that mercy shall deny him any thing and take any thing from him so it is content that mercy enjoyne what it will and make what Edicts and Law it will So that the Commands and Precepts of the mercy of God in Christ may take place in his heart When Iohn Baptist came to prepare them for Christ and the hearts of the people were humbled the Publicans came to him saying Master What shall we doe Luk. 3.13 14 and so the souldiers said Master what shall we doe and he said Doe no man wrong but bee content with your wages The question is not now covetousnesse and crueltie what shall wee doe No the souldiers came now and said Thou art our Master the Spirit of God and the Spirit of wisedome is revealed to thee in the Word command and enjoyne thou what thou wilt and they are content with whatsoever hee commands them The humbled heart is content that mercy doe what it will with him not onely that mercy shall save him for so farre a reprobate and a carnall hypocrite may be content The hypocrite is marveilous willing that mercy shall save him but his lusts and corruptions must rule him still You are content that mercy should save you from your peevish heart and yet your peevish heart must rule you still and you are content that Christ should save you from your drunkennesse and prophaning of the Lords Day but these lusts must rule you still A drunkard that hath gotten some dangerous surfeit is content that the Physician should cure him not because he would leave his drunkennesse but because he would have his health and therefore being up hee returnes to his drunkennesse againe And the thiefe that is condemned to die cryes for a pardon not because he would live to be an honest man but to be free from the halter and therefore when he is freed he goes to the hie way and robs againe it is not for honesty that he desires a pardon but for libertie Deceive not your selves mercy will never save you except mercy may rule you too Here is a heart worth gold and the Lord delights in such a Soule that falls into the armes of mercie and is content to take all from mercy and to be at mercies disposing and to have mercie sanctifie him and correct him and teach him and to rule in him in all things This the heart of a truly abased sinner will have and it will say Good Lord do what thou wilt with me rule this Soule and take possession of me onely doe good to the Soule of a poore sinner If the Lord give any thing he is content and if the Lord take away any thing or command any thing he is content You that are ruled by your lusts think of this When the Lord hath awakened and arrested your Soules and you are going downe to hell Oh then you will crie Lord forgive this and that sinne it is true I have hated and loathed the Saints of God good Lord forgive this sinne oh that mercie would save mee then mercy will answer and say When you are out of your beds you will returne to your old courses againe no he that ruled in you let him save and succour you I will save none saith mercy except I may rule them too Thirdly The last degree of contentednesse is this The Soule is willing that the Lord should make it able to take what mercy will give This is a lower pegge that the Soule is brought unto The sinner before had nothing of his owne in possession nay he can challenge nothing of the other but meerely to doe what hee will and hee is not able to take what mercy will give and bestow And therefore hee is not onely content that mercy provide what it thinks good but also to give him strength to take what mercy gives The beggar that comes to the dole though he have no meanes to help himselfe withall and though he can challenge nothing of the man yet hee hath a hand and can receive the dole that is given him but a poore sinner is brought to this low ebbe and this shewes the emptinesse of it that as hee hath no spirituall good at all and can challenge no good neither is hee able to take that good which mercy provides The hand of the Soule whereby it must receive mercy is faith and the humbled Soule seeth that he is as able to satisfie for his sinne as to beleive in a Saviour that must satisfie And hee is as able to keepe the Law as to beleeve in him that hath fulfill'd the Law for him In Saint Iohn beleeving is call'd receiving Ioh. 1.16 and therefore the poore sinner seeth that it is not onely mercy and salvation that must do him good but hee seeth that if mercy and salvation were laid downe upon the naile for beleeving and receiving of it hee could not doe it of himselfe and therefore the Lord must give him a hand to receive it with You know the Apostle Paul saith Phil. 1.29 The naturall man cannot receive the things that be of God And the same Apostle is plaine to you it is given to beleeve So that faith is a gift and a poore sinner is as able to create a world as to receive mercy of himselfe The want of this is the cause why many a man that hath made a good progresse in the way of happinesse hee falls short of his hopes Many a sinner hath beene awakened and his heart humbled and the Soule comes to heare of Christ and thinks to lay hold of mercy and Christ out of his owne proper power and thus he deceives himselfe and the faith that he dreamed to have was nothing else but a fancie a faith of his owne framing it was never framed by the Almighty Spirit of the Lord in heaven hee never saw need of the power of God to make him able to beleeve as well as to save him and therefore his faith and all came to just nothing Now the broken hearted sinner saith All that I expect it must be from another and I am content to take what mercy will give and that mercy shall deny me what it will and give me what it will and I am content that mercy rule in me nay that mercy must give me a heart to beleeve and to take mercy or else I shall never beleeve Now you see what it is that the Soule must be contented withall The manner of Gods dealing Now I come to shew the maner of Gods dealing with the Soule for the Soule must be content with this too as I told you before The manner of Gods dealing may appeare in three particulars First the Soule stoopes to the condition that the Lord will appoint be it never so hard it is content to come to Gods termes be they never so harsh and wearisome As sometimes when the soule finds that the heaviest hand of the Lord hath laid long upon him that the sharpest
the whalls belly and wee shal heare no more newes of quarrelling but of praying and there he abased himselfe as it is with a Phisitian when the Patient hath some vehement fit of a fever or the like that he cannot sleepe they use to give him a litle Opium and that makes him rest a little This humiliation of heart is like Opium there are peevish fits of a proud heart that no word nor commandes will rule a man but he must have what he will or els he will set his mouth against heaven but a little receit of this Opium will quiet all if hee could but come to see his owne emptinesse and wretchednesse and get his heart to be at Gods disposing then his heart would bee wonderfully calmed and meekened whatsoever he endures Humiliation gives quiet to a mans course in three causes First in the fiercest temptations Secondly Three benefits of Humiliation in the heaviest oppositions of men Thirdly in the greatest poverty that can befall a man in this life In the strongest temptations When Sathan begins to besiege the heart of a poore sinner and layes battery against him the Soule is so settled that he cannot be remooved See how the humbled heart tires the divell and runnes him out of breath and out-shoots him in his owne Bow in the very highest of all his malice and indignation Take a poore Soule at the under when hee hath beene throughly burthened with a corruption and laid gasping for a little grace and favour and could not finde any evidence of mercy the Soule cryes continually and begs for mercy earnestly the divell seeth him and having some permission from God so to doe he lets flye at the poore Soule and labours to knocke him off from his course and saith to him in this manner Sathan objects Doest thou thinke to get mercy from the Lord and doest thou dreame of any mercy at the hands of God when thy own conscience dogs thee Nay goe to the place where thou livest and to the chamber where thou lyest and consider thy fearefull abhominations and how thou art foyled by them to this day set thy heart at rest God heares not and respects not the prayers of such vile sinners The Soule answers Now the Soule seeth this easily and confesseth it plainly and the humbled Soule saith it is true I have often denied the Lord when hee hath called upon mee and therefore he may justly deny mee yet seeke to him for mercy I must and if the Lord will cast mee away and reject my prayers I am contented if hee doe cast mee away what then Sathan Sathan what then saith the divell I had thought this would have been enough to make thee despaire Yet this is not all for God will give thee over and leave thee to thy selfe and to thy lusts and corruptions and thy latter end shall be worse than thy beginning and thou shalt call and cry and when thou hast done be overthrowne that loose uncleane and proud heart of thine will overthrow thee for ever God will leave thee to thy selfe and suffer thy corruptions to prevaile against thee and thou shalt fall fearefully to the wounding of thy conscience to the grieving of the hearts of Gods people to the scandall of the Gospel and the reproach of thy owne person The Soule answers Yet the humble Soule replies in this manner and saith if the Lord give mee up to my base lusts which I have given my selfe so much libertie in and if the Lord will leave me to my sinnes because I have left his gracious commands and if I shall fall one day and be disgraced and dishonoured yet let the Lord be honoured and let not God loose the praise of his power and justice and I am contented if God doe leave mee what then Sathan The Devill objects What then saith the divell I had thought this had beene enough to drive thee out of thy wits yet this is not all For when God hath left thee to thy sinnes then the Lord will breake out in vengeance against thee and get praise from that proud heart of thine and make thee an example of his heavy vengeance to all ages to come and therefore it is best for thee to prevent an untimely Iudgement by an untimely death The humble heart is quieted all this while and replyes The Soule answers whatsoever God can or will doe I know not yet so great are my sinnes that he cannot or at least will not doe so much against mee as I have deserved if the Lord doe come in Iudgement against mee I am contented say what thou wilt what then Sathan Thus you may runne the divell out of breath then the divell leaves the humbled Soule The want of this Humiliation of heart it is where by men are brought to desperate stands so that sometimes one man goes to a haltar another runs out of his wits and another drownes himselfe all this is horrible pride of heart Why will you not beare the wrath of the Lord It is true indeed your sinnes are great and Gods wrath is heavie yet God will doe you good by it and therefore be quiet In the time of warre when the great Cannons flye of the onely way to avoyd them is to lye down in a furrow and so the Bullets flye over them whereas they meete with the mountaines and tall Cedars So it is with all the temptations of Sathan which besiege us Lye low and be contented to be at Gods disposing and all the temptations of the divell shall not be able to disquiet or distract thee The second benefit Secondly when Sathan is gone then comes the troubles and oppositions of the world And this Humiliation of heart gives a secret setling to the Soule against all the railings and oppositions of the wicked world For this takes of the unrulinesse of the heart So that when the Soule will not contend with oppositions but is content to beare them it is not troubled with them The humble Soule seeth God dispensing with all oppositions and therefore it is not troubled with them A man is sometimes Sea-sicke not because of the Tempest but because of his full stomacke and therefore when he hath emptied his stomacke hee is well againe So it is with this Humiliation of heart If the heart were emptied truly though a man were in a Sea of oppositions if he have no more trouble in his stomacke and in his proud heart then in the oppositions of the world hee might bee quieted Consider David when he was in the wildernesse 1 Sam. 25.12 13. and sent to Nabal for some reliefe see how he raged extreamely against him because he was denied it The reason was not in the offence but in the pride of his heart Take the same man in the persecution of Absalon and when Shimei cursed him 2 Sam. 15.25 saying Art not thou he that kild such and such and that committed adultery with the wife of Vriah 2
THE SOVLES HVMILIATION Iob 22. vers 29. And he shall save the humble Person LONDON Printed by I. L. for Andrew Crooke at the signe of the Beare in Pauls Church-yard 1637. THE SOVLES HVMILIATION Luke 15. vers 14 15 16 17 18 c. 14. And when he had spent all there arose a mightie famine in that land and he began to be in want 15. And he went and joyned himself to a citizen of that countrey and he sent him into his fields to feed swine 16. And he would faine have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eate and no man gave unto him 17. And when he came to himselfe he said How many hired servants in my fathers have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger 18. I will arise and goe to my father and will say unto him Father I have sinned c. THAT a poore sinner might come and be partaker of the precious merits and death of our Saviour and receive comfort thereby There are two things considerable First a fitting and enabling of the soule for Christ Secondly an inplantation of the Soule into Christ For howsoever it is true there is aboundance of mercy and infinite merit in Christ yet unlesse the Soule be fitted and enabled by the hand of faith to lay hold upon Christ he shall never receive comfort from him be his necessities never so many and his misery never so grievous Therefore Iohn Baptist was sent to prepare the way that all those mountaines of pride might be laid low and all the ditches filled up and all the crooked things might be made strieght and all rough things might be made smooth that there might be a way for Christ The meaning is this The heart of a man is the high way wherein Christ comes Now there are mountaines of pride and untoward stoutnesse of heart and many windings and turnings and devices which the heart hath by reason of many lusts that are in it This fitting and preparing is nothing else but the taking away of that knotty knarlinesse of the heart and that pride and all such cursed corruptions that the doore may be set open and the heart made ready that the King of glory may come in The heart being thus fitted and enabled then followes humiliation for the breaking of the heart is not all that God hath to doe with a poore sinner though the Lord wound the heart of a sinner and run him through yet the heart will be starting aside and will not goe out to Christ Therefore I shall now speake of humiliation of the spirit yet before I come to it give me leave to lay open two passages 1. The necessity of this worke it must needs be 2. The nature of this worke First it is necessary that the soule should be thus humbled for humiliation pares away all selfe-sufficiency from the soule by compunction the Lord breakes the heart and wearies it with sinne and then the soule will be no more drunke nor loose nor vaine no more foolish nor dissembling nor hating of Gods servants nor use no more false weights by humiliation the Lord plucks away the confidence in a mans priviledges and all his good performances and all his duties by which he is ready to shelter himselfe and by which he thinks to get some succour and comfort to his owne soule Now as sinne shall not rule in the heart so the Lord will make the sinner see that whatsoever he hath and doth can never helpe him except the Lord Iesus come downe from heaven by his mightie power For the further opening of these you must know that there are these two maine lets which hinder the comming of faith into the soule and which keepe a man from beleeving in Christ that Christ may have possession of him First 1. Let of Faith when the soule is taken up with a secure course and rests it selfe well apaide in his owne practises and therefore it never seeth any need of a change nor never goes out for a change now while he lives thus and blesseth himselfe in his sinne it is impossible that ever the soule should receive faith or ever by the power of faith repaire to Christ upon these termes for ever where faith comes it works a change all the old things are done away and become new he is new in heart and life now the secure sinner that seeth no need of a change will never see need of faith nor labour for it and if the Ministers of God bid such a man to leave his sinne and to pray in his family and forsake his sinfull practises and to sanctifie the Lords day and take up new courses he thinkes they bid him to his losse now by that time the Lord hath taken away this let and burthened the soule marvellous extreamely and saith is it well that you live in drunkennesse and in covetousnesse in cheating in lying and the like then take your sinnes and get you downe to hell with them thus the Lord is forced to breake the heart then a poore sinner begins to see where he is and now he saith and is this true then I am the most miserable creature under heaven and except I be otherwise it had beene good for mee if I had never beene borne by this time the soule sees need of a change Therefore as they said Men and brethren what shall we doe Acts 2.37 we have beene thus and thus but if we rest here it will be our ruine for ever oh what shall we doe Thus the soule comes to a restlesse dislike of it selfe and saith I must either be otherwise or else I am but a damned man for ever When the soule is thus resolved that it must of necessitie change and there is no dallying with the Lord nor with himselfe and this heart must be altered and this course must be amended When it sees that it must change it begins to improve all meanes to see if he can possibly doe it by his owne strength and by his meanes using as if the soule did say good Lord cannot my wit compasse it and cannot my prayers worke it and though I am a sinfull wretched man yet I will be no more drunke nor uncleane nor the like but by prayer and hearing and fasting I will labour to mend all in this kinde will not these duties doe the deed this very resting in a mans selfe-sufficiency doth marveilously crosse and hinder the worke of Faith for this is the nature of Faith It goes out of it selfe and fetcheth a principle of life grace and power from another The soule apprehends it selfe miserable and it falls upon the arme of Gods mercy and meerely goes out to God for succour Now for a man to fetch all from without and yet to seeke for sufficiency from himselfe these two cannot stand together they are professely crosse one to another and therefore after the Lord hath made the soule see an absolute necessitie of a
change and now the soule seeth an utter impossibilitie in himselfe to change or alter himselfe then he is content to goe to Christ for grace and power Thus Humiliation pares away all a mans priviledges and all his hearing and praying c. not that a man must use these noe more but he must not rest upon them for strength to help and succour himselfe withall as it is with the graft 1. it must be cut of from the old stocke 2. it must be pared and made fit for the implantation into an other Soe the Soule being cut of from sinne then humiliation pares it and makes it for the ingrafting into Christ What humiliation is thus you see this worke is absolutely necessary But what is this humiliation of heart It is thus much When the soule upon search made despaires of all helpe from it selfe he doth not despaire of Gods mercy but of all helpe from himselfe and submits himselfe wholy to God the soule strikes sale and fals under the power of Iesus Christ and is content to be at his disposing In this description let me discover these three particular passages First the sinner that is now wounded and apprehensive of his owne misery makes out for some succour and remedy els where but he doth not goe to Christ Secondly when he used all meanes that he can he seeth noe helpe at all nay he utterly despaires of finding any succour from himselfe or from the creature Then the soule despairing of all succour in himselfe it fals downe at the throne of grace and saith if the Lord will damne him he may and if he will save him he may which as yet he cannot see but he resolves to waite upon God for mercy he submits himselfe to the Lord and is content to bee at his disposing For the first part of the description that the soule seeketh for remedy els where and not from Christ this is exprest here in the 15 verse of this Chapter The Prodigall would needs have his portion and hee would not ever bee a slave in his fathers family well he had his portion and gone he is and he hath spent all and when all was gone there fell a great famine in the Lande and what did he then hee would not now ryot any more as he had done because poverty pinched him in this kind but he turnes good husband and is content to use any meanes for his maintenance and hee would make hard shift before he would goe home to his father and therfore he joynes himselfe to a Cittizen of the Countrie c. This prodigall is a true picture of every poore distressed sinner that hath ryotted away his time yet at last when the venome of sinne beginnes to scorch and pearce his soule and he is famished for want of Gods favour and the wrath of God pursues him and a desperate sorrow seaseth upon his heart and he is wearied and burthened and tired with his sinne and sees that hee hath noe helpe hee sets all his wits to worke to see if hee can tell which way to succour himselfe in these his grievances and though he will not take up any base courses as hee had done but prooves a good husband and useth all meanes to succour himselfe soe the doctrine from hence is this Doctrine A sinner naturally in his trouble and distresse seekes for succour not from God nor from Christ but from himselfe and from his owne abilities Soe that the soule being in this great extremity of heart by reason of his sinne he dares not nay hee will not meddle with sinne any more but it betakes it self to hearing and praying and to other duties ordinary and extraordinary and by these he thinkes to be absolutely succoured I confes the best of Gods Saints must use these meanes they must heare and pray and fast but they must not rest upon these it was very fit that the Prodigall should labour for his living but not that he should not withall seeke home to his father for reliefe Soe it is requisite that wee should heare and pray and fast but these should not keepe us from a father It is the nature of man naturally to make of meanes a Saviour to himselfe he scrapes for some succour and and rests upon some rotten endeavours and because he can heare and pray and fast he thinks this is enough to save him he uses not these to bring him to Christ but rests on them It is a naturall thing ingrafted into all mankind since the fall of Adam as you may see by the Apostle Rom. 9.31.32 because the Iewes were scrambling for life and happinesse from the workes of the Law therefore they could not attaine it but the Gentiles which did not seeke it from the workes of the Law they got it as if he had said when they saw their anguish and trouble then they fell upon these duties of hearing and praying and fasting and they thought that was enough in Conscience and here they tooke up their stand this is to cleave to a man of the Country Rom. 10.3 and the same Apostle saith they being ignorant of the rightousnes of God sought to establish themselves in their owne righteousnesse c this they would have here they would rest and here they would die In common experience wee may see it take a poore sinner that hath been soundly awakened in the sence of his owne vilenesse what is the ground of his hope Oh saith hee now the world is well amended with mee and I have not beene drunke so many yeeres and I have performed these and these duties as if that would serve the turne this is to looke for happinesse from a mans owne duties It is with a poore sinner as it was with Ephraim when Ephraim saw his wound and his sicknesse Hosea 5.13 then hee went to Ashur and to king Iaribbe that is to the king of contention or advocate but hee did not heale their wound Therefore the lamenting Church saith Ashur shall not save us Hosea 14.1 we will not ride upon horses neither will wee say any more to the worke of our hands yow are our gods as if they had said wee made king Ashur and the King of Aegypt our gods and wee thought wee might have hired helpe from them but now wee see there is no helpe in them as it was in that temporall distresse so it is in this spirituall affliction of the soule When the soule seeth his wound and his sinne before him to condemne him and misery prepared to plague him and he hath as it were a little peepe-hole into hell the soule in this distresse sends over to prayer and hearing and holy services and thinkes by his wits and duties or some such like matters to succour it selfe and it begins to say my hearing and my prayer c. will not these save me thus the soule in conclusion rests in their duties Though these duties be all good honourable and comfortable yet
they are no gods at all able of themselves to save us but they are the ordinances of God that leade us to God yet they cannot give salvation to any that rests upon them It is the nature of a sinfull heart to make the meanes as meritorious to salvation yet mistake me not these duties must be had and used but still a man must not stay here a man will use his bucket but he expects water from the well these meanes are the buckets but all our comfort and all our life and grace is onely in Christ if you say your bucket shall helpe you you may starve for thirst if you let it not downe into the well for water so though you brag of your praying and hearing and fasting and of your almes and building of hospitals and your good deeds if none of these bring you to a Christ and if these are not meanes to settle you on a Christ you shall die for thirst though your works were as the works of an Angel But why doth the soule seeke for succour from it selfe and will not goe out to Christ Reason 1 The first reason is because the sinner being conceived not yet to be in Christ out of the guilt of sin dares not be so proud as to thinke that he shall have any favour at Gods hands for the sinner being now overwhelmed with the body of death and the guilt of his abominations galling of him and being starved by reason of his sinnes and still his sinnes being before his eyes and to this day having gotten no assurance of the pardon of them and God being angry against him his heart shrinkes in consideration of the eternall wrath of the Almighty against him and he saith because I have despised justice and abused mercy how dare I appeare before Gods justice for feare justice consume me and execute vengeance upon me and therefore the soule dares not yet venture to come before God and hence it is that the soule saith can I not take some course of my selfe and doe it without Christ must I needs goe and heare certainly the word will condemne and must I needs goe and confesse my sinnes what shall I a rebell goe before a Prince to come before him it is the next way to be executed and have some plague throwne upon me As a malefactor will devise some shift that hee may not come before the judge so while the soul may have some succour from himself and the staffe is in his owne hand there is some hope and he would willingly doe any thing for himselfe but for the soule to have salvation out of his owne reach and to put the staffe out of his owne hand and to hang his salvation upon Gods good pleasure whose love and mercy as yet he was never perswaded of Oh this is very hard and the heart is marvellous shie and carefull in this and it is with the heart in this kinde as Rabshecah said to the people of Israel If you say to mee Esa 36.7 is not that hee whose altars you have broken downe c. Thus hee laboured to plucke away the hearts of this people from trusting in the Lord The soule in this kinde sometimes shakes and shrinkes in the apprehension of his owne vilenes and saith as this wretch did have you offended him and doe you looke for any succour from him this argument was very peevish and keene and yet false for they were the altars of Idols but the soule saith against it selfe and marvellous truly when a Minister would perswade a man to goe to heaven for mercy the soule begins to reason thus with it selfe and saith shall I repaire to God Oh that 's my trouble is not he that great God whose justice and mercy and patience I have abused and is not he the great God of heaven and earth that hath beene incensed against mee oh with what face can I appeare before him and with what heart can I looke for any mercy from him I have wronged his justice and can his justice pardon mee I have abused his mercy and can his mercy pitie mee what such a wretch as I am If I had never enjoyed the meanes of mercy I might have had some plea for my selfe but oh I have refused that mercy and have trampled the blood of Christ under my feet and can I looke for any mercy no no I see the wrath of the Lord incensed against mee and that 's all that I looke for the soule rather desires the mountaines to fall upon him that he may never appeare before God Nay I have observed this in experience In the horror of heart the soule dare scarce reade the Word of God for feare he should reade his owne necke verse and he dare not pray for feare his prayers be turned into sinne and so increase his Iudgement thus the soule out of the guilt of sinne dare not seeke out to the Lord and therefore it will use any shift to helpe it selfe without going to God Reason 2 The second Reason why the soule dare not seeke out to Christ for succour it is this because the mysteries of life and salvation through Christ are not yet made knowne to the soule the soule being yet considered as barely broken and wearied with the burthen of sinne Let me say as the Apostle doth the new and living way in Christ is not yet revealed to the soule and it is not yet set open before his eyes though it shall be revealed taking it as in this precise consideration only prepared for Christ Nay those supernaturall truthes namely that the soule must live by another mans life and be made holy by anothers holinesse and be sanctified by anothers spirit these are not yet revealed these doe exceed our corrupt nature Adam after his fall could not have found out this way if the Lord had not revealed it Had not the Lord Iesus Christ that came from the bosome of his Father made this bosome truth knowne we had never beene acquainted with it therefore the soule cannot come to Christ upon these termes As our Saviour saith Ioh. 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but hee that came downe from heaven Now this poore distressed sinner as yet guiltie of his sinne and yet not seeing a way revealed and not able to ascend into this heavenly mystery because it seeth no better way it will betake it selfe to these duties that may be done by his owne strength without seeking to Christ Reason 3 Because for a man to be able and to have a power and principle of life to performe duties of himselfe and to please God of himselfe it was once possible in the time of mans innocency Adam had it and he might have procured Gods favour and have kept the Law and have beene blessed by the Law because the Lord had given him a stocke in himselfe and made him able to doe it of himselfe and we retaine thus much of Adams nature we are loath
that is you will not goe out from your selves to the Lord Christ and therefore cannot receive mercy and grace from his Majesties hands though thou art never so base and vile if thou couldst goe to the Lord Iesus and rest upon him for mercy nothing should stand betweene thee and heaven but if thou stickest in thy selfe all the grace in Christ can doe thee no good Secondly This carnall confidence makes a man unprofitable under all the meanes that God bestowes Ier. 17.5 6. As the Prophet Ieremy saith Cursed is he that trusts in the arme of flesh and departs from the Lord Why What shall become of him the text saith he shall be like an heath in the wildernesse and shall never see good The nature of the heath is this though all the dew of heaven and all the showers in the world fall upon it and though the Sunne shine never so hotly it will never grow fruitfull it will never yield any fruit of increase but it is unfruitfull still Such a Soule thou wilt be thou that restest upon thy own services sayest because thou hearest and prayest and doest sanctifie the Lords Day therefore thou must needs goe to heaven I say thou shalt never see good by all the meanes of grace if thou makest them independent causes of salvation all the promises in the Gospel shall never establish thee and all the judgements in the world will never terrifie thee thou shalt never have any saving grace wrought in thee by them The truth is hee that hath all meanes and hath not a Christ in all hee shall never see good by all Therefore thou that restest upon thy parts and gifts and upon thy duties thou wilt have a heart so besotted that grace will never come into thy heart and God will never quiet thy conscience It may be a poore drunkard is converted and humbled but thou standest still and canst get no good by all the means in the world Therefore say thus to thy selfe doth this carnall confidence cut mee off from all the grace and mercy that is in Christ and without mercy and pardon from Christ I am undone for ever and without grace I am a poore defiled wretch here and shall be damned for ever after if I rest here I may bid adue to all mercy Nay all the meanes that I have never doe mee good Is this the fruit of my carnall confidence Oh Lord withdraw my heart from it Lastly When all the meanes of grace will not plucke away the Soule from resting upon it selfe The fourth meanes when reason will not rule him nor meanes will not prevaile with a poore sinner as commonly a great while they will not then the Lord tires a poore Soule with his owne distempers And the Lord deales with the Soule as an enemy deales with a Castle that he hath besieged When the Citizens will not yield up the Castle he famisheth them and cuts off all provision and makes them consume within and so at last they are forced to resigne it up upon any termes So When the Lord hath laid siege to a carnall heart and hath shewed him his woefull condition and yet the heart will not of nor will not take up any termes of peace but still hee will shift for himselfe Now what doth the Lord doe hee takes away the comfort of all the meanes that he hath till hee is famished with the want of Gods favour and then hee is content to yield up all to the God of heaven and earth It was just so with this Prodigall all the world could not perswade him but he might live better of his portion and so away hee goes and when hee had tried the world and could get no succour at last he confest it was better to be at a fathers finding and now he saw that a fathers house was admirably good and that the servants and children in their fathers house are happy for they have bread enough and enough againe and to spare too and so hee is forced to returne So it is with many poore distressed soules all the arguments under heaven cannot quiet them and all the meanes in the world cannot plucke them from themselves and we tell them daily that they must not expect grace nor power nor pardon from themselves 2 Ioh. 3. It is mercy and peace saith the Apostle You would have peace of conscience and pardon of sinne and assurance of Gods love and whence would you have it you would have it from your duties it is not prayer and peace nor hearing and peace but it is mercy and peace and therefore away to the Lord Iesus that you may receive mercy from him Yet we cannot get poore creatures from themselves but they would faine shuffle for themselves and have a little comfort of their owne and they say Lord cannot my prayers my care and fasting merit salvation Now what doth God then he saith to such a Soule goe try then put to the best of thy strength and use all the meanes that thou canst and see what thou canst doe See if thou canst cure thy conscience and heale those wounds of thine and subdue the corruptions of thy heart with thy prayers and abilities but when the Soule hath made triall and weltred and wearied it selfe at last he finds that all the meanes he can use cannot quiet him nor comfort his conscience and the poore sinner is pinched and wearied and the Lord will not answer his prayers nor sweeten the desires of his Soule and the Lord will not blesse the Word to him for his comfort and at last the Soule saith Such a poore Christian even a man of meane parts and weake gifts how is he comforted and such a profane drunkard is puld home and hath gotten the assurance of Gods love The Lord hath puld downe the proud hearts of such and such and they live comfortably and sweetly and I have no peace nor assurance of Gods love You may thanke your selves for it they saw nothing and they looked for nothing from themselves and therefore they went home to the gate of mercy to the Lord Iesus Christ and they have bread enough if you would come home to Christ you might have beene comforted also Now therefore goe to the Lord Iesus Christ and as certainly as God is in heaven refreshing and comfort will come into your hearts and mercy which is better then marrow shall satisfie those feeble fainting spirits of yours You see what the way is and what the helps be to pluck off our hearts from resting upon these duties and therefore thinke thus with thy selfe and say is my misery so great and are my duties so weake and is my carnall confidence so dangerous that I may be troubled for ever for any thing that I can doe of my selfe and is comfort no where else to be had but in the Lord Iesus Christ Oh then Lord worke my heart to this duty Sticke not in your selves doe all this but goe
beyond all that you can doe and labour so to approve your hearts to God that you may see greater mercy in God then in all that you can doe Now there are two Cavils which carnall persons slander this truth of God withall and these must be answered before I can come to the trials The first Cavill The first cavill with which wretches are content upon this truth it is this Oh say they What is it so that all our prayers and hearings all our care and desires and all our improvement of meanes are nothing worth will not all these justifie us nor make us acceptable to God then let us cast care away let us sweare and ryot and drinke and live as wee list wee heare that all the duties that wee can doe will not save us the Minister tells us so Thus a company of carnall wretches runne headlong downe to eternall destruction one sweares and another casts all the commandements of God behind his back Answ To this I answer Doth the Minister say so nay the Word the Scripture the Spirit of God saith so and the Lord Iesus himselfe speakes it In the meane time wilt thou gain-say that which the Lord Christ hath spoken Doth not the Apostle say You are saved not of works c. And in another place It is not in him that wills nor in him that runnes but in the Lord that shewes mercy Rom. 9.16 It is the spirit of God that saith it and doest thou stand to out-face the Lord Iesus Christ in it But stay a while and take a full answer with thee and know these three things thou that doest abuse this doctrine of Gods free favour First howsoever thy good workes are not sufficient to save thee yet thy evill workes are enough to damne thee As the Apostle saith 2 Thess 2.12 that all they might bee damned which beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse You that take pleasure in your drunkennes and prophanesse and in your jibing and jesting at the meanes of grace there is roome enough in hell for you all that all you might be damned Yea thou that delightest in thy drunkennes thou maist drinke downe thy last and thy damnation too and thou that blasphemest against the truth of Christ take heed that God poure not downe his wrath upon thee It is true though thy good workes are not perfectly good and cannot save thee yet thy bad workes are perfectly naught and and will condemne thee nay thy prayers are an abhomination to the Lord and will the Lord save thee for that which is abhominable to him thou thinkest hell is broke loose because mercy is come into the world this thy wickednes will condemne thee for evermore Secondly they that thus stand it out against Gods free grace in Iesus Christ the Lord in mercy open their eyes my soule mournes for them and for that strange punishment that shall befall them except the Lord breake their hearts in time as any sinne is enough to condemne them so their sinne is of an unconceiveable hainousnesse and their judgement will be answerable Their sinne is become out of measure sinfull because mercy is revealed and they have made a mock of it The very height of all that wrath that is in God shall be their portion Good Lord is it possible that ever any man should dare to despise the mercy of God and to trample the blood of Christ under his feete and not onely to commit wantonnesse but to turne the grace of God into wantonnesse and to make the Lord Christ the Patron of all their filthinesse How will the Lord Iesus take it at at their hands that whereas the Lord Iesus came into the world to destroy the works of the devill they should make Christ a meanes to uphold the works of the devill Oh that ever any man should dare to sinne because mercy abounds and because they heare that Christ will one day save them therefore they in the meane time will do all they can against him that must save them See what S. Paul saith against such Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse Rom. 2.4 5. long sufferance and forbearance not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth to repentance but after thy hardnesse of heart thou treasurest up to thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath Thou that livest in the bosome of the Church where the Angels come downe from heaven and rejoyce in this free grace of God in Christ and hast thou the offer of this mercy and doest thou despise it then thy drunkennesse is not bare drunkennesse but there is a treasure of vengeance in it And thou sayest thou wilt be drunke and prophane because thy sobriety and thy good works cannot save thee I tell thee it is not bare scorning and bare prophanes but there is a masse of vengeance in all these And when thou shalt stand before the judgement seat of Christ and shall be indited for a drunkard and a scorner and a prophane person and such a one as hast tossed the people of God with scornes upon thy Ale-bench when the Law hath thus proceeded against thee then will mercy come in against thee and say Lord execute vengeance upon him for mee and for me saith another for I have beene dishonoured and because mercy did abound he would have his sinne abound also And then comes in the blood of Christ and cries aloud saying Vengeance against that drunkard indeed Lord there 's a poore wretch that knew no other but vengeance Lord against that drunkard and that scorner because my blood was shed and mercy was offered and hee despised it You that know your drunken neighbours and servants and see their ryoting and scorning tell them that there is a treasure of vengeance in those sinnes and you that are guilty of it goe your wayes home and mourne and the Lord give us hearts to mourne for you You that know what this sinne is when you goe to the Lord in Prayer put up one petition for them and say Good Lord take away that treasure of vengeance Oh pray that if it be possible this great sinne may be pardoned Thirdly all such persons must know that it is carnall confidence in the meanes that withdrawes a blessing from them in the use of the meanes What things were gaine to mee saith Saint Paul I accounted losse for Christ Phil. 3.7 that is when he put any confidence in them hee lost the benefit of the meanes The second cavill Secondly Some will say you doe nothing but reproove us for duties and labour to plucke us from them then why should we pray and heare and what good shall we have by all that we doe if we cannot be saved by these meanes then what use is there of them Answ To this I answer Yes there is great use of them and much good to be had by them As the Apostle saith Titus 3.14 Let us also learne to maintaine good works
and perswade him of Gods mercy towards him Take this man upon his death-bed when all the Ministers come to give him comfort upon any termes and they say unto him your course hath beene good and commendable and you have lived thus and thus and taken much paines in praying and hearing and fasting therefore undoubtedly you cannot but receive mercy from the Lord. See what the poore Soule will reply It is true saith he I have done and may doe all these but I have not done them in a right manner I have not had an eye to Christs mercy but have accounted these duties as satisfactory to Gods justice so that they savour not so much of dutie as arrogancy whilest presuming upon their worth I have not depended upon Gods mercy but even challenged his justice in the reward of my labours Thus the Soule argueth with it selfe I have depended too long upon these outward works and thought to purchase heaven by them but now I finde it necessary that I get them dyed and sanctified in the blood of Christ Thus it was with Saint Paul when he said 1 Cor. 4.4 I know nothing by my selfe What might some say Paul You are a reverend learned man and have had a great name in the Church and who can say blacke is your eye It is true saith he I know nothing by my selfe but what then yet I am not thereby justified Nay it is the difference that he makes betweene himselfe a Pharisee and himself a poore contrite sinner When he was a Pharisee he counted his priviledges gaine to him but now hee thought them losse in regard of Christ They are good mercies Phil 3.7 where God gives them in regard of themselves but in the way of Iustification and Salvation they are as dung and drosse in respect of any merit in them This is one difference betweene a dead hypocrite and a living Christian A dead hypocrite will be content with dead hearing and dead praying and with the bare shell of duties but a living Christian that seeth his owne evill and sinne cannot be fild nor contented without a Christ That which will maintaine a Camelion will starve a man for a Camelion will live upon the ayre but put a Man into the best ayre that is and it will starve him if hee have no other food So if thou canst feed upon the ayre of hearing and the picture and shadow of praying it is a signe thou art a dead man whereas if thou be a true man in Christ Iesus thou must have bread or else all the world cannot content thee Bread for the Lords sake saith the hunger-starved man therefore let mee give thee an Item this way goe thy way home and take notice of thine heart thou that canst licke thy Soule whole and cure all thy sinnes with a few prayers and teares and fastings and in the meane time seest not a necessity of a Saviour know that it is a notorious signe of a cunning hypocrite as there are many in these dayes It is with an hypocrite as it is with some men written of in Stories they have such an antidote and preservative that they can eate poyson and it shall never hurt them So it is with some hypocrites that have their reservations of some sins and they retaine some base distempers and they will tipple in a corner and lye in some secret sinnes and yet they trust so much to their antidote and to their duties that it will cure all and it is but praying and fasting so much the more often The God of heaven open the eyes and awaken the consciences of all such if there be any such here this day If it be so that thou canst pray and keepe a close hollow heart and thou canst licke thy selfe whole and then sinne and a little prayer will serve againe and then goe and be unjust and uncleane and keepe false ballances still know then it is certaine thou never haddest a part in Christ and didst see a need of Christ And as it was with the Prodigall if hee had beene a Hogge the huskes might have served him but hee was a Man and therefore must have bread Therefore thou hypocrite to thy Stye if these huskes will save thee and serve thy turne and if the mill of a prayer will serve I doe not discommend these duties No cursed be he that doth it but if thou content thy selfe with a mill of praying and yet there is as much power of Christ and sap of grace in thy heart as in a chip then I say thou art a Hogge and no Man whom these huskes will content The third Triall Thirdly he that seeth himselfe helples and hopeles in the meanes hee will constantly labour to goe beyond all the meanes Because hee is in neede and finds no helpe here he will seeke it els where that his heart may be refreshed when the Lord hath awakened the heart and shewed him the emptinesse of all meanes it makes the soule go further then the means this is the heavenly skill It is with the Soule in this case as it is with a marriner though his hand be upon the oare yet he ever lookes homeward to the haven where he would be And it is in professing as it is in trading You know when a man sets up for himselfe and would live of his calling hee will buy and sell but his eye is ever upon the gaine that 's it which must keepe the Cart on the wheeles or els hee may die a begger and shall never be able to keep him and his it is not enough to trade and to buy and sell but he goes beyond all these and labours to get something Iust so it is in professing it is like thy trading thou hearest and praiest and professest but the gaine is to haue Christ made to thee in life and death gaine soe that all the gaine a man gets is Christ Thou art a professor and hast beene baptized and hast received the Sacrament but what hast thou gotten by all thy praying and preaching and other services unlesse thou hast gotten Christ thou hast gotten just nothing at all It is with thee as it is with a man that hath a great shop and much wares and quicke returne and yet he is not able to pay his debts so thou performest many faire duties and hast many rich priviledges and yet thou art not able to satisfie Gods Iustice nor to recompence the Church for the wrong done to it and when thou art going the way of all flesh but specially in the day of judgement then shall people say of thee such a man was buying and selling and professing all his life and yet got nothing and when a poore Soule is breathing out his last then comes justice and saith give me my own thou hast sinned and therfore thou must die for it Lord saith hee take some prayers and readings and fastings in stead of payment and if these will not serve then he
but loose all these in the Lord Christ And see that mercy and compassion and that boundlesse goodnesse that is in the Lord Iesus and that mercy that will pardon all sinnes and forgive all sorts of sinners if they be humbled before him There is no pardon in grace nor in means in Word nor in Sacraments there is none but in Christ see none but that and when thou art there hold thy heart to it drench and drowne thy Soule there and fling thy Soule into the Sea of that plenteous Redemption in Christ and though thy prayers and all faile yet that mercy in Christ will never faile Away with these rivers these are all fresh water comforts that will faile but that Sea of mercy in Christ will hold for ever See a Sea of misery and confusion in thy soule and a Sea of mercy in Christ and say none but that Lord Here sit and here fall and for ever establish thy soule that it may goe well with thee for ever Thus you ought to goe beyond all meanes and he that doth thus doth truly despaire of all saving succour in them Therefore goe home and say thus the Lord hath given mee some comfort and some grace and a heart enlarged to walke with God and to performe dutie to him but I trust not in this comfort nor in my enlargement all my comfort is in Christ that Sea of mercy is still full and I rest there go from all these to that and rest there and let that content thee for ever Thus you see how farre the Prodigall hath gone Text. What doth he now he comes to himselfe and saith I will arise and goe 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 sonne make mee as one of thy hired servants Now his stout stomacke is come downe and he comes home by weeping crosse and he that had formerly slighted the kindnesse of a father and said Hee would not alwayes be holden within his fathers house he would have his portion and he hath it and is gone and at last when his heart and all failes him he comes to himselfe said here I may starve and die too the hogges fare better then I do therefore home I will go to my father c. This is the third passage that I told you of in the description of this worke of humiliation In these words there are these two things cleare First he submits himselfe to his father Secondly he is content to be at his fathers disposing he doth not seeke to be his owne carver and say if I may be my fathers steward and have some eminent place in the house then I will go home no but he saith father I am not worthy to be a Sonne make mee as a hired servant if I can but get into my fathers house againe I will die rather then go away any more he is content to be any thing so his father will but receive him into his family though it were but to be a drudge in the kitchen here 's a heart worth gold oh saith he let all the weight lye upon me I care not what I be only let mee be a servant So then from the former of these two the Doctrine is this The third Doctrine The distressed sinner that despaires of all supply and succour in himselfe is driven to submit himselfe to the Lord God for succour and reliefe It is no thankes to the Prodigall that hee comes home now neither is it any thanks to a poore sinner that hee returnes after all his wandring away from God yet better late then never For the opening of this point I will shew two things First What is the behaviour of the heart in this worke of submission and the manner of it Secondly The reasons why the Lord drives the heart to this stand and makes it fall downe at the footestoole of mercy What is subjection The first how the Soule behaves it selfe in this subjection The sinner having a sight of his owne sin and being troubled and overwhelmed with the unsupportable sorrow that attends there unto and yet he is not able to get power over his sinne nor assurance of pardon from the Lord for you must conceive the sinner to bee in the worke of preparation and hee yet conceives God to bee an enemy against him though he is in a good way to mercy yet God comes as an angry God against him and hee takes what course he can and seekes far and wide and improves all meanes and takes up all dutyes that if it were possible he might heale his wounded Soule and get ground against his corruptions but the truth is hee finds no succour and receives no comfort in what he hath nor in what he doth and therefore being in this despairing condition he seeth he cannot avoyd Gods anger neither can he beare it therefore he is forced though loath to make triall of the kindnesse of a father and of the Lord though for the present he apprehends God to be just to be incensed against him and though hee hath no experience of Gods favour for the while and no certainty how he shall speed if hee come to God yet because he sees that he cannot be worse then hee is but hee may be better if God please and this he knowes that none but God can helpe him therefore he fals at the footestoole of mercy and lyes grovelling at the gate of grace and submits himselfe to God that he may do what he will with him When Ionah had denounced that heavy judgement and as it were throwne wild-fire about the streets saying Ionah 3.9 within fortie dayes Nineveh shall be destroyed See what they resolve upon they fasted and prayed and put on sack cloath and ashes the Lord in mercy grant that we may take the like courses who can tell said they but God may turne and repent him of his feirce wrath that we perish not As if they had said we know not what God will do but this wee know that we cannot oppose Gods judgements nor prevent them nor succour our selves yet who can tell but the Lord may bee gratious and bountifull and yet continue peace and goodnesse to us in this kind thus it is with a sinner despairing of all succour in himselfe when he seeth hell fire flashing in his face and that he cannot succour himselfe then he saith this I know that all the meanes in the world cannot save mee yet who can tell but the Lord may have mercy upon mee and cure this distressed conscience and heale all these wounds that sinne hath made in my Soule when Paule went breathing out threatnings against the Church of God and he came furnished with letters from the high Priests with all his tricks and implements to persecute the Saints the Lord met him and there was a single combat fought between them the glory of the Lord amazed
him and threw him flat on the ground and when Paul saw that the Lord Iesus had the advantage against him hee yeilded himselfe and said Act. 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have mee to do This is the lively picture of the Soule in this case this subjection discovers it selfe in foure particulars First take the Soule despairing of mercy and succour in himselfe hee seeth and confesseth that the Lord may and for ought he knowes will proceed in justice against him and execute upon him those plagues that God hath threatned and his sinne deserved and he seeth that Iustice is not yet satisfied and all those reckonings betweene God and him are not made up and therefore he cannot apprehend but that God may and will take vengeance of him he seeth that when he hath done all that he can he is unprofitable and Iustice remaines unsatisfied and saith thou hast sinned and I am wronged and therefore thou shalt dye See what the text saith can a man be profitable to the Lord as he that is wise may be profitable to himselfe Iob 22.2 3. is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous or is it any gaine to him that thou makest thy way perfect So the Soule saith Is all that I can doe any thing to the Lord is the Lords Iustice any gainer by it Nay Iustice is yet unsatisfied because there is sinne in all that I doe and therefore Iustice may proceed against me therefore the soule resolves that the Lord may and will Nay why should he not come in vengeance and Iudgement against him Secondly he conceives that what God will doe he can doe and he cannot avoyd it The anger of the Lord cannot be resisted If the Lord will come and require the glory of his Iustice against him there is no way to avoyd it nor to beare it and this crusheth the heart and makes the soule to be beyond all shifts and evasions and all those tricks whereby it may seeme to avoyd the dint of the Lords blow As Iob saith Hee is one minde and who can turne him Iob 23.13 14 15 16. and what his soule desireth that doth he It is admirable to consider it for this is it that makes the heart melt and come under When the Soule saith If God come who can turne him hee will have his honour from this wretched proud heart of mine hee will have his glory from mee either here in my humiliation or else hereafter in my damnation And in the next verse Iob saith Many such things are with him As if he had said hee hath many wayes to crush a carnall confident heart and to make it lye low He wants not meanes to pull downe even the most rebellious sinner under heaven And now marke what followes He can crush them all what became of Nimrod Cain Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar They are all brought downe therefore saith he I am troubled at his presence when I consider it I am afraid for God maketh my heart soft and the Almightie troubleth mee Thirdly As the sinner apprehends that God may doe what he will and he cannot resist him So the soule flings away all shifts and tricks that he had and he resignes up the power of all his priviledges that he hath to defend himselfe withall he casts away his weapons and falles downe before the Lord and resignes himselfe into the Soveraigne power and command of God This was in the Spirit of the Prophet David 2 Sam. 15.25.26 When the Lord had cast him out of his Kingdome hee said to Zadock Carry backe the Arke of God into the Citie if I shall finde favour in the eyes of the Lord hee will bring mee backe againe and shew mee both it and his habitation But if he thus say to mee I have no delight in thee Behold here I am let him doe with mee as seemeth good in his eyes Or as it was with those people 2 King 10.2.3 4. 2 Kings 10.2 3 4. Where when Iehu sent this message to the people of Israel saying Now as assoone as this letter commeth to you seeing your masters sonnes are with you and there are with you chariots and armour and a fenced Citie looke out even the best and fittest of your masters sonnes and set him on his fathers throne and fight for your fathers house But the text saith they were all exceedingly afraid and therefore they sent word to Iehu and said two Kings could not stand out against thee and then how can we stand We are thy servants and will doe all that thou shalt bid us wee will make no King doe thou that which is good in thine eyes This is the frame of a poore Soule When a poore sinner will stand upon his own priviledges the Lord saith beare my Iustice and defend thy selfe by all that thou hast if thou canst and the Soule saith I am thy servant Lord doe what is good in thine eyes I cannot succour my self therefore the heart gives up it selfe to be at the command of God Fourthly The Soule thus yielding up the weapons and comming in as to an enemy and as conquered then in the last place the soule freely acknowledgeth that it is in Gods power to doe with him and to dispose of him as he will and therefore he lyes and lickes the dust and cryes mercy mercy Lord. He doth not thinke to purchase mercy at the Lords hands but onely saith it is onely in Gods good pleasure to doe with him as he will but hee lookes at his favour and cryes mercy Lord to this poore distressed soule of mine And when the Lord heares a sinner come from wandring up and downe in his priviledges the Lord replyes to the soule in this manner and saith Doest thou need mercy I had thought thy hearing and praying and fasting would have carried thee to heaven without all hazard therefore gird up thy loynes and make thy ferventest prayers and let them meet my Iustice and see if they can beare my wrath and purchase mercy Nay saith the sinner I know it by lamentable experience I have prooved that all my prayers and performances will never procure peace to my soule nor give any satisfaction to thy Iustice I onely pray for mercy and I desire onely to heare some newes of mercy to relieve this miserable and wretched soule of mine it is onely mercy that must helpe me Oh mercy if it may be possible the issue is thus much The sinner seeth that all he hath and can do can never succour him and therefore he throwes away his carnall confidence and he submits himselfe to the Lord and now he seeth that the Lord may justly come against him and that his justice is not satisfied and that he cannot beare Gods wrath nor avoyd it and he casts away all his shifts and lyes downe at the gate of mercy As it is with a debtor that stands bound for some farre greater summes then ever he is able to pay to
satisfie of himselfe he cannot and his friends will not and he knowes that the bonds are still in force and his creditor will sue him avoyd the suit he cannot and to beare it he is not able and therefore he comes in freely and offers himselfe and his person and gives up himselfe into his creditors hands onely he beseecheth him to remit that which he can never pay Iust so it is with the soule of a poore sinner The Soule is the Debtor and Divine Iustice is the Creditor When the poore sinner hath used all meanes to save and succour himselfe and to make payment and he hath as it were made a gathering of prayers all the Countrey over and yet he seeth that there is a controversie betweene God and him and yet his sinne is not pardoned and God is Iust and will have his honour and he is not able to avoyd the suite nor to beare it Psal 139.7 8. and the Soule saith as David did Whither shall I goe from thy spirit and whither shall I flye from thy presence if I ascend up into heaven thou art there c. So the Soule saith God will have his payment from this heart blood of mine if I goe into the East the Lord will follow mee and bid his Serjeant Conscience to arrest mee and I shall lye and rot in the Prison of hell for ever Now the Soule offers himselfe before the Lord and saith Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee Oh shew mercy if it be possible to this poore distressed Soule of mine thus the Prodigall did An other Similitude is this Me thinks the picture of those foure famished Lepers may fitly resemble this poore sinner When the famine was great in Samaria 2 King 7.3.8 9 c. There were foure leprous men sate in the gate of the Citie and they said Why sit we here untill we die If wee enter into the Citie the famine is there and if we sit here wee dye also Now let us therefore fall into the hands of our enemies if they save us alive we shall live and if they kill us we shall but die They had but one meanes to succour themselves withall and that was to goe into the Campe of their enemies come said they we will put it to the venture and so they did and were relieved This is the lively picture of a poore sinner in this despairing condition When the Soule of a poore Leprous sinner is famished for want of comfort and hee seeth the wrath of God pursuing of him and the Lord besets him on every side at last he resolves thus with himselfe I say when he hath used all meanes and finds succour in none hee resolves thus with himselfe and saith if I goe and rest upon my priviledges there is nothing but emptinesse and weakenesse if I trust in them and if I rest in my naturall condition I perish there also Let mee therefore fall into the hands of the Lord of Hosts who I confesse hath beene provoked by mee and for ought I see is mine enemy I am now a damned man and if the Lord cast me out of his presence I can but be damned that way and then hee comes to the Lord and falls downe before the footstoole of a consuming God and saith as Iob did What shall I say unto thee oh thou preserver of men I have no reason to plead for my self withall and I have no power to succour my selfe my accusations are my best excuse all the priviledges in the world cannot justifie me and all my duties cannot save me if there be any mercy left Oh succour a poore distressed sinner in the very gall of bitternesse This is the behaviour of the Soule in this work of subjection The reason why the Lord deales thus with the Soule and why hee plucks a sinner upon his knees there is great reason why he should doe it The reason is two-fold First That the Lord may herein expresse and glorifie the greatnesse of his power And secondly To shew forth the glory of his mercy Reason 1 First the glory of his power is mervailously magnified in that the Lord shewes that hee is able to pull downe the proudest heart and to lay low the haughtiest spirit under heaven and those that have out-braved the God of heaven and beene opposite to him and despised the glory of his name For herein is the glory of his name greatly exalted that hee makes a poore wretch to come and creepe and crawle before him and begge for mercy at his hands and to be at his dispose Exod. 9.27 It is a fine passage You know how Pharaoh would out-face the Lord saying Who is the Lord that I should obey him And as the Master sometimes saith to his servant You shall And you shall doe this saith the husband to his wife This is the sturdy fiercenesse of a company of wretches Well the Lord let him alone for the while but in the 27. verse when the Lord had freed and delivered his servants and had plagued the Aegyptians with the haile then Pharaoh said Now I know that the Lord is greater then all Gods and that he is righteous but I and my people are wicked Where is Pharaoh and Nimrod and all the rest of those mighty ones of the world they are all gone downe to hell and God hath destroyed them for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly hee was above them Herein is the glory of Gods power So it is here As we use to say Doe you know such a man Yes What was he A profest drunkard and a desperate despiser of God and his grace and one that did hate the very face of an honest man Oh the Lord hath brought him upon his knees Oh admirable saith he what is he humbled and is his heart broken Oh yes the Lord hath dejected him in that wherein he was proud As it is amongst men If two men be in controversie and the one enters into suit with the other and before a man will submit and yeeld himselfe hee will dye and rather spend all that he hath then to want his will and he will make that tongue denie what it hath spoken He thinks this his excellencie So it is with our God Herein is the power of the Almighty magnified that he hath brought downe those great Leviathans and all those Nimrods and great Kings which said Who is the Lord hee hath made such as these are to come in and to submit unto him Secondly The second Meanes by this meanes the Lord doth mervailously promote the praise of his mercy First Partly for the greatnesse of it And secondly partly for the freedome of it First in that the Lord helps a poore sinner at a dead lift and when all prayers and hearings prevailed not and when all priviledges were not able to purchase mercy and favour then the Lord shewes mercy Doth not this argue the excellencie of that Balme that will cure
when all other meanes cannot doe the deede that the Lord should then I say looke upon a poore sinner and refresh him with one drop of mercy Oh this is unspeakable mercy As the Prophet David saith All my bones can say Lord who is like unto thee as if hee had said This eye that hath wept for my sinnes this tongue that hath confest my sinnes and this heart that hath grieved for sinne all these have beene refreshed by thee This prayer is not like to thee this fasting and these priviledges are not like to thee for these could not succour mee but thou art the Lord that didst deliver and succour thy poore servant And secondly herein is also admirable freenesse of mercy that when the Lords mercy was but lightly looked after that then the Lord should give mercy and that to an enemie For the Soule can say if any thing in the world would have saved mee I should not have gone to the Lord for mercy and yet when all would not doe and when I did not thinke of any such matter then the Lord saved mee This is free mercy The hope of Israel is not like others and the God of Iacob is not like other Gods You distressed Soules did not you know the time when God terrified you and then offered mercy and you would none but you would scramble for mercy and shift for your owne comfort and yet the Lord brought downe those proud hearts of yours and when you were at a dead lift and could find comfort no where else then did the Lord shew mercy to your Soules Was not this free mercy wonder at it and give God glory for it even for ever Vse 1 This being so that the Soule that is throughly humbled yields to submit it self to the Lord Then this is like a Bill of inditement against all the stout ones of the world This shewes how unworthy they are of any mercy Nay how unfit they are for mercy They are so farre from partaking of Gods mercy that they will not be humbled and therefore they cannot be exalted Nay they have a base esteeme of it and so they hate their everlasting salvation For looke how farre they are from submission so farre they are from the comfort and happinesse of the Lord. He that will enter in at this strait gate of subjection is so farre from ever going in the way to life that he never set one foot yet in this way Let me speake as once the Prophet did Heare and tremble all you stout ones of the earth you that account it a matter of credit to cast off the Commandements of God and that you can lift up your selves against the Almightie Good Lord is it possible you know what I say there is many one here and if they be not here as commonly they are not let them heare of it How is it that men slight all corrections and snap all Gods Commandements in sunder as Samson did the Cords and they say their tongues are their owne and their lusts are the commands that carry them Nay is it not come to this passe now adayes for the Lords sake thinke of it that men account it a matter of basenesse of spirit to be such childish babes and to be so womannish as to stoope at every command Oh you must not be drunke saith one it is a hot argument and are you such a childe as to yield to it No let us follow our owne wayes is it not thus I appeale to your owne Soules there are too many guiltie in this place Doe you thinke to out-brave the Almightie in this manner doe you provoke the Lord to wrath and doe you not provoke your Soules to your owne confusion Doest thou thinke to goe to heaven thus bolt upright the Lord cannot endure thee here and will Hee suffer thee to dwell with himselfe for ever in heaven What thou to heaven upon these termes Nay thou must not thinke to out-brave the Lord in this manner and to goe to heaven too How did the Lord deale with Lucifer and all those glorious spirits He sent them all downe to hell for their pride Let all such spirits heare and know their misery I doe not trouble my selfe with any matter of indignation it is no trouble to me but onely because of your sinnes for you are the greatest objects of pitty under heaven You that know such and have such husbands oh mourne for them exceedingly The Lord doth detest their persons As the Wise man saith Prov. 11.20 The froward in heart are an abhomination to the Lord. The Lord doth abhorre that heart of thine And shall God abhominate that proud heart of thine and yet blesse it and save it and will He dwell with such a heart in heaven No he hath some body else to give heaven to Secondly thy estate is desperate here and marvellous unrecoverable As the same Wise man saith He that being often reprooved hardneth his necke and will not stoope to any counsels nor reproofes but saith Who meddles with you and I know what I have to doe and let every Tub stand uppon his owne bottome How many of you here have beene reprooved for your swearing but you leave it not How many of you have beene reprooved for your prophaning of the Lords Day doe you withdraw your selves from it Oh no such matter Goe your wayes then and mourne over those hard hearts of yours and in private say thus This is my sentence right The Lord be mercifull to my father saith the child and the Lord be mercifull to my proud husband saith the wife and to my wife saith the husband are not we they that have beene often reprooved have not we had such exhortations as have made the Church to shake the divels would have gotten more good if they had had them and yet we have cast of all and we would not come in we doe not yet pray in our Families but we throw away all the Lord hath said it hee that being often reprooved hardeneth his necke and will not come in shall perish hee is gone then and therefore thou may say Oh my husband is but a dead man and my childe is a dead childe he shall perish but is there no remedy may some say No the text saith so he shall suddainly be destroyed and that without remedy The truth is I need say no more but you that know your owne hearts bewaile those hard hearts of yours that as the water by continuall dropping at last melts the flint so if it be possible those proud hearts of yours may be brought downe If a drunkard or an adulterer will submit to the Word there is remedy for them but there is no remedy for him that will not yield to the Spirit of God The Lord bee mercifull to the Soules of them Will you see your sturdy hearted husbands and children perish the Lord in mercy set this home to your hearts at last and prevaile with them Will you perish
and that suddenly Oh let us pitie them will you not yield now but you will stand it out to the last man The Lord comes out in battell aray against a proud person and singles him out from all the rest and when the vyalls of his wrath are poured out upon all wicked ones mee thinks the Lord saith Let that drunkard and that swearer alone a while but let mee destroy that proud heart for ever You shall submit in spite of your teeth when the great God of heaven and earth shall come to execute vengeance and doe not think to scarre God with your mocks you that wil sweare a man out of your company Consider that place in Iob and see how the Lord comes with all his full might against a proud man Iob 15.25.26 27. It is good to read this place often that God may pull downe our proud hearts For he stretcheth out his hands against the Almighty saith the text and strengtheneth himselfe against God and he saith I will do it though my life lie at the stake for it he strengthens himselfe and will doe it Surely God is afraid of him he comes so well mann'd the Lord must deale some way with him to overthrow him Mark what the text saith The Lord runnes upon him even on his neck upon the thick bosses of his bucklers because hee covereth his face with his fatnesse and maketh collops of fat upon his flankes the Lord comes upon him not at the advantage but in the height of his pride and in the rage of his malice the Lord will come upon him and ruinate him for ever Those that now stand it out and cast off all carelesly throwing away the commandements of God I would have them at the day of their death to out-stand the curse of God The Lord God commands to sanctifie his Sabbaths and to love his truth and his children yet you will not but you will strive against all I would haue you to out-stand the curse of God in the day of judgement and when the Lord Iesus shall say Depart from me yee cursed into everlasting fire stand it out now and say I will not goe to hell Lord I will not be damned No no you broke the cords here but the Lord will binde you in chaines of darknesse for ever remove those chaines if you can No Esay 2.17 the haughtinesse of men shall be brought low and the loftinesse of men shall be abased and the Lord shall onely be exalted in that day Vse 2 The second Use is for instruction to shew unto us that an humble Soule is mervailous teachable and tractable and is willing to yeeld unto and to be guided by any truth it submits and there is no quarrelling against the commandements of God one word of Gods mouth is enough If the Lord reproves it takes the same home to it selfe if the Lord promiseth it beleeves and if the Lord threatens it trembles It is easie to be convinced of whatsoever it is informed if it have no good reason to gaine-say it It is not of that wayward and pettish disposition that it will not be satisfied though all his reasons be answered and all objections taken away It is not led by his owne humours as many a man is though his conceits be against reason and opposite against God and his grace Nay it is content to yeeld to the authority of the truth and to take the impression of every truth it heares and yields Iob 34.32 and obeyes and frames it selfe answerably As Iob saith That which I know not teach thou mee and if I have done any iniquity I will doe so no more The humble Soule is content to confesse his ignorance and to submit to any truth that may enforme him and it is content to receive that mercy and grace that is offered by what meanes soever God seeth best to Communicate it Nay the heart that is truly submissive is as willing to take comfort when it is offered upon good grounds as it is to performe dutie enjoyned By a foolish pettishnesse the divell withdrawes the hearts of Gods owne people from much comfort that God hath dished out of purpose for their benefit For howsoever the Soule of a poore sinner be truly touched yet for want of this lowlinesse and this teachablenesse and submission it refuseth that sap and sweet that it should take and receive from the Lord. Take a poore sinner that hath many sinnes burthening of him and hee is crushed with them and that in truth he desires comfort but receives none Let the Minister of God come and answer all his arguments and satisfie all his quarrels that he can make and set him on a cleare boord and tell him that the work of grace is cleare and mercy is appointed for him Now marke how he flyes of through that sullennesse and untoward peevishnesse and pride of Spirit hee casts away the mercy and yields not to the comfort offered though he is content to yield to the duties enjoyned and so he deprives himselfe of that mercy and comfort that is offered and thus when all is done time after time the Soule saith I see it not and I perceive it not and all the world shall not perswade me of it Why what are you wiser then all the world what a pride of heart is this Oh saith he another man may be cozened and deceived but I know my owne heart better then any Minister doth But you tell the Minister what your condition is and so what you know hee knowes and hee hath more judgement to enforme you then you have of your selfe Then saith the Minister all your cavils and objections are answered and remooved and all that worke of grace that God hath wrought you have made it knowne and revealed and all this is made good by the Word of God now if all these quarrels be answered and if all the reasons and evidences of the worke of grace be made cleare that you cannot deny them then why may not you take comfort Downe with that proud heart of yours that will not beleeve whatsoever the Minister saith Oh the height of pride and haughtinesse of heart in this case I speake to you to whom comfort and mercy is impropriated downe with those proud spirits I say It is not because you cannot but because you will not It is said in Esay God prepares the garment of gladnesse for the spirit of heavinesse When the Lord seeth the soule prepared and humbled Esa 61.3 he takes measure of it and disheth out a comfort answerable he prepares a consolation as fit as may be and yet the Soule will not put it on nor be warned and refreshed with it as it is with some way-ward untoward childe who when his father hath prepared a suit of cloathes fitting for him because he hath not such and such a lace hee will not put it on but throwes all away Oh it is marvellous pride of spirit a rod
a rod. Even so when the Lord prepares the garment of gladnesse you will not put it on nor receive the comfort that is offered and so swelt your owne hearts Now I come to this last passage in this worke of Humiliation and this is the dead lift of all The Prodigall doth not stand it out with his Father and say I am now come againe if I may have halfe the rule in the Family I am content to live with you No though he would not stay there before yet now he cannot be kept out hee is content to be any thing Oh saith he I confesse I doe deserve the worst but if any man will once helpe me in and but throw mee over the threshold if I may but Scoure the Kettles or doe any drudgery I will never out againe Oh that I could get in once As if he had said you that thinke nothing sufficient if you had tasted the bitternesse of affliction as I have done you would be glad of any thing in a Fathers house Come all you drunkards and adulterers you will needs away from God and his grace I tell you if you were bitten and troubled as I have beene then you would say it is good being in a Fathers house and it is good yielding to the Lord upon any termes as it was with this Prodigall So it is with every Soule that is truly humbled with the sense of his owne vilenesse When the Soule seeth that no duties will quiet his Conscience nor get the pardon of his sinne he comes home and is content not onely to take up the profession of the Gospel upon some agreements with the Lord and to say if I may have honours and preferments and ease and libertie and the like then I am content to follow it Nay the Soule saith let mee be a miserable slave and imprisoned let mee be a servant and be brought to the heaviest hazards I care not what I be if the Lord will but receive mee to mercy Lord saith he shew mee mercy and if I am content to be and to suffer any thing So from hence the Doctrine is this 4. Doctrine The Soule that is truly humbled is content to be disposed of by the Almightie as it pleaseth him The maine pith of this point lyes in the word content This phrase is a higher pitch then the former of submission and this is plaine by this example Take a debtor who hath used all meanes to avoyd the creditor in the end hee seeth that he cannot avoyd the suit and to beare it hee is not able Therefore the onely way is to come in and yield himselfe into his creditors hands where there is nothing the King must loose his right so the debtor yields himselfe but suppose the creditor should use him hardly and exact the uttermost throw him into prison Now to be content to under-goe the hardest dealing it is a hard matter this is a further degree then the offering of himselfe So when the Soule hath offered himselfe and he seeth that Gods writs are out against him and his Conscience the Lords Serjeant is comming to serve a Subpena of him and he is not able to avoyd it nor to beare it when it comes therefore he submits himselfe and saith Lord whither shall I goe thy anger is heavy and unavoydable Nay whatsoever God requires the Soule layes his hand upon his mouth and goes away contented and well satisfied and it hath nothing to say against the Lord. This is the nature of the Doctrine in hand and for the better opening of it let me discover three things First What is the behaviour of the Soule in this worke of contentednesse Brethren these are passages of great weight that I would have every man to take notice of Secondly What is the behaviour of the Lord or what is the disposition wherewith the Soule must be contented Thirdly The reason why the Lord will have the heart at such an under and to be at his command For howsoever the Lords worke is secret in other ordinary things yet all the Soules that ever came to Christ and that ever shall come to Christ must have this worke upon them and it is impossible that faith should be in the Soule except this worke be there first to make way for faith How shall a man know when his Soule is thus contented this frame of heart discovers it selfe in three particular acts or passages First You may remember that I told you before Wherein this contentednesse consists that the sinner was resolved to yield to God and to submit himselfe to his power and pleasure and he did begge mercy Now the Soule that is truly abased though he seeke mercy yet hee seeth so much corruption and unworthinesse in himselfe that he acknowledgeth himselfe unfit for mercy He cannot avoyd the wrath of God neither can he beare it therefore he saith Oh mercy mercy Lord What saith the Lord I had thought your owne duties and prayers would have carried you out against my Iustice and have purchased mercy Oh no saith the Soule it is onely mercy that must relieve and succour mee but such is my vilenesse that I am not fit for the least mercy and favour and such is the wickednesse of this wretched heart of mine that whatsoever are the greatest plagues I am worthy of them all though never so insupportable and all the Iudgements that God hath threatned and prepared for the divell and his angels they are all due to this wretched Soule of mine for I am a divell in truth onely here is the difference I am not yet in hell and oh saith the Soule had the divels the like hopes and meanes and patience that I have enjoyed for ought I know they would have beene better then I am It is that which shames the Soule in all his sorrowes and makes him say had they the like mercy Oh those sweet comforts and those precious promises that I have had and that the Lord Iesus hath made to mee and hath come so many heavy Iourneyes to knocke at my heart and said Come to mee yee rebellious children turne yee turne yee why will yee die Oh that mercy that hath followed mee from my house to my walke and there mercy hath conferred with mee and from thence to my closet and there mercy hath woed mee and in my night thoughts when I awaked there mercy kneeled downe before mee and besought mee to renounce my base courses yet I refused mercy and would needs have my owne will had the divels but such hopes and such offers of mercy they that now tremble for want of mercy they would have given entertainment to it for ought I know And what doe I seeke for mercy shall I talke of mercy Alas shall I seeke for mercy when in the meane time I have thus slighted and despised it what I mercy the least of Gods mercies are to good for mee and the heaviest of Gods plagues are too little for mee
Nay the Soule finds no end in pleading and therefore he reasons thus with himselfe and saith that God cannot doe more against him then he hath deserved but be sure he thinkes that God will not lay more upon him then hee is worthy of Nay it is sure the Soule cannot beare nor suffer so much as he hath deserved and pluckt upon himselfe if God should proceed in rigour with him For the sinner that will deale plainely and discernes his evill exactly it is easie for him to number up all his abhominations and the Soule thus reasons with it selfe and saith I onely deserve eternall condemnation for the wages of all sinne is death being committed against an infinite Majestie and against a Divine Iustice and then what doe all these my sinnes deserve committed and continued in and maintained against the light of Gods Word against all corrections and all checks of conscience and all the Commandements of God hell is too good and ten thousand hels is to little to torment such a wretch as I am In truth I begged mercy but what I mercy I am ashamed to expect it and with what heart can I beg this mercy which I have troden under my feet Shall that blood of Christ purge my heart that blood that I have trampled under my feet and accounted it as an unholy thing and when the Lord hath woed mee and his wounds were bleeding and his sides goared and his hideous cryes comming into mine eares My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee yet this Christ have I slighted and made nothing of his blood and can the blood of Christ doe mee any service indeed I doe crave grace but how doe I thinke to receive any All the pillars of the Church can testifie how often grace and mercy hath beene offered to me but I have refused it therefore how can I begge any grace And as the text saith They shall see their sinne and acknowledge their wayes and Iudge themselves worthy to be condemned So the Soule confesseth that it is worthy of nothing that is good it is not worthy of Gods love nor of Gods preservation nor any other priviledge only he confesseth that he doth loath himselfe and saith Oh this stubbornnesse and villany and this wretchednesse of mine what I mercy no I am not worthy of any it is more then I can expect I am onely worthy to be cast out for ever As the Prophet Ezechiel saith That thou mayest remember Ezech. 16.63 and be confounded and never open thy mouth more because of thy shame that is they shall remember the evill that they have committed and the Lords kindnesse and mercie that they have opposed and they shall be confounded and not open their mouthes any more So now his tongue cleaves to the roofe of his mouth and he saith I remember my evill and am ashamed to expect any mercy I sought for mercy before but now I see I am unworthy of any and worthy of all the judgements that God can poure upon me The Soule confesseth clearely that hee hath deserved more then God will lay upon him for if God should poure all his wrath upon him he must make him infinite to beare his infinite wrath and therefore the Lord onely layes so much upon him as hee is capable of Secondly the Soule acknowledgeth the equalnesse of Gods dealings be they never so harsh in this kind He confesseth that hee is as clay in the hands of the Potter and the Lord may deale with him as he will Yea the Soule is driven to an amazement at the Lords patience that hee hath beene pleased to reprive him so long and that God hath not cast him out of his presence and sent him downe to hell long agoe It is the frame of Spirit that the poore lamenting Church had Lament 3.22 It is the Lords mercy that wee are not confounded because his compassions faile not When a poore drunkard seeth how hee hath roared in the Alehouse against God and his truth and how he hath plotted against the Saints hee wonders that ever God could beare with such a wretch and that the earth hath not swallowed him up quick And when the Lord hath humbled the heart of an adulterer or adulteresse hee begins to think thus with himselfe the Lord saw all the evils that I have committed and all my plottings and all my inveighings and allurings to this sinne and my delight in it then the Soule admires that ever Gods Iustice was able to beare with such a monster and that God did not confound him in his burning lusts and cast him downe to hell Oh saith hee it is because his mercies faile not that my life and all hath not failed long agoe Nay the Soule concludes that the Lord should not save him As Nehemiah saith Howbeit Nehem. 9.33 thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou hast done right but wee have done wickedly as if hee had said It is righteous that every man should lye under his owne load and therefore thou mayest justly condemne us Nay the Soule saith That God cannot but plague him for ought that hee perceives in Iustice as Daniel saith Dan. 9.14 Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evill and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doth because we obeyed not his voyce Hee speakes there of the 70. yeares captivity So the Soule saith Because the Lord is just and righteous and doth not onely punish but he cannot but punish and therefore he justifies the Lord in all the plagues that ever can be inflicted upon him And hence it is that the Soule will not maintaine any kinde of murmuring or heart rising against the Lords dealings much lesse doth he hide it in the Lord. But though nature and corruption will be stirring and sometimes the heart will be grudging against the Lord and say Why doth the Lord thus and why are not my prayers answered such a Soule is humbled and such a Soule is comforted and why not I as well as hee yet when any such matter riseth in the heart hee stifles crusheth and chokes these wretched distempers and doth abase it selfe before the Lord saying What if God will not as the Apostle saith speaking of the rejection of some and the receiving of others so the Soule saith What if God will not heare thy prayers and what if God will not pacifie thy conscience nor shew any mercy to thee thou hast thy owne and doth the Lord doe me any wrong vile hell-hound that I am I have my sinne and my shame wrath is my portion and hell is my place I may goe thither when I will it is mercy that God deales thus with me Now the Soule comes to cleare God in all his providence and saith It is just with God that all the prayers which come from this filthy heart of mine should be abhorred and that all my labours in holy duties should
never be blessed for I have had these ends and by respects in all my duties it is I that have sinned against checks of conscience and against knowledge and therfore it is just that I should carry this horror of heart with mee to my grave it is I that have abused mercy and therefore it is just and righteous with God that I should goe with a tormenting conscience downe to hell Oh that if I be in hell I might have a Spirit to glorifie and justifie thy name there and say Now I am come downe to hell amongst you damned creatures but the Lord is righteous and blessed for ever in all his dealings and I am justly condemned Thirdly Hence the Soule comes to be quiet and frameable under the heavy hand of God in that helplesse condition wherein he is so that the Soule having beene thus framed aforehand it comes to this that it takes the blow and lyes under the burthen and goes away quietly and patiently hee is quiet and saith not a word more oh this is a heart worth gold He accounts Gods dealing and Gods way to bee the fittest and most reasonable of all Oh saith he it is fit that God should glorifie himselfe though I be damned for ever for I deserve the worst whatsoever I have it is the reward of my owne workes and the end of my owne way if I be damned I may thanke my pride my stubbornnesse my peevishnesse of Spirit and all my base corruptions what shall I repine against the Lord because his wrath and his displeasure lyes heavy upon mee let mee repine against my sinne that made him do it Let me grudge against my base heart that hath nourished these adders in my bosome shall I bee unquiet and murmure against the Lord because this horror of heart doth vexe mee oh noe let mee blesse the Lord and not Speake one word against him but let mee repine against my sin as the holy prophet David saith Psal 39.9 I held my tongue and Spake nothing because thou Lord haddest done it So the Soule saith when the sentence of condemnation is even seazing upon him and God seemes to cast him out of his favour then he saith I confesse God is just and therefore I blesse his name and yeild to him but sinne is the worker of all this misery that hath befallen mee The holy Prophet Ieremy pleading of the great extremity that had befallen the people of God saith woe is mee for my hurt Ier. 10.19 my wound is grievous but I said truly this is my griefe and I must beare it This is the frame of a heart that is truly humbled it is content to take all to it self and so to be quiet saying this is my wound and I must beare it this is my sorrow and I will suffer it thus you see what the behaviour of the heart is in this contentednesse Hold these well for they are of marveilous difficultie and great use Quest But what is the dealing of the Lord that the Soule must be contented with Answ The behaviour of the Lord towards the Soule in this kind discovers it selfe in two things First In what hee will do to the Soule Secondly in the manner of his dealing how hee will deale with the Soule and the heart must bee contented with both these Sometimes a man will beare a thing but not the manner of it that kills him but God will make a sinner wayt upon God for mercy and beg againe and againe and bee content with the harshest of his dealings and glad he may have it so too The first thing that God will have the Soule contented with 1. First thing that God will doe to the Soule and which the Soule must be contented with is that salvation and happinesse and the acceptation of a mans person now must be no more in a mans own hands nor in his owne abilitie the Lord hath taken the staffe out of his hand and salvation must bee no more put in his owne power Here is a wonderfull height of pride exprest before the Soule will yield to this When Adam was created in his innocency the Lord put a faire stocke into his hand and hee might have traded for himselfe and he had libertie of will and power of grace so that he might have gotten the favour of God by that which he could doe if hee would have done hee might have lived But when Adam had betrayed that trust which God committed to him in the state of Paradise because hee had forfeited this trust the Lord tooke all away from him and nothing shall be in him or from him any more in the point of Iustification or acceptation as any way meritorious Adam in his innocency might have required mercy by vertue of a Covenant from God but Adam shall now have nothing in his owne power any more but he shall have his Iustification and acceptation not in himselfe but in another even Iesus Christ So that the reason why any Soule is justified and accepted with the Lord it is meerely in an other not in himselfe It is a great matter to bring the heart to this for the Soule to see nothing in himselfe but all in and through Christ Oh this is a difficult worke The Lord will not trust him with a farthing token There are two passages marveilous usefull this way and therein you shall see the exceeding pride of a mans heart and it is very common One passage is in the Romanes Where the text saith Rom. 9.31.32 The Iew and the Gentiles sought for righteousnesse that is how they might finde acceptance and righteousnesse in the sight of God The Iew sought this by the works of the Law that is by himself by his sacrifices and washing and the like and he thought these would have acquitted him in the sight of God But the text saith Israel which followed after the Law of righteousnesse hath not attained it that is they have not attained it because they sought it not by faith and from Christ but in and of themselves and therefore they never came to attaine it But most pregnant is that other place Rom. 10 2 3. where the Apostle saith I beare them record that they have the zeale of God but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of Gods righteousnesse and going about to establish their owne righteousnesse have not submitted themselves to Gods righteousnesse the cause why any man is acquitted of God it is not because of any thing that he hath or doth but it is from anothers righteousnesse But what a great matter is this The text faith That going about to establish their owne righteousnesse they have not submitted c. here in this place there is this remarkable They thought to establish their owne righteousnesse that is their owne duties and services their owne parts and abilities and because they thought to find acceptance for what they did they did not submit Submission argues
a point of subjection and the want of this horrible pride This is marveilous divellish pride that a man should set up the lusts of his owne righteousnesse and duties and thinke to finde acceptance and reconciliation with and pardon from the Lord because of these So that now the Soule is nothing and the Lord saith unto him thou shalt goe in ragges all thy dayes that Christ may be thy righteousnesse Thou shalt be a foole that Christ may be thy wisedome and thou shalt be weake that Christ may be all thy strength and I will make the submit to that righteousnesse of Christ Nay the Lord saith further if you thinke to finde acceptance and to purchase mercy by what you can doe then come your way and bring all those prayers and duties and see if they can all answer my exact Law of righteousnesse and satisfie my Iustice Thus the Lord is faine to emptie a man of himselfe this is an admirable worke of the Spirit when the heart is thus content to be at Gods carving and to have nothing of its owne to be ignorant weake and meane and to have all from a Christ This is considerable every man would faine bring something with him even where God hath wrought grace and then we are all dead in the nest and all amort when we find it not and we are ready to say if I had these and these enlargements then God would accept mee but because I have not the Lord will reject mee What is this but to set up the merits of a mans parts and duties therefore it is that the Lord will bring the Soule to this to be content to be justified not for what he hath but for something in another besides what hee can doe to entitle himselfe to heaven and happinesse Therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 4.5 To him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly is faith accounted for righteousnesse This is our nature We would faine be Ioynt-purchasers with Christ and have something of our owne of merit to make us finde acceptance with God as well as Iesus Christ in the point of Iustification But the Lord will bring the heart to this it shall come as an ungodly wretched traitor that the Lord may Iustifie him in Christ Why dare not a poore sinner sometimes come to Christ and looke to him for mercy Oh he is not worthy But art thou not content to see thy unworthinesse Yes saith he but I see such pride such lithernesse in holy duties and such corruption that I dare not goe to Christ for mercy If this be a burthen to thee and if thou art content to be rid of this then Christ hath prepared mercy for thee and thou maist take it the Lord will make thee know that thou art not accepted because thou art worthy but through Christ The Lord justifies the ungodly The second thing that the Soule must be content with The second part of the Lords dispose that hee brings the Soule unto it is this As the Soule must looke for what it hath from another so in the second place it must be content to take what mercy and what that other will give Not what the Soule thinkes fitting but what mercy accounts the best for him Now see this blessed frame of heart in these three particulars First The Soule is content that mercy shall deny what it will to the Soule and the Soule is content and calmed with whatsoever mercy denyes If the Lord will not heare his prayers and if the Lord will cast him away because hee hath cast away the Lords kindnesse and if the Lord will leave him in that miserable and damnable condition which hee hath brought himselfe into by the stubbornesse of his heart the Soule is quiet Though I confesse it is harsh and tedious and long it is ere the Soule be thus framed yet the heart truly abased is content to beare the estate of damnation because hee hath brought this misery and damnation upon himselfe In a word the Soule seeth that it deserves nothing at Gods hands and therefore he is content if God deny him any thing 2 Sam. 15.25.26 and it befals the Soule in this case as it did David See how willingly hee takes whatsoever the Lord shall allow him Where hee saith Carry backe the Arke of God into the Citie if I shall finde favour in the eyes of the Lord hee will bring mee againe and shew mee both it and his habitation but if he shall say I have no delight in David Behold here I am let him doe whatsoever is good in his eyes As it was with David for a Temporall Kingdome So it is with the Soule for a Spiritual Mercy The Soule saith if there be any mercy for a poore rebellious creature the Lord may looke graciously upon mee but if the Lord shall say thou hast brought damnation to thy selfe therefore I will leave thee in it Behold here I am let the Lord doe with mee what hee will Object But some may here object and say Must the Soule can the Soule or ought it to be thus content to be left in this damnable condition Answ For the answer hereof Know that this contentednesse implies two things and it may be taken in a double sense First Contentednesse sometimes implies nothing else but a carnall securitie and a regardlesnesse of a mans estate he regards not his owne Soule what he is nor what he hath nor what shall become of him This is a most cursed sinne and this contentednesse is nothing else but a marveilous negligence either of Gods glory or his owne good and it is a sinne to give way to it and it is a fore-runner of damnation to that man which entertaines it The Soule that is truly humbled and abased cannot nay it dare not say so in cold blood setting aside passions and temptations Nay this contentednesse argues damnation for ever This is not meant in this place neither is it lawfull to give way to it and it is certaine upon these termes the Soule shall never be saved God will make him prize mercy and care for it too before he have it But then Secondly it implyes a calmenesse of Soule not murmuring against the Lords dispensation towards him and this contentednesse is ever accompanied with the sight of a mans sinne and the following of God for mercy The Soule that is thus contented to bee at Gods disposing it is ever improving all meanes and helpes that may bring him nearer to God but if mercy shal deny it the Soule is satisfied and rests well apaid this every Soule that is truly humbled may have and hath in some measure Yet you must not throw all at sixe and seavens no it is a cursed distemper of Spirit that you must hate as hell it self But this contentednesse is opposed against quarrelling with the Almighty and this every humbled Soule doth attaine unto though it bee not soe plainly seene As it is with
some theife that is taken for a robbery and the sentence of death hath past against him he should not neglect the using of meanes for to save his life and to get a pardon and yet if he cannot get a pardon he must not murmure against the Iudge for condemning of him because he hath done nothing but Law This theefe should use means for a pardon but if he cannot get one he should be contented though the sentence passe against him So wee should not be carelesse in using all meanes for our good but still seeke to God for mercy yet thus we must be and thus we ought to be contented with whatsoever mercy shall deny because wee are not worthy of any favour and the humble Soule reasons thus with it selfe and saith my owne sinne and my abhominations have brought mee into this damnable condition wherein I am and I have neglected that mercy which might have brought mee from it therfore why should I murmure against mercy though it deny me mercy and if mercy leave me in that miserable estate which I have brought my selfe into A Sillogisme I have but the reward of my owne workes Marke this well He that is not willing to acknowledge the freenesse of the course of mercy is not worthy nay it is not fit to receive any mercy but that Soule which is not content that mercy deny him what it will hee doth not give way to the freenesse of the Lords grace and mercy therfore that Soule is not fit for mercy I conclude all thus Iudge with your selves whether this bee not a marvellous hideous pride of heart or no that the sinner doth murmure because the Lord will not dispence of mercy as hee will himselfe either the sinner thinkes that he hath deserved mercy and therefore he is angry with God because he gives it not or els he thinkes himselfe wiser to dispose of mercy then God both which are most devilish pride of heart and arguments of a haughty heart that is not yet fit for mercy nay if this be in the heart and if the heart allow of this and continue in this distemper the Soule cannot receive mercy Object 2 But some may object Can a man feele this frame of heart to be content that mercy should have him in hell doe the Saints of God finde this and can any man know this in his heart Answ To this I answer Many of Gods servants have beene driven to this and have attained to it and have laid open the simplicitie of their Soules in being content with this But the secret passage of the Soule is most subtle here and hard it is to finde this and clearely to discerne this frame of spirit this way but the best way to guesse it and to be able to discern it is this For this end you must know these three things First that the Soule out of the nature of it and in nature cannot but desire the preservation of it selfe and it is a rule that God hath stamped in the creature and therefore we must not thinke that nature must or should or can goe further then nature and it is not the fault of nature that it is carried in this kinde But secondly the Soule being humbled cannot but yield it selfe to be disposed of by the Lord as he will yea if the Lord will bring destruction upon it Thirdly though the Soule sometimes finde a secret rebelling against God and a grudging against the Lords dealings and the sinner begins to say these are my corruptions and still my sinnes prevaile against mee and I shall one day perish and the Lord seemes not to looke at mee and with that the Soule sometimes grudgeth and repines at the providence of God yet the heart that is truly humbled grudgeth at himselfe because he hath such a quarrelling heart against the Lords dealing with him in this kinde Nay I have knowne many in the anguish of heart when they have thus quarrelled with the Almightie they have falne into a desperate extremity and thought they had committed that sinne against the holy Ghost Insomuch that it hath made them to walke more humbly before God all their dayes but I say when the Soule finds these distempers it labours to undermine them and it dares not quarrell against God it dare not but yield and this is an argument that the Soule is content Secondly The Soule that is contented comes to be well apaid with this that mercy shall take away from him what it will friends and meanes and ease and liberty and credit and whatsoever it is that the heart hath loved most It is content that God should strip him naked of all And hence it is that we shall observe it in experience and in practice A broken battered Soule that hath beene long overwhelmed with the weight of his corruptions the Lord brings him to a marveilous desperate low ebbe You may see a man sometimes in the torment of Conscience that nature and naturall parts begin to decay his understanding growes weake and his memory failes him and he growes to be marveilously distracted and besides himselfe so that the partie which was before a man of great reach and of able parts and was admired and wondred at for his wisedome and government he is now accounted a silly sot and a mad man in regard of the horror of heart that hath possessed him in so much that the husband saith Oh my wife is undone and the father saith my childe is undone he was a fine witty childe before but now hee is a very sot Yea the mercy of God will not leave a man before he be content to be a despised man that hee may finde mercy and be saved and mercy will plucke away all those parts and gifts from him and make him glad to have salvation and all in another And in conclusion when God cheeres up his heart againe hee is more wise than ever and more able than ever both for temporall and spirituall affaires Ioh. 5.44 How can you beleeve saith our Saviour that seeke honour one of another Without this dealing of God no man would ever come to heaven though the Lord sometimes abates some measure of it It may be before this worke the Soule saith if I may have honours and ease and libertie and credit so it is I care not whether ever I have drop of mercy or no But the text saith How can you beleeve which seeke honour one of another and not that honour that comes from God onely Mercy will bring you downe upon your knees and you shall not be content with the honours of the world No no mercy will make you content to be fooles and to take that honour onely which is from God though you be abased and hated and persecuted in the world It is against reason that the Soule can beleeve except this be in the heart An humble Soule is content that mercy shall rule him As the humbled soule is content
arrows of the venome of the displeasure of the Almighty stick deepest in him and he finds the fiercenesse of Gods wrath burning in his heart Iob 14.17 and that all his sins which have been sealed up in a bag as Iob saith they are all set in order before him and the wrath of the Lord more heavie then any mountaine falls upon his back I say when the poore sinner finds himselfe thus pursued after in the fiercest and most terrible manner the abased heart dare not flye away from God nor repine against the Lord but he lyes downe meekely 1. He will not flye away from God for that is his pride Nay he dare not doe it He will not go with Saul to the Witch of Endor nor with Iudas to a halter When the Lord let Iudas see that hee had betrayed innocent blood and fill'd his heart with horror hee did not goe to God and lye down under the harshest horror but he went to a rope and hanged himselfe and all through his pride because hee was not content with the harsh dealing of God though hee leaped from the fire-pan into the fire As the proverbe is And likewise Cain went into the land of Nod. So when the Lord hath awakened a poore creature and after a good while that a man would have thought he had gone on a good way in a Christian course at last when he finds that he is not able to beare the wrath of God but more iniquity comes in against him then hee flyes of from God and fals from a Christian course and goes to the Ale-house or some other base course and so hardens his conscience but I say the humble Soule dare not doe so but lyes at Gods foot-stoole and if it were the very bottome of the dregs of Gods wrath and the very fire of hell he is content to undergoe Gods dealing He doth not question God 's dealing and say others are not thus and thus terrified and why should I be so No the Soule returnes all against it selfe and saith why doe I talke of others they have not such untoward uncleane peevish hearts as I have The humble soule resolves with the Church in Micah Micah 7.9 I have sinned and therefore I will beare the indignation of the Lord So the Soule saith I have sinned most hainouslly I know not their sinne but I know my owne sinne and therefore I will beare the Lords wrath though it be never so unsupportable and unsufferable Lord give mee a heart that I may be able to beare it When a Malefactor comes to the Assises he lookes for nothing but condemnation and execution if he can scape with burning in the hand or branding in the forehead or shoulder he is glad and goes well apaid and cryes God save the King because hee thought he should have beene hanged So it is with an humble and a selfe-denying sinner When the poore creature finds the heaviest of Gods indignation upon him and such strange distempers as if a thousand divels were within him the Soule quiets it selfe thus and saith Why do I thus fret and wherefore am I thus perplexed it is wel that I scape thus I might have beene in hell this day and blessed be God that it is no worse that I am not in hell I might have beene roaring in hell as thousands of poore reprobates are that have no more hope of mercy therefore I will beare whatsoever the Lord layes upon mee Secondly as he is content with the hardest measure so he is content with the longest time Hee is content to stay for mercy be it never so long After the poore soul hath his eyes growing dim with waiting for mercy his hands grow feeble and his tongue cleaves to the roofe of his mouth and his heart begins to sinke and his Soule shakes within him with waiting for the mercy and goodnesse of the Lord and yet he finds no mercy and hath no Inkling of any favour yet God lookes a farre of Yet his Soule is content with this If a beggar should stay halfe a day for an almes it would grieve him though that be his pride See what Esay saith I will waite upon the Lord that hath hid his face from Iacob and I will looke for him Esa 8.17 As if the poore sinner did say The Lord hath hid his face away and turned his loving Conntenance from mee yet I will looke towards heaven so long as I have an eye to see and a hand to lift up I will yet looke to heaven to the Lord that hath not as yet heard nor answered my prayers the Lord may take his owne time it is manners for mee to waite and stay Gods time Away therefore with that peevishnesse and that discontentednesse of Soule that when a poore sinner hath called and cryed and finds no answer and heares no newes from heaven he secretly intends to lay all aside As if a man lift a weight againe and againe and seeth that it is to heavy for him he lets it alone So many poore creatures are content to let all alone and say why should I waite upon God any more I have prayed and cryed thus long and finde no answer why should I waite any longer How now who shall have the worst of it cannot God have his glory without your prayers why should you waite this is horrible pride of heart Why should you waite It s no marvell that you should take such State to your selves who must waite then Must the King waite or the Subject The Master or the Servant The Iudge or the Traitor Downe with that proud and sturdy heart of yours An humble Soule dare not doe so hee is content to waite for Gods mercy and you will be brought to it too before ever the Lord will give you any mercy The humble soule saith thus I have waited thus long the Lord seemes to be angry with my person and prayers and all is blasted yet I will waite still Nay I am glad that I may waite What waite upon the Lord Iesus Christ and mercy Yes and glad you may Kings and Princes have done it and blessed are they that waite upon mercy Nay the poore broken heart resolves thus and saith if I lye and licke the dust all my dayes and cry for mercy all my life long if my last words might be mercy mercy it were well I might get mercy at my last gaspe Oh I blesse God that yet I live here and and that I am not in hell as thousands are that waite for judgement and vengeance blessed be God that yet I may waite till God looke upon mee in goodnesse and mercy Lastly when the Soule hath stayed a long time it is content with the least pittance of mercy he is not like many proud beggars that thinke much when they have stayed long if they have but a farthing Nay if hee have but from hand to mouth It is all that hee craves and all that hee lookes for
This is our nature We would faine have something to trade withall but the Lord will keepe the staffe in his owne hand and the Soule is content to have it so He comes sometimes and God will not heare and he goes away and comes againe and then goes away fasting and well contented too See how the poore Woman of Canaan did Shee comes to beg mercy of our Saviour Matth. 15.26 and he said It is not lawfull to cast the children bread to dogs truth Lord saith she I am as bad as thou canst call mee I yeild all I am as vile a sinfull poore creature as ever any was Yet Lord the dogs may eate the crums that fall from their Masters table vers 27. You know the Dog must stay till his Master comes in and when hee is come hee must stay till he sit downe and then till he cut his meate and hee must not have the meate from his trencher neither when he hath stayed all this while he hath nothing but the crums So it is with a poore sinner you must not thinke that God will be at your becke No you must be content with the crums of mercy and pitty and lye under the table till the Lord let the crums fall The humbled soule saith Lord let my condition be never so hard doe what thou wilt with mee let the fire of thy wrath consume mee here onely recover mee hereafter and let me finde mercy and if the time be never so long if at last gaspe I may finde mercy I am content and whatsoever thou givest I blesse thy name for it The Soule doth not quarrell with the Almighty and say Why are not my graces increased and why am not I thus and thus comforted and refreshed Nay it lyes and lookes for mercy and if it have but a crum of mercy it is comforted and quieted for ever Thus the heart is brought very low Why doth the Lord thus bring the heart under Reason is this necessary and requisite Yes it is without all question not onely convenient but very necessary that it should be so And the reason is taken from the nature of the covenant of grace which requires this and without which the covenant of grace could not be fitted for us For the covenant of grace is this Beleeve and live The condition on our part is faith and beleeving Now faith is nothing else but a going out of the Soule to fetch all from another as having nothing of it selfe and therefore this resting in our selves will not stand with the nature of this covenant Now were it so that wee were not resolved to yeild to and to be guided by another it is certaine we could not have our hearts enlarged to goe to that other by whose wisedome and providence we would not be guided and disposed To be in our selves and out of our selves to have power in our selves to dispose of any thing belonging to our spirituall estate and to fetch all from another these are two contraries and therefore cannot stand together To have the dispensation of life and grace in our owne hands to dispose of it as we will it utterly overthrowes the nature of this second Covenant of mercy and grace in Christ For I pray you observe it this I take to be the maine difference betweene the second maine Covenant of grace whereof the Apostle disputes so often And the first Covenant of works which he so often confutes The first Covenant is to Doe and Live This Adam had and if he had stood still he should not have needed any Saviour The second Covenant is Beleeve and Live that is to live by another These two cannot stand together in one and the same Soule at one and the same time The same Soule that is saved by the Covenant of Grace cannot be saved also by the Covenant of Works The Lord in the beginning put the stuffe into Adams hand and he had libertie to dispose of Life and Salvation by reason of that abilitie and that principle of Grace that God had given him for he had perfect knowledge and perfect holinesse and righteousnesse and by the power of these he had libertie freely to please God and to keepe the Law and to be blessed in so doing and if he had done that which hee had power to doe hee might have beene blessed for ever and we all in him but he lost it and so overthrew himselfe and all his posteritie Now we being thus falne in Adam and being deprived of all that holinesse and righteousnesse which Adam had Now the sinner is neither able to fulfill the Law and so to purchase mercy for himselfe nor to satisfie for that which is done amisse A sinner must die and yet he cannot satisfie in dying he is dead in sinnes and trespasses and having lost all that abilitie which Adam had therefore the Soule must goe out of it selfe and since it is so that nothing which he hath or doth can save him he must goe to another that whatsoever is amisse that other may satisfie for it and whatsoever mercy is needfull he may purchase it and whatsoever is to be done he may doe it Now what we have done amisse Christ hath satisfied for it and what we cannot doe Christ hath done it hee hath fulfilled all righteousnesse And hence it is that these two are so professedly opposite the one to the other the Law and Faith The first Adam and the second Adam Consider a passage or two The Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace cannot stand together in the point of Life and Grace As the Apostle saith If it bee of grace Rom. 11.4 then it is no more of works and if it be of works then it is no more of grace As if he had said If a man be saved by grace then he cannot be saved by works and if he be saved by works then be cannot be saved by grace And in another place the same Apostle saith Rom. 4.14 If they which are of the Law be heires faith is made voyd and the promise is of none effect If a man that thinks to merit life by the Law be an heire what needed faith or the promise For it is the nature of faith to goe out to Christ and to receive all from him now if I had enough in my selfe I had no need of Christ and faith were made of none effect You are saved by grace through faith Ephes 2.8 saith the Apostle and that not of your selves There S. Paul brings in a deniall not onely of sinne but of works and saith You are not saved of your selves He doth not say of your sinne but your selves you and your works and all must be renounced and all that you are and doe as any way meritorious and not to bee found in your selves but in Christ before ever you can receive mercy from Christ So I dispute thus There is none that will save us Man nor Angel and
the Lord hath said unto thee An humble Soule comes to this passe and saith If there be any sinne or any wickednesse in my heart good Lord discover it and if there be any duty to be done Lord let me know it And as Cornelius said Acts 10.33 Wee are all here present before the Lord to heare whatsoever thou art commanded us of God So the humble Soule saith Whatsoever trouble it brings I yield to the truth and desire to heare it Thirdly As the carnall reason shuts his eye and will not looke upon the truth so in the second place if it be so that it must heare that which it would not what is the next shift that it hath hee will not suffer himselfe to be convinced by the truth but when the truth comes in with plainenesse and power he labours what hee can to gather up objections and cavills against the truth that he may oppose the power of Gods word that sith it is so that he must heare it he labours to make it false This is considerable Rom. 2.8 Vnto them that are contentious and doe not obey the truth but obey unrighteousnesse shall be indignation and wrath Who are they that are contentious not onely they that contend with their neighbours but they that contend against the truth for so the words following doe import so much Which obey not the truth One man heares a close point and then hee goes away and saith I will not beleeve it I know reason and I will be bound to confute it and all this is nothing but a smoake and he deales by the truth as men doe with an enemie in this case First they labour to keepe him out from their confines and if they cannot doe that then they leavie forces to drive him out from their land So it is with a company of carnall men they would not looke upon the truth to be enformed by it Well Heare they must and heare they shall if they live under the power of the Gospell but if they must heare it they are contentious and advise with this carnall friend and that carnall Minister and if they can get any man to plead for their lusts that they may arme themselves against the blessed truth of God they think themselves happy men If a Minister come home to the heart of a carnall wretch that will buy and sell upon the Lords Day and say to him Remember that thou keepe holy the Sabbath then hee goes to some carnall man that buyes and sels as well as himselfe and then he will have an army of forces against the truth of God As the Apostle saith 2 Tim. 3.8 As Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses so doe these men resist the truth men of corrupt minds and reprobates concerning the faith how is that When Moses came to Pharaoh to deliver the people of Israel and when Moses shewed some signes and wonders Pharaoh would not yeild to the Miracles and therefore he called for Iannes and Iambres and they made some appearances of Serpents as Moses had done and so Pharaohs heart was hardened even so When the Word of God is plaine and the evidences of it are uncontrolable then a carnall minde sends for carnall quarrels and pleas and objections and this hee doth to oppose the truth of Christ and to make an army against the blessed ordinances of God They count it a matter of favour if any man will deliver and rescue them from the truth As when this truth comes You must not buy and sell upon the Sabbath but you must be holy as God is holy c. If this truth bee troublesome oh they cannot beare it and they would faine be rescued they account this truth an enemy to them and if any man will deliver them from the truth they thinke him a God and they admire at his judgement and say such a man is wise and a deepe Scholler and hee saith thus and thus hee will defend this as well as I thus a man is fortified against the truth But an humble Soule will not doe thus After the Word and Truth of God is revealed in this kinde and all reasons answered The understanding of this humble Soule gives way and opposeth not the truth Give an humble Soule Scripture for that you say and hee hath done and lets all carnall counsels passe and all matters objected and he saith I am fully perswaded of it the truth is plaine God forbid that I should quarrell with it This is for the understanding Thirdly If the truth be so cleare and plaine that he cannot gaine-say it then he turnes aside from the authoritie of the truth and will not suffer it to take place in his minde This is the last shift which a carnall heart hath As when a debtor is arrested at first hee grapples with the Serjeant but when hee seeth the Bailiffe or Serjeant is too good for him he labours to make an escape and trusts to his feet rather then to his hands So it is with a carnall wretched heart When hee cannot but confesse and yeild that the truth is plaine and that hee cannot grapple with the truth then hee falles flat against it when his Serpent is eaten up by Moses Serpent and all carnall pleas are eaten up by the truth then he is faine to withdraw himselfe from the authoritie of it From hence comes all those shifts we tell people they are miserable and in a naturall and damnable condition Oh say they God is mercifull oh but say we the mercy of God is such that as he pardons men so hee purgeth them and if mercy will save you mercy will purge you too and make you forsake your sinnes doe you thinke that mercy will carry you and your peevish proud lustfull hearts to heaven No he will not then say they we will repent hereafter and then we tell them againe harden not your hearts to day if you will heare his voyce take mercy now while it is cal'd to day God requires repentance now and now you must humble your selves and repent Yet the Soule goes on and saith we blesse God we doe repent and when wee sweare we cry God mercy and though wee have beene and are sometimes drunke yet we are sorry for it then we make them answer and say you say you are sorrowfull but sound sorrow is ever accompanied with sound reformation As the Apostle saith This same thing that you have beene sorrowfull what carefulnesse hath it wrought in you 2 Cor. 7.11 what clearing of your selves what indignation and the like And as the wise man saith He that confesseth and forsaketh his sinne shall finde mercy Pro. 28.13 Then the sinner replyes no man can doe thus What would you have us without sinne we must be content to doe as we may Thus you see they yeild to the truth and cannot but confesse that it is plaine but they take away the power of the truth and the command of it You may
a wearinesse to mee to sanctifie the Sabaoth and hearing praying and other holy duties are a burthen to mee to this day my heart is not prepared for mercy good Lord to this day I am a wretched carnall man This is something Now there is some hope And the Soule goes on further and saith Good Lord what will become of my Soule am I Gods to dispose of no no pride and peevishnesse hath rul'd mee and I must cloath my selfe as Pride would have mee This is somewhat indeed And the adulterer saith If the adulteresse come I must goe though I dye for it When the drunkard comes to pull you out tell him of this and say Who hath disposed of you this day and all your life a drunken wretch and a base queane You have heard the word of God checking of you and yet nothing would doe Oh now at last yield and say The Lord hath not disposed of me Now therefore labour that God may dispose of you and let the mighty God pull downe that mightie heart Challenge the Lord with his promise and give him no rest till hee have mercy upon you And you servants humble your selves and say Wee have beene proud and idle together now let us mourne and pray together The time shall come when you will be content that God should dispose of you and you shall desire the Lord to looke graciously towards you and that God would take away your corruptions and that pride which accuseth you and all those abhominations that have beene a shame and disgrace to you therefore now resolve with your selves and say Lord take away this sinne and subdue that corruption and doe thou rule and reigne over my heart and life for ever let the power of thy truth carry mee and turne me from my wickednesse and over-power this proud will of mine and whatsoever vanity is in my life good Lord take it away and frame me after thy minde When this time comes say That a poore Minister did wish you good and that you had a faire offer If you will be at Gods disposing in minde in heart and life the Lord will prepare a place for you in heaven and rancke you there amongst his blessed Saints and Angels for evermore If another mans servant come to demand of you meat drinke and wages you will say You have not beene at my command therefore goe to the Master that you have served let him pay your wages So it will be with you if you goe to God for mercy and comfort in that day the Lord will send you to your lusts and new fashions c. but if any man be Gods servant then every thing shall be fitted for him and though that day be troublesome to the proud and haughty spirit yet it will be a comfort to the godly that they have submitted themselves to Gods word For then Christ shall fill their mindes with wisedome and their wills with holinesse and their lives shall be made honourable and acceptable before him Think of this and labour to bring your hearts to it that Gods will may be your wills and if you be humbled you shall and must be for ever comforted Thus much of the triall of the truth of our humiliation The second part of the use Now I come to the second part of the use that is to examine the measure of our humiliation for as I conceive all the difficulty of a mans course lyes here and the cause why a man receives not the assurance of mercy from God that hee desires or that comfort that he might it is all from hence I say because he is not empty For if the heart be prepared Christ comes immediatly into his temple and the lesse wee have of our selves the more we shall have of Christ This is mervailous usefull and therefore you must know that though the heart be truly humbled and laid low in it selfe in truth and the thing is done yet there remaines a great deale of pride in the heart Take a mighty Castle though it be battered downe yet there remaines many heapes of rubbish and happily some of the pillars stand many Winters after So it is with this frame of Spirit in a high imagination 2 Cor. 10.5 in these Towers of loftinesse Though this Dagon of a mans selfe be fallen downe yet still the stumps remaine and will doe many yeares And it will cost much horror of heart and much trouble before this haughtinesse of heart will be every way pull'd downe and made agreeable to the good will of God Though this distemper is mervailous secret yet a man may take a measure and scantling of it How to try the measure of humiliation The first particular Triall and hee may know how much of this cursed rubbish remaines in his heart by these foure particular rules First looke what measure there is of carnall reasoning against the truth of God when it is made knowne what measure there is of it either subtilly comming in upon the heart or else that doth violently transport the spirit against the spirit so much need thou hast of Humiliation and so much thou wantest of it This is a cleare case Every Saint of God is willing to know the truths that he shall doubt of and is content to yeild himselfe to the truth that shall be revealed and of which he shall be convinced yet there remaines much carnall reasoning against the truth As the Apostle saith Let no man deceive you intruding into those things which he hath not seene Coloss 2.18 vainely puft up in his fleshly minde The ground and roote of this carnall reasoning or the measure of it may appeare in two causes First There is a kinde of perverse darknesse in the heart still sticking in the minde and understanding even of a gracious Godly man And from hence namely out of this mistaking of the minde followes all that carnall reasoning that howsoever the Soule is satisfied yet it will not sit downe but still it sticks in this carnall reasoning and the sinner cannot conceive the truth nor fathom the compasse of it by reason of his owne weakenesse therefore it is long before hee will be perswaded that it is truth and that he is bound to yeild to it When the wisedome of the truth is so plaine and evident that he cannot resist the clearenesse of it yet because he cannot conceive of it he thinkes that hee is not bound to yeild thereunto Object But some will say should a man yeild to that which he cannot conceive Answ To this I answer When the minde is so farre enlightened that he cannot gain-say any thing in reason though he cannot compasse the depth and bottome of the truth yet he should yeild to it and rather goe with reason then follow his owne imagination when there is no reason for it Iust so it was with Nicodemus When Christ spake of the worke of regeneration Ioh. 3.9 he said Can a man be borne
againe the second time Well Christ opens the mystery of regeneration and the secrecy of it the second time and when Nichodemus could not comprehend what Christ had spoken yet hee would hold his owne and said how can this be I cannot conceive it because he could not comprehend it therefore he throwes all away Marke how Christ hits him in the right veine and strikes him to the bottome and see how hee tames him Art thou a Master in Israel and a Doctor in Law and yet art such a novice in this worke of regeneration downe with that proud heart of thine Lay downe all thy carnall reasoning and become a foole and so thou may understand this truth that is communicated to thee This is ordinary amongst us for a man to say I cannot beleeve it I see it not and I thinke not so and yet they have no reason at all to carry them but because they cannot comprehend it by that light which they have therefore they will not yeild to any reason because they cannot see it by their owne light they will not use Gods spectacles as I may so say looke how much of this carnall reasoning thou hast so much pride thou haste and this is very much specially in the most ignorantest Soules Secondly because of the weakenesse and feeblenesse of their judgements which are not able to hold a truth when they have it in their hands but it goes away like lightening and because the minds of these poore creatures are over-worne with many thoughts and cursed reasonings and troubled therewith they grow unable to helpe themselves against those distempers And hence it is that though the Word of God be let in and made cleare yet a man stoopes to those conceits and cursed reasonings that have beene attended to so that they take of the power of the truth As it is with a Ferriman hee applyes the Oare and lookes home-ward to the Shore where he would be yet there comes a gust of winde that carryes him backe againe whether he will or no So many a poore humbled creature that is truly wrought upon and hath a true title to Christ he applyes his Oare and would have assurance of mercy from Christ yet the over-whelming of carnall reasonings and cursed suggestions that are either cast in or stirred up in his heart throwes him backe againe and take of the power of the truth insomuch that he can see nothing nor yeild to any thing for the good and comfort of his Soule I take this to be the ground of all the trouble that befals a broken heart Let any man under heaven give mee the reason of this why any Soule that is truely burthened for sinnes as sinne and hath found God marvellous gracious to him this way why I say after all his cavils are remooved and all his objections are fully answered and all controversies are ended and this often done yet a poore broken hearted creature will still recoyle to his former carnall reasonings againe the reason is because all the answers that were given are now forgotten and all his cavils and carnall conceits will be fresh in his minde as ever they were partly from the haunt they have had in his minde and partly from that selfe-willy waywardnesse of the heart that is content to goe that way They that have beene long over-whelmed with these cursed carnall cavellings they will rather labour to oppose a direction then to hold it and to walke in the comfort of it onely because of the weakenesse of their understandings and their carnall reasonings are so violent against them Vpon this hindge it is that as I take it all the objections of a company of poore broken hearted doe hang and by this meanes they keepe out that comfort which they might have and in the strength whereof they might walke all their dayes I might propound many instances as thus come to a contrite Soule and say to him why walkest thou so uncomfortably seeing thou hast now a title to mercy and salvation in Christ see what he replies I a title to mercy nay I am utterly unworthy of that title it is a great gift and few have it and I have beene a vile wretch and an enemy to God and his glory what I a title to mercy we reply againe God gives grace to the unworthy he justifies the ungodly and not the godly and if he will give you mercy too what then hee replyes againe What mercy to me Nay it is prepared for those that are fitted for it had I such a measure of humiliation and so much grace if I were so and so fitted and if my heart were thus disposed then I might have some hope to receive it wee reply againe But have not you beene weary of your corruptions and are you not content that God should doe that for you which you cannot doe for your selves this is the qualification which God accepts and requires and by which hee fits the Soule for mercy unlesse you have that other of your own conceits you will have none and so you deprive your selves of mercy you have a childs part and a good portion too if your proud hearts would suffer you to see it Then the Soule saith I would have the Lord say to my Soule be of good comfort I am thy Salvation if the Lord would witnesse this to mee by his Spirit then I could beleeve it content then only let us agree upon the manner how it must be done and how God shall speake it Will you then yeild it Yes then know this what the Word saith the Spirit saith for the hand and the sword the Word and the Spirit goe both together For as the text saith My Word and my Spirit are one Then take the Word and lay thy heart levell to it and see it The Word saith Every one that is wearie shall be refreshed Hast not thou beene weary and hast not thou seene sin worse then hell it selfe The Text the Word the Lord and his Spirit saith Thou shouldst come and the Spirit saith thou shalt be refreshed Oh saith the sinner I cannot finde this assurance and this witnesse of Gods Spirit I cannot see it and I cannot beleeve it Thus he leaves the judgement of the Word and Spirit and cleaves to the judgement of his finding and feeling and thus he judgeth Gods favour in regard of his own imaginations and not according to the witnesse of the Word and Spirit the Spirit saith Thou art fitted for mercy but because thy ignorant blinde minde conceives it not hence it is that thou shuttest the doore against the mercy of God revealed and that would be setled upon thy Soule for thy everlasting comfort Thinke of this and say Whether is it fit that my wit should determine my estate or the word of God Will you determine the cause and perke into the place of judgement and say I feele it not and I feare it Is not all this carnall reason Here they runne amaine even
and they had humbled themselves and the Lord had turned from his wrath see how this man fals out with God! Oh saith he Ionah 4.1 2. I thought so much when I was in my owne countrey that thou wouldest save this people and I should be accounted a false Prophet and thus my glory lyes in the dust You thinke God is beholden to you for your prayers and fastings and you say how is it that after all our prayers yet we have not comfort such a man is cheared and such a poore creature is refreshed and yet they have not the parts that we have and they have not prayed as we have done thou hast shewed mercy to them and therefore why not to us too This is horrible pride See how a proud soule justles God out of the place of of his providence and brings the Almightie to his barre and to his judgement and the heart begins to reason inwardly and sometimes vents it outwardly and saith had the Lord given mee that grace and fitted a place for mee I could have done much for God and some good to his Church and I could have ministred much comfort to others this is the English of it As if hee had said had the Lord beene so wise to devise a meanes to effect this glory as I am then great matters might have bene done This is to make a mans wisedome above God and his mercy grace wisedome and all Oh! this is devillish pride Secondly It slights all mercyes received and all that God bestowes from day to day because he cannot have what he would therefore he cares not for it and he regards not what hee hath As Haman said Hester 5.13 all this honor and these riches availe mee nothing so long as I see the Iew Mordecai sitting in the gate This one thing denyed him made him no to regard whatsoever hee had and it was not onely so with Haman but even with good Ionah When God had prepared a goard because he tooke it away againe suddainely Ionah tooke on exceedingly and forgetting all Gods mercyes in the depth he quarrels with heaven Ionah 4.9 and when the Lord said dost thou well to bee angry yes saith he even to the death thus he commends himself The reason is the Soule is like a sullen child who because his coate is not garded as he would have it therefore he is discontented and will havs none at all Therefore the Soule saith as they did of the two litle fishes Iohn 6.9 heere are five barly loaves and two fishes but what are these amongst so many people So the Soule saith oh he hath nothing and he can doe nothing and God frownes upon him c. but hath not God given you a care and conscience to reforme your lives and hath not he done this and that for you oh yes but what 's this to that I might have had and that I would have oh downe with that proud heart Thirdly The discontented Soule will quarrell with his owne condition whatsoever it is though he had a condition of waxe as the Proverb is hee is never pleased nor quietted but hee hath strange Imaginations in his mind and strange liftings up of his owne conceiptes and he saith If God had set mee in such a place answerable to my gifts and parts then such a thing might have beene done but God hath put him as it were under a clod and therefore hee hath no care of himselfe as God hath had no care of him nay let him have that condition which he desires and he falls out with that too Gen. 25.22 Rebecca could not be contented without children and yet when shee had conceived and the children began to strive in her wombe shee said if it be so why am I thus So it is with a proud discontented heart Hee must have this and hee will have that and if there be any weaknesse hee sinks downe in his sorrow Iosh 7.7 It is a strange passage of good Iosuah when the Lord had discomfited the hoast of Israel by the men of Ai see how he complaines saying Alas oh Lord God wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Iordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites would God we had beene content to dwell on the other side Iordan As if hee had not begged Gods blessing and had not seene Gods hand in succouring of him before and yet now because hee had not what he would hee takes all in the worst sence And as Moses said when the Lord had call'd him to goe before Pharaoh send by whom thou should'st send Exod. 4.13 As if God must not dispose of him because he had not that eloquence which hee desired Fourthly as he quarrells with his condition so hee becomes weary of his life and will needs dye in a pet because God answers not and his humour is not fitted therefore hee will away from the world no man shall see him any more neither will he see any man Thus it was with good Eliah when he said 1 King 19.4 Lord take away my life for I am no better then my Fathers So it was with Ionah and with Iob. Iob 3.10 11 12. You women thinke of this It may be your husbands will not speake to you as you would have them and then you wish Oh that you had dyed in such a sicknesse c. Downe with those proud hearts The Lord hath given you life and continues it that you may seeke to God and yet you will needs dye in a sullen fit its mercy that you may live to seeke mercy Fifthly in conclusion when the Soule hath thus quarrelled with God and slighted all mercies and quarrelled with his condition and is grown weary of his life all then the Soul comes to a desperate distraction in himselfe and a wonderfull thought seazeth upon the Soule of a discontented man that his heart is almost driven beyond himselfe and out of this comes a great deale of madnesse in the wicked and it doth much hurt to the good too His thoughts run in a marvellous hurry one upon another and makes the Soule unfit to doe any good to others or to receive any good from others Here is the cause when God hath opened your eyes and the wrath of God first began to pursue you then you could have been content to fall into a river and to make away your selves Now what if God will have you beare his hand and will not give you grace yet why doe you quarrell against God Oh sit downe and humble your selves with meekenesse and calmnesse and wonder that you are not in hell what if you had beene damned long agoe Thus it was with Rachel shee would not be comforted because her children were not So it is with thy Soule thou must have what thou wilt or else thou wilt not be comforted Now there are two objections against the former truth which I must remoove and answer
mee all you stout hearted ones of the world which are farre from righteousnesse Esay 26.12 Let mee speake to all you stout hearted men and women that are heere this day you that swell against the truth of Christ and will not come under the power of Gods ordinances you are farre from righteousnesse The further you are gone in this sinne the further you are from the righteousnesse of God A stout hearted man is a thousand miles from righteousnesse Drunkards and adulterers are far enough from it but a proud man is as it were 20. hundreth thousand miles from it hee is far from the covenant of faith Faith goes out for all that it hath to an other it reacheth up to heaven for all it wants meate and nourishment and therefore it goes to Christ for all and pride onely rests upon it selfe for all faith gives the glory of all that it hath to another but pride takes all the glory to its selfe Faith goes to another for strength in what he doth but pride rests upon it selfe for strength So that though all sinnes hinder the worke of faith yet pride hinders it more then any thing You that thinke it a brave matter to be proud and you must not buckle to the Minister and you must doe what you list you are stout-hearted men but you are farre from beleeving men The more faith the lesse pride and the more pride the lesse faith 3. A proud soule is farre from mercy Thirdly As pride opposeth God himselfe and as it opposeth the covenant of grace so it followes from the two former that the proud Soule upon these conditions that it is in shall never receive any grace from the Lord. Set your hearts at rest for that You may swell and lift up your selves but if ever you receive the worke of grace and mercy upon these termes I will bee your bond-man for ever For he that is professely contrary to the grace of God that gives all and he that is contrary to the covenant of grace by which all is conveyed let him set his heart at rest for ever receiving any mercy The Lord himselfe is not able to endure the sight of a haughty spirit he cannot looke upon him much lesse will he live with him He beholds the proud man a farre off hee drives a proud man farre from heaven Psal 138.6 The Lord deales by a proud man as a man doth that is carried with indignation against his enemy he will not looke upon him So it is with the Lord hee will not be within the ken of a proud man and if the Lord doe come neere a proud man woe to him that he doth so The Lord resists the proud Hee whets all the sharpest arrowes of his vengeance and shuts them all against a proud man You broken hearts consider this The Lord gives grace to the humble but the proud man must be content with his portion he shall be resisted not received he shall be resisted not converted nor saued nor sanctified Hee may bid farewell to all grace hee shall never have it upon those termes and as God intends no good to him so a proud man comes not within the scope of mercy nor of that redemption which Iesus Christ hath wrought and purchased Christ came not to call the righteous that is them that looke loftily in regard of what they do You stout hearted people thinke of it The Lord Christ came not to call you The devill calls and you may goe to him but Christ came to call and save the poore broken hearted sinners It is said of Christ That hee was annointed of the Lord Esa 61.1 2 3. to preach the glad tidings of the Gospell to whom to the meeke c. You meekened Soules shall heare good newes from heaven But there is not any one sillable of one promise in all the Gospel that any proud spirit can conceive to belong unto him If I could seperate all the good from the bad I would have the good to stand by and heare these good newes that I have for them and if you proud hearts will come in and yeild they may be yours too You that tremble at Gods Word and are willing to doe what God shall command if there be any such here this day as I doubt not but there are many then know that the Sonne of man came to seeke and save you it is good tidings Nay in the Lord Iesus Christ are all the Treasures of wisedome and knowledge and out of this fulnesse of holinesse and happinesse he fills all your meeke hearts and hee will give all grace according to your necessities here is newes of salvation life and comfort from heaven But to whom is it Christ came to seeke and save them that are lost that is them that are lost in their owne apprehension but the proud man was never lost in himselfe A lost man in the Wildernesse is content to be guided into his right way but the proud man saith hee will be filthy and fashionable still therefore hee was never lost and Christ never came to seeke nor save him All meanes doe a proud man no good All the meanes of Grace that God gives will never benefit a proud man So that now it is as possible nay more possible for heaven and earth to meete together then for a proud man to come to heaven except God give him a heart to stoope No man can receive benefit by the word except he be under the power of it if the wax be not under the Seale how can it receive any impression As the Apostle saith Rom 6.17 They were delivered into the forme of that doctrine propounded The forme of the Gospell tooke place in their hearts There is no Soule can get any benefit by the Gospell but hee must receive what it reveales and what it commands hee must doe and what it forbids he must labour to avoyd but a proud heart is above all meanes and therefore the word will not nay it cannot worke savingly on him As those wicked ones said Our tongues are our owne we ought to speake Psal 11.4 who is Lord over us What reproofe shall awe me saith a proud heart I will be led by my owne lusts Your owne reason leades you and your owne wills rules you your owne mindes and your lusts and what your hearts will have they must have You stout hearted ones that are resolved not to yield nor to come under the grace of God you will not have your affections framed nor made more teachable then seeing you will not bee taught be for ever deluded goe your way and be for ever hardned and for ever cast off from the presence of God and goe downe to the bottomlesse pit you will have your owne wills therefore goe to your owne places for that 's all you can have You that are the faithfull of God and know any such mourne for them Fourthly Againe 4. A proud
mans end is exceeding fearfull The destruction of a proud man is both certaine exceeding heavie and it is like to be mervailous fearfull There is nothing to be expected and hoped for but totall ruine and that suddainly and unconceiveably to every proud spirit that beares up himselfe against the blessed God of heaven Let mee open it thus A proud man is marked out for Gods Iudgements and is made as it were the white against whom all the arrowes of his vengeance are fully bent When Amaziah would needs out bid the Prophet in his advice 2 Chron. 25.15 16. and said forbeare Why shouldst thou bee smitten I will forbeare saith the Prophet but know what shall befall thee I know the Lord hath purposed to destroy thee because thou wilt not hearken to my counsell You that are acquainted with your stout-hearted husbands and wives and friends and know how your children bandy themselves against the blessed truth of Christ goe in secret and bemoane their estates and pray for them that if it be possible destruction may be prevented goe in secret and say it is my husband or my wife or my childe that yeilds not to the direction of the Word and therefore howsoever we may live a while together yet I know God hath decreed to destroy him and her Thinke of this with your selves you that are proud and say If I will not be exhorted then I shall be destroyed I cannot avoyd it Oh me thinks if every proud spirit would write this upon the palmes of his hands and upon the tester of his bed that he might see it wheresoever he goes how would his heart sinke within him When thou goest abroad say for ought I know I shal never returne home God hath decreed to destroy me And when thou lyest down think thus for ought I know I shal never rise more It is not the word of man but of the Almightie When the Lord would as it were frame a path for destruction hee sends a proud heart If once the Lord intend to destroy a People or Nation he gives them over to pride of heart The sonnes of Ely did not hearken to the voyce of their father because the Lord meant to destroy them 1 Sam. 2.25 hee gave them over to proud hearts Nay the proud Soule is not onely the ayme of Gods wrath but as the Lord determines destruction for him so he brings destruction first upon him When the Citizens said We will not have this man to rule over us then the King was wroth and said Luk. 19.4.27 bring hither those mine enemies and slay them before mee c. There was no delay nor no mitigation of the punishment to be granted Oh thinke of this all you proud spirits Indeed the Lord will confound all the wicked in the Day of Iudgement but he will execute even the fiercest of the Vials of his vengeance against a proud man and when the Lord shall say where are those wretches mine enemies then the Ministers of God shall come in and say this man was a drunkard and this man an adulterer Yes saith the Lord I will plague them anone but where are those mine enemies those stout-hearted men and women that hated to be reformed let mee see those damned and destroyed for ever And for ought I know God hath a strange indignation in store for them Nay it shall bee so executed upon a proud man that there shall be no reclaiming of it and God will not be perswaded to pitty him Prov. 1.26 27 28. They shall call upon mee saith the Text but I will not answer they shall seeke mee early but they shall not finde mee So that it is no wonder though a company of rebellious wretches have no comfort upon their death beds and though a thousand divels seaze upon them and hurry them downe to hell it s no wonder I say cry and call they may but God will not heare them Nay the Lord will laugh at their destruction and mocke when their feare commeth It is a griefe for a man to be in misery but to be laughed at that 's a plague of all plagues But to have mercy rejoyce in the destruction of a man this makes the plague out of measure miserable If any man say this is false doctrine and this is too sharpe and too keene Brethren we dare doe no other and wee can doe no lesse and you had better heare of it now while you may prevent it then to heare of it and feele it hereafter when there is no remedy But here is the maine wound of our Ministery you will not stoope nor yield to our Ministery Wee speake not in wrath and anger as you imagine but in mercy wee now preach against a proud heart that you may be humbled and finde mercy and so be comforted and saved for ever Therefore take your owne shame and the Lord prevaile with those hearts which word and counsell cannot worke upon And the Lord now fit you for mercy that you may receive mercie from the Lord. That 's all the hurt wee wish you Oh that you would so heare of these plagues that you might never feele them The Lord hath an old grudge against a proud heart Goe away you proud hearts feare and tremble When you are gone from the congregation do not say What if he say so we fare well enough yet and wee see none of all these judgements and all this winde shakes no corne no no once stoope and come in and take the yoake of Christ and the Lord make it easie Goe in secret and reason thus good Lord have not I onely lifted up my selfe against man like my selfe but against God and against his ordinances and hath God yet shewed mee mercy in sparing of me and it is yet mercy that I may bow my body though I cannot bow my proud heart oh what mercy is this You wives thanke God that yet hee hath spared your husbands and that yet they have breath and being here pray to God that they may lay about them for humble hearts that so they may finde mercy against the evill day Our God is very mercifull but it is no contending with him Did ever any man provoke the Lord and prosper Come in therefore shame your selves that the Lord may humble you now and shew mercy to you hereafter Vse 4 The last Vse is for exhortation You see the woe and misery of a proud spirit What remaines then onely this Be exhorted as you desire to finde favour with God and to receive mercy from him now be content to be at his disposing Walke in this way and ayme at this marke strive hard for it and put forth the best of your abilities that you may get humble hearts You must not thinke that every lazy wish and every desire will serve the turne and that it will be enough to say is it so that a proud heart is so farre from heaven I would I had an humble heart and
in at the straite gate c. This gate or this entrance into life is Humiliation of heart When the Soule is loosened from and bids farewell to sinne and himselfe then the gate is opened And as it is in other wayes If there be but one way or gate into an house and the traveller misseth that gate he looseth all his labour and must goe backe againe but if he once get in at this gate he is safe enough then So it is here There is a most narrow way of Gods Commandements and there is but one way or gate into this happinesse it is narrow and a little gate and a man must be nothing in his owne eyes and if you misse this gate you loose all your labour and shall never come to Salvation If a man could heare and pray all his dayes yet if his heart be not humbled he and his profession shall goe to hell together In Saint Matthew the conclusion is very peremptory when the Disciples were contending who should be highest Christ set a childe in the middest of them and said Except you become as little children Math. 18.3 you cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven You may doe any thing with Infants and all that they have to doe is to cry Vnlesse you have humble hearts you cannot enter into heaven Hee doth not say You cannot be great men or you cannot goe farre into heaven but he saith You cannot enter So then the danger being so great and the mistaking so full of hazard and seeing it is possible to have it therefore let us use all diligence to make this worke sure Thirdly 3. Motive consider the mervailous good that God hath promised and which hee will bestow upon all that are truly humbled And let all these be as so many cords to draw us to looke for this blessed frame of heart Wee have need of all the motives in the world I know it is a hard matter for a man to lay downe himselfe and his parts and all his priviledges in the dust I say it is mervailous irksome and tedious to the nature of a carnall man but it will quit all his cost in the end When wee shall tast of those sweet benefits that come by a humble heart and have gotten Iesus Christ and mercy from him then it will never repent us that wee have spent so many teares and made so many prayers and used so many meanes to pull downe the pride of our hearts Oh brethren thinke of it See and consider the admirable benefits and the exceeding great good that will come to you thereby The good things that come by a heart that is truly humbled they are specially foure and with those the truth and substance of whatsoever the heart can crave and desire The first benefit of an humble heart is this by this meanes wee come to be made capable of all those riches of the treasure of wisedome and grace and mercy that are in Christ and not onely of the blessings for a better life but of all things in this life so farre as they are good for us First wee are made capable of all those treasures of wisedome grace and mercy that are in Christ and for this cause was Christ sent to preach glad tidings to the meeke as you heard before all the Gospell and all the glad tidings of it doe belong to an humble soule And the Prophet Malachy saith Malac. 3.1 Behold I will send my messenger to prepare the way before mee and the Lord whom you seeke shall suddainly come into his Temple Iohn Baptist was Christs harbenger and hee made way for Christ and when the way was prepared Christ came immediatly Wee are the Temple of the holy Ghost saith the Apostle Now if the heart bee once prepared and humbled looke then immediatly for Christ Are you not content to have Christ dwell in your hearts If you will be humbled and so prepared there is neither want of love nor speed on his part This should mervailously lift up the heart of every man to seeke for this blessed grace If thou art truly humbled care not for the love of men the love of Christ will satisfie thee And though thy father and mother cast thee out of doores and thy husband tumble thee out of his bed yet if thou be truly humbled Christ will be in stead of father and husband and all comforts to thee God hath but two thrones the humble heart is one So the Text saith Esa 57.15 I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit c. If the Lord Iesus come to dwell in thy heart and that hee will doe if thou be truly humbled then certainly hee will provide for thee all needfull comforts for this life See what Zephany saith Zeph. 2.3 Seeke yee the Lord all yee meeke of the earth which have wrought his judgement seeke righteousnesse seeke meekenesse it may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger When all things threatned desolation and destruction see who they were that had safety promised onely the meeke Object But some will say Is it not better for a man to be proud with the proud and to play the Beare amongst Beares and the Lyon amongst Lyons and to shift for one Answ No saith the text seeke meekenesse The humble Soule may take this to himselfe as his part and portion If there should be desolation amongst us as there is in Bohemia in the Palatinate and in other Countries the humble Soule shall be hid When the mightie tall trees are blowne downe by strong winds the little shrubs may be shaken a little but they stand still they are safe and sure when the mighty Oakes are either horribly shaken or puld up by the roots So if ever you will seeke safetie and deliverance seeke meekenesse and then you shall be hidden When the proud heart shall be weltering in his blood the Lord will provide a shadow to succour and to comfort you If Christ dwell in your hearts he is bound to all reparations 2. Benefit Secondly as Humiliation of heart doth estate a man into Christ and his merits and all provision in this kinde so it gives him the comfort of all that good which hee hath in Christ There are many that have a right to Christ and are deare to God and yet they want much sweet refreshing that they might have and as the Proverbe is They never see their owne because they want this Humiliation of heart in some measure To be truly humbled is the next way to be truly comforted The Lord will looke to him that hath an humble contrite heart Esay 62.8 and trembles at his word that is an humble Soule a poore Soule a very beggar at the gate of mercy the Lord will not onely know him for he knowes the wicked too in a generall manner but hee will give him such a gracious looke
Sanctification and Obedience is answerable and thy Glory shall be suteable Now to conclude all The conclusion Doe you consider that it is possible to have an humble heart doe you consider the danger if you have it not and doe you consider the good that comes by an humble heart and doe you sit still as he said in another case Me thinkes your hearts begin to stirre and say hath the Lord engaged himselfe to this Oh then Lord make me humble Mee thinks your countenances say so The Lord make mee and thee and all of us humble that we may have this mercy Let mee make but this one question to your Consciences and give mee an answer secretly in your soules when the Lord shall close up your eyes here and put an end to your pilgrimage would you not be content to dwell with Christ in heaven which the Apostle did account his greatest happinesse to be ever with the Lord we shall be ever with Christ to comfort us when we shall be no more with sinne to vexe and trouble us would not you be content to be with Christ mee thinkes your hearts say that 's the end and upshot of all that 's the end why we live and pray and heare that we may be ever with him And doe not you meet with many troubles while you are members of the Church Militant I know you have sometimes distempers without and troubles without would you not have comfort against them all and what would you give that Christ would looke in and aske how your Soules doe and say thou art my redeemed and I am thy Redeemer No you know all flesh desires it Would you not be content to have some honour in the Church and to leave a good name behind you that the disgraces which wicked men cast upon you may not be as a blot upon your names and when you shall bee no more and you shall bid adue to friends and honours and meanes would you not be blessed and though you would be content to be the meanest in the Kingdome of heaven what would you give to be the greatest in heaven let mee put a condition to you get but humble hearts and you have all Men brethren and fathers If there be any Soule here that is content in truth and sinceritie to be humbled and to be at Gods disposing in all duties to be done do not you make too much hast to goe to heaven the Lord Iesus Christ will come downe from heaven and dwell in your hearts hee will sit and lye and walke with you his grace shall refresh you and his Wisedome shall direct you and his Glory shall advance you and as for happinesse take no thought for that Everlasting happinesse and blessednesse lookes and waites for every humble Soule Come saith happinesse thou that hast beene vile and base and meane in thine own eyes and in the contempt of the world come and be greatest in the Kingdome of heaven Brethren though I cannot prevaile with your hearts yet let happinesse that kneeles downe and prayes you to take mercy let that I say prevaile with you And answer mee now who would not be humbled If any man be so regardlesse of his owne good I have something to say to him that may make his heart shake within him But who would not have the Lord Iesus to dwell with him who would not have the Lord Christ by the glory of his grace to honour and refresh them and that he should set a crowne of happinesse upon their heads Mee thinkes your hearts should earne for it and say oh Lord breake my heart and humble mee that mercy may be my portion for ever Nay mee thinkes every man should say as Saint Paul did I would to God that not onely I but all my children and servants were not onely thus as I am but also if it were Gods will much more humbled that they might be much more comforted and refreshed The Lord in his mercy grant it Let all parents labour to have their children humbled and every master his servant This will give them cheering of heart in that great Day of accounts when palenesse comes upon your faces and leannesse to your cheekes then I know you would leave your children a good portion then get their Soules truly humbled Me thinks it cheeres my heart to consider of it if a man could get his own heart and the hearts of all truely humbled when he leaves the world if he could but say my wife is humbled and such a child and such a child is humbled how comfortably might he goe away and say though I go away and leave wife and children behind me poore and meane in the world yet I leave Christ with them Brethren though you care not for your selves yet care for your little ones never leave exhorting of them never leave praying for them and for your selves too that you and they may get these humble hearts When you are gone this will bee better for them then all the beaten gold or all the honours in the world There are many that have heretofore stood out against the Lord and they would not come in nor yeild to the conditions of mercy all those proud haughtie and rebellious spirits that have stood out against Gods Truth his Word and Ministers and have stood out long some twenty some thirtie and some fortie yeares let all such feare and tremble and now resolve not to stand it out any more but since the Lord offers so kindly to comfort you and to honour you upon your Humiliation Now kisse the Sonne be humble yeild to all Gods commands take home all truthes and be at Gods disposing There must be subjection or else confusion will you out-brave the Almightie to his face and will you dare damnation as you love your Soules take heed of it As proud as you have beene crushed and humbled Where are all those Nymrods and Pharaohs and all those mightie Monarchs of the World The Lord hath thrown them flat upon their backs and they are in hell this day Therefore be wise and be humbled under the mightie hand of the Lord. It is a mightie hand and the Lord will be honoured either in your Humiliation and conversion or else in your damnation for ever Let all the evill that is threatned and all the good that is offered prevaile with your hearts and though meanes cannot yet the Lord prevaile with you the Lord emptie you that Christ may fill you the Lord humble you that you may enjoy happinesse and peace for ever FINIS
for necessary uses When he had spoken of free Iustification through his grace then the Text saith teach a man to maintaine good works for necessary uses and in the 4. and 5. verses Verses 4. 5. hee saith After that the kindnesse and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration Now least any man should say if God doe not save a man for his works then why shall we doe good works and the like See what he addes Let us learne to maintaine good works c. There are many necessary uses of the meanes though they be not meritorious and of absolute sufficiency Were not he a mad man that should say what shall I doe with my money if I cannot eate it and what shall I doe with my boate if I may not dwell in it A man may buy meate with his money and row with his boat So you must use all meanes and improve all importunities and if ever pray and fast pray and fast now in these dayes of trouble but thinke not to bee saved nor justified by the worth and merit of them yet use them for some necessary uses and the uses are three Vse 1 First We must use all the meanes that gives us as guides Of the means to leade us by the hand to the Lord Iesus Christ and as lights to shew us where life is to be had Iohn Baptist professed plainly that hee was not the Messiah but he pointed at him and said Behold the Lambe of God that takes away the sinnes of the world So I say all the ordinances of God which are honourable and commendable and comfortable they all professe that they are not our Saviours onely they point us to a Saviour even the Lord Iesus Christ the Word reveales Christ and Prayer goes to a Christ and the Sacrament presents Christ to us and therefore they all say with one accord let us goe to the Lord Iesus and looke up to him When your hearts are troubled and disquieted all your duties knocke at your hearts and say would you not have mercy and power against corruption and some evidence of Gods favour Oh say you it is that which we want and it is all that we desire in this world Come then saith Prayer and the Word we will goe to Christ with you there is all fulnesse in him this is the end of all the holy ordinances of God not to make them Saviours but to lead us to a Saviour Vse 2 Secondly as they are guides to lead us to a Christ soe they are meanes to convey grace Of the means mercy and comfort from Christ to our soules Though they are not meate yet they are as dishes that bring the meate They are the meanes whereby salvation hath beene revealed and is conveyed to you There is a fountaine of grace in Christ but the word and prayer and Sacraments and fasting these are the conduites to convey this water of life and to communicate this grace to us You doe not use to drinke the conduite but the water that the conduite bringes Aske that your joy may be full saith our Saviour and so the Lord speakes by the Prophet Esay Esay 55.3 incline your eare and come unto mee heare and your soules shall live As if he had said waite upon God in his word and ordinances and your soules shall live Though the meanes are not life it selfe yet life is conveyed by them In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge Colloss 2.3 If you would have any grace and holinesse the treasure of it is in Christ The word is as the Indenture or great will of God whereby the treasure of Gods favour is made knowne to your Soules The bond or will is not the treasure but conveyes the treasure to us and makes us have a right and title to it our Saviour saith my peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you and all the promises in Christ are yea and Amen yea that is truth it selfe and Amen that is confimed now you must receive the tenure of all these in Christ And the holy Sacraments are as the broad seales whereby the Covenant of grace is confirmed made authenticall and ratified to your Soules When a man hath much goods and lands and would make an other his heire he passeth his lands or goods over to him by will and if the will is not onely drawne but also sealed then though this will is not the treasure it selfe yet it is a speciall meanes to convey this treasure to the heire that must have it So the Word is the will of God and the Sacraments are the Seales of it and all that mercy and goodnesse in Christ is made knowne to you by the Word and made sure to you by the Sacrament the Word and Sacraments are not this treasure but they are blessed meanes to convey this treasure to your Soules Therefore when your hearts are dead weake and heavy and you begin to breath for some consolation saying who will tell mee how I may have my dead heart quickned and my heavy heart refreshed as David once breathed for the water of Bethlem then mee thinkes the word and prayer and Sacraments doe all say we will goe to the Lord Iesus Christ for all these for you and then Christ will sanctifie you in his word and if you have strong devils hanging upon you fasting and prayer will fetch power and grace from Christ and cast all these devils out So then you see their good use of all these Thirdly the last use of the meanes is this Vse 3 that by the exercise of our selves in them Of the means and by the improvement of our times and meanes we may glorifie the God of grace that hath given us all these meanes and that we may waite upon him with feare and reverence and honor God in his word and come to his table and there partake of the dainties of life and salvation and expresse the virtues of him that hath cald us to this marvellous light that we may see Gods grace in prayer and in professing and delight in the duties of his worship These are all very good uses so then the conclusion is this you must not thinke that your duties can pardon one sinne yet they must be used and blesse God for them and if ever now is a time to improve all these for they are a meanes to leade us to Christ and to convey grace and life from Christ into our soules and thereby we may glorifie the God of grace that hath beene so mercifull to us When we doe despaire of all help in the meanes The second thing that I mentioned is this When shall wee know that our hearts are brought to this passe that the meanes of grace do worke so kindly that our hearts may bee brought to this holy
despaire I would not have you go away and say the minister saith we must despaire It s true you must despaire of all saving succour in your selves but you must not despaire of all mercy in Christ Answer For the answer to this question you must know that there are three particular trialls of our owne hearts whereby wee shall know when the Lord is pleased to deale so kindly and sweetly with us as to drive us from our selves to Christ The first triall First the Soule of a poore sinner that seeth all meanes helplesse and hopelesse in themselves will freely confesse and acknowledge and that openly that the worke of salvation is of an unconceiveable difficulty and he seeth an utter insufficiencie and impossibility in himselfe and in any meanes in the world to be saved of himselfe He seeth that it is beyond his power and the staffe is out of his owne hand and the Soule almost sinks under it and conceives it almost impossible to come out of it in regard of that which it apprehends Hee seeth now that all those broken reedes and rotten props and all that boldnesse whereby the heart did beare up it selfe they are all broken in peeces and all those Castles which he hath built in the ayre wherein hee comforted himselfe with dreames of consolation they are all throwne downe to the ground and battered about his eares and now the Soule wonders how he was so deluded to trust to such lying vanities and to such deceitfull shadowes This is the difference that the Soule will finde in it selfe before this worke of conversion and after it is wrought Before a man thinks it an easie matter to come to heaven and judgeth it a foolishnesse in people to be cast downe and discouraged in the hardnesse and difficultie of the worke of salvation and hee conceives it to be a foolish conceit in the frantick braine of some precise Ministers Oh saith he God blesse us if none be saved but such as these whatsoever he saith a man may goe to heaven and repent and get the pardon of his sinnes it is nothing but confessing his sinnes before God and craving mercy in the pardon of them and is this such a hard matter this man in the dayes of his vanitie thinks he hath heaven in a string and mercy at command and he can come to heaven and breake his heart at halfe an houres warning but take this man when the Lord hath awakened his conscience and put him to the triall when he seeth that after all his prayers and teares yet his conscience is not quieted and his sinnes are not pardoned and the guilt still remaines now he is of another minde now he wonders at himselfe that he was so deluded and now he saith where is the deluded heart that did thinke it and the mouth that did speake it Nay he thinks it a great mercy of God that he is not in hell long agoe and he stands and wonders that ever any man comes to heaven and he saith certainly their hearts are not like mine and their sinnes are not so great as mine good Lord who can ever be saved such a divell to tempt and such a world to allure and such corruptions boyling within He wonders how Abraham got to heaven beyond the Starres and Moses but above all Manasses yet he saith blessed be God that ever he did this for them but for my selfe all things considered I thinke it a matter impossible how I nay how can I ever be wrought upon shall ever any mercy comfort mee and shall ever any meanes doe mee good Why have not all those meanes that I have had done mee good I shall never have power to pray better then I have done and I shall never be able to wrestle with God more earnestly then I have done and yet I see all meanes profit not therefore I am but a gone man I am but lost and I know not which way my soule should be saved When our Saviour Christ was discovering the difficultie of the way to Salvation His Disciples said Good Lord who then shall be saved So the poore Soule saith Oh the meanes that I have had and the prayers that I have made So that I have thought the heavens did even shake againe and yet Good Lord my heart did never stirre at all and therefore how can I be saved And as the Prophet Ieremy saith Shame hath eaten up the labours of our fathers and we lye downe in our shame c. They had the meanes of grace and the ordinances of God and shame hath eaten up all and where are their Temples and Priviledges now Shame hath consumed them to nothing So it is with a poore feeble fainting Soule he saith shame hath eaten up all my labours I have laboured in prayer in hearing and in fasting yet I have no pardon sealed nor no mercy granted I am as much troubled as ever I see as much evill as ever I did hell is gaping for mee and so soone as life is gone from my body the divell will have my Soule This is the nature of despaire to put an impossibilitie in the thing that it despaires of and to say can it be and will it be and will it ever be Nay it is impossible for ought I know Where is the man now that thought it an easie matter to goe to heaven he is in an other minde and his heart is of an other frame now he hath found by woefull experience that there is no hope nor helpe in himselfe nor in the creature Secondly The second Triall this followes from the former disposition of spirit the Soule is restlesse and remaines unsatisfied in what he hath and what he doth The heart cannot be supported and therefore it growes to be marveilously troubled and it is not able to stay it selfe There is nothing that can satisfie the Soule of a man but it must be some good No man is satisfied with evill but rather more troubled with it It must be some good either in hand and in present possession or else in expectation of some good that he may have and he saith it may be and it will be But when he seeth the emptinesse of all his priviledges and the weakenesse of all his duties when these failes his heart and all must needs sinke because he seeth no other good but them for the while As it is with the building of a house if the bottome and foundation be brittle and rotten and begin to shake all the whole building must needs shake So the Soule that sought for comfort mercy and salvation from his outward priviledges and duties when all these begin to shake under him and to breake in sunder and he seeth no helpe thereby and that it can receive no ease therein hence it is that Soule thus troubled and despairing is in such an estate that if all the Ministers under heaven should come to flatter him and to daube him up with untempered mortar
is blanke and justice carries him downe to the place of execution and he shall not come thence till he have paid the utmost farthing And then the Soule saith some comfort some mercy and consolation for mee oh saith he I have received the Sacrament and prayed and fasted and professed canst thou not feede of these oh no! saith the Soule these are huskes bread for me as the world thinkes of a man that hath got nothing by his trading such a man that made wonderfull shew in the world to day so many hundreths and thousands worse then nothing this is lamentable Iust so it will be with thee if thou hast not gotten Christ If a man have gotten Christ in his hearing and praying hee will answer all easily and when the divell comes in and saith Thou hast many sinnes who shall satisfie Gods Iustice for them The Soule makes this answer Christ hath paid all Oh but thou hast broken the Law of God saith the divell Oh saith the Soule Christ hath fulfilled all righteousnesse for mee You have many corruptions saith the divell but Christ hath purged mee saith the Soule Oh but you shall be damned saith the divell to him Nay saith the Soule there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ but I am in Christ and therefore shall not be damned Thus the divel shall goe away ashamed and say That man is out of my reach I shall never get him downe to hell he hath gotten Christ But here this question may be asked Question how may a man goe beyond himselfe in all his duties Answ Because this is a skill above all skills therefore for the answer hereof take these three directions First The first Direction labour to see an absolute necessity of a Christ in all these priviledges that thou hast and in all the duties and services that thou performest First in all thy priviledges See a need of Christ to make all these powerfull to thy Soule Hearing and reading and fasting will doe thee no good except thou have a Christ to goe with all these As a Ship that hath faire Sailes strong Masts except there be a winde it can never goe So the Soule is like the Ship and the precious ordinances of God are faire Sailes and good Masts and it is good hearing and good reading and good fasting but except the Spirit blowe with these thou canst get no good by them the Spirit bloweth where it listeth and except the Lord Iesus Christ by the power of his Spirit go breath upon thy hearing Preaching and upon all the ordinances they can doe thee no good When the Lord was to come into his Garden which was the Church The Spices are the graces of Gods Spirit The Spices could not growe because the Spirit would not blowe upon them and therefore the Spouse saith Arise oh North Cant. 4.16 and come oh South and blowe on my Garden that the Spices thereof may flowe out As if she had said Good Lord blowe this way and that way and give a blessing to the meanes and then comfort will come indeed And as there is need of Christ to blesse all meanes so secondly there is need of Christ to make all thy services acceptable to God the Father Oh send to heaven for a Christ that he may hide all thy weaknesses and present all thy duties to God his Father in his merits and righteousnesse They that brought a Sacrifice in the time of the Law were to offer it upon the golden Altar and no Sacrifice was accepted without it So if thou wilt have thy hearing and praying and fasting acceptable to God lay them upon the golden Altar the Lord Iesus Christ And know that thou hast need of Christ to cover all the failings weaknesses in thy duties The second Direction Secondly In all the beautie and excellencie of Gods ordinances that thou seest and prizest See a greater beautie and excellencie in the Lord Iesus Christ then in all these See what comfort it is that thou wouldest finde and what sweet is it that thou wouldest get from hearing and reading praying and professing goe beyond all this and say if the beames be so sweet what is the Sunne it selfe and if the ordinances of God be so sweet and comfortable what is the Lord Iesus Christ then You come to heare and it is well that you will come What would you have in hearing You would have some life to quicken you and some wisedome in your mindes to direct you and some grace into your Soules to purge you and then mee thinks I heare you say Blessed be the Lord this day I found my heart something more quickned and my Soule somthing inabled to hate sinne and to walke with God blesse God for that But is a little life in the word so good and is a little grace in the Sacrament so sweet Oh then away away higher if these be so sweet what is the Lord Iesus the God of all wisedome grace and power If the Word doe so much quicken thy Soule what would the Lord Iesus doe if thou couldest get thy heart possessed of him Let all these drops of life and mercie draw up thy heart to heaven When the Spouse in the Canticles had sought after her beloved see how she describes him Can. 5.10.16 his mouth is white and ruddie and so forth and in the 16. verse shee saith Hee is most sweet yea hee is altogether lovely The originall hath it he is altogether pleasant yea pleasantnesse it selfe You have some comfort and some discomfort with it you have some wisedome and some folly some power and some weaknesse with it but the Lord Iesus is all comfort and no discomfort he is all power and no weaknesse he is all life and no deadnesse therefore in all the ordinances of God carrie your hearts a little higher and looke upon that fulnesse that is in Christ Thirdly Let us labour in the use of all meanes The third meanes as to see the beauty of a Christ surpassing all meanes so let us be led by all meanes into a neerer union with the Lord Christ As a wife deales with the letters of her husband that is in a farre Country she findes many sweet inklings of his love and shee will read these letters often and daily shee would talke with her husband a farre off and see him in the letters Oh saith shee thus and thus he thought when he writ these lines and then shee thinks hee speakes to her againe shee reads these letters onely because shee would be with her husband a little and have a little parlee with him in his pen though not in his presence so these ordinances are but the Lords love-letters and wee are the Ambassadors of Christ and though wee are poore sottish ignorant men yet wee bring mervailous good newes that Christ can save all poore broken hearted sinners in the world You doe well to come and heare but it is all
that you may chat and parlee a little with Christ Our Saviour saith Matth. 24.28 Where the carkasse or the dead body is there will the Eagles be This is the nature of an Eagle shee will not goe to catch flies that 's the nature of the hedge Sparrow but shee will prey upon the carkasse So this is a good heart that will not prey upon dead duties but upon the Lord Christ who is the life of the Soule If thou art of a right brood thou wilt not fill and glut thy Soule with a few duties like a hedge Sparrow still mistake me not I doe not dispraise these duties but I say they are nothing in the way of justification if faith in Christs merits be not joyned with them Therefore if thou hast a dunghill heart of thine owne thou may'st goe and content thy selfe with profession and with a few cold dead duties but if thou art an Eagle and a sound hearted Christian and one that God hath beene pleased to doe good unto thou wilt never be but where the Lord Iesus is and where his grace and mercy is As we doe at a Feast the dish is greater then the meat yet wee reach the dish not for the dishes sake but that we may cut some meat So the ordinances of God are as so many dishes wherein the Lord Iesus Christ is dished out to us Sometimes Christ in his merits is dished out in the Sacrament to all the sences and sometimes he is dished out in the Word therefore as you take the dish to cut some meate So take the Word that Communicates Christ to the eare and Prayer Communicates with Christ and the Sacrament Communicates Christ to all the sences cut the meate and let not the Lord Christ goe whole from the Table and no man looke after him fill your hungry Soules with Christ When a poore travelling man comes to the Ferry he cryes to the other side Have over have over his meaning is he would goe to the other side by a Boat he onely desires the use of the Ferry-man to convey him over So Christ is in heaven but we are here on earth as it were on the other side of the river the ordinances of God are but as so many Boats to carry us and to land us at Heaven where our hopes are and our hearts should be Therefore you would be landed Have over have over saith the Soule The Soule desires to bee landed at the Staires of Mercy and saith Oh bring me to speake with my Saviour Mary came to the Sepulchre to seeke for Christ and therefore when the Angel said to her Woman why weepest thou shee made this answer Oh they have taken away my Lord. Ioh. 20.13 So it is with you if you be not hypocrites Is there ever a Mary here is there ever a man or woman that prizeth a Christ and seeth need of a Christ and that comes weeping and mourning to the holy ordinances of God whom seekest thou saith the Word and Prayer and the Sacrament Oh saith the broken hearted sinner they have taken away my Lord Christ Oh this sinfull heart of mine oh these cursed corruptions of mine if it had not beene for these Christ would have comforted my conscience and pardoned my sinne if thou seest my Christ and my Saviour reveale him to my Soule that I may receive comfort and consolation by him This is the frame of a Christian Soule when the Ferry-man hath carried the traveller over hee stayes not there but goes to the house of his friend and saith is such a man within he desires to speake with him and to receive some good from him We heare and pray and reade till we are weary we doe not cry Have over let mee come to enjoy a neerer Communion with my Saviour that I may dwell with him and have a neerer cut to the Lord Christ I would have way that I may receive grace and mercy from Christ according to my necessities When a man hath gotten so many hundreth pounds he not onely tels that he hath met with the Ferry-man but he shewes the money that he hath gotten So you come to Church and goe from Church and you have your hearing for your hearing and your professing for your professing and the like but you should labour to say I have gotten the pardon of all my sinnes and the assurance of Gods love to my Soule I have beene with my Saviour and thus graciously and mercifully hee hath dealt with mee All that I have said is but a speech of a little time but it is a taske for all a mans life Oh thinke of it and say what have I gotten by all that I have done and what would I get when I goe to prayer I would have a Christ and mercy from him This is not in our minds I tell thee what thou must ayme at and labour for heare and pray for a Saviour See a need of Christ in all and see greater beauty in Christ then in all and be lead neerer to Christ by all or else you get nothing by all that you doe If there were no gold in the West-Indies the King of Spaine would not care for his Ships nor for that place Schoole-boyes care not for the Carrier but for Letters from a Father So now raise up your hearts higher towards heaven All holy duties are but as Ships and Carriers but the golden Mines of mercy are all in the Lord Iesus Christ It was a sweet speech of a man whether he was good or bad I know not that a man should loose the creatures in God So I would have you doe loose your selves and all ordinances and creatures and all that you have and doe in the Lord Christ How is that Let all be swallowed up and let nothing be seene but a Christ and let thy heart be set upon nothing but a Christ As it is with the Moone and Starres when the Sunne comes they loose all their light though they are there in the heavens still and as it is with rivers they all goe into the Sea and are all swallowed up of the Sea and yet there is nothing seene but the Sea So all the ordinances and creatures are as so many rivers from that Ocean of mercy and goodnesse in Christ and they all returne thither therefore onely see a Fountaine of grace goodnesse wisedome and power in Christ When a man is upon the Sea he can see no fresh water it is all swallowed up So let it be with thy Soule when thou wouldest finde mercy and grace The ordinances of God are good in themselves yet loose them all in Christ That wisedome in Christ is able to direct and that grace and mercy in Christ is able to save when all other helps faile and that power of Christ must support the Soule in the time of trouble There is some comfort and sweet and some refreshing in the Word and in the Sacrament and in the company of Gods people
Sam. 16.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. In this his heart was marveilous quiet and now he was able to beare it better then the souldiers that were with him Though his cause was just and he might have revenged it yet now he was humble and brought under and therefore quieted though never so much opposed This Humiliation of heart so settles a man that though ten thousand oppositions come against him yet nothing will disquiet him Cast disgrace upon the humble heart causelesly and he cures it thus he thinks worse of himselfe than any man else can doe and if they would make him vile and loathsome hee is more vile in his owne eyes then they can make him and therefore he is contented If they imprison an humble Soule and persecute him hee wonders at Gods goodnesse so farre hee is from being discontented that he wonders at Gods goodnesse and mercy towards him that he would cast him into a Dungeon when he might have cast him into hell Thirdly and lastly this Humiliation of Soule The third benefit brings in satisfaction and contentednesse in all the wants that may befall him Take away from him what you will and deny him any thing yet he will be quiet Hee that is contented with all Gods dealing towards him cannot be disquieted with any thing The humble Soule justifies God and is pacified and joyns side with Gods providence he justifies God in whatsoever he doth and therefore is quiet in whatsoever he hath done The ship that goes with wind and tide goes easily but if it goes against wind and tide it is wonderfully troubled so when the humble Soule goes on with Gods blessed providence and goes that way which the will of God goes he goes on quietly and the want of this humiliation of heart is the cause of all your disquietnesse when you will stand in opposition against the Almighty the Lord will have you poore and you will be rich the Lord will have you base and meane in the world and you would be honorable the Lord on the one side and you on the other side you would have it and the Lord saith you shall not if all come not according to your mind oh then you flye out God must be of your mind and be at your becke and this you must have and that you will have or els God shall heare of you thus you make your owne trouble and this troublesome Spirit breeds all the sorrow that befalls you whereas if you would go on with God you might be quieted and comforted whatsoever condition you were in as one said that he could have what he would of God why how was that because whatsoever Gods will was that was his will humiliation quiets all and supplyes all wants once make the good will of God that which thy heart shall yeild unto and Gods providence the best that can befall thee and then live comfortably for ever Oh! that our hearts were brought to this But the pride and vilenesse of our hearts is such that we trouble our selves needlesly therefore above all labour for this Be content to want what God will deny and to waite Gods good pleasure and to be at his disposing and then live quietly and comfortably for ever Oh! that I could bring your hearts to be in love with this blessed grace of God Is it so that Humiliation brings quiet in all a mans conditions Is there not a Soule here that hath beene vexed with the temptations of Sathan did you never know what it is to be under the malice of an enemy and did your owne distempers never trouble you Have none of you found hard measures at the hands of wicked men is there never a Soule here that is burthened with many wants and that loves his owne comfort have you not many necessities at home the want of friends and meanes and even of common necessaries and would you arme and fence your selves that no wants may disquiet you nor trouble you but in all to be above all and to rejoyce in all more then all oppositions in the world can doe you hurt then be humbled and for ever quieted Whatsoever can or shall befall you by the divell and his instruments and if every spire of grasse were a divell be humbled and then be above all the divels in hell and all temptations and oppositions that they shall not so disquiet you as to cause you to be unsetled or uncomforted In the next place you are to be desired The second Vse to try your selves by the former truth and let every man try his owne heart whether ever God hath given him this gracious disposition of Soule or no You must come to this truth for there is no justification nor acceptation without this Nay there is no faith can be infused into the Soule before the heart be thus fitted and prepared no preparation no perfection Never humbled never exalted therefore let every man and woman lay their hearts to the former truth and consider this one thing in the generall So farre as the heart is from this contentednesse to be at Gods dispose so farre it is from true preparation for Christ You must be empty if ever Christ fill you you must be nothing if you would have Christ all in all to you Thus much in the generall But now let us come to the particular trials and herein let us consider two things First the truth and soundnesse of our Humiliation Secondly the measure of it both of these this Doctrine doth discover to us It is very profitable to handle them both that they which have not this work may be humbled and that they which have it may see how farre they come short of the measure which they should and might have the want of which is the cause of much sorrow and the want of much comfort How to try the truth of our Humiliation You may try the truth of this worke of Humiliation thus In the generall looke how you are disposed of in your lives and conversations But in particular that you may see where we be let us observe these three rules First Let us see what it is that swayes our reasons and judgements Secondly What it is that over-powers our hearts our wils and affections Thirdly What it is that rules our lives and conversations Try your hearts by these rules and then it will be plaine and cleare whether you be truly humbled and abased or no. You know I told you that you must not onely be disposed of by God for God will dispose of you whether you will or no he will rule all things in heaven and earth he will either crush those proud hearts of yours by Humiliation here or else cast you downe to hell for ever but you must be content to be at Gods disposing To begin with the former namely to see what swayes our judgements If you will attend I hope you shall know something in your owne hearts you that are weake as
a-breast against their owne comfort and will not receive the Word that might convey what comfort is needfull for them I charge every poore Soule to make conscience of resisting the word of God as you desire to make conscience of lying and stealing This is a sinne though not so great as the other Make conscience of this carnall cavelling pull downe those proud hearts lay downe all those carnall reasonings and let the word of God rule you then comfort will come amaine I take this for a truth That when the heart is truly humbled and prepared for mercie and rightly informed and conuicted of the way to salvation the cause why the heart cannot receive comfort it is meere pride of a mans spirit one way or other it is not because he will not nor because God will not but because hee listens to what his carnall reason saith and not to the plaine will and word of God I say make conscience of it and then comfort will come amaine into your Soules The second triall of the degree of humiliation The second triall of the measure of our humiliation is this Looke to thy discouragements For as the discouragements of thy course are so is the pride of thy heart If the stream run amain here there is much pride if little discouragement then there is little pride This is nothing else but when the Soule out of the feare of evill that it either feeles or expects and the price that it puts upon it selfe and that it lookes for from it selfe it is nothing else but the sinking of the soule below it selfe As the Author to the Hebrewes saith Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himselfe Heb. 12.3 least you grow weary and faint in your owne mindes The word in the Originall is as if their sinewes were shrunke This is an undoubted argument and evidence of so much pride as this doth appeare When a man is driven to a desperate stand and comes to lay a dispondencie and to lay himselfe too low and is not able to beare the blow that God layes upon him for were the Soule as willing to take the want of good if God denie it as to take good when God gives it it would not be so discouraged The heart is content to have good but if God take away this good hee is not content to be at Gods disposing therein but if this good goe away hee sinks and is discouraged and this argues pride The heart desires to have riches and especially honours in the world happily God denies this throwes filth and disgrace upon his person and now the Soule is desperatly downe and forlorne in himselfe So much as thou hast of this so much pride thou hast Why art thou not content that God take away any thing the truth is thou wouldest be at thine owne disposing and that which thou wouldst have thou art not able to want Now because this is a thing that wee must take speciall notice of know therefore that this discouragement appeares in these severall passages and pride vents it selfe in them all First This keepes a man from comming to the worke when he is called to it Signes of a discouraged heart Though the Word of God is never so plaine and his calling to it never so cleare yet he is loath to come in at Gods call and when he is come hee is quickly weary and saith what doe I heare Aske God that because he thinks he shall not finde the successe that he desires therefore he is loath to come to it this is horrible pride Thus it was with Ionah he was sent to Nineveh and because hee thought God would shew mercy to them and he should be accounted a false Prophet therefore he would not goe but turnes to Tarshish hee was not able to beare the crossing of himselfe Secondly It damps the Soule and as I may so say it knocks of the wheeles of a mans endeavours when hee sets upon the worke and it kils him at the roote As the Prophet David saith Why art thou cast downe within mee oh my soule Psal 43.5 why art thou so disquieted within me As a man that awakens from a swound he wonders at himselfe so did this Holy man Thus it comes to passe that the Soule recoyles upon it selfe and the heart gives in and he as it were trips up his owne heeles that howsoever a man is able to doe duties yet by reason of discouragements he is not able to put forth that which he can doe for feare he should not doe that which he would Thirdly this discouragement marvellously distempers a man after the worke When the worke is done by others if they finde acceptance and have good successe this comes like cold water upon the Soule and then hee goes away and saith Oh hee is fit for nothing and hee is unable to doe any thing as if a man should say Hee hath no light because another mans candle burnes clearer then his but after his owne worke all his care is what will become of the businesse and how his labour and how his Sermon tooke what approvement of his gifts and what admiration of his parts and if the acceptation of others answer not his desires then his Soule sinks downe and hee is even weary of himselfe his worke and all If no man commend him and the worke is not approved then hee complaines of himselfe this way and that way and begins to disparage himselfe onely to fish out commendation from others and to see what they will say if they commend him then hee goes away rejoycing if not then he sinks specially if hee have not grace to goe in secret by prayer to quicken up himselfe with some promise after that drunken fit So the truth is plaine it is wonderfull to see what pride there is One man is sicke of the sullen because the breath of men departs and hee falls short of that which he expected Though I should prepare my selfe never so well yet if the Lord did stop my mouth now in the pulpit let me be humbled but comforted and contented therewith The third Triall of the measure of our humiliation is this discontentednesse in a mans occasions The third triall of the measure of our Humiliation and so much of this as there is so much pride thou hast in thy heart where this discontentednesse growes there is this bitter roote of pride also The nature of a proud heart is not able to beare any superiour and if it be checked it falles to strange murmuring and gaine-saying This discontentednesse lets out it selfe in five particulars and there is a world of pride in them all First the Soule will grudge at the dispensation of God and snarle at the providence of the Almightie as if God had forgotten himselfe He quarrels exceedingly with the Almightie if God answer not his will and his hearts desire When the Lord had prevailed with the peoples hearts
before I goe any further Object 1 The discouraged sinner begins to justifie himselfe in his course in the apprehension of his owne insufficiency and he saith I see by daily experience that I am not fit for the place where God hath set mee and it goes of marvellous heavily the Lord takes away the hand of his providence in strenthening mee and the hand of mercy in comforting mee what would you have a man to doe is it fit for a man to beare up himselfe in a kinde of senselesnesse of the hand of the Almightie or is it not rather fit to see the hand of God in his displeasure and to sit downe and licke the dust and to be so farre from venturing upon the worke as to let it alone This is the plea of a discouraged sinner and therefore he thinks he doth well to sit downe Rachel like and not to be comforted but to let his Soule fall in sorrow Answ I confesse it is true The heart truly humbled ought to be Nay it cannot be brought to see it selfe in every kinde so that it judgeth it selfe unworthy of the least mercy and worthy of the heaviest judgements it cannot but be contented in abasement but yet there is a great difference betweene a heart truely humbled and a discouraged heart And the difference appeares in two things The Soule thinkes he doth marvellous well to be thus discouraged and that there is no other Humiliation but this Know therefore this double difference First The differences betweene a heart humbled and a heart discouraged This Humiliation leaves the Soule more calme and better able to under-goe a light blow when it hath borne this Whereas after discouragement the Soule is more full of trouble and more unable to beare any trouble because it hath sunke under this If the Lord denies to the humble Soule that which he would have it makes him more able to beare the want of any thing but the discouraged Soule flyes off and is lesse able to beare the hand of God in the want of any thing Humiliation seasons the vessell and makes it more wide and more fit to hold liquor but discouragement crackes the vessell and makes that it will hold nothing at all And humiliation is like the Tentures that stretcheth the cloath and makes it more smooth and plaine humiliation stretcheth the Soule and makes it more humble and meeke but discouragement rends the heart and makes it more unfit to undergoe that which is laid upon it As Saint Paul to the Hebrewes saith you have forgotten the exhortation which saith Heb. 12.5 My Sonne despise not thou the correction of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him The Word faint that is discouragement is spoken of by our Saviour When he was mooved with compassion towards the people because they fainted Matth. 9.36 and were as sheepe scattered abroad having no Shepheard So I say doe not suffer thy selfe to be so farre scattered with these troubles that thy heart be unable to gather up it selfe againe As it is with some stubborne childe when his father comes to correct him he snuffes and falles into a fwoune with griefe whereas an other childe is quiet and takes the blow quietly and goes away contentedly without any manner of fainting So the heart truly humbled is like the childe that takes the blow quietly but the discouraged Soule faints and is not able to beare the hand of God in this kinde The second difference Secondly the second difference is this As Humiliation ever leaves the Soule calme and quiet after the hand of God hath beene upon it so it makes the Soule more ready and puts a kinde of abilitie and cheerefulnesse in attending upon God in any service without any hankering after his owne ends and without this quarrelling and this drawing backe from the Lord. So that because hee hath borne the hand of God therefore it is much more ready that the Lord should dispose of duties and the successe of them seeing it hath found God going out with him heretofore and he saith the truth is sometimes the Lord did deny mee that mercy which I desired and blessed be God for it for by this meanes I found my proud heart humbled and brought downe therefore if God will have mee doe any dutie I will doe it and if he cast shame and disgrace upon mee in it I am contented This is a heart truly humbled but the discouraged Soule not receiving that strength and assistance in his duties that he would have he is marvellous untoward and unwilling to come to the like service any more For feare hee want successe and shall not be able to beare the want of it Humiliation as it were levels the heart that the Lord Iesus may take place there but this discouragement delves the heart and makes it more unfit for Christ Iohn Baptist was sent to prepare the way for Christ that every valley might be fild and every mountaine and hill brought low The high way wherein Christ went is the heart and the ditch or valley was the desperate discouraged heart and this fainting of heart unfits the way for Christ Luke 3.4 as well as the mountaines and hils As Humiliation levels the heart and makes it fit for Christ so this discouragement delves and unfits the Soule to be quickned and to give way to a Saviour and to entertaine him Humiliation takes off the knottinesse of the heart and makes it runne faster in the way of Gods Commandements but discouragement hangs a backe byas upon the Soule that as a backe byas holds a boole that a man cannot make it run right to the marke so this discouragement is like the backe byas and that 's the reason why a discouraged heart comes so awkely to holy duties as to conference fasting and the like If a man goe to fasting and prayer privately if God give him not that successe that he would and he cannot doe it as he desires oh how hardly is he drawne to it againe but the humbled Soule saith blessed be God though I had not that strength and that successe that I desired yet if the Lord shall call mee to the like dutyes I will goe againe though I cannot doe as I would So then know that there is no ground for discouragement that 's a sinne be contented yet for ever humbled Object 2 In the next place the discontented person thinks his way reasonable and it is warrantable for him now and then to bee discontented and therefore he saith what would you have a man doe you know it and I find it that God hath denyed mee many abilities in those duties which hee calls for at my hands others have gifts and power and abilities but I am weake and feeble and can any man nay should any man be contented with this would you have a man content with his sinne I cannot beleive it thus because they see such deadnesse and untowardnesse of heart therefore they
true the Saints of God are sometimes discontented and discouraged but when they see it they are content that the Word should worke upon them against it and they complaine of these wretched hearts and when they finde this discontentednesse they quarrell with themselves for it and a good man would even pull out that heart which quarrels against the Word of God and he saith is not this the Word of God by which we must be saved and is not this the power of Christ and shall I be angry with it God forbid But these distempers are naturall in a carnall man and though he be reprooved for a foolish fashion yet hee will hold his corruptions still he puls and the Minister puls the Minister would pull downe his proud heart and take away his corruptions but he will have his pride and foolish fashions and his corruptions still then keepe them and perish with them and know that thou art a wretched man the humble heart contends with his corruptions and sinfull distempers and hee is not quiet therewith As it is with a treason If it be revealed to a Traitor and a good Subject the Traitor keeps it secret but the true Subject reveales it and complaines of the Traitor and the Treason and calles for justice against them so it is with a gracious good heart Hee seeth these cursed distempers and sometimes finds bublings of heart against the Word of God and this shakes his Free-hold yet when a good heart seeeth the Treason he doth not joyne with it but he complaines to the Lord of it and saith Oh treason Lord this vile heart will bee my destruction good Lord reveale it yet more to mee and take away all these corruptions take thou the possession of mee that I may serve thee here and be with thee for ever hereafter Thus much for the use of Examination Vse 3 Is it so that the heart truly humbled and prepared for mercy is content to be at Gods disposing as you have heard then what shall wee say of those that lift up themselves against the Almightie this discovers the fearefull condition of every such Soule It is certaine the haughtie Soule is furthest of all from Salvation how proove you that hee that is furthest of from Humiliation he is furthest of from the beginning of grace here and from perfection afterward the gate of grace is meerely here for except you become as little children that is except you be humbled you cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven a proud heart is farre from grace now and from happinesse in the end of his dayes For the discovery of this mans misery let mee lay open foure particulars and I would have my selfe and you to consider them that our proud hearts may be puld downe First Foure degrees of a proud mans misery Pride is professely against God and is the most directly contrary to the whole beeing of God and that in the whole man Indeed Pride opposeth God all sinnes are nothing else but a kinde of crossenesse to the Lord of Hosts and a kinde of thwarting of some Attribute or other in God As falshood crosseth the Truth of God impatience crosseth the patience of God and injustice crosseth the Iustice of God So that these sinnes goe against the Almightie in their measure some against one Attribute some against another but a proud heart smites at the whole Essence and Being of God Nay he doth as much as in him lyeth labour to take God out of the world and he would be God himselfe and have no God but himselfe The Lord doth principally Attribute two things to himselfe which can bee in none but himselfe God is the first of all causes and the last End of all All things were created by him for himselfe He made all by his Will and Wisedome and by his Wisedome and Providence he governes all for himselfe Before any thing was God was and all must returne tribute of praise and thankesgiving to God A man may be like God in Mercy and in Iustice though not so perfectly yet sincerely and a man may be like God in other of his glorious Attributes but God onely is first and last If it bee a creature then it was made but here is the venome of a proud heart he would be first and last He doth all by his owne power and hee will promote his owne praise in all that he doth As the great King Nebuchadnezzar saith Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babel that I have built by the might of my power I built it there is the first for the honour of my Majestie there was the last So it is not the wisedome and pleasure of God that must stand but his owne proud heart it must not be what God commands but what he would have all of a proud man is against the Almighty The Saints of God have wondered that the Lord is able to beare a proud man that thus out braves God in regard of his speciall prerogatives it is a wonder that God sends not some lightning from heaven and even stamp them to pouder and send them downe packing to hell suddainely I take this to be the sinne of the devills that are now chayned up in eternall darknesse untill the judgement of the great day nay I take this pride of a mans Spirit of his minde his reason his will and affections to bee an other old man of sinne Drunkennesse is a lymme of this old man and so is adultery and other sinnes but pride is as it were the old man it selfe This is the broader the Spawne and the very mother from whence the sinne against the Holy-ghost growes and there wants nothing but the illumination of the truth to come in upon the heart when a mans understanding is enlightned and this Illumination comes upon the heart and hee is violently carried against the truth with indignation this is the sin against the holy ghost 2. Pride opposeth the covenant of grace Secondly as Pride is opposite to God himselfe so it is opposite to the covenant of grace beleive and live for the truth is that which wee call infidelitie and the ingredients of it are pride as the Apostle saith Rom. 3.7.7 Where is boasting then it is excluded by what Law by the Law of workes no but by the Law of faith If there be beleeving then away with carnall reasoning and with pride Therefore I may say by collection if faith exclude all boasting then pride or boasting opposeth the covenant of faith Faith is excluded by this pride of a mans Spirit and by this swelling of heart and the holy Prophet Habakkuk saith Habak 2.4 the Soule that is lifted up himself is not not upright within him hee that swells and bubles up in his heart and puffes up himselfe against the word of God hee hath no upright Spirit within him but the just man shall live by his faith above all see that place in Esay hearken to
as shall make his heart dance in his breast thou poore humbled Soule the Lord will give thee a glimpse of his favour when thou art tired in thy trouble and when thou lookest up to heaven the Lord will looke downe upon thee and will refresh thee with mercy It is that which God hath prepared as a sweet morsell for his childe he will revive the humble Though the proud man shall sit and swelter himselfe in his trouble Esay 57.15 yet the Lord will not onely be in the house and heart of an humble man but looke to him and revive him It is the condition to which the Lord hath promised consolation and this Humiliation of heart is the maine termes of agreement upon which God hath ever shewed mercy Rev. 3.26 Behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any man heare my voyce and open I will come in to him and sup with him and hee with mee As when men sup together and eate in the same dish it argues a sweet rejoycing in the familiarity one of another I know you would faine have much comfort the Lord now knocks if you will but open the doore hee will come into your hearts and he will bring his owne provision with him even the sweet cordialls of his grace and comfort and hee will refresh you with those consolations which the eye of man hath not seene and the eare of man hath not heard c. only the Saints of God shall feele them Every valley shall be fill'd Luk. 3.5.6 saith the text and every hill shall be brought low and the crooked things shall be made straight and then all flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord. When shall they see it when those things are done that are there promised Iohn Baptist was to make way for Christ and the Text saith Every valley shall be fill'd that is every desperate discouraged heart and every mountaine shall be levelled that is every proud heart shall be humbled and then all flesh shall see the salvation of God here is the cause why wee finde not the assurance of Gods love that wee might and ought to have there are mighty mountaines of carnall reasonings and strange mists of discontentment betweene Christ and the Soule and these keepe of the light of Gods love in Christ which else would shine in our faces for our everlasting comfort Now be humbled and throw away all those distempers and then the Lord Iesus who comes with healing under his wings will comfort you and you shall see the salvation of God There is a Christ and comfort in him if your Soules be humbled you shall see it and finde the evidence of it When the Sunne is neere setting because there is a mountaine betweene us and it therefore wee thinke it is set when it is not whereas if a man were on the top of it he should see the Sunne cleare So it is with all those mountaines of carnall reasonings they stand betweene the Lord Iesus and thy Soule and that 's the reason why thou seest not the light of Gods countenance shining upon thee The third benefit of an humble heart Matth. 23.12 Thirdly wee also may have glory in this comfort that wee have in Christ as our Saviour saith Whosoever exalts himselfe shall be abased but whosoever humbleth himselfe shall be exalted He doth not say If such a man and such a woman humble themselves but the words are universally to be understood whatsoever thou art be thou humble and the Lord shall lift thee up It is impossible that the exaltation glory of an humble Soule should be hindered by men or devils Let the devill and all his instruments labour to cast shame and disgrace upon thee nay be thy condition never so base and meane in the worlds account be thou humbled and it cannot be hindered but that the Lord will exalt thee the Lord hath promised it and thou being as thou shouldst be the Lord will doe what he hath engaged himselfe to The Lord many times for want of this leaves men of great parts and gifts in the lirch they fret and are grieved exceedingly because such a poore man findes acceptance and is approved of and yet no man lookes after them If you know any such tell them it is by reason of their pride they seeke their owne honour and not Gods they are not humbled but seek to exalt themselves and God will abase them Let them fawne and flatter let them flatter and dissemble never so much as most men doe to get honors yet God will abase them And for this cause God blasts one mans endeavours and withers another mans gifts and brings him to shame because he is proud whereas the humble Soul that is content to honor God in his abasement the Lord will set up that man in mercy and goodnesse Psal 25.9 the Lord will teach the humble in his way Doth the Lord care for any mans parts or gifts or for his honor respect No 1 Cor. 1.28 the Lord hath chosen things that are not that is things that in the eyes of the world are accounted as nothing those hath God chosen to confound the haughtinesse of the hearts of proud men in this kinde See how David answered Michall when she mocked him and said 2 Sam. 6.20 21. Oh how glorious was the King of Israel this day c. Is not this a goodly matter for the King to doe See how he answers her it was before the Lord who chose me rather then thy father and all his house and commanded me to be ruler over his people and therefore I will play before the Lord and if this be to be vile I will yet be more vile Thy father was naught and thou art so too and hee is gone to his place The meanest in all the place wil honour the humble heart but though happily the people may feare a proud man yet they will never honour him in their hearts The fourth benefit Math. 18.4 Fourthly and lastly we have blessednesse in all that appurtaines to an humble heart Whosoever humbles himselfe as a little childe shall be greatest in the Kingdome of heaven He doth not say he that is greatest and most loftie may haply be great but he that is humble and trembles at every truth of God and every truth prevailes with him and every terror awes him hee shall be greatest in the Kingdome of heaven You take it as a disgrace to be reprooved by a servant or an inferiour but the humble Soule takes it whatsoever it is and is willing to be reprooved by any and he that doth thus shall be in the highest degree of grace here and shall be greatest in the glory of heaven and be lifted up to the highest pinacle of glory the wider and deeper a vessell is the more liquor it holds So Humiliation makes the heart wide and deepe and as thy Humiliation is so shall be thy Faith and thy