an impatient man may have a good wife amiable children a rich estate but if this man be apt to be impatient under one cross it makes him he can take no comfort in any thing in the World he hath What a mischievous temper is this the impatiency of one crosse shall eat out the comforts of a hundred mercies An impatient and disquieted spirited man he may fitly be compared to a Hedg-hog and some writers make the Hedg-hog an Embleme of an impatient man now the Hedg-hog they say it is of this properity that the way she hath to bring provision into her hole is to go after a windy day into an Orchard when the fruit is fallen and turns it self round like a Ball and on its bristles and prickles fills it self full of Apples and carries them to her hole but if in the carrying of them to the hole one doth but fall off she throws all the rest down So an impatient man God may load him with many mercies heavy laden with mercies yet if God doth but take away one blessing from him he throws down the comfort of all the rest of the mercies the Lord bestows on him this is the mischievous effect of those disquiets of soul under outward crosses SERMON XII Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God I Am now to finish this third cause of disquiet There are two things by way of Application The first Use shall be by way of Instruction The second by way of tryal By way of Instruction it shall be to instruct you in several Theological rules that may be laid down to allay all excessive disquiet and discontent of soul under outward afflictions of what ever kind they be whether privative or positive I shall lay down ten Rules First Rule is Live in the continual meditation of the joyes and glories of Heaven It is observable of Paul though his life was a whole course of affliction yet when he was taken up into the third Heaven but whether I was in the body I cannot tell Paul tels you he had many infirmities in his body in hunger and nakednesse in perils by Sea and Land and great troubles in the body yet when he was taken up in a vision he forgot all the infirmities sufferings and sorrows that he met withall in the body 2 Cor. 12. 1. So likewise when Peter saw the transfiguration of Christ Mat. 17. 4. Then answered Peter Lord it is good to be here and build three Tabernacles A Divine observes Peter begged no Tabernacle for himself but said it was good to be there and yet onely upon a barren Mountain where there was no meat to eat nor house to lodge in why he forgot that there was no house here nor no food here having a view of Heaven he said it was good to be here on a barren Mountain It is observed by one touching those birds of the lowest flight they are the most mournful but those Birds of the highest flight are the most noble birds the Dove mourns the Crane chatters the Raven croaks but the Eagle never makes a lamentable noise which is a bird of the highest flight Divines make this use of it that those that are low-spirited men they will croak like Ravens and mourn like Doves when they are afflicted but to be as the Eagle flying aloft in the joyes of Heaven in your meditations this will keep you from that dispondency and that mournfulness of spirit If things go ill with you in the world there is no better way under Heaven to be gotten to allay disquiet of soul under bodily afflictions then to have thy soul transported with the joyes of Heaven It was the Counsel of Jerome which he gave to an Hermit Paradisum mente deambula tamdiu in Eremo non eris take but a walk or two in Heaven and then thou wilt not think thou art in a Wildernesse could you but take a turn or two in Heaven then you would not be troubled for the afflictions here upon Earth The Apostle hath an expression in 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory The weight of glory made the Apostle to look on heavy afflictions to be but light therefore he called them light afflictions An eternal glory made the Apostle look on long afflictions to be but short afflictions If you would not then account afflictions burdensome think what a weight there is in glory and if you would not think afflictions long why think what eternity there is in glory A Second Rule is this If you would not be inordinately disquieted for afflictions in the World Labour to get your hearts more troubled disquieted for sin when a man bleeds too much at nose or any one part of the body Physicians open a vein in another part to make a diversion of the bloud Beloved when you grieve too much for worldly crosses do as Physicians doe with the blood make a diversion make a diversion of your sorrows open the sluces of your tears for sin pour them out for sin and then you will grieve lesse for the World that is the reason men are troubled to much for afflictions because they are troubled too little for sin and corruption It is a true rule Religious fear it doth banish out a slavish fear and spiritual joy eternal joy so spiritual trouble expels worldly trouble they that are much troubled for sin are not much troubled for any thing in the World besides sin Thirdly Be sure you do not place an excessive love on any comforts in the World you do enjoy if you would keep your trouble but regular keep your love but ordinate It is observable what we read of Jacob Genesis 37. 34 35. And Jacob rent his cloaths and put sackcloth on his loynes and mourned for his son many daies And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning What was the reason that the good old man was so excessively grieved for his son Verse 3. It is said That Israel he loved Joseph more then all his brethren because he was the son of his old age Now Jacob loving Joseph more then all his children made him grieve more for Joseph then all his children if he had not loved Joseph too much when he had him he had not grieved too much for him when he thought he had lost him O Labour to keep an ordinate love to worldly comforts A man that can part with the pairing of his naile cannot part with his finger why because he looks on the naile as superfluity could you look on the World as the pairing of the naile it is but a
thy cry he will hear it he will answer thee Here is Gods promise upon their humiliation then in ver 22. Ye shall defile also the covering of the graven Images of silver and the ornament of thy molten Images of gold thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth thou shalt say unto it Get thee hence God maketh his people to mourn for sin and to cast them down for sin and to humble them under the sight and sense of sin and to make them to have indignation against sin and then to cast sin from them as a menstruous cloth And as it is with nurses when they would wean their children they will put some bitter thing upon the brest as Wormwood or Gall thereby to make the child to forsake the brest So God he puts bitter things upon those things which we account sweet he puts bitter potions upon the brest of our sinful delights that so he might wean his people from sucking any more at those poysonous brests which we so highly esteem in our corrupt nature You read of the prodigal son in Luk. 15. 16. when he was brought to those great straights and trouble that he desired to feed of the husks with the swine after he came to himself he desired to eat bread and be as one of the hired servants in his fathers house When God doth make his people smart for sin as the prodigal did in his absence from his fathers house when they are laid low for sin under the sense and sight of their sins as the prodigal was when they come to themselves again then they would be glad with the prodigal to prize their fathers house So the soul when he comes to be brought very low for sin then they come to set a high esteem on Jesus Christ It is very observable where humiliation for sin is mentioned there it is joyned with a detestation and segregation from sin Jam. 4 8. Joel 2. 12. Thirdly God puts sinners under the sight and sense of sin because it puts the soul to cast themselves and to rely upon Jesus Christ it is our necessity that puts us first upon the persuit after and relying upon Jesus Christ because we see that we are undone without Jesus Christ It is with us as it was with the Leprous persons that we read of in 2 Kings 7. 3. And there were four Leprous persons at the entring in of the gate and they said one to another Why sit we here untill we die If we say We will enter into the City then the famine is in the City and we shall die there and if we sit still here we die also Now therefore come and let us fall into the hâ—st of the Syrians if they save us alive we shall live and if they kill us we can but die I apply this here to this case here is the case If I die in a Christless state I am gone forever and undone to eternity and if I rest in confidence in the world that can afford no safety I wil therefore run to Jesus Christ that there I may have relief and that there I may ease me of my burden by resting upon Jesus Christ in his promise Fourthly God doth cast his people down under the sense of sin That so he might suppresse the lifting up the pride of our own hearts in the sight and apprehension of our own gifs when the Lord doth see a man to be lifted up within himself with pride with his gifts then God will hide his gifts and shew him his sin and lay him low and make him humble So was it with Paul he was a man of exceeding great parts and great gifts above other men even above all other men but only Jesus Christ and yet for all that he was apt to be proud and to be too much lifted up within himself in the apprehension of his own gifts and for this he had a thorn in his flesh to keep him humble lest he should be exalted above measure 2 Cor. 12. 7. So you read likewise in Psal 9 20. Put them in fear O Lord that the nations may know themselves to be but men Men of the greatest gifts have the greatest fears to keep down pride The Swan that hath white feathers hath black feet So those that have the greatest excellency shall have some manifest infirmity to keep them down as Heman was a man of excellent gifts 1 Kings 4. 31. yet see how God humbled him Psal 88. 7 15. ver Now God to cure his people of this distemper of spiritual pride he layeth them low and casteth them down under the sight and sense of sin Fifthly That thereby he might bring the hearts of his people to a more cleer sight and sensible and lively feeling of pardoning grace and mercy the deeper God is pleased to cast his people under the sense and sight of sin and the lower he layeth them under humiliation the higher will they exalt God in his pardoning grace and mercy After men are tossed at Sea in a tempest they prize the harbour God doth take that course with his people as t is reported Astronomers do take they do not lie on the tops of high mountains when they would take a view of the skie but they lie in the lowest vallies not in places which are nearest the heavens but in low places most remote from the heavens So God he doth not lift up his people at all times as upon mountains but layeth them low in the valley of humiliation and casts them low under the sight and sense of sin that thereby their hearts by faith might take a more cleere view of and sensibly and lively feel the free mercy and pardoning grace of God God doth cast you into low pits of humiliation that by that you may see the more cleerly Gods mercy and grace God plungeth his people under humiliation as you may read in Psal 44. 25. Our soul is bowed down to the dust our belly cleaveth to the earth And in verse 26. Arise O Lord for our help and redeem us for thy mercies sake Here you see the Church complains of the deepness of her sorrow the greatness of her humiliation their soul was bowed down even to the dust a great degree of casting down But what was Gods end in this greatly humbling of them it was to put them upon a more sensible feeling of Gods pardoning mercy and grace as it appears in these words Redeem us for thy mercies sake Mercy was precious and pardoning grace was precious when that they lay low under affliction and were deeply humbled sense and sight of sin and misery under which they lay made them to prize and highly esteem pardoning grace and mercy and this is an other reason why God doth lay his people low under the sight and sense of sin that they might esteem pardoning grace Sixthly To make them confess that there is more evil in sin then ever there was
down his life for me voluntarily and meritoriously and laid himself down very low to be my Saviour therefore why O my soul shouldst thou be cast down excessively for sin It is true O my soul if thou hadst been to die and to have purchased thy own redemption to have been thy own Saviour and if the waight and the extreme burden of thy sins had been to be laid upon thy own shoulders and if thou hadst been to have made perfect satisfaction to divine justice in thy own person if thou hadst been obliged to have kept the whole Law perfectly and if thou hadst been for to make a full recompence for the wrong and evil that thou hast done and thou wast to offer the fruit of thy body for the sin of thy soul yet this would not doe nor procure the least satifaction nor make the least compensation and recompence for the evil thou hast done Now if this were thy case to be thy own mediator and thy own intercessor and to have thy blood spilt for thy sins if this was thy case thou hadst cause to be excessively cast down for sin A finite creature can never make satisfaction to infinite justice Could I give a thousand Rams ten thousand Rivers of Oyl yet I could not make an attonement or give a sufficient ransome for my redemption But it is far otherwise the quite contrary is thy portion not thy case Here O my soul is thy case which may abundantly administer thee comfort the blood the precious blood of Jesus Christ is laid down for sin that thou maist not excessively be cast down for sin and thou maist draw abundance of comfort satisfaction from this consideration First Consider with thy self O my soul Jesus Christ did not shed his precious blood for himself but for me he did like a good shepherd lay down his life for his sheep Joh. 10. 15. Secondly Consider that God the Father did accept of the laying down of his life in this behalf Joh. 10 17. The Father loves him because he laid down his life Thirdly Consider and reason with thy self O my soul What though there are great arguments to greaten sin and to heighten sin so there are many great arguments to greaten the mercy of God in Christ Are thy sins great the mercies of God are greater Doe thy sins deserve great punishments even eternal death the death of Jesus Christ and the merit of Christ are of infinite value to merit life even eternal life Are thy sins the sins of a man I but the satisfactions of Jesus Christ are the satisfactions of a God do thy sins merit the frowns of God O but Christs death doth merit and purchase the favour of God In a word as Christs Person doth excell thy person so doth his obedience infinitely exceed thy disobedience therefore said the Apostle Paul Rom. 5. 16. c. But the free gift is of many offences unto justification Here the Apostle intimates that though there is great guilt in sin yet there is greater mercy and merits in Christ for as by Adam there came sin and death so by Jesus Christ there came righteousness and life for as the wages of sin is death so the gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. 23. There is not so much guilt in sin as there is merit in Christ there is not so much guilt in sin to condemn as there is merit in Jesus Christ to save Therefore why shouldest thou be cast down O my soul Jesus Christ hath laid down his life for me and in laying down his life he hath made full satisfaction for sin unto his Father and though there are required more tears for sin by way of humiliation yet there wanteth no more blood for sin by way of satisfaction therefore be not thou excessively cast down for sin Thirdly Reason thus with thy own soul that thou maist not be too excessively cast down for sin O my soul consider excessive casting down may hinder thy soul from holy endeavours in suppressing and mortifying of sin It is the policy and subtilty of the Devil to draw men to run into extreams sometimes the Devil draweth men to possess them so with the reigning power of sin as that they shall never so much as think of the guilt of sin and sometimes to possess them so with the power of sin as not to be able so much as to look at the pardon of sin I may say to thee as God to Joshua chap. 7. 10. Get thee up why liest thou on thy face it was fit Joshua should be cast down at the disaster but not be taken off from pursuing the enemy Therefore reason and say O my soul it doth not become thee to be cast down excessively under the guilt of sin but to lift up thy self against it by resting upon God Fourthly Reason thus with thy soul O my soul consider are not these dejections of minde are not these excessive castings down for sin exceeding great disparagement to Gods free grace and mercy and to Christs merits if a man that is a thirsty shall come to the Sea the mighty Ocean to seek water and when he comes there to be cast down with the thoughts that all the water in the Sea cannot quench his thirst this would render the Sea to be but an empty thing so thou to be troubled and to be exceedingly and excessively cast down for sin and to think that the mercy in God and the merits of Christ cannot comfort and bear up thy dejected soul this doth exceedingly disparage the mighty Ocean of Gods mercies and Christs merits for thee to think that thy sins do out-vye mercy and out-strip free grace In the time of the Law the Mercy-seat did wholly cover the Ark where the Law was kept to shew that if a man doth violate not only one command but every command of the Law yet all that might be covered over with mercy and notwithstanding the violation of the Law they had a Mercy-Seat to go to though we do violate all the Law all the commands of God yet this Law is covered all over with mercy the mercy of God is far above thy dejections The red Sea did dround Pharaoh and all his Host with as much ease as it could dround one man so can the red Sea of Christs blood drown every sin though they were mountains of transgressions as well as the least sin In Psal 25. 11. For thy Name sake O Lord pardon my iniquity for it is great it is a word in the Hebrew emphaticall we reade it for it is great but it may be rèad though it be great for the sake of thy Name O Lord pardon thou my iniquities because they or although they are multiplied or therefore thou wilt pardon them because they are great Fifthly Reason thus with thy soul why wilt thou cast thy self down O my soul especially considering that the casting down of the soul doth cast down
son but God gave him a better mercy in the room of that Bastard God gave him a Solomon that was a greater mercy to give him Solomon in the room of an Illegitimate child Psal 171. v. 21. Thou hast shewed me great and sore troubles but thou shalt bring me again c. As David telleth you here thou wilt encrease my greatness he means the troubles under Saul David that was to be a King on the Throne was to lie like a Hermite in a Cave I but though thou hast brought me to great and sore troubles it is but to encrease my greatness in a way of mercy O then if God doth let thee come to great wants of any outward mercies thou standest in need of think that God doth let it be thus that so thou mightest have greater mercies in the room of them this Consideration did greatly quiet the heart of Isaac You read of the death of Sarah that was his mother you read that God gave to him to wife Rebecca and he loved Rebecca and was comforted after his mothers death Isaac had his mother taken from him but he had a wife of Gods giving to him in the room of his mother If God doth let thee want a mother want thy children want thy estate why God will bring in some other mercy to comfort thee in the want and absence of them let this allay all disquiet and discontent of heart in thee Thirdly Consider that though thou dost want outward mercies that are desirable yet thou dost not want better mercies to wit spiritual mercies thou wantest crumbs yet thou dost not want a Christ thou wantest food it may be for thy belly thou dost not feed on such dainties and delicates as many Epicures of the world doe yet thou maiest feed by faith on Jesus Christ the bread of life it may be thou hast not such sumptuous apparel as some men have yet thou dost not want the long robe of Christs righteousness thou wantest an inheritance in this World but thou dost not want an inheritance among them that are sanctified in the World to come it may be thou wantest health but thou hast a healthy soul thy soul prospers as John said to Gâ—â—us Epist 3 3. You read in Pro. 14. 14. The back-sliders in heart shall be 〈◊〉 with their own waies and a good man shall be satâ—â—fied from himself It may be from without nothing can content thee thou dost take pains in the World thou dost rise early eat the bread of carefulness yet canst not get enough to feed thy belly and cloath thy back yet if thou beest a gracious man reflect thus on thy self Though I want these outward things yet blessed be God he is my portion though I have no portion in this life I am heir to the Kingdome of Heaven though I am not heir to one foot of Land this would allay thes disquiets that might arise in your minds Fourthly Consider that if God should give thee these outward goodthings thou wantest the giving of them would be a greate snare and a curse to thee then the want of them would be it may be thou wantest wealth it may be thou hast a barren wâ—mb and wantest issue if God should give thee the mercy thou wantest the giving of it would be a greater snare to thee then the want of it Tho or three plain instances 〈◊〉 is of a woman Rachel Genesis 30 5. who was exceeding impatient for the want of children Give me children or else I die This passionate desire of hers God did gratifie but â—ark how God did punish her for it she must die in childbed her soul departed from her when she was in labour Genesis 35. 18. And 〈◊〉 came to pass that as her soul was departing that she called his name Benoni but his father called him Benjamin He children were the instruments of death to kill her her child was Benoni was the son of her sorrows Beloved it should teach you to take heed of being passionately discontented and disquieted when you want a mercy Another instance you read in David he was passionately eaâ—er for the life of the child begotten by Bathsheba and he wept mourned and tasted that the child might not die now if the child had lived the life of that child had been a greater snare to Davia then the death of it could be for it would have been a lasting monument of David's shame for every one could have pointed and said yonder goeth David's bastard we see even harlots account uncleannesse a reproach and commit a greater wickedness to murder their children because they would not have their wickednesse known Thus in the case of Absalom he rose in Rebellion against his father and drew away by his courteous carriage and crying up the peoples liberty by which means he had almost took the Kingdome from his father they rose in Armes one against another but saith David Deal gently with my son Absalom But if David had had his request that Absalom should not have been killed why Absalom would have been a continual enemy to his father for he had almost thrown him out of his Throne it was a greater mercy to David that Absalom was killed then if he had lived Herein see the wisdome of God that the having of a mercy might not become a snare to us therefore God doth deny us it The children of Israel could not be contented with Manna that was called Angels food for commendation they loathed the Manna and they must have Quails from Heaven but it had been a thousand times better for them to have wanted it For whilst the meat was in their mouths the wrath of God went down with it that which they thought the want of to be their misery God made the having of to be their misery Fifthly Lay in thy scales thy mercies and thy afflictions and thy wants and see whether thy receits be not more then thy wants Suppose thou wantest a thousand things yet thou hast one thing that is of more worth then all the things thou wantest and that is thy life if thou shouldest want thy skin and be flead and have thy life it is a greater mercy to thee though God should strip thee of thy skin yet thou hast possest more mercies then thou hast afflictions that thou art on this side hell and the grave O Beloved dost thou want any mercy why think thy receits are more then thy wants and that will in some measure quiet thy discontents Lastly If thou wouldst allay disquiet of mind for thy wants then labour to make up all thy wants and losses in God consider that the having of one God is enough to make up all thy wants that thou hast in the World Thus the Church of God did Psal 73. 26. My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart He was likely to want a Kingdome but he did not want God God was his portion and that comforted
superfluity you can go to Heaven without the abundant comforts of it you would not grieve so much if God doth take away some comforts from you Men do use the World as the skin to their hands and not as gloves that they can easily pull off therefore when God tears it from them it is irksome and tedious to them As it is with a Picture If a Picture be in a Frame you may hang it on a wall and take it down again and not hurt the Picture but if it be pasted to the wall you cannot take it down but it you will tear the picture If your hearts be in frame God may take you from the World and not disquiet you but if you be glued to the World and pasted to the World why it will cause an inordinate disquiet in you when the World is taken from you Fourthly Look on the comforts of the World as unnecessaries and at best as uncertainties Luke 10. 42. One thing is needful Christ tels you that that one thing grace is the onely thing necessary grace is necessary for a Christian other things are but inconveniences If God takes away inconveniences from you and doth not take away necessaries from you leaves you grace leaves you Christ and leaves you Heaven why you should not be disquieted you must look on the comforts of this World as mutable not as the Anchor at the bottom of the Sea but as the vane on the top of the Mast of a Ship which turns with every blast of wind Socrates did not mourn when his child was dead Scio me genuisse mortalem I know he was mortal That is the reason men are troubled for worldly crosses and losses because they do not look on the World as mutable A Fifth rule is this Consider with your selves that disquiet under afflictions it can do you no good but it may do you much hurt it can do you no good as Christ tels you thou canst not add one cubit to thy stature by all thy thoughts thou addest no comfort to thy life by all thy troubles they do not ease thee but rather makes thy affliction more heavy thou maiest get much hurt by disquiet and beloved the hurt of disquiet under afflictions is two-fold First It makes afflictions heavier and Secondly It makes them longer for time then they would be First It makes them heavier for weight and more for number then else they would be A child that is patient under his fathers correction hath the fewest and gentlest strokes but the stuborn child hath most When God seeth men fume and fret and disquieted under afflictions they do cause more blows to themselves In Pro. 27. 3. A stone is heavier and the sond waighty but a fools wrath is heavier then them both It is not meant wrath onely to another man that a man shall fear my anger and wrath when I am passionate but the meaning is that it is heavy to himself afflictions shall be laid more heavy on him then a heap of stones or sand a bundle of folly causeth a bundle of rods A man under a burden if he goeth gently he may carry his burden with some case but the more the man doth stir and struggle under his burden the more he tires himself When God layes burdens on us we strive fume and tret and are impatient this doth make the burden heavier Secondly We make our afflictions longer for time by our being disquieted under them the father is longer whipping of the child that he cannot make to kiss the rod and confess the fault then another child Beloved we lengthen out the day of our calamity by impatiency and disquiet under the afflicting hand of God The Sixth rule is this Compare the present mercies you enjoy with the present sufferings you endure Eccles 7. 14. In the day of prosperity be joyfull but in the day of adversity consider When thou art prosperous think thus God hath set adversity over against prosperity that I might not be sensual then in adversity be not discouraged because God hath set prosperity over against adversity it may be thou hast lost one child hast thou not another it may be thou hast lost thine estate hast not thou health in body comfort in thy relations thus upon any cross in the World that befalls thee presently reflect upon thy mercies The Seventh rule is this See Gods hand in all the afflictions that befall you in this World Psal 39. 9. I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it Remember Gods ear will hear all the murmurings of thy tongue and thou wilt not complain in thy disquiet against God this is an effectual remedy see Gods hand in all that befalls you here in the World The Eighth rule is this If you would not be disquieted because of afflictions do nothing that may renew your grief or call to remembrance your afflictions there are many people that do aggravate their own sorrow and cause their wound to bleed afresh putting themselves in mind of their own crosses and losses It is observable of Rachel and Jacob it is said of Rachel Genesis 35. 17 18. That when she was in hard labour the midwife said unto her Fear not thou shall have this son also And it came to passe as her soul was in departing that she called his name Benoni the sort of my sorrow But observe Jacob he would not have the child called Benoni but he would have his name Benjamin the son of my right-hand and of my joy and of my strength why would not Jacob have it Benoni if he had the childs name would have put him in remembrance that his wife died in childbed therefore from the mothers naming of him Benoni the son of my sorrow Jacob called him Benjamin the son of my right-hand therefore it is fondness in those that look on the Pictures of dead friends and on the cloaths of dead friends all these are but the provocations to more sorrows and more griefs Ninthly Consider the end that God aims at why you are afflicted as well as the measure and the degree how much you are afflicted this is the great ground of impatiency that people do consider the measure how much and the time how long they are afflicted but they do not call to mind why they are afflicted I may exemplifie this rule by this A Physician and an Enemy may doe the same Act to a man yet you know a man will bear with a Physician to let him blood but he will not endure an enemy to let him blood the reason is this because he knoweth the Physicians end is to cure him but the Enemy doth it to kill him yet both let blood Why Beloved dost thou consider that Gods end to thy soul in sending afflictions upon thee is to cure thee to purge thee of sinful maladies in thy soul why let the end countervail the measure the how much and the time how long thou art afflicted
when he was under trouble of mind for to refuse comfort God intends trouble for sin to be an exercise of grace not to obliterate the evidence of our graces when trouble for sin proves an eclipse of grace not a spur to grace it is excessive Secondly When the amiable and glorious attributes of God are represented unto the soul of a godly man under a formidable and a dreadful notion this is laid down in v. 3. I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed The thoughts of God should comfort a soul in trouble of mind but when a man in trouble of mind shall make the Attributes of God to trouble him then it is excessive Job 23. 15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence when I consider I am affraid of him Adam after he fell What doth he do he went and hid himself from the presence of God Gen. 3. 8 10. And they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid themselves for they were affraid Beloved when thou canst not think of a God but the thoughts of a God troubles thee this is excessive trouble in a godly man Thirdly When a man is so disquieted in soul for sin that a man doth abridge himself in the use of those natural comforts that God doth allow him to enjoy when he cannot eat nor drink nor sleep this is laid down in the 4. v. of this Psalm Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot sleep His meaning is I am so troubled in conscience under the guilt of my sin that I cannot sleep at night when I lie down in my bed I cannot eat nor sleep I cannot enjoy those natural comforts and sleep which the Lord allows me to enjoy as worldly care is described in covetous men Eccles 5. 12. The sleep of a labouring man is sweet whether be eat little or much but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep That is an argument of excessive worldly care and trouble in a man for the world when he is so puzzled and glutted with the world that he cannot take his rest at night A fourth discovery in this Psalm is When disquiet of soul under the guilt of sin doth either discourage a man or unfit a man for religious duties then they are excessive and inordinate this is laid down in the 4. v. I am so troubled I cannot speak He was so overwhelmed with fears and troubles in his spirit that it did either discourage him from praying or unfit him for the use of prayer now to make it appear put them together v. 10. I said this is ruine infirmity It follows that all those troubles that be so inordinate to make him refuse comfort and troubled at the thoughts of God and to make him likewise that he could not sleep and he could not pray all this was his infirmity These are the four discoveries taken from that one Psalm Fifthly It is then inordinate when a man is so disquieted under the sight of sin that he hath no mind to follow his particular calling where in God hath set him in in the world that he can take no comfort in Wife or Children estate or comforts when a man shall be so perplexed that he cannot follow his trade then it is sinful there is his reason for it because God injoyns no duty belonging to our general calling as Christians that should clash with or justle out our particular callings as Men and herein the Divels policy lies that if he in trouble of mind can keep a man out of his calling he hath the better way to work upon an idle man Sixthly When trouble and disquiet of soul for sin is prejudicial to the health of our bodies I hate robbery for a burnt offering so that 's not God's sacrifice that is prejudicial to bodily health God hates us not for a burnt offering this was an infirmity in Heman one troubled deeply in mind Psal 88. 3. My soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh to the grave Heman's trouble of soul was so great that it did weaken his body and bring him to nothing but skin and bones So you read of trouble Psal 31. 9 10. Have mercy upon me Lord for I am in trouble my eyes is consumed with grief c. For my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing my strength faileth because of any iniquity Here was a mixture of weaknesse in this though it was for sin yet to consume the bones and to spend the strength God doth not require that Lastly When a man shall be so disquieted under the guilt of sin that he shall be uttenly discouraged from venturing to lay hold on Jesus Christ when they say doubtingly what the enemies say scoffingly where is no help for him in God when the kinde or degree of trouble of mind is so much that it shall impugn the end of it it is then excessive What is the end of trouble of mind for sin the end is to imbitter sin and to provoke a soul to look out after Jesus Christ And thus I have given you but the heads of this particular Question 6 Sixth Quaery You will ask me If it be so that godly men are so much disquieted in soul under the guilt of sin then what is the reason that wicked men can live so jocondly under such heavy loads of guilt yet never have a troubled thought nor disquieted heart all their days that they do not come into trouble as other men What is the reason of all this It is a very fruitful Question and well to be considered There are 10. General Causes First It proceeds partly from the malice and subtilty of the Divel that those souls that he hopes to damn when they die he will not disquiet them for sin whilst they are alive this is hinted to you Luke 11. 21. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace his goods are in peace The strong man is meant the Divel the pallace is meant the heart of a wicked man the goods to be at peace is meant that the thoughts of a wicked man is at peace and nothing troubles him when the Divel doth possesse a wicked man's heart he labours to keep all his thoughts quiet and calm and at peace with him Steila although a Popish Author yet hath a good note Unum est hic observandum we are to observe this one thing here the great cunning of the Divel that soul that he hath a possession of he would not have him trouble his conscience it is his labour saith he ut ne ullum conscientiae stimulum patiatur that he should not endure one prick of conscience the Divel doth with wicked men as the Babylonians did with the Jews in captivity they would make them sing songs when the Divel hath got wicked men captive the Divel would fain have them sing songs and be secure