that are meanest in their own apprehensions Such shall understand this secret and partake in it to sit on Thrones as crowned Kings and Queens for evermore Vse 3. Lastly What transcending Comfort doth this Truth and Text afford to all troubled Minds Such I mean as have been stayed by Divine Power when they were running towards Hell in all sorts of Vanity and Prodigality and had been there ere this had not God in Christ been more merciful to them than they were careful about their own safety If the King should vouchsafe to speak to a mean Person before many what an honour would it be what ravishing thoughts would arise and what applause would it procure How much more should it be so here when the King of Kings speaks and that unto the Heart of a forlorn Creature comfortably I have heard thy Prayer I have seen thy Tears behold I will heal thee c. so the Lord spake unto the Heart of Hezekiah 2 Kings 20.5 Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a memorial before God c. so the Lord spake unto the Heart of Cornelius Acts 10.4 And how often did our blessed Lord and compassionate Saviour Jesus Christ raise up disconsolate Souls with such words as these Son be of good chear thy Sins be forgiven thee Daughter great is thy Faith go in peace thy Faith hath made thee whole Yea all the precious Promises are such Cordials See Prov. 28.13 Who so confesseth and forsaketh his Sins shall find Mercy Job 33.27 28. He looketh upon Man and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which is right and it profiteth me not he will deliver his Soul from going into the Pit c. Isa 1.18 Come now let us reason together saith the Lord though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow c. Chap. 55. ver 7. Let the Wicked forsake his way and the Righteous Man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have Mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Mich. 7.19 He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our Iniquities and cast all their Sins into the bottom of the Sea Hos 14.4 5. I will heal their Back-slidings I will love them freely Mal. 4.2 To them that fear my Name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his Wings Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Rom. 8.1 Now therefore there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ c. 1 John 1.9 Rev. 21.6 So almost in every Book of that holy Volume may be found such Stars of Light such pieces of Treasure such Bezar-stones to keep sick Souls from fainting under their Sins and Sorrows Promises wherein the Lord speaks something to the Hearts of believing Penitents to this effect The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's Head Whatsoever Christ did or suffered was for you by his satisfaction God is reconciled to you all your Sins are pardoned and your Souls shall be saved This is to speak to the Heart of a poor Sinner Now as some Artificers after long poring upon a piece of Black Work and finding a dimness in their Eyes are wont to refresh themselves with the beholding the Verdure of Meadows or lustre of Emeralds so let poor Penitents wearied and heavy laden with the consideration of their Sins for their refreshment make use of those Gospel-Cordials the Promises they will be chearing to the Eye of Faith But 't is sufficiently known that those to whom this Comfort belongs are most ready to put it from them as none of their Portion The troubled Spirit makes Darts of every thing it can to fight against Reason and kill it self not suspecting its own Poyson The conclusion therefore of this subject shall endeavour to prevent that mischief by proposing and answering some Cases which may contain the complaints of such troubled Spirits Object 1. My Sins have been so many and great that I fear to apply any Promise Answ Nay therefore you should be the more ready and willing to apply this Lord come unto me for I am a sinful Man and have most need of help Save me Lord or I perish Greater Sins should hasten all to the Mercy Seat the greater Wounds to the Physician No Man flies his Counsel because his Cause is great and intricate but plies him the more Especially while you consider the extent of his Power and Love who speaketh His Power passeth the nature and number of your Sins whatever they be Christ is a great Saviour He is called a Mighty Saviour and the Salvation in him is called Great Salvation and the Redemption in him Great Redemption 1 John 2.1 If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous And for his Love that extends to all sorts of Penitents to Manasses Mary Magdalen to the Romans and Corinthians to foul Sinners griping Oppressors sharp Persecutors Sinners in the highest form 1 John 2.2 And he is the Propitiation for our Sins c. In the Levitical Law there were Sacrifices for all sorts of Sins and what did they prefigure but the ample efficacy in Christ's Death which was an Atonement for Sins of all kinds and was as the daily Sacrifice for the Expiation of the continued and augmented number of Transgressions Even where Sin hath abounded there Grace hath after much more abounded So if you consider the nature of those Promises made unto distressed Souls both for Constitution and Condition For Constitution they are absolutely free no Foreign Power to enforce them from him that made them nor any Natural Abilities in Man to reserve them And for Condition they are Evangelical bringing with them what they require of you Be of good comfort when he calleth you fear not refuse not to receive what he offereth Say rather Speak Lord and speak home for thy Servant desireth to hear Object 2. But alas it is pleaded my Corâ—â—ptions have been and are strong and abominaâ—â—â—â— that I know not what to do Answ The sense of Sin 's strength is no â— hopeful symptom nor prejudice to Faith â—f all tempers the hardned is most dangeâ—â—us and Sin hath the greatest strength â—here there is the least sense When a Patiâ—â—t is deadly sick he saith and thinks he is â—ell and feels no pain but when he is reâ—â—vering he is full of sense and complains â—s Head is weak his Stomach sick his Bones â—me all is amiss every thing is too hard â—â— him There is more hope of one sensible â—â—nner than of a thousand presumptuous â—â—rdned Wretches Sense of Sin doth ever â—â— before sense of Christ Besides the powâ—â— of God's Voice will weaken them and â—â—e Efficacy of his Spirit mortifie and subâ—â—e them Here it may be said as it was of â—â—thage a little before it was taken Moriâ—â—ium bestiarum violentiores esse morsus dying â—asts
the Great Rich Learned Stars of the first magnitude or the greatest Letters of the Alphabet and civil Formalists of the World to pitch on poor mean and ignorant Wretches Where Sin hath abounded Grace doth super-abound Surgunt indocti rapiunt Coelum c as Augustin speaks the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence from the poor lost Sheep while others puffed up with their conceited Riches of Knowledg and Holiness dreaming of Self-sufficiency are kept out and thrust down into Hell If he should do otherwise and call only those in whose Policy and Life could be seen some outward Goodness to shine forth Men would believe what some cannot forbear to say that it is the work of Men that obliges God to call them and if in rigour they be not worthy of this Favour they merit it at least in a seemliness of Equity and Congruity as they speak of it in the Schools of Rome And therefore further we may conceive it is to proclaim the Freeness of his Grace no natural Abilities can merit it nor any Sin hinder the bestowing of it The Wind bloweth where it listeth Nos solemus eligere digniores at Deus ut ostendat suam electionem non ex nostris meritis sed ex solâ sua gratiâ fieri solitus est indigniores eligere Zanch. i. e. Men chuse the most worthy but the Lord chuseth the most unworthy to shew that his Choice is not grounded on our Merits but on his own free Grace Secondly It is for the Instruction of the Church And so 1. That no Flesh should glory in his Presence but that the Glory might be wholly ascribed to the Lord whose only work it must needs be acknowledged in such Libertines There is nothing to merit nor any preventing Abilities stirring to share with the Lord in this Work And indeed the Lord's power is most manifest in reclaiming such wild Prodigals in washing such Blackmoors changing such Leopards Digitus Dei All that see and hear may wonder and say It is the Finger of God or as Protogenes said of a curious Line which he saw drawn in a Painter's Shop None but Apelles could draw this none but God could do this It is a Work worthy of none but of him who can do what he will and will do what he hath purposed This is indeed the great Miracle of the World to change Lions into Lambs Sinks into Fountains Thorns into Roses Mercy is never so resplendent as over Misery The Ice of Winter makes the Beauty of the Spring Darkness contributes to the Lustre of Light nor is the Sun more bright than after an Eclipse Thus Grace which is the Splendor of Eternal Light makes it self to be seen in more triumph where it hath subdued most Iniquity And Praise will be more fully ascribed to him by such as could deserve no favour both occasionally and practically Occasionally in regard of others who are stirred up thereby to admire his Power to magnify his Love and to hope for acceptance upon their unfeigned submission And practically in respect of themselves who are commonly more humble and thankful zealous and watchful ever after Observe such as have drank deep of the deceitful Cup of Rebellion and Prodigality and after come to taste of the bitter Potion of sound Humiliation and say whether you do not find them of an excellent temper Paul being made sensible of himself as the greatest of Sinners how passionatly doth he break forth to admire the Love and Mercy of God! I was a Blasphemer a Persecutor and injurious but by the Grace of God I am what I am And this Grace bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly c. Where you see his diligence in redeeming the Time and ascribing his Change wholly to the Grace of God 2. That none in the Church should despair especially among those in whom the Offer of Mercy hath stirred up any desire after Grace This Reason is rendred by the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.16 For this cause I obtained Mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all Long-suffering for a Pattern to them which should after believe on him to Life everlasting He that seemed to be an Epitome an Abridgment of all Wickedness obtained Mercy for this cause that Jesus Christ might shew forth all Long-suffering i. e. evidence by full demonstration so that all might see and say There is Mercy with Christ that he may be feared yea Mercy rejoycing over Judgment Though your Sins be in number like a Cloud and for quality like Crimson or Scarlet Yet come let us reason together saith the Lord and I will make them white as Snow or Wooll Yea they shall be as tho they had never been Sin is finite in respect of matter but Divine Mercy is infinite The Consideration of this Disproportion should be a powerful Loadstone to draw Sinners to Repentance it should be as a Cork to the Net to keep the Heart from sinking into despair it should be an Antidote to keep that Poison from entring or at least from lodging in the Heart If Manasses Saul Mary Magdalen and some of the adulterous drunken Corinthians were remembred in Mercy converted sanctified and saved why should any despair When Man hath withstood his Good and the Gates of Hell have prevailed a long time even then the Lord's hand hath done it for many blessed be his Name We had never heard of these Examples had it not been for our encouragement With this let the penitent Heart be encouraged God can turn noisom Dunghil into a Mine of Gold Brands of Hell into lightsom Stars in hi◠Firmament Slaves of Doemons into Angels But without presumption lest abused Mercy give place to rejecting Fury and the Lord say Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out mine hand and no Man regarded Therefore now tho you call upon me I will not answer and tho you seek me early you shall not find me 3. That the Hearts of all reasonable Creatures capable of such a Mystery might be enlarged to rejoyce in God for his Goodness and to praise him who by plucking such Brands out of the Fire doth manifest such Love and Power to free and defend his chosen Ones from the devouring Mouth of the roaring Lion The lost Sheep being found the wild Prodigal returned first home to himself and after to his Father occasion Joy in the Families to teach us what we should do upon the Conversion of any prophane Person Son Daughter Servant or Neighbour Was he once proud and is he now humble Was he once intemperate and is he now sober was he dead in Sin and is he now alive through Grace It is most singular Mercy rich Love it is meet we should be merry The Lord hath doth and will deliver that the Church may be encouraged Satan enraged by the loss of his Prey and the Name of Christ glorified and magnified so much the more A second Doctrine to be
Gentle Expostulations frequently and movingly here and there as unto Adam and Gehazi Gen. 3.9 2 Kin. 5.26 Tell me poor Soul was it not â—ven so hast not thou done thus and thus went not my Spirit with thee and was not mine Eye over thee Confess thy Sin ease thy self and give glory to God O how loving is the Lord even in his Terrors and Enditements In the midst of Judgment he remembreth Mercy Tho his Robes be red they are not without some streamings of white and if he be compelled to pronounce Judgment as it was said of Augustus he doth it even with Tears in his Eyes 2. Instances very pertinent and those either direct as Psal 50.18 c. or Parabolical As Nathan dealt with David so the Lord deals with those whom he intends to restrain and renew You are the Men saith he that have been so much addicted to and delighted with Idleness Wantonness Luxury Pride Covetousness Slandring Drunkenness Swearing Lying and the like 3. Threatnings are added where the former avail not Cursed is every one that doth not all which is written in the Law He shall be pursued with Judgments of divers Natures to one end sometimes with prosperity on the right and anon with adversity on the left hand and last of all which is the worst of all dying impenitently he must needs be damned Thus the Lord thundereth in his Law against some whom nevertheless he intends to sanctify and save as a Father may threaten and terrify that Child whom he intends to make his Heir But withal you must know that he doth inwardly and secretly support them that they dash not upon Presumption nor sink under final Despair So that at length being driven from all their hiding Places they are brought into this Wilderness and forced freely to take upon themselves all those Sins discovered by the Law to fall down before God and to acknowledg their Guilt and Desert before the Throne of his Majesty resolving there to lie prostrate till he raise them in Mercy Now say they we see we feel we know how true the Word of God is how faithfully such Ministers dealt with us while we slighted and laughed them to scorn and how deceitful Sin is that appears at first small sweet and clean when as it is weighty bitter and filthy They cry who will take this Dagger out of my Heart this Mill-stone off my Back this Fire out of my Loins this Sting out of my Conscience Now the seeming sweetnesâ— of Sin is turned to Gall. O Sin how grievous is thy remembrance Away ye wicked we will henceforth endeavour to keep thâ— Commandments of our God No morâ— Swearing much less Perjury no Drunkenness no more Uncleanness When thesâ— knock at the door the answer is O thesâ— are they that cost us dear at such a time wâ— yet feel the sad Impressions of our former Afflictions for them we find a Pardon no easy Enterprize nor Repentance so pleasing a Potion we would not for all the World bâ— under that Anger of God nor feel one drop of his scalding Indignation which we have perceived for those Offences Thus the biâ—â—â—â— Child dreads the Fire And this with submission is the Course that Ministers musâ— take in opening and pressing the Law firsâ— which is God's Instrument effectually to charge the Conscience with Sin and to bring a Person into this Wilderness 2dly The People may learn to join with the Lord in his Ambassadors so to furtheâ— this Work of the Law when and where iâ— is once begun and to follow the Lord undeâ— his Cloud and after this Fire into this Wiâ—derness And that 1. By a serious Meditation of these many Impediments which keep Men out of it oâ— hinder them much in the way towards it when the Lord is about to bring them into it Eye them that you may avoid them For instance to esteem of the Law as a strange thing as not appertaining to them or wherein they are little or nothing concerned to interpose some beloved Sin between these two Lights of the Law and Conscience that they cannot join This alone hindered Herod's Conversion under John's piercing Ministry the interposition of his Herodias caused a fearful and final Eclipse So likewise to go away unthankfully and carelesly from a good Discourse doth hinder the Work and quench the Sparks which might have bred a Flame 2. By frequent Meditation on divers good Subjects moving this way as 1. Upon the Mercies of God bestowed upon you in particular from time to time This Course the Lord took to humble David 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. And whosoever hath tried will say It is a very piercing way to bring the Heart into a through and kindly grief I have read of one who reading a Pardon sent him from the King fell a weeping and burst out into these Words A Pardon hath done that which Death could not do it hath made my Heart to relent As the Sugar-Loaf is dissolved and weeps it self away when it is dipp'd in Wine so will Penitents dissolve and melt themselves away in the sweet sence of Divine Love and their neglect or abuse of it Without doubt the very Behaviour of the Prodigal's Father brake his Heart with more thawings and kindly mourning than ever his former Hardship and Misery did O this that ever he should run to meet him that he should fall upon his Neck and kiss him This kindness of his Lips wounded his Heart with the deeper sence and judging of his own unkindness When the Surface of the Water is glazed with Ice the Sun-beams dissolve it such operation hath the Grace of Christ upon frozen Hearts which are never truly melted into Contrition but by Evangelical Beams Surely when a Sinner shall consider the great Love the sweetest Kindness the freest Pardons offered the choicest Mercies bestowed his Heart cannot but melt into a River What all these to and for me Lord yea for thee What after such deep Rebellions and Refusals yea after all and that most freely and willingly Good Lord how can the Soul but weep and mourn now 2. Meditate for that purpose upon the Justice and Power of God able to revenge the Quarrel of his Covenant and to bruise all his proud and stout Enemies with a Rod of Iron He is not only a Rock of Refuge to the Godly but also a Rock of Destruction to dash the Impenitent in pieces The strength of the Rock is seen as in upholding the House that is built upon it so in breaking the Ships that dash against it The force of Fire is manifested as in refining the Gold so in consuming the Dross There is none like unto thee O Lord thou art great and thy Name is great who would not fear thee thou King of Nations Jer. 10.6 And It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God Heb. 10.31 As a Lion he tears in pieces the Adversaries Psal 50.22 There is no standing before him if his Wrath
c. Whosoever steps in when the Angel moves the Waters shall be healed Neglect not any opportunity as many do The Loss of Opportunity is an irrecoverable Loss Say not we shall meet with enough hereafter a day pasâ— cannot be recalled Every thing is beautiful in its season God takes delays for refusals Saul lost his Kingdom by not discerning his Time Archimedes drew lines so long in the dust till his City was taken and the Souldiers brake in upon him and slew him So many that have thoughts of Repentance lose their precious Souls by sinful delays Consider the foolish Virgins and be wise Let not such a Sun set on Earth by the Beams oâ— which you should walk to Heaven 3. Entirely submitting to all means oâ— Salvation even those which to human Reason seem weak and mean yea contrary to ouâ— proud Capacities and the bent of our Affections He that will be saved must deny his own Will crucify his own Affections captivate his own Imaginations resign up his own Desire and Pleasure give up his Heart as a Blank that God may write down what he shall please Man must not be Funambulus Virtutum to use Tertullian's Phrase go in a narrow Tract of Obedience pick and chuse what he will do and what not follow God only in such Duties as will suit with himself and no further There must be an illimited Resolution for all the ways of Salvation To slight any is to slight the Author 4. It must be sincerely and constantly used in obedience to God's command leaving the Lord free for time and measure Confine not the Holy one no not in your thoughts or desire Limit him not to time or means Deus non alligat gratiam Sacramentis further than he is pleased to confine and limit himself It was a bold carriage of Popilius the Roman Ambassador towards Antiochus when he drew a Circle round about him and bad him give answer ere he stirred out of it for he would be put off no longer Men are more bold than welcom to God who dare to set him bounds where he hath left himself free Learn to wait for him you shall reap if you faint not Attend in the Morning and absent not thy self at evening thou knowest not whether this or that or both may prosper Leave not off because thou prevailest not at once or twice He that endureth to the end shall be saved Importunity prevails at length no Oratory like to it 2. It may be concluded hence that we may not rest on the means A Man may put his Hand but not his Heart on them God commands the one but forbids the other Noah's Dove might make use of her Wings to fly but trusted only to the Ark a Man useth his Feet to go over a Bridg but trusteth to the Bridg for safety Christians may and must walk and fly with the Wings of Obedience but in the mean time they must trust to the Ark to the Bridg Christ to carry and lead them over the devouring Sea of Destruction otherwise they rob God of his Honour like Michal who put an Image in David's room they put the Means in the room of God and themselves of the Help and Comfort To advance the Means above their place is a most compendious way to render them useless to make the River a barren Wilderness as to lay too much weight upon the Pillars raised by any Man's hands is the way to pull the whole Frame upon their Heads That Stomach will râ—main unsatisfied that feeds on the Dish instead of the Meat Nothing can avail without God's blessing After all to him we must fly and on him we must wait till he be pleased to bestow what he offers and of this we may be assured in his time because as it follows in the fourth and last Observation hence Viz. Doct. 4. That the Lord is earnest in his Offer of Grace to all under the Means so that if any perish it is through their own default Behold I will allure and I will speak He meaneth what he saith indefinitely and will do what he meaneth unless Men turn the deaf ear and through stubborn resistance exclude themselves As it fares with some Persons who are wilfully set to destroy themselves notwithstanding they have many excellent Remedies and Means to the contrary This Point will appear two ways 1. From the truth of the Means designed by the Lord for such an end The Means are for the End and the End is as truly and more really intended than the Means if I may so speak Now it is certain and presupposed that the Lord is earnest in the Means therefore much more in the end A Man may love the End for it self but the Means are ever chosen and loved for the End I cannot see how it can stand with the Wisdom and Goodness of God to be earnest in the Means and not to intend the End or to offer that to any which he hath no purpose to give The Lord never said to the Seed of Jacob Seek ye my Face in vain But whoso doth seek him in the use of means shall find him 2. It appears from the qualification of the Means 1. It is proportioned to the Nature of a reasonable Creature The Lord works not upon Men as on Blocks or Brutes or on the Stars who being irrational and uncapable of acting by any Rule are therefore acted and run their Course by the mighty Word of God's Power they live of the Spirit 's Omnipotency and immediate Acts. But on Men he worketh as upon Creatures endued with understanding and Will he enlightneth allureth speaketh unto the Heart and persuadeth by such Arguments and Motives as cannot be gainsaid A Sign that the Lord doth really intend what he doth pretend 2. It is followed close with Precepts enjoining them Constancy in the use of such means pressing Line upon Line day after day here a little and there a little and divers Promises of acceptance and success See those pathetical and affectionate Expressions which hold forth not only his Will but the strength and height of it in this matter Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord then the Ingemination of it Turn ye turn ye with a vehement expostulation Why will ye die And in divers other places Which does assure us that the Lord doth really purpose what he speaks and is more ready to give than Man is to accept We are Ambassadors for Christ as if God did beseech you by us we pray in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God And who can think or say he doth not desiré our Reconciliation It is highly injurious to conclude Deum non sincerè velle quod se velle dicit sub conditione That God doth not truly and really will what he saith and willeth under the conditions of Faith and Repentance What Comfort or encouragement is there for a poor Sinner to come home to God if this fail In and from whom these three Grounds are required
1. That he be persuaded of God's love unto him that he willeth indeed his Health and Safety in particular 2. That the Terms on which he willeth it are the Conditions of the new Covenant Faith and Repentance 3. That an unfeigned submission to God's own Ordinances is the right and ready way to enable the Soul to perform these Conditions and so to attain the End Whoso would be saved must be well grounded and throughly persuaded of this And so much for the first thing mentioned in the beginning The second and third follow which contain the main Business intended and are the Marrow of the Text. Viz. II. The Preparation of the Soul for Grace I will allure her into the Wilderness And herein are two things remarkable 1. The legal work of the Spirit in breaking the Heart of Stone and drawing it under sound Humiliation Lactabo eam I will entice her so Rivet Inclinabo eam I will encline or bend her to my Mind saith Zanchy Reddam eam flexibilem mihi I will bring her pliant to my hand so Calvin Ego seducens eam ire faciam desertum so Arius Montanus Seeing others have done so to her hurt I will seduce her for good I will allure and bring her into a Wilderness of saving Trouble and wholesom fear So our last Translation rendreth it The very Name of Noah's eldest Son by birth to whom this Promise was first revealed doth explain this Phrase and illustrate this Work Gen. 9.27 God shall enlarge Japhet c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seductus pellectus persuasus Which may be and is often taken in the worser part yet the Context here and in Genesis enforceth us to take it in the best sence only I will seduce allure persuade her for good As the Devil and his Instruments had seduced her to hurt so the Lord in tender mercy and pity would seduce another way for her good Even as Lovers use to improve all their Art and Skill to persuade and obtain the good Will of those whom they love and affect to marry So the Lord being in love with his People and desiring to marry them to himself in and by his Son for ever speaks thus in the Lovers Dialect I will allure her and cause her to do what she would not that afterwards she may do what she should Others I find who judg it more sound to derive Japheth from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies dilatare to enlarge to open the Heart and affect it with Joy Which doubtless may be admitted as a Consequent of the former both serving to set forth this preparative Work as a necessary disposition preceding Conversion For as Faith is the Condition of the Covenant so is this Preparation the Condition of Faith No Faith ordinarily without it in Truth although many have Faith without it in regard of Sense The thing may be done truly and yet not observed distinctly 2. A second thing to be noted here is the State and Condition of all such as are under this preparative Work of the Law They are said to be in the Wilderness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi locus à sermone remotus a remote Place far from Company from Conference and from human Comforts where she should meet with none to quench the Motions of the Spirit none to dawb with untempered Mortar no Egyptian Reed to rest upon none to complain unto or to seek Comfort from but the Lord alone Into such a place or condition the Lord would bring her as that none should hinder his Work any longer So that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Wilderness here is not to be understood a Cell or a Monastery as Aquinas glanceth 2. 2 dae q. 188. art 8. nor a desert Place properly called a Wilderness but rather the State and Condition of the Parties to be converted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Wilderness so Hierom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Wilderness so a latter Edition of the Septuagint more agreeable to the Original importing three things viz. 1. A turning of those to be converted out of all the deceitful Holds of Nature wherein Men usually shelter themselves against the Power of the Word of God The ready way we know to take the Hare is by driving her from her Coverts and Burroughs wherein she doth use to hide her self from the Dogs that pursue her so here 2. A presentation to the eye of the Understanding of many spiritual Dangers as so many roaring Cannons on every side wherewith a Christless Person is environed so that he who thought all to be well with him before while he remained securely asleep in the state of Nature now seeth all to be quite naught and out of order He dreamed he was rich happy and wanted nothing but being awake he seeth himself poor miserable and naked Alas for wo Within him he hears Conscience telling him the truth above him he beholds God offended frowning and turning his loving Countenance from him beneath him he seeth and feeleth Hell opening her Mouth to receive him having deserved as he now judgeth the lowest Room the darkest Corner and the fiercest Flames there about him trouble and fear is on every side He is weary of Life because of Sin and yet afraid to die because of the account alone he is tempted and terrified and in company he is defiled or grieved What to do or whither to go he knoweth not This is a Wilderness indeed As it is with a wounded Hart who feeling the Shaft runs from the Woods to the Plain and from thence to the Woods again but finds no ease at all Haeret lateri laethalis arundo the deadly Shaft sticks fast in his side Or as it was with the ancient Hebrews when they were led by Moses and Aaron from Egyptian Bondage into the pleasing Liberty of fruitful Canaan but through a vast Wilderness full of Troubles Conflicts Trials So it is with the Woman the Church and every Member thereof out of Christ but coming on towards him they begin to see their Sins they hear the terrible Threats of the Law they fear the Wrath of God as a just Judg they run up and down here for advice and there for comfort like Men afrighted to distraction for so the blind World judgeth them and cannot be comforted till the Lord speak unto their Hearts 3. It imports variety of Afflictions following upon the former Efficacy and Discovery of the Law And these are both positive and privative sometimes one and sometimes both as need requires Privatively the Lord deals with Men when he deprives them of Sacrifices Sacraments of Wealth Honour Food House Friends or Liberty and the like to pursue and follow them with Infamy Poverty Imprisonment or Captivity and all to humble and make them pliant to his Hand for their good He made Jeshurun look with lean Cheeks that he might leave kicking and learn Righteousness I will take away the bravery of thy tinkling Ornaments and instead of
tell him what he should do And those of whom mention is made Acts 2.37.16.30 with many other such of our own observation were brought into great distress through fear and desire fear of Sin desire of God's Love and Favour not able to resist any where Men and Brethren what shall we do Comforts they refuse Threatnings they apply with hand and heart witty and ready they are to hurt themselves as if their vital and animal Spirits were stopp'd in their Passage by some Disease they are often near sinking such affinity and agreement there is between the Mind and the Body Observe such troubled Spirits you may to look heavily sigh deeply as if the Heart would break and at last to cry out Wo and alas if this and that be so as I fear it is and do believe how can I be saved If the spots of a Leopard can be wiped out if the hue of an Indian can be changed if a Camel can go through the eye of a Needle then may I be cleansed renewed and saved But Lord how can that be is there any Balm any Blood any Mercy for such an one as I Tell me O my Friends speak thou Man of God was there ever such an one read or heard of a presumptuous Sinner a beastly Wretch a close Lover of Wickedness an Hater of Holiness To look upon I am afraid of my self what shall I do whither shall I fly say do not you loath me and blush to behold and hear me was there ever such an one as I accepted This is that narrow Way that leads many to Life that great Strait whereinto the right dearly beloved of the Lord are often brought to learn how that is possible to God which is impossible with Men. As the Woman by God's appointment is to bring forth in pangs and travail so must the Heart of Man ordinarily labour till Christ be formed in it 2. How and after what manner doth the Lord effect this It is either by removing Impediments or by presenting to the Eye of the Conscience 1. The many deceitful Grounds there are whereon Men naturally rest and boast of as if their Estate at worst were well enough And till these deceitful Props be removed they will not in earnest seek after Christ much less accept him to rest upon him These the Lord removes by shewing unto Men their weakness and insufficiency to yeeld them any comfort And they are either inward or outward Inward as Knowledg without Love Invention without Judgment and a Memory without any practical delight in the Notions retained all which a Man may have and yet be no better than a Devil the sufficiency of Baptismal Regeneration without any care or thought to perform Conditions These being without the power of Godliness are only as a dead Corps strewed and adorned with Flowers as a gouty Foot covered with a Crimson Shoo or a Statue of Earth and Dirt with some glorious colouring and old Sepulchers with new painting over them The Lord convinceth them that this Ark is not sure enough to keep them in the deluge of many Waters yea that all things without Grace will prove an Aggravation of their Condemnation As in some Countries when their Malefactorâ— were to be burn'd in the Fire they poured Oil and Pitch to encrease their Torments so will every Privilege make Hell the hotter for such as these In the day when the fiery Trial shall be all their painting will melt away Outward as Riches Honour Health Learning meer Civility and Formality all commendable in their kind but not sufficient These Men may have and yet come short of Grace and Life in Glory Few rich Men shall be saved 1 Cor. 1.26 Corpulent Birds seldom fly high These many things cumber them And If your Righteousness exceed not the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The best of these are but Weeds in God's Garden Tares in his Wheat Chaff in his Floor Therefore the Lord doth wisely and timely remove these Impediments 2. He presenteth Sin and the Consequents thereof in their true Colours pulleth off the Skin of that Viper washes off the paint and shews its Face in full deformity And this he doth ordinarily four ways viz. 1. By corporal Calamities and temporal Rods occasionally opening that Eye which Prosperity and Security had fast closed As in Joseph's Brethren and the Prodigal Son we have an Instance The former Gen. 42.21 declare the force of Conscience and fruit of Affliction Old Sins are brought to a new reckoning We are very guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the Anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this Evil come upon us The latter came to himself when he was under want his Affliction like Eye-bright Water had a strange and great Influence on his bedulled Sight now he resolves to go to his Father Yea many now living can say I doubt not It is good for them that they have been afflicted They had been undone had they not been undone that they might go weeping towards Heaven while others go laughing towards Hell Poverty may be so ordered as to prove a Preparative to Spiritual Riches Imprisonment antecedent to Evangelical Liberty Sickness and weakness of Body often tendeth to the strength and health of the Inner Man This brings to mind that Story in Bromiardus concerning an Apprentice that had served an hard Master by whom he had been sore beaten These Blows the Lord had made a means of the Man's Conversion Whereupon lying on his Death-bed and his Master standing by he catched hold fast on his hands and kissed them saying Hae manus perduxerunt me ad Paradisum These hands have helped to bring me to Paradise And Beza tells us of himself that God was pleased to lay the Foundation of his Spiritual Health in a violent Sickness which befell him at Paris Morbus iste verae Sanitatis principium Ep. praefix Confess What is it that God cannot make the Channel to bring in the Ship the Cistern-pipes to convey the Water whose Spring is in Heaven Ezekiel's Wheels shall move if the Spirit drive them and the Pool of Bethesda communicate Health if the Angel descend and stir the Waters Blessed is the Man whom thou correctest and teachest 2. By Spiritual Combats raised by the Spirit of Bondage between Fear and Desire Hope and Distrust continued and encreased by the unregenerate Will going one way and the Light of natural Conscience going another way so that their very Constitution is in discord there is no more agreement than between Fire and Water by reason of which the Soul is brought into great Anguish much Fear because of Sin and the great Danger it apprehends as the Consequents of both these Conflicts being like the Opposition of Planets in the Superiour Orb fore-runners of great Evils 3. Usually it is by the Ministry of the Law that School-master whose Lash makes Sinners Backs
come without his Wedding Garment it is said he was speechless having no excuse to pretend he was Self-condemned Thirdly They may be brought to a conditional Application so as to conclude a possibility of safety that they might be freed from Sin and Sentence of the Law if they should believe and lay hold on Christ So far is conceived that Herod went by hearing of the Baptist Yea more they may also have a fiducial Application and Appropriation of God unto themselves in particular and herein may have a great resemblance of Justifying Faith As Paul said Who loved me and gave himself for me So these may apply Christ to their particular I thank my Christ my Redeemer my Saviour though in presumption notwithstanding Fourthly They may go one step further even to some apprehension of the Beauty of Grace and that happiness following a Spiritual Union with Christ Especially if they live where the Law and Gospel are distinctly handled skilfully intermixed fully applied so as not only to wish well but to resolve and promise a better course As appears from that known and famous Instance Mat. 13.20 where the third kind of hearers are said to receive the Word with joy As good News affecteth the hearers about the State and Kingdom wherein they are much concern'd so may Men be affected in hearing the glad tidings the gracious Counsels of God to save Sinners discovered and yet not regenerated To which may be added that difficult place in the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 6. ver 4 5. Many Apostates have had great meltings and much sudden and strong joy But the Issue of all is they ever dash on one of these two Rocks Either they Presume and so are careless to go on actually to receive and give themselves to Christ Or else they Despair and so are hopeless of ever having what they see and admire In all these flashings the Truths of God pass by them as Water through a Conduit and leave a Dew but soak not as Water into the Earth Quest Secondly It is demanded Wherein those which are called according to purpose go beyond all others in this Wilderness of Trouble Answ That it should be simply and in all things a common work to those which are outwardly called only with those which are inwardly called also that good and bad are brought alike into this Wilderness that those which attain Grace and those which attain none should be brought to lie under one degree of Legal Preparation is strange to assert seeing it is the same Spirit under divers names that first prepareth by bringing into the Wilderness as the Spirit of Bondage and then infuseth Grace by speaking unto the Heart as the Spirit of Adoption As also considering it is a promise made here in favour of the Church and to her appropriated Yet it will be granted here to be difficult to satisfie any or to shew demonstratively wherein they differ Only for the present take what may be offered that way till some other by searching the Matter shall give more and clearer Light for plainer discovery Those then that are specially beloved of God and whose safety the Lord doth absolutely aim at and intend go beyond all others in this Work in these following particulars First In the intent and purpose of God which is not to Civilize or only to Formalize them as he deals with many bringing them into trouble to tame and keep them in order for the good of humane Society but indeed to go through with them for their sound Humiliation and through Sanctification Secondly In the success and event for some are only terrified and restrained for a time when others are heartily grieved even drencht in Sorrow to be savingly renewed after So that the Spirit of Sanctification doth immediately after manifest both Presence and Power Victory and Sovereignty But who doubteth of this Is there no other way wherein they differ Yes and it may be thus viz. 1. Modo operationis in the manner of Working Some are brought in by outward means only the Law Sickness Crosses as the Marble is said to sweat in foul Weather but still remains Marble assisted and followed with the common light and power of Natural Conscience others are brought in not without the Holy Ghost ordering the outward means and their inward sight to continue closed till this Supernatural Work be perfected As the Father by his Love in Electing before they had a Being except in the Divine Understanding so the blessed Spirit taketh hold upon them by his Power so soon as they have any Being which hold of his is diversly manifested both in respect of time means and manner of Working Towards some at one time by one means and after this manner towards others at another time by some other Ordinance and after another manner By degrees drawing them into this Wilderness where he discovereth their natural Bondage stirreth them to desire and directeth them how to attain true Liberty 2. In duratione disparitate dispositionis In their continuance and dissimilitude of Disposition while they are there Those that are ordained to Life do continue there commonly longer Not for intermitted Hours to be now in and then out but for Days Weeks Months Years never wholly off till they pass Jordan and arrive to their heavenly Canaan Some have been sensibly kept there the most time of their Life and yet come off well in the end Besides they are more kindled and deeply affected with an hatred and loathing of all Sin their affection is more lively and feelingly bent upon Purity hungring and thirsting after Righteousness and their hope is stronger that it may be that it will be better with them For this is that secret Staff which supporteth such Travellers They desire pardon and they hope they shall have it they hunger and thirst after Righteousness which others in this case never do and have some hope to be satisfied They long to hear the Voice and see the loving Countenance of Christ and are inwardly upheld with hope of both Who can tell say they in their Hearts but that the Lord may be intreated to turn away his fierce Anger that we perish not here according to our desert It is our self-harming league with Sin that the Lord goeth about to break were that done he would not contend nor be angry for ever When we submit unto him he will speak unto us as he did unto Hagar however we must trust in him although he should kill us with Hunger and Thirst in this vast and desolate Wilderness of legal Terror and Conviction where no refreshing Streams do flow Use 2. Secondly The Vse may be Instructive both to Ministers and People First To Ministers that they wisely endeavour it to bring their People into and through this Wilderness by presenting and pressing the Law which is God's Instrument to charge Sin upon the Soul in the true Nature Root and Fruit thereof God having imparted some of his own Brightness
with Men that would destroy the brood of some Beasts and Birds they pull down their Nests and destroy their Dens So it is with the true Penitent in respect of Sin down with all now that they would uphold before Fourthly There followeth a great Love to a sound-searching Ministry that will fully search and try the deceitful Heart and batter the deceitful holds of Sin Threatnings are welcome that shake the proud stony Heart and dash Babels Brats against the Wall I mean the crawling Vermin of noisome Lusts O strike thou Man of God strike in Christ's Name and spare not burn and cut here O here is an impure hard Heart as ever was harboured in any Breast And then goeth most chearfully most thankfully and best contented when he is struck to the quick What a blessed opportunity was this happy that I lived to see this day to hear such a Sermon If we hate an Enemy nothing will satisfie but his death Fifthly There remains still many fears and an holy jealousie that every Sin he reades or hears of is his Master is it I As it is reported of Socrates that when he walked in the Streets and saw any Person disorder'd would say to himself Am I such a one And as Master Bradford did when he looked into the lewd Lives of others And so do all humble Christians Nay commonly in this case he takes all to himself I have been this and I am thus and deserve that He needs neither Accuser nor Judg but is ready to cast the first stone at himself Thus the intented Convert is brought into the Wilderness of Spiritual Trouble where he yet remains a miserable Spectacle in Chains under Bondage tossing to and fro sighing and looking about now upon himself where he seeth his Chains but no power to loose them then abroad to see if there be any near but there is none to hear or help Finally he raiseth up his Eyes towards Heaven in such an earnest humble fixed manner as if he would never leave till he heard some word of comfort for which here is a Promise which comes in the next place to be handled III. I will speak unto her Heart Containing the third General of the Text viz. The first infusion for Apprehension or actual excitation of Sanctifying Grace In which Promise is presented to your view 1. The subject of this Evangelical Work and that is the Heart Instruments work directly upon the outward Man only he hath his seat in Heaven that works upon the Heart This is as Fire among the Elements that doth assimulate every thing to it self or as the Primum Mobile to the inferiour World which carries all the inferiour Orbs with it the first Mover or great Wheel in a Clock once moved moves with it all the rest the Tongue Eyes Hands Feet all move to the motion of the Heart and when God hath once fram'd the Soul to his Discipline by the ministry of the Law then he takes the Heart to be a fit hearer and speaks unto it 2. The manner of Exccution I will speak unto or above Two things may be conceived as promised herein First To speak comfortably to a solitary disconsolate Soul So much doth the Hebraism every-where import Comfort ye my People speak comfortably to Jerusalem Isa 40.1 The words are originally as here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Speak to the Heart of Jerusalem i. e. speak things grateful to her comfort raise up chear as both the Syriack and Chaldee Paraphrase do take it As it was with the Jews when God gave the Law to Israel by Moses they heard the Thunder and saw the Lightning but neither heard nor saw God so it is in this preparative work of Faith Men see the bright purity of the Law they hear many Woes and Curses denounced but God in Christ they neither hear nor see till he further enlighten them and raise them up by speaking to their Hearts Secondly To speak Victoriously above all the strength of that natural resistability which is in every untamed and unsanctified Heart In few words it is thus much I will chear and change her Whence Ministers are fitly called Comforters 1 Thess 2.11 and the Gospel a Peace-offering a word of Comfort and Reconciliation How the Lord works this whether as a Moral Persuader only by proposing Objects or as a Physical Agent determining the Intellect changing the Will and ordering the whole Business both for efficacy and event How the Will of Man hath it self towards the Grace of God in the act of Conversion hath been and is the great question of the Christian World Divines of all sorts are beating about it some to defend others to bolt out the Truth Pelagians with the Jesuits on one hand are for the strength of Nature and liberty of the Will to accept or refuse the Voice of God The Primitive Fathers from Augustine downwards with most Protestants and the Dominican Friars on the other hand are more for the Glory of God's Free-grace Who worketh both to will and to do of his own good Pleasure Here will be nothing interposed in order to any determination of this Controversie only the studious whom it may concern are referr'd to what is extant * Chamier Tom. 3. operum lib. 3. Cameron respons ad Epist docti viri alibi Zanch lib. 5. de Nat. Dei D. Rivet comment in Hos in disput 13. D. Twiss in defens Perk. Vind. gra and may yield better satisfaction For others who are willing to rest in plain Truths and fear to offend by curious enquiries they may take what follows for answer viz. First God speaketh and worketh after a secret if not an unexpressible manner Divine Graces curiously and mysteriously insinuate themselves and the impressions of the Will are extremely nice Therefore Men should not be rash in determining nor over-bold in presenting to the Eye what God hath vailed endeavouring to make Windows in God's Closet and to unclasp his secret Books St. Augustine's Rule is surely safe Praestat dubitare de occultis quam de incertis litigare And his Counsel is very prudent viz. Compescenda est humana temeritas id quod non est non quaerat nè quod est inveniat Contra. Manich. l. 8. c. 1. i. e. We must bridle our Temerity and check our Curiosity lest we pursue what is not revealed and find that which is Let all take heed of soaring too high lest they be scorched and wading too deep lest they be drowned There are some things we may nescire sine crimine not know without blame but cannot know them sine discrimine without danger And in respect of these a learned Ignorance is to be preferr'd to an ignorant Learning Stobaeus reports of Thales that he gazing on the Stars fell into a Pit so may all pryers into God's Secrets be suffered to fall into the Pit of Error Secondly Man hath certainly lost his freedom to Good by his first choice of Evil. Seipsum
perdit liberum arbitrium as St. Augustin hath it Man can move no more of or by himself in Spiritual things especially without preventing and assisting Grace than a dead Man can in Naturals naturally * According to the Church of England as she teacheth Art 10. no more than a Worm can fly And therefore Luthâ—r with St. Augustin before him in opposition of the other side thought it was better to style it servum arbitrium a servile rather than a free Will Though some kind of Freedom cannot be denied to be essential and unseparable from the Will If we consider this power of Man as in the lower Region he is not naturally but morally dead and as a dead Man is not able to produce any Vital Actions so neither can any natural Man produce any Spiritual Action Quid boni operari potest perditus nisi quantum fuit à perditione liberatus Victore peccato amissum est liberum arbitrium non nisi ad peccatum valet ut malè agendo fit damnabilis ancilla O humana Natura O Adam Quando sanus eris non stetisti tuis viribus surrexisti Ecce dico ego quod qui superbè sapiunt ut suae voluntatis viribus tantum existiment esse tribuendum hi non posse credere in Christum c. August Thirdly That no Creature nor created Instrument can reach to work upon the Will the frame thereof is too high and the temper divine God only can change and order it Which indeed he doth working upon Man as upon an intelligent Creature â—uaviter flectendo non violenter torquendo in a way agreeable to hâ—s Frame and Constitution without committing a Rape upon any faculty first enlightning the Mind then effectually and sweetly persuading the Will to yield by surrender and accept of Grace whereby the whole Man is enabled to coâ—perate in the use and exercise thereof as will appear in the sequel only first observe the contents of this Promise as it may be drawn out into two Theological Conclusions viz. First That it is the Heart which is chiefly wrought upon in the work of Conversion Call it the Heart the Will or the inner Man or what else it is that within us which no Instrument nor finite Power can reach unto And herein this differeth from the former Work the Vnderstanding was chiefly touched in that the Will in this which is attended as a King with all the rest of the inferiour Faculties and Senses A good Will is the good Tree that maketh the Fruit good and a bad Will is the bad Tree that maketh the Fruit bad As all the evil or good of a Tree cometh from the Root so doth all the evil or good of a Man come from his Will and till this be sanctified till this be renewed nothing can be good in him The Eyes may look the Tongue may talk and the Feet may in Men's apprehensions be moving towards Heaven and yet the Heart all the while may be bent Hell-ward As Men rowing in a Boat look one way but drive a contrary Course and intend another way The outward Man may be seemingly Converted without any saving change in the inward but the inner Man cannot be long without the other as the Candle in the Lanthorn will appear by its own Light and as the Diamond or rich Jewel will cast a sparkling Lustre sooner or later before the Eyes of others Therefore our Gracious Lord and Wise Physician takes the surest and soundest way to work a perfect Cure Give him the Heart and the rest will quickly follow It is the Heart that is hard by speaking to it he softens it it is the Heart that is unclean by speaking to it he sanctifieth it it is the Heart that is poor by speaking he doth inrich it it is the Heart that is distressed with fears and doubts by speaking unto he comforteth and confirmeth it it is the Heart that is most out of order by speaking to he brings it into a spiritual frame Ezek. 36.25 26. Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and you shall be clean A new Heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you c. Thus the truth of this Point shineth with its own Lustre We will pass from it with the resolution of a Case here to be propounded viz. All this I believe may some Person say but how may I discern when my Heart is thus wrought upon Answ 1. When it is tender not in the present act or exercise of Hearing only but after while you meditate on your Sins as David did Psal 51. Against thee thee only have I sinned He doth even drown himself in Tears Or upon God's Mercies in Christ upon any relation of the Churches distress at Home or Abroad not only as they are Men but as they are Members of Christ both being melting Considerations and nothing can bring the Heart to this temper but the fulfilling of this promise 2. When it closeth with God's Precepts and Promises together desirous to do the one as delighted to believe the other Where true Conversion is wrought the Will is master'd of unwilling is made willing and ready to chuse what it once abhorred Lord what wilt thou have me to do Now the Heart makes a stand at nothing objecteth nothing it is as willing to a word of Command as to a word of Promise to the Work as to the Reward It is all over yielding and submitting Which is all that shall be said here to the Case propounded because occasion will be offer'd to speak more fully to it shortly in the amplification of this Point Doct. 2. A second Conclusion from this Promise is this viz. That it is one and the same Hand which woundeth and healeth which casteth down and raiseth up Which brings into the Wilderness and after speaks unto the Heart I will allure and I will speak As the rust of Achilles his Sword only cured the Wounds which it made Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken Heart and saveth such as are of a contrite Spirit He breaks the Vessel and then pours out the Oyl of Salvation into it Hos 6.1 He hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up The Hand of God even when it strikes drops Balsam his very Rods are bound up in Silk and softness and beforehand dipt in Balm He wounds that he may heal and in wounding healeth What the Poet's Fable concerning Telephus his Spear is here truly verified Vna eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit The same holy Hand that wounded us must cure us Rom. 9.16 So then it is not of him that willeth or of him that runneth but of God that sheweth Mercy 2 Cor. 1.4 The Lord of all Comfort who comforteth us in all our Tribulation Jesus Christ brings the Soul into saving Trouble and then sheds abroad into the Heart the comforts of Sanctifying Grace He is alway
ready at hand always good and kind to Man but then especially when Man stands in most need of him as all the Saints have found and testified Manasses in Prison Hagar in the Wilderness Daniel in the Lions Den and they in the fiery Furnace Job David Hezekiah in great distress and anguish of Spirit When the Bottle is dipped under Water he saveth it from drowning The more grievous their Oppression the more gracious hath been his Redemption And the reason hereof is good First Because none else can do it Not Men or Angels much less the Gilded Toys of the World or all that exteriour Lustre which charmeth the Eyes of so many esteemed by a troubled Mind but as a Cloud in painting a petty vapour of Water or as Chaff driven of the Wind. The Jews have a saying common among them viz. It is he that openeth our Heart in his Law i. e. By his Spirit he enableth the Heart to understand and effect Spiritual things it is a branch of his Prerogative Luke 24.45 He opened their Vnderstandings by removing Impediments by breathing into them the Holy Ghost and bestowing further Functional Graces As S. Ambrose expounds and explains that Text by some passages of S. Paul 1 Cor. 12.8 9. God toucheth the Heart as the Musician doth the strings of his Instrument and it soundeth what he pleaseth Secondly He hath Undertaken and Promised it by Himself to our First Parents and by his Prophets unto the Church in every Age successively It is the sum and end of the New Covenant to accept those who deny themselves to raise up them that are cast down to inrich those that are poor in Spirit and to speak comfortably to those who will not be comforted any other way He brings them into this Wilderness for this end that he may speak and not speak in vain unto them Till then commonly Man is like an untamed Heifer or wild Asses Colt that runs and revels here and there that breaks all Bonds and will hear no Advice When Sin is discovered and Conscience awakened one syllable of the Gospel one word of Comfort is as good News out of a far Country In every natural Man there is a three-fold Bar hindering the entrance of Spiritual Light and Life Ignorance in the understanding it is covered with Ignorance as the Deep was at first with Darkness there is a very Chaos Hardness in the Heart like that of Nabal's which became like a Stone and a malitious pravity in the Will which is like a noisom Sepulchre so that as such he can neither understand receive nor affect this Supernatural Work till the Lord hath removed them by his Spirit Cooperating with the Law and Gospel It is said of Lydia that the Lord opened her Heart i. e. effectually called her as Calvin saith He gave her Divine Light and Grace without which special Concurrence of his Paul's labour had been fruitless In effect it is all one with this I will speak unto her Heart i. e. I will speak Friendly Plainly and Effectually Conceive this Evangelical Work to go on in this Order First The Lord revealeth himself to such a Heart so dejected and troubled as a Wise and Loving Father not willing nor suffering any such to perish As St. Ambrose told Monica Filius tantaram lachrimarum c. A Son of so many Tears as she shed for her Augustine cannot perish Now these brought by a Voice into the Wilderness are all Sons of Sorrow many Tears are shed by them as a living Fountain sends forth plentiful Streams and often many Tears are shed for them therefore they cannot Perish And this the Lord doth in three degrees 1. He makes it evident that there is a possibility of Ease Purity and Peace And to that end he brings many presidents to their Mind of old hard rusty Hearts renewed softned and opened For they are recorded in Scriptures for that purpose Paul saith he obtained Mercy for this cause 1 Tim. 1.16 For a pattern to them which should hereafter believe The Lord speaks to some as bad as might be compared to Sodom and Gomorrah Isa 1.9 Yet in the 18. ver there is Come let us reason together though your sins be as Scarlet c. Others are bespatter'd with Idolatrous filthiness yet I will cleanse you from all your filthiness is God's Promise Ezek. 36.25 Besides many others with the Apostles black Roll 1 Cor. 6.10 11. Such were some of you but ye are washed and sanctified These and the like Instances are here brought to mind as evidences of Divine Favour and incouragements to Faith 2. He discovereth Christ and acquaints them with the New-Covenant as the only Remedy to make up the breach of the First-conditions Behold saith the Lord my Son a Lamb slain from the beginning to take away the Sins of the World Behold him in Union with your Nature and in Unction to the Office of Mediatorship Behold him in his Obedience Active and Passive assuming the Crime and Curse of your Nature undergoing the penalty and fulfilling the Precept of the Law in his own Person but in your stead and room Behold him in his Meritorious Viatory Office by way of Purchase and Conquest as also in his Applicatory-Intercession for all burdened Souls who seeing you are truly weary of Sin behold the Mediator by a real tender of his own Merits prevailing for you among the rest 3. He offereth Christ unto all such upon condition of Faith and Repentance to the performance of which Condition he enableth in his Offer So that they will to do what they are required saying often with grief and fear O that we could Repent and Believe O that we could take the Lord's offer c. Although Actual Faith be not yet in the Heart as some are of Opinion tho Mr. Perkins judgeth the contrary yet it is very near and shall infallibly follow Hagar had her Eyes opened to see the Well before she went to it and stooped down to take and taste it Faith comes in by exercise to manifest it self by certain steps and degrees And let all those who find themselves past any of them thankfully acknowledg God's Work and be humbly constant in the use of Means for the Lord will speak again Phil. 1.6 He which hath begun a good Work in you will perform it c. And pray as Luther wonted to do Confirm O Lord in us what thou hast wrought and perfect the Work that thou hast begun in us to thy Glory As Queen Elizabeth prayed Look upon the Wounds of thine Hands and dispise not the Work of thine Hands thou hast written me down in the Book of Preservation with thine own Hand O read thine own Hand-writing and save me Secondly He openeth the Heart towards himself and that in three Degrees 1. He persuadeth it of the truth of those Passages formerly revealed and discovered and that the Lord doth seriously intend them to all in this condition 2. He raiseth up in it an
earnest longing after them as the only good to be desired with which they may be happy and without them they must be everlastingly miserable The wise Spiritual Merchant having once found this Treasure hideth it and makes haste for joy that there is some possibility of enjoying it he selleth all that he hath and resolveth to purchase it whatever he pay whatever the conditions be As the hunted Hart longs after the running Stream so these Men do now cry out Give us Christ or else we die They Hear Reade Fast and Confer O they will part with all they will do any thing for Christ A Sight a Touch a Taste of him is more worth than the World 3. After many Conflicts Doubts and Fears the Heart is wrought upon not only willing to receive Christ for so it was before but actually to cast it self upon Christ to rest on him and to resign it self wholly to his dispose O the sweet Repose which a fainting Soul finds in a Promise rightly applied after a storm of Spiritual Trouble The Heart is ever with him the Eye is alway upon him and the Tongue is delighted often to mention him Sweet Jesus hast thou done and suffered so much for me Was thy Heart pierced was thy Head bowed was thy Body nailed to the Cross for my Redemption How unworthy am I such a wretched Creature such a rebellious Prodigal such an impure lump of Sin to hear of such Mercy much more to taste thereof But seeing it was thy great Love to do it and thy Bounty to prevent me by offering it 't is my duty to receive it with all readiness of Mind and thankfulness of Heart Tho thou should'st kill me yet will I trust in thee tho thou should'st after cast me into Hell by me merited yet would I come unto thee Lo Lord Jesus lo a dumb deaf and lame Leper before thee if thou wilt thou canst make me clean and whole and if thou wilt not none else can do it I resolve to sink at thy Feet and if it were possible to perish in thine Arms. Thirdly The Lord speaks again to this same Heart thus far wrought upon three times he spake unto Samuel before he knew what and to whom to answer and the end and effect of it is three-fold 1. By the power of his Word he turneth out the old Inhabitant for intus existens probibet alienum Satan who did reign there by Sin and brings another into possession even Christ by his Spirit and Graces 2. He changeth the natural Disposition of the Heart truly for Parts though not perfectly for Degrees There is no part but is bespangled with Grace As Air in respect of Light so is the Heart in respect of Grace of a double he makes one single a hard and stony Heart he softeneth Understand not this of any Natural Moral or Legal yielding all which are presupposed but of an Evangelical softness a tenderness following upon serious deliberation and consideration of God's infinite Love Christ's bitter Sufferings and the odious nature of Sin And lastly Of an impure deceitful hypocritical Heart he makes an honest clean sincere Heart Ego non sum ego It is not what it was Such power and healing Vertue there is in the Word of God 3. By his Divine Breath and Power this Marriage between Christ and the Soul is consummate the Spiritual Bond apprehended and the Mystical Union manifested as it followeth in this very Chapter I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in Righteousness Judgment Loving-kindness and in Mercies i. e. In him in whom Mercy and Justice meet and are reconciled I will do it truly and firmly so that all his Benefits shall be made over by way of Joynture or Dower thy Poverty and Deformity shall be accounted his his Riches and Beauty thine This is that the Lord speaks to the Heart finally for this he allured her into the Wilderness that he might win her to himself and thus is this Work finished The manner of Conversion as for the present we apprehend it to be ordinary thus far concluded and briefly in the Heads only unfolded we may for further satisfaction light and benefit require Quest First When is the Lord said to speak unto the Heart Answ I answer 1. When he overcomes the natural hardness of the Heart and begins to let out that Spiritual Impostume or mass of Impurity which lieth hid in every one by Nature This is a Work to which neither Men or Angels are able to set their Hands The Heart-maker is the only Heart-breaker and he alone that knows the Heart can purifie or purge it When Rocks are turn'd into streams of Water and the Mountains melt like Wax and clods of Earth are made like Stars of Heaven surely then God putteth forth his Power then he speaketh to the Heart 2. When he raiseth any comfort in distressed Minds by closing with them in some promises of Pardon or power over Sin This is the Voice of God for he only can prepare a Door of Hope in every Valley of Trouble provide Manna in the Wilderness Water in every dry Rock and Light in every Dungeon There is no precious Electuary for sick Souls but by his Prescription and Administration 3. When he answereth the desire of the Heart against such and such a Sin or in a timely supply of such a Grace either in truth where it is not or for degrees where it was in a little measure before All Grace is originally from Heaven it comes from above James 3.17 i. e. from God the first and second preventing and assisting God bids the Soul to mortifie such a Lust and the Soul complains as Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 20.12 I have no might against this great Army then the Lord comes in with Auxiliary Forces and his Grace hath been sufficient God bids him to pray for such a Mercy and he finds himself very unfit his Heart at first was dead and flat but on a sudden he is carried above his own strength his Tears drop his Love flames God hath then spoken then he came in with assisting Grace If the Heart burn in Prayer God hath struck the Fire the Spirit hath been tuning the Heart therefore it maketh sweet melody 4. When there is a close concurrence and an orderly subordination between God's Word and the Heart When the Word is not only delivered to the Heart but the Heart also is deliver'd up unto the Word By the closing of these two our Wills are wholly taken up in God's Will So that the Heart ever saith after as Christ did not my Will in any thing but thy Will be done in all O Lord This is one reason alledged by St. Augustin why he would have all sorts to reade the Scriptures and frequently to hear them Quia in illis loquitur Deus ad Cor indoctorum atque doctorum Because therein God speaks unto the Heart of the Learned and Unlearned Aug. Epist 3.
ad Volus Quest Secondly It may be further demanded How a Man may know when and whether the Lord hath or doth speak unto his Heart Answ First By an awful dread which fills the Heart when God hath spoken unto it Josiah trembled at the Voice of God in his Law And that is a testimony of God's speaking to him But thus it is with every Creature that hears the Voice of God the Devils tremble and Men quake and as the Worms when it thundreth wriggle into the corners of the Earth so for all their lofty looks though when all is quiet they may puff up themselves with a conceit they are more then ordinary like Caligula who thought himself a God imitating Joves Thunder But when the True God gave forth his Voice from Heaven he that before was so high was now as low in spirit running under his Bed or into any Bench-hole for preservation So let the Lord but arise to speak the tallest Cedar the highest Tower the loftiest Spirit of Godless Men can dare it no longer but will think the holes of the Rocks and Caves of the Earth to be their best shelter Yea even the inanimate Creatures shew the impressions of his powerful Voice The Sea flies the Mountains skip the Earth trembleth and the whole Creation shaketh at the Voice of God Therefore Secondly It may be known by love and longing after him As it was with Elisha after Elijah had saluted him he was presently inflamed as if a spark of Fire had fallen down upon him so that he would unseparably follow him Thou O my Soul art Elisha God is Elijah if he once speak unto thee thou wilt follow him crying My Lord and my God! O lift up the light of thy Countenance upon me When shall I come and appear before the presence of God All the days â—f my appointed time will I wait Such drawing Vertue is in the Word of Christ it is as an Ointment poured forth therefore the Virgins love him Love is the Whet-stone of Love and the Love of Christ in speaking to his People constraineth them to love him 2 Cor. 5.14 Thirdly By those Evangelical Effects formerly mentioned When God speaks unto a poor grieved Heart as the Father unto his Prodigal Son Luke 15.20 c. The Heart is raised to admire God in all his Attributes and Ways and is ravisht with desire of his Glory What shall I â—â—nder for so much undeserved favour I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord I will dwell in the House of the Lord to behold the fair Beauty of the Lord for ever Fourthly By that speedy reply which the Heart returns unto God Speak on Lord for thy Servant heareth and thy Face will I seek Psal 27.8 The Heart doth eccho out as it were an answer to the Voice of God as Jer. 3.22 the Lord speaks Return ye Backsliding Children and I will heal your Backslidings They readily answer Behold we come unto thee for thou art our God! Every gracious Person hath the duplicate of God's Law in his Heart and is willingly cast into the mould of his Word When Men have their Ears only spoken unto in it at the best they do but dwell on Duties and place the sum of their Religion in a bare outward profession but when God hath once spoken unto the Heart then they look more into the substance of Religion Quest Thirdly If it be demanded What a Man should do when the Lord hath or doth speak unto the Heart Answ I answer With all readiness and humble reverence the Heart must speak unto the Lord again So much is expected and good Manners will teach a Man so much to speak when he is spoken unto especially by such a Superiour Now the language of the Heart consists in two things viz. Receiving and Returning In receiving what the Lord offers by a flexible yielding unto the Work and Word of God and by a concurrence both of consent in respect of his Promises and of obedience in regard of his Commands In returning Praise Prayer and all hearty service Praise for that God is pleased to take notice of you so mean so vile Great Men are thought to grace their Inferiours if they vouchsafe to speak unto them I am sure it is so here by speaking to us the Lord doth exceedingly honour us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostom God's condescention is incomparable he speaks to his People as a Man would speak to his Friend thus he graceth them inwardly outwardly and so maketh them gracious and amiable in the Eyes of Men. Prayer that as he hath begun so he would finish the Work till the Heart be throughly moulded into a spiritual temper of Flexibility and Purity according to his own Heart Vse 1. From hence the Erroneous Opinions and Irregular Practices of all those are justly to be taxed and reproved First Who ascribe this Work either to inward power and strength of nature or to some outward means as if Man could speak unto the Heart or the matter of a Sacrament did contain to convey Grace by the work wrought Pelagians old and new go the first way Papists with their followers the latter way Both joyning to derogate from the glory of his Grace who ascribeth this work unto himself I will speak unto the Heart These Men do undertake to sail without the Stars and labour without the Sun They set Dagon before the Ark equalize the Creature with the Creator If this were true then St. Paul mistook to say Not I but the Grace of God in me and it is God that giveth the increase Gratia non est gratia ullo modo nisi sit gratuita omni modo is St. Austins rule Let them with their Wit and Learning endeavour to set up the Idol of Free-will and strength of Nature let us with the sacred Scriptures labour to set up the Free-Grace of God who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good Pleasure Secondly Who being in the Wilderness of Spiritual Distress will not stay till the Lord speak unto them but make haste to drink Water out of any Puddle to snap up Carnal Ease from Worldly Jollity in Eating Drinking Gaming and other Pastimes to drive away such Melancholy Dumps Some by busie Imployments as Cain thought to do Others by Musick as Saul a third sort by variety of Flesh-pleasing-Company Being herein not much unlike to many weak and crasie Patients that are ready to fancy any new Medicine they hear of and to tamper with that rather than to expect a Recovery through a course of Physick prescribed by the Physician All which you may be sure will say as the Scribes and Pharisees did to Judas What is that to us see thou to it Either they will cast you off desperately saying Now you are mad this you have got by reading and hearing so many Sermons or else they will slight it with Gallio and care for none of these
things Or at least they will quench all a killing pity too common by daubing with untempered Mortar So that one day you will say out of woful experience Miserable Comforters are ye all Physicians of no value good for nothing Seek not to them rest not on them it is God only in and through Christ who speaks peace unto his Saints in this case hear only what he saith Thirdly A third sort to be blamed are such as are converted outwardly in Profession only the Lord make them sound Pictures without Life Clouds without Water Sodoms Apples fair only to see to The outward Man is spoken unto and convinced so far as to perform Duties the Ear is spoken unto so far as to hear often the Tongue is spoken unto so far as to discourse well but the Heart is not spoken unto all the devotion of these Men is in Hearing and Censuring they come to arraign the Minister at the Bar of their own Judgment and to judge that Word by which they must be judged at the last Day they come to debate the Man not the Doctrine to censure the Preacher not to practise the Sermon Like Merchant's Coopers they taste much Wine but deal for none their Hearts are not changed the same Lusts lodg there as before restrained only they are hard and impure as ever the virtue of Christ's Death and Life is not yet applied to such they are yet destitute of Grace whatever their profession be Nay you and your Profession are but like the cursed Fig-tree that bare Leaves and no Fruit. God hath not spoken to your Hearts neither did you ever speak in your Hearts to God Many Prayers you may haply say over and yet never pray for Prayer is an offering up of the Heart or Will to God by Christ Vse 2. The second Vse will direct to Duty which concerneth either Minister or People Ministers must learn to speak unto the Heart as near as possible they can because God doth so whose Ambassadors they are Like Marks-men though they cannot shoot so as to strike yet they must aim at this Mark their Arrows must be sharpened for this purpose though like the Arrows of Jonathan some fall short of others go besides the Mark yet some or other being guided by a Supreme Power may pierce the Hearts of the King's Enemies whereby the People shall fall under him Those Ministers speak best who strive to profit more than to please and so must all they that desire to do good in that relation they must preach to the Conscience to the Quick As King James of famous Memory said of a Reverend Bishop of this Land This Man Preaches as if Death were at my Back So should every Minister do Preach as if Death Judgment and Hell were even at Mens Backs Bring the point as near as may be home to the hearers Door that is plainly particularly earnestly otherwise they preach as a Man that shoots his Arrows at randon and hits not the Mark it is as if the Minister should lay his Sermon on his Cushion and never dart it into the Peoples Bosoms If People do not feel your Points at their Backs Spears in their Sides and Swords in their Bellies they will feel nothing it will be lost labour You that are People and Hearers may learn 1. To bring your Hearts with you to God's Ordinances How many heartless Sermons have some heard and made Else you bring nothing for God to speak unto and it is no more than if you sent your Clothes stuft with Straw Yea upon the matter you deny his Presence and Office Men that are his Messengers speak unto the Ears and present things from their Lord unto the Eyes of the Body and those parts you leave not at Home for what should we do at Church you will say without our Ears and Eyes But I say What make you there without your Hearts God is there who speaks unto the Heart as Men unto the Ear If that be away it is all one as if you were absent Nay you aggravate your Sin and provoke him more by your heartless presence in preferring Men whom you vouchsafe to hear unto God whom you will not hear but highly dishonour him by offering a dead Carkass in his Temple an unreasonable service in such cold Devotion All such are Abominable they put a Cheat upon God and mock the most High They come full Mouth'd but empty Hearted offer a Case without the Jewel a Gilded Cup and no Wine in it To such God will say Who required these things at your hands thus to tread my Courts My Sons give me your Hearts or you give me nothing As Joseph said to his Brethren concerning Benjamin Gen. 43.3 so God saith of the Heart Ye shall not see my Face without it Bring your Family and Bibles to Church but especially your Hearts which are most out of order and there the Lord will begin his Work Joyn with the Congregation Hand and Heart offer them both to God in earnest Prayer and attentive Hearing wait and say When Lord how long Holy and True Accept what thou callest for and speak one word to my poor Heart among the rest before I go that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce 2. To labour most about the Heart the Heart in the Body and the heart of Religion yea and to prize good Men who by their good Fruits testifie to others the goodness of their Hearts as the good Fruit doth the good Tree because the Lord hath spoken to them No Relick comparable no image can be a more lively remembrancer If David did so admire Man as Man how then ought we to admire and reverence Man as united to Christ shining with his Image adorn'd with his Beams clothed with his Righteousness and entitled to an everlasting Kingdom Many as Beautiful some as rich in Apparel are very powerful to draw and dazzle the Eyes of weak Beholders but for Beauty and Honour none are comparable to gracious Hearts they now partake of Angelical Splendor and hereafter shall exceed the Sun in brightness Acts 6. ult Mat. 13.43 Phil. 3. ult But Who is sufficient for these things sufficiently qualified to set forth to the Life the Beauty and Brightness of Christ mystical He had need of a refined Nature of sublimated Thoughts of a Quill taken from the Wing of a Seraphin and to soar aloft free from the pressure of terrene mixtures in heavenly Contemplation Who can reade or seriously think of this mystery of Mercy without a readier expression of joy mixt with tears than their conceits in words What a Man a sinful Man weltering in Blood full of Sores and Ulcers fitter to be loathed than loved for such a one Poor Blind Miserable and Naked to be married to a Prince such a Prince the Heir of Heaven and Earth Who can believe our report or believing it not love such an one To whom will the Arm of the Lord reveal this but to humbled Souls
bite most cruelly dying Sins trouble â—â—d oppose the Soul most stoutly Sanctifiâ—â—tion follows Faith and presupposeth our â—â—ion to Christ You may not stand safely â—â— this pretence that you will labour to get â—â—me power over your Corruptions and then â—â—u will hearken to what God will speak â—â—to your Hearts but first hearken and â—â—ctory will follow by degrees and that neâ—â—ssarily upon this ground viz. The Principle whence Grace cometh the Stock out oâ— which this fair Flower groweth is strongeâ— than the Principle and Root whence Corruption that stinking Weed floweth beinâ— joyned the weaker must yield in the end Only do you resist it and complain often about it in private prayer to Christ and bâ— assur'd that he who hath broken the Serpentâ— Head for you will also bruise it in you Object 3. Oh but Satan and my own Hearâ— do condemn and tell me I am a Cast-away Answ In this case hearken not what Meâ— or Angels say much less what Satan anâ— your own deceitful Hearts suggest but whaâ— the Lord saith It is his Prerogative to speaâ— unto the Heart and your duty to hear him only before your selves much more beforâ— Satan Suppose the Devil should tell you thaâ— all were well your Sins pardoned and thaâ— you should be saved would you believe him for himself I trow not And for your selves you are no competent Judges in this perplexed condition as the distemper'd Palaâ— is not fit to judg of Meats or the vitiated eye of an Object Consult with experienced Christians and still keep an Ear open foâ— this Voice of God speaking at all hours oâ— the Day I will hearken what the Lord will say for he speaketh peace to his People But withal let not his Saints return to folly Object 4. Me-thinks I behold God not as speaking to my Heart but as still frowning upon 〈◊〉 and speaking against me as a Judg for the â—ach of his Laws and after the use of much â—ans in private and publick I can feel no â—â—mfort Answ This is a sore scruple which veheâ—ently beats upon most sensible Sinners â—ore need therefore to assoil it The anâ—wer is this You must learn to live and walk â—â— Faith and not so much by Sense to beâ—â—eve more than you feel Your comfort is â—et more in Promises than in Possession Alâ—â—ough the Fig-tree should not blossom neither â—ruit be on the Vine though the labour of the â—live should fail and the Fields should yield no â—â—eat c. Yet saith the Prophet by Faith â—ould I rejoyce in the Lord and joy in the God â—f my salvation who is my strength and â—ill make my feet like Hinds feet and make â—e to walk upon my high places Even â—ith Abraham beyond hope to believe under â—ope so shall you bring much Glory to God Now to help forward this Spiritual Appreâ—ension and Resolution 1. Labour to have your Judgments rightly â—nform'd in the manner of Divine Dispensaâ—ion of Grace what Method and Degrees â—he Holy Spirit observeth in Converting and Sanctifying the Heart Ignorance of this is â—ollowed with great heaviness and much â—auseless discomfort of long continuance 2. Look off your selves and beyond all means which are as Guides and Conduits Guides to lead you to Christ and Conduits to convey Virtue from him unto your Hearts Dwell not on the well-doing of Duties rest not on the exercise of Grace there is no satisfying Merit no purifying Blood in all or any of these that so you may look upon the Mediator only all our Riches and Safety is from without from this blessed Object conveyed and received by Faith and through him upon the Father It is horrible to think on God and terrible to hear him much more to see him without Christ Guilt dare not look on Majesty and Majesty is most terrible in an Enemy and a Judg. I have read of a politick Practice of a Macedonian Courtier who being banisht King Philip's presence adventured once again to come into the Court and further into the King's presence with young Alexander in his Arms as if he said Let him plead for me and accordingly for his Wit he was pardon'd and accepted into Favour Change the Persons and you may make it a President True it is you are deservedly banisht Heaven and God frowneth upon you but come with Christ in your Arms make him your Friend and then no doubt of acceptance He hath made us accepted in the Beloved In Christ he is a reconciled God a tender Father in Jesus Christ in Christ God's Nature is lovely to us and our Persons lovely to God 3. Meditate often what it is you have in and with Christ viz. Perfect Righteousness imputed to Justification and imparted to Sanâ—â—ification All your Sins remitted freely your Persons accepted to Eternal Life So â—hat Men nor Devils the Gates of Hell shall not finally prevail against you either actively to hurt or hinder or passively to withstand you Object 5. But I find my Heart hard and impure therefore I fear God hath not spoken 〈◊〉 it Answ To find this and in truth to bewail it is one sign of God's speaking to it God in the still Voice hath discovered that â—nto you which undiscover'd might have proved your Bane The Scum appears not â—ill forced by the heat of the Fire the impurity of the Heart would lie undiscern'd were â—â— not for the Fire of God's Word Live â—ot under the reign of any one Sin pray for more Sanctity and Softness remembring those two precious Promises viz. Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart to love the Lord Ezek. 36.25 26. Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and you shall be clean c. Wherein God speaks again to perfect what he hath begun and for more Spiritual enlargement to be more thankful for this that the Lord hath vouchsafed to single you out above many others to allure you into this Wilderness and to speak unto you be sure God's Words and Works shall not be left imperfect Upon the falling of your Eyes towards the Earth in token of Humility let your Hearts be raised towards Heaven to testifie your Spiritual Joy by saying with Mephibosheth What is thy Servant that thou should'st look upon such a dead Dog as I am With Abigail Behold let thy Hand-maid be a Servant to wash the feet of the Servants of my Lord. With Ruth Why have I found Grace in thine Eyes that thou shouldest take notice of me seeing I am a Stranger And with Jesus Christ I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes even so O Father because it was thy good pleasure Quest After all this how may a Man know the truth and soundness of his Conversion Answ To this the following Discourse will offer some resolution for which purpose it is designedly adjoyned Reade and reap Profit Give Glory to God by Jesus Christ In
language of a melting Heart breathing out a compassionate Lamentation after Pardon desired obtained and sealed The cause of fear was past Nathan had declaratively removed it upon his acknowledgment The Lord hath put away thy Sin thou shalt not die God had put away his Sin from before him because he loved David but David could not forget his Sin because he loved the Lord. Love maketh God forget it and the Sinner to remember it David's love to God so freely forgiving such hainous Sins did increase daily and with this love his sorrow grew that he should so ill requite the Lord the thought of it carried him more and more into God's Presence whose Purity and Brightness meeting with the light of David s Conscience represented his Sin more clearly as ever before him When he considered what God had done for him and what he had now done against the Lord moving common Enemies to blaspheme he was even ashamed and confounded so Planet-struck he was that he could not durst not lift up his Face Tacita sudant praecordia culpâ Juven he is at the Meridian Zenith Vertical Point of Shame he could not mount higher The End why it was penn'd and published was partly in respect of himself to get further assurance of God's re-promised Favour in his own apprehension and partly with reference to others to leave a ground of encouragement for poor Souls that fall after Baptism against that Spirit-quenching Doctrine of the Novatians who leave no room for pardon of Sin after Baptism or Repentance to assure them it is possible they may be forgiven and received into Favour as also to leave a pattern of Penitency to all Posterity After grievous falls even into â—resumptuous Sins it is possible Men may â—e raised return'd and entertain'd but it â—ust be done thus after the pattern shewed â—s in this Mount such Sins will be ever beâ—ore them in Memory and Detestation and â—he burden will be intollerable so that they â—ill often cry out with David My Sins are â—er before me The meaning may be thus unfolded as â—f David had said and enlarged himself after â—his manner First I am mindful of my Fault as if it â—ere written upon every Wall God hath â—orgiven the Guilt that it should not redound â—o Condemnation but my Conscience cannot â—et go the Memory of that I have done in â—he Day-time I think of it and in the Night 〈◊〉 dream of it as my Book it is when I reade â—nd as an Image when I pray ever before â—e while I am alone it doth accompany me and when I am in Company the thought â—f it doth not forsake me Whither-soever 〈◊〉 go that woful Story is still presented with all the aggravating Circumstances Bathsheba defiled Vriah slain a harmless Sacrifice and both by David a Man called from the Sheepâ—ook to the Scepter raised to highest Digâ—ity out of deep Obscurity and honoured with such a Style as never any Man had Oh Ingratitude Shall not all Men in all Ages cry out upon David that he should so far forget God as to leave his own many of his own and to take his poor Neighbour's Lamb to dress for his Stranger Oh fearful These or the like are my thoughts by Day and no other are my conceits by Night in Company I am alone and while I am alone I have these Companions My Sins are ever before me Secondly I am wonderfully troubled about it For me-thinks mine Eyes and Ears have no other Object I see my Sins in that order as they were acted Idleness first but followed with Adultery first of the Eye next of the Mind and lastly of the Body Adultery is attended by Drunkenness-active he made Uriah drunk and that Drunkenness by Murther See the Bead-roll viz. Idleness Adultery Drunkenness and Murther and hearken to the cry of them one answering another but all are against David one was occasioned by another and the former still punished in the latter Many and fearful they are more hideous than Hell pursuing me like so many Furies into every place as of the whole Army accusing me of Negligence and Security of Bathsheba bewailing the stain of her own Body and her Husband's Bed of Vriah's Blood calling from the Ground for vengeance of all my Subjects brought in danger by their Prince's Folly yea of all the Birds in the Air whistling David's Crime on every Tree of Heaven and Earth groaning under the burden of such a Report That David a Man after God's own Heart so beloved and advanced should be thus fouly overtaken and lastly of Jesus Christ shewing his Wounds rub'd up afresh by these Abominations of mine What Ear â—an endure or Heart hold to see and hear his â—ins thus set in order before him Thirdly I am horribly afraid not so much â—f Damnation God hath graciously put away my Sin I know I shall not die as of the ugly face of Sin at first it was not apprehended by me I little thought of what I how feel but now it is presented to me in true Colours black as Hell bitter as Gall and more heavy than Mountains the pleasure was small and past but the bitterness â—s present and doth far exceed it was momentany that delighted me but lasting that â—exeth me I am ashamed of every passage that I knowing so much and professing the contrary should be so foolish and forgetful â—irst to perpetrate the Act then to cover it with Fig leaves as if any Person Thing or Act could be hid by any means from this bright Eye of the Word Well may God be hid from me but I can never be hid from God All things are naked and open to him Sin deceiveth most when it promiseth most and bringeth a Curse with its sweetest Morsels being like that Gold which ever brought destruction to the Owners of it Aurum Tholosanum Or like that Horse which had all perfections that could be named belonging to an Horse Of Cn. Cejus for stature feature colour strength limbs comliness but withal the Owner of him was sure to die an unhappy death This is the misery of Sin how pleasant profitable or advantagious soever it may seem to be unto Flesh and Blood it hath always Calamity in the end it ever expires in Trouble Fourthly I acknowledg all not confusedly as before through the light of Conscience but distinctly and feelingly by the Light of God's Word closing with the light of Conscience All this while I went about to please my self but now I find by woful experience that the things which I have done displease the Lord and therefore now I desire my Repentance may be answerable to my Sin i. e. multiplied and ever before me that others may hear and learn by my example how deceitful Sin is taking away from Men what it promiseth to bring viz. Pleasure and Contentment and for one pleasing sight or touch it presents it presents an ugly face for ever after O that Men were Wise
it hasteneth when you shall see them all presented at once and shall no way avoid that sight when you will think you see nothing but Fire that you hear nothing but a sudden noise passing the greatest clap of horrid Thunder and shall choose Death rather if it were possible to annihilation than Life with such an object before you As it fell out to that usurping Richard after the horrible Murther committed upon his innocent Nephews he could rest no where he could be no where free a tumultuous army of Thoughts struck an Alarm to his Repose at Bed and Board Day and Night alone and in company he thought he saw and heard them when as in truth it was his Sin that was ever legally before him and his own guilty Conscience that did pursue him And to that Judg Morgan who gave Sentence upon that vertuous and innocent Lady Jane in so much that he grew Mad shortly after and still cried out Take away the Lady Jane from me and in that Horror ended his Days and wretched Life As Mr. Speed relates in the Life of Q. Mary and Mr. Clark in his Life of the Lady Jane And so it will be with you here or hereafter Tell me then is it not better to see them apart now when you may repent and be freed than to put them off unto another Day when you must see them altogether and sink under them without any hope of recovery O consider this all ye that forget God lest he tear you iâ— pieces and there be none to deliver Thirdly The use of this Point may be to instruct the Person in matter of Duty and so like a well drawn Picture looks upon all that look upon it If this be so that Sin once committed will be often presented it prompts all 1. To think thus of Sin When you are tempted remember this Text set before you here or else you will think of it after to your pain It is momentany and frothy that delighteth you in Sin but it is eternal that will vex and torment you To repent is to take a bitter though wholesome Potion and Impenitency is followed with Damnation Say you purpose and do repent yet your Sin will ever be before you either to grieve and terrifie you as it did David or to allure you to the same again as it did Augustin often Especially the sins of Blood corporal Vncleanness Apostacy after knowledg and profession of the Truth These sink Men either under sensless Sottishness or unsupportable Horror Witness Cain for the first David for the second and Francis Spira for the third because they are not only Sins but Scandals David thought he might have cover'd one Sin with another Adultery with Murther but hereby they were both augmented and seen further Not only he himself but all Posterity must know it David did that which was right in the Eyes of the Lord save only in the matter of Uriah That stuck in Memory and shall in History Not because he had never committed other Sins but because none of the rest were so scandalous none so accented none so burdensome to the Conscience as these being against so much Light of Nature of Scripture and of Humane Laws few Repenting none without difficulty and many falling into presumption or despair by them Under the guilt of any of these for the most part Men feel either too much or too little either they keep themselves out of sight always when the Conscience is seared the Heart hardened and Men are past feeling or else they are still present and staring in the face of Conscience as it were with the eyes of many Devils Think of this aforehand and beware 1. Of Apostacy in whole or in part because it is better never to know the way of Righteousness than to sin against Knowledg 2. Of Murther because Men are made after God's Image and such Blood crieth from the Earth till it have hearing So many drops of Blood so many Tongues and every drop a Voice to cry for Vengeance Give them Blood to drink for they are worthy Rev. 16.6 And it is threatned He that sheddeth Man's Blood by Man his Blood shall be shed Gen. 9.6 3. Of Adultery because it brings with it much guilt and great stain upon the Soul Hoc grande flagitium est saith Job 31.11 This is an hainous Crime a Wickedness with a witness a Fire that consumeth to destruction God will judg it who ever be slack to punish it Hear what the Scripture saith of this Sin the hainousness and danger thereof as a motive to avoid it Prov. 22.14 A Whore is a deep Ditch and he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein David moiled himself in this deep Pit and there might have stuck in the Mire had not God drawn him out by a merciful Violence and purged him with Hysop from that abhorred filth Prov. 6.32 33. Who so committeth Adultery with a Woman lacketh understanding he that doth it destroyeth his own Soul A Wound and Dishonour shall he get and his Reproach shall not be wiped away It is not therefore leve peccatum a small Sin as the Pope's Canonists call it Divine Justice doth not use to kill Flies with Beetles Briefly it is a Sin that hurts both Body and Soul it hurts Men in Goods in Name Posterity and will be ever before them to make them mourn and say How have we hated Instruction and our Hearts despised Reproof And have not obeyed the Voice of our Teachers O what length and depth of Comfort doth a Man lose for a little Folly not worth the name of Pleasure because it is brutish and brings many and heavy burdens indeed a stain upon the Soul rottenness into the Bones and a blemish indelible on the Name Who would purchase that at so dear a rate which he may have for nothing Or use Violence where he may have leave and a blessing too Run the way of Hell for that Pleasure which they may enjoy more fully in the right Path and Way of Heaven This Men consider not Had David thought of the end he would never have adventured on the beginning had he thought of ever seeing Sin he would have wished he had never seen Bathsheba or that his Eyes had gone alone and left his Heart at home then they could never have brought their Lord into such a straight Remember David and all his troubles His sweet never countervailed his bitter Sawce Bathsheba was a pleasing Object for a time but Sin is fearful and grievous for ever Lust wrestleth till it bring forth Sin but Sin groweth and laboureth till it bring forth Death And although the Combat be healed and the Wound healed yet some Scars remain A great deal of preventing Sorrow and wholsome Suffering must be undergone reade it in David The Child that was born unto him must die Thamar was defiled Ammon murdred and he himself turned out of House and Kingdom by his own Son It is a bitter
thing to sin against the Lord. He fasteth and prayeth weepeth and sigheth saying often or to this effect O Lord rebuke me not in thine Anger neither chasten me in thy hot Displeasure have Mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my Bones are vexed My Soul is sore troubled but thou O Lord how long Return O Lord deliver my Soul O save me for thy Mercy-sake I am weary with groaning all the Night make I my Bed to swim I water my Couch with my Tears mine Eye is consumed because of grief How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy Face from me My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my Roaring O my God I cry in the Day-time but thou hearest not and in the Night-season and am not silent I am poured out like Water and all my Bones are out of joynt my Heart is like Wax it is melted in the midst of my Bowels my strength is dried up like a Pot sheard my Tongue cleaves to the roof of my Jaws Have Mercy upon me O Lord for I am in trouble my Eye is consumed with grief yea my Soul and my Belly My Life is spent with grief and my Years with sighing my strength faileth because of my Iniquities and my Bones are consumed Make thy Face to shine upon thy Servant save me for thy Mercy-sake Day and Night thy Hand is heavy upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer Blessed is he whose Sin is covered and whose Transgression is forgiven O Lord rebuke me not in thy Wrath neither chasten me in thine hot Displeasure For thine Arrows stick fast in me and thy Hand presseth me sore There is no soundness in my Flesh because of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my Bones because of my Sin for mine Iniquities are gone over my Head as a heavy Burden they are too heavy for me I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the Day long My Loins are filled with a loathsome Disease there is no soundness in my Flesh I am feeble and sore broken My Heart panteth my Strength faileth me my groaning is not hid from thee Yea Lord all my desire is before thee Have mercy upon me O my God according to thy loving Kindness according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies blot out my Transgression wash me throughly from mine Iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for I acknowledg my Transgressions and my Sin is ever before me Purge me with Hssyop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow Make me to hear the voice of Joy and Gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Hide thy Face from my Sins and blot out all mine Iniquities create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Cast me not away from thy Presence take not thy Holy Spirit from me Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit Then will I teach Transgressors thy Ways and Sinners shall be converted unto thee I remembred God and was troubled I complain'd and my Spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest mine Eyes waking I am sore troubled that I cannot speak Will the Lord cast me off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his Mercy clan gone for ever Doth his Promise fail for evermore And will he be favourable no more Hath God forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies c. Stay now and look back and say Is not this a great Mourning Was not David in deep distress How many ways doth he take What words doth he use Do not you see a Penitent exceedingly humbled a Heart bleeding a sad and disfigured Face a Body made thin Sighings redoubled one upon another Here are Joints pined away with sadness here is a fixed love of Tears the joyous Harp hangs up and knows no more what Songs of Triumph mean he is wholly employed in expressing Griefs He dies to all Mortal things of the Earth and being cast upon the Sea of Repentance he makes it to eccho with Groanings and continually swell with his Weepings And all to describe his condition by the presence of his Sins and excite the Divine Compassion towards him And if David penitent David was thus pursued with the thoughts and sight of Sin if he were sent and kept such a strong Beggar for Mercy all his days for the matter of Vriah Oh what will become of most of us who sin more and desire less who are more cunning to Transgress and more careless in Praying Where is our Rhetorick our Fervour our Sighs our Tears Oh how faint are our Desires How cold our Prayers As if our many Sins were never before us or not fearful to us as if Mercy and Grace were as easie to get as to lose or as if Heaven and God's Favour would fall upon us at last without any labour which cost David so much Fasting so many Prayers so many Tears in secret And yet his Fasting his Prayers and Tears could not do it without satisfying-Blood applied and pleaded If it be so as we have proved from the Text then do you your selves set Sin before you be desirous of it and patient while others do it Yea kiss that Hand and praise God for that Means whereby it is done Attend to your Pastours look your selves in the Glass of the Law and pray with David search and try me O Lord set my Sins in order before me now that I may be wail them and thou mayest forgive them Never leave this endeavour till you be enabled to see and say Wo and alas wretched Man that I am thus to dishonour God what shall I say or do Mine Iniquities have separated between me and my God My Sins have hid his Face from me so that I cannot see him The Glory is departed and thâ—t bright Sun fearfully eclipsed towards me Can I rejoyce with the joy of other People Can I laugh and be merry while my Sins are always before me Can I sing the Lord's Song in a strange Land Call me not Naomi but call me Marah the Lord deals bitterly with me yet deservedly Sin hath been my Delight now it is my Torment I have followed Sin and now Sin followeth me See do you not see my Drunkenness here my Whoredoms there my Pride my Hypocrisie my Covetousness and Vain-glory a bundle of blasphemous Thoughts in one place and a flying roll of Lyes and Oaths in another place save me from them sweet Jesus A wounded Israelite was healed by looking upon the Brasen Serpent Wounded I am the stings of Death all of my own making for other Death hath none do stick in me and compass me about to the Lord Jesus I look unto his Arms I flie and there resolve to rest Yet me thinks
Ahab Saul and Judas Yea they may go further to leave some Sins at least for a time as it is probable Herod did at St. John's Preaching and yet for all this they may not repent Evangelically so as to be grieved and throughly changed But this is it we say No Man in a state of Nature can see Sin and be troubled about it as David here was Vebridius * Aug. refert Epist 23. ad Bonificium non proculà fine exceedingly hated de quaestione magna responsionem brevem a short Answer to a weighty Question A little more therefore to clear this in hand see the difference of the sight of Sin that is in Natural Men and Unregenerate from that of true Converts viz. First David's sorrow proceeded from Love When he considered that God who had done so great things for him was dishonoured by him and displeased with him that his own Heart was made unfit for God's Service and that the common Enemies were occasioned to rejoyce and blaspheme then he burst out into this supplicatory Confession This was the Fountain whence his penitential Tears did flow But thus it is not with any meer graceless Person his sorrow for Sin is at the best from Fear not from Love Judas had an hellish sorrow a desperate grief for Sin David was Evangelical Against thee thee only have I sinned Lo there lay the pinch of his grief in that he had offended so good a God that had maintained him loved delivered crowned and redeemed him Oh against thee thee only Such matchless Love melting Bowels such precious Blood of such a Saviour He is pricked with the Thorns of Christ's Crown he bled over his bleeding Wounds with the truly sorrowful Soul even tares himself in pieces for taring Christ's Side open Secondly It was free like Water out of a Spring Fained forced Grief is nothing worth * Virtus nolentium nulla est it is like that of Judas which was fired out of him as sweet Water is out of Roses and squeezed out of him as Verjuice is out of Crabs But gracious Persons are Volunteers in their sorrow which we see practised by David after he had numbred the People 2 Sam. 24.10 His Heart smote him and David said to the Lord Take away the iniquity of thy Servant for I have done very foolishly And a shadow hereby we find in the example of Epaminondas the Theban General who the next day after Victory and Triumph went drooping and hanging down his Head and being asked why he did so Answered Yesterday I found my self too much elated with Vain glory therefore I correct my self to day But a better example we have of David whose Heart smote him as before He was not smitten by God's Hand or the Prophet's Reproof as afterwards yet his sanctified Conscience did its Office that of a faithful Monitor his Heart misgave him Bee-masters tell us those are the best Hives that make the greatest noise Sure it is that Heart is best that suffers a Man not to sleep in Sin As for Unregenerate Men it is not so with them Thirdly David saw Sin and was troubled about it as it was Sin ugly as Hell opposite to the holy and pure Nature of God a defacer of his Image and pleasing only to the Devil God's greatest Enemy But Natural Men see and grieve for Sin only as it is attended with pain of loss and sense Take away this Plague said Pharaoh the outward Scourge not take away this hard Heart the greatest Plague of all All trouble like Mercury's Influence is good only if joyned with a good but bad if joyned with a bad Planet The Object of sorrow must be observed and that will shew the nature of it Fourthly David saw Sin with more hatred indignation and abomination than ever It swell'd like a Toad in his Eyes he spat it out of his Mouth with utmost abhorrency resolving to watch for ever after more carefully all his ways I considered my ways that they were not good and turned my Feet unto thy Testimony I have now hid thy Word in my Heart that I may not sin against thee Turn away mine Eyes from beholding Vanity and set a watch before the door of my Lips Thus David saw it and these effects followed So then that sight of Sin which I account an infallible consequent of renewing Grace that none may be mistaken is and must be timely kindly fully and constantly Timely while the Day of Grace lasteth as Judas saw Sin when it was too late Kindly and willingly being led and kept in view thereof by an inward light and power of Grace fighting against Corruption and thereby keeping it still in Memory else Reprobates may and do often see their Sins here by force driven to it by Judgments casting out their Sins as Mariners do their Goods in a Storm wishing for them again in a Calm Fully it must be both for Intention and Extension for the nature of it it must be hearty and for the Object it must be universal Greater and lesser Sins open and secret Evils the sins of Youth and riper Age all must be bewailed where one is seen though all are not alike burdensome some wound and terrifie more than others according as there was more or less delight in commission Adultery and Murther did flash most in David's Face bringing along with them into his mind and sight even his Birth-sin St. Austin was much troubled for that he brake into an Orchard when he was a Boy and for that he had staied another time delightfully to behold two Cocks fighting and that but once So much he testifies in his Confessions And if so how will they be troubled another day who spend many Days the most of their Time in Hunting Cock-fighting Bull or Bear-baiting turning Recreation into Vocation How will they be disquieted with the sight of Sin who rob not only Orchards in their School-way but Houses not of Men but of God as our Appriators and Simonists do of whom the Prophet Malachy complains The trouble of others should raise some trouble in their Minds who are guilty in any kind Sin will have Trouble I have read of one who was a Steward to some Gentleman or a Factor to some Merchant that was much afflicted as for other Sins so for one dash with his Pen which was done to wrong another The redounding guilt of a small Act is heavy Sin receiveth weight from the purity and justice of God who forbids it indefinitely not only great Sins but all Sins For if he arm but one Sin against us which Men may deem little if not Venial that little one is enough to hunt and sink a Man as far as it is possible for a Creature to fall from God And as it must be fully so it must be constantly This sight of Sin which is nothing but Evangelical Sorrow for Sin following upon the Spiritual Combat and renewed light of Conscience is not bounded but by Death More
draweth in the Thred it is sometimes introductory by the blessing of God of a more excellent Way Sorrow for Sin through Love is a consequent of Grace Strangers to both are strangers to Grace They are yet in their Sins Thirdly What an heavy Judgment this dead and benummed Conscience is it never seeth Sin never grieves for Sin never prizeth Christ but goeth on in Sin day after day without feeling weight or fearing smart A wild Beast while asleep seems very tame and gentle but when awaked it begins to shew it self by flying at the Face Your Consciences are now asleep but God will one day awake them when they will never again afford you one day or hour of rest Though for a while you live in Mirth swim in the sweet waters of Pleasures and having despised the Immortal Manna lay out all your care to stuff your Intrails with corruptible Meats and Conscience letteth you alone Though you Feast to day like Nabal and make your selves glad yet there is an Abigail a Conscience which to Morrow will tell you of it and then your Hearts will die within you and be like Stones as cold and as heavy as a Stone within you This O Sinner like a Snake shall hiss in thy Bosom and bray thee like a Fool in a Morter as it were with a Pestel and beat and distress thee for ever This is the Moth that getteth into the Cloth and eateth it When thou with rebukes do'st correct Man for Iniquity thou makest his Beauty to consume away like as when a Moth fretteth a Garment Psal 39.11 This will make thy Face gather blackness and thy Spirit be overwhelm'd for evermore This is unavoidable to all that live and continue in Sin without a sight and trouble for it Fourthly That the Lord will one day set all their Sins in order before them in their proper Colours both for number and nature Sins of Infancy Youth and riper Years Sins of commission and careless omission especially presumptuous Sins and those of positive Infidelity Impenitency unthankfulness for Christ and unfruitfulness under the Means all these will come upon them all together crying out that all the World shall hear and know we are yours and you must own us when there will be neither way to escape nor time to plead Whoso is wise will consider these things and he shall understand to conclude it far better to see Sin now than hereafter now while it may be pardoned rather than hereafter when it must be punished Vse 3. Thirdly What Comfort and Encouragement may this Discourse afford to all in David's Case They have sinned grievously and their Sins are ever before them now not so much out of Fear as out of Love not by constraint but willingly They may be assured and ought to be perswaded of their being in a state of Grace although many of them cannot quiet their Hearts to believe it Their manner is to frequent solitary Places to be alone to meditate of the Lord's Holiness and Goodness ever and anon reflecting with detestation upon their own actual Sins and habitual Uncleanness then they complain sigh and cry as if there were no hope of safety for them What say they can such as we be pardoned and saved We that have committed such Sins abused such Mercies and trampled under feet such great Salvation We that have such hard Hearts impure Natures Eyes full of Adultery every object yielding fewel to this Fire and are daily followed with the memory of so many Sins Whose thoughts by Day and dreams by Night are sufficient evidences of a cursed disposition That can do nothing but Sin Day nor Night O heavy Case O wretched Condition Who shall deliver Or who can persuade us that it is possible c. When indeed this sight of Sin and trouble for it is one ground of Hope a mark of Grace and a fruit of God's Love Come therefore let us reason together say the worst against your selves for so I know you will let all out say you see your Sins for Number innumerable for Nature heinous and crying and for Weight insupportable even to corporal Weakness to Paleness and Fainting accompanied with strange Fears and Consumptions of the Body this is possible say you feel the burden of unclean Hearts and Eyes usually they go together daily and hourly that you cannot think without Sinning nor look without Lusting in sudden motions arising from every Creature any way capable of such a Passion no nor sleep without filthy Dreams symptomes of an impure Heart Say you are ready to sink every moment under fear of Despair or Apostacy by reason of the multitude and pressing constancy of all the former Was not David a Man after God's own Heart was not penitent David thus affected pursued and troubled after his Pardon was obtained and assured to him His Sin was ever before him and yet he was then in a state of Grace Be not discouraged only be careful to tread in his Steps and you shall find his Success Quest How may we know whether we see our Sins savingly as David did or no Answ By divers Marks it may be discerned as First If you see Sin in it self as it is Sin and as abstracted from Concomitants viz. Shame and Pain If you loath it and your selves for it because it is so opposite to the holy and pure Nature of God and if the bent of your affection be against it as the greatest evil that you desire freedom from Sin above all other Boons if you be weary of it to fear and hate it more than the Devil desiring it may be apprehended and killed at every Sermon you hear resolving howsoever to leave all whatever come If it be thus with you in some good measure it is a good sign you see Sin aright Secondly If you see Sin so as that for it you cannot see to remember any of your weak performances of holy Duties since your Conversion This one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before I press to the Mark saith blessed Paul David fasted and prayed sacrificed and sung Psalms stood up for the Church and relieved the Poor c. But none of these are now thought on to be mentioned his Sin only is ever before him Our best Works in a state of Grace are so far from meriting that sometimes they will not come in to yield a Man any comfort in this Case they are full of failings impure and imperfect There are more threds of Copper than of Gold in the best Web we weave Our very Righteousness is as a silthy Garment While Sin comes in full and perfect and so weighs down the Scale that our good Deeds are not in memory when Sin is before us If it be so with you it is another good sign Thirdly If Sin be heavy to you all other Crosses and Troubles are light in comparison and more easily born David was grievously afflicted by