ready at hand always good and kind to Man but then especially when Man stands in most need of him as all the Saints have found and testified Manasses in Prison Hagar in the Wilderness Daniel in the Lions Den and they in the fiery Furnace Job David Hezekiah in great distress and anguish of Spirit When the Bottle is dipped under Water he saveth it from drowning The more grievous their Oppression the more gracious hath been his Redemption And the reason hereof is good First Because none else can do it Not Men or Angels much less the Gilded Toys of the World or all that exteriour Lustre which charmeth the Eyes of so many esteemed by a troubled Mind but as a Cloud in painting a petty vapour of Water or as Chaff driven of the Wind. The Jews have a saying common among them viz. It is he that openeth our Heart in his Law i. e. By his Spirit he enableth the Heart to understand and effect Spiritual things it is a branch of his Prerogative Luke 24.45 He opened their Vnderstandings by removing Impediments by breathing into them the Holy Ghost and bestowing further Functional Graces As S. Ambrose expounds and explains that Text by some passages of S. Paul 1 Cor. 12.8 9. God toucheth the Heart as the Musician doth the strings of his Instrument and it soundeth what he pleaseth Secondly He hath Undertaken and Promised it by Himself to our First Parents and by his Prophets unto the Church in every Age successively It is the sum and end of the New Covenant to accept those who deny themselves to raise up them that are cast down to inrich those that are poor in Spirit and to speak comfortably to those who will not be comforted any other way He brings them into this Wilderness for this end that he may speak and not speak in vain unto them Till then commonly Man is like an untamed Heifer or wild Asses Colt that runs and revels here and there that breaks all Bonds and will hear no Advice When Sin is discovered and Conscience awakened one syllable of the Gospel one word of Comfort is as good News out of a far Country In every natural Man there is a three-fold Bar hindering the entrance of Spiritual Light and Life Ignorance in the understanding it is covered with Ignorance as the Deep was at first with Darkness there is a very Chaos Hardness in the Heart like that of Nabal's which became like a Stone and a malitious pravity in the Will which is like a noisom Sepulchre so that as such he can neither understand receive nor affect this Supernatural Work till the Lord hath removed them by his Spirit Cooperating with the Law and Gospel It is said of Lydia that the Lord opened her Heart i. e. effectually called her as Calvin saith He gave her Divine Light and Grace without which special Concurrence of his Paul's labour had been fruitless In effect it is all one with this I will speak unto her Heart i. e. I will speak Friendly Plainly and Effectually Conceive this Evangelical Work to go on in this Order First The Lord revealeth himself to such a Heart so dejected and troubled as a Wise and Loving Father not willing nor suffering any such to perish As St. Ambrose told Monica Filius tantaram lachrimarum c. A Son of so many Tears as she shed for her Augustine cannot perish Now these brought by a Voice into the Wilderness are all Sons of Sorrow many Tears are shed by them as a living Fountain sends forth plentiful Streams and often many Tears are shed for them therefore they cannot Perish And this the Lord doth in three degrees 1. He makes it evident that there is a possibility of Ease Purity and Peace And to that end he brings many presidents to their Mind of old hard rusty Hearts renewed softned and opened For they are recorded in Scriptures for that purpose Paul saith he obtained Mercy for this cause 1 Tim. 1.16 For a pattern to them which should hereafter believe The Lord speaks to some as bad as might be compared to Sodom and Gomorrah Isa 1.9 Yet in the 18. ver there is Come let us reason together though your sins be as Scarlet c. Others are bespatter'd with Idolatrous filthiness yet I will cleanse you from all your filthiness is God's Promise Ezek. 36.25 Besides many others with the Apostles black Roll 1 Cor. 6.10 11. Such were some of you but ye are washed and sanctified These and the like Instances are here brought to mind as evidences of Divine Favour and incouragements to Faith 2. He discovereth Christ and acquaints them with the New-Covenant as the only Remedy to make up the breach of the First-conditions Behold saith the Lord my Son a Lamb slain from the beginning to take away the Sins of the World Behold him in Union with your Nature and in Unction to the Office of Mediatorship Behold him in his Obedience Active and Passive assuming the Crime and Curse of your Nature undergoing the penalty and fulfilling the Precept of the Law in his own Person but in your stead and room Behold him in his Meritorious Viatory Office by way of Purchase and Conquest as also in his Applicatory-Intercession for all burdened Souls who seeing you are truly weary of Sin behold the Mediator by a real tender of his own Merits prevailing for you among the rest 3. He offereth Christ unto all such upon condition of Faith and Repentance to the performance of which Condition he enableth in his Offer So that they will to do what they are required saying often with grief and fear O that we could Repent and Believe O that we could take the Lord's offer c. Although Actual Faith be not yet in the Heart as some are of Opinion tho Mr. Perkins judgeth the contrary yet it is very near and shall infallibly follow Hagar had her Eyes opened to see the Well before she went to it and stooped down to take and taste it Faith comes in by exercise to manifest it self by certain steps and degrees And let all those who find themselves past any of them thankfully acknowledg God's Work and be humbly constant in the use of Means for the Lord will speak again Phil. 1.6 He which hath begun a good Work in you will perform it c. And pray as Luther wonted to do Confirm O Lord in us what thou hast wrought and perfect the Work that thou hast begun in us to thy Glory As Queen Elizabeth prayed Look upon the Wounds of thine Hands and dispise not the Work of thine Hands thou hast written me down in the Book of Preservation with thine own Hand O read thine own Hand-writing and save me Secondly He openeth the Heart towards himself and that in three Degrees 1. He persuadeth it of the truth of those Passages formerly revealed and discovered and that the Lord doth seriously intend them to all in this condition 2. He raiseth up in it an
this freedom and particularity of Choice in electing to the End and predestinating to the Means most of the Fathers downwards from Augustine and among the founder sort of School Divines Lumbard Aquinas and many of the Dominicans do strike in with the Divines of our Reformed Church 3dly Here is the Means whereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will allure or whereinto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wilderness Because I have known her I will allure her into the Wilderness Whosoever is ordained to the End is also pre-ordained to the Means The Lord can do it without Means but commonly he doth it by such as suit best with that Nature whereupon he is about to work Mans will is naturally free from Co-action therefore the Lord compelleth none but gently allureth all by degrees of unwilling making them willing 1. By illumination of the Vnderstanding Things unknown have no motive Faculty As no Good wrapp'd up in Darkness excite desire so no Evil swathed up in Ignorance strikes trouble or sorrow 2. By an effectual persuasion of the Will and then by an Infusion of renewing Grace Faith is his Work and Gift both for preparation of the Subject the beginning of Grace and for the increase and consummation of the exercise thereof Phil. 1.29 Heb. 12.2 God worketh all in Man to will what he should do and then to do what he willeth according to his own good pleasure but not as upon Stocks or Stones these are moved without knowledg as uncapable of Consent reasonable Creatures not so they consent and approve they know they will they love wha◠God worketh in them I will make ther◠is God's first work that they shall walk in my Statutes there is Mans after Co-operation Without me ye can do nothing And Wha◠hast thou O Man that thou hast not received A place which St. Cyprian usually urged to exclude all boasting on Mans behalf and whereby St. Augustine was brought to retract what he had wrote before of Faith in us and from us Means must be used but the Work is ascribed to an higher Power More distinctly know that Means are of two sorts either principal or instrumental The principal are either more principal as Christ in and by whom the Church hath all and without whom nothing or less principal as the Benefits which flow from Christ such are Adoption by the communication of his Filiation Justification by his Grace and Sanctification by his Spirit The instrumental Means are either preparative in and by the Law or effective in and by the Gospel of which more hereafter 4thly Here is to be considered the End whereunto all this is directed and that is twofold either last or next The last End is the Glory of his rich Grace in the glorification of his Spouse the Church the next End is the present Good of the Persons to be converted being thus under preparation for Regeneration As it is with a Goldsmith that would make a Cup for use or a Ring for Ornament his Oar is hard and full of dross therefore he casteth it into the Fire to soften and refine it this done he formeth and fashioneth it according to his Will Gregory applieth this Similitude thus We are the Gold hard and full of filth this World is the Shop Troubles are the Fire God the Workman let us learn how to suffer he knoweth best how to prepare and fit us for his Service As skilful Physicians hunt away the Lethargy by casting the Body into some degrees of a Fever to dry up that adventitious Moisture which else would quench natural Heat and bring in Death so the Lord brings his Children into Spiritual Distress to prevent Eternal Death and everlasting Torture in the burning Lake Or as it is with a tender Mother who clothes her Breast with Gall or Wormwood to wean the Child in its Affections and gain it to eat stronger Meat so and no otherwise is it with the Lord in this Work he weaneth them from the Dugs of the World and leadeth them into the Wilderness that he might bring them into the possession of Canaan Now no trouble for the present seemeth joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness to them that are exercised therein enabling them to say it was good for us that we were afflicted and broken that we might rejoice in more strength This the Lord only can do God shall persuade Japhet No finite power can work so upon the Spirit much less upon a weak fearful Man and yet sustain him under hope The Spirit of a Man may help against Man and against his own Infirmities but when he cometh to grapple with the Almighty when he is brought into the Wilderness to answer God charging him with his Debt a terrified burthened and wounded Conscience who else can support Prov. 18.14 For the further opening of the Point and consequently of this preparative Work to the capacity of the meaner sort three things shall be here insisted on viz. That it hath been so bow it is effected and wherefore In which we shall find what Sampson did in the Lions Belly many Honey combs of Spiritual Honey 1. This hath been and is the Method observed ordinarily in the Dispensation of Grace though a diversity may be granted as to the measure of it Look as in Music all the Strings of the Instrument are touched with the same hand yet not with a like stroke so here And the Lord is the Agent for Man being once turned from Life and dead in Sin cannot bring himself into any of this wholsom Pain much less out of it no no it is the Lord that in great Love doth both these for him Our first Parents had a legal Sermon made to them before they had any Promise applied Gen. 3.16 Hagar was brought into a Wilderness real to her typical to others before she was fully wrought upon in Faith to say I have seen him that seeth me Gen. 16.13 God begins the Work and seeth his before they see or seek him Manasses was sent into Captivity he was put in Prison and fettered in Irons the best Ornaments he ever wore before his Mountain could be brought low In such a proud Heart the Devil keeps his hold a long time such rusty Locks will not easily open Now he is as weary of his Sins as he is of his Chains As a Physician deals with Persons distracted and out of their wits he commands that they be kept in the dark to be bound in fetters to have miserable and hard Fare that by all they may be brought to their Understanding Thus God dealeth with some Sinners that are turned mad and grown out of their right Reason by their Wickedness that he may recover them he binds them in Chains brings them low that at length they may consider of their Condition and be healed Paul had both a Voice and Light to guide him into this Wilderness before the Lord would speak unto his Heart and
as ever Though he pull down the Shop-window reform outward Sins yet doth he not follow his Trade within door Doth he not sit brooding upon his Sin It is hypocritical repentance when Men leave some Sins only and not others also They can part with some kind of Corruptions it may be they are angry with them but then there are others of which it may be said as was of Goliah's Sword none like to that For as Repentance takes revenge upon every Sin so more especially upon that the Sinner took most delight in As Cranmer who subscribed with his right Hand what was against his Conscience afterward with revenge put that first into the Flame so doth the truly humbled Soul take revenge on that Sin by which he hath most dishonoured God In a word such actions of the Soul which admit of private reservations and indulgences and are not general as to this matter will be found a Meteor of the Brain not an affection of the Heart 2. Whether the injoyments of the World are not more precious in his esteem than the Love and Favour of God For this is certain the Man that hath been under this Preparative Work cannot but prefer the apprehensions of God's Love to all the World Therefore David prayed that God would remember him with the Favour which he beareth to his People Psal 16.4 5. this he accounted his chiefest good And Luther protested he would not be put off with the things of this Life Left-hand Blessings To whom may be added that Noble Italian Marquess who accounted not that Man worthy the name of a Christian who preferred not one Day 's communion with God to all the splendour of the whole Earth Now answer to this demand How stand your affections to Christ and other things below him Are they to Christ as a Spark to other things as a Flame The Unregenerate Man's joy is diffused to Earthly things but limited to Spiritual things Say are you not more chearful in Sinning than in the performance of holy Duties As it is with those Fishes that breed your Orient Pearls those Pearls are the torment of the Fish but when they are put upon a Man they are an Ornament to him so those Sins which are the Disease the Burden the Sorrow of a good Man are they not a matter of delight to you 3. Whether he doth not rest upon somewhat Creature or Action more than upon Christ or doth not prize something above him or equal with him As Augustine said That Marcellina hung Christ's Picture and the Picture of Pythagoras together Dost not thou O Man set Christ and the World or Christ and thy Duties together A Man may magnifie Christ as willing to have him in the end but part with nothing for him in the mean while he may prize his Blood but not his Grace his Promises but not his Precepts Jesus but not Christ If thine own Conscience answer Affirmatively it is an evident sign thou hast never been in this Wilderness Quest But how are they kept out seeing there is so much means to drive them into it many Sons of Thunder who heartily long after their Peoples safety how are they hindred Answ I conceive it is from these and the like Reasons First By the Multitude who run so merrily in the broad-way of Carnal Pleasures and draw multitudes after them How ordinary is it for Men to follow a multitude to do evil Few consider that the way to Heaven is a narrow Way and that they should be wise with a few Few are of the mind of Liberius an Othodox Bishop of the Second Primitive Times who when he was prest by the Emperour Constantius to forsake the Truth and vote for Arrianism by this Argument Art thou wiser than all the World Very honestly replied The Truth is no whit prejudiced by my aloneness in standing out for of old there were but three that withstood the wicked Edict of the King of Babel Most are of this Principle It is safe to do as the most do Like dead Fish they swim down the Stream whithersoever it runs or like Water that takes the figure of the Vessel into which it is cast They set their Dyal by the Town-Clock not by the Sun The Voice of the People is with them the Voice of God They infer that way to be truest which is the largest Secondly By delay and putting off serious thoughts about Death and their Account being afraid to hear of much more to dive into their Estate lest they should find that which would trouble them The Cup is in the Sack Thus the story goes of Galba who having received a very great sum of Money from the state of Rome and not being able to give account for it took more care to avoid giving account than to do it Thus Men keep their Consciences from considering their Conditions because it is so bad with them Like bad Debtors who are loth to come to account lest they should find their Estates low Or as Hereticks that are Lucifugae Scripturarum such Owls that cannot abide the Day they are afraid of discovering their Conditions and so content themselves in generals deceiving their own Souls Thirdly By fair promises of future amendment the thing they will do but in their own time as if the Clock of Mercy would strike at their beck Like those spoken of Hag. 1.2 The time is not yet come 1. The time of rebuilding the Second Temple it might be done hereafter Such is the guife of graceless Men to future and fool away their Salvation hereafter may be time enough and what need of such haste to build the Spiritual Temple In space comes Grace say they God is more merciful than so At what time soever a sinner repents God will put away all his Wickedness and thus they stand trifling with God and their own Souls being always about to do that which if not done they are undone for ever Fools and blind Men As our Saviour calls the Pharisees Mat. 23.17 Hence it is when they are prest to a speedy meeting of God by Repentance they answer as Antipater King of Macedon did when one presented him a Book treating of Happiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am not at leasure Or as Archias the Theban when warn'd of a Conspiracy against him cast the Letters by saying In crastinum seria and was slain ere the Morrow came So these Men will amend hereafter when they have neither Time nor Grace to command They promise a time of Healing but a time of Terrour and Torment may come Jer. 14.19 Et jam ex Jesu factus est damnator salutem consequi non possum as Father John said when exhorted to believe in Christ Jesus and to lay hold on his Merits Cham. Epist Jesuit pag. 124. Fourthly Others are kept off from a consideration of the troublesomness of the Way and lothness to leave their Sins Luther said while he was leaven'd with Popish Principles of Contritions and their
1. That he be persuaded of God's love unto him that he willeth indeed his Health and Safety in particular 2. That the Terms on which he willeth it are the Conditions of the new Covenant Faith and Repentance 3. That an unfeigned submission to God's own Ordinances is the right and ready way to enable the Soul to perform these Conditions and so to attain the End Whoso would be saved must be well grounded and throughly persuaded of this And so much for the first thing mentioned in the beginning The second and third follow which contain the main Business intended and are the Marrow of the Text. Viz. II. The Preparation of the Soul for Grace I will allure her into the Wilderness And herein are two things remarkable 1. The legal work of the Spirit in breaking the Heart of Stone and drawing it under sound Humiliation Lactabo eam I will entice her so Rivet Inclinabo eam I will encline or bend her to my Mind saith Zanchy Reddam eam flexibilem mihi I will bring her pliant to my hand so Calvin Ego seducens eam ire faciam desertum so Arius Montanus Seeing others have done so to her hurt I will seduce her for good I will allure and bring her into a Wilderness of saving Trouble and wholesom fear So our last Translation rendreth it The very Name of Noah's eldest Son by birth to whom this Promise was first revealed doth explain this Phrase and illustrate this Work Gen. 9.27 God shall enlarge Japhet c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seductus pellectus persuasus Which may be and is often taken in the worser part yet the Context here and in Genesis enforceth us to take it in the best sence only I will seduce allure persuade her for good As the Devil and his Instruments had seduced her to hurt so the Lord in tender mercy and pity would seduce another way for her good Even as Lovers use to improve all their Art and Skill to persuade and obtain the good Will of those whom they love and affect to marry So the Lord being in love with his People and desiring to marry them to himself in and by his Son for ever speaks thus in the Lovers Dialect I will allure her and cause her to do what she would not that afterwards she may do what she should Others I find who judg it more sound to derive Japheth from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies dilatare to enlarge to open the Heart and affect it with Joy Which doubtless may be admitted as a Consequent of the former both serving to set forth this preparative Work as a necessary disposition preceding Conversion For as Faith is the Condition of the Covenant so is this Preparation the Condition of Faith No Faith ordinarily without it in Truth although many have Faith without it in regard of Sense The thing may be done truly and yet not observed distinctly 2. A second thing to be noted here is the State and Condition of all such as are under this preparative Work of the Law They are said to be in the Wilderness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi locus à sermone remotus a remote Place far from Company from Conference and from human Comforts where she should meet with none to quench the Motions of the Spirit none to dawb with untempered Mortar no Egyptian Reed to rest upon none to complain unto or to seek Comfort from but the Lord alone Into such a place or condition the Lord would bring her as that none should hinder his Work any longer So that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Wilderness here is not to be understood a Cell or a Monastery as Aquinas glanceth 2. 2 dae q. 188. art 8. nor a desert Place properly called a Wilderness but rather the State and Condition of the Parties to be converted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Wilderness so Hierom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Wilderness so a latter Edition of the Septuagint more agreeable to the Original importing three things viz. 1. A turning of those to be converted out of all the deceitful Holds of Nature wherein Men usually shelter themselves against the Power of the Word of God The ready way we know to take the Hare is by driving her from her Coverts and Burroughs wherein she doth use to hide her self from the Dogs that pursue her so here 2. A presentation to the eye of the Understanding of many spiritual Dangers as so many roaring Cannons on every side wherewith a Christless Person is environed so that he who thought all to be well with him before while he remained securely asleep in the state of Nature now seeth all to be quite naught and out of order He dreamed he was rich happy and wanted nothing but being awake he seeth himself poor miserable and naked Alas for wo Within him he hears Conscience telling him the truth above him he beholds God offended frowning and turning his loving Countenance from him beneath him he seeth and feeleth Hell opening her Mouth to receive him having deserved as he now judgeth the lowest Room the darkest Corner and the fiercest Flames there about him trouble and fear is on every side He is weary of Life because of Sin and yet afraid to die because of the account alone he is tempted and terrified and in company he is defiled or grieved What to do or whither to go he knoweth not This is a Wilderness indeed As it is with a wounded Hart who feeling the Shaft runs from the Woods to the Plain and from thence to the Woods again but finds no ease at all Haeret lateri laethalis arundo the deadly Shaft sticks fast in his side Or as it was with the ancient Hebrews when they were led by Moses and Aaron from Egyptian Bondage into the pleasing Liberty of fruitful Canaan but through a vast Wilderness full of Troubles Conflicts Trials So it is with the Woman the Church and every Member thereof out of Christ but coming on towards him they begin to see their Sins they hear the terrible Threats of the Law they fear the Wrath of God as a just Judg they run up and down here for advice and there for comfort like Men afrighted to distraction for so the blind World judgeth them and cannot be comforted till the Lord speak unto their Hearts 3. It imports variety of Afflictions following upon the former Efficacy and Discovery of the Law And these are both positive and privative sometimes one and sometimes both as need requires Privatively the Lord deals with Men when he deprives them of Sacrifices Sacraments of Wealth Honour Food House Friends or Liberty and the like to pursue and follow them with Infamy Poverty Imprisonment or Captivity and all to humble and make them pliant to his Hand for their good He made Jeshurun look with lean Cheeks that he might leave kicking and learn Righteousness I will take away the bravery of thy tinkling Ornaments and instead of
judgment While Men are Drunk with Pleasures and besotted with delightful Objects commonly they are not sensible of any danger but being once brought into the Wilderness of fear and solitary Silence they have leasure to consider and ability to discern that Sin is treacherous as a Jesuit bitter as Gall Ugly more ugly than the Devil And then they loath and fly it then they cry out Lord what wouldst thou have us to do When before they would not be ruled nor persuaded by any reason The Jews will not part with their Idols till they bring them into Captivity nor Sampson with Dalilah till she betray him into the hands of the Philistines then away Idols and let Dalilah be burned alone Sampson repenteth The Viper beaten casteth up her Poyson The Traytor on the Rack will confess and forsake all The burnt Child dreads the fire and the Wormwood upon the Brest weans the Child from it Secondly It is to humble the Soul and cause her to set a right Estimate upon Christ hitherto undervalued Christ would not be so sweet if Sin were not so bitter The Man upon whom the Law hath not passed Sentence will not say Gramercy for a Pardon Besides it is necessity that endears any thing to us Extremity of pain makes us to prize a little ease and extremity of want to admire a little plenty Darius being vanquished by Alexander and in flight being in extremity of Thirst drank Water out of a Puddle mingled with much Blood of slain Souldiers and said It was the sweetest Drink that ever he tasted in his Life The Prodigal that disregarded all the Dainties of his Father's House did highly value the Servants Bread there when he was reduced to feed upon Husks in the Wilderness As it is with a weary Swimmer floating in the restless Sea ready to sink every moment how welcome is a bough to him when as if he had been upon the shoar he would not have regarded it So it is with such a wearied Man brought into the Wilderness of great distress and danger he is so humble and gentle that a Child may lead him He cried out and looked about him but few hear none can help him O how welcome then is the Thought the Sight the Presence of Christ that Tree of Life He will part with all Sins Goods Liberty Life or any thing if he may but touch the hem of his Garment Only then and to all such he is a Jesus indeed Thirdly It is that they may be the better ever after More zealous and serviceable to God who hath some great Work commonly for such to do and therefore their preparation is answerable A high Building must have a low Foundation Luther observed of himself that when God was about to set him upon any special Service he either laid some fit of Sickness upon him before-hand or turned Satan loose upon him For he was much exercised and beaten from his tender years with Spiritual Conflicts as Melancthon testifieth in his Life And this was in all likelihood to fit him for the great Work the Lord had cut out unto him There is no whole Heart to the broken None so sound to hold Grace as that and the more it is broken the more it contains A Paradox in Nature but not in Grace Besides they are hereby made more compassionate and helpful unto others Hence it was that God gave Luther such a Grace that in his Sermons all that heard him thought every one his own Temptations had been toucht and noted by him and when signification thereof was made to him by his Friends and being demanded how it could be answered Mine own Temptation and Experience are the cause thereof As a Physician that trieth the virtue of some sovereign composition upon his own Body he is the better able to Cure another with that Receipt It is a great invitation to Mercy to see one in the same condition that we our selves have been in As he said Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco As a Woman that hath had a Child can more pity such as are in Travel because she hath suffered the like pain When Christians by their own experience know the Way like old Travellers they can lead others and bring them into and guide them through this Spiritual Trouble saying Thus and thus were I brought in and so came I off this course I took and this success I found c. Experienced Learners are the best Teachers These are some of many Reasons which might be given of the Lord 's proceeding in this manner towards his People The Sum of all is for their good He casteth them down very low that he might lift them up the higher he leads them through a Wilderness to convey them into Canaan As hereafter will appear So much by way of Doctrine The Application follows which is a principal part of this Discourse And Vse 1. It condemneth such first as are frequently in the Wilderness of Sin and wanton Prodigality but never in the Wilderness of sorrow and saving Fear much under Worldly but never under Spiritual Trouble How far are such from Grace who have not past this Preparation How far from Christ from Comfort from true Happiness As far as the East is from the West Darkness from Light Belial from Christ in point of Communion Such have cause to fear that Sin sits like a Queen in her Regency that the strong Man keeps Possession and that they are slaves to Satan subjects of the Kingdom of Darkness A Man may have some Trouble and yet not be Converted but he cannot be Converted without some Trouble The Heart cannot be broken for Sin without the sight of Sin The Sun looketh upon the Earth thence draweth up Vapours and distilleth them down again so doth the Sun of the Understanding which till it be Convicted the Heart cannot be Compuncted Sight of Sin must necessarily precede sorrow for Sin An Infant in the Womb cries not because it seeth not but as soon as it comes into the Light sets up its note The blind Eye and the hard Heart go together as unseparable Companions Men will never loath themselves till there be a remembring of their ways and doings that have not been good Ezek. 36.31 Quest It may be demanded who are they and how they are kept out Answ Who they are that were never yet in this Wilderness may easily be known by what hath been spoken already in the description of this preparative Work let any one bring himself and compare his present estate with it and the truth will readily be discovered especially if he consider and impartially answer to such like demands 1. Whether he doth not retain in his Heart the love of some Sin which either he knoweth or might know to be a Sin Though he do many things yet hath he not an Herodias that he will not part with Though with the Vintner he pull down the Bush yet hath he not as much Heart to his Sin
I hear and that all others should hear Husbands accusing me of Wrong and Injustice Virgins and Wives complaining of a Stain brought by me to their Beds and Bodies my Neighbours muttering out my breach of Wedlock band yea all my Folly and Prodigality What shall I say Or whither shall I go My Sins are ever before me Speak no word of comfort raise me not up but rather trample me under Feet as unsavoury Salt cast me out of Company as unworthy to live or breath O ye Heavens why do ye shine upon me O thou Air why do'st thou refresh me O thou Earth why do'st thou bare me up It is I that have rebelled against our Soveraign Lord it is I that have playâ—d the Beast it is I that have been so ungrateful and forgetful My Sins are ever before me Droop O my Soul and weep abundantly hang down the Head and weep and mourn in deep bitterness It is better to lose the sence of Seeing by weeping than always to see Sin Resolve never to look chearfully much less to entertain a thought of Joy till thou hearest Christ saying to thee Son be of good cheer thy Sins are forgiven thee No more of this here the second Point comâ—s to hand viz. 2. Doct. That whosoever is thus mindful of Sin and troubled about it to him it is a good sign of the pardon of it and of his being in the state of Grace Multitudes of Scriptures may be produced proving this Conclusion by just Consequence and easie Deduction Some are noted in the Margin * 2 Chron. 33.12 Job 13.26 Psal 32.5 Rom. 7.24 Examples to illustrate you have in all the Saints of God of whose Conversion and being in a â—tate of Grace we ought to be assured evidenced to our Faith by the Word recording it and to our knowledg â—y this following trouble for and about Sin As in David here and in many other Psalms * Ps 25.7 32.5 38.4 Isa 38.17 Luk. 7.38 Mat. â—6 ult 1 Tim. 1.13 Act. 2.43 16.30 In Hezekiah Mary Magdalen St. Peter and S. Paul the two great Apostles the latter of which was a furious Persecutor of Christianity till subdued by the Spirit of God and of a Ravening Wolf was made a Lamb of the Fold with those mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles and many others of our own Knowledg who have and do speak out of experience and most comfortable assurance that it was good for them that ever they were thus troubled and I believe never any read or heard of any that miscarried who once came to this kindly sight of Sin And there are two Grounds of this truth Reason 1. The First is God's Order which he observes in the Conversion of a Person and Sanctification of our Natures by discovering the Maladies and setting Sin before the Eye of that Sinner whose safety he desires and intends Partly to stay him from running on further towards Hell partly to prepare him for the receipt and exercise of Regenerating Grace and partly to keep him humble and weaned from an immoderate love of Worldly Glory as from the former Discourse will more fully appear Reason 2. Secondly The other Reason is God's free Promises annext to the second Covenant and presupposing this Condition Only Faith is the condition of the Covenant but this trouble of Mind is the condition and companion of Faith As legally considered it is a condition Preparative and preceding Faith as Evangelically it is an unseparable Companion ever following Behold this self-same thing that ye sorrowed after a Godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you c. 2 Cor. 7.10 11. Faith is in us first in order of Nature at least though Godly sorrow is apt first to appear as sap and life are first in the Root yet Buds Leaves and Fruits first discover themselves in the Branches They shall look upon me whom they have pierced there is Faith for Christ crucified can be beheld with no other Eye and they shall mourn for him c. Zech. 12.10 There is brokenness of Spirit Spiritual trouble resulting from it It is an hard question in Divinity Whether Faith be no part of Repentance Which some resolve thus * Synops purio Theolog. Disp 32. §. 40. If Repentance of which this Trouble is a branch be consider'd largely for the whole work of Conversion so Faith is comprised in it if strictly so it is the cause thereof However it is apparent they are nearly allied they are Sister-Graces where the former is there is the latter also Reason 3. To which a third Ground may be added When Man approacheth near unto God he seeth both himself and Sin better Sin appears to be greater and himself lesser The Divine Light and Purity represents both as they are in deed and not as Satan's-Jesuits Pleasure and Profit do misreport As it is with the Moon the further off it is from the Sun the greater it is but by near approaching it appears lesser It is St. Austin's allusion in one of his Epistles Thus it is with Man in respect of God Quò propius ad Deum aceedit Homo eò melius sentit quà m miserae sit abjectae conditionis saith Rivet The nearer Man cometh to God the better he seeth his own miserable Condition According to that of Gregory in his Morals Quanto magis internae Divinitatis conspiciunt omnes Sancti tantò magis se nihil esse cognoscunt When the Saints by Faith come to apprehend Spiritual Mysteries then they clearly see their own nothingness that glorious Sun discovers all their Dust they are ashamed of their droppings when they stand before that Ocean As the great Doctor of the Gentiles who was immediately inspired by the Holy Spirit and of great Sanctity no less then a Cherubim scorched with Celestial Ardours and who pitched his Feet upon the front of the Sun became most vile in his own Eyes when he was carried up nearest to God Such poverty of Spirit such trouble of Mind such a sight of Sin is an infallible sign of our Conversion to God and of obtained Pardon Object It may be objected May not a Natural Vnregenerate Man such as have no renewing Grace have a sight of Sin May not they be troubled about Sin and yet never return to amend and procure Pardon Answ Doubtless they may not only see Sin with some trouble and distaste but also leave the exercise thereof they may see Sin and be brought I say to some trouble about it by the inward light of Natural Conscience by the use of outward means while they live within the bounds of a Visible Church by the fear and force of Humane Laws or by some heavy Judgment falling upon them in their Bodies and Estates all or any of which may force open their Eyes to see and acknowledg their own evil ways as it fell out with Pharaoh who sighed at every Plague and seemed to be willing to turn to God And so did