Then you read of Daniel Daniel 8. 27. And I Daniel fainted and was sick certain daies Now what was the matter that this good Prophet should be sick and faint for many daies It was trouble of mind onely for this That he by his Prophetical Spirit did foresee the troubles that were comming upon the Church and people of God and that the Church and people of God would deeply and sadly suffer under the reigne of Antiochus and for this cause he was sick many daies which trouble fell not upon the Church of God until many years after his death And in Dan. 8. 11 12. He magnified himself even to the Prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgresson and it cast down the truth to the ground and it practised and prospered And this trouble and sorrow he did foresee should come upon the Church two hundred years after which made him sick and faint and was sore troubled for many daies and thus you have instances of good men that have been troubled for the Chruches calamities before it came Then Secondly You have instances of good men how they have been troubled for the Churches calamities when it was come upon them to see gray haires upon the head of the Church sorrows and trouble to overtake them this did trouble their spirits You read in 2 Sam. 1. 11. 12. when David had heard that the Philistins had given the people of God a defeat and overthrow It is said that David rent his cloths and David took hold of his cloths and rent them and likewise all the men that were with him and they mourned and wept and fasted until Even for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel because they were fallen by the sword So likewise a full Text to this purpose you have in Nehemiah 1. 2 3 4. when the sad condition of the people of God was brought and told to good Nehemiah he wept Hanani one of my brethren came he and certain men of Judah and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped which were lest of the Captivity and concerning Jerusalem And they said unto me The remnant that are lest of the captivity there in the Province are in great affliction and reproach the Wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burnt with fire And it came to passe when I heard these words that I sate down and wept and mourned many daies and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven c. Here you see how good men have mourned and been exceedingly cast down with sorrow when they have heard of the calamaties that have falne upon the Church and people of God Particular 3 The third Particular Is to shew you the difference between a gracious sympathizing with the troubles of the Church and sinful disquiet because of the calamities of the Church for one is a duty the other is a sin First Gracious sympathizing with the Church in trouble quickens prayer and supplication for the Churches good You read of the Psalmist when the people of God was in great trouble he was in sorrow but his sorrow did drive him to the Throne of grace to pray for them Psal 137. 1 2 3 4 5. If I forget thee O Jerusalem then let my right hand forget her cunning Though the Churches sufferings may make thee sad in spirit yet they must not make thee dead in prayer As they had pity towards Gods Church in affliction so they had also prayer in their hearts for them when they were in trouble that they might have them to be removed whereas they that have excessive sorrow of mind for the troubles and calamities of the Church they are apt to complain to men and to make mone to men of their sorrows but their sorrow doth indispose their hearts to go to God by prayer supplication to have their sorrow removed And those that are so prest down with sorrow as to complain to men and not to God It is an argument that that sorrow is inordinate and sinful because moderate sorrow doth put the soul to seek God at the Throne of grace that so sorrows and troubles might be taken off and removed from the Church Secondly Those men that mourn ordinately and moderately for the calamities of the Church does retain within themselves some good hopes of the Churches recovery Therefore you read in Lament 3. 31 32 33. The Lord will not cast off for ever For though he causeth grief yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies For he doth not afflict willingly or from his heart for so 't is in the Original nor grieve the children of men Here you see that though the Church was in great affliction yet behold they could sympathize with them and mourn for them yet so as to have hope in God for all this they could see and know Gods heart towards them though his hand was seemingly against them he doth not afflict from his heart As if they had said God doth not afflict indeed but it is not willingly it is for sin which he hates in his own people and he is as it were constrained to strike his children it is not his wonted work it is a strange work it comes not from his heart but from his hand therefore they could sorrow in hope of deliverance out of trouble But now sinful dejections cut off hope As you may read in 2 King 7. 18 19. Elisha told the people when there was Famine in Samaria and he told them of great evil that should come upon them afterwards he told them that by to morrow this time there should be sold Two measures of Barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria Here was great plenty spoken of And a Lord answered the man of God and said Now Behold if the Lord should make windowes in Heaven might such a thing be As if he had said we that are in so deep sorrow so great trouble to day is it possible that we can have so great plenty to morrow But he said Thou shalt see it with thy eyes but thou shalt not eat thereof So many men are like this man so cast down with excessive sorrow for the sufferings of the Church and when the Church of God is low and the enemies of the Church strong they are ready to think that they are so low and their wounds are so great and their enemies so strong that it is impossible to be restored somewhat like the reasonings of the Church at another time Lam. 3. 18 19. And I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord Remembring my affliction the Wormwood and the Gall. When their sorrow suffering was so long in Babylon and they did not
God doth bear to them I shall reduce the Reasons into these Four Heads First It ariseth from a mans own self Secondly It commeth from God Thirdly From the Divel Fourthly It commeth from other men These may be the Four general Causes why Gods people are cast down under the want of Gods love and favour to their souls First It ariseth from a mans own self and that in these Six regards First From the prevalency of natural melancholy in a mans body The prevalency of melancholy in a man doth darken the understanding and it troubles the fancy and it doth disturbe the reason and sadden the soul and cloaths it in mourning weeds and when these meet together it must needs cast the man down and suspend the sense of Gods favour from him Melancholy it is the mother of discomfort and discontent and it is the nurse of doubts Think of that story which you read of Daniel 4. concerning Nebuchad-nezzar He did eat grass like an Oxe he knew not whether he was a beast or a man But his fancy was troubled and his understanding was darkened and his reason was gone and thus natural melancholy maketh a child of God to think that he is a child of the Divel when he is a child of God and it makes him to think he is a brat of Babylon when indeed he is a son of Sion It is no more wonder saith Baxter for a melancholy man to doubt and fear despair then it is to see a sick man groan and a child crie when he is beaten the best way to cure this belongs rather to a Physitian then to a Divine There is a natural distemper in the body is the cause of melancholy yet trouble of conscience doubtings distresse of spirit are the companions of it You may silence a melancholy man when you cannot comfort him If you abate his sadnesse by convincing arguments yet when he retires alone through the prevalency of this humour all is forgotten his comforts are but a day or two old 2. The second cause of the suspension of the favour of God it is this spiritual security and indulging and harboring in the heart any known sin there is nothing in the world that will so much hinder him of and keep the soul from the assurance of the favour of God as the harbouring in the soul any known sin for all the while David did harbour in his heart and indulge and hide his sin from God he did lose the light of Gods countenance and he lost the shining of Gods face upon his soul insomuch that he prayeth to God to restore unto him the joy of his salvation It is true the salvation of David was not lost but the joyes of his salvation the comforts and consolation that he formerly enjoyed that was lost and for this he begs of God for to restore unto him Psal 51. 12. restore unto me the joyes of thy salvation Although that sin cannot make a child of God to lose salvation it self yet sin may cause God to suspend the comforts and the wonted joyes of his salvation I may say concerning this case as Philosophers say of Earth-quakes When the wind is in the Air spread abroad and diffused in the Air then it doth not throw down either hill or mountain but when the wind is gathered together and lies in the caverns of the Earth then it causeth Earth-quakes and over-turns all that is about it so while that sin is not kept close in the soul and while it is not indulged there and whiles it is not hid and concealed but confessed and repented of and prayed against it doth not much hurt but when that sin is indulged and kept close and not repented of nor prayed against but indulged in the soul this will make a heart-quake and a conscience-quake and will fill thy heart with horror and amazement Psal 32. 3. When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day When a man doth conceal his sin it troubles his soul and woundeth his heart and breaketh his peace if you will break Gods Law it is but just and righteous with God to break your peace God will not encourage any of his people by giving them peace and comforts and mercies in any sinful course and however the Antinomians hold us in hand and would make us believe that our comforts have no dependance on our sinful actions whereas God teacheth us no such thing saith the Prophet Isaiah The work of Righteousness that is peace and the end thereof is quietness and assurance for ever Here you see that comfort and consolation and joy and peace and assurance is annexed to the works of Righteousness when as discomforts and discouragements are annexed unto sin if you break Gods Law God will break your peace God will break your heart the same promises of peace cannot be made to the godly and wicked for they have promises of divine peace the other have not Ezek. 14. 4. Therefore speak unto them and say unto them Thus saith the Lord God Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquities before his face and cometh to the Prophet I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols When a man shall come to the Prophets to the Ministers of God and shall make great complaint of his inward trouble in his soul and much cast down within himself and yet in the mean time keep and harbour known sins upon his own heart God hath said he shall not answer that man that he might give him comfort but saith God in the 5. v. Thus saith the Lord repent and turn your selves from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations and then God will answer him but those that will not turn from their evil wayes God will answer such a man with rebuke and God will set his face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb and cut him off he that keeps sin in his heart and indulges sin there there shall be no peace in his conscience nor serenity nor quietness of soul he shall not in joy the smiles of Gods face the light of Gods countenance but the sense of his wrath much anguish and sorrow and perplexity of mind for his sin The third cause of the souls suspension and want of Gods favour it is the defectiveness of the people of God in the exercising of their graces little grace shall have but little evidence and if you are not abundant in the exercise of grace you will not have the comfort of grace but in a weak measure Ioh. 14. 21. He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him You know that all the stars in the Firmament
wicked men make pardoning grace a means of presumption but pardoning grace rightly applied is the most genuine way for the breaking and troubling of the soul Beloved lay thy self in the arms of Christ on the bed of his love and that 's the way to break thy flinty and stony heart A child of God cannot choose but to bathe his sins in the tears of contrition that knoweth his sins to be bathed in Christ's blood in a way of satisfaction I now come to give you some consolatory Rules which are four Is there comfort to a man that doth find his heart hard that seldome or never findeth his soul disquieted under the sense of sin First Be comforted if what thou wantest in godly sorrow for sin thou makest up in holy care and watchfulness against sin if a child of God hath not a weeping eye for sin yet if he have a watchful heart against sin that is pleasing to God if tears be not in thine eye for sin yet if weapons of defence be in thine hand to contest and conflict with corruptions that is most pleasing to God The Captain of our salvation Jesus Christ he had rather see a fighting weapon against sin then a weeping eye for sin that is one comfort A second comfort is this That the want of trouble of soul for sin doth not always arise from a stupified conscience but from an ignorant mind if Conscience had an eye to see sin Conscience would have a hand to smite for sin Conscience doth therefore want a hand because man's judgement wanteth an eye to discern what is evil A third comfort is this That though a good man may not for some time be troubled for sin yet at that time and in that case there is a great difference between him and a wicked man he is not troubled but he would be troubled a wicked man is not disquieted and he would never be disquieted a godly man doth not mourn but he would mourn and would love that Minister that should pierce his heart a wicked man cannot endure him there is a great difference between the one and the other A good man dares not stitle the checks of Conscience a wicked man when Conscience begins to trouble him he doth what he can to still the crys of Conscience when Conscience doth arrest a wicked man for debt they run not unto God they make conscience drunk with sensual pleasures and vain delights that so they may run away from Consciences arrest but godly men dare not do thus but they cry to conscience excuse me when I do well and accuse me when I do ill this is the behaviour of a godly man Lastly Take this for comfort though thou hast not so much trouble for sin as thou dost desire yet thou hast so much as God doth accept this is a true rule in Divinity that the desire of any grace is the grace it self for to believe is faith and true desire to repent is repentance and true desire to mourn for sin is a mourning for sin if thou dost desire a troubled heart that is a holy trouble this is a great mercy that in Scripture account the desire of any grace is the grace it self It is worthy your observation you read of Nehemiah ch 1. 11. O Lord I beseech thee let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy Name and prosper c. Compare that place with ch 5. 15. But the former Governours that were before me were chargable unto the people 7 c. but so did not I because of the fear of the Lord. To note that a desire to fear God is a fearing of God a desire to repent is a repenting a desire to be troubled is a holy trouble provided it be a solemn sincere and an insatiable desire after any grace this we read of Abraham when God comes to deal with Abraham What saith God to him Because thou hast done this deed I will do so and so to thee why he had not done this Divines gather that in God's account the desire and intent of doing a good thing is the doing of it therefore when Paul records Abraham's act it is said by faith he did it Beloved it should be a great discomfort to ungodly men that the Scripture should say thus to us that a desire to do a sin is the sin it is all one to God therefore Christ telleth you Mat. 5. 28. He that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery in his heart The desire and the act is all one to God though not to men God looks on the lust of the eye to be as the uncleanness of the act he that is angry with his brother 1 John 3. 15. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murtherer and no murtherer hath eternal life abiding in him God looketh on the desire for to kill a man as if thou hadst kill'd him now on the other hand it should be a great comfort to godly men that the desire of grace is grace it self I mention this to you that grieve because you cannot grieve that do not mourn but would mourn Thus much for the Consolatory Rules I shall only give you this Use Use and so I shall finish this doctrine about the disquietings of the soul and that is a use of caution to perswade you to take heed you do not run into false mistakes touching soul-disquiet for sin the Divel may paint that which is not grace and which is not trouble of Conscience and disquiet of mind for sin like it which is my caution to perswade you that you would not be mistaken in this matter Five Mistakes I shall give you Cautions to take heed of First Take heed you do not mistake a natural Melancholy and take that to be a godly sorrow and trouble of mind for sin many people whose tempers are sad heavy and dumpish they apprehend Melancholy to be a godly sorrow there is a great difference between natural Melancholy and between spiritual trouble First natural Melancholy hath many apprehensions in the fancy in the imaginations but spiritual trouble ariseth from the Conscience upon the sense of God's wrath and the frowns of the Almighty and the greatness of sin and the evil thereof Secondly Melancholy is cured by Physick Gallen is a proper help for a melancholy man but all the Physick in the world cannot allay the disquiet of a godly man's soul Thirdly Melancholy maketh a man sad but he cannot tell for what but a man under spiritual trouble saith thus It is this sin gauls my Conscience and such a failing grieves my soul which a Melancholy man cannot do he cannot tell that it is such a corruption I am guilty of Fourthly Melancholy is discerned by his natural complexion a heavy eye a grizly look but spiritual trouble on the Conscience may be in the man that is of a merry pleasant amiable Countenance therefore
the world and which none in the world can take cognizance of but themselves alone and such God doth lay them low when he doth convert them God will raise a storm and a tempestuous trouble in their consciences for sin As it is with the wind all the while it is dispersed in the aire it doth no hurt but when it is gathered together into the bowels of the earth then it doth overturn hills and houses and all things with it So it is with sin all the while that sin although it be within thee yet if it be as wind in the aire dispersed and scattered by repentance and humiliation it doth thee not much hurt I but when sin is indulged and hugged in thy bosome in thy heart and allowed of by thee and concealed by thee in thy soul this will be to thy soul as wind in the earth to make heart-quakes and conscience-quakes and cause great trouble of mind unto thee Therefore O man whosoever thou art that doth goe on in a way of sinning against God and to allow thy self in known sins which none can accuse thee of but God and thy own conscience Know this that whatsoever thy professions are God will make thee lie low before him under the sense and sight of thy sinnes if ever he doth convert thee to himselfe Seventhly God doth most cast down those for sin that do backslide and apostatize from Religion those who did professe Religion and then afterward backslide and apostatize from that profession and turn apostates these men if ever God bring them back he will humble them to the dust and lay them very low in the fight and sense of their sins according to that expression of Solomon Prov. 14. 14. The backsliders in heart shall be filled with their own waies but a good man shall be satisfied from himself The backslider that as he hath been filled with the pleasures of sin in times past so the backslider shall be filled with his own waies that is he shall be filled with horror of conscience and filled with anguish of spirit and trouble of mind and his own backsliding shall be vexation to him God will lay such a man very low if ever he brings him back again In Jeremiah 2. 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy backslidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see what an evil thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God c. It may be thou hast backsliden from religion now God will make thy own wickednesse to reprove thee I shall instance that known flory of Francis Spira he did profess religion and afterwards turned apostate and though his conscience told him he sinned yet he sinned so high that he sinned against conscience and the spirit of God and wished himself to be in Gods place But read the story and you shall see what fretting terror and horror of conscience this wrought upon him it laid him under the terrors and sense and divine vengeance and how his soul lay under horror for his apostacy Now all you what ever you be if you fall from the profession of the Gospel and turn apostates from religion God will meet with you and fill you with terror and your backslidings shall fill you and your own wickednesse shall reprove you Then Eighthly God doth lay these low under the sense and burden of their sins whose natures which by reason of the strength of natural parts are most apt to be listed up with spiritual pride God doth use to bring such as these are very low when he doth bring them to himself he will lay them low under the sight of their sins what the Psalmist said concerning evil and ungodly men that They stand in slipery places and their waies are like ice who appear in high places they shall not stand long and what is spoken of outward pride is true of spiritual pride God brings the proud one to the depth of hell as you may read in Isa 14. from verse 11. to 16. In verse 11. Thy pompe is brought down to the grave the noise of thy viols the worm is spread under thee and the worms cover thee v. 12. How art thou brought down O Lucifer sonne of the morning how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weary nations For thou hast said in thy heart I will ascend into heaven I will exalt my throne above the starres of God I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the North ver 13. I will ascend above the beights of the clouds I will be like the most high v. 14. Yet thou shalt be brought down to bell to the sides of the pit c. All this is spoken of the King of Babylon to bring down his outward pride They who doe imagine and think to set their nests on high God will bring them down to the dust Now O man dost thou grow spiritually proud by reason of the strength of thy natural gifts know that if God hath a purpose thee to bring to himself he will lay thee low before him in the sense of thy own sin they who are listed up in the conceit of their own excellency God will lay them low in the sight of their own sinfulnesse Ninthly God doth cast those down low in the sense sight of their sins whom he doth intend to make instrumental in his Church to the building up and stablishing comforting of souls and perplexed and troubled consciences Now those God doth plunge under the sight and sense of their own sins As the vessels of the sanctuary there were more filling of them and more labour bestowed about them then any ordinary vessels besides for any ordinary use Now if God doth intend to make a man a vessel in his Church God will take more pains if I may so say to fit him for that use he shall be exposed to more tryals to be exposed to more temptations and be laid very low that so he may be the more able and the more fit for to comfort and to quiet others that are perplexed and troubled in mind Astronomers that lie low in pits or valleys have the clearest sight of the stars So those that have been under Gods discipline are most fit to comfort others It is observable of Luther there was no man in his age that was so troubled so tempted so pestered with temptations from the divel and so troubled with the sight of sin as he and the divel would appear to him in a bodily shape that he saw it himself and he was fain to fight with him hand in hand and yet for all this by this means Luther he became the more beneficial to the Church of God to administer comforts to those that were afflicted thus much for the second Question SERMON II. Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I
is thy casting down for sin too much because there is no spiritual disease so dark to the soul but there is comfort enough in the Gospel to support the soul under it When God shall call to thee and say Come to me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Mat. 11. 28. And you to refuse to come to Jesus Christ and refuse and put off comfort from you you are then too much cast down for sin Fifthly Then is a man cast down too much for sin under the waight and sense and sight of sin when that sorrow for sin shall be an occasion to wrong and hurt and to disturbe the body by diseases and thus melancholy men are subjected too much to this distemper and herein they are too much to blame Many there are who make their tears their meat and drink so fill'd with tears that they cannot eat their bread with comfort There are many godly souls so troubled with sorrow for sin that they have no comfort and joy of heart in Job 20. 25. It is drawn and commeth our of the body the glistering sword commeth cut of his gall terrours are upon him Many men lie in the bitterness of their souls that they cannot eat one morsell of bread with joy Job 21. 25. Now God doth not require so much sorrow for sin as to eat out the comforts of a mans life and to disturbe the comforts of thy daies as to be so troubled and disquieted that they cannot sleep by night and not to take comfort in the day As it is said concerning Asaph Psal 77. 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled I cannot speak When it is thus with you that you are so sore troubled so over much cast down it is excessive The Lord hath bid thee mourn not to wrack and crucifie thy body but thy lusts he calls thee to weep out thy sins strength and life not thy bodies strength and life God doth never require nor expect that any man should kill his body to save his soul through humiliation and sorrow for sin Sixthly Men are then cast down for sin too much-when a man is so far and so much cast down under the sight and sense of sin that he hath no mind at all to follow his particular calling now this is a sinful sorrow Sorrow for sin is not only sinful when it taketh you off from duties of godliness and Religion but when it taketh you off from your calling in the world and the reason is this as all Divines say That God doth never require any duty which belongs to our general calling as Christians to be inconsistent with our particular callings as Men Therefore if so be that your trouble of mind for sin hath been such as that it doth make you not to regard your particular calling as men in the world this is not accounted in Scripture a sorrow of sin necessary but immoderate and too much casting down for sin Seventhly They are too much cast down for sin when the amiable and admirable and comforting attributes of God are formidable and terrible to such men when we so think of sin as not to think on the divine attributes of God of the mercy of God of the goodnesse of God of the patience of God of the long-suffering of God of the faithfulness of God when men shall think so of God as if he were all justice all wrath without mercy good men have been overtaken with this fault Job was so Job 23. 15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence when I consider I am afraid of him Here Job tells you of the trouble of mind that he lay under that it made him afraid of God to be troubled at his presence and when he thought of him he was troubled at him One would think that to think on God is a comfort for a man to think that God is merciful to pardon my slong in faithful to keep Covenant with his people bountiful in God to supply his people strength in power to defend his people He is able to save them to the utmost one would think it should comfort one to think so on God But that presence that Moses could not endure to be without that presence Job could not endure to see and the reason was because of his guilt and his fears and doubting within him which cast him down too much And this was Asaph his case I remembred God and I was troubled Psal 77. 3. What the thoughts of God to trouble Asaph yes I remembred God and I was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed He might reason thus with himself I think that this God is a glorious and a terrible God a sin-revenging God and he seeth me and he marketh all my steps and he knoweth all my waies and he will reward all my doings therefore when I thought on God I was troubled at him O but the thoughts of God comforted Davids soul when I thought on thy name I was comforted said holy David Psal 99. 14. I but said Asaph when I thought on God I was troubled and Job when I thought on God on the Almighty I was afraid of him When the attributes of God shall trouble men to think of them and not encourage them and comfort them then is this sorrow too much casting down for sin But then Eighthly When under this sorrow for sin thou canst not look to God and blesse God for common mercies or special grace God gives thee mercies great mercies that thou maiest be rich and follows thee with mercies and blessings and loving kindnesses daily and his faithfulnesse is towards thee every moment and gives thee the world at will and yet for all this God not to have glory from thee shews thou art too much cast down for sin Whereas trouble and humiliation for sin if it be moderate and right it administers occasions to serve God and it doth occasion thee to blesse God and to give him glory for common mercies and special grace it doth occasion thee to glorifie God and draweth out the heart to serve God and to blesse him for the receit of mercies and when mercies have not this effect upon thee and when sorrow for sin worketh not this way it is immoderate sorrow and too much casting down for sin When God gives thee grace to assist thee against manifold temptations and to keep thee from the committing of manifold sins and to help thee against thy corruptions and to give thee grace to establish thy heart and yet not to bring up thy heart under thy sorrow to bless God this is a sinful sorrow If a man be upon his knees he may see heaven above and the earth beneath but for a man to lie flat upon his face he cannot see neither the heaven above nor any creature but only the earth below him So when God brings thee to thy knees for sin then you can see a gracious God
thy cry he will hear it he will answer thee Here is Gods promise upon their humiliation then in ver 22. Ye shall defile also the covering of the graven Images of silver and the ornament of thy molten Images of gold thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth thou shalt say unto it Get thee hence God maketh his people to mourn for sin and to cast them down for sin and to humble them under the sight and sense of sin and to make them to have indignation against sin and then to cast sin from them as a menstruous cloth And as it is with nurses when they would wean their children they will put some bitter thing upon the brest as Wormwood or Gall thereby to make the child to forsake the brest So God he puts bitter things upon those things which we account sweet he puts bitter potions upon the brest of our sinful delights that so he might wean his people from sucking any more at those poysonous brests which we so highly esteem in our corrupt nature You read of the prodigal son in Luk. 15. 16. when he was brought to those great straights and trouble that he desired to feed of the husks with the swine after he came to himself he desired to eat bread and be as one of the hired servants in his fathers house When God doth make his people smart for sin as the prodigal did in his absence from his fathers house when they are laid low for sin under the sense and sight of their sins as the prodigal was when they come to themselves again then they would be glad with the prodigal to prize their fathers house So the soul when he comes to be brought very low for sin then they come to set a high esteem on Jesus Christ It is very observable where humiliation for sin is mentioned there it is joyned with a detestation and segregation from sin Jam. 4 8. Joel 2. 12. Thirdly God puts sinners under the sight and sense of sin because it puts the soul to cast themselves and to rely upon Jesus Christ it is our necessity that puts us first upon the persuit after and relying upon Jesus Christ because we see that we are undone without Jesus Christ It is with us as it was with the Leprous persons that we read of in 2 Kings 7. 3. And there were four Leprous persons at the entring in of the gate and they said one to another Why sit we here untill we die If we say We will enter into the City then the famine is in the City and we shall die there and if we sit still here we die also Now therefore come and let us fall into the hâ—st of the Syrians if they save us alive we shall live and if they kill us we can but die I apply this here to this case here is the case If I die in a Christless state I am gone forever and undone to eternity and if I rest in confidence in the world that can afford no safety I wil therefore run to Jesus Christ that there I may have relief and that there I may ease me of my burden by resting upon Jesus Christ in his promise Fourthly God doth cast his people down under the sense of sin That so he might suppresse the lifting up the pride of our own hearts in the sight and apprehension of our own gifs when the Lord doth see a man to be lifted up within himself with pride with his gifts then God will hide his gifts and shew him his sin and lay him low and make him humble So was it with Paul he was a man of exceeding great parts and great gifts above other men even above all other men but only Jesus Christ and yet for all that he was apt to be proud and to be too much lifted up within himself in the apprehension of his own gifts and for this he had a thorn in his flesh to keep him humble lest he should be exalted above measure 2 Cor. 12. 7. So you read likewise in Psal 9 20. Put them in fear O Lord that the nations may know themselves to be but men Men of the greatest gifts have the greatest fears to keep down pride The Swan that hath white feathers hath black feet So those that have the greatest excellency shall have some manifest infirmity to keep them down as Heman was a man of excellent gifts 1 Kings 4. 31. yet see how God humbled him Psal 88. 7 15. ver Now God to cure his people of this distemper of spiritual pride he layeth them low and casteth them down under the sight and sense of sin Fifthly That thereby he might bring the hearts of his people to a more cleer sight and sensible and lively feeling of pardoning grace and mercy the deeper God is pleased to cast his people under the sense and sight of sin and the lower he layeth them under humiliation the higher will they exalt God in his pardoning grace and mercy After men are tossed at Sea in a tempest they prize the harbour God doth take that course with his people as t is reported Astronomers do take they do not lie on the tops of high mountains when they would take a view of the skie but they lie in the lowest vallies not in places which are nearest the heavens but in low places most remote from the heavens So God he doth not lift up his people at all times as upon mountains but layeth them low in the valley of humiliation and casts them low under the sight and sense of sin that thereby their hearts by faith might take a more cleere view of and sensibly and lively feel the free mercy and pardoning grace of God God doth cast you into low pits of humiliation that by that you may see the more cleerly Gods mercy and grace God plungeth his people under humiliation as you may read in Psal 44. 25. Our soul is bowed down to the dust our belly cleaveth to the earth And in verse 26. Arise O Lord for our help and redeem us for thy mercies sake Here you see the Church complains of the deepness of her sorrow the greatness of her humiliation their soul was bowed down even to the dust a great degree of casting down But what was Gods end in this greatly humbling of them it was to put them upon a more sensible feeling of Gods pardoning mercy and grace as it appears in these words Redeem us for thy mercies sake Mercy was precious and pardoning grace was precious when that they lay low under affliction and were deeply humbled sense and sight of sin and misery under which they lay made them to prize and highly esteem pardoning grace and mercy and this is an other reason why God doth lay his people low under the sight and sense of sin that they might esteem pardoning grace Sixthly To make them confess that there is more evil in sin then ever there was
the other Now what reason can those Christians give that make conscience of all their ways and labour to live usefull in all their relations and to live in the use of Ordinances and to walk close with God in all their ways what reason have they to be too much cast down for sin Therefore as you will reason for believing and comfort so also you must reason against excessive casting down for sin for to do this you have no reason you must shew reasons of your dejections as well as of your assurance and perswasions Wicked men come and ask them concerning Heaven they will tell you that they are sure of Heaven and then ask their reason wherefore they think so they can give you no reason at all therefore that is presumption So good men are apt under too much dejection of spirit to say that they shall goe to hell and be cast off from Heaven but ask them a good reason they can give none at all And this is a sin on the other side I would ask such doubting Christians upon serious thoughts because you are apt to think you shall goe to hell can you say that you have no more reason in you then wicked reprobates have And can you say that you are guilty of those actual sins that are impossible to stand with a principle of true grace and that there is that in you raigning that no child of God can have these are indeed some reasons but if these be not found you have no cause to be cast down Though you must check your own hearts for too much casting down for sin yet you must not cast off all dejection for sin for to be cast down for sin is a duty but to be overmuch and excessively cast down for sin that is a sin There is such duties that you are to put your hearts upon but not to deject your hearts excessively under And if you ask me how I shall know that these are duties I Answer in these Four particulars First You are not to check your hearts for dejection under sin when the measure of your dejection is subservient to the ends of dejection Now the end of dejection it is two-fold First It is to imbitter sin And Secondly To endear Jesus Christ And when thy dejection hath these two ends namely to make sin to be bitter to thy soul and to make Jesus Christ to be precious to thy soul then is thy dejection right thou not to check thy heart for it but to cherish it embrace it But when thy dejection doth not make sin bitter nor make Christ to be precious but trouble thy mind and cast down thy soul and drive thee away from Christ this is excessive and not subservient to those two ends and so becomes sinful Secondly You are to cherish this dejection when with this humiliation dejection for sin you do joyn with itthe sense of Gods love favour when thy heart is brought into this frame as to see sin with one eye and Gods love and free grace and pardoning mercy with an other but those that do so pore upon their corruptions and sinful miscariages as never to be able to see Gods love and free grace and pardoning mercy in the promises of the Gospel this is a sin and this you should check your hearts for Thirdly Thy dejections are not excessive when thy dejections are more for the evil of fact then for the danger of punishment when your dejection is more for sin committed then thy state thou hast endangered that is not excessive But when thy dejections are more in mourning for the state you have endangered then the sin you have committed that is excessive When a man shall commit a sin and he shall be dejected and say I shall goe to hell and lose my happy estate in Heaven and fear hell as punishment more then to mourn for sin as a sin this is excessive sorrow for sin When thou shalt mourn more for the fear of punishment of sin then for sin as it is a dishonour to God and that thou hast committed and aggravated evil it is excessive But when thy sorrow shall be more for sin and Gods dishonour then for fear of punishment if this be the trouble of thy soul thou art not to check thy heart for it Fourthly Those dejections and castings down for sin are to be entertained when they have this effect for to make thee to justifie God and to condemn thy self to justifie God in all this proceedings But when under dejections of mind thou shalt entertain hard thoughts of God to murmur and to repine and to be disquieted these thoughts are not to be cherished but thou art to check thy heart for them But when thou canst justifie God in all his dispensations towards thee these workings of spirit are not to be checked but cherished Job 40. 4 5. Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my band upon my mouth And verse 5. Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further As if Job had said In my trouble of mind I have spoken often against God once and a second time against God but I will lay my hand upon my mouth and justifie God and condemn my self and acknowledge my self vile in my own eyes thus did Job learn to doe And so when you can under your casting down for sin justifie God and condemn your selves and acknowledge God to be just in all his dispensations and to acknowledge your selves vile in your own eyes then is your casting down for sin not excessive and you are to cherish it and not to check your hearts for it And thus I have finished the first ground why Gods people are cast down for sin SERMON V. Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God Question 2 THe second Question is For what are the people of God cast down and that is for the want of the apprehension of Gods love and favour and in the handling of this case I shall take this way First To shew you why God doth suffer his people to be cast down under the apprehensions of the want of Gods love and favour Secondly To shew you that though this be your condition yet there is no great cause of your dejection and trouble and casting down of soul under this condition Thirdly To lay down some Theological rules what a Christian is to doe what course to take that so he may gain the love and favour of God And Fourthly I shall lay down the use and application First Then I shall shew you why God doth suffer his people to be cast down under the apprehensions of the want of Gods love and favour that though God may love them yet they may not know that love and favour that
their lust Hosea 13. 6. According to their pasture so were they filled they were filled and their hearts were exalted therefore they have forgotten me Their gold and silver and wool and flax did but cloath enrich and strengthen sins Now beloved wilt thou envy the prosperity of a wicked man wouldst thou envy a man to see him have silken halters and those to hang himself withal God doth give prosperity to wicked men to be as silken halters to hang them everlastingly therefore do not be disquieted though they prosper in the world Secondly Be not disquieted because wicked men have the curse of God with their prosperity this reason Job gives chap. 5. v. 2 3. he calls those men silly men that envy wicked mens prospering in the world for saith Job Certainly I saw God cursing their habitation Beloved it is better to have poverty with a blessing then to have encrease with a curse wicked men have the curse of God with all their prosperity and this reason Solomon gives you why you should not be disquieted Prov. 2. 31 32 33. Envy thou not the Oppressor and chuse none of his wayes for the froward is an abomination to the Lord but his secret is with the righteous the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked but he blesseth the habitation of the just Though thou seest a wicked man by oppression and grinding the face of the poor become wealthy O do not envy him why because the curse of the Lord is in his house This should be a strong reason not to be troubled at the prosperity of wicked men it is observable of Esau Gen. 27. 28. I will give thee the fatness of the earth and the dews of heaven a large promise yet you read Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated Jacob had but a poor staff and Esau had the fatnesse of the earth why thou mayest be poor as Jacob with a staff and scrip and thou mayest be loved with Jacob. And wicked men may have the fatness of the earth with Esau and yet God hate them therefore be not disquieted at the prosperity of wicked men it was spoken of the Caldeans Zach. 1. 15. they were a wealthy Nation God may give you ease in the world and abound with wealth yet saith God I am sore displeased with them he doth mingle his wrath and curse with the abundance of wicked men therefore be not disquieted because wicked men prosper Thirdly Their prosperity doth cost them very dear they lose a soul to get a world they lose heavens glory for earths prosperity it is a dear purchase Wouldst thou envy a man that to purchase his house should lose his life why wicked men to purchase wealth lose their souls I have read of a Souldier that when there was a Law made by the General That none should rob the Country the Souldier robbed a Vineyard took away a bunch of grapes and for example sake was to be hanged and some did envy the man for the grapes saith he envy me not I pay dear for my grapes I apply this you may see wicked men about you to eat the fat and drink the sweet of the Land thou eatest the bread of affliction and drinkest thy tears O do not envy him his wealth is the price of blood it hath cost him dear Fourthly Do not be disquieted because the wicked prosper for this wil put thee in danger to be wicked as the wicked are that man that is troubled because the wicked prosper he is likely to be tempted to become wicked that he might prosper as they do Observe that where the Scripture speaks that good men should not be troubled because the wicked prossper it gives that caution Lest you should be wicked as the wicked are observe Prov. 3. 31. Envy not the Oppressor nor chuse none of his wayes Intimating that if you do envy wicked men that gain by oppression you will become Oppressors and will become wealthy as they are Prov. 24. 11. Be not envious against evil men neither desire to be with them A notable text that David telleth you of what danger he was in because he was disquieted when wicked men did prosper Psal 73. 2. My feet had almost slipt David saw this he did envy them and he had almost fallen into the same sin that they fell into You have a notable passage in the 10. v. Yet a little while and the wicked shall not be yea thou shalt consider his place and it shall not be He tels you of their prosperity in the foregoing verses They are not plagued like other men they have more then heart can wish and what follows in the 10. verse It is but a little while and the wickednesse of the wicked shall be at an end that is because they see wicked men prosper Gods own people return their way and do many times wickedly as they do Beloved to see men that shall break Covenants and deal treacherously to see them successeful and carry all before them if thou dost envy them thou art in great danger to sin as they do and do wickedly as they do that thou mightst prosper as they do Third Question is What Consideration should a man use to reason against these disquietings of Soul because of the prosperity of wicked men Beloved I will name to you six Considerations to allay those disquietings seeing wicked men prosper in the world First Consider with your selves it is a harder matter for godly men to use prosperity well then adversity well you know it is a harder matter to carry a cup of Wine that is brim full without shedding then to carry a cup that is half filled It is harder to carry a prosperous condition well without sin then it is to carry a state of adversity therefore in Scripture those that have been good in adversity have been bad in prosperity The men of Israel were good in Egypt but they were bad in Canaan Deuteronomy 32. even when God had delivered them and given them the Land of Canaan even then they rebelled against God When they waxed fat and plentiful in the promised Land then they spurned against God When David was in a private condition when he was hunted by Saul like a Partridge over the mountains David was a good man but when David came to the Throne then he became adulterous then he became murderous whereas before he was a man of a marvellous strict life therefore the Scripture speaks of Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 17. 3. that he followed David's first waies intimating that David's first waies were his best waies I have read in Bernard's works chap. 12. B. 2. of considerations all that Chapter treats on this theam Majus periculum à prosperis quam ab adversis that it is more dangerous for a good man to be in prosperity then to be in adversity It is a Note Cornelius A lapide hath on Pro. 1. 32. that the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
I infer hence that it is just with God to suffer wicked men to envy the prosperity of good men because the godly do sometimes envy the prosperity of the wicked here you see David did envy to see Saul prosper and God to recompence Davids sin he would suffer Saul to envy David therefore Saul did hunt and pursue David like a Partridge over the mountains O beloved God doth but pay us in our own coyn Isaac did envy the prosperity of the Philistins and the Philistins were suffered by God to envy Isaac and they stopt up their Wells and would give them no water the reason was meerly out of envy for say they you have more people then we and you are more wealthy then we therefore they denied them water This is just with God to suffer wicked men to hate the prosperity of the godly because they sin sometimes in envying the prosperity of wicked men Fourthly Is it so that we must not be disquieted at the prosperity of wicked men then I infer that prosperity it is no sign either of a good cause or of good men I must not envy them you read in the 73. Psalm the wicked prosper their houses are safe from fear they do not come in trouble like other men yet their cause may not be good nor themselves neither Indeed it is a great vanity when men shall make use of successe and prosperity to be a symptome and an infallible sign from heaven that the cause is good What did we condemn the Papists for If I thought that prosperity were the sign of a good cause and good men I would concur with Papists to make prosperity a sign of the visible Church Beloved we are e'en turned Papists in our days they make it a sign of a true Church and some men among us make it a sign that God approves of what they do because they prosper All our Divines have written against Popery in that point and affirm that rather adversity and persecution is a badge of Gods Church then prosperity SERMON XI Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God Use 2 I Proceed to a Second Use by way of Exhortation to perswade you all to labour to check your own hearts for being troubled for the outward prosperity of wicked men and that I may prevail with you herein I shall leave with you these three Considerations First You have no cause at all to be troubled if you consider this What Gods ends are in suffering wicked men for to prosper in this World Secondly If you do but consider the ends themselves that wicked men have that do prosper in the World Thirdly If you do but consider Gods ends why he would not have the godly to be troubled and disquieted at the prosperity of the wicked and what Gods ends are in not suffering his people so to prosper in this World and if these three considerations were seriously considered by the people of God it would take away and allay all murmurings and troubles and disquietness from the hearts and minds of Gods people in seeing wicked men for to prosper in the World First If thou wouldst allay trouble of mind in seeing the wicked to prosper do but consider Gods ends in suffering them for to prosper in the World Now there are Seven ends which God hath all of which might allay the troubles of mind in the hearts of Gods people in seeing wicked men to prosper The First is this God doth suffer wicked men to prosper in the World that so they might have the more opportunity to act their sin and wickedness whereas if they were in a poor and in a low and in an afflicted condition they could not have such opportunities to draw forth those acts of sin and wickednesse that lie hid in their own hearts if these vines of Sodom and if those fruits of Gomorrah were not warmed with the Sun of prosperity we should not see those grapes of God and clusters of bitternesse are in them Now God is pleased for ends best known to himselfe to heap the prosperity of the world upon them to draw out that sin and wickednesse that lieth hid in the heart and to make it to come to publique view have we not a pregnant instance of this in Hazael when he was in power and when he was in prosperity that was an opportunity to discover and draw forth that wickedness that lay hidden in his heart well said the Prophet Thou shalt rip up women with child thou wilt burn their strong holds with fire and slay the young men with the sword and dash their children in the streets But now what said Hazael to the Prophet Am I a Dog that I should doe such things as these are but said the Prophet thou shalt be King and then thou shalt doe it even all these things when he was poor and in a low condition he was not in a capacity to doe this villany I but when the World favoured him and he did begin to prosper and become great in power and great in the World then was the opportunity to draw out this wickednesse the story you may read in 2 Kings 8. 12 13. As we see in our daies if there had not been this licentious liberty and this general toleration amongst us we had not heard of such wickednesse And wicked men would have wanted opportunity to have vented such wickednesse which now is made manifest to the face of the World and the people of God gain good by all this for by this means they come to see what is in mens hearts Dan. 8. 24. 25. 't is said of Auliacus that his power shall be mighty and shall prosper and practice and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people or according to the Chaldee the people of the holy one and through his policy he shall cause violence to prosper in his hands and he shall magnifie in his heart and by peace or prosperity shall destroy many c. If this man had not come to be a King a great man in power and prosperity the wickedness of his heart had not been discovered but his being in prosperity thereby he had an opportunity to draw out that mischiefe that was in his heart to be made manifest to the view of the World There is in Job 12. 6. mention made of a Tabernacle of robbers that prospers God lets them prosper that so they might see the evil that is in their evil hearts a shower of rain falling on the ground it doth cause the weeds to appear which otherwise would not appear The Snake in the Fable when it was frozen it could not sting but when it was in the bosome in the warm then it could sting The Moral is when men are in a low condition in a poor condition then they cannot hurt because they
son but God gave him a better mercy in the room of that Bastard God gave him a Solomon that was a greater mercy to give him Solomon in the room of an Illegitimate child Psal 171. v. 21. Thou hast shewed me great and sore troubles but thou shalt bring me again c. As David telleth you here thou wilt encrease my greatness he means the troubles under Saul David that was to be a King on the Throne was to lie like a Hermite in a Cave I but though thou hast brought me to great and sore troubles it is but to encrease my greatness in a way of mercy O then if God doth let thee come to great wants of any outward mercies thou standest in need of think that God doth let it be thus that so thou mightest have greater mercies in the room of them this Consideration did greatly quiet the heart of Isaac You read of the death of Sarah that was his mother you read that God gave to him to wife Rebecca and he loved Rebecca and was comforted after his mothers death Isaac had his mother taken from him but he had a wife of Gods giving to him in the room of his mother If God doth let thee want a mother want thy children want thy estate why God will bring in some other mercy to comfort thee in the want and absence of them let this allay all disquiet and discontent of heart in thee Thirdly Consider that though thou dost want outward mercies that are desirable yet thou dost not want better mercies to wit spiritual mercies thou wantest crumbs yet thou dost not want a Christ thou wantest food it may be for thy belly thou dost not feed on such dainties and delicates as many Epicures of the world doe yet thou maiest feed by faith on Jesus Christ the bread of life it may be thou hast not such sumptuous apparel as some men have yet thou dost not want the long robe of Christs righteousness thou wantest an inheritance in this World but thou dost not want an inheritance among them that are sanctified in the World to come it may be thou wantest health but thou hast a healthy soul thy soul prospers as John said to Gâ—â—us Epist 3 3. You read in Pro. 14. 14. The back-sliders in heart shall be 〈◊〉 with their own waies and a good man shall be satâ—â—fied from himself It may be from without nothing can content thee thou dost take pains in the World thou dost rise early eat the bread of carefulness yet canst not get enough to feed thy belly and cloath thy back yet if thou beest a gracious man reflect thus on thy self Though I want these outward things yet blessed be God he is my portion though I have no portion in this life I am heir to the Kingdome of Heaven though I am not heir to one foot of Land this would allay thes disquiets that might arise in your minds Fourthly Consider that if God should give thee these outward goodthings thou wantest the giving of them would be a greate snare and a curse to thee then the want of them would be it may be thou wantest wealth it may be thou hast a barren wâ—mb and wantest issue if God should give thee the mercy thou wantest the giving of it would be a greater snare to thee then the want of it Tho or three plain instances 〈◊〉 is of a woman Rachel Genesis 30 5. who was exceeding impatient for the want of children Give me children or else I die This passionate desire of hers God did gratifie but â—ark how God did punish her for it she must die in childbed her soul departed from her when she was in labour Genesis 35. 18. And 〈◊〉 came to pass that as her soul was departing that she called his name Benoni but his father called him Benjamin He children were the instruments of death to kill her her child was Benoni was the son of her sorrows Beloved it should teach you to take heed of being passionately discontented and disquieted when you want a mercy Another instance you read in David he was passionately eaâ—er for the life of the child begotten by Bathsheba and he wept mourned and tasted that the child might not die now if the child had lived the life of that child had been a greater snare to Davia then the death of it could be for it would have been a lasting monument of David's shame for every one could have pointed and said yonder goeth David's bastard we see even harlots account uncleannesse a reproach and commit a greater wickedness to murder their children because they would not have their wickednesse known Thus in the case of Absalom he rose in Rebellion against his father and drew away by his courteous carriage and crying up the peoples liberty by which means he had almost took the Kingdome from his father they rose in Armes one against another but saith David Deal gently with my son Absalom But if David had had his request that Absalom should not have been killed why Absalom would have been a continual enemy to his father for he had almost thrown him out of his Throne it was a greater mercy to David that Absalom was killed then if he had lived Herein see the wisdome of God that the having of a mercy might not become a snare to us therefore God doth deny us it The children of Israel could not be contented with Manna that was called Angels food for commendation they loathed the Manna and they must have Quails from Heaven but it had been a thousand times better for them to have wanted it For whilst the meat was in their mouths the wrath of God went down with it that which they thought the want of to be their misery God made the having of to be their misery Fifthly Lay in thy scales thy mercies and thy afflictions and thy wants and see whether thy receits be not more then thy wants Suppose thou wantest a thousand things yet thou hast one thing that is of more worth then all the things thou wantest and that is thy life if thou shouldest want thy skin and be flead and have thy life it is a greater mercy to thee though God should strip thee of thy skin yet thou hast possest more mercies then thou hast afflictions that thou art on this side hell and the grave O Beloved dost thou want any mercy why think thy receits are more then thy wants and that will in some measure quiet thy discontents Lastly If thou wouldst allay disquiet of mind for thy wants then labour to make up all thy wants and losses in God consider that the having of one God is enough to make up all thy wants that thou hast in the World Thus the Church of God did Psal 73. 26. My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart He was likely to want a Kingdome but he did not want God God was his portion and that comforted
murmured ten times against that God that had delivered them This is the character of wicked men that when trouble of conscience disquiets them their sins remain on them O how they will promise what men they will be they will turn a new life and they will never be as they have been and yet let their trouble be allayed and you shall see that this restraint of their consciences shall put them on more eagernesse to commit sin then ever they did in all their life time before Mens sins are compared to an Oven Hesea 7. Fire disperst into the Air doth not burn so fierce but in an Oven it burns fierce Wicked men when sin is kept in their hearts through disquiet of soul for sin when this fire hath vent it will burn with more fiercenesse and more rage when conscience shall dam up a sin that trouble is over and conscience is gotten over the dam sin doth prevail on the soul with more eagernesse and more prevalency In a godly man it is otherwise when disquiet of soul is over for sin a godly man detains an awe of running into that sin again though trouble be over yet he remembers how he was troubled I confesse I do remember what it is to lie under the weight and burthen and guilt of sin therefore this puts an awe upon conscience that he dares not venture on sin to wit as in former time Twelfthly The wicked under disquiet of soul for sin they are more apt to apply the comforting part of the Word then to apply the threatning and commanding part of the Word when they were troubled by the Ministry of the Word Deut. 29. 19. And it come to passe when be beareth the words of this curse that he blesse himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk after the imagination of mine heart to add drunkennesse to thirst Say they we shall have peace though we do walk according to the imaginations of our own hearts to add drunkennesse to thirst they could apply peace but they would not apply threatnings though they did walk in the imaginations of their own hearts Wicked men under horror of conscience they are more apt to apply comforts though groundlesse then to apply threatnings though their portion Jer. 3. 4 5. Will thou not for this cry unto my Father thou art the guide of my youth Will be reserve his anger for ever will be keep it unto the end Behold thou hast spoken and done evill things as thou couldest They did evill as much as they could yet they would presume to say God was their Father they claimed interest in God This is the character of a wicked man to apply the comforting part of the world not the threatning part of the world But good men are more apt to apply the threatning part of the Word then the promising part of the Word Psal 77. 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my sore van in the night and ceased not my soul refused to be comforted Asaph could apply terrour but he would refuse comfort Thus by dayly experience look upon a consciencious man under the disquiet of soul for sin you shall see that man all the threatnings all the terrible parts of the Scripture that may work against him he will remember them all but apply no promise that may allay disquiet of soul for sin Thirteenthly Wicked men under trouble of mind for sin they go to sinful shifts and means to allay and pacifie the disquiet of their souls for conscience therefore they use four sinful shifts which godly men dare not do First of all They do shun a soul-searching and a sin reproving Ministry this you see in Felix Acts 24. 25. And as be reasoned of righteousnesse temperance and judgement to come Felix trembled and answered Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will send for thee Paul told him of two sins that he was most guilty of to wit Drunkenness and In justice when he had thus dealt with him roundly made his conscience tremble and his heart troubled Felix said get thee gone I will hear thee some other time Paul had gauled him and troubled him why Felix shuns the continuance of the rebuke and reproof of the word But a godly man dares not do thus a godly man loves that word that most ransackles his conscience and loves that man that shall awaken a secure conscience observe that difference between Felix in the Acts and between the Converts in the Acts Felix bids Paul go from him shuns the reproof of the word when it gauled his conscience but when the Converts were troubled for sin and were pricked in the heart for killing Jesus Christ they loved the Apostles and clave to them and laid their possessions at the Apostles feet the Apostles might command all they had they loved them so well good men dare not doe as wicked men doe in that particular Secondly Wicked men to allay disquiet of Conscience they allay it by running into a crowd of secular imployments thus you read of Cam Gen. 4. 17. After Cain was gone out from the presence of the Lord by reason of his sin he to stifle his conscience went and builded a City God's people dare not doe thus they dare not go to the World for to allay disquiet of conscience but they go to God's word they retire into a corner and they search the Word to see what God's word speaks to them in the day of their trouble Prov. 12. 25. Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop but a good word maketh it glad I stoop under heavinesse and trouble but a good word only from God can comfort me Thirdly Wicked men under trouble use this sinful shift to go to carnal pleasure and sensuality to allay disquiet of mind Saul called for Instruments of Musique 1 Sam. 16. 14. to allay the troubles of his spirit as the Israelites that offered their children to Moloch drowned the cry of their Children with a noise of Drums and Tabrets so wicked men doe with their Consciences God's people dare not doe this they know that sensual pleasures can no more pacifie a disquieted Conscience then a silken stocking can cure a gowty Leg they dare not wallow and swim in sinful pleasures but they go to the promise and in that they take their delight Fourthly wicked men they go to bad company to merry company to see if that can make them forget their troubles thus Herod did Mark 6. 18. For John said unto Herod It is not lawful for thee to have thy brothers wife Immediately after John had troubled his conscience for having his brother Philip's wife then to allay this trouble of John's reproof Herod then calls for his merry company his Nobles and his Souldiers about him that so he might forget the disquiet of spirit but godly men go to good men and to God in a corner Psal 61.
and to have nothing for to trouble them all their days A second Reason is this It proceeds from that grosse ignorance that is in a wicked man's mind or understanding whereby he doth not see the evill nature of sin and the aggravation of it a blind mind and a dumb conscience they both go hand in hand together if the understanding of a man wants an eye to see the evill of a sin distinctly the conscience will want a hand to smite for sin effectually if sin were more in mens eyes sorrow for sin would be more in mens hearts It is worth your notice the comparing of two Scriptures together Psal 51. 3. I acknowledged my transgression and my sin is ever before me And Psal 38. 17. For I am ready to halt and my sorrow is ever before me How came the Psalmist to have sorrow for sin continually but by having the fight of sin continually he had the sight of sin continually before him he had then the sorrow of sin before him it is the sight of sin that is an inlet to sorrow and trouble of mind for sin What is the Reason that a man that seeth a Lion in the Wildernesse it maketh him affraid but if that man seeth a Lion painted on the wall he is not troubled the reason is because he knows the Lion in the Wildernesse is of a sierce and cruel nature therefore fears that but he knows no such evil in a painted Lion therefore he is not troubled at that Beloved if wicked men could look upon sin as a loose Lion in the Wildernesse that would fly in their faces why the sight of sin would make them affraid then but they look upon sin as a painted Lion they do not see sin to be so odious and aggravated this is the great cause why men are so little disquieted in soul under the guilt of sin Thirdly It proceeds from a judicial hardnesse in the heart and from a cauterizednesse to scarednesse in the conscience Rom. 2. 5. But after thy hard and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgements of God To let you know that it is from hardnesse of heart and scarednesse of conscience that a man cannot repent cannot confesse and be troubled for the evils he hath done and the guilt he lies under scared flesh is sensible of no touch with a Pin it is your raw flesh that is sensible mens consciences are cauterized and scared that makes that sin is not as a sword in the flesh Fourthly It proceeds from a continued custome in a course of sin Custome in sin doth harden the heart and doth fear the conscience it is in this case as with a man when he first comes to be an Apprentice to an Artificer or Handy-crafts-man he comes with a tender hand to the work and when he begins to work with hard Instruments he cannot work but he gauls his hand and blisters his hand but when he hath been many years at work by continual labour at the work his hand doth then harden that so he can use it and never blister his hand It is just thus with a sinner before a man be accustomed to an evil way conscience is tender and full of remorse I but a continued custome and making a trade of sin it doth make the conscience to be hard and brawny and to feel nothing as in a Smith's house a Dog that comes newly in cannot endure the fiery sparks to fly about his ears but when the Dog is used to it he sleeps quietly Let wicked men be long used to sin to the Divels work-house to be slaves and vassals to sin the sparks of Hell fire may fly about their ears and this never troubles them and all this ariseth from a continued custome in a course of evil The fifth Cause is that a wicked man is not disquieted for sin it ariseth from this From a wicked man's stifling the checks and ebukes of his own conscience as quenching the spirit in its holy motions to doe good doth cause God to withdraw the holy motions of his Spirit So stifling the conscience it provokes God that conscience shall not trouble thee more but shall be given up to a sottish stupidity and to a senseless stupidity of conscience Sixthly It ariseth from a mistake and a misapprehension that wicked men maintain that trouble of conscience for sin it is an utter enemy to all worldly joy and if a man comes once to be troubled in conscience for sin he shall never have a merry day more but must hang down his head in penfiveness and lead a melancholy sad life Beloved wicked mens vailing holy disquiet with these prejudices is a special reason why they are no more troubled for sin then they are this is hinted to us in the saying of Solomon Eccles 7. 4. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools in the house of mirth The wicked are affraid to be in the house of mourning to mourn and grieve for evils they have done lest they should never have glad and comfortable days in the World Thus the Papists did entertain this prejudice against the Protestant religion that spiritus Calvinianus est spiritus melancholicus Beloved the way to have a well composed and ordered joy and comfort in the World is to have a gracious sorrow and an Evangelical grief for the evils thou hast done in the World Seventhly It proceeds from a groundless and a presumptuous perswasion that wicked men have of pardoning grace tush saith a wicked man if I have hopes of Heaven when I die what need sin trouble me I hope it shall not damn my soul and therefore it shall not disquiet me I will not lay sin to my heart for God will not lay sin to my charge I shall go to Heaven when I die what need I break my peace while I live This was the great reason of those that were no more troubled for sin Deut. 29. 19. And it come to pass when he heard the words of this curse that he blessed himself in his heart and said I shall have peace though I walk in the imaginations of my heart God doth not bless them but they will bless themselves they presume of mercy and they presume of Heaven they will presume of blessing why this makes them that they are not troubled for adding drunkenness to thirst they can add sin to sin but not add sorrow to sorrow for sin The eight Cause is this Men contenting themselves under a daubing and a flattering Ministry Men that under pretence of preaching free-grace the love of God and the merits of Christ all their Sermons are comfortable strains when indeed they are but the making the Way to Heaven wider then God makes it This reason is given by God himself Isa 8. 11. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should
grievously vext and disquieted under the guilt of sin I beseech you follow me a while There are six Consolatory rules to be laid down for to comfort a godly man that is disquieted in soul under the guilt of sin First Take this Rule for to comfort thee if the power of thy sin do not prevail over thee thou maiest be sure the guilt of thy sin shall never damn thee why then think if sin hath not a domineering power in the filth of it shall never have a damning power in the guilt of it O thou mortified Christian it may be thou art troubled at what thou hast doâ—e when thou wast a child but hast thou mortified those sins then my soul for thine those sins thou hast destroyed shall never damn thee it may be thou art troubled about the guilt when thou hast destroyed the power O lift up thy head the guilt shall never damn thee when the power doth not prevail over thee Secondly It is better for a Christian to have a soul troubled too much for sin then too little or nothing at all for sin It is better to have a troubled and a terrified conscience then to have a stupified conscience better to have a sore then a seared conscience better to have the conscience raw and gauled then to have it benumbed and no way sensible of the evil of sin Why beloved there is more hope of a soul in a spiritual Feaver that is in disquiet that is raging by reason of the accusation of conscience that is lying under trouble and disquietness of his own apprehension then of him that lies under a spiritual Lethargy sleeping and snorting in his sins which doth never trouble him a wound that hath raw and quick flesh in it it will easier be heal'd then a wound that hath proud and dead flesh in it if thy Conscience be dead flesh thou art not so neer healing as when thy Conscience is raw and gauled flesh it was one mark of Leprosie that was unclean if there was dead flesh in the sore noting a benumbed and a stupified Conscience argues an unclean Leper one in a state of nature It is better to have God's Officer conscience to be over busie to be too much checking and curbing thee then to have no office of Conscience stirring in thee This is another consideration for the comforting of an afflicted soul Thirdly Observe this Rule for the comforting of thy soul under trouble of mind consider that God's mercy and Christ's merits in the pardoning the guilt of thy sin thou hast committed is far greater then the greatnesse of thine own guilt Rom. 5. 15. But not as the offence so is the free gift for if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded to many The meaning is That that gift Jesus Christ the value and worth of man did far exceed the guilt and evil of sin it is expressed in Psal 32. he that trusteth on the Lord mercy shall compasse him round about My own fault is very great but God's grace and mercy is far greater God when he is said to pardon sin in Micah 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgressions of his people he retaineth not anger because be delighteth in mercy He is said to throw them into the bottom of the Sea the red Sea could as easily drown Pharaoh and his host as well as one single man Beloved the red Sea of Christ's blood can as well cover an Army an Host of sins as well as one single sin the Sea can as well cover the Whale as lesser fishes the Sea of Christ's blood can cover great sins as well as small David makes it an argument Psal 25. 11. For thy name sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity for it is great Pardon my sin for it is great That is although it is great and so you have often the particle used in Scripture the Lord would not punish man for the imaginations of his heart is evil that is though his heart be evil It is observed that the Ark wherein the moral Law was kept the mercy seat covered the whole Ark wherein the Law was kept to note Beloved that Jesus Christ the mercy of God and merits of Christ it provides a propitiation a covering of all the breach of the Law the mercy seat is broad and large enough to cover all therefore let this be of great comfort Fourthly Observe this That the more trouble of mind thou dost lie under for the present in the sense of sin the lesse trouble thou shalt have in the future God doth with his People as Land-Lords do with their Tenants if a Land-Lord take a great Fine at the first coming into the house he doth take the less yearly rent for the future God takes of you a great Fine at the first he maketh sin cost thee many a tear many a nights trouble many a days disquiet the greater Fine God taketh of thee the less yearly rent he expects of thee the more thou art troubled for the present the less fear and torment shall be thy portion hereafter am I troubled now it is that I might have more peace when I come to die that in the residue of my days I might have joy and peace in believing O think then if God upon thy first coming into Christ maketh thee pay dear for thy sin and maketh thee smart for it why there is less sorrow and trouble for thee in the time to come Fifthly Art thou troubled in soul for sin take this comfort that the more thou art troubled for sin why thou art the neerer getting out from the Divel when the Divel maketh Conscience howl it is an argument the Divel is thrown out sin is thrown out When the Divel had a long continuance in the Child the Divel did not trouble the Child so much Marke 9. 26. And the spirit cryed and rent him sore and came out of him and he was as one dead insomuch that many said He is dead It is said that when the Divel came out of the Child then the Divel rent him sore and laid him down for dead O Beloved when the Divel is in a man when the strong man hath a full possession of a man the Divel doth not trouble him then As Stella saith The Divel would not have him suffer one touch of Conscience then but when the Divel is going out and sin is thrown out then the Divel rends a man and lays a man for dead this is the property of the Divel Gregory in his Comment upon the Book of Job hath a notable saying saith he Therefore the Divel doth more vehemently stir up fears and doubts in the heart because sin is thrown out of the heart O let this comfort thee Doth the Divel trouble thee more then ordinarily doth thy Conscience terrifie thee that thou