grace will he give you up to your lusts he will not It is Gods manner to let his children strive and to overcome in the end Iacob wrestled all night till the dawning of the day and then hee let him have the victory and blest him The Lord suffers us to strive long but this is our comfort that we have a promise that if we resist the Divell he will fly And whereas you will say I finde it not The meaning of the promise is not as if Sathan should fly away as thou shouldest heare of him no more or that thy lusts should never returne upon thee againe but that if thou wilt be peremptory thou shalt have the victory in that particular combate As if when thou hast a feaver if one comes and tells thee take such a receipt and thou shalt bee cured his meaning is not that thou shalt so bee cured as never to have Feaver againe but that thou shalt be healed for the present so in that particular combate thou shalt have the victory Oh! but I am still haunted and I doe not overcome Strive constantly and conscionably and though it doth returne againe and againe the Lord takes notice of all thy paines and warring against it that which he sayes to the Church of Ephesus Revel 2. 2. may be applied to this I know thy workes and thy labour though thy corruptions bee too strong for thee yet if thou strivest the LORD takes it for a victory thou shalt not bee condemned for it give not over but rather thinke thus if all this contention hath wonne so little ground of my lusts where should I have beene if I had not contended at all and therefore I must take yet more paines and row harder that at the last I may overcome And because this is of generall use both to regenerate and unregenerate therefore I will goe on to adde some more rules and directions wherein this paines consists which we must take in resisting sinn A third rule or meanes wherein this labour against evill wayes must be bestowed is to strive to take notice of all the wayes of God whereby hee labours to turne thee from thy evill wayes and let them not passe without some impression to that purpose for which God intends them God useth not onely his Word but many meanes else to turne men as by his workes and by many passages of providence hee strives with us all which should bee observed As it may bee some great crosse upon the commission of a sinne some great dangerous sickenesse though not to death sometimes hee sends great feares and terrors of conscience upon some sinne committed somtimes an evill report is brought up of us or hee sends friends to admonish us or executes some Iudgement upon another for the like sinne in our sight When he meets with thee some way or other as he met Balaam hee lookes wee should understand something by it and if we neglect those his dealings with us he takes it ill at our hands and so gives us up to our lusts more and more Dan. 5. 22. there had beene a Iudgement brought upon Nebuchadnezzar in the sight of Belshazzar his Sonne which should have beene a meanes to have turned him but Thou Belshazzar his Sonne hast not humbled thy selfe though thou knewest all this As if hee had said I did all this to one neare thee in thy sight that thou mightest be humbled and turne to me This was the case of Ieroboam 1 Kings 13. God sent the Prophet to him with signes and wonders both in tearing the Altar and withering his hand yet still he went on And verse 23. it is noted and set downe on purpose by the Holy Ghost that after this Ieroboam returned not from his evill way c. as if God had said I looked thou should'st have returned upon the sight of all these Iudgements but thou wouldest not So Ieremy 3. 8. you know that Israel was carried captive long before Iudah I gave Israel a bill of divorcement for her adultery yet treacherous Iudah feared not as if he had said a Iudgement on their next neighbour should have made them to have returned Therefore doe thou think what the Lord would by all such passages of providence towards thee which are all as warning peeces before the great army as crackes before the fall creveses through which the Lord reveales himselfe For you must know that God brings men in by his workes as well as by his word and you may take his workes in vaine as well as his word and to let them passe without profit is to take his Name in vaine for his Name is whatsoever hee makes himselfe knowne by as by these acts he doth and God will not hold him guiltlesse that takes his Name in vaine GOD will utterly destroy such a man for then there is no remedy God cuts not his owne corne till they be ripe and all his dealings with them tend to ripen them nor doth hee bring wicked men to destruction till they be ripe for it and every such passage doth ripen them Now all men are for the most part in one of these three conditions Some take no notice at all of such passages God passeth by them and is not seene and it is said of the Israelites Deut. 29. though they had seene great signes and miracles in the wildernesse verse 3. yet they had not eyes to see them nor eares to heare them verse 4. Others though they doe take notice of them yet the impression they leave behinde them is but slight and like a light colour not well dyed the tincture is soone worne out Marke 6. 25. for they considered not the miracle of the loaves for the hardnesse of their hearts It was spoken upon occasion of their being amazed at this new miracle Christs walking upon the water and is as if hee had said if yee had considered the miracle of the loaves you would not have wondered thus at my walking on the waters that had made so deepe an impression on them as it should by reason of the hardnesse of their hearts But you shall see the case quite otherwise in the Iaylor his affâ—ightment which the earthquake and the opening of the prison dores had wrought in him passed not away as a dreame but left such an impression as brought him home And so should all such passages worke with us And that is the third direction 4 Rule is not simply to goe about to resist a sin and to turne from the evil of our ways but to fil the heart with something that is better for when lusts are mortified the streame of our affections are not dryed up but diverted and therefore the way is not to goe about to stop the current of a sinfull lust but to turne thy heart into another channell set thy heart upon something that is better Take a crab-tree stocke that is sower or bitter the onely way to sweeten it
scandalous sinnes but the first rise of it was his unconscionable walking with God in secret as the Apostle Paul sayes of the Gentiles Rom. 1. 20. to 24. That because when they knew God they glorified him not as God God gave them up to vile affections So Psal. 80. 11 12. But my people would not bearken and Israel would none of mee So I gave them up to their owne hearts lusts and they walked in their owne counsels As if he had said I used all the meanes they still refused and would none of me and therefore I gave them up Seest thou a man given up to a lust his heart so cemented to it as hee cannot live without it know this is in judgment to him for some unconscionable walking before and not practising according to his knowledge 3 There is yet a judgement beyond these when the Lord forsaketh the creature and withdrawes himselfe from a man which though men doe little account of is the fearefullest of all others The losse of Gods presence is a losse unvaluable Take a man that makes wealth or honour his God take that prop from him and how doth his heart sinke within him how much more when the true God shall bee departed from a man that God that is the God of all comfort if hee bee withdrawne the heart sinks into a bottomlesse pit of horrour as when the Sun is gone all things run into darknesse All comfort is from some measure or degree of Gods presence though men doe not take notice of it which when it is taken away there remaines nothing but horrour and despaire when God was departed from Saul 1 Sam. 16. hee from that day ranne into one errour after another in his government till hee was destroyed and the cause of this was sinne he had cast off the Lord and therefore the Lord rejected him The like was Caines case Gen. 4. His judgement was to bee banish'd from the presence of the Lord which hee acknowledgeth to be an insupportable punishment which hee was not able to beare When any trouble is upon thee sticke not in the rind and baâ—ke of it but looke through it and beyond it to the inward root of it looke to sinne as the cause and thou shalt finde it so it may bee the immediate cause and instrument may bee some outward thing some enemy of thy disgrace some sicknesse c. but who hath permitted them to worke is it not the Lord and what is the motive of his permission but sinne men may have many severall motives to doe this or that but nothing moves the Lord but sinne and grace When an enemy comes upon thee say not this man is the cause of this evill but the Lord hath suffered him to worke and sinne hath occasion'd this suffering 2 Chron. 12. 5 7. Shishak was but the violl through whose hands God powred out his wrath so I may say sicknesse is but the violl it is the Lords wrath that is powred out in it Amend this common errour that men are ready to seeke out the naturall causes of the evils that befall them if it bee sickenesse they looke to such a distemper in diet or cold c. as the cause of it so if they miscarry in any enterprize what folly and oversight hath beene the cause of it These are but the naturall and immediate causes but Christians should looke to and seeke out to the supernaturall When there came a famine upon the land of Iudah for three yeares 2 Sam. 21. 1. the naturall cause was evident which was a great drought for that famine was healed by raine afterwards and so in those hot countries famine came by drought alone but David rests not here but went to the Lord and enquired out the reason the sinne that should bee the cause of it And God told him it was for the sinne of Saul and his bloudy house in slaying the Gibeonites as wise statesmen when they find a meane person in a treason they rest not there but seeke further what deepe heads was in the businesse and who was the contriver of the plot When Iacob saw the Angels descend and ascend he lookes to the top of the ladder and saw the Lord there sending them to and fro Looke not to the stayres of the ladder one or two that are next to thee but to the top of the ladder and there thou shalt see the Lord sending one Angell to do thee a mischief another to be a Saviour to thee If you say how shall I know for what sinne it is Pray earnestly and enquire as David did and as Ioshua did when he saw the people flie before their enemies that God would reveale to thee the particular sinne and if thou canst not find out the particular sin for it may bee some sin long ago committed or some secret sinne yet be sure that sin is the cause of it for as in the works of nature we know the vapours arise out of the earth and ascend invisibly but come downe againe in stormes and showers which we are able to see and are sensible of so the judgements may be open and manifest enough but not the sins but some secret sin that past by thee without notice taken is the cause of it Learne hence to see sinne in its owne colours sinne is a secret and invisible evill and in it selfe as abstractly considered is hard to be seene of the best therefore looke upon it as it is cloathed with calamities and when you view it under the cloathing you will have another opinion of it than you had before If you should know a man who whersoever he comes doth nothing but mischiefe poysons one stabs another c. and leaves every where some prints of his villany how hatefull and terrible would he be unto you it is sin that playes all these reaks among us if sin come upon a man cloathed and armed with Gods wrath as it often doth at death then it is terrible Why do we not look upon it thus at other times but because we doe not behold it in the fearefull effects of it as then in the wrath due to it we doe Sin is the same at all times else but our fancy is not alwaies the same as the body is alwayes the same though the shadow bee greater or lesser that which we now count a small sinne as swearing and petty oaths will one day bee terrible such a sinne as was committed by Ananias and Sapphira would seeme small it may be to you in it selfe alone but see it cloathed with that judgement that befell them dying at the Apostles feete so see the sinne of Ahabs oppressing Naboth which you may looke at but as doing a little wrong to a poore man by a great man but see it cloathed with Ahabs death and the dogs licking his bloud and it will appeare to be most hainous so the prophanenesse of Nadab and Abihu offering strange fire Learne
learne therefore to feare the Lord nothing brings a Iudgement so much as the want of feare security is the next doore to a Iudgement Lâ—â—hish was a secure people and when the Army came against them they and their City fell as Figgs from a tree that are ripe so did they fall in their enemies mouths security is a fore-runner to every mans Iudgement Esay 66. 2. To him that feares mee saith God and trembles at my words to him will I looke to keepe him safe if not I will neglect him as much as hee mee I will have no eye to save him as hee hath no eye to mee to cause him to feare and tremble But you wil say how may I bring my heart to feare the Lord I answer first pray to the Lord to strike your hearts with a feare of him it is the the worke of God to bring the feare of himselfe upon us for it is hee that brings the feare of one man upon another hee brought a feare upon all the Nations of the Land when the people of Israel entered Canaan much more the feare of himselfe for the affections are such things as the Lord onely can meddle with and therefore the Apostle saith You are taught of the Lord to love one another It must be the Lord that must put in such an affection into you for his teaching is planting the affections and so he is said to teach other creatures that is to give this or that inclination and so the Lord is said to fashion the hearts of men and then they cannot chuse but feare him therefore goe to the Lord and say Lord I am not able to feare thee and say Lord thou hast promised to give the Holy Ghost to those that aske it of thee that worketh every grace if you would seeke him so and seeke him importunately though you had the securest hardest heart of any in the world hee would at length teach you to feare him Ier. 40. I will plant my feare in your hearts that they shal not depart from me Thus you see that God takes the doing of this to himselfe it must be of his planting and he hath promised also you see to doe it This is not all but there is something we must doe our selves Therefore secondly observe the Lords dealing with his learne to know him in his wayes and that will be a meanes to cause thee to feare him if any of his children sin he never lets them goe for then should they thrive in evill and prosper in sinne but if they will bee medling they shall be sure to finde some bitternesse in the end When a mans heart is set upon the creatures there being thornes in them all and therefore if hee will graspe too much of them or too hard hee shall finde it Gods children are trained up so to it that God will not let them goe away with a sinne if they bee too adulterously affected they shall finde a crosse in such a thing you may observe this in the 30. Psalme there you may see the circle God goes in with his children David had many afflictions as appeareth by the 5 verse I cryed and then God returned to me and joy came what did David then I said in my heart I shall never bee removed his heart grew wanton but God would not let him goe away so God turned away his face againe and I was troubled At the 7 verse he is you see in trouble againe well David cryes againe at the 8 and 10 verses and then God turned his mourning into joy againe And this to be his dealing you shall finde it in all the Scriptures but because we find this his dealing set so close together in this Psalme therefore I name it Therefore observe the wayes of the Lord to you and they that are not acquainted with these his wayes as yet in themselves see what hee hath done to others in all the world in our neighbour Churches when hee had given a bill of divorce to Israel yet Iudah had not feared now when God hath stricken our neighbour Churches doe you thinke hee will take it well if we be idle spectators therefore when he hath stricken another place learne to feare If hee afflicts his owne children thus sharply let them looke to themselves that are not his whether they be grosse sinners prophane persons of whom there is no question or mere civill men and formal professors in whom there is no power of grace if he bee thus hot against his owne Church his anger will be seventimes hotter against you it may bee longer deferred as his manner is yet when hee strikes hee will strike you in the roote not in the branches and that so as he will not Strike the second time Consider that in the 50 Psalme that hee will teare you in peeces and you that are prophane ones let me say to you as 1 Cor. 10. 22. Doe you provoke the Lord to anger are you stronger than hee Those that lye in open prophanenes and doe fight openly against the Lord and have not so much as a shew of turning yea and those that are meerely civill and yet lye in secret sinnes that yet are in health wealth and credit in the world it is a signe that God meanes them no good hee would not let his owne Garden goe so long unplowed And in the second place for professors that doe not answer their profession in their lives take heed for he that is not with me is against me it may be thou art no enemy not very stirring in any evill way but because thou art not with GOD in good earnest because your hearts are not perfect at the last day you will be found against him CHRIST will come against you in good earnest as an enemy and whereas all your hope lies that GOD is mercifull and CHRIST a Saviour learne to know that this JESUS whome you hope to bee saved by will prove the sharpest enemy against you Kisse the Son lest he bee angry the Son may be angry as he who Rev. 2. hath his eyes like a flame of fire and his feete like fi ne brasse to tread you to powder he shall come against you that are formall and know that JESUS CHRIST is not only a Saviour but a Lord that he came into the world to be a Prince and the government is upon his shoulders you forget that part of his office halfe the end for which CHRIST came into the World and if you would know what kind of Governor he is Ex. 23. 21. I will send my Angel with you saith God that is Christ beware of him and obey his voyce and provoke him not for my name is in him he is of the same spirit and disposition with his father and they are both alike affected to sin beware of him he goes along with you and he will not spare you for the LORD hath put all the
they were vaine Secondly because that the LORD will not forsake his people for his great Name sake because it hath pleased him to make you his people as if he had said I would not have you lessen the sinne seeke out excuses as indeed that is our fault in such cases no that is not the way you have committed a monstrous transgression yet forsake not the Lord. Samuel said this because that which keepes men off from the Lord is discouragement for many a man if hee had it may bee a voyce from Heaven that would assure him if he came in his sinnes would be pardoned I doe not think but they would come in though they love their sinnes well But the maine thing that keepes them off is men doe not thinke God so ready to receive and pardon them Now therefore saith Samuel you are his people and the LORD cannot forsake his owne let a man have a child of his owne even when it is young and troublesome and nothing pleasant in it yet because it is his owne his affections will not off from it yea his affections will hold on although when it is growne up it provokes him an hundred times because it is his own Now if they should aske how it comes to passe that they are his Samuel tels them because it pleased him to make you his people there is no other reason can be given of it so that if any of the children of God looking upon all the world lying in wickednesse and should aske the reason why I should be in this good condition rather then they there is no other than that it pleased GOD to make him so GOD loves for no merits which should teach us to looke out of our selves lesse into our hearts in this case and more to the Attributes of GOD to returne in Ier. 3. GOD saies there it is true indeed that if you come to any man in the world when his wife hath played the harlot will he receive her againe no a mans heart in this case cannot relent he hath not mercy enough his heart is too narrow But thou hast played the harlot many a time yet returne to me saith GOD for looke how much larger GODS heart is then a mans so much larger are his mercies If GOD bee thus exceeding mercifull and pitifull this should leade men to repentance there is that in the thing that leades you so Romans 2. 4. when either GOD expresseth his mercies towards us by his behaviour and mercifull dealings with us or causeth his Ministers to offer mercies unto us it leades to repentance It hath indeed a contrary effect almost in all in the world for whom doe not GODS mercies leade from him rather then to him but take heed lest you turne the grace of GOD into wantonnesse which yet men ordinarily do The more favour the more meanes they have enjoyed the more wanton they grow that is the more bold losing their respect to GOD even as a child is apt to doe when his father carries himselfe kind towards him hee cannot beare it he hath not the discretion to consider that it should leade him to obedience but growes bold and wanton And you should also make this use of mercies that the meditations of them should stirre up your hearts to a more kindly sorrow for your sinnes to thinke that you have deserved to be cut off long agoe and that you have committed such sinnes for which many are in hell long since God expects this at your hands and let us make this use of it in these dayes of humiliation the maine worke whereof is to humble your selves and we are to labour to humble you not only by denouncing Gods judgements but by expressions of his mercies also A digression concerning Fasting to the occasion THere is a double manner of doing this duty one wholly publike which should bee from morning till night in publike by the whole land that al together might confesse and humble themselves for the sinnes of it which is more extraordinary But secondly as for these dayes which are kept from weeke to weeke thus it is well ordered that the time is so limited for these publike exercises as that there is time left for the private for the businesse of particular humiliation goes forward better then and these publicke exercises tend but to that end and what is the meanes without the end be attained that is that every man should mourne apart so Zach. 12. when it was a businesse of mourning every family did it apart and the wives apart the wife and the husband are the nearest and if any should be together one would thinke they should and yet they must be then apart and the reason is because nothing humbleth so much as particular sinnes those wound the heart which in publick are not so much confessed but in generall onely but when you are every one in private then you may consider what your lusts your actions have beene and the circumstances of them then you may search your hearts and wayes looke backe and reflect upon your selves and that is the maine businesse and duties of these dayes Some of you it may bee will say I know not how to spend my time in private when I am from the Church but consider hast thou not committed many sinnes consider them canst thou not speake and confesse them and say Lord I confesse I have fallen backe into this againe and againe But secondly when you have done this seeke reconciliation and beg it earnestly which the heart will doe when it is touched with the sence of sinne and the enumeration of them will worke your hearts to it when you see the multitudes the circumstances the aggravations of them and because this is the greatest of all your requests therefore you must be the most earnest in it and therefore God doth purposely with-hold assurance often to teach men what it is to be reconciled to him and fasting serves to intend your prayers that they may be the more earnest Thirdly renew your covenants also consider what sinnes you are most inclined to and what occasions draw you most to those sinnes and vow against them Consider what good duties you have slighted most and that your hearts are most apt to faile in and promise better obedience Fourthly not only make a promise but labour to bring your hearts to be willing to leave those sins in good earnest and to performe those duties and when the heart is strongly byassed any way it is hard to alter it it is no easie matter to get an inward willingnesse you must therfore have much reasoning with your hearts to bring them to it Fiftly when they are brought into a good temper they are easily subject to be distempered again our affections shoote too far into worldly businesses your love your feare your griefe is subject to be too much in something and it is not easie
the fruit of Sanctification which is meant here and unto which the promise is made These goe both together in the godly and hee that hath the second never wants the first in some measure more or lesse though many have the first that have not the second Now the first is nothing else but a sence of sin and Gods wrath for it expressed to us in those former examples by being prickt in the heart it being a wounding of the heart and spirit Vnto which is joyned trembling feare with considering and comming to a mans selfe aswee have it in the Parable And this passive Legal humiliation stands in these particulars A sensiblenesse of sinne before a man is as one that is in a dead sleep what is done to him he feeles not nor what is said he heares not is sensible of nothing But this is the awakening of a man to be sensible of sinne so as now hee is wounded now he is smitten with it now he feeles it So the Goaler as the foundation of the prison was shaken so was his heart also and had an earth-quake within as well as one without and his awaking out of sleepe was a resemblance of his awakened heart This humiliation makes a man fearefull of his estate whereas before he was bold and others that are not humbled goe on boldly and are punisht as it is said of the foole in the Proverbs It makes a man consider his estate which he never did before as the Prodigall came to himselfe that is entered into a serious consideration of his estate before a man thought himselfe in a good estate little imagined hee was in the gall of bitternesse but this worke shewes him his poverty and that he is altogether naked and that hee hath nothing to sustaine him as the Prodigall saw he had not no worth at all in him And this first worke of humiliation is wrought by the Law and the curse thereof which sayes in his hearing Cursed be he that abides not in all things to doe them By the Law I say which is the rule of righteousnesse whereof all particular rules are branches and by the threatnings thereof which are all branches of that great curse The one being as the lightning to discover sinne the other like the thunder-bolt that strikes the heart with feare of Gods Iudgements the one is like the Inditement the other as the Sentence of the Judge I put both these together because both goe to humble a man The Law is like the Task-masters of Egypt that commanded the Israelites to do the worke but gave them no straw so the Law tells us this and this is to bee done and binds us to doe it but gives us no strength and so thereby discovers our sinfulnesse and unability to any good and then as the task-masters did beate them that failed of their tale so comes the curse and strikes them dead that continue not in all things to do the Law and these two put together worke this Legall humiliation neither by the Law is meant only those ten words spoken in Horeb but together with the explanation of them as wee finde them expounded in the Prophets and the whole Scriptures so that by the Law is meant that rectitude which the whole Scripture doth require Now therefore when the Scriptures are laid to our hearts the rectitude of the Scriptures is compared with the crookednes of our hearts and lives and thereby we come to see how that the least sinne is forbidden and that the least dutie must not be omitted and that we must give an account for every idle word and every lustfull thought and motion in the heart as S. Paul when humbled saw lust to be sinne and then we come to see withall the curse due to the lease This humbleth a man And unto this is further required the help of the Spirit joyning therewith without which the Law doth not humble a man who is therefore called the spirit of bondage because he enlightneth a man to see his bondage and slavery to sin and Sathan and his subjection to Gods wrath not that hee makes him such or brings bondage with it but discovers it and this not onely by shewing a man his bondage but he makes him believe it For there must be a faith to humble as well as to comfort whereas wee set light by the threatnings and believe them not for would the swearer sweare if he believed that threatning the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine When therefore the Spirit enlighteneth a man to see his sinnes and makes him believe the threatnings denounced against them then a man is humbled and not before And yet though these threatnings are propounded by the Word and made effectuall by the Spirit yet usually some affliction puts life into them as wee see in Manasses and also in S. Paul who was first struck off his horse to the ground and in the laylor who thought verily all his prisoners gone for whom his owne life must have beene answerable so as hee would have killed himselfe sometimes a reall affliction sometimes an imaginary one an apprehension of Judgement shame poverty misery doth God use to put life into the threatnings and they put life into the Law and then the Law is brought home to the conscience and so sinne is brought to light for when men are sensible of miseries then they are often brought to to inquiry into the Law of God to find what should bee the cause of it and when the Law is brought home to the conscience then sinne is made alive Saint Paul saies Romans 7. Sinne appeares to bee sin which before was as colours in the darke and sin being made alive then I dyed saies Paul there that is he apprehended himselfe a dead man in which is a discovery of sinne and our subjection to death for it wherein doe consist those two parts of this former humiliation which makes way for the second humiliation Thus you see what to be humbled is Now wee come to the second what it is to humble a mans selfe which begins when the other ends for then a man lookes out for the remedy as those who cryed out what shall we doe to be saved which is the second thing to be observed in those examples after the wounding of their hearts they made an enquiry what to doe to be saved For those that belong to Gods Election goe yet further there is another kinde of Evangelicall humiliation wrought in them which is a fruit of sanctification for in one whom GOD meanes to save when hee is come to this the LORD sends the spirit of adoption into his heart the spirit of grace as Zaâ—hary calls him which gives him some secret hope hee shall bee received to mercy if hee will come in which is a worke of faith in some degree begun and then says the soule with it selfe I will
not the greatest joy that discovers it selfe in laughter that is not the greatest sorrow which workes the most violent commotion in the heart there is a sad silent quiet sorrow that sinketh deeper and wets more slowly and sokes into the heart and makes the heart more fruitful in the issue which ariseth out of a more spirituall conviction of Judgement of the evill of sin though lesse passion accompanies it yet a stronger and deeper affection of sorrow is wrought I call it deeper because it is more constant and lasting more to purpose the one being as a land-floud the other as a spring Put the case such a violent sorrow should bee greater yet it is not alwayes alike necessary neither on Gods part nor mans Not on mans part as some disease doth not need so sharpe and quick a medicine as an other as some mens flesh is harder to heale than others so some mens hearts have more stubbornnes in them than others some have made themselves children of the Divell by their wicked courses worse then they were at first others in comparison are but as the children of Adam still as they were borne and therefore the same work may be wrought in them with much lesse adoe On Gods part it is not alwayes so necessary but is proportioned to Gods ends and God differs and is various in his ends concerning men He meanes to bestow a greater measure of grace upon one then upon an other and where he meanes to set a greater building there he digges a lower foundation hee meanes to use some as a meanes to comfort others and therefore letteth them see and feele more the bitternesse of sinne that they may be able to comfort others with the same comfort wherwith they have beene comforted Hee differs in the meanes to attaine his ends if hee meanes to bring them to the same measure of grace yet hee will not goe alwayes the same way to worke as hee often doth that without affliction which sometimes hee doth with it as a man is brought to the same Haven divers wayes some in a calme is tided in others are driven in with a storme but it is no matter how they come so they come in the promise is made to those that come A third consideration is that it is not for want of this greatnesse of humiliation that divers have not so violent a sorrow but from some circumstance in the worke it selfe as First because the light of comfort comes in sooner to some than to others they have the salve presently after the wound is given God having broken the heart bindeth it up presently againe a man may have as deepe a wound which a mitigated medicine comming neare to the bottome of the disease and soone applyed may sooner heale than another lesse deepe to which the remedie is not applyed a long time after which therefore askes longer So also it is in joy suddainnesse increaseth it for a fit for example put case a man is condemned for high treason and brought to the blocke and verily expects death and his pardon on the suddaine comes there is such a great sensible change wrought in him and our natures are sensible of great changes and therefore how excessively doth hee rejoyce but take one who is guilty of the same fault who knows that if he have not his pardon hee should lose his life but hath his pardon presently after the sentence passed hee will prize his pardon as much as the other though happily hee is not so turbulently affected as the other It falls out thus by reason of the ignorance some have lived in before who therefore are enlightened to know their estates all on the suddaine whereas an other hath beene brought up in knowledge and the knowledg of his misery being let in by degrees then the case doth also differ as betweene two men who were to goe through a wood whereof one is set upon by theeves not suspecting any and is put into a feare of his life and knowes not how to escape but one comes on the suddaine and rescues him and gives him his life but another is warned before knowes hee must goe through such a passage and that unlesse hee hath a strong guard to goe along with him hee shall certainely perish this man apprehends the danger as great as the other and the benefit as great and the love of him that should goe with him as great onely his passion either of feare or joy is not so violent as the others though hee truly rejoyceth in the deliverance as much as the other and thinkes himselfe as much bound to the man that delivered him I have spoken these things because some are scrupulous in the point and thinke they may not safely apply the Promise because they have not had that measure of sorrow that others have had But let no man suffer his assurance to hee weakned for want of this for a man may have as high an esteeme of CHRIST and bee as throughly convinced of sinne though hee want that violent worke which GOD workes in some even a great sence of his wrath and letting them lie there and then speakes peace so as these are wrought by distinct acts and causes in a great distance one from the other so that as their sorrow was evident so their joy was evident in another he workes so that as soone as hee sees sinne hee sees God also pardoning And in those that have that violent shyning of affection in their first Humiliation looke how much of it is violent will vanish and what is substantiall will hold so that even they in the end come to this solid conviction of Judgement at last which onely is constant and abideth with them And therefore let not thy assurance bee weakend for the want of this for faith unites to Christ and establisheth us in well doing But you will say is it not good to get that sensible stirring sence and sight of sinne I answer yes for to that end GOD leades through crosses and suffers thee to fall into sinnes that thou mayest see the vanity of the creature and the sinfulnesse of thy nature that when thou commest to heaven thou mayest say by thine own experience it was not by my owne righteousnesse that I came hither And therefore though it be good to get it yet let GOD goe his owne way and use his owne manner of working whether by Legal terror or otherwise what he sees good for thee he will do to humble thee but doe thou use meanes to understand the Law thy owne heart and actions and as thou art fallen into new sinnes labour to see what a case thou shouldest be in if Christ had not delivered thee But let not thy assurance bee weakened for you must know there are but two maine ends of humiliation which if they bee attained in thee thou needest not call in question thy estate Now first
with our sins wee desire to hide them from our selves by putting false glosses upon them and from others by fained excuses but deale impartially with your selves herein and labour to see sinne in its full vilenesse And that you may doe so First pitch upon some one great sin and take it into consideration So Christ when he would humble Paul he tells him of his persecution Why persecutest thou me And so S. Peter when he would humble the Iewes Acts 2. 1. he tells them of their crucifying of Christ So Christ when hee would humble the Woman Iohn 4. he remembers her of her adultery And the method that God takes when hee would humble us it is good for us to take For as when a man goes to rub a great staine out of a cloath by the same labour hee rubs out others that are the lesse for my meaning is not that you should let other sinnes alone when I exhort you to single out one but to consider all particulars else also though never so small the multitudes of them will helpe to humble thee as well as the greatnesse When a man sees hee hath many debts though but small of sixpences and shillings yet being many the totall summe may arise to a great quantity and make a man see himselfe bankerupt Therefore set your sinnes in order before you give the due weight to every sin but yet especially let great sins bee in your eye Now some sinnes are greater in their owne nature as fornication swearing drunkennesse c. others are made great by their circumstances as that they were committed against knowledge with deliberation as Saul sparing the Amalekites and sacrificing before Samuel came wherein a commandement on the contrary was distinctly given So God aggravated to Adam his sin did not I command thee the contrary and didst thou not know thou shouldest not We are not to take sins by number only but also by weight as when they were committed contrary to many promises purposes and so as hardnesse of heart follow upon it And secondly withall labour to make sins present though long since committed looke on them as if they were newly done for though our sinnes bee great yet if we apprehend them and view at a distance and a great way off they move us not which is the reason why men are not more affected with the thought of death in their health which yet is one of the greatest evills and so apprehended by us when we come to die the reason is because it is then conceived to be a farre off and so men are not moved with it Thus it is in our apprehension of sins also the distance makes them seeme small there is not a neare conjunction and application of the object and the affection they are not brought nigh but men looke upon sinnes long since past as small whereas in truth sins long since committed are the same in themselves and in the sight of God they were when first committed and therefore should bee the same to thee So a man that hath committed a treason twenty yeares agoe may bee executed for it now and therefore Iosephs brethren remembred their sinne as fresh though long before committed as if they had then committed it their affliction revived in their consciences and made it as present but we usually looke on sins past as none of ours Iob saith that the LORD made him possesse the sinnes of his youth he possessed them that is looked on them as his owne What is the reason why to men in jeopardy as in a storme at Sea and in the time of sicknesse their sins then appeare so terrible and fearefull they apprehend them as present Now that which God doth by affliction let us labour to get done by meditation and by faith to looke on them as present turne that end of the optike glasse which will bring them neare to thee labour to have a true Judgement of their greatnesse and that they are the same for therein lyes true humiliation when the Judgement is rightly convinced to esteeme them the greatest evill though it bee not accompanied with so violent and turbulent a sorrow When you have made them thus present doe not quickly make an end but let sorrow abide upon your hearts for the worke is not so soone done you will get into some rocke or other unlesse you bee continually persecuted and followed by the apprehension of your sins till you come unto the City of refuge but doe as David did Psal. 51. he sets his sin before him and as Saint Paul to whom that sin of persecution was ever fresh in his memory and alwayes in his mouth I a persecutor c. In this case learne something of the Divell who when he would bring a man to bee swallowed up of sorrow his manner is to keepe a mans sin still before him nor will he let a man be at rest therfore 2 Cor. 12. they are called the buffetings of Sathan because hee comes often with blow after blow to discourage and amaze a man now learne from that practise of his to stay and dwell upon the meditations of our sinnes and often to present them to our soules Thy greene wood happily will not burne without much blowing it is frequens intensior argumentatio a frequent pressing of arguments that workes on the affections and so here keepe the object neare the faculty and at last it will worke look not on thy sins by fits let there be no interruption by worldly joyes or pleasures no intervalla and this is Saint Iames counsell Be afflicted and mourne and weepe Iames 4. Let your laughter bee turned into mourning and your joy into heavinesse humble your selves c. that is if you will have your hearts humbled abstaine from lawfull delights for the time get alone So Ioel 2. hee bids them set apart a day that they might have no interruption and if that will not doe it sanctifie another let not one sparke goe out ere another bee strucke otherwise you will bee alwayes beginning and never come to be humbled If you would come to lay your sins to heart and be affected with them then be sure you be not kept off by those false reasoning and excuses which hinder men from being humbled and keepe their sins from comming in upon them as for instance when a man comes to consider of his sinnes I but sayes he am I not in a good estate already and then my sinnes are pardoned for I have good desires in me and a good meaning I meane no man no harme and thus these keepe him from seeing himselfe a child of wrath but consider that thou mayst have all these good things in thee and more than these and yet be a child of wrath these will be found to the praise of the Holy Ghost who wrought them in thee but not to thy advantage to escape damnation for though these be
not in so great a point turne it every way and mould it for your use and to your apprehensions as also that you may not thinke it harder then it is by which the Divell keeps many off Now you may know what it is by the expressions of those who have humbled themselves David having numbred the people when he humbled himselfe he said Lord I have sinned and done exceeding foolishly Iosiah his heart melted before the Lord. And Dan. 9. Lord we have done very wickedly c. and shame belongs to us hee was ashamed And Ioâ— when he humbled himselfe said Lord I abhor my selfe in dust and ashes And the Prodigall I have sinned against heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to bee called thy sonne And so they are said to bee weary and heavy laden Many other expressions there are but I will digest all into two heads to humble a mans selfe is but to bring his heart and minde unto these two acts Is out of a sence of a mans unworthinesse to say thus unto the Lord Oh Lord I haâ—e done exceeding wickedly and am worthy to be destroyed I have beene in the wrong way and done exceeding foolishly but thy wayes are righteous and thou art just yea I have dealt unthankfully and unequally with thee who hast beene so good to me That was it melted the heart of Iosiah and made Iob abhorre himselfe as vile as the dust I tread upon as ashes that are good for nothing or but as sackloth in which they used to humble themselves the worst of garments I am ashamed and confounded This is the first act which is a sence and an acknowledgement of our owne unworthinesse and vilenesse And the second a sight of a mans worthinesse to be destroyed unability to helpe himselfe and of the vanity of all things else A man must further say that I am not onely unworthy but guilty of death my sinnes will breake my backe I am not able to stand under them and I am utterly undone and when I looke upon all the props of my life my health and riches c. I see they are but vaine things reeds and feathers and as hollow ground whereon I can set no footing Therefore LORD bee thou a rocke to mee on whom I may pitch and build my selfe And that this sight of our owne unability is also necessary we see by that 1 Tim. 6. 17. Charge them that are rich that they bee not high minded nor trust in uncertaine riches they are both joyned together For so farre as a man doth trust in them he is high minded and the soule of man doth trust in them so long as it apprehends substance in them and that they are not vanity so farre the heart beares it selfe upon them and so is carelesse of the LORD and why else do afflictions humble men as Manasses but because a man then sees the emptinesse of all things it brings him to say with the Prodigall I die for hunger and these cannot feed mee and so to hold fast to the LORD which a man must needs doe when he hath but one thing to hold to Now when thou art wrought on so as to expresse this unfainedly this is it to humble thy selfe We should hence learne to strengthen our faith if we have done this if thou hast thus humbled thy selfe confessed thy sinnes taken up a full resolution to forsake them thou shalt have mercy according to that promise Prov. 28. 13. He that confesseth and for saketh shall have mercy But here we find those who have humbled themselves come in with two objections that hinder their comfort 1. That they cannot mourne for their sins 2 That they fall into the same sinnes againe and againe and that therefore they have not humbled themselves Now as we would not have the false deceived with false evidences so nor the true discomforted and therefore wee will answer these objections To the first If thou beest so farre convinced in thy Judgement of thy sin and misery and unability to helpe thy selfe as it hath turned the bent and rudder of thy will so as thou sayest I will goe and humble my selfe to my Father change my course confesse and forsake my sins though thy affections seeme to thee not stirred yet this is enough to translate thee into the estate of grace for I aske to what end is mourning and weeping required but to awaken a man to come home to God in this manner mentioned when therefore thou findest these effects thou maiest be sure thou hast the end of these and that is enough to save thee Suppose a man carries about him a deadly disease so as upon the discovery and knowledge of it he is content to part with all he hath to the Physicians and is wary of medling with any meate that will hurt him and increase it if he know this that it is deadly though he hath no sence of paine it is all one and there are some diseases you know wherein a man feeles not so much paine that yet are mortall it may make him as carefull to use the meanes and so is it here if the conviction of the sinfulnesse and deadlinesse of sinne worke those dispositions mentioned in thee then thou hast the end which mourning tends to and that is all one Though thy affections be not so stirred consider the promises are made to ones comming in and taking Christ and beleeving in him they are not made to the commotion of the affections and here in the words the promise is made to humbling thy selfe out of a solidity of Iudgement It is no matter by what meanes you are brought to take hold on Christ so you come to him It is all one whether I come to my journeys end by land or by water on horse backe or on foote so I bee come thither If thou findest thou doest the things that an humble man should doe then though thy affections seeme not to be moved yet in very deed they are moved and changed as if thou art fearefull to returne to thy sinnes art resolved to please God in all things to thy power For what are affections but divers positions and scituations of the will and the feete it walkes upon they are but the divers motions and inclinations whereby the will shoots it selfe into the objects of it Now looke which way thy will is resolved and set that way are thy affections set also if thou seest one ro rise up soone and goe to bed late to avoyde poverty and to get riches a wise man will assure himselfe that his ayme is such and his heart set upon riches his actions shew that his affections doe move strongly that way though he sayes he feeles no such stirradge Therefore though thou findest this stilnesse of affections yet if thou doest the same things that they use to do who mourne and weepe more thou mayest assure thy selfe thy
affections are moved I adde this that it is no wound if thy affections be not so sensibly stirred and yet thy humiliation bee sound for it is the nature of the affections to shoot into their owne objects stilly and to runne along as water and winde doth if they meete with no obstacle to runne quietly if it meetes with trees then the winde riseth and if the tide meete with the winde then the waves rise so if our affections be crossed we are sure to heare of them then if thou hadst not some hopefull assurance of thy estate thou wouldest heare of mourning and drooping then it may be the worke of grace in thee hath alwayes gone evenly on the streame hath runne calmely and quietly but yet such doe finde that upon some suddaine accidents or drawings nigh when the LORD is pleased to make an impression upon them then they heare of stirring affections But to conclude all know and resolve upon it that the flowing and ebbing of thy affections is not that which thy salvation depends upon but solidity of conviction of Iudgement which turnes the will and makes thee to cleave fast unto Christ. Whereas you object you fall into the same sins againe and againe I answer you may fall againe and againe and into great sins for which you have been soundly humbled why should we speake that which the Scripture doth not onely take it with this caution that you find a constant warre against them as Israel with the Amalekites so as never to yield to looke upon their sinnes as a mans greatest enemy never to be reconciled though he be foiled againe and againe for what is true humiliation but to reckon sin the greatest misery and indeed if a man reckon any greater as losse of wealth c. then a man had rather fall into sinne then lose his wealth whence it is that falsenesse of heart doth a rise but humiliation makes a man to reckon sinne such an evill as he had rather suffer any thing than make a truce with sinne and the generall ordinary power of grace in a mans ordinary whole course is not seene in keeping men from relapses altogether but in setting sinne and the heart at oddes as health and sickenesse whilst a man is a living man he cannot be friends with any disease but nature will resist it it sets them at variance as the Wolfe and the Lambe as the spring and mudde and living waters will cleanse themselves though the mudd arise a thousand times if as the Wolfe which reckons the Lambe the greatest enemy it hath in the world by an instinct of nature so if thou reckonest sinne the most destroying thing in the world whence is this but because humiliation hath made that impression and apprehension of it on thy heart which God hath set on thy heart as a brand in the flesh that will never out then thou wilt fight against every sinne and never be reconciled to it as a Lambe is not to a Wolfe because nature hath implanted that enmity there if thou finde this to bee the constant disposition of thy minde keepe thy assurance strong though many weakenesses be discovered in thee It is utterly a fault among you to weaken your assurance by your daily slippings and failings and Satan labours that above all other for then when your assurance and hope is gone you walke unevenly and as a Ship that hath lost her Anchor or is without a Rudder thou mayst sometimes feele a hardnesse in thee and yet if this aforesaid bee the constant disposition of thy minde Weaken not thy assurance but say though I finde my heart hard and carelesse froward and angry often whereas I should bee meeke and humble Yet I will not question the maine but I will goe and renew my humiliation which will strengthen my assurance however hold that firme for it drawes into neerer Communion with GOD and further from sinne establisheth a man in well-doing and makes him abound in the worke of the Lord. Learne hence also that it is not enough for a man only to be patient in afflictions but he must also humble himselfe under them wee must not onely beare the crosse but willingly and cheerfully acknowledge Gods justice in it and our owne sinne for to bee humbled is a further thing then to bee patient as in 2 Chron. 12. 6. when the people were left in the hand of Shishak it is said that the Princes of Israel humbled themselves and they said the Lord is righteous where being humbled is expressed by acknowledging God to be righteous which is more then to be patient God lookes for this in all afflictions therefore he sayes in 1 Pet. 5. 6. humble your selves and not bee patient onely under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Many a man in affliction may say he will be patient but that is not enough but he must humble himselfe which is more then patience for pati ence is only to beare it contentedly but a man must goe to God and say Lord I confesse I am sinfull and have deserved more then this punishment I wonder not at thy judgment but at thy long suffering rather that it is no worse with me the least of Saints and the greatest of sinners So wee see it was with Naomi in Ruth 1. 20 21. call me not by an honorable name not Naomi but Marah I went out full but I am come home empty and the Lord hath afflicted mee and seeing hee hath afflicted mee I will carry my saile accordingly This is truly to humble a mans selfe And thus did David when hee fled before Absolon Let the Lord doe with mee what seemes good in his eyes 2 Sam. 15. 26. And so said Eli In all this the Lord is good that is the Lord is just in all this and I and my sonnes deserve it and more Thus when a man thinkes it reasonable that God should punish him he blesseth God that the crosse is no greater without complaining or repining If the Lord will leade thee through variety of conditions say with Paul I know how to want and how to abound and how to goe through bad report as well as good report and I am not onely content but chearefull in all this and would be if it were farre worse If the Lord hath said hee will bee mercifull to the humble then let us humble our selves more and more and get our hearts lower and lower seeing there are such mighty and large promises belonging to the humble and know that as the Lord suspends his promises upon this here so they shall bee fulfild upon the performance of this and as wee doe this more or lesse so shall the promises be fulfilled to us more or lesse therefore let us doe this more and more for if we humble our selves the Lord will fill our hearts with good things when he sees a man taking a low place hee will
and to will it heartily with all the bent of the soule and the sway of it he is not able to say he doth so 1 Tim. 1. 9. The Law is not given to a righteous man that is hee hath a Law of grace in him that puts him on to good without this law as if he had said this law without might as it were be spared to this man hee being a law to himselfe but it is given to the unrighteous that is he would doe nothing without this he hath not in himself a strong inclination to what is good and aversenesse to evill as the other hath Rom. 7. 15. I hate the evill that I doe hee hates the evill which the Law forbids and longs after what the Law commands The Law is put upon the wicked as a restrainer to keepe him in he lookes upon the Commandements as chaines and shackles but a regenerate man lookes on them as upon girdles and garters which gird up his loines and expedite his course the better The Law confines a regenerate man to live in that element where he would live as if one should be confined to Paradise where he would be though there were no such law But another man is confined by it to the place where he would not be and to actions which hee would not doe and therefore as Sâ—imeâ— when hee was confined he leapt over the hedg comes over the pale after profit and pleasure and dies for it the Law given to him hee reckoneth as a Prison therefore examine whether there bee in thee such a constant inclination to walke in the wayes of godlinesse so as you could even be a law to your selves if you are left to what the Lord hath wrought in you 4 They differ in the power that accompanies this law of the minde in a regenerate man where this Law of grace is there is not only a knowledge of what should be done but also there is a power goes with it This Law is a Kingdome A gouernment consists not in word but in power 1 Cor. 4. 20. 1 Iohn 3. 9. he that is borne of God sinnes not neither can he sinne c. compared with that 1 Iohn 12. who is borne not of the will of the flesh c. but of the will of God The meaning of both compared is this a regenerate man that is borne of God hath first such a habit as is agreeable to the will of God in all things and this habite is as a thing innate like naturall qualities bred and borne with us so that he cannot sinne that is he cannot but resist and strive against it and have in the end the victory over it for it is a law within him which puts him on to what God wills and secondly not onely so but he is borne thus said the Apostle that is though this disposition bee infused yet it is so rivetted into him that he can no more shake it off then a naturall disposition hee is borne with therefore he cannot sin that is it cannot be he should become a sinner given up to sinne On the contrary naturall men wanting this law are not nor cannot bee subject to the Law of God because this disposition to sin is naturall to him he is borne of the flesh of the will of man so as this Law of grace workes out all evill in the end and if good bee to bee done breaks through all difficulties but corruption in the other workes out all good and returnes to sinne so as he sayes I am not able to keepe the Sabbath thus and abstaine from such and such a sin I am so strongly inclined to it 5 Difference is out of the seventh verse not I but sinne and in the last verse with my minde I serve the Law of God but with the flesh the law of sinne This law of the mind makes a change in the person Can any unregenerate man in the world say it is not I but sin if he doth any thing that is good it is not he if he doth any thing that is evill it is he and onely he that doth it A regenerate man himselfe never sins that is whilst he is himselfe he never yields to sin but it is his flesh when he is not himselfe and an unregenerate man when hee is himselfe never yields fully to the motions of grace but a regenerate man when ever he is himselfe acts according to this part hee is never otherwise overcome but with a strong temptation drunke and transported with passion and when a myst is before his eyes I alwayes serve in my mind the Law of God And therefore though hee bee overcome yet with this difference that he lookes upon it as a captivity and a bondage worse then that of Aegypt He doth not as that servant in the Law hee is not willing to have his eare boared through and to serve that master for ever whereas another lookes at sinne as a liberty and the Law of God as a restraint and wish eth it were not though he may accommodate himselfe by it and though he may delight in sin for a while yet withall hee delights in the Law in the inward man and that is the more constant prevailing overcomming delight so as consider if there bee not another delight contrary to the delighting in sinne though at that time when the flesh delights in sinne it appeares not which yet overcomes and out weares the other 3 Rule is consider the manner of thy resisting and fighting against sinne and here there are foure notable differences comes to be laid open The upright in heart fights against sinne with the whole frame of his heart All the faculties fight in their courses as it is said the Starres did against Sisera as first the mind there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 change of mind in him he hath another opinion of his sin There is a change in judgement he is renewed in his mind Let a mans opinion be kept right and how ever his passion may stirre they will in the end vanish Whilst a man is unregenerate he is as Colos. 1. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an enemy in his thoughts or reasonings as the word translated in their mindes properly signifies but you hath hee reconciled and so after conversion a man is a friend in his understanding to the wayes of God he is in his judgement reconciled to them and become therein an enemy to the wayes of sin The question here is not whether thou thinkest sin evill or no or this and that unlawfull but whether evill to thee pro hic nunc at this and that time in these and these circumstances and then comes in conscience also and that fights against sin which is tender and feareth alwayes Prov. 28. 14. Whereas hee that hardneth his heart falls into mischiefe and it is that place of conscience is it which is onely culpable of
this hardnesse and tendernesse Hee dares as well venter upon a Canons mouth as commit a sin and though he may sometimes bee transported for a time yet conscience fights against it Then for the will that fights against sin also whilst with David he hath sworne to keepe those righteous judgements that is hath fixedly resolved against it Lastly he resists sin in his affâ—ctions 2 Cor. 12. S. Paul prayed and prayed earnestly and could not be content nor make a denyall he was so troubled So in David Psal 119. 20. My soule breaketh for the longing it hath to thy Iudgements When a man hungers and thirsts after righteousnesse and weepes bitterly for sin as Peter did it is a signe that his affections are stirred Now on the contrary in an evill man all the faculties fight in their courses for sin As Ephes. 4. 18. 19. Having their understandings darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the hardnesse of their heart who being past feeling have given themselves over to worke all uncleannesse with greedinesse here you may see all the foure faculties in an ungodly man fighting for sinne Their cogitations are darkened c. their understandings are for sinne being estranged from the wayes of God Then secondly followes the conscience because of the hardnesse of their heart so the word signifies their conscience being insensible of sinne admi sir. And then thirdly for the will they have given themselves up to it they have taken to themselves a resolution to betray their soules to it Then fourthly for the affections they are said to commit it with greedinesse that is with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of affections such as is in a covetous man who is greedy and can never have enough his affections are so large This is the first difference in regard of the subject The second difference is in respect of the object the things they fight against a carnall man against grosse evills as wee see in Herod when hee beheaded Iohn what a contention was there in him he was troubled about what report the people would give of it and about the murder of one he knew to be so holy and good a man but a man truly regenerate as he is enabled to see more than another so also he fights against more Another man sees no more but the morall evill and good and so fights against no more but besides this a regenerate man sees the spirituall holinesse that is in a dutie and lookes to the manner as well as the matter and hee fights against those smaller motes in the Sunne All the carnall men in the world finde fault with strictnesse c. but another mans chiefe trouble is that hee cannot bee strict enough S. Paul was a learned man and understood the Law of Moses exactly and was not ignorant of the ten Commandements and yet when he came to be regenerate he saw and understood it in another manner I was alive once without the Law but when the Commandement came sin revived and appeared as a monster which before seemed but a small thing to him above measure sinfull so for good when a man is changed in his mind he discernes the whole will of God that perfect will Rom. 12. 2. before hee saw the maine duties it may bee and the grosser evills onely This is a second difference in the Object The third difference is in the successe the issue of a carnall mans resistance is still deteriora sequor the godly in the issue still followes the best and in the end is a conqueror and though much assaulted yet he walkes after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. and in the end mortifies the deeds of the flesh but a wicked man though hee may have many good intentions yet walkes as it is Ephes. 4. 17. after the vanity of his mind and in the end fulfills the lusts of the flesh This is Saint Paul his estate being compared in the seventh to the Romans with 2 Cor. 12. though hee complaines much in both yet Grace sufficient was given him to keepe him from the Act. But some of Gods children have had the worst in the issue of the combat as David who fell into Adultery Saint Peter into denyall of his Master In some particular actions they may bee foiled but the combat is with the lust which in the end is overcome though the actions give him a blow Saint Peters lust was feare which made him to deny his Master but in the end it was overcome Acts 4. 8. whereby his boldnesse it appeares there So David had the victory over that lust Psal. 51. how doth he hate it and was fenced against it 4 Difference is in respect of the continuance of the combat In the wicked it lasts but for a time because that in him which causeth this combat hath no bottome like a flower though beautifull yet it growes but upon a stalke of grasse and therefore soone withers and the combatants failing the combat ends Saul held out a while and carried it faire but in the end persecuted David and followed his lusts without any bridle Iudas was long restrained and kept himselfe in CHRISTS family but at last his covetousnesse overcame him and he resolves to give up his Master to the Pharisees Ioash restrained himself the greatest part of his life whilst his Vncle lived but two yeares before his death he gave himselfe up to doe evill the Princes came and did reverence unto him and he yielded So Amaziah after he had overcome the Edomites In a regenerate man the combatants always continue it is an immortall seed which cannot be eradicated therefore the combate lasteth and increaseth There was a strife of feare in Nicodemus and hee comes by night but hee got the mastery and spake boldly for Christ. And so againe we see it in Peter there was a combat in him to his death as appeares by that which Christ tells him they shall carry thee whither thou wouldest not this was a strife in him which never ended till he had an end himselfe in this world Thus you have seene the differences betweene the relapses of the godly and the wicked by which examine your selves If no promise belongs to any but to those that turne then this followes that if any have provoked the eyes of Gods glory by any sinne let him not thinke to take up the matter by offering sacrifice that is by prayers and confessions for God requires this absolutely Except yee turne I will not be mercifull do what you wil humble your selves fast pray seeke my face c. GOD will bee satisfied with nothing unlesse there be a real turning Therfore let no man say I have sinned and I am sorry and confesse it c. but I am not able to leave it and yet I hope GOD will pardon me No know that stoppage is no
as you are should not bee saved Hereby the bloud of Christ is improved that it is sprinkled on many for great sinnes Thinke not therefore that God is backward to pardon Psal. 130. 3 4. There are two arguments more to helpe us in this If hee should marke what is done amisse who should stand none should be saved Now it is not his will that all flesh should perish and therefore hee will not take the advantage to cast men cleane off for their sinnes againe none else would worship him There is mercy with thee that thou mayest bee feared It is his full purpose to have some servants to feare and worship him Yea shall I goe further God is not onely ready to forgive but desirous of it yea hee is glad at the heart when a great sinner doth come in which is noted to us in the Parable of the lost sheepe and the lost groat how did the woman rejoyce for the finding of her groat and the Shepheard for his sheepe And likewise in the Parable of the lost Sonne how glad was hee when he heard that his Sonne was comming home that yet had lived riotously and spent his goods it was to shew that GOD was so affected when a great sinner returnes to him Besides he doth not onely say if you will come I keepe open house I will not shut you out but inviteth them calleth them yea more sends his ministers to fetch them in yea more entreateth beseecheth commandeth threatneth But you will say is it possible that I should bee forgiven that have committed so many sinnes so great so hainous and continued so long in them Yes it is possible for you Marke that place 1 Cor. 6. 9. Hee reckons up as great sinnes as can bee named And such were some of you but now you are washed You see what kind of people there were forgiven whence wee may gather that those that are guilty of those sinnes now may bee forgiven as well as then such were some of you Whosoever thou art it is no matter what thou hast beene all the matter is what thou wilt bee Put case any of the old Prophets should come to thee or any man in particular and say wilt thou bee content now to turne to GOD if thou wilt all thy sinnes shall bee washt away and thou shalt bee made an heire of Heaven it would cause him that hath any ingenuity to relent and say LORD canst thou now bee so mercifull to mee as to forgive mee after all this loe LORD I will come in and turne unto thee I aske thee this question whether art thou content to quit all thy sinnes presently upon assurance of being received if thou dost if thou answerest no art thou not worthy to bee destroyed if yes is not this great comfort But some may say if heaven gate stand thus wide open I may come and bee welcome at any time Thou vile wretch that darest to have such a thought Dost thou not know that every such refusall of such an offer is so dangerous as it may put thee into hazard of never having the like againe If the gate of heaven stood thus alwayes open why then did God sweare in his wrath of some Israelites that they should never enter into his rest and what is the reason that God said of those that were invited to the feast but refused to come that they should never taste of it The reason is there given it is said the master of the feast was full of wrath at the refusall of his offer both because his love and kindnesse was despised that filleth a man with indignation and so the Lord and also because the thing offered was of so much price it being the kingdome of heaven and the precious bloud of Christ. Therefore whensoever such an offer is made and refused God is exceeding angry There goes an axe and a sword with this offer to cut downe every tree that will not bring forth good fruit Say not when you heare of this offer I am glad there is such a thing I will accept of it another time but it comes too soone for mee now Consider this that the end of the comming of the Lord Iesus was not onely to save the soules of men if onely so then indeed this might have beene done at any time even at the last but his end also was Titus 2. 14. That he mtght purifie to himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes ' which is a greater end than that which went before in the verse to redeeme us from all iniquity to purchase to himselfe a people that should serve him in their life time and canst thou thinke that thou that hast served thy lusts all thy life time shalt yet bee accepted at death It is a common saying with you that if a man bee called at the eleventh houre hee shall be received 't is true if thou beest called then first and not before as the thiefe who was not call'd afore was then accepted but what if thou hast beene call'd afore and hast not accepted but put off till death thy case then will bee exceeding dangerous Againe I aske thee what is it makes thee resolve to come in at death If love to Christ then it would sooner if to thy selfe how shall such conversion be accepted Come we now to the last words And I will heale their land WE have these three points may be observed out of them 1. That all calamities and troubles proceede from sinne this I note from the order of the words hee first forgives their sinnes then heales their land 2. That if calamities bee removed and sinnes be not forgiven they are removed in judgement not in mercy 3. That if sinne bee once forgiven the calamity will soone be taken away For the first all calamity is from sinne troubles from transgression In the chaine of evills sinne is the first linke that drawes on all the rest as grace is in the chaine of blessings and comforts Consider this in all kinds of judgements which wee may reduce to three heads 1. Temporall calamities about the things of this life they are all from sinne both publike and private What was the reason of Salomons troubles The Lord stirred up an adversary against him because hee departed from the Lord and had set up idolatry so the sword departed not from Davids house because of his sinne with Bathsheba and the murther of Vriah So Asa 2 Chron. 16. the Prophet tels him Hence forth thou shalt have warre because thou hast not rested on the Lord. I could give a hundred instances for this 2. Sort of judgements are spirituall which are much more grievous than the former when a man is given up to his lusts and to hardnesse of heart and this proceedeth from some other sinnes that went before and it is a sure rule that you never see a man given up to worke uncleannesse with greedinesse or to such open
that if you would remove the crosse you must remove the sinne first You may observe it in diseases that twenty medicines may bee used and yet if you hit not right upon the cause of the disease the patient is never the better but if that be removed the symptomes presently vanish so when some crosse is upon us wee set our heads and hands and friends aworke to remove it but all in vaine whilst wee hit not the cause and that is sinne which whilst it continues the crosse will continue The reason why our peace and prosperity is entertained with so many crosses and troubles is because our lives are interwoven with so many sinnes The cause of Gods unevennesse in his dispensations of his mercy towards thee is the unevennesse of thy carriage towards him Hast thou a healthfull body a sure estate many friends Thinke not that these shall secure thee see Adam in paradise Salomon in his glory David on his mountaine which hee thought made strong and you shall see Adam when sinne had made a breach upon him once quickly made miserable and sinne bringing in upon Salomon an army of troubles after it and upon David in the height sin bringing in upon him the hazzard of his kingdome the rebellion of his sonne sinne in a mans best estate makes him miserable and grace in the worst estate makes a man happy Saint Paul with a good conscience was happy in prison David through faith was happy at Ziglag But you will say how is it that calamities thus follow upon sinne wee feele no such thing and thus because it is deferred the hearts of men are set to doe evill All this is to bee understood with this caution that sinne when it is perfected brings forth death and not till then God stayed till Ahab had oppressed Naboth and gotten possession and then when he was seene God sends the message of death to him What hast thou killed and also taken possession Thus Iudas he was a thiefe whilst he kept the bag and went on in many sinnes in Christs family and Chri stlets him alone and he goes on till hee had betrayed his Master and then when his sinne was perfected and come to its full ripenesse then at last CHRIST comes with judgement upon him There is a certaine period of judgement and if the Lord stay execution till then thou hast little cause to comfort thy selfe Eccles. 8. 11 12. Because sentence against an evill worke is not speedily executed therefore the hearts of men are set to doe evill As if the wise man should have said Goe to you you that have peace and comfort your selves in this that whatsoever the Word and the Ministers threatten yet you feel nothing yet remember that as soon as the sin is committed the sentence goeth forth therefore he useth the word sentence to expresse this though it bee not so speedily executed yet it goes forth at the same time with the commission of the sinne The sentence you know is one thing the execution another and many times there is and so may be here a long distance betwixt the sentence of the Iudge and the execution of it So as his meaning is that execution is deferred Therefore flatter not your selves sentence is gone forth and execution will follow For the amplification of this that vision of Zachary seemes to make it good Zach. 5. When swearing and theft had beene committed Verse 3. Hee saw a flying roule Verse 2. Which Verse the 3. is interpreted to be the curse that goeth over all the earth for him that stealeth and sweareth Verse 3. which curse may bee upon the wing long ere it seizeth on the prey but it goes forth as soone as those sinnes were committed that is the execution may be deferred which is there further shewed in the parable of the Ephah which sets out as there the measure of the peoples iniquities for so Verse 8. he sayes this is wickednesse which untill it be filled hath not the weight of leade laid upon the mouth of it it being a long while ere God comes to execution and not till their sinnes are full the plummet of leade being laid as it signifies that then their sins are sealed up with the waight of leade rolled upon them that none might be lost or forgotten but God remembers them all and then hee saw two women come and the wind was in their wings Verse 9. that is when their sinnes are thus full and their measure sealed up their judgement comes swiftly like the winde and carries it into Shinar and there this wickednesse is set upon its owne base that is in its proper place a place of misery as hell is said to bee Iudas his owne place Sinne may sleepe a long time like a sleeping debt which is not call'd for and demanded for many yeares but if a man hath not an acquaintance the creditor may call for it in the end and lay the debtor in prison It was forty yeares after Sauls slaying of the Gibeonites ere execution went forth and vengeance was call'd for it So Ioabs sin which he committed in slaying Abner which was slaying innocent bloud slept all Davids time til Salomon came to the crowne Doe not therefore as ill husbands in debt that suffer the suite to runne on from tearme to tearme till they bee out-law'd and pay both debts and charges and all Thy sinnes are a bringing swift damnation and it slumbers not it is on foote already and will overtake thee and meete at thy journeyes end the end of thy dayes Let it therefore be thy wisedome to take up the suite and compound the matter with God betimes else thou shalt not onely pay the debt and smart for the sin it selfe but for all the time of Gods patience towards thee the riches of Gods patience spent and beare all the arrerages Rev. 2. I gave her space to repent but shee repented not God meant to make her pay for all the time he gave her to repent in The next point from these words is That if the calamity bee removed and the sinne bee not healed it is never removed in mercy but in judgement Hee doth here promise first to forgive the sinne and then to heale the Land so as if hee should have healed the Land without forgivenesse it had beene no mercy Because sinne is worse than any crosse whatsoever If therefore hee takes away the crosse and leaves the sinne behinde it is a signe thou art a man whom the Lord hates When a Physician takes away the medicine and leaves the disease uncured it is a signe the parties case is desperate or that the Physician meanes to let him perish Because the Lord doth nothing in vaine if therfore an affliction doth a man no good it must needes doe him hurt for that which doth neither good nor hurt must needes be in vaine That was a property of the Idols of the Heathens which are