they bring not their own carriages to the scanning each man will be ready to be Eagle-eyed into other mens occasions and can easily enquire and question and determine and say others have done thus and so here such have fallen therein such and such have failed but no man saies What have I done and therefore become fearless of what they have done and careless of what they do but each man rusheth into his own wretched course as the horse into the battel because he carries not the light of the Truth into each 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of his conscience to pry into the secret 〈◊〉 of his own spirit and judg aright of that else be his knowledg never so large he will get little good by it The 〈◊〉 that hath his full charge if it carry but level give fire to it it hits and kils the live mark at which it is shot but 〈◊〉 hurts the shooter unless it recoyl in the full power then the man that dischargeth it hardly escapes with life It is so with the understanding that stands charged that is fully informed with a cleer discovery of the nature of sin it 's able to dart in that light into the minds of others that may dazle their eyes daunt and wound their consciences with the dreadful apprehensions of the 〈◊〉 of their evils and work their hearts through the blessing of the Lord to a godly remorse for it but unless their own thoughts recoyl back again upon their own miscarriages and the falseness of their own hearts they will never be awed or humbled or helped against their own sins thereby Here is then the rule we must arrest our own souls in 〈◊〉 Achan was never troubled all the while he heard there was an 〈◊〉 thing in the Camp in general but when the lot had found him and all Israel had charged the evil upon him then his heart failed So we should not content our selves to know and confess that sin is an execrable thing in general which causes Gods gracious presence to be estranged from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leave not before we see the lot fall upon Achan 〈◊〉 thou 〈◊〉 attach thine own heart take it in the very fact and as men deal with mutinous Traitors drag thy wretched and rebellious heart before the Tribunal of the Lord and deal faithfully and give in 〈◊〉 against it say Lord there be many Traitors and Rebels abroad in the world which dishonor thy Name grieve thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy Kingdom 〈◊〉 thy Law loe 〈◊〉 they be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heart that hath been stubborn and proud it is my mind that is vain my affections loose my life barren and unprofitable here are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unclean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desires no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here they be Lord 〈◊〉 they 〈◊〉 We must also pass sentence impartially without any respect to any private end or ease or quiet which our own carnal hearts would happily 〈◊〉 into the consideration These and these sinns are as bad and as base and as dangerous in this vile heart of mine as in any heart I know under the cope of Heaven if not worse nay what ever abomination is in the bottom of Hell and in the heart of Beelzebub the spawn of the like sins and of the same hellish nature are in my soul they are the seed of the Serpent and that they break not out into the like hideous practises its no thank to my corrupt nature that hinders me but thy Grace and providence restraynes me from such evils It s our desperate weakness and a great part of our misery that we are apt to be favourable to our own follies that sin should be of annother appearance apprehension when we see it in our selves then when we pass sentence upon it as it is presented in the word and in its own nature Impannel a jury of the most wicked nay the worst of men that have been trained up under the Preaching of the word and confess the Scriptures to be the word of God which cannot deceive and let the text be propounded and their opinions be asked in that case 2. 〈◊〉 1. 9. The Lord wil come in Flaming Fire rendring Vengeance to them that know him not and obey not the Gospell they wil all give in their verdict as one man with one mind such as be guilty of such disobedience must certainly have this 〈◊〉 Vengeance from the hand of the Almighty but infer therfore this is 〈◊〉 lot and allowance from the Lord because they have not they do not obey the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their 〈◊〉 do testify so much Now the case is altered when it s once come to their 〈◊〉 It s another kind of ignorance and 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 another 〈◊〉 acted then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they This 〈◊〉 of our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self 〈◊〉 hearts the Philosopher in the practise of men even by the twilight of the common Principles of reason remaining in the decayes of nature observed For taking it for granted that no man doth wil evil under the name of evil but as it comes under the appearance of som good and that all men easily grant and freely confess that Drunkenness Injustice Intemperance are evil the question then growes how these men judging these carriages to be evil are daily taken aside with the Commission of them Ask the Drunkard whether 〈◊〉 be unlawful he consesseth it Loathsom and yet commits it Ask the Blasphemer whether 〈◊〉 be a sin He wil profess it detestable at one breath and practice it at the next Theeves themselves count it unjust that any by cunning should deceive them cry out of falshood and yet by force 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 others the ground is here When the question is put and propounded in the general they wil grant it when it comes to their particular for such a man at this time upon this occasion in this company for such an end to be loose or tipple in this manner this is not unlawful For in these the Devil casts in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 Credit Friendship Familiarity as the Lawyers alter the Case by circumstances and by these he would put another 〈◊〉 upon 〈◊〉 carriages and 〈◊〉 make them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hearts they give in evidence of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 would have the sentence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them that in case they may be 〈◊〉 and not utterly 〈◊〉 So David saw sin in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 own 〈◊〉 So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 〈◊〉 24. Therfore thou 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 Application that they are in thee as in others and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in thee 〈◊〉 thou 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them apply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon our Consciences otherwise such a particular apprehension may and will suddenly pass away and the steams of our distempers wil easily alter and corrupt our understandings and bring the cause quite
him is no darkness John 1. 5. The law is a light and the Commandement a lamp unto our feet Prov. 6. 23. And by the sight of both these we come to have a ful discerning of sin which is opposite to them both Our ignorance of God breeds the ignorance of our own hearts and the hidden waies of wickedness and the cunning conveyances of corrupt distempers which are there in Psal. 14. 1. 2. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God and then it followes they are become abominable he makes bones of no sins at al for herein lies the spiritualness or spiritual evil of sins and that hidden poyson and malignity of the corruption of our natures that they justle professedly against the Almighty so far as he is pleased to communicate himself unto us in the waies of his Holiness and goodness Thus the blasphemer is said to pierce God by his oaths Levit. 24. 11. and the wicked are said to walk contrary to him Levit. 26. to 〈◊〉 him to weary him to load him while then we see not him whom we do oppose by our sins no wonder that we neither see nor are sensible of the sins by which we do oppose him Whereas could we grope after the Almighty as the Apostle professeth we may because he is not far from any of us nay in him we live and move in every spiritual action of our minds and hearts So that did but a wicked man or could he perceive that in every thought of his mind motion of his wil stirring of any affection that he did justle with the infinite Holiness and purity of the Lord who meets with him in every action and motion of his mind and wil It were able to sink the soul of a sinful creature and make him sit down confounded in the sight of the loathsomness of his own 〈◊〉 nature as being wholly opposite to so infinite a good in all he is or doth thus it was with Job when the Lord had schooled him out of the whirlwind discovered the surpassing excellency of his Glory to him he puts him beyond al pleas of his own worth Job 40. 4. Behold I am vile yea more expresly he gives this as the reason of the discovery of his own wretchedness I have heard of thee by the hearing of the Ear but now mine eye sees thee wherefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes Job 42. 4. So it was with the Corinth who was convinced by the preaching of the Word he saw God before he saw the secret vileness of his own heart presented to his view 1 Cor. 14. 24. God is in you of a truth Search we into the holy Law of God and examine our hearts and lives thereby and see how far they stand guilty of the breach thereof but view the compass of the Law and what is vertually contained therein for though the words are few yet the things are many that are comprehended in them And especially look not at the Letter but at the Spiritual Sense and Mind of the Almighty in each thing there required that the whol heart must close with God and his Will as the chiefest good look at and lift up his Glory as his last end in every duty we do and that we make a breach in al those particulars in every sin we do commit our heart is not with him nor make we choyce of him set not up his Name but seek our own base ends thereby and serve our selves and not him By this narrow search and dayly observation of our dayly course we shal be able to see the frame of our hearts and carriages presented to our view and so discern to the ful the loathsomness of those noysom 〈◊〉 that leprosie-like overspreads our whol man Thus James adviseth James 1. 25. that we should look our selves into the Law of Liberty that is a Cristal and cleer Glass and wil discover what is amiss even to a mote the smallest sins and 〈◊〉 and that unto their ful view Paul a learned Pharisee he saw more of sin and more of himself by the Law than either 〈◊〉 conceived or suspected to 〈◊〉 to him Rom. 7. 7. 9. I had not known that lust had been sin but that the Law saith Thou shalt not 〈◊〉 nor did he think himself bad or his condition so miserable but when the Law came that is the light and discovery of the Law he perceived his sin alive but himself dead When the Lord in any Ordinance by the Truth shall discover our sins our Conscience shall come in as a witness to 〈◊〉 or as a Sergeant and Officer by Commission from the Almighty to arrest and condemn us for any evil we should attend both to see Gods mind to the utmost therein and then it 's certain we shal see We must beware that neither out of carnal fear nor sensual security of our sinful hearts we be willing to lay aside the evidence of the truth as content not to hearken to the Verdict of it 〈◊〉 desirous not to listen to the dictate of Conscience but to shake off the Consideration of either lest we should sink down in discouragement It 's certain Truth is terrible and the Dictates of Conscience are dreadful when they come with Commission from the Almighty yet true it is walking humbly under Gods hand we should be so far from fearing the discovery of our sins that we should be comforted in this that they are discovered to us and we should compose our hearts in quietness with the right consideration of the manner of Gods dealing in this kind and commune with our selves on this manner It 's a fearful thing indeed to fall into the hands of the Almighty who is a consuming fire but yet herein the faithfulness of the Lord is seen he deals so with me as he doth with those that he intends good unto he makes His see their sins and that 〈◊〉 before they ever see his pardon of them or power against them if he never convinceth he never 〈◊〉 He sent his holy Spirit into the World for this purpose to perform the work this is the way to Grace and Christ I bless his Name I am in the way I wil hearken to the Evidence of the Truth that I may understand al that God intends and listen to the checks of Conscience that I may know to the full the Nature of my sin When we have a little inkling either by an Ordinance or Conscience take hold of the least intimation and leave it not until you come to the bottom and perceive the utmost vileness in such a course It was so with David who took hold of the reproof of the Prophet Nathan and though he mentioned but one thing wherein the grosness and greatness of the evil appeared yet hence he took occasion to overlook his whol course to consider every circumstance and to ravel out all until he came to the bottom he confesseth al the falsness of his heart
aboundantly pardon Isaiah 55. 7. We have hence a ground of tryal whereby we may gain certain evidence whether ever we came the right way to Christ or that Christ is come or that we have any grounded hope that he will come unto our souls If Christ fit the soul he wil certainly never loose the soul if he prepare it for 〈◊〉 he will undoubtedly possess it by his spirit and grace Our Savior is not either so weak or unwise so weak 〈◊〉 at he cannot accomplish his work and intended end 〈◊〉 unwise that he will loose his labor or leave his work without success as though he had mistaken himself and enterprised that that either he could not or should not accomplish This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between Restraining and Preparing Grace the Lord may restrain a soul for other Ends but if he 〈◊〉 the soul it is for Christ and he will never 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that End There be 〈◊〉 other ends for which the Lord in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sees fit to curb and keep in the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 wicked and restrain the rage of their 〈◊〉 distempers why he should take of the edge and keens and 〈◊〉 the sury and hellish fiercness that 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 hearts of wretched and unreasonable men who are 〈◊〉 by Satan according to his will and ruled by him even the Prince of the Air who is an enemy to Gods glory and to mankind As first that the Lord might shew his power and that absolute soverainty he hath over the worst men the worst of Creatures those infernal 〈◊〉 and the worst and most violent of all their corruptions and that he hath the reins of all their violence and rage 〈◊〉 his own hand and orders it and their wills and wickedness not as they please but as he 〈◊〉 and therefore he inlargeth their commission and recals 〈◊〉 commission as he pleaseth And therefore as Jab speaks of the Sea Job 38. 11. He 〈◊〉 the bounds and compass of their course which they shall not pass thus far and no further So to the Devil he tels 〈◊〉 punctualy how far he shall proceed he is in thy hand only save his life Job 2. 4. Which was a 〈◊〉 to Satan as though God had said break this Bottle but do not spill this Wine thus the Lord 〈◊〉 in Pharoah when the Israelites were to go out Exo. 11. 7. There was not a dog moved his tongue against man or beast that they might know that I am the Lord. That by this means he might provide for the subsistance and continuance of the society of Men in Churches and Commonwealths especially the relief and safety of his own Servants whereas had but wicked men their wills it 's certain there was no being nor breathing nor living for the Saints upon the face of the Earth the Dragon the Devil in his instruments doth so malignantly pursue the woman that is the true Church and Children of God Rev. 12. 13. The Lord therefore breaks their teeth pares their nails and cuts short their tether 〈◊〉 they cannot do as they would As Laban said to Jacob Gen. 31. 29. It is in the power of my hand to do thee harm but the God of thy Father spake unto me saying speak unto Jacob neither good nor bad It is in the wills and power of wicked Men and Devils to do harm to the people of God but the Lord will not suffer them to act that rage and malice that is in their hearts and so not to do that hurt which otherwise they could and would So to Abimelech the Lord whispers his displeasure in the 〈◊〉 Gen. 20. 3. And so restrained him from that which his own heart would have carried him unto That he might indeed put his Servants to a more narrow search and to cause them to look to their heart 〈◊〉 and not content themselves with the lighter strokes of common impressions and 〈◊〉 since many have something like preparation and yet fall short of any saving work the Saints may be careful to go further and not content themselves with 〈◊〉 Copper and counterfeit appearances of hearts prepared for a Christ and breachings after him but to 〈◊〉 themselves as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and walk 〈◊〉 a jealousie and a suspicious fear over 〈◊〉 and return and search and 〈◊〉 question with themselves Am I no other No better 〈◊〉 I as such Then I shall fall and perish as 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 19. Had they been of us 〈◊〉 would never have gone out from us There must be heresies and that amongst you 〈◊〉 saith Paul to the Corinths that they that are sincere hearted may be tryed 1 Cor. 11. 9. When there is fal e Coyn goes up and down each wise man examines what he hath and what he takes Now those upon whom legal terrors and these restraining strokes are laid for 〈◊〉 and the like ends in the counsel of the Lord In the issue the strength of their corruptions like waters that are stopped break out with greater violence the Lord le ts loose their distempers upon them and commonly these blows leave them at a greater distance from the Lord Christ than ever before and many times a Reformation of a mans own is but a Preparation for Sin He that is otherwise cannot be hid 1 Tim. 5 25. It had been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the holy commandement and so to return with the Sow that was washed to wallow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 again and with the Dog to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dogs that lick up their vomit grow more filthy than ever so such as these grow the most 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adversaries to Christ and his Gospel that 〈◊〉 Earth They seemed to be prepared by God 〈◊〉 it was as I say for other ends than for Christ and when these ends are attained in Gods secret Counsel he usually plucks up the stake and le ts loose their tether that they may hurry headlnog to everlasting ruine But if the Lord do not only curb a sinner or hack and rough hew him a little by the word but cut him off as a branch or scion fit for a savior he will never let him lie and wither Look then to those sinful lusts those special and beloved corruptions unto which thy heart hath ben so strongly tyed and linked and whereby Satan and thy corrupt heart have intrenched themselves and set up as so many strong holds against the Lord Christ the work of his spirit and power of his truth as being in league and confederacie with these noysom distempers Hast thou felt the tyranny and treachery of them that bondage and bitterness unto which thou art brought that thou longest and breathest after relief and deliverance and the comming of a Christ that thou mayest deliver up thy self and all into his hands and thou findest thy soul opposite to that that hath been opposite and cross to Christ Isay 59. 20. The Redeemer shall come out
ignorant A man that is loth to rise shuts his eyes from 〈◊〉 light and stops his ears that he may not hear 〈◊〉 knocks at the door so a man that would sleep 〈◊〉 in the security of his natural state he would 〈◊〉 suffer the certainty of Gods Judgments and the terribleness of them to come home to his soul to awaken him out of his dead sleep Thus the Deceitfulness of Sin promiseth nothing but Good the 〈◊〉 of a mans heart is such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but Good mens Self-love and 〈◊〉 is such it will not suffer any thing but Good to be presented to the view of the soul. These are the Grounds why a sinful Heart settles it self in security and blesseth it self though nothing belongs to him but misery Hence we may see the Reason why sharp and soul-saving Preaching seems so greivous and tedious to the carnal hearts of wicked and natural men they hardly vouchsafe audience but not acceptance What 's the cause It would awaken them out of their sleepy security in which they lye To bring a Candle to a sleepy man is unpleasing but to pluck off the Clothes he will hardly bear it but will let flie at you Why will you not suffer a man to be quiet in his bed c. All men are naturally in a dead sleep of sin therefore to bring the Candle of the Law to them to shew them their condition to pluck away all their coverings and hidings that they may see their sins and themselves as they are it is death to a man in this case Plain dealing and rough dealing evermore finds harsh entertainment here still Musick is pliasing and rocks men asleep but sound blows will awaken men and not suffer them to sleep in their sins and therefore they cannot bear them they have itching ears saith the Apostle heaping up Teachers to themselves after their own lusts and therefore they cannot endure sound doctrine 2 Tim. 4. 3. Such Ministers and such Preaching as answer their desires and please their pallats that they and their sins and all may go to Heaven together this they like very well of Itching ears must be scratched not buffeted You know what he said to Elias Art thou he that troubles Israel And hast thou found me O my Enemy 1 King 18. 17. 〈◊〉 had 400 false Prophets he could endure them well enough because they never disquieted him in his sins but Elias was a troubler of Israel because he troubled his sin therefore he was not able to bear with him Hence again We should be perswaded and informed its the heaviest plague that can befal a man That God should suffer him to sleep in his sins and prosper in a wicked Course Because it argues for ought any man knows that God intends no good to him nor will work no good for him but as if the Lord hath left such a one to be a prey to sin and Satan he is in the hands of his lusts and become a spoil unto them Jesus Christ passeth by him as it 〈◊〉 pitties him not meddles not with him to rescue him out of that Condition as if the Lord should say I have nothing to do with him he is none of mine Therefore know this to your terror all you that never knew what it was to be in distress of Conscience for sin nay when the Word hath come home to you to convince you of your miserable estate for you have not been able to bear it bate of your sleep nor rest you cannot lose any thing of your 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 you will not nay you bless your selves in this condition thinking your case is good enough Mark now The Lord Jesus sees sin and Satan have thee in their power hurrying thee down to Hell with them and he passeth by and saith Let them alone they belong not to me I will not rescue them nor save them my Word and Spirit shall not convince 〈◊〉 nor work upon them this is the heaviest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can befal thee in this world Acts 17. 30. The 〈◊〉 of this ignorance God regarded not they lived in their sins without God and Christ and 〈◊〉 and the Lord never regarded them so as to look after them to recover them out of this estate Acts 14. 16. He suffered the Nations to walk in their own wayes It was the heavie displeasure of God towards them he saw they followed their own wayes and he suffered them so to do to go on still in the broad and the road way that leads to eternal Death All sinners are sick persons and we know 〈◊〉 a sad thing for those that are sick unto death not to be seen not to be helped and succoured when the Physitian will not so much as look in upon them Luke 19. 44. Jerusalem had her day of 〈◊〉 she was sick at the heart and God came to 〈◊〉 her but she would not take his advice therefore the Lord left her and let her alone this is a woful case when the Lord leaves a sinner to himself and doth not visit him with his saving health it s a sign that he hath no love unto nor care to do good to such a soul. Of Tryal Hence we way get undoubted Evidence to our selves whether we are yet in our natural condition or brought out of it I shall press it only negatively now Is the day yet to dawn the hour yet to come that ever thou didst endeavor to come out of thy natural condition nay happily thou never sawest cause why thou shouldest But thou 〈◊〉 and conceivest that all things remain alike with thee from the first beginning unto this day as thou wast thou art thou hast lived quietly and walked comfortably all thy life long Truly know it if thou art not another man than when thou camest into the world thou art but a natural man thou art but a damned man Thou camest flesh and blood into the world thou camest a Child of wrath and thou art so still and if so be thou doest live so and die so thou art sure to be damned for ever for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. 50. We know saies the Apostle that we are born of God and the world lies in wickedness 1 Joh. 5. 19. Brought to bed in 〈◊〉 as the Original saies thou art one that livest in some base wicked courses and liest in the bed of security and thou shalt perish with the world It s observable in the Parable when all things were at peace the strong man kept the house that 's certain As it s said of the City of Laish Judg. 18. 7. They were quiet and secure and had no business with any man Is it so with thee Thou art quiet and secure and hast no business with the Word of God thou dost come and sit and return again as if thou hadst no business with the Lord thy Conscience not convinced thy affections not stirred thy heart not affected with saving
therefore to mind this or to be led by this is present death The minor is thus again confirmed because it submits not to the Law and that is not for a present push only and out of a surprizal of some temptation but it 's certain it will never nay it can never be other because it 's beyond its power nay cross to its Nature so to do so that it hath no ability nor will for to do it nor can it of it self attain any sufficiency thereunto To make way for the collection of the Point of which we purpose to speak there be two words in the Text to be attended for Explication sake 1 What is meant by The Wisdom of the flesh or to be Carnally minded The Original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of large compass and in truth comprehends in this place the frame of the Reasonable Faculties the Understanding and Will in the extent of their full work what he understands and plots by Reason the Will effects and this latter of necessity implies the other for so the word whence it comes is taken 1 For the work of the Understanding Acts 28. 22. We desire to know what thou thinkest they would understand his Opinion and Judgment touching the way of Christianity so the Apostle speaks when he would confine our Reason to the compass of the Wisdom of the Scripture and Gods Counsel therein revealed he adviseth We should not be wise above that which is written 1 Cor. 4. 6. 2 Again It 's used and that often to express the work of the Will and therefore it is 〈◊〉 translated by Care Phil. 4. 10. I rejoyced that your Care of me again flourisheth Somtimes by the work of Seeking If ye be risen with Christ 〈◊〉 those things which are above 3. Col. 1. Or by the act of tasting or savouring Mat. 16. 21. Get thee behind me Satan thou savorest not the things 〈◊〉 be of God And therefore Beza is constrained to Paraphrase and lay out the compass of it in a 〈◊〉 of words That which the carnal man savors is enmity that is the frame of the plotting of the minds and affecting of the hearts of carnal men is enmity against God 2 Enmity as we say in the abstract made up of nothing but malice and hatred and that in an extream manner against the Lord more than against any thing in the world And if it be enquired how that doth appear and can be proved The Evidence is added in the next words It is not subject to the Law As the heart is to the Law so it is to the Lord as it is to the Word of God so it is to God himself It wholly shakes off the Sovereignty and Authority of the Law and it is not a pang only of a temptation that carries it nor a push or 〈◊〉 of some present infirmity that overbears it but in truth it is the very Nature of a naughty and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is born of the flesh is flesh John 3. 6. and nothing else but 〈◊〉 and therefore it can do nothing but oppose the Spirit and the Law which is Spiritual every thing will do and in 〈◊〉 can do no 〈◊〉 but its Nature And this denyal 〈◊〉 only of the Act of Subjection but the very Power of Subjection shews the height of that opposition that is in the heart against the Law and so against 〈◊〉 Lord himself for subjection is one degree lower 〈◊〉 obedience it 's possible for a Servant not to 〈◊〉 the command of his Master and yet he may in 〈◊〉 and subjection submit himself to his authority to bear what he will inflict upon him with 〈◊〉 though not to do what he requires of him A Patient may be subject in silence and meekness to 〈◊〉 the launcings of the Chyrurgion to cut him and so cure him when he can in no wise help 〈◊〉 and yet a carnal heart will not do this for his 〈◊〉 of subjection implies 1 It doth not acknowledg the Authority and 〈◊〉 of the Law 2 It will not obey the Rule of it 3 It will not bear the Power of it whereby it would redress the sinfulness of our hearts and reform the disorders and miscarriages of our lives and pluck away that sin from us that would pluck away our hearts from God He hath no right to challenge 〈◊〉 sovereignty no reason to exercise it no Lawful power but usurped that doth maintain it and 〈◊〉 I do not acknowledg this right nor obey that Rule nor bear that Power saies the Will it would take away my lusts and so take away my content 〈◊〉 life and I will rather die than yield rather be 〈◊〉 than abide my pleasing distempers to be crossed by the Law Hence then the Point is plain The frame of the whol heart of a Natural man is wholly unwilling to submit to the Work of the Lord that would sever him from his sins I say the frame of the whol man to the words of the Text and interpretation of them each plotting of the Mind each affecting of the Will the 〈◊〉 current of the carriage of the inward man and 〈◊〉 is not only unable to follow the direction of the Law and of the Lord but not willing to bear the power thereof to force it to the reformation of those 〈◊〉 and sins unto which it subjects it self and sets it self resolutely to keep So the Lord professed of Nimrod and his company when they had set themselves upon the building of Babel out of their pride and self confidence Gen. 11. 6. Now nothing will 〈◊〉 restrained from them which they have imagined to do let us go down and confound their Language It 's in vain to perswade them in vain to send Messengers and shew Arguments never so sad and weighty to stop them only confound their language that they may not be able to do what they would It 's the Scope of that Parable Matth. 21. from 33. to 41. wherein the waywardness of the hearts of the sons of men and their desperate unteachableness is apparantly discovered Messenger is sent after Messenger all variety of means provided and continued they beat one evil entreat another slay a third and when the Son himself is sent that Reason would have concluded that which the Master of the Vineyard conceived they will reverence my Son they were most outragious against him because happily he was more instant and importunate to press them to Sanctification the rendring of the fruit your fruit in Holiness and the end eternal Life Rom. 6. 22. they express greater opposition against him because he most of all opposed their sins Come say they this is the Heir let us kill him and the Inheritance will be ours Nor was this the guise of some graceless forlorn persons but the disposition of all men it 's part of that Curse we inherit from the Loyns 〈◊〉 our first Parents Gen. 6. 5. The frame of the imagination of our hearts are evil and
get it if he can by doubling he is not willing to yield therefore is resolved to quarrel and wind away from under the force of the Argument and to make an escape Acts 17. 18. They encountred Paul they came into the field with Cavils against his Doctrine observe how careful an unwilling heart is to invent a shift and how content to take it and if yet he fail of his hopes and is not able to make his party good with the 〈◊〉 he unlocks all the Devils Chests and 〈◊〉 his Skul for devices and though the Reasons be of no weight nor worth nor strength yet he is well 〈◊〉 to be cozened with them though there be scant any appearance of a pretence when the yong man had professed all readiness to follow the Command of the Lord and saw nothing would serve turn unless he sold all overpowered with the Authority of the Truth he left it in the plain field and went away sorrowful If yet the 〈◊〉 that 's rivetted in his resolution to hold his own cannot 〈◊〉 the Truth then he falls to flat opposing of it Jer. 44. 16. As for the word which 〈◊〉 hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not hearken to it that is the short and the long they then begun to be plain and peremptory Jer. 18. 12. They said there is no 〈◊〉 but we will do after our devices and we will walk every man after the imagination of his own heart If they cannot undo the Bonds they will break the Bonds of Gods Commands Come say they 〈◊〉 2. 2. let us break 〈◊〉 Bonds and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their cords from us Thus the Jews when they saw the Word of the Lord to prosper in the 〈◊〉 of Paul and 〈◊〉 they were filled 〈◊〉 envy and 〈◊〉 against those things that were spoken by Paul contradicting and 〈◊〉 in so much that Paul professed they put away the 〈◊〉 that would have plucked away their sins 〈◊〉 them Acts 13. 46. John must 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 rather than Herod will part with his Harlot When 〈◊〉 cannot get leave of God to do what he desired he goes without leave Numb 24. 1. he 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 to the 〈◊〉 as if he would prevent Gods 〈◊〉 and curse 〈◊〉 before God 〈◊〉 be aware of it To have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tormented and kept upon the 〈◊〉 and themselves crossed in their corrupt courses so that either they dare not keep their lusts or else have no quiet if they do they fly in the face of the Truth it 's a hard saying who can hear it who can 〈◊〉 it Acts 19. 28. see what an uproar and what a dust Demetrius raiseth against Pauls Doctrine Masters you know that by this craft we get our living therefore what they wanted in Argument they would carry it in clamors There was an 〈◊〉 for the space of two hours Great is Diana of the Ephesians So they dealt with the two 〈◊〉 Revel 11. 10. they were never content before they were removed they could not have their 〈◊〉 in quiet as long as they had their lives for they tormented them with their witness the Truth is dreadful and torments carnal men that cannot bear the light and power of it If yet the Conscience be not seared with a hot Iron but there remain any sence of common Principles in it they will be dayly quickened and awakened by the Power of the Word and that will be daily vexing provoking and pressing the heart you know saies Conscience this is the Command your Duty and will be your Comfort to yield obedience thereunto you may oppose but you will perish for it you may do what you please but it will be your destruction God wil require it at your hands when you will not be able to answer for what you have done nor bear what God will inflict The 〈◊〉 then endeavors to still the clamors and to stop the mouth of Conscience and to weary it out 〈◊〉 impudency in wickedness and stifling the 〈◊〉 of it and not suffer it to take place and so by custom in sinning he takes away the sence of sin and so it befals them as those the Apostle speaks of they become past feeling Eph. 4. 19. This is to hold 〈◊〉 the Truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1. 18. Truth is pressing this ought this should this must be done or else you die for it you see the Word pregnant the way plain the Duty undeniable say nothing saies unrighteousness in the heart I do love it I must follow it therefore speak not a word more I cannot hear it nor bear it as they said Judg. 18. 25. when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after them for his gods Let not thy voyce be heard amongst us left angry fellows fall upon thee Thus you see how this unwillingness to be subject to the Truth shews it self They seek it not receive it not stop the passage of it defeat the Power and Evidence of it they professedly oppose it and privily stifle the 〈◊〉 of the Truth which may trouble them in sinning until their 〈◊〉 be without sence and they without care or purpose to reform their evil waies But are not the wicked many times willing to part with their corruptions see how far they speak how freely they profess Deut. 5. 27. All that thou hast spoken we will do Jer. 42. 5. The Lord be Judg 〈◊〉 thee and us enquire at the mouth of the Lord for us and whatever it be whether good or evil we will do it what more can be desired what more could be expressed I Answer in Three Things The Text denies not nor doth the Doctrine that Natural men are willing to profess subjection to the Law of God but that they neither do nor can nor will do what they say therefore it is added in Deut. 5. 28 29. This People have said well but O that there were such a heart in them there was good words but they wanted good hearts they said wel but their wils and endeavors were not answerable they professed fair with their lips but dissembled with their hearts so the Prophet Jeremiah told them to their faces Ye dissembled in your hearts when ye said enquire of the Lord for us Jer. 42. 20. It 's possible nay ordinary for a corrupt heart when it doth most reform sin outwardly then most of all to love and to give himself to the practice of some sin secretly because then all the streams are turned into one Channel he neglects all other that he may wholly bestow and lay out his heart upon that one and when he professeth against sin he conceives he may sin without suspition and distraction without suspition from others and without distraction in himself when by confessions and reformations he will put in Bail upon his Conscience and agree with it as Bankrupts use to do with their Creditors When it co nes to a streight and a justle that the Word meets him as the Angel met Balaam he cannot pass unless
it not as a part of weakness but a madness in truth if a Malefactor wil lie in the Dungeon when means of deliverances is afforded for a man to chuse his fetters and to keep on his chains and bolts when he may be freed yet this is the case and condition yea the disposition of men who are not willing to be severed from their sins nor to be set free from those chains of darkness wherewith they are fettered and go up and down imprisoned in the world Sin is compared to a deadly poyson the poyson of Asps is under their tongue Rom. 3. 13. that is Such 〈◊〉 which is deadly and venomous which admits no remedy no cure no recovery Now shouldest 〈◊〉 see a Patient that should be offended with the Medicine that would Cure him or with the Physitian that would counsel him and recover him out of 〈◊〉 Disease Or take it heinously and grievously that any should keep him from drinking the Poyson that would destroy him Each man would conclude that his brain were more distempered than 〈◊〉 body as doing that which is directly cross even to nature which desires the preservation of it self even in unreasonable Creatures Turn but the tables as we say consider aright thine own carriage 〈◊〉 thou wilt confess it is thy case thou art the man Thou art poysoned with the loathsom and 〈◊〉 lusts of thine own Heart which threaten thy everlasting ruine and that beyond recovery in 〈◊〉 course of ordinary means Thou art not able 〈◊〉 hear the Counsel that would direct thee for 〈◊〉 Cure nor bear a savory and seasonable 〈◊〉 which would take away the poyson of those 〈◊〉 distempers Thou canst not endure to be severe from that which wil sever thy soul from God 〈◊〉 canst not abide the Word or the Messengers 〈◊〉 would take away that from thee which wil take 〈◊〉 way thy peace thy comfort thy happiness and a Thus Herodias waited for the Baptists life 〈◊〉 he endeavored to cross her in her Incestuous 〈◊〉 and loathsom abominations Mark 6. 19. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel a secret grudg again him and would have killed him She lay at 〈◊〉 she was watchful and covetous to observe and 〈◊〉 any hint of opportunity offered to do him harm because he desired and endeavored to do her the greatest good that he could A type of this we may 〈◊〉 in the Israelites when their own hearts could tel them and their own experience could testifie and that unto their own sense it was the greatest pressure that ever they found the 〈◊〉 of the wrath of Pharoah and that they sighed under it and their groans went up to heaven And yet they would return to their own ruine and to the house of bondage And Would God said they we had died in Aegypt Aegipt typifyed the kingdom of darkness the state of sin and death and Pharoah was a type of Satan who exerciseth the fierceness of his fury upon the souls of those that are under his power somtimes men wil cry unto the Lord by reason of the hard usage they find from Sin and Satan yet when God comes by his Word and the Counsels of his Servants to pluck them out of their sins and out of their bondage they cannot endure that they wil rather return again unto and lie down under the bondage of sin and Satan than be delivered from it John 5. 40. Our Savior Christ tels the Jews there You will not come to me that you might have life Christ hath Purchased it and Promised it and Offred it yet saies he You wil not come to me you wil not though you may have life and happiness for the coming for Here 's also a ground of Tryal We may hence discern and that undeniably and easily what our condition is Whether we be yet in our Natural estate so far from the interest and possession of Christ or any saving work of his Spirit as that indeed we have not attained any through preparation hereunto We need not send up to Heaven to look into the Cabinet Counsels of Gods everlasting Decrees what is 〈◊〉 concerning us Descend thou into thy own soul thou hast that in thy bosom wil be the best discovery of thy condition Ask but honestly plainly and in earnest thy own heart and that wil cast the ballance and that beyond al question Such as thy will is such is thy condition look what thou wouldest be that thou art in truth and in the account of the Almighty The Lord cares 〈◊〉 for al the Court Complements thou canst express in the wayes of Christianity he 〈◊〉 not for 〈◊〉 thy fair 〈◊〉 and the quaint appearances of 〈◊〉 was thy carriage gilt over with the most glorious shews of Godliness and thy tongue tipped with the language of heaven this wil not do the deed This would not answer the Lords expectation nor thine own hopes and comforts in the issue It was said concerning Eliab Davids elder brother when it was conceived that he should be the man appointed for the Kingdom and indeed holy Samuel was deceived in his goodly stature Surely this is the Lords Annointed The Lord himself checks his judgment Man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh upon the heart 1 Sam. 16. 7. Look we then as God looks and judge we as he judgeth if we would have comfort and truth in our judgment that we may not fail in that and so our hopes and happiness and al fail in the issue Thou saiest Thy 〈◊〉 is savory and free thy understanding large thou art able to search the Mysteries of Grace thou knowest in a great 〈◊〉 the things of Grace and art able fully to express what thou knowest and thou pretendest readmess and zeal for the service of the Lord. Thou 〈◊〉 al these are thus And I say What is thy heart thou lookest to these I say Look to thy heart and then to these that is Gods way The people in Deut. 5. 28. made as full and free a profession as all the world could desire but the Lord desired somwhat more 〈◊〉 went further They have well said but Oh that 〈◊〉 were such a heart in them v. 29. It is the heart then that gives the casting Evidence of a mans condition and wil not deceive The Woman that hath two Suiters that make love and express their 〈◊〉 to her if she ask her own Spirit that will easily speak which is the man that must be her Husband the Answer which will 〈◊〉 it is this Such a one hath her heart he hath got her good will and therefore hath gained the woman 〈◊〉 is his to give one all good language and 〈◊〉 entertainment that is nothing if another hath the heart So if the Question be which is indeed a Question of the greatest consequence in the world Whether art thou to be matched to thy Sin or to thy Savior to thy Lusts or to the Lord Jesus This will put it beyond peradventure hath some bosom
here Men that cleer ground they content not themselves to lop off the tops of trees but they stub up the roots then they make cleer work So here be sure you stub up the heart and will of sinning that 's the root of all or else al that you do is in vain it was our Saviors expression to the Pharisees Luke 11. 39. Ye fools that make clean the outside of the cup and the platter but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness they began on the wrong side they contented themselves to 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 their outward conversation to manward and left corruption in their hearts unsubdued unremoved and therefore our Savior Christ calls them fools and hypocrites for their labor What can you say to my life what hath any man against me if thou hast no more 〈◊〉 say for thy self than that comes to thou hast nothing at al 〈◊〉 thy heart be not clensed from those iecret corruptions of thine Let me leave Two or Three Directions here that are just in my way not interfering with any thing to be spoken afterward Know that the greatest work of Reformation Repentance and the comfort of a mans spiritual condition it lies mainly in the Will the greatest work and the greatest difficulty lies here Brethren If you look at it as a matter of ease that thou canst do it with the turning of a hand and make wash-work of it thou never knewest it and thou shalt never attain it It 's one of the Devils greatest delusions whereby he cozens thousands to perswade men it 's an easie matter to be Religious No 〈◊〉 know it unless you find it the greatest work in the world you will never find endeavors suitable nor success answerable for the comfort of your own souls Oh therefore that every man would go home convinced and perswaded God hath helped me to temper my tongue and to keep my hands the Lord hath given me an enlightened Judgment a reformed life but Oh the difficult work is behind this wretched heart of mine the hardness of that the impossibility of that conclude it therefore and resolve upon it it wil cost me hard work and unless the Lord enable me and set in mightily and constantly upon my soul the work will never be done The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Jer. 17. 9. there is no hope of it as it were the hand and eye and tongue may be reformed but the heart is desperate who can know it who can mend it who can overpower it If thou hast found it easie nay if thou didst never stand amazed at the difficulty of the work about thy heart to get that severed from thy sins thou never hadst the right discerning of it to this day Paul cried out of the Body of Death Rom. 7. last who shal deliver me from it not from the eye or the hand but from the heart the will of Pride the wil of Uncleanness the will of 〈◊〉 and here he is at a stand at an amaze with himself who shal deliver me Beleaguer thy heart and will with the cleer evidence of the Truth of God that it may not be able to make an escape from under it It is with subduing the Will as it is in winning a strong Hold it 's marvelous hard to 〈◊〉 unto it no battery can be made against it those that are do not prevail 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking of it then they besiege it so that none shall come in to bring any help 〈◊〉 none go out to find any relief then in time they will be famished out and so forced to surrender Do so with thy soul thou hast a crooked proud 〈◊〉 will that hath outbid al the Ordinances of God no battery could ever prevail against it therefore labor to besiege it with the Evidence and plainness of undeniable Arguments of Truth from the Word that nothing may come in nor out listen not to any carnal Reasons within suffer not either honor or profit or pleasure from without to enfeeble the power of the Truth but so besiege it with the Evidence of the Word that the soul may say this is my sin this is my plague this is my state it will be my ruine unless the Lord shew mercy to me this wil tire the heart of a man and there is no other way in the world and it 's certain that the heart wil either lay down his corruption or his conviction but this is our misery that some go out and some come in and so the heart is relieved and holds the siege long The last Direction which may prepare us for the next Point viz. The hand of the Lord to work this for us When thou art perswaded this stubborn heart will cost me many a prayer and tear and bring me often upon my knees it wil never do else if I think it 's easie I never knew what it was and when thy heart is so besieged that it finds no relief Then Brethren look often up to Heaven He only that made the heart can frame the heart to the blessed obedience of his own wil al that we can do is to use the means and lie under the Ordinances that God may do that for us which he requires of us It 's the Lords own Promise Ezek. 36. 26 27. I will take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh therefore go and cry to Heaven and say Lord it is not in our hands to do it but thou hast said thou wilt give unto thy servants a heart to hate sin we come and beseech thee deny it not unto us Look to him we should in whose hand our hearts are that he may do that for us which we cannot do for our selves BOOK VIII JOHN 6. 44. No man can come to Me unless My Father which sent Me Draw him WE have already Debated and Dispatched TWO of those Divine Truths wherein the Dispensation and manner of Gods working upon the Soul in preparation was conceived and described 1 That he finds the sinner settled upon his 〈◊〉 and in the security of a sinful Condition 2 That he was wholly unwilling to be severed therefrom That it is a Death to him to be awakened out of this dead sleep when he saw no danger nor feared any but pleased himself in his Dreams and deluded 〈◊〉 of his own happy Condition 3 The Third and last Point now comes to skanning and Consideration wherein indeed the Pith and Marrow of this so deep and mysterious a Dispensation of the Lord upon the Soul discovers it self The Two former only made way for the more plain Explication of this last and the more easie Apprehension of it by those who are willing to understand Namely That by a holy kind of violence he is driven out of his sin and Drawn unto Christ by God the Father notwithstanding al the 〈◊〉 and utter unwillingness to the contrary And for the foundation of our following Discourse we have chosen these
for his amendment and repentance puts him in mind and lies pulling at him with these cords of his Compassions Isa. 30. 18. He waits to be gracious He takes fresh and renewed throws of Patience and travels as it were in expectation of the return of a sinner Jer. 13. last Oh Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean when will it once be As a Woman in travel Oh when wil the good hour come Oh! consider this Is it not a shame for you to suffer the Lord Christ to meet with you at every turn to follow you from place to place to attend upon you in the Seas where you have 〈◊〉 upon the shoars where you have landed in the houses where you dwel to pursue you in the fields to hang his pardons at your doors and to kneel to you at your bed-sides when you lie down and when you awake Oh! when wil it once be Let this day be the last day of sinning of lazying in a Christian course of carnal formality let this time this night be the last night of provocation unprofitableness under al the priviledges means of Grace you enjoy Once at last let that proud heart be humbled that peevish Spirit meekned those covetous desires unclean affections be changed when wil it once be See how the Lord sends by the Prophet and pleads with them and puts them beyond al appearance of any pretence Turn ye turn ye why will ye die Oh ye house of Israel Ezek. 33. 11. Have ye any reason to desire or endeavor your own destruction against your own reason your own good my will why wil you die Plead thus with your own hearts for your own comfort I have reason to return but no reason to die what is most for my good and the Lord so much desires Let me endeavor it See then how these cords of 〈◊〉 compass about the sinner and lie hard at him to draw him from his sin The Lord proclaims his Mercy openly freely offers it heartily intends it waits to communicate it layes siege to the Soul by his long sufferance There is enough to procure al good distrust it not He freely invites fear it not thou mayest be bold to go he intends it heartily question it not yet he is 〈◊〉 and wooing delay it not 〈◊〉 but hearken to his voyce But if these limetwigs of Love cannot catch you these Cords of Mercy cannot hold you he hath iron Chains which wil either pluck you from your evil wayes or they wil pul you al in pieces The Third Means therefore by which the Lord Draws is the Cord of Conscience If the Bonds of a man and of kindness wil not prevail with us the iron Hook of Conscience wil drag us with a witness to forsake our beloved lusts to come to the Lord to be ruled and to be saved Now the Hooks whereby Conscience holds us are Three principally whereby it tears the heart away from those wretched distempers and holds the sou from under the power of such base Corruptions which have taken greater place and exercised greater power over it God stirs up Conscience and arms it with Authority for the stilling and settling of such unruly distempers which heretofore have refused his power and neglected his law and so took much place in the Soul and carried lt to the Commission of much evil against the mind of Conscience So that whereas Conscience was kept under before by reason of the Mutinies and Conspiricies of many Corruptions in the heart and was blinded 〈◊〉 and benummed with the violence and unruly rage of many wretched lusts so that either it did not see what was to be done or could not be heard in what it would speak at least was utterly unable to prevail The Lord now hath awakened Conscience and put that Life Vertue and Authority into it That now Conscience begins a fresh to take upon him and to shew his Soveraignty and Rule he wil not take it as he hath done but publickly proclaims his 〈◊〉 Charge and Edicts not to be contradicted or controuled upon the pain of the severest punishments This is the first work of Conscience to be a forewarner and to admonish the soul of evil to exercise a severe Charge and give uncontroulable Commands against sin So that Corruption comes to be snubbed and checked and the soul kept in aw under him which it scorned before It fares in this case with Conscience as with an High Sheriff or some special Officer of note in the Country in the absence of the King while he is gone aside there ariseth a Mutiny and Tumult of unruly persons which tear his Commission withstand his proceedings and offer in an outragious manner to lay violent hands upon his Person so that as he can do nothing so he dares shew little distaste but express no strong opposition against them as not having power enough to surprise and crush them in their 〈◊〉 but is compelled to sit still and say nothing knowing as David said You are too strong for me you sons of Zerviah He finds his party too weak to deal with them thefrore puts up al contempts and indignities for the while Nay as it is with many 〈◊〉 their numbers being many their carriage furious and unreasonable somtimes they strike the Constable instead of being ruled by him but when the King returns renews his Commission and gives him more power than ever and sends supply to aid and 〈◊〉 him then the Sheriff lifts up his head having got a larger 〈◊〉 comes with more undaunted courage and resolution having got assistance 〈◊〉 to support himself and he makes open Proclamation That whereas there hath been such and such 〈◊〉 be it known that they are al to be 〈◊〉 and commanded in the Kings Name upon 〈◊〉 notice hereof to lay down all weapons to stil al 〈◊〉 disorders upon pain of death to any that shall 〈◊〉 the Law in that case So it is with Conscience when by the crowd and 〈◊〉 of many accursed lusts and corruptions 〈◊〉 eye is blinded the edg dulled the commands of 〈◊〉 corned so that men make a mock of conscience 〈◊〉 your Conscience wil not serve you your 〈◊〉 wil not suffer you to lye to laze to 〈◊〉 to deceive your Conscience wil not allow it 〈◊〉 you make a fool of your 〈◊〉 what care 〈◊〉 for Conscience or you either I wil do what I like what I list for al Conscience Thus a company of 〈◊〉 imprison the High Sheriff or beset his house 〈◊〉 when God shal awaken Conscience and quicken 〈◊〉 and renew the Commission in the hand of 〈◊〉 so that it comes enlightened and armed with 〈◊〉 from Heaven he then makes open 〈◊〉 to the sinner forewarns and threatens the 〈◊〉 thou that hast had no care of the 〈◊〉 of God but slighted al Directions and 〈◊〉 of his Word be it known unto thee by 〈◊〉 received from Heaven I charge thee in the Name of the Lord Jesus as thou wilt answer it
crew the lusts with whom he 〈◊〉 been in league see that he is got out of prison 〈◊〉 they again set upon him to see if by any means 〈◊〉 can bring him to their bent to embrace the old 〈◊〉 waies of ungodliness Tush saies carnal Reason the worst is past the danger is over why should he slay himself with needless sorrow and 〈◊〉 smoak away his daies in desperate 〈◊〉 and make himself miserable in laying more burden upon himself than God requires or Reason allows If the Lord in his Providence hath 〈◊〉 him of his inconveniences why should he ad 〈◊〉 them without need and without profit let him therefore refresh himsélf with those former 〈◊〉 and shake off those heavy damps which are indeed the death of the soul the ruine of his 〈◊〉 and himself also in the issue In conclusion the heart begins to recoil back again to the former courses to 〈◊〉 after those former lusts as ancient Lovers to parley with them to give entertainment to them 〈◊〉 so to be overcome by them So that now he is 〈◊〉 deeply endeared to them as ever follows them as eagerly and takes as much contentment in them as 〈◊〉 do in their ancient play fellows and 〈◊〉 when they have been long parted 'Till 〈◊〉 laies the last hook upon him and rends him al in pieces As it forewarned him of sin that it might not 〈◊〉 committed and accused him for sin when it 〈◊〉 committed so now it becomes an Executioner 〈◊〉 the final Doom and Judgment which belongs 〈◊〉 him because against all means of redress he 〈◊〉 continues in his sin so that now Conscience 〈◊〉 not present him before the Tribunal of the Lord 〈◊〉 tryal or accusation for that is over but as one 〈◊〉 is convicted and condemned he drags him to 〈◊〉 1 John 3. 20. If our hearts condemn 〈◊〉 God is greater than our hearts Prov. 29. 1. 〈◊〉 that being often admonished hardens his heart 〈◊〉 shall perish without Remedy thou art the man 〈◊〉 is thy condition this will be thy condemnation 〈◊〉 hast been often admonished 〈◊〉 such a time 〈◊〉 such a time by a 〈◊〉 a Friend a Minister 〈◊〉 did thy heart rise with 〈◊〉 and indignation 〈◊〉 not able to abide the man nor to undergo the 〈◊〉 nition therefore thou 〈◊〉 perish 〈◊〉 there is 〈◊〉 Remedy with that Conscience delivers him up 〈◊〉 the hands of the tormentors take him ye 〈◊〉 spirits depart from hence to thy grave and 〈◊〉 thence to the place of Execution He would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his evil let him perish in it he would not 〈◊〉 reformed let him be for ever accursed So that 〈◊〉 sinner conceives himself past hope and help looks 〈◊〉 very hour and moment to be turned off the 〈◊〉 For as a man arrested for one debt may be a 〈◊〉 some few pounds many thousands are presently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon him al Creditors come in with Bill after 〈◊〉 so that as a man utterly undone lie he may and 〈◊〉 he must but to be delivered he cannot once look So the 〈◊〉 being under the arrest of Conscience for the transgression of the Law the Gospel now comes in upon the sinner his Bill comes in fresh upon him he is arrested at the suit of Patience which 〈◊〉 hath abused of Mercy which he hath sleighted long Sufferance which he hath perverted they al 〈◊〉 for Justice Justice Lord against this sinful 〈◊〉 So that the sinner conceives himself in the 〈◊〉 of the Devil really and irrecoverably in Hell Lo saies the sinner The Devil the Devil there he is he is come for me When he lies panting upon his sick-bed if he do but close his eyes together to sleep his dreams 〈◊〉 him his thoughts 〈◊〉 him and he awakens gastered and distracted as though he were posting down to the pit he 〈◊〉 up and Raves Why go then I must go His Friends pitty him weep over him and endeavor to 〈◊〉 him Why you are in your bed and amongst your dear Friends Whither wil you go I must go 〈◊〉 Hell Satan is sent from God to fetch me Oh my stubbornness my carelesness my contempt of the Lord and his Truth hath justly brought me to this Why but there is yet Grace and Mercy Oh! it had been happy for me I had never had the offer of Grace and Mercy Its Mercy that I have rejected and Grace that I have opposed and cast al the compassions of the Lord behind my back to follow my 〈◊〉 Courses And with what face can I beg Mercy who have abused it crave Grace who have opposed 〈◊〉 He cannot be saved that Mercy cannot but 〈◊〉 and Mercy should be unmerciful to its 〈◊〉 if 〈◊〉 should not cast away him that hath cast away it But do you now judge so and would you now do so as formerly you have conceived the greatest 〈◊〉 in your sinful distempers pleased your self in your pride and loosness and vanities taken content in your Corruptions in casting away the holy Commands of God Would you give your self the like Liberty Or can you take the 〈◊〉 Comfort in the same wayes now Oh no I now see how sin hath deceived me and mine own corrupt heart hath couzened my self that which was my pleasure and delight is now my plague my poyson but would you be content to part with these and take Grace and Mercy in the room of them Oh that I might but there is no reason that I should expect it 〈◊〉 God should do it Why if you would have mercy God will shew you mercy Then the Lord give me a Will and give me Mercy and give me Grace whether I wil or no it would be better with me then than now Hos. 2. 8. By this time the Heart and Corruption are almost pulled asunder therefore the last Cord is this The Lord by the hand of his Almighty Spirit 〈◊〉 pluck it quite asunder that the Will of the sinner may never soulder again with his Corruption nor suit any 〈◊〉 with them It s the same power that raised Christ from the dead Eph. 1. 19. It s the same power that raiseth the dead to life Joh. 5. 25. The dead shal hear the voice of the Son of God and those that do hear shal live Yea the Lord is said to Create lips to speak Peace Isa. 57. 19. He puts forth a creating power when he wil lead and heal the sinner The Lord Christ commands sin as somtimes Satan Come out of him thou unclean spirit and trouble him no more That which al the Disciples did not could not Christ did there in the possession bodily so here spiritually How this holy kind of Violence may best be discerned I shal Answer to this in several CONCLUSIONS The Will of a man is in it self and in its own nature a capable subject of Sin and Grace I say Look at it as in its own Nature considered both these in a right order and according to a rule of right 〈◊〉 may be in it
successively As the same vessel is capable of puddle and pure water the same eye is capable of sight and blindness So the Will at several times as several impressions may be made upon it is capable of Sin and Grace Jer. 4. 3. Break up 〈◊〉 fallow ground of your hearts The Nature of man is arrable ground though now it lie fallow by 〈◊〉 of the weeds of wickedness the brambles of Baggage base lusts have over-run it yet it may be 〈◊〉 the soul may be converted again So men are called Living stones 1 Pet. 2. 5. Though the frame of the heart like that goodly building of Jerusalem have not a stone left upon a stone yet the stones wil 〈◊〉 again And hence though there be not the next passive power in a soul possessed with sin to receive the things of God because the soul is wholly possessed with corruption so becomes wholly indisposed thereunto It being impossible that Two Contraries should be in the same subject at the same time that the body distempered with unnatural heats should receive a natural and moderate temper at the same time cannot be yet remove the unnatural and the body is capable of the natural Hence it is the soul hath ever in it a remote power to partake of Grace As the Soul is ever seeking of a better but because it cannot meet with it it is unsatisfied which shews it was made for a better Which makes me that I cannot yet see Why there is any need to flye to the Obed ential power which men marvelous Judicious betake themselves to in this Dispute When a Creature hath not a capability in its kind and nature to entertain such an impression further than it yeilds to the Almighty hand of God to make it what he wil As Matt. 3. 9. God is able of stones to raise up Children unto Abraham Stones wil yeild to God to make them Children But under favor I conceive that is not here needful That God should make a new Faculty or give another natural power than before as he must do if he make Bread or Children of stones As a Wheel that runs wrong you need not another Wheel but another and a right 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 The Faculty of the Will attended only in its natural being and ability cannot Will a spiritual or supernatural good but must have aspiratual and supernatural power put into it to enable it to put forth a 〈◊〉 work Because nothing can act beyond the bounds of its being and ability The Trees grow but move not the bruit Creatures move but Reason not Wicked men can Reason and Will natural and corrupt things because they have Reason Nature and Corruption And Morral things also because they have some 〈◊〉 of the Spirit as wil carry them to act seemly between man and man but to close with God and his Holiness and the purity and spiritualness of a Rule they cannot 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receives not the things of God Prov. 24. 7. Wisdom is too high for a fool If the Will out of a Nature Ability or Faculty could chuse a supernatural good then where there is this Faculty this act may be put forth Then the Devils and Damned in Hell may love God above al make choice of the chiesest good and close with the last end and so might be happy For they have this faculty of Will The Promise is full and free Let him that Wills take of the water of life and live for ever Rev. 22. 17. Hence its plain its a false Opinion and grounded on a false bottom and principle that to have an indifferency to any thing propounded to take it or not to take it is that liberty which issues from the nature of the Will Because it issues not from the Faculty at al to wil a supernatural good no more than from a dead man to take meat As a Wheel doth not run round because wood or iron but because the art of wheel-making is imprinted upon it because so framed and fashioned If therefore the question be asked If the Will be not free in Preparation Answ. There is no Will in the first work of Preparation there is the Faculty of Will but not the act of Will The Corruption that takes possession of the Will and rules in it it utterly indisposeth the soul to receive any spiritual power from God and consequently disenables it to put forth any spiritual or supernatural work It is not subject to the Law of God neither can be Rom. 8. 7. It wil not beat the impression of the power of the Spirit Job 8. 37. The Word of Christ found no place in the Jews that were under the power of their Corruptions Acts 13. 46. They put away the Word from them yea Truth is a trouble and a torment to a Carnal heart and the nature of the thing evinceth so much Matthew 6. 24. Ye cannot serve two Masters God and Mammon Joh. 5. 44. Ye cannot believe that seek honor one from another Rom. 2. 4. The hard heart cannot repent Shut up we are under unbelief and we shut out the Lord Jesus who comes not unless the door be opened It is not possible that contraries should be at the same time in the same subject Though there be no force afforded to the Faculty of the Will yet the power of Corruption must by a holy kind of Violence be removed before any spiritual power can be imprinted upon the soul wherby it may put forth any spiritual act First I say There is no violence offered to the Faculty of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that as it hath been proved before is a capable subject both of Grace and Sin successively and in order as the air is capable of light and darkness indifferently and the one being removed the other is entertained with ease and readiness without any compulsion there needs none it requires none here As the same wax wil receive several and contrary impressions at several times so the soul which hath been made partaker of the image of God is also capable of the print impression of the image of old Adam when once the gracious disposition hath been defaced it 's capable of receiving the impression of Gods Image again when once Adams image is dispossessed Yet Secondly There must be a holy kind of violence offered unto Corruption before it can be dispossessed and removed and so way and room made for the entertainment of Faith and Christ thereby Reasons are Either Corruption must by violence be taken away or else it wil naturally and of its own accord go away and depart from the soul. For it hath been in the former Conclusions manifected That there must be a spiritual power put into the will before it can put forth a 〈◊〉 act And while Corruption takes place there is no place of entertainment 〈◊〉 this spiritual ability therefore Corruption must be removed by violence Naturally it wil not go away therefore by
heart is the alone work of God It is not in him that Wills nor in him that Runs 〈◊〉 in God that shews Mercy You know many of you hundreds for ought I know that you never knew what Christ and his Grace meant and you know your hearts close with your sins though you dare not give way to them Now mark when you come and hear the mind of God and the Ministers speak unto you and the Will of God is published Oh! Go your wayes home and say As the Lord lives I will not leave thee until the Lord hath spoken to my soul till I find the effectual work of the Word and Spirit of God drawing my soul from my sins to Jesus Christ. Therefore call for that same shewing Mercy which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 9. 16. So then it is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth mercy When you have run what you can and willed what you are able then look up to the Lord to shew you Mercy the Minister hath spoken what he can and I have heard what I can but Lord shew Mercy and never leave until you have found that the Lord hath shewed you Mercy in this work of drawing your Soul from Sin to Christ. FINIS THE Application OF Redemption By the Effectual Work of the Word and Spirt of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God The Ninth and Tenth Books Beside many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed â—â—The heart must be humble and contrite before the Lord will dwell in it â—â—Stubborn and bloody Sinners may be made broken-hearted â—â—There must be true sight of sin before the heart can be broken for it â—â—Application of special sins by the Ministry is a means to bring men to sight of and sorrow for them â—â—Meditation of sin a special means to break the heart â—â—The same word is profitable to some not to others â—â—The Lord somtimes makes the word prevail most when its most opposed â—â—Sins unrepented of makes way for piercing Terrors â—â—The Truth terrible to a guilty conscience â—â—â—Gross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before they be brought to Christ. 11. Sorrow for sin rightly set on pierceth the heart of the sinner throughly 12. They whose hearts are pierced by the word are carried with love and respect to the Ministers of it And are busie to enquire and ready to submit to the mind of God 13. Sinners in distress of conscience are ignorant what they should do 14. A contrite sinner sees a necessity of coming out of his sinful condition 15. There is a secret hope wherewith the Lord supports the hearts of contrite sinners 16. They who are truly pierced for their sins do prize and covet deliverance from their sins 17. True contrition is accompanied with confession of sin when God calls thereunto 18. The Soul that is pierced for sin is carried with a restless dislike against it By that Faithful and known Servant of Christ Mr. THOMAS HOOKER late Pastor of the Church at Hartford in New-England somtimes Preacher of the Word at Chelmsford in Essex and Fellow of Emmanuel Colledg in Cambridg Printed from the Authors Papers written with his own Hand And attested to be such in an Epistle By Thomas Goodwin And Philip Nye London Printed by Peter Cole at the sign of the Printing-Press in Cornhil neer the Royal Exchange 1657. READER IT hath been one of the Glories of the Protestant Religion that it revived the Doctrine of Saving Conversion And of the new creature brought forth thereby Concerning which and the necessity thereof we find so much indigitated by Christ and the Apostles in their Epistles in those times But in a more eminent manner God hath cast the honor hereof upon the Ministers and Preachers of this Nation who are renowned abroad for their more accurate search into and discoveries hereof First For the Popish Religion that much pretend to Piety and Devotion and doth dress forth a Religion to a great outward Gaudiness and shew of 〈◊〉 and wil-worship which we confess is entermingled with many spiritual strains of self-denial Submission to Gods wil Love to God and Christ especially in the writings of those that are called Mistical 〈◊〉 But that first great and saving Work of Conversion which is the foundation of al true piety the great and numerous volumns of their most devout writers are usually silent therein Yea they eminently appropriate the word Conversion and thing it self unto 〈◊〉 man that renounceth a Secular life and entereth into Religious orders as they cal them and that Doctrine they have in their discourses of Grace and free wil about it is of no higher elevation than what as worthy Mr. Perkins long since may be common to a Reprobate though we judg not al amongst them God having continued in the midst of Popish Darkness many to this day and at this day with more Contention than ever that plead for the Prerogative of Gods Grace in mans Conversion And for the Arminian Doctrine how low doth that run in this great Article this we may without breach of Charity say of it That if they or their followers have no further or deeper work upon their hearts than what their Doctrine in that point calls for they would fal short of Heaven though those other great truths they together therewith teach God may and doth savingly bless unto true Conversion he breaking through those Errors into some of their hearts And how much our reformed Writers abroad living in continual wranglings and Disputes with the Adversaries of Grace have omitted in a Practical and Experimental way to lay open and anatomize the inwards of this great work for the Comfort and settlement of poor souls many of themselves do greatly bewayl And to find them work and divert them from this it hath been the Devils great Policy who is at the head of all those Controversies as also ever since Pelagius time to this very day to make that dry and barren plot of Ground namely the naked dispute of the freedom of mans wil to be the great seat of this War as the Pope did the Conquest of the Holy Land in the darker times to find al Christian Princes work and thither to draw al the forces and intentions of mens minds jejunely in a great part Phylosophically to debate what power mans wil for-sooth hath in the Summity and Apex of Conversion to resist or to accept the Grace of God and so whether Moral perswasions only be not Sufficient or that Physical Pre-determinations be not also requisite to Conversion whilest in the mean time al those intimate actings of a soul in turning to God The secret particular passages both on Gods part and on the souls part which are many and various by which the soul is won over unto God and Christ those treaties the souls of men hold with God and Christ for justifying and
with some Canker it cannot tast nor relish things aright when the right constitution of the Eye is altered by a blow or any putrefying Wen that Breeds there 〈◊〉 will perceive nothing nay it cannot So here When the Eye of the understanding hath lost his primitive 〈◊〉 and becomes stayned and polluted with putrefying sensual delusions it comes to be Reprobate touching the Doctrin of faith or that which ought to be beleeved not able to relish the truth in a right manner And this their practice gives evidence of beyond all doubt the revelation of the truth which is in way of discovery of corruption and that which would touch them to the quick they are not able nor willing in truth without offence to hear But the power of it to be pressed and persued they are not able to bear but there is present mutiny in their thoughts and apprehensions I say not able to hear with quietness the truths which be of a discovering Nature when our Saviour told them there must be more than an outward formal Communicating with him as the Fathers did eat Manna and are dead but they that would live by him must eat his flesh and drink his Blood they returned this is a hard saying who can bear it John 6. 60. and John 3. 20. He that doth evil cometh not 〈◊〉 the light lest his deeds should be reproved yea this is the reason they 〈◊〉 darkness rather than light because it suits best with the darkness of their minds and as the very manifestation is tedious to hear so the power of it if pressed and set on they are not able to bear that 's the scope of the Parable Matth. 21. 34. when the Messengers were sent to require fruit that is Holiness they beat some and stoned others and others they abused Acts 7. 51. when 〈◊〉 brought the Candle home to their Bed-side and would discover the roots of their corrupt carriages to the Consciences of them all Ye stiff-necked and hard-hearted ye have ever resisted the spirit of the Lord their hearts burst with anger they cast him out and stoned him And indeed hither the Apostle calls us to look as to the Magazine of all mischief the Armory and Ammunition House whence all the distempers and affections of the heart are furnished out to their sinful practices as so many enterprizes they take in hand Eph. 4. 18. they are strangers to the life of God it is because they walk in the vanity of their minds So again in Collos. 1. 21. They were alienated from God and bent upon evil practices and he ads the root and reason of all they were Enemies to God in their minds in their apprehensions or the largest reach of the best reason they had and in this the Apostle makes the Fort-royal in which Satan places and plants all the choycest of his Artillery 2 Cor. 10. 4. there are in the mind of a Natural man strong holds of imaginations which exalt themselves against the knowledg of God The Lord Christ 〈◊〉 the understanding to bear that Almighty stroak of his Spirit whereby he destroies the soveraign power of carnal reason and 〈◊〉 it to receive the prevailing impression of his spiritual light which searcheth the secrets of sin in the soul. The Conclusion intimates a double work of the Spirit 1. It destroies the soveraignty of carnal Reason 2. It leaves in the room of that an impression of spiritual light and in both these the understanding is meerly passive for so it 's added it 's forced to bear the one it 's fitted to receive the other It destroyes the over swaying Authority of Carnal Reason It was Satans Policy to turn the Understanding from the Lord and attendance to the truth 〈◊〉 3. Hath God said ye shall not eat Oh question it not fear it not Ye shall be as Gods and so she turning aside and perverting the eye of reason to listen to the delusion suggested her light was dimmed and she justly over-born with the force of the falshood presented because she took off her mind from eyeing of the command and turned it to attend the strength of that delusion and was so acted by it she conceived though falsly that it was good to get knowledg when the tasting that fruit was the only means to lose all the knowledg she had and from the abuse of her own mutability her mind becomes perverted from light to darkness from the way of truth which God had found out unto the by-path found out of her own finding Now the Lord Christ who comes to destroy and undo the works of the Devil he begins where Satan ended he turns from darkness he takes down the Supremacy of that carnal Reason by the which all the Sons of Adam in their natural and corrupt condition are constantly both ruled and carried in their whol course and that 's the Reason of the Apostles coupling those two together Eph. 2. 3. speaking of the Conversation of the ungodly he saies they did the wils of 〈◊〉 flesh and of their Discourses their carnal reasonings had ever one Oar in the Boat and it 's ever found true there is no man upon knowledg commits a sin but ever he 〈◊〉 some pretence of carnal self-deceiving reason why he doth so and therefore it is called the strong hold of Satan and the Lord Christ he first forceth this Fort demolisheth and casteth down the frame of it so that though there be some remainders continue still in the mind while that remains in the body and we in the world yet it 's never made a place of retreat to a 〈◊〉 Convert wherein he can 〈◊〉 himself and stand it out against any Truth 2 Cor. 10. 4. he puls down strong holds such as are highest and hardest to win and that which is added Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reasonings of the flesh and nothing but the Power of God can do this the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God For though Adam being in a mutable condition might slide away from the Government of God as well as submit yet after he had withdrawn himself from under the Covenant and Wisdom of God in the Law given him it was just with God to deliver him up to the authority of his inventions and there to stake him down that nothing but the Soveraignty of Christ who had satisfied for this his folly and carnal reasoning should be able to restore him from the power of them This makes me construe the meaning of those words of Paul so as that which best gives in evidence of the dependance 〈◊〉 4. 21 22. If ye have heard and been taught as the Truth is in Jesus then put off the old man c. The Truth as it is in the Bible only or dispensed in any Ordinance or as it was in the Covenant of the First Adam will never do it but as it is in the hand of Jesus
Servants may be surprized with a pang of pride overborn with a sudden hurry of passion and frowardness and the Lord pities and pardons and passeth it by and wil not lay it to their charge because it was their Disease not their disposition their temptation and surprizal not their purpose the Lord looks at it so You have heard of the Patience of Job James 6. But when such noysom lusts become Natural and that we live in them as in our Element when we have and keep and own an accursed poysonful Nature it 's that which the Lord detests The froward in spirit is an abomination to the Lord Prov. 3. 32. In the old Law it was observed that when the Leprosie tainted the Skin but did not spread the Leaper was pronounced clean but if it did fret into the flesh it was unclean to teach us that though we had leprous distempers that tainted and defiled our performances yet if they did not fret into the flesh our affections taken aside with them the Lord looks at us as clean in his Christ because it was not we that in our hearts purposed the evil but sin that prevailed against our purpose but if we hugged them in our bosom laid them nigh unto our hearts and took them as our Natures we were loathsom in the sight of God The third Shift whereby a carnal heart comes to lighten the hainousness of his evil and therefore looks not at it as so loathsom as he should and it deserves Because he can put off the blame from himself as he conceives upon his Companions who either by their 〈◊〉 and perswasions have deluded him and led him into sinful courses beyond his intendment and sometimes contrary to his desire and therefore he concludes he may justly free himself from blame and lay the blame upon them wholly It was the fault of such such I am free Had not they counselled it I had never committed the sin had not they perswaded me I had never purposed it it was not in my thoughts but they allured deluded and drew me to it Let them be charged with the guilt and bear the punishment I hope I may be excused This manner of sinful shifting of our faults unto another is that which all of us have 〈◊〉 from our first Parents It was their practice immediately after the fal We their Posterity have made it a president to our Posterity unto this day when the Lord challenged Adam for his offence and breach of covenant why hast thou done this he puts it 〈◊〉 to the woman the woman to the Serpent Gen. 3. 12. 13. 14. The woman which thou gavest me Saies Adam she gave unto me and I did eat the woman she takes the rebound and puts the ball behind her The Serpent beguiled me but al in vain this could not free any of them from the punishmeut or excuse them from the fault To shew the feeblness of this fond pretence I shal answer several things The Aggravation of the evil of this sin in yielding to the corrupt Counsel of loose and bad companions and the suffering of a mans self to be 〈◊〉 by their delusionsappears in this that they who are here in guilty they do in this their practice prefer the folly of man before the wisdom of God their falshood above his truth serve their turn and base ends maintain their honor that in an ungodly way rather than the honor of the eternal God from whom they have received al they do possess to whom they owe themselves and should improve al they have and are to his praise and yet they do not only set up base men but even the lusts of men before the honor of the Almighty and profess so much by their practice it s not the command of God but the corrupt 〈◊〉 of vile men shal carry us not his promises though great and precious but their perswasions shal prevayl with us 〈◊〉 suffer the name and honor of the Lord to lye in the dust nay trample it under their feet that they may promote their persons and 〈◊〉 credit of their proceedings though wretchedly wicked And what greater indignity can be offered to the great God of heaven and earth who wil require it at your hands when your companions wil not open their mouths to excuse you nor can defend you from his vengeance the 〈◊〉 of this conspiracie against the Lord he himself acknowledgeth in Eli's indulgence yielding out of the easiness of his spirit to his sons in their prophane carriage in that he did not proceed with that rigour and severity as the 〈◊〉 of their carriage did justly 〈◊〉 for The Lord doth plainly and peremptorily charge him with a double evil 1 Sam. 2. 29. 30. 31. that they kicked at his Sacrifice that is cast contempt upon his holy things and honored his Sons and that in their lewdness above him when out of a feeble childishness he would suffer his sons to abuse Gods ordinances and not administer a sharp reproof or execute a just and severe censure suitable to the nature of the fact upon them he gave so far allowance to the contempt of Gods ordinances and was more willing to please them than God therefore the Lord denounceth his direful displeasure against him he repented him of all the good he had intended and would pursue him and all his Posterety to the utter confusion of their faces because thou hast kicked against my 〈◊〉 and hast honored thy sons above me therefore the 〈◊〉 shal come I wil cut off thy arme c. For those that honor me shal be honored and those that despise me shal be despised Thus the Lord dealt with 〈◊〉 when he inconsiderately joyned sides with Ahab 2. Cron. 18. 2. 〈◊〉 thou love those that hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. Sodering with the society of the wicked is to 〈◊〉 it against the God of all the world the Lord cannot bear it but his anger breaks out immediately against such By your yielding to the counsel of the ungodly you do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their wickedness and appear as a 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 with them strengthen their hands and encourage their hearts steel their faces and make them resolutely bold and impenitently impudent in their ungodly 〈◊〉 they dare adventure to say and do what ever evil may serve their turnes and maintain what they do without either fear or care to hear or reform because they have others to maintain them in what they do As the scripture speaks of Absolons rebellion 2 Sam. 15. 12. The conspiracy grew strong for the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Absolon the company and encrease of his numbers added encouragment to his rebellious course Whereas had the people forsaken him his project and proceeding must needs have fallen to the ground and he been forced to have forsaken his rebellious course and hence it was 〈◊〉 policy that accursed counsel he gave to Absolon to enter
she wil be forced to mind and attend them and her own help whether she wil or no. The fear and dreadful expectation of Gods righteous Judgments deserved and threatened let them seize upon the sinner and let him travel under the terror of the Almighty If God should come and cal me to answer how should I help my self If the Lord do as the times are in his own hands what should I judg or think of my condition In a sinful and miserable estate I am I am sure and how soon the pit may shut her mouth upon me that I may be past hope and help I know not high time therefore to think how to be affected with this and how to be freed from this damnable condition If the good man of the house did know the Thief would come he would certainly watch he would listen attentively at every stirring Matth. 24. 43. Fear saies the evil wil come and makes a man ever be thinking how to prevent it before it comes As in a Siege he that keeps the noise of the Drum the sound of the Trumpet the clattering of Spears the report of the Canon in his ears and fears he wil be kept a waking and be forced to attend upon his watch and stand 〈◊〉 his Guard for his life So do thou as the psalmist said Psal. 9. last Put them in fear O Lord that they may know themselves to be but men they wil know they are sinful and mortal and wretched 〈◊〉 that must come to death and judgment Awaken Conscience cal for the help of it and put it into commission and it wil put forth an overruling power for the settling of our apprehensions in their attentive employments when somtimes they are routed and put by their proper exercise by the unruly and inordinate distempers of our hearts For reason and understanding are the underlings as it were of inferior and lower ranck and can but as servants and attendants offer and propound to the wil and affections what they 〈◊〉 and conceive may be most convenient and the wretched way wardness of our hearts wil either snub or silence them reject or cast them away you befool reason damp and pervert the light of judgment tel reason she is a fool and is deceived and drive it to another search somtimes in the Saints 〈◊〉 and wil are for the work The one pleads for it the other approves and desires it and yet the violence and outrage of some overbearing corruptions take off Meditation and hinder it against the heart and hayr against our judgment and desire Now conscience is to be called in who hath received a supream authority to oversee both to right al such disorders and to see that the mind have its free scope for the exercise of Meditation in his times and turns And that this is so Experience of all men in al ages wil give in evidence undeniable the Godly their Conscience is controuler in their whol course by the beck and least iutimation of whose authority the frame of their spirits inwardly and their carriages outwardly are 〈◊〉 so as they can do nothing against the truth 2 Cor. 13. 8. dictate of their Conscience they could do any thing against their credit and comfort and profit yea their very lives 〈◊〉 not against their Conscience Witness again the wrastlings of the spirits of the ungodly when their 〈◊〉 reason hath contrived al waies and shifts their hearts earnestly desired also how to stifle and stop the mouth of Conscience to silence his dictates that they might proceed in the practice of their lawless course without stop and trouble and disquiet and the sad remembrance of that guilt and 〈◊〉 which Conscience tyres them with but al in vain when Conscience is armed with authority and exerciseth that authority which is given it is in his place and doth the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 place but I say you must put it into commission God can and doth when he wil but we should also give way and help forward this work as we are able according to that direction for our spiritual good in this behalf for it is with Conscience as it is with men of worth in the countrey from whence we came though they be as holy and gracious and wise when they are out of the commission of the peace as when they are in yet then when they are out of the commission though they be willing and desirous according to the 〈◊〉 the Lord hath given them to see and so to reforme al wrongs and disorders yet they want power So it is with Conscience when through our careless and rebellious carriage it is either blinded or stifled and so his place and exercise of his power is utterly hindred we must therefore 〈◊〉 Conscience into his commission as much as in us lyes i. e help forward the exercise of that soveraign authority with the right whereof Conscience stands possessed according to the place the Lord hath set him in Here are three directions Let nothing joyn with Conscience in the command it gives and power it exerciseth but the holy and righteous Law of God This is that which makes the simplicity of the eye which our Saviour mentions Math. 6. 22. and that which addes that overruling vertue and 〈◊〉 thereunto insomuch that the text tells us where the eye is single the whol body is ful of light That eye I suppose is not bare reason or understanding enlightened though that sence is savory and included but there is I conceive somewhat more that eye is here meant according to the light and direction whereof the whol body is acted and ordered that is a mans whol course and conversation is guided in a right way That is by vertue of Conscience especially which hath an overpowring command with it to act and carry out al the dispositions of our hearts and actions of our lives suitable to the light and level of the law of God according to which it accuseth or excuseth This single eye is a conscience sincere when nothing interrupts the work of Conscience but the law acts it and it acts the man thus the office Conscience exereiseth is from God and for God Keep Conscience trembling and tender that it may be Eagle Eyed and easily sensible of the least evil and do thou accustome thy self to be sure to take notice of the least intimation it gives This gives as I may say encouragement to Conscience and helps forward the work and honors that authority which it exerciseth Thus David was at the beck of his Conscience even for the appearance and bordering of evil 1. Sam. 24. 〈◊〉 his heart smot him because he had cut off Sauls skirt Take undoubtedly the sentence of Conscience rightly guided to be Gods own sentence That which he wil own and make good upon al the sons of men at the great day of 〈◊〉 It wil pass current and prevayl then either for thy Condemnation or for thy absolution It should therefore prevail
world The 〈◊〉 abilities of wit and learning the nobility of birth the priviledg of our place and state The Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whol course of carnal excellency he chooseth the 〈◊〉 to confound the wise the weak to confound the mighty base things that are not to bring to nought things things that are nothing of any probability or possibility in an ordinary way that might have attained any good being wholly set against it nothing of ingenuity or moderation or common 〈◊〉 but when they grow desperatly wicked yet then the Lord doth good that no flesh may glory in his presence that it is not in your wealth or parts or endeavours or outward pomp behold these poor base creatures base in their condition and yet more base in their carriage scant worse in the bottom of Hel yet these are called Oh how wil it confound the wise to see the foolish of the world brought to the knowledg of Christ when they never knew the things belonging to their peace how wil it confound the Civilian and subtil hypocrite who had painted over his profession with appearance of Godliness to see a prophane wretch whose leudness time was when he loathed as though his person were not fit to be looked on yet now pulled out of his sink and dunghil made a glorious saint in heaven when he shal be cast out amongst dogs So the Prophet Ezek. 16. last Look we at the Work it self There is also a depth of infinite wisdom in this Dispensation to bring that about in many hearts and that by this means and that with most success the Lord suffers many to go to a great excess of sin before he laies hold upon them or seems to take them to task that the grossness of the evils might make way for their more easie conviction and so for the entry of the Word upon their souls and their subjection to the power and evidence thereof Men or Hypocrites of a smooth refined carriage when they carry a conformity in their course to the waies of Godliness and have strength of carnal reason to make the best of an unblameable life it 's hard for any to come within them either to pass a Sentence of their present condition because love hopes the best when it can bring no evidence of the contrary evil much less to perswade their estate is unsafe and not sincere but when the Lord lets loose Satan or some loathsom lusts upon them that they become scandalous and notoriously 〈◊〉 and their 〈◊〉 appears in their fore-heads then they yield to go out of the Camp and confess they are unclean As the Physitian when he would cure the cold Palsey he is content to cast his Patient into a burning Feaver because he can tel how to come the better to the Cure So here our Savior wisheth Rev. 3. 17. I would thou wert either hot or cold because then he could tel how to deal with her if either truly good he would encourage if openly naught he would then convince her he knew how to apply the means and she would be content to receive it bu when she conceives her self rich she wil receive nothing wise she wil hear nothing So I have known some in experience that would take it in indignation that any should question their Grace until the Lord left them to some foul fals gross cozenage scandalous drunkenness c. that hath made them go deeper c. The 〈◊〉 operation of the Word the breaking and so converting the heart of a sinner depends not upon any preparation a man can work in himself or any thing he can do in his corrupt estate for the attaining of life and Salvation For had the Lord expected the good use of a mans free wil in the imployment and exercise of the works of civility and outward moral behavior had he looked for the husbanding of the stock of those moral abilities which are left in corrupt nature or 〈◊〉 by the 〈◊〉 of providence in the restrainning strokes of common grace or had the Lord stayed until these 〈◊〉 had either valued the worth of the Apostles and their administrations and painfully improved the advantages of the means of grace and 〈◊〉 now brought home to their dores or brought a teachableness of spirit to the ordinances If either the preparation and saving conversion of the souls of men had depended upon any such emprovement of themselves it 's certain they had not now been made broken-hearted sinners or savingly brought unto the Lord and for ought any man can tel had never attained it But when cross to the course of humanity they mocked and scorned both 〈◊〉 persons message of the Apostles contrary to truth they cast reproaches and contumelious contempt upon them 〈◊〉 men are ful of new wine nay when they were carried with professed opposition malignant enmity against their persons and dispensations yet now the Lord presseth in upon them by the prevailing power of his spirit and word and doth good to them when they set themselves by al the policy and rage they could to oppose the work of the Lord and their own everlasting welfare clear it is therefore that this spiritual dispensation of breaking or calling of them home depends not upon any preparation which was done nor any performances al which for the present were professedly opposite to their own welfare but meerly upon the power and good pleasure of the Lord and the work of his spirit which he puts forth when it seems best unto himself it s not in him that wills or runs sayes the Apostle he puts both together and denies success unto both that so he may take off al the cavils that could be made or indeed pretended For had it been said the means were powerful and in a plentiful manner bestowed but men would not do what they might and ought may be there was a slight 〈◊〉 some powerless wishing but there wanted the strength of endeavor behould he excludes both It 's not him that wils only nay let him run for it put to the best of his abilities that wil not do the deed It 's not there but in the good pleasure of him that shewes mercy Rom. 9. 17. And hence it is that the very spirit of bondage terror and astonishment and sensible troubles of heart which many times wicked men that fal finally short of saying grace yet attain in some measure or degree even that is beyond the reach of a mans own power Wee have not received the spirit of bondage to fear Rom. 8. 15. even that is a gift and must be received and is dispensed freely al that a natural man can do cannot cal for his old terrors and troubles which out of his sensuality he hath devised wayes to wear out unless the Lord wil set them on by his hand And hence the Apostle makes the exception so general to Timothy 2. Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according
procure it The Lord in the Work of Conversion doth not only by moral perswasion propound the Truths of the Gospel and enlighten the mind but puts a principle into the heart of such as he brings effectually and savingly home to himself In this work of God the Sinner at first is meerly patient That men may 〈◊〉 this from God every man is bound to wait upon him in the means he hath appointed and according to the utmost of his power improve al abilities and advantages he hath When any man hath improved his abilities to attend the means of Grace neither hath used his ability to oppose and cavil at the means it 's in Gods freedom to take either or refuse both for it is not in him that 〈◊〉 andruns but in God that shews mercy Rom. 9. 16. COMFORT Here is ground of incomparable Encouragement and in truth of inconceivable Refreshing to hold up the heads and hearts of the most wretched sinners in the most forlorn condition able to shore and prop up the soul with some possibility of good that it sink not down and be swallowed up with desperate discouragement I am almost afraid to cast such Pearls before Swine And when I do but think or suspect that any carnal wretch should abuse this kindness and turn this Grace of God into wantonness if it do not depend upon my doing I wil do nothing let God do al. I am forced almost to bite in my words and my heart almost misgives me as loth to cast away such compassions of the Lord upon such hellish Varlets who out of the venom of their Spirits would turn these choyce Preservatives into Poyson Yet because it is like a piece of board left after the wrack when the Ship is broken as the last means of relief as a cord of compassion let fall amongst a company of poor perishing Creatures ready to be over-whelmed with the floods of iniquity and who knows but some may catch it at the last cast before they go hence and be seen no more Let me therefore bequeath this Encouragement to you as my last Will even the words of a dying man before you and I appear before the dreadful presence of the Lord. Know then you are yet in the Land of the Living and bless God you are so and know because it 's the will and pleasure of God to do good to some of the worst of men as he sees 〈◊〉 therefore there is yet hope while there is life some little peep-hole of hope like a pins head a possibility there is you may receive good You see here how he prevails with the spirits of 〈◊〉 most perverse they have their hearts 〈◊〉 though it be 〈◊〉 the hair 〈◊〉 heart and all 〈◊〉 when they 〈◊〉 and wounded the godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 poor Disciples 〈◊〉 your hearts eccho then from every corner of the Assembly Pierce me me 〈◊〉 Pardon me me also Humble me me also 〈◊〉 thy abundant goodness and good pleasure If the 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 so dangerous and in appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the disease be 〈◊〉 so deadly and in the apprehensions of al past help If the Physitian and 〈◊〉 be known to have cured and helped in such cases and that he yet lives the patient wil yet support himself with such inferences why may not my sore be cured my disease healed so the Lord lives who hath done as much for forlorn sinners and why not for me poor wretched creature say so thou saiest 〈◊〉 This is the scope of Gods counsel and his very purpose why he leaves such patterns of the freeness of his compassions that yet forlorn creatures might look to him from the depth of their most desperate misery Let not the Lord fayl of his intendment nor you of your comfort 1 Tim 1. 16. I was a Blasphemer a Persecuter and injurious howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me 〈◊〉 Christ Jesus might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting That they might hope stil for Good as he received it and know they may be made partakers of it upon the same terms that he was set the pattern of this compassion 〈◊〉 your eyes and see yet a possibility of relief We shal sever a little the particulars that each man may suit his own condition with that most 〈◊〉 him here is that which answers to every necessity and complaint One complaines his wants are so many he cannot 〈◊〉 how ever they should be supplyed another complains his spirit so perverse he knows not how it can be subdued a third his rebellions so open so grosse against the Almighty al the means of life its 〈◊〉 that ever the Lord should pass by such hellish provocations I 〈◊〉 al your complaints are just and weighty your condition very dangerous And let me tel you did your relief and help depend upon your preparations and 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 its certain your hearts and 〈◊〉 and hopes would utterly fail and give up the Ghost Here is the anchor of your hopes that where in your help lyes is here and leave not this anchor-hold the Lord can do good and wil against al indispositions and oppositions of spirit carriages to the contrary as he sees fit And therefore thou mayest lift up thy head and say then it may be to me yea to thee never so weak to the perverse and rebellious Attend what the Lord sayes take his word and take it with thee Thou seest and confessest thy person baser than the earth that bears thee thy mind ful of blindness stupidity sottish and unteachable in the things of God thou hast heard so many able men enjoyed so many means of conviction and information and al hath slipt away like water spilt upon a rock and why should I think that ever I should be convinced or instructed or any light ever set up in this sottish mind of mine True thou hast been taught by men and man and means have happily done their best and truly they are nothing and thou art nothing and all that they and thou canst do is nothing yea but they shal all be taught of God saies the text Christ now in heaven did more by the Ministry of Peter than in his bodily presence he did nay go further than that then his bodily presence could do though he spake as never man spak No matter how dul thou art if God wil teach thee how weak if God wil strengthen thee Be thy wants what they wil be or can be the al-sufficient God wants neither wisdom nor power nor mercy to do what thou canst need and he wil for thy good And his power pitcheth his tent and taketh pleasure to shew it self in weakness Thou art foolish God chooseth the foolish things of the world to confound the wise 1. Cor. 1. 26. 27. Thou art not any thing thou shouldst be God delights to cal things that are not as though
they were and therefore may cal and choos thee also They are not only dry but dead bones which the Lord makes to live Ezek. 37. 2. can these dead bones live they are not onely miscarrying but barren wombs which the Lord makes to bear and be fruitful Not only when things are under hope but when there is nothing in present appearance or expectation then God can do it Rom. 4. 24. when it is not onely beyond thy power and ability God can support thee and strengthen thee teach and quicken thee when it is beyond not thy apprehension but thy very thought and hope he hath done so 〈◊〉 do so he lives stil and can do so to thee also True my weaknesses are many but that 's not al nor yet the worst the way wardness and perversness of mine own heart ads the greatest weight unto my misery and wretchedness not onely destitute of any spiritual good but not willing to be made better my brow as brass and my neck like an iron and sinew as the Lord complaynes Isa. 48. 4. My heart harder than the nether milstone Job 41. 28. If life and Salvation were laid before me and that I might have heaven and grace for taking or entertainment of it yet I would neither have word nor Christ nor heaven it self unless I might have my wil in heaven such is the invincible stiffness and desperate perversness of my spirit unless I may have what I wil when it comes upon the narrow God must not have his glory nor service nor subjection nor alleagiance nor duty in the least 〈◊〉 discharged I must burn for I can neither break nor yield nor mercies perswade me nor judgments awe me I can receive no good nay I can see no reason why God should do any good to me that would not have it Here is the dead lift and the wonder of al wonders the overpowring of the soveraignty of a stubborn self-willy heart 〈◊〉 the throne where Satan dwells which 〈◊〉 the doctrine of free-wil to be a doctrine of Devils and that which drives the soul to everlasting discouragement pretend what such deceivers can to the contrary But the former doctrine affords support and that which wil bear up thy heart even in this particular also thy Salvation depends not upon thine owne wil for then neither thou nor any flesh should be saved But God shewes mercy to whom he will shew mercy Rom. 9. 19. As nothing can deserve his mercy so nothing can resist his good pleasure when he wil shew it he wil make thee find it and others see it James 1. 18. of his own good wil begot he us by the word of truth It 's not according to the wil of Satan for then no man should be saved it s not according to the wil of man fallen for then no man could be saved But he dispenseth the work of his grace according to his own wil And his counsel shal stand and he will do what he wil. Isai. 46. 11. let the wil of men and Devills oppose it to the utmost of their power Quiet thou thy heart I cannot do any thing that might purchas not yet in truth would I have grace if God would give it only it is with God to do good to this miserable soul of mine as he wil who doth what he wil in heaven and in earth his wil be done and blessed be his holy name for ever and ever and there stay thy self It was the expression of a man in heavy perplexity of Conscience finding the crosness of his wil to snarl at the Lords dispensation his heart sunk within him with unsupportable horror that he had 〈◊〉 the sin against the Holy Ghost and with many prayers and tears he sought to heaven to bring his heart to an under subjection to the good pleasure of the Lord but the Lord left him to his own perversness nothing he could do could prevail with his own spirit and proffessed against that cursed cavil of the Arminians that reproach of the doctrine of Gods free grace which leads to despayr and discouragement openly acknowledging that if his own salvation depended upon his own wil he should perish irrecoverably but that only held his heart in some hope that his happiness was in Gods hand and that it meerly depended upon the wil of the Lord to give him a heart to fear and serve him or else his heart would fayl And it was a savory speech of a gracious woman that had a great deal of Do with her own heart when she could not find her heart to come off so willingly to give way as she ought to what her judgment allowed she besought the Lord to give her such a disposition of heart whether she would or no. Thou yet replyest that which ads to the hainousness of my evil is this these loathsom distempers have not been harboured in mine own breast onely confined in mine own bosom which yet had been too much but they have broken out into the most sierce and professed rebellion and that in the highest degree I have been a professed opposer of the gospel and the power thereof an open Rabshekah a Ringleader and Encourager to such that would revile and reproach the righteous and good wayes of Gods grace a jearing Ishmaelite of such as with 〈◊〉 of Conscience had care to walk therein and have resolved and attempted also even with an impudent face and a brazen forehead to outbrave the authority of the truth and made it matter of scorn to drop and give in to the most dreadful threatnings that could be denounced out of the word I have trampled al the entreaties of the Lord and tender offers of mercy under feet that when I have called over my course and viewed my carriage in cold blood I have wondred that the Lord hath not made me a spectacle of his displeasure before I departed out of the place that the very earth did not open and swallow me quick as Corah 〈◊〉 and Abiram So that God cannot be God unless he do avenge himself and pluck the praise of his justice 〈◊〉 the heart blood of such a wretch nay he should be accessory to the dishonor of his own name if he should shew mercy to such who openly impudently in a hellish haughtiness of heart have trampled his mercy under their feet True flesh and blood could not do it nay the heart 〈◊〉 man cannot think it how this should be did wee measure Gods compassions according to our narrowscantling but Gods thoughts are not ours nor his wayes ours so far as the heavens are above the earth so great is his mercy unto them that fear him Isai. 55. Psal. 103. 11. infinitely above and beyond our own desires and thoughts our imaginations and expectations They are I confess amazing expressions of miraculous compassions of the Lord yet such they are as he is pleased to manifest to sinful dust and ashes He can tel how to have the
heart But when a sinner is indeed pierced quite through the heart and feels inwardly the 〈◊〉 and evil of sin he loaths that most and his heart most of all that is most guilty and tainted with it In the soul there is 〈◊〉 it were the soul of sin the 〈◊〉 and poyson of it and he opposeth that most that hath opposed the Lord 〈◊〉 Spirit and the Word and Work of his Grace the 〈◊〉 of this mind the preversness of this will the distempers of these corrupt and carnal affections he is at 〈◊〉 with his own heart that ever it hath held any kind of connivence and correspondence with any corruption ever been acted by it carried with it that ever it hath combined and conspired with sin and Satan in 〈◊〉 against the righteous and holy One of Israel the great God of Heaven and Earth and here he finds work enough even matter of abasement al his daies he 〈◊〉 down in shame and is covered with confusion as with a cloak and never lifts up his head more because he 〈◊〉 that about him that wil dayly mind him of his own baseness 〈◊〉 It 's now his dayly task to oppose that which opposed the Lord resist that which hath resisted the work of Grace conspire against the Treacheries and plottings of his own heart where all the conspiracies against God and his holy Law have been hatched Job was vile before but he saw not the vileness of his heart He fears all sin and all provocations to sin because he hath felt the evil of all and knows the danger of all any inclination from within any temptation from without any appearance in the least measure that might provoke thereunto Therefore these two are put in way of opposition Blessed is the man that fears alwaies but he that hardens his heart shal fall into mischief Prov. 28. 14. q. d. A hard heart feels 〈◊〉 knows not the evil of 〈◊〉 and therefore 〈◊〉 like the horso into the battel to his ruine but if the heart be truly wounded and contrite truly affected with sin as having experience of the danger of it it wil come no more there he that hath been scorched with those flames will come no more into that fire As men who have wounded parts broken an Arm or a Leg how careful are they where they sit where they go they wil come neer nothing that may hurt cannot endure any thing neer lest it should so much as touch or trouble So the Apostle adviseth Heb. 12. 13. ' Make straight steps to your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way Lame men observe every step they take every stone upon which they tread see and view the place where they set their feet search and set al right come there no more So here a broken Spirit 〈◊〉 every thought weighs every word takes notice of the least 〈◊〉 of his heart the first appearance of any occasion or temptation Thus they fear al sin above al other evil nay the least sin above the greatest plague because he hath felt them by proof and experience to be such fears rather he shal not be sound than not quiet He that fears one sin and yet is careless to fall into another he never seared nor sorrowed aright sorrow for sin wil not make a man commit sin by sorrowing if he fear or take notice it is a sin it is enough And hence it makes watchful to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prevent the evil So Joseph Gen. 39. 10 11. He would not lie by her nor be with her avoided her company that would withdraw his communion from the Lord. It makes a man speedy to avoid the 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 the place left his garment rather than his 〈◊〉 he that would not fal into the pit wil not come neer the bank As after a 〈◊〉 the party cannot endure the sight the 〈◊〉 of it and are careful to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the appearance 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of such evils 〈◊〉 19. 11. I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy 〈◊〉 in my heart that I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin against thee He is 〈◊〉 to attend all 〈◊〉 but accounts most of those 〈◊〉 work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of corruption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heart and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 from it Though the Truths which are delivered carry dread with them to the Conscience rack the heart of the sinner in restless horror and perplexity are like the bitterest Pils and the sharpest Corrosives cross to the sinful security and that Natural quiet the soul doth covet yea to his Credit and outward Comforts and conveniences in which he pleased himself yet he is content his hand should be cut off and his eye plucked out that is that the 〈◊〉 Truth of God and powerful and plain Dispensation thereof should pluck away those darling distempers be they as profitable as a hand as dear as an eye rather than they should once pluck his heart from the Lord quarrels with the loathsom abominations of his Nature which now are discovered but gladly welcoms those soul-saving Truths that would slay and subdue those sins and not quarrel with them The Word of the Lord is a good Word though a convicting terrifying yea a condemning Word to his own apprehension he that is sensible of his burden as unsupportable and passing strength he is best pleased with that ease A wise Patient when by his tryal he hath found it and the consent of learned Physitians and Chyrurgeons have concluded that his Gangrened part must be cut off and cauterized cannot be healed though his Nature shrink at it yet Reason and his own preservation makes him desire and chuse the sharpest Instrument because by that his life and safety is best procured The sinner that finds the burden of his sin the heaviest of al other and a disease most deadly to his soul the sharpest Truths he accounts the safest and therefore takes most content therein there shal no course that can be prescribed be it never so tedious to flesh and blood no means that shall be appointed to him be they attended with never so much danger and difficulty but he readily addresseth himself to the use thereof and easily submits himself to the Counsel and Authority and Command of God therein willing that God should do any thing with him that he might do good to his soul and remove that which he feels to be the greatest evil of it As Ely to Samuel 1. Sam. 3. 17. Hide nothing from me though the heaviest and hardest of the message that he was to report A broken hearted sinner wil 〈◊〉 capitulate with the Almighty stick with God unless he may have his own 〈◊〉 or look for some abatement from the Lord if the corruption be more than ordinary strong and the means which are to be used be mervailously cross not onely to a mans corruption but to ones outward comforts yea to nature it self yea the heart under this disposition yields quietly that the Lord should take his own course any
for further counsel Oh but if his old fits befal him he is then as careful to use his old Physick send presently to the Physitian for fresh counsel and advice So it wil be with the soul of a sinner when once the wound is healed God 〈◊〉 allayed the venom of the vengeance which sin brought with it the heart growes up in some evidence of the work and assurance of Gods love so that the worst is past and the 〈◊〉 is over men begin to lay aside their diet and that careful 〈◊〉 they ought to use the daily renewed repentance they should take up until the Lord le ts loose their lusts afresh their old fits and force of their 〈◊〉 distempers seem again to overbear them which hazard their truth and peace they begin to find their hearts and prayers and begin again to be awakened to the work The Corinthians were careless either of the sin or misery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persons or their own duty and careful endeavor to reforme until the Apostle 〈◊〉 sharply to them and affects their hearts with godly sorrow this set them al awork what care in what fear what zeal did it provoke them to express both in their carriage towards him and in their daily course before God 2. Cor. 19. 11. Pauls new 〈◊〉 with his corruptions and the body of 〈◊〉 makes him renew his complaints Rom. 7. 24. Oh wretched man that I am who shal deliver me from this body of death when God left a splinter in the 〈◊〉 and sent a messenger of Satan to buffet him this made him to bestir himself to purpose 2 Cor. 12. I besought the Lord thrice that is many times and with much importunity he 〈◊〉 post hast to heaven 〈◊〉 supply 〈◊〉 In the City besiedged the way to make them 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their attendance is to give the alarum upon every occasion He that is in a 〈◊〉 ague though upon his better day he feels no fit yet he is 〈◊〉 and watchful o himself where he goes and what he does 〈◊〉 he expects his fit he knowes he may hasten it and hazard his life It is so with a Christian we are in the leaguer continually though not assaulted our 〈◊〉 like 〈◊〉 lye in our bones though we have a better day now and then expect the 〈◊〉 and give the Allarum and look for our 〈◊〉 before it come that wil make us busy and watchful to prevent it that it may never come In their affliction they wil seek me early Hos. 5. last God is forced somtimes to withdraw and go away that he may force his Saints to seek after him They are ready to submit to the Ministers of God making known his mind the very words which they expresse argues such a disposition of spirit they come as Patients to the Physitian to know his advice that they may take it As clyents to the Lawyer to understand his counsel that they may follow it So it was with Paul when God set upon his heart intimates his mistake to him that it was hard for him to kick against the pricks he trembling astonished Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. 6. not his own wil but Gods he attends now not what he would have done but what God would have done Psal 45. 5. When Gods arrows are sharp and stick fast in the hearts of his enemies the people fal under him Because the pride of their carnal reason is now conquered the Lord hath dashed and confounded the overweening conceit which once they had of their own worth and the excellency of their own abilities they now see that al the wit in the world doth not keep common-wealth in their brain that their apprehensions are not Oracles but that they are and have been miserably mistaken and see now by experience the vanity of their imaginations and that they have been deluded by the darkness of their own 〈◊〉 hearts when they professed themselves wise they became fools Rom. 1 And therefore they are ready to lay down their own conceits and to follow Gods counsels they begin to 〈◊〉 and suspect their own blindness and therefore yield easily to the directions of others A man that is bewildred and hath lost himself he is content that a child should shew him the way that he conceives hath but any acquaintance with the coast So it was prophesied of Converts in the time of the Gospel Isa. 11. 6. That a Child should lead them even the meanest that brought arguments should prevail with them especially the ministers of the Gospel of whose wisdom and faithfulness and acquaintance with the way and wil of God they have had 〈◊〉 experience That stubbornness and rebellious resistance of their wills out of the soveraignty whereof they durst set themselves against God and heaven is now tamed and subdued So that they dare not gainsay but become plyable to the holy and acceptable wil of God and ready to take the impression of his good pleasure when it appears and is presented before them The hardest peble when it is broken and 〈◊〉 to pouder it wil take any impression that is put upon it So Job joynes these two Job 23. 15. 16. Job is afraid of Gods presence for God hath melted or made my heart soft and the Almighty hath troubled me and hence when God had schooled him out of the whirlwind and tamed the stiffness and perversness of his spirit see how he yields himself to Gods hand to do any thing with him even works like wax Behold I am vile once have I spoken but I wil say no inore twice but I wil proceed no further Because they have found the truth of the word and the terror and authority thereof made good upon their souls and that they cannot now but acknowledg and admire and therefore dare not but readily submit thereunto as knowing they cannot resist but with their own ruine and there own safety consists in subjection thereunto which they could never formerly be perswaded of before he found it by woful experience how terrible God hath been out of his Sanctuary Psal. 110. 3. thy people shal be willing in the day of thy power so the woman of 〈◊〉 when the truth of our Saviors speech pierced her heart like a two edged sword she then fals to admire him when before she had 〈◊〉 both his speech and practise 〈◊〉 here see the reason of that 〈◊〉 and way-ward unteachableness that sometimes appears in the hearts of Gods 〈◊〉 they are awk to know wearish to give 〈◊〉 to the evidence of Gods counsel they want broken heartedness and therefore want this measure of teachableness as it is with an unruly Colt it costs him many a blow first before he be brought to be at command so it is with the unruly heart of man which must have many sad stroaks and blows before it be throughly subdued to the obedience of Gods wil. Men never knew what sin meant almost
vertue of his death puts an end to the Commission of sin 384 3 How far the soul is active in Contrition 385 1 There is no power in man to remove the resistance of his heart against God and Grace 385 2 The Lord must put a Spiritual power into the will before it can put forth an act for removing this resistance 386 3 The influence of this spiritual power is not by a gracious habit but by the motion of the spirit upon the soul 388 4 In removing this resistance the will is a meer Patient 〈◊〉 5 This resistance being removed the will consents to a divorce between it self and sin 393 4 The behavior of the heart under this work 396 1 The contrite sinner hath the loath somness of fin ever in sight ibid. 2 He is tender and easie to be convinced 399 3 He loaths himself for his sins 404 4 He fears all fin and provocations thereunto 406 5 He delights most in those means that discover and remove corruptions 407 6 He is restlesly importunate in seeking Christ and mercy 411 Reasons four Because  1 Such a sorrow for sin is only true in Gods account 414 2 Without this the heart can never be separated from fin 415 3 By this the resistance of the heart against Christ is removed 416 4 Without this he cannot receive Christ. ibid. Uses four hence  1 Humiliation for the want of this saving sorrow ibid. Five sorts want it  1 The heedless Professor 417 2 The treacherous 〈◊〉 419 3 The self-conceited Pharisee 423 4 The complaining 〈◊〉 425 5 The discouraged Hypocrite 427 2 Terror to 〈◊〉 sinners As 428 1 Secure sinners that never were 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 and feel their sins 429 1 Such are out of the way of God 431 2 So continuing God hath appointed no good for them 432 3 Christ came not to save such 434 2 Relapsed sinners who have been awakened to see and feel their sins but have fallen back again and their hearts grown harder than before ibid. 1 It is suspicious the day of Grace is past with such a one 436 2 Their Judgment hastens 438 3 Comfort ibid. 1 To broken-hearted sinners themselves their sorrows are not to death but in the way to deliver from death and so to bring unto life 439 2 To their friends and well-wishers they are now and were never before in the way of mercy 444 4 Exhortation Labor for this saving sorrow of Contrition 447 1 Do not tug with the resistance of thy heart by thine own power 449 2 Do not fear the terror of the Truth so as to step aside from under it but think of the goodness of it 450 3 Possess thy soul with the ticklishness and danger of miscarrying in this work 451 DOCT. 11. They whose hearts are pierced by the VVord are carried with Love and respect to the Ministers of it 453 Reasons two Because  1 They know more now than they did before 454 2 〈◊〉 hath more Liberty now to express what they know 455 Uses two hence  1 Sound Contrition makes a strange and sudden 〈◊〉 557 2 Terror to such as after Conviction hate both the Word and Ministers of it 558 DOCT. 12. He that is pierced by the Word truly is busie to enquire and ready to submit to the mind of God 560 1 He is busie to enquire ibid Reasons two Because  1 He now finds the evil of sin 562 2 And the folly of his former conceits 563 Uses two hence  1 Terror to hard-hearted sinners who never enquire after the mind of God 564 2 Direction teaching the way to make men serious in their enquiries after Christ viz. Maintain the work of Contrition 570 2 He is ready to submit to the Ministers making known the mind of God ibid. Reasons three Because  1 The pride of their carnal Reason is conquered 572 2 The stubbornness of their wills is tamed 573 3 They have found the truth and terror of the Word ibid. Uses two hence  1 See the Reason of that unreadiness and unwillingness of man to submit to the evidence of the Word they want broken-heartedness ibid. 2 Tryal discovering such as were never broken-hearted at all 574 1 Open Rebels ibid. 2 Secret Traytors 575 DOCT. 13. Sinners in distress of Conscience are ignorant what they should do 576 Reasons two taken from  1 The Secrecy of the waies of God 577 2 The blindness of the distraction of their minds 579 Uses two hence  1 Instruction Men in distress of Conscience are apt to be mis-led 580 2 Advice to mourners in Sion Be careful to whose Counsel you commit your selves 582 DOCT. 14. A Contrite sinner sees a necessity of coming out of his sinful Condition 583 1 He propounds no terms of tolleration 584 2 He maintains no reservation ibid. 3 He admits no case of exception 385 Reasons three Because  1 He hath felt the severity of Gods Justice against every sin ibid. 2 He finds it impossible to bear the weight of the least sin 587 3 He perceives the combination of all Lusts. So that any one sin 589 1 Keeps possession for Satan ibid. 2 Keeps off the power of Gods Ordinances 590 Uses three hence  1 Tryal whether we have found this absolute necessity of parting with all sin ibid. It discovers the falshood of  1 Neuters 593 2 Formal Professors 594 2 Instruction See the reason of mens un-even and unsteady walking viz. The want of 〈◊〉 593 3 Direction how to keep the heart opposite to every sin ibid. 1 Be convinced sin is the greatest evil ibid. 2 Confider not of any cavil to the contrary ibid. DOCT. 15. There is a secret Hope wherewith the Lord supports the hearts of contrite sinners 596 This Hope differs from that which a Beleever hath in two things  1 In the ground of it 598 2 In the uncertainty 600 Reasons two That so he may thereby  1 Secretly support the 〈◊〉 601 2 Make way for the work of the means ibid. Uses three hence  1 Instruction See the reason why Satan so much endeavors to dead the hopes of the Contrite by suggesting 602 1 He is not elected ibid. 2 The day of Grace is past 606 3 He hath sinned against the holy Ghost All which are answered ibid. 2 Observe how easie it is with the Lord to confound a sinner with his own imagination 607 3 Exhortation to nourish this Hope ibid. Therefore be perswaded  1 Of thine own ignorance and inability to relieve thy self 608 2 Of Gods All-sufficiency who can do beyond what thou canst conceive ibid. DOCT. 16. They who are truly pierced for their sins do prize and covet deliverance from their sins ibid. 1 In the want of this the soul is not quieted 610 2 He is content with this though he want other things 611 3 He is resolved to submit to any Counsel 613 4 His 〈◊〉 is upon it his prayers dayly about it 614
procure it  3 There is no Promise made to a Natural man  Uses three hence Matter of  1 Thanksgiving 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Grace  2 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 sinners in the sight of their sins and 〈◊〉  3 Exhortation to such as want and are seeking mercy to stay Gods time and wait his pleasure  DOCT. 2. VVhile this life lasts and the Gospel is continued that 's the day of Salvation  1. The time of this Life the time of getting Grace 241 Reason Because after this Life  1 The Sentence past is irrevocable  2 The condition of a man is unchangable  2 While the 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods 〈◊〉  In regard  1 Of the Causes and means which are then afforded  2 Of the effect and work it self which is then wrought  3 Of the subject the persons wrought upon  Uses three hence  1 Learn That long life is a great blessing  2 Caution To fortifie our selves against self-murder  3 Exhortation to improve the time of Salvation  1 It is a Season 251 2 It is a short one but a day  3 A Season not of our but of Gods acceptation  4 It is a day of Salvation  BOOK V. On Matth. 20. 5 6 7. He went out about the sixth ninth and eleventh hour and hired Laborers  DOCT. God calls his Elect at any Age but the most before old Age. 〈◊〉 1 God calls his at any Age some in yonger some in elder yeers  〈◊〉  1 To shew the freeness of his Grace  2 To shew 〈◊〉 Power  〈◊〉 God calls the most before old Age viz. In their yonger or middle 〈◊〉  Reasons Because that 's the fittest Age in regard of  1 The Subject For  1 The Faculties are then most capable of being wrought upon  2 Corruptions are not so strongly rooted  2 The End why Grace is given viz. the Glory of God  Uses three hence 271 1 Instruction Be not rash in censuring the 〈◊〉 Estate of any  Though we may judg of their present state by their fruits  2 Consolation to support aged sinners though it 's not ordinary yet possible they may be converted then 276 3 Exhortation to yonger men take 〈◊〉 present time defer not till old Age if you do  1 Either you will never attain it  2 Or it will be uncomfortable if you do  Motives to provoke such Consider  1 What good you may do while you live  2 What Comfort you will have at your death  3 What your Glory will be in Heaven  BOOK VI. On Revel 3. 17. Thou sayest thou art rich when thou art poor and miserable c.  DOCT. The soul is naturally setled in a sinful security 285 1 The sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his Condition  2 He 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 present  3 He 〈◊〉 none 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 future  4 Hence 〈◊〉 puts his condition beyond question  5 And therefore 〈◊〉 scorns  6 And openly 〈◊〉 an alteration of his estate  Reasons three taken from 292 1 The 〈◊〉 of sin  2 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the soul  3 〈◊〉 and Self-ease  Uses four 〈◊〉 295 1 See the reason why sharp and soul-saving preaching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little acceptance Because it awakens men out of security  2 It 's the 〈◊〉 plague for a man to be let alone in his sins  3 〈◊〉 as never were 〈◊〉 and awakened to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet in it  4 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such should  1 Suspect their 〈◊〉  2 〈◊〉 about it  3 Yield that 〈◊〉 the present their condition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  BOOK VII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the slesh is enmity against the Lord and is not subject to his Law  DOCT. The frame of the whol heart of a Natural man is wholly unwilling to submit to the VVord that would sever him from his sins 305 1 He seeks not after truth  2 He is loth to meet with it  3 He stops the passage of it  4 He doth what he can to defeat the power and evidence of it  5 He will professedly oppose it  6 He will privily 〈◊〉 the stirrings of the Truth in his Conscience  Reasons four taken from 315 1 The Corruption of the will  2 The Revenging Justice of God  3 The power of Satan  4 The 〈◊〉 and neer alliance between the heart and sin  Uses sive hence  1 It 's the heaviest plague for a Natural man to have his own corrupt will  2 The will of a Natural man is the worst part 〈◊〉 him  3 The 〈◊〉 of a carnal man 〈◊〉 cross to sence and reason  4 Tryal of our estates by our 〈◊〉 or unwillingness to part with sin  He that is willing 331 1 He is speedy and 〈◊〉 in improving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  2 He takes delight in those means that 〈◊〉 and work most  3 He is not content till his sin be removed  4 He takes not up his stand till he come at God  5 Exhortation Labor for willingness to part with sin 343 1 The greatest and hardest work lies with the wil.  2 Beleaguer the heart with the evidence of Truth  3 Look up to God that he would work upon the heart  BOOK VIII On John 6. 44. None can come to me but whom the Father draws  DOCT. God the Father by a holy kind of 〈◊〉 plucks his out of their corruptions and draws them to beleeve in Christ. 349 This work of Attraction is a transient work 〈◊〉 both these  1 Plucking from sin  2 And drawing to Christ are handled together  For Explication six Particulars  The sorts of drawing two  1 By moral Suasion  2 By Physical or internal operation  This latter is meant here 353 The proper Nature of this drawing it 's the motion or impression of the Spirit upon the Soul not any habit in it or act put forth by it to 〈◊〉 with the Spirit 355 The means how God works and by wich he draws  These are four 355 1 By a hook of Instruction shewing a man that he is out of the way to Heaven  2 By the Cords of Love shewing that Christ and Mercy are  1 Able to 〈◊〉 him  2 Willing to save him  3 Are freely offered for that end  4 The Lord waits to see when the sinner will come  3 By the Iron Chains of Conscience  1 Warning  2 Accusing  3 Condemning  4 By the hand of the Spirit himself  How the holy violence in drawing the Soul from sin to Christ may be discerned in four Conclusions 373 1 The will of man as such is a subject capable of sin and Grace successively  2 The faculty of the will cannot actually
〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 than the Application therof so that Christ should die for manie that shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his death it would exceedingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vertue of the merits of Christ and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the worke of our redemption for then it 〈◊〉 follow The Sufferings and obedience of our Savior 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of lesse vertue and 〈◊〉 to save men than the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 guilt of Adams transgression was to condemne 〈◊〉 For Adam did not onely purchas the curse and 〈◊〉 by the breach of Covenant but convey it 〈◊〉 that Certainly to all his posteritie so the Apostle 〈◊〉 2. 3. wee were Children of wrath by nature 〈◊〉 well as others All in whose room Adam 〈◊〉 and so sinned all they had his sin imputed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inflicted without fail But if Christ fully 〈◊〉 life and blessing for those in whose stead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Suretie but Leaves the Application of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Libertie of their owne wills his merits should 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 power and efficacie for the recoverie and 〈◊〉 of his than Adams sin was for the 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 Which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that in this point wherin he makes Adam a tipe of Christ 〈◊〉 5. 14. 21. For if through 〈◊〉 offence of one many be dead nay death raigned 〈◊〉 Adam to 〈◊〉 and that ovr Children also 〈◊〉 sinned not after the similitude of him much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace of God and the free Gift by Grace 〈◊〉 unto many to 〈◊〉 and life that 〈◊〉 Sin Raigned unto death So Grace might raigne 〈◊〉 Eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Confutation Learn wee in wariness and 〈◊〉 to hold this wholsome word of truth this 〈◊〉 which is according to 〈◊〉 wherby 〈◊〉 may be fensed and have our hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many dangerous errors wherby the vain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the carnal hearts of the sinful sons of men are easily 〈◊〉 and taken aside all which will vanish away 〈◊〉 the evidence of this truth 〈◊〉 the smoke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wind and the Snow before the Sun And 〈◊〉 we should with more care attend to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Delivered because wee shall have so much use of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dayes when the Clouds of Errors have 〈◊〉 the world As men doe when the plague or some infectious Disease begins to Spread if there 〈◊〉 some choyce antidotes which are of Speciall 〈◊〉 and virtue to preserve against such malignant 〈◊〉 each man will be sure to have it alwayes in his 〈◊〉 ever readie in his hand Such is this Saving truth 〈◊〉 once taken in and rightly understood and 〈◊〉 will fortify both mind and heart from the infection 〈◊〉 such false opinions which are exceding prejudicial 〈◊〉 Gods free Grace and the comfort and peace of 〈◊〉 own souls Hold this truth then Redemption and Applycation are of equal extent For whom Christ 〈◊〉 to them Christ applyes First then Hence that vain conceit falls to the Ground as Dagon before the Ark that devised distinction wherby Satan and his instruments have darkned the power and 〈◊〉 of Christs death viz. that Christ died for all in point of Impetration but not 〈◊〉 Application that is he Purchased Redemption for all but the Application is not unto all the 〈◊〉 he layed down but the application in 〈◊〉 he left to themselves and their owne free wills in the last resolution As though God in Justice should exact a payment and that to the full of the Suretie and never let it redound to the benefit of the partie As though our Saviour should so fail in wisdom as to lay down his blood a full price for the redemption and reconciliation of men when he well forelaw they would not or could not get any good therby in a word this device is dashed from hence If for whomsoever Christ purchased to them it is applyed the Impetration and Application are of equall extent Hence again it follows by undeniable Evidence That Christ died not for all For if he died only for those to whom the Vertue of his death is applied then he died only for some because the 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 is not applied to all some only shall be 〈◊〉 saved by his Death therefore he died but for 〈◊〉 Application is not to all therefore 〈◊〉 was not for all Hence again it 's cleer The Application of Mercy 〈◊〉 Grace purchased depends not upon mans will 〈◊〉 then our Savior had died at uncertainties and it 〈◊〉 been in the power and pleasure of man to have 〈◊〉 frustrate the death of our Savior and the end of 〈◊〉 Redemption purchased thereby For Christ 〈◊〉 it should be applied and therefore purchased 〈◊〉 and the will of man would cross the will of our 〈◊〉 and say it shall not be applied which is indeed 〈◊〉 confound Heaven and Earth and pervert the whol 〈◊〉 of our Savior in bringing back lost man 〈◊〉 God to make Gods saving Grace serve mens 〈◊〉 and humors and the success of the death of the 〈◊〉 Jesus to depend upon the sinful distempers of 〈◊〉 hearts of men Nay hence the Vertue of Christs 〈◊〉 should be lastly resolved into and wholly 〈◊〉 upon the will of man though he intended to 〈◊〉 yet they might chuse and so Christ might have 〈◊〉 his blood in vain We may hence see the reason of that miraculous Dispensation of the Lord Jesus in the work of his Grace upon the sinful 〈◊〉 of men whose salvation 〈◊〉 hath 〈◊〉 in his everlasting Counsel and 〈◊〉 which he made with his Father here lies the 〈◊〉 of the wonderful mysteriousness of that 〈◊〉 That it prevails most powerfully for the good 〈◊〉 sinners when they do most of all oppose it when 〈◊〉 seem to be 〈◊〉 in their wretched courses 〈◊〉 down in their sinful distempers and furthest 〈◊〉 from the waies and hopes of life intrenched 〈◊〉 dayly custom and long continuance in the strong 〈◊〉 of their prevailing corruptions and lusts of their 〈◊〉 and lives when there is many times no 〈◊〉 bility nay not appearance of any possibility in 〈◊〉 that ever they should receive any spiritual good 〈◊〉 being so opposite against it and yet suddenly 〈◊〉 unexpectedly and that by very weak means 〈◊〉 times the Lord Christ most effectually applies 〈◊〉 Word and Work of his Grace to their souls 〈◊〉 we to sit down in silence and look at the 〈◊〉 power of the purchase of Jesus the precious 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 blood of Jesus which though 〈◊〉 and unseen to the eye of the world yet in its 〈◊〉 will undoubtedly accomplish the end intended 〈◊〉 very man should observe it and say such a poor 〈◊〉 wretched creature that out 〈◊〉 God and his 〈◊〉 and all the means of his own good that then the 〈◊〉 should meet with him and stop him and turn 〈◊〉 and call him home to himself O the Vertue of 〈◊〉 Blood of Jesus the power whereof nothing can 〈◊〉 pose the efficacy and success whereof nothing 〈◊〉 hinder he hath purchased the good of this 〈◊〉 creature
be like this Corrosive to eat down the pride of our hearts Thus Paul frequently in the remembrance of his former wretchedness bleeds kindly and 〈◊〉 in the abasement of his spirit he mentions not his Apostleship which might exalt him but presently he remembers his 〈◊〉 which might abase him 1 Tim. 1. 12. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful and put me to the Ministry who was before a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and injurious vers 13. Hence again he observes it was Gods way that he might not be exalted above measure to buffet him with the sence and assaults of his own weaknesses 2 Cor. 12. 7. and thus far he did glory in and take pleasure in his 〈◊〉 not to have them but to use the consideration of them as a wholsom Corrosive to pull down those proud swellings As a man somtimes takes pleasure 〈◊〉 the pouder of Scorpions or Mercury Water because 〈◊〉 a Medicine against some poysonful humors and 〈◊〉 he directs Eph. 2. 11 12. Remember that you were dead in sins and trespasses Gentiles in the flesh without God without Christ without hope If a man conceit that his make or mettal is better than other mens Let him look into the Pit whence he was digged the Rock out of which he was hewen he wil 〈◊〉 see cause to conclude he was as hard as stubborn 〈◊〉 proud as any other as unteachable as unframable 〈◊〉 any other And here that Question hath place What hast thou that thou hast not received yea 〈◊〉 degree lower How camest thou to be able to 〈◊〉 it stake down thy heart in this Determination 〈◊〉 answer I have received nothing further than 〈◊〉 hath enabled me and I have nothing unless he 〈◊〉 it I do nothing unless he quicken me to the 〈◊〉 of it the remembrance of 〈◊〉 plagues of 〈◊〉 heart and nature should 〈◊〉 me for ever to be 〈◊〉 I am what I am by mercy let that have the 〈◊〉 of all which is the worker of all the good I 〈◊〉 as men pul away the steps and stool from 〈◊〉 a man if he stand too high so 〈◊〉 should pul away 〈◊〉 swelling conceits which lift us up in our own 〈◊〉 It 's not I but the Grace of God in me 〈◊〉 I any power to be humbled to beleeve to be 〈◊〉 No it 's not I but Free Grace that is the 〈◊〉 and Worker of all let Grace therefore have 〈◊〉 honor and praise of all Here is matter of cordial refreshing to support the 〈◊〉 of sinners from sinking into desperate 〈◊〉 when they see the weakness of their own 〈◊〉 not able to reach this work the stifness of 〈◊〉 own wills as ready and resolute to oppose it and 〈◊〉 of both an utter impossibilitie to attain it or any 〈◊〉 good unto themselves their hearts and hopes cannot but fail so far as they look to themselves but when they look to this that as it is beyond their own po wer so it is not their own work this may be some support It is in 〈◊〉 hand must proceed from his power who can do what he wil in Heaven and Earth and in thy heart also therefore repare hither and rest thy fainting spirit here In regard of a mans weakness the well is deep and thou hast nothing to draw withal the work of applycation is spiritual and mystical the eye is dim and thy understanding shallow not able to search into such mysteries thou canst not discern neither the way nor the work how wilt thou be ever able then to attain it remember thou canst not make thy self able but thou must be made able to know it and to receive it it s in his hand and it s his work who is able to do it Jer. 24. 7. I will give them a heart to know me hither our Saviour resolves this work and rests himself here Mat. 11. 25. I thank thee Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise of the world and revealed them unto Babes even so Father for so it pleaseth thee And it 's Gods promise Isay 42. 16. The hlind shall see and the deaf shall hear It 's his ordinary proceeding He calleth the foolish and things that are not to bring to nought things that are 1 Cor. 1. 28. Therefore thou shouldest press God with his own promises mind him that this is his prerogative say Lord it is not in man to direct 〈◊〉 to humble himself to convert himself but it is with thee and it s thy promise to give me a heart to know thee thou callest things that are not I am not wise nor humble nor holy I am not able to know thee let me be known of thee that so I may come to the knowledg of thee But happily thy stifness is more and worse and more dangerous than thy weakness though thy mind be enlightned cavils removed the truth made clear thy 〈◊〉 settled what should be done but Oh! the 〈◊〉 stifness of this wayward will that hath 〈◊〉 al promises and distrusted them al threatnings 〈◊〉 slighted them so that the distressed sinner wil 〈◊〉 I have a heart that cannot repent or beleeve that 〈◊〉 receive grace that cannot give way to the power of Gods ordinances or make choise of any good 〈◊〉 that I am even weary of my heart and of my life 〈◊〉 Yet God can pluck away this unteachableness 〈◊〉 thy heart though thou canst not take away thy 〈◊〉 from it Of his own good will he hath begotten 〈◊〉 Jam. 1. 18. It s not in the wil of Satan nor in thy own will to hinder it if God wil do it it 's his work he hath challenged it to himself and hath engaged himself do it for al His I will take away the heart of stone Ezek. 36. 26. Say thou Lord I cannot do it and 〈◊〉 truth I should not do it for that were to arrogate more than I should and to press into the priviledg of the Almighty I only wait upon thee and bring my heart to thee that thou wouldest bring me to thy self 〈◊〉 the Leaper said Mat. 8. 3. If thou wilt thou canst make me clean I have neither wil nor power I can 〈◊〉 do it nor receive it but thou canst do both for me and work both in me It was the ground of 〈◊〉 which the Lord gave to his people in building the material Temple when they looked at the greatness of the work and their many oppositions Zach. 4. 7. Who art thou O great mountain thou shalt become a plain difficulties are compared to mountains when a man sees a mountain lye before him he thinks it is inaccessible and impossible for him to go over it so when a man sees the pride and stubborness and rebellion of his own spirit he thinks 〈◊〉 is impossible for him to subdue these but if the Lord wil he can say unto it who art thou O great mountain
raising up himself with himself he raised up us 〈◊〉 for as he suffered as our 〈◊〉 so he rose again as our Surety and so we were raised with him Therefore when Christ will come and make Application of all Spiritual Good to any soul he doth it by the Vertue and Power of his Resurrection When the hard heart resists the Power of the Word and saies all Threatnings all Promises all Commandements shal not prevail with me and when Sin and Satan 〈◊〉 themselves to the uttermost to keep the soul still in the Gall of bitterness in the bonds of iniquity the Lord Christ comes from Heaven and shews 〈◊〉 Power 〈◊〉 his Resurrection give way Sin give 〈◊〉 Satan that soul is mine and they all give way 〈◊〉 thence comes the prevailing vertue of the Word 〈◊〉 the soul for its effectual 〈◊〉 home to God 〈◊〉 you 〈◊〉 the Frame of this Truth The Lord Jesus by the Power of his God-head did 〈◊〉 up himself from under the Power of Sin and 〈◊〉 and Death 〈◊〉 he had a Sovereign 〈◊〉 Power over Sin and Satan therefore he is able 〈◊〉 conquer and to 〈◊〉 Sin and Satan where ever 〈◊〉 meets them The Spirit of God also hath a hand in this great Work of Application and indeed it is in a special 〈◊〉 attributed to him not because all the three 〈◊〉 do not joyntly work throughout in all the works of Application for according to the received 〈◊〉 of Divines all the Works of God upon the Creature are common to all the three Persons of the Trinity but because the manner of the Spirits work 〈◊〉 principally appear here There are but three 〈◊〉 Works in the World Creation Redemption and Application which are given to the three Persons of the srinity according to the special manner of their working Creation is given to the Father that 's the first Work and therefore given to the first Person Redemption is given to the Son that 's the second Work and therefore given to the second Person Application of that Redemption is the third and last Work and therefore is in a peculiar manner attributed to the third Person the Holy Ghost Conceive it thus A Malefactor that hath committed high Treason against his Prince and being taken he is imprisoned in the strongest Hold the deepest Dungeon without hope of release imagine a man comes and satisfies the wrath of the King and answers the Law so that the King saies upon satisfaction given the Law is fully answered no wrong is done If he shall so do the King is bound not only to be 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 of himself and the wrong done to 〈◊〉 and his Law but he is also bound to give his 〈◊〉 Hand Authority and Commission to him that paid for the Prisoner that he may go and fetch the Prisoner from the Dungeon and 〈◊〉 him away with him Imagine that the Jaylor grows sturdy and stiff he 〈◊〉 the Prisoner is prositable to him therfore he 〈◊〉 and saies the Prisoner shall not depart now he that hath Authority from the King must be able to break the Prison doors and then to slay the Jaylor and by force to deliver the Prisoner from the bondage he was in Thus it is here every sinner is a Prisoner to Divine Justice Sin is the Prison and the Devil is the Jaylor that holds him in bondage by reason of the power of Sin and by vertue of Commission from Divine Justice Christ Jesus hath come and payed our debts satisfied Divine Justice and answered the Law that God the Father hath professed This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased the Law is performed my anger fully appeased and my mercy procured therefore all those sinners for whom thou hast died and obeyed shall be redeemed from the power of Sin and authority of Satan and now God the Father gives him a full Commission to 〈◊〉 those sinners from the hands of sin and Satan But now when Christ comes for the soul Satan and sin refuse they will not let the sinner go therfore Christ by the vertue of his Resurrection and by the power of his Spirit he doth rescue the soul whether sin and Satan and a mans heart will or no he will have the soul and humble him and call him and justisie him and 〈◊〉 him and glorifie him and then deliver him up to his Father at the great day Direction How to help the souls of poor Sinners that are under the work of Application either 〈◊〉 in it or in Preparation to it here is Direction to you al in the greatest streights whatsoever When the Lord gives intimation to sinners that they are not in the right way and he begins to be 〈◊〉 with them and our Savior Christ comes as the High Sheriff when he would put a man into Possession of his Land that is Possessed by those that have no right to it The High Sheriff comes with his Company and knocks at the door now al that are within come and make resistance and labor to keep him out as much as they can So when our Savior Christ comes and saies to a desperate rebellious sinner that soul of thine was never made for Sin or Satan but thou must come and shouldest come out of thy sins and come to me saies Christ when the Word is thus 〈◊〉 with Life and power now the soul is in an uproar now the soul resists this Work he makes al the doors and bolts fast and he that comes in he dies upon it But the Lord presses in stil upon the soul he must he wil conquer and subdue it to himself now the sinner sees nothing but Hel and Death and Damnation before it die he must and that for ever if he stand out and now he sees he should yeild and submit he sees now the body of death that hangs upon him the power of his lusts that prevails with him and he finds his heart shut up under unbeleef under the chaines of pride and vainglory and earthlimindedness and the Devil presents impossibilities to his view canst thou think that ever those sins of thine should be pardoned or that ever that soul of thine should be delivered from under the power of them Now Brethren here the soul 's at a stand above al the stifness and stubborness of a mans own wil no Threatnings no Mercies no Afflictions no offers of Grace can prevail but a man wil have his sins though the Devil have his soul he finds his heart so 〈◊〉 he must have his sin and his wil though he 〈◊〉 for it Ay now what wil you do The Cause 〈◊〉 this work of Application is 〈◊〉 of your self in Christ Therefore send your thoughts and keep your 〈◊〉 upon the Resurrection of Christ set your eye keep your eye there for ever see a passage or two from Scripture here Rev. 1. 18. I was dead but 〈◊〉 am alive and I live for evermore and I have the Keyes Hell 〈◊〉 Death saies Christ Thou
the soul let the best obects be presented the most perswasive and strongest 〈◊〉 pressed to a man under the power of his sins 〈◊〉 these wil never prevail with him Let God come 〈◊〉 Heaven and preach to Cain Gen. 4. 6. 7. Let our Savior preach to and weep over Jerusalem with many tears O Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thee Mat. 23. 37. Let Judas live in the Family of Christ yet if there be no more but an ordinary power Cain wil be Cain and Judas wil be Judas and go to Hell for all this For 1 The Soveraignty of Mans 〈◊〉 Will is such that it exceedeth all created power in Heaven and Earth Amos Chap. 4. See what conclusions the Lord there tries upon the rebellious Israelites I 〈◊〉 given you cleanness of teeth and want of bread 〈◊〉 6. I have witholden the rain from you vers 7. I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you with blasting vers 9. I have sent among you the 〈◊〉 and overthrown you as Sodom vers 10. 11. And still this is added at the end of every instance Yet ye have not returned to me Rev. 16. 11. They blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and sores and they repented not Dan. 9. 13. All this evill is come upon us yet made we not our prayer c. The Seventy years Captivity was ended but their repentance was to begin When the Jews had travailed forty years in the Wilderness and been spectators of the wonders of God yet they wanted a heart to turn unto their God Deut. 29. 4. There is nothing but God that made the Will that is above the Will and can bow it and frame it to the obedience of his own Will 2 Besides the strength of the corrupt Will look we at the power of Satan that hath possession of the soul Mat. 12. 29. The Devill is said to be as a strong man that keeps the house till a stronger than be comes and binds him he improves al his policy and power to the utmost to keep the soul under the power of it's sins and there is no created policy or power above that of Satan He is only subject to the Almighty power of God to be driven out and 〈◊〉 thereby Look to the nature of that good which the soul is to be made partaker of It 's a supernatural good That which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man what the Lord hath prepared for those that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9. It 's meant not only of the things of glory but the things of grace Now a man is naturally and wholly corrupted and possessed with sin Jo. 3. 6. That which is born of 〈◊〉 is flesh that which comes by Generation is but either nature or corruption Gal. 5. 19. The flesh lusteth against the spirit Therefore it is beyond the power of the flesh to close with the spirit because contrary thereunto therefore Paul concludeth it Rom. 7. 14. The law is spiritual and I am carnal sold under sin Again that which must lift up Nature to act above its self must be something above nature for nothing can act beyond its own sphere and compass Trees grow but they have not sence Beasts have sence but not reason Devils have 〈◊〉 but they cannot close with God That that must cause the Dog not to return to his vomit again must change the nature of a Dog into a Lamb It 's beyond the power of darkness to bring light so 〈◊〉 It must be as the Apostle expresseth it 2 Cor. 4. 6. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness that must shine into our hearts to give the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 〈◊〉 is the 〈◊〉 of power not only to work something out of nothing but something out of that which is contrary to it And therefore this work of the Application of Redemption to a lost sinner is harder than the work of Creation it self for as the Lord had nothing then to help him so he had nothing to hinder him in Creating the World but here the Lord must take 〈◊〉 the heart of stone he must turn the heart of flint into a heart of flesh he must cause light to shine out of darkness and work one contrary out of another Why then are commands so frequent it Scripture as make you a new heart and a new spirit Ezek. 18. 31. Turn ye turn ye why will you die Ezek. 33. 11. Beleeve in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Acts 16. 31. If a man have no power to turn himself to what purpose are these commands if there be need of an Almighty power to work these why are they required of us 1 These and the like commands of God in Scripture do shew not what we can do but what we should do not what our ability is but what our duty is and what would be acceptable to the Lord if we could perform the same 2 When the Lord gives a command together with the command he gives a power unto al his Elect to enable them to obey the command as when he commanded Lazarus to come forth Jo. 5. 20. 3 When we are commanded to return to repent and beleeve the meaning is not that we of our selves by our selves and our own power should do this but thus that we should be content that the Lord should work in us what he requires of us we should lie under the stroke of the truth and receive the powerfull impression of the spirit and be content to be made able The Third Proposition We have heard 1 That God himself is the Principal Cause of Application and 2 That the Power which he puts forth in this Work is an Almighty Power Now Thirdly Those means which the Lord is pleased to appoint and to use are the instrumental causes of Application This meets directly with that vain conceit of the Familists Doth the Lord do all the Work it seems then a man may sit still and do nothing nothing is required of us there is nothing for us to do It was a wise speech of one of the Antients He that created thee without thy self will not save thee without thy self know therefore we must God by his Almighty Power is the Principal Cause and those means that he hath appointed are the Instrumental Causes These are First The Word accompanied by the presence and operation of the Spirit Isa. 59. 21. My Word and my Spirit shall never depart away from thee The word he hath sanctified and promised to accompany for this great Work and it is the Word of the Gospel mainly which makes this Application for our good He hath left an Impression of his own 〈◊〉 upon it It is called the Ministration of the Spirit 〈◊〉 of Life 2 Cor. 3. 6 7 8. but the Law is a killing Letter it shews a man what he is and what he 〈◊〉 but the Gospel shews the means
the first step to Christianity If any man will be my 〈◊〉 let him deny him self and follow me Matt. 16. 24. Where there is no denying of a mans self there can be no following of Christ. That God should give al to me work all by me and take al from me this is to seek the glory that comes from God only this is my honor when I am willing that God should honor himself upon me and by me 2 If seeking honor from man and faith cannot stand together then the sovereignty of this sinfull distemper must be renounced as cross to Grace and Christ before we can receive Faith or Christ by Faith The like place you have John 6. 44. Uttered and expressed upon the same ground and occasion and tending to the same end When the Pharisees despised the Person and quarrelled with the Word of our Savior Christ Is not this Jesus the Son of Joseph whose Father and Mother we know how is it that he saith I came down from Heaven vers 42. That which they saw not understood not that they would not entertain our Savior shews the reason of this wretched rebellion of heart No man can come to me unless the Father which hath sent me draw him unless the Father who hath called our Savior and committed the great Work of Salvation to him and sent him to that purpose by a holy constraint draw the rebellious 〈◊〉 out of himself to Christ he will not he cannot come unto him comming is Beleeving drawing is Preparing when God the Father lets in his heavy displeasure into the soul of a sinner to force him to seek out to Christ for present relief there is else no way but perrishing this is that that causes him to go out to Christ. It is hence plain 1 Unless a man be Drawn there is 〈◊〉 Comming 2 He that is Drawn will certainly 〈◊〉 Without Preparing there is no Beleeving and he that is Prepared will undoubtedly come and Beleeve It 's the scope of that 〈◊〉 and the very aim of the parrable No man can enter into a strong mans house before he first bind the strong man and then 〈◊〉 possession of the house 12. Matt. 29. The house is the heart the strong man is Satan who takes possession thereof and rules in the soul by means of 〈◊〉 the binding of this strong man is taking away of the over ruling claim and challenge that Satan by 〈◊〉 laies to the soul and by vertue whereof he acts it and carries it to the commission of evill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 while our Savior by a superior right of 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 precious blood laies claim to the soul this soul is mine he binds Satans hands brings to nought and disanulls his claims and so spoyls him of 〈◊〉 that rule and tyranny he exerciseth in the soul. It 's the meaning of that order appointed by God in the work of Conversion and 〈◊〉 the soul to himself Acts 26. 18. To 〈◊〉 them from darkness 〈◊〉 light from the power of 〈◊〉 to God first from the one then to the other Take also Two Réasons of the Point If there be not Preparation before implantation then the soul is implanted into Christ while it is in the state of Nature under the command of Sin and Power of Satan and setled in it self For upon this ground and by this grant to be implanted into Christ and to be at the same time unprepared do stand together But that is utterly impossible as apparantly contradicting the Principles of Reason for then it should be under the power of sin and Christ at once in the Kingdom of Light and Darkness together in Hell and Heaven 〈◊〉 the same time a Subject to our Savior and a Subject to his corruption and so a man might serve two contrary Masters fully 〈◊〉 to the Verdict of our Savior Christ You 〈◊〉 serve two Masters Mat. 6. 24. 〈◊〉 at the same time should be affirmed of the same thing If it be light then it 's darkness The Second Reason is taken from Rom. 11. 24. where the Apostle speaking of the Calling os the Gentiles speaks thus If thou wert cut out of the 〈◊〉 Tree which is wild by Nature and wert contrary 〈◊〉 Nature grafted into the true Olive Tree Every sinner is as a branch which grows Naturally upon Adams rebellion as upon the wild Olive the true Olive is the Lord Jesus the Second Adam and Head of the Covenant of Grace our calling is our engrafting into Christ the true Olive our preparation is as it were our cutting of us off by the knife of the Law If cutting in Nature is and in reason must be before engrafting then Preparing is before implanting but cutting is before engrafting in Nature and in Reason Ergo preparing is before implanting These Scriptures and these Reasons may suffice to give in Evidence for the settling and establishment of this Truth For Application this Doctrine serves to Instruct Reprove Examine and Exhort For our Instruction Hence we should receive it and beleeve it for an everlasting Truth That Christ cannot be united to the soul while it continues in the state of Nature and Infidelity The Doctrine formerly delivered and the Reasons alleadged for the proof thereof do force this Conclusion beyond gainsaying For if the sinner must be prepared and cut off from his Natural condition before his Implantation then while he is in his Natural and corrupt Estate there can be no union and communion with the Lord Jesus so the Apostle disputes 2 Cor. 6. 16. What communion is there between Light and Darkness Righteousness and Unrighteousness Christ and Belial wherefore he saith Come out from among them and be ye separate and touch no unclean thing and I will be your God We must come out of our distempers and corruptions before Christ will come if we touch any unclean thing Christ will not touch us that is unless we be divorced from all our 〈◊〉 so as not to touch them with the touch of a marriage affection so the Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 1. It 's not good for a man to touch a woman that is to be married to her we must thus be divorced before we can be married And we are the rather to have our hearts and judgments established in this Truth because the contrary Opinion to wit That Christ may be united to the soul remaining in the state of Corruption is a brooding Error that brings out a whol nest and company of delusions with it which will pollute and pervert the Judgment and defile our Practices in our dayly Conversations 1 This maintains the sinner in a careless and remorsless security and fondly perswades that which is so pleasing to the flesh that a man may keep his lusts and his Christ his comfort and his corruption together than which nothing is more contentfull to a carnall heart A Christ and a Lust A Christ and a proud heart A Christ and a World A Christ and a peevish Nature Oh
Conscience such strength 〈◊〉 truth which like a mighty stream may carry an understanding Hearer When the Apostle was to come amongst the flanting Orators and silken Doctors of Corinth which so excelled in Eloquence he brings the tryal of their Ministery unto this touch 1 Cor. 4. 19 20. I will know not the speech of them that are 〈◊〉 up but the power for the Kingdom of God stands not in word but in Power It s not the 〈◊〉 of words not the sound and tinckling of a company of fine Sentences like apifh toyes and rattles that will commend our Ministery in the account of God there is no Kingdom no Power of the work of the Spirit the heavenly Majesty of an Ordinance is not seen in such empty shels and shaddows A building with painted walls and no pillars would be of little use and less continuance A body framed out of Colours may be a picture of a Bird or Beast but a living Creature it cannot be because it wants the soul and substance which should give life and vertue thereunto So it is when a multitude of gay Sentences are packed together without the sinnews and substance of convicting Arguments there may be the picture of a Sermon but the life and power of Preaching there wil not be in any such expressions That a Minister may be Powerful an inward 〈◊〉 heat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and holy affection is required answerable and suitable to the matter which is to be communicated and those adde great life and 〈◊〉 to the delivery of the truth Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things Mat. 12. 35. Where then there is a heart awanting the chiefest part of Speech the pith and heart of it is gone for the several affections out of which the words arise make an impression and work alike temper of Spirit in him to whom we utter and express our selves Thus we speak from heart to heart and that is the best way to be in the 〈◊〉 of the Hearer and the only way to make our words take place and prevail He that mourns in speaking of sin makes another 〈◊〉 for sin committed An Exhortation that proceeds from the heart carries a kind of Authority and Commission with it to make way for it self not to return before it confer with the heart of him that will give attendance to it 〈◊〉 Discourses talk only with the 〈◊〉 they go no further because they 〈◊〉 no deeper then from the understanding of him 〈◊〉 speaks The Doctrine of the Gospel is like the 〈◊〉 upon the herbs and the dew upon the grass 〈◊〉 32. 2. The strength and stirring of holly affections is like a 〈◊〉 wind or tempest makes the truth delivered to press in with more power and speed and to soak more deeply even to the heart root of him 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 will receive it It may be here enquired for Explication of the Point How a Ministery thus 〈◊〉 and Powerful 〈◊〉 work Answ. To speak only so much here as concerns the Place leaving Particulars until we 〈◊〉 of the several Parts of Preparation know we must the preparing work of a plain and powerful Ministery stands in Two Things It discovers the secrets of Sin makes known the close passages of the Soul to it self and that in the ugliness thereof Heb. 4. 11. The Word of God is 〈◊〉 in Operation sharper than any two edged sword 〈◊〉 betwixt the Soul and the Spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was the work that Paul aimed at in the 〈◊〉 of the Gospel 2 Cor. 4. 4. Pandling the Word of God not deceitsully but plainly by 〈◊〉 of the truth he commended himself to 〈◊〉 mans Conscience in the sight of God As though he had said Speak Oh ye blessed Saints of 〈◊〉 was not Paul in your 〈◊〉 Did he 〈◊〉 every corner of your Consciences 〈◊〉 you cannot but acknowledge it your hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 as much A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Corruption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of luch to whom the Word is spoken and blessed The 〈◊〉 Souldiers the refuse Publicans all 〈◊〉 and stand 〈◊〉 at the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Luke 3. 11 12. they all said Master what shall we do 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 at the Bar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Judge upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence it is the time of the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 is called The 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 day of the Lord Mal. 4. 5. 〈◊〉 that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 10. 5. The weapons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the 〈◊〉 Ministery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 down strong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cast down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thought to the Obedience of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Savior the Chief Master of the Assemblies is said to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scribes Matt. 7. last Not to tell a man a 〈◊〉 tale a toothless sapless 〈◊〉 so that the hearers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are gone are never stirred never troubled for their sins nor quickened onward in Obedience But when the power of the 〈◊〉 the presence and Majesty 〈◊〉 the Lord 〈◊〉 appears in his Ordinances they then carry 〈◊〉 with them and bear down all before them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lightning forsakes his hold and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is forced to give way to the Government of the King of Saints Strong Physick either Cures or Kills either takes away the 〈◊〉 or life of the 〈◊〉 so it is with a spiritual and powerful Ministery it will work one way or other either it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hardens converts or condemns those that live 〈◊〉 the stroak thereof For observe we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word is but an Instrument in the hand of 〈◊〉 who dispenseth the same 〈◊〉 to his good 〈◊〉 and the counsel of his own Will working when and upon whom he will and what he will by 〈◊〉 The Sword in the hand of him that wields it may as easily killas defend another answerable to the affection of him that strikes therewith It is so with the Word which is the Sword of the Spirit It is the savor of life unto life but then and to those only to whom the Lord will bless the same and the savor of death unto death then and unto those when such a 〈◊〉 is denyed Such as be Ministers may hence see the Reason of that little success we find that little good we do in the Vineyard of the Lord Our Pains 〈◊〉 not our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with the hearts of men not one 〈◊〉 levelled not a crooked piece 〈◊〉 not one poor Soul prepared for a Christ after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quarters years travelling in the work of the 〈◊〉 The time was Satan fell like lightning suddenly speedily when the Disciples of Christ as Sons of 〈◊〉 delivered the Gospel in the power and demonstration of the Spirit But now Satan stands up 〈◊〉 full strength takes up his stand maintains his 〈◊〉 in the hearts of men notwithstanding all that 〈◊〉 see done
by the most What is the 〈◊〉 God is as Merciful as ever his VVord and 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 as ever they were I need 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he Where is the Lord God of Elias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I must rather ask Where is the Spirit 〈◊〉 Tower of Elias We want Power and Spirit and then no wonder we do not nay upon these 〈◊〉 in reason we shall never prepare a people for the Lord. The Word of God which is the Sword of the Spirit is as sharp as ever it was but our hands 〈◊〉 weak our hearts are feeble we have no courage 〈◊〉 power 〈◊〉 follow the blow against the sturdy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of men We keep these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much about us condemned by the 〈◊〉 2 〈◊〉 4. 2. in the course of our Ministery 〈◊〉 we are to offend our friends to displease great ones to provoke the wicked and malicious fear we do lest their love should be lost their bounty and kindness taken away and removed or else hazard our own earthly comforts and contents Its pitty but the tongue of that Minister should cleave to the roof of his mouth who speaks any thing less than God requires of him for these base and by respects somtimes Ministers are afraid to speak to the hearts of men and ashamed to reprove them for those sins which they are not afraid or ashamed to do in the face of the world Neither do Ministers many times Convince so soundly as they ought nor gather in those Arguments which may make those 〈◊〉 undeniable and mens Consciences at a stand Again they want that holy spiritual affection which they should deliver Gods Word withal unto his people And this is the Sum of all Ministers do not deliver the Word with a heavenly hearty violent affection they do not speak out of the abundance of their hearts If they would speak against sin with a holy indignation it would make men stand in aw of sin they talk of it hourly and say It is not good to prophane Gods Name and his Sabboths and to live an ungodly life but they do not speak from 〈◊〉 hearts in this kind A sturdy Messenger if he come to a mans house to speak with him he will not be put off he will take no denial but he will speak with him if it be possible before he goes away But send a Child of a Message to a man if a Servant do but tell him His Master is not at leisure or that he may speak with him another time he will 〈◊〉 be put off and go away before he 〈◊〉 delivered his Message So it is with a Minister that 〈◊〉 his Office with a hearty affection For when a man speaks from his heart in this Case he will have no answer he will not be 〈◊〉 withal he will take no denial but will have that he came 〈◊〉 If a man should say he is not at leisure to 〈◊〉 with him or to hear him now he will speak with him another time he will not go away with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will tell him I came to speak with your 〈◊〉 and I will speak with your hearts He will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people Tell your hearts ye that love the world 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 and pleasures 〈◊〉 and my heart 〈◊〉 you did you know the good things that are in Christ 〈◊〉 did you but know what a happy thing it is to have assurance of Gods love you would never love 〈◊〉 nor delight in wick dness as you have done before 〈◊〉 no more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things of the world but for your 〈◊〉 The day is coming when the Heavens shall 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 and you shal 〈◊〉 the voyce o the 〈◊〉 saying A I se ye dead and come to judgement Where you shall hear that dreadful Sentence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all ye workers of 〈◊〉 I know 〈◊〉 not Matt. 7. 23. Oh this may be your case one day And we that are Ministers of God do mourn for you and tell your souls We must have Sorrow 〈◊〉 you we came for Hearts and must have Hearts before we go And this is the First Use shewing the Reason why the Ministers or God do so 〈◊〉 good It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plain and powerful Preaching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 Use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 us the fearful estate and miserable Condition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that lived a long time under a plain and powerful Ministery and yet their hearts have not been 〈◊〉 and prepared for the Lord 〈◊〉 It is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Lord will never bestow any 〈◊〉 Good upon that Soul He that hath lived under a powerful Ministery many yeers and yet is not wrought upon thereby it cannot certainly be concluded but it is greatly to be suspected That the means of Gracewil never profit that man Look as it is with the Master Carpenter when he hath turned every piece of Timber and taken what he will for his turn he tels them that be under him Let this be hewed and that 〈◊〉 framed and made fit for the building Afterward 〈◊〉 finds one piece broken and another crackt and another knotty Why what saies he There is no squaring of these they are sit for nothing but for burning they are not fit for any place in the building Oh! take heed when Gods Ministers have been cutting and hewing now exhorting now perswading now cutting the heart with Reproof and yet finds here a crackt Heart and there a stubborn Soul that will not be squared by the Word 〈◊〉 than the Lord should say These will never be fitted and prepared for me they are fit for 〈◊〉 but the fire Oh! take heed of it for he that will not be fitted for Grace shall be made a 〈◊〉 in Hell for ever Therefore all you that have lived under a powerful Ministery and yet are not prepared go home and reason with your souls and plead with your own hearts and say Lord Why 〈◊〉 not I yet humbled and prepared Shall I thus be alwayes under the hacking and hewing of the Word and never be framed Such a man and such a man was stubborn and wicked and prophane and yet the Lord hath brought him home and he is become a broken hearted Christian What shall I think that am not 〈◊〉 and prepared for Christ by all the means that I have had Alas thou maiest justly suspect God never intends good to thy soul It is no absolute conclusion but it is a great suspition that those that have lived under a plain and powerful Ministery half a dozen yeers or longer and have got no good nor profited under the same I say It 's a shrewd suspicion that God will send 〈◊〉 down to Hell Therefore suspect thy own soul and say Lord will Exhortations never prevail Will Instructions never do me good Will 〈◊〉 and Reproofs 〈◊〉 strik my heart Why I have heard Sermons that would have 〈◊〉 the very stones I 〈◊〉 on that would have moved the eat I sate upon the very fire of Hell hath flashed in my face I have seen
painfully in doing our Duty and let the Lord do what is Good in his own eyes Evident therefore it is That the Aim of the words carries us directly unto the first work of God upon the Soul 〈◊〉 the Prophet Isaiah expresseth in Isaiah 49. 5. 6. 8. That is the acceptable time wherein Jacob must be brought back again to God Undeniable also it is That this work of Preparation as the out-Porch and Entrance which makes way to all the rest is here pointed out Particularly by the Apostle when he entreats them to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VVord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the entrance and admittance 〈◊〉 the Lord when in the power of his Ordinances he stands and knocks at the door of the heart which is then done when the Lord begins to lay hold upon the soul and to grapple witn the sinner in awakening and wounding his 〈◊〉 for his 〈◊〉 And lastly beyond all Question 〈◊〉 49 9. 〈◊〉 thou maiest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go forth The Scope then of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our intended 〈◊〉 Search we then in the Second Place the Sense of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so those divine Truths which are there contained may be Collected by us Time The word in the Original imports Season or Opportunity which is not so much the continuance of days or months or yeers as the Concurrence and meeting together of 〈◊〉 conveniences which may be 〈◊〉 to any work whereof more anon when we handle the Point hence Collected 〈◊〉 Some Difference there is between the Apostle and the Prophet Isaiah from whom this Testimony 〈◊〉 taken but all return to one Sense The 〈◊〉 in the Old Testament refers it to the VVork 〈◊〉 God the time of his acceptation or good VVill The Apostle in the New Testament applys it to the Time A Time accepted Yet so as the work of God is 〈◊〉 and comprehended under it In the 〈◊〉 then it intimates Three Things 1 The time that is appointed 2 The VVork of Grace put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Conversion of any soul 3 The 〈◊〉 of all it depends upon Gods pleasure when he sees fit to accomplish the Decree of his Election to Convert a sinner effectually to himself and out of his free good will to take him into his 〈◊〉 by calling him out of the world to the knowledge of 〈◊〉 and his saving Grace in Christ. Day of Salvation For the more full understanding of the Reason of the first word Day we may enquire the nature and rise of it In the beginning when the Lord made All and amongst the rest the living Creatures he furnished them with powers and abilities for the performance of their work he seated and set every one of them in his proper place as upon a stage for the acting of his part He set also bounds and laid forth several periods and distances of time for each purpose Now the Distinctions of time i. e. the separation of Light and Darkness made so many stops as it were in some or which there must be stayed Thus in Creating every Particular that is added The Evening and the Morning were the first and second Day c. They had their Day of Creation and their Day of Operation so long as they continue that is their Day for the Day and Night are the Distinction of all this Time here below and serve as so many stops and stayes in which each thing is stinted for its being and VVorking And hence it may be it is There is no Day nor Night in Heaven Rev. 10. 6. neither shall there be any more Time there that is Distinction or Measure of Time by Day or Night after the last Judgement for that must needs be the meaning of the Text because in Heaven and Hell the state of things and so their times are unchangable Hence to man His day is his life 〈◊〉 long as he breaths in the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 this Sun that 's the Time allotted to him to act his part in to trade for his everlasting State and Condition Hence again to descend yet lower there is a special period a stinted time for every part of this life and so many courses as I may term them and srames of occasions which belong to any so many seasons and several limits of time hath he allotted to each particular Thus the wise man There is a time to gather and a time to scatter a time to plant and a time to pluck up Eccles. 3. 1. And these 〈◊〉 are called Days in Scripture Thus there are Troubles and Tryals Visitation and Grace which the Lord in the dispensation of his Providence allots to men and there is a day for each of these A day of trouble Psal. 50. 15. A day of Tryal Heb. 3. 8. A day of Visitation Luke 19. 42. and a day of Salvation in this sense as here in the Text. Salvation Presumes alwayes danger and evil and according to the quality and nature of the one the other is to be considered and conceived here it is spiritually to be understood in the sul sense of it to wit from the danger of sin here begun in Preparation perfected in Glorification after this life And that Speech by way of Similitude seems well to interpret this manner of Speech Heb. 3. 9. The day of temptation when your Fathers tempted me i. e. that moment of time when that rebellion was expressed so here That moment or instant wherein the Lord begins to put forth the work of his special Grace about the Salvation of a sinner by the means he hath in mercy appointed And thus the Apostle expounds the word in the Verse following Behold now is the day of Salvation he saw it they could not but perceive it and all might acknowledg 〈◊〉 much because the Word of Salvation Acts 36. 26. viz. The Grace of God that is The Gospel given by grace 〈◊〉 bringeth salvation did now appear tit 2. 〈◊〉 So that it may be truly affirmed in a savory sense This day is Salvation coming to such to whom the word of the Gospel is come in the Ministery therof The Words thus Opened The Collections which are of special weight and Consideration are Four Faithful Ministers ought to be earnest in calling upon God and faithful 〈◊〉 the improvement of means for the spiritual good of such to whom they are sent This is taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text How shall God 〈◊〉 unless they Call How shall God Help unless they Endeavor They who are thus 〈◊〉 according to Gods Command they may expect a 〈◊〉 success according to Gods Promise He 〈◊〉 I will Hear I will Help Therefore their Prayers shall be Answered their Labors Blessed for God will not falsifie his Word nor 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 It s in the meer good pleasure of the Lord to work upon the heart in the Ministery of the Word when he sees fit It 's in the day of Gods acceptation and good Will that the Prayers of Faithful Ministers are heard and their Pains made 〈◊〉 for the Spiritual
Grace and Salvation but be they never so weak God can 〈◊〉 be they never so stout God can bend be they never so fast rooted in their rebellions God can and doth separate betwixt sin and their souls and recover them Behold this is the Finger of the Almighty When the Disease hath entred 〈◊〉 the Bowels and rotted in the bones of the sick the Physick then to cure the Physitian then to recover that is skill more than ordinary by the confession of all So here in the soul to make the Black-more to change his hew the Leopard his spots to make a gray headed sinner whose corruptions like a canker hath eaten up his heart by dayly custom to bring him to sound contrition and broken heartedness therein the outstretched arm of the Lord is expressed in his utmost strength My Power is made perfect in weakness saith the Lord 2 Cor. 12. 9. It 's the perfection of Power to prevail over such difficulties Thus of the First Part the Second follows God doth call most of his before Old Age. And therefore when he went forth at the Eleventh hour he reproves them before he entertains them Why stand ye here all the day idle as who should say You have lost the season of your work and hope of your reward the day is over there is no time for you to labor and there is no reason that I should either hire you or reward you it 's not my usual course nor custom yet for once go you also into my Vineyard Therefore the most usual time of Conversion is betwixt the third and the ninth hour in our middle Age about twenty and betwixt thirty and forty many are before some are after but most and most usually are wrought upon at this time There is a good pleasure as the Original hath it a season for every thing Eccles. 2. 1. and this seems to be the fittest time for this work whether we respect Man or God A man at this Age hath better Materials as I may so say wherein or whereupon the frame of Conversion may be erected or imprinted by the 〈◊〉 of the Spirit and that firstly If we look at the composition of Nature and the constitution of soul and body for in Infancy a man lives little 〈◊〉 than the life of a Plant or Beast feeding and sleeping growing and encreasing or else he takes up himself with delights of outward objects most agreeable to his Sences Walks after the sight of his own eyes Eccles. 11. 9. both which exceedingly 〈◊〉 the work of reason but when these are towards 〈◊〉 full perfection and Nature hath attained her 〈◊〉 work then the Understanding begins to shew 〈◊〉 self in her operations Invention is then most 〈◊〉 to apprehend the Judgment to discern Memory to retain and the Affections tenderest and nimblest to imbrace any thing offered and most pliable to be wrought upon As it is with Wax if it be made too soft it cannot hold any impression if too hard it will receive none but when it 's in temper most pliable then it 's most fit to receive and retain the stamp So Infancy is too weak and waterish it 's not able to fadom or fasten upon the depths of Argument Age grows sturdy with 〈◊〉 and will not listen to the Reasons of those Truths it s not willing to imbrace only in the middle Age when Reason is come to some ripeness there is then some more convenient advantages to be taken for the Lord to imprint the stamp of Grace upon the soul which the hand of his own Spirit can only do Look we again at Corruption In this Age 〈◊〉 Understandings are sooner 〈◊〉 as having not so long continued in the known practice of 〈◊〉 whenas the aged and decrepit who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the burden of their sins being setled long and 〈◊〉 upon their 〈◊〉 wedged in their 〈◊〉 and incorporated into sinful customs their hearts grow hard their understandings blind and their affections overcome with the deceitfulness of sin difficult it is to perswade their Reason to acknowledg the vileness of their sin but almost impossible to have their hearts wrought to a deteftation of it Trees withered and rotten are altogether unfit to be transplanted nor likely to prosper if they be So is it with aged men like these Trees withered in their wickedness yea as Jude speaks Corrupt Trees twice dead Jude 12. First by Original corruption Secondly by a continued and setled custom in Actual 〈◊〉 who have taken 〈◊〉 root in their rebellions they are most unfit to be transplanted and ingrafted into the true Vine Christ Jesus by Conversion and Faith The Bow that 's often 〈◊〉 and stands long one way is not bowed the other way but with much violence The soul proportionably which is turned from God and hath 〈◊〉 bent by long continuance in a base course though it 's possible it may be brought back again and put into a right frame yet it will cost the setting on before it can be accomplished and a world of difficulties must be gone through usually before it be done Thirdly and lastly As this is the fittest Age in regard of the Subject that must receive it so likewise in regard of the End why Grace is given which is to 〈◊〉 forth the praise of God and the Power of his Grace and by an holy Conversation to express the 〈◊〉 of him who hath called us from darkness to his marvelous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. for Grace destroyes not the powers and faculties of Nature but 〈◊〉 them removes not abilities but rectifies them doth not take them away but turns them to their 〈◊〉 end and use while then the parts of the body 〈◊〉 powers of the soul are in their prime best 〈◊〉 then may they be improved by the blessed Spirit 〈◊〉 the Lord and his Grace to the best advantage of 〈◊〉 Name Thus Grace damps not deads not the 〈◊〉 ction of love if strong and lively but directs it 〈◊〉 God his Truth and Children Grace abates not 〈◊〉 edg of Courage and Resolution but brings as stout and yet stragling Soldier into his right 〈◊〉 and Rank to be imployed in the defence of the Gospel Though God can work with any tool yet 〈◊〉 in he manifests his Wisdom that he will chuse 〈◊〉 to whom he gives great fitness to the performance 〈◊〉 those great and honorable imployments unto 〈◊〉 they are designed Hence Paul might in many other so in this respect also be called a choyce 〈◊〉 to carry Christs Name among the Heathens 〈◊〉 9. 15. being his Zeal was fiery his Love earnest 〈◊〉 Courage resolute his Judgment deep his Spirit undaunted and fit for dispatch all these faculties being as so many vessels filled with Grace prepared and guided by the Power of Gods Spirit might be fit Instruments to carry and convey the Gospel and the glory of the unsearchable Riches of Christ to the ends of the Earth Who sitter to care for all the Churches 2
he part with his beloved lust his Isaac his 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 he will then shew and discover his falsness But are not the Servants of the Lord many times unwilling to bid adieu to their special and ancient 〈◊〉 that have been bred and born with them brought up and lived with them a long time together There is two men in a regenerate man a heart and a heart a will and a will Rom. 7. last Paul delighted in the Law of God after the inward man but in his lust after the corrupt man With my mind I serve the Law of God saies he but with my 〈◊〉 the Law of Sin or as our Savior The Spirit 〈◊〉 willing but the Flesh is weak Matth. 26. 41. the spiritual part is ever prest and ready and wholly willing for good for he that is born of God so sins not and Paul professeth it 's not I but sin in me but saies he The good that I would I do not and the evil that I would not that I do Rom. 7. 18. still the heart and will of a regenerate man stands God-ward against every sin and for every good that he is convinced of The Reasons of the Point are Four and they are of great weight The First is taken from the Nature of the Will of man which since the Fall is wholly tainted and totally infected with corruption which universally overspreads the whol man As he in another case the whol head is sick the whol heart is faint the whol man wholly possessed with sin no sound part As Jobs contagion wherewith the Devil infected his Body and Natural man he was all one botch from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot So in regard of thr Spiritual man the whol man is as it were a man of sin called therefore the old man Eph. 4. 22. As though a corrupt heart were made up of nothing else but Apostacies backslidings and departings from God and swervings from his righteous Law Whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh that is sinful and sensual and we are all of us altogether so born and have nothing of the Spirit of Grace in us so the Apostle Jude verse 19. These are sensual having not the spirit The Sons of Adam are all of us partakers of his Image and hence also called the Seed of the Serpent Gen. 3. 15. that as each Creature and Plant answers the Seed whereof it is made hath no more in it but that so mens hearts are only framed and constituted out of that corrupt 〈◊〉 whereby Satan carried aside our first Parents Paul so professeth of himself In me 〈◊〉 is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. 11. nothing that is spiritually savingly and 〈◊〉 good and therefore in the old Law our corrupt Nature is signified by the Leprosie which overspread the whol man The sin of Adam had in it this peculiar to it self more than any nay I may 〈◊〉 say more than all the sins that ever was committed in that it was the Deordination of the whol Nature of man and that against the whol Law of God For Adam did not sin as a particular man so as all the Sons of Adam do sin but as a common stock as one who was in the room of all and had the Humane Nature as the common stock of all Man-kind so that the Nature of Man as one would say Humanity in Adam as it was under the Covenant of the Law so it went wholly against the holy and righteous Law of God and therefore the whol Nature of man broke when it made a breach upon the Law As he that justles his finger against a rock breaks that only he that runs his hand unjoynts that but if all the whol body fall from a steep place upon it it breaks all the whol frame of Nature in pieces So it is comparatively between the sin of Adam and the sin of any of the sons of Adam They sin personally one is unjust and he makes a breach against Justice and so far that disposition of heart is perverted and so unfitted for the work of Justice but in Adam the whol Nature of Mind and Will and Affections which was the subject of all Grace it comes against the Law and so brings a ruine upon the whol Frame of Grace Ad hereunto to make up the Evidence that this was indeed against the whol Law as that wherein he neither loved God nor himself nor 〈◊〉 neighbor But take it here he made a breach upon the seal of the Covenant and trampled that under foot and so consequently made voyd and 〈◊〉 upon the Covenant wholly and cast it behind his back as not worth caring for Now Reason 〈◊〉 that as the Seal confirms and ratifies the 〈◊〉 and all the Conditions of it joyntly so the 〈◊〉 of that nullifies and makes void the whol Covenant So that this transgression of Adam let 〈◊〉 a Deluge of Sin that as in Noahs Flood when the Windows of Heaven were opened and the great depths were broken up the waters covered the face of the whol Earth that no dry Land appeared So 〈◊〉 is here when the deeps are broken up as it were the whol Law opposed by the whol Nature of man the Deluge of corruption spreads it self over the whol face and frame of Nature Therefore the Apostle first Summarily gives in his Judgment in the 3. to the Romans the 9. verse That all are under sin And then Particularly They are all become abominable there is none that doth good no not one their throat is an open Sepulchre vents nothing but venemous steams of deadly distempers the poyson of Asps is under their tongues their feet swift to shed blood 12 13 14 15. vers And if all the Parts be such what is the heart within that acts all vents all fills all these That as it befel the Temple of Jerusalem after the destruction of it there was not a stone left upon a stone so with the soul in regard of that glorious frame of Grace which was in it in the first Creation there is not a stone left upon a stone nothing but pollution and corruption remains in the whol Nature of every man But you will say Are there no Reliques left of that glorious Image of God in the Will and Understanding There is somthing left of the Law but nothing left whereby a man can be enabled to do any thing as an act of Spiritual Life that may be acceptable to God In a word there are these Two things to be attended and may be observed in every man naturally at the lowest and the worst as I look at these poor Indians amongst whom we live as the very ruines and rubbish of mankind the forlorn Posterity of Adam 1 They are made for another and for a better 2 They ought to yeild obedience to that other and better But to know the Will of God and do it to be
eye and the right hand Mark 9. 43. 47. They are as the skin of our hearts Jer. 4. 4. circumcise your hearts They are as our selves hence we are commanded to deny our selves that is our lusts Matt. 16. 24. If any man will be my 〈◊〉 let him deny himself the old man Rom. 6. 6. Our old man is crucified Nay they are our very lives 1 Tim. 5. 6. they that live in sin our very heaven and happiness the yong man went away sorrowful when he should exchange his Possessions for the Kingdom of Heaven So that first the corrupt Will must cease to be or else it cannot but be willing to maintain its distempers for every thing labors to preserve it self for to destroy itself is to be contrary to it self and therefore the corrupt Will cannot but preserve its Corruption for it is it self and it cannot destroy it self So that now to gather up al If the dominion of sin wholly possesseth the soul the power of Satan wholly leads it the naturalness of sin wholly contents it then it is not possible that ever the carnal heart should be willing to part with his Corruptions Here 's a dominion that cannot be gainsaid a power that cannot be opposed a contentment that cannot be bettered therefore there is no other expectation but that the corrupt Will should be unwilling to be severed from its sins Hence we may learn It is the heaviest plague in the world for a natural man to have his own will It is the direful dread of the vengeance of the Lord when he delivers a man up to the distemper of his own heart to follow it aud to have it and to be under the power of it and that follows thus To be severed from God and never to be severed from his sins is the greatest plague in the world But 〈◊〉 man naturally wil never be severed from his sins this is the desire of his heart therfore to have this is the heaviest plague that can befal a man in this world As it is in Psal. 81. 11. Israel would none of me so I gave them up to the lusts of their own hearts to walk in their own counsels Is it so That as they did thou dost and as they would thou wouldst that thou professedst the same inwardly I wil none of the wayes of God but I wil have my own wil and my own lusts then this is the plague of God upon thy soul thou shalt have thy 〈◊〉 and Hell with them too thou shalt have nothing of God nothing of his Grace here nor of his Glory hereafter Hath the Lord so ordered it towards thee That as it s said of David he never displeased Adonijah never crost him of his wil so thou hast had thy wil stil and hast prospered in a 〈◊〉 course this is a sign that God never intends good to thy soul that he hath thus delivered thee up to the distempers of thy own heart When Physitians give men for gone they leave them and say Let him eate what he wil if he cal for Milk or Drink let him have it he 's but a dead man live he cannot Is it so with thee That God hath given thee over and left thee to thy self that now thou hast what thou wilt and dost what thy corrupt wil carries thee to This is the most dreadful plague of al Thou dost walk in the counsels of thine own heart to thy own eternal ruine Hence it s also cleer The Will of a Natural man is the worst part about him The worst thing he hath and the greatest Enemy he hath is his own Heart and Will It follows thus It is that which maintains al the sinful distempers of his soul it keeps the whole Army of Corruptions al in their Ranks that Victuals them and provides for them that hinders a man from using the means or from getting good by al the means of Grace It s the corrupt wil of a man that keeps him under the power of his sinne and keeps off the power of an Ordinance that would procure his everlasting good I speak it the rather to dash that dream of wickedmen when they do ill and speak ill yet say they my heart is good It s true I cannot speak so wel nor do so wel nor make such a shew as others can but my desires are good No truly If thy Life be naught thy Heart is worse It s the worst thing thou hast about thee Matt. 12. 34 35. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh And an evil man out of the evil treasure of 〈◊〉 heart brings forth evil things There is a treasury of evil in thy heart variety and abundance of wickedness there The Heart is the store-house a mans carriage in his life is but the shop men do not use to bring out al into their shop but keep it in their store-house that is ful stil So be it known unto you you who in your speeches and carriages discover it you are desperately proud and wordly and carnal and prophane there 's a thousand times more of that wickedness in your hearts there 's a treasury a store-house of al abominations Nay the deceitfulness of the Heart is above al the masterfulness of the Heart is beyond al that we can conceive A man may discern a mans life and perceive what is there sutable or cross to the Will of God but the heart is desperate decentful who can know it Jer. 17. 9. The Will of Man is uncontroulable That which the Apostle James speaks of the tongue That it is an unruly evil ful of deadly poyson none can tame it Jam. 3. 8. It is much more true of the heart for whatever wickednes is vēted by the tongue its first in the heart and it s there much more men may gag a mans mouth and fetter his hands and feet but Oh the corrupt will of man who can restrain that The truth is it wil stand out against al Reasons and Arguments and nothing can move the wil except God work upon it As they said in 1 Sam. 8. 19. When Samuel gave them Reasons against Monarchy they say not Your Reasons are not good we wil Answer them and bring better Reasons for what we desire No but we will have a King And as the Lord saies to the House of Israel Ezek. 33. 11. Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes why will you die Give me the reason of it It is not my wil you should die I forbid it it s not sutable to reason that gain-say it it s not agreeable to nature that abhors it to have your sins and to have the plagues of them for ever nay but we wil have our sins whatever come of it This is the nature of the Corrupt wil of every carnal man Hence again we may see how cross to Reason and common sense the corrupt carriage of ungodly men is when they be left to their own wils we look at
on me and our Savior asked him what ailest thou what was his will set upon Oh Lord that I may receive my sight So it is with a sinner whose wil is set to seek relief against his sins if there be any opportunity offred means afforded any occasion that may lend relief against his sin how speedily upon the least inkling will he listen to it If Christ pass by in Conference in Communion in publick or private in set seasons or such as could not be expected whereby the healing vertue of the blood of Christ may be dispensed they greedily repair thither and if the question be what wouldest thou the Answer of the soul is Oh Lord that I may receive power against my sin and if he get it not he will be unweariable to pursue the Lord until he hath attained it So the lamenting Church they took unto themselves words the sum and substance of all their requests Hos. 14. 3. Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously not take away the punishments that pinch us not the Judgments and terrors that may justly perplex us in the times of our necessities but take away our iniquities A wicked man may have a velleity some sleepy wish for a turn against his sin for the attainment of his end but it 's but for a fit and not for the removal of his sin but some evil that it brings Nay the heart of an ungodly man holds counsels against the holy Commandements of the Lord and plots how he may sitly put by the authority of the Truth that would take away his evil Job 22. 18. The Counsel of the wicked is far from me There is a 〈◊〉 purpose of Spirit to maintain some distemper which cannot be in a godly man He that is willing to part with his sin he takes greatest delight in those means which either discover his sin more fully and work most kindly upon the heart that godly sorrow which causeth Repentance never to be repented of and are the most piercing and powerful to remove it from him For it 's the greatest delight that can befal a man to have his will and desires answered that which the Will desires most to have when it wants it delights most in when it hath it It is so in the diseases of the Body when the blood is foul and so feaverish and fit to cause a Pleuresie the Humors gross and 〈◊〉 and molest the stomach so that Nature desires to be unburdened he that hits the right vein and that Physick which works kindly and strongly upon the right humor the Patient receives marvelous ease and Nature special relief and refreshing that which takes away most of the burden bring most ease So it is with a soul truly willing to be severed from his sin being burdened and infested with the venemous pollution thereof it finds most delight in that Ordinance that works most kindly and effectually upon it the saddest counsel the sharpest reproof the most searching tryal that ransacks every corner of a corrupt conscience now a man hath his Will and is marvelously pleased with it So David when Abigail met him and reproved him and counselled him against his sin 1 Sam. 25. 32 33. saies he Blessed be thou and blessed be thy counsel and blessed be the Lord which hath kept me this day from shedding blood that hast kept me this day from venting this distemper and hast met me so 〈◊〉 and spake so effectually unto my soul. 〈◊〉 heart that finds his special corruption his greatest 〈◊〉 wherewith he is most pestered is therefore 〈◊〉 willing to be rid of that which is most 〈◊〉 to him and therefore the word that meets 〈◊〉 directly and works most powerfully his will 〈◊〉 Gods will meet there fully and therefore he is 〈◊〉 pleased When a reproof stabs him to the 〈◊〉 Oh more of that Lord and that comfort 〈◊〉 would remove his main discouragement he 〈◊〉 the continuance of that That exhortation 〈◊〉 would awaken his sluggish spirit and put life 〈◊〉 vertue into his soul he saies speak home there Lord Prov. 2. 10. When wisdom entreth into thy 〈◊〉 and knowledg is pleasant unto thy soul Oh 〈◊〉 hath wished this longed for looked for this and 〈◊〉 now he hath his will and his hearts desire 〈◊〉 is pleased at the heart when the Lord brings off his spirit kindly that was awk and wearish in duty 〈◊〉 the best day that he hath seen a long time Oh 〈◊〉 he that I had such a heart still ever to be in this 〈◊〉 for God and against my sins and still he 〈◊〉 in that frame Psal. 85. 8. I will hear what God will speak to my soul whereas a corrupt heart when the Word meets with his beloved lusts 〈◊〉 the heart is in league and indeed would not only pinch but pluck it away by main force it 's death to him and so distastful as that he cannot endure it though he can hear many Counsels receive some general Reproofs and listen to many 〈◊〉 yet this he bears not It is as though a man should rent a member from his Body or pluck one part from another the sinner riseth up with fell opposition here As she said when she had lost her Darling and conceived that the Man of God had a hand in it What have I to do with thee thou man of God So what have 〈◊〉 to do with that Reproof that 〈◊〉 that Admonition that Examination thus 〈◊〉 Acts 22. 22. They heard Paul till he came to 〈◊〉 word that was most cross to them and then they cried out away wich him they could bear him 〈◊〉 longer then When Demetrius his Trade was 〈◊〉 to fall he could not want his gain and 〈◊〉 not renounce his Idol all is in an uproar Acts 〈◊〉 there was an outcry by the space of two hours 〈◊〉 is Diana of the Ephefians they would not 〈◊〉 with their Gain nor with their 〈◊〉 So 〈◊〉 dealt with Stephen when he came close to them 〈◊〉 discovered the rebellion of their hearts and lives Acts 7. They were not able to bear it but stop 〈◊〉 Ears and run upon him and he must lose his 〈◊〉 rather than they be disturbed in their lusts this 〈◊〉 the guise of the heart of every Natural man who 〈◊〉 not willing to part with his sin If the sinner be seriously willing to part with 〈◊〉 sin he is restless and unsatisfied until it be 〈◊〉 and taken away from him he finds nothing that 〈◊〉 can have any sweet contentment in as long as he 〈◊〉 that distemper which is cross to his will and Gods will also As Haman when he had all the caps in the Country uncovered to him and al knees 〈◊〉 before him yet al this was nothing to him 〈◊〉 avails all this saies he so long as I see Mordecai 〈◊〉 in the Kings Gate Esther 5. 13. So had he all abilities did God vouchsafe unto him al enlargements had he the hearts and approbation of all 〈◊〉 in
the world to honor him to esteem him yet 〈◊〉 dasheth all what avails it so long as this Pride 〈◊〉 peevishness this frothy vain heart remains within me When the heart is assaulted with some sudden qualm or deadly fume that assaults the spirits 〈◊〉 ye drive it from his heart nothing will do him good Oh he is sick at the heart now I thank the Lord it 's gone from my heart So it is with the plague of 〈◊〉 that assaults the heart a man that knows it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is really sick of the lusts and corruptions that are in his heart he can never be at quiet till he find his heart in some measure freed from the power and poyson of those sinful distempers as Rebecca said If Jacob should take a wife of the Daughters of Heth what good shall my life do me Gen. 27. last So what good wil my credit my profit my profession all my priviledges and performances do me if my heart be married to any base lust 〈◊〉 my corrupt will and my wayward peevish stiffness and malignancy of heart continue with me still But thou that canst lift up thy head and know all these evils in thee that God knows and thou knowest there are such bosom abominations which thy heart finds and takes contentment in thou canst live with them talk with them lie down and sleep with them and arise with them again nay and thy corrupt heart is restless if it may not be pleased and satisfied with thy lusts Amon is sick of Incest Ahab of Covetousness unless they may enjoy 〈◊〉 lusts they cannot enjoy their lives Grace I would not trouble my self or spend any time to prove that such have any grace When a mans sins are so far from being his vexation that it is his vexation that he cannot have free 〈◊〉 to commit his sins that he is vexed with the word that discovers his evil vexed with Conscience that checks him for it plagued and tormented with all that come in his way that will cross him in his lusts if there be a graceless heart in Hell thou art one to this very day thou didst never know what it was to put off the will of sinning Observe where the will takes up its last stand and what it looks at as that which lastly satisfies its desire either in pretended parting with sin or in performance of duties or improvement of means The end steers the action and gives in evidence of the goodness of it The Merchant and the Pyrate goes in the same channel useth the same wind to carry them the same Compass to direct the one about his honest Affairs to serve Gods Providence and his own Duty and the other to serve his own covetous and unlawful lusts of Theevery and spoiling So here I speak it for this purpose because it 's one of the cunning cheats of a deceitful heart he will perform such Duties and forsake such sins not because he either loves the Duty or loaths the sin but because he would land himself at the place where he would be at some other end of his own Nay it 's possible and ordinary for a man to part with his sin for a push when indeed it is only that he may keep his sin As Paul spake of Onesimus he departed from him for a season that he might be received for ever and as the Adultress chides her mate before others that she may enjoy him more freely without fear or suspition so it 's usual for a false heart to chide with his corruptions and to speak great words against them when yet the secret 〈◊〉 is but to enjoy them more freely by that means therefore let not the Devil cozen you with colors your confessions and resolutions your prayers and tears against your sins and that in secret and that unto God if your hearts 〈◊〉 these but as means for your own ends you never were willing to part with sin The 〈◊〉 of a gracious heart is Never to take up his stand till he come to God and the guidance of his Grace and Spirit Hosea 14. 2 3. c. Take away all iniquitie and receive us graciously what have I to do any more with Idols c. and the heart wil never more have to do with these sins but with God he sees these evils sorrows for these 〈◊〉 to have these removed that he may be under the power of God and his Grace As Samuel said to Israel 1 Sam. 7. 3 4. If you do return unto the Lord with all your hearts then put away your gods and prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve him only So if you be indeed resolved to forsake your sins and renounce your corruptions then abandon them and al occasions leading to them and al beginnings of them and submit your selves your thoughts and affections to the Lord and to his Word and serve him only Lodg thy soul here and let it never take up its stand until it come hither The last Use is of Exhortation and Direction both together It should guide us and it should perswade us to take the right way of Reformation Never leave thy prayers and tears and sorrows and remorse until thou come to thy very heart thy tongue professeth fair and thy hand forbears the practice of evil but ask thy heart Heart what sayest thou Shame may prevail with thee Authority of men may constrain thee and conscience may force thee to abstain from evil I but what saies thy Heart art thou willing to part with thy sin I do not do it I dare not do it but Will what sayest thou Heart what sayest thou Never cease before you be able to answer I am really willing to part with every sin I am convinced of It was the great complaint of Moses concerning the People of Israel that notwithstanding al that the Lord had done for them yet they had not a heart to fear him and to walk in obedience before him So 〈◊〉 may say God hath crowned thee with 〈◊〉 honored thee with encouragements thou hast the Esteem of others thou hast all Liberties and opportunities to be as good as thou shouldest be but truly all these will do thee no good unless thou hast a heart for God and against thy sin therefore rest no where until thou hast this The great Fort that must be taken is the Will or else all the rest is as good as nothing he that wil cure a disease must not only skin it over but must take away the core of it if he think to heal it throughly and cure it fully So here it is not enough to wash a mans mouth and to wipe his hands but the core of a mans corruptions must be got away thy soul must be brought off from the Will of sinning as wel as from the Practice of sinning or else thy soul will never be brought home to God stay not therefore till thou comest hither and be sure to make sound work
words which out of the very Scope of the place and intendment of our Savior present to our view the former Point and 〈◊〉 in ful sense thereof from the very letter of the word I shal omit al other particulars in the verse 〈◊〉 only single out that which directly concerns my purpose in hand And that 's this God the Father by a Holy kind of violence as it were plucks his out of their Corruptions and Draws them to Beleeve in Christ. Before I come to handle this Point this I would Premise by way of Preface That I purpose to handle both these together both plucking from Corruption and Drawing to Beleeve for they are both performed by the same Action or Motion and therefore its most fit as they be in Nature together so we should discover them together For as it is in Bodily things that are obvious to our eye and 〈◊〉 he that plucks two things asunder which were glued by the same motion at the same instant 〈◊〉 he plucks the one from the other he plucks 〈◊〉 brings the one neerer to himself So here by 〈◊〉 same stroak and at the same time the Lord is 〈◊〉 to pluck the soul from sin unto which it was 〈◊〉 he brings it neerer to himself and it is made 〈◊〉 for himself that so it may be united unto his 〈◊〉 And these Two are required before a man can receive that Grace that he stands in need of As in part out of joynt that is possessed of many 〈◊〉 humors or broken splinters of bones which 〈◊〉 the temper and hinder the joynt from his right work and returning to his right place for a through Cure the noysomness of the former is to be removed 〈◊〉 would hinder the part from joynting and 〈◊〉 to its right place and this cannot be done but with 〈◊〉 kind of Violence which is now our Point to be Opened and Confirmed For our more orderly proceeding because the path is not beaten by any pregnant and plain 〈◊〉 we shal desire to 〈◊〉 things with as much Evidence as we can and therefore we shal enquire 1 How many sorts of Drawings there are and so which 〈◊〉 meant in this place 2 What is the proper Nature of that which 〈◊〉 here understood in the kind of it 3 How God doth put forth this and by 〈◊〉 means 4 Wherein this Holy violence is best 〈◊〉 and rightly apprehended in this work 5 How this pulling of the soul from sin and Drawing of it to Beleeve is accomplished by this violence 6 Why this work of Attraction is given to the Father These things being considered and cleared the frame in so mysterious a Dispensation wil be discerned in some measure as may satisfie a judicious hearer To the First There is a Double Drawing or Constraint Improperly so 〈◊〉 and it s called a Moral Swasion to wit When by outward presenting and offering or by some vehement pressing and applying an object to the mind or heart the affections come to be 〈◊〉 and the will comes to be prevailingly moved and strongly perswaded to the work The Properties of this kind of Constraint are Two 1 The Objects or Arguments offered and propounded infuse no power in to the will which it had not but only stirs up and cals out that which was there before implanted to put forth it self into action 2 When these perswasions are offered there is still left an indifferency there remains a freedom in the Will to Refuse or Receive as she sees 〈◊〉 Thus the wedge of Gold and the Babilonish garment it perswaded and prevailed with Achans heart to covet and to hide and then by falshood to defend it Josh. 7. 21. This occasion or beautiful bait drew out that wretched Covetousness that 〈◊〉 there before Thus Lydia Acts 16. 15. by her importunity she is said to constrain Paul who happily otherwise intended it not may be he had weighty occasions which would have carried him another way Thus in Luke 24. 29. It is said by pressing importunity they compelled our Savior to stay with them who otherwise would have gone further Luke 14. 23. Compel them to come in This the Jesuits and Papists and many of the School conceive and conclude Marvelous peremptorily and stifly maintain it even to the death That this is the only way of Gods drawing Namely God opens the Eye and stirs up the Will by propounding Objects of worth and greatest excellency and this is al they would have 〈◊〉 words require But this gloss 〈◊〉 the text nor can it stand with the Scope of the context or intendment of our Savior for 〈◊〉 words are added by way of correction when the Pharisees in the foregoing Verses murmured at the Doctrine of our Savior with which they were willing to quarrel because they could not understand and at his means which they were willing to despise Our Savior to prevent the scandal which weak ones might happily take because people of such place quality rejected his person Doctrine he ads these words None can come to Me except My Father Draw him which is Murmur not be not offended that the 〈◊〉 entertain not me nor the Gospel it s a greater work to Beleeve than either the power or skil of the 〈◊〉 let them admire at their excellency as they please But it issues out of the purpose and good pleasure of my Father none have power to come unless he be pleased to Draw 〈◊〉 that they may come Where Two things are 〈◊〉 1 There must be Drawing before Coming 2 They who be Drawn wil certainly Come As the force of the Argument evinceth otherwise 〈◊〉 reason of our Savior was of no force for it had 〈◊〉 easie to reply The Father may draw many 〈◊〉 yet those never come therefore that is not a 〈◊〉 Reason why they did not come whence its 〈◊〉 the aime of the text disanuls and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 They who are drawn wil come and fail not But many have these outward swasions The Scribes and Pharisees who blasphemed the Lord Jesus had 〈◊〉 and therefore these swasions and 〈◊〉 offers are not the Drawing here meant There is as Divines cal it A Physical or Natural Drawing and Constraint I would rather cal it A drawing of Internal Operation whereby not only the Eye is opened and Objects propounded but there is a power and prevailing impression put upon the will which gives ability whereby it may be carried and determined upon its Object So that Two Things are here 1 There is a Spiritual and Divine Power a Divine inspiration fals powerfully upon the will 2 By this the will is determined and undoubtedly carried to its Object To speak familiarly Plucking implyes a Breach of the Union between Sin and the Soul and 〈◊〉 from yeilding Subjection 〈◊〉 2 There is the turning of the heart the right way or a right set of Soul being formerly perverted put upon it In which to speak properly the 〈◊〉 puts not forth a deliberate act
but is acted by another As it was in the raising of Lazarus when he stank in the Grave not only those noysom distempers were removed and the unnatural 〈◊〉 which attended his body chased away but the 〈◊〉 also was returned and brought again to Union 〈◊〉 his Body So here The Nature of this Drawing and special 〈◊〉 of it It s the motion and powerful Impression of the Spirit of God upon the Soul not any habit of Grace in it nor any act of the Soul which concurs with the work of God in this first stroak of Preparation For The soul that is wholly possessed by the Habits of Sin is not yet capable of the Habit of Grace 〈◊〉 my flesh dwels no good thing Rom. 7. 18. The Vessel cannot be ful of filthy and puddle water and at the same time receive that which is pure It is the aim of this work to make way and room for the Habit of Grace to be received and therefore it is not a habit nor any act of a habit in the soul as yet Therefore it s said God first turns from darkness and then to light Acts 26. 18. Takes away the heart of stone before he gives a new heart Ezek. 11. 19. This is the influence of Light and Vertue into the Mind and Will by the receiving whereof they may be elevated and lifted up above their own ability to supernatural Works in future times and therfore this cannot be the act of the Will and 〈◊〉 since they cannot of themselves let in any 〈◊〉 into themselves Therefore the Lord takes 〈◊〉 to himself as his own Work Hither belongs 〈◊〉 Question Whether Nature or Grace be the first subject of 〈◊〉 Nature cannot For 1 Cor. 2. 14. The 〈◊〉 man receives not the things of God nor can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet Grace cannot do it for 〈◊〉 there should be Grace before the FIRST 〈◊〉 Grace is attended in a double Respect 1 As it 〈◊〉 a habit or gracious quality received into the Soul As it is a gracious impression upon the soul The 〈◊〉 must be prepared before any habit of Grace 〈◊〉 be received but there needs no disposition in 〈◊〉 soul to receive the work of the Spirit that must 〈◊〉 there needs no preparation to make way 〈◊〉 the work of Preparation but there needs 〈◊〉 to make way for the habit That which 〈◊〉 the first disposition needs no former not yet 〈◊〉 any former It s not Nature but the Soul prepared that is the 〈◊〉 of the First Habit. The Soul unprepared 〈◊〉 the Subject of the Spirit that prepares it The Means how God works the Cords by which 〈◊〉 Draws The Spirit of the Lord lets in some powerful light 〈◊〉 the Truth into the Soul when he is passing on in 〈◊〉 wayes of destruction and tels him This is not 〈◊〉 right way to Life and Salvation you must go 〈◊〉 way if ever you go to heaven The poor deluded blinded Creature never dreaming of 〈◊〉 such matter so that he drives the sóul to 〈◊〉 thoughts If this be the streight way to happiness 〈◊〉 have been out of the way al my life time If this 〈◊〉 true my Condition is miserable Isa. 65. 1. I 〈◊〉 sought of them that asked not for me I am found 〈◊〉 those that sought me not Thus the shepheard pursues the wildring sheep If he had not found it it 〈◊〉 never found home How many give in Evidence 〈◊〉 of their own Experience in this kind I never doubted of my estate nor ever 〈◊〉 of any necessity to be other or do other I went as others did it may be for fashion sake either company carried me or custome prevailed with me or may be the novelty of the thing inticed me to go I as little thought of my death as ever to have my sin and shame discovered Job 36. 9. When the Lord gets man into fetters then he shews them their transgressions and how they have exceeded Thus the Lord is said To stand and knock at the door of the soul when the sinner is fast asleep Rev. 3. 20. He dazles the apprehension by some mighty flash of truth like lightning darted in which makes the soul at a maze by reason of the suddenness and unexpectedness and strangness of it This knock makes the sinner so far to hear and to take notice of it that some body is at the door and causes him happily to make enquiry Who is there So Acts 9. 4 5 6. There shines a suddain Light about Paul and a voyce heard from heaven Saul Saul Why persecutest thou me As who should say Thou art utterly mistaken thou knowest not where thou art what thou doest thou mistakest a Friend in stead of an Enemy And therefore he amazed and astonished Answers and 〈◊〉 Who art thou Lord Thus the sinner is made to look about him where am I this is not the way to Heaven And though the soul would shut its eyes against the Evidence and Power of the Truth which carries a kind of amazing vertue with it and therefore invents shifts to defeat the work of it yet the Lord wil follow it and fasten it upon the soul so as that it shal not avoid it he that stands knocking at the door wil lift up the latch and make the Truth break in as the Sun rising wil break through the least crevis This is the first means whereby the Lord comes to lay hold upon the mind and soul of a sinner he hath the sinner in chase as it were that he cannot get out of his sight or make an escape Thus by the hook of Instruction he laies hold upon him He encloseth him with the Cords of Mercy whereby he 〈◊〉 the soul and compasseth the heart on every side with the tender of his compassions Hosea 11. 4. I drew them with the Cords of a man the bonds of love this the Lord doth to take off those desperat discouragements which otherwise would dead the heart and split the hopes of a forlorn sinner and so pluck up his endeavors by the roots under the appearance of impossibilities It can never be attained why therefore should it be expected or endeavored after To abate therefore of these overbearing 〈◊〉 which otherwise would sink the heart and swallow it up the Lord casts in some discovery of the largeness of his compassions and intimates there is no danger to be feared in coming to the Lord because there is none intended When Christ stands at the door and knocks men are afraid to let in Enemies that intended our ruine so it 's 〈◊〉 the sinner he is afraid of Gods Justice because of his 〈◊〉 deservings What is Christ at the door Is it not that Christ whose Grace I have refused whose Spirit I have grieved whose Words I have cast 〈◊〉 my back he certainly comes to destroy me who have destroyed his Truth and trampled his honor 〈◊〉 my feet And therefore the Lord lets in that Evidence to the
〈◊〉 good but carried out by the power of corruption against it 2 Willingness must be wrought where this unwillingness is 3 The Will must cease to be unwilling and resistance must be removed before submission can be brought into it Unwillingness cannot will Good Aversion cannot will Conversion 4 What will remove or take away this unwillingness It 's impossible it self should remove or destroy it self There is nothing in the Will besides that can do it for it hath no Spiritual power to good therefore there must be an Almighty constraining power that must by a holy kind of violence take that away and then another may be brought in But if the Will do not freely Will the removal of corruption then is it compelled contrary to the nature of the Will and the way of Gods Providence as implying a contradiction It follows not Either it freely wills the removing of sin or else it is compelled thereunto I put a third A sinner hath no will at all to it for to wil not to do it freely is contrary to the Nature of the Will and the rules of right Reason But to have the work done without the wil of man which hath no hand in it is a sound truth and a safe assertion These Three are apparently distinct 1 To Will freely 2 To Will by Constraint 3 Not to Will at al But to have the work done only from the Will of anonother But if there be a kind of Violence offered to the Will of a Sinner in the removal of his sin then the Will is compelled But there is a kind of Violence offered for that 's it which is affirmed therefore the Will is Compelled which must not be granted I Answer Three Things 1 When we say the Will is free and cannot be forced the right meaning is this TO WILL is when a man is a cause by Counsel of his Work so that when Reason hath dictated and discovered what is fit to be done the will out of a sovereignty of authority and inward power expresseth her pleasure to make choice of it To be forced to do a thing is by a strong hand of outward Constraint against our inward inclination and disposition to be compelled to do a thing 〈◊〉 Two cannot stand together as being apparently contradictory the One to the other To do a thing out of mine own power proper and inward inclination To do a thing by outward 〈◊〉 For it is al one as to say We should do a thing out of our inward inclination and not out of our inward inclination A Cause acting by Counsel should be a Cause acting by necessity one Contrary should be another 2 This act may be opposed from without yea act and power may be destroyed without any prejudice to the liberty of Will or any way of Providence or a reasonable Proceeding So the text Ezek. 36. 27. I will take away the heart of stone and give unto them a heart of 〈◊〉 a new heart and a new spirit will I put within them Gal. 5. 24. They who are Christs have crucified the flesh with 〈◊〉 affections and 〈◊〉 Original sin is flesh the 〈◊〉 are the actings of it and the affections are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that are apt and ready to entertain such provocations and to break out into such 〈◊〉 It s impossible that while a thing acts by his own inward inclination it should by outward force act against its inclination though its possible and reasonable that the Lord cross both yea destroy both act and inclination and al as he wil. God as we may speak with reverence and fear cannot make nature remaining to act against 〈◊〉 for then when there is the greatest Consension there should be greatest opposition and one thing should be opposite to its self The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the principles of Constitution should be Causes of Destruction which Reason abhors but yet he can destroy nature without any breach of Rule or Reason So here God can destroy the will and power of sinning according to al the rules of Reason and 〈◊〉 but it s against both That God should compel the will of sinning to be willing to destroy it self 3 In this Work of Drawing and in this Act of God whereby the will of sinning is removed the will is a meer patient and sufferer and though the Will while it acts by its own inclination cannot be compelled to act against it yet it may be compelled to bear and suffer the destroying hand of Gods power to take away this corrupt 〈◊〉 in the soveraignty of it As the Wills of the Devils and Damned in Hell are forced to suffer and that unwillingly without any impeachment of their Freedom and Liberty of their Wils in commission of any sin which they daily practice Art thou come to torment us before the time say they to our Savior It was a torment to them to be crossed and plagued yet it could not be avoided As it is in a sick body the power of the Physick which is soveraign and healing it wil by little and little abate the distemper and allay the violent work of the Humor whether it be in over-much healing aking pinching and at length consume the malignant Humor it self It s reasonable that the noysom Humors should bear the power of the Physick that will consume them but it s against reason to think that they should consume themselves Hold therefore these Three Things 1 It s not against the Liberty of the Will that the Act of Corruption should be Opposed and the power subdued 2 Then the Will is said to be Compelled not when it suffers only force from without But when it s forced from without to do against its own inclination from within 3 Where the Will hath no power to put forth any Act upon any Object there is no Will properly to speak and there can be no Violence or Compulsion which can be prejudicial Consider the Nature of this Work in regard of the power of Satan Here also a holy Violence will of necessity be required For Satan as we read before he exerciseth a soveraign Command over the corrupt heart of a Sinner rules them as he list and takes them Captive at his will 2 Tim. 2. last Now Satan wil not nay in truth he cannot be entreated but must be Compelled to lay down his jurisdiction Heb. 2. 14. Through death he destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Devil He destroyed him that is He took off al his activity and the soveraignty of power that he exercised Acts 26. 18. Paul was sent to turn men from darkness to light from the power of Satan to God That is To bring them from under the rule and regiment of the government and dominion of Satan From the Claim of his power not from the malice of his pursuit Luke 11. 21. When the stronger man comes and takes from him all his Armour This is not done with the wil and
approbation of Satan but by Compulsion For do but weigh a little what manner of Construction in a common apprehension can be made of a Morral Perswasion in this Case Namely The Lord Christ casts in so many Convicting Arguments into the mind of Satan and stirs up that malice and envie that is within him that he doth perswade Satan to destroy his own malice and envie yea perswades him to lay down his power and to make choice and desire that the Spirit of Christ should exercise power in the Soul He Conquers him only by perswading of him to yeild willing subjection to the power of Christ which is indeed to make Satan a Saint and the Devil not to be the Prince of darkness The Power and Rule of Satan cannot be Destroyed without violence but in this work Satan his power is destroyed and himself bound and Conquered therefore it s done by Violence Fifthly Now we are to enquire How the plucking of the Soul from Sin and Drawing unto Christ is accomplished by this holy Violence To which I Answer 1 Generally 2 Particularly 1 Generally thus All that hold that Sin Satan had of the Soul and al that authority they exercised in it is now removed and the bent and set of the heart is now under the hand of the Spirit of God The Lord comes now to manifest his claim and to make good and challenge the right he hath unto the soul through his Christ whom he hath appointed to bring his unto himself This is his good pleasure for the execution whereof he hath sent the Lord Jesus Isa. 49. 45. Therefore he is said to be formed from the womb to be a servant unto God the Father to restore the preserved of Israel and to be the salvation of God to the ends of the earth Hence that of our Savior Christ Joh. 10. 16. Other sheep I have there 's the ground those I must bring and they shall hear my voice they are mine I have died for them sin and Satan shal not keep them shal not hold them hands off sin hands off Satan I must Humble them and Call them and Justifie them and 〈◊〉 them and Save them for ever And therefore the Lord was typed out in the Parable of the Owner that left Ninty and nine to seek the lost sheep Luke 15. 4 5. And when it could not seek its own good or Christ or find either the Lord sought it up and found it and brought it home upon his shoulder 2 ' More Particularly The accomplishment of this Work Discovers it self in Four Particulars The Lord calls in that Commission which formerly he put into the hands of Satan to lay hold of the heart of a sinner as a Malefactor attached of high Treason committed against God and Heaven and therefore it was he sent him with his Mittimus as the Justice doth the Fellon into the Custody and keeping of Satan that since he would not be ruled by the Law of Liberty and Life he should be made a slave unto sin and subject to death and that for ever to be kept in the Chains of darkness until the day of 〈◊〉 great Goal Delivery and the Declaration of the fierce wrath of God and this Durante bene placito during the pleasure of the Lord or until ye shal understand his Majesties pleasure to the 〈◊〉 For still you must remember That as in Courts and Course of Justice amongst men upon earth it is so in the Court of Heaven and the Proceedings of the Almighty the Malefactor is the Kngs prisoner The Jaylor is but the Keeper or under Officer betrusted with the Execution of Justice the Lord is the sole Commander of mens souls and of life and death unto which they are liable by reason of their sins This being the Commission the Lord put into the hands of Satan and sin for the present unless any Express appear to the contrary He is now pleased to signifie to the Prince of Darkness and to the Power of Hell and to those Damned Spirits by the Ministery of the Word in the mouths of his Servants and by the Hand and Almighty Operation of his Spirit Be it known 〈◊〉 you you Principalities of 〈◊〉 and spiritual wickednesses that take possession of and rule in the hearts of the Children of disobedience that upon the first hearing of this holy Word and Message dispensed by my faithful Servant as a warrant under my hand that it is my Royal Wil and Command That you forthwith let loose that poor 〈◊〉 who hath been long prisoner in the chains of Darkness For my Justice is fully answered and satisfaction fully accepted Fail not at your 〈◊〉 under 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 displeasure of the Almighty Dated at the Court of Mercy before all worlds published this present day and instant according to the counsel of mine own Will This puts the powers of Darkness the Devils and his Angels to deep Consultation what to do they see they have no warrant now to hold the sinner any longer and yet they have no wil to let him go They are 〈◊〉 loth to part with him and yet their power is gone whereby they have hitherto kept him For the strength of 〈◊〉 is the law 1 Cor. 15. 56. And this is to take away the Devils Armour Luke 11. 22. When Justice will deliver the sinner Satan hath no power to hold him As our Savior said to Pilate when 〈◊〉 said I have power to bind thee or to loose thee our Savior 〈◊〉 Thou hadst no power 〈◊〉 was given thee from above John 19. 11. So Satan hath no power but what is given from above according to the Edict of Gods revenging Justice and their just deservings Therefore now God the Father through the perfect Death and satisfaction 〈◊〉 the Lord Jesus hath yeilded the Edict of 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 and therefore the Devils cannot 〈◊〉 As it was said touching our Savior when he was in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was impossible he should be 〈◊〉 2 Acts 24. 〈◊〉 Gods Justice was answered to here When the Devils power is now gone and that Justice hath signified her pleasure That the Prisoner must be set loose they then begin to pretend the right they have and the claim they can make yet unto the Sinner Therefore Sin and 〈◊〉 seem 〈◊〉 plead their own Cause in way of Justice and that which cannot be gain-said as that the souls of such 〈◊〉 Creatures do appertain to them for besides saies Satan the Statute Law The soul that sins that soul must die The Evidence is cleer from their practice and experience Whether these be the seed of the Serpent because they express the nature of the serpent in their actions Is it not written John 8 44. You are of your Father the Devil for the lusts of your Father you will do These are they whose hearts if they were discerned whose carriages if they were traced and taken notice of would give in Evidence that the 〈◊〉 of the Serpent was in the one
sent him for this end would drive me out of my sins and send me to him for succour and relief that I may be sure to speed And I may be sure the Father who is so deeply offended wil never refuse him 〈◊〉 me if I come to him through his Christ. So we have done with the Explication of the Point Instruction We may hence by way of Collection inferr several things which are of much Consequence in our daily Course and yet al appertain to this place as to their proper residence where they have their first rife and therefore may most cleerly and rightly be here discussed and so discerned by those who will encline their ear and apply their heart unto wisdom Hence it follows by force of undeniable Consequence that this work of Attraction and so of preventing Grace proceeds from God as the only Cause thereof and depends wholly upon his 〈◊〉 pleasure and that he works in us without us We being destitute of al Ability which might help thereunto That which is done by a Holy kind of Violence against the natural inclination of the heart that must needs be done upon us but not by us we have no hand in that work and so it is here as hath been proved Let me ad Two or Three Reasons more besides the Evidence of the Rule from whence it is immediately deduced Here that Weapon comes first to hand which some of the Ancients have so often used in this Cause and its the Canon of the Apostle and that Staple Principle that cannot be gain-said Rom. 9. 16. It is not in him that willeth or in him that runneth but in God that shews Mercy Where al other helping Causes that may share in the Conversion and bringing home of the sinner are wholly denied cast out though they were Means of special improvment that if any thing might seem to further it they might have been of peculiar use and of a speeding nature It was not a sleepy careless slighting of the attainment of any spiritual good or a sloathful attendance upon it nor is it a kind of heartless and spiritless Affection to it that are here rejected nay though his will was there and the strength of endeavor yet both miss the mark The Apostle is Plain and peremptory Let him set Heart and Feet and Hand and Head on work he shal never do no good on it it is not there It s meerly only in him that shews Mercy It was wont to be Answered by the Pelagians that it is so said That it s not in him that Runs or Wills without Mercy pittying of him and Grace assisting of him he cannot do it without these let him do what he can yet he can do it with these The vanity of which Answer hath been long since discovered as that it crosseth and corrupteth the very meaning of the Apostle For then the meaning upon the self same grounds would here be thus As it is not in him that Wills and Runs without God assisting co-working so you might turn the tables It s not in God that shewes Mercy without him that Wills and Runs For if the words be not a plain peremptory denial but only comparatively to be taken It s not so much or not in his willing and running without Mercy prevailing and helping yet they concur as Causes in this work then may they as 〈◊〉 be taken the other way It s not in God that shews Mercy only and wholly but in him that wills and runs in part which is to destroy the text and to cross the intendment of the Spirit That Dispensation of God which gives ability and a Principle to the will for to work that act and dispensation must be before the ability of the will and act of it and so cannot be caused by it As if God put a soul into those dead dry bones in Ezek. 37. that they might live this putting in of the 〈◊〉 whence comes life is before and so without the work of the soul or life also and not at al caused by either But this Preparation and pulling away from sin is to make way for a spiritual ability to be given to the will for to work and therefore it is before the will and work and either of them as any cause So the Apostle John 1 Joh. 5. 20. He hath given us a mind to know him and his Christ. Not only drawn out this act of Knowledge but given a mind also to enable us hereunto 2 Cor. 3. 5. We 〈◊〉 no sufficiency as of our selves to think a good thought but all our sufficiency is of God Not only the thinking but the 〈◊〉 thereunto It s he that gives a 〈◊〉 of flesh and then causeth us to walk in his wayes Ezek. 36. 26 27. This is to be Observed against a wretched Shift and cursed Cavil of the Jesuits when they would pretended to give way to the Grace of God and yet in truth take away what they give And therefore they yeild freely and fully That it is God who gives both the will and the deed And Grace is required of necessity unto both and neither can be without it nor will nor deed But in truth this is nothing but a colour of words when the sense which they follow sounds quite contrary For ask but their meaning and when they have opened themselves al comes to thus much That the Lord hath a Concourse and a co-working in the Will and Deed and sends forth an influence into the act of the Will and of the work done and leads forth and guides both unto their end And this is no more than he doth with the act of any Creature the first cause concurring with the second For in him it is that we live and move and have our being As it is with Two men that draw a Boat or a Ship together each man hath a principle and power of his own whereby he draws but both these meet and concur and co-work together in the drawing So that al this that is said is but indeed to darken and delude the Truth yea and to destroy the work of Gods Grace and deceive the Reader For this gives no more to the work of Gods Grace in Conversion than it doth to the Act of Providence upon and with the act of any Creature reasonable Whereas this must be observed carefully and for ever maintained as the everlasting Truth of God That the Lord gives a power spiritual to the work which it had not before he Concurs with the act of that power when it is put forth he gives him a being in the 〈◊〉 of Grace before he leads out the act of that being He first lets in an influence of a powerful impression upon the Faculty of the Will before he Concurs with the Act 〈◊〉 Deed. He gives a heart of flesh and then causeth them to walk in his wayes As if one could put a Principle of life and motion into another and then
draw forth the act of that power to the performance of the work As to draw a Boat c. This comparison will 〈◊〉 the truth of the work As it is with the Sons of the first Adam in the work of their Generation naturally and the perverting and turning aside their souls from the Lord So it is with the Sons of the second Adam in their spiritual Regeneration and Conversion But in the 〈◊〉 the work is wrought in them without them so it is said 〈◊〉 Adam He begate a Son in his own image Gen. 5. 3. That the Son was begotten in point of natural Constitution and that he was in Adams Image his mind darkned his will perverted and the whole frame and disposition of the whole Man turned aside from God all which is wrought in the Child without any act on the Childs part So 〈◊〉 is with every one that is begotten unto God by a new Conversion There is an impression of Gods Spirit to turn them from 〈◊〉 unto God without any ability of their own further than it was given them by God and acted by his Spirit Jam. 1. 18. Of 〈◊〉 own will begat he us Joh. 1. 13. Born not of the will of blood nor of flesh nor of the will of man but of God Hence then it follows in the second Place That the Conversion of a sinner depends not upon 〈◊〉 is lastly resolved into the Liberty of mans Will which is the proper Opinion of the Arminians and somwhat more 〈◊〉 than the 〈◊〉 themselves wil own The sum of it and the full sense of it will appear in the Answer to this Question Suppose that all outward means have been used and improved by providence upon Two Persons indifferently in the same place enioying the same helps say Judas and Peter who were both trained up under the wing of Christ and received the droppings of his daily counsels alike their minds both so far enlightned and their Consciences convinced of the things of God and Grace that they see what the will of God is and what their way is to Happiness by Beleeving in Christ. Here grows the Question Why doth Peter receive Christ and Judas reject him Why the Answer and last Resolution of Arminians is here It was in the Liberty of their own Wills and Peter would close with Christ Judas would refuse him But the Orthodox Divines Answer out of the Word The Lord gives a heart of flesh to Peter and enables him which he denies unto Judas as he 〈◊〉 may and Judas hath justly deserved he should The wretchedness falseness of the former Opinion appears as from the former ground so also from these following Arguments If the Will of it self hath not the next Passive power to receive Grace and Christ then it is not in its Liberty to chuse or refuse But it hath not the next Passive power Rom. 8. 7. It is not subject to the law of God nay it cannot be subject to receive the Work therefore not Chuse the Work much less If it be in the Liberty of the Will either to Chuse or Refuse and that our Conversion is lastly resolved into that then it is in a mans own proper power and freedom to make himself to 〈◊〉 from another which the Apostle peremptorily and professedly denies 2 Cor. 4. 7. Who makes thee to differ And What hast thou that thou hast not received Why the Arminians will say It was my own Will that made me to differ the Liberty of my own Choice because I used and improved my freedom wel which another did not That which exalts the Will of man above the power and will of God and makes it the more principal Cause of our Conversion that is injurious to Gods Grace and opposite to his truth and the aim of his counsel which is to work al for the manifestation of the Glory of his free Grace But this Opinion doth so For it makes it in the power of mans will to frustrate and over-power al the Means which are provided and the operations of the Spirit upon the soul For for al these the soul may not be Converted But if this be put forth then the work is accomplished and brought to perfection without fail That in genere 〈◊〉 this in genere causae efficientis proprie sic dictae That is only to stir up power this alone puts forth the power by 〈◊〉 it is wrought This Delusion is exceedingly derogatory to the Glory of God deprives God of that Praise and Thanksgiving which is due unto his Name for upon this ground a Reprobate wretch who shal perish for ever in the bottomless pit stands as much bound to God for his Grace and Bounty as he that is saved For they were al equal in the Means provided in the operation of the Spirit and the offers tendered for good had the one the Ordinance the other had so to Had the one Priviledges Abilities the other shared equally herein Was the one enlightned perswaded so was the other That the one received Christ that was his Free Will he may thank himself for that and not God But the Saints when they come to acknowledge the Son of God at the meeting of al the Churches they do profess the contrary It was not their prayers their tears nor hearing 〈◊〉 resolutions 〈◊〉 performances for al these their guilt still remained the power of their Corruptions not removed It was not any ability or parts natural that could do it for they see the spawn of al sin in their hearts and had certainly had the strength of al distempers in their Lives that they are not in the dungeon with Witches upon the chain with Malefactors they cannot thank their good nature for it Nay it was not in al the means though spiritual and powerful the Ministers they shewed the way they set forth the glorious things of God and Grace but it was not that which did it but it was only in God that shewed mercy meerly only wholly out of the free mercy of the Lord. Hence Our conversion depends not upon nor issues not from the congruity of al such means or the 〈◊〉 suitableness of al such Circumstances which may help forward those forcible perswasions which the Lord doth present to the Soul and whereby he would so call the soul of a sinner to himself as that his call may certainly find success I conceive it meet to ad this Collection to the former partly because this is the proper place to which it ought to be referred and where it should be disputed and from the former Doctrine receives its Doom and Confutation The Brain of the Jesuites is the Womb that bare it and their Forgery gave it its first being a Brat of their Brain a Conceit which they Forged and Anvilled out of the Froth of their own imaginations For when they saw that it was a Conclusion absurd and unreasonable yea that which sounded harshly even to Common Sense to affirm 〈◊〉
in a diverie manner Their general Tenent is this They make this 〈◊〉 Distribution of the Work of Gods Grace in Conversion Auxilium est vel Sufficiens Efficax The Dispensation of the Work of Grace in the way of Conversion is either by way of Sufficiency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Either Sufficient or Effectual and Efficient 1 All men say they have sufficient help from God in the Dispensation of the wayes of his Providences and Ordinances that they may be Converted were it not their own fault they 〈◊〉 a power and a 〈◊〉 by the supply of this sufficient help from God to this end and for this work and yet though they may yet they do not attain success 2 But the Elect and such as the Lord hath set apart to himself have the Efficacy of this spiritual help from the Lord as that they shal be and in their times are actually Called and Converted unto God Against these Forgeries I desire this Fifth Collection may be attended Where ever there is Sufficiency of exciting and preventing Grace put forth by the Lord for the Drawing and Converting of the Sinner there is also the Efficacy of that Grace which never fails to attain success First We shal Open this Collection That 〈◊〉 ful meaning may fairly and plainly be apprehended Secondly We shal shew how it follows evidently from the former Doctrine as that the one cannot be granted but the other must needs be yeilded For the understanding of the Collection attend Three Things That this Exciting or Preventing Grace of God it is not any Habit or gracious Disposition imprinted upon the Soul wherby it was in power or possibility to act or not to act as it seems good and suits best with its own purpose For Example sake In those Actions wherein men are Causes by Counsel they have 〈◊〉 and power to put forth such an action or with-hold the doing of it as they see fit A man hath a power to go hither or thither to speak these or those words yet he may sit still and stop his motion he may be mute and silence his words But as we heard before It is the motion or actual impression of the work of the Spirit so that God is not purposing and decreeing within himself but putting his purpose into a powerful Execution and so comes under such words to be deciphered as Drawing Teaching Turning al which shew an actual Expression of Gods power and pleasure Sufficiency of any Cause or Causes is to be attended either absolutely in regard of the End at which they look and then that is absolutely sufficient which can attain his End without any other if any hinderances it can remove if any wants it can supply if any thing to be done it can procure it accomplish it 1 Cor. 12. 9. My Grace is sufficient for thee And thuse some Causes may be sufficient for the accomplishment of one Effect which are not for another Those Common stroaks of the Spirit in Illumination and Conviction and Moral 〈◊〉 in propounding Arguments to the hearts 〈◊〉 pressing on mightily by Evidence of Reason are sufficient to make people beyond 〈◊〉 Joh. 15. 〈◊〉 If I had not come and spoken to them they had 〈◊〉 no sin but now they have no Cloak for their 〈◊〉 Ezek. 3. 11. Whether they 〈◊〉 hear or whether they will for bear yet this they shall know there 〈◊〉 been a Prophet amongst them It s sufficient to Condemn them if not to Convert them But these 〈◊〉 not sufficient to 〈◊〉 the work of Conversion for there is more power required to that There is not only an enlightening of the understanding but 〈◊〉 opening of the heart 〈◊〉 3. 11. 〈◊〉 Baptize 〈◊〉 water but there is one that comes 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Holy Ghost and Fire There is Sufficiency upon Companison or Supposition upon this Ground or Supposal that we take in other Causes in their 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 work with others and this is very improperly and abusively said to be Sufficient This is the 〈◊〉 of the Popish Crew There is Sufficient Help vouch safed on Gods part unto 〈◊〉 for Salvation and Conversion if they would 〈◊〉 of the freedom of their own Wills use and improve them for the End that the Lord hath appointed them and doth now 〈◊〉 them if they wil give way and welcome 〈◊〉 the light which the Lord hath now 〈◊〉 and not reject the 〈◊〉 of God against 〈◊〉 which is in truth to say it is not sufficient to work their Wills and Hearts to this but it is sufficient to present and perswade the Heart if it will for they who make the Will of Man a partial Cause with God in this work 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 Will and Grace of God and his Spirit is not the sole and alone Cause and therefore not the Sufficient 〈◊〉 to do it As if Two men be partial Causes in drawing a Ship neither are sufficient to do it The like mistake is in that Expression Comparison in which the Fautors of this Opinion do so much please themselves Say they The Eye hath sufficient power to see but yet unless the Air be enlightened and the Object presented unto it it will never see or perceive it not put forth this power effectually upon the Object Answ. The mistake is meerly in the manner of the Expression misunderstood For Seeing implyes Two things in it 1 To act upon an Object when it is presented in a right distance and through a fit mean 2 To bring this Object in such a manner to the Eye That the Eye is sufficient to do the first and is also effectual that way the Eye is not sufficient to the second and therefore no wonder it doth not perform it Thus it is in the spiritual work Deut. 29. 4. Though they had seen many signs and wonders yet nothing was sufficient to work upon them and prevail with them effectually And it s added because that unto that day God had not given them an 〈◊〉 He had given them Wonders provided Ordinances crowned 〈◊〉 with Priviledges and these might happily 〈◊〉 and Condemn being sufficient for that but not to Convert unless he had given them an heart This is the ods our Savior gives of the Sufficiency and so the Efficacy of Gods Dispensarions Matt. 13. 11. 13. To them I speak in Parables that-seeing they may see and not perceive hearing they may hear and not understand But to you is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God He not only gives unto his Disciples a word but a mind to know Efficacious or Effectual Grace and Help is when the work formerly intended and purposed by the Lord is now really accomplished actually performed and put into Execution When the Soul 〈◊〉 turned and called according to his purpose Rom. 〈◊〉 28. So that the ful sense is Where ever there is 〈◊〉 absolute sufficiency of preventing and 〈◊〉 Grace there is an actual Efficacy in the accomplishment of that work upon the Soul And
When thy heart was Satans home and the power of darkness dwelt in it when he had levyed al his Forces he was strengthened and encouraged by al the advantages that might be he had the hold of the heart and entrenched himself in the stubbornness and invincible stiffness of my Will and that I was resolved to leave my life but never to leave my lusts nor renounce his temptations which I entertained as my delight and sided with al alurements and stood in open 〈◊〉 against the Holy One of Israel If Satan in his ful power could not keep his hold nor my heart but the Lord cast him out when he is Conquered and his Forces spoiled by the Lord Christ Shal he not for ever keep him out When I was under the power of Satan he then rescued me being now rescued from his rage and beyond his power shal he not preserve me He that destroyed the works of Satan when he was in his ful strength intrenched fortified in the unconquerable stiffness of his Will and took away his Armour being Disarmed Dispossessed and Conquered shal he ever be able to recover and set up his works again By no means The Third and Last USE of this Doctrine is of Exhortation First To the Converted Then To the Unconverted Here is somthing for both First the Converted are hereby to be provoked to follow the dealing of the Lord Here is a pattern to order their daily practice by Hath God doth God deal so with poor Creatures as to draw them from their sins to 〈◊〉 Christ Go thy wayes and do thou likewise Herein shew your selves Children of your heavenly Father be merciful as he is merciful And if in any case I take it Mercy is herein to be discerned ought to be practised and expressed As the Elect of God put on bowels of mercy Col. 4. 11. If you be the Elect of God shew it in this if ever you have received Mercy express it if ever God hath shewed favour to you shew the fruit thereof in shewing compassion to others put too the best of your endeavors even by a holy kind of violence to pluck away poor sinners from their sins unto the Lord. So David Psal. 51. 13. I will teach transgressors thy wayes and sinners shall be Converted unto thee I wil take no nay at their hands they are stubborn I was so they resist I did so they are unwilling to part with their sins I was so and yet the Lord hath done me good and overcome al my evil with goodness when I was in my blood when I lay weltring in the guilt and filth of my sins when I said I would have my sins and I would die and was resolved to destroy my self then he said unto me Live poor Creature Live You cannot get your heart away from your Corruptions the Lord wil do it for you nay he can do it for you without you If he wil put forth the same power upon your soul as he hath done upon my soul you shal be drawn from your sins to Jesus Christ. In a word 1 Do what you can your self 2 Help them with supply from others First do what you can your self let every man in his own particular set upon al such loving Means as are in your power Compassionately and Couragiously to draw sinners from their sins to Christ Heb. 3. 13. Exhort one another daily lest any be bardened through the deceitfulness of sin 1 Thess. 5. 14. Now we exhort you Brethren warn them that are unruly comfort the feeble minded support the weak be patient towards all men As who should say Lay about you to do al the good you can he makes a Christian man to be as busie as a Bee that he should go no whither but should seek and find occasion of doing good to one or other you wil meet with some that are unruly warn them and instruct them and some that are weak labor to strengthen them some that are feeble minded and discouraged Christians labor to quicken and encourage them Let not those thoughts be found once in thy heart Am I my Brothers keeper Yes thou art or else thou art his murtherer wilt thou defend his house from a thief his body from 〈◊〉 nay wouldest thou ease and raise his Ass from falling and return his Ox from straying and wilt thou not do much more for his Soul Therefore take al opportunities that are offered and seek what is no offered and improve what you have to the 〈◊〉 Jude 23. And others save with fear plucking them out of the fire If thy neighbors Ox were in the pit or himself in the fire thou wouldest break 〈◊〉 the door and not strain Complements much more when his soul is fallen into his distempers as into a deep ditch his soul is 〈◊〉 on fire from Hell 〈◊〉 away the Drunkard from his Cups and hale the Covetous man from the world and those whom you see to be 〈◊〉 by any special Corruption do 〈◊〉 you can to rescue them from the snare of the Devil and double thy forces lay battery against the heart to it again and take better hold it may be he sees his evil and acknowledgeth his sin and yet returns to it again return thou to thy prayers and tears an 〈◊〉 if he forget thy Counsels Counsel him again admonish again besiege him lie at him when thou meetest him in the way walkest in the field 〈◊〉 at the table leave some remembrance upon 〈◊〉 of those you converse withal say and do som thing that may help to draw their souls from their sins to Christ. God hath dealt so with thee therefore deal thou so with others Succour them also by all other Means 〈◊〉 thou according to thy power and place to 〈◊〉 them under the means of Grace As they said one 〈◊〉 another Isa. 2. 3. Come let us go up to the house 〈◊〉 the Lord he will teach us of his wayes And as 〈◊〉 good man Cornelius when Peter was to come 〈◊〉 Preach the Gospel to him Acts 10. 24. he Calls 〈◊〉 his friends and kindred together that the Lord 〈◊〉 work upon them and sayes he We are all here ready to hear what the Lord hath commanded thee This especially belongs to al such as have power and authority over others as Magistrates may compel the Subjects the Master may compel his Servants and the Father his Children to use the Means for they can go no farther than a moral violence and to be under those Ordinances which they in their own Consciences are convinced of to be the Means of Conversion and Salvation And look as they did when our Savior Christ came to any place they brought the blind and the deaf and dumb and those that were possessed of Devils and laid them down before him and intreated him to Cure them Mar. 2. 4. So if thou hast a stubborn Servant or a Rebellious Child al the Means thou hast used can do no good upon him bring
many prayers promises resolutions continues still yet it may be otherwise saies Hope this holds up the head from sinking the heart from failing But despair takes away this you have tried used the means expected help but you see it comes to nothing nay there is no hope it will ever be set your heart at rest it will never be This stops all the passages that there is no hope for any good or comfort to accrue to the soul. This is the Instrument of death whereby the Enemy at once makes an end of the very life of our comfort The hope of Salvation is made the Helmet of a Christian so the Apostle 1 Thes. 5. 8. Put on the Breast-plate of Faith and Love and for an Helmet the Hope of Salvation Well-grounded evidence and assurance of Gods Love in Christ is as it were the head and the highest top of a Christians comfort hope is the Helmet for when our sence and feeling experiences and performances yea our hearts fail in regard of any present sweet or refreshing we have yet hope saies it may be it will be better hereafter and this holds the aking head of a Christian The Devil who ever fights at the head labors to shake our assurance and comfort and if he can dash a mans hopes by despair he kils him dead in the head there is no help nor recovery to be looked for know this and be wary and wise for after times 2. As it dams up the way and stops the passage that there is no possibility of any good to come so it deads all a mans endeavors takes off the edg of a mans abilities puts all out of joynt and off the hooks that there is no striving after a good when there is no hope to attain it All men that are carried by counsel if not fools or mad-men they ever have an end in their eye at which they look and for which they labor this is the white they shoot at the price they run for for this they devise and contrive means and use what they have attained improve what they take in hand in hope the end they have attended may be brought about Now where there is no hope which 〈◊〉 casts off there is no good to be expected therefore no possibility to attain our end therefore no reason to attend our labor in that behalf Why should I se k saies the despairing man when I have no hope to find Why should I spend my labor in praying hearing reading improving any Ordinance when there is no possibility I should speed that ever God should help or hear or bless as good sit still as rise and fall So Cain when he had laid that desperate conclusion My sin is greater than can be forgiven he flies into the Land of Nod drowns himself in sensual delights but forsakes the Lord. The Hope of Good is the Load-stone of a mans labor it carries on our course with speed and resolution So they in Jonah 3. 9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not Therefore do these two things Let not Satan make conclusions from our weaknesses nor do thou listen to them nor beleeve them if he should make them We should be wary not to suffer our selves to be deluded by his false collections Thy Conscience saies thy corruptions are strong and many and of long continuance therefore there is no hopes saies Satan Temptations are violent and subtil saies thy experience thou feelest them so therefore there is no expectation of relief or abatement saies Satan the inference is unreasonable and grosly false the sins of Manassah Paul these Converts in the Text were such and yet such received the work of Grace and Mercy also therefore listen not to him who is the father of lyes Look not to the power of means we do enjoy the abilities we have the performances we take up for we shall find them all broken staves and bruised 〈◊〉 they will not only break under us but pierce us 〈◊〉 they will fail us and our hearts also there is no sufficiency for our succors and therefore no sound ground of Hope But we should keep our eye constantly and continually upon the sufficiency of Gods saving health and incomprehensible power Who is able to do abundantly above all that we can ask or think Eph. 3. 20. Do you not see saies the Enemy the means do not work your prayers do not profit the abilities you have and the endeavors you take up serve rather to encrease your sin than to help you they nor you are able to subdue the least sin to gain the least assurance not able to procure the least peace True be it so Yet God is able Thus our Savior to his Disciples dismayed with the difficulty of the work Lord say they who then can be saved he answers With man it is impossible but not with God for with God all things are possible Matth. 19. 26. It 's not possible saies Satan so many waies have been tryed so many means used and yet all is in vain Ay but saies Christ though with man and means it is impossible yet with God it is possible Psal. 73. 26. My 〈◊〉 fails and my heart fails but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever So much for that Point We are come now to enquire the Particulars expressed in the Description and here also presented to our view And first touching the sight of sin whereby the sinner is made rightly apprehensive of his own corruption and his condition by reason thereof The Point thence is this There must be a true sight of sin before the heart can be truly broken for it A right apprehension goes before through Contrition The Judgment must be rightly enlightened to see the nature of our sins before the heart can be pierced with that sence and sorrow that is meet This is Gods way which he takes in whose hand it is only to do this work Job 36. 8. to 11. When sinners come to be bound in fetters and holden in cords of affliction then he sheweth them their work and their transgressions wherein they have exceeded and then bows their ear to Discipline and commands them to turn from iniquity So repenting Ephraim prosesseth it was the course the Lord took with him After I was instructed I repented Jer. 31. 19. That which the eye sees not the heart rues not that which is not apprehended by the understanding is not affected by the will so in 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. when 〈◊〉 word comes home in power and plainness so that the thoughts of his heart come to be discovered he falls down and saies God is in you of a Truth The want of this was the reason why the Woman of Samaria manifested such sawcy impudency and peremptory boldness in her conference with our Savior though she could not be ignorant that those abominable loose haunts of hers would call to
Heaven for revenge but when our Savior laid his hand upon the sore and let the light shine in her face and points at the vileness of her practice Thou hast had five Husbands but he whom thou now hast is not thy Husband she then becomes sensible of his soveraign wisdom and her own wretchedness John 4. 18 19 20. So it was with Paul when the Lord met him going to Damascus persecuting the Saints he saw not the sinfulness of his course and therefore was senceless of it Saul Saul saies Christ why persecutest thou me Then he answers Who art thou Lord Jesus said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks when he understood the evil of his way then he stood trembling and astonished saying Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. 5 6. Before the Corinthians were made conscious of their own carelesness neither pitying the soul of the incestuous Corinthian nor yet seeking to reform his sin they gloried over him and prided themselves in their own conceited excellency but when the Apostle had discovered their miscarriage and failings what sorrow and care did it work in them and what serious endeavor to reform the guilty party The Doctrine is true we shall endeavor to make it plain and therefore we shall open several particulars the right conceiving whereof will be as a key to unlock the Treasury of this Truth that each man may take what will serve his turn Enquire therefore we will By what means and after what manner God works this sight of Sin How far the sinner may be said to be active in it Wherein this true sight and apprehension properly consists and so discovers it self The Reason of this Truth and the Lords Order in this proceeding And then we shall make Application of it By what means or after what manner the Lord works this sight of Sin To which I shall Answer in four Conclusions Or the Answer unto which Inquiry will be expressed in four Particulars The Righteous Law of God as it is the Rule of our Lives so it is the Discoverer of our Sins and swervings therefrom and by the light thereof together with that little light of common Principles of Piety and Love left upon our Consciences we come to have our corruption made known to us Rom. 3. 20. By the Law is the knowledg of sin insomuch that Paul a learned Pharisee one that profited in the Jews Religion more than his equals he was yet at a loss in discerning and judging of the turnings and distempers of his heart before he takes the light and lamp of the Law So himself professeth Rom. 7. 7. I had not known that lust had been a sin those first stirrings of the Body of death and secret lingrings and inclinations to that which is cross to the wil of God though there be no consent given to them no delight taken in them but that the Law said thou shalt not lust the Sentence of the Law set down his Judgment and therefore the Apostle James compares it to a perfect and curious Looking-glass wherein each man may see the least blemishes or motes if he will present himself before it James 1. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect Law of Liberty and continueth therein will lay his mind and heart and life level to the Law of God and hold his heart and apprehensions to the righteous Judgment and Sentence thereof it will plainly discover the smallest imperfections the least stirrings of the most hidden distempers that arise so Rom. 2. 14. the Heathens with the twi-light or Star-light of the remainders of the Law written in their heart past Sentence against themselves touching the sinfulness of their course But this is not all nor yet enough to make us to attain a right sight of our Sins unless the Lord put a new Light into our minds within as we have the Light of the Law and Counsel of God shining without unto us otherwise the Law may be and wil be a clasped Book and a dead Letter we shall see little in it or receive little from it So Paul Rom. 7. 9. I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came sin revived Without the Law how could that be since he was an Hebrew of the Hebrews of the Tribe of Benjamin trained up at the feet of Gamaliel a Doctor of the Law prosessed it and practised it according to the most exact Sect of the Pharisees as he speaks But the meaning is that he was without the power of it and the spiritual life and lively efficacy of the Law It was a dead and a killing Letter Look what the sence of the words or some evidence of Reason or Arguments could hold out to a Natural Understanding the bark and shell and outside of such directions he took and entertained But the Spiritualness of the Law For the Law is Spiritual saies Paul and that spiritual and lively power of Conviction and Direction it puts forth upon the souls of the Saints who are subject to it and therefore indeed receive the work of it This Paul once in the time of his unregeneracy was destitute of and then he was alive that is in his own overweening and self-deluded conceit he concluded himself to be a living Christian to have the power and truth of Grace and to live the life of it So that it 's possible nay it 's ordinary and nothing more usual than for men to be without the Law when they have the Law to be without the Life of it while they have the Letter of it to be without the Law as a Soveraign Rule to their Lives while they take upon them the profession of it to be without the Spiritualness of the Law and so to miss the end of it that is closing with God as our last end and chief good which is the sap the pith and substance of the Law though they have the appearance of the practice of it And if they miss the end of the Law at which it aims and unto which it tends they must needs fall short of the Wisdom and Counsel and Spiritual efficacy of the Law which should direct them So in 2 Chron. 19. 3. Now for a long time Israel had been without the true God that is his true Worship that would bring them to him and that is the meaning of that Phrase Ephes. 2. 12. Without God in the World that is without the true Worship of God so that they who want the true Worship of God are without God So they who have the manner of the true Worship and want both Spirit and Truth in which God will be worshiped they have the Appearance but want the Spirit and Truth of the true manner they have So of the rest Thus it is with thousands in the Church which hear and know and have the Letter of the Law and yet are indeed without the Power and Spirit and therefore
the Head of the Second Covenant when he comes to 〈◊〉 a holy seed and call home his Sons to himself he will then make the old man fall And this the Lord Jesus forceth the Understanding to submit unto and this is easily yielded on all hands for it 's commonly confessed by Phylosophers and Divines that there is a constraining force in the undeniable evidence of Argument 〈◊〉 on by the Spirit that the Judgment is necessitated to fall under and yet hereby no liberty is prejudiced for that is in the will Thus Pauls Commission runs Acts 26. 18. To open their Eyes to turn them from darkness to light from the power of Satan to God What is the opening of the eyes distinct from that which follows it may be 〈◊〉 that common enlightening in the History Matter and Truth of the Scripture wherein the understanding must in reason be informed and themselves also yield a full assenr and so far be perswaded of the Truth and Goodness of the Doctrine of the Gospel for it 's opposite to all the Rules of Reason and Providence that persons should step from prophaness in the depth of it unto the height of Christian Piety and Holiness but there must be a passing through the common Truths that are in the way and rode to come to that end First a man must know there was a Christ and who he was and what he did and wherein that Redemption of his is recorded in the Scriptures and of what value and infallibility they be Then we come to see our former follies and delusions in which we were drown'd and so to be turned from darkness that we cast away the former forgeries of our carnal reasonings where note that Paul turns them not they themselves that it 's from darkness they were nothing but darkness and darkness could not nor would not turn from it self therefore from a more Soveraign light in Christ that darkness must be removed In all which the soul behaves it self meerly passively and is wrought upon and that by an over-ruling power The second Operation mentioned follows without fail and by force of constraining Reason the Soveraignty of darkness being removed there is room made for the ready Spirit of light of the guidance of the Spirit of Christ as the Head of the Covenant who begins to set up his Throne where Satan had his hold and this is like the Sun-rising whose beams spread themselves from one end of the Heavens to the other and nothing is hid from the light thereof So there is not the most secret corner or crevis of our corrupt hearts and consciences but the beauty and shine of the 〈◊〉 of this light will discover it and this seems to me to be called the Spirit of the ' Mind as that which best 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the intendment of the Spirit in the place for it is the meer impression of the Spirit falling upon the 〈◊〉 now turned from darkness Eph. 4. 23. where the Apostle describing the two parts of Sanctification Mortification verse 22. Put off the old man in reason it should have followed immediately and put on the new man he inserts this by the way and be renewed in the spirit of your mind in the passive form and then put on the new man q d. This renewing is another work and is to be referred to another place and it answers none so fitly and fully as this place and the word also suits it beyond imagination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a comparison taken from Earth turned a new and another way So should the act of the understanding be turned afresh and lie constantly under the light and guidance of the Spirit and here we are passive meerly That which is meerly the act and impression of the 〈◊〉 to the entertainment of the mind is meerly passive but this is the meer act and impression of the Spirit as the beams of the Sun dispersing themselves into the Air. Again that which is wholly darkness that cannot be active or causal of any Spiritual light but the mind naturally is meer darkness Eph. 5. 8. This light so received the vnderstanding being overpowred with it and acted by it acts also in the vertue thereof and so the sinner may be sayd 〈◊〉 to see and understand for he doth so but in a right order and after a right manner conceived In a right order for as before of himself he had an Impotency unto this yea an incapability of this spiritual light before he was forced from the holds of his carnal reason and made sit to receive it In a right manner The vnderstanding being acted and moved by the power of this light doth move again so that the action 〈◊〉 not so much from any habitual principle of grace whereof a man hath the free use and command at his own pleasure and so doth act or not act by it as he will for so experience tells us it is not The sinner at first would not see his sinnes were it in his power and might he have his own mind he would have the ghastly visage of them gone out of his sight Nay he useth al the wayes and contrives all the means he can that he might put them out of his thoughts that they might not come into his consideration or remembrance It 's against the heart and hair utterly against his will that he cannot get off it which argues that he acts not so much here as a cause by Counsel out of his own choyce and habitual disposition whereof he hath the command but meerly as he is acted and after when the spirit withdraws he cannot so see them though he would as that phrase Gal. 4. 9. After ye have known God or rather are known of God It 's not so much from our own ability we have from within that we do it but because he looked upon us we look back again upon him As a looking Glass reflects the light not from any light it hath of it's own but because the light of the Sun fals upon it so that it 's true to say the light is reflected by it rather than it reflects the light For because the light 〈◊〉 reflect 〈◊〉 it comes to be reflected So Job Complayned Job 13. 26. Thou makest me to possess the sins of my Youth So David Psal. 77. 4. Thou keepest mine eyes waking Wherein this true sight and apprehension of sin properly discovers it self I Answer A true sight of sin hath two Conditions attending upon it or it appears in two things We must see sin 1. Cleerly 2. Convictingly what it is in it self and what it is to us not in the appearance and paint of it but in the power of it not to fadam it in the notion and conceit only but to see it with Application We must see it cleerly in its own Nature its Native color and proper hue It 's not every slight conceit not every general and cursorie consused thought or careless consideration that will serve the
in his dayly course there is nothing but his dayly rebellions and his confusion dayly before his face and the truth is the more terrible because he hath withstood 〈◊〉 so long That as it fares with the prisoner that had the freedom of the prison while he carried himself fairly but because he hath been taken in some false pranks and plotting an escape he is now laid in the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 now never like to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 day or look for any breathing So here my estate is more miserable because I have opposed the means that might have procured my help the checks of Conscience I have smothered or slighted many warnings I have had but willingly forgot them many sad reproofs that laid hold 〈◊〉 me but I studied how to wrest away my thoughts it 's just with God to load me with Curses which would never look for comfort from God in a right way 〈◊〉 ever there was a 〈◊〉 I am he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ever God 〈◊〉 a Rebel he wil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly This Conviction is victorious and invincible It doth not only stop the mouth of carnal Reason and the cavils thereof but also displaceth it It not only stills the 〈◊〉 and pretences of the sinner but makes the mind and heart give attendance to the Truth to be subject thereunto and to take the impression thereof For otherwise the sinner thus tyred and dauled by the dayly laying at of the Truth may either happily lie still though not cavil with it yet not give attendance to it But in a stupid kind of fortish sencelesness wear out the blow and so wast away to nothing as many out of sorrow have become like senceless blocks Though their practice hath not been evil yet they have had no heart to good or else they fall to desperate prophaneness or professed opposition when they cannot escape the prison they 'l break the prison and lay violent hands upon the Keeper Rom. 1. 18. They hold down the Truth in unrighteouness they imprison the Truth while the Truth should imprison them therefore when the Lord will settle an over-powring Conviction he makes it victorious Therefore he is said Job 36. 9 10. When he shews them their transgressions he commands that they return from iniquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 break out and over bear and force the mind and heart to give attendance and take the impression of it as when the Conqueror and he that 〈◊〉 got the Victory comes in place all give attendance unto his 〈◊〉 The want of the maintaining this 〈◊〉 power of a Conviction I take to be the cause why many even of Gods own are so 〈◊〉 taken aside after althe helps they do enjoy and the resolutions they take up I have often wondred when a man hath be 〈◊〉 with much bitterness in daies of humiliation such and such evils begged for grace and help and resolved against them they know and 〈◊〉 it 's in 〈◊〉 to cavil or think to make an escape 〈◊〉 they reject such a 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aside and that strangely and 〈◊〉 they fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with their old corruptions They do not put this Conviction into commission they do not make it victorious or maintain it so or the Authority thereof so as to force attendance When the 〈◊〉 is good and 〈◊〉 Mill tight why goes it not There is not so much Water kept as to drive it because they have let out the stream and strength another way therefore there is not so much power in a conviction as to force attendance and to drive the heart to obedience Therefore as Paul said to Timothy 1. Tim. 4. 15 16. Meditate upon these things and continue in them or be in these things So you must be in a Conviction and continue under it if you would find it victorious and then it wil be so first or last and wil eat out al opposition though with much ado As it is with Aqua fortis if laid upon Iron though it do not at once and suddenly yet secretly and insensibly it wil eat the Iron in pieces So it is with a Truth which God wil make victorious it will lie upon the Spirit of a man and eat there and work there and break out effectually it may be many yeers after Job 33. 16. this is called the sealing of 〈◊〉 Instruction which is to add Authority and Soveraignty to it as when the Edict was sealed by the intreaty of Haman there was no opposing no gainsaying of it The Reasons of the Point which was the fourth Particular attended in the Explication come now to be considered And these are two The first is taken from 〈◊〉 order which the Lord in the way of his providence and work of nature hath placed betwixt the mind and the 〈◊〉 the understanding and wil of man these two faculties have a near kind of correspondencie the one to help forward the work of the other Knowledg and understanding is the inlet into the soul nothing comes to the heart nor 〈◊〉 work upon it but so far as knowledg makes way c ushers it in as it were into the presence of the wil and leaves an impression thereof upon it 〈◊〉 use to say that which the eye sees not 〈◊〉 heart rues not that which the understanding conceives not the wil is not nay cannot be affected with if Good to embrace it if evil to be 〈◊〉 and troubled therewith It s the method 〈◊〉 observed in Gods dispensation towards him when his heart was brought to a hatred against the evil of his waies Psal. 119. 107. By thy Commandements have I got understanding therefore I hate every false way Unless a right understanding go before a through hatred wil not follow after As it is in the body unless the stomach receive and hold and convey also the purgation either to the spleen or lower parts of the body be the receit never so strong yet wil it never stir the humor or trouble nature though the distemper were abundant dangerous Because in an ordinary course of providence there is no way 〈◊〉 come to the humor but by this means It s so in the soul be the truths delivered attended with never so much terror and power able to sink the heart of a sinful Creature as not able to endure the dread of it if yet the understanding conceives not the nature of such truths nor convey and settle them sadly and Convictingly upon the heart it s not at all stirred in the least measure therewith much less troubled with the danger discovered therein because they cannot reach the heart therefore can never work upon it As through ignorance we commit sin because we see not the evil in it so after commission we sorrow not because we apprehend not the 〈◊〉 and danger Acts. 3. 17. I know that through ignorance you did it as did also your Fathers 1. Cor. 2. 8. For had they known it they would never have crucified the Lord of life It fares
so much money wert thou punished in thy purse for such wretchlessness they would cause thee to set thy mind and heart and hand to thy work the loss of thy life and soul and Heaven and God and al would prevail more with thee but in truth thou never yet knewest what the loss of these meant and therefore not what thy sin is that brings the loss of all Thus much for the sight of sin 〈◊〉 come we now to enquire of the second AND HERE MAKE WE PRVIY SEARCH WHO THEY BE THAT SEE SIN CONVICTINGLY by the Evidence of the former Doctrine and that will be an Inditement against four sorts of Persons whose Practices give in undeniable proof that they fal short of this Dispensation of God aright they never found this Work upon their minds The first are such Who are unwilling to come within the Rule and discovery of the Truth that will lay open a mans loathsom corruptions which are yet beloved and lodg too neer the heart If he might have his wil he would not meet with that Truth that would meet with his Courses whereby he gives his sensual Spirit exceeding great content unwilling to hear that to be an evil which he is unwilling to reform loth that such and such either dispositions or carriages should be condemned as wicked which he is loth to part withal he loves not to have this or that to be a Rule or a Duty and yet he fears it wil prove so and therefore desires not to hear of it lest he should be forced to practice it and therefore he is most at case when he is least within the sight and cal and command of such Truths which he knows do so narrowly and deeply concern him and therefore he deals in this case with the Dispensations of the Word as men use to do that are in debt and danger of Law and Creditors they fly the Country when they know the under Sheriff hath any Writ out against them or else betake themselves to some Priviledg places where they may be freed from the Arrest of the Officer So these labor to be there where the Truth in reason is not likely to exercise any jurisdiction they willingly desire to be without the reach of it and therefore willing to live in such places under such Ministries where their Consciences may not be troubled their hearts and waies searched and they brought to yield subjection by an over powering hand And here somtimes it comes to this and that by the confession of their own mouths when God hath broke in upon their hearts that they have been afraid to be in the company of such men that they suspected would either convince and cal to such practices or yet to come to the Congregations while such Truths were in scanning and consideration Or as a Formal Knight once professed in the Country from whence we came he would not come to the Assembly until the Minister had made an end of such a Text. Thus 〈◊〉 Spirit was carried towards Micaiah when al his Trencher Chaplains the false Prophets had dressed a Dish on purpose to fit his tooth and turn had brought in a Verdict that they knew would please his humor and content his carnal desire Jehosaphat in simplicity of heart that he might indeed in sincerity seek after the mind and counsel of God enquires Is there here any Prophet of the Lord that we might enquire of him He answered There is none but one Micaiah and I hate him for he never prophesieth good but evil to me 1 Kings 22. 8. He did not suit his humor nor please his pallat therefore he was not willing to hear that from him that happily he should be unwilling to do So they in Isaiahs time they would give the Prophet his Text and tel him what Points he should handle also They said to the Seers see not and to the Prophets 〈◊〉 not right things prophesie smooth things Isai. 〈◊〉 10. And so dealt those 〈◊〉 hearted 〈◊〉 with our Savior when he pressed Spiritual and searching Truths upon them they were not able to digest them this is a hard saying who can hear it and from that time saies the Text many of his Visciples went back and walked no more with him John 6. 66. and hence it is persons of this temper are most pleased when their sins or duties are discovered in some general discourses because they then suppose they may creep away in the croud and their particular either conditions or corruptions will not be attached and they and them brought to the tryal but when it comes to meet with him in the narrow and touch him in his particular these persons begin to storm Acts 7. 51. 52. they heard Stephen quietly rip up the rebellious carriages os the Jews but when he came home to their doors and held the Candle to their Eyes and gave in special Evidence to convince them also they were not able to endure it Yestiff-necked and hard-hearted as your Fathers so do ye they were Slayers of the Prophets and you the betrayers and murderers of the just one when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and gnashed upon him with their Teeth c. If yet the Truth will come in upon them and the light wil shine in their saces that it cannot be avoided if they cannot prevent the seeing of it then they fall to gainsaying they strive mightily to stop the passage of the Truth and to darken the evidence of it to take off the edg and force of that which they conceive wil fal most heavily upon them and constrain them to alter their course and lay down those distempers they are very loth to leave Acts 18. 6. They opposed themselves They deal with the Truth as subtil Lawyers do with a good Cause when the strength of it is such that they are not able to withstand they labor to hide the Point of the Argument and to hide that wherein the stress of the Cause lies and fal hotly upon some bye business or else deal most in those things which are most probable but indeed do not touch the Point So a Spirit that is not willing to be convinced he wil endeavor to decline the strength of an Argument and look least to that where the stress and the weight of the Rule or Duty lies that most concerns him or his course when he sees the stream and force of Reason coming in upon him he wil hinder or interrupt the delivery of it and turn it another way or raise some blinds and cast in some cavils like the putting out of the light or if not hinder the observation yet take off the attendance and consideration of it he wil get off from that as soon as may be he will not stay there where the strength of the conviction lies but foist in many Objections start other Considerations that so he may lose the Argument and himself lose the power of the Truth that might prevail
man cares 〈◊〉 he laies it and can easily find it and that in the dark So it is when thou lookest at the Commands the Lord gives and the duties he requires as matters of no great consequence and therefore bestowest not thy thoughts or remembrance about them see how the prophet argues from this ground Jer. 2. 32. Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire yet my 〈◊〉 have forgotten me daies 〈◊〉 number so where their esteem is their memories are also It 's certain it 's a base 〈◊〉 heart of the duties which are in daily practice and the discharge of his place which ought to be his daily wear A man should put on Christ his holiness meekness c. and 〈◊〉 themselves with a quiet and modest and peacable spirit yet these are not in his way nor his thoughts It 's certain thou carest not so much for Gods command as a frothy headed maid doth for a clout Weigh then but in serious consideration the wretchedness of thy pretence shouldest thou hear a servant or a child excuse their idleness or disobedience to Master or Father on this manner I hope you wil excuse my neglect and pardon 〈◊〉 disobedience because I do not love your person 〈◊〉 or esteem your place or command were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aggravate the evil no way to excuse it Such is the silliness of this shift of thine when thou wouldest make thy forgetfulness to lessen thy fault Because thou doest not love the Lord nor reverence his holy law this encreaseth the evil exceedingly It argues a sensual sottish Atheistcal disposition of heart tolive without God and 〈◊〉 in our course 〈◊〉 to put off the apprehensions of Christians and men these are joyned together Ezek. 23. 35. Thou hast forgotten me and cast me behind thy back to live an outlaw upon earth when we attend not mind not a law by which wee live Thy duty is plain which is required the sin evident that is forbidden thou neglectest the one and committest the other and this is the balsom that heals and helps al I did not once think of it It was wholly out of thy mind I did quite forget it why then forget thou art a Christian nay a man forget there is a God that there is a Heaven to reward 〈◊〉 a Hell to Torment thee forget thou hast a soul to be saved or sins to be pardoned or avoyded until thou feelest the plagues of them which thou 〈◊〉 never be able to forget nor yet to bear Another Shift which keeps off the edg and power of a Conviction Is the deadly and destroying hazards they expect and great extremities which they fear will 〈◊〉 befal if they should not dispense with some sins in such cases Hence it is their Arguments come on armed with such unanswerable Interrogations in their apprehensions Why what would you have us do You little know the desperate streights unto which we are driven were you but in our places we are perswaded you would not only pity us in what we have done but would do the same things Alas would you have us begger our selves undo our families destroy our Liberties and Comforts yea hazard nay lose our lives herein we hope the Lord wil allow us some dispensation or connivance Thus they with one 〈◊〉 consent not only desired but took it for granted they should also obtain their desire which to them appeared so reasonable Luke 14. 18. 〈◊〉 Guests began to excuse themselves One hath hired a Farm and he must go and see it Another a yoke of Oxen and he must try them and therefore I pray you have me excused Another hath married a Wife and he cannot come and 〈◊〉 desires he may be excused q. d. We conceive the case so equal and reasonable we suppose we need not speak our selves you wil plead our excuse which indeed pleads for it self should not a man preserve his state and therefore in a way of providence go visit his Farm should he not attend his Calling if he be called to follow the Plow why should he not follow it For Answer I shal shortly leave two or three Scriptures with thee Is it not one Command of the Gospel That they that will 〈◊〉 godly in Christ must suffer persecution and through many Tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 2 Tim. 3. 12. He that will save his 〈◊〉 shall lose it Matth. 16. 25. He that loves 〈◊〉 or Mother more than me is not worthy of me Matth. 10. 37. If thou art so far from yielding obedience to the Gospel as to refuse the terms of it canst thou be excused To fear man more than God to preser thine own ease more than his Honor canst thou be excusable To attend the Comforts of this world with the loss of the peace of thy Conscience to look after the preservation of thy life and neglect the Salvation of thy soul nor God nor man nor Angels nor Devils nor 〈◊〉 own Conscience will excuse thee The Seventh Shift and forgery whereby our Carnal Reason would 〈◊〉 and defeat the power of the Truth and lessen the loathsomness of sin is that which seems to them so reasonable even to common sence as that it admits no denial and it 's taken from THE HOLINESS AND SPIRITUALNESS OF THE LAW unto which they are bound and that overbearing strength of the body of sin and original corruption 〈◊〉 they are wholly disenabled to the performance thereof so that there is not only a difficulty but even an impossibility to corrupt Nature and to men in their Natural condition to answer the exactness thereof doth not the Text say 〈◊〉 such cannot cease from sin 2. Pet. 2. 14. That which is 〈◊〉 of the flesh and comes from it is flesh John 3. 8 9. Are not the words plain That the Prince of the Air rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience and that he takes them captive at his will 2 Tim. 2. last Nay if the holy Apostle who had the Spirit of Grace yet found his distempers bear up so hard and make head against him that they soiled him and put him to the worse and forced him to cry out as under captivity and thraldom I see another Law in my members carrying me captive Oh wretched man who shall deliver me Rom. 7. If he that had received the power of Grace against his sin was yet so overborn what can they be able to do that are yet in their natural condition and have nothing but sin as al the Sons of Adam are since the Fall That as 〈◊〉 in a storm are forced by the rage of winds and weather to go whither they wil carry them not whither they should men pity them for what they suffer do not 〈◊〉 them for what they cannot do So it is with the strength of distempers which like a mighty stream carry us uncontroulably to the commission of evil and it 's impossible for us to prevail against
alas what can Nature do in such a case if God wil not help Is it equal that men be put upon impossibilities or that they should be punished for that which cannot be avoided It 's not in man to direct his own waies to subdue his own sins we are nothing else but a lump of corruption the Lord knows we do what we can and we hope we shal not be condemned for what we cannot do I Answer The Lord knows and thy Conscience knows and the world knows thou speakest a horrible fal ehood or to use the Phrase of Scripture Thou lyest and speakest not the Truth More particularly I answer Four things Thou doest not what thou mayest and canst do 〈◊〉 Lord hath left in thee the remainder of many natural abilities hath lent thee the help of many common 〈◊〉 and Graces which by Art and Education have grown to some ripeness and thou hast found the strokes of his Spirit partly restraining of thee from evil and constraining of thee to good and thou neither hast nor dost put forth actions and endeavors answerable in any measure It was said of them it 's as true of thee Rom. 1. 21. When they knew God they 〈◊〉 him not as God The unprofitable Servant was not condemned so much because he had no Talent but that when he had received a Talent he idled away his time and Talent hid it in a napkin he traded not gained not consequently Matth. 25. 25. This is thy condition thou art in his rank thy sin the same and thy sentence wil be the same thou hast 〈◊〉 one but many Talents hath not the Lord given thee a mind to conceive and a memory to retain things why canst not thou lay out these for the Lord and his Truth as wel as to lavish out both in the pursuit of the world and thine own lusts and lying vanities thou mayest read the Bible as wel as other vain Books seek the communion of Saints and thy legs would carry 〈◊〉 to them as wel as to riotous company Nay thou art not only faulty in not doing what thou canst but even neglecting 〈◊〉 opposing the practice of those Duties unto which thy judgment would carry thee and 〈◊〉 constrain thee Rom. 1. 18. thou holdest down the Truth in unrighteousness when thy reason props it thy Conscience provokes and calls this thou shouldest this thou oughtest to do and yet thou neglectest it Yea let thine own Experience give in evidence in this behalf thou laziest away thy time in the waies of thy Calling and the work of the Lord reads not 〈◊〉 not prayest not in private recallest not the things heard 〈◊〉 not in thy place with meekness but crooked carriages peevish and froward speeches rugged behaviors attend thee in thy dayly course Answer me out of thine own heart Would not so much money hire such reward promised and performed perswade thee to do such duties or reform such sins Would not the fear of some displeasure at least the sharpness of some punishment compel thee to reform outwardly to find thy heart and tongue and mind and force thee to pray and read and recal make thee bite thy lip and compose thy carriage not to speak a cross word or vent a passionate speech Thou wretch doth twenty pound or a whipping post give thee any Grace thou hadst therefore ability which thou never didst improve as thou mightest Secondly Be thy weakness whatit wil be or inability that is not the worst but that which ads to the heap of the 〈◊〉 of thy evil and the height of it Thou art not yet WILLING to be made ABLE to receive the grace which the Lord in the Gospel hath prepared and now tenders and would give thee 〈◊〉 thou but willing he should Rev. 22. 17. Oh every one that wil let him come to the waters for the Gospel doth not require that a man should beleeve by his own power nor yet condemn him because he doth not but that he wil not encline his Ear and suffer the power of the Truth to take place with him and prevail with him for good Christ comes to his own and he comes with Grace and Life but they receive him not John 1. 10 11. yea our Savior professed it to them Ye will not come to me that you might have life John 〈◊〉 40. And light is come into the world but men love darkness rather than light John 3. 19. men love their distempers hug and 〈◊〉 their lusts they are weary of the Word that would reveal and remove their corruptions Rom. 8. 7. The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God it is not subject to the Law nor can be It hath not any Spiritual good it wil not bear the power of the Truth that would pluck away our corruptions and take place in us Do not plead so much therefore thou art not able but go to the bottom thou wouldest not be made able thou would'st have thy proud heart and not be made humble thou wouldst have thy loose heart and not be purged when thou art in Hell and art tormented with these and for these know thou hast thy will and therefore why dost thou complain Nay it is thy disposition to withdraw thy self from those means and not to give attendance and leave thy self under the stroke of the Word that would take away thy unwillingness John 3. 20. He that doth evil hates the Light and comes not to the Light he went away sorrowful Matth. 19. 22. And after that time many of his Disciples went away from him and walked no more with him because his words were spiritual and piercing which they could neither hear nor bear Not attending for redress and help against the frowardness and perversness of thy heart it 's a just and righteous thing with God to stake thee down under all thosedistempers that thou mayest be deluded with them hardened in them and damned for ever for them and thou hast no more than thou hast righteously deserved 2 Thess. 2. 10 11. Because they did not entertain the Truth in the love of it therefore he gave them up to the activity of Error that they might beleeve lyes and it 's the best Reason that ever yet appeared to my apprehension why the Woman who in Reason could not but know the Serpent could not speak yet would and did talk with it But she had begun before not to love the Truth being set to till the Garden and to keep it Gen. 2. that is to keep the wild beasts out of it she did not so therefore God gave her up to be deluded by the Serpent the like may be said of Balaams conference with his Ass in reason he should have fled from his Ass not have fallen in conference with him but when men delight not to have God in knowledg no marvel that he delivers them up to a reprobate sence Rom. 1. What ever difficulty and impossibility attends thy weakness thou art the cause of it
is more store of Commodities in the Ware-house yet the false light of the Shop makes them so much the worse because it makes them not appear as they are words darkens much of the Truth that is in the heart which would make against sin and covers and colers over that which is evil that it might not appear to be such that the heart purposeth and concludes certainly it wil have it because it likes it yet could a man but hear the privy Verdict which knowledg and conscience gives 1. He should see them consenting to the Truth 2. Condemning the wil of sin Reason tels the heart this is the way and the will of God and you should not reject it this is your Duty and Gods Command you perish for it if you do oppose here Truth appears as wel as distempers But when the Cause comes to be 〈◊〉 and pleaded outwardly by words the tongue hides the verdict of knowledg and conscience suffers not their testimony or the Truth once to come to light But the corruption that the heart would have it pleads for it under the color and pretence of that which is Lawful and allowable So much light and knowledg as would discover the sin that is suppressed The evil that was there suppressed that is by color of cunning and false words varnished over and pleaded for under pretence of that which is good and Lawful So that here is a double evil more in our words than in our hearts 1. A Silencing of the Truth when the testimony of Judgment and Conseience must not come to light 2. Coloring of the loathsomness of sin that it might not appear like it self by the paint and varnish of lying words Thus some translate that of James and though it be not the ful meaning yet I see not but it is part of the meaning The tongue is a world of evil James 3. 6. is an ornament of evil when lying language 〈◊〉 fair colors and pretences upon foul and unlawful practices So the paint of words hides the foul visage of sin Thus you shal observe in the Scribes and 〈◊〉 Acts 4. 16 17. It 's manifest to all and cannot be denied yet that it spread no further let us streightly 〈◊〉 them that they speak no more in this name If 〈◊〉 Consciences might have been heard to speak they would have testefied that the wonder is great and argues the Finger of God and the worth of the men and that it should be published and God honored but their tongue turnes it another way this man is but an Impostor his name must not be had in regard his person in respect so it was with them they would have forced the blind man to have spoken against our Savior John 9. 24. This man is a sinner give Glory to God and so endeavored to have him deny the truth of the miracle which in their own hearts they did undoubtedly acknowledge so it was with the false witnesses packed by Jezabel let Conscience be examined and suffered to give in evidence and you see the truth Did Nabal blaspheme God and the King no is he worthy to dy no Is it not treachery for any to plot and pretend this It is so saies Conscience there is no truth at all but treacherie but their false tongues hide the truth and put an appearance of truth upon that which is false Somtimes a man out of an ignorant custom or neglect holds forth more evil in his words than he either conceives or attends in his own apprehension this is usual amongst Children conversing with naughty and leud company they speak the evil words they hear frequently with their mates when they know not what they speak or what the words imply that they speak It may possibly be conceived that many of those children who cryed to Elisha come down thou bald pate 2 Kings 2. 23. spake what was commonly said amongst their Parents not knowing the evil of the words they spake All the while the evil is Confined and concealed in the closet of the heart it 's not dangerous nor yet infectious to any but only to the soul of the party that harbours it But when the wickedness of the heart walks abroad in our words and communication it conveyes a taint and pollution with it And herein lyes a greater evil in our words than in our hearts in point of infection the heart is like a dunghil of noysom abominations but our speech and words let out the steem of it which is able to annoy al that are in presence or pass by with the stench of it Compare the evil of our words with our practice also it wil appear that in many particulars the scales wil be cast this way and the 〈◊〉 of the evil wil ly here Our words are as it were the panders and provokers more universally to al kinds of evil than our practice can be There be many sins that come not within the compass of our practice as errours false opinions and those that do they come not within our power or possibility for the while But there is no error so gross no delusion so loathsom but our speech can vent and broach it No practice so 〈◊〉 but by our words and communication we can present it together with al the occasion to the heart to draw forth those sinful inclinations there to linger after and to seek for opportunity to commit it 1 Cor. 15. 33. Evil words corrupt good manners and the Apostle specifies none but implies a taint and pollution of al the sting of the Serpent we know spreads over the whol body taints al the blood at an instant so there is the poyson of Asps that is under the lips of the ungodly So the Apostle James 3. 6. the tongue amongst the members defiles the whol body Conference and Communication affects the whol man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 up the heart to effect the head to plot 〈◊〉 eye to look the hand to work c. Speech drives the chollerick man into a passion the melancholick man into discontent the loose and vain person to be transported with his lusts and uncleanness Therfore the same Apostle compares it to a 〈◊〉 vers 5. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth a spark of fire sets a whol house a whol town on a flame before one be aware As wordstaint more universally so they 〈◊〉 of greater force and prevail more powerfully draw more effectually to the commission of evil the sin is committed and the commission leaves a scandalous example behind it and that as it were passively and in silence presents itself to the memory of him that attends it but our words do not passively present a thing to the view of another but awaken him and work upon and actively and prevailingly cal out any inclination to an evil and that with 〈◊〉 and overbearing importunity Examples only offer the bait if the heart wil nibble and take it but words perswasions take hold upon a man
and wil have no nay before they obtain their 〈◊〉 so the Adulterous woman Prov. 7. 21. with much fair speech she caused him to yield with the flattering of her lips she forced him so Judg. 16. 16. Dalilah layd siege and made battery at the heart of Sampson at last wearied him out and wrought him to her own wil and his ruine an evil example is like the presenting of an army before a place and summoning of it but spech is like a constant beleaguring of a City which wil force it to surrender and therefore I have ever judged it more dangerous to live with a person of an il language than of an evil life because a mans practice wil be but seldom and occasional and mainly an enticement to some one kind of evil but speech pursues a man with variety of enticements words are arrowes and he that shoots a whol quiver wil hardly miss but wound with some or other at the last The evil of the tongue is a kind of restless unweariable untameable wickedness the practice of sin 〈◊〉 such that somtimes a mans years permit not the pursuit ofit or the time suits not or the place fits not or a mans ability and strength makes unapt and wholly unable to take it up so nature desires 〈◊〉 and rest and the commission of sin is at an end the Thief must leave his trade of robbing the Drunkard his company the Adulterer his lusts when age and sickness comes in upon him and their able strength is now spent But the evil of the tongue begins with a man in his tender years when the child knowes not the mistery of sin nor yet hath ability to practice it yet he can prate and talk of it this grows up with him to his riper years and when his strength and nature decayes and a man grows towards his grave yet the evil of his tongue grows lively and active and when a wretch is able to do nothing yet then is he able to read lectures of villany and wickedness which he hath learned in his life and practiced in the leudness of his carriage from his youth As it is with old Huntsmen when their legs fail that they cannot follow the game yet they wil sit and hear the cry and lewr after the hounds when they can do little else So here This I take to be the meaning of that of James which exerciseth the apprehensions of interpreters and its mervailous hard to find the sul mind of God therin James 3. 6. It sets on fire the whol course of nature and it self is set on fire of Hel. i. e. by the hellish delusions and temptations of Satan Two things I suppose are ospecially implied in the text 1. The violence and untameableness of this evil cannot be stopped it carries al before it not onely propounds a temptation unto evil but counsels yea commands if not that entreats if that take not place pursues al these perseveres to importune til the importunity kindles in the heart like a mighty flame which cannot be quenched So when Demetrius had pressed his companions with such prevailing arguments of profit 〈◊〉 you know that by this trade we have our liveing presently they were al upon a flame and the voyce prevayled by the space of two hours Great is Diana of the Ephesians Acts. 19. 28. when they heard those sayings so they were kindled and carried away with Herods speech the voyce of God and not of man Acts. 12. 22. 2. This untameable evil of the tongue hath not his dates and periods his spring and fal as it were but sets on fire the whol course of nature i. e. grows up with us from our beginnings and goes along with us in our daily course until we ly down in our graves When children can know nothing nor learn to do nothing yet they wil easily take in naughty words and tattle them when they know not what they talk In a word this is the ful meaning so near as I can guess whereas the feebleness of our childhood unfits us for the knowing and practicing of some evil our 〈◊〉 years frees us from some as childish sports and vanities decrepit age utterly 〈◊〉 us to most the 〈◊〉 evil of our tongues sends in a veyn and currant of wickedness through our whol course the folly and 〈◊〉 of our child-hood unfits us not for this or our riper years frees us not but such count it as suitable to their condition our decrepit age hinders us not but the vanity of the tongue casts a venom through al nor is a man wearied with such 〈◊〉 as that he craves end or ease but is as fresh at night as he was in the morning in his youth as he was in his childhood in his decaying age as he was in his riper yeers This hellish fire 〈◊〉 few el and matter to nourish it in a mans whol course therefore it 's sayd it 's set on fire of Hell Because our natures are easily tainted with this poyson and takes it in almost unawares you cannot keep children from learning the language especially that 's nought which they hear nor can you force them to leave it or forget it they grow up to ripenes and readiness in it without either care or pains Joseph swears the Court oath and the children speak half Ashdod and half Hebrew That thou mayest see how far thou art deceived in slighting the evil of thy words know if there be any evil in the world it is in-manner and measure in them James 3. 6. the tongue is a world of evil an University an Universality of al wickedness in it and its an Ornament of al evil besides the word wil carry both and I would include both what ever evil is on earth amongst men in Hell amongst Devils and the damned what ever wickedness the manners of al Countries have invented the Condition of al men have practised or the hearts and 〈◊〉 of men contrived the tongue shares in al these It 's the chief secretary to al estates of sin and sinners the Interpreter of mens minds Translator of these evils betwixt man and man In a word what ever evil is in the heart or mind of a mans self the tongue hath vented it whatsoever hath been done by others seen or observed the tongue hath related reported it It 's that which wil cover al the foulness excuse or lessen the loathsomness of the most vile evils hath varnished and decked over the most detestable practices with some pretences of liberty or indifferency hath been the Lawyer which hath undertook to plead the cases of the vilest waies of evil that ever were Having seen the vileness of sinful words Now let us proceed to consider of our THOUGHTS the first stirrings of the distempers of our hearts that suddenly and presently vanish away men imagine there cannot be such evil in them nor are they to charge themselves so deeply for them as Ministers would bear them in hand No
the parts and proportions of wickedness as in 〈◊〉 womb a mans practice doth but like the Midwife bring them into the world into open view it makes the evil appear but evil in the very hainousness was there before Nay the Mind hath not a hand in the plotting only of al these evils but it puts forth a special power in the execution of the works which otherwise would be at a stand The mind doth not only conceive but it travels for deliverance and brings it forth into action that is the meaning of the place which carries both depth of difficulty and excellency in it Isai. 5. 18. There is a Generation which draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with Cart-ropes We wil open two things here 1. What these Cords and Cart-ropes are 2. How they draw First Cords are Counsels false pleas forged and plausible pretences which are ordered and contrived as though they were twisted together as a Cord strongly to perswade and prevail and they are Cords of vanity which the vanity and misguided apprehension of carnal 〈◊〉 hath twisted Cart-ropes have the same sence only with this aggravation it implies more strength and subtilty the most sedulous contrivements the most subtil and restless underminings of colorable excuses that may take off al the strength of argument that oppose the way 〈◊〉 inconvenience that might hinder the work so that they carry al before them Thus God is said to 〈◊〉 the Cords of the wicked Psal. 129. 4. when they drew their Plow over the backs of the righteous To draw iniquity is by the strength of cunning contrivements the greatest subtilty of the most fained pretences that carnal Reason can coin by these I say prevailingly to perswade and carry even without fear or opposition to the practice of sin that is to draw c. that look when the Load is at a stand and the Cart at a stall they set more force to it and draw it out notwi hstanding al 〈◊〉 and resistance to the contrary So here Thus the unjust Steward Luke 16. 3 4. he said within himself I am resolved what to do Thus the Harlot when the yong man seemed not willing to listen to her first Allurements but came on heavily she put to her Cart-rope and plucked him by force Prov. 7. 14. 21. See the contrivings of her carnal reasonings as the twistings of so many Cords to make even a Cart-rope to hale him with a kind of violence to this villany Arguments she 〈◊〉 to perswade him impediments she removes that may hinder him Her Arguments are subtil and secretly contrived she pretends which is not common amongst Harlots her Profession yea serious practice of Relsgion she had Peace-offerings with her that is the remainders of them and so provision and that in a plentiful manner for her support and that which was more then she had offered her free-will Offerings that of purpose she came to meet him that God in providence had put the opportunity into her hands Lo I have found thee and that al conveniences and contents are fitted at home As touching any inconveniency that might be suspected or feared that coast is cleer the good man is not at home and thus she 〈◊〉 him with false pretences So the Prophet declares the prevailing power of carnal Reasonings that they carry a man uncontroulably in his course that he cannot be stopped Isai. 50. last Hence it is the wise man passeth Sentence of a mans estate by the common rode of his thoughts As the mind is the man is as the frame and constant stirring of the heart so is his estate and condition Prov. 12. 2. A good man obtaineth favor of the Lord but a man of wicked devices will he condemn because such a man is an ungodly man who must not look to find favor with him or acceptance from him Again Look we at the large extent of this spiritual wickedness of the mind which cannot be bounded the unavoidableness of it it cannot be prevented and in both we shall see and be forced to confess the aggravation of this evil There is a compass wherein a mans words and actions may be confined a man cannot vent the venom of his words or express his poysonous and wretched practices amongst all men not amongst many many times but there are no limits nor bounds to be set to the thoughts of a mans mind or the lusts and desires of the heart Were a man never so ful of malice and hatred he cannot murder many happily he dare not adventure upon one but yet his mind can plot and his heart desire and both privily assent and approve the the destruction of many millions yea most of the world at one clap as the Tyrant that wished that al in Rome had but one neck that he might cut it off at a blow Herein is the extent of the murder of the mind this may be multiplied and acted every hour of the day and each minute of an hour The Adulterous mate hath not liberty and it may be not possibility to satisfie his lust by commission of it with one whom his heart is 〈◊〉 after yet he can lust after her and many thousands more and the thoughts of the mind can inwardly conceit the villany 〈◊〉 give assent to it and this is the Adultery of the heart this may be acted and continued each moment of the day So that there is an endless boundless kind of infinitness in this evil of the mind it meets with an infinite God and so swerves in an infinite manner from him Again in an ordinary course and look at the power of the Creature it cannot be stopped nor hindred we may gag the tongue manacle the hands fetter the feet and so prevent their actions yet in al places at al times upon al occasions in al companies let all men do what they can the thoughts will be working and the affections of the heart stirring after such evils as they be addicted to As the evils of our whol course have their rise and cause from our thoughts so are they nourished also hereby Our imaginations are the womb where wickedness is conceived So are they also the breasts and dugs where they are maintained and nursed up the sinews of the strength of our distempers lie in the lustings of our mind and heart when the soul sucks the sweet of a distemper by dayly meditation lies at the dug as it were draws out the Spirits and Quintessence of any noysom lusts and temptations by dayly attendance bestowing his mind and thoughts thereupon whence the soul comes to be incorporated into a lust and wholly under the strength and power of it So that though the evil is not outward and scandalous yet it becomes more hainous in the sight of God as it is in distillations the spirits of Wine and some drops of Chymical Oyl are of more force than a great part of the substance taken in the grossness of its Nature
sins It was the evidence of the leudness of Israels whoredom that did prostitute her self to al Lovers without gift Ezek. 16. 30. How weak is thine heart The strength of her sinful inclinations was such that she did not stay til temptation came and surprized her but she sought temptations before they came and did prostitute her self to every occasion with eagerness This also was the guise of them who transgressed for a morsel of bread As it is in the ballance when a dram or a grain wil fetch up the scales it 〈◊〉 it fully loaded with the weight that carries it strongly that way When thine own mouth confesseth the things are of no consequence nor worthy consideration no sweet of 〈◊〉 that might delight there is no price of any commodity that might carry any weight with thy wil and affections to cast them that way It 's an argument undeniable and beyond gainsaying thy heart is loaded with lufts and corruptions that so easily cast the ballance that way even the least dram the least inkling of any occasion that comes in that scale The less the occasion the more and stronger thy corruption and such as cannot be excused therfore it 's usually most severely plagued by the Lord because there is more sinfulness in an action where there is less provocation and more heart and affection to it As it was in the Offerings of those that cast into the Corban the Widdow that cast in two mites the Text saies by our Saviors Verdict she cast in more than they all Luk. 21. 3. because there was more heart there more unfained bounty and liberality though the money and gift was less So it is here There are most noysom corruptions in thy heart vented upon the least occasion the thing thou covetest it may be is but two mites a penny or twopence in the shilling more than is just when mens necessities force them to seek supply But there 's a sink of immoderate covetousness in thy heart that against command and conscience knowledg and comfort thou wilt transgress for a trifle The less the thing is the easier the command of a Governor the more hellish thy carelessness and perversness that wil not attend it when it is before thy face and may be performed without any trouble at all And this is the cause why the Lord most commonly doth most severely punish such a practice because there was more heart and so more poyson in the sin when there was less occasion to commit it So it was in Lots wise Gen. 19. 26. She looked back from behind him and she became a Pillar of Salt It was but a cast of her countenance a look of her eye one would have thought it had been but a little matter the thing was little and easie and therefore more easily it might have been discharged therefore the 〈◊〉 desire was exceeding strong and the provocation exceeding great and the 〈◊〉 sharp and remarkable when the Command is plain and express the Duty so open before us that it cannot but be discerned easie and familiar to be 〈◊〉 It 's a 〈◊〉 current of corruption and 〈◊〉 impudencie to sin in the face of a command and under the eye and check of Conscience therefore our saviour leaves a starre as it were a memorandum upon that part of the storie Remember Lotts Wife beware how you go against an express charge in services which may easily be accomplished Luke 7. 32. 〈◊〉 like you may see Numb 15. 31. 32. in the man that gathered sticks upon the Sabboth look we at the thing it self what can any man imagine of less moment and smaller consequence to gather a few sticks he was alone he entised no man to the like evil and it should seem not in so open a place for they found him but if you look into the foregoing verse its a special instance of one that should sin presumptuously there is most of the venom and poyson of a mans heart in such a practice Wee have now done with the first sort of those pretences wherby our carnal reason would beat back the evidence of the truth and cast in some foggs and mists some forged cavills which might cloud and eclipse the the ful discovery of the authority of the truth that so the filth of sin might never be discerned nor the heart consequently affected therewith as it should and here Satan useth al the subtilty and policy that lyes within the compass of his power For he knows ful wel if he dash the work of the truth in the very entrance and beginning of it he wil then keep it from ever coming to perfection If the strong man can keep his dore shut he must needs keep all his substance and his house safe also and herein answerable lyes the primitive and chief work of the Holy Ghost he is sent of purpose to convince the world of fin to silence al flesh and to captivate every thought and therefore we have labored to chase away those 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 those clouds and fogges which darkned the shining of the truth of the Gospel when the sinner cannot but see the evil and danger of sin which is now so evident it cannot be denied The second sort of cavils is here He cannot but confess the danger yet he vainly hopes he can prevent it and that further quiets him and encourageth him in his sinful course the hope of escape The 〈◊〉 of carnal reason in this kind are four Either God will not regard it or if he do 〈◊〉 he will not require it and call to an account or if that He can satisfy for it or if none of these The Lord wil not be rigorous but he wil abate it Al these pleas issue from the Atheism of the heart of the sons of men wherby they neither know God nor themselves we shal persue them in their places and order but briefly Such is the deluded folly of mens minds that they confine the Almighty to their compass and therefore Sottishly conceive that the Lord is so attent to the great affayres of heaven and the place of his holiness and the Glory of his own name that he looks not after the things here below nor regards the carriages of the sons of men that creep up and down like so many poor Ants upon the face of the Earth So that either the Lord hath covered himself in thick clouds and retired himself to the 〈◊〉 of his Glory that he cannot see or else he attends matters of greater moment and Consequence to order in his infinit wisdom and therefore layes these aside without any regard And if once this forgery finds entertainment it sets open a gap to any kind of prophaneness makes men careless and fearless what they do because God regards not what is don 2 Pet. 3. 1. 2. So those scorners which walk after their own lusts saying where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell a sleep all things continue as
13. He that is truly meek and pities the souls of men most he wil shew least pity to their sins all sharpness of rebuke and yet al meekness of spirit do wel accord The exhortation to the people is that as ever you desire to see your sins and have your hearts brought to sorrow for them you must desire it and delight in it that you may have the light brought home to your souls in way of particular applycation to your own sins there is no means so effectual as this therefore desire God that your ministers may take such paines that they may speak to your Consciences Take three considerations here Weigh sadly that when the Minister speaks in way of Applycation so as to discover thy sins he doth no more than he may nay no more than he should in point of Conscience his life lyes at stake if he should not deal plainly and faithfully and therefore know its unreasonable for thee to quarrel with the Minister or with that he speaks when he hath the word for his warrant in what he does Look at the good of the dispensation of an ordinace and overlook the 〈◊〉 of it As some would not see but drink of the Physick minding the wholsomness and bearing with the unpleasantness of it for the present As it 's wearisom to the Surgeon to be raking in the sore so it is to the Minister but it is for thy good and therfore though it be painful and cross to thy carnal affection yet thou shouldest take contentment in such a dispensation of the word as is such an effectual means of thy good When thou findest thy heart 〈◊〉 consider that an under quiet taking in sharp reproof it s a sound argument of the sincerity of thy heart and truth of thy love to God and his word When a man 〈◊〉 to be shaken in his Comforts and a sharp and keen reproof comes home to a man to force him to see and be humbled reform his evil wayes if he can 〈◊〉 receive and yield 〈◊〉 to such a reproofit's a sign his heart is sincere in the sight of God when he saies as they did Zach. 13. 6. these are the wounds I received in the house of my friends When they heard this We heard before that application and special discovery of our particular corruptions what force it had to break the heart We have here yet a Second means couched in the manner of the 〈◊〉 expressed in the Text. The word is read in the Participle and carries a kind of 〈◊〉 endeavor with it a 〈◊〉 of mind about that which was heard In hearing they heard it and when the Sermon was over they had received the message of the Lord delivered by the Apostle when they happily were departed yet that word departed not out of their Ears and hearts They heard it over again they mused upon it it stuck by them their thoughts recoiled afresh upon the consideration thereof it pressed heavy upon their hearts Conviction brings the sin Application laies it Meditation settles it upon the heart that it sinks under it as unsupportable Hence then the Doctrine is Through Meditation of sins applied is a special means to break the heart of a sinner As men that are stoned and pressed to death while the stones are few that are cast and the weight not great may be they are troubled and wounded in some measure but their bones are not broken nor yet their lives hazarded but while they stil continue flinging and adding to the number and weight their bones break and their lives fayl under the overbearing pressure that is put upon them A serious thought and right apprehension and application of a sin toucheth and troubleth the sinner but daily meditation flings in one terror after another and followes the soul with fresh consideration of yet more sin and yet more evil and that more hainious and yet more dangerous beyond al pprehension and imagination so that a sinner is stoned to death as it were and breaks under the burthen of it Thus the repenting Church Lam. 3. 19. 20. In remembring mine affliction the wormewood and the gall my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me in remembring I remembred they were daily musing and continually poring and that made them pierce in wardly look as it is in the body it is so in the soul meat minced if never 〈◊〉 and digested it never nourisheth A potion prepared and given if not retayned and kept in the stomack it never purgeth or worketh kindly for cure So here in the soul Applycation carves out a fit potion of truth to the sinner but Meditation is that which digests it and makes good blood of it Applycation compounds the potion a particular reproof which is keen in the working brings it home but meditation retaynes it that so it may work kindly put forth the 〈◊〉 powerful effect for the loosening of those loathsom lusts which are like noysom and corrupt humours which threaten the death and ruin of the soul. This is one thing which is undoubtedly implyed in that place by the consent of al interpreters that I know Psal. 77. 10. While the prophet was taking up his thoughts with attendance to his own distempers and sinful provocations and the Lords departure from him by reason of the same he sits down almost overwhelmed with the direful apprehension thereof I said this is my death but I wil remember the changes of the right hand of the most high this poring upon his own sins and 〈◊〉 was his death therefore he turns the tables and turns his thoughts another way and that was the cure of those discomforts even the remembrance of the former the former expressions of Gods favour and faithfulness it s also one part of the meaning of that text Psal. 40. 12. My sins have taken such hold of me that I cannot look up when we lay hold upon them by serious meditation then they lay hold upon us and when our minds attend not but slip aside from the serious consideration of them then they slip away from us For explication we shal 1 Shew what this meditation is 2 Apply the general Doctrine to the particular occasion and see how this helps forward this work Then 3 We shal make use For the first Meditation is a serious intention of the mind whereby wee come to search out the truth and settle it effectually upon the heart An intention of the mind when one puts forth the strength of their understanding about the work in hand takes it as an especial task whereabout the heart should be taken up and that which wil require the whol man and that to the bent of the best ability he hath so the word is used 〈◊〉 1. 8. thou shalt not suffer the word to depart out of thy mind but thou shalt meditate therein 〈◊〉 and night when either the word would depart away or our corruptions would drive it
Prophet David that he would take up this service Psal. 119. 15. I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy wayes vers 23. Princes did sit and speak against me but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes again 〈◊〉 48. I wil meditate in thy statutes And he doth not this as a special conveniencie nor yet as a peculiar duty proper to him but upon such grounds as belong to al and therefore wil cal for it of al vers 97. Oh how I lovethy Law it is my meditation al the day Thou wilt not deny but thou art bound to love the Law of God and then certainly if that cause be there this effect wil of necessity follow Nay it s the guise of al the Saints Psal. 1. 1. 2 its as necessary as not to sit in the seat walk in the counsells and stand in the way of sinners so necessary is it to meditate in the Law of God and that to have thy set meals thy appointed times and turns for meditation 2. The want of this is given as the cause why men are carryed head long to the Practice of loathsom evils 〈◊〉 44. 19. No man considereth in his heart Jer. 8. 6. I 〈◊〉 and heard but they spak not 〈◊〉 No man sayes with himself what have I done the want of this hastens the righteous judgments of the Lord Psal. 28. 5. because they regard not the operation of his hands therefore he will destroy them and not build them up 3. The use of this affects and fits the heart to the duties that are to be discharged It 's a preparative to many daily perfourmances in our Christian course it quickens the holy dispensations of the soul chargeth it with confessions and petitions feasonable and savory that they may be delivered with feeling and affections when the heart is boyling of a good matter Psal. 45. 1. So Psal. 102. 1. I will pour out my meditation that is his prayer meditation was the mint or Anvil upon-which our prayers should be made And therefore Divines refer it to the third Commandment as that which is an Harbenger to al holy duties we do to God stirring up the faculties of the whol man to that reverend attendance which becomes the majesty of the Almighty Eccles 5. 1. and the advice of the wise man is to look to our feet as in the publick so in private also As by way of preparation it fits for spiritual services before we do them so it confirms and settles the good of them unto our souls when they are done then shal your profiting appear if you meditate upon these things 1 Tim. 3. 15. Sermons wil not profit though we hear and that attentively Sacraments wil not profit conference reading wil not profit though we studiously for the present turn bestow our selves therupon unless we meditate afterward As exercise before meat to stir up the stomach to receive meat So digestion after meat if we hope to have any strength meditation is both it stirs up the affection to the duty and then digests the good and sap of the service and turns it into good blood Tuum illud est quod Meditatio facit 〈◊〉 Secondly Men complain they have no time occasions so many buisines crouds in so with such multitudes our minds and heads and hearts and thoughts are so taken up one crouds out another we have no time I Answer 1. Hast thou no time to repent and to break thy heart for sin no time to fit and quicken thy Spirit to Service no time to profit by al the Spiritual means Then have no time to be saved to maintain the comfort and peace of thy Conscience 2. Must God only be loser and his Worship go to the wal must he only be crouded out of our minds and heads and hearts how unreasonable is this 3. Redeem the time Eph. 5. 16. Pluck some opportunity and rescue it from meat and sleep and company and recreation Psal. 119. 148. I prevent the morning watches that I might meditate in thy Statutes he had as many imployments as thou being a King and yet he did attend this Duty so mayest thou and so shouldest thou 4. I desire no more time to this Duty in the day than each day thou squandrest and spendest away unprofitably and let any man observe his own course and record but his expence and that needlesly of his time he wil say thus much I spent vainly here and thus much there and why might not that have been spent in meditation for the helping forward of the Work of God in my soul The great Complaint is The unsteadiness of their 〈◊〉 thoughts which as they conceive 〈◊〉 from some kind of natural 〈◊〉 whereby they are wholly disenabled in their own apprehension and common experience to keep their minds to any set imployment and exercise in this so serious a work of Meditation they are so off and on upon every occasion a 〈◊〉 and wandring frame of Imagination that cannot dwel upon a thing nay though they resolve it sadly withdraw themselves from al other occasions into their private Closets and there retire and set themselves on purpose about this business as being convinced it is so needful and being perswaded it would be so profitable to them yet immediately they are taken off they are gone from their task when they had begun now to bestow their attention upon the Duty that look what a shaking palsey is to the head there is no stilling of it while a man lives it wil follow him so this shattering and giddiness of our minds unsettles us when we would be most serious and doth accompany us in every retired corner and that upon every turn as a disease and distemper of our natural apprehension and it seems there is an impossibility to reform this feebleness and therefore we hope we may be excused if we cannot perform this service which is so necessary and which we also endeavor but as al men may see we cannot accomplish I Answer 1 Generally 2 Particularly Be it that this shaking Palsey this Vertigo and giddiness of Spirit be a disease which hath seized upon the faculty of the Understanding as an haereditary Curse which comes from the sin of Adam and is communicated more or less to al his Seed Thou shouldest labor to look at it as a sickness and therefore not to maintain a disease but seek a Remedy how thou maiest be recovered out of it Thy understanding is ful of blindness and ignorance naturally is one part of the image that was imprinted upon thee by the nature of thy first Parents received thou wouldest not therefore plead for thy ignorance and sit down wel satisfied with it but be more studious to amend it and seek to Heaven and be studious and painful in the use of al means that thou mayest be healed and cured of it So do here take this giddiness of mind as a fruit of the forbidden tree
the Haven therfore each man in reason concludes that was the cause that invited him to al that variety in his course It 's so in the carriage of the soul the cause why a man fetcheth such a compass and tacks about in his own contrivements now this now that one while one way another while this or that presented and pursued busily yet in the issue we land al our thoughts and look at the last how to bring in content to such a lust It 's certain the vanity of that lust occasioned and drew the vanity of thy thoughts after it The Cause being thus conceived the Cure is fair and easie to comprehend namely Cure these inordinate and raging lusts and thence wil follow a stil and quiet composure of mind purge the stomach if it be foul and that wil ease the pain of wind in the Head because that is caused by the fumes that arise from thence Take off the plummet or lessen but the weight of it the minutes though they hurried never so fast before yet wil not move at all or at least very slowly and quietly So here take off the poyse of the affections purge away these noysom lusts which carry and command the head and send up dunghil steams which distemper the mind and disturb it and those windy imaginations wil cease and those thoughts of the mind like the minutes either wil not move or move in order and manner as may help and not hinder Here the great skil and care ought to be to labor the clensing and sanctification of such affections which are most tainted and where the vein and fourse of original corruption either through custom or constitution or company hath vented it self most usually and so hath taken up the soul and gained and so exercised greater power over it For as in bruised or weak parts all the humors run thither so commonly this corruption is the link and drain of the soul all distempered thoughts and other inferior lusts empty themselves and become Servants unto this If once the affections had gained such a tast and rellish of the sweetness that is in Christ and his Truth that al these baggage and inferior things here below seemed sapless and that the heart were endeared to him his Truth and carried strongly 〈◊〉 both this would carry the thoughts vehemently keep them so strongly to both that they would be so far from wandring away from Christ that they would not be taken from bestowing the strength of their intentions about him Psal. 119 97. Oh how I love thy Law it is my Meditation 〈◊〉 the day verse 93. I will never forget thy Precepts for thereby thou hast quickened me ver 23. Princes sate and spake against me but thy servant did meditate in thy Statutes In reason he would have conceived it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 time for him to bethink himself how to prevent their fury it would cost him sad thoughts of heart how to provide for his 〈◊〉 and safty no truly Thy servant did meditate in thy law Possess thy heart with an 〈◊〉 consideration and a holy dread of the glorious presence of the Almigbty who sees and pondereth all thy paths and therefore wil take an account and that strictly of all the outstrainings of thy thoughts when thou comest to give attendance upon him and to draw neer into his presence in some peculiar and 〈◊〉 Service There is a kind of heedless wantonness which like a Canker breeds in our Atheistical dispositions whereby we see not the Rule that should guide us we lay aside also the consideration of that power that doth rule us and wil bring us to judgment and so missing the guide that should shew us the path and the power that should awe us and constrain us to keep the rode a mans mind powrs out it self to every vanity that next offers it self unto its view Whereas were we aware of his presence and awed with it it would cause us to eye him and attend him in his way and work wherein he commands us to walk with him As it is with trewantly Schollers who are sporting and gaming out of their place and from any serious attendance upon their books when nothing wil stil them and force them to their studies as soon as ever there is but the least inkling of the Master or any eye they can cast upon his approach they are all as stil as may be repair 〈◊〉 to their place fal close and set their minds to their work O Master Master our Master is yonder there follows stilness and attendance presently Our trewantly and wanton minds are of this temper we are apt to straggle out of our places or from giving attendance 〈◊〉 those special Services which the Lord cals for at our hands and to lay out themselves upon things that are not pertinent and further than we are awed with the apprehension of Gods sight and presence who cals for the dayly attendance of our thoughts when we draw neer unto him doth see and observe our carelessness and wil proceed in Judgment and 〈◊〉 punishment upon us for it it 's scant 〈◊〉 to hold the bent of our thoughts awfully to the business we have in hand It was the Curse which attended Jonah when he departed away from the 〈◊〉 of the Lord and from following his Command he followed lying vamues Jonah 2. 8. And it 's 〈◊〉 peculiar plague which is appointed in the way of Providence and the Lords righteous proceedings to befal al who bestow not their hearts upon him Eph. 4. 21. They walk in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their minds and the reason is 〈◊〉 they are strangers from the life of God When our thoughts start aside from under the Government of Gods Wisdom the Rule of Truth and stability they wander up and down in the waies of error and vanity and find no end or measure follow vanity and become vain nor can they attain any stability before they return thither As your vagabond beggars and vagrant persons in the Country from whence we came there is no possibility to fasten them to any imployment or settle them in any place before they come under the eye of Authority and power of the Magistrate So fares it with our vagabond and vagrant thoughts further than they are under the eye of God and awed with his presence it 's not possible to stop them from the pursuit of vanity or confine them to setled consideration of that which 〈◊〉 our duty and comfort The Rule is one like it 〈◊〉 accompanied with stability and rest if once we go astray from that there is neither end nor quiet in error but restlessness and emptiness The Sea while it keeps the Channel the course is known and the Marriners can tel how to advantage their 〈◊〉 but if once it exceeds the banks no man can tel whither it wil go or where it wil stay Our imaginations are like the vast Sea while we eye the Rule and are ordered by the
it 's my debt and I must pay it It 's my duty appertaining to me and required at my hand and I must discharge it as I wil answer it at my peril at the day off accounts Our lazy hearts if they can find any dispensation or exception they wil slip the collar and put off the perfourmance cal therefore upon thy self as sometimes they upon Ezra Arise thou sluggish and sloathful soul the matter belongs unto thee to me you 'l say that 's a likely matter indeed I am a silly mayd an ignorant youth or an aged and decrepit creature my memory and 〈◊〉 worn out I pray you have me excused my place my ability suits not my times and leasure in the multitude of 〈◊〉 many occasions permit not such and such who have abilities can such who have leisure opportunity may such who have dexterity skil in such performances should indeed both own the duty perform it but alas my place and abilites suit not my time and leasure in the multitude of so many occasions permit not therefore it cannot belong to me yes to young ones and ignorant ones it appertains to you doth it not appertain to you to be Humbled and to turn your feet to the testimonies of the Almighty doth it not appertain to you to be blessed and to have your wayes made prosperous in which you walk If you would come to Gods end you must attend Gods way If you would attain a blessing and success from God you must use the means appointed by him for good go your waies you poor creatures commune with your own hearts and set down this for an everlasting conclusion Come we can tel how to muse and plot about the pleasures of a sinful course how we may commit them Oh it appertains to us to meditate of the danger of our wicked waies how we may resorm them and avoid it we can tel how to muse upon the wayward perversneis of our own Spirits that we may break the righteous Laws of God let us consider the evil of our waies that we may turn our feet unto his Testimonies Consider how much you run in Arrearages and how far you are cast behind hand in this Spiritual Service how unacquainted with it in former times and how 〈◊〉 since you have known the way and therefore so much more need you have to double your diligence and to recover your former carelessness with more studious and consciencious endeavor to your utmost He that hath much work and little time hath reason to be exceeding laborious he that hath a long journey and sets out late had need to make hast he that hath many antient reckonings almost past remembrance he must resolve to sit at it and that it cost him the setting on to make any through accounts when thou art to cal over the folly of thy Child-hood the vanity of thy youth the rebellion of thy riper yeers to search into the sinful distempers of thy heart which thou hast long harbored and thy miscarriages worn out of mind and remembrance it wil cause thee to sit at it night and day and to bring in those 〈◊〉 and to read them over it 's almost impossible for thy life and therefore thou must labor hard Zach. 12. 10 11 12 When the Lord shall powr out the spirit of Grace and supplication upon the Jews they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn apart the Wives apart and the Husbands apart c. Consider what need thou hast of this holy Ordinance that wil compel thee to prize it and to use it also it 's that which wil yield some supply in most of all thy Spiritual wants lend a hand 〈◊〉 support in most of thy feeblenesses which may befal and would hinder thee in a Christian way thy memory is weak thou dost attend the holy Word of God and many times close with the 〈◊〉 and precious comforts but alas they are gone and slip away Meditation wil strengthen thy feeble memory and though these blessed Truths would depart yet it wil stay them and retain them with thee Jos. 1. 8. The words of this book shall not depart away from thee how 〈◊〉 we prevent that Thou shalt meditate therein day and night Thy apprehensions are shallow and thou narrow in thy conceiving Meditation wil ripen and enlarge thy judgment so that thou shalt exceed the most udicious and learned Psal. 119. 99. I have more understanding than all my teachers how came that about For thy Testimonies are my Meditation Thou art simple and imprudent in thy way not able to discover or prevent the over reachings of such as be wily and cunning in their contrivements Meditation wil sharpen thy apprehensions and make thee able to discern the secret conveyances and slights of the falshearted and to prevent the danger of them Psal. 119. 98. I became wiser than mine Enemies because thy Commandements were ever with me and that was by Meditation Thy Spirit is sluggish and wearish thou wantest life and mettal in the discharge of thy duty prayest without sence and confessest without sorrow begs mercy and dost not affect it Meditation will quicken thee in Conference make thee apt and ready to all undertakings store thee with matter fraught thy apprehensions and tongue warm thy affections and make thee go with readiness to the work Meditation adds as it were wind to a mans Sails and wings to a mans endeavor While I was musing my heart burned then spake I with my tongue Psal. 39. 2 3. If then thy memory be weak and thou needest that that would strengthen it thy apprehension narrow and dul thou need'st that that would enlarge it thy spirit dul and sluggish and thou needest that that may add quickening vertue thereunto a ful stream that may turn the wheel behold Meditation is the Medicine it hath a Probatum est upon it approved of al the Saints and the Cure left upon Record Thy needs are great and manifold so do thou prize this means and use it for thy good Consider the Soveraign Vertue of this Spiritual Service and special Ordinance of God as that which sucks out the sap and sweet of al other Dispensations of God and means of Grace wherein he discovers himself to us so that though they be good in themselves yet the good of them is not received but by meditation As it is in the body naturally be it that thy meat is choyce that is provided the dressing neat and wholsom the appetite strong and sharp and that a man feeds liberally and heartily of such dainties set before him though these provisions be never so savory and Cordial and able to refresh and strengthen yet al labor is lost and meat lost also if his digestion be naught Nature is loaded and 〈◊〉 but never nourished thereby So it is in the soul be the means of Grace never so powerful and precious sappy and Spiritual Opportunities great to enjoy them liberties
of discovery appear therefore our Savior leads them inward saies he You know not what spirits you are of The voyce is the voyce of Jacob your pretence is fair as Elias his zeal was good but you have not the spirit of Elias not the love of God but the love of your selves even the spirit of self-love and pride c. there is little exception that can be taken from any thing that appears outwardly their Imposthumed matter lay within The spirit of sin is in the spirit of a mans practice may be it 's but a short and snappish speech a wayward carriage in a silent manner and 〈◊〉 thou goest away and sayest nothing But from what spirit came this From thy heart in hideous disdain and contempt with 〈◊〉 of hatred as though it had been a fiend of Hell look to thy spirit When thou hast known the womb of wickedness where the active power of a corruption lay and whence it came Look secondly to the 〈◊〉 and breeding of sin how the frame and constitution of a corruption comes to be fashioned inwardly before it be brought forth into practice James 1. 15. Lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin Somtimes a man conceives and travels of a monstrous Birth of an abominable and hideous villany and yet no man can so judg it before it appear in the ful birth and so the compleat constitution thereof This conception of a lust appears in the concurrence and combination of a corrupt heart and carnal reason 1. The affections pursue eagerly the evil and the wil resolves peremptorily this lust I must satisfie this 〈◊〉 way I wil walk in 2. Carnal reasonings are like the formative force or like the Spirit in the seed it casts about by al cunning contrivements subtil devices to compass and bring it about and to cover and color it over with the fairest pretence they may But when the parts and proportions of a perverse carriage the framing of our loathsom lusts come to view they then appear direful and dreadful That David should send for Uriah entertain him kindly tender him and his comfort so as to send him to enjoy his own comfort at his own house that he should advance him to that respect and put that honor and trust upon him as to put him into the Fore-front of the Battel who can blame any thing But to do al this to cover his Adultery and at last to suck the blood of the innocent that he may enjoy his lust here is a hellish brood a monstrous birth So it was with Absolons fair language c. To this place appertain al those rebellious oppositions which make head against al Rule and Reason when the light of knowledg would gainsay motions of the Spirit perswade and forewarn do it not checks of Conscience controul yet against knowledg and conscience and the motions of the Spirit they break through and pursue their lusts the light of knowledg carnal reason darkens the motions of the Spirit they quench the checks of conscience they 〈◊〉 So it is in the perverse carriage of rebellious Servants c. Follow sin by the fruits of it as by the bloody footsteps and see what havock it makes in every place where ever it comes go to the prisons and see 〈◊〉 many Malefactors in Irons so many Witches in the Dungeon these are the fruits of 〈◊〉 look aside and there you shal see one drawn out of the pit where he was drowned cast your eye but hard by and behold another lying weltring in his blood the knife in his Throat and his hand at the knife and his own hands become his Executioner thence go to the place of Execution and there you shal hear many prodigal and rebellious children and servants upon the Ladder leaving the last remembrance of their untimely death which their distempers have brought about I was born in a good place where the Gospel was preached with plainness and power lived under Godly Masters 〈◊〉 Religious Parents a holy and tender-hearted Mother I had many prayers she made tears she wept for me and those have met me often in the dark in my dissolute courses but I never had a heart to hear and receive All you stubborn and rebellious hear and fear and learn by my harms hasten from thence into the Wilderness and see Corah 〈◊〉 and Abiram going down quick to Hell and al the people flying and crying lest we perish also Lo this rebellion hath brought Turn aside but to the red Sea and behold al the Egyptians dead upon the shore and ask who 〈◊〉 them and the story wil tel you a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the cause of that direful confusion From clience send your thoughts to the Cross where our Savior was 〈◊〉 he who bears up Heaven and Earth with his Power and behold those bitter and brinish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hideous cries My God my God why 〈◊〉 thou 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And make but a peep-hole into Hel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your ear and listen to those 〈◊〉 of the Devils and damned cursing the day that ever they were born the 〈◊〉 that ever they enjoyed the mercies that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did 〈◊〉 the worm there 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 there burning and 〈◊〉 goes out and 〈◊〉 this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 done and it wil do so to al that 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it Say thou therefore and why not I amongst the Witches upon the place of Execution with Malefactors why not I in Hel with the Devils Since my sins are as theirs my plagues might have been and in the issue wil be as theirs unless I repent Direful are those plagues that sin brings upon the sinner but these are not the worst nay in truth the least part of that evil that sin procures and puls upon the souls of those who give themselves thereunto Here is the venom of the vengeance and the dregs and malignity of that mischief that accompanies it in those spiritual desolations and ruines it leaves upon the soul those not to be conceived much less uttered by the tongues of Men and Angels Let us look inward and dig decper Commission of sin makes a man senceless and remorseless in it puts a man beyond the consideration and thought of amendment either capability of good or to look after it it takes off endeavor nay desire and thought of recovery out of our wretchedness such were they of whom the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 4. 2. Having their consciences seared with a hot Iron as it is with seared parts what ever gashes or stabs come they have no sence or feeling of them what ever judgments are denounced threatnings proclaimed in a mans ears executed before a mans eyes the seared conscience is stupid and fearless it feels nothing is affected with nothing So it was said of the Heathen Eph. 4. 19. They were past feeling God frowns from Heaven the Word threatens Devils accuse their own Judgments condemn the loathsomness of their practice and men bear witness and cry shame of the sottishness
The following of 〈◊〉 in a ful search and 〈◊〉 after it and that hath been dispatched in al the severals of it when we have viewed al the particulars of sin and brought in the whol and ful Sum together The Second part of Meditation is in the fastening of Meditation thus discovered upon the heart All this while the sinner hath been gathering and bringing in the several circumstances as it were so many single sticks scattered here and there and bundled all together as it were by a joynt consideration that they may be attended in their ful weight and lastly the sinner hath lifted at them by meditation and found them heavy but it hath not as yet laid them and prest them upon his soul that he might feel them piercing and pinching as a burden unsupportable The Second thing now to be attended as the last part of this Heavenly Art and holy Duty is to fasten these sins upon our souls in the full weight thereof This is done in two things 1 By grapling with the Heart 2 By getting above or getting the better of the Heart In the first of these we act Meditation as far as our endeavor wil go In the second the Lord arms it with power to do that it should and we cannot by the best of al our diligence and ability In the former the soul is put in suit the sum of the several bils being charged upon it In the latter we have sentence past and execution done upon the soul that it is forced to seek out for payment and satisfaction and that is awarded from under the hand of the Spirit in the High Court of Heaven To begin with the first of these How Meditation grapples with the heart I shal in short set forth unto you in three Directions or Rules The first comes within the Soul The second laies hold upon it The third drags it to the Throne of Justice and drives it to seek out for payment and satisfaction It 's the skil of meditation to come within the soul and surprize it with the pursuit of the evil of sin which hath now been laid open in so large and apparant manner It 's the cunning of Wrastlers before they fasten upon the adversary whom they intend to foyl and bring under they gather in upon them with the greatest wiliness and dexterity they may and then they lay hold with such advantages that they are not able to escape their hands It 's so in this Spiritual Service it 's the chiefest dexterity in Meditation to gather in upon the heart i. e. the wil and affections where the sink of sin lies and who are wedded to their distempers that it shall be forced to come under the Evidence of the Truth and the 〈◊〉 of the evil of sin so discovered It 's one thing to sum up debts and shew them to the Bankerupt another thing to serve a Writ of them to summon him to the Court that he may answer and give satisfaction it 's one thing to relate a mans bils as a Servant an Accomptant may another thing to charge them upon him So here Meditation shewed the corruption now summons and serves a Sub-paena upon the soul before it played the part of an Accomptant brought in al Bils now takes the place of a Serjeant laies them to the charge and attacheth the sinner Meditation you must know includes the highest strain of the strength of Reason in the utmost extent of it it 's not the whol nay indeed it 's the least part of the work of Meditation to search and take a survey of the compass of corruption in al the circumstances thereof apprehended to the full but it puts home an apprehension to the full follows it and 〈◊〉 it upon the heart and causeth it to attend for the while Herein lies the Excellency and Efficacy of Meditation That it forceth the Truth and discovery of sin with that 〈◊〉 Evidence upon the Heart that it cannot but own it as his debt acknowledg what is his due and the danger unto which he is justly subject by reason thereof and is now compelled to find and confess it self to be under the soveraign authority of the truth to be in the guilt of sin which it hath committed and the punishment of sin that it hath deserved thereby the case is now so clear it sees it cannot but own the guilt and it cannot avoyd the punishment This is the reason rendred by the prophet of the sottishness of the deluded Idolater that he cannot see his own folly and madness in worshipping an Image of wood he stifles the strength of reason and setts not 〈◊〉 that overbearing evidence of truth which his own experience would give in to his heart Isa. 44. 16. He burneth part thereof in the fire with part thereof he rosteth flesh yea he warmeth himself and saith Aha I am warm with the residue thereof he maketh a God even a graven Image he falleth down and worshippeth it what 's the ground that any living man should so far go against common sence he answereth ver 19. None considereth in his heart to say I have burnt part I have roasted and warmed my self and shal I make a God of the rest The strength of reason in a right way would easily have forced such a conclusion upon the heart but the corruption of the heart stifled and intercepted the power of reason and damped the evidence thereof because it was not followed and fastened by the power of Meditation no man considereth in his heart the want of consideration made the heart not find nor own the evidence of that inference and truth For we find this in our corrupt hearts naturally when sin and guilt comes to be charged upon us and the dreadfullness of both are presented to our view we willingly would hide our selves from the evidence and power of the truth as Adam from the presence of the Lord. If we cannot deny it yet excuse it that the fault was in such and such they are to be blamed they were the cause and they 〈◊〉 me to the commission I therefore am to be excused Or if not excuse it wholly yet mince and lessen it if not slight it and cast it aside as that which neither needs nor deserves consideration As the bankerupt the debts he is not willing to pay he is willing not to think off here now is the fruit and vertue 〈◊〉 power and profit of Meditation it dasheth and scatters al these delusions and deceits stops the passage as it were that none of al these carnal and false pretences can keep off the stroke of the truth and the sting of sin from the heart No no replyes Meditation these and these are your corruptions you must own them the evidence of them are such and so playn ye cannot excuse them the aggravations so many so great you cannot lessen them the plagues heavy and unavoydable you cannot prevent them Thus it is know it for your selves
these are your sins these will be your ruin And I summon thee here to answer it before God in the sight of men and Angels at the great day When the heart cannot shuffle nor shift nor shake off the strength and cleerness of the Truth it 's compelled to own its sin and misery though happily not willing to leave the one nor knows not how to avoid the other True indeed then Meditation hath attained its proper and powerful work and is effectually blessed of God when our hearts are so affected with the evil of our sins as in our judgments rightly informed we did conceive them and in our most serious 〈◊〉 concluded them and indeed we should shine to our utmost to attain this and never give the Lord rest nor our own souls any rest until our hearts feel the bitterness of sin as by meditation we have found it made known in the word This is beyond our power and reach only its good to run after it and though we cannot go as far as we should yet thus far we may go We may put the heart to silence for the while stop and stisle such gainsayings for a time and turn and get the last word of the wil as it were notwithstanding the waywardness thereof This hath its mervailous use and leaves a great restraint upon the soul that it dare not vent it felf in ungodly practices but with a kind of awe and fear It deals with our souls as the Angel with Sarah when she laughed in herself as conceiving it impossible she should have a son in her old age though the Angel had said it Gen 18. 12. the Lord asked why did Sarah laugh and she denied it because she was afraid and sayed I did not laugh but the Lord followed her and held her to it and would not let her go away so nay but thou didst laugh So when the heart would fly off from the evil that is evidenced and charged either excusing or lessening the hainousness of the evil or slighting the danger of it either it was not my fault or it s not so great or the punishment is not so grieous and fearsul as men would bear us in hand Hold the heart to it and do not suffer it to go away Yes it was you that did it you must own it you shal find it upon your score one day you know and God knows and I know it the time when they were committed the manner how and how aggravated with many heightning circumstances It is so know it and thy damnation sleepeth not do not slight it you wil never be able to endure it Yes but I can God wil abate it or I can bear it nay you cannot God cannot abate it if you live in your sins and you cannot bear it Take the leave of your heart thus when you go to bed this is your condition this wil be your misery The sum of this first Rule returns to these three particulars 1 Summon the heart to answer the charge 2 Force the heart to own it 3 Silence the heart for the while under it When thus Meditation hath come into the heart let it lay hold upon the heart That 's the Second thing in this fastening when it hath arrested the soul the undeniable Evidence of the Truth then keep it under the arrest as Officers do such as they have attached not suffered them to go out of the room nor to be out of their sight or presence When thou hast with strong hand as it were forced thy heart by the power of the Truth raised by Meditation from every Coast as it were from all particular circumstances and occasions that it yield the Charge which it cannot gainsay owns the guilt under which it lies and the punishment which it hath deserved sits down silent under the Soveraignty of the Truth which it cannot controul keeps the heart under this awful disposition for ever Do not suffer thy mind to go off from the Duty of Meditation or thy wil and affections from under the impressions which were left upon it thereby For if thou thus givest way out of sloth or wearish negligence thou art in hazard not only to lose thy labor but to leave thy soul much worse by the abuse of an Ordinance than it was before thou did'st enjoy the liberty and practice of it As Iron or any Mettal once melted if it cool it grows more hard than before and more unsit to be fashioned to any use It 's so with the heart awed and melted as it were and made coming under the power of Meditation if once thou growest careless and it grows cold it becomes more unteachable hard and unfit to receive any impression of the Truth with what ever power it be dispensed Therefore by dayly consideration keep the power of the Truth and discovery of thy sins within ken stil before the eyes and sight of thy soul that so thou mayest keep the same heat and temper of Spirit that awful under and silent subjection to the Authority of the Truth the terror and dreadfulness of thine own sins and here our greatest watch is to be improved to follow this direction because the policy of Satan the proneness of our own hearts and professed opposition that the Spirits of the sons of men have against this Dispensation on Gods part and this disposition on ours we are loth to bear it Satan and the wicked are loth to suffer it in us to have the rod dayly shaked over us the silth and guilt and plagues due unto our sins continually presented and pressed upon our consciences it 's exceeding tedious and irksom unto our natures Flesh and blood is very loth to bear it Satan and the world are unwilling we should continue in such a course because they know it 's the next way to make us weary of our lives and of our sins therefore our corrupt hearts are willing to shake off such considerations and they are as restless to pluck our hearts from under the power of such an Ordinance It wil be our comfort let it be our care to have dayly meditation keep us company in our dayly course it wil keep the heart in an awful and under temper Therefore the Apostle joyns both together 1 Tim. 4. 15. Meditate on these things and be in them under the power and prevailing vertue of them As it 's sure of al so of this Truth also John 8. 31 32. Continue in the Truth and it shall make you free It 's not enough for an old cankered sore to make it open but we must keep it open not only lance it but tent 〈◊〉 to force a Truth by Meditation lanceth the sore attention to the same Truth in Meditation is the tenting of the sore and that brings though a slow yet a persect Cure Dog the heart with the dayly consideration of the discovery of sin formerly set on it wil tire a man out of his distemper force the soul either to leave
Hebrews 6. 8. The Earth that often drinketh in the rain and yet brings forth thorns and 〈◊〉 is nigh is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned The rain is the Word heard understood embraced acknowledged and yet have their malicious venemous conspiracies against the Gospel of God and Saints of Christ and that in 〈◊〉 like thorns under the leaves like bryars under pretence of moderation and humility can scratch bitterly it 's a heavy suspicion their end wil be burning Take heed thou content not thy self in thy rebellious condition for upon this supposition that thou wilt have this thou puttest thy self out of any possibility of good goest against Gods Order Course and Covenant and the whol Work of Redemption Christ comes to bless his by turning them away from their sins Acts 3. last and therefore when the Lord comes to hale thee out of thy sins take heed thou dost not go from under Gods strivings lest he strive with thee no more EXHORTATION We have hence special motives to quicken the desires and provoke the endeavors of the most carnal minded men in the world to attend with all the care and diligence they may upon the means of Grace But you wil tel us It is not in our Preparations Performances and Improvements that our Spiritual good depends there is nothing we can do can procure it it depends wholly upon the good pleasure of the Lord Why then should we trouble our selves to endeavor any thing I Answer The Inference is the quite contrary way All is in God and his good pleasure attend therefore upon him in his own means that thou mayest receive al from him If a man should reason thus I can do nothing for my self therefore I wil take a course that no man shall do any thing for me it were not a weakness but a kind of madness but rather in common sence a man would be provoked to press his own heart thus I can do nothing of my self therefore I must attend upon God in those means which he useth to do for all those he useth to do good unto So the Disciples to our Savior when he would arm them against his departure Will ye also go away John 6. 68. They answer Lord whither should we go thou only hast the words of eternal life Christ only can humble and convert Christ only hath peace and pardon therefore only go to him We are so wise for our bodies where one is most like to speed every man is most willing to go especially considering as nothing can purchase his favor 〈◊〉 nothing can 〈◊〉 the expression of his good pleasure when he wil go therefore what ever thy condition is When thou art at the weakest here is supply As he said Why stand you gazing fainting and famishing get ye into Egypt for Corn that we may live and not die though thou livest in the height of the perversness of thy heart in the out-rage of thy rebellion though thou carriest a scornful contemptuous spirit with thee yet go who knows when is Gods time what he may do bring your own souls your rebellious Servants and disobedient Children fall down at the foot of Christ in his Ordinances and say Here are a company of Hellish Traitrous hearts which bring proud stubborn scornful rebellious distempers like so many bloody weapons even to wound thy good Majesty withal Oh pluck these weapons out of our hands these treasons out of our hearts that would pluck us to thee and so to destruction As we cannot deserve any thing so our wretchedness cannot hinder thy Work And because thou knowest not the season of mercy take al seasons thou knowest not what time God may or wil work because it is in his own pleasure therefore attend upon him at al times 2. Tim. 2. 25. Proving if at any time God will give thee Repentance Attend upon him in all Ordinances because it is in his pleasure to breath in which he wil and to bless which he wil for thy Spiritual Comfort Sow thy Seed in the morning and in the evening because thou knowest not which may prosper this or that Eccles. 11. 6. Thou knowest not whether Prayer or Meditation or Reading wil prosper and which of these or any other Ordinance God wil bless for the saving good of thy soul. When thou findest the Lord stirring moving enabling and working in thee move thou and work thou also As the Marriner when he finds the gale coming any way he tacks about 〈◊〉 way to take the advantage God was tampering with the heart of Agrippa it was at a ha now a ha Thou hast almost perswaded me to become a Christian saies he to Paul Acts 26. 28. Ah what a pity was it he should fal back again It 's matter os wonderment able to swallow up the heart of a sinner with the everlasting admiration of this 〈◊〉 unmatchable kindness of the Lord. Micah 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that pardonest iniquity and passest by the transgression of the remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he 〈◊〉 in mercy he will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea You that have tasted how good the Lord is and found this Truth made good in your own hearts by your own experience as Paul was wont to recount his course I was a persecuter blasphemous and injurious but I obtained mercy I doubt not but many of you may say if ever there was a Fiend in Hell or a Rebel upon Earth I was one an opposer of the Gospel a despiser of the means of Grace a hater of the holy waies of the Lord and his servants that walk therein yet then God did me good when I desired and 〈◊〉 my own hurt Get ye homeye blessed Saints and in the secret of your Closets cal Heaven and Earth together and leave these compassions upon Record Say the time was this carnal mind of mine plotted my wretched 〈◊〉 and mine own ruin but then the Lord prevented both I opposed 〈◊〉 entreaties and he yet pursued me and would take no 〈◊〉 he called after me wept over me Turn ye turn ye why will you die I provoked him he pitied me I resisted him he imbraced me I said I would have none of him nor his Grace he said he would have no denial I resolved to walk on in the frowardness of mine own 〈◊〉 and to perish in the despight of al means and he would and did shew me mercy in the despight of the pride and rebellion of this heart or else I had never seen this day nor never had hope to see his face in glory Be astonished and confounded at this O ye Devils and come down ye blessed Angels from Heaven and magnifie this mercy Leave this in your last will and testament to your little ones O ye Fathers leave
this as a pattern of compassions to all ensuing Ages that they may love this God and fear this God c. They were pierced in their hearts The persons have been considered in those respects which were material and suitable to the aim of the Text We are now come to enquire of the Work it self that is termed here piercing 2. The place or subject in which this was it was in their hearts Pierced The word in the Original is a compound and implies more than bare pricking nor have we any English word fit to express it A shivering and pulling all asunder for it is so to prick as to pierce and enter dig on every side to pierce not overly but quite through the soul as some of the Antients render it It 's found only in this place in the new Testament though the Seventy Interpreters used it often in the Old in the 〈◊〉 of several words in several places according to the intendment thereof But that is remarkable that the Hebrew Root which they somtimes expressed by the word in this place it signifies such a kind of piercing as when the body of a travelling woman is wounded with the sorrow of Child-birth when the Child is severed from the Womb and brought into the world And it usually implies as here a work of sound sorrow laid upon the soul whereby sin and the soul come to be parted each from other And this resemblance and similitude between this Spiritual Sorrow and piercing stands in three Particulars 1. Piercing and digging is ever grievous and tedious to the part that feels it 2. There is a loosning and parting of those things which were united and closed before there is dissolutio continui as the Physitian speaks the parts that were firm and continued become now to be parted and severed more or less one from another 3. By this severing and sundring the parts there is a way and a passage made that corruption or any other humor which was in the part may be drawn out So in sound sorrow there be three things answerably The soul comes to be wounded and pained extreamly with the pressure of corruption stung with those distempers which stab and torment the heart Hence the cursed union betwixt sin and the soul comes to be loosened when the sinner cannot find that sweetness in his lusts which have suited with him so exceedingly in former times When this sweetness like the soder by which the heart and corruption lay couched so neer and so incorporate as it were that they became one continued thing is as I may say by this prevailing sorrow melted and removed the knot and combination between our hearts and our lusts come to be broken Hence there is way made for the letting out of those corruptions unto which the soul was endeared formerly and the sinner brought from under the supream and soveraign commanding power of his distempers Thus the Church converted in Hos. 2. 8. when they had sought their Lovers and could not find them followed them and could not overtake them they begin to take up other thoughts I will go to my first Husband for it was better with me then than now Heart It properly signifies that chief part in a mans Body wherein the Fountain of the Vital Spirits lies that which lives first as they say and dies last that 's the Natural signification But here it 's Spiritually understood and it 's put for the Will and Affections which have their proper place of abode there and express their special Operations in a principal manner according as Objects are presented and occasion offered And thus it 's taken in this place not to trouble you with other variety of apprehensions thus you shal find it frequently in the Scripture The heart shal fear Deut. 28. 67. Joy of heart Isa. 65. 14. Sorrow of heart Levit. 26. 16. c. And out of the heart comes murders and adulteries Matth. 15. 19. All which carry undeniably the work of the Will and Affections according as they put forth several Operations as they meet with several Objects So that this was not a slight and overly ripling of the skin but a piercing to the quick reached unto the very heart-root that which cut asunder the Soveraignty of the choyce of the Will and made that stand back and go off from those loathsom corruptions which were as neer as the soul to the soul and they were all pricked as one man in the one and the same manner in the heart they were al wounded as though there had been but one heart in them all Hence we shal propound divers Points and pursue that which is the main Sins unrepented of and continued in make way for piercing and perplexing terrors I say unrepented and continued in make way for terror They do not alwaies immediately let in Gall and Wormwood into the Soul presently after the acting of them plagues are then in preparation and only those over-bearing and dreadful Judgments which the Lord is devising against the ungodly are then in the birth and the Lord will not bring them forth until they be come to their full growth as the fittest time for the execution of his vengeance It fares with sinners as it doth somtimes and for the most part with Malefactors they make an escape from the hand of Justice and they please themselves in the practice of their wickedness and contenting their own lusts until their destruction surprize them so as they cannot avoid it nor bear it Had you but seen these scorners and despisers of our Savior formerly when they run riot in their out-rage and opposition carried all before them as if they had the world at will Away with him away with him not Christ but Barrabbas You would have conceived nay if thou had'st asked themselves they would have concluded they had been beyond all gun-shot terrors and perplexities could not have touched much less seized upon them Yet see them here and see how their condition is altered they who scorned the Apostles now come trembling to them they who cared not what they did before now are at their wits ends which way to turn themselves and it 's certain the fire was then making which now scorched the sins were then committed which now sunk their hearts with unsupportable horrors There be pleasures of sin but they are but for seasons Heb. 11. 25. and those are but the Seed times of Sorrows and Judgments Joy is sown for the Righteous and somtimes in deep sorrows the longer it is growing and ripening the larger is the Harvest of Comforts So troubles and horrors hellish and heart-breaking amazements are sown for the wicked and that in their greatest delights and the longer these are in growing and ripening their Harvest of Horrors of Conscience will be out of measure dreadful As the Prophet to those who carried al before them in their sinful contrivement Jer. 5. last The Prophets prophesie falsly the Priests bear
measure of Grace and Godliness Surely not as other men use to do and therefore it 's a great suspicion he came not truly by his Grace nor is he truly that he seems to be great sins cost other men great sorrows grievous scandals cost great grief of heart great heart-breakings humiliations and satisfactions great Grace and power against sin great pains and the highest strain of exactness in speeches and practices they that knew and see the Conversations of such never saw nor knew any such matter it 's certain he and al the Christians in the world may justly question his uprightness 〈◊〉 yet he be not worse than nothing if there were a true inventory taken of his Estate in Grace out of the depth of prophaneness to come to the height of holiness at unawares it 's a work of delusion not of true conversion to God Trees that are planted in Gods Orchard they take root downward and then bring forth fruit upward Upstart Christians are like Jonah his Guord grow 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 presently flourish and fade and al in a day Untimely births are never true nor yet of continuance when an old sore is healed too hastily it never proves sound it 's 〈◊〉 over 〈◊〉 cured festers inwardly proves more grievous and dangerous than at the first The skilful Chyrurgeon wil tel you it must be searched lanced tented before it attain its ful and perfect Cure So it is with that cankered corrupt 〈◊〉 of thine who hast lived and continued in those loathsom abominations which thou hast hugged in thy bosom it must be lanced by the cutting knife of the Law and the dreadful curse thereof searched by the soul-saving preaching of the Gospel and dayly tented with constant contritions and breakings of heart otherwise know assuredly that those hellish lusts of thine wil imposthume within thy soul and in issue break out more loathsomly and thy latter end wil be worse than thy beginning To find little or no hardness in that which in thy reason thou conceivest and concludest to be the hardest work of all how canst thou but suspect thou art cozened and mistaken Make it thine own case in another thing and be thine own Judg 〈◊〉 thou enjoyned to drain a Quagmire or a dirty rotten Swamp to fit it for the Plough and should any man seem to perswade it would cost but litte time or labor might easily be dispatched thou would'st scarsly with patience hear such an expression as that which is expressly contrary to common sense why should men speak of impossibilities or think that men should conceive that reasonable that is against Reason not only Trees felled stubbed removed but the ground gained which is not arable and al this in a short space with ease Look now into thy condition with this resemblance and be thine own Judg thou hast a dunghil heart a soul like a dirty swamp those hellish abominations which have taken up thy mind and will and affections in which thou hast continued and unto which thou hast been accustomed so that thy heart is like a standing puddle of prophaneness which have weakened and wasted the very faculties of thy soul so that thy heart is not fallow ground as the Prophet speaks Plow up the fallow ground Jer. 4. it 's not 〈◊〉 ground even abilities so wasted and disordered with thy wretched and unreasonable lusts and dost thou think that these abilities can be 〈◊〉 easily and thy Spirit made good soyl even a good and honest heart without extraordinary power on Gods part and more than ordinary labor on thine When the covetous yong man that was glewed to the world and had his heart riveted in restless and immoderate desires after these Earthly things so that all the directions which our Savior gave and the great offers he made of Heaven and Salvation could not take off his affections but he went away sorrowful saies our Savior How hard is it for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven it 's easier for a Cable rope to enter in at the eye of a Needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Grace here and Glory hereafter Matth. 〈◊〉 22 23 24. He spake of one it 's true of all by the like proportion how hard is it for a rich man it 's as true to say how hard is it for a riotous unclean malitious voluptuous self-conceited rebellious wretch he that hath scandalously continued in these accustomed himself to these how hard is it for such saies the Text. And doest thou find it easie a Holy-day task and a trifling labor that which may suddenly be done without such trouble either Christ is deceived or thou art mistaken either the Word fails or thy apprehension fails Whether the Scriptures or thy Conceit is to be beleeved let thine heart judg unless thou wilt be an Atheist The Word in reason never wrought that work nor wil it give in Evidence and approbation thereof The Prophet Isai. 46. last describing a rebellious sinner he thus speaks of him Hearken ye stout-hearted who are far from righteousness A man that hath gone many yeers and that with much speed and labor one way which is down-hil to return to the same place when the way is more difficult with a little time and less labor there is little probability if possibility in reason So here thou hast hurried headlong in the waies of wickedness hast had ful wind and tide Satans temptation thine own corruption to carry thee with mighty violence many yeers together in thy 〈◊〉 course dost thou think suddenly and easily to 〈◊〉 back No beleeve it thou must take many a weary step send out many a heavy sigh tug at it with continual prayers and tears and the utmost improvement of al thine 〈◊〉 nay it will cost thee hot water the setting on before thou seest that day I read of a double expression 1. Of the Devils going out 2. Of his casting out 〈◊〉 12. 43 When the unclean spirit goes out c. which is done by 〈◊〉 outward and serious reformation and some sudden resolution wrought out of terror to forsake such and such courses this smoaks Satan out of his house c. COMFORT This is ground of great support and in Truth of strong consolation to shore up the hearts of forlorn and scandalous Creatures when they lie under the most direful strokes of Gods heaviest displeasure When the loath somness of their lives and hellish abominations of their hearts are presented to their view their Consciences now accuse and the Lord from Heaven by his infinite indignation encamps against them with Armies of terrors so that to their sight and sence there is nothing appearing but present ruin and confusion Yet out of the strong comes sweet greatest safety issues out of the heaviest searchings and breakings of heart Here is now ground of strong support to bear thy 〈◊〉 above all these devouring horrors which like so many waves would overwhelm thy soul. The
more miserable thou findest thy condition 〈◊〉 more comfortable it is It seems a riddle carries the appearance of contrariety and impossibility and yet upon proof and tryal wil prove an infallible Truth The heavier the blows be which come from Gods hand for those gross evils of thine there is more probability of 〈◊〉 serious intendment of good unto thy soul The greater thy strokes are at present the greater thy hopes are of some spiritual relief and refreshing in future times And there is no greater plague upon earth hardly such another in hell 〈◊〉 a wretch should prosper in his wickedness and go suddenly down to the bottomless pit before he see where he is It was the carriage of a great Commander in his time yet mervailous sharp in the execution of military discipline when a Souldier had deserved death by martial law if he seemed to smile upon him it was a messenger of death and therefore his old Soldiers that saw 〈◊〉 manner of his proceeding when ever he appeared to laugh they looked then for a doom insomuch that an antient follower of his coming before him for some miscarriage his General carrying himself in a silent manner he breaks forth in this manner Good my Lord do not smile on me for he then knew the 〈◊〉 execution would be the next he should hear of It is here most certain and so judg of it If thy carriage and thy Conscience likewise give in testimony of the loathsomness and vileness of thy corrupt conversation that thy behaviour is detestable to any who have any spiritual discerning yea to moral persons if the Lord seem to smile upon thee not so much as check thee in thy scandalous way know that the sentence of destruction is the next that is like to ensue Math 23. 34. 35. I wil send you Prophets and Apostles and some ye shall kill and stone c. that the blood of al the Prophets may come upon you fulfil the measure of your fins and so receive the fulness of the measure of plagues 〈◊〉 can yee escape the damnation of bell ver 32. 33. I Thes. 2. 15. The Jewes both killed the Lord Jesus and their own Prophets and have persecuted us they please not God and are contrary to al men to fill up their fins alwayes for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost When 〈◊〉 have elbow room in their wretched wayes and are not crossed in their hellish corruptions the wrath is come upon them to the utmost This is the dregs of God vengeance the utmost of Gods indignation thou canst hardly be worse if not in hell Whereas great heart-breakings for sin give in more than a little hope and probability of good intended see this in the several degrees of it and al follow from the doctrine delivered It shewes poor forlorn wretch that thou art in the way of mercy God deals so with thee as he usually doth with those with whom he wil deal welin the issue he hath 〈◊〉 left thee to thy self and sins and ceased striving with thee to stop thee and recal thee from thy sinful course as commonly he doth when he delivers up a soul to the power of his corruption with whom he intends no more to meddle Isai. 1. 5. So he proceeds with the perverse and obstinate Jewes why should yee be smitten any more yee fal away more and more As the Father with the prodigal my counsels cannot move thee my blessings allure thee al my corrections I have layed upon thee do not reclame thee take thy course therefore and so casts him out of his family and takes no 〈◊〉 care of him But he whom he corrects most sharply for his faults it 's yet a pregnant evidence for the while that he purposeth to keep him This is the day of Gods visitation may be the last time of asking yet it is the time of 〈◊〉 and grace and the date of mercy God is yet wrastling with thee as loath to leave thee to the malice of Satan and the power of thy distempers as he doth with them that he purposeth to do good unto Isai. 6. 9. when God would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 people for 〈◊〉 and devote and set them apart to destruction this is the way he takes Go make the hearts of this people fat fatness implys 〈◊〉 brawny kind of stupidity and sencelesness of spirit Then such persons are ripe and ready for destruction when God plucks up the stake and gives a forlorn wretch the round rope let him have his wil Ephraim is joyned to-Idols let him alone Hos. 4. 17. He that is unjust let him be unjust stil he that is filthy let him be silthy stil. Yea this is that which casts a 〈◊〉 beyond the compass of the compassions of the Almighty when the Lord 〈◊〉 he wil not meddle nor make he wil have nothing to do with such vile creatures Hos. 4. 14. I wil not punish your daughters when they commit whordome nor your spouses when they 〈◊〉 adultery therefore the people that doth not understand shal fal But when God wil take pains and trouble himself with such a Rebel hath thee upon the anvil bestows so much fire and so much melting yet 〈◊〉 is hope that he may make thee a vessel of grace and for the Lords use There is some expectation that the work may prove more speedy and successful as it is in the body in old festred sores he that ripples the skin and layes easy salves he wil be long in doing a little and yet fail at last when he hath done al he that lanceth to the bottom in reason is like to bring out the core and to hasten the cure both with speed and success the stronger the physick stirs and works upon the humor the sooner the patient recovers and health returns with some stability and continuance It is so in the soul those old cankered lusts which have been of long continuance in a corrupt heart some slight terrors or sudden flashes of Gods displeasure which may a little trouble the Conscience and ripple the skin as it were they pass away presently and leave the root of the distemper untouched at the least not removed so that the corruptions grow more fierce and violent and so break out in a more loathsome manner than ever formerly Whereas those direful overbearing horrors in a way of rational providence are of a more prevayling nature to astonish the heart shake the Conscience of the wicked and ransack the very core of those hideous corruptions which have been long harboured and lodged within Thus the Lord dealt with the revolting Apostatizing Israelites Hos. 2. 6. 7. He bedged their wayes with Thorns and built a wal before them and they shal seek their lovers and shal not find them and then shal she say I wil 〈◊〉 to my first husband c. Had the hedg been so 〈◊〉 and easy and the wal so low that they might have broken through the one or leaped over
thee as with these as he dealt with the Jaylour as he dealt with Paul whom he made a choyce vessel for himself art thou not highly honored why should God knock at thy dore and cal in upon thy Conscience c. ADVISE unto Ministers whose place and calling it is under the Lord to deal with such persons undersuch diseases Hence we may see a right way in holy prudence how to proceed with them in the times of temptations and their saddest distresses of spirit See what God doth and that we may do As Gods deals so we may deal as the safest way and most likely to find 〈◊〉 When therefore we have fortifyed the heart with hope in regard of the sufficiency of God free grace and possibility of relief from him As that he is able to do excessive exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think As in desperate cures men use cordials to fortify against faintings of heart that they may better bear the hardness of the cure this being supposed then the rule is The sharpest receits are most seasonable in a right manner of proceeding and that in three things 1 Be not slight in the searching 2 Be not too hasty to heal 3 Be not too suddeenly confident of the cure Not slight in the search for that is most dangerous and an error here can hardly ever be recovered go therefore to the quick see the bottome if ever you hope to make work of it or to lend help indeed He that cleaves knotty logs must have the sharpest wedges and hardest blowes Here pity is unseasonable and greatest cruelty When out of 〈◊〉 we are afraid to put men to pain we encrease their pains and hasten their destruction Jer. 6. 14. they have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly The Apostle teacheth another way Titus 1. 13. reprove them sharply that they may be sound in the faith Sharp reproofes make sound Christians He shewes greatest love and mercy which followes the Lord in love and mercy Yea it is a course that procures most ease to the party the corrosive that eats away the proud flesh brings soonest ease because that proud flesh and humors bring al the pain So these dreadful overbearing threatnings abate the pride of the heart and a mans perversness and so brings ease for the waywardness of our own wils work our own woe and here not to trouble mens sins and Consciences is indeed to trouble their peace and comfort in issue Thus Samuel 1 Sam. 12. 20. He lesseneth nothing of their sin onely sendeth them forth to mercy for relief Ye have indeed done al this wickedness yet do not forsake the Lord. Be not too hasty to heal the wound More hast than good speed draws here desperate in conveniences with it and may be hazards their comforts while they live Old and deep sores as they have been long in gathering corrupt humors so they must have a time to wast and wear them away which wil not be done in a moment old stayns must lye long in soak and have many fresh lavers before in reason they can be clensed So old distempers which have taken strong possession and are of long continuance happily if the cure be too hasty it wil hazard our comforts The Israelites left War too suddenly with the Canaanites they tribured them and not destroyed them and they proved goads in their sides which they could not get rid of all their daies Be not suddenly confident of the Cure Let men be Probationers in our apprehensions let them proceed in a fearful and painful way to make proof of the inward disposition of their hearts by their outward practices in a constancy of an holy conversation As Solomon said of Adonijah 1 King 1. 52. Let him shew himself a worthy man This creating of Professors making men Christians by our applause and approbation because they have attained the under strokes of horror skil ability to holy Services proves the bane of their souls the blemish of their Profession and a breach of their Peace either they have turned wretches again or else have been overtaken with their carelessness so that they have been foyled by gross falls and hardly ever recovered their peace and comfort though they have taken off the scandal Therefore as John Baptist told them if indeed you purpose to 〈◊〉 from the wrath to come bring forth fruits worthy of amendment Matth. 3. 8. such as wil carry weight and fetch up the scales as it were and undoubtedly evidence the work of Grace Matter of Caution and Direction unto such whom God hath exercised with such heavy breakings of heart for their scandalous courses beware ye be not weary and labor to make an escape from under the Dispensation of the Lord but give welcom thereunto help forward the work do not resist it make way for the Dispensation of the Lord do not oppose it and therefore possess thy heart with a necessity of subjection thereunto Why should'st thou think to have an exception be rather fearful thou shouldst not find the Truth of the work of these terrors than that thou should'st be fearful to endure these if he wil land thee in Christ he wil toss thee in this manner As a Patient having a 〈◊〉 wound he enquires what the 〈◊〉 did to others and how the Salve did work upon others in his case and if he find the Salve and working be the same he hopes that he also shal be cured So here EXHORTATION Improve the utmost of our endeavor to keep our selves and all ours from scandalous sins Restraining Grace is but common Grace yet is it a great favor of the Lord that he wil curb and restrain a man by this means the work of Conversion is more easie and such persons freed from dreadful terrors that seize upon others Mark 12. 34. Thou ant not far from the Kingdom of God 〈◊〉 's bring our Children as neer to Heaven as we can it is in our power to restrain them and reform them and that we ought to do As it was the speech of a godly woman she 〈◊〉 that al means might be used to restrain her Children that if it were possible their reckoning might not be so heavy as mine 〈◊〉 A Prophane course cannot hinder the unresistible work of Gods Grace It 's true But though God may save thy soul yet he may scorch thy soul in the flames of Hell fire and make thee weary of thy part and of thy lusts and all Are there no terrors dreadful but those of the torments of the damned in Hell Yes you wil find it you may pay deer for al your pleasures in sin for al your fleshly lusts before your hearts be brought off from them therefore you that are Parents joyn your helping hands to this great and good Work beat down the stubbornness do what you can to restrain the loosness and prophaneness of the spirits of your children though it 's
not in your power to bring them in yet bring them as neer to the Kingdom of God as you can c. They were pricked in their hearts The last Doctrine which is considered touching the Work it self Sorrow for sin 〈◊〉 set on pierceth the heart of the sinner through that is truly affected therewith They were pricked not in their eyes to weep for their sins so Esau could not in their tongues only to confess their sin so Judas did I have sinned in betraying innocent blood nor in their hands alone to reform it outwardly so those Apostats did 2 Pet. 2. 20. They escaped the pollutions of the world through the acknowledgment of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but it reached their hearts their souls bled inwardly their souls were most guilty and had the greatest hand in the commission of those bloody and execrable cruelties the fountain of their sorrow did rise as high as the beginning of their sin soul sins and soul sorrows Nor was the stroke slight not the ripling of the skin a lighter touch a sudden pang a sigh and away nay not only lanced and gashed the rotten imposthumes of the corruptions of their hearts in a great measure but ransacked the very root of the corruption pierced the heart quite through through and through again as it were let out the core of the most inward and most retired corruptions that were lodged in their bosom and bottom of their hearts And this work proceeded not from any power of their own nor from the liberty and freedom of their wils as that which they made choyce of and out of their own ability did readily put forth but it was set on by the hand of the Almighty in the entrance whereof they were Patients went against the heart and hair and wholly beyond their purposes and expectations So the words are in the passive form they were pricked they did not prick themselves Nay certainly could they have told how to prevent it how to remove it or to procure any ease and relief unto themselves they would never have cryed out as men in a maze and astonishing straights of Spirit What shall we do Thus God proceeds when he purposeth to make a through work When God was purposed to set upon the revolting people of the Jews and to bring them savingly home to himself Hos. 13. 4. so 〈◊〉 carry it according to the foregoing and following words I am the Lord thy God from the Land of Egypt and there is no Savior besides me ver 4. and blames also the frowardness and folly of their Spirits not yielding so readily and taking the advantage of Gods dealing for their good ver 13. The sorrows of a travelling woman shall come upon him he is an unwise son for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of Children q. d. The Lord in mercy offers himself to the Israelites under their terrors as a Midwife that would make way for them out of their sins and sorrows Now in this 〈◊〉 of his towards the people to be converted he professeth that he will meet with them 〈◊〉 a Bear bereaved of her whelps he wil rend the caul of their hearts ver 8. the words are the closure and shutting up of their hearts sinners are shut up under the power of their distempers as the Apostle saith all men by Nature are shut up under unbelief Rom. 11. 32. especially there be some closets and secret corners and conveyances of soul wherein the most sweet and delightful abominations are hugged and harbored the Lord leaves not a poor wretch if indeed he intend his good before he breaks open those great depths rests not before he come home to the root and let out the heart-blood of thy lusts and then their death wil undoubtedly follow And hence it is this sorrow is compared to such as enter into the very inwards of Nature and sinks the soul with unsupportable pressures when that great conversion and return of the Jews to the entertainment of the Gospel shal be brought about by the Lord. The Prophet sets forth the greatness of that sorrow of theirs under a double similitude First Zach. 12. 10. They shall mourn for him as the mother mourns for her only son and for her first born the mourning of a tender hearted mother for her son her first born and for her only son he adds al degrees of grief if she had possessed many she might more easily have wanted one or at least parted with it or had it been any but her first born which had the first of her strength and the first of her love yet she might have born it with more quietness but when al these meet together her life and comfort is wrapped up in the life of the Child the mourning becomes unmeasurable fils the heart as it were Secondly It shall be like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon when al Israel lamented the death of their good Josiah the light of their eyes the breath of their Nostrils the comfort of their souls 2 Chron. 35. 25. Therfore the original words which lay open this work are of marvelous weight and discover the overpowring vertue thereof Isai. 57. 18. The Lord dwels with him that is of a contrite spirit Isai. 61. 6. The Lord binds up the broken heart The first whereof signifies to pun to pouder and to bring to smal dust it is so used Psal. 90. 3. Thou bringest man to the dust of death again thou sayest return ye children of men That as the hardest stone when it 's broken al to smal mammocks and pouder as it were it 's easie and yielding under the touch of the hand what ever ruggedness and resistance was in it before So it is with the soul that is punned to pouder so that there is not any unbroken or any whol part to be found there no sodering in any secret manner with any retired distemper but the weight of godly sorrow hath shatter'd all asunder distress of Conscience hath brought it to dust parted all the privy closures with any particular of any distemper all that knotty stiffness and perversness of spirit in siding with any corruption is now taken off The soul comes easily to give way to the Authority of the Truth that would take any sinful lust away To the like purpose is that of Job Job 23. 16. when the Armies of Gods indignation had encamped against him and the terrors of the Lord had drunk up his spirit saies he God makes my heart soft or hath melted my soul the word signifies a severing and separation of one thing from another and is opposite to setling and fastening making firm stiff and hard as that of Pharaoh Exod. 9. last Pharaoh hardened his heart his soul fastened by an invincible resolution to the sinful purpose of his malicious detaining and oppression of the Jews When the fierceness of Gods dupleasure brought home by the breathings of the Spirit
that are daily before his eye the Lord wil force him to look further to see and feel something more and worse than ever yet he found before he have done with him therefore he makes the wound deeper rests not before he be at the root of the heart quite through comes to the very quick and sees the bottom Hence the Lord leads the soul from the terror and sting of sin to view the stayn and filth of it which was more deer to the soul than its own 〈◊〉 and yet worse to the soul than al the misery and vexation that could befal it Open here a little There is something in the wil above the natural or physical being of it look at its being meerly as it ariseth from the power of those natural principles whereof it s made there is something above these and so better then these unto which theseare subject and subordinate namely those divine principles of grace which were at the first imprinted upon it and by which those natural abilities should be carried beyond their physical being to close with God and so attayn an eternal and in that 〈◊〉 a supernatural happiness I say in that sence supernatural though it was Naturae debitum because Adam should not nay could not please God put forth such a divine act out of the faculties of understanding and wil for then the 〈◊〉 in Hel now might please him for their natural faculties stil remain but it was as they were acted and carryed by the image of God wisdom holiness and righteousness that were bestowed upon them So that these principles of grace in the wil were above the wil and better than the natural being of it Since the fal of Adam original corruption is come into the place and room of that original righteousness and by a Soveraignty of power takes possession of the heart and wil so and so the whol man rules it carryes it captivates it in subjection and subordination to it self So that to a son of Adam now in the state of sin corruption exerciseth a soveraign power and command over the wil and is better to the sinner than his natural being corrupt self is of more power and more neer and intimate to the soul then natural self Hence the souldier wil rather loose his life than take the lye he wil fight for it and dye for it his honor is nearer to his heart than his being thus the Ambitious among the heathen the desire of vain glory amongst the Jesuites that they may be-canonized for Saints makes them put their necks into the halter And a corrupt heart wil loose Christ and ordinances and safety and life and al rather than not satisfy his own humer So Saul kill me that it may not be sayd the uncircumcised Slew me after he had been dead he would never have felt the disgrace but his ambitious humor was more dear than his blood When the blow reacheth hither then ye are come to the root of the heart and the heart is pierced quite through when the heart and the power of corruption are parted Therefore when the Lord intends to make through work with a poor wretch whom he hath upon the rack in his horror and perplexities there he holds him he shal not go or get from hence before he go further and forceth the sinner to further consideration If it be so why am I thus thou lookest upon hel and the torments thereof as loathsom and fearsul what are thy sins then that deserve these thou viewest thy plagues which are diresul and unsufferable what are thy sins then that procure these Sayes the Lord. Psal. 107. 17. Foolish men are plagued because of their transgressions Psal. 38. 8. there is no quietness in my bones by reason of my sin Jer. 4. 18. thy sins and iniquities have brought these therefore thy wickedness is bitter because it reacheth unto the heart Hither the Lord brings and here keeps the soul my sins are before me Psal. 51. 3. he leaves the thoughts of his punishment and turns his eye to the power of his distemper and the distance that they work between God and his soul. Here Satan bestirs him that he may darken the way of the distressed sinner and deceive him by some wily fetch And therefore he deviseth how he may shift shoulder and change his habitation and not be thrust wholly out And therefore he is wel content to gratify the sinner here that he should look upon some sin that is attended with shame and loathsom to the light of nature to the dictates of the common principles of natural conscience and there he wil suffer him to lay on load and to follow it with great fierceness and indignation that so when the heart is come to a calm and the storm is over he may take aside with some lesser evils that he may but color them over with the pretence of religion thus many men have changed their special corruptions not truly parted with them and for the while have fallen short of this through sorrow The Devil doth with sin as great men with their houses they have their winter houses and their summer houses and they remain there where they have most conveniency and suitableness so when a mans speicial sin of his constitution hath fallen and the parties have conceived the day is theirs their hearts have been truly broken when the Devil onely alters his habitation they grow to be disobedient servants and sharp wives and that under pretence of Religion the servant must go pray when he should go to work his Master is a carnal man the wise froward and perverse her husband wants the power of Religion why should she look at him and this upon mine own knowledg hath discovered the 〈◊〉 and hath been a means to many to begin again and to make through work therefore the Lord follows the soul afresh that it must feel sin as sin and therefore every sin and else none truly Cursed is every one that continues not in al things written in the law Gal. 3. 10. there must not be great breaches but no breaches not gross sins but no sin that God wil bear or we should keep knowest thou not sayes Saul to Jonathan that as long as the son of Jsha remaines alive thou wilt never be established 1 Sam. 20. 31. So Conscience to the soul that as long as the league life of any of these distempers concontinu doest thou not know thou wilt never thou canst never be established in the kingdom of grace Nay the sinner beginns now to reason with himself why was I born why came I into the world wherein consists my good or what is my hapiness is it not to please God to be one with him and happy in so being should I carry this proud stubborn rebellious heart to heaven with me heaven would be a hell to me and I a devil in it Now however this work be thus punctually in the several parts of
Gods spirit and grace and al the saveing operations of al the means thereof The flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these two are contrary Gal. 5. 17. And what is born of the flesh is flesh John 3. 7. that is the temper and inward constitution of a soul in its natural condition it s wholly born of the flesh and therefore nothing but flesh and therefore can do nothing but resist the spirit yea it cannot but oppose what ever would take that resistance away for it 's a received rule of reason and confessed of al hands every thing desires the preservation of it self and its being otherwise the being and the causes that made up the being should be cross to the thing if it should endeavor its own destruction nay a thing should be opposite to it self Hence it is that the corruption of the heart wil put forth al the skil strength it hath or by the contrivements of carnal reason can compass to fortify preserve it self against the spiritual and saving dispensation of the work of Gods spirit in his own ordinances because wicked men look at the power thereof as that which works the ruin of their lusts therefore they labor to avoyd the light if they can if not that to oppose it and overbear it by their delusions if not that to destroy it they wil not hear the truth or gainsay what they hear or abhor and loath what they cannot many times gainsay nay endeavour to destroy what they so hate and are tormented withal The wisdom of the flesh cannot be subject to the law Rom. 8. 7. the heart riseth up in armes and indignation against the soul-saving and uncontroulable evidences of the truth they wil not be ruled by the holiness of it and they cannot endure the terror and Majesty of it 〈◊〉 sometimes the Philystians dealt with the Ark when it came into the field they thus spake one to another there was never such a thing heard of as this these are the Gods that destroyed the Egiptians in the red Sea quit your selves like men Oh yee Philystins that ye be not servants to the Hebrewes They say of the word as sometimes of our Saviour Math. 21. this is the Heyr come let us kill him and the inheritance shal be ours they cannot have their lusts so long as the power of the word would overtop and cross them therefore Herodias prefers John Baptists head before half the Kingdom that she might be quiet in her sins Before the soul can act against the evil of sin or for the removal of this resistance wherein the destroying venom of sin lyes and that which stops the passage of the power of the ordinance the work of Grace It 's necessary that the Lord should not only concur with the 〈◊〉 of the wil of a sinner to lead or draw forth the act thereof which he hath ability to express but he must let in an influence of the 〈◊〉 power vertue into the faculty of the wil whereby it may be enabled to put forth an act unto which it formerly it had no power of it self It 's a subtile pang of Pelagianism and the Arminians som of their successors have licked up that loathsom heresy of theirs at this day 〈◊〉 this delusion cunning pretence of theirs they would color over those rotten and poysonful conceits hence it is they labor to bear men in hand that they labor to set forth and exalt the honour of Gods free grace they profess that without the preventing grace of God mans free wil and al that ability he hath left in nature since the fal is able to do no spiritual good The words are fayr but the intent is fals and 〈◊〉 and indeed they do privily and cunningly undermine the work of Gods grace while they pretend indeed to advance it For the meaning is this God must enlighten mens minds and reveal the things of life and happiness to mens wils excite stir up and cal forth their hearts to the embracing of that which is good and concur with him in their endeavors to the performance of the work or else they can do nothing so that upon this grant Gods free grace in the work of conversion cals forth and concurs with that act which mans free wil hath sufficiency to put forth which is to make man share with God in his work and to part stakes with him But the truth is this The Lord must let in an influence of some special motion and operation and leave some impression of spiritual power upon the wil to enable it to act not onely to concur with the act thereof God gives a man ability whereby he may wil doth not 〈◊〉 with him by assistance and providence when he wills as one in whom we live and move Of the first of these it 's true which many of the Antients speak God works without us many things in us i. e. unto which we being in no causal ability at al God gives us ability to do that which is pleasing and spiritual to the obtaining whereof we had no causal ability of our own when the Lord Christ raised Lazarus now dead and smelling in the Grave he did not concur with the action and motion of his Soul in rising out of the Grave but without any causal concurrence or help of Lazarus he put a soul into his body whereby he was enabled to stir and move So it is with a soul dead in sins and trespasses when the mind and will have no ability for any spiritual act not able to take off that deadness and indisposition that is there the Lord without the will without any causal concurrence of it le ts in ability into it for the work and concurs with it in the work So Paul expresseth this manner of Gods Work 2 Cor. 4. 6. He causeth light to shine out of darkness he gives light and being out of darkness without the help of light and then concurs with the light in the shining of it God lets in an Influence to the will not only lends a concurrence to the work The Influence of this spiritual Power whereby the Lord takes away this sinful resistance is not by any gracious habit of sanctification but by an irresistable motion of the work of his spirit upon the soul By a gracious habit of Sanctification I mean those spiritual Graces of Wisdom Holiness Righteousness in which Adam at first was created and according unto which al the Elect and called are renewed according to the Image of him that created them Eph. 4. 24. Col. 3. 10. these gracious habits are so many Spiritual and Supernatural Principles as it were left in the soul whereby it is in a state of Life and Grace and liberty and free will to any good and therefore as those that are Agents by Counsel they are 〈◊〉 of their own work can act or not act can act more or less according to
their own choyce And I follow the Apprehension of those Authors who conceive that the removal of this resistance is not by any gracious habit of Sanctification but by the irresistible motion of the work of the Spirit and therefore they cal it Actual Grace the other Habitual A work of the Spirit assisting the other a work of the Spirit inhabiting or dwelling in the heart the one a Principle of Grace in us which we have from communion with Christ the other the work of the Spirit upon us to bring us from our sins to union with the Lord Jesus and that upon these grounds All Habits as it is in the Nature of all qualities have their being in their Subjects before they work in their Subject Reason and Nature teacheth and presupposeth he must have skil before he can use it gain the knowledg of an Art before he 〈◊〉 work by it I cannot do the work of the Trade alas I have no skil nor ever was brought up to it for take the heart according to the condition in which we now look at a sinner it 's wholly under the power of resistance carried in total opposition against God and al the works of his Grace and therefore consider him in this time and turn and go no further there is no room or next capability of a gracious habit or spiritual Principle to be there therefore it cannot work there The Natural man doth not receive the things of the Spirit of God nay he cannot do it 1 Cor. 2. 14. The World cannot receive the Comforter John 14. 21. Where there is a capability to receive there is some kind of consent and agreement but so as yet it cannot be here in a heart fastened to its lusts where there is a total opposition there is no fit disposition to receive but while the soul is under the power of this resistance there is a total opposition and therefore there can be no consension Again Secondly All gracious Habits of Sanctification are part of the Image which we receive from the Second Adam 1 Cor. 15. 49. As we have born the Image of the first Adam so shall we also bear the Image of the second Adam and so also part of our Spiritual communion with Christ of whose fulness we receive Grace for Grace John 1. 16. and are transformed from one degree of glorious Grace to another 2 Cor. 3. last All Communion presupposeth Union no sap in the Branches unless growing to the Tree no life in the Member unless united to the Head John 15. 4. Unless ye abide in me ye can have nothing do nothing Eph. 4. 15 16. Grows up in him in all things who is our Head by whom the Body aptly compacted together according to the effectual working c. First In-being then working No Union but by an Act for no qualities close with their Object but by an Act. But now look at the soul in this present condition as it comes to consideration in this place as to have the resistance removed and it self turned from sin and in way to be turned to God Should this be done by a gracious Habit then there should be communion with Christ before any union to him or acting upon him all which imply so many impossibilities and cross the whol course of Gods Dispensation Those gracious Habits when and wheresoever they be in any Subject it becomes free somtimes the actions thereof are suspended and cease as in sleep and then the act and order of things is according to their own liberty in an indifferency so that were either the resistance against the work of Grace to be removed or the heart carried to God from hence it were in our choyce to be converted or not converted whenas it hath been proved our Conversion is wrought irresistably and determined to one side not issuing from the liberty of our choyce and therefore it is brought about by the irresistible impression of the work of the Spirit In a word to issue this Point Look as it is in the will of every Son of Adam when he comes to be averted and turned 〈◊〉 God to sin in the course of Natural Generation so it is in a right proportion in the 〈◊〉 of every man begotten of the Second Adam when he comes to be turned from sin to God in Spiritual Conversion Look at the will of a Child in the course of Natural Generation as it is created by God and comes holy and undefiled out of his hand as the question How comes the will of the Child to be turned from God to sin it cannot be by any actual sin of its own it hath committed none it cannot be by any corrupt quality first put into it before it was turned from God and by which that turning aside is wrought for then it should be under the power of sin while yet it is under the power of God But by vertue of Adams sin and the Curse that attends the breach of the Covenant and by means of the next Parent in the work of Generation the Body made wonderfully and the Soul created holy by God he as an unskilful workman by the vertue of the Curse acting the work of Generation under the power of the Curse and power of a perverted will turns the set of the Soul from God joyns body and soul in a wrong and exorbitant manner hence they 〈◊〉 to be in a disorderly frame the wheels run wrong under the power of original corruption and struck wrong by actual transgression so that there is the strength of the Curse the push of Divine Justice and the perverting stroke of the next Parent turns the soul from God to sin whence it comes to be wholly possessed and acted by corruption So it is by proportion in a contrary manner in the work of Conversion when the Lord Jesus comes to bring the sinner home he doth not put sanctifying Grace into the heart to bring the heart from the power and rebellion of fin for then it should be under the power of Grace and sin together but by the mighty impression and motion of his Spirit takes off the resistance and turns the soul from sin to himself in Christ in whom accepting of it as adopted in his Son he leaves the impression of his Image and al gracious abilities whereby the heart may be carried towards him and act for him in all things In the removal of this resistance for the conquering and overpowering this opposition that a carnal heart naturally carries against God and his Grace the will of the sinner it self is a meer Patient and the soul is only a sufferer and acts not but is acted upon for the heart and wil of a sinner being possessed and overpowered with corruption that which is the subject of his corrupt quality and acted by it hath no power to expel it that which is wholly carried by resistance cannot wil to remove that resistance out of it but in truth resists al that resists or
grievous yet the plague-sore of their sins was heaviest upon their hearts and most in their thoughts so it is with a contrite sinner his complaints and thoughts return hither as to their center publish the comforts promises and priviledges of the Gospel the sinner acknowledgeth the promises are precious the comforts are sweet the priviledges great and happy they that ever they were born that have a title thereunto But alas what have I to do with these my heart is yet hard and my sins yet unsubdued Those keep good things from me Lay open al the threatnings of the word the plagues the Lord hath prepared the curses iudgments and punishments that are recorded in the scripture and ever were inflicted by the justice of the Lord the contrite sinner looks presently beyond these plagues to his sins which is the cause of al these and worse than al these and that gives the sting and evil unto al these evils what shal I do I have sinned deliver me from blood guiltiness O God not from the sword though that was threatned but from his sin The sinner that hath his heart thus truly affected and pierced through with his sins is marvelous tender easily to be convinced of a yielding disposition i. e. freely and readily enlarged in the open acknowledgment of an evil that is discovered he stands guilty of As it is with the body when it is pierced or pricked with a stiletto He bleeds inwardly it may be but so as the blood hath no vent nor the party relief hence the life is in hazard but when it s thrust quite through though the wound be greater and wider yet the danger is less because the party bleeds kindly and naturally the wound is more 〈◊〉 to be cleansed and healed there is no fear of festering and rankling inwardly but the Chirurgeon may readily come at it for the cure So it is when the soul is wounded aright with Godly sorrow for its sin it bleeds kindly and naturally ready to see the evil the core the root of that corruption from whence it comes and willing and open hearted that the saving word of the truth either of instruction reproof comfort or exhortation may be applyed for cure and recovery A broken hearted sinner fals immediately before the power of the word takes the sin presently home to himself when ever or what ever is presented with evidence to him without cavilling or gainsaying shifting or winding away from under the authority thereof That resistance and gainsaying opposition is now removed which formerly took possession and the irresistible power of the spirit hath flung down those strong holds of Satan and sin hath conquered and captivated the high thoughts of the mind and sturdy rebellions of the heart unto the obedience of the Lord Jesus and therefore there is an entrance and easy passage made for the truth to take place and the heart to take the impression thereof with some pleasing content parts of the body which are wounded broken and sore and very sensible of the least stir or touch of any thing that comes nigh them they feel presently and are affected with some trouble Oh say we it s my broken Arm my sore Hand the least touch it goes to my heart It 's so with broken spirits they are presently sensible of the least touch of any truth the least intimation or discovery of any sin that comes by the by if from a work that fals occasionally it feels it forthwith yields it and owns it without any more ado That 's the deceit of my heart which I never saw before that 's my distemper unto which I have been addicted the law is holy and good but my heart naught and sold under sin Rom. 7. this was the temper of good 〈◊〉 at the reading of the law which the Lord observes and so much 〈◊〉 2 Chron. 34. 27. because thy heart was tender melted when thou heardest the words of this law he took the impression of the truth at the first without the least appearance of any opposition in any particular or rising of spirit against them though the severity and sharpness of the threatnings were marvailous cross not onely to a corrupt heart but to the outward comforts eminent priviledges of his place pomp and prosperity of his Crown and Kingdom the heart is melted and broken is conquered by the truth and therefore can do nothing against it But can do any thing against its own lusts and the pleasing corruption of his own nature this is part of that preparation which the Baptist the Harbenger of our Savior made to make this plain for his coming into the hearts of his as into his temple Luk 3. The rough things shal be made plain and crooked things straight the rugged and sturdy gainsayings of a rebellious heart are taken away and it 's made easy and readily yielding to the evidence of any part of Gods wil it finds a plain passage into the soul no rub in the way no rising against the righteous and good wil of God If any thing be doubtful he is easy to be informed amiss to be reproved and amended thereby Those crooked aymes and by ends also whereby falshearted hypocrites serve their turn of the Lord Jesus seek for grace and mercy either to quiet the horror of their 〈◊〉 promote their own credit or under a profession against sin to get more liberty to commit sin to sin without suspicion or distraction these rugged distempers must be levelled and the spirit of a man made plyable simple and sincere and then all flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord. And unless this de done set thy heart at rest thou canst never see Gods Salvation True indeed I confess the truth many times may be secret and such as at the present exceeds the reach and apprehension of weaker judgments And here wil be and in some 〈◊〉 may a long inquisition and painful and tedious search for the right discovery where the narrow way lyes But there is great ods betwixt an inquisition and serious enquiry that we may see the truth And a quarrelling against the evidence thereof that we may not see it Inquisition is one thing contention against the truth is another that al the Saints should endeavour this none but the ungodly wil practise for it 's given as a never failing note of a graceless person who is appointed to destruction to them who are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness Rom. 2. 8. for where the one is not the other wil be contentious persons joyn sides with their sinful distempers against the truth authority of the righteous law of God openly to maintain a professed opposition against the truth is so loathsom to common sence and 〈◊〉 even to the remainders of light left in the 〈◊〉 of a natural man that hardly any man is come to the height of wickedness that he dare openly own a course so hellish and
men out of that senceless security in which they were buried makes them look about them puts them upon the serious consideration of their own spiritual condition not long before they scant thought whether they had louls to be saved or sins to be pardoned or mercy and grace to be looked after they never put it to the question what they could say or shew for heaven but now they begin to think with themselves what they are this is set forth to be the guise and behavior of converting sinners when God begins to tamper with the hearts for the alteration of their states Jer. 50. 4. In those dayes and at that time when God hath stirred their hearts to recover themselves out of the Babilonish Captivity Deliver thy self O Sion 〈◊〉 who dwellest with 〈◊〉 Daughter of Babilon See how they bestir themselves Going and weeping shall they go and 〈◊〉 the Lord their God weep stil and go stil sorrow stil and seek stil they who stirred not a foot before nor looked after the Lord nor their own happiness and comfort So it was with Ephraim when the Lord began to work his heart to a right apprehension of himself Jer. 31. 18. while he was in his Natural Condition he was like an untamed Bullock unacoustomed to the Yoke but when the Lord had taken him to task then he begins to 〈◊〉 with himself and betake himself to new thoughts verse 19. When I was turned I repented when I was instructed I smote upon my thigh Thus John Baptists Hearers when once the Word wrought kindly upon them it made them al busie and inquisitive even as one man Luke 3. 10. to 15. The People they came and asked the Publicans they enquired the rude Soldiers they also began to demand Master what shal we do This disposition of spirit set men a going who sat stil before as in a dream The covetous Publicans whose thoughts were after their gain how to compass their Commodities from every Quarter the rude and unruly Soldiers who cared for nothing nor thought of nothing but how to satisfie their own lusts and sult their own corrupt desires al was fish that came to net and the sottish multitude who meerly followed the sight of their eyes after a bruitish manner minded that which concerned the out ward man What shal we eat what shal we drink what shal we put on In likely hood had never a thought of God nor of themselves whether there were a Heaven to be expected or a Hel to be avoided but followed their present pleasures see now how serious and inquisitive they be they now conclude somthing must be done and they would willingly know what course they ought to take when God sets upon mens souls then they set upon their Service The Reasons are Two Because they now feel the evil they never feared before now they see the danger and misery hanging over their heads able to overwhelm them and sink their hearts which they never suspected formerly And therefore now not only Reason 〈◊〉 them but their own safety Nature and 〈◊〉 love wil force them to bestir themselves to the utmost of their strength and improve al their abilities to the utmost of their power to prevent such over-bearing evils and provide for 〈◊〉 own relief and welfare and so the more to use al diligence here because they are unknown and yet spiritual which concern their eternal estate and therefore cause most fear and threaten most hazard and therefore constrains them to seek 〈◊〉 and neer for succor and relief So it was with the Prodigal when he came to 〈◊〉 before he had not the right 〈◊〉 of his Reason nor conceived of things as they were but as frantick men fal into fire and water and fear nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but now being come to the 〈◊〉 of his understanding he considers How many Servants are in my Fathers Family that have bread enough and I 〈◊〉 with hunger Luke 15. 17. then he 〈◊〉 himself I will arise and go to my Father and say c. So it is with many prodigal 〈◊〉 deluded Creatures they spend time and strength and lay out themselves 〈◊〉 nothing and therefore fear no after-claps until the time of Famine and day of 〈◊〉 and horror come in upon them they never saw need of reading hearing prayer seeking and enquiry but now when they find themselves besieged with sins and plagues and dayly expect the execution to be done Heaven frowning Hell gaping their Consciences 〈◊〉 and themselves dropping down to the Grave and their souls to Hell they think it high time and more than time to bestir themselves to do what they can and to cry for help and direction in so desperate distresses and danger I wil arise and go confer I wil arise and go enquire I wil arise and go pray The whol need not the Physitian therefore they do not send nor yet are they willing to receive nor care to enquire or take any Physick but when the Difease grows fierce and life is in danger then post out Messengers 〈◊〉 far and neer for a Physitian search every bush enquire of every man what might be good what have you 〈◊〉 what would you advise So here Thus God dealt with his People when he would awaken them Hos. 5. last In their affliction they will seek me early then Hos. 6. 1. Come let us return to the Lord he hath wounded and he will heal The full soul loaths the Honey Comb but never looks out for provision but the 〈◊〉 soul that is now starving runs if he can if he cannot run he wil go if he 〈◊〉 go he wil creep enquires where he may have food uses all means to get he wil buy or beg or borrow So here c. They begin now to see the folly of their own conceits and that confidence which in former times they had how easily they could procure their own comfort and how certainly without fail they could provide for the 〈◊〉 of their own souls and everlasting happiness they said it and thought what they said that there needs not so much 〈◊〉 to get to Heaven at the time of 〈◊〉 and before their departure draw on it 's but bewading 〈◊〉 sins and seeking to God for mercy Oh but when it comes too they 〈◊〉 another 〈◊〉 matter of it than ever formerly they did 〈◊〉 they 〈◊〉 at an utter loss with themselves they know not what 〈◊〉 to take which 〈◊〉 to turn they know not poor Creatures how to come at a Christ nay how to 〈◊〉 him how to attain 〈◊〉 pardon or peace And therefore now though 〈◊〉 late it may be they see they know not what to do or how to turn their hand to any spiritual work which in pride of heart said and concluded they could 〈◊〉 any thing They are made of nothing but doubts and questions If thou 〈◊〉 est the gift of God thou would'st ask of him and he would give thee
unsearchable and marvelous things without number This may support thy heart and carry thee on with some Hope in a waiting way They who are truly pierced for their sins do in an especial manner prize and covet deliverance from them For this is the scope of their complaint and the end and aim of their request that they might be freed from that which they found so bitter and indeed unsupportable to their souls and it 's of 〈◊〉 implied in their speech that which in the like case was openly expressed by the Jaylor Acts 16. 30. He came trembling and astonished saying what must I do to be saved not what shal I do to be eased of my destraction cured of my fears freed from my shame but what shal I do to be saved from my sin he was plagued most with the remembrance of that prizeth most freedom from it the venom of his transgression is that which lies heaviest upon his heart and thence it is to be safe-guarded from that is of highest esteem in his account Saved from the guilt of sin as that which sets the Almighty at a distance from him and raiseth the controversie between God and the soul and forceth him to withdraw his favor and loving kindness which is better than life which David felt by woful experience and therefore sues with such importunity Psal. 51. 14. Deliver me from blood guiltiness O God thou God of my Salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness After the Commission of these evils by David the Lord threatened the sending of the Sword that might hazard the safety of his person and the prosperity of such as should succeed him So Nathan 2 Sam. 12. 10. The Sword shal never depart from thine House he threatens to raise up cruel and subtil conspirators out of his own bosom and bowels as Absalon out of his own Counsel and Kingdom as Achitophel and Jeroboam whose plottings and conspiracies should shake the Pillars of the Kingdom and the peace of his Government all which were marvelous bitter potions and heavy expressions of Gods displeasure but the sting of all those troubles the venom of al that vengeance issued from his sin that is the evil in all evils and therefore he overlooks al the rest and seeks most earnestly to be rescued from this Deliver me from blood-guiltiness it 's not the cruelty of the Sword that wil destroy nor the conspiracy of Enemies that desire to undermine my Crown and Kingdom and Safety which I so much fear nonso much labor to be freed from but deliver me from blood-guiltiness O God of my Salvation q. d. that is the deliverance I look for and long for and here in the Salvation of a God wil appear and shew it 〈◊〉 and wherein the soul of thy servant shal most rejoyce Saved also they would be from the 〈◊〉 of corruption which carries the soul from God and keeps the 〈◊〉 estranged from him and hence it is the 〈◊〉 Church makes 〈◊〉 the matter of their most bitter complaint Isai. 63. 17. Why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear and caused us to err from thy waies When they withdraw their hearts from God he 〈◊〉 his gracious presence and 〈◊〉 from them when they would not deliver up themselves to the Authority of his Truth and holy Will to be ruled thereby he delivered them up to the power of their own perverse Spirits they that would not be guided in his 〈◊〉 by his holy Spirit they should be hardened from his fear by the perversness of their own Spirits this is the most dreadful plague of al plagues the deliverance from which they so highly prize and seek it with such importunity Look down from Heaven thy holy Habitation where is the sounding of thy bowels are they restrained Oh why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear The price the contrite sinner puts upon this deliverance from his sin discovers it self in four Particulars In the lack of this the soul is not cannot be quieted though it doth enjoy all other things the World can afford and his heart could desire The want of this takes off the sweetness of al the comforts contentments the sap and 〈◊〉 of al priviledges and the consluence of all Earthly Excellencies that can be enjoyed in this Pilgrimage when the soul is under the pressures of Gods displeasure and the tyranny of his own distempers which carries him from God and keeps him under the dreadful indignation of the Almighty present him then with the beauty of al the choycest blessings that ever any man had on Earth yea what ever others hoped for but in vain Put them into his hand conceive him possessed of the fulness of al worldly perfections Crowns Kingdoms Honors and preferments the broken heart 〈◊〉 al under 〈◊〉 with neglect what is that co me saies the soul had I al the Wealth to enrich me al Honors to advance me Pleasures and Delights to content me and my sins stil to damn me miserable man that ever I was born in the 〈◊〉 of al these falsly conceived comforts This sowr Sawce spoils al the Sweet-meat this dram of poyson makes deadly al the delights and pleasures that 〈◊〉 can be attained or expected As 〈◊〉 when he was recalled from his Banishment and had the liberty and use of his House and all the conveniencies and helps that were at his Command but was charged not to see the Kings face upon a two yeers tryal he found a straightness of all his Comforts in these enlargements 〈◊〉 he thus expresseth his resolution to 〈◊〉 2 Sam. 14. 32. What avails me to be at Jerusalem and in my House to come from Geshur if I may not see the Kings face let me see his face and let him 〈◊〉 me It is so with the broken-hearted sinner What avails it me to be compassed about with al conven ences my heart can desire and be compassed about with my corruptions to see all Earthly happiness heaped up together but never to see the face of God in another world the belly filled and back cloathed and house stored and the soul damned and east out from Gods presence in whose Presence there is fulness of joy and pleasures for ever more These are but dead things sapless shadows and are to a man of a contrite Spirit as though they were not nay the 〈◊〉 he hath 〈◊〉 more trouble he hath because there is more sin and more guilt more curse and condemnation he sees in all and expects by all from God and so remains restless in all He is content with this though he want all the rest because he prizeth this more than all Skin for Skin and al that a man hath wil he give for his life c life and al for the Salvation of his soul. For sin now he 〈◊〉 it now he hath found it to be more bitter than death and therefore to be saved from it he judgeth and that truly to be better than
to maintain the practice or 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 scandalous and wicked but layes open 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bitter root of those base distempers out of which those evils were brooded and brought 〈◊〉 they are the cause of al and worse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together with those by ends and base 〈◊〉 and those 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 ed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord what ever aggravating circumstances hath any weight in the apprehension of the soul it sets 〈◊〉 al the scandal wil apparently argue these and a wise 〈◊〉 christian wil 〈◊〉 al these in their working and a sincere heart desires to take most shame 〈◊〉 these and therefore is ful in the confession so David goes to the root of those 〈◊〉 miscarriages even 〈◊〉 sin and his accursed contrivements to give content to his lusts and therefore he complaines of that Psal. 51. 3. 4. thou lovest truth in the inward parts and the truth I have despised and opposed This is to be attended as another thing in the comparison to pour out the heart like water in acknowledgments there is nothing that remains behind as there is in oyl and those kind of things that be of a more tenacious disposition This was eminent in the acknowledgment of the holy Apostle 1 Tim. 1. 13. I was a blasphemer a persecuter and injurious but I did it ignorantly through unbelief not to lessen his evil but that he might look to the bottom of it A true contrite 〈◊〉 deals with these hid treasures of evil as 〈◊〉 did with the treasures of his house to the Babylonish 〈◊〉 Isa. 39. 4. then said Isaiah what 〈◊〉 they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answered al that 〈◊〉 in my house there is nothing in 〈◊〉 treasures that I have not shewed them so it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a simple hearted convert he wil turn the inside of his heart outward there wil be nothing amongst the hid treasures of iniquity when he is called to confession that he wil not nakedly present 〈◊〉 God and the world and that without stickage without demurs and 〈◊〉 he wil not cut off his 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 as though his heart 〈◊〉 for what he had 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 open the floodgate to the ful that he may leave nothing behind that he may fully and plainly see the bottom he is ready to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frame of 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 were wrought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heart that so he 〈◊〉 dissolve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and undo the web and work of 〈◊〉 and therefore he wil tel you my 〈◊〉 you 〈◊〉 and the world knowes it hath been scandalous my carriage loathsom Oh but my heart in that sin was worse than my carriage the pride and malice perversness and 〈◊〉 of mine own heart carried me by main force against many checks of my Conscience and in ward misguidings to that practice to serve mine own distempered lusts and when it was done and discerned to be scandalous the invincible 〈◊〉 of mine own heart would not suffer me to stoop to the evidence of the truth but I set carnal reason on work that since I could not deny it were done yet I might put color construction some meaning and interpretation upon it that it might appear to be done lawfully at the utmost that it was onely a mistake and out of ignorance which the most able and exact is incident unto And al this was with reluctance and against mine own 〈◊〉 therefore if I found any that were easy and favorable and were ready to be carryed away with some 〈◊〉 appearances to those I often repayred to them I complained and professed my simplicity and yet willingness to see that so I might screw my self into their affections to pity me and so to be unwilling to hear any thing against my person or cause and 〈◊〉 the man speaks honestly and means plainly I wish there may be no prejudice and then sat I in counsel with my own corrupt heart and mind how to carry the frame of the buisiness in the fayrest pretence I plotted how I might make an escape and wind away from such evidences and expressions which pinched most narrowly and there I would put in some word or else 〈◊〉 they were spoken to some other end or start up some new occasson to 〈◊〉 the discourse another way and to another thing and made them loose the pursuit of that which indeed pinched and thus I committed many evils in the defending of one and broke many rules under prtence of making up one breach but from these wretched grounds to these wicked ends in this disorderly manner by a plotted kind of studied villany I have wronged God the truth my profession my 〈◊〉 mine own soul this is my wretched disposition I would see and say the worst of it c. this is as I said to 〈◊〉 the clew of a wretched course that he may see the end and utmost of it So to lance the sore that the core may come out from the bottom and then the cure wil undoubtedly follow which cannot be so attayned as long as it continues Sometimes persons that want bouldness and ability cannot so fully open themselves in publick alwayes yet the frame of their spirits and expressions wil ever aym at such a thing to the apprehension of such as have any spiritual eye salve about them because their confessions 〈◊〉 ever minted out of their own hearts and the loathsomness of such evils wherewith they are and have been loaded But for a man that comes to confess his evil to forget the main evil he came to confess is such a heavy hand of God to discover a counterfeit confession that it would make a moral man that had but understanding about him sit down confounded under the 〈◊〉 curse of Gods displeasure and the right consideration of the 〈◊〉 of his heart And this is the second ingredient into a serious confession it must be ful the whol compas is contained 〈◊〉 these two particulars that I may sum up that shortly which hath been largely spoken 1. Ful in regard of relation of the things My sonsayes Joshua give Glory to God and tel me what thou hast done bide nothing from me Jos. 7. 19. 2. Ful in regard of opposition of the heart the 〈◊〉 fully relates al the heart fully opposeth al sets it self wholly to drag al to the place of judgment and see execution done upon al As it were said in the law and enjoyned to him that should discover a brother or a friend that inticed to Idolatry his eye should not pity nor his hand spare but he should fling the first stone at him so here in 〈◊〉 we should bring out al our distempers yet they may receive the sentence of Condemnation neither should I pity nor your hearts spare but see execution upon them that I may take away evil to confess is to speak as God doth to speak together with him to see sin to sentence sin as the Lord doth To make a ful relation of a sin and yet the heart to maintain
ken of Salvation That crooked things must be made straight before any flesh can see the salvation of the Lord. There be crookings of carnal reason in the heart of every man naturally it was the great Ingredient into the first sin of Adam and hath been his Curse ever since to find out findings Eccles. 7. last to invent inventions to make an escape from the Truth and so to walk in the vanity of their own mind and unless the Lord heat a man in the fire of his fury hold him upon the Anvil beat him and break him by the hammer of the Law in this work of Contrition this crookedness wil never be removed nor he come within the sight of Salvation and it 's made one part of the description of a man that is out of the path of peace Isay 59. 8. They have made their 〈◊〉 crooked By way of REPROOF It dasheth that dream of the wicked and cursed imagination of carnal men who conceit that to fal under the foot of contempt according to the desert of our evil doings they conceive it a point of greatest dispar agement and wickedness that can be imagined and to take up 〈◊〉 abode in that abased condition either by some reach of policy not to prevent such an evil or when it doth befal to be shistless as to sink under it and not to be able to struggle out they look at such and leave it upon Record in their Observation as very simplicians such as are destitute either of wit or courage to swallow down such indignities and never be sick of them these persons they note as feeble and the 〈◊〉 base A hellish delusion directly contrary to the truth here delivered and the practice of these Converts now truly broken-hearted with Godly sorrow for their sins That which issues from the power and work of Gods Spirit upon the soul it argues neither feebleness nor 〈◊〉 and such is this practice and therefore it argues neither 1. Not feebleness because it is of a conquering of a commanding power and that against the greatest forces of sin and Satan which they bring into the field our own carnal ends and high conceited excellency of our worth the seeking our selves and setting up our own persons and names and praises are the very stumps of Dagon which stand longest the very heart blood of the body of death the high and overweening thoughts of the Soveraignty of our wils and worth they are the holds of Satan to batter down the strong holds and to make us lie down in the dust and to be abased in the sight of God and man in quiet subjection is indeed to subdue the power of darkness a work unto which we must be enabled by the power of the Almighty far beyond the might of al Creatures much less shal feebleness be able ever to compass it if thou conceitest it is so easie go thy waies and do thou likewise Alas poor deluded Creature it 's such a task that thy heart misgives thee at the very on-set and thou art never able to turn thy hand to it thou must have allowance from thy lusts and stubbornness of thy own heart and ask leave of thy pride and vain glory and when al is done thou canst not so much as fain a confession such a slave and underling thou art to thy sinful distempers even slavery it self that they wil not suffer thee to speak a word to cross thine own way ward spirit and condemn the wretchedness of thy carnal carriage which by the power of the spirit of contrition these poor Servants of the Lord can do not verbally but really and seriously as in the sight of God Which shews there is more than the strength of a mans self that must 〈◊〉 yea destroy a mans self that is his self pride and praise 2. As there is no feebleness in this so neither is there the least baseness in so blessed a service and work of such excellency as this is a behavior truly honorable and such as indeed beseems persons of the greatest account with God and man 〈◊〉 were the diamond in Solomons Crown Eccles. 1. 1. The words of a soul gathered to his people the son of David King in Jerusalem they were titles of honor but this was the top of al. It was a higher soveraignty to bewail his sin and seek unfeyned reconciliation to the Church and by serious and thorough satisfaction to 〈◊〉 acceptance than to sit in the throne of Israel by that he was above his subjects by this he was above himself by that he had power over his people by 〈◊〉 he prevayled over the power of darkness hel devils distempers by that he was above the Kingdom ruled it according to his own wil by this he is above his wil which was above the King yea above his corruption and lusts who lorded over wil and King and Kingdom and al. Yea this is so eminent a service however it seems other to the deluded minds of men it makes way for the 〈◊〉 pitch of al that happiness we ever hope to obtayn here on earth or hereafter in heaven 1 Cor. 15. 28. the pinacle of al perfection unto which we can be advanced 〈◊〉 that God may be al 〈◊〉 all 〈◊〉 when a sinner lyes under the foot of loathsomness hath nothing doth nothing receives nothing 〈◊〉 himself unworthy to be looked at worthy to be loathed of heaven earth Now God is al in al not onely 〈◊〉 al for him such is his nothingness in himself but here is the glory of al power wisdom and mercy to overcom his unworthyness and to make him fit to receive any thing besides look at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 work it self 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 greatest victory and those must be the greatest conquerors of al who have conquered and made spoyl of al the Glory of the world The heathen King wished there were more worlds to conquer he that is willing to bewail his sins and take shame for them he hath conquered al those worlds and the conqueror himself and those high thoughts that conquered him it s a degree above glory willingly to be content to want it than indeed to enjoy it Ground of EXAMINATION and TRIAL If we would ever gain assurance or bring in evidence and proof to oure own souls and others that indeed our hearts have been broken for our sins and so turned from our sins in a saving manner unto God here in the kingdom of Grace that we may undoubtedly assure our selves that we shal see his face in glory in another world try thy heart and condition by the former truth lay thy soul level to the doctrine formerly delivered if thou findest this work of God thou mayest undoubtedly conclude there is the spirit of God And however it seems so mean in the eyes of men yet the greater the power of the Almighty is seen in it to lay mountains low and level the hand of the Lord must do this
wil pass the sentence of shame upon it as the just fruit of our evil doings and as a means so sanctified to work a hatred against it in our selves and to remove the scandal of it from others and therefore strives not by restless cavils and evasions to make an escape from the evidence of the Word in the work of Conviction when a mans errors should be discovered nor yet doth repine at nor bear a privy grudg after the conviction lies not under the Truth as the 〈◊〉 upon the rack which he therefore bears not because indeed he cannot help himself against it with all the troublesom 〈◊〉 he can use but his soul inwardly approves of that word which judgeth his person and practice vile as himself doth Thus the word in the Original which sign sies confession properly 〈◊〉 to speak as God speaks to judg as God judgeth of his sin this hath been the constant guize of the Saints touched sincerely with remorse for their sin A word snibs David Thou art the man presently I have sinned saith he A wink or a look of the Lord Jesus makes Peter lie at his foot Go out and weep bitterly who had immediately before in a faithless cowardice basely denied him As it is with a Steed of a tender mouth feels his Bit 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 check of the Rider staies him turns him which way he wil So it is with a tender Conscience fals under the greatest shame that the least evidence of Argument wil check him withal So Ezekiah though i. were a sharp word and the threatening 〈◊〉 Isai. 39. last yet saies he The Word of the Lord is a good Wond my heart is naught my carriage naught my apprehensions naught and erroneous but the Word of the Lord is good and the holy Apostle in that inward combate speaks in the Name of all the Saints in the like case Rom. 7. 14. For we know that the Law is spiritual holy and good WE i. e. all that know God the work of his Grace the purity of the Truth they and I and al confess the Law is Spiritual that is for ever to be honored loved obeyed but I am carnal a good and holy Law but an evil and unholy heart true it is that carnal and hollow-hearted Hypocrites may somtimes have their Consciences so far awed with the Soveraign power of the Truth that they may yield 〈◊〉 thereunto and in outward appearance readily profess their approbation thereof with the condemnation of themselves and their own courses because they have no other way to gain ease and quiet to their own Consciences now clamoring against them or their acceptance with men their carriages being gross and inexcusable and therefore must so far bear the shame because he sees he cannot excuse his folly or sin being so open but he shal be accounted impudent in denying and sinning but al this while his heart is carried with an inward distast against it and by a privy spleen imbittered so as to conspire secretly the disparagement of it As it fared with those treacherous Jews when they saw no way and therefore had no hope to take away the life of Paul by open violence then they did cunningly plot it by a color of fair pretence and carried it thus Acts 23. 14. They would have him brought down out of the Castle as though they would enquire somthing more perfectly of him and we ere ever he come neer will be ready to kill him So these fals-hearted Creatures make it by their 〈◊〉 pretences that they would enquire more perfectly concerning the Truth the Servant craves Counsel how he should subdue the ruggedness of his Spirit the froward wife how she should overcome her way ward peevish 〈◊〉 they wil enquire more perfectly as though they would obey perfectly submit perfectly be perfect Servants wives c. But alas there is a conspiracy in their hearts against the strict waies of God So it was with Balaam he hath never done sacrificing to enquire the wil of God and yet his heart inwardly opposeth and resists his wil and this shewed it self in open violence and contempt of the Command and Charge Numb 24. 1. A heart content to take the shame is not offended with the party friend or enemy that wil lay the shame upon him he knows it is the burden which he ought to 〈◊〉 and if therefore any man wil give him a lift and help him to take it up he wil take it kindly at his hands It 's against common sence to conceive that one should be offended with another or take it grievously that he doth any thing which he knows would and he conceives wil give him content No man can be offended in Reason with the party for such a carriage or doing such a thing wherein he is contented and with which he is pleased True it is shame in it self is exceeding distastful to flesh and blood and in truth nothing more cross and contrary to an ingenious spirit Praise is the priviledg and prerogative of a reasonable Agent who acts by Counsel and therefore other Creatures are not so capable of it nor do we give it as their due we commend not the fire for burning heavy things for falling donward they cannot but do their work and therefore no praise no thanks to them for their deed but Agents as Men and Angels who work by Counsel who have wit and wisdom to contrive several waies conceive the best and wil and care to follow that when they might have done other out of their liberty Shame therefore crossing a man in his special priviledg his proper free hold it must in it self be very grievous and a tedious burden but as he sees his duty in it and the good that comes by it and withal his just desert by reason of his vileness he is not offended with the presence of the Chirurgeon but he is glad to see him and his 〈◊〉 though sharp and 〈◊〉 which may lance his imposthume and so save his 〈◊〉 whenas a naughty heart who would not have another take away his 〈◊〉 he is vexed inwardly at the least that he laies the shame and disparagement upon him for it See this odds in those two Kings Ahab and 〈◊〉 the one a self-seeking deluded 〈◊〉 when he was under the whip and terror of Gods stroak and wrath he then humbles his soul fasts and praies and that in print as it were acts his part in that extraordinary duty with outward 〈◊〉 and therefore in reason it cannot but be conceived he bewailed his sin confessed his failings and yet he that hated Elijah 1 Kings 21. 20. he hates also Micaiah 1 Kings 22. 8. There is yet one Micaiah q. d. We are rid of the most of them but yet One is our vexation and I hate him because he hates my sin and wil never speak good that is speak that which pleaseth my corruption and therefore displeaseth me But good Jehosaphat he was not willing to hear his words
a proud heart he must labor to humble him he must apply a salve fitting for the sore 2. And he must be faithful in keeping secret the sin that is laid open to him that nothing may fly abroad no not after his death except it be in some cases Now what remains but that you al be moved to take up this duty and provoke your hearts freely to confess your evil wayes to which purpose let me give you three motives First because it is a very honourable thing and wil exceedingly promote the cause of a Christian you wil hardly yield to this on the sudden a man thinks that if the Minister knew his vileness he wil abhor him for it but I assure you bretheren then is nothing that doth more set forth the honor of a Christian and win the love of a Minister than this Indeed it is a shame to commit sin but no shame to confess sin upon good grounds nay when the heart comes kindly off its 〈◊〉 to see how a faithful Minister wil approve of such persons his love is so great towards them Oh saith the Minister it did me good to hear that man confess so freely I hope the Lord hath wrought kindly in him certainly now he is in the way to happiness Oh how I love him I could be 〈◊〉 to put that man in my bosom whereas this overly and loos dealing of yours is loathsom to us do you think we perceive it not yes we may feel it with our fingers and when you are gone I tel you what we thinke surely that man is an 〈◊〉 he hath an hollow heart he is not willing to take shame to himself for his sin his confession never came to the bottom 〈◊〉 is a 〈◊〉 of great 〈◊〉 I take this to be the onely cause why many a man goes troubled and gets neither comfort in the pardon 〈◊〉 his sin nor strength against it 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 not off kindly in this 〈◊〉 of confession when you do nakedly open your sins to a faithful Minister you go out in battle against sin and you have a second in the field to stand by you but especially there is comfort in this particular 〈◊〉 the Minister wil discover the lusts and deceits of your heart which you could not find out and he wil lay open the 〈◊〉 of Satan and that means of comsort that you never knew I am able to speak it by experience this hath broke the neck of many a soul even because he would go out in single combat against Satan and do what he could not revealing himself to others for help was overthrown for ever As it is with the impostumed part of a mans body when a man lets out some of the corrupt matter and so skins it over never healing it to the bottom at last it cankers inwardly and comes to a gangrene and the part must be cut off or else a man is in danger of his life so when you let out some corruptions by an overly confession but suffer some bosom lust to remain stil as malice or uncleanness c. then the soul cankers and Satan takes possession of it and the soul is carried into fearful abominations Many have fallen foully and lived long in their sins and al because they would not confess freely therefore as you desire to find out the deceitfulness of your corruptions confess them from the bottom of your souls This open and free confession may maintain the secrecy of the soul for the onely way to have a mans sins covered is to confess them that so they may 〈◊〉 be brought upon the stage before al the world Oh saith one this is contrary to common reason we are afraid to have our sins known that is our trouble we keep our sins close because we would preserve our honor I say the onely way for Secrecy is to reveal our sins to some faithful Minister for if we confess our sins God wil cover them if you take shame to your selves God wil honor you but if you wil not confess your sins God wil break open the dore of your hearts and let in the light of his truth and the convicting power of his spirit and make it known to men and Angels to the shame of your persons for ever If Judas had taken notice of his sin and yeelded to Christs accusation and desired some conference with Christ privately and said good Lord I am that Judas that hel-hound that have received mercy from thee in the outward means and have been entertained among thy people yet it is I that have taken the thirty pence Lord pardon this sin and let this iniquitie never be 〈◊〉 to my charge I doubt not but though Judas his soul could not be saved because that now we know Gods decree of him yet God would have saved him from the publick shame that was cast upon him for it but he did not so but hid his malice in his heart and professed great matters of love to Christ and killed him thus he thought to cover his 〈◊〉 wisey but what become of that the Lord forced him to come and throw down his thirty pieces and to vomit out his sin to the everlasting shame of his person I have sinned sayes he in betraying innocent blood So you that keep your sins as sugar under your tongues you wil be loos and unclean and malicious and covetous stil wel you wil have your thirty pieces stil and they are layed up safe as Achans wedg of gold 〈◊〉 remember this God wil one day open the closets of your hearts and lay you upon your death-beds and then happily you wil prove mad and vomit up al were it not better to confess your sins to some faithful Minister now If you wil not give the Lord his glory he wil distrain for it and have it from your heart blood as Julian the Apostat said when the arrow was shot into his heart he plucked it 〈◊〉 and cryed saying Thou Galilean thou hast overcome me the Lord distrained for his glory and had it out of his heart blood We are now come to the last Doctrine layd forth in the words and that is The soul that is truly pierced with Godly sorrow for sin is carryed with a restless dislike against it and separation from it This is the main thing that was in the eye and aym of these 〈◊〉 and intended principally in their complaint Men and bretheren the sins which you have discovered we cannot but own and therefore we do confess them openly and freely in the sight of God and you his servants and the dangers which you have also made known by reason thereof we cannot but expect the evils are great which we fear oh the sins are far worse by which we have offended what shal we do direct any thing we wil follow it command any thing we wil obey and submit thereunto with glad hearts that we may be rid of those evils It
the lusts of men and the will of the Gentiles yea fulfil the desires of the flesh and walk after the Prince of the Air. Eph. 2. 2. As a man cannot turn himself so this first Aversion from sin and the Creature is not wrought by any gracious habit that is put into the soul by the Lord i. e. That is not the way and means by which this first Aversion and turning from sin is wrought And the Reasons are First All gracious qualities and habits as all other accidents and attendants upon things never have any being but in a subject and therefore must first be there before they can put forth any operation Wisdom must first be in the mind before a man can act wisely Skil must be in the Head and Understanding of the Artificer before he can work build and plant skilfully Holiness Righteousness Patience in our Hearts before we can work holily patiently and that 's the Reason though we have the same faculties of mind and wil before our Conversion as we have after yet we neither do nor can put forth any gracious action before but after Grace Hence it follows That if the first Aversion from sin were wrought by a habit of Grace we should first have this i. e. The Habit of Grace should be in the soul before it should work this Aversion of the soul from sin but that implies a contradiction that a man should have Grace and yet be wholly averted from God for the least moment Secondly If the soul be uncapable in that condition and under that consideration to receive the Habit of Grace then there cannot be a gracious habit in the soul to work any thing but while the soul is wholly possessed and acted by sin it is not capable of a gracious habit no more than it 's possible to be in light and darkness together The wisdom of the Flesh is enmity against God it is not subject nay it cannot be subject to the Law if not subject then it cannot receive the gracious impressions of it Rom. 8. 7. and John 14. 17. it 's said of the Comforter that the world cannot receive him the issue is if a gracious Habit neither is nor can be there in the soul wholly possessed and averted from God by sin then this Aversion from sin cannot be wrought by it Though the Lord doth not put a gracious habit INTO the Soul by which this may be done yet the Spirit of Contrition puts forth an irresistible power by which it works UPON the Soul thus turned from God to sin to return it from sin to God For the Spirit in the Work of Application sustains a double Office and so a double Respect As a Spirit Assisting As a Spirit Inhabiting And yet the same Spirit of Regeneration in such as shall be saved taking Regeneration in the breadth thereof including the whol Work though the operation be double or divers according to the diversity of the subject as the soul of a sinner upon which the work of Application must be made according to the degrees thereof The Spirit works upon the Soul in Preparation to make way for gracious habits but never inhabits the heart makes the soul a Temple without some gracious qualisication 1 Cor. 6. 18 19. Ye are the Temples of the holy Ghost Christ dwels in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. there is the Spirit inhabiting yet it is said The world cannot receive the Spirit because they do not see him nor know him but you know him for he dwels in you and abides with you John 14. 17. yet those who are nothing for the while but the world the Spirit doth work upon such to cal them out of the world by turning of them from darkness to light The Lord Christ as the Second Adam and the Head of those whom he shal bring back and beget unto God the Father in the vertue of his death he brings a Release from under the hand of Divine Justice to reverse that Commission which sin and Satan had to fasten the soul to the Creature and so to sin and by sin and the Creature to rule in it For when Adam jarred and justled against the Law the Law was strong and hard i. e. just the Law and the Lord in Justice pushed Adam away from him sin takes occasion to fall in and by that advantage when Divine Justice by reason of his provocation pushed him away it carries him to the Creature and the Devil by sin and the Creature challengeth Soveraignty over him The Lord Jesus by and in the vertue of his death suffering and satisfying Divine Justice delivers both himself and his from the Authority of sin God raised him from the Grave because it was impossible be should be held by the sorrows and power of the grave and therefore not by the power of sin and darkness Acts 2. 24. for they had no power but by vertue of Divine Justice which being now appeased their Commission is reversed and repealed By Death Christ destroyed him that had the power of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2. 14. So our Savior gives the ground of comfort and release to his I was dead and 〈◊〉 alive and behold I have the keyes of Hell and Death Rev. 1. 18. The Lord saies to sin hands off that soul is mine and doth therefore by the power of his Spirit not only stop the work-of sin but over-bears and abolisheth and takes off the right of Rule which Satan by sin challenged he brings the soul off from the Soveraignty of sin into another Jurisdiction The Lord having forced the sinner whereof I formerly disputed to feel sin as it is sin to be cross to the end of his being though not to the corruption of the soul yet to the Nature of the soul and therefore as it 's possible that the soul may be forced to 〈◊〉 so now upon feeling the soul finds it to be a most bitter thing and that unto the being of the soul as an immortal Creature made next for God as its last end And therefore Observe though it want Spiritual and Supernatural ability to enter into combate or vanquish a corruption by any Grace received yet being sensible by the Spirit of Contrition of the evil of it and so loosened from it it becomes subject stands readily prepared to 〈◊〉 any impression of the power of the Spirit whereby the exercise and power of sin may be stopped the challenge of any right of Rule and Soveraignty may be shaken off and for ever destroyed and the soul be carried to God in Christ to be owned ruled and blessed for ever So that when Christ as the Second Adam and Head of the Covenant comes to take a soul and to 〈◊〉 him from sin to God the Father look by what irresistable power he acts in opposition and 〈◊〉 against it as cross to his Glory the soul wanting power of its own it takes advantage to fall in
and therefore the true convert sets himself most to seek the ruin and rooting out of them which would have wrought the ruin of his soul but there he rests not but what ever sins come within his reach 〈◊〉 labors the removal of them out of the familyes 〈◊〉 he dwels out of the plantations where he lives out 〈◊〉 the companies and occasions with whom he hath occasion to meet and meddle at any time he that 〈◊〉 treason indeed pursues the pack of conspirators 〈◊〉 ever they become until there be not one remaining 〈◊〉 the Nation open both these a little 1 He labors the destruction of sin in his own 〈◊〉 and that two wayes 1. He doth what he can himself 2. He seeks for help from others that they may send in new supply of forces to do what he cannot He sets himself to the utmost of his power to procure the utter ruine of his lusts as 〈◊〉 enemies if there be a settled hatred indeed they are not satisfyed until they have the blood of each other So it is here It s not to weaken the work of sin to stop the spreading of it to confine the compass of it to some private course or yet to imprison 〈◊〉 by restraint that it may not stir abroad nor yet have the liberty of the prison but be layed aside as the malifactor in the dungeon no this hatred seeks the death and the not being of it and until then its restless in pursuit As David with his enimies Psal. 78. 37. I have pursued mine enimies and overtaken them neither did I turn again until they were consumed A contrite heart deals so with his distempers He ceaseth not until he see his desire upon his 〈◊〉 until he hath his wil of him And if we view the expression of the scripture we shal see how hatred vents itself against such as be enimies whose destruction it intends partly by 〈◊〉 partly by conspiracy it s said of the Egiptians that God turned their hearts to hate his people and the fruit of that is in the following words and they dealt subtilly with them what that subtilty was the text discovers Exod. 1. 10. first they oppressed them with heavy burdens then they plotted by trechery to kil their males in the birth that so in issue they might take away their strength and numbers also in the issue 〈◊〉 is subtilty which is one way how hatred expresseth itself Againe if we look Psal. 83. 2 to 6. the enemies of the Lord and his Church who 〈◊〉 his hidden ones 〈◊〉 have consulted together with one consent and are confederate Moab Ammon and 〈◊〉 c. there is a combination of al policies and power to overbear and destroy them This is the nature of hatred when it is disordred and unwarrantable in a wrong way and the exercise and expression of it wil be in some measure proportionable When it s put forth in a right manner according to the rule of God and the operation of his spirit against sin The contrite soul when it s carried with this hateful detestation against its own abominations by a spiritual kind of prudence observes where the first stirrings and male strength of our corruptions appear in the birth and breeding of them in our minds and hearts where the root 〈◊〉 spawn of those loathsom abominations have their warming and hatching in the heart There hatred improves al prudence that may be to stifle those distempers in the first stirrings of them crush the Cockatrice in the shel kil the Serpent in the egg that they may never have being nor be brought forth into the world if it be possible But if by policy these spiritual enemies cannot be undermined then this hatred brings the combined forces of confederated power of the whol man his whol endeavor to destroy the nests of those noysom lufts what head can contrive heart desire handwork the endeavor accomplish head and heart and hand desires endeavors tears prayers in a deadly feud to pursue the 〈◊〉 enemyes to their not being Thus he doth what he can in himself and when that is not enough 〈◊〉 seeks for help against these hellish abominations from God by his Saints and al such ordinances which he hath appointed for his succour In a word the carriage of the heart of a contrite sinner under this kindly hatred thus discovers it self he is willing to attend any means but gives most welcome to such as wil do most execution in the slaughter and destruction of his sins for that is his ayme nor wil he complement with the Lord nor is he squeamish 〈◊〉 stomached that each dispensation must answer his expectation point vice or else it wil not down As it was with Naaman when Courtier-like-state-complement more prevailed with him than his own health I had thought he would have come and layd his hand upon 〈◊〉 and called upon his God so if the counsel be suggested in such a 〈◊〉 and such intimations the admonition with such meekness or by such a man c. then he can hear and receive otherwise he wil be wel contented rather to quarrel with the manner that crosseth him than embrace the truth which may help hmi against his sin no this is far from a contrite heart he passeth not much how or what the means are or manner of the dispensation if he find it to give a deadly blow to his distemper it s that which pleaseth him he can easily pass by al the rest as be the person never so mean and 〈◊〉 to the service or the time unseasonable as in Abigail A General upon his design to be crossed and countermanded by a woman A spirit that had not been very under and hated his sin more than any enemy would have found many cavils but he saw how it suited the slaughter of his sins and he receives it gladly nay be the manner rude and rugged either not suiting the place of him that speaks nor the person to whom it s spoken yet the broken heart takes it quietly As in that of Joab to David 2. Sam. 19. 5. 6. 7. though the physick was good it was too hot yet because it was wholsom the King took it down nay when neither the person nor manner nor matter it self which is spoken are answerable to the service yet if he sees the hand of God to come out against his corruptions he takes that advantage against his distemper and passeth by the other 2 Sam. 16. 7. 11. when Shimei cursed David let him alone saith he the Lord hath bidden him curse it may be the Lord wil look upon me for good c. As Saul entertained the message of the Ziphites concerning David whom he hated and whose death he hunted after 1 Sam. 23. 19. then came the Ziphites to Saul saying doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood in the hill of Hackelah now therefore O King come down according to al the desire of thy heart and
poysoned with sin blessed 〈◊〉 ye when men persecute you and hate you and speak al manner of evil of you falsly Math. 5. 12. could men speak al evil and do al evil against us and let 〈◊〉 do that 〈◊〉 is sinful to deserve it these cannot hinder our blessedness but encrease it Matter of bitter COMPLAINT to see how few there be in the world who ever knew what this hatred of sin meant And therefore yet were never 〈◊〉 with any sound broken heartedness for it such as Job 〈◊〉 of who hide their corruptions under their tongues as 〈◊〉 pleasant morsel spare it and wil not forsake it Instead of hating their sin they hate the word that would discover it the Minister that preacheth against it the man the Magistrate the Law that would reform it Instead of loathing their sins they loath the 〈◊〉 of the lives the exactness of the wayes of such who indeed set themselves most against sinful carriages once cross them in their courses you have stirred a 〈◊〉 nest they ruin al on heaps This is a 〈◊〉 stone of the truth of 〈◊〉 work of contrition whether 〈◊〉 Lord have left the mighty impression of this preparative 〈◊〉 upon the soul of a sinner That the league betwixt the heart and 〈◊〉 lusts is 〈◊〉 not alone 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of evil nor yet to avoyd and go aside from the occasion that may lead to it under some present pang but thou hast put off the love of sining why blessed be God the combination is come to naught sorrow hath 〈◊〉 the knot and union betwixt thy soul and thy darling 〈◊〉 This hatred breaks the knot and union fully thou art now divorced from thy former lovers thou fearest the approach of them rather choosest to see the blood of them than to enjoy the presence of them Stay but Gods time and be perswaded in his best season he wil take thee into the bosom of his love which wil be better than life it self to thee Thou art in the hand of Jesus and under his charge he that hath rescued thee from the rage of the Devils and from the right that sin ever claymed in thee he wil never loose his labor nor shalt thou loose thy 〈◊〉 and happiness in the issue He hath bound the strong man the strongest of thy corruptions that heretofore have too much and too easily prevayled with thee had got thy affection and the strong holds of thy heart those strong temptations and 〈◊〉 by which Satan as by so many garrison souldiers maintayned possession in thy soul yet now this strong man is bound his holds battered and his garrison abandoned So that there is a spoyl made of al his goods the temptations that formerly found entertainment they are now abhorred his suggestions delusions that found easy entertance acceptance are now loathed and thy heart set against them the Lord Christ is now about to own thee as his proper possession and then he wil never part with thee more thy heart trembles at the least inkling of the return of thy distempers seeks the destruction and would see the not being art a weary of life meerly because they live and art resolved never to entertayn terms of peace with them though thou never seest quiet day in the world 〈◊〉 the work is the Lord Christs he wil own it it 's true and thorough he wil never leave it until he have brought it to perfection and thy soul to eternal happines but alas this truth as a touchstone shewes the contrition of most in the world to be counterfeit that many have been in the fire heated but never melted as with mettal the parts of it battered but never severed fully the dross from the oar and therefore there can never vessel be be made for any honorable use and service thereof In a word the doctrine passeth sentence of sad condemnation upon four sorts of persons as such who never 〈◊〉 in the work we shal point very briefly at the particulars that each man may take his portion First the CARELES and fearless Christian is cast out of the number of these contrite sinners whom God doth prepare for his Christ and mercy such as walk heedlesly up and down the world not awed with any watchful fear of the temptations and occasions and snares which are layd in their way to entrap them or with the treachery and deceivable lusts which suddenly draw them aside to common neglect of duties which they reform not or transport and carry them with pangs of passions and distempers and they amend not certainly either these know not these to be sins or else do not know them and hate them as direful and dreadful enemies to their souls It could not be but their hearts should shake at the sight of them and the dangerous assaults which they cannot but know if they know them to be 〈◊〉 but they wil hazard their everlasting happiness People who live without watch or fear they have no enemies or no war 〈◊〉 hand and if thou livest in this Laish-like fearless fashion thou never knewest the war of a Christian nor the enemies they have nor art in the condition of a Christian 〈◊〉 hast the heart of a Christian to this hour within thee And therefore Jude so 〈◊〉 those Atheists and sensual wretches who were 〈◊〉 of Gods spirit which are spots in your feasts feeding themselves without fear Jude 22 these are blaynes in the body of the Church spots in the Assemblies of Christians speak without fear in the companies where they converse walk without fear in families where they live walk without fear in the occasions with which they have to deal and the Apostle adds they are withered twice dead and plucked up by the roots far enough from having any spiritual life or any preparation therunto look as in nature reason 〈◊〉 and experience evidenceth if there were a malicious enemy with a puissant and mighty armie now making his approaches to the City and attempting the siege if the allarum should be given by the watch to the City a messenger dispatched to each mans dore if any were so careless that he would not attend or attending the 〈◊〉 stirred not or happily for fashion stirring if yet he labored not by a watchful fear to provide for the assault and attend the 〈◊〉 of command repayr to the place for defence of the City there is no man but would conclude certainly he is a party he is not an enemy to the army that doth besiedg every loyal and faithful subject shakes at the apprehension of the power and rage of the adversary who is now likely to make havock of al and that without mercy so it is here the violence of temptation from without and the strength of corruptions from within fight against the soul thou that are a disobedient child a rebellious self-willy servant a perverse and 〈◊〉 wife an ignorant 〈◊〉 hearer the allarum is given in publick
lust got the will of thy soul and holds it to this day thou art certainly a corrupt and carnal wretched Creature All thy 〈◊〉 carriage and 〈◊〉 entertainment or good language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord Jesus it 's nothing thy lusts have thy heart and Satan hath thy heart by means of them and this is thy condition to this very day It 's 〈◊〉 as experience proves it that he that is the Owner of a Country may be forced by the power of an Enemy 〈◊〉 in upon him to forsake the Skirts and Borders of it but if yet the strong Places 〈◊〉 and Citadels be in his possession which command the Country each man concludes he is Lord and 〈◊〉 of the Country still hecause he hath these 〈◊〉 and strong Forts whereby he can command it at his pleasure As in the Country so in the Rule of a mans Carriage and Conscience possible it is nay ordinary that there may come some 〈◊〉 Power and Evidence of Truth and the Lord may so mightily assault the soul with the Battery of his Word and levy such Forces of Arguments against the prevailing power of sin in our practice as that 〈◊〉 may cause our corruptions to retire and forsake the Frontiers and out-works the tongue and hand and behavior but if yet the will which is the main Castle and hath command of all if that I say be still at league with our Lusts and the power of corruption is there entertained and acknowledged thou art yet under the power of Satan and possession of thy sin The unclean Spirit may now and then go on walking and be cast out from exercising that Sovereignty and extent of Jurisdiction as to act the hand and eye and tongue to the practice of evil but as long as his house is swept and garnished the soul willing to give way and welcom to any bosom distemper he returns again and prevails as much nay more than ever Matth. 12. 43 44 45. Whatever thou hast received if thou hast not a heart against thy sin thou hast nothing will do thee good Whatever thou givest to God or doest for him unless thou givest thy heart unto him and bestow that upon his Service thou doest nothing that will stand thee in any stead The want of this was that which Moses so heavily complained of Deut. 29. 3 4. You have seen all that the Lord hath done for you the signs and wonders that he hath wrought for you yet the Lord hath not given you an heart unto this day As who should say all these will but aggravate your sins and encrease your plagues your naughty hearts will abuse all and bring a Curse upon all the Blessings you enjoy All thy Services without a heart severed from thy sins is but as a dead Sacrisice which the Lord loaths As she to Sampson though he pretended all love yet this she looked at as an evidence of want of love because his heart was not with her How canst thou say thou lovest me when thy heart is not with me So the Lord to all the fair pretences of fals-hearted Professors How can you say you love me when your hearts are not with me you wil not part with your Lusts. But you will reply This is a hard saying who can hear it who can bear it this is all we have to bear up and support our hearts and hopes with True it is our Natures are naught and corrupt our distempers strong infirmities many and failings great we cannot deny that which our actions discover we are too frequently and shamefully snatched aside and surprized by our corruptions and our distempers overbear us yet the Lord knows and we would have you to know we would be other we want power against our distempers yet we want not will to be severed from them So said and so done well and good You profess so prove what you profess and it 〈◊〉 I wish it were so and that 's the worst I wish you but try it then and be sure you do not fail for you are brought to the lowest and the last cast it 's as the Book to the Malefactor This is the very Door of Grace and the Gate of Heaven to be willing to be severed from sin God never wrought upon you for good unless this be wrought in you The Evidences are Four He that is willing to part with his sin is speedy and unweariable in seeking and improving of those means whereby he may get rid of it and which may remove it from him The Will is the great Wheel which sets all and keeps all a going and will cause a man to break through all discouragements and 〈◊〉 that can be cast in the way neither difficulties nor oppositions be they what they will be can either daunt it wholly or put it upon delaies the hands may be bound the feet fetter'd either want of liberties or opportunities may prejudice a 〈◊〉 practice or the opposition may be so 〈◊〉 and fell that may force a man for the while to cease the performance of his work but if the will be setled and resolved that cannot be removed So the Apostle Rom. 7. 18. To will is present with me though he cannot do what he is enjoyned God requires and Duty 〈◊〉 yet he can will what he cannot do so the Prophet David Psal. 119. 4 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy Precepts Oh that my heart were so upright and my waies so directed that I might keep them I do not I cannot do as my Duty is but Oh that I could do so I cannot do as I should yet I cannot but wish it This you shal find when the faithful are at the greatest under when some spiritual damps and qualms come over their hearts yet these privy yernings of their hearts towards God and the waies of his Grace will appear As in a swound when al the acts of the Sences are bound up and the Pulse is not to be perceived yet hold a glass to the mouth of a fainting man and you shal perceive some 〈◊〉 breathing ever So it is when al abilities enlargements seem to fail when temptations desertions and violent surprizal of some venemous distempers take away sence and feeling power and performance yet you shall perceive his breathing if you bring the soul to a Command or a Promise Oh that my heart were so upright Psal. 119. 20. My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy Commandements at all times 〈◊〉 David and 〈◊〉 Paul Rom. 7. 19. The good I would I do not the evil I would not that I do I do evil but I would not do it I do not the good but I would do 〈◊〉 And therefore as blind Bartimaeus when his heart was set to seek the recovery of his sight as soon as he heard that Christ passed by he cryed out Jesus thou son of David have mercy upon me they rebuked him and he cried yet more earnestly thou son of David have mercy
with a little prosit or pleasure nay with a beggerly lust that thy heart takes delight in The Apostle cals it The labor of Love 1 Thes. 1. 3. Love is laborious laies out it self to give content to that which is beloved Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15. Thou dost nothing for the Lord and thy love is very little or else that which is is nothing worth in Gods account Look at the practice of Judas so helluh and detestable as not to be named nor remembred amongst men and the loathsomness that lay in the bottom was this That he sold the Lord Jesus for thirty pieces of silver a goodly price saies the Prophet Zach. 11. 12. Turn but the Tables judg thy practice by this pattern thou sets the Gospel of Christ and the Government of the Spirit of Christ at a far lower rate even the thirtieth part of the price that he set yea sel him to satisfie a base lust or humor of thine own heart It was a just reproach whereby Absalon checked the falsness of Hushas who forsook David as he conceived in his distress and followed his Enemy into the Camp Is this thy love to thy friend to leave him thus in the lurch and do nothing for him in the day of distress The reproof was sharp and just so far as reason could reach but it fals far more justly far more heavily upon thee Is this thy love to the Name of the Lord Jesus that thou should'st slight it to his Law that thou shouldst despise it 〈◊〉 it is this thy love to his Spirit that thou shouldst grieve it and that for a trifle for a twopence for a booty for a bargain which wil make thee a beggar when thou hast got al thou canst gain by it and that when there is no allurement worth the looking after that might entice thee no danger or difficulty that might hinder thee in thy duty and receiving a blessing and comfort therefrom The less the thing is the less care and conscience thou expressest for the good of thine own soul. When thou wilt run the hazard of 〈◊〉 happiness for the gaining of a little profit so many pence in the shilling so many shillings in the pound nay but the giving satisfaction to a lazy sinful sensual humor Alas poor Creature hadst thou no more for thy soul but pence and shillings a little laziness for thy life and happiness and Salvation dost thou value thy soul of no greater worth Our Savior in the Gospel sets a higher price upon it Matth. 16. 25. 26. What will it profit a man if he should win the whol world and lose his own soul 〈◊〉 what shall he give in exchange for his soul q. d. A. man should be a loser by the gain and a begger by the bargain if he had all And yet deluded Creature thou wilt sel thy comfort the peace of thy conscience the salvation of thy soul for a thing of naught The whol world is vanity nothing and less than nothing and thou wilt part with thy happiness for that which is far less than that which is less than nothing When Naaman came to the Prophet to be cured of the Leprosie of his body and so to save his Natural life and he was directed and enjoyned by the Prophet to wash seven times in Jordan he began to take it in distast as a course that was too mean and base for his comfort and Cure Are not saies he the Waters of Pharpar and Damascus better than the Waters of Jordan His Servants seasonably and wisely check the carelessness of his own safety and recovery Had the Prophet commanded thee some great thing would'st thou not have done it How much more when he saith wash and be clean 2 Kings 5. 12 13. The greatest labor should have been undertaken to preserve thy life what carelessness is this to neglect the least that may procure thy safety It 's so here our sick sinful leprous and polluted souls lies now at hazard ready to perish had the Lord enjoyned us to the heaviest task things of greatest danger and difficulty to be done and suffered for the safeguard of 〈◊〉 souls would we not should we not have done them parted with a limb for our lives our lives for our souls and shal we not be willing to part with the paring of our nails these poor empty lying vanities for our everlasting happiness what Athiestical carelessness is this that men should live as if they had no souls to be saved nor sins to be pardoned not care to do the least thing that might procure their everlasting good and greatest welfare The less the things 〈◊〉 in which thou givest thy self liberty to transgress without any touch or trouble the greater the wickedness of thy heart For such a kind of course argues undeniably that thy soul is fully possessed with the sourse of corruption when it runs out at every chink runs over upon every occasion and is 〈◊〉 to the commission of evil And a man is put beyond al color of reason that may excuse or any pretence that might lessen it before God or men It argues the Veins are full of blood when the body bleeds in several parts without provocation It 's certain the channel is full and the stream strong when it fils each creek and goes speedily and swiftly when there is no gale stirring So it 's certain it argues strength of distemper and sourse of sinful corruption in the soul when the heart is carried to the commission of evil upon each trifling occasion that is 〈◊〉 The less the thing is that might draw thee the greater the corruption of thy heart that like a mighty stream transports thee to the practice so that there is no reason to be rendred but only the wretchedness of thy own Spirit why thou fallest into such an evil When the Lord charged the Israelites with the consideration of his kindnesses and their departings from him Judg. 2. 2. he thus presseth them Why have ye done this So when this question shal be put to thee Why art thou lazy in thy place careless of a command so easie to be done so dayly before thine eye that thou canst not but attend it Why dost thou outreach in thy dealings cheat in thy sellings Why there is nothing to be alleadged but the poysonous impostumes of corruption that break out of thy heart when there is no temptation without to provoke a man no bait to entice him no fear of evil on the one side to force him to sin to avoid danger there is no weight of worth in any profit or pleasure by thine own confession that might justly stir thee or take thee aside to go against Justice Command Conscience thy own Comforts and 〈◊〉 There is nothing but the power of thine own lusts the perversness of thine own will the strength and distemper of thine own affections that 〈◊〉 and hurries thee to the Commission of such