and come to the Court and importune him for pardon it is likely that he may be pardoned nay it shall be so Marry saith he that I will with all my heart and so hee sets forward and comes to the Court his desire carries him thither Thus it is I say with a poore sinner hee is brought home to the Court and about the Court hee attends and askes for every man that comes forth Did you not heare the King speake of me and What doe you thinke of my case At last some of the bed-chamber say to him The King heareth that you are mightily humbled and earnestly desire his favour you shall heare more from him ere long At last the King himselfe lookes out at a window and saith Is this the Traytor Yes this is he that hath beene humbled and lyes at your mercy Then the King calls out and saith His pardon is drawing and it is comming by and by and so the King smiles on him Oh then his heart leapes in his breast and hee saith The Lord preserve your Grace I thinke there was never such a mercifull Prince knowne in the world This is the love and delight that is stirred up Now when the Pardon is sealed and granted then you shall see the worke of faith A poore humbled sinner is this malefactor that hath committed high Treason against the God of heaven for every sinner hath rebelled against the God of grace The stubborne rebellious heart hath stood out against the Lord God which is high Treason though you little thinke it when you goe on wilfully and say This man shall not rule over me Well bee humbled now in time while you have mercy offered for if you bee not humbled the Lord shall send a â—aylor to take and throw you downe to Hell and therefore you had better heare of it now than hereafter when there is no remedie Perhaps the Lord now pursueth a man with his heavie indignation and le ts flye at him and sets conscience on worke to follow him and to dogge him saying This is thy sinne and hell is thy portion to hell thou must Now the soule being beset with Gods wrath in conclusion seeth hee cannot escape the Lords hands and how to purchase mercy he knowes not nor is it possible otherwise for him to escape and yet hee hath nothing to purchase mercy withall therefore hee is content to lye downe before God saying I confesse I have sinned Oh Lord bee thou glorified though I be damned for ever my sinnes are so many and so vile I cannot almost desire mercy but if the Lord will who can let him Now when the heart is thus humbled then there comes a noise a great way off in the Ministery of the Gospell and that saith Thy sinnes are all pardonable so he lookes up and hope saith Lord it may bee a damned creature may bee recovered a dead dogge may be restored to life and a Traytor may be pardoned receiued Then the Lord sends another comfortable message namely That if thou canst but see a need of mercy and looke out and waite for him thou shalt be pardoned hereupon the penitent goes to the Court gate that is hee comes mourning to the Word and saith Oh yee faithfull Ministers of God you are of the bed-chamber and you know Gods minde I pray what doth God intend towards me Hereupon we that are the Ministers of God we tell him your case is right and happely if you attend upon God you may heare more of him hereafter for the Lord heares that you lye at the Court gate and that you are exceedingly humbled and thus farre desire goes At last the Lord Iesus Christ shewes and presents himselfe to the sinner and speakes with him in the Ministery of the Word and saith That fainting weary loaden heart of thine shall bee refreshed and then giveth him a looke of mercy so that his heart danceth within him Still you must understand that the Lord alwayes speaketh by the Ministery of the Word and therefore looke for no strange dreames and visions while the Lord saith Thou art hee that longs for my salvation goe thy way I have heard thy prayers thy pardon is granted and drawne it shall be delivered to thee afterward Now when a poore sinner findes some chearing of heart he may say The Lord spake to me it s done in heaven mercie is comming towards mee the pardon is now granted and is in drawing and shall be delivered to me in due time now againe his heart leapeth within him and hee saith Blesse the Lord O my soule who ever heard of such mercy what my sinnes be pardoned and is the pardon granted and drawne if I never heare more of it and if I goe downe to hell it is enough that God hath once smiled upon mee in his love it is enough though I have the paines of hell upon me for ever for it Esa 40.12 Comfort yee comfort yee my people saith your God Speake yee comfortably to Ierusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned So the Lord saith to poore sinners after they have waited long enough and God hath seene their desires to be sound the Lord I say saith Tell that poore man from heaven and from the Lord Christ and under the hand of the Spirit that his sinnes are pardoned and he shall bee received to mercy Esa 66.1 2 3. The Lord lookes to him that is poore and of a contrite spirit and trembles at his word The poore creature comes and trembles at every truth and when hee heares of mercy hee saith Oh that is sweet mercy indeed but it is not mine and he shakes in the consideration of mercy that he should heare of it and not receive it The Lord lookes to him that is he casts a sweet looke upon him and lets in some sweet intimation of mercy and saith to the poore creature I have an eye to thee and my love is unto thee in the Lord Iesus Christ and with that his heart leapes in his bosome Of this kind I take that to be Ier. 31.18 19 20. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning and lamenting himselfe thus there is a heart humbled broken and thirsting thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullocke unaccustomed to the yoke turne thou me and I shall bee turned thou art the Lord my God Surely after that I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did beare the reproach of my youth Here you see Ephraim bemoaning himselfe as if hee had said I am the man that have enjoyed all the meanes in abundant plenty and yet never profited the Lord hath corrected mee and I was not humbled Oh turne thou me then O Lord for there is no abilitie in mee Now I see the sinnes that before I could not see and the basenesse of my evill courses and I am even
can be transplanted from the old Olive into the true Olive God must first cut us off from our old sinnes by contrition and secondly pare us and fit us by humiliation and then wee are fit to be ingrafted into Christ Where these two graces are wrought the soule cannot be void of faith and as surely as God is in heaven hee will undoubtedly poure faith into the soule So the substance is this If by this brokennesse of heart and this contrition and humiliation of spirit the two maine barres and lets of faith are removed then it is necessary that God worke this in the soule But the first part is cleered and marvellous plaine and therefore the other cannot be denied If you will be in your sinnes and in yoâ—rselves you cannot be in Christ you cannot bee in your selves and in Christ too This is enough for the first argument and it is the life of the point 2. This brokennesse of heart is marvellous necessary Reas 2 because by this meanes faith is preserved For when the heart is truly broken there followes this thing The soule prizeth faith and Christ and is thankfull for the least mercy God giveth Hee that stands in need will be thankfull for any mercy or favour as in Psal 35.10 All my bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee Me thinkes I see David in his distresse besieged with many miseries and when the Lord had eased him and freed him see how hee reasons with himselfe O Lord the heart that thou hast healed this broken spirit that thou hast bound up nay all these bones which were once shattered all to pieces thou hast set them againe and they shall say Lord who is like unto thee As if hee had said Here is mercy indeed for mine heart hath found it and mine eye hath seene it and mine hands and all my bones can say Lord who is like unto thee Before he was burthened with his sins and now he prizeth mercy wonderfully One dramme of faith is worth a hundred thousand worlds to a weary burthened soule As it was with the Iewes they had a yeare of Iubilee wherein every servant was set free and every bondman and every debtour set at libertie this is nothing else but the yeare of the Gospell The acceptable yeare of the Lord Esa 91 2. and the glad tydings of Salvation that is offered to all in the same The Master or hee that lent the money cared not for this yerre but the servant and the borrowers they only longed for that yeare and for that day that they might be delivered So it is here with a poore soule he that never felt the burthen nor the bondage of sinne cares not for the glad tydings of the Gospell but the poore oppressed creature that hath beene in the house of bondage by Satan tempting and his owne sinfull heart plaguing him when the day of salvation is offered he receives it thankfully And as the soule prizeth grace so it will hardly part with it when it hath it because it was got with so much difficulty We use to say Lightly come lightly goe but when the soule hath gotten faith with so much difficulty and had many troubles of soule before ever God gave an assured evidence of his love and favour hee will not suffer sinne or Satan to plucke it away Oh it cost him many a heavie heart and many a troublesome day before he got a little mercy and shall hee now part with it for a little pleasure or profit that he will never doe Then it is very reasonable that God should wound a man and breake his heart to make him taste his meat and to relish mercy Thus you see the heart must bee broken and humbled before the Lord Christ will come to dwell therein Now what 's the Use Vse 1 The first Use is for reproofe Of reproofe to them that would have comfort without brokennesse of heart and it checks the opinion and practice of two sorts of people If this be Gods way that before he will come into the soule he must have the heart fitted and prepared the house must bee ayred then I say it confutes the conceits of a company of carnall persons that bee in the world 1. The meere civill Professour that would sleepe in a whole skinne hee could be content to have heaven and mercy and hee hopeth he is in the right way but this melting of the soule and this bruising of the heart is more than God requireth or more than God looketh for onely he hath invented a new way and a shorter cut to heaven than ever God revealed Hee thinkes some melancholy man only may bee troubled and perplexed but otherwise it is not that which God requireth at the hands of men And therefore after a sleepie kind of profession without any life or power or soundnesse he goes on Iob 21.13 They spend their dayes in ease saith the Text and in a moment goe downe to hell There are a world of poore sinners that are thus deluded and because God hath given them some restraining grace to keepe them within compasse therefore they goe on in a kind of chearfull contentednesse and thinke that all is well And when they come to their sicke-beds In sicknesse false comfort fayleth they have nothing to say for themselves nay we cannot force comfort upon them for then they flie out and say it is not for them And if wee tell them of what they have done and that they have made a faire profession and have prayed and done many duties and beene well accounted of and so forth see what they answer It is true I have done this or that but this is onely the outside but oh this heart of mine was never broken truely onely I reformed my selfe outwardly and made a profession indeed but the bottome was never truly laid As it is in sailing so it is in living Though a man have a faire calme day and see the Sunne yet this will not bring him to the haven he must have a wind to drive the ship So it is with many a sinfull creature in the world hee puts forth to Sea and he will needes goe to heaven and taketh a sweet kinde of sleepie lazie course and will reforme himselfe outwardly but his heart was never broken nor humbled hee will never be landed before hee was never tossed Tossed hee must bee and that with some violence too but this man that was never troubled shall never bee comforted I have observed it as it was in the materiall Temple which Solomon built all the stones were hewed and polished before they were put in the building so here Christ is the Temple and every true Christian is a stone for it as the Apostle Peter saith 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye also as liuely stones be made a spiritual house Will the stones come close together in any building except first they be hewed and fitted or wil the heart ever come to close with God
Lord way in the whole abilitie of it that God in all things may rule in it it doth not give God place in some things onely and say God shall rule in mine eye but not in my hand God shall rule in my hand but not in my tongue God shall rule in my tongue but not in my heart but the soule giveth way to Christ in all things whatsoever Simile A great man that is to entertaine his Prince and Soveraigne doth not put him into a corner of his house but hee giveth him all the roome and shifts out all his servants and puts out every one both friend and foe every place he sheweth him and giveth him all the keyes and lets him dispose of all things So a soule that is prepared for the Lord Iesus doth not crowd him into a corner and say I must have one corner for a covetous heart another corner for a proud heart no no but a prepared heart giveth up all to God it reserveth no privie corner in this kind but ability faculty and whatsoever it is the soule giveth up all to God that he may dispose of all A sinfull soule that is prepared is not perfectly able of it selfe thus to over-rule his heart but as it is with a man when he gives up his house for the entertainment of the King doe what he can there will be some base fellowes peeping in but he is not pleased with it it is against his mind that they should so doe and he would with all his heart have his Majesty use some meanes for the restraining of them so it is with a soule prepared for the Lord it resignes all unto him hand eye and tongue and heart and practice but yet there will bee some base lusts and sinfull corruptions there will be hypocrisie and pride and selfe-love peeping into his heart but it is against the mind of a prepared sinner it is his mind that God should root out all those and order all to his owne glory And this is the third passage so that the soule which hath broken the league with all corruptions and reserveth it selfe for Christ the soule that is willing to give way to Christ and let him overthrow all whatsoever opposeth him and do whatsoever pleaseth him that soule I say which doth not thrust Christ into a corner but gives up all unto him that soule is prepared for the Lord Iesus Christ The next thing to be considered for the opening of the point 2. Reason why the heart must be so prepared for Christ is the reason why Christ requires this preparation of the heart and this will cut the throat of abundance of carnall conceits and imaginations Men thinke that Christ will come suddenly from heaven into their hearts at a beck they think that Lord have mercy upon me will fecth him No no Christ will have the soule prepared before he wil come take possession of it and the reason is because it cannot stand with the all-soveraigne holinesse of Christ to come there It 's so in common sense there cannot be two Kings in one Throne Non capit regnum duos there cannot be two Suns in one Firmament there cannot be two Gods in one heart we cannot serve God and Mammon Some would have their soules divided and have God to be King and raigne therein to day and their sinnes and lusts to morrow or else they will have Christ raigne in one corner of their hearts and their sinnes and lusts in another but God will have all or none at all in this case either no God or one God in thy heart Our Saviour Christ Math. 12.29 disputeth How can one enter into a strong mans house and spoile his goods unlesse he first bind the strong man and then spoile his goods The strong man is sinne and Satan and the house is the heart now Christ cannot goe into the heart and exercise authority there untill he hath wrought a separation betweene the soule and these and hath throwne out this god and then the God of heaven and earth takes possession of the heart First sin and Satan must be throwne out of the soule before the Lord will take possession He that takes possession of a house if there bee any in the house besides himselfe it is not good in law if there be any take possession of the heart and beare sway there Christ will beare no rule for it cannot stand with the holinesse of Christ to have any competitor to have another beare rule with himselfe and Christ himselfe plainly determines this Matth. 6.24 Yee cannot serve God and Mammon You thinke you may have the Divell rule in you one fit and God another but you cannot serve God and Mammon one Master must be renounced before another can be received This is the argument You cannot have two Gods in the heart therefore the soule must bee severed from sinne and Satan and the lusts of the flesh before it can bee prepared for the Lord Iesus Christ before he will come in and take place in it The Use of the point is threefold Vse 1 Those reproved who thinke to have mercy and heaven all on the sudden The truth being granted and the doctrine cleered the first Use is a Use of reproofe Wee may here discover and also condemne the fond dreames and vaine imaginations of many poore sinfull ignorant creatures who have invented a new way a backe doore to carry themselves to heaven more than ever the Word revealed and it is this Men thinke that they may have Christ and mercy at command and that they may catch at and obtaine blessednesse and happinesse at unawares and on the sudden and yet notwithstanding live in sinne and continue in sinne and approve of sinne and addict themselves thereunto and then when sicknesse comes if they can but say Lord have mercy on me they must goe to heaven all on the sudden Be perswaded at length to see the folly and sottishnesse of this conceit this is not the way which the Word reveales Christ by it makes no such agreement with us unlesse a poore sinner thinke that Christ will carry him to heaven with his uncleannesse and abominable sinnes when as he hath said that no uncleane thing shall enter into the kingdome of heaven No no if the harbenger goeth not before the King will not come where there goeth no preparation before there can bee no receiving of Christ He that will receive Christ and benefit by him and comfort and salvation from him must receive him at those termes wherupon he hath offered himselfe or else he shall never receive him 2 Cor. 6.17 the text there saith Come out from among them and bee separate saith the Lord and touch no uncleane thing and I will receive you Marke here the agreement that God maketh thou must first come out from among them yea come out from thy sinnes thou must come out of thy lusts and corruptions before the Lord will
cannot be granted for Christ is so farre from being unwilling that he desires to come in for he hath knockt at many a proud heart Behold I stand at the doore and knock if any man heare my voyce and open unto me I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me Rev. 3.20 And in other places he saith Forsake thy sins and corruptions and receive thy owne salvation and be not under the rule of sinne and those base lusts Cant. 5.2 Open my love my dove my undefiled Surely if the doore were open he would come in nay himselfe saith so professedly as in that place aforenamed Oh hee hath knocked many a time at the heart of a poore wretch and said If any man will open to me I will come in If any He that promiseth to come in if the doore were open there is no unwillingnesse on his part but in the humbled soule there are no more lets for he hath thrown away sin in himselfe and said I love you not I regard you not let the Lord Iesus come and rule in this same broken heart of mine Thus gather up all If it be the end of God the Fathers sending Christ and the scope of Christs comming and if the glory of his grace bee much more advanced this way and if there be no hinderances then immediately expect him hee commeth suddenly Vse 1 Great comfort to each humbled soule Vse 1. The uses are manifold First it is a ground of marvellous comfort to every humbled soule let not stubborne and rebellious wretches that say Wee will not have this man rule over us let not such I say meddle with this comfort To you I have nothing to say now hereafter I shall say something to you to your cost But all you soules that are willing to give way to Christ Iesus and to breake open doore for Christ and all you that have any evidence of this work I say all you broken hearts goe your way with comfort Christ will comfort you nay hee will meet you at home Me thinks this is enough to comfort the heart of any in the world Then let what can befall us the Lord Christ will come suddenly But some will say Quest. Many are my sins that lie hard upon me and my aâ—ominations come in like troups and all the old train band of loosenesse and vanity they are come in against me and all the sins that I have committed the guilt of them yet remaines and I cannot get strength against them but still they prevaile for my conscience is not quieted but my old sins flie in my face Answ But are your hearts thus perplexed with the sight of sin and with the expectation of the misery of them as in truth there is much cause to lament Art thou thus broken hearted and thus perplexed And canst thou say Were my heart rid of my sinnes I should bee comforted Then I say notwithstanding all thy sins if the Lord see thee humbled he seeth not thy sinnes hee will come and comfort thee let all thy sinnes come and rise up in armes against thee the Lord Christ will come suddenly and then mercy will come to pardon and grace will come to succour thee against thy sin Quest But what will the Lord come into this wretched vile corrupt heart of mine What will Iesus Christ come into this Temple Indeed he may come to such a man that is humbled but he will never come to such a wretch as I am I have sinned thus and thus Answ See what the Text saith Apoc. 3.2 Behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any man will heare and open he doth not say I stand at the doore of a Nobleman but at every base adultererer and drunken wretch If the drunkard and the adulterer will open the Lord will come in and sanctifie him and take possession of him and rule in him and cleanse him from all his lusts and corruptions Though thy lusts and abominations be many that will not hinder him And as there is admirable comfort against sin so there is admirable comfort against all misery He knowes nothing that knowes not that all the Christian world is in an uprore and that the enemy doth worke abroad But though you doe not see these you may see the world opposing and the Divell temptting and the wicked casting reproach upon all hands and your hearts begin to bee daunted and say I would professe Religion but my father would be discontented and shame and disgrace will come in amaine and misery and persecution will come notwithstanding the Lord Iesus Christ is comming into those soules of â—ours For if you bee soundly humbled Christ comes suddenly and then come what can come in all troubles Christ will comfort you and in all weaknesses Christ will strengthen you yea he will let the spirit of glory rest upon you here and glorifie you with himselfe for ever hereafter In all wants there is comfort though friends and meanes and all go yet Christ comes and the further thy friends go from thee the nearer will Christ come to thee Eccles 10.19 Let your soules be herein refreshed for ever Mony as the Proverb is answers all A man will change honour and leave his place for money and we use to say Money will doe it If you want honour money will buy it and whatsoever the world can doe money can doe And hereupon it is that the rich man saith I have it by me if he wants a house hee hath money that will buy it You that are humbled goe your wayes and eat your meat with glad hearts the Lord accept of you the God of comfort refresh your hearts yet more against these troublesome times Luke 12.32 It is the speach of Christ to his disciples Feare not little flocke it is your fathers will to give you a kingdome If a broken and humbled soule goe into prison Christ wil goe to all the prisons in Christendome but he will find him out and there he will comfort him If the humbled soule goe into the Indies Christ will bee there with him nay if it were possible for the humbled soule to goe downe to hell the Lord Christ would come into him for wheresoever he is Christ will be Feare not be not dismaied Christ is thine you have not onely a Kingdome but a Christ and he answers to all Christ is the God of all comfort and the father of all mercy thou hast many wants and weaknesses and Christ is the God of all mercies from him comes every good and perfect gift and he will comfort thee Wheresoever thou art Christ will looke in if thou art banished he will wander up and downe all wildernesses but hee will find thee and save thee for ever If we be not comforted it is a shame for us considering what wonderful priviledges we have in Christ Vse 2 Vse 2. The second use is for examination and triall They are of a
he sets a stampe upon him but in all see and consider there is possession so that this worke of possessing the soule is generall to all and so is fit for this place See how fitly it suits to the worke of preparation the sinner resignes himselfe into the hands of the Lord and he falls downe before his footstoole and lets the Lord doe what hee will with him and when the soule is come to this the Lord Christ comes immediately and takes possession of him and doth ingage himselfe to provide for him This is the scope of that place Ezek. 16.8 the Lord Christ saw the Church in her blood and tooke charge of her and saith Thou becamest mine and then follow all the workes of justification as in the 9.10.11 Verses where the Lord entred into a covenant with the Church and tooke a charge of her as if hee should haue said Art thou content to be at my dispose then I will take thee to my selfe and dispose of thee as may be for my owne glory Rom. 11.28 speaking of the Gentiles that were ingraffed into Christ and the Iewes that were cut off that hee might crush the proud hearts of the Gentiles that they might not bee high minded there he saith Thou bearest not the roote but the root beareth thee the roote is the Lord Iesus Christ For so it followes Verse 17. If some of the branches be broken off and thou being a wild Olive tree art graffed in amongst them Every man naturally is a branch of the wild Olive tree and the roote that he must be planted into is the Lord Iesus and this plant must grow no more upon the old roote therefore the Lord Iesus must in mercy take that soule and by the power of his might beare up the soule and as the roote feedeth the branches and giveth fatnesse and strength to them so whensoever the soule is truely severed from sinne the Lord Christ takes it to himselfe and beares it up and provides for it as his owne Quest But some will say Wherein doth this possession stand Ans This supreame possession of the soul doth discover it selfe in two particulars and those will giue the reason of it First the Lord Iesus undertakes for the soule truely humbled secondly hee disposeth of the soule so farre as may make for his owne glory Reason 1 First the Lord takes upon him to shield the heart from evill whereunto it was subject and from which it could not be freed by any strength of its owne what it could do not for it self the Lord Iesus Christ takes in hand to doe for it I told you formerly that when God opened the sinners eyes and hee hath seene his sinne truly and throughly and is pierced with horror in the apprehension of his sinne and he finds it to be the greatest vexation that can befall him the sinner is weary of his corruptions and desires to be freed from them but hee hath no power of himselfe as from himself and therefore the soule in this horrour of heart dares not meddle with sinne yet hee cannot free himselfe from the power of it Hereupon hee sues out a sequestration and stands waiting if any man will take possession of him It will not submit to sin and yet cannot save it selfe Now the soule being in this case the Lord Iesus steps in as the Umpire and saith I will take all and pay all and stand betweene all the hazzard that can befall the soule in this case as if a house be sequestred the man stands to see if any will take possession of it and be the Protector of it so Christ takes it upon him and resolves to stand betweene the soule and all the misery that can befall the soule Simile And as it is in other countries and as it hath beene the state of the Low-Countries if they be oppressed with some potent enemy that is too great and mighty for them they seeke to some forraine Prince and yeeld to him that hee may lay what tribute he will upon them provided that he will take the protection of them When they had rebelled from under the King of Spaine Queene Elizabeth tooke the protection of them So it is in the heart that is thus oppressed and besieged with the sinne that lyeth heavy upon it and with many plagues that are set so close against him What doth the heart doe in this case it falls at the feete of Iesus Christ and is content that he shall doe what he will with it only he beseecheth the Lord Christ that he would become Lord Protector of his poore broken battered soule Now the Lord Christ becomes Protector of him and takes a charge of him and will free and deliver him from that evill which it is oppressed withall and from which it cannot save it selfe In Num. 25.11.12.13 when any person had slaine a man unawares he might flye to the City of Refuge that he might be free from the hand of the Avenger the Lord Iesus Christ is this City of Refuge and the manslayer is every poore sinner that is beset with his sin and burthened with misery by reason of it hee submits to the Lord Iesus Christ and the mercy of Christ gives entertainement to him and rescueth him from the evill which he feared There are three dangers upon which the broken heart lies and from which the Lord Iesus Christ vndertaketh to free him Against 3. dangers Christ undertaks for us First the justice of God the Father is provoked and the poore sinner seeth his divine justice incensed and that he is not able to beare it and secondly Sathan lays heavie things against him and layes claime to him and thirdly sinne is powerfull and tyranous and would still domineere over him Now the soule groanes under all these and saith Oh who will deliver me Then the Lord Iesus comes into rescue him and when the heart is content to bee freed from sinne Christ makes answer saying Be thou comforted thou poore broken hearted sinner I will undertake for thee and I will satisfie Gods divine justice that it shall not execute wrath upon thee and I will answer Sathans accusations against thee and I will subdue all thy sinnes that they shall not prevaile against thee to thy destruction but thou shalt bee delivered First for divine justice the soule seeth a holy God that will not put up the wrong that hath beene done against him but will have his glory here in his humiliation or else in his confusion hereafter Now when divine justice makes out against a poore sinner the Lord Iesus Christ comes in and puts in baile for him Simile As it is with a man that is arrested by the Sergeant he may haue this liberty to put in a baile so when the wrath of the Almighty drinkes up a mans spirits and dragges downe his soule to hell in his owne apprehension then the Lord promiseth the poore soule to see all satisfied Comfort your selves you broken
thou the hope of Israel why dost thou depart In Gen. 19.2 when the two Angels came to Lot in Sodome the one was Christ Lot compelled them to go in Christ is not now unwilling but hee knockes and calls and saith Open to me my love my dove my undefiled he entreats the loose person to forsake his base practises and the covetous person to leave his oppression and to receive mercy but you suffer Christ to lye in the street and despise that word of his and will bee at your owne carving This especially falls foule upon two sorts of persons The first sort is all carnal profane opposers of the Lord Iesus The carnall Gospeller is content that Christ should undertake for him and bee his Protectort to defend him from the plague of sin but he is not content that Christ should rule in him He doth as the Inne-keeeper that receives a guest into his house to make an advantage of him for as the Inne-keeper will come to his guest and pretend great matters to him not because he would have his guest to possesse him but because hee would bee possessor of his money so the carnall Gospeller would have Christ for his owne turne hee would dispose of Christ and mercy for his owne purpose and hence come all those speeches God is mercifull and Hath the Lord Christ created men to damne them Oh but mercy is sweet and pardon is good This is thus much you would have Christ to pardon sinne that you might commit it with lesse feare and more freedome If you did see no Saviour but that you must needs be damned for it you would startle at it But you would have Christ to stand by you that you might sinne the more freely Oh be not deceived doe you thinke that Christ will come to be an underling to your lusts and a drudge to your base distempers whose condemnation is iust saith the Apostle No you are deceived you shall not have Christ a servant to carry your lusts and pleasures to heaven with you The truth is the Lord Iesus will never bring comfort nor consolation to thee that wilt not bee possessed of him either haue both or neither chuse whether you will The second sort to be reproved are a company of slie hypocrites that would part stakes with Christ and part houses with him they could bee content that hee should have some roome in the house but they will dispose of all themselues as a man that lets some roomes in his house Simile upon this condition that he may have them when he lists You willl pray against sinne provided that now and then Christ will give you leaue to practise it and you will cry out against it provided that you may have a privy seale or some secret licence for it and you will professe bitterly against base courses so you may haue some backe doore and inward lust still The Lord Iesus doth not share with any man can he have a part and the Divell a part nay hee will have either all or none It was the tricke of an adulterous heart for when there was contention for the children the harlot said 1 King 3.26 Let it be neither thine nor mine but divide it Nay saith the mother let her have all Shee was the harlot that would have the child devided So it is with an adulterous and dissembling heart that saith Let Christ have a part and the world a part let lusts and pompe have a part and Christ a part this is dissimulation with GOD and shall receive condemnation there must bee no sharing If your hearts be guilty of this I charge you in the name of the Lord Iesus consider it the Lord never came into your soules you must resigne all to him and then he will saue all he will pardon all sin and give power against it What a fearfull thing were it if the Lord should deale with you as you deale with him Suppose thou couldst be halfe damned wouldst thou be content to have thy heart go to hell and thine eye to heaven or thy body to hell and thy soule to heaven therefore that thy body and soule may both be saved resigne up up all into the hands of thy Saviour and let him dispose of all here in the kingdome of grace and then he will take all to himselfe in glory for ever Vse 2. If the Lord Iesus be the possessor of all the house then let every one haue his owne Give all to Christ whose it is doe not with draw from Christ that which is his Whose image and superscription hath the soule Christ Iesus hath the protection of it therefore let him have all Let thine eye see his works and wonder and admire at them let thy minde know Iesus Christ whom to know is eternal life but do not withdraw any thing from the true owner therof that hath purchased it full deare 1 Cor. 5.15 Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid Thine eye and thy tongue and thy hand and thy heart they are all Christs members he hath bought all with his blood and thou hast nothing to do with that which Christ hath bought therefore whensoever thy corruptions stirre and Satan tempts and begges for the use of thy mind or heart make answer and say Shall I take that heart that is Christs and thinke basely God forbid Shall I take the hand of Christ and worke wickednesse with it The holy Apostle is marvellous peremptory in this case as 1 Cor. 6.19 Glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods and hee hath bought you with a price your bodies and soules are the Lords hee undertakes for both therefore glorifie God in both If a man did come to your house and take the meat and drinke that you have provided and rob you of your money you would take it very hardly and say It is my owne So you are not your owne Therefore if the Divell or the world would prevaile with you and enter into the use of your heart or minde tell him they are not thy owne they are the Lords IESVS CHRIST hath come into thy heart and minde in mercy and therefore say it is the Lords let him doe what hee will with it â‚ SPIRITVALL LOVE AND IOY Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit is love ioy goodnes faith c. THE sure mercies of David which faith beleeveth love embraceth And who so getteth this field and treasure must needs go away rejoycing in so good a bargain All this and all other graces and comforts worketh one and the same Spirit directing the heart to God uniting it unto Christ and thereby comforting it abundantly All is his fruit in us At this time of loue and joy The point of Doctrine is this Love and joy by the spirit wrought in a broken heart for embracing mercy as it deserves Doct. The Spirit of the Father kindles in the soule of
Christ will say Oh that love pleaseth me They cannot welcome the Lord better than with this love but the other love and joy pleaseth him not Canst thou say I love the Lord because hee hath loved mee then thy love is of a right mettall and know it for ever that that God which cannot but love himselfe hee cannot but like that love which came from himselfe who is the God of all love and which comes from his owne divine nature Is thy soule affected and enlarged in love to the Lord because thou hast felt and received the rellish and sweetnesse of his grace Dost thou love and joy in God upon this ground namely upon a grounded affection of Gods loue to thee setled and sealed to thy selfe so that thou canst say The Lord hath let in the glimpse of his favour and the Lord hath said it in his truth hee lookes to him that trembles at his word the Minister said it and the Spirit saith it that my mercy is registred in heaven and my desires are received and granted Oh how shall I love the Lord My sinnes are many which I have bewailed and my sighes and sobs I have put up to heaven and at last the Lord hath given mee a gracious answer O how may I love the Lord my strength dearly Lord thou hast looked downe from heaven in love and mercy upon me and therefore my soule shall ever looke up to heaven to thee in love If it be thus with thee thy love is sound and will never faile thee but if any mans love comes from himselfe and therefore loves God that love will onely bring all to himselfe and there is the end of it A man hath a love to his parts and abilities and prayer and preaching and reading and conference and understanding and policy hee loveth these and therefore he would fain be beholden to Iesus Christ to helpe him to honour and to glorifie these parts of his This love was from his parts and brought to his parts and in the meane time the Lord Iesus lay in the dust and his glory was not regarded whereas the love that is wrought by God it alwayes doth draw the love of the soule againe to God and so love from him draws love to him This is the excellencie of this love and this is love of the right kind But if the love of parts and profits draw me to honour and glorifie parts and profits then I love my profits and not Christ Thinke of this often this is certaine this will bee the mainest difference betweene all the love of carnall hypocrites and of the Saints of God I would expresse my selfe to you thus As it is with meat which a man takes downe inwardly and digests it this breeds good bloud but that meate which a man eates and spits out againe and tarries not long with him this breeds no bloud at all So it is in the heart of a poore humbled sinner truely wrought upon to receive Christ in the worth of him and with the hypocrite A heart truely wrought upon by Gods Spirit it takes downe the promise and feeds upon it and it breeds good bloud and complexion True love is like this good bloud and true joy is like this complexion Marke this the promise of God settled upon the heart nourisheth and feedeth the heart and it breeds good bloud but the foolish hypocrite that hath a kind of flattering sweetnes this tickles the heart with vaine conceits but they never goe downe And hence it is that that love which comes from hence it is but a fading love and there is no good bloud nor no good complexion comes from it but rather corruptions and overture Secondly 2. Triall as the root of this love must be from the kindling of the Spirit so if thou entertaine thy Saviour as it beseemes him True love of Christ entertains him as a King thou must entertaine him as a King and that is thus give up all to him and entertaine none with him upon termes of honour but such as retaine to him or be attendants unto him this is the manner of receiving great Princes Love all in a Christ and for a Christ but expresse thy love and thy joy to a Christ above all he is as the King and all the rest are but as retainers and all his servants are as servants to him He that loves any thing equall with a Christ it is certaine he did never love a Christ but he that sets up any thing cheeke by joll with Christ he despiseth him and never receives him It is all one as if a man did put a slave into the same chamber with the King which is all one as to drive him away So if thou dost set up any thing with Christ thou dost drive him away with such base behaviour As in Iames 4.4 O yee adulterers and adulteresses know yee not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God A man cannot retaine fellowship with Christ Iesus and with the world too upon point of honour Simile As the woman that loves her husband she loveth other men as friends and neighbours and will give them very courteous entertainment and welcome them kindly but if they come to claime the love of a wife she abhorres and detests them So a loving heart that loves Iesus Christ as the Bridegroome he loves Christ onely and all for Christ and the rest as friends c. The soule wil love honors or profits or credit or parts and priviledges that they may be friends to speake for a man and to give a man occasion to speake with a Saviour as the wife loves the husband firstly and all the rest she regards onely as they may further the match this way so the Lord Christ and his grace is chiefe to the soule but the world and ease and credit these are meerely as friends to leade him to a Saviour and make him acquainted with a Saviour The soule loves the word and prayer and all Gods ordinances to speake a good word to a Saviour for him but all the rest are despised by him and if any of them come to claime the love of a soule from a Christ it hates them deadly as Luke 14.26 If any man come to mee and hate not father and mother in comparison of me he is not worthy of mee that is if father and mother stand betweene thee and Christ and would have thy soule married to them again the soule hates them This is a plaine difference betweene a sound heart and a false heart in the receiving of Christ the sound heart receives him as a favorite receives a Prince he gives up all to him Simile and lets him have the command of all but now an Inne-keeper entertains him that comes next to him he will take any mans money and will give welcome to any man if it bee the best man
Most in the Church love not Christ First most that are in the world yea that live in the bosome of the Church have not their hearts carried in love to God but in a hatred and desperate opposition to the Lord Jesus as in Joh. 1.3 4. In him was life and the life was the light of the world The Lord Jesus was the life and light of the promise and that promise of life was a way to lead men on to eternall happinesse this light shineth to the dark world but they comprehend it not as it is in vers 11. Hee came unto his owne and his owne received him not His owne by reason of their priviledges and the badge of the ordinances his owne because they by profession took his name upon them as the Churches of the Gentiles are Gods owne by the outward not the inward covenant of Sanctification or in the aime of Election We take up the profession of his Gospel and yet we will not take up the Lord Jesus Christ that he may make us Christians His owne received him not those that were baptized and had received the Sacrament The Lord Jesus comes and knockes at each mans doore but few entertaine him Nay I would not outspeake the truth for they are the words of sobriety and it grieveth me to speake it The most men upon earth hate Christ more than sinne I had almost said it and yet I had almost thought it unfit to be spoken though they are the words of our Saviour Wicked men hate the Lord Jesus more than either sinne or the Divel himselfe Good Lord be mercifull to us what a misery is this that ever any man should be created by him and receive mercy from him and yet love the Divel and sinne more than him But some will say as Hazael did to the Prophet 2 King 8.12 Doe you thinke we are such dogges that having received such mercy from the Lord Jesus we should doe so Yes for so saith Elisha to him I know the evill that thou wilt doe to the children of Israel their strong holds wilt thou set on fire and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword and wilt dash their children and rip up their women with child So I say and the Spirit knowes it is so in the hearts of most men this day You know it not you thinke it not but your hearts are more vile than you can imagine Wee know the greatest evill of all is sinne for the Divell himselfe is not to be loathed but for sinne and for it onely This is the condemnation saith our Saviour in John 3.19 that light is come into the world and men loved darknesse rather than light because their deeds were evill That men loved darknesse more than light and more than Christ nay more than mercy and grace that was tendered the case is cleare it was so and is so will be so I say it is most certaine that they love their lusts and corruptions more then Christ and the temptations and delusions of Satan more than the good motions of the Spirit Now we have laid the indictment therefore in the second place let us plead it And the severall sorts of them 2. Secondly who are they that hate Christ We must name the men therfore we refer them to three rankes First all open enemies to Christ Secondly all glozing Neuters of the world Thirdly all fawning hypocrites 1. First the open enemies of Christ and they are many such as Saint Steven spake of Act. 7.51 saying Yee stiffe-necked and uncircumcised in heart and cares ye doe alwaies resist the holy Ghost as your fathers did so doe yee They that set their mouthes against heaven and stand in open defiance against the Lord Jesus and the power of his grace may be referred to two heads First those whom our Saviour mentions Mat. 21.34 speaking of the Vineyard Open enemies of Christs two sorts When the time of the fruit drew neere he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits of it And the husbandmen tooke his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another But last of all he sent unto them his son saying They will reverence my sonne But when the husbandmen saw the sonne they said among themselves This is the heire come let us kill him This is an intimation of the Scribes and Pharisees The Church was the vineyard the servants sent out were the Ministers and Prophets and the Sonne is Christ Jesus now when Christ came they said with one consent and voice This is the heire come let us kill him Doe you thinke that these kind of men are all dead that have such a kind of spirit Surely no there are many Leaders of the Divels camp aswell Ministers as others But if you aske me what entertainement their lusts have I say they have all the welcome that can be occasions come not corruptions within their hearts stirre not and the Divels temptations allure not so soone but these miserable sinfull wretches give all the kinde welcome that can be unto them nay they invite their villanies they provide for them yea and seeke for all occasions that they may sinne the Adulterer loves the twilight and the coveteous man his money their mindes are ever puffing and their affections labouring to contrive all occasions that may give all possible contentment to their vile corruptions and it is no marvell though they have so long continued in their sins seeing they give such good entertainment to them But if you aske mee how they entertaine Christ Enmity against Christ shewed three wayes let me shew it by two things you shall see them up in armes and at deadly hate with him For first they oppose the word of God the ministry of the word is the ministery of the truth it would open the eyes and come home to the conscience and take away their sinnes but they contemne it and marke upon this what an uproare there is they take up armes striving to put out the light that would shew them their sinnes beating backe the truth and labouring that it may not rule their lives They are such as our Saviour speaks of Luk. 19.27 Bring hither those mine enemies that would not have me rule over them and slay them before my face They oppose themselves against that truth that would plucke the cup from the Drunkards mouth and the whore from the Adulterers armes their hearts swell for anger and they scorne to bee under the power thereof Nay they not onely withdraw themselves from yeelding obedience to the holinesse of the word but they will not so much as acknowledge the truth of it which the Divels themselves did Act. 16.16 17. when Paul and Silas were preaching the word of truth the Divels sayd These men are the servants of the most high God which shew unto us the way of salvation The Divels could doe all this yet these men will neither be informed
publike affaires and they are of great force to make him do any thing and this is ever in his mouth that the generall good may goe on and if good may be done to the Church that 's all he cares for The bottome of the businesse is this there is a good living that he must keepe and a private good that he aimes at hee pretends a generall good but he aimes at his owne good Wretch that he is he labours onely to give contentment to his honours and ease and credit but hee gives no contentment to the Lord Jesus In 1 Sam. 15.21 Saul comes to meete Samuel and sayes I have performed the commandement of the Lord Hast thou No God had thee kill the Amalekites and thou hast not done it Oh saith he The people spared the best of the sheepe and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God he would pretend to do God a courtesie He doth not pretend his own good and benefit but the publike good the worship and service of God and therefore he saith They have saved them for to sacrifice to the Lord and in the meane time hee wrongs God and neglects his service As some great Courtier will doe with a plaine Countrey-man hee useth him very lovingly pretends great kindnesses till at last he so deludes him that he thinkes he doth him a great favour not to doe the thing which hee askes at his hands so the hypocrite thinkes with himself what great honour God may receive and what good the people of God may have from him but that is not the thing hee lookes after hee would make God and Christ believe he doth them a courtesie not to doe the duty they require of him But the Lord Jesus is wiser than to be thus couzened by a wretch and therefore Samuel saith vers 22. Obedience is better than sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of rams so when a wretch saith What great good may Gods people have by this and what glory may come to God c. the Lord Jesus will say to all such No no have I so much delight in sacrifice cannot I promote my glory without your lie take your lies and your sins and go down to hel together Discoveries of not loving Christ Secondly observe the prankes whereby he discovers himselfe to have no love to the Lord Jesus and they are three First the maine guise of the spirit is this In the multiplicities of opinions he will be sure to joyne with that side that may make for his owne ends though he know not the men that hold it he saith many men many mindes therefore I thinke as such and such thinke his meaning is this he is resolved to doe that which he thinkes may be most beneficiall to him therefore it is enough that any man doth as hee would have him because he would doe so though he had no ground for it Secondly he will be loath to be studiously carefull in the diligent search after those things which he makes doubt of and though he will not say so yet marke what I say many in the anguish of conscience have confest so much As he is loath to inquire himselfe to know those truths so hee is unwilling to come into the society of such and to continue with those that he knowes to be of a contrary opinion to himselfe that will force him to a sad and serious consideration of his wayes and hee thinkes thus with himselfe If I be there they will be every man upon my crowne for they are ever in hand with such and such things so that while he is there he stands upon thornes and saith What if they should talk of this or that Thus it was with Ahab the wretched sottish king was not willing to heare Michaiah speake for hee knew what hee would say for when Jehosaphat said Is there not here a Prophet of the Lord besides that we might enquire of him Yes saith he there is one Michaiah but I hate him for he never prophecies good to me 1 King 22.7 8. Thus the young man Matth. 19. when hee heard that which was contrary to him went away sorrowfull whereas a good heart would have come sorrowfull and said I blesse the Lord for this mercy that I may live to heare of the hypocrisie of my heart Lord I desire a better opportunity to heare more of this matter my heart is worse than I imagined This hypocrite cannot endure to heare of that eare and if he be in the company he is weary of the speech and saith There is better communication and more usefull than this but the reason is he would not be troubled in his way Thirdly the guise of this wrangling hypocrite lyes here that if he be forced to a serious consideration of his way and opinion then he will enter upon the worke but it is very tediously he will pretend a faire hearing and consult on both sides but when he comes home he makes a secret conspiracy against the Lord Jesus Is it not so conscience he saith I am thus resolved that that is true which I would have either it is so or else I will make it so therefore let us agree upon it conscience In Act. 23.15 see what those wicked people said Yee with the Councell signifie unto the chiefe Captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow as though yee would enquire some thing more perfectly concerning him we or ever he come neere are ready to kil him Here they pretended a faire equall hearing and yet they intended another matter Such a course this hypocrite takes up against the truth of Christ he will talke and inquire of this the other as if he would know more of Gods will and read this and that book enquire of this Minister and that Christian but he is resolved never to be perswaded nor convinced of the truth of it Thus they break the neck of the truth and shall break their own necks in hell too In Acts 4.16 there is a great worke done that cannot be denied but let us take heede that it goe no further It is with these hypocrites as it was with the Scribes and Pharisees who though the glory of the truth shone upon them yet would they stop it and that it might get no hold upon them knocke off the fingers of it It is admirable to observe this hypocrites guise if there bee any man that will but say any thing that may tend to his way he applauds that man and delights much in him and though hee know no reason for it in his conscience yet he contents and satisfies himselfe but if there be never so good arguments to the contrary never so many reasons that cannot be gaine-sayd yet he is not satisfied neither can he be perswaded by all these arguments The reason is he is resolved to doe whatsoever hee hath purposed for his honour and safety and therefore it must bee lawfull that
THE SOULES IMPLANTATION INTO THE NATURALL OLIVE By T.H. Carefully corrected and much enlarged with a Table of the Contents prefixed JAMES 1.21 Receive with meeknesse the ingraffed Word which is able to save your soules LONDON Printed by R. Young and are to be sold by Fulke Clifton on New-Fish-street-hill 1640. THE CONTENTS TWo wayes God prepareth the heart for Christ Pag. 1 It is also prepared by contrition and humiliation 2 Doct. None but a broken heart is an house for Christ 3 Two lets of faith removed by brokennesse of heart 6 By faith the soule goeth out to another for all-sufficiencie 11 Use 1. Reproofe to them that would have comfort without brokennesse of heart 15. and them that dislike broken-heartednesse in others 18 Use 2 To get comfort begin in sorrow 22 Use 3 Comfort to the broken-hearted in two respects 25 Doct. The heart must first be prepared for Christ 31 Preparation for Christ standeth in three things 35 Use 1. Those reproved who thinke to have mercie and heaven upon a sudden 40 Use 2 A miserable estate to live in the old sinnes 47 Use 3 Prepare for Christ or thinke not to enjoy him 55 Motives to prepare for Christ 56 Doct. The Ministery a speciall meanes to prepare us for Christ 68 A powerfull ministery consisteth in three things 71 How a powerfull Ministery workes upon the heart to prepare it for Christ 79 Affliction prepares the heart for the Word the Word for God 88 Use 1. Much fault in Ministers that their peoples hearts are not fitted for Christ 84 Use 2 Fearfull is their estate whom a powerfull Ministerie workes not upon 88 Use 3 Let the Word be powerfull to prepare thy heart for Christ 90 Two things keep from Christ 95 What ingraffing into Christ is 99 Doct. Christ delayes not to come into an humbled heart 106 Use 1. Great comfort to each humbled soule 114 Use 2 They are of a naughtie spirit who endure not broken spirits 118 Use 3 Chuse the broken-hearted for companions 120 Use 4 Be thankefull for this great respect of Christ to thy poore soule 122 Use 5 They that would have Christ dwell in them must be willing to be humbled 125 Christ neare the soule yet not discerned for foure reasons in us 133. and for three reasons in Christ 147 Doct. Christ takes possession of every humbled soule 157 Three wayes he disposeth the heart to himselfe 168 Use 1. Reproofe of them that keepe Christ out of possession 171 Use 2 Give all to Christ whose it is 176 Doct. Love and joy by the Spirit wrought in a broken heart for embracing mercie as it deserves 180 The reason of Gods order in working these graces 187 Gods promise the ground of our love and how 195 His love to us begets love in us toward him and how 201 Use 1. Nature breeds no love to Christ 206 Saints love not duly because they rely not on the promise 211 Use 2 Comfort to them that love Christ 213. and blessednesse 216 Notes of true love to Christ 217 Use 3 Reproofe of them that love not Christ in truth 231. sorts of them 238 Enmitie against Christ shewed three wayes 240 Glozing neuters described and shamed 243 Hypocrites enemies to Christ foure sorts of them 246 247 c. Discoveries of not loving Christ 250 Hee thas wrangles against truth never loved Christ 2. arg 254 Expression of sorrow for sin limited 258 Continuall sorrow as needfull as continuall beleeving 261 Use 4 Love the Lord Jesus in sinceritie 272. meanes 273 Three hinderances of loving Christ ibid. 274 Three things in Christ to make us love him 282 Three things done by Christ for a sinner though as yet hee want assurance 286 Two meanes to bring our hearts and the promises together 291 Doct. In greatest wants true Christians have cause enough to rejoyce in God 300 Use 1. Reteine comfort in God whatsoever thou wantest 302 Use 2 Reproof to them that grow uncomfortable for crosses 304 Use 3 Make this sure God is the God of my salvation 305 Six meanes to rejoyce in evill times ibid. Doct. The sorrowful seed-time of true Christians in the exercises of humiliation and mortification yeelds them a rich and joyfull harvest 312. 313 Causes of true joy assured by mourning 314 Use 1. Sharpe Preachers make you gainers ibid. 315 Use 2 Enemies helpe the joy of Christians 315 Use 3 Esteeme none by present grievances 316 Use 4 Sow still though in teares ibid. Use 5 Be patient in suffering for God 317 Use 6 Comfort in death our owne or friends 318 Use 7 Be painfull in thy calling ibid. Use 8 Encouragement to repent of sinne and renew our repentance 319 THE BROKEN HEART ESAY 57.15 For thus saith the high and loftie One that inhabiteth eternity whose Name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place that is in heaven which is his throne and I will dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the heart of the humble and the heart of the contrite ones THere are two maine parts of the preparative worke for Christ First the manner of the worke on Gods part and this discovers it selfe in these two particulars 1. In proposing Christ in the Ministerie of the Gospell as the most beautifull object which the soule can view or affect Psal 2.12 Cant. 5.9 with 6.1 2. That God doth by an holy kind of violence plucke the sinner from sinne to himselfe as in that place Iohn 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him The second is on our part a frame and temper of the heart that God workes upon us by this holy kind of violent drawing This discovers it selfe in these two particulars 1 Contrition 2 Humiliation For the handling of these two wee have chosen this place of Scripture And I intend not to trade with every particular in the Verse but so much in it as fitteth my intendment in hand Expos That which I aime at is in the middle of the Verse I dwell with him that is of a broken heart Give me leave to open the words The great God of heaven that inhabiteth eternity in glory for the comfort of every poore broken-hearted sinner Gods two houses saith hee will dwell with him The Lord hath but two standing houses the one is in heaven in glorie the other is every broken heart and every shivered soule How he dwels in the heart Now how doth God dwell in the heart of a poore sinner The Apostle Ephes 3.17 tells us Christ dwells in our hearts by faith and it implies the constant abode of Christ by his Spirit in the soule being received and entertained by faith So that first there must bee a broken heart before there can bee faith or before Christ will dwell in our hearts to our comfort Consider what a kind of heart it must be wherein God will dwell It must bee an humble and a shivered spirit
they would take up a better course and be more holy before God and yeeld obedience to him in his Word and the Minister biddeth them take a farewell of their pleasures and profits and they thinke wee invite them to losse now all the while that a poore sinner quiets his heart in this condition it is meerely impossible in the course of providence nay it is a flat contradiction that ever grace should be bestowed upon that soule or that ever faith should come there For faith purgeth the heart wheresoever it comes as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.17 All things are become new all old things are passed away There must be a new frame of the heart and a new course of life and conversation Now for the soule to approve of its condition and yet desire to goe out of it these two cannot stand together in reason and therefore know that while people please themselves in this condition and let the Minister say what the will and let God reveale what hee will still they thinke they cannot be in a better estate I say it is impossible that ever upon these termes faith should come into the heart for faith will bring a change Therefore when the Lord will doe good to a soule hee will make him see his sinnes and make him weary of them and tire him with the sense of his condition and shew him the necessity of faith and that he must be a new man and then he is content to take that way whereby he may be better disposed of by the Spirit of God In the Gospell the phrase is this Mat. 9.12 The whole need not the Physitian He thinkes himselfe well and therefore what need he goe to Physick And it is so in common reason No man can reare up a new house but he must first pull downe the old If a man be fish-whole what need doth he see of Christ as many people see no need of this humbling and this strictnesse and they thinke they love God in their owne apprehension and therefore they quiet themselves in that condition But God will plucke downe this old frame and then there is a way to build a new frame in the heart Before the heart is broken the soule would not bee otherwise and therefore it cannot be content to be under the power of faith which would worke a change of the heart The second maine hinderance of faith is this 2. Let. To seeke a sufficiencie at home Suppose the soule were sensible of its condition and were wounded and broken and could bee content to have ease and reliefe yet the soule seeketh for succour from its owne sufficiencie and when as the Word hath discovered our condition unto us and now we see we have need of reliefe we have recourse to some shift of our owne And this doth wonderfully crosse and oppose faith nay faith cannot come into the soule till the Lord undermine this corruption of heart This is a fruit of Adams rebellion for when the Lord put into his hands a stocke of grace that hee was made perfectly happy and righteous and able to doe whatsoever God commanded while hee continued in this estate of innocencie hee needed not to goe out of himselfe to find succour and reliefe he had no need of Christ This is the sinfull temper that hangeth upon all the posteritie of Adam that though fallen from God we will scramble for our owne comfort and doe what wee can by our owne strength to procure comfort and ease and shelter to our owne soules in the day of distresse Happely God layeth a man upon his sicke bed and awakeneth his conscience and in this condition men will promise and resolve any thing that if God would spare them they would doe any dutie to get Gods favour toward them and they thinke it is some outward reformation of some ungodly practises that will give God contentment and so they rest in themselves still And hence it is that after a great deale of horror of conscience in conclusion they fall backe to their old courses or else they content themselves with an outward and overly reformation of life and take up a calme civilized course till they come to their death-bed and then their hearts faile them and the reason is this because the heart was never throughly humbled And it may be a man thinkes if he shall now pray and heare and doe some duties then all will bee well never seeing an utter insufficiencie in himselfe that hee may receive mercie from the Lord. This is the lowest and last hinderance of all and there is nothing more crosse to faith than this It is commonly the shift that Satan puts upon men in their troubles meerely to make them doe something out of their good parts and good gifts and there to rest themselves and so to sinke downe into the Pit before they bee aware Now this crosseth the worke of faith By faith the soule goeth out to another for all-sufficiencie for the nature of faith is this it is the going out of the soule to another and to see all sufficiencie in another and to fetch all from another To have supply in a mans selfe and to see all-sufficiencie in Christ these two cannot stand together So that while the soule is thus possessed with his owne sufficiencie to procure ease to himselfe it is certaine this stops the worke of faith and hinders the pouring in of faith into the soule whereby you should goe wholly out of your selves and fetch all from Christ Therefore marke now what followes As contrition tooke away the former hinderance so the Lord hath this worke of humiliation whereby hee shuts backe this bolt and makes him to see an utter inabilitie in himselfe to procure or receive any good For there are many sinnes which formerly he hath committed and many weaknesses and wants whereof he is guilty Now when this is done then the barre is removed and the lets taken away by these two contrition and humiliation Consider that place 1 Cor. 3.18 If any man would be wise hee must be a foole that he may be wise and if any man will be made rich hee must see himselfe poore and if any man will have succour in his miserie he must see himselfe unable to relieve himselfe and then the Lord will doe it for him There cannot be faith in the soule if either of these doe remaine in the soule still Now these being taken away the soule is fit to receive the worke of faith Simile As it is with a man that would take a graft from a tree and graft it into a new stocke first it must be cut off from the old and then secondly be pared and made fit for the other so it is here all the sinfull sonnes of men grow upon the root of Adams rebellion and wee prosper and thrive there Adam was the old and wild Olive and Christ the true Vine and the new Olive Now before wee
come in Can any man put good gold into a purse that is filled with stones before can the soule of a sinner entertaine Christ Iesus when it is full of lusts and they doe altogether possesse it No no Come out saith Christ and touch no uncleane thing that is bee not married unto it for that is the meaning of the words let thy affections be removed from all lusts and corruptions and then I will come and dwell with thee and walke with thee that is I will bountifully provide for thee for the consolation of thy soule here and hereafter It was the order of God Luke 3.5 when Iohn the Baptist was to make way for Christ marke here how he was levelling and undermining Every mountaine and hill shall bee brought low every valley shall be filled and the rough wayes made plaine and the crooked things straite And then all flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord. If you will have a mountaine before your salvation or goe into a ditch you shall never see salvation soundly and surely but if you purpose to see salvation downe with those mountaines of pride you must lay them flat to the ground you must be teachable stoope and bee conformable you must not lift up your selves against Christ you must not walke in your owne wayes No no downe with those mountaines downe with those stubborne and disobedient hearts for you shall never see salvation as long as these mountaines remaine but your soules must be made pliable to Christ and then you shall see the day of comfort approaching and drawing nigh unto you Doe you thinke it is fit if a man were to entertaine the King to put his servants in the chiefe roome and afford the King some out-roomes only and let him bee as a servant to his servants What a base and absurd thing is this that Christ should come into thy soule to be a servant as it were to thy base lusts They that have made their base lewd and wicked courses their gods one man in one kind and another in another kind let them as they love their owne soules bee perswaded to consider of this They that have thus set up any thing above God and before him when God at the great and dreadfull day of judgement shall come in flames of fire as the Apostle hath it 2 Thes 1.8 to take account of them whom they have served God will then send you home to your gods hee will say Goe to your gods that you have served the Divell and sinne and not mee you have cast off my yoke you have broken my law and transgressed my statutes goe then to your lusts and your sinnes you have so much hunted after let them save you now and shew mercie towards you for they were your gods and they shall save you if ever you have salvation Thinke of this and bee throughly perswaded of this and cut off that sinfull conceit that Christ and corruption will stand together and come on the sudden with one word speaking thinke not if you can say Lord have mercy upon me and receive the Sacrament from the hand of some factious Minister then Christ will presently come to your hearts No no you must have your hearts prepared before Christ Iesus will come into your soules the the heart must bee broken and the soule severed from sinne and corruption before Christ will come and take possession of it Take heed of this foolish and sottish conceit that Christ will come into your hearts all on the sudden Vse 2 The second Vse sheweth the wofull estate and miserable condition of those which entertaine their old courses and conversations A miserable estate to liue in the old sins It is a glory that men take unto themselues they are no changelings Oh poore fooles they must become changelings if ever they looke to be saved They glory in this what they were they are where you left them one yeere you may find them the next But mark what we may conclude here the condition of the man is marvellous miserable that never had his heart prepared never humbled never changed never fitted for the Lord Iesus for Christ will never come into that soule that is most certaine You that content your selves with this I never knew what it was to be humbled the precise Ministers indeed talke of preparation but I never knew what it meant Oh poore creatures they know now not what belongs to the Ministery of God in this kind but in the meane time be sure of this that if thou hast not the former thou canst not expect the latter if thy heart be not prepared for Christ there can be no receiuing of Christ Salvation is farre from the wicked because they keepe not thy lawes saith the Prophet David Thou that hast no care to walke with God dost thou dreame of salvation Alas alas it never came neere thy heart it is a hundred thousand miles of from thee it is not neere thy habitation thou art not prepared to entertaine the Lord Iesus and therfore thou canst not expect Christ and salvation by him Appeale to your owne consciences in this kind If a man should goe to a great house and see the best part of it stuffed with ordinary commodities and a great deale of it with base baggage and filthy trash he wil presently conclude the King will not come heere and why because there is no preparation for him there is therefore no expectation of his Maiesty in this place And it is a good argument when a man shall see the hearts and lives of men stuffed not onely with a great deale of ordinary trash but full of worldly affections full of the world in their hearts lives and conversations yea when a man shall see every place full in this kind as when the whole man is full of sin and of base corruptions will any thinke that this man shall be saved Can any man in common sense imagine that Christ wil come into that mans soule where there is no preparation for him Mountains must be levelled crooked things made straight and the rough wayes made smooth and all to make way for Christ before hee will come and therefore surely where there is no fitting of the heart this way there is no hope no expectation that Christ Iesus will come in thither Men prepare for the world continually and prepare onely how they may may shut out Christ Iesus One man prepares honours and his person that must have preferment another man provides for his ease and therefore he will make any shift that he may not endanger himself he will be content to make any shew of reason rather than he will come into office whereby his ease may be hindred another man will provide for his family that that may be comforted and sustained and though religion and a good conscience bee shaken he cares not he must make preparation for the maintenance of his family oh what will become of that Hee
end of the chapter the phrase goes thus Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites Our Saviour Christ hath given us this patterne The explication of the point is nothing else but the drawing out of a sword and the particular application of it to the hearts of the people is like the striking of the blow The word is compared to a sword as if a man should draw a sword and flourish it about and should not strike a blow with it it will doe no harme even so it is here with the Ministers little good will they doe if they doe onely explicate if they doe onely draw out the sword of the Spirit for unlesse they apply it unto the peoples hearts particularly little good may the people expect little good shall the Minister doe A common kind of teaching when the Minister doth speake onely hoveringly and in the generall and never applies the word of God particularly may be compared to the confused noise that was in the ship wherin Ionah was when the winds blew and the sea raged and a great storme began to arise The poore Marriners strove with might and maine and they did endevour by all meanes possible to bring the ship to the shore every one cried unto his god and cast their wares in to the sea and all this while Ionas was fast asleepe in the ship but when the Marriners came down and plucked him up and said Arise thou sleeper and asked him Who art thou whence art thou what is thy name call upon thy God lest we perish When they thus behaved themselues toward Ionah then he was awakened and rowsed out of his sleepe The common delivery of the word is like that confused noise there is matter of heaven of hell of grace of sin spoken of there is a common noise and all this while men sit and sleep carelesly and never looke about them but rest secure but when particular application comes that shakes a sinner as the Pilot did Ionah and askes him What assurance of Gods mercy hast thou what hope of pardon of sinnes of life and happinesse hereafter You are baptized and so were many that are in hell you come to Church and so did many that are in hell but what is your conversation in the mean time Is that holy in the sight of God and man When the Ministers of God shake men and take them up on this fashion then they begin to stirre up themselues Simile and to consider of their estates This generall and common kind of teaching is like an enditement without a name if a man should come to the assizes and make a great exclamation and have no name to his enditement alas no man is troubled with it no man feares it no man shall receive any punishment by reason of it So it is with this common kind of preaching it is an enditement without a name We arrest none before wee particularly arraigne them before the tribunall of the Lord and shew them these and these are their sinnes and that unlesse they repent and forsake them they shall be damned for then this would stirre them up and make them seeke to the Lord for mercy this would rowse them out of their security and awaken them and make them say as the Iewes did to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall wee doe to bee saved Acts 2.37 The second thing wherein this powerfull ministery discovereth and manifests it selfe is when the Ministers of God out of soundnesse of argument and plaine evidence of the will of God and the spirit of God make truth knowne to the spirits of men when a mans doctrine goeth so guarded and confirmed with Scripture and sound and plaine demonstration of argument that they stand as Mount Sion and are undeniable This is the second thing wherein the powerfull delivery of the Ministery consists and this is Saint Pauls meaning when hee saith The kingdome of God consisteth not in words but in power 1 Cor. 4.20 The kingdome of God that is the Gospel of the kingdom whereby God ruleth in the hearts of his chosen Now this consisteth not in words onely nor in a company of fine gilded sentences where there is nothing but a jingling and a tinkling nothing but a sound of words there is no kingdome all this while no power all this while in such a kind of preaching this will not worke effectually in the hearts and consciences of men It is with this kind of preaching as it is with rotten buildings which are all painted over but have scarce a sound beame or any other timber to beare up the house so it is in this case all this jingling and tinkling of words may delight the eares of the hearers but the power is wanting that should drive men to a stand Thirdly a powerfull ministery appeareth in this when there is a kind of spirituall heat in the heart when there are holy affections Si vis meflere dolendum est primùm ipsi tibi and the heart of the Minister is answerable to that he communicates and delivers unto the people Looke what those truths bee which he communicates to others his owne soule should be affected with them before and at the time of delivery of them that so he may speake home to the hearts of the people Mat. 12.34 For out of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speaketh saith our Saviour So that the foundations and pillars of a mans speech are not in the tongue but they proceed out of the heart When the speech is raised out of the several affections we use to say Gracious speeches mercifull speeches the meaning is words arising out of grace and words arising out of mercy When the heart of a minister goeth home with his words then he delivers the word powerfully and profitably to the hearers He that mourneth for sin when he speakes of it will make others mourne also he that carries a holy indignation against sinne he stirs up the same indignation in the man that hears him And obserue that when a man speakes from the heart he speaks to the heart and when a man speaks from the head onely and from the teeth outward as wee use to say hee speakes to the eare onely he speakes to the conceit onely We lose the the greatest part of our speech and the strength of our speech unlesse wee speake out of the aboundance of our soules When a man speakes against sin hee should speake with a holy hatred of it from his very heart When a man speakes of the misery of poore creatures that are in the gall of bitternesse and under the power of Satan he should mourne for the judgement that God hath appointed for them and if men would doe thus they would make others mourne also It was an observation of a holy man upon this place We haue piped but ye haue not danced we haue mourned but ye haue not weeped That he that would affect others
which immediately prepares mens hearts for the Lord. These crosses and afflictions may make a man to thinke and consider of himselfe and of his sins yea they may make him thinke of a better estate and to desire the word and send for a faithfull minister and heare him but the word that must worke beyond afflictions to prepare men for the Lord. Ob. But some may obiect againe that the word of God doth sometimes harden men how doth it then alone prepare mens hearts for the Lord Answ I answer that the word of God is but an instrument now the Lord is a free-worker a voluntary agent as we use to say he may doe what he will and when he will with his instrument A powerful ministery is the only ordinary means to prepare mens hearts for Christ but God worketh with this means where hee will and upon whom he will And as hee may prepare a man for himselfe by this meanes so he may harden him by it the word is able to prepare a man but God worketh with it upon whom hee will and how he will as it pleaseth him Vse 1 The Vse of this point is first for Ministers Is it so that a powerfull ministery is the speciall means ordinarily to prepare the soule for the Lord Much fault in Ministers that their peoples hearts are not fitted for Christ then from hence the Ministers of God may see the reason of the little good they doe in that course and place wherin God hath set them here lieth the ground of it we preach and take paines but the worke of God prospereth not in our hands after many yeeres hewing there is not one mountain levelled scarce one sinner brought home to the Lord Iesus and truely prepared for him What is the reason of this Surely leaving secrets and times unto God for God may convert when he will and there are seasons wherein God will not vouchsafe any saving grace unto men but leaving these things to God this wee know in general that God is as powerfull as ever he was the ministery is as effectuall as ever it was if it be performed in a right manner We need not complaine as Elisha did Where is the God of Elijah He is not wanting but if the spirit and power of Elias be wanting in us the fault is ours For the sword of the spirit is as powerfull as ever it was If the ministery of God were dispensed as it should it would be as effectuall as ever it was it would worke to saluation But where lies the fault Alas that lieth in the ministers of God who doe not performe the worke of the ministery as it should and with that power they ought A sword in a childs hand though never so sharp will doe no harme but if it be put into a strong mans hand he wil make it cut deeply Too many of Gods Ministers haue weak hearts little affection have they to the people of God little labour is there in their hearts to pluck men unto heaven they doe not strive with soules as they ought to doe they doe not struggle with the hearts of men if they have their profits and liberties they care not And hence it is that little good is done by them they do so marvellously faile in the former particulars Where is that particular and courageous applying of the truth to mens foules and consciences Alas what coverings they have freinds they must not be displeased and great men they are afraid they should bee offended It is pitty but their tongues should cleave to the roofes of their mouthes if they speake any thing the lesse for these base and by respects than God reveales and requireth of them Their slighting and passing by is the reason that men profit so little by their ministery they are ashamed to tell and affraid to speak to the hearts of men and reprove them for those sinnes which they are not ashamed or affraid to doe in the face of the world They convince not so soundly as they ought to doe they doe not gather in those arguments which may make those truths undeniable and mens consciences at a stand If they can but carelesly and idely talke out the houre what becomes of the seed what becomes of the word what becomes of mens soules they care not againe they want that holy spirituall affection which they should deliver Gods word withall unto his people This is the summe of all Ministers doe not deliver the word with a heavenly hearty and violent affection they doe not speake out of the abundance of their affections If they would speake against sin with a holy indignation it would make men stand in awe of sin they talke of it overly and say It is not good to profane Gods Name his Sabbaths and to live an ungodly life but they doe not speake from their hearts in this kind A sturdy messenger if hee come to a mans house to speake with him he will not be put off he will take no deniall but he will speake with him if it be possible before he goes away but send a child of a message to a man if a servant doe but tell him his maister is not at leisure or that he may speake with him another time he will easily be put off and goe away before hee hath delivered his message So it is with a Minister that performes his office with a hearty affection For when a man speakes from his heart in this case he will haue no answer he will not bee dallied withall he will take no deniall but will haue that he came for If a man should say he is not at leisure to speake with him or to heare him now he will speake with him another time he will not goe away with this answer but he will tell him I came to speake with your hearts and I will speake with your hearts he will say to the people Tell your hearts you that love the world and the profits and pleasures thereof and my heart tels you did you but know the good things that are in Christ Iesus did you but know what a happy thing it is to have the assurance of Gods mercy you would never love sin or delight in wickednesse as you have done heretofore I came to speake with your hearts and will speake with them before we part Grieve no more for the things of this world but for your sins The day is comming when the heavens shall melt with fire and ye shall heare the voice of the Arch-angell saying arise ye dead and appeare before the judgement seat of God where you shall heare that woefull and bitter sentence Away from me all yee workers of iniquity I know you not Mat. 7 23 Oh this may be one day your case And wee that are Ministers of God doe mourne for you and tell your soules we must have sorrow from you wee came to speake to your hearts we came for hearts and we will haue
And that other place in Luke 3.5.6 can admit of no other sense Every valley shall be filled and every mountaine and hill shall be brought low And all flesh shall see the salvation of God These words cannot be literally understood for there was no mountaines to be removed nor no vallies to bee filled up for Christ was no temporall King but the meaning is a removeall of all those mountains and impediments that stood betweene Christ and the soule Thus you see the Temple prepared is nothing but the heart truely broken and humbled Secondly let us see what it is to come into this Temple And Christs comming to it As the way and the Temple was so the comming into this Temple is to be spiritually understood and that is when the Lord Iesus Christ comes to take possession of him but consider this he comes like a King and therefore hee hath Iohn Baptist to make way for him The comming of a King discovers it selfe in two things first the King taketh the Soveraigne command of the place where he is and if there be any guests there they must be gone and resigne up all the house to him so the Lord Iesus comes to take soveraigne possession of the soule Secondly the King brings all his provision with him so the Lord Christ brings all provision for the soule with him So then the meaning is this When Iohn Baptist by the power of the word hath wrovght upon the soule and made it humble and low and willing to be at the Lords dispose when the broken heart seeks for a Saviour then the Lord comes suddenly and like a King You humble soules consider this he will take possession of those humble broken hearts of yours and he will bring his owne provision with him he cares for nothing but a vessell emptied and a heart thus fitted and prepared he will bring provision enough of comfort of vocation of adoption of sanctification and the like In this part of the verse thus opened wee have two doctrines first that the Lord Iesus Christ will not delay to come into the heart that is truely humbled and broken Who is the Lord Christ What is the Temple The heart truely humbled And when comes he Suddenly this is the ground of the doctrine The second is the Lord Iesus takes possession of the soule humbled and provides for it as his owne he comes like a King as I said before This is the ground of the second point which discovers the nature of the implantation the first discouers the appurtenances of it Doct. Christ delays not to come into an humbled heart For the first The Lord Iesus will not delay to come into the heart truely humbled as I may say he layeth all other workes aside as if he did looke for none but this how he may come home to the heart truely humbled The Lord will not come at a proud worldly minded man No the Lord leaves all yea heaven and all the world and onely lookes after and loues to live with the humble broken heart For proofe of the point This is the reason why the Scripture doth not content it selfe to shew the marvellous delight that God hath in such a spirit See how plenteous the Scripture is to shew how ready the Lord is to call in at the heart of the humbled soule and to rise and lie and rest to eat and drink and sleep with the humble heart nay when he is come he wil not away againe as wee may see in that example of the lost son Luke 15.20 Hee said I will arise and goe to my father and say Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am not worthy to bee called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants As soone as ever he resolved of the worke marke how the father behaues himselfe towards him though he were base and beggarly in his condition He might have said Let thy Harlots and thy Queanes helpe thee But he saw him a far off and ran to meet him and fell upon his neck and kissed him Though he were a wretched creature yet now he because the father saw him humble he remembers not that he had been with Harlots all was forgotten the father saw him afarre off before the child could spie him he pittied him before he could confesse his sin he was more ready to meet him than he was to come and he kissed him before he could receiue any acknowledgement from him This is the marvellous enlargement of the Lord to receive an humble broken heart And when he had kissed him Luk 15.21 22 the lost child said Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to bee called thy son But the father said to his servants Bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring upon his hand and so forth as if he had said It is no matter what thou hast bin now thou art come home and hast humbled thy selfe I am glad of it Thus he passeth by all the former misdemenours And so it is in the same Chapter ver 4.5.6 If a man have an hundred sheep and lose one will he not leaue the ninety nine and seek that which was lost And when hee hath found it hee layeth it on his shoulders rejoycing And when he comes home he calleth together his friends and saith Rejoyce with me for I have found my lost sheep The meaning is this The lost sheep is the lost sinner that is wandred from the Lord Iesus Christ The soule that after all the mercies and favours that God hath shewed to allure him he goes away from God and then one drops in a ditch and another is lost in the wildernesse or Forrest yet hee leaues all to seeke the lost sheepe and leaveth not seeking till he findeth it and if he hath found it he reioyceth For the Lord will leave all to seeke a poore lost sinner and the more need thou hast and the more lost thou art in thy selfe the more labour will the Lord take to find thee out and though thou canst not goe the Lord will carry thee upon his shoulders and when thou art come home hee rejoyceth exceedingly This shewes the marvellous bounty of the Lord to poore sinners it is the scope of the Parable concerning the Pearle Matth. 13.45.46 The kingdome of heaven is like unto a wise Merchant man who having found one Pearle of great Price went and sold all that he had to buy it The pearle is nothing else but that rich mercy of God in his son Christ and Christ in the promise is the Pearle and the Merchant-man is every Christian man that wants mercy and comfort to releive him for he saith What is all the world to me if my soule wants mercy Well he knowes where the Pearle is What 's the price of it Sell all Selling of all is nothing but this when a man is content to part with sin and all
heart Thou hast cause to be ravished with admiration and to say Whence is it that not onely the mother of my Saviour but even my Saviour himselfe should come to me What to visit mee that opposed him and to visit me that have preferred my base lusts before the bloud of the Lord Iesus Christ Whence comes this It was that which Solomon tooke notice of in the first of Kings c. 8. v. 28. for when he had built the Temple and the Lord had engaged himselfe by promise to come and dwell in the same he said Is it true that the Lord will come to dwell upon the earth Behold the heaven of heavens is not able to containe him much lesse this House that I have made As it was in the materiall Temple so much more in the spirituall Temple for thy heart is his Temple Therefore thou maist reason thus with thy selfe and say Is it true will the Lord dwell upon the earth the heaven of heavens cannot containe him and shall this earth-then mud wall this earthly Tabernacle and this sinfull wretched heart Oh that the Lord should come to dwell in such a soul this is a mirrour of mercy Doe you humble soules as the Centurion did when Christ was come into his house I am not worthy saith he that thou shouldest come under my roofe but speake the word onely and my servant shall be whole So say thou Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under the roofe of this sinful wretched heart only send thy Angels to visit me and thy word to comfort me but for to come in thy owne person from heaven to such a poore creature as I am the Angels must come from heaven to wonder at this mercy and to magnifie the Lord for it therfore as you haue received Christ walke worthy of him and be thankfull to the Lord for the same Vse 5 The last use of this Doctrine is for exhortation You see the meanes that God appointed for the conveyance of grace They that would haue Christ dwell in them must be willing to be humbled and mercy to you nay that Christ himselfe may take possession of you and it is the way and meanes that will never deceiue you Would you have Christ to dwell in you then be humbled and bee not wanting to your selues and then Christ will never bee wanting to you labour to get this humiliation and Christ will come immediately into your soules Have a heart but rightly disposed and without all question Christ will come to comfort and refresh thee upon all occasions You see the way to get a Saviour to come and dwell in you then walk in that way and give no rest to thine eyes or any quiet to thy heart before thou hast gotten this frame of heart Take heed of all distempers doe not thinke the time long and say I haue waited long and many a yeere and I have looked many a wishly long look and yet I cannot heare of the Lord Iesus to visit this poore perplexed heart of mine If the Lord seeme to delay in the performance of his promise say as David did Ah when wilt thou comfort me Psal 119.82 Nay lay the blame where the blame is and consider thy owne sturdinesse and vilenesse it is thy owne fault why Christ comes not thou wilt not open and therefore Christ is not come thou dost not prepare for him and for this cause it is that thou dost not enjoy the company of such a blessed Saviour at St. Peter saith 2 Pet. 3. â— The Lord is noâ— slacke as some men count slacknesse but the Lord takes the beâ—… season and is long suffering towards us When the season is wee shall have it for it is not his slacknesse The time is not long doe not thinke so hee hath not forgotten to be gracious to a poore humbled soule but lâ—oke into thy owne heart and way and see thy owne folly there Hast thou pâ—epared often and waited long and yet thou hearest no newes of a Christ and of mercy Ah goe to thine owne heart and say Surely I am in fault the wound is in my self others have received a Christ and he would have come into my heart too for ought know Nay he is as willing to come to thee as to any but thy owne hasty heart shuts the doore against him therefore be a based kindly and the Lord will come and not tarry Did you ever account of the comming of â—hrists presence to you Was the presence of Christ ever worth the having and would you not have him to come into your hearts that will bring grace and glory and mercy when he comes as Lâ—ke 19.9 when Christ was come inâ—o the house of Zacheus he said This daâ— is salvation come to thy house So that when Christ comes mercy and all comfort comes Is not Christ and salvation by him worth the having If ever you hope for Christ whip out all buyers and sellers out of the Temple and then you shall heare newes of a Saviour to take possession of you I have spoken of the meanes how to get an humble heart now let me giue you two motiues to provoke you to it Motiues 1 First consider what an vnreasonable thing it is that thou shouldest rather keepe out the Lord Iesus Christ than cast out a company of base lusts It will stick one day hard upon that mans heart when he shall see the marvellous excellency of that redemption which Christ hath wrought and the beauty of that grace which Christ workes in the hearts of his and the glory and happinesse which hee hath prepared for and will bestow upon his servants when I say in the houre of death or in the day of judgement he shall see himselfe utterly deprived of this grace in Christ he will then gnaw his owne flesh that hee hath lost heaven and happinesse it may be for one base lust The covetous man will say If I had cast away the world I might haue had Christ and mercy and the Adulterer will say If I would have cast away my base lusts and corruptions Christ would haue dwelt in my heart and would have purged my heart and the proud hipocrite will say If I had laid away my owne vanity and my owne pride the Lord would haue taken possession of my soule and hee would have brought glory and salvation and comfort Ah woe to me that ever I was borne that I would not part with base lusts and with wealth but that I was content rather to part with Christ Iesus than to forgoe these corruptions What an unreasonable thing is this he will curse himselfe one day for it 2 As it is unreasonable so in the second place what an vncomfortable thing will it bee Ah think of it in time for the time will come at the great day of account when we shall need a Saviour and crave his presence and be forced to desire Christ to come to us What a cut to our
a sinner truly humbled and inlightned love and joy to entertaine and rejoyce in the riches of his mercy so as beseemes the worth of it There are three passages considerable that wee may know the meaning of this Doctrine First this love and joy is no where to be found nor seene but onely in a heart humbled and inlightned For unlesse the heart be humbled it seeth no need of this grace and mercy and therefore despiseth it and is rather carried with a hatred against that grace and mercy that would purge him and troubled with a kind of wearinesse of the power of that grace that would reforme his life and conversation And though hee were humbled yet if he were not enlightned to see this mercy and goodnesse of God he cannot delight in it I know there is wilde love and joy enough in the world as there is wilde Thyme and other herbes but wee would have garden-love and garden-joy of Gods owne planting for such hypocriticall love and joy we will not meddle with here Secondly this love and joy is kindled by the Spirit of the Father for the Father learnes us the lecture and as I told you before of the mind inlightned kindles this holy fire which is rightly compared to the fire of the Sanctuary as in Lev. 9.24 There came a fire from before the Lord and consumed upon the Altar the burnt offering even those sparkes of the pillar of fire which did typifie Christ to them But whether this bee so or no I will not now dispute for as the Lord provided the sacrifice so the Lord caused the fire to come downe from heaven and hence it was that when Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire the Lord consumed them Lev. 10.1 2. so it is in this holy fire of love and joy wee may strike and endevour but our steele and our flint will not worke this indevour nor strike this fire of love and joy It is Iesus Christ from whence all spirituall sparkes of grace doe come and amongst the rest these of love and joy all other love and joy that is not wrought by the Spirit of the Father must be casheered and abandoned it cannot reach to God nor be pleasing unto him It is that which the Apostle inferres in the generall Rom. 8.8 They that are in the flesh cannot please God but it must be joy of the spirit which must please him Now though the soule truely humbled and broken that heretofore hath felt the weight and burden of his sinnes and is now separated from them so that hee dares not meddle with them hee dares as well take a Beare by the tooth and fall quicke into hell as take up those courses againe yet hee hath not power of himselfe to bee enlarged in any love to entertaine Christ or spiritually to joy in him further than the power of the Lord Iesus in the promise shall inable him thereto Suffer me to inlarge my selfe thus The soule is like an empty vessell it stands not at the dispose of sinne or it selfe but it is at the Lords disposition if the Lord will kindle any love and joy so it is for of himselfe hee cannot doe it As it is with some Gentleman in the Countrey Simile he will be content to let the King have the use of his house for a while but he is not able to provide necessaries for him because hee is a meane man therefore the King sends his provision before and then comes himselfe Iust so it is here with a poore humble broken-hearted sinner the poore soule is marvellous well content that the Lord should come and dwell in him and dispose of him but hee is not able to give him any entertainment he hath not any heat of holy affections or love or desire to welcome the Lord as becomes so great a Majestie therefore the Lord is faine to infuse love and joy that by them he may bee welcommed into the soule of the humbled sinner Now when the soule is come to this degree of sanctification then it can worke by it selfe Or thus Simile It is with a broken-hearted sinner as with a burning glasse take such a glasse it will burne any thing by the heat of the Sunne yet it hath no heat in it selfe but receives it from the Sun-beames by vertue whereof it burnes whatsoever is before it Iust so it is with a broken-hearted sinner But all stubborne sinners are like water that will not burne at all I will goe no further than the worke of preparation It is neither sinne nor selfe shall have power over mee sinne shall not and selfe cannot rule me therefore I will wait till the Sunne of righteousnesse will shine forth from heaven from the beavtie of his sanctuary and having received the beames of Gods love and favour effectually upon my soule and being warmed by the Sunne of righteousnesse I shall be able to returne the heat of love to God againe Thus the Spirit of the Father kindles love and joy in a heart humbled and inlightned Thirdly the Doctrine saith that loue and joy are kindled that they may entertaine and rejoyce in the riches of Gods mercy in the worth of it This last clause is added to discover the distinct nature of this love and joy from all the fained love and joy that all carnall and hypocriticall wretches pretend to have to Iesus Christ there is a kind of loving and joying in the hearts of hypocrites as afterward you shall heare So sayes Iudas Haile Master so the Pharisees and the people cut downe branches of the trees to welcome Christ and crid Hosanna Blessed is hee that commeth in the name of the Lord. And in Matth. 8.19 A certaine Scribe came and said unto him Master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest And so the stony ground Matth. 13.20 did heare the Word with joy and so love and joy goe together But it is not that kind of love which came downe from Heaven nor that which will ever carrie your selves as beseeming the mercie of God in Christ for hee that said Haile Master betrayed his Master with a kisse and Christ might have said Is this thy love and joy wherewith thou welcommest me And the Scribes and Pharisees follow Christ a while and then forsake him and so they that before cried Hosanna Blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord within a while after they cry Crucifie crucifie him and the stony ground received the Word with joy and a while after came to nothing This is wild-fire and foolish fire as the Philosopher saith it is bred and hammered out by our owne ends and aimes but they doe not carrie themselves beseeming the riches of Gods free grace in Iesus Christ that is thus An heart thus kindled bestowes the best love and joy upon the Lord Iesus Christ because hee is the best good This is the meaning of that phrase so often intimated Whosoever loveth father or mother more than mee is
ashamed of the former abuse of Gods graces and the many abominations harboured and liked Now marke what God answers in that place Verse 20. Is Ephraim my deare sonne is hee a pleasant child as if the Lord had said Since I spake to him I still remember him all the while that the Lord let in the fiercenesse of his wrath into his soule he earnestly remembred him I saw all his desires and I observed all his teares and my bowels are towards that poore hungry and longing sinner that longs for my goodnes in Iesus Christ and I will shew mercy to him This is the behaviour of the Lord to the soule and of the soule to the Lord again Thus you see the reason of the order of Gods worke love is like the Host that welcomes the guest and delight and joy is like the Chamberlaine that waites upon the guest This is the very guise of the heart Now in the second place I come to the Motiues or that spirituall good Gods promise the ground of our love and how whereby the promise comes to worke this First what is it in the promise Secondly how comes the promise to work this in the hear◠and then we have the whole frame of the worke opened I answer for the opening of the point and the discovery of the truth in hand consider thus much It is when the spirit of God in the promise lets in some intimation of Gods love into the soule The weight lyes upon these two words Le ts in le ts in I say and conveyes some rellish of the loue of God into the heart when the Lord doth expresse any love and favour and goodnesse in that powerfull manner to the heart humbled and longing for his favour so that it doth prevaile with the soule and makes the soule to be affected with that rellish of his favour This is the ground of loue the certainty of a good stirreth up hope and the excellency of that good quickens up desire and the presence of this good kindles love there is a fulnesse that takes up all the whole frame of the work upon all the affections of the soule In Psal 42.8 it is said Psal 42.8 expounded The Lord will command his loving kindnesse in the day time what is that it is a phrase taken from kings and princes and great Commanders in the field whose words of command stand for lawes so the Lord shall send out his loving kindnesse and say Goe out my everlasting love and and kindnesse take a commission from me and goe to that humble thirsty and hunger-bitten sinner and goe and prosper and prevaile and settle my love effectually upon him and fasten my mercy upon him I command my loving kindnesse to doe it The Lord doth put a Commission into the hands of his loving kindnesse that it shall do good to the poore soule yea though he withdraw his soule saying what I mercy will Iesus Christ accept of me No no there is no hope of mcrcy for me Indeed if I could pray thus and heare thus and performe duties with that enlargement and had those parts and abilities then there were some comfort but now there is no hope of mercy for me We demand Is this your case is it thus and thus Yes you are thus humbled and have thus longed for the riches of his mercy in Christ haue you not Yes Then say we grace and mercy is yours I cannot thinke it saith he what such a wretch as I goe to Heaven no no Heaven would rather fall then such a sinner as I should come to be received there Thus he puts off mercy and shuts the door against it and at the last cast when carnall reason builds up forts against mercy and sets up strong holds against comfort consolation and neither Word nor Minister can comfort them then the Lord I say is faine to put a commission into the hands of his loving kindnesse when the poore sinner hath bin sighing and longing and nothing will content him but Christ thē then the Lord gives out the commission and saith Goe home to that poore soule and breake open the doores upon that weary weltering heart and knocke off all those bolts and rend off that veile of ignorance and carnall reason and all base arguments goe I say to that soule and cheare it and warme it and tell him from mee that his sinnes are pardoned and his soule shall be saved and his sighes and his prayers are heard in Heaven and I charge you doe the worke before you come againe Here is the goodnesse of God to expresse himselfe thus mercifully in his Word to the soule if it were in mans power no comfort should ever come to the soule but the Lord blessed be his Name for it he commands his loving kindnesse to breake in upon him As it is with an High Sheriffe when a man will not deliver up quiet possession to the owner he comes with his men and breakes open all before him and will estate the man into his possession so this loving kindnesse is the Lords High Sheriffe and when a company of Rake-shames of carnall reason would keepe out mercy the Lord is faine to send his loving kindnesse with a commission to seaze upon the heart Now take notice of this the ground of a mans love is any good which expresseth his presence to him as a good to come was the ground of hope and the necessitie and excellencie of that good makes the soule to long after it so now when a good is not onely present but expresseth his presence and leaues a kind of remembrance upon the soule that stirres up love continually but this must be done before love will come As it is with the naturall body if that which lyes upon a man carries some weight with it then it is easily felt but if it bee marvellous light it may lye upon us and wee not perceive it as a feather a flye or the like and if there comes any weight that affects the hand either wet or cold or warmth then hee feeles it but if it be light hee perceives it not as a mote may bee on the face and not be felt nor seene so love in the soule is like this touching of the body Now when loving kindnesse is not set on upon the soule and when it leaves no expression in the soule the heart cannot be affected with it nor returne that joy and delight that otherwise it would doe so that there must be a present good and a good expressing it selfe to the heart and affecting the heart therewith and then this love comes to God againe Gods love affecting the heart and setled upon it it breeds a love to God againe that is the ground which S. Iohn speaketh of 1 Ioh. 4 19. Wee love him because he loved us first As I told you in the example of the burning-glasse it must receive the heat of the beames of the Sunne before it can burne any
will come and whine to her husband and yet goe to it againe no if shee had a true heart to her husband and sought for peace she would not have returned to her vile courses againe So it is with the soule it is adulterous and base love and not the love of the Spouse of Christ to confesse and bewaile sinne and yet to commit it That sorrow which loosens the heart from sinne and makes it come neerer to God and so to be rid of corruption that sorrow I say gives content to Christ but that sorrow which indeed doth incourage a man and rather give way to the commission of sinne than loosen the heart from it gives no content to the Lord Jesus but to thy selfe and stands not with the allegeance of him but of sin but yet if thou canst say so and sorrow so as to be loosened from thy sinne then thou contentest the Lord Jesus but if thou thinkest thou hast a warrant or a privie seale for thy sinful practices because thou hast sorrowed this argues little love to Jesus Christ Object But some will say May not a man make his moane and expresse his griefe for sinne Expression of sorrow for sin limited Answ I answer Yes it is fitting and necessary yet consider these two rules 1. First make it not an ordinary table-talke for that smells too grossely of false hypocrisie as if a man did say Now I hope every man will take notice how I mourne for sin but rather if thy heart be full and surcharged with griefe inquire what is the danger of such and such corruptions and the cause of them and how thou mayst get power against them but keepe thy sorrow in secret 2. Or else in the second place thou shouldst make thy sorrow knowne to some godly Minister or faithfull Christian out of the burden of thy sin and not for fashion sake thus doe that thy heart may be loosened from thy sinne and thou see thy need of a Saviour A third sort is a new upstart hypocrite that is newly come up many of them are in other parts and some neere unto our owne selves they are such as are full of carnall confidence and are proud of their beleeving but faith shuts out boasting They are as full of hypocrisie as an egge is full of meat or a toad full of poyson Such an hypocrite I will discover to you thus Hee is a man that hath long professed the truth and hath seene his sinne and been awakened to his owne sense and hath had a kinde of attendance to the Gospel and a kinde of brainish acquaintance with the promise in Jesus Christ so that now he is fully perswaded that Jesus Christ is his and he is Christs And yet after all this when he is come thus farre he lookes no more after himselfe but lookes all to the Lord Jesus Christ insomuch that the Lord Jesus becomes a drudge to him Now the guise of this man is this he casts away all sorrow and reasons thus For me to see my vilenesse and to be sensible of the body of death and to bleed inwardly and mourne daily for my wickednesse I thinke is needlesse these are past with him for he sayth I have mourned before this day and now I have gotten Jesus Christ thus he thinks he needs not be afflicted with his sins nor mourne for his many failings but the Lord Jesus who he thinkes is at his command must doe all and thus he surfets on his sinnes still This is the root of the doctrine of the Familists that cursed hellish unconceiveable basenesse that is in them I have heard of many of them that after long profession and much zeale and exactnesse in a Christian course have fallen unto this straine and come to just nothing A poore sinfull deluded Sot thou art thou poore creature dost thou entertaine the Lord Christ as a Commander when thou wilt not have him so much as to dispose of thee but as thy drudge that thou mayst take what mercy thou wilt and leave what thou wilt They will have Christ to pardon their sinne but not to make them mourne for it as if in truth they meant that hee should stand at their beck They rest upon their faith and will not have themselves and their faith to rest upon Christ for this is their conceit they apprehend they doe beleeve and there they rest and so in conclusion they never goe to Christ to have their hearts humbled and brought under as if a man should goe and graspe with his hand and take no hold of the rocke he neither findes strength to himselfe nor any hold to his hand so they rest upon their faith and neither they nor their faith upon their Saviour Thou sinfull deluded hypocrite the Lord Jesus will make thee come under and stoope and force thee and thy carnall confidence to lye in the dust and begge for mercie Can any man in reason judge this to be love which in deed is nothing but a marvellous cursed distemper They say the law hath nothing to doe with them and they live by the law of love and yet they have not any love to the Lord Jesus Must the Lord Jesus Christ pardon thy sinnes and thou remaine in them Must the Lord Jesus seale to thy soule the forgivenesse of thine iniquities and thou dally with it No the Love of the Lord Christ will compell thee to doe any thing to give contentment to the Lord Jesus Esa 57.15 Psal 51.17 An humble heart is the onely house where Christ dwells and the onely sacrifice that he accepts of and the onely guise of spirit that Jesus Christ lookes to and if thou love the Lord Jesus thou must be sure to provide this dainty dish for him Ob. But some will say What need have I of this sorrow seeing Christ Jesus must doe all Ans I answer What need then hast thou of faith for Christ must in that do all for thee Though I doe not say thou hast as much need of sorrow and brokennesse of heart as of faith Continuall sorrow as needfull as continuall beleeving yet there is a kinde of proportionable need of a continuall sorrow as well as of continuall beleeving and that upon these grounds First thy sorrow helpes on thy faith that it may be more strongly carried to Jesus Christ for the more weight and burden of thy sinnes thou feelest the more need thou wilt see of Christ As it is with a sharpe sauce though it breed not a stomacke Simile yet it stirres up a stomacke so this godly sorrow though it is not the worke of beleeving yet it stirres up the stomacke of faith to go goe to the Lord Jesus for faith is the going out of the soule to Christ and hee that findes the burden of his sinne will be the more ready to goe out to Christ Againe this makes a man the more fit to receive the assurance of Gods love this I say makes
to a poore cottage and enlighten a blind minde and a sottish spirit in this manner Oh this is love Oh love him againe for it he deserves it Thirdly Christ seeks thy love here is the admimiration of mercy that our Saviour that hath been rejected by a company of sinfull creatures should seeke their love for shame refuse him not but let him have love before he goe Had the Lord received us when we had come unto him and humbled our hearts before him with deepe importunity and had he heard us when we had cryed unto him nay when we had spent all our daies and all our strength in begging and craving one good looke from heaven and at the day of our departure taken compassion upon us it had beene an infinite mercy but when the Lord Jesus Christ shall seeke to us by his messengers as all the Ministers are his messengers to accept of his love this is beyond all expression I say if he had onely sent a love letter from heaven and said that he was willing to match with us and had left us to finde out the way and the means it had beene beyond all wonder but that the Lord Jesus Christ should come and wait upon us and seek our love it is the wonder of mercies When a company of base lusts and sinfull desires have found acceptance with us and the doore hath been open upon all occasions to talke with them though the Lord Jesus Christ hath often come and said Oh muse upon my name and not upon the world and these lusts and we would not heare him when I say you and your adulteresses have beene upon the bed of dalliance and Christ hath beene at the doore and could get no audience nor acceptance yet after all this he hath not onely call'd but seriously besought us to be reconciled to him that is to love him and to be beloved of him and blessed by him for ever these are the tearmes of his love What shall I answer the Lord will the Lord seek our love then returne him this answer and say Shall he seeke love and not have it shall he crave it and I not give it Oh God forbid Can the Lord Jesus Christ be in love with me In truth Lord I am out of love with my selfe by reason of my base heart and filthy thoughts I have abused thy Majesty from time to time by following my base lusts adulteries and abominations I have not only loved the world but filled my selfe therewith and thus my adulterous heart hath gone away from thee to them But will the Lord Jesus love such a wretch as I am Yes he will for the Lord saith Hosea 14.5 I will heale their backe-sliding I will love them freely He lookes for no portion no he will take thee with all thy wants Is not the Lord worthy of thy love he desires no more and sure hee deserves no lesse Deut. 10.12 when the Lord had recorded all his kindnesse towards the children of Israel mark how he inferres this saying And now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to feare the Lord thy God to walk in all his wayes and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule So I say to thee after all the sinfull abominations of thy heart and all thy sinfull practices committed what is it that the Lord doth require of thee when all thy sinnes are pardoned onely that thou love the Lord thy God with all thy heart Let me therefore tell you what to doe get you home and every one in secret labour to deale honestly and truely with your owne hearts and make up a match in this manner and say Is it possible that the Lord should looke so low that the great Prince should send for the poore peasant that Majesty should stoope to meannesse and heaven to earth and God to man Hath the Lord offered mercy to me and doth he require nothing of me but to love him again call upon your owne hearts I charge you and say thus Lord if all the sight of mine eyes were love and all the speeches of my tongue were love it were all too little to love thee Oh let me love thee dearely O Lord my strength Say you had a faire offer and that a poore Minister of God did wish you well bee not coy and squeamish the Lord may have better than you every day lye downe therefore and admire at the mercy of the Lord that should take a company of poore dead dogges I say be sure that you bee not coy and squeamish say as the Prophet did Lift up your heads yee gates and bee yee lift up yee everlasting doores and the King of glory shall come in Psal 24. Now the hindrances are removed and the promises are brought home wee will come to see if the match bee liked of Meanes 3. Lastly it is our skill and cunning to draw these two together Yee see what wee have said the hindrances are removed and the promises are brought home now if wee can but affect a Saviour hee is our owne hee that will not now be beloved of the Lord JESUS CHRIST let him bee ever accursed There are two particulars considerable to fasten these two together First Two meanes to bring our hearts and the promises together labour to give attendance daily to the promise of grace and Christ drive all other suiters away from the soule let nothing come betweene the promise and it and forbid all other banes that is let the promise conferre daily with thy heart and bee expressing and telling of that good that is in Christ daily to thy heart Simile You know if all things bee done and agreed upon betweene the parents of two parties to be marrried and there wants nothing but the fixing of their affections one upon another the onely way to draw their affections to one another is to keepe company together and daily to meete and see one another so let thy soule daily keepe company with the promise and let not thy heart onely see the promise once in a weeke but daily shut out all others besides and keepe company onely with that and see what beauty and strength and grace there is in the same and say Oh wretch that I am if I had had either wit or grace I might have been made happy long agoe Thus keepe company with the promise that thy soule and it may dwell together Secondly labour by undeniable reason as to discover so to conclude the unconceivable good that will come to thy soule by this many men will promise that such and such things shall be done if the match may but go forward and doe not onely talke of it but make it good too so doe thou by undeniable arguments make good to thy owne soule the unconceivable good that will come to thy soule nay God hath pawned his truth to thee for it As it was