THE SOVLES HVMILIATION Iob 22. vers 29. And he shall save the humble Person LONDON Printed by I. L. for Andrew Crooke at the signe of the Beare in Pauls Church-yard 1637. THE SOVLES HVMILIATION Luke 15. vers 14 15 16 17 18 c. 14. And when he had spent all there arose a mightie famine in that land and he began to be in want 15. And he went and joyned himself to a citizen of that countrey and he sent him into his fields to feed swine 16. And he would faine have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eate and no man gave unto him 17. And when he came to himselfe he said How many hired servants in my fathers have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger 18. I will arise and goe to my father and will say unto him Father I have sinned c. THAT a poore sinner might come and be partaker of the precious merits and death of our Saviour and receive comfort thereby There are two things considerable First a fitting and enabling of the soule for Christ Secondly an inplantation of the Soule into Christ For howsoever it is true there is aboundance of mercy and infinite merit in Christ yet unlesse the Soule be fitted and enabled by the hand of faith to lay hold upon Christ he shall never receive comfort from him be his necessities never so many and his misery never so grievous Therefore Iohn Baptist was sent to prepare the way that all those mountaines of pride might be laid low and all the ditches filled up and all the crooked things might be made strieght and all rough things might be made smooth that there might be a way for Christ The meaning is this The heart of a man is the high way wherein Christ comes Now there are mountaines of pride and untoward stoutnesse of heart and many windings and turnings and devices which the heart hath by reason of many lusts that are in it This fitting and preparing is nothing else but the taking away of that knotty knarlinesse of the heart and that pride and all such cursed corruptions that the doore may be set open and the heart made ready that the King of glory may come in The heart being thus fitted and enabled then followes humiliation for the breaking of the heart is not all that God hath to doe with a poore sinner though the Lord wound the heart of a sinner and run him through yet the heart will be starting aside and will not goe out to Christ Therefore I shall now speake of humiliation of the spirit yet before I come to it give me leave to lay open two passages 1. The necessity of this worke it must needs be 2. The nature of this worke First it is necessary that the soule should be thus humbled for humiliation pares away all selfe-sufficiency from the soule by compunction the Lord breakes the heart and wearies it with sinne and then the soule will be no more drunke nor loose nor vaine no more foolish nor dissembling nor hating of Gods servants nor use no more false weights by humiliation the Lord plucks away the confidence in a mans priviledges and all his good performances and all his duties by which he is ready to shelter himselfe and by which he thinks to get some succour and comfort to his owne soule Now as sinne shall not rule in the heart so the Lord will make the sinner see that whatsoever he hath and doth can never helpe him except the Lord Iesus come downe from heaven by his mightie power For the further opening of these you must know that there are these two maine lets which hinder the comming of faith into the soule and which keepe a man from beleeving in Christ that Christ may have possession of him First 1. Let of Faith when the soule is taken up with a secure course and rests it selfe well apaide in his owne practises and therefore it never seeth any need of a change nor never goes out for a change now while he lives thus and blesseth himselfe in his sinne it is impossible that ever the soule should receive faith or ever by the power of faith repaire to Christ upon these termes for ever where faith comes it works a change all the old things are done away and become new he is new in heart and life now the secure sinner that seeth no need of a change will never see need of faith nor labour for it and if the Ministers of God bid such a man to leave his sinne and to pray in his family and forsake his sinfull practises and to sanctifie the Lords day and take up new courses he thinkes they bid him to his losse now by that time the Lord hath taken away this let and burthened the soule marvellous extreamely and saith is it well that you live in drunkennesse and in covetousnesse in cheating in lying and the like then take your sinnes and get you downe to hell with them thus the Lord is forced to breake the heart then a poore sinner begins to see where he is and now he saith and is this true then I am the most miserable creature under heaven and except I be otherwise it had beene good for mee if I had never beene borne by this time the soule sees need of a change Therefore as they said Men and brethren what shall we doe Acts 2.37 we have beene thus and thus but if we rest here it will be our ruine for ever oh what shall we doe Thus the soule comes to a restlesse dislike of it selfe and saith I must either be otherwise or else I am but a damned man for ever When the soule is thus resolved that it must of necessitie change and there is no dallying with the Lord nor with himselfe and this heart must be altered and this course must be amended When it sees that it must change it begins to improve all meanes to see if he can possibly doe it by his owne strength and by his meanes using as if the soule did say good Lord cannot my wit compasse it and cannot my prayers worke it and though I am a sinfull wretched man yet I will be no more drunke nor uncleane nor the like but by prayer and hearing and fasting I will labour to mend all in this kinde will not these duties doe the deed this very resting in a mans selfe-sufficiency doth marveilously crosse and hinder the worke of Faith for this is the nature of Faith It goes out of it selfe and fetcheth a principle of life grace and power from another The soule apprehends it selfe miserable and it falls upon the arme of Gods mercy and meerely goes out to God for succour Now for a man to fetch all from without and yet to seeke for sufficiency from himselfe these two cannot stand together they are professely crosse one to another and therefore after the Lord hath made the soule see an absolute necessitie of a
they are no gods at all able of themselves to save us but they are the ordinances of God that leade us to God yet they cannot give salvation to any that rests upon them It is the nature of a sinfull heart to make the meanes as meritorious to salvation yet mistake me not these duties must be had and used but still a man must not stay here a man will use his bucket but he expects water from the well these meanes are the buckets but all our comfort and all our life and grace is onely in Christ if you say your bucket shall helpe you you may starve for thirst if you let it not downe into the well for water so though you brag of your praying and hearing and fasting and of your almes and building of hospitals and your good deeds if none of these bring you to a Christ and if these are not meanes to settle you on a Christ you shall die for thirst though your works were as the works of an Angel But why doth the soule seeke for succour from it selfe and will not goe out to Christ Reason 1 The first reason is because the sinner being conceived not yet to be in Christ out of the guilt of sin dares not be so proud as to thinke that he shall have any favour at Gods hands for the sinner being now overwhelmed with the body of death and the guilt of his abominations galling of him and being starved by reason of his sinnes and still his sinnes being before his eyes and to this day having gotten no assurance of the pardon of them and God being angry against him his heart shrinkes in consideration of the eternall wrath of the Almighty against him and he saith because I have despised justice and abused mercy how dare I appeare before Gods justice for feare justice consume me and execute vengeance upon me and therefore the soule dares not yet venture to come before God and hence it is that the soule saith can I not take some course of my selfe and doe it without Christ must I needs goe and heare certainly the word will condemne and must I needs goe and confesse my sinnes what shall I a rebell goe before a Prince to come before him it is the next way to be executed and have some plague throwne upon me As a malefactor will devise some shift that hee may not come before the judge so while the soul may have some succour from himself and the staffe is in his owne hand there is some hope and he would willingly doe any thing for himselfe but for the soule to have salvation out of his owne reach and to put the staffe out of his owne hand and to hang his salvation upon Gods good pleasure whose love and mercy as yet he was never perswaded of Oh this is very hard and the heart is marvellous shie and carefull in this and it is with the heart in this kinde as Rabshecah said to the people of Israel If you say to mee Esa 36.7 is not that hee whose altars you have broken downe c. Thus hee laboured to plucke away the hearts of this people from trusting in the Lord The soule in this kinde sometimes shakes and shrinkes in the apprehension of his owne vilenes and saith as this wretch did have you offended him and doe you looke for any succour from him this argument was very peevish and keene and yet false for they were the altars of Idols but the soule saith against it selfe and marvellous truly when a Minister would perswade a man to goe to heaven for mercy the soule begins to reason thus with it selfe and saith shall I repaire to God Oh that 's my trouble is not he that great God whose justice and mercy and patience I have abused and is not he the great God of heaven and earth that hath beene incensed against mee oh with what face can I appeare before him and with what heart can I looke for any mercy from him I have wronged his justice and can his justice pardon mee I have abused his mercy and can his mercy pitie mee what such a wretch as I am If I had never enjoyed the meanes of mercy I might have had some plea for my selfe but oh I have refused that mercy and have trampled the blood of Christ under my feet and can I looke for any mercy no no I see the wrath of the Lord incensed against mee and that 's all that I looke for the soule rather desires the mountaines to fall upon him that he may never appeare before God Nay I have observed this in experience In the horror of heart the soule dare scarce reade the Word of God for feare he should reade his owne necke verse and he dare not pray for feare his prayers be turned into sinne and so increase his Iudgement thus the soule out of the guilt of sinne dare not seeke out to the Lord and therefore it will use any shift to helpe it selfe without going to God Reason 2 The second Reason why the soule dare not seeke out to Christ for succour it is this because the mysteries of life and salvation through Christ are not yet made knowne to the soule the soule being yet considered as barely broken and wearied with the burthen of sinne Let me say as the Apostle doth the new and living way in Christ is not yet revealed to the soule and it is not yet set open before his eyes though it shall be revealed taking it as in this precise consideration only prepared for Christ Nay those supernaturall truthes namely that the soule must live by another mans life and be made holy by anothers holinesse and be sanctified by anothers spirit these are not yet revealed these doe exceed our corrupt nature Adam after his fall could not have found out this way if the Lord had not revealed it Had not the Lord Iesus Christ that came from the bosome of his Father made this bosome truth knowne we had never beene acquainted with it therefore the soule cannot come to Christ upon these termes As our Saviour saith Ioh. 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but hee that came downe from heaven Now this poore distressed sinner as yet guiltie of his sinne and yet not seeing a way revealed and not able to ascend into this heavenly mystery because it seeth no better way it will betake it selfe to these duties that may be done by his owne strength without seeking to Christ Reason 3 Because for a man to be able and to have a power and principle of life to performe duties of himselfe and to please God of himselfe it was once possible in the time of mans innocency Adam had it and he might have procured Gods favour and have kept the Law and have beene blessed by the Law because the Lord had given him a stocke in himselfe and made him able to doe it of himselfe and we retaine thus much of Adams nature we are loath
when your hearts are hankering after these crazie holds stay them and deale by your hearts as the Lord sometimes did with the people of Iuda In their distresse they did not goe to the Lord but they went to Egypt and Nilus â—eremie 2.18 and therefore the Lord saith unto them What hast thou to doe in the way of Egypt to drinke downe the waters of Nilus c. When they were thus ranging for their owne reliefe in the time of their trouble the Lord as it were cals after them and saith you will downe to Egypt what have you to doe there Deale so by your owne Soules when thou findest thine heart hammering helpe from itselfe and catching it out of the fire thou seest thy sinnes and art troubled and now to quiet all thou wilt heare and pray and performe duties and thus thou thinkest to forge comfort out of thine owne shop therefore call upon thy owne heart and say what hast thou to doe to rest upon these broken staves upon thy praying and hearing and professing these if not accompanied with faith in Christs merits will lay thee in the dust and if thou makest Gods of them the Lord will plucke them away Iudas prayed and preached and heard and received the Sacraments too and yet hee is a divell in hell this day and except thou have more then he had thou wilt be no better then he was and therefore thinke thus with thy selfe what have I to doe to stand here in these duties I may be deluded by these but saved and comforted by them I cannot be therefore use these I will but rest upon them I will not If I could looke up to heaven and speake to Abraham and Paul and David and say how were you saved they would all make answer and say oh away to the Lord Christ it is he that saved us or else we had never come here and he will save you too if you flye to him Therefore brethren bring backe your hearts from these and dreame not to receive any saving succour from what you have or what you doe unlesse you relye on Christ But mee thinkes I heare some say Oh Question it is marvellous difficult and hard wee hang upon every hedge and we are ready to thinke that it is enough if wee can but take up a taske in holy duties How shall we pluck our hearts from resting upon them Answer For the answer to this question suffer mee to answer two things First I will shew the meanes whereby wee may find all these hopeles and helpelesse resting upon them Secondly I will shew when these meanes drive the heart truly to despaire of all succour in them Now that we may find these meanes to bee so to us as they are in themselves and that our Soules may be able to say It is true these are the holy Ordinances of God but it is in vaine to expect any salvation or justification from them alone I say the meanes are mainely foure and I will handle them something largely because if I bee not deceived here is the maine sett of a Christian and herein appeares the root of old Adam we will not part with our selves the meanes are foure First consider seriously with thy selfe and bee convictingly settled and perswaded of the unconceiveable wretchednesse of thy naturall condition If thou canst but see this throughly it will make thee see how vaine it is to look for any succour from thy selfe labour to see the depth of thine own misery because of thy sin and to see how thou hast sunke thy selfe into such a desperate gulfe of misery that all the meanes under heaven will bee short to succour thee unlesse the Lord Iesus come downe from heaven and his infinite power bee let downe to plucke up thy Soule from that misery wherein thou art there thou lyest and there thou art like to perish for ever if God in mercy succour not Now that I may pul down the pride of every vile wretch give mee leave to discover the depth of our miserie in these foure degrees Foure degrees of our misery by nature First consider that by nature thou art wholly deprived of all that abilitie which God formerly gave thee to performe service Whatsoever is borne of the flesh Ioh. 3.6 Rom. 7.18 is flesh saith our Saviour and therefore the Apostle Paul saith I know that in mee that is in my flesh dwells no good thing All men by nature are flesh and therefore thinke thus with thy selfe and say there was never good thought in my heart nor good action done by mee for in mee dwells no spirituall good thing there may bee morall good in us but though we are good morally yet we are nought spiritually howsoever you pranke up your selves and thinke your selves some body yet there is no spirituall good in you unlesse God worke upon your hearts whatsoever you have thought or done is all in vaine Secondly thou art not onely deprived of all spirituall abilitie 2. Degree of our misery Ephes 2.1 but thou art dead in trespasses and sinnes What is that a man is wholly possessed with a body of corruption and the Spawne of all abhomination hath overspread the whole man and it leavens all the whol lump of body and mind You often read this phrase in Scripture but you perceive it not as it is with a dead body being deprived of the Soule which did quicken it and enable it to doe the workes of a reasonable man there comes a kind of sencelesnesse and after that all noysome humours breed in the body and all filthy vermin come from the body and therefore a man may bury it but hee cannot quicken it any more Iust so it is with the Soule that is deprived of the glorious presence of Gods Spirit and grace which Adam had in his innocency For looke what the Soule is to the body the same is the grace of Gods Spirit to the Soule When the Soule is deprived of Gods Spirit there followes a senselesse stupidnesse upon the hart of a man and all noysome lusts abound in the Soule and take possession of it and rule in it and are fed there and appeare in a mans course in this kind There is no carrion in a ditch smels more loathsomely in the nostrills of man then a naturall mans workes doe in the nostrills of the Almightie There are some workes of a dead body it rots and stinkes and consumes so all the workes of a naturall man are dead workes nay all the prayers of the wicked are an abhomination to the Lord. If you can but say over the Lords Prayer you think you do a great piece of worke but though thesr are good in themselves yet because they come from a corrupt heart they are dead and loathsome prayers in the nostrils of the Almightie as the wise man saith Hee that turneth his eare from hearing the Law Prov. 28.9 even his prayer is abhominable The prayers of a drunkard
that is you will not goe out from your selves to the Lord Christ and therefore cannot receive mercy and grace from his Majesties hands though thou art never so base and vile if thou couldst goe to the Lord Iesus and rest upon him for mercy nothing should stand betweene thee and heaven but if thou stickest in thy selfe all the grace in Christ can doe thee no good Secondly This carnall confidence makes a man unprofitable under all the meanes that God bestowes Ier. 17.5 6. As the Prophet Ieremy saith Cursed is he that trusts in the arme of flesh and departs from the Lord Why What shall become of him the text saith he shall be like an heath in the wildernesse and shall never see good The nature of the heath is this though all the dew of heaven and all the showers in the world fall upon it and though the Sunne shine never so hotly it will never grow fruitfull it will never yield any fruit of increase but it is unfruitfull still Such a Soule thou wilt be thou that restest upon thy own services sayest because thou hearest and prayest and doest sanctifie the Lords Day therefore thou must needs goe to heaven I say thou shalt never see good by all the meanes of grace if thou makest them independent causes of salvation all the promises in the Gospel shall never establish thee and all the judgements in the world will never terrifie thee thou shalt never have any saving grace wrought in thee by them The truth is hee that hath all meanes and hath not a Christ in all hee shall never see good by all Therefore thou that restest upon thy parts and gifts and upon thy duties thou wilt have a heart so besotted that grace will never come into thy heart and God will never quiet thy conscience It may be a poore drunkard is converted and humbled but thou standest still and canst get no good by all the means in the world Therefore say thus to thy selfe doth this carnall confidence cut mee off from all the grace and mercy that is in Christ and without mercy and pardon from Christ I am undone for ever and without grace I am a poore defiled wretch here and shall be damned for ever after if I rest here I may bid adue to all mercy Nay all the meanes that I have never doe mee good Is this the fruit of my carnall confidence Oh Lord withdraw my heart from it Lastly When all the meanes of grace will not plucke away the Soule from resting upon it selfe The fourth meanes when reason will not rule him nor meanes will not prevaile with a poore sinner as commonly a great while they will not then the Lord tires a poore Soule with his owne distempers And the Lord deales with the Soule as an enemy deales with a Castle that he hath besieged When the Citizens will not yield up the Castle he famisheth them and cuts off all provision and makes them consume within and so at last they are forced to resigne it up upon any termes So When the Lord hath laid siege to a carnall heart and hath shewed him his woefull condition and yet the heart will not of nor will not take up any termes of peace but still hee will shift for himselfe Now what doth the Lord doe hee takes away the comfort of all the meanes that he hath till hee is famished with the want of Gods favour and then hee is content to yield up all to the God of heaven and earth It was just so with this Prodigall all the world could not perswade him but he might live better of his portion and so away hee goes and when hee had tried the world and could get no succour at last he confest it was better to be at a fathers finding and now he saw that a fathers house was admirably good and that the servants and children in their fathers house are happy for they have bread enough and enough againe and to spare too and so hee is forced to returne So it is with many poore distressed soules all the arguments under heaven cannot quiet them and all the meanes in the world cannot plucke them from themselves and we tell them daily that they must not expect grace nor power nor pardon from themselves 2 Ioh. 3. It is mercy and peace saith the Apostle You would have peace of conscience and pardon of sinne and assurance of Gods love and whence would you have it you would have it from your duties it is not prayer and peace nor hearing and peace but it is mercy and peace and therefore away to the Lord Iesus that you may receive mercy from him Yet we cannot get poore creatures from themselves but they would faine shuffle for themselves and have a little comfort of their owne and they say Lord cannot my prayers my care and fasting merit salvation Now what doth God then he saith to such a Soule goe try then put to the best of thy strength and use all the meanes that thou canst and see what thou canst doe See if thou canst cure thy conscience and heale those wounds of thine and subdue the corruptions of thy heart with thy prayers and abilities but when the Soule hath made triall and weltred and wearied it selfe at last he finds that all the meanes he can use cannot quiet him nor comfort his conscience and the poore sinner is pinched and wearied and the Lord will not answer his prayers nor sweeten the desires of his Soule and the Lord will not blesse the Word to him for his comfort and at last the Soule saith Such a poore Christian even a man of meane parts and weake gifts how is he comforted and such a profane drunkard is puld home and hath gotten the assurance of Gods love The Lord hath puld downe the proud hearts of such and such and they live comfortably and sweetly and I have no peace nor assurance of Gods love You may thanke your selves for it they saw nothing and they looked for nothing from themselves and therefore they went home to the gate of mercy to the Lord Iesus Christ and they have bread enough if you would come home to Christ you might have beene comforted also Now therefore goe to the Lord Iesus Christ and as certainly as God is in heaven refreshing and comfort will come into your hearts and mercy which is better then marrow shall satisfie those feeble fainting spirits of yours You see what the way is and what the helps be to pluck off our hearts from resting upon these duties and therefore thinke thus with thy selfe and say is my misery so great and are my duties so weake and is my carnall confidence so dangerous that I may be troubled for ever for any thing that I can doe of my selfe and is comfort no where else to be had but in the Lord Iesus Christ Oh then Lord worke my heart to this duty Sticke not in your selves doe all this but goe
is blanke and justice carries him downe to the place of execution and he shall not come thence till he have paid the utmost farthing And then the Soule saith some comfort some mercy and consolation for mee oh saith he I have received the Sacrament and prayed and fasted and professed canst thou not feede of these oh no! saith the Soule these are huskes bread for me as the world thinkes of a man that hath got nothing by his trading such a man that made wonderfull shew in the world to day so many hundreths and thousands worse then nothing this is lamentable Iust so it will be with thee if thou hast not gotten Christ If a man have gotten Christ in his hearing and praying hee will answer all easily and when the divell comes in and saith Thou hast many sinnes who shall satisfie Gods Iustice for them The Soule makes this answer Christ hath paid all Oh but thou hast broken the Law of God saith the divell Oh saith the Soule Christ hath fulfilled all righteousnesse for mee You have many corruptions saith the divell but Christ hath purged mee saith the Soule Oh but you shall be damned saith the divell to him Nay saith the Soule there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ but I am in Christ and therefore shall not be damned Thus the divel shall goe away ashamed and say That man is out of my reach I shall never get him downe to hell he hath gotten Christ But here this question may be asked Question how may a man goe beyond himselfe in all his duties Answ Because this is a skill above all skills therefore for the answer hereof take these three directions First The first Direction labour to see an absolute necessity of a Christ in all these priviledges that thou hast and in all the duties and services that thou performest First in all thy priviledges See a need of Christ to make all these powerfull to thy Soule Hearing and reading and fasting will doe thee no good except thou have a Christ to goe with all these As a Ship that hath faire Sailes strong Masts except there be a winde it can never goe So the Soule is like the Ship and the precious ordinances of God are faire Sailes and good Masts and it is good hearing and good reading and good fasting but except the Spirit blowe with these thou canst get no good by them the Spirit bloweth where it listeth and except the Lord Iesus Christ by the power of his Spirit go breath upon thy hearing Preaching and upon all the ordinances they can doe thee no good When the Lord was to come into his Garden which was the Church The Spices are the graces of Gods Spirit The Spices could not growe because the Spirit would not blowe upon them and therefore the Spouse saith Arise oh North Cant. 4.16 and come oh South and blowe on my Garden that the Spices thereof may flowe out As if she had said Good Lord blowe this way and that way and give a blessing to the meanes and then comfort will come indeed And as there is need of Christ to blesse all meanes so secondly there is need of Christ to make all thy services acceptable to God the Father Oh send to heaven for a Christ that he may hide all thy weaknesses and present all thy duties to God his Father in his merits and righteousnesse They that brought a Sacrifice in the time of the Law were to offer it upon the golden Altar and no Sacrifice was accepted without it So if thou wilt have thy hearing and praying and fasting acceptable to God lay them upon the golden Altar the Lord Iesus Christ And know that thou hast need of Christ to cover all the failings weaknesses in thy duties The second Direction Secondly In all the beautie and excellencie of Gods ordinances that thou seest and prizest See a greater beautie and excellencie in the Lord Iesus Christ then in all these See what comfort it is that thou wouldest finde and what sweet is it that thou wouldest get from hearing and reading praying and professing goe beyond all this and say if the beames be so sweet what is the Sunne it selfe and if the ordinances of God be so sweet and comfortable what is the Lord Iesus Christ then You come to heare and it is well that you will come What would you have in hearing You would have some life to quicken you and some wisedome in your mindes to direct you and some grace into your Soules to purge you and then mee thinks I heare you say Blessed be the Lord this day I found my heart something more quickned and my Soule somthing inabled to hate sinne and to walke with God blesse God for that But is a little life in the word so good and is a little grace in the Sacrament so sweet Oh then away away higher if these be so sweet what is the Lord Iesus the God of all wisedome grace and power If the Word doe so much quicken thy Soule what would the Lord Iesus doe if thou couldest get thy heart possessed of him Let all these drops of life and mercie draw up thy heart to heaven When the Spouse in the Canticles had sought after her beloved see how she describes him Can. 5.10.16 his mouth is white and ruddie and so forth and in the 16. verse shee saith Hee is most sweet yea hee is altogether lovely The originall hath it he is altogether pleasant yea pleasantnesse it selfe You have some comfort and some discomfort with it you have some wisedome and some folly some power and some weaknesse with it but the Lord Iesus is all comfort and no discomfort he is all power and no weaknesse he is all life and no deadnesse therefore in all the ordinances of God carrie your hearts a little higher and looke upon that fulnesse that is in Christ Thirdly Let us labour in the use of all meanes The third meanes as to see the beauty of a Christ surpassing all meanes so let us be led by all meanes into a neerer union with the Lord Christ As a wife deales with the letters of her husband that is in a farre Country she findes many sweet inklings of his love and shee will read these letters often and daily shee would talke with her husband a farre off and see him in the letters Oh saith shee thus and thus he thought when he writ these lines and then shee thinks hee speakes to her againe shee reads these letters onely because shee would be with her husband a little and have a little parlee with him in his pen though not in his presence so these ordinances are but the Lords love-letters and wee are the Ambassadors of Christ and though wee are poore sottish ignorant men yet wee bring mervailous good newes that Christ can save all poore broken hearted sinners in the world You doe well to come and heare but it is all
satisfie for the sinne that thou hadst committed before conversion and if thou canst not maintaine thy owne grace then there is an absolute necessitie of going to Christ for all Nay aske your owne hearts and services and say thus prayer wilt not thou save mee and hearing wilt not thou save me they will all professe plainly and say salvation is not in mee saith prayer and salvation is not in me saith hearing and salvation is not in me saith repentance and amendment Indeed wee have heard of a Christ that hee hath dyed and satisfied and suffered and risen and delivered his poore servants and pluckt poore Soules from hell and we need a Saviour to pardon us alas we cannot save our selves All thy duties will say to thee as the King said to the woman when the famine was great in Samaria And the King was going upon the wall there cryed a woman to him 2 King 6.26 27. saying Helpe oh King And the King made this answer If the Lord God succour not how can I helpe So mee thinkes the Soule saith When it is besieged with the wrath of God Oh helpe prayer and hearing and Sacrament and the like Mee thinks I heare them reply in this manner Alas how can we helpe you have prayed sinfully and heard the Word untowardly and received the Sacraments unworthily Oh let us all goe to heaven for a Mediator good Lord pardon the sinne of these prayers and these hearings and the unworthinesse of these Sacraments and all this frothinesse and deadnesse in hearing Thus they will all send you to heaven for a Christ and say alas I cannot save you how many commands have I disobeyed how many duties have I slighted and therefore send to Christ for pardon we are weake and feeble and onely come to the eare and to the eye but the Lord Iesus must come downe from heaven and be powerfull every way to doe good to your Soules You must goe to a Christ to batter the proud flesh and to pardon all that is amisse and to performe all duties that you would have done When Elisha tooke up the cloake of Eliah he said where is the God of Eliah he did not say 2 King 2.14 Where is the the cloake but where is the God of Eliah All the ordinances of God are but as the barke of the tree but Christ and the Promise are the pith The heart and life and power of all is in Christ onely therefore looke higher then these for they doe all proclaime that there is no succour but in Christ The third meanes to drive our hearts from resting upon our duties is this The third meanes We must consider the unconceivable hazzard and danger and the inconvenience that will come if we put any affiance in any of those priviledges that we have or any duties that we performe The very consideration hereof is able to withdraw our hearts from resting upon them The danger appeares in two particulars First This carnall confidence in what we have and doe shut a man out from having any part in Christ He that is guiltie of this sinne withdrawes himselfe from the favour of the Lord and he becomes uncapable of that mercy and good which God hath revealed and Christ hath purchased for poore distressed sinners For this is all that the Lord lookes for at our hands that we should deny our selves and wholy cast our selves upon his goodnes and mercy nay that man which relyes upon what he doth puts himselfe without the reach of all that mercy and great salvation that is in Iesus Christ Christ came not to call the righteous to repentance nor them that trust in themselves nor them that thinke they can save themselves but he came to call sinners to repentance and those that see an utter insufficiency in themselves to save or succour themselves in the day of trouble there is great salvation in Christ and plenteous redemption purchassed by Christ and you heare of all this and it is all true but this I must tell you all that Christ hath done and deserved shall never doe you good if you rest upon your selves You doe thinke that it is such a great sin as indeed it is sometimes you make conscience of drunkennes and other sinnes if you make conscience of any thing then know that this is the greatest sinne in the world Gal. 5.2 See how the Apostle sets himselfe against this carnall confidence where speaking to the Galathians that trusted in their owne circumcision that answers to our Baptisme Behold saith he I Paul say I not a bare man but I Paul enspired with the Spirit in an extraordinary manner and I an Apostle that doe not nay that cannot erre I that have received a commission from the Lord I say that if you be Circumcised that is if you trust in your Circumcision Christ shall profit you nothing nay saith he Iesus Christ is made of none effect to you if you seeke to bee justified by the workes of the Law Verse 4. If you rest in the merit of your prayer Christ is made of none effect to you and you shall never receive any power from the death of Christ the bloud of Christ will never purge those filthy hearts of yours and his resurrection shall never quicken you Whatsoever your case and condition is or can be if your sinnes were never so haynous for greatnes continuance and for number if you wil but renounce your selves and goe to Christ nothing shall condemne you but if your sinnes were never soe well reformed and amended and reformation nay Christ himselfe shall never doe you any good It is with the Soule of a poore sinner as it is with the body of a man If it had some slightie disease or sicknes and that may haply be cured but if his throate begin to swell and the vitall passages be stopped up that he can receive no meat nor phisicke every neighbour will say he is but a dead man all the meanes and men in the world can doe him no good he can receive nothing downe So it is with the Soule it is annoyed with many base corruptions and sinfull distempers and if it be wounded with many rebellions there is meanes enough in Christ to cure all If thou were a filthy besotted drunkard or an adulterer the blood of Christ can purge thy drunken adulterous heart one touch of Christ can cure all thy bloody issue If thou wert dead in trespasses and sinnes the Lord Iesus could quicken thee and raise thee from death to life but if thy proud heart swell with thy owne sufficiency and thou wilt rest upon thy selfe all the merits and grace in Christ can doe thee no good This is the maine conclusion Ioh. 5.40 into which all the rest is resolved You will not come to mee saith our Saviour that you might be saved He doth not say you have many sinnes and shall not be saved but you will not come to me c.
despaire I would not have you go away and say the minister saith we must despaire It s true you must despaire of all saving succour in your selves but you must not despaire of all mercy in Christ Answer For the answer to this question you must know that there are three particular trialls of our owne hearts whereby wee shall know when the Lord is pleased to deale so kindly and sweetly with us as to drive us from our selves to Christ The first triall First the Soule of a poore sinner that seeth all meanes helplesse and hopelesse in themselves will freely confesse and acknowledge and that openly that the worke of salvation is of an unconceiveable difficulty and he seeth an utter insufficiencie and impossibility in himselfe and in any meanes in the world to be saved of himselfe He seeth that it is beyond his power and the staffe is out of his owne hand and the Soule almost sinks under it and conceives it almost impossible to come out of it in regard of that which it apprehends Hee seeth now that all those broken reedes and rotten props and all that boldnesse whereby the heart did beare up it selfe they are all broken in peeces and all those Castles which he hath built in the ayre wherein hee comforted himselfe with dreames of consolation they are all throwne downe to the ground and battered about his eares and now the Soule wonders how he was so deluded to trust to such lying vanities and to such deceitfull shadowes This is the difference that the Soule will finde in it selfe before this worke of conversion and after it is wrought Before a man thinks it an easie matter to come to heaven and judgeth it a foolishnesse in people to be cast downe and discouraged in the hardnesse and difficultie of the worke of salvation and hee conceives it to be a foolish conceit in the frantick braine of some precise Ministers Oh saith he God blesse us if none be saved but such as these whatsoever he saith a man may goe to heaven and repent and get the pardon of his sinnes it is nothing but confessing his sinnes before God and craving mercy in the pardon of them and is this such a hard matter this man in the dayes of his vanitie thinks he hath heaven in a string and mercy at command and he can come to heaven and breake his heart at halfe an houres warning but take this man when the Lord hath awakened his conscience and put him to the triall when he seeth that after all his prayers and teares yet his conscience is not quieted and his sinnes are not pardoned and the guilt still remaines now he is of another minde now he wonders at himselfe that he was so deluded and now he saith where is the deluded heart that did thinke it and the mouth that did speake it Nay he thinks it a great mercy of God that he is not in hell long agoe and he stands and wonders that ever any man comes to heaven and he saith certainly their hearts are not like mine and their sinnes are not so great as mine good Lord who can ever be saved such a divell to tempt and such a world to allure and such corruptions boyling within He wonders how Abraham got to heaven beyond the Starres and Moses but above all Manasses yet he saith blessed be God that ever he did this for them but for my selfe all things considered I thinke it a matter impossible how I nay how can I ever be wrought upon shall ever any mercy comfort mee and shall ever any meanes doe mee good Why have not all those meanes that I have had done mee good I shall never have power to pray better then I have done and I shall never be able to wrestle with God more earnestly then I have done and yet I see all meanes profit not therefore I am but a gone man I am but lost and I know not which way my soule should be saved When our Saviour Christ was discovering the difficultie of the way to Salvation His Disciples said Good Lord who then shall be saved So the poore Soule saith Oh the meanes that I have had and the prayers that I have made So that I have thought the heavens did even shake againe and yet Good Lord my heart did never stirre at all and therefore how can I be saved And as the Prophet Ieremy saith Shame hath eaten up the labours of our fathers and we lye downe in our shame c. They had the meanes of grace and the ordinances of God and shame hath eaten up all and where are their Temples and Priviledges now Shame hath consumed them to nothing So it is with a poore feeble fainting Soule he saith shame hath eaten up all my labours I have laboured in prayer in hearing and in fasting yet I have no pardon sealed nor no mercy granted I am as much troubled as ever I see as much evill as ever I did hell is gaping for mee and so soone as life is gone from my body the divell will have my Soule This is the nature of despaire to put an impossibilitie in the thing that it despaires of and to say can it be and will it be and will it ever be Nay it is impossible for ought I know Where is the man now that thought it an easie matter to goe to heaven he is in an other minde and his heart is of an other frame now he hath found by woefull experience that there is no hope nor helpe in himselfe nor in the creature Secondly The second Triall this followes from the former disposition of spirit the Soule is restlesse and remaines unsatisfied in what he hath and what he doth The heart cannot be supported and therefore it growes to be marveilously troubled and it is not able to stay it selfe There is nothing that can satisfie the Soule of a man but it must be some good No man is satisfied with evill but rather more troubled with it It must be some good either in hand and in present possession or else in expectation of some good that he may have and he saith it may be and it will be But when he seeth the emptinesse of all his priviledges and the weakenesse of all his duties when these failes his heart and all must needs sinke because he seeth no other good but them for the while As it is with the building of a house if the bottome and foundation be brittle and rotten and begin to shake all the whole building must needs shake So the Soule that sought for comfort mercy and salvation from his outward priviledges and duties when all these begin to shake under him and to breake in sunder and he seeth no helpe thereby and that it can receive no ease therein hence it is that Soule thus troubled and despairing is in such an estate that if all the Ministers under heaven should come to flatter him and to daube him up with untempered mortar
and that suddenly Oh let us pitie them will you not yield now but you will stand it out to the last man The Lord comes out in battell aray against a proud person and singles him out from all the rest and when the vyalls of his wrath are poured out upon all wicked ones mee thinks the Lord saith Let that drunkard and that swearer alone a while but let mee destroy that proud heart for ever You shall submit in spite of your teeth when the great God of heaven and earth shall come to execute vengeance and doe not think to scarre God with your mocks you that wil sweare a man out of your company Consider that place in Iob and see how the Lord comes with all his full might against a proud man Iob 15.25.26 27. It is good to read this place often that God may pull downe our proud hearts For he stretcheth out his hands against the Almighty saith the text and strengtheneth himselfe against God and he saith I will do it though my life lie at the stake for it he strengthens himselfe and will doe it Surely God is afraid of him he comes so well mann'd the Lord must deale some way with him to overthrow him Mark what the text saith The Lord runnes upon him even on his neck upon the thick bosses of his bucklers because hee covereth his face with his fatnesse and maketh collops of fat upon his flankes the Lord comes upon him not at the advantage but in the height of his pride and in the rage of his malice the Lord will come upon him and ruinate him for ever Those that now stand it out and cast off all carelesly throwing away the commandements of God I would have them at the day of their death to out-stand the curse of God The Lord God commands to sanctifie his Sabbaths and to love his truth and his children yet you will not but you will strive against all I would haue you to out-stand the curse of God in the day of judgement and when the Lord Iesus shall say Depart from me yee cursed into everlasting fire stand it out now and say I will not goe to hell Lord I will not be damned No no you broke the cords here but the Lord will binde you in chaines of darknesse for ever remove those chaines if you can No Esay 2.17 the haughtinesse of men shall be brought low and the loftinesse of men shall be abased and the Lord shall onely be exalted in that day Vse 2 The second Use is for instruction to shew unto us that an humble Soule is mervailous teachable and tractable and is willing to yeeld unto and to be guided by any truth it submits and there is no quarrelling against the commandements of God one word of Gods mouth is enough If the Lord reproves it takes the same home to it selfe if the Lord promiseth it beleeves and if the Lord threatens it trembles It is easie to be convinced of whatsoever it is informed if it have no good reason to gaine-say it It is not of that wayward and pettish disposition that it will not be satisfied though all his reasons be answered and all objections taken away It is not led by his owne humours as many a man is though his conceits be against reason and opposite against God and his grace Nay it is content to yeeld to the authority of the truth and to take the impression of every truth it heares and yields Iob 34.32 and obeyes and frames it selfe answerably As Iob saith That which I know not teach thou mee and if I have done any iniquity I will doe so no more The humble Soule is content to confesse his ignorance and to submit to any truth that may enforme him and it is content to receive that mercy and grace that is offered by what meanes soever God seeth best to Communicate it Nay the heart that is truly submissive is as willing to take comfort when it is offered upon good grounds as it is to performe dutie enjoyned By a foolish pettishnesse the divell withdrawes the hearts of Gods owne people from much comfort that God hath dished out of purpose for their benefit For howsoever the Soule of a poore sinner be truly touched yet for want of this lowlinesse and this teachablenesse and submission it refuseth that sap and sweet that it should take and receive from the Lord. Take a poore sinner that hath many sinnes burthening of him and hee is crushed with them and that in truth he desires comfort but receives none Let the Minister of God come and answer all his arguments and satisfie all his quarrels that he can make and set him on a cleare boord and tell him that the work of grace is cleare and mercy is appointed for him Now marke how he flyes of through that sullennesse and untoward peevishnesse and pride of Spirit hee casts away the mercy and yields not to the comfort offered though he is content to yield to the duties enjoyned and so he deprives himselfe of that mercy and comfort that is offered and thus when all is done time after time the Soule saith I see it not and I perceive it not and all the world shall not perswade me of it Why what are you wiser then all the world what a pride of heart is this Oh saith he another man may be cozened and deceived but I know my owne heart better then any Minister doth But you tell the Minister what your condition is and so what you know hee knowes and hee hath more judgement to enforme you then you have of your selfe Then saith the Minister all your cavils and objections are answered and remooved and all that worke of grace that God hath wrought you have made it knowne and revealed and all this is made good by the Word of God now if all these quarrels be answered and if all the reasons and evidences of the worke of grace be made cleare that you cannot deny them then why may not you take comfort Downe with that proud heart of yours that will not beleeve whatsoever the Minister saith Oh the height of pride and haughtinesse of heart in this case I speake to you to whom comfort and mercy is impropriated downe with those proud spirits I say It is not because you cannot but because you will not It is said in Esay God prepares the garment of gladnesse for the spirit of heavinesse When the Lord seeth the soule prepared and humbled Esa 61.3 he takes measure of it and disheth out a comfort answerable he prepares a consolation as fit as may be and yet the Soule will not put it on nor be warned and refreshed with it as it is with some way-ward untoward childe who when his father hath prepared a suit of cloathes fitting for him because he hath not such and such a lace hee will not put it on but throwes all away Oh it is marvellous pride of spirit a rod
arrows of the venome of the displeasure of the Almighty stick deepest in him and he finds the fiercenesse of Gods wrath burning in his heart Iob 14.17 and that all his sins which have been sealed up in a bag as Iob saith they are all set in order before him and the wrath of the Lord more heavie then any mountaine falls upon his back I say when the poore sinner finds himselfe thus pursued after in the fiercest and most terrible manner the abased heart dare not flye away from God nor repine against the Lord but he lyes downe meekely 1. He will not flye away from God for that is his pride Nay he dare not doe it He will not go with Saul to the Witch of Endor nor with Iudas to a halter When the Lord let Iudas see that hee had betrayed innocent blood and fill'd his heart with horror hee did not goe to God and lye down under the harshest horror but he went to a rope and hanged himselfe and all through his pride because hee was not content with the harsh dealing of God though hee leaped from the fire-pan into the fire As the proverbe is And likewise Cain went into the land of Nod. So when the Lord hath awakened a poore creature and after a good while that a man would have thought he had gone on a good way in a Christian course at last when he finds that he is not able to beare the wrath of God but more iniquity comes in against him then hee flyes of from God and fals from a Christian course and goes to the Ale-house or some other base course and so hardens his conscience but I say the humble Soule dare not doe so but lyes at Gods foot-stoole and if it were the very bottome of the dregs of Gods wrath and the very fire of hell he is content to undergoe Gods dealing He doth not question God 's dealing and say others are not thus and thus terrified and why should I be so No the Soule returnes all against it selfe and saith why doe I talke of others they have not such untoward uncleane peevish hearts as I have The humble soule resolves with the Church in Micah Micah 7.9 I have sinned and therefore I will beare the indignation of the Lord So the Soule saith I have sinned most hainouslly I know not their sinne but I know my owne sinne and therefore I will beare the Lords wrath though it be never so unsupportable and unsufferable Lord give mee a heart that I may be able to beare it When a Malefactor comes to the Assises he lookes for nothing but condemnation and execution if he can scape with burning in the hand or branding in the forehead or shoulder he is glad and goes well apaid and cryes God save the King because hee thought he should have beene hanged So it is with an humble and a selfe-denying sinner When the poore creature finds the heaviest of Gods indignation upon him and such strange distempers as if a thousand divels were within him the Soule quiets it selfe thus and saith Why do I thus fret and wherefore am I thus perplexed it is wel that I scape thus I might have beene in hell this day and blessed be God that it is no worse that I am not in hell I might have beene roaring in hell as thousands of poore reprobates are that have no more hope of mercy therefore I will beare whatsoever the Lord layes upon mee Secondly as he is content with the hardest measure so he is content with the longest time Hee is content to stay for mercy be it never so long After the poore soul hath his eyes growing dim with waiting for mercy his hands grow feeble and his tongue cleaves to the roofe of his mouth and his heart begins to sinke and his Soule shakes within him with waiting for the mercy and goodnesse of the Lord and yet he finds no mercy and hath no Inkling of any favour yet God lookes a farre of Yet his Soule is content with this If a beggar should stay halfe a day for an almes it would grieve him though that be his pride See what Esay saith I will waite upon the Lord that hath hid his face from Iacob and I will looke for him Esa 8.17 As if the poore sinner did say The Lord hath hid his face away and turned his loving Conntenance from mee yet I will looke towards heaven so long as I have an eye to see and a hand to lift up I will yet looke to heaven to the Lord that hath not as yet heard nor answered my prayers the Lord may take his owne time it is manners for mee to waite and stay Gods time Away therefore with that peevishnesse and that discontentednesse of Soule that when a poore sinner hath called and cryed and finds no answer and heares no newes from heaven he secretly intends to lay all aside As if a man lift a weight againe and againe and seeth that it is to heavy for him he lets it alone So many poore creatures are content to let all alone and say why should I waite upon God any more I have prayed and cryed thus long and finde no answer why should I waite any longer How now who shall have the worst of it cannot God have his glory without your prayers why should you waite this is horrible pride of heart Why should you waite It s no marvell that you should take such State to your selves who must waite then Must the King waite or the Subject The Master or the Servant The Iudge or the Traitor Downe with that proud and sturdy heart of yours An humble Soule dare not doe so hee is content to waite for Gods mercy and you will be brought to it too before ever the Lord will give you any mercy The humble soule saith thus I have waited thus long the Lord seemes to be angry with my person and prayers and all is blasted yet I will waite still Nay I am glad that I may waite What waite upon the Lord Iesus Christ and mercy Yes and glad you may Kings and Princes have done it and blessed are they that waite upon mercy Nay the poore broken heart resolves thus and saith if I lye and licke the dust all my dayes and cry for mercy all my life long if my last words might be mercy mercy it were well I might get mercy at my last gaspe Oh I blesse God that yet I live here and and that I am not in hell as thousands are that waite for judgement and vengeance blessed be God that yet I may waite till God looke upon mee in goodnesse and mercy Lastly when the Soule hath stayed a long time it is content with the least pittance of mercy he is not like many proud beggars that thinke much when they have stayed long if they have but a farthing Nay if hee have but from hand to mouth It is all that hee craves and all that hee lookes for
mee all you stout hearted ones of the world which are farre from righteousnesse Esay 26.12 Let mee speake to all you stout hearted men and women that are heere this day you that swell against the truth of Christ and will not come under the power of Gods ordinances you are farre from righteousnesse The further you are gone in this sinne the further you are from the righteousnesse of God A stout hearted man is a thousand miles from righteousnesse Drunkards and adulterers are far enough from it but a proud man is as it were 20. hundreth thousand miles from it hee is far from the covenant of faith Faith goes out for all that it hath to an other it reacheth up to heaven for all it wants meate and nourishment and therefore it goes to Christ for all and pride onely rests upon it selfe for all faith gives the glory of all that it hath to another but pride takes all the glory to its selfe Faith goes to another for strength in what he doth but pride rests upon it selfe for strength So that though all sinnes hinder the worke of faith yet pride hinders it more then any thing You that thinke it a brave matter to be proud and you must not buckle to the Minister and you must doe what you list you are stout-hearted men but you are farre from beleeving men The more faith the lesse pride and the more pride the lesse faith 3. A proud soule is farre from mercy Thirdly As pride opposeth God himselfe and as it opposeth the covenant of grace so it followes from the two former that the proud Soule upon these conditions that it is in shall never receive any grace from the Lord. Set your hearts at rest for that You may swell and lift up your selves but if ever you receive the worke of grace and mercy upon these termes I will bee your bond-man for ever For he that is professely contrary to the grace of God that gives all and he that is contrary to the covenant of grace by which all is conveyed let him set his heart at rest for ever receiving any mercy The Lord himselfe is not able to endure the sight of a haughty spirit he cannot looke upon him much lesse will he live with him He beholds the proud man a farre off hee drives a proud man farre from heaven Psal 138.6 The Lord deales by a proud man as a man doth that is carried with indignation against his enemy he will not looke upon him So it is with the Lord hee will not be within the ken of a proud man and if the Lord doe come neere a proud man woe to him that he doth so The Lord resists the proud Hee whets all the sharpest arrowes of his vengeance and shuts them all against a proud man You broken hearts consider this The Lord gives grace to the humble but the proud man must be content with his portion he shall be resisted not received he shall be resisted not converted nor saued nor sanctified Hee may bid farewell to all grace hee shall never have it upon those termes and as God intends no good to him so a proud man comes not within the scope of mercy nor of that redemption which Iesus Christ hath wrought and purchased Christ came not to call the righteous that is them that looke loftily in regard of what they do You stout hearted people thinke of it The Lord Christ came not to call you The devill calls and you may goe to him but Christ came to call and save the poore broken hearted sinners It is said of Christ That hee was annointed of the Lord Esa 61.1 2 3. to preach the glad tidings of the Gospell to whom to the meeke c. You meekened Soules shall heare good newes from heaven But there is not any one sillable of one promise in all the Gospel that any proud spirit can conceive to belong unto him If I could seperate all the good from the bad I would have the good to stand by and heare these good newes that I have for them and if you proud hearts will come in and yeild they may be yours too You that tremble at Gods Word and are willing to doe what God shall command if there be any such here this day as I doubt not but there are many then know that the Sonne of man came to seeke and save you it is good tidings Nay in the Lord Iesus Christ are all the Treasures of wisedome and knowledge and out of this fulnesse of holinesse and happinesse he fills all your meeke hearts and hee will give all grace according to your necessities here is newes of salvation life and comfort from heaven But to whom is it Christ came to seeke and save them that are lost that is them that are lost in their owne apprehension but the proud man was never lost in himselfe A lost man in the Wildernesse is content to be guided into his right way but the proud man saith hee will be filthy and fashionable still therefore hee was never lost and Christ never came to seeke nor save him All meanes doe a proud man no good All the meanes of Grace that God gives will never benefit a proud man So that now it is as possible nay more possible for heaven and earth to meete together then for a proud man to come to heaven except God give him a heart to stoope No man can receive benefit by the word except he be under the power of it if the wax be not under the Seale how can it receive any impression As the Apostle saith Rom 6.17 They were delivered into the forme of that doctrine propounded The forme of the Gospell tooke place in their hearts There is no Soule can get any benefit by the Gospell but hee must receive what it reveales and what it commands hee must doe and what it forbids he must labour to avoyd but a proud heart is above all meanes and therefore the word will not nay it cannot worke savingly on him As those wicked ones said Our tongues are our owne we ought to speake Psal 11.4 who is Lord over us What reproofe shall awe me saith a proud heart I will be led by my owne lusts Your owne reason leades you and your owne wills rules you your owne mindes and your lusts and what your hearts will have they must have You stout hearted ones that are resolved not to yield nor to come under the grace of God you will not have your affections framed nor made more teachable then seeing you will not bee taught be for ever deluded goe your way and be for ever hardned and for ever cast off from the presence of God and goe downe to the bottomlesse pit you will have your owne wills therefore goe to your owne places for that 's all you can have You that are the faithfull of God and know any such mourne for them Fourthly Againe 4. A proud
Sanctification and Obedience is answerable and thy Glory shall be suteable Now to conclude all The conclusion Doe you consider that it is possible to have an humble heart doe you consider the danger if you have it not and doe you consider the good that comes by an humble heart and doe you sit still as he said in another case Me thinkes your hearts begin to stirre and say hath the Lord engaged himselfe to this Oh then Lord make me humble Mee thinks your countenances say so The Lord make mee and thee and all of us humble that we may have this mercy Let mee make but this one question to your Consciences and give mee an answer secretly in your soules when the Lord shall close up your eyes here and put an end to your pilgrimage would you not be content to dwell with Christ in heaven which the Apostle did account his greatest happinesse to be ever with the Lord we shall be ever with Christ to comfort us when we shall be no more with sinne to vexe and trouble us would not you be content to be with Christ mee thinkes your hearts say that 's the end and upshot of all that 's the end why we live and pray and heare that we may be ever with him And doe not you meet with many troubles while you are members of the Church Militant I know you have sometimes distempers without and troubles without would you not have comfort against them all and what would you give that Christ would looke in and aske how your Soules doe and say thou art my redeemed and I am thy Redeemer No you know all flesh desires it Would you not be content to have some honour in the Church and to leave a good name behind you that the disgraces which wicked men cast upon you may not be as a blot upon your names and when you shall bee no more and you shall bid adue to friends and honours and meanes would you not be blessed and though you would be content to be the meanest in the Kingdome of heaven what would you give to be the greatest in heaven let mee put a condition to you get but humble hearts and you have all Men brethren and fathers If there be any Soule here that is content in truth and sinceritie to be humbled and to be at Gods disposing in all duties to be done do not you make too much hast to goe to heaven the Lord Iesus Christ will come downe from heaven and dwell in your hearts hee will sit and lye and walke with you his grace shall refresh you and his Wisedome shall direct you and his Glory shall advance you and as for happinesse take no thought for that Everlasting happinesse and blessednesse lookes and waites for every humble Soule Come saith happinesse thou that hast beene vile and base and meane in thine own eyes and in the contempt of the world come and be greatest in the Kingdome of heaven Brethren though I cannot prevaile with your hearts yet let happinesse that kneeles downe and prayes you to take mercy let that I say prevaile with you And answer mee now who would not be humbled If any man be so regardlesse of his owne good I have something to say to him that may make his heart shake within him But who would not have the Lord Iesus to dwell with him who would not have the Lord Christ by the glory of his grace to honour and refresh them and that he should set a crowne of happinesse upon their heads Mee thinkes your hearts should earne for it and say oh Lord breake my heart and humble mee that mercy may be my portion for ever Nay mee thinkes every man should say as Saint Paul did I would to God that not onely I but all my children and servants were not onely thus as I am but also if it were Gods will much more humbled that they might be much more comforted and refreshed The Lord in his mercy grant it Let all parents labour to have their children humbled and every master his servant This will give them cheering of heart in that great Day of accounts when palenesse comes upon your faces and leannesse to your cheekes then I know you would leave your children a good portion then get their Soules truly humbled Me thinks it cheeres my heart to consider of it if a man could get his own heart and the hearts of all truely humbled when he leaves the world if he could but say my wife is humbled and such a child and such a child is humbled how comfortably might he goe away and say though I go away and leave wife and children behind me poore and meane in the world yet I leave Christ with them Brethren though you care not for your selves yet care for your little ones never leave exhorting of them never leave praying for them and for your selves too that you and they may get these humble hearts When you are gone this will bee better for them then all the beaten gold or all the honours in the world There are many that have heretofore stood out against the Lord and they would not come in nor yeild to the conditions of mercy all those proud haughtie and rebellious spirits that have stood out against Gods Truth his Word and Ministers and have stood out long some twenty some thirtie and some fortie yeares let all such feare and tremble and now resolve not to stand it out any more but since the Lord offers so kindly to comfort you and to honour you upon your Humiliation Now kisse the Sonne be humble yeild to all Gods commands take home all truthes and be at Gods disposing There must be subjection or else confusion will you out-brave the Almightie to his face and will you dare damnation as you love your Soules take heed of it As proud as you have beene crushed and humbled Where are all those Nymrods and Pharaohs and all those mightie Monarchs of the World The Lord hath thrown them flat upon their backs and they are in hell this day Therefore be wise and be humbled under the mightie hand of the Lord. It is a mightie hand and the Lord will be honoured either in your Humiliation and conversion or else in your damnation for ever Let all the evill that is threatned and all the good that is offered prevaile with your hearts and though meanes cannot yet the Lord prevaile with you the Lord emptie you that Christ may fill you the Lord humble you that you may enjoy happinesse and peace for ever FINIS
without a Christ yet it may be much hindred from comming to Christ but those that are not soundly broken and wrought upon by the worke of contrition they are daubed up and come to ruine and destruction for ever When the soule lyes under the hand of God and under his stroke and a man seeth his drunkennesse and his base contempt of God and his grace and all his sinnes are presented before him Oh then he voweth and promiseth to take up a new course and every man will mend one and he begins to approve himselfe in the reformation of the evils committed and then he thinks he need doe no more and now the soule saith well now I see the justice of God is provoked and I see now what sinne is and what the danger of it is I will have no more drunkennesse now I will be a sober man and now no more scoffing and scorning at those that goe to heare the word I will attend upon the good word of God my selfe and by this time he thinks thus what can you say against me what can I doe more to heaven I must goe all this is but a mans selfe It s true this is the way and these are the very meanes but all these cannot procure the pardon of one sinne if he goe no further We have many such trials I have knowne many that have done great works but never had a thought of Christ and never expected salvation from him and thus they fed upon the huskes and when the divell saith you pray and heare and doe duties so did Iudas and many others that are now in hell then the heart seeth his vilenesse and he is driven to a desperate despaire so that no Minister under heaven is able to comfort him but he goes away with the huske of duties but Christ who is the substance of all and the pithe of a promise is forgotten and a Christ in hearing and a Christ in prayer is not regarded and therefore he famisheth for hunger The ground of the second point Now see the successe that the Prodigall found the case is cleare hee found no reliefe at all No man gave unto him his hungry stomacke was not refreshed and his wants were relieved so that now the soule of the poore man sinkes unrecoverably in his misery And that hee doth thus consider two phrases first in the 16. verse no man gave unto him Not that no man gave him huskes for he that fed the swine might have fed himselfe but the meaning is no man gave him mans meate if he might have had mans meate though never so poore and meane he would have beene content but no man did give him and hence followes the phrase in the 17. verse How many hired servants in my fathers house have bread enough and I die for hunger It was not because hee had no huskes but because hee had no bread as if he had said perish I shall I see no succour nay I looke for none I may shuffle on here for a while but if I stay here I am a dead man This condition of the Prodigall discovers the second passage in the description of Humiliation So the Doctrine from hence is this 2. Doctrine The broken hearted sinner finds no help nay he hath no hope to receive any help from himselfe in the matter of justification You see the ground of the point is cleare The Citizen relieved him not but hee gives himselfe as as lost and saith I cannot help my selfe and no man will succour me and therefore I perish for hunger This is the picture of a soule that is famished for want of the sense of Gods favour though hee use meanes and heareth and praieth and fasteth yet he finds no good and no sound comfort in all these not that a man must not use these meanes but hee must not rest upon these a man must not thinke that his bucket can quench his thirst but he fetcheth water from the fountaine with it So these duties are as the bucket a man may famish for all these duties unlesse hee goe to the Fountaine of Grace and pardon and mercy and in the use of all these see a need of Christ and goe to God for a Christ by them these meanes must be used but these cannot be saviours of him these meanes must bee used to bring him to a Christ yet they cannot save him without a Christ What was spoken temporally to Ephraim it is true of the Soule spiritually When Ephraim saw his wound Hosea 5.13 and his sicknesse hee went to Ashur and King Iarib but they could not help him nor cure his wound It is true this Text mainly aimes at a temporall deliverance but this may draw us to consider the successe that a poore Soule finds in his duties resting upon them When a poore Soule is broken in the sight of his sinne and weary of it he sends downe to praier and hearing and the like but these cannot succour him without Christ Esay 55.2 and therefore the Prophet Esay saith Why lay you out your money for that which is not bread c. The Lord accounts the paines of his faithfull servants good labour and would not have them lay it out for that which is not bread All the profits that may inrich a man and all the honours that may advance a man nay all the priviledges that a man hath as Word Sacraments and Ordinances and that a man is baptized and hath often come to the Lords Table these come no farther then the very bare huske if they goe no farther and have not an eie to their Saviour these are no true bread the horror of heart cannot bee quieted nor his sinnes pardoned barely by these duties doing the meate of the Soule is not the bare Word nor the bare Sacraments but a Christ in all these this is the prop of the Soule all the bare duties in the world cannot succour us if we rest upon them without justification through Christ The Apostle Paul a learned Pharisee Phil. 3.5 6 7. and a man of an unblameable life because hee was a man of a good life of the Tribe of Benjamin and a Iew circumcised the eighth day hee thought to doe great matters and hee thought he had done enough hee counted these his priviledges gaine What learned Paul reverend Paul unblameable Paul What not he goe to Heaven hee accounted these his greatest gaine as if he would lay downe enough upon the naile to purchase Heaven to himselfe but these were so farre from saving of him that he found them to be losse Thus you see that a distressed sinner finds himselfe helplesse and hopelesse in regard of any sufficient succour in himselfe or the creature if he goe no further then the very duty Now the Soule finds that there is no saving succour to be had in these duties barely I say he comes to see it by these three meanes First from his owne experience that forceth him to
Soule shall never bee accepted and my sinnes will never bee pardoned and the heart begins to reason thus with himselfe and saith I have had as good meanes as ever any poore creature had and many gracious friends have counselled mee and yet the guilt of my sinnes is ever before mine eies and my Conscience is not yet quieted Nay these sinnes this blind mind and this hard heart will not bee subdued but the Lord Iesus Christ can doe more then thou and the world too The Lord will make thee see that thou and the world can doe nothing that Christ may take away the guilt of sinne and quiet thy Conscience and subdue thy corruptions for thee thus much hee seeth from his owne experience The second passage is this as his owne experience makes the Soule confesse that there is no hope of good in himselfe so the example of others doth confirme a broken hearted sinner in this that all the creatures in the world and all the duties under Heaven without Christ cannot purchase salvation to the Soule because the Soule now seeth and considers in the Scriptures that many thousands have had all these priviledges and done many duties and yet come short of perfection Many reprobates have had these priviledges as well as Gods people and the Soule thinkes thus with it selfe If beautie or honours or riches might have purchased eternall life then Pharaoh Absolon and Nebuchadnezzar should have beene accepted of God therefore What have I that many thousands have not had and What doe I that reprobates have not done and yet for ought I know it never did them good Isaac was circumcised and so was Ishmael too Abell offered Sacrifice so did Cain too and the stony ground received the Word with joy and many there were that waited upon God in the use of his Ordinances as you may see in the Prophet Esay Ahab fasted and Iudas repented Esay 58.2 3. and yet he is a divell now in hell this day Psal 130.3 And the Prophet David saith If the Lord should marke what is done amisse who could abide it there was enough in Davids praiers to condemne him and if all these did thus and much more then I can doe Then why should I thinke to find more helpe in my praiers then they did thus the Soule seeth that Gods people never had Iustification from any priviledges that they enjoyed nor from any duties that they did without relying on Christ Thirdly the greatnesse of the evill which now the Soule seeth and the desperate misery wherein it is is so great that now it finds an utter in-abilitie that all the creatures under heaven should ever remoove the evill of it For the soare that is made and the wound that is given by sinne is broader then all the salve that the creatures can apply is able to cover The Word Sacraments Prayer and duties cannot reach the evill that lyes upon the heart in this particular and this is considerable the meanes that must comfort and quiet the heart in distresse must be able to beare the wrath of God and to take away the venome and poyson of the wrath of the Almightie Now the Soule seeth that no creature can doe this no creature can beate backe Gods wrath but it will fall and hence it is that the Lord saith hee hath laid salvation upon one that is mightie there are mightie corruptions and mightie indignation and mightie guilt and therefore the Lord hath laid salvation upon the mightie It must be more then a creature that must beare or remoove the wrath of the Creator As the text saith There is no other name under heaven whereby you can bee saved but only by Christ Prayer saith there is no salvation in mee and the Sacraments and Fasting say there is no salvation in us there is salvation in no other but in Christ The other are subservient helps not absolute causes of salvation As the holy Prophet Ieremy Ier. 3.23 shewing the peoples desperate condition and there misery therein saith In vaine is salvation hoped for from the mountaines hee had said before in the 22. verse Returne againe oh disobedient children and I will heale your rebellions and they answered behold wee come Lord for thou art the Lord our God and in vaine is salvation hoped for from the mountaines By salvation in the mountaines is meant the Idols set up in the hilles which the poore people worshipped and thought they were able to succour them but in the day of trouble they said wee come Lord for in vaine is salvation hoped for from the mountaines So if thou trust in thy praying and hearing and good works though thou hadst a mountaine of them they can doe thee no good unlesse with the eye of faith thou lookest upon Christ for acceptance but in the Lord our God is salvation for evermore Then gather up all if the Soule seeth by experience that no good will come by these and if examples shew so much and if the greatnesse of the evill shew that it is impossible for any comfort or pardon to be brought home to the Soule barely by these meanes then the heart concludes thus and saith these will not doe the deed I may have all these priviledges and performe all these duties and yet salvation is not in these if I trust in them there is no pardon in them and no hope of redemption from them saith the Soule The Soule doth not despaire of all good in Christ but the Lord is compeld as I may say with reverence to weary us from this confidence in our selves and from seeking any succour from our selves that he may make us goe to Christ Vse 1 This is a word of Exhortation You see that apoore Soule finds nothing and he hopes for no saving succour from any meanes enjoyed or duties performed therefore we ought to have our desires quickened that since we see the way and the duty required we must not rest upon any thing here below Since our hearts must be brought to this and we must not rest upon the bare performance of holy duties though I doe not dishonour these duties but onely speake against resting upon them Oh therefore strive to come unto this it will make you ready for the riches of Gods mercy and goodnesse in Christ Iesus Let us have our hearts raised up from our owne bottomes and let us plucke downe the foundations that we have had in priviledges or any service done by us at any time This is that which above all things we must doe all the Saints of God have found this from day to day after search made then why should we seeke for succour from these I say we must not neglect these duties but we must not rest upon them Bee perswaded to pluck off the handle of hope from of any thing that we doe or any priviledge that God gives us Let us doe what we may but yet goe beyond all that we can doe in this case
that you may chat and parlee a little with Christ Our Saviour saith Matth. 24.28 Where the carkasse or the dead body is there will the Eagles be This is the nature of an Eagle shee will not goe to catch flies that 's the nature of the hedge Sparrow but shee will prey upon the carkasse So this is a good heart that will not prey upon dead duties but upon the Lord Christ who is the life of the Soule If thou art of a right brood thou wilt not fill and glut thy Soule with a few duties like a hedge Sparrow still mistake me not I doe not dispraise these duties but I say they are nothing in the way of justification if faith in Christs merits be not joyned with them Therefore if thou hast a dunghill heart of thine owne thou may'st goe and content thy selfe with profession and with a few cold dead duties but if thou art an Eagle and a sound hearted Christian and one that God hath beene pleased to doe good unto thou wilt never be but where the Lord Iesus is and where his grace and mercy is As we doe at a Feast the dish is greater then the meat yet wee reach the dish not for the dishes sake but that we may cut some meat So the ordinances of God are as so many dishes wherein the Lord Iesus Christ is dished out to us Sometimes Christ in his merits is dished out in the Sacrament to all the sences and sometimes he is dished out in the Word therefore as you take the dish to cut some meate So take the Word that Communicates Christ to the eare and Prayer Communicates with Christ and the Sacrament Communicates Christ to all the sences cut the meate and let not the Lord Christ goe whole from the Table and no man looke after him fill your hungry Soules with Christ When a poore travelling man comes to the Ferry he cryes to the other side Have over have over his meaning is he would goe to the other side by a Boat he onely desires the use of the Ferry-man to convey him over So Christ is in heaven but we are here on earth as it were on the other side of the river the ordinances of God are but as so many Boats to carry us and to land us at Heaven where our hopes are and our hearts should be Therefore you would be landed Have over have over saith the Soule The Soule desires to bee landed at the Staires of Mercy and saith Oh bring me to speake with my Saviour Mary came to the Sepulchre to seeke for Christ and therefore when the Angel said to her Woman why weepest thou shee made this answer Oh they have taken away my Lord. Ioh. 20.13 So it is with you if you be not hypocrites Is there ever a Mary here is there ever a man or woman that prizeth a Christ and seeth need of a Christ and that comes weeping and mourning to the holy ordinances of God whom seekest thou saith the Word and Prayer and the Sacrament Oh saith the broken hearted sinner they have taken away my Lord Christ Oh this sinfull heart of mine oh these cursed corruptions of mine if it had not beene for these Christ would have comforted my conscience and pardoned my sinne if thou seest my Christ and my Saviour reveale him to my Soule that I may receive comfort and consolation by him This is the frame of a Christian Soule when the Ferry-man hath carried the traveller over hee stayes not there but goes to the house of his friend and saith is such a man within he desires to speake with him and to receive some good from him We heare and pray and reade till we are weary we doe not cry Have over let mee come to enjoy a neerer Communion with my Saviour that I may dwell with him and have a neerer cut to the Lord Christ I would have way that I may receive grace and mercy from Christ according to my necessities When a man hath gotten so many hundreth pounds he not onely tels that he hath met with the Ferry-man but he shewes the money that he hath gotten So you come to Church and goe from Church and you have your hearing for your hearing and your professing for your professing and the like but you should labour to say I have gotten the pardon of all my sinnes and the assurance of Gods love to my Soule I have beene with my Saviour and thus graciously and mercifully hee hath dealt with mee All that I have said is but a speech of a little time but it is a taske for all a mans life Oh thinke of it and say what have I gotten by all that I have done and what would I get when I goe to prayer I would have a Christ and mercy from him This is not in our minds I tell thee what thou must ayme at and labour for heare and pray for a Saviour See a need of Christ in all and see greater beauty in Christ then in all and be lead neerer to Christ by all or else you get nothing by all that you doe If there were no gold in the West-Indies the King of Spaine would not care for his Ships nor for that place Schoole-boyes care not for the Carrier but for Letters from a Father So now raise up your hearts higher towards heaven All holy duties are but as Ships and Carriers but the golden Mines of mercy are all in the Lord Iesus Christ It was a sweet speech of a man whether he was good or bad I know not that a man should loose the creatures in God So I would have you doe loose your selves and all ordinances and creatures and all that you have and doe in the Lord Christ How is that Let all be swallowed up and let nothing be seene but a Christ and let thy heart be set upon nothing but a Christ As it is with the Moone and Starres when the Sunne comes they loose all their light though they are there in the heavens still and as it is with rivers they all goe into the Sea and are all swallowed up of the Sea and yet there is nothing seene but the Sea So all the ordinances and creatures are as so many rivers from that Ocean of mercy and goodnesse in Christ and they all returne thither therefore onely see a Fountaine of grace goodnesse wisedome and power in Christ When a man is upon the Sea he can see no fresh water it is all swallowed up So let it be with thy Soule when thou wouldest finde mercy and grace The ordinances of God are good in themselves yet loose them all in Christ That wisedome in Christ is able to direct and that grace and mercy in Christ is able to save when all other helps faile and that power of Christ must support the Soule in the time of trouble There is some comfort and sweet and some refreshing in the Word and in the Sacrament and in the company of Gods people
him and threw him flat on the ground and when Paul saw that the Lord Iesus had the advantage against him hee yeilded himselfe and said Act. 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have mee to do This is the lively picture of the Soule in this case this subjection discovers it selfe in foure particulars First take the Soule despairing of mercy and succour in himselfe hee seeth and confesseth that the Lord may and for ought he knowes will proceed in justice against him and execute upon him those plagues that God hath threatned and his sinne deserved and he seeth that Iustice is not yet satisfied and all those reckonings betweene God and him are not made up and therefore he cannot apprehend but that God may and will take vengeance of him he seeth that when he hath done all that he can he is unprofitable and Iustice remaines unsatisfied and saith thou hast sinned and I am wronged and therefore thou shalt dye See what the text saith can a man be profitable to the Lord as he that is wise may be profitable to himselfe Iob 22.2 3. is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous or is it any gaine to him that thou makest thy way perfect So the Soule saith Is all that I can doe any thing to the Lord is the Lords Iustice any gainer by it Nay Iustice is yet unsatisfied because there is sinne in all that I doe and therefore Iustice may proceed against me therefore the soule resolves that the Lord may and will Nay why should he not come in vengeance and Iudgement against him Secondly he conceives that what God will doe he can doe and he cannot avoyd it The anger of the Lord cannot be resisted If the Lord will come and require the glory of his Iustice against him there is no way to avoyd it nor to beare it and this crusheth the heart and makes the soule to be beyond all shifts and evasions and all those tricks whereby it may seeme to avoyd the dint of the Lords blow As Iob saith Hee is one minde and who can turne him Iob 23.13 14 15 16. and what his soule desireth that doth he It is admirable to consider it for this is it that makes the heart melt and come under When the Soule saith If God come who can turne him hee will have his honour from this wretched proud heart of mine hee will have his glory from mee either here in my humiliation or else hereafter in my damnation And in the next verse Iob saith Many such things are with him As if he had said hee hath many wayes to crush a carnall confident heart and to make it lye low He wants not meanes to pull downe even the most rebellious sinner under heaven And now marke what followes He can crush them all what became of Nimrod Cain Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar They are all brought downe therefore saith he I am troubled at his presence when I consider it I am afraid for God maketh my heart soft and the Almightie troubleth mee Thirdly As the sinner apprehends that God may doe what he will and he cannot resist him So the soule flings away all shifts and tricks that he had and he resignes up the power of all his priviledges that he hath to defend himselfe withall he casts away his weapons and falles downe before the Lord and resignes himselfe into the Soveraigne power and command of God This was in the Spirit of the Prophet David 2 Sam. 15.25.26 When the Lord had cast him out of his Kingdome hee said to Zadock Carry backe the Arke of God into the Citie if I shall finde favour in the eyes of the Lord hee will bring mee backe againe and shew mee both it and his habitation But if he thus say to mee I have no delight in thee Behold here I am let him doe with mee as seemeth good in his eyes Or as it was with those people 2 King 10.2.3 4. 2 Kings 10.2 3 4. Where when Iehu sent this message to the people of Israel saying Now as assoone as this letter commeth to you seeing your masters sonnes are with you and there are with you chariots and armour and a fenced Citie looke out even the best and fittest of your masters sonnes and set him on his fathers throne and fight for your fathers house But the text saith they were all exceedingly afraid and therefore they sent word to Iehu and said two Kings could not stand out against thee and then how can we stand We are thy servants and will doe all that thou shalt bid us wee will make no King doe thou that which is good in thine eyes This is the frame of a poore Soule When a poore sinner will stand upon his own priviledges the Lord saith beare my Iustice and defend thy selfe by all that thou hast if thou canst and the Soule saith I am thy servant Lord doe what is good in thine eyes I cannot succour my self therefore the heart gives up it selfe to be at the command of God Fourthly The Soule thus yielding up the weapons and comming in as to an enemy and as conquered then in the last place the soule freely acknowledgeth that it is in Gods power to doe with him and to dispose of him as he will and therefore he lyes and lickes the dust and cryes mercy mercy Lord. He doth not thinke to purchase mercy at the Lords hands but onely saith it is onely in Gods good pleasure to doe with him as he will but hee lookes at his favour and cryes mercy Lord to this poore distressed soule of mine And when the Lord heares a sinner come from wandring up and downe in his priviledges the Lord replyes to the soule in this manner and saith Doest thou need mercy I had thought thy hearing and praying and fasting would have carried thee to heaven without all hazard therefore gird up thy loynes and make thy ferventest prayers and let them meet my Iustice and see if they can beare my wrath and purchase mercy Nay saith the sinner I know it by lamentable experience I have prooved that all my prayers and performances will never procure peace to my soule nor give any satisfaction to thy Iustice I onely pray for mercy and I desire onely to heare some newes of mercy to relieve this miserable and wretched soule of mine it is onely mercy that must helpe me Oh mercy if it may be possible the issue is thus much The sinner seeth that all he hath and can do can never succour him and therefore he throwes away his carnall confidence and he submits himselfe to the Lord and now he seeth that the Lord may justly come against him and that his justice is not satisfied and that he cannot beare Gods wrath nor avoyd it and he casts away all his shifts and lyes downe at the gate of mercy As it is with a debtor that stands bound for some farre greater summes then ever he is able to pay to
that mercy shall deny him any thing and take any thing from him so it is content that mercy enjoyne what it will and make what Edicts and Law it will So that the Commands and Precepts of the mercy of God in Christ may take place in his heart When Iohn Baptist came to prepare them for Christ and the hearts of the people were humbled the Publicans came to him saying Master What shall we doe Luk. 3.13 14 and so the souldiers said Master what shall we doe and he said Doe no man wrong but bee content with your wages The question is not now covetousnesse and crueltie what shall wee doe No the souldiers came now and said Thou art our Master the Spirit of God and the Spirit of wisedome is revealed to thee in the Word command and enjoyne thou what thou wilt and they are content with whatsoever hee commands them The humbled heart is content that mercy doe what it will with him not onely that mercy shall save him for so farre a reprobate and a carnall hypocrite may be content The hypocrite is marveilous willing that mercy shall save him but his lusts and corruptions must rule him still You are content that mercy should save you from your peevish heart and yet your peevish heart must rule you still and you are content that Christ should save you from your drunkennesse and prophaning of the Lords Day but these lusts must rule you still A drunkard that hath gotten some dangerous surfeit is content that the Physician should cure him not because he would leave his drunkennesse but because he would have his health and therefore being up hee returnes to his drunkennesse againe And the thiefe that is condemned to die cryes for a pardon not because he would live to be an honest man but to be free from the halter and therefore when he is freed he goes to the hie way and robs againe it is not for honesty that he desires a pardon but for libertie Deceive not your selves mercy will never save you except mercy may rule you too Here is a heart worth gold and the Lord delights in such a Soule that falls into the armes of mercie and is content to take all from mercy and to be at mercies disposing and to have mercie sanctifie him and correct him and teach him and to rule in him in all things This the heart of a truly abased sinner will have and it will say Good Lord do what thou wilt with me rule this Soule and take possession of me onely doe good to the Soule of a poore sinner If the Lord give any thing he is content and if the Lord take away any thing or command any thing he is content You that are ruled by your lusts think of this When the Lord hath awakened and arrested your Soules and you are going downe to hell Oh then you will crie Lord forgive this and that sinne it is true I have hated and loathed the Saints of God good Lord forgive this sinne oh that mercie would save mee then mercy will answer and say When you are out of your beds you will returne to your old courses againe no he that ruled in you let him save and succour you I will save none saith mercy except I may rule them too Thirdly The last degree of contentednesse is this The Soule is willing that the Lord should make it able to take what mercy will give This is a lower pegge that the Soule is brought unto The sinner before had nothing of his owne in possession nay he can challenge nothing of the other but meerely to doe what hee will and hee is not able to take what mercy will give and bestow And therefore hee is not onely content that mercy provide what it thinks good but also to give him strength to take what mercy gives The beggar that comes to the dole though he have no meanes to help himselfe withall and though he can challenge nothing of the man yet hee hath a hand and can receive the dole that is given him but a poore sinner is brought to this low ebbe and this shewes the emptinesse of it that as hee hath no spirituall good at all and can challenge no good neither is hee able to take that good which mercy provides The hand of the Soule whereby it must receive mercy is faith and the humbled Soule seeth that he is as able to satisfie for his sinne as to beleive in a Saviour that must satisfie And hee is as able to keepe the Law as to beleeve in him that hath fulfill'd the Law for him In Saint Iohn beleeving is call'd receiving Ioh. 1.16 and therefore the poore sinner seeth that it is not onely mercy and salvation that must do him good but hee seeth that if mercy and salvation were laid downe upon the naile for beleeving and receiving of it hee could not doe it of himselfe and therefore the Lord must give him a hand to receive it with You know the Apostle Paul saith Phil. 1.29 The naturall man cannot receive the things that be of God And the same Apostle is plaine to you it is given to beleeve So that faith is a gift and a poore sinner is as able to create a world as to receive mercy of himselfe The want of this is the cause why many a man that hath made a good progresse in the way of happinesse hee falls short of his hopes Many a sinner hath beene awakened and his heart humbled and the Soule comes to heare of Christ and thinks to lay hold of mercy and Christ out of his owne proper power and thus he deceives himselfe and the faith that he dreamed to have was nothing else but a fancie a faith of his owne framing it was never framed by the Almighty Spirit of the Lord in heaven hee never saw need of the power of God to make him able to beleeve as well as to save him and therefore his faith and all came to just nothing Now the broken hearted sinner saith All that I expect it must be from another and I am content to take what mercy will give and that mercy shall deny me what it will and give me what it will and I am content that mercy rule in me nay that mercy must give me a heart to beleeve and to take mercy or else I shall never beleeve Now you see what it is that the Soule must be contented withall The manner of Gods dealing Now I come to shew the maner of Gods dealing with the Soule for the Soule must be content with this too as I told you before The manner of Gods dealing may appeare in three particulars First the Soule stoopes to the condition that the Lord will appoint be it never so hard it is content to come to Gods termes be they never so harsh and wearisome As sometimes when the soule finds that the heaviest hand of the Lord hath laid long upon him that the sharpest
the whalls belly and wee shal heare no more newes of quarrelling but of praying and there he abased himselfe as it is with a Phisitian when the Patient hath some vehement fit of a fever or the like that he cannot sleepe they use to give him a litle Opium and that makes him rest a little This humiliation of heart is like Opium there are peevish fits of a proud heart that no word nor commandes will rule a man but he must have what he will or els he will set his mouth against heaven but a little receit of this Opium will quiet all if hee could but come to see his owne emptinesse and wretchednesse and get his heart to be at Gods disposing then his heart would bee wonderfully calmed and meekened whatsoever he endures Humiliation gives quiet to a mans course in three causes First in the fiercest temptations Secondly Three benefits of Humiliation in the heaviest oppositions of men Thirdly in the greatest poverty that can befall a man in this life In the strongest temptations When Sathan begins to besiege the heart of a poore sinner and layes battery against him the Soule is so settled that he cannot be remooved See how the humbled heart tires the divell and runnes him out of breath and out-shoots him in his owne Bow in the very highest of all his malice and indignation Take a poore Soule at the under when hee hath beene throughly burthened with a corruption and laid gasping for a little grace and favour and could not finde any evidence of mercy the Soule cryes continually and begs for mercy earnestly the divell seeth him and having some permission from God so to doe he lets flye at the poore Soule and labours to knocke him off from his course and saith to him in this manner Sathan objects Doest thou thinke to get mercy from the Lord and doest thou dreame of any mercy at the hands of God when thy own conscience dogs thee Nay goe to the place where thou livest and to the chamber where thou lyest and consider thy fearefull abhominations and how thou art foyled by them to this day set thy heart at rest God heares not and respects not the prayers of such vile sinners The Soule answers Now the Soule seeth this easily and confesseth it plainly and the humbled Soule saith it is true I have often denied the Lord when hee hath called upon mee and therefore he may justly deny mee yet seeke to him for mercy I must and if the Lord will cast mee away and reject my prayers I am contented if hee doe cast mee away what then Sathan Sathan what then saith the divell I had thought this would have been enough to make thee despaire Yet this is not all for God will give thee over and leave thee to thy selfe and to thy lusts and corruptions and thy latter end shall be worse than thy beginning and thou shalt call and cry and when thou hast done be overthrowne that loose uncleane and proud heart of thine will overthrow thee for ever God will leave thee to thy selfe and suffer thy corruptions to prevaile against thee and thou shalt fall fearefully to the wounding of thy conscience to the grieving of the hearts of Gods people to the scandall of the Gospel and the reproach of thy owne person The Soule answers Yet the humble Soule replies in this manner and saith if the Lord give mee up to my base lusts which I have given my selfe so much libertie in and if the Lord will leave me to my sinnes because I have left his gracious commands and if I shall fall one day and be disgraced and dishonoured yet let the Lord be honoured and let not God loose the praise of his power and justice and I am contented if God doe leave mee what then Sathan The Devill objects What then saith the divell I had thought this had beene enough to drive thee out of thy wits yet this is not all For when God hath left thee to thy sinnes then the Lord will breake out in vengeance against thee and get praise from that proud heart of thine and make thee an example of his heavy vengeance to all ages to come and therefore it is best for thee to prevent an untimely Iudgement by an untimely death The humble heart is quieted all this while and replyes The Soule answers whatsoever God can or will doe I know not yet so great are my sinnes that he cannot or at least will not doe so much against mee as I have deserved if the Lord doe come in Iudgement against mee I am contented say what thou wilt what then Sathan Thus you may runne the divell out of breath then the divell leaves the humbled Soule The want of this Humiliation of heart it is where by men are brought to desperate stands so that sometimes one man goes to a haltar another runs out of his wits and another drownes himselfe all this is horrible pride of heart Why will you not beare the wrath of the Lord It is true indeed your sinnes are great and Gods wrath is heavie yet God will doe you good by it and therefore be quiet In the time of warre when the great Cannons flye of the onely way to avoyd them is to lye down in a furrow and so the Bullets flye over them whereas they meete with the mountaines and tall Cedars So it is with all the temptations of Sathan which besiege us Lye low and be contented to be at Gods disposing and all the temptations of the divell shall not be able to disquiet or distract thee The second benefit Secondly when Sathan is gone then comes the troubles and oppositions of the world And this Humiliation of heart gives a secret setling to the Soule against all the railings and oppositions of the wicked world For this takes of the unrulinesse of the heart So that when the Soule will not contend with oppositions but is content to beare them it is not troubled with them The humble Soule seeth God dispensing with all oppositions and therefore it is not troubled with them A man is sometimes Sea-sicke not because of the Tempest but because of his full stomacke and therefore when he hath emptied his stomacke hee is well againe So it is with this Humiliation of heart If the heart were emptied truly though a man were in a Sea of oppositions if he have no more trouble in his stomacke and in his proud heart then in the oppositions of the world hee might bee quieted Consider David when he was in the wildernesse 1 Sam. 25.12 13. and sent to Nabal for some reliefe see how he raged extreamely against him because he was denied it The reason was not in the offence but in the pride of his heart Take the same man in the persecution of Absalon and when Shimei cursed him 2 Sam. 15.25 saying Art not thou he that kild such and such and that committed adultery with the wife of Vriah 2
Sam. 16.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. In this his heart was marveilous quiet and now he was able to beare it better then the souldiers that were with him Though his cause was just and he might have revenged it yet now he was humble and brought under and therefore quieted though never so much opposed This Humiliation of heart so settles a man that though ten thousand oppositions come against him yet nothing will disquiet him Cast disgrace upon the humble heart causelesly and he cures it thus he thinks worse of himselfe than any man else can doe and if they would make him vile and loathsome hee is more vile in his owne eyes then they can make him and therefore he is contented If they imprison an humble Soule and persecute him hee wonders at Gods goodnesse so farre hee is from being discontented that he wonders at Gods goodnesse and mercy towards him that he would cast him into a Dungeon when he might have cast him into hell Thirdly and lastly this Humiliation of Soule The third benefit brings in satisfaction and contentednesse in all the wants that may befall him Take away from him what you will and deny him any thing yet he will be quiet Hee that is contented with all Gods dealing towards him cannot be disquieted with any thing The humble Soule justifies God and is pacified and joyns side with Gods providence he justifies God in whatsoever he doth and therefore is quiet in whatsoever he hath done The ship that goes with wind and tide goes easily but if it goes against wind and tide it is wonderfully troubled so when the humble Soule goes on with Gods blessed providence and goes that way which the will of God goes he goes on quietly and the want of this humiliation of heart is the cause of all your disquietnesse when you will stand in opposition against the Almighty the Lord will have you poore and you will be rich the Lord will have you base and meane in the world and you would be honorable the Lord on the one side and you on the other side you would have it and the Lord saith you shall not if all come not according to your mind oh then you flye out God must be of your mind and be at your becke and this you must have and that you will have or els God shall heare of you thus you make your owne trouble and this troublesome Spirit breeds all the sorrow that befalls you whereas if you would go on with God you might be quieted and comforted whatsoever condition you were in as one said that he could have what he would of God why how was that because whatsoever Gods will was that was his will humiliation quiets all and supplyes all wants once make the good will of God that which thy heart shall yeild unto and Gods providence the best that can befall thee and then live comfortably for ever Oh! that our hearts were brought to this But the pride and vilenesse of our hearts is such that we trouble our selves needlesly therefore above all labour for this Be content to want what God will deny and to waite Gods good pleasure and to be at his disposing and then live quietly and comfortably for ever Oh! that I could bring your hearts to be in love with this blessed grace of God Is it so that Humiliation brings quiet in all a mans conditions Is there not a Soule here that hath beene vexed with the temptations of Sathan did you never know what it is to be under the malice of an enemy and did your owne distempers never trouble you Have none of you found hard measures at the hands of wicked men is there never a Soule here that is burthened with many wants and that loves his owne comfort have you not many necessities at home the want of friends and meanes and even of common necessaries and would you arme and fence your selves that no wants may disquiet you nor trouble you but in all to be above all and to rejoyce in all more then all oppositions in the world can doe you hurt then be humbled and for ever quieted Whatsoever can or shall befall you by the divell and his instruments and if every spire of grasse were a divell be humbled and then be above all the divels in hell and all temptations and oppositions that they shall not so disquiet you as to cause you to be unsetled or uncomforted In the next place you are to be desired The second Vse to try your selves by the former truth and let every man try his owne heart whether ever God hath given him this gracious disposition of Soule or no You must come to this truth for there is no justification nor acceptation without this Nay there is no faith can be infused into the Soule before the heart be thus fitted and prepared no preparation no perfection Never humbled never exalted therefore let every man and woman lay their hearts to the former truth and consider this one thing in the generall So farre as the heart is from this contentednesse to be at Gods dispose so farre it is from true preparation for Christ You must be empty if ever Christ fill you you must be nothing if you would have Christ all in all to you Thus much in the generall But now let us come to the particular trials and herein let us consider two things First the truth and soundnesse of our Humiliation Secondly the measure of it both of these this Doctrine doth discover to us It is very profitable to handle them both that they which have not this work may be humbled and that they which have it may see how farre they come short of the measure which they should and might have the want of which is the cause of much sorrow and the want of much comfort How to try the truth of our Humiliation You may try the truth of this worke of Humiliation thus In the generall looke how you are disposed of in your lives and conversations But in particular that you may see where we be let us observe these three rules First Let us see what it is that swayes our reasons and judgements Secondly What it is that over-powers our hearts our wils and affections Thirdly What it is that rules our lives and conversations Try your hearts by these rules and then it will be plaine and cleare whether you be truly humbled and abased or no. You know I told you that you must not onely be disposed of by God for God will dispose of you whether you will or no he will rule all things in heaven and earth he will either crush those proud hearts of yours by Humiliation here or else cast you downe to hell for ever but you must be content to be at Gods disposing To begin with the former namely to see what swayes our judgements If you will attend I hope you shall know something in your owne hearts you that are weake as
in at the straite gate c. This gate or this entrance into life is Humiliation of heart When the Soule is loosened from and bids farewell to sinne and himselfe then the gate is opened And as it is in other wayes If there be but one way or gate into an house and the traveller misseth that gate he looseth all his labour and must goe backe againe but if he once get in at this gate he is safe enough then So it is here There is a most narrow way of Gods Commandements and there is but one way or gate into this happinesse it is narrow and a little gate and a man must be nothing in his owne eyes and if you misse this gate you loose all your labour and shall never come to Salvation If a man could heare and pray all his dayes yet if his heart be not humbled he and his profession shall goe to hell together In Saint Matthew the conclusion is very peremptory when the Disciples were contending who should be highest Christ set a childe in the middest of them and said Except you become as little children Math. 18.3 you cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven You may doe any thing with Infants and all that they have to doe is to cry Vnlesse you have humble hearts you cannot enter into heaven Hee doth not say You cannot be great men or you cannot goe farre into heaven but he saith You cannot enter So then the danger being so great and the mistaking so full of hazard and seeing it is possible to have it therefore let us use all diligence to make this worke sure Thirdly 3. Motive consider the mervailous good that God hath promised and which hee will bestow upon all that are truly humbled And let all these be as so many cords to draw us to looke for this blessed frame of heart Wee have need of all the motives in the world I know it is a hard matter for a man to lay downe himselfe and his parts and all his priviledges in the dust I say it is mervailous irksome and tedious to the nature of a carnall man but it will quit all his cost in the end When wee shall tast of those sweet benefits that come by a humble heart and have gotten Iesus Christ and mercy from him then it will never repent us that wee have spent so many teares and made so many prayers and used so many meanes to pull downe the pride of our hearts Oh brethren thinke of it See and consider the admirable benefits and the exceeding great good that will come to you thereby The good things that come by a heart that is truly humbled they are specially foure and with those the truth and substance of whatsoever the heart can crave and desire The first benefit of an humble heart is this by this meanes wee come to be made capable of all those riches of the treasure of wisedome and grace and mercy that are in Christ and not onely of the blessings for a better life but of all things in this life so farre as they are good for us First wee are made capable of all those treasures of wisedome grace and mercy that are in Christ and for this cause was Christ sent to preach glad tidings to the meeke as you heard before all the Gospell and all the glad tidings of it doe belong to an humble soule And the Prophet Malachy saith Malac. 3.1 Behold I will send my messenger to prepare the way before mee and the Lord whom you seeke shall suddainly come into his Temple Iohn Baptist was Christs harbenger and hee made way for Christ and when the way was prepared Christ came immediatly Wee are the Temple of the holy Ghost saith the Apostle Now if the heart bee once prepared and humbled looke then immediatly for Christ Are you not content to have Christ dwell in your hearts If you will be humbled and so prepared there is neither want of love nor speed on his part This should mervailously lift up the heart of every man to seeke for this blessed grace If thou art truly humbled care not for the love of men the love of Christ will satisfie thee And though thy father and mother cast thee out of doores and thy husband tumble thee out of his bed yet if thou be truly humbled Christ will be in stead of father and husband and all comforts to thee God hath but two thrones the humble heart is one So the Text saith Esa 57.15 I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit c. If the Lord Iesus come to dwell in thy heart and that hee will doe if thou be truly humbled then certainly hee will provide for thee all needfull comforts for this life See what Zephany saith Zeph. 2.3 Seeke yee the Lord all yee meeke of the earth which have wrought his judgement seeke righteousnesse seeke meekenesse it may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger When all things threatned desolation and destruction see who they were that had safety promised onely the meeke Object But some will say Is it not better for a man to be proud with the proud and to play the Beare amongst Beares and the Lyon amongst Lyons and to shift for one Answ No saith the text seeke meekenesse The humble Soule may take this to himselfe as his part and portion If there should be desolation amongst us as there is in Bohemia in the Palatinate and in other Countries the humble Soule shall be hid When the mightie tall trees are blowne downe by strong winds the little shrubs may be shaken a little but they stand still they are safe and sure when the mighty Oakes are either horribly shaken or puld up by the roots So if ever you will seeke safetie and deliverance seeke meekenesse and then you shall be hidden When the proud heart shall be weltering in his blood the Lord will provide a shadow to succour and to comfort you If Christ dwell in your hearts he is bound to all reparations 2. Benefit Secondly as Humiliation of heart doth estate a man into Christ and his merits and all provision in this kinde so it gives him the comfort of all that good which hee hath in Christ There are many that have a right to Christ and are deare to God and yet they want much sweet refreshing that they might have and as the Proverbe is They never see their owne because they want this Humiliation of heart in some measure To be truly humbled is the next way to be truly comforted The Lord will looke to him that hath an humble contrite heart Esay 62.8 and trembles at his word that is an humble Soule a poore Soule a very beggar at the gate of mercy the Lord will not onely know him for he knowes the wicked too in a generall manner but hee will give him such a gracious looke