the Great Rich Learned Stars of the first magnitude or the greatest Letters of the Alphabet and civil Formalists of the World to pitch on poor mean and ignorant Wretches Where Sin hath abounded Grace doth super-abound Surgunt indocti rapiunt Coelum c as Augustin speaks the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence from the poor lost Sheep while others puffed up with their conceited Riches of Knowledg and Holiness dreaming of Self-sufficiency are kept out and thrust down into Hell If he should do otherwise and call only those in whose Policy and Life could be seen some outward Goodness to shine forth Men would believe what some cannot forbear to say that it is the work of Men that obliges God to call them and if in rigour they be not worthy of this Favour they merit it at least in a seemliness of Equity and Congruity as they speak of it in the Schools of Rome And therefore further we may conceive it is to proclaim the Freeness of his Grace no natural Abilities can merit it nor any Sin hinder the bestowing of it The Wind bloweth where it listeth Nos solemus eligere digniores at Deus ut ostendat suam electionem non ex nostris meritis sed ex solâ sua gratiâ fieri solitus est indigniores eligere Zanch. i. e. Men chuse the most worthy but the Lord chuseth the most unworthy to shew that his Choice is not grounded on our Merits but on his own free Grace Secondly It is for the Instruction of the Church And so 1. That no Flesh should glory in his Presence but that the Glory might be wholly ascribed to the Lord whose only work it must needs be acknowledged in such Libertines There is nothing to merit nor any preventing Abilities stirring to share with the Lord in this Work And indeed the Lord's power is most manifest in reclaiming such wild Prodigals in washing such Blackmoors changing such Leopards Digitus Dei All that see and hear may wonder and say It is the Finger of God or as Protogenes said of a curious Line which he saw drawn in a Painter's Shop None but Apelles could draw this none but God could do this It is a Work worthy of none but of him who can do what he will and will do what he hath purposed This is indeed the great Miracle of the World to change Lions into Lambs Sinks into Fountains Thorns into Roses Mercy is never so resplendent as over Misery The Ice of Winter makes the Beauty of the Spring Darkness contributes to the Lustre of Light nor is the Sun more bright than after an Eclipse Thus Grace which is the Splendor of Eternal Light makes it self to be seen in more triumph where it hath subdued most Iniquity And Praise will be more fully ascribed to him by such as could deserve no favour both occasionally and practically Occasionally in regard of others who are stirred up thereby to admire his Power to magnify his Love and to hope for acceptance upon their unfeigned submission And practically in respect of themselves who are commonly more humble and thankful zealous and watchful ever after Observe such as have drank deep of the deceitful Cup of Rebellion and Prodigality and after come to taste of the bitter Potion of sound Humiliation and say whether you do not find them of an excellent temper Paul being made sensible of himself as the greatest of Sinners how passionatly doth he break forth to admire the Love and Mercy of God! I was a Blasphemer a Persecutor and injurious but by the Grace of God I am what I am And this Grace bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly c. Where you see his diligence in redeeming the Time and ascribing his Change wholly to the Grace of God 2. That none in the Church should despair especially among those in whom the Offer of Mercy hath stirred up any desire after Grace This Reason is rendred by the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.16 For this cause I obtained Mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all Long-suffering for a Pattern to them which should after believe on him to Life everlasting He that seemed to be an Epitome an Abridgment of all Wickedness obtained Mercy for this cause that Jesus Christ might shew forth all Long-suffering i. e. evidence by full demonstration so that all might see and say There is Mercy with Christ that he may be feared yea Mercy rejoycing over Judgment Though your Sins be in number like a Cloud and for quality like Crimson or Scarlet Yet come let us reason together saith the Lord and I will make them white as Snow or Wooll Yea they shall be as tho they had never been Sin is finite in respect of matter but Divine Mercy is infinite The Consideration of this Disproportion should be a powerful Loadstone to draw Sinners to Repentance it should be as a Cork to the Net to keep the Heart from sinking into despair it should be an Antidote to keep that Poison from entring or at least from lodging in the Heart If Manasses Saul Mary Magdalen and some of the adulterous drunken Corinthians were remembred in Mercy converted sanctified and saved why should any despair When Man hath withstood his Good and the Gates of Hell have prevailed a long time even then the Lord's hand hath done it for many blessed be his Name We had never heard of these Examples had it not been for our encouragement With this let the penitent Heart be encouraged God can turn noisom Dunghil into a Mine of Gold Brands of Hell into lightsom Stars in hi◠Firmament Slaves of Doemons into Angels But without presumption lest abused Mercy give place to rejecting Fury and the Lord say Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out mine hand and no Man regarded Therefore now tho you call upon me I will not answer and tho you seek me early you shall not find me 3. That the Hearts of all reasonable Creatures capable of such a Mystery might be enlarged to rejoyce in God for his Goodness and to praise him who by plucking such Brands out of the Fire doth manifest such Love and Power to free and defend his chosen Ones from the devouring Mouth of the roaring Lion The lost Sheep being found the wild Prodigal returned first home to himself and after to his Father occasion Joy in the Families to teach us what we should do upon the Conversion of any prophane Person Son Daughter Servant or Neighbour Was he once proud and is he now humble Was he once intemperate and is he now sober was he dead in Sin and is he now alive through Grace It is most singular Mercy rich Love it is meet we should be merry The Lord hath doth and will deliver that the Church may be encouraged Satan enraged by the loss of his Prey and the Name of Christ glorified and magnified so much the more A second Doctrine to be
or less it continueth during Life and rather increaseth than decayeth as Love doth It is not sufficient to see Sin once a Year and yet it would be better for some then it is did they go so far as our Adversaries require Confession nor once in our Life only at Death to cast an eye upon it and bid it adieu with an O Lord Lord be merciful and open unto me which good words and seasonable too are not blamed but the delaying of so main a Duty till then Heaven is not to be had usually at so cheap a rate Satan ordinarily is not so soon vanquished nor Sin so easily put off Whosoever thinks it so easie a matter to repent and believe as that he hath seen and sorrowed enough for Sin now he may desist from both did never see nor sorrow for it at all What David here said of himself is true of every renewed Heart more or less during Life My Sin is ever before me Vse 1. The use hereof may be 1. To discover to you a two-fold Error to be carefully avoided because common and dangerous First Of the Romanists who in their Doctrine and Practice do place Sin rather before the Ear of the Confessor than before the Eye of the Committer That the one must hear it is absolutely necessary without which there is no Salvation that the other should see it is not so at least not so much prest by them Auricular Confession is more insisted on than inward Contrition And Penance is too far sever'd by them from Repentance We hear much and often of the one but of the other there is too deep a silence Confession and Satisfaction are strictly lookt unto by such as profess their Religion in earnest to give them their due that nothing may be blamed in them but what is blame-worthy But Contrition and Sanctification this personal sight of Sin and Evangelical sorrow for it are not so much urged neither in their Writings nor Practice for ought I can learn However I dislike not Confession it is a Duty very comfortable and useful the abuse set aside I could wish it more frequent among us but never used in publick or private without Contrition Let the Heart accompany the Tongue else it is the most unsavoury piece of Formality that can be Secondly Of our common People who deem the worst of such as are thus troubled condemning rash judgment in others do yet pass the bounds of Charity towards them As if poor Souls they only were curst of God and hated of others because they are thus pursued by Sin and baited by Satan especially if it be on their Sick-bed Strange it is to hear them cry out upon profession of Religion as if Religion were the worse for it because her followers are thus affrighted for their good They will not profess Religion no not they nor be tied to frequent the Church to perform Duties in private because such and such are distracted by it Sure they are out of their Wits this Book-learning hath made them Mad else they would never complain and cry out so that their Sins are ever before them Why say they are not we all Sinners as well as they and yet our Sins never trouble us More is the pity and greater is their Misery Poor Souls you cannot distinguish between trouble for Sin and senslessness under Sin between the desperate pangs of Despair and the genuine thâ—ows of a troubled Mind Miâ—ht you not as truly have said the same of David St. Paul and all the rest of God's Saints in every Age who have passed through this Wilderness to Canaan But in so doing know you dishonour God lay a blemish on his Work and often condemn the Generation of the Righteous This trouble of Mind being one of the most infallible marks of true Penitency the Road-way to Heaven for adult Persons and one of the best signs of this Nature that any one can see in himself or desire in his Friend Let my Sins good Lord be always before me as David 's were Let all thine be so disquieted here that so all our Sins may never come in sight at that Day but be buried in everlasting forgetfulness True it is some Men may superstitiously endeavour to make the Way to Heave narrower than indeed it is but far more there are who voluptuously endeavour to enlarge it and make it more broad and easie than God hath made it without any such sight of Sin or trouble about it crying out To what end serveth this waste What needeth all this ado Cannot Men be saved without this sight of Sin and sorrow for it Whether they can or no I will not stand to determine sure I am ordinarily they will not Till they be brought into the Wilderness they are intractable indocible therefore the Lord troubleth them that they may be willing to be saved To all such as think otherwise I should commend these following passages of holy Scripture to be considered in their most retired Thoughts Numb 32.23 Gen. 4.7 Psal 50.21 22. Mat. 7.13 14. Phil. 3.11 1 Pet. 4.18 The Righteous shall scarcely be saved ad praesentis Vitae difficultates debet referri c. saith a judicious Interpreter on that place Our Race or Warfare here in this World is like a Voyage by Sea beset and encountred with many Difficulties Rocks Tempests Pirats open Enemies and false Brethren Ardua prima via est which made St. Paul say If by any means I may attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead A phrase importing difficulty without doubtting he was perswaded he should attain it but not without the use of such means and after much strugling What else is meant by the Wrestling of Jacob the Praying and Fasting of David the Running of Paul the Scruples and Cases of Conscience proposed by the Saints of God frequently and in great variety when once they begin to benefit by the Word Men and Brethren what shall we do Sirs What must I do to be saved And the like Complaints are very frequent where the Word hath awakened them The Pains and bitter Sufferings of all our renowned Martyrs both of the Primitive Times and in the late Marian-Days do preach unto us the Straight-way The difficulty of obtaining and keeping a grounded persuasion of God's Favour in the free pardon of all our Sins through the Satisfaction and Intercession of Christ The Church Militant is a Lilly among Thorns having Enemies ever about her and her Sins always before her Non est ad astra mollis è terris via We may not expect to be carried to Heaven on Beds of Down but through many Tribulations not to go to Paradise through Paradise a Way â—â—rowed with Roses The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence few arrive in this Harbour without danger and difficulty It is not so easie a thing to work out Salvation as most deem and yet through Christ it is easie to all them that receive him Thirdly Hereunto may be added another
the more mortal it is As a Disease the longer it groweth the harder will the Cure be or as it is in a Journey the further we go out of the way the more Toil and Time will be required ere we get in again Rejoice O young Man and play the Prodigal yet know for all this God will bring thee to Judgment Then thou must turn again by weeping Cross or nâ—ver enter Heaven Old Sinners are rare Converts Grace is seldom grafted on such withered Stocks Who can expect Water from a drained River The common Proverb is true As is a Man's Life so is his Death a wicked Life a cursed Death 2. Let no Man judg his Brother touching his final Estate What he is at present you may say but what he will be you cannot Mount not into God's Chair judg nothing before the time It is the Office of Angels to sever Sheep from the Goats the Tares from the Wheat Those that undertake peremptorily to determine of Mens final Estates they know not what Spirit they are of with the Sons of Zebedee they take too much upon them with the Sons of Levi they understand not what they say or whereof they affirm with those Impostors in Timothy Indeed it is a kind of Apostacy and Rebellion against God's Providence to judg without calling God to be a President into our Council As was intimated before we may judg the Tree by its Fruit leaving the final Doom to the Searcher of all Hearts censure him for the present to be God's Enemy and in a most wretched Estate but leave him under the charitable Influence of Heaven Suppose thy Neighbour be now wild he may hereafter be tamed he is now unclean hereafter he may be washed as the Corinthians were he is now intemperate he may be sober there is Blood and Merit enough in Christ Of great Sinners the Lord hath and can make great Saints to be so much the more zealous for God in his Service as they have been desperately mad and furious in the service of their own Lusts Let all Men in hope attend upon all Means constantly if one Means work not another may if it work not now it may anon Who knoweth what a day may bring forth Neglect no Means delay no Duty and still remember to crave God's blessing upon all For as it followeth in a third Observation Doct. 3. No secondary Means can avail to work Grace without a concurrence of the first Cause Means are used for the reducing of Israel Prophets were sent and divers Rods laid upon them yet the Lord addeth I will allure her Without his helping hand there is no success to be expected Means cannot turn or encline themselves to our help unless God turn encline and command them If God do not act and use them the Instruments can do nothing It was not the Clay and the Spittle that cured the blind Man but Christ's anointing his eyes with them What Music can the Organ Pipes make without breath Paul may plant and Apollos may water but God giveth the increase The reason is because they are not natural Agents working by inherent Virtue but ordained thereunto and qualified by an higher hand He that chose them maketh them effectual According as God is pleased to work or not to work so they prove Assistances or not Assistances to us All the means in the World in themselves considered are but as a Mill which grinds not the Corn unless the Wind come to it or like a Dial on which if the Sun shine it may direct us but if the Sun lies under a Cloud it is of no present use to us So if God hold off from the means if he breath not upon them and cast not a lively Influence into them they can do nothing for us Means are not absolute Lords of their own Operations but subordinate Agents and depend upon God as for being so for operation or restraint As a Master that puts a rich Cabinet of Jewels into his Servant's Chamber but keepeth the Key himself none of the Jewels can be given out but by his will and appointment In like manner God hath put an aptness in the means to do us good yet himself keeps the Key to give out according to to his good pleasure Vnde tanta virtus Aquae ut Corpus tangat Cor abluat nisi faciente Verbo Whence hath Water such power by touching the Body to wash the Heart but from the Word Aug. Hence it may be concluded 1. That all Means must be used We have God himself for a Pattern he could enlighten us without the Sun and afford Fruit without the Earth but he will have his creatures operate and so we are commanded to serve Divine Providence and to leave the Issue to him Man goes not to Heaven as the Ship moves in the Tide whether the Master sleeps or wakes We must with the skilful Mariner have our Eyes on the Stars and our Hands on the Stern Provided still that the right means be used hearing of the Word preached Receipt of the Sacraments Meditation and Prayer that the Lord would be pleased graciously to add his Influence that thereby Grace may be begun and strengthned in the several Acts thereof because the Lord will not work by any means but such as are of his own appointment Naaman must be cleansed by washing in Jordan a River in Israel not in Abana or Parphar Rivers in Damascus Now the forementioned means are of the Lord's appointment as may be read in Isa 55.3 Rom. 10.17 2 Tim. 2.7 Jam. 1.5 And as you must use the right so you must be careful to use them as Means that is First Subordinately with respect to the Lord upon whose hand and blessing the whole depends 2dly Regularly with respect to those Directions set down in Scripture which are principally such as follow viz. 1. Diligently both in regard of frequency of Action and fervency of Spirit as Men are diligent in such matters whereby their Lives might be preserved To this is the Promise made Ask seek knock Such a diligent Hand maketh rich Be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord. Therefore David prays Quicken us O Lord that we may call upon thy Name Psal 80.18 Therefore we have Line upon Line Precept upon Precept to provoke our diligence A Neglect or careless use of the means is little better in the sight of God than contempt of the means yea of Himself He that despiseth you despiseth me 2. Opportunely and seasonably Every one hath his day there is an acceptable hour when the Lord will be entreated while God calls and waits while Grace is dispensed Days of Grace have their dates The Vision is for an appointed time Hab. 2.3 What the Prophet said of the Prophetical Vision may be said of other Divine Dispensations The Means of Grace have their Limits Prov. 1.24 Because I called and ye resused c. Therefore will I laugh at your Calamity
this freedom and particularity of Choice in electing to the End and predestinating to the Means most of the Fathers downwards from Augustine and among the founder sort of School Divines Lumbard Aquinas and many of the Dominicans do strike in with the Divines of our Reformed Church 3dly Here is the Means whereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will allure or whereinto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wilderness Because I have known her I will allure her into the Wilderness Whosoever is ordained to the End is also pre-ordained to the Means The Lord can do it without Means but commonly he doth it by such as suit best with that Nature whereupon he is about to work Mans will is naturally free from Co-action therefore the Lord compelleth none but gently allureth all by degrees of unwilling making them willing 1. By illumination of the Vnderstanding Things unknown have no motive Faculty As no Good wrapp'd up in Darkness excite desire so no Evil swathed up in Ignorance strikes trouble or sorrow 2. By an effectual persuasion of the Will and then by an Infusion of renewing Grace Faith is his Work and Gift both for preparation of the Subject the beginning of Grace and for the increase and consummation of the exercise thereof Phil. 1.29 Heb. 12.2 God worketh all in Man to will what he should do and then to do what he willeth according to his own good pleasure but not as upon Stocks or Stones these are moved without knowledg as uncapable of Consent reasonable Creatures not so they consent and approve they know they will they love wha◠God worketh in them I will make ther◠is God's first work that they shall walk in my Statutes there is Mans after Co-operation Without me ye can do nothing And Wha◠hast thou O Man that thou hast not received A place which St. Cyprian usually urged to exclude all boasting on Mans behalf and whereby St. Augustine was brought to retract what he had wrote before of Faith in us and from us Means must be used but the Work is ascribed to an higher Power More distinctly know that Means are of two sorts either principal or instrumental The principal are either more principal as Christ in and by whom the Church hath all and without whom nothing or less principal as the Benefits which flow from Christ such are Adoption by the communication of his Filiation Justification by his Grace and Sanctification by his Spirit The instrumental Means are either preparative in and by the Law or effective in and by the Gospel of which more hereafter 4thly Here is to be considered the End whereunto all this is directed and that is twofold either last or next The last End is the Glory of his rich Grace in the glorification of his Spouse the Church the next End is the present Good of the Persons to be converted being thus under preparation for Regeneration As it is with a Goldsmith that would make a Cup for use or a Ring for Ornament his Oar is hard and full of dross therefore he casteth it into the Fire to soften and refine it this done he formeth and fashioneth it according to his Will Gregory applieth this Similitude thus We are the Gold hard and full of filth this World is the Shop Troubles are the Fire God the Workman let us learn how to suffer he knoweth best how to prepare and fit us for his Service As skilful Physicians hunt away the Lethargy by casting the Body into some degrees of a Fever to dry up that adventitious Moisture which else would quench natural Heat and bring in Death so the Lord brings his Children into Spiritual Distress to prevent Eternal Death and everlasting Torture in the burning Lake Or as it is with a tender Mother who clothes her Breast with Gall or Wormwood to wean the Child in its Affections and gain it to eat stronger Meat so and no otherwise is it with the Lord in this Work he weaneth them from the Dugs of the World and leadeth them into the Wilderness that he might bring them into the possession of Canaan Now no trouble for the present seemeth joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness to them that are exercised therein enabling them to say it was good for us that we were afflicted and broken that we might rejoice in more strength This the Lord only can do God shall persuade Japhet No finite power can work so upon the Spirit much less upon a weak fearful Man and yet sustain him under hope The Spirit of a Man may help against Man and against his own Infirmities but when he cometh to grapple with the Almighty when he is brought into the Wilderness to answer God charging him with his Debt a terrified burthened and wounded Conscience who else can support Prov. 18.14 For the further opening of the Point and consequently of this preparative Work to the capacity of the meaner sort three things shall be here insisted on viz. That it hath been so bow it is effected and wherefore In which we shall find what Sampson did in the Lions Belly many Honey combs of Spiritual Honey 1. This hath been and is the Method observed ordinarily in the Dispensation of Grace though a diversity may be granted as to the measure of it Look as in Music all the Strings of the Instrument are touched with the same hand yet not with a like stroke so here And the Lord is the Agent for Man being once turned from Life and dead in Sin cannot bring himself into any of this wholsom Pain much less out of it no no it is the Lord that in great Love doth both these for him Our first Parents had a legal Sermon made to them before they had any Promise applied Gen. 3.16 Hagar was brought into a Wilderness real to her typical to others before she was fully wrought upon in Faith to say I have seen him that seeth me Gen. 16.13 God begins the Work and seeth his before they see or seek him Manasses was sent into Captivity he was put in Prison and fettered in Irons the best Ornaments he ever wore before his Mountain could be brought low In such a proud Heart the Devil keeps his hold a long time such rusty Locks will not easily open Now he is as weary of his Sins as he is of his Chains As a Physician deals with Persons distracted and out of their wits he commands that they be kept in the dark to be bound in fetters to have miserable and hard Fare that by all they may be brought to their Understanding Thus God dealeth with some Sinners that are turned mad and grown out of their right Reason by their Wickedness that he may recover them he binds them in Chains brings them low that at length they may consider of their Condition and be healed Paul had both a Voice and Light to guide him into this Wilderness before the Lord would speak unto his Heart and
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
judgment While Men are Drunk with Pleasures and besotted with delightful Objects commonly they are not sensible of any danger but being once brought into the Wilderness of fear and solitary Silence they have leasure to consider and ability to discern that Sin is treacherous as a Jesuit bitter as Gall Ugly more ugly than the Devil And then they loath and fly it then they cry out Lord what wouldst thou have us to do When before they would not be ruled nor persuaded by any reason The Jews will not part with their Idols till they bring them into Captivity nor Sampson with Dalilah till she betray him into the hands of the Philistines then away Idols and let Dalilah be burned alone Sampson repenteth The Viper beaten casteth up her Poyson The Traytor on the Rack will confess and forsake all The burnt Child dreads the fire and the Wormwood upon the Brest weans the Child from it Secondly It is to humble the Soul and cause her to set a right Estimate upon Christ hitherto undervalued Christ would not be so sweet if Sin were not so bitter The Man upon whom the Law hath not passed Sentence will not say Gramercy for a Pardon Besides it is necessity that endears any thing to us Extremity of pain makes us to prize a little ease and extremity of want to admire a little plenty Darius being vanquished by Alexander and in flight being in extremity of Thirst drank Water out of a Puddle mingled with much Blood of slain Souldiers and said It was the sweetest Drink that ever he tasted in his Life The Prodigal that disregarded all the Dainties of his Father's House did highly value the Servants Bread there when he was reduced to feed upon Husks in the Wilderness As it is with a weary Swimmer floating in the restless Sea ready to sink every moment how welcome is a bough to him when as if he had been upon the shoar he would not have regarded it So it is with such a wearied Man brought into the Wilderness of great distress and danger he is so humble and gentle that a Child may lead him He cried out and looked about him but few hear none can help him O how welcome then is the Thought the Sight the Presence of Christ that Tree of Life He will part with all Sins Goods Liberty Life or any thing if he may but touch the hem of his Garment Only then and to all such he is a Jesus indeed Thirdly It is that they may be the better ever after More zealous and serviceable to God who hath some great Work commonly for such to do and therefore their preparation is answerable A high Building must have a low Foundation Luther observed of himself that when God was about to set him upon any special Service he either laid some fit of Sickness upon him before-hand or turned Satan loose upon him For he was much exercised and beaten from his tender years with Spiritual Conflicts as Melancthon testifieth in his Life And this was in all likelihood to fit him for the great Work the Lord had cut out unto him There is no whole Heart to the broken None so sound to hold Grace as that and the more it is broken the more it contains A Paradox in Nature but not in Grace Besides they are hereby made more compassionate and helpful unto others Hence it was that God gave Luther such a Grace that in his Sermons all that heard him thought every one his own Temptations had been toucht and noted by him and when signification thereof was made to him by his Friends and being demanded how it could be answered Mine own Temptation and Experience are the cause thereof As a Physician that trieth the virtue of some sovereign composition upon his own Body he is the better able to Cure another with that Receipt It is a great invitation to Mercy to see one in the same condition that we our selves have been in As he said Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco As a Woman that hath had a Child can more pity such as are in Travel because she hath suffered the like pain When Christians by their own experience know the Way like old Travellers they can lead others and bring them into and guide them through this Spiritual Trouble saying Thus and thus were I brought in and so came I off this course I took and this success I found c. Experienced Learners are the best Teachers These are some of many Reasons which might be given of the Lord 's proceeding in this manner towards his People The Sum of all is for their good He casteth them down very low that he might lift them up the higher he leads them through a Wilderness to convey them into Canaan As hereafter will appear So much by way of Doctrine The Application follows which is a principal part of this Discourse And Vse 1. It condemneth such first as are frequently in the Wilderness of Sin and wanton Prodigality but never in the Wilderness of sorrow and saving Fear much under Worldly but never under Spiritual Trouble How far are such from Grace who have not past this Preparation How far from Christ from Comfort from true Happiness As far as the East is from the West Darkness from Light Belial from Christ in point of Communion Such have cause to fear that Sin sits like a Queen in her Regency that the strong Man keeps Possession and that they are slaves to Satan subjects of the Kingdom of Darkness A Man may have some Trouble and yet not be Converted but he cannot be Converted without some Trouble The Heart cannot be broken for Sin without the sight of Sin The Sun looketh upon the Earth thence draweth up Vapours and distilleth them down again so doth the Sun of the Understanding which till it be Convicted the Heart cannot be Compuncted Sight of Sin must necessarily precede sorrow for Sin An Infant in the Womb cries not because it seeth not but as soon as it comes into the Light sets up its note The blind Eye and the hard Heart go together as unseparable Companions Men will never loath themselves till there be a remembring of their ways and doings that have not been good Ezek. 36.31 Quest It may be demanded who are they and how they are kept out Answ Who they are that were never yet in this Wilderness may easily be known by what hath been spoken already in the description of this preparative Work let any one bring himself and compare his present estate with it and the truth will readily be discovered especially if he consider and impartially answer to such like demands 1. Whether he doth not retain in his Heart the love of some Sin which either he knoweth or might know to be a Sin Though he do many things yet hath he not an Herodias that he will not part with Though with the Vintner he pull down the Bush yet hath he not as much Heart to his Sin
be kindled though but a little 3. Meditate upon sinful Nature there is both Guilt and Filth such a Nature which Sighs and Tears may better express than Words We were in Adam as in a common Root and he sinning we became guilty Rom. 5.12 In whom all have sinned By his Treason our Blood is tainted and this Guilt brings Shame with it as its Twin Rom. 6.21 And not only is the Guilt of Adam's Sin imputed but the Poison of his Nature is disseminated to us our Virgin-Nature is defiled the Heart is spotted 1 Kin. 8.38 How then can the Actions be pure If the Water be foul in the Well it cannot be clean in the Bucket We are all as an unclean thing Hell it self which is the sole Receptacle of Sin and Sinners is not in some respect more filthy than Mans Nature Poor Man is like a Patient under the Physician 's hands that hath no sound part his Head bruised his Liver swelled his Lungs perished his Blood enflamed his Feet gangren'd Thus it is before Grace comes Isa 1.6 Yea though your Nature be changed there are Remainders of this Corruption The best Saint alive who is taken out of the Grave of Sin yet smells of the Grave-clothes still upon him As Basil said of the Rose that it was a fair Flower but it wanted not its Prickles that might put him in mind of the Curse the Earth was subject unto so in the best there are those Remainders and Relicks of Sin which might cause them to mourn and weep before the Lord. 4. Meditate on the Lord Jesus Christ his Suffering Agony how sharp and bitter it was if your Heart be as hard as an Adamant the Blood of this Scape-goat will soften it It affected his Head for upon the fore-sight he began to be amazed Mark 14.33 It affected his Heart for he began to droop to faint Math. 26.37 See how he was affected in his Soul the innocent for the nocent it was overcast with an heaviness to death yea in his Body he sweat drops of Blood Luke 22.44 Meditate on his Sufferings see if they will not move you to sorrow The sight of Caesar's bloody Robes greatly affected the People of Rome and edged them to revenge When St. Augustin read the Story of Dido he could not but weep And when Julius Caesar saw Pompey's Head tho his Enemy he wept and refused at his return to Rome to ride in Triumph for his Victory The like did Charles the 5th upon his great Victory over the French King at the Siege of Paris How much more may the Meditation of Christ's Sufferings who was our Friend suffering for our Sins melt our Hearts See him in the Wilderness of Suffering it may bring you into the Wilderness of Sorrow 5. Meditate upon the dangerous Consequence if you have not Sin charged upon you here in this Life If you follow not God into this Wilderness of Trouble for Sin now but still cleave to Aegypt preferring the momentany Pleasures of Sin to this Manna be assured one of these two Evils will follow either the Lord will break this League and Union between Sin and your Hearts or else he will permit and order that Disorder till you attain the fulness of Hardness and Blindness When Conscience shall be awakened and Sin charged upon the Soul suddenly and fully both for number and weight your jovial Meetings excessive Drinkings and Heathenish Quaffings will have weeping and howling here or hereafter when it will not be the whole World on Fire nor the terrible presence of the Judg coming with shrill-sounding Trumpets and Troops of Angels only nor Hell and all the Devils there shall be so fearfully heavy and unsupportable but Sin so deceitfully pleasing now appearing then more ugly than Hell or the foulest Fiend there committed now by degrees one after another some this Day more next now an Oath than a Lye but presented and pressed and imputed altogether even to the sinking of a Soul O think of this often all you in whom the custom of Sinning hath taken away the sence of Sinning if any thing this will help to awaken and bring you into this Wilderness 3. You may help the Work forward by special application of what you hear when the Law is personally applied the legal work upon the matter is ended and when the Gospel is believed the whole is perfected As it was in the Creation of the World and in the Conception of Christ so soon as ever his blessed Virgin-Mother did close by her understanding and will with the Word and Message of the Angel the Hypostatical Union was begun in her Womb as Zanchy following Gregory and Damascene is of opinion so it is in the Regeneration and Sacramental nutrition of the new Man he said it was done no sooner is the Word applied but the Work is wrought Put it not off therefore to others but say Certainly this is my case I am the Man that have done so and so that have such an Heart so hard so unclean and deceitful c. Then hear what threatnings are denounced against such Offâ—nces then see what judgments have been inflicted upon the like Offenders this will pluck the Plumes and allay the Jollity of any Person This is the way to draw proud Minions and roaring Gallants out of their Fools Paradise into a World of saving trouble to see and bewail their monstrous Vanities and youthful Folly And here let all such be advised to stay till the Lord be pleased to speak unto them and to bring them as by a Hand of Comfort into Canaan O pluck not off the Plaster because it smarts refuse not the Potion because it is bitter confine your selves to his Rules of Physick break not those Bonds and cast not off these Cords from you haste not out of this Wilderness too soon because it is Solitary the end and issue will support Patience he that believes will not make haste to apply unseasonable Comforts The Lord will be seen in the Mount and heard in the cool of the Day The Corrosive must eat out Corruption to the bottom before any healing Salve can well be applied that so there may be a perfect Cure The Law is that Corrosive promises that healing Oyl both must have their time and place for Working O let not let not preposterous haste prevent good speed be more desirous to be ready for Comfort than to have it and then doubt not but it will be enjoyed time enough Vse 3. Thirdly The use may serve for Consolation This Doctrine like the Carcass of the Lion which Sampson found and therein a swarm of Bees with sweet Hony-combs yieldeth sweet Consolation to such as have been or at present are exercised in this uncomfortable condition No Affliction is for the present joyous but rather greivous Especially a wounded Conscience who can bear To be alone in a vast Wilderness encompassed with Sins with divers and horrid Fears and which is heaviest of all to have the
the Mount will the Lord be seen FINIS A CANAAN OF COMFORT DISCOVERING That a true sight of Sin is an infallible sign of Grace â—rom that Expression of Holy and Penitent David Psal 51.3 My Sin is ever before me By W. C. London Printed in the Year 1679. A Consolatory Preface to poor Christians dejected under the sense of their Sins GOd's Ministers are commanded by the Voice of that Evangelical Prophet Isaiah to comfort to speak to the Lord's People to comfort Jerusalem and cry unto her that her Warfare is accomplished and that her Iniquity is pardoned In obedience to this Command I have presumed to publish this Word in season for your Benefit in the following plain Discourse and the plainer because such a dress doth best become Divinity Affected terms may please the Fancy but will never feed the Vnderstanding they Court but not Comfort In these Points Experience is more than Reading Both ways all praise be to the Author of Grace you have learn'd how the Lord by degrees allureth and draws Men and Women out of the pleasing Fields of Prodigality into the Wilderness of Spiritual Trouble that he might there speak unto their Hearts and work them to a gracicious Temper wherein afterwards he keeps them partly by presenting Sin to the Eye and Conscience as he did to David Which you must know is not to sink nor drive them to Dispair but to nourish and increase in them an hatred of Sin and a longing love after Christ seeing the one daily to loath it and feeling the want of the other more to desire him It was an excellent Speech of that eminent Martyr Mr. Lambert who lifting up his Hands flaming with Fire as his Heart did with Love and Zeal cried aloud to the People out of the Fire Christ and none but Christ Which I designedly put you in mind of and commend to you whereby to encourage you in your dejected Condition and to propound as a pattern for your Practice For an adequate object of Faith to accept and rest upon as the only Mediator of Justification and Salvation Christ and none but Christ In the exercise of Repentance for a term to which we must trust and by whom we have access to the Father Christ and none but Christ In the duty of Prayer for an Intercessor to give weight and worth unto them Christ and none but Christ For a compleat Saviour both to redeem by Purchase â—nd Conquest in regard of Man's twoâ—old Bondage and to adorn the Soul with Righteousness Christ and none but Christ As Sin is so let Christ be ever â—efore you in his Incarnation Death Resurrection Ascension and Intercessiâ—n In his Natures and Offices in the excellency of his Merit and Efficacy of â—is Spirit in his Beauty and Innocenâ—y in his Power and Pity in his hidden Treasure and Riches unsearchâ—ble believe it there is no such Image â—o look upon no such Picture to pray â—efore as the Promises present in him â—o every believing Eye in your Chamber â—nd at Church Alone and in Company â—n Health and Sickness in Life and Death look upon him love him and say Christ and none but Christ Then may you be assured that God hath brought you the best way out of Egypt into Canaan that he hath spoken unto your Heart indeed and that Christ's Blood is and shall be effectually applied to put Sin both out of Affection and Memory and in due time to cleanse your Nature from the power and being of Sin In a word be of good Courage keep on in your way your Labour will not be in vain in the Lord. Heaven or rather Christ will pay for all If then you would have Sin pardon'd Hardness and Dulness removed Grace bestowed in the Habit Acts or Degrees Doubts answered Weakness strengthened Prayers and Tears with Christ will do it Children of many Tears cannot perish Farewel A Canaan of Comfort DISCOVERING That a true sight of Sin is an infallible sign of Grace Psal 51.3 My Sin is ever before me OF Books the Scripture of Scripture the Psalms of Psalms the Penitentials of Penitentials this hath worthily obtained the place of Eminency Basil Hom. 12 in Psal and for Use and Comfort were it meet to compare things which are in their own nature Superlative of Super-excellency in the Church of God And that justly whether we regard the Author the Occasion the Subject or the End of it The Author was David a King a Prophet a Penitent Sinner every way great great in his Gifts great in his Person and Place and greatly Beloved great in his Fall and great in his Recovery and all to draw transgressing Greatness unto imitation either by Watchfulness to prevent or by Penitency to recover themselves out of Satan's snares The Occasion was his too too-long departure from God in that great and presumptuous Sin against the Lord in the matter of Vriah being at the Leaguer of Rabbah David violated the Chastity of Bathsheba his Wife whosoever dareth the Devil by Idleness shall surely be tempted by him to some forbidden Employment Ocium est principium malè faciendi Basil Hex She conceived he labours to hide it as fast as she by growth did discover it by sending for Vriah home that so he might be deem'd the Father of that Adulterous Issue This not succeeding altho he had added the strength of Wine to his command to make him at once forgetful and inordinate he gives way to another bloody Project For commonly Sin goeth not without company being like the Sea the end of one Wave is the beginning of another or like the Circles in a Pond one begets another And as in a case of Stairs one is a step to another so every Sin is a Stair to help up to higher and worse Sins And that was to send him back with Letters drawn by David s Pen to the General Joab that he might under some Warlike Adventure place him in the way of Death so to free David as he deceitfully thought both from Vriah's presence and his Blood while he was taken out of the way by the Sword of the Children of Ammon Not I but they have done it Which being done David married Bathsheba thinking that way to cloak his Sin and so all was husht and quiet on David's side But the Thunder-clap is yet behind The thing that David had done displeased the Lord. God loved David and therefore hated his Sin and would not suffer it by concealment like a dangerous Sore to fester but sends Nathan to take away the evil that blinded him and to allure him by a borrowed speech into the Wilderness that there he might speak unto his Heart to open what Sin had shut to cleanse what Sin had defiled to soften what Sin had hardened and to bring him to some satisfaction and that by way of publick Confession and as it were to do open Penance in a white Sheet The Subject is an expression of Evangelical Sorrow or the
aforehand or would be warned by my Example thus tormented with the sight and thought of former Sins to consider what Sin will do either sooner or laer when it is once committed as it is implied in this short Sentence a part of David's Confession viz. My Sin is ever before me The sum whereof may be comprised and presented in these two Positions viz. First That Sin once committed will be often presented Secondly That whosoever is thus mindful of Sin and troubled about it to him it is a good sign of the Pardon of it First That Sin once committed will be often presented The Act is soon past but the Guilt remains more firm Before Repentance Forgetfulness may cover it but after nothing can hide it Although a Person should be willing yet Conscience will not suffer it to be out of sight It is so bitter to the taste so ugly to the sight and so heavy a burden to a tender awakened Conscience that it will not easily out of Memory again and for any thing is known to the contrary this was true of David to his dying Day though not always alike for Degrees If you do not well Sin lieth at the Door Gen. 4.7 The presence and conscience of Sin like a bawling Ban-Dog will be ever Barking at you when you go out and when you go in it is ready to fill your Ears with terrifying Clamours If you sin against the Lord be sure your Sin will find you out Numb 32.23 both by way of Manifestation and Vindication as it did our first Parents Righteous Job Zealous Paul 1 Tim. 1.13 I was a Persecutor a Blasphemer Injurious these were always before him after his Eyes were once opened and Religous Austin as his Confessions do abundantly testifie All these cried out as David did My Sins are ever before me This Man complains of one Sin and that of another according to the nature of the Sin and measure of delight taken in Commission Much delight argueth much consent of the Will and great Sins do trouble greatly they appear as it were in Battel Array and compass a Man about till they make him cry out Wretched Man that I am I was conceived in Sin enough to have sunk me to the lowest Hell and yet I have not ceased daily to add unto it by a wilful omission of Duties and a greedie commission of foul Enormities I have been Ignorant and Idle I have been addicted to Drunkenness Uncleanness Murther and Lying to Pride Covetousness and Swearing to Sacrilege Bribery with an infinite more besides those inward Sins of a more Spiritual Nature as Infidelity Idolatry Impenitency Hypocrifie Vain-Glory Covetousness c. Once they appeared but Toys and tricks of Youth but now the least of them seems heavier than Weight it self Thus Conscience awakened and set on work by Justice brings in many Bills of Account some of long standing others lately entred happy is he that can over-look them without Horror and Delight It is a great work of the Spirit and doth argue a mighty work of Grace to stand before the sight of Sin without horror for â—t or delight in it as it was with David here otherwise it will fall out that upon every presentation of Sin we should either turn again to act it a-new at least in Speculation or sink under it For commonly if it appear not delightful it appeareth very fearful For the further opening and illustrating of this Point it may not be unprofitable to enquire after the Time when the Grounds whereupon and the Ends why Sin once committed should be so often presented to the â—rue Penitent First The Time when is either in our Life and Health or at the hour of Death â—ometimes and to some Persons it is preâ—ented in both To all those living under â—he Means and Covenant of Grace commonly the Lord causeth it to be presented in their Life and Health at one time or other by one means or other either by the Ministry of the Word so the Law presents it and makes Men mourn out of fear the Gospel presents it and causeth more kindly Grief out of Love or else by the Tongues of Men our Neighbours and they our Christian Friends who do it privately in Love not carrying their Teeth in their Tongues nor bite whilst they speak not leaving a Scaâ— upon their Persons when they are endeavouring to heal a Wound in their Brethrens Actions And such reprehension should be ever well taken yea the Gracious will say Let the Righteous smite me Or by our Enemies in anger As Augustin reports of his Mother Monica that her Sin was set before her * A young Maid formerly her Partner in Potting fell at Variance with her and as Malice when she shoots draws her Arrows to the head called her Tosspot and Drunkard whereupon Monica reformed her Life and became Temperate Thus bitter Taunts sometimes make wholesom Physick when God sanctifies unto us the malice of our Enemies to perform the office of good Will So Fuller in his Holy State in the Life of Monica by a Servant Maid and as Shimei dealt with David Thus a Man may gain by an Enemy as Poison unto some Creatures affords Nourishment As Telephus his Imposthume was open'd by the Dart of an Enemy which was intended for his hurt And as they say those Roses are sweetest which grow near unto Garlick so the nearness of an Enemy makes a good Man better For both Friends and Enemies the Lord makes use of to set our Sins in order before us According to the saying of an Heathen though no Heathenish saying That he who would be good must either have a faithful Friend to instruct him or a watchful Enemy to correct him Exclude not the good use of many excellent Discourses sent abroad for this end By reading what another speaks a Man may by reflexion observe and learn what himself hath been and what he is for the present So for the time of Life And then for the hour of Death â—ain and fear do stir up Conscience to call back and present Sin to the Sinner's Eye God withdraws the Vail and gives the Sinner penitent once more a full view of his own Fruits that they may be as much loathed as ever they were loved nay he perâ—itteth Satan sometimes to come after and â—hew his black Claws to joyn with Sin and â—o second these accusing Cries whereby the â—anguishing Spirits of a poor Penitent who may not live and yet dares not die â—re much moved and affrighted to the astonishment of unexperienced beholders This â—s a heavy Conflict for such as have endured â—he heat of the Day in the close when they â—hought all Enemies had been overcome and subdued to meet with such an Assault and yet it may be so order'd in great Love and Mercy Either because they had not seen it â—right before or that now they might take their farewel of it never to see it more And so truly gracious Souls have