it hasteneth when you shall see them all presented at once and shall no way avoid that sight when you will think you see nothing but Fire that you hear nothing but a sudden noise passing the greatest clap of horrid Thunder and shall choose Death rather if it were possible to annihilation than Life with such an object before you As it fell out to that usurping Richard after the horrible Murther committed upon his innocent Nephews he could rest no where he could be no where free a tumultuous army of Thoughts struck an Alarm to his Repose at Bed and Board Day and Night alone and in company he thought he saw and heard them when as in truth it was his Sin that was ever legally before him and his own guilty Conscience that did pursue him And to that Judg Morgan who gave Sentence upon that vertuous and innocent Lady Jane in so much that he grew Mad shortly after and still cried out Take away the Lady Jane from me and in that Horror ended his Days and wretched Life As Mr. Speed relates in the Life of Q. Mary and Mr. Clark in his Life of the Lady Jane And so it will be with you here or hereafter Tell me then is it not better to see them apart now when you may repent and be freed than to put them off unto another Day when you must see them altogether and sink under them without any hope of recovery O consider this all ye that forget God lest he tear you iâ— pieces and there be none to deliver Thirdly The use of this Point may be to instruct the Person in matter of Duty and so like a well drawn Picture looks upon all that look upon it If this be so that Sin once committed will be often presented it prompts all 1. To think thus of Sin When you are tempted remember this Text set before you here or else you will think of it after to your pain It is momentany and frothy that delighteth you in Sin but it is eternal that will vex and torment you To repent is to take a bitter though wholesome Potion and Impenitency is followed with Damnation Say you purpose and do repent yet your Sin will ever be before you either to grieve and terrifie you as it did David or to allure you to the same again as it did Augustin often Especially the sins of Blood corporal Vncleanness Apostacy after knowledg and profession of the Truth These sink Men either under sensless Sottishness or unsupportable Horror Witness Cain for the first David for the second and Francis Spira for the third because they are not only Sins but Scandals David thought he might have cover'd one Sin with another Adultery with Murther but hereby they were both augmented and seen further Not only he himself but all Posterity must know it David did that which was right in the Eyes of the Lord save only in the matter of Uriah That stuck in Memory and shall in History Not because he had never committed other Sins but because none of the rest were so scandalous none so accented none so burdensome to the Conscience as these being against so much Light of Nature of Scripture and of Humane Laws few Repenting none without difficulty and many falling into presumption or despair by them Under the guilt of any of these for the most part Men feel either too much or too little either they keep themselves out of sight always when the Conscience is seared the Heart hardened and Men are past feeling or else they are still present and staring in the face of Conscience as it were with the eyes of many Devils Think of this aforehand and beware 1. Of Apostacy in whole or in part because it is better never to know the way of Righteousness than to sin against Knowledg 2. Of Murther because Men are made after God's Image and such Blood crieth from the Earth till it have hearing So many drops of Blood so many Tongues and every drop a Voice to cry for Vengeance Give them Blood to drink for they are worthy Rev. 16.6 And it is threatned He that sheddeth Man's Blood by Man his Blood shall be shed Gen. 9.6 3. Of Adultery because it brings with it much guilt and great stain upon the Soul Hoc grande flagitium est saith Job 31.11 This is an hainous Crime a Wickedness with a witness a Fire that consumeth to destruction God will judg it who ever be slack to punish it Hear what the Scripture saith of this Sin the hainousness and danger thereof as a motive to avoid it Prov. 22.14 A Whore is a deep Ditch and he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein David moiled himself in this deep Pit and there might have stuck in the Mire had not God drawn him out by a merciful Violence and purged him with Hysop from that abhorred filth Prov. 6.32 33. Who so committeth Adultery with a Woman lacketh understanding he that doth it destroyeth his own Soul A Wound and Dishonour shall he get and his Reproach shall not be wiped away It is not therefore leve peccatum a small Sin as the Pope's Canonists call it Divine Justice doth not use to kill Flies with Beetles Briefly it is a Sin that hurts both Body and Soul it hurts Men in Goods in Name Posterity and will be ever before them to make them mourn and say How have we hated Instruction and our Hearts despised Reproof And have not obeyed the Voice of our Teachers O what length and depth of Comfort doth a Man lose for a little Folly not worth the name of Pleasure because it is brutish and brings many and heavy burdens indeed a stain upon the Soul rottenness into the Bones and a blemish indelible on the Name Who would purchase that at so dear a rate which he may have for nothing Or use Violence where he may have leave and a blessing too Run the way of Hell for that Pleasure which they may enjoy more fully in the right Path and Way of Heaven This Men consider not Had David thought of the end he would never have adventured on the beginning had he thought of ever seeing Sin he would have wished he had never seen Bathsheba or that his Eyes had gone alone and left his Heart at home then they could never have brought their Lord into such a straight Remember David and all his troubles His sweet never countervailed his bitter Sawce Bathsheba was a pleasing Object for a time but Sin is fearful and grievous for ever Lust wrestleth till it bring forth Sin but Sin groweth and laboureth till it bring forth Death And although the Combat be healed and the Wound healed yet some Scars remain A great deal of preventing Sorrow and wholsome Suffering must be undergone reade it in David The Child that was born unto him must die Thamar was defiled Ammon murdred and he himself turned out of House and Kingdom by his own Son It is a bitter
lead them also and restore Comforts unto them This cannot be misliked Only a third sort may be adjoined viz. of those who take them adversatively also denoting the Order in any business as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek and postea in Latin and then the meaning is as if the Lord had said Seeing the former means doth it not I will assay another I will add my Spirit to her Affliction and to corporal Rods I will bring in spiritual Troubles to the Law the Gospel which shall not fail of my proposed end Therefore behold in the last place I will undertake to do it verily truly undoubtedly Here are several useful Doctrines arising worthy observation Viz. Doct. 1. That the Lord can and doth turn great Sinners into eminent Saints He turns a Wilderness into a River As in several Changes in the World Stars fall from the Firmament to be changed into Dunghils so here the Dunghils of the Earth mount up to Heaven to be metamorphosed into Stars So much he promiseth to do and it is usual with him to advance them highest in his favour who have been least esteemed in the World Not many wise Men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble but God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise 1 Cor. 1.26 27. Christ's Disciples were not fetch'd from among the Roman Conquerors no Augustus or Alexander or high noble Blood of the Earth gave denomination to their Pedigree neither took they their Rise from among the Jewish Rabbins They were not seasoned with Athenian Eloquence nor beautified with any gay and splendid matters of this World They were obscured with Poverty and shadowed with meanness in respect of Name and Gifts of a poor contemptible Trade even Fishermen called from catching of Fish to lay out for Souls The Lord cutteth out his Mercuries of the most unlikely pieces of Timber he will have his Temple built of rough and unpolish'd Stones When Jerusalem was in such misery that she could not help her self no more than a poor Infant and for others they would not Ezek. 16.5 No eye pitied her to do any thing for her or to have any compassion upon her Then I passed by saith the Lord and looked upon thee c. Lo here Heaven smiled upon Hell An old broken Instrument is tuned and made melodious tho it be the same String yet it is quite otherwise tuned Hath not God chosen the Poor of this World Jam. 2.5 He hides Treasure under the Bark and Mantle of mean Persons base and abject in appearance The lost Sheep and sick Men as they have most need both in truth and in their own apprehension so have they most benefit by the Physician Did not our Saviour tell the Priests and Elders among the Jews that notwithstanding all their Traditions and Ceremonies Publicans and Harlots would believe sooner and enter the Kingdom of Heaven before them Mat. 21.31 And that many should come from the East and West to sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven when the Children of the Kingdom who had so good conceit of themselves as if out of danger should be cast into utter Darkness Manasses did evil in the sight of the Lord like the abominations of the Heathen he built the high Places and strange Altars he observed Times 2 Chron. 33.3 4 5 6. Yet the Lord brought him home at length through this Wilderness into Canaan Mary Magdalen was a None-such of uncleanness she was possess'd with seven Devils yet Christ cast them out and of a Den of Devils made her a Temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in St. Paul was a Blasphemer a Persecutor mounted in his way to Damascus to hale the poor Christians to Prison but the Lord had chosen him and now changes the Serpent into a white Rod. St. Austin was greatly infected with the Sin of his Country which was as contagious for Chastity as the North Wind for Plants for a great Writer speaking of Afric saith it was a Country of Loves and that it was as strange a Man should be an African and not be an African as to be an African and not to be lascivious He had a Soul as it were of Sulphur so much was it disposed to take fire that he hastened to throw himself into the midst of Flames In short he fell into the Snares he desired and was involved in wonderful Labyrinths where the end of one sinful Passion was the beginning of another But behold here an admirable sport of Providence way-laying and contriving the Salvation of this great Soul who became a rare Spectacle and worthy the consideration of noble Spirits for of an earthen Pot he is made a Vessel of Gold Luther in whose Conversion the Divine Power was most resplendent of a mad Monk as he called himself was made a zealous Protestant Basilides was sometimes a cruel Executioner of Christians that afterwards was called and died for the Testimony of Jesus Aretius speaks of a certain Man in his time it is no feigned Story saith he for I saw the Man with my own eyes who was a vile desperate Sinner a Drunkard Swearer wanton c. and so continued for many years but at length God brought him into the Wilderness where he laid down the flowery Crowns which he bare on his Head his Drunkenness and unthrifty Riots and enkindled with zeal to God lived holily and died comfortably Not to mention others who converted from a dissolute prophane Conversation found Mercy and became eminent Instruments in the Church of God Few experienced Christians Divines especially but can add Instances of their own Observation how strangely the Lord hath turned Men from Wantonness to Chastity from Drunkenness to Sobriety from common Swearing to fear an Oath even then when they were running in a violent and deligthful motion towards Hell Now why the Lord suffers his own to run out so far before he reclaim them we may with reverence and submission conceive it is First for the declaration of his own Goodness both in regard of his wonderful Power and absolute Freedom Of his Power effecting this in some without any ordinary means as he dealt with Abraham and Paul in others by weak and unlikely means as by the Ministry of poor Fisher-men preaching the Cross The great God out of small Acorns brings up huge Oaks and usually hangs great weights on little Wires whereby he sets out to the view of all the splendor of his Omnipotent Agency And in a third sort he doth it against all ordinary means as when he occasions Conversion by some Sin Affliction or Persecution as the curious Alchymist doth by his Skill extract Gold and Silver out of baser Metals and as the wise Physician correcteth poysonful Ingredients and maketh them Medicinal And as of his Power so of his absolute Freedom to do what he will with his own dispensing his Grace both when to whom and how he will passing by
tell him what he should do And those of whom mention is made Acts 2.37.16.30 with many other such of our own observation were brought into great distress through fear and desire fear of Sin desire of God's Love and Favour not able to resist any where Men and Brethren what shall we do Comforts they refuse Threatnings they apply with hand and heart witty and ready they are to hurt themselves as if their vital and animal Spirits were stopp'd in their Passage by some Disease they are often near sinking such affinity and agreement there is between the Mind and the Body Observe such troubled Spirits you may to look heavily sigh deeply as if the Heart would break and at last to cry out Wo and alas if this and that be so as I fear it is and do believe how can I be saved If the spots of a Leopard can be wiped out if the hue of an Indian can be changed if a Camel can go through the eye of a Needle then may I be cleansed renewed and saved But Lord how can that be is there any Balm any Blood any Mercy for such an one as I Tell me O my Friends speak thou Man of God was there ever such an one read or heard of a presumptuous Sinner a beastly Wretch a close Lover of Wickedness an Hater of Holiness To look upon I am afraid of my self what shall I do whither shall I fly say do not you loath me and blush to behold and hear me was there ever such an one as I accepted This is that narrow Way that leads many to Life that great Strait whereinto the right dearly beloved of the Lord are often brought to learn how that is possible to God which is impossible with Men. As the Woman by God's appointment is to bring forth in pangs and travail so must the Heart of Man ordinarily labour till Christ be formed in it 2. How and after what manner doth the Lord effect this It is either by removing Impediments or by presenting to the Eye of the Conscience 1. The many deceitful Grounds there are whereon Men naturally rest and boast of as if their Estate at worst were well enough And till these deceitful Props be removed they will not in earnest seek after Christ much less accept him to rest upon him These the Lord removes by shewing unto Men their weakness and insufficiency to yeeld them any comfort And they are either inward or outward Inward as Knowledg without Love Invention without Judgment and a Memory without any practical delight in the Notions retained all which a Man may have and yet be no better than a Devil the sufficiency of Baptismal Regeneration without any care or thought to perform Conditions These being without the power of Godliness are only as a dead Corps strewed and adorned with Flowers as a gouty Foot covered with a Crimson Shoo or a Statue of Earth and Dirt with some glorious colouring and old Sepulchers with new painting over them The Lord convinceth them that this Ark is not sure enough to keep them in the deluge of many Waters yea that all things without Grace will prove an Aggravation of their Condemnation As in some Countries when their Malefactorâ— were to be burn'd in the Fire they poured Oil and Pitch to encrease their Torments so will every Privilege make Hell the hotter for such as these In the day when the fiery Trial shall be all their painting will melt away Outward as Riches Honour Health Learning meer Civility and Formality all commendable in their kind but not sufficient These Men may have and yet come short of Grace and Life in Glory Few rich Men shall be saved 1 Cor. 1.26 Corpulent Birds seldom fly high These many things cumber them And If your Righteousness exceed not the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The best of these are but Weeds in God's Garden Tares in his Wheat Chaff in his Floor Therefore the Lord doth wisely and timely remove these Impediments 2. He presenteth Sin and the Consequents thereof in their true Colours pulleth off the Skin of that Viper washes off the paint and shews its Face in full deformity And this he doth ordinarily four ways viz. 1. By corporal Calamities and temporal Rods occasionally opening that Eye which Prosperity and Security had fast closed As in Joseph's Brethren and the Prodigal Son we have an Instance The former Gen. 42.21 declare the force of Conscience and fruit of Affliction Old Sins are brought to a new reckoning We are very guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the Anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this Evil come upon us The latter came to himself when he was under want his Affliction like Eye-bright Water had a strange and great Influence on his bedulled Sight now he resolves to go to his Father Yea many now living can say I doubt not It is good for them that they have been afflicted They had been undone had they not been undone that they might go weeping towards Heaven while others go laughing towards Hell Poverty may be so ordered as to prove a Preparative to Spiritual Riches Imprisonment antecedent to Evangelical Liberty Sickness and weakness of Body often tendeth to the strength and health of the Inner Man This brings to mind that Story in Bromiardus concerning an Apprentice that had served an hard Master by whom he had been sore beaten These Blows the Lord had made a means of the Man's Conversion Whereupon lying on his Death-bed and his Master standing by he catched hold fast on his hands and kissed them saying Hae manus perduxerunt me ad Paradisum These hands have helped to bring me to Paradise And Beza tells us of himself that God was pleased to lay the Foundation of his Spiritual Health in a violent Sickness which befell him at Paris Morbus iste verae Sanitatis principium Ep. praefix Confess What is it that God cannot make the Channel to bring in the Ship the Cistern-pipes to convey the Water whose Spring is in Heaven Ezekiel's Wheels shall move if the Spirit drive them and the Pool of Bethesda communicate Health if the Angel descend and stir the Waters Blessed is the Man whom thou correctest and teachest 2. By Spiritual Combats raised by the Spirit of Bondage between Fear and Desire Hope and Distrust continued and encreased by the unregenerate Will going one way and the Light of natural Conscience going another way so that their very Constitution is in discord there is no more agreement than between Fire and Water by reason of which the Soul is brought into great Anguish much Fear because of Sin and the great Danger it apprehends as the Consequents of both these Conflicts being like the Opposition of Planets in the Superiour Orb fore-runners of great Evils 3. Usually it is by the Ministry of the Law that School-master whose Lash makes Sinners Backs
things Or at least they will quench all a killing pity too common by daubing with untempered Mortar So that one day you will say out of woful experience Miserable Comforters are ye all Physicians of no value good for nothing Seek not to them rest not on them it is God only in and through Christ who speaks peace unto his Saints in this case hear only what he saith Thirdly A third sort to be blamed are such as are converted outwardly in Profession only the Lord make them sound Pictures without Life Clouds without Water Sodoms Apples fair only to see to The outward Man is spoken unto and convinced so far as to perform Duties the Ear is spoken unto so far as to hear often the Tongue is spoken unto so far as to discourse well but the Heart is not spoken unto all the devotion of these Men is in Hearing and Censuring they come to arraign the Minister at the Bar of their own Judgment and to judge that Word by which they must be judged at the last Day they come to debate the Man not the Doctrine to censure the Preacher not to practise the Sermon Like Merchant's Coopers they taste much Wine but deal for none their Hearts are not changed the same Lusts lodg there as before restrained only they are hard and impure as ever the virtue of Christ's Death and Life is not yet applied to such they are yet destitute of Grace whatever their profession be Nay you and your Profession are but like the cursed Fig-tree that bare Leaves and no Fruit. God hath not spoken to your Hearts neither did you ever speak in your Hearts to God Many Prayers you may haply say over and yet never pray for Prayer is an offering up of the Heart or Will to God by Christ Vse 2. The second Vse will direct to Duty which concerneth either Minister or People Ministers must learn to speak unto the Heart as near as possible they can because God doth so whose Ambassadors they are Like Marks-men though they cannot shoot so as to strike yet they must aim at this Mark their Arrows must be sharpened for this purpose though like the Arrows of Jonathan some fall short of others go besides the Mark yet some or other being guided by a Supreme Power may pierce the Hearts of the King's Enemies whereby the People shall fall under him Those Ministers speak best who strive to profit more than to please and so must all they that desire to do good in that relation they must preach to the Conscience to the Quick As King James of famous Memory said of a Reverend Bishop of this Land This Man Preaches as if Death were at my Back So should every Minister do Preach as if Death Judgment and Hell were even at Mens Backs Bring the point as near as may be home to the hearers Door that is plainly particularly earnestly otherwise they preach as a Man that shoots his Arrows at randon and hits not the Mark it is as if the Minister should lay his Sermon on his Cushion and never dart it into the Peoples Bosoms If People do not feel your Points at their Backs Spears in their Sides and Swords in their Bellies they will feel nothing it will be lost labour You that are People and Hearers may learn 1. To bring your Hearts with you to God's Ordinances How many heartless Sermons have some heard and made Else you bring nothing for God to speak unto and it is no more than if you sent your Clothes stuft with Straw Yea upon the matter you deny his Presence and Office Men that are his Messengers speak unto the Ears and present things from their Lord unto the Eyes of the Body and those parts you leave not at Home for what should we do at Church you will say without our Ears and Eyes But I say What make you there without your Hearts God is there who speaks unto the Heart as Men unto the Ear If that be away it is all one as if you were absent Nay you aggravate your Sin and provoke him more by your heartless presence in preferring Men whom you vouchsafe to hear unto God whom you will not hear but highly dishonour him by offering a dead Carkass in his Temple an unreasonable service in such cold Devotion All such are Abominable they put a Cheat upon God and mock the most High They come full Mouth'd but empty Hearted offer a Case without the Jewel a Gilded Cup and no Wine in it To such God will say Who required these things at your hands thus to tread my Courts My Sons give me your Hearts or you give me nothing As Joseph said to his Brethren concerning Benjamin Gen. 43.3 so God saith of the Heart Ye shall not see my Face without it Bring your Family and Bibles to Church but especially your Hearts which are most out of order and there the Lord will begin his Work Joyn with the Congregation Hand and Heart offer them both to God in earnest Prayer and attentive Hearing wait and say When Lord how long Holy and True Accept what thou callest for and speak one word to my poor Heart among the rest before I go that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce 2. To labour most about the Heart the Heart in the Body and the heart of Religion yea and to prize good Men who by their good Fruits testifie to others the goodness of their Hearts as the good Fruit doth the good Tree because the Lord hath spoken to them No Relick comparable no image can be a more lively remembrancer If David did so admire Man as Man how then ought we to admire and reverence Man as united to Christ shining with his Image adorn'd with his Beams clothed with his Righteousness and entitled to an everlasting Kingdom Many as Beautiful some as rich in Apparel are very powerful to draw and dazzle the Eyes of weak Beholders but for Beauty and Honour none are comparable to gracious Hearts they now partake of Angelical Splendor and hereafter shall exceed the Sun in brightness Acts 6. ult Mat. 13.43 Phil. 3. ult But Who is sufficient for these things sufficiently qualified to set forth to the Life the Beauty and Brightness of Christ mystical He had need of a refined Nature of sublimated Thoughts of a Quill taken from the Wing of a Seraphin and to soar aloft free from the pressure of terrene mixtures in heavenly Contemplation Who can reade or seriously think of this mystery of Mercy without a readier expression of joy mixt with tears than their conceits in words What a Man a sinful Man weltering in Blood full of Sores and Ulcers fitter to be loathed than loved for such a one Poor Blind Miserable and Naked to be married to a Prince such a Prince the Heir of Heaven and Earth Who can believe our report or believing it not love such an one To whom will the Arm of the Lord reveal this but to humbled Souls
thing to sin against the Lord. He fasteth and prayeth weepeth and sigheth saying often or to this effect O Lord rebuke me not in thine Anger neither chasten me in thy hot Displeasure have Mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my Bones are vexed My Soul is sore troubled but thou O Lord how long Return O Lord deliver my Soul O save me for thy Mercy-sake I am weary with groaning all the Night make I my Bed to swim I water my Couch with my Tears mine Eye is consumed because of grief How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy Face from me My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my Roaring O my God I cry in the Day-time but thou hearest not and in the Night-season and am not silent I am poured out like Water and all my Bones are out of joynt my Heart is like Wax it is melted in the midst of my Bowels my strength is dried up like a Pot sheard my Tongue cleaves to the roof of my Jaws Have Mercy upon me O Lord for I am in trouble my Eye is consumed with grief yea my Soul and my Belly My Life is spent with grief and my Years with sighing my strength faileth because of my Iniquities and my Bones are consumed Make thy Face to shine upon thy Servant save me for thy Mercy-sake Day and Night thy Hand is heavy upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer Blessed is he whose Sin is covered and whose Transgression is forgiven O Lord rebuke me not in thy Wrath neither chasten me in thine hot Displeasure For thine Arrows stick fast in me and thy Hand presseth me sore There is no soundness in my Flesh because of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my Bones because of my Sin for mine Iniquities are gone over my Head as a heavy Burden they are too heavy for me I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the Day long My Loins are filled with a loathsome Disease there is no soundness in my Flesh I am feeble and sore broken My Heart panteth my Strength faileth me my groaning is not hid from thee Yea Lord all my desire is before thee Have mercy upon me O my God according to thy loving Kindness according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies blot out my Transgression wash me throughly from mine Iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for I acknowledg my Transgressions and my Sin is ever before me Purge me with Hssyop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow Make me to hear the voice of Joy and Gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Hide thy Face from my Sins and blot out all mine Iniquities create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Cast me not away from thy Presence take not thy Holy Spirit from me Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit Then will I teach Transgressors thy Ways and Sinners shall be converted unto thee I remembred God and was troubled I complain'd and my Spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest mine Eyes waking I am sore troubled that I cannot speak Will the Lord cast me off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his Mercy clan gone for ever Doth his Promise fail for evermore And will he be favourable no more Hath God forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies c. Stay now and look back and say Is not this a great Mourning Was not David in deep distress How many ways doth he take What words doth he use Do not you see a Penitent exceedingly humbled a Heart bleeding a sad and disfigured Face a Body made thin Sighings redoubled one upon another Here are Joints pined away with sadness here is a fixed love of Tears the joyous Harp hangs up and knows no more what Songs of Triumph mean he is wholly employed in expressing Griefs He dies to all Mortal things of the Earth and being cast upon the Sea of Repentance he makes it to eccho with Groanings and continually swell with his Weepings And all to describe his condition by the presence of his Sins and excite the Divine Compassion towards him And if David penitent David was thus pursued with the thoughts and sight of Sin if he were sent and kept such a strong Beggar for Mercy all his days for the matter of Vriah Oh what will become of most of us who sin more and desire less who are more cunning to Transgress and more careless in Praying Where is our Rhetorick our Fervour our Sighs our Tears Oh how faint are our Desires How cold our Prayers As if our many Sins were never before us or not fearful to us as if Mercy and Grace were as easie to get as to lose or as if Heaven and God's Favour would fall upon us at last without any labour which cost David so much Fasting so many Prayers so many Tears in secret And yet his Fasting his Prayers and Tears could not do it without satisfying-Blood applied and pleaded If it be so as we have proved from the Text then do you your selves set Sin before you be desirous of it and patient while others do it Yea kiss that Hand and praise God for that Means whereby it is done Attend to your Pastours look your selves in the Glass of the Law and pray with David search and try me O Lord set my Sins in order before me now that I may be wail them and thou mayest forgive them Never leave this endeavour till you be enabled to see and say Wo and alas wretched Man that I am thus to dishonour God what shall I say or do Mine Iniquities have separated between me and my God My Sins have hid his Face from me so that I cannot see him The Glory is departed and thâ—t bright Sun fearfully eclipsed towards me Can I rejoyce with the joy of other People Can I laugh and be merry while my Sins are always before me Can I sing the Lord's Song in a strange Land Call me not Naomi but call me Marah the Lord deals bitterly with me yet deservedly Sin hath been my Delight now it is my Torment I have followed Sin and now Sin followeth me See do you not see my Drunkenness here my Whoredoms there my Pride my Hypocrisie my Covetousness and Vain-glory a bundle of blasphemous Thoughts in one place and a flying roll of Lyes and Oaths in another place save me from them sweet Jesus A wounded Israelite was healed by looking upon the Brasen Serpent Wounded I am the stings of Death all of my own making for other Death hath none do stick in me and compass me about to the Lord Jesus I look unto his Arms I flie and there resolve to rest Yet me thinks