his Sin in regard of the profit of it you that are such the time will come when you must dye and then consider what good these sinful courses will do you How will you judge of Sin then when it shall leave a blot on your Souls and a guilt on your Consciences 2. A man must look on Sin in the venom of it and that you may do partly if you compare it with other things and partly if you look at it in regard of it self 1. Compare Sin with those things that are most fearful and horrible as suppose any soul here present were to behold the damned in Hell if the Lord should give any one of you a little peep-hole into Hell that you saw the horror of the damned then propound this to your heart What are those pains which the damned endure and your heart will shake and quake at it yet the least Sin that ever you did commit is a greater evil in its own nature then the greatest pains of the damned in Hell 2. Look at Sin simply as it is in it self what is it but a profest opposing of God himself A sinful creature joyns side with the Devil and comes in battel Array against the Lord and flies in the face of the Lord God of Hosts I pray you in cold blood consider this and say Good Lord what a sinful wretch am I that a poor damned wretch of the earth should stand in defiance against God! that I should submit my self to the Devil and oppose the Lord God of Hosts Secondly Convictingly that Sin may be so to us as it is in it self and that discovers it self in these two particulars 1. When we have a particular apprehension in our own person that whatsoever Sin is in general we confess it the same in our own souls It is the cursed distemper of our hearts howsoever we hold the Truth in general yet when we come to our own Sins to deny the particulars The Adulterer confesseth the danger and filthiness of that Sin in gross but he will not apply it to himself The Rule therefore is Arrest thy soul whosoever thou art of those sins particularly whereof thou standest guilty To this purpose say Is Murther and Pride and Drunkenness and Vncleanness such horrible sins O Lord it was my Heart that was proud and vain it was my Tongue that did speak filthily and blasphemously my Hand that wrought wickedness my Eye that was wanton and my Heart that was unclean and filthy Lord here they are Thus bring thy Heart before God 2. When the soul sits down with the audience of Truth and seeks no shift to oppose Truth revealed when the Lord comes to make racks in the hearts of such as he means to do good to the Text saith He will reprove the world of sin that is He will convince the world of wickedness he will set the soul in such a stand that it shall have nothing to say for it self he cannot shift it off The Minister saith God hates such and such a sinner And the Lord hates me too saith the soul for I am guilty of that sin Thus many time when a sinner comes into the Congregation if the Lord please to work on him the minde is illightned and the Minister meets with his corruptions as if he were in his bosom and he answers all his cavils and takes away all his objections with that the soul begins to be in a maze and saith If this be so as it is for ought I know and if all be true that the Minister saith then the Lord be merciful unto my soul I am the most miserable sinner that ever was born You that know not your sins that you may see them Convictingly get you home to the Law and look into the glass thereof and then bundle up all your sins thus So many sins against God himself in the first Commandment against his Worship in the second against his Name in the third against his Sabbath in the fourth Nay all our Thoughts Words and Actions all of them have been sins able to sink our souls to the bottom of Hell And secondly that you may see them clearly consider of their effect both in their Doom and in the Execution Onely to instance in their Doom Me thinks I see the Lord of heaven and earth and the Attributes of God appearing before him The Mercy of God the Goodness of God and the Wisdom of God the Power of God the Patience and Long-suffering of God and they come all to a sinner an hypocrite or to a carnal professor and say Mercy hath relieved you Goodness hath succored you Wisdom hath instructed you Power hath defended you Patience hath born with you Long-suffering hath indured you now all these comfortable Attributes will bid you adieu and say Farewel damned souls you must go hence to Hell to have your fellowship with damned ghosts Mercy shall never more relieve you Goodness shall never more succor you Wisdom shall no more instruct you Power shall never more defend you Patience shall never more bear with you Long-suffering shall never more indure you and then shall you to endless easeless and remediless torments where you will ever remember your sins and say My Covetousness and Pride was the cause of this I may thank my sins for this Think of these things I beseech you seriously and see your sins here to prevent this sight hereafter SECT. 3. Sense of Divine Wrath. THe sinner by this time having his eyes so far opened that he beholds his Sins he begins then to consider That God hath him in chase And this sense of Divine Wrath discovers it self in these two particulars 1. It works a fear of some evil to come 2. It possesseth the soul with a feeling of this evil First the soul considers That the punishment which God hath threatned shall be executed on him sooner or later he cryes therefore What if God should damn me God may do it And what if God should execute his vengeance upon me Thus the soul fears that the evil discovered will fall upon him This is the reason of those phrases of Scripture We have not received the spirit of bondage to fear again the Spirit shews our bondage and thence comes this fear Again God hath not given us the spirit of fear that is the spirit of bondage that works fear It is with a soul in this fear as it was with Belshazzar when he commanded the Cups to be brought out of the House of the Lord An hand-writing came against him on the wall and when he saw it his thoughts troubled him and his face began to gather paleness and his knees knocked against one another as if he should say Surely there is some strange evil appointed for me and with that his heart began to tremble and shake just so it is with this fear he that runs ryot in the way of wickedness and thinks to despise Gods Spirit and to hate
Grace 2. That God will remove this corruption The first general circumstance of the souls Preparation is on Gods part wherein is The offer of Christ Jesus The condition of this offer and The easiness of this condition we may have all in this one Comparison As with a Malefactor convicted of High Treason for plotting some wicked practice against his Prince if after the discovery of all passages the King make a Proclamation That upon the surceasing of his Enterprises he shall be pardoned nay if the King shall continue to send Message after Message secretly to tell him that would he yet lay down his arms and take a pardon he shall freely be remitted and graciously accepted into favor again if this Traytor now should rather fling away his Pardon then his Weapons then should the King raise an Army and overcome him and take him and execute him without any pity or mercy I appeal to your own Consciences is he not justly rewarded What will the world say he had a fair offer of Pardon and the King sent Messenger after Messenger unto him seeing therefore he refused and neglected such offers it is pity but condemnation should befal him thus would all say Why this is the condition of every poor soul under heaven we are all Rebels and Traytors by our Oathes and Blasphemies we set our mouth against heaven and yet after all our pride and stubbornness and loosness and prophaneness and contempt of Gods Word and Ordinances the Lord is pleased to proclaim Mercy still to every one that will receive it All you that have dishonored my Name All you that have prophaned my Sabbaths and contemned my Ordinances All you cursed wretches Come Come who will and take Pardon therein is the Offer onely let them lay aside all their weapons therein is the Condition and then have Christ for the taking therein is the Easiness of the condition Blessed God may every Soul say if I will not do this for Christ I will do nothing had the Lord required a great matter of me to have attained salvation had he required Thousands of Rams and Ten thousand Rivers of Oyl had he required the first-born of my body for the sins of my soul had he required me to have kneeled and prayed until mine eyes had failed until my hands had been wearied until my tongue had been hoarse and until my heart had fainted one drop of mercy at the last gasp would have quit all this cost But what goodness is this that the Lord should require nothing of me but to lay down my weapons and to receive Christ offered Lo the Lord this day hath sent from heaven and offered Salvation unto you Sons of men the Lord Jesus is become a suitor to you and I am Christs spokesman to speak a good word for him O that we may have our errand from you O that there were such an heart in my people saith God to fear me and keep my Commandments always Shall the Lord and his Messengers thus woo and intreat and will any yet stand out against God and say I will none of Christ I will try it out to the last O then if the great God of Heaven and Earth shall come with Ten thousand thousand of Judgements and execute them upon that man if he shall bring a whole Legion of Devils and say Take him Devils and torment him Devils in Hell for ever because he would not have mercy when it was offered he shall not have mercy because he would not have salvation when it was tendred let him be condemned If God should thus deal with that man the Lord should be just in so doing and he justly miserable SECT. 2. The general Circumstances of Preparation on Mans part THe second general circumstance of the souls Preparation is on Mans part and herein is observable 1. That Corruption opposeth Grace 2. That God will remove this Corruption First The first is clear 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them and Acts 7. 51. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye Give us a man in the state of Nature and though all the Mininisters under heaven should preach mercy unto him though all the Angels in heaven should exhort and intreat him though all glory and happiness were laid before him and he were wished onely to believe and take it and it should be his for ever yet in his natural condition he could have no power to receive so blessed an offer howsoever this hinders not but he is to wait upon God in the means And then Secondly God may remove this Corruption which he himself cannot do Herein observe we The Author Time of this Grace First The Author is God I will take away their stony hearts saith God and give them an heart of flesh I will remove that sturdy heart which is in them and will give them a frameable teachable heart which shall ply and yield to whatsoever I shall teach them The taking away of the indisposition of the soul to any duty and the fitting framing and disposing of a soul to perform any Spiritual service is the alone work of God Quiet then thy soul and content thy heart thou mayst say I have an hard heart within and it will receive no good from without the Word prevails not the Sacraments have no power over me all the means and cost and charges that God hath bestowed upon me is lost and my heart is not yet humbled my corruptions are not yet weakned But in this be thou comforted though means cannot do it which God useth at his pleasure yet the Lord can do it there is nothing difficult to him that hath hardness it self at command Be then Exhorted you that have stony hearts to have recourse unto this great God of heaven Should a Physician set up a Bill That he would cure all that were troubled with the Stone in the Reins and that we should hear of many healed by him this would stir up all to repair to him that labored of this Disease Why the Lord this day hath set up a Bill That he will cure all stony hearts that will but come to him and all the children of God have found to the proof hereof to the comfort of their souls You wives therefore that have husbands with stony hearts and you parents that have children with stony hearts tell them You have heard this day of a Physician that will cure them and exhort them to repair unto him Secondly the Time of this Grace is either in regard of the Means Men 1. In regard of the Means and that is when the Sons of men have the Gospel shining in their faces if ever good work upon their hearts it will be then This should teach us how thankful we ought to be unto the Lord that enjoy
am afraid therefore to approach near unto the Lords presence Is it so hear what the Lord saith Come unto me ye rebellious people and I will heal your rebellions You that never prayed never came to hear all Rebels come unto me and then the people answer Behold we come unto thee for thou art our God This is great encouragement to a poor sinner he begins now to wonder and say Lord shall all my sins be pardoned shall all my oathes and abominations be forgiven I that slighted so many mercies and committed so many follies shall I be entertained Yes saith the Lord come unto me and thou shalt be forgiven come I command you come 3. The Lord doth not onely command a poor sinner to come in but when he is nice in this case saying There is mercy with God but not for me the Lord then followeth him still and sends another cord after him that if it be possible he may win him and woo him to receive mercy of him If command therefore prevail not he intreats and beseeches him to come and receive mercy and this me thinks should move the hardest heart under heaven We saith the Apostle are embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be reconciled unto God rather then you should go away from Christ even Mercy it self will come and kneel down before you and beseech you and intreat you for the Lord Jesus sake to pity your poor souls and to receive pardon for your sins A sinner is not able to comprehend this but he begins to be at a stand and at amazement What that the Lord should beseech him O that thou wouldst receive pardon for thy sins and be blessed for ever Good Lord saith the Soul is this possible that the great King of Heaven should come and beseech such a Traytor such a Rebel as I am to take pardon That a King on Earth should proclaim a pardon to some notorious Traytor this were much but that the King of Heaven should lay down his Crown and come creeping to me and beseech me on his knee as it were to take mercy this is a thing beyond all expectation What shall Heaven stoop to earth shall Majesty stoop to misery shall the great God of Heaven and Earth that might have condemned my soul and if I had perished and been damned might have took glory by my destruction Is it possible is it credible that this God should not onely entertain me when I come and command me for to come but intreat and beseech me to come and receive mercy from him O the depth of the incomprehensible love of God! Imagine you saw God the Father intreating you and God the Son beseeching you as he doth this day Come now and forsake your sins and take mercy which is prepared for you and shall be bestowed upon you Would not this make a soul think thus with it self What for a Rebel not onely to have mercy offered but to be intreated to receive mercy it were pity if I will not take it but I should go to Hell and be damned for ever The Lord he complains Why will ye dye as I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner Turn ye turn ye why will ye dye ye sinful Sons of men Mercy is offered you the Lord Jesus reacheth out his hand to you fain would he pluck the Drunkard out of the Alehouse and the Adulterer from his Whore O if you break this cord I know not what to say to you this is able to break a Mountain in pieces Shake O Mountains saith the Prophet Why because God hath redeemed Jacob The Redemption of Jacob was enough to break a Mountain let his Mercy break our hearts it is God that begs the blessing is our own 4. If yet all this prevail nothing at all the Lord will then wait and stay in long patience and suffering to see if any time a sinner will turn unto him Our Savior follows poor sinners from Alehouse to Alehouse and says I beseech you Drunkards take mercy and have your sins pardoned The Lord as we may say tires himself and wearieth himself with waiting one day after another and one week after another It may be saith Christ this week this Sabbath this Sermon a sinner will turn unto me what will it never be Are you not ashamed my friends that the Lord Jesus should thus wait your leisure and follow you from house to house and from place to place nay that Christ should every morning appear to your understanding and every night come to your bed-side saying Let this be the last night of sinning and the next day the first day of your repentance O when will you be humbled when will you receive mercy that it may go well with you and with yours for ever If none of the other will move you yet for shame let this cord draw you to the Lord Hear hear his doleful pangs O Jerusalem Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean O when will it once be A woman that is in travel O how she expects and longs for her delivery I now a throb comes and then she cryes anon comes a second throb and then she cryes again O when comes deliverance Thus God the Father takes on him the person of a travelling woman he travels and travels until he bring forth a son until some soul be converted and brought home unto him O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean when will it once be I have waited one ten twenty thirty forty years long have I waited on this generation when will it once be The Lord thus travels in patience looking when we will receive mercy will never our proud hearts be humbled will never our stubborn hearts be softned will never our prophane hearts be sanctified when will it once be Christ hath waited this day this week this moneth this quarter this year these ten twenty thirty forty years on us You old sinners that are gray-headed in your wickedness how long hath the Lord waited on you O for shame let him wait no longer but turn turn ye unto him that ye may receive mercy from him Thirdly if bonds of love move not the Lord hath iron cords that will pluck in pieces to wit the cords of Conscience which thus disputes He that being often reproved doth still harden his heart shall perish everlastingly But thou being often reproved dost still harden thy heart therefore thou shalt perish everlastingly In this Syllogism are contained the Monition Accusation Condemnation of Conscience In the first Proposition Conscience gives the sinner a Monition to come from sin upon pain of the heaviest Judgement that can be inflicted It is the Lord that sends the Conscience on this errand Go to such a man and tell him You have blasphemed Gods Name and you have spoken against Gods Saints and you have broken Gods Sabbaths and you have contemned
mean time I dye and starve It falls out in this case with a broken-hearted sinner as with a prodigal childe The Prodigal he hath spent his means and abused his Father and now is there a Famine in the Land and poverty is befallen him he knows indeed there is meat and cloaths enough in his Fathers House but alas what can he expect thence but his Fathers heavy displeasure if a man should say Go to your Father he will give you a portion again would he think you believe this No would he say it is my Father I have offended and will he now receive me yet should a man come and tell him that he heard his Father say so and then shew him a Certificate under his Fathers hand that it was so this would sure draw him into some hope that his Father meant well towards him So it is with a sinner when he is apprehensive of all his rebellions if a man should tell such a soul Go to God and he will give you abundance of mercy and compassion the soul cannot believe it but thinks What I mercy no no Blessed are they that walk humbly before God and conform their lives to his word let them take it but for me it is mercy I have opposed it is grace I have rejected no mercy no grace for me But now if God send a Messenger from Heaven or if it come under the hand of his Spirit that he will accept of him and pass by all his sins this makes the soul grow into some hopes and upon this ground it goes unto the Lord But here observe me that none either in heaven or in earth but onely Gods Spirit can make this Certificate when it is night all the candles in the world cannot take away the darkness so all the means of grace and salvation all the candle-light of the Ministry they are all good helps but the darkness of the night will not be gone before the Sun of Righteousness arise in our hearts Hence it is that it proves so difficult a matter to comfort a distressed soul I shall one day perish saith David I shall one day go down to hell saith the soul Let all the Ministers under heaven cry Comfort ye comfort ye still he replyes I mercy and I comfort will the Lord pardon me It is mercy I have despised and trampled under my feet and I mercy no no Thus we Ministers observe by experience Some that in their own apprehensions are gone to the bottom of hell we make known to them Reasons and Arguments and Promises but nothing takes place what 's the Reason O none but Gods Spirit can do it he must either come from Heaven and say Comfort ye comfort ye my people or it will never prevail let me speak therefore to you that are Ministers you do well to labor to give comfort to a poor fainting soul but always say Comfort Lord O Lord say unto this poor soul that thou art his salvation SECT. 3. Hope in Christ THe minde being thus illightned the Lord calls on the affections Come desire Come love but the first voice is to Hope now Hope is a faculty of the soul that looks out for mercy and waits for the same So the Apostle Phil. 1. 20. According to my earnest expectation It is a similitude taken from a man that looks after another and lifts up himself as high as he may to see if any be coming after him so here the soul stands as it were a tip toe expecting when the Lord comes he hath heard the Lord say Mercy is coming towards thee mercy is provided for thee now this affection is set out to meet mercy afar off it is the looking out of the soul O when will it be Lord Thou sayest mercy is prepared thou sayest mercy is approaching the soul standeth a tip-toe O when will it come Lord here is the voyce of Hope This sinful soul of mine it may through Gods mercy be sanctified this troubled perplexed soul of mine it may through Gods mercy be pacified this evil and corruption which harbors in me and hath taken possession of me it may through Gods mercy be removed and when will it be Lord The maner how Gods Spirit works this is discerned in three particulars 1. The Lord doth sweetly stay the heart and fully perswade the soul that a mans sins are pardonable and that all his sins may be pardoned and that all the good things he wanteth they may be bestowed this is a great sustainer of the soul when a poor sinner seeth his sins in their number nature when he seeth no rest in the creature nor in himself though all means all help all men all Angels should joyn together yet they cannot pardon one sin of his then the Lord lifteth up his voyce and saith from Heaven Thy sins are pardonable in the Lord Jesus Christ 2. The Lord doth sweetly perswade the soul that all his sins shall be pardoned the Lord makes this appear and perswades his heart that he intendeth mercy that Christ hath procured pardon for the soul of a broken-hearted sinner in special and that he cannot but come unto it by this means Hope comes to be assured and certainly perswaded to look out knowing the Promise shall be at the last accomplished the former onely sustained the heart and provoked it to look for mercy but this comforts the soul that undoubtedly it shall have mercy The Lord Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost now saith the broken and humble sinner I am lost Did Christ come to save sinners Christ must fail of his end or I of my comfort God saith Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden I am weary and unless the Lord intend good unto me why should he invite me and bid me come surely he means to shew me mercy nay he promiseth to relieve me when I come therefore he will do good unto me 3. The Lord lets in some relish and taste of the sweetness of his love some scent and savor of it so that the soul is deeply affected with it and carryed mightily unto it that it cannot be severed it is the letting in the riches of his love that turneth the expectation of the soul another way yea it turneth the whole stream of the soul thitherward This Reproves 1. Those that cast off all Hope 2. Those that without ground will do nothing but Hope 1. If the Lord stir up the heart of his to hope for his Mercy then take heed of that fearful sin of Despair Despair we must in our selves and that is good but this Despair we speak of is hainous in the eyes of God and hurtful to thee 1. Injurious to God thou goest to the deep dungeon of thy Corruption and there thou sayest These sins can never be pardoned I am still proud and more stubborn this distress God seeth not God succors not his hand cannot reach his Mercy cannot save Now mark
relieved you it was Jesus Christ Oh therefore love him deal equally with him and as he deserves so enlarge your hearts to him for ever 3. Christ seeks our love Here is the admiration of mercy That our Savior who hath been rejected by a company of sinful creatures should seek their love for shame refuse him not but let him have love ere he go Had the Lord received us when we had come to him and humbled our hearts before him Had he heard when we had spent our days and all our strength in begging and craving it had been an infinite mercy But when the Lord Jesus Christ shall seek to us by his Messengers it is all the work we have to do to woo you and speak a good word for the Lord Jesus Christ yea and if we speak for our selves it is pity but our tongue should cleave to the roof of our mouth when the Lord Jesus shall come and wait upon us and seek our love O this is the wonder of mercies think of this O ye Saints The Lord now by us offers love to all you that are weary and have need What answer shall I return to him in the evening shall I say Lord I have tendred thy mercy and it was refused Brethren it would grieve my heart to return this answer O rather let every soul of you say Can the Lord Jesus love me In truth Lord I am out of love with my self I have abused thy Majesty I have loved the world I have followed base lusts and can the Lord Jesus love such a wretch as I am yet saith the Lord I will heal their back-slidings I will love them freely He looks for no portion he will take thee and all thy wants get you home then and every one in secret labor to deal truly with your own hearts make up a match in this maner and say Is it possible that the Lord should look so low that a great Prince should send to a poor Peasant that Majesty should stoop to means Heaven to Earth God to man Hath the Lord offered mercy to me and doth he require nothing of me but to love him again call upon your hearts I charge you and say thus Lord if all the light of mine eyes were love and all the speeches of my tongue were love it were all too little to love thee O let me love thee dearly If you will not say thus then say hereafter You had a fair offer and that a poor Minister of God did wish you well Alas be not coy and squemish the Lord may have better then you lie down therefore and admire at the mercy of the Lord that should take a company of dead dogs and now at the last say as the Prophet did Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in SECT. 6. A relying on Christ VVE are now come to the work of the Will which is the great wheel and Commander of the soul The former affections were but as hand-maids to usher in Christ and the Promises the minde saith I have seen Christ Hope saith I have waited Desire saith I have longed Love saith I am kindled then saith the Will I will have Christ it shall be so and this makes up the match the spawn and seeds of faith went before now faith is come to some perfection now the soul reposeth it self upon the Lord Jesus And this reposing or resting it self discovers a fivefold act First it implyes A going out of the soul to Christ When the soul seeth this that the Lord Jesus is his ayd and must ease him and pardon his sins then let us go to that Christ saith he it is the Lords call Come to me all ye that are weary now this voyce coming home to the heart and the prevailing sweetness of the call over-powering the heart the soul goes out and falls and flings it self upon the riches of Gods grace Secondly It lays fast hold upon Christ when the Lord saith Come my Love my Dove O come away Behold I come saith she and when she is come she fasteneth upon Christ saying My beloved is mine and I am his Faith lays hold on the Lord and will not let Mercy go but cleaves unto it though it conflict with the Lord Should he slay me saith Job yet will I trust in him The case is like Benhadads who being overcome by Ahab his Servants thus advise him We have heard that the Kings of Israel are merciful Kings we pray thee let us put ropes about our necks and sackcloth on our loyns and go out to the King peradventure he will save thy life Thus the Servants go and coming to Ahab they deliver the Message Thy Servant Benhadad saith I pray thee let me live and he said Is he yet alive he is my brother Now the men diligently observed whether any thing would come from him and did hastily catch at it and they said Thy brother Benhadad and they went away rejoycing This is the lively Picture of a broken-hearted sinner after he hath taken up arms against the Almighty and that the Lord hath let in Justice and he seeth or hath seen the anger of God bent against him then the soul reasons thus I have heard though I am a rebellious sinner that none but sinners are pardoned and God is a gracious God and therefore unto him let me go with this he falls down at the footstool of the Lord and cryes O what shall I do what shall I say unto thee O thou preserver of men O let me live I pray thee in the sight of my Lord The soul thus humbled the Lord then lets in his sweet voyce of mercy and saith Thou art my Son my Love and thy sins are pardoned These words no sooner uttered but he catcheth thereat saying Mercy Lord and a Son Lord and love Lord and a pardon Lord The heart holds it self here and will never away Thirdly it flings the weight of all its occasions and troubles guilt and corruptions upon the Lord Jesus Christ He that walks in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God that is if a man be in extremity hopeless in misery and walks in desperate discouragements yea and hath no light of comfort Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God As when a man cannot go of himself he lays all the weight of his body upon another so the soul goes to a Christ and lays all the weight of it self upon Christ and saith I have no comfort O Lord all my discomforts I lay upon Christ and I relye upon the Lord for comfort and consolation Who is this saith Solomon that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved Cant. 8. 5. The party coming is the Church the wilderness is the troubles and vexations the Church meets withal and the beloved is
the Lord Almighty and to resist the work of his Grace now it may be there comes this fear and hand-writing against him and then he cryes These are my sins and these are the Plagues and Judgements threatned against them and therefore why may not I be damned why may not I be plagued Secondly the Lord pursues the soul and discharges that evil upon him which was formerly feared and now his Conscience is all on a flame and he saith to himself O I have sinned and offended a just God and therefore I must be damned and to Hell I must go Now the soul shakes and is driven beyond it self and would utterly faint but that the Lord upholds it with one hand as he beats it down with the other he thinks every thing is against him he thinks the fire burns to consume him and that the ayr will poyson him and that Hell-mouth gapes under him and that Gods wrath hangs over him and if now the Lord should but take away his life that he should tumble down headlong into the bottomless Hell Should any man or Minister perswade the soul in this case to go to Heaven for Mercy it replies in this maner Shall I repair to God O that 's my trouble Is not he that great God whose Justice and Mercy and Patience I have abused And is not he the great God of Heaven and Earth that hath been incensed against me Oh with what a face can I appear before him and with what heart can I look for any mercy from him I have wronged his Justice and can his Justice pardon me I have abused his Mercy and can his Mercy pity me What such a wretch as I am If I had never enjoyed the means of mercy I might have had some plea for my self but Oh I have refused that mercy and have trampled the Blood of Christ under my feet and can I look for any mercy No no I see the wrath of the Lord incensed against me and that 's all I look for SECT. 4. Sorrow for Sin THe next step is Sorrow for Sin concerning which are two questions 1. Whether it be a work of saving grace 2. Whether God work it in all alike To the first I answer There is a double Sorrow one in Preparation the other in Sanctification They differ thus Sorrow in Preparation is when the word of God leaves an impression upon the heart of a man so that the heart of it self is as it were a Patient and onely bears the blow of the Spirit and hence come all those phrases of Scripture as wounded pierced pricked in the passive voyce So that this Sorrow is rather a Sorrow wrought on me then any work coming from any Spiritual ability in me But Sorrow in Sanctification flows from a Spiritual principle of Grace and from that power which the heart hath formerly received from Gods Spirit so that in this a man is a free worker Now both these are saving Sorrows but they differ marvellously many think that every saving work is a sanctifying work which is false Those whom he calleth saith the Apostle them he also justifies and whom he justifies he glorifies You may observe That Glorification in this place implyes Sanctification here and glory hereafter now before Glorification you see there is Justification and Vocation and both these are saving To the second I answer Howsoever this work is the same in all for substance yet in a different maner it is wrought in most Two men are pricked the one with a pin the other with a spear two men are cut the one with a pen-knife the other with a sword so the Lord deals kindely and gently with one soul and roughly with another There is the melting of a thing and the breaking of it with hammers so there is a difference in persons for instance if the person be a scandalous liver and an opposer of God and his Grace Secondly if a man have harbored a filthy heart and continues long in Sin Thirdly if a man have been confident in a formal civil course Fourthly if God purpose by some man to do some extraordinary great work In all these four cases he lays an heavy blow on the heart the Lord will bruise them and rend the kall of their hearts and make them seek to a faithful Minister for direction and to a poor Christian for counsel whom before they despised But if the soul be trained up among godly Parents and live under a soul-saving Ministery the Lord may reform this man and cut him off from his corruptions kindely and break his heart secretly in the apprehension of his Sins and yet the world never see it In both these we have an example in Lydia and the Jaylor Lydia was a sinful woman and God opened her eyes and melted her heart kindely and brought her to a taste of his goodness here and glory hereafter But the Jaylor was an outragious rebellious wretch for when the Apostles were committed to prison he laid them up in stocks and whipped them sore now there was much work to bring this man home when the Apostles were singing Psalms there came an Earthquake which made the prison doors flie open and the prisoners fetters to fall off but yet the Jaylors heart would not shake at last the Lord did shake his heart too and he came trembling and was ready to lay violent hands upon himself because he thought the prisoners had been fled but the Apostles cryed to him Do thy self no harm for we are all here with that he fell down before them and said Men and brethren what shall I do to be saved For Conclusion give me a Christian that God doth please to work upon in this extraordinary maner and to break his heart soundly and to throw him down to purpose though it cost him full dear this man walks ordinarily with more care and conscience and hath more comfort coming to himself and gives more glory unto God Is it so that the soul of a man is thus pierced to the quick and run through by the wrath of the Almighty then let this teach all how to carry themselves towards such as God hath thus dealt withal Are they pierced men O pity them let our souls O let the bowels of commiseration and compassion be let out towards them let us never cease to do good to them to the very uttermost of our powers And to the performance of this Reason and Religion and pity me-thinks should move us Hear the cry Oh saith the poor soul will these and these sins never be pardoned Will this proud heart never be humbled Thus the soul sighs and mourns and says O Lord I see this sin and feel the burthen of it and yet I have not an heart to be humbled for it nor to be freed from it O when will it once be Did you but know this it would make your hearts bleed to hear him Oh! the sword of the Almighty hath pierced
thou now restore the Kingdom of Israel to whom our Savior answered It is not for you to know the times and seasons as who should say Hands off it is for you to wait and to expect mercy it is not for you to know If you begin to wrangle and say How long Lord When Lord And why not now Lord Why not I Lord now check thy own heart and say It is not for me to know it is for me to be humble abased and to wait for mercy SECT. 4. A desire after Christ VVHen the soul is humbled and the eye opened then he begins thus to reason O happy I that see mercy but miserable I if I come to see this and never have a share in it O why not I Lord why not my sins pardoned and why not my eorruptions subdued my soul now thirsteth after thee as a thirsty Land my affections now hunger after righteousness both infused and imputed Now this desire is begotten thus When the soul is come so far that after a through conviction of sin and sound humiliation under Gods mighty hand it hath a timely and seasonable revelation of the glorious mysteries of Christ of his excellencies invitations truth tender-heartedness c. of the heavenly splendor and riches of the pearl of great price then doth the soul conceive by the help of the Holy Ghost this desire and vehement longing And least any couzen themselves by any misconceits about it as the notorious sinner the meer civil man and the formal Professor it is then known to be saving 1. When it is joyned with an hearty willingness and unfeigned resolution to sell all to part with all sin to bid adieu for ever to our darling-delight it is not an effect of self-love not an ordinary wish of natural appetite like Balaams Numb. 23. 10. of those who desire to be happy but are unwilling to be holy who would gladly be saved but are loth to be sanctified no if thou desirest earnestly thou wilt work accordingly for as the desire is so will the endeavor be 2. When it is earnest eager vehement extreamly thirsting after Christ as the parched earth for refreshing showers or the hunted Hart for the Water-brooks We read of a Scotish Penitent who a little before his confession freely confessed his fault to the shame as he said of himself and to the shame of the Devil but to the glory of God he acknowledged it to be so heynous and horrible that had he a thousand lives and could he dye Ten thousand deaths he could not make satisfaction Notwithstanding said he Lord thou hast left me this comfort in thy word that thou hast said Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will refresh you Lord I am weary Lord I am heavy laden with my sins which are innumerable I am ready to sink Lord even into hell unless thou in thy mercy put to thine hand and deliver me Lord thou hast promised by thine own word out of thy own mouth that thou wilt refresh the weary soul And with that he thrust out one of his hands and reaching as high as he could towards Heaven with a louder voyce and a streined he cryed I challenge thee Lord by that word and by that promise which thou hast made that thou perform and make it good to me that call for ease and mercy at thy hands c. Proportionably when heavy-heartedness for sin hath so dryed up the bones and the angry countenance of God so parched the heart that the poor soul begins now to gasp for grace as the thirsty Land for drops of rain then the poor sinner though dust and ashes with an holy humility thus speaks unto Christ O merciful Lord God Thou art Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end Thou sayest it is done of things that are yet to come so faithful and true are thy Decrees and Promises That thou hast promised by thine own word out of thy own mouth that unto him that is a thirst thou wilt give him of the fountain of the water of life freely O Lord I thirst I faint I languish I long for one drop of mercy As the Hart panteth for the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God and after the yearning bowels of thy wonted compassions Had I now in possession the glory the wealth and pleasures of the whole world nay had I Ten thousand lives joyfully would I lay them all down and part with them to have this poor trembling soul of mine received into the bleeding arms of my blessed Redeemer O Lord my spirit within me is melted into tears of blood my heart is shivered into pieces out of the very place of Dragons and shadow of death do I lift up my thoughts heavy and sad before thee the remembrance of my former vanities and pollutions is a very vomit to my soul and it is sorely wounded with the grievous representation thereof The very flames of Hell Lord the fury of thy just wrath the scorchings of my own conscience have so wasted and parched mine heart that my thirst is insatiable my bowels are hot within me my desire after Jesus Christ pardon and grace is greedy as the grave the coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame And Lord in thy blessed Book thou callest and cryest Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters In that great day of the feast thou stoodest and cryed'st with thine own mouth If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink and these are thine own words Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled I challenge thee Lord in this my extreamest thirst after thine own blessed self and spiritual life in thee by that Word and by that Promise which thou hast made that thou perform and make it good to me that lie grovelling in the dust and trembling at thy feet Oh! open now that promised well of life for I must drink or else I dye The means to obtain this desire are these three 1. Be acquainted throughly with thine own necessities and wants with that nothingness and emptiness that is in thy self a groundless presumption makes a man careless see into thine own necessities confess the want of this desire after the Lord Jesus Christ 2. Labor to spread forth the excellency of all the beauty and surpassing glory that is in the Promises of God Couldst thou but view them in their proper colours they would even ravish thee and quicken thy desires 3. After all this know it is not in thy power to bring thy heart to desire Christ thou canst not hammer out a desire upon thine own Anvil dig thy own pit and hew thy own rock as long as thou wilt nay let all the Angels in Heaven and all the Ministers on Earth provoke thee yet if the hand of the Lord be wanting thou shalt not lift up thine heart nor
the Lord Jesus Christ now the Church leans her self all upon her Husband she walked along with him but he bare all the burthen Cast all your care upon him saith Peter for he careth for you 1 Pet. 5. 7. the Original is Hurl your care upon the Lord The Lord will not thank you for carrying your cares and troubles about you he requires that you Hurl them upon him for he careth for you Fourthly it draws vertue and derives power from the Lord Jesus Christ for succor and supplies and here is the especial life of Faith it goes for mercy and grace and comfort in Christ he knows 't is to be had from him and therefore he fetcheth all from him With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation Isa. 12. 3. The fountain of Salvation is Christ and all the waters of life of grace and mercy are in Christ Jesus Now it is not enough to let down the bucket into the well but it must be drawn out also it is not enough to come to Christ but we must draw the water of grace from Christ to our selves They shall suck and be satisfied saith Isaiah with the breasts of her consolations that they may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory The Church is compared to a childe and the breasts are the Promises of the Gospel now the Elect must suck out and be satisfied with it the word in the Original is Exact upon the Promise and oppress the Promise as the Oppressor grindes the face of a poor man so with an holy kinde of oppression you should exact from the Promise and get what good you may from it Fifthly Faith leaves the soul with the Promise yea notwithstanding all delays denyals discouragements from God faith brings on the heart still it will be sure to lie at the gate and keep the soul with the promise whatever befalls it Excellent is that passage Gen. 32. 26. when the Lord and Jacob were wrestling Let me go saith the Lord I will leave thee to thy self I care not what becomes of thee No I will not let thee go until thou hast blessed me saith Jacob So the faithful soul lays hold upon the Lord for Mercy Pardon Power and Grace and though the Lord seem to give him up to the torment of Sin and Corruption yet the soul saith Though my soul go down to hell I will hold here for Mercy till the Lord comfort and pardon and subdue graciously these cursed corruptions which I am not able to master my self As it is with a Sun-dyal the needle is ever moving and a man may jog it this way and that way yet it will never stand still till it come to the North-point So when the Lord leaves off a believing heart with frowns and with the expression of displeasure and the soul turns to the Lord Christ and will never leave till it go God-ward and Christ-ward and Graceward and saith Let the Lord do what he please I will go no further till he be pleased to shew Mercy Thus the soul once come to Christ it will never away but ever cleaves to the Promise and is towards God and Christ whatsoever befalls it But poor soul art thou yet shut up in Unbelief do then as the Prisoners in New-gate what lamentable cryes do they utter to every Passenger by So do thou look out from the gates of Hell and from under the bars of Infidelity and cry that God would look on thee in mercy and say Spare Lord a poor unbelieving wretch lockt up under the bars of Vnbelief good Lord succor and deliver in thy due time David could say Let the sighing of prisoners come up before thee that indeed was meant of bodily imprisonment yet the argument prevails much in regard of the Spiritual Good Lord let the sighing of prisoners come up before thee let the sighing of poor distrustful souls come up before thy Majesty O send help from heaven and deliver the soul of thy servant from these wretched distempers of heart Is there no cause thus to pray He that believeth not saith our Savior is condemned already He is cast in heaven and earth by the Law and Gospel there is no relief for him abiding in this condition lay this under thy pillow and say How can I sleep and be a condemned man What if God should take away my life this night Alas I never knew what it was to be illightned or wounded for sin I can commit sin and play with sin but I never knew what it was to be wounded for sin I never knew what it was to be zealous in a good cause O I confess I have no faith at all Beloved would you yield this then were there some hopes that you might get out of this condition and state to have a sense of its want to go to the Lord by prayer and to ask hearty counsel of some faithful Minister are the first steps to obtain it And to help a poor wretch in this case O you that are gracious go your ways home and pray for him Brethren let us leave preaching and hearing and all of us fall to praying and mourning In truth I condemn my own soul because I have not an heart to mourn for him we reprove his sin and condemn him of his sin and we must do so but where are the heart-blood petitions that we put up for such a one Where are the tears that we make for the slain of our people You tender-hearted Mothers and you tender-hearted Wives if your children or husbands be in this woful case O mourn for them let your hearts break over them and say O wo is me for my children O wo is me for that poor husband of mine Or secondly hast thou gotten faith then labor to husband this grace well and to improve it for thy best good It is a marvellous shame to see those that are born to fair means I mean the poor Saints of God that have a Right and Title to Grace and Christ and yet to live at such an under-rate I would have you to live above the world for the Lord doth not grudge his people of comfort but would have them live chearfully and have strong consolations and mighty assurance of Gods love Is there not cause why faith if it be right will make the life of a Christian most easie most comfortable Unfaithful souls sink in their sorrows upon every occasion but faith gives ease to a man in all his conversation 1. Because faith hath a skill and a kinde of flight to put over all cares to another We take up the Cross but faith hurls all the care on Christ an easie matter it is to lie under the burthen when another bears all the weight of it Look how it is with two Ferry-men the one hales his Boat about the shore and cannot get off but tugs and pulls and never puts her forth to