confesse it Secondly from the examples of others Thirdly The greatnesse of the evill that lyes upon him makes him see an utter inabilitie to receive any good from that which he doth First From his owne experience Though hee thought to take up a new course and to performe holy duties and thought that without all question these would save him yet hee finds now that these will not doe the deed hee hath no saving good in these and that appeares by these three particulars First He seeth that the guilt of sinne still remaines and the justice of God being unsatisfied still pursues him though he pray and heare and performe many duties as the Lord told the people when they were sharking for their owne comfort and they thought to give God content by their new courses Yet the Lord tells them Though thou wash thee with Nitre Ier. 2.22 and take thee much sope and though thou use all meanes of reformation yet thy sinnes are sealed up and thy iniquitie is marked before mee It is with a poore sinner as the Psalmist saith of himselfe Whither shall I goe from thy Spirit Psal 139.7 8 9. or whither shall I flie from thy presence if I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I lye downe in hell thou art there if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even thither shall thy right hand leade mee c. So let a poore sinner goe where he will and do what he can the guilt of sinne will ever be with him it will lye downe and rise up and walke with him in the way His sinnes remaine unpardoned and the wrath of God is not appeased and hence it is that all his prayers are but as so many inditements against him and he dare not reade the word for feare hee should reade his owne damnation Nay at every Sermon that he heares he seeth more vilenesse in himselfe and every Sacrament that hee receives increaseth not his comfort but his horror and he thinks thus with himself good Lord I have taken my bane this day for I come unpreparedly and the Lord knowes what an unfaithfull and unbelieving heart I have Secondly as the guilt of sinne cannot be remooved by all his duties so his conscience cannot be quieted by all that he doth if his heart be throughly pierced by the Sword of the Law still conscience calles upon him and quarrels with him and takes exceptions against him in the best of his duties so farre they are from yielding any satisfaction to God or from bringing any peace to his conscience if hee rest upon the bare performance of them I speake of a broken hearted sinner for the conscience is now Eagle eyed it was full of filme and scales before but now it is open and Eagle eyed and can spie all his weakenesses and picke matter of disquiet even in the best of all his duties that are done The Soule thought them very good payment yet now the heart is touched and conscience is awakened and tells him of his barrennesse and deadnesse and roaving thoughts when hee doth pray and how insufficient he is to pray and therefore he dare not pray with his Family and conscience saith to him you have formerly contemned prayer and now you cannot pray And when the Soule comes into the congregation there Conscience notes him and when he goes home Conscience saith thus unto him how dead were you and how unreverently did you attend to the Word and how unwilling was your heart to be in subjection to the Word thus Conscience becomes Gods Serjeant and saith doest thou thinke that these prayers will save thee Nay they are rather a meanes to condemne thee so heartlesse so cold and so dead hearted thou art in them and is this hearing sufficient to save thee Nay will not the Lord curse thee for thy weake performance of these duties Now the distressed Soule comes to a stand with it selfe and he seeth so much weakenes in his duties that he almost leaves off all saying I had as good not goe to the Word at all for I profit not by it and I had as good not pray at all as pray thus deadly and untowardly thus the Lord drives the Soule out of himselfe and when Conscience thus picks quarrels with him and saith Will prayer and hearing and these duties so meanely performed save you Nay may not God justly confound you for them It is admirable mercy that God did not confound you in hearing and strike you dead in praying and then Conscience calls him in question for his old sinnes and saith If God may condemne thee for these duties and for these praiers Then what may God doe for thy old drunkennesse and railing at good men 1 John 3.20 and good meanes as the Apostle saith If our conscience condemne us God is greater then our Consciences and knoweth all things so the Soule saith I know thus much by my selfe but God knowes more Thirdly as the guilt of sinne cannot be removed nor Conscience quieted meerely in the performance of duties if the Conscience be truely inlightened so in the last place the sinne that hath taken possession in the heart cannot bee subdued by the power of any performance that hee doth I speake still of one that is not yet ingrafted into Christ rebell against his sinne he will but kil it and subdue it that hee cannot and hence it is that the Lord lets in upon the Soule a great many infirmities and a swarme of weakenesses that are present with the Soule and so hee seeth an utter inabilitie in himselfe to help himselfe against them the one of these two things befalls him If hee be a man of meane parts and small gifts hee seeth himselfe so weake and so unprofitable under all meanes that his Soule almost sinkes downe in desperate discouragement and when he gets nothing by all the duties that he doth he falls out with himselfe and pineth almost to desperation And if hee be a man of great parts and gifts and learning and hath wisedome to conceive of things the Lord suffers many corruptions to fall upon him and when hee comes to humble himselfe before God he saith I am able to discourse of this and that and I can heare and pray but oh this heart of mine a man had as good move a mountaine as move my heart this hard heart will not stirre nor be broken under all and helped against these as it should bee Now the Soule upon these termes is even content to leave off all and it befalls the heart in this case as it did Hagar Gen. 21.15 16. When her bottle of water was spent she cast the child under a tree and sate a farre off because shee would not see the child die so it is with the Soule When the bottles of these Saints and scantie duties are done the soule sits down in discouragement and saith Good Lord it will never bee my
and perswade him of Gods mercy towards him Take this man upon his death-bed when all the Ministers come to give him comfort upon any termes and they say unto him your course hath beene good and commendable and you have lived thus and thus and taken much paines in praying and hearing and fasting therefore undoubtedly you cannot but receive mercy from the Lord. See what the poore Soule will reply It is true saith he I have done and may doe all these but I have not done them in a right manner I have not had an eye to Christs mercy but have accounted these duties as satisfactory to Gods justice so that they savour not so much of dutie as arrogancy whilest presuming upon their worth I have not depended upon Gods mercy but even challenged his justice in the reward of my labours Thus the Soule argueth with it selfe I have depended too long upon these outward works and thought to purchase heaven by them but now I finde it necessary that I get them dyed and sanctified in the blood of Christ Thus it was with Saint Paul when he said 1 Cor. 4.4 I know nothing by my selfe What might some say Paul You are a reverend learned man and have had a great name in the Church and who can say blacke is your eye It is true saith he I know nothing by my selfe but what then yet I am not thereby justified Nay it is the difference that he makes betweene himselfe a Pharisee and himself a poore contrite sinner When he was a Pharisee he counted his priviledges gaine to him but now hee thought them losse in regard of Christ They are good mercies Phil 3.7 where God gives them in regard of themselves but in the way of Iustification and Salvation they are as dung and drosse in respect of any merit in them This is one difference betweene a dead hypocrite and a living Christian A dead hypocrite will be content with dead hearing and dead praying and with the bare shell of duties but a living Christian that seeth his owne evill and sinne cannot be fild nor contented without a Christ That which will maintaine a Camelion will starve a man for a Camelion will live upon the ayre but put a Man into the best ayre that is and it will starve him if hee have no other food So if thou canst feed upon the ayre of hearing and the picture and shadow of praying it is a signe thou art a dead man whereas if thou be a true man in Christ Iesus thou must have bread or else all the world cannot content thee Bread for the Lords sake saith the hunger-starved man therefore let mee give thee an Item this way goe thy way home and take notice of thine heart thou that canst licke thy Soule whole and cure all thy sinnes with a few prayers and teares and fastings and in the meane time seest not a necessity of a Saviour know that it is a notorious signe of a cunning hypocrite as there are many in these dayes It is with an hypocrite as it is with some men written of in Stories they have such an antidote and preservative that they can eate poyson and it shall never hurt them So it is with some hypocrites that have their reservations of some sins and they retaine some base distempers and they will tipple in a corner and lye in some secret sinnes and yet they trust so much to their antidote and to their duties that it will cure all and it is but praying and fasting so much the more often The God of heaven open the eyes and awaken the consciences of all such if there be any such here this day If it be so that thou canst pray and keepe a close hollow heart and thou canst licke thy selfe whole and then sinne and a little prayer will serve againe and then goe and be unjust and uncleane and keepe false ballances still know then it is certaine thou never haddest a part in Christ and didst see a need of Christ And as it was with the Prodigall if hee had beene a Hogge the huskes might have served him but hee was a Man and therefore must have bread Therefore thou hypocrite to thy Stye if these huskes will save thee and serve thy turne and if the mill of a prayer will serve I doe not discommend these duties No cursed be he that doth it but if thou content thy selfe with a mill of praying and yet there is as much power of Christ and sap of grace in thy heart as in a chip then I say thou art a Hogge and no Man whom these huskes will content The third Triall Thirdly he that seeth himselfe helples and hopeles in the meanes hee will constantly labour to goe beyond all the meanes Because hee is in neede and finds no helpe here he will seeke it els where that his heart may be refreshed when the Lord hath awakened the heart and shewed him the emptinesse of all meanes it makes the soule go further then the means this is the heavenly skill It is with the Soule in this case as it is with a marriner though his hand be upon the oare yet he ever lookes homeward to the haven where he would be And it is in professing as it is in trading You know when a man sets up for himselfe and would live of his calling hee will buy and sell but his eye is ever upon the gaine that 's it which must keepe the Cart on the wheeles or els hee may die a begger and shall never be able to keep him and his it is not enough to trade and to buy and sell but he goes beyond all these and labours to get something Iust so it is in professing it is like thy trading thou hearest and praiest and professest but the gaine is to haue Christ made to thee in life and death gaine soe that all the gaine a man gets is Christ Thou art a professor and hast beene baptized and hast received the Sacrament but what hast thou gotten by all thy praying and preaching and other services unlesse thou hast gotten Christ thou hast gotten just nothing at all It is with thee as it is with a man that hath a great shop and much wares and quicke returne and yet he is not able to pay his debts so thou performest many faire duties and hast many rich priviledges and yet thou art not able to satisfie Gods Iustice nor to recompence the Church for the wrong done to it and when thou art going the way of all flesh but specially in the day of judgement then shall people say of thee such a man was buying and selling and professing all his life and yet got nothing and when a poore Soule is breathing out his last then comes justice and saith give me my own thou hast sinned and therfore thou must die for it Lord saith hee take some prayers and readings and fastings in stead of payment and if these will not serve then he
that you may chat and parlee a little with Christ Our Saviour saith Matth. 24.28 Where the carkasse or the dead body is there will the Eagles be This is the nature of an Eagle shee will not goe to catch flies that 's the nature of the hedge Sparrow but shee will prey upon the carkasse So this is a good heart that will not prey upon dead duties but upon the Lord Christ who is the life of the Soule If thou art of a right brood thou wilt not fill and glut thy Soule with a few duties like a hedge Sparrow still mistake me not I doe not dispraise these duties but I say they are nothing in the way of justification if faith in Christs merits be not joyned with them Therefore if thou hast a dunghill heart of thine owne thou may'st goe and content thy selfe with profession and with a few cold dead duties but if thou art an Eagle and a sound hearted Christian and one that God hath beene pleased to doe good unto thou wilt never be but where the Lord Iesus is and where his grace and mercy is As we doe at a Feast the dish is greater then the meat yet wee reach the dish not for the dishes sake but that we may cut some meat So the ordinances of God are as so many dishes wherein the Lord Iesus Christ is dished out to us Sometimes Christ in his merits is dished out in the Sacrament to all the sences and sometimes he is dished out in the Word therefore as you take the dish to cut some meate So take the Word that Communicates Christ to the eare and Prayer Communicates with Christ and the Sacrament Communicates Christ to all the sences cut the meate and let not the Lord Christ goe whole from the Table and no man looke after him fill your hungry Soules with Christ When a poore travelling man comes to the Ferry he cryes to the other side Have over have over his meaning is he would goe to the other side by a Boat he onely desires the use of the Ferry-man to convey him over So Christ is in heaven but we are here on earth as it were on the other side of the river the ordinances of God are but as so many Boats to carry us and to land us at Heaven where our hopes are and our hearts should be Therefore you would be landed Have over have over saith the Soule The Soule desires to bee landed at the Staires of Mercy and saith Oh bring me to speake with my Saviour Mary came to the Sepulchre to seeke for Christ and therefore when the Angel said to her Woman why weepest thou shee made this answer Oh they have taken away my Lord. Ioh. 20.13 So it is with you if you be not hypocrites Is there ever a Mary here is there ever a man or woman that prizeth a Christ and seeth need of a Christ and that comes weeping and mourning to the holy ordinances of God whom seekest thou saith the Word and Prayer and the Sacrament Oh saith the broken hearted sinner they have taken away my Lord Christ Oh this sinfull heart of mine oh these cursed corruptions of mine if it had not beene for these Christ would have comforted my conscience and pardoned my sinne if thou seest my Christ and my Saviour reveale him to my Soule that I may receive comfort and consolation by him This is the frame of a Christian Soule when the Ferry-man hath carried the traveller over hee stayes not there but goes to the house of his friend and saith is such a man within he desires to speake with him and to receive some good from him We heare and pray and reade till we are weary we doe not cry Have over let mee come to enjoy a neerer Communion with my Saviour that I may dwell with him and have a neerer cut to the Lord Christ I would have way that I may receive grace and mercy from Christ according to my necessities When a man hath gotten so many hundreth pounds he not onely tels that he hath met with the Ferry-man but he shewes the money that he hath gotten So you come to Church and goe from Church and you have your hearing for your hearing and your professing for your professing and the like but you should labour to say I have gotten the pardon of all my sinnes and the assurance of Gods love to my Soule I have beene with my Saviour and thus graciously and mercifully hee hath dealt with mee All that I have said is but a speech of a little time but it is a taske for all a mans life Oh thinke of it and say what have I gotten by all that I have done and what would I get when I goe to prayer I would have a Christ and mercy from him This is not in our minds I tell thee what thou must ayme at and labour for heare and pray for a Saviour See a need of Christ in all and see greater beauty in Christ then in all and be lead neerer to Christ by all or else you get nothing by all that you doe If there were no gold in the West-Indies the King of Spaine would not care for his Ships nor for that place Schoole-boyes care not for the Carrier but for Letters from a Father So now raise up your hearts higher towards heaven All holy duties are but as Ships and Carriers but the golden Mines of mercy are all in the Lord Iesus Christ It was a sweet speech of a man whether he was good or bad I know not that a man should loose the creatures in God So I would have you doe loose your selves and all ordinances and creatures and all that you have and doe in the Lord Christ How is that Let all be swallowed up and let nothing be seene but a Christ and let thy heart be set upon nothing but a Christ As it is with the Moone and Starres when the Sunne comes they loose all their light though they are there in the heavens still and as it is with rivers they all goe into the Sea and are all swallowed up of the Sea and yet there is nothing seene but the Sea So all the ordinances and creatures are as so many rivers from that Ocean of mercy and goodnesse in Christ and they all returne thither therefore onely see a Fountaine of grace goodnesse wisedome and power in Christ When a man is upon the Sea he can see no fresh water it is all swallowed up So let it be with thy Soule when thou wouldest finde mercy and grace The ordinances of God are good in themselves yet loose them all in Christ That wisedome in Christ is able to direct and that grace and mercy in Christ is able to save when all other helps faile and that power of Christ must support the Soule in the time of trouble There is some comfort and sweet and some refreshing in the Word and in the Sacrament and in the company of Gods people
him and threw him flat on the ground and when Paul saw that the Lord Iesus had the advantage against him hee yeilded himselfe and said Act. 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have mee to do This is the lively picture of the Soule in this case this subjection discovers it selfe in foure particulars First take the Soule despairing of mercy and succour in himselfe hee seeth and confesseth that the Lord may and for ought he knowes will proceed in justice against him and execute upon him those plagues that God hath threatned and his sinne deserved and he seeth that Iustice is not yet satisfied and all those reckonings betweene God and him are not made up and therefore he cannot apprehend but that God may and will take vengeance of him he seeth that when he hath done all that he can he is unprofitable and Iustice remaines unsatisfied and saith thou hast sinned and I am wronged and therefore thou shalt dye See what the text saith can a man be profitable to the Lord as he that is wise may be profitable to himselfe Iob 22.2 3. is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous or is it any gaine to him that thou makest thy way perfect So the Soule saith Is all that I can doe any thing to the Lord is the Lords Iustice any gainer by it Nay Iustice is yet unsatisfied because there is sinne in all that I doe and therefore Iustice may proceed against me therefore the soule resolves that the Lord may and will Nay why should he not come in vengeance and Iudgement against him Secondly he conceives that what God will doe he can doe and he cannot avoyd it The anger of the Lord cannot be resisted If the Lord will come and require the glory of his Iustice against him there is no way to avoyd it nor to beare it and this crusheth the heart and makes the soule to be beyond all shifts and evasions and all those tricks whereby it may seeme to avoyd the dint of the Lords blow As Iob saith Hee is one minde and who can turne him Iob 23.13 14 15 16. and what his soule desireth that doth he It is admirable to consider it for this is it that makes the heart melt and come under When the Soule saith If God come who can turne him hee will have his honour from this wretched proud heart of mine hee will have his glory from mee either here in my humiliation or else hereafter in my damnation And in the next verse Iob saith Many such things are with him As if he had said hee hath many wayes to crush a carnall confident heart and to make it lye low He wants not meanes to pull downe even the most rebellious sinner under heaven And now marke what followes He can crush them all what became of Nimrod Cain Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar They are all brought downe therefore saith he I am troubled at his presence when I consider it I am afraid for God maketh my heart soft and the Almightie troubleth mee Thirdly As the sinner apprehends that God may doe what he will and he cannot resist him So the soule flings away all shifts and tricks that he had and he resignes up the power of all his priviledges that he hath to defend himselfe withall he casts away his weapons and falles downe before the Lord and resignes himselfe into the Soveraigne power and command of God This was in the Spirit of the Prophet David 2 Sam. 15.25.26 When the Lord had cast him out of his Kingdome hee said to Zadock Carry backe the Arke of God into the Citie if I shall finde favour in the eyes of the Lord hee will bring mee backe againe and shew mee both it and his habitation But if he thus say to mee I have no delight in thee Behold here I am let him doe with mee as seemeth good in his eyes Or as it was with those people 2 King 10.2.3 4. 2 Kings 10.2 3 4. Where when Iehu sent this message to the people of Israel saying Now as assoone as this letter commeth to you seeing your masters sonnes are with you and there are with you chariots and armour and a fenced Citie looke out even the best and fittest of your masters sonnes and set him on his fathers throne and fight for your fathers house But the text saith they were all exceedingly afraid and therefore they sent word to Iehu and said two Kings could not stand out against thee and then how can we stand We are thy servants and will doe all that thou shalt bid us wee will make no King doe thou that which is good in thine eyes This is the frame of a poore Soule When a poore sinner will stand upon his own priviledges the Lord saith beare my Iustice and defend thy selfe by all that thou hast if thou canst and the Soule saith I am thy servant Lord doe what is good in thine eyes I cannot succour my self therefore the heart gives up it selfe to be at the command of God Fourthly The Soule thus yielding up the weapons and comming in as to an enemy and as conquered then in the last place the soule freely acknowledgeth that it is in Gods power to doe with him and to dispose of him as he will and therefore he lyes and lickes the dust and cryes mercy mercy Lord. He doth not thinke to purchase mercy at the Lords hands but onely saith it is onely in Gods good pleasure to doe with him as he will but hee lookes at his favour and cryes mercy Lord to this poore distressed soule of mine And when the Lord heares a sinner come from wandring up and downe in his priviledges the Lord replyes to the soule in this manner and saith Doest thou need mercy I had thought thy hearing and praying and fasting would have carried thee to heaven without all hazard therefore gird up thy loynes and make thy ferventest prayers and let them meet my Iustice and see if they can beare my wrath and purchase mercy Nay saith the sinner I know it by lamentable experience I have prooved that all my prayers and performances will never procure peace to my soule nor give any satisfaction to thy Iustice I onely pray for mercy and I desire onely to heare some newes of mercy to relieve this miserable and wretched soule of mine it is onely mercy that must helpe me Oh mercy if it may be possible the issue is thus much The sinner seeth that all he hath and can do can never succour him and therefore he throwes away his carnall confidence and he submits himselfe to the Lord and now he seeth that the Lord may justly come against him and that his justice is not satisfied and that he cannot beare Gods wrath nor avoyd it and he casts away all his shifts and lyes downe at the gate of mercy As it is with a debtor that stands bound for some farre greater summes then ever he is able to pay to
a wearinesse to mee to sanctifie the Sabaoth and hearing praying and other holy duties are a burthen to mee to this day my heart is not prepared for mercy good Lord to this day I am a wretched carnall man This is something Now there is some hope And the Soule goes on further and saith Good Lord what will become of my Soule am I Gods to dispose of no no pride and peevishnesse hath rul'd mee and I must cloath my selfe as Pride would have mee This is somewhat indeed And the adulterer saith If the adulteresse come I must goe though I dye for it When the drunkard comes to pull you out tell him of this and say Who hath disposed of you this day and all your life a drunken wretch and a base queane You have heard the word of God checking of you and yet nothing would doe Oh now at last yield and say The Lord hath not disposed of me Now therefore labour that God may dispose of you and let the mighty God pull downe that mightie heart Challenge the Lord with his promise and give him no rest till hee have mercy upon you And you servants humble your selves and say Wee have beene proud and idle together now let us mourne and pray together The time shall come when you will be content that God should dispose of you and you shall desire the Lord to looke graciously towards you and that God would take away your corruptions and that pride which accuseth you and all those abhominations that have beene a shame and disgrace to you therefore now resolve with your selves and say Lord take away this sinne and subdue that corruption and doe thou rule and reigne over my heart and life for ever let the power of thy truth carry mee and turne me from my wickednesse and over-power this proud will of mine and whatsoever vanity is in my life good Lord take it away and frame me after thy minde When this time comes say That a poore Minister did wish you good and that you had a faire offer If you will be at Gods disposing in minde in heart and life the Lord will prepare a place for you in heaven and rancke you there amongst his blessed Saints and Angels for evermore If another mans servant come to demand of you meat drinke and wages you will say You have not beene at my command therefore goe to the Master that you have served let him pay your wages So it will be with you if you goe to God for mercy and comfort in that day the Lord will send you to your lusts and new fashions c. but if any man be Gods servant then every thing shall be fitted for him and though that day be troublesome to the proud and haughty spirit yet it will be a comfort to the godly that they have submitted themselves to Gods word For then Christ shall fill their mindes with wisedome and their wills with holinesse and their lives shall be made honourable and acceptable before him Think of this and labour to bring your hearts to it that Gods will may be your wills and if you be humbled you shall and must be for ever comforted Thus much of the triall of the truth of our humiliation The second part of the use Now I come to the second part of the use that is to examine the measure of our humiliation for as I conceive all the difficulty of a mans course lyes here and the cause why a man receives not the assurance of mercy from God that hee desires or that comfort that he might it is all from hence I say because he is not empty For if the heart be prepared Christ comes immediatly into his temple and the lesse wee have of our selves the more we shall have of Christ This is mervailous usefull and therefore you must know that though the heart be truly humbled and laid low in it selfe in truth and the thing is done yet there remaines a great deale of pride in the heart Take a mighty Castle though it be battered downe yet there remaines many heapes of rubbish and happily some of the pillars stand many Winters after So it is with this frame of Spirit in a high imagination 2 Cor. 10.5 in these Towers of loftinesse Though this Dagon of a mans selfe be fallen downe yet still the stumps remaine and will doe many yeares And it will cost much horror of heart and much trouble before this haughtinesse of heart will be every way pull'd downe and made agreeable to the good will of God Though this distemper is mervailous secret yet a man may take a measure and scantling of it How to try the measure of humiliation The first particular Triall and hee may know how much of this cursed rubbish remaines in his heart by these foure particular rules First looke what measure there is of carnall reasoning against the truth of God when it is made knowne what measure there is of it either subtilly comming in upon the heart or else that doth violently transport the spirit against the spirit so much need thou hast of Humiliation and so much thou wantest of it This is a cleare case Every Saint of God is willing to know the truths that he shall doubt of and is content to yeild himselfe to the truth that shall be revealed and of which he shall be convinced yet there remaines much carnall reasoning against the truth As the Apostle saith Let no man deceive you intruding into those things which he hath not seene Coloss 2.18 vainely puft up in his fleshly minde The ground and roote of this carnall reasoning or the measure of it may appeare in two causes First There is a kinde of perverse darknesse in the heart still sticking in the minde and understanding even of a gracious Godly man And from hence namely out of this mistaking of the minde followes all that carnall reasoning that howsoever the Soule is satisfied yet it will not sit downe but still it sticks in this carnall reasoning and the sinner cannot conceive the truth nor fathom the compasse of it by reason of his owne weakenesse therefore it is long before hee will be perswaded that it is truth and that he is bound to yeild to it When the wisedome of the truth is so plaine and evident that he cannot resist the clearenesse of it yet because he cannot conceive of it he thinkes that hee is not bound to yeild thereunto Object But some will say should a man yeild to that which he cannot conceive Answ To this I answer When the minde is so farre enlightened that he cannot gain-say any thing in reason though he cannot compasse the depth and bottome of the truth yet he should yeild to it and rather goe with reason then follow his owne imagination when there is no reason for it Iust so it was with Nicodemus When Christ spake of the worke of regeneration Ioh. 3.9 he said Can a man be borne
mans end is exceeding fearfull The destruction of a proud man is both certaine exceeding heavie and it is like to be mervailous fearfull There is nothing to be expected and hoped for but totall ruine and that suddainly and unconceiveably to every proud spirit that beares up himselfe against the blessed God of heaven Let mee open it thus A proud man is marked out for Gods Iudgements and is made as it were the white against whom all the arrowes of his vengeance are fully bent When Amaziah would needs out bid the Prophet in his advice 2 Chron. 25.15 16. and said forbeare Why shouldst thou bee smitten I will forbeare saith the Prophet but know what shall befall thee I know the Lord hath purposed to destroy thee because thou wilt not hearken to my counsell You that are acquainted with your stout-hearted husbands and wives and friends and know how your children bandy themselves against the blessed truth of Christ goe in secret and bemoane their estates and pray for them that if it be possible destruction may be prevented goe in secret and say it is my husband or my wife or my childe that yeilds not to the direction of the Word and therefore howsoever we may live a while together yet I know God hath decreed to destroy him and her Thinke of this with your selves you that are proud and say If I will not be exhorted then I shall be destroyed I cannot avoyd it Oh me thinks if every proud spirit would write this upon the palmes of his hands and upon the tester of his bed that he might see it wheresoever he goes how would his heart sinke within him When thou goest abroad say for ought I know I shal never returne home God hath decreed to destroy me And when thou lyest down think thus for ought I know I shal never rise more It is not the word of man but of the Almightie When the Lord would as it were frame a path for destruction hee sends a proud heart If once the Lord intend to destroy a People or Nation he gives them over to pride of heart The sonnes of Ely did not hearken to the voyce of their father because the Lord meant to destroy them 1 Sam. 2.25 hee gave them over to proud hearts Nay the proud Soule is not onely the ayme of Gods wrath but as the Lord determines destruction for him so he brings destruction first upon him When the Citizens said We will not have this man to rule over us then the King was wroth and said Luk. 19.4.27 bring hither those mine enemies and slay them before mee c. There was no delay nor no mitigation of the punishment to be granted Oh thinke of this all you proud spirits Indeed the Lord will confound all the wicked in the Day of Iudgement but he will execute even the fiercest of the Vials of his vengeance against a proud man and when the Lord shall say where are those wretches mine enemies then the Ministers of God shall come in and say this man was a drunkard and this man an adulterer Yes saith the Lord I will plague them anone but where are those mine enemies those stout-hearted men and women that hated to be reformed let mee see those damned and destroyed for ever And for ought I know God hath a strange indignation in store for them Nay it shall bee so executed upon a proud man that there shall be no reclaiming of it and God will not be perswaded to pitty him Prov. 1.26 27 28. They shall call upon mee saith the Text but I will not answer they shall seeke mee early but they shall not finde mee So that it is no wonder though a company of rebellious wretches have no comfort upon their death beds and though a thousand divels seaze upon them and hurry them downe to hell it s no wonder I say cry and call they may but God will not heare them Nay the Lord will laugh at their destruction and mocke when their feare commeth It is a griefe for a man to be in misery but to be laughed at that 's a plague of all plagues But to have mercy rejoyce in the destruction of a man this makes the plague out of measure miserable If any man say this is false doctrine and this is too sharpe and too keene Brethren we dare doe no other and wee can doe no lesse and you had better heare of it now while you may prevent it then to heare of it and feele it hereafter when there is no remedy But here is the maine wound of our Ministery you will not stoope nor yield to our Ministery Wee speake not in wrath and anger as you imagine but in mercy wee now preach against a proud heart that you may be humbled and finde mercy and so be comforted and saved for ever Therefore take your owne shame and the Lord prevaile with those hearts which word and counsell cannot worke upon And the Lord now fit you for mercy that you may receive mercie from the Lord. That 's all the hurt wee wish you Oh that you would so heare of these plagues that you might never feele them The Lord hath an old grudge against a proud heart Goe away you proud hearts feare and tremble When you are gone from the congregation do not say What if he say so we fare well enough yet and wee see none of all these judgements and all this winde shakes no corne no no once stoope and come in and take the yoake of Christ and the Lord make it easie Goe in secret and reason thus good Lord have not I onely lifted up my selfe against man like my selfe but against God and against his ordinances and hath God yet shewed mee mercy in sparing of me and it is yet mercy that I may bow my body though I cannot bow my proud heart oh what mercy is this You wives thanke God that yet hee hath spared your husbands and that yet they have breath and being here pray to God that they may lay about them for humble hearts that so they may finde mercy against the evill day Our God is very mercifull but it is no contending with him Did ever any man provoke the Lord and prosper Come in therefore shame your selves that the Lord may humble you now and shew mercy to you hereafter Vse 4 The last Vse is for exhortation You see the woe and misery of a proud spirit What remaines then onely this Be exhorted as you desire to finde favour with God and to receive mercy from him now be content to be at his disposing Walke in this way and ayme at this marke strive hard for it and put forth the best of your abilities that you may get humble hearts You must not thinke that every lazy wish and every desire will serve the turne and that it will be enough to say is it so that a proud heart is so farre from heaven I would I had an humble heart and
to live of another but we would faine be as able to doe duties as Adam was And it is with every naturall man as it was with Sampson he had once Sacramentall haire and therefore when any temptation came hee did shake himselfe and was able to breake strong cords and to overcome his enemies and when his haire was gone hee went out as at other times and thought to doe as he had done but the Spirit of God was gone from him So because Adam had power of himselfe to yield exact obedience and to please God a naturall man makes an offer of this still and would be doing and he goes out and shakes himselfe and saith cannot my wit and my prayers and my good meanings and my priviledges save mee and satisfie divine Iustice must the guilt of sinne still lye upon mee Thus the soule would give content to God by his owne strength as it is with a man that hath beene a rich Chapman and hath had a faire stocke but is now decayed it is hard to bring downe the pride of this mans heart he is loath to be a Iourney-man againe he will be trading though it be but for pinnes So the Lord put a stocke into Adams hand and hee turned bankrupt and yet wee will be trading here for a company of poore beggerly duties dead prayers and cold hearings and we thinke this will be sufficient This is the disposition of the soule naturally So the issue of the point is thus much if the soule through the guilt of sinne dare not appeare before God and it knowes not yet how to come to God in and through a Mediator and in regard of Adams innocency it needed not to goe out to another for any power and strength hence it is that the soule will invent any way and take up any course rather then come to Christ but all the former truthes are true and therefore still this turnes the heart to deale with God in this manner Vse 1 Here you see the reason why that opinion of some men prevailes so much and why they rest upon their owne good works because their hearts give such entertainment to it it is old Adams nature and every man seekes it but if ever God draw you home to the second Adam Christ Iesus hee will draw you from the first Adam You wonder to see a company of poore wretches build all their comfort upon what they can doe and they will patter over a few prayers it may be in their beds too it is easie to consider it Nature makes a man thus give way to himselfe in it and no wonder though his heart is prepared for this way when it comes But for instruction for our selves An use of instruction Doth the soule seeke out every where before it come to the Lord God and to the Lord Iesus Christ and will the Lord Iesus spare and succour a poore sinner when he comes then heare and see and admire at the goodnesse of the Lord that ever the Lord should vouchsafe to give entertainment to a poore sinner when hee hath made so many outs If hee come home never so late the Lord receives him when he comes Is not this mercy that when we have beene roving and ranging here and there and wee have coasted this way and that way and never thought of Christ nor mercy nor of his blood I say is not this admirable mercy that the Lord Christ should receive us when we come yea though we come to him last of all He may deale with us justly as he did with the people in Ieremy Where are thy Gods saith the Lord that thou hast made thee Ier. 2.22 let them arise if they can helpe thee in the time of thy trouble for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods oh Iudah The people made Idols and served them and when the time of trouble came and all their gods failed them then they come for succour to the Lord and would faine shelter themselves under his wings Nay saith the Lord goe to your gods that you have loved and let them helpe you as if hee had said unto them doe you come to mee in the day of your distresse have you honoured and worshipped your Idols must they have all the honour and I have all the burthen get you home to your Idols and let them succour you Oh thinke of it and wonder So the Lord may justly deale with us we that rested here upon our good prayers and our hearings and fastings and yet when all these prevaile not but the guilt of sinne remaines and wounds the conscience still and at last we are forced to looke up to the Lord Iesus Christ and to say except the Lord Iesus Christs blood purge these filthy hearts of ours we shall never have helpe and good Lord be mercifull to us Did you rest in these because there was no God in Israel and no mercy in the Almightie that you have rested upon your priviledges Goe then may the Lord say doe you come to mee to be saved and succoured goe to your meritorious works now let them cheere your hearts and pardon your sinnes and comfort you for I will not succour you at all It were just with the Lord to deale thus with us because we give him the leavings and come last to him But here is the wonder of mercies that whensoever we come hee casts us not of yet if we would but come to him and leave these broken reeds Ier. 3.1 he would receive us Yet returne to mee saith the Lord as if the Lord had said you say that all that you can doe will not succour you you have plaid the adulterers with many lovers yet at last come home to mee and beleeve in mee and settle your hearts upon my mercy and whatsoever your weakenesse and rebellions have beene I will save and succour you Vse 2 The second use is for Exhortation seeing it is so that wee are ready to seeke for succour and reliefe from our selves then let this make us watchfull against this deceit of our hearts Yet I doe not dishonour these ordinances but I curse all carnall confidence in these You cleave to these poore beggerly duties and alas you will perish for hunger the divell knowes this full well and therefore he will sinke your hearts for ever Iudas did so and hell is full of hearers and dissemblers and carnall wretches that never had hearts to seeke unto Christ in these duties and to see the value of a Saviour in them The divell slides into the heart this way unsuspected and unseene because he comes under a colour of duties exactly performed but now in that the divell labours to cheat us of heaven and salvation we should be so much more watchfull This is the stone that thousands have stumbled at yea many that have gone a great way in the way of life and salvation For howsoever the soule that is truly broken cannot be satisfied
that is you will not goe out from your selves to the Lord Christ and therefore cannot receive mercy and grace from his Majesties hands though thou art never so base and vile if thou couldst goe to the Lord Iesus and rest upon him for mercy nothing should stand betweene thee and heaven but if thou stickest in thy selfe all the grace in Christ can doe thee no good Secondly This carnall confidence makes a man unprofitable under all the meanes that God bestowes Ier. 17.5 6. As the Prophet Ieremy saith Cursed is he that trusts in the arme of flesh and departs from the Lord Why What shall become of him the text saith he shall be like an heath in the wildernesse and shall never see good The nature of the heath is this though all the dew of heaven and all the showers in the world fall upon it and though the Sunne shine never so hotly it will never grow fruitfull it will never yield any fruit of increase but it is unfruitfull still Such a Soule thou wilt be thou that restest upon thy own services sayest because thou hearest and prayest and doest sanctifie the Lords Day therefore thou must needs goe to heaven I say thou shalt never see good by all the meanes of grace if thou makest them independent causes of salvation all the promises in the Gospel shall never establish thee and all the judgements in the world will never terrifie thee thou shalt never have any saving grace wrought in thee by them The truth is hee that hath all meanes and hath not a Christ in all hee shall never see good by all Therefore thou that restest upon thy parts and gifts and upon thy duties thou wilt have a heart so besotted that grace will never come into thy heart and God will never quiet thy conscience It may be a poore drunkard is converted and humbled but thou standest still and canst get no good by all the means in the world Therefore say thus to thy selfe doth this carnall confidence cut mee off from all the grace and mercy that is in Christ and without mercy and pardon from Christ I am undone for ever and without grace I am a poore defiled wretch here and shall be damned for ever after if I rest here I may bid adue to all mercy Nay all the meanes that I have never doe mee good Is this the fruit of my carnall confidence Oh Lord withdraw my heart from it Lastly When all the meanes of grace will not plucke away the Soule from resting upon it selfe The fourth meanes when reason will not rule him nor meanes will not prevaile with a poore sinner as commonly a great while they will not then the Lord tires a poore Soule with his owne distempers And the Lord deales with the Soule as an enemy deales with a Castle that he hath besieged When the Citizens will not yield up the Castle he famisheth them and cuts off all provision and makes them consume within and so at last they are forced to resigne it up upon any termes So When the Lord hath laid siege to a carnall heart and hath shewed him his woefull condition and yet the heart will not of nor will not take up any termes of peace but still hee will shift for himselfe Now what doth the Lord doe hee takes away the comfort of all the meanes that he hath till hee is famished with the want of Gods favour and then hee is content to yield up all to the God of heaven and earth It was just so with this Prodigall all the world could not perswade him but he might live better of his portion and so away hee goes and when hee had tried the world and could get no succour at last he confest it was better to be at a fathers finding and now he saw that a fathers house was admirably good and that the servants and children in their fathers house are happy for they have bread enough and enough againe and to spare too and so hee is forced to returne So it is with many poore distressed soules all the arguments under heaven cannot quiet them and all the meanes in the world cannot plucke them from themselves and we tell them daily that they must not expect grace nor power nor pardon from themselves 2 Ioh. 3. It is mercy and peace saith the Apostle You would have peace of conscience and pardon of sinne and assurance of Gods love and whence would you have it you would have it from your duties it is not prayer and peace nor hearing and peace but it is mercy and peace and therefore away to the Lord Iesus that you may receive mercy from him Yet we cannot get poore creatures from themselves but they would faine shuffle for themselves and have a little comfort of their owne and they say Lord cannot my prayers my care and fasting merit salvation Now what doth God then he saith to such a Soule goe try then put to the best of thy strength and use all the meanes that thou canst and see what thou canst doe See if thou canst cure thy conscience and heale those wounds of thine and subdue the corruptions of thy heart with thy prayers and abilities but when the Soule hath made triall and weltred and wearied it selfe at last he finds that all the meanes he can use cannot quiet him nor comfort his conscience and the poore sinner is pinched and wearied and the Lord will not answer his prayers nor sweeten the desires of his Soule and the Lord will not blesse the Word to him for his comfort and at last the Soule saith Such a poore Christian even a man of meane parts and weake gifts how is he comforted and such a profane drunkard is puld home and hath gotten the assurance of Gods love The Lord hath puld downe the proud hearts of such and such and they live comfortably and sweetly and I have no peace nor assurance of Gods love You may thanke your selves for it they saw nothing and they looked for nothing from themselves and therefore they went home to the gate of mercy to the Lord Iesus Christ and they have bread enough if you would come home to Christ you might have beene comforted also Now therefore goe to the Lord Iesus Christ and as certainly as God is in heaven refreshing and comfort will come into your hearts and mercy which is better then marrow shall satisfie those feeble fainting spirits of yours You see what the way is and what the helps be to pluck off our hearts from resting upon these duties and therefore thinke thus with thy selfe and say is my misery so great and are my duties so weake and is my carnall confidence so dangerous that I may be troubled for ever for any thing that I can doe of my selfe and is comfort no where else to be had but in the Lord Iesus Christ Oh then Lord worke my heart to this duty Sticke not in your selves doe all this but goe
despaire I would not have you go away and say the minister saith we must despaire It s true you must despaire of all saving succour in your selves but you must not despaire of all mercy in Christ Answer For the answer to this question you must know that there are three particular trialls of our owne hearts whereby wee shall know when the Lord is pleased to deale so kindly and sweetly with us as to drive us from our selves to Christ The first triall First the Soule of a poore sinner that seeth all meanes helplesse and hopelesse in themselves will freely confesse and acknowledge and that openly that the worke of salvation is of an unconceiveable difficulty and he seeth an utter insufficiencie and impossibility in himselfe and in any meanes in the world to be saved of himselfe He seeth that it is beyond his power and the staffe is out of his owne hand and the Soule almost sinks under it and conceives it almost impossible to come out of it in regard of that which it apprehends Hee seeth now that all those broken reedes and rotten props and all that boldnesse whereby the heart did beare up it selfe they are all broken in peeces and all those Castles which he hath built in the ayre wherein hee comforted himselfe with dreames of consolation they are all throwne downe to the ground and battered about his eares and now the Soule wonders how he was so deluded to trust to such lying vanities and to such deceitfull shadowes This is the difference that the Soule will finde in it selfe before this worke of conversion and after it is wrought Before a man thinks it an easie matter to come to heaven and judgeth it a foolishnesse in people to be cast downe and discouraged in the hardnesse and difficultie of the worke of salvation and hee conceives it to be a foolish conceit in the frantick braine of some precise Ministers Oh saith he God blesse us if none be saved but such as these whatsoever he saith a man may goe to heaven and repent and get the pardon of his sinnes it is nothing but confessing his sinnes before God and craving mercy in the pardon of them and is this such a hard matter this man in the dayes of his vanitie thinks he hath heaven in a string and mercy at command and he can come to heaven and breake his heart at halfe an houres warning but take this man when the Lord hath awakened his conscience and put him to the triall when he seeth that after all his prayers and teares yet his conscience is not quieted and his sinnes are not pardoned and the guilt still remaines now he is of another minde now he wonders at himselfe that he was so deluded and now he saith where is the deluded heart that did thinke it and the mouth that did speake it Nay he thinks it a great mercy of God that he is not in hell long agoe and he stands and wonders that ever any man comes to heaven and he saith certainly their hearts are not like mine and their sinnes are not so great as mine good Lord who can ever be saved such a divell to tempt and such a world to allure and such corruptions boyling within He wonders how Abraham got to heaven beyond the Starres and Moses but above all Manasses yet he saith blessed be God that ever he did this for them but for my selfe all things considered I thinke it a matter impossible how I nay how can I ever be wrought upon shall ever any mercy comfort mee and shall ever any meanes doe mee good Why have not all those meanes that I have had done mee good I shall never have power to pray better then I have done and I shall never be able to wrestle with God more earnestly then I have done and yet I see all meanes profit not therefore I am but a gone man I am but lost and I know not which way my soule should be saved When our Saviour Christ was discovering the difficultie of the way to Salvation His Disciples said Good Lord who then shall be saved So the poore Soule saith Oh the meanes that I have had and the prayers that I have made So that I have thought the heavens did even shake againe and yet Good Lord my heart did never stirre at all and therefore how can I be saved And as the Prophet Ieremy saith Shame hath eaten up the labours of our fathers and we lye downe in our shame c. They had the meanes of grace and the ordinances of God and shame hath eaten up all and where are their Temples and Priviledges now Shame hath consumed them to nothing So it is with a poore feeble fainting Soule he saith shame hath eaten up all my labours I have laboured in prayer in hearing and in fasting yet I have no pardon sealed nor no mercy granted I am as much troubled as ever I see as much evill as ever I did hell is gaping for mee and so soone as life is gone from my body the divell will have my Soule This is the nature of despaire to put an impossibilitie in the thing that it despaires of and to say can it be and will it be and will it ever be Nay it is impossible for ought I know Where is the man now that thought it an easie matter to goe to heaven he is in an other minde and his heart is of an other frame now he hath found by woefull experience that there is no hope nor helpe in himselfe nor in the creature Secondly The second Triall this followes from the former disposition of spirit the Soule is restlesse and remaines unsatisfied in what he hath and what he doth The heart cannot be supported and therefore it growes to be marveilously troubled and it is not able to stay it selfe There is nothing that can satisfie the Soule of a man but it must be some good No man is satisfied with evill but rather more troubled with it It must be some good either in hand and in present possession or else in expectation of some good that he may have and he saith it may be and it will be But when he seeth the emptinesse of all his priviledges and the weakenesse of all his duties when these failes his heart and all must needs sinke because he seeth no other good but them for the while As it is with the building of a house if the bottome and foundation be brittle and rotten and begin to shake all the whole building must needs shake So the Soule that sought for comfort mercy and salvation from his outward priviledges and duties when all these begin to shake under him and to breake in sunder and he seeth no helpe thereby and that it can receive no ease therein hence it is that Soule thus troubled and despairing is in such an estate that if all the Ministers under heaven should come to flatter him and to daube him up with untempered mortar
Nay the Soule finds no end in pleading and therefore he reasons thus with himselfe and saith that God cannot doe more against him then he hath deserved but be sure he thinkes that God will not lay more upon him then hee is worthy of Nay it is sure the Soule cannot beare nor suffer so much as he hath deserved and pluckt upon himselfe if God should proceed in rigour with him For the sinner that will deale plainely and discernes his evill exactly it is easie for him to number up all his abhominations and the Soule thus reasons with it selfe and saith I onely deserve eternall condemnation for the wages of all sinne is death being committed against an infinite Majestie and against a Divine Iustice and then what doe all these my sinnes deserve committed and continued in and maintained against the light of Gods Word against all corrections and all checks of conscience and all the Commandements of God hell is too good and ten thousand hels is to little to torment such a wretch as I am In truth I begged mercy but what I mercy I am ashamed to expect it and with what heart can I beg this mercy which I have troden under my feet Shall that blood of Christ purge my heart that blood that I have trampled under my feet and accounted it as an unholy thing and when the Lord hath woed mee and his wounds were bleeding and his sides goared and his hideous cryes comming into mine eares My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee yet this Christ have I slighted and made nothing of his blood and can the blood of Christ doe mee any service indeed I doe crave grace but how doe I thinke to receive any All the pillars of the Church can testifie how often grace and mercy hath beene offered to me but I have refused it therefore how can I begge any grace And as the text saith They shall see their sinne and acknowledge their wayes and Iudge themselves worthy to be condemned So the Soule confesseth that it is worthy of nothing that is good it is not worthy of Gods love nor of Gods preservation nor any other priviledge only he confesseth that he doth loath himselfe and saith Oh this stubbornnesse and villany and this wretchednesse of mine what I mercy no I am not worthy of any it is more then I can expect I am onely worthy to be cast out for ever As the Prophet Ezechiel saith That thou mayest remember Ezech. 16.63 and be confounded and never open thy mouth more because of thy shame that is they shall remember the evill that they have committed and the Lords kindnesse and mercie that they have opposed and they shall be confounded and not open their mouthes any more So now his tongue cleaves to the roofe of his mouth and he saith I remember my evill and am ashamed to expect any mercy I sought for mercy before but now I see I am unworthy of any and worthy of all the judgements that God can poure upon me The Soule confesseth clearely that hee hath deserved more then God will lay upon him for if God should poure all his wrath upon him he must make him infinite to beare his infinite wrath and therefore the Lord onely layes so much upon him as hee is capable of Secondly the Soule acknowledgeth the equalnesse of Gods dealings be they never so harsh in this kind He confesseth that hee is as clay in the hands of the Potter and the Lord may deale with him as he will Yea the Soule is driven to an amazement at the Lords patience that hee hath beene pleased to reprive him so long and that God hath not cast him out of his presence and sent him downe to hell long agoe It is the frame of Spirit that the poore lamenting Church had Lament 3.22 It is the Lords mercy that wee are not confounded because his compassions faile not When a poore drunkard seeth how hee hath roared in the Alehouse against God and his truth and how he hath plotted against the Saints hee wonders that ever God could beare with such a wretch and that the earth hath not swallowed him up quick And when the Lord hath humbled the heart of an adulterer or adulteresse hee begins to think thus with himselfe the Lord saw all the evils that I have committed and all my plottings and all my inveighings and allurings to this sinne and my delight in it then the Soule admires that ever Gods Iustice was able to beare with such a monster and that God did not confound him in his burning lusts and cast him downe to hell Oh saith hee it is because his mercies faile not that my life and all hath not failed long agoe Nay the Soule concludes that the Lord should not save him As Nehemiah saith Howbeit Nehem. 9.33 thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou hast done right but wee have done wickedly as if hee had said It is righteous that every man should lye under his owne load and therefore thou mayest justly condemne us Nay the Soule saith That God cannot but plague him for ought that hee perceives in Iustice as Daniel saith Dan. 9.14 Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evill and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doth because we obeyed not his voyce Hee speakes there of the 70. yeares captivity So the Soule saith Because the Lord is just and righteous and doth not onely punish but he cannot but punish and therefore he justifies the Lord in all the plagues that ever can be inflicted upon him And hence it is that the Soule will not maintaine any kinde of murmuring or heart rising against the Lords dealings much lesse doth he hide it in the Lord. But though nature and corruption will be stirring and sometimes the heart will be grudging against the Lord and say Why doth the Lord thus and why are not my prayers answered such a Soule is humbled and such a Soule is comforted and why not I as well as hee yet when any such matter riseth in the heart hee stifles crusheth and chokes these wretched distempers and doth abase it selfe before the Lord saying What if God will not as the Apostle saith speaking of the rejection of some and the receiving of others so the Soule saith What if God will not heare thy prayers and what if God will not pacifie thy conscience nor shew any mercy to thee thou hast thy owne and doth the Lord doe me any wrong vile hell-hound that I am I have my sinne and my shame wrath is my portion and hell is my place I may goe thither when I will it is mercy that God deales thus with me Now the Soule comes to cleare God in all his providence and saith It is just with God that all the prayers which come from this filthy heart of mine should be abhorred and that all my labours in holy duties should
This is our nature We would faine have something to trade withall but the Lord will keepe the staffe in his owne hand and the Soule is content to have it so He comes sometimes and God will not heare and he goes away and comes againe and then goes away fasting and well contented too See how the poore Woman of Canaan did Shee comes to beg mercy of our Saviour Matth. 15.26 and he said It is not lawfull to cast the children bread to dogs truth Lord saith she I am as bad as thou canst call mee I yeild all I am as vile a sinfull poore creature as ever any was Yet Lord the dogs may eate the crums that fall from their Masters table vers 27. You know the Dog must stay till his Master comes in and when hee is come hee must stay till he sit downe and then till he cut his meate and hee must not have the meate from his trencher neither when he hath stayed all this while he hath nothing but the crums So it is with a poore sinner you must not thinke that God will be at your becke No you must be content with the crums of mercy and pitty and lye under the table till the Lord let the crums fall The humbled soule saith Lord let my condition be never so hard doe what thou wilt with mee let the fire of thy wrath consume mee here onely recover mee hereafter and let me finde mercy and if the time be never so long if at last gaspe I may finde mercy I am content and whatsoever thou givest I blesse thy name for it The Soule doth not quarrell with the Almighty and say Why are not my graces increased and why am not I thus and thus comforted and refreshed Nay it lyes and lookes for mercy and if it have but a crum of mercy it is comforted and quieted for ever Thus the heart is brought very low Why doth the Lord thus bring the heart under Reason is this necessary and requisite Yes it is without all question not onely convenient but very necessary that it should be so And the reason is taken from the nature of the covenant of grace which requires this and without which the covenant of grace could not be fitted for us For the covenant of grace is this Beleeve and live The condition on our part is faith and beleeving Now faith is nothing else but a going out of the Soule to fetch all from another as having nothing of it selfe and therefore this resting in our selves will not stand with the nature of this covenant Now were it so that wee were not resolved to yeild to and to be guided by another it is certaine we could not have our hearts enlarged to goe to that other by whose wisedome and providence we would not be guided and disposed To be in our selves and out of our selves to have power in our selves to dispose of any thing belonging to our spirituall estate and to fetch all from another these are two contraries and therefore cannot stand together To have the dispensation of life and grace in our owne hands to dispose of it as we will it utterly overthrowes the nature of this second Covenant of mercy and grace in Christ For I pray you observe it this I take to be the maine difference betweene the second maine Covenant of grace whereof the Apostle disputes so often And the first Covenant of works which he so often confutes The first Covenant is to Doe and Live This Adam had and if he had stood still he should not have needed any Saviour The second Covenant is Beleeve and Live that is to live by another These two cannot stand together in one and the same Soule at one and the same time The same Soule that is saved by the Covenant of Grace cannot be saved also by the Covenant of Works The Lord in the beginning put the stuffe into Adams hand and he had libertie to dispose of Life and Salvation by reason of that abilitie and that principle of Grace that God had given him for he had perfect knowledge and perfect holinesse and righteousnesse and by the power of these he had libertie freely to please God and to keepe the Law and to be blessed in so doing and if he had done that which hee had power to doe hee might have beene blessed for ever and we all in him but he lost it and so overthrew himselfe and all his posteritie Now we being thus falne in Adam and being deprived of all that holinesse and righteousnesse which Adam had Now the sinner is neither able to fulfill the Law and so to purchase mercy for himselfe nor to satisfie for that which is done amisse A sinner must die and yet he cannot satisfie in dying he is dead in sinnes and trespasses and having lost all that abilitie which Adam had therefore the Soule must goe out of it selfe and since it is so that nothing which he hath or doth can save him he must goe to another that whatsoever is amisse that other may satisfie for it and whatsoever mercy is needfull he may purchase it and whatsoever is to be done he may doe it Now what we have done amisse Christ hath satisfied for it and what we cannot doe Christ hath done it hee hath fulfilled all righteousnesse And hence it is that these two are so professedly opposite the one to the other the Law and Faith The first Adam and the second Adam Consider a passage or two The Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace cannot stand together in the point of Life and Grace As the Apostle saith If it bee of grace Rom. 11.4 then it is no more of works and if it be of works then it is no more of grace As if he had said If a man be saved by grace then he cannot be saved by works and if he be saved by works then be cannot be saved by grace And in another place the same Apostle saith Rom. 4.14 If they which are of the Law be heires faith is made voyd and the promise is of none effect If a man that thinks to merit life by the Law be an heire what needed faith or the promise For it is the nature of faith to goe out to Christ and to receive all from him now if I had enough in my selfe I had no need of Christ and faith were made of none effect You are saved by grace through faith Ephes 2.8 saith the Apostle and that not of your selves There S. Paul brings in a deniall not onely of sinne but of works and saith You are not saved of your selves He doth not say of your sinne but your selves you and your works and all must be renounced and all that you are and doe as any way meritorious and not to bee found in your selves but in Christ before ever you can receive mercy from Christ So I dispute thus There is none that will save us Man nor Angel and
our works will not therefore we must goe to Christ and if we goe to Christ for all and expect all from him then we must be content to be guided by him in all Now let me propound this question Either thou must be content to be at the dispose of God and mercy or at whose dispose wilt thou be If thou wilt have any thing else besides mercy to dispose of thee thou makest that to be a Mediator to thee But haply thou wouldst dispose of thy selfe and dispose of mercy after thy owne minde Yes so I thought It may be thou sayest I will have grace if I may dispose of it Thus a proud heart would faine have it in his owne hands but upon these termes thou never hadst nay thou never shalt have grace Here is the winding of the Soule Therefore many dare not venture their salvation upon Gods free favour But they would have it in their owne power that they may receive it when they will that they may be drunke and take grace and be proud and prophane and take grace when they will It is a sottish delusion of men that are deluded and blinded by the divell But that the Soule which would have it thus cannot have it upon these termes I thus reason He that will have grace from his owne dispose shall never have grace Sillogisme because he hath none in his owne power to dispose of But he that is not content to be at the dispose of grace and to be at the dispensation of Gods good pleasure for mercy and grace he would have it to be at his owne disposing And therefore hee shall nay he never can have grace In a word Who must dispose of you Your selves then you must have that grace which you can dispose of and that 's just none at all Grace is meerely in Gods hands to dispose of Thus wee have brought the Soule to bee fitly prepared for Christ and mercy and grace Now let us doe as travellers doe The summe of all this worke of preparation they sometimes sit downe to reckon how many miles they have gone So let us enquire what we have spoken You know I mentioned two things necessary in this worke of preparation for Christ First Contrition And secondly Humiliation First God brings the sinner to a sight of himselfe and his sin makes him to be insupportably burthened with the vilenesse of it so that now the heart of a poore sinner seeth an absolute necessitie of a change and therefore thinks thus with himselfe if I rest thus I shall never see God with comfort That 's for Contrition Now he seeth that hee must change and hee is content to change and therefore though he will no more be drunke nor follow his old base practices yet he begins to sherke for his owne comfort and he useth all the ordinances of God to see what they can doe for him and he goes to himselfe and his selfe-sufficiencies and finding no succour there he falles downe before the Lord and begs mercy and yet he seeth himselfe unworthy of mercy without which hee must perish He hath nothing and hee can doe nothing to merit it yet he is content that God should dispose of him as hee thinks good onely if it bee possible he prayes that the Lord would shew mercy to a poore forlorne creature Now the sinner is pared and fitted for Christ as a graft for the stocke He is come to the very quicke and is as little as may be All his swelling sufficiency is pared away For he is not onely brought to renounce his sinne but even his sufficiency and all his parts and abilities which Adam needed not have done if he had stood in his innocency In a word hee is wholly pluckt from the first Adam for here is the maine lift So that now the second Adam Christ Iesus may take possession of him and be all in all in him as the Apostle saith Now the Soule is a fit matter for Christ to worke upon namely to make him a vessell fit to receive mercy and grace and when hee hath fitted him for mercy hee will give it to him and when he hath given him grace he will maintaine it and increase it and then quicken it and crowne it and perfect it in the Day of the Lord Iesus Christ And lastly he will glorifie himselfe in all these Here is a right Christian indeed that expresseth Christ in all Christ preparing Christ giving Christ maintaining and increasing and Christ quickening and Christ crowning Thus you see that it is not left as a matter of libertie but it is of necessitie required that the heart bee thus contented every humble heart hath this in some measure though not all so sensibly The uses are double First to the people Vses to shew them what to doe Secondly to the Ministers The uses for the people are First for Instruction Secondly for Examination Thirdly for Terror Fourthly for Exhortation The first use is for instruction and that is double The first use to the people First Is it so that the humble Soule is content to be thus at the Lords disposing then from hence we collect this use that they which have greatest parts and gifts and meanes and places abilities and honors for the most part they are most hardly brought home to the Lord Iesus Christ They that are most harly humbled they are most hardly converted how hard a thing is it for such men as have gifts and learning and wisedome or any bignesse that makes them swell naturally how hard is it I say for such men to be saved I wish their courses did not testifie the same they that are most high and greatest in gifts and place they must come in at the strait gate and what a hard and difficult worke that is judge you and therefore it is hard for them to come home to the Lord Iesus Christ Humiliation is the emptying of the Soule from whatsoever it hath that makes it swell The heart must not joy in any thing nor rest upon any thing but onely yeild to the Lord Iesus Christ to be at his disposing and carving now these parts and gifts and abilities and meanes both for Iudgement and place they are great props and pillars for the heart of a carnall man to rest upon and to quiet it selfe withall and to looke for some good there from and when the heart is setled upon such pillars as these are it is hard for the word of God to prevaile with that heart The Prophet Ieremy knew it well enough and therefore he said I will go to the rich and honorable â—eremy 5.5 and they burst all bonds asunder and brake the yoke The poore were naught but the rich were exceedingly vile and our Saviour proves it for when the rich young man came to Christ said Master what shall I do to have everlasting life Math. 19.24 Christ answered thus go sell all that thou hast
the whalls belly and wee shal heare no more newes of quarrelling but of praying and there he abased himselfe as it is with a Phisitian when the Patient hath some vehement fit of a fever or the like that he cannot sleepe they use to give him a litle Opium and that makes him rest a little This humiliation of heart is like Opium there are peevish fits of a proud heart that no word nor commandes will rule a man but he must have what he will or els he will set his mouth against heaven but a little receit of this Opium will quiet all if hee could but come to see his owne emptinesse and wretchednesse and get his heart to be at Gods disposing then his heart would bee wonderfully calmed and meekened whatsoever he endures Humiliation gives quiet to a mans course in three causes First in the fiercest temptations Secondly Three benefits of Humiliation in the heaviest oppositions of men Thirdly in the greatest poverty that can befall a man in this life In the strongest temptations When Sathan begins to besiege the heart of a poore sinner and layes battery against him the Soule is so settled that he cannot be remooved See how the humbled heart tires the divell and runnes him out of breath and out-shoots him in his owne Bow in the very highest of all his malice and indignation Take a poore Soule at the under when hee hath beene throughly burthened with a corruption and laid gasping for a little grace and favour and could not finde any evidence of mercy the Soule cryes continually and begs for mercy earnestly the divell seeth him and having some permission from God so to doe he lets flye at the poore Soule and labours to knocke him off from his course and saith to him in this manner Sathan objects Doest thou thinke to get mercy from the Lord and doest thou dreame of any mercy at the hands of God when thy own conscience dogs thee Nay goe to the place where thou livest and to the chamber where thou lyest and consider thy fearefull abhominations and how thou art foyled by them to this day set thy heart at rest God heares not and respects not the prayers of such vile sinners The Soule answers Now the Soule seeth this easily and confesseth it plainly and the humbled Soule saith it is true I have often denied the Lord when hee hath called upon mee and therefore he may justly deny mee yet seeke to him for mercy I must and if the Lord will cast mee away and reject my prayers I am contented if hee doe cast mee away what then Sathan Sathan what then saith the divell I had thought this would have been enough to make thee despaire Yet this is not all for God will give thee over and leave thee to thy selfe and to thy lusts and corruptions and thy latter end shall be worse than thy beginning and thou shalt call and cry and when thou hast done be overthrowne that loose uncleane and proud heart of thine will overthrow thee for ever God will leave thee to thy selfe and suffer thy corruptions to prevaile against thee and thou shalt fall fearefully to the wounding of thy conscience to the grieving of the hearts of Gods people to the scandall of the Gospel and the reproach of thy owne person The Soule answers Yet the humble Soule replies in this manner and saith if the Lord give mee up to my base lusts which I have given my selfe so much libertie in and if the Lord will leave me to my sinnes because I have left his gracious commands and if I shall fall one day and be disgraced and dishonoured yet let the Lord be honoured and let not God loose the praise of his power and justice and I am contented if God doe leave mee what then Sathan The Devill objects What then saith the divell I had thought this had beene enough to drive thee out of thy wits yet this is not all For when God hath left thee to thy sinnes then the Lord will breake out in vengeance against thee and get praise from that proud heart of thine and make thee an example of his heavy vengeance to all ages to come and therefore it is best for thee to prevent an untimely Iudgement by an untimely death The humble heart is quieted all this while and replyes The Soule answers whatsoever God can or will doe I know not yet so great are my sinnes that he cannot or at least will not doe so much against mee as I have deserved if the Lord doe come in Iudgement against mee I am contented say what thou wilt what then Sathan Thus you may runne the divell out of breath then the divell leaves the humbled Soule The want of this Humiliation of heart it is where by men are brought to desperate stands so that sometimes one man goes to a haltar another runs out of his wits and another drownes himselfe all this is horrible pride of heart Why will you not beare the wrath of the Lord It is true indeed your sinnes are great and Gods wrath is heavie yet God will doe you good by it and therefore be quiet In the time of warre when the great Cannons flye of the onely way to avoyd them is to lye down in a furrow and so the Bullets flye over them whereas they meete with the mountaines and tall Cedars So it is with all the temptations of Sathan which besiege us Lye low and be contented to be at Gods disposing and all the temptations of the divell shall not be able to disquiet or distract thee The second benefit Secondly when Sathan is gone then comes the troubles and oppositions of the world And this Humiliation of heart gives a secret setling to the Soule against all the railings and oppositions of the wicked world For this takes of the unrulinesse of the heart So that when the Soule will not contend with oppositions but is content to beare them it is not troubled with them The humble Soule seeth God dispensing with all oppositions and therefore it is not troubled with them A man is sometimes Sea-sicke not because of the Tempest but because of his full stomacke and therefore when he hath emptied his stomacke hee is well againe So it is with this Humiliation of heart If the heart were emptied truly though a man were in a Sea of oppositions if he have no more trouble in his stomacke and in his proud heart then in the oppositions of the world hee might bee quieted Consider David when he was in the wildernesse 1 Sam. 25.12 13. and sent to Nabal for some reliefe see how he raged extreamely against him because he was denied it The reason was not in the offence but in the pride of his heart Take the same man in the persecution of Absalon and when Shimei cursed him 2 Sam. 15.25 saying Art not thou he that kild such and such and that committed adultery with the wife of Vriah 2
is blanke and justice carries him downe to the place of execution and he shall not come thence till he have paid the utmost farthing And then the Soule saith some comfort some mercy and consolation for mee oh saith he I have received the Sacrament and prayed and fasted and professed canst thou not feede of these oh no! saith the Soule these are huskes bread for me as the world thinkes of a man that hath got nothing by his trading such a man that made wonderfull shew in the world to day so many hundreths and thousands worse then nothing this is lamentable Iust so it will be with thee if thou hast not gotten Christ If a man have gotten Christ in his hearing and praying hee will answer all easily and when the divell comes in and saith Thou hast many sinnes who shall satisfie Gods Iustice for them The Soule makes this answer Christ hath paid all Oh but thou hast broken the Law of God saith the divell Oh saith the Soule Christ hath fulfilled all righteousnesse for mee You have many corruptions saith the divell but Christ hath purged mee saith the Soule Oh but you shall be damned saith the divell to him Nay saith the Soule there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ but I am in Christ and therefore shall not be damned Thus the divel shall goe away ashamed and say That man is out of my reach I shall never get him downe to hell he hath gotten Christ But here this question may be asked Question how may a man goe beyond himselfe in all his duties Answ Because this is a skill above all skills therefore for the answer hereof take these three directions First The first Direction labour to see an absolute necessity of a Christ in all these priviledges that thou hast and in all the duties and services that thou performest First in all thy priviledges See a need of Christ to make all these powerfull to thy Soule Hearing and reading and fasting will doe thee no good except thou have a Christ to goe with all these As a Ship that hath faire Sailes strong Masts except there be a winde it can never goe So the Soule is like the Ship and the precious ordinances of God are faire Sailes and good Masts and it is good hearing and good reading and good fasting but except the Spirit blowe with these thou canst get no good by them the Spirit bloweth where it listeth and except the Lord Iesus Christ by the power of his Spirit go breath upon thy hearing Preaching and upon all the ordinances they can doe thee no good When the Lord was to come into his Garden which was the Church The Spices are the graces of Gods Spirit The Spices could not growe because the Spirit would not blowe upon them and therefore the Spouse saith Arise oh North Cant. 4.16 and come oh South and blowe on my Garden that the Spices thereof may flowe out As if she had said Good Lord blowe this way and that way and give a blessing to the meanes and then comfort will come indeed And as there is need of Christ to blesse all meanes so secondly there is need of Christ to make all thy services acceptable to God the Father Oh send to heaven for a Christ that he may hide all thy weaknesses and present all thy duties to God his Father in his merits and righteousnesse They that brought a Sacrifice in the time of the Law were to offer it upon the golden Altar and no Sacrifice was accepted without it So if thou wilt have thy hearing and praying and fasting acceptable to God lay them upon the golden Altar the Lord Iesus Christ And know that thou hast need of Christ to cover all the failings weaknesses in thy duties The second Direction Secondly In all the beautie and excellencie of Gods ordinances that thou seest and prizest See a greater beautie and excellencie in the Lord Iesus Christ then in all these See what comfort it is that thou wouldest finde and what sweet is it that thou wouldest get from hearing and reading praying and professing goe beyond all this and say if the beames be so sweet what is the Sunne it selfe and if the ordinances of God be so sweet and comfortable what is the Lord Iesus Christ then You come to heare and it is well that you will come What would you have in hearing You would have some life to quicken you and some wisedome in your mindes to direct you and some grace into your Soules to purge you and then mee thinks I heare you say Blessed be the Lord this day I found my heart something more quickned and my Soule somthing inabled to hate sinne and to walke with God blesse God for that But is a little life in the word so good and is a little grace in the Sacrament so sweet Oh then away away higher if these be so sweet what is the Lord Iesus the God of all wisedome grace and power If the Word doe so much quicken thy Soule what would the Lord Iesus doe if thou couldest get thy heart possessed of him Let all these drops of life and mercie draw up thy heart to heaven When the Spouse in the Canticles had sought after her beloved see how she describes him Can. 5.10.16 his mouth is white and ruddie and so forth and in the 16. verse shee saith Hee is most sweet yea hee is altogether lovely The originall hath it he is altogether pleasant yea pleasantnesse it selfe You have some comfort and some discomfort with it you have some wisedome and some folly some power and some weaknesse with it but the Lord Iesus is all comfort and no discomfort he is all power and no weaknesse he is all life and no deadnesse therefore in all the ordinances of God carrie your hearts a little higher and looke upon that fulnesse that is in Christ Thirdly Let us labour in the use of all meanes The third meanes as to see the beauty of a Christ surpassing all meanes so let us be led by all meanes into a neerer union with the Lord Christ As a wife deales with the letters of her husband that is in a farre Country she findes many sweet inklings of his love and shee will read these letters often and daily shee would talke with her husband a farre off and see him in the letters Oh saith shee thus and thus he thought when he writ these lines and then shee thinks hee speakes to her againe shee reads these letters onely because shee would be with her husband a little and have a little parlee with him in his pen though not in his presence so these ordinances are but the Lords love-letters and wee are the Ambassadors of Christ and though wee are poore sottish ignorant men yet wee bring mervailous good newes that Christ can save all poore broken hearted sinners in the world You doe well to come and heare but it is all
that 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
he that burnes in his lusts here shall burne in hell And the drunkard wisheth that there had never beene any Law made against that sinne and he saith it is pittie that every man may not drinke what he will and the unjust person that would be stealing and pilfering he wisheth there were no Law against that sinne and when the Word and his Conscience workes and the Law makes havocke in his heart and labours to throw him to the wall Oh he is weary of it Now a carnall heart thinks it the greatest plague in the world to be paled in within the compasse of Gods commands that hee may not doe what he list but still Word and Conscience and the Ministers checke him When the Lord required Sacrifices at the peoples hands in Malachy Malachy 1.13 They thought it a wearisomenesse and snuffed at it What every morning Sacrifice and every evening too what a wearisomenesse is this So you ought to have morning and evening prayer in your Families how are your hearts affected towards it doe not you say what a wearisomnesse is this why doe you tell us of prayer and of humbling your soules This is a burthesome thing this argues a heart that is above the truth and that would bee free from the truth and justle it to the wall therefore the wicked are as it were in bonds and fetters as the Apostle saith Rom. 1.28 they did not like to have God in knowledge As if he had said it is a vexation to their Soules still to have conscience calling be holy and humble and and be not proud nor drunke nor adulterous their consciences flies in their faces and the word galls them they doe not like to have this in knowledge And therefore the Lord deales with them after their desires and he gives them over to a reprobate mind and to a heart that shall never embrace the truth You that have no delight to heare of your duties and wish there were no minister to controll you the Lord will satisfie your desires and give you up to a reprobate sence As if the Lord did say you are weary of my wisedome and goodnesse and weary of my word and commands I will ease you of that burthen you shall have hearts that never shall be mooved with my spirit goe all you damned lusts and reigne in him rule over him and make him a slave and bring him downe to destruction for ever If the Lord comes and will needs be revealed to him then a sturdy heart layes violent hands upon the command he disposeth of it and will not let the command dispose of him he hinders the power of the truth that would draw him to God As the Apostle saith Rom. 1.18 they withhold the truth in unrighteousnesse The word in the originall is they imprison the truth as if the Apostle had said you know you should not bee loose nor covetous nor drunke is it so conscience are you drunke loose and covetous still when the conscience saith I will be loose and covetous still and you will have the vengeance of God to follow you and go to hell too They doe imprison the truth The covetous man imprisons the truth and he must have his covetousnesse still and the truth is imprisoned at the suite of the adulterer and he must be uncleane still And so the oppressor must lye and dissemble and oppresse still and therefore he justles the truth and will of God to the wall Hee takes the wall of Gods will As the people said there is noe hope but wee will walke after our owne devices Ier. 18.12 and wee will doe every one the Imaginations of his evill heart They said most desperately wee will doe it heare it and feare all you whose consciences doe convince you of it and you know that theeving and stealing and pettishnesse and peevishnesse and all your profainnesse is forbidden what saith your hearts to this who disposeth of your wills in this case doe not you say 1 Sam. 8.19 wee will doe what wee list As when Samuell had made an evcellent sermon and told them the danger of having a King they said nay but wee will have a King over us So it is with many of you Is this humilitie The Lord saith you shall not and you say you will oh fearefull is this humilitie aske but common reason you say wee must have and we will have it wee have had our liberties and wee will have them and so destruction too Thirdly This is the lowest and least kinde of rebellion the Soule is content happily to doe what God requires but it must be upon his owne conditions and his owne termes This is the last and it argues no saving worke of preparation for Christ The hypocrite is content that God shall have his glory but hee must doe it And a man is content to be painefull in his place provided hee may have ease and honours and parts and preferments and be respected but when these faile then God hath broken his condition and hee will none Thus God is at his dispose and stands to his agreements This is a cursed hypocrite You can be content to heare and pray that you may have some corruption and that under the name of profession you may be adulterous and loose still The God of mercy send some veine of good motions into your hearts to awaken you if it be possible Thus it is with some Ministers that are content to be painefull in their places so long as they may have honour and be respected but if they misse of their end they give over all If there be any such here you are hypocrites and shall never be comforted upon these termes Now I come to the third passage of this triall A mans life must be subject namely what it is that disposeth of our lives A mans life and conversation must be at Gods disposing If the heart be distempered and the reason be thus lifted up then the actions of a mans life must needs be answerable If those wheeles goe false then the actions of a mans life must strike false As they said they would walke in their own wayes And as the Lord saith Esa 66.4 I will bring their feares upon them and my soule shall loath them because they did choose their owne devices That is whatsoever their owne corrupt hearts would have that they will take and that way they will walke in Not according to Gods will but according to their owne rebellious hearts So that all the practices of a mans course are nothing else but as so many distempered behaviours of a rebellious carnall minde and heart This disordered carriage discovers it selfe in three particulars First when a mans life and conversation comes contrary to God and goes abreast against the Almighty as they did or whom the Apostle speaks Having their understandings darkened Eph. 4.18 have given themselves over to all lasciviousnesse They doe not what God will
a-breast against their owne comfort and will not receive the Word that might convey what comfort is needfull for them I charge every poore Soule to make conscience of resisting the word of God as you desire to make conscience of lying and stealing This is a sinne though not so great as the other Make conscience of this carnall cavelling pull downe those proud hearts lay downe all those carnall reasonings and let the word of God rule you then comfort will come amaine I take this for a truth That when the heart is truly humbled and prepared for mercie and rightly informed and conuicted of the way to salvation the cause why the heart cannot receive comfort it is meere pride of a mans spirit one way or other it is not because he will not nor because God will not but because hee listens to what his carnall reason saith and not to the plaine will and word of God I say make conscience of it and then comfort will come amaine into your Soules The second triall of the degree of humiliation The second triall of the measure of our humiliation is this Looke to thy discouragements For as the discouragements of thy course are so is the pride of thy heart If the stream run amain here there is much pride if little discouragement then there is little pride This is nothing else but when the Soule out of the feare of evill that it either feeles or expects and the price that it puts upon it selfe and that it lookes for from it selfe it is nothing else but the sinking of the soule below it selfe As the Author to the Hebrewes saith Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himselfe Heb. 12.3 least you grow weary and faint in your owne mindes The word in the Originall is as if their sinewes were shrunke This is an undoubted argument and evidence of so much pride as this doth appeare When a man is driven to a desperate stand and comes to lay a dispondencie and to lay himselfe too low and is not able to beare the blow that God layes upon him for were the Soule as willing to take the want of good if God denie it as to take good when God gives it it would not be so discouraged The heart is content to have good but if God take away this good hee is not content to be at Gods disposing therein but if this good goe away hee sinks and is discouraged and this argues pride The heart desires to have riches and especially honours in the world happily God denies this throwes filth and disgrace upon his person and now the Soule is desperatly downe and forlorne in himselfe So much as thou hast of this so much pride thou hast Why art thou not content that God take away any thing the truth is thou wouldest be at thine owne disposing and that which thou wouldst have thou art not able to want Now because this is a thing that wee must take speciall notice of know therefore that this discouragement appeares in these severall passages and pride vents it selfe in them all First This keepes a man from comming to the worke when he is called to it Signes of a discouraged heart Though the Word of God is never so plaine and his calling to it never so cleare yet he is loath to come in at Gods call and when he is come hee is quickly weary and saith what doe I heare Aske God that because he thinks he shall not finde the successe that he desires therefore he is loath to come to it this is horrible pride Thus it was with Ionah he was sent to Nineveh and because hee thought God would shew mercy to them and he should be accounted a false Prophet therefore he would not goe but turnes to Tarshish hee was not able to beare the crossing of himselfe Secondly It damps the Soule and as I may so say it knocks of the wheeles of a mans endeavours when hee sets upon the worke and it kils him at the roote As the Prophet David saith Why art thou cast downe within mee oh my soule Psal 43.5 why art thou so disquieted within me As a man that awakens from a swound he wonders at himselfe so did this Holy man Thus it comes to passe that the Soule recoyles upon it selfe and the heart gives in and he as it were trips up his owne heeles that howsoever a man is able to doe duties yet by reason of discouragements he is not able to put forth that which he can doe for feare he should not doe that which he would Thirdly this discouragement marvellously distempers a man after the worke When the worke is done by others if they finde acceptance and have good successe this comes like cold water upon the Soule and then hee goes away and saith Oh hee is fit for nothing and hee is unable to doe any thing as if a man should say Hee hath no light because another mans candle burnes clearer then his but after his owne worke all his care is what will become of the businesse and how his labour and how his Sermon tooke what approvement of his gifts and what admiration of his parts and if the acceptation of others answer not his desires then his Soule sinks downe and hee is even weary of himselfe his worke and all If no man commend him and the worke is not approved then hee complaines of himselfe this way and that way and begins to disparage himselfe onely to fish out commendation from others and to see what they will say if they commend him then hee goes away rejoycing if not then he sinks specially if hee have not grace to goe in secret by prayer to quicken up himselfe with some promise after that drunken fit So the truth is plaine it is wonderfull to see what pride there is One man is sicke of the sullen because the breath of men departs and hee falls short of that which he expected Though I should prepare my selfe never so well yet if the Lord did stop my mouth now in the pulpit let me be humbled but comforted and contented therewith The third Triall of the measure of our humiliation is this discontentednesse in a mans occasions The third triall of the measure of our Humiliation and so much of this as there is so much pride thou hast in thy heart where this discontentednesse growes there is this bitter roote of pride also The nature of a proud heart is not able to beare any superiour and if it be checked it falles to strange murmuring and gaine-saying This discontentednesse lets out it selfe in five particulars and there is a world of pride in them all First the Soule will grudge at the dispensation of God and snarle at the providence of the Almightie as if God had forgotten himselfe He quarrels exceedingly with the Almightie if God answer not his will and his hearts desire When the Lord had prevailed with the peoples hearts