Heaven for revenge but when our Savior laid his hand upon the sore and let the light shine in her face and points at the vileness of her practice Thou hast had five Husbands but he whom thou now hast is not thy Husband she then becomes sensible of his soveraign wisdom and her own wretchedness John 4. 18 19 20. So it was with Paul when the Lord met him going to Damascus persecuting the Saints he saw not the sinfulness of his course and therefore was senceless of it Saul Saul saies Christ why persecutest thou me Then he answers Who art thou Lord Jesus said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks when he understood the evil of his way then he stood trembling and astonished saying Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. 5 6. Before the Corinthians were made conscious of their own carelesness neither pitying the soul of the incestuous Corinthian nor yet seeking to reform his sin they gloried over him and prided themselves in their own conceited excellency but when the Apostle had discovered their miscarriage and failings what sorrow and care did it work in them and what serious endeavor to reform the guilty party The Doctrine is true we shall endeavor to make it plain and therefore we shall open several particulars the right conceiving whereof will be as a key to unlock the Treasury of this Truth that each man may take what will serve his turn Enquire therefore we will By what means and after what manner God works this sight of Sin How far the sinner may be said to be active in it Wherein this true sight and apprehension properly consists and so discovers it self The Reason of this Truth and the Lords Order in this proceeding And then we shall make Application of it By what means or after what manner the Lord works this sight of Sin To which I shall Answer in four Conclusions Or the Answer unto which Inquiry will be expressed in four Particulars The Righteous Law of God as it is the Rule of our Lives so it is the Discoverer of our Sins and swervings therefrom and by the light thereof together with that little light of common Principles of Piety and Love left upon our Consciences we come to have our corruption made known to us Rom. 3. 20. By the Law is the knowledg of sin insomuch that Paul a learned Pharisee one that profited in the Jews Religion more than his equals he was yet at a loss in discerning and judging of the turnings and distempers of his heart before he takes the light and lamp of the Law So himself professeth Rom. 7. 7. I had not known that lust had been a sin those first stirrings of the Body of death and secret lingrings and inclinations to that which is cross to the wil of God though there be no consent given to them no delight taken in them but that the Law said thou shalt not lust the Sentence of the Law set down his Judgment and therefore the Apostle James compares it to a perfect and curious Looking-glass wherein each man may see the least blemishes or motes if he will present himself before it James 1. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect Law of Liberty and continueth therein will lay his mind and heart and life level to the Law of God and hold his heart and apprehensions to the righteous Judgment and Sentence thereof it will plainly discover the smallest imperfections the least stirrings of the most hidden distempers that arise so Rom. 2. 14. the Heathens with the twi-light or Star-light of the remainders of the Law written in their heart past Sentence against themselves touching the sinfulness of their course But this is not all nor yet enough to make us to attain a right sight of our Sins unless the Lord put a new Light into our minds within as we have the Light of the Law and Counsel of God shining without unto us otherwise the Law may be and wil be a clasped Book and a dead Letter we shall see little in it or receive little from it So Paul Rom. 7. 9. I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came sin revived Without the Law how could that be since he was an Hebrew of the Hebrews of the Tribe of Benjamin trained up at the feet of Gamaliel a Doctor of the Law prosessed it and practised it according to the most exact Sect of the Pharisees as he speaks But the meaning is that he was without the power of it and the spiritual life and lively efficacy of the Law It was a dead and a killing Letter Look what the sence of the words or some evidence of Reason or Arguments could hold out to a Natural Understanding the bark and shell and outside of such directions he took and entertained But the Spiritualness of the Law For the Law is Spiritual saies Paul and that spiritual and lively power of Conviction and Direction it puts forth upon the souls of the Saints who are subject to it and therefore indeed receive the work of it This Paul once in the time of his unregeneracy was destitute of and then he was alive that is in his own overweening and self-deluded conceit he concluded himself to be a living Christian to have the power and truth of Grace and to live the life of it So that it 's possible nay it 's ordinary and nothing more usual than for men to be without the Law when they have the Law to be without the Life of it while they have the Letter of it to be without the Law as a Soveraign Rule to their Lives while they take upon them the profession of it to be without the Spiritualness of the Law and so to miss the end of it that is closing with God as our last end and chief good which is the sap the pith and substance of the Law though they have the appearance of the practice of it And if they miss the end of the Law at which it aims and unto which it tends they must needs fall short of the Wisdom and Counsel and Spiritual efficacy of the Law which should direct them So in 2 Chron. 19. 3. Now for a long time Israel had been without the true God that is his true Worship that would bring them to him and that is the meaning of that Phrase Ephes. 2. 12. Without God in the World that is without the true Worship of God so that they who want the true Worship of God are without God So they who have the manner of the true Worship and want both Spirit and Truth in which God will be worshiped they have the Appearance but want the Spirit and Truth of the true manner they have So of the rest Thus it is with thousands in the Church which hear and know and have the Letter of the Law and yet are indeed without the Power and Spirit and therefore
Possession of those spiritual 〈◊〉 unto such only Because the witnessing of 〈◊〉 Spirit is of equal extent with Gods intent in 〈◊〉 these with Christs intent and purpose in 〈◊〉 these with its own work in applying 〈◊〉 Whatever respect makes a thing an adequat 〈◊〉 of a work in such a kind all works of that 〈◊〉 are ever applyed to that thing under that 〈◊〉 The King gives a Charter in His Royal Grant 〈◊〉 such who are Free-men of such a Corporation 〈◊〉 that bought it Purchased only for such there is 〈◊〉 ground in true right and reason why they should 〈◊〉 bestowed upon any but such nor can any apply Priviledge aright unless he do apply it with an eye 〈◊〉 such a Condition that must stear the whol course 〈◊〉 a righteous proceeding in that kind That which 〈◊〉 the Formalis ratio of the subject in Application 〈◊〉 must needs be attended in every work of 〈◊〉 either of Comfort or Priviledge if 〈◊〉 the Rule aright But it hath appeared in brief 〈◊〉 That such who shall be the seed of the 〈◊〉 to them God the Father intended these 〈◊〉 Priviledges Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever should 〈◊〉 in him should not perish but have eternal life 〈◊〉 them as such Christ Purchased these Joh. 17. 〈◊〉 I pray not for the World but for them that shall 〈◊〉 And so the Spirit applyes as when Paul 〈◊〉 appointed to 〈◊〉 the Gentiles this was his 〈◊〉 He was to turn men from Satan to God that 〈◊〉 they might receive remission of sins and 〈◊〉 So the Spirit by the Ministry of the Word makes 〈◊〉 of these Priviledges and never otherwise and therefore never gives other witness Upon what ground the Evidence of Science 〈◊〉 Knowledg of my Justification and Adoption 〈◊〉 according to truth upon that ground ariseth my 〈◊〉 of Faith for both these I told you in 〈◊〉 Explication were included and must be 〈◊〉 in the work of Evidence and it s as 〈◊〉 out of the Principles of right Reason and Experience and Scriptures also that alone which my 〈◊〉 judgeth my 〈◊〉 embraceth there is nothing 〈◊〉 come to the Wil but by the Understanding what 〈◊〉 Eye sees not the Heart affects not No light come into this Room but by this Window Look therefore what the Understanding apprehends and 〈◊〉 it apprehends it so is it presented to the Heart 〈◊〉 so by the Heart is it entertained Joh. 4. 10. 〈◊〉 thou known thou wouldst have asked him water 〈◊〉 he would have given thee water of life So the 〈◊〉 Joh. 4. 42. Now we beleeve because 〈◊〉 have heard him and know that this is the 〈◊〉 of the World this is cleer But now My Knowledge and Science if true 〈◊〉 sound it ever issues out of the Concurrence and 〈◊〉 together in my Apprehension of a 〈◊〉 Qualification 〈◊〉 the Priviledges and 〈◊〉 Priviledges received thereby For it s a ruled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the common Course of Reason That Knowledge 〈◊〉 Science that is sound judgment of a truth ever issues out of a simple term or one thing as one 〈◊〉 it self 〈◊〉 Instance I express in word or attend in my 〈◊〉 Pardon that word or term Adoption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take them several and asunder Here 〈◊〉 no Judgment can be 〈◊〉 nor can any that hear 〈◊〉 or conclude 〈◊〉 the having or not 〈◊〉 of any of these So again Sin Faith 〈◊〉 I cannot judge what these are or in whom 〈◊〉 are there is neither Knowledge nor 〈◊〉 nor Comfort comes hence But dispose and 〈◊〉 them together As An Unbeleever is Pardoned I judge this 〈◊〉 now because 〈◊〉 things are joyned together 〈◊〉 natures agree not and the expression is not as 〈◊〉 things be 〈◊〉 i s a false Proposition or 〈◊〉 cross to the Scripture He that beleeves not 〈◊〉 condemned Joh. 3. 18. A Beleever is 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 Answers the nature of the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 truth a d meaning of the 〈◊〉 and therefore its true I so judge it and so 〈◊〉 it and so only if I either know it aright or 〈◊〉 it aright And mark this knowledge issues 〈◊〉 the right apprehension of both parts as they 〈◊〉 together which 〈◊〉 be but only by a 〈◊〉 Qualification The Sum then is If the right and true Knowledge of the Application of any spiritual Priviledges 〈◊〉 from the attendance of the 〈◊〉 subject and quality with which it is disposed then my Evidence and Assurance must arise so too But so my Knowledge ariseth therefore so my Assurance must arise also The like you may say and it will be seasonable and exceeding useful to consider it No 〈◊〉 or witness can be attended without the thing 〈◊〉 and that according to the mind of the 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 you must take one with another to make up an Evidence to look upon those simple expressions Pardon Mercy Redemption and run away with them and the sweetness in them and 〈◊〉 look at the right disposition of them according to the witness of the Spirit and mind of the testifier it s not possible to have either sound Faith or 〈◊〉 in this way because I cannot have true Knowledge thus Thou Unbeleever Uncalled Art Pardoned 〈◊〉 false Before thou knowest the right disposition 〈◊〉 these together thou canst not pass a right Judgment or have a right Evidence Christ came to 〈◊〉 sinners beleeving humbled sinners That is true To come to an End Hold these Principles in the Severals and so you shall be able to see the frame 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 how it lies 1 None but Parties Qualified viz. 〈◊〉 are the subjects of these 〈◊〉 Joh. 3. 16. Joh. 3. last 2 The Spirit never witnesseth these 〈◊〉 but according to this meaning He alwayes means those who are 〈◊〉 true subjects of these Priviledges and 〈◊〉 only according to the meaning of the Word 3 We cannot know the Testimony of the Spirit-unless we know it according to 〈◊〉 meaning Therefore we must of necessity know the qualification of the Person Receiving as 〈◊〉 as the Priviledge and Blessing Received I must know my self a Beleever as well as Justified Adopted because this is the meaning of the Word and Spirit This may suffice for Arguments to confirm the truth propounded We shall now remove a stumbling stone or two out of the way and omitting all others I shall only Answer Two Objections which carry either 〈◊〉 or seeming probability with them From that of 1 Joh. 5. 7 8. There be three that 〈◊〉 record in heaven the Father the Word and 〈◊〉 Spirit and these three are one And there are 〈◊〉 that bear witness in Earth the Spirit Water and Blood and these three agree in one Here say some are several sorts of 〈◊〉 one distinct from another one before another and one more excellent than the other and therefore 〈◊〉 one may be without respect to the other the witness of the Spirit without attending either Water or Blood either Sanctification or
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
Christ 〈◊〉 Purchased to himself for if he could he 〈◊〉 do it some of these wayes Either by force we must take it rush by 〈◊〉 into the right and possession of the Lord Jesus 〈◊〉 wrest by strong hand everlasting happiness from 〈◊〉 whether he will or no. But that 's impossible 〈◊〉 what is the clay to the Potter So the Prophet ex presseth the difference the interogation shewes 〈◊〉 impossibilitie of the opposition they may 〈◊〉 with his will but they cannot cross it 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Who hath resisted his will and therefore the Lord 〈◊〉 the Vineyard determines it by his absolute good 〈◊〉 sure Mat. 20. 14 15. I will give to this last 〈◊〉 thee may I not do what I will with my own As by force we cannot take it So by justice we 〈◊〉 not challenge it or claim any interest therein for 〈◊〉 thing we have or do Nothing we have can 〈◊〉 it nothing we can do can deserve it at the hands 〈◊〉 Christ. For the conclusion is firm When we 〈◊〉 done all we can we are 〈◊〉 Servants 〈◊〉 have done no more than we should Luke 17. 〈◊〉 Nay we do much that we should not do Psal. 〈◊〉 3. If 〈◊〉 shouldest strictly mark what is done 〈◊〉 misse Lord who could abide it Wee of our selves are not capable of this 〈◊〉 provided and freely offred to us John 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shined in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the darkness 〈◊〉 ded it not John 14. 17. I will send the Spirit whom the World cannot receive 1 Cor. 2. 14. The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit neither can he receive them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therfore our Saviour complaìns that his word found no place in them all the room was taken up already as our Saviour when he came into the World so when 〈◊〉 comes into mens hearts yea if a naturall man might 〈◊〉 Heaven for the taking if it were put into his hand 〈◊〉 were not able to hold it So the young man when he 〈◊〉 as free an offer and as fair terms as ever were 〈◊〉 to any Go and sell all that thou hast come 〈◊〉 me and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven it 〈◊〉 said he went away sorrowfull he would none of the Kingdome of Heaven upon those terms he neither 〈◊〉 nor could receive it A man would not be made capable he would not 〈◊〉 God enable him to receive that grace which being 〈◊〉 would take away those distempers which do 〈◊〉 take place in him Hence comes al those quarrels 〈◊〉 that contention between the heart and the word 〈◊〉 men are not able to bear or hear the blessed truth 〈◊〉 God that it should reveal or remove their 〈◊〉 from them The soul saith to the word as he did 〈◊〉 thou found me O mine enemy The carnall 〈◊〉 is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 7. So Augustine consessed that when 〈◊〉 prayed against his lusts he secretly wished that 〈◊〉 would not hear his prayer It dasheth the vain imagination of a company of 〈◊〉 ignorant creatures whom Satan carries 〈◊〉 down to Hell by a false conceit of their 〈◊〉 to compass and contrive their own spirituall 〈◊〉 according to their own humor They put 〈◊〉 opportunities slight al offers of life and means 〈◊〉 grace proceed fearlesly in the pursuit of any 〈◊〉 what ever best suits their own carnal 〈◊〉 presuming vainly of their own power to help as they list and like best when and 〈◊〉 they will Tell them of the 〈◊〉 of the work shortness of their time uncertainty of their lives how 〈◊〉 and irrecoverable their hazard and loss will be and therefore they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and take greedily each opportunity that is presented unto them They 〈◊〉 their retreat hither and here they 〈◊〉 themselves against all fears that might surprize terrors that might take hold upon them threatnings of the 〈◊〉 which might shake their hearts in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They have found a nearer way and 〈◊〉 would not put themselves to unnecessary 〈◊〉 though they begin late they can do 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bour and much 〈◊〉 and yet do it well what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out his dayes in melancholly 〈◊〉 sink his heart in sadness and discouragement 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 of her present content and delight and 〈◊〉 themselves more miserable than they need when 〈◊〉 years grow on and their eyes grow dim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strength 〈◊〉 them then they will cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seek pardon and repent of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christ and then 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus they conceive 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either to 〈◊〉 mercy or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 or take eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salvation as they list True they cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor are they able to purchase it but 〈◊〉 hath 〈◊〉 rited eternal Life and God so freely 〈◊〉 it to 〈◊〉 man that wil they put it beyond 〈◊〉 peradventures 〈◊〉 make no doubt of it but to make 〈◊〉 their own as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And by this selfdeceiying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men suddenly drop down to destruction 〈◊〉 they do indeed 〈◊〉 where they are and what 〈◊〉 do But what a desperate folly is this so to 〈◊〉 mans soul as to put the weight of eternal Life and Salvation and al the hopes thou hast meerly upon 〈◊〉 so that according to the course thou hast plotted it 's utterly impossible thou shouldest 〈◊〉 of any good For First thou knowest not whether thou shalt live it is 〈◊〉 in thy hand to maintaine thy own natural life for 〈◊〉 what is our life a bubble a flower a shaddow 〈◊〉 bubble breaks and the flower fades and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 away thou art not certain thou shalt live til 〈◊〉 evening or if thou doest how doest thou know 〈◊〉 shalt have ability to seek to the Lord for mercy 〈◊〉 thy brain is grown weak not able to remember or 〈◊〉 the things belonging to thy peace and when 〈◊〉 is grown 〈◊〉 weak it 's not able to grapple with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the daies of sorrow and sickness are 〈◊〉 upon thee and thou sayest I have no pleasure in 〈◊〉 Imagine God give thee life and thou have ability 〈◊〉 nature about thee yet who knows whether ever God wil give thee a heart to look for mercy Luke 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is said one of the Theeves reviled Christ when 〈◊〉 was to die he fell a railing afresh upon our Saviour 〈◊〉 saying if thou be the Christ save thy self 〈◊〉 us One would have thought the place of 〈◊〉 and the gastly looks of Death now presented 〈◊〉 his eyes might have put other words into his 〈◊〉 other thoughts into his mind but he could 〈◊〉 leave his life than his blasphemy So a 〈◊〉 going to dye a Minister coming to him stirred 〈◊〉 up to cry to the Lord and to look to Heaven for 〈◊〉 he professed though he was then going to 〈◊〉 Gallows that he would not do it O saies he I 〈◊〉
Sin and Satan when Justice is satisfied the Lord Jesus saies I have satisfied for that soul therefore Satan and Sin let him go they say we wil not let him go and they try al conclusions to hold him fast Now the Resurrection of Christ steps in and the Lord Jesus being raised from the dead by a strong hand he breaks the Prison which is Sin and 〈◊〉 the soul from the power of Satan who is the 〈◊〉 and in 〈◊〉 of them both he takes the soul 〈◊〉 them and then puts it into the 〈◊〉 of al 〈◊〉 good So that now the Authority of Sin and Satan is 〈◊〉 away which hindred the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good things and 〈◊〉 is done by the 〈◊〉 of Jesus Christ. Hence it is that al special works of Grace 〈◊〉 in the communication of saving good to the soul 〈◊〉 are all given to the 〈◊〉 of Christ. 1 Our Effectual Calling Eph. 1. 19. the work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is there expressed on this manner That ye 〈◊〉 know what is the exceeding greatness of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to us-ward who 〈◊〉 according to 〈◊〉 working of his mighty power 〈◊〉 whence 〈◊〉 all this it is shewed in the next verse ver 20. 〈◊〉 he wrought in Christ when he raised him 〈◊〉 the dead and set him at his own right hand c. 〈◊〉 the same Power whereby God the Father raised Christ and whereby Christ raised himself by he 〈◊〉 same Power the Lord Jesus works the heart to 〈◊〉 2 Justification is attributed to the Resurrection 〈◊〉 Christ besides that place 〈◊〉 4. last 〈◊〉 and opened before the Apostle in 1 Pet. 3. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptism saves us not the putting away 〈◊〉 the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good 〈◊〉 towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ That is not the outward act of Baptism 〈◊〉 Christ fignified by it the answer or demand of 〈◊〉 good conscience is an effect of the Application 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blood of Christ to the soul for when the soul is 〈◊〉 a good conscience saies I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sins are 〈◊〉 my person accepted Conscience owns 〈◊〉 challengeth this but whence comes this the Apostle here tels us by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ That is the Resurrection of Christ is the special means whereby way is made 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of the dea h and obedience 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ to the soul and by 〈◊〉 whereof the 〈◊〉 comes to be justified 3 Hence again we are said to 〈◊〉 adopted by the Resurrection of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 3. He hath 〈◊〉 us again to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead 4. Hence also Sanctification is commonly constantly attributed to the Resurrection of Christ Rom. 6. 4 5 6 7 8. The reason of all these expressions is because the Resurrection of Christ is the chief cause to make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Application of all Spiritual Good to the soul and therefore we are called justified adopted 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 of his Resurrection And there is a 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Explication from this 〈◊〉 ground Matt. 28. 18. when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the dead he said All 〈◊〉 Heaven and Earth is given unto me he received 〈◊〉 power at his Resurrection by his death and obedience he had purchased all the binding and condemning Power of Divine Justice and all the power of Mercy nay power over all Blessings and Mercies and Creatures they all became his But when he rose again he then received all power over Hell and Sin and Death whereby he is able to vanquish these Enemies of our Salvation and to rescue the Soul for which he hath died from the hands of all these because he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power over al things in Heaven and Earth 〈◊〉 dispose of them for his own glorious ends 〈◊〉 again Revel 1. 18. Christ being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dead is said to have the Keys of Hell and Death that is he hath a Sovereign Authority 〈◊〉 dispose of Hell and Death to deliver his Servants 〈◊〉 Hell and Death and therefore also he hath 〈◊〉 to dispense Grace as he will and how he will 〈◊〉 hence it is also that the communication of Grace 〈◊〉 been from the beginning and shall be to the end 〈◊〉 the World and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was a larger 〈◊〉 of the Spirit after the Resurrection of Christ than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 7. 39. The holy Ghost was not yet 〈◊〉 because fesus was not yet glorified the Spirit 〈◊〉 given 〈◊〉 but the 〈◊〉 and abundance and 〈◊〉 of the Spirit was not given till after Christs 〈◊〉 for all that was given to all Churches 〈◊〉 all 〈◊〉 from the beginning of the World was 〈◊〉 vertue 〈◊〉 Christs Resurrection but now the 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 there was a greater measure of the Spirit 〈◊〉 and when Christ 〈◊〉 to Heaven then was 〈◊〉 larger measure than before and when the Jews shall 〈◊〉 called there shall be a greater measure still Hence also Christ having 〈◊〉 Hell and Sin 〈◊〉 Death by his 〈◊〉 he is armed with all Authority to send out 〈◊〉 to his Churches and 〈◊〉 Presence and 〈◊〉 to go along with them Eph. 48. 11 12. When he ascended up on high he led Captivity captive and gave gifts unto men he gave Apostles Pastors and Teachers c. Christs 〈◊〉 is one degree of his Exaltation and the fullest 〈◊〉 largest expression of his Kingly Authority to provide 〈◊〉 and to come along with them is from 〈◊〉 so that here you have as it were a Key to open several Scriptures The Frame of this Truth may be discerned in these Particulars The Lord Jesus as the second Adam the Head of the Covenant of Grace hath all Spiritual Good in himself and from him it must be communicated to al the Faithful as his 〈◊〉 That he may communicate al Spiritual Good to his he must be able to crush all that power that shall 〈◊〉 the communication of this Good for if 〈◊〉 were any power more able to oppose than he to communicate the work might be hindred If he must crush all that oppose then he must have a conquering Sovereign Power over all the Power of Hell and Sin and Death for unless he had a Sovereign prevailing Power over all opposing Power he might be conquered and hindred as well as they delivered Therefore he must have that Power that must raise 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 hour and power of darkness Luk. 22. 53. Christ when he was to die said this is your hour and the power of darkness God the Father gave leave unto and left him in the hands of Sin and Satan and they did what they could do to hinder the Work of Redemption by Jesus Christ and Christ felt it and professed it that all the Power of Hell and Sin and 〈◊〉 was let loose upon him and they brought him down to his grave and there they would have kept him But the Lord Jesus by the Power of his 〈◊〉 raised up himself from the power of darkness under which in some sort he then was and
which the Lord 〈◊〉 appointed for the revelation and communication 〈◊〉 all Spiritual Good Again remember this The Word is but an Instrument or means and therefore it 〈◊〉 no further than the Lord Christ works with it 〈◊〉 the operation of his Spirit hence it 's called the 〈◊〉 of the Spirit Eph. 6. 17. and Rom. 1. 16. The Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation as 〈◊〉 Lord puts forth his Power in and by the Gospel Secondly It is the Word in the ' Ministry of it the 〈◊〉 published and preached the Word rightly 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks 2 Tim. 2. 15. that is 〈◊〉 the Word is rightly opened and rightly applied works then more powerfully because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Will of the Principal Agent and according to the weakness of them to whom it is delivered as the chewing of meat fits it for the Stomach and therfore it nourisheth more the pounding of 〈◊〉 makes it smel more so it is with the Word when opened and applied according to the mind of God it 〈◊〉 the savor of Life unto Life 2 Cor. 2. 16. so 〈◊〉 Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by hearing of the Word of God it is not meant that faith comes by hearing of the Word read for that kind of preaching is 〈◊〉 meant for which a man is sent 〈◊〉 15. How can they preach except they be sent but for bare reading no man had need to be sent 2 Cor. 5. 17 18. God 〈◊〉 in Christ reconciling the world to himself and hath committed to us the Word of Reconciliation that is the Lord hath delegated the dispensation of his Word in a way of Explication and Application of it to 〈◊〉 faithful Ministers Only here observe Gods Order 1 The Power resideth first in Christ and his Spirit 2 From Christ and his Spirit it comes to the Word 3 From the Word to the Administration thereof by the Dispensers where you find most of the Word and most evidence of the Spirit there you shall find the work to go on powerfully and successfully for the bringing home of souls to God It is not all Eloquence 〈◊〉 humane Excellency in the world but where a man walketh with God in the use of his Ordinances as when Paul was preaching God opened the heart of Lydia Acts 16. 14. The Word is like a Burning-Glass that which burns and heats is not the Glass but the beams of the Sun that pierceth through the Glass so it is the Power of Christ in a Promise in a Command that makes it pierce to the heart Gal. 2. 8. He that wrought effectually in Peter to the Ministry of the Circumcision was mighty in me towards the Gentils alas what is Paul or Peter or Apollo as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 2. 5. but Ministers by whom you beleeve as the Lord gives to every man 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 Instruments which stir no further than the 〈◊〉 will move by them nor can do no more than the 〈◊〉 will work by them Word Prayer Preaching Sacraments these are 〈◊〉 weak in themselves yet are they mighty through God to bring in the souls of men in obedience to the Lord. Thus I have done with the Explication of this general Conclusion together with the particular Propositions contained in it that God himself the Father through Christ by his Spirit by an Almighty Power is the Principal Cause and the Ministry of the Word the Instrumental Cause of the Application of all saving good Let me ad some Uses that flow from 〈◊〉 Information in Two things First Hence we learn That the 〈◊〉 of the work of Gods Grace upon the souls of his Servants is not done by moral perswasion that 's Pelagianism and Arminianism they require no more to the conversion of a sinner but meer perswasion the Promises of Grace must be pressed the excellency and glory of Christ discovered and that say they is all that is needful lay but these before a man and he hath power to embrace and receive them if he will It is a false conceit If that Power that raised up Christ from the dead must be put forth for the bringing home of a soul to God then there must be more than moral perswasion which only stirs up and draws out that ability that is within us Men may come dead and sit so and return so and be never the better for all the Ordinances and means of Grace if they have no more than them Isa. 57. 19. I create the fruit of the Lips peace peace to him that is neer and to him that is far off it is a creating Power that must be put forth Ministers do speak in vain else Hence again it 's certain the work of God in Application is irresistible This is the main 〈◊〉 from whence that Error is confuted That Power 〈◊〉 raised Christ from the dead was irresistible notwithstanding all sins and all Devils notwithstanding 〈◊〉 hour and power of darkness yet he 〈◊〉 up himself from the dead and by the same Almighty 〈◊〉 Power he works faith in our hearts and quickens 〈◊〉 with Spiritual Life when we were dead in sins and trespasses Eph. 2. 1 2. It 's true there is nothing but Nature and corruption in a man and by vertue of that a man opposeth and resisteth the work of Grace yet so to resist as to frustrate the work of God it is impossible God were not Almighty if sin and Satan could hinder his Work Tryal of our Conversion Observe whether the work of Application come from Heaven or no if so it leaves the 〈◊〉 of an Almighty Power upon the soul as Christ said The Baptism of John 〈◊〉 it from Heaven or from man So I say of Application Is it from Heaven or from your self 〈◊〉 is certain if it be not from the Almighty Power of God it will never bring thee to God neither in this world nor the world to come If the soul can say it was not the power of Men or Means or Ordinances I had all these I understood all these and yet was the same man still I had the old pride and lusts still they lodged in my bosom and came out as occasion served as a dog returning to his vomit till the Lord came from Heaven and broke in mightily upon my heart and there was no resisting of him If you say Must every one see the working of this Almighty Power in his own soul This Work may be really and savingly wrought though the Saints do not generally see and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and how there is an impression made upon the 〈◊〉 the Almighty Power of God even as 〈◊〉 are grown though it be not observed how We see the Power of God in other things They are Natural and outward this inward and Spiritual Take the influences of the Heavens and 〈◊〉 Minerals and wonderful things that are wrought 〈◊〉 yet there is not one of a thousand that are 〈◊〉 to discern and discover these But this Influence of the
such a Christ pleaseth us well but such a Christ will never do us good 2 This makes a man bold to adventure upon the commission of the grossest evill this makes him fearless to continue in it makes him negligent and regardless by godly sorrow and saving repentance to recover out of it he passeth not he cares not to take his poyson and to drink it in as his daily dyet he carries his 〈◊〉 about him and that which will undoubtedly cure him he may yet maintain union with Christ and communion with his cursed Lusts. 3 This makes a man slight in holy servises so as neither to put a price upon them nor to see an excellencie in them or iudg aright of the necessity of such performances he becomes sleepy and heartless in what he doth he is sure of a Christ that will answer all and therefore he troubles not himself with holy duties if he stumble upon the doing of them so if he neglect the doing of them so he hath a way to help all he can have a Christ he conceives without these and therefore he makes no great matter whether he do these or no. 4 Nay if he may have union to Christ while he is in his corruption if so he is then in a good estate for he that hath the son 〈◊〉 life 1 John 5. 12. Therefore he may have evidence of his good estate without the sight of any saving qualification because he may have a Christ and so be in a good estate without any saving qualification And therefore this Evidence must needs come from an immediate revelation from Heaven for there is no appearance no manifestation of it on Earth either in our hearts or lives in what we have or do and therefore then our good estate may be sure unto us by Christ when we have nothing but sin and do nothing but commit sin And hence because both graces and gracious actions may be wanting in this union to Christ because separable from it thererefore the want of them cannot infer the deniall of a good estate nor the presence of them conclude the certainty of a good estate because they are not proper and peculiar to such a condition for then they could not be severed from it which they may And thus this one Delusion like an Egyptian fog darkens the whol Heavens even the bright beams of the Sun of the Gospel and the everlasting Covenant of Gods free grace cuts the sinews of sincerity and eats out the blood and spirits of the power nd presence and life of Grace and under a pretence of advancing Christ and Free Grace destroies his Kingdom and frustrates the coming of Christ into the World For he came for this end 1 John 3. 8. To destroy the Works of the Devil the Apostle concludes it verse 10. as a proof beyond all question or exception the child of the Devil is manifest in this He that hates his brother and works unrighteousness is the Child of the Devil and yet upon this grant and according to this ground a man may do both these and yet be united unto Christ and so be blessed of him Look we therefore at these so desperate 〈◊〉 not as Rocks and Sands where men may suffer Shipwrack and yet be recovered but like a devouring Gulf or Whirl-pool whereinto whosoever comes there is no hope nor help to come out as cutting a man off from the careful and consciencious use of the means appointed by God in the Gospel to recover him As a Ship that is foundred in the midst of the main Ocean without the sight of any succor or hope of Relief Besides then the Arguments formerly alleaged I shall propound some other to fortifie against this so dangerous a Deceit Reasons to prove that Christ cannot be united to the Soul while it is in its Natural Condition and the state of Unbeleef Taken from John 14. 17. Christ saies he would send them another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive Every man while he is in his corrupt and natural condition he is one of the World Eph. 2. 2. When in times passed ye walked according to the course of this world vers 3. Among whom also we had our Conversations in times past in the lusts of the flesh How otherwise could they be called 〈◊〉 of the World unless they were in it They who cannot receive the Spirit cannot receive the Lord Jesus nor union to him but men Naturally cannot receive the Spirit therefore they must be called out of the World and from the Power of Satan and so be prepared and then receive Faith that so they may receive 〈◊〉 But Conversion being a Creating Work a Work of Creation needs 〈◊〉 preparation to 〈◊〉 or for it 〈◊〉 his Word is 〈◊〉 he calls men his people who are not his people and by calling them so he makes them to be so Preparation is required to the implantation of the 〈◊〉 into Christ not 〈◊〉 regard of God or his work upon us as though he needed any help to the execution of his holy wil but in regard of the thing wrought in us for he working all things according to the counsel of his own will and the rules of his Infinite Wisdom he needs not any help in his work yet it is 〈◊〉 his perfection and sufficiency to go against the wise Order set down in the Dispensation of his Providence for the bringing about of this work the causes of a thing do not help God in Working or Creating they are necessarily required to make up the thing wrought or created there is nothing in a blind eye 〈◊〉 may help God to restore it to sight yet God according to reason must put a power and ability of sight or a 〈◊〉 faculty before he will nay indeed can bring forth seeing God can turn Water into Wine but in reason he must destroy the Nature of Water and then make Wine for it implies a contradiction to say that Water should remain Water and yet have Wine made out of it So it is in the soul he can change a proud and unbeleeving heart into a 〈◊〉 heart but he must first destroy the power of unbeleef 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can bring in faith He that is under the power of infidelity and corrupt Nature he is under the guilt of his sins and in the state of condemnation John 3. 18. He that beleeves not is condemned already and vers 36. The wrath of God abides upon him But he that is in Christ to him there is no condemnation Rom. 8. 1. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 3. last and for his sake with all that are in him Now to be in the state of condemnation and acceptation together in the state of Life and death to have the wrath of God abiding and the good pleasure of God resting upon a party at the 〈◊〉 time 〈◊〉 a perfect contradiction and so impossibilities in
the Ministery to give the Knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 8. To darken Knowledg therefore is to cross Gods Honor our own Callings the Comforts of the People over whom we are set and to be concealers of Gods Mind not Interpreters and Revealers of his Will 〈◊〉 is only one Plea here Objected that carries any appearance of likelihood with it gathered out of Eccles. 12. 10. where it is said The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that that was written was upright even words of truth Was it Solomons Care directed by the Spirit to study pleasing words to affect his Hearers Should not his practice be a pattern to all to imitate him in like expressions Dare any affirm but that he did what he ought And shall any be so careless or presumptuous as not to endeavor to follow that course recorded with so much Commendation by the Holy Ghost I yeild willingly to all the Truths which the Text holds out unto us but it shall appear that nothing can from thence by just consequence be Collected that will cross but rather confirm and that undoubtedly what hath been affirmed before That the Writings of men should be sound their Speeches acceptable is granted but when are they how shall they be judged to be such That 's the Doubt which once Cleered the Objection will be Answered fully Words then must be judged acceptable not by the foolish fancies corrupt and carnal humors of men but from the warrant they have from the scripture and the work they have in the hearts of the Hearers for their good as the 11. vers of Eccles. 12. discovers it being added as it were by way of Explication to evidence where that pleasantness of Speech lay The words of the wise are as Goads and Nails fastened by the Masters of Assemblies which are given by one Shepheard As though the Preacher should have expressed himself more freely and fully thus If any shall ask what these acceptable words formerly mentioned are and how they may be 〈◊〉 it is easie for any thus to know them by their working upon the heart as we judge the goodness and virtue of Phyfick by its working upon the body or in the stomach Those words which are as Goads to awaken and spur on the 〈◊〉 and sleepy hearted to the performance of service with greater 〈◊〉 and speed those that are as 〈◊〉 so to fast on the 〈◊〉 truths of God upon the Consciences of men that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the compass of Gods command as Sheep within the fold Lastly Those words which are endited 〈◊〉 not by 〈◊〉 wisdom but by the Spirit of Christ 1 Cor. 2. 4. who is the only chief Shepheard of his Church and whose voice should only be heard such words should be sought out by the speaker such words 〈◊〉 to be accounted acceptable by those who hear them Now how far all quaintness and 〈◊〉 of speech is from this warrant of the Lord or this powerfull work in the hearts of his people let the sluggish and secure courses the loose lives and 〈◊〉 of such persons parishes places and congregations who have and love such teachers and such kind of teaching proclaim and testifie to al the world Plainness of Preaching appears also in the matter that is spoken when sin and sinners are set out in their native and natural colours and carry their proper names whereby they may be owned suitable to the loathsomness that is in them and the danger of those evils which are their undoubted reward A Spade is a Spade and a Drunkard is a Drunkard c. and if he will have his Sins he must and shall have 〈◊〉 with them It s Satans Policy who painter or tyre-maker like cozens all the world with colors to 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 wayes of 〈◊〉 and the glorious Graces of the Spirit with the soot and dirt of reproaches and base nick-names Sincerity he terms Singularity 〈◊〉 Puritanism and Hypocrisie and so ignorant men who judge the person by the picture are brought out of love and liking with 〈◊〉 blessed wayes of 〈◊〉 and holiness Contrariwise when he would cast a vaile over the ugly and deformed face of Vice and 〈◊〉 courses he is 〈◊〉 to lay 〈◊〉 false colors of indifferency 〈◊〉 and pleasure Drunkenness is good fellowship and neighborhood Covetousness comes masked under the vizard of 〈◊〉 and moderation Cowardliness is trimmed and 〈◊〉 up in the 〈◊〉 of discretion and wariness If Ministers will not be the Divels Brokers and followers their manner of proceeding must be expresly contrary When they come to Preach they must make sin appear truly odious and 〈◊〉 to the open 〈◊〉 of all that all may 〈◊〉 afraid and endeavor to avoid it Those 〈◊〉 wipes and 〈◊〉 jerks and 〈◊〉 at sin at which the 〈◊〉 prophane 〈◊〉 pleased but not reformed are utterly 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 the Place the Person the Office of the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts What A Minister a Jester O searful to make the Pulpit a Stage to play with 〈◊〉 when he should terrifie the Conscience for it The Lord abominates the practice he that knows and fears the Lord should abhor it with detestation Thus plainly dealt Elias with Ahab 1 Kings 18. 18. It s thou and thy Fathers house that have troubled Israel because ye have forsaken the Commandements of the Lord and followed Baalim So also with 〈◊〉 1 King 18. 21. How long will you hault between two 〈◊〉 If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then 〈◊〉 him As if he should have said Away with this patching in 〈◊〉 either a Saint or a Devil make somthing of it this is down right dealing And thus plainly John the Baptist who had the same Spirit dealt with Herod He doth not beat the Bush and go behind the door to tell him his faults and mince the matter with some intimations but he speaks out Matth. 14. 4. It is not lawful for thee to have thy Brother Philips Wife either thou mnst not have that incestuous Harlot or thou must not have Grace and Glory Thus again he dealt with the Sadduces and Pharisees when he saw them come to his Baptisms He saies to them Matth. 3. 7. Oh ye Generation of Vipers who hath fore-warned you to flee from the wrath to come As if he should have said Egs and Birds Parents and Posterity you are a race of venomous and poysonful wretches What A proud Pharisee to listen to the simplicity of the Doctrine of Grace is it possible If in sincerity and good earnest you purpose to embrace the Doctrine of truth bring forth then fruits worthy of amendment of life vers 8. We have done with the Plainness of the Ministery we are now to enquire wherein the Power of a Ministery Consists And that appears in Two Things There must be soundness of Argument and undeniable Evidence of Reason out of the Word which is able to command the
attend upon him at all 〈◊〉 Say not then out of the shortness of thy spirit I have come often begged much and 〈◊〉 long at the gate of grace I find not the work yet done my heart not yet throughly humbled for my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 refreshed with the assurance of Gods Favor Shall I wait any longer Oh fearful Pride Is it come to this If you be in such haste you may go to Hell time enough What not wait See who will have the worst of it God can better keep his Compassions than thou canst want them And as its fit he should so its certain he will make thee to know thou must wait nay bless his Name that you may wait for his mercy The 〈◊〉 of all men that 〈◊〉 breathed have done it So David Min eyes fail with looking for thy Salvation saying O when wilt thou comfort 〈◊〉 Psal. 119. 82. 123 It s enough we may beg the Grace of God as a 〈◊〉 not command it as a Debt Labor we then to 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 those proud and impatient distemper whereby we repine and quarrel at the 〈◊〉 on of Gods dealings with us if he answers 〈◊〉 Expectation to the full Others seek and the 〈◊〉 hath bestowed and they have received a great 〈◊〉 sure of Grace with little labor and in a short 〈◊〉 When we have labored long and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet the Lord answers not our 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 us that Spiritual Good we need Learn we now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and controul those boystrous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spirits with that of the Apostle Who art 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that reasonest against God What if 〈◊〉 will not Rom. 9. 20 21 22. What if he will 〈◊〉 ver 〈◊〉 our hearts never pacifie our Conscience pardon our sins save our Souls It is 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he may do what he will and therefore he doth us no wrong what ever he does Fit then it is we should stay his times who hath all times especially of Grace and Life in his own hands While this life lasts and the Gospel is continued that is the particular Season and Period wherein the Lord expresseth his good pleasure to work graciously upon the 〈◊〉 of His. The time of Grace and day of Salvation is here discovered in the Two Periods of it which make up the parts of the Doctrine 1 Grace is only to be gained in this life 2 While the means of Salvation are continued that 's the Season which the Lord usually takes to work upon the Souls of those 〈◊〉 belong to him we shall severally open and prove both 〈◊〉 and after make joynt Application of them Preparation and Conversion of the Soul must be made in this life Seek ye the Lord while he may be found Isaiah 55. 6. The time of our living is one of Gods whiles the time of finding Grace and Mercy if ever we come to share therein The 〈◊〉 of Jacobs Ladder is here on Earth though the top of 〈◊〉 unto Heaven The Lord must dwell with 〈◊〉 here in an humble and contrite heart Isaiah 57. 15. 〈◊〉 else we shall never dwell with him in that high and holy place whither Christ is gone to prepare a mansion for us Now is the time of 〈◊〉 and gaining Grace in the other world we shall enjoy the fruit and sweet of it here we must get the conquest if we think to wear the Crown in another world Reasons are Two Because after the parting of the Soul from the body and the dissolution of the whole Gods peremptory Sentence is passed and the final doom of the Soul is determined a Sentence never to be revoked a judgement never to be repealed and therefore the sinner becomes irrevokably either miserable or happy Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed for all men once to die and after death comes judgement Death and Judgement are coupled immediately one to another the end of the one is the entrance of the other as Death leaves us so Judgement will find us Though the full and compleate execution of the Sentence is deferred until the great day of accounts yet condemnation seizeth upon each part as soon as they be severed the one from the other if they do deserve The body is imprisoned in the dungeon of the grave and the Soul of him 〈◊〉 is wicked is taken instantly and dragged by the Devils into torment Luke 12. 20. This night shall they fetch away 〈◊〉 Soul With the Saints contrariwise Their bodies are laid in the Grave as in a bed of Down perfumed with the precious Death and Burial of the Body of Christ the ashes thereof carefully preserved yea loved by the Lord So the Apostle Rom. 8. last I am perswaded that neither life nor death is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus So that the Lord loves the very dust of the bodies of his Saints in the Grave and receives their Souls to himself in glory as soon as Body and Soul are parted one from another Luke 16. 22. The Soul of Lazarus was by the Angels carried into Abrahams bosome For at the great day of accounts we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether good or 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 5. 10. The Sentence we see shall not 〈◊〉 according to that men do in Purgatoty as the Papists dream but according to that only which they did while they had Being and Breathing in this Natural life The Condition of a man after this life is 〈◊〉 For as the Godly after this life ended receive perfect Sanctification and so become wholly 〈◊〉 of the Spirit of God and thereby fully and unchangeably confirmed in the state of Glory never more to be pestered or annoyed with the presence of Sin or Misery Rom. 8. 23. Here in this world we 〈◊〉 but the first fruits of the Spirit but there 〈◊〉 then the full Harvest So contrarily the Wicked after Death are 〈◊〉 delivered up to the tyranny and authority os 〈◊〉 Corruptions and there settled and that 〈◊〉 in a state of rebellion and become utterly 〈◊〉 of receiving any spiritual Grace or 〈◊〉 any spiritual Good but sink down in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without hope of either For those 〈◊〉 Graces whereby the Lord in the time of life 〈◊〉 their distempers and those outward 〈◊〉 Word and Sacraments wholsome Laws and 〈◊〉 Counsels and Examples which formerly 〈◊〉 them from many notorious outrages are now 〈◊〉 away Now the Lord plucks up the Hedge 〈◊〉 pulls down the VVall takes away all the 〈◊〉 Gifts of his Grace vouchsafes not one 〈◊〉 of his Spirit to strive with the Sinner any more 〈◊〉 one check of Conscience to aw him not the least 〈◊〉 of any Good to affect him any more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the reins in the neck of the Rebel and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loose upon him to execute the fulness of the fierceness of his malice to the uttermost 〈◊〉 his rage was consined before he could
the world to honor him to esteem him yet 〈◊〉 dasheth all what avails it so long as this Pride 〈◊〉 peevishness this frothy vain heart remains within me When the heart is assaulted with some sudden qualm or deadly fume that assaults the spirits 〈◊〉 ye drive it from his heart nothing will do him good Oh he is sick at the heart now I thank the Lord it 's gone from my heart So it is with the plague of 〈◊〉 that assaults the heart a man that knows it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is really sick of the lusts and corruptions that are in his heart he can never be at quiet till he find his heart in some measure freed from the power and poyson of those sinful distempers as Rebecca said If Jacob should take a wife of the Daughters of Heth what good shall my life do me Gen. 27. last So what good wil my credit my profit my profession all my priviledges and performances do me if my heart be married to any base lust 〈◊〉 my corrupt will and my wayward peevish stiffness and malignancy of heart continue with me still But thou that canst lift up thy head and know all these evils in thee that God knows and thou knowest there are such bosom abominations which thy heart finds and takes contentment in thou canst live with them talk with them lie down and sleep with them and arise with them again nay and thy corrupt heart is restless if it may not be pleased and satisfied with thy lusts Amon is sick of Incest Ahab of Covetousness unless they may enjoy 〈◊〉 lusts they cannot enjoy their lives Grace I would not trouble my self or spend any time to prove that such have any grace When a mans sins are so far from being his vexation that it is his vexation that he cannot have free 〈◊〉 to commit his sins that he is vexed with the word that discovers his evil vexed with Conscience that checks him for it plagued and tormented with all that come in his way that will cross him in his lusts if there be a graceless heart in Hell thou art one to this very day thou didst never know what it was to put off the will of sinning Observe where the will takes up its last stand and what it looks at as that which lastly satisfies its desire either in pretended parting with sin or in performance of duties or improvement of means The end steers the action and gives in evidence of the goodness of it The Merchant and the Pyrate goes in the same channel useth the same wind to carry them the same Compass to direct the one about his honest Affairs to serve Gods Providence and his own Duty and the other to serve his own covetous and unlawful lusts of Theevery and spoiling So here I speak it for this purpose because it 's one of the cunning cheats of a deceitful heart he will perform such Duties and forsake such sins not because he either loves the Duty or loaths the sin but because he would land himself at the place where he would be at some other end of his own Nay it 's possible and ordinary for a man to part with his sin for a push when indeed it is only that he may keep his sin As Paul spake of Onesimus he departed from him for a season that he might be received for ever and as the Adultress chides her mate before others that she may enjoy him more freely without fear or suspition so it 's usual for a false heart to chide with his corruptions and to speak great words against them when yet the secret 〈◊〉 is but to enjoy them more freely by that means therefore let not the Devil cozen you with colors your confessions and resolutions your prayers and tears against your sins and that in secret and that unto God if your hearts 〈◊〉 these but as means for your own ends you never were willing to part with sin The 〈◊〉 of a gracious heart is Never to take up his stand till he come to God and the guidance of his Grace and Spirit Hosea 14. 2 3. c. Take away all iniquitie and receive us graciously what have I to do any more with Idols c. and the heart wil never more have to do with these sins but with God he sees these evils sorrows for these 〈◊〉 to have these removed that he may be under the power of God and his Grace As Samuel said to Israel 1 Sam. 7. 3 4. If you do return unto the Lord with all your hearts then put away your gods and prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve him only So if you be indeed resolved to forsake your sins and renounce your corruptions then abandon them and al occasions leading to them and al beginnings of them and submit your selves your thoughts and affections to the Lord and to his Word and serve him only Lodg thy soul here and let it never take up its stand until it come hither The last Use is of Exhortation and Direction both together It should guide us and it should perswade us to take the right way of Reformation Never leave thy prayers and tears and sorrows and remorse until thou come to thy very heart thy tongue professeth fair and thy hand forbears the practice of evil but ask thy heart Heart what sayest thou Shame may prevail with thee Authority of men may constrain thee and conscience may force thee to abstain from evil I but what saies thy Heart art thou willing to part with thy sin I do not do it I dare not do it but Will what sayest thou Heart what sayest thou Never cease before you be able to answer I am really willing to part with every sin I am convinced of It was the great complaint of Moses concerning the People of Israel that notwithstanding al that the Lord had done for them yet they had not a heart to fear him and to walk in obedience before him So 〈◊〉 may say God hath crowned thee with 〈◊〉 honored thee with encouragements thou hast the Esteem of others thou hast all Liberties and opportunities to be as good as thou shouldest be but truly all these will do thee no good unless thou hast a heart for God and against thy sin therefore rest no where until thou hast this The great Fort that must be taken is the Will or else all the rest is as good as nothing he that wil cure a disease must not only skin it over but must take away the core of it if he think to heal it throughly and cure it fully So here it is not enough to wash a mans mouth and to wipe his hands but the core of a mans corruptions must be got away thy soul must be brought off from the Will of sinning as wel as from the Practice of sinning or else thy soul will never be brought home to God stay not therefore till thou comest hither and be sure to make sound work
〈◊〉 and Earth shal never hold it As he must needs go whom the Devil drives so 〈◊〉 must 〈◊〉 come whom God wil draw Though 〈◊〉 Means prevail not thy Prayers speed not thou 〈◊〉 not able by al thy Endeavors to bear up against 〈◊〉 stream yet God is able and it s his work here stay they heart God can do it and who knows but 〈◊〉 may Briefly the DISCOURAGEMENTS are Three First The Assaults of Satan he comes in amain and makes batteries against the Heart he Musters up al his Forces and presents to the view of the sinner al the darkness of the kingdom of Darkness and 〈◊〉 the venom of sin in the twinckling of an eye 〈◊〉 presents al his Sins that ever he hath committed with al the aggravating Circumstances against Mercies Covenants Checks of Conscience Lo saith Satan do you not see al these and they come in 〈◊〉 troops there is no end of them not only in New-England but upon the Sea in the Land of our nativity and he brings him to his Cradle and 〈◊〉 him how he came a Child of wrath into the world Withal Satan lets in the guilt of al these sins upon the soul Sayes Satan if one sin deserve everlasting Condemnation as you know it doth what then is deserved by so many sins Committed continued in repeated against Means and Mercies why Hell is too little for such a Rebel God must make a new Hell for such a wretch And withal Satan tells him the date of Mercy is past your best dayes are done you have had Means and Mercies and Friends to Counsel you very good now Mercy is gone and past you shal hear no more of the Mercy of God or of Jesus Christ. Now Satan hurries the 〈◊〉 when he hath got him hither the multitude of his sins the guilt of his sins and Mercy past why now had you not better go out of the world than to live without Hope and multiply your sins and so your plagues forever Here he hurries the soul up and down and gives him no leave to think of Mercy Oh! sayes the soul Is there no hope in Jesus Christ the Means of Grace and the Spirit of God Why sayes Satan Do not you deceive your self you have had Means and Mercies and you are just in the place where you were therefore you had best put an end to your sins and self and life and all Now mark 〈◊〉 In this Case you should have recourse to the former Doctrine Satan wil not cannot be entreated that 's true Aye but God is stronger than Satan and he can cast him out of thy Soul It is not Arguments that can do it but God can do it Say therefore Though my Prayers my Endeavors my Heart my Hopes fails me yet God 〈◊〉 do it though my Soul cannot leave my sin 〈◊〉 my 〈◊〉 wil not cannot leave my soul yet God can force away my sin from my soul and command my soul to return from iniquity God can do this Rom. 16. 20. The God of peace shall beat down Satan under your feet shortly What ever become of your Sense and Feeling listen not attend not to his temptations be sure to Retire hither as to your Castle God can do it it is the Almighty work of God there stand there live and there die Christ told his Disciples He saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightening Luke 10. 18. That is Suddenly and strangely And Joh. 16. 11. Now shall the Prince 〈◊〉 this world be judged God wil judge Satan for al those Temptations and Delusions of his do not you own them and God wil Condemn him for them Nay as it is Isa. 43. 6. I will say to the North Give up to the South Keep not back bring my Sons from far and my Daughters from the ends of the earth Though thou shouldst be in the mouth of Hell or in the bottom of the Sea yet God is able to call thee from thence He that saith to the Sea Give up thy dead he can say to Hell Give up thy damned Therefore bear up thy Heart and Hopes and Expectation that God may do that for thee which thou art not able to conceive of But yet there is another ground of Discouragement Satan he 's Malicious but Oh! the world and the snares thereof are so many so mighty that the soul is still in a maze taken in a net as it were and knows not which way to turn him And there are some kind of sins which snare a man exceedingly by the world As when loose Companions have 〈◊〉 within a man and licentious Courses have taken away the heart of a man Oh! the heart comes 〈◊〉 hardly there The sinner shakes at the sight of 〈◊〉 Companions he is convinced and resolved 〈◊〉 them and yet he goes away to them and is led by them and when the Adulterer is taken with his Adulterous Mate they scarce ever return again 〈◊〉 lamentable what those that are acquainted with Cases of Conscience this way do know still 〈◊〉 mates tempt and these Companions over-bear though they resolve and promise and vow 〈◊〉 pray yet they are in again just in the place 〈◊〉 they were so that the soul sayes I am not able 〈◊〉 resist these temptations I am never able to get 〈◊〉 of these snares therefore sin I shal and sin I must and perish I must temptations are desperate here a man lies prostrate under them not able to recover out of them Now Brethren when you are in such a Case as this you see your sins you confess them pray against them and yet are taken aside by them your heart is strongly engaged and ensnared you are not able to get from under these sins Here 's all the hope I can give you It is in Gods hand yet to pluck off thy soul and to take away thy heart for al that You know how Solomon the wisest and Sampson the strongest they were Deluded and snared and taken by their own Corruptions and snares of the world Sampsons head upon Dalilahs lap he would sit and lie though he died for it Brethren it is here only God may do good unto you If I 〈◊〉 tel you It is in the power of Means and Mercies and any Congruity of Means or Liberty of your own Wills your souls might be deceived but would never be Comforted But look up to the Lord there is Hope in him there is Mercy with him Joh. 16. last Be of good Comfort sayes our Savior Christ I have overcome the world Yea the Lord professeth it Ezek. 〈◊〉 32. They shall loath themselves in the sight of all their doings that have not been good Say then God is able to make me loath my self and my snares and al the sinful entanglments that my heart is so taken aside withal this is that only that wil sustain thee and support thee Joh. 16. 10. I have other sheep and they shall hear my voyce and them I must bring I must bring the 〈◊〉
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
they neither see the evil of their sins by it nor yet receive any spiritual Direction from it nor indeed know any such thing and therefore though their carriages are somwhat reformed yet their inward corruptions are not observed at least not reformed or they made sensible of them As it is with a pur-blind man he may see things of a greater bulk as a great Print or the like but the smallest Print or the least pricks he perceives not So it is with a pur-blind Christian who cannot see afar off 2 Pet. 1. 9. If there be some loathsom and gross sins discovered he can see them but to see the stirrings of sin in his Nature and the secret inclinations of his soul to sin and the base aims and ends that are up and down in his heart in the performance of holy Duties to see the smallest Print of the Law discovering secret and spiritual wickedness in the Heart that a man that hath no more than Nature cannot see And therefore for we come to the Point the Spirit of Bondage is required which may let in the light of the Law into the mind and set on the power of it mightily upon the consciences of sinners and so dazle their Eyes and daunt their hearts with the dreadfulness of their sins Rom. 8. 15. You have not received the spirit of Bondage again to fear as who should say it 's a gift and it must be received or else we shall not by all that we can do attain the bondage and thraldom of that base condition in which we are whereof more afterward in Conviction The Law is a Hammer but it will not break the Flint unless the hand óf the Spirit take it and use it a Hammer in the hand of a Child will not move the stones so the Law in the hand of a man or Minister it is as a Rod to whip us unto Christ but unless the Spirit take it into his hand we shall never feel the blow or smart and so be forced to go Hence that Phrase John 16. 8 9. I will send the Spirit and he shall convince it 's his Prerogative he is appointed by him it 's only performed The two former may agree to a false-hearted Hypocrite he may have a lighter stroke of the Spirit of Bondage and the Law may convince him and his own heart condemn him and he may go away in dreadful horror for his sins and yet it doth not remove the Rule of Ignorance and darkness out of the mind but the Saints of God have the two former and they have this further viz. such a through stroak of the spirit of bondage as takes away the rule of darkness and removes the Soveraignity and Authority of it from the mind this I take to be the meaning of that phrase Acts. 26. 18. to turn them from darkness to Light When the Lord wil work throughly he wil not onely scatter the sogs and disperse the grossest of the dimness and darkness of a mans mind and leave the soul under the power of it for all that The hypocrite may be dazled and astonished by the light of the truth breaking upon him but yet his understanding is under the power of darkness but the Saints of God are turned from it that is their understandings are delivered from under the power of that darkness that was in them before Conceive it thus when the night comes darkness overspreads the face of the Earth and though there be Moon-light or some flash of Lightning sometimes that may something take off the grossness and blackness of darkness but yet it is dark stil the Moon-light or Starre-light doth not remove the rule of darkness but when the Sun ariseth in the East we say it is day break and you shal see apparently when light comes with a Command of the Sun it scatters the darkness that was in the ayr it removes the rule of it and it rules there it self So it is with the spirit of bondage when he comes to an hypocrite he enlightens him with Star-light or Moon-light as it were so that the grossness of darkness and blindness is scattered that now a terrified hypocrit sees his sins and is able to Discourse of sin and of the Law of God and to Discover it to others and yet it is but Moonshine it makes not day the root and rule of Darkness is there stil which stops and hinders the entercourse of the dispensations of God unto the soul. But now in a Godly man whose understanding is turned from darkness to light when the truth and light of it hath by the spirit of bondage been 〈◊〉 on upon the mind and Conscience you shal see day breaking as it were he then sees himself and his sin and he sees God and Christ as the sun of righteousness shining gloriously in his Eyes dazling of him with such a light as he never saw nor knew before so in Acts. 9. the scales of ignorance and blindness fell from the Eyes of his mind and he was turned from the power of darkness and that light which was let in to his understanding could never be overcomē again by al the darkness inthe world 4 When the spirit of God hath let in this light of the law in the specification of it as it belongs unto the Saints and so hath turned the understanding from darkness he leaves a sett upon the understanding God-ward that its ready it s that way-ward to receive any truth that comes in the impression of it and this is the turn of the understanding to light it was before turned from God and sett hell-ward sin-ward under the 〈◊〉 of darkness and acted therby wholly to bestow it self upon the creature in the room of God As when Adam sinned the whol man was turned from God to the creature and sin so now in Conversion the whol man is turned from sin and the creature to God again and therfore the understanding from darkness to light And Hence it is that a poor ignorant creature that hath come many years to the Congregation and hath learned nothing he understands nothing remembers nothing or if out of the strength of memory he remember something yet he knows no more the thing than a Parrat But when God hath once turned him and left this sett upon his understanding and the day is broken as it were and the rule of darkness removed a new light set up there now he never comes but he takes somthing he can understand it and remember it there is no subject but he will get somthing of it because his understanding is heaven-ward I have known some by experience that though they have been wise and wittie enough for outward things yet so senceless and sottish in the things of God that they could sit and hear a Sermon of an hour long of those very sins they have been guilty and yet it hath been to them as though it had never been yet afterward they have professed it that
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
to the obedience of his wil 2 Cron. 33. Chap. The Reasons of the point are four The greatness of his power is hereby discovered and that he hath laid salvation upon one that is mighty that when al the power of darkness hath proceeded to his highest pitch when the subtilties of Hel and al the venome of the corrupt heart of man furthered by al advantages that the world and counsel and company of ungodly have brought in al forces to mannage and maintain a wicked and ungodly course herein appears that power of the Almighty whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself in that he batters down al the strong holds of the hearts of the sons of men and every high thought that lifts up it self against the obedience of his truth dasheth all those temptations and delusions whereby the Enemy hath advanced his Kingdom in the hearts of his captives and vassalls so that Satan and al his fortifications shal down like lightning before the dispensation of the truth this is indeed the power of God unto salvation Rom. 1. 16. this is the out-stretched arme of the Almighty revealed in this so wonderful a work Isa. 53. 1. thus the Apostle 2. Cor. 10. 4. the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God to cast down strong holds It was that which 〈◊〉 observed wisely and as truly concluded Exod. 18. 11. Now I know that the Lord is greater than al Gods for in the thing wherein he dealt proudly he was above them It is most true in this case herein it appears that the Lord is greater than al gods the god Pride and Stubbornness the god Self-love and Self-confidence the god Covetousness and Uncleanness greater than all the Devils in Hel than al the Temptations in the World and al the distempers in the hearts of sinners because in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them As he sayed I know not the Lord I will not let Israel go So when they deal proudly I know not the command of a Christ to obey it I know not the reproof of a Christ to reforme by it I know not acknowledg not the threatnings and terrors of the truth which are denounced know that God can if he wil and its certain he wil if he ever take pleasure in thee to bring thee out of bondage he wil be above thee in al these when you shal see the sturdy stoop the stubborn yield and he that was firce and proud as Belzebub himself to fal at the foot of Christ tremble at every truth melt under the least admonition and counsel herein you may know the greatness of God indeed when Peters chayn fel the iron Gate 〈◊〉 way he concluded it was a message of God And therefore Moses looks to this in God when he desires the removal of the great provocations of the 〈◊〉 Numb 14. 17. I pray thee let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast said When the wals of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the ground 〈◊〉 the sounding of Rams horns it argued the breath of the Almighty went out with them So to see the mighty fortes of carnal reason which men have reared against the force of the truth and when they have entrenched themselves in the desperate resolutions of the self-willy waywardness of their own hearts yet to become easie yielding and under so that a child may lead them the greatness of Gods power appears in this The riches of mercy is hereby especially magnified which 〈◊〉 al the baseness 〈◊〉 our hearts the miscariages of our lives beyond al our unkindnesses when they are beyond measure herein the Lord seems to give way to the wickedness of the sons of men to swel 〈◊〉 the common bounds that his mercy may appear to be beyond al bounds and boundless and bottomless that 's the vertue of the salve when the wound is deadly to heal it the excellency of the physick when the disease is past hope and help then to recover it Rom. 5. last When the Apostle had disputed concerning the freeness of grace he asks this question why was the Law added he answers that sin might appear and be aggravated because the Law was given and the end of that and the use that God made of it that where sin abounded grace abounded much more when sin hath done what it can by al advantages mercy wil do more than sin that as sin had raigned unto death so grace might raigne unto life through Jesus Christ our Lord God suffered pride and rebellion to raigne in Paul for this end that his mercy and patience towards him might be exemplary 1 Tim. 1. 16. hence it is that the times wherein 〈◊〉 gets ground and prevails they are called the times of mercy wherein that gets 〈◊〉 Ezek. 16. 5. 8. When the Church was weltering in her blood and had neither 〈◊〉 in herself nor succor 〈◊〉 without then was the time of love not a time when it was deserved but a season wherein it should be magnifyed otherwise in reason the Lord might have taken many other times more sutable to his love Nay the more vile miserable they were Herein is the soveraign vertue of his love and mercy to make them acceptable and beloved Look we at the condition of the parties from whence also another reason of the dispensation of the Lord may be discovered hereby the Lord stains the pride of al flesh and confounds all the carnal confidence that men seem to place in the creature for should either the wisdom of the wise the pomp of the rich the parts and paines and studyes and dexterity of the prudent and learned the honor and magnificence of the mighty and the Monarchs of the world should have found the Profit of the means or received the prevailing power of the holy spirit in his ordinances for their saying good Men would have eyed and honoured those excellencies and doated upon them hung al their hopes and confidence upon the presence and work of these so that the conclusion out of carnal reason would have issued here none but such should have had any good none of al these that had these out ward 〈◊〉 should have wanted it and so some would have been discouraged that could not attain these others would presume and be secure that did possess them and the Lord have been deprived of that honor both of confidence and dependance that was due from al. That the Lord might lay al these excellencies in the dust and forever wean the hearts 〈◊〉 men from setting their hopes thereupon he takes the weakest and the worst and those also when they are at the greatest Under of al baseness and wretchedness they shal outstrip al those in whom there is this seeming worth of al the surpassing eminency that the Earth can afford Thus the Apostle disputes 1 Cor. 1. 26. you see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not many wise not many mighty not many noble these are the three excellencies in the
the other she would have made a hard shift but she would have followed and sound her lovers but the hedg was made of thorns 〈◊〉 and unsufferable sorrows and necessities unavoydable not to be indured not to be removed and those wearied her out of al pretended delights she had formerly taken This is the method that God 〈◊〉 Hos. 5. 12. 14. Hos. 6. 1. First I wil be a Moath 2 if that wil not do I wil be a Lion 3 If that wil not do I wil leave them and go to my place withdraw his comforting and protecting presence and then we hear 〈◊〉 Come let 〈◊〉 return unto the Lord for he hath torn and be wil heal us this did it This 〈◊〉 way for our spiritual comfort in a special blessing if he be pleased to follow the 〈◊〉 with his blessing For its a special means to bring in clearer evidence and 〈◊〉 assurance both of the soundness of the work and the certainty of a mans good estate al the dayes 〈◊〉 his life if the Lord be pleased to second these heavy breakings of heart with his blessing For it is the nature of 〈◊〉 when they are set in opposition to make each other appear more 〈◊〉 For a conscientious 〈◊〉 to be made of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is so 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 especially when the dreadful expressions of Gods displeasure have been so amazing in the eyes of al that have been the spectators and in a peculiar manner astonishing to the soul of the prophane creature that hath selt the arrows of the Almighty sticking fast in him 〈◊〉 he cannot be but restless before he get relief and help so he cannot but know it when he hath gained it the change is great and open Gods dispensation so glorious This man is able to say at such a time in such a place by such a man out of such a 〈◊〉 the Lord was pleased to speak home to my heart to make known himself my self and sin to my self which caused my soul tody within me in the sence of my vileness and misery and from that time forward followed me daily with fears and horrors the venom of vengeance drinking up my spirits until in such and such a manner and by such means he was pleased to work my heart to his own tearms made me glad to seek him importunately yea restlesly and more glad to find him sealing up the truth of his free love by his own spirit in the word of truth This man can tel how he came by his grace and can tel what to say and shew for heaven and happily unless it be through his own careless neglect may carry the assurance with him to his grave Whereas such as the Lord doth sweetly but secretly draw unto himself in an insensible and undiscernable manner restrains them from common evils traynes them up under Godly Parents religious government good company and spiritual means of Instruction and so implants by little and little into the Lord Jesus without their privity or apprehension however their estate is good and their condition safe in its self yet they gaine littl evidence or maintain little assurance thereof in their own hearts but upon every turn are questioning and quarrelling doubting and staggering touching their condition whereas they that come to their grace by many and great troubles retain it commonly with great evidence Thus Paul when the Lord Christ had made a glorious conquest over his proud rebellious and malicious heart against the holy wayes of his truth and 〈◊〉 He could tel and did upon al occasions when the field was fought how the Lord Christ got the day over his hellish distempered heart Thus he relates Gods dealing Acts. 26. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Acts. 22. 1. to the 14. And so issues having obtained help of God I continue until this day thus it was so it is thus it was wrought so maintain d. And though it be true I confess that no man should or wil break his arme that he may have it the stronger for the setting or know how it is set or therefore be careless to become scandalously vile that God may be gloriously merciful yet through the riches of mercy which makes our losses gaines The certainty of the assurance we find doth countervail and exceed the terrors and horror we felt Give me the man who can say I was blind but now I see I know I was in prison but am now delivered it s not delusion but a vision and real accomplishment of the work by the Allmighty hand of God Lastly its honourable for a poor scandalous wretch to be under such heavy breakings of heart and therefore it should be comfortable to him I rather mention this to stop the mouths of the reffuse rabble of the world and to shew the desperate mistakes unto which carnal reason carryes us out of the pride of our own spirits wee know that sin is 〈◊〉 and shame loathsom even to nature especially corrupt and proud to be forced to acknowledg the one to take the other It appears very direful to the apprehension of al the sons of Adam And therefore when the Lord is pleased to hold a scandalous wretch upon the wrack and to make him roar out his wretchedness vomit out his sin and take the shame he hath deserved His companions that have conversed with him and his freinds that have honored him they are driven to their dumps in discouragment and discontentment and cry out the man is undone and curse the day that ever the Minister came into the countrey and blames his folly and silliness that he would attend to what he saied and be troubled with any thing he heard to bring an everlasting blemish upon himself No I say ther 's no such matter This is the greatest honor that yet ever befel him in this world and wil be a means of blessing to him in another It is a shame to commit sin but not to have the heart breaking under the apprehension of it Nay it is an expression of Gods favour and as it may prove a sign of Gods special love if it be rightly emproved God thus far honors a poor wretch that he wil speak to him as he passeth by Should a Prince that was provoked by the conspiracies and rebellions of many Traitors as he passed by should he vouchsafe to send unto and cal upon some one to reclaime him from his crew and company and courses and that upon very equal terms he might find acceptance and pardon and peace when he wil not so much as look after others or change a word with them would not this be accounted matter of marvelous respect from the King and honor to the man So here As David begs favour from the Lord. 〈◊〉 119. 132. be merciful to me and lookupon me as thou usest to do upon them that desire to fear thy name he takes it to be the highest pitch of his happiness to be so dealt withal If God deal with
their sins as he said but do not drown them with those heart-breaking Sorrows which in truth are poyson to them thus it was with Ahab when he had received that dreadful Message from the mouth of the Lord That he would require the Blood of Naboth at his hand and cut off his house he rent his cloaths and put on Sackcloth and fasted c. 1 Kings 21. 27. the Lord himself observes how he acts this work of 〈◊〉 and that in a comly manner Stage-Player like and abates him for the present execution of the plague the Lord loves his own Work and Ordinances that as it is with a Parent that affects a Child the very Picture of it pleaseth him so it is with God he likes his Ordinances and the acting and using of them but this did not cure but encrease his corruption for he that was an Enemy to Elijah verse 20 he professed after 1 Kings 22. 8. He hated Micaiah his sorrow was too overly and slighty he rent his cloaths when he should have rent his heart Thus it was with those Hypocrites Isai. 5. 8. 2. 3. We have fasted say they and thou regardest not we have humbled our souls and thou respectest it not the Lord Answers You fast for strife and debate and to seek your own pleasure they made way for the maintaining and practising their sins not for the removal of them from their hearts and it 's admirably strange how this delusion wil cozen a man and how far it wil carry him it wil make him Sermon-Proof and help him him to 〈◊〉 his heart against the most sharp and searching Words As he how came he to desire and delight in the most powerful preaching and yet never knew what it was to need a 〈◊〉 or to be relieved by him Answ. I conceive such threatnings are intended against them that wil not repent and sorrow for their sins but that will I. Nay it hath been found by experience from the confessions of many that they would weep over their sins and then fal to commit them men make their lamentation over their distempers and then return to the Commission of them As old friends weep at their parting not because they would be quit one of another but it 's a grievance they should part and they hope to meet again shortly The fifth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the discouraged Hypocrite whom the Lord hath exercised under his heavy displeasure and the poyson of his corruptions hath been Gall and Wormwood to his Conscience the floods of iniquities have followed at the heels and forced him to find his heart and prayers and endeavors and yet al in vain he finds no relief at all no ease no good at all by any means the Lord hath appointed and he improved according to his ability the sinner sinks down in desperate discouragement and casts off the thoughts of mercy and the continuance of any further endeavor he sees no profit accrewing and concludes there is no possibility of obtaining his hands grow feeble and his heart faint he concludes as good sit still as rise and fall I shal never attain it thus and so long I have tried and therefore why should I endeavor it So wretched Saul 1 Sam. 28. 15. God hath forsaken me and answers me neither by Urim nor by 〈◊〉 thus also that wicked King 2 Kings 6. last This comes of the Lord why should I pray to him or waitupon him any longer and thus it was with them Ezek. 33. 10. Men pine away in their sins lie under the weight and never look out for help This is not 〈◊〉 or brokenness of heart for that makes a man restlessly importunate in seeking the Lord it s not therefore sorrow for sin but a kind of sullen waywardness of Spirit a dogged kind of self-willy disposition because the pressures grow heavy and unsufferable and the Lord withdraws himself from our desires 〈◊〉 it 's beyond our power and ability to relieve our selves God denies to hear and will not help and we cannot help our selves nor command help els-where in sullen way wardness the heart casts off any further attendance upon the Lord. Whereas Godly Sorrow rightly set on and that for sin and departure from God wil not suffer the soul to depart further that which takes away the resistance of our corrupt hearts that wil not suffer them yet further to depart these desperate discouragements are Valleys and Ditches that must be filled up before the Lord Christ come into the soul Luke 3. 5. TERROR It shews the direful condition of all hard-hearted 〈◊〉 who are not only in the Chains of darkness and held with the Cords of their own iniquities as the Scripture speaks but shut up in the Dungeon of everlasting destruction and locked in within the Iron Gate of a hard 〈◊〉 stupid heart without the least preparation or expectation of good from the Almighty This Hardness is double there are two sorts at least two 〈◊〉 of it 1. Such as sleep in a careless and secure Course never yet saw at least were not sensible of the plague of Sin or the sting and punishment that is attending thereupon 2. Such as have been in the fire scorched with the fury of the Almighty which hath drunk up their spirits but when God hath abated them of the expression of his Displeasure and allayed the flame they grow cold and careless as the Iron that hath been heated with a long and strong Fire grows more hard when it grows once cold than ever it was before They have been gashed and 〈◊〉 in pieces with the terrors of Conscience but 〈◊〉 worn out their Terrors and Fears they are more seared and senceless than ever Such who are drowned in senceless security have their hearts glutted and surfeted with pleasures and 〈◊〉 of the flesh and contents of this present world To sit moping in a corner sink under the burden of their sins and smoak out their dayes in a melanchollick pressure and pensiveness of spirit they account it a matter of scorn a silly kind of sottish behaviour unbeseeming persons of a generous spirit they wonder what men ayl and conclude its more in mens conceit than that there is any just cause for such a carriage for they bless God they never knew what it meant and they hope they never shal And hence they fearlesly adventure upon the practice and commission of known evils and it never stuck in their stomach nor are they troubled with it but are delighted in it that which is a plague to the broken hearted Saints they are plagued with their pride froward perversness of spirit but it s a pastime a may-game it 's their 〈◊〉 and matter of merriment in their meeting my 〈◊〉 rebuked me sharply saies the Servant my Mother chid me sayes the child but I think I 〈◊〉 them they would have their way and wil and would have it done after their manner And I did it with a witness so il-favoredly that I know
unsearchable and marvelous things without number This may support thy heart and carry thee on with some Hope in a waiting way They who are truly pierced for their sins do in an especial manner prize and covet deliverance from them For this is the scope of their complaint and the end and aim of their request that they might be freed from that which they found so bitter and indeed unsupportable to their souls and it 's of 〈◊〉 implied in their speech that which in the like case was openly expressed by the Jaylor Acts 16. 30. He came trembling and astonished saying what must I do to be saved not what shal I do to be eased of my destraction cured of my fears freed from my shame but what shal I do to be saved from my sin he was plagued most with the remembrance of that prizeth most freedom from it the venom of his transgression is that which lies heaviest upon his heart and thence it is to be safe-guarded from that is of highest esteem in his account Saved from the guilt of sin as that which sets the Almighty at a distance from him and raiseth the controversie between God and the soul and forceth him to withdraw his favor and loving kindness which is better than life which David felt by woful experience and therefore sues with such importunity Psal. 51. 14. Deliver me from blood guiltiness O God thou God of my Salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness After the Commission of these evils by David the Lord threatened the sending of the Sword that might hazard the safety of his person and the prosperity of such as should succeed him So Nathan 2 Sam. 12. 10. The Sword shal never depart from thine House he threatens to raise up cruel and subtil conspirators out of his own bosom and bowels as Absalon out of his own Counsel and Kingdom as Achitophel and Jeroboam whose plottings and conspiracies should shake the Pillars of the Kingdom and the peace of his Government all which were marvelous bitter potions and heavy expressions of Gods displeasure but the sting of all those troubles the venom of al that vengeance issued from his sin that is the evil in all evils and therefore he overlooks al the rest and seeks most earnestly to be rescued from this Deliver me from blood-guiltiness it 's not the cruelty of the Sword that wil destroy nor the conspiracy of Enemies that desire to undermine my Crown and Kingdom and Safety which I so much fear nonso much labor to be freed from but deliver me from blood-guiltiness O God of my Salvation q. d. that is the deliverance I look for and long for and here in the Salvation of a God wil appear and shew it 〈◊〉 and wherein the soul of thy servant shal most rejoyce Saved also they would be from the 〈◊〉 of corruption which carries the soul from God and keeps the 〈◊〉 estranged from him and hence it is the 〈◊〉 Church makes 〈◊〉 the matter of their most bitter complaint Isai. 63. 17. Why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear and caused us to err from thy waies When they withdraw their hearts from God he 〈◊〉 his gracious presence and 〈◊〉 from them when they would not deliver up themselves to the Authority of his Truth and holy Will to be ruled thereby he delivered them up to the power of their own perverse Spirits they that would not be guided in his 〈◊〉 by his holy Spirit they should be hardened from his fear by the perversness of their own Spirits this is the most dreadful plague of al plagues the deliverance from which they so highly prize and seek it with such importunity Look down from Heaven thy holy Habitation where is the sounding of thy bowels are they restrained Oh why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear The price the contrite sinner puts upon this deliverance from his sin discovers it self in four Particulars In the lack of this the soul is not cannot be quieted though it doth enjoy all other things the World can afford and his heart could desire The want of this takes off the sweetness of al the comforts contentments the sap and 〈◊〉 of al priviledges and the consluence of all Earthly Excellencies that can be enjoyed in this Pilgrimage when the soul is under the pressures of Gods displeasure and the tyranny of his own distempers which carries him from God and keeps him under the dreadful indignation of the Almighty present him then with the beauty of al the choycest blessings that ever any man had on Earth yea what ever others hoped for but in vain Put them into his hand conceive him possessed of the fulness of al worldly perfections Crowns Kingdoms Honors and preferments the broken heart 〈◊〉 al under 〈◊〉 with neglect what is that co me saies the soul had I al the Wealth to enrich me al Honors to advance me Pleasures and Delights to content me and my sins stil to damn me miserable man that ever I was born in the 〈◊〉 of al these falsly conceived comforts This sowr Sawce spoils al the Sweet-meat this dram of poyson makes deadly al the delights and pleasures that 〈◊〉 can be attained or expected As 〈◊〉 when he was recalled from his Banishment and had the liberty and use of his House and all the conveniencies and helps that were at his Command but was charged not to see the Kings face upon a two yeers tryal he found a straightness of all his Comforts in these enlargements 〈◊〉 he thus expresseth his resolution to 〈◊〉 2 Sam. 14. 32. What avails me to be at Jerusalem and in my House to come from Geshur if I may not see the Kings face let me see his face and let him 〈◊〉 me It is so with the broken-hearted sinner What avails it me to be compassed about with al conven ences my heart can desire and be compassed about with my corruptions to see all Earthly happiness heaped up together but never to see the face of God in another world the belly filled and back cloathed and house stored and the soul damned and east out from Gods presence in whose Presence there is fulness of joy and pleasures for ever more These are but dead things sapless shadows and are to a man of a contrite Spirit as though they were not nay the 〈◊〉 he hath 〈◊〉 more trouble he hath because there is more sin and more guilt more curse and condemnation he sees in all and expects by all from God and so remains restless in all He is content with this though he want all the rest because he prizeth this more than all Skin for Skin and al that a man hath wil he give for his life c life and al for the Salvation of his soul. For sin now he 〈◊〉 it now he hath found it to be more bitter than death and therefore to be saved from it he judgeth and that truly to be better than
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
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
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
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