any saving Work If there were no Doubt moved no Question Controverted by way of any seeming Collection from the place the very Mysterious depths of the 〈◊〉 herein delivered drives all Interpreters to a stand and puts the most Judicious beyond their thoughts so that there is more 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 the mind of God in the words then to make Answer to the Objection hence collected We will 〈◊〉 Shortly open the meaning of the Words 2 Then 〈◊〉 what may be truly Collected from them and 〈◊〉 it will appear that the Objection fetched from 〈◊〉 will find no footing in this place The scope of the Apostle in vers 4 5. is That 〈◊〉 Christ is the Son of God and that Faith which 〈◊〉 the world must look to him and rest 〈◊〉 him This he 〈◊〉 to me to prove and explicate in both the parts of it in vers 6. And secondly amplyfieth it in the following 7. and 8. verses His proof is taken from 〈◊〉 type of his Priestly-Office the truth whereof he accomplished in the great Work of Redemption He that comes by water and blood he is the son of God But Jesus Christ came by water and blood His comming implys 1 His Fathers Sending 2 〈◊〉 Own Undertaking that great Work of our Recovery not only by Water as the Levites who were washed Numb 8. 6. 7. but by Blood also as the Priests Levit. 8. 6. 22 23 24. By Water I conceive is meant The Holiness of his Nature in which he was Conceived and for which end he was overshad owed by the Spirit By Blood is meant that Expiation and Satisfaction he made to the Law of God by shedding his Blood So that He that had all that and 〈◊〉 all that which was shadowed by the Priests He is that Jesus the son of God for 〈◊〉 And the Spirit bears witness because the Spirit is Truth This seems to me to be the fairest sense and to be preferred before all that I can see brought By Spirit in the First place is meant Gods 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost By Spirit in the Second place I do think 〈◊〉 is meant For so you shall find the word used 2 Cor. 4. 13. Having the same Spirit of Faith So that the Spirit of God comming from the Father and the Son would testifie by the aspertion of this Water and Blood that my Faith is true when it assures my heart that this Jesus is the Son of God 2 He amplifies this proof by bringing in the number of witnesses and the manner of their witnessing For their number they are Six The Father sending The Son coming The Spirit certifying in this 〈◊〉 manner of working they are distinct and herein appear to be distinct witnesses and this their witness is from Heaven signifying where they are and from whence they express their witness The Father speaks from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Mat. 3. last The Son professeth so often of himself That he came out of the bosom of the Father John 1. 18. John 3. 13. No man can ascend to Heaven but the Son of man who came down from Heaven John 6. 38. I came down from Heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent 〈◊〉 Lastly in Mat. 3. last The Spirit of God descended down upon him in the likeness of a Dove these speak from Heaven and their expressions are 〈◊〉 in the word without us whether we beleeve or no. Three again speak and witness from Earth for Christ dwels in us here on Earth the Spirit Water and Blood There is no doubt but by Water is meant Sanctification by Blood Justification all the Question lies upon the third What is meant by Spirit Under correction I take it It 's meant of Faith for besides that 2 Tim. 1. 7. all graces are called the Spirit we have received the Spirit of Power of Love and of a sound mind this is expresly so named 2 Cor. 4. 13. we having the same Spirit of Faith this is most safe and most sutable to the analogy of Faith and the intendment of the Text. There are but Three great Works unto which all the rest may be referred Vocation Justification Sanctification all these in us give in witness and evîdence That Jesus the Savior of the World must be the Son of God sent of him who sends also his Spirit into our hearts to work thus in us and by these works to evidence to us Himself and his Office The Truths then which according to the right meaning of the words may hence be collected are these There be six Witnesses Three of these witness from Heaven and their Testimony is left in the word without us The other three from Earth from the operation of the work of Grace and these are within us Al these agree in this as the thing winessed 〈◊〉 Jesus the Saviour of his People is the Son of God The witness of those from Heaven is greater than that which is on Earth But touching the witnessing of my good 〈◊〉 without respect to a gracius disposition or qualification there is not a syllable in the Text that sounds that way or carries any appearance to that purpose If every Work of Grace or the truth of a gracious qualification be witnessed by the Spirit and is lastly resolved therinto So that I Beleeve the work of Grace in me to be true because the Spirit witnesseth it then I must have an absolute ground to Beleeve the Spirit I wil open this Phrase the witness of the Spirit on an absolute ground Either it s meant 〈◊〉 the witness of the Spirit is attended without any respect to a work that is witnessed then its false and absurd that I should discern the witness of the Spirit without any respect to the thing witnessed 〈◊〉 made known to me by it for as hath been 〈◊〉 before witness and the thing witnessed go both together Or it s meant thus That when I have received the witness of the Spirit to my self then I 〈◊〉 prove it upon an absolute ground Hath Christ purchased al spiritual good for His for Beleevers Hence then we may see the 〈◊〉 of the faithful and the priviledg of those that 〈◊〉 above all people upon earth To you the Father intended al the treasuries of grace and glory in your stead Christ suffered performed all that the Law required and Justice exacted for you it is he hath purchased al that good that you need doth not that please you al you can desire doth not that quiet you nay all that you can receive through al eternitie doth not that satisfie There is none like unto you never the like was done for any as for you It was Moses Collection and caused his wonderment in the Consideration thereof Deut. 33. 29. When he had recounted the wonderful Preservations the Lord had wrought Priviledges he honoured them with and bestowed upon them he breaks forth into these expressions Blessed art thou
dull the acts of it in the daily exercise of spiritual Duties Look as it is in a Bowl that is strongly byassed one way and so carried to the mark however by many rubs and ruggedness of the way it may be turned aside and justled out of the right tract yet it sets toward the mark and is carried that way and wil fal that way by the force of the byas that doth over-sway it So it is here The Spirit of the Lord that layes hold upon the soul is like the weight of this byas that is fastened to it and closeth with it So that however the strength of temptation or corruption may by a 〈◊〉 violence justle the soul out of the way and out of that right and righteous proceeding in which 〈◊〉 ought to walk yet the over-swaying hand of the Spirit wil keep the bent and set of it towards the Lord and his Truth 1 John 3. 8. Christ was manifested that he might destroy the works of the 〈◊〉 that he might Analise and unravel and undo 〈◊〉 it were and take in pieces that frame of wickedness which Satan had set up in the heart and turn it up-side-down When the Soul was turned from God unto sin and the Creature Christ came that 〈◊〉 might be turned from sin and the Creature to God again The word is the same with that Joh. 2. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 destroy or take down this Temple And here 1 Joh. 3. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So to loosen one tyed in Bands So the Lord Christ doth the works of Satan Satan may grapple with the Soul and lay violent hands upon the Heart but bind it he can never more or make it a servant to himself Quest. 6. Why is this Work of Attraction given to the Father as in the text None can come to Me but whom the Father Draws I Answer This Work as all Actions which pass upon the Creature and leave some change there are equally and indifferently wrought by al the 〈◊〉 in the most Glorious and Blessed Trinity and so are truly understood of al and truly given 〈◊〉 but only they are in several places in an 〈◊〉 manner attributed unto some because of some peculiar Consideration that may be attended by 〈◊〉 of some Circumstancees in the place and so the intendment of the Spirit and aim of the Text may rightly be attended and conceived in this place 〈◊〉 shall a little explicate and unfold both that al mistakes may be prevented This Work of Drawing is Common to all 〈◊〉 Three Persons That which issues from the Deity and 〈◊〉 firstly that must indifferently belong to al the Persons For as al the Persons have the same individual Essence wholly and equally communicated they are al one God The Unity of the God-Head is a of it and al in a like manner at once given to them 〈◊〉 And thence it follows That as the same Essence 〈◊〉 the same both Attributes and Actions which appertain to the God-Head or be done by the God-Head are wholly and joyntly affirmed of all the Persons They al are Infinire Eternal Omnipotent 〈◊〉 Create Redeem Call Convert Sanctifie because these Actions are Creatures therefore 〈◊〉 the first Being but from the First therefore from the God-Head and therefore are truly said to 〈◊〉 done by al that have the God-Head and are truly said to be God and so by al the Persons Again Look we to the language of the Spirit 〈◊〉 the Scripture we shal see that either the very 〈◊〉 of the text so speaks as here or else the same thing in the same 〈◊〉 in some variety of Explication 〈◊〉 given unto al. That which is here said of the Father our 〈◊〉 speaks upon the like occasion of himself Joh. 12. 31. And I if I be lifted up shall draw all people to me The same word here and there is used The 〈◊〉 work also intended though not in the same expressions is affirmed of the Holy Ghost Joh. 16. 9 10. I will send the Spirit and he shall Convince of Sin of Righteousness of Judgement This Conviction is the special work of the Spirit in this great 〈◊〉 of Attraction Lastly It s a known and received Principle of 〈◊〉 That the Persons differ each from other 〈◊〉 in some Internal and Incommunicable relative 〈◊〉 whereby the Personallity of each is 〈◊〉 and the Person distinguished as begetting 〈◊〉 the Father to be begotten to the Son to proceed 〈◊〉 Both to the Holy Ghost And so the Order 〈◊〉 Manner of the Working of each which of 〈◊〉 follow herefrom as the Father works of 〈◊〉 and first in Order the Son from the Father and 〈◊〉 in Order the Holy Ghost from Both and 〈◊〉 last in Order And therfore observe from 〈◊〉 before we pass That it is a dangerous Deceit 〈◊〉 a desperate Mistake so to appropriate this work 〈◊〉 the Father and some other actions to the Son 〈◊〉 Holy Ghost as that we should thereby bring in 〈◊〉 Ranks and Conditions of Christians As 〈◊〉 Example From this Fancy men have forged such 〈◊〉 of the Works of the Persons and such 〈◊〉 suitable of Christians who receive such 〈◊〉 As they Attribute Drawing to the 〈◊〉 Liberty to the Son Power to the Spirit and 〈◊〉 such are under the Fathers Work such under 〈◊〉 Sons Work but yet are not attained to the work 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost And such who are to be under 〈◊〉 work of the Spirit and so to be sealed they have 〈◊〉 al the former Whereas in truth and according 〈◊〉 the simplicity of the Scriptures al these works 〈◊〉 saving and al of them wrought by al the 〈◊〉 and he that is under the work of the Father in 〈◊〉 of these is also under the work of Christ and 〈◊〉 Spirit in them al. For as Drawing before is 〈◊〉 to al as wel as the Father the like we may say of Liberty and Power Doth the Son set us free 〈◊〉 8. 31. So doth the Spirit For 2 Cor. 3. 17. Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom The law of the spirit of life hath freed us from the law of sin and death Rom. 8. 2. Doth the spirit seal us Ephes. 1. 13. So doth the Father also 2 Cor. 1. 12. He that consirmeth and sealeth us is God who hath given unto us his holy spirit So likewise our Savior who hath the two edged sword in his hand Rev. 2. 17. He gives the white stone and the new name that no man knows That is the secret of Adoption and seal of Sonship yea it is general What ever he sees the Father do even those things the Son doth also Joh. 5. 19. We must be 〈◊〉 and wary therefore that we be not taken aside 〈◊〉 that Delusion Though this Work be wrought by al yet it is attributed unto the Father here in the text because the manner of his work is herein more plainly discovered and expressed also experimentally unto the heart and that as here he
M R Hooker's First Second Third Fourth Fift Sixt Seventh and Eighth Books made in New-England THE APPLICATION OF REDEMPTION By the effectual Work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The first eight Books In which besides many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed 1. Christ hath purchased all spiritual good for HIS 2. Christ puts all HIS into possession of all that Good that he hath purchased 3. The Soul must be fitted for Christ before it can receive him And a powerful Ministry is the ordinary means to prepare the heart for Christ. 4. The Work of God is free And the day of Salvation is while this Life last and the Gospel continue 5. God calls his Elect at any Age but the most before old Age. 6. The Soul is naturally setled in a sinful security 7. The heart of a Natural man is wholly unwilling to submit to the Word that would sever him from his sins 8. God the Father by a holy kind of violence plucks His out of their corruptions and draws them to beleeve in Christ. By that Faithful and known Servant of Christ Mr. THOMAS HOOKER late Pastor of the Church at Hartford in New-England somtimes Preacher of the Word at Chelmsford in Essex and Fellow of Emmanuel Colledg in Cambridg Printed from the Authors Papers written with his own Hand And attested to be such in an Epistle By Thomas Goodwin And Philip Nye London Printed by Peter Cole at the sign of the Pringting-press in Cornhil neer the Royal Exchange 1656. To the Reader READER IT hath been one of the Glories of the Protestant Religion that it revived the Doctrine of Saving Conversion And of the new creature brought forth thereby Concerning which and the necessity thereof we find so much indigitated by Christ and the Apostles in their Epistles in those times But in a more eminent manner God hath cast the honor hereof upon the Ministers and Preachers of this Nation who are renowned abroad for their more accurate search into and discoveries hereof First For the Popish Religion that much pretend to Piety and Devotion and doth dress forth a Religion to a great outward Gaudiness and shew of 〈◊〉 and wil-worship which we confess is entermingled with many spiritual strains of self-denial Submission to Gods wil Love to God and Christ especially in the writings of those that are called Mistical 〈◊〉 But that first great and saving Work of Conversion which is the foundation of al true piety the great and numerous volumns of their most devout writers are usually silent therein Yea they eminently appropriate the word Conversion and thing it self unto 〈◊〉 man that renounceth a Secular life and entereth into Religious orders as they cal them and that Doctrine they have in their discourses of Grace and free wil about it is of no higher elevation than what as worthy Mr. Perkins long since may be common to a Reprobate though we judg not al amongst them God having continued in the midst of Popish Darkness many to this day and at this day with more Contention than 〈◊〉 not scandalous in their lives having in 〈◊〉 Knowledg the Form of Truth by 〈◊〉 adding thereunto some outward 〈◊〉 Duties Such Persons we mean as 〈◊〉 were in our Pulpits plainly 〈◊〉 but Civil Moral 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 really but such kind of Professors of 〈◊〉 as Mutatis mutandis are found 〈◊〉 Turks of Mahumotanism who 〈◊〉 the Principles of that 〈◊〉 and are devout in Duties to God 〈◊〉 thereby through the meer 〈◊〉 of Natural Devotion and Education 〈◊〉 Laws and Customs of that Religion 〈◊〉 also through Moral Honesty are not 〈◊〉 in their Lives Such like 〈◊〉 amongst us have been and that 〈◊〉 a New 〈◊〉 of Religion with 〈◊〉 also from others the Ignorant 〈◊〉 Prophane professedly received 〈◊〉 the Communion of Saints as visible Saints 〈◊〉 Principle and Practice hath as it 〈◊〉 needs weakened and embased the 〈◊〉 purer stamp of the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 as then held forth with such evidence of difference from these 〈◊〉 Profession not only by encouraging such boldly to take on them to be 〈◊〉 as it were by Authority but also by having checked and flatted the spirits 〈◊〉 themselves that would teach it seeing that this Real Application in Practice and Principle to such Moral Christians as Saints is a manifest Contradiction unto al 〈◊〉 can be Doctrinally said in the Pulpit to the contrary concerning the power 〈◊〉 this great work in true Saints And 〈◊〉 the Profession of Religion hath been levelled and diffused into that bulk and commonness that the true marks of saving Graces are as to the open discerning much worn out and wil be more and more if this should obtain Or else as great a Cause as any other a special Profession of Religion being 〈◊〉 Mode and under Countenance Hence many have been easily moved to see what might be in Religion and so attend to what is said about it and upon listening thereto their spirits have been awakened and surprized with some light and then with that Light they have grown inquisitive into what this or that Party of Religion holds what the other or what a fourth And thinking themselves at liberty as the Principle of the times is to chuse as men in a Market what that Light wil lead them to they accordingly fal in either with this or that particular perswasion and this is al of many mens Conversion And yet because such become zealously addicted to such or such a 〈◊〉 some of the Professors of each of which others that differ own as truly Godly therfore they are presently adopted owned as Saints by the several Followers of such Opinions And each sort thinks much that those who embrace their Opinion should not be accounted and esteemed Religious 〈◊〉 all others that do sincerely 〈◊〉 the power of it Thus men Tythe 〈◊〉 and Cummin and leap over the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regeneration namely 〈◊〉 for sin the 〈◊〉 sence of their Natural Condition the Difficult work of Faith to 〈◊〉 them Union and Closing with Christ Mortification of lusts c. which works where they are found and visibly held forth none are to be disowned for other Opinions consisting with the 〈◊〉 yet so as without these no Opinion of what Elevation soever can or doth constitute a man Religious Now look as when among the Jews Religion had run into Factions and Parties and the power of it thereby was 〈◊〉 lost God then set down John 〈◊〉 amongst them a sowr and severe Preacher Urger of the Doctrine of 〈◊〉 and preparative Humiliation for sin which he comparatively to what was brought in by Christ termeth the Baptism of Water though withal 't is said that in the Close of his Doctrine 〈◊〉 pointed unto Christ Saying unto the people that they should beleeve on him that should come after him that is on Jesus Christ. Yet this he did but 〈◊〉 at for the
procure it  3 There is no Promise made to a Natural man  Uses three hence Matter of  1 Thanksgiving 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Grace  2 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 sinners in the sight of their sins and 〈◊〉  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 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods 〈◊〉  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. 〈◊〉 1 God calls his at any Age some in yonger some in elder yeers  〈◊〉  1 To shew the freeness of his Grace  2 To shew 〈◊〉 Power  〈◊〉 God calls the most before old Age viz. In their yonger or middle 〈◊〉  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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his Condition  2 He 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 present  3 He 〈◊〉 none 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 future  4 Hence 〈◊〉 puts his condition beyond question  5 And therefore 〈◊〉 scorns  6 And openly 〈◊〉 an alteration of his estate  Reasons three taken from 292 1 The 〈◊〉 of sin  2 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the soul  3 〈◊〉 and Self-ease  Uses four 〈◊〉 295 1 See the reason why sharp and soul-saving preaching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little acceptance Because it awakens men out of security  2 It 's the 〈◊〉 plague for a man to be let alone in his sins  3 〈◊〉 as never were 〈◊〉 and awakened to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet in it  4 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such should  1 Suspect their 〈◊〉  2 〈◊〉 about it  3 Yield that 〈◊〉 the present their condition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  BOOK VII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 him  3 The 〈◊〉 of a carnal man 〈◊〉 cross to sence and reason  4 Tryal of our estates by our 〈◊〉 or unwillingness to part with sin  He that is willing 331 1 He is speedy and 〈◊〉 in improving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  2 He takes delight in those means that 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 plucks his out of their corruptions and draws them to beleeve in Christ. 349 This work of Attraction is a transient work 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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
of 〈◊〉 4. 〈◊〉 of Assurance 5. 〈◊〉 6. Temptation 7. 〈◊〉 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bleness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Condition it self 〈◊〉 in thirteen Sermons on Psalm 〈◊〉 11. His Four Sermons concerning 1 Sin against the Holy-Ghost 2 Sins of Infirmities 3 The fifth Monarchy 4 The Good and means of 〈◊〉 ment Francisci Tayleri Capitula 〈◊〉 Hebraicè Latinè edita Una 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sensum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cilium Experimentibus Francisci Tayleri 〈◊〉 Jeremiae vatis Denuo è 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 braicis translatae cum Paraphrasi 〈◊〉 daica Masora magna parva Commentariis Rabbi Shelomoh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezrae 〈◊〉 Buxtorfii 〈◊〉 magnis excerptis The Application of Redemption by the effectual work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God 〈◊〉 Introduction to the Work 1 PETER 1. 18 19. 〈◊〉 asmuch as you know that you were not Redeemed with Corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the Precious blood of Christ c. AMongst all the heavenly Truths of the Gospel which the 〈◊〉 Christ hath Revealed and Commended to His Church out of his holy Word there is none more precious then that wherein the Application of the rich Redemption purchased by him is 〈◊〉 and made good to the hearts of those who 〈◊〉 to the Election of his grace as giving a 〈◊〉 to all the rest of the Doctrine taught learned 〈◊〉 putting the Soul into possession of all those treasure grace which were only promised on Gods part 〈◊〉 hope apprehended by the Sinner before In a word that which gives life to the fainting heart in the 〈◊〉 of Gods free grace For what availes it the hungry to hear of fat 〈◊〉 choice wines and rare 〈◊〉 and not to know 〈◊〉 come at them What profits it the condemned 〈◊〉 factor to hear tell of a Pardon and the Party 〈◊〉 give it if yet he be ignorant what way he should 〈◊〉 procure it for his own deliverance So here 〈◊〉 vailes it the forlorn Sinner sitting down under 〈◊〉 tence of Condemnation and fainting away for 〈◊〉 and forgivness to hear of the rich mercy of a 〈◊〉 sufficiency of the merits of a Christ and the 〈◊〉 demption provided by both and yet see no way to tain them or the deliverance of his Soul by them 〈◊〉 knowledge of the mercy adds rather to the 〈◊〉 his misery and distress to think there is so much 〈◊〉 to be had and he hath so much need and yet 〈◊〉 liends no way to get it no well grounded hope 〈◊〉 tain it The truths themselves which properly 〈◊〉 this place of Divinity and lay forth the 〈◊〉 Gods grace and the work of his Spirit in the Soul wonderful for secrecie sweetness and power 〈◊〉 as they ever have and do at this day exercise the 〈◊〉 able judgments that are or ever were so were 〈◊〉 be handled by a head and heart fully fitted to 〈◊〉 good a matter and expressed by a tongue as the 〈◊〉 a ready Writer as the Psalmist speaks I 〈◊〉 would appear that as the difficulty is great so the fit would be equal and the comfort unmatchable 〈◊〉 would issue from the open discovery of those 〈◊〉 ries For my self being privy to my own weakness it 〈◊〉 suffice in a familiar manner to accommodate my 〈◊〉 though it may be somwhat rudely to the 〈◊〉 of the meanest and in the manner of my 〈◊〉 in order to that end attend the Method 〈◊〉 First By a short and familiar description we shall 〈◊〉 what that Work is which we purpose to 〈◊〉 Secondly We shall chuse such Texts in which all 〈◊〉 divine truths contained in the descriptions are 〈◊〉 that so we may go no 〈◊〉 than we have 〈◊〉 Oracles of God his good Word to go before us either shall we meddle with every particular which 〈◊〉 several Texts will offer to our Consideration but 〈◊〉 handle such as concern our purpose Lastly We shall knit the whole frame together by 〈◊〉 joynts and sinews of distributions and divisions 〈◊〉 such as are attentive may never be at a loss nor yet 〈◊〉 or mistake the Lord but that it may be well seen 〈◊〉 David hath it How the Lord goes in his 〈◊〉 where the prints and footsteps of God be in 〈◊〉 proceeding with the Soul in this great Work To press on to our 〈◊〉 purpose Know then 〈◊〉 must after Adam by his Fall and Apostacy had 〈◊〉 away from God and that gracious estate in 〈◊〉 he was Created according to his Image having 〈◊〉 undone himself and his posterity being all 〈◊〉 Children of wrath under the Curse of the Law 〈◊〉 they could not avoid being just nor bear being 〈◊〉 as issuing from the infinite displeasure of an 〈◊〉 God whose Law they had broken and 〈◊〉 the Seal of the Covenant under their feet 〈◊〉 the recovery of him and any of his out of this 〈◊〉 condition two things were requisite to be done 〈◊〉 to Gods righteous dispensation in the way of Providence First There must be a Redemption 〈◊〉 the death and obedience of Christ that Gods 〈◊〉 and holiness which were wronged might be 〈◊〉 Secondly There must be an Application of Redemption unto the Souls of such for whom 〈◊〉 paid that so they might have the good and 〈◊〉 that which Christ had performed and God 〈◊〉 in their behalf and both these must be done for 〈◊〉 Sons of Adam who ever shall see 〈◊〉 face 〈◊〉 grace or glory For such is that help 〈◊〉 condition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Adam had brought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 that as he hath no 〈◊〉 of own to do any 〈◊〉 that may redeem himself 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his own 〈◊〉 ply that to himself 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 further 〈◊〉 he is fitted by the preventing grace of Christ 〈◊〉 In the Former of these we have the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 open before us In the Latter we come to Possession of them The Former shews the 〈◊〉 this Second the Appropriation of it unto such such only unto whom God hath intended it 〈◊〉 whom it hath been made by Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Head and 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Sweet of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helping 〈◊〉 little to pursue in the 〈◊〉 Exercise as long as the Lord is pleased to give 〈◊〉 liberty To begin then with a Description of Doctrine of Application it may be this in brief Application is that special part of our 〈◊〉 very from our lost Condition 〈◊〉 that Spiritual Good which Christ 〈◊〉 Purchased for Us is made Ours for His is made Theirs To omit the further Consideration of the first part the Description as that which contains the common 〈◊〉 of this part as in reference and cohaerence with 〈◊〉 other That wherein the Pith lies and which 〈◊〉 our purpose may be resolved into these Two 〈◊〉 and Observations First That Christ hath Purchased all Spiritual Good for His. Secondly All that Spiritual Good that Christ hath Purchased for his he doth undoubtedly
Work of the 〈◊〉 it brings in the light of the truth as a mighty 〈◊〉 with more strength and plainness to the heart 〈◊〉 draws out this act of divine Faith whereby it 〈◊〉 this as a truth of God For look what the 〈◊〉 of another man may do in the use of the Word 〈◊〉 Ordinance that my Reason used in such a manner 〈◊〉 to God may do But another man by the 〈◊〉 of Reason or strength of Argument out of the 〈◊〉 may convince my Conscience nay settle and 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 power of the Spirit which raised Christ from the dead 〈◊〉 being wrought the truths of God under the exercise of 〈◊〉 Reason will not only settle our judgement in knowing but our assurance of Faith in 〈◊〉 firmly beleeving and embracing for first truths 〈◊〉 to the understanding to be judged before they be 〈◊〉 up and presented to the heart to be beleeved Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy name will trust in 〈◊〉 This is eternal life to know thee Joh. 17. 3. 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1. 3. Through the knowledge of our Lord 〈◊〉 Savior For a blind hood-winkt Faith is the 〈◊〉 of Apostates and Papists of Deceivers and 〈◊〉 but not the Faith of Gods Elect. Secondly This Evidence is laid out according 〈◊〉 its proper object according to which it looks in 〈◊〉 place and in this Dispute Namely 1 Its 〈◊〉 aright to what spiritual benefit we shall have Or 〈◊〉 the possession or partaking of what we do enjoy 〈◊〉 Christ and these are rather some spiritual priviledge or blessings received and manifested by our 〈◊〉 tions than the Qualifications themselves as the 〈◊〉 terms of the Question do undeniably determine Hence its plain according to the Opinion of 〈◊〉 that hold the 〈◊〉 of the Question 〈◊〉 ed It is not touching the 〈◊〉 of Faith in 〈◊〉 Soul because this Evidence in the Question 〈◊〉 Faith wrought Again it s not touching any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on or Qualification of Grace to be wrought in 〈◊〉 Soul For I take 〈◊〉 to be an everlasting truth The 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 for as we heard Evidence carries Two things 〈◊〉 it 1 God reveals his Will to or work upon the 〈◊〉 2 There is both Science issuing from that 〈◊〉 wisdom that hath been set up in the mind and 〈◊〉 of Faith which embraceth that truth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 firmly being so cleerly and firmly assented 〈◊〉 Hence it follows necessarily and 〈◊〉 That which presupposeth the first Grace wrought 〈◊〉 the Soul and is an effect of that that cannot be 〈◊〉 before the first Grace be wrought but Evidence 〈◊〉 presupposeth spiritual science and assurance 〈◊〉 Faith therefore it cannot be before the first Grace 〈◊〉 before Faith be wrought 〈◊〉 the Soul Hence that 〈◊〉 the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. last Who knows the mind 〈◊〉 the Lord but we have the mind of Christ because 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 Condition of the Covenant or the first Grace do 〈◊〉 Three things 1 What God alone can do as 〈◊〉 to his peculiar Prerogative 2 What 〈◊〉 will do for his that is Such as shall come of his Son Christ the second Adam 3 What the means 〈◊〉 manner is by which he will do it As The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents 〈◊〉 I will take away the heart of stone and give 〈◊〉 an heart of flesh c. That is I alone can do 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 it as 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 mind at the first call which makes way for Faith and is a direct act of Knowledge which turns the 〈◊〉 of the Soul to look to that fulness of power and 〈◊〉 of mercy by which the heart is drawn to 〈◊〉 but the reflect act of evidence by which we are assured of what God hath done to us and for us 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 to be wrought but our right to or possession of 〈◊〉 Priviledges as thou art my Son thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accepted thy sins are pardoned But how 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 These are the spiritual Benefits which are here considered and about which the 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 but immediat in respect of 〈◊〉 condition going before out of which it might 〈◊〉 For however the Question propounded grants 〈◊〉 Faith and Grace is there yet the Evidence must be had without eying or attending any thing of a Qualification I 〈◊〉 a double Pretence which 〈◊〉 this kind of Curiosity First a fear least they should prejudice the freeness Grace if any Condition or Qualification in any 〈◊〉 should be attended 1 A Conceit directly and expresly contrary to 〈◊〉 very letter of the Text and intendment of the 〈◊〉 Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of Faith that it might by Grace and if the being of Faith in the relying 〈◊〉 Christ in the act of it do not hinder free Grace 〈◊〉 less will the seeing of it 2 Besides if a 〈◊〉 attended would 〈◊〉 free Grace then the Covenant of the Gospel 〈◊〉 not attend and by name expresly require 〈◊〉 or else it should not be a Covenant of 〈◊〉 3 It s Free Grace that makes and works the 〈◊〉 and when it s wrought there is nothing given 〈◊〉 it or the Party who beleeves for his Faith but 〈◊〉 its an Empty hand to take
and therefore nor Hell nor Sin nor 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 can ever prejudice it It 's the 〈◊〉 which our Savior usually gives of the powerful 〈◊〉 wonderful communication of himself to sinners 〈◊〉 in that 17. chapter of John 〈◊〉 2. That he 〈◊〉 give 〈◊〉 life to as many as thou hast given 〈◊〉 vers 6. I have manifested thy Name to those 〈◊〉 thou hast given me 〈◊〉 8. I have given unto 〈◊〉 thy words and they have received them and 〈◊〉 12. Those that thou 〈◊〉 me I have 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of them 〈◊〉 lost i. e. Those whom the Father 〈◊〉 mended to the care and keeping of Christ as if 〈◊〉 should say I will have all these to be 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 fied our saviour he undertakes to purchase and 〈◊〉 fect redemption for them and it therfore 〈◊〉 he gives them his word and gives them 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 he will not loose them and they cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are given into the hands of Christ nor 〈◊〉 nor temptations nor Delusions shall ever 〈◊〉 to take them out of his hand Upon this 〈◊〉 it is our 〈◊〉 puts the necessitie of the 〈◊〉 of sinners that belong to him John 10. 16 〈◊〉 other sheep which are not of this 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 called yet 〈◊〉 up in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of mercy when the Lord Jesus undertooke for 〈◊〉 them also I must bring and they shall hear my 〈◊〉 And let it be observed by any whom the 〈◊〉 hath effectually brought home to himself if 〈◊〉 Look into their first 〈◊〉 in all the dealings of 〈◊〉 Lord the 〈◊〉 of him self in the wayes of 〈◊〉 ordinances 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 towards them 〈◊〉 shall generally and easily observe some impressions 〈◊〉 power of the prayer and the vertue 〈◊〉 the blood 〈◊〉 purchase of Jesus by all judgments corrections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their faylings or performances what 〈◊〉 good or 〈◊〉 hath 〈◊〉 them what ever good or 〈◊〉 hath been done by them the Lord hath either 〈◊〉 or restrayned reformed convinced quickned to 〈◊〉 endeavours and overwrought all and never left 〈◊〉 till the stroke was struck indeed to the full Hence 〈◊〉 a Saint of God can say that the Lord 〈◊〉 been 〈◊〉 with him from the time of his 〈◊〉 and all along in the places where he lived 〈◊〉 strange horrors and strokes of conscience 〈◊〉 strange sins that he fell into 〈◊〉 and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 for them Grace 〈◊〉 wrought yet that 's true but its working the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the blood of Christ is now at 〈◊〉 and will never leave the Soul for which Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there be a full and effectuall application of 〈◊〉 saving good see all this and in a holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wonder at the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 of Jesus Christ. To direct the hearts of distressed and 〈◊〉 sinners how to demean themselves in the work 〈◊〉 Application for their own succour and relief look 〈◊〉 to this purchas and blood of Christ if ever you 〈◊〉 have the work goe forward When some times the means of Grace are 〈◊〉 and leave some sad impressions and remembrances 〈◊〉 their owne conditions upon them what they are 〈◊〉 what they should be how far short they fail of 〈◊〉 which the Lord requires the rule and their 〈◊〉 Comforts may justly call for at their hands 〈◊〉 their consciences are struggling within them 〈◊〉 present them with Direfull apprehensions of the 〈◊〉 of their sins and the punishments which they 〈◊〉 diserved when they feel the Lord also striving 〈◊〉 them by the Convictions of his spirit and the 〈◊〉 expression of his heavie Displeasure by reason of the sins and yet are at a stall and a stand in their 〈◊〉 spirits they can make no worke of it forward 〈◊〉 cannot goe and backward they dare not goe 〈◊〉 they have that cannot repent they cannot part 〈◊〉 their sins nor give way and welcome to the 〈◊〉 tie of the truth that might worke upon them nor 〈◊〉 power of the promises of the gospell which might 〈◊〉 their soules to the Lord Jesus and here the 〈◊〉 may stand long And it 's hard but one time or 〈◊〉 God meets with every man that lives under the 〈◊〉 there are many knocks that men have in their 〈◊〉 that all the town knows not of I must not do 〈◊〉 nor be thus I must either be another man or a 〈◊〉 man and then the man is at a set backward he 〈◊〉 not forward he will not What will you doe now O Looke to the power of the blood and purchase 〈◊〉 Christ that is the effectuall meanes to attaine this 〈◊〉 it never fails to bring application with it as suits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good pleasure of the Lord no 〈◊〉 but this can 〈◊〉 it and this never fails to attain this end 〈◊〉 let the eye of thy soul look thither still Doe not 〈◊〉 trouble thy selfe to pry into Gods counsells 〈◊〉 suffer thy self to be bewildred in such curious 〈◊〉 as to search the depths of Gods everlasting 〈◊〉 whether thou wert elected or no thou wilt 〈◊〉 thy selfe there because that way is unlawfull 〈◊〉 thou medlest with that which belongeth not to 〈◊〉 Secret things belong to God But this is 〈◊〉 that as the blood of Christ hath purchased all good 〈◊〉 the end of this purchase is the application of it which 〈◊〉 will never fayle to attain Thou wilt say O that I 〈◊〉 that the blood of Christ had purchased for me 〈◊〉 with that for thou shalt never have the work of grace or the knowledg of grace but by the vertue of this blood therfore you must look to this to worke 〈◊〉 if you would have both What God will do 〈◊〉 that to him this is the means he hath appoynted 〈◊〉 the attainment of this end therfore look thou to that As the Leaper said to our Saviour if thou wilt 〈◊〉 canst make mee clean here onely cleansing 〈◊〉 is to be had thither he looks there he waits and Submits that 's his Dutie whether God will give it or no that's in the libertie of his owne free will that 〈◊〉 Leaves to him So do thou whether God will do 〈◊〉 for thee or no that 's his prerogative if he give thee nothing he ows thee nothing but that Christ hath purchased it for this end and that I should expect it from hence that 's his will and my dutie Wee have doné with the extent of this application to whom it appertaines we are now to enquire into the second branch of the Doctrine 2. The manner how it 's wrought The principle saith thus It 's made theirs the Doctrine thus They are put into possession of all saving good by Christ. Here three things are implyed 1 They cannot make it their own 〈◊〉 they cannot put themselves into possession 2 The manner and order how this is done 3 The cause that doth it Of these we shall speak in their order 1. It is not in any Mans power to make 〈◊〉 of any Spirituall good which
be like this Corrosive to eat down the pride of our hearts Thus Paul frequently in the remembrance of his former wretchedness bleeds kindly and 〈◊〉 in the abasement of his spirit he mentions not his Apostleship which might exalt him but presently he remembers his 〈◊〉 which might abase him 1 Tim. 1. 12. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful and put me to the Ministry who was before a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and injurious vers 13. Hence again he observes it was Gods way that he might not be exalted above measure to buffet him with the sence and assaults of his own weaknesses 2 Cor. 12. 7. and thus far he did glory in and take pleasure in his 〈◊〉 not to have them but to use the consideration of them as a wholsom Corrosive to pull down those proud swellings As a man somtimes takes pleasure 〈◊〉 the pouder of Scorpions or Mercury Water because 〈◊〉 a Medicine against some poysonful humors and 〈◊〉 he directs Eph. 2. 11 12. Remember that you were dead in sins and trespasses Gentiles in the flesh without God without Christ without hope If a man conceit that his make or mettal is better than other mens Let him look into the Pit whence he was digged the Rock out of which he was hewen he wil 〈◊〉 see cause to conclude he was as hard as stubborn 〈◊〉 proud as any other as unteachable as unframable 〈◊〉 any other And here that Question hath place What hast thou that thou hast not received yea 〈◊〉 degree lower How camest thou to be able to 〈◊〉 it stake down thy heart in this Determination 〈◊〉 answer I have received nothing further than 〈◊〉 hath enabled me and I have nothing unless he 〈◊〉 it I do nothing unless he quicken me to the 〈◊〉 of it the remembrance of 〈◊〉 plagues of 〈◊〉 heart and nature should 〈◊〉 me for ever to be 〈◊〉 I am what I am by mercy let that have the 〈◊〉 of all which is the worker of all the good I 〈◊〉 as men pul away the steps and stool from 〈◊〉 a man if he stand too high so 〈◊〉 should pul away 〈◊〉 swelling conceits which lift us up in our own 〈◊〉 It 's not I but the Grace of God in me 〈◊〉 I any power to be humbled to beleeve to be 〈◊〉 No it 's not I but Free Grace that is the 〈◊〉 and Worker of all let Grace therefore have 〈◊〉 honor and praise of all Here is matter of cordial refreshing to support the 〈◊〉 of sinners from sinking into desperate 〈◊〉 when they see the weakness of their own 〈◊〉 not able to reach this work the stifness of 〈◊〉 own wills as ready and resolute to oppose it and 〈◊〉 of both an utter impossibilitie to attain it or any 〈◊〉 good unto themselves their hearts and hopes cannot but fail so far as they look to themselves but when they look to this that as it is beyond their own po wer so it is not their own work this may be some support It is in 〈◊〉 hand must proceed from his power who can do what he wil in Heaven and Earth and in thy heart also therefore repare hither and rest thy fainting spirit here In regard of a mans weakness the well is deep and thou hast nothing to draw withal the work of applycation is spiritual and mystical the eye is dim and thy understanding shallow not able to search into such mysteries thou canst not discern neither the way nor the work how wilt thou be ever able then to attain it remember thou canst not make thy self able but thou must be made able to know it and to receive it it s in his hand and it s his work who is able to do it Jer. 24. 7. I will give them a heart to know me hither our Saviour resolves this work and rests himself here Mat. 11. 25. I thank thee Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise of the world and revealed them unto Babes even so Father for so it pleaseth thee And it 's Gods promise Isay 42. 16. The hlind shall see and the deaf shall hear It 's his ordinary proceeding He calleth the foolish and things that are not to bring to nought things that are 1 Cor. 1. 28. Therefore thou shouldest press God with his own promises mind him that this is his prerogative say Lord it is not in man to direct 〈◊〉 to humble himself to convert himself but it is with thee and it s thy promise to give me a heart to know thee thou callest things that are not I am not wise nor humble nor holy I am not able to know thee let me be known of thee that so I may come to the knowledg of thee But happily thy stifness is more and worse and more dangerous than thy weakness though thy mind be enlightned cavils removed the truth made clear thy 〈◊〉 settled what should be done but Oh! the 〈◊〉 stifness of this wayward will that hath 〈◊〉 al promises and distrusted them al threatnings 〈◊〉 slighted them so that the distressed sinner wil 〈◊〉 I have a heart that cannot repent or beleeve that 〈◊〉 receive grace that cannot give way to the power of Gods ordinances or make choise of any good 〈◊〉 that I am even weary of my heart and of my life 〈◊〉 Yet God can pluck away this unteachableness 〈◊〉 thy heart though thou canst not take away thy 〈◊〉 from it Of his own good will he hath begotten 〈◊〉 Jam. 1. 18. It s not in the wil of Satan nor in thy own will to hinder it if God wil do it it 's his work he hath challenged it to himself and hath engaged himself do it for al His I will take away the heart of stone Ezek. 36. 26. Say thou Lord I cannot do it and 〈◊〉 truth I should not do it for that were to arrogate more than I should and to press into the priviledg of the Almighty I only wait upon thee and bring my heart to thee that thou wouldest bring me to thy self 〈◊〉 the Leaper said Mat. 8. 3. If thou wilt thou canst make me clean I have neither wil nor power I can 〈◊〉 do it nor receive it but thou canst do both for me and work both in me It was the ground of 〈◊〉 which the Lord gave to his people in building the material Temple when they looked at the greatness of the work and their many oppositions Zach. 4. 7. Who art thou O great mountain thou shalt become a plain difficulties are compared to mountains when a man sees a mountain lye before him he thinks it is inaccessible and impossible for him to go over it so when a man sees the pride and stubborness and rebellion of his own spirit he thinks 〈◊〉 is impossible for him to subdue these but if the Lord wil he can say unto it who art thou O great mountain
〈◊〉 Power of God in the conversion of a 〈◊〉 is far more secret and Spiritual such as we are 〈◊〉 able to reach It is the prayer of the Apostle for the Ephesians Chap. 1. 17 18. that they might know the working of his mighty Power in working Faith it is the most mysterious of all the works of God it shakes the 〈◊〉 of the ablest Divines upon Earth Comfort to releeve the hearts of sinners against desperate discouragements when the floods of iniquity 〈◊〉 in amain upon the soul the sinner looks to his 〈◊〉 to Gods Ordinances and Providences and 〈◊〉 the Work of God that should be wrought in him and 〈◊〉 what ods and disproportion there is between his Soul and that blessed Work that should be in him why truly this is the only help to a soul in such a case with man it is impossible but not with God for with him all things are possible Matth. 19. 26. Though there be such a vast disproportion between thy own ability and this Work that thou shouldest never attain 〈◊〉 if thou wert left to thy self yet know that Christ by the Almighty Power of his Spirit is able to do it for thee But the soul will say the truth is there is not so much disproportion but there is as much opposition in my soul to the work of Grace why should God ever give me that mercy which I would not have and that Grace which my soul hath so much opposed this is another depth Why yet know thou that Gol can overwork all these and will do so for thee if thou seek unto him But know this to thy ever lasting terror That if thou do 〈◊〉 thus in the hardness and opposition of thy heart against Christ and his Grace that this Power of the Lord that would convert thee will put forth it self to confound thee to thine eternal ruine Exhortation Not to defer the time 〈◊〉 Grace but every soul of us with trembling hearts to attend upon the Lord in the use of means that he may be pleased to work his own good Work in us It 's that the Apostle exhorts unto Phil. 2. 12. Workout your 〈◊〉 with fear and trembling and he gives the reason of it For saies he it's God that worketh in you to 〈◊〉 and to do of his own good pleasure that is it is in Gods hand to help us or to forsake us either 〈◊〉 make the means effectual for our saving good or else to withdraw his presence and blessing from them while we do enjoy them 〈◊〉 Be 〈◊〉 fearful not to slight any Ordinance God hath appointed as Naamans 〈◊〉 said to him Go and try it he that now counsels you to it may bless it and work by it if it please him Secondly Tremblingly fear to fall short of Gods Power in an Ordinance for a man may fall short of God and Christ and Grace and all good even while he doth enjoy the Ordinances of God and live under them therefore say as Elisha did Where is the Lord God of Eliah Here is the Word and here is the Ordinance but where is the Lord God of this Word the God of Preaching and Praying It is not in the Minister or the means to do good to my soul but Lord speak thou the word and it shall work upon my soul as he said 2 Kings 4. 29 30. As the Lord lives 〈◊〉 will not leave thee till thou go with me do thou so when the Lord gives thee means say I will not leave the Lord until he make this Counsel this Word this Ordinance effectual for my saving good Be also tremblingly fearful when the Lord works by any Ordinance lest you should go out from or with draw your self from the power of it when you find and feel somthing more than Man and Means and Ordinances Oh let it not slip away the Lord was in that word do not suffer that stroke to go away because God is there now the Lord is working be you sure to follow the blow and give not over wrastiing 〈◊〉 striving with the Lord until he bless you with the 〈◊〉 working of his Word and Spirit and so apply unto thy soul all Spiritual Good in Jesus Christ. BOOK III. LUK. 1. 17. To make ready a People prepared for the Lord. HAving dispatched the Nature of Application in the General The Parts thereof come to be Considered in the next place These are Two 1 A Preparation of the Soul for Christ. 2 An Implantation of the Soul into Christ. That so having the Son we may be sure to have life 1 Joh. 5. 12. possessing him who is the heir of all we may be possessed of all both Temporal and Spiritual Blessings with him But before the Soul can be engrafted into the true Vine Christ Jesus it must be prepared and fitted thereunto by the powerful work of the Spirit of God upon it being not fit to receive a Christ by Nature and unable to fit its self thereunto by any liberty of Will or any sufficiency natural it hath When then these Two Works are imprinted upon the Soul the Sinner comes to take full possession of a Savior and to have all those Spiritual good things which Christ hath Purchased applyed unto him And thus these Two taking up the whole Nature of Application it 's manifest they must be the Parts of Application as reason inforceth The First is thus Described Preparation is a fitting of a sinner for his Being in Christ. The words of the Text will afford us full ground for the Handling and Discovering of this Truth To prepare a People fitted for the Lord Which words make known the main Task that was imposed upon John the Baptist and that great Work of his Ministery being the Forerunner of our Savior Christ wherewith he was betrusted and for which he was every way fitted with Gifts and Graces proportionable Therefore it s said in the beginning of the Verse He shall come in the Spirit and Power of Elias i. e. He shall have that large measure of gracious and Ministerial Gifts that special presence and assistance of the Spirit of the Lord accompanying of him as somtimes Elias had that so in the corrupt and declining state of the Church which was now exceeding great he might set things in a better frame build up the Breaches made taking off those Dissentions Errors and Divisions which had spread over the Body and eaten into the Bowels of the Church of the Jews like a Gangrene or Cancer And therefore as it was foretold of him so it was performed by him Matth. 17. 11. He did restore all things Namely such was the lively and over-ruling power of his Ministery that he wrought the Hearts of the Children otherwise 〈◊〉 and rebellious to the wisdom of the just men that laying aside all carnal wisdom of the 〈◊〉 which was enmity against God and caused 〈◊〉 and strifes among men they came to judge 〈◊〉 of things that were excellent to
aboundantly pardon Isaiah 55. 7. We have hence a ground of tryal whereby we may gain certain evidence whether ever we came the right way to Christ or that Christ is come or that we have any grounded hope that he will come unto our souls If Christ fit the soul he wil certainly never loose the soul if he prepare it for 〈◊〉 he will undoubtedly possess it by his spirit and grace Our Savior is not either so weak or unwise so weak 〈◊〉 at he cannot accomplish his work and intended end 〈◊〉 unwise that he will loose his labor or leave his work without success as though he had mistaken himself and enterprised that that either he could not or should not accomplish This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between Restraining and Preparing Grace the Lord may restrain a soul for other Ends but if he 〈◊〉 the soul it is for Christ and he will never 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that End There be 〈◊〉 other ends for which the Lord in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sees fit to curb and keep in the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 wicked and restrain the rage of their 〈◊〉 distempers why he should take of the edge and keens and 〈◊〉 the sury and hellish fiercness that 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 hearts of wretched and unreasonable men who are 〈◊〉 by Satan according to his will and ruled by him even the Prince of the Air who is an enemy to Gods glory and to mankind As first that the Lord might shew his power and that absolute soverainty he hath over the worst men the worst of Creatures those infernal 〈◊〉 and the worst and most violent of all their corruptions and that he hath the reins of all their violence and rage 〈◊〉 his own hand and orders it and their wills and wickedness not as they please but as he 〈◊〉 and therefore he inlargeth their commission and recals 〈◊〉 commission as he pleaseth And therefore as Jab speaks of the Sea Job 38. 11. He 〈◊〉 the bounds and compass of their course which they shall not pass thus far and no further So to the Devil he tels 〈◊〉 punctualy how far he shall proceed he is in thy hand only save his life Job 2. 4. Which was a 〈◊〉 to Satan as though God had said break this Bottle but do not spill this Wine thus the Lord 〈◊〉 in Pharoah when the Israelites were to go out Exo. 11. 7. There was not a dog moved his tongue against man or beast that they might know that I am the Lord. That by this means he might provide for the subsistance and continuance of the society of Men in Churches and Commonwealths especially the relief and safety of his own Servants whereas had but wicked men their wills it 's certain there was no being nor breathing nor living for the Saints upon the face of the Earth the Dragon the Devil in his instruments doth so malignantly pursue the woman that is the true Church and Children of God Rev. 12. 13. The Lord therefore breaks their teeth pares their nails and cuts short their tether 〈◊〉 they cannot do as they would As Laban said to Jacob Gen. 31. 29. It is in the power of my hand to do thee harm but the God of thy Father spake unto me saying speak unto Jacob neither good nor bad It is in the wills and power of wicked Men and Devils to do harm to the people of God but the Lord will not suffer them to act that rage and malice that is in their hearts and so not to do that hurt which otherwise they could and would So to Abimelech the Lord whispers his displeasure in the 〈◊〉 Gen. 20. 3. And so restrained him from that which his own heart would have carried him unto That he might indeed put his Servants to a more narrow search and to cause them to look to their heart 〈◊〉 and not content themselves with the lighter strokes of common impressions and 〈◊〉 since many have something like preparation and yet fall short of any saving work the Saints may be careful to go further and not content themselves with 〈◊〉 Copper and counterfeit appearances of hearts prepared for a Christ and breachings after him but to 〈◊〉 themselves as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and walk 〈◊〉 a jealousie and a suspicious fear over 〈◊〉 and return and search and 〈◊〉 question with themselves Am I no other No better 〈◊〉 I as such Then I shall fall and perish as 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 19. Had they been of us 〈◊〉 would never have gone out from us There must be heresies and that amongst you 〈◊〉 saith Paul to the Corinths that they that are sincere hearted may be tryed 1 Cor. 11. 9. When there is fal e Coyn goes up and down each wise man examines what he hath and what he takes Now those upon whom legal terrors and these restraining strokes are laid for 〈◊〉 and the like ends in the counsel of the Lord In the issue the strength of their corruptions like waters that are stopped break out with greater violence the Lord le ts loose their distempers upon them and commonly these blows leave them at a greater distance from the Lord Christ than ever before and many times a Reformation of a mans own is but a Preparation for Sin He that is otherwise cannot be hid 1 Tim. 5 25. It had been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the holy commandement and so to return with the Sow that was washed to wallow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 again and with the Dog to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dogs that lick up their vomit grow more filthy than ever so such as these grow the most 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adversaries to Christ and his Gospel that 〈◊〉 Earth They seemed to be prepared by God 〈◊〉 it was as I say for other ends than for Christ and when these ends are attained in Gods secret Counsel he usually plucks up the stake and le ts loose their tether that they may hurry headlnog to everlasting ruine But if the Lord do not only curb a sinner or hack and rough hew him a little by the word but cut him off as a branch or scion fit for a savior he will never let him lie and wither Look then to those sinful lusts those special and beloved corruptions unto which thy heart hath ben so strongly tyed and linked and whereby Satan and thy corrupt heart have intrenched themselves and set up as so many strong holds against the Lord Christ the work of his spirit and power of his truth as being in league and confederacie with these noysom distempers Hast thou felt the tyranny and treachery of them that bondage and bitterness unto which thou art brought that thou longest and breathest after relief and deliverance and the comming of a Christ that thou mayest deliver up thy self and all into his hands and thou findest thy soul opposite to that that hath been opposite and cross to Christ Isay 59. 20. The Redeemer shall come out
the Ministery to give the Knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 8. To darken Knowledg therefore is to cross Gods Honor our own Callings the Comforts of the People over whom we are set and to be concealers of Gods Mind not Interpreters and Revealers of his Will 〈◊〉 is only one Plea here Objected that carries any appearance of likelihood with it gathered out of Eccles. 12. 10. where it is said The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that that was written was upright even words of truth Was it Solomons Care directed by the Spirit to study pleasing words to affect his Hearers Should not his practice be a pattern to all to imitate him in like expressions Dare any affirm but that he did what he ought And shall any be so careless or presumptuous as not to endeavor to follow that course recorded with so much Commendation by the Holy Ghost I yeild willingly to all the Truths which the Text holds out unto us but it shall appear that nothing can from thence by just consequence be Collected that will cross but rather confirm and that undoubtedly what hath been affirmed before That the Writings of men should be sound their Speeches acceptable is granted but when are they how shall they be judged to be such That 's the Doubt which once Cleered the Objection will be Answered fully Words then must be judged acceptable not by the foolish fancies corrupt and carnal humors of men but from the warrant they have from the scripture and the work they have in the hearts of the Hearers for their good as the 11. vers of Eccles. 12. discovers it being added as it were by way of Explication to evidence where that pleasantness of Speech lay The words of the wise are as Goads and Nails fastened by the Masters of Assemblies which are given by one Shepheard As though the Preacher should have expressed himself more freely and fully thus If any shall ask what these acceptable words formerly mentioned are and how they may be 〈◊〉 it is easie for any thus to know them by their working upon the heart as we judge the goodness and virtue of Phyfick by its working upon the body or in the stomach Those words which are as Goads to awaken and spur on the 〈◊〉 and sleepy hearted to the performance of service with greater 〈◊〉 and speed those that are as 〈◊〉 so to fast on the 〈◊〉 truths of God upon the Consciences of men that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the compass of Gods command as Sheep within the fold Lastly Those words which are endited 〈◊〉 not by 〈◊〉 wisdom but by the Spirit of Christ 1 Cor. 2. 4. who is the only chief Shepheard of his Church and whose voice should only be heard such words should be sought out by the speaker such words 〈◊〉 to be accounted acceptable by those who hear them Now how far all quaintness and 〈◊〉 of speech is from this warrant of the Lord or this powerfull work in the hearts of his people let the sluggish and secure courses the loose lives and 〈◊〉 of such persons parishes places and congregations who have and love such teachers and such kind of teaching proclaim and testifie to al the world Plainness of Preaching appears also in the matter that is spoken when sin and sinners are set out in their native and natural colours and carry their proper names whereby they may be owned suitable to the loathsomness that is in them and the danger of those evils which are their undoubted reward A Spade is a Spade and a Drunkard is a Drunkard c. and if he will have his Sins he must and shall have 〈◊〉 with them It s Satans Policy who painter or tyre-maker like cozens all the world with colors to 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 wayes of 〈◊〉 and the glorious Graces of the Spirit with the soot and dirt of reproaches and base nick-names Sincerity he terms Singularity 〈◊〉 Puritanism and Hypocrisie and so ignorant men who judge the person by the picture are brought out of love and liking with 〈◊〉 blessed wayes of 〈◊〉 and holiness Contrariwise when he would cast a vaile over the ugly and deformed face of Vice and 〈◊〉 courses he is 〈◊〉 to lay 〈◊〉 false colors of indifferency 〈◊〉 and pleasure Drunkenness is good fellowship and neighborhood Covetousness comes masked under the vizard of 〈◊〉 and moderation Cowardliness is trimmed and 〈◊〉 up in the 〈◊〉 of discretion and wariness If Ministers will not be the Divels Brokers and followers their manner of proceeding must be expresly contrary When they come to Preach they must make sin appear truly odious and 〈◊〉 to the open 〈◊〉 of all that all may 〈◊〉 afraid and endeavor to avoid it Those 〈◊〉 wipes and 〈◊〉 jerks and 〈◊〉 at sin at which the 〈◊〉 prophane 〈◊〉 pleased but not reformed are utterly 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 the Place the Person the Office of the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts What A Minister a Jester O searful to make the Pulpit a Stage to play with 〈◊〉 when he should terrifie the Conscience for it The Lord abominates the practice he that knows and fears the Lord should abhor it with detestation Thus plainly dealt Elias with Ahab 1 Kings 18. 18. It s thou and thy Fathers house that have troubled Israel because ye have forsaken the Commandements of the Lord and followed Baalim So also with 〈◊〉 1 King 18. 21. How long will you hault between two 〈◊〉 If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then 〈◊〉 him As if he should have said Away with this patching in 〈◊〉 either a Saint or a Devil make somthing of it this is down right dealing And thus plainly John the Baptist who had the same Spirit dealt with Herod He doth not beat the Bush and go behind the door to tell him his faults and mince the matter with some intimations but he speaks out Matth. 14. 4. It is not lawful for thee to have thy Brother Philips Wife either thou mnst not have that incestuous Harlot or thou must not have Grace and Glory Thus again he dealt with the Sadduces and Pharisees when he saw them come to his Baptisms He saies to them Matth. 3. 7. Oh ye Generation of Vipers who hath fore-warned you to flee from the wrath to come As if he should have said Egs and Birds Parents and Posterity you are a race of venomous and poysonful wretches What A proud Pharisee to listen to the simplicity of the Doctrine of Grace is it possible If in sincerity and good earnest you purpose to embrace the Doctrine of truth bring forth then fruits worthy of amendment of life vers 8. We have done with the Plainness of the Ministery we are now to enquire wherein the Power of a Ministery Consists And that appears in Two Things There must be soundness of Argument and undeniable Evidence of Reason out of the Word which is able to command the
Conscience such strength 〈◊〉 truth which like a mighty stream may carry an understanding Hearer When the Apostle was to come amongst the flanting Orators and silken Doctors of Corinth which so excelled in Eloquence he brings the tryal of their Ministery unto this touch 1 Cor. 4. 19 20. I will know not the speech of them that are 〈◊〉 up but the power for the Kingdom of God stands not in word but in Power It s not the 〈◊〉 of words not the sound and tinckling of a company of fine Sentences like apifh toyes and rattles that will commend our Ministery in the account of God there is no Kingdom no Power of the work of the Spirit the heavenly Majesty of an Ordinance is not seen in such empty shels and shaddows A building with painted walls and no pillars would be of little use and less continuance A body framed out of Colours may be a picture of a Bird or Beast but a living Creature it cannot be because it wants the soul and substance which should give life and vertue thereunto So it is when a multitude of gay Sentences are packed together without the sinnews and substance of convicting Arguments there may be the picture of a Sermon but the life and power of Preaching there wil not be in any such expressions That a Minister may be Powerful an inward 〈◊〉 heat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and holy affection is required answerable and suitable to the matter which is to be communicated and those adde great life and 〈◊〉 to the delivery of the truth Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things Mat. 12. 35. Where then there is a heart awanting the chiefest part of Speech the pith and heart of it is gone for the several affections out of which the words arise make an impression and work alike temper of Spirit in him to whom we utter and express our selves Thus we speak from heart to heart and that is the best way to be in the 〈◊〉 of the Hearer and the only way to make our words take place and prevail He that mourns in speaking of sin makes another 〈◊〉 for sin committed An Exhortation that proceeds from the heart carries a kind of Authority and Commission with it to make way for it self not to return before it confer with the heart of him that will give attendance to it 〈◊〉 Discourses talk only with the 〈◊〉 they go no further because they 〈◊〉 no deeper then from the understanding of him 〈◊〉 speaks The Doctrine of the Gospel is like the 〈◊〉 upon the herbs and the dew upon the grass 〈◊〉 32. 2. The strength and stirring of holly affections is like a 〈◊〉 wind or tempest makes the truth delivered to press in with more power and speed and to soak more deeply even to the heart root of him 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 will receive it It may be here enquired for Explication of the Point How a Ministery thus 〈◊〉 and Powerful 〈◊〉 work Answ. To speak only so much here as concerns the Place leaving Particulars until we 〈◊〉 of the several Parts of Preparation know we must the preparing work of a plain and powerful Ministery stands in Two Things It discovers the secrets of Sin makes known the close passages of the Soul to it self and that in the ugliness thereof Heb. 4. 11. The Word of God is 〈◊〉 in Operation sharper than any two edged sword 〈◊〉 betwixt the Soul and the Spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was the work that Paul aimed at in the 〈◊〉 of the Gospel 2 Cor. 4. 4. Pandling the Word of God not deceitsully but plainly by 〈◊〉 of the truth he commended himself to 〈◊〉 mans Conscience in the sight of God As though he had said Speak Oh ye blessed Saints of 〈◊〉 was not Paul in your 〈◊〉 Did he 〈◊〉 every corner of your Consciences 〈◊〉 you cannot but acknowledge it your hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 as much A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Corruption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of luch to whom the Word is spoken and blessed The 〈◊〉 Souldiers the refuse Publicans all 〈◊〉 and stand 〈◊〉 at the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Luke 3. 11 12. they all said Master what shall we do 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 at the Bar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Judge upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence it is the time of the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 is called The 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 day of the Lord Mal. 4. 5. 〈◊〉 that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 10. 5. The weapons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the 〈◊〉 Ministery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 down strong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cast down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thought to the Obedience of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Savior the Chief Master of the Assemblies is said to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scribes Matt. 7. last Not to tell a man a 〈◊〉 tale a toothless sapless 〈◊〉 so that the hearers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are gone are never stirred never troubled for their sins nor quickened onward in Obedience But when the power of the 〈◊〉 the presence and Majesty 〈◊〉 the Lord 〈◊〉 appears in his Ordinances they then carry 〈◊〉 with them and bear down all before them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lightning forsakes his hold and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is forced to give way to the Government of the King of Saints Strong Physick either Cures or Kills either takes away the 〈◊〉 or life of the 〈◊〉 so it is with a spiritual and powerful Ministery it will work one way or other either it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hardens converts or condemns those that live 〈◊〉 the stroak thereof For observe we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word is but an Instrument in the hand of 〈◊〉 who dispenseth the same 〈◊〉 to his good 〈◊〉 and the counsel of his own Will working when and upon whom he will and what he will by 〈◊〉 The Sword in the hand of him that wields it may as easily killas defend another answerable to the affection of him that strikes therewith It is so with the Word which is the Sword of the Spirit It is the savor of life unto life but then and to those only to whom the Lord will bless the same and the savor of death unto death then and unto those when such a 〈◊〉 is denyed Such as be Ministers may hence see the Reason of that little success we find that little good we do in the Vineyard of the Lord Our Pains 〈◊〉 not our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with the hearts of men not one 〈◊〉 levelled not a crooked piece 〈◊〉 not one poor Soul prepared for a Christ after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quarters years travelling in the work of the 〈◊〉 The time was Satan fell like lightning suddenly speedily when the Disciples of Christ as Sons of 〈◊〉 delivered the Gospel in the power and demonstration of the Spirit But now Satan stands up 〈◊〉 full strength takes up his stand maintains his 〈◊〉 in the hearts of men notwithstanding all that 〈◊〉 see done
even the very plagues 〈◊〉 hell I have had many Exhortations Instructions Admonitions and Reproofs and as powerful means as may be which 〈◊〉 never did me any good The Lord be merciful to such a poor soul and turn his heart that he may lay hold of Mercy in due time Exhortation Is it so That a plain and powerful Ministery is the means of Preparing the soul of a poor 〈◊〉 for the Lord Jesus Why then when you hear the Word plainly and powerfully preached to you labor that the Word may be so unto you as it is in it self It is a preparing Word labor you that it may prepare your hearts to receive Christ And you that be Hearers every one labor to save the Soul of another let the Father speak concerning his Children and the Husband concerning his Wife and his Family and the Wife concerning her Husband Oh when will it once be when will the time come that my Child may be fitted for the Lord when will it be that my poor Family my poor Wife my poor Husband shall be prepared for the Lord the Lord grant that it may be if not this Sabbath yet on another if not this Sermon then at the next Labour therefore to give way unto the VVord of God and suffer your Souls to be wrought upon by it for the word is powerful to prepare your hearts but the Minister must hew and square your hearts before they can be prepared for the Lord Jesus and you must suffer the words of Exhortation as the Apostle sayes Heb. 13. 22. So likewise suffer the words of Conviction of Reproof of Admonition and hold and keep your hearts under the Word that you may be wrought upon thereby And as when men have set Carpenters a work to build an House then they come every day and ask them How doth the work go on How doth the building go forward When you are gone home do you so reason with your selves and ask your own hearts how the work of the Lord goes forward in you Is my heart yet humbled Am I yet fitted and prepared for Christ I thank God I find some work and power of the Word and therefore I hope the Building will go forward BOOK IV. 2 COR. 6. 2. As he saith in an acceptable time have I heard thee in the day of Salvation have I succoured thee THe general Doctrine of Preparation being dispatched Proeced we to a further enquiry of the Particulars under it And there we have to enquire The 1 Quality 2 Parts of this Work The Quality of this 〈◊〉 wherein are Comprehended those Common Affections which firstly and properly appertain to this Place and as the 〈◊〉 and Spirits pass through the whole Body of a man So these general Considerations convey over a savor and virtue of such truths as they do contain to all the Particulars which follow and 〈◊〉 in reason are to be handled before the rest The quality of this Preparation is to be attended in Two things 1. The Freeness of the Work wrought 2. The Fitness of the time wherein it is Effected For the Discovery of both which I have made Choice of this Text as affording susficient ground for this Discourse 〈◊〉 he saith in an accept able time c. In the handling of which words we shall endeavor Three Things 1 What the Scope of the Text is that so it may appear it naturally fits our purpose and the Point in hand which comes to be 〈◊〉 2 The Sense and Meaning of the words is to be 〈◊〉 into and such Truths to be Collected which serve-our turn and intendment 3 We shall pursue the Explication of each of them in their Order The Scope of the Text which I conceive worth the while a 〈◊〉 to be attended will appear by the Connexion 〈◊〉 it hath with the foregoing 〈◊〉 and the dependance of it is to be fetched 〈◊〉 the 17 th 〈◊〉 of the former Chapter 〈◊〉 from the Consideration of the priviledge and 〈◊〉 they were advanced unto in Christ the Apostle infers and calls sor that newness of life and obedience answerable to that kindness of the Lord and the condition unto which 〈◊〉 were advanced 〈◊〉 any man be in Christ he must be a new 〈◊〉 bebold old things are past all things are made new 2 Cor. 5. 17. And this he shews from the author of this Grace who disposeth of it God 2 From the Mediator who hath purchased it Christ 3 From the Means appointed to Convey and Communicate it to such for whom it was ordained to 〈◊〉 The Ministery of the Apostles All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself through Christ Vers. 18. And whereas the Corinthians being heathens might object True he hath reconciled you Jews but what is that to us He addes in 〈◊〉 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world 〈◊〉 Beleevers both of Jews and Gentiles to himself and for this cause and to this end hath 〈◊〉 the word of Reconciliation to his Apostles for their good that while they as Ambassadors entreated God by them did beseech them to be reconciled unto him And this was done upon susficient warrant and in a way of righteous proceeding for Christ who knew no sin was made sin even for them 〈◊〉 who should beleeve that they might be made the righteousness of God in him vers last Having thus shewed a full and 〈◊〉 ground for their reconciliation and also of his own Commission for that end He further presseth it in the first Verse of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If God be thus Gracious Christs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Commission so Large We 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 together with God 〈◊〉 you 〈◊〉 you receive not the Grace of God i. e. the 〈◊〉 that word of Grace that bringeth Salvation to 〈◊〉 in vain 〈◊〉 receiving benefit by it and comfort from it to your own Conversion and Salvation And whereas they might Reply It is not in our power to receive the spiritual good of this word nor 〈◊〉 in you that are Apostles to work it or if both were granted it s not yet the Season fitter opportunity will be afforded hereafter To all these the Apostle Answers in the words of the text True the Blessing is the Lords but the Endeavor 〈◊〉 be Ours We must Plant and Water it s in Gods Prerogative and depends upon his good Pleasure to give Encrease however the Time now fits the 〈◊〉 are now afforded and though we cannot Do what we should and ought yet let us do what we can and though we have no Power of our selves to Compass our everlasting Comforts yet we have Gods own VVord and most gracious Promise That in an acceptable time he will hear us And that presumes then that we must pray In the day of Salvation he will help and by that it s taken for granted we must take pains and behold now is the day of Salvation now is the acceptable time let us therefore now call earnestly upon him for a Blessing walk
of their daies not long 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 only to be understood whether they be good or bad and their 〈◊〉 their calling unto that 〈◊〉 in the Church He that is a Demas and seeks 〈◊〉 World his penny his praise and applause if 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 the conversion of souls and 〈◊〉 of the body of Christ are instead of all the Tythes and 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 this place nor here intended by the Spirit For of those 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 of this 20. chapter do plainly evidence For the Kingdom c. But they are without question the 〈◊〉 only who are there meant such who have left all for Christs sake such who shall inherit 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 fell upon all that 〈◊〉 it 's probable some among such numbers were stricken in years As for the Thief upon the 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 to any time of Life either Youth 〈◊〉 hood or Old Age alone it would 〈◊〉 been concluded 〈◊〉 carnal grounds that there was somthing in the Creature upon condition 〈◊〉 it had been given either the tenderness of the yong ones had moved the Lord to 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 and pass by others it 's 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 which the Lord himself renders of his dealing in this kind when he would suppress the murmuring of some of the Laborers 〈◊〉 20. 14. who 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 to whom nothing is hard or impossible who hath hardness at command and therefore as he doth 〈◊〉 he will both in Heaven and Earth Psal. 1 15. 3. 〈◊〉 also in the hearts of his people when the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of the little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deprive them of this favor when the boisterous head-strong distempers of yong men cannot hinder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the aged in their cankered corruptions cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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
but is acted by another As it was in the raising of Lazarus when he stank in the Grave not only those noysom distempers were removed and the unnatural 〈◊〉 which attended his body chased away but the 〈◊〉 also was returned and brought again to Union 〈◊〉 his Body So here The Nature of this Drawing and special 〈◊〉 of it It s the motion and powerful Impression of the Spirit of God upon the Soul not any habit of Grace in it nor any act of the Soul which concurs with the work of God in this first stroak of Preparation For The soul that is wholly possessed by the Habits of Sin is not yet capable of the Habit of Grace 〈◊〉 my flesh dwels no good thing Rom. 7. 18. The Vessel cannot be ful of filthy and puddle water and at the same time receive that which is pure It is the aim of this work to make way and room for the Habit of Grace to be received and therefore it is not a habit nor any act of a habit in the soul as yet Therefore it s said God first turns from darkness and then to light Acts 26. 18. Takes away the heart of stone before he gives a new heart Ezek. 11. 19. This is the influence of Light and Vertue into the Mind and Will by the receiving whereof they may be elevated and lifted up above their own ability to supernatural Works in future times and therfore this cannot be the act of the Will and 〈◊〉 since they cannot of themselves let in any 〈◊〉 into themselves Therefore the Lord takes 〈◊〉 to himself as his own Work Hither belongs 〈◊〉 Question Whether Nature or Grace be the first subject of 〈◊〉 Nature cannot For 1 Cor. 2. 14. The 〈◊〉 man receives not the things of God nor can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet Grace cannot do it for 〈◊〉 there should be Grace before the FIRST 〈◊〉 Grace is attended in a double Respect 1 As it 〈◊〉 a habit or gracious quality received into the Soul As it is a gracious impression upon the soul The 〈◊〉 must be prepared before any habit of Grace 〈◊〉 be received but there needs no disposition in 〈◊〉 soul to receive the work of the Spirit that must 〈◊〉 there needs no preparation to make way 〈◊〉 the work of Preparation but there needs 〈◊〉 to make way for the habit That which 〈◊〉 the first disposition needs no former not yet 〈◊〉 any former It s not Nature but the Soul prepared that is the 〈◊〉 of the First Habit. The Soul unprepared 〈◊〉 the Subject of the Spirit that prepares it The Means how God works the Cords by which 〈◊〉 Draws The Spirit of the Lord lets in some powerful light 〈◊〉 the Truth into the Soul when he is passing on in 〈◊〉 wayes of destruction and tels him This is not 〈◊〉 right way to Life and Salvation you must go 〈◊〉 way if ever you go to heaven The poor deluded blinded Creature never dreaming of 〈◊〉 such matter so that he drives the sóul to 〈◊〉 thoughts If this be the streight way to happiness 〈◊〉 have been out of the way al my life time If this 〈◊〉 true my Condition is miserable Isa. 65. 1. I 〈◊〉 sought of them that asked not for me I am found 〈◊〉 those that sought me not Thus the shepheard pursues the wildring sheep If he had not found it it 〈◊〉 never found home How many give in Evidence 〈◊〉 of their own Experience in this kind I never doubted of my estate nor ever 〈◊〉 of any necessity to be other or do other I went as others did it may be for fashion sake either company carried me or custome prevailed with me or may be the novelty of the thing inticed me to go I as little thought of my death as ever to have my sin and shame discovered Job 36. 9. When the Lord gets man into fetters then he shews them their transgressions and how they have exceeded Thus the Lord is said To stand and knock at the door of the soul when the sinner is fast asleep Rev. 3. 20. He dazles the apprehension by some mighty flash of truth like lightning darted in which makes the soul at a maze by reason of the suddenness and unexpectedness and strangness of it This knock makes the sinner so far to hear and to take notice of it that some body is at the door and causes him happily to make enquiry Who is there So Acts 9. 4 5 6. There shines a suddain Light about Paul and a voyce heard from heaven Saul Saul Why persecutest thou me As who should say Thou art utterly mistaken thou knowest not where thou art what thou doest thou mistakest a Friend in stead of an Enemy And therefore he amazed and astonished Answers and 〈◊〉 Who art thou Lord Thus the sinner is made to look about him where am I this is not the way to Heaven And though the soul would shut its eyes against the Evidence and Power of the Truth which carries a kind of amazing vertue with it and therefore invents shifts to defeat the work of it yet the Lord wil follow it and fasten it upon the soul so as that it shal not avoid it he that stands knocking at the door wil lift up the latch and make the Truth break in as the Sun rising wil break through the least crevis This is the first means whereby the Lord comes to lay hold upon the mind and soul of a sinner he hath the sinner in chase as it were that he cannot get out of his sight or make an escape Thus by the hook of Instruction he laies hold upon him He encloseth him with the Cords of Mercy whereby he 〈◊〉 the soul and compasseth the heart on every side with the tender of his compassions Hosea 11. 4. I drew them with the Cords of a man the bonds of love this the Lord doth to take off those desperat discouragements which otherwise would dead the heart and split the hopes of a forlorn sinner and so pluck up his endeavors by the roots under the appearance of impossibilities It can never be attained why therefore should it be expected or endeavored after To abate therefore of these overbearing 〈◊〉 which otherwise would sink the heart and swallow it up the Lord casts in some discovery of the largeness of his compassions and intimates there is no danger to be feared in coming to the Lord because there is none intended When Christ stands at the door and knocks men are afraid to let in Enemies that intended our ruine so it 's 〈◊〉 the sinner he is afraid of Gods Justice because of his 〈◊〉 deservings What is Christ at the door Is it not that Christ whose Grace I have refused whose Spirit I have grieved whose Words I have cast 〈◊〉 my back he certainly comes to destroy me who have destroyed his Truth and trampled his honor 〈◊〉 my feet And therefore the Lord lets in that Evidence to the
and the venom of the Serpent in the other Why Have they not nay continue they not to do the lusts of the Devil to this day They have the Spirit of sin and Satan within them and therefore they are their Children and therefore sin and Satan 〈◊〉 a right and title to them Is it not again writ Rom. 6. 16. Know ye not that to whom you yeild your selves servants to obey his servants you are As who should say It is a ruled case common and confessed by the verdict of al. If ye yeild your selves to obey sin you are the servants of sin therefore saies sin and Satan since we have such law on our side for our right we crave our right for these have yeilded themselves servants to my temptations saies Satan and to my allurements saies the World and to my instigation saies Sin therefore they are our Servants therefore let us have them still To which the Lord Answers and Justice also Replyes While they did remain the seed of the Serpent and in the state of the Children of wrath so long you have reason to have them and right to challenge them and therefore it is you have detained them as Prisoners to your pleasure to this day Yea but saies the Father The Lord Jesus whom I have sent he hath undertaken to pacifie my wrath and purchase their deliverance and so hath done for he hath bought them of Divine Justice and therefore hath right now to make them the seed of the Covenant of Grace and to bring them to himself and life as they are and have been the seed of the Serpent and estranged from me and happiness and therefore he hath not only done for them what was required on their behalf but he wil work in them what may be answerable to the Covenant and the Condition of it therfore your claim is nothing This under correction I take to be the meaning of that place Rom. 8 2 3 4. which is mysterious and dark and dazels the eyes of Judicious Interpreters that several senses appear to the several apprehensions of men we wil open it briefly as we pass by and apply it to our 〈◊〉 And that which I suppose wil give some light to the true intent of the place and wil be as a Key to the Scripture and set open the sense that an easie apprehension may give a sad guess at the purpose of the Spirit is this I suppose the words must be understood of the work 〈◊〉 the Spirit wrought in us and the impressions of Grace left upon the Soul not of the work of Justification which is wholly without us in the Lord Jesus our Surety and only counted ours And this that Phrase in the 4 th vers seems to me of necessity to imply Where it is evident that the end of the former work of Christ is made this That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Whereas in the work of Justification the truth of the work the meaning of the Lord and expression of Scripture is other 2 Cor. 5. last Christ was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him not in our selves That Righteousness for which we are Justified is fulfilled for us by Christ and is in him it s not fulfilled in us For it is the Doctrine of the Popish Sect who are adversaries to Gods Grace that we are justified for any thing wrought in us and for which we are for ever to renounce them And hence it is Phil. 3. 7. Not having mine own Righteousness but that which is of God in Christ Therefore not in us properly This being granted I shal shortly give you the meaning of this 3 d. Vers. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh The Apostle had evidenced the state of a man in Christ by the fruits of it He walks not after the flesh but after the spirit Vers. 1. The Question might be How comes that about He Answers Vers. 2. The Law of the spirit of life which is in Christ as the Head hath freed me and so al his Body and each Member from the Law of Sin that is The Soveraign Rule of Sin and Death But why was the Spirit of Christ necessarily required to do this since the mind of God is in the Law revealed and my Obedience required therein Is it not enough that I understand this and thereby be enabled to follow it The Apostle answers No It was impossible for the Law to enable a man to walk after the Spirit and to be free from the Law of sin for so the Causal For knits this Verse as a proof of the former not because the Law was faulty but because our Flesh our natures were corrupt and thence it is not enough the Lord should tell and teach unless there be some other Spirit and Power to enable But how then comes this other Spirit He Answers 〈◊〉 3. God 〈◊〉 his Son to take our Nature upon him who was like unto us in all but sin and he sent him to take our Nature 〈◊〉 i. e. For the Removal of sin And these words are to be referred to those going before he sent not to those after he condemned sin As thus He sent his Son in the similitude of sinful Flesh for sin for the removal of sin and he condemned sin in the Flesh i. e. In the Vertue of the Sufferings of his Flesh he did abolish and destroy the 〈◊〉 and Jurisdiction of sin so that sin as we may say hath lost his Cause and is as we 〈◊〉 to speak non suited fails wholly in al the Pleas it can or doth make for any right it hath to the Soul of a sinner As we say of a man that is Cast in Law that the Cause went against him His Cause is Condemned or his Cause is Damned his Claim is false and feeble and hath no force to carry the thing he would So here Sin fails of its Claim is wholly Cast in the Suit that it makes for the Challenge of the Soul Divine Justice delivered it into its power because it was wronged but must now deliver it out of the Claim and Authority of sin being satisfied And from hence this will be attained That the Righteousness which the Law requires may by the Spirit of Christ be wrought in me 〈◊〉 by way of 〈◊〉 hereafter in perfection To the like purpose is the meaning of that place also 1 〈◊〉 4. 6. For for this end was the Gospel preached to them that are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the spirit In the sirst Verse from the Death and Sufferings of our Savior he perswaded those to whom he wrote That they should 〈◊〉 that Application by way of proportion That
sent him for this end would drive me out of my sins and send me to him for succour and relief that I may be sure to speed And I may be sure the Father who is so deeply offended wil never refuse him 〈◊〉 me if I come to him through his Christ. So we have done with the Explication of the Point Instruction We may hence by way of Collection inferr several things which are of much Consequence in our daily Course and yet al appertain to this place as to their proper residence where they have their first rife and therefore may most cleerly and rightly be here discussed and so discerned by those who will encline their ear and apply their heart unto wisdom Hence it follows by force of undeniable Consequence that this work of Attraction and so of preventing Grace proceeds from God as the only Cause thereof and depends wholly upon his 〈◊〉 pleasure and that he works in us without us We being destitute of al Ability which might help thereunto That which is done by a Holy kind of Violence against the natural inclination of the heart that must needs be done upon us but not by us we have no hand in that work and so it is here as hath been proved Let me ad Two or Three Reasons more besides the Evidence of the Rule from whence it is immediately deduced Here that Weapon comes first to hand which some of the Ancients have so often used in this Cause and its the Canon of the Apostle and that Staple Principle that cannot be gain-said Rom. 9. 16. It is not in him that willeth or in him that runneth but in God that shews Mercy Where al other helping Causes that may share in the Conversion and bringing home of the sinner are wholly denied cast out though they were Means of special improvment that if any thing might seem to further it they might have been of peculiar use and of a speeding nature It was not a sleepy careless slighting of the attainment of any spiritual good or a sloathful attendance upon it nor is it a kind of heartless and spiritless Affection to it that are here rejected nay though his will was there and the strength of endeavor yet both miss the mark The Apostle is Plain and peremptory Let him set Heart and Feet and Hand and Head on work he shal never do no good on it it is not there It s meerly only in him that shews Mercy It was wont to be Answered by the Pelagians that it is so said That it s not in him that Runs or Wills without Mercy pittying of him and Grace assisting of him he cannot do it without these let him do what he can yet he can do it with these The vanity of which Answer hath been long since discovered as that it crosseth and corrupteth the very meaning of the Apostle For then the meaning upon the self same grounds would here be thus As it is not in him that Wills and Runs without God assisting co-working so you might turn the tables It s not in God that shewes Mercy without him that Wills and Runs For if the words be not a plain peremptory denial but only comparatively to be taken It s not so much or not in his willing and running without Mercy prevailing and helping yet they concur as Causes in this work then may they as 〈◊〉 be taken the other way It s not in God that shews Mercy only and wholly but in him that wills and runs in part which is to destroy the text and to cross the intendment of the Spirit That Dispensation of God which gives ability and a Principle to the will for to work that act and dispensation must be before the ability of the will and act of it and so cannot be caused by it As if God put a soul into those dead dry bones in Ezek. 37. that they might live this putting in of the 〈◊〉 whence comes life is before and so without the work of the soul or life also and not at al caused by either But this Preparation and pulling away from sin is to make way for a spiritual ability to be given to the will for to work and therefore it is before the will and work and either of them as any cause So the Apostle John 1 Joh. 5. 20. He hath given us a mind to know him and his Christ. Not only drawn out this act of Knowledge but given a mind also to enable us hereunto 2 Cor. 3. 5. We 〈◊〉 no sufficiency as of our selves to think a good thought but all our sufficiency is of God Not only the thinking but the 〈◊〉 thereunto It s he that gives a 〈◊〉 of flesh and then causeth us to walk in his wayes Ezek. 36. 26 27. This is to be Observed against a wretched Shift and cursed Cavil of the Jesuits when they would pretended to give way to the Grace of God and yet in truth take away what they give And therefore they yeild freely and fully That it is God who gives both the will and the deed And Grace is required of necessity unto both and neither can be without it nor will nor deed But in truth this is nothing but a colour of words when the sense which they follow sounds quite contrary For ask but their meaning and when they have opened themselves al comes to thus much That the Lord hath a Concourse and a co-working in the Will and Deed and sends forth an influence into the act of the Will and of the work done and leads forth and guides both unto their end And this is no more than he doth with the act of any Creature the first cause concurring with the second For in him it is that we live and move and have our being As it is with Two men that draw a Boat or a Ship together each man hath a principle and power of his own whereby he draws but both these meet and concur and co-co-work together in the drawing So that al this that is said is but indeed to darken and delude the Truth yea and to destroy the work of Gods Grace and deceive the Reader For this gives no more to the work of Gods Grace in Conversion than it doth to the Act of Providence upon and with the act of any Creature reasonable Whereas this must be observed carefully and for ever maintained as the everlasting Truth of God That the Lord gives a power spiritual to the work which it had not before he Concurs with the act of that power when it is put forth he gives him a being in the 〈◊〉 of Grace before he leads out the act of that being He first lets in an influence of a powerful impression upon the Faculty of the Will before he Concurs with the Act 〈◊〉 Deed. He gives a heart of flesh and then causeth them to walk in his wayes As if one could put a Principle of life and motion into another and then
draw forth the act of that power to the performance of the work As to draw a Boat c. This comparison will 〈◊〉 the truth of the work As it is with the Sons of the first Adam in the work of their Generation naturally and the perverting and turning aside their souls from the Lord So it is with the Sons of the second Adam in their spiritual Regeneration and Conversion But in the 〈◊〉 the work is wrought in them without them so it is said 〈◊〉 Adam He begate a Son in his own image Gen. 5. 3. That the Son was begotten in point of natural Constitution and that he was in Adams Image his mind darkned his will perverted and the whole frame and disposition of the whole Man turned aside from God all which is wrought in the Child without any act on the Childs part So 〈◊〉 is with every one that is begotten unto God by a new Conversion There is an impression of Gods Spirit to turn them from 〈◊〉 unto God without any ability of their own further than it was given them by God and acted by his Spirit Jam. 1. 18. Of 〈◊〉 own will begat he us Joh. 1. 13. Born not of the will of blood nor of flesh nor of the will of man but of God Hence then it follows in the second Place That the Conversion of a sinner depends not upon 〈◊〉 is lastly resolved into the Liberty of mans Will which is the proper Opinion of the Arminians and somwhat more 〈◊〉 than the 〈◊〉 themselves wil own The sum of it and the full sense of it will appear in the Answer to this Question Suppose that all outward means have been used and improved by providence upon Two Persons indifferently in the same place enioying the same helps say Judas and Peter who were both trained up under the wing of Christ and received the droppings of his daily counsels alike their minds both so far enlightned and their Consciences convinced of the things of God and Grace that they see what the will of God is and what their way is to Happiness by Beleeving in Christ. Here grows the Question Why doth Peter receive Christ and Judas reject him Why the Answer and last Resolution of Arminians is here It was in the Liberty of their own Wills and Peter would close with Christ Judas would refuse him But the Orthodox Divines Answer out of the Word The Lord gives a heart of flesh to Peter and enables him which he denies unto Judas as he 〈◊〉 may and Judas hath justly deserved he should The wretchedness falseness of the former Opinion appears as from the former ground so also from these following Arguments If the Will of it self hath not the next Passive power to receive Grace and Christ then it is not in its Liberty to chuse or refuse But it hath not the next Passive power Rom. 8. 7. It is not subject to the law of God nay it cannot be subject to receive the Work therefore not Chuse the Work much less If it be in the Liberty of the Will either to Chuse or Refuse and that our Conversion is lastly resolved into that then it is in a mans own proper power and freedom to make himself to 〈◊〉 from another which the Apostle peremptorily and professedly denies 2 Cor. 4. 7. Who makes thee to differ And What hast thou that thou hast not received Why the Arminians will say It was my own Will that made me to differ the Liberty of my own Choice because I used and improved my freedom wel which another did not That which exalts the Will of man above the power and will of God and makes it the more principal Cause of our Conversion that is injurious to Gods Grace and opposite to his truth and the aim of his counsel which is to work al for the manifestation of the Glory of his free Grace But this Opinion doth so For it makes it in the power of mans will to frustrate and over-power al the Means which are provided and the operations of the Spirit upon the soul For for al these the soul may not be Converted But if this be put forth then the work is accomplished and brought to perfection without fail That in genere 〈◊〉 this in genere causae efficientis proprie sic dictae That is only to stir up power this alone puts forth the power by 〈◊〉 it is wrought This Delusion is exceedingly derogatory to the Glory of God deprives God of that Praise and Thanksgiving which is due unto his Name for upon this ground a Reprobate wretch who shal perish for ever in the bottomless pit stands as much bound to God for his Grace and Bounty as he that is saved For they were al equal in the Means provided in the operation of the Spirit and the offers tendered for good had the one the Ordinance the other had so to Had the one Priviledges Abilities the other shared equally herein Was the one enlightned perswaded so was the other That the one received Christ that was his Free Will he may thank himself for that and not God But the Saints when they come to acknowledge the Son of God at the meeting of al the Churches they do profess the contrary It was not their prayers their tears nor hearing 〈◊〉 resolutions 〈◊〉 performances for al these their guilt still remained the power of their Corruptions not removed It was not any ability or parts natural that could do it for they see the spawn of al sin in their hearts and had certainly had the strength of al distempers in their Lives that they are not in the dungeon with Witches upon the chain with Malefactors they cannot thank their good nature for it Nay it was not in al the means though spiritual and powerful the Ministers they shewed the way they set forth the glorious things of God and Grace but it was not that which did it but it was only in God that shewed mercy meerly only wholly out of the free mercy of the Lord. Hence Our conversion depends not upon nor issues not from the congruity of al such means or the 〈◊〉 suitableness of al such Circumstances which may help forward those forcible perswasions which the Lord doth present to the Soul and whereby he would so call the soul of a sinner to himself as that his call may certainly find success I conceive it meet to ad this Collection to the former partly because this is the proper place to which it ought to be referred and where it should be disputed and from the former Doctrine receives its Doom and Confutation The Brain of the Jesuites is the Womb that bare it and their Forgery gave it its first being a Brat of their Brain a Conceit which they Forged and Anvilled out of the Froth of their own imaginations For when they saw that it was a Conclusion absurd and unreasonable yea that which sounded harshly even to Common Sense to affirm 〈◊〉
And this was usual in the Course of Providence and the Dispensation of the Means of Grace for himself gives the ground of Gods dealing and his aim in this 1 Tim. 1. 16. To wit That he might be an example and pattern to all Posterity to support the hearts of the rebellious Gentiles that they might not sink under the weight of their unsufferable 〈◊〉 but yet to seek the Lord. So it was with these Converts Acts 2. Some mocked some blasphemed 〈◊〉 derided the Apostles and that was the season the Lord took to set upon their hearts by the Ministery of the Apostles And were the Scripture silent in this case how often have we found it in our own experience acknowledged by many those who came purposely to deride and scom the Ministery of the Word somtimes to entrap and ensnare the Minister somtimes to see and slight and jear at the Assemblies of the Saints that was the time which the Lord took to seize upon their souls to Convince Convert and Save them through Mercy what Congruity or suitableness was there then for this work unless you wil make Contrariety and the height of sinful rage and opposition to be Congruity this is Gods manner to do wonderful things beyond the reach of Common Reason when it was hard to the people of the Captivity to beleive it God then sayes it was not hard to work it Zach. 8. 6. Thus saith the Lord unto this people If it be marvelous in your eyes should it be marvelous in my eyes God usually carries the chiefest of the Expressions of his Providence by way of Contrariety and cross Means in Common Apprehension and the course of things that he might silence the pride of al flesh and the forgery of al 〈◊〉 who are the professed enemies of his Grace So Elias when he would make way for the Glory of the Miracle and Manifestation of Gods power he doth nor only lay the Sacrifice upon the Altar without Fire but digs ditches deep and fills them with water that the power of the Fire might appear more remarkablely 1 Kings 18. 33 34 35. So here To this Experience which cannot be 〈◊〉 take these Reasons for further cleering of the truth and the crushing of this Erronious Conceit If the Conversion or Attraction of a sinner be lastly resolved into the Congruity and suitableness of Moral Perswasions then may it lastly depend upon some natural Cause or in truth upon some Common Circumstance of some outward occasion and Conveniency with which the sinner may meet in the use of Means For in the meeting and Concurence of these as time place order or outward helps and the disposition of the party in some or al of these this Congruity wil consist But this is to resolve our spiritual and supernatural Call into a natural Cause against Rule and Reason For nothing can exceed the bounds of that ability which the Lord in the way of his Providence hath set in the Creature natural Causes produce natural Effects only Joh. 1. 12. Which are born not of blood nor of the will of man nor of the will of the flesh There is nothing in Corruption or natural Disposition or the excellency of any 〈◊〉 that brings forth this spiritual birth Nay the Apostle professedly excludes al these as not able to bring about this work and therefore sets out the vanity and emptiness of them when they are at the highest We Preach saies the Apostle Wisdom to those that are perfect which this world nor the Princes of this world were never able to reach unto 1 Cor. 2. 6. 8. If any were suited with the choicest Means or had liberty to enjoy the choicest Opportunities or the best Advantages according to their hearts Content these were the men and yet these could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this work 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 of outward Means which properly reach not the 〈◊〉 work prove an 〈◊〉 unto this effectual Calling So the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 26. Not many wise not many rich 〈◊〉 many noble 〈◊〉 wisdom and choice abilities wealth and outward 〈◊〉 honor and 〈◊〉 they are in 〈◊〉 and so 〈◊〉 and therefore Congruous to help forward a 〈◊〉 Course because those that are not subordinate 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Argument follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reason if any then these who had 〈◊〉 and choice abilities to improve the Means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work those who had wealth to purchase them those who had authority to 〈◊〉 and them to serve their turn they should be suited to al 〈◊〉 encouragements to 〈◊〉 on in a Christian Course but we see this doth it not Some who have the greatest 〈◊〉 and suitableness of al Moral Perswasions to draw their hearts to Christ do remain for ever at greatest distance from him therefore saving Conversion is not resolved into nor depends certainly upon the Congruity of Moral Periwasions That some have such suitableness and yet remain at such a distance I instance in 〈◊〉 those that sin the sin against the holy Ghost and count the Blood of Jesus a Common thing That these have the Congruity of al means to prevail with them the Word wil give in 〈◊〉 proof Heb. 6. 5 6. They taste of the heavenly gift that is Faith are made 〈◊〉 of the holy Ghost have tasted of the good Word of God and of the powers of the world to come They have a taste of Vocation of Adoption and 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 and that there were 〈◊〉 of Moral 〈◊〉 to work these I thus shew Where there is a Concurrence of al Moral Causes which by the rule of Providence the Lord hath appointed all those that he hath fitted and proportioned both to the nature of the soul and the nature of the spiritual work needful for it such whom he hath so far breathed upon and wrought withal that there is a taste of al the saving work of God left upon the soul only the truth and reality of the work is 〈◊〉 comes as neer to effectual Calling as may be and not be Called as neer to the stamp of true Sanctification as can be and not be Sanctified there is the Congruity of al Moral Perswasions and the meeting and Concourse of the strength of al Arguments and Reasons that can be propounded only there is yet a principle internal wanting which should indeed change the Will For if the contrary to al these be incongruous and carry a kind of unsuitableness either to the necessities of the soul and the work of God upon the soul for its saving good then the presence of these carry an undoubted congruity and answerableness to all the good of the soul and the work that should be done upon it For certain it is when al the Means that God hath appointed are attended and used also in the order and manner he hath appointed neither more help nor more Congruity can be desired nor yet attained for if there be any other Means which God hath not appointed those wil prove hinderances not
heart is the alone work of God It is not in him that Wills nor in him that Runs 〈◊〉 in God that shews Mercy You know many of you hundreds for ought I know that you never knew what Christ and his Grace meant and you know your hearts close with your sins though you dare not give way to them Now mark when you come and hear the mind of God and the Ministers speak unto you and the Will of God is published Oh! Go your wayes home and say As the Lord lives I will not leave thee until the Lord hath spoken to my soul till I find the effectual work of the Word and Spirit of God drawing my soul from my sins to Jesus Christ. Therefore call for that same shewing Mercy which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 9. 16. So then it is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth mercy When you have run what you can and willed what you are able then look up to the Lord to shew you Mercy the Minister hath spoken what he can and I have heard what I can but Lord shew Mercy and never leave until you have found that the Lord hath shewed you Mercy in this work of drawing your Soul from Sin to Christ. FINIS THE Application OF Redemption By the Effectual Work of the Word and Spirt of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The Ninth and Tenth Books Beside many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed â—â—The heart must be humble and contrite before the Lord will dwell in it â—â—Stubborn and bloody Sinners may be made broken-hearted â—â—There must be true sight of sin before the heart can be broken for it â—â—Application of special sins by the Ministry is a means to bring men to sight of and sorrow for them â—â—Meditation of sin a special means to break the heart â—â—The same word is profitable to some not to others â—â—The Lord somtimes makes the word prevail most when its most opposed â—â—Sins unrepented of makes way for piercing Terrors â—â—The Truth terrible to a guilty conscience â—â—â—Gross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before they be brought to Christ. 11. Sorrow for sin rightly set on pierceth the heart of the sinner throughly 12. They whose hearts are pierced by the word are carried with love and respect to the Ministers of it And are busie to enquire and ready to submit to the mind of God 13. Sinners in distress of conscience are ignorant what they should do 14. A contrite sinner sees a necessity of coming out of his sinful condition 15. There is a secret hope wherewith the Lord supports the hearts of contrite sinners 16. They who are truly pierced for their sins do prize and covet deliverance from their sins 17. True contrition is accompanied with confession of sin when God calls thereunto 18. The Soul that is pierced for sin is carried with a restless dislike against it By that Faithful and known Servant of Christ Mr. THOMAS HOOKER late Pastor of the Church at Hartford in New-England somtimes Preacher of the Word at Chelmsford in Essex and Fellow of Emmanuel Colledg in Cambridg Printed from the Authors Papers written with his own Hand And attested to be such in an Epistle By Thomas Goodwin And Philip Nye London Printed by Peter Cole at the sign of the Printing-Press in Cornhil neer the Royal Exchange 1657. READER IT hath been one of the Glories of the Protestant Religion that it revived the Doctrine of Saving Conversion And of the new creature brought forth thereby Concerning which and the necessity thereof we find so much indigitated by Christ and the Apostles in their Epistles in those times But in a more eminent manner God hath cast the honor hereof upon the Ministers and Preachers of this Nation who are renowned abroad for their more accurate search into and discoveries hereof First For the Popish Religion that much pretend to Piety and Devotion and doth dress forth a Religion to a great outward Gaudiness and shew of 〈◊〉 and wil-worship which we confess is entermingled with many spiritual strains of self-denial Submission to Gods wil Love to God and Christ especially in the writings of those that are called Mistical 〈◊〉 But that first great and saving Work of Conversion which is the foundation of al true piety the great and numerous volumns of their most devout writers are usually silent therein Yea they eminently appropriate the word Conversion and thing it self unto 〈◊〉 man that renounceth a Secular life and entereth into Religious orders as they cal them and that Doctrine they have in their discourses of Grace and free wil about it is of no higher elevation than what as worthy Mr. Perkins long since may be common to a Reprobate though we judg not al amongst them God having continued in the midst of Popish Darkness many to this day and at this day with more Contention than ever that plead for the Prerogative of Gods Grace in mans Conversion And for the Arminian Doctrine how low doth that run in this great Article this we may without breach of Charity say of it That if they or their followers have no further or deeper work upon their hearts than what their Doctrine in that point calls for they would fal short of Heaven though those other great truths they together therewith teach God may and doth savingly bless unto true Conversion he breaking through those Errors into some of their hearts And how much our reformed Writers abroad living in continual wranglings and Disputes with the Adversaries of Grace have omitted in a Practical and Experimental way to lay open and anatomize the inwards of this great work for the Comfort and settlement of poor souls many of themselves do greatly bewayl And to find them work and divert them from this it hath been the Devils great Policy who is at the head of all those Controversies as also ever since Pelagius time to this very day to make that dry and barren plot of Ground namely the naked dispute of the freedom of mans wil to be the great seat of this War as the Pope did the Conquest of the Holy Land in the darker times to find al Christian Princes work and thither to draw al the forces and intentions of mens minds jejunely in a great part Phylosophically to debate what power mans wil for-sooth hath in the Summity and Apex of Conversion to resist or to accept the Grace of God and so whether Moral perswasions only be not Sufficient or that Physical Pre-determinations be not also requisite to Conversion whilest in the mean time al those intimate actings of a soul in turning to God The secret particular passages both on Gods part and on the souls part which are many and various by which the soul is won over unto God and Christ those treaties the souls of men hold with God and Christ for justifying and
Heaven for revenge but when our Savior laid his hand upon the sore and let the light shine in her face and points at the vileness of her practice Thou hast had five Husbands but he whom thou now hast is not thy Husband she then becomes sensible of his soveraign wisdom and her own wretchedness John 4. 18 19 20. So it was with Paul when the Lord met him going to Damascus persecuting the Saints he saw not the sinfulness of his course and therefore was senceless of it Saul Saul saies Christ why persecutest thou me Then he answers Who art thou Lord Jesus said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks when he understood the evil of his way then he stood trembling and astonished saying Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. 5 6. Before the Corinthians were made conscious of their own carelesness neither pitying the soul of the incestuous Corinthian nor yet seeking to reform his sin they gloried over him and prided themselves in their own conceited excellency but when the Apostle had discovered their miscarriage and failings what sorrow and care did it work in them and what serious endeavor to reform the guilty party The Doctrine is true we shall endeavor to make it plain and therefore we shall open several particulars the right conceiving whereof will be as a key to unlock the Treasury of this Truth that each man may take what will serve his turn Enquire therefore we will By what means and after what manner God works this sight of Sin How far the sinner may be said to be active in it Wherein this true sight and apprehension properly consists and so discovers it self The Reason of this Truth and the Lords Order in this proceeding And then we shall make Application of it By what means or after what manner the Lord works this sight of Sin To which I shall Answer in four Conclusions Or the Answer unto which Inquiry will be expressed in four Particulars The Righteous Law of God as it is the Rule of our Lives so it is the Discoverer of our Sins and swervings therefrom and by the light thereof together with that little light of common Principles of Piety and Love left upon our Consciences we come to have our corruption made known to us Rom. 3. 20. By the Law is the knowledg of sin insomuch that Paul a learned Pharisee one that profited in the Jews Religion more than his equals he was yet at a loss in discerning and judging of the turnings and distempers of his heart before he takes the light and lamp of the Law So himself professeth Rom. 7. 7. I had not known that lust had been a sin those first stirrings of the Body of death and secret lingrings and inclinations to that which is cross to the wil of God though there be no consent given to them no delight taken in them but that the Law said thou shalt not lust the Sentence of the Law set down his Judgment and therefore the Apostle James compares it to a perfect and curious Looking-glass wherein each man may see the least blemishes or motes if he will present himself before it James 1. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect Law of Liberty and continueth therein will lay his mind and heart and life level to the Law of God and hold his heart and apprehensions to the righteous Judgment and Sentence thereof it will plainly discover the smallest imperfections the least stirrings of the most hidden distempers that arise so Rom. 2. 14. the Heathens with the twi-light or Star-light of the remainders of the Law written in their heart past Sentence against themselves touching the sinfulness of their course But this is not all nor yet enough to make us to attain a right sight of our Sins unless the Lord put a new Light into our minds within as we have the Light of the Law and Counsel of God shining without unto us otherwise the Law may be and wil be a clasped Book and a dead Letter we shall see little in it or receive little from it So Paul Rom. 7. 9. I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came sin revived Without the Law how could that be since he was an Hebrew of the Hebrews of the Tribe of Benjamin trained up at the feet of Gamaliel a Doctor of the Law prosessed it and practised it according to the most exact Sect of the Pharisees as he speaks But the meaning is that he was without the power of it and the spiritual life and lively efficacy of the Law It was a dead and a killing Letter Look what the sence of the words or some evidence of Reason or Arguments could hold out to a Natural Understanding the bark and shell and outside of such directions he took and entertained But the Spiritualness of the Law For the Law is Spiritual saies Paul and that spiritual and lively power of Conviction and Direction it puts forth upon the souls of the Saints who are subject to it and therefore indeed receive the work of it This Paul once in the time of his unregeneracy was destitute of and then he was alive that is in his own overweening and self-deluded conceit he concluded himself to be a living Christian to have the power and truth of Grace and to live the life of it So that it 's possible nay it 's ordinary and nothing more usual than for men to be without the Law when they have the Law to be without the Life of it while they have the Letter of it to be without the Law as a Soveraign Rule to their Lives while they take upon them the profession of it to be without the Spiritualness of the Law and so to miss the end of it that is closing with God as our last end and chief good which is the sap the pith and substance of the Law though they have the appearance of the practice of it And if they miss the end of the Law at which it aims and unto which it tends they must needs fall short of the Wisdom and Counsel and Spiritual efficacy of the Law which should direct them So in 2 Chron. 19. 3. Now for a long time Israel had been without the true God that is his true Worship that would bring them to him and that is the meaning of that Phrase Ephes. 2. 12. Without God in the World that is without the true Worship of God so that they who want the true Worship of God are without God So they who have the manner of the true Worship and want both Spirit and Truth in which God will be worshiped they have the Appearance but want the Spirit and Truth of the true manner they have So of the rest Thus it is with thousands in the Church which hear and know and have the Letter of the Law and yet are indeed without the Power and Spirit and therefore
with a fals-harted 〈◊〉 as it did with the wife of Jeroboam when she came to enquire of her sick Child all the while she had received no certain evidence whether it would 〈◊〉 or live her heart was 〈◊〉 and comforted in her present hopes But when Abijah the Prophet related the message of the Lord Come in thou wife of Jeroboam why fainest thou thy self to be another behold I am sent to thee with heavy 〈◊〉 the Lord 〈◊〉 bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam and wil cut off him that is left get thee home to thy house and assoon as thy feet enter into thy house the Child shal dy this sunk her hopes so fares it with a fals-harted ignorant sinner he may be quieted with the persent appresion of his good condition when he hath no evidence to the contrary But when the Lord sets up an overpouring conviction in the mind which may give in 〈◊〉 and infallible witness of its 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 estate 〈◊〉 thou fals-hearted hypocrite why 〈◊〉 thou thy self to be another and befoolest thy self with vayn hopes behold here is heavy tidings sent unto thee from the Lord of hosts thou art yet in the gal of bitterness in the bond of iniquity and if thou diest so thou 〈◊〉 certainly 〈◊〉 from the presence of the Lord for ever This fastening the truth upon the conscience comes home and forceth the heart to feel and to be affected therewith Ignorance frustrates wholly the end of all the means we use and the endeavours we take up for reformation of the evills of our hearts and lives For. 1. First it misleads all our endeavors that they succeed not it misleads our whol course and our proceedings against our sins and out of mistakes presents our corruption as appearing sweet through our misguided apprehension and causes us to oppose our Saviour Christ and his truth that would subdue them This Paul professed to be the ground of his 〈◊〉 carriage when he should have persecuted the enemies of the Church he 〈◊〉 the Church and that out of 〈◊〉 Phil. 3. 6 concerning zeal I persecuted the Church so far from finding his sin bitter to him 〈◊〉 having his heart broken from it as that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the practice of it with the greatest expression of zeal as that which deserved the best of his endeavour and wherein he might spend the best of his pains and that you may see how ready we are in the dark to put up Snakes in our bosoms instead of sweet 〈◊〉 He nakedly and ingeniously confessed whither his 〈◊〉 led I did verily think in my self I should do many things against the Name of Jesus Acts. 26. He that conceived it as a matter of duty to do such things his heart upon such grounds under such delusions would never be carryed against these Ignorance wil make a man swallow the worst 〈◊〉 any change 1 John 16. 2. the time will come that they who shall kill you will think they do God good service that which keeps the soul insensible of the bitterness of sin and from feeling of the weight of sin that will also keep it from being weary of it and willing to part with it It 's a popish practice and a principle of the power of darkness Ignorance is the Mother of devotion when men cannot tell how to lead themselves or see their own way you may lead them 〈◊〉 way you wil and if once Satan can keep a man from the sight of his sin he wil keep him sure under the command of sin and drive him to do his drudgery and that with delight and resolution when the Phylistians had put out Sampsons eyes they led him whither they would and made him do what they would Paul in his ignorance strikes a Friend instead of an Enemy and strikes he neither knowes nor 〈◊〉 who Acts. 9 who art thou Lrod 2 As thus ignorance misleads a mans whol course that it succeds not so it perverts the power of all means that they profit not misapplies al the means he hath and so spoyles them and his own peace and comfort also insomuch that his corruptions grow more strong and incorporated into him and he more unwilling to part with them and that 's the fruit of ignorance the promises and comforts of the Gospel which do not appertain to him he catcheth greedily at them as a portion provided for 〈◊〉 and goes away with that dream and swels unmeasurably 〈◊〉 presumption and self-confidence Are not al the Congregation holy what needs this severing and differencing of men what are 〈◊〉 who would be the only Saints are not we al sinners and Christ dyed for such and for us as wel as for them the threatnings and curses which the Lord denounceth against the ungodly 〈◊〉 cast them away with a fearless contempt as such as do in no wise touch them or concern 〈◊〉 particulars and therefore should not trouble them tush say they we have made a league with death and a covenant with Hell and when the destroying scourge passeth over it shal not come near to them Isay. 28. 15. yea they do commit evil and yet say they are delivered by the Lord Jer. 7. Thus they grow 〈◊〉 and hard hearted the wholsom counsels and directions of the word which should be light unto their feet and a discovery of al their failings they slight the exact attendance thereunto as that which God wil not exact at their hands because in many things we sin al and so become careless or negligent as though they should not answer and the Lord would not exact what they cannot do It s with an ignorant sinner in the midst of all means as with a sick man remaining in an Apothecaries shop ful of choycest 〈◊〉 in the darkest night though there be the choycest af all receipts at hand and he may take what he needs yet because he cannot see what he takes and how to use them he may kill himself or encrease his distempers but never cure any disease so here with an ignorant person he enjoyes al means and yet abuses them he may encrease his corruptions but not reform them his heart grows more hard and his corruptions more strong but he cannot in reason expect any help Hence we learn by way of Instruction An ignorant 〈◊〉 is a naughty heart whether out of blindness they do not or out of prophaness they wil not understand and look into their estates He that never saw his sin aright he never yet saw good day nor the least appearance of any saving work of Gods grace in his soul yea he is so far from attaining such a condition that in truth he is not in the way to it We wil go no further than the consideration of the former truth and then let thy Conscience be judg in the case propounded Suppose then thou shouldest hear a distressed creature under the terror of his Conscience freely and ingeniously lay open his condition unto thee The day is yet
so much money wert thou punished in thy purse for such wretchlessness they would cause thee to set thy mind and heart and hand to thy work the loss of thy life and soul and Heaven and God and al would prevail more with thee but in truth thou never yet knewest what the loss of these meant and therefore not what thy sin is that brings the loss of all Thus much for the sight of sin 〈◊〉 come we now to enquire of the second AND HERE MAKE WE PRVIY SEARCH WHO THEY BE THAT SEE SIN CONVICTINGLY by the Evidence of the former Doctrine and that will be an Inditement against four sorts of Persons whose Practices give in undeniable proof that they fal short of this Dispensation of God aright they never found this Work upon their minds The first are such Who are unwilling to come within the Rule and discovery of the Truth that will lay open a mans loathsom corruptions which are yet beloved and lodg too neer the heart If he might have his wil he would not meet with that Truth that would meet with his Courses whereby he gives his sensual Spirit exceeding great content unwilling to hear that to be an evil which he is unwilling to reform loth that such and such either dispositions or carriages should be condemned as wicked which he is loth to part withal he loves not to have this or that to be a Rule or a Duty and yet he fears it wil prove so and therefore desires not to hear of it lest he should be forced to practice it and therefore he is most at case when he is least within the sight and cal and command of such Truths which he knows do so narrowly and deeply concern him and therefore he deals in this case with the Dispensations of the Word as men use to do that are in debt and danger of Law and Creditors they fly the Country when they know the under Sheriff hath any Writ out against them or else betake themselves to some Priviledg places where they may be freed from the Arrest of the Officer So these labor to be there where the Truth in reason is not likely to exercise any jurisdiction they willingly desire to be without the reach of it and therefore willing to live in such places under such Ministries where their Consciences may not be troubled their hearts and waies searched and they brought to yield subjection by an over powering hand And here somtimes it comes to this and that by the confession of their own mouths when God hath broke in upon their hearts that they have been afraid to be in the company of such men that they suspected would either convince and cal to such practices or yet to come to the Congregations while such Truths were in scanning and consideration Or as a Formal Knight once professed in the Country from whence we came he would not come to the Assembly until the Minister had made an end of such a Text. Thus 〈◊〉 Spirit was carried towards Micaiah when al his Trencher Chaplains the false Prophets had dressed a Dish on purpose to fit his tooth and turn had brought in a Verdict that they knew would please his humor and content his carnal desire Jehosaphat in simplicity of heart that he might indeed in sincerity seek after the mind and counsel of God enquires Is there here any Prophet of the Lord that we might enquire of him He answered There is none but one Micaiah and I hate him for he never prophesieth good but evil to me 1 Kings 22. 8. He did not suit his humor nor please his pallat therefore he was not willing to hear that from him that happily he should be unwilling to do So they in Isaiahs time they would give the Prophet his Text and tel him what Points he should handle also They said to the Seers see not and to the Prophets 〈◊〉 not right things prophesie smooth things Isai. 〈◊〉 10. And so dealt those 〈◊〉 hearted 〈◊〉 with our Savior when he pressed Spiritual and searching Truths upon them they were not able to digest them this is a hard saying who can hear it and from that time saies the Text many of his Visciples went back and walked no more with him John 6. 66. and hence it is persons of this temper are most pleased when their sins or duties are discovered in some general discourses because they then suppose they may creep away in the croud and their particular either conditions or corruptions will not be attached and they and them brought to the tryal but when it comes to meet with him in the narrow and touch him in his particular these persons begin to storm Acts 7. 51. 52. they heard Stephen quietly rip up the rebellious carriages os the Jews but when he came home to their doors and held the Candle to their Eyes and gave in special Evidence to convince them also they were not able to endure it Yestiff-necked and hard-hearted as your Fathers so do ye they were Slayers of the Prophets and you the betrayers and murderers of the just one when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and gnashed upon him with their Teeth c. If yet the Truth will come in upon them and the light wil shine in their saces that it cannot be avoided if they cannot prevent the seeing of it then they fall to gainsaying they strive mightily to stop the passage of the Truth and to darken the evidence of it to take off the edg and force of that which they conceive wil fal most heavily upon them and constrain them to alter their course and lay down those distempers they are very loth to leave Acts 18. 6. They opposed themselves They deal with the Truth as subtil Lawyers do with a good Cause when the strength of it is such that they are not able to withstand they labor to hide the Point of the Argument and to hide that wherein the stress of the Cause lies and fal hotly upon some bye business or else deal most in those things which are most probable but indeed do not touch the Point So a Spirit that is not willing to be convinced he wil endeavor to decline the strength of an Argument and look least to that where the stress and the weight of the Rule or Duty lies that most concerns him or his course when he sees the stream and force of Reason coming in upon him he wil hinder or interrupt the delivery of it and turn it another way or raise some blinds and cast in some cavils like the putting out of the light or if not hinder the observation yet take off the attendance and consideration of it he wil get off from that as soon as may be he will not stay there where the strength of the conviction lies but foist in many Objections start other Considerations that so he may lose the Argument and himself lose the power of the Truth that might prevail
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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 and that unto their ful view Paul a learned Pharisee he saw more of sin and more of himself by the Law than either 〈◊〉 conceived or suspected to 〈◊〉 to him Rom. 7. 7. 9. I had not known that lust had been sin but that the Law saith Thou shalt not 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 before they ever see his pardon of them or power against them if he never convinceth he never 〈◊〉 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
into his Fathers Concubines in the view of the people that he might settle the hearts of the people more sure to him in that there was no hope of reconciliation and agreement betwixt him and his Father and so establish his own safety Common Soldiers if their numbers encrease though they be but weak and unskilful yet give encouragement to the trayned band and the Commanders themselves yea their very appearance in the field though they strike not a stroke helps much in the Fight So the Prophet in the former place chargeth this evil upon 〈◊〉 in siding with Ahab in his design 2 Chron. 29. 2. Shouldest thou help the ungodly he that yields to the Counsel of the ungodly and joyns hands with them in their way and work he helps the ungodly and is guilty of their sin and blood Thou that art resolved to soldier with the Society of the ungodly and so suit them in their way to maintain what they say and do let them say and do what they wil thou helpest a false tongue to lye a malicious heart to reproach and 〈◊〉 an unjust hand to oppress for thou wilt defend what they do let them do what they wil that is naught Thou that art thus deluded and taken aside with the invegleings of others though the Lord looks at them as Leaders into evil and so will reward them Yet know thou must that thy condition is far worse in some 〈◊〉 more dangerous than theirs and thy plagues will prove more heavy so 〈◊〉 art thou from hoping for any 〈◊〉 or pity to thy self because thou art 〈◊〉 that thy sin and judgment wil hereby be encreased It 's the sad doom of our Savior and worthy of most serious consideration Matth. 23. 15. Wo be unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye compass Sea and Land to make a Proselite that is to make one of their Sect and humor one of their hang-by's that must be pinned to their sleeves melt into their Opinions and imbrace their practice when they have made him their own their sworn Vassal al of a string that they can stir him and turn him as they wil mark the issue They make him twice more the Child of the Devil than themselves That Perdition comes to be their Portion and Hell for their Inheritance they are the heirs of it and they have a double portion there their plagues twice more heavy and therfore their sins must carry the same proportion twice more vile than those that were their Leaders into that leudness Brethren what a dreadful thing is it for one to think of it The Scribes Pharisees who were cruel oppressors 〈◊〉 exactors who devoured widdows Houses false Hypocrites blind guides painted Tombs Serpents and a generation of Vipers who cannot escape the damnation of Hell and one would think Hell it self had scarce any worse Yet when they had miss-led some poor Sneaks and deluded some ignorant silly people by their importunities and painted appearances of Holiness brought them to the bent of their bow captivated them wholly to their Opinions and Practices what a dreadful thing is it to think that these poor 〈◊〉 Creatures should be twice more the Children of Hel than such who to common apprehensions might seem to be the scum of Hell Hear and fear and let your hearts sink and shake within you you poor 〈◊〉 Creatures take a scantling of your condition by the former example Imagine you saw a proud Pharisee a man of a 〈◊〉 tongue ful of turnings and windings he cannot live without lying he is froward in spirit and 〈◊〉 not to 〈◊〉 the straight wales of the Lord that he may please his own wil suit his own humor bend the Rule to his mind not his heart to the Rule one of an uncontroulable Spirit that wil contend with God and men if they 〈◊〉 him in a sinful course Suppose thou sawest this man receive his Sentence at the day of Judgment and sent down to the pit For without shall be lyars c. 〈◊〉 22. 15. They who pervert the straight 〈◊〉 of the Lord are the Children of the Devil Acts 13. 10. And such as sow contentions amongst brethren and are contentious and obey not the Truth tribulation and wrath and anguish shall be upon the soul of every one such Rom. 2. 8. He hath learned thee his Trade of Lying miss-led thee into the like perverse contentious courses How shalt thou escape the damnation of Hell Oh thou wilt reply Lord it was his counsel that cozened me his 〈◊〉 and insinuations that drew me to those evils I had never done them else I hope therefore I may be pitied though he be plagued I may be excused though the Curte fall upon him who was the cause and Author of all No no poor misguided creature thou art utterly mistaken He is the Child of the Devil and hath received now his 〈◊〉 thou hearest him yelling in the bottomless pit he hath his load more than he can bear but thou art twice more the child of Hell this is able to sink thy heart with the very thought of it Thy slavery is far greater thy obstinacy more and therefore thy recovery harder than his he is a slave to his sins thou art a slave to the man and sin and all he wil hear reason if it be propounded thou knowest nothing and therefore receivest nothing unless thou be allowed by thy Leader the less hope that ever thou shouldst be convinced or reformed The Lord is forced 〈◊〉 let in the flashes of the fiercest of his fury into the faces of such misguided creatures to bring them to the consideration of him and themselves and to deal punctually for their conviction Psal 50. 18. When thou sawest a Thief thou consentedst and thou wast partaker with Adulterers q. d. they perswaded 〈◊〉 and thou didst imbrace their perswasion Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother he points out the time the place the company the crew amongst whom they sate These things thou hast done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest that I was altogether like thee but I will reprove thee and set thy sins in order before thee Oh consider this ye that forget God You forget you misguided sinners that God was present and saw what you plotted that God is Omniscient and knows what you intended that he is the righteous Judg of all the World and will bring the secret things of darkness to light and make known the hid Counsels of the heart Therefore let me end with the Advice and Counsel of Moses do not think to excuse your selves because deluded by your company but leave counsel and company share not in their sins and Societies if you wil not share in their plagues Numb 14. 26. Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked men touch nothing of theirs their counsels and perswasions and they 〈◊〉 his Counsel good and 〈◊〉 own experience gave proof They fled and cried whenthe Earth opened lest the Earth
it was said to him in the story when the Prophet in his own person would discover the Kings carelesness to him he disguised himself as the King passed by and so passed by him and said 1 Kings 20. 39. Thy 〈◊〉 went out into the midst of the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 a man brought a man to me saying Keep this man if by any means he be missing then shal thy life be for his life and as thy servant was 〈◊〉 here and there he was gone and the 〈◊〉 of Israel said so shal thy judgment thy self hath decided it Let me speak to thee in a like manner The Lord hath given thee his holy commands in charge the Grace of God the Gospel of Grace which hath appeared and which bringeth Salvation teacheth men to deny ungodly unworldly lusts to live Godly soberly in this present evil world to be Zealous of good works 2 Titus 13. 14. that we 〈◊〉 mortisy the deeds of the flesh that we might live Rom. 8. 13. but if we walk after the flesh we shal dy these Evangelical commands thou art bound to observe if by any means they be awanting thou loosest thy lise if thou loosest them forget these and God wil forget thee Now thou returnest thy excuse that while thou wert busie here and there busie in planting and building busie in plotting and contriving thine own carnal contents thy heart busie and eager in the pursuit of earthly occasions and imployments thy thoughts busie in devising and acting meanes in observing and improving opportunities thy hand busie in endeavouring to the utmost of thy power and skil to accomplish these either sinful or at the best earthly conveniences thou mindest these so much the other was wholly out of thy mind out of thy own mouth shalt thou be condemned so shal thy judgment be thou heedless sinful creature thou hast decided the matter they that forget God shal be turned to Hell Psal. 9. 17 They who mind earthly things their end is damnation Phil. 3. 21. God in mercy wil not mind thee he wil not mind the prayers thou makest he wil not mind thy complaints thy necessities thou presentest before him Thus generally For a particular answer I shal do two things 1. Shew who those be that make this shift 2. How this aggravates their sin Who those be that make this excuse that each man may take his portion that those may not be burdened by mistakes who desire to burden themselves that we may not bruise the broken in spirit There be two sorts of forgetful persons First such who in the sence of their own feebleness and brickleness of memory are not able to keep the wholsom truths those heavenly treasures which many times are commended to their care observance but those precious promises precious comforts directions they slip away out of their weak memories like pure liquor out of a leaking vessel which makes them sit down in silence and their hearts sink in discouragement loaded with the loathsomness and greatness of the evil that they cannot tel how to bear it nor yet to bear up their hearts under the weight of it they conceive it so hainous so dangerous a sin that which we cannot retain say they how shal we have the use of it how shal we answer the loss of such glorious truths and the very weight of the evil shakes their very hopes many times And you shal ever observe the favour the Lord shews to such weak ones and the work of his grace in them that though through the scantness and narrowness of their memories they are not able to keep things in their order to make report of them yet so much as they have present use for they wil have that at hand and such truths which they shal have need of for after times they are never generally call'd to the practice of them but they are call'd to their minds Gods spirit brings them to remembrance their hearts by faith received them and hold them Mat. 13. 23. but the narrowness of their memory was like a house that had but scant roomes kept them in a lumber together but there they were and therefore the 〈◊〉 brings them forth John 14. 26. The comforter 〈◊〉 bring all things to your remembrance These are not the persons we now speak unto for they lighten a d lessen their evil by this means these find it heavie and load 〈◊〉 heurts with Godly sorrow for it 2. There is therefore another sort whose wound of 〈◊〉 lyes not in the weakness of their memories or scantness of 〈◊〉 that they cannot retain the truths commended to them and come within their charge but such who stuff their minds and memories so ful of earthly occasions or attendance to some distemper that either they keep out or croud out the rememberance of their duty and think because it was not in their minds therefore they have plea sufficient if it be not in their practice and thus their disposition and spirit is worse than their carriage and behavior and this their excuse it encreaseth their sin in three things or ads a three fold aggravation to it They give in undeniable evidence that they do not only neglect the service but that they have no love to it not only their endeavours are wanting but their hearts and faithfulness are wanting also to the Lord and his work love and faithfulness wil cause attendance and remembrance where ever it is The man whose heart is endeared to the woman he loves he dreams of her in the night hath her in his eye apprehension when he awakes museth on her as he sits at table walks with her when he travels and 〈◊〉 with her in each place where he comes So it would be with thee If thou 〈◊〉 little and makest that thy excuse its certain thou lovest little if thou mindest not thou 〈◊〉 not the Lord and his waies Psal. 119. 97. Oh 〈◊〉 I do love thy law it is my meditation day and night so the Saints Isa. 26. 8. The 〈◊〉 of our hearts are towards thee and the remembrance of thy name And therefore the Psalmist again 〈◊〉 thy Commandements are ever with me The heart of the lover keeps company with the thing beloved If thou mindest not to practice the duty its certain thou may est conclude thou 〈◊〉 yet hadst love to the Lord Jesus and his service This forgetfulness not minding that which is thy charge shewes thou never hadst a high esteem never yet sett'st a price upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the ways and wil of God thou undervaluest thy duties and lookest at them as things of little worth and therefore are out of sight and out of mind refuse things that are of mean account with us we lay them by cast them into any blind corner we judg them not worth the remembrance and therefore we bestow not our memories upon them but if there be a pearl of price some special and rare jewel each
sins It was the evidence of the leudness of Israels whoredom that did prostitute her self to al Lovers without gift Ezek. 16. 30. How weak is thine heart The strength of her sinful inclinations was such that she did not stay til temptation came and surprized her but she sought temptations before they came and did prostitute her self to every occasion with eagerness This also was the guise of them who transgressed for a morsel of bread As it is in the ballance when a dram or a grain wil fetch up the scales it 〈◊〉 it fully loaded with the weight that carries it strongly that way When thine own mouth confesseth the things are of no consequence nor worthy consideration no sweet of 〈◊〉 that might delight there is no price of any commodity that might carry any weight with thy wil and affections to cast them that way It 's an argument undeniable and beyond gainsaying thy heart is loaded with lufts and corruptions that so easily cast the ballance that way even the least dram the least inkling of any occasion that comes in that scale The less the occasion the more and stronger thy corruption and such as cannot be excused therfore it 's usually most severely plagued by the Lord because there is more sinfulness in an action where there is less provocation and more heart and affection to it As it was in the Offerings of those that cast into the Corban the Widdow that cast in two mites the Text saies by our Saviors Verdict she cast in more than they all Luk. 21. 3. because there was more heart there more unfained bounty and liberality though the money and gift was less So it is here There are most noysom corruptions in thy heart vented upon the least occasion the thing thou covetest it may be is but two mites a penny or twopence in the shilling more than is just when mens necessities force them to seek supply But there 's a sink of immoderate covetousness in thy heart that against command and conscience knowledg and comfort thou wilt transgress for a trifle The less the thing is the easier the command of a Governor the more hellish thy carelessness and perversness that wil not attend it when it is before thy face and may be performed without any trouble at all And this is the cause why the Lord most commonly doth most severely punish such a practice because there was more heart and so more poyson in the sin when there was less occasion to commit it So it was in Lots wise Gen. 19. 26. She looked back from behind him and she became a Pillar of Salt It was but a cast of her countenance a look of her eye one would have thought it had been but a little matter the thing was little and easie and therefore more easily it might have been discharged therefore the 〈◊〉 desire was exceeding strong and the provocation exceeding great and the 〈◊〉 sharp and remarkable when the Command is plain and express the Duty so open before us that it cannot but be discerned easie and familiar to be 〈◊〉 It 's a 〈◊〉 current of corruption and 〈◊〉 impudencie to sin in the face of a command and under the eye and check of Conscience therefore our saviour leaves a starre as it were a memorandum upon that part of the storie Remember Lotts Wife beware how you go against an express charge in services which may easily be accomplished Luke 7. 32. 〈◊〉 like you may see Numb 15. 31. 32. in the man that gathered sticks upon the Sabboth look we at the thing it self what can any man imagine of less moment and smaller consequence to gather a few sticks he was alone he entised no man to the like evil and it should seem not in so open a place for they found him but if you look into the foregoing verse its a special instance of one that should sin presumptuously there is most of the venom and poyson of a mans heart in such a practice Wee have now done with the first sort of those pretences wherby our carnal reason would beat back the evidence of the truth and cast in some foggs and mists some forged cavills which might cloud and eclipse the the ful discovery of the authority of the truth that so the filth of sin might never be discerned nor the heart consequently affected therewith as it should and here Satan useth al the subtilty and policy that lyes within the compass of his power For he knows ful wel if he dash the work of the truth in the very entrance and beginning of it he wil then keep it from ever coming to perfection If the strong man can keep his dore shut he must needs keep all his substance and his house safe also and herein answerable lyes the primitive and chief work of the Holy Ghost he is sent of purpose to convince the world of fin to silence al flesh and to captivate every thought and therefore we have labored to chase away those 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 those clouds and fogges which darkned the shining of the truth of the Gospel when the sinner cannot but see the evil and danger of sin which is now so evident it cannot be denied The second sort of cavils is here He cannot but confess the danger yet he vainly hopes he can prevent it and that further quiets him and encourageth him in his sinful course the hope of escape The 〈◊〉 of carnal reason in this kind are four Either God will not regard it or if he do 〈◊〉 he will not require it and call to an account or if that He can satisfy for it or if none of these The Lord wil not be rigorous but he wil abate it Al these pleas issue from the Atheism of the heart of the sons of men wherby they neither know God nor themselves we shal persue them in their places and order but briefly Such is the deluded folly of mens minds that they confine the Almighty to their compass and therefore Sottishly conceive that the Lord is so attent to the great affayres of heaven and the place of his holiness and the Glory of his own name that he looks not after the things here below nor regards the carriages of the sons of men that creep up and down like so many poor Ants upon the face of the Earth So that either the Lord hath covered himself in thick clouds and retired himself to the 〈◊〉 of his Glory that he cannot see or else he attends matters of greater moment and Consequence to order in his infinit wisdom and therefore layes these aside without any regard And if once this forgery finds entertainment it sets open a gap to any kind of prophaneness makes men careless and fearless what they do because God regards not what is don 2 Pet. 3. 1. 2. So those scorners which walk after their own lusts saying where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell a sleep all things continue as
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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 or yield So it is with the Truth down-right blows puts somtimes the most cunning Fencer past his Sence so 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 rebellion he had departed away from him So here all the while
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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 receive and yield 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 expressed in the Text. The word is read in the Participle and carries a kind of 〈◊〉 endeavor with it a 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 1. 8. thou shalt not suffer the word to depart out of thy mind but thou shalt meditate therein 〈◊〉 and night when either the word would depart away or our corruptions would drive it
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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 propounded that he may carry and conceive the frame and compass in his mind 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 in which he fits Look at this work as a branch of our Christian 〈◊〉 not that which is left to our liberty but which is of necessity to be attended and that in good earnest 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 of the truth in al the pass 〈◊〉 until we have viewed the whol progresse of it from truth to truth from point to point This it is to 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 times in such and such companies committed and multiplyed both more and worse than 〈◊〉 that now appear so 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 of any corruption or
condition that comes to be scanned Psal. 119. 59. I considered my waies and 〈◊〉 my feet unto thy testimonies 〈◊〉 turned them upside down looked through them as it were a present apprehension peeps in as it were through the crevis or key-hole looks in at the window as a man passeth by but Meditation lifts up the latch and goes into each room 〈◊〉 into every 〈◊〉 of the house and surveyes the composition and making of it with all the blemishes in it Look as the Searcher at the Sea-Port or Custom-house or Ships satisfies himself not to over-look carelesly in a 〈◊〉 view but unlocks every Chest romages every corner takes a light to discover the darkest passages So is it with Meditation it observes the woof and web of wickedness the ful frame of it the very utmost Selvage and out side of it takes into consideration all the secret conveyances cunning contrivements all bordering circumstances that attend the thing the consequences of it the nature of the causes that work it the 〈◊〉 occasions and provocations that lead to it together with the end and issue that in reason is like to come of it Dan. 12. 4. Many shall run to and fro and knowledg shall encrease Meditation goes upon discovery 〈◊〉 at every coast observes every creek maps out the dayly course of a mans conversation and disposition The second End of Meditation is It settles it effectually upon the heart It 's not the pashing of the water at a sudden push but the standing and soaking to the root that loosens the weeds and thorns that they may be plucked up easily 〈◊〉 not the laying of Oyl upon the benummed part but the chafing of it in that suppleth the Joynts and easeth the pain It is so in the 〈◊〉 Application laies the Oyl of the Word that is searching and savory Meditation chaseth it in that it may soften and humble the hard and 〈◊〉 heart Application is like the Conduit or Channel that brings the stream of the Truth upon the soul 〈◊〉 Meditation stops it as it were and makes it soak into the 〈◊〉 that so our corruptions may be plucked up kindly by the Roots This settling upon the heart appears in a three-fold work It affects the heart with the Truth attended and leaves an Impression upon the Spirit answerable to the Nature of the thing which is taken into Meditation 2 Pet. 2. 8. It 's said of Lot in seeing and hearing he vexed his righteous soul. Many saw and heard the hideous abominations and were not touched nor affected therewith No more had he been but that he vexed and troubled his own righteous soul because he was driven to a dayly consideration of them which cut him to the quick The word is observable it signifies to try by a touch-stone and to examine and then upon search to bring the soul upon the rack therefore the same word is used Matth. 14. 24. The Ship was tossed by the waves the consideration of the abominations of 〈◊〉 place raised a tempest of trouble in Lots righteous soul. This the wise man calls laying to the heart Eccles. 7. 1 2. It 's better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of laughter for this is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart When the Spectacle of Misery and Mortality is laid in the grave yet savory Meditation laies it to a mans heart and makes it real there in the work of it The Goldsmith observes that it is not the laying of the fire but the blowing of it that melts the Mettal So with Meditation it breaths upon any Truth that is applied and that makes it really sink and soak into the soul and this is the reason why in an ordinary and common course of Providence and Gods dealing with sinners leaving his own exceptions to his own good pleasure that the most men in the time and work of Conversion have that scorn cast upon them that they grow melancholly And it 's 〈◊〉 thus far in the course of ordinary appearance The Lord usually never works upon the soul by the Ministry of the Word to make it effectual but he drives the sinner to sad thoughts of heart and makes him keep an audit in his own soul by serious meditation and pondering of 〈◊〉 waies otherwise the Word neither affects throughly nor works kindly upon him It keeps the heart under the heat and authority of the Truth that it 's taken up withal by constant attendance of his thoughts Meditation keeps the 〈◊〉 under an arrest so that it cannot make an escape from the Evidence and Authority of the Truth so that there is no way but either to obey the Rule of it or else be condemned by it But escape it cannot Meditation meets 〈◊〉 stops al the evasions and sly pretences the fals-hearted person 〈◊〉 counterfeit If a man should deny his fault and himself guilty Meditation will evidence it beyond all gainsaying by many testimonies which Meditation wil easily cal to mind remember ye not in such and such a place upon such an occasion you gave way to your wicked heart to do thus and thus you know it and God knows it and I have recorded it If the 〈◊〉 would lessen his fault Meditation aggravates it or if he seem to slight it and look at it as a matter of no moment yet Meditation will make it appear there is greater evil in it and greater necessity to bestow his thoughts upon it than he is aware of Hence it is Meditation laies 〈◊〉 unto the soul and cuts off al carnal pretences that a wretched self-deceiving hypocrite would relieve himself by and stil lies at the soul this you did at that time in that place after that manner so that the soul is held fast prisoner and cannot make an escape but as David said Psal. 51. 3. My sins are ever before me Consideration keeps them within view and will not suffer them to go out of sight and thoughts and therefore it is Paul ioyns those two together 1 Tim. 3. 15. Meditate in these things and be in them It provokes a man by a kind of over-bearing power to the practice of that with which he is so affected A settled and serious Meditation of any thing is as the setting open of the Flood-gates which carries 〈◊〉 soul with a kind of force and violence to the performance of what he so bestows his mind upon as a mighty stream let out turns the mill Phil. 4. 9. Think of these things and do them thinking men are doing men Psal. 39. 3. While I was thus musing the fire brake out and I spake the busie stirring of Meditation is like the raising of a tempest in the heart that carries out all the actions of the man by an uncontroulable command I considered my waies and turned my feet unto thy Statutes right Consideration brings in a right Reformation with it The Nature of the Duty is thus opened let us apply it
Authority of it we know our compass but once go off and we know not whither we shal go or where we shal stay Be watchfully careful to observe the first wandrings and out-strayings of thy thoughts how they first go off from the attendance to the work in hand and look off from the matter thou settest thy self to meditate in 〈◊〉 immediately recal them back bring them to their task again and set them about their intended 〈◊〉 If 〈◊〉 they fly out and follow fresh occasions that 〈◊〉 or a mans corruptions shal suggest take them at the first turn and often again settle them upon the service until at last by constant custom our mind and thoughts wil buckle handsomly to their business after they be kept in by a daily care I have heard Hunts-men say when they have young dogs raw and that hath not been entred nor accquainted with their sport if a fresh 〈◊〉 come in view or some other unexpected prey cross them in their way they forsake the old sent and follow that which is in their eye but their manner is to 〈◊〉 at them off and cal them away from that and then to bring them to the place where they left their former pursuit and there set them to find the sent afresh until at last being often checked and constantly trayned up they wil take and attend the first game so here with our wandring minds which are not trayned up to this work of meditation if they begin to fly off and follow a new occasion suffer not thy thoughts to range but bring your mind back again and set it upon the former service and then by thy constant care and Gods blessing thy mind wil fal in sweetly and go away with the work or as men use to do with some kind of wand that is warped bent somwhat much one way they bend it a little at the first there hold it Bend it hold it at last it comes fully to the fashion they desire it So here often bend and hold thy mind bent to the work in hand Heb. 2. 1. let us give earnest heed to the things wee have heard our roving thoughts are like riven vessels if the parts be not glewed and the breaches brought together again by strong hand they wil leak out so here c. The fourth Hindrance which is here pretended is their unskilfulness and unhandiness to this service which many even Consciencious Christians in the bitterness of their souls complain off as that which wholy 〈◊〉 and discourageth them to the work They say that 〈◊〉 of the truth and the dictates of their own Conscience doth give in ful evidence and undeniable that they should attend the duty in obedience to Gods Command they set about the work but at the very entrance they are at an utter loss at a period in their own thoughts at a stand within themselves and cannot stir a 〈◊〉 forward They want materials one while upon which they should spend their thoughts another while they want skil after what manner to exercise their apprehensions about it that they might do good on it In a word their weakness they find to be so great and the service to be so strange and hard to them that they cannot but conceive it to be impossible to them ever to attain the skil and to what purpose is it to endeavour it if they cannot attain it I answer what need any further argument than thine own words to constrain thee to the duty now discovered the more unskilful thou art the more need thou hast to learn the greater the weight and worth of the duty the greater diligence in reason thou shouldest use in 〈◊〉 attendance thereunto There is neither weaknes nor want of power nor skil in God to do thee good what ever weaknes or want thou findest in thy self and if thou need much as he hath much in his hand so he wil give abundantly to satisfy thy desire and to fit thee for the perfourmance others have attained it why mayest not thou receive it he hath bestowed it upon others why mayest not thou expect it Wisdom gives subtilty to the simple and sharpnes to the Ideot Prov. 1. 4. thy dullness and heaviness should encrease thy diligence and and endeavor and not discourage thee when the tool is dull men 〈◊〉 to more strength Eccles. 10. 10. every thing must have a beginning while wee are endeavoring God is blessing if we never set about a work we shal never compass it thou wilt not expect the child should know a trade before he learn it and art wel content the child see seaven years over his head before thou lookest to see him attain any perfection And in the greatest works and where we have leaft ability why should we think to attayn any dexterity without long endeavor and this adds to our encouragement it s the season and time wherein the Lord hath promised much of his spirit and presence and therefore we may look for it The weak shal be as David Zach. 12. 8. David we know was eminent and marvailous 〈◊〉 in this service thou 〈◊〉 weak and foolish and feeble be it so yet thou hast a promise thou mayest be as David who made David so skilful why the same God lives stil who is alsufficient and therefore can who hath promised and therefore wil help thee also A word of caution Hence loose company is a deadly enemy and hindrance to the conversion of a sinner that which doth exceedingly prejudice the work of Meditation and so of brokenness of heart that hinders the work of Conversion for that is the way thereunto But there is no greater hindrance to be found on Earth to holy Meditation than froathy Company and Companions while a man is in the croud amongst such wretches there is no possibility in reason that one should search his own heart and examine his own way take any account by serious consideration what his course hath been or what his condition is there is little hope of any possibility that ever the word should settle upon the soul or stay with the sinner in the evidence or prevailing power of it or that the mind or heart of a poor creature should settle upon that suck out the sap and virtue of it and continu under the stroke and authority of it while he continues with such varlets which like the greedy fowl of the ayr pick out the seed of the word out of the minds of such with whom they do converse and stop the passage as it were with their prejudices they cast against man and message that they may never attend it or if yet they talk with it as a passenger yet never entertain it as an in-dweller to continue with them And therfore they act the part not of Gods Ministers or such as would be helpers to the spiritual good of others but the part of Satans factors when God is pleased to parly with a
his sight and that he that glories might glory in the Lord. By what Law is boasting excluded by the Law of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith Rom. 3. 27. For if Abraham had been justified by Works he had whereof to glory Rom. 4. 2. And therefore as in the Material it 's so in the Spiritual Temple the laying of the first and lowest stone and adding of the last all the people cried Grace Grace and hence the whol chain is as it were of Gods own making and tying Whom he predestinated them he called and whom he called them he justified and whom he justified them he glorified Rom. 8. 30. and the end and issue of all is set down by the holy Apostle Eph. 4. 15. when all the Churches shall meet at the great day of Appearance in the unity of the Faith it is to the acknowledgment of the Son of God By whom were you called humbled justified adopted sanctified By the Son of God receive all from him return all to him But this Opinion plucks the Crown from Christs Head the Glory from his Work the Praise from his Grace and gives it to the will of man and the improvement of those abilities and opportunities the Lord hath put into his hand because by this means he makes himself to differ For set Paul and Judas in the same rank let them enjoy the same means share in the same liberties advantages opportunities one as the other Paul by the good use of his free will he plaies the good Husband he doth what he can and he obtains what he wants and receives Grace Judas plaies the Prodigal and Unthrift doth not what he should and might and therefore he wants Grace so that they were both equal in the priviledges and opportunities they received from God they differ not there that Paul hath that Grace which Judas wants he may thank his own pains and improvement and glory in himself and them Nay Paul is not bound to be thankful to God for any thing more than Judas for he had no more from God by this Opinion than Judas what he had and received more it was by his own improvements which to conceit is a most hellish delusion Lastly If by the improvements of Abilities and Advantages we certainly receive Spiritual Grace then this must follow Either because such improvement deserves Grace or do immediately and nextly dispose the soul to receive Grace or that such improvements have a promise made to them from God But none of al these can be granted They cannot deserve Grace because when we have done what we can we must conclude as we shal have cause to confess we are unprofitable Luke 17. 10. The plowing and so the praying of the wicked is sin his most beautiful performances are from the flesh and so sinful and deserve the just wrath of God and therefore no Grace nor Glory John 3. 8. They do not nor can dispose the soul as that it may be thereby a fit subject to receive Grace Those actions which leave the soul under the power of sin and acted by sin and a man in a Natural condition those stil leave the soul indisposed to Grace for the Natural man perceives not the things of Grace nor can he receive them 1 Cor. 2. 14. they found him in the world and they leave him in the world and the world cannot receive the holy Ghost John 14. 17. Natural and corrupt actions cannot prepare immediately for Supernatural Grace There is no promise of giving saving Grace to such and none could ever be shewed That which somtimes the Arminians pretend but press it with no great confidence is in Matth. 25. 29. in the Parable of the Talents To every man that hath shall be given and to him that hath not shall be taken away even that he hath Hence He that hath and useth his Natural abilities wel shal be given Supernatural Answ. That gloss corrupts 〈◊〉 Text and doth not suit with the Scope and Circumstances of the Parable as hath been made good by many Arguments by such as have diligently searched into the sence of the place The unprofitable Servant that used not his Talents wel he is to receive that Sentence 〈◊〉 must be cast into utter darkness which were it understood according to the former Opinion it would infer an apparent falshood He that did not improve his Talent was forth with to be cast into utter darkness but many that do not use their natural abilities and the special advantages wel have been formerly and wil without question be brought home to Christ and happiness 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Know ye not that no Adulterer Covetous Reviler Extortioner shal inherit the Kingdom of Heaven but such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are clensed 1 Pet. 4. 2. It is sufficient that in time past we have had our Conversation among the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness 〈◊〉 excess of Riot Revellings and abominable 〈◊〉 These did not use their Natural abilities wel and yet were not cast out into utter darkness therefore the using of the Natural abilities is not the having or the using of the Talent there meant 〈◊〉 I suppose the meaning of the Phrase is by him that hath is meant the man that is truly gracious the Talent is the Gospel by having is the receiving and 〈◊〉 of it in a good and honest heart and the sanctified use of it in a saving manner For the Evangelists Expressions seem undeniable to evidence this meaning Matth. 13. 11 12. When our Savior Christ had told his Disciples it was given to them q. d. it 's the peculiar special work of the Spirit of Grace in your hearts to know the mysteries of the Kingdom but to them it is not given he ads the reason and proof in the next verse for to him that hath he that in sincerity entertains the Gospel shal have a further communication of the Truth and sweetness of the Gospel to his soul but whosoever hath not whosoever entertains not the Gospel in truth and uprightness from him shall be taken away the Gospel which by a seeming profession of fals-hearted lazy entertainment he would seem to have but never had in sincerity the like connexion is found Mark 4. 24 25. Take heed what you hear and unto you that hear i. e. that do take heed what you hear more shal be given for to him that hath shall be given but 〈◊〉 that hath not i. e. that doth not take heed what he hears and so receives not the Word in sincerity from him shall be taken even that he hath But if the saving work of the Word doth not depend upon my endeavor why should I endeavor any further any longer or attend the use of the means or practice answerable thereunto Thou thy self and al thy services being in a natural estate are as a menstruous cloth both in themselves and in the sight of Gods pure eyes unanswerable to Gods
procure it The Lord in the Work of Conversion doth not only by moral perswasion propound the Truths of the Gospel and enlighten the mind but puts a principle into the heart of such as he brings effectually and savingly home to himself In this work of God the Sinner at first is meerly patient That men may 〈◊〉 this from God every man is bound to wait upon him in the means he hath appointed and according to the utmost of his power improve al abilities and advantages he hath When any man hath improved his abilities to attend the means of Grace neither hath used his ability to oppose and cavil at the means it 's in Gods freedom to take either or refuse both for it is not in him that 〈◊〉 andruns but in God that shews mercy Rom. 9. 16. COMFORT Here is ground of incomparable Encouragement and in truth of inconceivable Refreshing to hold up the heads and hearts of the most wretched sinners in the most forlorn condition able to shore and prop up the soul with some possibility of good that it sink not down and be swallowed up with desperate discouragement I am almost afraid to cast such Pearls before Swine And when I do but think or suspect that any carnal wretch should abuse this kindness and turn this Grace of God into wantonness if it do not depend upon my doing I wil do nothing let God do al. I am forced almost to bite in my words and my heart almost misgives me as loth to cast away such compassions of the Lord upon such hellish Varlets who out of the venom of their Spirits would turn these choyce Preservatives into Poyson Yet because it is like a piece of board left after the wrack when the Ship is broken as the last means of relief as a cord of compassion let fall amongst a company of poor perishing Creatures ready to be over-whelmed with the floods of iniquity and who knows but some may catch it at the last cast before they go hence and be seen no more Let me therefore bequeath this Encouragement to you as my last Will even the words of a dying man before you and I appear before the dreadful presence of the Lord. Know then you are yet in the Land of the Living and bless God you are so and know because it 's the will and pleasure of God to do good to some of the worst of men as he sees 〈◊〉 therefore there is yet hope while there is life some little peep-hole of hope like a pins head a possibility there is you may receive good You see here how he prevails with the spirits of 〈◊〉 most perverse they have their hearts 〈◊〉 though it be 〈◊〉 the hair 〈◊〉 heart and all 〈◊〉 when they 〈◊〉 and wounded the godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 poor Disciples 〈◊〉 your hearts eccho then from every corner of the Assembly Pierce me me 〈◊〉 Pardon me me also Humble me me also 〈◊〉 thy abundant goodness and good pleasure If the 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 so dangerous and in appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the disease be 〈◊〉 so deadly and in the apprehensions of al past help If the Physitian and 〈◊〉 be known to have cured and helped in such cases and that he yet lives the patient wil yet support himself with such inferences why may not my sore be cured my disease healed so the Lord lives who hath done as much for forlorn sinners and why not for me poor wretched creature say so thou saiest 〈◊〉 This is the scope of Gods counsel and his very purpose why he leaves such patterns of the freeness of his compassions that yet forlorn creatures might look to him from the depth of their most desperate misery Let not the Lord fayl of his intendment nor you of your comfort 1 Tim 1. 16. I was a Blasphemer a Persecuter and injurious howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me 〈◊〉 Christ Jesus might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting That they might hope stil for Good as he received it and know they may be made partakers of it upon the same terms that he was set the pattern of this compassion 〈◊〉 your eyes and see yet a possibility of relief We shal sever a little the particulars that each man may suit his own condition with that most 〈◊〉 him here is that which answers to every necessity and complaint One complaines his wants are so many he cannot 〈◊〉 how ever they should be supplyed another complains his spirit so perverse he knows not how it can be subdued a third his rebellions so open so grosse against the Almighty al the means of life its 〈◊〉 that ever the Lord should pass by such hellish provocations I 〈◊〉 al your complaints are just and weighty your condition very dangerous And let me tel you did your relief and help depend upon your preparations and 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 its certain your hearts and 〈◊〉 and hopes would utterly fail and give up the Ghost Here is the anchor of your hopes that where in your help lyes is here and leave not this anchor-hold the Lord can do good and wil against al indispositions and oppositions of spirit carriages to the contrary as he sees fit And therefore thou mayest lift up thy head and say then it may be to me yea to thee never so weak to the perverse and rebellious Attend what the Lord sayes take his word and take it with thee Thou seest and confessest thy person baser than the earth that bears thee thy mind ful of blindness stupidity sottish and unteachable in the things of God thou hast heard so many able men enjoyed so many means of conviction and information and al hath slipt away like water spilt upon a rock and why should I think that ever I should be convinced or instructed or any light ever set up in this sottish mind of mine True thou hast been taught by men and man and means have happily done their best and truly they are nothing and thou art nothing and all that they and thou canst do is nothing yea but they shal all be taught of God saies the text Christ now in heaven did more by the Ministry of Peter than in his bodily presence he did nay go further than that then his bodily presence could do though he spake as never man spak No matter how dul thou art if God wil teach thee how weak if God wil strengthen thee Be thy wants what they wil be or can be the al-sufficient God wants neither wisdom nor power nor mercy to do what thou canst need and he wil for thy good And his power pitcheth his tent and taketh pleasure to shew it self in weakness Thou art foolish God chooseth the foolish things of the world to confound the wise 1. Cor. 1. 26. 27. Thou art not any thing thou shouldst be God delights to cal things that are not as though
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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 sentence on their 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Micah 7 Are not my words good to them that walk uprightly Isai. 3. 10. Say to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shal go wel with them The Lord and his word sayes no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them The Saints of God
delivers touching Gods Dispensation and I know not but it may hold here Psal. 18. 27. With the froward thou wilt deal frowardly the place is hard for the apprehension of it in the fair and full sence of it The words that go before will give in some light With the bountiful thou wilt shew thy self bountiful with the perfect thou wilt be perfect with the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure and with 〈◊〉 perverse or froward thou 〈◊〉 shew thy self froward thou wilt make thy self deal frowardly To speak to the pinch of the Point but in two words I conceive 〈◊〉 to be the meaning 〈◊〉 the place and the mind of God in it He that walks with God in the exercise of the Rule in a 〈◊〉 manner God 〈◊〉 meet with him in it and give him the 〈◊〉 and comfort that follows and flows from it he that conscienciously keeps the Rule shal be more fitted for to keep it and to share in the blessing and 〈◊〉 of it he that deals bountifully in vertue of the Rule he shal be more apt to that Duty and shal find bountiful dealings from the hands of others God and men he that is upright thorough and simple in Spirit and practice he shal be more exact every way and find peace and praise as the fruit of that he that is pure that is not only contents himself to be simple and sincere hearted in his whol course but is dayly purging himself and clensing his own heart 〈◊〉 severing himself from such taints and remainders of distempers that appear and 〈◊〉 to cleer up the Rule in the beauty and excellency thereof to himself that he may see more of it submit more freely and fully to it the Lord will make himself pure to him So the word God wil let in pure instructions that no darkness or dimness may stumble him or cause him to mistake pure evidence of pardon and acceptance no guilt may unsettle him pure comforts and peace that no doubts or fears may discourage him pure holiness and power of 〈◊〉 that no strength of corruption may blur the Image of God in him or darken the Evidence of the Work of Grace received But 〈◊〉 a man will be froward crook the Rule go cross to the Command and wil walk in the vanity of his own 〈◊〉 and stubbornness of his own Spirit oppose the power of the Truth not willing to look upon or abide to hear of the purity of it God will shew himself froward towards such a one he wil 〈◊〉 you and cross you in your whol course and in al your comforts you crook and wind away from the Rule to content your sins God by his Righteous Law by vertue of the provoking power therof wil deliver you up to the power of your sins and to al the terros and plagues and expressions of his 〈◊〉 that attend thereupon and in the daies of thy distress when nothing wil help thee but the holy Word of God God wil then deal with you and follow you with the 〈◊〉 of your own 〈◊〉 thou would'st not see the holiness and purity of Gods Precepts thou 〈◊〉 have a mind not able to attend or receive or remember any thing that may be for thy direction support or comfort but only live upon thine own guilt and the terrors that attend thereupon and the perversness of thine own heart wil be thine own plague In your froward pangs you flinch and fling care not what you say or do God can be as 〈◊〉 as you nor hear prayers nor regard your complaints nor pity your necessities but pursue you with his plagues let fly on every hand the fierceness of his displeasure God can and wil hamper thee if thou had'st a heart as sierce as a 〈◊〉 of Hell make thee weary of thy part be as perverse as thou wilt or canst be And therefore the word in the place is marvelous pregnant it signifies to contend with another as one that wrastles wil do wreath and 〈◊〉 and turn his body every way that he may meet with his adversary with whom he is to grapple So the Lord will meet with thee at every turn the greater thy opposition hath been against him the greater expression of his displeasure shalt thou be sure to 〈◊〉 and that in the most dreadful manner The sins of Manasseh were high handed and hellish abominations mighty provocations out of measure sinful 2 Chron. 33. 11. Therefore God abased him mightily fettered and 〈◊〉 and humbled him mightily and made him cry mightily before he could 〈◊〉 audience and acceptance with him the cruel and harsh carriage of the Jaylor Acts 16. exceeded his Commission and so the bounds of common Humanity to deal worse with the distressed than either their Fact deserved or the Law permitted or Authority allowed him in that behalf a 〈◊〉 transported with deadly indignation against the waies of God and his People and as it appears by the circumstances of the story a man that pleased 〈◊〉 in such unreasonable practices the Lord therefore handles him answerably to the harshness of his spirit makes the Earth quake and the Prison totter the bolts break and the door fly open and at last his heart begins to shake and die within him notwithstanding the fierceness of his Spirit So Paul Acts 9. he comes trembling to crave the Counsel of those whose presence formerly he loathed There is a Three-fold Ground from whence the Reasons of this Point may be fetched which will Evidence That this manner of proceeding best suits with the insinite Wisdom of God look we at God at others at the sinner himself with whom the Lord is now trading The Holiness of Gods Nature and exactness of his Truth not only commends but even seems with some kind of comely necessity to call for such a manner of Dispensation The Lord stiles himself the holy One of Israel a God of purer eyes than can endure to behold iniquity not able to pass by sin in the least appearance of it and therefore leaves so strict a charge beware lest there be an evil thought in thy heart and abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thes. 5. When the Lord is to convince the sinner of sin to express his mind and displeasure against him because of those his evils so scandalous and detestable to al that have but the least spark of saving knowledg and Grace yea loathsom to the very light of Conscience in corrupt Nature Should the Lord casily and overly 〈◊〉 them by with some smal 〈◊〉 of some little dislike it could not but impeach his Purity and make himself accessary to the dishonor of his own Holiness When Eli proceeded not with that zeal against 〈◊〉 evil of his Sons as the 〈◊〉 thereof might justly have provoke 〈◊〉 him unto but after a slight manner manifested a heart-less dislike of it the Lord 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 2. 39. That he honored his sons before him rather respected their carnal content that they might not be
so 〈◊〉 ashamed and justly 〈◊〉 as they did deserve than the honor of his name and the excellency of his ordinances and worship that they might be preserved in that purity and attended with that awfulness and holiness of heart as was meet Now that which God abhors and punisheth so severely in another it s not possible that the least appearance of any so great an evil should be justly charged upon the holy one of Israel for he should deny himself to be God if he should deny the exactness of his own infinite holiness and he should not be just should he not manifest the glory of his holiness according to the excellency and 〈◊〉 thereof True it is that out 〈◊〉 meer grace and mercy the Lord Christ brings the soul of a sinner from his sin but the same mercy that would save the sinner cannot but destroy the sin and express its detestation 〈◊〉 it otherwise may 〈◊〉 say and the rebellious sinner think that either the word requires more than it needs and the Saints do more than they ought or else the Lord is not holy as men imagin when the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so great detestation against so gross and scandalous evil which the Lord looks at with so little dislike In regard of others the sharpness of this dispensation of the Lord against such scandalous and notorious offenders seems to be very necessarie Least the hearts of the wicked should be encouraged and their hands strengthened to adventure to commit and careless 〈◊〉 reforme the greatest evils when they shal observe some of their crew and company who were as bad or worle than themselves yet 〈◊〉 acceptance and forgiveness at the hands 〈◊〉 the Lord upon such easy terms and with so little trouble It 's that of 〈◊〉 wise man Eccles. 8. 11. When 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Malefactor is but delayed it 's in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sons of men to take encouragement to 〈◊〉 evil If the delay of the punishment which is not long do so encourage them when that is but little and slight how wil that imbolden in a fearless kind of impudency to proceed to any out-rage when they can promise themselves pardon upon the same terms which others have found before them in the like case and condition with themselves Therefore the Lord in his infinite wisdom doth so temper the sweetness of his mercy and the severity of his wrath in the recovery of a lost and forlorn wretch riches of mercy to the soul to save that rigor of severity against the loathsomness of sin to destroy that so that none should be discouraged to seek for pardon of the greatest wickedness and yet none encouraged to continue the shortest time in the least sin since Gods displeasure is so dreadful against al. It was the course that the Lord prescribes to his Vice-gerents here on Earth in their proceedings against sin that it should be such that all Israel may hear and fear and do no more so Deut. 17. 13. he wil not be wanting to do that against sin which he would have to be done by others he wil hamper al such Rebels that the rest of the company shal have little cause to bless themselves in any of their sinful waies In regard of the sinner himself it 's safest for him that he may be throughly recovered from his corruption for the present and preserved against it for the time to come Recovered for the present he needs heavy blows or else he is like never to have any good by them As with Trees that are rooted deep and of long time continuance ordinary winds have setled them it must be a Herricano that must pluck tear them up from their roots So when the sinner is rooted in 〈◊〉 wretched distempers the wood that is knotty there must be sharper wedges the heaviest beetle and the hardest blows to break it So it is with the hard and stupid and knotty heart of a scandalous sinner As with the stomach filled with stiff and noysom humors easie Physick and gentle Receipts may happily stir the humors but it must be strong Ingredients and a great quantity that must remove it So with a corrupt heart This is a means also to preserve him from it afterward if once he have throughly smarted for his sin he will fear to meddle with it 〈◊〉 he have felt the danger of the Surfet he wil tast the Sweet-meat no 〈◊〉 TRYAL We have here Ground of Discovery how to pass a safe Sentence touching the Spiritual Estate of some persons namely The easie and sudden conversion of such who have been grosly wicked or scandalously vile By grossly wicked I mean such who have been taken aside with some loathsom abominations though they carry it never so covertly as your clofe 〈◊〉 fornications thefts murders continued forgeries of fals-hood and injustice By scandalously vile I mean such who have continued in an open tract of profossed opposition against the power of Godliness I say the easie and sudden conversion of such gives just ground of suspicion why they may question the truth of the Work and others justly suspect it 〈◊〉 their judgments be setled by sad proof long experience and that upon serious observation It 's not Gods ordinary way and therefore men should take more than ordinary tryal before they trust or in truth thou trust 〈◊〉 self The proceeding of God in his Word and Providence are according to the Rules of Wisdom and the right order of causes and means by which he hath appointed to bring about his own will and the Work of his Grace in the hearts of his To save men per saltum is not Gods usual way that works of greatest weight and difficulty should be done in so little time and with so little labor and trouble in other cases thou would'st think it 〈◊〉 why should'st thou judg the contrary reasonable in this which is hardest and the weightiest work of all other unless thou hast more than ordinary warrant for it When men grow rich of a sudden and to a great Estate and those who observe their course see neither waies nor means in reason how to raise it each man concludes it 's not his own Estate but other mens Stock that he braves it withal for he is worse than nothing or else he never truly came by it so that a State somtime questions such So here when a man grows up to a great Estate of Grace and no man can tel how 〈◊〉 so many quarters or yeers he was as base a wretch as the Earth bore not fit to sit with the Dogs of a mans flock his carriage so reffuse and vile as that he was not fit for the Society of moral men that no man could tel how to beleeve his words or to trust his dealing and is he now of a sudden come to the top of Religion a sweet godly gracious man fit to be made a Member of a Congregation how came he to such a large
thee as with these as he dealt with the Jaylour as he dealt with Paul whom he made a choyce vessel for himself art thou not highly honored why should God knock at thy dore and cal in upon thy Conscience c. ADVISE unto Ministers whose place and calling it is under the Lord to deal with such persons undersuch diseases Hence we may see a right way in holy prudence how to proceed with them in the times of temptations and their saddest distresses of spirit See what God doth and that we may do As Gods deals so we may deal as the safest way and most likely to find 〈◊〉 When therefore we have fortifyed the heart with hope in regard of the sufficiency of God free grace and possibility of relief from him As that he is able to do excessive exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think As in desperate cures men use cordials to fortify against faintings of heart that they may better bear the hardness of the cure this being supposed then the rule is The sharpest receits are most seasonable in a right manner of proceeding and that in three things 1 Be not slight in the searching 2 Be not too hasty to heal 3 Be not too suddeenly confident of the cure Not slight in the search for that is most dangerous and an error here can hardly ever be recovered go therefore to the quick see the bottome if ever you hope to make work of it or to lend help indeed He that cleaves knotty logs must have the sharpest wedges and hardest blowes Here pity is unseasonable and greatest cruelty When out of 〈◊〉 we are afraid to put men to pain we encrease their pains and hasten their destruction Jer. 6. 14. they have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly The Apostle teacheth another way Titus 1. 13. reprove them sharply that they may be sound in the faith Sharp reproofes make sound Christians He shewes greatest love and mercy which followes the Lord in love and mercy Yea it is a course that procures most ease to the party the corrosive that eats away the proud flesh brings soonest ease because that proud flesh and humors bring al the pain So these dreadful overbearing threatnings abate the pride of the heart and a mans perversness and so brings ease for the waywardness of our own wils work our own woe and here not to trouble mens sins and Consciences is indeed to trouble their peace and comfort in issue Thus Samuel 1 Sam. 12. 20. He lesseneth nothing of their sin onely sendeth them forth to mercy for relief Ye have indeed done al this wickedness yet do not forsake the Lord. Be not too hasty to heal the wound More hast than good speed draws here desperate in conveniences with it and may be hazards their comforts while they live Old and deep sores as they have been long in gathering corrupt humors so they must have a time to wast and wear them away which wil not be done in a moment old stayns must lye long in soak and have many fresh lavers before in reason they can be clensed So old distempers which have taken strong possession and are of long continuance happily if the cure be too hasty it wil hazard our comforts The Israelites left War too suddenly with the Canaanites they tribured them and not destroyed them and they proved goads in their sides which they could not get rid of all their daies Be not suddenly confident of the Cure Let men be Probationers in our apprehensions let them proceed in a fearful and painful way to make proof of the inward disposition of their hearts by their outward practices in a constancy of an holy conversation As Solomon said of Adonijah 1 King 1. 52. Let him shew himself a worthy man This creating of Professors making men Christians by our applause and approbation because they have attained the under strokes of horror skil ability to holy Services proves the bane of their souls the blemish of their Profession and a breach of their Peace either they have turned wretches again or else have been overtaken with their carelessness so that they have been foyled by gross falls and hardly ever recovered their peace and comfort though they have taken off the scandal Therefore as John Baptist told them if indeed you purpose to 〈◊〉 from the wrath to come bring forth fruits worthy of amendment Matth. 3. 8. such as wil carry weight and fetch up the scales as it were and undoubtedly evidence the work of Grace Matter of Caution and Direction unto such whom God hath exercised with such heavy breakings of heart for their scandalous courses beware ye be not weary and labor to make an escape from under the Dispensation of the Lord but give welcom thereunto help forward the work do not resist it make way for the Dispensation of the Lord do not oppose it and therefore possess thy heart with a necessity of subjection thereunto Why should'st thou think to have an exception be rather fearful thou shouldst not find the Truth of the work of these terrors than that thou should'st be fearful to endure these if he wil land thee in Christ he wil toss thee in this manner As a Patient having a 〈◊〉 wound he enquires what the 〈◊〉 did to others and how the Salve did work upon others in his case and if he find the Salve and working be the same he hopes that he also shal be cured So here EXHORTATION Improve the utmost of our endeavor to keep our selves and all ours from scandalous sins Restraining Grace is but common Grace yet is it a great favor of the Lord that he wil curb and restrain a man by this means the work of Conversion is more easie and such persons freed from dreadful terrors that seize upon others Mark 12. 34. Thou ant not far from the Kingdom of God 〈◊〉 's bring our Children as neer to Heaven as we can it is in our power to restrain them and reform them and that we ought to do As it was the speech of a godly woman she 〈◊〉 that al means might be used to restrain her Children that if it were possible their reckoning might not be so heavy as mine 〈◊〉 A Prophane course cannot hinder the unresistible work of Gods Grace It 's true But though God may save thy soul yet he may scorch thy soul in the flames of Hell fire and make thee weary of thy part and of thy lusts and all Are there no terrors dreadful but those of the torments of the damned in Hell Yes you wil find it you may pay deer for al your pleasures in sin for al your fleshly lusts before your hearts be brought off from them therefore you that are Parents joyn your helping hands to this great and good Work beat down the stubbornness do what you can to restrain the loosness and prophaneness of the spirits of your children though it 's
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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 is sweet and secret and works insensibly 〈◊〉 spirits of such who do receive it when and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 infinite Wisdom whose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 11. 33. He can and doth somtimes 〈◊〉 the soul in the 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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
Gods spirit and grace and al the saveing operations of al the means thereof The flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these two are contrary Gal. 5. 17. And what is born of the flesh is flesh John 3. 7. that is the temper and inward constitution of a soul in its natural condition it s wholly born of the flesh and therefore nothing but flesh and therefore can do nothing but resist the spirit yea it cannot but oppose what ever would take that resistance away for it 's a received rule of reason and confessed of al hands every thing desires the preservation of it self and its being otherwise the being and the causes that made up the being should be cross to the thing if it should endeavor its own destruction nay a thing should be opposite to it self Hence it is that the corruption of the heart wil put forth al the skil strength it hath or by the contrivements of carnal reason can compass to fortify preserve it self against the spiritual and saving dispensation of the work of Gods spirit in his own ordinances because wicked men look at the power thereof as that which works the ruin of their lusts therefore they labor to avoyd the light if they can if not that to oppose it and overbear it by their delusions if not that to destroy it they wil not hear the truth or gainsay what they hear or abhor and loath what they cannot many times gainsay nay endeavour to destroy what they so hate and are tormented withal The wisdom of the flesh cannot be subject to the law Rom. 8. 7. the heart riseth up in armes and indignation against the soul-saving and uncontroulable evidences of the truth they wil not be ruled by the holiness of it and they cannot endure the terror and Majesty of it 〈◊〉 sometimes the Philystians dealt with the Ark when it came into the field they thus spake one to another there was never such a thing heard of as this these are the Gods that destroyed the Egiptians in the red Sea quit your selves like men Oh yee Philystins that ye be not servants to the Hebrewes They say of the word as sometimes of our Saviour Math. 21. this is the Heyr come let us kill him and the inheritance shal be ours they cannot have their lusts so long as the power of the word would overtop and cross them therefore Herodias prefers John Baptists head before half the Kingdom that she might be quiet in her sins Before the soul can act against the evil of sin or for the removal of this resistance wherein the destroying venom of sin lyes and that which stops the passage of the power of the ordinance the work of Grace It 's necessary that the Lord should not only concur with the 〈◊〉 of the wil of a sinner to lead or draw forth the act thereof which he hath ability to express but he must let in an influence of the 〈◊〉 power vertue into the faculty of the wil whereby it may be enabled to put forth an act unto which it formerly it had no power of it self It 's a subtile pang of Pelagianism and the Arminians som of their successors have licked up that loathsom heresy of theirs at this day 〈◊〉 this delusion cunning pretence of theirs they would color over those rotten and poysonful conceits hence it is they labor to bear men in hand that they labor to set forth and exalt the honour of Gods free grace they profess that without the preventing grace of God mans free wil and al that ability he hath left in nature since the fal is able to do no spiritual good The words are fayr but the intent is fals and 〈◊〉 and indeed they do privily and cunningly undermine the work of Gods grace while they pretend indeed to advance it For the meaning is this God must enlighten mens minds and reveal the things of life and happiness to mens wils excite stir up and cal forth their hearts to the embracing of that which is good and concur with him in their endeavors to the performance of the work or else they can do nothing so that upon this grant Gods free grace in the work of conversion cals forth and concurs with that act which mans free wil hath sufficiency to put forth which is to make man share with God in his work and to part stakes with him But the truth is this The Lord must let in an influence of some special motion and operation and leave some impression of spiritual power upon the wil to enable it to act not onely to concur with the act thereof God gives a man ability whereby he may wil doth not 〈◊〉 with him by assistance and providence when he wills as one in whom we live and move Of the first of these it 's true which many of the Antients speak God works without us many things in us i. e. unto which we being in no causal ability at al God gives us ability to do that which is pleasing and spiritual to the obtaining whereof we had no causal ability of our own when the Lord Christ raised Lazarus now dead and smelling in the Grave he did not concur with the action and motion of his Soul in rising out of the Grave but without any causal concurrence or help of Lazarus he put a soul into his body whereby he was enabled to stir and move So it is with a soul dead in sins and trespasses when the mind and will have no ability for any spiritual act not able to take off that deadness and indisposition that is there the Lord without the will without any causal concurrence of it le ts in ability into it for the work and concurs with it in the work So Paul expresseth this manner of Gods Work 2 Cor. 4. 6. He causeth light to shine out of darkness he gives light and being out of darkness without the help of light and then concurs with the light in the shining of it God lets in an Influence to the will not only lends a concurrence to the work The Influence of this spiritual Power whereby the Lord takes away this sinful resistance is not by any gracious habit of sanctification but by an irresistable motion of the work of his spirit upon the soul By a gracious habit of Sanctification I mean those spiritual Graces of Wisdom Holiness Righteousness in which Adam at first was created and according unto which al the Elect and called are renewed according to the Image of him that created them Eph. 4. 24. Col. 3. 10. these gracious habits are so many Spiritual and Supernatural Principles as it were left in the soul whereby it is in a state of Life and Grace and liberty and free will to any good and therefore as those that are Agents by Counsel they are 〈◊〉 of their own work can act or not act can act more or less according to
heart But when a sinner is indeed pierced quite through the heart and feels inwardly the 〈◊〉 and evil of sin he loaths that most and his heart most of all that is most guilty and tainted with it In the soul there is 〈◊〉 it were the soul of sin the 〈◊〉 and poyson of it and he opposeth that most that hath opposed the Lord 〈◊〉 Spirit and the Word and Work of his Grace the 〈◊〉 of this mind the preversness of this will the distempers of these corrupt and carnal affections he is at 〈◊〉 with his own heart that ever it hath held any kind of connivence and correspondence with any corruption ever been acted by it carried with it that ever it hath combined and conspired with sin and Satan in 〈◊〉 against the righteous and holy One of Israel the great God of Heaven and Earth and here he finds work enough even matter of abasement al his daies he 〈◊〉 down in shame and is covered with confusion as with a cloak and never lifts up his head more because he 〈◊〉 that about him that wil dayly mind him of his own baseness 〈◊〉 It 's now his dayly task to oppose that which opposed the Lord resist that which hath resisted the work of Grace conspire against the Treacheries and plottings of his own heart where all the conspiracies against God and his holy Law have been hatched Job was vile before but he saw not the vileness of his heart He fears all sin and all provocations to sin because he hath felt the evil of all and knows the danger of all any inclination from within any temptation from without any appearance in the least measure that might provoke thereunto Therefore these two are put in way of opposition Blessed is the man that fears alwaies but he that hardens his heart shal fall into mischief Prov. 28. 14. q. d. A hard heart feels 〈◊〉 knows not the evil of 〈◊〉 and therefore 〈◊〉 like the horso into the battel to his ruine but if the heart be truly wounded and contrite truly affected with sin as having experience of the danger of it it wil come no more there he that hath been scorched with those flames will come no more into that fire As men who have wounded parts broken an Arm or a Leg how careful are they where they sit where they go they wil come neer nothing that may hurt cannot endure any thing neer lest it should so much as touch or trouble So the Apostle adviseth Heb. 12. 13. ' Make straight steps to your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way Lame men observe every step they take every stone upon which they tread see and view the place where they set their feet search and set al right come there no more So here a broken Spirit 〈◊〉 every thought weighs every word takes notice of the least 〈◊〉 of his heart the first appearance of any occasion or temptation Thus they fear al sin above al other evil nay the least sin above the greatest plague because he hath felt them by proof and experience to be such fears rather he shal not be sound than not quiet He that fears one sin and yet is careless to fall into another he never seared nor sorrowed aright sorrow for sin wil not make a man commit sin by sorrowing if he fear or take notice it is a sin it is enough And hence it makes watchful to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prevent the evil So Joseph Gen. 39. 10 11. He would not lie by her nor be with her avoided her company that would withdraw his communion from the Lord. It makes a man speedy to avoid the 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 the place left his garment rather than his 〈◊〉 he that would not fal into the pit wil not come neer the bank As after a 〈◊〉 the party cannot endure the sight the 〈◊〉 of it and are careful to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the appearance 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of such evils 〈◊〉 19. 11. I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy 〈◊〉 in my heart that I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin against thee He is 〈◊〉 to attend all 〈◊〉 but accounts most of those 〈◊〉 work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of corruption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heart and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 from it Though the Truths which are delivered carry dread with them to the Conscience rack the heart of the sinner in restless horror and perplexity are like the bitterest Pils and the sharpest Corrosives cross to the sinful security and that Natural quiet the soul doth covet yea to his Credit and outward Comforts and conveniences in which he pleased himself yet he is content his hand should be cut off and his eye plucked out that is that the 〈◊〉 Truth of God and powerful and plain Dispensation thereof should pluck away those darling distempers be they as profitable as a hand as dear as an eye rather than they should once pluck his heart from the Lord quarrels with the loathsom abominations of his Nature which now are discovered but gladly welcoms those soul-saving Truths that would slay and subdue those sins and not quarrel with them The Word of the Lord is a good Word though a convicting terrifying yea a condemning Word to his own apprehension he that is sensible of his burden as unsupportable and passing strength he is best pleased with that ease A wise Patient when by his tryal he hath found it and the consent of learned Physitians and Chyrurgeons have concluded that his Gangrened part must be cut off and cauterized cannot be healed though his Nature shrink at it yet Reason and his own preservation makes him desire and chuse the sharpest Instrument because by that his life and safety is best procured The sinner that finds the burden of his sin the heaviest of al other and a disease most deadly to his soul the sharpest Truths he accounts the safest and therefore takes most content therein there shal no course that can be prescribed be it never so tedious to flesh and blood no means that shall be appointed to him be they attended with never so much danger and difficulty but he readily addresseth himself to the use thereof and easily submits himself to the Counsel and Authority and Command of God therein willing that God should do any thing with him that he might do good to his soul and remove that which he feels to be the greatest evil of it As Ely to Samuel 1. Sam. 3. 17. Hide nothing from me though the heaviest and hardest of the message that he was to report A broken hearted sinner wil 〈◊〉 capitulate with the Almighty stick with God unless he may have his own 〈◊〉 or look for some abatement from the Lord if the corruption be more than ordinary strong and the means which are to be used be mervailously cross not onely to a mans corruption but to ones outward comforts yea to nature it self yea the heart under this disposition yields quietly that the Lord should take his own course any
intermission till the Lord look down and behold from Heaven For it is an everlasting Truth Sorrow for sin if right ever drives a man from sin to God never from God to sin that which is appointed in way of Providence to take off the resistance of the corrupt heart against God and our crossness to him that in reason cannot make way for any resistance or crossness against him to convince the soul. He that truly sorrowes for his departure from God as contrite sinners do he is driven nearer to God but never departs away from him by his sorrow And therefore he that by reason of the horror of his heart is hurried and carried to the commission of sin in his ordinary course he never truly found the burden of sin for common sence wil teach men that hath any consideration about him he that is truly sensible of his burden and in earnest willing to be freed from it wil not purposely and willingly ad to his burden He that is 〈◊〉 God should take away his distemper he wil not go away from God that so he may keep his distemper he went away sorrowful sayes the text therefore his sorrow was worldly causing death he went away to his own ruin Achitophel to the rope Judas to the gallowes Cain to the Land of Nod the knife the pit being hideous sins comes from a sorrow that chooseth sin before misery not from a sorrow that burdens with sin more than misery and therefore he never puts an end to his cryes before he sees an end of his sins As a man oppressed and crushed under his burden and hath no power to help himself and none by to succor him heark how he cryes help help and never ceaseth to cry help till he dyes Again he is not satisfyed in haveing any thing but deliverance from sin by Christ If nothing but a Christ can ease and deliver him nothing but he can satisfy him it 's certain if any thing cured thee besides a Savior something wounded thee and troubled thee besides sin thou hast been in horror of heart anguish and perplexity of spirit in the very flames of hell and under the fiercness of the fury of the Almighty and now the terror is 〈◊〉 and trouble is over quieted and eased healed and comforted but how comest thou by quiet and comfort how healed how recovered did time and continuance were it away thy pleasures and delights remove it did thy prayers perfourmances put in bale upon thy Conscience and thou stoppest the mouth of it with this thou hast seen confessed resolved or doft thou lick thy self whol by thy reformations thou hast not been put beyond thy shifts by the Almighty thou hast made a shift to pray it out weep it out fast it out when those fayl shifted it off by thy promises and vowes and resolutions and so 〈◊〉 sa west an absolute need of a Christ nor what it was to be brought to him but hast made a shift to scramble it out It 's certain as the Lord lives and thy soul lives thou never knewest what sorrow for sin meant or conversion meant or Christ or Salvation meant to this very day It was that which Paul speaks of himself 3. Phil. 8. 9. That I may win Christ and be found in him c. his brokenness of heart and sorrow for sin did in a restless way drive him thither he could not be satisfyed without Christ. The Reasons of the Point Because this sorrow is onely true God accounts it and the Saints Sinners shal so find it Al other sorrowes what ever pretences or appearances are put upon them they are in truth but counterfeit and false and men wil fail in their hopes and fal short of their ends and expectations that trust thereunto they are not of the right make nor have they the right stamp of the spirit of contrition upon them sorrow for the shame that befals the punishment that pincheth and lyes heavy wrath and vengeance that scorcheth the Conscience though this is good in his place as it makes way for another yet if it go no further men fal short of this work and in the end of their comforts also This is in the way but he that sits down here wil never come to his end untimely travels 〈◊〉 untimely births this we must do but this is not al and if we find no more our sorrow is no true sorrow Truth ever carryes conformity to the nature of the thing the palate that rasts a thing truly it 〈◊〉 it as it is bitter things as bitter he sees a thing truly that sees it as it is But he that shal tast 〈◊〉 things sweet he that shal cal black blew we say it and sence 〈◊〉 it he is deceived So here he that finds the burden of the punishment and feels his plagues heavier than his sins he doth not feel things as they are nor passeth a righteous judgment upon them according to their 〈◊〉 for it hath appeared hath been proved that the least sin weigheth down the heaviest plague The heart tasts evils as the stomack tasts meat if thy sin be less than thy miseries thy mouth is out of tast It was that which he charged upon Job Job 36. 21. thou hast chosen sin rather than affliction Because without this sorrow the heart can never be separated from his darling corruption the league betwixt the soul and sin cannot be broken and dissolved Happily there may arise some brabbles and slighty quarrels betwixt the heart of a sinner and his distempers but that there should be a real divorce without this sorrow rightly set on it is impossible for its open to every mans experience that which is sweet pleasant to the soul that wherein it finds content it wil never cast away love and delight are affections of union where things appear pleasant there is no cause of parting sorrow and 〈◊〉 are affections of separation unless the Lord therefore take off these pleasing contents and imbitter the baseness and filth of his lusts unto the soul and force him to feel them as such to be the bane of the soul he wil 〈◊〉 part company therefore it is these go together when wickedness 〈◊〉 sweet he 〈◊〉 it spares it and forsakes it not things that are sweet the stomack holds them they must be bitter and then it vomits them happily a sinner may wrangle for a turn and fal out with his distempers because they do him some unkindnesses 〈◊〉 his commodity or ease c. but they wil fal in hand pat if there be no further ground of 〈◊〉 and forget al those unkindnesses Luk. 23. 34. the wicked wil rather loose his life than his rayling distemper The Dog returnes to his 〈◊〉 because he loved not the pain of his 〈◊〉 he casts out the vomit yet because he loved the 〈◊〉 he returns to his vomit again yea 〈◊〉 is not restrained by his terror from his sin but is acted by
work of the spirit is the treacherous formalist Formalist I tearm him because he carryes the face of religion the garbe and guise of Godliness in outward appearance and would be counted a friend to the truth so far as he may serve his own turn of it and he is content to be at league with the Gospel provided he may make his own terms and attain his own ends namely that he may have allowance in some lusts and yet 〈◊〉 honored also among the people with the title of an honest Godly and good man But when his carnal ends are not answered and the word requires more than he hath and commands more than he would do and would pluck away his beloved lust that he is loath to part withal he then begins to set up secret conspiracies in his heart against the evidence of the doctrine and therefore I cal him a treacherous hypocrite because he may happily bite the lip and go away for the while and sayes little but he bears a privy grudg against the strictness of such truths that are beyond his pitch and strain and when time comes he wil be revenged of them in the mean time his heart is inwardly tyred with them and goes off from them this the 〈◊〉 cals the counsel of the wicked when wicked hearts cal a counsel and sit in counsel against the commands of God and Job prayes earnestly that God would keep him and free him from it Job 21. 16. Let the counsel of the wicked be far from me namely a reserved resolution to have his distemper rather than to have and welcome that word that would remove it Whereas we have heard a broken-hearted sinner is willing to attend al means but those especially that would help him most and free him from his corruptions this treacherous wretch notwithstanding his pretended love to the word yet when it comes to he is willing to be rid of the word not rid of his corruption so far from being weary of his sin that he is weary of the Minister or Christian brother that would remove it of the word that would subdue it This was the temper of those formalists that followed our savior for the loaves that is the Gospel for their own ends when our savior pressed a spiritual and convicting truth upon them which might carry them beyond their own fals aymes or els would condemn them utterly as such as had no life of Grace in them unless 〈◊〉 eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of man ye have no life in you John 6. 53. nor were it possible they should attain the life of Glory they answer This is a hard saying who can bear it it pinched them to the quick and searched the very core of their corruption and they were resolved to bear their sin but could not bear the saying of our Savior the presence of their sins was pleasant they could welcom them but the power of the Truth was hard they could not indure that nay they speak as though it were a matter impossible who hath power to submit to it truly none but a heart truly pierced with Godly sorrow and therefore it 's added verse 66. From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him because they would walk in their own waies and wicked practices therefore they chose rather to forsake the company and Ministry of a Savior than to forsake their own distempers Thus it hath been often seen in the Country whence we came many a formal wretch hath been at great cost and charges laid out himself and estate to bring a faithful preacher to a place and when the soul-saving dispensation of the Word hath either discovered his falsness and laid open the cursed haunts of a carnal heart shook his hopes and beat all the holds he had of the goodness of his estate and batterred them before his eyes He that had the greatest hand to bring the means and Ministry unto the place ifhe cannot cunningly undermine the man he would rather leave the place than live under the Ministry that would take away his lusts This was the wound of the yong man because he wanted this brokenness of heart not being rightly burdened with his corruption nor loosened from it Matth. 19. he went away from that Counsel of our Savior that would have plucked away his Earthly covetous humor which did take place in him He went away sorrowful al the while our Saviors conditions suited his crooked ends and carnal reason he gave way and welcom to what he was advised All these 〈◊〉 I done from my youth up this is so as I would have it but when our Savior went further Go sell all that was beyond his pace and expectation and he went away he could not bear the Counsel and therefore would not hear it Thus it befals many a man that the Lord hath brought hither confined him to the narrow compass of the Covenant of the Gospel Al the while he lived at large as it were and 〈◊〉 constantly or occasionally attended upon the preaching of the Word and carried an approved kind of conformity thereunto in the Judgment and Opinion of such as only attended the general strain of his profession and so walked aloof off in way of Christian 〈◊〉 and loving entertainment of the Truth al went wel but when he comes to be foulded in the fellowship of the Faith and that men follow him home to his doors and watch him in his retired carriage and have occasion to grapple with his spirit in the specials which concern his particular 〈◊〉 as when he had failed and offended and therefore follows him with Physick answerable and appointed for the purpose a seasonable admonition poor sinful Creature he is not able to 〈◊〉 the Discipline and Government of Christ to 〈◊〉 under it he begins secretly to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 undermine the strictness of those 〈◊〉 that formerly he did como into these Parts for that he might seek them find and enjoy them as 〈◊〉 often professed It 's said of Herodias when John Baptist would give no 〈◊〉 to her lust but professed openly against it so that she must be forced to reform it or to have Gall and Wormwood with it either not have it or not have any 〈◊〉 the Text saies Mark 6. 19. she way-laid him and left not the plotting of her purposes until she procured his ruin she watched him a turn and was revenged of him So it is with a carnal heart he is so far from being troubled for sin that he is troubled he cannot commit it so far from being plagued with the corruption as Solomon speaks he that sees the plague of his own heart the plague of pride the plague of a perverse sluggish heedless heart that he is plagued and tormented with those Spiritual Truths and power of those Ordinances that wil not suffer those lusts to lodg in his bosom nor suffer him to lie and live in
mourning and then thou shalt be delivered with success and attain the 〈◊〉 that wil stand by 〈◊〉 How may we get help against the stubbornness of but hearts against that resistance and 〈◊〉 that we find in our selves to this contrition of 〈◊〉 The Directions are Three Do not tug with this resistance in thine own power or any ability that is in thee do not in thine own strength contest with that rebellion for it 's certain this wil make it excessive rebellious when thou seemest to 〈◊〉 violence to thy self thou wilt be more 〈◊〉 nay thou wilt grow to a kind of felness and 〈◊〉 of opposition against the Work of Gods Grace Sin becomes out of measure sinful by the Commandement Rom. 7. 13. and instead of quarrelling with thy sins thou wilt quarrel with the Almighty and if I do what I can why should not God help me Mark now you are quarrelling with God and because you cannot do what you should you wil do nothing this is ordinary and usual you wil find a Hellish fierceness of Spirit upon this turn You wil say What shall I do Come and bring thy soul into Gods Presence lay thy self down in his sight and tell the Lord that thou art a Traitor and which is worse thou canst not but be so that 's thy misery make known al the base abominations of thy heart and life before the Lord and al that 〈◊〉 and opposition that thou findest in thy soul to Christ and his Grace beseech him to take away the treachery and falsness of thy heart beseech him that he would do that for thee that thou canst not do for thy self tel him that thou would'st chuse not to be rather than to be thus treacherous tel him that he hath said he will take away the heart of stone Ezek. 36. 26. and that it is not in thy power to put it away and therefore leave thy soul there beseeching him to make known himself as a God hearing prayers pardoning sins and subduing iniquities plead the Covenant of Grace and the Promises of it that al is freely and firstly and wholly from himself that he must make us his People he must make us humble and broken-hearted Look to Jesus Christ and beseech him that 〈◊〉 the Keyes of Hell and Death that he would unlock those brazen gates and doors of thy heart Rev. 1. 18. Do not fear the terror of the Truth so 〈◊〉 to step aside from under it and withdraw thy self from the 〈◊〉 of it but think of the goodness of it as a man though he fear the bitterness of the Pill yet knowing it 's a means of his health he is willing to take it So here When God moves move thou when he stirs stir thou many a man neglects 〈◊〉 stirrings of the Spirit of God and never hath the like again and then on his death bed cries for his old terrors Oh therefore when the Truth meets you and stirs you keep 〈◊〉 heart under it and follow the blow in secret and bless God that hath opened thine eye and 〈◊〉 thine heart in any measure and let thy heart lie stil under the stroak of the Truth the want of this is the reason why many a soul is so long under the workings of Contrition and never grows to any settlement because 〈◊〉 keep not their hearts under the power of the Truth which would throughly break the heart for sin 2 Kings 13. 19. The Prophet bids the King smite and he smote thrice and ceased whereupon the man of God was wroth saying thou should'st have smitten five or six times then bad'st thou smitten the Syrians till thou had'st consumed them So when God hath been grapling with thy heart and would have plucked thee out of the paw of the Lyon thou hast prayed once or twice or thrice it may be and then after a while thy care and diligence and endeavors are over thou should'st have prayed six times thou should'st give God no rest nor thy own soul any rest thou should'st never cease striking until thou hast destroyed those corruptions of thine Possess thy soul with the ticklishness and danger of that condition thou art in In regard of the secrecy and difficulty of the work how easily may I be deceived and how dangerous is it if I be a failing here can never be repaired afterward if never broken for sin then never broken from sin then never united to Christ and then thou shalt never see the face of God in Glory think how many have miscarried in this place as when a Marriner sees the Mast of a Ship he fathoms the Water and tacks 〈◊〉 and looks about him lest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we split upon the rocks also So do thou look to thy self here thousands have sunk and split themselves here and thou art in danger and know that if thou doest 〈◊〉 here thou art 〈◊〉 for ever They said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do Here we have the carriage of these Converts as a fruit of that piercing and brokenness of Spirit which was wrought in them by the power of the 〈◊〉 the inward disposition of the heart discovers it self by the outward expression of their speeches and 〈◊〉 here laid forth before us as 〈◊〉 special effect which followed presently and 〈◊〉 therefrom The breaking of the clouds by 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 beings a storm with it usually the 〈◊〉 in their speeches argued thunder and lightning in their spirits look how the temper and constitution of the body goes so the pulse beats in his proportions answerable the Spirits few and heart faint and actions feeble it moves marvelous weakly if the 〈◊〉 be marvelous quick and speedy the Physitian wil tel you there is a Feaver stirring and it may be hazardful that hath now seized upon the Nature of the party Look as our hearts and consciences are affected within so wil be the 〈◊〉 of our words and actions without 〈◊〉 their 〈◊〉 was deep and their 〈◊〉 are bitter which here they make In it observe Two things 1. The parties to whom they tender their complaint Peter and the Apostles 2. The 〈◊〉 it self The part 〈◊〉 are described and set forth two wayes 1. In regard of the office unto which they were now called Peter and the Apostles 2. In regard of that esteem and respect they 〈◊〉 them they lovingly and tenderly here greet them men and bretheren a stile and compellation that holds forth endeared affection with it so far are these men altered from what they were from what they said from what they did ere while they scorned them now honored them not long since they reproached them are not these men ful of new wine and now behold they reverence and fear before them they rejected their counsel before and are now forced to crave it yea right glad to hear and receive it In a word they repair to them as messengers of Christ they 〈◊〉 them as bretheren the
a good word 〈◊〉 their persons and proceedings and professions yea that they wil confess but it was directly against their own judgment and knowledg and Conscience myne own heart often gave my tongue the lye when I did so speak and so 〈◊〉 their conversation otherwise I must have condemned 〈◊〉 own course and Conscience also but the Lord is with them and the 〈◊〉 is with them and a 〈◊〉 wil undoubtedly follow them Ask why these poor pierced sinners did not go to the Scribes they would tel the truth Oh it was 〈◊〉 that deceived us led 〈◊〉 drew us to the commission of this hellish wickedness we cannot cal them teachers but 〈◊〉 they could never help themselves therefore not help us INSTRUCTION Sound contrition and brokenness of heart brings a strange a sudden alteration into the world varies the price and valew of things and persons beyond imagination turnes the market upside down makes the things appear as they be the persons to be honored and respected as they are in truth that look what the truth determines reason approves and Conscience witnesseth that account is current in the hearts and 〈◊〉 of those whose hearts have been pierced with godly sorrow for their sins Because 〈◊〉 not by outward appearance as it is the guise of men 〈◊〉 corrupt minds but upon experience that which they have found and felt in their own hearts what they have seen and judged in their own spirits they cannot but see so and judg so of others Those who were mocked as men ful of new wine are now the precious servants of the Lord flouted to their 〈◊〉 not long since now they attend them honor and reverence them yea fal at their very 〈◊〉 It was before men and drunkards now men and bretheren the world you see is wel amended but strangely altered It was said of John Baptist the fore-runner of our Savior and the scope of 〈◊〉 doctrine was mainly to prepare the way for the Lord it 's said of him that Elias is come and hath reformed al 〈◊〉 a new face 〈◊〉 frame in the profession of the Gospel Math. 17. 11. Turned the disobedient to the wisdom of the just men the hearts of children to the fathers that though they were so degenerate that Abraham would not own them had he been alive yet when the Ministery of John had hammered and melted them for the work of our Savior they became to be wholly altered their judgments altered and their carriage also For in truth the reason why men see not the loathsomness of other mens sins or else have not courage to pass a righteous sentence upon them It is because they were never convinced to see the Plague sore of their own corruptions never had their hearts affected with the evil of them in their own experience but their own Conscience was misled out of authority and stifled that it durst not outwardly condemn that which inwardly they could not but approve They therefore who either do not see their own evil or dare not proceed in open judgment to condemn they wil either not see or not pass a 〈◊〉 judgment upon others so Paul intimates to Agrippa Acts 26. 8. 9. let it not seem strange Oh King for I my self did think I should do many things against the name of Jesus which I also did q. d. whiles thou so 〈◊〉 thou wilt see as I 〈◊〉 and do as I did but after God had entered into 〈◊〉 with him and spoken dreadfully to his soul see 〈◊〉 is another man and of another mind he destroyed the Churches now takes care of them he that hated the name and Gospel of Jesus counts al things dung and dross for the excellent knowledg of Jesus the world is wel amended but its mervailously altered and therfore we have found this man a Pestilent fellow Acts 17. 16. he hath subdued the state of the world TERROR this shewes the dreadful and miserable condition of al those who after al the light that hath been let into their minds conviction into their 〈◊〉 horror into their hearts touching the evils that have been committed and come now to be discovered unto them they loath the light that hath layd open their evils distast those persons and preachers and Christians most that have dealt most plainly to descover the loathsomness of their distempers it shewes the 〈◊〉 corruption of the mind and heart that grows worst under the best means and cleaves most to its sins under al the choycest means that would pluck their sins from their heart and their heart from them they are either fools or mad men that 〈◊〉 endure the presence of the Physitian without whose help they could not be cured This is made an evidence 〈◊〉 the estrangment of Gods heart from a people and an immediate fore-runner of their ruin Isa. 9. 13. 14. 17. For this people turneth not unto him that smote them neither do they seek the Lord therefore the Lord wil cut off from Israel head tail branch ush one day therfore the Lord shal have no pify on their young men nor mercy on their fatherless for every one is an Hipocrite It takes away al pity in God al hopes in themselves of any good After Pharoah had many qualmes recoylings of spirit by Moses dealing with him the miracles which he had wrought for his repentance at last sides it with the hellish stiffness of his own stubborn heart so that he cannot endure the speech or presence of Moses any more Exod. 10. 28. get thee from me see my face no more for the day thou seest my face thou shalt die God sends ' Moses no more but sends his plagues to destroy his first born he wil not see the face of Moses he shal feel the fierceness of the wrath of the Lord. He that is truly pierced by the Ministry of the word he is buisy to enquire and ready to submit to the Ministers of God making known his mind therein They who never had thought of their own condition never craved nor cared for the counsel direction of any in the things of God as seeing no need of either but now the case is otherwise every mans heart is now ful of fears his mind sul of doubts and he is stored with questions they al with one mouth and one mind as one man that had but one heart they said one spake it but al consented q. d. that is al our cases that is al our de 〈◊〉 men and bretheren we can find no rest in our hearts nor resolution in our judgments we could not but come and seek and we shal be more glad to receive counsel and guidance from you So that broken heartedness doth two things which are the two Parts of the Doctrine 1. It makes men buisy to enquire 2. Ready to receive direction from Faithful Ministers A true fight and sence of a mans finful condition sets men upon the search awakens
heart pretend or plead what need he be so strict in his way so 〈◊〉 against his sin so resolute to abandon al his former courses and his antient 〈◊〉 with whom he hath had so much content there is no such need now to set upon the work herafter wil be time enough or no such danger in maintaining a dalliance with such and such distempers which are no great matter nor is there any great harm in them the burdened sinner hath not patience to hear but disdaines to enter parly about such things as he hath past sentence upon long before this day tel not me talk not to me of such things there is no speaking against mine own experience I have felt and found the contrary my heart knowes otherwise and that by woful 〈◊〉 therefore I pass not what you speak God wil allow none I can bear none no not the sting of the least sin when God wil let it in nor you neither when once the Lord wil pursue you with the least expression of his displeasure I cannot have any sin seem it never so smal but I must 〈◊〉 under the power of al nor ever have any possibility of any good As Ruth to Naomi when she advised her to stay or return when she came with her she puts an end to al such perswasions intreat me not for I wil not leave thee so 〈◊〉 is with a soul sensible and soundly affected with the evil of his sin he is beyond 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and carnal reasonings he wil hear nothing the soul is overpowred with a soveraign kind of absolute necessity he hath found by proof which puts to silence what ever can be said to the contrary q. d. cease reasoning about that for which no reason can be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not that which hath no ground of perswasion it 〈◊〉 admit a case of exception therefore I wil not once take it into consideration nothing can be spoken of weight or worth and therefore 〈◊〉 to speak further It s not necessary I should not be poor 〈◊〉 despised It 's absolutly necessary I should not be sinful I have no 〈◊〉 from God I should not leave and loose my life my liberty but I have a 〈◊〉 charge without al exception I should leave my sin Art thou come to that with the three Children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 17. 18. Our God can deliver but if he wil not be it 〈◊〉 unto thee 〈◊〉 wil not fall down and wroship c. It s necessary we should maintain the truth of Gods worship it s not necessary 〈◊〉 should maintain our lives Resolvest thou with them Hos. 14. 3. Ashur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 save us 〈◊〉 wil we go down to 〈◊〉 nor say any more to the work of 〈◊〉 hands ye are our Gods I wil no more be proud or perverse no more loose or vayn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liften to the pleasing dalliance of mine own heart that Dale 〈◊〉 mown that is determined long since by long and woful experience it s beyond consideration keep thy spirit ever in that temper and thou wilt keep 〈◊〉 undoubted evidence of the sound work of contrition with thee Hence therefore this Doctrine 〈◊〉 a Bill of 〈◊〉 against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 short of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ and Heaven fall away totally and finally from the Truth in the end The first sort are your NEUTERS who study to compose al their course with prudence and conveniency but conceive it not so safe to put a necessity upon each Service in this kind but only serve their own turn and that is the compass they stere by and walk by As your Neutral Towns they pay to both the Armies but sight for neither only keep their own safety and peace So is it with those Neuters in Religion they would capitulate with Christ and the Rule and enter into Articles of Agreement with the Gospel therefore they take up profess and practice Godliness but with Cautions and Provisions that they may walk at 〈◊〉 in their own deluded hearts but to put it to the 〈◊〉 of this absolute necessity and that they may dispense as they 〈◊〉 fit that they wil decline they count it and conceive it matter of comliness and conveniency nay prudence and Christian Wisdom nay necessary if occasions suit to attend the narrow 〈◊〉 of Gods Command if occasions suit provided that no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and desperate inconveniences and hazards appear to the contrary they plead a dispensation to relieve themselves by to be necessitated and tied to inconveniencies they conceive it unreasonable Thus the Chapman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wisling and ready to 〈◊〉 his day and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 payment and perform his 〈◊〉 according to promise if means and moneys come in comfortably and his 〈◊〉 may be seived as wel as his Creditor payed then it 's necessary But if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon 〈◊〉 and he cannot pay but with much 〈◊〉 to his Estate either to part with that which is profitable or upon low rates and for loss then he 〈◊〉 he may be dispensed 〈◊〉 and it 's not necessary 〈◊〉 that case to pay If a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the world then it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 Estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wife that is froward she 〈◊〉 had she a head and husband so wise and able and gracious there were reason and necessitie she should carry her self in a 〈◊〉 and sweet and humble manner but one that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit for his place nor answers her comfort nor his carriage so prudent as she could desire if then she carry her self pettishly and perversly in such a case a tolleration may be given So these persons put no necessity of parting with their sins but of preventing their inconveniencies It 's certain thou never foundest the evil of sin that canst take and leave thy sin with these exceptions thou never seekest Christ for himself but only as he may serve thee not take his but make thy own 〈◊〉 But if ever God do thee good he wil make thee know that God 〈◊〉 laies a necessitie upon a gracious man nor intruth upon any man to sin but 〈◊〉 necessitie and that absolute he should not sin And therefore al those pleas alas my occasions many my necessities great pinching extremities prevailed with me but as soon as convenienoies suit then I wil c. Therefore thou 〈◊〉 be just and true in promises and performances only when thou hast no necessities when thy conveniencies serve not for conscience sake No thou wilt find thou had'st better go maimed and halt with thy 〈◊〉 eye plucked out and thy right hand cut off than to keep thy sins and go to Hell with them When thy conveniencie suits thou wilt serve God and when Gods conveniencie serves he wil save thee There is another sort of Formal Professors that pretend great kindness and large affection to the Lord and the Gospel and therefore profess they wil go far to accommodate the Lord Jesus and give
As the Magicians in Egipt professed touching the liee that wonder which the Lord then expressed though it were in a thing very little and despicable to the eye yet they confessed this the 〈◊〉 finger of God they were not able to turn their hand to that work So dost thou upon through search find this disposition of spirit that thou dost see that infinite loathsomness in thy corruptions and in thy heart being taynted therewith so noysom the plague sore of sin and thy soul and self so defiled with running provocations thereof that in truth thou art loath to see thy heart to own it or to have it which hath nothing but loathsomness in it and conceivest thou art worthy indeed others should judg so of thee as thou judgest of thy self how ever this frame of spirit may seem mervailous mean and despicable in the eye of the world know thou mayest and conclude thou shouldst this is the very finger of God flesh and blood hath not revealed this hath not wrought this in thee but the spirit which is from God That which is at ods with al the excellency that is flesh and blood that which is opposite to it and tramples upon the glory and pride of it that must needs be more than flesh and blood Ezek. 16. 2. last I wil establish my covenant and thou shal know I am the Lord thou shalt know me and own me and beleeve in me as thy God and thy Lord then thou shalt remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame When God sets open the fountain of his free grace in the soul these streams wil follow Hence then this doctrine brings in a heavy inditement against sundry sorts of men and gives undeniable evidence that as yet they never knew what it was to be broken-hearted for sin or turned savingly from sin the stupid sencelessness of whose spirits is wholly uncapable of this holy blush and confusion of face and heart First of those who through the hardness of their hearts by their constant custome and continuance in their sin are beyond the sence of it or shame for it whose faces are settled and their consciences seared with a hot iron so that there is no sting at al or check that 〈◊〉 them but 〈◊〉 a seared part is without sence or feeling they practice their wret chedness and profess it are convinced of it and go away not touched nor troubled with it shrink not retire not with any sence of fear or shame for what they have done such are never like to see the filth of their sins before they see them by the flames of the fierceness of Gods wrath in the fire of hell of this helish temper were those forlorn creatures Jer. 8. 6. I hearkend and heard but no man repented him saying what have I done they take not their sins into consideration nor attend the danger but every man turned to his own course as the horse rusheth into the battle nothing stops them or affrights them v. 12. were they ashamed when they committed abomination nay they were not at al ashamed neither could they be ashamed their minds were wholly 〈◊〉 they did not see the vileness of their sins and their hearts hardened they could not be sensible of them so the Prophet Isa. compluins chap. 3. 9. they declare 〈◊〉 sin as Sodom they commit evil openly and they are bold and brazen-faced to persist in what they do commit they sear not who know it and they shame not to own it I knew saith the Lord thy brow was brass and thy neck like an iron sinnew the heart buckles not it s an iron sinnew the face blusheth 〈◊〉 its brass harlot-like Another sort who are so far from bearing the shame they do deserve that out of their impudency they do rather cast shame upon the truth itself that would discover their sin and so the messenger that brings it Thus out of this devilish wretchedness and 〈◊〉 they dare to flout God to his face and cast scorn and contempt upon the truth rather than they wil lye under contempt themselves and therefore it is the prophet looks at it as desperate beyond hope or help Hos. 4. 4. let no man strive with another or reprove him for this people are as they that strive with the priest they contemn him and his repro of so far are they srom being content to take it or the due shame which it discovers of this stamp were those impudent scorners who jeared the Prophet to his face and made a jeast of the threatnings he delivered Isa. 22. 12. In the day the Lord called to weeping and mourning and baldness and to girding with sackcloath and behold joy and gladness slaying of oxen and killing of sheep let us eat and drink for to morow we shal dye q. d. do you not hear the dreadful threatning that Isaiah hath denounced do ye not expect to dye masters do not your hearts shake within you to hear such tidings let us not dye fasting we wil take our meat sure before our enemies take away our lives if we must dy as the prophet saith let us be merry before our death It were revealed to me saies the Prophet from the Lord of hosts surely this iniquity shal not be purged from you til you dye that is never so tel the rebellious servant of his or her rugged carriage unruly language that they have tongues set on fire of hel 〈◊〉 in wording of it slighting and gainsaying Titus 2. 9. Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters to please them wel in al things not answering again because they are stopped from answering frampfully therefore they wil not modestly and in meekness of wisdom ask counsel and direction from a Governor wish them ask your Mistres enquire of your Master no no I must not speak I promise you would I were Governor they cannot sin they must be pleased in al things whether they please God or no. Thus because their devillish heart cannot bear the truth they flout the truth and cast it away in a scorn as though they should say you may see what sweet rules the scripture gives for the Government of servants nay how unequal and unreasonable they be which is such hideous and hellish blasphemy that the heart of Belzebub in his cold blood would blush to vent it These two sorts out of a stupid impudency are not capable of 〈◊〉 there be two other sorts that out of subtilty of pride are unwilling to bear it such are those who in the third ranck seek up 〈◊〉 shameful hidings that may be imagined strugle as for life to the utmost of their power and policie that they may shift off the shame and make an escape from under that righteous reproach and contempt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vileness of their carriages have justly brought upon themselves sometimes in silence burying and hiding of it As Judah his incest Gen. 38. 23. When he sent the kid
and found not the harlot he was content to let her go away with his ring and bracelet lest saith he we be ashamed So David would have covered his solly with 〈◊〉 by sending Uriah to his own house 2 Sam. 11. And for a push the very servants of the Lord may be surprised with this sinful shifting away of their shame from them and al that while never see their sincerity nor find peace but when they are brought to see their sin then they yield immediately 2 Sam. 12. 13. I have saith David sinned against the Lord. Sometime by falshood gainsaying and denying so Gehazi 2 Kings 5. 25. Where hast thou been Gehazi thy servant went no whither Somtime colouring excusing putting it off as Saul to Samuel first it were not done then the people did it then he did it but for sacrifice and for love to Gods worship 1 Sam. 15. and in the issue he would be helped against his shame but not against his sin yet honor me before the people v. 30. he doth not say let me be humbled before the people who have sinned before them of this rank are these when the stals of Conscience and the pressures of their spirits constrain them to confess and seek for ease their complaints are like Lapwings cryes farthest from their nest or their bosom distempers which lye in the deck onely their acknowledgments are so general and of such evils that more or less belong to al and therefore they conceive they are yet under a safe cover little shame wil fal to their share Oh they are proud and dead hearted and have a deal of self within them the issue is here and the English is this I say I am thus and who is not so more or less and so a little shame wil come to their allowance and allotment And if their words which fal from them give a prudent man advantage of further enquirie and just suspicion to lay his hand upon the loathsom sore you wil see what shuffling and winding and biting of the lip wil presently appear The fourth and last sort are such who when the arrowes of the Lord have stuck fast in them and the venom therof hath drunk up their spirits when the poyson of their sin and pangs of conscience like a strong potion hath made them extremely sick that they are not able to conceal their evils any longer but the vengeance of the Lord forceth them to vomit out al their filth to the ful as a stiring potion kept in works with much violence but when it s over and they have thus taken the shame it s with no content to them it s a secret torment that their own tongues have gone beyond their own intents they do inwardly repine and befool themselves and could eat their flesh that ever they should lay themselves open so to contempt and therefore they begin to devise wayes and means how to mitigate the matter that it may not seem loathsom nor they so vile by reason of it and therefore they make constructions of some things and interpretations of others and then lay the extremity upon their distemper which was fired and followed by Satan that they belyed themselves in some things and said they knew not what and thus like the unclean dog they lick up their vomit again they cannot be quit of the shame and wash away the filth they have flung in their own faces but they are in no wise content with it and therefore would fain get it off by al the means they can devise thus their sins come to be healed too soon like a sore that closeth too fast not being daily tented and opened and so it festers again and proves dangerous so it is with the soul when it is not tented with daily taking shame for the evil and so kept open it again rankles and growes worse But how shal we know that we are content to take shame for sin by a right confession of it I answer that wil appear in four particular evidences The heart that is indeed content to take shame fon the sin it hath committed and stands guilty of it hath this disposition wrought in it and expresseth this affection also as occasion serves namely it opposeth not that Truth which doth evidently discover a mans 〈◊〉 and how worthily he deserves it though it doth it sharply To be content with a thing and to be opposite against the same thing implies a professed contradiction which neither Reason allows nor common sence wil admit He that is content in earnest with the portion and condition that is carved out to him in the course of Providence when it 's offered he welcoms it when it 's come and that he hath it in his possession closeth therewith as that which is a suitable good and most serviceable to him for the present necessity all circumstances considered An humbled heart takes his shame as a sick man doth his physick he could heartily wish he did not need it and yet as the case stands he cannot want it but in reason he shal want his Cure and health the potion is loathsom to take and troublesom in the working of it but the disease he knows to be far worse and more dangerous which he conceives may be purged by the use of this means and therefore seeks it earnestly and is not content without it and glad indeed to be so troubled because he may be eased as he hopes So it is with a heart truly sensible of sin and turned from it looks at this shame as a most loathsom and tedious potion and could have wished and that heartily he had never need of it had never so miscarried himself as to have deserved it but as the case now stands the dishonor done to Gods Name and Truth the scandal to others the danger to the spiritual and everlasting welfare of his own soul he looks at the Truth which shal be most evident and most sharply set on as the most special Receipt and Soveraign Medicine which he is glad to seek and more glad to take that the noysom distempers may be taken from his soul the dishonor from Gods Name and scandal from before the way of his Brethren 〈◊〉 to have a thing and crossness of spirit to resist that which brings it cannot stand together and in this sence it is you shal find the Saints pray so earnestly and affectionately for the keeping away of shame somtimes Psal. 119. Turn from me rebuke and shame and again Let me not be ashamed And somtime again so willingly to welcom and entertain it We lie down in our shame and are covered with confusion Jer. 3. 〈◊〉 Shame is a heavy curse as deserved by sin and justly inflicted from the Lord but to accept of it with an under abasedness of heart as the punishment of our 〈◊〉 from the hand of the Lord this is indeed the work of Grace and a gracious heart wil not side it against that Truth which
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 〈◊〉 upon the rack which he therefore bears not because indeed he cannot help himself against it with all the troublesom 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 though sharp and 〈◊〉 which may lance his imposthume and so save his 〈◊〉 whenas a naughty heart who would not have another take away his 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 the one a self-seeking deluded 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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
poysoned with sin blessed 〈◊〉 ye when men persecute you and hate you and speak al manner of evil of you falsly Math. 5. 12. could men speak al evil and do al evil against us and let 〈◊〉 do that 〈◊〉 is sinful to deserve it these cannot hinder our blessedness but encrease it Matter of bitter COMPLAINT to see how few there be in the world who ever knew what this hatred of sin meant And therefore yet were never 〈◊〉 with any sound broken heartedness for it such as Job 〈◊〉 of who hide their corruptions under their tongues as 〈◊〉 pleasant morsel spare it and wil not forsake it Instead of hating their sin they hate the word that would discover it the Minister that preacheth against it the man the Magistrate the Law that would reform it Instead of loathing their sins they loath the 〈◊〉 of the lives the exactness of the wayes of such who indeed set themselves most against sinful carriages once cross them in their courses you have stirred a 〈◊〉 nest they ruin al on heaps This is a 〈◊〉 stone of the truth of 〈◊〉 work of contrition whether 〈◊〉 Lord have left the mighty impression of this preparative 〈◊〉 upon the soul of a sinner That the league betwixt the heart and 〈◊〉 lusts is 〈◊〉 not alone 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of evil nor yet to avoyd and go aside from the occasion that may lead to it under some present pang but thou hast put off the love of sining why blessed be God the combination is come to naught sorrow hath 〈◊〉 the knot and union betwixt thy soul and thy darling 〈◊〉 This hatred breaks the knot and union fully thou art now divorced from thy former lovers thou fearest the approach of them rather choosest to see the blood of them than to enjoy the presence of them Stay but Gods time and be perswaded in his best season he wil take thee into the bosom of his love which wil be better than life it self to thee Thou art in the hand of Jesus and under his charge he that hath rescued thee from the rage of the Devils and from the right that sin ever claymed in thee he wil never loose his labor nor shalt thou loose thy 〈◊〉 and happiness in the issue He hath bound the strong man the strongest of thy corruptions that heretofore have too much and too easily prevayled with thee had got thy affection and the strong holds of thy heart those strong temptations and 〈◊〉 by which Satan as by so many garrison souldiers maintayned possession in thy soul yet now this strong man is bound his holds battered and his garrison abandoned So that there is a spoyl made of al his goods the temptations that formerly found entertainment they are now abhorred his suggestions delusions that found easy entertance acceptance are now loathed and thy heart set against them the Lord Christ is now about to own thee as his proper possession and then he wil never part with thee more thy heart trembles at the least inkling of the return of thy distempers seeks the destruction and would see the not being art a weary of life meerly because they live and art resolved never to entertayn terms of peace with them though thou never seest quiet day in the world 〈◊〉 the work is the Lord Christs he wil own it it 's true and thorough he wil never leave it until he have brought it to perfection and thy soul to eternal happines but alas this truth as a touchstone shewes the contrition of most in the world to be counterfeit that many have been in the fire heated but never melted as with mettal the parts of it battered but never severed fully the dross from the oar and therefore there can never vessel be be made for any honorable use and service thereof In a word the doctrine passeth sentence of sad condemnation upon four sorts of persons as such who never 〈◊〉 in the work we shal point very briefly at the particulars that each man may take his portion First the CARELES and fearless Christian is cast out of the number of these contrite sinners whom God doth prepare for his Christ and mercy such as walk heedlesly up and down the world not awed with any watchful fear of the temptations and occasions and snares which are layd in their way to entrap them or with the treachery and deceivable lusts which suddenly draw them aside to common neglect of duties which they reform not or transport and carry them with pangs of passions and distempers and they amend not certainly either these know not these to be sins or else do not know them and hate them as direful and dreadful enemies to their souls It could not be but their hearts should shake at the sight of them and the dangerous assaults which they cannot but know if they know them to be 〈◊〉 but they wil hazard their everlasting happiness People who live without watch or fear they have no enemies or no war 〈◊〉 hand and if thou livest in this Laish-like fearless fashion thou never knewest the war of a Christian nor the enemies they have nor art in the condition of a Christian 〈◊〉 hast the heart of a Christian to this hour within thee And therefore Jude so 〈◊〉 those Atheists and sensual wretches who were 〈◊〉 of Gods spirit which are spots in your feasts feeding themselves without fear Jude 22 these are blaynes in the body of the Church spots in the Assemblies of Christians speak without fear in the companies where they converse walk without fear in families where they live walk without fear in the occasions with which they have to deal and the Apostle adds they are withered twice dead and plucked up by the roots far enough from having any spiritual life or any preparation therunto look as in nature reason 〈◊〉 and experience evidenceth if there were a malicious enemy with a puissant and mighty armie now making his approaches to the City and attempting the siege if the allarum should be given by the watch to the City a messenger dispatched to each mans dore if any were so careless that he would not attend or attending the 〈◊〉 stirred not or happily for fashion stirring if yet he labored not by a watchful fear to provide for the assault and attend the 〈◊〉 of command repayr to the place for defence of the City there is no man but would conclude certainly he is a party he is not an enemy to the army that doth besiedg every loyal and faithful subject shakes at the apprehension of the power and rage of the adversary who is now likely to make havock of al and that without mercy so it is here the violence of temptation from without and the strength of corruptions from within fight against the soul thou that are a disobedient child a rebellious self-willy servant a perverse and 〈◊〉 wife an ignorant 〈◊〉 hearer the allarum is given in publick
vertue of his death puts an end to the Commission of sin 384 3 How far the soul is active in Contrition 385 1 There is no power in man to remove the resistance of his heart against God and Grace 385 2 The Lord must put a Spiritual power into the will before it can put forth an act for removing this resistance 386 3 The influence of this spiritual power is not by a gracious habit but by the motion of the spirit upon the soul 388 4 In removing this resistance the will is a meer Patient 〈◊〉 5 This resistance being removed the will consents to a divorce between it self and sin 393 4 The behavior of the heart under this work 396 1 The contrite sinner hath the loath somness of fin ever in sight ibid. 2 He is tender and easie to be convinced 399 3 He loaths himself for his sins 404 4 He fears all fin and provocations thereunto 406 5 He delights most in those means that discover and remove corruptions 407 6 He is restlesly importunate in seeking Christ and mercy 411 Reasons four Because  1 Such a sorrow for sin is only true in Gods account 414 2 Without this the heart can never be separated from fin 415 3 By this the resistance of the heart against Christ is removed 416 4 Without this he cannot receive Christ. ibid. Uses four hence  1 Humiliation for the want of this saving sorrow ibid. Five sorts want it  1 The heedless Professor 417 2 The treacherous 〈◊〉 419 3 The self-conceited Pharisee 423 4 The complaining 〈◊〉 425 5 The discouraged Hypocrite 427 2 Terror to 〈◊〉 sinners As 428 1 Secure sinners that never were 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 and feel their sins 429 1 Such are out of the way of God 431 2 So continuing God hath appointed no good for them 432 3 Christ came not to save such 434 2 Relapsed sinners who have been awakened to see and feel their sins but have fallen back again and their hearts grown harder than before ibid. 1 It is suspicious the day of Grace is past with such a one 436 2 Their Judgment hastens 438 3 Comfort ibid. 1 To broken-hearted sinners themselves their sorrows are not to death but in the way to deliver from death and so to bring unto life 439 2 To their friends and well-wishers they are now and were never before in the way of mercy 444 4 Exhortation Labor for this saving sorrow of Contrition 447 1 Do not tug with the resistance of thy heart by thine own power 449 2 Do not fear the terror of the Truth so as to step aside from under it but think of the goodness of it 450 3 Possess thy soul with the ticklishness and danger of miscarrying in this work 451 DOCT. 11. They whose hearts are pierced by the VVord are carried with Love and respect to the Ministers of it 453 Reasons two Because  1 They know more now than they did before 454 2 〈◊〉 hath more Liberty now to express what they know 455 Uses two hence  1 Sound Contrition makes a strange and sudden 〈◊〉 557 2 Terror to such as after Conviction hate both the Word and Ministers of it 558 DOCT. 12. He that is pierced by the Word truly is busie to enquire and ready to submit to the mind of God 560 1 He is busie to enquire ibid Reasons two Because  1 He now finds the evil of sin 562 2 And the folly of his former conceits 563 Uses two hence  1 Terror to hard-hearted sinners who never enquire after the mind of God 564 2 Direction teaching the way to make men serious in their enquiries after Christ viz. Maintain the work of Contrition 570 2 He is ready to submit to the Ministers making known the mind of God ibid. Reasons three Because  1 The pride of their carnal Reason is conquered 572 2 The stubbornness of their wills is tamed 573 3 They have found the truth and terror of the Word ibid. Uses two hence  1 See the Reason of that unreadiness and unwillingness of man to submit to the evidence of the Word they want broken-heartedness ibid. 2 Tryal discovering such as were never broken-hearted at all 574 1 Open Rebels ibid. 2 Secret Traytors 575 DOCT. 13. Sinners in distress of Conscience are ignorant what they should do 576 Reasons two taken from  1 The Secrecy of the waies of God 577 2 The blindness of the distraction of their minds 579 Uses two hence  1 Instruction Men in distress of Conscience are apt to be mis-led 580 2 Advice to mourners in Sion Be careful to whose Counsel you commit your selves 582 DOCT. 14. A Contrite sinner sees a necessity of coming out of his sinful Condition 583 1 He propounds no terms of tolleration 584 2 He maintains no reservation ibid. 3 He admits no case of exception 385 Reasons three Because  1 He hath felt the severity of Gods Justice against every sin ibid. 2 He finds it impossible to bear the weight of the least sin 587 3 He perceives the combination of all Lusts. So that any one sin 589 1 Keeps possession for Satan ibid. 2 Keeps off the power of Gods Ordinances 590 Uses three hence  1 Tryal whether we have found this absolute necessity of parting with all sin ibid. It discovers the falshood of  1 Neuters 593 2 Formal Professors 594 2 Instruction See the reason of mens un-even and unsteady walking viz. The want of 〈◊〉 593 3 Direction how to keep the heart opposite to every sin ibid. 1 Be convinced sin is the greatest evil ibid. 2 Confider not of any cavil to the contrary ibid. DOCT. 15. There is a secret Hope wherewith the Lord supports the hearts of contrite sinners 596 This Hope differs from that which a Beleever hath in two things  1 In the ground of it 598 2 In the uncertainty 600 Reasons two That so he may thereby  1 Secretly support the 〈◊〉 601 2 Make way for the work of the means ibid. Uses three hence  1 Instruction See the reason why Satan so much endeavors to dead the hopes of the Contrite by suggesting 602 1 He is not elected ibid. 2 The day of Grace is past 606 3 He hath sinned against the holy Ghost All which are answered ibid. 2 Observe how easie it is with the Lord to confound a sinner with his own imagination 607 3 Exhortation to nourish this Hope ibid. Therefore be perswaded  1 Of thine own ignorance and inability to relieve thy self 608 2 Of Gods All-sufficiency who can do beyond what thou canst conceive ibid. DOCT. 16. They who are truly pierced for their sins do prize and covet deliverance from their sins ibid. 1 In the want of this the soul is not quieted 610 2 He is content with this though he want other things 611 3 He is resolved to submit to any Counsel 613 4 His 〈◊〉 is upon it his prayers dayly about it 614