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
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
satisfie for the sinne that thou hadst committed before conversion and if thou canst not maintaine thy owne grace then there is an absolute necessitie of going to Christ for all Nay aske your owne hearts and services and say thus prayer wilt not thou save mee and hearing wilt not thou save me they will all professe plainly and say salvation is not in mee saith prayer and salvation is not in me saith hearing and salvation is not in me saith repentance and amendment Indeed wee have heard of a Christ that hee hath dyed and satisfied and suffered and risen and delivered his poore servants and pluckt poore Soules from hell and we need a Saviour to pardon us alas we cannot save our selves All thy duties will say to thee as the King said to the woman when the famine was great in Samaria And the King was going upon the wall there cryed a woman to him 2 King 6.26 27. saying Helpe oh King And the King made this answer If the Lord God succour not how can I helpe So mee thinkes the Soule saith When it is besieged with the wrath of God Oh helpe prayer and hearing and Sacrament and the like Mee thinks I heare them reply in this manner Alas how can we helpe you have prayed sinfully and heard the Word untowardly and received the Sacraments unworthily Oh let us all goe to heaven for a Mediator good Lord pardon the sinne of these prayers and these hearings and the unworthinesse of these Sacraments and all this frothinesse and deadnesse in hearing Thus they will all send you to heaven for a Christ and say alas I cannot save you how many commands have I disobeyed how many duties have I slighted and therefore send to Christ for pardon we are weake and feeble and onely come to the eare and to the eye but the Lord Iesus must come downe from heaven and be powerfull every way to doe good to your Soules You must goe to a Christ to batter the proud flesh and to pardon all that is amisse and to performe all duties that you would have done When Elisha tooke up the cloake of Eliah he said where is the God of Eliah he did not say 2 King 2.14 Where is the the cloake but where is the God of Eliah All the ordinances of God are but as the barke of the tree but Christ and the Promise are the pith The heart and life and power of all is in Christ onely therefore looke higher then these for they doe all proclaime that there is no succour but in Christ The third meanes to drive our hearts from resting upon our duties is this The third meanes We must consider the unconceivable hazzard and danger and the inconvenience that will come if we put any affiance in any of those priviledges that we have or any duties that we performe The very consideration hereof is able to withdraw our hearts from resting upon them The danger appeares in two particulars First This carnall confidence in what we have and doe shut a man out from having any part in Christ He that is guiltie of this sinne withdrawes himselfe from the favour of the Lord and he becomes uncapable of that mercy and good which God hath revealed and Christ hath purchased for poore distressed sinners For this is all that the Lord lookes for at our hands that we should deny our selves and wholy cast our selves upon his goodnes and mercy nay that man which relyes upon what he doth puts himselfe without the reach of all that mercy and great salvation that is in Iesus Christ Christ came not to call the righteous to repentance nor them that trust in themselves nor them that thinke they can save themselves but he came to call sinners to repentance and those that see an utter insufficiency in themselves to save or succour themselves in the day of trouble there is great salvation in Christ and plenteous redemption purchassed by Christ and you heare of all this and it is all true but this I must tell you all that Christ hath done and deserved shall never doe you good if you rest upon your selves You doe thinke that it is such a great sin as indeed it is sometimes you make conscience of drunkennes and other sinnes if you make conscience of any thing then know that this is the greatest sinne in the world Gal. 5.2 See how the Apostle sets himselfe against this carnall confidence where speaking to the Galathians that trusted in their owne circumcision that answers to our Baptisme Behold saith he I Paul say I not a bare man but I Paul enspired with the Spirit in an extraordinary manner and I an Apostle that doe not nay that cannot erre I that have received a commission from the Lord I say that if you be Circumcised that is if you trust in your Circumcision Christ shall profit you nothing nay saith he Iesus Christ is made of none effect to you if you seeke to bee justified by the workes of the Law Verse 4. If you rest in the merit of your prayer Christ is made of none effect to you and you shall never receive any power from the death of Christ the bloud of Christ will never purge those filthy hearts of yours and his resurrection shall never quicken you Whatsoever your case and condition is or can be if your sinnes were never so haynous for greatnes continuance and for number if you wil but renounce your selves and goe to Christ nothing shall condemne you but if your sinnes were never soe well reformed and amended and reformation nay Christ himselfe shall never doe you any good It is with the Soule of a poore sinner as it is with the body of a man If it had some slightie disease or sicknes and that may haply be cured but if his throate begin to swell and the vitall passages be stopped up that he can receive no meat nor phisicke every neighbour will say he is but a dead man all the meanes and men in the world can doe him no good he can receive nothing downe So it is with the Soule it is annoyed with many base corruptions and sinfull distempers and if it be wounded with many rebellions there is meanes enough in Christ to cure all If thou were a filthy besotted drunkard or an adulterer the blood of Christ can purge thy drunken adulterous heart one touch of Christ can cure all thy bloody issue If thou wert dead in trespasses and sinnes the Lord Iesus could quicken thee and raise thee from death to life but if thy proud heart swell with thy owne sufficiency and thou wilt rest upon thy selfe all the merits and grace in Christ can doe thee no good This is the maine conclusion Ioh. 5.40 into which all the rest is resolved You will not come to mee saith our Saviour that you might be saved He doth not say you have many sinnes and shall not be saved but you will not come to me c.
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 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