Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	father_n	sin_n	sinner_n	3,110	5	7.5131	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09970	The golden scepter held forth to the humble VVith the Churches dignitie by her marriage. And the Churches dutie in her carriage. In three treatises. The former delivered in sundry sermons in Cambridge, for the weekely fasts, 1625. The two latter in Lincolnes Inne. By the late learned and reverend divine, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to His Maiesty, Mr. of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and somtime preacher at Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Glover, George, b. ca. 1618, engraver.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Ball, Thomas, 1589 or 90-1659.	1638 (1638)	STC 20227; ESTC S112474	187,142	312

in Paradise But you will object and say can sinnes that have been committed cease to have beene committed or cease to have been sins Answer t is true that which is once done can never bee undone All the acts remaine as things once done so as it may be said they were committed and were thus hainous when therefore it is said there shall be none the meaning is they shall be of no efficacy they shall never bee able to doe you hurt as our Saviour said to his Disciples Luk. 10. 19 You shall tread upon Serpents and Scorpions and they shall not hurt you so I may say of sin it shal not hurt you because the sting is taken away in and by Christ or as that fire in Nebuchadnezzars furnace it had power enough to burne others but not so much as to singe an haire of the three children because Christ was with them so those sinnes which would sting and shall sting others to death because of their impenitence yet shall doe thee no hurt but fall off like the Viper off from Saint Pauls hands but not hurt thee It is an opinion of some that GOD can see no sinne in his children because they say there are none when a man is once in Christ son to bee seene But that is not the meaning of that saying God sees no iniquity in Iacob they are there but as in a debt-booke crossed and cancell'd though the lines be drawne over yet the summes may be read yet so as they cannot bee enacted or sued for because they are crossed and cancell'd A falling starre loseth its light by little and little and when it comes to the earth it goes quite out so when sinnes begin to fall from their proper element and Sphere that is an unregenerate heart where they had dominion and raigned and moved as in their Orbe the light and influence of it decayes and shall at length both in the guilt and power of it wholly vanish I will also adde to this this caution the Saints must know that for all this their sinnes are retained till they actually repent againe the Lords wrath is kindled against them and they may feele such effects of it as may make their hearts ake Thus the Lord met Moses and would have slayne him in the Inne for neglecting that ordinance of circumcision the sinne was not forgiven till he had humbled himselfe and amended his fault so GOD was angry with the Israelites that fled before their enemies till the accursed thing was taken away So when David sinned in the matter of Vriah it is said in the end of that Chapter 2 Sam. 11. 27. The thing that David had done displeased the Lord and there was the wrath of a father against him though not of an enemie and when was it that GOD was well pleased with him againe but when hee had humbled himselfe and repented Therefore that you may have strong consolation search and examine your hearts and lives see that there bee no way of wickednesse unrepented of in you before you apply all these promises which then you may doe to your comfort Somewhat is now to bee said even to those whom before wee excluded for the end of our preaching is not to shut them for ever out If the LORD will bee mercyfull to our sinnes if wee be humbled there is an open dore for those that are without a ground to exhort them to come in Come and welcome God is exceeding mercifull and ready to forgive and receive you If any thing will draw men in they are the promises of mercy the Hue and Cry makes the Thiefe to flye away the faster The Proclamation of pardon brings the Rebels in and what greater motive can wee use than this that whatever your sinnes are or have beene never so great in themselves and aggravated with never so many circumstances yet if you will come in and humble your selves and turne to God God will bee mercifull to you No matter what thy sinnes have beene all the matter is what thy humility is what thy resolutions to confesse and forsake thy sinnes are thy have not gone beyond that price which hath beene paid for them And God will not only pardon their sins but also leave a blessing behind If you indeed should come thus to any man whom you have offended hee would say what are you not ashamed to come to mee having wronged mee thus to looke mee in the face not to aske forgivenesse onely but to aske such a kindnesse such a favour at my hands also how could you have the face to doe it But the Lord he never gives that answer for he is not as man Ier. 3. 11. Though if a man put away his wife and shee becomes another mans hee will not receive her againe yet returne to me sayes God It is possible for men to commit such sins that men cannot forgive but God can pardon any You know the pernicious counsell which Achitophel gave to Absolon to goe in to his fathers wives to make an irrecoverable breach betweene his father and him judgeing it such an injury as David would never put up yet returne to mee sayes God God can pardon any I will scatter thy sinnes as a myst and thine iniquity as a cloud Some sinnes are small as mysts some more great and grosser as a cloud Gods mercy is able to scatter both Doe not say oh I had beene a happy man if I had not fallen into this or that sinne I had then beene pardoned T is true that in respect of Gods dishonour it had beene better thou hadst not committed it but yet this I will say that in respect of obtaining pardon thou mayest bee happy notwithstanding if thou humble thy selfe this sinne will not barre thee from happinesse but thou maist be in as good a condition after thou art come home as any other whose sinnes have beene smaller and know that when thou art once come home God looking upon thee in Christ all thy sinnes displease him not so much as thy repentance in and through Christ pleaseth him But how shall a man be perswaded of this Gods readinesse to forgive Consider that place As I live saith the Lord I will not the death of a sinner but rather that hee turne from his wickednesse and live Hee hath taken an oath for it that hee delights more in saving than in destroying and you may believe him Consider also what Christ was wont to doe in the dayes of his flesh and hee is still as mercifull an high Priest as ever None were more welcome to him than Publicans and Harlots that came with repentance to him and he is as ready to receive us now as them then I doubt not but that Christ is willing but what will God the Father do It is certaine that hee is not willing to have his Sonnes bloud spilt in vaine which should bee of none effect if such sinners

they were vaine Secondly because that the LORD will not forsake his people for his great Name sake because it hath pleased him to make you his people as if he had said I would not have you lessen the sinne seeke out excuses as indeed that is our fault in such cases no that is not the way you have committed a monstrous transgression yet forsake not the Lord. Samuel said this because that which keepes men off from the Lord is discouragement for many a man if hee had it may bee a voyce from Heaven that would assure him if he came in his sinnes would be pardoned I doe not think but they would come in though they love their sinnes well But the maine thing that keepes them off is men doe not thinke God so ready to receive and pardon them Now therefore saith Samuel you are his people and the LORD cannot forsake his owne let a man have a child of his owne even when it is young and troublesome and nothing pleasant in it yet because it is his owne his affections will not off from it yea his affections will hold on although when it is growne up it provokes him an hundred times because it is his own Now if they should aske how it comes to passe that they are his Samuel tels them because it pleased him to make you his people there is no other reason can be given of it so that if any of the children of God looking upon all the world lying in wickednesse and should aske the reason why I should be in this good condition rather then they there is no other than that it pleased GOD to make him so GOD loves for no merits which should teach us to looke out of our selves lesse into our hearts in this case and more to the Attributes of GOD to returne in Ier. 3. GOD saies there it is true indeed that if you come to any man in the world when his wife hath played the harlot will he receive her againe no a mans heart in this case cannot relent he hath not mercy enough his heart is too narrow But thou hast played the harlot many a time yet returne to me saith GOD for looke how much larger GODS heart is then a mans so much larger are his mercies If GOD bee thus exceeding mercifull and pitifull this should leade men to repentance there is that in the thing that leades you so Romans 2. 4. when either GOD expresseth his mercies towards us by his behaviour and mercifull dealings with us or causeth his Ministers to offer mercies unto us it leades to repentance It hath indeed a contrary effect almost in all in the world for whom doe not GODS mercies leade from him rather then to him but take heed lest you turne the grace of GOD into wantonnesse which yet men ordinarily do The more favour the more meanes they have enjoyed the more wanton they grow that is the more bold losing their respect to GOD even as a child is apt to doe when his father carries himselfe kind towards him hee cannot beare it he hath not the discretion to consider that it should leade him to obedience but growes bold and wanton And you should also make this use of mercies that the meditations of them should stirre up your hearts to a more kindly sorrow for your sinnes to thinke that you have deserved to be cut off long agoe and that you have committed such sinnes for which many are in hell long since God expects this at your hands and let us make this use of it in these dayes of humiliation the maine worke whereof is to humble your selves and we are to labour to humble you not only by denouncing Gods judgements but by expressions of his mercies also A digression concerning Fasting to the occasion THere is a double manner of doing this duty one wholly publike which should bee from morning till night in publike by the whole land that al together might confesse and humble themselves for the sinnes of it which is more extraordinary But secondly as for these dayes which are kept from weeke to weeke thus it is well ordered that the time is so limited for these publike exercises as that there is time left for the private for the businesse of particular humiliation goes forward better then and these publicke exercises tend but to that end and what is the meanes without the end be attained that is that every man should mourne apart so Zach. 12. when it was a businesse of mourning every family did it apart and the wives apart the wife and the husband are the nearest and if any should be together one would thinke they should and yet they must be then apart and the reason is because nothing humbleth so much as particular sinnes those wound the heart which in publick are not so much confessed but in generall onely but when you are every one in private then you may consider what your lusts your actions have beene and the circumstances of them then you may search your hearts and wayes looke backe and reflect upon your selves and that is the maine businesse and duties of these dayes Some of you it may bee will say I know not how to spend my time in private when I am from the Church but consider hast thou not committed many sinnes consider them canst thou not speake and confesse them and say Lord I confesse I have fallen backe into this againe and againe But secondly when you have done this seeke reconciliation and beg it earnestly which the heart will doe when it is touched with the sence of sinne and the enumeration of them will worke your hearts to it when you see the multitudes the circumstances the aggravations of them and because this is the greatest of all your requests therefore you must be the most earnest in it and therefore God doth purposely with-hold assurance often to teach men what it is to be reconciled to him and fasting serves to intend your prayers that they may be the more earnest Thirdly renew your covenants also consider what sinnes you are most inclined to and what occasions draw you most to those sinnes and vow against them Consider what good duties you have slighted most and that your hearts are most apt to faile in and promise better obedience Fourthly not only make a promise but labour to bring your hearts to be willing to leave those sins in good earnest and to performe those duties and when the heart is strongly byassed any way it is hard to alter it it is no easie matter to get an inward willingnesse you must therfore have much reasoning with your hearts to bring them to it Fiftly when they are brought into a good temper they are easily subject to be distempered again our affections shoote too far into worldly businesses your love your feare your griefe is subject to be too much in something and it is not easie

Church upon all the glory shall be a defence But then if this objection come why doe we not see them afflicted doe they not often suffer a storm are they not often scortched with the heate of reproach Therefore the LORD saith as they have divers persecutions so will I have divers meanes of helpe and there shall bee a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time for the heat and for a place of re fuge l●ke the Cities of refuge whither they fled that were pursued by the avengers of Bloud and for a covert from a storme and from raine The Saints in a storme of persecution or any calamity are as a man under a shelter whereas all others are in the midst of the storme Therefore be you assured the Lord will not forsake his owne people they are as the apple of his eye a man may beare much but hee will not suffer you to touch the apple of his eye So God will suffer much but hee will bee avenged on them that wrong his people Thus much for this Doctrine 2 CHRON. 7. 14. If my People that are called by my Name doe humble themselves WEE are now come to the Conditions upon which mercy and forgivenesse are here promised whereof the first you see is Humiliation If my People doe humble themselves In the handling of which I will proceed two ways First Negatively that without humiliation and unlesse men doe humble themselves they can have no interest in these promises Secondly Affirmatively That if they doe humble themselves then God will be mercifull to them and forgive their sinnes For the handling of the first I raise this Doctrine out of the words That without Humiliation no man shall obtaine mercy Wee see that God suspendeth mercy upon it here as without which no mercy can bee expected which therefore must needs bee thought a matter of great consequence and the more largely to be insisted upon I expresse the doctrine in a more large and generall word humiliation which containes in it as well humiliation passive or being humbled as humiliation active as for more cleare distinction sake I call them whereby we humble our selves which is the maine thing intended in the Text explicitly and directly which also in the prosecution of this point I mainely intend yet I shut up both together in this negative part of this discourse because they are though in themselves distinct yet alwayes conjoyned in their working and the latter doth alwayes presuppose the former and doth necessarily imply it here for no man did ever come to humble himselfe that was not first humbled This negative part of excluding men from mercy without both these being also alike common to both it being a like true that no man did ever attaine mercy that was not first humbled and that did not humble himselfe So as in this negative part they agree and concurre Againe though that affirmative part mentioned is proper to that humiliation active the promises of interest in mercy being made to them that humble themselves and not to all that are humbled there being many that are much humbled who yet obtaine not mercy yet I joyne both together in this first part chiefly because as they are conjoyned in their working so they must necessarily bee in the explication of them for we cannot come distinctly to know and finde out what it is to humble our selves which is the thing I principally ayme at without knowing what it is to be humbled the one beginning where the other ends the one being a preparative to the other That therefore wee may see how farre the one and the other goes and how they are distinguished we will shut both up in this first doctrine Now in handling this Doctrine we will do two things First shew that men must be humbled and humble themselves ere they can come to have interest in these promises We will shew what it is to humble a mans selfe and to be humbled For the first this place alone is sufficient ground GOD would not have put in such a condition in vaine if it might have beene spared in any but besides this ground wee have the practise of all the master builders who made it their first worke as here it is the first condition to humble men that they might bee brought to humble themselves And to omit all other instances wee have all the three Persons seales to this method This was GOD the Fathers method in the first Sermon that ever was preached which himselfe also preached as a patterne for all Ministers to follow And when hee would draw Adam and Eve in to seeke the promise of mercy he first expostulates the matter with them to humble them for their sin and then le ts fall the promise of the Messias And secondly JESUS CHRIST the second Person in his first Sermons in Preaching the Gospell as in Luk. 4. 7. shewes his approbation of this method in that hee makes this his first subject of his first Sermon us appeares by the text hee takes to preach the Gospell but to whom to those that are first humble and humbled The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospell to such as are poore and broken in heart And the same order the Holy Ghost the third Person was foretold by Christ that when hee was come hee would observe in working upon mens hearts by the ministery of the Apostles c. Iohn 16. 8. He shall convince the world of sin for humiliation that is his first worke then of righteousnesse for justification lastly of Iudgement that is that sanctification which persons justified are to have wrought in them We come now to the explication and reasons of this point which shall be To shew the necessity of this humillation to the other that follow Of the order of it as it is here placed the first of all the rest For the first it is true indeed that the Lord might bring men home to him without this humiliation Hee could doe as he did at the first creation say no more but let there be light and there would be light and that without any of this thunder he might say Let there be grace and there would be grace hee could come in the still voyce without renting the Rockes and say no more but Open yee everlasting doores lift up your heads yee gates and they would be open but as though hee might have brought the Children of Israel out of Aegypt into the Land of Canaan without leading them through the Wildernesse yet his good pleasure was thereby rather to humble them and prove them so it is here And the reasons of this necessitie may bee drawne from the relation and respect which this humiliation hath both to the other conditions that follow and all that is promised here in the Text unto which we will fit the reasons that

goe and humble my selfe I will goe home to God and change my course and give up my selfe to him and serve him and this we shall finde in these examples mentioned before especially of the Prodigall Luk. 15. he came to this conclusion If I stay here I dye for hunger but in my fathers house there is bread enough here was hope that bred this resolution I will goe home and say to my father I have sinned against heaven and against thee c. here was that true humiliation we speake of So Manasses hee humbled himselfe greatly out of an hope of mercy for a man comes not to this active humiliation wherein he kindly humbleth himselfe unlesse hee hath hope of mercy and the beginning of faith is with a hope of mercy which sets a man a worke to goe to God and say Lord I have committed such and such sinnes but I will returne to them no more I am worthy of nothing Now there are foure severall compositions or foure paires of ingredients that have influence into this second kind of humiliation to cause us to humble our selves 1 Payr an hope of mercy as wel as a sence of misery that whereas before wee did looke upon God as a severe Judge we looke now on him as one willing to receive us both are requisite Sence of misery onely brings a man but to himselfe as the Prodigall first is said to come to himselfe but hope of mercy joyned with it drives a man home to God as it did also him without which sence of misery drives us from the LORD but hope of mercy being added to it causeth this active humiliation wee speake of whereby wee say I will goe and humble my selfe 2 Payre of ingredients are the sence of our own emptinesse together with an apprehension of that Alsufficiency that is in God which we also may see in the Prodigall when he said I shall starve and die if I stay here but in my fathers house is bread enough he lookt to that alsufficient fulnesse that was in God to supply his wants The creature whilst it findeth any thing in it selfe it will stand upon its owne bottome and not bee humbled but when it finds nothing in its selfe but emptinesse then it beginneth to seeke out for a bottome which it seeing to be in God alone it goes out to him for men will not be drawne off from their owne bottome till they see another bottome to stand upon 3 There must bee a sence of a mans owne sinfulnesse and the LORD JESUS his righteousnesse and so a light comes in that discovereth both thus when S. Paul was humbled there was a light shone about him which was an outward symbole of that new light which shone within him of Christ and his owne sinfulnesse A sence of the love of God and Christ joyned with the sence of a mans unkindnesse unto God whereby wee looke upon sinnes as injuries done to God and an unkindnesse shewne therein And now let us see the difference betwixt these two works or parts of humiliation that wee may further understand what it is to humble our selves And first they differ in the matter they are conversant about in that first a man is humbled properly but for the punishment a man indeed is humbled for sinne yet principally as it hath relation to punishment it is guilt works on him he is not humbled for sin as it is contrary to God and his holinesse but as contrary to himself and his own good and thus we are not humbled till we come to love God and to have a light discovering the holines and purity of his nature which one that is savingly humbled hath wrought in him They differ in their grounds and principles whence they arise The first ariseth but from selfe-love and is but a worke of nature though thus farre a worke of God to stirre up self-love by the sence of misery and to awaken it but so as any unreasonable creature if in danger useth to be sensible of it and what wonder then is it for a man when hee begins to have some sence of hel and death let into his conscience to be wounded and apprehensive of it but the other ariseth from the love of God kindled in the heart by hope of grace and mercy They differ in the instrumental causes that work them the one is wrought by the spirit of bondage by an enlightning meerly to see his bondage and the soule is as one that is in bondage fearing God as a master and he hath no further light than thus to see God as a Judge but this other is wrought by the spirit of adoption making the Gospell also effectuall discovering God as a father They differ in their effects as The one driveth a man from GOD but this latter causeth a man to goe to GOD and to seeke Christ it workes that affection to Christ that the Church in the Canticles had to him who would not give over seeking him till she had found him whom her soule did love Though there bee twenty obstacles in the way yet the soule hath no rest as a stone hath no rest till it bee in its owne center so nor this soule thus humbled but in God and therfore gives not over seeking him though it hath never so many denyalls The first breeds death an acedia a deadnesse and listlesnesse it makes a man as a log that moves not to God in prayer So it wrought in Nabal and Achitophel it breeds such discouragement as often ends in death Of worldly sorrow and such is all sorrow whereof God is not the end commeth death but when it is right and true and kindly sorrow for sinne it doth that which an affection should doe it quickneth him to doe that which he ought to do so feare when it is right worketh and so all other affections which were put into the soule for that end that it might bee stirred up by them to that which it should doe for GOD and its owne good and therefore this affection of sorrow for sinne quickens a man to seeke out to God when it is right The first breeds a fiercenesse and turbulency in a mans spirit as we see often in men whose consciences are awakned to see their sinnes they are fiercer then they were before for guilt of sin vexeth their spirits and where there is no sence of mercy from God there is none to men but hee that is broken for sinne spends his anger upon himselfe frets chiefly for his owne vilenesse and unworthinesse and the Peace of God which his heart hath a sence of makes his spirit gentle and peaceable and easie to be entreated and perswaded bring him Scripture and a child may lead him and perswade him The rough wayes are made smooth the rough and froward dispositions of the heart and every Mountaine-like affection cast downe as it is said they were by Saint

Iohns ministery who came to humble men and prepare men for Christ. They differ in their continuance the former a lone proves but a passion and it comes but from flesh so as all the fruites of flesh are it is but as the flower of the grasse of the same fading nature the roote is from whence it comes though it comes like a violent torrent into the heart and swells above the bankes yet it is but as a land-floud but this latter is as a constant river that hath a spring which though it keepes within the bankes and doth not overflow so much as the other yet it runnes constantly and the further it runnes the greater it growes I will give you also some properties of that humiliation to which the promise is made here by which it may bee yet further knowne and differenced We will take those fruites of it wee finde in the text 1 It will make a man pray and 2. Seeke Gods face and turne from his evill wayes it hath alwayes these as the consequences of it To pray Iudas was humbled but hee had no minde to pray nor an ability to pray the spirit of prayer went not with it but hee that hath that true humiliation is able to poure forth his soule to God and indeed prayer is not the worke of the memory and wit but the proper worke of a broken heart Againe secondly to seeke Gods face this true humiliation cuts a man off from his owne roote and bottome and causeth him to seeke the Lord alone which seeking useth to be expressed in prayer that other will cause a man to seeke mercy but this to seeke Gods face that is if they have his favour it is enough they seeke God as sequestred from all things else though such a soule had assurance of being freed from hell it would not content him unlesse he saw Gods face That which Absalom counterfeited as knowing it to be a true straine of a loving and humbled child to a Father when he had his life given him though banished from the Court Let mee see my Fathers face though hee kill mee it is an humbled soule in truth towards God others as God sayes in Hosea Seeke mercy but they turned not to mee they sought not me True humiliation causeth a man to turne from his evill wayes the other makes a man but give them over for a time whilst he is sicke of them and then returnes againe as a Dog to his vomit 2 Chron. 33. 23. It is said Amon humbled not himselfe as Manasses his father had humbled himselfe but transgressed more and more which implies that when a man is humbled as hee should he transgresseth no more as hee had done and so Manasses did so humble himselfe as he transgressed no more It will make him become stronger against that sin he hath transgressed in as a bone that hath been broken is stronger when it is right set againe hee especially humbleth himselfe for and turnes from his beloved sin and with that from all the rest 2 Property is it makes a man to cleave fast to Christ and so draw nigh to him in all the duties of obedience to obey him constantly generally and throughly Men may have light wounds made in their hearts which do not drive them to the Physitian which awakeneth men a little but they fall asleepe againe but when God humbleth so as to save he so fastens the apprehension of his misery upon him as to bring him home to Christ he sets on the avenger of bloud to pursue him to the utmost and not for a mile or two but to follow him till he be driven into the Citty of refuge There is an humiliation which hath not this effect and consequent of it and therefore I mention it as a property of the true and this because of a defect that is in it in which respect though it come neare the true yet differs from it which is in the event seene in this that the true causeth to come to Christ and to cleave to him without separation That you may therefore see the difference betweene this and the other and wherein that other is defective marke how that which is true workes this in one who yet is not quite cut off but hangs by a thread as it were there being some secret Fibrae some veines and strings that are not cut in peeces which keepe life in the old man and a man remaineth still upon his old stocke and so long CHRIST comes not into the heart not untill a man be unbottomed of himselfe and sees he can no way be happy in himselfe or within his owne compasse but sees all is to bee had in and from the LORD JESUS untill then he will not goe out of himself nor cleave to or follow the LORD JESUS CHRIST fully Now then the other humiliation is defective in this in that it is not in this manner enough bottomed it cuts not a man wholly off from himselfe the foundation is not laid low enough there is wanting depth of earth there is indeed so much earth as shall bring forth a greene blade of profession and such a foundation as there may bee erected a slight building upon but it is not low enough to beare a substantiall building that shall stand out all windes and weathers This true humiliation hath these two things goe with it A man sees no bottome in himselfe Seeth a bottome out of himselfe to stand upon and so hee casts himselfe upon that clasps about CHRIST and wholly adhereth unto him and so draws all sap and life from him as the branch doth from the roote and thence comes that resolution and ability to cleave to the Lord and to please him in all things As the resolution to doe it so all his ability to goe through with it for being joyned to CHRIST there comes the spirit of grace cal'd the vertue of CHRISTS death because it workes a vertue like unto his death into the heart But when the heart is not yet in this manner broken many take up purposes and good desires but are not able to keepe them because they were bottomed on their owne strength whereas if the heart were broken from it selfe and engrafted into CHRIST such purposes made in his strength would thrive and grow there For if the soile bee made good and fit plants bee planted in it it is certaine they will thrive Now in a good heart those desires that bee planted there doe thrive and wither no more and though there may now and then waves arise and so they may be tossed to and fro yet substantially they doe not wither nor fall from the foundation Those therefore who have begun a good course for a yeare or a moneth and go not on in it it is a signe they want humbling Hee that is truly humbled falles backe no more Manasses did not nor Saint Paul Lord what wilt thou have

say sit up higher all the world cannot hold downe an humble man because the Lord setteth to his hand to raise him up neither keepe up a proud man because the Lord setteth himselfe to depresse and debase them when the wall swells it is not like to stand long when a joynt is luxated and swelled till the swelling abate it cannot be saved and set he hath respect to the low estate of his handmaiden so saith Mary the blessed Virgin Luke 1. 48. So he dealt with Naomi hee was long in humbling her and then raised her up so with Iob when hee was humbled then God doubled his estate thus God deales with the humble and that constantly he never does any great things for any men till hee hath first humbled him how much was Ioseph humbled ere he made that promise to him that the Sunne Moone and Stars should bow to him that is his father and mother and brethren should obey him and yet againe before God made good these promises to him what a doe there was to humble him further which doubtlesse made him more to prize these mercies and so more thankfull to God for them So also in his glorious appearance to Abraham Isaac and Iacob he would still before hand humble them and make them low by some affliction or other still before hee would make any gracious promises to them When Iacob was flying from the face of his brother and was in great streights and so made low in his owne eyes then did God first appeare to him when a man is humbled it is the next doore to preferment one way or other Therefore it should be our wisedome to humble our selves more and more since there is so much benefit to be gotten by it Prov. 22. 4. By humility and the feare of the Lord are riches and honours and life the rule holds constant the Lord makes it good let a man be humble and feare God too that is allow himselfe in no sinne and the Lord will make it good one way or other in his time But you will say we see the contrary proud men are advanced and humble men deprest they have riches when as the humble man is poore and as we use to say where the hedg is lowest there all the beasts goe over and tread it downe every man will be ready to trample upon the humble man I answer first The Lord gives outward gaudy things to proud men but hee gives his Iewels to those that are humble hee reveales his secret to them these are Princes though they goe on foote and the other are servants though they ride on horsebacke But this is not all my answer but secondly I say that even for the things of this life the Lord doth exalt the humble and bring downe the proud onely with this caution hee doth both in season when things are brought to maturity as the Apostle Saint Peter saith 1 Pet. 5. 6. humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that hee may exalt you in due time God doth it not on a suddaine When the proud like the corne are ripe then he puts in the sickle and cuts them downe and casts them into the fire The wall which is sweld must have a time to moulder and fall and so on the contrary there is a due time for the exaltation of the humble And therefore if thou sayest I have humbled my selfe and have not beene healed I have not beene freed from such a temptation for all my humiliation if this bee thy case then assure thy selfe thou art not humbled enough but goe thou and yet bring thy heart lower and then bee confident that this rule will hold the Lord will take off the smarting plaister as soone as it hath eaten out the proud flesh so soone as thy heart is truly humbled the Lord will helpe thee he will either remove the crosse or give thee that which is equivalent and thus the Lord hath alwayes done So he dealt with Ioseph You happily may thinke and hee might thinke it was long before he was exalted but yet that time was not too long for as soone as the LORD had truly humbled him then hee presently exalted him as you may see in Psal. 105. 18 19 20. Whose feet they hurt with fetters he was laid in iron until the time that his word came the word of the Lord tryed him then the King sent and loosed him c. And so he dealt with Iob. All that time that his friends were reasoning with him his heart would not bee brought downe but the Lord himselfe must come and reason with him and then he began to abhorh mselfe in dust and ashes and how soone after was hee restored and al he lost restored double also This being as you see Gods constant course if thou humbling thy selfe yet lyest long under a calamity thou mayest assure thy selfe there is somthing wanting in thy heart and therefore bee content with Gods dealing 2 Cor. 12. lest Saint Paul should be exalted there was given him a thorne in the flesh if Saint Paul needed humility who doth not Remember this rule that if Gods people humble themselves then he will certainely helpe them onely it will bee in due season But you will say how shall wee get downe our stubborne hearts Pride is very naturall and the hardest thing in the world to overcome Let every man consider whether he be released or no from the plague of his heart if that there be not some calamity which hangs continually on him if there be then know thou art not humbled enough the meaning is not that thou shouldest be brought to an apprehension and feare of hell but thy heart is to be brought down more thou maiest be humbled truly so as to be within the covenant and yet not enough to have thy heart wrought to this or that frame God would bring it unto And to bring your hearts lower use these meanes First consider your hearts often consider what unruly lusts you find hid there make it your daily custome to search into this We goe not a daies journey in this life but there is somewhat discovered in our hearts which may serve to humble us further as it was with them in the wildernesse Deut. 8. 2. Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty yeares in the wildernesse to humble thee to prove thee and to know what was in thy heart c. There is not one day but a godly-wise man may discerne something in his heart which may be matter of humiliation to him which he saw not before vaineglorious speeches unlawfull silence cowardize in good causes thy worldly mindednesse thy unruly affections that will be still stirring and something will be discovered without in thy actions also which when thou seest such sparkes ascending remember to looke to the fire the furnace within these are but the buds

as you are should not bee saved Hereby the bloud of Christ is improved that it is sprinkled on many for great sinnes Thinke not therefore that God is backward to pardon Psal. 130. 3 4. There are two arguments more to helpe us in this If hee should marke what is done amisse who should stand none should be saved Now it is not his will that all flesh should perish and therefore hee will not take the advantage to cast men cleane off for their sinnes againe none else would worship him There is mercy with thee that thou mayest bee feared It is his full purpose to have some servants to feare and worship him Yea shall I goe further God is not onely ready to forgive but desirous of it yea hee is glad at the heart when a great sinner doth come in which is noted to us in the Parable of the lost sheepe and the lost groat how did the woman rejoyce for the finding of her groat and the Shepheard for his sheepe And likewise in the Parable of the lost Sonne how glad was hee when he heard that his Sonne was comming home that yet had lived riotously and spent his goods it was to shew that GOD was so affected when a great sinner returnes to him Besides he doth not onely say if you will come I keepe open house I will not shut you out but inviteth them calleth them yea more sends his ministers to fetch them in yea more entreateth beseecheth commandeth threatneth But you will say is it possible that I should bee forgiven that have committed so many sinnes so great so hainous and continued so long in them Yes it is possible for you Marke that place 1 Cor. 6. 9. Hee reckons up as great sinnes as can bee named And such were some of you but now you are washed You see what kind of people there were forgiven whence wee may gather that those that are guilty of those sinnes now may bee forgiven as well as then such were some of you Whosoever thou art it is no matter what thou hast beene all the matter is what thou wilt bee Put case any of the old Prophets should come to thee or any man in particular and say wilt thou bee content now to turne to GOD if thou wilt all thy sinnes shall bee washt away and thou shalt bee made an heire of Heaven it would cause him that hath any ingenuity to relent and say LORD canst thou now bee so mercifull to mee as to forgive mee after all this loe LORD I will come in and turne unto thee I aske thee this question whether art thou content to quit all thy sinnes presently upon assurance of being received if thou dost if thou answerest no art thou not worthy to bee destroyed if yes is not this great comfort But some may say if heaven gate stand thus wide open I may come and bee welcome at any time Thou vile wretch that darest to have such a thought Dost thou not know that every such refusall of such an offer is so dangerous as it may put thee into hazard of never having the like againe If the gate of heaven stood thus alwayes open why then did God sweare in his wrath of some Israelites that they should never enter into his rest and what is the reason that God said of those that were invited to the feast but refused to come that they should never taste of it The reason is there given it is said the master of the feast was full of wrath at the refusall of his offer both because his love and kindnesse was despised that filleth a man with indignation and so the Lord and also because the thing offered was of so much price it being the kingdome of heaven and the precious bloud of Christ. Therefore whensoever such an offer is made and refused God is exceeding angry There goes an axe and a sword with this offer to cut downe every tree that will not bring forth good fruit Say not when you heare of this offer I am glad there is such a thing I will accept of it another time but it comes too soone for mee now Consider this that the end of the comming of the Lord Iesus was not onely to save the soules of men if onely so then indeed this might have beene done at any time even at the last but his end also was Titus 2. 14. That he mtght purifie to himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes ' which is a greater end than that which went before in the verse to redeeme us from all iniquity to purchase to himselfe a people that should serve him in their life time and canst thou thinke that thou that hast served thy lusts all thy life time shalt yet bee accepted at death It is a common saying with you that if a man bee called at the eleventh houre hee shall be received 't is true if thou beest called then first and not before as the thiefe who was not call'd afore was then accepted but what if thou hast beene call'd afore and hast not accepted but put off till death thy case then will bee exceeding dangerous Againe I aske thee what is it makes thee resolve to come in at death If love to Christ then it would sooner if to thy selfe how shall such conversion be accepted Come we now to the last words And I will heale their land WE have these three points may be observed out of them 1. That all calamities and troubles proceede from sinne this I note from the order of the words hee first forgives their sinnes then heales their land 2. That if calamities bee removed and sinnes be not forgiven they are removed in judgement not in mercy 3. That if sinne bee once forgiven the calamity will soone be taken away For the first all calamity is from sinne troubles from transgression In the chaine of evills sinne is the first linke that drawes on all the rest as grace is in the chaine of blessings and comforts Consider this in all kinds of judgements which wee may reduce to three heads 1. Temporall calamities about the things of this life they are all from sinne both publike and private What was the reason of Salomons troubles The Lord stirred up an adversary against him because hee departed from the Lord and had set up idolatry so the sword departed not from Davids house because of his sinne with Bathsheba and the murther of Vriah So Asa 2 Chron. 16. the Prophet tels him Hence forth thou shalt have warre because thou hast not rested on the Lord. I could give a hundred instances for this 2. Sort of judgements are spirituall which are much more grievous than the former when a man is given up to his lusts and to hardnesse of heart and this proceedeth from some other sinnes that went before and it is a sure rule that you never see a man given up to worke uncleannesse with greedinesse or to such open