day the things belonging to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Will you suffer Christ to stand thus knocking at the door of your hearts and not let him in Take heed of this Christ knocks this day at your hearts if you now give him his last Answer and shut the door against him it may prove to be the last knocking you may hap never to see him more A plain and powerful Ministerie is the only Ordinary Means to Prepare the heart soundly for Christ. Hence it is when our Savior would have this work done he prepares a workman fit for it and furnisheth him with abilities which might enable him to the discharge thereof the work is great and the service difficult and therefore Elias is fitted with a Spirit suitable with Power answerable unto that purpose for which he was appointed an Instrument as we say for the nonce John the Baptist he also inherits these abilities and that Minister must be an Elias i. e. must have his Spirit and Power in proportion if ever this great work of preparation followeth his hand with Comfort and Success As it was in the Material so also is it in the building of this spiritual temple in which the holy Ghost doth dwell The Elect of God are like trees of righteousness the Word is like the Ax that must be lifted by a skilful and strong arm of a cunning Minister who like a Spiritual Artificer must hew and square and take off the knotty untowardnrss in the Soul before we can come to couch close and settle upon the Lord Christ as the Corner stone Paul calls the Saints Gods husbandry 1 Cor. 3. 9. A powerful humbling Ministery is like the Plow to plow up the fallow ground the thorny sensual hearts of sinful men to receive the immortal seed of the Word of Promise and the Spirit of Christ thereby For the Opening of the Point Two Things are 1 What is meant by a plain and powerful Ministery such as that of Elias 2 How this hath force to effect so great a Work The plainness of the Ministery appears When the Language and Words are such as those of the meanest Capacity have some acquaintance with and may be able to conceive when the Preacher ãâã his Speech to the shallow understanding of the Simplest Hearer so far as in him lies alwayes avoiding the frothy tinkling of quaint and far ãâã ãâã which take off and blunt as ãâã were the edge of the blessed Truth and Word of God ãâã the Apostle rejects the wisdom of Words as that which makes the Cross of Christ that is The Doctrine of Christ Crucisied revealed in the Gospel to lose his proper and powerful effect when it is lo Preached where let it be observed that it is not only the vanity and emptiness of Words which is here condemned but even that pompous gaudiness and elegancy of ãâã which after an unsuspected manner steals away the mind and affection from the truth and stayes it with it self when it should be a means both to convey both Attention and Affection from it self to the truth He that puts so much Sugar into the Potion that he hinders the strength and the work of it by such a kind of mixture though he please the Pallat of the ãâã yet thereby ãâã wrongs both the Physick and his Health So here in Preaching For the excellency of Eloquence and entising words of humane Wisdom which in case were commendable to be used by him who is an Orator or a Declamor in the School in the ãâã becomes ever Fruitless and many times hurtful and prejudicial to the saving success of the Gospel Hence the Apostle makes these as Opposite 2 Cor. 2. 4. My Speech and my preaching was not with entising words of mans wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power taking this for granted as it appears in ãâã of the Speech the pompe of entising words ãâã ãâã be discovered if we would have the Spirit in the powerful work of it be demonstrated and made to appear so much sweetness of words as may make way for the ãâã of the Gospel may be admitted and no more And as all kind of Curiosity and ãâã is to be avoided so all obscure and unusual ãâã dark Sentences and Expressions strange Languages are much more to be rejected as opposite even to the end of speaking much more to plainness of the Preaching of the tuth Words are appointed by God in his Providence to be Carriers as it were by whose help the thoughts of our minds and the savory apprehensions of truth may be communicated and conveyed over to the understanding of others whereas by mystical and dark Sentences he that comes to hear can by no means profit because he cannot conceive and so both Hearer and Speaker must needs miss their end and lose their labor since the one doth no good in his Speech because he so speaks that the other can receive no benefit He that hath a Pastoral heart must be so affected in dispensing the Doctrine of Grace as Paul was in writing Rom. 1. 7. to all that are To all that be at Rome so should he labor to reach out mercy and comfort to every soul in the congregation by every sentence he delivers as much as in him lies whereas mystical cloudy discourses which exceed the capacity and understanding of most in the assembly it s not possible they should work powerfully upon their Consciences That which the Mind conceives not the Heart affects not Ministers should be and if faithful they wil be as nurses to the people they will prepare milk for the meanest and weakest and meat for all but never give dry crust or ãâã in stead of bread to any for that was not to feed but to starve the Child Hence the Apostle concludes strange Languages in the delivery of the truth to be a Curse sent of God upon a people and therefore the Minister that so Communicates the Word he is the Messenger that brings a Curse to the ãâã 1 Cor. 14. 21 22. In the Law it is written with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people wherefore tongues are fore a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not whereas Prophecying should be in that openness and familiarity of Language that the unbeleiving yea unlearned should be convinced and have the secrets of his heart made manifest to his own Conscience that so he may be truly humbled and acknowledge Gods power and presence in the virtue of his own Ordinance blessed by him 1 Cor. 14. 24. It was the complaint of God Job 38. 2. That Counsel was darkened by Words without Knowledg It was not allowed in Jobs Conference and debate of Questions with his friends it cannot but be much more condemned in publishing the mysteries of Life and Salvation to others Its the scope of the Calling and Work of
M R Hooker's First Second Third Fourth Fift Sixt Seventh and Eighth Books made in New-England THE APPLICATION OF REDEMPTION By the effectual Work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The first eight Books In which besides many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed 1. Christ hath purchased all spiritual good for HIS 2. Christ puts all HIS into possession of all that Good that he hath purchased 3. The Soul must be fitted for Christ before it can receive him And a powerful Ministry is the ordinary means to prepare the heart for Christ. 4. The Work of God is free And the day of Salvation is while this Life last and the Gospel continue 5. God calls his Elect at any Age but the most before old Age. 6. The Soul is naturally setled in a sinful security 7. The heart of a Natural man is wholly unwilling to submit to the Word that would sever him from his sins 8. God the Father by a holy kind of violence plucks His out of their corruptions and draws them to beleeve in Christ. By that Faithful and known Servant of Christ Mr. THOMAS HOOKER late Pastor of the Church at Hartford in New-England somtimes Preacher of the Word at Chelmsford in Essex and Fellow of Emmanuel Colledg in Cambridg Printed from the Authors Papers written with his own Hand And attested to be such in an Epistle By Thomas Goodwin And Philip Nye London Printed by Peter Cole at the sign of the Pringting-press in Cornhil neer the Royal Exchange 1656. To the Reader READER IT hath been one of the Glories of the Protestant Religion that it revived the Doctrine of Saving Conversion And of the new creature brought forth thereby Concerning which and the necessity thereof we find so much indigitated by Christ and the Apostles in their Epistles in those times But in a more eminent manner God hath cast the honor hereof upon the Ministers and Preachers of this Nation who are renowned abroad for their more accurate search into and discoveries hereof First For the Popish Religion that much pretend to Piety and Devotion and doth dress forth a Religion to a great outward Gaudiness and shew of ãâã and wil-worship which we confess is entermingled with many spiritual strains of self-denial Submission to Gods wil Love to God and Christ especially in the writings of those that are called Mistical ãâã But that first great and saving Work of Conversion which is the foundation of al true piety the great and numerous volumns of their most devout writers are usually silent therein Yea they eminently appropriate the word Conversion and thing it self unto ãâã man that renounceth a Secular life and entereth into Religious orders as they cal them and that Doctrine they have in their discourses of Grace and free wil about it is of no higher elevation than what as worthy Mr. Perkins long since may be common to a Reprobate though we judg not al amongst them God having continued in the midst of Popish Darkness many to this day and at this day with more Contention than ãâã not scandalous in their lives having in ãâã Knowledg the Form of Truth by ãâã adding thereunto some outward ãâã Duties Such Persons we mean as ãâã were in our Pulpits plainly ãâã but Civil Moral ãâã and ãâã really but such kind of Professors of ãâã as Mutatis mutandis are found ãâã Turks of Mahumotanism who ãâã the Principles of that ãâã and are devout in Duties to God ãâã thereby through the meer ãâã of Natural Devotion and Education ãâã Laws and Customs of that Religion ãâã also through Moral Honesty are not ãâã in their Lives Such like ãâã amongst us have been and that ãâã a New ãâã of Religion with ãâã also from others the Ignorant ãâã Prophane professedly received ãâã the Communion of Saints as visible Saints ãâã Principle and Practice hath as it ãâã needs weakened and embased the ãâã purer stamp of the Doctrine of ãâã as then held forth with such evidence of difference from these ãâã Profession not only by encouraging such boldly to take on them to be ãâã as it were by Authority but also by having checked and flatted the spirits ãâã themselves that would teach it seeing that this Real Application in Practice and Principle to such Moral Christians as Saints is a manifest Contradiction unto al ãâã can be Doctrinally said in the Pulpit to the contrary concerning the power ãâã this great work in true Saints And ãâã the Profession of Religion hath been levelled and diffused into that bulk and commonness that the true marks of saving Graces are as to the open discerning much worn out and wil be more and more if this should obtain Or else as great a Cause as any other a special Profession of Religion being ãâã Mode and under Countenance Hence many have been easily moved to see what might be in Religion and so attend to what is said about it and upon listening thereto their spirits have been awakened and surprized with some light and then with that Light they have grown inquisitive into what this or that Party of Religion holds what the other or what a fourth And thinking themselves at liberty as the Principle of the times is to chuse as men in a Market what that Light wil lead them to they accordingly fal in either with this or that particular perswasion and this is al of many mens Conversion And yet because such become zealously addicted to such or such a ãâã some of the Professors of each of which others that differ own as truly Godly therfore they are presently adopted owned as Saints by the several Followers of such Opinions And each sort thinks much that those who embrace their Opinion should not be accounted and esteemed Religious ãâã all others that do sincerely ãâã the power of it Thus men Tythe ãâã and Cummin and leap over the great ãâã ãâã Regeneration namely ãâã for sin the ãâã sence of their Natural Condition the Difficult work of Faith to ãâã them Union and Closing with Christ Mortification of lusts c. which works where they are found and visibly held forth none are to be disowned for other Opinions consisting with the ãâã yet so as without these no Opinion of what Elevation soever can or doth constitute a man Religious Now look as when among the Jews Religion had run into Factions and Parties and the power of it thereby was ãâã lost God then set down John ãâã amongst them a sowr and severe Preacher Urger of the Doctrine of ãâã and preparative Humiliation for sin which he comparatively to what was brought in by Christ termeth the Baptism of Water though withal 't is said that in the Close of his Doctrine ãâã pointed unto Christ Saying unto the people that they should beleeve on him that should come after him that is on Jesus Christ. Yet this he did but ãâã at for the
Work of the ãâã it brings in the light of the truth as a mighty ãâã with more strength and plainness to the heart ãâã draws out this act of divine Faith whereby it ãâã this as a truth of God For look what the ãâã of another man may do in the use of the Word ãâã Ordinance that my Reason used in such a manner ãâã to God may do But another man by the ãâã of Reason or strength of Argument out of the ãâã may convince my Conscience nay settle and ãâã my heart in assurance of a truth which formerly I saw not and therefore it is said Acts 14. 22. they confirmed the souls of the Disciples exhorting them c. True it is the Grace and Habit of Faith is presumed and was wrought before by the ãâã power of the Spirit which raised Christ from the dead ãâã being wrought the truths of God under the exercise of ãâã Reason will not only settle our judgement in knowing but our assurance of Faith in ãâã firmly beleeving and embracing for first truths ãâã to the understanding to be judged before they be ãâã up and presented to the heart to be beleeved Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy name will trust in ãâã This is eternal life to know thee Joh. 17. 3. ãâã 2 Pet. 1. 3. Through the knowledge of our Lord ãâã Savior For a blind hood-winkt Faith is the ãâã of Apostates and Papists of Deceivers and ãâã but not the Faith of Gods Elect. Secondly This Evidence is laid out according ãâã its proper object according to which it looks in ãâã place and in this Dispute Namely 1 Its ãâã aright to what spiritual benefit we shall have Or ãâã the possession or partaking of what we do enjoy ãâã Christ and these are rather some spiritual priviledge or blessings received and manifested by our ãâã tions than the Qualifications themselves as the ãâã terms of the Question do undeniably determine Hence its plain according to the Opinion of ãâã that hold the ãâã of the Question ãâã ed It is not touching the ãâã of Faith in ãâã Soul because this Evidence in the Question ãâã Faith wrought Again it s not touching any ãâã ãâã on or Qualification of Grace to be wrought in ãâã Soul For I take ãâã to be an everlasting truth The ãâã never doth give nor can there be any vidence that God will work the first Condition Grace or the first Grace in the Soul before it be ãâã for as we heard Evidence carries Two things ãâã it 1 God reveals his Will to or work upon the ãâã 2 There is both Science issuing from that ãâã wisdom that hath been set up in the mind and ãâã of Faith which embraceth that truth and ãâã ãâã firmly being so cleerly and firmly assented ãâã Hence it follows necessarily and ãâã That which presupposeth the first Grace wrought ãâã the Soul and is an effect of that that cannot be ãâã before the first Grace be wrought but Evidence ãâã presupposeth spiritual science and assurance ãâã Faith therefore it cannot be before the first Grace ãâã before Faith be wrought ãâã the Soul Hence that ãâã the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. last Who knows the mind ãâã the Lord but we have the mind of Christ because ãâã have the Spirit of Christ and that cannot be had without Faith Gal. 3. 14. That we may receive the Promise of the spirit through Faith Those Promises then which imply the working of ãâã Condition of the Covenant or the first Grace do ãâã Three things 1 What God alone can do as ãâã to his peculiar Prerogative 2 What ãâã will do for his that is Such as shall come of his Son Christ the second Adam 3 What the means ãâã manner is by which he will do it As The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents ãâã I will take away the heart of stone and give ãâã an heart of flesh c. That is I alone can do ãâã and I will do it for those that are the Seed of the Covenant for still such Promises have an eye to the Covenant of the Church and the Faithful ãâã it as ãâã will Circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed c. And by the manifestation of the Fulness and Freeness of this Mercy of mine I will work it There is an irresistable light which the Lord lets into ãâã mind at the first call which makes way for Faith and is a direct act of Knowledge which turns the ãâã of the Soul to look to that fulness of power and ãâã of mercy by which the heart is drawn to ãâã but the reflect act of evidence by which we are assured of what God hath done to us and for us ãâã whereby we see that we do see is after this and implyes the thing done before we see it The issue is The object of this Evidence we now speak of is not gracious Qualifications wrought ãâã to be wrought but our right to or possession of ãâã Priviledges as thou art my Son thy ãâã ãâã accepted thy sins are pardoned But how ãâã shouldest be brought to these or have thy heart framed to receive these that is not attended at all the spiritual Priviledges which we have or hope ãâã mainly attended in this work of Evidence are Pardon and Forgiveness in our Justification our Adoption and Acceptation to be Sons and the Reconciliation of our Persons to the Lord and our happiness ãâã These are the spiritual Benefits which are here considered and about which the ãâã is meant The Third term to be opeend in the Question is Immediate Evidence without respect to Faith or any saving Qualification Its called Immediate in this Dispute not because it is without the word or not by means of the Word for to deny that would be too loathsom ãâã but immediat in respect of ãâã condition going before out of which it might ãâã For however the Question propounded grants ãâã Faith and Grace is there yet the Evidence must be had without eying or attending any thing of a Qualification I ãâã a double Pretence which ãâã this kind of Curiosity First a fear least they should prejudice the freeness Grace if any Condition or Qualification in any ãâã should be attended 1 A Conceit directly and expresly contrary to ãâã very letter of the Text and intendment of the ãâã Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of Faith that it might by Grace and if the being of Faith in the relying ãâã Christ in the act of it do not hinder free Grace ãâã less will the seeing of it 2 Besides if a ãâã attended would ãâã free Grace then the Covenant of the Gospel ãâã not attend and by name expresly require ãâã or else it should not be a Covenant of ãâã 3 It s Free Grace that makes and works the ãâã and when it s wrought there is nothing given ãâã it or the Party who beleeves for his Faith but ãâã its an Empty hand to take
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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã and sleepy hearted to the performance of service with greater ãâã and speed those that are as ãâã so to fast on the ãâã truths of God upon the Consciences of men that they are ãâã ãâã the compass of Gods command as Sheep within the fold Lastly Those words which are endited ãâã not by ãâã 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 ãâã to be accounted acceptable by those who hear them Now how far all quaintness and ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã with them It s Satans Policy who painter or tyre-maker like cozens all the world with colors to ãâã and ãâã the ãâã wayes of ãâã and the glorious Graces of the Spirit with the soot and dirt of reproaches and base nick-names Sincerity he terms Singularity ãâã Puritanism and Hypocrisie and so ignorant men who judge the person by the picture are brought out of love and liking with ãâã blessed wayes of ãâã and holiness Contrariwise when he would cast a vaile over the ugly and deformed face of Vice and ãâã courses he is ãâã to lay ãâã false colors of indifferency ãâã and pleasure Drunkenness is good fellowship and neighborhood Covetousness comes masked under the vizard of ãâã and moderation Cowardliness is trimmed and ãâã up in the ãâã 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 ãâã to the open ãâã of all that all may ãâã afraid and endeavor to avoid it Those ãâã wipes and ãâã jerks and ãâã at sin at which the ãâã prophane ãâã pleased but not reformed are utterly ãâã and ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 1 King 18. 21. How long will you hault between two ãâã If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then ãâã him As if he should have said Away with this patching in ãâã 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
Conscience such strength ãâã truth which like a mighty stream may carry an understanding Hearer When the Apostle was to come amongst the flanting Orators and silken Doctors of Corinth which so excelled in Eloquence he brings the tryal of their Ministery unto this touch 1 Cor. 4. 19 20. I will know not the speech of them that are ãâã up but the power for the Kingdom of God stands not in word but in Power It s not the ãâã of words not the sound and tinckling of a company of fine Sentences like apifh toyes and rattles that will commend our Ministery in the account of God there is no Kingdom no Power of the work of the Spirit the heavenly Majesty of an Ordinance is not seen in such empty shels and shaddows A building with painted walls and no pillars would be of little use and less continuance A body framed out of Colours may be a picture of a Bird or Beast but a living Creature it cannot be because it wants the soul and substance which should give life and vertue thereunto So it is when a multitude of gay Sentences are packed together without the sinnews and substance of convicting Arguments there may be the picture of a Sermon but the life and power of Preaching there wil not be in any such expressions That a Minister may be Powerful an inward ãâã heat ãâã ãâã and holy affection is required answerable and suitable to the matter which is to be communicated and those adde great life and ãâã to the delivery of the truth Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things Mat. 12. 35. Where then there is a heart awanting the chiefest part of Speech the pith and heart of it is gone for the several affections out of which the words arise make an impression and work alike temper of Spirit in him to whom we utter and express our selves Thus we speak from heart to heart and that is the best way to be in the ãâã of the Hearer and the only way to make our words take place and prevail He that mourns in speaking of sin makes another ãâã for sin committed An Exhortation that proceeds from the heart carries a kind of Authority and Commission with it to make way for it self not to return before it confer with the heart of him that will give attendance to it ãâã Discourses talk only with the ãâã they go no further because they ãâã no deeper then from the understanding of him ãâã speaks The Doctrine of the Gospel is like the ãâã upon the herbs and the dew upon the grass ãâã 32. 2. The strength and stirring of holly affections is like a ãâã wind or tempest makes the truth delivered to press in with more power and speed and to soak more deeply even to the heart root of him ãâã with ãâã will receive it It may be here enquired for Explication of the Point How a Ministery thus ãâã and Powerful ãâã work Answ. To speak only so much here as concerns the Place leaving Particulars until we ãâã of the several Parts of Preparation know we must the preparing work of a plain and powerful Ministery stands in Two Things It discovers the secrets of Sin makes known the close passages of the Soul to it self and that in the ugliness thereof Heb. 4. 11. The Word of God is ãâã in Operation sharper than any two edged sword ãâã betwixt the Soul and the Spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of ãâã ãâã This was the work that Paul aimed at in the ãâã of the Gospel 2 Cor. 4. 4. Pandling the Word of God not deceitsully but plainly by ãâã of the truth he commended himself to ãâã mans Conscience in the sight of God As though he had said Speak Oh ye blessed Saints of ãâã was not Paul in your ãâã Did he ãâã every corner of your Consciences ãâã you cannot but acknowledge it your hearts ãâã ãâã but ãâã as much A ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Corruption ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the ãâã of luch to whom the Word is spoken and blessed The ãâã Souldiers the refuse Publicans all ãâã and stand ãâã at the ãâã of ãâã Luke 3. 11 12. they all said Master what shall we do ãâã a ãâã at the Bar ãâã ãâã the Judge upon the ãâã ãâã ãâã Hence it is the time of the ãâã of the ãâã is called The ãâã and ãâã day of the Lord Mal. 4. 5. ãâã that of ãâã ãâã 2 Cor. 10. 5. The weapons ãâã ãâã ãâã that is the ãâã Ministery ãâã ãâã Word ãâã ãâã through ãâã to ãâã down strong ãâã ãâã cast down ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thought to the Obedience of ãâã ãâã our Savior the Chief Master of the Assemblies is said to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Scribes Matt. 7. last Not to tell a man a ãâã tale a toothless sapless ãâã so that the hearers ãâã ãâã are gone are never stirred never troubled for their sins nor quickened onward in Obedience But when the power of the ãâã the presence and Majesty ãâã the Lord ãâã appears in his Ordinances they then carry ãâã with them and bear down all before them ãâã ãâã ãâã lightning forsakes his hold and the ãâã ãâã is forced to give way to the Government of the King of Saints Strong Physick either Cures or Kills either takes away the ãâã or life of the ãâã so it is with a spiritual and powerful Ministery it will work one way or other either it ãâã ãâã hardens converts or condemns those that live ãâã the stroak thereof For observe we must ãâã ãâã Word is but an Instrument in the hand of ãâã who dispenseth the same ãâã to his good ãâã and the counsel of his own Will working when and upon whom he will and what he will by ãâã The Sword in the hand of him that wields it may as easily killas defend another answerable to the affection of him that strikes therewith It is so with the Word which is the Sword of the Spirit It is the savor of life unto life but then and to those only to whom the Lord will bless the same and the savor of death unto death then and unto those when such a ãâã is denyed Such as be Ministers may hence see the Reason of that little success we find that little good we do in the Vineyard of the Lord Our Pains ãâã not our ãâã ãâã not with the hearts of men not one ãâã levelled not a crooked piece ãâã not one poor Soul prepared for a Christ after ãâã ãâã quarters years travelling in the work of the ãâã The time was Satan fell like lightning suddenly speedily when the Disciples of Christ as Sons of ãâã delivered the Gospel in the power and demonstration of the Spirit But now Satan stands up ãâã full strength takes up his stand maintains his ãâã in the hearts of men notwithstanding all that ãâã see done
of their daies not long ãâã their death not long before their souls depart out of their bodies and they depart from the Land of the Living I am not ignorant that some Interpreters run another way and conceive by Laborers ãâã only to be understood whether they be good or bad and their ãâã their calling unto that ãâã in the Church He that is a Demas and seeks ãâã World his penny his praise and applause if ãâã his profit and wealth if Covetous and for that he makes his agreement with the Lord when first he makes entrance upon the work of the Ministry When he that is sincere hearted and seeks the things of Christ the penny for which he indents and the hire he would have is the hearts of poor ãâã the conversion of souls and ãâã of the body of Christ are instead of all the Tythes and ãâã Livings and Benesices he desires to look after though the sence is pleasant and spiritual yet I do not think it suits with the Scope ãâã this place nor here intended by the Spirit For of those ãâã Parable must be understood of whom that conclusion in the last verse of the 19. chapter was spoken Many that be first shall be last and many that be last shall be first This Parable being inferred for the opening and proving of that as the first words of the first ãâã of this 20. chapter do plainly evidence For the Kingdom c. But they are without question the ãâã only who are there meant such who have left all for Christs sake such who shall inherit ãâã life vers 29. alwaies with this proviso Many that are first called if they bear up themselves somwhat too much upon their own worth shall be last rewarded they who are last called if yet they do renounce all confidence in their own excellency and sufficiency and depend upon the free mercy of God they shal be amongst the chiefest that shal be recompenced Following then the sense which the Scope of the Text and the best Interpreters give the Point which fits our purpose and offers it self to consideration without any forcing from the Words is this God calls his Elect at any age but the most of his he converts before old age He comes at any hour but once only at the Eleventh hour and that somwhat unexpectedly There be two Parts in the Doctrine we wil handle them severally that they may be more easily and distinctly conceived 1 The Lord can and somtimes doth call at any Age. 2 But the most of his and that most usually he converts in their riper years God calls several of his Servants at sundry times some yong some old some in their tender some in their riper years there is no season excepted he that is the God of all times can and will do his own work at any time Timothy knew the Scriptures from a child 2 Tim. 3. 15. and drew in the sincere ãâã of the Word as Milk from the Breasts of his Mother and therefore is said to be nourished up in the wholsom words of Truth 2 Tim. 1. 5. Obadiah feared God from his youth 1 Kings 18. 12 Lydia and the Jaylor in Acts 16. Paul in Acts 9. 7. and Zacheus Luke 19. 9. it's most propable they were in their middle age as their places and imployments together with their accustomed experience and practice therein do ãâã Paul indeed is called a yong man Acts 7. 58. yet his bringing up at the feet of Gamaliel the largeness and depth of his Learning and Knowledg in Arts and Tongues 1 Cor. 14. 18. together with the Commission he was betrusted by the High-Priest for the persecuting of the Saints evince undeniably that he must be of ripe years Abraham was upon his seventy fifth year when God called him Gen. 12. 5. compared with Josh. 24. 2. Manasseth was converted near upon his death about sixty yeers of age 2 Chron. 33. 19. But in the case of old Age the matter is so difficult and so unusual that there are very few examples of old men converted recorded in Scripture as though the Lord had reserved it in his own hand as a special exception that the Sons of men should not ordinarily expect it That which is usually observed with some probability besides the pregnant testimony of the Text in hand is Amongst the many thousands who were pricked in their hearts at Peters Sermon Acts 2. 36. Amongst all those who came to hear with Cornelius Acts 10. 44. It 's said the Holy ãâã fell upon all that ãâã it 's probable some among such numbers were stricken in years As for the Thief upon the ãâã it 's most agreeable to good reason by all the leading circumstances in the Text that he was in his best strength The Lord takes these times in the dispensation of his Mercy for a double End To shew the freeness of his Grace that there is nothing that he respects either in person or place no excellency that at any time any man hath no work that at any time any man can do why he should fit and prepare any for Grace and Christ or bestow them upon the ãâã Sons of Adam and therefore takes every season that it may appear it is in his good pleasure to take what season he will If the work of Grace had been ãâã to any time of Life either Youth ãâã hood or Old Age alone it would ãâã been concluded ãâã carnal grounds that there was somthing in the Creature upon condition ãâã it had been given either the tenderness of the yong ones had moved the Lord to ãâã them or the excellency of the parts and abilities of men of riper years could have procured it or the policy and experience of the aged could alone have contrived this great work of preparation and conversion unto God but when the Lord chuseth some out of all ãâã and pass by others it 's ãâã evident it 's not any thing in the persons years or condition but meerly in the compassion of the Lord that doth all This is the ãâã which the Lord himself renders of his dealing in this kind when he would suppress the murmuring of some of the Laborers ãâã 20. 14. who ãâã that they had no more than others because they had been longer in the Vinyard and had born more of the burden and heat of the day than others The Lord answers May I not do what I will with mine own Again This God doth to shew his Power even the Omnipotent and All-sufficient work of his ãâã to whom nothing is hard or impossible who hath hardness at command and therefore as he doth ãâã he will both in Heaven and Earth Psal. 1 15. 3. ãâã also in the hearts of his people when the ãâã and ãâã of the little ãâã ãâã deprive them of this favor when the boisterous head-strong distempers of yong men cannot hinder ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the aged in their cankered corruptions cannot ãâã ãâã ãâã
remorse for thy sinful condition truly know The strong man keeps house there unto this day Nay Let me tell you this That all may hear and fear and be awakened if Christ never awaken thee he will never give thee light and if ever he give thee light he will awaken thee first Nay the truth is So long as thou livest so senseless and careless know it Christ never came into the world to do thee any good Luke 19. 10. The Son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost They that are sensible of their lost and undone condition by reason of their sins against the Lord they see Hell gaping God plaguing and Conscience accusing being every day ready to drop into Hell Christ came to save such But thou that never yet in any measure wast troubled about thy condition and humbled for thy sins Christ will never seek thee nor save thee nay he was not sent to seek or save that miserable soul of thine God will make thee sensible of thy evils before ever thou canst have any hope that he intends good to thee I will not now Dispute how far God may awaken a man and yet not communicate saving grace that belongs to another place That I Urge now is this That its certain He that never yet was awakened or brought out of his carnal Security never was nor can be made partaker of Jesus Christ. Exhortation To all you secure dead hearted sinners that have been carried on in a Calm all your days Oh! know it and consider of it a man becalmed is drowned ãâã stir up thy self and think of the time of awakening it will come and as Marriners becalmed seek for winds so should you for the Gales and Breathings of the Spirit of Christ. Many of you have been ãâã up in good Families and many of you are civil honest quiet people all things remain with you as they were from the first until now you know not what Sin means nor what Faith and Repentance means in the power and practice of them you have a quiet life but a miserable life It s easie for a Marriner to be in a Calm at Sea he hath quiet there but he dies there Women in Child-birth longs for Throws if their Throws leaves them their life leaves them and all but if they have many and strong Throws then they hope well so go your wayes and call ãâã the Throws of Conversation For a Child to be born into the world and the Mother asleep it s against Nature and Reason and Sense and Experience and all so before ever you be born again before ever Christ be formed in you it will cost you many Prayers and Tears and much Sorrow but if ãâã Throws come thick then there is hope Oh! therefore call for the sight of sin and sorrow for sin for conviction and humiliation as you love your Lives and Souls call for these You know what they said to ãâã Chap. 1. 6. when the Sea was fierce and the Winds high and the Storm great every man fell to his Prayers and they came to Jonab ãâã thou sluggard arise and call upon thy God So if God raise a storm in your Consciences be sure you call upon Jonab those sluggish hearts of yours Awake and call upon your God I would advise those men that could never yet say they have any grace in their hearts they cannot say they have any thing more than they brought with them into the world they come to sit and hear but for Humiliation Conversion for the saving work of God upon their souls they know no such thing Let me advise you thus much Be suspicious of your estates certainly all is not well all is not right unless I be born again and repent and be another man and have another heart and life I cannot enter into Heaven thus suspect your self And when you have done so do not leave it there but betake your self to some faithful Minister or Christian and debate your condition with them and be sure you quiet not your self till you come to see what you are it may be they may help you and shew you the state of things with you If it shall appear upon good ground by sound Reasons from the Word that your estate is naught then go away convictedly ãâã it is so Attend not those carnal Reasons that may take off the edg of that conviction and hinder the working of it but sit down without any cavil against it but say the truth is I never saw my estate before but now I do I hope I shall never deny it Excuses and carnal Reasons have taken me aside but now I 'le hear nothing against it the truth is I am a miserable sinful damned Creature Arise with this in the morning ãâã lie down with this at night and walk with these thoughts all the day long I am a Christless graceless man and if the Devil say hereafter time enough hereafter loon enough Ay but say I may die suddenly and ãâã I am damn'd eternally and if your own heart say Am not I as good as such an one and shall not I hope to do as well as such an one Away with that too I am a miserable damned man give your self for gone and hold it here ãâã hear nothing the Devil saies that my heart saies that the world or my friends say I am in a miserable damned condition think so and sleep so and ãâã so if you can And when it 's come to this you may happily be prepared for the glad Tidings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. BOOK VII ROM 8. 7. The Wisdom of the flesh is Enmity against God it is not subject to the Law neither indeed can be WE heard there were three Particulars wherin the Dispensation and Gods Manner of working upon the soul when he will prepare it for himself was discovered 1 The Soul Naturally is setled in the security of a sinful estate And of that before 2 That being thus lodged in his lust and brought ãâã bed in his sinful distempers it 's wholly unwilling to be severed from them 3 By a holy kind of Violence as it were the soul is driven out of this condition and drawn ãâã the Lord Christ by God the Father We are now to attend the discovery of this second Divine Truth the Explication whereof makes way for the mysterious manner of Gods dealing with the sinner when he would bring him from under the power ãâã of his lusts And for this purpose we have chosen this Text as that which will afford us foothold for our following discourse The Aim and Scope of the Words is by force of Argument to fortifie the conclusion formerly expressed in the foregoing verse i. e. To mind the things of the flesh is death which is thus proved That which is Enmity against God will undoubtedly bring death as opposing the God of Life and Comfort but the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God
heart is the alone work of God It is not in him that Wills nor in him that Runs ãâã in God that shews Mercy You know many of you hundreds for ought I know that you never knew what Christ and his Grace meant and you know your hearts close with your sins though you dare not give way to them Now mark when you come and hear the mind of God and the Ministers speak unto you and the Will of God is published Oh! Go your wayes home and say As the Lord lives I will not leave thee until the Lord hath spoken to my soul till I find the effectual work of the Word and Spirit of God drawing my soul from my sins to Jesus Christ. Therefore call for that same shewing Mercy which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 9. 16. So then it is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth mercy When you have run what you can and willed what you are able then look up to the Lord to shew you Mercy the Minister hath spoken what he can and I have heard what I can but Lord shew Mercy and never leave until you have found that the Lord hath shewed you Mercy in this work of drawing your Soul from Sin to Christ. FINIS THE Application OF Redemption By the Effectual Work of the Word and Spirt of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The Ninth and Tenth Books Beside many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed ââThe heart must be humble and contrite before the Lord will dwell in it ââStubborn and bloody Sinners may be made broken-hearted ââThere must be true sight of sin before the heart can be broken for it ââApplication of special sins by the Ministry is a means to bring men to sight of and sorrow for them ââMeditation of sin a special means to break the heart ââThe same word is profitable to some not to others ââThe Lord somtimes makes the word prevail most when its most opposed ââSins unrepented of makes way for piercing Terrors ââThe Truth terrible to a guilty conscience âââGross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before they be brought to Christ. 11. Sorrow for sin rightly set on pierceth the heart of the sinner throughly 12. They whose hearts are pierced by the word are carried with love and respect to the Ministers of it And are busie to enquire and ready to submit to the mind of God 13. Sinners in distress of conscience are ignorant what they should do 14. A contrite sinner sees a necessity of coming out of his sinful condition 15. There is a secret hope wherewith the Lord supports the hearts of contrite sinners 16. They who are truly pierced for their sins do prize and covet deliverance from their sins 17. True contrition is accompanied with confession of sin when God calls thereunto 18. The Soul that is pierced for sin is carried with a restless dislike against it By that Faithful and known Servant of Christ Mr. THOMAS HOOKER late Pastor of the Church at Hartford in New-England somtimes Preacher of the Word at Chelmsford in Essex and Fellow of Emmanuel Colledg in Cambridg Printed from the Authors Papers written with his own Hand And attested to be such in an Epistle By Thomas Goodwin And Philip Nye London Printed by Peter Cole at the sign of the Printing-Press in Cornhil neer the Royal Exchange 1657. READER IT hath been one of the Glories of the Protestant Religion that it revived the Doctrine of Saving Conversion And of the new creature brought forth thereby Concerning which and the necessity thereof we find so much indigitated by Christ and the Apostles in their Epistles in those times But in a more eminent manner God hath cast the honor hereof upon the Ministers and Preachers of this Nation who are renowned abroad for their more accurate search into and discoveries hereof First For the Popish Religion that much pretend to Piety and Devotion and doth dress forth a Religion to a great outward Gaudiness and shew of ãâã and wil-worship which we confess is entermingled with many spiritual strains of self-denial Submission to Gods wil Love to God and Christ especially in the writings of those that are called Mistical ãâã But that first great and saving Work of Conversion which is the foundation of al true piety the great and numerous volumns of their most devout writers are usually silent therein Yea they eminently appropriate the word Conversion and thing it self unto ãâã man that renounceth a Secular life and entereth into Religious orders as they cal them and that Doctrine they have in their discourses of Grace and free wil about it is of no higher elevation than what as worthy Mr. Perkins long since may be common to a Reprobate though we judg not al amongst them God having continued in the midst of Popish Darkness many to this day and at this day with more Contention than ever that plead for the Prerogative of Gods Grace in mans Conversion And for the Arminian Doctrine how low doth that run in this great Article this we may without breach of Charity say of it That if they or their followers have no further or deeper work upon their hearts than what their Doctrine in that point calls for they would fal short of Heaven though those other great truths they together therewith teach God may and doth savingly bless unto true Conversion he breaking through those Errors into some of their hearts And how much our reformed Writers abroad living in continual wranglings and Disputes with the Adversaries of Grace have omitted in a Practical and Experimental way to lay open and anatomize the inwards of this great work for the Comfort and settlement of poor souls many of themselves do greatly bewayl And to find them work and divert them from this it hath been the Devils great Policy who is at the head of all those Controversies as also ever since Pelagius time to this very day to make that dry and barren plot of Ground namely the naked dispute of the freedom of mans wil to be the great seat of this War as the Pope did the Conquest of the Holy Land in the darker times to find al Christian Princes work and thither to draw al the forces and intentions of mens minds jejunely in a great part Phylosophically to debate what power mans wil for-sooth hath in the Summity and Apex of Conversion to resist or to accept the Grace of God and so whether Moral perswasions only be not Sufficient or that Physical Pre-determinations be not also requisite to Conversion whilest in the mean time al those intimate actings of a soul in turning to God The secret particular passages both on Gods part and on the souls part which are many and various by which the soul is won over unto God and Christ those treaties the souls of men hold with God and Christ for justifying and
manner of the delivery of the Truth it awakens and stirs up the mind and heart of the Hearer to a more serious attention to that which is spoken and settles the heart upon a more through consideration of himself and his waies unto both which the soul of a sinner rocked as it were asleep in the security of a sinful course is loth to come not willing to hear any thing that would trouble him in his sins and very ready to lay aside the consideration of that he hears in that behalf Whereas particular application provokes to the practice of both cals a man by name as it were that he must come to his Answer he cannot avoid it it wil not suffer him to make an escape before he give in his Answer This flings in the light so ful into mens faces that it forceth them to look about them General Truths generally do little good That which is spoken to all is spoken to none at al. No man heeds more than needs he must to such things he hath little heart unto or takes little delight in An Inditement or Attachment without a name read published and proclaimed in the face of the World no man is either troubled at it or reclaimed by it but when the name is recorded and the man challenged it makes him bethink himself how to get a Surety or pay the debt or prevent the danger So is it with a general reproof no man will own it and therefore no man reforms by it or is forced to seek out Thus Nicodemus never left cavilling before the Lord came home to his own person and touched him to the quick John 3. 10. Art thou a Master in Israel and knowest thou not these things See and be ashamed a Master not to know that which a Scholler might and should It 's not enough that we be stirring in the house and people be up but we must knock at mens doors bring a Candle to their bed-sides and pinch the sluggard and then if he have any life he wil stir While the Ministers of the Lord are preaching and publishing the Mind and Counsel of God in the Assemblies there is some stirring in Gods house but yet the secure person sits and sleeps on the stool as the sluggard in his bed unless some special Application pinch him ãâã the quick then he begins to look up and ask who is there So it was with David thou art the man did prevail more with him than al the ãâã 2 Sam. 12. As the noise of a piece a far off makes the Fowl listen but one scattered shot that fals upon the wing or leg makes them cry and stir All the common discourse came not neer David but thou art the man three words like three smal shot awakened him with a witness The Nature of the Word calls for this manner of dispensation as that which suits and serves best for the end and work of it It makes it hit sooner and pierce more deeply and prevailingly into the heart The speech of the Minister and his words are like darts and arrows the right and particular applying them is the level carriage of them to the heart and so they hit unavoidably and fasten strongly thereupon General discourses are like arrows shot a cock-height at al adventures without aim and so without success or special profit or powerful work upon the hearer men come and go away not touched not troubled not affected with any thing The word is compared to a Sword the Explication is like the drawing of it So the Truth in the naked Nature and vertue of it comes to be ãâã but the florishing of the Sword wil never do the deed But he that handles it suitable to the end and work of it he must follow the blow if he purpose to force his Enemy either to ãâã or yield So it is with the Truth down-right blows puts somtimes the most cunning Fencer past his Sence so ãâã cunning Hypocrites beyond all their Shifts See how the Woman of Samaria John 4. 18 19. Put off our Savior with fond Cavils sawcy and contemptuous Speeches until our Savior met with her in particular Go call ãâã Husband she answers I have no Husband our Savior comes within her Thou hast had five Husbands and he whom now thou hast is not thine Husband in that thou sayest right thou poor sinful Adulteress then she fel before our Savior It is in a mans Spiritual as it is with a mans outward estate The Bond lies forfeited and the careless Debtor or Bankerupt he looks not out to pay He hears the news of a Writ out for him but sees none to arrest and therefore he grows fearless But when the Sergeant arrests him and drags him to prison you wil not provide for your debt to pay provide then to go to prison that makes him begin to send to friends to gather up his ãâã sel his Commodities crave Baile and Surety So it is with careless prodigal sinners which suffer their souls and salvations to lie forfeir and yet look not out until some particular word meet and make an arrest upon the soul and the Minister by his Commission like the Sergeant seizeth upon him you wil not forsake your sins you must therefore perish in your sins He then begins to bethink himself what to do We here see the reason why there is so little good done by the Ministry of the Word upon the hearts of ungodly men Many Hypocrites lie skulking under the covers of deceit and are not discovered many proud hearts not humbled but go on in their sturdy distempers many sleepers sit and snort in their security and go hood-winked down to destruction and see nothing before they sink into the pit We do not knock at mens doors we do not bring the light to their bed-sides we do not pinch them indeed with sharp and particular reproofs and those set on to purpose we do not put them ãâã their fence we do not keep them under the arrest of some conviction so that they cannot make an escape but each carnal reason rescues them from the hold of some common Truths that happily are delivered Oh we level not we hit not we apply not the Word so home so particularly as the occasions conditions corruptions of men require and therefore it prevails not with that power finds not that success which otherwise it might Common Reproofs are like the confused ãâã in the Ship when the Marriners were rowing Jonah to the shore notwithstanding all which Jonah lies and sleeps under-hatches But when they go down to him and laid hold upon him and awakened him with a witness Arise thou sluggard and call upon thy God lest we all perish Jonah 1. 5. He then began to bethink himself where he was and what he had done and then remembred that though he had feared and served the God of Heaven yet by ãâã rebellion he had departed away from him So here all the while
Conscience and knows more than he can express or thou perceive in thy self However it is He had thee in his intendment in what he said If thou wert faulty to reform the evil if not faulty to forewarn thee For a faithful Minister should intend the good of all in al it ãâã and they should receive it If happily thou be freed from the outward practice of the evil yet thou hast the spawn of it in thy soul and that which wil provoke thee unto it and that corrupt part hath given approbation to the evil thou hast not set thy self so much against the evil and that hath made thee so far share in the evil and so justly subject to share in the reproof Thus the Apostle chargeth the Jew Rom. 2. 1. When the Jew would plead his Innocency from such evils of the Gentiles because he is ready to condemn and judg them in that behalf saies the Apostle Thou therefore that judgest another thou condemnest thy self for thou thy self dost the same things but it might have been replyed We do not we are not whisperers back-biters guilty of ãâã malice covetousness c. Interpreters answer that the Apostles meaning is Though they committed not such evils yet the corruption of their Nature suited with them and so shared in them and therefore justly liable to the like ãâã of the Law more or less He meant what he said and what his words meant If there be any evil in them bear witness of the evil John 18. 23. and it 's just a man should bear his blame Would'st thou fish more out of a mans meaning than thou canst find in his words I fear thou meanest to be a Caviller It 's a certain Argument of a captious and contentious disposition and commonly of a man that carries a galled Conscience that seeks waies and means to make a fault when he cannot find one It 's a word ãâã Exhortation 1. To Ministers 2. To People To Ministers what they should do To the People what they should desire To the Ministers They have a pattern here for their ãâã If we wil be faithful to our Places and the Work commended to our Care faithful to the souls of the People if we would further the Work of the Lord and the Word and see the fruit of our labors to the conviction and conversion of such as belong unto Gods Council This is Gods way in which we must walk if we purpose to find Gods blessing that others may reap the profit and we the comfort of our pains at the great Day of our Account we must by particular Application make men see their sins if ever we hope they shal see the Salvation of the Lord. How to stere our course in this so tickle a Channel and so tender a Work these following Directions will not be unseasonable First We must learn to bottom our Application upon the blessed Word of the Lord rightly apprehended and opened plainly by undeniable Evidence Then our Application wil come with uncontroulable power to the Conscience when it comes guarded with Authority and ãâã of the Truth and men cannot but give way to those Reproofs when they cannot gainsay the evidence of Gods mind and Counsel therein That however carnal hearts wil secretly be weary of them yet they wil not dare openly to oppose them because they perceive that they must oppose the Counsel of God plainly dispensed therein and in their own Conscience also Therefore I have ever judged it most seasonable if I would pursue a sinful course breaking out not by the by to pull it into a discourse but to take a Text on purpose wherein it is plainly condemned That the people may hear God in his Word speaking before we speak this is to shew our Commission before we do Execution and this wil stop mens mouths Never balk any thing that is in the Text never wrest any thing out of the Text that is not there for that savors too much of a mans own spirit or passion or private ends al which must be avoided as much as Hell If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God 1 Pet. 4. 11. not our fancies or passions or conceits but let Gods Oracles be heard only It 's lawful for a Minister so to cast the mould and carry the frame of his Application that the guilty parties may conceive it and their Consciences find and feel ãâã that they be the parties that the Lord points out and intends of purpose to ãâã and pursue Matth. 21. 41. 45. Thus our Savior laies out the corrupt carriages of the Scribes and Pharisees and paints them out so lively that they felt him and were forced to give in evidence of their own condemnation against themselves as in verse 41. They say he will miserably destroy those wicked men and verse 45. When the chief Priests heard this they perceived that he spake of them In case either some false Opinions are spreading or some corrupt and sinful practices are like to grow and leven and that speedily and dangerously It 's lawful in way of caution and prevention to discover mens sins and errors in their own words that others may avoyd them the better and they be ashamed of them the more Thus Peter discovers the faults and wretched behaviour of the Jewes to our saviour in their own words Acts. 3. 14. you denyed that holy and just one and desired a murderer to be granted to you Not him but Barabbas 1. Cor. 15. 22. How say some among you that there is no resurrection Nay it s lawful to name special persons in an evil if there may thereby be special warning given to others from falling So Paul to Timothy 2. Tim. 1. 15. of whom is Phygellus and Hermogenes it's Calvins ãâã upon the place they were more famous and therefore their Apostacy might be a means to draw others therefore he gives warning concerning them If any man say this is to shame men I answer their sins should be made shameful they should take shame for them that they may sorrow for them and forsake them Let our Application go so wel guarded and fensed against al exceptions and cavils that a sinner may not be able to rescue himself or make an escape by carnal reason As Acts. 6. 10. It 's said they were not able to resist the wisdome and the spirit by which he spake Math. 22. 34. our saviour Christ put the Sadducees to silence Let it be done with pity and tender compassion to mens souls though with zeal and indignation against their sins 2. Tim. 2. 24. 25. the servant of the Lord must be patient and gentle towards al in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves As a Chirurgeon may be most compassionate when he cutts most deep even to fetch up the core and therefore the Apostle adds both to Titus shew all meekness to all men and therefore to the Cretians and yet rebukes them sharply Titus 1.
away meditation layes hold upon it and wil not let it go but exerciseth the strength of the attention of his thoughts about it makes a buisiness of it as that about which he might do his best and yet fals short of what he should do in it So David when he would discover where the stream and overflowing strength of his affections vented themselves he points at this practice as that which employes the mind to the ful Psal 119. 197. Oh how I love thy law it is my meditation all the day love is the great wheel of the soul that sets al on going and how ãâã that appear it is my meditation day and night the word in the original signifyeth to swim a man spreads the breadth of his understanding about that work and layes out himself about the service wherein there is both difficulty and worth Serious Meditation is not a flourishing of a mans wit but hath a set bout at the search of the truth beats his brain as wee use to say hammers out a buisiness as the Gouldsmith with his mettal he heats it and beats it turnes it on this side and then on that fashions it on both that he might frame it to his mind meditation is hammering of a truth or ãâã propounded that he may carry and conceive the frame and compass in his mind ãâã salute a truth as we pass by occasionally but solemnly entertain it into our thoughts Not look upon a thing presented as a spectator or passenger that goes by but lay other things aside and look at this as the work and employment for the present to take up our minds It 's one thing in our diet to take a snatch and away another thing to make a meal and sit at it on purpose until wee have seen al set before us and we have taken our fil of al so we must not cast an eye or glimpse at the truth by some sudden or sleighty apprehension a snatch and away but we must make a meal of musing Therefore the Psalmist makes it the main trade that a Godly man drives professedly opposite to the carriage of the wicked whether in his outward or inward work in his disposition or expression of himself in his common practice whereas they walk in the corrupt counsels of their own hearts stand in the ãâã of sinners not only devise what is naught but practice and persevere in what they have devised and sit in the seat of the scorners A blessed man his rode in which he travels his set trade he meditates in the Law of God day and night that is the counsel in which he walks the way in which he stands the ãâã in which he fits Look at this work as a branch of our Christian ãâã not that which is left to our liberty but which is of necessity to be attended and that in good earnest ãâã a Christian duty which God requires not a little available to our spiritual welfare The end is doubly expressed in the other part of the description 1 The searching of the truth 2. The effectual setling of it upon the heart The search of the truth Meditation is a coming in with the truth or any cause that comes to hand that we may enquire the ful state of it before our thoughts part with it so that we see more of it or more clearly ãâã fully than sormerly we did this is one thing in that of the Prophet Hos. 6. 3. Then shall yee know if you follow on to know when we track the ãâã of the truth in al the pass ãâã until we have viewed the whol progresse of it from truth to truth from point to point This it is to ãâã for wisdom Prov. 2. 2 When men have found a mine or a veyn of Silver they do not content themselves to take that which is uppermost and next at hand within ãâã which offers it self upon the surface of the Earth but they dig further as hoping to find more because they see somewhat So meditation rests not in what presents it self to our consideration but digs deeper gathers in upon the truth and gaynes more of it then did easily appear at the first and this it doth 1 When it recals things formerly past sets them in present view before our consideration and judgment Meditation sends a mans thoughts afar off cals over and revives the fresh apprehension of things done long before marshals them al in rank together brings to mind such things which were happily quite out of memory gone from a man which might be of great use and special help to ãâã our condition according to the quality of it may be Conscience starts the consideration but of one sin but meditation looks abroad and brings to hand many of the same and of the like kind and that many dayes past and long ago committed This distemper now sticks upon a man and brings him under the arrest of Conscience and the condemnation thereof But saies meditation let me mind you of such and such sins at such and ãâã times in such and such companies committed and multiplyed both more and worse than ãâã that now appear so ãâã and so troublesom to you meditation is as it were the register and remembrancer that looks over the records of our daily corruptions and keeps them upon file and brings them into court and fresh consideration ãâã 13. 26. Thou makest me to possess the sins of my youth This makes a man to renew the sins of his youth makes them fresh in out thoughts as though new done before our eyes This Interpreters make the meaning of that place Job 14. 17. My trangression is sealed up in a bag and thou sewest up mine iniquity though God do thus yet he doth it by this means in the way of his Providence i. e. by recounting and recalling our corruptions to mind by serious meditation we sew them all up together we look back to the linage and pedegree of our lusts and track the abominations of our lives step by step until we come to the very nest where they are hatched and bred even of our original corruption and body of death where they had their first breath and being links al our distempers together from our infancy to our youth from youth to riper age from thence to our declining daies So David from the vileness of his present lusts is led to the wickedness in which he was warmed Psal. 51. 5. This was typed out in the old Law by the chewing of the cud Meditation cals over again those things that were past long before and not within a mans view and consideration Meditation takes a special Survey of the compass of our present condition and the Nature of those corruptions that come to be considered It 's the traversing of a mans thoughts the coasting of the mind and imagination into every crevis and corner pryes into every particular takes a special view of the borders and ãâã of any corruption or
wil pass the sentence of shame upon it as the just fruit of our evil doings and as a means so sanctified to work a hatred against it in our selves and to remove the scandal of it from others and therefore strives not by restless cavils and evasions to make an escape from the evidence of the Word in the work of Conviction when a mans errors should be discovered nor yet doth repine at nor bear a privy grudg after the conviction lies not under the Truth as the ãâã upon the rack which he therefore bears not because indeed he cannot help himself against it with all the troublesom ãâã he can use but his soul inwardly approves of that word which judgeth his person and practice vile as himself doth Thus the word in the Original which sign sies confession properly ãâã to speak as God speaks to judg as God judgeth of his sin this hath been the constant guize of the Saints touched sincerely with remorse for their sin A word snibs David Thou art the man presently I have sinned saith he A wink or a look of the Lord Jesus makes Peter lie at his foot Go out and weep bitterly who had immediately before in a faithless cowardice basely denied him As it is with a Steed of a tender mouth feels his Bit ãâã the ãâã check of the Rider staies him turns him which way he wil So it is with a tender Conscience fals under the greatest shame that the least evidence of Argument wil check him withal So Ezekiah though i. were a sharp word and the threatening ãâã Isai. 39. last yet saies he The Word of the Lord is a good Wond my heart is naught my carriage naught my apprehensions naught and erroneous but the Word of the Lord is good and the holy Apostle in that inward combate speaks in the Name of all the Saints in the like case Rom. 7. 14. For we know that the Law is spiritual holy and good WE i. e. all that know God the work of his Grace the purity of the Truth they and I and al confess the Law is Spiritual that is for ever to be honored loved obeyed but I am carnal a good and holy Law but an evil and unholy heart true it is that carnal and hollow-hearted Hypocrites may somtimes have their Consciences so far awed with the Soveraign power of the Truth that they may yield ãâã thereunto and in outward appearance readily profess their approbation thereof with the condemnation of themselves and their own courses because they have no other way to gain ease and quiet to their own Consciences now clamoring against them or their acceptance with men their carriages being gross and inexcusable and therefore must so far bear the shame because he sees he cannot excuse his folly or sin being so open but he shal be accounted impudent in denying and sinning but al this while his heart is carried with an inward distast against it and by a privy spleen imbittered so as to conspire secretly the disparagement of it As it fared with those treacherous Jews when they saw no way and therefore had no hope to take away the life of Paul by open violence then they did cunningly plot it by a color of fair pretence and carried it thus Acts 23. 14. They would have him brought down out of the Castle as though they would enquire somthing more perfectly of him and we ere ever he come neer will be ready to kill him So these fals-hearted Creatures make it by their ãâã pretences that they would enquire more perfectly concerning the Truth the Servant craves Counsel how he should subdue the ruggedness of his Spirit the froward wife how she should overcome her way ward peevish ãâã they wil enquire more perfectly as though they would obey perfectly submit perfectly be perfect Servants wives c. But alas there is a conspiracy in their hearts against the strict waies of God So it was with Balaam he hath never done sacrificing to enquire the wil of God and yet his heart inwardly opposeth and resists his wil and this shewed it self in open violence and contempt of the Command and Charge Numb 24. 1. A heart content to take the shame is not offended with the party friend or enemy that wil lay the shame upon him he knows it is the burden which he ought to ãâã and if therefore any man wil give him a lift and help him to take it up he wil take it kindly at his hands It 's against common sence to conceive that one should be offended with another or take it grievously that he doth any thing which he knows would and he conceives wil give him content No man can be offended in Reason with the party for such a carriage or doing such a thing wherein he is contented and with which he is pleased True it is shame in it self is exceeding distastful to flesh and blood and in truth nothing more cross and contrary to an ingenious spirit Praise is the priviledg and prerogative of a reasonable Agent who acts by Counsel and therefore other Creatures are not so capable of it nor do we give it as their due we commend not the fire for burning heavy things for falling donward they cannot but do their work and therefore no praise no thanks to them for their deed but Agents as Men and Angels who work by Counsel who have wit and wisdom to contrive several waies conceive the best and wil and care to follow that when they might have done other out of their liberty Shame therefore crossing a man in his special priviledg his proper free hold it must in it self be very grievous and a tedious burden but as he sees his duty in it and the good that comes by it and withal his just desert by reason of his vileness he is not offended with the presence of the Chirurgeon but he is glad to see him and his ãâã though sharp and ãâã which may lance his imposthume and so save his ãâã whenas a naughty heart who would not have another take away his ãâã he is vexed inwardly at the least that he laies the shame and disparagement upon him for it See this odds in those two Kings Ahab and ãâã the one a self-seeking deluded ãâã when he was under the whip and terror of Gods stroak and wrath he then humbles his soul fasts and praies and that in print as it were acts his part in that extraordinary duty with outward ãâã and therefore in reason it cannot but be conceived he bewailed his sin confessed his failings and yet he that hated Elijah 1 Kings 21. 20. he hates also Micaiah 1 Kings 22. 8. There is yet one Micaiah q. d. We are rid of the most of them but yet One is our vexation and I hate him because he hates my sin and wil never speak good that is speak that which pleaseth my corruption and therefore displeaseth me But good Jehosaphat he was not willing to hear his words
procure it  3 There is no Promise made to a Natural man  Uses three hence Matter of  1 Thanksgiving ãâã the ãâã of Grace  2 ãâã to ãâã sinners in the sight of their sins and ãâã  3 Exhortation to such as want and are seeking mercy to stay Gods time and wait his pleasure  DOCT. 2. VVhile this life lasts and the Gospel is continued that 's the day of Salvation  1. The time of this Life the time of getting Grace 241 Reason Because after this Life  1 The Sentence past is irrevocable  2 The condition of a man is unchangable  2 While the ãâã is ãâã ãâã Reason ãâã ãâã Gods ãâã  In regard  1 Of the Causes and means which are then afforded  2 Of the effect and work it self which is then wrought  3 Of the subject the persons wrought upon  Uses three hence  1 Learn That long life is a great blessing  2 Caution To fortifie our selves against self-murder  3 Exhortation to improve the time of Salvation  1 It is a Season 251 2 It is a short one but a day  3 A Season not of our but of Gods acceptation  4 It is a day of Salvation  BOOK V. On Matth. 20. 5 6 7. He went out about the sixth ninth and eleventh hour and hired Laborers  DOCT. God calls his Elect at any Age but the most before old Age. ãâã 1 God calls his at any Age some in yonger some in elder yeers  ãâã  1 To shew the freeness of his Grace  2 To shew ãâã Power  ãâã God calls the most before old Age viz. In their yonger or middle ãâã  Reasons Because that 's the fittest Age in regard of  1 The Subject For  1 The Faculties are then most capable of being wrought upon  2 Corruptions are not so strongly rooted  2 The End why Grace is given viz. the Glory of God  Uses three hence 271 1 Instruction Be not rash in censuring the ãâã Estate of any  Though we may judg of their present state by their fruits  2 Consolation to support aged sinners though it 's not ordinary yet possible they may be converted then 276 3 Exhortation to yonger men take ãâã present time defer not till old Age if you do  1 Either you will never attain it  2 Or it will be uncomfortable if you do  Motives to provoke such Consider  1 What good you may do while you live  2 What Comfort you will have at your death  3 What your Glory will be in Heaven  BOOK VI. On Revel 3. 17. Thou sayest thou art rich when thou art poor and miserable c.  DOCT. The soul is naturally setled in a sinful security 285 1 The sinner ãâã ãâã ãâã in his Condition  2 He ãâã no ãâã ãâã ãâã present  3 He ãâã none ãâã ãâã future  4 Hence ãâã puts his condition beyond question  5 And therefore ãâã scorns  6 And openly ãâã an alteration of his estate  Reasons three taken from 292 1 The ãâã of sin  2 The ãâã ãâã the soul  3 ãâã and Self-ease  Uses four ãâã 295 1 See the reason why sharp and soul-saving preaching ãâã ãâã little acceptance Because it awakens men out of security  2 It 's the ãâã plague for a man to be let alone in his sins  3 ãâã as never were ãâã and awakened to ãâã ãâã of their ãâã ãâã ãâã yet in it  4 ãâã to ãâã ãâã Such should  1 Suspect their ãâã  2 ãâã about it  3 Yield that ãâã the present their condition ãâã ãâã  BOOK VII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the slesh is enmity against the Lord and is not subject to his Law  DOCT. The frame of the whol heart of a Natural man is wholly unwilling to submit to the VVord that would sever him from his sins 305 1 He seeks not after truth  2 He is loth to meet with it  3 He stops the passage of it  4 He doth what he can to defeat the power and evidence of it  5 He will professedly oppose it  6 He will privily ãâã the stirrings of the Truth in his Conscience  Reasons four taken from 315 1 The Corruption of the will  2 The Revenging Justice of God  3 The power of Satan  4 The ãâã and neer alliance between the heart and sin  Uses sive hence  1 It 's the heaviest plague for a Natural man to have his own corrupt will  2 The will of a Natural man is the worst part ãâã him  3 The ãâã of a carnal man ãâã cross to sence and reason  4 Tryal of our estates by our ãâã or unwillingness to part with sin  He that is willing 331 1 He is speedy and ãâã in improving ãâã ãâã  2 He takes delight in those means that ãâã and work most  3 He is not content till his sin be removed  4 He takes not up his stand till he come at God  5 Exhortation Labor for willingness to part with sin 343 1 The greatest and hardest work lies with the wil.  2 Beleaguer the heart with the evidence of Truth  3 Look up to God that he would work upon the heart  BOOK VIII On John 6. 44. None can come to me but whom the Father draws  DOCT. God the Father by a holy kind of ãâã plucks his out of their corruptions and draws them to beleeve in Christ. 349 This work of Attraction is a transient work ãâã both these  1 Plucking from sin  2 And drawing to Christ are handled together  For Explication six Particulars  The sorts of drawing two  1 By moral Suasion  2 By Physical or internal operation  This latter is meant here 353 The proper Nature of this drawing it 's the motion or impression of the Spirit upon the Soul not any habit in it or act put forth by it to ãâã with the Spirit 355 The means how God works and by wich he draws  These are four 355 1 By a hook of Instruction shewing a man that he is out of the way to Heaven  2 By the Cords of Love shewing that Christ and Mercy are  1 Able to ãâã him  2 Willing to save him  3 Are freely offered for that end  4 The Lord waits to see when the sinner will come  3 By the Iron Chains of Conscience  1 Warning  2 Accusing  3 Condemning  4 By the hand of the Spirit himself  How the holy violence in drawing the Soul from sin to Christ may be discerned in four Conclusions 373 1 The will of man as such is a subject capable of sin and Grace successively  2 The faculty of the will cannot actually
names sake Here ãâã no Qualifications you 'l say whereas if you ãâã but look into some Verses of the Chapter going ãâã as vers 20. he speaks to his People His ãâã these are said ãâã 21. to be such as he had ãâã for himself and vers 22. he calls them Jacob ãâã Israel that is The Israel of God as the Apostle ãâã them Gal. 6. 16. true beleevers Hos. 14. 4. I ãâã love them freely therefore here 's no ãâã because none expressed But mark the 1 2 and ãâã verses you shall find who those are that the Lord ãâã freely such as having fall'n by their iniquitie Return to the Lord saying Take away all iniquity ãâã shall not save us in thee the fatherless sind mercy that is Those that have such Qualifications as these they are the Persons whom the Lord ãâã freely It is impossible it should be ãâã Rom. 4. 23. As Abraham was justified so must we but he was justified by Faith and therefore there ãâã no Promise revealing Justification or Adoption but either it doth expres or imply this condition of ãâã When the Spirit doth Evidence my Justification or Salvation out of the Word it doth it one or these Two wayes Either by the Application of some general Promise in which each Particular and so myself as a particular am included Or ãâã there ãâã some special Word appointed appropriated to me alone and is spoken to none but me as Isa. 45. ãâã Thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus c. None was here intended but Cyrus This second ãâã a Familistical Dream and forceth men to Revelations without the Word because there is no such expression to be found in the Word ãâã therefore sober-minded men who have their senses about them dare not entertain it perceiving indeed as the ãâã is that such a Conceit is little better than a Frenzy The first way then of Evidencing must needs be taken Whence I Reason Whatever is testified to the Soul by way of Application of the General to the Particular or by way of Collection of the Particular from the General that is ever done with respect to a Condition As it thus appears by Induction the Evidence must needs run in this manner Either All men are Justified but thou art a man therefore thou art justified Or All Sinners are justified but thou art a sinner therefore thou art justisied Or All Self-denying beleeving sinners are justified but thou art such a one therefore thou art justified The Two First here are false only this Third ãâã last is true and that carries a Qualification ãâã it If a man fly to Election and say All the Elect are justified that 's false Or thus ãâã the Elect shall be called and justified that is no ãâã of Evidencing neither for as was shewed ãâã there can be no Evidence i. e. Science and ãâã of Faith of the working of the first ãâã before it be wrought therefore there is no ãâã way but the applying of a General including a ãâã to my self in particular as All that ãâã as Abraham are justified but I am one ãâã them This is good To make the Spirit testifie a falshood and my ãâã to receive it is unlawful to charge untruth ãâã the Spirit is blasphemous to bring my self into ãâã by-path that is erroneous But to make the ãâã testifie that Pardon and Adoption belongs to any ãâã falls upon any subject without respect to a ãâã is to make the Spirit testifie a falshood ãâã it is to make it testifie cross to a rule of Truth which the Spirit of God hath given in the Word For the Rule of Truth is plain Rom. 8. 30. Whom ãâã called them he justified and them he glorified Therefore to say the Spirit will witness to one ãâã ãâã not called is to make him witness against ãâã Rule Joh. 1. 12. To them that receive him he gave ãâã to be the Sons of God It s a staple Rule Therefore no man is a Son before he receive Christ therefore to make the Spirit to witness to a man ãâã ãâã is a Son of God when he hath not received Christ would make him speak Cross to this Word of Truth Look how the Covenant of Grace testifies a mans good estate and the interest he hath to any spiritual good in Christ so the spirit of Grace doth ãâã it fo the Spirit of Grace and the Covenant of ãâã go hand in hand and otherwise how could it ãâã true That the Gospel should be sufficient to make ãâã man perfect and compleat in the spiritual ãâã of his Soul as well as in those things which ãâã mainly and meerly Essential to eternal life 2 ãâã 3. 16. And here is the limits and bounds of that comfort the Spirit is sent to bring its confined ãâã this compass Joh. 14. 26. I will send the ãâã and he shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you when he comes ãâã a Comforter when that is the main scope of ãâã Commission to make known all the grounds of Comfort to the Saints and to let in the good of them into their Souls when he remembers them of all ãâã and teacheth all things appertaining thereunto ãâã ads no more but recals what Christ hath said Besides that testimony which is beyond the Gospel should not be tryed by the Gospel for that which ãâã beyond the measure cannot be measured by it ãâã Gospel is the Rule of our Faith and of our Comfort and if this testimony was beyond the reach of the Gospel it could never be judged by it This would not only set open a Gap to all Delusions but break down the banks that the sea of all sottish Imaginations may break in upon the mind and apprehensions of a man and carry them away with mighty violence without controul But the Covenant of Grace doth ãâã our interest in these Priviledges ever with an eye and respect to some spiritual ãâã It is the tenure of the Gospel according to the very letter and naked terms of it Mark 16. 16. Go preach the Gospel ãâã that beleevs shall be saved they and they only and none but they therefore it follows he that ãâã not shall be ãâã Jer. 31. 33. This is the ãâã that I will make with the house of Israel I will ãâã my laws in their hearts and in their inward ãâã will I put them Look to the Covenant as made ãâã Adam Gen. 3. 15. as renewed with Abraham He beleeved and it was counted for righteousness Gen. 15. 6. And so it is in the whole frame of the ãâã still the Covenant of Grace gives witness to ãâã mans good estate with respect to Faith therefore ãâã the Spirit of Grace doth testifie also If God the Father intended these Priviledges ãâã to such under such a respect or Condition Christ ãâã all these benefits for such alone and the ãâã applyed them only unto such then the ãâã witnesseth the
Possession of those spiritual ãâã unto such only Because the witnessing of ãâã Spirit is of equal extent with Gods intent in ãâã these with Christs intent and purpose in ãâã these with its own work in applying ãâã Whatever respect makes a thing an adequat ãâã of a work in such a kind all works of that ãâã are ever applyed to that thing under that ãâã The King gives a Charter in His Royal Grant ãâã such who are Free-men of such a Corporation ãâã that bought it Purchased only for such there is ãâã ground in true right and reason why they should ãâã bestowed upon any but such nor can any apply Priviledge aright unless he do apply it with an eye ãâã such a Condition that must stear the whol course ãâã a righteous proceeding in that kind That which ãâã the Formalis ratio of the subject in Application ãâã must needs be attended in every work of ãâã either of Comfort or Priviledge if ãâã the Rule aright But it hath appeared in brief ãâã That such who shall be the seed of the ãâã to them God the Father intended these ãâã Priviledges Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever should ãâã in him should not perish but have eternal life ãâã them as such Christ Purchased these Joh. 17. ãâã I pray not for the World but for them that shall ãâã And so the Spirit applyes as when Paul ãâã appointed to ãâã the Gentiles this was his ãâã He was to turn men from Satan to God that ãâã they might receive remission of sins and ãâã So the Spirit by the Ministry of the Word makes ãâã of these Priviledges and never otherwise and therefore never gives other witness Upon what ground the Evidence of Science ãâã Knowledg of my Justification and Adoption ãâã according to truth upon that ground ariseth my ãâã of Faith for both these I told you in ãâã Explication were included and must be ãâã in the work of Evidence and it s as ãâã out of the Principles of right Reason and Experience and Scriptures also that alone which my ãâã judgeth my ãâã embraceth there is nothing ãâã come to the Wil but by the Understanding what ãâã Eye sees not the Heart affects not No light come into this Room but by this Window Look therefore what the Understanding apprehends and ãâã it apprehends it so is it presented to the Heart ãâã so by the Heart is it entertained Joh. 4. 10. ãâã thou known thou wouldst have asked him water ãâã he would have given thee water of life So the ãâã Joh. 4. 42. Now we beleeve because ãâã have heard him and know that this is the ãâã of the World this is cleer But now My Knowledge and Science if true ãâã sound it ever issues out of the Concurrence and ãâã together in my Apprehension of a ãâã Qualification ãâã the Priviledges and ãâã Priviledges received thereby For it s a ruled ãâã ãâã the common Course of Reason That Knowledge ãâã Science that is sound judgment of a truth ever issues out of a simple term or one thing as one ãâã it self ãâã Instance I express in word or attend in my ãâã Pardon that word or term Adoption ãâã ãâã take them several and asunder Here ãâã no Judgment can be ãâã nor can any that hear ãâã or conclude ãâã the having or not ãâã of any of these So again Sin Faith ãâã I cannot judge what these are or in whom ãâã are there is neither Knowledge nor ãâã nor Comfort comes hence But dispose and ãâã them together As An Unbeleever is Pardoned I judge this ãâã now because ãâã things are joyned together ãâã natures agree not and the expression is not as ãâã things be ãâã i s a false Proposition or ãâã cross to the Scripture He that beleeves not ãâã condemned Joh. 3. 18. A Beleever is ãâã The ãâã Answers the nature of the ãâã and ãâã truth a d meaning of the ãâã and therefore its true I so judge it and so ãâã it and so only if I either know it aright or ãâã it aright And mark this knowledge issues ãâã the right apprehension of both parts as they ãâã together which ãâã be but only by a ãâã Qualification The Sum then is If the right and true Knowledge of the Application of any spiritual Priviledges ãâã from the attendance of the ãâã 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 ãâã or witness can be attended without the thing ãâã and that according to the mind of the ãâã or ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã in this way because I cannot have true Knowledge thus Thou Unbeleever Uncalled Art Pardoned ãâã false Before thou knowest the right disposition ãâã these together thou canst not pass a right Judgment or have a right Evidence Christ came to ãâã 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 ãâã the ãâã how it lies 1 None but Parties Qualified viz. ãâã are the subjects of these ãâã Joh. 3. 16. Joh. 3. last 2 The Spirit never witnesseth these ãâã but according to this meaning He alwayes means those who are ãâã true subjects of these Priviledges and ãâã only according to the meaning of the Word 3 We cannot know the Testimony of the Spirit-unless we know it according to ãâã meaning Therefore we must of necessity know the qualification of the Person Receiving as ãâã 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 ãâã or seeming probability with them From that of 1 Joh. 5. 7 8. There be three that ãâã record in heaven the Father the Word and ãâã Spirit and these three are one And there are ãâã that bear witness in Earth the Spirit Water and Blood and these three agree in one Here say some are several sorts of ãâã one distinct from another one before another and one more excellent than the other and therefore ãâã one may be without respect to the other the witness of the Spirit without attending either Water or Blood either Sanctification or
ãâã of ãâã be ãâã than the Application therof so that Christ should die for manie that shall ãâã ãâã ãâã by his death it would exceedingly ãâã ãâã the vertue of the merits of Christ and the ãâã ãâã the worke of our redemption for then it ãâã follow The Sufferings and obedience of our Savior ãâã ãâã of lesse vertue and ãâã to save men than the ãâã ãâã guilt of Adams transgression was to condemne ãâã For Adam did not onely purchas the curse and ãâã by the breach of Covenant but convey it ãâã that Certainly to all his posteritie so the Apostle ãâã 2. 3. wee were Children of wrath by nature ãâã well as others All in whose room Adam ãâã and so sinned all they had his sin imputed ãâã ãâã inflicted without fail But if Christ fully ãâã life and blessing for those in whose stead ãâã ãâã as a Suretie but Leaves the Application of it ãâã ãâã Libertie of their owne wills his merits should ãâã of ãâã power and efficacie for the recoverie and ãâã of his than Adams sin was for the ãâã of his ãâã Which the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and that in this point wherin he makes Adam a tipe of Christ ãâã 5. 14. 21. For if through ãâã offence of one many be dead nay death raigned ãâã Adam to ãâã and that ovr Children also ãâã sinned not after the similitude of him much ãâã ãâã Grace of God and the free Gift by Grace ãâã unto many to ãâã and life that ãâã Sin Raigned unto death So Grace might raigne ãâã Eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Confutation Learn wee in wariness and ãâã to hold this wholsome word of truth this ãâã which is according to ãâã wherby ãâã may be fensed and have our hearts ãâã ãâã many dangerous errors wherby the vain ãâã ãâã the carnal hearts of the sinful sons of men are easily ãâã and taken aside all which will vanish away ãâã the evidence of this truth ãâã the smoke ãâã ãâã wind and the Snow before the Sun And ãâã we should with more care attend to ãâã ãâã Delivered because wee shall have so much use of it ãâã ãâã dayes when the Clouds of Errors have ãâã the world As men doe when the plague or some infectious Disease begins to Spread if there ãâã some choyce antidotes which are of Speciall ãâã and virtue to preserve against such malignant ãâã each man will be sure to have it alwayes in his ãâã ever readie in his hand Such is this Saving truth ãâã once taken in and rightly understood and ãâã will fortify both mind and heart from the infection ãâã such false opinions which are exceding prejudicial ãâã Gods free Grace and the comfort and peace of ãâã own souls Hold this truth then Redemption and Applycation are of equal extent For whom Christ ãâã to them Christ applyes First then Hence that vain conceit falls to the Ground as Dagon before the Ark that devised distinction wherby Satan and his instruments have darkned the power and ãâã of Christs death viz. that Christ died for all in point of Impetration but not ãâã Application that is he Purchased Redemption for all but the Application is not unto all the ãâã he layed down but the application in ãâã he left to themselves and their owne free wills in the last resolution As though God in Justice should exact a payment and that to the full of the Suretie and never let it redound to the benefit of the partie As though our Saviour should so fail in wisdom as to lay down his blood a full price for the redemption and reconciliation of men when he well forelaw they would not or could not get any good therby in a word this device is dashed from hence If for whomsoever Christ purchased to them it is applyed the Impetration and Application are of equall extent Hence again it follows by undeniable Evidence That Christ died not for all For if he died only for those to whom the Vertue of his death is applied then he died only for some because the ãâã of his ãâã is not applied to all some only shall be ãâã saved by his Death therefore he died but for ãâã Application is not to all therefore ãâã was not for all Hence again it 's cleer The Application of Mercy ãâã Grace purchased depends not upon mans will ãâã then our Savior had died at uncertainties and it ãâã been in the power and pleasure of man to have ãâã frustrate the death of our Savior and the end of ãâã Redemption purchased thereby For Christ ãâã it should be applied and therefore purchased ãâã and the will of man would cross the will of our ãâã and say it shall not be applied which is indeed ãâã confound Heaven and Earth and pervert the whol ãâã of our Savior in bringing back lost man ãâã God to make Gods saving Grace serve mens ãâã and humors and the success of the death of the ãâã Jesus to depend upon the sinful distempers of ãâã hearts of men Nay hence the Vertue of Christs ãâã should be lastly resolved into and wholly ãâã upon the will of man though he intended to ãâã yet they might chuse and so Christ might have ãâã his blood in vain We may hence see the reason of that miraculous Dispensation of the Lord Jesus in the work of his Grace upon the sinful ãâã of men whose salvation ãâã hath ãâã in his everlasting Counsel and ãâã which he made with his Father here lies the ãâã of the wonderful mysteriousness of that ãâã That it prevails most powerfully for the good ãâã sinners when they do most of all oppose it when ãâã seem to be ãâã in their wretched courses ãâã down in their sinful distempers and furthest ãâã from the waies and hopes of life intrenched ãâã dayly custom and long continuance in the strong ãâã of their prevailing corruptions and lusts of their ãâã and lives when there is many times no ãâã bility nay not appearance of any possibility in ãâã that ever they should receive any spiritual good ãâã being so opposite against it and yet suddenly ãâã unexpectedly and that by very weak means ãâã times the Lord Christ most effectually applies ãâã Word and Work of his Grace to their souls ãâã we to sit down in silence and look at the ãâã power of the purchase of Jesus the precious ãâã of the ãâã blood of Jesus which though ãâã and unseen to the eye of the world yet in its ãâã will undoubtedly accomplish the end intended ãâã very man should observe it and say such a poor ãâã wretched creature that out ãâã God and his ãâã and all the means of his own good that then the ãâã should meet with him and stop him and turn ãâã and call him home to himself O the Vertue of ãâã Blood of Jesus the power whereof nothing can ãâã pose the efficacy and success whereof nothing ãâã hinder he hath purchased the good of this ãâã creature
Christ ãâã Purchased to himself for if he could he ãâã do it some of these wayes Either by force we must take it rush by ãâã into the right and possession of the Lord Jesus ãâã wrest by strong hand everlasting happiness from ãâã whether he will or no. But that 's impossible ãâã what is the clay to the Potter So the Prophet ex presseth the difference the interogation shewes ãâã impossibilitie of the opposition they may ãâã with his will but they cannot cross it ãâã the ãâã Who hath resisted his will and therefore the Lord ãâã the Vineyard determines it by his absolute good ãâã sure Mat. 20. 14 15. I will give to this last ãâã thee may I not do what I will with my own As by force we cannot take it So by justice we ãâã not challenge it or claim any interest therein for ãâã thing we have or do Nothing we have can ãâã it nothing we can do can deserve it at the hands ãâã Christ. For the conclusion is firm When we ãâã done all we can we are ãâã Servants ãâã have done no more than we should Luke 17. ãâã Nay we do much that we should not do Psal. ãâã 3. If ãâã shouldest strictly mark what is done ãâã misse Lord who could abide it Wee of our selves are not capable of this ãâã provided and freely offred to us John 1. 5. ãâã ãâã shined in ãâã ãâã the darkness ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã comes into mens hearts yea if a naturall man might ãâã Heaven for the taking if it were put into his hand ãâã were not able to hold it So the young man when he ãâã as free an offer and as fair terms as ever were ãâã to any Go and sell all that thou hast come ãâã me and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven it ãâã said he went away sorrowfull he would none of the Kingdome of Heaven upon those terms he neither ãâã nor could receive it A man would not be made capable he would not ãâã God enable him to receive that grace which being ãâã would take away those distempers which do ãâã take place in him Hence comes al those quarrels ãâã that contention between the heart and the word ãâã men are not able to bear or hear the blessed truth ãâã God that it should reveal or remove their ãâã from them The soul saith to the word as he did ãâã thou found me O mine enemy The carnall ãâã is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can ãâã Rom. 8. 7. So Augustine consessed that when ãâã prayed against his lusts he secretly wished that ãâã would not hear his prayer It dasheth the vain imagination of a company of ãâã ignorant creatures whom Satan carries ãâã down to Hell by a false conceit of their ãâã to compass and contrive their own spirituall ãâã according to their own humor They put ãâã opportunities slight al offers of life and means ãâã grace proceed fearlesly in the pursuit of any ãâã what ever best suits their own carnal ãâã presuming vainly of their own power to help as they list and like best when and ãâã they will Tell them of the ãâã of the work shortness of their time uncertainty of their lives how ãâã and irrecoverable their hazard and loss will be and therefore they should ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and take greedily each opportunity that is presented unto them They ãâã their retreat hither and here they ãâã themselves against all fears that might surprize terrors that might take hold upon them threatnings of the ãâã which might shake their hearts in their ãâã ãâã They have found a nearer way and ãâã would not put themselves to unnecessary ãâã though they begin late they can do ãâã with ãâã ãâã bour and much ãâã and yet do it well what ãâã ãâã ãâã out his dayes in melancholly ãâã sink his heart in sadness and discouragement ãâã his ãâã of her present content and delight and ãâã themselves more miserable than they need when ãâã years grow on and their eyes grow dim ãâã ãâã strength ãâã them then they will cry ãâã ãâã ãâã seek pardon and repent of their ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Christ and then ãâã is ãâã ãâã thus they conceive ãâã is ãâã ãâã ãâã either to ãâã mercy or ãâã ãâã to ãâã or take eternal ãâã ãâã Salvation as they list True they cannot ãâã ãâã nor are they able to purchase it but ãâã hath ãâã rited eternal Life and God so freely ãâã it to ãâã man that wil they put it beyond ãâã peradventures ãâã make no doubt of it but to make ãâã their own as ãâã ãâã And by this selfdeceiying ãâã ãâã ãâã men suddenly drop down to destruction ãâã they do indeed ãâã where they are and what ãâã do But what a desperate folly is this so to ãâã mans soul as to put the weight of eternal Life and Salvation and al the hopes thou hast meerly upon ãâã so that according to the course thou hast plotted it 's utterly impossible thou shouldest ãâã of any good For First thou knowest not whether thou shalt live it is ãâã in thy hand to maintaine thy own natural life for ãâã what is our life a bubble a flower a shaddow ãâã bubble breaks and the flower fades and the ãâã ãâã away thou art not certain thou shalt live til ãâã evening or if thou doest how doest thou know ãâã shalt have ability to seek to the Lord for mercy ãâã thy brain is grown weak not able to remember or ãâã the things belonging to thy peace and when ãâã is grown ãâã weak it 's not able to grapple with ãâã ãâã when the daies of sorrow and sickness are ãâã upon thee and thou sayest I have no pleasure in ãâã Imagine God give thee life and thou have ability ãâã nature about thee yet who knows whether ever God wil give thee a heart to look for mercy Luke 23. ãâã ãâã is said one of the Theeves reviled Christ when ãâã was to die he fell a railing afresh upon our Saviour ãâã saying if thou be the Christ save thy self ãâã us One would have thought the place of ãâã and the gastly looks of Death now presented ãâã his eyes might have put other words into his ãâã other thoughts into his mind but he could ãâã leave his life than his blasphemy So a ãâã going to dye a Minister coming to him stirred ãâã up to cry to the Lord and to look to Heaven for ãâã he professed though he was then going to ãâã Gallows that he would not do it O saies he I ãâã
so catcheth at it meerly out of their own ãâã This ãâã false Application and this I take to be the cause of the blind presumption of the unwelcome guest Mat. 22. 12. Friend how camest thou in hither not ãâã thy Wedding Garment He heard of the ãâã provided and that the Lord kept open doors and therefore he adventured to croud in amongst the company therefore our Savior challengeth him How camest thou in If Coming here was ãâã why should he be blamed whether was not the wound therefore in a disorderly manner of beleeving and coming He came in his own strength and did not look to Christ to give him a heart to beleeve it answers not the guise and wear at this Wedding which is that the Lord must as well guide us in our coming and order that as well as order the dainties he prepares and ãâã us unto The Second Ground of mistake in our Application When out of common illumination set up in the mind terror and astonishment let in upon the ãâã together with notice and conviction it 's only in Christ that must and can do us good Out of these common insightnings and legal terrors the soul is stirred out of a natural ãâã to procure it's own safety to catch at that comfort and supply whereby it may succor and releeve it self out of these pressures which are too heavy for it Now as long as those fears and the noyse of those direful threatnings of the Lord continue in the view of the soul and as long as it doth not discern its own falsness in this imagined and self-deceiving application out of self love to self ends all that while in a blind kind of boldness it may pretend to hang upon Christ and free mercy But when either the legal stroke ceaseth that he feels not a need of the balsom or that he fails of his end and this groundles application which is nothing els but a presumption fails then al this work falls to the ground and his hopes and heart fails him and all he will then say I applyed mercy to my ãâã but God never did I catcht at a promise and Christ but God never gave him to me And this is the cause why thousands ãâã short when it comes to a dead lift their conversion the promises and mercy they have laid hold upon come to nothing the truth is they took a Christ but God never applyed him to them O Application is a wonderful work Thus Esau who despised the birthright and blessing indeed yet out of self love for self ends he seeks the blessing with tears but not with a faith of Application a faith of Gods operation For the root of faith is in the Lord Christ issuing from the work of his spirit and therefore he must apply himself to us before we can apply him to our own hearts As the beams of the Sun must come down to the waters before it can draw up the water in clouds and vapors So here The Root of this Application being in Christ when we cannot keep our selves yet he keeps us by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation he keeps us and keeps our faith I have prayed said Christ to Peter that thy faith fail not he keeps us to a Kingdom and keeps a Kingdom for us he puts us into possession and none can put us out Hence we may observe the madness of the ãâã hearts of men which transports them beyond all the bounds of reason carries them against the Principles of Nature and common Sense which makes them not only miserable but unwilling to be made happy Was there ever any sick man that was not content to be healed and any in prison and pressures that was not willing to be delivered any helpless that was not desirous to be eased and succored by another yet this is the hellish and unreasonable venom of a distempered and sinful heart that loves its poyson delights in its bolts and prison destitute of all Spiritual good hath neither hope nor help in its self to get or receive any can do no good for it self and yet is unwilling that God should do any good fot it or make it capable of receiving any famish they do and would not have meat provided that might sustein them perish they do and yet would not have the power of the Word work kindly and effectually upon them for their safety and deliverance it 's not a sickness only but a Spiritual madness if men carry themselves so when they are sick we say it is a Frenzy thus Isay 30. 10 11. They say to the Seers see not to the Prophets prophesie not ãâã not counsel not but cause the holy one of Israel to cease from us This is the temper of every Natural man in this world This serves to justifie the equal and righteous proceedings of the Lord in the utter ãâã and destruction of the ungodly and the Enemies of his Grace at the great day of Judgment when they shall be full of their ãâã and full of their plagues cast out of the presence of the Lord or the least expression of any gracious ãâã attribute of God nor bounty to pity them nor patience to bear with them but they lie under the power of their sins and the infinite displeasure of the Almighty This is that will stop all mouths and answer all cavils they have no more but what they would have they want nothing but what they were weary of You would be proud and stubborn and rebellious and you shall be so you shall have your belly full of your abominations and now you have your wills you were weary of the Word that would reveal your sins convince your consciences subdue your corruptions the truth was your only trouble you were troubled with Counsels Reproofs ãâã Ministers that you could not have your full swing in your sins God will ease you of that trouble you shall never see the face of a Saint that may counsel you never hear the voyce of a Minister to reprove you never have the Word to work upon you you have said to the Almighty ãâã away from us we desire not the knowledg of thy ãâã now you have your desires They that ãâã me love death Prov. 8. last you have what you loved you could not help your selves you say but you would not have the Lord make you capable of any help Thus every mouth is stopped and the Lord justified out of the Consciences and Confessions of the wicked themselves 2 How this good is made ours For the manner and order of putting us into ãâã of all this good it will appear in Four Particulars The Soul is made capable of all that Spiritual good and those Precious blessings which ãâã to ãâã ãâã is and must be first room made for the ãâã of these or els there is no Possibilitie to ãâã of these a man cannot be in heaven and hell at ãâã happy and miserable at
raising up himself with himself he raised up us ãâã for as he suffered as our ãâã so he rose again as our Surety and so we were raised with him Therefore when Christ will come and make Application of all Spiritual Good to any soul he doth it by the Vertue and Power of his Resurrection When the hard heart resists the Power of the Word and saies all Threatnings all Promises all Commandements shal not prevail with me and when Sin and Satan ãâã themselves to the uttermost to keep the soul still in the Gall of bitterness in the bonds of iniquity the Lord Christ comes from Heaven and shews ãâã Power ãâã his Resurrection give way Sin give ãâã Satan that soul is mine and they all give way ãâã thence comes the prevailing vertue of the Word ãâã the soul for its effectual ãâã home to God ãâã you ãâã the Frame of this Truth The Lord Jesus by the Power of his God-head did ãâã up himself from under the Power of Sin and ãâã and Death ãâã he had a Sovereign ãâã Power over Sin and Satan therefore he is able ãâã conquer and to ãâã Sin and Satan where ever ãâã meets them The Spirit of God also hath a hand in this great Work of Application and indeed it is in a special ãâã attributed to him not because all the three ãâã do not joyntly work throughout in all the works of Application for according to the received ãâã of Divines all the Works of God upon the Creature are common to all the three Persons of the Trinity but because the manner of the Spirits work ãâã principally appear here There are but three ãâã Works in the World Creation Redemption and Application which are given to the three Persons of the srinity according to the special manner of their working Creation is given to the Father that 's the first Work and therefore given to the first Person Redemption is given to the Son that 's the second Work and therefore given to the second Person Application of that Redemption is the third and last Work and therefore is in a peculiar manner attributed to the third Person the Holy Ghost Conceive it thus A Malefactor that hath committed high Treason against his Prince and being taken he is imprisoned in the strongest Hold the deepest Dungeon without hope of release imagine a man comes and satisfies the wrath of the King and answers the Law so that the King saies upon satisfaction given the Law is fully answered no wrong is done If he shall so do the King is bound not only to be ãâã in ãâã of himself and the wrong done to ãâã and his Law but he is also bound to give his ãâã Hand Authority and Commission to him that paid for the Prisoner that he may go and fetch the Prisoner from the Dungeon and ãâã him away with him Imagine that the Jaylor grows sturdy and stiff he ãâã the Prisoner is prositable to him therfore he ãâã and saies the Prisoner shall not depart now he that hath Authority from the King must be able to break the Prison doors and then to slay the Jaylor and by force to deliver the Prisoner from the bondage he was in Thus it is here every sinner is a Prisoner to Divine Justice Sin is the Prison and the Devil is the Jaylor that holds him in bondage by reason of the power of Sin and by vertue of Commission from Divine Justice Christ Jesus hath come and payed our debts satisfied Divine Justice and answered the Law that God the Father hath professed This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased the Law is performed my anger fully appeased and my mercy procured therefore all those sinners for whom thou hast died and obeyed shall be redeemed from the power of Sin and authority of Satan and now God the Father gives him a full Commission to ãâã those sinners from the hands of sin and Satan But now when Christ comes for the soul Satan and sin refuse they will not let the sinner go therfore Christ by the vertue of his Resurrection and by the power of his Spirit he doth rescue the soul whether sin and Satan and a mans heart will or no he will have the soul and humble him and call him and justisie him and ãâã him and glorifie him and then deliver him up to his Father at the great day Direction How to help the souls of poor Sinners that are under the work of Application either ãâã in it or in Preparation to it here is Direction to you al in the greatest streights whatsoever When the Lord gives intimation to sinners that they are not in the right way and he begins to be ãâã with them and our Savior Christ comes as the High Sheriff when he would put a man into Possession of his Land that is Possessed by those that have no right to it The High Sheriff comes with his Company and knocks at the door now al that are within come and make resistance and labor to keep him out as much as they can So when our Savior Christ comes and saies to a desperate rebellious sinner that soul of thine was never made for Sin or Satan but thou must come and shouldest come out of thy sins and come to me saies Christ when the Word is thus ãâã with Life and power now the soul is in an uproar now the soul resists this Work he makes al the doors and bolts fast and he that comes in he dies upon it But the Lord presses in stil upon the soul he must he wil conquer and subdue it to himself now the sinner sees nothing but Hel and Death and Damnation before it die he must and that for ever if he stand out and now he sees he should yeild and submit he sees now the body of death that hangs upon him the power of his lusts that prevails with him and he finds his heart shut up under unbeleef under the chaines of pride and vainglory and earthlimindedness and the Devil presents impossibilities to his view canst thou think that ever those sins of thine should be pardoned or that ever that soul of thine should be delivered from under the power of them Now Brethren here the soul 's at a stand above al the stifness and stubborness of a mans own wil no Threatnings no Mercies no Afflictions no offers of Grace can prevail but a man wil have his sins though the Devil have his soul he finds his heart so ãâã he must have his sin and his wil though he ãâã for it Ay now what wil you do The Cause ãâã this work of Application is ãâã of your self in Christ Therefore send your thoughts and keep your ãâã upon the Resurrection of Christ set your eye keep your eye there for ever see a passage or two from Scripture here Rev. 1. 18. I was dead but ãâã am alive and I live for evermore and I have the Keyes Hell ãâã Death saies Christ Thou
ãâã Power of God in the conversion of a ãâã is far more secret and Spiritual such as we are ãâã able to reach It is the prayer of the Apostle for the Ephesians Chap. 1. 17 18. that they might know the working of his mighty Power in working Faith it is the most mysterious of all the works of God it shakes the ãâã of the ablest Divines upon Earth Comfort to releeve the hearts of sinners against desperate discouragements when the floods of iniquity ãâã in amain upon the soul the sinner looks to his ãâã to Gods Ordinances and Providences and ãâã the Work of God that should be wrought in him and ãâã what ods and disproportion there is between his Soul and that blessed Work that should be in him why truly this is the only help to a soul in such a case with man it is impossible but not with God for with him all things are possible Matth. 19. 26. Though there be such a vast disproportion between thy own ability and this Work that thou shouldest never attain ãâã if thou wert left to thy self yet know that Christ by the Almighty Power of his Spirit is able to do it for thee But the soul will say the truth is there is not so much disproportion but there is as much opposition in my soul to the work of Grace why should God ever give me that mercy which I would not have and that Grace which my soul hath so much opposed this is another depth Why yet know thou that Gol can overwork all these and will do so for thee if thou seek unto him But know this to thy ever lasting terror That if thou do ãâã thus in the hardness and opposition of thy heart against Christ and his Grace that this Power of the Lord that would convert thee will put forth it self to confound thee to thine eternal ruine Exhortation Not to defer the time ãâã Grace but every soul of us with trembling hearts to attend upon the Lord in the use of means that he may be pleased to work his own good Work in us It 's that the Apostle exhorts unto Phil. 2. 12. Workout your ãâã with fear and trembling and he gives the reason of it For saies he it's God that worketh in you to ãâã and to do of his own good pleasure that is it is in Gods hand to help us or to forsake us either ãâã make the means effectual for our saving good or else to withdraw his presence and blessing from them while we do enjoy them ãâã Be ãâã fearful not to slight any Ordinance God hath appointed as Naamans ãâã said to him Go and try it he that now counsels you to it may bless it and work by it if it please him Secondly Tremblingly fear to fall short of Gods Power in an Ordinance for a man may fall short of God and Christ and Grace and all good even while he doth enjoy the Ordinances of God and live under them therefore say as Elisha did Where is the Lord God of Eliah Here is the Word and here is the Ordinance but where is the Lord God of this Word the God of Preaching and Praying It is not in the Minister or the means to do good to my soul but Lord speak thou the word and it shall work upon my soul as he said 2 Kings 4. 29 30. As the Lord lives ãâã will not leave thee till thou go with me do thou so when the Lord gives thee means say I will not leave the Lord until he make this Counsel this Word this Ordinance effectual for my saving good Be also tremblingly fearful when the Lord works by any Ordinance lest you should go out from or with draw your self from the power of it when you find and feel somthing more than Man and Means and Ordinances Oh let it not slip away the Lord was in that word do not suffer that stroke to go away because God is there now the Lord is working be you sure to follow the blow and give not over wrastiing ãâã striving with the Lord until he bless you with the ãâã working of his Word and Spirit and so apply unto thy soul all Spiritual Good in Jesus Christ. BOOK III. LUK. 1. 17. To make ready a People prepared for the Lord. HAving dispatched the Nature of Application in the General The Parts thereof come to be Considered in the next place These are Two 1 A Preparation of the Soul for Christ. 2 An Implantation of the Soul into Christ. That so having the Son we may be sure to have life 1 Joh. 5. 12. possessing him who is the heir of all we may be possessed of all both Temporal and Spiritual Blessings with him But before the Soul can be engrafted into the true Vine Christ Jesus it must be prepared and fitted thereunto by the powerful work of the Spirit of God upon it being not fit to receive a Christ by Nature and unable to fit its self thereunto by any liberty of Will or any sufficiency natural it hath When then these Two Works are imprinted upon the Soul the Sinner comes to take full possession of a Savior and to have all those Spiritual good things which Christ hath Purchased applyed unto him And thus these Two taking up the whole Nature of Application it 's manifest they must be the Parts of Application as reason inforceth The First is thus Described Preparation is a fitting of a sinner for his Being in Christ. The words of the Text will afford us full ground for the Handling and Discovering of this Truth To prepare a People fitted for the Lord Which words make known the main Task that was imposed upon John the Baptist and that great Work of his Ministery being the Forerunner of our Savior Christ wherewith he was betrusted and for which he was every way fitted with Gifts and Graces proportionable Therefore it s said in the beginning of the Verse He shall come in the Spirit and Power of Elias i. e. He shall have that large measure of gracious and Ministerial Gifts that special presence and assistance of the Spirit of the Lord accompanying of him as somtimes Elias had that so in the corrupt and declining state of the Church which was now exceeding great he might set things in a better frame build up the Breaches made taking off those Dissentions Errors and Divisions which had spread over the Body and eaten into the Bowels of the Church of the Jews like a Gangrene or Cancer And therefore as it was foretold of him so it was performed by him Matth. 17. 11. He did restore all things Namely such was the lively and over-ruling power of his Ministery that he wrought the Hearts of the Children otherwise ãâã and rebellious to the wisdom of the just men that laying aside all carnal wisdom of the ãâã which was enmity against God and caused ãâã and strifes among men they came to judge ãâã of things that were excellent to
set the greatest Price and account upon those things which were of greatest worth the Truth of God his Will and Wayes warily to observe the seasons ãâã these are Dispensed and Revealed And so with readiness to attend thereupon and to entertain those opportunities and means of Grace and Good whence follows a mutual agreement between the ãâã ãâã and these their converted Posterity They long before expected a Savior ãâã now fitted ãâã Receive the Lord Christ their Saviour now ãâã In the Words there be Three divine Truths which ãâã will take notice of in which the Pith of the foregoing Description is expressed 1 All men by Nature are unfit to Receive Christ. 2 There must be a Preparation therefore made for that end 3 The Ministery of Elias is the means to do this The First of these though proper enough for this ãâã yet we shall reserve the ãâã thereof ãâã we come to discover the manner of Gods ãâã in drawing of a sinner to himself where the ãâã fastening to his Corruption and the Lords ãâã him from it being handled together will ãâã way the one for the other and give light the ãâã to the other we shall therefore defer the further ãâã of that till we come to that place Proceed we now to open the Second Point That is The Soul must be sitted for Christ before it can receive Him or Salvation by Him This is the Scope of the Place the Way and Order of the Lords approach where there is no Preparation made there is no Expectation of a Savior to come Thus it was Prophesied Mal. 3. 1. ãâã I will send my Messenger and he shall Prepare the way before me and the Lord whom yee seek will suddenly come into his Temple Thus was it accomplished by the Baptist to whom the Word of the Lord came and he came ãâã in the ãâã about Jordan saying The voyce of one crying in the Wilderness Prepare yee the way of the Lord and make his paths streight Luke 3. 4. A similitude taken from Earthly ãâã our Savior he is the King and he was now to come in his own Person and in the Ministery of the ãâã and thereby into the Souls of his People And ãâã the Baptist makes Proclamation Not for their ãâã so much as for their Hearts that the ãâã ãâã thereof might be dislodged And the ãâã fit to entertain the Lord Jesus And that this was a Spiritual Preparation the nature of Christs Kingdom ãâã being ãâã ãâã world Joh. 18. 36. And the ãâã of his Proceeding being professedly ãâã to the pompe of Earthly Potentates will evidence ãâã For ãâã shall hear his voyce in ãâã ãâã Matth. 12. 19. But the Baptists Sermon who ãâã knew the ãâã of his own ãâã puts it out of doubt For so he ads ãâã 3. 1 2. Repent ãâã ãâã kingdom of Heaven is at hand As the ãâã ãâã sayes Prepare yee the way of the Lord ãâã ãâã he had said Repenting is Preparing And ãâã 3. 5. Every ' Mountain shall be made low and ãâã ãâã thing streight The sense of which words that it could not be literal but Spiritual the accomplishment of them in Experience is proof most pregnantly undeniable The Sum is The Heart is the high way while the Gospel is Preaching Christ is coming the Heart must by Repentance be fitted for Christ offering himself in that and then Christ will come by that means thereunto In this Preparation for the Explication of it we are to attend Three Things 1 Wherein it Consists 2 The manner of the Work 3 The Reasons of it For the First of these What this Preparation is or wherein it ãâã Generally It is a renouncing of whatsoever might cross the coming and entertaining of our Savior Christ into the Heart And it is the fitting of the Soul ãâã Faith and for being in Christ by Faith Particularly it shewes it self in Four Things The First is the Renouncing the Authority of those bosom Corruptions which have Lorded it over the Soul and kept out the Power of the Gospel from prevailing and taking place in the Heart That accursed Union and Combination that hath been long between the Heart and its secret Lusts which for their naturalness are said to be The old man Eph. 4. 22. And for their néarness our earthly members Col. 3. 5. born and bred with us which make and ãâã the Corrupt disposition of our Hearts This Combination must be broken this League ãâã else there is no place for the Presence of a ãâã True These noysom Distempers will be as Tyrants still Usurpiug Authority over the Soul but they are not acknowledged as Lawful ãâã by the Soul rightly prepared for the Lord But the sinner rightly fitted shakes off the yoak and ãâã from under the ãâã of these Distempers ãâã though he be not able to wage War and to mortifie them by any power received ãâã he withdraws his ãâã from his Lust and stands ready to entertain a deliver This ãâã Work the ãâã here ãâã by the Evangelist implyes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã non ãâã perfect onem sonat ãâã concinnitatem ãâã ad ãâã aptantur saith Calvin in Locum And the Original in the Prophet Isa ah 40. 3. imports no more both shewing the same thing even an utter Emptiness that ought to be in the heart Thus also is this Work ãâã and set out in the ãâã thereof Every mountain shall ãâã ãâã low It is not paving but levelling not a bringing in of some ãâã ability so much which this Preparative stroak ãâã stamp looks at take it strictly in hoc signo ãâã as they say but a removing of all that out ãâã the way which might stop or stay our Saviors coming for ãâã he Professeth Matth. 10. 37. He ãâã loveth Father or Mother more than me is not ãâã of me Not ãâã that is Not fit to ãâã him or Mercy by him As we use to say A fusty Vessel is not worthy of precious Liquor A dusty Cabinet not worthy to have a Diamond put into it That is They are not fit to Receive these ãâã the Things will be spoyled not ãâã ãâã them The Soul is brought to Renounce ãâã might serve to share in the Work and Glory of Free Grace and so cast some blemish ãâã or at ãâã diminish the due worth thereof which the ãâã Christ who doth all to the praise of the Glory ãâã his Grace will not suffer and therefore he will have this Coast cleared also before his coming And the Soul must be emptied not only of those things which out of the intr ãâã Evil of their nature do cross the Nature of Grace as Sins and Corruptions but also of all that confidence in any spiritual sufficiency ãâã ãâã by which while we would seem to share with him in the Work of our Conversion and ease ãâã of some part of the Labor we do indeed take some part of the Honor from him concerning which ãâã hath said That he will
even the very plagues ãâã hell I have had many Exhortations Instructions Admonitions and Reproofs and as powerful means as may be which ãâã never did me any good The Lord be merciful to such a poor soul and turn his heart that he may lay hold of Mercy in due time Exhortation Is it so That a plain and powerful Ministery is the means of Preparing the soul of a poor ãâã for the Lord Jesus Why then when you hear the Word plainly and powerfully preached to you labor that the Word may be so unto you as it is in it self It is a preparing Word labor you that it may prepare your hearts to receive Christ And you that be Hearers every one labor to save the Soul of another let the Father speak concerning his Children and the Husband concerning his Wife and his Family and the Wife concerning her Husband Oh when will it once be when will the time come that my Child may be fitted for the Lord when will it be that my poor Family my poor Wife my poor Husband shall be prepared for the Lord the Lord grant that it may be if not this Sabbath yet on another if not this Sermon then at the next Labour therefore to give way unto the VVord of God and suffer your Souls to be wrought upon by it for the word is powerful to prepare your hearts but the Minister must hew and square your hearts before they can be prepared for the Lord Jesus and you must suffer the words of Exhortation as the Apostle sayes Heb. 13. 22. So likewise suffer the words of Conviction of Reproof of Admonition and hold and keep your hearts under the Word that you may be wrought upon thereby And as when men have set Carpenters a work to build an House then they come every day and ask them How doth the work go on How doth the building go forward When you are gone home do you so reason with your selves and ask your own hearts how the work of the Lord goes forward in you Is my heart yet humbled Am I yet fitted and prepared for Christ I thank God I find some work and power of the Word and therefore I hope the Building will go forward BOOK IV. 2 COR. 6. 2. As he saith in an acceptable time have I heard thee in the day of Salvation have I succoured thee THe general Doctrine of Preparation being dispatched Proeced we to a further enquiry of the Particulars under it And there we have to enquire The 1 Quality 2 Parts of this Work The Quality of this ãâã wherein are Comprehended those Common Affections which firstly and properly appertain to this Place and as the ãâã and Spirits pass through the whole Body of a man So these general Considerations convey over a savor and virtue of such truths as they do contain to all the Particulars which follow and ãâã in reason are to be handled before the rest The quality of this Preparation is to be attended in Two things 1. The Freeness of the Work wrought 2. The Fitness of the time wherein it is Effected For the Discovery of both which I have made Choice of this Text as affording susficient ground for this Discourse ãâã he saith in an accept able time c. In the handling of which words we shall endeavor Three Things 1 What the Scope of the Text is that so it may appear it naturally fits our purpose and the Point in hand which comes to be ãâã 2 The Sense and Meaning of the words is to be ãâã into and such Truths to be Collected which serve-our turn and intendment 3 We shall pursue the Explication of each of them in their Order The Scope of the Text which I conceive worth the while a ãâã to be attended will appear by the Connexion ãâã it hath with the foregoing ãâã and the dependance of it is to be fetched ãâã the 17 th ãâã of the former Chapter ãâã from the Consideration of the priviledge and ãâã they were advanced unto in Christ the Apostle infers and calls sor that newness of life and obedience answerable to that kindness of the Lord and the condition unto which ãâã were advanced ãâã any man be in Christ he must be a new ãâã bebold old things are past all things are made new 2 Cor. 5. 17. And this he shews from the author of this Grace who disposeth of it God 2 From the Mediator who hath purchased it Christ 3 From the Means appointed to Convey and Communicate it to such for whom it was ordained to ãâã The Ministery of the Apostles All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself through Christ Vers. 18. And whereas the Corinthians being heathens might object True he hath reconciled you Jews but what is that to us He addes in ãâã 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world ãâã Beleevers both of Jews and Gentiles to himself and for this cause and to this end hath ãâã the word of Reconciliation to his Apostles for their good that while they as Ambassadors entreated God by them did beseech them to be reconciled unto him And this was done upon susficient warrant and in a way of righteous proceeding for Christ who knew no sin was made sin even for them ãâã who should beleeve that they might be made the righteousness of God in him vers last Having thus shewed a full and ãâã ground for their reconciliation and also of his own Commission for that end He further presseth it in the first Verse of ãâã ãâã If God be thus Gracious Christs ãâã ãâã our Commission so Large We ãâã as ãâã together with God ãâã you ãâã you receive not the Grace of God i. e. the ãâã that word of Grace that bringeth Salvation to ãâã in vain ãâã receiving benefit by it and comfort from it to your own Conversion and Salvation And whereas they might Reply It is not in our power to receive the spiritual good of this word nor ãâã in you that are Apostles to work it or if both were granted it s not yet the Season fitter opportunity will be afforded hereafter To all these the Apostle Answers in the words of the text True the Blessing is the Lords but the Endeavor ãâã be Ours We must Plant and Water it s in Gods Prerogative and depends upon his good Pleasure to give Encrease however the Time now fits the ãâã are now afforded and though we cannot Do what we should and ought yet let us do what we can and though we have no Power of our selves to Compass our everlasting Comforts yet we have Gods own VVord and most gracious Promise That in an acceptable time he will hear us And that presumes then that we must pray In the day of Salvation he will help and by that it s taken for granted we must take pains and behold now is the day of Salvation now is the acceptable time let us therefore now call earnestly upon him for a Blessing walk
gather the ãâã whilest it is fresh while time and strength ãâã take the pleasures of the world and enjoy the ãâã of my heart not now to sit moping in a ãâã go drooping and sorrowing for my sins when ãâã hair grows gray and decrepit age comes on ãâã yeers hence when my Sun grows neer the setting ãâã Life begins to decline and my strength to decay ãâã shall than have leisure to talk of holiness to turn ãâã a new leaf and betake my self to my Beads and ãâã of Grace in the mean time these jolly ãâã speak unto Preparation and Humiliation as ãâã somtimes to Paul Go your way for this ãâã and when we have a convenient time we will ãâã for you Answ. Thou fool this night may thy soul be ãâã from thee Luke 12. 20. How knowest thou but the Lord may pluck thee out of the land of the living and send thee packing down to thy own place give thee thy Portion with Unbeleevers and Despisers of his Grace and then all thy thoughts perish thy time is past and Repentance too late when the Pit hath shut her mouth upon thee how fond to think to have leisure to Repent when thou wilt not have time to Live 2 Be it the day of thy Life continue yet the day of Salvation may be ended for this is but a minute or moment of that span of time a point or ãâã of that opportunity If the Lord remove his ãâã take away the light of his Word dam up the fountain of Grace and stop the well-springs of Salvation thou mayest perish for thirst and live to ãâã the folly of the neglect of Means when happily thou shalt not know where they be nor yet have liberty and ability to enjoy them if thou knewest while therefore the day of our life and the day ãâã Salvation the Mart of Mercy lasts both which are but short and uncertain let us be watchful to observe and careful to take all advantages to buy the chiefest and best Commodities Humiliation and Faith Especially considering it may be any ãâã particular day as our Savior to Jerusalem Oh that thou hadst known at least in this thy day Luke 19. 42. When the Word is mighty and the Spirit speaks powerfully unto thy soul when the undeniable evidence of the Truth convicteth thy judgement and the keen threatnings thereof cuts and lanceth thy corrupt Conscience to the Core and the Lord raps at the door of thy heart by the hammer of the law Oh now follow those motions and cherish them make much of a little and suffer the blessed Ordinance of God to have its full blow upon thy Soul go aside and consider seriously with thy self Certainly the Lord came home this day unto my heart touched me to the quick and met with my particular Corruptions withstood me to my face and by the authority of his Truth like the naked Sword in the hand of the Angel stopped me in my Course and bad me back again assuredly this is my part a Portion carved out in special ãâã my Soul this ãâã is my day of Salvation in which the ãâã ãâã to work the good work of his grace ãâã me True it may be so and for ought that thou ãâã I or any under heaven know it is so Remember ãâã thou hadst a fair offer and take heed how ãâã dost refuse it lest thou never have the like ãâã Break therefore through all Oppositions cast ãâã ãâã ãâã listen to no alurements to the ãâã ãâã while ãâã is called to day harden not thy ãâã And as Paul to his Company Acts ãâã thou never to see their faces more I know as one of the ãâã brings in his sins our old ãâã like old ãâã will threap kindness from ãâã plead prescription and continuance we have ãâã long taken much sweet Counsel together ãâã much delight and content Give us warning ãâã before you give us a discharge let us ãâã our ãâã of ãâã for the while and hereafter let ãâã think of amendment Thus the same Father when ãâã had often resolved to renounce his bosom ãâã and the beloved lusts of the flesh still that sounded in his ears To morrow to morrow as the burden of Satans song To morrow soon enough hereafter time enough thus while he was startling and ãâã by the terrors of his Conscience he lulled him and rocked him a sleep again by delayes ãâã at last in a holy kind of violence and indignation of heart breaks through all demurs nomore delayes no longer but cryes out Why not to day why not to day Lord and from that day following God gave him victory Go thy wayes and do thou likewise stand not haggeling and dallying with the Almighty set down a resolution like the Laws of the Meads and Persians never to be revoked that thou wilt from this ãâã and ever hereafter wait upon the ãâã of grace and give way to the work therof Dispute no more but determine thus with thy self Why yet am I here in the land of the Living yet ãâã this side the bottomless pit the Lord still tenders the offers of Salvation strives still with this sturdy heart of mine I know not how soon I may be taken from the Means or the Means from me or the Blessing of the Lord from us both while therefore the spirit speaks to my Soul Seek thou my face give me a heart to eccho back again Thy face Lord will I seek this day After all this the heart still sings loath to depart and the deluded finner lingers after his lust as Lot after Sodom and therefore puts in a new Plea on this manner Imagine the worst should I put off this fair and kind Call of the Lord Yet since it is in my power to entertain it hereafter there is not so much danger though I now refuse it Answ. Be it granted Thy life might be prolonged the words of the text do most apparantly dash this presumptuous conceit It s the Season of Gods acceptation It s not in thy power but depends meerly upon his good Will We are not the Patrons of the means of Grace much less of their work it is not in our Gift the Sending and Blessing of both issues only from the good pleasure of the Almighty prolong not then put not off the time deny not Gods gracious offer lest thou never have offer again he that now holds out the golden Scepter of Mercy to receive thee hath an Iron rod wherwith he can ãâã thee to nothing and break thee in pieces like a Potters vessel He that hath the Keyes of David and now sets open the gate of Salvation he can shut it and no man shall open it any more and when thou hast stayed too long and comest too late thou mayest knock hard with the foolish Virgin and cry aloud with Esau and yet receive neither Blessing nor Birthright and its just with God it should be ãâã that the Word which thou hast dispised should
Cor. 11. 28. than he that had ãâã havock of them Acts 9. Who more fit to be ãâã Messenger of Peace and to breath out glad tidings ãâã Salvation to fainting souls than he who had ãâã out threatnings against them Acts 9. 1. Who more ãâã to pity the Saints than he who cut of his madness had persecuted them and that to the death before Acts 26. 11. But in the crazy and decayed estate of fainting Age when the whol frame begins to shake and go ãâã ruine how unable are we to perform the meanest service how ãâã to be imployed in works of greatest weight The members of a man converted are called Weapons of Holiness and Servants of Righteousness Rom. 6. 19. but doting heads palsie hands feeble knees faultring tongues are but broken weapons and lame Servants utterly unworthy to be used in the fighting of Gods Battels or performance of his Service how shall those hands which hang down for faintness be able to work the works of God how shall the feet that cannot stir walk in his waies or that tongue tell of his praise that cleaves unto the ãâã of the mouth and cannot talk two ready words To gripe the Sum of the Point in short If Nature be now most pliable to be prepared to receive Grace corruption not now so ãâã to ãâã it our abilities most able to improve it then is it a reasonable Truth that the God of Wisdom though he call some at any Age yet he should Convert most at this Age. Learn we hence to take out a Lesson of Sobriety not to be too rash and Censorious touching the final estate of any in this life since it is never too ãâã for the Lord to call though at the Eleventh hour It 's the Apostles Counsel Judg nothing before the time that is Judg nothing that is secret and uncertain determine not of any mans final condition because the time is not yet come this life is a time of mercy to some sooner to some later After death comes Judgment when God shall lay open the secrets and ãâã counsels of the heart then judg and spare not but ãâã then refer al unto the Lord and therfore if the question be touching the final estate of others we should answer with modesty as the Prophet did to the Lord in another case Ezek. 37. 2 3. When ãâã Lord had shewed him a field full of dead bones ãâã dry he asked him Son of man shall these dead bone live the Prophet answers Lord thou knowest it rests in thine own wil to work this so great a work and in thine own Counsel to determine it So ãâã the demand be Shall this gray headed sinner ãâã come to Grace he that hath been an old Standard-bearer in the Camp of the Devil shal he ever ãâã a faithful Soldier to the Lord Christ can this seared Conscience ever be made sensible of its sin ãâã ãâã The answer of the Prophet will ãâã us Lord thou only knowest It 's not for us to judg Secret things belong unto the Lord. For ãâã to pry into the Ark of his privy and concealed Counsels we cannot do it without desperate pride and apparent danger Thus far indeed we may go without any breach of Charity and the Word will ãâã us sufficient warrant to wit Observing the lives ãâã men Of some of some I say we may conclude and that certainly that as yet they are in the state of Nature in a miserable and damnable condition Object If it be replyed Doth any man know that heart Who knows what is in man but the spirit of man 1 Cor. 2. 11. Answ. Can the spirit of a man pry into every corner of his Conscience and know his own condition After he hath told what he knows I may know it as well as himself and somtimes better Thus the Practice of a man discovers his Spirit A rotten Conversation when the constant tenure and frame of a mans course is corrupt and ãâã it ãâã to all the world who have wisdom to ãâã there is a refuse and an ãâã disposition within The fool saies the wise man Eccles. 10. 3. ãâã to every one as he ãâã by the way that he is a fool After the ãâã hath felt the Pulse and heard ãâã complaint of the Patient what 's the pain and ãâã the part affected how the fits and returns of ãâã distemper takes him he knows the disease far ãâã than the man that feels it it may be it's ãâã stone in the Reins the inflamation of the Liver Consumption of the Lungs the parts are within and ãâã cause of the Disease also but it discovers it self ãâã that undoubtedly many times by Symptomes ãâã thus it is with the sickness of the Body it is so ãâã the distempers of the soul the Practice of a ãâã is as the Pulse if that be commonly uneven ãâã and irreligious it argues it 's not the fit of a ãâã but even the very frame and constitution ãâã a corrupt and irreligious heart When a mans ãâã carriage and communication leaves a noysom ãâã and scent and ãâã of prophaness behind ãâã it evidently proclaims to any who have but ãâã Wisdom and Grace that these dead works ãâã from a rotten carkass of a Body of death ãâã it's our Saviors direction and conclusion he ãâã as never failing Matth. 7. 16. 20. By their ãâã you shall know them An evil tree cannot ãâã forth good fruits and a good tree cannot ãâã forth evil fruits and therefore he doubles the ãâã as that which is undeniable by their ãâã you shall know them The holy Apostle is ãâã peremptory 1 John 3. 10. In this are the children of God known and the children of the Devil ãâã doth not righteousness is not of God and ãâã that loveth not his Brother Where there be Three Particulars suit the Point in hand 1 There are but two sorts of men in the World ãâã Children of God and the children of the Devil 2 These may be known 3 He that is a hater of the Saints and a worker of iniquity hath the Brand-mark of a child of the Devil by which he may be discerned It is not then a breach of Charity to judg the tree by the fruits the ãâã by the Symptomes yea it was folly and little less than madness to do other As the Word ãâã I may judg and so should But to ãâã the Lord out of the Throne of Judgment to sit upon the life and death of mens souls to set down mens peremptory doom further than the Word warrants as though we had been admitted into Gods secrets and seen the Books of Reprobation and Election drawn this is hellish impiety and presumption we may boldly say the tree is not a Vine that brings forth Thorns nor that a Fig-tree that beareth Thistles he who hath a naughty life cannot have a good heart He who serves ' Mammon cannot serve God Mat. 6. 24. He who walks after the lusts of the flesh
nothing more Rom. 10. 3. The Jews that ãâã establish their own Righteousness they would not submit to the Righteousness of Christ. Therefore if the wayes of ãâã be pressed and ãâã with zeal as matters absolutly necessary ãâã that their commodities seem to be cryed down and their comforts dashed and their persons ãâã and ãâã under ãâã as that they are ãâã men even your most civil naturallist a man ãâã is most ãâã in his carriage will count it a matter of ãâã to proceed to ãâã ãâã against such and you shal ãâã these men most ãâã and restless in persecution because they do it upon a misconceit as a duty of ãâã They conclude they are as good as men should be and do as much as any ought Acts 26. 9. So ãâã ãâã I ãâã ãâã with my self ãâã to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus and ãâã Savior Christ ãâã it ãâã 16. 2. That they ãâã think they do God good service in ãâã ãâã opposing the waies and Servants of Christ and ãâã in the highest degree So that if the Lord let in any light to such a one to reveal either more or better to him he stands amazed as a man new come out of a dream he knows not where he is or what he hath done all his life long If this be true I never knew either my sin or my self I am of all men most miserable As Paul when the Lord met him and stopt him in his way and broke in upon him with his Converting Grace he falls down trembling and astonished Lord ãâã thou And What wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. 5 6 7. He neither ãâã Christ nor himself nor his own estate he was as far to seek as if he had never heard of these things therefore the Apostle Peter expresses it thus 1 Pet. 2. 9. Who hath called you ãâã darkness to his marvelous light That a man begins to wonder and marvel to see themselves so wonderfully cozened and deluded all their days they have often heard of sin but never saw it before now they have heard of humiliation and faith and sanctisication but never understood what they were but now they begin to see an absolute need of them and there never was any man whom God called effectually to himself but he stands wondering at his sins that they should be so loathsom and yet that he should love them so much at the beauty and excellency of Christ that he hath neglected so much marveling at his own pride and security in that miserable estate that now he finds himself in Gather up the Point then If he neither see ãâã feel any evil in his Condition and therefore fears no danger in it and therefore blesseth himself in his present estate accounting whatsoever is more required to be foolishness and persecutes whatsoever seems to blemish it then he is and can be no other than abundantly satisfied and settled immovably in the security of his carnal estate The Reasons of it are chiefly Three From the Deceitfulness and Subtilty of sin which pretends nothing promiseth nothing but that which is full of content to the sinner and therefore he pleaseth himself in it for the present As the ãâã hides his sting that may poyson and shews only his speckled skin that may please the eye so it is with ãâã it presents nothing to the view but that which may please the flesh either profits to enrich or honors to advance or pleasures to delight either ãâã of the flesh or the ãâã of the eyes or the pride of life 1 Joh. 2. 16. As the wise man speaks of the yong man led aside with the harlot that with her oyled words she ãâã ãâã and he followes her as an Ox ãâã to the slaughter and a fool to the stocks and knows nothing till a dart strikes through his liver Prov. 7. 22. As the Fisher that shews ãâã to the Fish but the Bait to allure but hides the Hook that will catch So the Fowl sees nothing but the Grain to feed her not the Net that takes her So it is with the Deceitfulness of sin it promiseth nothing but all the Content that we have and would have but the Hook that should catch us and the ãâã that should ãâã us that is kept back for the present If taken from the sensuallity of the Soul of every man naturally which is so suitable to the nature of ãâã that it tasts nothing but that which ãâã their ãâã and therefore they will not beleeve there is any thing there to distaste A sinful heart meets with temptations they do fit and suit one with ãâã and because the soul takes content in sin it cannot beleeve that there is any thing else there but what it now finds nay somtimes though the judgment is informed and Conscience convinced these ãâã your sins and these will be your ruine the ãâã heart saies It is false I taste no such matter As it is in a distempered body when the stomach is ãâã with noysom humors because the bitterest ãâã seem sweet to the raste so distempered the Physitian cannot perswade they cannot beleeve that ãâã are bitter So it is with a distempered heart which tasts nothing but its own lusts and humors which are so incorporated into it and ãâã with it that let all Ministers and Reasons say what ãâã can to the contrary say they I beleeve it not ãâã taste it not It s the best life in the world to follow ãâã own mind to have my own will and to satisfie ãâã own lusts Prov. 10. 23. It is a sport to a fool ãâã do ãâã No pastime is so pleasing to him as to suit the carnal disposition of his heart in his sinful wayes but he 's a fool for it that is A ãâã man Self-love and Self-ease will not suffer the ãâã to hear of any thing that may disquiet or distemper and therefore ãâã the mind and heart with the daily fears and suspitions of terrors and discouragements that attend a good Course that it dare not listen in the least measure to any thing that tends ãâã way Hence it is there is such a noyse and ãâã raised against the good ways of Gods Grace and Gods ãâã that if ever he gives way to the power of them to have his sins revealed and ãâã by them he thinks he shall never have quiet more ãâã and therefore in a carnal Family if one man ãâã ãâã and careful in his course and have got ãâã knocks from the Word they cry out Their Children are undone and they fear to come under ãâã stroak of the truth lest they should be troubled ãâã the meaning of that Psal. 36. 2. The wicked ãâã ãâã himself in his own eyes As who should say This is the only way you are in you may ãâã quietly and comfortably and go to heaven ãâã all this ado Ay do so and be so saies the heart And as 2 Pet. 3. 2. They are willingly
therefore to mind this or to be led by this is present death The minor is thus again confirmed because it submits not to the Law and that is not for a present push only and out of a surprizal of some temptation but it 's certain it will never nay it can never be other because it 's beyond its power nay cross to its Nature so to do so that it hath no ability nor will for to do it nor can it of it self attain any sufficiency thereunto To make way for the collection of the Point of which we purpose to speak there be two words in the Text to be attended for Explication sake 1 What is meant by The Wisdom of the flesh or to be Carnally minded The Original word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is of large compass and in truth comprehends in this place the frame of the Reasonable Faculties the Understanding and Will in the extent of their full work what he understands and plots by Reason the Will effects and this latter of necessity implies the other for so the word whence it comes is taken 1 For the work of the Understanding Acts 28. 22. We desire to know what thou thinkest they would understand his Opinion and Judgment touching the way of Christianity so the Apostle speaks when he would confine our Reason to the compass of the Wisdom of the Scripture and Gods Counsel therein revealed he adviseth We should not be wise above that which is written 1 Cor. 4. 6. 2 Again It 's used and that often to express the work of the Will and therefore it is ãâã translated by Care Phil. 4. 10. I rejoyced that your Care of me again flourisheth Somtimes by the work of Seeking If ye be risen with Christ ãâã those things which are above 3. Col. 1. Or by the act of tasting or savouring Mat. 16. 21. Get thee behind me Satan thou savorest not the things ãâã be of God And therefore Beza is constrained to Paraphrase and lay out the compass of it in a ãâã of words That which the carnal man savors is enmity that is the frame of the plotting of the minds and affecting of the hearts of carnal men is enmity against God 2 Enmity as we say in the abstract made up of nothing but malice and hatred and that in an extream manner against the Lord more than against any thing in the world And if it be enquired how that doth appear and can be proved The Evidence is added in the next words It is not subject to the Law As the heart is to the Law so it is to the Lord as it is to the Word of God so it is to God himself It wholly shakes off the Sovereignty and Authority of the Law and it is not a pang only of a temptation that carries it nor a push or ãâã of some present infirmity that overbears it but in truth it is the very Nature of a naughty and ãâã ãâã That which is born of the flesh is flesh John 3. 6. and nothing else but ãâã and therefore it can do nothing but oppose the Spirit and the Law which is Spiritual every thing will do and in ãâã can do no ãâã but its Nature And this denyal ãâã only of the Act of Subjection but the very Power of Subjection shews the height of that opposition that is in the heart against the Law and so against ãâã Lord himself for subjection is one degree lower ãâã obedience it 's possible for a Servant not to ãâã the command of his Master and yet he may in ãâã and subjection submit himself to his authority to bear what he will inflict upon him with ãâã though not to do what he requires of him A Patient may be subject in silence and meekness to ãâã the launcings of the Chyrurgion to cut him and so cure him when he can in no wise help ãâã and yet a carnal heart will not do this for his ãâã of subjection implies 1 It doth not acknowledg the Authority and ãâã of the Law 2 It will not obey the Rule of it 3 It will not bear the Power of it whereby it would redress the sinfulness of our hearts and reform the disorders and miscarriages of our lives and pluck away that sin from us that would pluck away our hearts from God He hath no right to challenge ãâã sovereignty no reason to exercise it no Lawful power but usurped that doth maintain it and ãâã I do not acknowledg this right nor obey that Rule nor bear that Power saies the Will it would take away my lusts and so take away my content ãâã life and I will rather die than yield rather be ãâã than abide my pleasing distempers to be crossed by the Law Hence then the Point is plain The frame of the whol heart of a Natural man is wholly unwilling to submit to the Work of the Lord that would sever him from his sins I say the frame of the whol man to the words of the Text and interpretation of them each plotting of the Mind each affecting of the Will the ãâã current of the carriage of the inward man and ãâã is not only unable to follow the direction of the Law and of the Lord but not willing to bear the power thereof to force it to the reformation of those ãâã and sins unto which it subjects it self and sets it self resolutely to keep So the Lord professed of Nimrod and his company when they had set themselves upon the building of Babel out of their pride and self confidence Gen. 11. 6. Now nothing will ãâã restrained from them which they have imagined to do let us go down and confound their Language It 's in vain to perswade them in vain to send Messengers and shew Arguments never so sad and weighty to stop them only confound their language that they may not be able to do what they would It 's the Scope of that Parable Matth. 21. from 33. to 41. wherein the waywardness of the hearts of the sons of men and their desperate unteachableness is apparantly discovered Messenger is sent after Messenger all variety of means provided and continued they beat one evil entreat another slay a third and when the Son himself is sent that Reason would have concluded that which the Master of the Vineyard conceived they will reverence my Son they were most outragious against him because happily he was more instant and importunate to press them to Sanctification the rendring of the fruit your fruit in Holiness and the end eternal Life Rom. 6. 22. they express greater opposition against him because he most of all opposed their sins Come say they this is the Heir let us kill him and the Inheritance will be ours Nor was this the guise of some graceless forlorn persons but the disposition of all men it 's part of that Curse we inherit from the Loyns ãâã our first Parents Gen. 6. 5. The frame of the imagination of our hearts are evil and
get it if he can by doubling he is not willing to yield therefore is resolved to quarrel and wind away from under the force of the Argument and to make an escape Acts 17. 18. They encountred Paul they came into the field with Cavils against his Doctrine observe how careful an unwilling heart is to invent a shift and how content to take it and if yet he fail of his hopes and is not able to make his party good with the ãâã he unlocks all the Devils Chests and ãâã his Skul for devices and though the Reasons be of no weight nor worth nor strength yet he is well ãâã to be cozened with them though there be scant any appearance of a pretence when the yong man had professed all readiness to follow the Command of the Lord and saw nothing would serve turn unless he sold all overpowered with the Authority of the Truth he left it in the plain field and went away sorrowful If yet the ãâã that 's rivetted in his resolution to hold his own cannot ãâã the Truth then he falls to flat opposing of it Jer. 44. 16. As for the word which ãâã hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not hearken to it that is the short and the long they then begun to be plain and peremptory Jer. 18. 12. They said there is no ãâã but we will do after our devices and we will walk every man after the imagination of his own heart If they cannot undo the Bonds they will break the Bonds of Gods Commands Come say they ãâã 2. 2. let us break ãâã Bonds and ãâã ãâã their cords from us Thus the Jews when they saw the Word of the Lord to prosper in the ãâã of Paul and ãâã they were filled ãâã envy and ãâã against those things that were spoken by Paul contradicting and ãâã in so much that Paul professed they put away the ãâã that would have plucked away their sins ãâã them Acts 13. 46. John must ãâã his ãâã rather than Herod will part with his Harlot When ãâã cannot get leave of God to do what he desired he goes without leave Numb 24. 1. he ãâã his ãâã to the ãâã as if he would prevent Gods ãâã and curse ãâã before God ãâã be aware of it To have their ãâã ãâã tormented and kept upon the ãâã and themselves crossed in their corrupt courses so that either they dare not keep their lusts or else have no quiet if they do they fly in the face of the Truth it 's a hard saying who can hear it who can ãâã it Acts 19. 28. see what an uproar and what a dust Demetrius raiseth against Pauls Doctrine Masters you know that by this craft we get our living therefore what they wanted in Argument they would carry it in clamors There was an ãâã for the space of two hours Great is Diana of the Ephesians So they dealt with the two ãâã Revel 11. 10. they were never content before they were removed they could not have their ãâã in quiet as long as they had their lives for they tormented them with their witness the Truth is dreadful and torments carnal men that cannot bear the light and power of it If yet the Conscience be not seared with a hot Iron but there remain any sence of common Principles in it they will be dayly quickened and awakened by the Power of the Word and that will be daily vexing provoking and pressing the heart you know saies Conscience this is the Command your Duty and will be your Comfort to yield obedience thereunto you may oppose but you will perish for it you may do what you please but it will be your destruction God wil require it at your hands when you will not be able to answer for what you have done nor bear what God will inflict The ãâã then endeavors to still the clamors and to stop the mouth of Conscience and to weary it out ãâã impudency in wickedness and stifling the ãâã of it and not suffer it to take place and so by custom in sinning he takes away the sence of sin and so it befals them as those the Apostle speaks of they become past feeling Eph. 4. 19. This is to hold ãâã the Truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1. 18. Truth is pressing this ought this should this must be done or else you die for it you see the Word pregnant the way plain the Duty undeniable say nothing saies unrighteousness in the heart I do love it I must follow it therefore speak not a word more I cannot hear it nor bear it as they said Judg. 18. 25. when ãâã ãâã after them for his gods Let not thy voyce be heard amongst us left angry fellows fall upon thee Thus you see how this unwillingness to be subject to the Truth shews it self They seek it not receive it not stop the passage of it defeat the Power and Evidence of it they professedly oppose it and privily stifle the ãâã of the Truth which may trouble them in sinning until their ãâã be without sence and they without care or purpose to reform their evil waies But are not the wicked many times willing to part with their corruptions see how far they speak how freely they profess Deut. 5. 27. All that thou hast spoken we will do Jer. 42. 5. The Lord be Judg ãâã thee and us enquire at the mouth of the Lord for us and whatever it be whether good or evil we will do it what more can be desired what more could be expressed I Answer in Three Things The Text denies not nor doth the Doctrine that Natural men are willing to profess subjection to the Law of God but that they neither do nor can nor will do what they say therefore it is added in Deut. 5. 28 29. This People have said well but O that there were such a heart in them there was good words but they wanted good hearts they said wel but their wils and endeavors were not answerable they professed fair with their lips but dissembled with their hearts so the Prophet Jeremiah told them to their faces Ye dissembled in your hearts when ye said enquire of the Lord for us Jer. 42. 20. It 's possible nay ordinary for a corrupt heart when it doth most reform sin outwardly then most of all to love and to give himself to the practice of some sin secretly because then all the streams are turned into one Channel he neglects all other that he may wholly bestow and lay out his heart upon that one and when he professeth against sin he conceives he may sin without suspition and distraction without suspition from others and without distraction in himself when by confessions and reformations he will put in Bail upon his Conscience and agree with it as Bankrupts use to do with their Creditors When it co nes to a streight and a justle that the Word meets him as the Angel met Balaam he cannot pass unless
here Men that cleer ground they content not themselves to lop off the tops of trees but they stub up the roots then they make cleer work So here be sure you stub up the heart and will of sinning that 's the root of all or else al that you do is in vain it was our Saviors expression to the Pharisees Luke 11. 39. Ye fools that make clean the outside of the cup and the platter but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness they began on the wrong side they contented themselves to ãâã the ãâã their outward conversation to manward and left corruption in their hearts unsubdued unremoved and therefore our Savior Christ calls them fools and hypocrites for their labor What can you say to my life what hath any man against me if thou hast no more ãâã say for thy self than that comes to thou hast nothing at al ãâã thy heart be not clensed from those iecret corruptions of thine Let me leave Two or Three Directions here that are just in my way not interfering with any thing to be spoken afterward Know that the greatest work of Reformation Repentance and the comfort of a mans spiritual condition it lies mainly in the Will the greatest work and the greatest difficulty lies here Brethren If you look at it as a matter of ease that thou canst do it with the turning of a hand and make wash-work of it thou never knewest it and thou shalt never attain it It 's one of the Devils greatest delusions whereby he cozens thousands to perswade men it 's an easie matter to be Religious No ãâã know it unless you find it the greatest work in the world you will never find endeavors suitable nor success answerable for the comfort of your own souls Oh therefore that every man would go home convinced and perswaded God hath helped me to temper my tongue and to keep my hands the Lord hath given me an enlightened Judgment a reformed life but Oh the difficult work is behind this wretched heart of mine the hardness of that the impossibility of that conclude it therefore and resolve upon it it wil cost me hard work and unless the Lord enable me and set in mightily and constantly upon my soul the work will never be done The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Jer. 17. 9. there is no hope of it as it were the hand and eye and tongue may be reformed but the heart is desperate who can know it who can mend it who can overpower it If thou hast found it easie nay if thou didst never stand amazed at the difficulty of the work about thy heart to get that severed from thy sins thou never hadst the right discerning of it to this day Paul cried out of the Body of Death Rom. 7. last who shal deliver me from it not from the eye or the hand but from the heart the will of Pride the wil of Uncleanness the will of ãâã and here he is at a stand at an amaze with himself who shal deliver me Beleaguer thy heart and will with the cleer evidence of the Truth of God that it may not be able to make an escape from under it It is with subduing the Will as it is in winning a strong Hold it 's marvelous hard to ãâã unto it no battery can be made against it those that are do not prevail ãâã ãâã taking of it then they besiege it so that none shall come in to bring any help ãâã none go out to find any relief then in time they will be famished out and so forced to surrender Do so with thy soul thou hast a crooked proud ãâã will that hath outbid al the Ordinances of God no battery could ever prevail against it therefore labor to besiege it with the Evidence and plainness of undeniable Arguments of Truth from the Word that nothing may come in nor out listen not to any carnal Reasons within suffer not either honor or profit or pleasure from without to enfeeble the power of the Truth but so besiege it with the Evidence of the Word that the soul may say this is my sin this is my plague this is my state it will be my ruine unless the Lord shew mercy to me this wil tire the heart of a man and there is no other way in the world and it 's certain that the heart wil either lay down his corruption or his conviction but this is our misery that some go out and some come in and so the heart is relieved and holds the siege long The last Direction which may prepare us for the next Point viz. The hand of the Lord to work this for us When thou art perswaded this stubborn heart will cost me many a prayer and tear and bring me often upon my knees it wil never do else if I think it 's easie I never knew what it was and when thy heart is so besieged that it finds no relief Then Brethren look often up to Heaven He only that made the heart can frame the heart to the blessed obedience of his own wil al that we can do is to use the means and lie under the Ordinances that God may do that for us which he requires of us It 's the Lords own Promise Ezek. 36. 26 27. I will take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh therefore go and cry to Heaven and say Lord it is not in our hands to do it but thou hast said thou wilt give unto thy servants a heart to hate sin we come and beseech thee deny it not unto us Look to him we should in whose hand our hearts are that he may do that for us which we cannot do for our selves BOOK VIII JOHN 6. 44. No man can come to Me unless My Father which sent Me Draw him WE have already Debated and Dispatched TWO of those Divine Truths wherein the Dispensation and manner of Gods working upon the Soul in preparation was conceived and described 1 That he finds the sinner settled upon his ãâã and in the security of a sinful Condition 2 That he was wholly unwilling to be severed therefrom That it is a Death to him to be awakened out of this dead sleep when he saw no danger nor feared any but pleased himself in his Dreams and deluded ãâã of his own happy Condition 3 The Third and last Point now comes to skanning and Consideration wherein indeed the Pith and Marrow of this so deep and mysterious a Dispensation of the Lord upon the Soul discovers it self The Two former only made way for the more plain Explication of this last and the more easie Apprehension of it by those who are willing to understand Namely That by a holy kind of violence he is driven out of his sin and Drawn unto Christ by God the Father notwithstanding al the ãâã and utter unwillingness to the contrary And for the foundation of our following Discourse we have chosen these
but is acted by another As it was in the raising of Lazarus when he stank in the Grave not only those noysom distempers were removed and the unnatural ãâã which attended his body chased away but the ãâã also was returned and brought again to Union ãâã his Body So here The Nature of this Drawing and special ãâã of it It s the motion and powerful Impression of the Spirit of God upon the Soul not any habit of Grace in it nor any act of the Soul which concurs with the work of God in this first stroak of Preparation For The soul that is wholly possessed by the Habits of Sin is not yet capable of the Habit of Grace ãâã my flesh dwels no good thing Rom. 7. 18. The Vessel cannot be ful of filthy and puddle water and at the same time receive that which is pure It is the aim of this work to make way and room for the Habit of Grace to be received and therefore it is not a habit nor any act of a habit in the soul as yet Therefore it s said God first turns from darkness and then to light Acts 26. 18. Takes away the heart of stone before he gives a new heart Ezek. 11. 19. This is the influence of Light and Vertue into the Mind and Will by the receiving whereof they may be elevated and lifted up above their own ability to supernatural Works in future times and therfore this cannot be the act of the Will and ãâã since they cannot of themselves let in any ãâã into themselves Therefore the Lord takes ãâã to himself as his own Work Hither belongs ãâã Question Whether Nature or Grace be the first subject of ãâã Nature cannot For 1 Cor. 2. 14. The ãâã man receives not the things of God nor can ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã yet Grace cannot do it for ãâã there should be Grace before the FIRST ãâã Grace is attended in a double Respect 1 As it ãâã a habit or gracious quality received into the Soul As it is a gracious impression upon the soul The ãâã must be prepared before any habit of Grace ãâã be received but there needs no disposition in ãâã soul to receive the work of the Spirit that must ãâã there needs no preparation to make way ãâã the work of Preparation but there needs ãâã to make way for the habit That which ãâã the first disposition needs no former not yet ãâã any former It s not Nature but the Soul prepared that is the ãâã of the First Habit. The Soul unprepared ãâã the Subject of the Spirit that prepares it The Means how God works the Cords by which ãâã Draws The Spirit of the Lord lets in some powerful light ãâã the Truth into the Soul when he is passing on in ãâã wayes of destruction and tels him This is not ãâã right way to Life and Salvation you must go ãâã way if ever you go to heaven The poor deluded blinded Creature never dreaming of ãâã such matter so that he drives the sóul to ãâã thoughts If this be the streight way to happiness ãâã have been out of the way al my life time If this ãâã true my Condition is miserable Isa. 65. 1. I ãâã sought of them that asked not for me I am found ãâã those that sought me not Thus the shepheard pursues the wildring sheep If he had not found it it ãâã never found home How many give in Evidence ãâã of their own Experience in this kind I never doubted of my estate nor ever ãâã of any necessity to be other or do other I went as others did it may be for fashion sake either company carried me or custome prevailed with me or may be the novelty of the thing inticed me to go I as little thought of my death as ever to have my sin and shame discovered Job 36. 9. When the Lord gets man into fetters then he shews them their transgressions and how they have exceeded Thus the Lord is said To stand and knock at the door of the soul when the sinner is fast asleep Rev. 3. 20. He dazles the apprehension by some mighty flash of truth like lightning darted in which makes the soul at a maze by reason of the suddenness and unexpectedness and strangness of it This knock makes the sinner so far to hear and to take notice of it that some body is at the door and causes him happily to make enquiry Who is there So Acts 9. 4 5 6. There shines a suddain Light about Paul and a voyce heard from heaven Saul Saul Why persecutest thou me As who should say Thou art utterly mistaken thou knowest not where thou art what thou doest thou mistakest a Friend in stead of an Enemy And therefore he amazed and astonished Answers and ãâã Who art thou Lord Thus the sinner is made to look about him where am I this is not the way to Heaven And though the soul would shut its eyes against the Evidence and Power of the Truth which carries a kind of amazing vertue with it and therefore invents shifts to defeat the work of it yet the Lord wil follow it and fasten it upon the soul so as that it shal not avoid it he that stands knocking at the door wil lift up the latch and make the Truth break in as the Sun rising wil break through the least crevis This is the first means whereby the Lord comes to lay hold upon the mind and soul of a sinner he hath the sinner in chase as it were that he cannot get out of his sight or make an escape Thus by the hook of Instruction he laies hold upon him He encloseth him with the Cords of Mercy whereby he ãâã the soul and compasseth the heart on every side with the tender of his compassions Hosea 11. 4. I drew them with the Cords of a man the bonds of love this the Lord doth to take off those desperat discouragements which otherwise would dead the heart and split the hopes of a forlorn sinner and so pluck up his endeavors by the roots under the appearance of impossibilities It can never be attained why therefore should it be expected or endeavored after To abate therefore of these overbearing ãâã which otherwise would sink the heart and swallow it up the Lord casts in some discovery of the largeness of his compassions and intimates there is no danger to be feared in coming to the Lord because there is none intended When Christ stands at the door and knocks men are afraid to let in Enemies that intended our ruine so it 's ãâã the sinner he is afraid of Gods Justice because of his ãâã deservings What is Christ at the door Is it not that Christ whose Grace I have refused whose Spirit I have grieved whose Words I have cast ãâã my back he certainly comes to destroy me who have destroyed his Truth and trampled his honor ãâã my feet And therefore the Lord lets in that Evidence to the
successively As the same vessel is capable of puddle and pure water the same eye is capable of sight and blindness So the Will at several times as several impressions may be made upon it is capable of Sin and Grace Jer. 4. 3. Break up ãâã fallow ground of your hearts The Nature of man is arrable ground though now it lie fallow by ãâã of the weeds of wickedness the brambles of Baggage base lusts have over-run it yet it may be ãâã the soul may be converted again So men are called Living stones 1 Pet. 2. 5. Though the frame of the heart like that goodly building of Jerusalem have not a stone left upon a stone yet the stones wil ãâã again And hence though there be not the next passive power in a soul possessed with sin to receive the things of God because the soul is wholly possessed with corruption so becomes wholly indisposed thereunto It being impossible that Two Contraries should be in the same subject at the same time that the body distempered with unnatural heats should receive a natural and moderate temper at the same time cannot be yet remove the unnatural and the body is capable of the natural Hence it is the soul hath ever in it a remote power to partake of Grace As the Soul is ever seeking of a better but because it cannot meet with it it is unsatisfied which shews it was made for a better Which makes me that I cannot yet see Why there is any need to flye to the Obed ential power which men marvelous Judicious betake themselves to in this Dispute When a Creature hath not a capability in its kind and nature to entertain such an impression further than it yeilds to the Almighty hand of God to make it what he wil As Matt. 3. 9. God is able of stones to raise up Children unto Abraham Stones wil yeild to God to make them Children But under favor I conceive that is not here needful That God should make a new Faculty or give another natural power than before as he must do if he make Bread or Children of stones As a Wheel that runs wrong you need not another Wheel but another and a right ãâã of ãâã The Faculty of the Will attended only in its natural being and ability cannot Will a spiritual or supernatural good but must have aspiratual and supernatural power put into it to enable it to put forth a ãâã work Because nothing can act beyond the bounds of its being and ability The Trees grow but move not the bruit Creatures move but Reason not Wicked men can Reason and Will natural and corrupt things because they have Reason Nature and Corruption And Morral things also because they have some ãâã of the Spirit as wil carry them to act seemly between man and man but to close with God and his Holiness and the purity and spiritualness of a Rule they cannot 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receives not the things of God Prov. 24. 7. Wisdom is too high for a fool If the Will out of a Nature Ability or Faculty could chuse a supernatural good then where there is this Faculty this act may be put forth Then the Devils and Damned in Hell may love God above al make choice of the chiesest good and close with the last end and so might be happy For they have this faculty of Will The Promise is full and free Let him that Wills take of the water of life and live for ever Rev. 22. 17. Hence its plain its a false Opinion and grounded on a false bottom and principle that to have an indifferency to any thing propounded to take it or not to take it is that liberty which issues from the nature of the Will Because it issues not from the Faculty at al to wil a supernatural good no more than from a dead man to take meat As a Wheel doth not run round because wood or iron but because the art of wheel-making is imprinted upon it because so framed and fashioned If therefore the question be asked If the Will be not free in Preparation Answ. There is no Will in the first work of Preparation there is the Faculty of Will but not the act of Will The Corruption that takes possession of the Will and rules in it it utterly indisposeth the soul to receive any spiritual power from God and consequently disenables it to put forth any spiritual or supernatural work It is not subject to the Law of God neither can be Rom. 8. 7. It wil not beat the impression of the power of the Spirit Job 8. 37. The Word of Christ found no place in the Jews that were under the power of their Corruptions Acts 13. 46. They put away the Word from them yea Truth is a trouble and a torment to a Carnal heart and the nature of the thing evinceth so much Matthew 6. 24. Ye cannot serve two Masters God and Mammon Joh. 5. 44. Ye cannot believe that seek honor one from another Rom. 2. 4. The hard heart cannot repent Shut up we are under unbelief and we shut out the Lord Jesus who comes not unless the door be opened It is not possible that contraries should be at the same time in the same subject Though there be no force afforded to the Faculty of the Will yet the power of Corruption must by a holy kind of Violence be removed before any spiritual power can be imprinted upon the soul wherby it may put forth any spiritual act First I say There is no violence offered to the Faculty of ãâã ãâã For that as it hath been proved before is a capable subject both of Grace and Sin successively and in order as the air is capable of light and darkness indifferently and the one being removed the other is entertained with ease and readiness without any compulsion there needs none it requires none here As the same wax wil receive several and contrary impressions at several times so the soul which hath been made partaker of the image of God is also capable of the print impression of the image of old Adam when once the gracious disposition hath been defaced it 's capable of receiving the impression of Gods Image again when once Adams image is dispossessed Yet Secondly There must be a holy kind of violence offered unto Corruption before it can be dispossessed and removed and so way and room made for the entertainment of Faith and Christ thereby Reasons are Either Corruption must by violence be taken away or else it wil naturally and of its own accord go away and depart from the soul. For it hath been in the former Conclusions manifected That there must be a spiritual power put into the will before it can put forth a ãâã act And while Corruption takes place there is no place of entertainment ãâã this spiritual ability therefore Corruption must be removed by violence Naturally it wil not go away therefore by
constraint it must be forced away It wil not depart away of its own accord because of the ãâã and naturalness it ãâã to the heart in which it is The Eye wil not go out of the head in which it is seated unless it be plucked out The hand wil not fal off from the body unless it be cut off The Soul would not willingly forsake the Body unto which it is received and in which it takes up its abode unless by some ãâã ãâã which breaks the union betwixt it and the body it being driven away and forced away Now our lusts in our hearts are like the Members in our bodies Col. 3. 6. They are tender as the eye ãâã as the hand as dear as our souls yea even the soul of our souls and life of our lives while we are and remain in our natural and corrupt estate Therefore they must by constraint be driven out they wil not go out yea it is against Reason and in truth cross to common Sense That the quality should of its own nature ãâã from the subject they who have agreement one with another should as enemies and as ãâã as be at ods and difference go from the other and this is the Condition and Disposition ãâã ãâã the nature of man they are in the neerest League of love one with another and therefore of themselves as in truth they cannot so they would not depart one from another Jer. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots Then may you also which are ãâã to do evil They are not spots that are taken occasionally or sootiness that is smeared upon them but they issue out of their natural Constitution and the very seed which they are made of and therefore their nature must be altered before they can be removed Look we at the Opposition between the Spirit of Grace that doth remove the Corruption and the ãâã it ãâã that is removed And we shal ãâã have ãâã Evidence and that ãâã of the former Conclusion One Contrary drives away another out of the subject in which it is by Constraint and Violence But the work of the Spirit as contrary to Sin drives it out of the soul in which it is seated as in its natural subject therefore this must be done with violence The first part is plain by the Principles of ãâã ãâã received i. e. That the ground of al Constraint is that crosiness and contrariety between the ãâã of things and their actions every thing is ãâã to that which is sutable to its own nature our ãâã it s own proper power and inclination there needs no constraint to make the Fire burn the ãâã ãâã roar and ãâã things to descend a Wolfe to prey and raven But to make heavie things to ascend the Lion to be as mild as a Lamb the ãâã as harmleis as a Kid there must be a strong hand of an almighty power to make such a change and by a kind of violence to ãâã the crossness and ãâã which carries these in professed opposition The second part is as ãâã out of pregnant proof from Scripture which settles it as sure as Mount Zion Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the Law of Sin and Death There is a Soveraignty of ãâã rule set up in the Soul and therefore it gives Law to the whole man for that is the prerogat ve of a supream Commander Now there is a Repeal of these Laws a Crushing and a Conquering of the Supream power by the Spirit of Life in Christ which therefore disannuls al those Edicts and Commands that Carnal sensual Lusts of the Old man had thus set up and erected 2 Cor. 10. 3 4 5. The Weapons of our warfare are mighty through God When the Gospel carries the power of God with it to ãâã it flings down the strong holds that ãâã themselves against Christ and ãâã every ãâã to the obedience of Christ. Thus it ãâã ãâã ãâã Corruptions And this is done in way of Contrariety Gal. 5. 17. The Spirit lusts against ãâã ãâã and the flesh against the spirit and these two are contrary And therefore it s termed a Fight and ãâã Rom. 7. 23. I see another law in my Members rebelling against the Law of my mind ãâã carrying of me ãâã Fighting is ãâã with ãâã and violence where there is ãâã and Enmity there is ãâã and ãâã not kindness and perswasion only Such is the Work here Look we at the Nature of the Work That also wil of necessity require as much Whether ãâã Sin or Satan the Dominion of the ãâã is ãâã and the Power of the other ãâã and ãâã of these can be brought about but by a ãâã of violence 1 The Dominion of Sin The Lord now quels and crusheth utterly that soveraignty and supremacy it hath formerly exercised over the sinner So the Apostle Rom. 6. 14. brings in this as the ground of that spiritual deliverance from the authority of our Distempers Sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the Law but under Grace When ever we be come under the Covenant of Grace and the Lord Jesus the second Adam ãâã us and begets us to himself as soon as we are of the seed of that Covenant he thereby takes off that dominion unto which we were formerly subject while we were under the Covenant of the Law broken it did break us and deliver us to the authority of our Distempers This was typed by the year of Jubile under the Old Law when the Slave or Servant was freed from his Masters rule and claim and therefore when our Savior is promised as he that should bring Jacob ãâã unto God and so become light and salvation to the Ends of the Earth Isa. 49. 5. 8 9. To be the head of the Covenant of Grace And that which is added is marvellous strange To establish the Earth and to cause to inherit the desolate places That restauration which comes by Christ it brings a new face or frame upon the Creatures even those that are of the most despicable condition desolate persons and hearts and lives when wicked men and their waies are like wildernesses overgrown with weeds Then the Lord ãâã to the prisoners go forth and to such as are in darknest shew your selves They that were buried and over whelmed with the dimness of their own distempers and delusions they should come out of the Dungeon and Grave of darkness Be revealed the word is in the Pastive the Truth should be revealed in you to you to give you a light you had not to act you and carry you to see that you did not your selves should be revealed to your selves and your sins to your souls the first is a power put into them the second an act wrought in them and by them the word in the Original signifying both So that though they might be pursued by their sins they should never
helps or if they be used in any other Order than that he hath ordained these are disorderly perverted and abused and made unserviceable to do their work or attain their end And yet when the power of al these is improved to affect the Will and stir and provoke it but not change it it is never savingly brought home to God So Moses touching the Condition of the Israelites Deut. 4. 34. Compared with Deut. 29 4. Did ever God assay to take a people to himself with signs and wonders and great temptations and out of the heavens he made thee to hear his voyce that he might instruct thee What then was wanting He suited them with al miraculous expressions of his Love and Mercy but this was ãâã To this day he hath not given thee a heart And if he give you al Mercies beside tryed you with al Corrections pursued with miraculous Expressions of his power and faithfulness if yet he give ãâã a new heart al that ever he shal give wil never do you good So the Prophet when he was appointed and fitted in an especial manner having his tongue touched with a Coal from the Altar when he was furnished with gracious abilities from Christ to dispense the Word yet al was to make their ears heavie and their hearts fat and their eyes blind that they should not see nor beleive nor be converted Isa. 6. 7 8. And therefore the Apostle when he had given the doom upon those back-sliders he ads We are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation which these did not ãâã 6. 9. If al Means and Helps that can be used in way of Moral Perswasions are wholly incongruous and utterly unable to work upon the Corrupt heart of man then there is no congruity of such Perswasions that can savingly Convert or Call the Soul or draw the sinner to Christ But al Means in way of Moral Perswasions that can be used are indeed wholly incongruous and utterly unable to work upon the corrupt heart of a sinner unto his Conversion but they reach not the Distemper or Cause of a mans misery and therefore can never do the Cure For these are to Call forth the power a man hath into act whereas the ãâã wants al spiritual power whereby ãâã may be enabled to put forth any act that may be acceptable unto God Rom. 5. 6. When we were without strength and the Apostle doth not say We have some sufficiency to think a good thought if some Arguments were suggested to draw it out but doth plainly and peremptorily affirm That all our sufficiency is from God and therefore none firstly of our selves 2. Cor. 3. 5. How silly was it incongruous to common sense to provide the sweetest sounds and choicest musick to delight a deaf man To present the pleasingest colours to affect and please him that is blind to set the most soveraign cordials and the most curious rarities and dainties before a dead man to refresh him Yet such is the Condition of every natural man touching the things of Grace He is deaf and hears not blind and sees not dead and relisheth not any thing that appertains unto his peace unless then you give him a new soul whereby he may live al outward services are utterly unsuitable to his Condition In a word this quaint devise of the Jesuit is so far from any sap or any real subtilty in it that the Opinion quite contrary in a true sense is most consonant to the truth The Means then appointed and used in Providence by the Lord may be attended in a double respect either in regard of the end the Lord aims at and the effect he intends and so it is true the Means which the Lord hath Ordained carry Congruity and and suitableness for the attainment of his own end and accomplishment of his own work But Secondly If we look at the corrupt Heart and Nature and Will of man which is now to be subdued and his darling Corruptions now to be removed from him then it is most certain the Means which the Lord hath Ordained and useth for his Conversion carry not any Congruity but a Contrariety to his corrupt heart and Will That which must expel and ãâã Corruption in the heart that must not have ãâã but a ãâã to it But the Means which the Lord ãâã to Call and draw ãâã are to destroy and expel the Corruption therefore they must ãâã not a Congruity but a Contrariety and crossness to them That Question which is attended with so many tedious ãâã is from the former Doctrine ãâã and Concluded and that undeniably and because ãâã doth ãâã properly to this place I shal ãâã Express it Hence then it Follows The Power of Grace put forth in the Work of Conversion is irresistable When I say Irresistable We mean not that the Corrupt Heart doth not Oppose and resist the Operation of the Spirit and the ãâã of the Ordinance for whilest that ãâã is ãâã it cannot but labor the preservation of it self and therefore cannot but oppose the power of Gods Spirit which works the destruction of it But this is the meaning It cannot so prevail as to ãâã Gods intent or to prejudice the work of his Grace as that it should not find ãâã in the ãâã of the sinner or hinder his ãâã home to Christ This Collection in ãâã ãâã is ãâã Demonstratively and undeniablely from the former Doctrine That Grace which takes away the power of Resistance stirred up by Satan or the Corrupt Heart of a Sinner that cannot be resisted But the Grace of God put forth in Preparation and drawing doth by ãâã ãâã ãâã of ãâã take away the power of resistance in the ãâã Heart of a Sinner and therfore it cannot be resisted Hence it Follows again in the Fifth Place Wheresoever there is spiritual sufficiency of Grace there is also spiritual efficacy put sorth ãâã work of ãâã These Two go hand in hand in this ãâã of God and are either the same really or do ãâã accompany one another And I therefore mention this Collection not only ãâã of the ãâã of it as that it needs to be unfoulded and apprehended aright especially considering ãâã is the proper seal unto which it must be referred where his stock and ãâã may be observed and where his ãâã ãâã be Disputed and ãâã But ãâã I ãâã it Convenient to take the more ãâã ãâã thereof ãâã of the special Benefit and Use thereof The right ãâã of this makes ready way for the cleer ãâã of the Delusions of the Jesuits which they have invented and set up as blinds in the way that men might not see the ãâã of the Lord and set forth and acknowledge the power and Glory of his ãâã Nay it hath found favor with some who otherwise follow the ãâã and that truly in their ãâã of the drawing of God ãâã according to their divers Apprehensions they set down Explications of their own Thoughts
from his Cups the Adulterer from the arms of his Queans and the worldly man from all the snares of the world the Lord can do it and wil do it also for those that belong to him therefore to that God look ãâã that Christ look who hath said it and can do it he can do it for thee as wel as for any other A Third ground of Discouragement which the sinner finds and that is the worst of al viz. The stiffness and stubbornness of his own heart he cannot blame the Devil for ãâã of him or the world for snaring of him he sayes and knows his heart is as bad as Hell it self he hath courted and desired temptations his heart hath been lingering and hankering after them and had not God been merciful to him he had lived and lien and perished for ever in his sins Nay though there were no ãâã to tempt nor world to allure yet I have a heart like a dunghil that steams up continually noysom abominations Nay that that 's worst of al If after al the Mercies I have abused and sins committed I had a heart that could repent there was some hope but Oh! the stiffness and knottiness of this heart of mine I have had Conscience checking of me and the Minister reproving of me and the Spirit of God striving with me but Oh! I have a hard heart that cannot repent And this is the plague of al plagues worse than the Devil and Hell it self How shal I help my self here Moral Perswasions Alas my heart spurns at them all and makes nothing of them al I have had the Minister speaking to my soul and the flashes of Hell in my face and yet alas such is the desperate frame of my heart that I wil have my sins or ãâã die for it What wil al Moral Perswasions and Congruity of Means do here Alas the Heart scorns al As in the Case of a man who fell into deep distress and horror of Conscience ãâã he had ãâã the sin against the Holy Ghost lying in that a twelve month together and the Lord let loose the ãâã of his own Spirit upon him that he often thought to lay violent hands upon himself but this was al that he had to support himself in that sad time my Salvation is not in mine own hand it is not in my Will but in Gods Will It is not in him that Wills or in him that Runs but in God that shews mercy Jam. 1. 18. Of his own Will he hath begotten us by the word of truth He that made the Will can only Convert the Will Oh! then bless God that hath taken our Salvation into his own hand for if it were in our hands if it were left to our Wills we should never have it This is that that may uphold the heart in the midst of al the heavie temptation which wil ãâã or last seize upon the hearts of men Again Secondly It is matter of Consolation to al the faithful who have found this work of God upon their souls it wil afford them ground of glorious support to fence and fortifie their souls against the dayes of difficulty and times of distress against what ever discouragements or desertions may ãâã them from within what ever assaults or temptations may press in upon them from without in the following Course of their lives in future times From hence they may promise themselves assistance and deliverance without fail and certainly expect it What ever the temptations be they shal never prevail against them what ever the power and strength of their Corruptions be they shal never be able hurtfully to overcome them If God the Father have once drawn them to his Christ when they did nothing but oppose this work al the power of Hell shal never be able to with-draw them from the Lord Jesus when they desire to cleave to him and to be His. He that plucked me away from my sin with a holy kind of violence when I loved it as my life and was loath to part with it will he deny his ãâã to me when I strive against it He that forced his Mercy upon me when I resisted it in the dayes of my folly and wretchedness when I resolved I would none of him wil he deny me Mercy when he hath given me a heart to beg and prize it He that sought me and drew me when I forsook him wil he not embrace and entertain a poor Creature when I seek and sue for acceptance from him Thus the Apostle disputes and cleers himself with much boldness and assurance of invincible success and he gains and gets the higher ground of his Fears and Discouragments Rom. 5. 6. 9. If Christ died for us when we were of no strength nay when we were ungodly How much more being Justified by his Death shall we be saved from wrath through him for if when we were enemies we were reconciled how much more shal we be saved by his life If when we had no strength he rescued us from the hand of Hell and Sin and when Enemies reconciled us when he hath given us strength and made us his Friends wil he not for ever releive and succour us yea much more sayes the Apostle he gets upon the higher ground and triumphs over al the enemies of our salvation as knowing he should certainly be Assisted against them al. Thus Samuel shored up the dismayed and sinking hearts of the Rebellious Israelites when the Lord had thundred out his displeasure against them by reason they had wretchedly and treacherously and unfaithfully rejected the Lord and his gracious Government when they would not beleive Samuels words he tels them That God would thunder out his threatnings from heaven 1 Sam. 12. 17 18. c. And when the people saw the lightning and heard the thunder and then saw the hamousness of their sins and feared what heavy punishment they might expect from so terrible a God Then they that cared not for his words and Counsels crave his Prayers Oh pray for us say they for we have sinned and to all our other sins have added this in asking for a King Samuel to prevent the deadly symptom of desperate Discouragement which would drive them from the Lord and so from their own Comfort heads You have indeed sinned yet turn ye not aside from following the Lord And again he ads Turn not aside unto vain things that cannot help And he gives this as a ground For the Lord will not forsake his People for his great Names sake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people He that out of Mercy made you his people when you were not he wil not forsake you when he hath called you to him As the Elders of Israel Reasoned when they were to War with Jehu in the defence of their Masters Sons 2 King 10. 4. Behold two Kings could not stand before him how shall we Let this be thy comfort and undoubted evidence of succour and deliverance
him before the Lord in the use of the Ordinances lay him down before him and tell him what his Case is what a blind mind and what a hard heart he hath and how he is possessed with a Devil of pride and self-willedness and resistance against God and Grace and say It is with thee alone O Lord to work upon him Thus we should use al the Means we can to draw others to Jesus Christ. Here is also a word of Exhortation to the Unconverted such as are not yet Called You are to be entreated That as ever you desire to see the face of God in Christ as ever you desire to gain Evidence of Gods love here and happiness in another world be sure of this That you come under the Call of God This work of drawing is Gods proper work come therefore under his hand when doles are stirring every man goes to that door So here It is not in Man nor in Ordinances that 's true but there God dispenseth it Rom. 1. 16. The Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation And if the Lord draw by his Spirit in his Ordinances repair thou to his Ordinances for ever It is the Lord only that makes his Call effectual therefore come under ãâã Call of his in his Ordinances It is God only that doth this work in us ãâã us It is not in our power to help our selves therefore better sit still then rise and fall why ãâã we endeavor that we can never do I do not say thou canst do the work but do ãâã go to him that can do it Thou sayest thou canst ãâã go I confess thou canst not as a Christian but ãâã I exhort unto is Do what thou canst as a man improve those Faculties and Parts and Gifts that ãâã yet left in thee and come under and keep ãâã the Call of God God meets his People in the ãâã of his worship in the use of the Ordinances which he appoints therefore go thou thither to meet with him Thou hast an Ear to hear the word therefore thy feet can carry thee to other places let them carry thee to the house of God that mind and memory of thine can meditate upon other things ãâã it meditate upon the word and fasten upon the truth and the reasons thereof I do not say thou ãâã pray so as to please God but pray still who know but God may help thee thou canst confer ãâã things of no profit and remember idle things of ãâã worth nay such as leave a taint of Corruption ãâã Pollution upon thy soul use that mind and ãâã thoughts and that tongue of thine about the ãâã of God and Jesus Christ. Thou mayest do this ãâã shouldest do this Attend further these Two Directions Present thy self before God in the use of ãâã Means of Grace and when thou art there ãâã thy own abilities either to do good to thy self or ãâã receive good from God in al the Means that are appointed for thy good Say therefore Lord it ãâã not in Man or Means to do any good to my soul ãâã ãâã heart here and be sure thy soul be rightly ãâã of it And mark what Balaam said Lo I ãâã come now have I now any power at all to say ãâã thing Numb 22. 38. So say thou Here 's a ãâã mind a dead heart a damned soul I live to ãâã and hear that that thousands desired but never ãâã but now I am here Lord have I any ãâã to receive any good from any of the Ordinances ãâã Lord the work is thine do al for thy Servants ãâã receive al the Glory from me you think you ãâã a large understanding to catch the reason of the ãâã and a strong memory and can recount what ãâã hear and you go for a right Godly man because ãâã hear and repeat and profess c. Thou mayest ãâã al this be utterly destitute of any saving work ãâã thy soul thou hast the out-side but thou canst ãâã come at the kernel the sap the sweet the good of the Ordinances therefore say thus I can hear ãâã Word blessed be thy name and I am able to remember and repeat and to discourse of the things of God but Oh! the power of God to work upon my ãâã that I want here 's a blind mind and a dead ãâã a lame heart Lord work upon it and draw ãâã to thy self and that effectually It was ãâã speech 2 Chron. Chap. 20. Vers. 12. when ãâã had Mustered up all the Forces of ISRAEL Yet sayes he We have no strength nor do ãâã know what to do but our eyes are unto ãâã So shouldest thou say for thou mayest have ãâã strength and moral strength but spiritual ãâã to hear profitably and savingly and to bring ãâã fruit unto God this is not in any mans power of himself Therefore say it and acknowledge it Lord though I do what I can yet I have no strength ãâã do I know what to do but mine eyes are unto ãâã When you are got hither and keep here be sure now not to leave the Ordinances of God before you find some power beyond the power of Ordinances and Man and Means leave them not till you find the almighty power of God working upon your souls As the Woman that labored of the Bloody-issue and had ãâã al she came and desired Oh! that ãâã might touch the Hem of the Garment of Christ and she felt in her self she was made whole Mat. 9. 21. 22. Thou knowest the pride and peevishness ãâã uncleanness of thy Nature the bloody-issues of corruption in thy soul that nor word nor Ordinances could help thee to this day thou hast spent all and done al thou canst do in the use of Means and yet the issue is the proud heart the carnal heart the unclean heart remains still taken aside by ãâã ãâã still what will you do now you are in the croud of Means and Helps but say Oh! the Hem of the Garment of Jesus That Vertue and Power may come from Jesus Christ ãâã work upon this Soul ãâã mine But how shal I know that Answ. When you see the Ordinance so upon your soul really as you see it in your understanding and judgement when you find it in the work of it upon your heart as you apprehend it in the letter of it And ãâã you shal ãâã the work really done and your heart bowed and loosened from those base Distempers you never touch Jesus Christ until you find it so Therefore as the Widdow whose Child was dead when Elisha sent his Servant she was not contented with that but sayes As the Lord lives and ãâã thy soul ãâã I will not leave thee 2 Kings 4. 30. The man came and the staffe was laid but ãâã Child was dead till the Prophet came and the power of God came along with him and then ãâã Child arose Let me leave this upon Record for ever amongst you This effectual drawing and quickning of the
thought nor expectation that thou shalt receive any Grace nay that Grace that thy rebellious and proud heart hath opposed and resisted will work thy own ruine Thou art the mark of Gods direful indignation and vengeance he plants all his Forces against thee If all the Wisdom in Heaven can contrive thy confusion all the Power in Heaven work it all the Justice there determine it it shall be done God is nigh to them that are of a contrite heart he saveth such as be of a broken spirit Psal. 34. 18. true and mark it Of such but such thou ãâã not such thou deridest scornest whose hearts fail them under the weight of their abominations thou lookest at them as mopish silly despicable men well such you shall see saved for ever when such untamed ãâã proud wretches as thou art shall be turned into Hell But we do see our ãâã and have had many girds and galls of Conscience for them True It may be there hath ãâã some blows upon thine heart Conscience it hath ãâã thee the ãâã of the Word it hath laid ãâã ãâã but it ãâã not broken thy heart to this day ãâã that is thus ãâã to go no further now than the very expression of the Text. If thy soul be beaten to ãâã with this oppression of thy distempers for so this brokenness of heart was opened before then as it is with the hardest flints when they are broken to dust they are easily ãâã and give way to take the impression of the hand or whatever is laid upon them The stone which out of its hardness before opposed and started aside from the strongest ãâã ãâã was laid now it s turned into dust the least and easiest touch leaves a print and impression upon it so it is expounded as appears in this opposition 2 Chron 30. 8. Be not stiff-necked but yield your selves Observe then is it so when the power of the Word comes the Scriptures are pregnant Arguments ãâã ãâã sweet ãâã sharp and ãâã yet ãâã heart shifts and starts aside and hits back the Authority of the truth which thou canst not gain-say The heart may be battered but it was never broken it may be over powred and awed but it was néver humbled to this day It s that of Prov. 3. 32. The froward in heart is an abomination to the Lord but the upright he that lies level and bows to the Truth are his delight A froward man that is he that turns off from the Authority of the Truth Is this thy temper thy heart was never broken to dust to this day but frampful and froward know thou art an abomination to the Lord. If thou shouldst go to Heaven to dwel there truly God would go out of Heaven he would not dwell with thee Pharaoh is the pattern of all proud Hearts he hardened himself in his wickedness against the Word of the Lord. But a broken and humble heart either lies right or will come right it will come to that bent of the ãâã that is revealed Hard things makes that which is ãâã soft to assimilate to them easie and yielding things assimilate to whatever they close so Water in a round Vessel ãâã that form in a three square Vessel takes that ãâã ãâã ãâã To teach us to delight in such to desire the ãâã of such as are ãâã and humble men ' to dwel there where God dwels seem their persons never so mean their conditions never so base their estates never so low themselves never so despitable yet if they be men of broken Spirits God is with them Go into their Societies as men that resolve to go to the Court for where the King is the Court is and where God is Heaven is the Lord hath two Thrones the one of Glory in Heaven where he is all in all to his another here on Earth an humble heart where he doth all only of himself and for himself Therefore as they in Zachary 8. last Ten men shall lay hold on the skirt of a Jew and they shall say we will go with you for we have ãâã God is with you Much more here for the Lord is not only with humble hearts but he dwels in them we should therfore entertain such Servants into our Families such Inhabitants into Plantations and such Members into Congregations for so you entertain God himself Resolve as Ruth to Naomi Entreat me not to forsake thee for where thou ãâã I will live thy people shall be my people thy God my God where thou diest I will die and there will I be buried and nothing but death shall part thee and me Nay go further ye blessed Spirits say death shall not part us I will be broken-hearted with you and humble with you and God shall dwel in us and we shal dwel with him in Heaven for ever Oh now ye are right keep here and be happy here for ever Exhortation To perswade us all and to prevail with us to take the right way to enjoy Gods presence not only to seek for mercy but seek it in Gods Order not only to covet Gods presence but in Gods ãâã labor to be humble and broken-hearted Christians then expect we may that the Lord will manifest the presence of his Grace and Spirit with us and in us but not else Every man catcheth at Christ and Mercy and Comfort but not in a right Method and therefore they lose him and their labor also This is Gods order First be humble and broken and then he will revive your Spirits with his presence 2. Cor. 6. 19. Come out from among them and touch no unclean thing then I will receive you and be a Father to you In a word strive to enter in at the straight Gate of Contrition and Humiliation and then you will hit the right way to Christ and eternal Life The Tenth Book ACTS 2. 37. And when they heard this they were pricked in their Hearts and said unto them Men and Brethren what shall we do THere be two Things especially observable in that disposition of Heart which the Lord requires and works in those he will draw to Christ ãâã and Humiliation The necessity of both these we declared the last day as that they were not only to be looked at for complement and conveniency but such as are of necessity required that the heart may be fitted for the impression of Faith and by it for the entertainment of the Lord Christ for if the sinner be so settled in secure Contentment of his own condition as that he thinks he need not change or if he must he is so confident of his own ability that he can change himself and out of himself and out of his own strength relieve himself he wil never go out to another for succor and supply Contrition loosens a man from his sin makes him see an absolute necessity to be another man or else he is a damned man Humiliation loosens a man from himself makes him see an
utter insufficiency in what he hath or doth for to procure the least spiritual relief unto his soul now the Coast is cleer that Faith may come to us and we by that be enabled to come to Christ. We are now to pursue these two according to the order propounded And first of the former the Sum of which Work may thus be described Contrition is that Preparative Disposition of Heart when by the sight of sin and the punishment due to the same the soul is brought to sound sorrow for it and so brought to detest it and to sequester it self from it The Description stands upon two Passages mainly I. The Causes which bring in this Contrition 1. Sight of Sin 2. Sorrow for Sin II. The Effects which nextly discover this and whereby it comes to be known 1. Detestation of Sin 2. Sequestration from sin And here I desire that still may be remembred which I mentioned and discovered before That all these are things rather wrought upon us by the impression and motion of the Spirit than performed by any inward principle and habitual power of Grace received and this the manner of the expressions in the words of the description plainly intimates the soul brought to see his sins brought to forrow for them brought to detest them and sequester it self from them For the sinner would not look upon the loathsomness of his soul and the filth of his sinful distempers but the Lord laies it before him and holds his apprehension to it follows him with the remembrance of it and forceth his thoughts to give attendance thereunto Psal. 51. 3. My sin is ever before me which way soever he turns his thoughts his sins stared him in the face and were full in his view they dwelt with him and were dayly in his presence that where ever he was they were he could not look off from them look which way he would 2. The sinner would shake off the sorrow that now seizeth upon him and seems to overbear him like a mighty stream he labors to beat back the blow and to make an escape from under the stroke of the Truth that stabs and wounds his heart with the direful expression of Gods displeasure and dreadfulness of the evil that doth attend him but he can neither avoid it nor remove it neither keep himself from the wound nor cure it Psal. 40. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me that I cannot look up a similitude taken from the Prey that flies from the Pursuer though he would have fled from the terrors of the Almighty wrested and rescued himself from under the attachment yet they overtake him and take such hold of him that he cannot escape Psal. 38. 2. Thine Arrows stick fast in me and thine hand presseth me sore he would have plucked out the Arrows of Gods indignation but his skil and strength failed him he could not be eased they could not be removed from him until at length the soul feeling the wrath of the Almighty and seeing no way to avoid an everlasting separation from the Lord if yet his sins be entertained by him being thus pressed by the power of that undeniable Truth which laies open the loathsomness of his sin and makes him feel the bitterness thereof he is carried with detestation against it and driven to make a sequestration from it Of the fuller meaning of both these when we shal come to the particular scanning of them in their proper place For the ground of my following discourse I have taken the words of the Text in which you have the grounds and hints of all the former Truths not implyed only by way of collection but expresly ãâã down and professedly aimed at as evidently discovering the manner of Gods dealing herein The knowledg of their sins set down with the Causes thereof when they heard these things Hearing not that every hearing or bare hearing would serve the ãâã for it 's beyond question that thousands do and many there did hear those savory Truths seasonably dispensed by Peter which were never either throughly convinced nor had their hearts in any manner affected therewith the meaning therefore must needs be this When by their hearing they rightly discerned and cleerly conceived those things i. e. the nature of those sins which Peter had discovered and charged so punctually upon them Let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. When they so heard that they yielded and assented fully to that which was ãâã peremptorily ãâã by the Apostle then they were pricked to the heart We have then here the fight and knowledg of their sin together with the Causes by which they came to attain it and those were here intimated in the words Their Conviction in that they stood here indited and accused by Peter and condemned in their own Consciences that they were the guilty persons guilty of no less than the blood of the Lord Jesus the Son of God and Savior of the World who is now advanced at Gods right hand as Lord and King and shall come in flaming fire as a Judg to condemn them for their bloody sins who came in the flesh as a Redeemer to save them from their sins But they rejected him and their own mercy and safety and this saies the Apostle admits no opposition no disputation at all Let the House of Israel know assuredly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It 's a Truth that stands as Mount Zion that cannot be stirred it is beyond all cavelling questioning doubting ãâã all probability or ãâã to be other a Truth not subject to any slipping or uncertainty so the word signifies The particular application that the Apostle here useth of their special sins he doth not hover in generals shoot at rovers but le ts fly point blank in the faces of them This Jesus whom ye have crucified He names not any other blames not any other now saies not ãâã was a wretch that betraied Christ the Soldiers cruel and injurious that took him and bound him Pilate ãâã fearful and unjust that condemned him he will not now speak to men absent but you are they that crucified him you that cried let his ãâã ãâã ãâã us you shall have blood enough plagues enough this particular application sets hard ãâã deep they heard these their sins thus ripped up and themselves arrested for them There is a serious ãâã and attention here also implyed The word is in the Participle Hearing noting a continued act Hearing bearing these sadly attending and pondering of them in their thoughts they came then to be pierced Thus we have the sight of their sins here laid open to us together with the Causes thereof The second thing in this contrition is sound and through sorrow and that is expressed in the next Phrase they were pierced not in their eyes only which made them weep but in their hearts which made them bleed inwardly with Godly sorrow Their
many prayers promises resolutions continues still yet it may be otherwise saies Hope this holds up the head from sinking the heart from failing But despair takes away this you have tried used the means expected help but you see it comes to nothing nay there is no hope it will ever be set your heart at rest it will never be This stops all the passages that there is no hope for any good or comfort to accrue to the soul. This is the Instrument of death whereby the Enemy at once makes an end of the very life of our comfort The hope of Salvation is made the Helmet of a Christian so the Apostle 1 Thes. 5. 8. Put on the Breast-plate of Faith and Love and for an Helmet the Hope of Salvation Well-grounded evidence and assurance of Gods Love in Christ is as it were the head and the highest top of a Christians comfort hope is the Helmet for when our sence and feeling experiences and performances yea our hearts fail in regard of any present sweet or refreshing we have yet hope saies it may be it will be better hereafter and this holds the aking head of a Christian The Devil who ever fights at the head labors to shake our assurance and comfort and if he can dash a mans hopes by despair he kils him dead in the head there is no help nor recovery to be looked for know this and be wary and wise for after times 2. As it dams up the way and stops the passage that there is no possibility of any good to come so it deads all a mans endeavors takes off the edg of a mans abilities puts all out of joynt and off the hooks that there is no striving after a good when there is no hope to attain it All men that are carried by counsel if not fools or mad-men they ever have an end in their eye at which they look and for which they labor this is the white they shoot at the price they run for for this they devise and contrive means and use what they have attained improve what they take in hand in hope the end they have attended may be brought about Now where there is no hope which ãâã casts off there is no good to be expected therefore no possibility to attain our end therefore no reason to attend our labor in that behalf Why should I se k saies the despairing man when I have no hope to find Why should I spend my labor in praying hearing reading improving any Ordinance when there is no possibility I should speed that ever God should help or hear or bless as good sit still as rise and fall So Cain when he had laid that desperate conclusion My sin is greater than can be forgiven he flies into the Land of Nod drowns himself in sensual delights but forsakes the Lord. The Hope of Good is the Load-stone of a mans labor it carries on our course with speed and resolution So they in Jonah 3. 9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not Therefore do these two things Let not Satan make conclusions from our weaknesses nor do thou listen to them nor beleeve them if he should make them We should be wary not to suffer our selves to be deluded by his false collections Thy Conscience saies thy corruptions are strong and many and of long continuance therefore there is no hopes saies Satan Temptations are violent and subtil saies thy experience thou feelest them so therefore there is no expectation of relief or abatement saies Satan the inference is unreasonable and grosly false the sins of Manassah Paul these Converts in the Text were such and yet such received the work of Grace and Mercy also therefore listen not to him who is the father of lyes Look not to the power of means we do enjoy the abilities we have the performances we take up for we shall find them all broken staves and bruised ãâã they will not only break under us but pierce us ãâã they will fail us and our hearts also there is no sufficiency for our succors and therefore no sound ground of Hope But we should keep our eye constantly and continually upon the sufficiency of Gods saving health and incomprehensible power Who is able to do abundantly above all that we can ask or think Eph. 3. 20. Do you not see saies the Enemy the means do not work your prayers do not profit the abilities you have and the endeavors you take up serve rather to encrease your sin than to help you they nor you are able to subdue the least sin to gain the least assurance not able to procure the least peace True be it so Yet God is able Thus our Savior to his Disciples dismayed with the difficulty of the work Lord say they who then can be saved he answers With man it is impossible but not with God for with God all things are possible Matth. 19. 26. It 's not possible saies Satan so many waies have been tryed so many means used and yet all is in vain Ay but saies Christ though with man and means it is impossible yet with God it is possible Psal. 73. 26. My ãâã fails and my heart fails but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever So much for that Point We are come now to enquire the Particulars expressed in the Description and here also presented to our view And first touching the sight of sin whereby the sinner is made rightly apprehensive of his own corruption and his condition by reason thereof The Point thence is this There must be a true sight of sin before the heart can be truly broken for it A right apprehension goes before through Contrition The Judgment must be rightly enlightened to see the nature of our sins before the heart can be pierced with that sence and sorrow that is meet This is Gods way which he takes in whose hand it is only to do this work Job 36. 8. to 11. When sinners come to be bound in fetters and holden in cords of affliction then he sheweth them their work and their transgressions wherein they have exceeded and then bows their ear to Discipline and commands them to turn from iniquity So repenting Ephraim prosesseth it was the course the Lord took with him After I was instructed I repented Jer. 31. 19. That which the eye sees not the heart rues not that which is not apprehended by the understanding is not affected by the will so in 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. when ãâã word comes home in power and plainness so that the thoughts of his heart come to be discovered he falls down and saies God is in you of a Truth The want of this was the reason why the Woman of Samaria manifested such sawcy impudency and peremptory boldness in her conference with our Savior though she could not be ignorant that those abominable loose haunts of hers would call to
with some Canker it cannot tast nor relish things aright when the right constitution of the Eye is altered by a blow or any putrefying Wen that Breeds there ãâã will perceive nothing nay it cannot So here When the Eye of the understanding hath lost his primitive ãâã and becomes stayned and polluted with putrefying sensual delusions it comes to be Reprobate touching the Doctrin of faith or that which ought to be beleeved not able to relish the truth in a right manner And this their practice gives evidence of beyond all doubt the revelation of the truth which is in way of discovery of corruption and that which would touch them to the quick they are not able nor willing in truth without offence to hear But the power of it to be pressed and persued they are not able to bear but there is present mutiny in their thoughts and apprehensions I say not able to hear with quietness the truths which be of a discovering Nature when our Saviour told them there must be more than an outward formal Communicating with him as the Fathers did eat Manna and are dead but they that would live by him must eat his flesh and drink his Blood they returned this is a hard saying who can bear it John 6. 60. and John 3. 20. He that doth evil cometh not ãâã the light lest his deeds should be reproved yea this is the reason they ãâã darkness rather than light because it suits best with the darkness of their minds and as the very manifestation is tedious to hear so the power of it if pressed and set on they are not able to bear that 's the scope of the Parable Matth. 21. 34. when the Messengers were sent to require fruit that is Holiness they beat some and stoned others and others they abused Acts 7. 51. when ãâã brought the Candle home to their Bed-side and would discover the roots of their corrupt carriages to the Consciences of them all Ye stiff-necked and hard-hearted ye have ever resisted the spirit of the Lord their hearts burst with anger they cast him out and stoned him And indeed hither the Apostle calls us to look as to the Magazine of all mischief the Armory and Ammunition House whence all the distempers and affections of the heart are furnished out to their sinful practices as so many enterprizes they take in hand Eph. 4. 18. they are strangers to the life of God it is because they walk in the vanity of their minds So again in Collos. 1. 21. They were alienated from God and bent upon evil practices and he ads the root and reason of all they were Enemies to God in their minds in their apprehensions or the largest reach of the best reason they had and in this the Apostle makes the Fort-royal in which Satan places and plants all the choycest of his Artillery 2 Cor. 10. 4. there are in the mind of a Natural man strong holds of imaginations which exalt themselves against the knowledg of God The Lord Christ ãâã the understanding to bear that Almighty stroak of his Spirit whereby he destroies the soveraign power of carnal reason and ãâã it to receive the prevailing impression of his spiritual light which searcheth the secrets of sin in the soul. The Conclusion intimates a double work of the Spirit 1. It destroies the soveraignty of carnal Reason 2. It leaves in the room of that an impression of spiritual light and in both these the understanding is meerly passive for so it 's added it 's forced to bear the one it 's fitted to receive the other It destroyes the over swaying Authority of Carnal Reason It was Satans Policy to turn the Understanding from the Lord and attendance to the truth ãâã 3. Hath God said ye shall not eat Oh question it not fear it not Ye shall be as Gods and so she turning aside and perverting the eye of reason to listen to the delusion suggested her light was dimmed and she justly over-born with the force of the falshood presented because she took off her mind from eyeing of the command and turned it to attend the strength of that delusion and was so acted by it she conceived though falsly that it was good to get knowledg when the tasting that fruit was the only means to lose all the knowledg she had and from the abuse of her own mutability her mind becomes perverted from light to darkness from the way of truth which God had found out unto the by-path found out of her own finding Now the Lord Christ who comes to destroy and undo the works of the Devil he begins where Satan ended he turns from darkness he takes down the Supremacy of that carnal Reason by the which all the Sons of Adam in their natural and corrupt condition are constantly both ruled and carried in their whol course and that 's the Reason of the Apostles coupling those two together Eph. 2. 3. speaking of the Conversation of the ungodly he saies they did the wils of ãâã flesh and of their Discourses their carnal reasonings had ever one Oar in the Boat and it 's ever found true there is no man upon knowledg commits a sin but ever he ãâã some pretence of carnal self-deceiving reason why he doth so and therefore it is called the strong hold of Satan and the Lord Christ he first forceth this Fort demolisheth and casteth down the frame of it so that though there be some remainders continue still in the mind while that remains in the body and we in the world yet it 's never made a place of retreat to a ãâã Convert wherein he can ãâã himself and stand it out against any Truth 2 Cor. 10. 4. he puls down strong holds such as are highest and hardest to win and that which is added Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Reasonings of the flesh and nothing but the Power of God can do this the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God For though Adam being in a mutable condition might slide away from the Government of God as well as submit yet after he had withdrawn himself from under the Covenant and Wisdom of God in the Law given him it was just with God to deliver him up to the authority of his inventions and there to stake him down that nothing but the Soveraignty of Christ who had satisfied for this his folly and carnal reasoning should be able to restore him from the power of them This makes me construe the meaning of those words of Paul so as that which best gives in evidence of the dependance ãâã 4. 21 22. If ye have heard and been taught as the Truth is in Jesus then put off the old man c. The Truth as it is in the Bible only or dispensed in any Ordinance or as it was in the Covenant of the First Adam will never do it but as it is in the hand of Jesus
's a five-fold Cause why though sin be so vile and so great an evil yet naturally men do not see it so First The delusion of Satan dazles the eyes of our minds and puts false colors upon Courses paints over the foul face of vice and corruption with the appearance of vertues and so the deluded sinner like Jacob in the darkness of ãâã ãâã takes Leah for Rachel bad for good So the Disciples took their passion for zeal Shall we call for fire from Heaven to destroy the ãâã because of their ãâã dealing as Elias did Our Savior returns You know not what Spirit you are of Luke 9. 55. q. d. it 's your rash anger that transports you not the Spirit of zeal that guides you Judas pretends Providence and compassionate care for the poor when it was to promote his own profit John 12. 6. Lukewarmness goes masked under the name of ãâã licentious wantonness in the abuse of the priviledges of the Gospel goes vailed with the Profession of the Liberty of the Gospel and while they profess they must not be servants to men they serve their own distempered affections Men judg their sins according to the present sence and feeling of the flesh and the verdict of their sensual appetites pass thereupon and sit down under the sentence of their corrupt heaats and they report of things according as they relish them It is ãâã a sinful soul as with a sick body the sick man that is distempered in his ãâã mach and his mouth out of tast and his pallat out of temper he reports of his ãâã and diet he takes as his pallat relisheth it So that in issue he tels you not what in truth it is but how and what he tasts bitter things he calls sweet because they are so to his Tast sweet things bitter because they are so to his sence though far otherwise in themselves So it is with a distempered heart though otherwise gracious if yet it judgeth of them according to the relish of carnal Reason or the present apprehensions their inordinate passions would put upon them Jonah in a feaverish fit of a passionate distemper he strikes he cares not whom falls out with God his Providence nay his Counsel though most seasonably sweetly dispensed to him Dost thou well to be angry Jonah Yea saies he I do well to be angry and that unto death Jonah 4. 9. his passion like the pallat of his sick soul relisheth it so to his own inordinate distemper and so he judgeth it 1 Kings 22. 8. 18. The heart of Ahab was inordinately transported with a venemous hatred against Michaiah and his message though it was no other counsel than the Lord had revealed and he charged him to speak as in his Name yet it is no wise pleasing to his pallat and so he speaks of it Did not I tell thee he would not speak good to me So it was with Asah when the Prophet seasonably and sadly condemned his distrustful carriage 2. Chron. 16. out of an unbeleeving wrathful disposition he cannot relish it but it carries the tast of an insolent contempt and therefore he imprisons him and very likely all those that came to speak for him and plead in his behalf for so the words follow He put many of the ãâã into prison 10. verse while he was in the this distemper his spirit could savour nothing nor yet perceive the bitterness of ãâã hainous and high handed provocations of his against the truth of the Lord and his Servants Though the mind be enlightened and the judgment also convinced of the sinfulness of the course and his Conscience is privy ãâã and gives him many a pluck yet he doth not perceive the plague and venome in it because he judgeth it by the present profit he sees or pleasure he receives from it and so in truth sees the profit and the pleasure and contentment but sees not the sin As it is with the bitterest pills when they are sugred or covered over with some pleasing Conserve they are swallowed readily without the least appearance of distast or ãâã and the reason is easie to conceave ãâã tasted nothing but the Sugar though he took the pill down in it So it is with many base and wretched lusts which are the very gal of bitterness and cary deadly poyson with them they are so Sugared and covered over with applause and credit in the world pleasing contents or earthly conveniences that the mind is so taken up with the sweet and suitablness he eyes in them that it attends not the right judgment of the sin but lets it down without any consideration Sathan playes here the cunning Apothecary and therefore orders his Physick so as he would have it retayned or kept in the Stomach like a potion not cast vomited up again Hence in all his enticements to evil there is nothing but pleasing contents presented that the sin may not be perceived or scant thought upon he shewes the bait but hides the hooke In all his discouragements whereby he would skare and keep off the heart from duty he casts in nothing but difficulties impossibilities hazards and ãâã and ãâã expectation of unsufferable calamities That the dreadfulness of the danger may take off the heart from affecting or the mind from attending the duty thus the sinner sees not the good of the duty but the ghastly visage of desperate inconveniencies that seem to attend it The extorting cozening Chapman the idling laboring man look only to the gaine they get not the wrong they do The Adulterer hath the dilight in his eye that may suit and satisfy the flesh not the stain he leaves upon his soul and the guilt upon his Conscience and the wrath he treasures up until the day of reckoning Thus ãâã Theeves entice their Companion to side with them in their course Prov. 1. 13. we shal find al precious substance we shall fil our ãâã with ãâã so the Harlot inveigles the young man and presents nothing before him but promises of pleasing content Prov. 7. 18. 22. 23. I have decked my bed with coverings of Tapestry perfumed it with Mirrh Aloes and Cinamon come let us take our sil of love Thus she forceth him with her fayre words and he followes ãâã like an Ox to the slaughter and a Fool to the stocks till a dart strike through his Liver and he knoweth not that it is for his Life So the enimy with the first Adam ye shal be as Gods Gen. 3. and ãâã the second Adam Al these Kingdoms with al the Glory of them wil I give thee Math. 4. On the ãâã he ãâã off from holy services by shewing nothing but the ãâã of the evil that attend them that so the soul attends not the good of the duty that follwes it Thus he prevayled with Peter he layd before him the fearfulness of the danger now eminent such as in ãâã might draw on death and his thoughts were so taken up with attendance to
that made thee a little to look about but hath the Lord ever lifted up the latch as though he were resolved to come in hath he layd hold upon and begun to grapple with that Graceless heart of thine and held this ãâã of discovery of sin to thy mind as to constrayn thee to look wishly upon it indeed to see it clearly and convictingly according to that which hath formerly been spoken Know and conclude thou maiest thou art in the right way and the Lord begins to deal with thee as he doth with those that he intends good unto But art thou a stranger to these dispensations of the Lord and tradings with thy mind and heart Thou mayest indeed have notice and hear a rumor of Christ passing by and the excellency of his Grace but of any purpose of making his abode with thee thou never couldst have the least ãâã thereof unto this day How then shall we know whether we fall short of this true sight of sin or no We will take both Particulars mentioned into Consideration that so we may take a true scantling of our own estate and track the Footsteps and Impressions of the work of the Spirit upon our souls I will touch the first in a word and entreat more largely upon the Second to wit Touching the convicting sight of sin because there lies the life and stress of this Doctrine If then we see sin cleerly naked and in it's own Nature namely this resistance and opposition against God as the greatest evil of al other It wil thus be discerned This sight will keep the heart in cold blood from careless adventuring upon the commission of sin You must stil remember my purpose is not to dispute of sanctifying knowledg or to give in evidence of that for we are in this place to look at that light that is let in in this preparative work and this first Branch of it which how far it may go or whether it can agree to an Hypocrite I will not now dispute that only I wil infer from it is beyond exception That in cold blood i. e. Take such a man out of the hurry of a Temptation when he is himself not drunk with some overbearing distemper for then he knows not where he is or what he doth and therefore may adventure to do any thing but when a sinner is come to himself and the sight of his sin as before disputed it wil suffer him carelesly to adventure upon the Commission of that which appears such in his own apprehension even the greatest evil of all The dreadfulness then of this duty apprehended wil drive the soul to a stand and stop the sinner in his proceeding that he dare as well eat his flesh and take a Lyon by the claw and a Bear by the tooth as to have his hand in that which is the heaviest plague of all in his own Judgment There is no man living but as he hath somthing which he prizeth as the chief good in which his soul takes content so the loss of that or that which is contrary to that he looks at as the most unsupportable evil that can betide him That the Soldier should take the lye or challenge and have the contempt of cowardice put upon him and sit stil and not seek to revenge the wrong as he conceives it he cannot bear it That the ãâã yong man should sel his possessions and part with all to the poor it is such an unsufferable loss he will rather part with Heaven the very hearing of it makes his heart heavy and himself to go away sorrowful Mat. 19. 22. Yea that which Nature hath made dear to all to see death before a man and danger such as wil undoubtedly hazard the loss of life how do we fear the thought of it fly the sight avoid the occasion of it didst thou see thy sins and the hellish resistance of thy heart against God to be a greater evil than al these didst thou really judg them such beleeve them as the men of Niniveh did Jonahs threatning Jonah 3. 5. to be such It 's certain it would amaze thy heart that thou wouldest be as loth to rush into evil as thou wouldest be to run upon a Spears point or cast thy self into the mouth of the Lyon to be torn in pieces Take a rebellious sinner beset with the horror of his Conscience so that he sees Hell gaping for him and the Devils ready to seize upon that hellish heart of his how loaths he then the least appearance of those corruptions the evil of which he sees in the punishment only how tender is he to avoid the occasion of them When the evil of thy punishment is now over and out of mind didst thou but know that resistance and rebellion of thy heart against God his Grace his Spirit his Truth aright as greater than all those evils and is now present with thee thou wouldst be so far fearful not heedlesly to adventure upon the practice of it When Judas saw whether his Covetousness had brought him be flung away his thirty pieces Matth. 27. 3. And it 's certain all the Scribes and Pharisees in the Synagogue and all the money in the Country of Judea could not have prevailed with him had they been then tendred to him much more had he seen the ãâã had been a greater evil than the vengeance that did ãâã Acts 19. 16. 19. When the evil spirits prevailed against the seven Sons of Sceva fear fell on them ãâã and many of them had used curious Arts brought their books together and burnt them before them all When the hearts of these Converts were pricked and they craved Counsel what they should do Peter amidst many other Counsels which he suggested ads this verse 40. Save your selves from this crooked generation You that are in Parthia Mesopotamia Phrigia Galatia you ãâã amongst many professed Enemies to the Lord Christ his Truth therefore save your selves from their Society and verse 44. They came and abode together and sold their goods and parted them as every one had need ãâã to this you disobedient Children and rebellious Servants who have the Commands of Parents and Masters Counsels of Servants and Neighbors dayly suggested and pressed upon you listen to this you heedless Professors who have the Word and Precepts of God dayly published in your Ears and proclaimed in your hearing and you go away informed convinced and the heart cannot gainsay but it ought to stoop your carriages should not be wayward your words sharpish your behaviors uncomely and yet you dare you do ãâã carelesly adventure at the next time and ãâã upon the same sins you may talk what others say by ãâã ãâã profess in words that sin is the greatest evil of al but in truth you never saw sin to this day much ãâã saw it to be the greatest evil of al. A little evil were is but the ãâã of so much of thy blood by stripes or the loss of
with him Thus Elimas the Sorcerer Acts 13. 10. when Paul and Barnabas had preached and he labored to turn away the Deputy from the Faith Paul thus speaks to him O full of all subtilty he had a slight of hand to any wickedness why dost thou crook the strait waies of the Lord. He cast in many cavils put in many suspicions and pretences that he might not look at the simplicity of the Truth delivered The word there used in the Original implies a sleight of hand as we cal it when such wily spirits can turn themselves into al shapes to ãâã by the evidence of the Truth so many windings and turnings so many wimblings of devices so many outs and doubtings that may bemist the manifest discovery of a Duty which ought to be done or a sin that ought to be avoided and so in conclusion loseth the Truth and the benefit of it also through Gods just Judgment and their own just deservings So the Scribes dealt touching our Savior when he had cured the Eyes of the blind man John 9. they would have taken him off from the attendance to the work to have slighted the person of our Savior We know say they this man is a sinner c. as it 's said of a Fish called the Sepia when the Fisher-man comes to follow her she casts forth a kind of black humor with which she ãâã the water and puts him to a loss in his proceedings whereas an honest heart that is willing to be convinced he looks most at that where there is most light and most strength and is desirous to attend that which gives in greatest Evidence to overcome the heart So Ely spake to Samuel 1 Sam. 3. 17. bide nothing from me Job 6. 24. teach me and I wil hold my tongue he wil quietly hear al and attend that most which may carry the cause to his Conscience If yet the evidence of the truth be such that he cannot gainsay his mouth is stopped and his reasons are spent he hath nothing to oppose there is a third distemper which is as bad if not worse than the two former A restlesness of spirit to raise new brabbles and quarrels against the determination of the truth which formerly he could not resist When he is caught and held in the strength of Argument is taken captive and prisoner he would fain rescue himself with a restless jangling he sees more and can say more though no man else can see it nor he make good what he pretends He cannot answer yet wil not yield cannot maintain his ãâã yet wil not forsake them As Lawyers they 'l bring the cause about again and have a fresh hearing in this and that Court the reasons are the same and were answered before yet he brings them over again and just in the place where he was his arguments are at an end if his spirit were so but there is more in it he saies and he cannot see through it and yet cannot tell how to prove his own argument or answer anothers these spirits are like quicksilver which yet no man hath attained any skil to fix so the Rulers Elders and Scribes when they knew not how to dash the Glory of the Gospel and the powerful dispensation thereof mark how restlesly the venome of their spirits transported them against reason Acts. 4. 15. 16. 17. they communed amongst themselves saying what shal we do to these men for that indeed a notable ãâã hath been done by them is manifest to all men and we cannot deny it but let us straightly charge them that they speak no more in this name when in reason they should have inferred we cannot deny the Miracle and so not the truth let us not deny the liberty to speak so they in John 9. 24. when it was apparent Christ had cured the man wrought the Miracle and so gained honour in the heart of the man therefore they had fished up and down to weaken that and it would not do It appeared he was blind to his parents that Christ had cured him so himself affirmed then they come to this give God the praise we know this man is a sinner But what is that to the purpose or how know they that he answered whether he be a sinner or no I know not one thing I know wheras I was blind he hath opened my eyes and this was to the purpose Then said they what did he to thee how opened he thine eyes I have told you already c. they are upon the same hinges not stirred a haires breadth Here are no reasons but only wrestlings of stomack we are Moses Disciples but this fellow we know not whence he is If it be so that al these devises against the truth serve not his turn in the fourth place he sets himself against the truth he cares not for argument but he wil stand against the truth and then God in his just judgment leaves him 2 Thes. 2. 18. he gave them up to strong delusions that they might believe lyes that they might be damned because they received not but opposed the truth thus it was with Balaam Numb 24. 1 he went out not as formerly but resolved to Curse Israel whether God would or no and this is to hold down the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1. 18. I told you before that in Conviction when the heart is throughly Convicted it lies stil under the work of God but here the heart opposes the word of God Exo. 10. 28. saies Pharaoh to Moses get thee out of my sight the day thou seest my face thou shalt die Moses saies I wil see thy face no more but God sends to him and kills his first born and afterwards drownes himself It 's certain that if the truth followes a man home to his beloved sin if he be a dog he wil snarl against it and resolve to keep his sin Jer. 44. 16. 17. as the proud men there said as for the word of the Lord thou hast spoken to us we wil not hearken unto thee and if a man goes thus far he is very neer to the sin against the Holy Ghost and if ever God bring him home to himself it is by some strange judgments Exhortation to provoke the desires and quicken the endeavors of al that have heard or read the doctrin delivered opened to lay out their labour that unto the utmost of all their abilities never to give the Lord rest nor rest unto their own souls before they get this true sight of sin if ever they hope to see the work of Gods Grace in their hearts here in this world or to see the face of God in Glory in that other world that is to come Bretheren let not Satan deceive you nor suffer your selves so far to be deluded as to dream of another course or to devise a shorter cut to Grace and Glory for its certain if you do you wil fal short of your hopes and Comforts and all This
him is no darkness John 1. 5. The law is a light and the Commandement a lamp unto our feet Prov. 6. 23. And by the sight of both these we come to have a ful discerning of sin which is opposite to them both Our ignorance of God breeds the ignorance of our own hearts and the hidden waies of wickedness and the cunning conveyances of corrupt distempers which are there in Psal. 14. 1. 2. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God and then it followes they are become abominable he makes bones of no sins at al for herein lies the spiritualness or spiritual evil of sins and that hidden poyson and malignity of the corruption of our natures that they justle professedly against the Almighty so far as he is pleased to communicate himself unto us in the waies of his Holiness and goodness Thus the blasphemer is said to pierce God by his oaths Levit. 24. 11. and the wicked are said to walk contrary to him Levit. 26. to ãâã him to weary him to load him while then we see not him whom we do oppose by our sins no wonder that we neither see nor are sensible of the sins by which we do oppose him Whereas could we grope after the Almighty as the Apostle professeth we may because he is not far from any of us nay in him we live and move in every spiritual action of our minds and hearts So that did but a wicked man or could he perceive that in every thought of his mind motion of his wil stirring of any affection that he did justle with the infinite Holiness and purity of the Lord who meets with him in every action and motion of his mind and wil It were able to sink the soul of a sinful creature and make him sit down confounded in the sight of the loathsomness of his own ãâã nature as being wholly opposite to so infinite a good in all he is or doth thus it was with Job when the Lord had schooled him out of the whirlwind discovered the surpassing excellency of his Glory to him he puts him beyond al pleas of his own worth Job 40. 4. Behold I am vile yea more expresly he gives this as the reason of the discovery of his own wretchedness I have heard of thee by the hearing of the Ear but now mine eye sees thee wherefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes Job 42. 4. So it was with the Corinth who was convinced by the preaching of the Word he saw God before he saw the secret vileness of his own heart presented to his view 1 Cor. 14. 24. God is in you of a truth Search we into the holy Law of God and examine our hearts and lives thereby and see how far they stand guilty of the breach thereof but view the compass of the Law and what is vertually contained therein for though the words are few yet the things are many that are comprehended in them And especially look not at the Letter but at the Spiritual Sense and Mind of the Almighty in each thing there required that the whol heart must close with God and his Will as the chiefest good look at and lift up his Glory as his last end in every duty we do and that we make a breach in al those particulars in every sin we do commit our heart is not with him nor make we choyce of him set not up his Name but seek our own base ends thereby and serve our selves and not him By this narrow search and dayly observation of our dayly course we shal be able to see the frame of our hearts and carriages presented to our view and so discern to the ful the loathsomness of those noysom ãâã that leprosie-like overspreads our whol man Thus James adviseth James 1. 25. that we should look our selves into the Law of Liberty that is a Cristal and cleer Glass and wil discover what is amiss even to a mote the smallest sins and ãâã and that unto their ful view Paul a learned Pharisee he saw more of sin and more of himself by the Law than either ãâã conceived or suspected to ãâã to him Rom. 7. 7. 9. I had not known that lust had been sin but that the Law saith Thou shalt not ãâã nor did he think himself bad or his condition so miserable but when the Law came that is the light and discovery of the Law he perceived his sin alive but himself dead When the Lord in any Ordinance by the Truth shall discover our sins our Conscience shall come in as a witness to ãâã or as a Sergeant and Officer by Commission from the Almighty to arrest and condemn us for any evil we should attend both to see Gods mind to the utmost therein and then it 's certain we shal see We must beware that neither out of carnal fear nor sensual security of our sinful hearts we be willing to lay aside the evidence of the truth as content not to hearken to the Verdict of it ãâã desirous not to listen to the dictate of Conscience but to shake off the Consideration of either lest we should sink down in discouragement It 's certain Truth is terrible and the Dictates of Conscience are dreadful when they come with Commission from the Almighty yet true it is walking humbly under Gods hand we should be so far from fearing the discovery of our sins that we should be comforted in this that they are discovered to us and we should compose our hearts in quietness with the right consideration of the manner of Gods dealing in this kind and commune with our selves on this manner It 's a fearful thing indeed to fall into the hands of the Almighty who is a consuming fire but yet herein the faithfulness of the Lord is seen he deals so with me as he doth with those that he intends good unto he makes His see their sins and that ãâã before they ever see his pardon of them or power against them if he never convinceth he never ãâã He sent his holy Spirit into the World for this purpose to perform the work this is the way to Grace and Christ I bless his Name I am in the way I wil hearken to the Evidence of the Truth that I may understand al that God intends and listen to the checks of Conscience that I may know to the full the Nature of my sin When we have a little inkling either by an Ordinance or Conscience take hold of the least intimation and leave it not until you come to the bottom and perceive the utmost vileness in such a course It was so with David who took hold of the reproof of the Prophet Nathan and though he mentioned but one thing wherein the grosness and greatness of the evil appeared yet hence he took occasion to overlook his whol course to consider every circumstance and to ravel out all until he came to the bottom he confesseth al the falsness of his heart
alas what can Nature do in such a case if God wil not help Is it equal that men be put upon impossibilities or that they should be punished for that which cannot be avoided It 's not in man to direct his own waies to subdue his own sins we are nothing else but a lump of corruption the Lord knows we do what we can and we hope we shal not be condemned for what we cannot do I Answer The Lord knows and thy Conscience knows and the world knows thou speakest a horrible fal ehood or to use the Phrase of Scripture Thou lyest and speakest not the Truth More particularly I answer Four things Thou doest not what thou mayest and canst do ãâã Lord hath left in thee the remainder of many natural abilities hath lent thee the help of many common ãâã and Graces which by Art and Education have grown to some ripeness and thou hast found the strokes of his Spirit partly restraining of thee from evil and constraining of thee to good and thou neither hast nor dost put forth actions and endeavors answerable in any measure It was said of them it 's as true of thee Rom. 1. 21. When they knew God they ãâã him not as God The unprofitable Servant was not condemned so much because he had no Talent but that when he had received a Talent he idled away his time and Talent hid it in a napkin he traded not gained not consequently Matth. 25. 25. This is thy condition thou art in his rank thy sin the same and thy sentence wil be the same thou hast ãâã one but many Talents hath not the Lord given thee a mind to conceive and a memory to retain things why canst not thou lay out these for the Lord and his Truth as wel as to lavish out both in the pursuit of the world and thine own lusts and lying vanities thou mayest read the Bible as wel as other vain Books seek the communion of Saints and thy legs would carry ãâã to them as wel as to riotous company Nay thou art not only faulty in not doing what thou canst but even neglecting ãâã opposing the practice of those Duties unto which thy judgment would carry thee and ãâã constrain thee Rom. 1. 18. thou holdest down the Truth in unrighteousness when thy reason props it thy Conscience provokes and calls this thou shouldest this thou oughtest to do and yet thou neglectest it Yea let thine own Experience give in evidence in this behalf thou laziest away thy time in the waies of thy Calling and the work of the Lord reads not ãâã not prayest not in private recallest not the things heard ãâã not in thy place with meekness but crooked carriages peevish and froward speeches rugged behaviors attend thee in thy dayly course Answer me out of thine own heart Would not so much money hire such reward promised and performed perswade thee to do such duties or reform such sins Would not the fear of some displeasure at least the sharpness of some punishment compel thee to reform outwardly to find thy heart and tongue and mind and force thee to pray and read and recal make thee bite thy lip and compose thy carriage not to speak a cross word or vent a passionate speech Thou wretch doth twenty pound or a whipping post give thee any Grace thou hadst therefore ability which thou never didst improve as thou mightest Secondly Be thy weakness whatit wil be or inability that is not the worst but that which ads to the heap of the ãâã of thy evil and the height of it Thou art not yet WILLING to be made ABLE to receive the grace which the Lord in the Gospel hath prepared and now tenders and would give thee ãâã thou but willing he should Rev. 22. 17. Oh every one that wil let him come to the waters for the Gospel doth not require that a man should beleeve by his own power nor yet condemn him because he doth not but that he wil not encline his Ear and suffer the power of the Truth to take place with him and prevail with him for good Christ comes to his own and he comes with Grace and Life but they receive him not John 1. 10 11. yea our Savior professed it to them Ye will not come to me that you might have life John ãâã 40. And light is come into the world but men love darkness rather than light John 3. 19. men love their distempers hug and ãâã their lusts they are weary of the Word that would reveal and remove their corruptions Rom. 8. 7. The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God it is not subject to the Law nor can be It hath not any Spiritual good it wil not bear the power of the Truth that would pluck away our corruptions and take place in us Do not plead so much therefore thou art not able but go to the bottom thou wouldest not be made able thou would'st have thy proud heart and not be made humble thou wouldst have thy loose heart and not be purged when thou art in Hell and art tormented with these and for these know thou hast thy will and therefore why dost thou complain Nay it is thy disposition to withdraw thy self from those means and not to give attendance and leave thy self under the stroke of the Word that would take away thy unwillingness John 3. 20. He that doth evil hates the Light and comes not to the Light he went away sorrowful Matth. 19. 22. And after that time many of his Disciples went away from him and walked no more with him because his words were spiritual and piercing which they could neither hear nor bear Not attending for redress and help against the frowardness and perversness of thy heart it 's a just and righteous thing with God to stake thee down under all thosedistempers that thou mayest be deluded with them hardened in them and damned for ever for them and thou hast no more than thou hast righteously deserved 2 Thess. 2. 10 11. Because they did not entertain the Truth in the love of it therefore he gave them up to the activity of Error that they might beleeve lyes and it 's the best Reason that ever yet appeared to my apprehension why the Woman who in Reason could not but know the Serpent could not speak yet would and did talk with it But she had begun before not to love the Truth being set to till the Garden and to keep it Gen. 2. that is to keep the wild beasts out of it she did not so therefore God gave her up to be deluded by the Serpent the like may be said of Balaams conference with his Ass in reason he should have fled from his Ass not have fallen in conference with him but when men delight not to have God in knowledg no marvel that he delivers them up to a reprobate sence Rom. 1. What ever difficulty and impossibility attends thy weakness thou art the cause of it
and therefore must bear al the evil that is a consequent of it The Debtor that hath borrowed a Sum of money at the day of payment if he shal return this Answer That the money he borrowed he hath drunk away whored or played it away so that having spent his Stock it 's now impossible he should satisfie his Creditor Doth he not deserve to be punished not only for his not payment but for his prodigality which brought that upon him The Eight Cavil whereby our carnal hearts would shift off the Authority and evidence of the Truth as that it shal not be able to set down the Conscience by an overpowring Conviction is That the sins themselves are SLIGHT of smal consequence not worthy any such serious consideration much less any trouble of heart that should drive a man to a stand and cause him to sit down in silence and sorrow as under just condemnation Alas they were but some sudden words and they were gone and past and if there were no worse I wis the world were at a good pass or they were but the present and inward ãâã of the heart and the flashy thoughts of my mind no body knew but my self neither did nor could they hurt any body but my self and are not thoughts free Or lastly were it a failing in practice it was but in a petty thing a very trifle not worth the while to spend time to take notice of it some windy words flashy and sudden thoughts petty failings and they are so far from troubling the heart as that they touch it not so far from sitting down convinced of the evil of these as might break the heart as that they see no weight nor just cause at al to burden it they go away as Sampson with the Gates of Gaza and felt them not We shal therefore take the Severals into special consideration and see what hainousness there is in these sins when they are weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary And we shal begin with Words and examine what is the weight of the evil that is in them and that wil appear in many Particulars Look at them in their own Nature absolutely thy words have such weight that they are able to sink thy soul into the bottomless pit and to pass sentence of life and death upon thee for so our Savior By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned Matth. 12. 37. This is one part of the Inditement upon which the Judgment is executed at the great day by our Savior When he shall come with ten thousand thousands Ministring unto him to execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds and of all their hard speeches which they have spoken against him Jude 14. 15. Those harsh Expressions the unkind language currish rugged and cutting Speeches whereby they would daunt and kil the hearts of the Saints the secret scorns and contempts and reproaches whereby they have tossed the names of the Saints in their Meetings Merriments and upon their Ale-benches happily there is no man besides thy mates that hears thee no witness can accuse thee no Judg that can pass Sentence The Lord Jesus he comes for this end and thou art the man and thy speeches are the matter of thy Inditement of these he wil convince thee and for these execute Judgment upon thee at that great day he wil make thee sit down in silence he wil stop that wicked mouth of thine thou shalt not have a word to speak for thy self then this is the Charge that the Lord puts in against such wretched Hypocrites who think to carry al things covertly and cunningly that no man may lay hold of them the Lord puls them out by the pole Psal. 50. 19. Thou givest thy mouth to evil and thy tongue frameth deceit It is his Trade his lips are the forge of fals-hood his mouth is as it were the mint of lying reproaches of back-biting he sits at it keeps his shop it 's the sale and ware that is vented upon al occasions when his Companions as his Chapmen come to buy So the Text Thou satest and spakest against thine own mothers son c. these things thou hast done the Lord keeps these words upon Record and sets them in order at the day of Judgment Oh consider this you do not now consider the Lord doth and he will tear you in pieces as you have torn the names of his Servants by your taunts and reproaches and in truth it 's no marvel for thy language and customary speech gives a tast of the temper of thy soul and spiritual condition and is a sad evidence of thy corrupt and graceless estate James 1. 16. If any seem to be Religious and bridleth not his tongue the Religion of that man is vain his language loose and froathy his words peevish and frampful froward and scornful the Religion of that man is not worth a rush his prayers are vain his hearing vain his profession he wil never do good with it never receive good or benefit from it As we say of Money the sound of it shews whether it ãâã pure or base true or counterfeit it sounds like Brass or Copper it 's certainly counterfeit it hath not the sound of silver or as we say of Bels the ring of them discovers whether they ãâã of base matter or of right ãâã so here a mans speech is the discoverer of a mans Spirit If his heart be the Inditer of a good matter the tongue will be as the pen of a ready Writer Psal. 45. 1. Those words that come from Grace in the speaker wil administer Grace to the hearers empty words do shew an empty heart Thou art one of those and thy speech bewraies thee said they to Peter A jeering and scoffing tongue is a note of an Ismaelite by that Ismael was discovered to be of the flesh Gal. 4. In a word as a stinking breath argues a corrupt Stomach and ãâã Lungs so it is with base and vain language it argues a corrupt and rotten heart As light therefore as thou conceivest these vain and windy words of thine thou wilt one day find the load of them so heavy that they wil be like a Mill-stone to sink thee down into irrecoverable ãâã so that thy life and death lies in thy words as little as thou makest of them Look at them with respect to OTHERS cast them into the Ballance of Comparison and Consideration with the evil of others and thereby the greatness of their evil wil more evidently appear I answer therfore in the second place The evil of thy words is in some regard I say in some regard worse than the evil of thy heart though that be the Store-house and Treasury of noysom distempers and the Ware-house which furnisheth a mans whol course yet corrupt language ads a deeper dye and makes those evils of the heart more loathsom As there
is more store of Commodities in the Ware-house yet the false light of the Shop makes them so much the worse because it makes them not appear as they are words darkens much of the Truth that is in the heart which would make against sin and covers and colers over that which is evil that it might not appear to be such that the heart purposeth and concludes certainly it wil have it because it likes it yet could a man but hear the privy Verdict which knowledg and conscience gives 1. He should see them consenting to the Truth 2. Condemning the wil of sin Reason tels the heart this is the way and the will of God and you should not reject it this is your Duty and Gods Command you perish for it if you do oppose here Truth appears as wel as distempers But when the Cause comes to be ãâã and pleaded outwardly by words the tongue hides the verdict of knowledg and conscience suffers not their testimony or the Truth once to come to light But the corruption that the heart would have it pleads for it under the color and pretence of that which is Lawful and allowable So much light and knowledg as would discover the sin that is suppressed The evil that was there suppressed that is by color of cunning and false words varnished over and pleaded for under pretence of that which is good and Lawful So that here is a double evil more in our words than in our hearts 1. A Silencing of the Truth when the testimony of Judgment and Conseience must not come to light 2. Coloring of the loathsomness of sin that it might not appear like it self by the paint and varnish of lying words Thus some translate that of James and though it be not the ful meaning yet I see not but it is part of the meaning The tongue is a world of evil James 3. 6. is an ornament of evil when lying language ãâã fair colors and pretences upon foul and unlawful practices So the paint of words hides the foul visage of sin Thus you shal observe in the Scribes and ãâã Acts 4. 16 17. It 's manifest to all and cannot be denied yet that it spread no further let us streightly ãâã them that they speak no more in this name If ãâã Consciences might have been heard to speak they would have testefied that the wonder is great and argues the Finger of God and the worth of the men and that it should be published and God honored but their tongue turnes it another way this man is but an Impostor his name must not be had in regard his person in respect so it was with them they would have forced the blind man to have spoken against our Savior John 9. 24. This man is a sinner give Glory to God and so endeavored to have him deny the truth of the miracle which in their own hearts they did undoubtedly acknowledge so it was with the false witnesses packed by Jezabel let Conscience be examined and suffered to give in evidence and you see the truth Did Nabal blaspheme God and the King no is he worthy to dy no Is it not treachery for any to plot and pretend this It is so saies Conscience there is no truth at all but treacherie but their false tongues hide the truth and put an appearance of truth upon that which is false Somtimes a man out of an ignorant custom or neglect holds forth more evil in his words than he either conceives or attends in his own apprehension this is usual amongst Children conversing with naughty and leud company they speak the evil words they hear frequently with their mates when they know not what they speak or what the words imply that they speak It may possibly be conceived that many of those children who cryed to Elisha come down thou bald pate 2 Kings 2. 23. spake what was commonly said amongst their Parents not knowing the evil of the words they spake All the while the evil is Confined and concealed in the closet of the heart it 's not dangerous nor yet infectious to any but only to the soul of the party that harbours it But when the wickedness of the heart walks abroad in our words and communication it conveyes a taint and pollution with it And herein lyes a greater evil in our words than in our hearts in point of infection the heart is like a dunghil of noysom abominations but our speech and words let out the steem of it which is able to annoy al that are in presence or pass by with the stench of it Compare the evil of our words with our practice also it wil appear that in many particulars the scales wil be cast this way and the ãâã of the evil wil ly here Our words are as it were the panders and provokers more universally to al kinds of evil than our practice can be There be many sins that come not within the compass of our practice as errours false opinions and those that do they come not within our power or possibility for the while But there is no error so gross no delusion so loathsom but our speech can vent and broach it No practice so ãâã but by our words and communication we can present it together with al the occasion to the heart to draw forth those sinful inclinations there to linger after and to seek for opportunity to commit it 1 Cor. 15. 33. Evil words corrupt good manners and the Apostle specifies none but implies a taint and pollution of al the sting of the Serpent we know spreads over the whol body taints al the blood at an instant so there is the poyson of Asps that is under the lips of the ungodly So the Apostle James 3. 6. the tongue amongst the members defiles the whol body Conference and Communication affects the whol man ãâã ãâã up the heart to effect the head to plot ãâã eye to look the hand to work c. Speech drives the chollerick man into a passion the melancholick man into discontent the loose and vain person to be transported with his lusts and uncleanness Therfore the same Apostle compares it to a ãâã vers 5. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth a spark of fire sets a whol house a whol town on a flame before one be aware As wordstaint more universally so they ãâã of greater force and prevail more powerfully draw more effectually to the commission of evil the sin is committed and the commission leaves a scandalous example behind it and that as it were passively and in silence presents itself to the memory of him that attends it but our words do not passively present a thing to the view of another but awaken him and work upon and actively and prevailingly cal out any inclination to an evil and that with ãâã and overbearing importunity Examples only offer the bait if the heart wil nibble and take it but words perswasions take hold upon a man
Diet that provokes to ãâã by the tast the harsh and unkind language that provokes to wrath and impatience by the Ear But the Mind and Understanding toucheth the Lord directly meets with his Rule and with God acting in the way of his Government there and when it goes off from the Rule as before and attends its own vanity and folly it justles with the Almighty stands in open defyance and resistance against him This also appeared in Adams sin our of the folly of his own deluded thoughts he would have unthroned the Almighty and hoped by Satans Counsels to set himself in the room of God Ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil Gen. 3. and he saw it to be good to get knowledg and so purchase a Deity to himself and so put it to tryal thus the wicked openly profess They say to the Almighty depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy waies Job 21. when they desire not to have the wisdom of God rule in their minds but set up their own foolish imaginations they say then to God depart from us they shake off the Authority of the Truth and with that the Soveraignty of the Lord himself and his Government Hence the Apostle Collos. 1. 21. They were Enemies and where lay that enmity in their minds in their ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in their Discourse in the exercise of the largest act of their Understandings wherein the use of the whol faculty appears and this enmity appears in the fruit of it which wil undoubtedly follow namely evil works Hence Rom. 8. 7. the wisdom of the flesh is said to be enmity against God not an enemy to him that would somtimes cross and oppose him but Enmity the whol being and working of it is carried in constant opposition against the Law And upon ãâã ground it is when the Apostle Peter would shew Simon Magus the hainousness of his sin he staies not in the outward expression but cals him directly to consider the thoughts of his heart where that ãâã language was minted and from whence it proceeded When ãâã ãâã that by laying on of the hands of the Apostles the holy Ghost was ãâã he perceived how he might get a booty and therefore he fel to bargain tries the Market what shal I give c. The Apostle carried with a zealous indignation against so vile a demand which cast so much contempt and contumely upon the holy Spirit and the gift thereof answers with a holy disdain and denounceth a Curse Thy money perish with thee q. d. thou art in a perishing condition and this money of thine which thou conceivest wil further thy proceedings wil perish also yet he ads a caution for his recovery Oh pray if it be possible that the thought of thy heart may be forgiven Acts 8. 22 23. q. d. Thy sin is so hainous so execrable so detestable it 's almost past al possibility of pardon it 's not in the tongue which uttered the word nor in the hand which offered the money nor yet so much in thine eye that saw the work done for all these met not so directly so immediately with the Lord. The words were propounded to the Apostles the money should have been payed to them but Oh it was the hellish villany of his mind and apprehension which did so basely esteem of the gifts of Gods Spirit as if they might be valued or purchased with money He did so conceive as if the holy Spirit of Grace should Lackey after his lusts and be at the beck and command of such a proud rebellious wretch as that it should be disposed and dispensed according to his will and humor This was in his mind and thought and this made it so hainous an evil that the Apostle put it to a may be if it be possible so that the hellish evil of our imaginations and cursed contrivements of our thoughts may put a man almost beyond possibility of pardon So in the sin against the holy Ghost it 's said our Savior saw their thoughts Mat. 12. ver 25. those gave in evidence of the direfulness and inconceivable hainousness of those contumelious speeches against our Savior when they said He casteth out Devils by Belzebub the Prince of Devils It is not said he heard their words though blasphemous but he saw their thoughts they issued out of their apprehensions their thoughts being calm and quiet it was not some base pang or passion but when they had no provocation their own thoughts carried them against the evidence of all Truth meerly out of the venom of their own hearts This was unpardonable blasphemy and in truth there is no Creature but a reasonable Creature that can close not with the Creature only but with God in his Rule that can sin nor is there any sin properly but where the mind and heart is an Ingredient in it So the ravished Maid though her body was abused yet her person was not charged as guilty of sin nor she polluted therewith because her judgment was not there assenting nor her heart yielding thereunto Look at thoughts in regard of al the other evils of our lives which are acted and appear in our dayly course we may thence come to take a guess at the greatness of the evil of our thoughts for it will appear they are the causes of all other evils and therefore it cannot but be concluded there is more and worse evil in them than in all the rest A mans imaginations are the forge of villany where it 's al framed the Ware-house of wickedness the Magazine of al mischief and iniquity whence the sinner is furnished to the commission of al evil in his ordinary course the Sea of abominations which overflows into al the Sences and they are polluted into all the parts of the body and they are defiled and carried aside with many noysom corruptions Matth. 15. 19. Out of the heart comes murders adulteries thefts there is the nest where al these noysom vermine are bred Matth. 12. 34. Out of the abundance of the heart the tongue speaks and the hand works If there be pride and snappishness in a mans speech stubbornness in a course ãâã in a mans Conversation there is abundance of al these and more than these within The Imagination of our mind is the great Wheel that carries al with it That loathsom and execrable wickedness worse than which the Sun never saw the Earth never bore that unpardonable siu excepted the killing of the Lord Jesus the Lord of Life the seed of it was a thought cast by ãâã into the heart of Judas John 13. 3. it was warmed with a covetous disposition and so brought forth that hideous treachery the ãâã of the Lord Jesus If ãâã be evil in the tongue that ãâã it is it not worse in the heart that indites it Wickedness in our actions and speeches are but the brats and brood of our minds and hearts there they were conceived and fashioned in al
concluded my corrupt heart hath had a ful hearing All the Cavils and devices that ever the policy of Hel could coyn or the falsness and deceitfulness of my own heart could ãâã or frame have been alleadged followed and pressed to the utmost they have been answered and confuted and the definitive sentence is past against mine own soul by the ful consent of my own apprehension I yield the day I confess the case I hold up my hand and plead guilty These are my sins they are so hainous so dangerous I could never have conceived I could never beleeve it before but now I yield and confess it freely these are the abominations that I have committed it 's Hel that I have deserved I am an undone man a poor forlorn damned creature this is my ãâã I cannot prevent it nor can I bear it I do not now question it Awake with this in the morning sit down with this at the Table walk with this al the day long and let this Truth rest with thee when thou betakest thy self to rest and it wil over-power and affect thy heart So Job when his heart came off kindly in a godly remorse for his transgressions he suffers the ãâã of his condition to lodg and stay with him he lies under it and looks at nothing else Job 7. 20. What shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men I have sinned q. d. I have no Arguments to alleadge no excuses to make I can say nothing nor do nothing in mine own defence only I must say I have sinned thou art the preserver of men and unless thou succor me I must perish I cannot preserve my self If the Corrosive be never so keen the Salve never so searching and operative yea though it were applied to the rawness of the Sore the very proper place for it's work if ye stirr it continually now take it off then lay it on it wil never work effectually ãâã throughly or kindly heal the wound but you must bind it on let it stay upon the place by the space of so many hours then you shal find the proper and powerful operation thereof So it is with the Soveraign and convicting Truths of Christ when all Cavils have been answered and all the pleas which a mans self-deceiving heart hath put in have been removed so that the Truth finds passage to the Conscience and is applied aright unto the soul unless it settle there by a silent subjection unto the strength of it and admit no further questioning nor debating when the cause is determined by undeniable evidence it never works kindly nor prevails ãâã effectually as otherwise it would It 's ãâã policy and practice he dayly attends When Scriptures are so pregnant and Arguments come in with such strength that no carnal pretences can stand before them though he retires for the present and seems to leave the cause yet upon the next occasion when any advantage is presented he brings about the business again and follows the temptation afresh and puts in some pretence while he questions the Truth he hinders the operation of it for the while while we are parlying and disputing what we should do we omit so long to do what we ought and unfit our selves to do what we intend and are resolved of formerly Therefore when al cavils have been silenced let not these brablers appear again nor suffer them to renew their suits and ãâã any more but cast them out of consideration as we do use to cast bils and barreters out of the Court when the causes have been heard settle the heart under the sentence of the Truth and let it sit down there Hear nothing against the determination of the Word but out of the Word and then it 's certain that determination wil never alter before thy condition alter Give thy soul for gone really according to the righteous Judgment of the Truth and stop al passages that no carnal reason may come to the speech of thy soul or pretend any way of rescue and you wil presently perceive it wil break kindly under the blow or else look out for relief elswhere Go aside then and parley with thy Spirit and say The Word upon serious search and examination hath determined it my Conscience confesseth it and I now see the loathsomness of my sin and wretchedness of my self and condition I go up and down the world as a condemned creature whose doom is past and look dayly for the day and hour of execution that death consume my daies my body drop down to the dust and my sinful proud polluted soul be dragged down into Hel amongst the Devils to avoid it is impossible to bear it is intollerable wo to my soul that thus I have sinned and who shal who can deliver from this sin and this death Talk not trouble not me with dispute what my sin and my condition is but Oh help me out of it if it may be And it 's certain if thy soul abide here it wil sink under unsupportable sorrow and soak it self in it for this wil take away the sight and sweetness of any thing that may refresh and support the wounded soul because he wil see his sins in the bitterness and venom of them where ever he is and what ever he doth and as that which poysons al the best of the comforts of this life He sees his sin in his prosperity which is but the fatting of him for the slaughter He sees his sin in his honor he is advanced the higher that his downfall may be the more miserable God fils his belly with his hid Treasures of this world that he may treasure up wrath against the day of wrath As it is with ãâã if it pass through the fire only it hardly warms it but if it lie under the blowing of the sire it wil melt it When we take away carnal shifts and bring the soul to the sight of sin we put it into the fire but that only warms it a little but when it sits down under the Sentence it 's then under the Furnace and that wil melt it Thus our iniquities are said to lay hold of a man Psal. 40. 12. When we are under the Sentence which the Word passeth upon our sin we are then under the reach of our sins and they then lay hold of us and that wil cau e that we shal not be able to lookup All those Truths that we shal hear publickly dispensed out of the word or we shal privately read in it which concerns our corruption of which we stand guilty or that condition into which we are brought by reason of our sin We must take them home to our selves as the special portion the Lord hath appointed unto us in particular and we must make particular application of them in a peculiar manner unto our selves for by this means there is more light without whereby our sins and estates are more fully discovered more Eye-salve and Spiritual sight conveyed to
13. He that is truly meek and pities the souls of men most he wil shew least pity to their sins all sharpness of rebuke and yet al meekness of spirit do wel accord The exhortation to the people is that as ever you desire to see your sins and have your hearts brought to sorrow for them you must desire it and delight in it that you may have the light brought home to your souls in way of particular applycation to your own sins there is no means so effectual as this therefore desire God that your ministers may take such paines that they may speak to your Consciences Take three considerations here Weigh sadly that when the Minister speaks in way of Applycation so as to discover thy sins he doth no more than he may nay no more than he should in point of Conscience his life lyes at stake if he should not deal plainly and faithfully and therefore know its unreasonable for thee to quarrel with the Minister or with that he speaks when he hath the word for his warrant in what he does Look at the good of the dispensation of an ordinace and overlook the ãâã of it As some would not see but drink of the Physick minding the wholsomness and bearing with the unpleasantness of it for the present As it 's wearisom to the Surgeon to be raking in the sore so it is to the Minister but it is for thy good and therfore though it be painful and cross to thy carnal affection yet thou shouldest take contentment in such a dispensation of the word as is such an effectual means of thy good When thou findest thy heart ãâã consider that an under quiet taking in sharp reproof it s a sound argument of the sincerity of thy heart and truth of thy love to God and his word When a man ãâã to be shaken in his Comforts and a sharp and keen reproof comes home to a man to force him to see and be humbled reform his evil wayes if he can ãâã receive and yield ãâã to such a reproofit's a sign his heart is sincere in the sight of God when he saies as they did Zach. 13. 6. these are the wounds I received in the house of my friends When they heard this We heard before that application and special discovery of our particular corruptions what force it had to break the heart We have here yet a Second means couched in the manner of the ãâã expressed in the Text. The word is read in the Participle and carries a kind of ãâã endeavor with it a ãâã of mind about that which was heard In hearing they heard it and when the Sermon was over they had received the message of the Lord delivered by the Apostle when they happily were departed yet that word departed not out of their Ears and hearts They heard it over again they mused upon it it stuck by them their thoughts recoiled afresh upon the consideration thereof it pressed heavy upon their hearts Conviction brings the sin Application laies it Meditation settles it upon the heart that it sinks under it as unsupportable Hence then the Doctrine is Through Meditation of sins applied is a special means to break the heart of a sinner As men that are stoned and pressed to death while the stones are few that are cast and the weight not great may be they are troubled and wounded in some measure but their bones are not broken nor yet their lives hazarded but while they stil continue flinging and adding to the number and weight their bones break and their lives fayl under the overbearing pressure that is put upon them A serious thought and right apprehension and application of a sin toucheth and troubleth the sinner but daily meditation flings in one terror after another and followes the soul with fresh consideration of yet more sin and yet more evil and that more hainious and yet more dangerous beyond al pprehension and imagination so that a sinner is stoned to death as it were and breaks under the burthen of it Thus the repenting Church Lam. 3. 19. 20. In remembring mine affliction the wormewood and the gall my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me in remembring I remembred they were daily musing and continually poring and that made them pierce in wardly look as it is in the body it is so in the soul meat minced if never ãâã and digested it never nourisheth A potion prepared and given if not retayned and kept in the stomack it never purgeth or worketh kindly for cure So here in the soul Applycation carves out a fit potion of truth to the sinner but Meditation is that which digests it and makes good blood of it Applycation compounds the potion a particular reproof which is keen in the working brings it home but meditation retaynes it that so it may work kindly put forth the ãâã powerful effect for the loosening of those loathsom lusts which are like noysom and corrupt humours which threaten the death and ruin of the soul. This is one thing which is undoubtedly implyed in that place by the consent of al interpreters that I know Psal. 77. 10. While the prophet was taking up his thoughts with attendance to his own distempers and sinful provocations and the Lords departure from him by reason of the same he sits down almost overwhelmed with the direful apprehension thereof I said this is my death but I wil remember the changes of the right hand of the most high this poring upon his own sins and ãâã was his death therefore he turns the tables and turns his thoughts another way and that was the cure of those discomforts even the remembrance of the former the former expressions of Gods favour and faithfulness it s also one part of the meaning of that text Psal. 40. 12. My sins have taken such hold of me that I cannot look up when we lay hold upon them by serious meditation then they lay hold upon us and when our minds attend not but slip aside from the serious consideration of them then they slip away from us For explication we shal 1 Shew what this meditation is 2 Apply the general Doctrine to the particular occasion and see how this helps forward this work Then 3 We shal make use For the first Meditation is a serious intention of the mind whereby wee come to search out the truth and settle it effectually upon the heart An intention of the mind when one puts forth the strength of their understanding about the work in hand takes it as an especial task whereabout the heart should be taken up and that which wil require the whol man and that to the bent of the best ability he hath so the word is used ãâã 1. 8. thou shalt not suffer the word to depart out of thy mind but thou shalt meditate therein ãâã and night when either the word would depart away or our corruptions would drive it
condition that comes to be scanned Psal. 119. 59. I considered my waies and ãâã my feet unto thy testimonies ãâã turned them upside down looked through them as it were a present apprehension peeps in as it were through the crevis or key-hole looks in at the window as a man passeth by but Meditation lifts up the latch and goes into each room ãâã into every ãâã of the house and surveyes the composition and making of it with all the blemishes in it Look as the Searcher at the Sea-Port or Custom-house or Ships satisfies himself not to over-look carelesly in a ãâã view but unlocks every Chest romages every corner takes a light to discover the darkest passages So is it with Meditation it observes the woof and web of wickedness the ful frame of it the very utmost Selvage and out side of it takes into consideration all the secret conveyances cunning contrivements all bordering circumstances that attend the thing the consequences of it the nature of the causes that work it the ãâã occasions and provocations that lead to it together with the end and issue that in reason is like to come of it Dan. 12. 4. Many shall run to and fro and knowledg shall encrease Meditation goes upon discovery ãâã at every coast observes every creek maps out the dayly course of a mans conversation and disposition The second End of Meditation is It settles it effectually upon the heart It 's not the pashing of the water at a sudden push but the standing and soaking to the root that loosens the weeds and thorns that they may be plucked up easily ãâã not the laying of Oyl upon the benummed part but the chafing of it in that suppleth the Joynts and easeth the pain It is so in the ãâã Application laies the Oyl of the Word that is searching and savory Meditation chaseth it in that it may soften and humble the hard and ãâã heart Application is like the Conduit or Channel that brings the stream of the Truth upon the soul ãâã Meditation stops it as it were and makes it soak into the ãâã that so our corruptions may be plucked up kindly by the Roots This settling upon the heart appears in a three-fold work It affects the heart with the Truth attended and leaves an Impression upon the Spirit answerable to the Nature of the thing which is taken into Meditation 2 Pet. 2. 8. It 's said of Lot in seeing and hearing he vexed his righteous soul. Many saw and heard the hideous abominations and were not touched nor affected therewith No more had he been but that he vexed and troubled his own righteous soul because he was driven to a dayly consideration of them which cut him to the quick The word is observable it signifies to try by a touch-stone and to examine and then upon search to bring the soul upon the rack therefore the same word is used Matth. 14. 24. The Ship was tossed by the waves the consideration of the abominations of ãâã place raised a tempest of trouble in Lots righteous soul. This the wise man calls laying to the heart Eccles. 7. 1 2. It 's better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of laughter for this is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart When the Spectacle of Misery and Mortality is laid in the grave yet savory Meditation laies it to a mans heart and makes it real there in the work of it The Goldsmith observes that it is not the laying of the fire but the blowing of it that melts the Mettal So with Meditation it breaths upon any Truth that is applied and that makes it really sink and soak into the soul and this is the reason why in an ordinary and common course of Providence and Gods dealing with sinners leaving his own exceptions to his own good pleasure that the most men in the time and work of Conversion have that scorn cast upon them that they grow melancholly And it 's ãâã thus far in the course of ordinary appearance The Lord usually never works upon the soul by the Ministry of the Word to make it effectual but he drives the sinner to sad thoughts of heart and makes him keep an audit in his own soul by serious meditation and pondering of ãâã waies otherwise the Word neither affects throughly nor works kindly upon him It keeps the heart under the heat and authority of the Truth that it 's taken up withal by constant attendance of his thoughts Meditation keeps the ãâã under an arrest so that it cannot make an escape from the Evidence and Authority of the Truth so that there is no way but either to obey the Rule of it or else be condemned by it But escape it cannot Meditation meets ãâã stops al the evasions and sly pretences the fals-hearted person ãâã counterfeit If a man should deny his fault and himself guilty Meditation will evidence it beyond all gainsaying by many testimonies which Meditation wil easily cal to mind remember ye not in such and such a place upon such an occasion you gave way to your wicked heart to do thus and thus you know it and God knows it and I have recorded it If the ãâã would lessen his fault Meditation aggravates it or if he seem to slight it and look at it as a matter of no moment yet Meditation will make it appear there is greater evil in it and greater necessity to bestow his thoughts upon it than he is aware of Hence it is Meditation laies ãâã unto the soul and cuts off al carnal pretences that a wretched self-deceiving hypocrite would relieve himself by and stil lies at the soul this you did at that time in that place after that manner so that the soul is held fast prisoner and cannot make an escape but as David said Psal. 51. 3. My sins are ever before me Consideration keeps them within view and will not suffer them to go out of sight and thoughts and therefore it is Paul ioyns those two together 1 Tim. 3. 15. Meditate in these things and be in them It provokes a man by a kind of over-bearing power to the practice of that with which he is so affected A settled and serious Meditation of any thing is as the setting open of the Flood-gates which carries ãâã soul with a kind of force and violence to the performance of what he so bestows his mind upon as a mighty stream let out turns the mill Phil. 4. 9. Think of these things and do them thinking men are doing men Psal. 39. 3. While I was thus musing the fire brake out and I spake the busie stirring of Meditation is like the raising of a tempest in the heart that carries out all the actions of the man by an uncontroulable command I considered my waies and turned my feet unto thy Statutes right Consideration brings in a right Reformation with it The Nature of the Duty is thus opened let us apply it
now to the particular and give in the Reasons of the Truth why this Meditation brings in this Contrition and heart-breaking I might argue from the former Description that which makes a through search of our ãâã and settles them effectually upon the soul that is a fit means to break our hearts with them but thus meditation doth as it hath been formerly disputed therefore it is a fit means to break the heart But I shall add a double Argument briefly they both shal be taken from the special effects of Meditation which are marvelous pregnant to this purpose These come neerer to the Point in hand and apply the general Doctrine to this special occasion Meditation sharpens the sting and strength of corruption that it pierceth more prevailingly It draws out the venom the quintessence of the evil of a corruption and lets in that upon the heart and conscience of a sinner which stings and torments him in greatest extremity makes him see more in his distemper than ever he suspected makes him feel it far worse than ever he could have imagined it could have been As it is in the Art of Chymistry and Distillation by their dexterity and skil in that course they draw out the very spirits of the Mettal or Herb or Liquor as the Spirits of Wine the Oyl of Gold c. and five drops of that wil work more strongly than five ãâã five spoonfuls of the Body of the Herb or Water in the gross because there is nothing but Spirits as it were gathered together in a narrow room and therefore they are active in the highest degree If it be Spirits of Poyson it kils suddenly it 's present death past recovery if of Cordial or Preservative they comfort and refresh beyond imagination ãâã and strangely So here Meditation is this Spiritual Chymistry or the art of holy Distillation which draws out the Spirits of the poyson and bitterness that is in corruption Spirituallizeth the plague and venom of the vengeance that attends every transgression and though it was never so smal in the eye of the world yet it stings the heart more than the greatest evil which is committed if not mused on nor attended Thus David when by consideration he had viewed ãâã his course saw the infinite loathsomness of it that it sunk his heart which for the while when he attended it not did not stick upon him nor trouble him He looks now at the root of sin whence it came at the extent in the highest strain in spiritual wickedness Against thee thee only have I sinned Psal. 51. 4. I said in my hast in my sudden foolish apprehension it was but against a man my Servant my Subject and Vassal and therefore no such great matter nor grievous evil if I as a Prince did gratifie my own desire but now I see it was against thee thee only the God of Justice and Mercy and Fidelity and Truth That was the extent of it how far it went Again Deliver me from blood guiltiness O. God he now saw upon more serious consideration it was not a point of Policy a slight of subtil and secret conveyance that would color over the business and free him from blame because he intimated his mind to Joab to act it But now he saw it was not Joabs treachery nor the Sword of the Children of Ammon 2 Sam. 11. but it was he that had taken away the life of Uriah The dead body of Uriah was dished out to him as his break-fast every morning Thus for the extent of it Again upon consideration he looks to the ãâã of it Thou Lord lovest Truth in the inward parts Now he ãâã his sending for his ãâã his welcoming of Vriah his pretence of care to send him to his own house was nothing but apparent treachery against the Law of God and light of his Conscience and knowledg which the Lord had set up in him The root that bred and fed these bitter fruits was his ãâã heart and body of sin yet not so mortified which he brought from his Cradle which the Lord loaths as a God of Truth who loves Truth who may justly condemn him and reject him for his departing from it doubling and dissembling in a continual falsifying to Vriah by al his fair speeches and glozing pretences he ãâã to express his respect unto him Meditation doth not only pinch the heart with the present apprehension of sin committed but by the dayly attendance upon the evil of iniquity now considered it holds the heart upon the rack under ãâã and unsupportable pressures 2 Pet. 2. 8. Lot dayly seeing and hearing of the loathsomness of their hideous and unnameable abominations vexed his righteous soul Many saw and heard as much as Lot and happily more and yet were never troubled thereby no more would he have been but that he tormented his righteous soul by the dayly consideration of these abominations practiced The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is marvelous pregnant It signifies 1. To prove and examine by means of the rack or by way of torment to make inquisition touching the Truth So Lot kept his soul upon the rack of restless vexation as by the continual hearing so by the constant consideration of the hellish villany of the Sodomites and therefore the Evangelist useth it to signifie the boisterousness of a storm when the Sea is raged by the wind to the height of violence and rage Matth. 14. 24. Meditation raiseth a storm or tempest of distress in the soul. A sudden and present apprehension a flashy thought of the evil of sin is like the flourish of a Sword afar off which a man neither seels nor ãâã at the utmost it 's but like the glaunce and fall of a blow which it may be ripples the skin whereas deep and through Meditation is as it were doubling of the blow that steddy recoyling of a mans thoughts is the stabbing of the heart through and through again makes the sinner bleed inwardly and abundantly When the sinner would put by the stroke of the Truth and shake off the danger of the sin now discovered and applied and set on Meditation follows the blow home and puts the soul beyond its sence nay it is so it must be so it wil be so beleeve it and expect it for you shal find it worse than others do express or you can conceive for this is the voyce and verdict which Meditation gives in The Prophet Jeremy expresseth the nature of the departure of the people from the Lord thus It is an evil and a bitter thing that thou hast departed away from the living God Jer. 2. 19. And yet Job tels us and experience and profession of the wicked proclaims it to al the world That wickedness is sweet in the mouth of the ungodly he hides it under his tongue though he spare it and for sake it not Job 20. 12 13. but keep it still within his mouth as a pleasing morsel to his ãâã If you
as a curse of that carelessness and non-attendance which surprized our first Parents whereby they slipped aside from under the stream of Gods Providence and blessing and so undid themselves and al their Posterity only see the evil of it and seek to be freed and delivered therefrom Several things I would suggest here by way of help See what is the breeding and the seeding root the next and immediate cause of this fickle and unsteady roving of thy mind and redress that and the Cure will follow and the cause will be most easily thus discovered and so also removed Observe whether those wandring thoughts that are ãâã and roving in a restless manner from one thing to another like your fluttering Butterflies which fall upon many Herbs but ãâã and draw out Honey from none observe I say whether those unsteady thoughts pass upon the multitude and variety of things which have no cohaerence one with another no dependance one upon another but here and there and every where as your vagrant beggars that have no settled abode or else observe though a mans thoughts be full of variety and uncertainty stragling here and there and compassing many coasts to and again yet for the issue they border and Butt for the most part upon some one subject or aim at one thing mainly though Spannel-like they coast up and down and cross al waies and meet with multitudes in their course yet their game is that which at last they look at So here If the ãâã and ãâã of thy imaginations be of the first kind it issues meerly out of the frothiness and emptiness of thy understanding and the wound lies in the vanity of that faculty As it is with a Boat or Barque that is put to Sea if neither fraught nor ballast every wave tosseth it too and again the least breez of wind that blows almost overturns it because it 's empty wants ãâã and ãâã must needs ãâã ãâã So here when the Understanding is not ãâã ãâã the blessed Truths of God is ãâã fraught ãâã ãâã with the Wisdom and ãâã and Comfort of the Word by which it should both receive light and ability to stere our Christian Course according to the stability and ãâã of the Rule it floats up and down with sroathy and foolish apprehensions The Cure then is here plain If thy wandrings come from this cause store thy understanding with the Heavenly Truths of the Lord let thy mind be furnished and sraught with the rich and precious Promises Commands and Comforts of the Word let them be ballasted with these and they wil make thy thoughts steady and setled in thy constant and dayly imployments Thus the Apostle ãâã 4. 14. when he perswades ãâã they be no more children carried up and down with every wind of Doctrine and those are nothing but the devices and conceits of men the sleight of mens brains he adds verse 15. Truth in Love so the word attend thou the Truth and have thy mind taken up with that and possessed by the power thereof this wil make a man steady and unmovable that nothing may take him aside Therefore David makes that Cohaerence as though the one would undoubtedly bring in the other I hate vain thoughts how did he attain that Thy Law do I love Psal. 119. 113. It 's the Physitians direction for the state of our bodies the best way tofence the stomach against wind and the head against lightness which comes by that is to feed heartily and make a ful meal of that which is cordial and nourishing nothing better to expel wind and preserve against it So it is in the state of thy soul To preserve our minds from windy and vain imaginations is to have our understandings fully taken up with the blessed Truths of God as our dayly and appointed food If thy wandring thoughts be of the second kind such as be ranging up and down upon the variety of many Objects yet in the end they ever border upon the ãâã thing It 's then certain the wound lies in the affection firstly Some affection or other either of love fear sorrow hatred is inordinate and violent and that transports a mans apprehensions and thoughts to ãâã after it and to send post from one coast to another quarter to lay out themselves in what ever special occasions shal present themselves that ãâã ãâã satisfaction As for instance when the covetous ãâã ãâã forced and constrained by Comcience to ãâã ãâã in a serious Meditation about his own estate ãâã ãâã sooner retired into his Closer to attend that work ãâã forthwith his affections present some earthly object starts somthing which concerns the benefit of his outward estate as one while may be the hazard of a debt that he is now like to lose his debtors estate growing low and he behind hand and that he persues as a ãâã for the while when he hath run himself out of breath there and gone as far as ãâã can anon ãâã starts a fresh Hare a bargain that ãâã of late ãâã him and he conceives there may be a booty in that that he also follows with much eagerness laies out his ãâã to the utmost how he may contrive ãâã ãâã it according to his desire No sooner is he off from ãâã but then sends post hast to his Lot and Harvest there he is casting ãâã how to order al to advantage Here are now roving imaginations that range over hedg and ditch in much variety but stil they aim at the same thing border all together upon earthly contentments and how to compass them they do centre there stil therefore it 's an Argument undeniable the unsteadiness of thy thoughts arose from this distempered Affection The like I may say of the unclean person whose affections are fastened upon his lusts he sends his thoughts far and wide how to prevent what he fears how to bring about what he desires one while he looks at the ãâã that some did unto him that stood in his light and crossed him in his intended course and match his mind wholly taken up with the consideration of the greatness of the wrong that hath been done him busied with diligent search and enquiry how to prevent their proceedings how to repay them in their own coyn and to deal harshly with them because they dealt subtilly or unkindly with him Another while he is suiting himself ãâã al conveniency that either means or friends can make purchasing such outward comforts and that with ãâã pains and dividing cares because he knows such outward ãâã of wealth and state and lands wil be very advantagious to accomplish his own ends Here be variety of thoughts which fetch a compass far and wide about many particulars yet they aim al at this how to satisfie his sensual desires therefore the wound was there The ãâã because the Channel is narrow and the wind somwhat scant he toucheth in many places tacks about and fetcheth many points but stil because it 's to attain
sinner and to speak terror to his Conscience out of the word that they may be troubled and tumbled and so find rest at the day of Christ. These Quack-salvers send the distressed sinner to sports pastimes and recreations and merry Company that they take up their thoughts and take off their minds from attending to their sins or the truth that is take off the Slave that should cure them spil the Physick that should heal their maladies thus they ease their terrors for the while that they may increase their torment forever accursed comforters or rather they take up the Devils name and Office Apollyon destroyers of the souls of men therefore holy Peter gave that advise to these hearers Save your selves from this crooked generation q. d. your safety and their society cannot stand together you must not continue with them if you would have the power and comfort of the word continue with you and therefore experience evidenceth God so disposeth ever in the dispensation of the work of his Grace either the sinner that is wounded wil shake off his wicked company or els the counsel of the word and the worke of Gods spirit Hence that of the Apostle Eph. 5. 14. Stand up from the dead and Christ shal give thee light and 2 Cor. 6. 17. Come out from among them and be yee separate and then I wil receive you and walk among you God wil not walk with you if you wil walk with the world there is no coming into communion with Christ unless we come out there Christ tells his disciples John 15. 19. I have chosen you out of the world Exhortation We here see the way that the Lord hath chalked out before us the means which in mercy and in way of his providence he hath provided appointed to break our hearts to bring us to his son and so to life We are therfore to be exhorted to attend and follow the counsel of the Lord that we may expect and so receive his blessing even with Consciencious diligence and studious endeavour to press on to the perfourmance of this service some hapily never knew it looked not at it as a labor or task that did ãâã to them let such now own it and set about it with al ãâã might others it may be have been convinced of the duty and have been forward in the practice of it in former times and forced to it in the ãâã of their distrels but now are fallen back and grown wearish in their way those are to be perswaded to proceed on with more chearfulness and speed he that never knew the work let him now learn it He that hath set about it in former times let him be for ever quickened and encouraged in it Joyn al your counsels and resolutions you that are children and servants in the same family members in the same assemblies neighbours in the same place and plantation and ãâã upon each other to this holy course Lam. 3. 40. Let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord. say so one to another you that are privy to the wretchedness of your own hearts and lives we complain and that justly of a giddy slightness of spirit we meet with many stroks of the word stirrings and recoylings of spirit our hearts misgive us many checks of Conscience and motives we think of the holy Ghost cast into our minds but nothing stayes with us sticks upon us they pass away insensibly and leave no impression no power behind them we wash away al we cannot but see and wonder at the unreasonable hardness of our heart and condemn our selves who have had so many blows from Gods hand and they break not so many dreadful threatnings we hear out of the word dayly able to shak the heart of a Divel we stirr not we are not affected therewith our corruptions are hainous for their nature many for their number accompanied with direful plagues from the Lord are daily before our eyes have driven many to untimely deaths and so to Hel. We cannot but acknowledg al this and yet we be not touched with any saving remorse for them we have had al helps and the Lord hath tried al conclusions upon us and yet al in vain Who knows but we have been negligent this ordinance and therefore God hath cursed al others we have not used this means as wel as others and therefore we have got benefit by none who knowes but the want of this hath hindred the success of al other that we have had and used in our times and places Oh then recover our former carelesness send our thoughts a far off and survey our former conversations let us search and consider our own wayes who knows but the Lord may turn our hearts to him Let us question our own souls and say to our selves what have we done that it may be beyond question that God hath humbled pardoned and accepted of us What is the reason that one sinks under the sin that another never feels It is with our sins as with our burdens he that sees a weight and it may be lifts at it but if he never lay it upon his shoulder or if it be layed he never keeps it there but casts it off immediately he wil never be touched or troubled with it which another dies under as not able to endure so it is here our sins and iniquities are a burden too heavy for any man to bear and not to break under them and they who are forced to feel the Least of them are compelled to confess as much as the Devils and damned in Hel the wicked in horror of Conscience my punishment is greater than can be endured Others whom God abates of the execution of his displeasure for the present these men look at them and may lift at them a little by some sudden flashy and flitting apprehension as they hear or read c. But by Meditation to bind this burden upon their Consciences that the heart cannot get from under it they are not able to abide the weight of them therefore wil not abide the thought of them they ãâã off and cast away the burden and so they never feel it before the infinite Justice of the Lord seizeth upon their souls by everlasting discouragement Better we set them in order before our eye trouble our hearts with them than that the Lord should set them in order before us at the day of Judgment and tear us in pieces when there shal be none to deliver us To help in this so hard a buisiness let me speak something 1. By way of provocation to stir you up to this work 2. By way of direction to guid you in it To provoke your hearts thereunto take these considerations Let every man take it to himself as his own task charge it upon his own soul as a service which by unavoydable necessity lyes upon him which he may not neglect This wil awaken the soul to the work say
it 's my debt and I must pay it It 's my duty appertaining to me and required at my hand and I must discharge it as I wil answer it at my peril at the day off accounts Our lazy hearts if they can find any dispensation or exception they wil slip the collar and put off the perfourmance cal therefore upon thy self as sometimes they upon Ezra Arise thou sluggish and sloathful soul the matter belongs unto thee to me you 'l say that 's a likely matter indeed I am a silly mayd an ignorant youth or an aged and decrepit creature my memory and ãâã worn out I pray you have me excused my place my ability suits not my times and leasure in the multitude of ãâã many occasions permit not such and such who have abilities can such who have leisure opportunity may such who have dexterity skil in such performances should indeed both own the duty perform it but alas my place and abilites suit not my time and leasure in the multitude of so many occasions permit not therefore it cannot belong to me yes to young ones and ignorant ones it appertains to you doth it not appertain to you to be Humbled and to turn your feet to the testimonies of the Almighty doth it not appertain to you to be blessed and to have your wayes made prosperous in which you walk If you would come to Gods end you must attend Gods way If you would attain a blessing and success from God you must use the means appointed by him for good go your waies you poor creatures commune with your own hearts and set down this for an everlasting conclusion Come we can tel how to muse and plot about the pleasures of a sinful course how we may commit them Oh it appertains to us to meditate of the danger of our wicked waies how we may resorm them and avoid it we can tel how to muse upon the wayward perversneis of our own Spirits that we may break the righteous Laws of God let us consider the evil of our waies that we may turn our feet unto his Testimonies Consider how much you run in Arrearages and how far you are cast behind hand in this Spiritual Service how unacquainted with it in former times and how ãâã since you have known the way and therefore so much more need you have to double your diligence and to recover your former carelessness with more studious and consciencious endeavor to your utmost He that hath much work and little time hath reason to be exceeding laborious he that hath a long journey and sets out late had need to make hast he that hath many antient reckonings almost past remembrance he must resolve to sit at it and that it cost him the setting on to make any through accounts when thou art to cal over the folly of thy Child-hood the vanity of thy youth the rebellion of thy riper yeers to search into the sinful distempers of thy heart which thou hast long harbored and thy miscarriages worn out of mind and remembrance it wil cause thee to sit at it night and day and to bring in those ãâã and to read them over it 's almost impossible for thy life and therefore thou must labor hard Zach. 12. 10 11 12 When the Lord shall powr out the spirit of Grace and supplication upon the Jews they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn apart the Wives apart and the Husbands apart c. Consider what need thou hast of this holy Ordinance that wil compel thee to prize it and to use it also it 's that which wil yield some supply in most of all thy Spiritual wants lend a hand ãâã support in most of thy feeblenesses which may befal and would hinder thee in a Christian way thy memory is weak thou dost attend the holy Word of God and many times close with the ãâã and precious comforts but alas they are gone and slip away Meditation wil strengthen thy feeble memory and though these blessed Truths would depart yet it wil stay them and retain them with thee Jos. 1. 8. The words of this book shall not depart away from thee how ãâã we prevent that Thou shalt meditate therein day and night Thy apprehensions are shallow and thou narrow in thy conceiving Meditation wil ripen and enlarge thy judgment so that thou shalt exceed the most udicious and learned Psal. 119. 99. I have more understanding than all my teachers how came that about For thy Testimonies are my Meditation Thou art simple and imprudent in thy way not able to discover or prevent the over reachings of such as be wily and cunning in their contrivements Meditation wil sharpen thy apprehensions and make thee able to discern the secret conveyances and slights of the falshearted and to prevent the danger of them Psal. 119. 98. I became wiser than mine Enemies because thy Commandements were ever with me and that was by Meditation Thy Spirit is sluggish and wearish thou wantest life and mettal in the discharge of thy duty prayest without sence and confessest without sorrow begs mercy and dost not affect it Meditation will quicken thee in Conference make thee apt and ready to all undertakings store thee with matter fraught thy apprehensions and tongue warm thy affections and make thee go with readiness to the work Meditation adds as it were wind to a mans Sails and wings to a mans endeavor While I was musing my heart burned then spake I with my tongue Psal. 39. 2 3. If then thy memory be weak and thou needest that that would strengthen it thy apprehension narrow and dul thou need'st that that would enlarge it thy spirit dul and sluggish and thou needest that that may add quickening vertue thereunto a ful stream that may turn the wheel behold Meditation is the Medicine it hath a Probatum est upon it approved of al the Saints and the Cure left upon Record Thy needs are great and manifold so do thou prize this means and use it for thy good Consider the Soveraign Vertue of this Spiritual Service and special Ordinance of God as that which sucks out the sap and sweet of al other Dispensations of God and means of Grace wherein he discovers himself to us so that though they be good in themselves yet the good of them is not received but by meditation As it is in the body naturally be it that thy meat is choyce that is provided the dressing neat and wholsom the appetite strong and sharp and that a man feeds liberally and heartily of such dainties set before him though these provisions be never so savory and Cordial and able to refresh and strengthen yet al labor is lost and meat lost also if his digestion be naught Nature is loaded and ãâã but never nourished thereby So it is in the soul be the means of Grace never so powerful and precious sappy and Spiritual Opportunities great to enjoy them liberties
of their course their distempers are such that they stink above ground and yet they poor creatures feel nothing but bless themselves in their present condition Rom. 2. 5. They have hearts that cannot repent heaping up ãâã against the day of wrath The daily and ordinary commission of any one sin delivers up the sinner to become a prey to the power of al corruptions even the most detestable sin lays wast the soul that it becomes a through-fair and lyes open to the most hellish provocations or distempers that can be presented before it and nothing comes amiss that 's the inference when the heathen had no delight to have God in their knowledg had notliking to such and such righteous and good wayes of God he delivered them up to a reprobate sence Rom. 1. 28. they had no delight to be ruled by the truth and the wisdom and holiness thereof no delight ãâã know or rellish any good God takes them at their word and leaves them in the hands of their sins they should have minds that should never know the truth hearts that should never approve of it See presently when the soul is thus layed wast what a drove and inroad of hideous abominations come in and take possession and make a prey and spoyl of the poor wretched creature as they wil then ver 29. 30. they are ful of all Unrighteousness Covetousness Fornication Envy proud Boasters beady high minded ãâã breakers False Unfaithful Disobedient Unnatural nothing is a miss what ever the heart of Belzebub or the bottom of Hel can harbour It 's the ground of the cohaerence of that place also Eph. 4. 19. Who being past feeling they have given up themselves to work al uncleanness with greediness the poor creature is at the ãâã and beck of any base abomination no temptation presseth in but prevayles no allurement is presented but it surpriseth and taketh aside no corruption ãâã but it carryes and acts him without gainsaying the Devil and his distempers take him alive and take him at their pleasures lead him as they ãâã and he knows not where he is before he be in the bottomless pit This is the quintessence of vengeance an unseen evil ãâã in truth unconceavable the terrors of death and the torments ãâã hell are nothing in comparison of this When the glorious and blessed God through the just desert of sin leaves the creature at the lust of Satan and his diftemper Loe he is in your ãâã do what you wil with him I wil have nothing to do with him more this is the sentence passed upon the backslider Prov. 14. 14. the backslider in heart shal be ãâã with his own wayes he shal have his belly ãâã Thus as the saints are sealed up in the day of Redemption the wicked are ãâã ãâã up under the soverainty of their sins ãâã the day of destruction thou ãâã have thy pride and stubbornness ãâã be thou for ever proud and for ever ãâã and for ever ãâã hearted continu so and perish ãâã There is no judgment like to this and this is the ãâã of sin and that which the Lord reserves as the choycest of al his plagues the last and worst 1 Prov. 26. 28. 31. Yee shall call but I wil not hear yee shall seek me and shall not ãâã me one would think this is heavy and harder measure could hardly be found yes the Lord hath worse because ye despised my counsel and set at naught al my reproof ãâã they shall eat the fruit of their own wayes and be ful of their own devices they who srame and devise devises to contrive Contentments to their own carnal and corrupt ãâã carry a forge of falshood and ãâã about them to succeed in these one would have thought is the ãâã content such a person could take true it is so and that is the greatest and most dreadful plague that could befal them When the Lord Christ takes away ãâã of himself and his spirit from the ãâã and leaves him wholly to himself and the power of Satan his own ãâã ãâã distempers nothing of Gods wisdom ãâã their own folly shal mislead them nothing of Gods ãâã but the perverse rebellion of their own hearts shal rule them and so destroy them this is to be in hell before he come there and so be a Devil before he come among them They come to be helpless in regard of all means that the Lord hath provided or the mercies that the Lord hath offered unto them and doth yet strive with them in Its sin that stops the entercourse between God and the soul his ordinances and our Consciences takes and ãâã the passage that the power of the means never work upon us the sweetness of his mercies never affect us the virtue of his ordinances find no place leave no impression upon the soul This is the fruit which the prophet layes forth of the rebellions and ãâã of the Jewes which made them ripe for everlasting ruine Isa. 6. 9. 10. Make the heart of this people ãâã and their ears heavy and by that time they are sure enough for ever seeing the face of God or receiving ãâã by any means seeing they may see and not perceive hearing they may hear and ãâã understand least they be converted They are far enough from conversion and so from salvation It s that also which is of necessity implyed in the former expression they shal be filled with their own devises so there is no entrance no acceptance of any direction from the wil and word of God As it is in vessels that are brim ful of liquor ready to run over there is no room for a spoonful of the most precious liquor to be put into them So through the just desert of their sin they are so fully possessed with the power of their corruptions which have had commission to rule them that as our saviour said John 8. 37. There is no place for the word Their minds so ful of pride of their own carnal reason that thereÌ is no room for instruction to direct or inform them their hearts so ful of stifness and perveriness that there is no place for reproof that may prevail with them and reform them the spirit so ful of falsness and ready to take hold upon ãâã that there is no place for the ãâã of the truth to frame them to the ãâã and singleness of carriage as suits with Gods mind so that all means of grace and ordinances take their leave of the sinner work no more upon that heart that hath ãâã long and so often opposed the work thereof ãâã 51. 9. We would have healed Babilon ãâã she would not be healed leave her then leave instructions and leave exhorting c. so it is with the ordinances the Lord passeth by and wil not so much as speak a word to a rebellious heart the threatnings that troubled before now stir not the instructions that convinced before now awe not at al the reproofs
they were and therefore may cal and choos thee also They are not only dry but dead bones which the Lord makes to live Ezek. 37. 2. can these dead bones live they are not onely miscarrying but barren wombs which the Lord makes to bear and be fruitful Not only when things are under hope but when there is nothing in present appearance or expectation then God can do it Rom. 4. 24. when it is not onely beyond thy power and ability God can support thee and strengthen thee teach and quicken thee when it is beyond not thy apprehension but thy very thought and hope he hath done so ãâã do so he lives stil and can do so to thee also True my weaknesses are many but that 's not al nor yet the worst the way wardness and perversness of mine own heart ads the greatest weight unto my misery and wretchedness not onely destitute of any spiritual good but not willing to be made better my brow as brass and my neck like an iron and sinew as the Lord complaynes Isa. 48. 4. My heart harder than the nether milstone Job 41. 28. If life and Salvation were laid before me and that I might have heaven and grace for taking or entertainment of it yet I would neither have word nor Christ nor heaven it self unless I might have my wil in heaven such is the invincible stiffness and desperate perversness of my spirit unless I may have what I wil when it comes upon the narrow God must not have his glory nor service nor subjection nor alleagiance nor duty in the least ãâã discharged I must burn for I can neither break nor yield nor mercies perswade me nor judgments awe me I can receive no good nay I can see no reason why God should do any good to me that would not have it Here is the dead lift and the wonder of al wonders the overpowring of the soveraignty of a stubborn self-willy heart ãâã the throne where Satan dwells which ãâã the doctrine of free-wil to be a doctrine of Devils and that which drives the soul to everlasting discouragement pretend what such deceivers can to the contrary But the former doctrine affords support and that which wil bear up thy heart even in this particular also thy Salvation depends not upon thine owne wil for then neither thou nor any flesh should be saved But God shewes mercy to whom he will shew mercy Rom. 9. 19. As nothing can deserve his mercy so nothing can resist his good pleasure when he wil shew it he wil make thee find it and others see it James 1. 18. of his own good wil begot he us by the word of truth It 's not according to the wil of Satan for then no man should be saved it s not according to the wil of man fallen for then no man could be saved But he dispenseth the work of his grace according to his own wil And his counsel shal stand and he will do what he wil. Isai. 46. 11. let the wil of men and Devills oppose it to the utmost of their power Quiet thou thy heart I cannot do any thing that might purchas not yet in truth would I have grace if God would give it only it is with God to do good to this miserable soul of mine as he wil who doth what he wil in heaven and in earth his wil be done and blessed be his holy name for ever and ever and there stay thy self It was the expression of a man in heavy perplexity of Conscience finding the crosness of his wil to snarl at the Lords dispensation his heart sunk within him with unsupportable horror that he had ãâã the sin against the Holy Ghost and with many prayers and tears he sought to heaven to bring his heart to an under subjection to the good pleasure of the Lord but the Lord left him to his own perversness nothing he could do could prevail with his own spirit and proffessed against that cursed cavil of the Arminians that reproach of the doctrine of Gods free grace which leads to despayr and discouragement openly acknowledging that if his own salvation depended upon his own wil he should perish irrecoverably but that only held his heart in some hope that his happiness was in Gods hand and that it meerly depended upon the wil of the Lord to give him a heart to fear and serve him or else his heart would fayl And it was a savory speech of a gracious woman that had a great deal of Do with her own heart when she could not find her heart to come off so willingly to give way as she ought to what her judgment allowed she besought the Lord to give her such a disposition of heart whether she would or no. Thou yet replyest that which ads to the hainousness of my evil is this these loathsom distempers have not been harboured in mine own breast onely confined in mine own bosom which yet had been too much but they have broken out into the most sierce and professed rebellion and that in the highest degree I have been a professed opposer of the gospel and the power thereof an open Rabshekah a Ringleader and Encourager to such that would revile and reproach the righteous and good wayes of Gods grace a jearing Ishmaelite of such as with ãâã of Conscience had care to walk therein and have resolved and attempted also even with an impudent face and a brazen forehead to outbrave the authority of the truth and made it matter of scorn to drop and give in to the most dreadful threatnings that could be denounced out of the word I have trampled al the entreaties of the Lord and tender offers of mercy under feet that when I have called over my course and viewed my carriage in cold blood I have wondred that the Lord hath not made me a spectacle of his displeasure before I departed out of the place that the very earth did not open and swallow me quick as Corah ãâã and Abiram So that God cannot be God unless he do avenge himself and pluck the praise of his justice ãâã the heart blood of such a wretch nay he should be accessory to the dishonor of his own name if he should shew mercy to such who openly impudently in a hellish haughtiness of heart have trampled his mercy under their feet True flesh and blood could not do it nay the heart ãâã man cannot think it how this should be did wee measure Gods compassions according to our narrowscantling but Gods thoughts are not ours nor his wayes ours so far as the heavens are above the earth so great is his mercy unto them that fear him Isai. 55. Psal. 103. 11. infinitely above and beyond our own desires and thoughts our imaginations and expectations They are I confess amazing expressions of miraculous compassions of the Lord yet such they are as he is pleased to manifest to sinful dust and ashes He can tel how to have the
to deny the Lord Jesus and his righteousness but if we have fayled and that shamefully as Peter go out immediately and weep with him bitterly for our base departures Math. 26. last the Lord bears not a fearless continuance in any distemper if David bed it securely in base lusts the Lord wil break his bones for it David therefore takes himself here no sooner sees God withdrawing but he seeks him with instancy and importunity Psal. 30. 7. 8. 9. 10. It 's a word of TERROR and astonishment to such who adventure to continue in their sinful distempers because they never found so much as a touch of any ãâã in their souls for any of those distempers they have continued in know such must assuredly that sin is of the same poysonful nature as ever and the word as true and God as just as ever and therefore their sins they have continued in have al this while made way for over-bearing perplexities which they wil certainly bring upon your souls the less you have felt therefore the more you may expect and without doubt you shal find and receive There is wrath to come tribulation and wrath and anguish wil be and must be upon the soul of every man that sins if you had none as yet there is the more behind when those noysom abominations that have so long nestled in thy bosom and there lyes as it were in ambush wil march in upon thee like armed men and sink your ãâã in everlasting discouragements cozen not therefore your selves with the present content you seem to find in your corruptions that you can trample upon Christ his ordinances and Servants go away with it without any trouble or controul See these poor creatures and consider their condition what it was and now is they stuck not to profess open rebellion against our Savior Away with him crucify him and they carried al before them with a high hand and so continued from the Passover to Pentecost many weeks together the poyson of their sins that pleased their spirits so much in the practice of them now beginns to work trembling and astonishing confusion unto their souls the pleasure of sin is but for a season and when that is gone look for the like gall and wormewood As it is in the body while the impostume and gross humors are gathering the party finds no matter of grief until at last when it comes to a ful growth and breaks suddenly and proves present death that cannot be prevented and then al the filth and impostumate matter issues out of the ears and mouth and each man can see it when no man can help it It is so with a canckered Conscience and a côrrupt heart who hath hugged and harbored his distempers with pleasure and content so continued Until the Lord break open the ãâã and then those hideous abominations let in the dreadful terrors of the Almighty which overwhelm the soul of a sinner with unsupportable horrors the Apostle thus concludes it ãâã Gal. 6. 7. 8. be not deceived God is not mocked as ye sow so you must reap if you sow to the flesh of the flesh you shal reap corruption it may be your ruin is growing but not ripe the harvest of horror is not yet come but be not deceived God is not mocked you shal reap and your crop wil be confusion and perdition the Lord himself hath so revealed it Deuter. 32. 35. in due time their foot shal slide Stay but the time yea he determines it fully as that which he wil not fayl to accomplish Deutr. 29. 20. 21. ãâã men bless themselves and bear up their heads bravely against al the peal of plagues that were rung in their ears the Lord resolves upon it his anger shal smoak against that man to cut him off from the land of the living c. Pierced As their sins made way for this terror so the word set it on hence The truth is terrible to a guilty Conscience when it prevailingly takes place there It 's a hammer that breaks a fire that scorcheth an axe sharp and keen that cutts and wounds the soul of a wicked unrepentant sinner Acts. 7. 54. When they heard these things they were cut to the heart Because it is a witness to accuse a judg to condemn an executioner to torment such poor creatures as I might make al these good in particulars it 's sayd Rev. 11. 10. That when the two wittnesses were slayn the inhabitants of the earth solaced themselves and sent gifts one to another because those that tormented them that dwelt upon the earth were taken away Matter of trial those who are careful hearers may without fayl discover their condition by the word that is dispensed Art thou sick of the saving dispensations of the holy and righteous wil and law of God thou sits and shakest under it as that which passeth the doom and sentence upon thee which thou art not able to endure nor avoyd do not cozen thy self with any vain conceivings of thy estate or please and delude thy heart with the mistaken apprehensions and approbations of other men it 's certain thy heart is naught and condition also If thou best sick of the truth ãâã not side with it nor receive approbation from it when it comes in the strength and terror of it As we say of men that are sick at Sea the cause is not in the tempest but in the stomack because there be corrupt and noysom humors there it 's those that raise stir and trouble in the stomack and not the ãâã when the stomach is purged and clear the passenger can sleep in the most tempestuous Seas So it is where the heart is truly emptied and the Consoience purged from dead works the sharpest truths would find most welcom and entertainment But doth not the truth carry terror with it and that even the best tremble at it It 's true they do so but with a double difference The word though it ever speaks against the corruptions of those that are sincere hearted yet it ever ãâã sentence on their ãâã both for the acceptation of their persons and the happiness of that condition they are in through grace and if it appear other to them it is because their judgments are darkned through temptations misguided through some ãâã ãâã Micah 7 Are not my words good to them that walk uprightly Isai. 3. 10. Say to the ãâã ãâã shal go wel with them The Lord and his word sayes no ãâã ãâã man ought to say any other there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Rom. 8. 1. but it 's otherwise with the wicked The word not ãâã condemns their sins but their persons also Because they are one with their sins and incorporate into them and carryed with the power of them Isai. 3. 12. Say to the wicked wo unto them for the reward of their evil works ãâã ãâã ãâã to them The Saints of God
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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã Come let ãâã return unto the Lord for he hath torn and be wil heal us this did it This ãâã way for our spiritual comfort in a special blessing if he be pleased to follow the ãâã with his blessing For its a special means to bring in clearer evidence and ãâã assurance both of the soundness of the work and the certainty of a mans good estate al the dayes ãâã his life if the Lord be pleased to second these heavy breakings of heart with his blessing For it is the nature of ãâã when they are set in opposition to make each other appear more ãâã For a conscientious ãâã to be made of a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is so ãâã a ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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. ãâã 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
of God upon the soul it makes it melt like Wax before the fire makes it easie to give way to the impression of the pleasure of the Lord that his Spirit may take away any of those lusts that have been of ãâã league with the heart Hence lastly it is that in the Phrase of Scripture the sinner is said to be in ãâã or the soul to be imbittered by God when he is brought and held under the sence of the loathsomness of his in s and himself by reason thereof so that al the sweet that his liquorish heart takes in any pleasing lust is wholly taken away The Physitian observes and reason teacheth that sweet things only nourish but bitter things clense the Nature of the stomach abhors the presence of them expels them takes no pleasure therein receives no nourishment therefrom So with the sinner in his condition when the Lord ãâã out the bitterness of sin upon him he can find no food rellish no delight in his former distempers which he followed with that violence and fed so eagerly upon even unto surfetting in former times they wil not down with him now It 's a dreadful thing now to him to take the least tast of them by any serious consideration or remembrance when formerly he could have made a meal of them by dayly meditation When wickedness was sweet in his mouth and he hid it under his tongue but now it 's turned to the gall of Asps and he is not able to endure the poyson and bitterness of it but it makes him heart-sick in the sight and sence of it For the opening of the Point it wil be needful to enquire after Five Particulars 1. The Manner how this sound sorrow seizeth upon or is brought in upon the soul. 2. How God sets it on and makes the soul truly affected with it 3. How far the sinner is or may be said to be active in it 4. What is the behavior of the heart under this stroke being truly affected 5. The Reason and then the Use. To the Former of these The Manner how this Sorrow is brought in upon the soul. It is Three-fold in Gods ordinary Dispensation reserving exceptions as he sees fit in his own infinite Wisdom It is either Successively and by degrees Suddenly and at once Unsensibly to the heart of the sinner who receives it Successively when the Lord would leave the track and footsteps of his Faithfulness and Truth upon record to the observation of the wise hearted he then leaves plain impressions of the Power of his Grace and Spirit ãâã his proceedings with such as he ãâã to bring effectually home unto himself that the goings of our God and King may be seen in the Sanctuary and in the souls of his Servants and it may be attended in these several Degrees First The Lord lets in some unexpected flashes of spiritual Truth discovering the evil of sin in the general and the dangerous conditions of such as stand guilty thereof and continue therein which were never considered nor before that time conceived of by him that hath been an ignorant and careless hearer of the Word who came to the means either by constraint or custom or complement in a way of course for company sake never set price upon the means nor attended to the Truth and goodness thereof and therefore the Ordinances were as the Waters that pass by left neither power nor profit upon the soul. But now there is some evidence of Truth which God so directs and darts in that it flashes like lightning into his face leaves a kind of amazement upon his mind and like a sudden blow gasters the ãâã of the sinner so that he begins to stagger and is driven to give some attendance to that of which he never took notice before not knowing wel ãâã to make of himself nor yet of that which he heard only he is forced to observe somthing he never formerly regarded Hence therefore ãâã a confused kind of tumult and lumber of thoughts within himself he begins to be in a muse what such things mean whither they tend is at a loss with himself and knows not which way to take I never heard so much as now if all be true that I have heard and the Minister hath preached there is more in sin than ever I imagined and my condition more miserable than ever I did conceive This maskering of spirit drives him to make enquiry the things seem strange he begins to search ãâã they be true or no. So they to Paul disputing concerning false Worship and their Idolatrous practices Acts 17. 19 20. Thou bringest strange things to our ears we would know therefore what these things mean So it was with Paul at his first bringing home to God Acts 22. 6. There shone a great light from Heaven about him and he heard a voyce Saul Saul why persecutest thou me The thing was strange but what it was he could not tel and therefore he makes yet further enquiry Who art thou Lord As the poor woman having heard the Minister preach out of that Text Isai. 27. 11. They are a People of no understanding therefore he that made them will not ãâã them he that created them wil not shew mercy to them It came so directly cross to her own conceivings that she repaired to one of her neighbors to know whether those words were in the Scripture yea or no and what those Scriptures were for saith she If he that made us wil not save us Lord be merciful to us who wil who can So these sudden dazlings and dartings in of the Truth forceth men to fall on questioning enquire they do come they wil resolve to hear more of those strange Novelties and the greater search they make the greater certain Truth they perceive the Law peremptory the Word plain threatnings certain and the Lord just his sin most hainous and his condemnation certain and approaching so that he cannot tel how to avoid it or how to bear it Hence fear surprizeth him forthwith pursues him ãâã a ãâã expectation and ãâã of what ãâã befal him I know what I have deserved and I hear what the Word hath threatned against such and I know God is true and cannot deny his Word nor himself and he is just and cannot but execute in his time what hath gone out of his mouth hath not all Ages manifested this the Experience of al men proved it undeniable Did ever any provoke the Lord and prosper Job 9. 4. and can I in reason expect it should be other and better with me than it was with any that was ever before me Can I be so sottish to think that God should send another Christ devise other Scriptures make a new Causey way or a back door to bring such a wretched rebel as I am to Heaven contrary to his own Word and Will God hath said Wo to the wicked it shall go ill with him who can say the
it discovered and however it is even in special distances many times thus also enstamped upon that soul. Yet the Lord doth bind himself to leave such plain tracks and footsteps of proceedings with a poor ãâã at al times and therefore we must not limit the holy one of Israel to be at our allowance and liking or confine him to the compass of our conceits and desires Therefore it pleaseth the Lord to dispense himself in a divers manner in dealing with divers sinners and those we shal ad in a word Somtimes then in the second place the Lord suddenly sets on the blow and leaves mighty and prevailing impressions at the very present speedily and unexpectedly goes through stich with the work pierceth the soul through at one thrust Sometimes at one sermon may be in the handling of one point nay some one sentence or some special truth the Lord is pleased to arme it and discharge it with mighty power and uncontroulable evidence that it astonisheth and shivereth the heart of the sinner al in pieces As it is in the ãâã of a piece it may be one scattred shot or splinter hitts and kils when al the rest miss so with the splinter of a truth when directed aright God lets in so much of the amazing beauty of his own holiness and purity the dreadfulness of his displeasure and the infinite crossness in himself to the least corruption and consequently that abhorred ãâã in the nature of sin even the smallest that look as it is with terrible thunder and lightning it melts al before it and that most where there is opposition against it even the league that is between the heart and the lust soakes into the very root of the soul and hence under such a sudden thunderclap such mauling blowes now and then the sinner dyes and faints away under it in the very place where he sits sometimes roars out as one that hath received his deaths wound in his bosom and that he hath heard his doom and was delivered up into the hands of the Devil ready to drop into the dungeon and to be carried post to the bottomless pit and such soul sinking and confounding terrors which takes off a serious and iudicious consideration of the ãâã assaulting they vanish away for the most part and come to little or nothing when the tartness of the horrot is once allayed But sometimes lastly the sinner takes in the truth kindly and contains himself hath his load as much as his heart can bear for the while as much as ãâã and soul can hold together goes away droops and buckles under his burden steps into a solitary place and hangs the wing as a foul that is shot the saving truth thus set on lyes gnawing and eating at the heart blood of a sinner as aqua-fortis doth in iron leaves it not until it eat asunder the league betwixt the lust and the heart Thus this lively truth in the soul like strong physick in the bowels walks up and down the world with a man is working night and day he cannot avoyd the evidence and light of it he cannot lessen nor hinder the operation of it Now he questions with this or that Christian then resolves to speak to such a Minister and to reveal his whol condition and to crave his counsel he is often going and turns back again almost at the dore and yet goes away again sometimes enters into speech and his heart misgives him he pretends another ãâã and departs again Al this while the soul bleeds inwardly the truth is stirring and the physick working til at last it over-bids the darling distemper then the coast is clear the heart growes to more liberty and his speech more free Thus Paul expresseth Gods manner of proceeding with the Corinthian Convert 1 Cor. 14. 29. when the word is dispensed in plainness there comes in one unlearned and unbeleeving he is convinced of al and judged of al i. e. the evidence of the word convinceth him and judgeth him his ãâã and it followes the secrets of his heart are made manifest those retired and privy haunts of sin in the soul are discovered so he wil fal down and say God is in you of a truth He saw more of God and his Majesty and purity more of his own sin and the filthy puddle of his own distempers it was the Wisdom of God to discover those hid things of darkness and brought the loathsomness of them to light it was the Holiness ãâã God that shews the hainous and hellish Poyson thereof it was the power of God that did conquer the prevailing Dominion of these distempers unto which the heart was subject And this was the Lords dealing with Paul he assaults the main hold and strength of his rebellion and drives him at the first dash as it were to look where the loathsomness of his evil lay Saul Saul why persecutest thou me I am Jesus thou persecutest that Jesus that came to redeem thee opposest that Grace that would sanctifie and bring thee to Glory tramplest upon that blood that would free thee from the guilt and curse which thou hast brought upon thy self thus lastly it was with Job in that new Conversion as I may say that the Lord wrought in him Job 42. 4 5. I have oft heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eyes see thee I abhor my self in dust and ashes when God lets in a sight of himself and a sight of ãâã from thence the soul begins not to abhor his plagues and punishments which the other feels or fears he abhors not Hell and the torments thereof but abhors himself the pollutions and impurity of his own soul which are worse than al the everlasting burnings of the bottomless pit and hence is that Phrase Ezek. 36. 32. They shall loath themselves not their miseries though they were more than they could bear not their Judgments though heavier than they could endure but they loath their own souls the hellish exorbitations swervings and departings of heart from God that they had held any connivence or correspondence with their lusts Lastly Gods manner of ãâã is sweet and secret and works insensibly ãâã spirits of such who do receive it when and ãâã ãâã ãâã to ãâã infinite Wisdom whose ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rom. 11. 33. He can and doth somtimes ãâã the soul in the ãâã as it 's commonly conceived he did John Baptist Luke 1. 44. Many times he begins to tamper and trade with the spirits of his when they are yong and tender and their yeers few drops in some grain of the immortal Seed of the Word which takes root by the powerful operation of the Spirit and grows up with them as they grow in yeers 2 Chron. 34. 3. While Josiah was yet yong ãâã eight yeers old he began to seek after the God of his Fathers and declined not to the right hand or to the left So the Lord seemed to deal with Joseph and to reveal
grievous yet the plague-sore of their sins was heaviest upon their hearts and most in their thoughts so it is with a contrite sinner his complaints and thoughts return hither as to their center publish the comforts promises and priviledges of the Gospel the sinner acknowledgeth the promises are precious the comforts are sweet the priviledges great and happy they that ever they were born that have a title thereunto But alas what have I to do with these my heart is yet hard and my sins yet unsubdued Those keep good things from me Lay open al the threatnings of the word the plagues the Lord hath prepared the curses iudgments and punishments that are recorded in the scripture and ever were inflicted by the justice of the Lord the contrite sinner looks presently beyond these plagues to his sins which is the cause of al these and worse than al these and that gives the sting and evil unto al these evils what shal I do I have sinned deliver me from blood guiltiness O God not from the sword though that was threatned but from his sin The sinner that hath his heart thus truly affected and pierced through with his sins is marvelous tender easily to be convinced of a yielding disposition i. e. freely and readily enlarged in the open acknowledgment of an evil that is discovered he stands guilty of As it is with the body when it is pierced or pricked with a stiletto He bleeds inwardly it may be but so as the blood hath no vent nor the party relief hence the life is in hazard but when it s thrust quite through though the wound be greater and wider yet the danger is less because the party bleeds kindly and naturally the wound is more ãâã to be cleansed and healed there is no fear of festering and rankling inwardly but the Chirurgeon may readily come at it for the cure So it is when the soul is wounded aright with Godly sorrow for its sin it bleeds kindly and naturally ready to see the evil the core the root of that corruption from whence it comes and willing and open hearted that the saving word of the truth either of instruction reproof comfort or exhortation may be applyed for cure and recovery A broken hearted sinner fals immediately before the power of the word takes the sin presently home to himself when ever or what ever is presented with evidence to him without cavilling or gainsaying shifting or winding away from under the authority thereof That resistance and gainsaying opposition is now removed which formerly took possession and the irresistible power of the spirit hath flung down those strong holds of Satan and sin hath conquered and captivated the high thoughts of the mind and sturdy rebellions of the heart unto the obedience of the Lord Jesus and therefore there is an entrance and easy passage made for the truth to take place and the heart to take the impression thereof with some pleasing content parts of the body which are wounded broken and sore and very sensible of the least stir or touch of any thing that comes nigh them they feel presently and are affected with some trouble Oh say we it s my broken Arm my sore Hand the least touch it goes to my heart It 's so with broken spirits they are presently sensible of the least touch of any truth the least intimation or discovery of any sin that comes by the by if from a work that fals occasionally it feels it forthwith yields it and owns it without any more ado That 's the deceit of my heart which I never saw before that 's my distemper unto which I have been addicted the law is holy and good but my heart naught and sold under sin Rom. 7. this was the temper of good ãâã at the reading of the law which the Lord observes and so much ãâã 2 Chron. 34. 27. because thy heart was tender melted when thou heardest the words of this law he took the impression of the truth at the first without the least appearance of any opposition in any particular or rising of spirit against them though the severity and sharpness of the threatnings were marvailous cross not onely to a corrupt heart but to the outward comforts eminent priviledges of his place pomp and prosperity of his Crown and Kingdom the heart is melted and broken is conquered by the truth and therefore can do nothing against it But can do any thing against its own lusts and the pleasing corruption of his own nature this is part of that preparation which the Baptist the Harbenger of our Savior made to make this plain for his coming into the hearts of his as into his temple Luk 3. The rough things shal be made plain and crooked things straight the rugged and sturdy gainsayings of a rebellious heart are taken away and it 's made easy and readily yielding to the evidence of any part of Gods wil it finds a plain passage into the soul no rub in the way no rising against the righteous and good wil of God If any thing be doubtful he is easy to be informed amiss to be reproved and amended thereby Those crooked aymes and by ends also whereby falshearted hypocrites serve their turn of the Lord Jesus seek for grace and mercy either to quiet the horror of their ãâã promote their own credit or under a profession against sin to get more liberty to commit sin to sin without suspicion or distraction these rugged distempers must be levelled and the spirit of a man made plyable simple and sincere and then all flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord. And unless this de done set thy heart at rest thou canst never see Gods Salvation True indeed I confess the truth many times may be secret and such as at the present exceeds the reach and apprehension of weaker judgments And here wil be and in some ãâã may a long inquisition and painful and tedious search for the right discovery where the narrow way lyes But there is great ods betwixt an inquisition and serious enquiry that we may see the truth And a quarrelling against the evidence thereof that we may not see it Inquisition is one thing contention against the truth is another that al the Saints should endeavour this none but the ungodly wil practise for it 's given as a never failing note of a graceless person who is appointed to destruction to them who are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness Rom. 2. 8. for where the one is not the other wil be contentious persons joyn sides with their sinful distempers against the truth authority of the righteous law of God openly to maintain a professed opposition against the truth is so loathsom to common sence and ãâã even to the remainders of light left in the ãâã of a natural man that hardly any man is come to the height of wickedness that he dare openly own a course so hellish and
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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã it you did not think of it What need we more evidence ãâã own words shal be thine own ãâã and appeal to thine own Conscience let that be ãâã own judg didst thou ever hear any man that ãâã 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 ãâã him he did not think of the weight of the load that clogges and tires him would you not ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã the Discipline and Government of Christ to ãâã under it he begins secretly to ãâã ãâã undermine the strictness of those ãâã that formerly he did como into these Parts for that he might seek them find and enjoy them as ãâã often professed It 's said of Herodias when John Baptist would give no ãâã 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 ãâã 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
world you see is wel amended Look at the complaint as it looks to the parties and there wee have two points we shal speak briefly to them both They whose hearts are pierced by the Ministry of the word they are carryed with love and respect to the Ministers of it Men and Brethren they be words of honor love they spoke them seriously and affectionately they mocked them before and they now embrace them they cared not what tearms of reproach they cast upon their persons they know not now what titles of love and tenderness to put upon them they now fal at their feet as clients who flouted them before as enemies so it was with the jaylour Acts 16. 30. 31. 34. how kindly doth he use Paul and Silas whom ãâã he handled so currishly beyond the bounds of reason and humanity he entertains them in the best room of his house who before thought the worst place in the prison too good for them He baths their wounded parts which he had whipped and stocked before fears and trembles before them as his counsellors whom he handled most harshly ãâã as Prisoners he feasts them as his guests whom he had struck as Malefactors the wind was in another dore the man is of another mind yea is another man than he was God had no sooner opened the heart of Lydia to attend the word but her affections were exceedingly enlarged towards the dispensers thereof Acts 16. 15. so that the cords of her loving invitation led Paul and held him captive he professed she compelled them i. e. by her loving and affectionate expressions prevailed with them for a stay And while Paul had the Galathians under the Pangs of the new birth and Christ was now forming in them they professed they would have plucked out their eyes and have given them to the Apostle Gal. 4. 15. Naaman hath no sooner his leprosy healed and his heart humbled and cut off from his corruption but he professed himself and what he had is at the devotion of the Prophet and that not out of complement but in truth 2 Kings 5. 15. Take a blessing from thy servant Reasons are two They see and know more than formerly they did when happily the crooked counsels of others deceived them and their own carnal reason couzened and deluded their own souls that they mis-judged the men and their doctrine also As that they did not speak the truth or else had some crooked and self-seeking ends in what they spak As either to gratify other mens humors whom they would please or else to set up their own persons and praise and esteem in the apprehensions of others as singular men and more than of an ordinary frame and therefore would wind men up to such a high pitch of holiness and force them to such a singular care to fly the very appearance of al evil when it s more than needs and more than God requires and more than any man can do but now they find by proof and are forced out of their own sence and feeling to acknowledg the truth of what they have spoken and what they have heard themselves also to be the faithful ambassadors of the Lord Jesus and therefore ãâã to be believed and attended in their dispensations and honored of al. So Paul 2 Cor. 4. 3 We hope we are made manifest unto your consciences Thus the Woman of Samaria when our Savior came home to the quick and met with the secrets of her heart she then fel from her taunting and slighting of our Savior to admiring of him Come saith she behould the man that told me al that ever I did is not be the Christ. John 4. 29. Look as Nabuchadnezzar said Dan. 4. last now I know the God of Daniel is the true God and now I praise the living God so when they have been in the fire and God hath had them upon the anvil now I know what sin is now I know what the danger is now I know what necessity there is to part with sin when the Patient hath found the relation and direction of the Physitian hath proved real it makes him prize and honor his skil and counsel for ever and for ever to have his custom ãâã the Pythonist was compelled from the power of Pauls administration to confess these are the Servants of the living God which shew unto us the way of Salvation so here ãâã they see more and can therefore judge better of the worth of persons and things so their conscience now hath more scope and the light of reason hath more liberty and allowance to express that they know and nothing now can withstand and hinder for while men are held captive under the power of their lusts and corruptions of their hearts in which they live and which for the while they are resolved to follow though ãâã reason happily do yeild it and their own hearts and Consciences cannot but inwardly confess it the persons are holy the ãâã are ãâã which they condemn and dangers dreadful which they ãâã yet to profess so much openly to others and to the world were to judg themselves while they would acquit others and condemn their own courses while they ãâã praise and honor the carriages and persons of others ãâã therefore darken the evidence of the word by ãâã ãâã and reproaches ãâã the wittness of ãâã and stop its mouth that it cannot speak out Thus ãâã 1. 18. they hold down the truth in unrighteousness When the truth that is by their judgments assented unto and by their hearts yeilded and therefore should break out and give in testimony to the good wayes of God their corrupt and unrighteous and ãâã hearts hold it prisoner wil not suffer it either to appear unto others or prevail with themselves As it ãâã with the Scribes Pharisees when the wonder was wrought by Peter say they Acts 4. 16. that indeed a not ãâã miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all ãâã dwel in Jerusalem and we cannot deny ãâã q. d. they would have done it if they could but that it spread no further let us charge them straitly that they speak no more in this name But here when the conscience of a poor sinner is convinced and the heart wounded and that resistance and gainsaying distemper is taken off and crushed now ãâã is in commission and hath ãâã scope the coast is now clear that reason may be heard now the broken hearted sinner wil speak plainly these are the guides that God hath setup their direction I wil attend these are the dear and ãâã servants of the Lord whom I must honor and with them I would ãâã trust my soul not with the blind guides and ãâã teachers who daub with untempered morter and are not trustie to God nor their own souls and therefore cannot be ãâã Oh send for such though ãâã ãâã life time they could not endure the ãâã abide the presence nor allow them
Isa. 66. 3. I wil look saith the Lord i. e. with a gracious look of mercy upon this man that trembles at my word that trembles at a counsel least he should despise it at commands promises least he should not receive them The Lord is terrible out of his holy places When the terror of the truth of God is fallen upon the soul then what ever exhortations directions come from the word he dares not resist or gainsay but submit and fal under the wil of God made known there then a man wil fear to go from under a command as to go to hell it self EXAMINATION we may hence know whether ever the word hath wrought kindly and left this impression of broken heartedness this is a never fayling evidence As thy subjection is to the word so thy contrition is If the word hath pierced thee the word wil awe thee 1 Thes. 1. 6. Our Gospel came not in word but in power and ye became followers of us and of the Lord. Did the word over-power thy heart then thou art a follower of the faithful Ministers of God who left those impressions upon thy soul the word is mighty through God and brings every thought into the obedience of Christ hence 2 Cor. 8. 5. they gave up themselves to the Lord and then to us by the wil of God so far as they set forth the Goverment of Christ. This fals heavy upon two sorts Those that are open rebells sons of Belial that acknowledg no Lord no Law what to tremble at every word that is delivered No they are not such Babies c. Conspirators and traitors that pretend and profess subjection and yet maintain rebellion in their hearts they yield fainedly but when it comes to reallity to stoop to the authority of the truth they wil not these are traitors to the truth ãâã the Swissers wil be enemies when they cannot serve their own turns and friends when they do ãâã the Papists in England they are content to take the benefit of the Law but when it comes to take the oath of Allegiance they wil by no means do it because they are sworn Vassels to the Pope or Pensioners to the King of Spain though they equivocate to serve their own turns so these when they come to take the oath of Allegiance to set up Christ as supream in their hearts and minds to submit to the power of the truth then they take up armes against Christ and his word and wil not submit This is the evidence of a servant of sin Rom. 6. 17. when men receive the power of the Gospel they are not servants of sin else they are Psal. 45. 5. a man that wil not fal before the truth the arrows of Christ never stuck fast in his heart What shal we do We have done with the parties to whom the complaint was made men and brethren c. The complaint it self is ful of bitterness some things are implyed in it some things expressed That which is implyed in this complaint may be attended in four particulars Their ignorance and inability how to help themselves An absolute necessity to come ãâã of this condition which now they find themselves in A secret hope to receive advice and relief from the Apostles The price and excellency they now put upon the ãâã from their sins for this is the end of their request that which is supposed and implyed as the end of their complaint namely to bedelivered from that which was the plague sore of their souls and did so extremely pierce and pinch them That which the jalour in the like case did openly mention and these also did intend Sirs what shal I do to be saved Acts. 16. 30. namely from those sins which now overwhelm his soul. Sinners in distress of Conscience are ignorant and unable to help themselves The manner of the speech proclaimes so much to each mans experience at the very first inckling and hearing of it They speak as men at their wits end what shal we do we know not what to do it 's beyond our skil and above our reach either to bear or avoyd to make an escape from his sins and the plagues due therunto As Ruben said when he went down into the pit found not his Brother Joseph there being sold before he returned to his bretheren the child is not I whither shal I go Gen. 37. 30. So it is with the soul in distress of Conscience seeing it self forsaken of God Because he hath forsaken him by his backslidings and departures God is gone my God is not to this poor soul and I ãâã shal I go whither shal I look if to heaven there justice wil reject and condemn me if to hell there the Devils are ready to torment should I take the wings of the morning fly to the utmost parts of the earth there the wrath of the Almighty shal pursue and if I look into my own soul there is a Conscience to accuse ãâã a hell of horror to confound me for ever We know ãâã ãâã way to take ãâã we are ãâã of our ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã makes it more ãâã ãâã know ãâã how to get either relief or release We are at a loss ãâã our ãâã we are at a loss in our thoughts how we may find succor and deliverance you ãâã are the seers of Israel shew us the way of help Paul acknowledgeth as much at his first Conversion Acts 9. 6. when the Lord had met him and discovered the evil and ãâã of his way he then conceived he did not wel and yet could not conceive what to do Lord what wilt thou have me to do I do not know and therefore I cannot tel how to do thy wil nor yet how to procure mine own peace When the Israelites were driven to perplexities by the expression of Gods ãâã against their ãâã carriage in chusing themselves a King and ãâã cryed out ãâã ãâã us for we have sinned 1 Sam. 12. ãâã they durst not go to the Throne of Grace themselves but forced out of guilt and horror they were ready to go the wrong way and therefore Samuel by seasonable prevention stops their passage Ye have sinned yet turn not aside from following the Lord q. d. the distressed sinner as a Traveller in amazement when they have once missed their way the further they go the further they go aside Reasons are Two The ãâã of Grace and Life unto which men are to turn at the times of their Conversion they are hidden and secret and men in their Natural Condition when the Lord is pleased first to stop their passage and build a wall before them they are wholly unacquainted with the narrow path that ãâã to Christ and life by reason of that inbred blindness of their minds and the dayly ãâã of their lives and that from their ãâã For ãâã is ãâã part of the description of the Grace ãâã to enter in at the straight gate for straight ãâã
which they would not be brought to see in the dayes of their folly Then send for such and such who have been deeply wronged by me for such who have been corrupted by my example The evil counsel that I have given the loathsom carriages and unsavory language and speeches that I have expressed those subtil insinuations and baits that I have layd to entice and entangle them I desire now that God would pardon and they forgive yea such who have been ringleaders to their wicked and leud courses they were not able to abide their persons and practice either take him away or remove me hence sayes the sick party thus they brought their ãâã and ãâã them openly in the view of all when once God brought their hearts to a through sight and sorrow for their sin Acts. 19. 19. Sometimes upon the place of execution God constrains me ãâã vomit out their wretchedness to leave shame upon themselves and to ãâã their ãâã for a reproach and ãâã behind them and to confess now to be condemned when they would not confess in humility to seek and receive ãâã to be pardoned Oh beware by my example that you never rebel against Parents reject the counsel and ãâã of Governors that was my sin hath been my bane and made me rush on headily to mine own ruin and confusion Nay Secondly If the commission of them were private and yet they be made publick by ãâã way in a course of providence stil God calls for confession answerable as the season shal require and opportunity ãâã As suppose a mans secret fact come to open view either by others care or by the weakness of any according to my defect in al these cases open acknowledgment is requisite as for instance in the severals The house is broke the goods stoln conveyed and hid at length the owner sees chalengeth pursues him in the open court of Justice and yet righteously and that which was cunningly carryed before comes now openly to be censured again suppose that there is an offence given to a brother in Church Covenant and while the ãâã is in ãâã and depending between them ãâã the party offended against the rule of our savior carelesly and ãâã relates this to several persons some without some within the Church and they also report it heedlesly to others so that it growes common and the report publick though they of the Church for the rule of our Savior binds them properly because they have power to reforme or prevent evil and doth not in many cases reach others out of that relation though they I say did sinfully and disorderly make it publick yet this is ground sufficient for a gracious heart and that according to Gods Command to ãâã the open shame of the evil as seeing Gods hand so pursuing of him for purposes best known to his Majesty for the reality and venom of the scandal issues properly from his sin though the report came occasionally and disorderly from others Since then the Scandal goes so far and the hurt like to be so common by means of his sin it 's requisite the salve should be as large as the sore that the report of the confession for the recovery of the evil may go as far as the infection hath done by the report of the evil committed Nay if through my just desert it be made publick when private Counsels take not place nor admonitions awe nor reasons prevail when no private means that the Lord Jesus hath appointed ãâã have been improved do good but that they are constrained to appeal to the publick this shews the strength of the distemper and the danger of it and therefore the sinner needs more deeply to be affected with it and with greater shame and sorrow to bewail it As when the Offender wil not hear one nor yet two or three that the stiffness and obstinacy grows so high that the Brethren are constrained to call in the help of the whol Congregation and our Savior is constrained to raise the whol Army the Body of the Church to make head against an evil it argues the corruption grows malignant and deadly and the condition dangerous and desperate and therefore the Confession must be suitable must ãâã in soak and be of more than usual efficacy or else it wil in reason be no way satisfactory Touching private sins In case of wrong and injury that is done betwixt man and man miscarriages are expressed between party and party in the dayly occasions of their lives in which they are to deal one with another The Apostles Rule is plain and pregnant without doubt and dispute James 5. 16. Confess your sins one to another and pray one for another In our common converse miscarriages commonly break out and appear either harsh unkind discourteous or injurious carriages men should not slight such evils and sit down carelesly for the healing or removing of them but be as careful to apply the Cure as men are heedless to avoid the sin get a heart consciencious and ready to ãâã those evils and that constantly as we are ready to commit and practice them else our prayers and our comforts wil be prejudiced which by this advice may be quickened and enlarged each for others ãâã for while we commit offences and not ãâã we set our hearts and ãâã at a distance one from another and therefore we cannot pray so affectionately and ãâã as otherwise we would did ãâã see the hearts of our ãâã so easily coming in to the Authority of the Truth and so affectionately carried against the sinful ãâã of their own souls This ãâã the ground of that so ãâã a warning which our Savior suggests Matth. 5. 23 24. When thou ãâã to offer thy Sacrifice and remembrest that thy Brother hath ãâã against thee i e. hath any just exception against any sinful miscarriage go first and be reconciled and then come and offer Touching secret sins there is the ãâã difficulty how to discern when a party is called of God to make confession thereof For Answer there be Three Rules which may serve for our right information therein If the Lord shall as he hath promised in his holy Word seal up the acceptation of our persons and the pardon of our sins as it seems good to his Will when we shall make confession thereof unto himself we then need not ãâã in truth we should not make confession of our secret sins to man First ãâã it is God may yea many times nay most usually doth evidence the ãâã of our sins unto our souls when we humbly and unfeignedly bewail them unto himself So the Apostle John concludes it as beyond question 1 ãâã 1-2 last verse If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to clense us from all iniquity nay we shal not only have forgiveness granted in Heaven but evidenced to our hearts on Earth Prov. 28. 13. He that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy If a mans
not yield ãâã ãâã about the business ãâã the people spared ãâã ãâã of the ãâã and the ãâã for sacrifice and the rest we have ãâã I construed the command so and took your ãâã to be that namely sacrifice must ever be attended and then al the rest must be cut off How is it possible that common sence could put such a ãâã ãâã so ãâã ãâã charge go kil al c. that is spare ãâã yet a wily heart must have some way to raise a cavil he comes heavily off to confession As a contrite sinner is easy to yield the evil by way of conviction so ready to ãâã it by open ãâã ãâã acknowledgment upon any occasion according to ãâã nature of the offence he ãâã so ãâã from being troubled to do this that he is troubled and restless in himself until it be done and therefore if there be an opportunity to invite him he takes it without ãâã if a ãâã he longs for it and desires it ãâã if none wil provoke him he is studious to seek an occasion and to press in upon some opportunity that if it be a publick evil he may publish his acknowledgment if a wrong he desires not until another comes or sends but he sends he goes to him to be waile it ãâã ãâã secret he wil not stay to be asked or have his confession wrested from him by ãâã of reason and ãâã argument but ãâã more ready to tel al than another is willing to bear not give ãâã man to guess at some wickedness by ãâã ãâã but ãâã out ãâã ãâã ãâã some discovery to make his evil appear most ãâã A ãâã a right ãâã position of ãâã of spirit is like a body in a right temper and constitution if it be ãâã in a ãâã there is more trouble to stay and ãâã the bleeding than to provoke it for to bleed So here And hence though there was no horror of ãâã to ãâã no authority to require no counsel ãâã perswade he could not satisfy his own heart he could not be quiet before he had satisfyed the rule and proceeded in open hostile manner against his sin but a false heart after conviction which was ãâã with great difficulty he must be drawn like a ãâã to a stake to make open confession ãâã the cause may require and when he comes by constraint Conscience dragges him or Authority compells him thereunto His ãâã sticks in his teeth he lispes them out so wearishly hacks and ãâã stops here and ãâã there as though he would say somthing because he must speak and yet is afraid he shal say more then he would therefore bites in his words one way sometimes turnes his speech another way if any speech seems too open or to give too much advantage to the truth he ãâã himself and begins to qualify what he hath said he would not be mistaken he meant thus and thus i. e. his meaning is to conceal as much as he can And hence a man must propound so many interrogatories aske so many questions ãâã interpretations of what a ãâã hath said when he hath ãâã what he wil ãâã though a man should pul a confession from a man as an untimely ãâã which he were not ãâã willing to bring into the world and when he hath ãâã on what he can he can hardly make any thing of what confession he hath made But a heart that is burdened to ãâã pricked to the quick and parted from his ãâã his expressions come off kindly and issue naturally from him not in a ãâã quaint kind of strayn as though he would coyn a confession but with that freedom and rediness as though his spirit was ãâã into such expressions his heart was severed from his ãâã the passage ãâã plain and he would banish them by an open confession and therefore watchfully takes the occasion that may suit the work Acts 19. 19. they that used unlawful and curious arts they brought their books and burned them in the sight of al they were not summoned to this service by authority they came of their own accord c. And this was ãâã with Paul to take advantage by the solemnity of the place and people to publish ãâã sin and shame and to be ãâã it in the view of the world no man either ãâã or expecting any such thing and he freely unbosomed his heart and said more against himself than al the world could say the ãâã ãâã you may read Acts. 26. 9 I utterly thought I ought to ãâã ãâã things against the name of ãâã which thing I also did ãâã up the prison compelling them to ãâã and being exceeding mad ãâã them c. The ãâã ãâã ãâã it in ãâã of the stomach the ãâã in ãâã ãâã which ãâã from the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be a ãâã before ãâã ãâã ãâã severing before a ãâã he that ãâã the ãâã ãâã it be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the disease ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã any ease to the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã removed at once look say we the ãâã ãâã comes out ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã constraint and the passage once made it runs without any stay but if you pour out ãâã out of abarrel some may issue out but you must by ãâã and ãâã pul out the rest this is the difference between a heart truly burdened and ãâã hypocrite perplexed with horror the contrite soul poures out his complaints into a mans bosom without any stay the soul hath ful vent but with the hypocrite you must take out his confession by ãâã of reason As the difference between water in the channel and in the pumpe the stream runs currently kindly readily you must force it to stay but the other you must force it to run a man must pump and press out a confession by power of argument or else there is no water to be gotten to purpose He takes the evil to himself and doth not lay it upon another and is carryed with greatest vehemency against that in the sin that was most vile and that he wil not mince he is farr from ãâã blame upon another to ãâã other mens evils when he comes to acknowledg his own as conceiving the more ãâã they appear his may appear less Nay now is the time wholly to attend his own and especially to bewail that most whereby he hath most offended When the potion or vomit works upon the humor mainly then it works kindly So Judah Gen. 38. 26. ãâã is more righteous than I and they 1 Sam. 12 19. we have added unto al our other sins this evil As it must be free so it must be ful it comes from the bottom brings out al before it he doth ãâã content himself
and shal endure by reason of the same He thought indeed in the time of his folly That Preachers in point of policy presenting sin in a more dreadful visage and appearance than there was just cause or Reason would in truth conclude at least he imagined if the worst befel that either he would remove the guilt or avoid the plague or subdue the strength of such distempers that did threaten Gods displeasure and his destruction but now he finds it otherwise yea his own Conscience nay his own sence and experience doth abundantly confute his folly and mistakes that notwithstanding al the waies he can take and means he can use guilt stil continues he cannot remove it plagues he cannot avoid violence and venom of his corruption he cannot master nor help himself against the ãâã Command and Authority they yet live and are mighty And therefore he is forced to send up to Heaven dayly yea to seek out unto the faithful Servants of the Lord that they may lend a helping hand for his relief that may help him by their prayers when he sees his own prevail not guide him by their Counsel when through his own ignorance he is at a loss in his thoughts and cannot direct himself that they may tent and heal his sore when out of unskilfulness he cannot ãâã how to dress the wounds of his own diseased and distressed spirit Thus Nature doth not only teach men but necessity compels al when they find themselves helpless to call yea cry for help yea to send far and neer for succor unto such in whose power it is to support when men have used al Kitchin Physick and taken some Ancient Receipts they have by them and yet the disease grows desperate and the cure more difficult they presently speed out to those who are able and learned Physitians for Counsel and Cure He that fears an on-set he would have a Second in the field with him So here God hath given the tongue of the Learned to some to speak a word in season to a weary Conscience Isai. 50. 4. To others God hath given a dexterous hand to joynt the souls and comforts of such who by some dangerous fall and sudden surprizal of distempers have made a breach in their spirits and peace Gal. 6. 1. You that are spiritual joynt such a man with a spirit of meekness handle hin skilfully yea gently and tenderly To some again God hath given precious Receipts rare experiences of his peculiar mercies to their own souls which few have heard almost none besides themselves have had the like proof 2 Cor. 4. 1. 4. Paul was afflicted and comforted that he might ãâã and comfort others in afflictions 2 Cor. 2. 11. he professeth he was not ignorant of Satans Methods but was wel acquainted with his Stratagems having been in so many pitcht fields so many Sieges Hence it is that these poor wounded sinners in the Text press in upon the Apostles as skilful and experienced ãâã for such as were in spiritual distress Men and Brethren what shall we do q. d. You understand we are ignorant and know not what way to take you are experienced and we unacquainted wholly with Gods dealings and directions and perceive not what to do Besides were mens abilities equal yet many eyes see more and many hands can do more than one as in some wounds which we cannot reach by our own hands another though weak and unskilful wil lend ready help wil search and tent the wound we cannot touch nor reach the meanest Christian hath more Experience in some Case than those who are far more able and thou canst not reach it nor come at it he will search it with ease A Contrite sinner is willing to take shame and therefore willing to open himself and sin that he may bear shame that is due unto him for it He sees now the vileness of sin and himself vile because of it and therefore looks at shame as his due desert which he hath mericed at the hands of God and man and therefore accounts it but reasonable that he should be dishonored and rejected of others who hath ãâã the great Name of God and cast shame and contempt upon the good waies of his Grace he sits down really convinced of his own baseness and therefore doth not complement and speak words of course against himself he wil say I am so and so vile and wretched and doth not condemn himself that others might acquit him not ãâã his person and practice that others might praise and pity him But as it was said of them They should wash themselves and judg themselves worthy to be cut off and condemned and therefore worthy to be despised and trampled upon as unsavory salt and hence he is willing out of a holy indignation to shame himself and the sinfulness of ãâã heart and life which hath been a shame to his profession and cast shame upon the righteous and holy waies of the Lord. That which takes away all the hindrances of this holy duty of Confession and puts the soul upon the necessity of the performance that must needs fit the soul for the discharge of this Service But Contrition takes away the hindrances which are these three Either a man would not have his sin removed and subdued Or else he need not help to that purpose Or else he is afraid and ashamed to take help which is provided in that behalf But this Work of Contrition makes a man willing to be helped against his sin makes him see a need and seek for help makes him willing to take shame and he sees a necessity he should that he may receive help against his sins Therefore Contrition fits and enables the soul to a right Confession of sin INSTRUCTION We here see the reason of those sinful windings and turnings of Devices which generally appear in mens practices after the commissions of evil when they should be brought to a naked acknowledgment of their errors herein So many muses to escape so many sleepy senceless shifts to save their own stake their credit and respect yield nothing though they can gainsay nothing with color of Reason they spend their wits and thoughts and lay about them to the utmost skil of al the carnal reason they have to latch the blow to defeat and put by the stroak of the Truth the dint and evidence of the Argument that would discover their evil In a word here is the root and reason of those turnings aside from the Authority of the Truth They never came where this Contrition of heart grew nor yet indeed knew what it meaneth they never saw sin aright their souls were never sensibly affected with the direfulness of the scandal they give unto others and the guilt they bring upon their own Consciences for all which they must one day answer It 's said Luke 3. 6 7. that when God prepares way for the coming of the Lord Jesus or the coming of it within the sight and
1 It 's a Duty belonging to all 244 2 How far we are cast behind hand for want of it 245 3 What need we have of it ibid. 4 The Soveraign vertue of it 247 Directions to help in the practice of Meditation 249 1 Enquire after the Nature of a sin ibid. In this Enquiry  1 Look to the Rule to Authorize us to the work ib. 2 For the manner of proceeding 250 1 Survey particular sins 251 1 In the Root ibid. 2 In the fruits of them ibid. 2 Sum them up joyntly 262 2 Fasten it upon the soul 265 1 By grappling with the heart ibid. 2 By getting the better of the heart ibid. Here take heed of three extreams 272 1 Desperate discouragements 273 2 Hellish provocations 274 3 False conceivings of the measure and manner of Gods work 275 Directions to help here are three  1 Possess the heart with the fear of thy sinful and dangerous estate 276 2 Awaken and call for the help of Conscience 279 3 Seek to the Lord for the Almighty hand of his Spirit to set on thy Meditations 282 DOCT. 5. The same Word is profitable to some not to others 283 Reasons two Because  1 God hath several ends to attain by the dispensations of his Word 284 2 God will shew the Soveraignty of his good pleasure ibid. Uses four hence  1 Learn to fear in the enjoyment of greatest means 285 2 The profitable fruit of the means is not in the means ibid. 3 Exhortation Use means in dependance upon God 386 4 Be thankful when thou dost profit by them ibid. DOCT. 6. The Lord somtimes makes the Word prevail most when it 's most opposed 287 The Lord works many times  1 Upon men when they seek not ãâã 289 2 Upon the worst of men 294 3 In the height of Rebellion ibid. Reasons four Because  1 The greatness of his Power is hereby discovered 292 2 The ãâã of his mercy ãâã is ãâã 294 3 The Lord will stain the Glory of all flesh 295 4 And discovers the depths of his ãâã 296 ãâã Three hence  1 Instruction The work of Conversion depends ãâã upon any preparation that man can make 297 Hence that 's a dangerous Error ãâã If a man do what he can God will give ãâã Grace 300 1 It undermines the Soveraign good pleasure of God ibid. 2 It cuts the sinews of the Covenant of Grace 301 3 It crosseth the end of the means of Grace 302 2 To support the hearts of the most wretched sinners with some hopes of good notwithstanding all their wickedness God may and can if he will work upon them  Cautions here 309 1 God will do thee good in his own way 316 2 Fear lest thou make an escape from the hand of the Lord 317 If thou doest  1 It 's suspicious the Lord hath lest thee ibid. 2 He will deliver thee up to thy sins again 219 3 Exhortation to quicken our desires and endeavors in the use of the means 320 4 Admiration at the riches and freeness of Grace 323 DOCT. 7. Sins unrepented of make way for piercing Terrors 325 Reas. Because the heart is more estranged from God and bardened in sin 327 Uses Three hence  1 Judg not of sin by the present sweetness but by the after sorrows ibid. 2 It should be our greatest care to rise presently after falls into sin 329 3 Terror to such as continue in their sins 330 DOCT. 8. The Truth is terrible to a guilty Conscience 332 Reas. Because it's a Witness to accuse a Judg to condemn an Executioner to torment ibid. Use. It discovers the guiltiness and falsness of such as are afraid of the Truth ibid. Differences between the Saints trembling at the Truth and an Hypocrite 333 1 Though the Word speaks against the corruption yet it speaks for the condition of the Saints ibid. 2 The Saints ãâã sweetness in the sharpest Truths and close with God in them ibid. DOCT. 9. Gross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before they be brought to Christ 334 Reasons Three  1 From the Holiness of Gods Nature 340 2 That sinners may not be encouraged in their sins 341 3 That the sinner himself may be 342 1 Throughly recovered from ãâã sin for the present ibid. 2 Preserved from sin for the time to come ibid. Uses Five hence  1 The easie and sudden Conversion of scandalous sinners is to be suspected God doth not use to save men per ãâã 343 2 Support to scandalous sinners when they meet with ãâã ãâã 347 1 Such are in the way of Mercy 349 2 The workmay prove speedy and successful 350 3 This makes way for Comforts 351 4 It's honorable for such to be under heavy breakings of heart 353 3 Advice to Ministers who by their Calling are to deal with scandalous sinners in such horrors 354 1 Be not ãâã in the search 355 2 Nor ãâã to heal the wound ibid. 3 Nor suddenly confident of the Cure 356 4 Direction to such persons who have had experience of such heart-breakings ibid. Be not weary of Gods Dispensations  5 Exhortation to keep our selves and ours from scandalous sins 357 DOCT. 10. Sorrow for sin rightly set on pierceth the heart of the sinner through that is rightly affected therewith 358 For Explication four Things 362 1 The Manner how Sorrow for ãâã ãâã on the soul. 363 1 Either successively or by degrees in some ibid. 1 The evil and danger of his sin is ãâã in the general ibid. 2 He is surprized and pursued with fear 364 3 The Curses and Punishments of sin are fastened upon him 366 4 He is made to feel the evil of sin ãâã sin and that as his greatest evil 368 2 Or suddenly and throughly ãâã once in some others 372 3 Or secretly and insensibly in others 374 1 Some are Sanctified in the Womb 375 2 Some wrought upon in Child-hood ibid. 3 Some under good Education Counsels Means are gradually yet really wrought upon ibid. Cautions here  1 Though the manner and measure of Contrition differ in most yet the substance of the Work is the same in all ibid. 2 Though some may not know the time yet every one should and if gracious can give evidence of the Workwrought 360 3 It 's a safe way often to review and to act over the first workings of Contrition 377 For  1 A wound here is never recovered 378 2 Clear this and cleer all ibid. 2 How this Sorrow comes to be set on and the soul made to feel sin its greatest evil 379 1 Sin is cross to the Nature of the soul as such 380 2 If the evil of sin be discovered to the Nature of the soul it may be made sensible thereof 382 3 While the soul is fully and only possessed with sin it cannot feel the evil of it ibid. 4 The Spirit countermands the Authority of sin 383 5 Christ by the
the vulgar Herbs of this Nation wherein is shewed how to cure a mans self of most Diseases incident to Mans Body with such things as grow in England and for three pence charge Also in the same Book is shewed 1 The time of gathering all Herbs both Vulgarly and Astrologically 2 The way of drying and keeping them and their Juyces 3 The way of making and keeping all manner of useful Compounds made of those Herbs The way of mixing the Medicines according to the Cause and Mixture of the Disease and the part of the Body afflicted 5 A Directory for Midwives or a Guide for Women Newly enlarged by the Author in every sheet and Illustrated with divers new Plates 6 Galen's Art of Physick with a large Comment 7 A New Method both of studying and practising Physick 8 A Treatise of the Rickets being a Disease common to Children wherein is shewed 1 The Essence 2 The Causes 3 The Signs 4 The Remedies of the Disease Published in Latin by Dr. Glisson Dr. Bate and Dr. Regemorter translated into English And corrected by N. ãâã A Godly and Fruitful Exposition on the first Epistle of Peter By Mr. John Rogers Minister of the Word of God at Dedham in Essex The Wonders of the Load-stone By Samuel Ward of Ipswitch An Exposition on the Gospel of the Evangelist St. Matthew By Mr. Ward Clows Chyrurgery Marks of Salvation Christians Engagement for the Gospel by John Goodwin Great Church Ordinance of Baptism Mr. Love's Case containing his Petitions Narrative and Speech Vox Pacifica or a perswasive to peace Dr. Prestons Saints submission and Satans Overthrow Pious Mans Practice in Parliament Time Mr. Symsons Sermon at Westminster Mr. Feaks Sermon before the Lord Major Mr. Phillips Treatise of Hell of Christs Genealogy Eaton on the Oath of Allegiance and Covenant shewing that they oblidge not Eleven Books of Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs lately published As also the Texts of Scripture upon which they are grounded 1 The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment on Phil. 4. 11. Wherein is shewed 1 What Contentment is 2 It is an Holy Art and Mystery 3 The Excellencies of it 4 The Evil of the contrary sin of Murmuring and the Aggravations of it 2 Gospel Worship on Levit. 10. 3. Wherein is shewed 1 The right manner of the Worship of God in general and particularly In Hearing the Word Receiving the Lords Supper and Prayer 3 Gospel Conversation on Phil. 1. 17. Wherein is shewed 1 That the Conversations of Beleevers must be above what could be by the Light of Nature 2 Beyond those that lived under the Law 3 And sutable to what Truths the Gospel holds forth To which is added The Misery of those men that have their Portion in this Life only on Psal. 17. 14. 4 A Treatise of Earthly-Mindedness Wherein is shewed 1 What Earthly-mindedness is 2 The great Evil thereof on Phil. 3. part of the 19. Verse Also to the same Book is joyned A Treatise of ãâã and Walking with God on Gen. 5. 24. and on Phil. 3. 20. 5 An ãâã on the fourth fifth sixth and seventh Chapters of the Prophesie of Hosea 6 An Exposition on the eighth ninth and tenth Chapters of Hosea 7 An ãâã on the eleventh twelfth and thirteenth Chapters of Hosea being now compleat 8 The Evil of Evils ãâã the ãâã Sinfulness of Sin on Job 36. 21. 9 Precious Faith on 2 Pet. 1. 1. 10 Of Hope on 1 John 3. 3. 11 Of ãâã by Faith on 2 Cor. 5. 7. Twelve several Books of Mr. William Bridge Collected into one Volumn Viz. 1 The Great Gospel Mystery of the Saints Comfort and Holiness opened and applied from Christs Priestly Office 2 Satans Power to Tempt and Christs Love to and Care of His People under Temptation 3 Thankfulness required in every Condition 4 Grace for Grace or the Overflowing of Christs Fulness received by all Saints 5 The Spiritual Actings of Faith through Natural Impossibilities 6 Evangelical Repentance 7 The Spiritual Life and In-being of Christ in all Beleevers 8 The Woman of Canaan 9 The Saints Hiding-place in time of Gods Anger 10 Christs Coming is at our Midnight 11 A Vindication of Gospel Ordinances 12 Grace and Love beyond Gifts A Congregational Church is a Catholick Visible Church By Samuel Stone in New England A Treatise of Politick Powers wherein seven Questions are Answered 1 Whereof Power is made and for what ordained 2 Whether Kings and Governors have an Absolute Power over the People 3 Whether Kings and Governors be subject to the Laws of God or the Laws of their Countrie 4 How far the People are to obey their Governors 5 Whether all the people have be their Governors 6 Whether it be Lawful to depose an evil Governor 7 What Confidence is to be given to Princes The ãâã Samaritan Dr. Sibbs on the Philippians The Best and Worst Magistrate By ãâã Sedgwick The Craft and Cruelty of the Churches Adversaries By Matthew Newcomen A Sacred Penegerick By ãâã ãâã Barriffs Military Discipline The Immortality of Mans Soul The Anatomist Anatomized King Charls his Case or an Appeal to all Rational Men concerning his Tryal Mr. Owens stedfastness of the Promises A Vindication of Free Grace Endeavoring to prove 1 That we are not elected as holy but that we should be holy and that Election is not of kinds but persons 2 That Christ did not by his Death intend to save all men and touching those whom he intended to save that he did not die for them only if they would beleeve but that they might beleeve 3 That we are not justified properly by our beleeving in Christ but by our Christ beleeving in him 4 that which differenceth one man from another is not the improvement of a common ability restored through Christ to all men in general but a principle of Grace wrought by the Spirit of God in the Elect. By John Pawson Six Sermons preached by Doctor Hill Viz. 1 The Beauty and Sweetness of an Olive ãâã of Peace and Brotherly Accommodation budding 2 Truth and Love happily married in the Church of Christ. 3 The Spring of strengthening Grace in the Rock of Ages Christ Jesus 4 The strength of the Saints to make Jesus Christ their strength 5 The Best and Worst of Paul 6 Gods eternal preparation for his Dying Saints The Bishop of Canterbury's Speech on the Scaffold The King's Speech on the Scaffold The Magistrates Support and Burden By Mr. John Cordel The Discipline of the Church in New England by the Churches and Synod there A Relation of the Barbadoes A Relation of the Repentance and Conversion of the Indians in New-England By Mr. Eliot and Mr. ãâã The History of Monstross and his Actions for ãâã the First His passions for Charles the Second King of Scots The Institutes of the Laws of England by John Cowel Octavo A description of the Grand Signiors Seraglio or the Turkish Emperors Court By John Greaves Octavo The reigning error Arraigned at the Bar of scripture and
Lord our God Here again is the sum of the Covenant comprised and all the particulars with the manner of the work included and presupposed as the Apostle once for all expounds these and the like passages 2 Cor. 6. 16. I will be their God and they shall be my people wherefore come out from among ãâã and be ye separate and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father to you and ye ãâã be my sons and daughters saith the Lord ãâã If they touch no unclean thing but be separate ãâã Sin Self and the Creature and so come out of ãâã these in preparation and come to him in effectual vocation then he will be a father to them in his Christ and make them his Children in Adoption and then he will write his laws in their hearts and renew them to that Holiness which in Adam they lost and so enable them to walk in his wayes And therefore when the Lord promiseth by the ãâã Isa. 43. 25 I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own names sake and will not remember ãâã sins that is I do justifie thee freely when I have made thee to beleeve by my free grace For it cannot be conceived that the Lord would pass the Sentence of Absolution upon her while she remained in the ãâã of Unbelief For then that of the Apostle should fail It s one God that justifies the Jews by Faith and the Gentiles through Faith Rom. 3. 30. Therefore look the 20 and 21 vers of this Chapt. for we must not have one place justle against another and there you shall ãâã it is said I will do this and that for my People my Chosen which are Beleevers and of them and unto them it is said vers 25. I will blot out thy sins for my own sake The resolving of these Cases and information of these Doubts infers undeniably thus much That there is no Absolute Promise that either gives or maintains assurance of our good estate but such only wherein God engageth ãâã to work the Condition or else doth of necessity imply it wrought It will be said That the Covenant of Grace is free and issues out of the free Mercy of God in Christ and therefore the Lord hath not in it any respect to any thing we have or do It s all confessed and yet there is no prejudice at ãâã accrews to the Cause in hand Free Grace is the Fountain of all It makes the ãâã it works the Condition it maintains the ãâã which is wrought Ephes. 2. 8. By Grace ãâã ye saved through Faith And though God both require and work the ãâã Eph. 2. 8. Faith is the Gift of God Yet it not for our Faith or for the worth of any Grace ãâã is in us that we have life and salvation but by ãâã and those as means and wayes by Grace ãâã and provided to give life ãâã is of ãâã Grace doth it not therefore require ãâã in ãâã Party that is Justified nor yet suppose him to be ãâã The Apostle openly contradicts such a ãâã Rom. 8. 30. Whom he called them he justified ãâã is also of Free Grace and yet doth it ãâã suppose Sanctification and Holiness in the Party ãâã must possess it Without Holiness no man shall ãâã the Lord Heb. 12. 14. As my Glorification doth ãâã hinder the freedom of my Justification because it ãâã before it so my Justification doth not hinder the ãâã of my Vocation because Vocation goes ãâã it but only shewes the order and manner of Gods ãâã Third Case of Conscience Though a man can have no Right to any Spiritual ãâã in Christ without Faith and though the ãâã never witnesseth this without or before Faith ãâã when Faith is there when some gracious ãâã is wrought may not doth not the Spirit ãâã a mans good estate without any respect to ãâã or any gracious Qualification existent in the ãâã I Answer So marvelous secret and unsearchable are the Dispensations of the Spirit unto the Soul ãâã as the wind blows where it ãâã thou hearest ãâã sound of it thou knowest not whence it comes ãâã whither it goes So it is here The hidden ãâã ousness of the manner of the Spirits work in the ãâã of it is so hard to discern that to make any approach so as to discover the way of God and to undermine an Error entrenching thereabout by ãâã of Reason is more than ordinarily ãâã and therefore for our better proceeding in Answer ãâã this Question I shall Endeavor to do these ãâã Things 1 State the Question and open it in the ãâã thereof 2 Give in such Arguments as we conceive ãâã plainest Evidence with them to settle ãâã Truth 3 Answer some such Objections as are of greatest weight For the right ãâã of the Question in ãâã to the Case propounded I lay down this Conclusion The Spirit of God never gives in immediate ãâã of any right we have to or that we are made ãâã of any benesit from Christ without respect ãâã some Qualification gracious Disposition or Condition in the Soul There are Three Particulars to be Opened for the right understanding of this Conclusion First What is meant by Evidence Answer ãâã light of ãâã let in on Gods part and ãâã on ours whereby either we have or may have ãâã true and never failing ground of right discerning ãâã what is so manifested and apprehended so that Evidence ãâã First That God by his Spirit manifests his ãâã and our Good and that we either do or may ãâã it for our Comfort For it s the aim of the ãâã to understand this Evidence with Application ãâã the truth to our own particular estate For we ãâã not now what the Word is in it self or what ãâã Spirit doth in the ordinary dispensation thereof ãâã that is light in it self and makes all things ãâã indifferently at all times Eph. 5. 13. but here we ãâã this Discovery and Manifestation of the Mind ãâã God as it comes home to our Particular that ãâã ãâã and hearts may be settled As Luke 24. 32. He opened the Scriptures vers 45. He opened their ãâã that they might understand the ãâã and so the truth was more cleer and their sight ãâã cleer 1 Cor. 2. 12. He hath given us his spirit ãâã we may know the things that are freely given to ãâã of God 1 Joh. 5. 20. He hath given us an ãâã that we may know that we know him Secondly This right discerning on our part is not ãâã a certain knowledge or science of that good ãâã is thus witnessed to us but an assurance of Faith whereby the heart embraceth it as true to it ãâã good for it The one of these is a help to the ãâã sanctisied reason or reason exercised about ãâã truths is an instrument appointed by God in the and of his Spirit to beget this act of Faith for ãâã exercised about the Word and
his fury was at the height when breathing out threatnings against the Church he came armed with authority and hellish resolution to carry all to Prison Acts 9. In a word while Paul proceeds furiously with a ãâã intention to oppose Christ to persecute his Members and in the issue to procure and hasten his own everlasting ruine then our Savior prevents him and pitties him and doth him most good while he strives to do most harm and to make havock of the Church the truth and his soul also yea then works his conversion when he most seriously endeavors to work his own Confusion of himself and such as professed the Faith in sincerity the aim of God in all the Apostle directed by the Spirit expresseth to be this 1 Tim. 1. 16. I was a Persecutor but I obtained Mercy to the end that the Lord in me might shew all long-suffering to the example of those that should beleeve on his Name Such a forlorn Sinner at that time was the fittest subject to receive the full print of Gods love and compassion in great Letters as it were that he might be a pattern to all ãâã of the boundless compassions of the Lord. That as Seamen after a dangerous wrack and miraculous deliverance set up a Monument of their Preservation to all that pass that way to work fear in them to prevent shipwrack and yet hope of Recovery if they do To the like purpose is the Conversion of the Apostle in this heat of his Rebellion set upon Record in publick view As though the Lord should say Look here you forlorn sinners see a desparate Rebel running post-haste to his everlasting ruine and behold withal the hand of Mercy then stopping of him in his way Paul persecuting Christ in his Members Christ then pittying and preserving Paul the one most kind when the other is most vile and ãâã Oh the madness of a deluded Soul ãâã reason But Oh the Compassions of a Savior beyond all compare Be afraid you never proceed to such hellish folly and yet bless God That there is such a Savior if you do These be the Seasons of Gods acceptation the first here principally intended the rest not excluded and in these opportunities thus appointed by God in his Wisdom according to his good will he doth put forth the work of his Grace to bring home the Souls of his unto himself Hence we learn That a long life is a great blessing in it self a great temporal blessing as it comes from the Lord. Why Because all that while a man is in the way Mercy may meet with him and he may meet with it While there is life there is hope unless a man have sinned against the holy Ghost Physitians observe all the while there is strength in Nature there is hope the Physick may prove profitable It is much more for the comfort of the Soul while there is life there is yet a possibility Thy heart is stubborn and rebellious and proud but thou yet livest and the Lord lives and his Mercy lives therefore it may be he may shew mercy to thee But when a man is dropped down into the grave and the pit hath shut its mouth upon him then all his thoughts perish then with a sad heart he may remember all the helps he had the opportunities he had but never had a heart to get any good by them Then he reads over all the Sermons he heard by the flames of Hell and remembers all the kindnesses of the Lord and then there is no hope You therefore that know your bosom abominations you have your back doors and your base haunts you know your sins are not pardoned you have not repented of them when you are gone home go your waies and bless God that you live For let me tell you This is all the hope in the world that yet you are alive and therefore the Lord may shew Mercy to you if your dayes were ended and you gone down to Hell then not all the world nay not Christ nor the Mercy of God it self could not save you then therefore look as it was with a Child which was followed by a Bear into a pond the Child cryed out to the people that were running and came to the ponds sides Oh help help and still as the Bear ãâã him first his Arms than his Legs and still he cryed out Oh help help yet I am alive yet I am alive this is your condition beleeve it Not Bears but Sins and Devils are upon you they have you in their clutches tearing and devouring your Souls Oh look to Heaven and cry out unto the Lord and say Lord a proud stubborn Creature but yet I am alive the Devil is Devouring my soul but Lord help me and deliver me yet I am alive bless God you are so and know its all you have to shew for your everlasting welfare For while there is Life there is Hope Matter of Caution and Advice to fence our souls and fortifie our selves against that hellish distemper of self-Murther that our hearts may be carried with hatred of it and our souls preserved from the commission of it when partly from discontentments and partly from terrors of Conscience men are not able to bear with themselves but they will run to a Halter or a Knife they will put an end to their lives that they may put an end to their sorrows they wil not live that they may not live thus and thus Why Consider Art thou sure of a better life They will Answer No that 's my misery I see all my sins before me and Hell gaping for me and the Devils attending to seize upon my Soul and it makes me weary of my life Weary of your life Take heed of that bless God for your life and pray for life and seek to preserve your life what you may for while your life lasts you are in the way to Mercy Dives had so much experience of the torments of Hell that he sends to those that were alive Oh take heed of coming hither you are in a better condition than I what ever your case be Learn therefore for ever to fear and flie from temptations to self Murther as that which would put an end to your life and to put an end to all hopes and possibilities of Mercy from the Lord. But the main Fruit of the Point which properly belongs to this Place is a Use of Instruction which ought to be observed and settled upon the Consciences of us all Doth the Lord then usually accept of the Soul and do good to it while he provides and continues the means of Grace What then remains but we should give all dilligence to attend upon his times take his means and improve all to the ãâã for our Spiritual good Suffer me here to stay a while and urge the Collection with an Argument or Two and yet go no further than the Words nor take other Reasons than the Text will
afford for it issues amain and with a full sourse from all Particulars mentioned before the foregoing Truths meeting together like so many streams to make this more forcible upon the Conscience and like a mighty Current to carry us along to everlasting happiness It is a Season and therefore to be Observed an Opportunity and therefore to be Improved without Delay We should address our selves presently to this so great a work Redeem the time Col. 4. 5. Having opportunity let us do good to all Gal. 6. 10 If unto others much more to our selves If to their bodies especially to our own Soul if to them in Temporal things than most of all our best good in Eternal blessings is to be attended But the Season is not yet come that Opportunity is not yet offered Answ. ãâã ãâã the Apostle points at it as at hand and in view Behold now while I am Speaking and you are Hearing while the doors of the Sanctuary are yet opened while we are in the land of the living behold now is the acceptable time Oh let us not harden our hearts nor shut our eyes ãâã stop our ears unto the voice of the Lord but pursue opportunity present strike while the iron is hot ãâã our Harvest while the heat and Sun-shine is upon us while wind and tide lasts sail we cheerfully towards the Haven the end of our hopes the Salvation of our Souls This is the Argument which the Apostle presseth with so much eagerness as having such apparent evidence in it That considering the Season it is high time we should awake from the sleep of security our salvation is neerer than heretofore Rom. 3. 11. The Lord now speaks to us as sometimes to the secure Church Cant. 2. 10. Arise my Love my Dove and come away For lo the winter is gone the flowers appear the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land c. I may truly say This Scripture is this day fulfilled in our ears wherein the Lord Christ by the Ministery of his Word calls and that with all instancy upon every corrupt ãâã hearted sinner to come to him to receive the word of his Grace and the power and comfort thereof upon his soul Behold the foggy mists of Popery and ignorance are over the shaddows of ãâã are passed away the flowers grow and the ãâã ãâã apace peace and prosperity with abundance of outward blessings shoured down upon us the voyce of the Turtle is heard in our Land the sound of the Gospel and the glad tydings of Peace have been and yet ãâã proclaimed in our streets Arise arise therefore ãâã secure and dead hearted Sinners and come away Arise ye drunkards come ãâã from your Cups and Companies Arise ye Adulterous wretches come away from your ãâã ãâã and beds of dalliance come to him who ãâã kindly invites you who promises to accept you who is able and willing to save you Oh! consider opportunities will not last alwayes we have no ãâã of them much less command of them and who knows whether we shall ever enjoy that which we now neglect Especially considering the Lord at the present vouchsafes all helps to further and perswade us to this Preparation dealing with us as ãâã he did with the stubborn-hearted Jews by Ezekiel who to strike their hearts with an open Conviction that they must go into Captivity he is injoyned to carry out his stuff in the most plain manner in their sight from one place to another and the end is added If it be possible as some translations reade it if per adventure as the propriety of the Hebrew bears it all to one sense they may consider it Ezek. 12. 3. As if he should say There is some small hope that somthing may procure their welfare and if it be possible this plain dealing is like to prevail A lively picture and resemblance of Gods special bounty to us-ward who enjoy the means of Grace above many others The Lord hath seen other Countryes but he hath settled his abode amongst us he hath passed by many Congregations but he hath lodged with those where he hath set up the Light of his Truth the Son of ãâã hath sent abroad his beams to many corners of the Earth a glimpse of his goodness hath appeared unto many places but his saving health like the Sun in his full strength hath stood over our heads as it did once in Gibeon and the Moon in the valley of Ajalon Some people have had many means and many people have had some but almost all have met together to procure our good and to make up the fulness of opportunities even the fulness of all fitness that if it were possible we might consider it and ãâã at the last convert and turn unto the Lord. The Birds of the Heaven the Sinners upon Earth and the Devils in Hell know and pursue their ãâã Opportunities the one for the comforts of nature that they may enjoy them the other for their ãâã that they may enjoy their lusts though they perish for it Ask then thou sluggard of the Birds of the Heaven and they will tell thee demand of the Beasts of the Field they will shew thee nay ãâã of the Devils in Hell and they will testifie how Opportunities ought to be prized and how ãâã improve them Wilt thou be more unreasonable than the Beasts More careless of thine own ãâã Comforts than the Devils be to procure thy own Confusion Shall the Lord provide all ãâã for our Good and shall we neglect both him and them and our own everlasting welfare Wo to our sluggishnes Object True let this Opportunity ãâã great so ãâã the Continuance of it long and therefore we may take it hereafter Answ. No It s a Day saith the Text very short and yet most uncertain It is but for the day ãâã this Life and who knows how soon it may end there be Skuls of all sorts in Golgotha Skins of all sorts in the Market yong and old aged and ãâã haste unto the rend No man yet had a lease of ãâã Life which is as Grass a Flower a Bubble and alas how soon doth this Grass wither this ãâã fade this Bubble break And our day being short so is it almost ãâã many of us have past our highest point the best ãâã ãâã time our Evening draws on and behold pale ãâã and feeble hands crazy bodies dangerous ãâã which are as Har bengers of our dissolution ãâã will soon bring us to the house of our age to ãâã dust of death thus is our breath but a shaddow ãâã soon passeth away and we are gone Oh! that we ãâã wise to consider these things and because our ãâã is short and passeth away we would take hold ãâã the opportunity present But the yong man Replyes It is a good thing ãâã the Eye to behold the Sun Eccles. 11. 7. To ãâã this Light to enjoy the present Pleasures to ãâã the Rose while it is in the bud to