that Gods 〈◊〉 and holiness which were wronged might be 〈◊〉 Secondly There must be an Application of Redemption unto the Souls of such for whom 〈◊〉 paid that so they might have the good and 〈◊〉 that which Christ had performed and God 〈◊〉 in their behalf and both these must be done for 〈◊〉 Sons of Adam who ever shall see 〈◊〉 face 〈◊〉 grace or glory For such is that help 〈◊〉 condition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Adam had brought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 that as he hath no 〈◊〉 of own to do any 〈◊〉 that may redeem himself 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his own 〈◊〉 ply that to himself 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 further 〈◊〉 he is fitted by the preventing grace of Christ 〈◊〉 In the Former of these we have the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 open before us In the Latter we come to Possession of them The Former shews the 〈◊〉 this Second the Appropriation of it unto such such only unto whom God hath intended it 〈◊〉 whom it hath been made by Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Head and 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Sweet of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helping 〈◊〉 little to pursue in the 〈◊〉 Exercise as long as the Lord is pleased to give 〈◊〉 liberty To begin then with a Description of Doctrine of Application it may be this in brief Application is that special part of our 〈◊〉 very from our lost Condition 〈◊〉 that Spiritual Good which Christ 〈◊〉 Purchased for Us is made Ours for His is made Theirs To omit the further Consideration of the first part the Description as that which contains the common 〈◊〉 of this part as in reference and cohaerence with 〈◊〉 other That wherein the Pith lies and which 〈◊〉 our purpose may be resolved into these Two 〈◊〉 and Observations First That Christ hath Purchased all Spiritual Good for His. Secondly All that Spiritual Good that Christ hath Purchased for his he doth undoubtedly
names sake Here 〈◊〉 no Qualifications you 'l say whereas if you 〈◊〉 but look into some Verses of the Chapter going 〈◊〉 as vers 20. he speaks to his People His 〈◊〉 these are said 〈◊〉 21. to be such as he had 〈◊〉 for himself and vers 22. he calls them Jacob 〈◊〉 Israel that is The Israel of God as the Apostle 〈◊〉 them Gal. 6. 16. true beleevers Hos. 14. 4. I 〈◊〉 love them freely therefore here 's no 〈◊〉 because none expressed But mark the 1 2 and 〈◊〉 verses you shall find who those are that the Lord 〈◊〉 freely such as having fall'n by their iniquitie Return to the Lord saying Take away all iniquity 〈◊〉 shall not save us in thee the fatherless sind mercy that is Those that have such Qualifications as these they are the Persons whom the Lord 〈◊〉 freely It is impossible it should be 〈◊〉 Rom. 4. 23. As Abraham was justified so must we but he was justified by Faith and therefore there 〈◊〉 no Promise revealing Justification or Adoption but either it doth expres or imply this condition of 〈◊〉 When the Spirit doth Evidence my Justification or Salvation out of the Word it doth it one or these Two wayes Either by the Application of some general Promise in which each Particular and so myself as a particular am included Or 〈◊〉 there 〈◊〉 some special Word appointed appropriated to me alone and is spoken to none but me as Isa. 45. 〈◊〉 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus c. None was here intended but Cyrus This second 〈◊〉 a Familistical Dream and forceth men to Revelations without the Word because there is no such expression to be found in the Word 〈◊〉 therefore sober-minded men who have their senses about them dare not entertain it perceiving indeed as the 〈◊〉 is that such a Conceit is little better than a Frenzy The first way then of Evidencing must needs be taken Whence I Reason Whatever is testified to the Soul by way of Application of the General to the Particular or by way of Collection of the Particular from the General that is ever done with respect to a Condition As it thus appears by Induction the Evidence must needs run in this manner Either All men are Justified but thou art a man therefore thou art justified Or All Sinners are justified but thou art a sinner therefore thou art justisied Or All Self-denying beleeving sinners are justified but thou art such a one therefore thou art justified The Two First here are false only this Third 〈◊〉 last is true and that carries a Qualification 〈◊〉 it If a man fly to Election and say All the Elect are justified that 's false Or thus 〈◊〉 the Elect shall be called and justified that is no 〈◊〉 of Evidencing neither for as was shewed 〈◊〉 there can be no Evidence i. e. Science and 〈◊〉 of Faith of the working of the first 〈◊〉 before it be wrought therefore there is no 〈◊〉 way but the applying of a General including a 〈◊〉 to my self in particular as All that 〈◊〉 as Abraham are justified but I am one 〈◊〉 them This is good To make the Spirit testifie a falshood and my 〈◊〉 to receive it is unlawful to charge untruth 〈◊〉 the Spirit is blasphemous to bring my self into 〈◊〉 by-path that is erroneous But to make the 〈◊〉 testifie that Pardon and Adoption belongs to any 〈◊〉 falls upon any subject without respect to a 〈◊〉 is to make the Spirit testifie a falshood 〈◊〉 it is to make it testifie cross to a rule of Truth which the Spirit of God hath given in the Word For the Rule of Truth is plain Rom. 8. 30. Whom 〈◊〉 called them he justified and them he glorified Therefore to say the Spirit will witness to one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not called is to make him witness against 〈◊〉 Rule Joh. 1. 12. To them that receive him he gave 〈◊〉 to be the Sons of God It s a staple Rule Therefore no man is a Son before he receive Christ therefore to make the Spirit to witness to a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Son of God when he hath not received Christ would make him speak Cross to this Word of Truth Look how the Covenant of Grace testifies a mans good estate and the interest he hath to any spiritual good in Christ so the spirit of Grace doth 〈◊〉 it fo the Spirit of Grace and the Covenant of 〈◊〉 go hand in hand and otherwise how could it 〈◊〉 true That the Gospel should be sufficient to make 〈◊〉 man perfect and compleat in the spiritual 〈◊〉 of his Soul as well as in those things which 〈◊〉 mainly and meerly Essential to eternal life 2 〈◊〉 3. 16. And here is the limits and bounds of that comfort the Spirit is sent to bring its confined 〈◊〉 this compass Joh. 14. 26. I will send the 〈◊〉 and he shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you when he comes 〈◊〉 a Comforter when that is the main scope of 〈◊〉 Commission to make known all the grounds of Comfort to the Saints and to let in the good of them into their Souls when he remembers them of all 〈◊〉 and teacheth all things appertaining thereunto 〈◊〉 ads no more but recals what Christ hath said Besides that testimony which is beyond the Gospel should not be tryed by the Gospel for that which 〈◊〉 beyond the measure cannot be measured by it 〈◊〉 Gospel is the Rule of our Faith and of our Comfort and if this testimony was beyond the reach of the Gospel it could never be judged by it This would not only set open a Gap to all Delusions but break down the banks that the sea of all sottish Imaginations may break in upon the mind and apprehensions of a man and carry them away with mighty violence without controul But the Covenant of Grace doth 〈◊〉 our interest in these Priviledges ever with an eye and respect to some spiritual 〈◊〉 It is the tenure of the Gospel according to the very letter and naked terms of it Mark 16. 16. Go preach the Gospel 〈◊〉 that beleevs shall be saved they and they only and none but they therefore it follows he that 〈◊〉 not shall be 〈◊〉 Jer. 31. 33. This is the 〈◊〉 that I will make with the house of Israel I will 〈◊〉 my laws in their hearts and in their inward 〈◊〉 will I put them Look to the Covenant as made 〈◊〉 Adam Gen. 3. 15. as renewed with Abraham He beleeved and it was counted for righteousness Gen. 15. 6. And so it is in the whole frame of the 〈◊〉 still the Covenant of Grace gives witness to 〈◊〉 mans good estate with respect to Faith therefore 〈◊〉 the Spirit of Grace doth testifie also If God the Father intended these Priviledges 〈◊〉 to such under such a respect or Condition Christ 〈◊〉 all these benefits for such alone and the 〈◊〉 applyed them only unto such then the 〈◊〉 witnesseth the
and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to him without destraction 2. As we should lay up all for him so we should lay out all for his praise when ever 〈◊〉 occasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it that we may 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 5. 15. So the 〈◊〉 we live no more 〈◊〉 selves labour 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but live only to 〈◊〉 who hath 〈◊〉 all Spirituall good for Us. BOOK II. Matt. 1. 21. He shall save His People from their Sins APPlication was the Second Part of Mans Recovery whereby all that Good which Christ hath purchased for His is made Theirs The Sum of this Description we resolved into Two Divine Truths which take up the Nature of it 1 First Christ hath purchased all Spiritual Good for His. That we have finished 2 The Second now follows for which we have 〈◊〉 these words in which we shall attend only so 〈◊〉 as serves our purpose in hand Christ puts all His into the Possession of all that Good He hath Purchased for Them So much the 〈◊〉 letter of the Text sounds Salvation we know 〈◊〉 the substance and marrow of all that Good which we have or hope for here or in another world it 〈◊〉 the removal and absence of all evil that might 〈◊〉 the presence and confluence of all such 〈◊〉 which either we want or desire or can receive to make us happy they are all comprised in this word Salvation And this our Savior 〈◊〉 purchased not to lay it up and to keep it by him but to lay it out in the behalf of his not alone to provide it but to bestow it actually upon them It is his Name it was his Office and he doth the work he doth 〈◊〉 actually save his People from their sins 1 Cor. 1. 30. 〈◊〉 is said to be made of God to us not only so in 〈◊〉 and the sight of God but he is made to us wisdome Righteousnes Sanctisication and Redemption and therfore the Apostle gives thanks to God who 〈◊〉 blessed us with al Spirituall blessings in heavenly places in Christ Eph. 1. 3. So that all the treasuries of all kinds of blessings withall advantages are by Christ Communicated to his Hence the Prophet sets out the Particular inventory of those speciall favours which the Lord doles out unto all 〈◊〉 servants and followers to suit them in their occasions and necessities Isay. 61. 1. 2. the Lord hath 〈◊〉 me to preach good tidings to bind up the broken hearted to proclayme libertie to the 〈◊〉 the opening of the prison to those that are in bonds to give them the oyl of joy and Gladness for the spirit of 〈◊〉 that they may be clothed with the garments of praise He not only hath made a 〈◊〉 of gladness but he puts it on and cloathes all his servants with it In a word hence it is Christ is said to be a perfect Redeemer to save to the utermost not only to offer Salvation and redemption to present it before them but to make it good to their hearts and consciences to their everlasting comforts There are two branches of the Doctrine the explication of them severally will shew the breadth of this truth 1. The extent of this Application or the parties who do partake of ir Theirs Or Ours namly all such for whom these good things were purchased 2. The manner how they come to be made partakers herof the Description told us it was made theirs the Doctrine they are put into the possession of them First Touching the Largness and breadth of this Application it s here to be attended according to the purchase by way of paritie and proportion Redemption and Application are of equall extent Christ purchaseth for his and Christ applyeth unto his and to his only al they have this but only they have this 〈◊〉 of those that ever Christ purchased grace and life 〈◊〉 shall 〈◊〉 of it and none but those shall be made possessors of it both these goe hand in hand Those 〈◊〉 those and those only for whom Christ 〈◊〉 this to them and to all them and only to them Christ applyes this This is the paritie and proportion and equall extent of these two Redemption and Application See this made good by some few Arguments Look we at the manner of the three persons working that will give in Evidence unto this truth this worke of application is attributed in a speciall manner to the spirit because his manner of working doth therin Specially appear he works from the father and the Son and this is the last work The Father as the Will Determines it the Son as the wisdom of the Father he disposeth of this work the holy Ghost as the power of the Almighty Consummates the action For whom the Father appointed this redemption for them Christ purchased it to them the Spirit applies it If the Spirit should not apply it to all for whom Christ purchased it that might argue want of power if to any other but such that might argue want of tuth Application of the purchase is the end of purchasing for therefore redemption was purchased for those for whom Christ had undertaken it that as they needed it he intended it for their good so they might partake of it for their everlasting good and benefit thus the current of the Scripture runnes as a mightie stream 1 Pet. 3. 18. for Christ also once suffered for sin the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God Titus 2 14. He gaue himselfe for us that he 〈◊〉 redeeme us from all iniquity and purifie unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes 〈◊〉 1. 4. who gaue himself for our Sinnes that he might redeem us from this present evill world I add 〈◊〉 more but that John 17. 19. for their sakes I 〈◊〉 my selfe that is he prepared himselfe on 〈◊〉 for his death and 〈◊〉 that by virtue therof they also might have their corruptions subdued and their hearts purified by the truth and hence it is the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 of Grace containes not only the manifestation of Gods mind and counsell touching what is done for us but what he will worke in us and 〈◊〉 to us by the power of his grace Ezek. 36. 26. 〈◊〉 will Power clean water upon you and clense 〈◊〉 from all your filthines a new spirit I will give you and a new heart will I work in you and Jer. 31. 33. I will write my lawes in their hearts and 〈◊〉 my spirit in their inward parts and therfore 〈◊〉 lives forever to Save Perfectly all that come unto 〈◊〉 by him Heb. 7. 25. Iftherfore this be the end of 〈◊〉 Purchase that it might be made good upon the souls 〈◊〉 his children either Christ must misse of his 〈◊〉 and not have his end or els they must of 〈◊〉 have all this good which the Father intended to 〈◊〉 and Christ purchased in their behalf aud for 〈◊〉 Speciall benefit 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Salvation by the death and 〈◊〉
so catcheth at it meerly out of their own 〈◊〉 This 〈◊〉 false Application and this I take to be the cause of the blind presumption of the unwelcome guest Mat. 22. 12. Friend how camest thou in hither not 〈◊〉 thy Wedding Garment He heard of the 〈◊〉 provided and that the Lord kept open doors and therefore he adventured to croud in amongst the company therefore our Savior challengeth him How camest thou in If Coming here was 〈◊〉 why should he be blamed whether was not the wound therefore in a disorderly manner of beleeving and coming He came in his own strength and did not look to Christ to give him a heart to beleeve it answers not the guise and wear at this Wedding which is that the Lord must as well guide us in our coming and order that as well as order the dainties he prepares and 〈◊〉 us unto The Second Ground of mistake in our Application When out of common illumination set up in the mind terror and astonishment let in upon the 〈◊〉 together with notice and conviction it 's only in Christ that must and can do us good Out of these common insightnings and legal terrors the soul is stirred out of a natural 〈◊〉 to procure it's own safety to catch at that comfort and supply whereby it may succor and releeve it self out of these pressures which are too heavy for it Now as long as those fears and the noyse of those direful threatnings of the Lord continue in the view of the soul and as long as it doth not discern its own falsness in this imagined and self-deceiving application out of self love to self ends all that while in a blind kind of boldness it may pretend to hang upon Christ and free mercy But when either the legal stroke ceaseth that he feels not a need of the balsom or that he fails of his end and this groundles application which is nothing els but a presumption fails then al this work falls to the ground and his hopes and heart fails him and all he will then say I applyed mercy to my 〈◊〉 but God never did I catcht at a promise and Christ but God never gave him to me And this is the cause why thousands 〈◊〉 short when it comes to a dead lift their conversion the promises and mercy they have laid hold upon come to nothing the truth is they took a Christ but God never applyed him to them O Application is a wonderful work Thus Esau who despised the birthright and blessing indeed yet out of self love for self ends he seeks the blessing with tears but not with a faith of Application a faith of Gods operation For the root of faith is in the Lord Christ issuing from the work of his spirit and therefore he must apply himself to us before we can apply him to our own hearts As the beams of the Sun must come down to the waters before it can draw up the water in clouds and vapors So here The Root of this Application being in Christ when we cannot keep our selves yet he keeps us by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation he keeps us and keeps our faith I have prayed said Christ to Peter that thy faith fail not he keeps us to a Kingdom and keeps a Kingdom for us he puts us into possession and none can put us out Hence we may observe the madness of the 〈◊〉 hearts of men which transports them beyond all the bounds of reason carries them against the Principles of Nature and common Sense which makes them not only miserable but unwilling to be made happy Was there ever any sick man that was not content to be healed and any in prison and pressures that was not willing to be delivered any helpless that was not desirous to be eased and succored by another yet this is the hellish and unreasonable venom of a distempered and sinful heart that loves its poyson delights in its bolts and prison destitute of all Spiritual good hath neither hope nor help in its self to get or receive any can do no good for it self and yet is unwilling that God should do any good fot it or make it capable of receiving any famish they do and would not have meat provided that might sustein them perish they do and yet would not have the power of the Word work kindly and effectually upon them for their safety and deliverance it 's not a sickness only but a Spiritual madness if men carry themselves so when they are sick we say it is a Frenzy thus Isay 30. 10 11. They say to the Seers see not to the Prophets prophesie not 〈◊〉 not counsel not but cause the holy one of Israel to cease from us This is the temper of every Natural man in this world This serves to justifie the equal and righteous proceedings of the Lord in the utter 〈◊〉 and destruction of the ungodly and the Enemies of his Grace at the great day of Judgment when they shall be full of their 〈◊〉 and full of their plagues cast out of the presence of the Lord or the least expression of any gracious 〈◊〉 attribute of God nor bounty to pity them nor patience to bear with them but they lie under the power of their sins and the infinite displeasure of the Almighty This is that will stop all mouths and answer all cavils they have no more but what they would have they want nothing but what they were weary of You would be proud and stubborn and rebellious and you shall be so you shall have your belly full of your abominations and now you have your wills you were weary of the Word that would reveal your sins convince your consciences subdue your corruptions the truth was your only trouble you were troubled with Counsels Reproofs 〈◊〉 Ministers that you could not have your full swing in your sins God will ease you of that trouble you shall never see the face of a Saint that may counsel you never hear the voyce of a Minister to reprove you never have the Word to work upon you you have said to the Almighty 〈◊〉 away from us we desire not the knowledg of thy 〈◊〉 now you have your desires They that 〈◊〉 me love death Prov. 8. last you have what you loved you could not help your selves you say but you would not have the Lord make you capable of any help Thus every mouth is stopped and the Lord justified out of the Consciences and Confessions of the wicked themselves 2 How this good is made ours For the manner and order of putting us into 〈◊〉 of all this good it will appear in Four Particulars The Soul is made capable of all that Spiritual good and those Precious blessings which 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is and must be first room made for the 〈◊〉 of these or els there is no Possibilitie to 〈◊〉 of these a man cannot be in heaven and hell at 〈◊〉 happy and miserable at
be like this Corrosive to eat down the pride of our hearts Thus Paul frequently in the remembrance of his former wretchedness bleeds kindly and 〈◊〉 in the abasement of his spirit he mentions not his Apostleship which might exalt him but presently he remembers his 〈◊〉 which might abase him 1 Tim. 1. 12. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful and put me to the Ministry who was before a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and injurious vers 13. Hence again he observes it was Gods way that he might not be exalted above measure to buffet him with the sence and assaults of his own weaknesses 2 Cor. 12. 7. and thus far he did glory in and take pleasure in his 〈◊〉 not to have them but to use the consideration of them as a wholsom Corrosive to pull down those proud swellings As a man somtimes takes pleasure 〈◊〉 the pouder of Scorpions or Mercury Water because 〈◊〉 a Medicine against some poysonful humors and 〈◊〉 he directs Eph. 2. 11 12. Remember that you were dead in sins and trespasses Gentiles in the flesh without God without Christ without hope If a man conceit that his make or mettal is better than other mens Let him look into the Pit whence he was digged the Rock out of which he was hewen he wil 〈◊〉 see cause to conclude he was as hard as stubborn 〈◊〉 proud as any other as unteachable as unframable 〈◊〉 any other And here that Question hath place What hast thou that thou hast not received yea 〈◊〉 degree lower How camest thou to be able to 〈◊〉 it stake down thy heart in this Determination 〈◊〉 answer I have received nothing further than 〈◊〉 hath enabled me and I have nothing unless he 〈◊〉 it I do nothing unless he quicken me to the 〈◊〉 of it the remembrance of 〈◊〉 plagues of 〈◊〉 heart and nature should 〈◊〉 me for ever to be 〈◊〉 I am what I am by mercy let that have the 〈◊〉 of all which is the worker of all the good I 〈◊〉 as men pul away the steps and stool from 〈◊〉 a man if he stand too high so 〈◊〉 should pul away 〈◊〉 swelling conceits which lift us up in our own 〈◊〉 It 's not I but the Grace of God in me 〈◊〉 I any power to be humbled to beleeve to be 〈◊〉 No it 's not I but Free Grace that is the 〈◊〉 and Worker of all let Grace therefore have 〈◊〉 honor and praise of all Here is matter of cordial refreshing to support the 〈◊〉 of sinners from sinking into desperate 〈◊〉 when they see the weakness of their own 〈◊〉 not able to reach this work the stifness of 〈◊〉 own wills as ready and resolute to oppose it and 〈◊〉 of both an utter impossibilitie to attain it or any 〈◊〉 good unto themselves their hearts and hopes cannot but fail so far as they look to themselves but when they look to this that as it is beyond their own po wer so it is not their own work this may be some support It is in 〈◊〉 hand must proceed from his power who can do what he wil in Heaven and Earth and in thy heart also therefore repare hither and rest thy fainting spirit here In regard of a mans weakness the well is deep and thou hast nothing to draw withal the work of applycation is spiritual and mystical the eye is dim and thy understanding shallow not able to search into such mysteries thou canst not discern neither the way nor the work how wilt thou be ever able then to attain it remember thou canst not make thy self able but thou must be made able to know it and to receive it it s in his hand and it s his work who is able to do it Jer. 24. 7. I will give them a heart to know me hither our Saviour resolves this work and rests himself here Mat. 11. 25. I thank thee Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise of the world and revealed them unto Babes even so Father for so it pleaseth thee And it 's Gods promise Isay 42. 16. The hlind shall see and the deaf shall hear It 's his ordinary proceeding He calleth the foolish and things that are not to bring to nought things that are 1 Cor. 1. 28. Therefore thou shouldest press God with his own promises mind him that this is his prerogative say Lord it is not in man to direct 〈◊〉 to humble himself to convert himself but it is with thee and it s thy promise to give me a heart to know thee thou callest things that are not I am not wise nor humble nor holy I am not able to know thee let me be known of thee that so I may come to the knowledg of thee But happily thy stifness is more and worse and more dangerous than thy weakness though thy mind be enlightned cavils removed the truth made clear thy 〈◊〉 settled what should be done but Oh! the 〈◊〉 stifness of this wayward will that hath 〈◊〉 al promises and distrusted them al threatnings 〈◊〉 slighted them so that the distressed sinner wil 〈◊〉 I have a heart that cannot repent or beleeve that 〈◊〉 receive grace that cannot give way to the power of Gods ordinances or make choise of any good 〈◊〉 that I am even weary of my heart and of my life 〈◊〉 Yet God can pluck away this unteachableness 〈◊〉 thy heart though thou canst not take away thy 〈◊〉 from it Of his own good will he hath begotten 〈◊〉 Jam. 1. 18. It s not in the wil of Satan nor in thy own will to hinder it if God wil do it it 's his work he hath challenged it to himself and hath engaged himself do it for al His I will take away the heart of stone Ezek. 36. 26. Say thou Lord I cannot do it and 〈◊〉 truth I should not do it for that were to arrogate more than I should and to press into the priviledg of the Almighty I only wait upon thee and bring my heart to thee that thou wouldest bring me to thy self 〈◊〉 the Leaper said Mat. 8. 3. If thou wilt thou canst make me clean I have neither wil nor power I can 〈◊〉 do it nor receive it but thou canst do both for me and work both in me It was the ground of 〈◊〉 which the Lord gave to his people in building the material Temple when they looked at the greatness of the work and their many oppositions Zach. 4. 7. Who art thou O great mountain thou shalt become a plain difficulties are compared to mountains when a man sees a mountain lye before him he thinks it is inaccessible and impossible for him to go over it so when a man sees the pride and stubborness and rebellion of his own spirit he thinks 〈◊〉 is impossible for him to subdue these but if the Lord wil he can say unto it who art thou O great mountain
work it out throughly and then you shall have according to your hearts desire 3. The Causes of Application Having done with the Manner how this Application is wrought we are now to enquire the Causes of it which are wholly without our Selves being that we are not only unable to receive any Spiritual 〈◊〉 but professedly 〈◊〉 therunto and to any thing that might take away that 〈◊〉 If then the question be what be the Causes of Application I will Sum up the Answer in this 〈◊〉 God himself by his allmightie power is the Principal Cause and only those means so far as he is Pleased to appoint them and use them are the instrumental Causes of this work There are Three particulars to be Distinctly observed and considered in this Conclusion 1 God himself is the Principal Cause of this work of Application 2 That power by which he works in Application is an Allmightie Power 3 Those means that the Lord appoints and uses are the Instrumental Causes of it I begin with the First of these God himself is the Principal Cause of 〈◊〉 That is It is God the Father in Christ by the Holy Ghost who doth bring us into the Possession of all Spiritual Good For the old Rule is here to be attended all the 〈◊〉 of the Trinity which are without upon the Creature are common to all the Persons yet that the manner of working of each of them may more easily appear we will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God the Father who is First in Order of Woking and who was directly offended yet 〈◊〉 now appeased and having received a ful 〈◊〉 for Satisfaction unto his Justice He because he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must make them Partakers of 〈◊〉 good things and put them into 〈◊〉 thereof which were Purchased in their behalf And hence it is that all the Works of Application are attributed unto the Father As 1 The Work of Vocation 1 〈◊〉 5. 10. The God of all grace who hath called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus which is meant of God the Father as appears by the Opposition 2 〈◊〉 Justifie 〈◊〉 8. 33. It is God that justifies Who shall condemn It 〈◊〉 Christ that died which is also meant of God the Father 〈◊〉 God is there distinguished from 〈◊〉 3 To Reconcile 2 Cor. 〈◊〉 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself by not 〈◊〉 their trespasses unto them 4 To Adopt Ephes. 1. 5. Having 〈◊〉 us to the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself 5 To Sanctifie 1 Cor. 1. 30. He hath made Christ to be Sanctification unto us And 1 Thess. 5. 23. 〈◊〉 he that 〈◊〉 us throughout in soul body and 〈◊〉 And this is the cause why Grace Mercy and Peace 〈◊〉 very 〈◊〉 of Pauls Salutation is sousually wished from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ partly because God the Father is the fountain in the 〈◊〉 and first in this Work and partly because the 〈◊〉 of a 〈◊〉 is never quieted until God the Father being the Party directly offended 〈◊〉 the Assurance of his Favor under the Acquittance of his Spirit The Lord Jesus hath also a special hand in this Application and that in a double respect 1 As he is the second Person of the Trinity the Wisdom of the Father to whom the dispensation of the great work of our Salvation was committed But 2 and especially which most concerns our purpose our Savior Christ is said to make al Spiritual Good ours As Mediator God and Man the Head of the Second Covenant from whom the influence of 〈◊〉 and special Virtue is derived unto al the Members as the Root from whom the Sap of 〈◊〉 Grace issues unto all his Branches He was 〈◊〉 Typed out by Zerubabel in the building of the 〈◊〉 Temple He layes both thefirst the last stone More particularly the immediate dispensation of this Work as it comes from our Savior proceeds from his Exaltation or Resurrection because that is the first step wherin that Exaltation is expressed and discovered to us When I say the immediate dispensation of this Work the meaning is That though the Lord Jesus is the Author yet that of Christ or that in Christ that in Christ whence the 〈◊〉 nextly issues is his 〈◊〉 The Lord Christ in the vertue of his Death and Merits Purchaseth al Good in the vertue of his Resurrection he 〈◊〉 and actually conveys all this Spiritual Good to His This Work of Application falls off from thence nextly and immediately As the Whole man is said to See but by his Eye to Affect or Desire by his Heart to Go by his Foot and to Speak by his Tongue So we say of the Actions of our Savior He takes away the guilt of our Sins but that is by his Death or 〈◊〉 Obedience in vertue whereof our Offences committed are satisfied for It is through him that we are Conformable to the Holy Law of God but that is by the Holiness of his Nature and his active Obedience In the One we Answer the Image of God in the Other the Will of God So from Christ it is we die to sin but that is by 〈◊〉 Death of Christ Rom. 6. 6. So here by the same Christ it is that the Application of all Spiritual good is made to us but it s done by 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 I take that to be the sense of the Spirit 〈◊〉 that known place a little to be weighed Rom. 4. 25. Who was delivered to death for our offences 〈◊〉 was raised again for our Justification that is 〈◊〉 was delivered to Death as a Sacrifice to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Sin so the word sin is taken Isa. 53. last and Levit. 7. 7. we read of a sin offering that is A Sacrisice Expiatory to take away the guilt of our Sin And he was raised again for our Justification 〈◊〉 is To apply this Purchase for our Justification 〈◊〉 that the perfect Righteousness of Christ might 〈◊〉 imputed to us And because this Consideration is of more 〈◊〉 ordinary Consequence and fits the discovery of 〈◊〉 truth The next Cause being the Conduit to 〈◊〉 vey all knowledge we shall a little clear it out 〈◊〉 the place 〈◊〉 and the full Sense will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 up in this Order 1 Christs Resurrection is not our Justification 2 Nor yet doth it only serve to declar it 3 Therefore it remains 〈◊〉 it must 〈◊〉 to apply Christs Merits to us First Christs Resurrection is not our 〈◊〉 that is It is no part of that Payment by 〈◊〉 whereof we are pronounced Just It Answers for nothing on our part to Divine Justice The Law required it not it was no part of the Command nor any 〈◊〉 of God to enjoyn any man to 〈◊〉 again neither did our sin call for it at our hand 〈◊〉 point of Satisfaction for the terms of the Curse 〈◊〉 thus The day thou eatest there of thou shalt die 〈◊〉 death Gen. 2. 19. That only 〈◊〉 Answers the Law and divine Justice for that only
raising up himself with himself he raised up us 〈◊〉 for as he suffered as our 〈◊〉 so he rose again as our Surety and so we were raised with him Therefore when Christ will come and make Application of all Spiritual Good to any soul he doth it by the Vertue and Power of his Resurrection When the hard heart resists the Power of the Word and saies all Threatnings all Promises all Commandements shal not prevail with me and when Sin and Satan 〈◊〉 themselves to the uttermost to keep the soul still in the Gall of bitterness in the bonds of iniquity the Lord Christ comes from Heaven and shews 〈◊〉 Power 〈◊〉 his Resurrection give way Sin give 〈◊〉 Satan that soul is mine and they all give way 〈◊〉 thence comes the prevailing vertue of the Word 〈◊〉 the soul for its effectual 〈◊〉 home to God 〈◊〉 you 〈◊〉 the Frame of this Truth The Lord Jesus by the Power of his God-head did 〈◊〉 up himself from under the Power of Sin and 〈◊〉 and Death 〈◊〉 he had a Sovereign 〈◊〉 Power over Sin and Satan therefore he is able 〈◊〉 conquer and to 〈◊〉 Sin and Satan where ever 〈◊〉 meets them The Spirit of God also hath a hand in this great Work of Application and indeed it is in a special 〈◊〉 attributed to him not because all the three 〈◊〉 do not joyntly work throughout in all the works of Application for according to the received 〈◊〉 of Divines all the Works of God upon the Creature are common to all the three Persons of the Trinity but because the manner of the Spirits work 〈◊〉 principally appear here There are but three 〈◊〉 Works in the World Creation Redemption and Application which are given to the three Persons of the srinity according to the special manner of their working Creation is given to the Father that 's the first Work and therefore given to the first Person Redemption is given to the Son that 's the second Work and therefore given to the second Person Application of that Redemption is the third and last Work and therefore is in a peculiar manner attributed to the third Person the Holy Ghost Conceive it thus A Malefactor that hath committed high Treason against his Prince and being taken he is imprisoned in the strongest Hold the deepest Dungeon without hope of release imagine a man comes and satisfies the wrath of the King and answers the Law so that the King saies upon satisfaction given the Law is fully answered no wrong is done If he shall so do the King is bound not only to be 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 of himself and the wrong done to 〈◊〉 and his Law but he is also bound to give his 〈◊〉 Hand Authority and Commission to him that paid for the Prisoner that he may go and fetch the Prisoner from the Dungeon and 〈◊〉 him away with him Imagine that the Jaylor grows sturdy and stiff he 〈◊〉 the Prisoner is prositable to him therfore he 〈◊〉 and saies the Prisoner shall not depart now he that hath Authority from the King must be able to break the Prison doors and then to slay the Jaylor and by force to deliver the Prisoner from the bondage he was in Thus it is here every sinner is a Prisoner to Divine Justice Sin is the Prison and the Devil is the Jaylor that holds him in bondage by reason of the power of Sin and by vertue of Commission from Divine Justice Christ Jesus hath come and payed our debts satisfied Divine Justice and answered the Law that God the Father hath professed This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased the Law is performed my anger fully appeased and my mercy procured therefore all those sinners for whom thou hast died and obeyed shall be redeemed from the power of Sin and authority of Satan and now God the Father gives him a full Commission to 〈◊〉 those sinners from the hands of sin and Satan But now when Christ comes for the soul Satan and sin refuse they will not let the sinner go therfore Christ by the vertue of his Resurrection and by the power of his Spirit he doth rescue the soul whether sin and Satan and a mans heart will or no he will have the soul and humble him and call him and justisie him and 〈◊〉 him and glorifie him and then deliver him up to his Father at the great day Direction How to help the souls of poor Sinners that are under the work of Application either 〈◊〉 in it or in Preparation to it here is Direction to you al in the greatest streights whatsoever When the Lord gives intimation to sinners that they are not in the right way and he begins to be 〈◊〉 with them and our Savior Christ comes as the High Sheriff when he would put a man into Possession of his Land that is Possessed by those that have no right to it The High Sheriff comes with his Company and knocks at the door now al that are within come and make resistance and labor to keep him out as much as they can So when our Savior Christ comes and saies to a desperate rebellious sinner that soul of thine was never made for Sin or Satan but thou must come and shouldest come out of thy sins and come to me saies Christ when the Word is thus 〈◊〉 with Life and power now the soul is in an uproar now the soul resists this Work he makes al the doors and bolts fast and he that comes in he dies upon it But the Lord presses in stil upon the soul he must he wil conquer and subdue it to himself now the sinner sees nothing but Hel and Death and Damnation before it die he must and that for ever if he stand out and now he sees he should yeild and submit he sees now the body of death that hangs upon him the power of his lusts that prevails with him and he finds his heart shut up under unbeleef under the chaines of pride and vainglory and earthlimindedness and the Devil presents impossibilities to his view canst thou think that ever those sins of thine should be pardoned or that ever that soul of thine should be delivered from under the power of them Now Brethren here the soul 's at a stand above al the stifness and stubborness of a mans own wil no Threatnings no Mercies no Afflictions no offers of Grace can prevail but a man wil have his sins though the Devil have his soul he finds his heart so 〈◊〉 he must have his sin and his wil though he 〈◊〉 for it Ay now what wil you do The Cause 〈◊〉 this work of Application is 〈◊〉 of your self in Christ Therefore send your thoughts and keep your 〈◊〉 upon the Resurrection of Christ set your eye keep your eye there for ever see a passage or two from Scripture here Rev. 1. 18. I was dead but 〈◊〉 am alive and I live for evermore and I have the Keyes Hell 〈◊〉 Death saies Christ Thou
the soul let the best obects be presented the most perswasive and strongest 〈◊〉 pressed to a man under the power of his sins 〈◊〉 these wil never prevail with him Let God come 〈◊〉 Heaven and preach to Cain Gen. 4. 6. 7. Let our Savior preach to and weep over Jerusalem with many tears O Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thee Mat. 23. 37. Let Judas live in the Family of Christ yet if there be no more but an ordinary power Cain wil be Cain and Judas wil be Judas and go to Hell for all this For 1 The Soveraignty of Mans 〈◊〉 Will is such that it exceedeth all created power in Heaven and Earth Amos Chap. 4. See what conclusions the Lord there tries upon the rebellious Israelites I 〈◊〉 given you cleanness of teeth and want of bread 〈◊〉 6. I have witholden the rain from you vers 7. I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you with blasting vers 9. I have sent among you the 〈◊〉 and overthrown you as Sodom vers 10. 11. And still this is added at the end of every instance Yet ye have not returned to me Rev. 16. 11. They blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and sores and they repented not Dan. 9. 13. All this evill is come upon us yet made we not our prayer c. The Seventy years Captivity was ended but their repentance was to begin When the Jews had travailed forty years in the Wilderness and been spectators of the wonders of God yet they wanted a heart to turn unto their God Deut. 29. 4. There is nothing but God that made the Will that is above the Will and can bow it and frame it to the obedience of his own Will 2 Besides the strength of the corrupt Will look we at the power of Satan that hath possession of the soul Mat. 12. 29. The Devill is said to be as a strong man that keeps the house till a stronger than be comes and binds him he improves al his policy and power to the utmost to keep the soul under the power of it's sins and there is no created policy or power above that of Satan He is only subject to the Almighty power of God to be driven out and 〈◊〉 thereby Look to the nature of that good which the soul is to be made partaker of It 's a supernatural good That which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man what the Lord hath prepared for those that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9. It 's meant not only of the things of glory but the things of grace Now a man is naturally and wholly corrupted and possessed with sin Jo. 3. 6. That which is born of 〈◊〉 is flesh that which comes by Generation is but either nature or corruption Gal. 5. 19. The flesh lusteth against the spirit Therefore it is beyond the power of the flesh to close with the spirit because contrary thereunto therefore Paul concludeth it Rom. 7. 14. The law is spiritual and I am carnal sold under sin Again that which must lift up Nature to act above its self must be something above nature for nothing can act beyond its own sphere and compass Trees grow but they have not sence Beasts have sence but not reason Devils have 〈◊〉 but they cannot close with God That that must cause the Dog not to return to his vomit again must change the nature of a Dog into a Lamb It 's beyond the power of darkness to bring light so 〈◊〉 It must be as the Apostle expresseth it 2 Cor. 4. 6. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness that must shine into our hearts to give the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 〈◊〉 is the 〈◊〉 of power not only to work something out of nothing but something out of that which is contrary to it And therefore this work of the Application of Redemption to a lost sinner is harder than the work of Creation it self for as the Lord had nothing then to help him so he had nothing to hinder him in Creating the World but here the Lord must take 〈◊〉 the heart of stone he must turn the heart of flint into a heart of flesh he must cause light to shine out of darkness and work one contrary out of another Why then are commands so frequent it Scripture as make you a new heart and a new spirit Ezek. 18. 31. Turn ye turn ye why will you die Ezek. 33. 11. Beleeve in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Acts 16. 31. If a man have no power to turn himself to what purpose are these commands if there be need of an Almighty power to work these why are they required of us 1 These and the like commands of God in Scripture do shew not what we can do but what we should do not what our ability is but what our duty is and what would be acceptable to the Lord if we could perform the same 2 When the Lord gives a command together with the command he gives a power unto al his Elect to enable them to obey the command as when he commanded Lazarus to come forth Jo. 5. 20. 3 When we are commanded to return to repent and beleeve the meaning is not that we of our selves by our selves and our own power should do this but thus that we should be content that the Lord should work in us what he requires of us we should lie under the stroke of the truth and receive the powerfull impression of the spirit and be content to be made able The Third Proposition We have heard 1 That God himself is the Principal Cause of Application and 2 That the Power which he puts forth in this Work is an Almighty Power Now Thirdly Those means which the Lord is pleased to appoint and to use are the instrumental causes of Application This meets directly with that vain conceit of the Familists Doth the Lord do all the Work it seems then a man may sit still and do nothing nothing is required of us there is nothing for us to do It was a wise speech of one of the Antients He that created thee without thy self will not save thee without thy self know therefore we must God by his Almighty Power is the Principal Cause and those means that he hath appointed are the Instrumental Causes These are First The Word accompanied by the presence and operation of the Spirit Isa. 59. 21. My Word and my Spirit shall never depart away from thee The word he hath sanctified and promised to accompany for this great Work and it is the Word of the Gospel mainly which makes this Application for our good He hath left an Impression of his own 〈◊〉 upon it It is called the Ministration of the Spirit 〈◊〉 of Life 2 Cor. 3. 6 7 8. but the Law is a killing Letter it shews a man what he is and what he 〈◊〉 but the Gospel shews the means
〈◊〉 Power of God in the conversion of a 〈◊〉 is far more secret and Spiritual such as we are 〈◊〉 able to reach It is the prayer of the Apostle for the Ephesians Chap. 1. 17 18. that they might know the working of his mighty Power in working Faith it is the most mysterious of all the works of God it shakes the 〈◊〉 of the ablest Divines upon Earth Comfort to releeve the hearts of sinners against desperate discouragements when the floods of iniquity 〈◊〉 in amain upon the soul the sinner looks to his 〈◊〉 to Gods Ordinances and Providences and 〈◊〉 the Work of God that should be wrought in him and 〈◊〉 what ods and disproportion there is between his Soul and that blessed Work that should be in him why truly this is the only help to a soul in such a case with man it is impossible but not with God for with him all things are possible Matth. 19. 26. Though there be such a vast disproportion between thy own ability and this Work that thou shouldest never attain 〈◊〉 if thou wert left to thy self yet know that Christ by the Almighty Power of his Spirit is able to do it for thee But the soul will say the truth is there is not so much disproportion but there is as much opposition in my soul to the work of Grace why should God ever give me that mercy which I would not have and that Grace which my soul hath so much opposed this is another depth Why yet know thou that Gol can overwork all these and will do so for thee if thou seek unto him But know this to thy ever lasting terror That if thou do 〈◊〉 thus in the hardness and opposition of thy heart against Christ and his Grace that this Power of the Lord that would convert thee will put forth it self to confound thee to thine eternal ruine Exhortation Not to defer the time 〈◊〉 Grace but every soul of us with trembling hearts to attend upon the Lord in the use of means that he may be pleased to work his own good Work in us It 's that the Apostle exhorts unto Phil. 2. 12. Workout your 〈◊〉 with fear and trembling and he gives the reason of it For saies he it's God that worketh in you to 〈◊〉 and to do of his own good pleasure that is it is in Gods hand to help us or to forsake us either 〈◊〉 make the means effectual for our saving good or else to withdraw his presence and blessing from them while we do enjoy them 〈◊〉 Be 〈◊〉 fearful not to slight any Ordinance God hath appointed as Naamans 〈◊〉 said to him Go and try it he that now counsels you to it may bless it and work by it if it please him Secondly Tremblingly fear to fall short of Gods Power in an Ordinance for a man may fall short of God and Christ and Grace and all good even while he doth enjoy the Ordinances of God and live under them therefore say as Elisha did Where is the Lord God of Eliah Here is the Word and here is the Ordinance but where is the Lord God of this Word the God of Preaching and Praying It is not in the Minister or the means to do good to my soul but Lord speak thou the word and it shall work upon my soul as he said 2 Kings 4. 29 30. As the Lord lives 〈◊〉 will not leave thee till thou go with me do thou so when the Lord gives thee means say I will not leave the Lord until he make this Counsel this Word this Ordinance effectual for my saving good Be also tremblingly fearful when the Lord works by any Ordinance lest you should go out from or with draw your self from the power of it when you find and feel somthing more than Man and Means and Ordinances Oh let it not slip away the Lord was in that word do not suffer that stroke to go away because God is there now the Lord is working be you sure to follow the blow and give not over wrastiing 〈◊〉 striving with the Lord until he bless you with the 〈◊〉 working of his Word and Spirit and so apply unto thy soul all Spiritual Good in Jesus Christ. BOOK III. LUK. 1. 17. To make ready a People prepared for the Lord. HAving dispatched the Nature of Application in the General The Parts thereof come to be Considered in the next place These are Two 1 A Preparation of the Soul for Christ. 2 An Implantation of the Soul into Christ. That so having the Son we may be sure to have life 1 Joh. 5. 12. possessing him who is the heir of all we may be possessed of all both Temporal and Spiritual Blessings with him But before the Soul can be engrafted into the true Vine Christ Jesus it must be prepared and fitted thereunto by the powerful work of the Spirit of God upon it being not fit to receive a Christ by Nature and unable to fit its self thereunto by any liberty of Will or any sufficiency natural it hath When then these Two Works are imprinted upon the Soul the Sinner comes to take full possession of a Savior and to have all those Spiritual good things which Christ hath Purchased applyed unto him And thus these Two taking up the whole Nature of Application it 's manifest they must be the Parts of Application as reason inforceth The First is thus Described Preparation is a fitting of a sinner for his Being in Christ. The words of the Text will afford us full ground for the Handling and Discovering of this Truth To prepare a People fitted for the Lord Which words make known the main Task that was imposed upon John the Baptist and that great Work of his Ministery being the Forerunner of our Savior Christ wherewith he was betrusted and for which he was every way fitted with Gifts and Graces proportionable Therefore it s said in the beginning of the Verse He shall come in the Spirit and Power of Elias i. e. He shall have that large measure of gracious and Ministerial Gifts that special presence and assistance of the Spirit of the Lord accompanying of him as somtimes Elias had that so in the corrupt and declining state of the Church which was now exceeding great he might set things in a better frame build up the Breaches made taking off those Dissentions Errors and Divisions which had spread over the Body and eaten into the Bowels of the Church of the Jews like a Gangrene or Cancer And therefore as it was foretold of him so it was performed by him Matth. 17. 11. He did restore all things Namely such was the lively and over-ruling power of his Ministery that he wrought the Hearts of the Children otherwise 〈◊〉 and rebellious to the wisdom of the just men that laying aside all carnal wisdom of the 〈◊〉 which was enmity against God and caused 〈◊〉 and strifes among men they came to judge 〈◊〉 of things that were excellent to
not give his Glory to 〈◊〉 Isa. 42. 8. The Lord Jesus as he will not suffer 〈◊〉 Corruption never so strong to hinder his Work when he will accomplish it so neither will he suffer 〈◊〉 of our performances or abilities be they what 〈◊〉 will to joyn Purchasers with him in the 〈◊〉 of Grace as though he were not either able or willing to be the Author and sinisher of our Faith 〈◊〉 No no We must not ad of ours but in 〈◊〉 case take all of him and from him not bring 〈◊〉 own wisdom with us but become fools that we 〈◊〉 be wise and that 's the way which God hath 〈◊〉 to gain information not think to ioyn our 〈◊〉 with Christ and so become Co-partners with 〈◊〉 I speak of the first Work of Conversion to 〈◊〉 our selves Holy Just and Wise but 〈◊〉 our selves we must look that he should be made Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and 〈◊〉 to us Hence the Apostle Phil. 3. 9. professeth he desired 〈◊〉 to be found in Christ not only as not having his 〈◊〉 sins but not having his own 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 by the Law A Real Renouncing of our own worthiness of that Grace and Mercy which we need and without which 〈◊〉 are most miserable this being one Condition of the Second Covenant of Grace made in Christ wherby it 's differenced from that of the Law made with Adam Namely That Holiness and Righteousnes wherewith the Nature of man was beautified in Paradice though it was not so natural as issuing out of the Principles out of which he was compounded and made yet by all Orthodox Divines it is in this sense judged natural in that in Gods wise Providence and righteous appointment it was due to Nature It being cross to the wise proceeding of the infinite wise God to require Obedience from a Creature if he should not have given ability to the Creature to perform it It Arguing weakness and unskilfulness at the least in the Workman to make a thing for an End and not make it able to attain the End 〈◊〉 which it was made But in this Second Covenant of the Gospel it is far otherwise when we in our first 〈◊〉 had mispent the stock the Lord had bestowed upon us we were unworthy to be betrusted with any more and hence it coms to pass when the Lord wil lay hold upon the proud heart of a Sinner and draw him to himself he sinks his Spirit with the sence of his own wretchedness so that he sees and confesseth freely that he is undone without Mercy and yet conceives it 's not possible that ever such a worthless worm should partake thereof acknowledgeth it's just with God to deny to give nay to offer Grace to him that hath slighted rejected opposed Grace from day to day He knowes he cannot procure or Purchase Gods favor challenge he dare not without it he concludes he must perish and yet deserves by his own confession he should never obtain it Dan. 9. 7 8. O Lord Righteousness belongs to thee but unto us confufion of face nothing but shame and confusion belongs to us no mercy nor grace Ezek. 36. 31 32. They shal loarh themselves in their own eyes and not for your 〈◊〉 do I these things saith the Lord be ashamed and confounded O house of Israel In a word then is a man truly worthy that is fit to hear of and to receive mercy when he is rightly really become 〈◊〉 of his own unworthiness The soul now stands ready to side it with Christ for him to take possession of it that though the soul be not able to kill sin yet it 's empty the Coast is cleer as when Joab sent to David to come and take the City so the soul stands ready that if Jesus Christ would come and take possession of it and do that for it which it cannot do it self this is that that it would have the soul is content that Christ should do all as suppose a City that is Garrisoned with Enemies they cannot get them out themselves but they are willing that the General should come with his Soldiers and drive them out and place another Garrison there so the soul is content that Christ should dispossess whatsoever opposeth him and do whatsoever is pleasing to himself Isa. 26. 13. O Lord our God 〈◊〉 Lords besides thee have had Dominion over us but by thee only will we make mention of thy Name as if the soul should say I cannot subdue my sins my self but let Christ do what is good in his eyes the soul is content that Christ should work upon it and do all for it The Second Particular to be attended for the Explication of the Point is to shew the Manner of this Work and that will also appear in Four things The soul of a sinner is meerly patient herein it 's wrought upon him not wrought by him by any power he hath inherent in himself so the phrase and language of Scripture Jer. 31. 18. Turn me and I shal be turned and verse 19. After I was turned I 〈◊〉 that also includes as much Gal. 4. 9. we know God 〈◊〉 rather in this first Work are known of him And therefore it 's no work of Sanctification properly and as it 's taken in a narrow and strict sense for the sinner be ng justified by Faith and having the Spirit of Adoption dwelling in him hath received a principle of life wherby he comes to be active Act. 15 9. Having purified their hearts by faith This only is in way of preparation to fit us for our being in Christ that I may receive this power this is to make room for faith and Christ that having received him I might be enabled by the power of the Spirit to run right which is Sanctification Hence then go no further than this work the sinner as yet is not a good Tree nor can he bring forth good Fruit but is in way of preparation to be made one yet this work as it comes from the Spirit is good and pleasing to God because the Spirit is a good tree and is the Author of this I only am the receiver of it and therefore it is none of my fruit properly nor am I said to do any thing to please God by this because it 's done in me not by me As it is in the infusion of the Grace of Faith look at it as the soul is the subject of the Work the act it self comes from the Spirit and as a fruit of the Spirit it is good and accepted of God yet I cannot properly be said to please God in it because it is not an act done by me Hence those feeble Objections fall to the ground and are wiped away with a wet finger If there be any saving Preparation before the infusion of Faith then the soul brings forth good fruit and is a good tree without Faith And Secondly then there is somthing which pleaseth God
and then the soul pleaseth God without Faith The Answer is easie and at hand These saving Preparations are no acts of mine therefore not my fruit nor can I be said to do any thing to please God by them because they are 〈◊〉 in me not by me and the soul may have a good work wrought upon it and be the receiver of it though not the Author of it but as they come from the Spirit of God who is holy and blessed so are they good fruits and truly pleasing to God This Preparative Work imports not so much any gracious habit or spiritual quality which is put into the soul as a principle by which it is enabled to act that which concerns its everlasting welfare but it s rather an act of the spirit of Christ whereby it doth fling down those strong holds dispossess the power of Satan and quit the soul from those overpowering and prevailing claims which Satan and Sin 〈◊〉 over it as to exercise their tyranny and authority upon it The soul sues out a divorce now that is to weaken and wholly to remove the claim of marriage and authority which the party challenged thereby to act upon the party and overrule her and yet 〈◊〉 divorce is neither marriage nor matrimonial love but making room for the right and possession of the spirit by faith as Hos. 3. 3. Thou shalt not befor another so I will be for thee Acts ' 26 18. To turn men from darkness and from the power of Satan It 's a cutting off of the branch that it grow not upon its old root and receive not sap and influence therefrom For in the Fall of Man there was a double work of Sin First a turning of the soul from God Then Secondly a settling of the soul upon the root of Adams rebellion by a delivery of it up into the hand and power of perverted mutability whence comes a daily influence and entercourse of the power of sin and of Satan by sin acting of it as he will now this cutting off the soul by preparation breaks off the continuance and growing to the root of 〈◊〉 which being interrupted and intercepted it cannot act and carry the soul as formerly When this Preparation is fully wrought Faith is certainly and wil undoubtedly be infused and cannot be hindered when I say it is compleat and come to its full period in ultimata dispositione for there is a legal preparation which may befall Reprobates it is a plashing of the soul not a total cutting off the soul from sin which makes corruption couch more close but will never kill it nor is appointed by God for this end to make way for the form of Faith but for other ends as shall appear in the use of the point But there is also an Evangelical Preparation wherin the Lord intends to fit the soul fully for faith and its implanting by faith into Christ and this end he doth never he can never miss For there is no Efficient that spends his time labor in preparing the matter but he will bring in the form unless either he wanted wisdom in beginning that which he should not perfect or wanted power in making a preparation for that he could never bring to perfection but neither of these can befall the Lord. Mal. 3. 1. When the soul is prepared then the Lord presently comes into it Hence that Cavill is crushed as being a 〈◊〉 meerly coyned to cast a blemish upon this truth say they who deny this Work imagin a man in this Preparative Work should die whither should he go to Heaven he cannot 〈◊〉 he hath not life not having Christ to Hell he cannot because he hath a 〈◊〉 Work wrought upon him The Answer is he is in a state of Salvation Preparatively and shall certainly possess it because he cannot but have faith and be united to Christ and so saved by him The like may be said of such as are Justified what if they should die before they be Sanctified no impure thing shall see Gods face the Answer here and there will be alike This Preparation makes the sinner give way to Christ in all of himself and that in al things there is not a corner in the heart not an affection no back door no 〈◊〉 or cunning conveyance in the soul to be kept from Christ But it sets open the Door and delivers up the Keys into the hands of Christ. Either all or none at all not cut but cut off the soul is not only changed from her lusts but divorced fully In Jer. 3. 10. It is said they turned not to the Lord with all their hearts but fainedly there is some secret lust reserved in the heart that is the bane of all Hypocrites but this Preparative Work fetcheth off the heart from al secret distempers there is none reserved but the soul is willing that the Lord Christ should take away every thing that hinders A reservation of any lust will not stand with Preparation a sad Preparation fetcheth off the whol soul. Three Reasons why there must be such a Preparation First let the Testimony of the Scriptures be heard which will evince it and Secondly the force of Argument which will conclude it undeniable The Scriptures are pregnant which speak to this point I shall insist mainly upon three John 5. 44. When our Savior had in the foregoing verses discovered the unteachable stifness of the hard hearted and rebellious Jews that though they had the Preaching of John the Baptist who was a shining and a burning light to point out our Savior to them they saw the works of our Savior daily before their eyes that might convince them yea 〈◊〉 the Scriptures the Records of the counsels of God which might shew them the way to life in Christ and perswade their hearts to imbrace it yet our Savior upbraids their rebellion to their faces Ye will not come to me that you might have life verse 40. But the question might grow what might be the cause of this incorrigible perversness of their spirits for if another came in his own name they would hear him but though he came in his Fathers name they would not receive him verse 43. He answers therefore in vers 44. How can ye beleeve which receive honor one of another but seek not the honor that comes from God only Where these Two things are plain 1 When the poyse of corruption and the body of death so far prevails that we seek our selves and set up our own persons in the eyes and hearts of others when we would study to please men and to seek applause and approbation from them and satisfie our selves therein and so set up our selves in their esteem our Savior professeth and that peremptorily how can ye beleeve that is it is impossible ye should beleeve as if he should say these two are so contrary as Heaven and Earth one to another they cannot meet together in one heart and therefore this is made
reason Where there is nothing but opposition and resistance between two there can be no union for all union implies 〈◊〉 and agreement there must be a mutual accord 〈◊〉 things on both hands before they can be made one Amos 3. 3. Can two walk together except they be agreed love tends to unity and 〈◊〉 the cause of it and that ever presupposeth some I keneis But 〈◊〉 man remaining in the state of Unbeleef and Corruption is wholly opposite to Christ and the work of his Spirit he is wholly Flesh John 3. 6. And the flesh lusts against the spirit and these are 〈◊〉 Gal. 4. 17. the wisdom of the flesh is 〈◊〉 against God it is not subject nor can be subject to the Law so far from closing with the work of the Spirit as it is not able to bear it The Scribes and 〈◊〉 rejected the counsel against themselues i. e. to their own 〈◊〉 Acts 7. 51. Ye stifnecked and 〈◊〉 hearted ye have ever resisted the Spirit of the Lord. Paul did no more than every Natural man would do Being mad saies he I persecuted that way The way of Christ and so Christ himself In a word It 's said of all and it 's true of all the best of the Saints take them in their Naturals ye were darkness Eph. 5. 10. darkness cannot but oppose light He that is acted wholly by the power of Infidelity he must resist the work of Faith and so the receiving of Christ by it There are but Two Covenants that ever God made with man touching his everlasting Estate The Covenant of Works or of the Law the Covenan of the Gospel and so of Grace and these two Covenants are so opposite that the one 〈◊〉 the other If it be of Works it is no more of Grace else Works were not Works If it be of Grace it is no more of 〈◊〉 else Grace were no more Grace Rom. 11. 6. Hence they are severed as far as blessing and cursing Gal. 3. 9 10. So then they which be of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham For as many as are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse Now all men by Nature are Members and Heirs of the first Adam and therefore under his Covenant and under his Curse Rom. 7. 5. 8. Whilst we were in the 〈◊〉 the motions of sins which were by the Law did work in our Members to bring forth fruit unto death Those who are in Christ are under the Covenant of Grace and Life for he that hath the Son hath Life Hence I 〈◊〉 To be under two contrary Covenants of Law and Grace is impossible because so a man should be accursed and blessed at once But he that is in his corrupt Condition and state of Infidelity he is under the Covenant of Works he that is in Christ under the Covenant of Grace Hence followeth a Fifth Reason Who ever is under Grace over them sin shall not have Dominion Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under Grace 〈◊〉 they who are in their natural condition and in the state of Unbeleef they are under the power and dominion of 〈◊〉 therefore they are not under Grace nor yet in Christ. This discovers the folly and dasheth the fond conceit of many carnal men who have framed a speedy way to Heaven in their own fancies through which yet never any had passage thither to wit they fondly imagine they have Christ and Mercy at command and that they can make a step to Heaven in the turning of a hand they 〈◊〉 not make such large provision or preparation before to tire out themselves with tedious and heart breaking sorrows and dayly remorse 〈◊〉 their dayly failings smal warning will serve 〈◊〉 mens turns Be it they love their lusts and practise them they harbor continually their noysom distempers in their souls express 〈◊〉 also in their lives they crave but the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 few hours before their 〈◊〉 to fit themselves for their departure and happiness a few forced sighs faigned and formal confessions of their evils and howling for pardon out of the horror of their spirits now and then customarily adding a Lord have mercy on me they suppose they have made all even with God but if they can but get the Sacrament they conclude all is sure they must needs go post hast to Heaven if they can but say they beleeve Christ must comfort them cannot but save them No no Brethren the Word reveals none our Savior accepts of no such agreement he comes upon no such terms to bring any comfort with him unless any man should be so far forsaken of reason and sense as to imagine the Lord Jesus would carry the Drunkard and his Cups the Adulterer and his Harlots also the riotous Gamester his Cards and Dice Hawks and Hounds and all to Heaven together which is 〈◊〉 and incredible Oh! these men will one day find and that to their wo they cozened their own souls by their own folly whereas sound 〈◊〉 cost more the way must be prepared thy heart loosened rent and plucked away from thy corruptions before the Lord Jesus will vouchsafe once to look in upon thee No Harbenger before no King follows after where the heart is not 〈◊〉 for a Savior there is no hope to 〈◊〉 the presence of a Savior It 's the condition upon which his coming is promised and can be expected upon any sure ground It 's the order and connexion of things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath set in the work of Grace Luke 3. 8. And all flesh shall see the 〈◊〉 of the Lord. The Copulative Particle And tells us the sight of Salvation depends upon that which went before when we see the mountains of Pride high and lofty imaginations levelled crooked perversness of our own spirits taken off and we made meek and tractable then there is some hope that Salvation will appear unto us but if any man will yet rear up mighty Bulwarks and strong holds of rebellion and hardness of heart and maintain those high imaginations sturdy distempers of pride security and carnal confidence he must know whoever he be that as yet he is not within the ken of mercy and though he look until his eyes 〈◊〉 in his head and his heart 〈◊〉 in his body he 〈◊〉 never come within a true sight of Salvation much less may he think ever to be made partaker of it why confer with thy own conscience Dost thou think it fit the King should lie in the Truckle-bed under a company of Traitors Is it reasonable the Lord 〈◊〉 should be an 〈◊〉 to thy lusts No certainly the gods that thou hast obeyed by those thou must be saved thou would have thy lusts but reject Christ thou shalt perish with them but the presence of the Lord Jesus thou canst not enjoy Let the 〈◊〉 man forsake his way and the unrighteous man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and return unto the Lord for he will
aboundantly pardon Isaiah 55. 7. We have hence a ground of tryal whereby we may gain certain evidence whether ever we came the right way to Christ or that Christ is come or that we have any grounded hope that he will come unto our souls If Christ fit the soul he wil certainly never loose the soul if he prepare it for 〈◊〉 he will undoubtedly possess it by his spirit and grace Our Savior is not either so weak or unwise so weak 〈◊〉 at he cannot accomplish his work and intended end 〈◊〉 unwise that he will loose his labor or leave his work without success as though he had mistaken himself and enterprised that that either he could not or should not accomplish This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between Restraining and Preparing Grace the Lord may restrain a soul for other Ends but if he 〈◊〉 the soul it is for Christ and he will never 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that End There be 〈◊〉 other ends for which the Lord in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sees fit to curb and keep in the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 wicked and restrain the rage of their 〈◊〉 distempers why he should take of the edge and keens and 〈◊〉 the sury and hellish fiercness that 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 hearts of wretched and unreasonable men who are 〈◊〉 by Satan according to his will and ruled by him even the Prince of the Air who is an enemy to Gods glory and to mankind As first that the Lord might shew his power and that absolute soverainty he hath over the worst men the worst of Creatures those infernal 〈◊〉 and the worst and most violent of all their corruptions and that he hath the reins of all their violence and rage 〈◊〉 his own hand and orders it and their wills and wickedness not as they please but as he 〈◊〉 and therefore he inlargeth their commission and recals 〈◊〉 commission as he pleaseth And therefore as Jab speaks of the Sea Job 38. 11. He 〈◊〉 the bounds and compass of their course which they shall not pass thus far and no further So to the Devil he tels 〈◊〉 punctualy how far he shall proceed he is in thy hand only save his life Job 2. 4. Which was a 〈◊〉 to Satan as though God had said break this Bottle but do not spill this Wine thus the Lord 〈◊〉 in Pharoah when the Israelites were to go out Exo. 11. 7. There was not a dog moved his tongue against man or beast that they might know that I am the Lord. That by this means he might provide for the subsistance and continuance of the society of Men in Churches and Commonwealths especially the relief and safety of his own Servants whereas had but wicked men their wills it 's certain there was no being nor breathing nor living for the Saints upon the face of the Earth the Dragon the Devil in his instruments doth so malignantly pursue the woman that is the true Church and Children of God Rev. 12. 13. The Lord therefore breaks their teeth pares their nails and cuts short their tether 〈◊〉 they cannot do as they would As Laban said to Jacob Gen. 31. 29. It is in the power of my hand to do thee harm but the God of thy Father spake unto me saying speak unto Jacob neither good nor bad It is in the wills and power of wicked Men and Devils to do harm to the people of God but the Lord will not suffer them to act that rage and malice that is in their hearts and so not to do that hurt which otherwise they could and would So to Abimelech the Lord whispers his displeasure in the 〈◊〉 Gen. 20. 3. And so restrained him from that which his own heart would have carried him unto That he might indeed put his Servants to a more narrow search and to cause them to look to their heart 〈◊〉 and not content themselves with the lighter strokes of common impressions and 〈◊〉 since many have something like preparation and yet fall short of any saving work the Saints may be careful to go further and not content themselves with 〈◊〉 Copper and counterfeit appearances of hearts prepared for a Christ and breachings after him but to 〈◊〉 themselves as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and walk 〈◊〉 a jealousie and a suspicious fear over 〈◊〉 and return and search and 〈◊〉 question with themselves Am I no other No better 〈◊〉 I as such Then I shall fall and perish as 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 19. Had they been of us 〈◊〉 would never have gone out from us There must be heresies and that amongst you 〈◊〉 saith Paul to the Corinths that they that are sincere hearted may be tryed 1 Cor. 11. 9. When there is fal e Coyn goes up and down each wise man examines what he hath and what he takes Now those upon whom legal terrors and these restraining strokes are laid for 〈◊〉 and the like ends in the counsel of the Lord In the issue the strength of their corruptions like waters that are stopped break out with greater violence the Lord le ts loose their distempers upon them and commonly these blows leave them at a greater distance from the Lord Christ than ever before and many times a Reformation of a mans own is but a Preparation for Sin He that is otherwise cannot be hid 1 Tim. 5 25. It had been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the holy commandement and so to return with the Sow that was washed to wallow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 again and with the Dog to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dogs that lick up their vomit grow more filthy than ever so such as these grow the most 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adversaries to Christ and his Gospel that 〈◊〉 Earth They seemed to be prepared by God 〈◊〉 it was as I say for other ends than for Christ and when these ends are attained in Gods secret Counsel he usually plucks up the stake and le ts loose their tether that they may hurry headlnog to everlasting ruine But if the Lord do not only curb a sinner or hack and rough hew him a little by the word but cut him off as a branch or scion fit for a savior he will never let him lie and wither Look then to those sinful lusts those special and beloved corruptions unto which thy heart hath ben so strongly tyed and linked and whereby Satan and thy corrupt heart have intrenched themselves and set up as so many strong holds against the Lord Christ the work of his spirit and power of his truth as being in league and confederacie with these noysom distempers Hast thou felt the tyranny and treachery of them that bondage and bitterness unto which thou art brought that thou longest and breathest after relief and deliverance and the comming of a Christ that thou mayest deliver up thy self and all into his hands and thou findest thy soul opposite to that that hath been opposite and cross to Christ Isay 59. 20. The Redeemer shall come out
day the things belonging to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Will you suffer Christ to stand thus knocking at the door of your hearts and not let him in Take heed of this Christ knocks this day at your hearts if you now give him his last Answer and shut the door against him it may prove to be the last knocking you may hap never to see him more A plain and powerful Ministerie is the only Ordinary Means to Prepare the heart soundly for Christ. Hence it is when our Savior would have this work done he prepares a workman fit for it and furnisheth him with abilities which might enable him to the discharge thereof the work is great and the service difficult and therefore Elias is fitted with a Spirit suitable with Power answerable unto that purpose for which he was appointed an Instrument as we say for the nonce John the Baptist he also inherits these abilities and that Minister must be an Elias i. e. must have his Spirit and Power in proportion if ever this great work of preparation followeth his hand with Comfort and Success As it was in the Material so also is it in the building of this spiritual temple in which the holy Ghost doth dwell The Elect of God are like trees of righteousness the Word is like the Ax that must be lifted by a skilful and strong arm of a cunning Minister who like a Spiritual Artificer must hew and square and take off the knotty untowardnrss in the Soul before we can come to couch close and settle upon the Lord Christ as the Corner stone Paul calls the Saints Gods husbandry 1 Cor. 3. 9. A powerful humbling Ministery is like the Plow to plow up the fallow ground the thorny sensual hearts of sinful men to receive the immortal seed of the Word of Promise and the Spirit of Christ thereby For the Opening of the Point Two Things are 1 What is meant by a plain and powerful Ministery such as that of Elias 2 How this hath force to effect so great a Work The plainness of the Ministery appears When the Language and Words are such as those of the meanest Capacity have some acquaintance with and may be able to conceive when the Preacher 〈◊〉 his Speech to the shallow understanding of the Simplest Hearer so far as in him lies alwayes avoiding the frothy tinkling of quaint and far 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which take off and blunt as 〈◊〉 were the edge of the blessed Truth and Word of God 〈◊〉 the Apostle rejects the wisdom of Words as that which makes the Cross of Christ that is The Doctrine of Christ Crucisied revealed in the Gospel to lose his proper and powerful effect when it is lo Preached where let it be observed that it is not only the vanity and emptiness of Words which is here condemned but even that pompous gaudiness and elegancy of 〈◊〉 which after an unsuspected manner steals away the mind and affection from the truth and stayes it with it self when it should be a means both to convey both Attention and Affection from it self to the truth He that puts so much Sugar into the Potion that he hinders the strength and the work of it by such a kind of mixture though he please the Pallat of the 〈◊〉 yet thereby 〈◊〉 wrongs both the Physick and his Health So here in Preaching For the excellency of Eloquence and entising words of humane Wisdom which in case were commendable to be used by him who is an Orator or a Declamor in the School in the 〈◊〉 becomes ever Fruitless and many times hurtful and prejudicial to the saving success of the Gospel Hence the Apostle makes these as Opposite 2 Cor. 2. 4. My Speech and my preaching was not with entising words of mans wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power taking this for granted as it appears in 〈◊〉 of the Speech the pompe of entising words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be discovered if we would have the Spirit in the powerful work of it be demonstrated and made to appear so much sweetness of words as may make way for the 〈◊〉 of the Gospel may be admitted and no more And as all kind of Curiosity and 〈◊〉 is to be avoided so all obscure and unusual 〈◊〉 dark Sentences and Expressions strange Languages are much more to be rejected as opposite even to the end of speaking much more to plainness of the Preaching of the tuth Words are appointed by God in his Providence to be Carriers as it were by whose help the thoughts of our minds and the savory apprehensions of truth may be communicated and conveyed over to the understanding of others whereas by mystical and dark Sentences he that comes to hear can by no means profit because he cannot conceive and so both Hearer and Speaker must needs miss their end and lose their labor since the one doth no good in his Speech because he so speaks that the other can receive no benefit He that hath a Pastoral heart must be so affected in dispensing the Doctrine of Grace as Paul was in writing Rom. 1. 7. to all that are To all that be at Rome so should he labor to reach out mercy and comfort to every soul in the congregation by every sentence he delivers as much as in him lies whereas mystical cloudy discourses which exceed the capacity and understanding of most in the assembly it s not possible they should work powerfully upon their Consciences That which the Mind conceives not the Heart affects not Ministers should be and if faithful they wil be as nurses to the people they will prepare milk for the meanest and weakest and meat for all but never give dry crust or 〈◊〉 in stead of bread to any for that was not to feed but to starve the Child Hence the Apostle concludes strange Languages in the delivery of the truth to be a Curse sent of God upon a people and therefore the Minister that so Communicates the Word he is the Messenger that brings a Curse to the 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 14. 21 22. In the Law it is written with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people wherefore tongues are fore a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not whereas Prophecying should be in that openness and familiarity of Language that the unbeleiving yea unlearned should be convinced and have the secrets of his heart made manifest to his own Conscience that so he may be truly humbled and acknowledge Gods power and presence in the virtue of his own Ordinance blessed by him 1 Cor. 14. 24. It was the complaint of God Job 38. 2. That Counsel was darkened by Words without Knowledg It was not allowed in Jobs Conference and debate of Questions with his friends it cannot but be much more condemned in publishing the mysteries of Life and Salvation to others Its the scope of the Calling and Work of
Conscience such strength 〈◊〉 truth which like a mighty stream may carry an understanding Hearer When the Apostle was to come amongst the flanting Orators and silken Doctors of Corinth which so excelled in Eloquence he brings the tryal of their Ministery unto this touch 1 Cor. 4. 19 20. I will know not the speech of them that are 〈◊〉 up but the power for the Kingdom of God stands not in word but in Power It s not the 〈◊〉 of words not the sound and tinckling of a company of fine Sentences like apifh toyes and rattles that will commend our Ministery in the account of God there is no Kingdom no Power of the work of the Spirit the heavenly Majesty of an Ordinance is not seen in such empty shels and shaddows A building with painted walls and no pillars would be of little use and less continuance A body framed out of Colours may be a picture of a Bird or Beast but a living Creature it cannot be because it wants the soul and substance which should give life and vertue thereunto So it is when a multitude of gay Sentences are packed together without the sinnews and substance of convicting Arguments there may be the picture of a Sermon but the life and power of Preaching there wil not be in any such expressions That a Minister may be Powerful an inward 〈◊〉 heat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and holy affection is required answerable and suitable to the matter which is to be communicated and those adde great life and 〈◊〉 to the delivery of the truth Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things Mat. 12. 35. Where then there is a heart awanting the chiefest part of Speech the pith and heart of it is gone for the several affections out of which the words arise make an impression and work alike temper of Spirit in him to whom we utter and express our selves Thus we speak from heart to heart and that is the best way to be in the 〈◊〉 of the Hearer and the only way to make our words take place and prevail He that mourns in speaking of sin makes another 〈◊〉 for sin committed An Exhortation that proceeds from the heart carries a kind of Authority and Commission with it to make way for it self not to return before it confer with the heart of him that will give attendance to it 〈◊〉 Discourses talk only with the 〈◊〉 they go no further because they 〈◊〉 no deeper then from the understanding of him 〈◊〉 speaks The Doctrine of the Gospel is like the 〈◊〉 upon the herbs and the dew upon the grass 〈◊〉 32. 2. The strength and stirring of holly affections is like a 〈◊〉 wind or tempest makes the truth delivered to press in with more power and speed and to soak more deeply even to the heart root of him 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 will receive it It may be here enquired for Explication of the Point How a Ministery thus 〈◊〉 and Powerful 〈◊〉 work Answ. To speak only so much here as concerns the Place leaving Particulars until we 〈◊〉 of the several Parts of Preparation know we must the preparing work of a plain and powerful Ministery stands in Two Things It discovers the secrets of Sin makes known the close passages of the Soul to it self and that in the ugliness thereof Heb. 4. 11. The Word of God is 〈◊〉 in Operation sharper than any two edged sword 〈◊〉 betwixt the Soul and the Spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was the work that Paul aimed at in the 〈◊〉 of the Gospel 2 Cor. 4. 4. Pandling the Word of God not deceitsully but plainly by 〈◊〉 of the truth he commended himself to 〈◊〉 mans Conscience in the sight of God As though he had said Speak Oh ye blessed Saints of 〈◊〉 was not Paul in your 〈◊〉 Did he 〈◊〉 every corner of your Consciences 〈◊〉 you cannot but acknowledge it your hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 as much A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Corruption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of luch to whom the Word is spoken and blessed The 〈◊〉 Souldiers the refuse Publicans all 〈◊〉 and stand 〈◊〉 at the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Luke 3. 11 12. they all said Master what shall we do 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 at the Bar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Judge upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence it is the time of the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 is called The 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 day of the Lord Mal. 4. 5. 〈◊〉 that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 10. 5. The weapons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the 〈◊〉 Ministery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 down strong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cast down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thought to the Obedience of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Savior the Chief Master of the Assemblies is said to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scribes Matt. 7. last Not to tell a man a 〈◊〉 tale a toothless sapless 〈◊〉 so that the hearers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are gone are never stirred never troubled for their sins nor quickened onward in Obedience But when the power of the 〈◊〉 the presence and Majesty 〈◊〉 the Lord 〈◊〉 appears in his Ordinances they then carry 〈◊〉 with them and bear down all before them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lightning forsakes his hold and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is forced to give way to the Government of the King of Saints Strong Physick either Cures or Kills either takes away the 〈◊〉 or life of the 〈◊〉 so it is with a spiritual and powerful Ministery it will work one way or other either it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hardens converts or condemns those that live 〈◊〉 the stroak thereof For observe we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word is but an Instrument in the hand of 〈◊〉 who dispenseth the same 〈◊〉 to his good 〈◊〉 and the counsel of his own Will working when and upon whom he will and what he will by 〈◊〉 The Sword in the hand of him that wields it may as easily killas defend another answerable to the affection of him that strikes therewith It is so with the Word which is the Sword of the Spirit It is the savor of life unto life but then and to those only to whom the Lord will bless the same and the savor of death unto death then and unto those when such a 〈◊〉 is denyed Such as be Ministers may hence see the Reason of that little success we find that little good we do in the Vineyard of the Lord Our Pains 〈◊〉 not our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with the hearts of men not one 〈◊〉 levelled not a crooked piece 〈◊〉 not one poor Soul prepared for a Christ after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quarters years travelling in the work of the 〈◊〉 The time was Satan fell like lightning suddenly speedily when the Disciples of Christ as Sons of 〈◊〉 delivered the Gospel in the power and demonstration of the Spirit But now Satan stands up 〈◊〉 full strength takes up his stand maintains his 〈◊〉 in the hearts of men notwithstanding all that 〈◊〉 see done
even the very plagues 〈◊〉 hell I have had many Exhortations Instructions Admonitions and Reproofs and as powerful means as may be which 〈◊〉 never did me any good The Lord be merciful to such a poor soul and turn his heart that he may lay hold of Mercy in due time Exhortation Is it so That a plain and powerful Ministery is the means of Preparing the soul of a poor 〈◊〉 for the Lord Jesus Why then when you hear the Word plainly and powerfully preached to you labor that the Word may be so unto you as it is in it self It is a preparing Word labor you that it may prepare your hearts to receive Christ And you that be Hearers every one labor to save the Soul of another let the Father speak concerning his Children and the Husband concerning his Wife and his Family and the Wife concerning her Husband Oh when will it once be when will the time come that my Child may be fitted for the Lord when will it be that my poor Family my poor Wife my poor Husband shall be prepared for the Lord the Lord grant that it may be if not this Sabbath yet on another if not this Sermon then at the next Labour therefore to give way unto the VVord of God and suffer your Souls to be wrought upon by it for the word is powerful to prepare your hearts but the Minister must hew and square your hearts before they can be prepared for the Lord Jesus and you must suffer the words of Exhortation as the Apostle sayes Heb. 13. 22. So likewise suffer the words of Conviction of Reproof of Admonition and hold and keep your hearts under the Word that you may be wrought upon thereby And as when men have set Carpenters a work to build an House then they come every day and ask them How doth the work go on How doth the building go forward When you are gone home do you so reason with your selves and ask your own hearts how the work of the Lord goes forward in you Is my heart yet humbled Am I yet fitted and prepared for Christ I thank God I find some work and power of the Word and therefore I hope the Building will go forward BOOK IV. 2 COR. 6. 2. As he saith in an acceptable time have I heard thee in the day of Salvation have I succoured thee THe general Doctrine of Preparation being dispatched Proeced we to a further enquiry of the Particulars under it And there we have to enquire The 1 Quality 2 Parts of this Work The Quality of this 〈◊〉 wherein are Comprehended those Common Affections which firstly and properly appertain to this Place and as the 〈◊〉 and Spirits pass through the whole Body of a man So these general Considerations convey over a savor and virtue of such truths as they do contain to all the Particulars which follow and 〈◊〉 in reason are to be handled before the rest The quality of this Preparation is to be attended in Two things 1. The Freeness of the Work wrought 2. The Fitness of the time wherein it is Effected For the Discovery of both which I have made Choice of this Text as affording susficient ground for this Discourse 〈◊〉 he saith in an accept able time c. In the handling of which words we shall endeavor Three Things 1 What the Scope of the Text is that so it may appear it naturally fits our purpose and the Point in hand which comes to be 〈◊〉 2 The Sense and Meaning of the words is to be 〈◊〉 into and such Truths to be Collected which serve-our turn and intendment 3 We shall pursue the Explication of each of them in their Order The Scope of the Text which I conceive worth the while a 〈◊〉 to be attended will appear by the Connexion 〈◊〉 it hath with the foregoing 〈◊〉 and the dependance of it is to be fetched 〈◊〉 the 17 th 〈◊〉 of the former Chapter 〈◊〉 from the Consideration of the priviledge and 〈◊〉 they were advanced unto in Christ the Apostle infers and calls sor that newness of life and obedience answerable to that kindness of the Lord and the condition unto which 〈◊〉 were advanced 〈◊〉 any man be in Christ he must be a new 〈◊〉 bebold old things are past all things are made new 2 Cor. 5. 17. And this he shews from the author of this Grace who disposeth of it God 2 From the Mediator who hath purchased it Christ 3 From the Means appointed to Convey and Communicate it to such for whom it was ordained to 〈◊〉 The Ministery of the Apostles All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself through Christ Vers. 18. And whereas the Corinthians being heathens might object True he hath reconciled you Jews but what is that to us He addes in 〈◊〉 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world 〈◊〉 Beleevers both of Jews and Gentiles to himself and for this cause and to this end hath 〈◊〉 the word of Reconciliation to his Apostles for their good that while they as Ambassadors entreated God by them did beseech them to be reconciled unto him And this was done upon susficient warrant and in a way of righteous proceeding for Christ who knew no sin was made sin even for them 〈◊〉 who should beleeve that they might be made the righteousness of God in him vers last Having thus shewed a full and 〈◊〉 ground for their reconciliation and also of his own Commission for that end He further presseth it in the first Verse of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If God be thus Gracious Christs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Commission so Large We 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 together with God 〈◊〉 you 〈◊〉 you receive not the Grace of God i. e. the 〈◊〉 that word of Grace that bringeth Salvation to 〈◊〉 in vain 〈◊〉 receiving benefit by it and comfort from it to your own Conversion and Salvation And whereas they might Reply It is not in our power to receive the spiritual good of this word nor 〈◊〉 in you that are Apostles to work it or if both were granted it s not yet the Season fitter opportunity will be afforded hereafter To all these the Apostle Answers in the words of the text True the Blessing is the Lords but the Endeavor 〈◊〉 be Ours We must Plant and Water it s in Gods Prerogative and depends upon his good Pleasure to give Encrease however the Time now fits the 〈◊〉 are now afforded and though we cannot Do what we should and ought yet let us do what we can and though we have no Power of our selves to Compass our everlasting Comforts yet we have Gods own VVord and most gracious Promise That in an acceptable time he will hear us And that presumes then that we must pray In the day of Salvation he will help and by that it s taken for granted we must take pains and behold now is the day of Salvation now is the acceptable time let us therefore now call earnestly upon him for a Blessing walk
Matth. 11. 25 26. The issue then is If it proceed from Gods free pleasure that Means are 〈◊〉 revealed blessed then is there a full freedom 〈◊〉 all and it must be so for these Reasons There is nothing man hath that can Purchase this Simon Magus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and its probable enough 〈◊〉 would nor have stuck at the price had the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never so great Acts 8. 18 19. And when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Holy Ghost was given through 〈◊〉 on of hands be offered them ' Money to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 But the Apostle Peter 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 Thy Money 〈◊〉 with thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast thought that the Gift of God may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Money 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 think such a thing impossible 〈◊〉 for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it Purchases are made by such things as carry some kind of proportionable worth to that which is to be Purchased But there is nothing that can be compared with wisdom and the Spirituall Grace in Christ Prov 3. 15. Much less can be accounted of an answerable Rate and value thereunto There is nothing a man can do of himself whereby he may procure and obtain this spiritual good Rom. 9. 16. It is not in him that Wills nor in him that Runs It is not said in him that goes carelesly about the work but it is not in him that improves the best of his abilitie and that with speed though he 〈◊〉 in this race but it is in God only that shews 〈◊〉 If thou shouldest mark O Lord what is done a miss who should abide it Psal. 103. 3. The best are so far from obtaining favor by any desert of their doings that it is well with them they are not consumed by his displeasure for the failing of their best actions There is no Promise made to any Natural man whereby he can challenge this at the hands of the Lord All men by nature are children of 〈◊〉 Eph. 2. 3. Heirs of perdition if they have their own place its Hell if they have no more but their own Portion Confusion and eternal 〈◊〉 is that they must look for if they have the fruit of their own tree the wayes of their own work it s nothing but wo and misery 〈◊〉 3. 11. All Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ 2 Cor. 1. 20. made and performed in him alone they that are out of Christ therefore what they have besides Hell is 〈◊〉 Mercy The Sum then is It man by nature have nothing to Purchase any Spiritual good can do nothing to deserve it have no Promise to challenge it it is freely out of Gods good pleasure that any 〈◊〉 of any share therein Here then is matter of Thanksgiving to all the 〈◊〉 of God who have been made partakers of so 〈◊〉 favor to wit Their 〈◊〉 should be filled with his praise and their 〈◊〉 with a 〈◊〉 admiration of this so 〈◊〉 a mercy so much undeserved and so 〈◊〉 bestowed notwithstanding The greater and more free the goodness of the Lord is the greater should our 〈◊〉 be in the receiving of it This made the Prophet stand amazed Who is a God like unto thee Micah 7. 18. Men will see somthing in us to move them and expect some good from us to perswade them to shew favor but who is like unto our God who shews mercy not because we can deserve it or have any right to challenge it not because we can please him but because mercy pleaseth him and he doth it only because he VVill now his VVill be done and blessed he his glorious Name for ever Go thy way then in secret thou that hast found this acceptation from the Lord in sincerity of Soul present thy self as in his presence and say Good Lord Why is it How comes it That since many that have lived 〈◊〉 the same Place dwelt in the same Family sare in the same Seat and heard the same Word are yet in the Gall of Bitterness in the Bonds of Iniquity yet in the Kingdom of Darkness under the Power of their Sins and like to perish for them for ever Lord Lord VVhy are mine eyes enlightned to know the things belonging to my peace VVhy my heart touched with any saving remorse for my Sins That I should have any desires after thee any longings for thee Oh its Grace it s thy Free Grace Otherwise I had never been made partaker of any Spiritual good nay I had never known it Father VVhat am I that thou shouldest be thus mindful of me that thou shouldest thus remember me yea mindful of me when I was not mindful of my self remembrest me when I had forgotten thy glory my own soul and mine own everlasting good Was not I as blind as ever any and knew not as careless as ever any and respected not yea stubborn and stout hearted gainsaid I not yea rejected thy compassions so often tendered in the Ministery of the Word and forced upon me by those heart-breaking Exhortations of thy faithful Ministers to reveal these Spiritual good things when out of negligence I did not know them yea then to press them upon my Conscience and by the effectual work of thy Spirit then to prevail with my heart when at first I did oppose and cast them behind my back let me for ever return all praise to thy Majesty out of whose free mercy it is that I have been made partaker of any saving work for the good of my Soul Yea I thank thee Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast revealed these things to babes and sucklings and bid them from the wise and prudent That the Learned of the world are befooled and thou hast taught me a poor ignorant silly wretch That many noble and honorable are cashiered and thou hast accepted of a base worm plucked me out of a smoaky Cottage out of a Corner of Hell to receive me into the Kingdom of thy Christ to bear me in thy own bosom here wildering up and down in this valley of tears that thou maiest glorifie me with thy self when all tears shal be wiped away from mine eyes Oh! it is thy Free thy Free Mercy let my Soul for ever bless thee and walk worthy of thee and it that I may serve thee with a good and a glad and a free heart as I have received freely from thine own Hand whatsoever either I have or Hope for Here is also ground of great Encouragement to all distressed and disconsolate 〈◊〉 who labor under the weight of the guilt of their many sins and sight of their own unworthiness The right Consideration of the former truths may be as a spiritual Cordial whereby their hearts may be quickned to seek unto the Lord as their hopes sustained to expect that succour and supply which may be most seasonable for their Relief Because as there is no worth on our parts that can move the Lord so there is no vileness so great that can hinder him from doing what good he
intends to such undeserving ones as we be His own good will being the only 〈◊〉 of any saving work he is pleased to put forth upon the hearts of those who appertain to the Election of Grace This was that which the Lord proclaims and which he urges upon all drooping and discouraged Spirits to make them put on more cheerfully in the pursuit of life and happiness 〈◊〉 55. 1. Oh every one that thirsteth come to the waters and he 〈◊〉 hath no money come buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price It s very remarkable how the Spirit of God labors to remove that which will and most usually doth hinder the fainting hearts of dismaied sinners in their endeavor after Mercy They fondly conceit they must come with their cost they must bring some Spiritual abilities and 〈◊〉 with them unless they have that money they are like to miss of their market they shall not be able to purchase Gods acceptance the Graces and Comforts of his Spirit signified by Wine and Milk The Lord therefore that he might wholly dath these dreams and take off these 〈◊〉 thoughts he puts it beyond all Question and Doubt by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the contrary He that hath no money that is No Spiritual 〈◊〉 or worth let him buy question it not yea I speak it seriously and mind what I say therefore I say again without money doubt it not yea I 〈◊〉 as I say openly and plainly without money or money worth no in 〈◊〉 no weakness no unworthiness shall hinder be not needlesly suspicious I intend not to sell my Graces and Comforts but to bestow them freely upon such who have an open hand to take them and an empty heart to carry them away This was the ground of Encouragement whereby the Prophet emboldned those rebellious Jews to take words and resolution also to themselves to press in with some hope to speed with the Lord Hos. 14. 2 3. Take unto 〈◊〉 words and say Receive us graciously But the Lord might have replyed You have no worth in your selves you deserve no favor therefore it s added with thee the Fatherless find mercy As if 〈◊〉 should have said Thou doest not vouchsafe mercy to sinners because of any excellency they have any friends they can make any abilities they can bring but the helpless friendless fatherless orphane souls such as be destitute of all succour no eye to pitty no friend to provide no strength to support themselves such find mercy with thee such we are therefore Lord shew us mercy If the Dole or Alms was to be bought and purchased then the 〈◊〉 who had most and needed least would 〈◊〉 be possessors of it but because its only out of the 〈◊〉 to bestow it freely he that 's poor hath never a whit the less but the more hope to receive it so it is here in the Dole of Grace when 〈◊〉 thou considerest the infinite baseness of thy heart on the one side the incomprehensible worth of mercy on the other and withal conceivest an utter impossibility ever to attain it ever to expect it settle this Conclusion in thy heart as matter of marvelous Encouragement yet mercy is free others have received it and why not I Lord If the multitude of thine 〈◊〉 plead against thee if Satan be busie to discourage thine heart and drive thee to despair Why dost thou Canst thou Expect any kindness from the Lord since thy frailties so many thy rebellions so great against the offer of his mercy and the work of his Grace How utterly unable 〈◊〉 thou to do any thing to procure any Spiritual good How unfit to receive it And is it not a folly than to hope for it Thou hast hence to Reply Be it I am as base as can be imagined yet my 〈◊〉 cannot hinder the work of Gods Love for it s altogether Free True I have nothing to purchase it Abraham had not I can do nothing to deserve it David could not I have no right to challenge it at the hands of the Lord nor yet had Paul any thing to plead for him in the like case and yet all these were made partakers of mercy and why not I Lord Put in for thy particular and plead for thy self and say Blessed Lord thy mercy is not lessened thy wisdom decayed thy arm shortned what thou didst freely for Abraham an Idolater 〈◊〉 a Rebel for Paul a Persecutor do for my poor 〈◊〉 also my vileness cannot hinder the freeness of thy Compassions If it be here Replyed That this affords small ground of Comfort for if the Dispensation of Grace depend upon Gods Free Will he may fail us as well as help us he may deny it as well as give it The Answer is He may give it as well as deny it and that 's Argument enough to sustain our hopes and to quicken our endeavors put it then to the adventure Thus the Prophet Joel pressed the Israelites to 〈◊〉 to God for the removal of a Judgement and the Pardon of their Sins upon this very possibility Rent your hearts and not your garments and turn unto the Lord who knows if he will return and leave a blessing behind him Joel 2. 13 14. Thus the 〈◊〉 Ninivites provoke themselves to importune the God of heaven for the with-holding of the destruction threatned Let us cry mightily unto God who can tell if he will turn and repent Jonah 3. 8 9. When then thy Spirit sinks under the unsupportable pressure of thy sins and the expectation of the righteous Judgements deserved thereby here is that which will ad Comfort and Encouragement to look upward to the Lord for refreshing Who knows but God may who can tell but God will yet shew mercy therefore I will yet hope because no man can tell but I may at last be made partaker thereof Lastly Those who want and seek for mercy from the Lord in the use of the means which he hath appointed they are to be exhorted from the former truth to arm themselves with patience to stay Gods time and to 〈◊〉 his pleasure if it seem good to his Majesty to with-hold this Favour or delay the work of his Grace Beggars must not be chusers we must not be Carvers of Gods kindness it s a Free Gift and therefore as he may give what he will so he may give it when it seems most fit to himself Just cause we have to wait no reason at all to murmure against him Hast thou then endeavored after this work of Grace and canst not attain it Endeavor still Hast thou begged it and yet findest not thy desires answered Crave still with perseverance It s good to hope and to wait also for the Salvation of the Lord Lam. 3. 26. both must go together to wait without hope is uncomfortable and to hope without patience is unprofitable We know 〈◊〉 what time God will take it is our duty and will be our wisdom and comfort to
Grace and Salvation but be they never so weak God can 〈◊〉 be they never so stout God can bend be they never so fast rooted in their rebellions God can and doth separate betwixt sin and their souls and recover them Behold this is the Finger of the Almighty When the Disease hath entred 〈◊〉 the Bowels and rotted in the bones of the sick the Physick then to cure the Physitian then to recover that is skill more than ordinary by the confession of all So here in the soul to make the Black-more to change his hew the Leopard his spots to make a gray headed sinner whose corruptions like a canker hath eaten up his heart by dayly custom to bring him to sound contrition and broken heartedness therein the outstretched arm of the Lord is expressed in his utmost strength My Power is made perfect in weakness saith the Lord 2 Cor. 12. 9. It 's the perfection of Power to prevail over such difficulties Thus of the First Part the Second follows God doth call most of his before Old Age. And therefore when he went forth at the Eleventh hour he reproves them before he entertains them Why stand ye here all the day idle as who should say You have lost the season of your work and hope of your reward the day is over there is no time for you to labor and there is no reason that I should either hire you or reward you it 's not my usual course nor custom yet for once go you also into my Vineyard Therefore the most usual time of Conversion is betwixt the third and the ninth hour in our middle Age about twenty and betwixt thirty and forty many are before some are after but most and most usually are wrought upon at this time There is a good pleasure as the Original hath it a season for every thing Eccles. 2. 1. and this seems to be the fittest time for this work whether we respect Man or God A man at this Age hath better Materials as I may so say wherein or whereupon the frame of Conversion may be erected or imprinted by the 〈◊〉 of the Spirit and that firstly If we look at the composition of Nature and the constitution of soul and body for in Infancy a man lives little 〈◊〉 than the life of a Plant or Beast feeding and sleeping growing and encreasing or else he takes up himself with delights of outward objects most agreeable to his Sences Walks after the sight of his own eyes Eccles. 11. 9. both which exceedingly 〈◊〉 the work of reason but when these are towards 〈◊〉 full perfection and Nature hath attained her 〈◊〉 work then the Understanding begins to shew 〈◊〉 self in her operations Invention is then most 〈◊〉 to apprehend the Judgment to discern Memory to retain and the Affections tenderest and nimblest to imbrace any thing offered and most pliable to be wrought upon As it is with Wax if it be made too soft it cannot hold any impression if too hard it will receive none but when it 's in temper most pliable then it 's most fit to receive and retain the stamp So Infancy is too weak and waterish it 's not able to fadom or fasten upon the depths of Argument Age grows sturdy with 〈◊〉 and will not listen to the Reasons of those Truths it s not willing to imbrace only in the middle Age when Reason is come to some ripeness there is then some more convenient advantages to be taken for the Lord to imprint the stamp of Grace upon the soul which the hand of his own Spirit can only do Look we again at Corruption In this Age 〈◊〉 Understandings are sooner 〈◊〉 as having not so long continued in the known practice of 〈◊〉 whenas the aged and decrepit who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the burden of their sins being setled long and 〈◊〉 upon their 〈◊〉 wedged in their 〈◊〉 and incorporated into sinful customs their hearts grow hard their understandings blind and their affections overcome with the deceitfulness of sin difficult it is to perswade their Reason to acknowledg the vileness of their sin but almost impossible to have their hearts wrought to a deteftation of it Trees withered and rotten are altogether unfit to be transplanted nor likely to prosper if they be So is it with aged men like these Trees withered in their wickedness yea as Jude speaks Corrupt Trees twice dead Jude 12. First by Original corruption Secondly by a continued and setled custom in Actual 〈◊〉 who have taken 〈◊〉 root in their rebellions they are most unfit to be transplanted and ingrafted into the true Vine Christ Jesus by Conversion and Faith The Bow that 's often 〈◊〉 and stands long one way is not bowed the other way but with much violence The soul proportionably which is turned from God and hath 〈◊〉 bent by long continuance in a base course though it 's possible it may be brought back again and put into a right frame yet it will cost the setting on before it can be accomplished and a world of difficulties must be gone through usually before it be done Thirdly and lastly As this is the fittest Age in regard of the Subject that must receive it so likewise in regard of the End why Grace is given which is to 〈◊〉 forth the praise of God and the Power of his Grace and by an holy Conversation to express the 〈◊〉 of him who hath called us from darkness to his marvelous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. for Grace destroyes not the powers and faculties of Nature but 〈◊〉 them removes not abilities but rectifies them doth not take them away but turns them to their 〈◊〉 end and use while then the parts of the body 〈◊〉 powers of the soul are in their prime best 〈◊〉 then may they be improved by the blessed Spirit 〈◊〉 the Lord and his Grace to the best advantage of 〈◊〉 Name Thus Grace damps not deads not the 〈◊〉 ction of love if strong and lively but directs it 〈◊〉 God his Truth and Children Grace abates not 〈◊〉 edg of Courage and Resolution but brings as stout and yet stragling Soldier into his right 〈◊〉 and Rank to be imployed in the defence of the Gospel Though God can work with any tool yet 〈◊〉 in he manifests his Wisdom that he will chuse 〈◊〉 to whom he gives great fitness to the performance 〈◊〉 those great and honorable imployments unto 〈◊〉 they are designed Hence Paul might in many other so in this respect also be called a choyce 〈◊〉 to carry Christs Name among the Heathens 〈◊〉 9. 15. being his Zeal was fiery his Love earnest 〈◊〉 Courage resolute his Judgment deep his Spirit undaunted and fit for dispatch all these faculties being as so many vessels filled with Grace prepared and guided by the Power of Gods Spirit might be fit Instruments to carry and convey the Gospel and the glory of the unsearchable Riches of Christ to the ends of the Earth Who sitter to care for all the Churches 2
must be a stranger from the life of Christ Rom. 8. 1. hath not yet his Spirit is in the state of Condemnation and that if he so continue he shall perish but whether he shall be converted and brought home at last by the Almighty Power of the Lord it rests only in his own bosom depends alone upon his good pleasure leave we then the Sentence with the Lord who will either recover him out of his sin or most righteously judg him for it Of Consolation Here 's also a Cordial to keep up the fainting hearts of decrepit and aged sinners whose noysom lusts plead prescription of continuance as though they were beyond the Authority of any Law to cast them out I confess it indeed Oh that ancient men would consider it the case is very desperate and brought to the last cast Is it not a marvelous streight that the great work of Everlasting Life lies upon the moment of an hour as it 〈◊〉 to follow the words of the Parable 〈◊〉 considering it is not usual for men then to be 〈◊〉 The little twig such may take hold on is this hath been done and therefore there is hope it may done again and this hope it is which keeps the 〈◊〉 above water never too late to forsake our 〈◊〉 the Lord accepts at the Eleventh hour 〈◊〉 must not then suffer our own fears or Satans 〈◊〉 to pluck up our resolutions and 〈◊〉 by the roots with any false shews of hopeless possibilities When a decrepit sinner hath tired 〈◊〉 in his ungodly courses grows weary with 〈◊〉 burden of an accusing conscience and 〈◊〉 of an ill led life and begins to bethink himself is not in a right way suddenly the Enemy 〈◊〉 to his view the number and nature of his many 〈◊〉 and withal suggests the way so long 〈◊〉 the time to return so short better not set out 〈◊〉 not to be able to get home In vain now saies 〈◊〉 to begin so great a work of Preparation when 〈◊〉 have so little opportunity and so great an 〈◊〉 thereunto To what purpose is it to strive 〈◊〉 we cannot overcome to enter upon the 〈◊〉 when in all likely hood we shall be benighted see 〈◊〉 Sun is but an hour high and never come to the 〈◊〉 of it Oh shake off those sluggish discouragements sit 〈◊〉 down and perish there is yet hope in Israel 〈◊〉 this thing 't is true the work is hard yet God 〈◊〉 done as much for others and therefore can do much for thee also Thy time is short thou hast 〈◊〉 foot in the grave but the Arm of the Lord is 〈◊〉 shortened that he cannot help thou hast ancient 〈◊〉 he hath ancient mercies his loving kindness 〈◊〉 been ever of old When thou hast neither time 〈◊〉 strength to relieve thy self the Lord notwithstanding at the last hour and when thou doest least expect it and hast least deserved it who knows but yet he may call thee into his Vineyard listen therefore unto his voyce make hast to answer his call and leave the success with him Lastly If the Lord put forth this work of Preparation most ordinarily in our middle age all those whom more especially it concerns who are yet in the flower of their years whose Breasts run full of Milk and their Bones full of Marrow as Job speaks they are to be exhorted in the Lord to take the safest and the easiest course for themselves even the counsel of the wise man Eccles. 12. 1. Remember now thy Creator in the daies of thy youth before thy evil daies come the time that God useth to bless most let us be wary to improve most for our good A wise Traveller useth to take the day before him and 〈◊〉 accounts the middle of the day most safe for his passage the Rule is most true and useful also for us while we are wildring onward towards the end 〈◊〉 our hopes rise we early prevent the morning watch to make speed to run the waies of Gods Cammandements while the best of our Natural abilities are about us the middle of our age like the middle 〈◊〉 the day will be most safe for our spiritual Travel and endeavor considering we carry such a charge about us even our souls and the care of their Salvation and happiness lest deferring till our old age and our evening shut in upon us we be wholly spoyled of both for Preparation put off untill our crazy time is like never to be or very uncomfortable if 〈◊〉 be attained It 's not likely we shall ever share in so glorious a work they who are setled so long upon their 〈◊〉 are hardly ever removed considering the company 〈◊〉 common infirmities troops and multitudes of sicknesses and sorrows which seize upon old age and surprize it as 〈◊〉 prey decay the Sences enfeeble the Judgment weaken the Memory as though all the passages were now stopped and gates shut whereby Grace should have any entrance How shall Faith come to him by hearing whose Ears are become deaf that he cannot hear How shall he search the Scriptures in which Grace and Life are to be found who hath not an eye able to see much less to read them How shall he be able to fatham the depths and mysteries of Salvation who is become a child in understanding not sufficient to conceive of the most common things Hence it is the Prophet gives such a man for gone past recovery as it were Isa. 65. 20. The sinner of an hundred years old shall be accursed a Curse is the Portion that is carved out unto him he must look for nothing else that 's his allowance an old rotten post is only fit to be chipped out for the fire no waies prositable to be laid in the Building no not to make pins for it He that hath seen an hundred yeers and yet never came to the sight and rellish of the saving work of Grace farewell he as we use to speak I will not say it is impossible for him to avoid the Curse I must say it is unusual For how justly may God deny to entertain him who would not so many years give way and entertainment to his Word and Spirit What Captain will entertain a Soldier that is not able to fight What Master will hire a Servant that is not able to work in his Vineyard Why should the Lord 〈◊〉 wise chuse such weaklings aged and decrepit who shall not be able to strike one stroke for him in the defence of his Truth or set one foot forward in 〈◊〉 waies of his Statutes As Achish spake of David when he came to the 〈◊〉 and seigned himself mad 1 Sam. 21. 15. What 〈◊〉 I need of mad men that you have brought this man to me shall he enter into my house So the Lord may say Have I any need of dead men that you have brought these aged 〈◊〉 ruinous carkasses before me shall they ever find acceptance or entrance into the Kingdom of Grace or Glory Hath
lastly is the meaning of that text Rom. 7. 6. wherein a man is said to be married to his sin for the comparison holds As long as the Husband lives so long the Wife is bound and is subject to him so while we remain in our natural condition under the Covenant of Works we are in Covenant with our sins and married to them so that we cannot be to any other we are hand-fasted and cannot part 1 Sin claims a propriety in the soul. 2 Takes possession of it 3 It wholly orders and acts it as the woman hath not power over her self but the man On the 〈◊〉 side the Soul 1 Gives it self away to it 2 Submits to the authority of it And 3 Is wholly acted by it Therefore it is That they that are in the flesh cannot please God Rom. 8. 8. The act of Sin cannot please but the Spiritual 〈◊〉 of the Soul is acted by Sin therefore it cannot please God while a man is in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This KEY will Open many Doors Hence it follows Original Sin is not a meer Privarion or want of Original Righteousness but an active 〈◊〉 or running wrong of all the wheels the Faculties of the Soul of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only take away his Image but 〈◊〉 up the soul to the power of Corruption and 〈◊〉 its discovered by the actions of Fighting 〈◊〉 5. 7. The Flesh lusts against the Spirit 〈◊〉 Rom. 7. 21. The Law of Flesh 〈◊〉 against the law of my mind captivating the 〈◊〉 erecting and setting up a soveraignty and height 〈◊〉 jurisdiction in the soul there is a law of sin and 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 2. As Adam actually by his own Fault and Folly 〈◊〉 away the Holiness and Righteousness of God 〈◊〉 himself to the sinful distemper of his own 〈◊〉 so he doth also Meritoriously work i. e. by 〈◊〉 sin deserve that God should take away the one 〈◊〉 deliver up to the power of the other And if 〈◊〉 then also Actually for to work a 〈◊〉 meritoriously is so to do a thing according to 〈◊〉 of Covenant our selvs and that we should 〈◊〉 another should do to us or for us what is sutable 〈◊〉 the Covenant either broken or kept In a word As Adam works his own death by 〈◊〉 so also 〈◊〉 procures both the loss of the Image of God the 〈◊〉 of Corruption to take possession of him and 〈◊〉 for both these are included in that Thy 〈◊〉 is of thy self Oh Israel Hos. 13. 9. Hence also it comes about That the law is the 〈◊〉 of sin 1 Cor. 15. 56. and sin as strong as the Law because the Law of God gives 〈◊〉 to sinful distempers to take possession of it So 〈◊〉 look what power the Kings Commission is of in 〈◊〉 hand of the High Sheriff the same power hath 〈◊〉 Sheriff when he hath that Commission So look what strength there is in the Commission from Divine Justice the same strength sin hath which hath that Commission Hence again All sins Original and Actual which follow therefrom are punishments of the 〈◊〉 of Adam as they come from God Its 〈◊〉 with God That he that wil reject his Wisdom 〈◊〉 Holiness should be deprived of it its just that 〈◊〉 that wil chuse his own Delusions and 〈◊〉 before Gods directions and Covenant should be delivered up to the power of them and staked 〈◊〉 in them Thou wouldst be so why remain so 〈◊〉 And every putting forth of Original Corruption takes occasion from this act of revenging 〈◊〉 pushing the soul away from him But as they 〈◊〉 from Adam so they are sins properly called For Adam doth not properly punish himself he 〈◊〉 not the execution of any act of Justice 〈◊〉 is it 〈◊〉 that he doth evil but it is his delight 〈◊〉 takes content therein even to depart from God which is the sentence of the second Death Hence lastly There is no possibility that a 〈◊〉 should be recovered by any power he hath or by 〈◊〉 vertue of any Creature to deliver the wil of a 〈◊〉 from under the power of his sin or from 〈◊〉 carried with it Because he is sealed up under 〈◊〉 by the Curse of the Covenant broken and the 〈◊〉 of it in a righteous Course For as 〈◊〉 could be no other reward of a good work but to 〈◊〉 immutably carried by the Spirit of the Lord and enabled to work so for ever We can go no farther than the last end to please God is the last end 〈◊〉 chief good of the Creature the immutable 〈◊〉 and constancy in that is al the good we 〈◊〉 have Do and Live That is Do and Do 〈◊〉 me once and please me for ever that is Thou shalt be enabled for ever to please me and to be happy in so doing So contrary wise The Curse of the breach of the Covenant is for ever to be acted by the power of sin 〈◊〉 break it Do not and Die that is Displease 〈◊〉 by Disobedience and be so accursed that thou 〈◊〉 ever displease me The just punishment which is answerable to our 〈◊〉 of the Lord and our chief good is that 〈◊〉 shal ever reject it For if a man could please God and so 〈◊〉 his end after his Disobedience and 〈◊〉 of Covenant he might then be happy and 〈◊〉 be in his sin and so never be punished for it which is impossible The Sum of this Argument in short returns to thus much That if the Will of a man be under Commission of Divine Justice and is delivered up to 〈◊〉 power of Sin to be possessed of it and acted by it therefore it is not nay cannot be willing to be 〈◊〉 from its sins The Third Reason of the Doctrine is taken from the Power which Satan hath to lead and so to 〈◊〉 all sinners wholly according to his own desire 〈◊〉 the lord hath given him allowance thereunto As 〈◊〉 said to Satan touching Job All that he hath is 〈◊〉 thy hand Job 2. 6. So al these that wil not be my Subjects but are turned Traytors lo they be in 〈◊〉 hand they shal be thy slaves Thus he rules in the Children of disobedience Eph. 2. 2. Thus he 〈◊〉 them at his will 2 Tim. 2. last He is the strong man that maintains possession in the Soul and the sinner goes as he is led 2 Cor. 12. 2. Malefactors are the Kings Prisoners but under the keeping of the 〈◊〉 so sinners have their Mittimus and they are put into Satans hand he keeps them in the chayns of 〈◊〉 and reserves them to the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 day if they be not rescued out of his hand by Jesus Christ. The last Reason is taken from the Naturalness and neer Alliance there is between our hearts and our lusts that we count it death to part with them nay we cannot be without them hence in Scripture they are called as the members of our body Col. 3. 5. mortifie your members and those the dearest and tenderest the right
it not as a part of weakness but a madness in truth if a Malefactor wil lie in the Dungeon when means of deliverances is afforded for a man to chuse his fetters and to keep on his chains and bolts when he may be freed yet this is the case and condition yea the disposition of men who are not willing to be severed from their sins nor to be set free from those chains of darkness wherewith they are fettered and go up and down imprisoned in the world Sin is compared to a deadly poyson the poyson of Asps is under their tongue Rom. 3. 13. that is Such 〈◊〉 which is deadly and venomous which admits no remedy no cure no recovery Now shouldest 〈◊〉 see a Patient that should be offended with the Medicine that would Cure him or with the Physitian that would counsel him and recover him out of 〈◊〉 Disease Or take it heinously and grievously that any should keep him from drinking the Poyson that would destroy him Each man would conclude that his brain were more distempered than 〈◊〉 body as doing that which is directly cross even to nature which desires the preservation of it self even in unreasonable Creatures Turn but the tables as we say consider aright thine own carriage 〈◊〉 thou wilt confess it is thy case thou art the man Thou art poysoned with the loathsom and 〈◊〉 lusts of thine own Heart which threaten thy everlasting ruine and that beyond recovery in 〈◊〉 course of ordinary means Thou art not able 〈◊〉 hear the Counsel that would direct thee for 〈◊〉 Cure nor bear a savory and seasonable 〈◊〉 which would take away the poyson of those 〈◊〉 distempers Thou canst not endure to be severe from that which wil sever thy soul from God 〈◊〉 canst not abide the Word or the Messengers 〈◊〉 would take away that from thee which wil take 〈◊〉 way thy peace thy comfort thy happiness and a Thus Herodias waited for the Baptists life 〈◊〉 he endeavored to cross her in her Incestuous 〈◊〉 and loathsom abominations Mark 6. 19. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel a secret grudg again him and would have killed him She lay at 〈◊〉 she was watchful and covetous to observe and 〈◊〉 any hint of opportunity offered to do him harm because he desired and endeavored to do her the greatest good that he could A type of this we may 〈◊〉 in the Israelites when their own hearts could tel them and their own experience could testifie and that unto their own sense it was the greatest pressure that ever they found the 〈◊〉 of the wrath of Pharoah and that they sighed under it and their groans went up to heaven And yet they would return to their own ruine and to the house of bondage And Would God said they we had died in Aegypt Aegipt typifyed the kingdom of darkness the state of sin and death and Pharoah was a type of Satan who exerciseth the fierceness of his fury upon the souls of those that are under his power somtimes men wil cry unto the Lord by reason of the hard usage they find from Sin and Satan yet when God comes by his Word and the Counsels of his Servants to pluck them out of their sins and out of their bondage they cannot endure that they wil rather return again unto and lie down under the bondage of sin and Satan than be delivered from it John 5. 40. Our Savior Christ tels the Jews there You will not come to me that you might have life Christ hath Purchased it and Promised it and Offred it yet saies he You wil not come to me you wil not though you may have life and happiness for the coming for Here 's also a ground of Tryal We may hence discern and that undeniably and easily what our condition is Whether we be yet in our Natural estate so far from the interest and possession of Christ or any saving work of his Spirit as that indeed we have not attained any through preparation hereunto We need not send up to Heaven to look into the Cabinet Counsels of Gods everlasting Decrees what is 〈◊〉 concerning us Descend thou into thy own soul thou hast that in thy bosom wil be the best discovery of thy condition Ask but honestly plainly and in earnest thy own heart and that wil cast the ballance and that beyond al question Such as thy will is such is thy condition look what thou wouldest be that thou art in truth and in the account of the Almighty The Lord cares 〈◊〉 for al the Court Complements thou canst express in the wayes of Christianity he 〈◊〉 not for 〈◊〉 thy fair 〈◊〉 and the quaint appearances of 〈◊〉 was thy carriage gilt over with the most glorious shews of Godliness and thy tongue tipped with the language of heaven this wil not do the deed This would not answer the Lords expectation nor thine own hopes and comforts in the issue It was said concerning Eliab Davids elder brother when it was conceived that he should be the man appointed for the Kingdom and indeed holy Samuel was deceived in his goodly stature Surely this is the Lords Annointed The Lord himself checks his judgment Man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh upon the heart 1 Sam. 16. 7. Look we then as God looks and judge we as he judgeth if we would have comfort and truth in our judgment that we may not fail in that and so our hopes and happiness and al fail in the issue Thou saiest Thy 〈◊〉 is savory and free thy understanding large thou art able to search the Mysteries of Grace thou knowest in a great 〈◊〉 the things of Grace and art able fully to express what thou knowest and thou pretendest readmess and zeal for the service of the Lord. Thou 〈◊〉 al these are thus And I say What is thy heart thou lookest to these I say Look to thy heart and then to these that is Gods way The people in Deut. 5. 28. made as full and free a profession as all the world could desire but the Lord desired somwhat more 〈◊〉 went further They have well said but Oh that 〈◊〉 were such a heart in them v. 29. It is the heart then that gives the casting Evidence of a mans condition and wil not deceive The Woman that hath two Suiters that make love and express their 〈◊〉 to her if she ask her own Spirit that will easily speak which is the man that must be her Husband the Answer which will 〈◊〉 it is this Such a one hath her heart he hath got her good will and therefore hath gained the woman 〈◊〉 is his to give one all good language and 〈◊〉 entertainment that is nothing if another hath the heart So if the Question be which is indeed a Question of the greatest consequence in the world Whether art thou to be matched to thy Sin or to thy Savior to thy Lusts or to the Lord Jesus This will put it beyond peradventure hath some bosom
but is acted by another As it was in the raising of Lazarus when he stank in the Grave not only those noysom distempers were removed and the unnatural 〈◊〉 which attended his body chased away but the 〈◊〉 also was returned and brought again to Union 〈◊〉 his Body So here The Nature of this Drawing and special 〈◊〉 of it It s the motion and powerful Impression of the Spirit of God upon the Soul not any habit of Grace in it nor any act of the Soul which concurs with the work of God in this first stroak of Preparation For The soul that is wholly possessed by the Habits of Sin is not yet capable of the Habit of Grace 〈◊〉 my flesh dwels no good thing Rom. 7. 18. The Vessel cannot be ful of filthy and puddle water and at the same time receive that which is pure It is the aim of this work to make way and room for the Habit of Grace to be received and therefore it is not a habit nor any act of a habit in the soul as yet Therefore it s said God first turns from darkness and then to light Acts 26. 18. Takes away the heart of stone before he gives a new heart Ezek. 11. 19. This is the influence of Light and Vertue into the Mind and Will by the receiving whereof they may be elevated and lifted up above their own ability to supernatural Works in future times and therfore this cannot be the act of the Will and 〈◊〉 since they cannot of themselves let in any 〈◊〉 into themselves Therefore the Lord takes 〈◊〉 to himself as his own Work Hither belongs 〈◊〉 Question Whether Nature or Grace be the first subject of 〈◊〉 Nature cannot For 1 Cor. 2. 14. The 〈◊〉 man receives not the things of God nor can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet Grace cannot do it for 〈◊〉 there should be Grace before the FIRST 〈◊〉 Grace is attended in a double Respect 1 As it 〈◊〉 a habit or gracious quality received into the Soul As it is a gracious impression upon the soul The 〈◊〉 must be prepared before any habit of Grace 〈◊〉 be received but there needs no disposition in 〈◊〉 soul to receive the work of the Spirit that must 〈◊〉 there needs no preparation to make way 〈◊〉 the work of Preparation but there needs 〈◊〉 to make way for the habit That which 〈◊〉 the first disposition needs no former not yet 〈◊〉 any former It s not Nature but the Soul prepared that is the 〈◊〉 of the First Habit. The Soul unprepared 〈◊〉 the Subject of the Spirit that prepares it The Means how God works the Cords by which 〈◊〉 Draws The Spirit of the Lord lets in some powerful light 〈◊〉 the Truth into the Soul when he is passing on in 〈◊〉 wayes of destruction and tels him This is not 〈◊〉 right way to Life and Salvation you must go 〈◊〉 way if ever you go to heaven The poor deluded blinded Creature never dreaming of 〈◊〉 such matter so that he drives the sóul to 〈◊〉 thoughts If this be the streight way to happiness 〈◊〉 have been out of the way al my life time If this 〈◊〉 true my Condition is miserable Isa. 65. 1. I 〈◊〉 sought of them that asked not for me I am found 〈◊〉 those that sought me not Thus the shepheard pursues the wildring sheep If he had not found it it 〈◊〉 never found home How many give in Evidence 〈◊〉 of their own Experience in this kind I never doubted of my estate nor ever 〈◊〉 of any necessity to be other or do other I went as others did it may be for fashion sake either company carried me or custome prevailed with me or may be the novelty of the thing inticed me to go I as little thought of my death as ever to have my sin and shame discovered Job 36. 9. When the Lord gets man into fetters then he shews them their transgressions and how they have exceeded Thus the Lord is said To stand and knock at the door of the soul when the sinner is fast asleep Rev. 3. 20. He dazles the apprehension by some mighty flash of truth like lightning darted in which makes the soul at a maze by reason of the suddenness and unexpectedness and strangness of it This knock makes the sinner so far to hear and to take notice of it that some body is at the door and causes him happily to make enquiry Who is there So Acts 9. 4 5 6. There shines a suddain Light about Paul and a voyce heard from heaven Saul Saul Why persecutest thou me As who should say Thou art utterly mistaken thou knowest not where thou art what thou doest thou mistakest a Friend in stead of an Enemy And therefore he amazed and astonished Answers and 〈◊〉 Who art thou Lord Thus the sinner is made to look about him where am I this is not the way to Heaven And though the soul would shut its eyes against the Evidence and Power of the Truth which carries a kind of amazing vertue with it and therefore invents shifts to defeat the work of it yet the Lord wil follow it and fasten it upon the soul so as that it shal not avoid it he that stands knocking at the door wil lift up the latch and make the Truth break in as the Sun rising wil break through the least crevis This is the first means whereby the Lord comes to lay hold upon the mind and soul of a sinner he hath the sinner in chase as it were that he cannot get out of his sight or make an escape Thus by the hook of Instruction he laies hold upon him He encloseth him with the Cords of Mercy whereby he 〈◊〉 the soul and compasseth the heart on every side with the tender of his compassions Hosea 11. 4. I drew them with the Cords of a man the bonds of love this the Lord doth to take off those desperat discouragements which otherwise would dead the heart and split the hopes of a forlorn sinner and so pluck up his endeavors by the roots under the appearance of impossibilities It can never be attained why therefore should it be expected or endeavored after To abate therefore of these overbearing 〈◊〉 which otherwise would sink the heart and swallow it up the Lord casts in some discovery of the largeness of his compassions and intimates there is no danger to be feared in coming to the Lord because there is none intended When Christ stands at the door and knocks men are afraid to let in Enemies that intended our ruine so it 's 〈◊〉 the sinner he is afraid of Gods Justice because of his 〈◊〉 deservings What is Christ at the door Is it not that Christ whose Grace I have refused whose Spirit I have grieved whose Words I have cast 〈◊〉 my back he certainly comes to destroy me who have destroyed his Truth and trampled his honor 〈◊〉 my feet And therefore the Lord lets in that Evidence to the
successively As the same vessel is capable of puddle and pure water the same eye is capable of sight and blindness So the Will at several times as several impressions may be made upon it is capable of Sin and Grace Jer. 4. 3. Break up 〈◊〉 fallow ground of your hearts The Nature of man is arrable ground though now it lie fallow by 〈◊〉 of the weeds of wickedness the brambles of Baggage base lusts have over-run it yet it may be 〈◊〉 the soul may be converted again So men are called Living stones 1 Pet. 2. 5. Though the frame of the heart like that goodly building of Jerusalem have not a stone left upon a stone yet the stones wil 〈◊〉 again And hence though there be not the next passive power in a soul possessed with sin to receive the things of God because the soul is wholly possessed with corruption so becomes wholly indisposed thereunto It being impossible that Two Contraries should be in the same subject at the same time that the body distempered with unnatural heats should receive a natural and moderate temper at the same time cannot be yet remove the unnatural and the body is capable of the natural Hence it is the soul hath ever in it a remote power to partake of Grace As the Soul is ever seeking of a better but because it cannot meet with it it is unsatisfied which shews it was made for a better Which makes me that I cannot yet see Why there is any need to flye to the Obed ential power which men marvelous Judicious betake themselves to in this Dispute When a Creature hath not a capability in its kind and nature to entertain such an impression further than it yeilds to the Almighty hand of God to make it what he wil As Matt. 3. 9. God is able of stones to raise up Children unto Abraham Stones wil yeild to God to make them Children But under favor I conceive that is not here needful That God should make a new Faculty or give another natural power than before as he must do if he make Bread or Children of stones As a Wheel that runs wrong you need not another Wheel but another and a right 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 The Faculty of the Will attended only in its natural being and ability cannot Will a spiritual or supernatural good but must have aspiratual and supernatural power put into it to enable it to put forth a 〈◊〉 work Because nothing can act beyond the bounds of its being and ability The Trees grow but move not the bruit Creatures move but Reason not Wicked men can Reason and Will natural and corrupt things because they have Reason Nature and Corruption And Morral things also because they have some 〈◊〉 of the Spirit as wil carry them to act seemly between man and man but to close with God and his Holiness and the purity and spiritualness of a Rule they cannot 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receives not the things of God Prov. 24. 7. Wisdom is too high for a fool If the Will out of a Nature Ability or Faculty could chuse a supernatural good then where there is this Faculty this act may be put forth Then the Devils and Damned in Hell may love God above al make choice of the chiesest good and close with the last end and so might be happy For they have this faculty of Will The Promise is full and free Let him that Wills take of the water of life and live for ever Rev. 22. 17. Hence its plain its a false Opinion and grounded on a false bottom and principle that to have an indifferency to any thing propounded to take it or not to take it is that liberty which issues from the nature of the Will Because it issues not from the Faculty at al to wil a supernatural good no more than from a dead man to take meat As a Wheel doth not run round because wood or iron but because the art of wheel-making is imprinted upon it because so framed and fashioned If therefore the question be asked If the Will be not free in Preparation Answ. There is no Will in the first work of Preparation there is the Faculty of Will but not the act of Will The Corruption that takes possession of the Will and rules in it it utterly indisposeth the soul to receive any spiritual power from God and consequently disenables it to put forth any spiritual or supernatural work It is not subject to the Law of God neither can be Rom. 8. 7. It wil not beat the impression of the power of the Spirit Job 8. 37. The Word of Christ found no place in the Jews that were under the power of their Corruptions Acts 13. 46. They put away the Word from them yea Truth is a trouble and a torment to a Carnal heart and the nature of the thing evinceth so much Matthew 6. 24. Ye cannot serve two Masters God and Mammon Joh. 5. 44. Ye cannot believe that seek honor one from another Rom. 2. 4. The hard heart cannot repent Shut up we are under unbelief and we shut out the Lord Jesus who comes not unless the door be opened It is not possible that contraries should be at the same time in the same subject Though there be no force afforded to the Faculty of the Will yet the power of Corruption must by a holy kind of Violence be removed before any spiritual power can be imprinted upon the soul wherby it may put forth any spiritual act First I say There is no violence offered to the Faculty of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that as it hath been proved before is a capable subject both of Grace and Sin successively and in order as the air is capable of light and darkness indifferently and the one being removed the other is entertained with ease and readiness without any compulsion there needs none it requires none here As the same wax wil receive several and contrary impressions at several times so the soul which hath been made partaker of the image of God is also capable of the print impression of the image of old Adam when once the gracious disposition hath been defaced it 's capable of receiving the impression of Gods Image again when once Adams image is dispossessed Yet Secondly There must be a holy kind of violence offered unto Corruption before it can be dispossessed and removed and so way and room made for the entertainment of Faith and Christ thereby Reasons are Either Corruption must by violence be taken away or else it wil naturally and of its own accord go away and depart from the soul. For it hath been in the former Conclusions manifected That there must be a spiritual power put into the will before it can put forth a 〈◊〉 act And while Corruption takes place there is no place of entertainment 〈◊〉 this spiritual ability therefore Corruption must be removed by violence Naturally it wil not go away therefore by
constraint it must be forced away It wil not depart away of its own accord because of the 〈◊〉 and naturalness it 〈◊〉 to the heart in which it is The Eye wil not go out of the head in which it is seated unless it be plucked out The hand wil not fal off from the body unless it be cut off The Soul would not willingly forsake the Body unto which it is received and in which it takes up its abode unless by some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which breaks the union betwixt it and the body it being driven away and forced away Now our lusts in our hearts are like the Members in our bodies Col. 3. 6. They are tender as the eye 〈◊〉 as the hand as dear as our souls yea even the soul of our souls and life of our lives while we are and remain in our natural and corrupt estate Therefore they must by constraint be driven out they wil not go out yea it is against Reason and in truth cross to common Sense That the quality should of its own nature 〈◊〉 from the subject they who have agreement one with another should as enemies and as 〈◊〉 as be at ods and difference go from the other and this is the Condition and Disposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the nature of man they are in the neerest League of love one with another and therefore of themselves as in truth they cannot so they would not depart one from another Jer. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots Then may you also which are 〈◊〉 to do evil They are not spots that are taken occasionally or sootiness that is smeared upon them but they issue out of their natural Constitution and the very seed which they are made of and therefore their nature must be altered before they can be removed Look we at the Opposition between the Spirit of Grace that doth remove the Corruption and the 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 that is removed And we shal 〈◊〉 have 〈◊〉 Evidence and that 〈◊〉 of the former Conclusion One Contrary drives away another out of the subject in which it is by Constraint and Violence But the work of the Spirit as contrary to Sin drives it out of the soul in which it is seated as in its natural subject therefore this must be done with violence The first part is plain by the Principles of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 received i. e. That the ground of al Constraint is that crosiness and contrariety between the 〈◊〉 of things and their actions every thing is 〈◊〉 to that which is sutable to its own nature our 〈◊〉 it s own proper power and inclination there needs no constraint to make the Fire burn the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 roar and 〈◊〉 things to descend a Wolfe to prey and raven But to make heavie things to ascend the Lion to be as mild as a Lamb the 〈◊〉 as harmleis as a Kid there must be a strong hand of an almighty power to make such a change and by a kind of violence to 〈◊〉 the crossness and 〈◊〉 which carries these in professed opposition The second part is as 〈◊〉 out of pregnant proof from Scripture which settles it as sure as Mount Zion Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the Law of Sin and Death There is a Soveraignty of 〈◊〉 rule set up in the Soul and therefore it gives Law to the whole man for that is the prerogat ve of a supream Commander Now there is a Repeal of these Laws a Crushing and a Conquering of the Supream power by the Spirit of Life in Christ which therefore disannuls al those Edicts and Commands that Carnal sensual Lusts of the Old man had thus set up and erected 2 Cor. 10. 3 4 5. The Weapons of our warfare are mighty through God When the Gospel carries the power of God with it to 〈◊〉 it flings down the strong holds that 〈◊〉 themselves against Christ and 〈◊〉 every 〈◊〉 to the obedience of Christ. Thus it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corruptions And this is done in way of Contrariety Gal. 5. 17. The Spirit lusts against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the flesh against the spirit and these two are contrary And therefore it s termed a Fight and 〈◊〉 Rom. 7. 23. I see another law in my Members rebelling against the Law of my mind 〈◊〉 carrying of me 〈◊〉 Fighting is 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 and violence where there is 〈◊〉 and Enmity there is 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 not kindness and perswasion only Such is the Work here Look we at the Nature of the Work That also wil of necessity require as much Whether 〈◊〉 Sin or Satan the Dominion of the 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 and the Power of the other 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of these can be brought about but by a 〈◊〉 of violence 1 The Dominion of Sin The Lord now quels and crusheth utterly that soveraignty and supremacy it hath formerly exercised over the sinner So the Apostle Rom. 6. 14. brings in this as the ground of that spiritual deliverance from the authority of our Distempers Sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the Law but under Grace When ever we be come under the Covenant of Grace and the Lord Jesus the second Adam 〈◊〉 us and begets us to himself as soon as we are of the seed of that Covenant he thereby takes off that dominion unto which we were formerly subject while we were under the Covenant of the Law broken it did break us and deliver us to the authority of our Distempers This was typed by the year of Jubile under the Old Law when the Slave or Servant was freed from his Masters rule and claim and therefore when our Savior is promised as he that should bring Jacob 〈◊〉 unto God and so become light and salvation to the Ends of the Earth Isa. 49. 5. 8 9. To be the head of the Covenant of Grace And that which is added is marvellous strange To establish the Earth and to cause to inherit the desolate places That restauration which comes by Christ it brings a new face or frame upon the Creatures even those that are of the most despicable condition desolate persons and hearts and lives when wicked men and their waies are like wildernesses overgrown with weeds Then the Lord 〈◊〉 to the prisoners go forth and to such as are in darknest shew your selves They that were buried and over whelmed with the dimness of their own distempers and delusions they should come out of the Dungeon and Grave of darkness Be revealed the word is in the Pastive the Truth should be revealed in you to you to give you a light you had not to act you and carry you to see that you did not your selves should be revealed to your selves and your sins to your souls the first is a power put into them the second an act wrought in them and by them the word in the Original signifying both So that though they might be pursued by their sins they should never
be imprisoned more that was not now their state to be Prisoners but to be free men for ever though clouded with darkness of their sins yet never overwhelmed with darkness but they should be able to see their sins and to see a way out of them in which they should walk This is that also which is expressed by the Apostle John 1 Joh. 3. 5. 8. That our Savior came to destroy the works of the Devil Now he was the Author of sin and the first sinner and therefore called the Evil One the Father of Lyes and that when he tels Lyes he tels them of his own the first Original comes from him and al lusts are but his brood John 8. 44. The Lusts of your Father ye will do they are but the seed of Satan cast into the souls of men Now Christ came to destroy all these That which destroyes corruption must needs offer a kind of violence to corruption for each thing desires the preservation of it self and it is against the will of sin to destroy it self It 's Calvins Expression upon the place The works of the Devil will never destroy themselves therefore Christ by his Spirit must destroy them by a strong hand It is therefore a sleepy Dotage and a deluded Dream to make such an Explication that by some Moral perswasions presented unto the blind mind of a sinner sin should be perswaded to destroy it self or which is the 〈◊〉 of that Opinion rightly expressed that there should be some Arguments propounded to corruption to draw out the power of corruption to destroy the power of corruption In which falshood there is such a senseless kind of silliness that it is a wonder that men who arrogate the excellency of the depths of disputes and would have the world conceive them the darlings of Wisdom cut out of purpose to search into the secrets of al 〈◊〉 should ever be taken aside by such a dream but that the Lord in his just Judgment righteously delivers men up to their own devices when they despise his Counsel For better explication than that which I make no man can ever make of that imagination according to truth for a moral 〈◊〉 in the proper Nature and work of it is not to give power to the subject that had it not but to draw forth the power it hath to perform any action so that when a sinner as we have proved is wholly acted by the power 〈◊〉 of his corruptions things in that are spiritual i. e. though he hath some reliques of the Image yet left within him some common stock of Moral abilities imprinted upon him yet whatever his shews his appearances his performances be in Civil Services the sovereignty of corruption in the heart is such it over-rules all to false ends and suiting of it self and giving satisfaction to the flesh so that in the 〈◊〉 to stir up the sovereign power of sin in the soul of a 〈◊〉 to forsake sin is to draw forth the power of 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 it self which hath not the least appearance of a 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 with it So that I conclude this third Argument which is open and plain I hat which destroyes the power of sin that offers a holy kind of violence to it But the Lord by his 〈◊〉 destroyes the power of sin therefore he offers a holy kind of violence to it Hence before we pass for to this place this Consideration is proper we may see the difference between restraining Grace in the Reprobate and Hypocrite and saving and effectually converting Grace The act of sin only in the one is hindred the power of sin in the other is subdued the one curbs and confines the corrupt Nature as a Fox in a chain a Wolf in a grinn they have the same Nature still but they have not the same liberty to put forth their ravenous desires and 〈◊〉 and therefore will do it when opportunity serves Converting Grace severs the subtil and cruel dispositions from them 〈◊〉 and overcomes and conquers the cruelty of their Natures so that as they do not so in truth they cannot put forth such savage practices as before The one abates the resistance that is in the heart against God his Truth and Waies for the while makes a mans distempers recoyl and 〈◊〉 themselves and makes them not appear for the present But this takes away the Sovereignty and prevailing power of resistance As it is in War when a pitched field is fought and the Bodies of both Armies meet each standing in the defence and 〈◊〉 of its own 〈◊〉 but when the day is got and the battel won and the forces of the 〈◊〉 not only defeated and 〈◊〉 but slain and cut in pieces so that their strength is broken and they utterly disabled to make head with any hope of recovering the field or repairing their losses there may happily some scattered companies be sculking here and there and pilfering and molesting the State but they have no hope to recover their power the Country and Kingdom falls wholly to the Conqueror So here when the corrupt heart comes in professed opposition against the Lord Jesus in the power of his Ordinances and the Lord is pleased to put sorth his power to the vanquishing and subduing the soul unto himself the sinner gathers up al his forces as loth to lose his delightful lusts as somtimes the 〈◊〉 against the coming of the Ark 1 Sam. 4. 7 8 9. The Philistims were afraid and they said God is come into the Camp and they said woe unto us who shal deliver us from the hands of these mighty Gods Be strong and quit your selves like men O ye Philistins that ye be not Servants to the Hebrews So the soul rises up in way of resistance against the Word and Power of his Grace but in the issue the Dominion of these distempers is so quelled and the power of them so crushed that it can never make head against the power of the Spirit only the remainder of those wretched lusts will be still pilfering provoking and molesting the good Spirit of God and work of his Grace but can never recover the Rule it once had but the Country the Heart and Conscience of a sinner falls wholly to the dispose of Christ. Thus Saul goes into the field hath a pitcht Battel against the Lord Christ as resolving to fight it out to the last man but in the end when he saw there was no hope to prevail instead of fiercely resisting he humbly gives way and laies down not only the act of opposing but the will of opposing Lord saies he what wilt thou have me to do This seems to be the meaning of that old Sentence of Austine which all Divines embrace and follow and I desire no more for the cause if it be rightly scanned and considered God makes of an unwilling will a willing will For the right understanding of which Truth observe these Particulars 1 The Will is wholly unwilling to receive any
and the venom of the Serpent in the other Why Have they not nay continue they not to do the lusts of the Devil to this day They have the Spirit of sin and Satan within them and therefore they are their Children and therefore sin and Satan 〈◊〉 a right and title to them Is it not again writ Rom. 6. 16. Know ye not that to whom you yeild your selves servants to obey his servants you are As who should say It is a ruled case common and confessed by the verdict of al. If ye yeild your selves to obey sin you are the servants of sin therefore saies sin and Satan since we have such law on our side for our right we crave our right for these have yeilded themselves servants to my temptations saies Satan and to my allurements saies the World and to my instigation saies Sin therefore they are our Servants therefore let us have them still To which the Lord Answers and Justice also Replyes While they did remain the seed of the Serpent and in the state of the Children of wrath so long you have reason to have them and right to challenge them and therefore it is you have detained them as Prisoners to your pleasure to this day Yea but saies the Father The Lord Jesus whom I have sent he hath undertaken to pacifie my wrath and purchase their deliverance and so hath done for he hath bought them of Divine Justice and therefore hath right now to make them the seed of the Covenant of Grace and to bring them to himself and life as they are and have been the seed of the Serpent and estranged from me and happiness and therefore he hath not only done for them what was required on their behalf but he wil work in them what may be answerable to the Covenant and the Condition of it therfore your claim is nothing This under correction I take to be the meaning of that place Rom. 8 2 3 4. which is mysterious and dark and dazels the eyes of Judicious Interpreters that several senses appear to the several apprehensions of men we wil open it briefly as we pass by and apply it to our 〈◊〉 And that which I suppose wil give some light to the true intent of the place and wil be as a Key to the Scripture and set open the sense that an easie apprehension may give a sad guess at the purpose of the Spirit is this I suppose the words must be understood of the work 〈◊〉 the Spirit wrought in us and the impressions of Grace left upon the Soul not of the work of Justification which is wholly without us in the Lord Jesus our Surety and only counted ours And this that Phrase in the 4 th vers seems to me of necessity to imply Where it is evident that the end of the former work of Christ is made this That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Whereas in the work of Justification the truth of the work the meaning of the Lord and expression of Scripture is other 2 Cor. 5. last Christ was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him not in our selves That Righteousness for which we are Justified is fulfilled for us by Christ and is in him it s not fulfilled in us For it is the Doctrine of the Popish Sect who are adversaries to Gods Grace that we are justified for any thing wrought in us and for which we are for ever to renounce them And hence it is Phil. 3. 7. Not having mine own Righteousness but that which is of God in Christ Therefore not in us properly This being granted I shal shortly give you the meaning of this 3 d. Vers. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh The Apostle had evidenced the state of a man in Christ by the fruits of it He walks not after the flesh but after the spirit Vers. 1. The Question might be How comes that about He Answers Vers. 2. The Law of the spirit of life which is in Christ as the Head hath freed me and so al his Body and each Member from the Law of Sin that is The Soveraign Rule of Sin and Death But why was the Spirit of Christ necessarily required to do this since the mind of God is in the Law revealed and my Obedience required therein Is it not enough that I understand this and thereby be enabled to follow it The Apostle answers No It was impossible for the Law to enable a man to walk after the Spirit and to be free from the Law of sin for so the Causal For knits this Verse as a proof of the former not because the Law was faulty but because our Flesh our natures were corrupt and thence it is not enough the Lord should tell and teach unless there be some other Spirit and Power to enable But how then comes this other Spirit He Answers 〈◊〉 3. God 〈◊〉 his Son to take our Nature upon him who was like unto us in all but sin and he sent him to take our Nature 〈◊〉 i. e. For the Removal of sin And these words are to be referred to those going before he sent not to those after he condemned sin As thus He sent his Son in the similitude of sinful Flesh for sin for the removal of sin and he condemned sin in the Flesh i. e. In the Vertue of the Sufferings of his Flesh he did abolish and destroy the 〈◊〉 and Jurisdiction of sin so that sin as we may say hath lost his Cause and is as we 〈◊〉 to speak non suited fails wholly in al the Pleas it can or doth make for any right it hath to the Soul of a sinner As we say of a man that is Cast in Law that the Cause went against him His Cause is Condemned or his Cause is Damned his Claim is false and feeble and hath no force to carry the thing he would So here Sin fails of its Claim is wholly Cast in the Suit that it makes for the Challenge of the Soul Divine Justice delivered it into its power because it was wronged but must now deliver it out of the Claim and Authority of sin being satisfied And from hence this will be attained That the Righteousness which the Law requires may by the Spirit of Christ be wrought in me 〈◊〉 by way of 〈◊〉 hereafter in perfection To the like purpose is the meaning of that place also 1 〈◊〉 4. 6. For for this end was the Gospel preached to them that are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the spirit In the sirst Verse from the Death and Sufferings of our Savior he perswaded those to whom he wrote That they should 〈◊〉 that Application by way of proportion That
dull the acts of it in the daily exercise of spiritual Duties Look as it is in a Bowl that is strongly byassed one way and so carried to the mark however by many rubs and ruggedness of the way it may be turned aside and justled out of the right tract yet it sets toward the mark and is carried that way and wil fal that way by the force of the byas that doth over-sway it So it is here The Spirit of the Lord that layes hold upon the soul is like the weight of this byas that is fastened to it and closeth with it So that however the strength of temptation or corruption may by a 〈◊〉 violence justle the soul out of the way and out of that right and righteous proceeding in which 〈◊〉 ought to walk yet the over-swaying hand of the Spirit wil keep the bent and set of it towards the Lord and his Truth 1 John 3. 8. Christ was manifested that he might destroy the works of the 〈◊〉 that he might Analise and unravel and undo 〈◊〉 it were and take in pieces that frame of wickedness which Satan had set up in the heart and turn it up-side-down When the Soul was turned from God unto sin and the Creature Christ came that 〈◊〉 might be turned from sin and the Creature to God again The word is the same with that Joh. 2. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 destroy or take down this Temple And here 1 Joh. 3. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So to loosen one tyed in Bands So the Lord Christ doth the works of Satan Satan may grapple with the Soul and lay violent hands upon the Heart but bind it he can never more or make it a servant to himself Quest. 6. Why is this Work of Attraction given to the Father as in the text None can come to Me but whom the Father Draws I Answer This Work as all Actions which pass upon the Creature and leave some change there are equally and indifferently wrought by al the 〈◊〉 in the most Glorious and Blessed Trinity and so are truly understood of al and truly given 〈◊〉 but only they are in several places in an 〈◊〉 manner attributed unto some because of some peculiar Consideration that may be attended by 〈◊〉 of some Circumstancees in the place and so the intendment of the Spirit and aim of the Text may rightly be attended and conceived in this place 〈◊〉 shall a little explicate and unfold both that al mistakes may be prevented This Work of Drawing is Common to all 〈◊〉 Three Persons That which issues from the Deity and 〈◊〉 firstly that must indifferently belong to al the Persons For as al the Persons have the same individual Essence wholly and equally communicated they are al one God The Unity of the God-Head is a of it and al in a like manner at once given to them 〈◊〉 And thence it follows That as the same Essence 〈◊〉 the same both Attributes and Actions which appertain to the God-Head or be done by the God-Head are wholly and joyntly affirmed of all the Persons They al are Infinire Eternal Omnipotent 〈◊〉 Create Redeem Call Convert Sanctifie because these Actions are Creatures therefore 〈◊〉 the first Being but from the First therefore from the God-Head and therefore are truly said to 〈◊〉 done by al that have the God-Head and are truly said to be God and so by al the Persons Again Look we to the language of the Spirit 〈◊〉 the Scripture we shal see that either the very 〈◊〉 of the text so speaks as here or else the same thing in the same 〈◊〉 in some variety of Explication 〈◊〉 given unto al. That which is here said of the Father our 〈◊〉 speaks upon the like occasion of himself Joh. 12. 31. And I if I be lifted up shall draw all people to me The same word here and there is used The 〈◊〉 work also intended though not in the same expressions is affirmed of the Holy Ghost Joh. 16. 9 10. I will send the Spirit and he shall Convince of Sin of Righteousness of Judgement This Conviction is the special work of the Spirit in this great 〈◊〉 of Attraction Lastly It s a known and received Principle of 〈◊〉 That the Persons differ each from other 〈◊〉 in some Internal and Incommunicable relative 〈◊〉 whereby the Personallity of each is 〈◊〉 and the Person distinguished as begetting 〈◊〉 the Father to be begotten to the Son to proceed 〈◊〉 Both to the Holy Ghost And so the Order 〈◊〉 Manner of the Working of each which of 〈◊〉 follow herefrom as the Father works of 〈◊〉 and first in Order the Son from the Father and 〈◊〉 in Order the Holy Ghost from Both and 〈◊〉 last in Order And therfore observe from 〈◊〉 before we pass That it is a dangerous Deceit 〈◊〉 a desperate Mistake so to appropriate this work 〈◊〉 the Father and some other actions to the Son 〈◊〉 Holy Ghost as that we should thereby bring in 〈◊〉 Ranks and Conditions of Christians As 〈◊〉 Example From this Fancy men have forged such 〈◊〉 of the Works of the Persons and such 〈◊〉 suitable of Christians who receive such 〈◊〉 As they Attribute Drawing to the 〈◊〉 Liberty to the Son Power to the Spirit and 〈◊〉 such are under the Fathers Work such under 〈◊〉 Sons Work but yet are not attained to the work 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost And such who are to be under 〈◊〉 work of the Spirit and so to be sealed they have 〈◊〉 al the former Whereas in truth and according 〈◊〉 the simplicity of the Scriptures al these works 〈◊〉 saving and al of them wrought by al the 〈◊〉 and he that is under the work of the Father in 〈◊〉 of these is also under the work of Christ and 〈◊〉 Spirit in them al. For as Drawing before is 〈◊〉 to al as wel as the Father the like we may say of Liberty and Power Doth the Son set us free 〈◊〉 8. 31. So doth the Spirit For 2 Cor. 3. 17. Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom The law of the spirit of life hath freed us from the law of sin and death Rom. 8. 2. Doth the spirit seal us Ephes. 1. 13. So doth the Father also 2 Cor. 1. 12. He that consirmeth and sealeth us is God who hath given unto us his holy spirit So likewise our Savior who hath the two edged sword in his hand Rev. 2. 17. He gives the white stone and the new name that no man knows That is the secret of Adoption and seal of Sonship yea it is general What ever he sees the Father do even those things the Son doth also Joh. 5. 19. We must be 〈◊〉 and wary therefore that we be not taken aside 〈◊〉 that Delusion Though this Work be wrought by al yet it is attributed unto the Father here in the text because the manner of his work is herein more plainly discovered and expressed also experimentally unto the heart and that as here he
sent him for this end would drive me out of my sins and send me to him for succour and relief that I may be sure to speed And I may be sure the Father who is so deeply offended wil never refuse him 〈◊〉 me if I come to him through his Christ. So we have done with the Explication of the Point Instruction We may hence by way of Collection inferr several things which are of much Consequence in our daily Course and yet al appertain to this place as to their proper residence where they have their first rife and therefore may most cleerly and rightly be here discussed and so discerned by those who will encline their ear and apply their heart unto wisdom Hence it follows by force of undeniable Consequence that this work of Attraction and so of preventing Grace proceeds from God as the only Cause thereof and depends wholly upon his 〈◊〉 pleasure and that he works in us without us We being destitute of al Ability which might help thereunto That which is done by a Holy kind of Violence against the natural inclination of the heart that must needs be done upon us but not by us we have no hand in that work and so it is here as hath been proved Let me ad Two or Three Reasons more besides the Evidence of the Rule from whence it is immediately deduced Here that Weapon comes first to hand which some of the Ancients have so often used in this Cause and its the Canon of the Apostle and that Staple Principle that cannot be gain-said Rom. 9. 16. It is not in him that willeth or in him that runneth but in God that shews Mercy Where al other helping Causes that may share in the Conversion and bringing home of the sinner are wholly denied cast out though they were Means of special improvment that if any thing might seem to further it they might have been of peculiar use and of a speeding nature It was not a sleepy careless slighting of the attainment of any spiritual good or a sloathful attendance upon it nor is it a kind of heartless and spiritless Affection to it that are here rejected nay though his will was there and the strength of endeavor yet both miss the mark The Apostle is Plain and peremptory Let him set Heart and Feet and Hand and Head on work he shal never do no good on it it is not there It s meerly only in him that shews Mercy It was wont to be Answered by the Pelagians that it is so said That it s not in him that Runs or Wills without Mercy pittying of him and Grace assisting of him he cannot do it without these let him do what he can yet he can do it with these The vanity of which Answer hath been long since discovered as that it crosseth and corrupteth the very meaning of the Apostle For then the meaning upon the self same grounds would here be thus As it is not in him that Wills and Runs without God assisting co-working so you might turn the tables It s not in God that shewes Mercy without him that Wills and Runs For if the words be not a plain peremptory denial but only comparatively to be taken It s not so much or not in his willing and running without Mercy prevailing and helping yet they concur as Causes in this work then may they as 〈◊〉 be taken the other way It s not in God that shews Mercy only and wholly but in him that wills and runs in part which is to destroy the text and to cross the intendment of the Spirit That Dispensation of God which gives ability and a Principle to the will for to work that act and dispensation must be before the ability of the will and act of it and so cannot be caused by it As if God put a soul into those dead dry bones in Ezek. 37. that they might live this putting in of the 〈◊〉 whence comes life is before and so without the work of the soul or life also and not at al caused by either But this Preparation and pulling away from sin is to make way for a spiritual ability to be given to the will for to work and therefore it is before the will and work and either of them as any cause So the Apostle John 1 Joh. 5. 20. He hath given us a mind to know him and his Christ. Not only drawn out this act of Knowledge but given a mind also to enable us hereunto 2 Cor. 3. 5. We 〈◊〉 no sufficiency as of our selves to think a good thought but all our sufficiency is of God Not only the thinking but the 〈◊〉 thereunto It s he that gives a 〈◊〉 of flesh and then causeth us to walk in his wayes Ezek. 36. 26 27. This is to be Observed against a wretched Shift and cursed Cavil of the Jesuits when they would pretended to give way to the Grace of God and yet in truth take away what they give And therefore they yeild freely and fully That it is God who gives both the will and the deed And Grace is required of necessity unto both and neither can be without it nor will nor deed But in truth this is nothing but a colour of words when the sense which they follow sounds quite contrary For ask but their meaning and when they have opened themselves al comes to thus much That the Lord hath a Concourse and a co-working in the Will and Deed and sends forth an influence into the act of the Will and of the work done and leads forth and guides both unto their end And this is no more than he doth with the act of any Creature the first cause concurring with the second For in him it is that we live and move and have our being As it is with Two men that draw a Boat or a Ship together each man hath a principle and power of his own whereby he draws but both these meet and concur and co-work together in the drawing So that al this that is said is but indeed to darken and delude the Truth yea and to destroy the work of Gods Grace and deceive the Reader For this gives no more to the work of Gods Grace in Conversion than it doth to the Act of Providence upon and with the act of any Creature reasonable Whereas this must be observed carefully and for ever maintained as the everlasting Truth of God That the Lord gives a power spiritual to the work which it had not before he Concurs with the act of that power when it is put forth he gives him a being in the 〈◊〉 of Grace before he leads out the act of that being He first lets in an influence of a powerful impression upon the Faculty of the Will before he Concurs with the Act 〈◊〉 Deed. He gives a heart of flesh and then causeth them to walk in his wayes As if one could put a Principle of life and motion into another and then
a mans Conversion was Lastly resolved into the Liberty of a mans own Will which advanceth mans free Will above Gods Free Grace and makes the Will of man a superior and more principal Cause of our effectual Calling than the work of Gods Spirit and Grace It was so loathsom to look upon That they Resolved not to Own it in such Apprehensions but they devised to put another Vizard upon it that so 〈◊〉 might appear other when it was presented in other Apprehensions and because they cannot maintain what they say they would say somthing which neither they nor any else can understand For they set down their Opinion in these Expressions When God say they who made al Creatures and so the Will of man by his Wisdom and foreknowledge fully understood what each Creature and so the Will of man would do in every event condition and occasion that could betide it He also foresaw when the Will of man was set in such a Condition so Disposed so Suited with several Circumstances and Conveniences when his Perswasions would find the greatest Congruity and Agreeablness with his Disposition And then presents such Arguments that suit his Disposition and so undoubtedly prevails So that these Three Particulars are attended in it 1 The Lord works only by Moral Perswasions that is the alone way that he takes to draw not offering any violence for that they think is unnatural and unreasonable 2 The Will is still left indifferent and in its own Liberty to Chuse or Refuse 3 The Lord out of his wisdom and fore-knowledge sees how to hit the heart in a right Vein takes the sinner in a good mood hits his humor watches as it were his advantages observes what will meet and suit his disposition and then presseth it and so 〈◊〉 He that God at such a time in such a manner by such means presseth as carry a congruous a suitable and answerable agreeableness to his disposition he is converted He that hath not such hints taken to hit his Disposition he is not Converted So that Two men sitting at the same Sermon the Spirit equally 〈◊〉 both the Wills of both being equally apt and able to receive the work of the Spirit yet there is Congruity and suitableness in the one and there the word speeds not so in another and there the word takes no place 〈◊〉 prevails Ask them what this Congruity and Agreeableness is They 〈◊〉 they cannot tell And thus they mud the water and raise the dust that they may go away in the dark that others may not see them nor see where they go And thus they labor to shift off the pressure of Reason as Hares when they are pursued they fall to their Jumps and Doublings but al in vain for the 〈◊〉 of this Conceit is Confuted from the former Doctrine For if this Attraction be wrought by the impression of the work of the Spirit without us though in us then doth it not issue from any Congruity of Circumstances which may cal forth the ability of our Wills to this work but this work is wrought in us without us we not sharing in any manner as any Cause thereof Therefore no Power nor Disposition in our Will carried by any Congruity of any helps doth or can procure it If the Lord doth by a holy kind of Violence destroy the resistance of the Will when it doth and cannot but oppose this work and therefore expresseth the power of his Spirit in way of Contrariety to its inclination then doth it not look to any Congruity of any Circumstances to draw home the soul. But the former is true as hath been abundantly proved before Therefore the latter also Nor do they or can they by this pretence prevent the former Absurdity as Resolving the Conversion of the Sinner upon the Freedom of the Will For they themselves Confess as you heard in the Explication of the Cause That this perswasion of the Lord put forth in this Congruity and suitablness of al the Circumstances It leaves the Will still at his liberty and indifferency as the Masters and Maintainers of this Opinion do profess whence I Reason thus If it be left in the power of the Will either to Receive or Refuse this Congruous perswasion then is it in the power of the Will still whether the act of Conversion shal follow or not then is the efficacy and success of the work of the Means and the Spirit resolved lastly into a mans Will For if it be in his Will to succed or not to succed the work of Conversion then is it in the power of it To make or not to make the Means efficacious for therein lies the efficacy of Grace But besides the former Principles weigh we a little the following Arguments which further discover the folly and falshood of this Delusion First Experiment Then Argument First The Experience of the Saints left upon Record in the Scriptures which give witness 〈◊〉 give in Evidence and that undeniable that in truth the Dispensation of the Lord is quite 〈◊〉 to this Conceit who is pleased herein to magnifie the freedom and power and riches of Grace that 〈◊〉 takes sinners at the worst and over-powers the perversness of their hearts and that many times when they are come to the height and that in the very heat of their Rebellions that they might indeed Confess it and al the world see it It is not the suitableness of our Disposition which God needs to take advantage by but the Almighty and Al-sufficient efficacy of his Grace is such That he doth what he Will when our wills most oppose and in reason there is least probability and possibility in the work of Causes to attain this effect Thus the Israelites Ezek. 16. 3 4. when the Lord called them and took them to himself he professeth their navel was not cut nor salted with salt nor washed but he saw them weltring in their blood and that was a time of love which the Lord took and said to them Live Isa. 43. 24 25. When they wearied him with their wickedness and made him to serve with their iniquities then be said I even I for mine own names sake will blot out thine iniquities It was the carriage of God to Abraham and typed out in the Son of his Promise when his body was dead her womb was barren then he gives them a Son He brings and begins his Church out of the dust and calls things that are not as though they were Paul is breathing out threatnings against Christ fierce in the pursuit of his poor members and resolved to see the ruine of them as he himself speaks of himself he was mad with malice and made havock with the Church Acts 26. 11. Acts 1. 1. Gal. 1. last The Lord takes this time when he was in the height and ruff of his outrage to bring him to the embracing of the truth when he was come out in greatest outrage in opposition and persecution of it Acts. 9.
helps or if they be used in any other Order than that he hath ordained these are disorderly perverted and abused and made unserviceable to do their work or attain their end And yet when the power of al these is improved to affect the Will and stir and provoke it but not change it it is never savingly brought home to God So Moses touching the Condition of the Israelites Deut. 4. 34. Compared with Deut. 29 4. Did ever God assay to take a people to himself with signs and wonders and great temptations and out of the heavens he made thee to hear his voyce that he might instruct thee What then was wanting He suited them with al miraculous expressions of his Love and Mercy but this was 〈◊〉 To this day he hath not given thee a heart And if he give you al Mercies beside tryed you with al Corrections pursued with miraculous Expressions of his power and faithfulness if yet he give 〈◊〉 a new heart al that ever he shal give wil never do you good So the Prophet when he was appointed and fitted in an especial manner having his tongue touched with a Coal from the Altar when he was furnished with gracious abilities from Christ to dispense the Word yet al was to make their ears heavie and their hearts fat and their eyes blind that they should not see nor beleive nor be converted Isa. 6. 7 8. And therefore the Apostle when he had given the doom upon those back-sliders he ads We are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation which these did not 〈◊〉 6. 9. If al Means and Helps that can be used in way of Moral Perswasions are wholly incongruous and utterly unable to work upon the Corrupt heart of man then there is no congruity of such Perswasions that can savingly Convert or Call the Soul or draw the sinner to Christ But al Means in way of Moral Perswasions that can be used are indeed wholly incongruous and utterly unable to work upon the corrupt heart of a sinner unto his Conversion but they reach not the Distemper or Cause of a mans misery and therefore can never do the Cure For these are to Call forth the power a man hath into act whereas the 〈◊〉 wants al spiritual power whereby 〈◊〉 may be enabled to put forth any act that may be acceptable unto God Rom. 5. 6. When we were without strength and the Apostle doth not say We have some sufficiency to think a good thought if some Arguments were suggested to draw it out but doth plainly and peremptorily affirm That all our sufficiency is from God and therefore none firstly of our selves 2. Cor. 3. 5. How silly was it incongruous to common sense to provide the sweetest sounds and choicest musick to delight a deaf man To present the pleasingest colours to affect and please him that is blind to set the most soveraign cordials and the most curious rarities and dainties before a dead man to refresh him Yet such is the Condition of every natural man touching the things of Grace He is deaf and hears not blind and sees not dead and relisheth not any thing that appertains unto his peace unless then you give him a new soul whereby he may live al outward services are utterly unsuitable to his Condition In a word this quaint devise of the Jesuit is so far from any sap or any real subtilty in it that the Opinion quite contrary in a true sense is most consonant to the truth The Means then appointed and used in Providence by the Lord may be attended in a double respect either in regard of the end the Lord aims at and the effect he intends and so it is true the Means which the Lord hath Ordained carry Congruity and and suitableness for the attainment of his own end and accomplishment of his own work But Secondly If we look at the corrupt Heart and Nature and Will of man which is now to be subdued and his darling Corruptions now to be removed from him then it is most certain the Means which the Lord hath Ordained and useth for his Conversion carry not any Congruity but a Contrariety to his corrupt heart and Will That which must expel and 〈◊〉 Corruption in the heart that must not have 〈◊〉 but a 〈◊〉 to it But the Means which the Lord 〈◊〉 to Call and draw 〈◊〉 are to destroy and expel the Corruption therefore they must 〈◊〉 not a Congruity but a Contrariety and crossness to them That Question which is attended with so many tedious 〈◊〉 is from the former Doctrine 〈◊〉 and Concluded and that undeniably and because 〈◊〉 doth 〈◊〉 properly to this place I shal 〈◊〉 Express it Hence then it Follows The Power of Grace put forth in the Work of Conversion is irresistable When I say Irresistable We mean not that the Corrupt Heart doth not Oppose and resist the Operation of the Spirit and the 〈◊〉 of the Ordinance for whilest that 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 it cannot but labor the preservation of it self and therefore cannot but oppose the power of Gods Spirit which works the destruction of it But this is the meaning It cannot so prevail as to 〈◊〉 Gods intent or to prejudice the work of his Grace as that it should not find 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 of the sinner or hinder his 〈◊〉 home to Christ This Collection in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 Demonstratively and undeniablely from the former Doctrine That Grace which takes away the power of Resistance stirred up by Satan or the Corrupt Heart of a Sinner that cannot be resisted But the Grace of God put forth in Preparation and drawing doth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 take away the power of resistance in the 〈◊〉 Heart of a Sinner and therfore it cannot be resisted Hence it Follows again in the Fifth Place Wheresoever there is spiritual sufficiency of Grace there is also spiritual efficacy put sorth 〈◊〉 work of 〈◊〉 These Two go hand in hand in this 〈◊〉 of God and are either the same really or do 〈◊〉 accompany one another And I therefore mention this Collection not only 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 of it as that it needs to be unfoulded and apprehended aright especially considering 〈◊〉 is the proper seal unto which it must be referred where his stock and 〈◊〉 may be observed and where his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be Disputed and 〈◊〉 But 〈◊〉 I 〈◊〉 it Convenient to take the more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereof 〈◊〉 of the special Benefit and Use thereof The right 〈◊〉 of this makes ready way for the cleer 〈◊〉 of the Delusions of the Jesuits which they have invented and set up as blinds in the way that men might not see the 〈◊〉 of the Lord and set forth and acknowledge the power and Glory of his 〈◊〉 Nay it hath found favor with some who otherwise follow the 〈◊〉 and that truly in their 〈◊〉 of the drawing of God 〈◊〉 according to their divers Apprehensions they set down Explications of their own Thoughts
in a diverie manner Their general Tenent is this They make this 〈◊〉 Distribution of the Work of Gods Grace in Conversion Auxilium est vel Sufficiens Efficax The Dispensation of the Work of Grace in the way of Conversion is either by way of Sufficiency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Either Sufficient or Effectual and Efficient 1 All men say they have sufficient help from God in the Dispensation of the wayes of his Providences and Ordinances that they may be Converted were it not their own fault they 〈◊〉 a power and a 〈◊〉 by the supply of this sufficient help from God to this end and for this work and yet though they may yet they do not attain success 2 But the Elect and such as the Lord hath set apart to himself have the Efficacy of this spiritual help from the Lord as that they shal be and in their times are actually Called and Converted unto God Against these Forgeries I desire this Fifth Collection may be attended Where ever there is Sufficiency of exciting and preventing Grace put forth by the Lord for the Drawing and Converting of the Sinner there is also the Efficacy of that Grace which never fails to attain success First We shal Open this Collection That 〈◊〉 ful meaning may fairly and plainly be apprehended Secondly We shal shew how it follows evidently from the former Doctrine as that the one cannot be granted but the other must needs be yeilded For the understanding of the Collection attend Three Things That this Exciting or Preventing Grace of God it is not any Habit or gracious Disposition imprinted upon the Soul wherby it was in power or possibility to act or not to act as it seems good and suits best with its own purpose For Example sake In those Actions wherein men are Causes by Counsel they have 〈◊〉 and power to put forth such an action or with-hold the doing of it as they see fit A man hath a power to go hither or thither to speak these or those words yet he may sit still and stop his motion he may be mute and silence his words But as we heard before It is the motion or actual impression of the work of the Spirit so that God is not purposing and decreeing within himself but putting his purpose into a powerful Execution and so comes under such words to be deciphered as Drawing Teaching Turning al which shew an actual Expression of Gods power and pleasure Sufficiency of any Cause or Causes is to be attended either absolutely in regard of the End at which they look and then that is absolutely sufficient which can attain his End without any other if any hinderances it can remove if any wants it can supply if any thing to be done it can procure it accomplish it 1 Cor. 12. 9. My Grace is sufficient for thee And thuse some Causes may be sufficient for the accomplishment of one Effect which are not for another Those Common stroaks of the Spirit in Illumination and Conviction and Moral 〈◊〉 in propounding Arguments to the hearts 〈◊〉 pressing on mightily by Evidence of Reason are sufficient to make people beyond 〈◊〉 Joh. 15. 〈◊〉 If I had not come and spoken to them they had 〈◊〉 no sin but now they have no Cloak for their 〈◊〉 Ezek. 3. 11. Whether they 〈◊〉 hear or whether they will for bear yet this they shall know there 〈◊〉 been a Prophet amongst them It s sufficient to Condemn them if not to Convert them But these 〈◊〉 not sufficient to 〈◊〉 the work of Conversion for there is more power required to that There is not only an enlightening of the understanding but 〈◊〉 opening of the heart 〈◊〉 3. 11. 〈◊〉 Baptize 〈◊〉 water but there is one that comes 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Holy Ghost and Fire There is Sufficiency upon Companison or Supposition upon this Ground or Supposal that we take in other Causes in their 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 work with others and this is very improperly and abusively said to be Sufficient This is the 〈◊〉 of the Popish Crew There is Sufficient Help vouch safed on Gods part unto 〈◊〉 for Salvation and Conversion if they would 〈◊〉 of the freedom of their own Wills use and improve them for the End that the Lord hath appointed them and doth now 〈◊〉 them if they wil give way and welcome 〈◊〉 the light which the Lord hath now 〈◊〉 and not reject the 〈◊〉 of God against 〈◊〉 which is in truth to say it is not sufficient to work their Wills and Hearts to this but it is sufficient to present and perswade the Heart if it will for they who make the Will of Man a partial Cause with God in this work 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 Will and Grace of God and his Spirit is not the sole and alone Cause and therefore not the Sufficient 〈◊〉 to do it As if Two men be partial Causes in drawing a Ship neither are sufficient to do it The like mistake is in that Expression Comparison in which the Fautors of this Opinion do so much please themselves Say they The Eye hath sufficient power to see but yet unless the Air be enlightened and the Object presented unto it it will never see or perceive it not put forth this power effectually upon the Object Answ. The mistake is meerly in the manner of the Expression misunderstood For Seeing implyes Two things in it 1 To act upon an Object when it is presented in a right distance and through a fit mean 2 To bring this Object in such a manner to the Eye That the Eye is sufficient to do the first and is also effectual that way the Eye is not sufficient to the second and therefore no wonder it doth not perform it Thus it is in the spiritual work Deut. 29. 4. Though they had seen many signs and wonders yet nothing was sufficient to work upon them and prevail with them effectually And it s added because that unto that day God had not given them an 〈◊〉 He had given them Wonders provided Ordinances crowned 〈◊〉 with Priviledges and these might happily 〈◊〉 and Condemn being sufficient for that but not to Convert unless he had given them an heart This is the ods our Savior gives of the Sufficiency and so the Efficacy of Gods Dispensarions Matt. 13. 11. 13. To them I speak in Parables that-seeing they may see and not perceive hearing they may hear and not understand But to you is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God He not only gives unto his Disciples a word but a mind to know Efficacious or Effectual Grace and Help is when the work formerly intended and purposed by the Lord is now really accomplished actually performed and put into Execution When the Soul 〈◊〉 turned and called according to his purpose Rom. 〈◊〉 28. So that the ful sense is Where ever there is 〈◊〉 absolute sufficiency of preventing and 〈◊〉 Grace there is an actual Efficacy in the accomplishment of that work upon the Soul And
this 〈◊〉 from the former Doctrine by force of 〈◊〉 Argument several wayes Thus Where there is the Concurrence of all 〈◊〉 putting forth themselves for the work of Conversion there that work wil certainly and effectually be brought forth because there is no more required to the existence of any thing than the Causes of it and those joyntly working for that End But 〈◊〉 there is the sufficiency of preventing Grace there 〈◊〉 al the Causes of Conversion and all these working For in that there is a sufficiency therin al the 〈◊〉 are implyed in that it is the sufficiency of 〈◊〉 Grace which is a motion and impression of 〈◊〉 Spirit therein the action of these is expressed And the work must needs follow and the drawing 〈◊〉 fail to be Efficacious For the reason why a reasonable Agent is sufficient to accomplish and 〈◊〉 doth not it is because he hath power but 〈◊〉 and doth not put forth that power to the 〈◊〉 mance of the work But so it is not here Where Gods preventing Grace is put forth there the work of Conversion doth undoubtedly follow because it alone works it in us without us but 〈◊〉 there is 〈◊〉 help of our drawing there 〈◊〉 preventing Grace is put forth Therefore there 〈◊〉 Conversion must needs be effectual Where all the power of Resistance is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might hinder the work of our Conversion there our Conversion must needs be effectual but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drawing is and so sufficiency of Gods exciting Grace for that and drawing are alone there al the 〈◊〉 of resistance which might hinder is removed herefore where this sufficiency is the work of our Calling must needs be effectual Hence again it follows by undeniable Evidence That al men have not sufficient help of preventing Grace whereby they may be called effectually and 〈◊〉 Conversion wrought without fail if they would but improve the help as they may This 〈◊〉 immediately from the foregoing grant and 〈◊〉 beyond al gain-saying For Sense and Experience puts it beyond al doubt and Dispute That al men have not tasted 〈◊〉 Efficacy of saving Calling but the Efficacy and Sufficiency of exciting Grace are either al one or without fail go alwaies together therfore to whom 〈◊〉 Efficacy of this preventing Grace is not dispensed to them the sufficiency is not Again The Letter of the Text gives in Testimony beyond controul They who share not in the drawing of the Father they partake not of the sufficiency of exciting Grace for herein the very nature of it lies and the words are pregnant No man can come to me he hath not power to come unless the Father draw him But the Father draws not al for that is the scope of our Saviors direction and Caution whereby he would check the murmuring of the Jews quarrelling with his Doctrine and despising his Person now lest any should be taken aside by their sinful example our Savior ads this as the Reason and leavs it upon Record No man can come to me be his place his parts his excellencies and abilities never so great and glorious therefore marvel not it is not in their practise it is beyond their power unless they are drawn 〈◊〉 yet they are not nor are like to be Again There is yet a special work of Gods Grace and Favor the want whereof our Savior makes a never failing 〈◊〉 why the souls of sinners never share in Christ and 〈◊〉 neither in eternal life Joh. 6. 36. I said unto you that you also have seen me and beleeve not But they might have 〈◊〉 a Reason to be rendered and a 〈◊〉 given why that should be charged our Savior gives in His Argument which will admit no Answer to satisfie it hardly a pretence to avoid the 〈◊〉 of it vers 37. All that my Father gives shal come unto me and him that comes unto me I will in no wise cast out Not to be given then is one Cause why men cannot come and so have not sufficiency of help to enable them to that work and to partake of the comfort Lastly the sufficiency of exciting Grace may be attended Two wayes Either 1 In respect of the outward Dispensation of the Means which the LORD 〈◊〉 appointed and by which his Grace and Spirit is conveyed Or 2 dly There is also the internal operation of the holy Ghost wherin only the sufficiency of saving Calling is accomplished Now many thousand thousands there be that never Communicated in any of these either the external or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the external when the special priviledges under the Law were paled in and appropriated to the Nation of the Jews You alone have I known of all the Nations of the world Amos 3. 2. To them belong the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenant and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the Promises Rom. 9. 4. He hath not dealt so with other Nations neither have the Heathen the knowledge of his wayes Psal. 147. 20. They who never heard of 〈◊〉 nor Grace nor Sin nor Conversion nor Salvation 〈◊〉 have not sufficiency of outward Means whereby 〈◊〉 might be Converted Acts 17. 30. The times 〈◊〉 that ignorance he over-looked He regarded 〈◊〉 the Gentiles but now he commands all men to 〈◊〉 and repent as if he should say Before he 〈◊〉 not so much as Call the Gentiles to the 〈◊〉 of the things of Grace And for the inward 〈◊〉 how many thousands have not the Common 〈◊〉 of the Spirit which tend to Conviction and 〈◊〉 Perswasion of whom that of the Prophet is 〈◊〉 To whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed 〈◊〉 53. 1. Multitudes there be to whom the word is 〈◊〉 of death 2 Cor. 2. 16. In whom the God of 〈◊〉 world hath blinded their eyes 2 Cor. 4. 4. That 〈◊〉 might not see the Glory of God who seeing see 〈◊〉 yet perceive not hearing they hear and yet 〈◊〉 not their ears are made heavie and their 〈◊〉 fat that they should not be converted The whole Nation of the Jews now Curse the Lord Jesus 〈◊〉 their Synagogues and therefore have no drawing 〈◊〉 the Lord Jesus And so much for the First Use of Instruction The Second Use is for Consolation to several sorts of men First Here is ground of incomparable and inconceivable Comfort to support the hearts of 〈◊〉 sinners from sinking under desperate 〈◊〉 and that irrecoverably When their Corruptions come in upon them like the mighty Ocean when innumerable evils compass them about 〈◊〉 their sins take hold upon them that they are not 〈◊〉 to look up they are more than the hairs of their 〈◊〉 and their very hearts fail them They find the Opposition so strong and themselves so weak 〈◊〉 work of deliverance so impossible to their own Sense and Experience that their Prayers and Endeavors and Hearts 〈◊〉 them Yet here is a Gale 〈◊〉 Hope and that which will uphold the Heart if 〈◊〉 Lord will have in the soul all Opposition in
heart is the alone work of God It is not in him that Wills nor in him that Runs 〈◊〉 in God that shews Mercy You know many of you hundreds for ought I know that you never knew what Christ and his Grace meant and you know your hearts close with your sins though you dare not give way to them Now mark when you come and hear the mind of God and the Ministers speak unto you and the Will of God is published Oh! Go your wayes home and say As the Lord lives I will not leave thee until the Lord hath spoken to my soul till I find the effectual work of the Word and Spirit of God drawing my soul from my sins to Jesus Christ. Therefore call for that same shewing Mercy which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 9. 16. So then it is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth mercy When you have run what you can and willed what you are able then look up to the Lord to shew you Mercy the Minister hath spoken what he can and I have heard what I can but Lord shew Mercy and never leave until you have found that the Lord hath shewed you Mercy in this work of drawing your Soul from Sin to Christ. FINIS THE Application OF Redemption By the Effectual Work of the Word and Spirt of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The Ninth and Tenth Books Beside many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed â—â—The heart must be humble and contrite before the Lord will dwell in it â—â—Stubborn and bloody Sinners may be made broken-hearted â—â—There must be true sight of sin before the heart can be broken for it â—â—Application of special sins by the Ministry is a means to bring men to sight of and sorrow for them â—â—Meditation of sin a special means to break the heart â—â—The same word is profitable to some not to others â—â—The Lord somtimes makes the word prevail most when its most opposed â—â—Sins unrepented of makes way for piercing Terrors â—â—The Truth terrible to a guilty conscience â—â—â—Gross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before they be brought to Christ. 11. Sorrow for sin rightly set on pierceth the heart of the sinner throughly 12. They whose hearts are pierced by the word are carried with love and respect to the Ministers of it And are busie to enquire and ready to submit to the mind of God 13. Sinners in distress of conscience are ignorant what they should do 14. A contrite sinner sees a necessity of coming out of his sinful condition 15. There is a secret hope wherewith the Lord supports the hearts of contrite sinners 16. They who are truly pierced for their sins do prize and covet deliverance from their sins 17. True contrition is accompanied with confession of sin when God calls thereunto 18. The Soul that is pierced for sin is carried with a restless dislike against it By that Faithful and known Servant of Christ Mr. THOMAS HOOKER late Pastor of the Church at Hartford in New-England somtimes Preacher of the Word at Chelmsford in Essex and Fellow of Emmanuel Colledg in Cambridg Printed from the Authors Papers written with his own Hand And attested to be such in an Epistle By Thomas Goodwin And Philip Nye London Printed by Peter Cole at the sign of the Printing-Press in Cornhil neer the Royal Exchange 1657. READER IT hath been one of the Glories of the Protestant Religion that it revived the Doctrine of Saving Conversion And of the new creature brought forth thereby Concerning which and the necessity thereof we find so much indigitated by Christ and the Apostles in their Epistles in those times But in a more eminent manner God hath cast the honor hereof upon the Ministers and Preachers of this Nation who are renowned abroad for their more accurate search into and discoveries hereof First For the Popish Religion that much pretend to Piety and Devotion and doth dress forth a Religion to a great outward Gaudiness and shew of 〈◊〉 and wil-worship which we confess is entermingled with many spiritual strains of self-denial Submission to Gods wil Love to God and Christ especially in the writings of those that are called Mistical 〈◊〉 But that first great and saving Work of Conversion which is the foundation of al true piety the great and numerous volumns of their most devout writers are usually silent therein Yea they eminently appropriate the word Conversion and thing it self unto 〈◊〉 man that renounceth a Secular life and entereth into Religious orders as they cal them and that Doctrine they have in their discourses of Grace and free wil about it is of no higher elevation than what as worthy Mr. Perkins long since may be common to a Reprobate though we judg not al amongst them God having continued in the midst of Popish Darkness many to this day and at this day with more Contention than ever that plead for the Prerogative of Gods Grace in mans Conversion And for the Arminian Doctrine how low doth that run in this great Article this we may without breach of Charity say of it That if they or their followers have no further or deeper work upon their hearts than what their Doctrine in that point calls for they would fal short of Heaven though those other great truths they together therewith teach God may and doth savingly bless unto true Conversion he breaking through those Errors into some of their hearts And how much our reformed Writers abroad living in continual wranglings and Disputes with the Adversaries of Grace have omitted in a Practical and Experimental way to lay open and anatomize the inwards of this great work for the Comfort and settlement of poor souls many of themselves do greatly bewayl And to find them work and divert them from this it hath been the Devils great Policy who is at the head of all those Controversies as also ever since Pelagius time to this very day to make that dry and barren plot of Ground namely the naked dispute of the freedom of mans wil to be the great seat of this War as the Pope did the Conquest of the Holy Land in the darker times to find al Christian Princes work and thither to draw al the forces and intentions of mens minds jejunely in a great part Phylosophically to debate what power mans wil for-sooth hath in the Summity and Apex of Conversion to resist or to accept the Grace of God and so whether Moral perswasions only be not Sufficient or that Physical Pre-determinations be not also requisite to Conversion whilest in the mean time al those intimate actings of a soul in turning to God The secret particular passages both on Gods part and on the souls part which are many and various by which the soul is won over unto God and Christ those treaties the souls of men hold with God and Christ for justifying and
Sanctifying Grace and for union with him these have been forgotten or but overly and slightly touched upon which if our reformed Divines would have made it their work distinctly to have insisted on out of the scripture and their own experience that Glory would have appear'd therein which would have put a period unto al those janglings about Free-Wil And further to take a serious survey of the present times in this Nation the temper of Professors is such that it cannot enough be Lamented Ordinarily men enter into and take up a profession of Religion and that with difference from others upon very cheap Rates And do give and receive Honor of being such to and from one another upon so slender grounds that we with grief say there hath been more of Profession in these changes when less of Regeneration The Causes whereof are more than of one sort or than which we are able to enumerate Yet for instance Either because God hath in the Course of his providence involved the Cause of Religion and the Vindication of the liberties of the sincere Professors of it formerly so much oppressed with so high an hand and out-streched Arm so apparently that therefore Carnal men have fallen in and mingled themselves as that mixt multitude of Egyptians who came forth of Egyptian bondage with the Israelites and joyned issu therewith and Learning a little to speak the 〈◊〉 Language and give Religion and good men good words and being for the Common Cause as they cal it they have thereby put themselves and been received into the Common Roll of men wel affected in Religion as wel as to the publique Or else which we cannot but judge and mention as another Cause hereof it hath been professedly held forth by men holy and spiritual that all that 〈◊〉 not scandalous in their lives having in 〈◊〉 Knowledg the Form of Truth by 〈◊〉 adding thereunto some outward 〈◊〉 Duties Such Persons we mean as 〈◊〉 were in our Pulpits plainly 〈◊〉 but Civil Moral 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 really but such kind of Professors of 〈◊〉 as Mutatis mutandis are found 〈◊〉 Turks of Mahumotanism who 〈◊〉 the Principles of that 〈◊〉 and are devout in Duties to God 〈◊〉 thereby through the meer 〈◊〉 of Natural Devotion and Education 〈◊〉 Laws and Customs of that Religion 〈◊〉 also through Moral Honesty are not 〈◊〉 in their Lives Such like 〈◊〉 amongst us have been and that 〈◊〉 a New 〈◊〉 of Religion with 〈◊〉 also from others the Ignorant 〈◊〉 Prophane professedly received 〈◊〉 the Communion of Saints as visible Saints 〈◊〉 Principle and Practice hath as it 〈◊〉 needs weakened and embased the 〈◊〉 purer stamp of the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 as then held forth with such evidence of difference from these 〈◊〉 Profession not only by encouraging such boldly to take on them to be 〈◊〉 as it were by Authority but also by having checked and flatted the spirits 〈◊〉 themselves that would teach it seeing that this Real Application in Practice and Principle to such Moral Christians as Saints is a manifest Contradiction unto al 〈◊〉 can be Doctrinally said in the Pulpit to the contrary concerning the power 〈◊〉 this great work in true Saints And 〈◊〉 the Profession of Religion hath been levelled and diffused into that bulk and commonness that the true marks of saving Graces are as to the open discerning much worn out and wil be more and more if this should obtain Or else as great a Cause as any other a special Profession of Religion being 〈◊〉 Mode and under Countenance Hence many have been easily moved to see what might be in Religion and so attend to what is said about it and upon listening thereto their spirits have been awakened and surprized with some light and then with that Light they have grown inquisitive into what this or that Party of Religion holds what the other or what a fourth And thinking themselves at liberty as the Principle of the times is to chuse as men in a Market what that Light wil lead them to they accordingly fal in either with this or that particular perswasion and this is al of many mens Conversion And yet because such become zealously addicted to such or such a 〈◊〉 some of the Professors of each of which others that differ own as truly Godly therfore they are presently adopted owned as Saints by the several Followers of such Opinions And each sort thinks much that those who embrace their Opinion should not be accounted and esteemed Religious 〈◊〉 all others that do sincerely 〈◊〉 the power of it Thus men Tythe 〈◊〉 and Cummin and leap over the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regeneration namely 〈◊〉 for sin the 〈◊〉 sence of their Natural Condition the Difficult work of Faith to 〈◊〉 them Union and Closing with Christ Mortification of lusts c. which works where they are found and visibly held forth none are to be disowned for other Opinions consisting with the 〈◊〉 yet so as without these no Opinion of what Elevation soever can or doth constitute a man Religious Now look as when among the Jews Religion had run into Factions and Parties and the power of it thereby was 〈◊〉 lost God then set down John 〈◊〉 amongst them a sowr and severe Preacher Urger of the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 and preparative Humiliation for sin which he comparatively to what was brought in by Christ termeth the Baptism of Water though withal 't is said that in the Close of his Doctrine 〈◊〉 pointed unto Christ Saying unto the people that they should beleeve on him that should come after him that is on Jesus Christ. Yet this he did but 〈◊〉 at for the ful 〈◊〉 of his Dispensation ran in that other Channel Of whose Ministry 〈◊〉 is also said Luk. 1. 16. 17. That 〈◊〉 of the Children of Israel should he turn to 〈◊〉 Lord their God And shal go before him namely Christ in the spirit and power of 〈◊〉 to turn the hearts of the Fathers to their Children and the Disobedient to the 〈◊〉 of the just to make ready a people 〈◊〉 for the Lord. The meaning whereof is he came to restore the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 Conversion and in that point 〈◊〉 bring and reduce the Children of the 〈◊〉 back again unto the same 〈◊〉 and wayes necessary to Salvation 〈◊〉 which the Fathers and all the 〈◊〉 Saints of the old Testament 〈◊〉 been brought in unto God And 〈◊〉 by that means to become of the same Religion saving Conversion being the 〈◊〉 practick Foundation and Centre 〈◊〉 all Religion that the Godly Jews 〈◊〉 old were of So what know we but 〈◊〉 God in some lesser proportionate 〈◊〉 both in respect of persons and times may have had this in the eye of all wisely designing Providence to set out this great Authors works and writings amongst the labors of others also upon this very Argument to bring back and correct the Errors of the spirits of Professors of these times and perhaps by urging too far and insisting too much upon
that as Preparatory which includes indeed the beginnings of true Faith And a man may be held too long under John Baptists water To rectify those that have slipt into Profession and Leapt over all both true and deep Humiliation for sin and sence of their natural Condition yea and many over Christ himself too professing to go to God without him However this we may say without diminution to any other or detraction from the Author himself in respect of his 〈◊〉 raysed knowledg of Christ and 〈◊〉 free Grace That if any of our late Preachers and Divines came in the 〈◊〉 and power of John Baptist this man did This deeply humbled man and as 〈◊〉 raised both in Faith and 〈◊〉 with Christ the Author of 〈◊〉 Treatises He had been trained up 〈◊〉 his Youth in the Experience and 〈◊〉 of Gods Dispensations and 〈◊〉 this way and vers'd in digging 〈◊〉 the Mines and Veins of Holy 〈◊〉 to find how they agreed with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Soul had 〈◊〉 the intricate Meanders and the 〈◊〉 through temptations 〈◊〉 of this narrow passage and 〈◊〉 into Life and few there be that 〈◊〉 it And by deep reflections upon 〈◊〉 step of Gods Procedure with 〈◊〉 hath descried those false and 〈◊〉 by-waies which at every step 〈◊〉 man who errs in his heart not 〈◊〉 the knowledg of Gods waies is apt to 〈◊〉 astray when they have but inferior 〈◊〉 of the Spirit on them from 〈◊〉 way of Life which only those do 〈◊〉 that are un-erringly guided by the 〈◊〉 Spirit peculiar to the Elect into 〈◊〉 waies of Peace And whereas there hath been published long since many Parts and Pieces of this Author upon this Argument Sermon-wise preach'd by him here in England which in the preaching of them did enlighten all those Parts Yet having been taken by an unskilful hand which upon his recess into those remoter parts of the World was bold without his privity or consent to print and publish them one of the greatest injuries which can be done to any man it-came to pass his genuine meaning and this in points of so high a Nature and in some things differing from the Common Opinion was diverted in those printed Sermons from the fair and cleer draught of his own Notions and Intentions because so utterly deformed and mis-represented in multitudes of passages And in the rest but imperfectly and crudely set forth Here in these Treatises thou hast his Heart from his own Hand his own Thoughts drawn by his own Pensil This is all truly and purely his own not as preached only but as written by himself in order to the Press which may be a great satisfaction to all that honored 〈◊〉 loved him as who that was good and knew him did not especially 〈◊〉 that received benefit by those 〈◊〉 imperfect Editions And we cannot but look at it as a blessed Providence of God that the publishing of the same by others in that manner that hath been mentioned should have provoked him and that by the excitation of the Church whereof he was the Pastor in New-England to go over again the same Materials in the Course of his Ministry amongst them in order to the perfecting of it by his own hand for publick Light thereby to vindicate both himself and it from that wrong which otherwise had remained for ever irrecompensible And hereby it came to pass that so far as he hath proceeded this Subject came to have a third Concoction in the Heart and Head of him that was one of the most experienced Christians and of acutest Abilities that have been living in our Age. He Preach'd more briefly of this Subject first whilst he was 〈◊〉 and Chatechist in Emanuel Colledg in Cambridg The Notes of which were then so esteemed that many Copies thereof were by many that heard not the Sermons written out and are yet extant by them And then again a Second time many yeers after more largely 〈◊〉 Great Chelmsford in Essex the 〈◊〉 of which was those Books of 〈◊〉 that have gone under his Name And Last of all now in New-England and 〈◊〉 in and to a setled Church of Saints to which the Promise is made of being The Seat and Pillar of Truth and 〈◊〉 which all Ordinances set as the Load stone in the Steel have the greater power and energie In which the Presence of Christ breaks forth and all 〈◊〉 Springs are found therein And truly we need not wonder 〈◊〉 God set his heart and thoughts a work 〈◊〉 much and so repeatedly about this Subject VVe see that the Holy Ghost himself the Author of this Work of Conversion doth somtimes and that in an 〈◊〉 manner go over the whol of that Work again and again in the hearts of Christians whom God means to make great in his Church as in Peter when 〈◊〉 art converted c. who was yet 〈◊〉 already And to the Disciples Except ye be converted c. And the 〈◊〉 of the Holy Ghost upon them at and 〈◊〉 Pentecost was as a New Conversion 〈◊〉 them making them to differ 〈◊〉 much from themselvès in what they were afore as wel-nigh they themselves 〈◊〉 afore truly wrought on did 〈◊〉 differ from other men The 〈◊〉 of God himself goes over this work 〈◊〉 in al the parts of it As to 〈◊〉 anew to draw to Christ to change and 〈◊〉 the heart to higher strains of 〈◊〉 And when so then his Second 〈◊〉 excels the First that it comes not into mind and his Third the Second 〈◊〉 it ceaseth as it were to be remembred as the Prophet in other works of wonder speaks for thereby he every 〈◊〉 Spirituallizeth the heart stil more 〈◊〉 it from Hypocrisie and makes it 〈◊〉 refined causeth the heart to come forth from each new Cast and moulding with a deeper and fairer Impression 〈◊〉 his Image and Glory If then the Holy Ghost the Writer of his Law in the Heart set that high value upon that Work 〈◊〉 his that he vouchsafeth to take 〈◊〉 pains to write it over and over again in the same Tablet Let it be no Diminution to this great Author but let us bless God rather for the Providence that the same Divine Hand and Spirit should set him this Task to take the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 VVork into a second yea a third Review and thereby make it as it were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the VVork of his Life Only thus it is That the other Great Points as Union with Christ Justification Adoption Sanctification and Glory which Subjects as he was able for so his heart was most in them he hath left unfinished And so thereby as is most likely multitndes of precious yea glorious thoughts which he might have reserved as often fals out to Preachers and Writers for those higher Subjects as the Close and Centre and Crown of what forewent as preparative thereto are now perished and laid in the dust with him None but Christ was ever yet able to finish all that Work which was in
his Heart to do Farewel Thomas Goodwin Philip Nye COLE 1216. The Application of Redemption by the effectual work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The Ninth Book ISAIAH 57. 15. Thus saith He that is the High and the Lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the High and the Holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit THe Work of Preparation having Two Parts First The Lords manner of Dispensation as he is pleased to deal with the Soul for the setting up the praise of his Rich and Glorious Grace and therefore with a holy kind of Violence he plucks the 〈◊〉 from his sins unto himself and his Christ. This hath been dispatched already in the former Discourse The Second now follows And that is the Frame and Disposition which is wrought in the Hearts of such as the Lord hath purposed to save and to whom he hath dispensed himself in that gracious Work of his Contrition Humiliation This Disposition consists especially in Two Things That so I may follow the Phrase of Scripture and retain the Lords own Words in the Text where the Lord saith that he dwels with him that is of an humble and contrite Heart To omit al manner of Coherence and other Circumstances we will pass all the other Specials in the Verse and point at that Particular which will suit our proceeding and may afford ground to the following Discourse that we may go no further than we see the Pillar of Fire the Lord in his Truth to go before us We shal fasten then upon the last words only as those that fit our Intendment To make way for our selves in short there is one word alone to be opened that so the Point may be better fitted for our Application we must know what it is to dwel or how God is said 〈◊〉 dwell in a contrite and humble heart I Answer To Dwell implies Three Things First That the Lord owns such as those in whom he hath an especial interest and claims a special propriety as though he left all the rest of man-kind to lie wast as a Common that the World and the Devil and Sin may 〈◊〉 and use at their pleasure reserving the Honor of his Justice which by a strong hand he will exact as a Tribute due to himself out of all things in Heaven and Earth and Hell and all but persons whom he thus fits he reserves for his own special Improvement As Princes and Persons of place and quality do lease out and let some Forrests and Commons to the Inhabitants bordering thereabout reserving some acknowledgment of Fealty and Royalty to themselves but the choyce and best Pallaces or Granges of greatest worth and profit they reserve for their own peculiar to inhabit in So here the Lord leaseth out the World and the wicked in it to the Devil and his Angels and Instruments reserving a Royalty and Prerogative to himself as that he will have his Homage and Acknowledgment of dependance upon himself but his broken-hearted ones are his own for his own Improvement Deut. 32. 8 9. When the most High divided to the Nations their Inheritance and separated the sons of Adam he set the bounds of his People according to the number of the Children of Israel for the Lords Portion is his People Israel the Lot of his Inheritance Ye are the Temple of the Living God 2 Cor. 6. 16. Yea to them the Lord himself saies Ye are my People and they shall say thou art my God Zach. 13. last Therefore he professeth that though in the course of his Providence he goes on progress over all the world yet he takes up his dwelling and abode amongst his own People For Secondly Where a man dwels as he owns the house so he takes up his abode there it is the place of his residence we say any may know where to seek men or where to find them at home at their own house That 's the difference between Inning and Dwelling we Inn at a place in our passing by when we take repast only and bait but depart presently intending not to stay but where we dwel we settle our abode we take up our stand there and stir no further So the Lord is said then to dwel in the Soul when he vouchsafes the constant expression of his peculiar presence and assistance to the soul. True it is that the Lord fills Heaven and Earth with his presence yea the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain him Jer. 23. 24. His infinite Being is every where and one and the same every where in regard of himself because his being is most simple and not subject to any shadow of change being all one with himself Yet he is said to take up his abode in a special manner when he doth put forth the peculiar expression of his Work as in Heaven he dwels because he puts forth the constant expression of his Glory and that in the full brightness of it without any alteration and change Here in this Spiritual Temple the Souls of his Saints he puts forth the peculiar expression of the constant assistance of his blessed Spirit I will pray the Father and he shall send you another Comforter who shall abide with you for ever John 14. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 23. Ye have received an anointing which abideth in you Dwelling if it be attributed to the chiefest Inhabitant and Owner of the House it implies also the ruling and ordering of the occasions that come under hand there the exercising of the Government of the house and family where the Owner is and dwels He that lodgeth at a House as a stranger comes to an Inn as a Passenger he takes what he finds hath what he can receive of kindness and courtesie but the Owner is the Commander of the House where he dwels and the orderer of all the Affairs that appertain thereunto So doth the Lord with a broken Heart Thus we are said to live in the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit Gal. 5. 25. And it 's that which follows by Inference upon this ground John 15. 4. 5. If I abide in you and you abide in me you shal bring forth much fruit and therefore it s added also in this place that the Lord dwels in the contrite and humble heart to receive the Spirit of the contrite ones they yeeld themselves to be acted by him and they shall be acted and quickened by him to Eternal Life So that the full meaning is The contrite and humble heart is such to whom the Lord vouchsafes acceptance special presence and abode and peculiar guidance he owns him abides with him and rules in him for ever True it is said Christ dwels in our Hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. and as many as beleeve in him they receive him John 1. 12. That is done as by the next and immediate hand by which we say hold on Christ and
with some Canker it cannot tast nor relish things aright when the right constitution of the Eye is altered by a blow or any putrefying Wen that Breeds there 〈◊〉 will perceive nothing nay it cannot So here When the Eye of the understanding hath lost his primitive 〈◊〉 and becomes stayned and polluted with putrefying sensual delusions it comes to be Reprobate touching the Doctrin of faith or that which ought to be beleeved not able to relish the truth in a right manner And this their practice gives evidence of beyond all doubt the revelation of the truth which is in way of discovery of corruption and that which would touch them to the quick they are not able nor willing in truth without offence to hear But the power of it to be pressed and persued they are not able to bear but there is present mutiny in their thoughts and apprehensions I say not able to hear with quietness the truths which be of a discovering Nature when our Saviour told them there must be more than an outward formal Communicating with him as the Fathers did eat Manna and are dead but they that would live by him must eat his flesh and drink his Blood they returned this is a hard saying who can bear it John 6. 60. and John 3. 20. He that doth evil cometh not 〈◊〉 the light lest his deeds should be reproved yea this is the reason they 〈◊〉 darkness rather than light because it suits best with the darkness of their minds and as the very manifestation is tedious to hear so the power of it if pressed and set on they are not able to bear that 's the scope of the Parable Matth. 21. 34. when the Messengers were sent to require fruit that is Holiness they beat some and stoned others and others they abused Acts 7. 51. when 〈◊〉 brought the Candle home to their Bed-side and would discover the roots of their corrupt carriages to the Consciences of them all Ye stiff-necked and hard-hearted ye have ever resisted the spirit of the Lord their hearts burst with anger they cast him out and stoned him And indeed hither the Apostle calls us to look as to the Magazine of all mischief the Armory and Ammunition House whence all the distempers and affections of the heart are furnished out to their sinful practices as so many enterprizes they take in hand Eph. 4. 18. they are strangers to the life of God it is because they walk in the vanity of their minds So again in Collos. 1. 21. They were alienated from God and bent upon evil practices and he ads the root and reason of all they were Enemies to God in their minds in their apprehensions or the largest reach of the best reason they had and in this the Apostle makes the Fort-royal in which Satan places and plants all the choycest of his Artillery 2 Cor. 10. 4. there are in the mind of a Natural man strong holds of imaginations which exalt themselves against the knowledg of God The Lord Christ 〈◊〉 the understanding to bear that Almighty stroak of his Spirit whereby he destroies the soveraign power of carnal reason and 〈◊〉 it to receive the prevailing impression of his spiritual light which searcheth the secrets of sin in the soul. The Conclusion intimates a double work of the Spirit 1. It destroies the soveraignty of carnal Reason 2. It leaves in the room of that an impression of spiritual light and in both these the understanding is meerly passive for so it 's added it 's forced to bear the one it 's fitted to receive the other It destroyes the over swaying Authority of Carnal Reason It was Satans Policy to turn the Understanding from the Lord and attendance to the truth 〈◊〉 3. Hath God said ye shall not eat Oh question it not fear it not Ye shall be as Gods and so she turning aside and perverting the eye of reason to listen to the delusion suggested her light was dimmed and she justly over-born with the force of the falshood presented because she took off her mind from eyeing of the command and turned it to attend the strength of that delusion and was so acted by it she conceived though falsly that it was good to get knowledg when the tasting that fruit was the only means to lose all the knowledg she had and from the abuse of her own mutability her mind becomes perverted from light to darkness from the way of truth which God had found out unto the by-path found out of her own finding Now the Lord Christ who comes to destroy and undo the works of the Devil he begins where Satan ended he turns from darkness he takes down the Supremacy of that carnal Reason by the which all the Sons of Adam in their natural and corrupt condition are constantly both ruled and carried in their whol course and that 's the Reason of the Apostles coupling those two together Eph. 2. 3. speaking of the Conversation of the ungodly he saies they did the wils of 〈◊〉 flesh and of their Discourses their carnal reasonings had ever one Oar in the Boat and it 's ever found true there is no man upon knowledg commits a sin but ever he 〈◊〉 some pretence of carnal self-deceiving reason why he doth so and therefore it is called the strong hold of Satan and the Lord Christ he first forceth this Fort demolisheth and casteth down the frame of it so that though there be some remainders continue still in the mind while that remains in the body and we in the world yet it 's never made a place of retreat to a 〈◊〉 Convert wherein he can 〈◊〉 himself and stand it out against any Truth 2 Cor. 10. 4. he puls down strong holds such as are highest and hardest to win and that which is added Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reasonings of the flesh and nothing but the Power of God can do this the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God For though Adam being in a mutable condition might slide away from the Government of God as well as submit yet after he had withdrawn himself from under the Covenant and Wisdom of God in the Law given him it was just with God to deliver him up to the authority of his inventions and there to stake him down that nothing but the Soveraignty of Christ who had satisfied for this his folly and carnal reasoning should be able to restore him from the power of them This makes me construe the meaning of those words of Paul so as that which best gives in evidence of the dependance 〈◊〉 4. 21 22. If ye have heard and been taught as the Truth is in Jesus then put off the old man c. The Truth as it is in the Bible only or dispensed in any Ordinance or as it was in the Covenant of the First Adam will never do it but as it is in the hand of Jesus
to dawn and the hour yet to come that ever he was touched with any sence of sinful rebellions never yet Godly sorrow came into my soul nor remorse into my Conscience for al my many 〈◊〉 before God and men wounds of Conscience burdens of spirit and brokenness of heart for our daily departures and provocations they are wonders and riddles I have heard of such dispositions but am a stranger to the having of the least work that way I appeal to thy own Conscience what wouldest thou think of such a party who thus confesseth and is as he confesseth me thinks I hear thee answering and thy heart shaking before thou givest it What! senceless of his sin how fearful is his estate Where there is no sence there can be no sorrow no repentance therefore no Christ nor pardon nor Salvation for unless ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Never broken God will never bind so far from being good that he is not yet in the way to receive any good Wo unto him that hath thus sinned and thus continues Oh poor ignorant Creature thine own mouth hath condemned thee thou hast past 〈◊〉 against thine own soul thou never hadst a true sight of thy sins therefore thou couldest never have a true sence of them or sorrow for them thou never hadest a sound apprehension thou canst not have a through contrition for them It came not near thy heart to break it when it never touched it in Truth nay it never was within thy ken to see it in aright manner See yet thy misery further in enlarged these several Degrees following There is no evil thou canst prevent no good thoucanst receive no mercy thou canst expect and when thou hast looked sadly upon these thou wilt have thy load Liable thou art to all the hazards that Devils can devise or intend men endeavor or thy self deserve A blind man is subject to all kind of injurious dealings from the feeblest persons yea from Children plot they may he cannot perceive do they may he cannot avoid It is so with an ignorant person in his Spiritual condition he is a prey to his sins and a spoyl in the hands of Satan that catcheth him at his pleasure and carrieth him headlong and hood-winked to everlasting destruction every snare entraps him allurement intangles him temptation foils him he can see nothing prevent nothing but goes like an Ox to the slaughter and a Fool to the stocks and knows nothing Nay were there no Devils to tempt thee thou wouldest run into all evils of thine own accord An ignorant heart like a blind man stumbles at every block fals into every ditch yea rusheth with greediness to the practice of the most hellish evils It was the Jews case out of ignorance they chose Barabbas a Murderer and rejected the Lord of Life they were violent to take away his blood that came to take away their sins and this out of ignorance for so our Savior in his prayer Father forgive them they know not what they do Luke 23. 34. He that walks in darkness knows not whither be goes though he go to Hell 1 John 2. 11. There is no good he can receive from any means remaining in this blindness Counsels do not take place 〈◊〉 cannot perswade Judgments Threatnings do no awaken Admonitions Exhortation are of no force they are beyond the reach of all these they cannot come at them therefore cannot work upon them But as in some desperate diseases when they are come to the greatest extremity as in a Quinsie when it hath swelled beyond measure that speaking and swallowing are wholly hindred each man that sees will easily conceive and conclude Alas he is but a dead man he can take nothing therefore it 's not possible he can continue The Disease indeed is curable but how should his Physick cure him or his Diet nourish him if he can take neither there is no good to be expected to be done when he can take nothing that can do him good So it is in the soul ignorance stops the passage of the power and work of al Gods Ordinances There is no corruption but the means are mighty through God to relieve if they could be taken were the heart proud if the Word were received and welcomed it would humble it if stubborn it would meeken and calm it if unclean it would purge it But ignorance stops al the passages intercepts the work of the Word the understanding conceives it not and the heart cannot profit by it nor be bettered therewith There is no Mercy thou canst expect And this is able to 〈◊〉 a mans heart and hopes in irrecoverable discouragements for though our endeavors prevail not means prosper not yet mercy can outbid both and relieve beyond both but if mercy suffer thee to be blinded mercy wil suffer thee to be damned It 's Gods own resolution expressed Isai. 27. 11. They are a people that have no understanding therefore he that made them will not save them nay he will shew no mercy to them It 's the determination he hath 〈◊〉 as a conclusion beyond controul Hos. 4. 14. The people that do not understand shall perish It 's the last execution he will put forth 2 Thes. 1. 8. He will come in flaming fire rendring vengeance to them that know him not They are the mark in the first place against which the fiercest of his fury expresseth it self They that wil not now see their sins by the word they shall be forced to see them and to look them over by the flames of 〈◊〉 at the day of Judgment Hence again it follows To be hard to be convicted is a dangerous sin and a dreadful curse to the party that is tainted with such a disposition of spirit We wil go no further than the Doctrine delivered and that will give in undeniable evidence to both parts of the collection 1 To be hard to be convinced is a dangerous sin and that more waies than one He sins against his own soul the happiness and peace of it as being accessary and that in a special manner to his own everlasting ruine and imbrewed his hands in his own blood as it were when the helps that God hath appointed provided and now also presents before him and puts into his hands he willingly yea wilfully rejects refuseth the use of them and opposeth the work of them and so consequently his spiritual good that might come thereby When the Patient out of sullenness and waywardness of spirit refuseth the Physick or Diet provided for his good at last Nature becomes so low that he is utterly disenabled to take it and so is starved and 〈◊〉 each man concludes he was accessary to his own death So when God hath sent his faithful Servants to admonish thee his Ministers to convince that gainsaying Spirit of thine to ransack the corruption of thy cankered Conscience so that the core might have been searched and thy distempers 〈◊〉 Who knows what good might
that made thee a little to look about but hath the Lord ever lifted up the latch as though he were resolved to come in hath he layd hold upon and begun to grapple with that Graceless heart of thine and held this 〈◊〉 of discovery of sin to thy mind as to constrayn thee to look wishly upon it indeed to see it clearly and convictingly according to that which hath formerly been spoken Know and conclude thou maiest thou art in the right way and the Lord begins to deal with thee as he doth with those that he intends good unto But art thou a stranger to these dispensations of the Lord and tradings with thy mind and heart Thou mayest indeed have notice and hear a rumor of Christ passing by and the excellency of his Grace but of any purpose of making his abode with thee thou never couldst have the least 〈◊〉 thereof unto this day How then shall we know whether we fall short of this true sight of sin or no We will take both Particulars mentioned into Consideration that so we may take a true scantling of our own estate and track the Footsteps and Impressions of the work of the Spirit upon our souls I will touch the first in a word and entreat more largely upon the Second to wit Touching the convicting sight of sin because there lies the life and stress of this Doctrine If then we see sin cleerly naked and in it's own Nature namely this resistance and opposition against God as the greatest evil of al other It wil thus be discerned This sight will keep the heart in cold blood from careless adventuring upon the commission of sin You must stil remember my purpose is not to dispute of sanctifying knowledg or to give in evidence of that for we are in this place to look at that light that is let in in this preparative work and this first Branch of it which how far it may go or whether it can agree to an Hypocrite I will not now dispute that only I wil infer from it is beyond exception That in cold blood i. e. Take such a man out of the hurry of a Temptation when he is himself not drunk with some overbearing distemper for then he knows not where he is or what he doth and therefore may adventure to do any thing but when a sinner is come to himself and the sight of his sin as before disputed it wil suffer him carelesly to adventure upon the Commission of that which appears such in his own apprehension even the greatest evil of all The dreadfulness then of this duty apprehended wil drive the soul to a stand and stop the sinner in his proceeding that he dare as well eat his flesh and take a Lyon by the claw and a Bear by the tooth as to have his hand in that which is the heaviest plague of all in his own Judgment There is no man living but as he hath somthing which he prizeth as the chief good in which his soul takes content so the loss of that or that which is contrary to that he looks at as the most unsupportable evil that can betide him That the Soldier should take the lye or challenge and have the contempt of cowardice put upon him and sit stil and not seek to revenge the wrong as he conceives it he cannot bear it That the 〈◊〉 yong man should sel his possessions and part with all to the poor it is such an unsufferable loss he will rather part with Heaven the very hearing of it makes his heart heavy and himself to go away sorrowful Mat. 19. 22. Yea that which Nature hath made dear to all to see death before a man and danger such as wil undoubtedly hazard the loss of life how do we fear the thought of it fly the sight avoid the occasion of it didst thou see thy sins and the hellish resistance of thy heart against God to be a greater evil than al these didst thou really judg them such beleeve them as the men of Niniveh did Jonahs threatning Jonah 3. 5. to be such It 's certain it would amaze thy heart that thou wouldest be as loth to rush into evil as thou wouldest be to run upon a Spears point or cast thy self into the mouth of the Lyon to be torn in pieces Take a rebellious sinner beset with the horror of his Conscience so that he sees Hell gaping for him and the Devils ready to seize upon that hellish heart of his how loaths he then the least appearance of those corruptions the evil of which he sees in the punishment only how tender is he to avoid the occasion of them When the evil of thy punishment is now over and out of mind didst thou but know that resistance and rebellion of thy heart against God his Grace his Spirit his Truth aright as greater than all those evils and is now present with thee thou wouldst be so far fearful not heedlesly to adventure upon the practice of it When Judas saw whether his Covetousness had brought him be flung away his thirty pieces Matth. 27. 3. And it 's certain all the Scribes and Pharisees in the Synagogue and all the money in the Country of Judea could not have prevailed with him had they been then tendred to him much more had he seen the 〈◊〉 had been a greater evil than the vengeance that did 〈◊〉 Acts 19. 16. 19. When the evil spirits prevailed against the seven Sons of Sceva fear fell on them 〈◊〉 and many of them had used curious Arts brought their books together and burnt them before them all When the hearts of these Converts were pricked and they craved Counsel what they should do Peter amidst many other Counsels which he suggested ads this verse 40. Save your selves from this crooked generation You that are in Parthia Mesopotamia Phrigia Galatia you 〈◊〉 amongst many professed Enemies to the Lord Christ his Truth therefore save your selves from their Society and verse 44. They came and abode together and sold their goods and parted them as every one had need 〈◊〉 to this you disobedient Children and rebellious Servants who have the Commands of Parents and Masters Counsels of Servants and Neighbors dayly suggested and pressed upon you listen to this you heedless Professors who have the Word and Precepts of God dayly published in your Ears and proclaimed in your hearing and you go away informed convinced and the heart cannot gainsay but it ought to stoop your carriages should not be wayward your words sharpish your behaviors uncomely and yet you dare you do 〈◊〉 carelesly adventure at the next time and 〈◊〉 upon the same sins you may talk what others say by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profess in words that sin is the greatest evil of al but in truth you never saw sin to this day much 〈◊〉 saw it to be the greatest evil of al. A little evil were is but the 〈◊〉 of so much of thy blood by stripes or the loss of
Diet that provokes to 〈◊〉 by the tast the harsh and unkind language that provokes to wrath and impatience by the Ear But the Mind and Understanding toucheth the Lord directly meets with his Rule and with God acting in the way of his Government there and when it goes off from the Rule as before and attends its own vanity and folly it justles with the Almighty stands in open defyance and resistance against him This also appeared in Adams sin our of the folly of his own deluded thoughts he would have unthroned the Almighty and hoped by Satans Counsels to set himself in the room of God Ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil Gen. 3. and he saw it to be good to get knowledg and so purchase a Deity to himself and so put it to tryal thus the wicked openly profess They say to the Almighty depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy waies Job 21. when they desire not to have the wisdom of God rule in their minds but set up their own foolish imaginations they say then to God depart from us they shake off the Authority of the Truth and with that the Soveraignty of the Lord himself and his Government Hence the Apostle Collos. 1. 21. They were Enemies and where lay that enmity in their minds in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their Discourse in the exercise of the largest act of their Understandings wherein the use of the whol faculty appears and this enmity appears in the fruit of it which wil undoubtedly follow namely evil works Hence Rom. 8. 7. the wisdom of the flesh is said to be enmity against God not an enemy to him that would somtimes cross and oppose him but Enmity the whol being and working of it is carried in constant opposition against the Law And upon 〈◊〉 ground it is when the Apostle Peter would shew Simon Magus the hainousness of his sin he staies not in the outward expression but cals him directly to consider the thoughts of his heart where that 〈◊〉 language was minted and from whence it proceeded When 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by laying on of the hands of the Apostles the holy Ghost was 〈◊〉 he perceived how he might get a booty and therefore he fel to bargain tries the Market what shal I give c. The Apostle carried with a zealous indignation against so vile a demand which cast so much contempt and contumely upon the holy Spirit and the gift thereof answers with a holy disdain and denounceth a Curse Thy money perish with thee q. d. thou art in a perishing condition and this money of thine which thou conceivest wil further thy proceedings wil perish also yet he ads a caution for his recovery Oh pray if it be possible that the thought of thy heart may be forgiven Acts 8. 22 23. q. d. Thy sin is so hainous so execrable so detestable it 's almost past al possibility of pardon it 's not in the tongue which uttered the word nor in the hand which offered the money nor yet so much in thine eye that saw the work done for all these met not so directly so immediately with the Lord. The words were propounded to the Apostles the money should have been payed to them but Oh it was the hellish villany of his mind and apprehension which did so basely esteem of the gifts of Gods Spirit as if they might be valued or purchased with money He did so conceive as if the holy Spirit of Grace should Lackey after his lusts and be at the beck and command of such a proud rebellious wretch as that it should be disposed and dispensed according to his will and humor This was in his mind and thought and this made it so hainous an evil that the Apostle put it to a may be if it be possible so that the hellish evil of our imaginations and cursed contrivements of our thoughts may put a man almost beyond possibility of pardon So in the sin against the holy Ghost it 's said our Savior saw their thoughts Mat. 12. ver 25. those gave in evidence of the direfulness and inconceivable hainousness of those contumelious speeches against our Savior when they said He casteth out Devils by Belzebub the Prince of Devils It is not said he heard their words though blasphemous but he saw their thoughts they issued out of their apprehensions their thoughts being calm and quiet it was not some base pang or passion but when they had no provocation their own thoughts carried them against the evidence of all Truth meerly out of the venom of their own hearts This was unpardonable blasphemy and in truth there is no Creature but a reasonable Creature that can close not with the Creature only but with God in his Rule that can sin nor is there any sin properly but where the mind and heart is an Ingredient in it So the ravished Maid though her body was abused yet her person was not charged as guilty of sin nor she polluted therewith because her judgment was not there assenting nor her heart yielding thereunto Look at thoughts in regard of al the other evils of our lives which are acted and appear in our dayly course we may thence come to take a guess at the greatness of the evil of our thoughts for it will appear they are the causes of all other evils and therefore it cannot but be concluded there is more and worse evil in them than in all the rest A mans imaginations are the forge of villany where it 's al framed the Ware-house of wickedness the Magazine of al mischief and iniquity whence the sinner is furnished to the commission of al evil in his ordinary course the Sea of abominations which overflows into al the Sences and they are polluted into all the parts of the body and they are defiled and carried aside with many noysom corruptions Matth. 15. 19. Out of the heart comes murders adulteries thefts there is the nest where al these noysom vermine are bred Matth. 12. 34. Out of the abundance of the heart the tongue speaks and the hand works If there be pride and snappishness in a mans speech stubbornness in a course 〈◊〉 in a mans Conversation there is abundance of al these and more than these within The Imagination of our mind is the great Wheel that carries al with it That loathsom and execrable wickedness worse than which the Sun never saw the Earth never bore that unpardonable siu excepted the killing of the Lord Jesus the Lord of Life the seed of it was a thought cast by 〈◊〉 into the heart of Judas John 13. 3. it was warmed with a covetous disposition and so brought forth that hideous treachery the 〈◊〉 of the Lord Jesus If 〈◊〉 be evil in the tongue that 〈◊〉 it is it not worse in the heart that indites it Wickedness in our actions and speeches are but the brats and brood of our minds and hearts there they were conceived and fashioned in al
condition that comes to be scanned Psal. 119. 59. I considered my waies and 〈◊〉 my feet unto thy testimonies 〈◊〉 turned them upside down looked through them as it were a present apprehension peeps in as it were through the crevis or key-hole looks in at the window as a man passeth by but Meditation lifts up the latch and goes into each room 〈◊〉 into every 〈◊〉 of the house and surveyes the composition and making of it with all the blemishes in it Look as the Searcher at the Sea-Port or Custom-house or Ships satisfies himself not to over-look carelesly in a 〈◊〉 view but unlocks every Chest romages every corner takes a light to discover the darkest passages So is it with Meditation it observes the woof and web of wickedness the ful frame of it the very utmost Selvage and out side of it takes into consideration all the secret conveyances cunning contrivements all bordering circumstances that attend the thing the consequences of it the nature of the causes that work it the 〈◊〉 occasions and provocations that lead to it together with the end and issue that in reason is like to come of it Dan. 12. 4. Many shall run to and fro and knowledg shall encrease Meditation goes upon discovery 〈◊〉 at every coast observes every creek maps out the dayly course of a mans conversation and disposition The second End of Meditation is It settles it effectually upon the heart It 's not the pashing of the water at a sudden push but the standing and soaking to the root that loosens the weeds and thorns that they may be plucked up easily 〈◊〉 not the laying of Oyl upon the benummed part but the chafing of it in that suppleth the Joynts and easeth the pain It is so in the 〈◊〉 Application laies the Oyl of the Word that is searching and savory Meditation chaseth it in that it may soften and humble the hard and 〈◊〉 heart Application is like the Conduit or Channel that brings the stream of the Truth upon the soul 〈◊〉 Meditation stops it as it were and makes it soak into the 〈◊〉 that so our corruptions may be plucked up kindly by the Roots This settling upon the heart appears in a three-fold work It affects the heart with the Truth attended and leaves an Impression upon the Spirit answerable to the Nature of the thing which is taken into Meditation 2 Pet. 2. 8. It 's said of Lot in seeing and hearing he vexed his righteous soul. Many saw and heard the hideous abominations and were not touched nor affected therewith No more had he been but that he vexed and troubled his own righteous soul because he was driven to a dayly consideration of them which cut him to the quick The word is observable it signifies to try by a touch-stone and to examine and then upon search to bring the soul upon the rack therefore the same word is used Matth. 14. 24. The Ship was tossed by the waves the consideration of the abominations of 〈◊〉 place raised a tempest of trouble in Lots righteous soul. This the wise man calls laying to the heart Eccles. 7. 1 2. It 's better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of laughter for this is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart When the Spectacle of Misery and Mortality is laid in the grave yet savory Meditation laies it to a mans heart and makes it real there in the work of it The Goldsmith observes that it is not the laying of the fire but the blowing of it that melts the Mettal So with Meditation it breaths upon any Truth that is applied and that makes it really sink and soak into the soul and this is the reason why in an ordinary and common course of Providence and Gods dealing with sinners leaving his own exceptions to his own good pleasure that the most men in the time and work of Conversion have that scorn cast upon them that they grow melancholly And it 's 〈◊〉 thus far in the course of ordinary appearance The Lord usually never works upon the soul by the Ministry of the Word to make it effectual but he drives the sinner to sad thoughts of heart and makes him keep an audit in his own soul by serious meditation and pondering of 〈◊〉 waies otherwise the Word neither affects throughly nor works kindly upon him It keeps the heart under the heat and authority of the Truth that it 's taken up withal by constant attendance of his thoughts Meditation keeps the 〈◊〉 under an arrest so that it cannot make an escape from the Evidence and Authority of the Truth so that there is no way but either to obey the Rule of it or else be condemned by it But escape it cannot Meditation meets 〈◊〉 stops al the evasions and sly pretences the fals-hearted person 〈◊〉 counterfeit If a man should deny his fault and himself guilty Meditation will evidence it beyond all gainsaying by many testimonies which Meditation wil easily cal to mind remember ye not in such and such a place upon such an occasion you gave way to your wicked heart to do thus and thus you know it and God knows it and I have recorded it If the 〈◊〉 would lessen his fault Meditation aggravates it or if he seem to slight it and look at it as a matter of no moment yet Meditation will make it appear there is greater evil in it and greater necessity to bestow his thoughts upon it than he is aware of Hence it is Meditation laies 〈◊〉 unto the soul and cuts off al carnal pretences that a wretched self-deceiving hypocrite would relieve himself by and stil lies at the soul this you did at that time in that place after that manner so that the soul is held fast prisoner and cannot make an escape but as David said Psal. 51. 3. My sins are ever before me Consideration keeps them within view and will not suffer them to go out of sight and thoughts and therefore it is Paul ioyns those two together 1 Tim. 3. 15. Meditate in these things and be in them It provokes a man by a kind of over-bearing power to the practice of that with which he is so affected A settled and serious Meditation of any thing is as the setting open of the Flood-gates which carries 〈◊〉 soul with a kind of force and violence to the performance of what he so bestows his mind upon as a mighty stream let out turns the mill Phil. 4. 9. Think of these things and do them thinking men are doing men Psal. 39. 3. While I was thus musing the fire brake out and I spake the busie stirring of Meditation is like the raising of a tempest in the heart that carries out all the actions of the man by an uncontroulable command I considered my waies and turned my feet unto thy Statutes right Consideration brings in a right Reformation with it The Nature of the Duty is thus opened let us apply it
Authority of it we know our compass but once go off and we know not whither we shal go or where we shal stay Be watchfully careful to observe the first wandrings and out-strayings of thy thoughts how they first go off from the attendance to the work in hand and look off from the matter thou settest thy self to meditate in 〈◊〉 immediately recal them back bring them to their task again and set them about their intended 〈◊〉 If 〈◊〉 they fly out and follow fresh occasions that 〈◊〉 or a mans corruptions shal suggest take them at the first turn and often again settle them upon the service until at last by constant custom our mind and thoughts wil buckle handsomly to their business after they be kept in by a daily care I have heard Hunts-men say when they have young dogs raw and that hath not been entred nor accquainted with their sport if a fresh 〈◊〉 come in view or some other unexpected prey cross them in their way they forsake the old sent and follow that which is in their eye but their manner is to 〈◊〉 at them off and cal them away from that and then to bring them to the place where they left their former pursuit and there set them to find the sent afresh until at last being often checked and constantly trayned up they wil take and attend the first game so here with our wandring minds which are not trayned up to this work of meditation if they begin to fly off and follow a new occasion suffer not thy thoughts to range but bring your mind back again and set it upon the former service and then by thy constant care and Gods blessing thy mind wil fal in sweetly and go away with the work or as men use to do with some kind of wand that is warped bent somwhat much one way they bend it a little at the first there hold it Bend it hold it at last it comes fully to the fashion they desire it So here often bend and hold thy mind bent to the work in hand Heb. 2. 1. let us give earnest heed to the things wee have heard our roving thoughts are like riven vessels if the parts be not glewed and the breaches brought together again by strong hand they wil leak out so here c. The fourth Hindrance which is here pretended is their unskilfulness and unhandiness to this service which many even Consciencious Christians in the bitterness of their souls complain off as that which wholy 〈◊〉 and discourageth them to the work They say that 〈◊〉 of the truth and the dictates of their own Conscience doth give in ful evidence and undeniable that they should attend the duty in obedience to Gods Command they set about the work but at the very entrance they are at an utter loss at a period in their own thoughts at a stand within themselves and cannot stir a 〈◊〉 forward They want materials one while upon which they should spend their thoughts another while they want skil after what manner to exercise their apprehensions about it that they might do good on it In a word their weakness they find to be so great and the service to be so strange and hard to them that they cannot but conceive it to be impossible to them ever to attain the skil and to what purpose is it to endeavour it if they cannot attain it I answer what need any further argument than thine own words to constrain thee to the duty now discovered the more unskilful thou art the more need thou hast to learn the greater the weight and worth of the duty the greater diligence in reason thou shouldest use in 〈◊〉 attendance thereunto There is neither weaknes nor want of power nor skil in God to do thee good what ever weaknes or want thou findest in thy self and if thou need much as he hath much in his hand so he wil give abundantly to satisfy thy desire and to fit thee for the perfourmance others have attained it why mayest not thou receive it he hath bestowed it upon others why mayest not thou expect it Wisdom gives subtilty to the simple and sharpnes to the Ideot Prov. 1. 4. thy dullness and heaviness should encrease thy diligence and and endeavor and not discourage thee when the tool is dull men 〈◊〉 to more strength Eccles. 10. 10. every thing must have a beginning while wee are endeavoring God is blessing if we never set about a work we shal never compass it thou wilt not expect the child should know a trade before he learn it and art wel content the child see seaven years over his head before thou lookest to see him attain any perfection And in the greatest works and where we have leaft ability why should we think to attayn any dexterity without long endeavor and this adds to our encouragement it s the season and time wherein the Lord hath promised much of his spirit and presence and therefore we may look for it The weak shal be as David Zach. 12. 8. David we know was eminent and marvailous 〈◊〉 in this service thou 〈◊〉 weak and foolish and feeble be it so yet thou hast a promise thou mayest be as David who made David so skilful why the same God lives stil who is alsufficient and therefore can who hath promised and therefore wil help thee also A word of caution Hence loose company is a deadly enemy and hindrance to the conversion of a sinner that which doth exceedingly prejudice the work of Meditation and so of brokenness of heart that hinders the work of Conversion for that is the way thereunto But there is no greater hindrance to be found on Earth to holy Meditation than froathy Company and Companions while a man is in the croud amongst such wretches there is no possibility in reason that one should search his own heart and examine his own way take any account by serious consideration what his course hath been or what his condition is there is little hope of any possibility that ever the word should settle upon the soul or stay with the sinner in the evidence or prevailing power of it or that the mind or heart of a poor creature should settle upon that suck out the sap and virtue of it and continu under the stroke and authority of it while he continues with such varlets which like the greedy fowl of the ayr pick out the seed of the word out of the minds of such with whom they do converse and stop the passage as it were with their prejudices they cast against man and message that they may never attend it or if yet they talk with it as a passenger yet never entertain it as an in-dweller to continue with them And therfore they act the part not of Gods Ministers or such as would be helpers to the spiritual good of others but the part of Satans factors when God is pleased to parly with a
sinner and to speak terror to his Conscience out of the word that they may be troubled and tumbled and so find rest at the day of Christ. These Quack-salvers send the distressed sinner to sports pastimes and recreations and merry Company that they take up their thoughts and take off their minds from attending to their sins or the truth that is take off the Slave that should cure them spil the Physick that should heal their maladies thus they ease their terrors for the while that they may increase their torment forever accursed comforters or rather they take up the Devils name and Office Apollyon destroyers of the souls of men therefore holy Peter gave that advise to these hearers Save your selves from this crooked generation q. d. your safety and their society cannot stand together you must not continue with them if you would have the power and comfort of the word continue with you and therefore experience evidenceth God so disposeth ever in the dispensation of the work of his Grace either the sinner that is wounded wil shake off his wicked company or els the counsel of the word and the worke of Gods spirit Hence that of the Apostle Eph. 5. 14. Stand up from the dead and Christ shal give thee light and 2 Cor. 6. 17. Come out from among them and be yee separate and then I wil receive you and walk among you God wil not walk with you if you wil walk with the world there is no coming into communion with Christ unless we come out there Christ tells his disciples John 15. 19. I have chosen you out of the world Exhortation We here see the way that the Lord hath chalked out before us the means which in mercy and in way of his providence he hath provided appointed to break our hearts to bring us to his son and so to life We are therfore to be exhorted to attend and follow the counsel of the Lord that we may expect and so receive his blessing even with Consciencious diligence and studious endeavour to press on to the perfourmance of this service some hapily never knew it looked not at it as a labor or task that did 〈◊〉 to them let such now own it and set about it with al 〈◊〉 might others it may be have been convinced of the duty and have been forward in the practice of it in former times and forced to it in the 〈◊〉 of their distrels but now are fallen back and grown wearish in their way those are to be perswaded to proceed on with more chearfulness and speed he that never knew the work let him now learn it He that hath set about it in former times let him be for ever quickened and encouraged in it Joyn al your counsels and resolutions you that are children and servants in the same family members in the same assemblies neighbours in the same place and plantation and 〈◊〉 upon each other to this holy course Lam. 3. 40. Let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord. say so one to another you that are privy to the wretchedness of your own hearts and lives we complain and that justly of a giddy slightness of spirit we meet with many stroks of the word stirrings and recoylings of spirit our hearts misgive us many checks of Conscience and motives we think of the holy Ghost cast into our minds but nothing stayes with us sticks upon us they pass away insensibly and leave no impression no power behind them we wash away al we cannot but see and wonder at the unreasonable hardness of our heart and condemn our selves who have had so many blows from Gods hand and they break not so many dreadful threatnings we hear out of the word dayly able to shak the heart of a Divel we stirr not we are not affected therewith our corruptions are hainous for their nature many for their number accompanied with direful plagues from the Lord are daily before our eyes have driven many to untimely deaths and so to Hel. We cannot but acknowledg al this and yet we be not touched with any saving remorse for them we have had al helps and the Lord hath tried al conclusions upon us and yet al in vain Who knows but we have been negligent this ordinance and therefore God hath cursed al others we have not used this means as wel as others and therefore we have got benefit by none who knowes but the want of this hath hindred the success of al other that we have had and used in our times and places Oh then recover our former carelesness send our thoughts a far off and survey our former conversations let us search and consider our own wayes who knows but the Lord may turn our hearts to him Let us question our own souls and say to our selves what have we done that it may be beyond question that God hath humbled pardoned and accepted of us What is the reason that one sinks under the sin that another never feels It is with our sins as with our burdens he that sees a weight and it may be lifts at it but if he never lay it upon his shoulder or if it be layed he never keeps it there but casts it off immediately he wil never be touched or troubled with it which another dies under as not able to endure so it is here our sins and iniquities are a burden too heavy for any man to bear and not to break under them and they who are forced to feel the Least of them are compelled to confess as much as the Devils and damned in Hel the wicked in horror of Conscience my punishment is greater than can be endured Others whom God abates of the execution of his displeasure for the present these men look at them and may lift at them a little by some sudden flashy and flitting apprehension as they hear or read c. But by Meditation to bind this burden upon their Consciences that the heart cannot get from under it they are not able to abide the weight of them therefore wil not abide the thought of them they 〈◊〉 off and cast away the burden and so they never feel it before the infinite Justice of the Lord seizeth upon their souls by everlasting discouragement Better we set them in order before our eye trouble our hearts with them than that the Lord should set them in order before us at the day of Judgment and tear us in pieces when there shal be none to deliver us To help in this so hard a buisiness let me speak something 1. By way of provocation to stir you up to this work 2. By way of direction to guid you in it To provoke your hearts thereunto take these considerations Let every man take it to himself as his own task charge it upon his own soul as a service which by unavoydable necessity lyes upon him which he may not neglect This wil awaken the soul to the work say
the Lord may dwell among them also Psal. 68. 18. Eph. 4. 8. This may suffice for the Proof of the Point See the 〈◊〉 of it laid open in 〈◊〉 Particulars He presseth in upon men by the prevailing work of his Grace in his Ordinances before they look after him or their own welfare prevents their imaginations and desires When 〈◊〉 snorting in their sins sit down securely wel apay'd with their careless and corrupt condition the things of Grace and Christ and Mercy are not so much as in their thoughts or dream the Lord beyond their expectation le ts in the discovery of himself and 〈◊〉 manifestation of the work of his Spirit before they be aware of it Jos. 24. 2. compared with Acts 7. 2. Thus it was in the calling of Abraham when the Lord brought him to himself and made him the Father of the Faithful when Terah and he were drowned in Idolatry without God without Christ and without Hope never heard of any such thing as life in a Savior by Faith never hearkened after it but worshiping the Idols of the Heathen The God of Glory saies Stephen appeared to our Father Abraham when he 〈◊〉 in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran when he dwelt in the mid'st of Idolaters and never had the least thought or apprehension of the Covenant of Grace the Lord then appeared to him and bad him come out from thy country and kindred and from thy fathers 〈◊〉 and so from their Idolatrous Practices God finds men before they seek him he makes known himself before they enquire after him Isai. 〈◊〉 1. I am 〈◊〉 of them that asked not after me I am found of them that sought me not I said behold me behold me to a Nation that was 〈◊〉 called by my Name How often have we heard it and known it in our own Country the Lord hath sent a Minister to see the Country and visit his friends and it hath been the day wherein he hath been pleased to visit the heart of many a careless ignorant Creature who came idling as to a May-game or Morrisdauncing and dropped into the Assembly and the Word hath laid hold on him before he hath been aware of it how often hath the loose Prodigal come to riot it at the Fair and Market and hath been drawn in to hear beyond his purpose cross to his desire and wished himself out of the place and yet hath heard that before he departed which hath been a word of life and peace unto his soul for which he saw cause to bless God to all Eternity Matthew he is sitting at the receit of Custom minds how to take money Peter and James are casting a Net into the Sea to see how to make provision for themselves Christ cals them to himself and so to an Interest in Grace and Glory when they had not so much as a thought that way It 's that of the Apostle Rom. 9. 30. The Gentiles who sought not after righteousness they have attained unto righteousness and yet the Jews who pretended great pains and search that way they fel short of it As the Lord presseth in upon men before they be aware and beyond their purposes So many times he takes the worst of men whose hearts and lives are at the greatest distance from the holiness of his word and waies Thus our Savior posesseth that the Publicans and Harlots such as were in the rank of the most notorious wretches Go before the Scribes and Pharisees into the Kingdom of Heaven Luke 3. 9 10. Luke 7. 29. Which carried a form and appearance of Godliness in the view of the World And you shall observe the Lord to gather the most glorious Churches in the places and amongst the people where there have been the puddles and sinks of all wickedness 〈◊〉 Corinth Creet notorious and 〈◊〉 in all 〈◊〉 for hideous and hellish abominations and yet there the Lord 〈◊〉 Churches of the greatest beauty Saints of most glorious excellency of Grace such as were destitute of no Grace and yet the place destitute of no villany 2. Cor. 6. 7. When he had reckoned up a catalogue of most accursed Villanies yet professed God brought precious Gold out of dirt and 〈◊〉 Know ye not that no 〈◊〉 Idolaters Effoeminate abusers of themselves with man-kind nor Theeves nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God and such were 〈◊〉 of you Ver. 10. 11. But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified by the Name of Jesus and by the Spirit of our God The Lord Jesus prevails with these that are the most reffuse persons even when they are in the ruff and height of all their wretchedness when they are in the extreamest out-rage and running riot in the waies of wickedness beyond the bounds of modesty and moderation Our Savior Christ stops not Paul in his proceeding when his injurious and blasphemous carriage was in the bud beginning while his Spirit was stirring with the pangs 〈◊〉 pride and 〈◊〉 that he stood as a Spectator and 〈◊〉 and kept the Garments of those that stoned Stephen Acts 22. 20. not yet attaining that impudency and violence to lay hands on the Saints and to fly upon the prey But when he became more mad in malice and cruelty and became a principal in such out-rages a leader in bloody persecutions Acts 26. 11. that he goes armed with Authority breathing out threatnings and slaughter Acts 9. 1. resolves to attach and imprison all sorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sexes men and women that prosess the Name of Jesus When he is running full carreer in such 〈◊〉 and cruelty the Lord then meets him unhorseth him takes his weapons out of his hand 〈◊〉 his Commission and causeth him to bear his Name who had before blasphemed it to care sor all the Churches who before destroyed them he makes him fall at his foot and follow his 〈◊〉 and colors Lord what wilt thou have me to do The 〈◊〉 beyond his place commission and allowance he scourges and cruelly handles Paul and Barnabas and when he prides and pleaseth himself in his cruelty and 〈◊〉 behaviour towards the poor servants of the Lord he then takes him to task Acts. 16. 30. puls him down upon his knees and forceth him to seek for mercy and direction from those to whom he shewed no mercy nor humanity before he trembling fel down saying Sirs what must I do to be saved The Lord stops not Manassehs out-rage when he enters first upon his kingdome as he easily could have done but suffers him to fil up the measure of his iniquity so that the bottom of Hel could not afford abominations more or worse than were practised by him he filled Jerusalem with blood shut up the dores of the sanctuary gave himself to witch-craft and conjuring The Lord now grapples with him by the power of his grace and after his mighty provocations persevering also in those desperate courses the Lord humbles him mightily under his almighty hand and brings him
world The 〈◊〉 abilities of wit and learning the nobility of birth the priviledg of our place and state The Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whol course of carnal excellency he chooseth the 〈◊〉 to confound the wise the weak to confound the mighty base things that are not to bring to nought things things that are nothing of any probability or possibility in an ordinary way that might have attained any good being wholly set against it nothing of ingenuity or moderation or common 〈◊〉 but when they grow desperatly wicked yet then the Lord doth good that no flesh may glory in his presence that it is not in your wealth or parts or endeavours or outward pomp behold these poor base creatures base in their condition and yet more base in their carriage scant worse in the bottom of Hel yet these are called Oh how wil it confound the wise to see the foolish of the world brought to the knowledg of Christ when they never knew the things belonging to their peace how wil it confound the Civilian and subtil hypocrite who had painted over his profession with appearance of Godliness to see a prophane wretch whose leudness time was when he loathed as though his person were not fit to be looked on yet now pulled out of his sink and dunghil made a glorious saint in heaven when he shal be cast out amongst dogs So the Prophet Ezek. 16. last Look we at the Work it self There is also a depth of infinite wisdom in this Dispensation to bring that about in many hearts and that by this means and that with most success the Lord suffers many to go to a great excess of sin before he laies hold upon them or seems to take them to task that the grossness of the evils might make way for their more easie conviction and so for the entry of the Word upon their souls and their subjection to the power and evidence thereof Men or Hypocrites of a smooth refined carriage when they carry a conformity in their course to the waies of Godliness and have strength of carnal reason to make the best of an unblameable life it 's hard for any to come within them either to pass a Sentence of their present condition because love hopes the best when it can bring no evidence of the contrary evil much less to perswade their estate is unsafe and not sincere but when the Lord lets loose Satan or some loathsom lusts upon them that they become scandalous and notoriously 〈◊〉 and their 〈◊〉 appears in their fore-heads then they yield to go out of the Camp and confess they are unclean As the Physitian when he would cure the cold Palsey he is content to cast his Patient into a burning Feaver because he can tel how to come the better to the Cure So here our Savior wisheth Rev. 3. 17. I would thou wert either hot or cold because then he could tel how to deal with her if either truly good he would encourage if openly naught he would then convince her he knew how to apply the means and she would be content to receive it bu when she conceives her self rich she wil receive nothing wise she wil hear nothing So I have known some in experience that would take it in indignation that any should question their Grace until the Lord left them to some foul fals gross cozenage scandalous drunkenness c. that hath made them go deeper c. The 〈◊〉 operation of the Word the breaking and so converting the heart of a sinner depends not upon any preparation a man can work in himself or any thing he can do in his corrupt estate for the attaining of life and Salvation For had the Lord expected the good use of a mans free wil in the imployment and exercise of the works of civility and outward moral behavior had he looked for the husbanding of the stock of those moral abilities which are left in corrupt nature or 〈◊〉 by the 〈◊〉 of providence in the restrainning strokes of common grace or had the Lord stayed until these 〈◊〉 had either valued the worth of the Apostles and their administrations and painfully improved the advantages of the means of grace and 〈◊〉 now brought home to their dores or brought a teachableness of spirit to the ordinances If either the preparation and saving conversion of the souls of men had depended upon any such emprovement of themselves it 's certain they had not now been made broken-hearted sinners or savingly brought unto the Lord and for ought any man can tel had never attained it But when cross to the course of humanity they mocked and scorned both 〈◊〉 persons message of the Apostles contrary to truth they cast reproaches and contumelious contempt upon them 〈◊〉 men are ful of new wine nay when they were carried with professed opposition malignant enmity against their persons and dispensations yet now the Lord presseth in upon them by the prevailing power of his spirit and word and doth good to them when they set themselves by al the policy and rage they could to oppose the work of the Lord and their own everlasting welfare clear it is therefore that this spiritual dispensation of breaking or calling of them home depends not upon any preparation which was done nor any performances al which for the present were professedly opposite to their own welfare but meerly upon the power and good pleasure of the Lord and the work of his spirit which he puts forth when it seems best unto himself it s not in him that wills or runs sayes the Apostle he puts both together and denies success unto both that so he may take off al the cavils that could be made or indeed pretended For had it been said the means were powerful and in a plentiful manner bestowed but men would not do what they might and ought may be there was a slight 〈◊〉 some powerless wishing but there wanted the strength of endeavor behould he excludes both It 's not him that wils only nay let him run for it put to the best of his abilities that wil not do the deed It 's not there but in the good pleasure of him that shewes mercy Rom. 9. 17. And hence it is that the very spirit of bondage terror and astonishment and sensible troubles of heart which many times wicked men that fal finally short of saying grace yet attain in some measure or degree even that is beyond the reach of a mans own power Wee have not received the spirit of bondage to fear Rom. 8. 15. even that is a gift and must be received and is dispensed freely al that a natural man can do cannot cal for his old terrors and troubles which out of his sensuality he hath devised wayes to wear out unless the Lord wil set them on by his hand And hence the Apostle makes the exception so general to Timothy 2. Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according
his sight and that he that glories might glory in the Lord. By what Law is boasting excluded by the Law of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith Rom. 3. 27. For if Abraham had been justified by Works he had whereof to glory Rom. 4. 2. And therefore as in the Material it 's so in the Spiritual Temple the laying of the first and lowest stone and adding of the last all the people cried Grace Grace and hence the whol chain is as it were of Gods own making and tying Whom he predestinated them he called and whom he called them he justified and whom he justified them he glorified Rom. 8. 30. and the end and issue of all is set down by the holy Apostle Eph. 4. 15. when all the Churches shall meet at the great day of Appearance in the unity of the Faith it is to the acknowledgment of the Son of God By whom were you called humbled justified adopted sanctified By the Son of God receive all from him return all to him But this Opinion plucks the Crown from Christs Head the Glory from his Work the Praise from his Grace and gives it to the will of man and the improvement of those abilities and opportunities the Lord hath put into his hand because by this means he makes himself to differ For set Paul and Judas in the same rank let them enjoy the same means share in the same liberties advantages opportunities one as the other Paul by the good use of his free will he plaies the good Husband he doth what he can and he obtains what he wants and receives Grace Judas plaies the Prodigal and Unthrift doth not what he should and might and therefore he wants Grace so that they were both equal in the priviledges and opportunities they received from God they differ not there that Paul hath that Grace which Judas wants he may thank his own pains and improvement and glory in himself and them Nay Paul is not bound to be thankful to God for any thing more than Judas for he had no more from God by this Opinion than Judas what he had and received more it was by his own improvements which to conceit is a most hellish delusion Lastly If by the improvements of Abilities and Advantages we certainly receive Spiritual Grace then this must follow Either because such improvement deserves Grace or do immediately and nextly dispose the soul to receive Grace or that such improvements have a promise made to them from God But none of al these can be granted They cannot deserve Grace because when we have done what we can we must conclude as we shal have cause to confess we are unprofitable Luke 17. 10. The plowing and so the praying of the wicked is sin his most beautiful performances are from the flesh and so sinful and deserve the just wrath of God and therefore no Grace nor Glory John 3. 8. They do not nor can dispose the soul as that it may be thereby a fit subject to receive Grace Those actions which leave the soul under the power of sin and acted by sin and a man in a Natural condition those stil leave the soul indisposed to Grace for the Natural man perceives not the things of Grace nor can he receive them 1 Cor. 2. 14. they found him in the world and they leave him in the world and the world cannot receive the holy Ghost John 14. 17. Natural and corrupt actions cannot prepare immediately for Supernatural Grace There is no promise of giving saving Grace to such and none could ever be shewed That which somtimes the Arminians pretend but press it with no great confidence is in Matth. 25. 29. in the Parable of the Talents To every man that hath shall be given and to him that hath not shall be taken away even that he hath Hence He that hath and useth his Natural abilities wel shal be given Supernatural Answ. That gloss corrupts 〈◊〉 Text and doth not suit with the Scope and Circumstances of the Parable as hath been made good by many Arguments by such as have diligently searched into the sence of the place The unprofitable Servant that used not his Talents wel he is to receive that Sentence 〈◊〉 must be cast into utter darkness which were it understood according to the former Opinion it would infer an apparent falshood He that did not improve his Talent was forth with to be cast into utter darkness but many that do not use their natural abilities and the special advantages wel have been formerly and wil without question be brought home to Christ and happiness 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Know ye not that no Adulterer Covetous Reviler Extortioner shal inherit the Kingdom of Heaven but such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are clensed 1 Pet. 4. 2. It is sufficient that in time past we have had our Conversation among the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness 〈◊〉 excess of Riot Revellings and abominable 〈◊〉 These did not use their Natural abilities wel and yet were not cast out into utter darkness therefore the using of the Natural abilities is not the having or the using of the Talent there meant 〈◊〉 I suppose the meaning of the Phrase is by him that hath is meant the man that is truly gracious the Talent is the Gospel by having is the receiving and 〈◊〉 of it in a good and honest heart and the sanctified use of it in a saving manner For the Evangelists Expressions seem undeniable to evidence this meaning Matth. 13. 11 12. When our Savior Christ had told his Disciples it was given to them q. d. it 's the peculiar special work of the Spirit of Grace in your hearts to know the mysteries of the Kingdom but to them it is not given he ads the reason and proof in the next verse for to him that hath he that in sincerity entertains the Gospel shal have a further communication of the Truth and sweetness of the Gospel to his soul but whosoever hath not whosoever entertains not the Gospel in truth and uprightness from him shall be taken away the Gospel which by a seeming profession of fals-hearted lazy entertainment he would seem to have but never had in sincerity the like connexion is found Mark 4. 24 25. Take heed what you hear and unto you that hear i. e. that do take heed what you hear more shal be given for to him that hath shall be given but 〈◊〉 that hath not i. e. that doth not take heed what he hears and so receives not the Word in sincerity from him shall be taken even that he hath But if the saving work of the Word doth not depend upon my endeavor why should I endeavor any further any longer or attend the use of the means or practice answerable thereunto Thou thy self and al thy services being in a natural estate are as a menstruous cloth both in themselves and in the sight of Gods pure eyes unanswerable to Gods
delivers touching Gods Dispensation and I know not but it may hold here Psal. 18. 27. With the froward thou wilt deal frowardly the place is hard for the apprehension of it in the fair and full sence of it The words that go before will give in some light With the bountiful thou wilt shew thy self bountiful with the perfect thou wilt be perfect with the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure and with 〈◊〉 perverse or froward thou 〈◊〉 shew thy self froward thou wilt make thy self deal frowardly To speak to the pinch of the Point but in two words I conceive 〈◊〉 to be the meaning 〈◊〉 the place and the mind of God in it He that walks with God in the exercise of the Rule in a 〈◊〉 manner God 〈◊〉 meet with him in it and give him the 〈◊〉 and comfort that follows and flows from it he that conscienciously keeps the Rule shal be more fitted for to keep it and to share in the blessing and 〈◊〉 of it he that deals bountifully in vertue of the Rule he shal be more apt to that Duty and shal find bountiful dealings from the hands of others God and men he that is upright thorough and simple in Spirit and practice he shal be more exact every way and find peace and praise as the fruit of that he that is pure that is not only contents himself to be simple and sincere hearted in his whol course but is dayly purging himself and clensing his own heart 〈◊〉 severing himself from such taints and remainders of distempers that appear and 〈◊〉 to cleer up the Rule in the beauty and excellency thereof to himself that he may see more of it submit more freely and fully to it the Lord will make himself pure to him So the word God wil let in pure instructions that no darkness or dimness may stumble him or cause him to mistake pure evidence of pardon and acceptance no guilt may unsettle him pure comforts and peace that no doubts or fears may discourage him pure holiness and power of 〈◊〉 that no strength of corruption may blur the Image of God in him or darken the Evidence of the Work of Grace received But 〈◊〉 a man will be froward crook the Rule go cross to the Command and wil walk in the vanity of his own 〈◊〉 and stubbornness of his own Spirit oppose the power of the Truth not willing to look upon or abide to hear of the purity of it God will shew himself froward towards such a one he wil 〈◊〉 you and cross you in your whol course and in al your comforts you crook and wind away from the Rule to content your sins God by his Righteous Law by vertue of the provoking power therof wil deliver you up to the power of your sins and to al the terros and plagues and expressions of his 〈◊〉 that attend thereupon and in the daies of thy distress when nothing wil help thee but the holy Word of God God wil then deal with you and follow you with the 〈◊〉 of your own 〈◊〉 thou would'st not see the holiness and purity of Gods Precepts thou 〈◊〉 have a mind not able to attend or receive or remember any thing that may be for thy direction support or comfort but only live upon thine own guilt and the terrors that attend thereupon and the perversness of thine own heart wil be thine own plague In your froward pangs you flinch and fling care not what you say or do God can be as 〈◊〉 as you nor hear prayers nor regard your complaints nor pity your necessities but pursue you with his plagues let fly on every hand the fierceness of his displeasure God can and wil hamper thee if thou had'st a heart as sierce as a 〈◊〉 of Hell make thee weary of thy part be as perverse as thou wilt or canst be And therefore the word in the place is marvelous pregnant it signifies to contend with another as one that wrastles wil do wreath and 〈◊〉 and turn his body every way that he may meet with his adversary with whom he is to grapple So the Lord will meet with thee at every turn the greater thy opposition hath been against him the greater expression of his displeasure shalt thou be sure to 〈◊〉 and that in the most dreadful manner The sins of Manasseh were high handed and hellish abominations mighty provocations out of measure sinful 2 Chron. 33. 11. Therefore God abased him mightily fettered and 〈◊〉 and humbled him mightily and made him cry mightily before he could 〈◊〉 audience and acceptance with him the cruel and harsh carriage of the Jaylor Acts 16. exceeded his Commission and so the bounds of common Humanity to deal worse with the distressed than either their Fact deserved or the Law permitted or Authority allowed him in that behalf a 〈◊〉 transported with deadly indignation against the waies of God and his People and as it appears by the circumstances of the story a man that pleased 〈◊〉 in such unreasonable practices the Lord therefore handles him answerably to the harshness of his spirit makes the Earth quake and the Prison totter the bolts break and the door fly open and at last his heart begins to shake and die within him notwithstanding the fierceness of his Spirit So Paul Acts 9. he comes trembling to crave the Counsel of those whose presence formerly he loathed There is a Three-fold Ground from whence the Reasons of this Point may be fetched which will Evidence That this manner of proceeding best suits with the insinite Wisdom of God look we at God at others at the sinner himself with whom the Lord is now trading The Holiness of Gods Nature and exactness of his Truth not only commends but even seems with some kind of comely necessity to call for such a manner of Dispensation The Lord stiles himself the holy One of Israel a God of purer eyes than can endure to behold iniquity not able to pass by sin in the least appearance of it and therefore leaves so strict a charge beware lest there be an evil thought in thy heart and abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thes. 5. When the Lord is to convince the sinner of sin to express his mind and displeasure against him because of those his evils so scandalous and detestable to al that have but the least spark of saving knowledg and Grace yea loathsom to the very light of Conscience in corrupt Nature Should the Lord casily and overly 〈◊〉 them by with some smal 〈◊〉 of some little dislike it could not but impeach his Purity and make himself accessary to the dishonor of his own Holiness When Eli proceeded not with that zeal against 〈◊〉 evil of his Sons as the 〈◊〉 thereof might justly have provoke 〈◊〉 him unto but after a slight manner manifested a heart-less dislike of it the Lord 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 2. 39. That he honored his sons before him rather respected their carnal content that they might not be
thee as with these as he dealt with the Jaylour as he dealt with Paul whom he made a choyce vessel for himself art thou not highly honored why should God knock at thy dore and cal in upon thy Conscience c. ADVISE unto Ministers whose place and calling it is under the Lord to deal with such persons undersuch diseases Hence we may see a right way in holy prudence how to proceed with them in the times of temptations and their saddest distresses of spirit See what God doth and that we may do As Gods deals so we may deal as the safest way and most likely to find 〈◊〉 When therefore we have fortifyed the heart with hope in regard of the sufficiency of God free grace and possibility of relief from him As that he is able to do excessive exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think As in desperate cures men use cordials to fortify against faintings of heart that they may better bear the hardness of the cure this being supposed then the rule is The sharpest receits are most seasonable in a right manner of proceeding and that in three things 1 Be not slight in the searching 2 Be not too hasty to heal 3 Be not too suddeenly confident of the cure Not slight in the search for that is most dangerous and an error here can hardly ever be recovered go therefore to the quick see the bottome if ever you hope to make work of it or to lend help indeed He that cleaves knotty logs must have the sharpest wedges and hardest blowes Here pity is unseasonable and greatest cruelty When out of 〈◊〉 we are afraid to put men to pain we encrease their pains and hasten their destruction Jer. 6. 14. they have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly The Apostle teacheth another way Titus 1. 13. reprove them sharply that they may be sound in the faith Sharp reproofes make sound Christians He shewes greatest love and mercy which followes the Lord in love and mercy Yea it is a course that procures most ease to the party the corrosive that eats away the proud flesh brings soonest ease because that proud flesh and humors bring al the pain So these dreadful overbearing threatnings abate the pride of the heart and a mans perversness and so brings ease for the waywardness of our own wils work our own woe and here not to trouble mens sins and Consciences is indeed to trouble their peace and comfort in issue Thus Samuel 1 Sam. 12. 20. He lesseneth nothing of their sin onely sendeth them forth to mercy for relief Ye have indeed done al this wickedness yet do not forsake the Lord. Be not too hasty to heal the wound More hast than good speed draws here desperate in conveniences with it and may be hazards their comforts while they live Old and deep sores as they have been long in gathering corrupt humors so they must have a time to wast and wear them away which wil not be done in a moment old stayns must lye long in soak and have many fresh lavers before in reason they can be clensed So old distempers which have taken strong possession and are of long continuance happily if the cure be too hasty it wil hazard our comforts The Israelites left War too suddenly with the Canaanites they tribured them and not destroyed them and they proved goads in their sides which they could not get rid of all their daies Be not suddenly confident of the Cure Let men be Probationers in our apprehensions let them proceed in a fearful and painful way to make proof of the inward disposition of their hearts by their outward practices in a constancy of an holy conversation As Solomon said of Adonijah 1 King 1. 52. Let him shew himself a worthy man This creating of Professors making men Christians by our applause and approbation because they have attained the under strokes of horror skil ability to holy Services proves the bane of their souls the blemish of their Profession and a breach of their Peace either they have turned wretches again or else have been overtaken with their carelessness so that they have been foyled by gross falls and hardly ever recovered their peace and comfort though they have taken off the scandal Therefore as John Baptist told them if indeed you purpose to 〈◊〉 from the wrath to come bring forth fruits worthy of amendment Matth. 3. 8. such as wil carry weight and fetch up the scales as it were and undoubtedly evidence the work of Grace Matter of Caution and Direction unto such whom God hath exercised with such heavy breakings of heart for their scandalous courses beware ye be not weary and labor to make an escape from under the Dispensation of the Lord but give welcom thereunto help forward the work do not resist it make way for the Dispensation of the Lord do not oppose it and therefore possess thy heart with a necessity of subjection thereunto Why should'st thou think to have an exception be rather fearful thou shouldst not find the Truth of the work of these terrors than that thou should'st be fearful to endure these if he wil land thee in Christ he wil toss thee in this manner As a Patient having a 〈◊〉 wound he enquires what the 〈◊〉 did to others and how the Salve did work upon others in his case and if he find the Salve and working be the same he hopes that he also shal be cured So here EXHORTATION Improve the utmost of our endeavor to keep our selves and all ours from scandalous sins Restraining Grace is but common Grace yet is it a great favor of the Lord that he wil curb and restrain a man by this means the work of Conversion is more easie and such persons freed from dreadful terrors that seize upon others Mark 12. 34. Thou ant not far from the Kingdom of God 〈◊〉 's bring our Children as neer to Heaven as we can it is in our power to restrain them and reform them and that we ought to do As it was the speech of a godly woman she 〈◊〉 that al means might be used to restrain her Children that if it were possible their reckoning might not be so heavy as mine 〈◊〉 A Prophane course cannot hinder the unresistible work of Gods Grace It 's true But though God may save thy soul yet he may scorch thy soul in the flames of Hell fire and make thee weary of thy part and of thy lusts and all Are there no terrors dreadful but those of the torments of the damned in Hell Yes you wil find it you may pay deer for al your pleasures in sin for al your fleshly lusts before your hearts be brought off from them therefore you that are Parents joyn your helping hands to this great and good Work beat down the stubbornness do what you can to restrain the loosness and prophaneness of the spirits of your children though it 's
not in your power to bring them in yet bring them as neer to the Kingdom of God as you can c. They were pricked in their hearts The last Doctrine which is considered touching the Work it self Sorrow for sin 〈◊〉 set on pierceth the heart of the sinner through that is truly affected therewith They were pricked not in their eyes to weep for their sins so Esau could not in their tongues only to confess their sin so Judas did I have sinned in betraying innocent blood nor in their hands alone to reform it outwardly so those Apostats did 2 Pet. 2. 20. They escaped the pollutions of the world through the acknowledgment of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but it reached their hearts their souls bled inwardly their souls were most guilty and had the greatest hand in the commission of those bloody and execrable cruelties the fountain of their sorrow did rise as high as the beginning of their sin soul sins and soul sorrows Nor was the stroke slight not the ripling of the skin a lighter touch a sudden pang a sigh and away nay not only lanced and gashed the rotten imposthumes of the corruptions of their hearts in a great measure but ransacked the very root of the corruption pierced the heart quite through through and through again as it were let out the core of the most inward and most retired corruptions that were lodged in their bosom and bottom of their hearts And this work proceeded not from any power of their own nor from the liberty and freedom of their wils as that which they made choyce of and out of their own ability did readily put forth but it was set on by the hand of the Almighty in the entrance whereof they were Patients went against the heart and hair and wholly beyond their purposes and expectations So the words are in the passive form they were pricked they did not prick themselves Nay certainly could they have told how to prevent it how to remove it or to procure any ease and relief unto themselves they would never have cryed out as men in a maze and astonishing straights of Spirit What shall we do Thus God proceeds when he purposeth to make a through work When God was purposed to set upon the revolting people of the Jews and to bring them savingly home to himself Hos. 13. 4. so 〈◊〉 carry it according to the foregoing and following words I am the Lord thy God from the Land of Egypt and there is no Savior besides me ver 4. and blames also the frowardness and folly of their Spirits not yielding so readily and taking the advantage of Gods dealing for their good ver 13. The sorrows of a travelling woman shall come upon him he is an unwise son for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of Children q. d. The Lord in mercy offers himself to the Israelites under their terrors as a Midwife that would make way for them out of their sins and sorrows Now in this 〈◊〉 of his towards the people to be converted he professeth that he will meet with them 〈◊〉 a Bear bereaved of her whelps he wil rend the caul of their hearts ver 8. the words are the closure and shutting up of their hearts sinners are shut up under the power of their distempers as the Apostle saith all men by Nature are shut up under unbelief Rom. 11. 32. especially there be some closets and secret corners and conveyances of soul wherein the most sweet and delightful abominations are hugged and harbored the Lord leaves not a poor wretch if indeed he intend his good before he breaks open those great depths rests not before he come home to the root and let out the heart-blood of thy lusts and then their death wil undoubtedly follow And hence it is this sorrow is compared to such as enter into the very inwards of Nature and sinks the soul with unsupportable pressures when that great conversion and return of the Jews to the entertainment of the Gospel shal be brought about by the Lord. The Prophet sets forth the greatness of that sorrow of theirs under a double similitude First Zach. 12. 10. They shall mourn for him as the mother mourns for her only son and for her first born the mourning of a tender hearted mother for her son her first born and for her only son he adds al degrees of grief if she had possessed many she might more easily have wanted one or at least parted with it or had it been any but her first born which had the first of her strength and the first of her love yet she might have born it with more quietness but when al these meet together her life and comfort is wrapped up in the life of the Child the mourning becomes unmeasurable fils the heart as it were Secondly It shall be like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon when al Israel lamented the death of their good Josiah the light of their eyes the breath of their Nostrils the comfort of their souls 2 Chron. 35. 25. Therfore the original words which lay open this work are of marvelous weight and discover the overpowring vertue thereof Isai. 57. 18. The Lord dwels with him that is of a contrite spirit Isai. 61. 6. The Lord binds up the broken heart The first whereof signifies to pun to pouder and to bring to smal dust it is so used Psal. 90. 3. Thou bringest man to the dust of death again thou sayest return ye children of men That as the hardest stone when it 's broken al to smal mammocks and pouder as it were it 's easie and yielding under the touch of the hand what ever ruggedness and resistance was in it before So it is with the soul that is punned to pouder so that there is not any unbroken or any whol part to be found there no sodering in any secret manner with any retired distemper but the weight of godly sorrow hath shatter'd all asunder distress of Conscience hath brought it to dust parted all the privy closures with any particular of any distemper all that knotty stiffness and perversness of spirit in siding with any corruption is now taken off The soul comes easily to give way to the Authority of the Truth that would take any sinful lust away To the like purpose is that of Job Job 23. 16. when the Armies of Gods indignation had encamped against him and the terrors of the Lord had drunk up his spirit saies he God makes my heart soft or hath melted my soul the word signifies a severing and separation of one thing from another and is opposite to setling and fastening making firm stiff and hard as that of Pharaoh Exod. 9. last Pharaoh hardened his heart his soul fastened by an invincible resolution to the sinful purpose of his malicious detaining and oppression of the Jews When the fierceness of Gods dupleasure brought home by the breathings of the Spirit
Gods spirit and grace and al the saveing operations of al the means thereof The flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these two are contrary Gal. 5. 17. And what is born of the flesh is flesh John 3. 7. that is the temper and inward constitution of a soul in its natural condition it s wholly born of the flesh and therefore nothing but flesh and therefore can do nothing but resist the spirit yea it cannot but oppose what ever would take that resistance away for it 's a received rule of reason and confessed of al hands every thing desires the preservation of it self and its being otherwise the being and the causes that made up the being should be cross to the thing if it should endeavor its own destruction nay a thing should be opposite to it self Hence it is that the corruption of the heart wil put forth al the skil strength it hath or by the contrivements of carnal reason can compass to fortify preserve it self against the spiritual and saving dispensation of the work of Gods spirit in his own ordinances because wicked men look at the power thereof as that which works the ruin of their lusts therefore they labor to avoyd the light if they can if not that to oppose it and overbear it by their delusions if not that to destroy it they wil not hear the truth or gainsay what they hear or abhor and loath what they cannot many times gainsay nay endeavour to destroy what they so hate and are tormented withal The wisdom of the flesh cannot be subject to the law Rom. 8. 7. the heart riseth up in armes and indignation against the soul-saving and uncontroulable evidences of the truth they wil not be ruled by the holiness of it and they cannot endure the terror and Majesty of it 〈◊〉 sometimes the Philystians dealt with the Ark when it came into the field they thus spake one to another there was never such a thing heard of as this these are the Gods that destroyed the Egiptians in the red Sea quit your selves like men Oh yee Philystins that ye be not servants to the Hebrewes They say of the word as sometimes of our Saviour Math. 21. this is the Heyr come let us kill him and the inheritance shal be ours they cannot have their lusts so long as the power of the word would overtop and cross them therefore Herodias prefers John Baptists head before half the Kingdom that she might be quiet in her sins Before the soul can act against the evil of sin or for the removal of this resistance wherein the destroying venom of sin lyes and that which stops the passage of the power of the ordinance the work of Grace It 's necessary that the Lord should not only concur with the 〈◊〉 of the wil of a sinner to lead or draw forth the act thereof which he hath ability to express but he must let in an influence of the 〈◊〉 power vertue into the faculty of the wil whereby it may be enabled to put forth an act unto which it formerly it had no power of it self It 's a subtile pang of Pelagianism and the Arminians som of their successors have licked up that loathsom heresy of theirs at this day 〈◊〉 this delusion cunning pretence of theirs they would color over those rotten and poysonful conceits hence it is they labor to bear men in hand that they labor to set forth and exalt the honour of Gods free grace they profess that without the preventing grace of God mans free wil and al that ability he hath left in nature since the fal is able to do no spiritual good The words are fayr but the intent is fals and 〈◊〉 and indeed they do privily and cunningly undermine the work of Gods grace while they pretend indeed to advance it For the meaning is this God must enlighten mens minds and reveal the things of life and happiness to mens wils excite stir up and cal forth their hearts to the embracing of that which is good and concur with him in their endeavors to the performance of the work or else they can do nothing so that upon this grant Gods free grace in the work of conversion cals forth and concurs with that act which mans free wil hath sufficiency to put forth which is to make man share with God in his work and to part stakes with him But the truth is this The Lord must let in an influence of some special motion and operation and leave some impression of spiritual power upon the wil to enable it to act not onely to concur with the act thereof God gives a man ability whereby he may wil doth not 〈◊〉 with him by assistance and providence when he wills as one in whom we live and move Of the first of these it 's true which many of the Antients speak God works without us many things in us i. e. unto which we being in no causal ability at al God gives us ability to do that which is pleasing and spiritual to the obtaining whereof we had no causal ability of our own when the Lord Christ raised Lazarus now dead and smelling in the Grave he did not concur with the action and motion of his Soul in rising out of the Grave but without any causal concurrence or help of Lazarus he put a soul into his body whereby he was enabled to stir and move So it is with a soul dead in sins and trespasses when the mind and will have no ability for any spiritual act not able to take off that deadness and indisposition that is there the Lord without the will without any causal concurrence of it le ts in ability into it for the work and concurs with it in the work So Paul expresseth this manner of Gods Work 2 Cor. 4. 6. He causeth light to shine out of darkness he gives light and being out of darkness without the help of light and then concurs with the light in the shining of it God lets in an Influence to the will not only lends a concurrence to the work The Influence of this spiritual Power whereby the Lord takes away this sinful resistance is not by any gracious habit of sanctification but by an irresistable motion of the work of his spirit upon the soul By a gracious habit of Sanctification I mean those spiritual Graces of Wisdom Holiness Righteousness in which Adam at first was created and according unto which al the Elect and called are renewed according to the Image of him that created them Eph. 4. 24. Col. 3. 10. these gracious habits are so many Spiritual and Supernatural Principles as it were left in the soul whereby it is in a state of Life and Grace and liberty and free will to any good and therefore as those that are Agents by Counsel they are 〈◊〉 of their own work can act or not act can act more or less according to
their own choyce And I follow the Apprehension of those Authors who conceive that the removal of this resistance is not by any gracious habit of Sanctification but by the irresistible motion of the work of the Spirit and therefore they cal it Actual Grace the other Habitual A work of the Spirit assisting the other a work of the Spirit inhabiting or dwelling in the heart the one a Principle of Grace in us which we have from communion with Christ the other the work of the Spirit upon us to bring us from our sins to union with the Lord Jesus and that upon these grounds All Habits as it is in the Nature of all qualities have their being in their Subjects before they work in their Subject Reason and Nature teacheth and presupposeth he must have skil before he can use it gain the knowledg of an Art before he 〈◊〉 work by it I cannot do the work of the Trade alas I have no skil nor ever was brought up to it for take the heart according to the condition in which we now look at a sinner it 's wholly under the power of resistance carried in total opposition against God and al the works of his Grace and therefore consider him in this time and turn and go no further there is no room or next capability of a gracious habit or spiritual Principle to be there therefore it cannot work there The Natural man doth not receive the things of the Spirit of God nay he cannot do it 1 Cor. 2. 14. The World cannot receive the Comforter John 14. 21. Where there is a capability to receive there is some kind of consent and agreement but so as yet it cannot be here in a heart fastened to its lusts where there is a total opposition there is no fit disposition to receive but while the soul is under the power of this resistance there is a total opposition and therefore there can be no consension Again Secondly All gracious Habits of Sanctification are part of the Image which we receive from the Second Adam 1 Cor. 15. 49. As we have born the Image of the first Adam so shall we also bear the Image of the second Adam and so also part of our Spiritual communion with Christ of whose fulness we receive Grace for Grace John 1. 16. and are transformed from one degree of glorious Grace to another 2 Cor. 3. last All Communion presupposeth Union no sap in the Branches unless growing to the Tree no life in the Member unless united to the Head John 15. 4. Unless ye abide in me ye can have nothing do nothing Eph. 4. 15 16. Grows up in him in all things who is our Head by whom the Body aptly compacted together according to the effectual working c. First In-being then working No Union but by an Act for no qualities close with their Object but by an Act. But now look at the soul in this present condition as it comes to consideration in this place as to have the resistance removed and it self turned from sin and in way to be turned to God Should this be done by a gracious Habit then there should be communion with Christ before any union to him or acting upon him all which imply so many impossibilities and cross the whol course of Gods Dispensation Those gracious Habits when and wheresoever they be in any Subject it becomes free somtimes the actions thereof are suspended and cease as in sleep and then the act and order of things is according to their own liberty in an indifferency so that were either the resistance against the work of Grace to be removed or the heart carried to God from hence it were in our choyce to be converted or not converted whenas it hath been proved our Conversion is wrought irresistably and determined to one side not issuing from the liberty of our choyce and therefore it is brought about by the irresistible impression of the work of the Spirit In a word to issue this Point Look as it is in the will of every Son of Adam when he comes to be averted and turned 〈◊〉 God to sin in the course of Natural Generation so it is in a right proportion in the 〈◊〉 of every man begotten of the Second Adam when he comes to be turned from sin to God in Spiritual Conversion Look at the will of a Child in the course of Natural Generation as it is created by God and comes holy and undefiled out of his hand as the question How comes the will of the Child to be turned from God to sin it cannot be by any actual sin of its own it hath committed none it cannot be by any corrupt quality first put into it before it was turned from God and by which that turning aside is wrought for then it should be under the power of sin while yet it is under the power of God But by vertue of Adams sin and the Curse that attends the breach of the Covenant and by means of the next Parent in the work of Generation the Body made wonderfully and the Soul created holy by God he as an unskilful workman by the vertue of the Curse acting the work of Generation under the power of the Curse and power of a perverted will turns the set of the Soul from God joyns body and soul in a wrong and exorbitant manner hence they 〈◊〉 to be in a disorderly frame the wheels run wrong under the power of original corruption and struck wrong by actual transgression so that there is the strength of the Curse the push of Divine Justice and the perverting stroke of the next Parent turns the soul from God to sin whence it comes to be wholly possessed and acted by corruption So it is by proportion in a contrary manner in the work of Conversion when the Lord Jesus comes to bring the sinner home he doth not put sanctifying Grace into the heart to bring the heart from the power and rebellion of fin for then it should be under the power of Grace and sin together but by the mighty impression and motion of his Spirit takes off the resistance and turns the soul from sin to himself in Christ in whom accepting of it as adopted in his Son he leaves the impression of his Image and al gracious abilities whereby the heart may be carried towards him and act for him in all things In the removal of this resistance for the conquering and overpowering this opposition that a carnal heart naturally carries against God and his Grace the will of the sinner it self is a meer Patient and the soul is only a sufferer and acts not but is acted upon for the heart and wil of a sinner being possessed and overpowered with corruption that which is the subject of his corrupt quality and acted by it hath no power to expel it that which is wholly carried by resistance cannot wil to remove that resistance out of it but in truth resists al that resists or
opposeth that only the Lord by the mighty impression of the powerful operation of Spirit over-bears that opposition in the soul and forceth the soul to feel the stab and venom of sin though it use all means and waies it can to avoid the stroak of it but al in vain for the Arrows of the Almighty stick fast in him And all this is done and may be without any prejudice to any Liberty that the Lord hath put into the will for the will may be forced to suffer even against it's will without any wrong to the liberty thereof as the damned do in Hell at this day and shal through all eternity and shal never be able to get from under the terrors of the Almighty For the meaning of that received expression the Will cannot be compelled is this In all the acts the Will puts forth she is a cause by counsel and acts from the inward power and ability that is implanted in her to be compelled is to act by constraining force from without now for the will to act from her own power inwardly and yet to be acted by a contrary power from without are Contradictions The will then in a word cannot be constrained to do but it may be constrained to suffer without any the least prejudice to liberty and so it is here in this work I now mention a meer sufferer Thus Job 36 10. The Lord said to command men from iniquity he not only directs but by a soveraign power carries the soul from iniquity thus lamenting Ephraim intreats Jer. 31. 18. Turn me and I shall be turned thou art the Lord my God And Paul was sent Acts 20. 18. To turn men from darkness to light and so the whol frame of Scripture runs they are said to be wounded burdened 〈◊〉 when they should avoid the blow and remove the burden were in their choyce but they are pressed under the hand of the Lord which they are not able to escape though not able to undergo it Hence it is that though by reason of the presence of the body of death that yet remains there will be some stirrings of distemper which wil raise up some mutinies and conspiracies against the work and preventing Grace of God yet there will never be power nor possibility so far to resist as to hinder the work of Conversion and effectual bringing of the soul to God As in an Army wholly defeated and routed and scattered their Commanders slain and strong Holds taken and their Country possessed though some roving Troops may happily pilfer and forage up and down here and there in secret when they are not observed yet they are never able to make head or come into the Field So here Lastly When this resistance is removed and the right power and challenge which sin made disanulled the soul comes yet further to yield consent that there should be an everlasting divorce made between it and her former lusts and lovers and is in earnest content they should for ever be estranged from her and she from them And in this consent which the soul yields for this separation which is the great knot it moves only as under the power and in the vertue of the motion of the Spirit So that Divines thus speak This consent is not of our selves though not without our selves There is no power in the soul by which as a principle and beginning of the work it 's carried to the work but acts as prevented by the impression of the power and motion of the Spirit in vertue whereof it 's acted and enabled to this consent so that the act of Gods exciting and working Grace doth not concur with the power that is in the will to put forth this consent but as a principle leaves an impression of power upon the will by the vertue whereof it 's moved and so moves in and to this consent As the will of a child of Adam in generation it turns from God to sin not by any first power of its own but by the perverting work of the next Parent who under the vertue of the Curse and Gods Divine Justice turned it from the Lord and the Authority of the Law and put it under the Authority of fin So the will of him that comes to be begotten of the Second Adam doth turn from sin unto God not by any power or principle it hath of its own but by the impression of the operation of his Spirit by which it is turned and in vertue of that it turns Take an instance Suppose the first Grace offered or the voyce of Gods Call tendered unto the will that now hath the resistance taken off the Question now grows How the will comes to give her consent to this Act or first Grace this consent must come either from the will only or partly from the will and partly from Grace or from Grace only To say from the will only is Heretical and perfect Pelagianism in the highest degree which exalts Nature above Grace nay to make it perfect without it If from Grace and the will both as divers principles then there is a concurrence of our will by a power of its own with the power of Grace at the same instant to this work of consent then there is an ability in the will to begin its work and to meet and concur with Grace without Grace so far in a Spiritual Act As for instance The Father and the child both draw a Boat the Father puts more strength to the work the Son also from a principle of its own puts forth some strength and both these concur and meet in the motion the beginning is several from each as several causes though both meet in the act So that Grace concurs with the power of the will to this motion doth not give power and principle whereby it moves And this also is Heretical and Pelagianism for thus far and in that beginning the will closeth with Grace without the power of Grace which is cross to the Apostle and to all the former conclusions Whereas it is in this consent The first call of Grace prevents and wholly moves the will and the will in the 〈◊〉 of that motion moves to the call and consents As it in the Eccho the Voyce stirs the Air the Air in vertue of that stir returns the Voyce again Among some searching Disputes I meet with such an expression which I shal propound and explicate because it makes way for the understanding of the thing in hand The Will doth consent or will but doth not make it self to consent but is made so by another Their meaning is this 1. The Will doth put forth the Act of Consent and so far it 's the cause of it 2. But it was not the cause of that power by which it was enabled to consent but that it received and by that it was enabled to it So that this seems to be the order in which God proceeds God takes away that resistance by the
work of the spirit is the treacherous formalist Formalist I tearm him because he carryes the face of religion the garbe and guise of Godliness in outward appearance and would be counted a friend to the truth so far as he may serve his own turn of it and he is content to be at league with the Gospel provided he may make his own terms and attain his own ends namely that he may have allowance in some lusts and yet 〈◊〉 honored also among the people with the title of an honest Godly and good man But when his carnal ends are not answered and the word requires more than he hath and commands more than he would do and would pluck away his beloved lust that he is loath to part withal he then begins to set up secret conspiracies in his heart against the evidence of the doctrine and therefore I cal him a treacherous hypocrite because he may happily bite the lip and go away for the while and sayes little but he bears a privy grudg against the strictness of such truths that are beyond his pitch and strain and when time comes he wil be revenged of them in the mean time his heart is inwardly tyred with them and goes off from them this the 〈◊〉 cals the counsel of the wicked when wicked hearts cal a counsel and sit in counsel against the commands of God and Job prayes earnestly that God would keep him and free him from it Job 21. 16. Let the counsel of the wicked be far from me namely a reserved resolution to have his distemper rather than to have and welcome that word that would remove it Whereas we have heard a broken-hearted sinner is willing to attend al means but those especially that would help him most and free him from his corruptions this treacherous wretch notwithstanding his pretended love to the word yet when it comes to he is willing to be rid of the word not rid of his corruption so far from being weary of his sin that he is weary of the Minister or Christian brother that would remove it of the word that would subdue it This was the temper of those formalists that followed our savior for the loaves that is the Gospel for their own ends when our savior pressed a spiritual and convicting truth upon them which might carry them beyond their own fals aymes or els would condemn them utterly as such as had no life of Grace in them unless 〈◊〉 eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of man ye have no life in you John 6. 53. nor were it possible they should attain the life of Glory they answer This is a hard saying who can bear it it pinched them to the quick and searched the very core of their corruption and they were resolved to bear their sin but could not bear the saying of our Savior the presence of their sins was pleasant they could welcom them but the power of the Truth was hard they could not indure that nay they speak as though it were a matter impossible who hath power to submit to it truly none but a heart truly pierced with Godly sorrow and therefore it 's added verse 66. From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him because they would walk in their own waies and wicked practices therefore they chose rather to forsake the company and Ministry of a Savior than to forsake their own distempers Thus it hath been often seen in the Country whence we came many a formal wretch hath been at great cost and charges laid out himself and estate to bring a faithful preacher to a place and when the soul-saving dispensation of the Word hath either discovered his falsness and laid open the cursed haunts of a carnal heart shook his hopes and beat all the holds he had of the goodness of his estate and batterred them before his eyes He that had the greatest hand to bring the means and Ministry unto the place ifhe cannot cunningly undermine the man he would rather leave the place than live under the Ministry that would take away his lusts This was the wound of the yong man because he wanted this brokenness of heart not being rightly burdened with his corruption nor loosened from it Matth. 19. he went away from that Counsel of our Savior that would have plucked away his Earthly covetous humor which did take place in him He went away sorrowful al the while our Saviors conditions suited his crooked ends and carnal reason he gave way and welcom to what he was advised All these 〈◊〉 I done from my youth up this is so as I would have it but when our Savior went further Go sell all that was beyond his pace and expectation and he went away he could not bear the Counsel and therefore would not hear it Thus it befals many a man that the Lord hath brought hither confined him to the narrow compass of the Covenant of the Gospel Al the while he lived at large as it were and 〈◊〉 constantly or occasionally attended upon the preaching of the Word and carried an approved kind of conformity thereunto in the Judgment and Opinion of such as only attended the general strain of his profession and so walked aloof off in way of Christian 〈◊〉 and loving entertainment of the Truth al went wel but when he comes to be foulded in the fellowship of the Faith and that men follow him home to his doors and watch him in his retired carriage and have occasion to grapple with his spirit in the specials which concern his particular 〈◊〉 as when he had failed and offended and therefore follows him with Physick answerable and appointed for the purpose a seasonable admonition poor sinful Creature he is not able to 〈◊〉 the Discipline and Government of Christ to 〈◊〉 under it he begins secretly to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 undermine the strictness of those 〈◊〉 that formerly he did como into these Parts for that he might seek them find and enjoy them as 〈◊〉 often professed It 's said of Herodias when John Baptist would give no 〈◊〉 to her lust but professed openly against it so that she must be forced to reform it or to have Gall and Wormwood with it either not have it or not have any 〈◊〉 the Text saies Mark 6. 19. she way-laid him and left not the plotting of her purposes until she procured his ruin she watched him a turn and was revenged of him So it is with a carnal heart he is so far from being troubled for sin that he is troubled he cannot commit it so far from being plagued with the corruption as Solomon speaks he that sees the plague of his own heart the plague of pride the plague of a perverse sluggish heedless heart that he is plagued and tormented with those Spiritual Truths and power of those Ordinances that wil not suffer those lusts to lodg in his bosom nor suffer him to lie and live in
entertainment of their erroneous conceits If they would spread their erroneous Opinions which go under pretence of Free Grace and painted with the appearance of holiness and exactness they hearken out where any be in 〈◊〉 of spirit in trouble and distress of Conscience they fal in with them immediately and work them to their own minds and wils 〈◊〉 they are tender hearted and fearful to refuse whatever comes under 〈◊〉 color of Free Grace they are now at a stagger and unsettlement ignorant how to help themselves and therefore likely and ready to receive what help can be lent they know not what way to take and therefore may be led any way upon the sudden and at a present push These are the Devils Brokers that beguile unstable souls 2 Pet. 2. 14. And Paul was afraid that the new Converts might be cozened by the wily carriages of the false Apostles which would work upon their simplicity 2 Cor. 11 3. I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by any means as the 〈◊〉 beguiled Eve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so their minds should be corrupted from 〈◊〉 simplicity of the Truth in Christ We see in the 〈◊〉 of Fowls when one hath received a shot either to the breaking of the Leg or the laming of the wing and so lags behind their fellows not able wel to find the way or not to fly far the Fox perceives a Prey which he pursues And it is 〈◊〉 in the Countrey whence we came Kites and Buzzards observe when the Lambs fal and those they prey upon with the 〈◊〉 opportunity if not prevented It is so here These false Teaches are like these ravenous Birds of Prey and subtil Foxes If they perceive any who are of a wounded spirit that the Arrows of the Almighty stick fast in them and that they are forced to hang the wing and go 〈◊〉 and discouraged at a loss in their own thoughts they presently make a prey of such they know not how to relieve 〈◊〉 and therefore are 〈◊〉 to listen to any that wil considently pretend waies and means of relief Here is matter of ADVICE to all mourners in Zion those that the Lord now hath upon the Anvil and is melting and framing to his own mind to make them Vessels of Mercy they must be marvelous wary 〈◊〉 carefully circumspect that they be persons of approved faithfulness and sincerity to whose Counsel they do commit themselves and betrust their condition and when they 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 then they must keep 〈◊〉 prepared heart what Advice they are not able by reason to 〈◊〉 say they have then I say then when such a one of tried uprightness and faithfulness is 〈◊〉 great reason to yield unto They know not how to advise themselves therefore fall before the Advice of others they know not how to do themselves good and therefore should be content to receive good from others As it is in Nature it is so in Grace Women in Child-birth when they come to travel they wil not take every one that offers her self to do them Service but hearken after such who are experienced Midwives 〈◊〉 they attend their Counsel and take their 〈◊〉 when they are not able to succor themselves in such necessities So it is in this Spiritual new Birth and Travel of the Soul let him 〈◊〉 a man of Trust and Experience able to 〈◊〉 the Soul in the day of misery 〈◊〉 leave your 〈◊〉 to the Counsel of 〈◊〉 when you are at a loss and not able to counsel your 〈◊〉 and it 's a special print and impression of the work of Gods 〈◊〉 that be commonly carries the hearts of the perplexed and their own spirits carry 〈◊〉 to such who have been most exercised under such 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 sincerity as these came not to the Scribes and Pharisees who happily had been leaders and abettors to them in their sinful miscarriages their hearts 〈◊〉 them they were as 〈◊〉 as they and for ought that they knew as ignorant of a better way as themselves and therefore they were unable to give advice and they not willing to repair thither to ask it And it 's commonly so with such if men be left to themselves and not over-ruled with Carnal Friends or else some subtil wretches that come in sheeps cloathing press in upon them beyond either their thoughts or desires then happily they may surprize them and prevail too much and if once they gain an interest and ingratiate themselves they are hardly brought off because that which first takes place in case of distress leaves the deepest impressions upon the spirit But when men repair to the wise-hearted in their extremities take in this Truth and keep it ever with you I am ignorant and know not at this time in this necessity to direct my self therefore as I shall seek God in such means of Counsel so I will yield and deliver up my self unto that direction which in reason according to God is suggested and I have no reason but only fears and suspicions of my carnal heart to oppose So God sends Cornelius to Peter Acts 10. 6. blind men and such as are in darkness and can see no light nor way neither they should suffer themselves to be 〈◊〉 by the hand by such who can lend them light and help also A sinner pierced truly with sorrow for sin sees an absolute necessity to come out of the sinful condition in which he is Therefore they do so 〈◊〉 complain in the Text Men and Brethren what shall we do Let 's do any thing suffer any thing be any thing let 's not be nor remain in this Condition whatsoever it cost us whatever become of us They put in no provision no caution upon which they would receive Counsel or which they would desire might be allowed or granted but we wil do any thing that we may not do the Devils drudgery or the dung-hil service of sin be any where 〈◊〉 any thing rather than under the guilt and power of those loathsom abominations which have lorded it over us Therefore I cal it an absolute necessity of being quit of and coming out of this wretched estate And this Absolute Necessity may be conceived in Three things There is no terms of tolleration of sin which can be proposed there be no Articles of Agreement which can be offered no way of Composition that can come into consideration As suppose I may have with secresie with quiet with credit nay suppose my Conscience would not trouble me yea the Lord abate me of his Anger for the while nay I may suck out the sweetness of it without any suspicion without any vexation or distraction to my self for the while No this will not do the deed nor 〈◊〉 the turn if I have al these and have my sin and be a slave to that No their complaint is of the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 not of the want of these Mark 9. 49. If thine eye offend thee pluck it out if thy foot offend thee cut 〈◊〉 off it 's better to
heart pretend or plead what need he be so strict in his way so 〈◊〉 against his sin so resolute to abandon al his former courses and his antient 〈◊〉 with whom he hath had so much content there is no such need now to set upon the work herafter wil be time enough or no such danger in maintaining a dalliance with such and such distempers which are no great matter nor is there any great harm in them the burdened sinner hath not patience to hear but disdaines to enter parly about such things as he hath past sentence upon long before this day tel not me talk not to me of such things there is no speaking against mine own experience I have felt and found the contrary my heart knowes otherwise and that by woful 〈◊〉 therefore I pass not what you speak God wil allow none I can bear none no not the sting of the least sin when God wil let it in nor you neither when once the Lord wil pursue you with the least expression of his displeasure I cannot have any sin seem it never so smal but I must 〈◊〉 under the power of al nor ever have any possibility of any good As Ruth to Naomi when she advised her to stay or return when she came with her she puts an end to al such perswasions intreat me not for I wil not leave thee so 〈◊〉 is with a soul sensible and soundly affected with the evil of his sin he is beyond 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and carnal reasonings he wil hear nothing the soul is overpowred with a soveraign kind of absolute necessity he hath found by proof which puts to silence what ever can be said to the contrary q. d. cease reasoning about that for which no reason can be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not that which hath no ground of perswasion it 〈◊〉 admit a case of exception therefore I wil not once take it into consideration nothing can be spoken of weight or worth and therefore 〈◊〉 to speak further It s not necessary I should not be poor 〈◊〉 despised It 's absolutly necessary I should not be sinful I have no 〈◊〉 from God I should not leave and loose my life my liberty but I have a 〈◊〉 charge without al exception I should leave my sin Art thou come to that with the three Children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 17. 18. Our God can deliver but if he wil not be it 〈◊〉 unto thee 〈◊〉 wil not fall down and wroship c. It s necessary we should maintain the truth of Gods worship it s not necessary 〈◊〉 should maintain our lives Resolvest thou with them Hos. 14. 3. Ashur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 save us 〈◊〉 wil we go down to 〈◊〉 nor say any more to the work of 〈◊〉 hands ye are our Gods I wil no more be proud or perverse no more loose or vayn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liften to the pleasing dalliance of mine own heart that Dale 〈◊〉 mown that is determined long since by long and woful experience it s beyond consideration keep thy spirit ever in that temper and thou wilt keep 〈◊〉 undoubted evidence of the sound work of contrition with thee Hence therefore this Doctrine 〈◊〉 a Bill of 〈◊〉 against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 short of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ and Heaven fall away totally and finally from the Truth in the end The first sort are your NEUTERS who study to compose al their course with prudence and conveniency but conceive it not so safe to put a necessity upon each Service in this kind but only serve their own turn and that is the compass they stere by and walk by As your Neutral Towns they pay to both the Armies but sight for neither only keep their own safety and peace So is it with those Neuters in Religion they would capitulate with Christ and the Rule and enter into Articles of Agreement with the Gospel therefore they take up profess and practice Godliness but with Cautions and Provisions that they may walk at 〈◊〉 in their own deluded hearts but to put it to the 〈◊〉 of this absolute necessity and that they may dispense as they 〈◊〉 fit that they wil decline they count it and conceive it matter of comliness and conveniency nay prudence and Christian Wisdom nay necessary if occasions suit to attend the narrow 〈◊〉 of Gods Command if occasions suit provided that no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and desperate inconveniences and hazards appear to the contrary they plead a dispensation to relieve themselves by to be necessitated and tied to inconveniencies they conceive it unreasonable Thus the Chapman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wisling and ready to 〈◊〉 his day and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 payment and perform his 〈◊〉 according to promise if means and moneys come in comfortably and his 〈◊〉 may be seived as wel as his Creditor payed then it 's necessary But if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon 〈◊〉 and he cannot pay but with much 〈◊〉 to his Estate either to part with that which is profitable or upon low rates and for loss then he 〈◊〉 he may be dispensed 〈◊〉 and it 's not necessary 〈◊〉 that case to pay If a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the world then it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 Estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wife that is froward she 〈◊〉 had she a head and husband so wise and able and gracious there were reason and necessitie she should carry her self in a 〈◊〉 and sweet and humble manner but one that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit for his place nor answers her comfort nor his carriage so prudent as she could desire if then she carry her self pettishly and perversly in such a case a tolleration may be given So these persons put no necessity of parting with their sins but of preventing their inconveniencies It 's certain thou never foundest the evil of sin that canst take and leave thy sin with these exceptions thou never seekest Christ for himself but only as he may serve thee not take his but make thy own 〈◊〉 But if ever God do thee good he wil make thee know that God 〈◊〉 laies a necessitie upon a gracious man nor intruth upon any man to sin but 〈◊〉 necessitie and that absolute he should not sin And therefore al those pleas alas my occasions many my necessities great pinching extremities prevailed with me but as soon as convenienoies suit then I wil c. Therefore thou 〈◊〉 be just and true in promises and performances only when thou hast no necessities when thy conveniencies serve not for conscience sake No thou wilt find thou had'st better go maimed and halt with thy 〈◊〉 eye plucked out and thy right hand cut off than to keep thy sins and go to Hell with them When thy conveniencie suits thou wilt serve God and when Gods conveniencie serves he wil save thee There is another sort of Formal Professors that pretend great kindness and large affection to the Lord and the Gospel and therefore profess they wil go far to accommodate the Lord Jesus and give
confession be of the right make not counterfeit but currant he shal not only have mercy 〈◊〉 for him in the Deck but he shal have the use of it find the sweet of it he shal find mercy pardoning pitying pacifying comforting and saving mercy As when we have sought the thing that we have in our house we say we have found it when we have it in our hand and for our use Yea God is marvelous ready to meet the sinner half way in his mercy and compassions when he perceives that with a serious purpose of heart he sets himself 〈◊〉 this work Psal. 32. 5. I said saith the Prophet I wil confess my sin and thou forgavest 〈◊〉 iniquity The unfeigned purpose of Spirit this way God takes in good part and is so marvelously pleased therewith that he gives him pardon and forgives his sins before he can mention by his words what he purposed in his mind 1 Kings 8. 38. 〈◊〉 prayer shall be made by any man that shall know the plague of his heart he will hear in Heaven and forgive c. And in this Case we need not nay we should not make confession of our secret sins for we have no Command to carry us unto this no Example to warrant such a practice nor yet have we the Institution of any Ordinance which may challenge our attendance to it And this you must carefully heed and maintain against that cunning forgery of the Popish consession which they have imposed upon al their followers and drudges Their 〈◊〉 and Opinion is this That every man is bound once at the least before the Sacrament to confess in particular all and every one of his mortal sins whereof he stands guilty into the Ear of the Priests the memory whereof by due and diligent premeditation may be had even such as are hidden and are against the two last Commands of the Decalogue together with the Circumstances which may alter the kind of the sin If not say they let him be accursed This Canonical Institution is the erecting of an Engine of Cruelty to rack mens Consciences and pick mens Purses to satisfie their own greedy covetous desires and to set up their Lawless Soveraignty in the hearts of such who have captivated themselves to their Directions and Counsels for thus they have a noose upon mens Consciences and hold men between hopes and fears leaving them between Heaven and Hell as they suit their minds If they please their Humors then they pardon them and pull them out of Hell If they satisfie not their expectations in giving so much for good use or paying so much yeerly to further the Catholick Cause then their sins are such to Hell they must go they cannot be acquitted This made their Drudges even weary of their lives as never seeing an end of their misery nor knowing what would become of their souls And it 's that which is called by John in the 〈◊〉 The torment of a Scorpion when he stings a man Rev. 9 6. That men shall seek death and 〈◊〉 not find it and shal desire to die and death shal fly from them And holy and judicious Brightman expounds it of this sting That the Jesuites keep men upon the rack of this Confession never knowing what wil be come of their souls nor an end of their misery further than it suits their conceits And the Popish School who were more ingenuous have delivered in their Judgments from these unnecessary burdens which the Jesuits as hard Task-Misters have laid upon other mens 〈◊〉 and which they wil neither 〈◊〉 nor move the least finger to 〈◊〉 any ease That which the soul hath obtained from Heaven at the hands of God that is needless we should desire from the hands of men whose only help is to evidence Gods mind But by humble confession in secret to God the soul hath received pardon srom Heaven sealed up in his bosom by Gods Spirit and the testimony of his own 〈◊〉 therefore it 's needless to desire it from the hands of men when we have what we desire and that in a better manner than they can give it Again To be wise above that which is written is unlawful and to do more than we have warrant for is ever unacceptable to God but the Lord in his Word requires no more before the Sacrament but that a man should 〈◊〉 himself and by the exercise of Faith and Repentance gain assurance of the pardon of his sin not go to confess his secret sin to another therefore to do that is more than Christ and the Gospel 〈◊〉 or God wil accept When the soul lies under the guilt of secret sins if the Lord in the use of all other means denies either POWER or PEACE Power to oppose and master the Corruption so that stil the soul is overborn by the violence and malignity of it Or denies Peace so that the old guilt returns afresh after all prayers and confessions we make cries and 〈◊〉 we put up in fervency and importunity unto the Lord After the improvement of al means of Reformation and Repentance yet the Lord for Reasons best known to himself denies to seal up the assurance of Love and the forgiveness of sin unto the Conscience then the Lord cals to this Duty of Confession to such who are fitted and enabled to lend help and relief under God in such a case That which the Lord hath promised to bestow and we are bound to obtain we are bound consequently to use al 〈◊〉 means appointed by God for this purpose that we may be made 〈◊〉 thereof But the pardon of our 〈◊〉 the acceptation of our 〈◊〉 and the peace of our 〈◊〉 God hath promised to bestow and we 〈◊〉 bound to obtain therefore we must improve al means to this end If then we find by experience that God is not pleased to dispense power or peace by our own 〈◊〉 on improvements of al means by our selves he then cals us to use the help of the prayers and counsels of others who are called the 〈◊〉 of our Faith and Joy who are appointed to build us up in our holy Faith whose duty it is to comfort the feeble minded and to instruct the ignorant and whose prayers are effectual means to obtain the removal of sicknesses and the forgiveness of sins James 5. 15. And some sins there be as secret Adultery and murder which God never usually pardoneth to the heart of the Offender but he compels him to lay open those Hellish corruptions by open confession unto some other Nay as he never usually pardons them to his commonly he never suffers them to go away 〈◊〉 even in the wicked but when men are not willing to take shame by private confession he forceth them by horror of Conscience to vomit out their 〈◊〉 in the face of the world and to bear their 〈◊〉 and leave 〈◊〉 names an everlasting reproach when they 〈◊〉 out their 〈◊〉 upon the 〈◊〉 or upon the 〈◊〉 of their sicknesses
As the Magicians in Egipt professed touching the liee that wonder which the Lord then expressed though it were in a thing very little and despicable to the eye yet they confessed this the 〈◊〉 finger of God they were not able to turn their hand to that work So dost thou upon through search find this disposition of spirit that thou dost see that infinite loathsomness in thy corruptions and in thy heart being taynted therewith so noysom the plague sore of sin and thy soul and self so defiled with running provocations thereof that in truth thou art loath to see thy heart to own it or to have it which hath nothing but loathsomness in it and conceivest thou art worthy indeed others should judg so of thee as thou judgest of thy self how ever this frame of spirit may seem mervailous mean and despicable in the eye of the world know thou mayest and conclude thou shouldst this is the very finger of God flesh and blood hath not revealed this hath not wrought this in thee but the spirit which is from God That which is at ods with al the excellency that is flesh and blood that which is opposite to it and tramples upon the glory and pride of it that must needs be more than flesh and blood Ezek. 16. 2. last I wil establish my covenant and thou shal know I am the Lord thou shalt know me and own me and beleeve in me as thy God and thy Lord then thou shalt remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame When God sets open the fountain of his free grace in the soul these streams wil follow Hence then this doctrine brings in a heavy inditement against sundry sorts of men and gives undeniable evidence that as yet they never knew what it was to be broken-hearted for sin or turned savingly from sin the stupid sencelessness of whose spirits is wholly uncapable of this holy blush and confusion of face and heart First of those who through the hardness of their hearts by their constant custome and continuance in their sin are beyond the sence of it or shame for it whose faces are settled and their consciences seared with a hot iron so that there is no sting at al or check that 〈◊〉 them but 〈◊〉 a seared part is without sence or feeling they practice their wret chedness and profess it are convinced of it and go away not touched nor troubled with it shrink not retire not with any sence of fear or shame for what they have done such are never like to see the filth of their sins before they see them by the flames of the fierceness of Gods wrath in the fire of hell of this helish temper were those forlorn creatures Jer. 8. 6. I hearkend and heard but no man repented him saying what have I done they take not their sins into consideration nor attend the danger but every man turned to his own course as the horse rusheth into the battle nothing stops them or affrights them v. 12. were they ashamed when they committed abomination nay they were not at al ashamed neither could they be ashamed their minds were wholly 〈◊〉 they did not see the vileness of their sins and their hearts hardened they could not be sensible of them so the Prophet Isa. compluins chap. 3. 9. they declare 〈◊〉 sin as Sodom they commit evil openly and they are bold and brazen-faced to persist in what they do commit they sear not who know it and they shame not to own it I knew saith the Lord thy brow was brass and thy neck like an iron sinnew the heart buckles not it s an iron sinnew the face blusheth 〈◊〉 its brass harlot-like Another sort who are so far from bearing the shame they do deserve that out of their impudency they do rather cast shame upon the truth itself that would discover their sin and so the messenger that brings it Thus out of this devilish wretchedness and 〈◊〉 they dare to flout God to his face and cast scorn and contempt upon the truth rather than they wil lye under contempt themselves and therefore it is the prophet looks at it as desperate beyond hope or help Hos. 4. 4. let no man strive with another or reprove him for this people are as they that strive with the priest they contemn him and his repro of so far are they srom being content to take it or the due shame which it discovers of this stamp were those impudent scorners who jeared the Prophet to his face and made a jeast of the threatnings he delivered Isa. 22. 12. In the day the Lord called to weeping and mourning and baldness and to girding with sackcloath and behold joy and gladness slaying of oxen and killing of sheep let us eat and drink for to morow we shal dye q. d. do you not hear the dreadful threatning that Isaiah hath denounced do ye not expect to dye masters do not your hearts shake within you to hear such tidings let us not dye fasting we wil take our meat sure before our enemies take away our lives if we must dy as the prophet saith let us be merry before our death It were revealed to me saies the Prophet from the Lord of hosts surely this iniquity shal not be purged from you til you dye that is never so tel the rebellious servant of his or her rugged carriage unruly language that they have tongues set on fire of hel 〈◊〉 in wording of it slighting and gainsaying Titus 2. 9. Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters to please them wel in al things not answering again because they are stopped from answering frampfully therefore they wil not modestly and in meekness of wisdom ask counsel and direction from a Governor wish them ask your Mistres enquire of your Master no no I must not speak I promise you would I were Governor they cannot sin they must be pleased in al things whether they please God or no. Thus because their devillish heart cannot bear the truth they flout the truth and cast it away in a scorn as though they should say you may see what sweet rules the scripture gives for the Government of servants nay how unequal and unreasonable they be which is such hideous and hellish blasphemy that the heart of Belzebub in his cold blood would blush to vent it These two sorts out of a stupid impudency are not capable of 〈◊〉 there be two other sorts that out of subtilty of pride are unwilling to bear it such are those who in the third ranck seek up 〈◊〉 shameful hidings that may be imagined strugle as for life to the utmost of their power and policie that they may shift off the shame and make an escape from under that righteous reproach and contempt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vileness of their carriages have justly brought upon themselves sometimes in silence burying and hiding of it As Judah his incest Gen. 38. 23. When he sent the kid
the lusts of men and the will of the Gentiles yea fulfil the desires of the flesh and walk after the Prince of the Air. Eph. 2. 2. As a man cannot turn himself so this first Aversion from sin and the Creature is not wrought by any gracious habit that is put into the soul by the Lord i. e. That is not the way and means by which this first Aversion and turning from sin is wrought And the Reasons are First All gracious qualities and habits as all other accidents and attendants upon things never have any being but in a subject and therefore must first be there before they can put forth any operation Wisdom must first be in the mind before a man can act wisely Skil must be in the Head and Understanding of the Artificer before he can work build and plant skilfully Holiness Righteousness Patience in our Hearts before we can work holily patiently and that 's the Reason though we have the same faculties of mind and wil before our Conversion as we have after yet we neither do nor can put forth any gracious action before but after Grace Hence it follows That if the first Aversion from sin were wrought by a habit of Grace we should first have this i. e. The Habit of Grace should be in the soul before it should work this Aversion of the soul from sin but that implies a contradiction that a man should have Grace and yet be wholly averted from God for the least moment Secondly If the soul be uncapable in that condition and under that consideration to receive the Habit of Grace then there cannot be a gracious habit in the soul to work any thing but while the soul is wholly possessed and acted by sin it is not capable of a gracious habit no more than it 's possible to be in light and darkness together The wisdom of the Flesh is enmity against God it is not subject nay it cannot be subject to the Law if not subject then it cannot receive the gracious impressions of it Rom. 8. 7. and John 14. 17. it 's said of the Comforter that the world cannot receive him the issue is if a gracious Habit neither is nor can be there in the soul wholly possessed and averted from God by sin then this Aversion from sin cannot be wrought by it Though the Lord doth not put a gracious habit INTO the Soul by which this may be done yet the Spirit of Contrition puts forth an irresistible power by which it works UPON the Soul thus turned from God to sin to return it from sin to God For the Spirit in the Work of Application sustains a double Office and so a double Respect As a Spirit Assisting As a Spirit Inhabiting And yet the same Spirit of Regeneration in such as shall be saved taking Regeneration in the breadth thereof including the whol Work though the operation be double or divers according to the diversity of the subject as the soul of a sinner upon which the work of Application must be made according to the degrees thereof The Spirit works upon the Soul in Preparation to make way for gracious habits but never inhabits the heart makes the soul a Temple without some gracious qualisication 1 Cor. 6. 18 19. Ye are the Temples of the holy Ghost Christ dwels in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. there is the Spirit inhabiting yet it is said The world cannot receive the Spirit because they do not see him nor know him but you know him for he dwels in you and abides with you John 14. 17. yet those who are nothing for the while but the world the Spirit doth work upon such to cal them out of the world by turning of them from darkness to light The Lord Christ as the Second Adam and the Head of those whom he shal bring back and beget unto God the Father in the vertue of his death he brings a Release from under the hand of Divine Justice to reverse that Commission which sin and Satan had to fasten the soul to the Creature and so to sin and by sin and the Creature to rule in it For when Adam jarred and justled against the Law the Law was strong and hard i. e. just the Law and the Lord in Justice pushed Adam away from him sin takes occasion to fall in and by that advantage when Divine Justice by reason of his provocation pushed him away it carries him to the Creature and the Devil by sin and the Creature challengeth Soveraignty over him The Lord Jesus by and in the vertue of his death suffering and satisfying Divine Justice delivers both himself and his from the Authority of sin God raised him from the Grave because it was impossible be should be held by the sorrows and power of the grave and therefore not by the power of sin and darkness Acts 2. 24. for they had no power but by vertue of Divine Justice which being now appeased their Commission is reversed and repealed By Death Christ destroyed him that had the power of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2. 14. So our Savior gives the ground of comfort and release to his I was dead and 〈◊〉 alive and behold I have the keyes of Hell and Death Rev. 1. 18. The Lord saies to sin hands off that soul is mine and doth therefore by the power of his Spirit not only stop the work-of sin but over-bears and abolisheth and takes off the right of Rule which Satan by sin challenged he brings the soul off from the Soveraignty of sin into another Jurisdiction The Lord having forced the sinner whereof I formerly disputed to feel sin as it is sin to be cross to the end of his being though not to the corruption of the soul yet to the Nature of the soul and therefore as it 's possible that the soul may be forced to 〈◊〉 so now upon feeling the soul finds it to be a most bitter thing and that unto the being of the soul as an immortal Creature made next for God as its last end And therefore Observe though it want Spiritual and Supernatural ability to enter into combate or vanquish a corruption by any Grace received yet being sensible by the Spirit of Contrition of the evil of it and so loosened from it it becomes subject stands readily prepared to 〈◊〉 any impression of the power of the Spirit whereby the exercise and power of sin may be stopped the challenge of any right of Rule and Soveraignty may be shaken off and for ever destroyed and the soul be carried to God in Christ to be owned ruled and blessed for ever So that when Christ as the Second Adam and Head of the Covenant comes to take a soul and to 〈◊〉 him from sin to God the Father look by what irresistable power he acts in opposition and 〈◊〉 against it as cross to his Glory the soul wanting power of its own it takes advantage to fall in
and yield to that power and is acted and moved by the like opposition and detestation against its sin according as the impression of the Spirit is left upon him And hence it comes the sinner is transported with that holy 〈◊〉 and indignation at such times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ward he doth never find 〈◊〉 may be can never again attain unto As the Gibeonites when all the Princes of the Cities and Provinces were gathered together against them they had not power in themselves to oppose yet withdraw themselves they would from under their Rule and Confederacy and yielded themselves to the Authority and Soveraignty of Joshua though it were to hew wood and draw water or as the Boat that is run a ground and hath neither tackling nor 〈◊〉 yet by a mighty wind and a Spring Tide he is carried with more speed to the Haven than by all 〈◊〉 and helps he could ever after attain So the Soul being acted wholly by that power and impression of the 〈◊〉 having yet no principle of its own it 's carried with a detestation against sin here Christ applies this power only afterward in Sanctification we apply the power of Christs death to this end with him This is the first work of God in the extent of it and the way he takes to turn the soul from sin and the Creature Fear stops him sorrow tires him hatred turns him Fear troubles his sin sorrow loosens it hatred abandons it Fear finds the knot Griefunties it Hatred dissolves and breaks it off Fear questions the Lawfulness of the match between sin and the soul Sorrow gives in proof and evidence out of sence of the evil of it Hatred disanuls the League and fues out an everlasting Divorce betwixt sin and the soul. This Hatred is the hatred of Preparation not of Sanctification the difference between which may be discerned by the former Discourse That in Sanctification is from the Spirit inhabiting this from the Spirit Assisting That of Sanctification is by a gracious habit infused into the Soul this is without a habit the Spirit only by 〈◊〉 irresistible motion working upon the soul. In that there is an inward Principle received whereby we meet with Christ and concur with him to the work here we have no habit and therefore no inward principle to meet with Christ he wholly and only 〈◊〉 upon us and we act as acted by him Take the wheels of a Watch out of place if you wil bring them into the right room and place they wil then move because there is a principle of motion put into it So of a Member out of Joynt if you wil by strong hand pul and move it unto the place being wholly moved it wil move into his order and rank it doth not concur or meet with your hand for the joynting of it self but stirs wholly and only as stirred but being settled and confirmed in the place it wil move to your hand and concur with your hand to help it self So here That hatred in Sanctification we receive from our union with Christ this the Spirit works upon us to make way to bring us to Union with the Lord Jesus we must turn from our sins before we come to God there must be an aversion from sin before there can be a conversion unto God we cannot be under two Covenants in the first Adam and the second grow upon two stocks together It 's said that Adam begot a son in his own Image that a Son was generated by the first Adam the act of Generation was no part of the Image but the Image is the corruption of Nature that came by Generation So that we are united that 's none 〈◊〉 Christs Image but the Image of Christ which is 〈◊〉 communion with him in his Graces this Image and these graces issue from our union The sum in short then is this There must be an aversion from sin before conversion unto God there is nothing in the soul that can work this but Christ must do it When Christ works this it is not by any habit of Grace infused into the soul but by the motion and work of the Spirit upon the Soul In this work Christ as the Head of the Covenant by 〈◊〉 of his death whereby he satisfied the Law brings a release from the hand of Divine Justice to reverse and repeal that Commission by which sin had Authority over the soul and Satan by sin 〈◊〉 that the act of sin is stopped and the right of the Rule of sin is wholly 〈◊〉 and made voyd the contrite sinner feeling the evil of sin and yet no power of himself to oppose and subdu look in what opposition and detestation the 〈◊〉 power of the spirit goes out against sin as acted by the impression of that power it acts by opposition and detestation against its sin and is turned from it 2. How this hatred discovers it self and how it may be discerned This hatred is attended with a continual fear of the presence and the deadly infection of sin and so with a constant watch against it or a watchful fear is a never fayling work whereby this hatred 〈◊〉 it felf in the carriage and daily conversation of a 〈◊〉 sinner the venom of sin which formerly he hath felt the plague and vengeance which those his distempers hath brought upon him leaves so fresh and yet so 〈◊〉 a remembrance of them upon his soul that the very thoughts of them afright him but any temptation or provocation that may draw him to the 〈◊〉 of the like is so loathsom that the least appearance that looks that way he sees presently and shakes at it 〈◊〉 it as the 〈◊〉 of hell as that which wil hazard the happiness of the soul and 〈◊〉 as present 〈◊〉 to him As it is in the work of nature in the body of a man he that hath surfeted upon some sweet meat or some pleasing potion that hath been prepared in a guilded cup happily suited with his palate for the present but in issue had in reason hazarded his life in his own sence and each mans apprehension but that the Lord was merciful you need not 〈◊〉 him with arguments the loathing of 〈◊〉 stomach and the very hatred and Antipathie that nature hath against that which procured the hazard wil make him watchful and shy how he is deceived in that kind any 〈◊〉 the very sight of the gally-pot the sent or smel of the potion yea the least suspicion that such a receit is coming towards him 〈◊〉 him to fear and fly his stomach begins to turn riseth from the 〈◊〉 removes out of the room 〈◊〉 frame of nature begins to fail and shake with the remembrance of the 〈◊〉 and with the fear of the like danger It behoves me to look what I take it had like to have cost my life therefore I wil come there no more So it is with a 〈◊〉 sinner that hath felt the poyson of those pleasing distempers upon which
1 It 's a Duty belonging to all 244 2 How far we are cast behind hand for want of it 245 3 What need we have of it ibid. 4 The Soveraign vertue of it 247 Directions to help in the practice of Meditation 249 1 Enquire after the Nature of a sin ibid. In this Enquiry  1 Look to the Rule to Authorize us to the work ib. 2 For the manner of proceeding 250 1 Survey particular sins 251 1 In the Root ibid. 2 In the fruits of them ibid. 2 Sum them up joyntly 262 2 Fasten it upon the soul 265 1 By grappling with the heart ibid. 2 By getting the better of the heart ibid. Here take heed of three extreams 272 1 Desperate discouragements 273 2 Hellish provocations 274 3 False conceivings of the measure and manner of Gods work 275 Directions to help here are three  1 Possess the heart with the fear of thy sinful and dangerous estate 276 2 Awaken and call for the help of Conscience 279 3 Seek to the Lord for the Almighty hand of his Spirit to set on thy Meditations 282 DOCT. 5. The same Word is profitable to some not to others 283 Reasons two Because  1 God hath several ends to attain by the dispensations of his Word 284 2 God will shew the Soveraignty of his good pleasure ibid. Uses four hence  1 Learn to fear in the enjoyment of greatest means 285 2 The profitable fruit of the means is not in the means ibid. 3 Exhortation Use means in dependance upon God 386 4 Be thankful when thou dost profit by them ibid. DOCT. 6. The Lord somtimes makes the Word prevail most when it 's most opposed 287 The Lord works many times  1 Upon men when they seek not 〈◊〉 289 2 Upon the worst of men 294 3 In the height of Rebellion ibid. Reasons four Because  1 The greatness of his Power is hereby discovered 292 2 The 〈◊〉 of his mercy 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 294 3 The Lord will stain the Glory of all flesh 295 4 And discovers the depths of his 〈◊〉 296 〈◊〉 Three hence  1 Instruction The work of Conversion depends 〈◊〉 upon any preparation that man can make 297 Hence that 's a dangerous Error 〈◊〉 If a man do what he can God will give 〈◊〉 Grace 300 1 It undermines the Soveraign good pleasure of God ibid. 2 It cuts the sinews of the Covenant of Grace 301 3 It crosseth the end of the means of Grace 302 2 To support the hearts of the most wretched sinners with some hopes of good notwithstanding all their wickedness God may and can if he will work upon them  Cautions here 309 1 God will do thee good in his own way 316 2 Fear lest thou make an escape from the hand of the Lord 317 If thou doest  1 It 's suspicious the Lord hath lest thee ibid. 2 He will deliver thee up to thy sins again 219 3 Exhortation to quicken our desires and endeavors in the use of the means 320 4 Admiration at the riches and freeness of Grace 323 DOCT. 7. Sins unrepented of make way for piercing Terrors 325 Reas. Because the heart is more estranged from God and bardened in sin 327 Uses Three hence  1 Judg not of sin by the present sweetness but by the after sorrows ibid. 2 It should be our greatest care to rise presently after falls into sin 329 3 Terror to such as continue in their sins 330 DOCT. 8. The Truth is terrible to a guilty Conscience 332 Reas. Because it's a Witness to accuse a Judg to condemn an Executioner to torment ibid. Use. It discovers the guiltiness and falsness of such as are afraid of the Truth ibid. Differences between the Saints trembling at the Truth and an Hypocrite 333 1 Though the Word speaks against the corruption yet it speaks for the condition of the Saints ibid. 2 The Saints 〈◊〉 sweetness in the sharpest Truths and close with God in them ibid. DOCT. 9. Gross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before they be brought to Christ 334 Reasons Three  1 From the Holiness of Gods Nature 340 2 That sinners may not be encouraged in their sins 341 3 That the sinner himself may be 342 1 Throughly recovered from 〈◊〉 sin for the present ibid. 2 Preserved from sin for the time to come ibid. Uses Five hence  1 The easie and sudden Conversion of scandalous sinners is to be suspected God doth not use to save men per 〈◊〉 343 2 Support to scandalous sinners when they meet with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 347 1 Such are in the way of Mercy 349 2 The workmay prove speedy and successful 350 3 This makes way for Comforts 351 4 It's honorable for such to be under heavy breakings of heart 353 3 Advice to Ministers who by their Calling are to deal with scandalous sinners in such horrors 354 1 Be not 〈◊〉 in the search 355 2 Nor 〈◊〉 to heal the wound ibid. 3 Nor suddenly confident of the Cure 356 4 Direction to such persons who have had experience of such heart-breakings ibid. Be not weary of Gods Dispensations  5 Exhortation to keep our selves and ours from scandalous sins 357 DOCT. 10. Sorrow for sin rightly set on pierceth the heart of the sinner through that is rightly affected therewith 358 For Explication four Things 362 1 The Manner how Sorrow for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the soul. 363 1 Either successively or by degrees in some ibid. 1 The evil and danger of his sin is 〈◊〉 in the general ibid. 2 He is surprized and pursued with fear 364 3 The Curses and Punishments of sin are fastened upon him 366 4 He is made to feel the evil of sin 〈◊〉 sin and that as his greatest evil 368 2 Or suddenly and throughly 〈◊〉 once in some others 372 3 Or secretly and insensibly in others 374 1 Some are Sanctified in the Womb 375 2 Some wrought upon in Child-hood ibid. 3 Some under good Education Counsels Means are gradually yet really wrought upon ibid. Cautions here  1 Though the manner and measure of Contrition differ in most yet the substance of the Work is the same in all ibid. 2 Though some may not know the time yet every one should and if gracious can give evidence of the Workwrought 360 3 It 's a safe way often to review and to act over the first workings of Contrition 377 For  1 A wound here is never recovered 378 2 Clear this and cleer all ibid. 2 How this Sorrow comes to be set on and the soul made to feel sin its greatest evil 379 1 Sin is cross to the Nature of the soul as such 380 2 If the evil of sin be discovered to the Nature of the soul it may be made sensible thereof 382 3 While the soul is fully and only possessed with sin it cannot feel the evil of it ibid. 4 The Spirit countermands the Authority of sin 383 5 Christ by the
affect it with the greatest grief and burden for sorrow in al the proportions of it issues from these two grounds A crossness of an evil truly apprehended by the judgment the venome acting really upon us where these are in a greater or lesser measure there sorrow is greater or less upon this ground the Apostle evidenceth the grief and burden of the creature Rom. 8. 22. For we know that the whol creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now and that because it was made subject to vanity and this is their vanity because their end is crossed and so their good is hindred for wheras it is their desire to serve such as may serve God when they serve the humors and corruptions of carnal men they become vain and miss their end and so their good and this is as it were a grief to them Were the venome of sin but discovered and acted upon the nature of the soul it could not but groan under the evil and vanity thereof as that which wholy deprives it of its end and good While the soul stands fully under the power of corruptions possessed with it and acted by it it 's not possible it should apprebend the evil of sin nor the nature of the soul tast the venome thereof Sin carryes no crossness of opposition of evil to it self and therefore 〈◊〉 disquiet to it self 〈◊〉 so no separation from it self But sin wholly possessing and wholly acting the soul it makes the mind and heart apprehend not according to the nature of the soul and impression left upon it when created but according to the distemper by which it is possessed and carried So did they to Samuel 1 Sam. 8. 19. they said nay but we wil have a King Jer. 18. 12. So they to Jeremiah we wil walk every one in the imagination of his own heart Give the sick man the most pleasant potion though the Physitian profess it and give reasons and others by experience find it so he no sooner tasts it but he puts it away as that which is exceeding bitter because his tast is corrupted and tongue furred with the foulness of his stomack he rellisheth the drink not according to what they say and what it is or what the natural constitution of the palate would perswade but what his distemper which now possesseth and disordreth his tast tel him So it was with Judas though he was told before that it were better he had never been born that would not do the deed his covetous heart found another rellish nay when he flung away his money out of vexation yet he rellished hismurther stil and therefore hanged himself And this is the reason why they who sin against the holy Ghost even against the evidence of reason the corruption of their heart rellisheth other than reason tells Hence the Lord Christ by the irresistible power of his spirit doth countermand the authority of sin makes it appear that its commission is come to an end the date of it is expired Namely sin after Adam withdrawing himself received a commission from divine justice that 〈◊〉 the soul would not be ruled by him and his law It should be possessed and acted by corruption the date of the commission lasts until the Lord Jesus the second Adam who 〈◊〉 for the sinner comes by covenant to take the soul to himself and then he appearing in this behalf sin is forced back and not to exercise her power and then the evil of sin is brought home to the soul and set on with the ful venome of it and the nature of the soul is made sensible of it I say made sensible and deeply affected therewith This me thinks is the binding of the strong man Math. 12. 29. Wherby the Devills armour that is his comission by vertue of which 〈◊〉 holds the soul is taken away from him stopp the sluice and stream that drives the mil and then you turn the wheel another way which otherwise while under the sourse of the stream cannot be stirred Thus God commands the soul to return from iniquity Job 36. 10. And if he do but stop the commission for a sudden turn then there may follow a tast which such as sin against the holy Ghost may have of whom the Apostle speaks Hebr. 6. 4 5 6. The Lord Jesus by the virtu of his death puts an end to the commission that divine justice gave disanuls the right and power that sin challenged and by which it acted the soul of a sinner wherby it kept the soul under its command that no means could work upon it or be made effectual to it 1. Pet. 3. 18. Christ dyed for us that he might bring us to God For when Adam and so we in him wilfully departed from God would not be guided by his rightous law and just wil divine justice gave a commission to sin to take vengeance of the soul and keep it under that no good may come to it or it receive any now Christ by his death having satisfyed justice the commission is cancelled there is nothing on Gods part which hinders And there is nothing on our parts can hinder the authority of sin is disannulled his claym made voyd that soul is mine saies Christ hands off 〈◊〉 hands off sin the claym answered authority disannulled power stopped now there is way for light to come to the mind and for the nature of sin as discovered to be set on upon the soul and it made to seel the venom thereof as upon those termes it may utsupra So our Saviour 〈◊〉 1. 18. I was dead but am alive and I have the keyes of hell and death i. e. hath supream authority to shoot back al boults to open al dores As the first Adam by natural generation 〈◊〉 power and commission from divine justice to turn the souls of his children from God to sin so the second Adam having satisfyed and answered divine justice hath power to turn the soul from satan and sin to God satan and sin are at his devotion the soul at his command The third particular to be opened How far the soul is or may be truly said to be active in this work of Contrition or this spiritual sorrow when it comes to receive the right impression of it for sin as such The Answer may be conceived in the following particulars There is no power in man to remove that resistance that is in his heart against God the work of his grace that which out of its own corrupt principles doth wholly resist and cannot but resist the operation and dispensation of al spiritual means that would prevayl with it for good that cannot take away the resistance for resistance cannot take away resistance it implyes a palpable contradiction as that which is professedly cross to common sence but the corrupt heart of a natural man while he is in the state of nature and corruption doth and cannot but wholly resist the work of
the power of it while he was under the terror of it So that there is nothing in the world that wil sever betwixt the heart and its lust Prov. 27. 22. Bray a fool in a morter yet wil not his folly depart from him By this the great bar and hinderance of the coming of our Savior is removed even the hellish resistance whereby the soul was carried against him For it 's a peremptory Truth Gal. 4. 17. The flesh lusts against the Spirit and the conclusion is express Joh. 3. 9. That which is born of the flesh is flesh but every Son of Adam being wholly born of the flesh doth wholly resist the Spirit They who are wholly flesh do wholly resist they who do wholly resist cannot receive for receiving and wholly resisting cannot stand together therefore this resistance of a fleshly heart must be removed and that is done by this 〈◊〉 That Sorrow whereby the bar and hindrance which stops the coming of our Savior is removed that sorrow is of necessity required but by this sorrow that hindrance is removed In regard of our selves Either the heart must thus be pierced or else a man without this in his Natural condition is capable and disposed to receive Faith and Christ either necessary thus to be disposed or Nature without this is fit to entertain him but that is professedly contrary to the Truth 2 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is not subject to the Law neither can it be It 's not possible there should be two Suns in the Firmament two Kings in one Throne two Gods in one heart to be in Heaven and Hell at once to serve God and Mammon So that as God must give Grace before we have it so he must give us power to receive it or else we are not capable of it A Subject cannot be capable of contrary habits at the same time John 5. 45. How can yee believe who seek honour from man Hence therefore its plain that the substance and truth of this preparative work it must be and is enstamped upon all that belong to God though it is in a diverse manner wrought in the most If this sorrow be onely true and of the right stamp If by this sin is severed from the soul the hinderance of our Saviors coming removed and the soul made capable of faith and Christ then this of necessity is required of al and it 's certainly wrought in al whom the Lord brings effectually home unto himself Here is matter of complaint we may justly take up against this secure age in which we live and it shewes how little very little saving sorrow there is in the world and therefore how little saving grace If no preparation no Implantation certainly never fitted for a Christ never made partakers of him never hewed or squared to the building and therfore never put as spiritual stones into the building Had we but Jeremiahs fountain of tears we might mourn day and night that there is no true mourning and if the Lord should send an 〈◊〉 to see and mark such as mourn in secret how few should he find the former doctrin is a bil of inditement and fals very heavy upon five sorts of people Your heedless and fearless professors who notwithstanding lift up their head ful high and would bear the world in hand that they desire unfeinedly to fear the Lord nay pretend a Conscientious care to Gods Command and conceive they have been affected with their sin and that not in a smal measure but have had both sight of and sorrow for their failings and they hope to good purpose and would be loath prejudice being laid aside it should appear to be other You say wel and if you prove what you say happy it is for you which I 〈◊〉 desire But are you willing to put your case to the tryal let us a little parly about the buisiness and because we wil deal plainly your own practices and your own consciences shal bring in evidence and those I hope are beyond exception you careless servants in the family you careless hearers in the Assemblies and you careless professors in the plantations you are here indited that the practice of this heart-breaking sorrow for sin is a stranger to you and you a stranger to it in your daily course we shal then agree upon the grounds on which we shal proceed You wil not you cannot deny but you have wholsom and savory counsel daily suggested the commands of God are line after line precept after precept here a little and there a little and your duties daily layd before you in publick in private your failings bewailed grace and help begged from the Lord for you the truth your judgments do not gainsay and your hearts cannot but approve as lawful and suitable to your places and according to Gods mind yet no sooner out of the assembly where you hear out of the presence of your master who commads from your knees where you have prayed and confessed but the commands are layd by that is not attended this not discharged that is neglected you return again to the old distempers and you say you did not remember it you have 〈◊〉 it you did not think of it What need we more evidence 〈◊〉 own words shal be thine own 〈◊〉 and appeal to thine own Conscience let that be 〈◊〉 own judg didst thou ever hear any man that 〈◊〉 under the load that was two heavy for him wearied with the burden that is beyond his strength as not able to bear nor to ease himself say he did not remember the burden that 〈◊〉 him he did not think of the weight of the load that clogges and tires him would you not 〈◊〉 such expressions as cross to common sence or would you not conclude either the man had no burden or else his words had no truth Ah but thou saiest If they had been gross evills it had been somthing but they are petty things and therefore need no great care what need we any more evidence thine own words wil be thine own wittness therefore thou carest onely for great sins fearest onely gross and scandalous evils then thy care and fear is naught and thy course so and thy Conscience so and thy condition also he that feels al sin as such he fears al sin yea the least sin more than the greatest evil if thou fearest only loathsom and scandalous practices thy fear is fals and thy heart fals thy sorrow was never found nor yet thy condition that I must confess when I 〈◊〉 mens infinite heedlesness if they did know what God were or what sin was what Conscience what a command what the reckoning to come were did not most men live without God in the world they could not live so The second sort who are hence shut out from having any share in this Godly sorrow or the through impression of the