Saviour and of Enmity to the Holy Spirit while you call him your sanctifyer If you did but know that your sins are unpardoned and your souls unjustified and that you are condemned already and shall certainly be damned if you die as you are could you live quietly in such a state Could you sleep and eat and drink quietly and follow your trades and let time run on without repenting and returing unto God if you knew that you are past hope if death surprize you in this condition For the Lords sake Sirs rouze up your selves a little and be serious in a business that concerneth you more then ten thousand natural lives and tell me or rather tell your selves If you did but know that while you sit here you are unrenewed and therefore under the curse of God and in the bondage of the Devil and are hasting towards perdition and are gone for ever if you be not sanctified and made new creatures before you die could you then put off this Sermon with a sleepy careless hearing and go home and talk of common matters and no more mind it as you have done by Sermons untill now Could you forbear going alone and there bethinking your selves O what a sinful dreadfull condition are we in What will become of us if we be not regenerate before we die Had we no Vnderstandings no Hearts no life or sense that we have lingered so long and lived so carelesly in such a state O where had we been now if we had died unregenerate How near have we been oft to Death how many sicknesses might have put an end to life and hope Had any of them cut off the slender thread that our lives have hanged on so long and had we died before this day we had been new in Hell without remedy Could any of you that knew this to be your case forbear to betake your selves to God and cry to him in the bitterness of your souls O Lord what Rebells what wretches have we been We have sinned against Heaven and before thee and are 〈◊〉 more worthy to be called thy children O how sin hath captivated our understandings and conquered our very sense and made us live like men that were dead as to the Love and service of God and the work of our salvation which we were created and redemned for O Lord have mercy upon these blinded senseless miserable souls Have mercy upon these despisers and abusers of thy mercy O save us or we perish Save us from our sins from Satan from thy curse and wrath Save us or we are undone and lost for ever Save us from the unquenchable fire from the worm that never dieth from the bottomless pit the outer darkness the horrid gulf of endless misery O let the bowels of thy compassion yearn over us O save us for thy Mercy sake Shut not out the cries of miserable sinners Regenerate renew and sanctifie our hearts O make us new creatures O plant thine Image on our souls and incline them towards thee that they may be wholly thine O make us such as thou commandest us to be Away with our sins and sinfull pleasures and sinfull company We have had too much too much of them already Let us now be thine associated with them that Love and fear thee imployed in the works of Holiness and obedience all our dayes Lord we are willing to let go our sins and to be thy servants or if we be not make us willing What say you Sirs if you knew that you were this hour in a state of condemnation could you forbear making haste with such confessions complaints and earnest supplications to God And could you forbear going presently to some faithfull Minister or godly friend and telling him your case and danger and begging his advice and prayers and asking him what a poor sinner must do to be recovered pardoned and saved that is so deep in sin and misery and hath despised Christ and grace so long Could you tell how to sleep quietly many nights more before you had earnestly sought out for help and made this change How could you choose but presently betake your selves to the company and converse and examples of the godly that are within your reach For when ever a man is truly changed his friendship and company is changed if he have opportunity And how could you choose but go and take your leave of your old companions and with tears and sorrow tell them how foolishly and sinfully you have done and what wrong you have done each others souls and intreat them to repent and do so no more or else you will renounce them and fly from their company as from a Pesthouse Can a man forbear thus to fly from Hell if he saw that he is as near it as a condemned Traytor to the Gallows He that will beg for bread if he be hungry and rather 〈◊〉 by shame then famish would beg for grace if he saw and felt how much he needeth it And seeing it is the way to feel it He that will seek for medicines when he is sick and would do almost any thing to escape a temporal death would he not seek out to Christ the remedy of his soul if he knew and felt that otherwise there is no recovery and would he not do much against eternal death Skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for this life was a truth that the Devil knew and maketh use of in his temptations And will a man then be regardless of his soul that knows he hath an immortal soul and of life eternal that knows his danger of eternal death O Sirs it is not possible but the true knowledge of your state of sin and danger would do very much to save you from it For 〈…〉 a wilfull-chosen state All the Deviâ—◠〈◊〉 Hell cannot bring you to it and 〈◊〉 you in it against your will You 〈◊〉 willing of the sin though unwilling of 〈◊〉 punishment And if you truly knew 〈◊〉 â—unishment and your danger of it you â—â—uld be the more unwilling of the sin for God hath affixed punishment to sin for this end that they that else would love the Serpent may hate it for the sting Wâ—ll you not say He is a beast and not a man that will avoid no danger but what he seeth Foreseeing is to a man what seeing is to a beast If he see it before his eyes a beast will not easily be driven into a Cole-pit or a gulf he will draw back and strive if you go about to kill him And is he a man or some monster that wants a name that will go on to Hell when he seeth it as it were before him and that will continue in a state of sin when he knows he must be damned in Hell for ever if he so continue to the end Indeed sin is the deformity and monstrosity of the soul He is a monster of Blindness that seeth not the folly and peril of such a
home when self-neglect will disâ—ble you to help another And if sometimes â—â—ur falls or frailty do find you matter for purging griping troublesome thoughts and interrupt your sweeter comfortable meditations refuse not the trouble when you have made it necessary It s many a sad and serious thought that the Ministers of Christ have for the cure and safety of their flocks and should not the people have as serious thoughts for themselves None foul their hands saith the Proverb about their own work They that bring in the filth should not refuse to sweep it out We must not cast all the foul and troublesome work upon our Nurses as long as we can help our selves Your Reason your Wisdom care and diligence are more your Own than any one 's else anâ— therefore should be more used for your self then for any And if after much thoughtfulness and labour you find your heart to bâ— no whit better yet Labour and Believe 〈◊〉 is not the last blow of the axe alone that cutâ— down the Tree though it fall not till thâ— last The growth of Grace as of plantâ— and fruits and flowers is not perceived 〈◊〉 immediate inspection There is much goâ—â— obtained when we discern it not And noâ—thing is more certain than that honest dilâ—â—gence is never lost in the things of God anâ— our salvation It is worth all our labour 〈◊〉 we grow no better to keep our spark froâ— going out and to see that we grow no worse And the preventing of Evil is here an excellent Good Many a thousand eat and drink that never hope to grow any fatter or stronger than they are It is not nothing to be sustained for our daily work and to have our oyl renewed daily as it wasteth The mill gets by going saith the Proverb though it stir not from the place O keep the Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life Prov. 4.23 Actions receive their specification and quality from the Heart Death and Life are in the power of the tongue Prov. 18.21 but the tongue is in the power of the Heart Direct 8. Let not your self-knowledge be meerly speculative or affective but also Practical Be not contented that you know what you are and what you have â—one nor that your Heart is much Affected with it but let all tend to Action to mend what is amiss and to maintain improve â—nd increase what is good and let the next â—uestion be What am I now to do or What must I be for time to come It is a lamentable â—istake of many that tire themselves with â—â—riving to make deep affecting impressions on â—heir hearts and when they have got much â—â—rrow or much joy they think they have done the greatest matter and there they stop But Affections are the spring that must move to Action and if you proceed not to your Duty Affection is much lost And if with smaller Affection or passion you can stedfastly and resolutely cleave to God and do your Duty you have the principal thing and are accepted Not that outward Actions are accepted without the Heart but that there is most of the Heart where there is most of the Estimation and Will though less of Passion and there is most of Will where there is most Endeavour and inward Action is the first part of Obedience And without these no speculations will avail However you find your Heart be up and doing in the use of means to make it better and wait on God for further grace Direct 9. Manage your self-acquaintance prudently cautelously and with the help of your skilfull friend or Pastor Think not that it is a work that you need no Helper in If you mistake in your Accounts and put down a wrong summ and call your self confidently what you are not or deny Gods graces when ever through Melancholy or distemper you cannot find them and pass false conclusions against Gods mercies and your self this were to turn a duty into a sin and snare And you must do it seasonably Melancholy persons are most uncapable of it who do nothing but pore upon themselves to little purpose such must do more of other Duty but lay by much of this till they are more capable and make much use of the Judgement of their Guides And weaker Heads must take but a due proportion of time for self searching Meditations lest they contract that troublesome disease Duties must be used with profitable variety and all done under good advice But young persons and those that are yet unconverted have need to fall upon it without delay and to follow it till they have made sure their calling and election 2 Pet. 1.10 O what a dreadfull thing it is for a man to come rawly and newly to the study of his soul as a thing that he is unacquainted with when sickness is upon him and death at hand and he is ready to pass into another world To be then newly to ask What am I and What have I done and Whither am I going and What will become of me for ever is a most fearfull state of folly Direct 10 Terminate not your knowledge ultimately in your self but pass up unto God in Christ and to the blessed priviledges of the Saints and the joyfull state of Endless Glory and there let your meditations be most frequent and most sweet But of this elsewhere Madam I have added these Directions not principally for you that have learnt the Art but for your hopefull Sons and Daughters who must be taught these things betimes and for your friends who will be invited hither for your sake They that know you not will think I have taken too much liberty and spoken too much both of you and to you But I appeal from such They that know not how easily you can pardon any one except your self will aggravate the weaknesses which your charity will cover I was purposely the longer because the Treatise is defective And if one Kingdom do not hold us and I should see your face no more on earth yet till we meet in the Glorious Everlasting Kingdom we shall have frequent converse by such means as these notwithstanding our corporal distance And as I am assured of a room in your frequent prayers so I hope I shall remain Madam Your faithfull Servant and Remembrancer at the Throne of Grace Richard Baxter August 25. 1661. Postscript Madam SInce the writing of this Epistle finding you under the afflicting hand of God thought meet to remember you of what â—ou know that God thus traineth up his â—hildren for their Rest whom he Loveth â—e chasteneth and scourgeth every son â—hom he receiveth If we endure chastenâ—â—g God dealeth with us as with children â—nd if we be without chastisement whereof 〈◊〉 are partakers then we are bastards and â—ot sons Heb. 12.6 7 8. The same flesh â—â—at would be pleased will grudge when it 〈◊〉 displeased and that which is our enticeâ—â—g enemy in prosperity will be our
truth with delight and love and â—uitableness of soul would needs be the Rule of Worship to all others even in â—he smallest Circumstances and Ceremonies And they would be the Governors of the Church or the Determiners of its mode of Government that never would be â—rought under the Government of Christ â—hemselves If it please them better to spend â—he Lords day in Plays or Sports or comâ—lement or idleness then in learning the will of God in his word or worshipping â—im and begging his mercy and salvation â—nd seriously preparing for an endless life they would have all others do the like If their full souls loathe the honey comb and they are aweary of being instructed above aâ— hour or twice a day they would have all others forced to their measure that they may seem as diligent as others when others are compelled to be as negligent as they Like a queasie-stomackt Lady that caâ— eat but one sllender meal a day and therefore would have all her servants and tenants eat no more or if they do accuseth them of excess If the Emperor of Constantinople make a Law that no subject shall be suffered in his dominions that will not be conformable to him in time and quality and measure for meats and drink and sleep and speech and exercise it would be an honourable misery and uniform calamity and ruine to his subjects Alas did men but know themselves thâ— weakness of their understandings the sinful byas that personal interest and carnal inclinations have set upon their wills they would be less arrogant and more compassionate and not think by making themselves as Gods to reduce the unavoidable diversities that will be found among mankind 〈◊〉 a Unity in Conformity to their minds and wills and that in the matters of God and of â—â—lvation where every mans conscience 〈◊〉 is wise and faithful will be tenacious of 〈◊〉 interest of God and of his Soul â—â—ch he cannot sacrifice to the will of any 〈◊〉 be so just as not to mistake and misreâ—â—t me in all this as if I pleaded for liâ—â—tinism or disorder or spoke against â—â—vernment Civil or Ecclesiastical when 〈◊〉 only private Ambition uncharitableâ—â—â—s and cruelty and Papall usurpations 〈◊〉 the Church and consciences of men 〈◊〉 I am speaking of which men I am 〈◊〉 will have other thoughts of when 〈◊〉 hath made them know themselves then 〈◊〉 have while passion hindreth them 〈◊〉 knowing what spirit they are of They 〈◊〉 then see that the weak in faith should â—â—ve been received and that Catholick â—â—ity is only to be founded in the Uniâ—â—rsal Head and End and Rule 6. The dreadfull change that 's made upon 〈◊〉 minds when misery or approaching death â—akes them doth shew how little they 〈◊〉 themselves before If they have â—â—ken the true estimate of themselves in â—â—eir prosperity how come they to be so â—â—ch changed in adversity Why do they â—â—gin then to cry out of their sins and of 〈◊〉 folly of their worldliness and sensuality and of the vanity of the honoâ—â— and pleasures of this life Why do thâ— then begin to wish with gripes of consâ—â—â—ence that they had better spent their prâ—â—cious time and minded more the matteâ— of eternity and taken the course as thâ—â— did whom they once derided as makâ— more ado then needs Why do they thâ— tremble under the apprehensions of thâ— unreadiness to die and to appear before 〈◊〉 dreadfull God when formerly such though did little trouble them Now there is 〈◊〉 such sense of their sin or danger upâ—â— their hearts Who is it now that ever heâ—â— such lamentations and self-accusations frâ—â— them as then its likely will be heard 〈◊〉 same man that then will wish with Balâ—â—am that he might die the death of the rigâ—â—teous and that his latter end might be as 〈◊〉 will now despise and grieve the righteoâ—â— The same man that then will passionate wish that he had spent his days in 〈◊〉 preparations for his change and lived 〈◊〉 strictly as the best about him is now 〈◊〉 much of another mind that he perceiâ—â— no need of all this diligence but thiâ—â— it is humorous or timerous superstition 〈◊〉 at least that he may do well enough 〈◊〉 out it The same man that will thâ—◠〈◊〉 Mercy Mercy O Mercy Lord to a â—â—â—arting soul that 's loaden with sin and â—â—mbleth under the fear of thy judgement 〈◊〉 now perhaps an enemy to serious earnest â—â—ayer and hates the families and persons â—â—at most use it or at least is prayerless 〈◊〉 cold and dull himself in his desires and 〈◊〉 shut up all with a few careless custoâ—â—ry words and feel no pinching necessity 〈◊〉 awaken him importunately to cry and â—â—ve with God Doth not all this shew 〈◊〉 men are befooled by prosperity and 〈◊〉 acquainted with themselves till danger or â—â—â—amity call them to the bar and force â—â—em better to know themselves Your mutability proveth your ignorance â—â—d mistakes If indeed your case be now 〈◊〉 good as your present confidence or seâ—â—rity do import lament it not in your â—â—versity fear it not when Death is calâ—â—â—g you to the bar of the impartial Judge 〈◊〉 not out then of your ungodliness and â—â—suality of your trifling hypocrisie â—â—ur sleight contemptuous thoughts of â—od and of your casting away your Hopes 〈◊〉 Heaven by wilfull negligence and deâ—â—es If you are sure that you are now in â—â—e right and diligent serious believers in â—â—e wrong then stand to it before the Lord set a good face on your cause if it be good Be not down in the mouth when it is triâ—â— God will do you no wong If your 〈◊〉 be good he will surely justifie you 〈◊〉 will not mar it Wish not to dye the deaâ—â— of the Righteous say not to them Gâ—â—â— us of your oyl for our lamps are gone ouâ— Mat. 25.8 If all their Care and Love 〈◊〉 Labour in seeking first the Kingdom of Gâ—â— and its Righteousness be a needless thing wish not for it in your extremity but 〈◊〉 it needless then If fervent prayer may bâ— spared now while prayer may be heard 〈◊〉 a few lifeless words that you have learnâ— by rote may serve the turn then call 〈◊〉 on God when answering is past seek him not when he will not be found Prov. 1â— 27 28. When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction as a whirlwindâ— when distress and anguish come upon you Cry not Lord Lord open unto us wheâ— the door is shut Matth. 25.10 11. 〈◊〉 them not foolish then that slept bâ—â— them that watcht if Christ was mistaken and you are in the right Matth. 25.2 Prov. 1.22 O Sirs stand but at the bed-side of one of these ungodly careless men and heaâ— what he saith of his former life of his apâ—roaching change of a Holy or a carnal â—ourse whether a Heavenly or Worldly life 〈◊〉 better unless God have left him to that â—eplorate stupidity which an hours time will put an end to
Hearken then whether â—e think that God or the world Heaven or â—arth Soul or body be more worthy of â—ans chiefest care and diligence and then â—udge whether such men did know themselves â—n their health and pride when all this talk would have been derided by them as too preâ—ise and such a life accounted over-strict and â—eedless as then they are approving and wishâ—ng they had lived When that Minister or â—riend should have once been taken for â—ensorious abusive self-conceited and unsufferable that would have talkt of them â—n that language as when Death approacheth they talk of themselves or would have spoke as plainly and hardly of them as they will then do of themselves Doth â—ot this mutability shew how few men now have a true knowledge of themselves What is the Repentance of the living and the Desperation of the damned but a declaration that the persons Repenting and Despairing were unacquainted with themselves before Indeed the erroneous Despair of men while Grace is offered them comes from Ignorance of the Mercy of God and willingness of Christ to receive all that arâ— willing to return But yet the sense of sin and misery that occasioneth this erroneous Despair doth shew that men were before erroneous in their presumption and self-esteem Saith Bernard in Cant. Vtraqâ—â— Cognitio Dei scilicet tui tibi necessariâ— est ad salutem quia sicut ex notitia tui venit in te timor Dei atque ex Dei notitia itidem amor sic è contra de ignorantia 〈◊〉 superbia ac de Dei ignorantia venit desperatio that is Both the knowledge of God and of thy self is necessary to salvation because as from the Knowledge of thy self the Fear of God cometh into thee and Love from the knowledge of God so on the contrary from the Ignorance of thy self cometh pride and from the Ignorance of God comes Desperation Quid est sapientia inquit Seneca Semper idem Velle idem Nolleâ—â— At non potest idem semper placere nisi rectum Wisdom appeareth in alwayes Willing and alwayes Nilling the same thing but its only Right and Good that can alwayes please Poor men that must confess their sin and misery at last would shew a more seasonable acquaintance with themselves if they would do it now and say with the Prodigal I will go to my Father and say to him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son In time this Knowledge confession may be saving Even a Seneca could say without the Scripture Initium est salutis notitia peccati Nam qui peccare se nescit corrigi non vult Ideo quantum potes teipsum argue Inquire in te accusatoris primuÌ„ partibus fungere deinde judicis novissime deprecatoris i. e. The knowledge of sin is the beginning of recovery or health For he that knows not that he sinneth will not be corrected Reprehend thy self therefore as much as thou canst Inquire into thy self First play the part of an Accuser then of a Judge and lastly of one that asketh pardon It is not because men are Innocent or Safe that we now hear so little confession or complaint but because they are sinfull and miserable in so great a measure as not to Know or Feel it Quare vitia â—ua nemo confitetur inquit Seneca Quia â—tiam nunc in illis est Somnium narraâ—e vigilantis est vitia sua confiteri â—anitatis judicium est i. e. Why doth no â—an confess his vices Because he is yet in â—hem To tell his dreams is the part of a â—an that is awake and to confess his faults is a sign of health If you call a Poor man Rich or a deformed person beautifull or a vile ungodly person vertuous or an ignorant Barbarian learned will not the hearers think you do not know them And how should they think better of your knowledge of your selves if any of you that are yet in the flesh will say you are spiritual and those that hate the Holiness and Justice and Government of God will say they love him or those that are in a state of Enmity to God and are as near to Hell as the Execution is to the Sentence of the Law will perswade themselves and others that they are the Members of Christ the children of God and the heirs of Heaven and take it ill of any that would question it though only to perswade them to make it sure and to take heed what they trust to when endless Joy or Misery must be the issue 7. Doth it not manifest how little men know themselves when in every suffering that befals them they overlook the Cause of all within them and fall upon others or quarrel with every thing that standeth in their way Their contempt of God doth cast them into some affliction and they quarrel with the Instruments and medle not with the mortall cause at home Their sin finds them out and testifieth against them and they are angry with the â—od and repine at Providence as if God himself were more to be suspected of the Cause then they Yea it is become with many a serious doubt Whether God doth not Necessitate them to sin and Whether they omit not duty meerly because he will not give them power to perform it and Whether their sin be any other then a Relation unavoidably resulting from a Foundation laid by the hand of God himself Do men know themselves that will sooner suspect and blame the most Righteous Holy God then their own unrighteous carnal hearts Man drinketh up iniquity like water but there is no unrighteousnes with God Saith Innocent Conceptus est homo in foetore luxuria quódque deterius est in labe peccati natus ad laborem timorem dolorem c. Agit prava quibus offendit Deum offendit proximum offendit seipsum agit turpia quibus polluit famam polluit personam polluit conscientiam Agit vana quibus negligit sana negligit utilia negligit necessaria Man is conceived in the filth or stink of luxury or lust and which is worse in the stain of sin born to labour fear and pain c. He doth that which is evil to the offence of God his neighbour and himself He doth that which is filthy to the polluting of his fame his person and his Conscience He doth that which is vain neglecting what is sound and profitable and necessary And is not such a frail and sinfull wight more likely to be the cause of sin then God and to be culpable in all the ill that doth befall us And it shews that men little know themselves when all their complaints are poured out more fluently on others then themselves Like sick stomacks that find fault with every dish when the fault is within them Or like pained weak or froward children that quarrel with every thing that toucheth them when the cause is in themselves If they want
Justification then now thou standest as afar off and darest scare look up to heaven but smitest on thy breast and saist Lord be mercifull to me a sinner Luke 18.11 12 13 14. Not that extortioners unjust adulterers or any that are ungodly are justified or can be saved while they are such Nor that a smiting on the breast with a Lord be mercifull to me a sinner will serve their turn while they continue in their wicked lives But when thou art brought to accuse and condemn thy self thou art prepared for his grace that must renew and justifie thee None sped better with Christ then the woman that confest her self a dog and begged but for the childrens crums And the Centurion that sent friends to Christ to mediate for him and as being unworthy to come himself and unworthy that Christ should enter under his roof For of the first Christ said O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt Mat. 15.27 28. And of the second he saith with admiration I have not found so great faith no not in Israel Luke 7.6 7 8.9 Though thou art ready to deny the title of a child and to number thy self with the dogs yet go to him and beg his crums of mercy Though thou think that Christ will not come to such a one as thou and though thou beg prayers of others as thinking he will not hear thy own thou little thinkest how this self-abasement and self-denyal prepareth thee for his tenderest mercies and his esteem When thou art contrite as the dust that 's trodden underfeet and poor and tremblest at the Word then will he look at thee with compassion and respect Isa 66.2 For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones For I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wroth for the spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have made Isa 57.15 When thou art using the self-condemning words of Paul Rom. 7.14 to 25. I am carnal sold under sin what I would that do I not and what I hate that do I. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing I find a law that when I would do good evil is present with me A Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin when thou criest out with him O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death thou art then fitter to look to thy Redeemer and use the following words I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. When thou didst exalt thy self thou wast obnoxious to the stormes of Justice which was engaged to bring thee low But now thou humblest thy self thou liest in the way of Mercy that is engaged to exalt thee Luke 14.11 18.14 Mercy looketh downard and can quickly â—pie a sinner in the dust but cannot leave him there nor deny him compassion and relief Art thou cast out as helpless wounded by thy sin and neglected by all others that pass by Thou art the fittest object for the skill and mercy of him that washeth sinners in his blood and tenderly bindeth up their wounds and undertakes the perfecting of the cure though yet thou must bear the Surgeons hand till his time of perfect cure be come Luke 10.33 34 35. Now thou perceivest the greatness of thy sin and misery thou art fit to study the greatness of his mercy with all Saints to strive to comprehend what is the breadth length depth height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Ephes 3.18 19. Now thou hast smitten upon the thigh and said What have I done Jerem. 31.19 8.6 thou art fitter to look unto him that was wounded and smitten for thy transgressions and to consider what he hath done and suffered how he hath born thy grief and carried thy sorrows and was bruised for thy iniquities the chastisment of our peace was laid upon him and we are healed by his stripes All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of 〈◊〉 all Isa 53.4 5 6 c. Art thou in doubt whether there be any forgiveness for thy sins and whether there be any place for Repentance Remember that Christ is exalted by Gods right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentnace unto Israel and forgivness of sins Act. 5.31 And that he himself hath spoken it that All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men except the Blasphemy against the Spirit Math. 12.32 And this Forgiveness of sins thou art bound to believe as an Article of thy Creed that it is purchased by Christ and freely offered in the Gospell Mercy did but wait all this while till thou wast brought to understand the want and worth of it that it might be thine When a Peter that denyeth Christ with oaths and cursing goeth out and weepeth he speedily finds mercy from him without that he but now denyed within When so bloody a persecuter as Paul findeth mercy upon his prostration and confession and when so great an offender as Manasseh is forgiven upon his penitence in bonds when all his witchcraft Idolatry and crueltyes are pardoned upon a repentance that might seeme to have been forced by a grievous scourge what sinner that perceives his sin and misery can question his entertainment if he come to Christ Come to him sinner with thy load and burden Come to him with all thy acknowledged unworthyness and try whether he will refuse thee He hath professed that 〈◊〉 that cometh to him he will in no wise 〈◊〉 out Joh. 6.37 He refused not his very murderers when they were pricked at the heart and enquired after a remedie Act. 2.37 And will he refuse thee Hath our Physicion poured out his blood to make a medicine for distracted sinners and now is he unwilling to work the cure Fusus est saâ—guis medici factum est medicamentâ—â— frenetici saith Augustine O siner 〈◊〉 thou art brought to know thy self know Christ also and the cure is done Let thy thoughts of the Remedie be deeper and larger and longer then all thy thoughts of thy Misery It is thy sin and shame if it be not 〈◊〉 Why wilt thou have twenty thoughts of sin and misery for one that thou hast of Christ and mercy when mercy is so large and great and wonderfull as to triumph over misery and Grace aboundeth much more where sin hath abounded Rom 5.20 Inspice vulnera pendentis sanguinem mâ—rientis pretium redimentes cicatrices reâ—â—â—gentis Caput habet inclinatum ad oscular dum cor apertum ad diligendum bracâ—id extensa ad
esteemed And the lesser will be misesteemed And while you are unthankfull for what you have you will be absurdly thanking God for that which indeed you have not What inestimable Mercies are daily trodden under feet by sinners that know not their worth because they know not their own necessities They have Time to Repent and make preparation for an endless life But they know not the worth of it but unthankfully neglect it and cast it away on the basest vanities As if worldly cares or wicked company or fleshly lusts or Cards or Dice or revellings or idleness were exercises in which they might better improve it then the works of Holiness Justice and Mercy which God hath made the business of their lives Or as if the profits and pleasures and vain glory of this world did better deserve it then their Creator and their own souls and the Heavenly inheritance But if their eyes were opened to see where they stand and what they are and what are their dangers and necessities how thankfull would they be for one year one moneth one day one hour to Repent and cry to God for Mercy and how sensibly would they perceive that a hundred years time is not too long to spend in serious preparation for eternity They have now the faithfull Ministers of Christ inviting them in his name to come to him and receive the riches of his grace and beseeching them in his stead to be reconciled unto God Mat. 22. 2 Cor. 5.19 20. But they stop their ears and harden their hearts and stiffen their necks and love not to be disturbed in their sins but are angry with those that are sollicitous for their salvation and revile them as too precise and strict that tell them of the One thing needfull and perswade them to choose the better part and tell them where their sin will leave them They take them for their friends that will encourage them in the way that God condemneth and be merry with them in the way to endless sorrow and flatter them into security and impenitency till the time of grace be past but they hate them as their enemies that faithfully reprove them and tell them of their folly and call them to a safer better way Alas Sirs there would not be so many Nations Congregations and Souls now left in darkness and misery by their own doing having driven away the Mercy of the Gospel and thrust their faithfull Teachers from them if they knew themselves Men would not triumph in their own calamity when they have expelled their faithfull Teachers the dust of whose feet the sweat of their brows the tears of their eyes and the fervent prayers and groans of their hearts must witness against them if they knew themselves They would not be like a mad man that glorieth that he hath beaten away his Physition and his friends and is left to himself if they knew themselves When they have the earnest Calls of the Word without and convictions and urgings of the Spirit of God and their Consciences within they would not wilfully go on and cast these mercies at their heels if they knew themselves They have leave to joyn in the Communion of Saints and to enjoy the benefit of holy Society in prayer and conference and mutual love and spiritual assistance and in the publick worship of God but they pass these by as having more of trouble and burden then of mercy because they little know themselves And their inferior Mercies of Health and Wealth and food and rayment and friends and accommodations they misesteem and misuse and value them but as provision for the flesh and the satisfaction of their sensual and inordinate desires and not as their necessary provision for their duty in the way to Heaven And therefore they are most thankfull for their greatest snares For that honour and abundance which are stronger temptations then they can overcome For those fleshly contentments and delights which are the enemies of grace and the prison of their noblest faculties and the undoing of their souls If they could for shame speak out they would thank God more for a whore or a succesfull gain or the favour of their earthen gods or for preferment or commodity lands or houses then ever they did for all the offers of Christ and grace and all the invitations to a holy life For there is much more joy and pleasure in their hearts for the former then the latter And Self-ignorance will also corrupt your Thanksgiving and turn it into sin and folly Is it not shame and pitty to hear an unpardoned enemy of Holiness and of God to thank God that he is Justified and Reconciled to God and Adopted to be his child and made a member of Jesus Christ And to hear a carnal unregenerate person give thanks for his Regeneration and Sanctification by the Holy Ghost As it is to hear a leper give thanks for perfect health or a fool or mad man thank God for making him wiser then his neighbours Is it not pitty to hear a miserable soul thank God for the Grace which he never had and one that is near eternal misery to thank God for making him an heir of Glory O how many have thankt God Pharisaitally for the pardon of their sins that must for ever suffer for those sins How many have thanked him for giving them the assured hopes of Glory that must be thrust out into endless misery As I having known many that by their friends and by theâ—â—selves have been flattered into consiâ—â—â— hopes of life when they were ready 〈◊〉 die have thankt God that the were 〈◊〉 well and the worst was past which in 〈◊〉 eyes of judicious standers by was not 〈◊〉 least aggravation of their sad and deploâ—â—â—ble state Methinks it is one of the sadâ—dest spectacles in the world to hear a 〈◊〉 thanking God for the assurance of salvaâ—â—â—on that is in a state of condemnation and like to be in Hell for ever These absurdities could not corrupt your highest duâ—ties and turn them into sin if you knew your selves A man that knoweth his own necessitiâ—â— and unworthiness is thankfull for a little to God and man Mercy is as no mercy when there is no sense of need or misery Sapienti notum est quanti res quaeque taxanda sit saith Seneca Therefore God useth to humble them so low in the work of conversion whom he meaneth ever after to imploy 〈◊〉 the magnifying of his grace And then that which is folly and hypocrisie from a Pharisee will be an acceptable sacrifice from a humbled gratefull soul and he that by Grace is differenced from other men may modestly thank God that he is not as other men For had he nothing more to thank God for then the ungodly world he would be rejected and perish with the world And if he have more then the world and yet be no more thankfull then the world he would be guilty of greater unthankfulness then the world Non
as he goeth further for the world and setteth it nearest to his heart and holds it fastest and will do most for it and consequently loveth it better then Christ he is no true Christian nor in a state of grace The Scriptures put this also out of doubt as you may see Mat. 10.37 38. Luke â—4 26 27 33. He that loveth Father or Mother more then me is not worthy of me c. Whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple Whoâ—ver he be of you that forsaketh not all that â—e hath he cannot be my Disciple Know â—e not that the friendship of the world is â—nmity with God Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God â—am 4.4 No wonder then if the world must be renounced in our Baptism Love not the world neither the things that are in the world If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2.15 You see by this time what it is to be Regenerate and to be a Christian indeed by what is contained even in our Baptism and consequently how you may Know your selves whether you are sanctified and the heirs of heaven or not Again therefore I summon you to appear before your consciences and if indeed these Evidences of regeneration are not in you stop not the sentence but confess your sinfull miserable state and condemn your selves and say no longer I hope yet that my present condition may serve turn and that God will forgive me though I should die without any further change Thosâ— Hopes that you may be saved without reâ—generation or that you are regenerate wheâ— you are not are the pillars of Satans forâ—tress in your hearts and keep you froâ— the saving Hopes of the Regenerate thaâ— that will never make you ashamed Upâ—hold not that which Christ is engageâ— against Down it must either by Graâ—â— or Judgement and therefore abuse noâ— your souls by underpropping such an ill-grounded false deceitfull hope You have now time to take it down so orderly and safely as that it fall not on your heads and overwhelm you not for ever But if you stay till death shall undermine it the falâ— will be great and your ruine irreparable If you are wise therefore Know your selves in time II. I have done with that part of my special Exhortation which concerned the unregenerate I am next to speak to those of you that by Grace are brought into a better state and to tell you that it very much concerneth you also even the best of you to labour to be well acquainted with your selves and that both in respect of 1. Your sins and wants and 2. Your Graces and your duties I. Be acquainted with the root and remnant of your sins with your particular inclinations and corrupt affections with their quality their degree and strength with the weaknesses of every grace with your disability to duty and with the omissions or sinfull practises of your lives Search diligently and deeply frequently and accurately peruse your hearts and wayes till you certainly and throughly know your selves And I beseech you let it not suffice you that you know your states and have found your selves in the Love of God in the faith of Christ and possessed by his Spirit Though this be a mercy worth many worlds yet this is not all concerning your selves that you have to know If yet you say that you have no sin you deceive your selves If yet you think you are past all danger your danger is the greater for this mistake As much as you have been humbled for sin as much as you have loathed it and your selves for it as oft as you have confessed it lamented it and complained and prayed against it yet it is alive Though it be mortified it is alive It is said to be mortified as to the prevalency and reign but the relicts of it yet survive were it perfectly dead you were perfectly delivered from it and might say you have no sin but it is not yet so happy with you It will find work for the blood and spirit of Christ and for your selves as long as you are in the flesh And alas too many that know themselves to be upright in the main are yet so much unacquainted with their hearts and lives as to the degrees of grace and sin as that it much disadvantageth them in their Christian progress Go along with me in the carefull observation of these following Evils that may befall even the regenerate by the remnants of self-ignorance 1. The work of Mortification is very much hindered because you know your selves no better as may appear in all these following discoveries 1. You confess not sin to God or man so penitently and sensibly as you ought because you know your selves no better Did you see your inside with a fuller view how deeply would you aggravate your sin How heavily would you charge your selves Repentance would be more intense and more effectual and when you were more contrite you would be more meet for the sense of pardon and for Gods delight Isa 51.15 66.2 It would fill you more with godly shame and self-abhorrence if you better knew your selves It would make you more sensibly say with Paul Rom. 7.23 24. I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death And with David Psal 38.18 I will declare my iniquity I will be sorry for my sin 40.12 They are more then the hairs of my head 32.5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin Repentance is the Death of sin and the knowledge of our selves and the sight of our sins is the life of Repentance 2. You pray not against sin for grace and pardon so earnestly as you should because you know your selves no better O that God would but open these too-close hearts unto us and anatomize the relicts of the old man and shew us all the recesses of our self-deceit and the filth of worldliness and carnal inclinations that lurk within us and read us a Lecture upon every part what prayers would it teach us to indite That you be not proud of your holiness let me tell you Christians that a full display of the corruptions that the best of you carry about you would not only take down self-exalting thoughts that you be not lift up above measure but would teach you to pray with fervour and importunity and waken you out of your sleepy indifferency and make you cry O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me If the sight of a Lazar or cripple or naked person move you to compassion though they use no words if the sight
And some sins are also of so heynous a nature or degree that he that Habitually hateth sin cannot frequently commit them nor at all while his Hatred to them is in Act And he that truly Repenteth of them cannot frequently return to them because that sheweth that Repentance was indeed either but Superfiâ—ial or not Habitual But some sins are not so great and heynous and therefore do not â—o much deterr the soul and some are not so fully in the power of a sanctified will as â—assions thoughts c. and therefore may â—fter be committed in consistency with Haâ—itual Repentance or Hatred of sin To exâ—mine particulars would be tedious and digressive 2. And I must further answer that our â—afety and consequently our Peace and â—omfort lieth in flying as far from sin as we â—an And therefore he that will sin as much â—s will consist with any sparks of Grace shall â—ury those sparks by his sin and shall not know that he hath any Grace nor have the comfort of it as being in a condition unfit for Actual assurance and comfort till he be brought to Actual Repentance and amendment Thus I have shewed you by what you must try your sanctification if you will know â—t which I before proved to you from Scripture and further may do when the occasion will excuse me from the imputation of disproportion and unseasonableness â—n repeating the proofs of all that we speak in Explication or Application of the principal point 4. Another cause that many Christians are ignorant of their state of Grace is their looking so much at what they should be anâ— what others are that have a high degree 〈◊〉 grace and what is commanded as our duty that they observe not what they have already because it is short of what they ought 〈◊〉 have We are thus too much about oâ—â—â—ward mercies too We mourn more 〈◊〉 one friend that is dead then we rejoyce 〈◊〉 many that are alive We are more trouble for one mercy taken from us then comfortâ—â— in many that are left us We observe 〈◊〉 diseases and our sores more sensibly then 〈◊〉 health David for one Absalon is so afflicteâ— that he wished he had dyed for him though a rebell when his comfort in Soâ—lomon and his other children is laid aside As all the humours flow to the pained place so do our thoughts as was aforesaid and so we overlook the matter of our comfort 5. And it very much hindereth the knowâ—ledge of our Graces that we search upon 〈◊〉 great disadvantages as hinder a true discovery Among many others I will instance but in two or three 1. We surprize our souls with sudden questions and look for a full and satisfactory answer before we caâ—â— well recollect our selves and call up our evidences and we expect to know the summ or product before our consciences have had leisure deliberately to cast up their â—ccounts Yea when we have set to it and â—y diligent search with the best assistances â—ave discovered our sincerity and recorded the judgement if Conscience cannot presentâ—y recall its proofs and make it out upon every surprize we unjustly question all 〈◊〉 past and will never rest in any judgement but are still calling over all again as â—f the cause had never been tryed And â—hen the judgement passeth according to â—ur present temper and disposition when many of the Circumstances are forgotten and many of the witnesses are out of the way that last assisted us 2. Perhaps we judge as I said before in the fit of a passion of fear or grief which â—mperiously over-ruleth or disturbeth reason And then no wonder if in our haste we say that all men that would comfort us are â—yars And if with David Psal 77.2 3 7 8 9. in the day of our trouble our souls do even refuse to be comforted and if we remember God and are troubled more and if our spirit be overwhelmed in us when he holdeth our eyes waking and we are so troubled that we cannot speak and if we question whether the Lord will cast off for ever and will be favourable no more whether 〈◊〉 mercy be clean gone for ever and his promise fail for evermore Whether he hath forgotten to be gracious and hath shut up 〈◊〉 tender mercies in displeasure till a calâ— deliver us from the mistake and make 〈◊〉 say This is our infirmity We thinâ— that God doth cast off our souls and hideâ—eth his face from us when our soul is fuâ—â— of troubles and our life draweth nigh 〈◊〉 the grave When we are afflicted and reaâ—â—â— to die from our youth up and are distracted while we suffer the terrors of the Lord 〈◊〉 he complaineth Psalm 88.3.14 15 16 Passion judgeth according to its nature anâ— not according to truth 3. Or perhaps we judge when ouâ— friends our memory and other helps are 〈◊〉 of the way and we are destitute of 〈◊〉 assistance 4. Or when our Bodies are weak or distempered with Melancholy which representetâ— all this in black and terrible colours to thâ— soul and will hear no language but forsaken miserable annd undone You may aâ— well take the judgement of a man haâ—â— drunk or half asleep about the greateâ—â— matters of your lives as to take the judgement of Conscience in such a state oâ— â—isadvantage about the condition of your â—ouls 6. Another hinderance to us is that we â—annot take comfort from the former sight of â—race that we have had unless we have a conâ—inued present sight And so all our labour in â—rying and all our experiences and all Gods former manifestations of himself to â—he soul are lost as to our present comfort when over Grace is out of sight Like foolâ—sh travailers that think they are out of â—he way and are ready to turn back when ever any hill doth interpose and hinder them from seeing the place they go to As if it were no matter of comfort to us to say I did find the Evidences of Grace I once recorded a judgement of my sincerity But the former is still questioned rather then the later When with David we should consider the dayes of old the years of antient times and call to remembrance our songs in the night and commune with our hearts in such a diligent search and remembrance of the mercies formerly received Psal 77.5 6 7. 7. Lastly the operations of mans soul are naturally so various and from corruption are so confused and so dark that we are oft-times in a maze and at a loss when we are most desirous to judge aright anâ— scarce know where in so great disorder 〈◊〉 find any thing that we seek and knowâ— not when we find it so that our hearts 〈◊〉 almost as strange to themselves as to one aâ—â—â—ther and sometime more confident of othâ—â— mens sincerity then our own where thâ—â— is no more matter for our confidence HAving thus shewed you the Causes 〈◊〉 our Ignorance of our Sanctification I shall briefly tell you some Reasons thâ—â—
Gods wrath for ever than to find at present that you have offended him Sirs the question is whether you are under the condemnation of the law or not Whether you are regenerate and justified or yet in your sin If you are Justified far be it from me to perswade you to think that you are under condemnation I leave that to Satan and the malicious world who are the condemners of those that Christ doth Justifie But if you are unregenerate and unjustified what will you do at death and judgement Can you stand before God or be saved upon any other terms You cannot if God be to be believed you cannot and if you know the Scriptures you know you cannot And if you cannot be saved in an unrenewed unjustified state is it not needful that you know it Will you cry for help before you find your selves in danger or strive to get out of sin and misery before you believe that you are in it If you think that you have no other sin than the pardoned infirmities of the Godly you will â—ever so value Jesus Christ and pray and â—â—rive for such grace as is necessary to them â—â—at have the unpardoned reigning sins of â—â—e ungodly If it be necessary that you 〈◊〉 saved it is necessary that you value and â—â—ek salvation and if so it is necessary â—â—at you know your need of it and what â—ou must be and do if you will obtain it 〈◊〉 is a childish or brutish thing below a man of reason to stick at a little present trouble when Death cannot otherwise be prevented If you can prove that ever any was converted and saved by any other way then by coming to the knowledge of their sin and misery then you have some excuse for your presumption But if Scripture tell us of no other way yea that there is no other way and you know of none that ever was saved by any other I think it is time to fall to work and search and try your Hearts and lives and not to stop at a straw when you are running for your lives and when damnation is as it were at your backs You should rather think with your selves If we can so hardly bear the forethoughts of Hell how shall we be able everlastingly to bear the torments And consider that Christ hath made the discovery of your sin and misery to be now comparatively an easie burden in that he hath made them pardonable and curable If you had not had a Saviour to fly to but must have looked on your misery as a remediless case it had then been terrible indeed and it had been no great mistake to have thought it the best way to take a little ease at present rather then to disquiet your selves in vain But through the great mercy of God this is not your case you need not despair of pardon and salvation if you will but hear while it is called Today The taske that you are called to is not to torment your selves as the damned do with the thought of unpardonable sin and of a misery that hath no help or hope but it is only to find out your disease and come and open it to the Physicion and submit to his advice and use his means and he will freely and infallibly work the cure It is but to find out the folly that you have been guilty of and the danger that you have brought your selves into and come to Christ and with hearty sorrow and resolution to give up your selves unto his grace to cast away your iniquities and enter into his safe and comfortable service And will you lie in Hell and say We are suffering here that we might escape the trouble of foreseeing our danger of it or of endeavouring in time to have prevented it We dyed for fear of knowing that we were sick We suffered our house â—o burn to ashes for fear of knowing that it was on fire O Sirs be warned in time and own not and practice not such â—egregious folly in a business of everlasting consequence Believe it if you sin you must know that you have sinned and if you are in the power of Satan it cannot long be hid Did you but know the difference between discovering it now while there is hope and hereafter when there is none I should have no need to perswade you to be presently willing to know the truth whatever it should cost you Hind 3. ANother great impediment of the Knowlege of ourselves is that self love so blindeth men that they can see no great evil in themselves or any thing that is their own It makes them believe that all things are as they would have them be Yea and better than they would have them For he that would not indeed be Holy is willing by himself and others to be thought so Did not the lamentable experience of all the world confirm it it were incredible that self-love could so exceedingly blind men If Charity think no evil of another and we are very hardly brought to believe any great harm by those we love much more will self-love cause men to see no evil by themselves which possibly they can shut their eyes against it being more radicated and powerful than the love of others No arguments so cogent no light so clear no oratory so perswading as can make a self-lover think himself as bad as indeed he is till God by grace or terror shall convince him When you are preaching the most searching sermons to convince him self-love confuteth or misapplyeth them When the markes of tryal are most plainly opened and most closely urged self-love doth frustrate the preachers greatest skill and diligence When nothing of sense can be said to prove the piety of the impious and the sincerity of the formal hypocrite yet self love is that wonderful Alchymist that can make gold not only of the basest mettal but of dross and dirt Let the most undenyable witness be brought to detect the fraud and misery of an unrenewed soul self-love is his most powerful defender No cause so bad which it cannot justifie and no person so miserable but it will pronounce him happy till God by Grace or wrath confute it Self-love is the grand Deceiver of the world Dir. 3. SVbdue this inordinate self-love and bring yoar minds to a just impartiality in judging Remember that self-love is only powerful at your private bar and it is not there that your cause must be finally decided It can do nothing at the bar of God It cannot there justifie where it is condemned it self God will not so much as hear it though you will hear none that speak against it self-love is but the vicegerent of the grand Usurper that shall be deposed and have no shew of power at Christs appearing when he will judge his enemies And here it will be a helpful course to see your own sin and misery in others and put the case as if it were theirs and then see how you can
doth shake so moveable and weak a thing and muddy and trouble a mind so easily disturbed and how hard it is again to quiet and compose a mind so troubled and bring a grieved soul to reason and make passion understand the truth and to cause a weake afflicted soul to judge clean contrary to what they feel all this considered no wonder if the peace and comfort of many Christians be yet but little and interrupted and uneven and if there be much crying in a family that hath so many little ones and much complaining where there are so many weak and poor and many a groane where there is so much pain To shew us the Sun at midnight and convince us of Love while we feel the rod and to give us the comfortable sense of grace while we have the uncomfortable sense of the greatness of our sin to give us the joyful hopes of glory in a troubled melancholy dejected State all this is a work that requireth the special helpe of the Almighty and exceeds the strength of feeble worms Let God give us never so full discoveries of his tenderest Love and our own sincerity as if a voice from Heaven had witnessed it unto us we are questioning all if once we seem to feel the contrary and are perplexed in the tumult of our thougths and passions and bewildred and lost in the errors of our own disturbed minds Though we have walkt with God we are questioning whether indeed we ever knew him as soon as he seemeth to hide his face Though we have felt another life and spirit possess and actuate us than heretofore and found that we love the things and persons which once we loved not and that we were quite falln out with that which was our former pleasure and that our souls broke off from their old delights and hopes and ways and resolvedly did engage themselves to God and unfeignedly delivered up themselves unto him yet all is forgotten or the convincing evidence of all forgotten if the lively influences of heaven be but once so far withdrawn as that our present state is clouded and afflicted and our former vigour and assurance is abated And thus unthankfully we deny God the praise and acknowledgement of his mercies longer than we are tasting them or they are still before us All that he hath done for us is as nothing and all the Love which he hath manifested to us is called hatred and all the witnesses that have put their hands to his Acts of Grace are questioned and his very seals denyed and his earnest misinterpreted as long as our darkened distempered souls are in a condition unfit for the apprehension of Mercy and usually when a diseased or afflicted body doth draw the mind into too great a participation of the affliction And thus as we are disposed our selves so we judge of our selves and of all our receivings and al Gods dealings with us A soul in a cheerful lively frame thinks well of all that God doth to him and hath thoughts of Hope and Peace and Joy as Health disposeth the body to alacrity and can make a man merry that hath little else Whereas a soul overwhelmed with cares and fears and griefs and muddyed with sinfull excessive thoughtfulness and habituated in a diseased sickly frame is afraid of every thing and turneth matter of comfort into sorrow and is in daily pain by its own imaginations like a man that hath a sore and is hurt with the thought that some body toucht it When we feel our selves well all goes well with us and we put a good interpretation upon all things And when we are out of order we complain of every thing and take pleasure in nothing and no one can content us and all is taken in the worser part As the Poet said Laeta fere laetus cecini cano tristia tristis You shall have a merry song from a merry heart and a sad ditty from a troubled grieved mind And thus while the discoveries both of sin and grace are at present overlookt or afterwards forgotten and almost all men judge of themselves by present feeling no wonder if few are well acquainted with themselves But as the Word and the works of God must be taken together if they be understood and not a sentence part or parcel taken separated from the rest which must make up the sense so also the workings of God upon your souls must be taken altogether and you must read them over from the first till now and set all together and not forget the letters the part that went before or else you will make no sense of that which followeth And I beseech all weak and troubled Christians to remember also that they are but children and Schollars in the school of Christ and therefore when they cannot set the several parts together let them not overvalue their unexperienced understandings but by the help of their skilful faithful Teachers do that which of themselves they cannot do Enquire what your former mercies signifie Open them to your guides and tell them how God hath dealt with you from the beginning and tell them how it is with you now and desire them to help you to perceive how one conduceth to the right understanding of the other And be not of froward but of tractable submissive minds and thus your self-acquaintance may be maintained at least to safety and to some degree of peace if not to the Joys which you desire which God reserveth for their proper season I Should have added more on this necessary subject but that I have said so much of it in other writings especially in the Saints Rest Part. 3. chap. 7. and in my Treatise of Self-denial and in the Right Method for Peace of Conscience I must confess I have written on thiâ— subject as I did of Self-denyal viz with expectation that all men shoulâ— confess the truth of what I say and yet so few be cured by it of theiâ— Self-ignorance as that still we must stand by and see the world distracted by it the Church divided the Love of Breâ—thren interrupted and the work of Saâ—tan carryed on by error violence and pride and the hearts of men so strangely stupified as to go on incorâ—rigibly in all this mischief while thâ— cause and cure are opened before them and all in vain while they confess the truth so that they wilâ— leave us nothing to do but exercise our compassion by lamenting the deliration of phrenetick men while we are unable to save the Church their brethren or their own souls from the dilaceratious and calamitous effects of their furious self-ignorance But Christ that hath sent us with the light which may be resisted and abused and in part blown out will speedily come with Light unresistible and will teach the proud the scornful the unmerciful the self-conceited the malicious and the violent so effectually to know themselves as that no more exhortations shall be necessary for the reception of his convictions nor will he or his servants any more beseech men to consider and know their sin and misery nor be beholden to them to believe and confess it See Jude v. 14.15 And is there no Remedy for a stupified inconsiderate soul Is there no prevention of so terrible a self-knowledge as the Light of Judgement and the fire of Hell will else procure Yes the remedy is certain easie and at hand even to know themselves till they are driven to study and seek and know the Father and his Son Jesus Christ Joh. 17.3 And yet is the Salvation of most as hopeless almost as if there were no remedie because no perswasion can prevail with them to use it Lord what hath thus lockt up the minds and hearts of sinners against thy truth and thee what hath made Reasonable man so unreasonable and a self-loving nature so mortally to hate it self O thou that openest and no man shutteth use the Key that openeth Hearts Come 〈◊〉 with thy Wisdome and thy Love anâ— all this blindness and obstinacy will be gone At least commit not the safety of thy flock to such as will not Know themselves But gather thy remnant and bring them to their folds and let them be fruitful and increase and set up shepheards over them which shall feed them and let them fear no more nor be dismayed nor be lacking Jer. 23.3 4. Ordain a place for them plant them and and let them dwell therein unmoved and let not the children of wickedness waste them any more 1 Chron. 17.9 As a shepheard seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among 〈◊〉 sheep that are scattered so seek out thy sheep and deliver them 〈◊〉 of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day Ezek. â—4 12 Save thy people and bless thine inheritance feed them also and lift them up for ever Psal 28.9 FINIS